Sometimes - that's all there is-------

Listening to Rich Mullins "My Deliverer Is Coming."

Right now

Today

That's all there is

That's all that's keeping it in the road

But

Really

That's all the ever kept it in the road

That all that will ever keep it in the road

I'm OK with that

How about you?

anti-Christs

Anti-Christs    060212 B

Mmmmmmm?

1Jn 2:18-19  Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.  (19)  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

Antichrist; The great booger-bear of the faith?  Maybe not!

Sure, we see THE antichrist in the Revelation to John and we get all clammy and scared.  BUT come on guys – we've got to accept that though there may well be a biggy – there are lots and lots of smaller antichrists – and there have always been!

What do we do about them?

First, we let them go. John says they do and will go out from us – they will not continue with us.  Why would that be?  He doesn't say we kick them out, rather they leave.

I wonder if what is happening is that things get just too uncomfortable for “them.” 

Today, in a lot of “churches,” there are no boundaries and no expectations.  Doctrine is fuzzy at best and an undefined state of  “loving Jesus,” seems to be the be all and end all.  Or, in some cases just an unqualified “believing (on or in) Jesus,” is enough.

However we must first ask whether or not this Jesus that is loved and/or believed in is the Jesus of scripture.  As David Smith once said to me, “There are a lot of guys named Jesus but just one Lord and Redeemer.”

To believe in the Jesus who is the Lord, one must believe in what He believed in.  One cannot claim to be His while at the same time contradicting not only what He taught but what He believed as well.

He believed in God, the Spirit and God's right to demand obedience and service from His creation.  He also believed that God's requirement for righteousness/holiness was legitimate.  He believed in the God of judgment, wrath, justice, mercy and grace.  He believed in a God who says what He means and means what He says.  He believed in a God who is sovereign, omnipresent, omnipotent, holy and righteous.

He believed that there was truth and only one truth.  He believed that right and wrong were never relative.  He believed that God deserved our submission and service right up to and including death.

Now, is that the Jesus we hear of and read about in popular “christian” literature?  I don't think so – not much at least.  Actually, most contemporary “christian” literature is more about us that it is about Him.  It is more about what we can expect from Him than what He demands of us.  It's more about our place in the grand scheme instead of our place at His feet.  It's six easy steps, one fantastic formula, a process, disciplines – but very little discipleship.  It's not about serving Him as much as it is about sucking as much out of Him as we can.

Whoa be it to the teacher who demands a slave attitude towards God.  And yet, Jesus not only believed in that, but lived it.

The God in whom Jesus believed is great and awesome and frightening.  The God we believe in is a great co-pilot, helper, designated runner, etc.  He's just not God anymore.

John and his folks were fortunate.  Their antichrists left.  Unfortunately, it seems that we will go to any length to keep ours.  We will soft-pedal, obfuscate, dally, waiver, waffle, concerning the biblical doctrines so that as few people as possible are offended and as little as possible is expected.

The cry, “You need a relationship with God,” is just dumb.  There has never been and never will be anyone or anything that does not have a relationship with God.  Whether it a relationship whose nature you want, is entirely another matter.  Redeemed or damned, everyone has a relationship with God.

Then there is, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”  That's probably one of the favorite taunts thrown out to those in hell.  Yes, God loves His creation and He has plans for every speck of it.  Some of those plans are great, some, not so much. 

Then again, His plans for me may parallel those He had for Job or Stephen or Peter.  Ooops!  Not such an exciting prospect. 

Let's face it, maybe we ought to want to see the antichrists leave.  Maybe we ought to pray that they are either converted or that they just go away.  Of course, as long as they're warm and safe and comfortable, they'll stay.  As long as the expectations are not too great and the boundaries aren't too clear, they'll stay. 

I have to wonder what it was that was getting those antichrists to leave in John's day.  What were they experiencing as the church that provoked the antichrists to hit the road? 

Was it sound doctrine?  Was it an expectation that they would mortify the flesh?  Was it a demand that they not compromise with culture?  Was a refusal to meet the desires of the flesh? 

Somehow they had a situation that was repellant to the antichrists.  Why can't we?  Why don’t we? 

Three Things Part 1 042112

For far too long there has been a troubling lack of any meaningful and systematic catechizing or discipling taking place in the Body of Christ. It once was the case that a new believer would undergo up to a year of teaching and training prior to their baptism and acceptance into the local church as a functioning member. This was not some “initiation” process but, rather, it came from a serious commitment to follow the command found in the Great Commission.

Mat 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The phrase “go . . . make disciples . . . baptizing . . . teaching . . .,” is all of one cloth. It is a simultaneous and continuous operation.

Indeed, we have gone and certainly, we have baptized but we have failed miserably in making disciples and teaching. The current state of the Body of Christ is all the proof we need. It is clear that the prophesies of wolves, evil men, false teachers and so on have been and are being fulfilled.

Clearly, the Body of Christ has missed the mark and the responsibility lies specifically at the feet of those He called to be pastors and teachers (to include elders). We have either ignored or rebelled against God by both rejecting and misappropriating His gifts.

