Church Attendance Through the Ages

Posted on June 2, 2017 by russellmckinney

I’m a pastor, and so the goal of writing a blog post that gives anybody an excuse to attend church less is pretty far down on my “to do” list. However, with that said, I would like for us to have a healthy, reasonable talk on the subject of church attendance through the ages. That means that we need to consider the subject in light of the totality of scripture.

Consider the following facts:

  • Adam, Eve, and all the other saved believers from the pre-flood age never went to church.
  • Noah and all the other saved believers from the early years of the post-flood age never went to church.
  • Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the other saved believers from that family line never went to church.
  • The Israelites, who consisted of the 12 tribes that came from Jacob’s 12 sons, spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt and never went to church.
  • Moses led the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt and imparted to them God’s law — part of which commanded the building of a Tabernacle, the offering up of sacrifices, and the keeping of a weekly Sabbath day as a day of rest — but neither Moses nor any of the other saved believers from the time of Moses went to church.
  • Joshua led the Israelites in their conquest of the land of Canaan, but neither he nor any other saved believers from that time went to church.
  • Following Joshua’s death, Israel was led by various Judges — men who ruled over limited areas of Israel during certain times — but no saved believer in the days of the book of Judges went to church.
  • The prophet Samuel served as the transitional figure between the time period of Israel’s Judges and the centuries when the nation was ruled over by kings, but neither Samuel nor any of Israel’s kings went to church.
  • Following the death of King Solomon, who had built a Temple in Jerusalem to replace the Tabernacle as the center of Israel’s worship, the nation underwent a political civil war and split into two kingdoms (the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel), but no saved believer from either kingdom went to church.
  • Despite the dire warnings of impending judgment made by God’s prophets to the northern kingdom (Israel), the kingdom was ultimately conquered by the Assyrians and in the wake of that ceased to be a kingdom, but through all of that no saved believer from that northern kingdom went to church.
  • Despite the dire warnings of impending judgment made by God’s prophets to the southern kingdom (Judah), the kingdom was ultimately conquered by the Babylonians, with a large percentage of the citizens being deported to Babylon to spend the next 70 years there in exile, but no saved believer during those years in Babylon went to church.
  • Medo-Persia, in the aftermath of their defeat of the Babylonians, allowed a remnant of the exiles of Judah to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the city’s walls, rebuild the city’s temple, and restore Israel’s worship according to the dictates of the Mosaic law, but none of that involved any saved believers going to church.
  • There is a gap of approximately 400 years between the last page of the Old Testament and the first page of the New Testament, but no saved believer who lived during those centuries went to church.
  • During the 33 years of Jesus’ life on earth, He attended local Jewish synagogues each Sabbath (Saturday), but neither Jesus nor any of the saved believers who lived during His days went to church.
  • Following the Rapture, the world will undergo a seven-year Tribulation period, with millions of people getting saved during those years, but there is no mention in scripture of any of those saved believers going to church.
  • Following the Tribulation period, Jesus will return to walk this earth again, and He will reign over the whole earth for 1,000 years, but no one during those 1,000 years will go to church.
  • Following the close of Christ’s 1,000-year reign, the saved believers from all of history will spend eternity in the heavenly city of New Jerusalem, but there won’t be any church attendance during eternity.

The point I’m trying to get across here is that church attendance is exclusively for a limited era of history. The so-called “church age” began on the day of Pentecost that is described in Acts 2:1-47, and it will end at the moment of the Rapture that is described in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. As of today, that age has been running for some 2,000 years, and while that’s certainly a long time, it’s still a minority era in terms of history. Keep in mind that the Old Testament age (the pre-church age) lasted for approximately 4,000 years, and the post-church age will last for nothing less than eternity.

Therefore, what we are left with are two undeniable truths about church attendance. First, if church attendance was the end-all-be-all measure of a person’s salvation, surely God would have begun it with Adam and Eve as opposed to beginning it 4,000 years into human history. But, second, since us saved believers are currently living in such a unique time of history — a time in which church attendance is prescribed as an importance means of serving the Lord — we should appreciate the opportunity to attend church as being the historically rare jewel it is.

You see, Christian, we get to do something the likes of Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and John the Baptist didn’t get to do. This doesn’t mean that our experiences at church will always be ideal. (If you’ve been to church more than once you know this is true.) It does mean, though, that church attendance will always matter in the life of the Christian.

As with most everything else about serving God, church attendance requires a balanced perspective. Attending church doesn’t make you a saved believer any more than walking into a garage makes you a car, but church attendance does provide blessings that we Christians simply cannot find at the lake, the park, the ball field, or sitting on the couch watching a preacher on a screen. And the hard, cold, blunt truth of the matter is that this will never change. That is, at least, until the moment of the Rapture.

Posted in Church Attendance, Discipleship, Salvation, Sunday School, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Speak Up Or Shut Up?

Posted on May 31, 2017 by russellmckinney

The Bible is a big, rich, complex book, one that can be used to seemingly prove virtually anything. This is the primary reason why Christian denominations find it impossible to get together 100% on doctrine. Furthermore, to make matters worse, sometimes the Bible seems to be downright contradictory concerning its teaching. This post will offer a case in point.

In Matthew 5:37, Jesus says:

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your, ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. (N.K.J.V.)

While it’s true that the specific context for this quote has to do with swearing oaths, this basic notion of being careful not to say too much lest you cross the line into sin is found in other Bible passages. Consider the following list (all from the N.K.J.V.):

In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. (Proverbs 10:19)

He who has knowledge spares his words… (Proverbs 17:27)

…a fool’s voice is known by his many words. (Ecclesiastes 5:3)

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36)

And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But he answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (Matthew 27:12-14)

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. (James 1:19)

1 Peter 3:1-2: Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. (1 Peter 3:1-2)

Now, if these verses were all the Bible had to say about this topic, we could conclude that the Lord wants us to say the bare minimum when we talk. But the problem is that these verses are not all the Bible has to say about this topic. So now let me offer another list:

In Joshua 24:1-28, Joshua gives a lengthy, rousing speech to the Israelites to remind them of everything that God had done for them and encourage them to continue to serve the Lord.

