To the Pharisees who questioned Him at the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus said, “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me” (John 8:15-16).  Their carnal, fleshly standards of judging Jesus would never allow them to see Him for His true identity, the Son of God.  Previously in their discussion, Jesus had warned them not to judge according to appearance, but to judge righteous judgment (John 7:24).  Here, in chapter 8, it seems that their judgment is even worse.  It is one thing to judge according to appearance.  We all know the fallacy of judging a book by its cover.  However, it is quite another thing for our thinking to be so corrupted and fleshly that we are unable to see plain spiritual truths right before our eyes.

Jesus said, “I judge no man.”  Now Jesus’ purpose in coming into this world was not so that people would be condemned (judged); instead, He came to save.  John 3:17 explains, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  However, if one refuses salvation, the other side of the coin is condemnation.

But Jesus says He judges no man, period.  While He spoke words of comfort and invitation (Matthew 11:28-30), we cannot deny that He did speak words of judgment on the Pharisees (Matthew 23).  How then can Jesus say that He judges no man?  It must mean that He judges no man in the way He has just described the Pharisees judging, that is, after the flesh.  As Christians, we too must develop spiritually so that we do not judge after the flesh.  The apostle Paul in his earlier life judged after this manner; however, when he became a Christian, he did not judge Christ or any other man according to fleshly standards.  He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.”  In the church, judgments based on worldly, carnal thinking, (such as how much money people have, how physically attractive they are, etc.) should not be the criteria for whom we honor.

After Jesus said that He judges no man in this way, He went on to say, “if I judge, my judgment is true” (John 8:16).  Jesus will come to judge the word in righteousness one day (Acts 17:31).  But even when Jesus was living on earth for a third of a century and even now in our lives, Jesus judges true judgment.  One of the themes throughout the book of John is Jesus’ knowledge of who each person really is on the inside (John 2:24-25).  Whether it was Nicodemus (John 3:1-12), the woman at the well (John 4:7-26), Judas (John 6:70-71; 13:21-30), or a host of other people, Jesus always knows what to say.  He drives home His point, making the most accurate statements about who people really are and what they really need.  We ought to put ourselves in the position of these people and realize there is nothing we can hide from the Lord Jesus Christ.  He knows us for who we truly are in all our shortcomings and yet He still loves us.  We ought to judge righteously, regard Him as the true Son of God, and submit to Him by obeying the gospel (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38).  It then behooves us to be open and honest before the Lord in this life and confess our sins so that we may be able to stand before Him in the final judgment (Romans 5:2; 14:4; 1 John 1:9).

-Mark Day

God intended that His word, the Bible, be understood and applied (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  He wrote it in such a way that we can understand it when we read (Eph. 3:4).  To claim that the Bible cannot be understood is tantamount to saying God failed in revealing His will.  One cannot attack a book without maligning its author.

While the Bible can be understood, it is not all easy to understand.  There are sections that are hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16).  These passages are not impossible to understand, but require effort to ascertain the meaning.  Sometimes help is needed in arriving at the proper meaning (Acts 8:31).  The Bible is a tremendous volume that is able to provide nourishment to people at various stages of spiritual development.  Both milk for the babies and meat for the mature may be found within its pages (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Heb. 5:12-14).  It is an inexhaustible resource of wisdom that ever challenges man with the loftiest of themes (Psa. 139:17-18).

God’s word is truth (Jn. 17:17).  Jesus Christ is the personal revelation of truth (Jn. 14:6).  While we will never know everything, we can all glean enough truth to be set free from sin, if we continue in Jesus’ word (Jn. 8:31-32).  It is God’s desire that all men come to saving truth in Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:4).  All truth necessary for salvation was revealed to the first-century apostles and prophets and preserved in a literary reservoir that is the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (Jn. 16:12-13; Heb. 2:3-4; Jude 3).

