Sunday, October 15, 2017

GodsView : Step Into the Encouragement Zone!

GodsView : Step Into the Encouragement Zone!: During the past few months our nation has witnessed devastating natural disasters that demolished entire communities and took the live...

Step Into the Encouragement Zone!


During the past few months our nation has witnessed devastating natural disasters that demolished entire communities and took the lives and livelihoods of many Americans. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have negatively impacted millions[i] of people and left behind billions of dollars in damages. As difficult and challenging as these events have been, and will continue to be for multitudes of people, these catastrophic events have allowed our nation to come together to help those affected. In response to Hurricane Harvey alone, companies have promised to donate more than $65 million to help with relief efforts—and that number is still rising. This is not including all private donations and time spent volunteering by people across the United States.[ii] It has encouraged the nation as we have observed neighbor helping neighbor—but we need to remember that we shouldn’t simply be observers when it comes to encouragement.
Practical and purposeful encouragement is something each of us can do, but too often we miss the opportunity in the busyness of our lives. I’ll confess I’m not a natural-born encourager. Often I’m so focused on my day that I don’t notice when others have a need. But I’m learning to be deliberate about it—even when it’s not convenient.

Living in the I-Zone (Interruption Zone)
            Sometimes our best opportunities to encourage someone come at the worst times for us. It’s one thing to provide help when it’s convenient. But we must learn to respond when it’s not convenient or easy. Think of it as living within the I-Zone—living with interruptions.
Leadership books tell us how to minimize interruptions, and we’re wise to figure out how to focus our concentration on the project at hand. But we must also accept the interruptions that come as divine opportunities.
The best examples come directly from the life of Christ. When He was on His way to visit a ruler named Jairus whose daughter was deathly sick, Jesus was interrupted by a woman who touched the hem of His garment and was healed of her infirmity. Mark records, “Jesus… turned around… and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?’” (5:30)
Think of the anguish of Jairus, watching anxiously as Jesus tarried with the woman. Then news arrived that his daughter had died. But Jesus simply stated, “Do not be afraid… only believe.” And the interruption became an opportunity for grace.
Or consider the time our Lord’s sermon was interrupted by four men tearing up the roof so they could lower their paralyzed friend to Him. Or the time His message in the synagogue in Nazareth was interrupted by a riot. We could even talk about the way His life was interrupted by crucifixion—and His death by resurrection.
Our Lord was a master at limiting interruptions and then at utilizing the ones He couldn’t avoid. He taught us to do the same, saying, “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:41). The second mile is sometimes outside our encouragement zone. Most of us can deal with the first mile, but the second takes effort. But how wonderful to know God is in control of our schedules and that sometimes interruptions are the ministry.

Living in the E-Zone (Encouragement Zone)
Once when facing a great political crisis William Gladstone, one of England’s most famous prime ministers, sat at home in the early hours working on a speech with which he hoped to win a great victory in the House of Commons the next day. At two in the morning, the mother of a poor disabled boy came to the door. Her son was dying, and she wondered if Mr. Gladstone would come and comfort him. Without hesitation, the great Commoner left the preparation of his speech and spent the night leading the child to Christ. Staying till the dawn broke, Gladstone closed the eyes of the dead child and returned home to face the day.
Later in the morning, he said, “I am the happiest man in the world today.” He had been able to demonstrate the love of Christ to a poor child. Shortly afterward, he made what was later called the “greatest speech of his life” in the House of Commons, carrying his cause to victory.[iii]
Don’t let the routine of your day stop you from encouraging someone who needs a special loving touch. Accept the interruption as from the Lord.  Go the extra mile for Christ, and you’ll find Him walking beside you all the way.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

GodsView : Lord, Come Quickly!

GodsView : Lord, Come Quickly!: Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He m...

Lord, Come Quickly!


Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.
Jesus Christ is coming back soon. I believe that with all of my heart. The opening of Revelation 1:1 says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him..." What does "which God gave Him" mean? Didn't Jesus know "the revelation" already? I mean He's God, the Second Person of the Trinity, right? Doesn't He know everything? Well, apparently (and I don't understand how the Trinity works because it's a mystery) He doesn't. Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
So, the Father who knows gave this revelation to the Son. The Son gave it to an angel. And an angel gave it to John, who wrote it down for us. And that's how we came to have it today. John wasn't told to go and hide with it; it was supposed to be revealed to all of us: "to show to his servants" (v.1). There are actually three terms or phrases in this verse that speak to the clarity of the book of Revelation; revelation, show, and made it known.
What was it that was being revealed? The Scripture answers, "the things that must soon take place" — not "should take place," not "might take place," or even "will take place," but "must...take place" (emphasis added). This statement is certainty rooted in the integrity of God Himself Who sourced this material. And when must these things take place? "Soon"! Underline that word soon in your Bible. Why do we study Revelation? Because Jesus Christ is coming back soon.
I want you to be ready. I want you to experience the sense that time is fleeting and we can't afford to be lax or lazy. Maybe the skies will break open today and Jesus Christ will return. This is not a moment for wasting time. This is the moment to think soon!

Sunday, September 24, 2017

GodsView : A Matter of the Will!

GodsView : A Matter of the Will!: Each of us has been given our own independent will. It can be competitive or compliant. It can be an asset or a liability. It can al...

A Matter of the Will!


Each of us has been given our own independent will. It can be competitive or compliant. It can be an asset or a liability. It can also lead us to victory or to defeat depending on how we exercise it. It all depends on how we position our will in relation to the will that really matters—the will of God.

There are times in our life when we find ourselves in a bracket similar to those that outline the sixty-four teams that start the NCAA “Road to the Final Four.” We’re at one end of the bracket and God is at the other; and with every game, we move closer and closer to one another. God is winning His games, of course; and by sheer force of will, we’re winning ours. Eventually, we meet in the final bracket: It’s my will against God’s.

This has happened in Scripture many times. Remember Jonah who exercised his will and refused God’s calling (and what it cost him)? Remember Peter who expressed his will to Jesus, saying the Master would never die (and the rebuke it brought him: “Get behind Me, Satan!”)? Remember Pharaoh who refused to obey God’s will through Moses (and the price he paid)? And let’s not forget the result of the expression of Adam and Eve’s competitive will in the Garden.

Do you recall times in your life when you have stood your ground in that final bracket, thinking you could out-will God (and the resulting misery it brought you)? Peter learned and taught, “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17).

The Pleasure of God’s Will

Yes, our will is a gift from God—it is part of the divine image we bear. But God gave us a will in order that we might give it back to Him, that we might choose to submit our will to His and enjoy the pleasure of His presence (the pleasure of His blessings) both now and for all eternity.

The wisest, most mature quest any human being can begin and continue throughout life is the discovery of God’s will—and then to say “Yes” to it each day. We do that, of course, through His Word where we discover that it is God’s will for us to be saved through His Son, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9). Then we discover how to follow Christ as Lord of our life when we submit our will to His. Here are just a few of His commands for us to follow:

  • Love God with your whole being (Matthew 22:37-38).
  • Fear God, not man (Matthew 10:28).
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).
  • Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39-40).
  • Give to God the things that are God’s (Matthew 22:19-21).
  • Love one another (John 13:35).
  • Honor God’s laws (Matthew 5:17-19).
  • Ask God for whatever you need (John 15:7).