In 2 Samuel 12:1-15, Nathan rebukes David by telling him a parable.

In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus encourages His followers to do their job of being salt and light in the world. Surely that job sometimes involves speaking up and speaking out.

In Matthew 14:1-12, we find the account of how John the Baptist rebuked Herod Antipas concerning Herod’s immoral marriage.

In Acts 20:7-12, Paul preaches until midnight at a certain gathering. If such a sermon isn’t a multitude of words, I don’t know what is.

In Galatians 2:11-21, Paul describes the somewhat wordy rebuke by which he rebuked Peter over the fact that Peter was trying to give the gospel a Jewish tint.

In Titus 3:10, Paul tells Titus to reject a divisive man after two attempts at admonishing the man. Please note that the rejection should only come after not one but two attempts at admonishment.

Of course, this list of passages doesn’t even begin to name all of the sermons, teachings, and lengthy discussions that we find in the Bible. The book of Job, for example, is basically just 42 chapters of lengthy dialogue. All that dialogue, I might add, certainly isn’t marked by the sparing of words or the restraining of lips.

So, as we Christians live in this modern world, how are we supposed to apply all of these passages to our everyday situations? Should we be constantly on the lookout for platforms by which to share our opinions in our attempts to be salt and light to a world that surely needs salt and light? Or should we bite our tongue, hold our peace, and be content to try to influence the world through our godly conduct and actions rather than our words (as the 1 Peter 3:1-2 passage encourages Christian wives to do in their dealings with their unbelieving husbands)? Basically, what I’m asking is, “Are we Christians supposed to speak up or shut up?”

Well, my answer is that it depends upon which Bible passage you find yourself in at any given moment. What I mean is, each situation is unique. Just as there will be times when God will want you to say much more than the bare minimum — whether it be you encouraging, teaching, motivating, rebuking, or whatever — there will be other times when He will want you to either say precious little or remain completely silent. You see, there just isn’t a cookie-cutter approach as to when you should speak up and when you should shut up.

You ask, “But how am I, as a Christian, supposed to know the difference between a ‘speak up’ moment and a ‘shut up’ one?” Here’s how: the indwelling Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus said the Spirit will teach us all things (John 14:26) and guide us into all truth (John 16:13). He also said the Spirit will give us the right words to say in the moment (Mark 13:11,; Luke 12:11-12; 21:12-15). These are wonderful promises to claim, Christian, when you are faced with the dilemma of what to say or what not to say. And if I know life, it won’t be very long before you will need them.

Posted in Balance, Choices, Communication, Complaining, Counsel, Evangelism, God's Timing, God's Will, Influence, The Holy Spirit, The Tongue, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Memorial Day in the Bible

Posted on May 29, 2017 by russellmckinney

Memorial Day is a day America has set aside to honor all of the soldiers who have died in service to our nation. It is celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday in May, and I fully support any efforts to honor our fallen soldiers. With that understood, we might wonder if the Bible has anything to say about honoring fallen soldiers in this way. Well, I can think of one story in particular that we might describe as being a Memorial Day in the Bible. The passage is 1 Samuel 31:1-13.

The story involves the battle in which Israel’s King Saul and three of his sons were killed by the Philistines. This battle was fought at Mount Gilboa. During the battle Saul was struck squarely by an arrow from a Philistine archer. Since the Philistines had a reputation for humiliating their victims — these were the same people who had once gouged out Samson’s eyes and made public sport of him (Judges 16:21-25) — Saul asked the servant who carried his armor to finish him off by running him through with a sword. When the servant refused, Saul took matters into his own hands by falling on a sword and thus ending his own life. When the servant saw that Saul was dead, he followed suit and took his own life by falling on a sword. As for the rest of Israel’s army, those who weren’t killed in the battle fled to safety and let the Philistines have the entire area.

The next day, as the Philistines walked through the battle site, they came upon the bodies of Saul and his three sons. That’s when the Philistines went downright sadistic, even macabre, on Saul:

  • They cut off Saul’s head (no doubt in revenge for David having once cut off the head of the Philistine giant Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:51).
  • They sent out the word throughout all Philistia of what they had done.
  • They stripped off Saul’s armor and placed it in the temple of their false gods, the Ashtoreths.
  • They displayed Saul’s severed head in the temple of their false god Dagon.
  • They fastened not only Saul’s headless body but also the bodies of his three sons to a wall in the city of Beth Shan.

Needless to say, Saul and his sons didn’t get the type of military burial that soldiers who die in war in service to their country should receive. But that’s when a group of courageous men from Jabesh Gilead, an Israelite town located approximately ten miles from Beth Shan, decided to right that wrong. And why did they take such a special interest in the case? It was because Saul’s first military victory as King of Israel had been a deliverance of Jabesh Gilead from the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:1-11).

So, what did these men of Jabesh Gilead do to rectify the sickening display of those four bodies at Beth Shan? They traveled all night, snuck into Jabesh Gilead, and somehow stole the bodies. The Bible doesn’t give us the details of how they accomplished all this, but evidently the plan went off without a hitch. What we are told is that the men then brought the bodies back to Jabesh Gilead, burned the decayed flesh off them, buried the bones under a tamarisk tree there in Jabesh Gilead, and fasted for seven days.

