Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Galatians 1:11)

Morning Thoughts

Galatians 1:11, "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man."

This morning, we continue to examine some things that go against the grain of the conventional wisdom of man.  Two of the paramount teachings of Scripture are that 1. God is a rational being that works according to order and not disorder and 2. not all of God's order computes to man's thinking.  For example, a simple perusal of the natural creation shows order, structure, and design.  As Paul asserts in Romans 1, the natural creation screams out to the testimony of ordered creation and not disordered chaos and evolution.  One of the most fanciful and foolish notions to come along in recent years is the "chaos theory" that attempts to explain the universe as a series of chaotic events bouncing off each other to give the appearance of order.  Such stretches of the imagination are void of Biblical or sensical rationale.  Another example of God's order that does not generally equate to man's thinking is the structure He designed for worship of Him.  It is this field that we will attempt to plow in this morning.

Perhaps the most priceless but undervalued thing in this world today is the gospel.  Its order, design, and application show forth the beauty of the Designer, and when seen in its proper light, one can begin to understand why it is the way that it is.  When talking about the gospel today, one must take care to define the term particularly, for many use the term more freely than it should be used.  Not anything qualifies as the gospel as the Bible records it, and nothing short of what the Bible outlines as the scope of it could suffice, replace, or sufficiently augment it.  Therefore, let us examine the scope of the gospel and some related particulars to perhaps "catch a glimpse" into the glory of the Almighty One who instituted it.

The word "gospel" is defined Scripturally as "good tidings."  When Christ uses the word "gospel" in Luke 4, He quotes from Isaiah 61 where the phrase "good tidings" is used.  Therefore, we have a tidy definition from the best commentary of the Bible: the Bible.  Beyond just the definition of the word, Paul gives some additional particulars to the type of good tidings in the same chapter as our study verse.  Galatians 1 contrasts the gospel against everything else, including things that seek to stake a claim as the gospel.  Basically, Paul concludes in verses 8-10 that nothing other than what he preached to the church and what the other apostles of Christ were preaching could EVER claim to be the gospel.  While we may receive good tidings in a natural way – such as the birth of a child – the good tidings of the gospel are such that constitute the heralding of the teachings of Christ and His apostles.  Nothing else comes close or should even be considered: rather it should be accursed.

Knowing the defintion and its associated scope, let us examine some things found in our study verse.  Paul desires to certify these brethren about something.  To certify something is to assure, strengthen, or deepen the knowledge of something.  When we send a parcel by certified mail, the type of mailing is supposed to give the sender higher assurance and trust that the intended parcel will successfully arrive at its intended destination.  Paul desires to assure the brethren of some information.  What this language should do to the reader is perk up the ears even more about what is about to be said.  Just as Christ prefaced statements with "verily, verily" to perk up the ears, so Paul here emphasizes what is about to be said.

The emphasized statement is that the gospel Paul preached is not after man.  Paul very succinctly concludes that the gospel of Christ – good tidings from a far country – does not compute with man's thinking.  For that reason, one should never expect the gospel to be wildly popular with men in general.  One of the clearest examples I ever heard on this point was brought during a sermon by way of analogy.  Who was the greatest preacher on this earth?  Simple answer: Jesus Christ.  Who did He personally teach?  Another simple answer: His apostles.  What was the end product of His personal ministry on this earth?  Somewhat longer answer: the best preacher the earth ever saw, His forerunner in John the Baptist, eleven disciples (we exclude Judas), and another seventy sent out by Christ personally while He was here saw an end product of just 120 followers in the 1st chapter of Acts.  While we see that the numbers did grow in the book of Acts, man's wisdom would expect the greatest preacher and His personal students to be more effective than 120 by the time of His ascension back to glory.

Another principle about the gospel that is not after man is that man did not conjure up its precepts.  What the apostles were given was handed to them from the hand of the Master.  Even Paul who did not walk with Him during His ministry received the teachings he taught from the hand of Christ.  Those same things – unchanged – are supposed to be handed down from generation to successive generation. (II Timothy 2:2) Man's wisdom could never have designed something as beautiful as the teachings of Scripture from which the gospel is to be sounded.  Only the Divine breath of the Almighty could inspire such a beautiful product!

Even though men wrote the source material for the gospel (Scriptures), the Scriptures were not after man.  Likewise, even though the gospel is preached by men, the gospel itself is not after man.  When considering those glorious times when men are taken to "other places" while preaching, no oration of man – however charismatic – could hope to compete with those glorious spiritual scenes.  So, the source material was written by men, preached by men, and preached to men.  However, when men receive the gospel, that cannot be said to be after man either, for it completely flies in the face man's conventional wisdom.  Nothing about it is appealing to men.  As my natural father used to say, "There is something special about telling people that we are dirty rotten sinners and them love you for it.  Then you tell them that God rescued them and saved them without help from them and even in spite of them, and they still love you for it.  Something special about that."  I say, amen and amen.  Such a reception of the principle teachings of the gospel cannot be after man though it is preached to man.

