Jesus & Santa

The holiday season is here again.  I think almost everyone enjoys the holiday season, if for nothing else than the time off with family and friends.  I think most of us would envision this:  the whole family sitting together around a Christmas tree in comfortable pajamas, presents being opened, stockings hung over the fire that warms the room with its light.  It is a cozy scene, but what is it really about?

When I was younger and both sets of grandparents lived close, my family's tradition was to spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family at his parents' house, Christmas morning at home, and then Christmas Day with my mom's side of the family.  On Christmas morning, my brother and I would wake up really early to see what was stashed under the tree.  I had been told, from as early as I can remember, that Santa Claus was going to bring me presents as long as I was good.  I was also warned that, "He can see you when you're sleeping."  This is creepy.  After hearing this, I imagine that a number of children were no longer worried about the Boogey Man.  They were more concerned about his rotund partner, Santa Claws, watching them and waiting in the shadows.

Children being kept up at night watching their closet door is not what I want to take issue with, however.  For years I believed that Santa Claus visited every house of every child all over the world to bring them presents.  I believed it was true like I believed I would one day grow up.  Children eventually find out that Santa is not real.  For some, this can shatter their view of reality and effect their thought process and trust:  This person and event that my parents told me was true was not true.  It was all a lie that I believed for years.  My whole family knew it was fake, and yet they watched me believe this.  I feel like a fool.  I won't be taken in so easily next time.

If they realize that Santa was a lie, I wonder how they will reconsider what their parents have told them about God.  Will they begin to question the fact that Jesus came to die for their sins?  Will they begin to question the Gospel message or their standing before God?  Will they begin to question God Himself?  "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble" (1 Corinthians 8:13).  Paul speaks about food here, but the message is still clear.  If what we do might cause another believer to stumble, we should give it up.

J.I. Packer tells us, "We do not start our Christian lives by working out our faith for ourselves; it is mediated to us by Christian tradition, in the form of sermons, books and established patterns of church life and fellowship.  We read our Bibles in the light of what we have learned from these sources; we approach Scripture with minds already formed by the mass of accepted opinions and viewpoints with which we have come into contact, in both the Church and the world...  It is easy to be unaware that it has happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition in this sense has molded us.  But we are forbidden to become enslaved to human tradition, either secular or Christian, whether it be "catholic" tradition, or "critical" tradition, or "ecumenical" tradition.  We may never assume the complete rightness of our own established ways of thought and practice and excuse ourselves the duty of testing and reforming them by Scriptures."  (J. I. Packer, Fundamentalism and the Word of God [Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958], pp. 69-70).

There are many believers who enjoy the myth of Santa Claus.  It is fun to watch our children enjoy the anticipation of the gifts under the tree.  However, I think it would be irresponsible of us to ignore the possible negative effects down the road.

Even if the kids are not negatively effected by the reality of their favorite elf being fictitious, why are we taking any focus of Jesus to give it to a mythical icon anyway?  I remember how I viewed Santa Claus when I was a child.  He was almost an idol.  I tried to be good every day leading up to Christmas according to what I thought Santa considered good because, "He knows when you're awake," too, in order that I would get rewarded in return.  Does this not sound like idol worship?

Ultimately, what you decide to do about Santa is between you and God.  I am telling you how I see it.  Personally, if God ever decided to give me a wife and children, I will tell them of the Christ.  Jesus will be the focus of the entire season.  They will get presents because the Magi brought presents to Jesus when they came.  For those of you who have seen the Bethlehem Star Presentation (http://www.bethlehemstar.net/), you know that they arrived in Bethlehem on 25 December of 2 B.C., and that is the reason we give gifts on Christmas.  Don't let anyone tell you the Christmas was moved to coincide with the pagan holiday celebrating the Winter Solstice.  It wasn't.  If it was, why is it not on 21 December?  That is a bit off topic, though.

I will not tell my kids that Santa is watching them to decide whether to reward them with presents or punish them with coal because it is not true, and I do not want to lie to my kids.  It also takes away from the focus of Jesus on the day we have set aside to celebrate His entry into this world to redeem mankind to Himself.  Glory be to God.  He must become more...  Santa most become less.  I think that, if we asked St. Nick, he would agree.

And They Shall Become One Flesh

At the beginning of recorded history, God created Adam, but He knew that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He created Eve.  At this point, God instituted marriage, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).

The culture we live in today and many other cultures in the past have looked upon this holy institution as a contract between people.  It has become almost laughable when some people go to the altar and promise before God that they will bind themselves together until death.  Many of them do not believe in God at all.  What weight does a promise hold when they do not believe in the one to whom they are promising?  So they promise to each other.  Do they really mean it?  Will they go through sickness, poverty, and worse?  Our divorce rate says they won't.  Even within the church, the divorce rate in comparable to the divorce rate outside.  I spoke last night about how Christians are to live a life that honors God before an unbelieving world, and we cannot even keep a promise to God or the one we say we love!  Pathetic!  It makes me wonder if I ever want to get married.

What is the main reason for divorce in this country?  Money.  Money!  Did the vows not say "for richer or for poorer?"  God gives one acceptable excuse for divorce, infidelity.  Even in this case, the desire is that there would be reconciliation, forgiveness, and preservation of the marriage rather than divorce.  If there is no repentance or continuation of the infidelity, then it can be grounds for divorce.  Ultimately, the goal is to be like Jesus.  Through Him we have been forgiven of our infidelity to God, "When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD'" (Hosea 1:2).  We need to be seeking to love and forgive, even in cases of infidelity.  If you desire to see how much God loves and forgives, read chapters one through three in Hosea.

Marriage is a covenant, not a contract.  It is not meant to be dissolved when either party is dissatisfied with the arrangement.  It is meant to persist as long as both parties are still living.  This is what Jesus said about divorce, "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:31-32).


What about those famous kings in the Old Testament who had a ton of wives?  I'm thinking specifically of Solomon who had many, "He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines" (1 Kings 11:3a).  Dude!  Seriously?!?  How on earth do you deal with that many?  Why was God fine with that if marriage is supposed to be only one man and one woman?  Even David, who is referred to as "a man after His [God's] own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14) had many wives and concubines, "And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David" (2 Samuel 5:13).  The answer is that God is not fine with it. 

