Finding Time For the Bible

A few months ago in the House-to-House bimonthly publication that Four Mile Hill sends out to the surrounding community, brother Allen Webster put a list of ways that we could read the Bible throughout the day. The list included:
--Put a Bible under your pillow to read each night before you go to sleep.
--Wake up ten minutes earlier each morning.
--Turn off the TV at 8:00 p.m. each night and read to your children.
--Read a few verses at mealtime when the family is together.
--Talk less to have a few more minutes to read.
--Keep a Bible in the kitchen, to read while waiting for food to cook or for water to boil, or near the phone, to read while on hold.
--Carry a Bible in your purse or pocket, to read while waiting in line for doctors or when arriving early.
--Take a Bible on trips and read on a plane or in a hotel.
“Don’t just own a Bible—read it!”

Brother Webster is certainly on to something big concerning the Christian lifestyle. How many Bibles do you have in your homes that are just dust collectors? You may even have one set-up on a pedestal in the entrance to your home open to a favorite verse and looks are its only purpose. Looks can be deceiving though. Are you neglecting the “pure spiritual milk” that Peter tells us to “long for like newborn infants?” He wrote, “…that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

How can you long for something if you go without tasting it? In order to long for it we must consume it. Every Valentine’s Day my wife, Kayla, buys me a bag of delicious Cherry Cordial Cream Hershey Kisses. It seems the more I have the more I want. Once the bag is gone, I have withdrawals for a while and soon lose the craving and near forget about them until she surprises me with them the next year. If we go without the pure milk of the Bible, we too will soon lose the craving for it. Peter wrote, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith,” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). If we do not find time for the Bible, Satan will devour us. Where will you find time for the Bible this week?

Be a Show-Off

As a kid, whenever I received something new to me, I wanted to show it off to everyone. One of my most memorable Christmas presents was a miniature John Deer tractor with pedals on it that I could ride around. I hooked a wagon on the back of it and off I went loading up sticks, straw, dirt, pinecones, brothers’ G.I. Joes, and whatever else I could find. I was proud of that tractor and wanted everybody to see it.

James was concerned about Christians not showing off with good works the gift of salvation that had been given to them. He wrote, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (2:18). Some Christians were under the deception that faith only was sufficient for salvation. James course corrected, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (2:19-20).

James gives two examples of people who showed their faith by their works and did not even conceive that their faith alone was sufficient. The first example is when Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar. Abraham believed in God and he showed that belief with an active faith through his works. “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works,” (James 2:22). The second example is Rahab. She heard of the mighty works that God did for Israel and she believed and feared (Joshua 2:8-11). Rahab was justified not simply because of her belief in God, but because of her works in helping the Jewish spies escape sure destruction by the king.

As Abraham and Rahab were justified by works, we must also have more than just faith in God. Our faith must be active producing good works which play a role in justification. If you are thankful for the gift of grace that has been offered to you through Jesus Christ, why not be a show-off? How can you show-off this gift that has given you hope in the midst of despair? Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16). Are you ashamed? Be a show-off for the gospel today.

Why Would James Contradict Paul?

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). It cannot be much clearer of a statement for those who advocate faith alone is what saves us. Is one of these proponents the apostle Paul himself? He wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10). It appears that James and Paul hold two opposing viewpoints. Should we listen to Paul and count on grace through faith alone to save us, or do we adhere to James and accompany our faith with works?

If we are to read Ephesians 2:8-9, we cannot leave out verse 10. Paul describes two different kinds of “works.” Christianity derived from Judaism where certain “works” were required in order to keep the covenant with God such as circumcision and dietary regulations. When the New Covenant was established, those old works of the law were useless to be in right standing with God. Paul also wrote, “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Gal. 2:16). Paul never once suggests giving up good works, only works of the law, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).

When James wrote that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” he did not contradict Paul, but agreed with him. James would never contradict Paul as no writer in the Bible would contradict another because it is God’s word (2 Tim. 3:16). There is no amount of works of the law that could justify us from sin; this is where grace through faith comes in hand. We make our faith alive by the good works we do. Paul did write that we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works…” (Eph. 2:10). Have you neglected to show someone the love of Christ through your good works? If not, you may need to grab a shovel to bury your dead faith.

You Let Me Fall!

I grew up on a dirt road for most of my childhood before the county paved it. Each house in our area was required to have at least an acre of land to avoid crowding and becoming like a subdivision neighborhood. Our road dead ended into our neighbors’ driveway, so there was not much traffic down this road. We could get out and play cork ball or wiffle ball without fear of many cars. That little stretch of dirt road carries some fond memories. Sometimes, my brothers and I would have to get out and push my dad’s truck up and down the road so he could pop the clutch to get it started. Those were the good old days.

