2008 and Obedience

Today, as we begin a new year, I am thinking ahead: imagining, praying, wondering what I will be looking back one year from now. I invite you to join me. As we together consider the magnitude of God’s promise, as we contemplate His incomparable character, where do you see yourself and your church in a year?

One year from now, what will be the same? In twelve months, what will be changed? In fifty-two weeks, where will you have grown? In 366 days (yes, 2008 is a leap year), what will God have done among us?

It is fascinating to consider that our great sovereign God, Who declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), gives to us the responsibility of cooperating with Him in the fulfillment of His plans. Indeed, the next twelve months, though they ultimately are in His hands, will be molded in no small measure by the manner in which you and I respond to God’s Word.

And how should we respond to God’s Word?

With simple, trusting, sacrificial obedience. Let me repeat:

simple

trusting

sacrificial

obedience.

Let’s unpack that set of terms and see how they apply.

Simple obedience means that we just do what God says. If God tells you do some something, just do it. Don’t talk yourself out of obedience by making it complicated, fancy or clever. When God says, “Love your neighbor,” don’t think of all the impediments to loving your neighbor: just find something simple to do, something that conveys love, and then do it. When He says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,” don’t overcomplicate it: just do what He says.

Trusting obedience means that you leave the outcome in God’s hands. You do what God says, and trust Him to do what He says. It’s obeying God without a safety net, except for His promise to be God and stand behind His Word. That’s trusting obedience.

Sacrificial obedience is the place where faith is most deeply tested, and therefore most richly strengthened. It means holding nothing back from God, as you say to Him, in effect, “Everything I am is Yours already, Lord, so in whatever way You ask me to obey You, I am ready to do it. The cost doesn’t matter. I only want You to be glorified in me.”

That last sentence is what characterizes the very heart and core of obedience: “I only want You to be glorified in me.” Can you say to the Lord regarding your life for the next twelve months, “Lord, in 2008, I only want You to be glorified in me”? It is for that purpose that you are alive on this planet.

No matter what He calls you to do, resolve now that your response will be to render unto Him the obedience He deserves — simple, trusting, and sacrificial — so that He may be glorified in you. By His Spirit’s power, may New Years Day, 2009, reveal a greater glory among us than ever before!

A GOOD QUESTION

A lot of Americans will be taking down lights and a tree in a few days. Ironically, many of them don’t know why they put them up: the number of people in the USA who don't actually know Jesus Christ is alarming.

Though as many as 90% of Americans claim to believe in God, statistically-significant studies indicate that somewhere around 150 million Americans say they don't have a "personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ." They may believe in God, but they don't know Him, 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.

Information like that can be overwhelming if you ponder it in its full statistical enormity: 150 million people! 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, 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.

At the close of his book, "The Unchurched Next Door," Thom Rainer relates this true story shared by Emily about her new friend Celeste. Emily says, “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 co-worker 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?"

That’s a good question, Emily. A good question.

The Big News of the Day

It was Jesus’ birthday, but the big news of the day was the big new tax Rome was imposing on everyone. It had the whole empire in a tizzy. If there had been newspapers back then, the headlines in The Jerusalem Times might have read something like “New Nationwide Plan: Higher Roman Fees” or “Great Caesar A Great Seizer!”

As if Rome was the only place where anything newsworthy ever happened: emperor this, senate that; Caesar this, Brutus that.

What about Jerusalem? What about Herod and the Sanhedrin?

For that matter, what about Bethlehem? Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Bethlehem – until the new tax law was enacted, that is; and suddenly everyone was looking for a place to stay there.

Hundreds of years earlier, the prophet Micah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, had come to understand the importance of this quaint village called Bethlehem. God showed him that this little “house of bread,” as its name means, was more than just a backwater burg basking in the glorious memories of the days of yore, that golden age when folks still recalled that David – yes, King David, THE King – had been born and raised right there in her streets. Micah knew that one day the biggest news of any day would happen right there in good old Bethlehem. Micah knew because God had told him so.

And Micah had shared the big news. He put it in writing even – almost like a headline! – in a book God told him write. “But you, Bethlehem in Ephratah,” Micah had written on God’s behalf, “though you are so small among the towns of Judah, yet from you will come the One Who will be the Ruler of My people. His origin is from ancient days, even from eternity.”

But now folks seemed to have dismissed this ancient prophecy. For time out of mind, they seem to have neglected reading God’s Word, and so the promise was forgotten. Taxes were on everyone’s mind.

All Roman citizens were under orders – from Caesar himself! – to pack up the whole family and go back to their home towns and get counted. All for what? All for Caesar and his coffers. Time to cough up a bit more for the Romans. It was good for business, to be sure, especially for the people who ran the inns and fed the animals. But it was awfully distracting.

So it was that nobody seemed to notice that, in an out-of-the-way spot with a manger for a crib and a few shepherds as midnight guests, a couple who weren’t even received in their own home town had just welcomed The Child destined to be their Savior.

Times haven’t changed much, apparently. Jesus’ birthday, it seems, is still all about the money. The biggest, Good-est News ever to hit heaven’s headline, and most folks aren’t talking about anything except how much money it’s costing them.

