In His Service

                         The Laws of God 1 Tim. 1:8-11 Mankind breaks the laws of God everyday, many multiple times a day. Why? Because of our human nature to sin. Yet God gave us His laws to show us the way to Him, to provide us a firm foundation as a community of God’s people, for the understanding of His grace and mercy, and to show us our sinful state. Paul knew the laws backwards and forwards, but he also knew the law was not given to man to earn salvation by obeying the laws. So let’s read the first portion of the lesson. “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.  Paul was dealing with two different mindsets, the jewish believers among the gentiles and the gentiles who knew nothing of the law. So Paul draws back to the goodness of the Law of God. God knew the hearts and minds of all mankind. He knew that in order for them to know Him as a community, they also needed to know the Laws of God. Jesu...

  Chosen, Called, and Charged - Part 1 1 Tim. 1:3-7 There have been many heretical doctrines introduced into churches throughout the centuries. Paul heard about and saw the practices of the gnostic doctrines based on knowledge, myths, genealogies, and ascetic practices. So Paul urges Timothy to stay in Ephesus as a pastor and deal with the practices of false teachings. Let’s begin with the first portion of the text, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.” Paul knew that the enemy of God wouldn’t stop with the physical persecution of the church, he would attack the church from within as well to try and stop the advancing of the work of God. Jesus had warned the disciples to “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you...

  Indolence In the Church 2 Thes. 3:6-15 When you're at a park, and you come across a full trash can and someone throws another piece of trash on it and it rolls off onto the ground and he or she just walks away. This is laziness. This idler is the companion to the sluggard, the lukewarm, and the lethargic fool.  Idleness in the church isn’t just about a lack of energy, some in the Thessalaonian church were lazy and some weren’t following or obeying the teachings from Jesus Christ. Paul was addressing not only the lazy person, but also the busybodies as well that were causing strife that was contrary to the Word of God. There is no place in Christ’s church for those who are lackadaisical in His work or to His Word, for this is God’s Word to the church. “ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Cor. 15:33) Don’t be a part of it! This seems like hard and unloving teachings from Paul, but I cannot think of a societal group that succeeds on laziness and di...