The Journal of Biblical Accuracy,

Year 9, Issue 71, September – October 2004

http://www.jba.gr/

Articles

• About Friendship
• About Love and Fruit
• Conformed to this world – what are your
values?
• Hunger for God
• About Manna and the Word of God

Please feel free to copy and forward this issue

The Journal of Biblical Accuracy
http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• About Friendship

Please feel free to copy and forward this article

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 About Friendship

Do you have friends? Who are they? How did the friendships begin? What
makes them your friends? What is friendship? Many questions that one can have when
thinking about this vital subject. In this article I will try to answer some of those
questions.

When you browse the Bible in your mind, who pops up first when you think of
“a friend” or “friendship”? I first thought of God and Moses:

Exodus 33: 11a

“And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”

When I read this verse I was wondering how a friendship comes to pass. Every
time you move to a new town/city/state or join another church you go through the
same thing again – making friends. You see new people, observe what they do, how
they speak, look for the things that you highly estimate in a friend then meet them to
find out that they are maybe not even keen on going out for a coffee with you. How
can this happen after you selected this person so carefully?

In the Bible, the only reference that I found for how friendship comes to pass is
in 1 Samuel 18: 1:

“And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of
Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”

When I look at the friendships in my life I must say that it was just that way –
looking at the relationship after some time I realized that we had become friends. I had
not chosen that friend, something was just there that I hadn’t found with all the others,
a mutual liking.

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 I met my best friend Maria in a home fellowship, invited her for a breakfast the
first evening for the following weekend and she said that she wouldn’t accept my
invitation because on a weekend it would take her too much time to get to another city
using public transport. I didn’t have a car either and thus suggested that she could
come the day before which would be a weekday, and public transport would be more
readily available. She agreed. When she came we had such a great time that she stayed
for the whole weekend.

Before I had invited her for breakfast I didn’t even think of what kind of person
she was, if she was up to my standards, if she was “spiritual” enough, if she was
behaving all right, etc. I just invited her.

What is friendship, how does it manifest, what should a friend be like? My

husband has a stunning answer to “What should a friend be like?” – “Friendly”. At
first I was shocked with the simplicity of his answer. But I must say that this is really
the gist of it.

The Bible gives a manifold answer to this question and I will put down the
verses and let them speak for themselves:

Give of your own belongings

1 Samuel 18: 4:
“And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David,
and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.”

Trust, even in danger

1 Samuel 20: 1:
“And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What
have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he
seeketh my life? ”

Be willing to help
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1 Samuel 20: 4:
“Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for
thee.”

Love your friend as yourself

1 Samuel 20: 17:
“And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him
as he loved his own soul.”

Impart faith, point towards God

1 Samuel 23: 16, 18:
“And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened
his hand in God. And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in
the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.”

Show compassion in affliction

Job 6: 14a:
“To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend”

Love at all times

Proverbs 17:17:
“A friend loveth at all times”

Be friendly and closer than a brother

Proverbs 18: 24:
“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother.”

Give good advice

Proverbs 27: 9:
“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by
hearty counsel.”
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Shape and be shaped
Proverbs 27:17:
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

Can be a mirror
Proverbs 27: 19:
“As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.”

Help each other

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10a:
“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they
fall, the one will lift up his fellow”

Help even if you don’t feel like it

Lucas 11: 8:
“I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet
because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”

In the Bible we find an outstanding personality, someone who goes to the

extreme of friendship and even lays down his life:

John 15:13:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Of course we know that it was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who laid
down His life for us. He calls us His friends. What does this mean for us?

John 15: 14-15:

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not
servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you
friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
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This verse is the link between God speaking to Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to
his friend” and Jesus Christ being our friend – speaking openly, being frank, friendly,
trusting, devoted, committed, being closer than a brother, loving the friend even if it
means to give the life.

James 2:23:
“And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was
imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”

God gave us a free will. It’s up to us who we are friends with:

James 4:4:
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

We choose to spend time with God or not, speak with Him and listen or not. I
shared the same flat with my best friend Maria for 6 ½ years until I got married. Our
friendship rests upon a good foundation which cannot be shaken easily. Maria taught
me that relationships are about love and forgiveness. Many things we learned while
going through them rather than avoiding them. We chose to be friends no matter if
each of us gets married because we realized that it is very difficult to keep up a
friendship from a distance. God knows that too:

James 4: 8a:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” Or as the The Message puts it,
more “friendly”: “Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time.”

Abraham is also called a friend of God and it is written about him that he
walked with God. He didn’t walk before Him or was miles behind Him but with Him
and that made the difference.