How about you?

Have a Mary Christmas!!

MARY CHRISTMAS!

No, that’s not a spelling error. I know that we usually spell that word “m-e-r-r-y.” However, I wrote it as I meant it. I hope you have a “Mary” Christmas. M-a-r-y.

In Luke 10:38-42, the story is told of Jesus’ visit to the home of Mary and Martha. During the Lord’s time there, Martha was totally preoccupied with the preparations for His visit, which she apparently intended to turn into an elaborate banquet. Her full name might have been Martha Stewart!

All joking aside, a lot of us tend to be like Martha, especially during the Christmas season! We get so caught up in the preparations, the cooking, the wrapping, the things to do, that we totally miss the Lord’s own presence.

Indeed, even many Christians have more of a “Martha Christmas” than a “Mary Christmas.” Jesus is right there to be loved and worshipped, and we’re too busy with the trappings and the trimmings to even notice Him!

While Martha was busy with the food and the party, Mary, by contrast, spent her time seated at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He had to say. So enamored was she with her Lord that she was perfectly content to let the hustle and bustle pass her by. She even neglected some of her domestic duties! We know this, because Martha kept getting after her to come help with the cooking.

We might debate which of these women was doing right by her Lord. After all, hadn’t Jesus come there for a meal? Wasn’t it appropriate that proper attention should be devoted to its preparation?

If Jesus Himself had not told us what He wanted, we might still be debating whether Mary or Martha made the better choice that day. However, here’s what actually happened.

Frustrated with her sister’s apparent lack of concern about the meal, Martha protested to Jesus. She actually made so bold as to ask Him to tell Mary to go help in the kitchen! Jesus rebuked her, and said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

That’s pretty clear: Mary made the better choice. Occasionally, and certainly at this time of year, we too have to choose between spending time with Jesus and doing something for Jesus. And when that happens, He Himself has instructed us plainly which is the better choice: spending time with Him.

I believe that is what Jesus is calling His Christmas merry-makers to do: just to be with Him, basking in the light of His incarnate glory, feasting on the beauty of His grace, resting in the heat of His holiness.

Let Jesus show you how to have a truly merry Christmas! On Christmas morning, before you open those gifts, before you eat that meal, spend some time with Jesus and have a Mary Christmas! That’s the only way to have a Merry Christmas!

The Truth About Living: Soli Deo Gloria

Today we conclude our six-week consideration of “The Five Solas,” five biblical truths about the nature and purpose of salvation. The final and perhaps most foundational of these five basic truths is Soli Deo Gloria, which in Latin means, “only for the glory of God.” This biblical doctrine teaches us that the purpose of salvation is centered in the glory of God. Indeed, this truth indicates that the sole reason for human existence is to reflect God’s glory back to Him and to the created world around us.

As with the rest of “The Five Solas,” Soli Deo Gloria rests firmly on the unanimous testimony of God’s Word. For example, 1 Corinthian 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Peter 4:11 tells us why we should serve God, namely, "so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.” And Romans 11:36 reminds us that “from Him and through Him and back to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen.”

These verses remind us that God is sovereign over every aspect of the believer's life. The Christian understands that all of life (“whatever you do”) is to be lived exclusively and entirely for the glory of God (“do all to the glory of God”), because every aspect of life is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. There is no division between the so-called sacred and secular: all activities, from the seemingly mundane to the obviously momentous, are to be consecrated to God’s service and glory.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism was a document written in the 1640’s to teach Christians the most basic doctrines of the Christian faith. It is comprised of 107 questions and answers, along with hundreds of scriptural texts. The first question in the catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?” To phrase this question in modern terms, we might ask, “Why do human beings exist?” The answer is this: “Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." In other words, the primary reason you and I are alive is to spend eternity giving God the glory He deserves and enjoying His presence.

If you are a Christian, God created you and saved you so that you could display His glory. This means that your life has an eternal meaning and purpose that magnificently transcends the temporal and visible realm. You are alive to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!

And how do you do that? John Piper, author and preaching Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, states it most succinctly: “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.” As a Christian, whether you are eating or working, playing or worshiping – indeed, in everything! – make it your aim to be fully satisfied in the presence of God, Who is with you and in you. Then your life will be lived as God meant it to be lived: Soli Deo Gloria!

The Truth About Believing: "Sola Fide"

Today we continue our look at “The Five Solas,” the five biblical truths about the nature and purpose of salvation. One of these five basic truths is Sola Fide, which in Latin literally means, “by faith alone.” This biblical doctrine teaches us that salvation comes to humanity only through faith in the finished work of Christ, not by virtue of any deeds we do, trying to be good enough or earn our own way to heaven.

As with the rest of “The Five Solas,” Sola Fide rests firmly on the unanimous testimony of God’s Word. For example, Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” John 3:16, 18 declares, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. . . . Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Based on these and many other such texts of Scripture, the early church taught that biblical faith consists of three complementary aspects: knowing, agreeing, and relying. Faith means knowing the truth that Christ died to save us, agreeing with that truth, and relying upon Christ to save you. In other words, it is not enough to merely know the facts of the Gospel and agree with them in principle: you must rely completely upon Christ. Without that ultimate dependence on Who Christ is and what He has done, faith is incomplete.

