17

Jump Start # 671

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 671

Revelation 13:18 “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

Last week, we published Jump Start # 666. That number made me think of this passage. Many get excited about that number. I was in a store once, at the checkout line, standing behind a lady. Her purchase, when tax was added in, came to be $6.66. 666. She panicked. She walked away. She didn’t buy the item. She didn’t give the clerk any money. She just left. The clerk looked a me. I said, “I guess that’s not her lucky number.” People don’t like that number.

Our Jump Starts are not intended to be a scholarly detailed analysis of a passage. I certainly wouldn’t be writing them if they were. However, there are a few simple things we can know about this 666 business.

First, the book of Revelation is extremely figurative. It is considered apocalyptic literature. It is similar to Ezekiel’s vision and Zechariah. The first chapter tells us that it is “signified” or in symbols. That is important. Symbols have meaning. They are intended to represent things. Making things literal when they are intended to by symbols, misses the point and gives a false idea that was never intended. Colors and numbers are important part of these symbols. We understand that today. School colors, the color of a flag—represent things. Seven is God’s number. Seven churches…seven seals…seven bowls of wrath. Six six six  is never seven seven seven. It misses it each time. Six is not God. Six is the number of the beast, the enemy of God’s people. The enemy of God. It is called the number of a man. It is not divine.

Second, the message was given to the Christians in the first century. They were the original readers. We forget that. We think that John wrote that just for Americans of this generation. That thinking, will also lead to ideas that are not intended. The first Christians had to understand the message. Remember, those early Christians were being persecuted. They were scared and uncertain. Revelation is a book of confidence and hope. The message is, “Jesus wins.” One of the key words found throughout the book is “overcome.” They were to overcome and continue on in their faith. John is showing those early Christians a vision. Rome would be defeated. More than that, behind Rome was Satan. He, too, would be defeated. It is all to be in God’s time.

 

Third, the messages of Revelation have a specific and targeted meaning. Randomly coming across the number six, six, six is not a sign from Heaven, nor an indication that someone is the son of Satan. Getting six six six in change or buying something that costs six six six means nothing. God doesn’t operate through signs. He speaks through His son (Heb 1:1-2). The number is not to be taken literally. If 666 is to be dreaded, then the opposite ought to be true. Getting 777 in change ought to mean I’m an angel. That’s certainly not the case, just ask my wife.

Man’s way and God’s way. That’s the thoughts being addressed in Revelation. The way of man is Satan, Rome, power, oppression and death. God’s way is Christ, salvation, His kingdom, life and Heaven. Man’s way will not stop God’s way. God will prevail. This has shown true for centuries. Some have tried to wipe out the Bible. It’s still around. Others have tried to gather up Christians and kill them. Christians are still around. Nebuchadnezzars have come and gone.  Caesars have come and gone. Hitlers have come and gone. God remains. God is faithful.

The identifying marks of a Christian are not a number, such as 7, but righteous living and devoted faith to the Lord of Heaven and earth. Those that belong to God walk by faith—every day. They worship regularly with God’s people. They are connected to the Lord in prayer. They happily engage in building the kingdom of God. They stand where God stands. They are not ashamed of either the message nor the life that God wants them to live.

Forget astrology. Put down the number charts. Open the Bible and learn to become what God wants. This is the sign that we ought to see everywhere. It’s seen in the home as moms and dads do their best to bring their children in the way of the Lord. It’s seen in the choices that they make. It is seen in their attitudes. It is seen in their outlook on life. It is seen in what motivates and what moves them. The people of God are awesome! They come when duty calls. They shudder not when Satan raises his ugly head. They carry the banner of Jesus. Heaven is their home, their destination, and their hope. Nothing will stop them. They are the people of God.

Did it scare me to write Jump Start # 666? Not a bit. Should it have? No. Our trust is in God and not a random number that comes up.

Roger

 

16

Jump Start # 670

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

 

Jump Start # 670

Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

Yesterday we took a brief look at Habakkuk. Today we continue with a few more thoughts. Habakkuk is a short book—three chapters. This is why it is found among the “minor” prophets. The third chapter is a prayer of Habakkuk. Our verse today, the last verse of the second chapter, is the last recorded words of God in this book. It is a great statement “The Lord is in His holy Temple.”

