Roger and Ruth's Blog

Tim Graduates

2008-12-25T13:50:00.002-05:00

Tim graduated from UD on Saturday. Here is a video I found that shows some of the graduation

Air Force Marathon

2008-09-22T20:26:00.005-04:00

It was great to see both my son and daughter in the weekend events at Wright Pat Air Force Base in Ohio.

The video below shows the start of the race.

It was E's first time to ever attempt such a thing and we are so proud of her. Here's a couple of pictures:

Here's the before and after.

Then on Saturday T ran the whole marathon. It wasn't his best time, but what an accomplishment!

Here's T partly through the race and then he's almost through after more than 6 hours!

Congratulations to both of you! We are very proud of your determination and persistance.
As T told us, you don't understand Hebrews 12:1 unless you've done this. "Let us lay aside every weight and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..."

Faithful Men: Satan's Counterfeits

2008-01-14T21:30:00.000-05:00

Faithful Men: Satan's Counterfeits

I'm using this link to test out the back link feature. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Only One Blog at a Time

2007-09-11T21:06:00.000-04:00

I had intended for this blog to contain thoughts about the Christian faith and life in general along with biblical studies along the way, but I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with one blog let alone two. So I'm going to let this blog sit unattended for a while. Here is a link to my active blog: Faithful Men

Only One Way?

2007-05-06T16:08:00.000-04:00

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Most of the time we are careful to point out the fact that there are not many ways to God, but only one. I think this verse also makes it clear that a way exists. Many people in our day have the mistaken notion that there are many ways to God and that as long as someone is sincere in what he believes, he’s home free. Jesus, of course, contradicts that belief by what He says here. However He is also making it clear that there is a way. Other people today believe that there is no way. No way exists to either know or reach eternal life. Eternal life probably doesn’t even exist according to them. However, Jesus refutes both ideas with one statement, “I am the way….”
There are some people I know who believe that Jesus was a great person, a good teacher and moral example. If you think about it carefully though, what conclusion should we come to when someone claims that He is the only way to God. He goes so far as to elaborate on this at the end of the verse so that there can be no mistaking what He is saying. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Can there be any respect for a great teacher and moral leader who makes this claim if it isn’t true? If Jesus is not God as He claimed to be, then He is not worth following at all.

An Untroubled Heart?

2007-05-03T06:28:00.000-04:00

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1. This is an amazing statement when you think about the fact that just in the last chapter, verse 21 John describes Jesus this way, “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit…” At the tomb of Lazarus the Bible says that “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.”

Why can Jesus tell us that we should not let our hearts be troubled and yet within the last few chapters Jesus is described as being troubled in His heart? I think a partial answer can be found in the fact that Jesus is described in Isaiah 53:4 as having borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We are told to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us. First Peter 5:7. He has promised to be with us and to meet our needs. He has carried the burden of sin for us so that we would not have to.
I don’t mean to imply that if we could apply our Christian faith properly we would have no troubling of heart and no cares. I can’t conceive of that situation. Maybe my faith isn’t as great as it should be. But I think we should take comfort in the fact that “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” As a result, we may “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15, 16.

Love One Another

2007-04-28T20:12:00.000-04:00

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is the what Jesus tells His disciples in John 13 shortly before going to the cross. The level of love commanded here is quite amazing. We are love each other just as Christ loved us. What did He do for us? He considered Himself of no reputation and took on the form of man and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2)

This is the kind of love we are to have for one another. That same chapter of Philippians verse 4 tells us to look out not only for our own interests but also for the interests of others esteeming others better than ourselves.

When we look at the characteristics of love given for us in 1 Corinthians 13 we find that love suffers long and is kind. Love is not boastful or envious. It doesn’t put on airs and is not puffed up. It does not behave rudely nor seek its own way. It is not provoked and does not think evil of others. It’s relatively easy not to speak evil of others, but not to think it?!

What a challenge for us who call ourselves Christians to realize that this kind of love is the target we are aiming at. Jesus told the disciples in John 13 that everyone would know our connection with Christ as His disciples by the evidence of this kind of love.
I have a long way to go.

A Picture of Humility

2007-04-23T20:35:00.000-04:00

The picture Jesus used to illustrate humility is interesting to me. There are probably other things He could have used if all He was trying to teach was the need for humility. In this instance, though, He used a cleansing process. To me this shows that what we do for one another is a type of spiritual cleansing. We are our brother’s keeper. Not in a pride, arrogant and pharisaical way, but in a humble serving way. James 5:16 tells us that we are to confess our faults to one another and thus be healed. Galatians 6:1 tells us that when a brother is overtaken in a fault, a spiritual person should restore this one with a spirit of humility. I Thessalonians 5:11 tells us that we are to edify one another. All of these verses speak of a humble cleansing process that Christians do for one another.

This, of course, takes a great deal of humility. It takes humility to receive admonition and spiritual advice from someone else. Just as Peter resisted, we often resist. We don’t need the help. We can do it on our own. Who do they think they are to give us advice or challenge our behavior?

It also takes humility on the part of the person reaching out to give the spiritual assistance. Jesus laid aside his regular garments and dressed like a servant. We should do the same when playing this role.

This cleansing or washing that we do for one another needs to be based on the Word. Ephesians 5:26 says about Christ that He “gave Himself for her {the church}, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” Our service to one another in the sense that I am writing about today is based on and uses the Word of God. We have not right to take our personal preferences and opinions and impose them on other people. Rather, we are to use the Word of God as the cleansing agent. It alone has the power to cleanse and change lives. We need to take the Word, make sure we have applied it to our own lives first (Matthew 7:3), and then gently and humbly help others in their walk with Christ. Paul had said in Philippians 1 that his purpose for having been left here on earth was for the progress and joy of faith of others. (vs 25) and that should be the same for us.

Wash My Feet? Never!

2007-04-21T18:57:00.000-04:00

This week I’ve been meditating on John 13:1-17 which deals with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. I’m not one of those who believes that this practice is literally to be practiced in the church, so I ask myself what exactly am I to learn from this account?

One of the first things that caught my attention was the illustration this is of Jesus’ step of humbling himself to come to earth to redeem us. Verse 4 says that he arose and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded himself. It struck me how similar this is to Philippians 2 where we learn that Jesus made Himself of no reputation, and taking the form of a bondservant, He humbled Himself. It seems to me that this event of washing feet is a picture of the grander event of Christ’s humiliation for us.

Peter’s reaction to all of this is interesting. First he says, “You will never wash my feet!” Then when Jesus tells him that if he doesn’t then he will have no part with him, Peter goes to the other extreme and asks for a complete bath. There is humility in receiving some service or gift from another. Jesus was willing to be humble enough to wash feet, but at first, Peter wasn’t humble enough to receive it. How many times have you been in a situation outside of your control where you needed to call someone to help you? Don’t you often look for any other possible way to accomplish the task without help? We so often try to be self sufficient and we don’t like the humble position of needing help. 2 Corinthians 8:14 tells us that our abundance is to be used to help someone else and then at some other time their abundance will be available to help us when we lack.

The Cross - Part 4

2007-04-07T14:07:00.000-04:00

Another result of the death of Christ is the fact that in His death, we have died to the law. To prove his point, Paul uses the example of marriage in Romans 7. I’m not going to quote all 6 verses here, but if you find a Bible and read this section, I’ll summarize it for you.

Basically what Paul is saying is that if a woman’s husband is alive, it would be adultery for her to marry another man. If however, her husband has died, that law no longer has jurisdiction over her. She is free to remarry.

The key point begins in verse 4. “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another.” In the same way that the woman in this illustration has been freed from the law because of the death of her husband, we too have been freed from the law through the death of Christ.

Galatians 2:19,20 says, “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ….” Do you see what Paul is saying here? It is through the law that I died to the law through Christ. It is the law that frees us from the law. It is the law which says that it applies to a man only while he lives. Since we have died with Christ, according to the law, we are not under the law any more.

The standards of God haven’t changed. His holiness hasn’t changed, but our relationship to Him and the law has changed. The law has no jurisdiction. If the accuser of the brethren (Satan) brings a charge against us and challenges God to punish us based on the law, I imagine God saying something like this. “The sins you have brought up are worthy of death according to the law. But this person has already died and so that law doesn’t apply to someone who has died. I can’t punish him with death again.” So even though God is holy and righteous, and though He expects us to live righteously, the law is not the means to accomplish that. (See the previous post.)

