Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Proverbs 28 (12-9-17)

Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

This is a great reminder for us who claim the name of Jesus, because in Christ, we want our lives to be in the light.

We never wanted this before we were saved, as the Scriptures say in John 3:19-20: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Only in Christ do we love the light. In Him, we want no longer to hide in our sin, but we want to be accountable and stand fast in the light of Christ. This means making war with our sin, confessing it, and dragging it into the light when we see it.

Let me ask you, how are you doing at truly being accountable for your sin struggles?

Being accountable means you explain or expose what you did and why you did it. The key to accountability is that you are exposed and responsible to someone.

Our sin fights this and says, “I don’t care what anyone else thinks; I am going to do this my way!”

Now, you may not have this attitude with everything in your life, but the problem arises when you are not accountable with certain things, things you don’t want exposed, so you slip into compromise, addiction, adultery, cheating, and so many other forms of sin.

For the sake of the glory and name of Jesus, we highly value accountability, because it protects us from falling into sin and/or hidden God-belittling habits and helps us keep our affections centered on Christ and all that He has for us.

There are many aspects of accountability on which the Scriptures instruct us.. I want to aim at some of the big ones with our time today.

We are accountable to God

Romans 14:11-12 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

No matter what you think about God, you will one day bow before Him!

You won’t stand before Him. Why? Because He is God, and you will, in that moment, realize how little you made of Him as you encounter His amazing presence.

One day, every person will give an account for their lives before the living God.

This is the most underestimated, underplayed event that we will ever experience. People love to speak of how they plan to show God the good they did in this life or how they will reason with Him.

Oh, how mistaken we are. Because in God’s perfection, His justice and judgment are upheld in every way. God will not be reasoned with. He will judge each person to the finest detail.

God will judge every human being that has ever lived.

Proverbs 29:26 (KJV) Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the LORD.

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment

For those who don’t trust Jesus with their lives, this should be the most serious and fearful event of their existence.

For those who do trust in Jesus with their lives, we praise God for the gospel, which pardons us from the deserved punishment our sin is due us.

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses

For the unsaved reading this, there is no greater priority in your life than to recognize your standing before the living God at His judgment seat.

I implore you to look upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and if you savor what you see, then praise God for His ending your spiritual blindness and giving you a heart of repentance and faith.

The Bible says to repent and believe in Him for life, justification, and eternal satisfaction in Him.

For the saved: This is great reason to praise God and to never cease praising Him for His amazing grace that set you free.

For the saved: We are given other things to be accountable to that we must be attentive to in every way.

We are accountable to the authority of the word

God is specific in not only delivering His word, but enduring it unto the command that we are to not only read it, but to be accountable to living what He tells us to do through it.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1 John 2:5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him

How do we know we are keeping our lives in the light? WE KEEP HIS WORD.

We cannot just hear the WORD OF GOD and then move on. We must act on it, live it, and it must affect us, transform us, and grow us. We are accountable to it.

Listen to the directness of Jesus’ words in:

John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

Our full and right submission to the authority of God’s word is so serious that the Scriptures give warning for those who don’t submit themselves to it.

Proverbs 13:13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

It is essential that we study, believe in, abide in, teach accurately, and hold to every word of God.

The problem is our tendency in the flesh to submit to the rationale of our human mind instead of the authority of the almighty, eternal, holy word of God. As a result, we form views of who God is and how He acts or doesn’t act based more on our personal feelings or logic than on the divine and perfectly written words He gave us in Scripture. This is so dangerous and detrimental.

Instead, we need to take very seriously the words of God, submit to God’s authority, conform to His image, and don’t make Him conform to our ideas or will.

Do you want God’s word to change you and conform you into His likeness?

I am asking you to take this seriously.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

There is a way to look to the Bible to just itch your ears, to make you feel good about you, what you know, and where you want to go, OR you can SUBMIT yourself to it!

We are at war with our sin and selfishness and self-reign.

We must realize that we are desperate for the authority of God’s word to correct our futile view of God, self, this world, and everything in it.

We are desperate for His word to lead us with authority and to be accountable to it.

We are accountable to the authority of the elders in the local church

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

The Scriptures clearly command Christians to submit to and honor those that God puts over them to lead them.

This is an important area for the modern church to hear and act on. It doesn’t say, “Obey and submit only when it is in line with what you want.” It says, “Obey and submit to those God has put over you.”

Now, the question is who has God put over you?

This is the problem with not taking the step to covenant with a local body of believers. Because it is all too convenient to get to a crossroads by which you say, “You know what? I don’t like that. So, I am not going to do that,” or “I am going to go elsewhere.”

