Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

With this verse, we move into the practical section of this amazing letter. It was Paul’s custom when writing some of his letters to use the first section for explaining doctrine and then use the remaining section to highlight some matters of practical importance. It is said that some Christians prefer doctrine to practice and vice versa. The best and God-glorifying response is to value both. It may be the case that our denomination has been regarded as being stronger on doctrine than on practice. Whether that is the case or not, we should find out if our congregation is by the time we come to the close of this section because it will tell us what actions God wishes us to engage in, and whether or not we want to do them. Since we are liable to take a few sessions to go through this section it would be useful if we were to read it once a week at home and spend some time thinking about it. We can imagine someone speaking to one of the recipients of Paul’s letter and asking him where h...

There are many individuals in the Bible about whom little is said – we only need to look at the various genealogies to see that is the case. After all, what do we know about the grandparents of Jesus in addition to their names mentioned by Matthew and Luke? One such individual about whom little is said is Shamgar, only mentioned here and in Judges 5:6. The latter reference, however, tells us he was someone to sing about: ‘In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travellers kept to the byways.’ If we could have predicted whom Deborah would include in her song we might have suggested she would choose Abraham or Moses or Joshua or Othniel or Ehud. But she chose to mention Shamgar, and given that her song is inspired it means that God wanted his people to sing about Shamgar as well. Of course, when singing about what Shamgar did, they would be praising God because he usually works through people to bring about his purposes, and that is ...

In life, most people generally want two important benefits: first, they want information on how to prepare for the future and, second, they want to be able to trust those around them. Such desires are not confined to the secular world, but are also found within the church of Christ. John was aware that the needs of his readers had increased because of wrong teachings that had infiltrated the congregations and caused some to leave and follow false teachers. Trust in one another was affected, and that would mean that fellowship between Christians would be undermined. It made the future a bit uncertain and church life uncomfortable.  Preparing for the coming of Jesus   If we knew that an important person was coming to our location we would make appropriate preparations. We would adjust our living in light of how we would want that person to see us. Further, those who would be taking part in any events would rehearse their parts and ensure that all was as it should be. We a...