One of my favorite memories on that road was learning to ride a bike. Maybe it is one of my favorites because once you learn the skill it is yours for life. Like any beginner on a bicycle, we started of with tricycles at a very early age then moved up to the bike with training wheels. There comes a time though when the training wheels have to come off. There comes a point in everybody’s life when something that was helping you is now a hindrance to making you better. When a baby gets old and big enough, you have to remove the crib and allow him/her to sleep in a bed or else the poor thing will soon be jammed in there head to toe and sleep will be hindered. When sleep is hindered in children’s lives, growth will be stunted and you have literally retarded the natural growth process that God put in place. Keeping the training wheels of life on your child will not help, in fact, it will destroy.

As I learned to ride around on that bike and got very comfortable doing so, I wanted those training wheels to come off. When they did come off, mom or dad held on to the back of the seat and a handle bar to get me started. At some point though, they let go. I cannot remember how far down that old road they let go of my seat, but I did not realize it until it was time to turn around at the dead end. I did not know how to stop! I do remember thinking or yelling, “You let me go?!” I crashed. Oddly enough, I do not remember my parents ever having to help with the bike again. They got me to where I needed to be and had the love to let go. Thank you Mom and Dad and happy Father’s Day.

A Tribute to Mark Adams

When I saw this picture I immediately thought of Mark and the "Friday Smiles" he posts on his blog.  I hope this is worthy Mark!

Putting Degrees on Sin

Why do Christians put degrees on sin when there is absolutely no ground for this in the Bible? Maybe it is because everybody wants to think their lifestyle is okay as long as it does not get as bad as…fill in the blank. Putting degrees on sin really comes down to trying to justify the sin that is in your own life. Emerson Eggerichs, author of Love & Respect, wrote, "Self-righteousness can deceive you more than any other sin." I think that is a fair statement.

In order to “fulfill the royal law,” James wrote, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (2:8). James quoting from Leviticus 19:18 knew this was a pillar of the Jewish nation. This law that Moses gave to the Israelites was also reiterated by Jesus when asked by the rich young man, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16, 19). Also, when a Pharisee tried to test Jesus, he asked, “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matt. 22:36-40). If Jesus “goes all-in” with these two commandments, we had better pay some special attention to them.

When James brings up loving your neighbor as yourself, he does so in the context of showing partiality concerning sin. He wrote, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (2:10). When we put degrees on sin, we are acting as the Scribes and Pharisees acted. We are hypocrites just as they were when we point fingers at the sin in others’ lives without facing the sin that is in our own life! I am not suggesting that sinful behavior be left unhandled, but I am suggesting that putting degrees on sin by saying one sin is worse than another is wrong. We might not even realize we do it because we do not express it in words. Why then do we look down on the pregnant teenager or the homosexual? We unconsciously put degrees on sin. Stop it! Sin is sin and God hates it.

The Elevator

I subscribe to a newsletter through 48days.com.  This week's included a story that had me laughing and I thought it worthy to share with you readers:

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, "What is this father?" The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is."

While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady hobbled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the old lady shuffled between them and into a small room.

The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of light with numbers above the wall light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up again and a beautiful 24 year old woman stepped out. The father said to his son, "Jedediah, go get your Mother."

Four Mile Hill on iTunes

The Four Mile Hill podcast (our sermons) are now on iTunes!  Get your free download of iTunes for Mac and PC users at http://www.apple.com/itunes/.  You can then search "Four Mile Hill church of Christ" in the iTunes Store and get the latest free podcast post (or all of them) straight to your computer.  Burn it to a CD, upload it to your iPhone or iPod, or send the link to your friends.  Enjoy.

Aging

As I drove the cheese wagon this afternoon, I overheard some middle school kids looking at some coins and reading the dates on them.  One noticed a coin from 1999 and thought that was pretty cool, then they discovered one from 1984.  Their reply was, "Wooooh!  That's an oooold one!"  Yup that was the year before I was born.  I got a good laugh.

Cyberspace Sermons

The sermon I preached this morning can be heard from the player I posted at the top of this page using a site called podomatic.  You can also listen to Rick Wood's sermon on "Conversion" that he preached tonight at the 4 Mile Hill website.  There, you can also read my weekly article entitled, "Quick Draw."  We are trying our best to make this website a useful resource for people around the globe.  Hopefully, the website will get to the point where a free server can't handle all we want to do with it...that would be a good problem to have.  But for now, we're newbies at it, so we'll stick with Edublogs, which is a great sight for teachers to have for their class rooms as well.  Enjoy.