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? 

Finger Thinking 060512

William Gurnall wrote:

Indeed there is no duty in the Christian's whole course of walking with God, or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties, which shoot like enemies through the hedges at him, while he is marching towards heaven: so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes.   Gurnall, William (2010-04-09). The Christian in Complete Armour (Complete & Unabridged) - The Ultimate Book on Spiritual Warfare (Kindle Locations 125-127).  . Kindle Edition.

This is how things looked to Gurnall – way back then.  It seems it’s not so much the case today – is it?   Let me ask you (and myself), “What’s so tough about being a Christian today? “

Now, if your thoughts fly to the political, social and cultural – well, you have a point.  But what concerns me is that the political, social and cultural stuff is not the point – nor the problem.

Consider:

Sin moves by drawing the mind away from God, enticing the affections and twisting desires and paralyzing the will, thus stunting any real Christian growth.   One of the most frightening truths that Owen wants the believer to recognize is that “Your enemy is not only upon you . . . but is in you also.”  Part of understanding the battle against sin is seeing that the enemy, so to speak, is not only external, but internal, which is why Christians often have conflicting desires within them.  Owen, John; Kelly M. Kapic; Justin Taylor; John Piper (2006-10-16). Overcoming Sin and Temptation (p. 27). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

This is a critical point we must grasp.  Sanctification is about us, individually.  Our battle starts within and though we remove ourselves far from the world and the devil, sin goes where we go.  Could it be that as the world (and the church) church has compromised the truth and the duty of the believer we are more inured to, more callous about and less sensitive to sin?  Are we allowing a cloak of worldliness to fall around our shoulders?  Are we comfortable with a certain amount of impurity mixed with the gold?

I really think we are.  I believe that we have grown shallow or we have remained so callow in our faith that unless it’s grossly rejected by “most people,” we don’t see it as much of a sin.  I am reminded of a lesson I heard on the 10 Commandments.  When the speaker got to the tenth he simply said that this included, “Not even wanting to do the first nine.”  The first commandment is all about God the last is all about “me, mine, I.” 

 

I believe that we have been become so calloused that sin has little meaning.  And yet sin – especially covetousness permeates our culture.  The “American Dream” has morphed into a deadly and pernicious virus clouding our judgments and hindering our sensitivity.  We have succumbed to the “more, bigger, better” lies as well as the “got to’s” of marketing.  I know, I used to swim in it where now I simply wade in it.  We have been fooled into accepting, however unconsciously, that what we have (or don’t have), where we go (or don’t go) is a measure of our value and the all of our meaning.

We have ceased to be in and not of the world.  Perhaps it’s time for an Exodus?  But if we don’t see or feel the slavery we live in why would we want to leave?  Unfortunately I fear that until we experience our Pharaoh who knows not Joseph we will not want to leave.

This is not something new.  We can identify great men and women of faith in history but we find few “peoples” of faith.  We revel in reading of Spurgeon and Owen and Gurnall but they are stellar singularities in the Christian sky.  We seem to think that just “accepting Jesus” (an utterly unbiblical concept) puts us on the right side of the fence.  We are, of course, wrong.

How sensitive are you to sin?  How deeply does it pain you to discover it?  What are those sins that trouble you?  Are they biggies?  Would you refuse to steal the car of your dreams but not be bothered when you envy someone who owns one?  Would you refuse to steal money to have more, bigger, better but scowl at someone who had it?

How much tribulation, sorrow and hunger (spiritually or physically) do we really suffer?  How much are we really persecuted or rejected?  When was the last time you really examined yourself?  When was the last time you were moved to repentance.  Mine was just about five minutes ago – but then writing this makes me more sensitive than I was an hour ago.

We are indeed like the church of Laodicea.  We are neither hot nor cold – BUT we are comfortable – aren’t we.  Tolerance, as the world defines it is a sin.  But intolerance as demonstrated by the “church” may be just as big a sin.  When my intolerance is focused more outwardly than inwardly, I believe it is a sin.  “The Joneses” won’t have to answer to me; I won’t have to answer to “the Joneses but we will both have to answer to God.  So why am I so consumed with what they are doing instead of what I am or am not doing?

Yeah – I’m back on the old “log and speck” thing.  For me, the sins of another are as important as specks.  There is nothing I can do about them and little they can do to me.  My “log’ on the other hand can kill me or get me killed.  It obscures my vision, impairs my judgment and hinders my right actions.  It is very important as it affects me and my walk with Him.

We are called to be holy.  We are called to learn and live righteousness.  We are not called to do these things in comparison to others but in comparison to God.  Yes, we are redeemed from our failure, our rebellion but the call to holiness is not diminished, the expectation of our focus and efforts is not weakened.  We are to be growing in righteousness not wallowing in comfort and complacency.

This “walk” we are called to, this growth in righteousness can never be comfortable.  Therefore I have to wonder, if we are indeed comfortable, are we even walking the Way?  If we are troubled by the sins of the world are we troubles by our own?  Which of the two is our priority?  We all know which one should be.  But no one wants to repent of stuff that others find no problem with.  Huh?