Notice also that biblical faith must have a proper object: it’s not simply believing in whatever or whomever we want to believe in, even if our faith is sincere and strong. Rather, biblical faith means believing in the one and only reliable Savior, Jesus Christ. Many people seem to put their faith in faith, and try to work themselves into a state of believing that if they just believe strong enough and long enough, then what they are hoping for will come to pass. Of course, then, if their longed-for result doesn’t pan out, they conclude that they didn’t have “enough faith.” Interestingly enough, this completely misses the point of biblical teaching on faith, which states that what matters is not the quantity of our faith, but the object of our faith. In other words, do you believe in believing, or do you believe in Christ?

It’s like this. Suppose you want to walk across a frozen river. You stand on this side, gazing across to the other shore, over the snow-covered ice on the river. As you stir up your faith with memories of other frozen rivers on which you have walked, you believe the ice will hold you, and step onto it to cross to the other side. Will you make it, or will you go through into the frigid water below? The outcome is determined not primarily by the strength of your faith, but by the strength of the ice.

The good news is that Jesus is strong enough: we can depend on Him, for He alone is mighty to save us. This is why the “Five Solas” go together. We have salvation only through faith in the grace of God as mediated only through Christ and revealed only through the Scriptures. May your faith be driven by God’s Word, rooted in Christ, and centered on His grace!

Next week: “Soli Deo Gloria,” only for the glory of God

The Truth About Salvation: Sola Gratia

Today we continue our look at “The Five Solas,” the five biblical truths taught since the early church that constitute the unique claims of Christianity regarding the nature and purpose of salvation. One of these five basic truths is Sola Gratia, which in Latin literally means, “by grace alone.” This truth teaches us that salvation comes to humanity only because of God’s grace as revealed and mediated through the life, death and resurrection of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Grace itself can be defined as God's favor through Christ to people who deserve His wrath. By His grace, we do not receive the wrath we deserve. Instead, we receive the favor we don't deserve.

As with the rest of “The Five Solas,” Sola Gratia rests firmly on the unanimous testimony of God’s Word. A couple of texts in particular reveal this crucial truth. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Titus 3:5-7 declares, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

The crucial aspect of this truth is that in our relationship with God, we bring nothing to the bargaining table. We are dependent entirely upon God’s grace to put us into a relationship with Him. As that prince of preachers Charles Hadden Spurgeon stated it, “It is not because of anything in us, or that ever can be in us, that we are saved; but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy, and grace of God.” In other words, we’re not saved because of anything we are or do, but only because God gave His favor through Christ to us who deserve His wrath.

It is the grace of God that shows us our innate sinfulness; that convinces us that we can’t save ourselves by our own merit; that reveals to us that Christ is sufficient to be our Savior; and that then makes us able to trust Christ’s finished work for our salvation. Thus, as we remember God’s grace, we are rightly moved to glorify Him as the sole source of this immense miracle of being forgiven, made new and adopted into His family.

John Newton, a slave-trader whom God saved and called to preach, wrote of the working of grace in his life this way:

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Never let yourself stop being amazed by God’s grace!

Next week: “Sola Fide,” only through faith

A note about this Blog's reading level . . .

I just checked the reading level of this blog (at http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx), and discovered that you only need a JUNIOR HIGH reading level to understand my blog.

Not surprising, since it is written for publication in the local newspaper here in Sterling, Colorado.

Still, I occasionally have people in my church ask me to put some dictionaries in the pew racks. I think I don't take that as a complement.

"To extrapolate freely, paradoxical though it may appear, implies a tangential rather than an elliptical approach, inasmuch as the sum of the applied apologia tend rather to inculcate the ambivalence . . ." I seem to remember that from somebody's comedic monologue thirty or so years ago. Maybe George Carlin?

The Truth About Jesus: "Solus Christus"

Today we continue our look at “The Five Solas,” the five truths taught since the early church that constitute the unique claims of Christianity regarding the nature and purpose of salvation. One of these five basic truths is Solus Christus, which in Latin literally means, “through Christ alone,” meaning that salvation is available to humanity only through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of Solus Christus forces us to think clearly and logically about the biblical claims of Christ. At the heart of Christ’s claims are His words recorded in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Me.” In other words, Jesus declared Himself to be not just ONE way to heaven, but that He was and is the ONLY way to heaven.

Oddly enough, some are offended by this claim. “How dare this Jesus make such a statement?” some say indignantly. “That’s not what He really meant” others maintain, as they do some interpretive chicanery trying to circumvent the plain evidence of Holy Scripture.

It’s like this. Humanity is drowning in a sea of our own sin, and Jesus has jumped in to save us, calling out as He does so, “Trust Me. I’m your only hope.” How tragic that so many of the drowning respond to Him, “How dare You claim to be my only hope?!” even as they sink under the everlasting waves of their own perdition.

And so, in an attempt to minimize Jesus’ claim to be the only way to heaven, some call Him a great moral teacher or a good spiritual example for humanity.

