Author: Meredith Beatty

Paul is not only zealous to preach the gospel, but he is zealous for those who have become disciples. He longs for them to be mature in Christ.

Does anyone long for you to be mature in Christ? Do you have that same longing for someone else?

Paul works tirelessly for those he’s called to serve, but not in his own strength.

“To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29

Do I have this same confidence in the Lord’s power working in me and through me?

Paul’s letters usually end with personal greetings and it always strikes me how much we can learn from these. He commends certain friends and coworkers in the gospel for their faith and love.

Epaphras is one who stands out. Paul says he is always wrestling in prayer for the Colossians. He works hard on their behalf and desires that they will stand firm and be fully mature in the faith.

Epaphras has obviously learned from Paul and is now imitating his zeal.

Is there anyone you look to in the faith as an example to imitate? Would someone else look to you as their example?

There have been people who suggest we go back to imitating the simplicity of the early church in how they met and conducted worship. I’m not so much interested in debating those things. I do hope, though, that we can all agree that we should imitate the zeal and love of people like Paul and Epaphras.

Let’s be zealous for each other to grow in grace and to be fully mature in the gospel. Let’s work hard on each other’s behalf with all the strength God gives us.

“And do this, understanding the present time: the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.” Romans 13:11-12a

Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. This is a fact although we all live in a form of denial about it. That’s why we need the reminders.

Each day that passes brings us one day closer to the day when our faith will be sight. If we could know how many days were left until the end of this age, when Jesus returns, we might live differently. But maybe we wouldn’t.

In this passage about the return of Christ, the only time references are these: the hour, nearer, nearly over, almost here. It seems confusing at first because to us, almost 2,000 years is not “almost here”. But God doesn’t see time as we do. He is not constrained by time and doesn’t operate within time. In contrast, we live inside the seconds, minutes, days and years of our lives.

I believe the reason God speaks this way is to stir our expectation for his coming. He could come at any time. And that expectation of his coming should cause us to behave in a certain way. We don’t know exactly when he will come, but when that day comes, God’s people should behave in a certain way.

“So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:12b-14

What is the point of affliction? Does God have any purpose in it? In this modern world, a lot of our time is spent trying to avoid suffering. Products are developed and marketed to us with the express purpose of avoiding pain, suffering, discomfort and any type of encumbrance.

The first chapter of 2 Corinthians is a slap in the face to this modern mindset.

Paul says first that God comforts us in all our affliction. That’s great! We want to hear that. But the sentence isn’t finished. God comforts us so that we would be a comfort to others in their affliction. He says if he is afflicted it is for their comfort and salvation. (1:6)

He then goes on to elaborate about their afflictions. They were burdened so much beyond their own strength that they thought they would die. What was the purpose of that? Why would God allow that? Is God even in control of that?

Yes, Paul says. There is a purpose:

“But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raised the dead.” (v. 9)

God is involved in our affliction. He does have a purpose. And even more than this, Paul goes to describe an even greater lesson, though it may be hidden in his words.

“He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (v. 10)

I absolutely love the logic of this verse. Focusing just on the repeated verbs it says this: He delivered us. He will deliver us. He will deliver us again. Paul has a steadfast hope that the God who delivered him will continue to do just that.

God’s deliverance from affliction doesn’t mean avoiding affliction. It means deliverance through the affliction. Paul goes on to elaborate on God’s purpose in affliction in chapter 4:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (4:7)

Paul’s goes on after this to explain that the afflictions they are going through are working to produce life in them and in others, all to the glory of God.

Paul’s vision isn’t fixed on his afflictions or on this temporal world. His gaze is eternal.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (4:17-18)

In our modern world there seems to be two extremes right now. There is a desire for comfort and convenience. We need to surround ourselves with things that make our lives easier. And then at the fringe of society there has developed an opposite mindset. You can see it in the world of obstacle course racing and Spartan competitions. One of the founders of these types of competitions has deliberately set up his life and family to tackle hard things and learn to deal with pain. It’s interesting to see these two extremes in our society.