The Bible is not a list of people without flaws from whom we can model our lives.  The Bible shows us people, men and women with faults.  It is history.  Abraham, David, and Solomon lived and breathed just like we do today, and they sinned just like we do today.  Their actions are not somehow acceptable to God merely because they were written down in the Bible.  The verse that speaks of Solomon's many wives and the following verse tell us that, "His wives turned away his heart.  For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father" (1 Kings 11:3b-4).  David desired God and wanted Him, but he made mistakes, too.  The most famous of these mistakes has to be with Uriah and Bathsheba.  David murdered him in order to have her.  That is all kinds of evil!  In fact, how would you view even your best friend if you suddenly found out that they murdered someone in order to marry that person's spouse?  It would be hard to continue that friendship in exactly the same way, right?  You might wonder what they would be capable of doing to you if they suddenly decided your spouse was looking particularly nice one day.

I do not know of any "thou shalt not" verse in Scripture that specifically prohibits polygamy (either polygyny or polyandry), but Scripture as a whole has a negative view of the practice.  The original establishment of the institution was one man and one woman.  In Genesis 16, the marriage between Abram and Sarai is defiled when Sarai brings Abram to Hagar to conceive a child, "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise" (Galatians 4:23).  It was not God's will for Hagar to be brought into the marriage bed, and we feel the repercussions of that mistake even today as the children of Ishmael spread their beliefs by oppression and murder.  Men with more than one wife are prohibited from holding the office of pastor or deacon in the church, "This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.  For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach" (Titus 1:5-7a), and "The saying is trustworthy:  If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.  Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:1-2).  If God was fine with multiple wives, this prohibition would not have been one of the first prohibitions on both of these lists.  God is not fine with polygamy.  He never has been.  Chalk another one up to the freewill of sinful people.


The Scripture only gives us one person to model our behavior after in all ways, and that person is Jesus, God Himself.  He is the only one who is good.  Men and women throughout Scripture can be looked at as "heroes of the faith," but they all fall short somewhere.  Having multiple spouses is where several of them did sin.  Having multiple spouses even drew Solomon away from God and damaged that relationship.  God is not for that.  He loves us and wants the best for us, that includes any marriage to be only one man and one woman.  That is how He set it up, and that is how it should remain.

Tools in the Hands of the Master Craftsman

It was just a normal, run-of-the-mill type of day.  There was nothing particularly interesting of fantastic going on.  It was Thursday, so we had homegroup that night.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, homegroup is similar to a Bible study, but it is more than just a Bible study.  There is fellowship, accountability, smaller group discussions, and homegroups do not have an end date like some Bible studies.  This particular homegroup was going to be different, though.  Even as the leader, I had no idea about this, but God certainly did.  This just goes to prove who the real leader is, and in every successful homegroup, Bible study, church, or otherwise, God is the leader.  Farah was one of the members of the homegroup, and she had recently fractured her spine.  She was in a back brace, and by God's grace, still had full use of her legs because her spinal chord was not severed.  Near the end of the night, she asked for use to pray for her.  The bones in her back were not regrowing.  She was not healing.  We gathered around her, laid hands on her, and began to pray.  We prayed that God would heal her.  We asked for healing in the name and Jesus, and proclaimed His power to do so.  We left that night, and I honestly do not remember if I continued to pray for Farah or not for the next week.  I would hope that I did.  During homegroup the following week, Farah let us know what God had done in her after we prayed last week.  She had an appointment with her doctor, and the doctor had taken ex-rays of her spine.  To his amazement, 2/3 of the bone mass in her back had regrown!  God had answered our prayer, and He healed Farah!  The final 1/3 regrew, and she was fully healed.  I was very happy to see her able to walk around without a back brace after that.  Praise our God who lives and allows us the privilege to be used by Him!

Sometimes, we have problems remembering our place as tools in His hands.  On Sunday we yell, "Here I am Lord!  Send me!" and on Monday we moan, "I don't want to do that!"  God has the right to use us as He sees fit to use us.  It is only by His mercy that He allows us to even ask to be used, or that He does not immediately smite us dead when we complain about being used in a way we do not want to be used, "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (Romans 9:21).  I know the context of this verse shows us that Paul is speaking of those who are saved being used to show God's mercy and those who are condemned being used to show His justice, but cannot one vessel who is being saved be used to glorify God in small, menial tasks for which they are given no recognition by others while another is used for large, grand tasks that only one hidden under a rock would not be aware of?  Is either one better than the other?  No!  Each is used to glorify God, and each one, being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, will receive their due reward from the One who's recognition does matter.  So, the janitor and the CEO both glorify God...  and remember that "many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30).


If we are not careful, pride has a nasty habit of sneaking in when we are not aware of it.  It is not so easy when God, through us, heals broken or fractured bones in a week to get prideful and think we actually had something to do with it, although that has happened before.  It is much easier to fall to pride when we have a conversation with someone, God speaks through us to them on an issue they are struggling with, and then suddenly we think we're awesome counselors because we've given some great advice.  We haven't.  God used us to glorify Himself, and we go off thinking we've done something great and steal from God the glory due to Him!


"Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
   or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
   or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!" (Isaiah 10:15).

Today, when God uses you.  Give the glory to the One who deserves the glory, and allow yourself to be content in what you are:  a tool in the hand of the Master Craftsman.

Tension

"The tension is so thick I could cut it with a knife!"

How many of us have heard this statement or something like it in a situation that became very uncomfortable, sometimes so quickly we do not even know quite how or why it became that way?  It has a certain physiological effect on us, and everyone in the room can feel it.  It happened not too long ago for me.  Two members of the youth group had just broken up.  It was bound to be an uncomfortable situation to begin with.  The guy was there, and I could already tell that the tension was mounting.  It became that very uncomfortable situation when the girl walked in...  with her new boyfriend.  Tense was the exact word for the predicament.  High school relationships can be like that, unfortunately.  I was very proud of one of my youth who recently said that dating in high school just was not worth it.  I could not agree more.  Dating should be looking toward marriage, and very few high school students have the maturity for that kind of commitment.  I can think of only one couple, and they are certainly the exception to the rule.  All dating in high school tends to do is break hearts and lead to uncomfortable situations like the one above.  Besides, we have enough tension in our lives as it is.

