Reformed4Him's Xanga

Quick Thought

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:51:15 GMT

I realize that I am slow at updating the blog....the problem seems to be a matter of time. I have so many other things that I frankly would rather do, that updating a blog is at the bottom of the list. I think in order to appease my itch to blog, yet have time to do it, I can only do it if I post quick thoughts now and again as opposed to long drawn out entries.

Which leads me to my quick thought of today - I just got done reading the forward to a new book I bought myself for Christmas from someone (Yes, I know its not Christmas yet, but I did buy the book so I can read it whenever I want). The forward is written by John Piper and he has this following paragraph:

John Owen says about lust "God says, 'Here is one, if he could be rid of this lust I should never hear of him again; therefore let him wrestle with this, or he is lost."

Astonishing! God ordains to leave a lust with me till I become the sort of warrior who will still seek his aid when the victory is won. God knows when we can bear the triumphs of his grace.

Read that last line in bold again. Have you ever thought about that before. It is so true but yet I have never thought of it before. I have been thinking about the struggle in my own life against sin and why I seem to continue to look back to my once enslaved life and sometimes long for it. It seems I am just like the nation of Israel when they came out of Egypt where they were slaves, but yet at times in their freedom longed to be back as slaves. Is that not how we act sometimes!!! But the times that I feel as if I have overcome a particular sin, the sin of pride creeps in and I stumble yet again and so Piper's brilliant insight is ringing so true in my ears right now. You see what is happening when "I" overcome the sin - in my heart down, deep where us Christians don't want to talk about -is I think I did it on my own.

I am not yet ready to bear the triumphs of his grace, but I pray o God that I am ready shortly.

Church Marquee Madness

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:52:50 GMT

"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" 1 Tim 4:1

I have grown to really despise these little quotes that churches put on their marquee's outside, as if that is proclaiming the truth of Scripture. I find myself searching for them now so that they can get my blood boiling (probably not a good thing). Here are a few examples of what I mean, most of which I saw the others from a quick yahoo search….

"If your life plan is not working out, give Jesus a try"
"Man built the Titanic, God built the Ark"
"Believe me, Hell is not hotter then this - God"
"Download your worries: Get Online with God"
"God answers knee mail"
"The end for your search of a traditional church stops here"
"Our church is like fudge, sweet with a few nuts"
"A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who is not"

While some of these tag lines may be funny and even have some truth in them, they are exactly what is wrong with the evangelical church in America today. We try to spoon feed sound bites in the ears of men, thinking that is the only way in which we can reach them. We don't want to do the hard work exposing them to the complete depth and breadth of the Word of God. We say times are different, people can't focus like they used to. Hog wash. If my rambunctious 4 year old can sit in a church pew for almost 2 hours (most of which is devoted to preaching) with his little Bible opened asking me to turn the pages for him and then come home and my 4 year old ask my 7 year old questions about Hell, Christ, Sin and the Cross and my 7 year old answer the questions - then that excuse is an offense to God.

Which leads me to the one tag line that has been bothering me the past 4 weeks I have driven by it everyday onto work.

"There is no right way to do the wrong thing"

Yes there is no right way to do the wrong thing, but there are lots of wrong ways to do the right thing - and the church is doing most of them the wrong way.

Evangelism: Is not done by tag lines, man made systems or trickery
Repentance: Is not done by signing a card, raising a hand or repeating a prayer
Church: Is not a social club, not a baby sitter and not a place to re-energize
Prayer: Is not the Prayer of Jabez, name it and claim it or talking with your best friend
Study: Is not done by reading the Bible for Dummies, listening to the Bible Experience, or done only by pastors/teachers Preaching: Is not a job, it’s a calling
Sheep: Are not pew-warmers, critics, or in charge
Spiritual Gifts: Are not necessarily talents and not determined by taking a skills test
Christian Life: Should not look like the world and is not as easy as many people claim
Worship songs: Are not 7 words repeated 11 times, do not have to be written in the past 10 years, do not have to be sung with instruments

Maybe I will create my own sign:

"The church is beginning the great falling away"

The Battle for the Mind

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:00:35 GMT

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dewell on these things. Phillipians 4:8

When God saved us He gave us a new life (2 Cor 5:17) and with that new life comes the ability to do good works for His glory (James 2:17-18). These are works that we are doing through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, but we are the ones doing them. There are times that we succeed in this work and times we chose to be ashamed of the gospel and fail. God could have made created a way in which when we were saved we became instantly sanctified and glorified, thus never sinning again. But in His wonderful mercy and grace He allows us to be a part of the work of sanctification not just the recipients of it. Understanding that we have work to do in our own lives and not to just sit back and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon us is vital in our Christian walk. We need to understand where the where battle between sin and sanctified living takes place and what we can do to live a more Holy life.

