Rebellion

Isaiah 1:3, Amplified : "The ox [instinctively] knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know or recognize Me [as Lord], My people do not consider or understand." (NIV) (TM)

The Amplified bible tells us that the flavor of "knows" is "instinctive," meaning automatic. So, the ox automatically knows his owner. This echoes Jesus in John 10:14, "I know my sheep and my sheep know me." This is the natural order of things. Jesus walks in, and you just know it. You recognize him in some natural/supernatural way, because he's the one who made you. If you're open in any way, you get it.

The Amplified says that the donkey knows his master's crib, the NIV says his owner's manger. The message is the same: the donkey knows his place is what the master has provided. The correct order of things is to know where you belong.

If you don't have the willingness to have this type of recognition, then you're in rebellion. The Lord is saying that this is as easy as pie, but his people Israel just don't get it, and the idea is that they choose to be this way. Look at the Amplified for Isaiah 1:4.

” Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised and shown contempt and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have become utterly estranged (alienated)." (NIV) (TM)

Isaiah 1:2-4, 10-20 Outline for 5 November 2006

Here's an outline for this week's scripture. You can always click TM for the passage in The Message .

• 2. Listen up! The Lord says, "I brought up children and they have rebelled against me."
• 3. "Animals know their master, but not my people."
• 4. This whole group is guilty and corrupt. They have turned their backs on the Lord.
• 10. You're as sinful as Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to the word of the Lord. Measure yourself against the law.
• a. Romans 3:20 (TM)
• 11. "I'm not into all these offerings you bring to try and buy me off. It doesn't do anything for me."
• a. 1 Sam 15:18-23 (TM)
• 12. "You come before me, but not when I've called you."
• 13. "Don't try to bribe me with an offering. You're not even in the ballpark."
• 14. "All your ritual is pathetic. It's a pain."
• 15. "When you reach out to me, praying for something, I'm going to deliberately not see you, even if you pray and pray and pray. You're hands are bloody; you're in the wrong; you're guilty."
• 16. "Clean that up! Deal with those things correctly. Get forgiven, and really repent; turn away from your evil deeds."
• 17. "Learn to do the right thing and do it. Love justice. Take up for the weak."
• 18. "Let's talk this through. Though you are as guilty as can be, you don't have to remain that way. You can be guilt-free."
• 19. "If you have the right attitude and obey me, you will have it good."
• 20. "But if you fight me and rebel, you'll be destroyed."

2 Tim 3:1, 10-17, 4:5-8 Outline for 29 October

Here's an outline for this week's scripture. You can always click TM for the passage in The Message .

• 3:1 Terrible times ahead
• 3:5 There will people that are religious on the outside, but who don't tap into, or even acknowledge the power there
• a. Avoid these people
• 3:10 You know all about me: my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,
• 3:11 persecutions, sufferings – all the stuff that happened in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. But the Lord rescued me from all that.
• 3:12 In fact, all serious followers of Jesus will be persecuted
• 3:13 while evil people and fakes will just get worse, deceiving and being deceived
• 3:14 But you:
• a. Continue in what you've learned
• 1) remember that you've been convinced of it
• 2) remember who you've learned it from
• 3:15 You've been learning the scripture your whole life
• a. it's able to make you wise for salvation
• 1) through faith in Jesus
• 3:16 Scripture is:
• a. God-breathed and therefore useful for:
• 1) teaching us
• 2) showing where we are wrong
• 3) correcting us
• 4) training us in righteousness
• b. so that we can be properly equipped for whatever
• 4:5 Do this:
• a. keep your head in all situations – stay calm
• b. put up with hardship – endure it
• c. share the good news
• d. do your complete ministry – do all the things needed/required
• 4:6 For:
• a. I'm being sacrificed, like pouring out a drink offering
• b. my life is drawing to an end
• 4:7 I have:
• a. struggled to make certain I have done what I was supposed to
• b. completed all that I was assigned to do
• c. kept the faith, meaning:
• 1) I haven't abandoned or betrayed the Lord
• 2) I took my orders from God speaking to my heart
• 3) I've maintained and pursued a deeper relationship with the Lord
• 4:8 I will be rewarded by the Lord, and so will all who have wanted desperately to see him

You could be, like, a nice bowl

2 Tim 2:20-21, NIV: "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." (TM)

Here's the figure: you are the house, your life is the house. It's a large house because people are complicated. You've got gold/silver things in your life, as well as wood/clay things. Go caveman for a second: gold/silver good, wood/clay bad.

