Her Holiness Trumps Your Happiness

July 6, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. – Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV

In the previous two verses, Paul stated that wives are to submit to their husbands. That’s not exactly a popular topic among most women today. It sounds so archaic and comes across as demeaning and dismissive of women. But we must remember that this entire section of Paul’s letter is calling all believers to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. His reference to wives and husbands was simply a practical application of what mutual submission looks like in real life.

But the one thing that gets overlooked in this whole discussion of submission is the interrelatedness that God intends. In His divine plan, submission was not intended to be a one-way affair. Yes, wives were expected to submit to their husbands, but notice that Paul calls husbands to love their wives. And here is the important distinction: Believing husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. There is an inferred expectation of sacrifice and selflessness involved in the kind of love Paul is describing. It is an other-oriented love that suppresses its own rights and desires for the well-being of another.

However, Paul goes on to describe this kind of love as a form of self-love, because “husbands should love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:28 ESV). For the husband, there is no me-versus-her agenda. In God’s eyes, his very existence is permanently linked to that of his wife. That is why Jesus taught that it was God’s will that a husband and wife become “one flesh.”

But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” – Mark 10:6-9 ESV

The husband is to value his wife’s life as much as his own. It is as if she has become a part of him. He is to love her as he loves his own body, nourishing and cherishing her in the same way that Christ does the church. Christ not only sacrificed His life for the church, but He also constantly intercedes on Her behalf. Even now, His full attention is focused on the church. Paul tells us, “Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us” (Romans 8:34 NLT). Paul then goes on to ask, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” (Romans 8:35 NLT). This rhetorical question is meant to be answered with a resounding “No!”

In the same way, there is nothing that should separate the love of a husband for his wife. Nothing she says or does should cause him to fall out of love with her. Now that is a tall order and a high expectation, but Paul doesn’t stop there. He adds that the husband is to make it his life’s goal to sanctify his wife, sometimes despite her and without her full cooperation. Even when she refuses to submit to him, he is to sanctify her.

But what does Paul mean when he calls husbands to sanctify their wives? Isn’t that the job of the Spirit of God? Paul is using Christ’s love for the church as an illustration of the kind of love men are to have for their wives. Christ gave Himself up for the church, sacrificing His life so that the church might be sanctified. The Greek word Paul used is hagiazō, which means “to set apart, consecrate, or make holy.” Earlier in his letter, Paul wrote that God “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV).

God’s desire is for His people to be holy or set apart, living in a way that reflects their status as His children. But sinfulness prevented us from living set-apart lives. Our unrighteousness kept us from living up to God’s holy standard.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. – Romans 3:23 NLT

Jesus made our holiness possible by His sacrificial death on the cross.

Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. – Romans 3:24-25 NLT

Jesus sacrificed His life so that we could be made holy in God’s eyes. He took on our sin and imputed His righteousness to us. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. And, in the same way, a believing husband should make his wife’s holiness his highest priority. Her holiness should take precedence over his own happiness. God has appointed husbands to steward their wives’ sanctification. While a godly husband cannot make his wife holy, he should always treat her as such. She is a gift from God, and He has charged the husband with caring for her spiritual well-being at all costs.

Paul says that Christ cleansed the church by the washing of water with the word. This appears to refer to the gospel, the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Every believer who hears the gospel message and places their faith in Christ is cleansed from their sins. Water baptism is a statement of that reality as the believer is lowered into the water and symbolically “cleansed” from their sins. The emphasis in verse 26 is sanctification. It is not a command for men to read the Word over their wives in some kind of ritualistic purification rite.

It was Jesus’ death on the cross that provided their cleansing from sin. The point Paul seems to be making is that Jesus gave Himself up “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27 ESV). In the same way, the husband is to give himself up for his wife’s spiritual edification; her holiness is to be his highest priority. His chief desire is for her to experience the fullness of life Jesus died for her to have (John 10:10). But that will require sacrifice, selflessness, and submission to the will of God. When a godly husband makes his wife’s holiness his highest priority, his own happiness will have to take a backseat.

Submission is difficult; our natural inclination is to refuse any thought of submitting to someone else. Loving as Christ loved is also a formidable task and runs counter to our natural disposition toward self-centeredness and self-preservation. But we have to remember that Paul is calling us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1 ESV). He is challenging us to undertake some serious remodeling.

…put off your old self…and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. – Ephesians 4:22,24 ESV

He commands us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us” (Ephesians 5:2 ESV), as children of light (Ephesians 5:8).

Marriage is one of the primary venues God has chosen for us to model Christlikeness. He intended the marriage union to be a constant illustration of Christ and His love relationship with the church. It is to be a picture of Christ’s sacrificial love and the church’s obedient submission working in unison to accomplish God’s will. So Paul writes, “let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:22 ESV). When we do, it is for the good of our marriage and the glory of God, and serves as a living testimony of our calling as His children.

Father, these are difficult verses and seem almost impossible to carry out in real life. Loving my wife with the same intensity and all-out commitment that Christ displayed for the church seems like a tall order that is beyond my capacity to pull off. But I know You never ask me to do anything in my own strength. As Jesus told His disciples, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 ESV). I can love my wife as Christ loved the church because You have placed Your Spirit within me and equipped me with all the power I need to do the impossible. By Your divine power, You have given me everything I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), including loving my wife selflessly and sacrificially. But, even then, I can still gravitate back to pursuing my happiness. I can easily place my desire for self-preservation and personal pleasure ahead of Your call to love my wife. I can even make my spiritual growth a higher priority than hers. But Jesus said, “It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26 BSB). And Jesus practiced what He preached, all the way to the cross, You are not asking that I die for my wife, but You are expecting me to die to myself. You are commanding me to love my wife selflessly and sacrificially, just as Your Son loved the church. Yes, it’s a tall order, but with You, all things are possible. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The God-Ordained Mission of Submission

July 5, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

²²Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. – Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV

In verse 21, Paul called the Ephesians to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21 NLT). This admonition was stated in the context of doing God’s will and living in a way that pleases Him. But to many contemporary Christians, submission is a four-letter word that conjures up images of slave-like subjugation and subservience. Verses 23-24 strike fear into the hearts of many pastors and cause them to avoid them like the plague. If they preach these verses at all, they present them as a culturally driven anomaly with little or no application for modern-day believers.

Many view this passage as old-fashioned, a throwback to some cultural context that has no bearing on our more sophisticated modern milieu. They conclude that Paul was writing to a people trapped in an antiquated social structure that no longer applies. Either that, or he was just misogynistic and trying to keep women in their “proper” place.

But what most of us fail to realize is that submission is a non-negotiable requirement of every believer in Christ. These two verses, like so many others in Scripture, are typically lifted from their context and treated in isolation. But Paul has been talking about how believers are to live their lives, calling them to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1 ESV). He repeats that thought in Chapter 5.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV

The New Living Translation translates verse 15 as “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.” Paul was calling the Ephesian believers to live differently from their unsaved neighbors. Their behavior was to set them apart as children of God. They were to walk in love, as children of light, exhibiting the wisdom of God, not the foolishness of the world.

The verses that often get overlooked when dealing with this passage are located right before it. In them, Paul gives an admonition to every believer, male or female.

…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. – Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV

Submission is expected of every follower of Christ. A lifestyle of submission is one of humility and honor, not subservience and servitude. When done properly, it reveres Christ by modeling the very lifestyle He lived. Jesus Himself described His mission in terms of submission and a servant-like attitude.

