Today I recalled to mind a season when my wife struggled with rejection. We had arrived in Australia on a visa which prohibited me from working but allowed her to seek employment. She industriously submitted resumes and applications only to be disappointed by "rejection letters." The letters of rejection did not work to encourage her to increase her efforts but instead did the opposite: discouragement made her not even want to try. We all know how that feels and it is not fun. Ironically, a time came when she had submitted so many applications without a response that she began to appreciate the rejection letters because at least they responded!
I thought about how this relates to the rejection of the message of the Gospel. When we open our mouths to share the Gospel, it is likely many of the people we encounter will not respond positively. It is not a rejection to be taken personally but a rejection of Christ and the message of the Gospel. Yet we have a way of taking things personally. After the message is rejected a number of times it is possible we might feel discouraged and like all our effort is for naught. We might even become disillusioned, wondering how everyone could be so opposed to the wonderful message of salvation. Are we doing or saying something wrong? Are we not truly filled with the Holy Spirit? Maybe we should just lock ourselves in our rooms and pray that God would send someone truly useful into the field. Cynical thoughts can fill our minds: fields white with harvest, eh? I've been out there and it seemed more like a barren wasteland. I've tried but I'm a failure. Paralysed by disappointment and our own insufficiency we begin to avoid sharing the Gospel even when opportunities arise, forgetting that it is God who brings the increase.
If I was out of a job and my family and I were starving from hunger, I would approach job hunting very differently from someone who is looking for a convenient part-time job for extra pocket money. Rejection letters would not deter me when I know my kids are dying of hunger. I would fill out applications, go to every stall in the mall, and no job would seem below me. What could I do? There would be a desperation for work that a piece of paper notifying me I did not land the job would not stop me from looking. It is not often in our culture that we are fighting for survival. Most of the time we are angling for convenience and better conditions. But survival? We hardly give survival a thought. I honestly say for most of my Christian life my evangelistic efforts have had more in common with the man looking for a convenient second job than a man desperate for a job to feed his starving family. It's not hard to say which man we should emulate!
That is the kind of desperation I pray God gives me for seeking and saving the lost. If people do not hear the Gospel, they will not repent, will not be forgiven for their sins, will never trust in Christ, and will spend eternity in hell. They will miss much more than the feast of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! Because I am to love God and others, I must view them as more important than myself. I am in Christ and my eternity is secure in Him. But their eternal survival hangs in the balance! I should view them all as my own weeping children, dying for lack of nourishment. Should I allow rejection or even violence deter me from seeking their salvation? Jesus gave His life so I could live. He is the Living Bread which came down from heaven. All who partake of Him through faith will never face death. Though we die, yet shall we live.
Be encouraged! Don't allow the rejection of your Saviour deter you from doing His work. All who comes to Him in faith He will accept and embrace. He has given us life: let us freely share His life with others!
27 February 2013
26 February 2013
Certain Salvation
Have you ever read something that seems to encapsulate your thoughts and express them in a way far superior to your best effort? I came across such a passage today in G. Campbell Morgan's sermon titled, "Christ's Knowledge of Men." My thoughts were, "Well said! Now I don't have to write that - not that I could have anyway!" Allow me to share his concluding thoughts with you:
God knows you and every circumstance of your life. Are you willing to trust Him? It is only in Christ we can find certain salvation. John 6:35-37 reads, "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." In Christ is abundant life for all who trust Him!
You come not merely for perfect understanding, faithful dealing, but for certain salvation. Demonstrate to me that He cannot save you and I quit preaching. Prove to me that your case is beyond the power of Christ and the evangel breaks down. But you cannot prove it. Oh that there may come to us sooner or later a great baptism of passionate honesty. Witnesses are everywhere here, men and women who know His power; who could not, but can; who were fast bound in sin and nature's night, but who awoke as a ray of light came into the dungeon from his presence, whose chains fell off and went forth to live, serve, and follow Him. If you will but come to Him because He knows you and let Him deal with you in all His faithfulness, you will find Him able to save you. May God in His grace bring you to this Christ Who knows you, that He may save you. - G. Campbell Morgan (The Westminster Pulpit, Vol. 2, pg. 331)I freely confess I am one of those witnesses. I was in a prison held captive by my own sins when Jesus revealed Himself through the Word of God. Some nuts are harder to crack than others, but when I fell upon the Chief Cornerstone Jesus Christ I was broken. It was Jesus who forgave, cleansed, healed, and saved me. On whomever this Cornerstone falls will be ground to power. The knowledge that God would certainly judge me and this world according to righteousness showed me I was in serious trouble! I am a sinner and unless I found forgiveness I was doomed. After repenting and trusting in Christ, I was baptised with the Holy Spirit and discovered power for service. By His grace my eyes were opened to my purpose and a new life appeared where there was once only death. God has become the ultimate end of my life.
God knows you and every circumstance of your life. Are you willing to trust Him? It is only in Christ we can find certain salvation. John 6:35-37 reads, "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." In Christ is abundant life for all who trust Him!