Every Christian deals with tension.  There is tension within our very nature, a tension that does not exist for the unbeliever.  For tension to exist, there has to be disagreement, a collision of opposing wills.  Within the darkness, there is no dissension.  There is no disagreement because they are all dead to the spiritual life and closed off to God, "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me" (Romans 7:9-11).  Have you ever been told not to do something?  Has being told not to do something made you want to do it all the more?  That is a perfect example of sin working within you, and that is exactly the opportunity it took with the Law to trap, chain, and kill us.  This has been the case for all people since the Fall of Man, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  So, sin has taken this opportunity within each of us, and we have all died.  Therefore, in death there was no tension.  We were all slaves to sin, and our minds were blind to the things of the Spirit.  This is what the essence of an unbeliever diagrammed:

They are dead spiritually.  They are closed off from God.  Satan, as god of this world, has taken the opportunity to blind their minds to Him, and they do not understand Him or His Word, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

So, if it was by the Law that sin took hold of us, does that make the Law wicked?  No!  That makes sin all that more wicked and deceitful.  The Law is perfect and holy.  We are the ones who are messed up until we turn to Jesus.  In Jesus, we are transformed and remade.  We are no longer blind to the spiritual life; we are made alive to it!  Our inner being is different from what it used to be:

Instead of our dead spirit, we are given the living Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us.  Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63).  Jesus later promises the Spirit to those who believe in Him, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:26).


The problem that still exists is the fact that we still have the flesh.  We still have the influence of darkness upon us because Satan still exists and he is still in this world.  As we work out our salvation, we strive to close the open door of Satan's influence on us.  This will be a struggle as long as we are in this world.  Ultimately, God has already won.  He is already victorious!  Sin has no power over us and death has no sting!  When we, as believers in Jesus, physically die, we enter into eternal life.  

Believer                                                                                         

Spiritual  Life (Eph 2:4-7)  + Physical Death => Eternal Life with Christ in heaven (Rev 22:1-5)                  

Unbeliever

Spiritual Death (Eph 2:1-3) + Physical Death => Eternal Death --hell-- (2 Thes 1:8-9)

Physical death is merely the transition into what you already have for eternity.

At that point we are not only rescued from the penalty of sin, we are rescued from the very presence of sin.  We lose the ability to sin altogether, and I don't know about you but I long for this day in a way I cannot put into words.

Until then we are as Paul was when he spoke to the believers in Rome, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me"  (Romans 7:14-20).  This is not an excuse.  We are responsible for every single action we do and everything we do not do.  We are given the free will by God to choose, and He has broken the chains of our slavery (see Slaves) to allow us the freedom to choose what is right.  What Paul is saying is that the influence of the flesh still exists.  However, it does not exist for him any longer, and we are being made free just as he has been made free!  Praise God and His Son, Jesus that we are free and will be made free!

From Darkness To Light

In the summer of 2005, I went over to Turin, Italy to share the Gospel through teaching English.  I was very excited because western Europe has always been the place in the world I wanted to visit most, and other than a quick stop in Frankfurt on the way to Kiev, I had never been there.  Italy was an amazingly beautiful place.  The architecture was fascinating, and the amount of history that was literally at my fingertips made me delirious.  As I dealt with the weight of centuries upon me, the shock of food so fresh and delicious that it makes my mouth water even six years later blew my mind in the form of a street-side calzone that is still the best I have ever had.  I could go on to describe the rich Italian farmland full of tomatoes and grapes that stretched on for miles, and the beautiful stillness in my soul as I saw the sun rise over the intense blue of the Mediterranean Sea.  It brought tears to my eyes.

Despite the beauty of Italy, there remained something else.  John and I were walking back to the hostel one evening when we were both struck by the spiritual darkness of the place.  Obviously, a place that has largely rejected Jesus is spiritually dark, but it was like running into a dense fog that was not physically there.  An inky blackness seemed to reach out from the alleys and streets to darken the evening shadows.  The lights of the riverside party dimmed a bit as we the Holy Spirit within us awakened to the sensation.  John spoke first, "Have you noticed how spiritually dark this place is?"  I had to agree.  We were on the front lines of the Great Spiritual War that has always been fought and will continue to be fought until Jesus returns and God finally casts Satan into hell.  I pray that I always am on the front lines.  There are so many souls that are out in that darkness right now that desperately need the light of Christ.

"Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in iron" (Psalm 107:21).

They sit in darkness as rebels because they have rejected the Word of God.  They are prisoners, bound in the chains of their own selfish desires, slaves to their own instincts.  Just as they are, so were all of us, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11a).  At one point we were also bound in sin, condemned before a righteous God.  What happened in your life?  What changed?  Someone came to you, right?  God opened your eyes, and for the first time you saw truly.  The scales fell and radiant light flooded in casting out darkness as you first believed.

"The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
   on them has light shined.
You have multiplied the nation;
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
   the rod of his oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
   and every garment rolled in blood
   will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
   and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
   to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this" (Isaiah 9:2-7)

For God gave to us His Son, who is Himself, co-eternal with the Father.  "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5).  Darkness cannot overcome it!  The radiant light that shines forth from the Father and the Son now shines forth from the heart of every child who cries out proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father!

In the days of the Judges before the monarchy was established and David ruled, Israel was disobedient and walked in darkness worshiping the Baals.  God then brought them to their knees as He gave them into the hand of Midian.  For seven years, the Midianites and Amalekites would plunder and take the produce of the land of Israel like locusts leaving nothing for Israel until Israel returned and cried out to God.  God called Gideon to deliver His people.   In the night the three hundred came down to surround the camp of the Midianites and Amalekites and all the people of the East that lay in the valley.  Suddenly, out of the darkness trumpets blew and jars shattered.  Light poured forth from hundreds of torches as the enemies of the Israelites fell by the edge of the sword. 

On that day the Lord broke the combined armies of nations with three hundred men.  Two thousand years ago He stole victory from defeat and broke death itself!  "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 
'Death is swallowed up in victory.'
'O death, where is your victory?
   O death, where is your sting?'
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Death!  Where is your victory?  Where is your sting?  You can no longer cast fear!  There is no more pain!  What else can you do to us?  You lost and Christ is reigns as king!

That is the day I look forward to.  That is the day when darkness will be completely cast out by the divine light of the Almighty.  When we will stand before the throne, seeing Him in His complete glory.  We will dance and sing, shout and leap, fall to our knees bathed radiant in perfect light!



Jesus is already seeking you.  If you do not know Him as your Savior, step out of the darkness of your life and into His light.
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame'" (Romans 10:9-11).

"So Jesus said to them, 'For a little while longer the Light is among you.  Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.  While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light'" (John 12:35-36).

What Are You Waiting For?

In the movie The Incredibles, Bob Parr is gifted with crazy strength.  He lifts up a car with ease, but he has repeated difficulty existing a world full of normal people.  After a particularly difficult day at his mediocre job, he pulls into the driveway only to find a small boy sitting alone on his toy tricycle watching him.  He turns in irritation and asks, "What are you waiting for?"  The child responds, "I don't know.  Something amazing, I guess."  At this realization of common ground, Bob sighs and says, "Me too, kid."