Can I just say this with love? The church is not a restaurant where you can choose a new location when the menu changes or your favorite waiter doesn’t work there anymore or the hours change. This accountability the flock is called to is one of commitment, obedience, and submission. I am not saying this so that you all just follow my will. I am saying this because this is God’s will to be accountable to our pastoral elders.

Trust me, I know. There is nothing about the role of pastor/elder that I take flippantly or lightly.

The Bible is clear that I face a stronger, more harsh and scrutinized judgment for how I lead my church congregation.

We are accountable to each other

Galatians 6:1-2 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If your brother or sister in Christ has done something contrary to the Bible, you are called to stand by and just watch him struggle because you don’t want to get messy.

NO! That is not what it says. It says to confront him gently, forgive him, comfort him, and to HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE. In addition to this, it also admonishes you to consider yourself, because no one is above temptation.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

There are two things to highlight here:

• The privilege of bearing the burdens of your brothers and sisters

God’s design is that every believer has a community of people around, whereby they know each other and are committed to carrying each other’s burdens. When one mourns, we all mourn. When one rejoices, we all rejoice!

• The privilege of inviting each other to be held accountable

We must be men and women who are willing to engage one another over sin and are also willing to be engaged.

Christian accountability is inviting others into your life in such a way that they know you and your struggles to the point they can walk with you as you seek to press into Christ and honor Him with your life.

Christian accountability is not a weekly time where you ask me questions and I answer. This is a false sense of accountability. True accountability doesn’t need to ask. They know. Because they have been invited all the way in and they know where you are.

Do you invite others around you into your life? Who is this in your life right now?

Are you open with them and accountable to them? Do they know the state of your marriage, your finances, your daily priorities, your struggles?

This is an open-handed, humble approach to life. Sin doesn’t have a lot of room to fester in this kind of environment. But when we run solo, when we pull back, when we are just kind of connected and not very accountable, sin has room to REIGN in our lives. There are probably some of you who are thinking of your hidden sin right now and thinking that nobody knows– that you’re good.

Luke 8:17 “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”

I pray that you embrace a life in Christ that values being accountable and transparent with others, so you don’t hide your sin or make excuses for it. giving it room to fester. I pray you make war with it and drag it into the light and ask others to walk with you and fight it with you in prayer, Scripture study, and brotherly accountability.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 27 (12-2-17)

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

This is just one verse buried in the middle of the 27^th Proverb, but it has a ton of good meaning for a life that longs to honor God. It is our sin that causes us to want to do life alone and not to want others in our business. This was an immediate and potent consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden as they hid themselves and covered themselves. Since then, mankind has longed to do life on our own terms and without the influence of others speaking into our lives. God did not design us to avoid each other and do it our own way, but to be blessed by each other and to help each other grow and mature.

One of the massive blessings of our new life in Christ is that He is restoring in our lives what is broken about the fall. One of these things is adopting us into the family of God, whereby we get to walk together and help along the road of life, and we value each other’s input. True love for one another means we don’t keep to ourselves something a brother or a sister needs to hear. We share with them in love and point them back to Christ. We speak the words of the holy Bible to each other and say things we would never have dared to say when ruled by our sin. This is how iron sharpens iron. This is how we sharpen one another.

The Lord gave us many “one anothers” in the New Testament to help guide our life together in the body of Christ. One of these is “admonish one another.” This is something the world says we are not to do. The world says, “Keep to yourself and mind your own business,” but in the unity of the body of Christ I am my brother’s keeper, and his struggle is my struggle. We are instructed to speak into each other’s lives, especially when our brother is struggling in sin. It is in love that we point out the sin we see and draw our brother or sister’s heart back to the Lord, His good word, and His commandments on our lives. This is how iron sharpens iron.

Let’s look to the New Testament and see how this applies for us in the body of Christ today.

In Colossians 3, God speaks to us through the Apostle Paul about the importance of living a life of faith. We are told, “Put to death what is earthly in you” (Col 3:5). We are told to “put on love” (Col 3:14). We are told to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Col 3:15) and, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16). And we are told to be “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Col 3:16).

While biblical teaching is typically preventative, biblical admonition is corrective.

The point we must not miss is that both are focused on the TRUTH of God. We are not just giving our own opinion but lifting up and pointing out what God has given us that is good for us.

If we love God and hold Him high, we will not be indifferent to sin, and we will love each other enough to hold each other accountable and point each other to the truths of God–not occasionally, but regularly. For those who say, “You should just mind your own business.” they are simply not understanding the consistent instruction of God’s word on how we are to admonish and sharpen each other regularly as Christians.

