The Burnout Option

More often than we think, God's Word stands in direct opposition to what we naturally think.  Every person understands how it feels to be fatigued and physically exhausted.  The combination of sleeping or eating poorly coupled with hard work simply wipes us out.  The lack of rest can make us drowsy, sluggish, and cranky.  There is a limit to what our bodies can handle, and too much stress can lead to becoming physically ill or having a nervous breakdown.  When Moses embraced the responsibility of leading the children of Israel, his father-in-law Jethro saw the warning signs of overwork.  Exodus 18:18 records his perception, "Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself."  The threat of burnout didn't cause Moses to quit, but to delegate some of his workload to other men anointed by the Spirit for such ministry.

Many people who serve in church ministry have experienced the crash-and-burn effect of overwork.  But the scripture makes it clear being "worn out" occurs when we are out of line with the will of God.  God kept the clothes and shoes of the children of Israel from wearing out as they were led by Him in the wilderness for 40 years!  Sometimes "burnout" is a phrase used to justify laziness; other times men refuse to heed the wisdom of Jethro and throw themselves headlong into the work because of proud ambition, thinking themselves impervious to breakdown.  They neglect a Sabbath rest.  They do not trust the work of God to be done as proficiently by others, and this indicates a lack of faith in God.  There are many people who through their actions reveal they are convinced God's plan depends solely upon them.  They rush to and fro putting out fires, doing what they feel must be done, instead of waiting on the LORD to see what He would have them do and be led step by step by faith.  Walking by sight always ends in disaster.

This morning I was astounded by the simplicity of Galatians 6:9:  "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."  When I read these words written by Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit, they were like fresh dew upon the soul.  Often we think of weariness as overtaking us, that we are simply a victim of circumstances which have overwhelmed us.  But that is not the way Paul perceived it.  Because every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit and has been granted His infinite spiritual power and resources, we have all we need to do the work God desires to accomplish through us.  Like manna in a spiritual sense, we must day by day receive of God's spiritual vitality through faith.  Do not think that we can save up spiritual strength in a storehouse to draw upon when we see fit:  in that moment God will give us the strength we need to accomplish His will because He has already given us all strength in Himself.  If we faint or grow weary, it is the product of our choices - either passive or active - which have led to the burnout condition.

What does the scripture say?  Isaiah 40:28-31 states, "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  Let God be true and every man a liar.  Our strength must be renewed through waiting upon the LORD.  You may say, "But I am so tired!"  When a man works hard, his appetite grows.  As we serve God through waiting on Him and serving one another in love, our appetite for time spent with the LORD in communion should also grow.  If you find that you are so busy that you have no time even for prayer and the reading of God's Word, you are well on your way to burnout.  You are choosing the path which will wear you out.  How can I be so sure?  Because you are not renewing your strength daily by waiting on the LORD.  The Bible says if you wait upon Him you will run and not be weary.  I don't have to run far before I grow very weary.  But if we will wait on the LORD, spiritually we can run without weariness!  "But I have been waiting on the LORD, and I am still weary!"  Argue with God's Word if you like, but the Bible stands eternal and sure.  Your close walk with Jesus Christ will be your delight, and your strength will only increase as you serve God faithfully.

God promises not only to be our strength, but to keep us from stumbling.  Jude ends in verse 24-25 with this wonderful benediction:  "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."  If God is for us, who can be against us?  I can tell you what is against God:  Satan, the world under his sway, and our flesh.  Though our souls long to please God, our flesh hates to sacrifice anything for God's glory.  The threat or feeling of burnout seems to our flesh a reasonable justification to leave off doing God's work and embrace a life of ease.  God affirms in 2 Peter 1:3 that according to "...His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue..."  Whatever God asks us to do, He will also provide the means, way, and knowledge to do it.  He is able to accomplish what concerns us today and always.

Let us not be weary in doing good because we will reap, if we faint not.  Waiting on the LORD keeps us from fainting, and by God's grace He keeps us from stumbling.  Let us apply Philippians 4:19 as a salve to our spiritual soreness:  "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  Notice the scripture does not say, "And God shall supply all that we think we need."  It says that God will supply all our need according to His riches by Christ Jesus.  How great is our God!  Let us serve Him both now and forever without intermission!

Wonderful Nature!

In recent Sunday mornings past, my son Abel and I are typically the first to arrive at Calvary Chapel Sydney to open and set up.  Not this week, however!  We were greeted by a large lizard which had parked itself in front of our building!

And a little closer...

The lizard allowed us to come right up to him.  About five minutes after we arrived, he waddled off.  I wish I could have captured his clumsy, floppy gait on camera!  Next time, I'm going to try to pet him.  Living in Australia has taught me a valuable lesson in the importance of conservation and appreciation for native wildlife.  Even the leaves God creates are beautiful!

