It has happened to all of us.  We heard a sermon, or read a pamphlet, or listened to a gentle rebuke from a friend, but instead of humbly listening and going through the steps of self-examination, we just got angry at the message and the messenger.  I speak from experience on both sides of the aisle.  The passage in James from this week’s homework talks about hearing, speaking, and becoming angry.  It certainly applies to every day relationships, but the context of the passage has to do with our response to the Bible.  I did the homework for Day 2 of this week or Day 23 overall  from 40 Days In The Word and I am passing it on to you.  

19. This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20. for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.   James 1:19-20 NASB

Paraphrase It:

My dear fellow believers, You already know this, but each of us should be quick to hear God’s Word, we should always be slow to argue with it, and we should be should be very slow to be angry with God’s Word.  Because our anger does not bring about the kind of righteousness God wants me to have.

Apply It:

I am glad that James prefaced his remarks with “my beloved brethren.”  It is always good to remember when I am about to hear a strong word from God that He loves me and so does the messenger.  I need to remember to do that like James did, when I have to deliver a strong message.

I need to be quick to listen to God’s word and put it into practice.  I should not have to wait and think it over when I know what is right.  

I should be slow to speak.  I should be slow to talk back to God when he is talking to me.  It is way too easy for me to argue with Him or His word and think that it is not referring to me, or I do not have to change.

I also need to never respond in anger to God’s Word to me, or the messenger of His Word.  Sometimes when I do not like the message God has for me, it is easy to get angry inside and even project that anger to a brother or sister who simply happened to be telling me what God said.  That is wrong.  

In fact, getting angry with God’s Word or those who teach it, preach it, share it, send it, or use it to counsel, is wrong.  My anger will not be able to produce the right kind of life, the life that will make God proud and make me happy.

Pray It:

Lord, I am so thankful that I know that you love me, no matter how difficult the message may be to hear.  Thanks for reminding me to always be quick to hear and obey your word.  I know that is best for me.  Thanks for reminding me how wrong it is to argue with you about what you have said.  And thank you for reminding me to not get angry with others when you speak to me because that is never productive.  In fact it just causes more problems.    Amen

You are loved,

Bro. Kelly

PS  Remember, if you happen to miss the Sunday night group, you can make it up by sitting in on one of the other groups.  There is a group that meets at the church campus on Wednesday night at 6:00 PM in room C109.

Do me a favor, and if you liked this post, please give is a “LIKE” on your FACEBOOK status and even a comment in the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of this article and let others know about our site.  If you do not see a “Leave a Reply” box, then click on the Title of the article and scroll to the bottom and you should see it.

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I think you will like it.  It shows our 40 Days in the Word table in our Atrium, the Sunday evening service where the worship service is devoted to the watching the DVD together in a large group time, our children, youth, and some small groups.  We showed this video during our morning worship service during week 2 to get a little more excitement built up.  It was very effective.

The link below will open on the Vimeo site where we store our worship service videos.

Click Here To Watch The 2 Minute Video!

I don’t know if we can do a video for each week, but doing one for the first week helped to keep the interest and enthusiasm going and also helped us get a few more people signed up and put into groups.

Kelly

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SPACEPETS

S – Is There a SIN to Confess?
P – Is There a PROMISE to Claim?
A – Is There an ATTITUDE to Change?
C – Is There a COMMAND to Obey?
E – Is There an EXAMPLE to Follow?
P – Is There a PRAYER to Pray?
E – Is There an ERROR to Avoid?
T – Is There a TRUTH to Believe?
S – Is There SOMETHING to Praise God for?

One passage assigned to us this week is Mark 14:3-9.  In this passage an unnamed woman crashes the dinner party at  Simon the leper’s home where Jesus is dining and becomes the subject of table talk.  How could we apply SPACEPETS to this passage?  I will give you some of mine and you can send me some of your applications.

