Today in the Word for Feb 10-14
Today in The Word
Monday Feb 10, 2020
How do worship and fear relate? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. King David’s conclusion in Psalm 27:13-14 is:
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord: be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
He is very confident, and not fearful. We can see why as he states further in verse 6:
“Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.”
David is still outnumbered and slandered and some days are dark. Yet he states that God will help him to overcome. And his confidence in God leads him to worship the Lord. And yet is the reverse also true in our lives and in his? Is he willing to worship God in the middle of the dark night, and does that lead to greater confidence in God? I believe it works both ways. Confidence in God feeds our worship, and worship feeds confidence in God.
And that’s The Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in The Word
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
Is there a risk of throwing rocks at others within the church? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Romans 14:2-4, 10 reads:
“One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables…the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall…why do you judge your brother or sister?...For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”
In the early church, the meat market carried steak and roasts that had been ceremonially offered to local gods. Paul is concerned about those whose conscience would not allow them to eat such. Some of them had a tendency to throw rocks at their fellow Christians who did eat the meat from the market. They were judgmental.
Paul tells them something that we all need to remember. God is everyone’s final judge. We are not to be that judge. We are not God, so we should quit trying to act like we are. “...To their own master, servants stand or fall…”
And that’s The Word from Pastor David of Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Is there more than one way to make it difficult for others within the church? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Yesterday we learned from Romans 14 that we were to not throw rocks at each other in judgment. Romans 14:13-15, 20 goes on to say:
“…make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced…that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love…All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.”
We can put a rock in the path of someone else in our exercise of our own freedom in Christ. In the early church, the meat market carried steak that had been ceremonially offered to local gods. Paul does not see a problem with eating from the market, yet he is clear that an individual’s personal conscience must be followed, and we should be sensitive to another’s conscience and not cause them undue stress. It is the opposite of love to flaunt our freedom in the face of someone who is concerned than a certain behavior is wrong. It is better to back off. We don’t want to trip someone else up.
And that’s The Word from Pastor David of Deer Lodge Assembly. Join our Wednesday adult Bible Study at 6:30 for more of the Word.
Today in the Word
Thursday Feb 13, 2020
What is the attitude of a person who puts a stumbling block in front of someone else? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Romans 14:3 reads:
“The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not…”
This phrase has variously been translated, ‘to look down on’, consider ‘of little account,’ and ‘mock at.’ Paul makes it clear what happens when we look down our noses at the one with a sensitive conscience. I Corinthians 8:9-12 reads:
“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak, For if someone with a weak conscience sees you with all your knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?..When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”
Paul is asking us to consider the effect of our actions on the other guy. If a person who struggles with gambling were to see me playing the slots, could it embolden them to say, ‘Pastor David can do it, so it must be OK for me.’? And could they get sucked back into their addiction? We do not want to ‘look down on’ the one with a tender conscience in an area. Our ‘right’ to do something could really hurt someone else.
And that is the Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Can we overdo our own ‘holiness’? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. In I Corinthians 10: 28-30, Paul is dealing with the early church problem of meat from the market place being offered to local gods before it is sold:
“…if someone says to you “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?”
Some Christians in the Corinthian church were judging those who felt free to eat such meals. Their conscience did not allow them to partake, so they thought that should be true for everyone else. They needed to remember then the same thing that we need to remember today:
We do not need to be our neighbor’s conscience. We should leave that work to the Holy Spirit to convict our fellow believer in such matters. Our conscience is clearly not the same thing as the Holy Spirit, so let’s not act as though it was.
And that’s the Word. You can enjoy more of the Word this Sunday at 10:45 at Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.