The Battle of the Mind

In Romans 7:14-25 Paul describes the battle that rages on within our new lives in Christ - a battle we all kind attest to. This battle takes place in our minds. There are times when all of us have tortured souls because of the battle against sin in our lives. In fact if you are walking through the new life in Christ and there are not times of immense conflict in your soul then you should take time to examine your life to make sure that your are saved (Phil 2:12). As we become more like our Savior there will be times that sin in our lives is ripped, or torn, from our flesh (Heb 4:12). It is part of the sanctification process that all true believers will go through. In verse 23 of Romans 7 Paul states that he sees "a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." Paul is telling us that the real battle between sin and holiness lies in the mind. He goes onto say in Romans 8:6-8 that two minds produce two different out comes. The mind of the Spirit is life and peace (vs.6). The mind of the flesh is death (vs.6), hostility towards God (v.7), not able to obey God (v. 7) and can not please God (v. 8).

So it's clear that the battle of the mind is important. Which is why so much is given to us in Scripture around this battle and how to fight it. There are 2 major things that must take place in order to successfully do our work and overcome the enemy in this battle. One requires pain, one requires study - both require discipline.

The Purging of the Old Mind

The process of purging an infection out of the body is not pleasant. And that is exactly what sin is - an infection of the worst kind. It is not fun to purge the mind of sinful thoughts. When you are serious about the battle and start to purge the mind of sinful thoughts you quickly find out just how totally, utterly, indescribably sinful we truly are. I had this event happen in my own life a few years ago. I grew up in a strong Christian home, went to church every time the doors where open, but I was constantly defeated by sin. Once God grabbed hold of my life and shook my out of my slumber I started purging my mind of sin - and the more I purge, the more I find.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 there are two kinds of purging to take place. First of all there is the individual purging of our minds. Paul tells us that he is, and we should be example of him, "taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Think about that for a moment - taking EVERY thought captive. Have you ever tried to do that? If you were told that the Christian life was easy, you were lied to. We are suppose to taking every thought captive because Satan is prowling around like a lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) and we are not to give the enemy an opportunity in our lives (Eph 4:27). We can never rest, never stop and never think it is over. We are to be constantly purging our minds of the taint of sin. Secondly, not only are we to individually purge the sin from our own lives, we are suppose to be ready to punish disobedience within our own churches (vs. 6, Matt 18:15-17). This doesn't mean that when you disagree with someone you right away begin that you begin the Matt 18 process. This means that you have such close relationships with the body of Christ that when you see a brother or sister caught in sin you HELP THEM purge the sin from their lives. The entire concept of Matt 18 is to bring the brother/sister to repentance not to humiliate or judge them.

The Pondering of the New Mind

After we recognize there is a battle for our mind and after we purge our mind of the old sins we are to ponder something new. If we neglect this last step then eventually the sins will flood back into our lives. At the end of v. 8 Paul instructs us to Ponder the things he listed and to dwell on them. These things are to fill up our mind so that nothing of the old mind can come back in. So what exactly are we suppose to ponder?

1. Whatever is true.

As Pilot famously asked Christ - what is truth? What is Paul saying to think on whatever is true? Should we sit back in our lazy chairs think 2+2=4? Not at all - Psalm 119:160 says "The sum of Thy word is truth, And every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting." We should study His word and think about the truths that are in it. The times I feel the strongest against sin is when I find myself throughout the day pondering great truths of Scripture. Have you ever been working and at the same time been thinking about the doctrine of justification? Or when a brother is faced with a trial in their lives thought of Scripture that would encourage them? The Word of God is 100% sufficient for all that we will encounter in this life. We are told to mediate on the Word day and night (Psalm 1:2). We are told to hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11). And here in Philippians we are told to ponder it.

Not only is the Word of God truth, but we are told in John 1:14 that Christ and the Word are the same thing. A quick Sidebar: Think about that one…when you are reading the Word of God you are reading Christ! We have the in the Word the manifestation of Christ, so that even though we have never seen Him, we can still 'see' Him! Do we need any other reason to read the Word other than that? Furthermore, Christ says in John 14:6 that He Himself is truth. So when Paul says to ponder what is true he is saying to meditate on the Word of God and on the person and work of Christ.

2. Whatever is honorable

As if that wouldn't be enough to keep our minds occupied and free from sinful thoughts Paul gives us another thing to think on. Paul tells us to think on things that are honorable. Honor is really about something that is not talked much about these days - chivalry. This is a word that maybe are parents and grand parents new about but not us. Chivalry is by definition is that which is honorable or of valor. Moses for example showed chivalry by defending the seven daughters at the well from shepherds in Exodus 2:17. Husbands are commanded to have chivalry towards their wives and to treat them as a weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7). Psalm 135:3 tells us to sing praises to His name because it is lovely (honorable). When we think on His name and we think of honorable actions of people in the Word of God it draws us away from our flesh and towards the glory of our God.

