Ethics Archives - Pastor Marvin McKenzie

Romans 15:1 Win-Win

Romans 15:1 (KJV)
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Paul begins the concept delivered in this passage by assuming that all of his audience would assume they were the strong. It occurs to me that this is a win-win position. There is really never a need to define who is the strong and who is the weak. If we all assumed that we are strong and that everyone else is weak then we ought to treat everyone else as this passage teaches us to treat them:

We bear their infirmities
It can be challenging to put up with errors missteps and nuisances of people we assume to be educated enough sophisticated enough and mature enough to behave better. When someone who is handicapped or someone young presumes upon us we tend to be more patient and forgiving. We understand their plight. If we just assumed that we were stronger than them then we would not be arrogant towards then but bear more with them.

We choose not to please ourselves
The handicapped and weak are pleased by different things than the mature and strong are. If we think of ourselves as the strong ones in every relationship then we would sacrifice our pleasures for others.

We choose to treat them as neighbors and seek both their good and their edification
If we thought of ourselves as the strong ones and others as the weak ones we would constantly see our place as to help lift them and strengthen them.

This is a win-win. We never have to wonder who to minister to. We never have to belittle ourselves and think of ourselves as the weaker. We never have to judge others and divide them into stronger and weaker camps. We just minister to them all as the weaker brother.

And, everyone else will be doing the same for us.

To my readers:
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For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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Romans 15:1 Win-Win

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Acts 25:16 Darkness in High Places

Acts 25:16 (KJV)
To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.

When I consider the treatment of Paul by the Romans after his incarceration, I am impressed with the reasonable character of that treatment followed by the brutal end of his life.

The Roman guards’ initial response when they took Paul into custody was to beat him. That changed quickly when they learned he was a Roman citizen. From that moment on their chief concern was to treat him justly.

They removed him from Jerusalem when they heard there was a plot there to kill him
They required not once but on numerous occasions that his accusers carry the burden of travel to Caesarea to accuse him to the face
They gave him the right of appeal to Caesar rather than simply passing this off as a Jewish thing
They were careful and patient to find what charge to write against Paul but
They were quick to allow him to defend himself when his accusers did arrive
They allowed his friends to minister to his needs
They refused to kill him when the shipwreck threatened to free the prisoners onboard

The system worked-until Paul got to the highest authorities. It was in Rome before Caesar that Paul found corruption.

The United States of America styles its government much after the pattern of ancient Rome. Our American system of government works. There are occasional glitches and evidences of lower level corruption, but the system overall works. Where the temptation for great corruption exists is in the highest levels. It is there we must exercise the greatest precautions in whom we elect to those offices.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 25:16 Darkness in High Places

1 Chronicles 28:5 Children Given of God

1 Chronicles 28:5 (KJV)
And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

David had a challenged family situation. Having many wives, he had sons and daughters aplenty. These children were unruly, had little regard for one another. They were:

Immoral
Rebellious
Treacherous and
Murderous

Yet David’s testimony is that the Lord had given him every one of them.

We might perform as better parents if we viewed every one of our children as being a gift from God.

My concern in this writing has to with the modern practice of aborting children who, for whatever reason, are unwanted:

Perhaps it was conceived in promiscuity
Perhaps the young mother and father see the baby as hindering their opportunities for life in the future

Very common among arguments in favor of abortion is that the baby may be terminated if it was conceived from a rape or other wicked act. Another permissible abortion scenario (of course the most modern view is that abortion is permissible for any reason and at any time the mother may choose) is if the baby will be born handicapped. My point is that David viewed all of his children as being given by God.

So should we.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

1 Chronicles 28:5 Children Given of God

Acts 16:1-5 Disagreement Does Not Equal Hatred

Acts 16:1-5 (KJV)
Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

We tend to think nothing good can ever come from dissension and disputation but that is not always the case. The United States of America is the result of decades of dissension that led to a revolution that forged in the minds of her founders certain principles that, though not accepted worldwide, have worldwide influence today.