The Pronouncement of God’s Will
In the recent National Championship game, it was not evident until the last few minutes of the competition whose will and skill would overcome and be victorious. Would it be the Gonzaga Bulldogs or the North Carolina Tar Heels? Both teams had the competitive spirit and the will to win. And both teams had amazing coaches. Some believe the Carolina team had the greater will to win because of their loss the previous year. Losses are teaching moments.

In the spiritual realm, we need to remember that we have a Coach who provides everything we need to be victorious, but we must allow Him to lead—we cannot question His counsel and direction. The Lord God is the only one who knows your future—He’s the only one. Jeremiah 10:23 tells us, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” Though the plans we make seem right to us, they are usually oriented around our feelings, which can deceive and ruin us.

Stop competing against God and begin enjoying the pleasures of God’s perfect will in your life. If you are searching and trying to find the will of God for your life, then I encourage you to start by reading your Bible every day. It is through the study of the Word that you will find God’s will for your life.

Monday, September 18, 2017

GodsView : And Nothing but the Truth!

GodsView : And Nothing but the Truth!: God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding...

And Nothing but the Truth!


God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of truth. Yet I see much of contemporary Christianity heading down the paths of mystical experience and fantasy.
That was illustrated in an article I once read in the Los Angeles Times:
PASADENA, Calif. — Under the militant banner of "spiritual warfare," a growing number of evangelical and charismatic Christian leaders are preparing broad assaults on what they call the cosmic powers of darkness.
Fascinated with the notion that Satan commands a hierarchy of territorial demons, some mission agencies and big-church pastors are devising strategies for "breaking the strongholds" of those evil spirits alleged to be controlling cities and countries.
Some proponents in the fledgling movement already claim focused prayer meetings ended the curse of the Bermuda Triangle, led to the 1985 downfall of guru Baghwan Shree Rajneesh and produced a two-week drop in crime and freeway traffic in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics.
Fuller Seminary professor C. Peter Wagner, who has written extensively on the subject, led a so called summit meeting on cosmic-level spiritual warfare...in Pasadena, Calif. Two dozen men and women took part, including a Texas couple who head a group called the "Generals of Intercession" and an Oregon man who conducts "spiritual-warfare bootcamps."
In his opening remarks, Wagner said, "If you do not know what you are doing, and few...have the necessary expertise, Satan will eat you for breakfast."
I am fearful that this type of mindset is just one example of how the church has fallen victim to the New Age Movement, a thinly veiled form of Hindu mysticism. It is belief in everything, and a belief in nothing — with no distinction between reality and fantasy.
Much of the professing church is in perfect harmony with the New Age movement's spirit of anti-intellectualism. For example, the Roman Catholic Church emphasizes ritual — a mechanical anti-intellectualism in which mystical ceremony replaces intelligent worship. Here Scripture becomes subservient to the church.
Liberal Protestants have emphasized social reform — a political anti-intellectualism produced by the despair of trying to find truth without submitting to the authority of Scripture as the standard for ruling the church.
Charismatics have long emphasized subjectivism — an experiential anti-intellectualism that is the product of weak theology and a careless handling of Scripture.
Those trends all contribute to a kind of mindless, mystical Christianity that is the antithesis of God's design for His church.
That's why I'm so concerned. A seminary professor claims that if we don't learn some mysterious techniques of spiritual warfare, Satan will eat us for breakfast! Is that true? The apostle Peter said, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). But the context is calling for sobriety and vigilance, not a mystical cosmic warfare strategy.
Some suggest all we need to do is bind Satan — just say, "Satan, I bind you," and he is caught. They cite Matthew 12:29, where Jesus says, "How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."
But Jesus was dispelling the Pharisees' foolish accusation that He worked under Satan's power (vv. 27-28), not relating a scenario whereby believers could "bind" Satan. He used the illustration of a thief, who, planning to rob a strong man's house while the man was there, would first have to bind him or risk being arrested and beaten. Jesus' point was that He had demonstrated to the Pharisees and all Israel His power over Satan and the kingdom of evil. Only God has the power and authority to enter the very house of Satan, successfully bind him, and carry off his property. Even Paul was hindered by Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Are we to assume he didn't know the correct formula?
There is no magic phrase or mantra we can say that will bind Satan, but God has not left us without a divine strategy for dealing with him. God's strategy centers on objective truth, not subjective experience. It begins with sound doctrine, not cabalistic technique. Yet ironically, those who talk most about warfare against Satan often minimize the importance of doctrine.
In Ephesians 6:11 Paul says, "Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." What is our armor? It consists of the belt of truthfulness (not merely knowing the truth, but being committed to it), the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace (confidence that we have made peace with God), the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation (confidence in our security in Christ), and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. None of those hints at any secret technique. Rather, they speak of clear understanding and a solid commitment to biblical truth and holiness.
When we resist Satan by taking our stand in the armor of God's truth, he flees. James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Peter said, "Resist him, firm in the faith" (1 Peter 5:9, emphasis added) — firm in the Christian faith, which is the revealed truth. This is objective truth, not some unseen cosmic force. Since Satan is a deceiver and a liar, we can successfully resist him only by knowing and obeying the truth.
Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Again, we don't battle Satan with magic words and imaginary forces; we rely on the power of His truth as it brings even our thoughts captive to our Lord. That is genuine and ultimate victory over satanic forces.
No matter how Satan attacks, the solution is the same. We stand in the truth. We don't need to learn hidden strategies to fight Satan. God's truth is the supreme weapon against the father of lies (cf. John 8:44). Only when we know the truth and commit ourselves to obey it will we stand strong.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

GodsView : Challenges of Creating a Blended Family!

GodsView : Challenges of Creating a Blended Family!: I am a widow with two children planning to marry Bill, a father of three. Where should we start to build our new family? And could y...

Challenges of Creating a Blended Family!


I am a widow with two children planning to marry Bill, a father of three. Where should we start to build our new family? And could you identify the issues that are likely to be most difficult for us?
I would strongly suggest that you get some outside help as you bring your two families together. It is extremely difficult to do that on your own, and for some people, it is impossible. If you can afford professional counseling from a marriage, family, and child counselor who has dealt with blended families, it would be wise to get that assistance. A pastor also might be able to guide you, although there are some tough relationship issues to be handled by a professional who has "been there" before.
You're already experiencing the thorny issue of conflict between Bill and your children, which is common. One of the kids is likely to see him as a usurper. When a mother or father dies or when a divorce occurs, one child often moves into the power vacuum left by the departing parent. That youngster becomes the surrogate spouse. I'm not referring to sexual matters. Rather, that boy or girl becomes more mature than his or her years and relates to the remaining parent more as a peer. The status that comes with that supportive role is very seductive, and he or she is usually unwilling to give it up. The stepfather becomes a threat to that child. Much work must be done to bring them together.
The kids' loyalty to the memory of their dad is another issue that requires sensitive handling. In their eyes, to welcome the newcomer with open arms would be an act of betrayal. That's certainly understandable and something that must be worked through with your children. It will require time, patience, understanding, and prayer.
I would say the greatest problem you will face, however, is the way you and Bill will feel about your kids. Each of you is irrationally committed to your own, and you're merely acquainted with the others. When fights and insults occur between the two sets of children, you will be tempted to be partial to those you brought into the world, and Bill will probably favor his own flesh and blood. The natural tendency is to let the blended family dissolve into armed camps--us against them. If the kids sense any tension between you and Bill over their clashes, they will exploit and exaggerate it to gain power over the other children, etc. Unless there are some ways to ventilate these issues and work through them, battles will occur that will be remembered for a lifetime.
I have painted a worst-case scenario in order to prepare you for what could occur. Now let me encourage you. Many of these problems can be anticipated and lessened. Others can be avoided altogether. It is possible to blend families successfully, and millions have done it. But the task is difficult, and you will need some help in pulling it off.

