“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Wait, I thought Paul’s conclusion was that eating the meat that came from a sacrifice at one of the local pagan temples was not morally problematic? Now it’s demonic? What??
We actually get more clarity on Paul’s final position a couple of verses from now and there is no contradiction. I’ll deal with that in a subsequent post. What is worth reflecting on here is not Paul’s main point, but some of the broader implications for what he has said. Most notably, that the pagan sacrifices were demonic. Read the rest…
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Temptation is everywhere we look. The Siren song of sin sings sweetly at every corner. Sometimes it feels like all we ever do is drift from one temptation to another. And yet, Paul’s observation here is true and powerful. I think there are several things we can say about our efforts with the Spirit’s help to walk in the righteousness of the Lord based on what Paul says here. Read the rest…
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jews, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The lengths to which Paul was willing to go in order to see someone connect with Christ were vast. If someone had asked him to stand on his head and shout the alphabet backwards and then they would do it, he probably would have done it then and there. Nothing was as important as this and so everything was worthwhile to do to help advance someone in that direction. Read the rest…
This week as we continued in the third part of our series through 1 John, A Word on Reality, we looked at how we can stand firm in the reality of God against this world’s unrelenting tide of fantasies and their ever more aggressive attempts to move in their direction. If we are going to resist the lies of this world, there is one key thing we must do. Read on to find out what it is.
A Vise-Grip on Truth
For the past couple of summers, Lisa and I have enjoyed the show “Fool Us with Penn and Teller” on the CW Network. It’s a gameshow wherein four different magicians bring their best tricks to try and fool the world-famous magician duo. The challenge is that they’ve been at it for over 40 years and know just about everything there is to know about magic and how to do it. While there are a few tricks we have been able to figure out, there are some that leave us absolutely flummoxed as to how they did it. Any really good magic trick can leave you feeling like maybe there’s more to this world than we know about. Now, of course, no magic show is any more than a cleverly disguised trick, but the intimation of something more is part of its appeal. Still, while the nod and wink of a magician is entertaining, following that rabbit all the way down its hole can lead, as Alice discovered, to more trouble than most of us would care to find. Read the rest…
“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
We work very hard to make the Lord relatable for people. We talk about Jesus and how God wants to be our friend. We delight in His coming near and giving us the gift of His presence. All of this is right and good and true.
But, we cannot forget along the way that God is also holy. He is mighty. He is powerful beyond our imagination. He is glorious, and not in the loudly-singing-angels kind of way. He is glorious in the shine-you-out-of-existence kind of way. His glory is fearsome and terrible. Were we to behold it we would come to an end. Read the rest…
The Nexus 