SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/16/2025 7:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “False Teaching Brings Shame on
the Teachers”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Timothy 2:15
Message of the
verse: “Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to
be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
I begin this second SD on the verse I chose a long
time ago to be the name of my blogs by writing that the supreme purpose of the
diligent and selfless teacher is to please God, that God who is the One who
made us, who chose us before the foundation of the earth in order to bring
glory to Him. Let us now look at
Galatians 1:10, something else that Paul wrote “For
am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men?
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” John MacArthur writes “Every Christian
teacher and preacher should be able to say, ‘Just as we have been approved by
God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but Go
God, who examines our hearts’ (Thess. 2:4).
His greatest desire is to hear his Master say, ‘Well done, good and
faithful servant’ (Matt. 25:21). Such a
teacher or preacher is a workman who does not need to be ashamed.”
Now in light of the following three verses the clear
implication is that false teachers, on the other hand, have great reason to be
ashamed. MacArthur adds “One dictionary
defines shame as ‘a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming,
or impropriety.’ Another states that it
is ‘the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of having done something
dishonorable.’ Therefore, unlike a
teacher who stands as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, a teacher who
propagates falsehood, especially in the name of God and under the guise of
Christianity, ought to be ashamed
(cf. 1 John 2:28).” “Now, little
children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not
shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
There are times when I look at what I am studying in
the Word of God and then compare what I am learning to things going on in our
country at this time and I wish to do that after quoting something from
MacArthur’s commentary that caused me to compare it with what is going on in
our country today. He writes “It is
obvious, though, that those who have the most reason to be ashamed are the most
shameless.” Now in a moment I will write
some more from his commentary as to who he identifies as the ones who should be
ashamed but first I am looking at what is going on in our country at this time
when our newly elected President is having one of those who is working for him
go over our budget to see exactly how much waste is in it. Now the party who has been in power for the
last four years is crying about what is being found, and in the point that is
being made from our study of 2 Timothy 2:15 they are the ones who need to be
ashamed. These elected officials make a
good salary but nothing near to the amount that they are worth now after being
in office for a long time. Corruption is
being found and they are sending the money that they cheated to get off to
different offshore bank accounts in Switzerland. Ok let us go back to MacArthur’s commentary
who gives an example from men in Paul’s generation doing similar things. “They are among those Paul speaks of in his
letter to the Philippian church: ‘For
many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they
are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is
their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their
minds on earthly things’ (Phil. 3:18-19, emphasis added). Those who persist in perverting the gospel
are no less than ‘enemies of Christ.’ The
most damning indictment of them is from the pen of Jude, who calls them ‘hidden
reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for
themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without
fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame
like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved
forever’ (Jude 12-13).”
2/16/2025 8:25 AM
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