Jesus is All We Need

My wife Laura has been reading through The Saving Life of Christ by Major W. Ian Thomas.  So many conversations we have had of late involve faith in Christ and the crippling effect of unbelief.  Yesterday we discussed our tendency as humans to ask for what God has already offered.  Minutes after talking over the subject, Laura returned and read this quote from The Saving Life of Christ on page 136:  "Remember, He does not give you strength - He is your strength!  He does not give you victory - He is your victory!  He cannot be your life without being all you need, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  And ye are complete in Him" (Col. 2:9-10a).  Then count upon the fact - and stop asking for what you have!"

For some of us, we trust in God for our justification but think our sanctification is up to us.  Obedience to God is a necessary hallmark of true faith, for good works will always accompany legitimate faith.  One of the best works is to stop relying upon ourselves or our "works" and looking to Jesus to supply our need, even when we face seemingly insurmountable difficulties.  One of John Wesley's favourite passages to preach from was 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, which flows in the same vein with what Major W. Ian Thomas plainly stated:  "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- ³¹ that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."   Jesus is our wisdom, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  He truly is our All in All!

When we take God at His Word - no matter how we feel, no matter how improbable or impossible a situation might appear to our natural senses - we set our feet upon the surest ground:  an eternal, immovable Rock of Salvation.  Any other path which deviates from the Word of God, no matter how certain it may appear, is shifting sand which cascades into a chasm of certain ruin.  If a Christian remains in the middle of God's will, he cannot venture "out on a limb."  Faith in God is not like a child climbing a tree, with every movement towards the top becoming more precarious and dangerous.  Faith in Christ brings a man to his knees, a place where the potential to fall and suffer injury is reduced to nothing.

The words of Hebrews 12:1-3 are appropriate in any case:  "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."  Let us look to Jesus for the abundant life intent on receiving even as He has promised us:  not a life quantifiable by health, wealth, fame, comfort, or social status, but a joyful life that endures for the glory of God for eternity.

A Willing Prisoner?

While praying this morning, I was reminded of when Peter was released from prison.  Herod had killed James the brother of John.  When he saw how it pleased the Jewish leaders, he also arrested and imprisoned Peter.  Acts 12:5-10 relates the details of Peter's miraculous release:  "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. ⁶ And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. ⁷ Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." ⁹ So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him."

Peter was a Christian who followed Jesus to the end and the Holy Spirit worked mightily through him.  While he was in prison, people in the church were continually praying for his deliverance.  When the day of his likely public execution drew near, God sent an angel to free him from his bonds.  Peter was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly struck on the side and lifted to his feet as a light shown around him.  The chains fell from his wrists, Peter put on his clothes and shoes as he was commanded, and followed the angel to freedom.  The scene was so surreal that Peter figured he must have been dreaming.  It was not until he was outside the prison that he realized his deliverance from the prison was reality.

In a spiritual sense, every person is born into a prison of sin where Satan is the chief warden.  We are all like Peter, chained in a dungeon behind reinforced walls and doors.  There is no capacity for man to escape from this prison, nor is salvation or reconciliation obtainable through good behaviour.  The only way to be saved from our sin is to repent and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, following Him to the end.  The Bible does not say how long Peter was in prison.  Knowing that James had been killed with the sword and that likely death awaited him was not a enjoyable prospect to consider.  Can you imagine if Peter was so depressed because of his plight that when the angel slapped him on the side and raised him to his feet Peter lay back down between the Roman guards, rubbing his sore ribs?  How ridiculous it would seem for Peter to ignore the command of the angel to follow and willingly place his hands back into the shackles.  But this is the same thing defeated Christians can choose to do every day, believing that escape from the prison which holds them is futile.

The only thing more tragic than a person choosing to reject Jesus Christ is when those who have received Him through faith reject the hope, peace, and victory He has granted by grace.  That smack on Peter's side was intended to wake him up and bring him to his senses, not to make him cower in fear or pain.  Peter's escape from prison hinged upon one thing:  his obedience.  If Peter refused to follow the angel through the doors, he would have likely died in that prison.  As Peter followed in obedience, they walked right past posted guards.  They approached bolted doors and secured iron gates which swung open on their own accord.  Peter didn't have to break the necks of guards, strain at rusted locks, or dig his way free:  God loosed his chains, led him out of the prison, and delivered him by God's grace.