Monday, August 28, 2017

GodsView : Facing Uncertainty!

GodsView : Facing Uncertainty!: And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was bein...

Facing Uncertainty!


And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Matthew 8:23-26
Why didn't somebody tell me earlier in my life that I can't fix everything? I thought that with due diligence, everything can get resolved. If there were things up ahead that concerned me, I could just make a plan to solve them. In time, I could have it all figured out and then set the automatic "good life" pilot and let it take over.
It's only more recently that I have grasped that life will never be "together" this side of eternity. It's hard to accept sometimes that perfect is only for heaven.
There will always be people problems. There will always be financial challenges. There will always be a home burden, or a crisis of some kind. Every day I live in this world, there will always be some uncertainty ringing my doorbell.
So much for my assumption that if you just worked hard enough, eventually everything would be sorted out, categorized, and put neatly on the shelf. I have never gotten to that day and what's more, I now know it's never coming.
In Matthew 8:23-24, we land in Jesus' life on a day that perfectly illustrates the imperfections of human existence. "When he got into the boat, His disciplines followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm." In the original language, the two words great storm can be translated to mega and seismic. As in, And behold, there arose a mega seismic on the sea, so that the boat was consumed by the waves. It's worth remembering that this description comes from Matthew, one of the disciples who wasn't a fisherman. He had the terrified layman's perspective on this storm!
I have a few questions about that whole scene:
1. Did Jesus not check the Weather Channel? He totally knew that storm was coming yet He led them right into it. Get in the boat, boys. He knowingly took them into harm's way.
2. Could Jesus have stopped the storm before it started? Sure He could have but He let the storm come.
3. So is it true to say that He wanted the storm? I think we could surmise that He was actually looking forward to how He was going to use the storm in the disciples' lives.
Let's get our theology straight. Sometimes Jesus disguises exciting opportunities for personal growth as difficult circumstances. We would choose to avoid trials at all costs, but Jesus sees the bigger picture.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?: If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come? Not necessarily--and certainly...

Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?


If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come?
Not necessarily--and certainly not if you are thinking of love as a romantic feeling. Feeling wonderful about one another does not make two people compatible over the long haul. Many couples assume that the excitement of their courtship will continue for the rest of their lives. That virtually never occurs! It is naive to expect two unique individuals to mesh together like a couple of machines and to remain exhilarated throughout life. Even gears have multiple cogs with rough edges to be honed before they will work in concert.
That honing process usually occurs in the first year or two of marriage. The foundation for all that is to follow is laid in those critical months. What often occurs at this time is a dramatic struggle for power in the relationship. Who will lead? Who will follow? Who will determine how the money is spent? Who will get his or her way in times of disagreement? Everything is up for grabs in the beginning, and the way these early decisions are made will set the stage for the future. The apostle Paul gave us the divine perspective on human relationships--not only in marriage, but in every dimension of life. He wrote, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).
That one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals combined. If heeded, it could virtually eliminate divorce from the catalog of human experience. It will give you stability when the storms begin to howl.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

GodsView : What's inside the Trojan Horse?

GodsView : What's inside the Trojan Horse?: By God's grace, I have been the pastor of the same church now for almost thirty-five years. From that vantage point, I have witne...

What's inside the Trojan Horse?


By God's grace, I have been the pastor of the same church now for almost thirty-five years. From that vantage point, I have witnessed the birth and growth of menacing trends within the church, several of which have converged under what I would call evangelical pragmatism — an approach to ministry that is endemic in contemporary Christianity.
What is pragmatism? Basically it is the philosophy that results determine meaning, truth, and value — what will work becomes a more important question than what is true. As Christians, we are called to trust what the Lord says, preach that message to others, and leave the results to Him. But many have set that aside. Seeking relevancy and success, they have welcomed the pragmatic approach and have received the proverbial Trojan horse.
Let me take a few minutes to explain a little of the history leading up to the current entrenchment of the pragmatic approach in the evangelical church and to show you why it isn't as innocent as it looks.

Recent History

The 1970s, for the most part, were years of spiritual revival in America. The spread of the gospel through the campuses of many colleges and universities marked a fresh, energetic movement of the Holy Spirit to draw people to salvation in Christ. Mass baptisms were conducted in rivers, lakes, and the ocean, several new versions of the English Bible were released, and Christian publishing and broadcasting experienced remarkable growth.
Sadly, the fervent evangelical revival slowed and was overshadowed by the greed and debauchery of the eighties and nineties. The surrounding culture rejected biblical standards of morality, and the church, rather than assert its distinctiveness and call the world to repentance, softened its stance on holiness. The failure to maintain a distinctively biblical identity was profound — it led to general spiritual apathy and a marked decline in church attendance.
Church leaders reacted to the world's indifference, not by a return to strong biblical preaching that emphasized sin and repentance, but by a pragmatic approach to "doing" church — an approach driven more by marketing, methodology, and perceived results than by biblical doctrine. The new model of ministry revolved around making sinners feel comfortable and at ease in the church, then selling them on the benefits of becoming a Christian. Earlier silence has given way to cultural appeasement and conformity.
Even the church's ministry to its own has changed. Entertainment has hijacked many pulpits across the country; contemporary approaches cater to the ever-changing whims of professing believers; and many local churches have become little more than social clubs and community centers where the focus is on the individual's felt needs. Even on Christian radio, phone-in talk shows, music, and live psychotherapy are starting to replace Bible teaching as the staple. "Whatever works," the mantra of pragmatism, has become the new banner of evangelicalism.

The Down-Grade Controversy

You may be surprised to learn that what we are now seeing is not new. England's most famous preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, dealt with a similar situation more than 100 years ago. Among churches that were once solid, Spurgeon and other faithful pastors noticed a conciliatory attitude toward and overt cooperation with the modernist movement. And what motivated the compromise? They sought to find acceptance by adopting the "sophisticated" trends of the culture. Does that sound familiar to you?
One article, published anonymously in Spurgeon's monthly magazine The Sword and the Trowel, noted that every revival of true evangelical faith had been followed within a generation or two by a drift away from sound doctrine, ultimately leading to wholesale apostasy. The author likened this drifting from truth to a downhill slope, and thus labeled it "the down grade." The inroads of modernism into the church killed ninety percent of the mainline denominations within a generation of Spurgeon's death. Spurgeon himself, once the celebrated and adored herald of the Baptist Union, was marginalized by the society and he eventually withdrew his membership.