3. Whatever is right

John 5:30 Christ makes the statement that " I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; And my judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent me." We should think on the fact that there will come a day when Christ will be come back as the glorious Judge of all men. If we truly longed for His appearing and His true judgment maybe we would live our lives a little less like the world.

4. Whatever is pure

Obviously nothing we do is pure….yet. There will come a time in future glory when after going through the fires of purification that we are pure - due to His work. Until that time anything that we think of in purity must be from above. Psalm 19:8 tells us that the commandments of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether. Part of mediating on the Word is thinking of His commandments. This goes beyond His 10 commandments (though just mediating on those are beautiful in themselves), but there is the great commission, the greatest commandment is love, to keep His commandments, the command to preach and teach, to be holy - that is certainly not an exhaustive list, but just an example of what it means to think of pure things.

5. Whatever is lovely

Only Christ is truly lovely. Everything else in this world compared to His name is anything but lovely. Psalm 135:3 instructs us to "sing praises to His name, for it is lovely." I would encourage during times of quiet private worship to the Lord to spend some time singing praises to His name. But what are we suppose to praise Him for? His name. It is such a simple command that it truly is lovely. In this complex world, sit back and think of His name. Take the time to look through Scripture to find all the different names for God - The great I Am, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Emanuel, Christ, Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, Prince of Peace, The Mighty One, God of my salvation, our refuge - that is just a few…think of the names of God and praise His for each one of them.

6. Whatever is of good repute

Everything else we have discussed has focused on the God and His work. It is clear to see that our focus in pondering is to be on the work of God. This last point is telling us that we should think of other people who have practiced thinking about what is true, honorable, right, pure and lovely. A person, or group of people, that thinks on those things will do amazing things for the glory of God. Paul is instructing us here to think about the good news in the kingdom. Colossians 1:4 Paul says "We have heard of your faith…." Phil 1:27 Paul says we "hear of you standing firm". The apostles where encouraged by the good works done in faith by other Christians. In this day of all the false teachers, man focused churches and worldly so-called Christian living there really isn't much to think on - but there are great things being done in the kingdom. Can you think of any church that is remaining faithful to God honoring teaching - think on their work! Is there a believer you know that is brining glory to the Lord - think about what they are doing! Whatever is going on of good repute within the Kingdom today, we should think of it and give God glory for it.

One thing here in closing, have you picked up on the common thread through everything in Phil 4:8? What is true? Christ. What is honorable? Christ. What is right? Christ's judgment. What is pure? Christ's commands. What is lovely? Christ's' name. What is of good repute? Work done for Christ. Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is what we are ultimately to be pondering. As I continue in this journey I have become increasingly more intrigued by the work of Christ in my salvation. It seems I find Him everywhere in Scripture. I can not escape Christ. His work for me is unfathomable and I will never understand it. When we put labels on that work (whether it is the doctrine of soteriology, election, 5 points, TULIP, etc…) no matter how true they are, we lessen the glory of Christ's work. I am not saying we should not study those doctrines because they help us understand more of what He has done, but brothers and sisters, please don't ever allow a label to prevent you from seeing the bigger picture. Christ is everything! To Him be the Glory forever and ever. Amen.

HHMMM...what is it that Nova is missing?

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:22:42 GMT

I watched part of a show tonight on Nova that was telling the story of the search for the neutrino. You might be asking why would I be watching Nova, it clearly is a program that denies the existence of our God so of course their conclusions will be wrong. But we can learn from these studies as scientist try to understand the universe. As long as we view them through the lense of Scripture we will weed out the lies and half-truths. Remember that Daniel didn't refuse the education of the Babylonians. I personally like to watch these types of shows because it reveals how powerful and majestic our Sovereign Lord is. Fallen man is continually studying and trying to understand this universe. But without Christ they are grasping at straws.

Back to the neutrino - the neutrino is a particle in the universe that scientist discovered within the past century. Scientist believe that to understand the neutrino may be the key to understand where all matter came from, and thus where we came from. To quote the description of the show "Trillions of ghostly neutrinos move through our bodies every second without us noticing a thing. Yet without them the sun wouldn't shine and the elements that make up our world wouldn't exist. This program explores the 70-year struggle so far to understand the most elusive of all elementary particles, the neutrino." Wow! Sounds like we better get this figured out. At the end of this cool show with all these tests they have run and massive below ground, radiation free testing facilities what was their conclusion - We just don't know what these things are but they are important and could hold the key to the big bang. They even said that they didn't know what held these things together. Man, talk about missing the mark.

What is holding them together? Nova doesn't know, but we know the rest of the story...

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" Colossians 1:16-17

I praise our Creator God that is infinitely more intelligent and powerful then us. Through all of man's study we have not even begun to understand His universe.

By the way...I posted this quick post because someone reminded me that it has been April since my last post. Sorry about that, things have been busy. I plan to get back on track here shortly.