I read a story of a 59 year-old man in the States who robbed a bank of $1 the purpose of being arrested so he could go back to prison for health care purposes.  This story is not an isolated case.  There are people, believe it or not, who enjoy being inside prison more than being out of prison.  While incarcerated inmates are given a bed, clothes, access to clean water and showers, food at regular intervals they do not need to purchase or prepare, medical treatment, and have many friends and activities to pass the time.  Is it so crazy to think that there are professing Christians who willingly go back to a prison of sin for the perceived perks?  Friends, God did not save us so we can stay in bondage:  Jesus came to deliver the captives and set us free!  We must follow Him, and the doors Jesus opens none can shut.

For us who have been born again through faith in Jesus, we never need be arrested again.  Unlike Peter, should a Christian find himself in prison of sin again it is because he has willingly chosen to enter and remain.  Isaiah 54:17 promises us, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me," says the LORD."  I'm glad that God slaps me when I am in a sinful rut!  In love and grace He renews our minds and gives us strength to repent and follow Him again.  We have been saved not by works of righteousness we have done, but according to God's mercy.  Let us continually walk and rejoice in this fact!

Do As You Have Said!

I've recently started a new routine of Bible reading in the evenings inspired by something I read in a George Mueller biography.  He said that he had read through the Bible 200 times, and 100 of those times he read on his knees.  Now there was a man who was thoroughly convinced of the truth of God's Word, the importance of seeking to hear God's voice and obtain answers to prayer through reading, and the correct attitude of the heart in approaching God in humility.  So many times we ask God for direction and wisdom, but how often do we actively seek the answer in God's Word?  Now it's your turn to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to do just that!

During my reading last night, I was struck with a statement by the heavenly visitors when the LORD appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre.  Upon seeing these who had the appearance of men, Abraham ran to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.  Genesis 18:3-5 records the conversation:  "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." They said, "Do as you have said."

After Abraham offers his hospitality, his guests graciously accepted.  He was not to leave anything undone which he had said.  He was to have water brought so their feet could be washed.  They were then to rest comfortably under the tree.  Then Abraham would supply some bread (and later meat in abundance) so they would be satisfied.  Their answer was simply, "Do as you have said."  These words remind me of Mary's exhortation concerning the directives of Christ in John 2:5:  "Whatever He says to you, do it."

As Christians we are taught from scripture that God always keeps His Word, for lying lips are an abomination to Him.  Everything He has said He will do.  But we must examine ourselves with the rigorous scrutiny with the same words God spoke to Abraham:  "Do as you have said."  When I read those words last night, I was immediately convicted.  Had I done what I had said?  I committed to reading the Bible immediately after putting the boys to bed, but yesterday decided to watch the cricket for an extra half hour before reading my portion.  In His gentle but stern way God said clearly to me, "Do as you have said."  The Father didn't have to tell me specifically what He was referring to, because the Holy Spirit prompted me to know immediately what He meant.  That's the way God speaks:  through His Word, straight to our softened hearts by means of the indwelling Spirit.

Dear Christian, you expect God to keep His Word to you:  have you kept your word to Him?  The same standard applies to both God and man, for God's standard is righteous and true.  What He says to you do it, and do as you have said.  There is joy and peace in keeping His commandments.

God Gives More Grace

Early in his life as a Pharisee, Saul thought he was doing a great work for God by fiercely persecuting the church.  It was only after Jesus confronted him on the road heading to Damascus that Saul saw that in persecuting Christ and His followers he was persecuting God Himself.  Saul was later converted as a follower of Jesus, baptised, filled with the Holy Spirit, and became widely known as Paul.  The same fire and tenacity was there, but Paul had been tempered and honed by Jesus Christ.  Never again did Paul go on a fleshly rampage or crusade against evil.  Instead he was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit and his words were seasoned with love and grace.

The same ill which affected young Saul as a Pharisee ironically afflicts many professing followers of Jesus to this day.  In trying to make a strong stand for Jesus they do much damage to the cause of Christ.  I'm sure you've seen the websites with animated flames, the screen filled with wordy articles in all caps screaming at "non-believers," all with a sense of smug self-righteousness.  The presentation spoils the message.  The words well-meaning people type very well may be true in an academic sense, but if they are not written motivated by love for God and compassion for the lost they are all wrong.  Some people write as if their blood is boiling with rage instead of having cheeks moistened with tears of sympathy for those who are blind, lost, and dead in transgressions and sins.  James and John suggested to Jesus that they call down fire on unbelievers to teach them a lesson.  Luke 9:55-56 reads, "But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. ⁵⁶ For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village."

As Christians we should contend for the truth of scripture and the veracity of the Gospel, but we are not called to be contentious.  Many do not share Christ as they should, but this does not give us license to be rude, condescending, and hateful.  We would do well to obey the exhortation of Christ when He faced those who were self-righteous in Matthew 15:14:  "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."  When you consider the life of Jesus, you will find that He never entertained dishonest questions.  If someone was testing Him, Jesus would never answer those questions directly with doctrine.  He did not debate views or doctrine that people wanted to fight over.  Yet if someone was ignorant and desired God's wisdom, Jesus took the time to explain.

