Biblical Gray Areas: What Should I Do?

Dr Mike Bere

If the Bible was written to be a complete book of commands for us to live by it would have to be so big that no one could possible read it all. Think about it for a minute: it would have to cover every single possible situation, in every culture, in every time period. If it were to do that there would be so much of the book that we could not possible understand. Because God is infinitely wise He did not saddle us with a book that would be too cumbersome to be effective and beneficial. Instead He gave us a book that contains principles and precepts. Sure there are commands and prohibitions. For the most part, however, God gave us a book of practical principles that if we study and pray will guide us into right living.

If you are faced with a situation where the Bible does not give a direct command to "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not" what do you do? Is it left to the individual believer to decide based on what he feels is right or wrong? Can something be right in this situation but wrong in another?

Far and away the most beneficial class I took while at Bible college was a class called "Social Ethics" taught by Dr. Mike Bere. Dr. Bere developed a study of six principles that if correctly applied can help any believer in any situation make godly and righteous choices.

For this reason, our church is hosting a Bible conference April 25-27. It is a free to all conference with a meal provided on Saturday and Sunday. A conference notebook will be supplied for note taking as well. Contact me for more information. We would love to have a good number of people show up to tie advantage of this teaching. I believe it will change your life.

Dr. Mike Taylor
281-725-4097
miketaylor627@gmail.com

It Is Well With My Soul

In troublesome times, whether it be a physical trial, a financial crisis, an accident, disease, or another difficult circumstance, Christians often quote this verse to try and bring some comfort, "All things work together for good..." If it is not given in genuine spirit filled concern or received with genuine spirit filled humility, it can come across as a trite cliche. Of course that would never be one's intention.

As is so often the case some people rip verses out of context or ignore the surrounding verses completely and come up with a misunderstanding of the proper interpretation or application of the verse altogether. This is one case where it really pays to keep reading. The above quote is part of Romans 8:28. Lets take a look at both verse 28and part of 29 and see if there is not deeper truth that will help us understand this verse better.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..." Rom 8:28-29A

All things work together for good in order that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. There are a lot of ways that we can be Christlike. One that stands out in my mind is that we have a passionate desire to do the will of God, as did Jesus. When he was in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." Some may argue the proper interpretation of that phrase. Was Jesus afraid to die? Was he asking the Father to let him out of the impending crucifixion? Its not my purpose to discuss this here because of the subsequent dialogue. In Luke 22:42 Jesus goes on to say, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

Jesus was absolutely determined to live according to the will of the Father. He came to earth as a man in order to fulfill the Father's will. He was sinlessly obedient to the Father's commandments all his life in order to fulfill the Father's will. 

I might goes as far as to say that we are never more in the image of Jesus Christ than when we are fulfilling the Father's will.

In our church we sing a wonderful hymn titled, "It Is Well." The story behind this hymn is repeated often in our churches. It is a wonderful and convicting story of Horatio Spafford and his wife Anna. As the story is normally told, with Horatio delayed in America Anna and their four daughters were on a trans-Atlantic voyage to Europe when their ship sank. Anna survived but their four daughters tragically perished. Horatio set sail for Europe to get his wife. When his ship reached the area of the Atlantic where it was thought Anna's ship went down Horatio penned the words to the famous hymn, "It is Well."

Often the story stops there and no other details are offered. Please allow me to give you a few more details surrounding the story of the Spaffords. Prior to the shipwreck Horatio and Anna's four year old son Horatio Jr. died from Scarlet Fever. They lost nearly all their fortune due to the Great Chicago Fire. After the loss of their son and four daughters God gave them three more children. They named another son Horatio but he too died at four years of age with Scarlet Fever. Talk about tragedy. These events would have destroyed most people, but not the Spaffords. They moved to Jerusalem and started a ministry to the poor and orphaned children.

Can you imagine after all they had been through and they desired to serve God. Out of such tragedy they still desired to do the will of the Father more than anything else. They truly were the image of Christ.

Great Opportunity

I just wanted to let you know of a unique opportunity to help a "starving artist." My son, JB, is trying to raise funds for his debut album through a program called Kickstarter. This program allows people to promise a donation to help the cause. The money is only collected when the full amount of the project has been raised. There are varying rewards for varying sized donations. You can go to the link below and read up as well as listen to a very short video clip to gain a better understanding of how it works.

Here is the link, just copy and paste in your browser:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2114277219/sketches-a-new-classical-guitar-album

As a father I am extremely proud (and biased) of JB's gifted classical guitar playing. He has worked extremely hard and long to get to this point in his career. I can promise the CD will be a very good one. Hope you take the time to check out the project. If nothing else, share the link on your social media sites to help the cause! Than you.

Breaking News

Breaking News: There is a definite and aggressive spirit in this world that is trying to take you captive! This spirit wants to dominate every area of your life. This spirit wants to cause you to think with a worldly mindset and not a spiritual one.

Think about this. Most people live with the basic premise that the world revolves around them. I think I can prove it to a degree. When things go wrong financially how do you initially react? "O man, what am I going to do?" "How am I going to fix this?" "This really upsets ME." You see when problems or crises arise it reveals our true character. It reveals our truest thoughts. Life is about us.

Egocentric living (ME as the center of the universe) is the first opening a person gives to this spirit that is trying to capture him.

The Bible repeatedly tells us to be more concerned for others than ourselves. A few references will suffice. This principle is one of the foundational principles of the faith.