The simple definition of admonish: to warn or reprimand firmly.

One of the best examples we are given of this in Scripture is found in

Galatians 6:1: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, …”

Let’s stop there. So we have a brother or sister in Christ in sin.

Notice something here: We are not to confront non-Christians about sinful behavior because they don’t need accountability to change. They need the power to change, which only comes in Christ. They need Jesus–not reprimand.

A non-believer cannot understand the ways of godly living. Their entire spiritual solar system is out of whack.

To become a Christian is to gain a completely new center to your solar system.

It is only through Christ that godly living is understandable and doable.

Admonishment and exhortation is for the family of God. We are the ones who sharpen each other.

Accountability is for a “brother or sister” in Christ who is caught in any transgression or sin.

“Caught” means the person is in a state of blindness somehow in believing they are not out of step with the gospel. They need to be woken from their drunken stupor.

Who should do this restoring?

“… you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness …” (Galatians 6:1).

“You who are spiritual.” Who is that?

This is not saying the spiritual elite, the robe wearers, those who have “tenure” in their faith.

No, you who are spiritual is anyone who is walking in the Holy Spirit that can and should do this.

Why? Because the Spirit will lead and not your pride!

It is someone who is “led by the Spirit” (Gal 5:18), “walk[ing] by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16, 25), and bearing “the fruit of the Spirit” (5:22, 23).

Paul is saying, “If you are walking by the Spirit and, as a result, the fruit of the Spirit is coming out of you, there is work to be done.  An assignment that has been given. There are brothers and sisters in Christ who will need your humble, kind, patient service to come alongside them.” This is how God has set the table for us to be able to thrive in the midst of a bloody and hard battle.

What is Paul saying “the spiritual” should do?  

The ministry of truth. “… you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness …” (Galatians 6:1).

Restore (in Greek: ka-tart-izo): to return to former condition, to set a dislocated bone back into place.

The goal is to bring the brother or sister back in line with the gospel.

Turn with me to Galatians 2:

Galatians 2:11-14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Paul rebuked and admonished Peter (AKA Cephas) for his conduct that was out of step with the gospel. Paul was loving him enough to set the bone straight–to return him to truth. But some of you are thinking, “That is just not me. I just am not comfortable telling someone else they are out of place or out of line.” This is very common! But the Scriptures are clear that declining to act because you are uncomfortable is not an option.

1. Because we are commanded to do so

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom

Luke 17:3-4 “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him”

2 Thessalonians 3:13-15 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Whether it’s a formal process in response to some egregious error or misstep, or the informal, everyday exhortations that are to happen in the life of Christian community, all biblical correction aims at repentance of sin and restoration unto God-honoring righteousness! Let me give a big example of each:

Formal Admonishment, Rebuke, Reproof

Matthew 18:15-20 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Daily Admonishment, Rebuke, Reproof

Hebrews 3:12-13 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

This is no different in my home.

If one of my kids gets too rough with his/her sibling, I admonish or correct that child.

I don’t wait. I don’t ignore it. I need to love them enough to not be lazy or fearful, but to engage them with correction.

If one of my children shows a pattern of sin and no sign of repentance, I bring forth a more formal sit down with that child. If that doesn’t go well, Jennifer and I begin a process of correction. If that doesn’t go well, we go so far as to invite a wider counsel of Christian brothers or sisters, pastors, etc.

Now, many of you are sitting here thinking, “But doing this with my kids or my family is different. I don’t feel that I am in a position or that it is any of my business what my brothers and sisters do in my church.” Let me ask you: Are you hearing yourself?

Your brothers and sisters in your church ARE YOUR FAMILY! Biblically, you can make the argument they are more your family than your unbelieving blood family!

This is what you must see today. The Bible calls us and God commands us to be family: to live out the mutuality, the oneness, the unity of “ONE ANOTHER” that Jesus died for us to have.

It is your business! It is your place. You might ask, “Says who?” Says GOD.

Reason #2  We Should Admonish One Another:

2. Because it is loving and kind to do so!

Any righteous rebuke is a kindness.

Look at Psalm 141:5: “Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.”

David is saying, “It is kindness to be admonished.”

WHY? Because it is not loving to leave people in their sin and in their mess.

One of the most loving things you can do for someone is to tell them when they’re wrong before God.

Proverbs 27 speaks to this as well in verse 6:

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Solomon is saying it is truly more loving to have a friend be faithful and speak truth, even if it hurts, than to be given the kisses (false truths made to look like love) of someone who, in the end, is acting like our enemy. If you love me, you will tell me what I need to hear. If you love yourself, you will lie to me in order to keep our fake friendship.