Paul tells us in two different places that sin gains its power from the law. In Romans 7:7, 8. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.”

In I Corinthians 15:56 Paul writes, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” Once the law has been put into its proper place and perspective, it can no longer give power to sin. In “O For a Thousand Tongues” the writer says, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin.” That’s the point here. Sin’s curse and power have been broken by Christ on the cross. Law’s accusatory finger can no longer point at us and charge us with anything because we are no longer under its dominion. We have died with Christ and been raised with Him and therefore are on the other side of the resurrection as far as God is concerned. Because of this sin’s power has been removed.

Some have great fear that when we start discussing the fact that we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the law that that will bring forth all sorts loose living. But we need to go back to what we read from Romans 6. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The answer is that we can’t. Some misunderstand what grace is. Titus 2:11 tells us that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and godly lives. Grace, forgiveness and freedom from law do not provide the occasion for loose living. They provide the strength and power to live godly lives.

The Cross - Part 3

2007-04-05T17:49:00.000-04:00

In addition to what we have seen in the last two posts, the Bible teaches us that if we know Christ as Savior, we died with Him when He died. This has tremendous implications both for our understanding of what we have in Christ and for our daily walk in victory.

Romans 6:3 says “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Ephesians 2:5,6 adds to this by saying, “even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

I believe that the baptism mentioned in Romans 6:3 is not water baptism, but the baptism of the Spirit which means that the Spirit immersed us into or placed us into the body of Christ. This is spoken of in I Corinthians 12:13 where it says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”

So since we have been placed into the body of Christ, God sees us as having died with Christ, risen with Christ and seated with Christ in heavenly places in Christ. This has great implications for our daily walk as Romans 6 teaches us.

If we go back to Romans 6:1 Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” His answer in verse 2 is that we cannot because how can someone continue to sin who has died to it? In what way have we died to it? We died to it when we died with Christ. Paul says in verse 6, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” That is a strong statement.

Sometimes sin seems to have so much power over us and we feel like we are its slave. But God tells us that if we are a Christian we have died with Christ and we have been freed from sin and its power. He goes so far as to say that the body of sin was destroyed or done away with. It certainly doesn’t feel that way does it? This almost makes it worse when we sin because we are doing so freely and we cannot blame our bondage to it and its power over us.

The key to victory is given in verses 10 and following. “For the death that He (Christ) died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” Now here’s the key, verse 11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead.” We are to count ourselves to be dead with Christ. We are to believe it to be true and to act accordingly. So much of the time we let our minds dwell on things that aren’t true. In this case we are to think on and reckon as true the fact that we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) We are to give ourselves to God as those who are past death and past the resurrection. As resurrected people we are to offer the parts of our body as tools or instruments to God for righteousness and we are to avoid presenting our bodies to sin as instruments or tools of unrighteousness. We may have given our bodies to sin before we died, but now that we are dead and resurrected, we are to be tools that God can use.

It’s interesting to look back at the passage in Colossians 3 that I quoted from earlier. The motivation for what we do is to be based on these truths. We are to seek those things which are above because we’ve been raised with Christ. We are to set our minds on the things above because “you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The next post will be related to our new relationship with the law because of our death with Christ. However, I might mention here that right thinking concerning our identity with Christ and our death with Him is the best and most effective motivation for right living.

The Cross - Part 2

2007-04-01T16:57:00.000-04:00

We’re thinking through some of the implications and results of Christ’s death on the cross for us. Last time we looked at His victory over Satan and sin. Today we consider the fact that the cross is different things to different people. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:18 ff that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Later in verse 23 he says that it is foolishness to the Greeks or Gentiles.

Isn’t that the truth in today’s sophisticated culture? The thought of God becoming a man in the first place seems like foolishness to most people today. To go further then and say that this one man’s death provided salvation for those who would come to Him by faith apart from works seems even more foolish.

Yet Paul quotes from the Old Testament and says that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. It was in the wisdom of God that He made it so that people could not come to Him through their wisdom, but through the “foolishness” of the message preached.

Besides being foolishness to the Gentiles, the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews. The Jewish nation was looking for a Messiah who would be a conqueror and release them from the Roman oppression and set up a kingdom on earth then and there. They missed what had been written in the Old Testament about the fact that the Messiah must come, suffer and die and be raised to life before any promised kingdom could be established. So for the Jews, the cross was a stumbling block.

“But”, says Paul, “to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” In verse 24 he says it this way, “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The cross is the central message we are to preach. So many churches today have abandoned the message of the cross and yet it is the central and most important message that must be preached. There is no other salvation than through Christ and His death, burial and resurrection.

The Cross - Part 1

2007-03-31T20:29:00.000-04:00

“ ‘Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ This he said, signifying by what death He would die.” John 12:30-33 (NKJV)

Over and over through the book of John, Jesus said that His hour had not yet come. Now the hour was at hand and He says that this is the time for the judgment of the world. The word for judgment is the word ‘crisis’. This was to be the pivotal moment, the watershed moment of world history.

This was the judgment of the world for several reasons. First this was the time when the prince of this world was judged. In addition, the punishment of sin was to be meted out on Christ at this moment and God’s just retribution against sin was satisfied. It also was a time of judgment because how a person received this teaching would be pivotal in his eternal destiny.

This Easter season of the year is an appropriate time to meditate once again on what was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Jesus said, “Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” His death and resurrection declared victory over Satan. Consider the following passages.

Hebrews 2:13 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The word “destroy” in this passage means to destroy, abolish or put away.

Colossians 1:13: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” When we trusted in Christ, the kingdom of which we were a part changed. We had been part of Satan’s kingdom, “children of wrath” as God called us. But when we were saved from sin by Christ, we were moved from Satan’s kingdom over to God’s kingdom, the kingdom of His beloved Son. Satan has one less person to reign over every time Christ saves someone.

Colossians 2:13, 14 “…He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

What an amazing couple of verses! We’ll talk further about our death to the law in a future post, but look at what has taken place here. If you are a believer, all your trespasses have been forgiven. The requirements that worked against you have been wiped out. There is no more condemnation. (Romans 8:1) Our sins are washed away as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against us again. What a promise!

He goes on to say in verse 14 that God has disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them through His cross. Satan has been defeated, disarmed and humiliated. What more could we ask for?

Galatians 3:10 says that “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Verse 12 says that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse of us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’)”.

Paul says in I Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” These verses get at the heart of the gospel. Christ became a curse for us; he was made to be sin for us. The result is that there is no curse for us and we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Him. As Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is what Paul said was his great desire. In Philippians 3:9 he writes, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” This is what the Jews missed. Romans 9:30 -33 tells us that the Jews pursued the law of righteousness, but it wasn’t the righteousness of faith given by God as a gift. God’s righteousness is given to us in place of our righteousness which are as filthy rags in God’s sight.

I guess the question you should ask yourself is, “Are you trusting in your own righteousness in order to be right with God, or have you received His righteousness?” He offers it freely to all who will repent and turn to Christ and believe the gospel. It is truly the good news that is the power of God for salvation.

CAMPONTHIS: Regeneration Precedes Faith...the transforming power of God-centered evangelism

2007-03-17T20:19:00.000-04:00

After writing my previous article, I stumbled on the following article posted last Saturday on Steve Camp's blog. I thought it fit together well.

CAMPONTHIS: Regeneration Precedes Faith
...the transforming power of God-centered evangelism

Spiritual Life

2007-03-17T14:18:00.000-04:00

Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus came to the tomb. When Jesus asked them to move the stone that covered the tomb, Martha said, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Then He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

To me this is a wonderful illustration of the power of God in regeneration. The Bible teaches us that in our natural state we are dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph 2:1) “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.” (Romans 3:10, 11) God had told Adam that in the day he ate of the forbidden tree he would die. As a result “just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

How is one raised from the dead? Other than Christ who could raise himself from the dead, can anything dead give life to itself? It’s certainly not possible with physical life, how can it be any different with spiritual life?

How was Lazarus able to obey the command of Christ to come out of the tomb? Could he as a dead man have laid there and said, “No, I think I’ll just stay dead, thanks.” He perhaps could have decided to stay in the tomb, but he could not have decided to stay dead. The voice of God awoke him. So too the voice of God through the preaching of the gospel brings life to the spiritually dead.

