Examine yourself to see ---- 112712

   All that I am, all that I have - indeed that I am at all - is His.
Everything is placed in my hands for His purposes.
He kindly allows me to use some for my sustenance even my pleasure but it is not mine, it is His.

So when my mind wanders into the probability that what He has given me that what can be taken will be taken and I find myself growing inflamed with keeping it and/or defending it and I am cast down.

It is not my car or my house or my rights or my guns (ouch) - they are all His even to the smallest cell of the body He has given me.  I am obligated to use it wisely and well but I don't know that I am obligated to defend it - even if I could.

It was His to give and is still His after the giving.  It is never mine.  If through some secondary cause, for His purposes, it comes to a place where it is taken, even taken by force of arms or law or both am I to trust Him to leave me with what He would have me steward or am I to meet force (any type of force) with force?

I wonder if I am not to simply trust Him and allow Him to preserve and protect even my life.  Indeed the very history of our faith demontrates that there is a time and place where we must stand passive as we are persecuted and oppressed, even robbed by force of arms or force of law.

When they came for Him in the garden one only met force with force.  Not only was he foolish but he was wrong and the Lord undid the harm he inflicted.  It does, I hope, make one wonder.

We are raised to believe that we have three inalienable rights.  Life, liberty and happiness (which was originally property).  But I would ask where I am to find my right to any of these in His sovereignty and providence?  A right?  Then it is not grace or mercy but something the creator God is oblidged to provide and preserve?  And what text pray tell gives proof to that?

Paul counted all things as dung compared to the excellency of Christ.  But we, do we really count "all things" so?

Ah you will hack away at self-protection or self-preservation?  And what convinces you that you can, much less are obligated to preserve your self?  Are we not all utterly in His keeping?  Is not our very life His to give, to moderate, even to take?  Is He not sovereign, holy and good in all that happens in His creation?

He has blessed me with much - and I have much through my own foolishness and flesh.  He has allowed it but that does not mitigate my follishness and fleshness.  I have much that is there by sin.  Much.  I can not in good conscience hold that I have a right to keep any of it.  To use it for Him is my duty but that duty does not negate His right to take it away.

Job woefully lamented the loss of all He allowed to be taken.  Yet we read no claim made against God.  Naked Job came and naked he would leave.  Even if God took (or allowed to be taken) his very life Job committed himself trustingly to Him.  Do we - really?

Many do - when there is no choice.  But they simply accept what is happening instead of turning to Him promptly and praise Him for His goodness.  Salvation and a cadillac too was once considered cute - but as we have come to elevate that to the level of doctrine is it devastating.

What do we mean by "mine?"  I fear we mean something very wrong hearted.  I fear we mean "sovereignly mine" not merely mine to serve Him with and through.  I know I struggle against that heart dis-ease.

"He who dies with the most toys wins," is a sad statement for a believer to ever come close to making.  But even if we never say it, I fear we shout it by our lives.  James provides us with an important insight:

James 4:3-4
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.    ESV

He's talking to us.  He's talking "passions."  Not sex, not drugs although those certinly apply.  Rather he is talking about us wanting what we want when we want it how we want it FOR OURSELVES.  And not what He wants, when He want, how He wants for His glory.

He is talking about me, my, mine, ours.  Our passions NOT His passions.  Can you see dear ones the dangerous difference?  See the confusion - the confounding?

We ask for money to get what we want.  We ask for time to use as we want.  We ask for health so we can continue to do what we want.  Is this asking rightly or amiss?

Pau in Romans 7 writes out his turmoil - the flesh against the Spirit.  Which one do we listen to the most.  I see few of us (note I said us - that includes me) bewailing and mourning the opportunities we give the our flesh.

Not I but Christ.
Not mine but His.
What's the differentce?
Zip!

