A Guidebook for Better Living – Part One

Hebrews 1: 1 – 3

Jesus has a message for you.  It is a message of encouragement, explanation, exhilaration and expectation. He wants to communicate to us more than we want Him to. Communication involves sending and receiving a message.

Lilly Tomlin, in her role of a telephone operator, often uses a statement which illustrates this: “Have I reached the person to whom I am speaking?”

The people who initially received this letter needed its message as much as we.  For we, like they, are going through difficult times.  The old world order with which they were comfortable was being destroyed.  A new code of public ethics was emerging which was not God’s will.  They were being pulled into it and being persecuted by their former friends for following Christ.  False teachings abounded, and they were in danger of being deceived.  Forgetfulness was causing them not to remember some foundational truths that would have stabilized them.  They were at a spiritual standstill, making no progress and in danger of sliding back into their old lifestyle.  Many had forsaken worship.  They needed an exuberant word from God. So do we . . . and we have it. It is God’s written Word. It is the Bible. Part of it is the Book of Hebrews. 

Our society needs a word of encouragement.  We look at externals and think all things are well.  In reality we are often looking at a shell that is empty.  A word has been coined to describe a segment of our affluent upward mobile society called “yuppies.”  Even they who drive Porshces and drink Perrier are not finding fulfillment in things.  Many studies are showing a number of these are now suffering from guilt and are even embarrassed to be associated with people like themselves.  They are in need of a word of encouragement.  Many of these have stopped reaching upward and have started looking upward to Christ for a word of encouragement.

He alone gives hope.  Hope is more than an emotion.  It is a way of looking at life and an understanding of the things that happen to us.  The Word of God does this and inspires hope.

If you were assured that you could go to a given spot and actually hear the literal voice of God speaking right from heaven, would you do it?  Well, we can’t, but there is a place where you can go and see the actual words communicated to us by God through holy men in a written form. That is what the Bible is. 

Designate a time and place to which you will go each day to get a written message from God. While there, He would like to hear from you. Make time to pray also. Perhaps you think you don’t have time. Make it by doing something simple like setting your alarm clock a bit earlier.

Begin today. 

Judas (Not Iscariot), Labbaeus (Matthew), Thaddeus (Mark), Judas, Son of James (Luke)

“Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?'” (John 14:22).

This follower of Christ was called TRINOMINUS, by Jerome, one of the early church fathers. The word means “the man with three names.”

The name Judas is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Judah. Jude is the Latin form of the name Judah.

Judas was an honorable name that went back to the founder of the tribe of Judah.

About 164 BC when Israel was occupied and the great tyranny that was manifest in that country was persecuting the people severely, the dominant ruler that possessed the land was named by himself Antichus Epiphanes which means the “great and mighty God.” He rededicated the house of God to the goddess Olympus Zeus. He profaned the house in so many ways and one way in which he did was he brought pigs into the house of God and had them sacrificed on the altar. To the Jewish people that was the most blasphemous degrading thing that could happen.

He then sent his soldiers out into the countryside to have the same thing done in the various villages. They went to one village just a short distance from Jerusalem in which there was an old retired priest of the temple living there. The soldier in charge of the battery of individuals assigned to enforce the law called this old priest out of the ranks and said you are to be the first to sacrifice the pig here in your village then you will be first to eat of its flesh. The old man stood there stony faced in defiance. Finally someone from the crowd stepped out knowing the age of the old retired priest and said, I will take his place. The old retired priest first attacked him then attacked the soldiers and his four sons got involved in the battle. One of those four sons was named Judas. They called him Judas Macabee which meant Judas the hammer. They were few in number with no reserves and no military strength and training. But in the weeks and months that followed their insurrection delivered the people from the bondage imposed upon them.

Unfortunately this admirable name was defamed by Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. Therefore, when this Judas is mentioned the gospel writer hastens to add, “Not Iscariot.”

To distinguish him from Judas Iscariot let’s refer to him as Jude.