There seems to have been a few Sins here.  One sin was assuming the wrong motives about this woman.  Forgive me for wrongly judging the motives of God’s servants based on my own issues.  Is there a Promise to claim?  There was a promise for the woman to claim, that her worshipful act would always be spoken of.  Is there an Attitude to Change?  I seem to always be able to find one of these.  Some had a greedy attitude.  Some had a judgmental attitude.  Some viewed extravagant worship Jesus as a “waste.” Some even seemed to have a higher view of the poor than they did of Jesus.  Please deliver me from having a greedy attitude that refuses to honor Jesus or is upset when others give their best.  Is there a Command to obey?  Jesus commanded everyone to leave her alone and stop criticizing her.  Maybe that is a good word for me sometimes, too.  Is there an Example to follow?  Perhaps that is the primary application here.  This lady was willing to give extravagant worship and honor to Jesus in spite of what others thought or in spite of the cost, or even what the cultural obstacles might have been.  The Lord commended her.  She did what she could.  WOW.  She didn’t do what she had to, or what was required, or something beyond her ability.  She just did what she could.  So should I.  There is no Prayer to pray in this passage, except perhaps her silent prayer of gratitude and praise.  Is there an Error to avoid?  The error of jumping to conclusions or assuming that worship time is wasted time.  Is there a Truth to believe?  The gospel will be preached in the whole world.  Jesus is worthy of my worship.  The Father will honor those who honor our Savior.  Is there Something to Praise God for here?  He is worthy to be honored.  And my service, and my gifts, and my worship, and my life’s devotion are never a waste when offered to Him!

I think we are just scratching the surface of this passage.  Have fun with SPACEPETS.

You are loved,

Bro. Kelly

PS  I will include the Mark 14:3-9 passage below in the NASB.  Hope you are still enjoying 40 Days In The Word!

Mark 14:3-9

³While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head. ⁴But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? ⁵“For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. ⁶But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. ⁷“For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. ⁸“She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. ⁹“Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

BTW, you might just want to jot down this SPACEPETS acronym on the inside cover of your study Bible.  That way, you will always have a quick and easy way to study through a passage of Scripture.  We are thinking about printing labels that our church members can stick in their Bibles.

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Paul made a point of saying that while it was not necessarily “wrong” or “sinful” for him to eat that meat, it was more important to have an attitude that took the feelings of others into account.  So, he was willing to voluntarily give up his “right” to eat meat, so that he would not cause one of these young converts to stumble in their new faith. 

“Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.”  1 Corinthians 8:13

So the question came up, what activities do we do that are not necessarily “wrong,” but could cause other believers to stumble in their faith.  What are some areas where we need to show religious respect and have cultural sensitivity and extend the love of Christ?

Some areas involve public worship.  Some believers like to raise their hands and clap their hands in corporate worship.  I love their enthusiasm.  Other Christians would rather lose an arm that ever raise it during the worship service.  They feel that it would be to “showy” or draw attention to themselves and away from the Lord.  Both tend to be cultural thoughts based on the type of church a person was raised in or attended when they were first saved.  Neither are essentials for entering heaven or cooperating together in the Great Commission.  Yet these areas plague many church fellowships. 

Some practical matters of every day living that are often mentioned in some of these “grey area mine fields” are smoking, drinking, and tattoos, etc.  Is it OK for a Christian to smoke or is that a “sin?”  And we could ask the same of each of these areas and more.  Please don’t think I am condoning or encouraging any of these things.  Don’t break fellowship with me based on this small article.  However, what I am suggesting is that in all of these areas, we actually ask the question:  “What does the Bible actually say about it?” 

If the Bible is the Christian’s ultimate authority, then we must always go back to our authoritative source for answers to these questions and then be intellectually honest enough to study the subject well and live with the whole truth and any tensions or exceptions that we may discover. 

So, what about eating meat, smoking cigarettes, drinking wine, and getting tattoos?  I am not ABOUT to try to answer any one of those questions in this brief article.  However, I do think that there is room for grace and love among believers on all of them.  I think you will appreciate the humorous little story by my friend Mike Cramer in his new book, Fireside Chats to Fire Up Churches. 

