Friday, September 25, 2026

​​

​​

Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.  (Titus 2:2)

 

 

Is it true, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?"

 

The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, “Tell the older men…”

 

Paul went on to list attitudes and behaviors characteristic of discipleship.

 

No one likes to be told what to do, least of all "older men."  I suspect these older men were a rather tough crowd for Titus to get through to.

 

Was Titus informing these older men of something completely new (new tricks), or was he reminding them of old ways (old tricks) they had unwittingly abandoned.

 

I believe Paul called Titus to rouse the older men to a renewal of older ways of living they had inadvertently forsaken.

 

Whatever old dogs may—or may not—be able to learn, they certainly can be roused from their slumber in order to be up and about, doing what they already know how to do.

 

Are there a few faithful “old ways” we have let slip away?

 

Should we listen to Paul and allow ourselves to be roused to an earlier, more active, life of following of Jesus?

​

Blessings,

Pastor Karl

Thursday, September 24, 2026

​​

 

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.

Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.  (Psalm 143:10)

 

 

“…thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…"

 

We recognize this phrase from The Lord’s Prayer.  We voice these words each week during our worship service.

 

We might think, “…thy will be done…” is a matter of asking God to “do His thing” in the here-and-now.  Actually, it means much more than that.  It means something like, “Let ME be quick to do thy will."

 

The Psalmist knew “doing God’s will” did not come naturally to himself, or to anyone else.  It is, as we say, a "learned behavior.”  So the Psalmist asked that he might be taught to do God’s will, and that he might be made willing to be led by God’s Spirit.

 

Following God’s Spirit, and being taught to do God's will, are ways of describing the life of faith in Jesus.

 

When we ask for these blessings our Lord is quick to grant them to us.

 

Of course, we must first acknowledge: (1) our need to be taught, and (2) our need for help in following Him.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Karl

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

 

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.  (Romans 12:4-5)

 

 

The division of labor was a turning point in the age of industrialization.

 

The division of labor required each worker to master only a limited number of tasks, rather than a great many tasks.

 

This allowed for greater efficiency and productivity.

 

In the passage above, the Apostle Paul tells us of the division of function.  While bearing similarities to the division of labor, the division of function is organic rather than  mechanical.

 

Paul does not say we are cogs in a giant machine.

 

Rather, Paul tells us we are living members in a living body, the Body of Christ.

 

We don’t so much have “jobs to do,” as we have “functions to fulfill."

 

These functions vary from person to person.

 

All of this presumes the acceptance of responsibility.  We are responsible to Christ, and to one another, to fulfill the function assigned to us.

 

Paul goes on in verse six to speak of how our functions and responsibilities within the body are determined by the gifts God has given us.

 

We are given the privilege of being able to step forward to say to the body, “God has given me what we need at this very hour.”  “Allow me use this gift for the good of the entire body."

​

Blessings,
 

Pastor Karl

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

​​

​​

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.  (2 Timothy 1:13-14)

 

 

The Apostle Paul used an interesting phrase in the verses above, “the pattern of sound teaching."

 

Before seamstresses sew together garments, they use patterns to cut out the various pieces of cloth needed to produce dresses, shirts, or slacks.

 

Not knowing how to sew myself, I'm baffled when I see the odd shapes of material that will ultimately produce a quality article of clothing.  I would never guess which part went where.

 

Sound Christian teaching is like that.

 

At times we can’t figure out why that specific teaching is so important.  Why is that teaching such a particular "shape?"

 

Paul knew that over time the “materials” available (the culture) would change, and the “size” (individuals) would change.  Still the basic “pattern” of sound teaching needed to be preserved over distance and over time lest an ill-fitting, or ill-befitting, faith result.

 

Paul also knew the Holy Spirit would continually help us in guarding the pattern he set down.

 

Let us be careful not to jettison the pattern of teaching of which Paul speaks, merely because others tell us it has gone out of style.

 

Sound teaching will always be a matter of substance over style.

 

Blessings,

 

Pastor Karl

Monday, September 21, 2026

 

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;

I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you for our own good,

who leads you in the way you should go.  (Isaiah 48:17)

 

 

We may have had experiences of being disciplined by a parent, or a teacher, who told us, “This is for your own good."

 

“It’s for your own good…"

That you sit at the table until you finish your supper,

 

That you write down on a sheet of paper fifty times each the words you misspelled on the quiz (with the correct spelling, of course).

 

That you have your phone taken away for a couple of days.

 

While it probably didn't seem so at the time, these actions were truly "for our own good."

 

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah told the people how the Lord's teaching and leading were for their own good.

 

The Lord had no interest in “pushing them around,” simply showing them “who's boss."

 

Rather, Isaiah says, the Lord is your Redeemer who loves and cares for you.

 

The instructions and commands of the Lord are certainly restrictions on our lives.  They are restrictions like guardrails are restrictions.  They keep us from veering off into all kinds of troubling, dangerous places we do not want to be.

 

Adults, as well as children, need to recognize how the restrictions imposed on our lives by our Lord are indeed “for our own good."

 

When we live with them for a time, we will find we no longer view them as restrictions at all, but as instructions and leading…for our own good.

​

Blessings,

 

Pastor Karl