Earlier in the second chapter, God introduces a series of “woes” This is similar to what is found in Isaiah. Habakkuk’s woes are:

  • Woe to him who increases what is not his (2:6)
  • Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house (2:9)
  • Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed (2:12)
  • Woe to you who make your neighbors drink (2:15)
  • Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, “Awake!” (2:19)

It is interesting in those series of woes to see a shift in wording. Four times we find, “woe to him…” but one time, it says, “Woe to you…”

With all these woes, God ends this section by reminding all that He is in His holy Temple. God has not gone away. He has not abandoned us to figure things out on our own. He has not given up. Yet, He remains true. He continues to be Holy. He is in His Holy Temple.

What a powerful principle we find when we put the last verse and the first verse together. They stand almost like bookends. The chapter begins with the prophet declaring, “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart…” I will stand on my guard post and God is in His holy Temple. I’m not counting on God doing it all, nor to do things for me. I am at the post watching. Neither do I expect to handle this alone, God is in His holy temple.

With God in His Holy Temple, Habakkuk was standing guard at his post. God was sending the Babylonians. Habakkuk was watching. The conclusion of verse one states, “and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.” He knew the Babylonians were coming. He knew because God said so. What God says, happens. This is a profound, yet basic understanding in our faith. God says, it will happen.

Some how we don’t always get that. Throw in the subject of morality, lifestyles, what God expects, and all of a sudden what God says, doesn’t really mean that. We find ways to skirt around some things. We do not find ourselves standing watch at the post, because we do not believe it will happen. We laugh at sin and find it to be attractive. We flirt with the world and stick our toes over the line of right and wrong. Society gets softer and softer with wrong and redefines what is normal and we find our definitions following society. Not so for Habakkuk. He stood at the post. He watched. It was coming because God said so. May the Lord give us hearts so pure and honest that we accept what God says without question and that we stand ready at the post.

Those two expressions, beginning the chapter and ending the chapter are great for us to keep before us. God is in His holy Temple. Hebrews tells us to come boldly before the throne of grace. What a blessing it is that we can do that. Likewise, how important it is for us to be watching at our post. Do not desert the post. Do not fall asleep while on duty. Do not neglect what we ought to be doing. The wise virgins in Matthew 25 were told to be alert, for you do not know the day nor the hour. The elders at Ephesus were told to watch the flock and be alert (Acts 20). At the post…watching. Knowing that what the Lord said will come about.

There is comfort for us as we stand at the post, knowing that God is in His holy Temple.

Roger

 

15

Jump Start # 669

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 669

Habakkuk 1:5-6 “ Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—You would not believe if you were told. “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.”

One of our Jump Start readers asked me to write some articles from the book of Habakkuk. Children love to say that name, “Habakkuk.” It’s fun to pronounce. The prophet Habakkuk was writing to Judah and foretelling of the invasion of the Babylonians. This book predates Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

 

Habakkuk begins with the prophet wondering why God doesn’t do something about the violence in the land. From his perspective, God was out of touch. Our verses today reveal two wonderful lessons for us.

 

First, “I am doing something.” God responds. He has not been silent nor unaware of what is going on. I love the powerful words here: Look…observe…be astonished…wonder. Then there is that wonderful expression, “You would not believe if you were told.” An answer was coming. It was not the way that Habakkuk would have thought or imagined.

 

Second, God was using the Chaldeans, or Babylonians as the answer to Habakkuk’s plea to do something. Although Habakkuk could not see it, far away in Babylon, troops were marching and things were happening. God was using a foreign nation, and a wicked one at that, to deal with His people. God doesn’t only use His people to accomplish what He needs. He has done this time and again.

 

God used a group of foreign sailors to deal with run away Jonah. God used lepers, gentiles and tax collectors to open the eyes of the disciples. God is not limited to us. God can and will use other people to fulfill His will.

 

That thought troubles us sometimes and it did Habakkuk. The Babylonians were described by God as: fierce and impetuous. They were on a mission to take places that were not theirs. This is how the three Jewish youths and Daniel get to Babylon. This is the beginning of a seventy year captivity for Judah. This is all part of Judah’s history. And behind it all, was God. When the time was enough and God was through with Babylon, He would allow another nation, the Persians, to come to power. This allowed the people of Judah to return home and rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. History. Wars. Kings. Battles. God.

 

Our world seems much smaller than Habakkuk’s. We have instant news around the clock. An earthquake in far away lands is reported immediately across the world. Plane crashes, the deaths of prominent people, clashes in the streets and bombings are a part of our nightly news. These things come to us from far away places. We are more aware today of nations building armies, moving ships, and foreign policies than ever before. Our instant news, does not remove God from the picture. The kings heart is still like channels of water in God’s hands. God still removes kings as He chooses. God remains upon the throne.