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:28 NLT

The apostle Paul told the believers in Corinth to imitate Christ’s example.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. – Philippians 2:5-7 NLT

This has nothing to do with Jesus’ rights. As the Son of God, He was divine and all-powerful. He created the world and all those who lived in it. Yet He was willing to submit to His Father’s will and set aside His divine privileges and prerogatives in order to serve mankind by sacrificing His life.

In the upper room, on the night that Jesus was to be betrayed and arrested, He washed His disciples’ feet. Setting aside His robe, He wrapped Himself in a towel and did what none of the others would have dared to do. As He knelt before them, performing the role of a lowly servant, Jesus told His disciples, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (John 13:7 ESV).

When He finished, Jesus said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:12-17 ESV).

Jesus’ act of submission was meant to be a living lesson for the disciples about what their lives would be like in the days to come. He was calling them to a life of service and sacrifice, where their wills would take a back seat to God’s. He expected them to submit to one another out of reverence for God and love for one another. Titles were not to stand in the way. Rights were to be set aside. Status was to be ignored. Submission was to become a key characteristic of their lives. And what the disciples did not yet understand was that Jesus’ demonstration of foot-washing was simply a foreshadowing of His ultimate act of service on the cross.

When James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples, came to Him and arrogantly asked for positions of prominence in His coming Kingdom, the rest of the disciples became angry and jealous. Jesus denied their request by presenting them with a radically different expectation for their futures.

“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:42-45 ESV

Among you, it will be different. In His Kingdom, sovereignty would be marked by slavery, and honor would be achieved through humility.

So what does all this have to do with wives submitting to their husbands? In this chapter, Paul will use a number of earthly relationships to illustrate Christian submission. He will talk about husbands and wives, children and parents, and slaves and masters. As believers, we do not operate in a vacuum. We are not independent agents, acting on our own and focused solely on our individual walk with God. We live in a communal context. Wives have husbands, and it is in that context that they are to practice submission.

Notice that Paul says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands;” he does NOT say that all women are to submit to ALL men. Paul’s discussion of submission has nothing to do with the value or significance of women in general; it has everything to do with the context of marriage. What more difficult place to practice submission than in a marriage?

Just as the disciples would never have lowered themselves to wash the feet of one another, wives will find it difficult to submit to their husbands, especially if their husbands fail to love as Paul commands. Yet submission is non-optional and is a willing coming under the other, recognizing them as more important than yourself. This is what Paul told the believers in Philippi.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4 ESV

A wife’s submission is NOT an admission of her husband’s superiority, but a recognition of God’s divine order. He has made the husband the head of the household, not because He is smarter, more spiritual, or even better equipped to lead, but so that there might be order in the home. God holds the husband responsible, just as He held Adam to a higher standard than Eve when it came to their mutual sin against Him.

Submission is essential to every relationship in which we find ourselves as Christians, and it is one of the hardest things for us to do. We long to be first and tend to view ourselves as better than others. We long to be in control, but when we submit to others, we are really submitting to God. We are coming under His divine authority and recognizing His righteous order for His creation.

At the end of the day, submission is about trusting God. It involves the realization that He is in control and has authority over the husband. A believing wife must submit to her husband “as to the Lord,” trusting God to lead him and protect her. But the temptation will be to step in and take over, especially when the husband fails to lead and love well. But when the wife attempts to take over, she is actually stepping outside God’s ordained plan. Submission will not always make sense and will not always appear to work. It may even be uncomfortable at times. But even Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death, offering Himself as a ransom for many. Submission is not a dirty word; it is the God-ordained way of life for every believer.

Father, subnission is difficult for all of us. We inherently want to be in charge and dislike playing second fiddle to anyone. We even find it hard to submit to those we love and respect. But, ultimately, we are not submitting to another person, we are submitting to You. That is why Paul makes it clear that wives are to submit “as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22 ESV). Our submission is to be focused on Your will, trusting that You know what is best for us. As Paul told the Colossians, we are to work willingly at whatever we do, as though we are working for the Lord rather than for people (Colossians 3:23) Submission is countercultural and, oftentimes, counterintuitive. As the Son of God and Creator of the universe, Your Son had every right to demand the submission and subjugation of humanity. But “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8 ESV). And You have called us to follow His example and live out that same sacrificial, selfless lifestyle in all our relationships. With the Spirit’s help, we can do it, and when we do it, we imitate Christ and glorify You. Amen

Dancing On the Edge

June 17, 2024 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹²And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. ¹³And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. ¹⁴And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁵So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

¹⁶As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts ¹⁹and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

²⁰And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” ²¹And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. ²²I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” ²³And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death. – 2 Samuel 6:12-23 ESV

When David’s first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem ended with the untimely death of Uzzah, he angrily ordered the ark to be left in the care of Obed-edom. But three months later, he had second thoughts when he received word that the house of Obed-edom had been blessed because of the presence of the ark. He immediately ordered a second attempt to move the ark into his new capital, and this time he did it God’s way.

The passage reads, “…when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps” (2 Samuel 6:12 ESV). This time, there was no cart, no oxen, and no alternative method of transport used. He moved the ark using God’s prescribed method. The book of First Chronicles provides the details.

David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever. – 1 Chronicles 15:1-2 ESV

David had learned a painful but valuable lesson from his first attempt to move the Ark and, on this occasion, he made sure to enlist the aid of the Levites.

“You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.” So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. – 1 Chronicles 15:12-15 ESV

But the book of First Chronicles also provides us with an interesting insight into what David had been doing in the three months before his second attempt to move the ark. According to 1 Chronicles 15, “David built houses for himself in the city of David.” However, it is the previous chapter that provides the extent of David’s building efforts.

And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also masons and carpenters to build a house for him. And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

And David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters. These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet. – 1 Chronicles 14:1-7 ESV

David had been busy building his house in more ways than one. His efforts included construction and conception. He was building a palace and a legacy. But the second part of his building efforts was in direct violation of God’s commands concerning polygamy.

“The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 17:17 NLT

David had an inordinate attraction to women, and their presence proved to be a distraction and a constant source of trouble in his life.

But the other interesting insight gleaned from the Chronicles passage is that, while David built a brick-and-mortar house for himself, he simply “pitched a tent” for the Ark of the Covenant. He would later regret this oversight and voice his desire to build a great house for God (2 Samuel 7). But at this point in his reign, it appears that David was busy establishing and solidifying his rule with all the trappings of kingly success; at least, according to the worldly standards of his day.

But back to the story. David led the procession of Levites, priests, and musicians into the city of Jerusalem. For this momentous occasion, David donned a simple linen gown instead of his royal robes. This “ephod” was a garment modeled after the robes worn by the priests. In 1 Samuel 2:18, the young boy, Samuel, is described as wearing “a linen garment like that of a priest.” According to the Book of Exodus, the ephod consisted of “two pieces, front and back, joined at the shoulders with two shoulder-pieces” (Exodus 28:7 NLT).

As a sign of humility, David set aside his royal robes and assumed the status of a worshiper. He even ordered the offering of sacrifices along the way, ensuring that this procession made it all the way to Jerusalem without incident. This was a joyous occasion and David set the tone by dancing before the Lord with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14). But not everyone was impressed by David’s actions.

…as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. – 2 Samuel 6:16 NLT

As the First Chronicles passage revealed, David had many wives, but Michal had the distinction of being his first. During his years of exile, David was forced to leave Michal behind and she ended up marrying another man. When David became king over the 11 tribes of Israel, he demanded that she be returned to him. Nothing is said of Michal’s feelings about being reunited with David, but her response to his very public display of unkingly behavior speaks volumes. The text states that “she despised him in her heart” (2 Samuel 6:16 ESV). No reason is given for her deep disdain for David. Was it his choice of attire? Did his dancing embarrass her? Perhaps she was angry that he was bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. It’s clear from 1 Samuel 19:11-16 that Michal kept an idol of a false god in their home. So, it could be that she resented David bringing in what she believed to be an idol to his God.

