Not ignorant of his devices

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 2

2 Corinthians 2:10-11 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

When we do not forgive it is a device that Satan uses to get an advantage upon us. As the enemy, Satan is always devising war strategy to try and defeat the Church and her mission. The Greek word translated ‘advantage’ means to make a gain. When you do not forgive, two things happen.

First, you are out of fellowship with the Father. Jesus teaches us:

Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This does not mean that you are no longer saved. Neither does this mean that you must perform the work of forgiving everyone in order to be saved. We are saved eternally be faith alone in Christ alone because of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). This means that when you refuse to forgive, you are out of fellowship with the Father. Your close walk with him is interrupted. You are requiring something of someone else that God is not requiring of you. When you refuse to forgive, you are saying that you demand to be repaid when you have had the greatest debt in the world forgiven – your sin.

Second, when you refuse to forgive, you are open to the attack of Satan. A military strategy is to cut someone off from their supply lines or their source. When Satan sees the refusal to forgive in you, he sees that you are isolated and he can attack with greater fervor. You give him an opening to attack because you are isolating yourself from the Father.

Many times when we do not forgive others it is associated with anger or wrath. The Bible says:

Ephesians 4:26-27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.

When you harbor anger and refuse forgive others, you give a place for the devil to attack.

So how do we forgive? Paul said he was able to forgive in the person of Christ. In other words he forgave as he was in Christ or empowered by Christ to forgive. The Bible sums it up well:

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

God has forgiven you because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You can forgive because you are forgiven. Don’t let Satan have the advantage! Forgive!

In Christ,

Rody

The edifying of the body

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

The purpose of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ is to edify the church. The whole point of chapter 14 is that when you speak in a language no one else understands it does no good to the church. It is not spiritual, it is prideful. It draws attention to you, but does not build up the body. Words spoken in church should be done with the purpose of teaching, exhorting and encouraging the church. How do you encourage and edify other believers? Do you use the gifts God has given you to do that? There are many ways.

Unfortunately, many neglect their gifts either thinking they are not flashy enough or they sit around waiting for something amazing to happen that thrusts them into the limelight. We see many celebrity preachers these days. Sometimes believers think that is what God needs to do in their life. But that is not what God’s Word teaches us. He teaches us that every man has the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

1 Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

These gifts are not the same in every believer.

1 Corinthians 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

The gifts are a stewardship. They are given to us by the Holy Spirit as he wills. They are the manifestation of the grace of God to be used to edify the body of Christ. It has been said that they are tools, not toys. These gifts are beneficial to the body and needful. How do you use your gifts? Isn’t it interesting that there is no inventory in the Bible on how to determine your gift? It is assumed that you will discover by God’s design.

Do you want to know what your gifts are? Here is how:

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Stop worrying about the gifts and tell God that you belong totally to him and will do whatever he says and go wherever He sends. Love God and love others and you will soon know how God works through you!

In Christ,

Rody

We see through a glass darkly

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

What did the apostle mean when he said now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face? He is talking about a time when there will be no need for prophecy, the gift of tongues will cease, and knowledge will vanish away.

1 Corinthians 13:8-10 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

Because he says we shall see face to face, many think he is talking about when Jesus comes. However it is interesting that he says this will happen when that which is perfect shall come. The word ‘perfect’ is a Greek word that means complete or full grown and mature – teleios. The idea of maturity is surly at work here because the apostle says:

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

The gifts he is speaking of were all at work among the church during the writing of the New Testament. They are all speaking gifts. Could it be that perfect thing which was to come was the completion of the Word of God? That would mean that when the New Testament was completed, those gifts mentioned would fail, cease and vanish away. Is the Bible ever called ‘perfect’? Yes it is and the idea is one of looking into a glass.

James 1:23-24 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

The word here is related to a glass or a mirror. A man who hears and does not do the word is like a man who looks into the glass and then forgets what he saw. Paul speaks of the time of the Corinthian church as one in which they saw through a glass darkly. In other words they could see the reflection from the word but it was not as bright as it could be because the Bible was still being written. James calls the Bible the ‘perfect law of liberty’.

James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Now the whole point is being a doer of the Word and loving as Jesus loved. We now have the completed Bible. We should not be children anymore. We should hear and do what God says! We don’t see through the glass darkly now, we see face to face. The Bible is in our hands and we need to look into it and be changed into the image of Christ!

In Christ,

Rody

Greet the church that is in their house

Romans 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea.

Romans 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

Phebe was a servant of the church and the church met in their house. In the sixteenth chapter of Romans, Paul mentions at least 36 people. The church is not a building – it is the people of God. We need to get his down. A church is a group of saved people who meet together regularly to encourage one another, pray, preach and study the Word of God and work together to fulfill their part of the Great Commission. We need to serve one another in the church like Phebe did.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

A church must handle its business but it is not a business. A church is a corporate body but it is not a corporation. The closest things we can compare the church to in our world is a body and a family. The church is called the body of Christ. It is made up of many different members and they all form together with Jesus Christ as the head.

The church is made up of brothers and sisters with God as our Father. We are a family and as a family, we are called to love and serve one another. As a family, the church spends time together and works together. As a body, we are all interconnected and dependent upon one another.

Recently a man told me how he preferred a big church to a small church because of the benefits. He thought the smaller churches just couldn’t do what they were supposed to do as churches. I immediately thought of the New Testament churches that met in someone’s house. How big were those churches? Did they not fulfill what God had for them? That just goes to show how much thinking about the church comes from the world and not the Bible. Size is irrelevant. Jesus said two or three could constitute a body in which he would be in the midst (Matthew 18:20). The church will be what God wants when we do three things:

1. Love Jesus Christ with all we are.

2. Love and serve one another.

3. Preach the gospel to every creature.

In Christ,

Rody

Be ye followers of me

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11:1-2 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

Paul was an apostle. He had special, God-given authority in the church.

1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Now if this list means first in rank or first in order of appearance, it really does not matter. As an apostle, Paul had planted the church and he was writing a letter to them that was Holy Scripture. He had the authority in the name of Jesus to instruct the church as to what it was to do. It is interesting that Paul’s leadership was a ‘lead from the front’ style. He did not tell others to do that which he did not do. He said, “Follow me.”

His praise for the church came in the areas where he had instructed them in the way of Christ and they had remembered him and kept that way. Leadership in the church is needed. However, it must be Christ-like leadership. Jesus is the head of the church, so to follow a man other than Jesus is not wise, unless that man, like Paul is too following Jesus. Now we have the apostle’s doctrine (Acts 2:42). The Bible is complete. We know the doctrine that God wants us to know because he has given us his Word. Anyone who will take the Bible and get filled up with the Holy Spirit can follow Jesus.

The authority of the church today is Christ and his Word. The Bible is the rule of faith and practice for a local church. It is the Word of God. Do you follow Jesus? Do you listen to his Word and keep the ordinances as they have been delivered to you? This would include all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded us (Matthew 28:18-20). We do not need to go outside of the Bible to understand the doctrines that God wants us to know and follow. What we need is to read, believe and do what the Bible says.

If an apostle were to praise a church today it would be because they were committed to keeping the Word of God.

Revelation 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

In Christ,

Rody