Another of his names, Labbaeus, in Arabic means courageous, brave, or hearty. Thaddeus in Arabic means lively, vivacious. Names in the Biblical era were intended to reveal something of the personality or character of an individual. If so this Judas was a dynamic individual.

After having followed Christ as an apostle for three years, Jude, along with the other eleven, met with Christ for the last time in the upper room. The event is called the “Last Supper.” In reality it is the lasting supper.

There Jesus said to His beloved followers, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14: 1 – 3).

Then Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).

There must have been comfort in the words that followed: “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).

Then came this intriguing question: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?'” (John 14:22).

Jesus response forms a stable platform for life: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him'” (John 14:23).

Jesus did not deal directly with the “how.” Some things are too complex to have a simple answer. How does a computer chip work? There is no simple answer. I saw a cartoon of a child going through a grocery check-out line with his mother. There are chess sets on the counter as a special item for the day. As they are checking out the child asks, “How do you play that game?” There is no simple answer. Neither was there a simple answer to Jude’s question. There was however a wise response. Distilled, it is: Because you love Me, you will keep my word. Because you keep My word, I will reveal Myself to you.

This is an appeal to be steadfast. “Stead” means a place or position. A homestead is a home place. “Fast” means to be fixed unmovably in a place.

In a time of military conflict soldiers from North Carolina were called “Tar heels.” It was said they were so steadfast that it was as though they had tar on their heels and could not be moved. Jesus response to Thaddaeus’ question is an appeal to steadfastness.

There are three conditions for Christ fulfilling His promise in John 14: 21, “I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

1) We must have His “commandments” (Vs. 21a). By God’s grace Christ’s commandments are preserved in his Word.

2) We are to “keep them.” Obedience is the issue.

3) We are to love Him. Only when we love Him do we desire to know His commandments enough to search them out. Only when we love Him will we do what we know He has commanded us.

Commandants such as: a] love your enemies, b] love one another, c] be His witnesses unto the end of the earth.

There is a song with these words: “To know, know, know Him is to love, love, love Him.”

There is a book in our New Testament that bears his name, “Jude.” He may or may not have been the Jude who penned the book, but it speaks of steadfastness such as that for which an appeal is here made. In it he repetitiously appeals for steadfastness. He pleads:

Do not drift away from the truth as a result of personal indifference.

Do not be deceived into following false teachers. There are two types of false teachers:
1) Those who teach false doctrine.

2) Those who teach enough sound doctrine to maintain a good front, but who are themselves false. That is, hypocrites.

Do not be misdirected away from the basic gospel.

Do maintain the faith, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 3, 17, 20, 21).

One way to maintain the faith is to keep “praying in the Holy Spirit.”

After the appeal for us to “keep yourselves in the love of God,” Jude focuses on the resource for doing so: “Now to Him that is able to keep you from falling … the only wise God …” (Jude 24, 25).

Judas, not Iscariot, remained faithful. Legend says he later ministered in Armenia and Persia where he was martyred. He was faithful unto death.

Why Did God Create Human Beings?

The fact that God created is foundational to Christianity because if His creation is capricious, unstable, and disorderly, so He might be also. This erodes the Bible view of a loving God who has a wonderful plan for your life just as He has of His total creation.

Alan H. Guth, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1980 first postulated this “inflationary universe theory.” He concluded the universe began with the creation of space-time out of nothing. Mathematical calculations indicate that space began expanding in time, out of nothing, at an enormous rate. Paul J. Steinhardt wrote in “Scientific American”: “In the course of this stupendous growth spurt, all the matter and energy in the universe could have been created from nothing…” In that creation God created human beings, why?

“For who hath known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11:34)

“Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me like this?” (Romans 9:20) Inquiring minds want to know.

“The Lord has made all things for himself…” (Proverbs 16:4)

“For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited…” (Isaiah 45:18).

The psalmist in part explains why He created man in His image: “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under his feet….” (Psalms 8:6)

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For you created all things, And by your will they exist and were created.” (Revelations 4:11)  One of our purposes is to praise and glorify God.  He created us to be objects of His love and blessings so that we might find fulfillment in praising and honoring Him.

