I guess "two dimensional" ought to mean "two dimensional." I am firmly convinced that to ignore the spiritual part of life while living in the physical realm is disasterous. It's like living without your left arm and never acknowledging it. At the same time, living in the physical realm without occassionally addressing issues there can be just as debilitating. So I will try to do so once in a while.
Our country is under attack. For too many years forces have been at work to undermine the firm foundations left by our forefathers. While those who would dimantle our representative republic, take away our freedom and enslave us have been quietly yet resolutely chipping away; our culture has been lulled into a stupor by materialism, security and a life of ease.
I believe the election of Barak Obama has been a wake-up call to those who would be free. Mark Levin's book, Liberty and Tyranny, is an excellent compilation of how we got here and how we must proceed to restore our freedom and our liberties. However, only time will tell if we are too late.
The 2012 midterm election is closer than we think. If the people of this country do not "clean house" of every liberal democrat, blue-dog democrat and spineless republican; and replace them with principled, tough-skinned and "spoiling-for-a-fight" representative that loves our liberites and serves the people instead of seeking to be served by the people - then we will have lost our country.
As of this writing, it looks as if our Congress, in spite of the obvious desire of the majority of our citizenry for the government to stay out of health-care, will pass as health care bill that dictates government control of our lives in an unprecedented way. They don't care what we think or what is best for the country as a whole or into the future.
They have an agenda they don't want to divulge. They are liars, thieves and cheats. They are the grown-up version of the playground bullies. Just because they say something is so does not make it so.
When those in charge of our government want to take advantage of every crisis, it is a very short step to the manufacture of multiple disasters in order to deepen the dependency and control of government. How do we know the difference between a real disaster and a manufactured one?
The Bible tells us that as we live in this world, we are to be as wise as serpents relative to how the world works (evil), yet innocent as doves as to participating in evil ourselves. Let it be so!
God help us!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
What Do We Really Deserve?
The 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew tend to scare me. They are depressing sometimes when I read them. When you look at them, they relate Jesus’ words about the signs of the end of the age as well as the unknown date of His return. The Parable of the Ten Virgins makes me reconsider each time I read it whether the presence of the Holy Spirit is evident in my life. Of course, as you look at the end of chapter 25, you see the Lord dividing the sheep from the goats, or the final judgment, which causes me to both rejoice and dread the event, for I am concerned for those who are not true believers and I rejoice that He has chosen me as His child.
Did you notice as you looked over those two chapters the Parable of the Tenants? It strikes a chord in my heart. Many times we are called on to take stands which are not popular and are not understood. The reason must be because of our understanding of our position as stewards of what God has given to us and why He has given over into our care the things He has. God has entrusted to His people, the church, His property just as the owner of the land in the parable did so with his property. Each servant received the resources necessary to accomplish what the master desired of him to do in his absence. God has also given to each of us something to do in this life. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Now if we understand this, we must also accept that He has given us all we need to accomplish the task. II Corinthians 9:8-9 tells us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’”
And just as the different tenants were held responsible for how they fared with the resources given them, so will we be held responsible for how we have fared with the resources God has given us. I believe one of the major problems in the Church today is that we too often view ourselves as owners. It is our time, our money, our schedules, our possessions, our church, our families, our vacations, our health, our lives. But it is not really. God has given us basically three things for which he will expect an answer from us when we die or when Christ returns. 1) Time, how we spent it to accomplish the tasks He desired for us to accomplish, 2) resources, how we spent the relationships, the material things and the affections of our lives to make better that which he has given to us, and 3) our lives, whether we have been willing to expend our lives for His sake, even to death itself should he call upon us to make that ultimate sacrifice.
We all want to hear from God those wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant….” But we must never forget that those words come after much sacrificial labor for the kingdom of God. It is not a matter of our being saved, it is a matter of what we do after we have already been saved. Unfortunately, many sit back and expect everything to go their way at the best, or do not expect to have to give up anything or be inconvenienced at the worst. How can this be? Jesus gave His all for us and we, who claim to be redeemed by His sacrifice are hesitant to give Him our all? We ought to be searching out everything in our lives to give to Him! There should be no area of our lives that we have not examined to find anything that we are holding back from Him.
The parable mentioned above gives God’s thoughts about unfaithfulness. I shudder to think that I might be found unfaithful by my Lord and Master. That’s why I love this definition of sanctification, “A work of God’s Holy Spirit in the Christian whereby each day he is enabled more and more to die to self and each day enabled more and more to live for Christ.” Our God has loved us in spite of ourselves and patiently works on us and waits on us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of His Son Jesus.
