An Indicative Marriage (For Wives)
May 30, 2023 at 2:42 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 3 CommentsTags: Biblical marriage, Christian marriage, communication in marriage, Gospel marriage, marriage, Proverbs 19, Proverbs 27, Proverbs 31, Titus 2
3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:3-5
Titus 2:5 gives some imperatives for wives. These are things that older women ought to teach younger women to do: be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, and obedient to their own husbands. However, there is also an attached indicative – a factual statement about what will happen if these things are not taught or done: God will be blasphemed. Unbelievers will say that the Word of God is not true because believers are not practicing it, but we know that this is faulty logic. God’s Word is true whether we obey it or not, but Christians must remember that we are witnesses to unbelievers – not only when we verbally preach the Gospel, but in how we practice what we preach. One of the often-overlooked purposes of God’s plan for marriage is to advertise the Gospel illustratively in a lost world.
This is an important thing for wives to understand. Helping husbands make God known in this world means not undermining the husband’s efforts to do so. The indicative is that wives are helpers, but – just like being the head of the wife is not in and of itself the fulfillment of God-given responsibility for husbands – simply being a helper is not a fulfillment of the wife’s calling.
For example “helping” the husband rob a liquor store may, in some technical sense, be considered helping, but it’s not helping in a God-honoring way. Wives must help husbands do what’s right, not help them along on their way to destruction.
Being a “keeper at home” does not mean that “a woman’s place in is in the home,” in the sense that she should never leave.
She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
Proverbs 31:14
Wives may do things or obtain things from outside the home that help their husbands in a virtuous way, not a burdensome way. They may find bargains or work outside the home and help with the family’s financial welfare, but not shop all day for frivolous things or go to the casino and “help” him into the poorhouse.
Furthermore, being a “keeper at home” does not mean dominating all conversation or communication in the home in a negative way.
A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.
Proverbs 19:13
This is an indicative. Constant nagging, griping, grumbling, and complaining will “help” the husband, alright. It will help drive him nuts (or at least discourage him)! Pleasant, gratifying, constructive speech will help him stay positive and encourage him to be pleasant in return.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
Proverbs 27:15
This is another indicative. Virtuous helpers help make the home a pleasant place to spend time. Wives need to be especially careful when it comes to their speech – to the quantity and the quality of their talking.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Proverbs 31:26
In most cases God has given wives a gift of verbal superiority over their husbands. They are better at talking, communicating, and effectively using words, but they must be good stewards of this gift.
Proverbs 31 is often used as sort of a measuring stick for whether married women are doing a good job as wives and mothers, but you could make the argument that Proverbs 31 is really describing wisdom using a feminine reference, as Proverbs sometimes does, and as we sometimes do for ships and our nation and even churches, calling them “she” and using “her” for poetic effect. However, it does seem pretty clear that what is being described is a virtuous woman. Keeping in mind Scripture’s teaching about wives being treated as precious and honorable, it makes sense for the Bible to describe this woman as being more valuable than rubies, but the characteristics of the virtuous woman here should not be used as the travelogue for a guilt trip, or as a chore list, or as a didactic beatdown for wives or moms who can very easily feel overwhelmed, especially these days where Instagram and social media tempt people to compare their lives and to exaggerate about how they really have it “all together.” If you are a wife reading this, I hope you will take it more as an encouragement than a rebuke.
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
Proverbs 31:23
A wife who belittles her husband is still a “helper” She’s “helping” him to lose his influence, reputation, and respect. A wife, on the other hand, who verbally praises her husband is helping him to GAIN influence, reputation, and respect. And what is she likely to get in return?
28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Proverbs 31:28-29
“Excellest them all” may sound competitive, but the competition is not for wives to seem superior to other wives. No, the competition is to see exactly how much encouragement, assistance, and blessing wives can give their husbands. Wives should spurn modern advice concerning “self-help” in favor of Biblical advice concerning “husband-help,” which is the indicative that God has pronounced on wives, and which, when done faithfully and obediently, will please God whether it pleases the husband or not.
And husbands must also remember that wives are not called to help husbands respect themselves. They are called to help husbands respect God.
