It’s when you get in the middle of something that you really know what you’re in for.”
                    –Mel Odom  (Shooter’s Crossing)

       “Bless His glorious name forever!  Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and amen!”
                    –Psalm 72:19 (NLT)
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               “Tell me the story of Jesus,
              Write on my heart every word…”
                       –Fanny Crosby

These few verses that Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 3 are powerful.  They are words to Timothy regarding the church, and if you review what Paul has previously written, Timothy was to guard against and fight false teachers.  Now Paul refers to the Church and verse 16 is a “Hymn on Christ’s Adoration.”  First we look at his brief message to the Church.

          14 — These things I write to you, though I hope to come to your shortly;
          15 — but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.  (NKJV)

First we see the term “conduct.”  This is more than just a ritualistic behavior in church.  No, it is a man’s walk and conversation.  It describes his whole life and character.  It is who he is, and thus surrounds his conduct everywhere and with everyone.  Then we see his attention is directed to the Church.  It is the house of God.  No, not just a building, nor just a house, but the meaning goes deeper.  It is a home, a place where a family dwells.  It is a place where love exists–the love of a family.  The term for Church is “ekklesia” of the assembly of God’s people.  Those who have been called out, separated from the world.  It is those who have accepted the invitation of the Spirit.  Have you gotten this?  A place of love, a place where family dwells, a place where the people are separated from the world, not like the world.
     Two more things regarding the Church.  It is the pillar and ground (buttress or support) that can be seen by those in the world.  A city on a hill, if you please.  William Barclay says that the “idea here is that the Church’s duty is to hold up the truth in such a way that all men may see it.”  Many are building church buildings that look more like auditoriums or convention centers, or office buildings.  I read of a study done regarding this aspect.  People in the community said they wanted a church to look like a church.  They may not attend but they took comfort that it was in the neighborhood.  Now, I am not saying that the Church is a building, but buildings do represent it.  The duty, the responsibility then is to be a sign to those in the world that herein is truth.  Lastly, it not only shows the truth, it is the truth that holds it up.  “In a world which does not wish to face the truth, the Church holds it up for all to see.” (Barclay)

          16 — And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
                     God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.  (NKJV)

Now, we move on to the little hymn of the early Church.  Paul introduces it as the “mystery of godliness.”  William Petersen puts it this way, “This early Christian hymn depicts Jesus as a surprise package, the ‘mystery of our faith.’  He came as a humble babe in a poor manger–not a very impressive package on the outside.  He lived 90 percent of his life in Nazareth in the home of a carpenter.  His ministry was among humble folk; his first disciples were fishermen.”  After that Petersen exclaims that the “package explodes with surprises!”
     Look at this!  Manifested in the flesh–the Incarnation of the pre-existing One.  He was justified (vindicated) by the Spirit or as the NLT translates it, “shown to be righteous by the Spirit.”  He was kept sinless by the Spirit, He was guided by the Spirit, and through the power of the Spirit He rose from the grave.  “The Spirit is the power who proved Jesus to be what He claimed to be.” (Barclay)  Seen by angels–whatever this means it does show that “the work of Jesus is so tremendous that it includes both heaven and earth.” (Barclay)  The world heard the message of the Christ, and He went back to His throne in glory.  The story of Jesus begins in heaven and ends in heaven.  “He lived as a servant; He was branded as a criminal; He was crucified on a cross; He rose with the nailprints still upon Him; but the end is glory.” (Barclay)
     Now don’t lose the reason for this little hymn.  Paul had been instructing Timothy about false teachers, he will return to this subject.  This is an exhortation to Timothy to stand in sharp contrast to them.  “This hymn prepares for that censure by boldly expressing what the truth is all about, as a contrast to their demonic errors.” (Gordon Fee)  Now bring it home.  Do you look like the world or are you in stark contrast to it?  Do people see you living like the world and compromising with the world’s standards, or are you standing firm in the truth of God’s Word?

          “Who is He in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherd’s fall?
          Who is He in deep distress, fasting in the wilderness?
          Who is He on yonder tree dies in grief and agony?
          Who is He that from His throne rules through all the world alone?
          ‘Tis the Lord!  O wondrous story!  ‘Tis the Lord!  the King of glory!
          At His feet we humbly fall, crown Him, crown Him Lord of all!”
                   –Benjamin Hanby

 

Courage wasn’t the lack of fear; it was standing up to your fears and doing what you had to do despite them.”
                    –John Deacon (The Provider 4)

       “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.  He will love you, bless you, and multiply you…”
                    –Deuteronomy 7:12-13 (ESV)
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Woes, terror all around, threats of war, devastation in many ways, anxieties, fears, mayhem, oh, what are we to do?  Do we fold our hands and say, “What’s the use”?  Do we hide ourselves in the closet or under the bed in fear waiting for something bad to happen to us?  What can we do in this evil and wicked world?  Woe, oh, woe is me!
     Well, shape up!  Paul gives us a quick synopsis of what we should be doing and how we should shape our lives in a few verses from 2 Thessalonians.  Before reading these verses remember, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Because He redeemed us, He will not let go of us.  Thomas Traherne wrote, “His love therefore being infinite, may do infinite things for an object infinitely valued.”  Think on that, ponder it–we are infinitely valued.  Now take a glimpse at what Paul instructs us to do from 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17.

