Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Reflection: As Paul continues to exhorts young Timothy, he reminds him to be careful of those who indulge in godless chatter. In this case it was those who were speculating about theological concepts in an unhealthy way. Some were teaching that the resurrection had already taken place and they were living in the millenial reign of Christ. It got so bad some were departing from the faith. As we have said before a good heresy can look a lot like the truth but distorts it. In our Creed,we say things like "Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead." It is interesting that one of arms of the liberal Protestant movement that many felt undermined the authority of the bible was that were we living in the millenial reign of Christ, and that things would continue to get better. This is the same movement that wanted to explain away miracles since they didn't seem rational. It turns out that the enlightenment movement was not so enlightened about some things, includi...

Reflection: As Paul commends the work that he had started to his faithful son Timothy he says these words, 2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Notice the phrase "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus". While grace is a gift we did not earn and did not deserve, we need to be strong in our use and reliance on it. We need to take h...

Reflection: Today we see Jeremiah dealing with the false prophet Hananiah. Hananiah so wants to ease the suffering of the people, he tells them that they will only be in exile for 2 years. There is only one problem with this, it wasn’t from the Lord. In fact, Hananiah goes as far as to rip the wooden yoke off Jeremiah’s back, which was a visual reminder of the yoke the Israelites would be under from the Babylonians. There is only one problem, God replaces it with an iron yoke to show the people that Hananiah can’t change what God is allowing them to experience. You can see what happens when we try to minimize God’s Word, or try and please people by watering it down. It may draw some attention, and even in the short term boost approval ratings, but when the real yoke comes down it will be shown for what it is. Jeremiah, on the other hand, maintains his steadfast conviction of being a true prophet, and only speaks what God tells him too despite the consequences. When Jeremia...

Reflection: The psalmist's words today remind us of the popular praise song "How Great is Our God". " He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide, we tremble at His voice,we tremble at His voice. How Great is our God sing with we me how great is our God and all will see how great how great is our God." Sometimes it is really good for us to contemplate just how Great is our God. The more we think about God the more our problems take on a different perspective, when seen through the eyes our Eternal Creator, who wrapped Himself in light and charted the boundaries of the deep waters. It is with this confidence in His Creator that Jeremiah can prophesy and inspite of the threats of the people not worry about will happen to him. Jeremiah has his eyes set on the One who made him and called him to be faithful to give the Word to the people in season and out of season. Jeremiah can be faithful because he knows God will be faithful to His promises even unto...

Reflection: Yesterday we talked about the power of confession in the sense of repentance and confessing one's sins before God. Today, as Paul concludes his thoughts to Timothy, he tells him to take hold of the eternal life to which he was called when he made his "good confession" in the presence of many witnesses. Paul also cross references Jesus' own confession before Pontius Pilate. So what is the difference?? Since confession is to say the same thing that God would say, meaning the truth, when we confess our sins we are saying the same thing God would say about us. We know that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, when we confess our sins to God we are merely agreeing about who we are before a holy God. But there is another confession and this one is about God and who God is!! And we know principally this is about confessing that Jesus is God's Son who came in the flesh lived, died, and rose from the dead. And now we confess that Jesus is...

Reflection: Today's Psalm has been captured in a praise song "The Lord is gracious and compassionate slow to anger and rich in love. As far as the East is from the West that's how far He has removed our transgressions from us." Ironically we sang that yesterday in worship and my song was singing that song as we went to bed last night Despite all the ways the Israelites had ignored God and not listened to the prophets he sent, God remained faithful to them and when they repented He turned from His anger and restored them. Notice the complete nature of God's forgiveness for us. As far as the East is from the West that's how far He has removed our transgressions from us. As a called and ordained minister of Christ and by His authority I get declare this truth in the worship service right before Holy Communion. Before we receive Christ's body and blood in the Holy Meal,we have a chance to confess our sins before a holy God. We can confess how our lives ar...

Reflection: The Days Are Coming! 5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David[a] a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior. 7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.” Inspite of the bad situation Jeremiah finds himself in with shepherds who did not tend to their flocks, and prophets who uttered lies to the people from their own fancy making, we see words of hope given by Jeremiah. Jeremiah uses the words, "the days are c...

Reflection: Today we see again the importance of leadership in the Church. As someone has said, "As it goes with with the leaders so it goes with the church." This is certainly true of the readings today. In Jeremiah we see the lack of godly leaders and faithful shepherds was a big reason God brought judgment on the house of The Lord. While King Josiah had successfully implemented some reform in returning to the Book of the Law and having it read in the public assembly his successors turned to evil ways lavishing things upon themselves and neglecting the flock they were called to serve. Contrast this with Timothy, Paul's young protege, who Paul admonishes in today's lesson. Timothy is young, but Paul exhorts him to not let others look down upon because of his age but that he would be example to his followers in every way. Specifically Paul says watch your life and teaching closely. Notice he does not separate doctrine from how he lives his life. Paul realizes these...

Reflection: As Jeremiah continues to hear from The Lord, today he is given a metaphor to describe how God feels about His people. He is given the image of a potter at the wheel molding his clay. Since the potter notices the clay is marred he starts reconditioning it for another purpose. Paul picks up on this theme in Romans 9 as he talks about his mission to reach out to the Gentiles. He reasons does not the potter have the right to take the same lump of clay and use it for either an ordinary or special purpose. He is arguing just as easily as God chose Israel to be the nation out of which salvation came, could he also include the Gentiles who were called to Him through His Son. Notice too that even though the people of Judah deserved judgment for their evil ways God says if they will repent He will relent. Yet if they continue in their stubbornness and hardness of heart, He will break that vessel of clay. The Lord even has Jeremiah go as far as to go and buy a jar of clay from th...

Reflection: As many New Testament scholars much smarter than me have concluded this passage from Paul ranks as one of the all time most difficult to interpret. Let me summarize two of the most common interpretive stances on this passage. First is the egalitarian stance which takes this passage as descriptive of this particular historical social setting and not prescriptive for time. In the context of the book Paul is arguing against women usurping their new found freedom and going beyond what God had intended for them. they would argue this is specific to this culture and therefore not binding for today. Hence they would have no problem with women being leadership in a church and teaching and preaching for both men and women. Another popular stance would be termed "complementarian". Women and men are made equal but yet different and as such have different roles in the body of Christ. Some in this camp would have women teaching and having leadership in the church but not h...