Yet if we think that we will be found special in His eyes because of our works, we are mistaken. We are already special and can’t be any more so. We can be found pleasing in His eyes as we are faithful to His calling upon us, but it is our duty to cheerfully give Him our all. Jesus said in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
May the Lord find us faithful in the power of His Holy Spirit, and may we find His loving smile upon us as we seek to spend ourselves in the cause of His gospel.
Did you notice as you looked over those two chapters the Parable of the Tenants? It strikes a chord in my heart. Many times we are called on to take stands which are not popular and are not understood. The reason must be because of our understanding of our position as stewards of what God has given to us and why He has given over into our care the things He has. God has entrusted to His people, the church, His property just as the owner of the land in the parable did so with his property. Each servant received the resources necessary to accomplish what the master desired of him to do in his absence. God has also given to each of us something to do in this life. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Now if we understand this, we must also accept that He has given us all we need to accomplish the task. II Corinthians 9:8-9 tells us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’”
And just as the different tenants were held responsible for how they fared with the resources given them, so will we be held responsible for how we have fared with the resources God has given us. I believe one of the major problems in the Church today is that we too often view ourselves as owners. It is our time, our money, our schedules, our possessions, our church, our families, our vacations, our health, our lives. But it is not really. God has given us basically three things for which he will expect an answer from us when we die or when Christ returns. 1) Time, how we spent it to accomplish the tasks He desired for us to accomplish, 2) resources, how we spent the relationships, the material things and the affections of our lives to make better that which he has given to us, and 3) our lives, whether we have been willing to expend our lives for His sake, even to death itself should he call upon us to make that ultimate sacrifice.
We all want to hear from God those wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant….” But we must never forget that those words come after much sacrificial labor for the kingdom of God. It is not a matter of our being saved, it is a matter of what we do after we have already been saved. Unfortunately, many sit back and expect everything to go their way at the best, or do not expect to have to give up anything or be inconvenienced at the worst. How can this be? Jesus gave His all for us and we, who claim to be redeemed by His sacrifice are hesitant to give Him our all? We ought to be searching out everything in our lives to give to Him! There should be no area of our lives that we have not examined to find anything that we are holding back from Him.
The parable mentioned above gives God’s thoughts about unfaithfulness. I shudder to think that I might be found unfaithful by my Lord and Master. That’s why I love this definition of sanctification, “A work of God’s Holy Spirit in the Christian whereby each day he is enabled more and more to die to self and each day enabled more and more to live for Christ.” Our God has loved us in spite of ourselves and patiently works on us and waits on us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of His Son Jesus.
Yet if we think that we will be found special in His eyes because of our works, we are mistaken. We are already special and can’t be any more so. We can be found pleasing in His eyes as we are faithful to His calling upon us, but it is our duty to cheerfully give Him our all. Jesus said in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
May the Lord find us faithful in the power of His Holy Spirit, and may we find His loving smile upon us as we seek to spend ourselves in the cause of His gospel.
Talking About It ... or Doing It
As I was reading through a passage in the Book of Philippians, I was struck by the desire of Paul for those under his ministry. He told them in the first chapter (1:4-6), “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul, who was a praying man, remembered those Christians in Philippi because of their partnership with him in the gospel.
This struck me as somewhat out-of-keeping with many churches today, where the pastor is considered just another employee and the one primarily responsible for the work of ministry in the church. It made me quickly realize that God has blessed me personally and our church corporately with leaders and members who do not have this attitude, so that I can pray with the same joy for the same thing that Paul did. We are all in partnership in the gospel!
I do thank our God with great joy that there are partners with me in the ministry of the Gospel. When we leave the building after a worship service or a Bible Study, we are entering our own God-given mission field. But we are also a very important part of the ministry and work of the church each time we come into the building – so we are in a real sense partners together as we seek to lead the church as God would have us to do. It is one thing to be in a leadership position, but it is another thing to know that those who follow us do so with the same love for Christ and desire to see His kingdom advanced according to His will. May the joy we experience because of His gift of faithfulness to be oursas we see God’s faithfulness in us.
Paul goes on to say that his confidence is not in the Philippian Christians, as much as he loves them. His confidence in the advancement of the kingdom of God is in God Himself. “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” I feel strongly that the church in general today has not only erred greatly, but the World would love nothing better than to see the church lose sight of it’s true self. What I mean is this – the church in general has become self-centered and strayed from its Biblical foundation of being God-centered and obedient to His Word.
