Accountability in everything received.

NORSK
The core theme in the letters to Timothy, is the stewardship of "The good deposit"- which is the gospel that all who believe have received and accepted.
 
A Danish proverb says:

What you are,
is God's gift to you
What you do with what you are,
is your gift to God!

Ever since I made the final decision to follow Jesus at the age of 14, I have also known that spreading the good news of the gospel, is part of the new life I have received. Paul reminded Timothy about this too:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15

When I yesterday quoted Laura Petri’s interpretation of William Booth’s recipe of how to avoid quarrelling about words, the quote included this statement: “Partly, he did not want to have the main emphasis on doctrine, but on life”. This is the emphasis in Paul’s exhortation to Timothy. If a worker in God’s kingdom has something to be ashamed of, it becomes difficult to present the word of truth in the right way. Deed and creed must ‘walk’ hand in hand. That does not mean your life has to be perfect, but it must be lived under the grace, and the grace is part of God's gift.

The combination of living in God's gift to me, and the communication of the gospel with the light God has given me in and through his word, is my gift to God. This is what I and all believers are held accountable for.

'Manna' for today:

Deed and creed ‘walk’ hand in hand

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On the arena of faith

NORSK
Yesterday, I wrote that the order of the arenas on which we are challenged to set an example hardly can be random. At least it seems obvious with the first three, but shouldn’t the arena of faith be the first instead of the fourth?

“…set an example … in faith…”
1 Tim 4:12

If it is about receiving the gospel, I believe it would be correct to place the faith earlier, but this is about setting an example. Therefore, I dare claim that the placing gives meaning. I am convinced that Paul writes about the mature faith. A fresh faith may easily become haughty, and I speak from experience. When I as a young teenager experienced that faith was life and not just a set of dogmas and rules, I was convinced that I had seen not just “the light”, but all of it. The faith I conveyed did not necessarily have its base on the arena of love.

When Jesus came he was “full of grace and truth” (1). In many ways grace represents love, and faith truth. If grace does not precede truth, the encounter with truth can be brutal. If love does not precede faith, even faith can be brutal because the faith may be conceived as demanding.

“There is a difference between demands and demands, and must and must” Tomas Sjødin writes, and continues: “I call the necessary demands for ‘love's demands’, and I do this because of observation made of what happens when we draw closer to love. In a subtle way the demands are transformed to longing or desire. In relation to the one I love, there are many things I must, but the demands are far from dull duties. ‘I just must hear your voice!’ ‘I must see you.’” (2)

That is how it is supposed to be with faith. I act in obedience because of love to him who loved me first.

‘Manna’ for today:

Love is the main entrance to the arena of love

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(1) John 1:14
(2) In the book: «Det er mye man ikke må», Vårt Land forlag, 2015 p 11

What is the church of the living God?

NORSK
Yesterday, I quoted Paul’s reason for his high expectations concerning the lifestyle of the leaders of the church:

I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
1 Tim 3:15

In this verse Paul uses several images to illustrate the nature of a church

• The house of God

It strange how easy it is to associate the house of God with a physical building. I admit that a physical place to gather for worship can be useful for the church, but the core of the New Covenant is that the house of God, the Tabernacle of the Lord or the temple of the Spirit, is found where follower of Christ is found. Therefore, I always find myself in God’s household wherever I am on the planet.

• The foundation of truth

Paul used the image of a building and a temple in a letter to the church in Corinth. Also there he refers to the foundation, like he did in the letter to Timothy:

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 3:10-11

It is interesting that he wrote that foundation is Jesus Christ in this letter, while ‘the church of God’ is the foundation of truth in the letter he wrote to Timothy. I cannot see any contradiction in this. Because, if the church is Jesus in the world today, the church should also convey the truth in our time. But the church is not only the foundation of truth, it is also

• The pillar of truth

The function of a pillar is to support. I like the idea of the church being a support of truth. But in addition, pillars are often made beautiful because of their visibility. This was definitely true at time when Paul wrote this. The church should be ‘beautiful’ to make the truth even more visible. Remember that I still write about the church of the living God, not about a physical church-building. The challenge in our time is that the church tends to obscure the truth. If the truth is obscured by the church, it must be legitimate to ask whether it is still a church of the living God.

‘Manna’ for today:

The church of the living God is nothing less than a miracle!

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It is about living in the light

NORSK
For three years, I worked in Securitas and learned quite a lot about security both in relation to prevention of crime, and also with regard to creating good routines for the times when something unfortunate had happened. The by far best single factor in the protection of both property and human individuals is light.

Actually, I knew this from many years of Sunday School attendance:

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:20-21

These are the words of Jesus. He even said that judgment is that the light came to the earth. Light exposes me, and when I am exposed, my first thought is to justify myself. It is one of the most evident human faculties to try the escape by blaming others. 

This tendency goes all the way back to the story of the fall. Adam blamed the woman, and even God for giving him the woman, Eve on her part blamed the serpent (1). The exposed Peter represents in many ways a counterpart. He made a full surrender under Jesus' interrogation: "Peter do you love me?" Peter’s reply: “Lord, you know all things” (2) is also a testimony of his awareness: “I know that I live in the light!” - Such an awareness grows the fruit, - the fruit of the light:

The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth
Eph 5:9

Like goodness, which I mentioned yesterday, righteousness and truth are divine attributes.

Jesus confessed: “I am the truth” (3), and in him I have also part in God’s righteousness (4). The fruit is a consequence of living in the light.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about living in the light.

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(1) The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Gen 3:12-13
(2) John 21:17
(3) John 14:6
(4) God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Cor 5:21