Honouring Elders (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

 

This section is on the tasks of elders and their remuneration.

  1. Elders are to teach and rule.
    • 5:17. Calvin sees ruling and teaching elders. But all elders are to rule and to teach – 3:2, 4-5. The distinction is between those who labour at these tasks and those who

I Know My Redeemer Lives (Job 19:25-27)

 

Times of prosperity and of suffering are likely to be spiritually dangerous – Prov.30:8-9. Job feels pursued by both God and man – 19:21-22. There is a hint of resurrection (14:14-15). Job is struggling but utters one of the most remarkable expressions of faith found in Scripture – 19:25-27.…

Laying the Foundation (Acts 17:22-29)

 

An invitation accepted “What does this all mean?”

Context in Athens, yet Paul is alone

  1. The Point of Contact Defined
    • Connection in their context
    • “Paul doesn’t commend them but takes it as a free matter for teaching” Calvin
    • What is our point of connection today?
  2. The Truth About God

Inadequate Answers (Job 4-5)

 

There are three cycles of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, with replies by Job. Eliphaz speaks in 4-5, 15, and 22; Job replies in 6-7, 16-17, and 23-24; Bildad speaks in 8, 18, and 25; Job replies in 9-10, 19, and 26-27; Zophar speaks in 11 and 20; …

The Ministry and Care of Widows (1 Timothy 5:3-16)

 

Two things might help us here: (a) The widows are to receive support from the Church, and presumably to minister in some way for the Church. (b) Some of this is surely specific to the situation in Ephesus e.g. verse 9. Calvin considered that the widows of 1 Timothy …

Job Loses It (Job 3:1-26)

 

John Hartley calls Job 3 ‘a curse-lament’. Note the oft-repeated ‘Why?’ (3:11, 12, 16, 20, 23). (a) Job never loses his faith. (b) Job’s words were nevertheless rash – 38:2; 40:1-4.

  1. Job curses the day of his birth.
    • Job did not curse God, but he did curse the day

Paul Amongst the Philosophers (Acts 17:16-21)

 

  1. We should see the world through God’s eyes.
    • Pliny claimed there were 73,300 statues in Rhodes with ‘no fewer’ in Athens. Xenophon called it ‘one great altar, one great sacrifice’ and The Satyricon, ‘there are so many gods that it is easier to meet one than it is

Ministering to Those Who Are Suffering (Job 2:11-13)

 

Nancy Guthrie’s What Grieving People Wish You Knew, written after two of her children died, is very helpful.

– at the end we find that it is rather mixed, but Job is more right than wrong, and his three friends more wrong than right.

  1. Make contact.
    • they travel

Preaching in a Pagan Backwater (Acts 14:8-20)

 

Jews pursuing Paul and Barnabas who flee to Lystra. Roman outpost. Different language and mythical beliefs and practices. Home of Timothy, Lois and Eunice.

  1. Miraculous Healing (vv.8-10)
    • Man cannot walk x3 in verse 8.
    • Given faith to be healed (perhaps God used Paul’s preaching from v.7)
    • Definitively healed
    • Paul

Job is Put Through the Wringer Again (Job 2:1-10)

 

Job is an extreme book, but suffering can come in waves. Recall again that Job knows nothing of the role of Satan in all this.

  1. The closer the suffering, the greater the hurt.
    • 2:1-8. The issue in 1:10-11 extended in 2:4. ‘What hurts more – the war in Ukraine