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 My mom taught me to treat my friends the way that I wish they would treat me.
I know that not every friendship is like the one of David and Jonathan or Andrea and
Maria. But I encourage you and me to be a genuine (same inside as outside) friend
without expecting anything back, loving unconditionally and forgiving one another,
walking in the steps of our friend and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Andrea Kioulachoglou

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The Journal of Biblical Accuracy
http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• About Love and Fruit

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 About Love and Fruit

When asked, I found it difficult to say what love actually is. It was much easier
for me to describe love.

God is love and He cannot be seen. But we know of His existence. The
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made (Romans 1:20). It is therefore possible to see
God’s love when we look around us, the flowers, the plants and the trees that He
created in all their diversity. We find them all over the world, they provide food for us,
we can build houses of wood, we can enjoy them and we can just marvel about them
as we observe the changes in the seasons. And we haven’t even mentioned any of the
animals that God created.

The film “Love actually“ shows in different episodes relationships between

people and the kind of love they experience for one another. It’s about the way they
treat each other because they love.

So, how does it manifest when I love someone? I am happy to see the other, to
be with him, gladly do him a favor, tell him nice things, get him a present and rejoice
when he rejoices.

God is love. What did He do to show His love to us? The Bible tells us in John
3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The outstanding fact in this verse is for me that God loved the people so much
that He gave. We, you and me, were lost. God wanted to rescue us because we would
have been eternally lost otherwise. Likewise it is with our relationships towards other
people:

It’s not about us, it’s about the other one

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 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that we should know that God gives His children
of His Spirit, that it is possible and vital to manifest this gift in every day life. He
continues to say in 1 Corinthians 13:1 that if I speak in the tongues of angels but don’t
love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

I don’t know about you, but at least for me this seems rather challenging. In 1
Corinthians 13 Paul lays out the excellent way, the best way of all, for exercising the
gifts of the Spirit. The gist of it is: Let’s do it with God’s love. The necessity and
importance of it is that we all need love.

The good thing is that Paul didn’t leave the Corinthians alone, letting them
figure out what he could have meant by that and then doing it their way. They had
already been living their “Christian” lives their way and Paul was not pleased at all
with the result. Paul understood that the Corinthians needed to grow in expressing their
love in caring for the body of Christ. That’s why he gave them a description of love in
1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

The nine characteristics of love we find are: patience, kindness, generosity,

humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness, and sincerity. These nine
characteristics or expressions of love communicate love of one human being to another
regardless of background. No one will naturally express his love in all these ways, of
course. Some people are patient and kind by nature, but they lack humility. We all
need God’s help to love His way. The good thing is that He already did His part to
help us by shedding His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us
(Romans 5:5). This kind of love is not limited in any way. So we can give it away
freely and abundantly without fearing to run out of it.

Very often the Bible relates to Christians as to trees. We find an example for
this in Psalm 1:1-3:

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“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the
LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also
shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

I would love to be like a tree planted by the river that gives fruit. I was always
wondering how to bring forth fruit in my life. For much of my life I focused on the
gifts of the Spirit rather than the fruit. When you plant a tree, eventually fruit is
expected. And you know what kind of fruit to expect when you plant a cherry tree.
God sowed Christ and He reaps Christians.

God says in His Word that everything should bring forth fruit after its kind
(Genesis 1:11). So what did God sow into us? Let the following verses speak to you:

Matthew 13:23 (the parable of the sower and the seed):

”But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty.”

Ephesians 1:13:
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of
promise”

1 Peter 1:23:
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever.”

John 15:8:
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

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 No doubt God wants us to be fruitful. In the Gospel of John we find that chapter
15 is all about how we can actually be fruitful. The main thing is to have an intimate
relationship with Jesus Christ because He is the vine and we are the branches. THEN
we will bring fruit.

Let me summarize what you read in this article so far: God loves us. He showed
His love towards us by giving His Son. Love is about how we treat someone. It’s not
about us, but about the others. The apostle Paul outlines the best way how to exercise
Spiritual gifts – with God’s love. This way seems impossible but it is possible because
God poured His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit so that we have a source for His
love; from God through us to others. God wants us to have a fruitful life. Jesus Christ
is the Vine, we are the branches. When we stay connected with Him we will bring
forth fruit.

Now that we learnt all that, what kind of fruit should we expect? God’s Word
clearly states the answer for us in Galatians 5:22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ”

I was almost shocked to see how this passage about the fruit of the Spirit
corresponds to the characteristics of love.

I encourage you to write down the nine characteristics of love that we saw in 1
Corinthians 13:4-7 next to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Prayerfully
review them, examine your love and allow God to show you where you can improve to
grow more and more in His love.

Remember that
- The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ
(John 1:17).

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 - Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your
neighbor as yourself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark
12:33).