Eph 4:11-16 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Unless the foundation of salvation is, indeed, that which we do or don’t do, then the discipling/teaching that has taken place in the church is contrary to the Gospel of Grace. Simply take a walk through any Christian book store and look at the discipleship or Christian living sections. Almost without exception, the books are about “doing.” This is contrary to the faith. So, too, are the plethora of classes, seminars and courses offered by well-known yet miss-directed celebrity Christians.

We have sought “right practice,” without establishing a foundation of “right belief.” We have tossed out sound theology and biblical doctrine for a “sound-bite” system of faith. In short, we have been clearly disobedient to the Lord’s commission in both spirit and letter. We have created several generations of handicapped believes and confident pretenders. As a result, the Body of Christ now resembles a mall or private club more than it does the assembly of the redeemed.

In my younger years in the Lord, I used to respond to the question, “Are you a Christian”? with a proud and resounding “Yes!!” I no longer do so. Today, my response, of necessity, is, “What do you mean”? I’ve found a cruelly deficient definition of “Christian” not only among the unredeemed but among the redeemed as well.

This little work is not intended to be definitive – I am a historian, not a theologian. But I hope that from this work, the Holy Spirit will deeply convict the reader to seek to grow in the knowledge of biblical doctrine and even theology. This seeking begins on our knees asking God to not only convict but also commit us to the diligent and proper study of His Word that we might live in this world rightly and soundly, glorifying Him.

Ah, you need a motivator? How about fulfilled prophesy?

2Ti 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, (4) and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

John Owen wrote:

“But in general, to be spiritually minded in an eminent degree, they cannot but esteem it a thing excellent and desirable; - but it is for them who are more at leisure than they are; their circumstances and occasions require them to satisfy themselves with an inferior measure.”

To clarify what Owen was saying, most folks won’t take the time or make the effort to do the work needed to have a sound and clear knowledge of the faith. That’s for the paid holy men or folks with nothing better to do.

Owen says of those who fail to put their spiritual (Christian) duties above all others:

“And where it is thus, this grace can never thrive or flourish, it can never advance unto any eminent degree.”

We have raised several generations of crippled Christians. Repentance is the only recourse we have to rectify our failure.

Three Things Part 1

When asked to explain my faith, I always begin with the simple statement that as a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Redeemer, I am obligated to three things:

1. To love God;
2. To love my neighbor; and
3. To love those who choose to be and act as an enemy towards me (since I, as His follower, do not have the right to be anyone’s enemy).

Needless to say, this is not at all what they expect. They expect some, “How I came to Jesus,” story or a lot of references to sin and obedience, etc. I sadly fail to meet their expectations.

I always start with loving God. Why? Well, unless they can, at least for the sake of argument, consider that there is a God, what’s the point?

Now – here’s your work:

Write down all you know and understand about God. Please give careful consideration to His sovereignty, justice, holiness, love, hate, goodness, judgment, condemnation, mercy and grace as sub-headings for your work.

I know that God is holy. He said so. But what, pray tell, does that mean?

I know that God is sovereign but what does that sovereignty mean?

Get my drift?

For the redeemed, these are critical issues for growth. For the unredeemed, they are critical questions to consider.

Oh, it’s much more fun to know about spiritual gifts, miraculous probabilities and the neat stories, but without a sound knowledge and understanding of God, His character and attributes, everything else is just stuff.

What do you know and understand of His omniscience, omnipresence, etc.?

Mmmmmm. Ouch?

This is, of course, work that needs to be done. If you don’t ever increase your knowledge and understanding of God, how do you know if you are loving Him or not? Of more concern, how do you know if it’s the God of the scriptures you are loving?

Think about food. Are there foods you “love”? I had several favorite foods until I got to know and understand what was in them. Now I steer clear. I love lobster – then I discovered that they are carrion eaters (eaters of dead stuff like buzzards), no lobster, thank you.

Knowledge and understanding increase our ability to make wise choices. “God is good”! is a correct statement, but unless you understand His goodness, His sovereignty and His holiness, you’re going to have a hard time whenever the compost hits the oscillating blades!

No, I’m not going to admonish you to read your Bible. First, I shouldn’t have to and, second, just reading the scriptures will make your task harder and longer than it needs to be.

There are some excellent works that I would recommend:

Jame Frame:

The Doctrine of God;

The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God;

The Doctrine of the Word of God;

The Doctrine of the Christian Life;

D.A. Carson:

The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God

As well as the works of A.W. Tozer, John Owen, John Newton and for the hearty, the works of B.B. Warfield.

You might also want to get a dictionary of theological terms – there are some weird words out there.

Last, but never least, I suggest you get a copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith with the scripture references. It’s a great concise tool for guided study.

There are other authors I could have mentioned and many more I would warn you against. Please stay out of the “Christian Living” section of your local Bible bookstore. You will never get what you need for a solid and sound foundation there. Oh, you may find some good and neat stuff, but it’s mostly topical and sound-bite stuff – which is fine only if you already have a solid foundation.