A Weasel Riding a Flying Woodpecker
May 22, 2023 at 4:22 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: 1 Corinthians 10, mother-in-law, nature photography, Romans 7, Romans 8, sin nature, temptation, the flesh, weasels, woodpeckers
This is not the way I normally come up with the idea for a Bible lesson. It’s not that I’m opposed to being a little silly when it comes to choosing themes or titles, but, this time, the idea wasn’t really mine. It was my mother-in-law’s. She had found the picture below, and wondered if I could come up with a lesson based on it.
Although nothing came immediately to mind, I did not want to miss an opportunity to call attention to my mother-in-law, who is an exceedingly social, extroverted, outgoing, and publicity-seeking person by nature. In fact, she craves recognition, even to the point where she delights in visitors who drop by her home unexpectedly. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me including her home address and phone number at the end of this lesson, just in case you wanted to contact her.* So, in response to the idea that a weasel riding a woodpecker would make a great spiritual illustration, here goes. Challenge accepted!
The Bible tells us that, when faced with the temptation to sin, God provides escape-routes for us take, so that the temptation itself might be overcome and the subsequent sin avoided.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I Corinthians 10:13
For the woodpecker pictured above, his “way to escape” from danger was to flee, or more particularly, to fly, which is something that a weasel would not be able to do – at least not without some assistance. In the same way, when it comes to sins like youthful lusts, fornication, covetousness, greed, discontentment, and idolatry, our best means of escape is simply that: FLEE from them!
Of course, the problem for the woodpecker was that, apparently, the weasel (as weasels tend to be) was a little too weaselly for him, and, when the woodpecker flapped his wings to escape, the weasel simply hitched a ride. Do we not also struggle with this same tactic? Have you ever heard the expression, “Wherever you go, there you are?” The problem with fleeing from certain temptations, in certain situations, is that we are carrying the source of those temptations with us wherever we go.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Romans 7:17-18
This means that – even after we have been regenerated and given new spiritual life and a new spiritual heart in Christ through the Holy Spirit – we still live in a body of sinful flesh. We can’t fly away from our sinful nature, and, like a woodpecker with a weasel on his back (or like an addict with a proverbial monkey on his back), eventually we are going to have to land and face the real problem.
Thankfully, the Bible gives us the answer.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2
It turns out that, even though that weasel feels awfully heavy riding back there, he is really no match for our Lord and Savior, Who has promised us freedom in His Spirit. Those who recognize that they are no longer condemned by sin are free to face that sin, and to recognize that its source – “the flesh” – no longer has dominion over them.
Back in 2015 a weasel piggybacked on a woodpecker and someone was there to capture it on film. But what happened after the photo was snapped? Did the weasel fall off at some point? Was the woodpecker forced to eventually land and become a three-piece combo meal at McWeasel’s? We may never know, but what we can know is that, if you have placed your trust in Jesus and His atoning work on the Cross, you have the power in Him, and the freedom, to get the victory over temptations that come both from within and without.
*Full disclosure: My mother-in-law is not really a person who thrives on attention. I love her very much. She is a fiercely intelligent, kind, loving, and wonderful person. She has been a great blessing to me and our family for over 30 years, and, like me, she is probably more introverted and tends to get a little stressed in uncomfortable social situations, although, because of her composure and patience, you wouldn’t necessarily know it unless you knew her really well. It’s just that I couldn’t resist the urge to have a little fun.
Hypocritical Worship
May 11, 2023 at 1:50 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 4 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, idolatry, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 59, religious hypocrisy, Sabbath, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, syncretism
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isaiah 56:2
Under the Old Testament law the Sabbath was a day of rest and worship. After six days of working and keeping the law, God’s people were supposed to rest and keep the law. Both the working and the resting were forms of worship, but the people had trouble setting aside a day just for God. Under the New Testament the Christian’s primary day for corporate worship is Sunday, the first day of the week, because Jesus’s Resurrection occurred on the first day of the week, and we are to show that He is more important than anything else we will be focusing on in the upcoming week. However, are we that different from the Old Testament Israelites who failed to keep the Sabbath? Do we covet Sunday as “our” day of rest?
The attitude of the heart is important. Under the Old Testament law, work came first, and then rest. Under the New Covenant, grace comes first, then work. Worship is matter of the heart, but it also has an “outwardness” to it – at least it should. Church attendance, singing, public prayer, listening to preaching, group Bible study, and holy living are all forms of worship, and they CAN all be done superficially, and thus be hypocritical and sinful, but they do not have to be done in this way. They can also be sincere.
