Compromising with Sin

In Exodus chapter 8, over the progression of the course of the plagues God delivers to Egypt, Pharaoh tries to compromise with Moses. Instead of allowing the people of Israel to leave and worship God, Egypt’s ruler tries to change the terms. In Exodus 8:25, Pharaoh tries to get them to stay in the land while worshiping, but Moses rebuts this compromise. In verse 28, Pharaoh tries a different tack – go and worship, but not three days journey. Exodus 10:10-11, Pharaoh commands Moses to take only the men and leave the women and children behind. Finally, in Exodus 11:24, the terms are to take the people but leave their flocks and herds behind. In like manner, Satan tries to compromise with us.

The Devil's Compromises
“Stay in the land.” The devil tells us to give God lip-service, to worship God but remaining in the world. He entreats us to never separate ourselves from the world, but Jesus, in Matthew 15, warns that our hearts and actions should agree. We not only give God our service. We give Him our hearts. We cannot worship God wile compromising with the world.

“Don’t go far.” Satan tells us to be Christians, but keep it shallow. Obey some things. Do some good, but don’t be a fanatic. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus calls upon to love God wholly and completely. This is not a call for meeting God halfway. This is a call to dedicate ourselves entirely to Him.

“Don’t Take Your Families.” The devil encourages us to keep our faith to ourselves. Don’t try to impact others, but Matthew 5:13 records Jesus telling His followers that they are the salt of the land, a light to the world. He calls upon them to let their light shines so others can see the faith they profess. Jesus expects us to influence others.

“Divide Your Loyalties.” Satan calls us to allow worldly concerns to pull us away from God, but Jesus calls us to lay up treasures in Heaven in Matthew 6:24-33. We cannot serve God and our earthly treasures, so we should seek God first, trusting in Him and finding refuge in Him alone.

Conclusion
Pharaoh wanted to control Israel through comprise, but there is no compromise with God’s edicts. The same is still true. Satan wants us to make compromises and control us through those trade-offs. If we value our spiritual heritage, we will resist him at every turn, showing him that God’s will not bend to his deceptions.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Naboth's Spiritual Heritage

We’ve spent a couple of weeks considering the question of suffering, and Satan’s efforts to draw Job from God. Satan believes we all have a price, and, at some point, we will sell God out. In this lesson, we’re going to look at another way Satan tries to find our breaking point, and it begins in In I Kings 21 when Ahab tries to procure the vineyard owned by Naboth. When Ahab tells his wife for Naboth’s rejection, Jezebel appeals to his pride and conspires to kill Naboth. Once he is dead, Ahab takes possession of the vineyard.

Ahab does not have Naboth’s interests in mind at any point in these events. Ahab considers only himself. His first offer is reasonable, even generous, but the problem lies in the uncountable value of the vineyard to Naboth. He seeks to find Naboth’s price, but Ahab finds the Jezreelite has none. Back in Leviticus 25:23-28, God sets a provision that God’s land may not be sold permanently at any time. Any land sold can be redeemed at any time, or it is returned in a Year of Jubilee. The land handed down generation to generation is to stay in the family. Naboth honors God’s law regarding land. He does not sell his heritage.

A Spiritual Heritage
Notice Naboth’s concept of heritage and inheritance. It is more than what comes down from his ancestors. It is more than something he will pass on to his descendants. He recognizes that his heritage is from God. We sometimes sing the song “Faith of Our Fathers,” reminding us that we have a spiritual heritage, that we are spiritual children with a spiritual inheritance. We create a continuous chain from generation to generation that we cannot sell or buy as Naboth could not sell the vineyard passed down in his family.

We receive our faith through those who have come before us, and we pass that heritage unto others as Paul sees Timothy as his son in the faith. The challenge is whether we will stand like Naboth, refusing to be bought out, or will Satan find our price? Back in I Kings 21, there is an interesting contrast between Naboth and Ahab. Nothing Ahab can offer will move Naboth, but after Naboth’s death, Elijah tells Ahab that the king has sold himself to evil in verse 20.

What would we have done in Naboth’s position? Would we have acquiesced to the king, to the path of least resistance? Would we have seen the potential to expand our business or pay off other debts? Could Ahab had found our price, or would we have justified giving in due to the evil of Jezebel and Ahab? Without our convictions, we have nothing. We cannot sacrifice our spiritual heritage.

