I Timothy 3:1-13

Dear RTB’ers,

Back on track, with an early-morning post. Only two church officers are mentioned in today’s reading, overseer and deacon. Many scholars ascribe the overseer office to be that of our modern-day bishop, even back then one individual overseeing a number of parishes. Then to find deacons, we go back to Acts 6:1-6 where we see the first “deacons” appointed, but not named as such, …men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3b), who were simply asked “…to serve tables” (Acts 6:2b). The requirements for both of these church offices are stringent, with a major focus on one’s own family. It’s interesting to note that overseers must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace… (v. 7) Sadly, we’ve seen too many church leaders fall into disgrace. One wonders how well vetted they were for their positions!

Blessings!

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See also: November 5 (2021) / I Timothy 3:1-16

I Timothy 2

Dear RTB’ers,

Finally, after nearly four months away Carol and I returned yesterday evening – after one of our longest travel days ever! But that was then, this is now.

I sent a personal note to John, thanking him for stepping into the void that I created, my Sunday-Tuesday absence. Mostly I had kept you appraised of where we would be and I had thought that I would be posting, no problem. But after a Sunday sermon in Bratislava, SK and then traveling to Vienna, AU, my illness denial caught up with me. Then Monday in Vienna, a city that we love, our “last day in Europe” became for me one hour in a Christmas market, then me getting lost going home by myself, then an evening packing for a 6:00 am flight the next day. And somehow I just don’t work well on the plane. So, my apologies for my three-days-gone, but I am back now!

I Timothy!! I Timothy is one of three “pastoral” epistles that Paul wrote – two to Timothy and one to Titus, that have a lot to say about church matters with much less in the way of theological issues. There is a fourth personal letter that Paul wrote, to Philemon on a different personal matter.

…God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (vv. 2:3b-4) I might not have mentioned this verse in a stand-alone chapter 2 comment, but I had expected that I would be posting on both of I Timothy’s first two chapters (until I saw that John had posted), and there is one verse from chapter 1 that stands out: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners… (1:15a). Both of these verses are from my early born-again days and my involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ, where evangelism, sharing our faith with unbelievers was a primary focus. These two verses were “memory verses” for us that still come to mind the same nearly fifty years later! And what those “Jesus people” were doing in the 1970s is still our charge today, reaching out to unbelievers.

It’s good to be back. See you Sunday…!

Blessings!

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See also: November 4 (2021) / I Timothy 2:1-15

I Timothy 1

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

I Timothy 1:5

This verse reminds me of I Corinthians 13 — “The Love Chapter” — along with its introduction, I Corinthians 12:31: And I will show you a still more excellent way — love, of course being that “more excellent way.”

The proof of good doctrine is not in winning intellectual arguments or citing chapter and verse or in pursuing all sorts of discussions, even if one might be “right” about all those topics. The proof is in love, and love is self-sacrificial action.

So what is the needle on your “love-meter” indicating today? Would those who know you best agree with your self-assessment?

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See also: November 3 (2021) / I Timothy 1:1-20

Micah 7:7-20

I expect that most of us are unfamiliar with much of the context into which Micah prophesies. Sure, we may have a reasonable grasp of the sweep of Israel’s history — the united kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon; the divided kingdom with Israel in the north and Judah in the south; the conquests by Assyria and Babylon and the subsequent exiles, etc. But we generally do not know the details about daily life and the specific sins to which Micah refers throughout this book, so we may be tempted to brush his words off as not particularly pertinent to ourselves. But that would be a mistake. We should pay all the closer attention.

We do not need to know the details of the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem to recognize that God takes sin very seriously and pronounces devastating judgment upon those aligned against Him. We should also recognize the LORD’s steadfast love and mercy for those who look to Him for rescue.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7

So which will it be for you today? Will you shake your fist at God and pursue your own way, continuing in your sin? Or will you repent and look to the LORD and wait for the God of [your] salvation?

Micah 6:1-7:6

In the absence of a post from Fred, I suggest taking a look back at my post from last year, when we read through Micah much more quickly: June 14 (2023) / Micah 4-7.