So what are these things? I would say they are areas in your life. You might call it something different. Activities. Attitudes. Whatever. Anyway, in our example they're like bowls. The gold/silver ones are intended for "noble" use, i.e. for food that you're going to eat. The wood/clay ones (unsealed, this is the first century) are for trash, unclean stuff. You wouldn't take your trash can and eat out of it. By the same token, the Lord doesn't want to use trash cans for his work. So that's why we're called on to clean up our act, so that we can be used for whatever he wants to use us for.

Why's that a big deal? It's to keep ourselves, and specifically our trash, out of the mix. And yet God has chosen to use us for doing stuff. What's he to do? Get us to clean our act up.

Notice that this is not a requirement for being saved. You don't have to clean up your act before you come to Jesus. You come just as you are for that. The desire for change and the desire for Jesus are the only requirements. What this is, is a requirement for being used. For getting off the bench and into the game. For shaking things up and doing your part for the kingdom.

We all want to be able to do things for the ones we love. This is how you qualify to be able to do those type things for God.

Nevertheless

2 Tim 2:19, NIV: "Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are his,' and, 'Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.' (TM)

Paul has just been talking (in verses 17-18 (TM)) about Hymenaeus and Philetus. They have messed up big time, teaching that the resurrection had already come and gone. This was causing believers trouble, the NIV saying it was "destroying" faith, while The Message puts it more mildly, saying it was "throwing believers off stride." This probably represents the two extremes that occur when false teaching is introduced into the church: being thrown off stride on the one hand, and destruction on the other.

So Paul says, "Nevertheless." That means, all this bad stuff has happened, for sure, but anyway, but still, but in spite of all that. . .

In spite of all that, God's work stands firm, the church's foundation stands firm, and Paul says that it is sealed with two inscriptions.

One says that the Lord knows who belongs to him. Have you ever been a member of something, and the top dog won't give you the time of day? Maybe the leader doesn't even know who you are. That's discouraging, but God is not like that. He knows everything about you, even how many hairs are on your head. And when you belong to him, he knows about it. He is totally aware that on August 16, 1998 or whenever, you gave your heart to him. You know how embarrassing it is when someone who should know who you are, doesn't? That never happens with God. He knows, and he knows you.

The other inscription says that if you claim the Lord then you have to turn away from bad stuff. A lot of people hear this and think that they're expected to immediately and suddenly become perfect, never sinning, never falling short in any way of what God wants from them, but that's not what this verse is saying.

This verse is talking about your whole life. Look at 1 John 1:8-10 (TM) and Romans 7:15 (TM). The point is that we all struggle; we all make mistakes. You are going to fall short at times. I am going to fail sometimes. But turning away from our failures has to be done. If it's a problem with hating Fred, then I have to turn away from hating Fred, and turn toward loving him the way Jesus wants me to. I might do something hateful to him again tomorrow at 3:00 pm. This means that at 3:01 I'll have to turn away from hating Fred again, and I'll have to do it again as many times as it takes. That's what this second inscription means.

Watch your mouth in both directions

2 Tim 2:16, NIV: "godless chatter." The Message: "pious talk that is only talk." Looks like two sides of the same coin, doesn't it? On the one hand, "godless chatter" sounds like things we say that we really shouldn't say - mean things, ugly things. And on the other hand, "pious talk that is only talk" sounds like somebody trying to appear religious, or to appear really together spiritually. Both are bad, and the advice in the verse is good: don't do it. Those who do just get more and more ungodly, or further and further from reflecting Jesus.

What comes out of your mouth is really important. Jesus talked about it in Mt 15:10-11 (TM). Some pharisees and teachers of the law had come to him with a complaint that his disciples were not washing their hands as the dietary traditions demanded. Jesus skewers them on their own inconsistencies, and then he delivers the real teaching. "What goes into your mouth isn't what makes you dirty. What comes out of your mouth is the thing that makes you dirty."

