The 49 New Testament One Anothers

Using biblegateway.com I just finished a quick study of the one another commands in the NASB New Testament and this is what I discovered:

If you leave out the four commands to greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Pet 5:14) there are 49 one another commands in the NT.

The largest category of one anothers are the commands to love (John 13:34-35, 15:12, 17; Rom 12:10, 13:8; 1 Thess 3:12, 4:9; 2 Thess 1:3; 1 Pet 1:22, 4:8; 1 John 3:11, 4:7, 11-12; 2 John 5).

In second place are the commands to edify one another (Rom 14:19; 15:14; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 5:11; Heb 3:13, 10:24-25) and a chose third goes to the commands to unite with one another (Mark 9:50; Rom 12:16, 14:19, 15:5, 7; Phil 2:3; 1 Thess 5:13).

Finally, there are almost 20 of what I called miscellaneous one anothers because they could go in multiple categories. These include the commands to give preference to (Rom 12:10), care for (1 Cor 12:25), serve (Gal 5:13; 1 Pet 4:11), tolerate (Eph 4:2), be kind to (Eph 4:32), submit to (Eph 5:21), not lie to (Col 3:9), bear with (Col 3:13), comfort (1 Thess 4:18), not judge (Rom 14:13; 1 Thess 5:13), do good to (1 Thess 5:15), not slander (James 4:11), not complain about (James 5:9), confess sins to (James 5:16), be hospitable toward (1 Pet 4:10), be humble towards (1 Pet 5:5) one another.

I hope that serves you and is helpful. Do you obey and receive the benefits of these commands at your church? What would our churches be like if we actually sought to live them all out?

My Summer Ministry Trip to Ukraine

I deeply covet your prayers. I just spoke to my friend who invited me to come teach and preach this summer in Ukraine. I will be leaving July 19th and returning August 4th.

In the first week, I will be teaching 3 hours a day (two morning and one evening session) and fielding questions on the subjects the church and leadership. He told me to assume the people have no knowledge about what the church is supposed to be and do, and what leaders in the church are supposed to be and do.

During the second week, my friend and I will be sharing the teaching load at an evangelistic sports camp where dozens of kids come and hear the gospel. I will be sharing 10 sessions with him as we cover the Bible, God, Man, Christ and the Gospel.

I will also be preaching at a church both Sunday's that I'm there. Wow!!! Just in case you're not counting, that's almost 30 messages in two weeks. Thank God for His grace in giving me the chance to do this!

This is a unique opportunity to influence a Ukrainian church at foundational and formational levels. So, aside from your prayers--which again I covet deeply because I feel so scared and inadequate for this--any book and sermon recommendations will be very helpful as I continue to prepare prayerfully and educationally.

Witnessing to Mormons (Pt 2)

It is very common today for people to say "All religions are the same" or "All religions are talking about the same thing." Sadly, this is usually made by people who has no clue at all about what religions actually say about themselves.

When anyone says "All religions are the same" there actually has to be things that are the same, and that go beyond lowest common denominators. It doesn't count to say something like "All religions believe in a higher power so they're all the same."

First, all religions don't believe in God, but for religions to be the same their conception of God has to be the same, not to mention how they conceive of human beings, the human problem, the solution to our problem, what happens at death, if ethics exist and where they comes from, and the real kicker, who is Jesus?

This is where Mormonism comes in. LDS are pushing hard to be considered evangelicals (interesting, as they're doing this many who call themselves evangelical, like me, want to abandon being identified by that name), and "many laypeople in the Mormon church insist that the God they worship is the same God worshiped by millions of Christians" (23).

However, while we may have many things in common (e.g., pro-life, pro-heterosexual marriage, etc.) we cannot be considered the same, or even similar, just because we are both pro-life, or both "believe in God," or "believe in Jesus," or "honor the Bible," or seek to spread something called "the gospel."

This is what McKeever and Johnson mean when they write:

"If two people hope to consider themselves of the same faith, they need to agree on their definition of the Almighty God. If they cannot agree on this vital point, they would be deceiving themselves and others to say that their faiths are the same" (23).

There is NOTHING about our conceptions of the Bible, God, Jesus and the gospel that are similar, and these are NOT peripheral issues. This is the heart of Christianity. You disagree with these things, and you can call yourself an evangelical, but doing so is the same as me calling myself an iguana just because we both have superficial similarities (e.g., eyes, skin, nose, finger nails, legs, etc.).

This is critical when talking to Mormons. Make sure from the beginning that LDS realize we are not the same in any meaningful way. We have to start there, or evangelism cannot take place.

In fact, if we're the same, as they insist we are, do they really need to evangelize me then? It seems to me that if they really believed we were the same that they'd just leave Christians alone. They don't because they know we're not the same.

Ch 2: Desire vs. Delight? (Pt 2)

I begin this post with a quote from the top of the chapter's second page:

"Godly people are seen yearning, longing, hungering, thirsting, and fainting for God. They are also seen enjoying, delighting in, and being satisfied in God" (24).

This is totally different than the understanding of godliness as almost totally confined to what a person does. This sentence, which I think is biblical, shows that godliness must extend to our emotions as well. In fact, a person who does not enjoy God is being disobedient and therefore, not godly.

Next, I read these portions of the psalms and seriously wonder if that describes me:

"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (42:1-2a).

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you" (63:1-3).

Ask yourself, like I've been asking myself, Do I yearn for, thirst for God? Is my compulsion towards God similar to a dehydrated person compulsion for water? Do I seek for God like men with empty canteens search for water in a desert? Can I honestly say I'd rather have God's love for me than life itself?

My answers to these questions, which reflect the drought my heart is experiencing towards God, and how fake I feel when trying to obey verses like Psalm 37:4 or Philippians 4:4 have become some of the reasons why I'm reading this book.

Chapter 2: Desire vs. Delight?

These words are exactly my frustration in my growth as a Christian:

"We kick ourselves that our cravings for lesser things compete with God as the satisfaction of our souls."

Thankfully, he doesn't stop there saying,

"Rightly so. This is a godly grief. We do well to be convicted and penitent. We know that we have tasted pleasures at his right hand, and that our desires for them are pitifully small compared to their true worth."

That me right now.