Hebrews 13:17 Watch Over Your Souls

Hebrews 13:17  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (NASB)

Membership in the Church universal is accomplished in one way and one way only.  Upon salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace out-poured we are brought into a right relationship with God, sins are forgiven and we are issued eternal membership cards as it were.  This frankly is the only path.  “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John 14:6 (NASB) 

But there are a lot of Christians out there bumping into one another with these “Membership” cards who don’t even know each other.  There is a master directory, “The book of life” Philippians 4:3 (NASB) but it is locked away in heaven, not something we can access on the Internet.  So how do we identify with and have fellowship with our fellow believers as called for in Scripture? 

There is another membership that is much more tangible where the other various commands of Scripture a lived out.  This is membership in the local church.  Much of the New Testament was addressed to the “Local church” and how it was to live out the Gospel with which it had been entrusted.  Some these days balk at whether local church membership is even a valid concept.  Is it?  Let Scripture be the guide.

Take this passage from Hebrews 13 as an example.  How is this possible without the local church and membership in it?  Let’s take a closer look.

It starts with, “Obey your leaders.”  Straight forward enough for you?  Okay, who do you point to for your church leaders?  The Pope?  The head of some denomination?  What about all you non-denominational folks?  Does this mean you are all disobedient to the Scripture because you have no church leadership?  Not at all!  This is a reference to your local church leaders, your elders from your local body.  You are to submit to them. 

Why?  Because, “They keep watch over your souls.”  Now do universal Church leaders watch over the souls of every Christian?  Not the way local elders are able to watch over the souls of individuals in their local church.  Are you able to submit to universal Church leaders?  Not in an accountable way as you can local church leaders.  Why accountable?  “For they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account”.  You see those God has appointed to lead the local church have an accountability to watch over you.  That simply isn’t possible in the universal Church setting.

So membership in the local church helps both member and leader in this regard.  How you ask?  Membership identifies you as one to be cared for and looked after by these church leaders.  They know you and you in-turn know them.  The bonus that we won’t cover today is that you begin to know “One another” in the local assembly and you care for each other.  That is also a screaming argument for membership in the local church; mutual care.

The writer continues with a comment on how your behavior in submitting to leaders in membership affects them.  It says, “Let them do this with joy and not grief.”  In other words, do not behave in such a way as members that you cause your leaders to grieve.  Hmmmm!   

Now why would my leaders grieve over their leadership of me?  There could be a number of specific reasons but they all settle on SIN!  When we let sin win in our lives, it brings grief to our leaders because they are the ones that are to be looking out for us and teaching us and helping us to grow in righteousness.  When sin wins our leaders grieve.  And, “This would be unprofitable for you.”  So, why is that – because my church leaders are going to take their pound of flesh?  Not at all.  It is not profitable to you because no sin is profitable and anything your church leaders face grief over cannot be profitable for you because it is rooted in sin.  Your church leaders are called to a mission of restoration and healing but it begins with confession and repentance.  Those first steps are often the stumbling block, the hindrance to recovery.

So, the Biblical model is one of local churches exhibiting mutual care.  Follow this model and get plugged in to a local assembly and heed the Scripture, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” AMEN!

James 1:9-11 Pray Scripture

James 1:9-11  "But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;  and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.  For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away". (NASB)

A few weeks back Sam Ingrassia came to speak to our men.  Men had been encouraged to come and many did to what I had thought would be a motivational call to leadership in the church and at home.  What I found instead was a challenge for me to lead my wife in a prayer life under our own roof.  Sam pointed out the obvious; you can have the best intentions and even start all gung ho in praying with your wife but before long you will notice that your prayers begin to be repetitive.  After you pray the same old thing time after time you’ll begin to wonder, “Why am I doing this” or you maybe just quit all together.  Praying together was something I had been challenged to do many times before and knew I should.  Besides the guilt trip however, I had never been given the tools to accomplish the task.  That is until that Saturday with Sam.  Sam’s simple solution – pray Scripture.

Sam’s full message in three parts is on You Tube linked below.  Here is the simple four step process:

1)Read a section of Scripture together

2)Think about what it means allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you

3)Discuss what you are seeing and how it may apply to your lives

4)Pray

Sam was clear, “You won’t do this every day” he said.  And he was right.  With my travel schedule and the way our household works, Sharon and I have done this now exactly three times.  But we know when we are going to do it and we know what will come next as we work through the book of James one section at a time.  It is remarkably simple and very rewarding.

Last night we came to the passage above – James 1:9-11 speaking of brothers of humble means and another, the rich man.  We read the passage and came up with the clear contrast of the two men.  We were reminded of the Scripture about the challenge of the rich man entering into heaven, thus the “High Position” of the “Brother of humble means”.  We were also reminded of the brevity of life, “Like flowering grass he will pass away” and “For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed”.  This also reminded us of the preciousness of life and the need to make the most of the time we have.

Then we prayed, Sharon first and then me and thanksgiving for the blessings of a recent bonus were shared along with thoughts of reliance on Him as an expected raise had not come through.  We prayed about the brevity of life and thought back to our prayer time last in seeking wisdom for life events taking place and our reliance on Him.  We thanked Him for this precious life and asked Him to constantly remind us to frame it for us in the context of eternity; to keep our priorities right and to help us with parenting in that regard.