For those Christians who feed on debate and love to throw punches, seek God for a spirit of meekness and gentleness.  In the long list of sins Paul mentions in Romans 1:29, one of them might come as a surprise:  "...Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers..."  Tucked between murder and deceit, we find the word "debate" in the KJV, "strife" in the NKJV.  Wrangling and quarreling have no place in the body of Christ, and that is not the way Jesus won souls for the kingdom of God.  Love God, love people, and share the truth of God's Word.  We do not need to condemn people, for they are condemned by their sins already - just like me and everyone else!  If they want to fight and debate over it, let them alone.  Go to the next village.  But we should not let them alone without interceding for them in prayer with moistened eyes and a heavy heart.  We should have the heart of David, who fasted and prayed for days that his dying child would live.  Who knows if God might be gracious and turn that soul to repentance and eternal life?

When Liberty Kills

Information and knowledge becomes more widespread and easily accessible with each passing moment.  For those who think the ills of mankind reside in ignorance, this is an indictment against them.  Though information is readily available, people still face the same problems which have plagued them from the beginning.  Man knows the truth but lives in conscious opposition to it, convinced that the truth does not apply in his unique case.  He lives in denial of God's existence, embraces subjective relativism to avoid guilt, and lives as if he is a god.  Generation after generation impales itself upon lust, greed, power, and pleasure, always learning but never receiving the truth of the Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ.  There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way is death.

This tragic saga is not only perpetuated by those who reject God and His righteous commands.  Through the prophet Hosea God lamented, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6)  Even though God had provided His Law and priests, Levites, and prophets to instruct His people in how to keep it, the people remained without knowledge.  The people excelled at keeping ordinances and the minutiae of the oral commands made by men, but they missed the main point.  The Law was intended to reveal the righteous character of God and display man's inability to be holy through external means.  Paul explains in the New Testament that the Law is a schoolmaster which leads us to Christ.  Galatians 3:24-25 says, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."  Faith in Christ brings forgiveness and freedom from sin.  We are freed from keeping the letter of the Mosaic Law because we are now governed by the law of liberty through the leading of the Holy Spirit who indwells us.  We are free from the penalty of breaking the Law because Jesus has met the righteous requirements through His sacrifice.

The Mosaic Law governed a man's external actions, but now the Holy Spirit holds us to God's holy standard from within.  Through Him we have both the will and ability to live a life fully pleasing unto God not according to the letter, but according to the Spirit.  In the book written to the Galatians, Paul marveled how the people received Christ by faith but quickly went back under the Law.  They fell into the trap of thinking a man is righteous by what he does, not by who he is in relation to Jesus Christ through faith.  The opposite error Paul sought to correct in his letters to the churches in Rome and Corinth.  People were using the grace and forgiveness of God as an excuse to pursue sin.  People rejoiced in the "liberty" they had in Christ, misunderstanding what this "liberty" actually means.  Liberty is both what God has saved us from and what He has saved us for:  He has liberated us from the oppressive bondage of sin and death, and has liberated us to serve and glorify Him forever.

This misunderstanding of what liberty is and what it is not remains a massive issue in the church today.  How many Christians have been shipwrecked through the exercise of what they thought or claimed as liberty, but in reality was a retreat back into bondage!  Liberty is not freedom to placate and satisfy the flesh, but the opportunity to honour God through godly action.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:9, "But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak."  It is understood that Christians ought to also beware that this liberty of ours can be a stumbling block to ourselves - because we too are weak!  It is only through God we are strong.  God did not grant us liberty so we can justify ourselves from the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, having graciously pulled us like helpless sheep from the teeth of Satan, sin, and Hell.  How foolish and ridiculous it would seem if us sheep, having been spared a horrible end and given exceedingly great and precious promises through Christ by faith, used our remaining time on earth to flee from the Shepherd and seek shelter in a dark pit - perhaps the same dark pit we used to frequent before we were saved.  What kind of liberty is this?  The mind is of such a one is still enslaved in old ways of thinking.  Proverbs 26:11 reads,  "As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly."  Foolishness in the Bible is directly related to wickedness.  It is the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." (Ps. 14:1)  To atheists and Christians alike Solomon says in Proverbs 1:22:  "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge."  Fools hate knowledge, and it is because of the lack of knowledge God's people perish.