This world is full of the the hum-drum, mediocre norm.  Some call it a routine.  Some call it a slump.  Either way the norm floods into our lives and numbs us into a state of no resistance.  We give up!  We stop expecting anything better because we have never seen anything better, or if we have, it has been a long time.  I will tell you this right now.  That is not how we were meant to live!  Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).


Satan wants the norm to swallow you and bring you to a state where you are no longer effectively fighting for the Kingdom of God.  He is trying to numb you so that you are no longer a threat to his darkness.  If he can lull you to sleep.  If he can get you to accept the day to day monotony, you will put down your sword and take on the role of a casualty in this great spiritual war.  You will be mitigated, and the daily grind will dull your sharp edge.


That life is not the life God wants for you!  That is not life abundantly!  It is time to wake up!  See the potential that God has put around you.  That job or class that may see like the same old thing is really not unless you allow the Deceiver to make it so.  If you allow God to transform the way you see, that same place is your mission field with many who do not know Jesus walking around in chains.  Pick up your sword and strike them off!  I guarantee that any mission field will start getting a lot more exciting if you start sharing the Gospel while you're on it.


"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 3:18).

If you are realizing that your edge has become a bit dull.  Your first step is to get into good fellowship with other believers, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).  There is not one of us who will stay sharp all the time without help from the rest of the body.  We all need to be in fellowship, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:24-25).  Bring your brothers and sisters in on what God has called y'all to do.  Get prayer support from your church as you share with people at work.  Get your friends who are believers at school to help you share with other classmates.  Above all, pray.  Every great movement of God that I can think of in recent history began with prayer.  Get on your knees and really seek Him.  The Casting Crowns song asks, "What if the armies of the Lord picked up and dusted off their swords, vowed to set the captives free, and not let Satan have one more.  What if the Church for Heaven's sake, finally stepped up to the plate, took a stand upon God's promise, and stormed Hell's rusty gates?  What if His people prayed?

Do you want to see the captives set free?  Pick up that sword; I want to storm those gates!  Do you want to see something amazing?  What are you waiting for?

I Am Judas' Kiss

"While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, 'Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?'" (Luke 22:47-48).


Through history Judas has been vilified as the worst of the worst.  How could someone who walked with the Christ suddenly turn on Him and betray Him into the hands of those who would murder Him for no reason other than preaching the forgiveness and grace of God?  If that wasn't bad enough, why would Judas choose a kiss, the universal sign of love and affection, to initiate a betrayal?  I have wondered that, too.  Just what was going through his head when he decided to hand Jesus over to the wicked?


The truth is that Judas has completely earned the reputation he has been given in history.  He is a self-serving and wicked person who is a natural infiltrator, "But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it" (John 12:4-6).  Judas would have made a great spy.  He completely fooled almost everyone he was with for years.  His only mistake was that he was attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of God, and the Son was never fooled, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).  Continue to the end of the story and you see that Judas certainly reaped what he sowed, "Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.'  They said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself.'  And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:3-5).  The question of whether or not Judas repented and was saved is not the issue.  He certainly realized what he had done to some degree, but whether that was a true salvation experience will not be known in this world.  The point is that Judas was a wicked and vile person.  The point is that we are, too.

In order to bring the light of Christ into this world, we must have a proper view of ourselves.  Before we came to Jesus and were washed clean is the person the we are by ourselves.  Some of you were saved very young, so it is hard to remember who that person was, but the aspects of the "old man" still come through from time to time, so work from there.  That is you.  Is that person anything to be proud of?  Looking at myself, I can certainly say a resounding, "No" to that.  I was as wicked and self-serving as Judas was, and if you look honestly at yourself, you have to come to the same conclusion.  We all do.  So, is there any reason at all for us to look down on any other person for what they do?  

What about the murderer?  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:21-22).


What about the adulterer?  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28).


If you have hated anyone, even if they are the most rotten person to ever exist, you are guilty.  If you have ever lusted over another person, you are guilty.  **BEGINNING OF SOAPBOX**  By the way, it is not ok to talk about how good looking someone is to others (especially married people doing this).  It may seem perfectly innocent, but all it is doing is inviting lust in yourself and others.  This is true of both guys any girls.  There is no exception.  If there is something wonderful about them, that is certainly worth praise, but do not invite lusting eyes to feast on the physical.  **END OF SOAPBOX**


"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it" (James 2:10).  We are as wicked and guilty as Judas.  The good news is that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ.  We need to remember that when we see the unsaved sin because we did it too before Jesus got a hold of us.  So, maintain purity, but interact with the unsaved like Jesus did, not the Pharisee that prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector" (Luke 18:11).  Love them.  Care for them.  Reach out to them, and show them the same redeeming power in Jesus that was once shown to you.  Jesus was willing to "get His hands dirty."  We should be, too.

Abominations: Light & Darkness

"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but the one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked" (Proverbs 29:27).

In the movie Braveheart, the English king, Edward I, offers William Wallace a bribe of land, title, and gold to stop his crusade against England's oppression of Scotland.  When the princess, who was speaking for the king, offered him the bribe, Wallace responds, "A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?"  She continues, "Peace is made in such ways."  Wallace, who is now visibly angered, shouts, "Slaves are made in such ways!  The last time Longshanks spoke of peace I was a boy.  And many Scottish nobles, who would not be slaves, were lured by him under a flag of truce to a barn, where he had them hanged.  I was very young, but I remember Longshanks' notion of peace!"  The princess takes Wallace's response back to Edward I who is baffled by what he hears.  He assumed that his bribe would be accepted.  He trusted in the greed of men.  He trusted in his deception, and the fact that his bribe was turned away confused him.  Even more telling of Edward's character is revealed in his response when he learns that his royal emissary gave the gold away to help those suffering as a result of the war.  His son, Edward II, asks Isabella, "You brought back the money, of course."

Isabella:  No, I gave it to ease the suffering of the children of this war.
Edward I:  Ha!  That's what happens when you send a woman.
Isabella:  Forgive me, sire.  I thought that generosity might demonstrate your greatness to those you mean to rule.
Edward I:  My greatness will be better demonstrated when Wallace returns to Scotland and finds his country in ashes.

The wicked are confused, confounded, and offended by what is good.  They expect everyone else to be as greedy, treacherous, and wicked as they are, and they do not understand it or expect it when a person acts righteously.  You might even be able to remember a time when you stood for Jesus and there were people who reacted in a way similar to Edward I.  They might have been confused by it.  They might have even been angry about it.

