This morning I read Deuteronomy 7:25-26 during my devotional time: "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
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Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing." Verse 26 grabbed my attention. Living in Australia, it is very easy to bring abominations into our houses unwittingly. With uncut movies and internet, abominations can be digitally ushered right into our homes. When we do this, scripture warns we will be doomed to destruction. These are hard words intended to impact hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
As a Christian man, I would never think to invite a woman to disrobe in my living room and perform sex acts. I would not invite gangsters into my house to swear and curse, nor would I gather the family around to watch people fornicate from the lounge. Yet this is exactly what happens if we watch television programming or internet videos without discernment. The potential is great for us to bring abominable practices right into our homes and after a while not even notice we have done so. When it comes to sin, we are to "utterly detest it and utterly abhor it." Once we have been exposed to such abomination our conscience becomes seared and we no longer notice. For this very reason I believe a lot of Christians are weak, sick, and unable to recognise we have compromised. When we compromise, we are spiritual compromised. Sometimes we are overtaken in trespasses, and other times we invite it freely. What did our mothers teach us about playing with fire? Not only can we be burned, but the destructive power can spread and be fanned out of control.
Be on guard, brothers and sisters. If we give place to the devil, he will not rest until he increases his hold on our hearts and minds. He always seeks to bring us back into bondage. True freedom comes when we recognise our sin and repent, choosing to live a life of holiness and righteousness for God's glory. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 reads, "Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;
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for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
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For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
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that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
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not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
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that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
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For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness."
The will of God is that we not only abstain from immorality, but we keep our hearts and minds pure and holy from this sin-steeped culture. Sin is a snare, and those who see it and avoid it are wise. Snares are carefully concealed for the purpose of trapping and killing hapless victims. In light of scripture, let us be discerning with what we bring into our homes and what we set before our eyes. We lose nothing when we walk uprightly. This is the way to an abundant life with Christ, walking in the way that pleases God as He sanctifies us by His grace.
24 June 2013
23 June 2013
The God who Cries
It is inspiring how God uses the past circumstances of our lives to use us profitably for the future. Only He is able to redeem the wreckage of our lives and make it new and beautiful. Unlike some Christians who have a radical conversion out of drugs, alcohol, and sex, my background is one of a self-righteous Pharisee. My sinful condition was not on display through crime or gang violence, but through pride as I was brought up in the church. People talk about "at risk" youth, but there is hardly a precipice more risky than self-righteous pride and arrogance - in a collared shirt, combed hair, and a Bible in hand in Sunday School.
One of the greatest risks in church is we know much of God but never actually hear from Him. Hearing God speak is not and expected part of many people's daily walk with Jesus Christ. It should be! How can we know we are following Christ if we are too distant to hear His voice? Knowledge of the Bible does not mean a person knows God. Somehow we have neglected this remedial fact. I would rather someone doubt their salvation than to assume he is heaven bound because he knows doctrine. It is not doctrine that saves but the applied blood of Jesus Christ through faith to the heart of a damned sinner who repents. The Gospel for some people never gets past their heads and into their hearts. If the Gospel is reduced to a mental exercise, it is rendered impotent of saving power.
Proverbs 8:1 says, "Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?" Jesus has become for us wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30). Seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." Jesus stands at the door, knocking and crying out. The question is not, "Does God speak?" but "What is Jesus saying to me today?" God has put in me a great longing to see people in the church tuned to hear the small, still voice of God. There are others who have a great burden for people who have never heard the Gospel. I want to see those people saved too. But they will not be saved until the people in the church hear God and respond to His call to go. How will unreached people hear unless someone tells them?
Dear friends, there are unreached people who come to church every Sunday. God is speaking, but His words fall on soil not prepared to receive the good Word. Hosea 10:12 reveals the onus is on us: "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you." The paradigms of our flesh are fallow areas of our hearts that we must break up. We must humble ourselves, be willing to clear the rocks from our hearts in God's strength, yield ourselves to the plow (though painful to our flesh), and receive the Word God speaks with joy. God is the source of our fruitfulness. Any effort of the flesh will fail, but those who walk by faith in the Spirit and abide in Christ will lack no good thing.
God is speaking; Wisdom is crying out. Are you listening? What is God saying to you today? And what are you doing about it?
One of the greatest risks in church is we know much of God but never actually hear from Him. Hearing God speak is not and expected part of many people's daily walk with Jesus Christ. It should be! How can we know we are following Christ if we are too distant to hear His voice? Knowledge of the Bible does not mean a person knows God. Somehow we have neglected this remedial fact. I would rather someone doubt their salvation than to assume he is heaven bound because he knows doctrine. It is not doctrine that saves but the applied blood of Jesus Christ through faith to the heart of a damned sinner who repents. The Gospel for some people never gets past their heads and into their hearts. If the Gospel is reduced to a mental exercise, it is rendered impotent of saving power.