Let us consider one more point about the gospel not being after man before seeking to tie these things together to pull back the tapestry a little into God's design.  Something unique to the gospel is that it stands alone.  Anything added to it, no matter how sincere, could beautify it.  Rather, any addition robs it of its glory, and the addition turns the message and occasion into an ugly, accursed thing.  Recently, I was driving along and saw a sign on the side of the highway that read, "This Saturday Night – Auditions for the Next Gospel Idol" with a church's address telling everyone where to go.  My first thought was how ironic it was that the words "gospel" and "idol" were in the same sentence.  Yet, I understand what they are shooting for.  They are hoping to excite the interest of people to come in based on the success of the related television show (American Idol) and calling the enterprise the "gospel."

This "makes sense" according to man's wisdom, but such thinking – again, no matter how sincere – is after man.  God, on the other hand, chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (I Corinthians 1:21) Preaching is not foolish in God's eyes, but He understands that His order and design seems foolish in the eyes of man's thinking.  As an engineer, my mind is geared to seek "a better way."  Engineers are taught and encouraged to press things to find the more efficient, effective, less costly, etc. way to do things or design something.  Yet, that is a natural enterprise in an imperfect system where losses are seen and measured.  God designed an order and arrangement of spiritual activity that is lossless.  My efforts have losses in them, but God's design and order is lossless.  To add anything to God's design and call it the gospel equates to telling God that imperfections are inherent to His system.

So, having discussed these particulars, what reason could God have for designing things the way that He did?  Why did He choose the foolishness of preaching the gospel as the prescribed way to worship Him?  Why did God do it that way?  Of course, Scripture abundantly teaches that God does things that please Him, but does Paul give us any indication in this verse why God was pleased to do it that way?  I believe that he does.

Should the gospel have been after man, then God's glory is stripped from Him.  What if man is given the freedom to teach whatever he pleases in the name of the gospel?  God is not glorified.  What if man has the right to add whatever he pleases to it?  God is not glorified.  What if the measure of the gospel's quality depended on the preacher's natural skills of oration or personal charm?  God is not glorfied.

When the gospel comes forth in power from Almighty God, there is an intangible quality to it.  We cannot point to a man's prowess to prove the point any more than we can point to a man's original or creative thought in it.  In all things, it stands alone and supreme to all other endeavors in life.  Man's wisdom fails to grasp it.  Man's thinking cannot comprehend it.  Yet, God's children have been rejoicing in it for generation after generation.  Spiritual souls have been fed from it for centuries and will continue to do so for as long as this earth shall stand.  Though not after man, man has benefited from it.  Seeing this glorious treasure cannot be searched out, exhausted, nor found anywhere else, may we seize upon every opportunity to partake in it.  It does the soul good like nothing else can.  As Christ Himself proclaimed in Luke 4, it binds up the brokenhearted, salves the soul, and proclaims liberty to the captives. 

  In Hope,

  Bro Philip

Morning Thoughts (Ecclesiastes 8:11)

Morning Thoughts

Ecclesiastes 8:11, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

This morning, modern man sadly believes himself "enlightened" and "civilly advanced."  Many social and government programs in existence today were unheard of 50 or 100 years ago, and most of them were instituted in the name of advancement of civilization.  Foolishly, man believes himself capable of creating functions that will fix problems as old as time, while he consistently ignores the source of true wisdom in this world.  Most of the time, the world's "best and brightest" scoff at the instruction of the Bible.  Believing the book outdated and antiquated, they perceive their own conceptions to be wiser than God's Book.  Yet, when one contemplates just the simple moral and civil statements of the Bible, social problems in this country and around the world could diminish rapidly.  Civil authority cannot change man's nature by its decisions, but the decisions of civil government can inhibit or release man's nature based on consequences.  Man will never do the right thing for the right reason unless quickened by God's Spirit, but man can choose to forgo evil actions should the civil or natural consequences be great enough.

In our study verse, Solomon gives wise counsel that applies to many different areas of life.  The most obvious application of the verse is the realm of civil punishment, but the concept can be applied generally to many things, and we hope in the writing to examine the application of this thought to societies, homes, and even churches.  When considering what the Bible has to say about punishment in general, it is easily concluded that the concept of judgment and consequence for behaviour is abundantly taught.  However, punishment from associated judgment is not to be conducted according to the whims of man but according to the guidelines set forth by the Almighty.  Therefore, let us examine those guidelines as inspired by Him.

