Sean's house

Sean didn’t expect to find his landlord sitting in the living room as he unlocked the front door. But there Charlie was, feet up on the coffee table, watching a baseball game and drinking a cola out of the refrigerator.

“Hey, got any peanuts?” Charlie asked. “How about them Cubs, huh?”

Sean dropped his lunchbox on the floor. “Charlie, why don’t you go home?”

“Your TV is better than mine,” Charlie said. “And you got plenty of Coke in the fridge.” He leaned toward Sean and winked. “And, remember, I own this place.”

Sean lost entire meals to his landlord, who especially liked cold pizza in the afternoon while Sean was at work. Finally, it was enough. The apartment wasn’t that wonderful and Sean moved on.

He found another apartment on the other side of town. It was closer to work and had a nicer kitchen besides. His neighbors were nicer and, to top it off, Charlie didn’t own the place.

So Sean was shocked one night when, after work, he found Charlie sitting in the living room, feet up on the coffee table, watching a baseball game and drinking a cola out of the refrigerator.

“Hey, got any peanuts?” Charlie asked.

“Charlie, go home.”

“You wound me,” Charlie said. “I thought we were friends. Remember how many times I’ve visited your place.”

“This isn’t your place anymore. Go away.”

Charlie raised a big fuss but he left, because he no longer had any authority there. Sean was right: he didn’t own this new home.

Remember Sean's story the next time you’re feeling a little down. Who owns your spiritual home? And who are you allowing in?

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
2 Cor 5:17

Galatians 1

Ack! How is this new teaching better than what I taught you? That may have been Paul’s thoughts as he wrote his letter to the Galatians.

Last week, I introduced the book of Galatians and asked you to read the first chapter. Paul, who had just returned from his first church-planting swing through the area of Galatia (eastern Turkey), quickly learned that new teachers had followed in his steps. They were revising his message, telling the new believers that they needed Jesus plus some Jewish practices such as circumcision.

Paul was like a mama bear protecting the new followers. And some of his questions in the first chapter of Galatians go right to the point: What was the authority of these new teachers?

They had none, of course. They were changing the gospel of Christ. Paul was horrified that the new believers were buying it. Didn’t they look at these teachers’ authority?

Paul spent Gal 1 defending his own authority to teach, reminding the Galatians that he spoke not to please men but his authority came from Jesus. He spoke to please Jesus.

Re-read Galatians 1, reviewing Paul’s authority and the new teachers’ authority. Journal the answers to these questions and your responses to the chapter (and feel free to leave comments on them as well):

Why did Paul have authority to teach?

Do we know the authority of our teachers?

Do we speak with the authority of God’s word? Or do we speak to please others?

What do we base our faith on?

Dive In: Questions

If I gave you two tools for deeper Bible study, they would be to read the Bible regularly and to ask good questions.

Questions are important. Scriptures are not diminished by our hard question.

I’ve been puzzling over Terah lately. Join me on a journey in Genesis 11. Take a moment to read Gen 11:26-32.

We see a pattern in the last half of Genesis 11, with each descendant of Shem getting two verses. You can almost cut and paste the names into the template. But the pattern is broken when we get to Terah? Why?

We meet three of Terah’s sons as well as a nephew and two daughters-in-law. Why? I know that Abram occupies several chapters in Genesis, but why are Haran and Nahor mentioned? Why do we need to know the wives’ names?

Why are we told that Terah intended to move to Canaan? Did he leave Ur because he grieved over his son? Why did he stop at Haran? Did he name Haran after his deceased son?

Why did Nahor stay behind? Why did Lot go with Terah?

Is Terah mentioned anywhere else in scripture? What can we learn from those passages?

As you ask questions and notice details, you’ll form a theory. Hold theories loosely because as more information from the Bible is revealed, the theory may need to be tweaked or even tossed aside.

Here’s a theory I have regarding Terah. I think he left Ur because he grieved his son’s death and established the town that he named after his son. He intended to go to Canaan but did not.

Take a look at a reference to Abraham (formerly named Abram) in Isaiah:

look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one,
and I blessed him and made him many.

Isaiah 51:2

Notice the words “when I called him...” Abram was called to Canaan; Terah was not.

Why not?

Joshua 24:2 tells us that Terah worshipped other gods, as did Abram and Nahor at that time, while they lived across the Euphrates. Abram had a spiritual awakening. God spoke to him, inviting him to go. But God prevented Terah from going into Canaan.

Terah may have longed for Canaan – perhaps to flee memories of a lost son -but could not complete the trip. God kept him out, for God intended for Abraham to go there, as the faithful son of God, not as the idolatrous son of Terah. Notice that God called Abram to leave his country, people and father’s household to go to the land. (Gen 12:1) God separated Abraham from Terah. The death of one son, Haran, foreshadowed the separation of a second son, Abram.

By spending several verses on Terah, we are torn from the cadence of a lineage to the beginning of God’s family. Our attention moves from a formal list to a family torn by grief and idolatry. We see the eventual separation of Terah and Abraham. Genesis 12 begins a new story, one focused on Abram and his family rather than all mankind.

And it began with Terah, who was separated from his son in God’s plan.

Questions are vital to our understanding of a pericope. Choose a passage and ask many questions, looking carefully for details and inquire why.

Flexing spiritual muscles

If you wanted to have a Roman experience, Ephesus in the first century wasn’t a bad place to go. Ephesus, located on the western coastline of what’s modern-day Turkey, was the fourth largest city in the empire, with just under a half million people calling it home. Ephesus was a cultured, orderly city.

There was plenty of spiritual muscle in Ephesus as well. It was the home of Artemis’ temple. An earlier version had been one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and even the re-built version (the first had burned centuries before) was spectacular, drawing many tourists and faithful to honor the goddess of fertility.

Besides that, the city housed many magicians. We’d probably call them shamans or witch doctors today. They worked their illusions to create the image of spiritual authority. Into this rich stew of superstition walked Paul the evangelist.

Paul had debated debaters in Athens and taught the teachable in Berea. But something different was needed in Ephesus. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. (Acts 19:11)

Magicians would have recognized tricks. There were healings and exorcisms. God flexed his power in Ephesus, doing things that no magician could do. There’s a story in Acts 19 about wanna-be-priests trying to cast out an evil spirit using the name of Jesus as a magic incantation. They had no license and were beaten to a pulp for their audacity.

Ephesus knew about spiritual activity – and recognized God’s authentic power. Paul stayed in Ephesus longer than any other city on his missionary journeys. In the shadow of the incredible temple of Artemis, side by side with shamans, God illustrated spiritual muscle.

God revealed unexplainable power in Ephesus – to a group who would have recognized trickery and learned true spiritual authority. The name of Jesus was held in such high honor that the magicians burned their books. Those books were valued at 50,000 drachmas, or 50,000 day’s wages. That’s commitment.

God communicates truth understandably. In Ephesus, the people knew magic. When they saw acts that the shamans could not duplicate, they understood. God sent Paul to Ephesus not to condemn but to set free. This was not formula evangelism or salvation-by-guilt, but love spoken so that the people connected.

Paul preached in Ephesus as he did in all the cities he visited. But in Ephesus, it was the power of God that convinced many. God cared for their individuality, speaking to them in a language they understood, and they responded with honor and belief. They were given new life.

In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Acts 19:20