Proverbs 8:1 says, "Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?" Jesus has become for us wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30). Seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." Jesus stands at the door, knocking and crying out. The question is not, "Does God speak?" but "What is Jesus saying to me today?" God has put in me a great longing to see people in the church tuned to hear the small, still voice of God. There are others who have a great burden for people who have never heard the Gospel. I want to see those people saved too. But they will not be saved until the people in the church hear God and respond to His call to go. How will unreached people hear unless someone tells them?
Dear friends, there are unreached people who come to church every Sunday. God is speaking, but His words fall on soil not prepared to receive the good Word. Hosea 10:12 reveals the onus is on us: "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you." The paradigms of our flesh are fallow areas of our hearts that we must break up. We must humble ourselves, be willing to clear the rocks from our hearts in God's strength, yield ourselves to the plow (though painful to our flesh), and receive the Word God speaks with joy. God is the source of our fruitfulness. Any effort of the flesh will fail, but those who walk by faith in the Spirit and abide in Christ will lack no good thing.
God is speaking; Wisdom is crying out. Are you listening? What is God saying to you today? And what are you doing about it?
19 June 2013
God Knows: Trudge On!
This morning I read in Deuteronomy 2:7, "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing." The passage resonated in me, reminding me of my own calling and slow unfolding of God's plan for our family to immigrate and serve Him in Australia.
From a human perspective, God's seems to employ painstakingly slow, inefficient means to accomplish His purposes. In farming, the cultivation and preparation of the soul takes much longer than the actual planting. The breaking up of sun-scorched clods and amending the soil is far greater work than the scattering of seed! When the call to Australia came to me, my whole outlook was affected with excitement and expectation. I did not know when, how, or where God would establish us. I did not know the shape of the ministry He intended me to do. All I knew was, "You will preach, and you will be sent." I knew God had called me to be a pastor, but how it would come about was completely unknown.
The great challenge after the call was to maintain focus upon the LORD and where He had me at that current time. The temptation was to focus on the unknowns which loomed like iron gates. Expending time and effort trying to figure out how and when God would fulfill His Word to me proved to be a useless waste of time. God reminded me of Yoda's rebuke of Luke Skywalker in "Empire Strikes Back." Having no experience, never having trained, Luke was ready to take on the whole Empire himself. Yoda shot back: "Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing."
As a missionary in a foreign field, you must learn first at home to faithfully "suit up and show up." How you handle the little things is an indication of how you handle bigger things. We can foolishly think, "Well, if I was in the field I would spend more time in prayer" or "I will be more faithful when my responsibilities increase." Stop kidding yourself. Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12: "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" If you cannot be faithful to take care of something as simple as brushing your teeth daily, showing up on time every day at work, or reading the books you borrowed, how do you expect to progress spiritually? Does God reward sloppy servants with greater responsibility? In the grand scope of things, being prompt or brushing your teeth are very little things - but our faithfulness with the little things is a sight-glass with a view into our heart, character, and priorities. Those who are faithful in least are faithful also in much.
The children of Israel expected to be ushered into the Promised Land without a struggle. Had they known they would have entered the land of Canaan after 40 years of trudging through the desert, many of them would have refused to leave Egypt! But God is looking for faithful servants who stare at 40 years in the face like nothing, set their face like a flint, and stay faithful like Caleb and Joshua - without grumbling, arrogance, or pride. These are the men who will enter in, overcome, and be established in the land God prepared them for. In those 40 years, God purged and refined His people. He conditioned them to become completely dependent upon Him. During the years of waiting and trudging, God is preparing you and the field where He is sending you. Trudging on is not drudgery when God is with you, leading you to His expected end!
Though we are often in a hurry, God is not. He will be true to His Word, for He is faithful. Even when you face obstacles, detours, and apparent setbacks, God's plans are pushing forward with unstoppable force. You will be ready when God says you are. Set the alarm, pray, read, seek, and brush those teeth! Be faithful in little, and God will entrust more to you according to His grace.
From a human perspective, God's seems to employ painstakingly slow, inefficient means to accomplish His purposes. In farming, the cultivation and preparation of the soul takes much longer than the actual planting. The breaking up of sun-scorched clods and amending the soil is far greater work than the scattering of seed! When the call to Australia came to me, my whole outlook was affected with excitement and expectation. I did not know when, how, or where God would establish us. I did not know the shape of the ministry He intended me to do. All I knew was, "You will preach, and you will be sent." I knew God had called me to be a pastor, but how it would come about was completely unknown.