While the motivation behind her anger is unstated, her dissatisfaction is crystal clear.

“How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” – 2 Samuel 6:20 NLT

She was disgusted with David’s embarrassing lack of decorum, and there was far more behind her anger and resentment toward David than just his choice of attire and dancing skills. Michal was a conflicted woman who was dealing with a great deal of emotional and psychological baggage. She had fallen in love with David when he was a young man serving in her father’s court. But when her father turned on David and he was forced to run for his life, she became an abandoned woman. During David’s years of exile, she was given to another man and started a new life. But when David ascended to the throne, she was forcibly taken from her husband and returned to David – only to find out that he had acquired many other wives.

Michal found herself living with her former husband and his growing harem of wives and their many children. This too may have added to Michal’s anger because it appears she was childless. which was not an attractive proposition for any woman in those days, especially the wife of the king. The text tells us that Michal would remain childless. Because of her hostile reaction to David, it appears he lost any affection he still held for her. Their marriage was essentially over at that point. She would remain one of his queens but she would no longer enjoy his favor or ever bear him a son.

It is impossible to read this story and not see the stark contrast between celebration and disintegration. David was building his kingdom while at the same time watching his relationship with Michal fall apart. He was constructing a house in which he would rule and reign, but he was also multiplying a household in direct violation of God’s commands. His many wives and their multitude of children would eventually bring disorder and destruction to his kingdom.

His worship of God is contrasted with his propensity to flaunt the will of God. This man after God’s own heart exhibits a strange mix of humility and pride. He was obsessed with establishing his image as a king, but also willing to humble himself before the God who had placed him on the throne. In David’s response to Michal, you get a subtle sense of his pride mixed with humility.

“I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” – 2 Samuel 6:21-22 NLT

David knew that it was God who had made him king but he also enjoyed the fact that he was the king. He displays a subtle sense of superiority and pride in his statement. He had been chosen by God. He was the king. And while he was willing to humble himself before God, he was also counting on the fact that God was going to distinguish him as a king. Dancing and disdain. Pride and humility. Celebration and disintegration. Palaces and tents. Worship and wives. Blessings and barrenness. Burnt offerings and burned relationships.

This is a passage of contrasts, and David’s reign would be one of contradictions and conflicts. There would be times of great blessing and significance, but there would also be times of pain, sorrow, and disobedience. David was going to continue to learn the truth found in the words of Samuel, spoken to David’s predecessor.

“What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22 NLT

When Desire Replaces Our Delight in God

May 22, 2024May 23, 2024 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” ⁴¹And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” ⁴²And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. ⁴⁴Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim. – 1 Samuel 25:39-44 ESV

In these closing verses of chapter 25, we’re given a glimpse into an area of David’s life that would prove to be an ongoing problem throughout his life. He loved women, and this attraction to the opposite sex would be a constant thorn in his side even after becoming the king. He would even pass on this propensity to his son, Solomon, who took David’s obsession with women to a whole new level.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. – 1 Kings 11:1-3 NLT

And all of this, as the passage reflects, was in direct violation of God’s commands. Long before Saul wore the crown, God had warned the people of Israel that their future kings should abstain from the pagan practice of polygamy.

The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD. – Deuteronomy 17:17 NLT

Yet, after David finally ascended the throne, he continued his practice of accumulating wives, in direct violation of God’s command.

After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines and wives, and they had more sons and daughters. – 2 Samuel 5:13 NLT

David was a man after God’s own heart, but he was far from perfect. Women were his Achilles heel, and he found Abigail highly attractive. On top of that, she was godly, wise, assertive, brave, insightful, and a take-charge kind of woman. It also didn’t hurt that she was recently widowed. In fact, David didn’t seem to give Nabal’s body time to cool off before he made his move on Abigail, asking her to marry him.

The text ends with the statement, “David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives” (1 Samuel 25:43 ESV). It also references Michal, David’s first wife, whom he left behind when he fled from Saul. She was eventually given to another man, but David was most likely unaware of that fact. So effectively, he had three wives at one time. Again, in direct disobedience to the will of God.

Why is this important? It provides us with an insight into the life of this man who would prove to be Israel’s greatest king and who, as has already been pointed out, was declared by God to be a man after His own heart. David loved God. He wanted to serve God. He had a deep desire to honor and obey God. But he also had a sin nature, just like the rest of us. One of David’s weak spots was his inordinate attraction to women. Satan would repeatedly use this weakness to his own advantage, tempting David to give in to his overactive libido. Over time, David would learn to justify his actions, excusing his sexual obsession as natural and normal. And yet, this sinful proclivity was a spiritual weakness, a chink in his armor that would make him an easy target for the Enemy.

When it comes to this issue, there are some less-than-flattering similarities between David and the Old Testament judge, Samson. During a time when the Jews were being tormented by the Philistines because of their disobedience, God raised up Samson to be their judge and deliverer. He was a powerful man, but he had a particular weakness.

One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.” – Judges 14:1-2 NLT

Like David, Samson couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off of women. His mother and father tried to reason with Samson and talk him out of choosing a wife who was a pagan, but he refused to listen.

“Get her for me! She looks good to me.” – Judges 14:3 NLT

Later on, we read, “One day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute” (Judges 16:1 NLT). And then, “Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek” (Judges 16:4 NLT). These two women would prove to be thorns in Samson’s side, causing him much grief and sorrow. In time, his dalliance with Delilah would result in his own death.

David also struggled with a lustful and almost lascivious attraction to women. The most infamous story concerning David and his love affair with the opposite sex involves his affair with Bathsheba. David was the king. He was rich, powerful, and happily married to several women already. But one day, as he walked on the rooftop patio of his palace, he spied Bathsheba bathing alfresco. David was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The passage states, “In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites…However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1 NLT).

David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He was the warrior-king, but instead of going into battle with the Ammonites, he would end up losing a battle with his own lusts. His lust for Bathsheba quickly turned to action and he ended up having sex with her. When their affair resulted in her pregnancy, he began a cover-up campaign, that eventually led him to have her husband, a faithful soldier in his army, purposely exposed and killed on the front lines of battle – all so David could marry his wife and cover up his illicit affair.

James provides us with a stark explanation of how this whole process works.

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. – James 1:14-15 NLT

David was a man after God’s own heart, but he had a problem. His heart was divided. He loved women. He saw them as a source of satisfaction, comfort, pleasure, and self-worth. They made him feel good. They provided him with companionship. Perhaps they helped fulfill his need for conquest. Whatever drove his love affair with women would end up distracting him from what should have been his primary focus: His love for and dedication to God.

The chapter ends with the statement that “Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim” (1 Samuel 25:44 ESV). This is important because, while it might be easy to use this as an explanation of why David took Abigail to be his wife, it falls short. Years later, when David became king and Saul was dead, he sent for Michal, demanding that Ish-bosheth, the sole remaining heir to the throne of Saul, hand her over.

So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, to whom I was betrothed for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” So he returned. – 2 Samuel 3:14-16 ESV

Even though David had married multiple wives since his departure from Saul’s palace, he couldn’t stop thinking about Michal. He had to have her, so he had her forcibly removed from her husband. Like so many of David’s decisions regarding women, this one would prove to be less than ideal. Forcibly removed from her new husband, Michal would end up despising David and his God. Their marriage would produce little in the way of love and no offspring.