Neither of these, though, reflects the mindset of Paul. Paul doesn’t go out of his way to seek suffering. In chapter 12 he begs God three times to remove the thorn in the flesh. Rather, he accepts every hardship as something coming from the Lord’s hand and focuses on the Lord’s purpose in it and through it.

“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” (12:15)

In his afflictions, Paul is focused outward for the sake of the Corinthians and upward for the glory of God.

Should we apologise for pursuing holiness? There are no apologies coming from Paul in chapter 9:

” Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

Paul is not teaching an ethic of working for our salvation. No, no. He is teaching an ethic of strenuously working out our salvation.

Throughout this letter he sets an example of what it looks like to zealously obey and love the Lord. It’s not about being set apart from others and having an attitude of holy superiority. Paul speaks a lot about caring for one another in the body of Christ. Don’t be the cause of another person stumbling. Don’t be selfish at the Lord’s table. Don’t be the cause of confusion and disorder in the midst of a church meeting.

In chapter 15 he again speaks of his work for the Lord, but it’s not prideful or self-seeking.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

Let’s not apologise for pursuing holiness, love and obedience to the Lord with all the grace and strength that God supplies.

I think about myself way too much. I get tangled in a web of my own creation, constantly analyzing and evaluating my words and actions.

Paul seems gloriously free of these traps. The Corinthians were a little obsessed with image and reputation. They were concerned about who had baptized them. They were dividing over who they were following. Paul warned them that didn’t matter. He told them that the wisdom of the world was foolishness with God. In chapter 3, he tells them that whoever did the planting or watering among them, it is ultimately God who causes the growth.

It seems throughout the book that Paul’s reputation is being examined, but in chapter 4 Paul explains how he judges himself.

He doesn’t.

I constantly evaluate and judge my actions. Paul doesn’t do any of that.

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” 1 Corinthians 4:1-4

First, Paul says he should be looked at as a servant and a faithful steward.

Second, Paul does not consider any judgment made by the Corinthians, or any human court, or even himself, to be worth anything. Do you hear this? He doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. He doesn’t care what he thinks of himself. Who can say this in the year 2019 when we are constantly appraising ourselves through the lens of social media? One misstep on Twitter can destroy someone’s life!

The Corinthians didn’t have the kind of social media technology available to us, but don’t think they were that different. They had the same hearts, the same struggles with sin. They had their own kind of social media, their own courts of public opinion.

Paul refused to submit to their judgment or his own judgment. But he did submit to one person’s judgment, the only one that mattered, and that was God’s.

In order to make an accurate judgment about anyone or anything, you need to have all the information. Paul understood this. He understood that people’s opinions and judgments of us are fickle and often wrong. He also knew that his own self-assessment was clouded by sin. Only one person knows everything about us, from the first to the last, past, present and future.

So what is God’s assessment? What is God’s judgment of us? If we are in Christ, our judgment is united with him.

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

My own tangled web of self-assessment is a deception; it’s a trap of my own making. If I am in Christ, who I am is inseparable from who Christ is. As Paul said in Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. He is my righteousness, sanctification and redemption. No longer looking inward, I can look upward and boast in that; I can boast in him.

Wisdom and knowledge are different things. Knowledge is about the accumulation of facts and principles. Scripture doesn’t have a lot of positive things to say about piling up knowledge. 1 Corinthians 8 and 13 talk about the how useless knowledge is without love.

But wisdom is different. Wisdom has to do with the use of knowledge. It’s knowing what’s right coupled with doing what’s right. Scripture always commends the accumulation of wisdom. The whole book of Proverbs directs us to cry out for wisdom. James is sometimes referred to as the “Proverbs of the New Testament.”

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5

Mere knowledge can puff up as 1 Corinthians 8 says, but wisdom is wholly different in its effects.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” James 3:13-17

Knowledge can puff up but wisdom is meek and humble. It leads to peace.

Which am I pursuing, wisdom or knowledge? Knowledge isn’t bad but it should lead to wisdom.

God’s plans for people’s lives are different and beyond our understanding sometimes.

Peter and James were leaders of the apostles and leaders of the early church. In Acts 12 we read the account of James being put in prison by Herod and killed with the sword. There is no other information about his situation.