BANISHED!

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 23:57:24 GMT

"Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions in regard to all their sin; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness." Lev 16:21-22

In my last post I talked about the importance of remembering Christ's resurrection to our redemption. Today I would like to look at one part of the pain of His death that is often overlooked. During this season all across this country many will hear the sermon of how Christ became our Passover, and that is certainly true. For it says in Hebrews 9:22 that "without the shedding of blood their is not forgiveness of sins." and in Hebrews 10:12 that Christ "offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.." There is something else that seems to be required for sin - banishment. In Leviticus 16 the Lord gave to Moses the Law of the Atonement and included in that along with the shedding of blood is the scapegoat. There were two goats used during the service - one was sacrificed and the other was banished from the city, but they where considered one offering (just as our Savior was one offering). Before it would be banished from the city the high priest would lay his hands on the head of the goat and would confess the sins of the nation of Israel and transfer those sins to the goat. Then one of the other priests would escort the goat outside of the city left to wander outside the gate.

Outside the Gate

When Christ was in the garden before he was 'betrayed into the hands of sinners' we initially think that the agony that He was going through was because He knew that He was going to be crucified. As child I can remember reading this and thinking about what it must of felt like to feel that pain of the cross. But as sickening as it is, thousands of Jews were crucified by Rome. In fact the famous Jewish historian Josephus says that during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD Titus was at a time crucifying 500 Jews a day. It wasn't that He was going to have to endure the physical pain (for many had done that already), He knew that He, being sinless, was going to have the sins of all who would believe cast on Him and He would shed His blood for them, but also He would be banished from the Father's presence.

In Matthew 27:46 when Christ cries out from the cross "My God, My God, why hast though forsaken Me?" By being forsaken, Christ was left behind. He had taken on our sins and was banished from the city. For the first time since eternity past there was true separation from Father. During His walk on earth we see many places were Christ communed with the Father, the Spirit or angels - but now He was alone. Hebrews 13:12 says "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate." He endured the fate that would have been ours, a final separation from God that could never be overcome.

Inside the Gate

But our Savior didn't stay outside the gate! With the power of His resurrection all authority was given to Him. Christ overcame death as it says 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." As another proof to Christ's absolute Deity only God could overcome that separation, both physical and spiritual. And if He had not overcome that separation we would have to endure it.

What has Christ's victory over death and banishment given us?

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:9

"Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:7

"And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord." 2 Corinthians 6:18

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household." Ephesians 2:19

"for you are all sons of the light and sons of day, We are not of night no darkness." I Thessalonians 5:5

We are not only citizens of the kingdom but we are heirs with Him. Christ's banishment and subsequent resurrection opened the door for us to enter the gate into the kingdom which would have otherwise been shut to us. Only the One that has the authority to open the gate could let us in. And that One was none other than Jesus Christ the name by which men must be saved. So in the closing moments of this Passover season lets us remember that Christ bled to remove our sins, was banished so that we were not and was raised that we may enter into life, hope and His eternal Kingdom.

From Rags to Riches

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:45:42 GMT

"And he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, 'Remove the filthy garments from him.' Again he said to him, 'See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.' Zechariah 3:4

During this time of year we pay special attention to the death and resurrection of our Lord. But sadly for many Christians they think of His resurrection only during this time of the year. But the resurrection of Christ is just as important to our salvation as His atoning work on the cross (Heb 10:14). A closer look at this transformation from filthy garments to festal robes is truly an Easter miracle.

Filthy Garments

One Easter when I was a child I was participating in an Easter egg hunt at the church we were attending- that's right at church. I was about 10 years old and didn't know any better so please forgive my ignorance, I have since repented. It was the first time I was asked to hid eggs for the younger kids. I couldn't believe I had finally reached the pinnacle of my young existence, I was no longer the one finding the eggs I was hiding I was the big guy on campus hiding them. In my exuberance of the day I thought I would be sneaky and hid one egg up in a tree. I climbed the tree with ease and gently nestled the tiny egg in a pocket made by the branch. Thrilled with my trickery I started to descend back to solid ground. As I took a step back the branch I was standing on snapped and I plummeted to the ground. As if that was not bad enough I landed right in the middle of a giant mud puddle. There I was crying and my new Easter outfit covered in mud. The outfit was beyond cleaning. My mother stained sticked it, washed it and tried all the mommy magic but to no avail.

But there is a far worse story that each of us have to share and it is one that we all have in common. Isaiah 64:6 states "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." And just like my outfit this one can not be cleaned. Instead we try to walk around masking the dirt and filth. We put on outer garments to cover up the dirty robe, but down deep in our soul we still have the filthy rags on. No matter what country or denomination you or I were born into we were born as an enemy of God. If we would die with that garment of sin, we would spend an eternity in judgment in an eternal hell. No matter how much we try to cover it up, even if we are teachers or pastors, if the garment of our soul has one speck of dirt on it we would hear that crushing judgment from Christ "depart from me you worker of iniquity I never knew you."