You see, even though those men of Jabesh Gilead lived long before our Memorial Day, they certainly had the spirit of it down pat, didn’t they? It bothered them that the bodies of four men who had died fighting for their country were being treated so disrespectfully and dishonorably. As a matter of fact, it bothered them enough to cause them to sneak behind enemy lines, steal away those bodies, take them back home, and give them the best burials they could under the uncommon circumstances.

And do you know how this story ends? It ends with two other passages. The first one is 2 Samuel 2:5-7. There we learn that David, when he became King in Saul’s stead, sent messengers to those men of Jabesh Gilead. In his message to them, David praised the men for showing such kindness to Saul and promised to repay them for it.

The second passage is 2 Samuel 21:12-14. Those verses tell us that David eventually had the bones of Saul, Saul’s son Jonathan, and (presumably) Saul’s other two sons dug up from under that tamarisk tree in Jabesh Gilead and reburied in Saul’s family tomb in Zelah in the territory of Saul’s tribe of Benjamin. This, at last, was a thoroughly proper burial for the bones of these men, and it provided a fitting ending to the story that I like to call Memorial Day in the Bible.

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A Profound Question

Posted on May 27, 2017 by russellmckinney

A missionary was once asked if he liked his work in Africa. His reply was as follows:

Do I like this work? No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse. We do not like association with ignorant, filthy, brutish people. But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him, if not. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to “Go,” and we go. Love constrains us.

All I can say to that response is, “GOD BLESS YOU, SIR. MAY YOUR KIND INCREASE!!!” In far too many instances Christianity has become the realm of the uncommitted, the entitled, and the narcissistic. The average Christian nowadays is looking for a church that provides everything and demands precious little in the way of service. That’s why they won’t stay in a church that is struggling, not when there is a dream church just up the road that has everything going full bore.

I mean, why volunteer to start a youth ministry at your little church when you and your kids can switch churches and join in with a youth ministry that is already operating at top speed? Why put in the work to get your Sunday School class built up when you can change churches and walk into a large class your first Sunday there? Why give your monetary offerings to help pay the meager salary of the pastor at your church when those same offerings can go toward meeting the million-dollar budget of the local “super church”?

After all, God’s whole purpose concerning your life is to keep you happy, prosperous, and “in” with the successful crowd, right? He doesn’t want you to help out the lowly, the needy, the wounded, the hurting, or the disenfranchised. He understands that you just aren’t comfortable in such settings, doesn’t He? He knows that you’re meant to soar with the eagles, not grovel around with the prairie chickens.

I’m glad that Jesus didn’t operate like a lot of Christians. If He had, His ministry — not to mention those to whom He ministered — would have looked a lot different. There would have been no special trip to witness to the scandalous woman in the Samaritan village of Sychar. He certainly would never have touched a leper. There would have been no trip to Gadara to deal with a worst-case scenario of demon possession. And the idea of Him washing the dusty, dirty, smelly feet of the apostles as part of His last meal would have been unthinkable. You see, all of that requires the loving heart of a true SERVANT as opposed to the heart of someone who is always looking for an easy time and a pleasant situation.

Let me again quote that missionary’s profound question: “Is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like?” Listen, if the God you serve never disagrees with you and never wills you to do anything you don’t want to do, you aren’t serving the true and living God. It’s just that simple. I know this because there are scores and scores of Bible stories in which God asks people to tackle difficult assignments, assignments they don’t want to tackle. So, Christian, please think about this the next time you have a choice to make as to what God would have you do. I won’t go so far as to say that He always has the more difficult path in mind for you, but I speak from personal experience when I say that you shouldn’t be the least bit surprised if He does.

Posted in Adversity, Children, Choices, Church, Church Attendance, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Will, God's Work, Love, Mercy, Ministry, Perseverance, Problems, Prosperity, Sacrifice, Service, Stewardship, Suffering, Sunday School, Trials, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Following God’s Instructions to the Letter

Posted on May 25, 2017 by russellmckinney

The story of Israel’s conquest of the promised land of Canaan is messy, convoluted, and plays out over many decades. Its record covers the entire book of Joshua, spills over into the book of Judges, and is filled with the names of races we don’t know who lived in places we don’t know. Overall, it’s an encouraging story as Israel, with God’s help, wins victory after victory and does indeed claim Canaan as their own. In many ways, though, the story is discouraging in the fact that Israel failed to possess all the territory that God had given them.

In God’s original plan Moses was to be the man who led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and into their conquest of Canaan. But that plan died a hard death when the people’s cowardice and lack of trust in God caused them to refuse to invade Canaan on God’s schedule (Numbers chapters 13:1-33; 14:1-10). In the wake of that refusal God prescribed forty years of nomadic existence in the wilderness outside Canaan on the wrong side of the Jordan river.

At the end of those forty years, it was Joshua (Moses’ general and successor) who led the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan. Joshua was a great man of God, one of only two adults — the other being Caleb — who had begged the people to invade Canaan forty years earlier. Under Joshua’s leadership the Israelites broke the military back of the various races that inhabited Canaan. The list of the 31 kings who were conquered under his command is found in Joshua 12:7-24.

Still, despite Joshua’s great successes in battle, taking a land isn’t the same thing as actually settling it and possessing it. As evidence of this, even though Joshua 11:23 says that Joshua “took the whole land,” God later told the elderly Joshua, “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land to be possessed” (Joshua 13:1). The responsibility for completing that possessing would fall to Israel’s tribes as each tribe would be assigned the mop-up operation of either killing off or driving out the remaining occupants who lived in that tribe’s allotted portion of the land. Here, unfortunately, is where the failure occurred.