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Isaiah 57:5
Trying to combine the worship of God with the worship of idols is called syncretism, and it is also idolatry. Worshiping God AND anything or anyone else is sin. Modern Christians aren’t usually tempted to worship God and Baal, or God and Ashtoreth, but we we are often tempted to worship our own instincts, our own experiences, or jobs or careers, our money, our friends, or our social positions. A good test is to think about what we do when faced with a problem. Do we turn first to one of those things, or to God?
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
Isaiah 57:17
God hates it when I think that I can get what I want in my own power, ability, or strength. Outwardly, ambition looks commendable to the world, but God sees inward greed and pride and considers it sinful.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Isaiah 58:3
Hypocrisy is performing religious duties for the praise of men. Even doing what is considered to be a “good work,” if it is done with wrong motives, could be a type of “sinful morality.”
None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isaiah 59:4
In a fallen, sinful world successful people get attention, but the people they may hurt or oppress in order to achieve that success are often unnoticed and neglected.
They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isaiah 59:5
The Household Code: Husbands and Wives
May 9, 2023 at 1:54 pm | Posted in Ephesians | 4 CommentsTags: Biblical marriage, commentary on Ephesians, Ephesians 5, Gospel marriage, household code, husbands, husbands and wives, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians, wives
Some commentators call the section of Scripture which begins in Ephesians 5:21 or 5:22 the “household code.” It consists of three groups of two pairs. They all have the same pattern: the first member of the pair addressed is the member who is required to submit to the second member. The second member is granted authority. Each is given a command, and each is given a motivation.
For wives, the command is to submit to their husbands. The motivation is that the husband is the head of the wife, and that he represents Christ in a picture of Christ and His relationship to the Church.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Ephesians 5:22
Wives are commanded to submit to their OWN husbands, not other husbands, and not men in general, and they are commanded to submit “as unto the Lord.” Wives should think of it as doing it FOR the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Ephesians 5:23
The husband is not the head of the wife in the sense that he is the source of her power to walk in righteousness. No, only Christ Himself is the head/source in that sense. The husband is the head of the wife in an authoritative sense – the way a general in the army would be the head of an inferior-ranked soldier. Husbands and wives are equal in value, but ordered in rank. Husbands are “saviors” of their wives in the sense of protection, provision, and purpose, but not in the sense of spiritual salvation. This is talking about how Christ cares for His Church, not how He pays for its sins (although He does both).
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ephesians 5:24
Wives are to be subject to their own husbands in every thing, not just the easy, agreeable things.
For husbands, the command is to love their wives. The motivation is Christ’s giving of Himself for the Church. Note how many more verses and words are dedicated to addressing husbands than wives. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that husbands get more authority than responsibility, or more privilege than accountability.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Ephesians 5:25
Just as the command to submit meant a special voluntary submission, this “love” is a special, self-sacrificial, directing-toward-righteousness type of love. For those who like to imagine marital love as being inextricably linked (and limited) to things like red roses, sentimental poetry, sunset walks on the beach, and cuddles next to a roaring fire on a cold winter night, I am sorry to report that the type of love commanded in Ephesians 5:25 is not emotional love. It is active love. It’s deciding and doing, not doting and dreaming. Christ “gave Himself;” He died for the Church. But He also lived – and lives – for the Church.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Ephesians 5:26
This was previously shown in Ephesians. The motivating love and electing grace of God was directed toward saving and sanctifying a pure and holy people. Husbands are to sanctify (a positive setting-apart) their wives, and to cleanse (a negative removal of spiritual stains and dirt) them. This is not to be done through worldly means, but through the active and living and cleansing and transforming Word.