“When it comes to religious respect; I prefer the guiding principle of:  In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.  When it comes to cultural sensitivity; I am reminded of the little humorous story concerning some Christians in France attending a Bible study.  It seems their discussion shifted to the subject of Christianity in America.  They were appalled to discover that some “so-called Christians” in the United States actually smoked cigarettes.  This so enraged these French believers that they jumped up and tripped over their wine glasses!”  (Fireside Chats That Fire Up Churches, p. 107 from the chapter titled:  “Religious Respect and Cultural Sensitivity,” by Michael Cramer)

The doctrinal essentials are seldom the things that divide us as believers.  It is the non-essentials where we have the most controversy. Perhaps we should be more like Paul and have the attitude that loves those who differ with us enough to even give up our rights.  Imagine how significantly our arguments would dwindle if we were all willing to love each other like that. 

I think Paul loved meat, but he loved his fellow believers more.

Hope this gives you a little something to think about today.

Your fellow pilgrim,

Bro. Kelly

PS  Pick up a copy of Michael A. Cramer’s new book, Fireside Chats To Fire Up Churches.  And get a copy for your pastor, he will love it.  For more information on how to get a copy go to

http://www.nlpositivefaith.com/powerforliving_ministry.html

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Picture the Disabled Man

In one particular village there was a disabled man who attended the synagogue service. Mark says his hand was “shriveled.” Whatever the medical reason for it, his hand was unusable. Have you ever been without the use of one of your hands? You never think about how much you use it or need it until you are deprived of it. How many daily activities require two hands? How many jobs require both hands? Was he embarrassed for people to see his bad hand? I wonder how many opportunities this man lost because he had only one good hand? How did he feel when His hand was suddenly, miraculously restored? How did that change the way he used that hand from then on? Now he could praise God with both hands in the air!

The Bible talks about using our hands in service to God. I wonder what part of your life or mine is disabled and in need of healing? What area of your life is “shriveled” and unused. Is it poor health, lack of relationships, the scars of abuse, the lack of resources, a missed education, a record, poor choices of the past, a past failure, some shameful habit, or something else? This man at least went to the synagogue to worship. Maybe he always went on the Sabbath, or maybe he just knew that is where Jesus would be. One thing is clear, everybody there was aware of his handicap.

Picture the Pharisees

The Pharisees attended the synagogue that day, too. Not to worship God, but to validate themselves. They went to watch Jesus, not with an attitude of loving devotion, but more like an investigative reporter hoping to scoop a scandal. Their eyes were filled with judgment and their hearts were full of self-righteousness. It is hard to imagine it, but they were so intent on finding fault with others that they would rather let people suffer than break their own misguided laws. Jesus never broke one Old Testament command, but He was guilty of breaking the popular manmade religious rules of His day, and the makers of those rules hated Him for it. According to them it was wrong to heal, but alright to plot evil on the Sabbath.

Their lack of sympathy for this man actually angered Jesus. He asked, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath…?” Mark says He was both angry and grieved with them. I wonder which of my attitudes towards people anger the Lord? Do I ever set up rules that keep me from reaching out to others? What kind of inner thoughts do you and I have about people who have been disabled by sin, situation, or sorrow, that actually grieve the heart of our Savior? Is the homeless man a sheep that needs a shepherd or merely an interruption to remove? What about the illegal alien, the smart-alecky skeptic, or the dirty unreached village in another hemisphere? Jesus read the hearts of the Pharisees and He searches ours, too.

Picture Yourself?

Did you “get the picture?” That is just day 2 of the “Picture It” method of daily Bible study in 40 Days In The Word. Picture yourself in the place of the different characters in the story. It can help you read the Bible with new eyes and feel it with a new heart. Email us with your insights and blessings so we can share with others what God is doing!

Revolutionize Your Bible Study and Revolutionize Your Life!

You are loved,

Bro. Kelly

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