SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2018
7:01 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Toward
The Church—Teaching”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 20:20
Message of the
verses: “20 how I did not shrink
from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly
and from house to house,”
Paul knew that the main job that he had was to teach as
he wrote in Ephesians 4:12 “for the equipping of the saints for the work of
service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” I have heard many times that the Christian
faith is only one generation of becoming obsolete, and so Paul knew that he had
to teach the truth to those in the churches that he began so that they could
continue to teach the next generation.
He especially taught this truth to his son in the Lord, Timothy. Because of this truth Paul reminded the
Ephesian leaders that he “did not shrink from declaring to you anything that
was profitable. John MacArthur writes “Shrink
from is from hupostello, which also
appears in verse 27 and means ‘to draw back’ or ‘to withhold.’ Paul held back nothing of the wise counsel
and holy, sovereign purposes of God; he withheld no doctrine, exhortation, or
admonition that was profitable.”
Let us take a look at Proverbs 29:25 which warn us that “The
fear of man brings a snare.” As we look
at the life of Paul we see that he had no such fears. I now want to look at when Paul confronted
Peter as seen in Galatians 2:11-21:
“11 But when Cephas came to
Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to
the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but
when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party
of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the
result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I
saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to
Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the
Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live
like Jews? 15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16
nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but
through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that
we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since
by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 “But if, while seeking
to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ
then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 “For if I rebuild what I have once
destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 “For through the Law I died
to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 "I have been crucified with
Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself up for me. 21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if
righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."”
Paul was a man who knew the truth of God and taught that
truth and it did not matter who it was who was not living out that truth he
would confront even Peter who was the leader of the twelve. I want to say that at this time Peter was not
the leader of the church at Jerusalem as we saw it spoken of in our passage
from Galatians where Paul wrote “12 For prior to the coming of certain men from
James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to
withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.” When we see that these men came from “James”
it speaks of him being the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and this James
who also wrote the book of James was the Lord’s half brother.
Let us now look at something that David wrote from Psalm
40:9-10 “9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great
congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. 10 I have
not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your
faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and
Your truth from the great congregation.”
This section from Psalm 40 shows us that David spoke up for the truth of
God in Old Testament times.
Ezekiel does this too as seen in 33:7-9: “7 "Now as for you, son of man, I have
appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message
from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8
"When I say to the wicked, ’O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and
you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in
his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 “But if you on
your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his
way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.” We see in this passage that those who shrink
from proclaiming God’s truth are subject to God’s chastening.
I mentioned that Paul wrote to Timothy to make sure that
he would pass on the truth that he taught him to the next generation, and in 2 Timothy
3:16 and 17 Paul writes what it is that is profitable and how it is to be used:
“16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be
adequate, equipped for every good work.”
As we look at the last part of this verse we see that
Paul had two outlets for his teaching as he taught in public as found in Acts
19:8, and in our verse today we see that he went from house to house
teaching. I believe that this speaks of
the house churches that were used when the church began.
I have named my blogs 2 Timothy 2:15 which goes along with
this lesson: “15 Study to show yourself
approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Continue to live
up to the name of the blogs that I write to each day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord with the up-coming procedures
that I face in the next few weeks.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Moab” (Judges 3:14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who threw a spear at David?
Answer in our next SD.
7/10/2018 7:35 AM
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