Let us not be foolish, but wise concerning what liberty actually is.  If my exercise of liberty is not bringing honour to God or is a justification from the Holy Spirit's conviction, I willingly return to bondage.  Psalm 10:4 states, "The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts."  I find this verse very convicting.  The righteous must seek God, and God should be in all my thoughts.  I confess to you that I am righteous only through faith in Christ, for in my flesh no good thing dwells.  It is my hearts desire that God would be in all my thoughts, and I have much room to grow!  Let us follow the command of Christ:  seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto us.  I find I am not able to do this, but God has liberated my heart, mind, and body to both will and do His good pleasure by His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Praise Him!

Unbelieving Believers

In the church today we find an undeniable, brutal irony:  believers filled with unbelief.  Christians are often termed "believers," so this claim might at first seem surprising.  But we don't have to look beyond ourselves to know with certainty that we too can beset with this sin.  Do you see unbelief in God and His Word as a sin?  It is among one of the worst faith-killing, power-sapping, glory of God-robbing sins a man can cultivate.  To add to the danger, there is no sin more easily justified by our flesh than unbelief.  We can be full of unbelief but perceive ourselves as strong, unwavering believers.

Familiarity with God's Word ironically provides an impetus to unbelief.  We assume that because we can repeat verses verbatim we have in belief appropriated all God has granted us by grace.  Through much hearing we become dull and senseless, finding more interest in reading the commentary in our study Bibles than by listening carefully for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit as we read the naked Word of God.  Did you realize this is a primary purpose of the Holy Spirit being sent?  1 Corinthians 2:12 reads, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."  As we read the inspired Word of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to believe and appropriate what God has freely given us.  We are trained to look to the scriptures for assurance concerning forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation, but we can look for feelings as confirmation when speaking about baptism with the Holy Spirit and physical healing.  This ought not to be!

As I considered the unbelief in the disciples after Christ's resurrection, it struck me that it was not only Thomas who had to see to believe:  every single one of them was full of unbelief of Christ's resurrection until Jesus revealed Himself to them.  They all had to see before they believed.  John needed to see the empty tomb, Thomas had to place his fingers in the prints of the nails, Mary Magdalene needed Jesus to say "Mary!," and the disciples on the road to Emmaus needed their eyes to be opened as Christ took bread and broke it while giving thanks.  The fact is, we all need God to personally reveal Himself to us before we can see our unbelief, confess it as sin, and believe Him.

My familiarity caused me to miss the message of this insightful verse for many years.  1 John 5:13 in the KJV at first may seem redundant, but it points out the believer's need to believe:  "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."  John was writing to people who already believed on the name of the Son of God.  The purpose for him writing was so people would know they have eternal life, and that they would believe on the name of the Son of God.  John saw there was unbelief among believers!  People were building on the foundation of Christ, but they were also filled with doubts.  It is possible to build a rickety building on a sure foundation.  If we harbour unbelief, we give place to the devil.   James 1:6-8 reads, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

When you look at your Christian walk, is it marked by stability or instability?  Is your life better personified as a lighthouse firmly established upon a rock illuminating the way of salvation through Christ, or as a darkened ship being tossed about on waves, subject to the mercy of the tide?  You do well to build your life on the foundation of Jesus Christ - hearing His Words, believing, and doing them - but if you build in unbelief spiritual and emotional instability will be the result.  When you read the Word of God, do you believe it is absolutely true without fail, even if your experience seems to say otherwise?  Some people take the wide, broad path of standing in judgment to explain away why your desired ends have not been met:  "You obviously don't have the faith."  It is not a question of faith, but more the issue of unbelief.  1 John 5:14-15 boldly proclaims, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

We can be confident that if we ask anything according to God's revealed will, He hears us.  If He hears us, we know we have the petition we have asked.  It may be that you have faithfully prayed 30 years for God's will in a situation and still you have not seen the end you desire.  Does that mean that God's Word is wrong?  No!  Trust Him and continue to pray according to His will, thanking Him in advance for answering your prayer.  Leave the timing and way to God.  God in a way is like a taxi driver.  He has revealed His plan to bring us and others to a particular end for His glory with sanctification, yet we are filled with doubts because He is taking a route unfamiliar to us.  We complain about His driving, thinking He is taking us the longer way at our great expense.  We want Him to take us by supersonic jet and He is content to let us walk through a desert.  Confess your unbelief and follow Christ in faith.  He will be true to His Word, and we are assured of His love, grace, and faithfulness.

[This Sunday at Calvary Chapel Sydney I preached on the subject of "Unbelieving Believers" from the second half of Mark 16.  If you are interested to read them, the sermon notes can be found here.  Please comment on what God is teaching you so we can all learn and grow!]

World Peace?