Ephesians 2:4, 5 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” I Peter 1:23 says, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

Using a different metaphor in 2 Corinthians 4, Paul explains how the gospel is hid because the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of God should shine unto them. How is that blindness overcome? If as he writes elsewhere the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God because they are foolishness to him, how is that natural state of blindness and death overcome? The answer in 2 Corinthians 4:6 is this: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

In other words it takes the regenerating, life-giving, light-giving power of the Word of God to bring life to us. Everything else in the Christian life flows from this. All of those things that give evidence that life is present come from that life. Faith, hope, love, joy, etc. all flow from life miraculously granted to us by the Word of God.

Raising of Lazarus -- Part 2

2007-02-15T19:31:00.000-05:00

The next verse tells us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. This time the word for love is agape. This kind of love is selfless, purposeful, and places value on the person loved. Agape love does not usually stem from emotional feelings, but rather from purposeful action. Jesus therefore had both kinds of love for this family.

The next verse is difficult to follow because it appears to be attached to the verse we just discussed. Verse 6 tells us that for this reason, because of His love for them, He stayed two more days where He was. From our point of view it seems as though love would have driven Him to them sooner rather than later. Jesus seems to explain this somewhat in verse 15 where He tells them that He was glad (happy and rejoicing) for their sakes that He had not been there. Why? So that they might believe. He was more interested in their growth in faith than in the temporary feelings involved with having lost their brother.

Later on when Jesus arrives, (verse 21) Martha says to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” What does this tell us about Martha and her faith? To me it says that she believed that Jesus would have cured her brother if Jesus had been there. It also tells me that she might not be so sure that Jesus could raise Him from the dead. Except, when we continue reading, we see that she says that “even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You.”

She knew of Jesus’ power and His relationship with the Father and she knew that the Father would honor Jesus’ requests no matter what they were. When Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”, it’s almost as though she dared not believe that it was possible right now. She gave the “right” answer that he would rise again in the resurrection. But Jesus wanted her to see that He is the resurrection. He is life and has the power of life in himself. In fact Jesus said that in another passage that He had the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again. Think about that for a minute. It is one thing to believe that Jesus has the power to raise someone else from the dead. It’s a miracle of an entirely different order to raise oneself from the dead. But that is who Jesus is and what He is capable of. He is the resurrection and the life.

Raising Lazarus - Part I

2007-02-13T19:01:00.000-05:00

I’m sitting here thinking about the incident where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. We’re studying John 11 in our Sunday School class tomorrow and I’m wondering what needs to be emphasized from a passage that is so familiar. This incident involves a “certain” man from Bethany who was sick. The Bible claims that this is a true story. There was a certain man who became sick and then died. Jesus called that same man back to life again. The blind man had said, “I once was blind. Now I see.” This man will be able to say, “I once was dead. Now I live.”

When the sisters sent for Jesus they told him that the one he “loved” was sick. This kind of love is the word phileo or brotherly love. This is the kind of love that shows tender affection and kindness. Jesus had a tender love for this man.

Jesus’ response is interesting because He tells them that this sickness is not unto death, but rather is for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Shouldn’t this be the case in all of our trials? Our ultimate purpose in life is to bring glory to God. We say that so glibly and yet it is true. Therefore, when we are sick or going through some other trial it is so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. It may not involve a miracle of the level of raising someone from the dead, but it may be a demonstration of God’s tremendous grace at work in our lives showing those around that we have His peace and His joy even though the circumstance itself may be hard.

Christians and the Brave New World

2007-01-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

Tuinstra Blog 07

I’ve never tackled an on-line book review before, but I’m going to give it a try since it’s an important topic. The book is titled How to be a Christian in a Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel Cameron. The book was published in 2006 by Zondervan. I first became acquainted with Nigel Cameron and his work through Mars Hill Audio here.

The back cover introduces the book as follows, “Stem-cell research. Cloning. Genetic engineering. Today, discoveries in biotechnology are occurring so rapidly that we can barely begin to address one ethical debate before another looms overhead. This brave new world we’ve entered is a daunting one as well, with disturbing implications for the sanctity of life and for human nature itself. How should we respond as Christians?

I’m going to leave the review of the literary qualities of the book to others who are more qualified than I. What I was interested in are the issues that Joni and Nigel put before us.

One thread that weaves itself throughout the book is the commodification of life. Commodification is the process of turning something into a “thing” to be investigated, bought, sold, manipulated, and improved-upon. When we turn the focus of technology on ourselves we become machines – things to be investigated and understood. At the beginning this seems harmless enough until we begin to patent our genes, create embryos for tissue transplant and manipulate our basic genetic makeup.

Late in the book the authors summarize their points by using the three words: take, make, and fake.

By “take”, they mean the taking of life, i.e. abortion and euthanasia. I’m quite familiar with the basic arguments related to abortion, but what I didn’t realize is that the discussion now centers on creating embryos for the purpose of killing them for embryonic stem cells or to select the characteristics the parents want in their offspring. When in vitro fertilization is used, extra embryos are usually created and a selection process may be used to choose the embryo that has certain characteristics or that avoids certain inheritable syndromes. The acceptance of abortion has opened the door to thinking of these embryos as objects to be manipulated and exploited. Joni does a good job in making clear that no evidence exists for the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells whereas there has been quite a bit of progress using adult stem cells. It’s discouraging that the popular culture pins its hopes on the embryonic stem cells when there is no evidence that they’ll help.

One of the things that was new to me was the concept of eugenics. Eugenics is the philosophy of using genetics to breed superior individuals. Most of us know how this was used by the Nazis under Hitler, but what I didn’t realize is that there was a strong eugenics movement here in the United States. This movement more or less died away when Hitler’s atrocities came to light, but now it’s back using embryos as the subjects.

The second word, “make”, represents the developing ability to make designer babies. Certain genes have already been patented so that genetic screening of those genes generates royalties for the owners of the patent. In addition, the cloning of human beings is not too far down the road. Some are calling for cloning of humans to create embryos for research or to harvest their stem cells, but forbidding the bringing of a cloned baby to birth. Others want all cloning of humans banned entirely.

The third word, “fake” involves the merging of human life with technology, especially computer technology. Can we eventually understand enough about human consciousness in the brain to upload our consciousness into a computer so that when our body dies, our consciousness remains? What about enhancing brain power with computer chips? What if we could have the whole Bible available in our memory as a result of the synthesis of the biological with the technological?

At the end of the book, the authors bring up several interesting questions for discussion. Questions such as, “If cloning is ever successful, do cloned babies have souls?” “What if I have several frozen embryos – what should I do now?” Most of these are questions we are not used to thinking about and are not prepared to answer.

Hopefully this short review has made you aware of the issues that are before us. As Christians we need to be better prepared for this debate than we were for the abortion debate. God made us in His image. We are close to surpassing the attempt made at Babel not to construct a tower, but to create ourselves in any image we desire. Will God allow this? Are we prepared to enter the debate and take a stand for human dignity as created in God’s image and to oppose attempts to kill and mutilate the smallest humans among us? I strongly encourage every Christian to familiarize himself with the issues involved in this discussion and to prepare a biblically based response. Students in high school and college need to be able counter the secular, godless teaching found in so many classrooms. In my opinion this topic needs to be discussed thoroughly in our churches so that every Christian will know and understand the concepts, terminology and issues involved. How to be a Christian in a Brave New World is a good place to start the learning process.

Godliness + Contentment = Gain

2007-01-06T15:08:00.000-05:00

I don’t know if you make New Year’s resolutions or not. I tend not to because I’m not that good at keeping them. Having said, I think it is wise from time to time to evaluate where I’ve been and where I’m headed. Over the last several months I have been thinking about the characteristics we are diligently to add to our faith based on 2 Peter 1:5-8. Most recently I’ve been thinking about godliness. The definition of godliness centers on piety and spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation, worship, etc. That led me to 2 Timothy 6:6 which says, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself. The author of Hebrews says in 13:5: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

It is so easy for us to become enamored with the culture around us and the things that it says we need to be a significant person. Paul told Timothy that these two things in combination with each other were great gain. A life of spiritual focus on God and the things related to God along with contentment with what He has chosen to provide is a life of great gain.

May I encourage you to make these aspects of the Christian life a priority for you as you go through this year?

