Message from Scripture: 8/21/2021

 

Our message from Scripture today is 1 Pet. 4:11: “If anyone speaks, as the declarations of God; if anyone serves, as by the strength God supplies, in order that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power into the ages of the ages. Amen.”

 

When I read these words of Peter, I sometimes wonder if his mind recalls the Pharisees Jesus dealt with so frequently, who had supplanted the will of God for their traditions. Sadly, it had happened for so long, and so often, they were unaware that, instead of upholding the word of God, they had substituted their own interpretations and ideas in its place. Jesus Himself said of them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13).

 

Paul wrote to Timothy, “They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:4). The term myth carries the meaning of that which is full of falsehood and pretenses. It may sound noble, but it doesn’t carry the truth in it. It is the vehicle some may use to accomplish their own personal goals, in contrast to what Scripture actually teaches. Perhaps Peter also recalled the words of the Lord to him and the apostles, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19). We have liberty in Christ, but the Lord has also bound those principles that stand forever established, in heaven and on earth.

 

It takes wisdom to know and apply the word of God accurately. May we pray for that wisdom, and seek to live by His will for us, and not by traditions, as God and His word saves. Today, let’s go out to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who makes all this possible. God bless.

 

Robert