Never Deserting Our Post
Elijah Lovejoy was a journalist who opposed slavery in Illinois back in the 1800s. One night, because of the large volume of anti-slavery editorials he had published, and angry mob tracked him down and shot him. On the memorial, his words are recorded, “I am impelled in the course I have taken because I fear God…I can die at my post but I cannot desert.” He was killed over his printing press.

We let the things of this world keep us from our spiritual familiy. We teach our children that recreation is more important than the Lord’s work. We let our possessions cloud our morals. In our jobs, we go along with things we know that are wrong to avoid making waves. In doing these things, we devalue our spiritual heritage. We show it can be bought with a price. Hebrews 11:32-40 calls on us to reflect the faith demonstrated in our spiritual forefathers, to continue and perfect the work they started. We owe it to those who came before us, to those who come after us, to our Savior, and to ourselves, to never sell out.

I Corinthians 6:20 tells us we have been bout with a price – the blood of Christ. We have been purchased by God to be his own. Our redemption is beyond value. We should strive to be like Naboth in our struggle against temptation, never deserting our post and never selling out to the devil.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Facing Suffering as God’s Child: Part 2

A Quick Recap
The subject of suffering and sorrow is one with which we and many theologians struggle. Why does God allow suffering in this world. The issue centers around a couple different hypotheses: that God is either not powerful enough to prevent suffering, or He is not loving enough to relieve our suffering. Most arguments regarding God and His role in suffering boils down to one or the other of those theories.

Suffering begins with sin in Genesis 3. Rebellion brings suffering. Sorrow also comes as a result of natural disasters. the wrongdoings of others or ourselves, and some suffering is born innocently. What we asking when we question God’s role? Do we want God to micromanage our affairs, removing any sense of free will? Do we believe we can understand the details of God’s creation? We want to place blame, however. We want to know why. The problem suffering poses for the monotheist is that cruelty must be sourced. Just like Job and his friends, we sometimes speak without wisdom in trying to make God answerable to us.

God’s People and Suffering
In Hebrews 5:7 and 2:18, the author of that book speaks to the challenges Jesus faced in suffering and pain. II Corinthians 4:8 says we are pressed on all sides, are pursued, are confused, are struck down. Paul ends up calling these light afflictions. Romans 5:13 tells us suffering works endurance, and James 5:10 calls on us to consider the patience of the prophets and the endurance of Job who suffered in the work of the Lord. God’s people are not immune to the pains and sorrows of this world.

The book of Job teaches us that what happens on Earth relates to eternal principles. We can be faithful despite our worldly conditions, and Satan seeks to challenge that at every opportunity. The devil seeks to find each man’s price. In Job 2:4, after Job has already lost so much, Satan still looks for Job’s price. He looks for a breaking point. He knows that faith is difficult when we hurt.

Job 1:21-22 records Job worshipping God after losing much of his family and his possessions. His wife blames God. His friends blame Job. Later, when God replies, the message is simply that God created all and offers no other explanation. Still, Job endures. Like him, we can stand as a monument of faith if we can endure Satan’s temptations in the face of suffering.

Reacting to Suffering
We should not feel as if we are solitary in our suffering. Too often, we compare our suffering to those who we perceive having lives than easier than ours, but we forge too consider those who face worse. Furthermore, we cannot let ourselves give up when faced with our perception of an overwhelming situation. Consider Peter and Judas, both faced with their roles in rejecting Jesus. One kills himself. The other reconciles with his Lord. In Acts 16, things look grim for Paul and Silas as they are chained in prison, yet they praise God. Finally, we should not reject help from our brothers and sisters. Philippians 4:13 says we can do all through Him who strengthens us.

God wants us to lift our eyes and trust Him. Psalms 121, 123, 119:66-67, and more record David looking to God despite any trials around Him. Psalm 118 calls the Lord our helper who keeps us from fear. Consider Jesus’ trust in the Father, knowing He would be raised to life after being lowered in death. He trusted His tomb would be empty after enduring the inhumanities of crucifixion. James 5:13 calls on us to give God our worries, and I Peter 5:6 says God will lift us up when we humble ourselves before Him. Our focus is on Him and the glories He prepares for us in Heaven. After asking who can stand between us and God, Paul calls God’s followers conquerors and inseparable from His love in Romans 8:37-39.