There are two reasons for this: 1) When the church began to doubt the truth of the Word of God, then it could not keep its spiritual eyes on Jesus. When that happened, the only thing to do was to become too important in our own eyes and seek to please ourselves in every aspect of the life of the church. So the church willingly gave itself to the World’s way of thinking.
2) We cannot for a minute discount the fact that nothing would please the World more than to see the church compromise itself to accommodate the World’s way of thinking. So The World seeks to entice the church away from its commitment to the truth of Scripture and its love for Christ. That is why Paul pointed back to the real reason for the successful completion of anything that is done in the church.”…he who began a good work in you…” is none other than Christ Himself. We are born again into Christ! We are in a relationship with the risen Savior! We are the children of God! We owe Him everything, starting with the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life and going on from there!
So the answer to the unspoken question is this: we can stay God-centered and resist becoming self-centered by keeping our eyes on Jesus. By seeking to love Him more by seeking to know Him better. By seeking to know Him better by being ever more knowledgeable of His Word. By asking each day, each hour, each minute and each second, “Lord, I love you – what do you want me to be doing, saying and thinking that will please You?” Then, by living our daily lives in this “mode”, God has promised to enable us to live for Him. Our desire coupled with His power bring Him glory and brings to us His blessings. When our hearts seek Him, then our hands cannot help but serve Him and our tongues cannot help but praise Him. Then His joy will be ours and the “peace of Christ will rule in our hearts” (Colossians 3:15)
My prayer for us is just that – that God would find us willing partners with Him in the gospel, submitting ourselves to Him, depending on His Spirit within us, and keeping our eyes on His Son Jesus, who is “the author and finisher of our faith.”
This struck me as somewhat out-of-keeping with many churches today, where the pastor is considered just another employee and the one primarily responsible for the work of ministry in the church. It made me quickly realize that God has blessed me personally and our church corporately with leaders and members who do not have this attitude, so that I can pray with the same joy for the same thing that Paul did. We are all in partnership in the gospel!
I do thank our God with great joy that there are partners with me in the ministry of the Gospel. When we leave the building after a worship service or a Bible Study, we are entering our own God-given mission field. But we are also a very important part of the ministry and work of the church each time we come into the building – so we are in a real sense partners together as we seek to lead the church as God would have us to do. It is one thing to be in a leadership position, but it is another thing to know that those who follow us do so with the same love for Christ and desire to see His kingdom advanced according to His will. May the joy we experience because of His gift of faithfulness to be oursas we see God’s faithfulness in us.
Paul goes on to say that his confidence is not in the Philippian Christians, as much as he loves them. His confidence in the advancement of the kingdom of God is in God Himself. “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” I feel strongly that the church in general today has not only erred greatly, but the World would love nothing better than to see the church lose sight of it’s true self. What I mean is this – the church in general has become self-centered and strayed from its Biblical foundation of being God-centered and obedient to His Word.
There are two reasons for this: 1) When the church began to doubt the truth of the Word of God, then it could not keep its spiritual eyes on Jesus. When that happened, the only thing to do was to become too important in our own eyes and seek to please ourselves in every aspect of the life of the church. So the church willingly gave itself to the World’s way of thinking.
2) We cannot for a minute discount the fact that nothing would please the World more than to see the church compromise itself to accommodate the World’s way of thinking. So The World seeks to entice the church away from its commitment to the truth of Scripture and its love for Christ. That is why Paul pointed back to the real reason for the successful completion of anything that is done in the church.”…he who began a good work in you…” is none other than Christ Himself. We are born again into Christ! We are in a relationship with the risen Savior! We are the children of God! We owe Him everything, starting with the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life and going on from there!
So the answer to the unspoken question is this: we can stay God-centered and resist becoming self-centered by keeping our eyes on Jesus. By seeking to love Him more by seeking to know Him better. By seeking to know Him better by being ever more knowledgeable of His Word. By asking each day, each hour, each minute and each second, “Lord, I love you – what do you want me to be doing, saying and thinking that will please You?” Then, by living our daily lives in this “mode”, God has promised to enable us to live for Him. Our desire coupled with His power bring Him glory and brings to us His blessings. When our hearts seek Him, then our hands cannot help but serve Him and our tongues cannot help but praise Him. Then His joy will be ours and the “peace of Christ will rule in our hearts” (Colossians 3:15)
My prayer for us is just that – that God would find us willing partners with Him in the gospel, submitting ourselves to Him, depending on His Spirit within us, and keeping our eyes on His Son Jesus, who is “the author and finisher of our faith.”
