When Christians think of unity in the context of church, it is natural for us to assume this means unity among people. That is an aspect of unity, but that is not where unity begins. As each person in the church is made part of Christ's body, we first must be united with Him in faith. When a person repents and is born again, the Holy Spirit unites us with God by dwelling within us. Yet placing our faith in Christ does not mean we are wholly united with Him. Our minds may be in agreement with the truth of His Word, but that does not ensure we are walking in light of that truth. We can be in two minds over something, and our own hearts can be divided. If our hearts are divided within us, uniting perfectly with others will prove impossible.
This fact hit me as I read Psalm 86:11-12: "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.
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I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore." The psalmist asked God to "unite his heart to fear God's name." This illuminates the fact our hearts are not always united within us. Even as our beliefs and actions do not always agree, our hearts can be strangely segmented and stand at odds with each another. After David asked God to teach him His ways, having firmly decided he would obey, David asked God to unite his heart to fear God's name. Verse 12 combined the answer and result: David praised the LORD his God with all his heart. No man can know his own heart, but God does. In faith our hearts are united to praise God and glorify Him forever.
Is your heart united in the fear of the LORD? Praise Him with all your heart, for only God can make us whole, united, and join us in sweet fellowship and victory with others.
17 March 2015
15 March 2015
Threshing and Declaring
"Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you."
Isaiah 21:10
There is a good application from this verse for all who preach the Word of God. The role of a teaching pastor is much like that of a chef, in that the preparation of a sermon is similar to preparing a meal. Quality ingredients are prepared, mixed in the right proportion, and cooked or baked to make nutritious, hopefully delicious dishes. The audience is considered, even as a chef would adapt his fare to appeal to children or a gourmet critic. A preacher would be wise not to approach a class of year-three children the same way he would a lecture in seminary. The truth of the message must not be changed, but the presentation should be altered slightly to communicate the truth of scripture in a way it can be easily understood and received by the listeners. Appropriate illustrations and applications tailored by the Holy Spirit shed light to illuminate profound spiritual truths in simple ways.
After wheat or other grains are harvested, they must be threshed before they can be eaten or ground into meal. Threshing is the violent process of separating the inedible husk and stalk from the wholesome grain. If you are interested for an amazing transcript of a sermon on the subject of threshing by C.H. Spurgeon, follow this link! A preacher's job is not to read the Bible and thresh the good from the inedible, for all of God's Word is spiritually wholesome, nutritious, and good. A preacher's own thoughts, motive, and words, however, must be thoroughly threshed. There are plenty of inedible, coarse, and empty words naturally found in me which must be threshed from my discourses. We must carefully weigh our interpretations and applications of the text according to the leading of the Spirit to cull our own opinions so we might faithfully hold forth the wholesome Word. A bushel of chaff is not as valuable as a few kernels of good grain.
May all preachers of the Word be able to say, "That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you." We are to preach the Word, not ourselves. My opinions and words of my crafting are chaff, but the Word of the LORD will endure forever. God's Word is good seed which has the potential to transform, cleanse, grow in the hearts of willing hearers, and be fruitful. Preachers must allow God's Word to thresh us of errors so we might faithfully preach as the scripture exhorts in 2 Timothy 4:1-4: "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."
Let us declare faithfully the truths of God's Word, and also strive to be doers of the Word. We cannot expect our sermons to have any lasting effect on anyone if we ourselves are not transformed. God designed men with two ears and two eyes, and there is little value in a preacher who is all mouth. We must hear from the LORD and submit to God's truth before we have anything of value to say. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Praise the LORD for the effectual life in His Word, and those who hear it and obey will be established and fruitful for God's glory!
Know Your Motive
We can never be sure of the motives of others, but God sees the heart. Motive is the difference between a word of encouragement and flattery, from manslaughter and first-degree murder. Motive is the difference between a gift and a bribe, the difference between being genuine or manipulative. When Samuel looked upon Eliab the son of Jesse with approval, God spoke of the importance of the heart in 1 Samuel 16:6-7: "So it was, when they came, that he [Samuel] looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him."
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But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Appearance may convince men, but God is not fooled.
It occurred to me sometimes we can fool ourselves - despite the conscience God has sovereignly placed within us. How gracious He is to send the Holy Spirit to convict, help, comfort, and guide us into all truth. As we read God's Word, the Holy Spirit applies it to our hearts. One verse can be a healing balm, another a sword which pierces us through. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Even a seared conscience is revealed as tender inside when the sharp sword from Christ's mouth slices like a razor through the thickened exterior. He does not cut with His Word to injure, but to promote repentance, healing, and wholeness.
We should think before we speak, and our motive ought to be carefully considered. Words have the power to build up or throw down, to strengthen or undermine. Proverbs 20:9-10 says, "Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"? 10 Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the LORD." The use of diverse weights and diverse measures implies an effort to deceive. Unethical traders would tamper with their weights to affect business transactions in their favour, receiving too much money for too few goods. It is important our words are carefully weighted with God's truth. We are responsible to ensure our lifestyle matches our words, we do not show partiality, or act differently around certain people we hope to impress. So much in the life of a Christian boils down to motive. May we be transparent and teachable before God as it is written in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; 24 and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
It occurred to me sometimes we can fool ourselves - despite the conscience God has sovereignly placed within us. How gracious He is to send the Holy Spirit to convict, help, comfort, and guide us into all truth. As we read God's Word, the Holy Spirit applies it to our hearts. One verse can be a healing balm, another a sword which pierces us through. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Even a seared conscience is revealed as tender inside when the sharp sword from Christ's mouth slices like a razor through the thickened exterior. He does not cut with His Word to injure, but to promote repentance, healing, and wholeness.