The Fives
May 5, 2023 at 11:04 am | Posted in The Fives | 1 CommentTags: bewares in the Bible, Cinco de Mayo, Cinco de Mayo Bible lessons, Cinco de Mayo devotions
I have to admit that this may have been the silliest idea I ever came up with for a Bible study series. What happened is that, years ago, the adult Sunday School class that I was teaching would host a Cinco de Mayo party each year. People would bring Mexican dishes and deserts, and we would play games and enjoy fellowship all afternoon at someone’s house. Whenever we have a Sunday School party, I like to spend a little time teaching a short Bible lesson, or giving what is called a “devotion.” Since cinco means “fifth” and May is the fifth month of the year, I got the idea to do a lesson on a Bible verse that was the fifth verse of the fifth chapter of a book of the Bible. After that, I just continued to study all the “5:5″s in the Bible (not all the books have a Chapter 5, Verse 5). That’s it. That’s the idea behind the different posts in this category. And, since fifth starts with an f, I also took the challenge of seeing if I could alliterate all the lessons with two “f”s in the title. This is not what any serious theologian would call “sound exegesis,” but, nevertheless, here they are:
1. Beware the Forestate of Fatality (Genesis 5:5)
2. Beware False Finger-Pointing (Exodus 5:5)
3. Beware the Fleeting Forfeiture (Leviticus 5:5)
4. Beware of Forsaking Formalities (Joshua 5:5)
5. Beware Falling Formations (Judges 5:5)
6. Beware the Freaky Foyer (I Samuel 5:5)
7. Beware of Foretold Favor (I Kings 5:5)
8. Beware Fractious Frustraters (Ezra 5:5)
9. Beware Familial Fidelity (Nehemiah 5:5)
10. Beware the Forestalled Feast (Esther 5:5)
11. Beware the Feeble Fortress (Job 5:5)
12. Beware Foolish Functions (Psalm 5:5)
13. Beware Whose Feet You Follow (Proverbs 5:5)
14. Beware of Foolhardy Finagling (Ecclesiastes 5:5)
15. Beware Fragrant Fingers (Song of Solomon 5:5)
16. Beware the Flattened Fence (Isaiah 5:5)
17. Beware the Freedom of the Foremost (Jeremiah 5:5)
18. Beware the Fearful Force (Lamentations 5:5)
19. Beware the Full Focus (Ezekiel 5:5)
20. Beware the Five Fingers (Daniel 5:5)*
21. Beware the Facial Fall (Hosea 5:5)
22. Beware the Flammable Frauds (Amos 5:5)
23. Beware the Frightening Footsteps (Micah 5:5)
24. Beware the Feminine Force (Zechariah 5:5)
25. Beware the Foreign Figurehead (Matthew 5:5)
26. Beware the Furious Fiend (Mark 5:5)
27. Beware the Fatigue of Failure (Luke 5:5)
28. Beware Flaky Firmness (John 5:5)
29. Beware the Fear that Falls (Acts 5:5)
30. Beware the Fight with the Flesh (I Corinthians 5:5)
31. Beware the Fiduciary Foundation (II Corinthians 5:5)
32. Beware Faithless Freezing (Galatians 5:5)
33. Beware Forensic Filth (Ephesians 5:5)
34. Beware the Father of the Furtive (I Thessalonians 5:5)
35. Beware of Fretting over the Forlorn (I Timothy 5:5)
36. Beware the Feeling of Formidability (Hebrews 5:5)
37. Beware the Fattening Fantasy (James 5:5)
38. Beware of Fresh-Faced Frowardness (I Peter 5:5)
39. Beware the Flagging Finishers (I John 5:5)
40. Beware the Frustrated Fixation (Revelation 5:5)
*most popular post in category
Where There’s a Way, There’s a Will
May 4, 2023 at 11:44 am | Posted in Where There's a Way There's a Will | 3 CommentsTags: discerning God's will, doing God's will, doing the will of God, God's revealed will, God's sovereign will, God's will, knowing God's will, knowing the will of God, will of God
I think most Christians would like to know God’s will or plan for their lives, and the more specific, we think, the better. But how do you know if the Lord wants you to buy a house or rent an apartment? To have three children or nineteen children or no children? To work overtime or take a day off? To drive a Ford Pinto or a Cadillac Coupe de Ville? To make mint chocolate chip cookies or a coconut cream pie for your Sunday School teacher?