The truth is it is hard to receive rebuke or admonishment, but many times it is even harder to lovingly give it.

So, the big question that remains is how? How do we sharpen each other and speak truth to each other for the sake of honoring God and maturing in Christ?

1. First, we must tend to ourselves in the word and in prayer.

Jesus gives us instruction on how when He says to first address yourself:

Matthew 7:5 “… first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Also, Paul gives clear instruction on how one must do this, and it, too, involves addressing oneself:

When helping to restore a brother, “… Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).

How do we best address our own heart or the log in our own eye (our sin that could be wrongly driving our desire to rebuke another), lest we, too, be tempted?

We should be studying God’s word and active in prayer.

Jesus says this of the Holy Spirit in John 16:7-8: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”

The author of Hebrews says this of the word of God:

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit will bring conviction and insight into our sin so we can confess and repent of it. Only then are we in a position to come to our brother/sister with humility, empathy, and integrity; as a fellow combatant of that sin, we can be sure we are not the “pot calling the kettle black” in that particular area.

2. Approach your brother with gospel-centered sympathy/humility.

Whether you’ve “been there” and can empathize with your brother’s/sister’s specific sin or not, you must remember that you needed the cross just as much as he/she did. Both of you at one time stood at the Cross utterly helpless to bring anything good to God. All of your best deeds were like fifthly rags.

This will help you with your posture and demeanor as you approach the brother/sister in “loving humility.”

As much as you’re able, put yourself in their shoes, and consider how to remind them of foundational gospel truths as you seek to open their eyes to some further reality relating to their remaining sin.

Consider the manner in which you’d want to be approached with such an observation. “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them …” (Matthew 7:12).

Be sure you come across with a word of brotherly correction, not condemnation. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

3. Pray for their repentance and restoration.

Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints

Do not just pray for yourself, but also for them. Never forget that the goal in rebuke is not about being right, but helping others to repent and be restored back to righteous living.

Pray about the moment you confront them or come alongside them: that you would give it sufficient gospel preface, that they would receive your loving correction/counsel, and that, if they resist in the moment, God would soon soften their hearts to hear and receive the truth in your admonishment.

4. Do not wait.

Hebrews 3:12-13 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Providing a corrective word in loving humility is not only for words and actions that are dead wrong or borderline blasphemous, but when we become aware of some seeming trajectory of evil or falsity.

“The ideal is that we live in such honest and regular community— and speak without delay and receive it with gospel-conditioned thick skin— that mild, gentle words of rebuke and correction are commonplace, that sin is regularly nipped in the bud, rather than given time and encouragement to grow into the tall nasty weed it will become.”- David Mathis

5. Be gentle.

Back to

Galatians 6:1: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness”

Warning: As we approach our brothers and sisters in Christ to correct and admonish and restore, our flesh can wrongfully motivate us to do this with pride. Paul warns of this:

Galatians 6:3-5 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

Now, don’t miss this! 

This is not a warning against correcting and admonishing and restoring a person; it is a warning against doing it arrogantly.  He says, “Since we all struggle with pride, make every effort to humble yourself when you point out someone else’s sin.”

6. Be clear and specific.

When we’ve checked our log, prayed for restoration, and have been quick and kind in addressing the sin, we now should be empowered to not tiptoe around what’s really caught our attention; instead, we should be frank and direct.

Before approaching someone with a corrective word, get it clear in your own mind what you’re observing and how it may be harmful. Bring Scripture that brings clarity. You may want to write a few key words, phrases, or sentences on paper to make sure it’s objective enough to communicate. Have specific examples ready.

Paul’s prayer in Colossians 4:4 is about transparency in speaking the gospel, but it relates as well to correcting our brother:

Colossians 4:4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

7. Follow up.

Finally, plan some way to follow up. If they receive it well, follow up with an email or call or text, and commend that evidence of grace in their life.

If they don’t respond well, follow up with some further expression of love for them; perhaps a reminder that you have nothing to gain but their good, that you’re very happy to be wrong if the correction is pretty subjective, and that you’re praying for them as they consider your observation.

Providing regular, gracious words of correction can seem like such a small thing in the life of the body of Christ, but it is huge. It is how we fight for each other.

It’s so easy just to let little sins go and mind your own business, but the long-term effect of admonishing/sharpening one another in active grace when administered in loving humility can have eternal implications.

