Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Sometimes when boys are young, they want to appear bigger than the rest of the kids on the block, so occasionally they will take some extra clothing and shove it up into their sleeves or under their jacket to give them the appearance that they are bigger than the rest of the kids. Many athletes will spend a lot of time working out until their body is ripped with huge muscles, so they appear much bigger than their opponent the next time that they have to face them in a competition. Even Goliath tried to use his size as a way to threaten young David and the armies of Israel when he fought him out in the Valley of Elah. But did you know that there are certain creatures swimming around in the ocean who like to do the same type of thing? They are called a pufferfish, and just as the name implies, they will puff themselves up in order to make themselves appear bigger than others. They will inflate themselves like a balloon, which is done by swallowing huge amounts of water into their elastic stomachs. They can swallow so much water or air that they can become three to four times their normal size!
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
When someone is puffed up, like a puffer fish they will try to make themselves appear bigger than others. They will become self-important, arrogant and pompous, and this is exactly what was going on with some of the people in the Corinthian Church. Some of them had gotten involved with fornication, and rather than submitting themselves to the teachings of the Apostle, some of them were exalting themselves over both him and his Spiritual Jurisdiction. The Lord Jesus had given the Apostle Paul great authority in the church, but because he was such an incredibly meek person, some people felt that they could trample all over him and usurp the position that God had placed him in. This is one of the works of the carnal nature and similar to a wife who gets puffed up, supplants the authority of her husband, and then runs off with his children. Pharaoh did the same type of thing when he resisted the power and authority that the Lord had invested in Moses, and because of this, it resulted in him and his Nation being on the receiving end of the power and punishments of God. Even King Saul puffed himself up against David because of his own jealousy, and tried to secure his own security and authority over a man who was blessed in the eyes of God. The Apostle Paul was a very tender-hearted man, but to resist and usurp over him was to resist and usurp the will of God, and he warned them about this very thing in the next few passages.
1 Corinthians 4:18-21, 5:1-8 (KJB) Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Sin is so deceitful that when people get involved with it, rather than accepting and admitting the truth that it is wrong, people will run in the complete opposite direction instead. Rather than being humble, they will puff themselves up against the teachings of scripture, and all those who preach it. This is the way some people in the church were treating the Apostle Paul. Although.he had written some strongly worded letters to them, he was very lowly in presence when among them. But he warned them that if they were going to puff themselves up, then the next time they met him, rather than coming in the spirit of meekness, the Apostle would bring out the rod of discipline.
2 Corinthians 10:7-11 (KJB) Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
Jesus was so upset at what was going on in the temple that he made a scourge, and whipped the people, and if people were not going to repent of the wickedness that they were committing in the church, then the Apostle Paul was going to have to come in there and clean house.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21 (KJB) For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
When people refuse to repent, they can become very defensive, and will consider God’s anointed a threat to the way that they live their lives. So they will swell themselves up in order to appear bigger than them, just like Pharaoh, just like King Saul, and just like,…….,
……..The Pufferfish
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
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