Tag: Bible

Be Doers of the Word

On By BrianIn PASSION ReflectionsLeave a comment

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 
(James 1:22, ESV)

James makes clear that truly receiving the Word is not just hearing it but doing it – living it out in our daily lives.  If we think that by just hearing the Word, that we have received the Word, we have deceived ourselves.  We must be doers of the Word.

James uses the illustration in verses 23-24 of looking at ourselves in the mirror.  Most of us probably look at our face in a mirror each morning.  Maybe we arrange our hair into some semblance of order, and then we walk away, and forget about it.  That is the key issue – we forget about it.  And that is well and good when it comes to our hair, but not with Word.  We can’t just walk away and forget about it.  And so he goes on in v25:

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

We are to look into the Word.  We open our Bibles to read and meditate and study and learn it.

And then we don’t forget it.  We take it with us into the day.  We seek to apply it to our daily lives.  We remember it and do it.

And notice we are to persevere in it.  That part of the verse is between the looking and the doing, perhaps suggesting that we are to persevere in looking and persevere in doing. 

And we will be blessed.  Here is a wonderful promise.  God blesses those who hear and do what He says.  Now God is good and blesses everyone in various ways.  God is also merciful and often blesses us in spite of us – praise the Lord!

But there is blessing that comes from obedience as we escape many pitfalls that others fall into because of sin.  There is a blessing attached to living as God created us and recreated us to live in communion with Him.

So let us be doers of the Word!

Remain Steadfast Against Temptation

On By BrianIn PASSION ReflectionsLeave a comment

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
(James 1:14-15, ESV)

Our own desires lead to sin which leads to death.  How can we overcome?  James gives us a number of strategies in the first 18 verses of his book: 

We must recognize our responsibility.  It is our own desires that lead to sin (13-14).  We are not victims.  There is no one to blame but us.  So we must stand up and fight.

We must recognize the terrible result.  Sin may look fun and enjoyable, but it is the path to death (v15). 

We must receive a new heart.  This is where it starts.  We need to trust in Jesus and be made new with new desires (v18).

We must remember whose we are.  We are God’s servants (v1), so we must reject any desire that opposes Him.

We must rejoice in the goal.  God is using even temptations to make us mature in Christ (v2-4), so don’t despair.

We must request help from God.  We need to pray (v5-8), turning from our sinful desires to the One who can help us overcome.

We must reset our desires.  We need to turn from what the world chases after (v9-11) and set our desires on God and what He desires.

We must remember our hope.  The crown of life is coming (v12).  Sin and temptations will one day be over forever, so press on!

We must remain steadfast against temptation.  Don’t slack off.  Use the strategies given and keep fighting temptation.

Sermon Songs: Hebrews 13:7-8, 17-19

On By BrianIn Hebrews Hymns

Hear your leaders speak God’s Word to you
Their faith and life, imitate each day
Pray for them as they watch over you
Follow them as they show forth Christ’s way

Chorus
Fast, Fast, Hold fast
Hold fast to Jesus the Better One
Near, Near, Draw Near
Draw near to God through His only Son

© 2023 Brian J. Mikul

(Sing to tune of “Grace Greater Than Our Sin”)

The Church’s Foundation

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(Ephesians 2:19-21, ESV)

The apostles and New Testament prophets are the foundation of church. They were led by the Holy Spirit to communicate the New Testament truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now the church is being built on that foundation. We don’t need apostles or prophets anymore. The foundational work has already been done. The church is being built on the truth of the gospel recorded for us in the New Testament.

So when Paul writes to Timothy, he spends 10 chapters in two books hammering home again and again the priority of teaching and preaching God’s given Word. This is what we need. This is how the church grows.

So we must prioritize the Bible. It is through the public teaching and preaching of God’s Word, as well as personal exhortation and encouragement from the Word, as well as personal study and meditation in the Word that the church is built up.

The Bible is the measure by which we must evaluate every practice in our church and in our lives, and so we must prioritize the Bible in our church and in our lives.

The Bible’s message of the gospel is the foundation of the church. Take up and read!

Fear and Great Joy

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
(Matthw 28:8, ESV)

How should we respond to the resurrection of Jesus? The women who first visited the tomb suggest two ways:

First, fear! The woman departed quickly with fear. The soldiers earlier trembled with fear and became as dead men (v4). Fear was a common response to events of resurrection of Jesus. Here indeed is a fearful thing! An angel moves the stone to show an empty tomb and announces the resurrection. This is not the way the guards or the women expected that morning to go. It was just another assignment for the guards, just a visit to the tomb for the women, and suddenly it all goes sideways. Like if you went to a funeral, and the person in the casket suddenly got up and said “hello” and walked out. You would be afraid! Fear was a natural response to a fearful event. Our problem is that it is not our response. We don’t fear. The angel and Jesus both tell the women not to be afraid (v5, 10), but we do not need those words because we are not afraid. It has all become so familiar that we have lost sight of how earth-shattering, mind-boggling, crazy this is. The awesome power of God beyond anything we can imagine on display as He raised Jesus from dead naturally leads to fear!

Second, rejoice! The women departed with great joy! This Jesus whom they had followed, whom they had seen crucified and buried, was alive again! Imagine a beloved parent or child or sibling who has passed away suddenly alive again, and you begin to understand some of their joy. Do you love Jesus? Then His resurrection should bring you great joy! On top of that are the ramifications of His resurrection. Our sins defeated – the punishment paid, our shame and guilt removed. And death defeated – the hope of our own resurrection and the resurrection of those who have died in Christ. Here are reasons for great joy – so rejoice!

False Desires

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

In Christ, we become new creations, called and able to reject false desires. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
(II Corinthians 5:17)

In Christ, God has made you new.  Your old sinful way of life is gone.  You have a new life in Christ, so you don’t have to follow false and deceptive desires.  His Holy Spirit enables you to reject fleshly desires (Galatians 5:16).  His grace trains you to reject worldly passions and live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:11-12).  In Christ, you can overcome.

Indeed, He calls and enables all of us to reject deceptive desires like lust, coveting, greed, gluttony, and selfishness.  He calls and enables all of us to reject false feelings of hopelessness, despair, and worry.  He calls and enables all of us to reject wrong self-perceptions of superiority, self-righteousness, and worthlessness. 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(Romans 12:2)

Instead of conforming to the false desires of our world, we are to renew our minds with God’s truth that we might discern what is good and follow that. 

Rejecting false desires isn’t easy.  God never said it would be.  Indeed He tells us that it is a war:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
(I Peter 2:11)

These false desires are at war with you to destroy you.  We must fight.  But God not only calls us, but also enables us, to reject false desires.  May we live in His strength!

Introducing OT Journey 2.0

On By BrianIn OT Journey 2.0

I am excited to introduce you to OT Journey 2.0 this summer. Bible Journey studies and reflections have been on this site for quite a while. This summer I am launching OT Journey 2.0 which is a reworking and revising of that earlier material. It is designed to help you take a group through the entire Old Testament (except Psalms) chapter by chapter in three years (150 lessons). You can find all the details for this new study (as well as the older one) on the Bible Journey page here. I plan to start posting studies next week. It would make a great study to start this Fall with your Sunday School class or small group Bible study.