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www.frankfortpresbychurch.com

Here's the question and answer from Tuesday:
What kind of people does the author of 2 Thessalonians warn them against, in the name of Jesus Christ? (2 Thess 3)
2 Thessalonians 3:6 6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

And from Wednesday:
What does “ascribe” mean? What is to be ascribed to God? (Ps 96)
"ascribe" is "to attribute or think of as belonging, as a quality or characteristic;" “They ascribed courage to me for something I did out of sheer panic.” Psalm 96:7-8 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.

And here's the question of the day:
Who shares a common destiny, according to Ecclesiastes 9?

And here's the reflection of the day:
This letter to Timothy is known as a Pauline (of or belonging to Paul) pastoral epistle. It is traditionally thought to be a letter from Paul to Timothy, his young protege, who seems to have been left behind in Ephesus while Paul moved on to Macedonia.

This letter is intended to reassure Timothy, who may be a little anxious at being on his own, while his mentor has kept on the move. Timothy is stationed in Ephesus for a distinct purpose, which Paul cites in verse 3: ". . . stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies."

At this point in history, Christianity is still taking shape. Paul has been there and preached, but the doctrine and the beliefs are not yet totally formed. If anything, Christianity was probably seen as an upstart, rebellious religious movement worthy only of suspicion. Traditionally we ascribe veracity and veneration to those religions with long and storied traditions. But this particular Jesus movement, which came to be known as Christianity, was in its infancy stages and its form and function were still quite amorphous and loose.

It is actually one of many religious options available to people. There were even other "Jesus sects" that sounded an awful lot like Christianity but varied in one way or another--their pick of the litter, one might say. People had their choice of religious groups to join.

Hmm. . . . Does history seem to be repeating itself here?

Generations later, Christianity is more fully formed in terms of its beliefs and doctrines. But those beliefs and doctrines are still shifting, aren't they? From the left to the right, conservatives to liberals, you can find a "Christian" church to match just about any set of beliefs--which is a wonderful testament to the motley crue which makes up the Body of Christ.

But. . . that brings us back to Timothy, marooned in Ephesus, left to defend the faith, trying to prevent and even correct the "false doctrines" of the would-be "teachers of the law."

We're not all called to be Paul, but I think there is a little bit of Timothy inside each one of us. And it is up to us to know our faith--to know that "sound doctrine conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God" (verses 10-11) which has been entrusted to us. And it is up to us to defend the faith against the "lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious" (verse 9).