The Effects of Pragmatism

Many of today's church leaders have bought into the subtlety of pragmatism without recognizing the dangers it poses. Instead of attacking orthodoxy head on, evangelical pragmatism gives lip service to the truth while quietly undermining the foundations of doctrine. Instead of exalting God, it effectively denigrates the things that are precious to Him.
First, there is in vogue today a trend to make the basis of faith something other than God's Word. Experience, emotion, fashion, and popular opinion are often more authoritative than the Bible in determining what many Christians believe. From private, individual revelation to the blending of secular psychology with biblical "principles," Christians are listening to the voice of the serpent that once told Eve, "God's Word doesn't have all the answers." Christian counseling reflects that drift, frequently offering no more than experimental and unscriptural self-help therapy instead of solid answers from the Bible.
Christian missionary work is often riddled with pragmatism and compromise, because too many in missions have evidently concluded that what gets results is more important than what God says. That's true among local churches as well. It has become fashionable to forgo the proclamation and teaching of God's Word in worship services. Instead, churches serve up a paltry diet of drama, music, and other forms of entertainment.
Second, evangelical pragmatism tends to move the focus of faith away from God's Son. You've seen that repeatedly if you watch much religious television. The health-wealth-and-prosperity gospel advocated by so many televangelists is the ultimate example of this kind of fantasy faith. This false gospel appeals unabashedly to the flesh, corrupting all the promises of Scripture and encouraging greed. It makes material blessing, not Jesus Christ, the object of the Christian's desires.
Easy-believism handles the message differently, but the effect is the same. It is the promise of forgiveness minus the gospel's hard demands, the perfect message for pragmatists. It has done much to popularize "believing" but little to provoke sincere faith.
Christ is no longer the focus of the message. While His name is mentioned from time to time, the real focus is inward, not upward. People are urged to look within; to try to understand themselves; to come to grips with their problems, their hurts, their disappointments; to have their needs met, their desires granted, their wants fulfilled. Nearly all the popular versions of the message encourage and legitimize a self-centered perspective.
Third, today's Christianity is infected with a tendency to view the result of faith as something less than God's standard of holy living. By downplaying the importance of holy living — both by precept and by example — the biblical doctrine of conversion is undermined. Think about it: What more could Satan do to try to destroy the church than undermining God's Word, shifting the focus off Christ, and minimizing holy living?
All those things are happening slowly, steadily within the church right now. Tragically, most Christians seem oblivious to the problems, satisfied with a Christianity that is fashionable and highly visible. But the true church must not ignore those threats. If we fight to maintain doctrinal purity with an emphasis on biblical preaching and biblical ministry, we can conquer external attacks. But if error is allowed into the church, many more churches will slide down the grade to suffer the same fate as the denominations that listened to, yet ignored, Spurgeon's impassioned appeal.
Make it your habitual prayer request that the Lord would elevate the authority of His Word, the glory of His Son, and the purity of His people in the evangelical church. May the Lord revive us and keep us far from the slippery slope of pragmatism.

Monday, August 7, 2017

GodsView : Unmasked!

GodsView : Unmasked!: Remember the old TV show, The Lone Ranger? He would show up and do a good deed, which always led to the question: “Who was that masked ...

Unmasked!

Remember the old TV show, The Lone Ranger? He would show up and do a good deed, which always led to the question: “Who was that masked man?” In the distance, you would hear him say, “Hi ho, Silver...away!”
Personally speaking, I don’t have a lot of experience in wearing masks, except for when I was a kid on Halloween. We would get those cheap, dime-store rubber masks and run around. We would breathe that smelly rubber all night long, knowing we would have our haul of candy to enjoy later on.
Jesus warned His followers about hiding behind a mask, or pretending to be someone we are really not.
The word He chose to describe it was hypocrisy, which means “to hide behind a mask.” In Greek theater of that day, actors would hold masks in front of their faces when they were playing a part.
So hypocrisy is trying to be someone you’re really not. Jesus was saying, “Don’t hide behind a mask. Be real. Don’t be a hypocrite.”
Perhaps Jesus gave this warning at this time, because the disciples might have been tempted either to gain popularity by pleasing the crowds or to avoid trouble by pleasing the scribes and Pharisees.
Luke’s Gospel tells us, “In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy’ ” (Luke 12:1 NKJV).
This is a part of our human nature. We want to be accepted. We want to fit in. So Jesus said, “Be careful. Don’t be a hypocrite.”
How does hypocrisy spread in our lives? Notice that Jesus said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Leaven is yeast, which is a rising agent. In the Bible, it is always symbolic of evil. It is something that works in secret with penetrating power, starting small and working its way through our lives.
That is why we must carefully guard against it. Little things inevitably lead to big things. Often we will rationalize a sinful act, telling ourselves it’s just one time. But that one thing ultimately leads to other things.
Case in point: King David. I seriously doubt that when he looked lustfully at the beautiful Bathsheba, he thought he would engage in adultery, then murder, and ultimately bring scandal on his kingdom. But that is exactly what happened. A small thing became a big thing.
Hypocrisy is futile and foolish, and Jesus explained why: “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:2–3 NKJV).
Simply put, there are no secrets with God. Whatever you try to hide will surface one day.
The problem was that the Pharisees were more concerned with their reputation than with their character. They were more concerned with what people thought about them than what God knew about them.
Yet the Bible warns about fearing man instead of God: “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25 NKJV).
The remedy for hypocrisy is to forget about what people say and do and instead fear God alone. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” (NKJV).
The Bible teaches that a day is coming when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. It all will become known.
But here’s the good news: If you have been living a righteous life, then that will be acknowledged too. Whatever you have been doing will ultimately break ground one day, and you will have cultivated a crop of it. You’ll reap what you sow.
If you are sowing to the flesh, you will reap corruption. But if you are sowing to the spirit, then you will reap life everlasting (see Galatians 6:8).
Today, can the question be asked of you, “Who was that masked man?” or “Who was that masked woman?”
Fear may cause us to back down on what we believe, especially in the presence of others who don’t hold the same views. It might cause us to put on a mask, so to speak.
But remember what Jesus said. Be real. And don’t be a hypocrite.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

GodsView : God Is Good Even When Life Is Bad!

GodsView : God Is Good Even When Life Is Bad!: Daniel 1:3-8 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel,...4 youths without blemish,...

God Is Good Even When Life Is Bad!