So, the passage prompted our prayer; we prayed Scripture.  You can too following the simple formula and allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you from there.  And this is a NO GUILT ZONE!  Sharon and I have done it three times, but we have done it. You should too!  AMEN!

Job 6:24-28 Shoot Straight or Don't Shoot

Job 6:24-28  "Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred.  "How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?  "Do you intend to reprove my words, When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?   "You would even cast lots for the orphans And barter over your friend.  "Now please look at me, And see if I lie to your face”. (NASB)

I have been challenged recently with thoughts from shall we say, “A different perspective”.  The thoughts though are just that, thoughts; dreams of a human nature not based on truth.  Not even based on logic or a position that might be articulated clearly.  Ideas and opinions of fools in my view, but what does Scripture have to say.

Job is where I found this passage.  I found it searching on the key word “Honest” or “Honesty”.  Oddly, that word appears very few times in Scripture – just 7 times by my count.  Most references were in Genesis and had to do with fair dealings.  This reference hits home on the topic.

The passage starts out with the simple declarative and open view of the listener, “Teach me” and (if you do)”I will be silent”.  So, in other words, if you are able to lay out your position clearly, teaching me, then I will be silent.  Crudely, you might say, “I’ll shut up and listen”.  The premise though is that you have the capacity to, “Teach me”.  “Teach me, and I will be silent”.  And as you teach me … “Show me how I have erred”.  So not only am I open to your teaching but I am open to the possibility that I have had it wrong previously.  Bottom line – I am teachable if you are capable of teaching.

“How painful are honest words”!  Paraphrased again – the truth hurts sometimes.   This isn’t Job speaking about being hurt himself.  He’s talking about the other guy.  Make a legitimate case and convince me!  But instead, “What does your argument prove”?  There is nothing to the argument that has been made.  The painful truth is your argument is hollow at best and most likely foolish.

Matthew Henry sums up the situation this way:

“If, instead of invidious reflections and uncharitable insinuations, you will give me plain instructions and solid arguments, which shall carry their own evidence along with them, I am ready to acknowledge my error and own myself in a fault: Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; for I have often found, with pleasure and wonder, how forcible right words are. But the method you take will never make proselytes: What doth your arguing reprove? Your hypothesis is false, your surmises are groundless, your management is weak, and your application peevish and uncharitable.” 

Now you may not like the Old English but he got right to the point.

Personally, I am open to legitimate challenges to my weaknesses.  I admit I am a sinner saved by grace and I continue to make mistakes every day.  In my weakness, I may bow up and argue at first but I will admit my error when confronted with real truth.  But, I stand on the truth of God’s Word and the principles derived from that place alone.  Try to make an argument from another position and you will find yourself in the bucket of fools referenced above.  2Timothy 3:16-17  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”.

Those confronting Job were not coming from a righteous place.  How do we know for sure?  Check out verse 27 … “You would even cast lots for the orphans And barter over your friend”.  Now Job may have gotten a little personal in verse 27 with, “Casting lots for orphans” but it does speak to the character of the guy he is dealing with.  Fortunately I don’t think the ones’ I have encountered are in that league so we’ll let this verse go for now.

The section closes with, “Now please look at me, And see if I lie to your face “.  I wanted to include that because it is important that as we enter into these situations that we are completely honest with ourselves and the other individuals.  If we are going to say the other party isn’t being clear and speaking the truth even being honest with themselves then we had better not be guilty of the same thing.  So, “Please look at me, And see if I lie to your face”  AMEN!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Inspired

2Timothy 3:16-17  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (NASB)

Have you ever wondered why it is the Bible we turn to when we want to get our bearings?  Why is it that so much attention is paid to an ancient collection of hard words translated from foreign languages?

The Bible comments on itself and gives us insight as to how reliable it is and to what purpose it may be used.  This brief passage from 2 Timothy is one example rich in its insight.

The passage first references, “All Scripture”.  All Scripture includes the Old and New Testaments of our Bible.  Without going into detail and getting into a discussion of which I have only limited knowledge let me just say that godly men have worked through the writings included in our Bible to be certain they belong.  The “Canon” or complete collection is what we refer to as the Bible or Holy Bible.  This complete collection it is agreed meets the standard, “Inspired by God”.  Men wrote the Bible under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The use of the phrase, “Inspired by God” comes from the Greek theopneustos.  (Theo = God, Pneustos = Breath)  It is interesting in that it could be translated, “God breathed”.  The truth shared here is that Scripture is God’s Word, what He says.

The passage goes on to talk about some of the benefits or uses of Scripture.  These include teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness.  The only hard word here is reproof which is a cousin of rebuke, convict, expose or reprimand.  The idea is a bit stronger than correction; it is the idea of proving the truth.

All this is for a purpose though.  The Bible isn’t here for us to beat people up with rather its purpose is shared in verse 17.  ”So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

So the purpose of all that teaching, reproving, correcting and training that Scripture enables is so that those who follow Christ will be useable.  Being useable makes us ready for the work we are called to accomplish.  We’ll look more at that later.

For now, are you equipped?  Time in the Word and under Biblical teaching promises that result.  AMEN!