25 February 2013
What's Changed?
Here's a question for those who read and study your Bibles, listen to sermons, or even preach on Sundays: what effect has your recent study had on your life? Instead of asking “What have I learned?” it is a far more profitable question to ask, “How has my life changed?” We have the tendency as we study to think we do so for the primary purpose of gleaning information and facts. While the truth and the facts of scripture are important, trivia mastery is not the primary end for which God has established for His Word. The purpose of revealing Himself through His Word is so our lives – the way we think, what we believe, and how we live – will be transformed according to God’s will. Calling to mind facts might seem useful, but unless your life is governed and dictated by God’s Word the facts are impotent knowledge. God’s Word must be practiced and practical in
my life or is practically worthless.
If God's Word isn't changing us, we need to change the way we approach the Bible. We all need to change. That is why after we are justified by grace through faith the rest of our lives on earth are used by God for our sanctification. The Bible rightly divided changes the way we think, believe, and live. If we cannot testify that God's Word is changing us, then we need to repent and ask God to soften our hearts and receive the truth and apply it our lives. I thank God for this reminder He gave me today. I needed it. Praise God for His grace, that He speaks clearly to us whether we think we need it or not!
If God's Word isn't changing us, we need to change the way we approach the Bible. We all need to change. That is why after we are justified by grace through faith the rest of our lives on earth are used by God for our sanctification. The Bible rightly divided changes the way we think, believe, and live. If we cannot testify that God's Word is changing us, then we need to repent and ask God to soften our hearts and receive the truth and apply it our lives. I thank God for this reminder He gave me today. I needed it. Praise God for His grace, that He speaks clearly to us whether we think we need it or not!
24 February 2013
The Terror of the LORD
One of the things I have been musing about for a while is the fact God nor His Word has changed from the beginning. But from books I have read, sermons I have heard, and conversations I have shared I have observed it seems the view of God by His people has changed greatly even in the last hundred years. Perhaps the depiction of God from the pulpit has changed. Maybe the truth of God's Word has been watered down like gulag gruel. The fearsome aspects of God's character have been carefully glossed over: His terror, ferocity, and infinite power. It was in 1741 when Jonathan Edwards delivered the masterful and incredibly fruitful sermon titled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The views of many in the church today struggle futilely to reconcile an angry God with one of love. Yet this is exactly how the Bible describes Him. If I cannot see God the way scripture reveals Him, then I must admit I do not know God as I ought.
The thought has crossed my mind recently that the modern view of God is more a caricature than according to His true character. Years ago I remember going to an amusement park and walking past the booth where caricatures are drawn. Pictures of well-known celebrities were plastered across the walls, recognisable yet drawn intentionally with ridiculous facial disproportion. Jay Leno's chin was way too large and Michael Jackson's ever-transforming angular nose was far too small. Madonna was sporting her classic microphone and coned bra while Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler looked like he could eat his entire miniature body with a single chomp. Maybe because of the "fire and brimstone" and guilt-mongering styles of preaching in the past the modern church has gone too far in the opposite direction. The caricature of Jesus emphasises his regal grin, long hair, white robe with blue sash, and nail-scarred hands. He hugs lambs and cavorts with children, hardly the picture of the conquering ruler we read of in Revelation riding on a horse with His robe dipped in blood. Jesus held children in His arms and blessed them. He also is depicted as a valiant warrior, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. By some Jesus has been emasculated to a point where it is impossible to imagine Him conquering nations.
Man is a master of making a god out of his own image. It should be expected people therefore tend to cling to a perception of God they see as comforting and non-threatening. The truth is this: even professing believers might be more comfortable with idolatry than the reality of God as revealed through the totality of scripture. That should make us very uncomfortable! That is one reason why the misconception of an "Old Testament God" and "New Testament God" is prevalent. There is one God and He is the same throughout scripture. The Old and New Testament hold forth varying degrees of aspects of God's character. Because the Old Testament contains the Law, one sees an added emphasis on the righteousness of God and the penalty for sin. But God was as much a God of love, grace, and mercy in the Old Testament as the New. His grace is a constant throughout. The New Testament ushers in the New Covenant through the Gospel and shed blood of Jesus Christ. We are taught that God loved the sinners of this world so much that He sent His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We are also told that the Day is coming when Jesus will also judge this world according to righteousness in the fierceness of God's wrath. Unless He was gracious, none would survive.
Psalm 7:11 reads, "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day." Only gross wickedness allows wickedness to continue unpunished. Justice demands satisfaction. God's love is revealed through making a way for all men to be purified and delivered from the power of sin at work in them. 1 John 1:9 affirms, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God paved a way to eternal life for all sinners with the blood of His own Son. When Jesus died on the cross, the sins of the world laid upon Him, He once for all satisfied the righteous requirements of the law. Those who reject the Gospel will face the just wrath of God for every sin they have committed. The greatest sin of all is trampling the pure blood of Christ as an unclean thing, the sacrificial Lamb of God lovingly provided so all might be saved.