David had a propensity to be driven by desire, and that desire would prove to be a distraction throughout his life. Even in his old age, as he neared the point of death, an attractive woman would play a significant role in his life.

King David was now very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm. So his advisers told him, “Let us find a young virgin to wait on you and look after you, my lord. She will lie in your arms and keep you warm.”

So they searched throughout the land of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king. The girl was very beautiful, and she looked after the king and took care of him. But the king had no sexual relations with her. – 1 Kings 1:1-4 NLT

We all have weaknesses. Each of us has our spiritual Achilles heel, which our enemy, Satan knows about and takes full advantage of at every opportunity. He tempts, lures, and entices us. He baits the hook with the very thing we find most attractive. It may be sex, popularity, material possessions, pleasure, a sense of accomplishment, or power. In essence, our weakness is nothing more than an insight into what we have made an idol in our life – a false god that serves as a stand-in or substitute for the one true God. For David, women were his go-to choice for satisfaction, self-worth, and a sense of joy. Sexual pleasure was his idol of choice. What is yours? What do you turn to other than God? What do you worship in place of God? Anything we worship in place of God robs him of glory. It becomes a weakness in our life that must be confessed and removed. When God said, “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:3 NLT), He meant it, and David would have to learn to believe it.

The Wisdom of Experience

May 31, 2022 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
    incline your ear to my understanding,
²that you may keep discretion,
    and your lips may guard knowledge.
³For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil,
⁴but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
    sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to Sheol;
⁶she does not ponder the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And now, O sons, listen to me,
    and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Keep your way far from her,
    and do not go near the door of her house,
⁹lest you give your honor to others
    and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
    and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
¹¹and at the end of your life you groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹²and you say, “How I hated discipline,
    and my heart despised reproof!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed,
    and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
¹⁹    a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated always in her love.
²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
²¹For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ponders all his paths.
²²The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
²³He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is led astray. – Proverbs 5:1-23 ESV

This sounds like strange, if not hypocritical, advice coming from a man who had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). It would appear that wise sayings weren’t the only things that Solomon made a habit of collecting. This king with the overactive libido had an eye for the ladies. So, it seems a bit disingenuous for Solomon to be giving his sons a lecture on avoiding the “forbidden woman.” How could he presume that he was the right man to give counsel not to “drink water from your own cistern” (Proverbs 5:15 ESV).

Yet, Solomon was the perfect person to be passing on his life experiences to his as-yet-unmarried sons. He wasn’t simply spouting pious-sounding platitudes he had discovered along the way, but he was sharing the painful life lessons he had been forced to learn as a result of his own pride and stupidity. Verses 12-13 are actually Solomon’s personal testimony.

“How I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.”

Solomon is offering up a painful confession. And yet, Solomon’s admission would not have been news to his boys. In fact, it is likely that, while they all shared Solomon as their father, they each had a different mother. They suffered from no delusions that their father was a one-woman man. Each knew that their dad had been less-than-faithful to their own mother. And the older they became and the more knowledge they gained about the Word of God, they would have known that their father’s actions were out of step with the will of God.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD.

In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been. – 1 Kings 11:1-4 ESV

Somewhere along the way, Solomon had made the decision to violate the command of God. His personal preferences and passions took precedence over God’s will. He would have been very familiar with God’s command concerning the kings of Israel.

The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD. – Deuteronomy 17:17 NLT

But Solomon had decided that he knew best and he began to fill his home and his harem with beautiful women, collecting them like treasures to showcase his power and prestige.

But over in Proverbs 14:12 we read, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” That phrase “in the end” seems to pop up on a regular basis in the Proverbs. It refers to a day of accountability, not necessarily the day of the judgment of the Lord, but of a day of consequence. Every action has an outcome. Every path we take in life has a destination or an end. If a young man or woman chooses a life of immorality, it will have an outcome, and probably not the one they were expecting. Sin never does.

Solomon is speaking from experience when he states, “the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil – in the end she is as bitter as poison” (Proverbs 14:3-4 NLT). He knew what he was talking about and he wanted his sons to know that what appears to be tempting and tantalizing doesn’t always turn out quite as advertised.

One of the characteristics of foolishness or a lack of godly wisdom is the inability to foresee consequences. We are either oblivious to them or simple choose to ignore them. But more than likely, it is just a case of ignorance. A child touches a hot stove because they don’t know any better. They are ignorant of the consequences. But there comes a time in all of our lives when we become aware of the consequences of sin and still stubbornly continue to commit them. We think those consequences won’t apply to us. We refuse to consider “the end.” We choose to live in the pleasure of the moment, putting off any thought of the consequences, or simply refusing to believe there will be any negative ramifications for our actions. But to think that way is not only foolish, it’s deadly. We can end up losing everything – our honor, all we’ve achieved in life, the fruit of all our labor, the blessings of God, and the love and respect of those we once held dear. Like Solomon, we will find ourselves sadly looking back at our actions and saying, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings! Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace” (Proverbs 5:12-14 NLT).

In the end, you will have regrets because the path you chose had consequences. But nobody thinks about the potential consequences when facing the alluring temptation of sin – except the godly. But obviously, Solomon is an example of the godly man who took his eyes off the Lord and began to seek satisfaction and significance somewhere else. It began with the allure of the forbidden fruit of many wives, but it wasn’t long before that sin produced an even greater one: the worship of their false gods. Solomon’s lust for women turned into a loss of love for God.

Sin is so tempting, and it’s allure is real, making it a constant problem for men and women alike. And while Solomon wrote his proverbs a long time ago, some things never change. We still need to hear his words of wisdom and warning. He spends an entire Proverb warning his sons against the dangers of the immoral woman or prostitute. It was a problem then and it remains a problem today. Promiscuity is alive and well, and it may be even more acceptable today than ever before. The increase in casual sex and a growing comfortableness and complacency with sex outside the confines of marriage make this message particularly timely for our sex-saturated society. Solomon’s warning to his sons was necessary in his day and it is needed in ours as well. But it sounds so antiquated and puritanical! At least that’s what many in our society would say. But it is a warning against the lies of all temptations. Satan is the father of lies and the great deceiver. He loves to package his product in such a way that it hides the dangers within. He is the master of manipulation and deception, creating the allusion of pleasure, but all the while hiding the true consequences. The prostitute is a perfect illustration of his methodologies. She is attractive, flattering, enticing, and appeals to man’s basic instincts. She knows man’s weakness and aims right for it. The apostle John warned us, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions” (1 John 2:16 NLT).

That is Satan’s strategy. Everything he offers is designed to appeal to what we crave and desire, to fulfill our insatiable need for pleasure, and to satisfy our hunger for significance. A prostitute goes out of her way to make her “client” feel wanted, important, and significant. She offers to provide him with physical and emotional pleasure and to satisfy all his needs. But in the end, “her feet go down to death.” Like all sin, the consequences are dangerous and deadly. It never delivers as promised. It is the ultimate in false advertising, yet we fall prey to it each and every day in so many ways. We take the bait and suffer the consequences of broken marriages, unfulfilled expectations, destroyed reputations, and shattered lives.

So what’s the solution? Wisdom, wise counsel, and discernment. Solomon warns his sons in graphic detail of the dangers facing them. He doesn’t sugarcoat or ignore it. He paints a vivid and compelling picture of the dangers of sin. He talks openly about the consequences. He wanted them to know the truth and he was willing for his sons to learn from his own mistakes.

