The Latest WORD From GroundZero

A Four Letter Word Called WORK (Part 3)

2011-06-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

PART #3

Selected Scriptures

2. God – Our Greatest Work Example

Let us now turn our attention to work’s greatest example for us to follow – the Lord Himself. God, as He exists and has always existed, is a worker. Six times in Scripture the phrase “work of God” is found (Ex. 32:16; Ps. 64:9; Ecc. 7:13; 8:17; Job 6:29; Rom. 14:20). Another 300 times the word work in reference to something God has done is mentioned throughout Scripture (did you think I’d really list them all?). I want to show you 5 specific attributes of God in regards to work as part of our study.

#1 – God is at work in Creation

Genesis 2:1-3 – “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

#2 – God is at work in Providence

Psalm 65:9-10 – “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. ¹⁰Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.”

#3 – God is at work in Sustaining (Controlling)

Psalm 55:22 – “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

#4 – God is at work in Judgment

Revelation 20:12-13 – “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”

#5 – God is at work in Salvation through Jesus Christ

Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

John 9:4 – “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

John 4:34 – “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

John 5:17 – “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

John 17:4 – “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

3. The Divine Purpose of Work

To wrap up this study, we must discover what the purpose for work is for us on this earth as believers. In Revelation 4:11 we read, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” We were created by God, and for the pleasure of God. One of the ways in which we please the Lord is through our work. A worker should glorify God. Let us not forget that we were created in God’s image – Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” And as part of God’s image, we both are workers.

We need to remember that Jesus was a preacher for three years of His life and a carpenter for probably at least twenty. Thus did He sanctify all occupations. Our Christian faith sanctifies work, all of work is designed to demonstrate the nobility of man to show that he is created in the image of God. That’s a biblical view of work, that there’s no difference when done to the honor of the Lord between preaching and washing the dishes. Every type of work (within moral boundaries) is honorable in the sight of God. Whether secular or sacred, whether dirty or dignified, white collar or blue collar, its sole purpose for us as Christians should be to bring honor and glory to the One who created us and all things.

As I have said before, I will say it once again to you all. Christian workers should be the hardest working, most cheerful, most faithful, loyal, obedient, timely, and presentable employees a workforce could ever hire into their company. Why? Because we don’t just simply work for “the man.” We work for “THE MAN” as our Lord and Savior. Colossians 3:22-24 says, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; ²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; ²⁴Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

God, when he created you, created you to be a worker. Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Also in 1 Timothy 5:18 we read, “For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

This is the divine purpose of work – to glorify God and to be obedient to him. We bring nobility to ourselves and to our Lord through the work that produce. There is a beauty in the work that we do. We have the noble opportunity to bring value and meaning back to this cursed earth that has gone on since Genesis 3. We demonstrate our nobility by exercising our privilege to work for our God. This divine ordinance to man will continue from now until the end of eternity (by the way, there’s no such thing as the END of eternity, gotcha!).

Conclusion

To the young men and women of Dearborn Baptist Church, let me speak plainly. Work is NOT a dirty four-letter word. You are not living through the vacation years of your life right now. God created YOU in his image to glorify Him. And just as He is a worker and has been ever since before Creation (angels, cosmos, etc.) He wants you to be a worker too. In contrast to what the youth culture tells you, the ability to work and the commandment to work is a divine privilege bestowed upon you. Work is NOT a curse. Work is NOT a necessary evil. ALL jobs are equally valuable in the eyes of God. And the work we are doing now, only gets better when we enter eternity. There we will experience a blissful type of work we have never known.

How awesome is it to think and to discover through Scripture just how important and valuable work is to our lives as Christians. Our testimony, our Gospel witness should and can be lived out through the way in which we work. In a sin-cursed world, the opportunity stretches before us to play a part in redeeming this world in some small fashion all the time. If you don’t believe me, try not cutting your grass for six months, or leave all the windows and doors open in your home for six months and come back to see what lives there. We are constantly involved in a small part of the redemption of this earth because of sin. May we be Christians who glorify God in all, outstandingly so by the way we work.

A Four Letter Word Called WORK (Part 2)

2011-06-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

PART #2

Selected Scriptures

Yesterday, we took a look at introducing our series on work. We've discussed the intention of our study, as well as the cultural paradigm that exists in creating the current, non-Biblical views of work that exist. Today's study will explore and debunk some of the common myths regarding work that are commonly taught in society today.