What nonsense! To say that Jesus was just a great teacher, when He claimed to be the Son of God and the only Savior of humanity, is just sloppy thinking. In the face of Jesus’ claim, only the following responses make sense: either His claim was false or it was true.

If His claim was false, He would be a deluded fool or the devil in disguise, but certainly not a great teacher or spiritual example. But, if Jesus’ claim is true, we should worship and trust Him with our whole hearts, for He alone is our hope of salvation.

Deride Him as a fool, denounce Him as a demon, or trust Him as Your Savior; but don’t try to pass off some silliness about His being merely a teacher or example. Humanity’s need for a Savior and Christ’s claim to be the only Savior available are too serious to treat with such flawed thinking. The truth is that God sent His Son as humanity’s only source of salvation: Solus Christus.

Some say it’s offensive to think that He claimed to be the only way to heaven. I say it’s an undeserved miracle of God’s grace that He has offered us any way to heaven at all.

What do you say?

Next week: “Sola Gratia,” only by grace.

The Truth About the Bible: “Sola Scriptura”

Today we continue our look at “The Five Solas,” the five truths taught since the early church that constitute the unique claims of Christianity regarding the nature and purpose of salvation. One of these five basic truths is Sola Scriptura, which in Latin literally means, “by Scripture alone,” meaning that the special revelation of God by which humanity can know all that is necessary for life and salvation comes to us only by the Scriptures. In other words, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and only all-sufficient revelation of the purposes of God, and in them are found all the revealed truths of God necessary for salvation and eternal life.

The obvious implication of this truth is that the Scriptures are authoritative in the life of every Christian as well as in the church. John Wesley stated it this way: “In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church.”

The point of this doctrine is that God gave us the Scriptures not merely as a compendium of vague spiritual advice. He meant the Bible to define our faith, direct our decisions and determine our lives. Indeed, that is precisely the role Bible claims for itself: “All Scripture is breathed out by God. It is profitable for teaching us, reproving us, correcting us and training us in right living, so that God’s people may be complete, lacking no good thing” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Sadly, some who claim to believe that the Bible is God’s revealed truth deny its practical authority in their lives. They habitually make decisions without reference to Scripture and instead allow themselves to be guided by the culture. That in itself is why we need to recover from the early church the important truth of Sola Scriptura.

During the first few centuries after Christ’s death and resurrection, the church found itself confronted by numerous heresies, usually involving false teachings about the way of salvation and the person and work of Christ. In every case, Scripture served as the sole source of truth by which these heresies were refuted.

The early church fathers, those second- through the fourth-century leaders who helped define the basic doctrines of Christianity, developed their teachings entirely and exclusively from the Scriptures. From the teachings of second century Polycarp of Smyrna and his student Irenaeus of Lyons, to those of fourth century Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril of Jerusalem, the defining doctrines of the early church are straightforward expositions of the Bible. Indeed, for the first four centuries of the church, it was universally taken for granted that for any doctrine to be accepted by the church, that doctrine had to be founded and built entirely and exclusively upon Scripture.

Clearly, the early church practiced the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. What about the church today? More to the point, what about you? Do you seek to live as a follower of Christ Sola Scriptura, “by the Scriptures alone”? I hope you do. Only God’s Word is the word of life.

Next week: “Solus Christus,” through Christ alone

Five Truths Every Christian Should Know

Four-hundred and ninety years ago yesterday, All Hallows’ Eve, Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, ninety-five propositions for debate about the nature of the church and the way of salvation. He could not have imagined what would follow, as what became known as the Protestant Reformation began shortly thereafter and eventually revolutionized western Christianity.

Out of this astonishing move of God there developed a set of five biblical doctrines that the Reformers believed were a needed clarification about the central truths of how God intends humanity to be in relationship with Him. These five doctrines were stated in Latin (as was most church doctrine in the sixteenth century), and have come to be known as “The Five Solas,” using the Latin term for “only” or “exclusively” in each doctrine. Stated briefly, these five truths are as follows:

“Sola Scriptura” – the truth is found “only in scripture;”

“Solus Christus” – salvation is mediated “only by Christ;”

“Sola Gratia” – God grants salvation “only by grace;”

“Sola Fide” – we receive salvation “only by faith;” and

“Soli Deo Gloria” – in all things, “to God alone be glory.”

Over the course of the next several weeks I want to share with readers of this column how we can live by these five defining teachings of biblical salvation. For today, let’s look at why these five doctrines are important as the defining “boundaries” of salvation as taught in Scripture. By placing these truths into one sentence, we can integrate them as follows:

Salvation is revealed only in Scripture, available only in Christ, extended to humanity only by God’s grace, received only by faith, and accomplished exclusively for God’s glory.

When we combine these truths this way, we can see that they summarize not only the way of salvation, but also the very purpose of creation: that everything centers on God. It’s not about us. Humanity is not the center of all things. God is. He is both the founder and the focus of all that exists. Therefore, we can not rightly understand the nature of our existence unless we take ourselves out of the center of our thinking, and direct our attention to God. Thus, “The Five Solas” are an unshakable foundation for God-centered living, which is the only way for us to be delivered from the undeniably horrifying fruit of our own sin-stained natures.

