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Month: July 2019

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Keeping it Christlike

We live in a world of mixed messages.

Consider the farmer for example who drove his tractor around his field to make a huge love heart for his wife – the heart, it turns out, was made entirely out of manure! What was he actually saying to his wife? His words said one thing but the medium which he used to express it said something very different.

No word on how the marriage fared as a result…

Here’s a good one:

Moving on, I find that some Christ followers seem to be as spiritually schizophrenic as the secular world around them.

What do I mean?

On Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other more “hip” social media platforms some guys identifying themselves as Christians, post images of both Jesus and pinup girls on their pages and girls likewise – the male equivalent; some believers post quotes too lewd to actually be publicly stated in many circles even today and then their next post is an invitation to a church service or a quote from the Bible or some Christian author; believer and unbeliever alike call each other out and say all manner of evil about each other from behind keyboards and then pretend to love and get along with one another in public – that is spiritual schizophrenia.

What does the Bible say of this?

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8 KJV

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:8–12, NKJV)

To be double minded is to be of a different mind at different times such as one who is blown about by every wind of doctrine or new idea. More than a few believers are more than just double minded though; it is not that they have differing thoughts at different times but rather they are in a state of either constant compromise or conflict within themselves. They either believe that to be foul mouthed, vulgar, hateful and lewd are in perfect accord with their profession of faith in Jesus Christ, in which case they are living as carnal Christians or else, they are too spiritually immature to realize that the two mindsets are NOT in accord and cannot be. But before I stay on this soap box too long, let me say this – it isn’t just lewdness, vulgarity, hate and the like which are the only things incongruent with love, joy, peace, etc…the fruit of the Spirit and mind of Christ; many times, our attitudes run counter to our profession of faith as well.

The Bible tells us in (Colossians3:8) for example “put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your heart…” attitudes like pride, anger, hate, bigotry or prejudice all flow from the same heart that drives our fingers to post lewd, provocative and hateful things on social media etc.

The problem is that each of us has a heart condition.

The Lord Jesus Christ said that “out of the (overflow or) abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34) later, speaking to Peter and the other disciples He said “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man… ” (Matthew 15:18–20, NKJV)

What can we do about our heart condition?

James says, “purify your heart!” (James 4:8)

Quickly, for those who have never been “born again” (see John 3:3) your purification begins with Jesus – trusting in Him for the eternal life He made possible by His sacrificial atoning death on the cross: (John 3:7) “you MUST be born again!” But for we who are the followers of Jesus Christ, the process of purification is our daily sanctification and conformation to the mind and the life of the Lord Jesus. In other words, our purification becomes something we are DIRECTLY involved in. By yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to transform our thoughts and through our daily exposure to the Word of God (see Romans 12:2) our hearts will be purged (purified) over time of those things which are contrary to God and replaced by “the wisdom from above:” (James 3:17) new attitudes, new actions and most of all the kind of consistency which declares to anyone observing our life: “I AM a child of God!”

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Mountain Moving Faith

“If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you(!)” (Matthew 17:20 [emphasis mine])

What was Jesus talking about? Is one of the marks of spiritual maturity the ability to move mountains like Kilimanjaro or Everest where ever we wish? In (Matt.21:21) where again we see words to this effect with the added “If you have faith and do not doubt you will say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ it will be done;” both the Mount of Olives and the Temple mount would have been in view, even so mountain moving faith is not concerned merely with geographical formations of rock – He is directing our faith towards the impossible.

Again, we are forced to ask, “Is this graduate level faith?” I would say, yes and no; in one sense, it is faith born out of trust in God. Part of our problem when we pray is that we are focusing on our ability to believe instead of God’s willingness to answer the prayers of His people, His integrity to keep His promises and His power to do the impossible; as we learn to (1 Peter 5:7) “cast our cares upon Him” who cares for us we develop greater confidence in the Lord. But I would also say “no” in the sense that mountain moving faith does not depend on our level of faith. Mountain moving faith is not faith in faith; it is not an amount of faith which produces a desired result – it IS faith in God which produces a result.

Are there any mountains in your life which need moving?

I know some people in my own life that are facing IMPOSSIBLE situations right now. Some of them are in despair not knowing that there is hope in every hopeless situation. But hope is not tied to our ability to figure out the solution to our problems, rather it is tied to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – it IS tied to prayer and a reliance on the Lord for whatever is best.

Read (Mark 9:14-27) for one account of a man who brought His son to the disciples of Jesus and then finally to the Lord Himself. He had enough faith in the Lord to seek Him for help yet lacked a confidence in Him to do the impossible, saying, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief (v.24)!” If you can pray nothing else in your impossible moment – pray like that…

Finally, of the most hopeless and impossible situations which may trouble us none is more hopeless and impossible than our spiritual condition. Every last one of us is a sinner upon whom God’s wrath abides (John 3:36); the wage for our sin is eternal separation from God and condemnation in hell (see Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:15). We cannot deliver ourselves from this condition or condemnation but Jesus can and has made eternal life available to all who will call on and trust in Him (Romans 10:12-13, John 3:16). Jesus heals us from the illness which no doctor can (see Isaiah 53:5) and may heal and deliver us from any and all impossible illnesses in this life but He may not heal us now and He may not deliver us now.

His promise, to those who believe in Him in this life assures us however that in the life to come we will be healed, set free and made whole while in this life we will have peace (Isaiah 26:3) whatever the circumstance because we have trusted in Him who moves mountains.

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A Good Way to Die

The subject on my mind today is an uncomfortable subject to discuss, some might even say morbid but death is as important an aspect of life as living is and is a subject most often dealt with at the end of someone else’s life.