The great challenge after the call was to maintain focus upon the LORD and where He had me at that current time. The temptation was to focus on the unknowns which loomed like iron gates. Expending time and effort trying to figure out how and when God would fulfill His Word to me proved to be a useless waste of time. God reminded me of Yoda's rebuke of Luke Skywalker in "Empire Strikes Back." Having no experience, never having trained, Luke was ready to take on the whole Empire himself. Yoda shot back: "Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing."
As a missionary in a foreign field, you must learn first at home to faithfully "suit up and show up." How you handle the little things is an indication of how you handle bigger things. We can foolishly think, "Well, if I was in the field I would spend more time in prayer" or "I will be more faithful when my responsibilities increase." Stop kidding yourself. Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12: "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" If you cannot be faithful to take care of something as simple as brushing your teeth daily, showing up on time every day at work, or reading the books you borrowed, how do you expect to progress spiritually? Does God reward sloppy servants with greater responsibility? In the grand scope of things, being prompt or brushing your teeth are very little things - but our faithfulness with the little things is a sight-glass with a view into our heart, character, and priorities. Those who are faithful in least are faithful also in much.
The children of Israel expected to be ushered into the Promised Land without a struggle. Had they known they would have entered the land of Canaan after 40 years of trudging through the desert, many of them would have refused to leave Egypt! But God is looking for faithful servants who stare at 40 years in the face like nothing, set their face like a flint, and stay faithful like Caleb and Joshua - without grumbling, arrogance, or pride. These are the men who will enter in, overcome, and be established in the land God prepared them for. In those 40 years, God purged and refined His people. He conditioned them to become completely dependent upon Him. During the years of waiting and trudging, God is preparing you and the field where He is sending you. Trudging on is not drudgery when God is with you, leading you to His expected end!
Though we are often in a hurry, God is not. He will be true to His Word, for He is faithful. Even when you face obstacles, detours, and apparent setbacks, God's plans are pushing forward with unstoppable force. You will be ready when God says you are. Set the alarm, pray, read, seek, and brush those teeth! Be faithful in little, and God will entrust more to you according to His grace.
18 June 2013
Keep the Unity of the Spirit
Unity in Christ is critically important. Sometimes conformity or uniformity can pass for "unity" because we look at externals and cannot see the heart. A smile can hide great offense, and outward compliance can mask deep wounds. I have been enjoying a book written by Francis Frangipane called, House United: How Christ-Centered Unity Can End Church Division. I have appreciated his many insights, but none more than the portion I read yesterday concerning unity in the early church:
Unity starts with me. It does not start through outer conformity but through inner transformation by the Holy Spirit. God has created the Body of Christ with many different members with unique functions and perspectives. Yet He has also given us all the same Head, Jesus Christ, who is to direct and govern all our functions through divine love. How versatile and useful is a body where all the parts work together in harmony for the good of all! This unity can only be fostered by faith in Christ. It takes trust. We need God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus is the head of my life, I can walk in step with Him and lead others to do the same despite any differences we may have. May Paul's exhortation ring in our ears in Ephesians 4:1-3: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
One may argue, "If we had their power, we would be united as well." Let me emphasize: they were of one mind before Pentecost (see Acts 1:14). If there had not been unity among the disciples prior to Pentecost, there would not have been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The outpouring did not create unity; unity made the way for the outpouring. The order was first, then came the power of the Spirit. Frangipane, Kindle highlight Loc. 991-94We all desire the empowerment of Pentecost, but are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary for true unity, the most basic of which are faith, humility, repentance, and submission before God? We are very often like the animals in the fable of the Little Red Hen: desiring to eat the bread but not willing to do the work required to harvest the ingredients, prepare, and bake them according to the recipe. If we want to eat cake, we will need to do the work first. God is all about doing this work in desperate souls who see their sin and need as great and their ability and strength as small. In us no good thing dwells, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Unity starts with me. It does not start through outer conformity but through inner transformation by the Holy Spirit. God has created the Body of Christ with many different members with unique functions and perspectives. Yet He has also given us all the same Head, Jesus Christ, who is to direct and govern all our functions through divine love. How versatile and useful is a body where all the parts work together in harmony for the good of all! This unity can only be fostered by faith in Christ. It takes trust. We need God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus is the head of my life, I can walk in step with Him and lead others to do the same despite any differences we may have. May Paul's exhortation ring in our ears in Ephesians 4:1-3: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
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