Peter asks for a further explanation a little later, and in verses 17-20 (TM), Jesus tells him that food goes into the body and then out of the body, but what comes out of our mouth comes from the heart. Mt 12:33-35 (TM) says that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Meaning that, when you're bumped hard enough, what comes out of your mouth will be evidence of what is in your heart.

James talks about this, too. In 1:26 (TM), he says that not keeping your tongue in control means your religion is not operating the way it should. In 3:3-5 (TM), James gives a couple of examples.

We put a bit in the mouth of a horse, and by that we guide it around. The idea is putting control over our own mouth, and that affects our entire person. Are you an angry person? Control your mouth, and that can begin to change. Are you a negative person? Control your mouth, say things that are more positive, and you will become a more positive person.

The second example is a big ship with a little rudder. I mean, all rudders are little, compared to the ship, but even so, the little rudder steers the big boat around. The idea here is very similar to what we talked about with the horse. The mouth is our control point. Exert control there, and you will begin to have more control over your entire life.

K.I.S.S.

2 Tim 2:15, NIV: " Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." My outline said, "Do your work with confidence, having no reason to be ashamed of your work, and K.I.S.S." What do I mean by the "Keep it simple?"

You hear football commentators talk about a running back going north and south, as though this is a really good thing, and it is, it is indeed. It means that the running back doesn't spend much time making a lot of fakes, or just running toward the sideline, but rather he's taking the shortest path to paydirt, running north and south, the straight line to the prize. Paul is saying something like that. Spiritually speaking, we should not spend too much time on lace and frills and what not, but rather on making headway toward our goal. North and south. That's what K.I.S.S. means right here.

It has to do with the "correctly handles the word of truth" in the NIV. Eugene Peterson rendered that as "laying out the truth plain and simple" in The Message. It's another way of saying focus on what's real. Focus. If we can correctly handle the word by sharing it plain and simple, then we've somehow reminded ourselves to keep it simple, not complicated by opinions or silly quarrels.

And what we can do for the Lord is the stronger for it.

2 Tim 2:14-26 Outline for 22 October

Here's an outline for this week's scripture. You can always click TM for the passage in The Message .

• 14. Continue to remind them of the essentials.
• a. Warn them not to quibble over non-essentials
• 1) it is of no value
• 2) it's only bad for those who listen
• 15. Do your work with confidence
• a. having no reason to be ashamed of your work
• b. K.I.S.S.
• 16. Watch how you talk
• a. ungodly talk makes you less and less godly
• b. pious talk that isn't actually reflected in your life just hurts you continually
• 1) it accumulates in you
• 17. Bad talk, whether it's the godless chatter or the religious posturing, can be infectious
• a. hurting others with your sickness
• b. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples
• 18. Their talk has led them away from the truth
• a. they say the resurrection has already happened
• b. they are harming some people's faith
• 19. But God's foundation stands as firm as ever
• a. Engraved with "If you name God's name, turn away from wickedness."
• 20. In a nice house, there are containers for good things, and containers for garbage
• 21. be the kind of container that's for good things, by cleansing yourself of the other uses
• a. this clears the way for God to set you apart
• 1) useful to the Lord
• 2) and versatile – ready for anything
• 22. Run, don't walk, away from evil desires
• a. pursue, instead, these things:
• 1) righteousness
• 2) faith
• 3) love
• 4) peace
• b. and do so in community, with those who really want to go after God
• 23. Don't get into these stupid arguments
• a. they just make for fights
• 24. Because you must not be getting into fights
• a. instead he must
• 1) be kind to all
• 2) be able to teach
• 3) not be resentful
• 25. When people oppose you
• a. gently teach them
• 1) in hopes that God will grant them repentance
• A) and that this will lead them to experience/know the truth
• 26. So they can come to their senses
• a. so they can escape this trap of the devil's
• 1) the devil has taken them captive for the purpose of doing what he wants them to do

You have been conceited

Verse 3 is a diagnostic. You know, like the mechanic at the dealership hooks your car up to a machine and runs diagnostics to see what's wrong. Well, this is a diagnostic, and here it is. If someone is spreading wrong ideas and they won't agree to the words of Jesus and they won't agree with other godly teaching. . . That's three things, quite a lot, so we're not talking about people who are simply wrong, but rather people who are wrong and cannot be persuaded even by Jesus himself. They are stuck in their wrong-headedness and really proud of it. The first part of verse 4 completes that thought. This person is conceited and understands nothing.