Does the thought of God being angry make you uncomfortable? It should. I think if God would pull back the veil so our eyes might behold His majesty and glory, the very cells of our body would scatter in all directions out of fright! We would do more than merely kneel and tremble! Writing to Christians in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 Paul says, "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences." Let me ask you: when is the last time you heard a sermon on "Knowing the Terror of the Lord?" There is something about terror that makes a man persuadable. Tyrannosaurus Rex is known as the "Terrible Lizard," and the God who designed and knit him together is far more terrible. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, but fools hate instruction - especially from the Word of God.
What do you know of the terror of God? Paul said in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Paul also knew firsthand the terror of the LORD. "Phobos" is the word used in 2 Corinthians, the root of the English word "phobia." Unlike the word "phobia" which suggests an "irrational fear," the fear of God is most rudimentary and sensible. Those who do not know or believe in God cannot fear Him any more than a fictitious mythological figure. But as Christians who are convinced of God's reality and infinite power, we should fear and reverence Him. For those who believe the fear of God is an antiquated, Old Testament and ignorant view, I beg you reconsider. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Hear Him!
If we do not know the terror of the LORD, how can we persuade men to repent and be saved from the wrath to come?
The thought has crossed my mind recently that the modern view of God is more a caricature than according to His true character. Years ago I remember going to an amusement park and walking past the booth where caricatures are drawn. Pictures of well-known celebrities were plastered across the walls, recognisable yet drawn intentionally with ridiculous facial disproportion. Jay Leno's chin was way too large and Michael Jackson's ever-transforming angular nose was far too small. Madonna was sporting her classic microphone and coned bra while Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler looked like he could eat his entire miniature body with a single chomp. Maybe because of the "fire and brimstone" and guilt-mongering styles of preaching in the past the modern church has gone too far in the opposite direction. The caricature of Jesus emphasises his regal grin, long hair, white robe with blue sash, and nail-scarred hands. He hugs lambs and cavorts with children, hardly the picture of the conquering ruler we read of in Revelation riding on a horse with His robe dipped in blood. Jesus held children in His arms and blessed them. He also is depicted as a valiant warrior, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. By some Jesus has been emasculated to a point where it is impossible to imagine Him conquering nations.
Man is a master of making a god out of his own image. It should be expected people therefore tend to cling to a perception of God they see as comforting and non-threatening. The truth is this: even professing believers might be more comfortable with idolatry than the reality of God as revealed through the totality of scripture. That should make us very uncomfortable! That is one reason why the misconception of an "Old Testament God" and "New Testament God" is prevalent. There is one God and He is the same throughout scripture. The Old and New Testament hold forth varying degrees of aspects of God's character. Because the Old Testament contains the Law, one sees an added emphasis on the righteousness of God and the penalty for sin. But God was as much a God of love, grace, and mercy in the Old Testament as the New. His grace is a constant throughout. The New Testament ushers in the New Covenant through the Gospel and shed blood of Jesus Christ. We are taught that God loved the sinners of this world so much that He sent His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We are also told that the Day is coming when Jesus will also judge this world according to righteousness in the fierceness of God's wrath. Unless He was gracious, none would survive.
Psalm 7:11 reads, "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day." Only gross wickedness allows wickedness to continue unpunished. Justice demands satisfaction. God's love is revealed through making a way for all men to be purified and delivered from the power of sin at work in them. 1 John 1:9 affirms, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God paved a way to eternal life for all sinners with the blood of His own Son. When Jesus died on the cross, the sins of the world laid upon Him, He once for all satisfied the righteous requirements of the law. Those who reject the Gospel will face the just wrath of God for every sin they have committed. The greatest sin of all is trampling the pure blood of Christ as an unclean thing, the sacrificial Lamb of God lovingly provided so all might be saved.
Does the thought of God being angry make you uncomfortable? It should. I think if God would pull back the veil so our eyes might behold His majesty and glory, the very cells of our body would scatter in all directions out of fright! We would do more than merely kneel and tremble! Writing to Christians in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 Paul says, "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences." Let me ask you: when is the last time you heard a sermon on "Knowing the Terror of the Lord?" There is something about terror that makes a man persuadable. Tyrannosaurus Rex is known as the "Terrible Lizard," and the God who designed and knit him together is far more terrible. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, but fools hate instruction - especially from the Word of God.
What do you know of the terror of God? Paul said in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Paul also knew firsthand the terror of the LORD. "Phobos" is the word used in 2 Corinthians, the root of the English word "phobia." Unlike the word "phobia" which suggests an "irrational fear," the fear of God is most rudimentary and sensible. Those who do not know or believe in God cannot fear Him any more than a fictitious mythological figure. But as Christians who are convinced of God's reality and infinite power, we should fear and reverence Him. For those who believe the fear of God is an antiquated, Old Testament and ignorant view, I beg you reconsider. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Hear Him!
If we do not know the terror of the LORD, how can we persuade men to repent and be saved from the wrath to come?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)