The evolutionary low view of human kind has so devalued human life as to create an environment in which man’s inhumanity to man is tolerable.

God had a purpose in creating you.  Out of love He created humanity for fellowship, as an object to which He might express His love.  If your life is aimless and purposeless, it is because you have failed to realize His great love for you and how His plan for you is best for you.  His plan is for you to have fellowship with Him in time and for eternity.  If you cut yourself off from that plan, life loses much of its meaning.

Sin has broken this fellowship between God and His creation. Therefore, God has followed His miracle of creation with an even greater miracle.  It is the miracle of recreation called new birth through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Caring Capacity of God

John 1:1 – 5

If you have a seemingly unmanageable problem and need the help of a God dealing with it, the Scripture passage is for you.

John’s Gospel begins: “In the beginning was the Word…” The term Word translates the Greek “Logos.”  To understand the meaning of a word, it is helpful to see what it meant at the time of use.  Philo had used the term Logos meaning all that is known or knowable about God.  Thus, Jesus is all that is known or knowable about God.

John further describes Jesus as being “in the beginning.”  The Greek text literally reads “Before time began to begin the Word was.”  Two things are apparent.  Jesus is God who has always existed in eternity.  Second, there was an instant when time began.

Evolution, which is the opiate of the atheist, argues against such divine origin by such a loving Creator.  More and more scientists who are evolutionists are maturely conceding that theirs is a theory lacking in proof.

Robert Jastrow, noted astrophysicist and agnostic, in an address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1978), gave an address entitled “God and the Astronomers.” Therein he said, “”..now we see the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world.”

He further wrote: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream.  He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”  Thus, he is saying the answer is theological.  The writer of the Gospel of John gave us the answer a long time ago.

Honest agnostics who have intellectual integrity make such concessions.  It is for other reasons persons want to deny the God of the Bible and the creative power of that God.

Physics professor, T.L. Morgan of Cincinnati U. wrote: “To talk of thought evolving from sea slime to amoeba to self-conscious, rational thought means nothing.  It is the lazy answer of a thoughtless brain.”

God did not create a universe apart from His loving care for the supreme joy of creation . . . human beings. “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.”

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (John 8: 32)

That is the God who does not immune us from difficulty, but enables us to manage it. Ask Him for help, and trust Him to bless and guide you. He is able.

Faith Is Defined by Example

Hebrews 11: 1 – 3

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

Faith is most faithfully defined I these verses. At the time of this writing Judaism had deteriorated into a system of works. self-effort, self-salvation, and self-glorification. It was no longer the faith system God intended.  

Faith is substance. (Vs. 1A)

Our word “substance” is made up of two words meaning: “to stand” and “under.”  Substance is that which stands under us to support us..  It is the superstructure of life.

Their faith in God was so strong that they had such “assurance” that they responded as though the things promised were already a reality.

Substance (hpostasis) is a scientific term opposite of theory or hypothesis. 

Substance also means “the title deed.”

Faith is evidence. (Vss. 1B & 2) Evidence means proof.  Our faith is in the unseen, but not the unknown.  We see the world, but not that of which it is made — atoms.

Evidence (elegchos) is a legal term for that which is necessary for conviction.

Faith convicts us that God will keep His Word.

This expression carries the first one further.  It is the outward evidence of the inward assurance.  The life is committed to what the mind believes.

The expression we have “obtained a good report” means a good testimony,  by “so great a cloud of witnesses.” We live by faith.

We live in a day when everything outside man’s experience is denied.  Do you understand how a sheep, cow, pig, and goose can eat grass in the same field and one grow wool, another hair, another bristles, and the other feathers?

In “Pilgrim’s Progress” John Bunyan writes about a pilgrim locked in the deepest dungeon of the Giant of Despair.  The pilgrim is about to give up for lost when he remembers that in his pocket he carries a key called “Promise” which will unlock any dungeon door.  Actually, we have such a key called faith.

Spare yourself frustration, fear, and anxiety . . . use the key.