Judging-Summary

2006-12-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

Based on the study we’ve been having, here is my summary and conclusion. Don’t take my word for it. Go back and study the passages yourself. Maybe you’ll agree with me and maybe you won’t but at least you will have thought it through carefully.

1. Judging is more than issuing a verdict or condemning. It is sitting on the bench monitoring someone else’s life – scrutinizing and evaluating it.
2. Judging usually involves attributing motives. (In actuality we seldom really know motives.)
3.Judging does not take the growth process into consideration.
4. Judging often sets up personal standards as though they were God’s.
5. Judging even improperly evaluates what God’s standards are or what they mean.
6. Judging sets ourself up above the law. (See James 4)
7. Having strict personal standards is not judging.
8. Desiring holiness in my personal life is not judging.
9.Calling others to a life of holiness through teaching and preaching is not judging.
10. Having an opinion is not the same thing as judging.
11. Confronting a brother over sin or even disagreeing with them on an issue is not judging.
12. Judging usually involves a lack of forgiveness, a lack of mercy and a lack of pity.
13. Biblical judging usually focuses on discernment of the deed rather than judging the person.

Our effort to be obedient to Scripture in avoiding judging should not keep us from being involved in the lives of others. We are one body in Christ and we have a responsibility to one another to help, encourage and strengthen one another.

Discernment Required

2006-12-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

Another passage where believers are told to judge is in I Corinthians 10:15 where Paul tells his readers to judge what he says. This goes along with Acts 17:11 where we are told that the Bereans were noble because they searched the scriptures daily to determine whether or not what they were being taught was true.

But you may be wondering if some sort of judging of people or circumstances isn’t required of us. If we aren’t supposed to judge, aren’t we supposed to be discerning? Matthew 18 discusses the importance of confronting a brother who has sinned. If a brother sins against us we are to go to the person and confront him. It’s my observation that most of the time when we are “judging” we have no intention of going to the person to help them. We usually just intend to be critical of them and perhaps talk about them. In this situation described here, someone has sinned against us. It is not a matter of judgment, it is a matter of being on the receiving end of some sinful behavior.

Galatians 6:1 tells us that if a brother is overtaken in a fault, the one who is spiritual should restore that one with a spirit of meekness being careful lest he be tempted in a similar way. Here again the goal is restoration and will require our humble assistance not our critical judging.

Another passage that needs some discussion is I Corinthians 2:15 which says, “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.” Doesn’t this say that the spiritual person judges? The word for judge here is “anakrino” which means scrutinizes and investigates and discerns. The preceding verse uses the same word when it says that the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned. So, yes, the Christian is to judge in the sense of being discerning. I Thess 5:21 says something similar when it says that we should test all things and hold fast to that which is good. The Christian is to discern behavior and weigh consequences and compare behavior to Scripture. And yet there is a subtle difference between this and the kind of judging which normally takes place.

In previous posts I tried to visualize improper judging as a person putting himself up on the bench to watch and listen to evidence with the intention of rendering a verdict. It is not only giving the verdict that is improper it is the attitude of being above another person as their inspector and judge. Being discerning is different. It’s difficult to explain, but I think you can see the difference.

Yet another passage brought up to show that we should judge is Philippians 1:9-10. It says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,” The word for discernment is insight. The word for approve is to test or prove. So as our love increases, it should be a love that is insightful and discerning. It is not a love that just embraces everything and everybody. There is the need to test and prove things to make sure they are real. We as Christians are not to be undiscerning and careless, just accepting everything that comes along without any thought or insight.

Another passage which teaches the same thing is Heb 5:14 which says, “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Discernment is a good thing and our senses have to be exercised in order to become better at it.

The question becomes, then, how to do this without the judging that is forbidden. I would encourage you to ask yourself this question when you find yourself making judgments on another person’s behavior. Ask yourself this question, “If the kind of judging I’m doing now is biblical judgment or discernment, what would the forbidden judging me like in this case?” Sometimes our pride gets in the way and makes excuses for our improper judging because we somehow believe that we are more righteous or have it more together than the other person. However, if we can examine ourselves on this and see that we are merely making discerning observations and not being critical or “holier-than-thou”, then perhaps we’ve got it right.

In the final installment, I’ll give you my summary of all of this for whatever that’s worth.

Formal Judging Encouraged

2006-12-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

So having given consideration to the passages that tell us not to judge one another, let us turn to passages that tell us to judge. The thing that surprised me as I began to investigate this side of the issue is that there are very few verses that tell us to judge anything using the words “krino” or “katakrino”.

I Corinthians 5 tells us about the man in the church in Corinth who was living an immoral life with impunity as the church did nothing about it. Paul says that though he is absent, he has already judged this person. Then beginning in verse 11 he says, “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.””

One thing I find interesting here is that Paul says that he doesn’t even judge those outside and yet we tend not only to judge one another but also those outside. But back to our main issue here. It seems to me that judging is advocated in this case as a formal responsibility given to the church. The difference then between this kind of judging and that which is forbidden in the passages we’ve already studied is that as individuals we are not to take up the judging responsibility, but as churches we have that corporate responsibility.
In I Corinthians 6, Paul tells believers that they should not go to court against one another. He then tells us that if there is actually a dispute that needs to be resolved, shouldn’t believers be able to handle the case? In other words, it should be possible for the church to find believers who have the wisdom to judge in such a case. This is another case where the church officially takes the role of judging. In this situation there is to be a formal hearing to help resolve a dispute.

Don't Judge Before the Time

2006-12-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

The following post represents the sixth installment in my study of the Bible’s teaching on judging one another.

Passage 5 -- I Corinthians 4

“Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”

In this passage Paul explains that it is a small thing to be judged by anyone. In fact he does not even judge himself. He rightly recognizes that it is the Lord who judges him. Paul has told us in other places not to judge and here he tells us that he isn’t influenced or bothered by those who would seek to judge him. He knows there is one person who is the judge and there is a judgment time coming but it is not now and his judges are not other people. Because we know this is true, he says, “Therefore judge nothing before the time…” There is a judgment but now is not the time and therefore judging should not be taking place. The Lord, the judge, is coming and He will bring everything to light and judge righteously. When we first hear that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, our response is often one of fear. But the amazing thing to me in this passage is that when the hidden things of darkness and the counsels of the heart are revealed, each one’s praise will come from God. Not only is this true for us it is also true for our brothers and sisters in Christ. So when that judgment day comes and the hidden things come to light, God is going praise that one who we have been judging! Won’t that be a turn of events? I hope you realize that I understand that at the judgment seat of Christ there will be loss of rewards and some will be saved so as by fire. But the passage before us clearly says that when the hidden things are revealed each one’s praise – (that is EACH one) will come from God.

I hope that is both an encouragement to you and a challenge not to be so critical and judgmental of others.

In the next several posts we’ll examine in what ways the Bible teaches us to be discerning and we’ll discuss how that differs from the judging that is forbidden in the Scriptures we have been examining.

Judging in the gray areas

2006-11-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

What follows is the fifth installment in my study of what the Bible teaches about judging.

Passage 4: Romans 14

This passage deals with what I will call questionable activities. Some would say they are the “gray” areas. I’m not sure God has gray areas, but God hasn’t chosen to reveal everything about everything. In this chapter Paul deals with those who prefer to eat only vegetables in comparison with those who believe they are able to eat meat. Other believers treat every day as equal, while others believe some days are more special. Verse 3 and following says, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.”

Neither the one who eats nor the one who does not eat is supposed to despise, judge or look down upon the other. Both are to respect the other. The passage assumes (vs 6) that people on both sides of these issues are doing what they do for the Lord and to please Him. They both are thankful for the provision God has made for them. They stand or fall before their own master not before anyone else. That master is God. The interesting thing is that the next phrase which I left out of the quote above says, “He will be made to stand because God is able to make Him stand.” God is at work to strengthen and hold up all of His children whether they are the eaters or the non-eaters. The verse doesn’t say that God is trying to hold them up, it says that they will stand because He is able to make them stand. We, on the other hand, are often trying to trip up and cause people to be discouraged and to faint along the way because of our criticism. This is completely opposite of what God is trying to do.

The passage goes on to remind us that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. We will not give account of others – just ourselves. Because of this, verse 13 tells us not to judge one another any longer, but to resolve this – not to put a stumbling block in our brother’s way. It couldn’t be any clearer. Don’t judge one another any more.

Here then is the goal. We are to edify and build up, not tear down and trip up. In order to be successful in this goal we are not to judge each other any more.