God was explicitly clear about what the Israelites were to do once they crossed over the Jordan river into Canaan. They were to drive out all the inhabitants of the land, destroy the land’s false idols and graven images, and demolish the sacred sites where the people of Canaan worshiped their false gods (Numbers 33:50-53, Deuteronomy 7:25-26). This meant that they weren’t to make covenants with the land’s inhabitants, intermarry with them, or show them any mercy (Deuteronomy 7:1-19). God even promised to send hornets to expose the inhabitants who would attempt to hide from the Israelites (Deuteronomy 7:20).

You see, what God wanted was a systematic possessing of the land little by little (Deuteronomy 7:22). This gradual progressing would keep the wild animals and beasts of the field from becoming dangerously numerous in the territories that Israel had conquered but hadn’t yet settled. Logically speaking God’s plan was a good one, but like all plans it would only work if the people would put it into action.

Sadly, the tribes of Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan all failed in their assignments (Judges 1:27-36). Rather than kill off or drive out the inhabitants of their allotted regions, they settled for a coexistence with them. The tribe of Dan even allowed the Amorites to force them to live in the rugged mountains of that area rather than in the pleasant valleys.

All of this caused Jesus Himself, who is referred to in His preincarnate form in the Old Testament as The Angel of the Lord, to come to the Israelites at Bochim and warn them again about making covenants with Canaan’s inhabitants and failing to tear down their altars (Judges 2:1-2). He also told them, “I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you” (Judges 2:3). The message was clear: “You’ve failed at possessing your land, and your failure will have long-term, negative effects upon you.”

And so, what happened? Well, the people kept themselves clear from idolatry as long as the elderly Joshua was alive, but their plunge into the sin followed shortly after his death (Judges 2:7-13). Thus began the cyclical pattern for the time period of the book of Judges. That pattern went as follows:

  • Israel embraces idolatry.
  • God punishes them by allowing a particular race to oppress them.
  • Israel cries out to God for help.
  • God raises up a leader (a Judge) to help Israel vanquish the oppressors.
  • Israel does fine for a while spiritually, and then the whole pattern begins anew.

Therefore, in light of all this, the question for us today is: What spiritual lesson should we learn from Israel’s failure to thoroughly possess Canaan? That lesson goes like this: When God gives us commands and instructions, we must carry them out to the letter because failure to do so will result in consequences we’d be wise to avoid. That’s why I encourage you to take a moment right now and ask God if you have any outstanding debts in regards to following His commands and instructions to a tee. After all, your complete obedience will be the difference between you claiming all that God has in mind for you or coming up short and settling for something far less.

Posted in Backsliding, Disobedience, Faithfulness, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, Idolatry, Obedience, Rebellion, Sanctification, Service, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Elderly Woman

Posted on May 22, 2017 by russellmckinney

My previous post was the first of a two-part series on the Bible’s description of the ideal elderly man and woman. This description is found in Titus 2:1-5, and with that first post I covered the passage’s description of the ideal elderly man. Now, with this second post, I’ll cover the description of the ideal elderly woman.

I’ll quote the entire passage, but the description of the woman begins in verse 3 and ends in verse 5. Paul says to Titus:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things — that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. (N.K.J.V.)

We see here that the first thing Paul says about godly elderly women is that they should be “reverent in behavior.” The Greek word that is translated as “reverent” is hagiasmos. It’s a word that carries with it the idea of purification, sanctification, and holiness. This explains the K.J.V. rendering: “behavior as becometh holiness.” The teaching is that the elderly woman’s life should be marked by personal holiness in all areas.

Second, godly elderly women should be “not slanderers.” Slander is a false statement that damages another person’s reputation. The key word in that definition is “false.” Basically, old women shouldn’t spread lies that hurt other people. The N.A.S.V. bluntly translates it: “not malicious gossips.” Obviously, God doesn’t want anyone to be a malicious gossip, but it would seem that older women are particular susceptible to this sin.

Third, godly elderly women should be “not given to much wine.” While it is allowable for an elderly woman (or an elderly man, for that matter) to enjoy some wine, the privilege must not be abused or used to excess. Other translations translate the phrase as “enslaved to much wine,” “slaves to drink,” or “addicted to much wine.” What makes this particular part of Paul’s description so interesting is the fact that we normally associate older men, more than older women, with having problems in the area of enjoying alcoholic beverages too much.

Fourth, godly elderly women should be “teachers of good things.” At first glance, these words seem to contradict what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, where he writes, “I do not permit a woman to teach.” However, the apparent contradiction disappears completely when we understand that 1 Timothy 2:11-12 applies to a church setting while Titus 2:3 applies to a non-church setting. Still, with this understood, just what exactly should elderly women teach? And to whom should they teach it? Paul gives these answers in the remaining two verses of the passage.

In verse 4, he says that the older women should admonish (encourage, train, teach) the young women. So that answers the question of the identity of the students the older women should teach. But what should the older women teach the younger women? Seven specific lessons are listed, and I dare say that if older women don’t take up the assignment of teaching these lessons, the young women most likely won’t learn them. The world certainly isn’t about to start teaching these lessons!

Lesson #1: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women “to love their husbands.” Whereas movies, books, and t.v. shows promote the idea of “love at first sight,” “finding your soul mate,” and other such mush and gush, the Bible indicates that a wife can actually be taught to love her husband. What a stark contrast this is to the depiction of the bitter old women who despises her husband and encourages young girls to either avoid marriage altogether or at least keep their husbands in line.

Lesson #2: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women “to love their children.” We might ask, “Does such a thing even need to be taught? Don’t all mothers love their children?” I think what Paul is stressing with these opening two lessons is that once a woman marries and becomes a mother, her priorities must change. Her life should no longer be ruled by selfish ambitions and personal goals. Instead, everything about it must now be filtered through her love for her husband and her love for her child. If that means she must make some sacrifices for them, so be it. If it means she must put her desires and agenda on the back burner, so be it. Love involves more than a sweet saying on a Hallmark card. It involves actions and service.