But praise God for Romans 5:8 for while we were enemies Christ died for us. Furthermore vs. 9 says that we are justified by His blood. Hebrews 9:14 says His blood cleansed us from dead works. But what happened truly on the cross. Did the God just accept it and absolve the sin. What kind of a just God would that be? 2 Cor 5:21 states "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf..." Its clear that Christ's death took away our filthy garments by taking those garments on Himself. But is that enough?

Festal Robes

We all know and believe that Christ rose from the dead (at least I hope so). But what if all He did was die for us, would that be enough for us to enter into His presence for eternity? It is his resurrection that gives us His festal robe. If He wasn't powerful enough to raise from the dead He would not have the authority to give us His robes.

"For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5:10

We focus so much on our Saviors death that we tend to downplay the resurrection as Christ and its necessity in our final sanctification and glorification. If He would not have raised from the dead we would have no righteousness. While His death removes our debt, His resurrection gives us living hope (I Peter 1:3). So what would be our state if there was no resurrection?

Faith in vain - I Corinthians 15:14 says "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is vain." Not only would it be useless to preach, it would be useless to have any faith. Furthermore, vs. 17 says that our faith would be worthless.

Still in sin - I Corinthians 15:17 states that if there was no resurrection then we would still be in our sins. So Christ's death would have been deemed incapable of taking away our sins if He would have not risen.

Pitiful men - I Corinthians 15:19 goes on to say that we would be the most pitied men of all. There is a progression of reality without a resurection shown here in I Corinthians 15. Paul starts out by saying that our faith and what we believe would be in vain. He continues to tell us that if there was no resurrection that we would be stuck in our sins unable to break free from power of sin. A man that is still in his sin but has a faith that he will be freed from those sins in something that has not the power to give the freedom of sin is a pitful sight.

So in summary if there was no resurrection of Christ we would be worthless, pitiful and stuck in our sins men and women. But I Cor 15:20 says that Christ was the first fruits of those who are asleep. Because He rose from the dead to everlasting life so will all those who repent of their sins and trust in Him. This Easter season as we celebrate His death and resurrection lets not let this be a once a year celebration but give Him the praise every day of our lives.

Sola Scriptura (unless I don't like it)

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:50:00 GMT

"The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting." Psalm 119:160

Before you go postal on me and think that I have committed some sort of heresy - this is a confessional post. In my last post I made the argument that feet washing was not a cultural specific event and that the Church should still be practicing it today. In writing it something struck me about why then do I say that other portions of Scripture are cultural, or even worse some I just ignore. I unashamedly hold to the perspicuity, authority and inerrancy of Scripture. You can have the hermeneutics of humility, traditional hermeneutic or no hermeneutic. All I know is that if God saved me without having a seminary degree why would I assume I need one to study His Word now? Then again maybe you have to go to seminary to discover the Word of God is not clear. Is there a place for theologians, absolutely, and I praise God for them and I use them often. To me the issue is not whether Scripture is perspicuous (seems to be the word of the week), it is whether I am willing to bring my life under the submission of the Word. If it is a difficult passage (which I believe is actually few and far between) then withhold a decision on it until the Spirit gives you understanding. But for the vast majority of Scripture we need to just submit to the simple interpretation that is obvious.

That said, why then do I not follow what seem to be simple commands of God in Scripture. Sometimes I just flat out don't want to because of my flesh and sometimes I try to say it was cultural and doesn't apply to today. Here is a sampling of what I mean:

"And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger…" Eph 6:11. I find myself doing this more often then I would ever want to admit. Even worse is every time I do it this verse comes to my mind. Why then do I continue to provoke them to anger? It's because I haven't not yet brought my flesh into submission in this area.

"Do the work of an evangelist" 2 Tim 4:5. Well, not me. I mean that was written to Timothy and he was a pastor. It's a pastors job to evangelize or someone that has the gift right? I wish, we are all called to evangelize. True some are more gifted then me, but that doesn't excuse me from having to do it.

"Confess your sins one to another" James 5:16. How many of this really do this? We tell ourselves that we can't be confessing our sins to everyone because then someone will know our sins. That's right. They will. That's the point, we are less likely to sin if we are accountable to someone. The more open we are about our sin the more likely we are to mortify it.

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed" 2 Tim 2:15. I study God's Word, but am I diligent? No. How many times to I watch a useless program on TV or even read a good book instead of studying diligently His word so that I can accurately handle it.

"Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" Eph 4:1. There is no one that can do that, I mean who can actually walk in a manner worthy of our salvation? At least that's what I try to tell myself when this verse is brought to my mind (usually when I am about to sin…)

"But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying, disgraces her head." I Cor 11:5. This is one I never thought much about until lately. I, like so many other people, have said in the past it was a cultural thing and doesn't really apply today. But why do I say feet washing is not cultural or verse 4 is not cultural and men should take their hats off when praying, but suddenly verse 5 is cultural? Read here for a pro-head covering view and here for a non-head covering view. Both are excellently written and thought provoking. Then study your Bible and make up your own mind. Only once your mind is made up don’t be guilty of sinning against your conscience if your are convicted that woman should wear head coverings (Rms 2:4-5), or if you don't think it is applicable don't look down on those who do (Rms 14:2-6). But just in case you think a woman needs to wear a head covering when praying click here.

Well, that is my list - what's yours? That's a rhetorical question, I am not looking for you to spill your guts here. I am sure there areas in your life you know are not under the authority of God and His Word. I would encourage you (and me) to admit them to the Father and ask for help to become more like Christ and less like our old nature.

Is feet washing no longer culturally relevant?

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:10:03 GMT

"Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded….If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." John 13:5,14

Did our Savior really mean to literally wash one another's feet? Is this something that us Brethren took too literal? The Lord's Supper is mentioned in Matt 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-18, John 13:1-17 and I Cor 11:23-29. But the feet washing is only recorded in the passage of John. Does this lack of citing by other passages indicate that it is something that is not to be administered? To quote the Apostle Paul - "May it never be!"

The lack of multiple references to an event in no way means that the practice should not be adhered to. We need to look into the passage itself to decide if it is a practice that the church should still be doing today. Most people interpret this portion of Scripture as symbolic in that Christ was instructing them to be as humble in service towards each other has he was demonstrating through the feet washing, but I believe there is more to it than that. The three-fold communion is the complete symbol of our new relationship in Christ - justification, sanctification and glorification. Justification is what has happened in the past and is represented by the bread and the cup. They are the pictures of the work that Christ did on our behalf and we are told to "do this in remembrance of Me." Glorification speaks of what the future end product of our salvation will be (Rms 8:30, Rev 19:7-9). This, sadly, is where most denominations stop, but do you see that they are missing the picture of our sanctification, the need for the ongoing need for present work of sanctification.

During the meal when Christ was washing the feet of the disciples Peter tried to stop our Lord from washing his feet. When the Lord told him the need for the washing of feet Peter wanted his whole body washed to which the Lord replied "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet." We are bathed when we are made right before God and what Jesus is saying that we need to have the continuing work of sanctification in our lives as well. Furthermore, he stated if John 13:8 that if he doesn't do it then you have no part of Christ. That doesn't mean that if you don’t do feet washing you have no salvation in Christ, but it does mean that a life that has no fruit or evidences of sanctification - which feet washing represents - is a life that is possible one that has never been justified (James 2:17).

In verse 14 Christ says "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." The greek word for washed is "Nipto" which is a verb meaning to cleanse. That word is used 9 other times in the new testament and each time it means a literal washing, never is it figurative or symbolic. Even more interesting is in I Timothy 5:10 it states as one of the criteria for putting a widow on the list if she "washed the saints feet." In the list of what the widow had to do he lists this as one of the criteria that she literally had to wash the saints feet. Christ also says that we "ought" to do this. The word ought is "Ofelio" which is to owe or be in debt for that which is due. It is more than a suggestion rather it is an obligation or command.

In verse 15 Christ states that he did this as an example and that they should do as he did. He is not referring to an act of humility but just as the entire night was symbolic in the love feast and the bread & cup, so to was the feet washing. Our savior was commanding them to follow the example of the total picture of our salvation - past, present and future.

It seems clear to me that this is no picture of humility, rather it is part of an institution that was began by our Lord on that Passover night. I pray that more churches would see the importance and need to participate in a three-fold communion. So is it still culturally relevant to wash the saints feet? Absolutley, for it is a vital symbol and reminder of the completed work of Christ.

Shepherd's 2007

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:47:00 GMT

I just got back from a glorious trip to California for the Sheperds Conference put on by Grace Community Church (John MacArthur's church). It was to say the least outstanding, incredible and amazing. Though I was in physical discomfort the entire time as my back injury refuses to get any better, I was spiritual blessed. You can read about the sessions here and get a list of the books we got here.

Instead of detailing each day I will detail the best and worst memory of the trip. First the best memory -- Steve Lawson preached on Wednesday and for the second year in a row it was my favorite sermon of the year. If you have never heard him preach click on the link to download his sermons. This year he preached from Acts 2:14-36 with a sermon entitled "The Passion, Power and Purity of Apostolic Preaching". He began by pointing out two deadly dangers facing preaching today: first, is the devaluing of preaching itself. Second, is the lifeless lectures some preachers give. There are a lot of preachers (and I have heard my share) who may have all the cross references and all the right things to say, but there is no passion in the preaching. He then went on to layout 4 marks of Apostolic preaching:

1. Bold and Authoritative (Acts 2:14)

- In this verse it says that Peter was "taking his stand", "raised his voice", "declared truth" and instructed them to "give heed" to his words. Peter demanded attention and authority.

