A Purpose and a Warning

As we go through this study of Becoming a Woman of Godliness, our key verses are:

Philippians 2:12-13

¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Philippians 1:6

⁶ For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

In this first session, we will see the purpose of this study unfold, and we will also see a warning to believers.  This warning is directed at us, and it is one that we need to take seriously.

Our text for today comes from Colossians 2:1-8:

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴ I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. ⁵ For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

⁶ Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,⁷ having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Paul is the writer of this letter to the church at Colossi.  He tells us that he words hard and struggles greatly.  Why does he do this? 1) for the Colossians, 2) for those at Laodicea, and 3) for those who have not met him.  Sisters, this is us! So all that Paul is writing by God’s hand is meant for us.  This is such an important thing for us to realize. The Bible is meant, not just for the people of the times that is was written, but for us in present day.

All three of the people groups that Paul is writing to are knit together in love.  This shows the unity of believers.  Why is he writing this letter? 1) so that their hearts may be encouraged.  We can all use some encouragement! And 2) so they will have all of the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding.  The word wealth here literally means money possessions and figuratively means riches and abundance.  The words full assurance mean entire confidence.

Ephesians 1:7

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

Ephesians 1:18-19

¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

Ephesians 3:16

¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

God’s grace is rich. God’s inheritance is rich. God’s glory is rich. Paul wants us to have the riches of the full assurance of understanding all of these things about God.  The result of understanding is a true knowledge of God’s mystery that Christ is available to the Gentiles.  In Christ hides all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 11:2

² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Romans 11:33

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

Paul is writing this, through the power of God, so there will be no doubt in our minds about ourselves as believers in God.  The riches we have in God are enough to keep us fully satisfied.  If we have the understanding of this, we will have treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  These treasures are in Christ Himself.  Everything listed in Isaiah is our treasure.  It is essential that we know God’s Word so that we can attain to the full assurance of understanding.  This is our purpose!  This is why we are living our lives, working out our salvation.  God wants us to be rich, and He has given us the path to full assurance of understanding.  God does not save us and immediately take us to heaven, although He could.  He allows us to live, and one reason is so we can work to become rich in Him and His wisdom and knowledge.

And now for our warning. In verse four, Paul says that he does not want the Colossians, the Laodiceans, or us to be deluded with any kind of false gospel or enticing words.

Romans 16:17-18

¹⁷ Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸ For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Paul is with the church at Colossi in spirit.  He rejoices to see their good discipline.  He rejoices to see the stability of their faith.  Do you have good discipline in the Lord?

1 Timothy 4:7

⁷ But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;

There is a book entitled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney.  In his book, he discusses eleven different spiritual disciples: Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, learning, and perseverance. I highly recommend this book to you. In order to know what the Word of God says, so that we are not deluded with false gospels and enticing words, we must be disciplined to study the Word of God.

How stable is your faith in Jesus Christ?  In verse six, Paul goes into this. Now that you have received Jesus Christ as Lord, walk in Him! You are firmly rooted in God.  This happens at the moment of salvation.

1 Corinthians 3:6

⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

Now, since you have firm solid roots, you are being built up in Him.  Now you are being established in your faith.  Jesus will confirm you to the end.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8

⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our warning here is clear.  Know the truth of God’s Word so that you will not be poorly persuaded.  You are Christians – you have received the Lord as your Savior.  Act like it!  Walk in Him.  Paul says that the Colossians have good discipline and are stable in their faith.  How about you? Part of working out our salvation is being strong in our disciplines in the Lord.  We are firmly rooted in God – we cannot be pulled up from Him.  But, we now have to grow up.  Now, we have to come established in our faith.  We have to do as we are instructed in Scripture, with a thankful hear.

Look at verse 8. Paul says to be careful that no one takes us captive: 1) through philosophy, 2) through empty deception, 3) according to the traditions of men, 4) according to the elementary principles of the world, 5) not according to Christ.  Let us be secure and stable in our faith.  Let us know the truth of God’s Word so that we know when something is deceptive.  Let us walk in Christ, being built up in Him and being established in our faith.  Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling, as God is at work in us.

Becoming a Woman of Godliness

As we move into a new season of study, with a brand new Bible study before us, I wanted to share how this study came about, and what verses drove this study to what it has become.