Lesson #3: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women “to be discreet.” The Greek word used here is sophron, and it can also be rightly translated as “sober,” “sober-minded,” or “temperate.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines it as: “of sound mind, self-controlled.” The N.A.S.V. and R.S.V. both go with “sensible.” Somewhere in all that you’ll catch Paul’s drift. This lesson is a good one for any young woman to learn because, let’s face it, young women (and young men as well) are oftentimes not sober-minded, self-controlled, and sensible.

Lesson #4: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women “to be chaste.” To be chaste is to be pure, especially in terms of sexual activity. The older woman should teach the young woman the dangers of not only premarital sex but also post-marital adultery. This lesson closely aligns itself with the previous one about being discreet, sound-minded, and self-controlled. Nothing hurts a woman more than her being sexually loose and promiscuous.

Lesson #5: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women to be “homemakers.” It isn’t hard to understand that being a good homemaker is part and parcel to loving one’s husband and one’s children. Frankly, I can think of few lessons that are more anathema to the young women of today than learning to be good homemakers. The modern woman cares little for learning how to cook, clean the house, do the laundry, sew, take care of the kids, etc. She is much too career driven for such old-fashioned endeavors.

Lesson #6: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women to be “good.” The Greek word translated as “good” is agathos, and it’s a common word that is used to describe a general goodness in character and manner of being. At the risk of sounding trite, perhaps this “good” can best be defined as being the opposite of “bad.” Because each woman (like each man) is born with the sinful nature of Adam, she doesn’t have to be taught to be bad. She does, however, (again, like the man) have to be taught to be good.

Lesson #7: The godly elderly women should teach the younger women to be “obedient to their own husbands.” In Genesis 3:16, God says to Eve, “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you” (N.L.T.). Ephesians 5:22 says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord” (N.K.J.V.). Colossians 3:18 says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (N.K.J.V.). 1 Peter 3:1 says: “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands…” (N.K.J.V.). Finally, in 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul says, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (N.K.J.V.). I purposefully cited that 1 Corinthians 11:3 reference last because it’s the one that proves that submission doesn’t imply inferiority. God the Son isn’t inferior to God the Father, and yet He submits the headship of God the Father. Likewise, the wife isn’t inferior to the husband, but the equality doesn’t cancel out God-ordained natural hierarchy and order to the home.

Well, that closes out not only the seven lessons that elderly women are supposed to teach younger women but also the passage’s description of the elderly woman. As was the case with the description of the elderly man, this description cannot be fully met apart from a saving relationship with Jesus and a deep commitment to Him. You see, this kind of life doesn’t just happen or naturally fall into place. It has to be worked at and cultivated.

And now let me finish up this post and this two-part series by mentioning one final thing about this passage of Titus 2:1-5. Please notice that Paul, at the close of verse 5, gives the reason for why it’s so important that the older women teach all these lessons to the younger women. He says they should do this, “…that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Blasphemy is defined as speech that denigrates, dishonors, discredits, or defames God and His word. Therefore, the teaching is that behavior — either from the older women or the younger women — that contradicts Titus 2:3-5 is nothing less than blasphemous. This means that Titus 2:1-5 isn’t a “take it or leave it” passage. To the contrary, it is incalculably important in God’s grand design for how life on earth is to be lived, and when we ignore the passage, explain it away, or rebel against it, we do so to our own detriment.

Posted in Adultery, Aging, Anger, Character, Children, Desires, Doing Good, Family, God's Word, Headship, Love, Marriage, Motherhood, Parenting, Priorities, Rebellion, Service, Sex, Sin, Submission, Teaching, The Tongue, Wives | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Elderly Man

Posted on May 20, 2017 by russellmckinney

A father and mother paced the floors the night of their teenage son’s first date. The boy had just gotten his driver’s license that day and had celebrated by taking his girlfriend to the movies. He was supposed to be home by 11:00, but it was now 10:50 and the parents were worried that something was wrong.

Suddenly the phone rang. The father answered it and found that it was the local hospital calling with news. “Sir,” said the nurse on the line, “there’s been a car accident.” The father responded, “I figured it.” The nurse laughed and said, “Oh, it’s not so bad. No one was really hurt, just shaken up a bit. But I do have someone here who wants to talk to you.” The father said, “Okay, put him on.”

Then, to the father’s surprise, the next voice he heard was that of his aged father. The elderly man said, “Sorry to call you so late, son, but I figured you’d want to know that your mother and I will be spending the night at the hospital.” Simultaneously with the younger father hearing those words, he saw the headlights of his son’s car pull safely into the driveway. So, he looked at his wife and say, “Honey, we’ve been worrying about the wrong generation.”

The Bible provides no shortage of stories in which older men and women play important roles. Sometimes these elderly characters display exemplary character and conduct, but other times they don’t. At the end of the day, though, the Bible’s most detailed passage on the subject of how elderly folks should act is found in Titus 2:1-5. That’s why I’m going to use those verses as my text for a little two-post series. With this first post I’ll cover the description of the godly, elderly man. On that subject, the apostle Paul writes to Titus and says:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience… (Titus 2:1-2, N.K.J.V.)

Okay, so what does a godly, elderly gentleman look like? Well, first of all, he is to be “sober.” While this word usually gets applied to drinking alcoholic beverages — and it certainly should be applied that way — in this context it actually refers to all areas of life. Other translations go with “temperate” or “self-controlled.” Paul is saying that the older man shouldn’t get out of hand with anything he does, whether it be drinking or anything else.

Second, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “reverent.” Other translations render the Greek here as “serious,” “dignified,” or “worthy of respect.” The point is that the elderly man shouldn’t be a clown. He should carry himself with a high degree of dignity. He should be respected and his opinion should be valued by others. After all, an old man has a lifetime of wisdom to convey on a wide variety of subjects if he’s in the right mindset to do it.

