June 26th readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
2 Kings 9:14-10:31 ~ Acts 17:1-34
Psalm 144:1-15 ~ Proverbs 17:27-28

Old Testament - Well... Jehu kills a lot of people in today's readings.  I realize that the violence in the Old Testament can often bring up a lot of questions.  Rather than me diving into why there is violence in the Bible - I'll defer to a couple of theologians at this link and at this link - and I'll give you 3 images below from a very young theologian.  :)  Unfortunately, our human history is full of violence - from Cain and Abel until this very day.  The Bible does record human history.  There will come a day where there is a new heaven and a new earth, free from violence.  That day has not come yet - but will with Jesus' Second Coming.

Most Biblical commentaries agree that Jehu was carrying out justice for the sins of the Kings of Israel and the worship of Baal.  Jezebel's death was predicted by the prophet Elijah because of her sins.  A brutal death that it was.  I think one thing for us to keep in mind is that sin does bring death.   As Paul teaches in Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death."  Jesus saves us from this deserved death when we come to him in faith and surrender our lives to him.  But, let us not forget the severity and risk of sin and the risk of not being in relationship with Jesus.  Without Jesus saving us, the wages of sin truly is eternal death.

2 Kings 10 verses 25-27 seem to demonstrate Jehu's initial apparent zeal for God - "Then Jehu's men went into the fortress of the temple of Baal. They dragged out the sacred pillar used in the worship of Baal and destroyed it. They broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and wrecked the temple of Baal, converting it into a public toilet. That is what it is used for to this day."  But we soon learn in verse 31 - "But Jehu did not obey the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit."  It is thus thought that Jehu's action of destroying the idols of Baal was more political than spiritual - as Baal worship was associated with the dynasty of Ahab, whereas the golden calves had a longer history in the northern kingdom of Israel and were valued by most people.  And keeping the golden calves would keep people from Israel traveling to the southern kingdom of Judah to worship God in Jerusalem.  Below is an image of a series of images from the life of Jehu -

Bible.org's commentary on today's Second Kings readings titled "Jehu Cleans House (Ahab's House)" is at this link and "Three 'Birds' With One Stone" is at this link.

New Testament - Great reading about Paul's travels and preaching in Acts 17 today!

I absolutely love the quote in verse 6 where the Jewish leaders of Thessalonica say: ""Paul and Silas have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they are here disturbing our city," they shouted."  Have you ever heard that the Kingdom of God is an "upside down" kingdom?  That the values of the Kingdom of God are upside down compared to worldly values?  Paul and Silas turned the world upside down.  How are you turning the world upside down in your life today?

Today in Acts 17 verses 22 & 23 we read - “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Paul then went on to introduce to the Greeks our personal Creator, in contrast with their views of pantheistic Stoicism. Are there people in your life today that are perhaps like the Greeks Paul was speaking to? People who are religious but do not yet know our personal Creator? Are there people in your life who are seeking the Unknown God? Will you begin conversations with these people that God has placed in your life and let them know about the living God that you know and love? Will you let them know, as Paul let the Greeks know in verse 28 – “For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'”? The altar in the image below is located on Palatine Hill, Rome, where once stood the palaces of the Caesars. It dates from about 100 B.C. and has the inscription, ´To the unknown God.'  This could have been a similar altar to the one that Paul was referring to in today's readings:

Bible.org's commentary on today's Acts readings titled "The Evangelization of Thessalonica and Berea" is at this link and "The Apostle in Athens, Preaching to Philosophers" is at this link.  Below is a painting from the year 1515 by the Italian artist Raphael titled "St. Paul preaching in Athens" -

Psalms - Psalm 144 verses 3 & 4 are fairly well known - "O LORD, what are mortals that you should notice us, mere humans that you should care for us? For we are like a breath of air; our days are like a passing shadow."  If our days are like a passing shadow, how then should we be spending our days?  What types of things should we be investing our time & money into?  What should we be investing our very hearts and minds into?  Are you wisely spending your passing days in godly ways?

Proverbs - Proverbs 17:27 is so true - "A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered."  And with this I will very mellowly close out today's posting with few words.  :)

Comments from you - What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[Anka]

yesterday a young girl who went as a missionary to india gave a testimony in church about how she prayed and fasted that God would use her there....it was a tough mission and she knew it would be but she did it anyway to the glory of God.
Jehu was on a mission to fulfill the prophecy of Elijah...of course at the end of it all,he would be king.He wiped out all the people God had told him to,eliminated to worship of Baal but continued to worship the cows.He seemed to want the good part of serving God...the convenient...
So many times we get religious,worshipping our own desires and spiritualising them...I read about missions in congo and other war torn countries it just struck me that those are the people who truly have given up their lives to live for God...

[Anka]

We all want to be leaders,motivational speakers,mentored Timothy on the job...Jesus didn't have it all rosy...he left great comfort and riches to save us...Paul didn't go about expecting to be served...he worked not to be a burden to others,he served unafraid of the stoning,beating or the ridicule...Do we truly want to follow Jesus...even if it means giving up the comfort,the safety...Dear Lord please help me say YES,truly mean it and step out when called.
God bless you all

[Anka]

Sorry I meant to write Paul mentored Timothy on the job

[CB]

Minor detail, Mike, but Paul was speaking in Athens (Greece). If the altar in the picture above is in Rome (Italy), it couldn't have been *exactly* the same altar about which Paul was speaking. :)

[Vance Brown]

Just want to reinforce the truth that Baalism has been judged by God, and the spirit of Baalism that is constantly looking for human instruments in history will be judge and crushed by God.

