Nat Crawford - Executive Coach, Speaker, Leader

*Updated 12/2019* Last week we began exploring the question of “ Did Jesus promote socialism ?” In case you missed it, read it here . We looked at two passages in particular: Luke 6 and 14. We discovered that God is the source of all of our resources. As a follower of Christ, we are to help those in need freely because of our love of God. Because we want to be good stewards of what he has given us. God does not rip His money and resources out of our hands to give away. That is not God’s model. God wants us help as the Spirit leads in accordance to our love for Him. This week we’ll examine Matthew 25. It reads, ““For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me…Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (NASB, Mat...

Matthew 7:1, " Do not judge so that you will not be judged" is one of the most misunderstood and quoted used passages of Scripture by Christians and non-Christians alike. How many of us have either been told or have even said "Don't judge!" But what does that mean? For total perspective I encourage you to read the verses surrounding Matthew 7:1 to gain proper context. And for the sake of this conciseness of this blog, let me offer this insight. The term "judge" can mean " to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose." It can also be to the extreme as to condemn to hell. When Jesus said " Do not judge so that you will not be judged ", He was not saying to turn aside healthy discernment.  As John MacArthur states, "As the context reveals, this doe snot prohibit all types of judging (v. 16). There is a righteous kind of judgment we are supposed to exercise with careful discernment (John 7:24). Censorious, hypocrit...

There are skeptics out there who want to believe that the Bible condones and even promotes slavery. This is laughable at best. But to understand the Bible’s view on it, one must put to use good hermeneutics! Why? Because context is everything! We know that the Mosaic Laws were made up of moral, ceremonial, and judicial. When we know that we can start to see how application can be made. We realize the social pieces were unique for them in their time in for their culture. The ceremonial parts were mostly fulfilled in Christ. The moral elements are ones we need to pay particular attention to.  Look at Exodus 23:9. “ “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt” (NIV). The Israelites were once slaves in Egypt. They knew oppression. Here we see that oppression and treatment based on birth place was condemned. Look at Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them...