Yearly Archive: 2009

Job did a very good job of rebuking his friends. Friends who did not really have any answers, but still, they spoke. Their "words" of wisdom, though many, did not move Job to confess or accept responsibility for anything that had happened to him. If anything, it confirmed for Job that something else was going on, but poor Job did not know what.

The friends should have been there to bring some comfort or support. They definitely did not do that.

They had all had their turns speaking, and Job rebutted each argument or scenario. And still there were no answers. Job's protests [more]that he had done nothing wrong seemed to fall on deaf ears.

And then the kid stood up!

No one knows how old Elihu was, but in his own words he says "I let you guys speak because you are way older than me. (32:6)" It was his sense that because of his lack of years and experiences, he should let the older people speak, because they might bring some wisdom to the subject at hand.

After listening for what must have been hours, Elihu came to the conclusion that "old people might not be wise or understand what justice really is". He hits them up side the head with a "You talked but did not say anything. For all you had to say, none of you could refute Job."

Sort of points out how even today, we talk, but the words mean nothing. We verbally wrestle with family, friends and co-workers, but our words are meaningless. Without the real picture of what is going on, we babble about what we think. Our "wisdom" is based upon false or incomplete theories or information.

My Pastor gave us a challenge a couple of weeks back from the book of James. The challenge was to read the Word. But more than that, the challenge was to "DO" the Word. You see, it's not enough for us to memorize or shout platitudes. It's what we do with what we know. Our experiences should make us different people – they should make us do things a different way. Knowing what the Bible says and doing what the Bible says are two different things.

Job's friends had words, but they were stymied. They had no answers for Job, but they wanted to be heard. It's as though they felt that the more they talked, the wiser ther were.

Elihu captures the essence of the matter when he says "Lemme tell you guys something, what you are doin' an saying ain't right, and the reason is simple. God is greater that any man, so stop trying to make Him explain Himself! (33:12 my translation)

What do you expect from God? More than that, what does God expect from you?

Getting to the end of the two-week challenge has led to some powerful words! Paul ends Philippians with some sensible and clear directions on living.

Somehow chapters 3 and 4 of Philippians are both a defense and a reason for being a follower of Christ. It is interesting that once again, Paul, like James, John and Peter warn the "church" to watch out for false teachers. It would be easy to ask "where did they come from – they were right there, that close to the historical event." Yet they were there ready to mislead the early church. No wonder the church started out with Councils which have set down again and again over the years what being a follower is all about.

It is not that the Gospel has changed, just that people don't take the time to read and study it themselves, and so begin to believe what someone "says" about it. That's why the leaders of the early church again and again had to remind people of what Jesus said and did.

Paul was in a unique position, having been a man who at first thought that all those believers were wrong, and should be wiped from the face of the earth. His mission before he became a believer was to search out the early church and see that it was stamped out. But, it is his past that allows him to speak in this letter. He says "If you think all those people who want you to follow laws so you can be right, look at me. I followed all the laws! I was mister perfect, but all that was a losing proposition because of what Christ did!" (3:4-11 my condensed version)

He wanted to make it clear that he knew he wasn't perfect, but was going to continue working toward finishing the race. What imagery for us. What an example. Here was a man who had met all the requirements for how to live, but he said "it wasn't enough!" He wanted to get the prize for what God had called him to be and do.

Humility shines out here. There is a little hidden lesson for those of us who think we have been Christians a long time. That lesson is buried in the verses that end with the race analogy. We are not perfect! We should not think of ourselves that way. (3:15)

Chapter four has some great slogan verses. When we look at them, they challenge us to live our lives differently.

• Rejoice always
• Visible gentleness
• No Worry
• Pray!

That's enough work to keep me busy every day of my life. Any one of these by itself is hard enough to do, and then he puts them all together!

For me, one of the keys of Philippians is in Paul's "Whatever" list in verse 8. Just reading the list gives you pictures of your life that have to give us hope. They challenge us to better things – get out minds out of or off our problems.

Makes me question what I spend my time thinking about. Do I spend time on the good or the bad? And then, do I put it into practice?

That's the real question. Now that you read it, are you doing it?

Distractions keep coming up, and there is seemingly no way out. But there is! It is the word "NO" uttered in no uncertain terms. When things come along, all we have to say is "no". Easier said than done. When you get up late for a morning appointment, do you skip the appointment? Then when the appointment is finished, why is it so hard to get back to square one and skip square two (which is already done)?

Honest questions, but some principles that we all need to handle in some fashion.

Finishing the two week challenge brings me to Philippians, which just happens to have only four chapters, so that works with the two-a-day.

In writing this letter to the Philippians, Paul finds himself in prison in Rome. Philippi is one of the places where he got a church started, and the people are concerned about him.[more] They wanted to make sure that he had food and other needs, so they sent stuff (probably money, some food stuff and who knows what else) to him. This letter is both a "Thank You" and some words of encouragement.

But even in the midst of imprisonment, Paul remembers why he is there, and uses that as a springboard in his letter. In effect he says "I am here because of what I was doing to advance the message of the Gospel. So don't stop what you are doing just because I am in prison. What has happened to me helps give courage to our brothers and sisters to speak up more! (1:12-14)

Paul kind of reminds them, that even though there might not be some great preachers like himself, they are still presenting the message about Jesus Christ and getting people to think about what He did and who He is. And then Paul says that even though some of those preacher/teachers might be doing it for the wrong reason and in the wrong way, he Paul rejoices!

Then he starts in with the logic…

The logic was to get the church in Philippi to be of one mind (the word in the Bible is "like-minded"). His logic in chapter 2 is not tied up in any human imaginings, but rather is all about Christ.

IF

• Christ encourages you
• His love gives you comfort
• His Spirit lives in you
• You sense His tenderness and compassion

THEN do the following and make me happy

• Be like-minded
• ;Have the same love (love the same way)
• Have the same spirit
• Have one purpose

Then, he says all this should be without any "get ahead of one another" attitude or "look how great I am", but rather he says "consider others better than yourself."

Now that's a hard pill to swallow!

Go ahead. Dissect it! Get your hands around it! Try as you might to wrap your mind around it, you can't get away from the "tenses" of his directives. There was no "try" or "see if you can" or "give it your best shot". It was clearly like a mandate – something he knew they and we can do. You can argue with it, but…

The decision to do or be is ours and ours alone.