Third, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “temperate.” This word closely parallels that first word “sober.” Other translations translate it “sensible,” “prudent,” or “self controlled.” Isn’t it interesting that Paul keeps hammering on the idea that old men shouldn’t allow themselves to run amuck and get out of control? Perhaps Paul is trying to combat the mentality, “I’m old and retired now and I’m going to live it up and start acting like a kid again. I’ve been responsible all my life, but now I don’t care anymore.”

Fourth, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “sound in faith.” The word “sound” carries with it the idea of being healthy. The point is that the elderly man’s faith in the Lord should be healthy and vibrant. It should have a stability about it that allows it to stand strong during life’s storms. And make no mistake, storms do come to elderly men. For example, a man might have to bury his wife of many years. Then again, he himself might have to endure a serious medical crisis, perhaps a fatal one. Such situations, and many others, call for one to be “sound (healthy) in faith.”

Fifth, the godly, elderly gentleman should be sound “in love.” This quality stands in stark contrast to the stereotypical old man who is irritable, cranky, unpleasant to be around, and just downright mean. You know, I’m talking about the old codger who stands in his yard, waves his cane threateningly at passersby, and screams, “STAY OFF MY LAWN.” What a difference an elderly man can make in the lives of his family and in the lives of others by simply majoring in love instead of crankiness.

Sixth and lastly, the godly, elderly gentleman should be sound “in patience.” The Greek word that is used here is hupomone, and it’s a word that has different shades of meaning. Patience is definitely one of those shades, but other shades are persistence, perseverance, or endurance. This explains why some translations translate the passage as “in perseverance” or “in endurance.” By using this word Paul is saying that the aged man should stay his course with the Lord despite whatever trials and troubles come. The guy shouldn’t be someone who quits quickly or can be stopped easily. The last thing in the world the old fellow is supposed to do is take his bed and wait to die.

Thus concludes the passage’s description of the godly, elderly gentleman. Needless to say, the best way for any man to meet the requirements of this description is for him to be a Christian who loves Jesus with all his heart and sets himself to serving Jesus with his dying breath. In my next post we’ll see what the passage has to offer for a description of the godly, elderly woman. So, until then……

Posted in Aging, Character, Family, Fatherhood, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Perseverance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Devil You Know

Posted on May 18, 2017 by russellmckinney

A five-year-old boy was visiting his aunt overnight. At bedtime he asked her to leave his door open and the light on in the hall. Surprised, the aunt said, “Why? You’re not afraid of the dark when you are at home.” To that the boy replied, “I know, but there it’s my dark.”

I guess we all have our own dark, don’t we? Each of us has that place of comfort wherein we feel safe, even though we know that even in that place things sometimes go awry. Like that little boy, we figure that if we are going to have problems, we want them to happen in our comfort zone. To use a basketball analogy, being down by 20 points on your home court is one thing but being down by 20 points on another team’s court is something else.

This explains why a lot of people voluntarily choose to remain in less-than-ideal situations year after year. It’s not that these people can’t see or understand the problems inherent to their situations; it’s just that they figure that as bad as things are there, they are surely worse out there in the unknown. We even have an idiom that sums up this whole mentality. The idiom is: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

But the plain truth is that God seems to make it His personal mission to call us out into places of unknown dark, places that might just be replete with devils we don’t know. Consider the following examples from scripture:

  • Abraham (Abram) was content to live with his family in Ur, but God wanted him in Canaan to begin the nation of Israel (Genesis 12:1-3).
  • Moses was content to live with his family as a shepherd in Midian, but God wanted him back in Egypt to lead Israel out of their Egyptian bondage and into Canaan (Exodus 3:1-10).
  • Esther was content with her place as the Persian ruler Ahasuerus’ queen in Babylon, but God wanted her to play the key role in sparing the lives of the Jews under Ahasuerus’ rule (Esther 8:1-17).
  • Nehemiah was content with his place on the royal staff of the Persian king Artaxerxes in Babylon, but God wanted him in Jerusalem to lead the project to rebuild the walls around the city (Nehemiah 1:1-11).
  • Amos was content with his life as a sheep breeder/orchard tender in Tekoa of Israel’s southern kingdom, but God wanted him in Bethel to prophesy to the people of the northern kingdom (Amos 7:10-17).
  • Mary was content to marry Joseph and lead the normal life of a Jewish wife, but God wanted her to give birth to Jesus by way of the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38).
  • Andrew, Peter, James, and John were content with their lives as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, but Jesus wanted them to be apostles (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20, Luke 5:1-11).
  • Matthew (Levi) was content with his life as a tax collector, but Jesus wanted him to be an apostle (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:13-14, Luke 5:27-28).
  • Philip was content to continue ministering in Samaria, but God wanted him to witness to an Ethiopian eunuch at Gaza (Acts 8:26-39).
  • Ananias was content to go about his business at Damascus, but God wanted him to minister to the recently converted Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, who had come to Damascus (Acts 9:10-19).
  • Peter was content to devote his ministry exclusively to Jews, but God wanted him to minister to Gentiles as well (Acts 10:1-48).
  • Jude was content to write an epistle on the subject of salvation, but God wanted him to write one on the subject of apostasy (Jude verse 3).

I’m sure that each of these Bible characters approached his or her God-ordained assignment with a high degree of trepidation. After all, when we really understand the facts of each case, some of the assignments were downright terrifying! To the credit of these people, though, they all stepped out of their comfort zones, left their dark behind, and headed out to deal with unknown devils. And why did they do it? They did it simply because it was God’s will.