I. Common Work Myths

As I’ve already stated earlier, there are some heavily tainted views of what work is all about, why it exists and so on. Please understand my friends, that the word WORK is NOT a dirty four-letter word. This Bible study will help you see God’s perspective on work so that you can look at it with God’s mind and heart in view. But first, let’s dispel 4 common myths regarding work.

Myth #1 – Work began as a result of the curse on the earth and Adam & Eve’s fall by sin.

This is commonly believed, but couldn’t be farther from the truth. That same philosophy has made its way into other cultures. In Greek culture, the philosopher Homer writes about the common belief among his people that the “gods” hated mankind so much that they invented work as a means of punishment and persecution on mankind. And so today, this same philosophy plagues our society, as people believe the only reason they work because God secretly hates all of us and wants to be a people most miserable.

If you look with me at Genesis 1:28, you’ll see God’s commandment to Adam regarding his responsibility toward Creation. It reads, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Look also at Genesis 2:15 which reads, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Adam was told to subdue the garden, and to have dominion over it. Adam’s responsibility was to cultivate the garden of Eden, to allow it to continue to flourish. This required work. It was no easy task to simply be in charge of literally everything that God has created in the Garden of Eden.

Now look with me at Genesis 3:17-19 – “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 1⁸Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

This view of the earth and the Garden is much different now. Why? Sin has now entered into the world. This passage implies that thorns and thistles did NOT exist before Adam and Eve sinned. Also noted, is that the nature of Adam’s work is now intensified. In verse 19, Adam’s work is now made more laborious and exhausting as the “sweat of [his] face” brings about his daily food. What sin did, was NOT institute work, but simply change the nature of what work was. What was once a duty Adam willingly fulfilled with no exhaustion, no sweat, no fatigue, became the work we know of today. It changed work from being a pure blessing, to being a blessing with a curse on top

Myth #2 – Work is merely a necessary evil throughout life on this earth.

This belief is also wayward from what the truth actually is. If work were a necessary evil, then evil had already existed before Adam’s sin as we just studied in Genesis 1 and 2. God didn’t give Adam the duty of work as a punishment, it was out of joy and purpose that Adam got to work. We’ll explore this more later, but God created Adam in His image, a triune being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit made man of body, mind and soul. And inherently God is a worker, an aspect of our Heavenly Father we’ll look at in depth soon. Therefore, to be made in the image of God as Genesis 1 refers to would invoke the natural institution of work and a work ethic. God didn’t create bums.

But even though the curse has ruined the greater glory of work, this does not mean that work has now become some type of evil device that we must merely endure while we live. Numerous times in Scripture, specifically the Proverbs, Solomon shows us the joy and the divine goodness of work. It is a privilege that we have the skill, ability, and life breath to be workers for the Lord our Savior. Read these verses to yourself in the book of Proverbs and see for yourself how work is exalted in the Scriptures.

Proverbs 6:6-11 Proverbs 15:19

Proverbs 10:4 Proverbs 19:15

Proverbs 10:26 Proverbs 20:4

Proverbs 12:24 Proverbs 26:13-16

Proverbs 13:4

We should have dignity in the ability to work, and work in the image of God. This is part of the nobility of being a man. One writer says, “The teaching of the Old Testament on the subject of work may be generally summed up by saying it is regarded as a necessary and indeed God-appointed function of human life. Since to labor is the common lot of mankind, it is important that men should accept it without complaining and thus fulfill with cheerful obedience the intention of the Creator for human existence. The basic assumption of the biblical viewpoint is that work is a divine ordinance for the life of man. The bottom line is, God honors a good worker and despises laziness (the slothful). A true follower of Jesus Christ reflects God image that is stamped upon Him, in part by how He honors God in work.

Myth #3 – There will be no work in Heaven throughout eternity.

Apparently some believe that once we got to Heaven, we’ll do nothing more than stroll around the streets of gold, or forever lounge out on pillowed clouds playing our own personal harps for the Lord. Not to sound sacrilegious, but that’s got to be the biggest waste of eternity I’ve ever heard of. In short, no that is not what we will be doing. There is nothing in Scripture to support such a ridiculous outlook on God’s eternity with Him. Work is an eternal aspect we are endowed with and we will continue to work for the Lord and for His glory even in eternity to come.

Isaiah 65:21-23 makes this quite clear. “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. ²²They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. ²³They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.”