I was informed recently about something like this that included me.  I was in a group, and I mentioned something about homosexuality being wrong.  Now, I do not dislike people that practice homosexuality.  God loves all people.  He commands us to love all people, too.  However, homosexuality is not a people.  Homosexuality is a practice, and it is a practice that Scripture says wrong, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  What is also clear is that it is not the only thing that is considered unrighteous.  Homosexual sin is put on the same level as a number of other sins.  It is also clear that people can come out of such practice just as they can stop being drunkards and thieves.  Paul said so, "And such were some of you" (1 Corinthians 6:11).  It is not easy.  Just ask an alcoholic, but it is possible.  The point is that I mentioned that homosexuality is wrong, but I did not say they were ugly, rancid, disgusting excuses for people.  In fact, I believe just they are just like the rest of us, searching for good and missing it.  However, to that person, it sounded like I was a hateful and horrible person merely by saying what Scripture already says.  She did not understand it, and it was very offensive to her  Therefore, I was offensive to her, and she got angry at me.  Righteousness offended.

What is important to understand is that even those of us who are saved by the blood of Jesus are unrighteous people becoming more and more righteous.  The process of sanctification is still at work in us.  We come to Christ with many questions, and nobody understands everything from the beginning.  The important thing is to submit ourselves and our thoughts to the Word of God.  If we do this, we will be on the right course, but we will also offend.  Even the thought of submitting to the Word of God is offensive to many ears, but Jesus did not come to have everyone get along, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:34-39).  He came to reveal righteousness, and righteousness offends the unrighteous.  In many cultures today, when one member of the family becomes a Christian, their whole family will turn against them.  They will abuse them, disown them, or even kill them.  Many have to keep their faith a secret from their own families in order to survive.  Righteousness offends.

Righteousness is an abomination to the wicked because it casts light on the evil that they commit or give approval to.  Jesus brought the light to the world, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'" (John 8:12).  It was because He illuminated the darkness that those who loved the darkness hated Him.  The same will be true of us, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you:  'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept my word, they will also keep yours" (John 15:18-20).

 Edward I never got passed his confusion at the way Wallace acted.  Lies and deceit were his strategy throughout the entire movie.  He bribed Wallace's allies even as he sent assassins to kill him.  At the end of Braveheart, Edward I has Wallace tortured.  He attempts to use pain in order to get Wallace to submit to England, thereby admitting that he was wrong in fighting for freedom.  I will always remember how the magistrate extended the English royal seal to the prostrate Wallace telling him to kiss it as a sign of submission to the crown.  Wallace, in visible pain, coughing and heaving as a result of the torture, got to his feet and stood defiant in the face of pain and death for the what was right.  In the same way, Christians must stand upon the Rock that is Jesus Christ in the fact of all opposition.  We will offend.  We will be hated, but we must never relent.

The Shield

We are centuries removed from the kind of combat that involves a shield, so the intricacies of such combat can be lost on us.  A wide variety of shields have been used on the battlefield from the large, rectangular Roman scutum to the buckler, which was sometimes not more than six inches in diameter.  The defensive capabilities of the shield are easily observable.  When your opponent swings a sword or a club at your head, putting a large piece of wood or steel between your skull and that strike is obviously beneficial to your survival.  Very rarely, though, do we understand the offensive capabilities of this marvelously simple tool.

The culture of ancient Israel and the Greek, Roman, and Near East cultures Paul spoke and wrote to would be well aware that the shield was not just a defensive weapon.  It was also used to pummel and batter your opponent.  A shield is a bludgeon, and it can kill as effectively as a mace.  Roman soldiers used their huge scutums to push and bully their opponents, and they often brought the edge of their scutum down on the heads of grounded enemies to finish them rather than using their gladius.  Spartan soldiers used their bronze shields to knock their enemies to the ground and the sharp edge to slash, wound, and kill.  The buckler was used as a steel fist, the bosses of many types of shields were used similarly, and the Scots even attached a steel spike to the boss of their targe.

The common knowledge in those times of the shield's offensive use in combat should help refine our view of the shield used in Scripture.  Paul tells us to, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).  The shield of faith is used to push forward and engage the enemy, to stand and fight against the darkness.

We have been shown the glory of God as He has spoken to us through His Son in these last days.  Our response to such love and grace is faith and trust in who Jesus is.  James reveals that the natural outworking of faith is works, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).  For more on this, see Faith That Works.  Faith is not passive.  Faith does not simply sit still and defend what we know is true.  It is active.  The world tells us believing in more than the visible is foolishness, and the shield of faith slams itself against such ideas.  Strong faith refuses to relent.  It refuses to give in.  It presses forward despite resistance.  It extinguishes flaming arrows.  It turns blades.  It pushes through obstacles.  It slashes, smashes, and crushes the evil that stands before it just like a strong shield.

God has given you a powerful weapon in faith.  Use it.  Push forward.  Be relentless as you seek righteousness.  When Satan tries to throw doubt and fear at you, let it bounce off your faith, but do not stop there.  Let your faith in the Bright Morning Star crush it to the ground and deal the death blow.  Fight the good fight.  Stay the course.  Keep the faith.

Round Shield with Boss

Scottish Targe

Roman Scutum

Spartan Shield

Sex Outside

"How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights" (Song of Songs 7:6).

You could cross time, culture, and nations asking people what they find most alluring, and I guarantee that one of the top answers would be the opposite sex.  They delight, entice, confuse, and irritate, but no matter what, it is hard to get them off your mind.  Satan is perfectly aware of this fact, and he uses his influence to capture and enslave.  There are those who seek to make money by keeping lust inflamed through pornography, on the internet or otherwise.  This is the reason that sexual sin permeates society. 

As Christians, we are called to run from these things, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18).  The Scripture reveals the difference between sexual sin and other sins as well as the seriousness of becoming involved in sexual sin.  It is something that contaminates the body as well as the spirit.  What I mean by this is that sexual intercourse is meant to be shared between no one but those who are married.  The reason for this is that sex forms a connection between two people the persists whether we want it to or not.  This connection is so real, so binding, and so lasting that Paul considers the act of sex akin to marriage, "Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute [or anyone else] is one with her in body?  For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh'" (1 Corinthians 6:16).  When you have sex with someone, you bind yourself to them.  When this connection is broken, it causes a lot of damage, spiritual and emotional, and part of that connection can never be broken.  This damage is not always realized at the moment of the broken relationship.  Many times it is not realized until years later, usually once a person gets married and engages in the appropriate sexual actions of a spouse.  The mind starts to remember the images, smells, and feelings of previous encounters, and this makes committing to sex with just your spouse difficult because you remember your sexual experiences with others.  It will bring distrust into your marriage.  It can cause your spouse to feel betrayed, undesired, or even unloved.