An oxymoron is a "combination of contradictory or incongruous words."  Some common examples are "jumbo shrimp," "seriously funny," "modern history," and "long shorts."  I visited a website which claimed to have an exhaustive list of oxymoronic statements, but from a biblical perspective they are missing at least one:  world peace.

At the end of the halftime show during the Super Bowl, the words "world peace" were emblazoned across the field.  Those are completely incongruous terms.  The world's idea of peace is a world without war or conflict, unity of heart and spirit, a place free of suffering, racism, bigotry, nepotism, or hate.  This is certainly a sublime desire.  But this idyllic life cannot be realized in a world full of sin ruled by Satan, the prince of darkness.  In scripture, the world's ways and humanistic philosophies are always at war with God's ways and perfect wisdom.  There is not a square inch of shared ground between the world and God.  There is no room for compromise because God's Laws are absolute and righteous, and the world is absolutely depraved, deceived, and doomed.

The wars, crimes, and death which ravages the globe finds its root in sin.  Government, education, and tax dollars cannot bring this peace.  Even if every mouth was fed, if everyone on the planet had clean water, proper education, and medical insurance, we would still not have peace.  In the current state, "world peace" will always be a ghostly apparition because of the unchecked sin in the hearts of people who walk this earth. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"  Even people who truly have all the world can often fight a war in their hearts every day:  fear of death, fear of man, hate, addictions, insomnia, fear of rejection, pride, violence, and lies.  How many celebrities and millionaires have killed themselves through drugs, alcohol, or with violent intent because of disillusionment, loneliness, or sorrow?  "Let me have their millions - that wouldn't happen to me."  Oh yeah?  Money can't buy you peace:  it will rob you of the benefits you believe it provides.  Murder, greed, violence among families, and hatred among people is only a symptom of the wickedness in the hearts of people when it rises to the surface.

Contrast the world with Jesus, who in scripture is called "The Prince of Peace."   Ephesians 2:12-18 explains how Jesus has brought peace to this world of sin.  "...You were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, [15] having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, [16] and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. [17] And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. [18] For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father."  For mankind, Jesus is our Peace, our only Peace.  It is only through Him we can have peace with God through His shed blood, and only through Him we can have peace with one another.  When Jesus came to the world, what did the world do?  He was falsely accused, tortured, and crucified on the cross by those He preached peace to.  The world could not accept the love, way, truth, or the life God offered through His Son.

The beauty of the story is that Jesus rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death.  This is the victory He gives to all who repent and trust in Him.  Not only that, but we can be at peace with God even though our bodies still dwell upon this sin-soaked world.  The world can be in shambles all around us, but we can experience continually a peace that passes understanding.  The peace of a Christian is not dictated by outer forces at work beyond his control which he must manipulate to be happy, but a peace that comes from within through faith in Christ.  In a world where the news seems to only grow more evil and insidious, what grace that God should freely grant eternal life and peace to those who are redeemed through the blood of Jesus.

There can be no peace until there is first justice:  not justice according to man's subjective standards, but according to God's righteous standard.  The Bible says that Jesus will someday return to the earth as a conquering King, and the nations will be subdued before Him.  He will bind Satan and cast him into the bottomless pit and set up His rule over all.  Then, for the first time since Eden, there will be world peace.  Music, dancing, athletics, competition, and the best efforts of men or combined government bodies cannot usher in this peace.  Peace can only be obtained through the Prince of Peace:  Jesus Christ.

Eternal Moments

As I grow older, I am amazed by some of the things my brain has tucked away.  What blows me away is how a single day, action, or statement has made a permanent effect upon my life.  Both good and bad things in my past can have a positive influence on me today and the rest of my time on earth.  I remember being corrected harshly as a child by the church secretary for asking her about her age or the embarrassing feeling when I unwittingly touched a toupee of my Sunday School teacher.  I remember Coach Lib sitting down the cross country team to discuss philosophy, and Mr. Kennedy dropping a metal trash can on the floor at Emerald Junior High.  I remember taking a friend to Taco Bell to cheer him up, and putting my foot in my mouth more times than I care to reflect upon.  We would all likely agree that every day we have a chance to make a positive, permanent influence on the lives of those around us for the glory of God.  The trouble is, because we can't mark those times on a calendar or plan for them, it seems those eternal moments go unrecognized.