Yes, you read that correctly. As Isaiah prophesies in verse 17 about the new heaven and the new earth (also talked about in Revelation 20-21), we will be spending eternity laboring for the Lord. The best part about this, is that our work will finally return to its original plan. No more sweat, fatigue, strain, exhaustion. It will be simply unrestrained, fulfilling work that is done as an act of worship to the God of all creation, who saw us as precious in His sight to redeem us through His Son on the cross.

Myth #4 – Secular work jobs are far less noble and dignifying than sacred jobs.

For some reason, this has been a subtle, yet destructive thought among Christians for a very long time. Whether it be a minister’s or layman’s fault for its inception is beyond me. What I do know is how God views ALL forms of work in regards to His glory and honor. In the Jewish Talmud, there is a prayer regarding the view of work between a laborer and a Bible scholar. This is how it reads:

As you can see, that is NOT a Biblical view of work. Some believe this is what essentially launched Martin’s Luther’s attacks against the Catholic church with this common laity-clergy division in regards to work. If you know 1 Corinthians 10:31, then you know how God views every type of work - “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” William Tyndale said, “If we look externally, there is difference between washing dishes and preaching the Word of God, but as touching to please God, there is no difference at all.”

A Four Letter Word Called WORK

2011-06-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

Selected Scriptures

Introduction

The following ad in the paper could be the average American’s dream occupation: “Executive position opening – job involves sitting with your feet on a desk from 10am – 4:30pm while watching others work. Must be willing to play golf every other afternoon. Salary starts at $2000 a week. No experience necessary.” People would think you are insane not to want a job like. Some folks in our culture would even think they deserve the right to possess such a job. We’ve all heard of the common axiom of climbing the corporate ladder, with its sole intent on escalating the pay grade in one’s life to achieve more and more pleasures and amenities in this world.

Our culture has a distorted view towards the theology of work. Yes, I said it correctly. Work is a theological issue. What is now the universal killjoy did not used to be so. From the beginning of Christian history, work was always a foundational aspect of that belief and lifestyle. Even those who were not Christians, had a sense of accountability to God because of Scripture’s influence on society. The basic moral thread of society, apart from religious beliefs knew that God expected good, hard, loyal work out of people.

Sadly, as culture has shifted in moral standards, it has sought to remove God completely from society. Immorality is rampant and overt on every scale imaginable. And one of the moral aspects, meaning work, has also been discredited. We live in a country that was once known for its work ethic philosophy as Christian immigrants moved to populate this great land of opportunity and prosperity. But now, society looks at work with disdain, inevitability, and doom. A quote by Thomas Edison says, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it looks like work”

Still others around us like to employ what is called the bumper sticker philosophy:

· “Work fascinates me. I could sit and watch it for hours!”

· “Hard work may not kill me, but why take a chance?!”

· “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go”

If God is no longer the person that we answer to, then it is ourselves that we answer to. This attitude is portrayed in the disdain for one’s boss at work, and even the Welfare System which inadvertently promotes a lazy attitude. Why work if other hard-working Americans can simply earn the money for you? Specifically to you as young men and women, culture sub-consciously and at times overtly teaches you that your years as a “teenager” are to be spent as vacation years from life. Have fun. Don’t think about getting a job, you’ve got the whole rest of your life to have to get one of those and start working for “the man.”

In essence, it’s a complete abandonment from the 1^st and 2^nd great commandments of Scripture.

Commandment #1 – Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength = WORK!

Commandment #2 – Love your neighbor as yourself – You work in order to be able to be charitable to your neighbor (another important moral virtue).

My friends, all of those things that society conveys to you are nothing more than blatant lies. This is not God’s will for your life. Please don’t become misled by these distorted views of something that God created for all of us to do. Tonight, I’d like to spend some time with you and explain to you in a two-part series the Biblical view of work. In part 1, we’ll focus our attention on the common work myths, discover our greatest example of work, and define the divine purpose of work in our lives.

Everyone Needs A Paul, Everyone Needs A Timothy

2011-05-23T08:31:00.000-04:00

Everyone Needs A Paul, Everyone Needs A Timothy

(Selected Passages)

Introduction

Adam & Eve. Mother Teresa. King David. Christopher Columbus. Adolf Hitler. Alexander the Great. Osama bin Laden. What do all of these names have in common? They each left behind a legacy. Moments from their life, whether good or bad, have been remembered, treasured, even disdainly marked by human history for many years to come. Just the mere mention of these few names most likely brought thoughts to your minds of murder, discovery, humanitarianism, rebellion, conquest, and genocide.