We should think before we speak, and our motive ought to be carefully considered. Words have the power to build up or throw down, to strengthen or undermine. Proverbs 20:9-10 says, "Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"? 10 Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the LORD." The use of diverse weights and diverse measures implies an effort to deceive. Unethical traders would tamper with their weights to affect business transactions in their favour, receiving too much money for too few goods. It is important our words are carefully weighted with God's truth. We are responsible to ensure our lifestyle matches our words, we do not show partiality, or act differently around certain people we hope to impress. So much in the life of a Christian boils down to motive. May we be transparent and teachable before God as it is written in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; 24 and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
12 March 2015
Sin's Wages
I live in Australia, a country which has abolished the death penalty. Because of looming executions of high-profile Australians in Indonesia, capital punishment has been the subject of discussion frequently of late on television, radio programs, schools, and cafes. Opinions and views abound. The implications of what has largely become a politicised issue effects everyone personally, no matter what country a person lives in. God said through the prophet in Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul who sins shall die." The wages of sin is death.
When God created Adam and breathed into him a living soul, He gave Adam freedom to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the one in the centre. God warned in Genesis 2:17, "...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Death was assured to be the certain consequence should Adam rebel against the command of a holy, righteous God. Of course it is all history: Adam sinned in eating the fruit, was cut off from fellowship with God, was cast out of the Garden with Eve his wife, and was prevented from ever entering Eden again. Adam's body continued to live, but he slowly began to die. He eventually died, and the sentence of death has been passed down to all since.
Everyone born on this planet is under the curse and sentence of death. We all experience the effects of Adam's sin before our bodies perish: sickness, sadness, pain, suffering, disease, and crying. Men have toiled over the ground which produced thorns, and women have experienced intense pain in childbirth. These too are results of the fall. God has allowed these things to be reminders of the reality of sin's existence and the ultimate destruction which await all who have sinned. From high-rise flats in developed metropolitan areas to remote solitary huts, people find themselves (for the most part) unwittingly on death row. Ban capital punishment if you want, but it won't keep people from dying. A doctor may give a person weeks or months to live, but no one knows precisely the day or means of their death. Experience in this world tells us we will all surely die, just as God said.
It was through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross which God demonstrated His love for all people. He is not willing any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Our bodies will die as a result of sin, but our souls can live eternally in a glorified body God has prepared for all who repent and trust in Jesus. This truth is so monumental! Here is how the Bible describes what God has provided through Jesus in Romans 5:6-21: "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
We can be born again through faith in Christ and experience eternal life through Him. A day is coming when our bodies will perish and we will all go the way of the earth. But no man needs to die spiritually, for Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Justice is satisfied by the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for all sinners who trust in Him. Friend, do you know Jesus? Have you received His forgiveness? Is your soul at rest, knowing you have received the free gift of salvation provided through Christ's death and resurrection? Today is the day of salvation, and all fear of death can be swallowed up in the victory of Jesus. The chains which hold us fearfully awaiting judgment can be shattered, for God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sin, repent, and believe the Gospel. Whether Christians stand before a firing squad or contract a terminal disease, we can know our passing only speeds us along to heavenly glory. In receiving our wages we cash in on Christ's sacrifice and enter eternal glory to live with Him forever. We can say joyfully before and after, "Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who always gives us the victory!"
When God created Adam and breathed into him a living soul, He gave Adam freedom to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the one in the centre. God warned in Genesis 2:17, "...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Death was assured to be the certain consequence should Adam rebel against the command of a holy, righteous God. Of course it is all history: Adam sinned in eating the fruit, was cut off from fellowship with God, was cast out of the Garden with Eve his wife, and was prevented from ever entering Eden again. Adam's body continued to live, but he slowly began to die. He eventually died, and the sentence of death has been passed down to all since.
Everyone born on this planet is under the curse and sentence of death. We all experience the effects of Adam's sin before our bodies perish: sickness, sadness, pain, suffering, disease, and crying. Men have toiled over the ground which produced thorns, and women have experienced intense pain in childbirth. These too are results of the fall. God has allowed these things to be reminders of the reality of sin's existence and the ultimate destruction which await all who have sinned. From high-rise flats in developed metropolitan areas to remote solitary huts, people find themselves (for the most part) unwittingly on death row. Ban capital punishment if you want, but it won't keep people from dying. A doctor may give a person weeks or months to live, but no one knows precisely the day or means of their death. Experience in this world tells us we will all surely die, just as God said.
It was through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross which God demonstrated His love for all people. He is not willing any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Our bodies will die as a result of sin, but our souls can live eternally in a glorified body God has prepared for all who repent and trust in Jesus. This truth is so monumental! Here is how the Bible describes what God has provided through Jesus in Romans 5:6-21: "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
We can be born again through faith in Christ and experience eternal life through Him. A day is coming when our bodies will perish and we will all go the way of the earth. But no man needs to die spiritually, for Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Justice is satisfied by the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for all sinners who trust in Him. Friend, do you know Jesus? Have you received His forgiveness? Is your soul at rest, knowing you have received the free gift of salvation provided through Christ's death and resurrection? Today is the day of salvation, and all fear of death can be swallowed up in the victory of Jesus. The chains which hold us fearfully awaiting judgment can be shattered, for God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sin, repent, and believe the Gospel. Whether Christians stand before a firing squad or contract a terminal disease, we can know our passing only speeds us along to heavenly glory. In receiving our wages we cash in on Christ's sacrifice and enter eternal glory to live with Him forever. We can say joyfully before and after, "Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who always gives us the victory!"
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