Question: What is the difference between jealousy and envy? Why does God call himself jealous?
Response:
Jealousy - feeling resentment against someone because of that person's rivalry, success, or advantages.
Envy - a feeling of discontentment or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
Jealousy and envy are a bit different (look to the above definitions). If one of us humans were to be jealous for our own sake it would always lead to sin. But when God is jealous in the Scripture, it is for the sake of His glory and for the hearts of His people.
Exodus 34:14
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
God is jealous that we worship Him alone.
For 4 reasons:
1. Because He alone is worthy of praise.
2. God as our loving Father knows what is best for us.
3. God knows that other things as supreme to us will only destroy us.
4. God demands us to have Him as uppermost in our affections and devotion.
When God is jealous, it is right—to allow that anything else be God in our lives is flat out idolatry... and will only bring about death.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Community & the Christian
Question: What Scriptures should we study about community and the place of the church in the Christians life?
Answer: If I were you I would look at the book of Acts specifically 2:42-47. In this book we se the earliest believers assembling in large gatherings, small gatherings, serving the city in which they lived, and sending missionaries all over the world. You should also study Ephesians which talks a lot about the theology of the church in the Christian life. To love Jesus is to love His bride the Church. Every believer has the responsibility to go to a local church regularly (Heb. 10:25), serve a local church with spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12), and give to the local church (1 Cor. 8-9, 16:1).
Answer: If I were you I would look at the book of Acts specifically 2:42-47. In this book we se the earliest believers assembling in large gatherings, small gatherings, serving the city in which they lived, and sending missionaries all over the world. You should also study Ephesians which talks a lot about the theology of the church in the Christian life. To love Jesus is to love His bride the Church. Every believer has the responsibility to go to a local church regularly (Heb. 10:25), serve a local church with spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12), and give to the local church (1 Cor. 8-9, 16:1).
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Struggling with Sin and the Assurance of Salvation
Question:
I usually feel secure in my salvation because of my reaction to sin and to Jesus. But, there are times when I don't feel guilty, bad, or mourn my sin and that scares me because biblically, I know I sin. I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to feel guilty about it. Sorry for the vagueness, this mostly deals with drinking and swearing, but what should I do?
Response:
Let's deal with the sins you listed fist.
First of all, drinking is not a sin. Drunkenness is. Under-aged drinking is. Don't beat yourself up for things that God doesn't call sin. However, if you are getting drunk or drinking under age, repent (mourn for your sin and stop it) and trust Jesus for grace to cover your sins.
Swearing is a tricky subject because everyone has a different list of words which they consider sinful and God has not given us a list of words not to use—aside from taking his name in vain. The Scriptures do tell us to let no unwholesome words proceed from our mouths (Eph. 4:29), but again, defining what is ‘unwholesome’ largely depends on your audience and what might be unwholesome in their eyes. I can say "crap" or "frickin" around a lot of people—but not around my wife's grandma. In her sight, those words are unwholesome and offensive. In that case, it’s important to gauge the convictions of those around you and seek to be as loving to them as possible… and if that means restraining your mouth, so be it. However, if you are constantly talking about raunchy things and dropping the f-bomb like a drunken redneck at a Bud Light Kegger, you are, in fact, sinning. Repent and ask Jesus to clean your mouth and your heart out— for out of the heart the mouth speaks.
If you are struggling with your sin, that's a good sign. Read the previous posting on this blog about dealing with guilt. But if you are getting drunk and swearing like the aforementioned redneck and you are not struggling and battling with these sins, there is a problem with your heart. In Christ, we are freed from the sins that entangle us, so never be comfortable with the presence of sin. If you are not struggling and fighting the sin, than you are probably not saved. Someone who has God's Holy Spirit indwelling them cannot continue living in sin because the sin offends the Spirit which indwells you [Read 1 John].
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I usually feel secure in my salvation because of my reaction to sin and to Jesus. But, there are times when I don't feel guilty, bad, or mourn my sin and that scares me because biblically, I know I sin. I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to feel guilty about it. Sorry for the vagueness, this mostly deals with drinking and swearing, but what should I do?
Response:
Let's deal with the sins you listed fist.
First of all, drinking is not a sin. Drunkenness is. Under-aged drinking is. Don't beat yourself up for things that God doesn't call sin. However, if you are getting drunk or drinking under age, repent (mourn for your sin and stop it) and trust Jesus for grace to cover your sins.
Swearing is a tricky subject because everyone has a different list of words which they consider sinful and God has not given us a list of words not to use—aside from taking his name in vain. The Scriptures do tell us to let no unwholesome words proceed from our mouths (Eph. 4:29), but again, defining what is ‘unwholesome’ largely depends on your audience and what might be unwholesome in their eyes. I can say "crap" or "frickin" around a lot of people—but not around my wife's grandma. In her sight, those words are unwholesome and offensive. In that case, it’s important to gauge the convictions of those around you and seek to be as loving to them as possible… and if that means restraining your mouth, so be it. However, if you are constantly talking about raunchy things and dropping the f-bomb like a drunken redneck at a Bud Light Kegger, you are, in fact, sinning. Repent and ask Jesus to clean your mouth and your heart out— for out of the heart the mouth speaks.
If you are struggling with your sin, that's a good sign. Read the previous posting on this blog about dealing with guilt. But if you are getting drunk and swearing like the aforementioned redneck and you are not struggling and battling with these sins, there is a problem with your heart. In Christ, we are freed from the sins that entangle us, so never be comfortable with the presence of sin. If you are not struggling and fighting the sin, than you are probably not saved. Someone who has God's Holy Spirit indwelling them cannot continue living in sin because the sin offends the Spirit which indwells you [Read 1 John].
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
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