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Uselessness of Faith
In this post, I would like to discuss the uselessness of “faith”. All too often today in Christian circles, we hear the phrase (or something like it), “You just have to have faith, and that will get you through.” So let me pass along to you some thoughts on what the Scripture says about faith – real faith.
First, the English word for faith is a noun, but in the Greek, the word is both a noun and a verb. Now I am no Greek scholar, but I believe the best translation of the original as a verb would be “trust”. So faith is not just belief, but also the act of trusting. And this trust is nothing less than a “leaning upon” something. So once again, we have a case of the current Christian culture, and consequently the world that watches, being misled by carelessness and/or ignorance. Trust must have an object in which to trust. Trust must be placed in or on something. So to use that great Evangelism Explosion example, I can intellectually believe in the ability of a chair to hold me up, but until I actually sit in it, by belief is not trust. When Ephesians 2:8-9 speaks of faith, it is more this aspect of trust than a simple intellectual acknowledgement. It says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.”
But this trust which Paul is speaking of is an unusual trust, for it is a life-changing trust. I think he put it well in the 1st chapter of Romans when he described the gospel this way, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes….” (16) When the good news of the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Christ for lost sinners is believed (trusted in), then lives are changed forever. One is reborn, made new – in Christ. New eyes to see the truth of God’s Word, new ears to hear the proclamation of His will, a new heart to seek Him with, a new purpose in life which did not exist before. Everything has changed and this new trust continues to grow and change the one trusting in Christ from “glory into glory”. It is the work of God’s Holy Spirit to grow us up in this believing, this trusting. Theologians call the process “sanctification”. It is the life-long maturing of the Christian into the image of Christ.
So when we speak of the “need to just have faith”, we must be careful to finish the thought. We do “just need to have faith” – in a saving and powerful Savior named Jesus and His Holy Spirit that is within each true Christian! We miss so many opportunities to proclaim the great Savior that can redeem us into eternity. How many well intentioned and sincere people will go into Hell because they thought they were safe on the basis of some nebulous “faith”? The Church has much to answer for in not clearly proclaiming the truth of God in all it’s politically incorrect glory. Sinners cannot be saved apart from faith in Christ and repentance from sin. Faith (trusting) in the finished work of Christ on the cross to pay for sin, and repentance from the very sin that sent Him there, is the only way of salvation. As Peter boldly told the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There are many ways to Jesus, but He is the only way to the Father. Eternal life comes only through Him and must be obtained in His way, by trusting in Him alone.
“Faith” by itself is useless, for it says nothing of the one believed in and trusted. So to leave the thought unfinished is to miss an opportunity to bring God glory that is His due. Let us not rob God!
This week, may the Lord increase our faith in Him. May our prayer be as the prayer of the man with the demon-possessed son in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”, and may our lives be characterized by a steady march out of unbelief into the light of trusting in Jesus with our whole heart.
First, the English word for faith is a noun, but in the Greek, the word is both a noun and a verb. Now I am no Greek scholar, but I believe the best translation of the original as a verb would be “trust”. So faith is not just belief, but also the act of trusting. And this trust is nothing less than a “leaning upon” something. So once again, we have a case of the current Christian culture, and consequently the world that watches, being misled by carelessness and/or ignorance. Trust must have an object in which to trust. Trust must be placed in or on something. So to use that great Evangelism Explosion example, I can intellectually believe in the ability of a chair to hold me up, but until I actually sit in it, by belief is not trust. When Ephesians 2:8-9 speaks of faith, it is more this aspect of trust than a simple intellectual acknowledgement. It says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.”
But this trust which Paul is speaking of is an unusual trust, for it is a life-changing trust. I think he put it well in the 1st chapter of Romans when he described the gospel this way, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes….” (16) When the good news of the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Christ for lost sinners is believed (trusted in), then lives are changed forever. One is reborn, made new – in Christ. New eyes to see the truth of God’s Word, new ears to hear the proclamation of His will, a new heart to seek Him with, a new purpose in life which did not exist before. Everything has changed and this new trust continues to grow and change the one trusting in Christ from “glory into glory”. It is the work of God’s Holy Spirit to grow us up in this believing, this trusting. Theologians call the process “sanctification”. It is the life-long maturing of the Christian into the image of Christ.