Romans 16 (NKJV)
20
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Baalism is a form of dualism -- of two equal and distinct entities or spirits or powers. The "good" power cannot exist without the "bad" power. In the mind of the dualist, good cannot exist without evil.

And it is the balance of the two that brings peace and harmony.

The only problem with this is that before there was evil, there was good. For God is Himself good and true and light.

He created everything and every being good.

Because God made beings with a certain degree of freedom of choice, evil came when created beings chose to rebel against the good.

Evil is always a parasite of good; always a distorton of the good.

Good can exist by itself. Evil cannot.

We can do what is right and good simply because it is right and good -- even if we do not feel like it.

However, no one ever did evil simply because it was evil. For evil is using what is good (pleasure, power, financial blessing, etc.) in a way that is evil.

The "Da Vinci Code" was written by Dan Brown. By Dan Brown's own admission says that he wrote the "Da Vinci Code" to emphasize and push the acceptance of gods and goddesses.

Gods and goddesses are another form of dualism. The "male" god needs the "female" diety to produce "fetility and blessing" for us.

Baalism is all part of that.

We are victorious. And we can and should stand firm in that.

Acts 17 (NKJV)
30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Vance

[Laura Jones]

Since we are on the subject of good and evil, Baalism verse Christianity in our study of II Kings, I thought I'd share kind of an interesting and very thought provocing E-mail that I received today. Enjoy........

Did God create everything that exists?

Does evil exist?

Did God create evil?

A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning
challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything
that
exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created
evil.
And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works
define
who we are, then we can assume God is evil."

The student became quiet and did not answer the professor's
hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself,
boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian
faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question,
professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been
cold?" The other students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to
the
laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.
Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter
becomes
inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist.
We
have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not
exist
either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study,
but
not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into
many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot
measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness
and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You
measure
the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used
by
man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already
said.
We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to
man.
It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.
These
manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it
does
not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of
God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man
does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that
comes
when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name - Albert Einstein

I'll bet he did not get an "A" in class!

[Roslyn]

If one were to follow Eintein's line of thought then there is no such thing as dualism. But can one reduce the concept/reality of good (God) and evil to the principles of physics? Doesn't our experience of God defy all logic and the laws or principles of physics or science for that matter?

[John]

Evil

Laura presented the email "as is" - for our reading. Just a word of caution. It is most likely urban legend. There is nothing in any writings, letters or works on Einstein that would indicate the story to be true. So if you pass it along, I would reccomend caution about how you present the story.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp

[John]

2Kings10:16

Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD." Then he had him ride along in his chariot. NIV

I wonder about Jehu's Zeal. Is he bragging, is their pride involved? The zeal seemd to be there when he was securing his kingship and eliminating Baal worship. But as Anka said - it did not extend to getting rid of False worship of Yahweh.

So was it 80%, 90%, or 99% zeal for the Lord????? A conveniant zeal???? You don't need to be proclaiming to other people your "zeal" for the Lord - your actions should speak loud enough.

[John]

Pauls Sermon in Athens

When I testify or share the Gospel, I always pray that God utilizes me to reach those who have a need to hear or see His message. That the Holy Spirit guides my speech.

It is not about me, I am just a conduit for God to use to fulfill his purposes. If someone is not seeking God, then nothing I say will make a difference. That is a tremendous weight off one's shoulders. It is still our duty to perform the "great commission", but the burden of convincing someone is up to the Holy Spirit.

It is the same with Paul here in Athens. Some say the results in Athens were not spectacular, but who knows who heard it that may have later converted and how many people they affected?????? The important thing is - Paul spoke.

How many times are we quiet, especially in the face of intelligent and cynical non-believers??? If offered the opportunity like Paul - we are to speak and proclaim.

From:
http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/4417.htm

Assessing Paul’s sermon on the Areopagus.

a. Some have criticized this sermon because there is no detailed reference to the cross or specific quotes from the Old Testament. Some think Paul compromised his message for an intellectual audience, and therefore there were few conversions.

i. The idea continues that when Paul went next to Corinth, he decided to preach the cross and the cross only, even if it seemed foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5). Because Paul preached this way in Corinth, he saw much better results.

ii. Ramsay popularized the theory that Paul was disappointed by his “meager” results in Athens, and went on to Corinth preaching the gospel with a pure focus on the cross, and without any attempt at philosophical explanation.

b. But Paul’s sermon here is eminently Biblical. “Like the biblical revelation itself, his argument begins with God the creator of all and ends with God the judge of all . . . The speech as it stands admirably summarizes an introductory lesson in Christianity for cultured pagans.” (Bruce)

c. As well, Paul did preach Christ crucified in Athens. In Acts 17:30-31 he specifically mentions the resurrection, and how could he preach the resurrection without preaching the cross which came before it? This is obviously a short extract of Paul’s speech on the Areopagus; what is recorded takes barely two minutes to say.

i. “We learn from Paul that we cannot preach the gospel of Jesus without the doctrine of God, or the cross without the creation, or salvation without judgment.” (Stott)

d. In addition, it is dangerous to judge the content of the message by the magnitude of the response.

i. “The reason the gospel did not take root there probably lay more in the attitude of the Athenians themselves than in Paul’s approach or in what he said.” (Longenecker)