Yakety Yak—Don’t Talk Back! – Titus 2:9

A wealthy man had a servant who just wasn’t working out.  The man was slower than a dusty turtle.  So one day the man told him, “Unless your work picks up, I’m going to have to get another servant.”  The servant replied, “That’d be awesome!  I could use a little help around here.”

In Bible days the Roman Empire was filled with servants and masters, many of whom were saved and attended the churches the apostle Paul had established.  This led him to write to Titus:

“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again” (Titus 2:9).

This advice was probably much needed in Pauline churches like the ones in Crete where Titus was stationed, for servants who knew Pauline doctrine were sure to know that “in Christ… there is neither bond nor free” (Gal. 3:26-28).  If you were a servant who got saved in those days, wouldn’t you think that this meant you didn’t have to obey your master?

The problem with that kind of thinking is that Paul went on to say that in Christ “there is neither male nor female” (v. 28).  Well, if the fact that there is neither bond nor free in Christ means servants don’t have to obey their masters, then the fact that there is also neither male nor female in Christ would mean wives don’t have to obey their husbands.  And if wives stop obeying their husbands, the very fabric of society begins to unravel—as we are seeing in our own day!

And God is not in the business of overturning society.  God is in the business of making society better by reinforcing respect for authority in all areas of life.  That’s why Paul exhorts wives to be subject to their husbands (Eph. 5:24), and tells all of us to obey the law (Rom. 13:1-7).

Now in saying these things Paul was not implying that servants and wives were somehow inferior to masters and husbands.  When the Lord Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:42) He was “subject” unto His parents (v. 51), but He was not inferior to Joseph and Mary.  If anything, He was superior to them.  He was God in the flesh!  So obeying them didn’t make Him inferior.  It just showed He knew that God told children: “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Ex. 20:12).  And it didn’t make servants inferior to their masters to obey Paul’s command to “be obedient to them that are your masters” (Eph. 6:5), and “please them well in all things” (Tit. 2:9).

Now to please someone well means to just delight them.  God predicted the Lord would be a man “in whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. 42:1). But in quoting that verse, Matthew translated the word “delighteth” as “well pleased” (Mt. 12:18).  So in saying servants should please their masters well, Paul was saying they should go above and beyond the call of duty by just obeying them.  He was saying a servant should make himself someone who is an absolute delight to his master.

And don’t forget, this is not all dry, dusty advice for people of a bygone era.  What Paul says to servants is advice that we can apply to employees in our own day.  If you are gainfully employed, you should be obedient to your boss, of course.  But if you want to be Pauline and go above and beyond the call of duty, you will want to make yourself a sheer delight to your employer.  Christians who serve their boss like that bring joy to the drudgery of everyday life at work.  Just think of what would happen if all of God’s people were to adopt this godly attitude.  Imagine the testimony that this would be to how Christianity can brighten the world in every area of life.

When Paul adds that servants should serve their masters by “not answering again,” that’s a Bible phrase that only appears here.  But as the Coasters sang many years ago, when parents tell children what to do and hear any “yakety yak” in response, they usually say: “Don’t talk back!” That’s what Paul was telling servants to do, to obey their masters with no backtalk.  Nothing is less delightful than a servant who gives his master lip!  So why not determine here and now that you will please your boss well in all things instead.  You’ll be eternally glad you did.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.


Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The Gravity of the Situation – Titus 2:7

Nearly two millennia ago, the Apostle Paul advised young Pastor Titus,

“In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing…gravity” (Titus 2:7).

That word “gravity” means seriousness.  It refers to something that is gravely serious.  That’s why Paul’s words here have led some pastors to believe that humor has no place in the pulpit.  But it is my personal conviction that humor is an effective teaching tool that can be used to illustrate a point of doctrine and make it more memorable.  While preaching I’ll sometimes even say, “Now you’ll remember the joke—don’t forget the point!”

It’s also my conviction that God Himself has a sense of humor, and uses it frequently in His Word.  I laugh every time I read what Moses said when he gave the law to the people of Israel:

“When ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,)…ye said…why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die…Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say…” (Deuteronomy 5:23-27).

God’s people told Moses, as it were, “We find God too scary, so you go hear Him and come back and tell us what He said!”   For some reason that always reminds me of when Indiana Jones was looking down into a pit of snakes, and his guide said, “Asps. Very deadly. You go first!”

Then there’s the time Samuel told Saul to destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock (I Sam. 15:1-3).  Later when the prophet asked the king if he had done so, he claimed he had (v.13).  To which Samuel replied, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (v.14).  In other words, “If you killed all the livestock, how come I still hear them?”

But my favorite funny lines are found in the book of Job.  After Job finished speaking, Bildad the Shuhite—the shortest man in the Bible (You know.  Shoe-height!)—said, “how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?” (Job 8:2).