In order to avoid this pain, Christians are told very clearly in Scripture that sex outside of marriage is an abomination to God, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous" (Hebrews 13:4).  When one engages in any sexual action from caressing certain areas to sexual intercourse, they dishonor the person they are with, their future spouse, the future spouse of that person, God's institution of marriage, and the name of God Himself.  God will not hold such a person guiltless.

Some might argue that they are in love, and that should allow them to have sex before marriage.  One of my pastors said something once that I will never forget, "You cannot fall in love.  You can fall in infatuation."  It means that love is not a feeling.  It is not an uncontrollable emotion that makes resisting the advances of another impossible.  That feeling is lust and infatuation.  It is the youthful desire we are told to flee from, "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).  If love was that feeling, then how can God be telling us to flee from it and pursue it?  Consider the great love passage.  The first thing it says about love is, "Love is patient" (1 Corinthians 13:4).  It also says that, "It [love] does not insist on its own way" (1 Corinthians 13:5).  This does not sound like the uncontrollable passions of sex before marriage.  Love waits for the right time.  If it doesn't, it is not love.

This lust is a powerful thing, though.  Many do not understand it, and fewer still understand how it effects males and females differently.  For a long time I merely assumed that lust in males and lust in females worked essentially in the same way.  I was right and yet so very wrong. 

I am not even going to attempt to create a comprehensive study on that topic, but I will lay down a couple warnings:

Women, girls, and all females listen up.  You have no idea the level of stimulation that comes through a man's eyes.  Even if you are married, do not think that you fully grasp it because you don't.  You have not experienced how difficult a battle it truly is without living it 24/7.  It entangles and ensnares even those who hate it.  When you dress in an immodest way, you conjure lust within him.  I am not going to draw a standard and give you a list of clothes that you cannot wear.  The reason is twofold:  my standard is not the same as any other man's, and you should be listening to God about your choice in clothes.  Does that sound strange?  Listen to God about how you should dress.  It shouldn't.  God should be the guiding force in our lives.  Why should that not include dress?  However, if you are still having a difficult time dressing appropriately, consider the heart decision behind why you are picking out that particular piece of clothing.  Is it because you like the color or the style?  Is it because it shows off your figure?  Who are you trying to show your figure off to?  You desire to be desired, I know, but is it good to prey on the weakness of your brothers in order to satisfy this desire?  "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases" (Songs of Songs 8:4).  Wait until you are married, and then seek this attention from your husband as it pleases God to do so.

Men, it is all too easy to think that we are off the hook in this area.  We are not.  We need to dress modestly as well.  Women may not fall as easily to sin because of visual stimulation as we do, but that does not mean that they do not.  It certainly does not mean that we can try to cause them to stumble.  So, keep your shirts on, literally.  God will not hold us any less guilty for that kind of immodesty.

Guys, do not lead people on.  This is for both men and women.  Even when sex is not part of a relationship, spiritual and emotional bonds can be made between people, and these bonds can be very painful when broken.  Unfortunately, this does happen.  We are told to guard our hearts for this very reason, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23).  However, some lead people on.  They date for their own amusement, to satisfy their own desire or insecurities with no serious consideration to continue the relationship for the long haul.  How is that honoring your brother or sister!  How is that loving them!  What is the greatest commandment?  "And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:37-39).  If you are dating someone, you should have a serious consideration of possibly marrying them later on.  This is not to say that you are ready to ask them or say yes, but you need to be able to see that possibility.  Think about them for a second.  Can you see yourself committing to this person for the rest of your life?  If the answer is no, you need to stop taking advantage of them and end the relationship.

The first sexual union was described like this, "Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:23-24).  C.S. Lewis said that the monstrosity of sexual intercourse outside of marriage is attempting to take one form of union apart from the others God intended it to go with.  Sex is the union of two people, body, mind, spirit.  To join like this without the marriage covenant will only cause pain and injury, sometimes so severe it can never fully heal.  God would save you from that pain.

Beyond that, Christians are called to a higher standard than that of the world.  If we live at the sexual standard of the world, we blaspheme the name of God before the world, and they will blaspheme His name because of us.  Do not think there will be no consequences!  God's wrath will be poured out on you in any number of ways, or He will simply abandon you to your sin.  It will distance you from God, and He will not hear you.  You will certainly not hear Him.  If that doesn't cause fear or that sick, empty feeling in your stomach, you should consider how far away from God you already are.  You know better than to fall to the world's standard, "For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God" (1 Thessalonians 4:2-4).  There should not even be a hint of sexual immorality among God's people, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints" (Ephesians 5:3).  Instead you should act in accordance with who God is and who He made you to be, "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'" (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Faith That Works

On 22 May 2011, a class five tornado ripped through Joplin, MO destroying 8,000 homes, 5,000 businesses, and 18,000 vehicles.  The death toll of the tornado stands at 159 people with another person killed by lightning during clean up operations the following day.

Video of the Joplin Tornado

It killed the most people of any tornado in the United States since 1947, and it is the seventh deadliest tornado in the history of this country.

When we first arrived in Joplin, it looked like any other city.  We drove in around 1730, so there were a number of cars on the road carrying people home from work or out to dinner, which is what we were looking for.  Ever since I had moved to Paris, TX, I had missed Chick-Fil-A, so it was in my GPS long before we reached the city.  I remember several of the youth commenting on the situation, "This doesn't look that bad."  I didn't respond.  I had to agree that it didn't look bad at all, but I had done disaster relief before.  I knew that just over the next hill could be a completely different story.  It was.  As we continued north on S Rangeline Rd we found the Chick-Fil-A or what was left of it.  Just after the car dealership we found it along with the Home Depot and a number of other businesses destroyed in a gash of twisted metal and debris.  Later we found that this shocking sight was only the beginning.  We drove down 20th to Connecticut, and what we saw was complete devastation.  This was the residential area.  We saw houses ripped apart and thrown off their foundations.  Heavy appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines were flung like child's toys from apartment complexes that looked as if bombs were planted in every room and simultaneously detonated.  Whole subdivisions lay in ruins and workers labored continually to sort debris into ever-growing piles.  Stunned silence filled the van as we drove through the streets.  We were no longer in a city.  We were in a disaster area.