As it is said in James 5:19–20, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

I pray we truly practice sharpening each other and not just as a good idea, but that we are truly maturing and being sharpened; that we are truly fighting sin and growing in Christ, as we look to make much of His name.  May it be so for His glory and each other’s good.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 26 (11-25-17)

Three different times in Proverbs 26, Solomon speaks of the foolishness and folly of pride and of one who thinks he is right in his own eyes:

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

We must understand that pride and being wise in one’s own eyes are enemies of God.

This is because pride and self-wisdom cause man to believe he is most important or most central.

Pride is demonic: It is the essence of the fallen angel, who in his pride became a demon.

Pride was the chosen weapon of Satan in mankind’s demise from day one. It is the core of our folly! It is pride that caused Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in their desire to be like God.

Ever since Eden, pride has been a central demise of mankind.

We live in a demonically-inspired culture that wants to make you and me the center of the universe, wants to make your glory the ultimate goal of your existence, and wants you to think that everyone should bow down and realize how amazing you are.

We have already read:

In Proverbs 6:16-17 that “a proud look is an abomination to the LORD.”

In Proverbs 15:25 that God promises to “destroy the house of the proud.”

In Proverbs 21:4, “A haughty look, a proud heart … are sin. ”

James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud.” Think about that!

To be proud and wise in your own eyes is to fight God.

The Bible also says that God gives grace to the humble. We don’t need pride; we need grace!

Paul has a strong warning for us in Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.”

“Do nothing” are strong words!

Selfish Ambition– The pursuit of activity of achieving something for oneself.

These are the things we do, dream about, and long for that all ends up rewarding ourselves.

This is an endless maze that deteriorates at life. Why?

When selfish ambition rules our lives, the goal of filling our own cup never ends, because there is always something better out there or something to improve or have more of.

Vain Conceit or, more specifically, empty glory!

Empty glory is the need to be honored, the need to be lifted up, and/or the need to be right.

It is a form of secular self-esteem: This is a frame of mind that causes us to think we are always right, and no one else gets us or understands. Solomon calls this foolish because it is a false reality. It is also highly problematic because we are all too quick to avoid or ignore good, godly counsel.

Instead, we need to be humble and consider others more important than ourselves.

Paul continues in Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

We need to be settled in who we are in Christ and not constantly trying to get on top; rather, we need to be willing to listen to others and not always declare we are right.

What is humility? John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that one never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”

A biblical worldview of humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Another definition: Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.

So, how do we move from being me-centered to other-centered?

How do we move from vain, selfish, and prideful to serving, loving, and humble?

Answer: Jesus!

Paul shows us this in Philippians 2:5-8: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

To kill the poison of pride and self-rightness we have to embrace a life in humility. This is only attainable if we are healed and redefined by JESUS!

We talked earlier about the popular secular self-esteem that we run after in sin.

There is a gospel self-esteem: We only have this esteem in Christ!

The only way to look away from self so that you can truly look towards others is to first look to JESUS!

The good news is Jesus humbled Himself to put on flesh and walk among us, to be ridiculed by us, and to be picked on. Because of His humility He didn’t stand up and level the mockers with His power. His mission was to free many captives from sin and set them free.

<>He did this for the humiliated, the beat down, the poor, and the forgotten.

<>Jesus humbled Himself for the corporate executives, for the glamour queens.

<>For the arrogant husbands and the vain wife.

<>For the always-judging female back-talkers and the stubborn-in-their-ways male dominators.

<>For those who use their bodies to be noticed and those who use their minds to make others feel dumb.

<>For those who use money to buy power and those who use their skills to remind others they fall short.

Jesus humbled Himself to death so we could finally be humbled in the gift of life!

How can you and I be liberated from the dominating power of the world’s empty definitions of greatness? JESUS!

How can you and I experience the lasting joy of being fully known and still fully loved? JESUS!

How can you and I experience the satisfaction of Christ’s definition of who we are and no longer run after the world’s definitions that never leave us satisfied? JESUS!

Everything that you and I stand to gain is because of what Jesus gave up.  Praise God.

May we cling to Jesus and abide in Him daily so He will change what is arrogant, prideful, and self-defined into something humble, patient, and defined in Christ.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 25 (11-18-17)

When I think of Proverbs 25, I think of verses 21-22 which say the following:

             If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,

for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Today, I want to dig deeper into how we are to treat our enemies. The call of the Lord on our lives is very unique in that He saves us and doesn’t take us to be in glory right away. Instead, He calls us to go into the world–into a very sin-ridden and lost world–into a world that hates God and rejects Him and His ways and His people. He calls us to love them and witness to them.

Now, before we dig into what this looks like in a practical way, we must be mindful of a few things. First, they are our enemies. They stand against our righteous King. They are our enemies because we stand with Jesus. As Jesus said:

             John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

While God calls us to love our enemies, serve them, and be generous to them, we are not to befriend them or become so close that they have influence on us. Paul said strongly in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?”