Andrea Kioulachoglou

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The Journal of Biblical Accuracy
http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• Conformed to this world – what are your

values?

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 Conformed to this world – what are your values?

In our days people seem to do what is right in their own eyes. How does it
manifest? Well, women have abortions because a baby doesn’t fit into their career
plans, men don’t want to marry because they would rather live without the
responsibility that goes with it, families are shattered because people believe in being
right and getting even rather than in love and forgiveness, etc. The book of Judges
suggests a reason for the present situation:

Judges 17, 6:
“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in
his own eyes.”

What does it concern us?

Romans 15, 4:
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

So, let’s see what we can learn from what is written at the beginning of the Bible:

In the book of Joshua, Joshua led the people from one victory to another. The
following book in the Bible is the book of Judges. There the people go from one defeat
to another. How that happened? A bit earlier in the Bible, God had delivered the
people out of slavery in Egypt, He had led them through the wilderness while
instructing them through Moses and Joshua on how to live in faith and obedience
according to His will and as His subjects, so that it may be well with them. The book
of Joshua even ends with the nation of Israel taking a stand for God, ready to
experience the blessings of the Promised Land.

After settling in Canaan, however, the Israelites lost their spiritual commitment
and motivation. The book of Judges finds the people of Israel without a strong central
government. The reason for their rapid decline was sin. The first step away from God
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was incomplete obedience; the Israelites refused to eliminate the enemy completely
from the land. This led to intermarriage and idolatry and everyone doing what was
right in their own eyes. It didn’t take long until the Israelites became captives.
Eventually they were so desperate that they begged God to rescue them. God being
faithful to His promise and out of His loving kindness, raised up a judge to deliver his
people, and for a time there would be peace. After some time complacency and
disobedience would set in, and the cycle would begin again. Which cycle do you
observe in your life?

In the first part of this article I was speaking about people in this world without
referring to any specific group. In the second part of this article we saw God’s dealings
with His chosen people. How can we connect those two? The apostle Paul gives us a
clue to this:

Romans 12: 2:
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

God’s will for us is to be conformed to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. And because Jesus Christ is our Lord we do have even the King of kings whom
we serve, according to His leadership.

Let me ask a bold question: What has influenced the world more, the church or
Hollywood?!

God made everything available through His Son Jesus Christ so that we may
walk in what God wants us to walk, that we may have all that God wants us to have.
We don’t need to bow to the evil world and live according to their standards and
values. His sheep hear His voice, Jesus said. God enables us to do His will. Where we
fail – and we will – He is faithful to forgive so that we can go on.

Galatians 1: 4:
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“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world,
according to the will of God and our Father”

What is most important in your life? What does God say in His word what
should be most important in your life? Which are the values/principles in your life? I
encourage you to take pen and paper and write down what you want to be important in
your/your family’s life. How much do you value truth or do you tend to compromise
for the sake of telling a good story? Do you laugh too when others gossip because you
don’t want to feel left out or do you take a stand for God and try to esteem the other
one higher than yourself, even if it means to leave the group and end up being the
subject of their gossip? Are you willing to be a submissive wife because God says so
or only when you agree with the leadership of your husband? Will you take the
responsibility for your family as the head or will you let it slip away because you are
so busy at work?

I pray that God reveals His will to you personally that you may know which
values/principles you are to set and to keep in your life, that you may do what is right
in His eyes, to His glory. Amen.

Andrea Kioulachoglou

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The Journal of Biblical Accuracy
http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• Hunger for God

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 Hunger for God

Proverbs 27:7:
“The full soul loatheth a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is
sweet.”

The Message puts the same verse as follows: “When you've stuffed yourself,
you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.”

We are also so saturated or stuffed with things that we reject God’s honeycomb.
We are not hungry for God.

In Revelation 3: 14-16 the Laodiceans are told that they are neither cold nor hot
but lukewarm. On top of that the Lord tells them that they say they are rich and don’t
have need of anything not realizing that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked.

We know that King David was rich; he left to his son Solomon all the material
to build the temple, including all the gold that was needed to do so. Yet he admitted in
Psalm 86, 1 that he was poor and needy; desperate for God.

In Revelation 3: 20 we read that Jesus the Christ knocks on our door. How do
we respond to His knocking? Do we finish our business first and then open the door?
Do we need to clean up our house first in order to open the door to our Lord? Or do we
rush to the door because we have been desperately waiting for our loved One?

Have you ever hungered for a pizza with your favourite toppings, were
desperate to get to your parents´ house to find your favorite meal that your mom had
cooked just for you? Hunger is the key element in whether or not we live in intimacy
with the Lord. Maybe you need to fast again in order to newly relate to this.