Socially speaking, God intends and expects that the structure of civil government conform to the moral code He has stipulated.  As God interacted with Israel's government of olden times, He showed forth blessing for keeping moral codes and directed punishment for breaking it.  Moving into the New Testament times, He instructs His children to obey civil magistrates and higher powers, for they have been put there for the benefit and direction of man. (Romans 13) Failure to see the "authoritative structure" in society is simply a failure to see God's plainly written word.  Yet, those strutures should function honorably.  Part of honorable function is seen in our verse.  Punishment of transgressors should be done speedily and without undue delay.  What would the benefit of this be?

God understands the mind of man better than we do, and He understands that judgment delayed encourages and breeds more misconduct.  If I thought that my punishment might be put off for years or even indefinitely, I might be emboldened to transgress knowing that the punishment would be put off or even perhaps might be not at all.  In a society where criminals are given undue leeway, other criminals become less concerned with keeping the precepts stipulated by that society.  A correlated thought here is the sense that when governemnt or civil authority executes judgment, it must be speedy but also consistent.  In the same vein that criminals are emboldened to commit trespasses due to prolonged sentence, they are also emboldened to transgress if they see inconsistent judgment being issued.  If only three of every five criminals are punished, then the inconsistency of the judgment structure makes latent criminals more likely instead of less likely to stoop to criminal activity.

Moving into the familial realm, only a blinded reading of the Bible would fail to see the clear injunction of Scripture for parents to discipline and punish children for misbehaviour.  God clearly stated that children should be spanked (Proverbs 13 and 22) when they disobey, and no modern "enlightenment" of man nullifies this commandment.  Today, man likes to promote concepts such as rehabilitation and counseling when children misbehave.  Programs are even in place for parents and children to sit down together and "get to know each other and understand the problems."  God's ways are simplest, and a quick spanking for wrongdoing will right the ship of problems faster than any program of man.

In keeping with the thoughts of civil government, parents also should not delay in execution of the punishment for that emboldens the child to transgress further and further.  But even on top of that, parents have to be consistent in what they do for the same reasons as mentioned above.  If a child perceives the "chance" that a transgression will go unpunished due to the parent's inconsistent execution, then they become more emboldened to push the envelope.  Both a delay of punishment and inconsistent punishment equates simply to the fact that the parent lies to the child.  They promise punishment over and over, but they fail to deliver.  Sometimes I become both amused and sad at the same time when I observe parents delay punishment and also show great inconsistency with it.  After hearing them say for the twentieth time, "You're going to get it.  I've had it." I think, "If I were your child, I wouldn't change either."

Moving to the realm of church activity, both Scripture and even personal history shows that delayed punishment of clear wrongdoing breeds confusion and tension within the halls of Zion.  Paul told Timothy to rebuke people in the church for the cause that others may fear. (I Timothy 5:20) If a clear violation is being tolerated within the church and the much needed rebuke is slow to come or never comes, someone else may not see the sense to refrain from doing the same thing.  On the other hand, if the rebuke comes quickly and correctly, others perk up to possibly be spared from falling into the same trap.

When I was growing up in the church, I observed perhaps 10-15 such cases where my natural father had to go through the painful process of rebuking erring church members that had committed a public offense and reproach upon the church.  In most of the cases, the members were penitent and begged forgiveness from the church – which the church always freely gave.  Yet, those moments when people like me in the congregation saw such things, I repeatedly had the thought, "I don't want to be there and have to do that."  My mind feared – as it should – and did not want to suffer the same.  Yet, if delayed punishment for open transgression occurs or if the church is inconsistent with her judgment, confusion and multiplied problems come forth.

While subjects such as these are certainly not pleasant points to consider, we need to remember that the Bible lays out plain and clear instruction on these points for our benefit.  Whether the realm is our children, society at large, or even our churches, we need to remember the old adage that, "An ounce of sweat spent now can save a pound of blood later."  No one wants to do these things.  Godly parents do not delight in spanking their children any more than a righeous judge likes handing out harsh sentences or churches disciplining members.  Yet, who knows what consistent and timely punishment now saves later?  When parents balk at spanking their children today, my mom likes to say, "Would you rather have to deal with that 5-6 year old now, or wait until they are 15-16 coming at you in rebellion?"  In society, would we rather deal with a few criminal cases now or countless multitudes later?  In churches, would we rather rebuke one or two now or have a large portion of the congregation in tense rebellion later?  The Bible is no more out of date now than when God breathed it to be written.  May we take its clear commands over any "wisdom" from man's imagination.

  In Hope,

  Bro Philip