This and That: Contentment 092412

But contentment does not come in that way, it does not come, I say, by adding to what you want, but by subtracting from your desires. It is all one to a Christian, whether I get up to what I would have, or get my desires down to what I have, either to attain what I do desire, or to bring down my desires to what I have already attained. 

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 504-506).  . Kindle Edition.

Having entered the fray with covetousness it seemed good to add a dash of contentment to the mix.  In Burroughs’ work you will find much to guide you, challenge you and comfort you.

The above quote, I take as guidance, challenge and comfort.  Since it is my mis-guided or mis-motivated desires that so plague me in the area of covetousness it makes sense that addressing them is part of the way to contentment.

BUT – I would have you know that just knowing how to learn (and it must be learned) to be content is not enough.  We must attend the class, study the material and take the test.  Contentment comes through learning.

Paul writes:

Php 4:11-13  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  (12)  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  (13)  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Whatever part of the course in contentment I am in (as we do not all start at the same point or progress at the same rate) the absolute key to the learning is Christ.  It is only His strength that keeps me in the course.  It is only His Word that helps me learn the lessons.  It is only His wisdom that enables me to rightly apply His cure to the condition.  It is not only, “all of /Christ,” it is “only of Christ.”

Contentment is having what I want or wanting what I have in absolute submission to the will and providence of God.  A crumb from our King is as glorious a gift as a coronet.  This we must labor to understand and implant in our hearts.  But that only comes through Him, our strength.

In this early stage of moving out of covetousness and into contentment the most difficult thing is to accept the depth of the corruption of the heart.  The ways, means and measure of the covetousness that lives in the flesh is terrifyingly large.  You cut one root only to find another and another and yet another still.  You cease to covet X and you find half the victory is wrapped up in coveting Y and Z is lurking just out of sight.

I was once told that there were really only 9 individual commandments because the 10^th, “thou shalt not covet,” simply meant that we would not even want to do the preceding 9. 

We are caught up in the world’s expectation of more, bigger and better and the shame of it is that we serve the One to whom it all belongs.  If one gets what they covet from a thief (Satan) it is not the same as getting it from the true owner.  Satan will give you what you want especially if it draws you away from God.  God will not give you what you cannot benefit from.  To whom would you go for a cure?  Patient “0” or the best doctor you could find – or the One who controls every disease and comfort?

If you would be content you must get to heaven for only there will we find absolute contentment?  Here, in this veil of tears, we must constantly and consistently, in the strength of our Savior, strive after it; one time laying hold of it another missing.

Heb 13:5-6  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  (6)  So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

Here is the bottom line of contentment.  He has promised to never leave of FORSAKE us.

Forsake:  By implication, to leave in the lurch, desert, abandon.

1Ch 28:20  Then David said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

In the end, it all goes back to the heart:

If the heart of a man is fashioned to his circumstances, he may have as much contentment as if his circumstances were fashioned to his heart.

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 510-511).  . Kindle Edition.

God can, and will, change my heart and/or my circumstances.  I can really do neither – at least not if I am submitted to Him.  That I am never without my Redeemer and that he will never “leave me in a lurch,” is the truth upon which I must place my feet and the truth I must work into my heart.

Learning contentment does not come easy. The flesh, finding covetousness a most useful tool, fights tooth and talon to keep it alive and active.  It will not go peacefully and so, in dealing with it, we will have to accept the tribulation, the fight, and the blows.  The object is not to tame it or to convert it but to kill it.  It is a fight to the death – its death - for all being said, it cannot kill us.  It can cripple and maim but it can never kill.

Isa 35:4  Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."

The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances.

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 514-515).  . Kindle Edition.

Peace - Be still.