Another way of putting it is that “The Five Solas” show us Who God really is; and because they show us who God is, they also show us who we are. He is the Benefactor; we are the beneficiaries. He is the Fountain; we are the vessels. He is the Giver; we are the recipients. He is the Holy One; we are sinners. He is the Savior; we are the saved. Or, as Romans 11:36 puts it, “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Time to Settle a Basic Issue

Many Christians, maybe most of us, struggle with a form of doubt. This kind of doubt is not so much an academic skepticism as it is a sort of veiled rebellion, a subtle self-assertion that hides an unsubmitted heart and a willful spirit.

In my own life, I wrestled with this kind of doubt in my early days as a Christian. I would never have said I actually doubted God’s Word. However, I searched for loopholes in It that would allow me to maintain my willful ways. Then, God forced me to face a basic issue about life.

The issue was ownership.

Let me explain.

As a pastor’s son, I had grown up with a clear knowledge of the Gospel from an early age. Before I was ten, I trusted Christ and committed my life to Him – at least, insofar as I knew what that meant at that age. For eight years thereafter, I increasingly viewed my relationship with Him more or less as a way to get God to guarantee the kind of life I wanted for myself. I wanted God to make me what I wanted to be.

During these eight years, God was arranging a confrontation between Him and me. In one crystallized moment in October, 1971 (can it really be thirty-six years ago this month?), God forced me to realize that most of my dreams were nothing more than the expression of my selfish desire to be in charge of my own life.

In other words, He made me understand that I am not my own. God, as Creator, has the right of absolute ownership of everything that exists. Moreover, as Redeemer, He has purchased me back from my own rebellion against Him. Thus, His ownership of me is two-fold: He owns me because He created me, and He owns me because He redeemed me.

In a moment of time, God made this truth exceptionally, life-changingly clear. Nothing else mattered until this was settled: He made me; He saved me; and He owns me. Everything I am and everything I have; my past, present and future; my talents and abilities; my assets and liabilities: they all belong to Him. What I had previously considered mine was really all His.

Settling that issue didn’t solve every problem or answer every doubt. But it did clarify a lot of other issues. All of a sudden, the daily details of my life mattered, because my life was, in point of fact, not my life at all. Everything became important because it was an expression of His ownership.

Have you settled the issue of who owns you? A great joy comes when you realize that you are owned by God, and your sense of ownership passes out of your feeble hands into His almighty grip. After all, it’s much more blessed to live in God’s house than your own; to drive God’s car than yours; and to follow God’s plans than those you make.

PREVENT A WASTED LIFE

Last week in this space I wrote that I am appalled by “the amount of money spent in America to persuade people my age to start wasting the rest of their lives.” My premise was that retirement was never meant by God to be the dissipation of the last couple of decades of our lives focused chiefly on the pursuit of our own pleasures.

As the retirement gurus tell you, how well you retire is generally determined by how well you prepare for retirement. Of course, what most of them mean by that expression is that the amount of money you have to spend in your post-working years is based on how wisely you earn and invest money during your working career. The assumption behind this is that how well you live depends on how much you have.

Jesus looked at life rather differently. He said, “Be alert and watch out for greed. Life does not consist of what you possess, even if you have an abundance” (Luke 12:15). Jesus then told a parable about a rich man, who foolishly supposed that his worldly wealth would guarantee a happy retirement, only to discover that God was bringing him up for judgment on the basis of whether he used his riches for himself or for the Kingdom of God (Luke 12:16 - 20).

Jesus clearly wants us to focus on the “why” of life, rather than the “how much:” for what purpose are we alive? If we are living for ourselves, then we will think of retirement just like we think of the rest of life: a time to maximize our resources for the service of our own wants and the fulfillment of our own desires.

Holy Scripture presents a radical and eternal alternative to such self-absorbed existence. One verse sums it up: “Let the thief engage in thievery no more. Instead, let him labor earnestly, doing something good with his hands, so that he may have something to give away to those in need” (Ephesians 4:27).

Did you notice the point? God’s Word tells His people not only to work hard instead of stealing, but tells us also why we ought to work hard: so that we may have plenty to give away. In other words, don’t steal to get, and don’t work to get. Work to give.

With this more biblical understanding of life, let’s take a tip from the retirement gurus. However, let’s apply it to the fact that we were, each of us, created to display the glory of God. The conclusion is this: how well we display the glory of God in our retirement days depends on how well we prepare to display His glory every day.

Are you preparing to display the glory of God by the way you live? Any other purpose for living leads only to a wasted life. By all means, let us work to prevent such a waste.

Living For His Glory Until the End

As a pastor, I occasionally get to talk with people who are nearing the end of their lives. These folks need to discuss certain things, to review the truth of the gospel, and remember that though God is holy and they are sinful, Jesus’ perfect life and death are sufficient to save all who trust in Him. They also need to take stock of their lives and have someone with whom to process their joys and regrets.

In all my discussions with folks as they approach the end of their lives, I’ve never heard anyone say, “I wish I had spent less time with my family and more time at work.” Never. Not once. Not anybody. Indeed, most people – men especially – generally wish they had spent less time at work and more time with their families; less time pursuing their personal hobbies and more time pursuing a deeper relationship with their kids; more time in worship and prayer, and less time in front of the TV; less time doing nothing at all and more time doing something for God.