Daniel 1:3-8 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel,...4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans....6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. 8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food.
When things are going smoothly in your life, you might not find it hard to believe that God is good. But if life takes a bad turn and something devastating happens, you might ask, "How could a good God allow this?" If you know that kind of pain, then you can empathize with Daniel.
Across the pages of the Scriptural account of Daniel's life-from teenager to old man-you can write, "Sovereignty at work." God was directing Daniel's life, whether Daniel saw it at the time or not.
Do you know Daniel's story? One bright day in Jerusalem when Daniel was just a teenager, he was captured as a POW and was ripped away from everything warm and familiar. Daniel's enemies were working a cruel strategy. They singled out the best young people-the all-American teenagers voted "MVP" and "Most Likely to Succeed" and brought them to their capital city near modern-day Kuwait. Their plan was to brainwash these kids with their culture and make them leaders. Daniel was given a foreign name, Belteshazzar. He was forced to learn a new language and was given a new diet.
Had Daniel decided what God was like by looking at his circumstances, he would have become a disillusioned, confused, angry, young man. Kidnapped from his homeland, forced into slavery, most likely castrated to become a eunuch in the palace, Daniel's eyes were still on God. Don't gloss over these facts like they're from some made-for-TV movie-this story is true in every detail. Imagine the suffering connected with his circumstances, yet Daniel went through the fire...successfully. This certainly gives us hope that we can make it through our firestorm, too.
No doubt a situation comes to mind right now from either your past or the present. You may wonder how a God of love could have allowed some painful, wrong injustice. Yet I would bet on the fact that you've not come full circle yet. There will be a day when you will look back and see how God's sovereign hand was at work. Truth is, He is in the center of the situation that troubles your heart right now. He's right in the middle of it.
Just because you can't see Him doesn't mean He isn't there. Look for Him. Trust Him. He is at work.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

GodsView : Not All There Is!

GodsView : Not All There Is!: Not long ago, I had a conversation with two people after church. One was in a wheelchair with a severe disability, and the other was ...

Not All There Is!


Not long ago, I had a conversation with two people after church.

One was in a wheelchair with a severe disability, and the other was speaking at length. I listened to her for a while, and then I turned to the woman in the wheelchair and said, “Well, how are you doing?”

“I am doing fine,” she told me.

But then her friend said that she actually had just had two brain surgeries to remove cancer, and they were successful.

I looked at this young woman with her disability, someone who had just come through such a difficult time, and I thought, “And where is she now?” She is at church.

I think of all of the excuses people come up with as to why they can’t make it to church. It’s cold out, or it takes too long to get into the parking lot, and so forth. Yet here was this young woman who, despite her severe disability and recent surgeries, was at church, praising God and saying she is doing fine. I was touched by her example.

So I said to her, “You know, the Bible promises a special blessing and crown to those who have suffered in this life. I admire your faith. You are an inspiration to me.”

James 1:12 says, “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (NLT). It all will be made up to us in the life to come. Have you lost something to follow Jesus? Whatever losses you may have incurred for following Christ will be more than made up to you.

Make no mistake about it: our life on earth isn’t all there is. There will be rewards for our faithfulness to God.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

GodsView : God Knows Your Ways!

GodsView : God Knows Your Ways!: “God has the whole world in His hands.”  Remember the old gospel song? He’s got the wind, the rain, the tiny little baby, yes, even you...

God Knows Your Ways!

“God has the whole world in His hands.” Remember the old gospel song? He’s got the wind, the rain, the tiny little baby, yes, even you and me in His hands. How easy it is to forget that! And it isn’t limited to our geography or our culture, you know. He’s got the Middle East in His hands (that’s a relief, isn’t it?), not to mention North Korea and Iran, Cuba and India, Indonesia and Russia—all right there in the palms of His sovereign hands. And while we’re at it, He’s got our future, our children, our circumstances, our friends, and our foes in His hands . . . within His grasp . . . under His control. Even when imaginary fears slip in like the morning frost to blight our faith. He’s there—in charge.
But there are times when we find it really hard to believe that our circumstance is truly in His hands. Not only are the wind and the rain and the tiny little baby in His hands, but so are life’s minor interruptions as well as major calamities. In fact, would you believe they never leave His attention?
There will be times we will need the reminder of the wise prophet named Isaiah.
“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:16)
In other words, God sees us exactly as we are . . . warts and all, needs and all. He sees everything. And how close does He view it? It’s in the palms of His hands.
God knows your ways . . . and He knows them continually. That includes your responses, your experiences, your reactions, what you call your calamities, your dead ends, your so-called impossible situations.
Not only does He have you and me, the wind and the rain, and the tiny little baby in His hands, He has yesterday’s failures. He has today’s challenges, He has tomorrow’s surprises right there in His hands. And not one of them causes God to gasp. Not one causes Him to react with surprise, “Ah! I never knew that.” Not one. He is unshockable, He is immutable. He’s got the whole world in His hands. What’s more, He has inscribed you and me on His palms. Things aren’t out of control.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

GodsView : And Nothing but the Truth!

GodsView : And Nothing but the Truth!: God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of...

And Nothing but the Truth!

God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of truth. Yet I see much of contemporary Christianity heading down the paths of mystical experience and fantasy.
That was illustrated in an article I once read in the Los Angeles Times:
PASADENA, Calif. — Under the militant banner of "spiritual warfare," a growing number of evangelical and charismatic Christian leaders are preparing broad assaults on what they call the cosmic powers of darkness.
Fascinated with the notion that Satan commands a hierarchy of territorial demons, some mission agencies and big-church pastors are devising strategies for "breaking the strongholds" of those evil spirits alleged to be controlling cities and countries.
Some proponents in the fledgling movement already claim focused prayer meetings ended the curse of the Bermuda Triangle, led to the 1985 downfall of guru Baghwan Shree Rajneesh and produced a two-week drop in crime and freeway traffic in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics.
Fuller Seminary professor C. Peter Wagner, who has written extensively on the subject, led a so called summit meeting on cosmic-level spiritual warfare...in Pasadena, Calif. Two dozen men and women took part, including a Texas couple who head a group called the "Generals of Intercession" and an Oregon man who conducts "spiritual-warfare bootcamps."
In his opening remarks, Wagner said, "If you do not know what you are doing, and few...have the necessary expertise, Satan will eat you for breakfast."
I am fearful that this type of mindset is just one example of how the church has fallen victim to the New Age Movement, a thinly veiled form of Hindu mysticism. It is belief in everything, and a belief in nothing — with no distinction between reality and fantasy.
Much of the professing church is in perfect harmony with the New Age movement's spirit of anti-intellectualism. For example, the Roman Catholic Church emphasizes ritual — a mechanical anti-intellectualism in which mystical ceremony replaces intelligent worship. Here Scripture becomes subservient to the church.
Liberal Protestants have emphasized social reform — a political anti-intellectualism produced by the despair of trying to find truth without submitting to the authority of Scripture as the standard for ruling the church.
Charismatics have long emphasized subjectivism — an experiential anti-intellectualism that is the product of weak theology and a careless handling of Scripture.
Those trends all contribute to a kind of mindless, mystical Christianity that is the antithesis of God's design for His church.
That's why I'm so concerned. A seminary professor claims that if we don't learn some mysterious techniques of spiritual warfare, Satan will eat us for breakfast! Is that true? The apostle Peter said, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). But the context is calling for sobriety and vigilance, not a mystical cosmic warfare strategy.
Some suggest all we need to do is bind Satan — just say, "Satan, I bind you," and he is caught. They cite Matthew 12:29, where Jesus says, "How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."
But Jesus was dispelling the Pharisees' foolish accusation that He worked under Satan's power (vv. 27-28), not relating a scenario whereby believers could "bind" Satan. He used the illustration of a thief, who, planning to rob a strong man's house while the man was there, would first have to bind him or risk being arrested and beaten. Jesus' point was that He had demonstrated to the Pharisees and all Israel His power over Satan and the kingdom of evil. Only God has the power and authority to enter the very house of Satan, successfully bind him, and carry off his property. Even Paul was hindered by Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Are we to assume he didn't know the correct formula?
There is no magic phrase or mantra we can say that will bind Satan, but God has not left us without a divine strategy for dealing with him. God's strategy centers on objective truth, not subjective experience. It begins with sound doctrine, not cabalistic technique. Yet ironically, those who talk most about warfare against Satan often minimize the importance of doctrine.
In Ephesians 6:11 Paul says, "Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." What is our armor? It consists of the belt of truthfulness (not merely knowing the truth, but being committed to it), the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace (confidence that we have made peace with God), the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation (confidence in our security in Christ), and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. None of those hints at any secret technique. Rather, they speak of clear understanding and a solid commitment to biblical truth and holiness.
When we resist Satan by taking our stand in the armor of God's truth, he flees. James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Peter said, "Resist him, firm in the faith" (1 Peter 5:9, emphasis added) — firm in the Christian faith, which is the revealed truth. This is objective truth, not some unseen cosmic force. Since Satan is a deceiver and a liar, we can successfully resist him only by knowing and obeying the truth.
Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Again, we don't battle Satan with magic words and imaginary forces; we rely on the power of His truth as it brings even our thoughts captive to our Lord. That is genuine and ultimate victory over satanic forces.
No matter how Satan attacks, the solution is the same. We stand in the truth. We don't need to learn hidden strategies to fight Satan. God's truth is the supreme weapon against the father of lies (cf. John 8:44). Only when we know the truth and commit ourselves to obey it will we stand strong.