The previous chapter begins with a dispute Paul and Barnabas had with certain men … From Judea and ends with a dispute Paul and Barnabas had with each other. The contention was so sharp that Barnabas and Paul parted ways never, so far as the Bible records, to come together again. However, Paul’s most notable pupil, Timothy, is discovered and recruited in the very next episode of Paul’s life.

Disputation is never pleasant but its results are not always negative.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 16:1-5 Disagreement Does Not Equal Hatred

Acts 14:4 (KJV) Christians Causing Division

Acts 14:4 (KJV)
But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

A witness for Jesus Christ needs to settle with the fact that his message is going to bring division. He did not cause the division, nor did the Lord, but the devil who introduced the sinful notion “…ye shall be as God’s, knowing good and evil“.

That there is division is no reason to neither quit witnessing nor silence the message. It is merely reason to:

Pray more
Speak with compassion and
Live with a brokenness toward the lost

The truth is still true even if the multitudes disbelieve it. Heaven and hell are still realities even if the majority argues over them. Therefore the commission to go into all the world is still relevant even if we are accused of causing division.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 14:4 (KJV) Christians Causing Division

Acts 13:5 (KJV) Just Because You Can

Acts 13:5 (KJV)
And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

It was Barnabas and Saul who were called but it was not just those two who went; they had also John to their minister.

Sometimes I think we read too much into certain pieces of the Bible. I have heard people criticize someone in the ministry because they didn’t feel their “call” was sufficient. John went with them and apparently had no call. Some are far too particular about church lineage. I believe churches plant churches and that the chain of churches planting churches traces all the way back to Christ. However, to claim that a certain Baptist church is not a true church because you are not satisfied with their particular chain is egotistical, arrogant and wrong. The Bible teaches some things in principle that can be carried out in spirit but not letter.

On the other hand, Mark did turn out to be a problem:

He quit before the job was done
He no doubt hindered the work by quitting and
He created disunity between Paul and Barnabas

There are some things that are not expressly allowed in the Bible that are not expressly forbidden. However, to do something just because it can be done leaves one without clear, biblical guidelines and opens the door for contention, disunity and hindrance in the work of God.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 13:5 (KJV) Just Because You Can

1 Chronicles 19:13 (KJV) What a Man Can Do

1 Chronicles 19:13 (KJV)
Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the LORD do that which is good in his sight.

I remember speaking with a young college student at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College about discerning God’s will. He was struggling over what was God’s will in a particular area of his life. My counsel was this; the definition of a man is one who, to the best of his knowledge, steps out to please God and then lives with his decision. This does not mean that he can never correct his course or change his mind about a certain thing but it does mean that he owns up to the consequences, good and bad, for his decisions.

This is the general thrust of Joab’s counsel in this passage. A man may not always know how things will end. All he can do is:

Make his best decision
Play his part well and
Leave the results in the hands of the Lord

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

1 Chronicles 19:13 (KJV) What a Man Can Do

Mark 14:1-2 (KJV) Proper Concerns in Leadership

Mark 14:1-2 (KJV)
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.

As much as we might want to rail on the chief priests and scribes here, experience has taught me that there is a warning and lesson for everyone interested in doing the Lord’s work here.

Notice that these leaders of religion had come to the place where their concern was not for the rightness of their plan or the truthfulness of their actions. Their concern was only for the reaction of the people.

It is easy to slip into a place as a leader of the work of God where your interest is in how it affects the people more than in how right it is how moral it is or how true it is.

The ordinances of the church are frequently contorted away from what they are seen to be in the Bible because, if the preacher insists on practicing the Bible with the ordinances, he may lose potential members.
Stands on subjects that are particularly sensitive may be softened because some who attend or might attend would be turned off by these stands.
Individuals may or may not be placed into positions in the church because church leaders are concerned about the reaction of the general membership over those persons.

In order for the Christian faith to move untouched to future generations those who serve the Lord must see that their only concern is the Lord and the propagation of truth. The response of the people to that truth, while important, is always secondary to that.

To my reader:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.