It’s interesting to me how as long as we have knowledge of these people mentioned, we need only to mention their name to rehearse in our minds the good, and for some, the bad things that make these people stand out in our minds. A legacy. This, by definition, is something that you and I are known by. A shining characteristic that could summarize our entire life’s work into a brief statement. “He was a soldier.” “She was a loving wife and mother.” “He was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.” “He is the reason that I am who am I am, and where I am today.”

That last statement could have, in my opinion, been the heart’s reflection of a man named Timothy, whom we see in the New Testament, as he reflected back on the legacy of his mentor, his friend, and fellow laborer in the Lord, the apostle Paul. Timothy was Paul’s apprentice or padawan (to borrow from the Star Wars saga) in the faith. Paul spent many years discipling and training Timothy in the things of the Lord throughout his earthly ministry, which we’ll look at in more detail momentarily.

However, I would like to propose a couple of questions for your personal consideration and reflection. My first question is, “Do YOU have a Godly legacy that you are leaving behind? Secondly, “WHO are you leaving this legacy to?” Thirdly, “Will they (if you are saying yes to questions #1 and #2) know to pass that legacy on to others?” Tonight, I’d like us to study the life mentorship between Paul & Timothy in the New Testament as we answer these questions about leaving a legacy and make some personal applications.

1. Timothy’s History

Turn with me to the book of 1^st Timothy, chapter 1. We’re going to take a survey trip through both 1^st and 2^nd Timothy tonight in our study to understand the unique relationship between Paul & Timothy as expressed through Paul’s writings in both letters. To understand how this relationship began, we must first go back to the book of Acts where Paul begins his first of three missionary journeys. In chapter 14, during his first missionary journey, Paul comes to the city of Lystra, where Timothy resides and meets his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois (2 Timothy 1:5). Although both his mother and grandmother were believers, and taught Timothy much about the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15), his father was a Greek who may have possibly died before Paul met Timothy, with no record of him ever knowing Christ as his Savior.

In 4 different places throughout Paul’s writings, Timothy is referred to by Paul as his “son in the faith.” This term of endearment is believed to be used by understanding that Paul quite likely was the one that led Timothy to saving faith in Jesus Christ, hence being a “son in the faith.” Two of these verses are in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 2 and 18 which read, “²Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹⁸This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;” (also in 1 Corinthians 4:17 and 2 Timothy 1:2). This most likely happened during his first missionary journey.

After that time, during his 2^nd missionary journey, Paul chose to have Timothy accompany him to his other stops, mostly in part because of his reputation for godliness. Acts 16:1-3 says, “¹Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: ²Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. ³Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.“

Timothy later became Paul’s friend, his personal disciple, and a partner in Pauls’ ministry for the rest of his life (referring to Paul). He went to Berea, Athens, Corinth, and even Jerusalem, often as Paul’s representative to those churches when he could not be there in person. He is often mentioned in a commendatory fashion in Paul’s writings (Romans 16:21; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; Philemon 1).

2. Timothy's Teacher

During one point in Paul’s missionary journeys, he leaves the town of Ephesus and sets off for Macedonia. Knowing that the church there needed guidance, leadership, and a support structure, he put Timothy in charge as the pastor of that church. – 1 Timothy 1:3 – “³As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”

Timothy was left to deal with an onslaught of problems in this church such as false doctrine (1:3-7; 4:1-3; 6:3-5, 20-21), disorderly worship (2:1-15 – improper prayers, wrong people in leadership), a need for qualified leaders in the church (3:1-14 – worthy & unworthy candidates; the guidelines for candidates), and the sins of greed and materialism (6:9-11). On top of those issues, Timothy himself was discredited by some in the church simply because of his younger age (4:11-12).

What the book of 1 Timothy makes very clear, is that Paul was not a temporary mentor to Timothy. He wasn’t some college professor you could consult for a few years, or high school teacher that you adored, no, this man was a life-long mentor to Timothy. Even when Paul forced Timothy out of the nest to pastor his own church, he didn’t cease to continue teaching and instructing Timothy in the things of God. Timothy didn’t graduate until Paul graduated, by his martyrdom under emperor Nero.

3. Timothy’s Cheerleader

Later in Paul’s life, he is imprisoned for the second time, the first being short-lived by house arrest, which he wrote about confidently to Timothy. However, this second time, Paul understands that his time is short on this earth, and that a prison cell will be the last abode he knows before his execution. It is during this final imprisonment under Nero’s vehement persecution of New Testament Christians that he writes to Timothy a second time.

