“Most problems in the church today are due to the fact that so many Christians are still trying to decide if they want to be followers of Jesus Christ.”
When deciding how I will respond to an offense, a temptation, an opportunity to be less than honest or a thousand other daily decisions, I am deciding, “Do I want to be a follower of Jesus at this moment?”
Of course, I don’t usually realize that is the decision I am making. I think I am just deciding “What are the odds of me getting caught if I do this?” or “What’s in it for me if I do that?” But, in reality, this quote reminds me that I am deciding, “Do I want to be a follower of Jesus in this situation? When I see that as the decision, the answer is obvious. “Yes! Yes, of course I want to follow Jesus in this situation!”
I may not want to be honest because it could be embarrassing. I may not want to be kind because I am too busy or too bothered. I may not want to resist that temptation because obviously it is something I would enjoy. (You are never tempted to do something that won’t bring you pleasure or benefit at least in the short run.) I have one “wanter” – the will of my old nature – that wants to succumb to the temptation. But, deep within me there is another “wanter” – the will of my spirit – that wants to follow Jesus regardless of the consequences.
So which “wanter” will win – the sinful nature or the spirit?
The bigger and stronger one will win.
Which one will be bigger and stronger?
The one I feed the most.
Feed the spirit and your sinful nature will become weaker and weaker.
Feed your sinful nature and your spirit will dry up within.
___________________________ Romans 8:5-6 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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We have developed lots of ways to let the world know we believe in Jesus. Bumper stickers proclaim our faith. Scripture passages on checks, greeting cards and refrigerator magnets; profile descriptions on Facebook; jewelry with crosses, a fish and WWJD all tell the world we are followers of Jesus. Jesus said there would be another way they would know but this seems a little strange to me. Let me explain.
Jesus says the identification badge that will convince the world that we are His followers is our love for one another. Notice He didn’t say it would be how we love the lost – though certainly other passages say we need to love, pray for and bless them. He said they would know we are His disciples by how we treat other believers. I find that strange but actually quite a relief.
It should be much easier to love other believers than it is to love unbelievers. After all, some of “those people” are actually enemies of the cross. Some might actually hate or despise us for our faith. Some would ridicule or reject any expressions of love. How nice that all we have to do is love one another to demonstrate we are followers of Jesus. That should be easy. Right?
Unfortunately the evidence is that we often don’t even do an excellent job of loving, forgiving, caring for and ministering to each other. From the very start of the church we “bite and devour one another” (Galatians 5:15), “there is jealousy and quarreling among” us (1 Corinthians 3:3) and we are experts at “passing judgment on one another” (Romans 14:13). We say we love everyone but the most basic sign we are His followers is that we simply love other Christians. Let’s at least start there.
Is there something you can do today to demonstrate to the world that you are His disciple?
__________________________ 1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
Hebrews 12:1 …”run with perseverance the race marked out for us”
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In a marathon it is not up to each runner to plot his own course. That has been carefully done by those in charge of the race. In the same way, the Lord has marked out a course for each of our lives. Our duty is not to create the course but to find the markers He has laid out and follow the course “marked out for us”.
He has given “coaches” to help us find these markers – authorities in our lives such as parents, teachers, the law (doing that which is legal) and, of primary importance, His Word and the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. These coaches are faithful guides if we will listen and not let our own desires drown out their counsel.
The course chosen for me is not the same course chosen for others so I cannot look at how other Christians are running their race to determine my course, my pace or criticize their course or pace. Others may take routes that seem like “shortcuts” to me and I will be tempted to let that be my standard. But I must keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, the one who knows the course set for me, the author and finisher of my faith – the One who laid out my course and will guide me all the way through it.
The course laid out for others may take them places my course does not allow me to go and vice versa. I will only give account for how I run my race. Unless, of course, I start judging the way others are running theirs and then I will also give account for my judgments.
______________________ 1 Corinthians 8:9, 12 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. … And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.
The topic of drawing closer to God and living in a place of intimacy with Him is certainly not a “hot topic” in the church today. Sadly many of us are so busy seeking His hand (what he can do for us) that we have forgotten how to seek His face (to know His identity).