So when we speak of the “need to just have faith”, we must be careful to finish the thought. We do “just need to have faith” – in a saving and powerful Savior named Jesus and His Holy Spirit that is within each true Christian! We miss so many opportunities to proclaim the great Savior that can redeem us into eternity. How many well intentioned and sincere people will go into Hell because they thought they were safe on the basis of some nebulous “faith”? The Church has much to answer for in not clearly proclaiming the truth of God in all it’s politically incorrect glory. Sinners cannot be saved apart from faith in Christ and repentance from sin. Faith (trusting) in the finished work of Christ on the cross to pay for sin, and repentance from the very sin that sent Him there, is the only way of salvation. As Peter boldly told the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There are many ways to Jesus, but He is the only way to the Father. Eternal life comes only through Him and must be obtained in His way, by trusting in Him alone.
“Faith” by itself is useless, for it says nothing of the one believed in and trusted. So to leave the thought unfinished is to miss an opportunity to bring God glory that is His due. Let us not rob God!
This week, may the Lord increase our faith in Him. May our prayer be as the prayer of the man with the demon-possessed son in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”, and may our lives be characterized by a steady march out of unbelief into the light of trusting in Jesus with our whole heart.
The Powerlessness of Prayer
I have increasingly heard over the past few months about the “power of prayer”. I recognize that this is an election year and that everyone will seem to be more “spiritual” in their speech, but every time I hear this terminology, I cringe. The phrase itself carries so much “baggage that needs to be unpacked” before it can properly be understood. So I thought I would address myself to this subject – albeit in a form that is too brief and not nearly thorough enough for such an important thing as prayer.
God made man a praying creature. This can be seen plainly in Genesis when Adam and God walked together in the Garden of Eden. They weren’t just walking, they were also talking, and essentially that is what prayer is, talking with God. But, as someone once said, “God created man in His own image, and after the Fall, man has been returning the favor.” Man takes that for which he was created and perverts it, using it for his own glory. Prayer, unfortunately, has fallen under the effects of this abuse. Let’s be honest – Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus all pray. Even the proverbial “atheist in the foxhole” prays. But is it really the prayer itself that is powerful? God’s Word says in Isaiah 1:15, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers I will not listen.” If God is saying this to those who call themselves His children, how much then does He listen to the prayers of those who do not belong to Him? I believe that the only prayer that God hears that is offered up by a lost person is the Sinner’s Prayer, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”
So what do we make of this currant belief in the “power of prayer?” In the increasingly godless context of our culture, I believe it to be hogwash. Prayer – in and of itself – is powerless. Prayer in the dictionary is a noun, but prayer only occurs when one prays, which is a verb – and so demands a subject and an object. Just as one does not just “go”, but rather one “goes to the store”, so one who prays must pray to someone or something.
Many in the Christian community assume that when they say that there is power in prayer that everyone understands they mean prayer to God in heaven. But I believe the assumption to be a false one. For surely the Muslim prays – often with more outward zeal than the Christian. For the Christian to say in a culture of ignorance of God’s truth, that there is power in prayer is to be misleading.
But the question arises, if prayer is powerless, what do we do with James 5:16 which says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”? Just a cursory study of prayer in the pages of Scripture reveals that as sinners we must approach a holy God in the righteousness of Christ, so if a righteous man prays at all, he prays not in his own righteousness, but in that of the Savior. And according to the promise of Jesus in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” So it is not prayer that is the deciding factor here, but the one prayed to that is important.
But you may then ask why it is that unbelievers pray for things that happen (and so continue to perpetrate this misconception). We must then remember that God is sovereign in all things and has a plan and a purpose which He is actively following to His own glory. Ephesians tells us this when it says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”(1:11) So when we see pagans and unbelievers praying and their prayers are answered, then we must understand that it was in God’s plan for that to happen and fit into His purposes. For a brief instant and in a single circumstance, their desire and God’s will coincided.
But as those who are indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit and trust in His sovereign love for His people, we must participate in prayer with our desires increasingly matching the will of our heavenly Father. Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.” And so must we say the same thing. The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught us to pray includes, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
At what point will we loudly proclaim the power of our God to answer prayer that is lifted up in His Name according to his revealed will? Our God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, should receive all the praise for answered prayer. To give credence to the “power of prayer” only is to give glory to the “pray-er.” This robs God and is a dangerous practice. This week, let us put prayer in its proper perspective and practice it with fervency and faithfulness, so that God is pleased.