My heart looks back to the time when I was under a sense of sin, and sought with all my soul to find peace, but could not discover it, high or low, in any place beneath the sky; yet when "I saw one hanging on a tree," as the Substitute for sin, then my heart sat down under His shadow with great delight.  My heart reasoned thus with herself,--Did Jesus suffer in my stead? Then I shall not suffer. Did He bear my sin? Then I do not bear it. Did God accept His Son as my Substitute? Then He will never smite me. Was Jesus acceptable with God as my Sacrifice? Then what contents the Lord may well enough content me, and so I will go no farther, but: "sit down under His shadow," and enjoy a delightful rest.”  Till He Come, C.H. Spurgeon

As I read that I wanted to curl up in a ball and get as small as I could.  Oh to grow into such a state!  Oh to have my affections so informed by His love and sacrifice.  But self- pity is such a low thing – such a toxic thing. It will only consume – it will never heal or help.

Oh how I long to love Him as I see here – to know Him and have that strength in Him.  My first impulse is to run about “doing” for Him as though (1) He needed my help and (2) my works to win Him would ever work.  Such is the battle with what the Word tells us is the “flesh.”  It seeks desperately to solve the problem to fix whatever seems to need fixing. 

It also refuses to sit down and shut up.  I balk at the very idea of “not doing.”  I want the plan, laid out plain and clear so we might know and not need to trust.  And yet – trust is exactly what we need.  The flesh stacks up our smallness and weakness and unworthiness and then pushes it over crushing us – or at least seeming to.

Do you, with me, long to rest in Him?  To release your hold on it all – and to trust His grace?  Does His grace seem distant and dark?  Do you have the sense that you are being punished, that there is no place for you at the table?  Or perhaps you sit on the floor at the far end of the table thinking, “If He sees me, He will throw me out”? 

That is the flesh – my flesh, your flesh – the flesh.  Satan, when he can do nothing else, uses the providences of God to stimulate our flesh and bring us to be afraid of our Lord and friend, Jesus.  Oh, that like a tumor God would excise it from me and you.  Oh, that we would not flinch at the sight of the savior surgeon’s knife.

I have learned, from Him, that when one stays in a dark and dismal place and thinks they can survive there, one is resistant to all attempts at rescue.  Oh, how painful and joyful it is to even begin to sit still for our Savior’s attentions. 

I have learned that my doubt is truly idolatry for I look to my doubt and not that little grain of faith He has planted in me.  I know the darkness, I know the rejection and though it presses cruelly, I find I fight to let it go. 

Having put (and fighting doing it more) my faith in me and others and my ideas and schemes, I am cast down – but the voice of the flesh still bellows.  Oh, for the blessed silence of being in His arms, hearing the beat of His resurrected heart.  Oh, to feel the warmth of His embrace, to see the light of His radiance and be at rest under His hand.

I pray that He will overwhelm my resistance, my self - my flesh that fights His love and care -  that seeks to “show Him I am worthy,” of his blessing.   Oh, that He would quiet - silence that voice that so deceives enticingly.   Oh, that I could hear none but Him – that I would be silent and the world inaudible.

Walk w/ P & me 04

Walk with P & me 04

Richard Sibbes in his work, The Soul’s Conflict With Itself, does a wonderful job of not only pointing out the need for real and true conviction but he powerfully addresses the issue of false or overdone conviction.

For us (especially me) it’s a matter of fighting the “would have, could have, should have,” attackes.  Hindsight may be 20/20 but it can also be overwhelmingly toxic.  The flesh, the world and the devil can wreak havoc with our minds and hearts using these as its entree.

“Had I,” and “Had we just . . . .” are brutal and cruel messages that have just enough truth in them to lay a heavy and blinding burden on our hearts.  Whether sinful, silly or just stupid, all the things we might have done differently rise up and accuse – legitimately or not and they gain power from the uncertain parts of the future.

Imagined destitution, desolation and desertion loom large and all the shame and humiliation that come with them press down.

Sibbes also does a good job of helping us understand that our imaginations, which, when not operating within the truth and trust of God, are cruel companions.  When the time is right the imagination (through the flesh with help from the world and the devil) create “potential realities” that ,apart from his faithfulness ,seem certain. 