Many times our judging, especially in these areas of questionable activities, stems from the opinion that our view of things is the right one. We tend to compare people with ourselves. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

Many of the standards we set up for ourselves may have been established for wholesome motives. We want to live holy lives and we want to grow and please Christ. However, we need to be careful even in this because as Colossians 2:13 – 23 tells us, the attempt to live a more stoic life (which I grant you is not the same as seeking to live a holy life) does nothing to restrain the flesh. Even though it doesn’t help, we not only attempt to live that way ourselves, but try to impose those standards on others. No wonder Paul told the Colossians, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Col 2:16, 17)
Now if you have begun to feel a drift toward liberalism as you have been reading this, go back to my introduction in the first post. God expects us to have standards and to be discerning. However, He is forbidding something here. The question we need to ask our self is this, “If the kind of discernment and critical analysis that is standard practice in my life is right and commanded by God, what exactly is He forbidding in these passages?” He is forbidding something. Stay tuned.

No Evil Speaking - James 4:11

2006-11-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

What follows is the fourth installment in my study of what the Bible teaches about judging.

Passage 3: James 4:11

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?”

Here the admonition is to not speak evil of one another. The next sentence puts judging and speaking evil of another in the same category. Even though we may not understand this sentence, it is very clear that the person who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. Doing so makes one a judge of the law and thus above the law. In our relationships with one another no one is above another. None of us is on the judicial bench investigating and evaluating another person’s life. The passage before us teaches us that there is one Lawgiver – God. Lifting ourselves above another and thus above the law is equivalent to putting ourselves on an equal footing with God. Is that really where we want to be? He is the one who is able to save or to destroy. Therefore who are we to judge one another?

James, almost as a passing comment says in 5:9, “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold the judge is standing at the door.” What a picture. Here we are grumbling against our brother and the true Judge of the universe knocks on the door. He is the one who has the true power to condemn or justify. We started this discussion with the word condemn. Here we see that just grumbling against one another is dangerous. Why, because it may bring the condemnation of the judge. Shouldn’t we be making sure our behavior will be pleasing to Him rather than lifting ourselves up to God’s level and finding ourselves condemned by Him?

Judge not, that you be not judged

2006-11-14T20:14:00.000-05:00

What follows is the third installment in my study of the Biblical teaching on judging.

Passage 2: Matthew 7:1

In this passage God tells us that whatever measure we use in judging others will be used in judging us. Therefore, we are to be careful to make sure that the plank is out of our own eye before working on the speck in our brother’s eye.

Here’s what the passage says in the NKJV: “1“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5“Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

The very first words are “Judge not.” Many of us cringe when we hear someone say this because it usually means that he is trying to get away with something and doesn’t want us to tell him where he is wrong. The reason not to judge is so that we would not be judged because whatever measure we use to evaluate others is the same measure that will be used to evaluate us. At first we might conclude that that would be fair, after all we don’t do the kind of things the other person does. However we need to remember what we learned in the last passage – we who judge do the same things. It might not be the same exact thing, but it is just as sinful in God’s sight.
In this passage we also learn that it is possible to help a brother with an issue in his life, but we have to have enough sensitivity to know that we may have something that is a hindrance in our own life and this should be taken care of before we presume to be able to help another. Galatians 6:1 tells us that if our brother is overtaken in a fault, those who are spiritual should restore such a person, but with care, knowing that we may be tempted and fall in the same way. Any attempt at helping another to see the sins or faults in his life must be coupled with a thorough examination of our own life along with a large portion of humility.

Judging - Passage 1

2006-11-13T20:25:00.000-05:00

What follows is the second installment of our series on judging.

Passage 1: Romans 1:28-2:1

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. 1Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” (NKJV)

The first thing to notice here is that the death penalty is appropriate for all of these sins, not just the ones that we deem more serious. The Pharisees rightly understood that the law of God requires death for adultery, although their motive for bringing her to Jesus was not justice, but tripping up our Lord. What the Pharisees failed to understand is that their sins were also worthy of death. Thus we understand from this passage that if we judge another, we are inexcusable because we do the same things. At first I rebelled against this thought because I figured that I was a pretty good guy. But this passage exposes us for what we are – sinners under judgment of death just like the person we judge.

James teaches the same thing in his book, chapter 2. He tells his readers that prejudice against the poor and in favor of the rich is wrong. He says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” So we understand that showing partiality is wrong. But not that wrong…right? Look at verses 10-13: “10For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

What I had never seen before is that not only is this passage teaching us not to show favoritism, it is also teaching us that showing favoritism makes us a law-breaker and thus guilty of the whole thing. Thus we are inexcusable as we judge others because we are guilty of the same thing. There must be mercy, rather than judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

My conclusion from this passage then is that it is not our place to judge because we are guilty of law breaking the same as anyone else.

Christians and Judging

2006-11-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

In John 8 we read about the incident where the scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. If you are not familiar with this story, I encourage you to read it before continuing. The Jews were trying to trap Jesus by asking him whether he agreed with the law that required that she be stoned to death. Without answering, Jesus stooped down a couple of times to write in the dirt and as He did so told them that the person who was without sin should cast the first stone. Upon standing up, Jesus saw that not one of the accusers remained. Jesus asked if anyone had condemned her. After hearing that no one had, Jesus said that He did not condemn her either and then told her to go and sin no more.

Reading this story in preparation for a Sunday School lesson, I began to wonder what “condemnation” means and how it compares to the “judging” that we do. I decided to do a miniseries on this topic and the remainder of this document is the result of that study.

Whenever a discussion of the Scriptures that forbid judging occurs among conservative Christians, some immediately wonder if it is a sign of becoming liberal. As you read through this material, you may have the same thought. Another reaction you may have is that whatever judging means, you’re not doing it because the kind of discernment you have is required by Scripture or at least encouraged there. As you try to sort through this in your own mind, I ask that you try to be open to what Scripture teaches about this topic and then work out in your own life how to be a holy, discerning Christian while at the same time being obedient to God by not judging others.

The word for condemn that Jesus used is the Greek word “katakrino” which means to give judgment against, pass sentence upon. This word is also used in Romans 8:3 where Paul writes that God judged sin in the flesh. The word used more generally for judging is “krino”. (You can see that the word krino is contained in the word katakrino.) This word at its root means to separate, select or choose. Thus it means to distinguish. Some commentators define it to mean pronounce judgment, to try, condemn or punish.

It seems that katakrino is more the sentencing phase. The actual pronouncement of the decision of a court, whereas krino is more the judging process itself. Katakrino is a stronger word than krino. Jesus did not pronounce sentence on this woman. We are told not to hold the trial in the first place.

In the next few posts we will investigate passages that speak to us about krino – judging.

Add Knowledge

2006-08-19T19:48:00.000-04:00

The next thing we are to add is knowledge.
This month I'm meditating on what it means to add "knowledge" to the virtue which I am to supply in my faith. Last month we learned that virtue is a visible, observable righteousness, not just an inward goodness. When it comes to the word knowledge, it seems almost too simple to spend time on. However, there has been a great deal of philosophical debate over the years as to what true knowledge is. Knowledge as it is used in the New Testament includes the following ideas: to understand completely, verified , observable knowing. It implies a relationship between the thing known and the knower. Kittel says it is an obedient and grateful acknowledgement of the deeds and demands of God. He also says it develops in the life of the Christian as lasting obedience and reflection
With these thoughts in mind then, what is involved in the diligence of providing our faith with knowledge that has been added to virtue? First it seems to me we need to develop the desire for knowledge. Paul said in Philippians 3:10 that he wanted to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. He said this after he said that he counted all things as loss that he might know Him. Secondly we must spend time in His word. God has revealed Himself through His living Word and it is there that we get to know Him truly. Jesus said in John 17:17, "Thy word is truth." Knowledge of the kind spoken of in scripture is knowledge of the truth. God's Word provides that truth for knowing. As faithful men we must make it our priority to provide our faith with knowledge. If this has not been one of your goals, why not make a commitment to move in that direction today.