God made man a praying creature. This can be seen plainly in Genesis when Adam and God walked together in the Garden of Eden. They weren’t just walking, they were also talking, and essentially that is what prayer is, talking with God. But, as someone once said, “God created man in His own image, and after the Fall, man has been returning the favor.” Man takes that for which he was created and perverts it, using it for his own glory. Prayer, unfortunately, has fallen under the effects of this abuse. Let’s be honest – Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus all pray. Even the proverbial “atheist in the foxhole” prays. But is it really the prayer itself that is powerful? God’s Word says in Isaiah 1:15, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers I will not listen.” If God is saying this to those who call themselves His children, how much then does He listen to the prayers of those who do not belong to Him? I believe that the only prayer that God hears that is offered up by a lost person is the Sinner’s Prayer, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”
So what do we make of this currant belief in the “power of prayer?” In the increasingly godless context of our culture, I believe it to be hogwash. Prayer – in and of itself – is powerless. Prayer in the dictionary is a noun, but prayer only occurs when one prays, which is a verb – and so demands a subject and an object. Just as one does not just “go”, but rather one “goes to the store”, so one who prays must pray to someone or something.
Many in the Christian community assume that when they say that there is power in prayer that everyone understands they mean prayer to God in heaven. But I believe the assumption to be a false one. For surely the Muslim prays – often with more outward zeal than the Christian. For the Christian to say in a culture of ignorance of God’s truth, that there is power in prayer is to be misleading.
But the question arises, if prayer is powerless, what do we do with James 5:16 which says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”? Just a cursory study of prayer in the pages of Scripture reveals that as sinners we must approach a holy God in the righteousness of Christ, so if a righteous man prays at all, he prays not in his own righteousness, but in that of the Savior. And according to the promise of Jesus in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” So it is not prayer that is the deciding factor here, but the one prayed to that is important.
But you may then ask why it is that unbelievers pray for things that happen (and so continue to perpetrate this misconception). We must then remember that God is sovereign in all things and has a plan and a purpose which He is actively following to His own glory. Ephesians tells us this when it says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”(1:11) So when we see pagans and unbelievers praying and their prayers are answered, then we must understand that it was in God’s plan for that to happen and fit into His purposes. For a brief instant and in a single circumstance, their desire and God’s will coincided.
But as those who are indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit and trust in His sovereign love for His people, we must participate in prayer with our desires increasingly matching the will of our heavenly Father. Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.” And so must we say the same thing. The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught us to pray includes, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
At what point will we loudly proclaim the power of our God to answer prayer that is lifted up in His Name according to his revealed will? Our God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, should receive all the praise for answered prayer. To give credence to the “power of prayer” only is to give glory to the “pray-er.” This robs God and is a dangerous practice. This week, let us put prayer in its proper perspective and practice it with fervency and faithfulness, so that God is pleased.
The Love of God
Three verses in Scripture go particularly well together and I have noticed that they are tied together with a common theme. They are I John 4:16, Romans 5:8 and Jeremiah 31:3. Let me quote them here and you will understand. John records the words of Jesus when He said, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” The passage in Romans tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Jeremiah says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” These verses tell me that the God we serve is defined by selfless, sacrificial love that He demonstrates by action. He loves us with an everlasting love. Everlasting! It never ends and has always been, even “before the foundation of the world!” Which brings me to a point which I believe would benefit us to consider.
I have recently asked, even from the pulpit, a question most never consider. It is this, “What do you have that can never be taken away from you?” Those I have asked immediately are forced to think of all those things that they “own” and consider the security with which they hold on to them. So they consider their homes, which can burn down; or their bank accounts, which can be stolen or lost; or they consider their investment portfolios, which everyone understands as able to be lost; they consider their families, which – like everyone else’s - can be lost to death or disease. Then they consider their reputations, which can be ruined in an instant; or their very lives, which can be taken from them - also in an instant. They realize quickly that there is nothing in this world that cannot be taken from us. We did not choose the time or place of our birth and we will not choose the time and place (or manner) of our passing either. God does all of that. As Job so aptly put it in Job 1:21, “…The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Since we are created, the Creator is in charge of His own creation.