But Job could give as good as he got!  After his friends pontificated awhile, he razzed them by saying, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you” (12:1,2).  Later he told them, “O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom” (13:5).  In other words, “the smartest thing for you to do would be to sit down and shut up!”  When they didn’t, he told them, “Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on” (Job 21:3).

I share these smiles with you for a couple of reasons.  First, because when I started out in the ministry, I was told that the Word of God is far too serious a book to use humor when teaching it.  And to this day I’m asked why I like to begin my messages with a little bit of wit.  Well, beside the fact that all who teach public speaking agree that that’s the best way to get an audience’s attention and get them settled down and listening, it’s because I believe God has a sense of humor.  We have one, and we are made in His likeness, aren’t we?

But I also share those smiles with you to encourage you to read your Bible through from cover to cover every year using one of those “Read Your Bible Through In A year” plans.  You never know what will tickle your funny bone, and you and the Lord can have a good laugh over it, as I do every year when I come upon those verses and others in my daily Bible reading.

All of this means that when Paul told Titus to show gravity in doctrine, he was reminding him that the edification of the saints is serious stuff, and that a pastor should use every tool in his tool belt to get sound doctrine across to God’s people in a memorable way—including humor.  Remember, “the joy of the LORD is your strength,” not your weakness (Neh. 8:10).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.


Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Laboring Together on Paul’s Foundation – 1 Corinthians 3:9-11

 

Summary:

Paul begins by comparing himself and Apollos (3:1-8) to “laborers” like farmers and builders (v. 9).  “Husbandry” is the Bible word for farming (cf. James 5:7), and Paul has already compared the ministry farming earlier in this chapter.  He told the Corinthians that he planted the seed of the gospel in them and Apollos watered it (3:6).

He had to assure them he and Apollos were “labourers together” because some of them liked one over the other, so they thought Paul and Apollos were working against one another, vying for their love and money.  He gave them more assurance they were working together when he explained how he invited Apollos to go to Corinth (I Cor. 16:12), and he showed he wasn’t competing with Paul when he refused!

After identifying who the farmers were, Paul identified the farm when he told them, “ye are God’s husbandry” (3:9).  But the ministry is more than seeing people get saved and become babes in Christ.  God wants them to grow up in Christ, and to expand on that thought Paul switches from the metaphor of farmers and farming to builders and building, telling them that they are God’s building.

God uses both analogies for “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38).  He called Israel a farm (Ps. 80:8,9) and a building (Amos 9:11).  They were the temple God lived in (II Cor. 6:1).  Of course, they sometimes got so sinful God had to relocate to heaven!  But in the New Testament, the Lord said He planned to build a church that would never get so sinful God would be force to leave it (Mt. 16:16-18).  We call it the kingdom church (v. 19).  But once Israel rejected her kingdom, God stopped building that church and began building the church which is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22,23).

The first thing you need to build a building is an architect, and the Greek word for “masterbuilder” (v. 10) is archi-tekton.  “Arch” means chief, as in archangel (Jude 1:9).  “Tekton” is translated carpenter (Mt. 13:55).  So put them together and you get chief carpenter, or masterbuilder.  Paul is the architect of the church, the Body (Eph. 3:2-6).  But he didn’t just draw up the plans in his epistles and hand Apollos the blueprint.  He was a “hands-on” architect, helping in the ministry, and so “masterbuilder” describes him perfectly!

We know Moses was the architect of the kingdom church because the Lord kept quoting him (Mt. 8:4; Mark 10:3; 12:26).  The Pharisees were supposed to be the masterbuilders  (Mt. 23:1-3), but the Lord knew they’d kill Him instead of building the church on Him as the church’s foundation like they should have. So He told a parable in which he combined farming and building to say He’d take the church from them (Mt. 21:33-43) and give it to His “little flock” of followers (Luke 12:32), making them the new builders.

Of course, the Lord knew the 12 would have to be wise masterbuilders, so He gave them a supernatural gift of wisdom (Acts 2:4; 6:3).  We see that pictured when God gave Solomon a supernatural gift of wisdom to build the temple and the kingdom (II Chro. 2:12).  That’s why the 12 asked the Lord to “restore” the kingdom like they had under Solomon (Acts 1:6).  When Israel rejected the kingdom, God began to build the Body of Christ, making Paul the wise masterbuilder of it by giving him a supernatural gift of wisdom as an apostle (cf. Rom.12:6; 15:15,16; Eph. 3:7,8).

This helps us understand how Paul could say he laid the foundation of Christ (3:11) even though he wasn’t saved when the Lord came to be the foundation of Israel’s church.  He meant He laid Christ as the foundation of a new church!

When building on this foundation, Paul has the “house” of your own personal spiritual life in mind (cf. Luke 6:46-48), and the house of the local church as well, as we’ll see next week!