Thinking back, it is easy for me to remember a lot of the people I worked with in the mechanical insulation industry.  I remember conversations I had with Navy sailors, places I worked, jobs we accomplished.  Yesterday I thought about a job I had at George Bailey detention center near the border.  I only worked on the jobsite with my buddy Tim for one day.  The "tin-knocker" (installer of the aircon duct we were wrapping) was a piece of work.  He was happy, yelling in his Filipino accent, and seemed to be having the time of his life as he worked.  Over and over he would yell, "Ho-kay sweet!"  I asked him what he was saying.  He said, "If you curse, people think you are a bad person.  So I just made up my own words to say."  And boy, did he say them with gusto!  All day long we heard "Ho-kay sweet" until we found ourselves echoing him.  The words echo in my head to this day, and I chuckle when I think of that crazy guy.

I don't know if that man thought working in the same building with me for one day would make such a long-lasting impression.  I certainly had no idea!  If someone is able to impact me simply with yelling "Ho-kay sweet!" at random times during working hours, how much greater and more positive an influence can God have through His people when they are yielded to Him!  We will never know the breadth or depth of impact we are making on people around us every day, whether we realise it or not.  If we recognized that every moment has the potential to be an eternal moment in someone's life, I'm thinking that simple fact would change the way we approach everything!  However, it does me no good to be preoccupied with the impact I could make.  In my flesh, no good thing dwells.  I am not able to do good without the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Agreeing with the fact that God wants to use me and that anyone can be used by God for the purpose of making an eternal impact in a moment's time is most encouraging.  When I focus on the fact that God can make a eternal difference through me, I look to Him for strength and guidance.

Today, you can make a difference!  It all starts with us allowing God to make us different and align our temporal perspectives with His eternal one.  Who knows?  God can use a smile, hug, a word of encouragement or reproof, even a cup of water given in His name to make an eternal moment out of the mundane.  Praise Him for His wondrous works!

Cover the Sin with Love

"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. ⁸ And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." 

1 Peter 4:7-8

One little word makes a huge difference.  This is one of the verses from the King James Version I have been memorizing lately.  In the New King James Version, the last part of verse 8 is a quote taken from Proverbs 10:12:  "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins."  I am most familiar with 1 Peter 4:8 in the NKJV which reads, "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."  As I repeated the verse a few times according to the KJV, I began to consider the difference between the use of "a multitude" or "the multitude."  Though I am not a Greek scholar by any means, upon further examination the original Greek in this passage does not contain the definite article "the."  The English indefinite article "a" does not appear in Greek at all!  The text literally says, "...love will cover multitude sins."  In translating the Greek into English, "the" or "a" have been added as well as "of" to allow the verse to flow naturally.

One thing I refuse to do is to pit differing literal translations of the Bible against one another.  I do not believe I need to choose either the King James or the New King James version as divinely inspired and view the other as spiritually-substandard.  The words we read in English are intended to aid us in knowing God as revealed in scripture.  Both versions are fully supported with scripture.  With the help of the Holy Spirit granting us wisdom and discernment, we can know the heart of God because He dwells within us.  Love covers a multitude of sins, and love covers the multitude of sins.  This minor difference reveals two versions of a single, powerful truth.  As I read the scripture over and over to memorize it, the truth "love shall cover the multitude of sins" made a deep impression upon me.

Peter encourages the believers to above all have fervent love among them.  The Bible says Christians are to be known for our love for God and one another.  There are some in the world which ignorantly brand all Bible-believing, church-attending, Christ-professing people as hypocrites.  This is only partly true.  A more true and accurate statement is, "All people are hypocrites."  The great irony is that the only way to become a Christian is to first admit that you are a rotten sinner, doomed to eternal damnation and separation from God because of your own sin.  After confessing sin in repentance, a Christian is born again through faith in Jesus Christ and receives forgiveness of sins.  No doctrinally sound Christian could claim he is sinless through his own merit, as 1 John 1:10 says, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us."  As a follower of Jesus Christ, we are to forsake sin and walk according to Christ's precepts.  But no man clothed in human flesh can do this perfectly.  We all stumble and fall, and we are not hypocrites to admit it.  In fact, we begin to strip away our hypocrisy when we do this!

What comfort there is for Christians in 1 Peter 4:8:  "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."  There are some people who have spent years looking for a church that meets their standards.  These same people would probably leave a church where Jesus Christ Himself was pastor because of all the sinners who attended!  Love does not just cover "a multitude of sins," but "the multitude of sins."  Even in church fellowships with only a few people, there are multitudes of sins represented.  Jesus knew and knows this:  people are sinners who need a Saviour!  I love the fact that Peter does not speak theoretically:  "If there's a multitude of sins, love will cover them."  No!  He says, "There are sins in abundance, and love covers them all."  Proverbs 10:12 affirms, "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins."  God knows our frame:  He remembers we are dust.  We do well to remember this too and refuse to stand in judgment of one another because a person's Bible translation of choice is a different translation than our own.

