By Michael E. Brooks

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16).

Doing business in a land with different laws, customs and values than those one is used to is a difficult and frustrating process. For the past several weeks here in Bangladesh I have been meeting with government officials, lawyers, and others trying to finalize some necessary matters associated with our college property. To say that I am "out of my element" would be a gross understatement. I am not a business person even in the United States. Here, I really do not know what I am doing. I don't understand the language, the legal requirements, or the customs and procedures. Help!!

Yet, is this not the situation that Christians face every day in this world? We are not "of the world" and our values, interests and rules are different from those we must sometimes deal with in everyday affairs. Have you ever wished you could just "suspend" your identity as a Christian for a little while, and take care of something, then go back to your religion untouched by guilt or regret? I suspect we all wish that, and certainly many try it.

But that is not an option to the sincere Christian, earnestly striving to please his Lord and impact this sinful world. There is a solution, however, one proposed by Jesus himself even before the Church was established. We must "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." What a paradox. And yet, how perfectly appropriate it is to our situation in a hostile world.

Jesus knew that all who genuinely sought to follow him would be at a disadvantage in worldly terms in dealing with the dishonest, the ruthless and the criminal. "Turning the other cheek" leaves one rather helpless. Loving one's enemy makes one vulnerable, because the enemy is unlikely to reciprocate that love. Are Christians to merely be victims, helpless before the unprincipled? No, at least not entirely. Jesus permits, even encourages, us to avail ourselves of worldly wisdom and be prepared to meet others with at least knowledge of their ways. In what is perhaps Jesus' most perplexing parable, the unjust steward is commended for his guile. Then Jesus states the "moral" of the story, "Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Luke 16:9). Does he endorse or encourage dishonesty? Certainly not. But he does recognize the need for even Christians to have knowledge of the ways of the world that they may prepare to face them.

I don't pretend to know just how to apply the above principles and texts. They have puzzled Bible readers for two millennia now. But I do recognize two principles they clearly teach. First, Christians are not permitted to engage in the sinful practices of the world, even in self-defense. "Be harmless as doves" needs little explanation. It is unequivocal. We are not to do wrong, to bring harm, even when dealing with the unrighteous. But the second principle is equally clear. Christians are not required to be mere gullible victims, naïve and blindly trusting to the mercies of the unmerciful. Wisdom is required and encouraged, even the wisdom of the worldly.

And that leads me to a conclusion, perhaps something of an assumption. That is simply that God has not left us defenseless. We are restricted in how we may deal with the people of the world. But God is with us and he will help us. Deal knowledgeably, but honestly as a Christian, and then rely upon him who is our defender. Faith is the final answer, and it is enough.

Blessed God, you know what lies in the heart, so you do not judge according to appearances. But our eyes deceive us. We think we see, but we are blind to inner thoughts and motives. Cool exteriors hide from us the hurts and cries of our neighbor.

And let us not only see who people are, but what they may become, by the power of your Spirit.

And let us judge with mercy, seeing the good intentions beneath the botched actions or clumsy attempts.

And let neither beauty nor comeliness keep us from recognizing in each person a soul precious in your sight, for whom Christ died. Amen.

by Kevin Cauley

I have to admit that the one thing that intimidated me more than anything about going to one of our brotherhood schools of preaching was having to take Greek. I was fortunate to have a very patient and understanding teacher and believe it or not, Greek wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. That may sound rather "after the fact" but it was nonetheless true. Almost immediately after I started learning Greek, we learned about the Greek verb. The Greek verb is complicated and truly dizzying when looking into all of its various facets. There was one aspect of it that we kept coming back to time and time again, namely, present tense, active voice, and indicative mood -— present, active, indicative.

This was the first aspect of the Greek verb that we learned as it is perhaps the most simple for the new student to understand. Everyone knows what present tense is. It is action that is occurring in the present. An active voice verb contains actions that happen to something other than the subject, and indicative mood simply means that it is a statement of fact. "I see spot run." There's a present, active, indicative verb in that sentence, "see." As we advanced into the more difficult aspects of the Greek verb in our studies, every once in a while the book would throw us a present, active, indicative verb just to make sure we were paying attention. Usually it would throw us off and we would say, "Is that ...?" To which the teacher would reply, "Yup, plain old vanilla."

Understanding the present, active, indicative verb in the New Testament plays an important role in studying the Bible. The action of the present, active, indicative verb represents ongoing action. This can be represented by an ongoing horizontal line (---------). The King James Version translators, in an effort to try to convey this particular aspect to the Greek verb, placed a special ending on the verb, -eth. Many times we wonder why such funny sounding words are still in that version today. If we understand what the translators were trying to do, then we can learn more about God's word. The words that have that –eth ending on them usually correspond to a present, active, indicative Greek verb. This means that the action in that verb is ongoing, or continual.

One really significant example of this is found in the book of 1 John. In the KJV, 1 John 3:6 reads, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." Notice the words "abideth," and "sinneth." When we understand that the –eth ending represents continual action, then we understand that the meaning behind this verse is in regard to those who keep on abiding in Jesus, that is, those that do that, do not keep on sinning. However, the one who keeps on sinning, doesn't know who Jesus is. One might read these verses and conclude that if one is in Jesus that one cannot sin at all. Such would not be the case. They may sin occasionally (1 John 2:1), but they do not sin continually. We know that because of the significance of the present, active, indicative verb in the Greek language.

So, the next time you see that –eth ending on a verb in the King James Version, remember "plain old vanilla" and the continual action of the present tense Greek verb.