Category: Articles Page 9 of 11

“But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;” (Philippians 1:12-13)

The Apostle Paul pens this epistle to the church at Philippi during his first Roman imprisonment which occurred probably near 61-63 AD. The Philippian church had sent a messenger, Epaphroditus, to Paul to provide aid to him in prison, who Paul commended for his service towards him (Phil. 2:25-30).  It appears that the messenger had relayed to Paul the church’s concern and attitude of despair for Paul’s current condition in prison. Paul, in these verses, rather redirects the Philippian church to have his own positive perspective of how God in His providence used Paul’s imprisonment in Rome for “the furtherance of the gospel” to allow certain of God’s children in that city to come to the knowledge of the gospel.

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“And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 47:9)

Jacob, as he stands before Pharaoh upon entering Egypt, characterizes his 130 year life on earth as a “pilgrimage”. Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines a “pilgrimage” as: “a long journey, particularly a journey to some place deemed sacred and venerable, in order to pay devotion to the relics of some deceased saint.” We need to understand that our life on earth is a brief part of our journey to our true homeland, our journey to our Father’s house.  We are just passing through this life during our pilgrimage so we need not become too attached to this world or set our roots too deep in the affections of our present, temporary situation.

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“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23)

Here we find Paul’s confidence in the promise that God shall preserve the entire spirit, soul, and body of His elect. The spirit and soul of man go into the presence of God immediately when the saints’ die here in this world. The body will then be glorified and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ at His second coming. Notice another aspect of the final state of our spirit, soul, and body – we shall be “blameless”.

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“(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” (2 Cor. 5:7)

Walking according to the will of God here in this life can be a difficult task for the children of God.  God’s children are appropriately consistently compared to sheep in the scripture. Sheep are not very intelligent animals (when you are feeling pretty smart sometimes just keep in mind you’re just a pile of dust plus the grace of God) and are prone to wander away from the fold and away from the profitable fields of grazing, if not for the watch care of the shepherd. God’s children are commanded to walk and follow our Heavenly Father’s will by faith in God, not by sight.

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“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:8)

At the time of Paul’s first letter to the Corinth Church, all Jews who had not believed in Jesus Christ, still observed the Passover feast in accordance with the command of the Mosaic law.  However, Jesus came to fulfill all the law (Matt 5:17-18), so the church is no longer bound by observance of the Old Testament law, but rather is ruled by the New Testament covenant of grace. While the church is therefore not required to observe the Old Testament version of the Passover feast, Paul introduces a new “feast” that the church should observe, relating to the purity and sincerity of our conduct in the church.

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“…before the foundation of the world…” (Eph. 1:4)

There were many momentous things that occurred before God spoke this world into existence in Genesis 1 that secured the eternal salvation of God’s children before the world that we inhabit was even created. Man certainly can lay no claim to any participation in his eternal salvation because he was not around to mess it up. I’ve heard it said that God created man on the sixth day because if God would have created him first, then Adam would have tried to take credit for all of creation. That’s probably a very accurate statement, knowing the pride and innate carnality of man. That may have been some of God’s intent to fully purpose our eternal salvation before man was created to keep man from trying to take credit for God’s sovereign work, although some still try.  Before the foundation of the world, God loved a people, chose a people, promised eternal life, wrote their names, and prepared an eternal kingdom as the final destination for His beloved.

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“Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” (Matt. 3:8)

John the Baptist is baptizing out in the wilderness many persons from Jerusalem, all Judea, and the surrounding regions in this passage. Those who have presented themselves to John for baptism came “confessing their sins” (Matt. 3:6).  Confession should be an integral part of the baptism experience for the believer in Christ and in joining the church.

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“Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.” (1 Peter 2:17)

Peter’s letter to the elect children of God (1 Pet. 1:2) is a letter of encouragement to faithfully persevere in the faith, even in the midst of persecution, tribulation, and suffering.  The readers of this epistle were facing persecution from without, even from the government under which they were under authority. The Roman Emperor Nero had begun a severe persecution of Christians in 64 AD near the penning of this letter.  Nevertheless, in 1 Peter 2:13-17 these believers are instructed to be obedient unto the governmental authorities, and verse 17 is a brief four sentence summary of the attitudes that God’s children must have towards all men, the church, the Lord God, and the ultimate governmental authority.

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Sometimes we fall into the trap that Paul warned against in his epistle to the church at Rome; we begin to “think of ourselves more highly that we ought to think” (Romans 12:3).  His prescribed remedy for this prideful attitude was to “think soberly as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3b).  We need to ensure that we think “soberly” – to be thoughtful in our actions and to always keep in remembrance who we truly are by nature.

I’ve heard many ministers in the past quip the profound statement: The best of men are only men at best. The psalmist placed the scriptural rubber stamp on this quote: “Every man in his best state is altogether vanity” (Psalm 39:5).  On our best day here on this earth, we are just dust, destined to return to the dust from whence we came (Genesis 3:19). Thankfully the Lord is compassionate towards His children because “he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14).  God is longsuffering towards us because he understands our nature and fleshly warfare that we engage in on a daily basis.  Without the quickening power of God in our lives, we would still be dead in trespasses and sins.  So we have no ability to please God in and of ourselves, especially since “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6).  Until we are given faith in the new birth and as a fruit of the Spirit, we have no ability to please God because we do not have faith.

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