I was lying in my bed, tossing and turning, unable to really rest when the thought hit me – is there really a GOOD way to die? All sorts of thoughts then flooded my mind, circumstances – reasons or causes which lead to the end of life.

Some die in noble circumstances. Some die running into burning buildings and towers to rescue the injured; some die upholding justice; some as they strive for the safety and protection of their family during natural disasters like floods and earthquakes or from the invasion of some more sinister force; some die for their love whether it be their girl, wife, husband, man or child and some die for freedom.

Some die in ignoble or dishonorable and shameful circumstances. They die in the commission of or as a consequence of committing a crime like theft or murder or for some other evil against another person or people.

To this, the Bible says in (1 Peter 4:15-16):

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.”

Peter’s reference to suffering addresses imprisonment whether for noble or ignoble reasons but the verb used for suffering involves experiencing pain ( I would suggest, even the pain of death) as a consequence for an action, belief or behavior.

Death occurs as a result of many things: ignorance, carelessness, recklessness, hate; from a bullet, bomb or a car driven by a drunk. Death occurs from natural causes like old age, illness, diseases like cancer and worse; and from unnatural causes stemming from the abuse of our own bodies – from too much food, too much booze, too many medications and various other addictions. Some die in their waking hours, fully aware and some die in their sleep.

When thinking of the best way to die, many will respond – in their sleep but I want to tell you that the BEST way to die is in the arms of a loving Savior.

You see, the reality is that death is only a pause in our existence rather than a permanent end. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God is quoted to have said in (John 5:25-29):

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

My friends, apart from receiving and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, every human being is dead already in a spiritual sense and because each of us is comprised of a body, soul and spirit – spiritual life and death matters. Life is not limited to this realm of existence only, in fact I would say that this life is only important in so much as in your lifetime you may turn to the living God for eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and then to follow the Lord and live for Jesus, sharing the good news by word and actions…discipling others as you go. That’s a good way to LIVE!

The BEST way to die is as a good person or while doing good but Jesus said – “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Luke 18:19) Likewise, Paul in (Romans 3:10) says that “there is none righteous, no not one!” (emphasis added) Only by trusting in Jesus Christ can anyone ever be “good enough” to enter into eternal life (see John 14:6). But when Jesus says some will be resurrected to life and some to the resurrection of condemnation He is saying that all who ever saw life in THIS world will also live in eternity either to experience all the joys of eternal life with Him in Heaven (see Matt. 25:21,23) or to suffer all the agony of eternal condemnation in hell without Him (see Revelation 20:11-15).

Is there a good way to die? Yes, Jesus declared it so in (John 5:24):

““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

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Free Indeed!

One of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith is that the servants of Jesus are also free and not just free a little but free to the uttermost.

In reality we exchanged masters when we came to trust in Jesus Christ. But the “bondage” to sin to which we formerly submitted is not the same as the relationship we have with Jesus.

“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:18 (NKJV)

Jesus Christ set us free from our former task-master to live in a new way and for a new reason. As sinners we lived for the gratification of our own flesh but because we received salvation through Jesus Christ our desire turned to a desire to please and glorify Him who saved us (John 15:8, Philippians 1:11, [2 Timothy 2:4], 1Peter 4:11).

Our slavery comes at the cost of a life…as slaves of sin, our own life is required resulting not only in physical but spiritual death which is eternal separation from God but as slaves of God (Roman’s 6:22) the cost is the life and precious blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:23, 1 Peter 1:18-19) resulting in eternal life.

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11–12 (NKJV)

Because Jesus set us free in such a way we love Him (1 John 4:19) and our servitude is not seen by us as bondage (1 John 5:3) rather it becomes our greatest joy.

All of us want to live life to the full and will spend a lifetime trying to make such abundant living their reality but Jesus made a point to His disciples in (John 8:31-36) that I think those looking for such a life should consider:

He said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

To what have you presented yourself as a servant to obey? Sex? Money? Fame? All of these seek only to TAKE your life but only Jesus GIVES life “and that more abundantly.” In Him, you will be free indeed….

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In-dependence!

Since the beginning of our nation and of western civilization centuries earlier, freedom has been at the core of it all.

Freedom ~ that idea which is built on the back of both faith and reason; faith because freedom apart from faith lacks morality and is reduced to nothing more than hedonistic pursuits of “whatever I want,” and reason or rational thought because it considers more than one’s own self interests. The kind of freedom that Jesus Christ affirmed in His conversations with those He met which allowed people to choose to follow Him or not, or to act either properly or improperly as they chose.

Mankind however, has always pursued freedom, autonomy or self rule by casting off or ignoring every authority or voice of authority including the authority of God Himself. Humans have a rebellious spirit…in our fallen nature, we have a spirit of anarchy within us – we want freedom and we want it to the full measure. To achieve it, people are willing to throw off both the voice of reason and the voice of faith.

We WANT independence!!!

We WANT autonomy!!!

But we can’t HANDLE it, because apart from faith and reason we will take what we want FROM one another even up to each others very life. In the name of independence and autonomy we will only do what seems “right in our own eyes” and we’ve already seen where that leads (see Judges [21:25]).

The gender dispute of these days seeks to throw off the voice of reason and of faith. The issue of abortion seeks to throw off the voice of reason and of faith. Much of what we hear being argued for by junior leaders in Washington and the sophmorically wise in our universities is an effort to throw off the voice of reason and the voice of faith.

Listen, you can do that. You can ignore God, ignore reason, ignore faith; you can chase after whatever you want but ignoring the voice does not nullify the authority behind it nor the consequences that come for doing life your way (Proverbs 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20:11-15).

It may be a dark saying but I encourage you to think about it…

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