Our congregations need to hear the truth. The enemy is filling their minds with lies day after day, and he has more resources available than ever before. The media provides him with a constant venue for propagating his lies and distributing his message of falsehood. We need to speak truth. We need to share the wisdom of God’s Word. We need to promote the non-negotiable requirement of living according to God’s way – unapologetically and boldly. The dangers are real. The consequences are devastating. Wisdom, wise counsel, and discernment are needed more than ever before.

Let’s Get Practical

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁸Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. ²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. ²²Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

¹ Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. – Colossians 3:18-4:1 ESV

Paul now takes those other-oriented, selfless, and love-motivated character traits and applies them to everyday life. And since he was writing to believers living in Colossae, he customized his words for their particular context. He wanted them to know what seeking and setting their minds on things that are above would look like on a daily basis. He wasn’t promoting some kind of ethereal and impractical brand of religious pietism and asceticism. No, he was recommending a highly practical brand of faith that revealed the transformative nature of the gospel in everyday life. They were to “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10 ESV). As chosen ones of God, they were to put on “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12 ESV). But none of these “add-ons” would be effective without love.

…put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony… – Colossians 3:14 ESV

And since God is love and He best expressed that love through the gift of His Son, Paul called the Colossians to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17 ESV). But what does that look like? How were they supposed to make these powerful admonitions practical? Well, Paul makes it plain and simple for them. And he begins with the family unit, one of the most foundational and universal arenas of relationship in this life.

The family was God’s idea. It was He who originated and ordained the union of one man and one woman, creating an indissoluble bond between them as husband and wife. The creation account found in the opening chapters of Genesis records God’s creation of the first marriage.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. – Genesis 2:21-24 ESV

And Jesus Himself confirmed the validity of the Genesis account by stating, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6 ESV).

So, Paul begins at the beginning, with the family unit. He calls believing wives to submit to their believing husbands. But he adds an important, yet often overlooked, distinction: “as is fitting in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18 ESV). The New Living Translation puts it this way: “as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.”

For Paul, the use of the word “submission” was directly linked to his call that all believers conduct themselves with compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. If ever there was ever a relationship where those characteristics were necessary, it was that of a husband and wife. So, he calls wives to lovingly, humbly, meekly, and patiently relate to their husbands in such a way that honors their role as the God-appointed head of the household. Paul provided additional insight into the headship role of the husband when writing to the church in Ephesus.

…submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. – Ephesians 5:21-24 NLT

The biblical concept of submission has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. Paul is not suggesting that women are somehow second-class citizens. He is simply articulating the divinely-ordained concept of headship within the family unit. Just as Christ is the head of the church, the believing husband is given responsibility for the well-being of his family. And that responsibility comes with a heavy dose of accountability.

Paul made it painfully clear that one of the primary leadership responsibilities of a godly husband was to selflessly love his wife. And, once again, Paul provides further clarity in his letter to the church in Ephesus.

…this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. – Ephesians 5:25-26 NLT

In order to lovingly, graciously submit to her husband, a wife would have to surrender her pride and natural desire for autonomy. In other words, she would have to “put off the old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:9 ESV). Submission doesn’t come naturally or easily. It requires a sacrifice of the human will. In order for anyone to submit in a way that “is fitting for those who belong to the Lord” (Colossians 3:18 NLT), they will have to “put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within” (Colossians 3:18 NLT). And according to Peter, submission isn’t something that is reserved for wives alone.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God… – 1 Peter 2:13-15 ESV

The life of a believer, regardless of their gender, is to be marked by an attitude of humble submission to others – for this is the will of God. And, according to Paul, one of the greatest displays of death-to-self was to be a husband’s selfless expression of love for his wife. He was to put his wife’s life ahead of his own. He was to be willing to die on her behalf.

At the core of Paul’s teaching on submission was the idea of humility versus pride. There was no place for self-aggrandizement in the life of a believer.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4 BSB

Even children had a part to play in God’s divine order for the home. They were to obey their parents in everything. Why? Because this was pleasing to the Lord. It was in keeping with His divine will. And a child’s obedience was a form of submission to the God-ordained authority of their parents. Again, this is not normal or natural. As the proverb states, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child…” (Proverbs 22:15 BSB).

And it’s interesting to note that disobedience to children was one of the characteristics Paul listed when describing the future state of the world in the last days.

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. – 2 Timothy 3:1-4 NLT

But, according to Paul, an obedient child is the byproduct of a loving and godly father.

Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. – Colossians 3:21 NLT

That same proverb goes on to say, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” Yet, too much discipline, done in an unloving and heavy-handed manner can do more harm than good. It can cause a child to become discouraged. Discipline that is unloving and lacking in compassion can lead a child to become disinterested in trying to obey. It can actually result in rebellion rather than submission. So, Paul warns fathers to use their role as heads of their households with care.

Next, Paul moves from addressing the family unit to dealing with another relationship that was a ubiquitous part of the Colossian community: Slavery. While we find this topic uncomfortable and somewhat off-putting, it was a normal part of everyday life for the citizens of Colossae.

Scholars estimate about 10% (but possibly up to 20%) of the Roman empire’s population were enslaved. This would mean, for an estimated Roman empire population of 50 million (in the first century AD) between five and ten million were enslaved. This number would have been unequally distributed across the empire, with a higher concentration of enslaved people in urban areas and in Italy. – © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Slavery was an everyday part of daily life in Colossae. Yet Paul doesn’t attempt to address the moral implications of slavery. Instead, he tried to show the Colossian believers how their new identity in Christ should impact every area of life. The reality was that slaves were coming to faith in Christ and becoming a part of the local congregation of believers. It was highly likely that the church in Colossae had slaves attending worship services with their own masters. And this presented a particularly difficult problem for Paul and the leadership of the church. How were these people supposed to relate to one another? How was their mutual relationship with Christ to impact their interpersonal relationship with one another?

Paul addresses both parties. He tells slaves, “obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord” (Colossians 3:22 NLT). And he tells masters, “be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven” (Colossians 4:1 NLT).

Notice his emphasis on God. Both parties were to recognize that their earthly relationship with one another had been dramatically altered by their new identity in Christ. While nothing had changed regarding their earthly status, Paul wanted them to know that God viewed them in a whole new light.

In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. – Colossians 3:11 NLT

There is an invaluable and universal lesson to be learned from Paul’s words to slaves. These were individuals who had no choice regarding their condition. Their position as slaves required that they submit, whether they wanted to or not. But Paul challenged them to take a different attitude.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. – Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

And this applied to every believer in the local church in Colossae. It’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2 ESV). A slave was to live his life with an eternal perspective, knowing that his current circumstance was temporal. There was a reward awaiting him that made his present suffering pale in comparison. And that heavenly-minded, future-focused perspective was to motivate the life of every believer in Colossae, regardless of their gender, race, or social status.

In the Same Way…

November 9, 2021 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

⁷Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For

“Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit;
¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it.
¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” – 1 Peter 3:7-12 ESV

For the second time, Peter uses the Greek word, ὁμοίως (homoiōs), which can be translated, “in the same way.” He incorporated it in his admonition to Christian women whose husbands had not yet placed their faith in Christ. And in the same way that Peter expected bond slaves to submit to their masters, he was calling on these believing women to express godly submission to their unbelieving husbands. Peter was not suggesting that these women were no better than slaves or that they needed to assume some kind of subservient relationship to their husbands. For Peter, it was all about godly conduct and living as servants of God. That’s why he told the entire congregation to “Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king” (1 Peter 3:17 NLT).