Each Christian has the responsibility to study this word and grow in knowledge of the truth  (2 Peter 3:18).  If we do not grow, we may forget even the basics that we should know (Heb. 5:12).  We can become blind to what God has done for us (2 Pet. 1:9).  We can even become entangled in the pollutions of the world that we had once escaped when we had come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet. 2:20).  Instead of forgetting the soul-saving truth that has been presented to us, let us study all the more that God will approve of us for correctly handling His word (2 Tim. 2:15).   God wants us to be filled with knowledge of His will, always increasing our understanding (Col. 1:9-10).  This way we will be firmly established in His truth and richly blessed by having His words in our hearts and on our tongues (Col. 2:2-7; 3:16).

What does your personal Bible study throughout the week show about your desire to know more about God’s word?  What about your attendance at the Bible classes offered by the church?  What about not merely your attendance, but your preparation for these studies?  Do you go home afterwards and think and study further on points made in these classes? Or are the Bible classes of the church just a box that you check each week because you were physically present?  Do you desire to know more of God’s word?

-Mark Day

I am a scribbler. I tend to be the type of person that makes notes whenever I hear something that may be handy in an article, devotional, or sermon. These notes can be found on a post-it, scrap paper, or even on my “note” app on my phone. Recently as I was looking through my “note app” and discovered at one time I had noted the following: “I am thankful there is a God to love me, a Savior who died for me, and a Bible to guide me”. Amen! I don’t know where I heard or read that statement, but it is indeed true. I am, as we all should be, thankful…

There Is A God To Love Me.

1 John 4:8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” God is love, but not just love. Love is one of the primary features of God’s being. Just as God is infinite in all His other attributes, God is also infinite in love. This is the love that seeks the highest good of another. Were it not for the love of God mankind would be without any hope. However Ephesians 2:4 states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” God’s love is great because it extends to all including the individual.

A Savior Who Died For Me.

Galatians 1:4 speaks of Jesus “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father”. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” J. W. Shepherd in the Gospel Advocate Commentary on Galatians says the following regarding this verse “In his love for the church (Ephesians 5:25) Christ does not lose sight of the individual believer. Each member of his body is the direct object of his love, and it is as true that he died for each as it is that he died for all. Hence, the individual believer appropriates to himself that which is the possession of all.”

And A Bible To Guide Me.

Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” The Word Of God is a light to show me the way, to keep me from stumbling, to keep me from falling, to keep me on the right path. Psalm 19:8, “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The world we live in thinks that happiness comes from many various sources (money, position, power, etc.). The psalmist points out the only way that man can be truly be happy is to study and submit to the Word of God. God’s statutes and commands are right because they descend from right personified, Deity. They are pure because it contains no falsehood or error. The commands of Jehovah enlighten man’s eyes in that they instruct him in the proper way, both for the here and now as well as preparation for eternity.

Yes, indeed dear friend, I Am Thankful. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” Psalm 100:4

-Jerry D. Sturgill

Our Heavenly Father is light (1 Jn. 1:5); the Father of lights (James 1:17).  As Christians, we are His children, children of light (Lk. 16:8; 1 Thess. 5:5).  Paul encouraged Christians to behave as children of light (Eph. 5:8), living in such a way that we recognize our deeds are manifest before an all-knowing God, instead of trying to hide our sins under the cover of darkness (Jn. 3:19-21).  We are surrounded by people of the world who love darkness (Eph. 6:12; 1 Jn. 5:19).  They do not see the light of the glorious gospel, because they have allowed the devil, the father of lies, to blind them (Jn. 8:44; 2 Cor. 4:4).  We, however, know better, and ought to behave accordingly.  When light enters a room, darkness flees.  The two are incompatible.  Christians are to behave as light, being separate from the world (Eph. 5:11; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 1 Jn. 2:7-11).  How you behave ought to make you stand out from the world (Phil. 2:14-15).

Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” Some people live their lives seemingly in a dream, not awake to the spiritual dangers that are around them, but mindlessly floating down the river of life going wherever outside influences take them.  Christians are not to live in such spiritual stupor, but should be awake and alert to the spiritual realities that are around them, proactively following Christ.