That is why those who reject God and so confidently assert their views are to be pitied. One day, they will discover they were wrong – and God is not at all happy about their rebellion and He will give them their due. How wretched they will be who have held on tightly to that which could be taken away from them. Which brings us back to the original question - “What do we have that can never be taken away from us?” Yes – there is something, but it obviously must be from outside of us.
It is the love of God Himself. Our salvation is ours through the undeserved and unearned love of God. And because it is rooted in His very character, because it defines who He is, when He makes a promise to us based on Himself; He cannot lie. So the love of God that sent Jesus to the cross for us cannot and will not be taken away from us. That is why God could say through the writer of Hebrews (13:5), “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” What a real comfort! That God will never leave His children or abandon them to the carnivorous habits of the world and appetites of Satan.
What should be our response to a God like this and the love He shows for us? I believe it would be appropriate to thank Him – constantly. David says in Psalm 30:12, “O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” We sometimes get so busy we forget to thank one another for kindnesses shown, so how much more do we forget to thank God for His eternal kindnesses to us?
Then I would think that remembering God’s love to us would cause us to put worldly things in perspective. God put us here and gives us things and relationships and time, and we all too often put them ahead of God in importance. Created things become more important than the Creator. How sad! Let us reprioritize each day so that He has the preeminence in all things.
Finally, remembering God’s everlasting love for us would give us a sense of comfort and security unlike anything the world can offer. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I leave with you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let you hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
May the everlasting love of our saving God be upon us this week and may we have that peace of knowing that it can never be taken away from us. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Amen!
I have recently asked, even from the pulpit, a question most never consider. It is this, “What do you have that can never be taken away from you?” Those I have asked immediately are forced to think of all those things that they “own” and consider the security with which they hold on to them. So they consider their homes, which can burn down; or their bank accounts, which can be stolen or lost; or they consider their investment portfolios, which everyone understands as able to be lost; they consider their families, which – like everyone else’s - can be lost to death or disease. Then they consider their reputations, which can be ruined in an instant; or their very lives, which can be taken from them - also in an instant. They realize quickly that there is nothing in this world that cannot be taken from us. We did not choose the time or place of our birth and we will not choose the time and place (or manner) of our passing either. God does all of that. As Job so aptly put it in Job 1:21, “…The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Since we are created, the Creator is in charge of His own creation.
That is why those who reject God and so confidently assert their views are to be pitied. One day, they will discover they were wrong – and God is not at all happy about their rebellion and He will give them their due. How wretched they will be who have held on tightly to that which could be taken away from them. Which brings us back to the original question - “What do we have that can never be taken away from us?” Yes – there is something, but it obviously must be from outside of us.
It is the love of God Himself. Our salvation is ours through the undeserved and unearned love of God. And because it is rooted in His very character, because it defines who He is, when He makes a promise to us based on Himself; He cannot lie. So the love of God that sent Jesus to the cross for us cannot and will not be taken away from us. That is why God could say through the writer of Hebrews (13:5), “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” What a real comfort! That God will never leave His children or abandon them to the carnivorous habits of the world and appetites of Satan.
What should be our response to a God like this and the love He shows for us? I believe it would be appropriate to thank Him – constantly. David says in Psalm 30:12, “O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” We sometimes get so busy we forget to thank one another for kindnesses shown, so how much more do we forget to thank God for His eternal kindnesses to us?
Then I would think that remembering God’s love to us would cause us to put worldly things in perspective. God put us here and gives us things and relationships and time, and we all too often put them ahead of God in importance. Created things become more important than the Creator. How sad! Let us reprioritize each day so that He has the preeminence in all things.
Finally, remembering God’s everlasting love for us would give us a sense of comfort and security unlike anything the world can offer. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I leave with you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let you hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
May the everlasting love of our saving God be upon us this week and may we have that peace of knowing that it can never be taken away from us. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Amen!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Pansies at Christmas
Someone commented to me the other day about the pansies that had been planted in the planters at the front of the church. It brought back good memories of my mother planting pansies during the winter when I was growing up. I once asked her why she was planting flowers in the season when flowers didn’t normally grow, and she taught me that pansies actually prefer the cold months and cannot survive the summer heat. My father is partial to pansies and so is the one who planted them at the church. That led me to think about how we use the term “pansy” as being synonymous with being a “wimp”, or being unable to cope with the normal trials and tribulations of life that others seem to have no trouble dealing with. What a terribly unfair association for such a wonderful flower! When I thought about it in light of what my mother taught me, I realized that unless you know how hardy the pansy really is, you would have a totally wrong idea about the world used to describe it. It is a very misunderstood flower.
