Wednesday, January 25, 2006

"What's Your Line?"

You remember the show, don't you? It was called, "What's My Line?" and I seem to have heard that it tried to make a comeback on the tube a while back.

The show featured guests with fascinating or odd careers, or unlikely positions in life (i.e., their "line," whence the show's title), and a panel of celebrities who would interview the guests to see which of the three was the real person with the fascinating tale to tell, and which two were just fakes trying to fool people. The panel would try to select the "real" person, and the more wrong votes they cast, the more money the guests would receive. The truth was always revealed when the host of the show would say dramatically at the end, "And now, would the REAL Bill Smith please stand up?!"

And Bill would stand.

It was a clever show with a fascinating premise: how many people can a person trick into thinking he's someone that he's actually not?

Sadly, there seems to be a parallel between the show and what sometimes happens in church life. The term, "getting dressed for church" doesn't always mean putting on a certain outfit: it may mean adopting a certain set of behaviors and responses. We want, after all, to live up to everyone's expectations when we go to church, don't' we?

However, it may be a different story when we go to work on Monday morning.

Or to the ball game on Friday night.

Or to the mall.

Or to a party with our friends.

It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it, just how many roles the typical Christian tries to play. There's the work role and the home role; the "by-myself" role and the "with-my-friends" role; and, oh yes, the "going-to-church" role. No wonder that God often calls out to those who can hear Him, "Would the REAL you please stand up?!"

Some try to rationalize their role-playing by making it sound spiritual: "I'm just trying to 'be all things to all people,' like the Apostle Paul said." Right!? Let's not forget that Paul's motive was to win more people to Christ. Could our motive be that we just want to fit into our culture, or be accepted by people? All the while, we disregard God's commands about fitting into His Kingdom and being more like Jesus.

What God is seeking from His people is NOT that they "fit in." Indeed, God expects us to stand up for Him, which means we may stand out. Since He expects us to make a difference in this world, it is necessary that we live differently from the world.

The next time you feel pressure to "fit in," or play some role, stop and ask God, "Who have you called me to be? Lord, please help the REAL me to stand up . . . for You."

Thursday, January 19, 2006

I'VE GOT TO SPEAK UP!

When the Declaration of Independence was written nearly two-hundred thirty years ago, the founders of this nation pledged their sacred honor to the notion that God gives every human being three basic rights. These include the right to pursue happiness, the right to enjoy freedom, and the right to live. Their assertion was not that the government provides these rights, but rather that they come as gifts from Almighty God. It follows then, that the government’s job is simply to speak up for and protect the rights given by God to its citizens.

For decades now – and especially since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision handed down 33 years ago today, legalizing abortion on demand – our nation has argued over the most basic of these three God-ordained rights: the right to life. The basic meaning of Roe v. Wade is that a child resting in its mother’s womb does not have the same rights as a child resting in its mother’s arms. The place of that child’s residence is seen as the determining factor regarding that child’s God-given rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Today there are politicians on both sides of this issue. Some of them say they will stand up for the value of every human life from conception until death. Others declare they will always support a “woman’s right to choose.”

As you ponder such differences, let me remind you of a crucial factor to consider. It’s a child we’re talking about here, not a “choice”!

By the time a woman is certain she is pregnant, her unborn child possesses every trait that medical science employs to define persons as “living.” By the twenty-first day after conception, the child’s heart is pumping blood through a closed circulatory system, and that blood is usually a different type from that of the mother. By forty days, the child’s nervous system reacts to outside stimulus, and his brain activity is measurable on an encephalogram. By nine weeks, the child is breathing amniotic fluid steadily, and will continue to do so until birth. The child does not drown by breathing the fluid, because she obtains oxygen from her mother through the umbilical cord.

The earliest that most abortions occur is around 11 or 12 weeks after conception. This means that virtually every abortion extinguishes a child who, by medical definition, exhibits every sign of life: pulse, brainwaves, and respiration. It is clear that “terminating a pregnancy” also terminates a life.

Therefore, before God, Who, according to Scripture, earnestly yearns to participate in the development of every unborn child; and before the church, charged by God with upholding His truths; and before our leaders, elected to uphold the rights of the citizens; I ask this question: how can a civilized nation deny to a child in the womb the rights it preserves for those outside the womb?!

Who will speak up for these little ones?

I’ve got to speak up. Won’t you?