Micah 4:8-5:15

Dear RTB’ers,

Yesterday’s readings had mixed messages from Micah – judgment and condemnation in chapter 3, then deliverance in chapter 4. Today he starts out sensitive, then drops a bomb on Judah’s leaders, that they are going into exile in Babylon. Their actual exile would be hundreds of years down the road (586 BC), but it was revealed to Micah sometime in the lower 700s BC:

Now why do you cry aloud? …Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. (vv. 9a, 10) The rest of that chapter then promised deliverance to Judah, “threshing” their enemies.

And then we get to chapter 5. I truly hope that you read the Scripture readings before you read my posts, because today I know that you would have been hit with a Christmas “WOW”!

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me One who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (v. 5:2) Micah is predicting Jesus’ birth some 700+ years down the road! And that verse was well known to the Jewish leaders – recall the Magi asking where this new king would be born: And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for from you will come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:4-6) All scripture ties itself together!

Sing it with me, “O little town of Bethlehem…!”

Blessings!

Micah 3:1-4:7

Dear RTB’ers,

Another travel day, so another delayed post, this time packing and leaving our 3-month time in Nitra, now two nights in Bratislava, with a missionary pastor and his family whom we met twenty years ago. Good memories!

Yesterday Micah seemed to take the entire people to task, saying that Judah was being infected by Samaria All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? (Micah 1:5a; See also verse 1:13.) Today it’s the leaders with whom he finds fault. And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? — Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. (3:1, 9-10)

But what a shift in tone when we move to chapter 4, including another of my all-time favorite verses! …and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. (vv. 3b-4) Ask me at our Christmas Eve service why it’s a favorite verse for me.

Blessings!

Micah 1-2

Today was a very busy day, as we were packing to leave our dormitory home tomorrow. Mostly it was “throw and go”, but it was still quite stressful. What to take, what to leave behind, who could use this or that? But now we’re mostly ahead of it and will be driving to Mark Bruner’s house with his car, then on to Bratislava for a few more days. But mostly, the stress is behind us.

I’m not going to comment on Micah’s text today, but I thought it might be helpful for me to bring you up on some geography and history. We’re looking only at the first verse: The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. David and Solomon ruled over a unified kingdom – the twelve tribes all paid homage to them. Sadly, when Solomon named his son Rehoboam to succeed him, that kingdom split, north and south. Judah (and later Benjamin) stayed faithful to the Lord and worshiped in the Temple at Jerusalem The ”Northern Kingdom” (ten tribes) had Samaria as their central worship location. So when you see any mention of “Samaria and Jerusalem”, we’re referring to the split kingdom – ten tribes to the north and two tribes to the south. The other item worthy of note in that first verse is the listing of three kings (Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah), all Southern Kingdom kings (kings of Judah), So right away we see that Micah will be focusing on the Southern Kingdom – but he will also have much to say about the Northern Kingdom.

Again, it’s been a rough day, but I’m glad that I took the time to send you these few words!

II Corinthians 13

Dear RTB’ers,

Yesterday’s comment – that is, John’s post on “Rearranging II Corinthians” – was enough comment for today’s first ten verses. Let’s look at Paul’s closing: Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. (vv. 11-12, NASB) A nice closing, full of love and peace.

But I intentionally left something out of verse 11, following “rejoice”: mend your ways…!! Yes, Corinthians, MEND YOUR WAYS!! Yes, Fred; yes, Carol; yes, RTB’ers: Mend our ways! No doubt we all need to hear that! Continuing… The ESV has “aim for restoration” – a bit softer than the NASB and as Carol just now pointed out to me, more in line with Paul’s earlier comments asking the Corinthians to restore those with whom they had separated from fellowship.

We close with a fitting end to Paul’s Corinthian letters: Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, mend your ways, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Blessings!

II Corinthians 12:11-21

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s reading is so confusing, so seemingly out-of-place that I had to go back to John’s comment on “Rearranging II Corinthians” from 2021. As you read through that post, please pay particular attention to any mention of chapter 12 or of chapters 10-13.

I agree with John. What we are reading today and the past three days and tomorrow might well be part of that “earlier letter”, written and received and replied to well before II Corinthians 1:1-7:16 (without 6:14-7:1). So as you read today’s and tomorrow’s readings, imagine that you have never seen the first seven chapters and that there is a lost letter and a lost visit somewhere in Paul’s life, both well before chapters 10-13.

Thank you, John, for that 2021 post and for the work that you did back then. It’s time for that doctoral dissertation…!!

Blessings!

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See also: September 11 (2021) / II Corinthians 12:11-13:10