James was the brother of Jesus and the leader of the the Jerusalem church.  He most likely wrote the book that bears his name in the early to mid-40s before the apostolic council in Jerusalem (A.D. 48-49) since the issues of that council were not mentioned in the letter.  In the second chapter of the letter, James poses a question to his readers, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?" (James 2:14).  It is a good question.  Can someone say they believe Jesus is the Christ and be saved based solely on that?  After all Paul says in Romans, "with the mouth one confesses and is saved" (Romans 10:10b).  James says that is not enough.  He says that the demons believe the Jesus is the Christ.  They know He is, but they will certainly not be saved from the coming wrath.  Are these two fathers of the faith in disagreement over one of the essential pillars of Christianity?  No, they are not because faith goes much deeper than words insincerely spoken.  True faith is a matter of the heart which will flow forth in sincere words and actions.  The real question is not, "Can someone say they believe Jesus is the Christ and be saved based solely on that?"  The real question is, "Can someone believe that Jesus is the Christ, trust in Him for salvation, and not have that faith flow out from them in the words they speak and the things they do?"  The answer is they cannot.  When Paul speaks of confession in Romans, it is preceded by, "For with the heart one believes and is justified" (Romans 10:10a).  True faith spawns both words and actions that back it up.  When one truly believes in their heart that Jesus is their Lord, they will tell people that He is.  When one truly believes that Jesus is their King, they will serve Him in their actions.

James follows his question in verse fourteen by asking another question, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving then the things needed for the body, what good is that?"  It does no good to preach the Gospel to someone who does not yet have their basic needs for survival met.  Someone who is hungry, thirsty, or without shelter will not be ready to hear the things of God.  That is why we went to Joplin.  We went to in order to help meet those needs so that either we or someone else down the line would get the opportunity to share Jesus with them.  Pray for that.  Ultimately, they need Jesus more than anything, but unless our actions speak in conjunction with our words, the message will not get across!  "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17).

Abraham was fully invested in propagating his family line.  The fact that his lineage would continue was promised to him by God, "And he brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'  And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:5-6).  Late in life God gave Abraham his first and only son, Isaac.  You can imagine how confused Abraham must have been when God told him to take Isaac, the manifestation of His promise, and sacrifice him on an altar.  Abraham trusted God, though.  He had learned to trust Him even when it made no sense to do so.  Abraham took Isaac, bound him, and had every intention of killing his son on that altar as God has instructed.  His action backed up his faith.

In the same way, if we claim the name of Christ, every single word and every action should back up that faith.  "But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works'" (James 2:18).  This kind of separation is ridiculous.  We have already looked at how you cannot have true faith without works, and apart from faith there is no work we can do to please God, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).  Isaiah says it a bit more graphically, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6).  faith and works are inseparable.  You cannot have one without the other.  You either have both, or you have nothing at all.  Through James, God worded the perfect connection between faith and works, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18).

MOB Joplin Mission Trip

Freewill

"I don't have a choice."

Have you ever heard someone say this or something like it?  Have you ever believed it yourself?  There are a lot of situations that seem to force us into only one course of action.

Pilate certainly felt that he had no choice when he was presiding over the trial of Jesus of Nazareth.  Pilate was a praefectus, ruling over the Roman-held are of Israel from 26AD to 36AD.  During that time, he had several encounters with the Israelites that did not end well.  Many of the peoples conquered by the Roman Empire had little difficulty integrating themselves into the empire, after all Rome required very little of them.  They were allowed to maintain most of their culture, traditions, and religious practices.  However, they were required to worship the emperor as a god.  Obviously, this did not go over well with the Israelites, whose most preeminent belief is, "Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  The people of God refused to do that, and Rome refused to back down.

There are a number of situations when Pilate provoked the Israelites.  He brought images of Caesar on banners into Jerusalem and set up shields at the palace of Herod.  Both seemed intended to irritate the Jews.  Pilate backed down after both of these.  Josephus recounts on incident in which Pilate used the money from the temple to build an aqueduct.  This time, when the Jews protested, Pilate signaled to his soldiers who assaulted and murdered random Israelites in the crowd.  Philo wrote that Pilate had "vindictiveness and furious temper," and was "naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness." Pilate feared that the Israelites might send a delegation to Emperor Tiberius protesting the gold-coated shields, "if they actually sent an embassy they would also expose the rest of his conduct as governor by stating in full the briberies, the insults, the robberies, the outrages and wanton injuries, the executions without trial constantly repeated, the ceaseless and supremely grievous cruelty."


Tiberius was not happy with the problems Pilate was causing in Israel, and when the trial of Jesus occurred, it put Pilate in a tenuous position.  He had already provoked the anger of the Israelites multiple times, and Tiberius was quite clear that if any more blood was spilled under Pilate's rule, he would answer for it with his own.  Pilate had no choice but to give the Jews what they wanted, Christ crucified.  Wrong.  He always had a choice.  He could have let an innocent man go, but he showed who he really was.  He chose himself over what was right, and that is the point.  He chose.


Just like everyone else, Pilate had the freewill to make his own decisions.  He chose to bring in the banners with Caesar's emblem even though past Prefects made the concession to use banners without emblems.  Pilate chose to put up the gold-covered shields at Herod's palace.  Pilate chose to steal money from the temple, and he chose to murder the Israelites who protested the theft.


Even though we have the freewill to make any decisions we want, the consequences of those decisions will follow us.  The consequences Pilate faced because of his decisions were an unstable Israel and an angry emperor.  These consequences pushed Pilate toward the decision to hand Jesus over to the Jews, but that does not mean he had no choice.  If Pilate was a righteous man, he would have prevented Jesus' execution and accepted whatever would have happened as a result.  Instead he chose to condemn an innocent.  "So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, 'I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves'" (Matthew 27:24).

Most of our everyday decisions do not involve the execution of anyone, but each of us has the freewill and responsibility to make those decisions.  God gave us that freewill.  Many times the correct choice will be obvious.  Many times it will not be.  Sometimes the right choice will be obvious, but you will not want to follow it.  The correct decisions is not always easy to make.  However, we will be held responsible for each of those decisions, no matter how difficult.  God is good, though.  He will give us the strength necessary to make the tough calls.  Just trust Him to help you and take care of everything afterward.

Not knowing what the right choice is can make it even harder, but that is why you need to stay close to God.  Trust Him to give you the right choice.  Trust Him to guide you to the correct decision, and He will see you through to the end, "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20b).

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

I have been asked this question directly and indirectly many times during my life.  Many people just do not seem able to grasp why bad things can happen when we know that Jesus has paid the penalty for sin and that God is good.  I get that.  I understand why it does not make sense from a certain perspective,  but the truth is that bad things happening to us makes perfect sense.  In fact, Jesus told us that we will face troubles in this life, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33a).  The thing that is skewed is the perspective. 