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Laboring Together on Paul’s Foundation – 1 Corinthians 3:9-11

Divisions in Scripture

An excerpt from the newly published book, Foundational Truths.

The Bible is the greatest book ever written! When properly studied, it can enable a sincere believer to “grow” spiritually (1 Pet. 2:2), be grounded in the faith (Rom. 16:25), gain victory over sin (Psa. 119:11), and be thoroughly “furnished” with all that is needed to become “perfect” (or spiritually complete and mature) in our daily walk (2 Tim. 3:16,17). No other book in the world can legitimately make such a claim or produce these results. Unfortunately, many believers do NOT know how to study the Bible in a way that will reap these kinds of blessings. The key that unlocks the truths of God’s Word is in understanding a consistent method of Bible study that God Himself emphasizes in 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING the Word of truth.” In this lesson, we will explore together the proof, importance, location, and identification of these divisions in Scripture.

Understanding Divisions Exist in Scripture

Recognizing divisions in Scripture is the key to understanding the Bible. The Bible is “The Word of Truth;” but unless it is rightly divided, we will not get accurate “truth” from its pages, and we will only get “truth” in direct proportion to how well we rightly divide it.

“Dividing” means to cut straight. To cut something naturally divides or separates it from what it was attached to. We can picture cutting a loaf of bread into several sections. What we divided off was certainly part of the whole loaf, but it can best serve the one who uses it if it is divided into various sizes and sections.

So it is with Scripture. God emphasizes the need to divide Scripture in 2 Timothy 2:15 if it is to best serve the purpose that He intends. So doing does NOT make any portion of Scripture less a part of the whole Bible, it simply makes it more useful. Since God is the one telling us to divide Scripture, He does not intend for us to use it as a whole, without divisions. God never intended for us to attempt to use His Word as one uninterrupted set of instructions for man without recognizing how divisions in His Word affect His instructions. The Scriptures are not a hodge-podge of stories, or information randomly put together. Nor is it like a novel with one continuous flow about the same people. Instead, God’s Word is divided into sections about different people, under different programs of divine instruction, at different times.

There is great order in God’s Word if we recognize key divisions. Those who fail to recognize these divisions cannot help being inconsistent in what they choose to obey and confused about what God expects of them. As we’ll see, each division in Scripture has important distinctions from the rest, which greatly affect our understanding and application. As H. I. Brown illustrated, recognizing these divisions is “like the multiplication tables; once learned, you use them daily” in your understanding of God’s Word.

However, as described in 2 Timothy 2:15, if we fail to rightly divide God’s Word, we’ll have reason to be ashamed. We’ll be “ashamed” before Him for our ignorance, wrong application, foolish practices, wasted efforts, stubbornness, and perhaps much more. Our goal as students of Scripture must be to be found “approved” of Him in how we handle this precious Book He’s entrusted to our care. To please God in this way will require each of us to become a “workman” (one who expends some effort to understand God’s Word) and to “study” (or be diligent and consistent in this approach) “to show [ourselves] approved unto God.”

The Bible gives these divisions a unique name; they’re called “dispensations.” Our English Bible uses the word “dispensation” four times: 1 Corinthians 9:17, Ephesians 1:10 and 3:2, and Colossians 1:25. Elsewhere in our New Testament, the same basic Greek word is translated “steward” in the Authorized King James Version. Literally the word “dispensation” means house management, an administration, or a steward, describing the way one would direct the affairs of his house. The word “steward” refers to a manager or administrator who was responsible for a household (i.e. Joseph in Genesis).

In our modern experience, we can comprehend the idea of a hospital administrator being responsible for how the hospital will be operated. We can also relate to a pharmacy dispensing or giving out prescriptions to different individuals. The pharmacy dispenses only as directed by the doctor, and it is governed by clear and ever updated regulations. Those receiving the prescriptions specifically intended for them are expected to carefully follow their directions without attempting to combine them with what was intended for someone else.

God has a very similar meaning for these words (dispensation and steward) as He uses them in Scripture. They reveal how God has managed the household of mankind in different ways throughout history, based on the specific instructions He dispensed to specific individuals or groups. 2 Timothy 2:15 is emphasizing that we’ll not need to be ashamed before God when we’re able to discern these divisions and instructions in His Word.

To be continued in Pastor Fredericksen’s newly published book, Foundational Truths

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.


Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Spiritual Babies – 1 Corinthians 3:1-8

 

Summary:

The Corinthians were still “babes in Christ” (3:1) five years after Paul started the church.  So why had they failed to grow?  Well, a baby won’t grow if you don’t feed it nourishing food, and spiritual babies won’t grow if they’re not fed the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word.  But Paul fed them the “milk” of the Word (3:2) for a year and a half (Acts 18:1,11), because that’s what babes in Christ need to grow (I Pet. 2:2), then followed up with them by writing them epistles (I Cor. 5:9; II Cor. 1:1).