Enduring suffering is a challenge of epic proportions. We will all face things unique to our lives, but we are not alone. While we can debate the origin of suffering, Job teaches us that our resistance to the devil in the face of suffering is a monument to His power and the faith of His people. We can look to one another and to God when we face pain in this life, and let our faith grow so Satan knows we have no price.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Issumagijoujungnainermik

Matthew 18:21 is a passage we often turn to when considering forgiveness. Despite Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness, however, we want to add our own conditions. “I’ll forgive if they ask for it.” “I’ll forgive up to a certain point.” “I’ll forgive if I feel like it.” This lesson, we’re going to look at some scriptures that govern forgiveness, and these scriptures will require us to adjust our attitudes and actions regarding forgiveness.

Gaining a Brother
In Matthew 18:21, Peter asks how often he should forgive if a brother sins against him. He uses an expression that infers a serious violation or trespass, and he places the burden of forgiveness on himself. In response, and he tells a parable of a servant in terrible debt to his master. This servant seeks forgiveness while is unwilling to forgive another in debt to him. Jesus makes a point that we are to be forgiving as we want our Father to be forgiving.

The goal, in Matthew 18:15, is to gain a brother. Prior to Peter’s question, Jesus is encouraging His followers to entreat one another when wronged. This is not regarding a disagreement or hurt feelings. This is nothing minor. This is a serious trespass, and Jesus does not instruct us to be passive. There is no waiting for our brother or sister to come to us. We approach him or her, and we engage in forgiveness.

Forgiving as God Forgives
Matthew 18:33 cites mercy as the basis of our forgiveness. We are merciful because we have been shown mercy. Verse 35 warns that God will not forgive those unwilling to forgive. Matthew 6:12 echoes this sentiment when Jesus models prayer for His disciples. Luke 6:35-37 says God is kind and merciful toward the undeserving, and Jesus encourages us to demonstrate mercy. The strict conditions we put on forgiveness will be put upon us by God. Finally, Mark 11:25 warns us to forgive others in our prayers before asking for our own forgiveness. We need to forgive so we may be forgiven.

What attitude do we hold in forgiveness? How do we act? Are we like children who are forced to apologize by our parents? Jesus is forgiving. He is compassionate. He is merciful. God granted us mercy forgiveness before we asked for it and while we are undeserving. If we are to be holy as God is holy, if we are to be sons of our Father. Think of Esau forgiving Jacob and Joseph forgiving his brothers. Think of David forgiving Saul. Are we as compassionate and merciful?

Issumagijoujungnainermik
Leviticus 19:18 is cited by Jesus as one of the great commandments, and the first part of this verse warns God’s people against grudges or seeking vengeance. Grudges come all too easy, and God takes pains to turn His people from this habit. In Mark 6:19, Herod has John beheaded because of a grudge Herodias bore. Grudges wrap us up and consume us. It takes time, work, and energy to maintain these harsh feelings, and this is time, work, and energy we should be giving to the Lord instead. We need to be able to let our grudges go and move on. They causes us to hurt, to grow angry, to grow bitter. They draw us away from God.

Issumagijoujungnainermik is a compound Eskimo word that roughly means “unable to think about it anymore.” It is a word missionaries used to describe God’s forgiveness to the Eskimos, and it is a fitting description of how we should forgive. Our forgiveness should be compassionate and merciful. Love should take the place of grudges, allowing us to be in a right relationship with our fellow Christians and with our God.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Facing Suffering As God's Child [Part 1]

We live in a word filled with tragedies and sorrow. We see innocents suffer unjustly. Our possessions, families, or lives may be taken by factors beyond our control. You can't make it through a daily news report without hearing of a new shooting, abduction, natural disaster, or fatal accident. From these events comes an understandable question: why does God allow suffering in this world? It is a question theologians have wrested with for centuries, and the answers tend to boil into one of two theories.

• If God is inherently all-loving, He would stop suffering if He could. Therefore, He is not powerful enough to end suffering.
• If God is all-powerful, then He must not love us enough to end suffering.

Rabbi Kushner, in his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, comes to the first conclusion. God is all-loving but not all-powerful. Job, on the other hand, faces a God that is clearly all-powerful, so does this infer God is unloving?

The Origin of Suffering
To understand suffering, we have to return to its roots. God demonstrates both power and love in the creation of all things and the paradise He provides for His creation. However, there is one provision to this paradise, and this provision is broken in chapter 3 when His love is questioned in that He forbade something from Adam and Eve. From that one sin, suffering entered the world. If God was unloving and merely wanting to just catch Adam and Eve off guard, He would have left it a secret – just waiting to be discovered. God clearly set the boundaries. He did not keep His provision a secret. Then, with the onset of sin, God sets a plan in motion to redeem His creation, but the consequences in this world remain.