Even when we consider that the “worst” that could happen might well be with in His will for us, the flesh (w/ help) makes it seem punitive instead of providential.  Bad not good. 

We know He works all things together for the good of His own.  But the flesh (w/help) paints pictures of Job early on, David in the flight, Israel oppressed.

We look to Him for help.  From Him we desire relief.  But what if the hardship is the help we need?  What if He needs a new Job (kind of)?  What if the worst that could happen is in His will for us? 

We are confident in His grace and we are grateful for His providence.  We know we are His but (and it’s an evil but) the flesh (w/ help) clings to, “I love reading about Job but I don’t want to be one!!!”

However, and please don’t think we’re being snooty or presumptuous, Paul was willing to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of the gospel and he enjoins us to follow his example.  We want to – but if feels a lot like falling.  Add to that the fact that the flesh, the world and the devil make it look a lot like failing and it’s a double whammy.

But feelings aren’t facts and faith isn’t a feeling.

We had a good night together last night and we are doing, at least for right now, what we can do.  We are resisting where needed and drawing near as often as possible.  I still want to pack the car and run away.  Patti still wants me to quit wanting that ;-}. One cool personal thing.  I've never been one who liked to snuggle - however I've come to discover its therapeutic benefits ;-}  and Oh boy-is Patti happy!  ;-}}}}}}}  That's one blessing that's has come in the midst of all this!

Our prayer needs are simple:  A new job for Patti, more work for me, support for the ministry Us in Him and last but most important the grace to trust Him however His plans are laid.

Thank you !

Patti and Michael Sanders

2205 New Garden Rd.

# 2807

Greensboro, NC 27410

ms@tc2v1.com

Last Words - almost Part 3

Last Words – almost  Part 3  Uhhhhhh – Ouch~!

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.   (2Pe 1:5-14)  ESV

1.     Lacks:  μη παρεστιν  (mḗ parestin)

a.    Μή, mḗ; neg. particle. Not.

b.    Πάρειμι, pareimi: 

                                          i.    1) to be by, be at hand, to have arrived, to be present

                                         ii.    2) to be ready, in store, at command

 (2Pe1:9, meaning the person who has not these things).

This is a little tricky.  The main force is the idea that these things (qualities) are readily available for use.  They are there but of little use or effect.

This indicates a lack of – well – practice.  Again, practice does not make perfect but it does produce improvement, endurance, strength, etc.  The implication is that, at least to some degree, these qualities are present or at least available to the believer.  What he or she does about or with them (or does not) is the individual’s prerogative.

But harking back to the relationship of belief and obedience – we can see the problem.

Now I want to briefly  (Yeah, fat chance of briefly.) address the “lack” of these qualities in the life of the believer – or rather the condition where these qualities are not readily at hand or possibly not even apparent.

Too many of us were chosen and called in an environment where there was nothing after we walked the aisle.  We surrendered our lives to Christ’s call and were patted on the back and told, “Go live for Jesus.”  But no one ever told us what that looked like.  Somebody dropped the ball on the “teaching them to obey,” part of the Great Commission.  

So we were left to our own devices.  We read all the “popular” books about the faith and the Bible.  We went to all the popular conferences.  We went to revivals and missions and we did a lot of good things.  In the interval we suffered.  In temptation we struggled and fell.  In trials we were overwhelmed with doubts and fears.

Why?  Somebody dropped the ball!!!!  

Now, some will say that the individual should have disciple themselves – but ya know, that’s not really – well – biblical.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,   (Eph 4:11-12)  ESV

That is biblical!!!

None of us answered His call in a vacuum devoid of any access to a mature believer.  Most of us answered His call right in the middle of the Body of Christ whether that was at church, camp, a revival, a conference or even a movie.  That was the “make disciples” part.  Where was the “teaching them to obey,” part????