I have been teaching through Women of the Bible for the last four and a half years.  That study was quickly coming to an end, and I did not know what direction the Lord wanted me to go.  I thought I was going to go through names of God and Jesus, but it just didn't seem to be the right thing.  I asked my husband to pray that I would know the will of the Lord, and I asked my pastor to pray the same thing.  I decided to take a break from studying the names of God and study Galatians and Colossians instead.  These were two books that I had not yet studied for myself.  I am on a quest to study every single book of the Bible, and I am keeping a record of what books I have studied so far.  Galatians and Colossians seemed to be calling my name (or rather, God seemed to lead me in this direction), and so I dedicated some time to these books.  As I studied through them, Galatians specifically, I began to put a series of lessons together on how I should live my life as a Christian. 

This led into me looking back in my notes of Ephesians, Philippians, Romans, Hebrews, and other books of the Bible, and bringing together this series that I am calling, "Becoming a Woman of Godliness."  There are two main verses that are driving this series of Bible study lessons:

Philippians 2:12-13 

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Philippians 1:6

6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."

We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  What does this mean for us on a daily basis?  It is God who is at work in us.  GOD is working in ME! What an amazing thought!  He [God] who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  God will continue this work in us until we are glorified.  God is working in us, will continue to work in us, is perfecting us, and will continue to perfect us.  We are to work out our salvation.

This series of Bible studies contains 17 different lessons, with a couple of them being two parts.  Since this is a once a month study, this will last well into a year and a half.  I am excited about sharing this study with you, as I have grown more, been humbled more, and have come to more of a true realization of how I am to live my life as  a Christian through this study.

Here is the list of lessons and Scripture that we will look at over the next year and a half:

1. A purpose and a warning - Colossians 2:1-8
2. Did Jesus not work out our salvation on the cross? - Ephesians 1:1-23
3. Justification, part 1 - Galatians 2:16-3:29
4. Justification, part 2 - Colossians 2:9-3:3
5. Justification then sanctification - Colossians 1:9-23
6. Old self vs. new self, part 1 - Ephesians 2:1-22
7. Old self vs. new self, part 2 - Colossians 3:5-17, 23-25
8. The Holy Spirit in us - I Corinthians 2:12-16
9. Deeds of the flesh vs. fruits of the Spirit - Galatians5:16-26
10. Sanctification - Ephesians 3:14-20
11. How should we live our lives? - Romans 11:33-12:21
12. How to live in the new self - Ephesians 4:1-2:20
13. To live is Christ - Philippians 1:21-2:15
14. Approve things that are excellent - Philippians 1:9-11, 4:4-8
15. True Christians - Philippians 3:1-14
16. The armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-18, Romans 8:35-39
17. Discipline - Hebrews 12:1-11
18. Responding to other believers by examining ourselves - Galatians 6:1-10
19. Glorification - II Timothy 2:11-13, Philippians 3:12-16, 20-21, Galatians 5:5, Colossians 3:4, II Timothy 4:7-8

I pray that the Lord will use this study for His honor and glory.

The Widow of Zarephath

On the second Saturday of every month, I teach a women's Bible study at my church.  I have considered writing these up as blog posts for awhile, and I feel now that this is the most appropriate time for me to begin this work.  My first online Bible study officially starts on Monday, and this is not related to that, but I still would like to put these out there for anyone to read, and hopefully receive a blessing from.  These will not be written as the online Bible studies are written.  These will be more like true bog posts - the Scripture with my thoughts attached.  As always, I challenge you to study the Scripture verses on your own.  Always check the Bible before you assume that what someone else says is accurate.  If you find something that sounds questionable in this post, please write me a comment.  I am always looking to grow more and more in my spiritual life, and I know that I am far from perfect in my interpretation of the Scripture.

All that being said, today's post talks about the Widow of Zarephath.  Her story is told in 1 Kings 17:1-24.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.17 Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” 19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.20 He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.” 22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

 Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The first few verses in this passage give us some background knowledge on who one of the key players was in this story, and the circumstances that he was living in at the time.  Elijah was the prophet during this time in history.  He presented a word of the Lord to Ahab, the king of Israel, that promised a major drought to the land.  After that word, Elijah was told by the Lord to go eastward and hide near the brook Cherith.  The Lord promised Elijah that he would be able to survive by drinking the water in the brook, and that ravens would bring him food.