Monday, June 26, 2017

GodsView : It Will Happen!

GodsView : It Will Happen!: 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will c...

It Will Happen!

14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. —Matthew 24:14-16

In Matthew 24, Jesus gave us some clear connecting points between Daniel 9 and the Book of Revelation. If we are going to be diligent about Bible reading, we are going to have to learn how to read prophetic passages. God is very clear that a prophet speaking for Him must be exactly right or he should be killed! (see Deuteronomy 18:20-21) This means the “prophets” featured in the supermarket papers wouldn’t last long!
Some of the things that happen through church history to make the fulfillment of prophesy apparent to the people of God are what are called “touchdown fulfillments.” Not the ultimate fulfillment, but an intermediate fulfillment. Take, for example, the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” There was a fulfillment of that in Isaiah’s day; and then ultimately in Christ.
The prophesy of Joel 2 mentioned in Acts 2 about young men dreaming dreams and old men seeing visions. That was fulfilled in Joel’s day and again in the birth of the Church, and there will be an ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy in the time ahead.
So it is with the Matthew 24 passage and the “abomination of desolation” that Jesus mentioned. Interesting, in 175 B.C., Antiochus the IV, a Syrian king, took the name Theos Epiphanes which means God Manifested. He marched through the Holy Land, down to Egypt. But because he was turned back (in 170 B.C.), he had such anger that he took it out on the Nation of Israel. He went into the Holy of Holies in the Temple and offered a pig on the altar there. And then he forced Jewish people to eat that meat and to bow down to him.
Now Theos Epiphanes had a bit of an ego problem, right? “Just call me God Manifested.” Eighty thousand Jews refused to bow down to him and they were all murdered in the streets of Jerusalem. Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled and will be fulfilled again in the end.
Biblical prophecy is not a fantasy movie script. These are realities. And God has given us times in history to see a touchdown fulfillment of it. So we’re like, “That could totally happen. I can see that happening. It has happened — It will happen!” Like that. The ultimate fulfillment of the abomination of desolation is yet future, as Matthew points out when he notes, “let the reader understand.” Let’s anticipate God’s promises every day!

Sunday, June 18, 2017

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?: If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come? Not necessarily--and certainly no...

Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?

If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come?
Not necessarily--and certainly not if you are thinking of love as a romantic feeling. Feeling wonderful about one another does not make two people compatible over the long haul. Many couples assume that the excitement of their courtship will continue for the rest of their lives. That virtually never occurs! It is naive to expect two unique individuals to mesh together like a couple of machines and to remain exhilarated throughout life. Even gears have multiple cogs with rough edges to be honed before they will work in concert.
That honing process usually occurs in the first year or two of marriage. The foundation for all that is to follow is laid in those critical months. What often occurs at this time is a dramatic struggle for power in the relationship. Who will lead? Who will follow? Who will determine how the money is spent? Who will get his or her way in times of disagreement? Everything is up for grabs in the beginning, and the way these early decisions are made will set the stage for the future. The apostle Paul gave us the divine perspective on human relationships--not only in marriage, but in every dimension of life. He wrote, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).
That one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals combined. If heeded, it could virtually eliminate divorce from the catalog of human experience. It will give you stability when the storms begin to howl.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

GodsView : Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?

GodsView : Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?: There are those who think your position on abortion is extreme because you wouldn't even permit it in cases of incest, rape, or whe...

Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?

There are those who think your position on abortion is extreme because you wouldn't even permit it in cases of incest, rape, or when the child is defective. How do you justify such a position?
Only in rare instances when the life of the mother is literally at stake do I feel we have the moral authority to destroy a developing fetus. My reasoning is based on this simple question: Is there any fundamental difference between a baby who resides in his mother's uterus and one who has made an eight-inch journey down the birth canal? If so, what is that difference? At what point in the birth process does God's mantle of humanness fall upon an individual? Is there anything particularly mystical about the expulsion from the mother's body that could account for a transformation from mere protoplasm to a human being with an eternal soul? I think not. Surely the Lord does not look upon the baby inside the uterus with any less love and concern than one who enters the world a few minutes later. The only difference between them is that one can be seen and the other cannot.
If that premise can be accepted, then it is equally immoral to kill either those born or those yet to be born. Physical and intellectual health and the nature of conception are irrelevant to the issue. Even most pro-abortionists would not propose that we destroy children arriving in the delivery room with unexpected deficiencies. Indeed, the authorities would charge them with murder for killing a neonate who lacked adequate cognitive function or who had only a few weeks to live. We would be obligated morally and legally to let nature take its course, regardless of the severity of the baby's condition. Likewise, we would not kill a one-day-old infant who was conceived in a rape or an incident of incest.
Once born, the deliberate destruction of life is unthinkable. Why, then, is such a baby considered "fair game" when he resides within his mother's uterus? It is true that the law sometimes recognizes a different status for those born versus those unborn, but the law in those instances is wrong. There is no biological or moral basis for this distinction. Infanticide merely seems acceptable when we don't have to witness the death process of a tiny victim we have not yet met.
Therefore all the arguments in favor of terminating the defective or handicapped unborn child must be weighed against this understanding, including, "he's going to die anyway," "he'll only suffer if we let him live," "his life will only bring pain to his parents," "he has no chance of living a normal life," and "this is really the best way out for everyone concerned." When applied to the baby who has managed to limp into this world, the evil of these rationalizations becomes apparent. No justification will permit us to give a newborn a lethal injection of cyanide. But hours earlier, when the mother's contractions have not yet begun, some would feel righteously justified in tearing the same defective or ill-conceived infant to pieces. The proposition is categorically immoral in my view.
I am aware that these views are infinitely easier to articulate from a philosophical or theological perspective than they are for the mother or father who must face them personally. Of special concern is the woman who is carrying a baby conceived during a rape. Her pain and agony are beyond expression. I am convinced, however, that such a mother, if she carries the baby to term and either keeps her baby or places it up for adoption, will never regret her decision. What is right and moral for the unborn child is ultimately best for the mother and father, too. I know this statement will be inflammatory to some, but it is what I sincerely believe.