The normal time to sleep is at night, and being drunk during the day has often been considered scandalous by the public (Isa. 5:11; Ecc. 10:16-17; Acts 2:15; 2 Pet. 2:13).  As Christians, children of the light and of the day, we are to be the opposite: awake and sober.  Night is sometimes used in scripture to underscore moral darkness rather than prosaically marking the time (Mt. 26:34; Jn. 13:30).  Nighttime is when evil people do their deeds.  We are surprised today when people commit crimes in broad daylight.  These evil deeds of the darkness are on their way out, because an eternal day is coming (Rom. 13:12; cf. Rev. 21:23; 22:5).  The gospel age has let some of this light in, but the final coming of Christ is when it will fully break forth (1 Jn. 2:8).

Paul’s description of light and darkness in 1 Thessalonians 5 is really part of a larger context concerning the unexpectedness of Lord’s final coming and need to be prepared for it (1 Thess. 5:1-11).  God has chosen to not disclose when the return of His Son will be, and Jesus warned His disciples to watch so they are ready for His coming at any time (Mk. 13:32-37).  Jesus told His disciples that such vigilance is necessary to resist temptation of the flesh (Mt. 26:40-41; Mk. 14:37-38; Lk. 22:45-46).  God knows that if He did reveal when the final day would be that people would be tempted to live evil lives, indulging the flesh, and try to repent near the end before that day comes.  This would run contrary to His purposes; our Heavenly Father wants to foster in us a love for Him and patient desire for heaven. No man will see the light of heaven who has not already had it in his heart while he is living in this world of darkness.

-Mark Day

Christ prayed for unity among His followers (John 17:20-21); however, as with many other requests made to the Father, there is a part each Christian must play in order to make this unity a reality.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:3 that all Christians are to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  Disunity has always been a problem to mankind since the very beginning.  Discord exists among individuals, couples, families, organizations, nations, and even churches.  This is because each man has his own opinions.  In the church we must be willing to sacrifice opinions and stick with matters of faith taught in God’s word to have unity.

The unity Paul told the Ephesians to endeavor to maintain is the unity of the Spirit.  Christians are led by teachings of the Holy Spirit, captured for us in the writings that comprise the New Testament, which serve as a basis for unity.  Consider how the seven ones of Ephesians 4:4-6 illustrate this singularity.  Christians would be just as willing to accept more than one God as to accept more than one faith or more than one baptism.  The charge to give effort to have and maintain unity among the called in Christ in the letter of Ephesians comes after Paul had mentioned the wall of partition that had existed between Jews and Gentiles, a barrier that had been broken down by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:11-19).  This uniting of Jews and Gentiles into one body was part of God’s plan from the foundation of the world (Eph. 2:16; 3:6, 11).  It is hard for us today to comprehend how different Jews and Gentiles were in the first century and the enmity that had festered among them for centuries.  Isaiah prophesied that bringing these two groups together to have peace in the church would be like getting wolves and sheep, leopards and goats, or lions and cows to dwell peacefully together (Isa. 11:6).  While this seemed impossible, God did this in the first-century church.  Jews and Gentiles were reconciled together to Him in the body of Christ (Eph. 2:16).

But this partnership did not just happen easily.  The endeavor for unity in Ephesians 4:3 follows the instruction of Ephesians 4:2; that Christians are to be characterized, “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.”  Pride is an enemy of unity.  Contrariwise, patience is so essential to peace.  When I recognize that others have to put up with me, then I can more easily put up with others.  The bottom line is that Christians must love each other.  This is not always easy, but the results are worth it.

Partiality based on how much money a person possesses is a temptation that must be avoided in the church (James 2:1-8).  The church, instead of being divided into different cliques, ought to be one harmonious community (Acts 2:46).  Even good men like Peter and Barnabas had trouble with showing partiality because of social pressures (Gal. 2:11-13).  Paul loved them enough to speak up before everyone, and they loved their brethren enough to repent and not hold a grudge against Paul (Gal. 2:14).  Individuals in the church cannot remain at odds if unity is to exist.  Even in private cases, unlike that of Peter’s partiality, confrontation is necessary to deal with a sin between two brothers or it will affect the entire church (Mt. 18:15-20; cf. Phil. 4:2).

Based on God’s word, the more unity exists in the Flatwoods church, the more blessings will follow.  Are you willing to work and pray to make it a reality?

-Mark Day