Well, most of us ended up (some may still be there) in this condition, we were,

. . . children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.   (Eph 4:14)  ESV

Unfortunately, over time, we became elders or deacons or Sunday School teacher, even Pastors.  As we did, we brought the waves and winds with us.  And so we have a “church” today that bears little if any resemblance to that for which Christ died.  We have brought adultery into the body of Christ:

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Jas 4:4) ESV

         For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we 

         proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you 

         received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, 

         you put up with it readily enough. (2Co 11:4) ESV

        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.     

        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.  (1Jn 2:18-19) ESV

This is where the “lack” of these things has gotten us. 

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  

051312 - Finger Thinking

Disclaimer?:  In know I’ve taken the verse out of context but I was touched by its broader application.  Also, I may be venting some spleen here as well.  So I ask your indulgence.  It has been a tough couple of weeks and I have been humbled by the clear reminder that the battle in my heart needs much more attention than it has received.  I also despair at the fact that the “church(????)” has, in my view, been distracted from being what we are called to be and doing what we are called to do – and has  chosen to fight the fight of faith not with the Gospel, not by the guidance and power of the Spirit, not in and by the grace of God – BUT by taking up and using all the weapons and methods of the world, the flesh and the devil.  If we play by their rules we will lose by their rules –

1Co 14:8  And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

I was reading in 1 Cor. And this verse really struck me.  Actually the whole passage on tongues did but this one verse in particular grabbed me.

I listen to radio stations that have some Christian and some pseudo-Christian content.  There are a lot of shows out there – some good – some not so much.  But what really struck me was that very few of them (the ones with teaching or preaching) provide a distinct sound.

When I was taking homiletics we had it banged into our heads that if your lesson or sermon did not conclude with a, “There for we (must, may, need, should, can),” some imperative that was clear and succinct then we had failed our hearers cruelly.  As my prof.’ said, “If you don’t give them a therefore – they won’t understand what they are there for.”

This is what I find over and over again as I listen to these preachers and pundits.  No – “therefore.”  The “bugle blast” is indistinct – just noise and the people are left to wonder.  When this happens enough, the people cease to hear.

Pro 11:14  Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

“guidance”:  taḥbulāh: counsel, advice.

There is no mystery as to how we are to live – think – feel – act.  Scripture is quite clear – painfully so.  But when one is directive, when one teaches in the imperative one is more often than not declared a legalist and one who has violated grace.  So, the flock is left to fend for itself – and they fall victims to the pits, poisons and predators.

The issue of whether or not one can lose their salvation is peripheral to this missive although in the course of talking it through some folks go there.  I will only ask, “Who saved me?”  Once you identify the “who” does not the discussion of His effectiveness and faithfulness make any argument mute?

Confident in His work of redemption we are to walk in His Way not our own or that of anyone else.  We are to expect ourselves to be focused on and energized His service.  How do we do this without direction?  How do we battle our sin and our flesh if they are not offered for our attention? 

Not to pile-on but what are we to make of the following?

1Ti_4:6  In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

1Ti_6:3  If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

2Ti_4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Tit_1:9  holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

Tit_2:1  But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

Paul writes to believers concerning what they are to be focused on, or may fail to focus on.  It is translated “doctrine” but really it is simply the “teachings” of the faith.  This we need to hear again and again – clearly and plainly.  All right “doctrine” is dogma but all “dogma” is not necessarily doctrine.  Dogma describes those tenets of the faith (belief/action) by which it may be determined who is or is not of the faith.  All right “doctrine” is dogma but all “dogma” is not necessarily doctrine.

The Gospel does not cease to apply to an individual simply because they have come to faith in Christ.  It is not a new truth they enter into – it is the truth.  A believer has no less a need for Christ than the most profligate sinner – and perhaps the believers have even more need.  That need is the need to be constantly reminded what they are called from and what they are called to and what their state is.  They are called from darkness into light and they are simply redeemed sinners.  Though sin can no longer control or characterize their lives, how much sin does one need to be called a sinner?