What does all of this mean to you and I? Often, we are not aware of what God is doing. He is not responsible to us, nor answers to us. He is doing things that we are not aware of. Our prayers may call upon God to help us. It seems like nothing is being done. We can get discouraged. We wonder if it is something with us. Is our faith not right? Could it be God doesn’t like us any more? Our thoughts run to the extremes. Then we are reminded of Habakkuk. We often stand where he did. Why isn’t God doing something. The answer is, “He is.” You wouldn’t believe it if He told you.

 

God is so far ahead of us that we often don’t see it. When Jesus told the disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” have you ever grasped how far into the future God has been working before we even pray that prayer? The seed had been planted a long time ago. The wheat grew to maturity. That took some months. It was harvested, taken to a mill, ground and sold. Some one used it to bake bread. The bread was put on our plate and we bow our heads and thank the Lord for the food we have before us, never seeing the rains that it took to grow it, the harvest, the planting, the baking. All we see is the bread on the plate. God was busy long before we bowed our heads to make that bread possible. And that’s simply bread. Take something more serious and more complex. A child. A person coming to Christ. Finding a mate. Men being appointed elders. All of these things took months and years of development before the results became known. We see someone get baptized on a Sunday morning. It’s exciting. There were many things going on in that person’s heart to get them to that point. God is doing things that we do not even see.

 

While David was watching his father’s sheep in the hills of Judea, God was preparing him to be the next King of Israel. David didn’t know that. God did. There were things that happened ten to twenty years in advance that took David from a shepherd to king.

 

All of this tells us that God is doing things even today that I am not aware of. He is doing things now that may not become visible for another twenty years. Things happen to us and we may not see the hand of God in it. A move to a new city. A new job. A new friend. Things here and things there—yet things we would not believe if we were told.

 

Don’t give up on God. Because you do not see the answer to your prayer today, do not feel that He has turned His back on you. He may well be doing things, even this very moment, that you would not believe. The wheat may still be growing in the field for your future bread. God knows these things. Trust God. His plans may include people that you would not use. God can. He may send help from a place you never considered. Trust God. Don’t give up.

You wouldn’t believe it if He told you!

Roger

 

14

Jump Start # 668

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 668

3 John 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.

Diotrephes was a real pill. He was a spiritual bully. He was a Christian, but one who simply didn’t get what it was all about. It seems that Diotrephes had his target set on John. He accused John unjustly. Not only bullied but he did so using “wicked words.” He refused to accept some Christians and “puts them out of the church.” The spirit of Diotrephes didn’t die with this man. It can be found in many places today. People that want to “run” the church. Power plays and power struggles and folks not getting their ways, so they use wickedness as a means to get what they want.

Bullies cause fear. This is true if we talk about middle school, power players at work, or the Diotrephes in the church. Bullies intimidate and use fear to control others. They like to make fun of people and be leaders of troublemakers. If you are small, different, kind, good, obedient you become the target of bullies. They think they are cool but they are not. Too many schools are having to deal with bullies. It’s a shame that they have to do this. Parents ought to be doing this, but bullies often become what they are from dysfunctional parents.

I’m going to age myself here, when I was in school, we didn’t have middle school. K-8, same building for me. High school was a different world. The high school I went to had major racial issues in the early 70’s. Fights, intimidation, fear, and bulling was normal. Bullies believe in developing a pecking order that they control. I have encountered bullies in the church. They talk tough and threaten often. They try to scare. The best way to deal with bullies is to stand up. Don’t let them have any ground. It takes a ton of courage to do that. This is exactly what John was doing to Diotrephes. If he came, he was calling him out. This would not be a fist fight. It would be an apostle taking the helm of the ship over and revealing the ungodly deeds of a man who isn’t acting like a Christian.

I have no respect for Christian bullies. I have a dear preaching friend of mine who encountered one recently.  This bully pretended to be another preacher. He’s not. He’s a bully. He uses long emails, threats and fear to try to make younger preachers be controlled by him. In the pretense of standing for the truth he used his bully tactics on my friend. It didn’t work. Spiritual bullies are the worse kind. We expect more, and we should from Christians. Spiritual bullies can use the pulpit to scare an audience into the behavior that they want. Spiritual bullies can find their way into the leadership of the church and use that position and role to control others. Shame on them!

Diotrephes should have been stopped immediately when he started using wicked words. Anyone that has to do that, has no argument and is desperate. This is not the behavior of Christians!