As daughters of God, the believing wives in this local congregation were expected to ”be subject to” to their husbands. He was encouraging them to willingly come under their husband’s leadership as the God-ordained head of the household. There was a divinely mandated order of roles and responsibilities within the marriage relationship, and it had nothing to do with capabilities or qualifications. The apostle Paul articulated the very same pattern for leadership that God established for the home.

And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. – Ephesians 5:21-24 NLT

Notice how Paul presents submission as an all-encompassing requirement for the people of God. We’re all supposed to submit to one another – outr of reverence for Christ. And when a woman submits to her husband’s leadership, she is actually submitting to the authority of Jesus Himself. As members of Christ’s body, every believer daily submits themselves to Christ’s headship. They willingly come under His leadership and live as His humble servants, in whatever circumstance in which they find themselves – as citizens, slaves, wives, and, yes, as husbands.

After addressing the wives, Peter turns his attention to believing husbands, and he uses that same Greek word, ὁμοίως, again. In “the same way” that wives are to submit to their husbands, so husbands are to live with their wives in “an understanding way” (1 Peter 3:7 ESV). Peter does not delineate whether the wife is a believer or not. In that culture, the woman was expected to follow her husband’s lead and accept whatever faith he chose for the family. The woman had no say in the matter. But Peter doesn’t want believing husbands to use their God-given authority in a unsympathetic or coercive way. That’s why he recommends that husbands display an intimate “knowledge” of their wives. A Christian husband was to take the time to understand his wife’s temperament and emotions. He was to cultivate a healthy respect for her unique physical, emotional, and psychological makeup. This would require listening to what she had to say and actively ministering to her needs. And that would require submission.

Peter wanted godly men to understand that their wives were vessels of honor, worthy of their respect and deserving of their care and protection. His reference to the wife as the “weaker vessel” was not intended as a slight or a declaration of her lesser value. In other words, this has nothing to do with superiority and inferiority. The term “weaker vessel” has to do with strength, not value. The Greek word is ἀσθενής (asthenēs) and it means “without strength.” The Greek word for “vessel” is σκεῦος (skeuos) and it has to do with a household utensil. It could be used to refer to a fragile clay pot or even a more expensive pitcher made of fine porcelain. Paul used the same word when referring to the believer’s body in which “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” resides (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV).

But we have this treasure in jars [σκεῦος] of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV

Christians husbands are to view their wives as priceless in value and vulnerable to spiritual attack. As heads of their household, these men were expected to protect and honor their wives, treating them as fellow heirs of the inheritance of faith. If a believing husband had a wife who shared his faith, he was to view her as a co-heir of “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4 ESV). He was no better than her. He was no more deserving of God’s grace and mercy that she was.

But even if his wife was not a believer, the husband was still expected to love and honor her as a priceless treasure given to him by God. To drive home the seriousness of this matter, Peter announces that a failure to do so will result in unanswered prayer. A husband could not treat his wife with dishonor or disrespect and expect God to hear and answer his prayers.

Finally, Peter turns his attention back to the church as a whole.

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. – 1 Peter 3:8-9 NLT

After getting specific with slaves, wives, and husbands, Peter addressed the need for the entire congregation to embrace unity, mutual submission, sacrificial love, and humility. There was no place in the body of Christ for revenge or retaliation. Brothers and sisters in Christ might inadvertently hurt one another, but they were to respond with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. As transformed followers of Christ, they were no longer to live out of their old lifestyles. They were new creations who were each equipped with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

And Peter wraps up his admonition by quoting from Psalm 34:12-16.

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.” – 1 Peter 3:10-12 NLT

Each of these people had come to faith in Christ hoping that they would experience a joyful and prosperous life. But instead, they were having to endure persecution and rejection. They were facing trials and tribulations of all kinds, and the natural tendency was to react with anger, resentment, and even hatred toward those who were the source of their problems. But Peter calls them to refrain from speaking evil, to speak truth rather than lies, and to do good rather than evil. In no way does Peter suggest that their trials are going to go away if they do these things. His reference to “happy days” is not intended as a promise of a trouble-free life.

By reacting to the unpleasant circumstances in a Christlike manner, they could experience true joy. This is exactly what James wrote in the book that bears his name.

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. – James 1:2-4 NLT

Their relationship with Christ might not alter their circumstances, but through the power of the Spirit, they could see a marked difference in their reaction to them.

Women of God

November 8, 2021 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, ²when they see your respectful and pure conduct. ³Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. ⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. – 1 Peter 3:1-6 ESV

Peter is attempting to encourage and motivate members of local congregations throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are facing ongoing persecution for their faith. This is an encyclical letter, intended to be copied and circulated among the churches, each of which was located in Asia Minor. While it’s likely that these congregations consisted primarily of born-again Gentiles, the presence of converted Jews would not have been surprising. At this point in history, Asia Minor had become a popular destination for Jewish immigrants who had chosen to leave Israel and settle in other lands. The 1st-Century Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “there is no city, no tribe, whether Greek or barbarian, in which Jewish law and Jewish customs have not taken root.” At the time Peter wrote his letter, Asia Minor contained one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the world. So, it is likely that these congregations were made up of Greeks and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, Scythians, slaves, and freemen (Colossians 3:11). And, according to Peter, they all shared one thing in common.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. – 1 Peter 2:24-25 ESV

Regardless of their ethnic or cultural identities, these people were all one in Christ. And Peter expected each of them to “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:16 ESV). He wanted them to understand that God had redeemed them out of their former state of slavery to sin. God had purchased their freedom by offering His own Son as the payment. Peter was trying to convey the same message that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

Peter had opened his letter with a similar reminder of their new status as God’s purchased possession. God the Father had paid the ultimate price for their freedom.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:18-19 NLT

As a result, they were expected to conduct their lives in a manner that would honor God among their unbelieving friends and neighbors. God had not brought about a change in their circumstances, but He had reconciled them from their former state of alienation to Him. Rather than living as enemies of God, they found themselves to be His children. They were still living in the same home and remained married to the same person. Their jobs had not changed. If they were poor when they came to faith in Christ, they had not experienced a sudden change in their financial circumstances. If they had come to faith while a slave, their condition remained unchanged. But, at the same time, Peter wanted them to know that everything about them had changed. They were new creations. They were now sons and daughters of God. They were indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and possessed all the power they needed for living godly lives (2 Peter 1:3).

But Peter knew that his admonitions were going to have to be specific in nature. What was this new life in Christ supposed to look like? If they were somehow free but remained servants of God, how would that make a difference in their daily lives? And as if to answer these very questions, Peter began broad and then narrowed his focus to a few specific circumstances. Addressing every single believer in his audience, Peter wrote, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution…” (1 Peter 2:13 ESV). Due to their residence in Asia Minor, they all remained citizens of the Roman government. God had not miraculously transported them out from under the despotic rule of Nero. And they needed to understand that their newfound freedom in Christ did not absolve them from submission to the governmental authorities. Even Jesus had taught His disciples, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (Mark 12:17 NLT).

Peter wanted them to understand that their submission to the governing authorities was “for the Lord’s sake.” Their willingness to submit was to be based on an understanding that these authorities were instruments of God. The apostle Paul articulated this concept of divine authorization in his letter to the Romans.

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. – Romans 13:1-14 NLT

Peter then applied this concept of submission to slaves, stating, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust” (1 Peter 2:18 ESV). God had not redeemed them from their slavery to men, but He had set them free from their enslavement to sin. That meant that they could respond to their earthly circumstance in ways that were consistent with their new identity as God’s children. Rather than resentment and anger, they could display love, honor, and respect, even to their unjust masters. Through the Spirit’s indwelling power, they could live as salt and light, even as slaves of men. They could display the mind of Christ and mirror the heart of the apostle Paul.

