Uncategorized

Disciple Up Show Notes #35
Should Disciples of Jesus Celebrate Christmas?
By Louie Marsh, 12-13-2017

Dealing with the whole Paganism thing – it’s “tainted” with paganism.

Examples – https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/christians-who-dont-celebrate-christmas-heres-why

I cannot find Christmas in the Bible nor can I find that Jesus Christ told us to observe Christmas. Santa Claus is a lie that some people teach their children every year. For that matter, Christmas is false since it has nothing to do with Christ or His birthday.

“Beyond this, business people, who make most of their income during this time of the year, have increasingly promoted Christmas. Well-meaning people go in debt during Christmas time to give gifts to other people, which in turn motivates other people to give gifts to them. It makes no sense to keep a religious holiday that is not biblical, that Christ never sanctioned, that promotes lying to children, that puts people in debt and that blinds people to what Christ really taught.”

—P.A., Georgia

“It is a historical fact that Christmas is not the day or the season when Christ was born. So why observe a day that is a lie? Most people do not want to admit this fact. For example, how does the use of Santa Claus depict the birth of Christ? How does the Christmas tree depict Christ? Celebrating Christmas violates at least the First, Second and Third Commandments of God’s Ten Commandments. Observing a pagan holiday is a sin. God condemns the worship of pagan gods.

“The Bible does not command people to observe the birth of Christ as a holiday. This day, Dec. 25, is the date that has been observed for centuries as a pagan holiday in honor of the pagan sun god. God commands those who want to serve Him not to observe pagan holidays or any custom that breaks His holy laws.”

—D.S., California

Do you know anyone who worships their Christmas tree? Do you worship it?

What if the first book printed on the printing press hadn’t been a Bible but a copy of the Koran, or the Satanic Bible or the Bhagavad Gita? Would the press and all subsequent books be “tainted” with paganism??

Has it become so commercial that it’s lost it’s meaning?  This is the real question to me.

 Personal story of my thinking on this.

Two Great Quotes relating to this:

C.S. Lewis –

Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here.

 The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a ‘view’ on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business.

I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers.
– From “What Christmas Means to Me” in God in the Dock

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls, from which they shy away. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful person dares to approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod. For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly. Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and hungry, but the rich and satisfied he sends away empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught; they have no right, no hope; they are judged. 
– From God Is In the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

What does the Bible Say?

 ⁵  One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶  The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷  For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸  For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹  For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. ¹⁰  Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; ¹¹  for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” ¹²  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. ¹³  Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. Romans 14:5-13 (ESV)

²⁰  Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ²¹  It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. ²²  The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³  But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14:20-23 (ESV)

The Disciple Up Low Down

 Please Get In Touch!

Email – louie@discipleup.org

 

Check out the Disciple Up Facebook page:

My book – 

 

Disciple Up #26
Discipleship & Relaxation
By Louie Marsh, 10-10-2017

The Old Testament:

And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from all His work of creation. ~Genesis 2:3

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. ~Exodus 20:8-10

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. ~Psalm 23:2-3

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. ~Psalm 127:1-2

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~Isaiah 40:29-31

 Quotes on Rest:

 Source: https://www.christianquotes.info/top-quotes/16-awesome-quotes-about-gods-rest/#ixzz4uJWYPp7h

Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength… It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less. – Charles Spurgeon

Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord; and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee. – Augustine

Our rest lies in looking to the Lord, not to ourselves.  – Watchman Nee

Source; https://www.christianquotes.info/quotes-by-topic/quotes-about-rest/#ixzz4uJXcDY6I
“Rest is a matter of wisdom, not law.” – Woodrow Kroll

“Everywhere I have sought rest and found it not except sitting apart in a nook with a little book.” – Thomas a Kempis

“In these times, God’s people must trust him for rest of body and soul.” – David Wilkerson

“In place of our exhaustion and spiritual fatigue, God will give us rest. All He asks is that we come to Him…that we spend a while thinking about Him, meditating on Him, talking to Him, listening in silence, occupying ourselves with Him – totally and thoroughly lost in the hiding place of His presence.”- Chuck Swindoll

“How sweet is rest after fatigue! How sweet will heaven be when our journey is ended.” – George Whitefield

New Testament:

 The Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. ~Matthew 11:28-30

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. ~Mark 6:31

So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. ~Hebrews 4:9-11

“Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds will follow them.” ~Revelation 14:13

The Disciple Up Low Down – Rest & the Disciple

Please Get In Touch!

Email – louie@discipleup.org

 

Check out the Disciple Up Facebook page:

My book – 

Disciple Up #21
Show Notes, 9-6-2017
By Louie Marsh

There is an old story set in the Middle Ages during the construction of one of the great European cathedrals. A nobleman was walking among the workers, asking about their labors.

The stonemason explained the care involved in raising a plumb wall. The glass worker pointed out the details of a leaded glass window. The carpenter spoke about the wooden frame which provided the support for the whole building.

Finally, the nobleman spotted a peasant woman with a broom and a bucket cleaning up the trash. He asked her what she was doing. She replied, “I’m building a cathedral for the glory of God!”

Our view different – Hub Cap & the Wheels, “Work” = Work, work that dirty word, the dirtiest word I ever heard.”

Last year at this time on the Camino.

The following 7 principles that outline God’s view of work:

1) God ordained and approves work.

Adam and Eve were given jobs in the  Garden ( Genesis 1).

2) Retirement as we know it isn’t in the Bible.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground – Genesis 3:19

3) Work isn’t punishment. 

²⁴  There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵  for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (ESV)

Work Quotes:

“Work is so foundational to our makeup that it is one of the few things we can take in significant doses without harm. Indeed, the Bible does not say we should work one day and rest six or that work and rest should be balanced evenly but directs us to the opposite ratio. Leisure and pleasure are great goods, but we can take only so much of them.” – Tim Keller

“Read the Bible. Work hard and honestly. And don’t complain.” – Billy Graham

“Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavors, even the best, will come to naught. Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a true reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling, can matter forever.” – Tim Keller

“I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.” – Martin Luther

When God wanted sponges and oysters He made them and put one on a rock and the other in the mud. When He made man He did not make him to be a sponge or an oyster; He made him with feet and hands, and head and heart, and vital blood, and a place to use them and He said to him, “Go work.”” – Henry Ward Beecher

“It is by human avarice or human stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork.” – C.S. Lewis

“Pray a little more, work a little harder, save, wait, be patient and, most of all, live within our means. That’s the American way. It’s not spending ourselves into prosperity or taxing ourselves into prosperity.” — Mike Huckabee

“Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 4) Work has Purpose.

It provides money or resources to supply the necessities of life; to provides for a quality of life in the satisfaction of doing a job well; and to serve God.

5) Work requires & builds Christ like character.

²²  Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:22-24 (ESV)

6) A Disciple of Jesus works only for Him.

⁵  Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, ⁶  not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷  rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, ⁸  knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Ephesians 6:5-8 (ESV)

7) Work is honorable.

³¹  So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

The Disciple Up Low Down On Work

 Please Get In Touch!

Email – louie@discipleup.org

 

Check out the Disciple Up Facebook page:

My book –