Monday, June 5, 2017

GodsView : Saved? From What?

GodsView : Saved? From What?: Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. ...

Saved? From What?

Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. You can see it from the very beginning. It's right there in what the angel said to Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
When the Father gave the incarnate Son a name, He proclaimed His rescue mission in no uncertain terms. Jesus, the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, means "Savior." Now, "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Savior — that's been the joyful news from the start.
But you might ask: "A Savior? To save me from what?" That's certainly a fair question. The word savior implies that we need to be saved from something. Saved is a synonym for rescued or delivered. It implies there's some kind of threatening condition, a dangerous, desperate, or deadly condition from which we need to be rescued. The question is, from what?
If you listen to the way some preachers speak about the gospel, quite frankly, the condition of unbelief doesn't sound so grave. You get the idea that humanity mainly needs to be rescued from its lack of fulfillment. Maybe your marriage hasn't worked out according to plan; or your child isn't turning out to be tomorrow's Copernicus or Einstein; or your dream career has turned out to be a dead end. You understand. You look at the travel brochures; you really want a month in Europe, but you end up with a three-day trip to see the in-laws. Life just doesn't deliver.
According to the gospel some are preaching, Jesus will take care of all that. Jesus will fix your marriage; He'll help you raise confident kids, brimming with self-esteem; He'll help you climb that corporate ladder or breathe new life into your business. The only danger from which you need salvation is the shattering of all your dreams. Everything you've longed for has turned out to be a nightmare, and that's the way it's going to end. But Jesus will take care of it — He'll rescue you from your unfulfilled life.
I've also heard people presenting the gospel as if the great hope of salvation is relief from debilitating habits. Jesus has come to enable you to get control of your life. He's the step stool, the boost you need to get out of the hole you've fallen into. That salvation is especially attractive to a society like ours that is overcome by lust and passion. Many are enslaved by sinful habits: drinking, smoking, pornography, even overeating. Obesity is on the rise in many countries — in America it's almost epidemic. Angry outbursts and uncontrolled tempers destroy homes and relationships. Sexual sin, both homosexual and heterosexual, plagues the entire world — AIDS ravishes entire continents. But Jesus will come along and fix all that. He'll pluck you out of the flood of dissipation by saving you from your drives and desires so you won't destroy your life.
Will the gospel deliver you from an unfulfilled life? From enslavement to debilitating habits? Absolutely, but that needs to be qualified. There is a sense in which the gospel secondarily makes an application to those things. When you are genuinely converted, you belong to God and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart. You do have a new reason to live; you have the hope of eternal life and the promise of heaven. That has a dramatic effect on the lack of fulfillment in life. And when you experience the power of the Holy Spirit to change you, you'll see victory over the debilitating habits and passions that your sinful nature generates. That's all true. But those are not the primary issues in salvation.
Finding fulfillment and overcoming bad habits cannot be the most important concerns of the gospel. Why not? Because not everybody in the world is unfulfilled. In fact, I think this idea of lacking fulfillment is a byproduct of our western culture. Throughout the world, there are many who live expecting very little out of life. They don't experience a lack of fulfillment — there's nothing to fulfill. On the other hand, many people are very content with their present condition. They've got all the wine, women, and song money can buy. And not everyone is driven to a point of desperation and disaster by their passions either. There are people who have a certain measure of self-control. So those things cannot be the universal problem.
The real problem is sin and guilt. That's the issue. God sent Jesus Christ to rescue us from the consequence of our sin, and everybody falls into the category of sinner. It doesn't matter whether you're among the haves or the have-nots, whether you have great expectations or none at all, whether you're consumed by your passions or exhibit a degree of self-control and discipline — you are still a sinner. You have broken the law of God and He's angry about it. Unless something happens to change your condition, you're on your way to eternal hell. You need to be rescued from the consequences of your sin. Those are the principal issues the gospel solves.
The truth is, even when you are delivered from the ultimate danger of God's wrath against sin, you might never realize your dreams. When you come to Christ, the Lord realigns your thinking so that all you ever wanted, all you used to strive for, you count as loss, waste, garbage (cf. Paul in Phil. 3:4-8). Coming to Christ means the end of you. Also, though you'll experience the power of the Holy Spirit to gain victory over sin, you may never attain total dominance over your drives and passions this side of heaven. Like Paul, you will strive with sin to your dying day (cf. Rom. 7:13-25). Issues of fulfillment and sinful passions will be dealt with, in the Lord's time and in the Lord's way. So if you've come to Christ primarily to find fulfillment or to escape from bad habits, Jesus may not be what you're looking for.
The church needs to get back to remembering that God sent His Son into the world to save His people from their sins. A proper presentation of the gospel should focus on that. The angel told Joseph: "He is the one who will save His people from their sins. That is why you must name Him Jesus." Humanity's real destroyer is sin, and the guilt for sin is a real guilt, a God-imposed guilt that damns to eternal hell. That is why people need to be saved, rescued, and delivered. That is what people must understand in the gospel, and that is what we must proclaim.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

GodsView : Is It Slowing You Down?

GodsView : Is It Slowing You Down?: When you become a Christian, one of the more notable changes is that you will give up many of the things you once did. Of course, this de...

Is It Slowing You Down?

When you become a Christian, one of the more notable changes is that you will give up many of the things you once did. Of course, this depends on your lifestyle prior to your conversion. But for many of us, a dramatic change will take place.

I have heard people share their stories of how they came to Christ and the great sacrifices they made to follow Him, saying things like, “I had a great life . . . I went to parties . . . I had so much fun . . . But I gave it all up for Jesus Christ, hallelujah! I left it all for the glory of God!”

When I hear statements like that, I feel like asking, “What in the world are you talking about? You gave it all up? What did you give up?”

If they were to look at those things honestly and realistically, they would come to the same conclusion that Paul did. He said, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . .” (Philippians 3:7–8 NKJV).

Paul was saying that the stuff that used to be so important, the stuff he once valued so highly, meant nothing to him now in comparison with the awesome privilege and value of belonging to Jesus.

We might do well to bring certain activities or habits in our lives under the same scrutiny. It’s a good idea to periodically ask ourselves, “Is this thing that I am doing slowing me down or speeding me along in my walk with God? Is it building me up spiritually or is it tearing me down?”

