Week 37 - October 4th - Dan Swartz

Has is ever struck you that bog and blog are only one letter difference? One could easily spend a fair amount of time in either (and with only 30 days to live...)


Psalm 36

The first half of this psalm points out the wickedness of sinners, in some depth. I find it useful to remember I was there, and am still being transformed by God's saving power. The psalmist notes that these sinners don't even seek to turn from their ways. It really takes God's intervention in our lives to turn to him. Otherwise, we never would've bothered.

The second half is a praise song. Many of the verses have been used in contemporary choruses and popular Christian bands (so that's where Third Day got some of their inspiration).


Ecclesiastes 5

How do we reconcile verse 3 (don't be hasty in bringing matters before God) with the New Testament admonition to bring all our concerns/prayers/praises to God?

The futility of wealth section is especially appropriate for our culture, country, and city. With the current sermon series on 30 days to live, our small group recently had a good discussion about the struggle between saving verses hoarding (v. 13; being a wise steward verses greed), and the often fine line between the two that's difficult to distinguish. Much prayer and the council of wise and trusted friends are needed.


Acts 15

Fascinating to me is that the apostles felt circumcision was too great a burden for the new Gentile believers, but abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, consuming blood/meat from strangled animals, and abstaining from sexual immorality were considered not too burdensome. I suspect some of these requirements were for health reasons (for instance, circumcision had been thought to reduce sexually transmitted infections, however, recent studies indicate no benefit, rather abstaining from sexual immorality reduces sexually transmiited infections). Even today, many churches and Christians put additional burdens on those trying to come to faith. We sometimes speak Christian-ese (mainly when fellowshipping :-). Some denominations require baptism in a specific manner, etc. I'm glad Crosswinds tries to strip as many of these artificial church culture barriers away as possible.

I found it refreshing to see that believers can have "vehement" disagreements. Interesting that no wrongdoing/heart-attitude-adjustment-needed was attributed to either of the disagreeing parties.