2. Text Driven message

- Peter quoted 5 OT writings in this portion of Scripture
- 5 Keys to a text driven message
Read the text (vs 16-21)
Explain the text (vs 22-24)
Support the text with other text (vs 25-28, 30, 31, 34-35)
Synthesize (summarize) the text (vs 36)
Apply the text (vs. 37-38 told to repent, vs 40 he kept exhorting them)

3. Christ centered

v 22 - Christ approved by God
v. 23 - Christ's death determined by God
v. 24 - God raised Christ
v. 31 - Christ's resurrection
v. 36 - God mad Him Lord

4. Heart Piercing (v. 37)

The people where "pierced to the heart". Powerful preaching needs to inflict gospel wounds. Peter believed that if he would uphold the text, God would be honored and call sinners (v. 39)
"Preach as a dying man to dying men" - Richard Baxter

OK, with a sermon like that and 3 days full of God glorifying preaching how could anything go wrong?? It actually all started a couple of weeks ago when my back starting acting up. By the time I reached California after setting on an airplane for 5 hours my back was worse. In fact, it was painful to walk, sit and sleep. But that is nothing compared to the flight home. As we were boarding there was an empty seat beside me and then a girl had the window seat. A man in his twenties gets on the plane and kind of stumble's around until he unfortunately finds his way to the empty seat beside me. As he is trying to take his seat he trips over my feet to which he exclaims "why ya trying to trip me man?" He then falls back into the seat, body smelling of alcohol and says to me "You probably don't want me setting by you do you man" and I promptly answered honestly. He moved back with a friend and I notified the flight attendant that he was drunk. They ended up taking him and his buddy off the plane. As he was being taken off the plane he walked by me and put his middle finger right in my face and said "BLANK you man" Although he didn't say blank....He came stumbling back onto the plane a few minutes later (without his friend) and after a few minutes of searching and asking passengers he found a seat for the flight. As we were flying he was requesting alcohol to drink and they would not give it to him. He became a little irate and was making statement about suing the airline. In an attempt to protect themselves, the airline had me fill out a statement about noticing he was drunk.

But that's not all!!! About an hour into the flight an older gentlemen was standing waiting to use the restroom, which was right in front of us. He looked as if he was going to hurl all over the place. As I closed my eyes and started thinking how to quickly jettison myself out of the path of anything coming I opened them to see him passing out falling on the floor of the plane. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to revive him the flight attendants made an announcement asking for anyone with medical training to aide. They finally got him revived and were concerned he was having a heart attack. After about 30 adrenaline filled minutes it was decided he would be ok and we didn't have to make an emergency landing. Instead he laid on the floor in the exit row until we landed.

So where was my traveling partner during all this? He was about 5 rows in front of me and slept through everything dreaming of in-n-out burgers I guess...

Sanctify Thyself

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 02:27:39 GMT

"Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" - II Tim 2:21

Continuing to piggyback off of my last post I wanted to dig a little deeper into the struggles I - and for that matter you - face. Why is that we fall into sin, even after we are redeemed and made a new creation in Christ? I mean if God is sovereign and is completely responsible for my justification, isn't he completely responsible for my sanctification as well? If He is, and I struggle does that mean that he is somehow incapable of empowering me to live a perfect life? Before you start posting entries on your own blogs about the heresy off Matt McGriff please be assured that is not what I am saying. The problem we fall into is that we confuse our responsibility in justification with our sanctification. God still gets the praise for our sanctification (I Cor 1:30, Hebrews 13:12), but I believe that there is a big difference in our involvement in the process. So what's the difference?

Justification

Definition: Being declared righteous before God.

Scripture makes it clear that I was so dead in my sins that God HAD to be the sovereign irresistible link in my salvation. I could not respond to his call if it was not for His intervention. I have heard it said many times that before our salvation we are like drowning people in the ocean and that God throws out a life preserver to save us and that we could not save ourselves. But I think scripture teaches a dramatically different imagery. We were not drowning in the ocean, we were dead rotting corpses (Rms 5:12; Eph 2:1-3; Titus 1:15). God didn't send out a life jacket to save us, he used a gaffing hook to yank our lifeless bodies out of the gripes of hell and breath new life into us. Furthermore, I believe that Scripture teaches that even though I need to respond to the call and repent, that even that repentance is from God (Acts 16:14, Acts 11:8). Therefore, when it comes to my justification I have no involvement. I can say nothing and take no boasting in it (Eph 2:8,9).

Sanctification

Definition: Growing in the moral likeness to God.

