Concordia Adult Bible Class

The Bible cannot be “inspiring,” without first being “inspired.” Because the Scriptures are “inspired,” they inspire us with their wisdom, insight, and understanding about our lives. Thus, we hide God’s Word in our hearts and study it daily. In this message, we’ll cover tips for studying the Scriptures and also survey different Bible translations and their strengths and weaknesses.

As orthodox Christians, we believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture. “Verbal” means that the very words of the Bible are inspired. “Plenary” means all the words of the Bible are inspired. Because of this, we can trust what the Bible has to say because its author is God. This is why it is profitable for doctrine and life. In this message, we’ll talk about the doctrine of inspiration and address some of the objections to it.

In verse 30, Jesus quotes what is known as the Shema, a Hebrew word meaning, “hear.” The Shema is taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which was popularly considered to be God’s greatest commandment, as Jesus affirms in Mark 12. Interestingly, when quoting the Shema, He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Loving God with your mind, however, was not a part of the original Shema! Jesus adds this! He adds this because He knows that being mentally fit is important to a healthy life. Thus, we are called to study the Scriptures, for by sharpening our minds, we also sharpen our faith.

Some people, when speaking of a person they love romantically, will refer to them as their “soul-mate.” Though this term often carries with it connotations that are not concomitant with a biblical theology of romantic love, this term can be helpful in identifying the fact that romantic love is deeper than just physical affection. For we, at the very level of our souls, were created to be relational beings! Thus, appropriately ordering our relationships according to God’s design is paramount for healthy living.

Jesus says that our hearts follow our treasure (cf. verse 21). Thus, if our treasure is money, our heart will be attached to cash. Time and time again, Jesus warns against loving money, for the love of money can wreck our souls (cf. Mark 8:36). We are to steward our money, not love it. This is the path to good financial health.

When we worship, the apostle Paul says, we worship by offering our bodies (cf. verse 1). Unfortunately, far too many people do not treat their bodies as things with which they are to worship God. They engage in gluttony or chemical abuse and thus deastroy their bodies with wickedness rather than worshipping with their bodies in righteousness. Paul’s call is for us to worship God with our bodies and be the Body of Christ.

God has created your body and loves it and even promises to raise it on the Last Day. Sadly, there is a battle for your body. For whereas God loves your body as His creation, Satan hates it and wants to destroy it. He uses things such as obesity, chemical dependency, and even terrible illness to wreak havoc in your body. This is part of the reason Jesus speaks of demon possession so often. Jesus wants to have control of your body by faith so that Satan cannot come in and destroy it.

Concordia is a congregation dedicated to “shining like stars in the universe as we hold out God’s Word of life” (Philippians 2:15). At Epiphany, remember the star of Christ which guided the Magi to the place where He lay. The star of God’s Word still guides people to the place of Christ. And our mission is to hold out that star!

It’s crunch time!

1 Peter 1:13-25 The joys of Christmas can be fleeting. A day for which we spend months preparing comes and goes in a matter of hours. Not long after gifts are unwrapped and the tree is taken down, life returns to normal. It is at these times that we can take comfort in the fact that even though holiday cheer does not last, our Father does. His word and ways will continue, even when the things of this world do not.