People try to discern God’s will in a number of ways, many of which are forbidden by Scripture: reading the horoscope; flipping a coin; even flipping open the Bible to a random verse and taking it as a sign from God. In the links below, I have tried to describe some of the ways that the Bible actually speaks about God’s will. You may have heard the expression, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” meaning that if a desire to accomplish a purpose or obtain a goal is strong enough, then the person or group who desires it will somehow figure out a way to achieve it. If we reverse the clauses though, we may remember that Jesus Christ Himself IS the Way (John 14:6) and that His will, rather than our will, should – and ultimately will – be done.
1. God’s Decretive Will (Genesis 1:3; Acts 4:24-28)*
2. God’s Preceptive Will
3. God’s Dispositive Will
4. God’s Secret Will (Deuteronomy 29:29; Genesis 50:20)
5. God’s Will and Our Will
6. God’s Will concerning Your Joy
7. Causality and God’s Will (II Corinthians 8:3-5; Ephesians 1:1-9)
8. God’s Specific Will for You
9. How Do We Get the Answers to Our Prayers?
10. The Psychic Hotline May be Hotter than You Think
*most-viewed post in category
Joy and Lament
May 2, 2023 at 1:56 pm | Posted in Biblical joy | 1 CommentTags: Babylonian captivity, Biblical joy, bringing in the sheaves, commentary on Psalms, Psalm 126, psalms of lament, Sunday School lessons on Psalms
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Psalm 126:1
Psalm 126 was written at the fulfillment of the post-exilic return from Babylon, which Isaiah and Jeremiah had prophesied would happen after 70 years of captivity. In 537 B.C. King Cyrus suddenly and without warning issued the decree that the exiles could go home. They began to leave in 538 B.C. It happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that it was like they were dreaming. It didn’t seem real (despite the prophecy). Then the dreamlike unreality shifted to joy.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.
Psalm 126:2
There are dirges in the Bible (sad songs), but most singing in the Bible is a sign of great joy. This psalm is a community lament psalm, but it is also a psalm of ascent. The “thens” in Verse 2 indicate steps upward. The gentiles in Canaan weren’t happy that Judah was being allowed to return, but they were forced to confess that the God of the Jewish people had done something great for them.
The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:3
This was their song, but the lament has to do with the rain that would be needed if they were to successfully survive in a ravaged land.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.
Psalm 126:4
God’s salvation initiates hard work, not vice versa.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Psalm 126:5
Tearful sowing results in joyful reaping, both literally and evangelistically.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:6
The Deep End 
Hope and Urgency
May 17, 2023 at 2:55 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: Biblical hope, Biblical passion, commentary on Psalms, David and Saul, Psalm 59, psalms of lament, royal psalms, Sunday School lessons on Psalms
Psalm 59:1
There is some disagreement as to which genre Psalm 59 should be classified under. It seems most likely to be a psalm of lament, but, considering that it deals with situations faced by a king under attack from those who seek to take his life, at least one commentator classifies it as a royal lament.
Also, as with many of the Psalms, there is no clear consensus about the exact meaning of its preface. Obviously, we do know that David wrote it, or that it was written for David. It appears that it was to be given to the chief musician in the Tabernacle, whose name was Al-taschith, but “altaschith” means “do not destroy,” so perhaps this was not really someone’s name, and was instead a command or instruction: “Do not destroy this psalm.” To further complicate things, though, “do not destroy” might have been the name of a tune or a piece of lyricless music that was used for several songs. And to top it off, nobody really knows for sure what a “michtam” was. The best guess is that a “michtam” was a “golden” (precious) psalm, lending support to the idea that Psalm 59 is both a royal psalm and a lament.
What is more clear is the occasion which prompted its writing: I Samuel 19:11-18. Therefore, the key theme of the psalm is deliverance.
Psalm 59:2-3
There is both hope and urgency expressed here. A plea for urgent delivery does not always indicate a lack of trust. God does not expect us to ignore our circumstances or to indolently state, “Everything happens for a reason.” The Psalms teach us the permissibility of passion – a raw and real relationship with God.
God knows what our enemies are plotting, planning, and even doing, way before we do.
Psalm 59:5-6
These were not Godly men with a reasonable difference of opinion over whether Saul should be succeeded by David. No, these were unclean and vicious animals prowling for David’s life.
Psalm 59:7-8
Their words were mean and nasty, their threats were fierce, and the danger they posed was real, but God is not intimidated. David really had to shake himself to remind himself of this unseen reality, which was more real than the visible world.