We who are not yet nearing the end of our lives would do well to learn from the regrets of those who are, so that we don’t suffer the same pangs during our last days. God’s Word records one of the prayers of Moses, who asked God, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). In other words, “Lord, remind us of our impending mortality, so that we may adjust our daily lives accordingly. Teach us to live with the end of our lives in view.”

I am currently in my mid-fifties. Something that appalls me is the amount of money spent in America to persuade people my age to start wasting the rest of their lives. They call it “retirement,” and the mantra of the retirement gurus is this: “You’ve earned it, so now enjoy it. Consume ten, fifteen, twenty years in play, lying around doing pretty much nothing. Never mind that the world around you is going to hell. Forget the fact that these days you so avidly devote to leisure are a time of your life God calls you to redeem in the service of the gospel. Go ahead: fish, putter, play bridge, and collect sea shells.”

How sad to think of such self-absorbed recreation as the final chapter in a life that shall soon end with you standing before Jesus, as He holds out His nail-scarred hand and asks, “How did all that pointless self-indulgence put My glory on display?”

In an effort to live contrary to the culture, I have begun to plan a retirement aimed at diminishing the regret I might otherwise experience at the close of my days. I do not want to shuffle off this globe wistfully wishing I had done things differently!

I believe that, deep in your heart, you want to use your life well! Spend it, then, until the end, upon what eternally matters, for the glory of God!

Because Kids Matter to Jesus

Last Sunday morning at the church I am blessed to pastor, our Children’s Minister Mona Bowey presented to the congregation some fascinating statistics about children and young people in the United States. She had gleaned most of this information from a book by George Barna called, “Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions.” Let me share with you a little of what Mona shared with us.

Only about one in three adolescents believe that the Holy Bible is accurate in all that it teaches. By contrast, about seven out of ten pre-teens think that Satan is not real, but merely symbolic.

Among children age 8 to 12, 80% think the way to get to heaven is by being good enough. Seven out of ten in this age group believe that the same thing happens to all people when they die, no matter what they believe.

Most preteens say that they would like to have an adult role model, but only 44% of them say they have one.

Children ages 8 to 13 average 48 hours per week of “mass media intake,” which means watching TV, listening to music, watching movies or engaging in on-line entertainment. Yes, that’s right: 48 hours per week!

Only one out of ten Christian families with children ever spend time praying or reading the Bible together outside of Sunday worship.

One additional bit of information from the book may explain some of the above statistics. According to Barna, “Only three out of ten born again parents included the salvation of their child(ren) in the list of critical parental emphases.” Translation: most parents who claim to be born again don’t believe it is their responsibility to lead their children to Jesus. Astonishing!

So let me get personal and ask you parents and grandparents a couple of questions. First, do you trust Christ exclusively for your salvation and seek to follow Him in your daily life? Second, if you answered yes to the first question, are you striving to lead your children or grandchildren to trust Christ exclusively for their salvation and seek to follow Him in their daily lives?

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, just over one in four residents in the Sterling community (where I am a pastor) is age 18 or under. That’s about twice the number of area residents age 65 and over. Do the ministries and budgets of the churches in our community reflect this reality? If not, why not?

Jesus wanted the children to come to Him. He knew the facts that statistics bear out today: the older people get, the less likely they are to turn their lives over to Him and submit to His Lordship. Therefore, kids matter to Jesus; and because kids matter to Jesus, they must matter to us.

But that can’t just be a slogan, a catch-phrase. The Lord is looking for application and action, not just words and rhetoric. The truth is that if kids really matter to us, we’ll do everything we can to lead them to Jesus.

Forgiveness and Hope

There is a debilitating condition that is more widespread than some might think. It is a condition that can lead to alcoholism or drug use. It can result in child abuse and spouse abuse. It may lead to either obesity or anorexia and the chronic health problems that accompany them. It can ruin marriages, destroy homes and make the workplace a living nightmare. If left unchecked over the long term, it can even lead to suicide.

This devastating condition is hopelessness; and it is far too rampant in our community for us to neglect it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is no more hopelessness here than in other communities. However, hopelessness is increasingly common throughout our entire culture, and we are not exempt from it here.

The point, however, is what can be done about it.

To grasp that, it’s important to understand how hopelessness arises. People who are hopeless generally have become convinced that their future contains no possibility for improving their situations or solving their problems.

When people feel that way, they may resort to angry and desperate measures. The end result is further unhappiness, and an ever-tightening spiral of hopeless despair.

The irony of the whole dilemma is that the cure for hopelessness is exceedingly simple and universally available. That cure is forgiveness.

Let me explain.

Hopelessness is a primary by-product of unforgiveness. This is because unforgiveness binds us to bad things (i.e. sins) in the past, and keeps us trapped by the pains and wounds those sins caused. Thus, unforgiveness makes us turn from the possibilities God offers for the future by keeping us preoccupied with past wounds and present problems.