Php 2:4 - Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Romans 15:1  - We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
1 Cor 10:33 - Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Second, the Bible teaches us that God is to have the preeminence in all things. 

Col 1:18 - That in all things he might have the preeminence.

Everything we do should be about Christ and his glory.

Col 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

In the King James version the word "spoil" is a military term meaning to take captive. When a conquering army won a battle they would "spoil" the defeated enemy, many times taking all their wealth and making them slaves. That is exactly the intent of this spirit in the world today. This spirit wants to make you its slave doing its bidding. Take a look a round and observe how many people you know who are addicted to something. It could be pleasure, substance, power, material possessions, TV, etc. Addictions are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes! These addictions prevent man from allowing God to have preeminence in his life. 

The way this spirit gains inroads into a person's life is through his mind. We must practice biblical thinking in order to not be taken captive. Jesus was our example while he was on the earth. He fought off the spirit by keeping his mind focused on scripture and the words of His father.

Php 2:5 - Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...

We need to have the mind of Christ in order to have a biblical mindset.

Please Send Flowers

Just this past week a family friend, a man we always called our uncle, died after suffering a long battle with a debilitating bone disease. A few days leading up to his passing the family all began to post funny stories and memories of how he made their lives much richer. It was a very uplifting and enjoyable thing to see.

It got me thinking about the funeral. I won't be able to attend but I am sure there will be heaps of flowers present at the service because he was loved by so many. Those flowers will decorate the occasion and make the grave look beautiful. Each card will come with a note, a sentiment of love and sorrow. Then the flowers will fade away and be forgotten. Don't misunderstand me, I am not against sending flowers for a funeral. I want you to think about this though. Why don't we send flowers (so to speak) while the person is alive? Why don't we send notes of encouragement to the people that have affected our lives as a way of encouragement? Why can't we send a text, shoot an email, tweet, or heaven forbid pick up the phone and actually call the person?

Years ago I heard a sermon preached on this subject and it really hit home with me. I started telling people how much I appreciate the influence they have had in my life through the years. It is not always mushy and dramatic. It is not often very overt and public. But the people that have influenced me the most know what impact they have had.

I have had a few people come to me and say something similar about what I mean to them. It has a profound impact on me. It makes me want to invest my life even more in others. It serves as a motivation for me to be always ready to encourage and edify others.

Now these folks could have waited until my funeral to speak out and tell others what I had done for them, but it would not have blessed me.

My wife is crafty. Or should I have said she is a crafter? She spends hours every week making beautiful cards for birthdays, anniversaries, or just cards of encouragement. She makes and sends close to 200 cards a year to our church family, our missionaries, as well as family and friends. She knows the importance of encouragement.

Who has impacted you? What have they meant to you? Why not send your "flowers" on ahead where they can do the most good?

Post Holiday Blahs

Well the holiday has come and gone. All the decorations are put away. The gifts have been exchanged, opened, enjoyed, and the wrapping paper is in the trash. That highly anticipated thrill has peaked and diminished.

Now what?

Now we have to wait for another year to enjoy this fabulous holiday once more. After all, Valentine's Day only comes round once a year.

What? You thought I was speaking of another holiday?

Why do we wait for Valentine's Day to come around before we demonstrate our love for our mate? Why does it take a holiday (man made by the way) for us to fork over foot rubs, flowers, candy, or some other nicety? Every day should be Valentine's Day in a truly good relationship.

If you think about it, there are real benefits from celebrating this national holiday. Why not enjoy those benefits all the time? Why wait for a whole year to enjoy?

Let's start a new tradition. Why not set aside a day a month to do something special for your spouse? Pick a day (preferably close tom payday) to do something for your mate that says, "Hey, I love you." See if you don't improve your relationship right away. You don't need to spend a lot of money. You don't need to make complicated plans or take complicated trips. Just do something that lets your spouse know that you are thinking about them in a special way. Do this for one year and evaluate the results. If I am wrong I will send you a box of candy! (With prepaid postage of course! What, do you think I am made of money?)

Mercy!

I have been studying the life of Joseph in preparation for preaching a new series. There are many things we can learn from his story. I am so thankful that God has chosen to show us the truth about Bible characters. We see the good along with the bad. They are real to us because we can relate with their inconsistent actions. Yet because of God's mercy we see they were blessed and protected by the hand of the Almighty. I surmise that if God can do it for these guys He can do it for me too.

We know from Joseph's story that he was highly favored of God, given special dreams and revelations, and was elevated to one of the highest positions of authority in one of the world's most powerful nations. And yet, he came out of a dysfunctional family, was boastful about the gifts of God, and may have even antagonized his brothers with boastful claims. Generally speaking a good man? Yes. Perfect? Far from it.

I can't help but recall the verse in Psalm 103:10 - "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

If God chose to deal with us directly "after our sins" we would all be destined for a Christless eternity in hell. Thats what we deserve for our sins. Romans 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death."

God chose to deal with our sins through Jesus' atoning death on the cross at Calvary. Isaiah 53:6 - "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Therefore the remaining part of Romans 6:23 says, "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Wow, what a blessed thought. God deals with us in mercy!

Joseph's story is one that portrays great mercy. His brothers sold him into slavery and would have killed him had God not intervened. They intended great evil against him but God in his mercy saved Joseph and eventually used Joseph to save the lives of his brothers and their families.

I am so thankful that God deals with me in mercy and not according to my sins.