Adding Virtue to our Faith

2006-07-10T19:45:00.000-04:00

The first thing we are to provide in our faith then is virtue. But what is virtue? Doing some digging into what this means, I discovered that the word implies moral goodness or excellence. It is the characteristic of being outstanding morally – being eminent. It implies the working of divine power in a person. John MacArthur describes it this way, “…the God-given ability to perform heroic deeds. It also came to mean that quality of life which made someone stand out as excellent. It never meant cloistered virtue, or virtue of attitude, but virtue which is demonstrated in life. Peter is here writing of moral energy, the power that performs deeds of excellence.”
Why would moral goodness or excellence be the first trait that should be provided to our faith? It seems to me that without such virtue, our faith appears worthless. As James tells us, "faith without works is dead." What good is faith if there is no virtue in the life? Also, virtue provides a better soil in which faith can flourish. By this I mean that as a Christian, our faith is better able to produce its normal results when the life is not hindered and distracted by moral failures and weakness. If we are to be diligent in adding virtue to our faith, that means that during each day as we are out and about interacting in our world, we need to make sure that virtue is at the top of our list. When we are at work, we should be virtuous in all we do. When we are at home, our wife and kids ought to be able to see that virtue is outstanding in our life. It should show up in the attitudes we display when helping with the dishes, interacting with the children or making financial decisions. Do we have the courage to turn off the TV when the programs are not characterized by virtue? How can we add virtue to our faith? We do this by learning to be obedient to the Word of God and His Spirit. As we read and understand God's Word, the Spirit shows us where we are failing to live up to who we are as Christians. As He reveals these things to us, we need to repent and take steps to change our behavior or attitudes. In this way we are adding virtue to our lives. As we learn to live this way, we will become increasingly sensitive to areas where virtue may not have its proper place in our lives.

Adding to our faith

2006-06-03T09:36:00.000-04:00

I’ve been meditating recently on 2 Peter 1:5-7. My goal is to post what God teaches me through this passage. The verses read this way in the NKJV. “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”
The first thing I’m challenged with is the requirement of diligence. According to an online dictionary, diligence is the earnest and persistent application to an undertaking, steady effort, attentive care and heedfulness. According to 2 Peter 1:5-8 we are to give diligence to add to our faith. This tells me that it will not take place "automatically". Of necessity there will be effort required and that effort will have to be earnest and persistent. In other words we are not to begin the task and then let it just fizzle out. It is something we are to give our attention to so that we achieve the desired results.
What is it then that we are supposed to be doing? We are to add various characteristics to our life and this passage implies a step-wise sequence. To "add" in this case means "to supply". We are to add or supply these traits in our faith. When we are asked to supply something, it is important to take the responsibility to follow through. If someone asks us to supply the pop for a picnic, we need to think through how many people are going to be there, what flavors might be needed and whether we will need to bring ice and glasses. It doesn’t do any good to think that through if we don’t go to the store and actually buy the stuff we need for the picnic. And then buying it doesn’t do any good if we don’t bring it so the people can enjoy it. In the same way we are to supply our faith with certain things. We need to be diligent about examining our life and providing these characteristics in the appropriate measure as they are needed. In addition, there is a specific sequence here and so it is important that we pay attention to the significance of that sequence.
I’ll try to follow through in subsequent postings as I work my way through this passage.

O To Be Like Thee!

2006-05-15T06:13:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday a men’s quartet from a Christian college came to our church. One of the songs they sang was an old song I hadn’t heard for probably 15 or 20 years. The name of it is, “O to Be Like Thee!” by Thomas O. Chisholm. The words are certainly worth thinking about and so I’m sharing them with you today.

O to be like Thee blessed Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus Thy perfect likeness to wear.

O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

O to be like Thee full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind;
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.

O to be like Thee lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee Lord, I am coming
Now to receive the anointing divine;
All that I am and have I am bringing
Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine.

O to be like Thee while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and heaven above.

O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

A Quote Worth Noting

2006-03-13T19:39:00.000-05:00

I have been reading the book, “Apostasy from the Gospel” by John Owen. The following quote struck me because of the fact that it is possible to receive truth in the mind without receiving it in the heart. Perhaps this explains why so many fall away when persecution or hardships come.
“The danger of apostasy will always be present if men receive the truth only in their minds, but do not love it in their hearts and gladly submit to it in their wills. Unless this enmity is conquered and cast out; unless the mind is freed from its depravity; unless the truth works powerfully and effectively upon the heart and soul; unless the truth is learned ‘as it is in Jesus’, so that men ‘put off their previous behavior, the old man, which is corrupt and filled with deceitful lusts, and are renewed in the spirit of their mind, and put on the new man which in the image of God is created in righteousness and true holiness’; unless they love the truth and value it for the spiritual peace, power and freedom of spirit it brings them, they will fall away in time of persecution and forsake the gospel for other things.” (Page 57 Apostasy from the Gospel by John Owen published by Banner of Truth Trust, 2003)

We Stand in Grace

2006-02-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

Not only is salvation by grace, but standing (vs falling) and growing are all by grace through faith and not by works. Galatians 3:1-9 covers this pretty thoroughly. He says in verse 3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Verse 9 says, “Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” I can’t begin to explain how important this is. So many Christians begin the Christian life by faith – trusting Christ’s finished work on the cross for their salvation. But after that, they begin to develop the mentality that the rest of the Christian life is by works. Not so! Colossians 2:6 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” You receive Him by faith so walk in Him by faith. In Romans 14 where we are taught not to judge our brothers, Paul asks who we are to be judging our brother. To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand because God is able to make him stand. At the time of salvation, we not only get release from condemnation, we receive the Holy Spirit, a new heart, new motivations, along with the grace and strength to grow and persevere. These all come as a gift of God’s grace. Paul told the Philippians that “he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”(1:6). He also told them that it is God who works in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (2:13) The writer of the Hebrews prayed that God would “make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight…” (13:21) We need to be encouraged to know that what God asks of us, He provides all of the resources including motivation, will and strength to do.

Spiritual Living

2006-02-24T19:40:00.000-05:00

In the last post I pointed out that as Christians, we are dead to the law. Where then does the motivation and power for living godly, obedient lives come from? According to Romans 7:6, we now serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter because as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:6 “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Righteous and godly living comes from the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our yieldedness to Him. He tells us in Romans 8:3-4 that what the law could not do, God did by sending His son as a sacrifice for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirements of the law would be fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit. (paraphrase) The requirements of the law are written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That is the point of the new covenant that God instituted with His people. The old covenant had not worked. In the new covenant God writes His law directly on our hearts and the Holy Spirit lives out the life of God in us as we yield to Him. It does not come from imposing the law of God on us from outside. It comes from living the life of God from the inside. And that is only possible because we live under the umbrella of God’s forgiveness. The whole topic of the spirit-filled walk in Romans 8 is introduced in verse 1 by the statement that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Christ bore our sins on the cross. They have been washed away and forgiven completely. We stand in righteousness before God because “He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Once we recognize that we stand completely forgiven as a gift of God’s grace, we are free to grow and mature in Christ allowing His Spirit to manifest the character of God in our lives.

Grace - not law

2006-02-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I posted the previous five points in this series so if you have not read them or it has been a long time, it would be worth your while to go back and read or reread the previous four posts. The sixth truth we are considering here is from Colossians 2:14 which tells us that the handwriting of requirements that was against us has been wiped out. It has been taken out of the way and has been nailed to the cross. This handwriting of requirements is the law. The Bible clearly teaches us that we are not under the law but under grace. (Romans 6:14) Now as soon as some of you read this you are going to think that here we have another one of those modern antinomian philosophies that is so prevalent today. If you jump to that conclusion you would be incorrect. Please study along and follow the teaching of Scripture. The issue is, “How can we live righteously and godly in this world?” Paul is very clear in this passage that we can’t do it by keeping the law or by keeping man-made rules. It doesn’t work.
According to I Corinthians 15:56, sin gets its power from the law. Paul says the same thing in Romans 7:8 “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.” So the key to righteous living is not in adding more commandments because that just gives sin its power. The key comes from the realization of the fact that we are not under the law any more. It has no jurisdiction over us. Check out Romans 7. Verse 5 says, “you also have become dead to the law…” Verse 6 says, “…we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by….” Since God sees us as being identified with Christ, he sees us as having been crucified with Christ. Therefore the law has no more authority over us than it does a dead man. That is exactly the point of Romans 7 in the example about adultery.
Some may be asking at this point, “Where then do the motivation and power for doing right come from?” We’ll look at that next time.