          15 — Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
          16 — Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,
          17 — comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.   (NKJV)

     First of all, we are to stand.  This is a command that relates to a continuous action.  “The human response to God’s faithfulness must be in the form of steadfastness in spite of the opposition that comes against us.” (Bernard Rossier)  Then, immediately following, “hold” (again this means, continuously) or perhaps better, grip tenaciously.  We are to stand, and as Paul writes in Ephesians, after done all to continue standing, and now we add to that grip, hold firm.   Stand and hold on to what?  The traditions which you have been taught.  Now, don’t get hung up on the word “traditions.”  It means the teaching that has been passed on to us from God Himself.  We know that some traditions are from men and do not originate from God; do not confuse them with what Paul is saying here. (Rossier)   Hold firm to the truth, stand solid in the truth–guard the truth and never let it go from your mind and heart.
     Know this, that in the midst of the trials, terror and battles that we do not do it in our own strength.  “We are never left to fight and toil alone.  He who gives us the task also gives us the strength to do it; more, He actually does it with us.” (William Barclay)  We are not just thrown into the battle or thrown to the lions so to speak.  Behind us, beside us and in front of us there is God.  Get this in your heart, “Do not be afraid…for I am with you…” (Acts 18:9,10, NKV)  With God, we can stand, we can grasp firmly.
     Throughout the difficulties of life we have the promise that God is with us, we can have confidence that His presence is there.  Then He gives “good hope.”  Not just hope to get by, but an extraordinary, supernatural hope.  Hope that is sure because it rests in His Word and character.  We rest in this hope; it “is what spurs us on while we await the coming of our blessed Lord.” (Rossier)  There seems to be some teaching that the Lord will not return until the end of the Tribulation.  Let me ask then, who do we look for?  Our eyes are turned to the lawless one, the Antichrist.  We would look for his coming.  But no!  We are to look for the coming of the Lord Himself to take His saints home.  We wait, our hope is in His appearing.
     Because of this our hearts are comforted.  Because of our hope in the return of the Lord we are comforted and therefore can go forth through this world in victory.  Since we are established, we see “the necessity of work for the Lord while we wait the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rossier)  I would implore that each of us take heed to these few words by Paul.  Be steadfast while we wait.  Don’t worry, the Holy Spirit is with us.

 

Water out, sonny. Never leave a waterin’ place without you take on a-plenty.”
                    –Elmer Kelton  (Stand Proud)

       “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.”
                    –Psalm 63:1 (NKJV)
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               “Thou has the key of the rain; the river is Thine, and it is full of water; every drop Thou dost count, every shower Thou alone dost give….  For this thirst [after righteousness] we pray; the keener thirst, the inner thirst:  the Lord hears us when we ask that we may be satisfied out of the river that flows by His own throne.”
                           –Joseph Parker

     Remember the times that you used to splash as a kid in the puddles after a rain?  Can you recall ever eating snow or sucking on icicles?  Remember, just last week I wrote about the heavy thirst, the need for water, and then there was an oasis?  No, not the floods that we have seen in recent days and years, but a steady supply of life-giving water.
     You were desperate for a drink.  Forget the seltzers, sodas, the ice coffee and cinos and lattes.  Forget asking the waitress for lemon in your tea.  Right then, in the heat of the day, when you were desperate all you wanted was a sip of cool water.  You didn’t quit; you crawled over the hill until you reached the oasis.  The desert wasteland had been merciless, but then you found water.  Ahh, that refreshing life-giving, life-sustaining water.
     Ahhh, that wonderful feeling when you fell into the water at the oasis.  It wasn’t a mirage.  Your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you; it was not another illusion.  Water.  It was pure, clear water.  You drank your fill, you bathed in it, soaking yourself.  Remember the feeling when you poured it over your head, when you splashed in it with your feet, when you rolled in it–life-saving, life-giving water?  Think of that wonderful experience with the Lord when He refreshed your soul with the water that flows from Him.  Gone were the mirages promised by pseudo-ideologies.  Now, you have tasted of the soul-quenching water from the Lord Himself.
     Why is it that we do not fill the soul with eternal water?  Why do some look at the supply, but turn to something else?  Life stems in the desert from an oasis, yet we let the soul become depleted and dehydrated.  We plod on the spiritual trek and never truly seek the oasis, the wells that have been provided.  They are out there in the wasteland of life, but we must seek them.  Sometimes there are tanks in the rocks, sometimes a pool, sometimes it takes a miracle of striking the Rock to get the water, but know this–it is there.  We must seek the Source of the true, pure, clear, cool water and never let our spirits thirst again.
     The oasis experience, never forget them.  It is important to remember the times in our lives when the Holy Spirit came to us in that special way.  Those times when He so overwhelmed us that we bathed in His presence; when we drank deeply from His deep wells.  Remember those times at the oasis of life, then continue on the journey through the wilderness.  Do not substitute the water of the world for the true water that flows from Christ.  Do not indulge in stagnant water from a poisoned pond that promises relief for your thirst but in reality will bring death.  Refresh yourself in the goodness of the Lord.