How can I get closer to God? James 4 offers four suggestions. James 4:4-8
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? Spend time with God, focusing on Him – which requires leaving the distractions of the world behind. You can’t spend endless hours watching TV, playing video games, shopping, drinking coffee with friends, and expect to develop a closer relationship with God. (vs. 4,5)
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Be honest, genuine, real, humble – no false religious facades when talking with Him. If you are upset, tell Him so. It is not like He doesn’t already know what is in your heart. David was amazingly honest with God in the Psalms. Apparently, He likes that. (v. 6)
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Resist the lies Satan will tell you: “You are too far gone. God won’t forgive you – again.” Submit yourself to the truth in God’s Word. (Which of course means you have to spend time in His Word.) (v. 7)
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be prepared to get cleaned up in actions (hands) and attitude (heart) but this happens as you come near to God. Notice, it says come near and then the washing and purifying are to be done. Notice, too, that as you take a step toward God He will not turn away. Rather, He will also come toward you. (Think of the picture of the father of the prodigal son rushing to embrace his lost and rebellious son.) (v.8)
If you wait until you have your life all cleaned up before you approach God, you will never “come near” to Him. In fact, if you could clean up your own life, you would not need Him at all. You can begin to draw close to Him today. ____________
Jeremiah 29:13-14
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, …
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
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Occasionally you hear a story of someone who trains hard for years and years to qualify for the Olympics. The day finally arrives for the competition and tragically they either injure themselves or are disqualified. What a disappointment! but one I will never face. I will never be disqualified from Olympic competition – because I was never qualified in the first place!
I have the same assurance when it comes to spending eternity with God. Nothing can disqualify me from heaven – because I was never qualified in the first place! I will be allowed the joy of spending eternity with the Lord because Jesus qualified. My hope and faith is in Him and His qualifications.
Hebrews 13:8 then brings me a confidence that my qualification, in Christ, will remain secure throughout all eternity. He will not change, will not somehow be disqualified at some date eons in the future. He remains true and a solid foundation for me to build my hope of eternity on.
By my own effort I can never qualify for heaven. The standard is perfection. God does not grade on a curve. “Well, I am not perfect but I am better than most”, just does not make the cut with God. Heaven is a place of perfection and requires perfection to enter. To allow imperfection to enter would spread death and decay there just as it has here on earth.
My perfection is found in Jesus Christ and by placing my hope in Him I am allowed to exchange my imperfection for His perfection, my sin for His sinlessness. A great exchange takes place – He takes my sin (and in a sense, nails it to the cross where He died) and gives me His righteousness in return. Because He is the same yesterday, today and forever my hope and salvation are eternally secure in Him.
______________________ Colossians 2:13, 14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Hebrews 10:5, 6, 8
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).
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If God was not pleased with Old Testament sacrifices why did he command they be made? Why did hundreds of thousands of animals have to die if it meant nothing to God?
We see the answer to that question in verse 3 where it says they were an annual reminder of sin. Those sacrifices were for us, to remind us of our sin. But why was so much blood, death and gore necessary? Why not just have an annual remembrance day without all the blood?
Of course it was necessary as a picture of the coming death of Jesus and that blood covered sin though it could not take it away but I think there is also another reason.
A simple day of remembrance would involve no loss, no sacrifice, no pain. It would minimize the vileness of our sin. As people we already tend to underestimate the horror of our sin. We tend to think sin isn’t nearly as serious as it really is. We admit we were a little naughty, certainly not perfect, but also certainly not deserving of eternal damnation or hell. We fail to see our sin as the gross darkness that it truly is.
In this world nothing we see or experience is completely holy, righteous and pure so we compare our sin to those things we have experienced, not to total Godly purity. Therefore, our sin may seem dingy but certainly not putrid, vile and thoroughly disgusting.
The horror, blood and gore of the sacrifices showed the recompense that we have so rightfully earned by our rebellion and sin. Sin is not just naughty versus nice. Sin is horrific, vile, an aweful stench on the earth and worthy of great punishment, the kind inflicted on Jesus on the cross but without end.
I know sometimes I need to be reminded of how vile my sin is. Otherwise I have a tendency to toy with it, befriend it and let it hang around in my life. If I could see it for the wretched enemy it is I would surely run from it and fight tirelessly to rid my life of it. I have to look regularly to the cross to be reminded of the great price that Jesus paid to make me holy and righteous before God. Unlike the sacrifices of animals, His is the one sacrifice that really did make a difference.