So are the people of God. I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them…” And later in the same letter, (3:18-19) Paul tells us, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight….” So while the world may have certain thoughts as to the values and worth of Christians, those thoughts are usually based on ignorance or blindness or both. I find it strange that many Christians seek to please the world or at least be found pleasing to the world when we are clearly told in Scripture that it is a useless endeavor. That is why Paul told the Corinthian Christians not to deceive themselves. It’s a very easy thing to do.
In this Christmas season, so many people will do so many things for others that will appear on the outside to be very good; and humanly speaking – they will be. But all too often, the reason in the heart is for the praise of men. If we can deceive ourselves by thinking ourselves “wise by the standards of this age”, then we can also deceive ourselves by thinking that we are doing something good for God’s sake when it is really just for the “warm and fuzzy” we get inside when we help someone else.
But Jesus was very specific in Matthew 25. (vs. 40) In response to questions about the service of His people on earth, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” When we do for others in need with the idea of receiving praise from men, we are no different than the ones that Jesus castigated in Matthew 6 for doing their deeds in the sight of men only for their praise. But when we do something for someone in need and we do it because Jesus has met our needs, both now and into eternity; we bring glory to Him and mirror to the world the real love of Christ.
So it really does not matter what the world thinks of us. It can consider us “pansies” if it wants to. But let us never give it reason to think of us in that way if the meaning is a worldly meaning. We are not “wimps” and we are more than able to cope with the trials and tribulations of this world. Philippians 4:13 says it all when it reminds us that, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” It is only in Christ that we are capable of doing anything good and right in God’s eyes and He is the only one we should seek to please.
So let our understanding of ‘pansies” be the correct one. Pansies are beautiful little flowers that flourish in the harshest of winters. They are able to be beautiful in the middle of dreariness and cold. They bring brightness into an otherwise colorless world. As the world gets more harsh and more unfriendly, let us be the ones to show the “brightness” of the gospel by our actions as well as our words.
Let it be said of us what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
May the Lord be pleasedwith the attitude of our hearts, as we seek to point others to Him in this Christmas season by our actions of mercy, kindness and generosity. And may those very actions mirror His mercy, His kindness and His generosity to us, His children.
So are the people of God. I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them…” And later in the same letter, (3:18-19) Paul tells us, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight….” So while the world may have certain thoughts as to the values and worth of Christians, those thoughts are usually based on ignorance or blindness or both. I find it strange that many Christians seek to please the world or at least be found pleasing to the world when we are clearly told in Scripture that it is a useless endeavor. That is why Paul told the Corinthian Christians not to deceive themselves. It’s a very easy thing to do.
In this Christmas season, so many people will do so many things for others that will appear on the outside to be very good; and humanly speaking – they will be. But all too often, the reason in the heart is for the praise of men. If we can deceive ourselves by thinking ourselves “wise by the standards of this age”, then we can also deceive ourselves by thinking that we are doing something good for God’s sake when it is really just for the “warm and fuzzy” we get inside when we help someone else.
But Jesus was very specific in Matthew 25. (vs. 40) In response to questions about the service of His people on earth, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” When we do for others in need with the idea of receiving praise from men, we are no different than the ones that Jesus castigated in Matthew 6 for doing their deeds in the sight of men only for their praise. But when we do something for someone in need and we do it because Jesus has met our needs, both now and into eternity; we bring glory to Him and mirror to the world the real love of Christ.
So it really does not matter what the world thinks of us. It can consider us “pansies” if it wants to. But let us never give it reason to think of us in that way if the meaning is a worldly meaning. We are not “wimps” and we are more than able to cope with the trials and tribulations of this world. Philippians 4:13 says it all when it reminds us that, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” It is only in Christ that we are capable of doing anything good and right in God’s eyes and He is the only one we should seek to please.
So let our understanding of ‘pansies” be the correct one. Pansies are beautiful little flowers that flourish in the harshest of winters. They are able to be beautiful in the middle of dreariness and cold. They bring brightness into an otherwise colorless world. As the world gets more harsh and more unfriendly, let us be the ones to show the “brightness” of the gospel by our actions as well as our words.
Let it be said of us what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
May the Lord be pleasedwith the attitude of our hearts, as we seek to point others to Him in this Christmas season by our actions of mercy, kindness and generosity. And may those very actions mirror His mercy, His kindness and His generosity to us, His children.
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