Or, to put it another way, when you fail to forgive those who have wounded you, you give their sin power to keep drawing you back into the past and closing the door on God’s plans for your future. You end up dragging the past around with you everywhere you go, and it cripples your ability to pursue the promises of God with hope and expectation.

Forgiveness, by contrast, is God’s supernatural way of delivering us from these past sins. The word “forgive” in the New Testament is a translation of two different terms in the original language: one means “to release” and the other, “to send away.” Thus, when someone who believes that Jesus died to forgive sins takes a step of faith to forgive others, it simple means releasing that person’s sins to Jesus, allowing them to be sent away from one’s own heart and placed on the cross of Jesus.

The blessed result is this: when you are convinced that Jesus’ death was full payment for other people’s sins and you let go of their sins against you, you find that those sins have let go of you. Untrapped by the past, you are now free to enter a future determined by God’s promises rather than by someone’s sins.

And that, my friends, will give you hope.

YOU ARE PARDONED!

Imagine a pair of whimsical scenarios. In the first, you find in your mailbox a letter bearing the Colorado state seal and the Governor’s return address. Tempted to pitch it with the rest of the junk mail, your curiosity gets the best of you, so you open it and read these words: “By the power vested in me by the State of Colorado, I, Governor Bill Ritter, do hereby exonerate and absolve you from your crimes against the state, which crimes rightly resulted in your just and proper punishment, and from which you are now permanently released.”

What a surprise! You’ve never been tried for “crimes against the state,” never been convicted, never even been arrested. The letter must be a huge mistake, or else somebody has pulled a colossal practical joke on you. You decide to show the letter to some friends, knowing they’ll get a big laugh out of it. “You,” somebody will say, “pardoned?! Shoot, I didn’t even know you were condemned.”

The second scenario is different. An inmate awaiting execution on Colorado’s death row receives a letter bearing the same seal and return address, containing the same message: “By the power vested in me by the State of Colorado, I, Governor Bill Ritter, do hereby exonerate and absolve you from your crimes against the state, which crimes rightly resulted in your just and proper punishment, and from which you are now permanently released.”

While this man’s surprise is as great as yours, his response is quite different. He jumps and shouts. His wildest dreams have been realized. His life is saved, his future is restored, and his freedom is granted; and all because he received an unearned pardon. Had he done anything to deserve it, or even to merit any notice from the Governor? Of course not. It’s a gift, plain and simple.

The first scenario shows how people react to the Gospel when they don’t know that their sins have placed them under the righteous wrath of a holy God: “God is willing to forgive me? So what. I don’t need forgiveness. I’m really not all that bad.” But when folks realize how desperately in danger of eternal condemnation they are, then the offer of an unconditional pardon from the Judge of the universe is good news indeed. It is something no sane person would refuse.

That’s why any presentation of the Good News must also include the bad news: pardon makes sense only to those who acknowledge their condemnation. As C. H. Spurgeon put it, “Sin deserved God's wrath; that wrath has spent itself on Christ.” The pardon is not without cause, nor is it an impulse of heaven’s whimsy. Forgiveness is offered to you because God, in His mercy, depleted His wrath on His only-begotten Son.

Christians then, may say, with all the redeemed, “Forgiven? Really? But, I deserved to be in hell forever! Oh, thank You, God! Thank You for pardoning me!”

Can you say that?

JESUS SAID, "GO!"

Jesus said, “Go!”

The church usually just says, “Come!”

Let me explain.

Time and again, Jesus instructed the infant church about sharing the Gospel with the lost world.* While the details of His instruction varied a little bit from situation to situation, it is clear that Jesus expected His people to go into the world around them, and penetrate the culture with the Gospel. We are instructed not only to invite people outside the family (Matthew 22:9), but to eagerly search for them (Luke 15:4), and even to compel them (Luke 14:23) to come be with us!

In contrast to Jesus’ clear expectation, the church typically simply hopes that people will come to us, if we provide good programs and try to meet their needs. Several studies indicate that only a small percentage of active church members ever invite anyone to church. Dr. Thom Rainer’s book, Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, states that only one in five active churchgoers invites anyone to church in the course of a year. Even more sadly, only one in fifty church members has ever invited an unchurched person to church! One in fifty. Ever. No wonder the American church is not growing! Ironically, other studies show that most unchurched people would attend church, if they were invited by a friend they knew and trusted.

Do you invite your unchurched friends to church? Do you invite anybody? Ever?

But, let us note that Jesus clearly expects His followers to do far more than simply extend to the lost a personal invitation to come join us in worship and study. He commands Christians to actually share the Gospel with the lost.

Doing that will require three foundational changes in the way we look at the world we live in. First, we must see the people around us the way Jesus saw the people around Him: lost souls in peril of hell, and in need of a Savior. Second, we must see ourselves as Jesus saw us: agents of the Gospel, sent by Him to tell the truth about Who He is. Third, we must see Jesus as He truly is: the Lord of our lives, Who both expects us to obey Him and empowers us to do so.

Two pertinent questions arise from these considerations. First, how can we expect God to draw the unchurched to our churches, while we consistently operate in longstanding and blatant disregard to His clear commands to go to the lost, invite them, and tell them the Gospel? Second, how might God move among us and through us if we actually became more obedient in these crucial areas of ministry?