We are called to minister and be generous for the sake of making much of the gospel, but we are to realize our enemies are not of us and stand against God; therefore, we do not pursue or engage in the same partnership with them as we do with true believers.

Let us look out for ourselves and each other so that we are not caught up in what is called “the fear of man.” The fear of man is man’s deep-seated, sinful desire to long for the approval, applause, acceptance, compliments, and affection of other people rather than God. We must not give ourselves over to befriend others who are enemies of God with the aim of making them like us instead of the aim of pointing them to Christ. We must love them, serve them, and speak the life-changing gospel to them.

This is where our verses from Proverbs 25 come in today. Solomon says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”

This is right in line with many of Jesus’ commands for the church in the New Testament. We are to love our enemies, serve them, and be generous to them.

Paul also spoke to this emphasis of our daily life in Romans 12:14,17, and 18 when he said:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them …

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all …

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Then he goes on to quote Proverbs 25:21-22:

Romans 12:20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

The biblical principle is that Christians who are walking in Christ will love their enemies.

The good news of the gospel is, “We are saved and set free because Christ loved his enemies.”

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Jesus helps us see what truly LOVING OTHERS is in His teaching:

Luke 6:32-35 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

Anyone can love that which is lovely, but it is extremely difficult to love those who are unlovely. Again, hear this clearly: you and I do not do this by our own strength.

Loving our enemies is only genuine if it is out of the overflow of a life in Christ where He is flowing through us to others. Loving others in this way is a supernatural way of life.

             Romans 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Now, it says, “So far as it depends on you.” This is because it takes two to tango. So, the part of the relationship you can influence needs to be peaceful, but this doesn’t mean that you will have peace with everyone, because others can stir things up against you.

             Romans 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Now, this rails against our flesh because the foremost trait of human nature is self-defense.

If someone thrusts an object toward your face, your eyes close immediately by instinct.

If an object falls toward you, your arm rises to ward off the blow. By nature, when we are offended, we automatically put up a defense mechanism and want to fight back. We can trust God to judge rightly and fully. We do not need to return evil for evil the way our flesh wants to. In Christ, we do something contrary to our nature–to LOVE and not to fight back when offended. A person may ask, “Don’t I have the right to stick up for my rights?”

Sometimes the act of defending oneself or another is an act of love, but the supernatural work of Christ through us means that many times the answer is NO. Christ’s love in and through you means you will not fight back.

Instead, we look to the Scripture for guidance: Romans 12:20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

We are commanded to love our enemies the way God loved us when we were His enemies!

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

The only vengeance Christians can inflict on others is the red-hot coals of love.

This part of verse 20 is odd when read alone, but it makes sense when it is understood from our text in Proverbs 25:21-22: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”

The coals on the head is a referral to a ritual in Egypt in which a person showed repentance by carrying a pan of hot, burning charcoal on the head. So, when we respond with love and not hate, this can cause the other person to be repentant for their actions.

Love is the only antidote for hate! When the Christian loves his enemies, they are either melted into repentance or hardened even more. It is up to God how they respond–not us. We are simply called to let love move! WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE OTHERS!

We trust God will be the perfect and ultimate judge our enemies need, and He will also save whom He has chosen to be His. Salvation belongs to the Lord, but He calls us to be a part of the testimony of His grace and love by our sacrificial life and love, even for those who are hard to love and who stand against all that we love. May we do this with joy and take seriously the opportunities He gives us along the way.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Proverbs 22 (10-28-17)

In Proverbs 22, we are given some simple but often overlooked advice when it comes to raising children.

For example:

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

I want to get very practical today as we go deeper into this proverb. Raising children can be one of the most precious things and truly one of the hardest things we do in life. Many people can struggle in knowing how to do this well because they were not parented or raised well themselves.  Many of us struggle to parent well because sin is real, and it is a lot of really hard work for 18 plus years of our lives.  It is so easy to get busy with our own life priorities and interest and or to not properly discipline because we are tired and don’t have the energy to invest the time into our kids’ formation that they truly need. Many who desire to raise their kids faithfully in the Lord simply don’t know where to start or how to see it through, so we end up winging it.  While by God’s grace, many of our kids turn our great, it is not always that way and/or not without some real heartache along the way.

So, how do we training up a child in the way he should go so that he does not depart form it?
I want to give you a very cool insight I have been working on for years in my own parenting and fine-tuning with the help of Scripture and other pastors and friends.  One of those pastors who gave me some great insight of how to frame this process up is Voddie Bauchum.  He has helped bring some terminology to this process, and it has been helpful for me.  I pray that these three steps are super practical and helpful for you.  With that, let’s dig in.