Yeah, sounds like I’m promoting seminary doesn’t it? Seminary is fine, if you have the time and the $, but too many sound teachers have written too many sound works for you to have to do that. In retrospect, I believe that the only reason God moved me to go to seminary was so I might discover the wonder of the history of the church (my Master’s degree) and to sit under Dr. Jim North, a most diligent and wonderful church historian who made you feel you knew the people, times, places and events you studied. I learned from him that history is real people with real issues dealing with real events that have a direct bearing on real people and real issues and real events today and tomorrow.

More to come …………………………..

Copyright, Michael Sanders, 2012. All rights reserved.

a little piece of me 040612

A little piece of me…….  040612

I’ve shared this with a lot of folks but I want to get it “out there,” in the hope that the Lord will use it to strengthen you and close your ears to the lies Satan – and folks – have driven into your ears and hence into your heart.

In graduate school my first semester ended and the grades and class standing were listed.  I fought the desire to look for I knew it would be a disappointment.  Finally I had to look.

I was in shock.  There I was on the Dean’s List. – the good Dean’s List ;-}

I just knew this had to be a mistake.

I took the list off the board and went to the Dean’s office to show him the mistake.

He checked the records and told me there was no mistake; my GPA put me on the Dean’s List.

I didn’t believe him.

I put the list back on the board and walked away thinking that my professors had felt sorry for me and had given me grades I had not earned because they felt sorry for me.

Huh?

Yep – you see I grew up being told loudly and clearly that I was stupid, clumsy and a sissy.  My father worked very hard to convince me of that and he was good at it.  By the time I got to graduate school I had proven (to my satisfaction) that I was neither a clutz nor a sissy.  But stupid was hanging’ in.

I was a slave to my father’s demands, judgments and condemnations.  I still saw me as he taught me to see me.

So what’s the point?

Well, before Christ let me know I was His I was a slave to the demands, judgments and condemnation of Satan – sin and my flesh.  They defined me – utterly.  One common theme in this is, “Not good enough!”  I wasn’t good enough if I didn’t go out drinking.  I wasn’t good enough if I didn’t do the macho-tough guy thing.  I wasn’t good enough if I wasn’t sexually promiscuous.  I wasn’t good enough if I didn’t keep up with my sinful companions in most if not all of their sinful activities.

This was a sinful, warped and twisted legalism I was caught up in and I don’t think it was unusual.  I HAD to be as good as if not better than any other sinner in my sinning.

So, in come Jesus and the Spirit.  I am convicted of my sin, convinced of my need for redemption and begin to seek to live a righteous life.

BOOM ---- “Not good enough!!!!!!”

Everywhere I looked I saw my sin – still!  In the word, in the fellowship, in the “you have to’s” of older believers – I was not good enough.

What pray tell was the problem?

Simple – I walked into the Kingdom of God laying aside sins but still carrying the legalism I had been taught while I was in darkness.  Then I had not been good enough for the world the flesh or the devil – now I wasn’t good enough for God.

Don’t thin for a moment that unbelievers are free.  They are not only under the judgment of the laws of God BUT the world-flesh-and devil have their own laws they expect their servants to obey.

Izod golf shirts, alligator belts with silver monogramed buckles, green Army fatigues and white Adidas tennis shoes.  If you didn’t have ‘em you weren’t good enough.  If you wore only one or two of these items you were a poser.

Alcohol, drugs, sex are all criteria by which the world-flesh and devil measure us while we are in the darkness.  Sitting here writing there are three females who must be convinced that to expose as much of their bodies as possible in public is a good thing.  (Yeah- I’m keeping my eyes on the keyboard!!!!!

See, Satan is the greatest legalist there is.  With him, in his kingdom (?) there is no mercy, no grace – just judgment and condemnation for not being as obedient to him-the flesh and the world as you can be.

And this legalistic thinking walks right into the Kingdom of God – the Kingdom of grace - with us.

After the first liberating joy of finding we are His we soon fall victim to this legalistic poison.  We realize that we are not in ourselves worthy.  We are not good enough.  Oh, we knew that at the moment we realized our redemption but the poison is still flows.

Somehow we’ve come to believe that doing battle with the flesh and the sin that remains is a bad thing and calls into question our salvation.  But it is this very battle that confirms our redemption and affirms our faith.  Why else would we notice much less fight unrighteousness?

Grace is an alien concept to us and regardless of our maturation in the faith it will probably always be alien.  We have NO well of knowledge from which to draw that enables us to be completely comfortable with grace.  Maybe this is how it is supposed to be.

But we do have a lifetime of experience with legalism and condemnation.  We well know the devastating effects, the insidious schemes, and the toxicity of legalism.  We must battle its influence constantly both in regards to our walk with Him and our lives in general.

I still battle thoughts of being stupid – not good enough – socially, financially, professionally and spiritually.  But I always – all ways – remind myself who it is that’s doing the measuring.  Socially, financially professionally it is the world, the flesh and the devil.  Spiritually it is my Redeemer the One who knew my need and met that need completely.  I am not nor will I ever be good enough to be Him.  But by His grace and because of His work he has made me good enough to be His and He keeps me there regardless.

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