I don’t know where this post finds you, but it just could be that God is calling you to forsake the comfort of your dark and head out into some new area of service for Him. If this description fits you, all I can tell you is that you must mind Him. Will there be unknown devils out there in this new area? Probably. Will the endeavor require a great deal of faith on your part? No doubt. But will God walk with you into the new dark? Absolutely. Like a good shepherd who skillfully guides his sheep into fresh pastures, God will guide you into that new place where He wants to use you. Your job is simply to trust, obey, and follow Him.

Posted in Change, Choices, Courage, Faith, Fear, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Obedience, Problems, Service, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Problem of Deprived Harvests

Posted on May 16, 2017 by russellmckinney

Judges 6:1-6 describes a pitiful situation. An alliance army of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and some other unnamed “people of the East” (referring to the lands located east of Canaan) was absolutely terrorizing the Israelites as the Israelites tried to make their lives in Canaan. These enemy soldiers would allow the Israelites to sow seed and cultivate crops, but each year, like clockwork, the allied troops would march into Canaan at harvest time and lay waste to Israel’s harvests from the north to the south.

These enemy forces would descend upon the land like great waves of locusts, complete with a seemingly innumerable number of camels, other kinds of livestock, and tents (Judges 6:5, 7:12). Just to give you some idea of the scale of these forces, Judges 8:10 puts the number of enemy soldiers at approximately 135,000. It’s no wonder that these annual raids had the Israelites living in poverty and hiding out in caves, dens, and other strongholds afforded by the mountains. All this went on for seven years.

Now, there are a number of spiritual principles that we can glean from this story. Here are three of them. First, in one way the plight of the Israelites was their own fault because God used those invading forces as His hand of chastisement against the disobedient, rebellious Israelites (Judges 6:1). Second, the story proves, as does the entire book of Judges, that even when territory is won for the Lord, that territory must be vigilantly defended from the enemy’s incessant attempts to take it back. Third, people who wouldn’t normally enter into alliance together are perfectly willing to do so in order to fight against God’s people.

For the purpose of this post, however, the spiritual principle that I want to single out is this one: Satan understands that God’s people become incredibly disheartened when they put in all the time and work to enjoy a harvest but don’t get to claim that harvest. And make no mistake, Satan just loves doing this kind of thing. As Jesus says in John 10:10 of the false prophets who were doing Satan’s bidding in trying to harm people, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

You see, Satan knows that if he can keep sending his waves of forces at a believer and keep stealing that believer’s harvests, the believer will be forced to live a life of deprivation and poverty. Furthermore, figuratively speaking, the believer will wind up living a cave-like existence of fear and hiding. This, of course, is exactly where Satan wants the believer — discouraged, out of heart, afraid, and neutralized.

Unfortunately for us believers, about all we can do to prevent Satan from destroying our harvests is do our best to live lives pleasing to God and make a habit of asking Him to keep a spiritual hedge of protection around us (Job 1:10). Many times, though, even this isn’t enough. Paul and the other apostles were devout men of God who lived incredible lives of service to Him, and yet Satan, via his forces, was still able to prevent them from enjoying many harvests.

As proof of this, Paul says the apostles were hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten, homeless, reviled, persecuted, defamed, and looked upon as offscouring (1 Corinthians 4:11-13). Since God wasn’t the cause of all that trouble, that only leaves one candidate. Obviously, Satan worked through some of the “Midianites,” “Amalekites,” and “peoples of the East” of Paul’s day to prevent Paul and the other apostles from enjoying earthly blessings of harvest which they had rightly earned.

Sadly, this problem of deprived harvests isn’t just something the Old Testament Israelites or the New Testament apostles faced. No, it’s a problem that we Christians still deal with today. I wish I could close this post by promising you, Christian, that Satan will never keep you from claiming some earthly harvest of blessing that you’ve earned, but I can’t say that. What I can do, though, is offer you this closing word of advice: When you find that Satan’s forces have swept into your land and destroyed your harvest, don’t delay in crying out to God for His help. I don’t know what form God’s help might take or even when it might come, but what I do know is that He is the only one who can send it.

Posted in Adversity, Disappointment, Disobedience, Fear, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Rebellion, Satan, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fine Line Between Hard Work & Idolatry

Posted on May 13, 2017 by russellmckinney

Tonya and I once attended an academic awards ceremony for our son, Royce. He was finishing up his sophomore year of high school and receiving what the school called an “Academic Letter” for having a grade point average of 4.0 or better. It was a nice ceremony, and of course it’s always nice when your kid does well in school.

The guest speaker that night, who was an alumnus of the school, worked for Google. I enjoyed his speech because he emphasized the fact that failure, when used as proper motivation, can lead to success. Many times, such speeches only mention failure as something that must be avoided at all costs. This stands in direct contradiction to all the Bible characters (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and Peter just to name a few) whose lives were marked by not only lofty successes but also lowly failures.

It was, however, another part of the speaker’s remarks that I want to say a few things about. In describing how you can move from failure to success, he talked about hard work, determination, and old-fashioned grit. Then he used the percentage of 120% — and, yes, I understand that 120% is a mathematical impossibility — in reference to the kind of dedication that is required for success. Please understand now that I’m not speaking critically here or attempting to argue that success doesn’t require 120%. Truth be told, if the subject is worldly success the speaker’s words were accurate. I simply want to point out that there is an incredibly fine line between working hard at something and making that something a false god in your life.

Our oldest son, Ryan, works as a P.E. Teacher/Coach at a middle school. He and I have had long discussions concerning the level of maniacal fanaticism that it takes to excel in athletics. We’ve talked about NFL coaches and players who work 15 hours or more per day, for most of the year, in an effort to lead their teams to victories. We’ve talked about professional baseball players who are either playing their sport or training for it year-round just so they can perform at the highest level. We’ve talked about athletes in individual sports who obsessively incorporate their eating, drinking, and sleeping into their training. This, in effect, means that the training becomes non-stop because there is literally never an hour off, let alone a day off.