I, for one, have become increasingly burdened that the church in America – and the churches in Sterling, Colorado, including the one I pastor – must soon discover more effective ways to go, invite and tell. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I’m praying God will make it clear. Would you join me in asking Him to do so? If Jesus said, “Go!” we’ve got to find ways to do what He said.

*If you are interested in checking out some of the passages in which Jesus issued these instructions, here is a sample:
Matthew 10:5-16
Matthew 18:12-14
Matthew 22:8-9
Matthew 28:18-20
Luke 10:1-11
Luke 14:16-23
Luke 15:4-7
John 15:14-16
John 20:21
Acts 1:7-8

What Is the Gospel?

The Apostle Paul wrote that he was “not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God to save everyone who believes it” (Romans 1:16). That, indeed, is good news, very good news. But then, what IS the Gospel?

At the risk of over-simplifying, I propose that you can state the basic framework of the biblical Gospel in three simple sentences of three words each. Here it is.

God is holy. People are sinful. Christ is sufficient.

The first statement is “God is holy.” It’s only appropriate that the Gospel should start with God. After all, everything started with God: “For from Him and through Him and back to Him are all things,” as Romans 11:36 says.

But why start with His holiness? Because in Scripture, every time God discloses Himself to humanity, the first aspect of His self-revelation is His utter holiness. Over and over, God shows Himself as the Holy one. No wonder that Scripture says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10). And on those rare occasions when God gives us a glimpse into heaven, we hear the angels sing, “Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord” (Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8).

So, we start – indeed, we MUST start – with the holiness of God. “God is holy.”

And whenever we remember the truth about God’s absolute holiness, the next thing to cross our consciences is always our sinfulness. So the next part of the Gospel is, “People are sinful.”

Since “God is holy,” and “People are sinful,” that means we are in eternal danger: sinful people can’t be admitted into God’s holy heaven. If God were to let people into heaven with their sin, heaven wouldn’t be holy any more, with the result that it wouldn’t be heavenly either.

So, who can solve this problem? That’s where the person and work of Jesus Christ come in: “Christ is sufficient.”

What Jesus Christ did for you is sufficient to take away your sin and establish you in a right relationship with God, Who is holy. By living a perfect life, Jesus satisfied the righteous requirements of the law. By dying as His Father’s appointed substitute for you, He took upon Himself God’s holy wrath against your sin. Thus, He is sufficient to save you from the due punishment of your sin and grant you admission to heaven forever.

Some innovative forms of the Gospel water it down a lot. Instead of “God is holy,” we get “God is pretty nice.” Rather than “People are sinful” we hear some nonsense like, “People are just incomplete, or sick, or misinformed, or even underappreciated.” In place of “Christ is sufficient,” we are being told, “Jesus is here to help you make the most of your potential.” Sadly, though that incomplete Gospel may make folks feel a little better for a while, it is utterly powerless to save anyone.

Only the biblical Gospel can do that.

God is holy; and people are sinful; but – praise be to Him! – Christ is sufficient! Hallelujah!

GUARD THE GOSPEL

Thirty-four years ago, in his commentary on Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Dr. John Stott made the following observation about the Anglo-American church: “All around us we see Christians relaxing their grasp on the Gospel, fumbling it, and in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether.” What Dr. Stott warned about a generation ago, we see coming to pass among us today.

We Americans are steeped in pragmatism. Questions like, “What works?” “What can I do?” and, “How can I solve this?” drive our very understanding of reality. We tend to be doers, fixers and solvers. Add to this the natural bent of us sinners to please ourselves first and foremost, and you have the multi-billion dollar self-help industry.

The church, in its recent effort to be “relevant,” has accommodated its message to the trend of the age. I find that extremely odd. Was the Word of God ever in danger of becoming irrelevant, and we weren’t aware of it? Yet, many among us have concocted a kind of self-help “gospel” by which we can have our problems solved, our hurts healed, and our dysfunctions made more functional. The church is fast becoming a servant to seekers of self-help.

And the Gospel is in danger of being lost.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the Gospel is in any way contrary to happiness, fulfillment, or wholeness. But what I am saying is that the Gospel is so much more than all that. By focusing more upon its occasional temporal benefits than upon its eternal substance, we have nearly lost the Gospel.

So, what then IS the Gospel? Here’s a hint: the four biblical accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus are themselves called “Gospels.” That tells us that the Gospel, more than anything else, is about Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God. It’s specific, factual, real and objective.

In addition, these factual accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John concentrate mainly upon the death and resurrection of Jesus. Almost half of the verses in these four books deal with Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, burial and victory over death.

In keeping with this focus, the apostle Paul summarizes the Gospel message this way: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4).

There you have it: Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, just as the Old Testament predicted He would. The Gospel is Jesus doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, even with help.

Indeed, what the Gospel says is the opposite of self-help. The Gospel tells us that we can’t help ourselves, not at all, not even a little bit, because we are spiritually dead. Dead people can’t help themselves. Dead people need someone to take their deadness upon Himself, and give them His death-conquering life.

And that is exactly what Jesus did.

Do you believe it? You should. It’s the Gospel truth. It’s your only hope.