Sunday, January 15, 2006

As Simple as A - B - C

Recently I talked with friend of mine named Dwight, a pastor in Alabama, about an evanglism class we’re taking. During the conversation, Dwight told of another preacher in his town who came to him for advice. A man in that preacher’s church had asked him how to become a Christian, and he wasn’t sure how to answer the man, so he had come to Pastor Dwight to ask what he should tell him.

To put it mildly, Pastor Dwight and I were both astonished! Imagine, a pastor not knowing how to become a Christian. It’s so simple!

Come to our church on a Wednesday night and ask the eleven-year olds in Awana: they can tell you how to become a Christian. It’s as simple as “A-B-C!”

The “A” stands for the word “Admit!” and it’s the first step to becoming a Christian: admit you need a Savior. Jesus put it this way: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). That might sounds like bad news, but really it’s very good news, because the fact is, we’re all sinners. Listen to the Word of God. “There is no one who lives righteously. No, not one” (Psalm 14:3). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Until you admit you’re a sinner in need of a Savior, then to you, Jesus is basically irrelevant. So, the first step is “A” – Admit you need a Savior. Do you admit that?

After “A” comes “B” – Believe Jesus died to save you from your sins. Notice that it’s not just “Believe in God.” Scripture says this about simply believing in God, “The demons also believe – and tremble!” (James 2:19). Obviously, there’s more to saving faith than just believing God exists. God’s Word says that to be a Christian, you must “believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23). “Believe in His name:” what does that mean? It means believing He is what His name declares Him to be. Jesus is His name, and “Jesus” means “The Lord Who saves.”

Do you believe that Jesus is the Lord Who saves? That’s step number two.

The third step to becoming a Christian is “C” – commit your life to Him.” Look back at step two for a moment and notice that “B” means believing that Jesus is the LORD Who saves. As the LORD, He is worthy to be in charge of your life. If you believe that He is the LORD Who saves, then commit your life to Him! One translation of Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way unto the Lord;” another version simplifies it this way: “Put your life in the hands of the Lord.” Have you done that?

It’s simple enough for an eight year old, and profound enough for a ninety-eight year old.

Admit you’re a sinner in need of a Savior.

Believe Jesus died to save you from your sins.

Commit your life to Him.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Where Are All the Christians?

I'm taking a class these days about evangelism. In studying for the class I have learned some overwhelming statistics about the number of people in the USA who don't know Jesus Christ.

What I've learned is that even though as many as 90% of Americans claim to believe in God, somewhere around 150 million Americans say they don't have a "relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ." They may believe in God, but they don't know Him. These 150 million don't follow Him, serve Him or worship Him. From what we can tell, their so-called faith hasn't made one bit of difference in their lives.

I don't know about you, but to me information like that can be depressing if I ponder it for long in its full statistical enormity. I prefer to break it down into more manageable hunks, smaller pieces I can wrap my brain around -- or, more importantly, my heart. When I do that, with God's help, then I can remember that part of the good news about the Good News is that I don't have to share It with everyone. The 150 million unsaved people are not all my own personal responsibility, or yours either.

But some of them are.

Who do you know that you could share Jesus with? Is there a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, or a family member you could talk with about what Jesus means to you? Is there anyone at all you could invite to your church, or to a Bible study? Surely there's someone you know and care about whose soul you could pray for and whom you could take with you to church.

Surely, there's someone.

Some one.

One life at a time: that's all you need be concerned about. Leave the masses to someone else, and you just attend to one there in front of you who doesn't know the Lord.

At the close of his book called "The Unchurched Next Door," Dr. Thom Rainer relates the following true story shared by Emily N. about her acquaintance Celeste.

"I knew Celeste was different. In fact, I knew she had that peace that I didn't have. We had known each other for just three weeks when Celeste started telling me about her faith. She invited me to church. No, she came by my house and picked me up. Two months later, I accepted Christ.

"You need to understand that I went from totally unchurched, no church background, no knowledge of church to becoming a Christian in just a matter of weeks."

Celeste wasn't focusing on 150 million people. She was concerned about one person she knew who didn't know Christ: her friend Emily. Celeste was just one person, and she made an eternal difference in the life of one other person, Emily.

Emily concluded her story this way: "What I'm still trying to figure out, with the millions of Christians in American, is how come it took forty-three years for someone to share about Christ with me. Where are all the other Christians?"

Good question, Emily.