That leads me to ask, “Where are we (believers) confronted with our sins?”  Certainly I don’t find that in the plethora of talking heads on Christian radio.  It seems that we have come to a place where believers (although certainly redeemed) are not as accountable for their sins as unbelievers.

Where is the call for believers to repent and forsake their sin?  Is it no longer needed?  How arrogant for us, as believers, to assume that we need not be deeply concerned and convicted of our sin regardless of how long we have been His!  It is much more comfortable to point to the speck than deal with the log.  Where is the guilt?  Where is the conviction?  Where is the deep and consuming humility that recognition of our sinfulness should provoke?  Where is that acknowledgment of guilt?

As we have seen, we will go to any extreme to oppose any recognition of a committed union between two homosexuals but where is the demand that adultery be made a crime?  We will also verbally assault and vilify women seeking abortion claiming that that we do so because, “Jesus loves their unborn child.”  Does He not also love the woman?  Is she not worthy of our love and concern and care?

Rom 2:17-24  But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God  (18)  and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;  (19)  and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,  (20)  an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth--  (21)  you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?  (22)  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  (23)  You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.  (24)  For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

Take out the word “Jew” here and substitute “believer,” or “Christian.”  Does not the shoe fit?  Has our arrogance and ignorance grown to the point that we do not recognize how these words apply to all those who call upon Christ?  Are we not guilty of invoking the blasphemy of the name of God by our attitudes as well as actions?  How can we suppose we will be faithful and yet ignore the stink and perverseness of how we live out our faith and how we relate to our neighbor and our enemies?

Let us consider:

Rom 2:17-24  But if you call yourself a Jew (Christian) and rely on the law (grace of God) and boast in God  (18)  and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law (scriptures);  (19)  and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,  (20)  an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law (scriptures/Gospel) the embodiment of knowledge and truth--  (21)  you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?  (22)  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? (take and gain by the same methods as the unbeliever)  (23)  You who boast in the law (grace) dishonor God by breaking the law.  (24)  For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (unbelievers) because of you."

I’ve said it before friends, “The world is going to hell in a hand-basket – and it is supposed to.”  It is NOT our duty to make society conform to our faith.  It is our duty to stand in our faith regardless of society.  When did being a believer come to be defined by what one stands against instead of who on stands with?  In the Gospels we are taught that the Jews had no regard – even ill-regard – for the Samaritans.  It seems we have created a whole host of “Samaritans,” for whom we have little regard and no love at all.

Perhaps (PERHAPS) living in a democracy has warped our view of our place in the world.  Perhaps, because the opportunity is available, we believe it is our duty to impose and enforce our beliefs upon others.  Perhaps we have somehow gotten the idea that “we” are to save the world, to redeem it from its sin and make it a fit place for the King of Kings to return to.  Perhaps we need to look back at our own history when the “church’s” policy was, “convert or die.”  That certainly worked out well – NOT!

Instead of a light that beckons we have become a light that blinds and burns.  He is a blinding light; we are no more than candles or at best lamps.  We are to burn faithfully and graciously.  

 Php_1:27  Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Php_4:5  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Col_4:6  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

What would it be like brothers and sisters if we expended as much time, money and effort equipping the saints for works of service as we do opposing the world, the flesh and devil by their own means?  What would it be like if we poured as much energy into the study and understanding of God’s Word as we do in studying the lies of Satan?  What would it be like if we spent as much time and energy in sincere prayer for the lost as we do opposing and condemning them?  What would it be like if we spent as much energy and effort examining ourselves as we do examining our culture and others?

I am convicted that we need take Matthew 5:16 and Romans 2:24 as matters toward which no amount of focus and energy is too much.  We are doing either one or the other and I fear which one dominates.  If men are to blaspheme God let it be because of their lostness not because of His people.  If men are to reject God let it be in the clear light of His grace and not because they are threaten, vilified and attacked by His people.  

There, I’ve blown my bugle – I hope clearly.