I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:11-13 NLT

Next, Peter focuses his attention on the married women in his audience, telling them, “wives, be subject to your own husbands” (1 Peter 3:1 ESV). Notice the transition in Peter’s thinking. He has moved from encouraging everyone to be subject to the ruling authorities to slaves willingly submitting to their masters. Now, he takes this topic of submission into the home. Peter was well aware that some of these women had come to faith in Jesus, while their husbands remained unsaved and unsympathetic to their conversion to Christianity. And, sadly, even in the Gentile community of that day, women had few rights and were often treated as second-class citizens. For some of these women, there would be a strong temptation and inclination to use their newfound faith as an excuse to leave their husbands. Yet, Peter had already warned them, “you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil” (1 Peter 2:16 NLT). And it was Paul who warned the believers in Corinth about misusing their newfound freedom in Christ.

Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now. For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.

Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world. Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you. – 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 NLT

Like Paul, Peter’s focus was on godly conduct. The salvation provided by God through Christ was not intended to remedy all earthly injustices or correct all unpleasant conditions. It was meant to transform human lives from the inside out and equip them with divine power to conduct their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10). This is why Peter encourages believing wives to live in the power of the Spirit so that their unbelieving husbands might “be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives” (1 Peter 3:1-2 NLT).

And Peter reminds them that the source of their strength and influence was internal and not external. Contrary to the trends and fads of their contemporary culture, these Christian women were to understand that true beauty was not a result of outer adornment but “from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God” (1 Peter 3:4 NLT). These women were living in a culture was that male-dominated and where they enjoyed few, in any, rights. In a real way, many of them were treated as no better than slaves, experiencing conditions in which they were considered as little more than property.

Peter is not encouraging or advocating the oppression of women. He is not suggesting that these women meekly subject themselves to verbal and physical abuse. He is promoting godly behavior even in the midst of what appears to be ungodly conditions. Sadly, over the centuries, this passage has been used within the church to promote the subjugation of women. But that was not Peter’s intent. He was dealing with a cultural reality in which women were truly second-class citizens, and he was attempting to encourage these women to use the power in their possession to bring about radical and redemptive change in their homes. While the world deprived them of value and influence, the Spirit had transformed them into powerful agents of change.

Peter wanted them to understand that they were God’s daughters and that their Heavenly Father cared for them deeply, and He would watch over them and protect them. That is why Peter called them to “do good and do not fear anything that is frightening” (1 Peter 3:6 ESV). He was not minimizing the nature of their circumstance but was emphasizing the sovereign power of their God.

A Man of Divided Allegiance

January 22, 2021 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

¹⁰At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house, ¹¹and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹²But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

¹⁵And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer ¹⁶(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; ¹⁷so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and Lower Beth-horon ¹⁸and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, ¹⁹and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— ²¹their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. ²²But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.

²³These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

²⁴But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

²⁵Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, making offerings with it before the Lord. So he finished the house.

²⁶King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸And they went to Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon. – 1 Kings 9:10-28 ESV

Solomon doesn’t realize it, but he is at the midway point of his 40-year reign. He has just completed the construction of the temple, his royal palaces, and all the buildings that will house his administrative offices.

With these projects behind him, Solomon turns his attention to other pressing matters. First, he makes an attempt to compensate King Hiram of Phoenicia for all the material and financial aid he had provided over the years. Early on in his reign, Solomon had made an agreement with Hiram that provided Solomon with all the lumber he needed for his many construction projects, while Hiram received much-needed grain and olive oil in return.

So Hiram supplied as much cedar and cypress timber as Solomon desired. In return, Solomon sent him an annual payment of 100,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil. – 1 Kings 5:10-11 NLT

This agreement had lasted for 20 years, and during that time, Solomon had compensated King Hiram for all the lumber and he had paid wages to all the Phoenician wood-workers who had helped with the various construction projects (1 Kings 5:6). But now that all the work was done, Solomon wanted to make a gesture of goodwill to his friend in Phoenicia. So, he gave Hiram 20 cities located in the land of Galilee along the border between Israel and Phoenicia. This appears to be a gracious act of generosity on Solomon’s part, but it quickly becomes apparent that his gift was a bit disingenuous. When Hiram personally inspected the cities Solomon had given him, his response reveals his deep disappointment.

“What kind of towns are these, my brother?” he asked. So Hiram called that area Cabul (which means “worthless”), as it is still known today. – 1 Kings 9:13 NLT

Evidently, these towns were located in a region of Galilee that was not conducive to agricultural production. Since Phoenicia occupied a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, they were woefully deficient in arable farmland. That’s why Solomon’s compensation for the lumber had taken the form of grain and olive oil. At first glance, it would appear that Solomon had given them what they had always needed: Land on which to grow crops. But Hiram described Solomon’s gift as “Cabul,” a word that means “bound” or “sterile.” And while these 20 towns expanded the range of Hiram’s kingdom, they were essentially worthless. They provided no practical value. And what makes Solomon’s gift that much more egregious is that, over the years, Hiram had given Solomon 120 talents of gold. To put that in perspective, that’s nearly 5 tons of gold.

One could almost draw the conclusion that Solomon was somewhat of a Scrooge, a financial tightwad who was more than willing to spend money on himself, but was a bit stingy when it came to others. And it’s interesting to note that Solomon had given away land that had been part of the inheritance given by God to the people of Israel.

It’s most likely that the 20 towns were located in territory that had belonged to the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, and Zebulun. In awarding these cities to Hiram, Solomon was guilty of giving away land that belonged to the people of God. His willingness to give it away, coupled with Hiram’s poor assessment of it, reveals that it held no real value to Solomon.

One of the things that can be learned from studying the history of the Israelites is that every decision they made had long-term ramifications. The book of Judges reveals that, at one point, the tribes of Asher, Napthali, and Zebulun had been given the opportunity to conquer and occupy the land allotted to them by God, but they had failed.

The tribe of Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron and Nahalol, so the Canaanites continued to live among them. But the Canaanites were forced to work as slaves for the people of Zebulun.

The tribe of Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob. Instead, the people of Asher moved in among the Canaanites, who controlled the land, for they failed to drive them out.

Likewise, the tribe of Naphtali failed to drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. Instead, they moved in among the Canaanites, who controlled the land. Nevertheless, the people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were forced to work as slaves for the people of Naphtali. – Judges 1:30-33 NLT

One of the reasons the Phoenicians even existed was because of the failure of these three tribes to do what God had commanded them to do. As a result of their failure to drive out the inhabitants of the land, the Phoenicians occupied territory that was supposed to belong to the people of God. Now, Solomon had just awarded the Phoenicians with even more of Israel’s God-given inheritance.

Solomon’s main focus was the city of Jerusalem. Having willingly forfeited the cities located in the north, Solomon poured his time and energy into expanding his royal capital. To do so, Solomon enslaved thousands of non-Jews to work as laborers on his various rebuilding and enlargement projects. He conscripted Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were living in the land of Israel to provide slave labor for his ambitious expansion program. These people were used to extend the walls of Jerusalem, connecting the old City of David with the newer area surrounding the temple complex and the royal palaces and administrative headquarters. They “built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed” (1 Kings 9:19 NLT). Solomon was constructing a virtual theme park dedicated to his greatness; replete with palaces, terraces, stables for his many horses, and barracks for his growing army.

