Tag: works based righteousness
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Foul Mouths and Jesus’s Message
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,” is a lie. Words have, many times, done more damage than sticks and stones. There are some major sins that have to do with our words. As we have walked through the story in 1 Samuel the last couple of weeks, we…
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What If You Can’t Escape The Panic Room?
Two weeks ago, we were introduced to Goliath. This son of Anak, a descendant of the Nephilim, represents idolatry in humankind’s self-glorification. Goliath represents human unrighteousness and depravity in their fullness. Today, the text forces us to come to grips with our own natures. It forces us to come to grips with the true message…
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Tobit- Religious Self-Betterment vs. The Gospel
Tobit 3:1-6 Unlike Job, who rebuked his wife for accusing God of being unjust, Tobit wept because of his wife’s words and because she seemed to be correct about God’s injustice. The story identifies Tobit as walking in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of his life (1:3). Yet, he was now…
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Tobit- Dharma (not karma) in the Bible?
Tobit 2:9-14 v. 9-10 As this fictional character, Tobit, explains his life, he describes washing himself and sleeping in his courtyard, outdoors. Droppings from sparrows fall into his eyes and, as a result, he is blinded for four years. Other Israelites, who were also in exile, had sympathy toward him. This is reminiscent of the…
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Barnabas Supported False Teaching Before Becoming God’s Missionary
Last week we read of Peter’s many insufficiencies and sins against God, things that gave him every reason not to be in ministry. We saw the one reason Peter should have been in ministry- the name of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2, we see that Peter was not the only preacher who struggled against sin…
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Tobit Helps Us Understand Why The Holy Spirit Came at Pentecost
Tobit 2:1-8 In this passage, Tobit tells of how he intended to invite one of his impoverished countrymen to eat with his family. When his son reported to him that there was a murdered Israelite in the street, Tobit “sprang up, left the dinner before even tasting it, and removed the body from the square.”…
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Tobit- Righteous in His Own Eyes
Tobit 1 v. 3-9 Tobit’s monologue in 1:3-3:1, reveals much about what 3rd Century B.C. Jews valued. These values would remain into and through the 1st Century A.D, during Jesus’ physical ministry on this earth. During His ministry, Jesus would address many of the things that became popular in the religious teaching of the Jews.…
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According to Jesus, The Kingdom of Heaven is a Gift- Not The Result of Human Religion or Righteousness
We have finished our current study of the previous section of Jesus’ sermon on the mount and are entering into Jesus’ closing application and final remarks. This section of Jesus’ sermon (7:7-29) follows the same overarching theme of the previous part of the sermon. Jesus has: addressed his intended audience (5:1-12), declared His commitment to…
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No, You Don’t Have to Measure Up
In the previous section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), we saw that Jesus addressed six popular teachings that were contrary to the actual message of the Old Testament after committing verbally to remaining faithful to the Old Testament Scriptures. The major way in which the Old Testament was misused, according to Jesus’…
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I Am Unable To Worship God
We often neglect talking about problems we see in the church because real human problems, problems of the heart and soul, are difficult to address. It’s like we avoid problems and just hope that, somehow, they work themselves out. I am going to talk about it because we need to if we ever hope to…