Before you can answer this question, you must first know why you are asking it.  If you are asking it to find the reason why bad things happen in this life, then I have an answer,  If you are asking it to complain or wallow in self pity, I have nothing for you.  The truth will not reach someone who merely wants to bemoan their situation.

Do you value your freewill?  Is the freedom you have to make your own decisions important to you?  God thinks so.  He loves us so much that He gave us freewill in order that when we choose to love Him and follow Him, the choice is not made by manipulation or predisposition.  It is free choice made by the person choosing.  That is real love, and real love cannot exist without the ability to choose.  Adam and Eve chose to sin against God in the garden (Genesis 3:6).  Praise God that now we are free by the blood of the Messiah to choose to love Him, "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  Now, that freewill that allows us to truly love God also allows us to do what is wrong.  Freewill has allowed every sin against God to happen, and it has allowed people to sin against anyone one of us, even from the beginning, "Cain spoke to Abel his brother.  And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.  Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?' And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand'" (Genesis 4:8-11).  If we then have the ability to do evil to one another, that possibility is a reality.  Combine that truth with another truth.  We are a fallen people.  Ever since the Fall, we have a predisposition to do wrong, "The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:2-3).  The corruption of the first sin goes down to the very heart of humanity, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).  This corruption is lasting and all-inclusive, "The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead" (Ecclesiastes 9:3b).  Our depravity is part of our very nature until we are remade by Jesus, "Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:3).

That can explain murder, theft, etc., but what about the bad things that happen without being caused by another person?  This answer goes back to the first sin as well.  When mankind first sinned, there were consequences.  God was very clear in laying out what these consequences were, "And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:17:19).  Cursed is the ground because of sin.  That encompasses the entirety of the earth.  The earth itself is cursed because of sin, and bad things come of it such as famine, hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires.  Some have postulated that it was God sending natural disasters to judge mankind.  I am not arrogant enough to believe I know everything God does, so I will not say either way on that.  However, I do know that our sin cursed the earth, so if natural disasters come upon us from the cursed earth, we are still to blame.

The final source of evil things is the Enemy.  Satan hates us, and he is determined to destroy us in any way he can, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10a).  However, we have the ability to resist him, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).  Again we have the freewill even to combat the Adversary.  If we choose not to fight him, the responsibility falls not on God but on us.

When you trace back every bad thing to it's source, it will lead back to a fallen person, the curse of the earth, or the Enemy.  In every situation, it is the freewill of mankind that causes all the bad things that happen to us, either through action or inaction.  Blaming God for the wrong that befalls us is ridiculous.  We should be blaming ourselves for not following Him.

Sometimes there are people that put an interesting phrase on the end of the question.  "Why do bad things happen...  to good people?"  Good people?  There are none.  There is only one who is good, "And he said to him, 'Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good'" Matthew 19:17.  Jesus talks about God.  He talks about Himself.  Here are two responses to that question by a couple very intelligent men.

"Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered" - R.C. Sproul.

Voddie Baucham answers this question with great insight given to him by God:  Voddie's Response.


Ultimately, our hope is in the cross.  Any who look to find comfort in this life look in vain.  This life will not offer what we truly desire.  Only God offers what we need.  Only He can bring us through the bad things to the good.  The fullness of the above verses shows that even though we will face troubles in this life, God will not keep us there.  He has better in mind for us.  "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).


The next time you find yourself asking why God allows bad things to happen to you or someone else, remember that His concern is not our comfort.  He wants to build our character.  He wants to make us better than we are.  Heaven is the reward, not earth.

The Perfect Sword

The perfect sword is an absolute work of art.  It needs a high degree of tensile strength in order to take a sharp edge and make an effective strike, but it also needs the flexibility to to hold up in battle and return to form after each blow sustained.  There is no one metal that has all of these properties, so the best blades are composites made of steels.  The samurai's sword is a good example of how these different characteristics can be molded into one blade.  The steel is folded, peened, and tempered to get a very hard blade, but the backside of the sword is kept softer to give the blade its flexibility.  They accomplished this by covering the back of the sword with clay when they doused it in water during the tempering process.  This caused the edge to cool rapidly for hardness while the back cooled slowly and retained flexibility.

This world is a battleground (see Battlefields).  Two sides wage war against each other for the souls of men, and neither God nor the Enemy is willing to give in.  It is important for each believer to know what they are, precious to God but also a weapon to be used in this war, "Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness" (Romans 6:13), and, "Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle" (Psalm 144:1).  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the tearing down of strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).

The hard edge of the sword is wisdom.  The wise know when and how to act.  They know when to speak and what to say.  They know when to hold their tongue.  The right words in the right situation can bring light and clarity, peace and harmony, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death" (Proverbs 13:14).  If we are to be light to this world, we must speak with wisdom, and it is not the wisdom of this world we should give, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:14-18).  If you desire to have a sharp edge, "The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor" (Proverbs 15:33).  Do not think of yourself more highly than you should.  Listen and learn from those who have walked before you in the faith because, "The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise" (Proverbs 15:31).  Seek out those who are strong in the Lord and spend time with them, absorbing all you can.  Read and meditate on the Scripture, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (Psalm 19:7).  Proverbs has a lot to say about the attributes of the wise, and you can find wisdom in every chapter, whether the actual word is there or not.  Go sharpen your blade.

The flexible and durable backbone of the blade is faith.  If it is healthy and strong, it will take unbelievable damage and return to true form as if nothing touched it.  It will not shatter when the issues and problems of life try to smash it.  A catastrophe may bend it, but it will never stay bent, "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith" (Romans 4:13).  Abraham was able to believe the promise of God by faith.  He knew who God is and that God is faithful to keep His promises.  This faith was accredited to Abraham as righteousness.  The same is true for us.  Abraham looked back on how God had worked leading him out of Ur and into a new land.  He looked forward to what God was going to do as the Messiah.  We look back on when God bough us with His blood.  We look back on how He has already worked in our lives to bring us out of sins and addictions, saving us from danger, and giving us purpose in this life.  Knowing His faithfulness gives us the ability to look to the future and trust Him when He says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).  When the world tries to break us, we can hold onto this promise.  We may flex, but we will not break.

To be the perfect sword in the service of God, the believer must be wise and strong in faith.  Every one of us knows we are not perfect, and if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we can always be better than we are no matter how far we advance in this life.  So, increase in wisdom and faith by drawing closer to Jesus.  He is the source of both.  Paul said, when talking about striving to attain Jesus above everything else and considering all else garbage in light of Christ, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.  Only let us hold true to what we have attained" (Philippians 3:12-16).  Follow Paul's example.  Wisdom and faith flow from Christ.  He is the master of the forge upon which you will be crafted into the perfect sword.