This is where the legacy effect comes into play. He didn’t want to be known for himself, but for what God’s truth was. That's why he even refers to himself as the chiefest of sinners (1 Timothy 1:13-15). And by this simple desire, he passed all that he could on to Timothy. But his work was not yet over, for in 2^nd Timothy, Paul switches roles from Timothy’s teacher, to Timothy’s cheerleader. Knowing that Timothy is weakened by the onslaught of issues in the church (2 Timothy 1:4), the letter he writes is filled with encouraging admonitions to not give up, stay true to the Word, and to the Lord.

This is why Paul had literally poured his life into Timothy. What Paul had learned from the Lord Jesus Christ for his earthly ministry now needed to be passed on to someone else for the perpetuation of the Gospel and of the Gospel ministry to local churches. If you look at the book of 2^nd Timothy, you see in chapter 1 Paul’s exhortation to “stir up the gift that is in you” in verse 6 and to replace his “spirit of fear” with one of “power, love, and of a sound mind.” (verse 7). Paul also tells him not to be ashamed of the Gospel and of himself (Paul), but to willingly suffer for the Gospel’s sake (verse 8) and to hold on to the truth of Scripture (verses 13 & 14). He warns Timothy further on to avoid error (2:15-18), and accept persecution for the gospel (3:10-12).

To me, the most heart-warming, and emotional point of the entire passage of 2^nd Timothy is found in chapter 4. Imagine Paul, bound in chains, in prison, knowing his days are few, reflecting joyfully on the lifelong mentoring he has done with Timothy, now expresses a smile across his face, with tears of joy falling from his face as he pens the words to chapter 4. Briefly he says to Timothy to unashamedly preach the word of God (4:1-3), to endure affliction (4:5), and to remember the example that he has set before young Timothy (4:6-8). And with a final farewell, he tells Timothy how he years to see him one last time before he departs from this world (4:9,13, 21-22).

Conclusion

Paul left a legacy through Timothy. But it didn’t stop with Timothy. He did what Paul asked in 2 Timothy 2:1-2, “¹Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. My brothers and sisters, we sit here together tonight under the preaching of the Word of God because someone continued that legacy, and we gleaned the opportunity to know Christ as our Savior and be someone else's son or daughter in the faith.

The simple point that I am trying to make tonight to you beloved is what the title of my message reads: “Everyone Needs A Paul,” and “Everyone Needs A Timothy.” You and I as the Timothy in our Christian walk need someone that we can look up to, someone that has a desire to pour themselves into our lives so that we can grow, and grow continuously. For those who are Paul this is not a temporary gig. What I refer to is a life-long service that emulates exactly what the apostle Paul did. No other person in Paul's ministry is recorded in Scripture as having received as much personal tutelage, counsel, and exhortation as Timothy received. We all need a Paul that we can look up to as a spiritual mentor in our life, no matter how young…..no matter how old we are or ever will be.

But we also need a Timothy in our lives. What good is knowing the Scripture, and learning more and more about the precious truths of God, if we can’t pass them on, share them with someone else who will continue to bear the torch of Christian service, devotion, and learning. What greater joy could one have in their life, than to know and see the end result of a life-long investment into the spiritual life of someone who seeks to grow in the Lord. Everyone needs a Paul, but everyone also needs a Timothy.

These are not easy tasks. These are tasks that are un-ending. Each of us must be a disciple of Jesus Christ who is committed to living in such a Godly way that we can easily be the proper Paul in a person’s life, that will not lead them astray, that will not create a stumbling block in their lives as Romans 14 illustrates. For us as parents, we need to be the Paul to our children. For me, I need to, and have a great desire to, be the Paul to our young men and women in our youth ministry. And without a good Paul, we can’t have a good Timothy.

Paul. Timothy. What do their names reflect to you? If your names were mentioned after this life, would they bring to mind the aspect of a Godly legacy that had been passed down to future generations? This, my friends is one of the sobering responsibilities we are entrusted with as followers of Jesus Christ. Parents, senior saints, are we being the Paul we should be to our children, to the younger-aged believers of this church? Do WE have a Paul that we can look up to for guidance, encouragement, and for accountability? This is the legacy that we should all be leaving. Everybody needs a Paul, and everybody needs a Timothy.