But what about my sanctification? Am I completely uninvolved in that as well? Is God just as sovereign and irresistible in my sanctification as he is in my justification? Even though God still gets all the praise for my growth, scripture teaches that a redeemed man has far more to do with sanctification then he does justification. When God did the miraculous saving work of giving us new life, He gave us the ability to do something we never could before - We could develop His character and likeness. Many of us (especially those who would call themselves Calvinist) have this idea that the sovereign God not only is going to redeem us but he is going to cause us to be sanctified as well, all we have to do is sit back and wait. Then we wail and cry in agony that we are not growing in Christ and ask why hasn't God caused me to change - we wait for that miraculous event to take place where we wake up one morning and we no longer struggle against our sin and we are holy saints living for Christ. But He has already given us what we need in a) redeemed life and b) the Holy Spirit. Our command is not pray that God will make you holy, it is "BE Holy for I am Holy". Do you see that, it is our charge to use the gifts of a new life and most importantly the Holy Spirit to begin to make the change to become more like Christ. But how do we do that?

I am tempted at this point to come up with the 5 points of Sanctification, but I am neither smart enough or bold enough to tell God how many "points" there should be. Nonetheless here are some things we can do to aide in the sanctification process.

Determination
Set your mind to do the will of God and obey his commands. My wife has been asking me for months to fix the floor in our living room, but until I decide to do it and make it a priority that annoying gap in the wood floor will remain. If we don't determine in our minds and heart we will never do anything.

"But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the kings choice food or with the wine which he drank" Daniel 1:8a

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord , and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel." Ezra 7:10

"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" II Cor 10:5

Study

Is the deep study of the Word of God only meant for the pastor or theologian? He doesn't expects us common lay people to study does He? YES he does!!! (Acts 17:11, Rms 15:4) In this day and age we expect to be spoon feed doctrine by the pastor on Sunday's and perhaps a mid week study. We don't want to turn of the TV to study, besides that we think we don't have the training to study the right way. True, we might not all be John MacArthur, John Piper or RC Sproul - but with the power of the Holy Spirit we can study on our own as well.

The writer of Hebrews chastised the recipients in Heb 5:12 for their lack of growth and knowledge of Scripture. He expected them to be teaching the Word instead of still needing basic instruction. Romans 12:2 says "And do not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." It is not that we are to be nonconformist we are to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. RC Sproul says of this renewing your mind that "This means nothing more and nothing less than re-education. Serious education. In-depth education. Disciplined education in the things of God. It calls for a mastery of the Word of God. We need to be people whose lives have changed because our minds have changed. We need the 'mind of Christ' and value the things he did and despise the things he did. This cannot happen without a mastery of His Word."

Obedience

As we continue in the study and re-education by the word we are commanded in scripture to obey the commands in Scripture. But we many times overlook the fact that it is "I" who needs to obey them. We are not called to nonconformity, we are called to a transformation

"Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of Hosts." Jer 15:16

There are many more verses that talk about being obedient to the Word. But just as important to obey God's word is what we do when we don't. If you are like me when I sin against the Lord I tend to not deal with. But we are commanded to be blameless by keeping a short account with God. He knows that we are going to continue to sin, albeit our frequency and degree of sin will decline over time if we are truly justified. But He expects us to confess our sins to Him continually (I John 1:9). If we choose to continue to disobey His Word, we run the risk of being chastised by Him. (Jn 15:2, I Cor 11:32). Until recently, I thought of the discipline of the Lord as some horrible thing that would happen in your life to set you back on track. But isn't the little course corrections we sense from the Holy Spirit discipline too. Have you ever been going down the path of committing a sin and you not only sense the Spirit conviction but there are times where he puts roadblocks up to keep you from sinning. Sometimes we heed those roadblocks but sometimes we continue on. Then maybe another, more obvious roadblock to the sin appears - each one of these are in fact discipline or chastisements from the Lord. He loves us and is trying to prevent us from sinning. We should never want the full discipline of the Lord, what person would want that?

Labor

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law." Gal 5:22-23

Start practicing the fruits of the Spirit and your Christian conduct (I Thess 5:12-22). Don't do them to earn favor, do them because of the mercy God extended to you. Be conscience of your actions always looking for ways to become more like Christ.

It says in Phil 2:12 to work out your salvation in fear and trembling. In the MacArthur study Bible the notes on this verse says "literally 'to continually work to bring something to fulfillment or completion'. It can not refer to salvation by works, but it does refer to the believers responsibility for active pursuit of obedience in the process of sanctification." Man, I guess I could have saved a lot of typing on my part and reading on yours just by putting that in the beginning of this post and not the rest of my jumbling of words...but then again it proved my point on studying - I do not have the gift that MacArthurs has, but in my own way and study God brought me to the same understanding.

So the next time we are wondering why God isn't causing us to grow before we blame Him let's first take a look at ourselves.