                “How sweet the living water from the hills of God,
                It makes me glad and happy all the way;
                Now glory grace and blessing mark the path I’ve trod,
                I’m shouting ‘Hallelujah’ ev’ry day.
                         Drinking at the springs of living water,
                         Happy now am I, My soul they satisfy;
                         Drinking at the springs of living water,
                         O wonderful and bountiful supply.”
                                –John W. Peterson

 

So if I have taken the easy and evil road it is not because I didn’t have sound advice.”
                    –Ernest Haycox  (Whispering Range)

        “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”
                    –Job 1:1 (NIV)
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I recently started reading a book by Bryce Dominic Valor, and right off the bat it had this:  “We are drowning in information but starved for wisdom.”  That is the part of the premise we see in Proverbs 8.  People do not understand wisdom, and that is clear because if they did they would not shun or mock the things of God.  We see in the two verses below that wisdom is tied directly to the fear of the Lord.  “Coming to wisdom requires coming to God, and coming to God means turning away from all that God hates…” (NKJV Study Bible)

          12 — I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion.
          13 — The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.  (NKJV)

     Wisdom is personified and speaks to the way of holiness.  Do not listen to false teachers, those who would deceive.  The true worship of Christ is distinguished by the call to holiness.  He alone is altogether righteous and holy.  He hates evil and every evil work (Beasley).  Know this that man is sinful and undone.  “The way of holiness leads only by the cross of Christ, where the holiness of God met the sinfulness of man.” (Beasley).  
     We see in these verses that wisdom is a person; the person of Jesus Christ.  He is wisdom personified.  Wisdom, then, is part of the grand character of God.  When people reject God they are rejecting wisdom.  Evil and wickedness are hateful to Him; therefore, if we belong to Him, we will hate these things also. (McGee)  Those who partake of them show that they in reality hate wisdom and refuse to be guided by it.
     Prudence means discretion; that is, being cautious in one’s actions.  This is necessary for wisdom.  J.L. Flores says that it is “the best manner in which to carry out what wisdom has designed.”  For example, “wisdom decrees that a certain word is to be spoken.  Prudence decides upon the best time, place, and manner in which to say it.” (Flores)  Adam Clarke adds this, “wisdom applies to practice; wherever there is true wisdom it will lead to action.”  So wisdom is not passive.
     Wisdom and prudence then act in union for the promotion of moral ends.  Satan will try to deceive by offering false wisdom and prudence as he did Eve in the Garden.  Scripture declares, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV)  Man’s wisdom and judgment are often misleading, that is why diligent study and knowledge of God’s Word is vital.
     We know what is “that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God” through the use of holy, godly wisdom.  Stephen Charnock states that “Whatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God.”  We are to avoid evil, and Paul goes further by saying we are to “avoid the appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonian 5:22, NKJV)  The ESV puts it this way, “abstain from every form of evil.”  (Hmm, good thing to remember as we enter this devil’s holiday of Halloween).  We read in Romans, “Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.” (12:9, NKJV)  This means that we are to be repulsed by something that they shun and avoid it at all costs (Renner).  Evil–that is “anything that is full of destruction, disaster, harm, or danger” (Renner) to the physical, mental, or spirit.  To honor the Lord is then to hate evil.
     What then will you do with wisdom?  Do you listen to it or turn from it to your own ways and opinions?  Do you fear the Lord enough, honor Him enough, to hate and shun the things that He hates?  The choice again belongs to us.  Choose godly wisdom or choose man’s and the ways of the world.  One keeps and leads to life eternal, the other is the way of perdition.