The Case of Job
Job is a case study in suffering. He is a righteous man who loses everything. Satan seeks to find his price, and Job comes close to blaming God for his troubles in passages like Job 9:20. He feels he has been wrongly judged. In Job 19:5-7, 22; chapter 31, Job continues this idea. He even lists out evidence of his righteousness. He is a faithful person. Why would this suffering come upon him? If, like his friends argue, bad things only befall the unrighteous, Job is being unfairly judged.

God responds to Job in chapter 40. God asks if there is any who can argue with God. He asks if Job is capable of setting the universe in motion, if He is capable of balancing justice and reviewing God's judgments? Earlier, in Job 33:13, Elihu asks Job why he strives against God. We are accountable to God – it is not the other way around. This is a hard lesson to swallow, and it is natural to want to know why. However, it is not our place to condemn or try to correct God. Job receives no reason for his suffering, and we may never understand our own.

A Loving, Powerful God
Returning to the question of the reasons behind suffering, can we blame God? Do we serve a Lord either unable or unwilling to end suffering due to lack of power or love?

What hope can we have if God is not all-powerful? How do we know He will defeat the grave? How can we know that he will defeat Satan? How can we have any faith if we cannot have faith in His power? Psalm 139 records David writing of the all-powerful nature of God, able to overcome all and having power over all. Nothing is hidden from Jehovah. In John 16:33, Jesus states that he has overcome. He will suffer terrible things very soon, but His faith was in God’s power. He knows God will deliver Him from the hands of death.

If God is all-powerful, why does He not stop calamities? Does He not love His creation? We see God's love in passages like John 3:16 where God has shared His very nature and image with us to be killed in our stead. Abraham had confidence in God’s love when he prepared to offer Isaac. In Isaiah 55:6-9, God invites His people to forgiveness. Judah was extremely wicked at this time, but under even these circumstances, He would take back His people if only they turn back to Him. His love allows for infinite forgiveness and mercy.

What would we want God's role to be? When do we want God to intervene? Should He constantly be altering the forces of nature , continually disrupting the cycles that have been put in motion? Do we want God to take away our own free wills so we can neither harm ourselves or others? Do we want others to suffer consequences so we do not? What stipulations can we put on God’s actions? If God fails us in any way, we automatically will begin to question Him again.

God may intervene in ways we do not see or recognize. We do know, however, that He has a place prepared for us that is absent of all suffering. We can trust His power to be able to take us to this place, and we can trust that His love will allow sinners like us to enter into it (Romans 5:8). Our hope is not in this life but in the next.

lesson by Tim Smelser

Where Are They Now?

In Matthew 26:17, Jesus and His apostles are preparing for the Passover, an event we associate with the founding of the Lord’s Supper. This would lead quickly to the events of the cross and the empty tomb. These events conclude a ministry characterized by miracles, and He is followed by great multitudes in Matthew 4:25, 8:1, 8:18, 13:2, 19:2, and 21:9. Passage after passage speak of the thousands that press around Jesus, but when we come to the cross and His tomb, only a small handful are present. Where were those multitudes now?

Jesus knows that many saw Him as a source of wonder while others view Him as a sideshow. Some view Him as a source of inspiration while others view Him as a source for food. In this lesson, we’re going a few examples of people impacted by Jesus’ ministry. Their lives are changed by Jesus, but they are not among those numbered at the empty tomb.

Absent Before the Cross
John 9 records Jesus and His apostles passing by a blind man whom the apostles treat as a point of theological discussion. Jesus heals Him, and the Pharisees want to use Him as evidence against Jesus since the healing takes place on the Sabbath. The blind man does not cooperate and is basically excommunicated. Jesus goes to find this former blind beggar in verse 32, leading this man to worship Jesus. Where is he when Christ is crucified?

In Luke 5:17, some men lower a crippled friend to Jesus’ presence so he may be healed. Not only does Jesus heal this man, but He proclaims his sins forgiven. The formerly crippled man leaves glorifying and praising God. The crowds do likewise. Where are he and his friends when Christ is crucified and buried?