We shouldn't read the word "conceited" here as some kind of hate word. We say something like "he's so conceited," and we basically mean that he's the devil, I hate him, and so on, but that's not what Paul, or the Holy Spirit through Paul, is saying here. He's saying this person is so full of his own thoughts and ideas that there's no room for God's ideas.

Each one of us has been at this point at least once in our lives. When, in our minds and from our perspective, our ideas got bigger than God's ideas. You want an example of this? Look at Acts 10. Peter has a vision of this huge sheet coming down with different animals on it, and a voice says, "Kill and eat."

Peter had been a Jew before he knew Jesus, and the Jews have some strict dietary laws. This stuff on the sheet was against the law for Jews, what Peter had been, and so Peter says, "No way. I have never eaten anything unclean!" Which is what that kind of food was called by the Jews.

The voice from heaven says, "Don't call anything unclean that God has made clean." The Bible says this happened a total of three times.

Do you see how Peter had his head full of his own idea? And God kept telling him, "Don't call this stuff unclean because I've made it clean." Or, ineffect, "Peter, you're wrong and I'm right. Now wise up."

And amazingly, Peter still argues. He's not a bad guy, he's just conceited. That's conceit in it's simplest, least mean-spirited state. It's how most of us get conceited.

The rich are vulnerable

Let's talk about verse 9. My paraphrase said "People who want to get rich are vulnerable." What the NIV says is "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition." (TM)

It's like you open your heart up in a dangerous way when you want to be rich. There are other examples of this same thing.

Imagine a boy who wants to be regarded by his peers as brave or daring, he thinks that will solve all his problems, and so he decides that he will attempt something very dangerous, like maybe jumping his bike over a ditch filled with broken concrete, pieces of rebar sticking up into the sky.

Imagine a young, single mother with a new boy friend, and she thinks that he completes her, that this relationship with him will solve all her problems and make her feel appreciated, but he doesn't really like the children, and he's about to walk because of them. So she does something awful to the children, because they're in the way of the thing that will fix her life. That one's been in the news.

Imagine a young man who believes that having plenty of money will fix all his problems, make his life more exciting, and cause people to respect him in a new way, so he lays aside all conviction and does anything it takes to make it: he ignores his family, he betrays friends, he does things that are dishonest, anything to make the dollars.

All of these examples show a vulnerability that occurs when we decide to really go for it, placing our trust in something other than God. A quick search through the NIV for "our trust" yields interesting results. Six of eight verses directly support this thought. One shows the opposite (placing trust in false gods results in shame). One (the one from Titus) is talking about something else.

Psalm 62:8 (TM) is my favorite. "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge."

One more time about treasure in heaven

This business about coin seems so apt, so crucial.

Say you just came across something that turned your world upside down. It's so exciting; it's so fascinating. It's just what you'd love to devote all your free time to. If it makes you happy, it must be the thing you ought to do, right?

Sometimes we feel that any pretty little thing that catches our eye is put there by God Himself. That's not necessarily true. We have a theology of open doors that goes right along with that. We think that any opportunity must be a divine appointment. That's not necessarily true, either.

American culture tells us that the greatest good is to "follow our dreams." Anything might be sacrificed to facilitate this one thing. Think of it: you might sacrifice anything for a sufficiently amazing outcome.

And you might be throwing away your chance to lay up treasure in heaven.

It's a matter of opportunity cost.

Additional thoughts on treasure in heaven

The Message puts it this way: Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life. (1 Tim 6:17-19)

It echoes the parable of the talents (TM). I'm thinking that this is a model of how to lay up treasure in heaven. You take what is a big deal to you, in this case rich people and their money, and you turn that thing upside down – give it away, don't depend on it.

And notice, there are some rich people who aren't caught up in their money, but that doesn't let you off: it's still your big responsibility; it's still the area where you've really been gifted. You can't simply walk away from this stuff and say, "It's not important to me." You have to somehow turn it back over to God.

This seriously echoes what David said about giving things to God. (1 Chr 29:14) It echoes the parable of the talents. The master gives each person a number of talents. When he returns, the scope of the inquiry is very narrow: exactly what he had given them, and nothing else.