I’ve warned Ryan that, as a coach, he needs to understand that there will always be some other coach on the schedule who will make greater demands upon his players than Ryan is willing to make upon his. Consequently, when Ryan’s team plays that coach’s team, Ryan’s team will more than likely lose. Unfortunately for Ryan, what he considers to be over-the-top and unnecessarily excessive in the way of requirements, some coaches consider to be merely the bare minimum. Welcome to the wide world of sports, the place where the more unbalanced and compulsively obsessive you are, the more success you will have.

Ryan played three sports (football, basketball, and baseball) as he was growing up, and he lettered in all three in high school. He could do that at our local high school because the small school has a total enrollment of approximately 500 students. Even at such a small school, though, the demands of attempting to play multiple sports have become exceedingly hard because what is now required to achieve success in any given sport requires virtually singular, year-round training for that sport.

A case in point is the conflict between baseball and football. Baseball is classically considered a summer sport, and during the summer those who take the sport seriously play on summer teams. However, the training, conditioning, and preparation to play the fall sport of football have now reached a level that demands the summer.

Similarly, the basketball team’s season at our high school will be well underway in November before the football players who also play on the basketball team will even get to show up on the court. This means that something has to give. A player can be his absolute best in football or his absolute best in basketball, but he can’t be his absolute best in both. That’s an impossibility. Continuing the theme, the basketball season will then spill over into the opening days of the baseball season and the conflict will switch from a football/basketball one to a basketball/baseball one. Here again, something will have to give.

This explains why most of the truly elite athletes nationwide, the ones who want to reach the pinnacles of their chosen sports, are now being forced to make hard choices early on in terms of their playing. The question each of these athletes has to ask himself or herself is simple: “Do I want to be pretty good at multiple sports or all-world in just one?” As the saying now goes for each sport, “There is no off season.”

But it isn’t just sports where we find that a fixated drive to “be all that you can be” equates to success. The business world opens its largest doors to go-getters who work straight through lunch and come in on the weekends as well to get even more done. In the political world, the low energy, laid back type of candidate might as well not even run for office. Even in the ministry, the field is marked by workaholic pastors who have built large churches by working themselves into the ground and placing their churches above their families.

At some point, though, the issue of idolatry inevitably enters the equation. When does working hard at something become worshiping that something? When does worldly success take the place of God’s approval of your actions? When do the numbers, statistics, trophies, pay raises, and perks have you rather than you having them?

I don’t pretend to know all the answers to these questions, but what I do know is that whatever fervent drive and all-consuming devotion we have about us, God wants us to give it to Him exclusively. If we are going to “buy in” or “sell out” to anything, He wants it to be to Him. Whatever we do, and however we go about doing it, He wants it all to pass through the filter of His will for our lives and remain safely within the confines of His approved balance. This includes our sports, our businesses, our politics, our churches, and any other realms we might care to name.

What is commandment #1 of the famous big 10? “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Websters defines idolatry as follows: “1. Worship of an idol or idols. 2. Excessive love or veneration for any person or object.” Along the same lines, an idol can be defined as being that to which you give the bulk of your time, energy, zeal, money, resources, dedication, and commitment. With these definitions in mind, can you honestly tell me that the individual who sacrifices all else in the pursuit of success in his or her field doesn’t at some point make a false god out of that field?

I know, I know, the response from such a person would be, “But if I don’t work this hard and push myself this way, someone who will do it will beat me and claim my prize.” Well, my comeback to that would be, “If you have to sell your soul to get what you are after, maybe what you are after isn’t God’s will for your life.” That’s something you should consider.

Someone else says, ‘But doesn’t the Bible sing the praises of hard work?” Yes, it does. The book of Proverbs in particular features several verses that preach the value of hard work and lambaste laziness. At no place, though, anywhere in the Bible, do we read that hard work and the pursuit of worldly goals should ever dethrone God in our lives. If that happens, that’s when we cross the line into the territory of idolatry, and the Bible has even more to say about the dangers of idolatry than it does about the dangers of laziness.

I find it interesting that the phrase “going the extra mile” has been hijacked by the world to describe the individual who goes above and beyond the call and does whatever it takes to achieve his or her goal. In case you don’t know, the concept of “going the extra mile” was made famous by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. He said to His followers, “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:41).

Christ’s words played off the custom of that day wherein a Roman official or soldier was allowed to force a common citizen to run an errand or carry a load. The Roman soldiers compelling Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus for a while is the Bible’s classic example of this custom. My point, though, is that the phrase “going the extra mile” originally had to do with service rather than success. I doubt that you will hear that on a commercial for Nike or some other Fortune 500 company anytime soon.

In conclusion, let me say that working hard is admirable. It always has been and it always will be. Hard work is also the lubricant that allows the machinery of this world to run smoothly. However, in all of our working, striving, training, and achieving let’s make sure that we keep everything in a proper perspective and don’t accomplish a lengthy list of stuff that God never had in mind for us to accomplish.

Remember, the greatest person who ever walked this earth didn’t get elected President, didn’t earn a million dollars, didn’t own a home, didn’t win the Super Bowl or the World Series, and didn’t gain His self-esteem by way of worldly achievements. Instead, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish HIS work” (John 4:34). Therefore, for each of us, the question becomes, “How much of that list of things to which I’m devoting most of my time, energy, zeal, money, resources, dedication, and commitment is really God’s work in my life?”

Posted in Balance, Business, Choices, Commitment, Desires, God's Will, God's Work, Idolatry, Personal, Priorities, Prosperity, Service, Sports, Talents, The Sermon On The Mount, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment