1 Timothy 6:11-12

Every duty in life has responsibilities that go along with it:  Work, school, parenting, sports.  Yet each of these tasks on a daily basis come to an end.  Your daily responsibilities eventually come to a close.  In contrast a person that follows Jesus Christ has responsibilities that are never put down, but pursued indefinitely (at least until glorification).

I found myself unable to sleep recently, reading in candlelight at 1:00 in the morning.
The text:  1 Timothy 6:11-12.

11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Paul has just contrasted the false teachers pursuit of worldly desires and charges Timothy to pursue the true riches of righteousness.  Paul charges Timothy to "flee these things" and pursue righteousness things.  He then tells him this pursuit is the good fight of faith.  Beleivers in Christ are to pursue this good fight until Jesus Christ returns.  Unlike work, school, parenting, or sports - you must endure.

Summary of the text:

A man of God is a fighting man - that continually presses himself towards an unending pursuit of that which God deems righteous.

Do you have a desire for this pursuit?  How are you aiding or hindering this pursuit?

Partnership Development

I have heard it said that the brain can only think about one thing at a time.... but we are in the middle of three training modules currently:  Culture language acquisition, homeschooling, and partnership development!  We are also in the middle of moving out of our home and moving in with a couple that has opened their home to us.  Needless to say life is currently busy, and praise Jesus Christ that he has given us endurance in the midst of it.

Partnership development is a fancy way of saying "raising support".  For some it is a daunting task to ask, others take a off hands approach.  I find myself somewhere in the middle.  If I am diligent in the care of my home, time in God's word, and working for my employer - then raising support should be no different.

This post is intentionally directed to make you think about supporting us (The Lehman's) in taking the gospel to the unreached tribes of Papua New Guinea.  We are currently at 2% of our monthly support need.  We are intentionally seeking supporters that can financially partner with us on a continuing monthly basis.  Could you give $20, $50, $100, $200 monthly to this ministry?

Pray about your financial involvement with this ministry, and think on what you could give.  Please visit our Get Involved page for information on how to do this.  You can start monthly support now, all monthly funds received before we leave go straight to sending costs!  If you are currently supporting us - Thank you for your sacrifice and participation in the gospel going to PNG.

Leviticus 10:1-3

Having a right perspective on the holiness of God.

My reading today took me to Leviticus 10, and in particular vs 1-3.
10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

This passage is early in the book of Leviticus, and the Lord has been giving Moses commands on how worship/sacrifice is to be done in the Tabernacle   Nadab, and Abihu had brought fire before the Lord that was "strange", possibly not from the alter (6:13) that was continually to be burning.  The point here is they transgressed what has been commanded in their priestly duties.

God's response was the immediate death of Nadab and Abihu.  My response to reading, why would they deserve immediate death?  These were the sons of Aaron, he is a father - surely he must be saddened, and angry with the Lord's response.  In reading vs3 we are brought before the reason; the holiness of God was at stake.  After hearing Moses - Aaron kept silent.

The Lord had specific ways that worship was to be performed before Him in the Tabernacle.  Zooming ahead to the land of today, do you see the inescapable holiness of God at the cross?  I can't help but think on His holiness demanding justice for sin, and His perfect wrath being poured out on His son Jesus Christ.

Being a sent one

There was a land far away...

A good ruler lived in a small town with remote villages around it.  Some of the villages were so small that the only way of communication was by a rough road, up the side of a mountain.  For many years the town and its surrounding villages were at peace, but a new ruler from another town was about to change that. 

This foreign ruler was in route to the peaceful town with threats of destroying all that he found in his way.  The good ruler, aware of the impending doom of his people as well as the surrounding villages; sent messengers to warn them.  The villagers would not have known of the approaching enemy, if the ruler in the town had not sent messengers beforehand.

In a similar way Jesus Christ has commissioned sent ones out to the remote places of the world to warn of an enemy, and an impending destruction.  This enemy however is not coming, but has come, and resides inside in the heart of every person that lives - this enemy is your sin.  But the good news; is reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ for all that believe!

Bride Price

We have been leaning about bride price and how it plays into the economics of the PNG system.  Here is a great resource on understanding how this works - fascinating information.  Makes me thankful that I already have a bride!  Wiki Bride Price

Colossians 2:23

Have you labored over work diligently only to see the result of that diligence producing no value because it was all wrongly placed diligence?

Paul is writing to the believers in Colossee.  He spends the majority of Chapter 2 walking them through who they are positionally before God because of Jesus Christ:  They had received a circumcision made without hands (the purifying of their hearts vs11), they had been buried with Christ in baptism (vs12), they had been raised with him with the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (vs12), God made them truly alive to him (vs13), and the record of debt towards God was canceled (vs14).

But just like the believers in Colossee we who would identify ourselves as believers and disciples of Jesus Christ can so easily fall into the deception of a self made religion.  At the end of Chapter 2 we find that they had submit themselves to regulations (rules) Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.  Now there is benefit in these things but not if you are looking to them to for holiness if life.  Reading to the end of the chapter (vs23c):

23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Rules are of no value in killing the flesh (indwelling sin).  Pursuing holiness in life and fleeing fleshly sin needs to be pursued by 2 verses into Chapter 3.

3 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

If I am a believer in Jesus Christ, and desire a pursuit of holiness of life am I thinking on the things that God has done for me in Jesus Christ (things above)?  Am I thinking on where I positionally stand before God as a result of these gospel realities?

I pray that you have a day filled with thinking on the gospel, and what God has positionally done for those in Christ because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.