___________________________
Sin is a monster of such awful mein
That to be hated needs but to be seen.
But seen too oft and familiar of face
It first is endured, then pitied then embraced. – Alexander Pope
QUESTION:
“If God created the devil and put the tree in the garden to tempt man, isn’t God responsible for the evil in the world? Furthermore, if God can stop all the evil and doesn’t, isn’t He then doubly responsible for it?”
ANSWER:
Sounds like a pretty open and shut case against God. This is a tough issue for a short answer but let’s see what we can discover God is guilty of.
When God made man he was faced with a choice. If He made man incapable of rejecting God, incapable of choosing evil, then man would also be incapable of truly loving God or others. Love can never be forced. Love demands options. For man to be capable of truly loving it was essential that man also be able to truly not love and even hate. Of course, God knew man would choose this selfish route and it would bring great evil into the world. Then why did God go ahead and make man knowing the problems He would cause?
IT IS NOT ABOUT MAN
This world is not primarily about man, rather all creation is about bringing glory to God. How much does it demonstrate God’s love to love only the lovable? Not much. God instead chose to demonstrate His great love and mercy by loving a creature totally unworthy of His love.
Furthermore, to demonstrate His unfathomable love God chose to humbly suffer the anguish, the pain, the grief, the loss of being rejected by His own creation. He chose to suffer the sacrifice of His own Son. He chose to give man liberty to destroy Himself and destroy with sin all of God’s glorious creation. He did this to demonstrate His love for us without regard to our response to that love. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 What a God!
UNLOVING OR IMPOTENT
Critics would say the existence of evil proves God is either unloving or impotent. How can He be loving and allow so much injustice when He could stop it with a single word? If He cannot stop it then He is impotent and no real God at all. But we see that, far from proving the non-existence of God, evil exists in the world precisely because God is good. Goodness and Love demanded man be created with the option to invite evil into the world. And because God is all-powerful He runs no risk of evil ultimately triumphing.
Furthermore, we must remember that God also chose to share in this suffering that man’s poor decisions would create. He did not approach this world of pain as a pristine visitor to a concentration camp who stands aloof and observes the wretched victims from a safe distance. He dove in, clothed Himself in flesh and drank deeply of the same agonies, rejections and grief known only to the most miserable among us. He voluntarily embraced more suffering than most of us will ever have nightmares about enduring. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3)
A QUESTION OF DEGREES
But why doesn’t God stop men such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, these evil mass murders? Ultimately He does and ultimately they pay the price for their crimes against God and humanity. None of those men are still on a rampage today though new villains regularly take the place of fallen ones. But to criticize God for injustice in these situations is like reading half way through a novel and criticizing the author for not resolving the conflict. Until the last page of Time’s novel is completed, we dare not cast accusations as to what justice or injustice has been done.
Furthermore, if God did choose to intervene and stop such evil, where would we, in our wisdom, be content with Him drawing the line? Should he strike down every murderer or only after they have killed a set number? Who among us would be all-knowing enough to determine that number? The number would likely be “one” if the victim is a person we know and love.
What about rapists and child molesters, drug dealers and modern day slave traders? Would it be just to allow them to continue in their evil when he stops murderers? If He stops them, then is He to allow thieves and liars to continue hurting people? And if He is to stop all thieves and liars, where would that leave each of us. I don’t believe there would be one of us who could say, “I have never told even a tiny, ‘white’ lie nor taken anything, no matter how small, that did not belong to me.” If we are not content with where God has chosen to draw the line and with His timetable of justice, then who among us is wise enough to instruct Him as to where He should draw the line?
PUNISHMENT BASED ON FOREKNOWLEDGE?
Furthermore, should he punish man based upon what God knows a man is going to do? “I know Hitler will slaughter 6 million Jews and Mao will kill more than Hitler and Stalin combined (some estimates say 70 million Chinese) so to prevent that I will bring them to justice before they harm anyone? And can that be called justice, to punish before an offense? Obviously not. Justice demands each person be allowed to fill their cup of iniquity so when they stand before God they have no grounds to declare Him unfair or unjust in His judgment.
As counterintuitive as it may seem, it is God’s goodness and God’s justice that demand evil have a period of free reign on earth. It is precisely because God is good that there is evil on earth. Yes, God is guilty. Guilty of love in the first degree.