Give an accounting of what you did with the talents given you. All else is beside the point. Could it be that this is a key to laying up treasure in heaven? Sometimes it would seem that the conventional wisdom about heavenly treasure is generic. Generic in that you put money toward it somehow; it's an investment in some way. It doesn't seem to matter what it is, just pick a heavenly investment vehicle and . . . invest. Any coin will do.

But not any coin will do. The only coin the Lord is interested in receiving seems to be the self-same coin that He gave. Pay Caesar in Caesar's coin.

1 Tim 6:3-12, 17-19 Outline for Sunday 15 Oct

Here's an outline for this week's scripture. You can always click TM for the passage in The Message .

• 3. If anyone:
• a. teaches false doctrines
• b. does not agree to words of Jesus
• c. does not agree with godly teaching
• 4. Then he's a big, ugly dummy
• a. Unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in: stuff
• 5. Constant friction between men of corrupt mind
• a. they've been robbed of the truth
• b. they think godliness is a way to make money
• 6. But godliness with contentment is really good
• 7. We came into the world with nothing, and we'll take out nothing
• 8. Food and clothing are enough
• 9. People who want to get rich are vulnerable
• 10. The love of money is the root of many evils
• a. it has led some astray from their faith
• 11. But make sure you run, don't walk, away from all this
• a. instead pursue these:
• 1) righteousness
• 2) godliness
• 3) faith
• 4) love
• 5) endurance
• 6) gentleness
• 12. Fight to seize and hold on to the faith (God-given)
• a. Remember how you came to faith (God-given), and who was there with you
• 
  * * *


• 17. Tell the rich to strip themselves of pride and self-sufficiency because of their money
• a. which is here today and gone tomorrow
• 18. Tell them to:
• a. do good
• b. help others
• c. be generous and willing to share
• 19. This is laying up treasure in heaven

From verses 17-19, I'm thinking that this is a model of how to lay up treasure in heaven. You take what is a big deal to you, in this case rich people and their money, and you turn that thing upside down – give it away, don't depend on it.

And notice, there are some rich people who aren't caught up in their money, but that doesn't let you off: it's still your big responsibility; it's still the area where you've really been gifted. You can't simply walk away from this stuff and say, "It's not important to me." You have to somehow turn it back over to God.

This is very reminiscent of David's confession before the Lord: "...for all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You." (1 Chr 29:14 (TM) )

1 Tim 4:6-16 Outline for Sunday 8 Oct

Here's an outline for this week's scripture. You can always click TM for the passage in The Message .

• 6 You've had the advantage of being raised in the faith ( God-given ) and received sound teaching: pass it on.
• 7 Don't stray off into foolishness ( 1 Tim 1:6 ) TM , but concentrate on becoming more godly.
• A. In terms of service, and doing things, we concentrate on others, but in terms of criticism, or speculations, we must concentrate on ourselves
• B. Tend to your own knitting
• C. John 21:21-22 TM
• 8. Working out your body is okay
• A. Working out your spirit towards a disciplined life is good for everything
• B. It's of benefit in this life and the next
• 9. This is a faithful (God-given) statement and you can count on it.
• 10. This is why we're so invested, so insistent: we are totally counting on the living God, who is the savior of all, especially believers.
• 11. Publish this. Insist on it.
• 12. Don't be handicapped or pre-judged by your youth. Demonstrate the truth that lives in you by:
• A. word – what you say – James 1:26 TM
• B. conduct – what you do -
• C. love – 1 Cor 13 TM – putting others first
• D. spirit – attitude – how you go about what you say and do
• E. faith – ( God-given ) – how you stick with what God has given/shown you
• F. purity – walk what you talk – this only happens as God makes changes in you
• 13. Hang in there
• A. reading Scripture
• B. giving counsel/exhorting/encouraging
• C. teaching/explaining – we always have a reason that is demonstrable from the Bible
• 14. The gift in you
• A. recognized and acknowledged by others
• B. don't neglect it even if you're not always able to use it
• C. keep it limbered up
• 15. Think about these things
• A. Give yourself entirely to them
• B. Your progress will be evident to all
• 16. Hang in there with a firm grip both on your character and what you teach – stay focused
• A. It will lead to both salvation in you and those you influence