Spiritual bullies can’t handle silence. They long for a dog fight. When emails are not answered and threats are not countered they have nothing. All they can do is spread lies to their fellow bullies. No one of any count listens to them.  When the word of God is opened up to bullies they hush. God’s word used correctly will silence those who are wicked, falsely accusing and are not following the way of Christ.

Diotrephes goes down in history as a real jerk. I know of no one who would name their son after this man. Wanting to be first, he actually became last. He is used throughout history in sermons and classes as an example of pride and failure. He hurt the people of God. He was not like Jesus. The use of email, facebook and blogs have allowed those who are like Diotrephes to have an audience. They complain, ridicule, condemn and denounce good people who are trying to follow Jesus. They are bullies. Ignore them. Don’t read their rubbish. Get about doing the good that you know to do.

 

Diotrephes serves a purpose. Without his story, we wouldn’t know what to do today. John shows us. John was not getting in the mud with him and becoming a counter bully. Not at all. John stood with Jesus. Some things are wrong and need to be stopped in a Biblical fashion. It is amazing that one man can have such an impact upon a congregation.

 

Some of our readers know well what I am writing about. You could put names and faces to this story. May God give you the courage to stand with what is right. May you pray for a change of hearts and the spirit of Jesus to prevail. Bullies have problems: socially, emotionally, and especially spiritually. There are proper ways to do things, and force and fear isn’t the means to accomplish these.

 

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, is more than a hymn. It’s the N.T. way. Paul said, “Christ is our life,” and on another occasion, “it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me.” That’s the way it ought to be. That’s where we need to be.

Roger

 

13

Jump Start # 667

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 667

Acts 17:11 “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Our passage makes a comparison between two places, Berea and Thessalonica. The comparison was a spiritual one based upon the reception of the word of God. The spirit of the Bereans is commended here. They were more noble-minded. It’s easy to thump on the Thessalonians, but they were an impressive group.

  • 1 Thes 2:13 “when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but what it really is, the word of God
  • 1 Thes 1:6 “You became imitators of us and the Lord…”
  • 1 Thes 2:14 “For you brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea”
  • 1 Thes 1:8 “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you”

There are two wonderful characteristics of the Bereans.

First, they eagerly received the word of God. They were excited to have the gospel preached to them. This wasn’t a group that asked, “Do we have to go…” This wasn’t a group that was bored nor had to fight staying awake. The Bereans put some of us to shame. They would love to have what we have spiritually. The word of God was welcomed.

Secondly, they examined the Scriptures to see whether the things were true. They knew that the word of God was the final answer. If it’s true to the book, then it’s true. That was their spirit. They didn’t say, “well, that’s just the Bible, he’s what I think…” They did not accept what they heard because a speaker impressed them. I’m amazed how thorough these folks were. They checked things out. They were careful. It seems today that if someone “rediscovers” something, writes a book, folks will flock to the new idea without any thought to what the Bible says.

The Bereans understood that right and wrong was based upon the Bible. Saying something without Biblical proof wasn’t going to fly with these people. These Bereans were careful. They looked. They searched. They didn’t let someone do all their thinking for them.

Those are good thoughts for us to remember. When we are reading something, including one of these Jump Starts, or a book or a blog or a website, read it with careful eyes. Read it with an open Bible. Read it with the understanding that it is only right if it is Biblically right.

This spirit will make us dig in our Bibles. It will make us ask questions, do our homework and learn. We may find, like the Bereans did, that what we heard or read is true with God. That truth can lead us to a better understanding, a better relationship with the Lord and a better hope in our hearts. Learning is fun and a great adventure for all of us. Learning isn’t limited to those in school, but to all of us. Don’t fall into the habit of being spoon fed by the preacher. He doesn’t the homework, he does the thinking, and we just listen and accept. The Bereans were cut from a different cloth than that. They would have none of that. They heard and then they went to the book.

National averages about adults reading books are shocking. More than 50% of adults do not read books, any books. The number of people that have told me directly, “I do not like to read,” is unbelievable. I’ve even had a preacher or two admit that. They are in the wrong business. It’s like a painter saying that he doesn’t like paint. Then, what are we reading? Hollywood magazines about who kissed who this week? Sports magazines? Novels? Some of those have a place, but what about Biblical books? What about the Bible itself?

Reading, thinking, challenging yourself, finding answers, chasing ideas, learning  – is such a wonderful task. It’s a lifelong journey and a wonderful adventure. Biblical knowledge gives a person so much hope and confidence. Knowing is the answer. The Bereans had that spirit.

How about you? Do you?

Roger