And it’s important to remember that God had warned that His kings were not to refrain from certain actions.

The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself… – Deuteronomy 17:16 NLT

The king must not take many wives for himself… – Deuteronomy 17:17 NLT

And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself… – Deuteronomy 17:17 NLT

Solomon was in violation of each of these commands. And while at this point, it appears that the daughter of Pharaoh was his only wife, it wouldn’t be long before he expanded his household greatly.

Whether it was wives and concubines or horses and chariots, Solomon always seemed to be in building mode. Enough was never enough. He even built a fleet of boats and began an aggressive trading venture that netted him 16 tons of gold. For Solomon, bigger was always better. And yet, late in his life, Solomon would make a sad but telling admission.

I increased my possessions:
I built houses for myself;
I planted vineyards for myself.
I designed royal gardens and parks for myself,
and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
I constructed pools of water for myself,
to irrigate my grove of flourishing trees.
I purchased male and female slaves,
and I owned slaves who were born in my house;
I also possessed more livestock—both herds and flocks—
than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem.
I also amassed silver and gold for myself,
as well as valuable treasures taken from kingdoms and provinces.
I acquired male singers and female singers for myself,
and what gives a man sensual delight—a harem of beautiful concubines.
So I was far wealthier than all my predecessors in Jerusalem,
yet I maintained my objectivity.
I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted;
I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure.
So all my accomplishments gave me joy;
this was my reward for all my effort.
Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished
and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it,
I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless—
like chasing the wind!
There is nothing gained from them on earth.” – Ecclesiastes 1:4-11 NLT

They say, “hindsight is 20-20,” and that would prove to be true in Solomon’s life. He would one day discover that his obsession with constant expansion, endless pleasure, and rampant materialism would never satisfy. But at the midway point of his reign, he didn’t know any better. So, he continued to try and balance his love for the things of this world with his love for God. He kept accumulating material goods, while at the same time, offering sacrifices to God. Without even realizing it, he was worshiping two gods. Solomon was living out the very thing Jesus would later warn His disciples about.

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” – Matthew 6:24 NLT

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Honor Like It.

November 12, 2017November 21, 2017 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

Now, Peter turns his attention to the husband. He addresses those men living within the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who happen to be believers and married. And, as with the women, Peter is concerned with those who are married to either a believing or non-believing spouse. His counsel will apply in either case. And the words he has to say to the husbands, while shorter in length, are loaded with meaning and significance. He tells them to “live with your wives in an understanding way.” That sounds easy enough, but we have to grasp what Peter is really saying. The Greek phrase he uses is κατὰ γνῶσιν, and it means, “according to knowledge.” What does that mean? Well, it begins with the Greek word for knowledge, which has a range of meanings. It can refer to general knowledge or intelligence, but it can also refer to moral wisdom that exhibits itself in right living. Peter seems to be encouraging a believing husband to live with his wife in such a way that his behavior shows a clear knowledge of right and wrong regarding his relationship with her. What would God have him do? How would God have him treat his wife? On top of that, is the need for the husband to understand and know his wife, both as the individual to whom he is married and as a member of the female race. She is different in terms of personality and temperament, but also gender. The husband is going to have to take the time to get to know his wife and see her as God has made her. She is a unique individual whom God has gifted and equipped with her own personal character. A loving husband will take the time to know his wife well. And he will see her as God does, as “the weaker vessel.”

But that phrase typically conjures up extremely negative connotations in our 21st-Century minds. It sounds patronizing and patriarchal, something a man would say and think. But Peter is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so we have to attempt to figure out what he means by these words. Is he referring to women as somehow inferior to men? Is he insinuating that they are less valuable or incapable of contributing to the well-being of the family or society?

Peter tells husbands to show honor to their wives. The Greek word he uses is timē, and it refers to deference, even reverence. It is an honor which naturally belongs to the one it is shown. They deserve it. The wife, as a woman, is a creation of God. She was made in the image of God. She was uniquely crafted by God to complement and complete the man. If we go back to the creation account found in the book of Genesis, we hear these words from God, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him” (Genesis 2:18 NLT). In the book of Proverbs, we read this assessment regarding a man who finds a wife. “The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22 NLT). A wife is a blessing. She is a gift from God. Proverbs 31:10 describes the value of a wife as “more precious than rubies.” Proverbs 12:4 says she is “the crown of her husband.” And a believing husband should understand these things and honor his wife as such. She is precious, priceless and a gift from God – whether she is a believer or not.

But let’s go back to the term, “weaker vessel.” What did Peter mean? Is it a statement of physical strength? Perhaps. But that would seem to be an incomplete and, in some cases, inaccurate rendering. Not all women are physically weaker than all men. Is he referring to intelligence? That would be highly unlikely if we consider the centuries-worth of clear evidence that proves the female’s capacity to compete with men on an equal intellectual plane. So, what is Peter talking about and why would he use this kind of language to refer to wives? The Greek word Peter uses is asthenēs, and it has two significant parts: The second half of the word come from another Greek word, sthenoō, which refers to strength. The first half of the word is a negative participle that means “without.” So, the word Peter uses simply means, “without strength.” I tend to believe that Peter is using this word to speak of an unbelieving wife or at least, a wife who has followed her husband in accepting Christ, but is not as strong in her faith. It is the same word used by Paul when he refers to a weaker brother or sister in Christ.

In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul was forced to deal with a situation regarding the eating of meat sacrificed to idols. There were those in the church who understood that there was nothing wrong with eating this meat because there are really no such thing as other gods. They are figments of man’s imagination. But there were some in the church who, having come out of pagan backgrounds, viewed the eating of meat sacrificed to false gods as somehow worshiping them. They did not fully understand that these gods were not real, and Paul refers to them as “weaker.” He writes:

⁹But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? ¹¹So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹²And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 8:9-12 NLT

The idea was that there were those in the fellowship who didn’t know any better. They were “weaker” only in the sense of their spiritual understanding of the matters at hand. I think Peter is using this term in the very same way. It is not a blanket statement about women, but a reference to those wives who were either new believers or unbelievers. Their spiritual understanding was “without strength. ” And their husbands were to show them honor and treat them as a “weaker vessel.” It s the same attitude that Paul had.

²²When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. ²³I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. – 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 NLT

Peter says that these men were to see their wives as “heirs with you of the grace of life.” This does not necessarily mean salvation. Peter is most likely stating that men and women equally share in God’s gracious gift of life. He has made them both. And a husband and wife equally share in God’s gracious gift of marriage. They are in this thing called marriage together. And they share in the grace of God, together.

The final admonition Peter gives husbands is significant. He warns them that, if they ignore his words, their prayers will be hindered. It they do not treat their wives as “weaker vessels” and honor them as God does, their prayers to God will go unheard. Their inappropriate treatment of their wives will be seen as sin before God. That’s a sobering statement. And this all goes back to the behavior of those who have been called by God. We are to live differently. We are to behave in a way that mirrors our newfound status as sons and daughters of God. And one of the first ways our new life should show up is in our relationships with other human beings, especially our spouses.

For a husband to live with his wife in an understanding way is going to take wisdom, patience, grace, mercy, and the help of the Holy Spirit. He is going to have to see his wife the way God does. He is going to have to view her through God’s eyes and make her spiritual well-being his highest priority, whether she is a believer or not. Just like the believing wife may bring her husband to faith by her righteous behavior, so a husband may lead his unbelieving wife to Christ by living with her in an understanding way, honoring her as a gift from God and his fellow heir in the grace of life.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)

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The Bible Made Accessible and Applicable

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