QT 29 Nov 11, Integrity and skill in work honor God

Num 1:1-5 (NIV) The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: 2 "Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. 3 You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army. 4 One man from each tribe, each the head of his family, is to help you. 5 These are the names of the men who are to assist you:

from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur; ...

NOTE: Numbers begins and ends with a census.  Why does God specify by name the men who were  to do the counting, rather than just let Moses choose anyone? I think the men were men of integrity who would provide an accurate accounting. The men were from each tribe so that no tribe could argue that they were unfairly counted. The job was an exceeding large task. It is not an easy thing to count from 30 to 75 thousand people and to record their ancestry by clan and family. It would take some organization as well. So, these men not only exhibited integrity but were skilled for the accomplishment of the job. It is a good thing for a man to pursue his vocation with integrity and with skill. I can't think of a better way to define the requirements of work than those two words.

QT 25 Nov 11, Our arguments about non-essentials ruin our witness

Rom 14:19-23 (NIV) Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

NOTE: It is very clear from the previous verses that the commands of the OT laws have no authority over the Christian.  But, some believers think that they do and their faith is effected by other's actions.  In these case, the overriding principle of grace, love for your neighbor, takes precedence.  To allow oneself to be under another's convictions shows love, it does not mean that one agrees with the other person's convictions.  Unfortunately, too many people make issues of things that are really not important.  The arguments and disagreements hurt the witness of believers in the world.  We have a wonderful message of freedom, of peace, of true joy that the world can't even begin to understand without our witness -- and to think we muddy the waters with issues that have no importance.  Jesus Christ changes lives, and makes people whole again -- not perfect, but whole.  And he begins a process of sanctifying an individual to become more and more like the savior.  We can have a strong and vibrant witness, but we must let go of these petty selfish interests and seek to know the Savior through the word of God.  There is power in the word that can transform and renew our mind, so that we just don't talk these ideas, but we live them.

QT 24 Nov 11, Conviction replaces OT law

Rom 14:5-8 (NIV) One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

NOTE: These verses are very clearly aimed at the OT law, feasts, Sabbaths, and kosher food.  Under grace, these are all a matter of conscience.  And not another conscience, but the individual's conscience.  Others do not determine what is right or wrong for a person, but the individual does that between himself and God.  Even in the case of the weaker brother, it is not the weaker brother determining what is right or wrong, but rather the individual conscience before his Lord that causes him to abstain in the presence of a weaker brother.  Right and wrong is defined by one's relationship to God.  Sensitivity to another's convictions is a matter of service but does not change the rightness or wrongness of the action.

QT 21 Nov 11, Weak faith is associated with observance of OT laws

Rom 14:1-4 (NIV) Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

NOTE: Paul talks about accepting the person whose faith is weak and to not pass judgment in disputable manners.  Then he gives an example of a person whose faith is weak and an area to not pass judgment: a Christian vegetarian. There is a command going back to Adam which forbids the eating of animals.  In Paul's example, the weak-faith person believes he is under this law, and the strong-faith person believes you can eat anything.  But even if we know that we can eat anything, because Jesus declared all food clean, and because we are not under the law, we should not use that knowledge to hurt people who think differently. The worst thing to do would be to judge the believer for his conscience.  God will judge believers in disputable matters, but it won't be based on rules or laws, but rather on the person's conscience.  Every believer is the Lord's servant and in issues of conscience, they stand before God and not other believers.  The exception would be areas of clear disobedience to a command in the new testament, such as in the area of sexual immorality, theft, gossip, lying, etc. In these cases, we are to judge other believers and we are to confront sin.

QT 9 Nov 11, I am undeserving of God's grace

Rom 11:13-21 (NIV) I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

NOTE: Again, the idea of sovereignty, "branches broken off," and free will, "their rejection … arouse to envy … because of unbelief," stand side by side in Paul's explanation of God's work in salvation.  Rather than arguing over Calvinism and Armenian-ism, we should accept the truth that God in his sovereignty has shown grace to people according to his choice but that man must respond to that grace by a free choice of his own will.  I am thankful for the mercy shown to me.  I did not deserve grace, I will never deserve God's grace.

QT 8 Nov 11, God's sovereignty, man's free fit in God's scheme

Rom 11:7-12 (NIV) What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8 as it is written:

"God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes so that they could not see

and ears so that they could not hear,

to this very day."  9 And David says:

"May their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent forever."

11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

NOTE: Again we see the strong interconnection of God's sovereignty and man's choice.  It says God gave them a spirit of stupor, but then says, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?  In one case, God blinds them, but in another they stumble.  Also Paul answers his question with a very emphatic "not at all!"  Still later it says that salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.  If there is no choice, what good is envy of salvation.  There is clearly a connection between God's control and man's choice which is entirely consistent to Paul, but is difficult for us to understand.  Both fit together without any grammatical gymnastics, they just fit together.  And who am I with my finite mind to understand the infinite mind of God?  How foolish can man be!

QT 7 Nov 11, Election does not negate choice

Rom 11:1-6 (NIV) I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?  4 And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."  5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

NOTE: Paul says that God did not reject his people because Paul himself is a believer.  In fact, the entire early church were all Jewish.  It was only during Paul's missionary endeavors that it slowly began to become more and more Gentile.  Paul, like many other Jews, represent the remnant, the group of true believers that have existed even in the worst of times for Israel.  This group is not defined by works but by grace.  But less we suggest that God's sovereignty chose the group, we should not miss the reference to the seven thousand who did not bend the knee to Baal.  Yes, it is by grace, but yes also, a person needs to choose who he bends his knee to.  Bending the knee represents the "will" and is not salvation by works.  God sends mercy upon who he "wills," but we need to "will" to accept his  grace.

QT 2 Nov 2011, There are blessings to the NT believer

Rom 10:12-13 (NIV) For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

NOTE: Someone that I respect highly says that the NT does not have promises of blessings, and by that I think he means material blessings.  The OT law is built around the curses and blessings, which are all material.  The NT focus is on spiritual blessings, but I think he might be overstating the difference between the OT and NT.  God does richly bless all who call upon him.  I also think it is primarily spiritual for the NT believer, and clearly salvation is the greatest blessing, but there are other verses which seem to suggest even material blessings.  Proverbs which are not really part of the OT law suggests following certain principles of life will bring blessing.  Another is Jesus' admonition to give up all to follow him with a promise to receive 100 times more in this life and the age to come.  And also the passage that describes how the rich believer is to use what God has given him is another inference.  But whatever the truth here, for me two things are paramount, be thankful and use blessings wisely.