So their problem wasn’t a lack of nourishment.  Their problem was similar to the one in Hebrews 5:11-14.  They hadn’t used what they learned from the Bible to help them discern good and evil, so the writer calls them babes too.  And we know the Corinthians had the same problem because Paul says they were “carnal” (3:1).  We know that word means sinful for Paul says they were carnal because there was “envying” and “stife” among them (3:3), and those are sins.

And they are very babyish sins.  Did you ever watch babies play?  When one picks up a toy, suddenly that’s the one the other one wants!  We call that envy.  And what does he do about it?  He strives with the other about it.  The Corinthians were showing their spiritual immaturity when they were envying—and so do we when we envy!

What were they envying?  Words (cf. I Tim. 6:4), the words of Paul and Apollos (3:4).  Christians are always striving about the words of preachers!  If you’re wondering where the “envying” comes in, compare what happened when some men began prophesying in Israel and Joshua objected.  Moses asked why he envied for his sake (Num. 11:27).

Now Moses didn’t envy those other prophets, and Paul didn’t envy Apollos.  He called him a fellow minister (3:5).  But when Moses said he didn’t envy those other men, that didn’t mean he felt they had the same authority he had.  He knew he was God’s man of the hour (Deut. 4:1,2), the one God chose to write the first 5 books of the Bible and give Israel the rules for the dispensation of the law.

And Paul knew he was God’s man of the hour for the dispensation of grace.  God gave him what to give us (I Cor. 11:23; 15:3), just as He gave Moses what to give Israel (Deut. 4:5).  That means if you wanted to follow God in time past you had to follow Moses as he followed Him, and if you want to follow God today you have to follow Him as Paul followed Him (I Cor. 11:1).

So in calling himself and Apollos both ministers, he didn’t mean they were equal ministers.  Paul was “the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles” (Rom. 15:16).

Here I need to point out that God didn’t give those other prophets anything He didn’t give Moses.  The difference was that God spoke to them in visions, but He spoke to Moses “face to face” (Num. 12:6-8).  And the Lord spoke to Paul face to face, by revelation, by revealing Himself to Paul directly (Gal. 1:11,12), but He spoke to the New Testament prophets in the Body of Christ “by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:2-5).

Paul “planted” the seeds of the gospel in Corinth (3:6) and Apollos watered those seeds by reinforcing what Paul taught.  But God has to give “the increase” because only God can give life, just as the only thing you bury in the ground that can give life are seeds.

But only the seeds of God’s Word rightly divided can give life.  God told Abraham if he got circumcised he could have eternal life.  Moses told the Jews if they obeyed the law they could have life (Lev. 18:5).  The Lord told the Jews if they got baptized they could have life (Mark 16:16).  Only Paul says you can have life by faith alone without works.  If you sow any of those other Bible seeds in the hearts of men today in the dispensation of grace, they won’t yield eternal life!

Finally, don’t forget that the Corinthians spoke in tongues (I Cor. 12-14), and yet Paul called them “carnal” and not “spiritual.”  Don’t ever let anyone who thinks he can speak in tongues tell you that it is a sign of spirituality, for God says otherwise!  And don’t feel unspiritual just because you can’t imitate the gift of tongues as some do.  The gift of tongues is a gift God is no longer giving to His people!

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Spiritual Babies – 1 Corinthians 3:1-8

Did Paul See the Lord?

“When Jesus was teaching Paul, was he seeing Him, or how did he learn exactly?”

Paul answers this question when he wrote, “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” (2 Cor. 12:1). We know that “revelations” are the revealing of things that were kept secret, for Paul says he received “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret” (Rom. 16:25). Similarly, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1) is a book that reveals “the wrath of the Lamb” (6:16) that was kept secret in the “meek” way the Lord lived on earth (Matt. 11:29; 21:5).

The writer of Revelation wrote, “I John…am your…companion in tribulation…and in the kingdom” (1:9). Neither the tribulation nor the kingdom that John went on to describe had yet begun, but he was the “companion” of his readers in both those things, for he was with them “in the Spirit” (v. 10) in a virtual reality sort of way. That is, the Lord gave him a realistic vision of the future and told him to write down what he saw (1:11,19).

In the same way, Paul says the Lord revealed the mystery to him by revelation (Gal. 1:12) and said that He would continue to reveal it in more “visions” (2 Cor. 12:1). He then went on to describe one of those visions (vv. 2-4), one that seemed so real he couldn’t tell if he was “in the body, or out of the body” when it happened (v. 3).

But we know that this is how the Lord revealed the mystery to Paul, for he says that in that vision he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (v. 4). Those were words that had to do with the mystery, words of grace that weren’t lawful to speak under the law, such as the reversal of the diet laws of Leviticus 11 in 1 Timothy 4:4,5.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.


Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.