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Denial and Grace
Luke 23:50–24:12, John 19:38–42, Matthew 10:32–33 Joseph of Arimathea is described differently by Luke and John. Luke describes him as good, righteous, and looking forward to the kingdom of God. John describes him as a secret disciple of Jesus. On the surface, these appear to be different. And, depending on the audience, they can be
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Grumbling and Arguing
Philippians 2:12–18 The Philippians may be slacking off in Paul’s absence. At least that seems to be Paul’s concern. When Paul speaks about “working out” salvation, a better way to phrase it may be, do the Christian life in all that you do. Don’t just sit there. He notes that God works through them, but
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A Clean Tongue
Colossians 3:1–11 Paul’s list of idolatrous tendencies to be put to death seems pretty straightforward. Sexual immorality is (basically) sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. Impurity continues the sexual theme, but it is less specific. Lust is lust. Evil desire is not the actual sexual immoral act, but its very thought.
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Deceptive Holiness
1 Timothy 4:6–16, Colossians 2:1–23 myth: usually a traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. Myths are powerful. Often the struggle of myths is their competition with one another. Focusing on “…explain a practice, belief…”, we
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Fruitful Unboxing
Galatians 5:22–26, 2 Peter 1:5–11, 1 Corinthians 12:4–11, Romans 12:9–21 We are all familiar with the list of the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians. Hopefully, you even have them memorized (If not, there’s your challenge of the week). It is an impressive list. If we are honest with ourselves, were we to be full
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Attending Well
Deuteronomy 30:15–20, Acts 4:5–22 If someone were to give us a speech about being given the way to life or death, there would likely be an automatic naysayer response. This is the case when the “way” is exercise, healthy eating (including the latest fads), life philosophy. In the Christian context, we understand the Jesus is
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Faithful Servanthood
Psalm 127, Matthew 25:14–30, Luke 22:35–38 The question is often asked, “when you get to Heaven, what do you want to hear?” The common answer is, “well done, good and faithful servant.” It is a feel-good statement. Truthfully, we would all like to hear that from God. In the parable, the servants were given money
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Empathize and Build
Philippians 2:19–30, Romans 15:1–7 empathy: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner [Merriam-Webster.com] Imprisoned Paul is concerned about the Philippians. More correctly,
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Magic Targets
2 Peter 1:16–21, 2 Timothy 4:1–8 Yesterday, we read about mediums, sorcerers, et al., and that they were bad mostly because of the human tendency toward the self. The problem with the way this is portrayed is what seems to be an apparent conflict between scriptural admonitions and the world. One of the easiest targets
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Separating Works
Deuteronomy 18:9–14, 1 Samuel 28:3–25, Galatians 5:16–26 The list of people not to listen to is interesting. As part of the Israelites’ preparation to enter the Promised Land, these people were to not be sought out. From a cultural standpoint, this is not a small thing. These people were the ones that were sought for