Phase #1:

What: The Attention and Obedience Phase

When: Birth to when the child can communicate with words/sentences

The first few years of a child’s life are incredibly vital to their long-term trajectory. This is the phase where parents get to lay the foundation for everything else. This is the phase teach our children to give us their attention and obedience.  Teaching the child discipline and obedience in this phase will help prevent a tone of heartache later. We love our children well not by making them believe the world revolves around them but by helping them understand their priority is to submit to and obey Mom and Dad.

Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”

The God-given primary way a child worships God in his/her youth is by submitting to and obeying his/her parents. This honors God. His design is that a young human being doesn’t act on her own authority, get her own way, or go her own way; rather, each child submits to and follows his/her parents’ authority and way. To let our kids have what they want and get their way is to undermine the very design God has put into place whereby they will thrive and He will be honored.

A big part of this season is teaching them to “give you (the parent) their attention.”  They need to learn the discipline of responding to their parents’ words and commands.  Not the third time the parent asks but the first.  It is all too often that parents actually teach their children to respond only the third or fourth time because they never hold them truly accountable to listening the first time.  Not only is this to be expected of them, but if it is not done, then discipline has to happen or they will learn they can get away with it.  Parents must realize that while this is very hard work, it is essential for developing good habits of the child respecting and listening to the authority of the parent. It is on this foundation everything else is built.

Phase #2:

What: The Catechism Phase 

When: Communication until the age of 12-13

This is the phase when the parent needs to focus on teaching the child what to believe and not to believe.

In phase one, we said, “Give me your attention and obedience.” In phase two we are saying, “Give me your mind.” This phase is so critical because we are intentionally walking them through the basics of how the world was made, how the world works and who God is and how we are to honor Him with our lives.  This is the phase when we are to raise them up in the ways and truths of the Lord. The key is to do this according to Scripture and not your personal ideas or the priorities of ideas of the culture.

This is the critical season where we see Proverb 22:6 come into play: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  Now, let’s be clear about something: Salvation belongs to the Lord.  When and if our child will ever be saved is not up to us. This verse is not speaking of salvation; it is speaking of raising our children in the truths of God.  If you lay a foundation of biblical truth under them, then they will have that foundation for their entire lives. If you never lay a true and solid foundation under their feet, they do not have it to draw on later in life and will drift into other beliefs and understandings.

This is the phase when we are shaping their worldview. This is when we really focus on, with great scrutiny, all the things we let our children watch and listen to. It is when we really consider what they are being taught and what they are being exposed to.

Not only is this phase driven by regular and serious time in God’s word together, but it is paying tons of attention to the other things we let them see and know and do.  The number of hours a child spends playing video games or watching Disney movies or whatever is all a part of their worldview training.  If you watch Frozen enough times, you will be shaped by the worldview it is selling. What have to always ask, “What are these things teaching our children about life, about God and about who they are?”  This is especially true  if they are going to watch it 50 times or play that game for 100 plus hours.

One of the great tools to raising our children in these critical elementary years is with regular Bible teaching.  We cannot lean on Sunday school alone to do this for us but must lead our children faithfully and regularly from home. This is the call of God on us as parents. The study and teaching of a catechism is a great tool for this. A catechism contains short questions and answer responses that teach Bible doctrine with Scripture references. These are simple questions with concise responses that will help you understand biblical truths, be able to give a defense for the hope that is in you, and spot theological error. A catechism is meant to be memorized and continually reviewed.  The hope is by the end of this phase, a solid and complete biblical foundation has been laid under their feet whereby we can build on in the discipleship phase.

Phase #3:

What: The Discipleship Phase 

When: The early teens (12-13) to adulthood (18-21)

Many children who are raised in the church come to a true confession of faith somewhere in their early teens.  This is because while they might know that God loves them and they love God when they are young, they are still lacking a full and right view of the depravity of their sin and their desperate condition for Christ alone to be their Savior and Lord.  It is in these years that many, not all, kids who are raised in the church take ownership of their walk with God and make a profession of faith whereby they truly know and submit to God on their own.  It is in this time as newborn babes in the faith that they are desperate for discipleship.

