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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for March 18, 2010
“Paul’s Pipelines”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Paul’s letters contain things that are hard to understand.
That statement doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, until I tell you who said it.
It was the Apostle Peter, as he wrote in Second Peter 3:16.
Well Paul’s letters do contain things that are hard to understand, and one reason is that he uses run-on sentences. That’s what my English teacher would have called them. Paul wrote in complex sentences that are sometimes hard to unravel.
Add to that the fact that he is writing about spiritual matters that are hard to grasp anyway and it’s enough to make you want to close your Bible and go get all your spiritual nourishment from Veggie Tales.
Well hang in there! I’m about to give you a little tip that has helped me plow through Paul’s epistles.
One linking word that Paul uses a lot is the word “through.” Just when you thought you knew what he was talking about he throws in the word through and compounds the sentence.
So here is what I do. When I see the word “through” I just picture a little pipeline. Whatever Paul is talking about, it is coming through that pipeline.
Sometimes I actually draw it out on paper. I draw the little pipeline, then I label it. Something is coming to me, and it is coming through that pipeline. If I know the pipeline, I can place myself at the end of it and receive whatever is coming through it.
Are you with me so far? Can you picture a little pipe, and yourself standing at the end of it to receive?
For example, look at Romans 3:22. It says, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…”
So we have this righteousness from God, and it’s coming to us who believe, but it’s coming through something. That is the pipeline that we have to stand at the end of.
This righteousness from God is coming through the pipeline labeled “faith in Jesus Christ.” If I want that righteousness from God, I have to receive it through the pipeline of faith in Christ. When I put my faith in Christ, I put myself at the end of the pipe through which I receive that righteousness from God.
Do you get it? Can you picture it in your mind?
Now let’s look at another pipeline, and this one is labeled “the Law,” as in the Old Testament Law. This is going to help us understand Galatians 2:21 which says, “…for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died in vain.”
So the pipeline is labeled “the Law” and again, what we want to receive is righteousness from God. So if we stand at the end of “the Law” pipeline, will righteousness come out?
According to Galatians 2:21, it will not. Righteousness does not come through that pipe. So you could stand at the end of that pipeline all day long – in other words, you could keep the Old Testament Law all day long – and you would still not receive this righteousness from God.
But thank God we learned from Romans 3:22 to go to another pipe, the one labeled “faith in Christ.”
So when you see the word “through” in Paul’s letters, just picture a little pipeline with something coming through it.
Now let’s use our new pipeline tool to unravel Philippians 4:13. It says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Have you ever tried to picture what that looks like? What does it mean to do something “through” Christ?
Well break it down. “I can do all things” means “I have the ability to do all things;” and this ability is coming through a pipeline. And you guessed it, the pipeline is Christ. So if I want the ability to do all things, I need to position myself at the end of the pipeline labeled “Christ.” Through Christ I can receive the ability to do all things.
Of course Paul wasn’t the only New Testament writer that used the word “through.” Peter himself used it in Second Peter 1:3. It says that God’s divine power “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him…”
So how do we access “all things that pertain to life and godliness”? They are coming through a pipeline that is labeled “the knowledge of Him.” So we need to get to the end of that pipeline, for “through the knowledge of Him” is where we will receive “all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
A pipeline is also a limiting factor. You may have a water pipe running through your yard, but the water is not going everywhere; it is limited to the confines of the pipe.
So when you read the word “through” in the Bible, consider the limitations.
For example, Romans 3:24 says we are “justified freely by His grace,” but it doesn’t stop there. It adds a limiting pipeline. It says, “…through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
See, we are not justified freely by His grace…period. God’s justifying grace comes through a pipeline, and that is “the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Get it? Yes, we are justified freely by God’s grace, but it’s not just running everywhere. It is limited to the confines of this pipeline – the redemptive work of Christ. If you remove the redemptive work of Christ, you don’t get the free justification of God’s grace.
Well I hope this little tool helps you as much as it helps me. Just think about it the next time you read a complicated sentence in the Bible.
When you come across the word “through,” just picture it coming it through a little pipeline.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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