________________________ 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 1:6
“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
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Abused children, human trafficking, slavery, abject poverty, tortured lives, one nation worrying about an epidemic of obesity while others suffer famine – this world is churning with injustice but most of us live shielded from its full blown ugliness. Occasionally we’ll be shocked by a news report that exposes some vile darkness but what shocks us, is daily life for millions around the globe. Life is not fair!
The more I witness man’s inhumanity to man the more I long for the coming kingdom – a kingdom of justice.
If you’ve been burned, treated unfairly, unjustly judged, take heart! We can be sure that in the end all scales will be brought into balance. It’s not our place to seek vengeance because we too would judge unjustly. But we can be sure the righteous judge of all the earth will do justly. Walk in forgiveness and leave the final outcome to His righteous judgment.
————- Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Acts 15:28-29 [the church in Jerusalem is telling the new Gentile converts that they do not have to obey the entire law of Moses but here were some things they should not do.] “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well.
_________________ Wow, it sure was easy to be a Christian back then, wasn’t it? Just four things to avoid and “you will do well”. In 2000 years we have added a lot to that list. But, though these are called “essentials”, Paul later changes some of these requirements based upon the situation. Can something be right for one person but wrong for another person? Are there only two choices? Here is a summary of what the Word says.
Idols really are nothing but wood or stone. But some people who used to worship idols may have a hard time feeling right about eating meat offered to idols. If that is the case, even though there is nothing intrinsically wrong with eating it, it would be wrong for them to violate their conscience. Furthermore, even though I realize there is nothing wrong with eating meat offered to idols, if I am in a situation where it will cause one to stumble or be tempted to violate their own conscience by following my lead, then I will choose to not eat meat offered to idols or any meat for that matter. My brother’s conscience is so much more important than food. [See 1 Corinthians 8 & Romans 4]
Based upon the situation, the condition of your heart and dictates of your conscience, what another person may be able to do may be wrong for you to do. Contrariwise, what another might feel is wrong may be OK for you. [Obviously we are not talking about anything in direct violation of Scriptural teaching but rather matters of conscience.] How can this be so?
God understands the weak areas of my soul, areas that might tempt me where another might not have a problem. For example, there is no Biblical command against using “a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” (1 Timothy 5:23) but because I know my biological father was often drunk, likely an alcoholic, for me it would be a violation of conscience to become a casual or social drinker. There may be propensities toward evil in our soul that we are not aware of that God wants to protect us from by telling us “No, don’t go there” when He allows others to participate freely. It is so important we listen to that inner voice and obey, even if it does not make sense or even if others, even Christians, freely participate. Additionally it is also important we not decide what is right and wrong for everyone else. (Again, we are not referring to actions the Scripture clearly calls sin.)
____________________________ Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Matthew 28:17
When they saw him [the resurrected Jesus], they worshiped him; but some doubted.
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But some doubted? They saw him murdered, wrapped and placed in the tomb. They heard the reports of those who went to the tomb and now, with their own eyes, they see Him. With their own ears they hear Him. But they still doubted!?
I find some encouragement in this passage. If some of these, with all the tangible, physical evidence in front of them, could still doubt perhaps my questions and occasional doubting is not so hopeless. But here is the most encouraging part: though He knew some still doubted He did not berate, or even name, them. This would have been the time to say, “But Thomas still doubted” or “Matthew was still so weak in his faith that it’s a miracle he made it”.
If this passage is referring to only the 11 disciples, as it infers, then we know that though they still doubted at this moment those doubts would dissipate and they, each one except John, would witness to their faith, their absolute lack of doubt, by dying a martyr’s death. And John, though not martyred, would also suffer greatly as a testimony of his faith.
While total belief is obviously far better than doubting I’m glad the Lord has a place in His family and in His service for those who sometimes just aren’t sure. How about you?
—————— John 20:29
Then Jesus told (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
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“Most problems in the church today are due to the fact that so many Christians are still trying to decide if they want to be followers of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus says the identification badge that will convince the world that we are His followers is our love for one another. Notice He didn’t say it would be how we love the lost – though certainly other passages say we need to love, pray for and bless them. He said they would know we are His disciples by how we treat other believers. I find that strange but actually quite a relief.