OK, let’s take TV.  Let a mother and father come under a conviction that TV is more bad than good and that what is offered as entertainment on it is not something they want in their home and then let them share with others this conviction and they are immediately seen as, well, weird.  Let a group of believers come under conviction that owning property and a building is not as good stewardship as many think and they become, well, weird.  Let someone decide that bowing to “fashion,” or ‘convention,” in matters of dress and they are, well, weird.

Now a tough question.  Has not this complacency, this callousness concerning sin caused our weaker brothers and sisters to stumble?  Where we are tolerant do we not teach a bad lesson?  Where we are speck focused, are we not laying trip-wires?  Has our attitude of, “it’s not a big sin,” not muddied all the waters?  Hasn’t our failure to teach biblical self-examination and the mortification of sin left many many believers ill-equipped to live the live they are called to?

Perhaps we need to be convicted of our insensitivity to conviction.  We want to be “better” Christians when perhaps we ought to realize that it is only in Christ we are Christians at all.  What is an acceptable level of sin to you?  Yes, it is forgiven – but our liberty cannot be a license for liberality. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psa 51:17 

When did we last cry out for God to break “our’ spirit and make “our” heart broken and contrite? 

How about this as a thrice daily prayer:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  (24)  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!    Psa 139:23-24

I fear that if we are not somehow turned to be consumed with our sin we will be consumed by it.  I fear that if we are not obsessed with righteousness we will be continue to be obsessed with comfort and complacency.  I fear that until we are willing to face the shame of our sin we will not fully appreciate the shame He bore for our sin.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."  And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.   1Pe 1:14-19  

Competition? Christlikeness

COMPETITION

I have a hard time finding any place in the life of the believer for competition.  Perhaps it’s due to a very warped understanding on my part – and I’m open to that.  But in my experience, although we couch it in “nice” double-speak, competition is about beating another person or team.

Yes, I understand that competition is a test of skills and abilities as well as strategy and teamwork but, at least in my experience, there is that underlying drive to defeat – beat – conquer – crush the other person or team.  I was raised to compete, to win, to crush my opponent utterly.  It wasn’t about being first – it was about be the only.

My first experience with competition was against my dad.  He was a fencer – and pretty good.  When I was around six or seven he decided to toughen me up and make a competitor by making me fence with him.  He was about 6 foot 3 or so and in pretty good shape.  I was about 3.5 feet tall and relatively round.

I can still remember those painful and humiliating sessions.  I still have the scar in the back of my throat where he “accidentally” stabbed me.  I can still feel the pain of being swatted with a foil.  See, in his view one was only a winner if one’s opponent was – well – destroyed and humiliated.

I was fortunate in that we left him when I was still salvageable.  But when we moved back to the US everyone said I had to play football (I was a little taller and not so round).  I had never seen American football.  I had played “soccer” which is a game of skill, strategy and finesse.  Football simply looked stupid to me.  I could not conceive of how it could be “fun.”  Still don’t.

Well I played football but I wasn’t much into “killing the quarterback,” or stuffing the running back.”  I wasn’t into hurting people much at all.

Then I got jumped by a group of toughs from my high-school and something snapped.  I challenged all of them to meet me and get in a single file and I offered to fight them one at a time.  Of course I had some back-up in the form of some friends of my older sister just to keep it fair.

They never showed and things really changed for me at school.  Then I got into power-lifting.  I loved it – my competition was gravity and muscle failure.  I went at it whole-heartedly.  I began to look like a power-lift and people around me changed.

There was something gratifying about being able to intimidate people just by being there.  It was the polar opposite from what my dad had made me feel.  Something snapped again.  I was going to be a winner – no matter what.

It all came to a head years later on the Racquet-ball court.  A friend of mine and I were playing and he started to rag on me (he was very very good).  Something snapped.  I quit wanting to win and started wanting to destroy.  Well, to make a long story short, we both left the court bloody and bruised.  I never played Racquet-ball “competitively” again.

Actually I never did anything competitive that put me in direct contact with another human being.  I just didn’t trust myself.  I have “competed” in a lot of things but they are things in which I can focus on beating myself – improving my skills without any comparison to others.

When I was shooting competitively it was a struggle.  Some folks just have to rag on others by chest thumping and crowing.  It got to the point to where I was tempted to get a “Match Disqualification” right at the first shooting stage.  This would allow me to shoot the match without worrying about my “score” in relationship to others.  But I gave it up when the economy went south and it got too expensive.

How do you teach competition without that element of what I can only see as “enemy identification?”  We talk in terms of beating, crushing, defeating, etc. the other competitor(s).  They have to go down!  

Here’s the question.  How do we, as followers of the Prince of Peace, handle competition?  In thinking about kids and the instilling of an adversarial attitude towards those we compete against it concerns me greatly.  We want to be (and our kids to be) winners, but how do we do it without designating those we compete against as “the enemy?”  How do we keep ourselves (and our kids) from the typical rage and anger used to motivate “winners?”  Why is our “best” only good when we “beat” another?

I think of Eric Liddell and am amazed.