The conclusion has to be the same: If anything is keeping you from an intimate, open-hearted relationship with God through Jesus Christ, whatever that thing may be, you must count it as a loss.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

GodsView : The Conscience, Revisited!

GodsView : The Conscience, Revisited!: In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in Spain. Investigators studying the accident made an eerie discovery. The "black box&quot...

The Conscience, Revisited!

In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in Spain. Investigators studying the accident made an eerie discovery. The "black box" cockpit recorders revealed that several minutes before impact a shrill, computer-synthesized voice from the plane's automatic warning system told the crew repeatedly in English, "Pull up! Pull up!"
The pilot, evidently thinking the system was malfunctioning, snapped, "Shut up, Gringo!" and switched the system off. Minutes later the plane plowed into the side of a mountain. Everyone on board died.
When I saw that tragic story on the news shortly after it happened, it struck me as a perfect parable of the way modern people treat guilt — the warning messages of their consciences.
The wisdom of our age says guilt feelings are nearly always erroneous or hurtful; therefore we should switch them off. But is that good advice? What, after all, is the conscience — this sense of guilt we all seem to feel?
The conscience is generally seen by the modern world as a defect that robs people of their self-esteem. Far from being a defect or a disorder, however, your ability to sense your own guilt is a tremendous gift from God. He designed the conscience into the very framework of the human soul. It is the automatic warning system that cries, "Pull up! Pull up!" before you crash and burn.
The conscience, Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote in the seventeenth century, is the soul reflecting upon itself. Conscience is at the heart of what distinguishes the human creature. People, unlike animals, can contemplate their own actions and make moral self-evaluations. That is the very function of conscience.
The conscience has an innate ability to sense right and wrong. Everyone, even the most unspiritual heathen, has a conscience:
When Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their consciences bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them." (Romans 2:14-15, emphasis added)
The conscience entreats you to do what you believe is right and restrains you from doing what you believe is wrong. But don't equate the conscience with the voice of God or the law of God. It is a human faculty that judges your actions and thoughts by the light of the highest standard you perceive. When you violate your conscience, it condemns you, triggering feelings of shame, anguish, regret, consternation, anxiety, disgrace, and even fear. Conversely, when you follow your conscience, it commends you, bringing joy, serenity, self-respect, well-being, and gladness.
The word conscience is a combination of the Latin words scire ("to know") and con ("together"). The Greek word for "conscience" is found more than thirty times in the New Testament — suneidesis, which also literally means "co-knowledge."
Conscience is knowledge together with oneself. That is to say, your conscience knows your inner motives and true thoughts. It is above reason and beyond intellect. You can rationalize, trying to justify yourself in your own mind, but a violated conscience will not be easily convinced.
The Hebrew word for conscience is leb, usually translated "heart" in the Old Testament. The conscience is so much at the core of the human soul that the Hebrew mind did not draw a distinction between conscience and the rest of the inner person. Thus when Moses recorded that Pharaoh "hardened his heart" (Exodus 8:15), he was saying that Pharaoh had steeled his conscience against God's will.
When Scripture speaks of a tender heart (cf. 2 Chronicles 34:27), it refers to a sensitive conscience. The "upright in heart" (Psalm 7:10) are those with pure consciences. And when David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:10), he was seeking to have his life and his conscience cleansed.
Multitudes today respond to their conscience by attempting to suppress it, overrule it, or silence it. They conclude that the real blame for their wrong behavior lies in some childhood trauma, the way their parents raised them, societal pressures, or other causes beyond their control.
Sometimes people convince themselves that their sin is a clinical problem, not a moral one— and therefore define their drunkenness, sexual perversion, immorality, or other vices as "diseases" or "conditions." To respond to the conscience with such self-excusing arguments is tantamount to telling the conscience, "Shut up, Gringo!"
It is possible virtually to nullify the conscience through repeated abuse. Paul spoke of people whose consciences were so convoluted that their "glory is in their shame" (Philippians 3:19; cf. Romans 1:32). Both the mind and the conscience can become so defiled that they cease making distinctions between what is pure and what is impure (cf. Titus 1:15).
After so much violation, the conscience finally falls silent. Morally, those with defiled consciences are left flying blind. The annoying warning signals may be gone, but the danger certainly is not; in fact, the danger is greater than ever.
Furthermore, even the most defiled conscience will not remain silent forever. When standing at the Judgment, every person's conscience will side with God, the righteous judge. The worst sin-hardened evildoer will discover before the throne of God that he has a conscience that testifies against him.
The conscience, however, is not infallible. Nor is it a source of revelation about right and wrong. Its role is not to teach you moral and ethical ideals, but to hold you accountable to the highest standards of right and wrong you know.
Both tradition and truth inform the conscience, so the standards it holds you to are not necessarily biblical ones (1 Corinthians 8:6-9). The conscience can be needlessly condemning in areas where there is no biblical issue. In fact, it can try to hold you to the very thing the Lord is trying to release you from (Romans 14:14, 20-23)!
The conscience, to operate fully and in accord with true holiness, must be informed by the Word of God. So even when guilt feelings don't have a biblical basis, they are an important spiritual distress sign. If your conscience is misfiring — sending out signals from a weak conscience — that should spur you to seek the spiritual growth that would bring your conscience more in harmony with God's Word.
Your conscience reacts to the convictions of your mind and therefore can be encouraged and sharpened in accordance with God's Word. The wise Christian wants to master biblical truth so that the conscience is completely informed and judges right because it is responding to God's Word. A regular diet of Scripture will strengthen a weak conscience or restrain an overactive one. Conversely, error, human wisdom, and wrong moral influences filling the mind will corrupt or cripple the conscience.
In other words, the conscience functions like a skylight, not a light bulb. It lets light into the soul; it does not produce its own. Its effectiveness is determined by the amount of pure light you expose it to, and by how clean you keep it. Cover it or put it in total darkness and it ceases to function. That's why the apostle Paul spoke of the importance of a clear conscience (1 Timothy 3:9) and warned against anything that would defile or muddy the conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7; Titus 1:15).
Or, to switch metaphors, your conscience is like the nerve endings in your fingertips. Its sensitivity to external stimuli can be damaged by the buildup of calluses or even wounded so badly as to be virtually impervious to any feeling. Paul also wrote of the dangers of a calloused conscience (1 Corinthians 8:10), a wounded conscience (v. 12), and a seared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2).
Psychopaths, serial killers, pathological liars, and other people who seem to lack any moral sense are extreme examples of people who have ruined or desensitized their consciences. Can such people really sin without remorse or scruples? If so, it is only because they have ravaged their own consciences through relentless immorality and lawlessness.
The conscience is an inextricable part of the human soul. Though it may be hardened, cauterized, or numbed into apparent dormancy, the conscience continues to store up evidence that will one day be used as a testimony to condemn the guilty soul. But for the Christian, the conscience is a tremendous asset of spiritual growth.
Take time each day to inform your conscience by reading God's Word. Never train yourself to ignore your conscience, but respond quickly to its warnings. And then cleanse your conscience through consistent confession as you seek forgiveness from those you've sinned against — whether God or others. Those things will strengthen your conscience so that you can enjoy the freedom and blessings of a clear conscience before God.