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1
Timothy 3:16 |
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And without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. |
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Nothing
like this! |
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Biblereading: 1
Timothy 3:1-16
1 This
is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he
desireth a good work. 2 A bishop then must be
blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good
behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not
given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but
patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that
ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection
with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God?) 6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with
pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover
he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he
fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 8 Likewise
must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much
wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9 Holding the
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 And
let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of
a deacon, being found blameless. 11 Even so must
their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all
things. 12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one
wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13
For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase
to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith
which is in Christ Jesus. 14 These things write I
unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15 But
if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into glory.
Max Muller, a
writer on religious issues, once made this arresting statement:
"You do not know the worth of your Christian faith until you
have compared it to others."
The first article of belief we look at is the fact that God has
appeared in this world in the Person of His eternal Son. Our faith
is not the word of a prophet but, the Word of the Son Himself.
No other world faith even attempts to represent its great teacher
as God incarnate. Yet we claim for Christ just that. As God, He
comes to us from the highest, and He comes all the way. I remember
hearing a missionary to India say that he was forced to rethink
his faith in the light of other faiths and other ways of life.
"All the old shibboleths and modes of expression and accepted
outlooks on life are challenged," he said, "and one
begins to see where the relevance lies."
He started discussions with Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim leaders,
as well as representatives of India's many other religions. The
gatherings were called "Round Table" discussions to
suggest that everyone could present what they considered to be the
distinctives of their faith.
One could see scintillations of truth, the missionary recalled, as
people spoke from experience or from their sacred books. But
whenever a Christian spoke and unfolded the truth of the
Incarnation, the meeting would lapse into silence. Sometimes the
silence would last for many minutes, only to be broken with the
remark: "We have nothing in our faith that compares to that.
Nothing!"
Prayer:
Dear God and Father, if You hadn't come down to us, how could we
have ever come up to You? What humiliation this must have meant
for You. Yet what love. Our hearts sing with gratitude. Blessed be
Your Name forever...
For further study:
Acts 1:1-5; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Acts 9:1-6
1. What was
Paul's testimony?
2. How did he substantiate it?
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The
Highest Standard of Morality 02 |
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One day God Himself became a Man named Jesus.
This Man was conceived of the divine essence and born of the human
essence, the very essence God created in man. This means that the
human essence of which the Lord Jesus partook was that created by
God according to what He is -- the human essence with the
appearance of God's love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
When He was on earth, He lived a life that was a composition of
the divine attributes and the human virtues. This is the highest
standard of morality. The highest standard of morality is the
living of the One whose life was a composition of God with the
divine attributes and man with the human virtues.
When we speak of the highest standard of morality, we are not
using the word "morality" in a traditional way. By
morality we mean the standard of life God requires.
This was the reason God in Genesis 2 put man in front of Himself
as signified by the tree of life, indicating that God wanted man
to take Him as his life so that he might have the reality of the
divine love, light, holiness, and righteousness. This would enable
man to live a life in the highest standard of morality. Although
the man created by God failed to live such a life, the Lord Jesus,
the Man-Savior, possessing the divine nature and the human nature,
lived a life on earth with the attributes of God expressed in the
virtues of man.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your living which expressed the divine
attributes of God in Your human virtues. Hallelujah for the
highest standard of morality. Strengthen me to live out this
standard of life that God requires. Live out of me every day! ... |
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