Proverbs 17:9 reads, "He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends."  When the Christians in Corinth were taking private matters of offense before the legal system, he had strong words of challenge for them in 1 Corinthians 6:7:  "Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?"  It would be better for me to allow myself to be cheated than to stray from walking in love.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us a wonderful description of this kind of love:  "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  I can't count how many times I have read this passage, but it still blows me away.  What love is this, the love of God shown sinners through Jesus Christ!  We can't shed our blood to forgive sins, but we can cover them with the love of Jesus as we trust Him.  Let us be faithful to cover the multitude of sins with God's love.

Spiritual Fitness

Australians are very into fitness.  It doesn't surprise me that a large amount of children and youth in Sydney play sports.  What surprises me is how many adults play organized sports or join the gym, ride bikes, swim, or run around punching bags and lifting weights with a personal trainer in the park.  It's not uncommon for people to play sports on a team into their sixties!  My neighbor is passionate about fitness of all kinds.  He kayaks, hits the gym, swings a kettlebell, rides a bike, and does some boxing training as well.  Improving your fitness involves more than exercise, however:  it is a regimented lifestyle of remaining accountable to a healthy diet, faithfully going to the gym, setting aside time for training, and always seeking to take it up a level.  It involves pain, working through injuries, sacrifices, moderation with food and drink, and effort.  It means doing what you know is good for you, even when you don't feel like doing it.

When I drove by the gym on the way to church to pray at 5:45am on Tuesday, I could see 50 people through the glass jumping up and down and punching the air.  The thought crossed my mind:  "Those people have more drive to be physically fit than many Christians do to be spiritually fit."  How great it would be if churches had such excitement and energy from folks to faithfully attend a 6am prayer meeting!  1 Timothy 4:8 says, "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."  I remember reading a book which told of a man who would rise at 4am to pray every day and was greatly shamed if he heard the sound of the blacksmith's hammer or ox carts passing by his home before he knelt and prayed to God.  His belief was that his effort and devotion to God in prayer should be greater than the faithfulness of other people simply pursuing secular work.

A huge part of exercise is simply exercising.  Sometimes it is a physical condition due to poor fitness, the fact that our clothes no longer fit, or disgust over our appearance that moves us to make changes in our lives to diet and exercise.  The typical routine is we are faithful until we begin to notice some improvement.  We become satisfied with the fruit of our labour and begin to slowly neglect the disciplines which brought success.  Before too long we are eating too much, exercising too little, and the familiar cycle begins again.  It is the same way in spiritual matters.  We lay hold of the victory God has given us in an area of our lives or rejoice in a spiritual gift He has granted us.  But over time our reliance on God turns into self-confidence, gifts become dusty and rusty through neglect, and we wonder where our joy, peace, and fulfillment has gone.

There are many ways to improve fitness, and the same could be said concerning the life of a Christian as well.  However, there are some staples which cannot be neglected if we desire a closer walk with Christ, resting in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Prayer is a massive key.  Ephesians 6:18 says Christians ought to be "...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints..."  We also must seek close fellowship with other believers, sharpening one another and remaining accountable.  This means we must ask and agree with being asked tough personal questions so we might examine our lives closely.  The study and reading of the Bible empowered with the Holy Spirit is a must.  It is one thing to hear sermons, but studying the Word for yourself is a critical step in personal, spiritual growth.

One aspect of spiritual fitness I have recently "re-discovered" is that of memorizing Bible verses.  In my younger days, memorizing scripture was something I did both at school and in my home.  By first grade I knew the books of the Bible and could recite Psalm 1 and 23 by heart.  Over the years I memorized a lot of other verses too.  But as I went into adulthood, focusing on Bible verse memory was not a top priority.  I always agreed with the practice of storing God's Word in my heart so the Spirit could bring it to remembrance to govern my life.  But the thing I didn't realize as a young person is memorization should not be simply viewed as the storage of information.  God's Word is living, and it goes right to work on our hearts and minds when we meditate on it.  Over the past few weeks I've been memorizing some verses, and God has used them mightily to impress new truth upon my life.  Same old truth, new application and power.  I am recognizing more and more the power of God's Word and delight to memorize it - not so I can earn a gold star, but so God will make me spiritually fit to do His work.

What does the scripture say?  2 Timothy 3:16-17 reads, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."  If I believe the Bible is truly as powerful and necessary as God claims it is, then I must do something about it.  Anyone can write a verse on a card and repeat it word for word, but it is God who makes the Word come alive and actually complete us, thoroughly equipping us for every good work.  Memorizing scripture was a missing part of my spiritual fitness regimen for some time, but no more.  Psalm 34:8 says, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"  Enough with the junk!  Put something good into your mind, heart, and soul for a healthy change!  Do it - and keep doing it!