by Randal Matheny

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus was supposedly buried, violence erupted in July between two care-taker groups. All furniture and space, including the roof, have been entrusted to various so-called Christian organizations. The scuffle ocurred when a monk of the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt moved his chair on the roof into the shade -- and invaded an area overseen by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church. Ethiopian monks responded by throwing rocks, iron bars, and chairs. Seven Ethiopians and four Egyptians were injured.

At one Jerusalem site, the "Christian" groups are so acrimonious, they delivered the building key to a Muslim. They trust a pagan over a not-so-friendly fellow believer in Jesus.

First reaction? How petty! And so it would appear. But those groups have their reasons, however wrong-headed, for clashing over inches of property believed to be sacred.

Would to God that we were so careful to know and do the Savior's will! And to teach it. So many wrong ideas have their tooth-and-toenail defenders, while the truth goes fallen in the street.

So Paul instructs Timothy.

"Be diligent." Make every effort. This is priority stuff. Give it your best shot.

"To present yourself." You do need to be concerned for other people's souls, but you're the only one whose will you control. It's you and Him.

"Approved to God." It doesn't matter what others think. Do it to get His good seal of approval.

"As a workman." Do a good job. Do the right job. He's watching and wanting to give you a pat on the back. So hoe that row!

"Who does not need to be ashamed." You'll be able to look Him in the eye when He comes to examine your work.

"Handling accurately." Deal honestly and straightfowardly with the gospel message. Don't play games with the truth. Get to the point.

"The word of truth." Remember there are real lines drawn in this world. Don't move your chair over it for sake of a shade. Stay within the bounds of the revealed will of God.

Second Timothy 2:15 isn't the only instruction to spare no effort for sake of the truth. Others may think you petty. You may be called names and persecuted.

But rejoice and be exceedingly glad you chose not to move your chair in the shade.

Image source here

by Barry Newton

We have grown up with the analogy that if someone plants a grape seed, it will produce a grapevine not a watermelon vine. Accordingly, we have argued that if we will just preach the original message, it will produce only one crop - the community of Christ as it was intended to be. While there is validity to this, the epistle of James can add a level of sophistication to our thinking for it teaches that two fundamentally different groups of people can result from listening to the same message.

That’s right, as incredible as it may seem, when the Word of God is poured out that message finds itself running off into two different camps: those who are blessed and those who are deluded. To give James’ message a concrete modern application, he claimed that it is possible for some of those who enter the assembly each Lord’s day to listen to a faithful proclamation of God’s Word to be blessed, while others who may sit right beside them and who may consider themselves blessed by God are actually deluded. So why are some deceived and others blessed? James 1:22: “But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” The watershed of scripture is whether that message is actually put into practice.

The old problem James is addressing can still infect our lives. Sometimes people who know that God’s Word is truth will place their confidence upon their knowledge of that truth. They might be able to expound upon any topic accurately, but if they are not actively doing what scripture teaches, their confidence is misguided. Scripture is intended to shape how God’s people actually live, make decisions, interact with others and worship. A faith which merely centers around believing true doctrine is dead. James 2:26 Do not misunderstand, it is imperative for faith to be built upon a correct understanding (1 Tim. 4:16; 2 Tim. 2:2; 4:3-4), but that faith must also shape what that person does.

James provides us with some blunt examples, “do you believe that there is one God? You are doing well but the demons also believe and tremble.” James 2:20 “If anyone thinks he is religious, but does not restrain his tongue his heart is deluded, this persons’s religion is worthless. Pure and faultless religion before God our Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” James 1:26 Not just in these matters, but in response to all of scripture’s messages for us let us be doers of that message and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

by A. A. Neale

Two brothers. Winner Lane is 44. Loser Lane is 41. Their father was a baseball fan, says a sister, so he named the son Winner. Then came another son. To complete the pair, he became Loser.

But Loser is no loser. He's a successful police detective in New York's South Bronx. And Winner hasn't lived up to his name. He's committed a string of petty crimes.

In this case, Loser is the winner, and Winner, the loser.

Something like the first being last and the last coming in first, isn't it?

How many people have been given all the advantages, only to throw it all away? And how many others who never got the good breaks went on to great success?

How many Christians were raised in godly homes sold out their birthright for a pot of soup? And how many pagans discovered the unique treasure of the gospel and sold everything they had to acquire it?

How many hard workers discovered that personal efforts don't wash with God? And how many shifters stumbled onto grace and spent themselves in holy obedience?

How many got tagged as the winner and threw it all away? And how many were branded as losers only to come out on top?

The difference? Attitude. Decision. Focus.

For good or bad, these internal switches ignore advantages and disadvantages to direct the individual toward his established goal.

So it doesn't matter whether you're name is Winner or Loser. Matters more what you've decided to become.

by Randal Matheny

In Scripture, the Lord leaves little doubt about what he means when he refers to someone as a man or woman of God. The phrase doesn't occur often, but its use is always significant.

As Moses concluded his series of going-away discourses, Deuteronomy 33.1 states, "Now this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death" (NASB). One time in the entire Pentateuch is Moses called the man of God. So it must be significant here.

To be a man (or woman) of God implies a life that blesses others. Here's what this blessing entails.

1. This blessing imitates the creative God. The Lord's first act after creating man was to bless him.

"And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them; . . ." (Genesis 1.27-28).

Moses has been blessing Israel for 40 years, and his last act is consistent with his whole life.

The blessing gives a word which becomes the act. Though our modern society separates word and action today, the Lord blends them into one. For his word makes it so.

The man of God depends upon God to make the blessing come true.

2. As man of God, Moses also pointed the Israelites to God. His blessing begins by a focus on the glory and goodness of the Lord.

"The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And he came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At his right hand there was flashing lightning for them. Indeed, he loves the people; All thy holy ones are in thy hand, And they followed in thy steps; Everone receives of thy words." Deuteronomy 33.2-3

The man of God doesn't call attention to himself, but to the one who calls all to his holiness.

3. Moses blesses by presenting a future vision of each individual tribe (verses 6-25).

Starting with Reuben and ending with Asher, Moses foresees the wonderful possibilities of each tribe. He sets forth for the twelve family clans what God would have them be and do.

I remember as a child, when the local preacher and I folded bulletins one Saturday, he turned to me and said, "Randy, some day you will be a great elder." I took a while to recover from the shock of that thought, but he was fulfilling his man-of-God function.

Be a man of God, a woman of God, by imitating his goodness, pointing others to his glory, and giving hope by a vision of life with the Lord.

by Emmett Smith

The final designation of Christ in Isaiah 9:6 is "The Prince of Peace". In his blessing of Judah as recorded in Genesis 49:10, Jacob said, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be". Shiloh means peace or tranquility, and the passage certainly refers to Jesus. His mission was to make peace between God and man.

In Luke 2:14 (WEY), the angel and heavenly host proclaimed, "Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace among men who please Him!" to the shepherds at night. And in John 14 as Jesus was comforting His disciples He said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." In John 16 He said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

In his benediction upon John's birth Zacharias said that John would be a prophet who would, "guide our feet into the way of peace ". Paul told the Romans that, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ". And to the Colossians he wrote that Jesus had made peace, "through the blood of his cross". There could be no peace with God except for Jesus' faithful fulfillment of the plan. He is indeed the Prince of Peace!

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.