Completely Forgiven

2005-12-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

The fifth truth we are to believe according to Colossians 2, is that all of our trespasses have been forgiven (verse 13). Psalm 103:3 tells us that God is the one who forgives all our iniquities and then goes on in verse 12 to say, “AS far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Micah 7:19 says, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Many times we as Christians carry our sins as though they were not forgiven. Look at the post 3 posts back where I bring up Hebrews 10. We are told in that passage that if the O.T. sacrifices had made the comers perfect, they would have ceased to be offered and the worshipers would have had no more conscience (consciousness) of sins. Christ’s sacrifice did exactly that. The O.T. sacrifices were a constant reminder of sin. But Christ has made us perfect in Him and the sacrifices have ended and to me that means the constant consciousness of sins should be gone. I don’t think that means we shouldn’t have a tender conscience or that we shouldn’t confess our sins, but we need to remember that our sins have been removed from us, the penalty has been paid and they will not be remembered against us any more.

Already There

2005-12-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

The third and fourth truths in this series from the book of Colossians are found in 2:12. We were buried with Christ and raised with Him. One of the great truths of the gospel is that when we come to Christ in faith, we are united with Him and identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. God looks on it as though it were our death, burial and resurrection. There is great power for victory in this truth as we shall see. Romans 6:1 asks the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” The response is that we won’t because we died to sin. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized in His death?” Water pictures this great truth of identification with Christ. When we trust Christ, the Holy Spirit places us (baptizes us) into the body of Christ and we become identified with Him. Water baptism pictures our identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Ephesians 2:5ff tells us that “even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So God sees us as having been raised and seated with Christ where He is. Ephesians 1:20 tells us that he is seated at the father’s right hand far above all principality and power. That’s where we are! We need to believe it by faith just like we believed Christ died for us by faith.

Victory over sin?

2005-11-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

The second truth we are to believe is that in Him (Christ), the body of sins has been put off. (Colossians 2:11) Romans 6:6 tells us that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed (done away with, rendered inoperative), that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Verse 7 goes on to tell us that “he who has died has been freed from sin.” We died with Christ. Therefore we are to consider ourselves dead to sin also. I Peter 2:24 says, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” The truth here is that even though it often doesn’t feel like it, the body of sin has been dealt with. We died with Christ and therefore sin has no authority over us. If we give in to it, we do so not because it has power or authority over us, but because we choose to give in to it. No matter how powerful it seems, we are able to resist. The Bible says that no temptation has taken us but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able. With every temptation He will make a way to escape that we might be able to bear it. (Paraphrase of I Corinthians 10:13) Do you believe this truth? If you are a Christian, you are complete in Christ and the body of sins has been put off. Trust God’s Word on this.

Complete in Him

2005-11-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

If you haven’t read the previous two posts, it would be good to go back and read them for they provide the foundation and introduction of what we are talking about in this post. Today we are discussing the first truth (in this series) that must be believed in order to give us a firm foundation in our walk with Christ. That truth comes from Colossians 2:10 “you are complete in Him.” In the previous verse Paul wrote that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is God. All of God dwells in Him. But in verse 10, we are told that we are filled full in Him. In Christ we have everything we need for the life we are to live as Christians. No other revelation, experiences, visions or plans are needed to be what God wants us to be. We are complete in Him. He is the fullness of God and we are full in Him. Paul will argue that legalism, asceticism, or false spirituality do not provide what we need. Look at Hebrews 10, for example. Verse 1 tells us the sacrifices could never make people perfect. If they would have, they would have ceased to be offered and there would be no more consciousness of sins. In comparing what we have in Christ to the Old Testament sacrifices, he writes in verse 12 that after one sacrifice, Christ sat down. There’s the first condition. The sacrifice ceased after just one. In verse 14 he tells us that by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. There’s the second condition. Christ sacrifice took care of the sin problem for all time. We are to be rooted and grounded in this. Just as we receive Christ Jesus by faith to become a Christian, we are to believe this truth by faith. We are complete in Him. Thank God for that today as you go about living your life for Him.

7 Facts for Christians to Believe

2005-11-12T17:52:00.000-05:00

Paul tells us in Colossians 2:6 that we are to walk in Christ in the same way we received Him. I take that to mean “by faith”. Faith is believing God, taking Him at His word. As Paul continues His development of how we are to be grounded in Christ rather than being cheated by those who would burden us with false religion, He gives us 7 truths that we need to accept by faith. These truths provide the grounding or foundation we need in our walk with God and are found in Colossians 2: 10-15. These truths are: 1) We are complete in Christ; 2) In Him the body of sins has been put off; 3) We were buried with Him; 4) We were raised with Him; 5) All our trespasses have been forgiven; 6) He removed the law that was against us; 7) He disarmed the principalities and powers. We will look at each one of these in greater detail in the days ahead. In the mean time, it is encouraging to realize all that has been done for us by God. It is in believing the truth that we are set free to be all God would have us to be.

Don't be cheated

2005-11-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he presents a strong case for avoiding the trap of worldly religion and spirituality. He tells us in chapter 2 verse 8 he warns us to “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” In verse 16 he tells us not to let anyone judge us and in verse 18 not to let anyone cheat us. This cheating takes place when we buy into the world’s concept of religion and spirituality. This false view usually involves one or a combination of three ideas: legalism, asceticism and new age spirituality.
The legalism that Paul was confronting was primarily the legalism that the Jews had settled into. Legalism is the idea that we can earn merit with God by keeping a set of rules and regulations. Sometimes Christians, who believe that a person is saved by faith and not by legal works, take on legalism as a means of spiritual maintenance or growth. Paul refutes this notion here in Colossians as well as in Galatians and Romans.
Asceticism is the idea that by depriving our body and living an austere life we can somehow improve our spiritual condition and gain favor with God.
New age mysticism involves recognizing the god in ourselves. It focuses on spiritual beings such as angels and depends heavily on inner knowledge, visions or mystic experiences to make spiritual gains.
Paul refutes all of this in Colossians 2. His point is that we need to be rooted and grounded in Christ. In Him we have everything needed for a life that pleases God and that is growing and producing the results God desires. These truths will be the focus of the next several posts here on this blog. Stay tuned.

What kind of leader are we?

2005-10-11T21:12:00.000-04:00

A passage I was reading in Isaiah stuck out to me because of the implications it has for us as men, especially in our leadership role. Isaiah 9:16 says, "For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed." The next verse speaks of God's judgment on young men, orphans and widows alike because of the failure of the leadership.

It doesn't seem to matter that perhaps the leaders were sincere -- they were wrong and caused the people to err. Perhaps they were weak or uncertain in their leadership. Even so, they caused the people to err. The result was that not only did judgment come to the leader, it came upon those who followed as well. Leadership is a powerful thing as I'm sure you have seen in the events of the Old Testament kings. The fate of the whole nation depended upon the quality and direction of the leadership.
How does that relate to us? We're not kings, presidents or corporate managers. We are just simple men -- husbands, fathers, church workers. Isn't it true, however, that in our positions we are leaders, even if there are only a few who look to us? Doesn't that mean it is crucial for us to be careful not to cause other to err because in so doing we bring judgment not only on ourselves, but on them as well? Let's be faithful men in our leadership roles no matter how many or how few it impacts.

God -- The Initiator

2005-10-10T21:11:00.000-04:00

I was reading Psalm 65 this morning. I had been trying to keep up with a “through the Bible in a year schedule” and found that even though I didn’t want to do so, I was covering way too much ground for me to really take it in. I’ve decided to continue the plan, but at a much slower pace. I want to gain as much spiritual insight as I can.

I see in this passage an amazing demonstration and illustration of who God is and what He has done. “Praise is awaiting You, O God…” Why? What has God done? You are the one who hears all prayer. You are the one to whom all people will ultimately come. Surely every knee shall bow! But right now, “Iniquities prevail against me.” There is a war going on and life is difficult, but “You will provide atonement.” There is a sin problem. Iniquities abound, but God provides the atonement. He is the initiator of the solution. Heb 10:17 says that our sins and iniquities will be remembered against us no more.
David then goes on to say that the man is blessed whom the Lord chooses and causes to approach Him. As vile and full of iniquity as every man is, God calls some of these filthy ones to approach Him, the living God in whose presence sin shall not come. Furthermore, the man will not only approach God, but will dwell in His courts and be satisfied with the goodness of His house.