Discipleship is the committed season of adhering to the teachings and training of another. Your children are purposefully shadowing you, who will mentor and train them into maturity. In the case of Christian discipleship, the goal of the trainer is to train the disciple unto the ways of Christ, so the disciple becomes more and more like Christ.  As we see Jesus model with the disciples and the Apostles go on to model with the Timothys of their world, we as parents are entrusted with the God-given priority of discipling our children in the critical years of their teens and early adulthood.  This is when we take everything we have instilled in them in phases one and two. You are telling them, “give me your attention and your obedience, and give me your mind, so I can train you up with the holy Scriptures and put them to work as we walk together in life.”

This is the “give me your hand” phase.  The hope is to spend a lot of time together in the children’s teen years teens so they can glean from you and be shaped and modeled by you unto Christ-likeness. What is amazing is when I see parents really prioritize this kind of child rearing, their children want to spend more time with them in their teens and not less.  It has been so cool to see other parents who are making the time and the investment into their children in this way develop a real close and shaping relationship with their teenage kids in this season that really prepares them for adulthood and the big bad world like nothing else.  The goal is to send our young adult children into the world having been fully trained up and matured in Christ so they are ready for all that they will face.

This is the heartbeat of the most famous and central command of the Old Testament scriptures for parents in the raising of their children.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

It is essential that we take this season seriously and make time in our schedules to invest real and regular time with our teenagers to disciple them up in the Lord.  What this also means is that they join you in what you do more and more, They shadow you and learn from you along the way so that you form a relationship of trust and closeness as you seek the Lord in all you do.

So to review:

Phase one: Give me your attention and obedience. 

I am the boss, and you will do well to honor and obey me.

Phase two: Give me your mind.

Let me teach you what to believe and why to believe it according to God’s holy word.

Phase three: Give me your hand.

I’m going to show you how to live out what I’ve taught you to believe.

Let me also point out that while each phase has its key focus, you really do all three of these in each phase of life to some degree.

Let me close with a couple key reminders:

Psalm 127:3 says, “Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.”  We must recognize the fact that children are a gift from God–one that we do not deserve and that He is not obligated to give us. Our kids are ultimately God’s children, whom He has entrusted us to love and shape for His glory. We must never lose sight of the fact that it is a privilege to be entrusted with God’s children to love and shape and disciple.  We must also be very aware of the temptation to make our kids our everything. When we make our kids the source of our happiness and our life’s identity we set ourselves up to be crushed if they are never born, are sick, or leave us or die.  God’s word is clear: “Have no other God’s before me.”  Children are great but must be rightly prioritized in our lives and hearts far below who God is to us. This life is short and painful and hard.  A right priority and grip on our kids will protect us from devastation if they ever abandoned us, leave the church or die before us. They ultimately exist not for our glory but His.

Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.”

We must realize a newborn child is not innocent but wicked and sinful. The Bible is clear that the result of Adam’s sin means we all enter the world with a fallen nature. This is what is known as original sin.  The sinful tendencies, desires, and dispositions in our hearts with which we are all born is a sign of what is inherent in us. We are born with a morally ruined character.

When Adam sinned, his inner nature was transformed by his sin of rebellion, bringing to him spiritual death and depravity which would be passed on to all who came after him. Just as we inherit genetic or physical characteristics from our parents, we inherit our sinful natures from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The original sin that we are all born with manifests itself throughout our lives in actual sins–the actions, thoughts, and feelings we have that violate God’s moral commands.  “We are sinners not because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners.”  King David lamented the reality of our condition in our fallen human nature in Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

So, let us realize that our children’s rebellion and folly at its core is a sin issue.  Therefore, they are desperate for loving discipline and ultimately for Christ who is the only one who can truly save them.  It is our job to discipline them faithfully and with love, but it is God’s role to save or not save them.  You cannot be your child’s savior or hold God in contempt if He doesn’t save them.

You do your job to raise them in the word of the Lord and in loving discipline and discipleship and leave the saving and enduring them up to Him.

Therefore, let your love be genuine. Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”

In other words, it is not loving not to abhor what is evil.

Because you love your kids:

You do not let them enter into compromised relationships that dishonor God and entertain the flesh.

You don’t let them watch graphic or sexual media thereby defrauding their minds from purity.

We must love them in everything you do. In a world of sin with sinful priorities and offerings, it is so important that we fight the fight of truly loving them well: disciplining them for what is best for them and honoring to God and keeping them from what is evil.

There is so much more to say on this topic. I pray this has been a helpful application for this proverb. If you are out of this season of raising children. then how can you apply these things as a grandparent or share them with someone you love who is in this season?

In closing, let me leave you with the third proverb we read this year.  I pray it is a help and an encouragement.

Proverbs 3:1-12 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
2. for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
3. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4. then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6. in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
7. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 
8. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 
9. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; 
10. then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. 
11. My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke,
12. because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church