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 The last time I fasted it was like being elevated into a different sphere while
still experiencing earthly life, but living it from a different level. I didn’t really want to
start eating again, but when I did I enjoyed being saturated. I want to hunger for my
Lord in the way the soil in the desert cracks open, desperate to receive the rain. When I
started to eat again, eating had become different. The mere gushing down of a meal
had turned into a feast of my senses. After a meal I was not full but saturated.

Usually it is easier for us to be excited about a new movie, vacation in an exotic

location or a night out with friends. But as much as I can be excited about such things I
would love to be excited about spending time with my Lord. I want to be saturated by
Him and with Him.

Let’s look at the example of Israel:

Exodus 16: 4:
“Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and
the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them,
whether they will walk in my law, or no.”

God had said that he would rain bread from heaven. Yet the children of Israel
had to make an effort every day to get their daily bread. Interestingly the Bible states
more: God is testing the Israelites if they will make this daily effort to gather the
heavenly bread whether they will walk in His law or not. Which effort do you make?
Is it a daily effort?

John 6: 35:
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

If you want to have life, and I mean real life, you need to choose life:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20:
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“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life
and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may
live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and
that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that
thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

John 14: 6:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.”

Have you been saturated with the things of life and on a fast concerning your
relationship with your Lord? I suggest you end this fast by starting to eat small
portions of the heavenly bread, Jesus Christ. Enjoy being saturated by Him and with
Him. Decide today to make the effort and gather your bread daily. I pray that you are
determined and overcome whatever you need to overcome to spend time with your
Lord. May He reveal Himself to you personally in a new way that saturates you like
never before, that you develop a passionate relationship with Him, love Him with all
your heart, soul, mind and strength. Amen.

Hebrews 11: 6b:

“…he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Andrea Kioulachoglou

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The Journal of Biblical Accuracy
http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• About Manna and the Word of God

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 About Manna and the Word of God

As I was reading the book of Exodus again I was surprised to find more about
the manna than I noticed before. I would like to share some thoughts with you:

The first occurrence of the heavenly bread is in Exodus 16:4: “Then said the
Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall
go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will
walk in my law, or no.”

God promised to meet the need of food in the wilderness. The bread that God
supplied was not something processed, a product from a bakery in the wilderness, it
came straight from heaven, right to where the people were. Also it could be eaten the
way it came, yet they could also cook or bake it. God makes clear that He supplies
their daily need for food, but they would have to go out and gather their bread every
day. This Manna was a supernatural gift from God. Daily He rained about 4500 tons of
it down for them, for 40 years!

Jesus instructs us the same way when He directs His disciples to pray, give us
this day our daily bread. Sometimes we might find ourselves in wilderness situations
where everything seems to be too hot, dried up, without life or growth and we think we
are going in the opposite direction of our dreams. We may feel unloved and even
ignored. God appears to be miles away and His promises even farther. He is, however,
close for He has promised never to leave of forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). So we do not
need to be discouraged because even in the wilderness the Lord keeps His promises
and meets our need for bread from heaven, sufficient bread, everybody according to
his eating (Exodus 16:18). All we have to do is go out and get it. That applies to all of
us! It speaks about “daily bread” and not about the “abundance of things”. It’s about
what we need and not about what we want. And God wants us to trust Him concerning
our needs. At times the going out to gather the bread seems to be the main struggle
because it requires action and often effort. We can get it daily from the Supreme

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Supplier, the Source, not from a can (e.g. tapes, DVDs, TV, books about the Bible).
Daily does not mean that once per week, maybe Sunday, is enough.

Remember what Satan tempted Jesus with (also in the wilderness!) and what
Jesus replied in Matthew 4:4: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” I like the way The Message puts the reply of
our Lord: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words
from God's mouth." It’s not about the manifestation but about the presence of God.
God’s Word in an ultimate sense is Jesus Christ, John 5:39: “Search the Scriptures; for
in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

John 6:32-35:
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the
bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst.”

Do you see the analogy between the manna of the wilderness, the bread from
heaven and Jesus Christ as the bread of life? Manna was white, suggesting purity and
holiness, and sweet like honey. Interestingly the manna fell in the night upon dew, not
dust (Numbers 11:9). Jesus Christ is a gift from God, freely given, for us. There is a
daily need, a daily provision and it is to be gathered and eaten by everybody
individually.

I pray that we discern our wants from our needs so that we can focus on the
heart of God. That we will do whatever it costs to go out every day to gather our daily
bread that God provides for each one of us. May we enjoy it, for it tastes like wafers
with honey (Exodus 16:31b), and eat as much as we need, so that it strengthens our
bodies and we may be saturated and purified. Amen

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Jeremiah 15:16: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto
me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of
hosts.”

Andrea Kioulachoglou

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