As Jesus is teaching in John 8, a prostitute is brought before Jesus, and the Scribes and Pharisees demand Jesus proclaim judgment upon her. Jesus ignores them for a while, then asks them to stone her if they indeed feel blameless and justified in doing so. He spares her life. He forgives her sins. He shows concern for her well-being and her soul. Where is she when Jesus is on the cross and in the tomb?

We learn of Jairus and his daughter in Mark 5:35. His daughter is sick, and she is dead by the time Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house. Jesus says she is merely sleeping and raises her up. She immediately gets up and walks. Many had been there to mourn her, and he brings them joy. Where was this family when Jesus was on the cross?

What Will You Do with Jesus?
Each of us are blind, crippled, guilty, and spiritually dead because of sin. Still, Jesus loves us as he did those individuals he healed and saved. We see countless examples of people touched by Jesus, but we never see many of them in scripture again. Christ’s joyous message comes with His death. The cross and the empty tomb are inseparable. When we realize what Christ has done for us, where will we be? Will we be like the multitudes who glorified His miracles but turned away from His death?

Our relationship with Jesus should cause me to have more than feelings. It should impel us to action. John 8:11 , John 13:34, and Matthew 16:24 are calls to actions. Deny self; sin no more; love one another; take up your cross. The question is not what we feel about Jesus. Instead, what will we do with Jesus? When things are difficult, when our lives are lonely, when we are faced with the bloodstained cross, where will we be?

lesson by Tim Smelser

Regarding the Collection of the Saints

John 4:21 records Jesus answering a Samaritan woman regarding worship. She is inquiring about proper location, but he turns her attention away from the secular setting and toward the concept of worshiping in spirit and truth. It is the manner of worship that matters. Acts 2:42 records that, when Jesus’ spiritual kingdom of the church was growing, the saints would come together. One part of that worship was giving, and that’s the topic of this lesson.

Contribution As Worship
The question of contribution is not one of amount. It is one of attitude. Do we treat our offering to God as something we rush through? Do we see this part of worship as less important than other parts? We sometimes sing about Christ, “I gave, I gave my life for thee. What hast thou given for me?” Our contribution is an offering to our God who gave all for us. Are we as sacrificial as He?

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira lie when they bring their money to the apostles’ feet. They look for praise from man rather than God. Our offering is directed toward God, and there is no room for personal glory involved. Our personal benevolence and our contributions to God’s church are to God’s glory. As when we sing and when we pray, it is to and for God.

I Corinthians 16 provides a context for participating in this worship when we come together on the first day of the week. In this scenario, the collection is used for saints in need. Need is established, and they fulfill it. Examples like the famine coming in Acts 11 as well as several occasions in Paul’s journeys, the church fulfills those needs they see.

Offerings and the Old Testament
Romans 15:45 discusses the example set for us in the Old Testament, and the earliest offering we read of is by Cain and Abel. Abel’s sacrifice is of spirit and truth, and God respects his sacrifice. He gives unto God as God would have him give. This is prior than even than the law of Moses. When Abraham returns form battle in Genesis 14, he makes offering to God. Jacob offers God a tithe when fleeing from his brother Esau. These sacrifices are centered around worshiping God.

In the case of animal offerings, God expected the best from His people. The finest and healthiest of the livestock went to God. This was a valuable and costly resource to those making the offerings. These animals were an investment in the future of their families and businesses in a largely agricultural society. By the time we reach the writings of the prophets, people ceased giving as they should, leading to corruption in the priesthood’s work and teachings. Like the offering supported those serving God then, Paul writes about our contribution supporting our elders and preachers.

Exodus 35:4 and II Chronicles 24:8 both record offerings from the people in building and restoring the place of worship. In James 2:2, the word translated assembly is the same that is translated as synagogue in other places. It is a meeting place, set apart for the purpose of worship. Again, like the contributions of the Old Testament helped maintain the places of worship, so do ours today. Even the widow with nothing but two mites was giving for the support of the temple.

Application to Our Offerings
We are to give as we have been prospered, and II Corinthians 8:2-12 says our offering should be liberal, loving, and willing. The very next chapter tells us we should be cheerful in giving, and that we should determine our offering ahead of time. It is purposed in our hearts. Galatians 6:7-8 warns us that God is not mocked, reminding us to sow spiritual blessings. When we give to God, our priority is on God rather than ourselves. We are supporting His work and His workers. It is worship to Him, sacrificing for Him as He sacrifices for us.

lesson by Herbert Smelser, Jr.