Immediately following is the story of Peter being seized by Herod, put in prison and then miraculously rescued by an angel.

One was killed, the other spared. Why? The church was praying for Peter just as I’m sure they were praying for James.

It wasn’t until today that I had noticed this difference. I’m sure it didn’t go unnoticed by the family and friends of James and the church. Why did God save one but not the other? These are questions we all have when tragedy strikes close to us.

God’s ways are past finding out sometimes. But his ways are right. At the end of the chapter we read a rather gruesome description of Herod’s death. An angel of the Lord strikes him down and he’s eaten by worms.

Justice came for Herod. As for James he had faith until the end and would be commended for that. Hebrews 11 says the world was not worthy of people with this kind of faith. (Hebrews 11:37-38)

The gospel is real in part because of what it does to people. Case in point: Peter.

Peter is a loud-mouthed, cocky disciple of Jesus, always stepping in to say something or do something. He often fails.

He corrects Jesus and Jesus rebukes him by calling him Satan.

He accompanies Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane in his loneliest hour, and he falls asleep.

He tries to make up for it by brandishing his sword at Jesus’ arrest, but again Jesus corrects him.

He denies Jesus not once but three times.

After rising from the dead, Jesus pursues Peter with three questions. As if to mirror Peter’s three denials, Jesus asks him the same question three times: Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? I don’t think Jesus is trying to shame Peter. But I’m sure Peter feels it keenly.

How different the scene is only a few pages later, when we read and see the same man with the same name, Peter, yet wholly changed. He stands up in Acts 2 and speaks in front of the crowd on the day of Pentecost and powerfully attests to the resurrection. Yes, he’s still bold, but bold in a different way. Not for himself, not to prove himself. He has an understanding of the Scripture he didn’t have before. He is leading in a different way.

Then in Acts 4, Peter gets a chance to kind of redeem himself. At least that’s the way I interpret it. During Jesus’ trial, Peter denies three times that he knows Jesus. Who is asking the question though? It is a servant girl, someone without standing or authority. This time, in Acts 4, Peter is questioned by all the rulers, elders and scribes along with the high priest. This time, Peter answers with boldness and power filled with the Holy Spirit.

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11-12

God changes people

I’d never read all the crucifixion accounts together, one after another. What stands out is that Jesus is in complete control compared with the disciples who have no idea what’s going on.

Jesus has been warning them of what is coming. They don’t understand.

Events turn chaotic all around him but Jesus is calm. He only speaks when necessary. He does not revile in response to the mocking and beating. He does not respond to Herod when all he wants is to see a sign.

Even when hanging on the cross, Jesus is in complete control, up until his final breath. He gave up his life. It was not taken from him.

God had always been in control. This had always been the plan, down to the very smallest detail. He is even sovereign over the evil done to him. He tells Pilate that he would have no authority over him unless it had been given him from above.

But in this mysterious providence, there is mercy. In the midst of all the evil being done to Jesus, that God is working out completely according to his plan, Jesus says this:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

I am not very good at people watching. Actually, I try not to do it at all. I was never really sure of the point in doing it and quickly fall into looking at others with a critical eye.

I’m not sure if Jesus was ever tempted to judge someone by their clothing or their weight or any other outward characteristic. Maybe, but I think probably not. From reading the gospels, it’s clear that when Jesus listened to others and looked on others, he saw right through them. He saw right into their hearts.

In Mark 12 there is an example of Jesus people watching. In verse 41 it says he sat down opposite the place where people were putting their money into the temple treasury.

He saw each one and knew exactly what their financial situation was: rich or poor. He didn’t have to be told. He saw the rich person and knew what proportion they’d given. He saw the widow and knew immediately that what she put into the temple treasury was wildly out of proportion to her overall income.

This is what draws Jesus’ attention. This is the point of his people watching. When I people watch I see clothing and hair and body types. Jesus could care less about those things. Jesus is looking for a certain kind of heart: a wildly generous heart, a faith-filled heart that approaches the Great Giver of All and gives back all it has been given.