Let's stop for a minute and talk about the Lord and His provision.  In a miraculous event, the Lord kept Elijah alive and well by bringing his food to him by birds.  Birds!  The Lord has promised to take care of us and our needs in life.  He showed His great power by using birds to bring food to Elijah.  More specifically, God had the birds bring bread and meat to Elijah every morning and every evening.  We haven't even talked about the Widow of Zarephath, yet, and already the Lord is teaching us a valuable lesson through His Holy Word.  God will supply our needs!  Philippians 4:19 makes this quite clear.

19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Not some.  Not one.  All!  He knows what our needs our before they even arise, and He is faithful to us to make sure that we have what we need.  Once the brook that God told Elijah to drink out of had dried up, God didn't forget about Elijah and let him die there.  Instead, God used His miraculous sovereignty to provide for him again.  This time, the provision was going to come in the form of a person, not a bird.

God told Elijah to go to Zarephath.  God said that He had commanded a widow to provide for Elijah.  Can you imagine being that widow and hearing God's command at that time?  This was not a happy time in her life.  We go on to read that she is at the brink of starvation, and she is preparing for her final meal with her son (which isn't going to be much), and she was planning on dying very soon.  This widow was miserable, starving, thirsty, and most likely lonely.  She didn't have much to her name, and she had very little, if any, hope.  God spoke to her, and commanded her to take care of His prophet Elijah.  Before Elijah came to Zarephath, I could imagine what her response to God was.  "How am I supposed to take care of this prophet when I can't hardly take care of myself?"

When Elijah gets to town, he finds the widow.  She is very honest with him, and tells him that she has no bread, and just a small amount of flour and oil.  She tells Elijah that she is getting ready to prepare her and her son's final meal before they die of starvation.  She is in a low, low place in her life.  Elijah the prophet tells her to not be afraid, and to go ahead and prepare a bread cake for him, for herself, and for her son.  He then tells her that the Lord God of Israel has promised that her flour and her oil will not run out during the entire length of the drought that is in the land.

At this point, the Widow of Zarephath has two choices:

1. Obey God and live.
2. Disobey God and die.

Oh my sisters, isn't it just as simple as that for us, too?  We have two choices in this life.  We can choose God, or not choose God.  One way leads to eternal life, the other to eternal death.  I pray that you have chosen to obey God and have eternal life.  If you haven't done this, please get in contact with me or someone else that you trust, that can lead you to knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior.

In this story, the widow did not hesitate.  She didn't ask any questions.  The widow had faith that her needs would be met by God, so she went and did what Elijah had her do.  Because of that choice, she and her son continued to have as much flour and oil as they needed to survive.  The Lord supplied the needs of the Widow of Zarephath because she chose to trust in Him.

Once again, we could stop here and have heard two great lessons from the Bible.  However, the widow's story doesn't end here.  After all of these things happened, after the widow obeyed the Lord and took care of Elijah, after the Lord took care of the widow and supplied her with food to last throughout the drought, her son becomes deathly ill.  This is her only family.  Her son is all she has left on earth.  And now, he is sick to the point of death.

When things were going right in her life, she trusted in God.  When tragedy came, she immediately placed blame.  She blamed Elijah for her sons sickness.  How easy is it for us to immediately place blame on someone or something when tragedy hits?  It is so easy!  But, we have to remember that God is in control of situations in the good times, and God is in control of situations in the bad times.  God is sovereign.  He knows what is going to happen before it even happens.  God knew that the widow's son was going to get sick.  We have to remember in the good times and in the bad times that God knows what is going on!  We have to continue to trust Him, and believe that His will will be accomplished in our lives.

Elijah intervened on behalf of the widow and prayed for the healing of her son.  The Lord heard Elijah's prayer and healed the son.  God showed His faithfulness to her by healing her son, and her faith in God was renewed.  If you have lost faith in God, please return to Him!  He has not left you, He is just waiting on you to come back.  God is faithful, just and true.  God may do things that we do not understand, things that may not fit pretty into our plans, but God's ways are always better than our ways, and we have to continue to trust in Him, no matter what.

There are so many things that we can take away from this passage of Scripture.  We have learned that God will supply our needs, even when things seem so dim for us.  But I think the major lesson from today is about God's faithfulness.  God is faithful to us and He will supply our needs.  It is important for us to remain faithful to Him, even when we go through tough times.  For this widow, it took a major tragedy and a major miracle for her to really trust God.  What does it take for us to really trust Him? A huge tragedy? A minor hiccup?  Or do we trust Him every day knowing that He will do the right thing for us, according to His will?  Oh sisters, trust God!