Learning our Lessons

2005-09-24T08:30:00.000-04:00

It as interesting to see in the book of Ezra the different tactics the enemies used to get the work to stop and the way the Jews learned from their experience. In chapter 4, the opposition wrote to the king and told the king to look in his history books and he would see that Jerusalem was a rebellious city and these people would make trouble for the king. The king did the research and found their charges to be true from the perspective of the pagan nations and so the construction was stopped. When the Jews started to build again later on, the opposition arose again and when the Jews were asked what they were doing, they told the officials to check the history books and see that Cyrus gave the orders to build. In sending this information to the king, the facts were checked and it was found that Cyrus had in fact given such an order and so construction was allowed to continue. They had learned the lesson about appealing to historical precedent.
I learn from this that it is not wrong to use logic as well as the legal system and governmental agencies to accomplish the goals of God’s people, knowing all along that it is God who is at work in the hearts and lives of all involved, even the pagan leaders. When Paul was struck, he asked if it was legal to strike a Roman citizen. On another occasion, those who had been jailed publicly were released secretly, but the authorities were challenged that if the arrest was public, the release ought to be public. God’s people used the legal system to make just requests of the authorities. We should not be afraid to do the same thing in the issues that face us as Christians – issues such as abortion, parental rights, etc.

God Directs our Steps

2005-08-01T09:35:00.000-04:00

I was reading in Proverbs this morning and came upon 20:24 which says, “A man’s steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way?” Isn’t that an interesting thought? Sometimes we struggle so hard in life trying to determine what is God’s will for each decision for each step we take. We end up fretting over something which God already has well under control. The goal of our lives ought to be to please God and live in obedience to Him, but we need to trust Him with our steps because they are of Him. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down’ for the Lord upholds him with His hand.” These are very encouraging thoughts right now as I learn to trust God with all the circumstances of my life and learn to trust Him with each step, because each step is ordered by Him.

Am I Loyal?

2005-07-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

I was reading this morning about Asa, king of Judah. Under severe threat of an enemy force that outnumbered his, Asa prayed, “Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us,, O Lord our god, for we rest on You.” 2 Chron 14:11. Asa won a great victory after that. A prophet of the Lord came to Asa and told him that “The Lord is with you while you are with Him.” 2 Chron 15:2 Asa took courage from these comments and cleaned up the country and removed some of the false worship from the land. However, later in his reign he feared Israel and sought help from Syria. Here is what God said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly.” The question I ask myself this morning is, “Is my heart loyal to God?”

Who are we trusting?

2005-07-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

1 Chron 5:20 The sons of God went to war against the Hagrites and were victorious. They, along with the tribe of Reuben and half tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 valient men who were able to bear shield and sword, shoot the bow and who were skillful in war. But verse 20 tells us that they were victorious because they prayed! God answered because they put their trust in Him. Ps 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Isaiah 31:1 tells us, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the Lord!” It is important for us not to trust our own strength and our own wisdom, but to rely on God. He is the one who gives the victory in spite of our strength or our weakness.

Safety

2005-07-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

Psalm 4:8 “I will both lie down in peace and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Where does our security and safety come from? It comes from the Lord alone. We trust in any number of things to keep us safe, but ultimately only God provides safety. As a result we are able to rest in sleep. Ps 127:2 says that he gives His beloved sleep. It is vain to stay up late and get up early eating the bread of sorrows. Each day has enough trouble of its own and so at the day’s end we should sleep trustfully because His promise is to care for tomorrow’s needs tomorrow.

Prayer Motivation

2005-07-05T20:57:00.000-04:00

Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came against Jerusalem with threats of destruction. He explained the futility of resisting because he had already overcome the gods of the other nations. Not a one of them was able to stand up against him. Hezekiah has an interesting comment in his prayer to God about this situation. He says, “Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire.” He admits that this part of what the king said is true. But then he recognizes the underlying falsehood of Assyria’s claim. “…for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands – wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.” Hezekiah then goes on to make his request of God, but I was especially impressed with the motivation Hezekiah brought for God to answer the prayer. “Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.” The fame and glory of God was his motivation. May that be our motivation also in our prayers. This incident was found in 2 Kings 19.

Syncretism (Look it up)

2005-07-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

In 2 Kings 17 we have the story of how Israel was taken captive to Assyria. The Assyrians then put some other people in Israel’s cities. When some lions attacked the people, they decided they had better decide how the God of Israel wanted them to worship. The problem was that they maintained many of their own religious practices as well. Speaking of these people, verse 32 tells us they feared the Lord along with establishing an illegitimate priesthood. In verse 33 it tells us that they feared the Lord – yet served their own gods. Verse 34 struck me when it says that to this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do NOT fear the Lord. We need to be very careful of this in our own culture. The culture has a way of serving the Lord. God Himself has another way. Sometimes we try to do both at the same time and the result will always have negative consequences. It will always lead away from service of the true and living God and we will end up NOT fearing the Lord.

God's Testimony

2005-07-02T08:29:00.000-04:00

2 Kings 17:15 tells us that Israel rejected His statutes and covenant and His testimonies. Many places in Scripture God speaks of His testimonies. I’ve never really thought about it much, but in this verse the people of God rejected “His testimonies which He had testified against them.” Throughout the Bible, God testifies against us, telling us about our human nature, the wickedness of our hearts and so forth. Many times our response is to reject what God says about us. We have a difficult time believing that we are like God’s description. To reject God’s testimonies in this way is a disastrous mistake because we then are not in a position to accept God’s remedy. As long as we think we are fine, we won’t be looking for or accepting the cure. This is what happened to the children of Israel. They rejected God’s testimonies and ended up following the example of the nations that were around them resulting ultimately in their destruction.

An Excellent Prayer Example

2005-07-01T10:17:00.000-04:00

As part of Solomon’s dedication of the temple, he reminds the people of the faithfulness of God and then asks God to incline our hearts toward Him. 1 Kings 8:56 ff “There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statuettes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers.”

I’m thinking that when we ask the Lord to be with us, it is usually so He can give us something tangible or solve one of our problems so life will be easier. But here Solomon asks the Lord to be with them so that He would help them to a life of obedience. Shouldn’t we be praying this way?

Example of Effective Prayer

2005-06-28T14:45:00.000-04:00

I was impressed the other day reading Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple. Some of the key points of his prayer were as follows: 1) He said that there is no God like you – a God who keeps covenant and mercy. I think we need to sometimes tell God that there is no one like Him. He knows it of course, but I think He likes to hear that we know it. 2) You have kept your promises. Solomon reviews promises that God has given that He has kept. This leads to 3) Now, keep your promise when you said…. Much is made about the fact that we need to pray in the will of God. We then proceed to ask for things that we have no idea whether they are God’s will or not. What’s wrong with praying something God has promised? People in the Bible did it all the time. 4) You are great and I am small, but in spite of that, please hear my prayer.
These thoughts were taken from 1 Kings 8:22ff

Dad's Bible

2005-01-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

I was reading my dad’s Bible the other day and came upon some notes that he wrote related to II Cor 13:4 which says, “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.”

His notes are as follows:

Because of II Cor 13:4 I need to pray daily:

1. By faith I apprehend and trust in a perfect Christ and His perfect work – but I do so with an imperfect faith. I pray that God will help my unbelief. (Mark 9:24)

2. Pray in trust that God will work in you (me) both to will and to do of His good pleasure – Phil 2:13

3. As I wait in prayer before God, I need to confess the love of whatever sin I may have succumbed to as well as the fact that I have fallen.

4. Daily I need to reaffirm my comprehensive choice, solemnly made before God to live in the NEW nature and refuse to live in the OLD.

5. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to make real in experience the fact of Rom 6:14 “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”

6. Daily in prayer, I need to ask God to “Gospelize” and spiritualize my obedience.

7. Daily I need to plead: “Lord strengthen me mightily by thy spirit in the inner man against temptations that daily come my way.

8. Daily I should review important matters for prayer – especially those for whom I have promised to pray.

He closes with the words from the hymn Not What These Hands Have Done

Not what these hands have done can save a guilty soul
Not what this toiling flesh has borne can make the spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God.
Not all my prayers and sighs or tears can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, oh Christ can ease the weight of sin.
Thy blood alone, O lamb of God can give me peace within.
I bless the Christ of God I rest on love divine.
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.

Notes by Rev. Gerald J. Tuinstra

The Tuinstras

2004-12-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

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