I'm Not Worried About This Message (Part 4 - Final)

2011-05-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Introduction

Tonight will conclude our series on the sin of worry. Our focus tonight will be in verses 31-34 as we study the 3^rd and 4^th reasons for why we are to forsake the sin of worry. To review, as we have spent the last 3 weeks pouring over God’s Word together, we’ve discovered most importantly, the entire premise of our study series, that yes, worry is indeed a sin. It is NOT a trivial sin, but a destructive sin that begins in the mind where Satan battles best in our lives. This sin that starts in the mind can then eventually manifest itself into outward symptoms seen in physical and mental diseases and disabilities.

And as we read, Christ, our Master Teacher and Savior uses the simplistic necessities of daily living (food, water, clothing) to lovingly help us understand and realize just how incredibly foolish engaging worry really is. In verse 25, He covers the most obvious reason why not to worry, “Because I’m in charge!” This is not a dictatorial statement, but a statement of love and promise that our Father is in charge and that means over EVERYTHING.

Since we’re not in charge, let’s simply turn things over to the One who is. Secondly, Christ uses the illustration of birds and flowers in verses 26-30 to point out to us that amidst the incredible provision He supplies for creatures of creation and how He has adorned them, they all pale in comparison to the incredible, yes incredible importance He places on us in His eyes. We are precious in His sight, and He longs to take care of our needs.

3. Worry Denies Our Faith

Now, Christ turns His attention to the materialistic, narcissistic philosophy of the Gentiles, comparing how we should be as believers to their false beliefs governed by their false religions of idolatry. Reason #3 of why worry is such a grievous sin is that it denies our true faith in Christ. Notice how Christ puts this in verse 31-32 – “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

This is the second of three times where Christ explicitly says, “Do not worry” – “Take no thought.” In this part of the passage, He is comparing us to the rest of the world. As believers, we have a faith in Christ that is supposed to be real, that should shine beyond the scope of what the world sees, imagines, or can fathom. It is that faith that must and should always be put on display for the world to see, but becomes clouded and overshadowed when worry steps in. If our faith wasn’t mean to be on display, then Christ wouldn’t have used such overt illustrations as He did in Matthew 5:13,14,16 (the salt of the earth, the light of the world) and Christ says, “You have no business being like the rest of the world. You’re believers. I’m your Heavenly Father.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, were completely different. Since they did not worship the One, True, and Living God, they knew nothing about Heavenly provision and protection. Living for today, Carpe Diem, was the resounding theme of normal life outside of being a believer. Christ compares them to us to show the stark contrast. Gentiles (a term being used to reference all non-believers) were constantly in a state of living from day to day. It was an every man for himself philosophy and practice. Their false religious gods were man-made by Satan’s inspiration. They were gods of fear, dread, appeasement who demanded much, promised little, and provided nothing. Therefore the Gentiles were on their own to meet their basic needs, at whatever cost.

The verse in 1 Corinthians 15:57 comes to mind in this particular situation (“…let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.”) What other way is there to live when your gods are non-living, non-breathing, and especially non-eternal? That is why Christ uses them as a comparison. It is complete and utter foolishness to worry about such things like unbelievers when we have a Heavenly Father who knows all, sees all, and can provide all. To worry is to give in to the worldly mindset. When we think like the world, and crave like the world, we will also worry like the world. This is why I remind you that worry is a sin of the mind. The mind is a brutal battlefield that Satan unleashes all types of assaults on us to win. If he can win in our minds, he stands less opposition to future failures in us.

A true and faithful believer should be the exact opposite of this illustration. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Worry denies this faith, this lack of worry that we should have. In essence, it does not follow the commandment of Romans 12:2 to “be not conformed to this world.” Our sin of worry rejects the whole-hearted faith we should have through Jesus Christ that He will take care of His own. For, as Christ says in verse 32, “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

4. Worry Destroys The Present

Before we take a look at verse 33, let’s look at our final reason to forsake the sin of worry. In verse 34, Christ says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” This is the third of three times we are commanded not to worry (v. 25, 31, 34). In the context of this verse, the language used here conveys the aspect of future worry. “Take therefore no thought” could easily be translated as “Don’t even think about worrying.” First, we are commanded to stop our present state of worry; then we are told to not worry again in verse 31 (don’t start it back up); and finally in verse 34 with “Take therefore no thought.” To put it in our common conversational language, “Stop worrying. Don’t worry now, and don’t even think about worrying in the future.”

Why even mention the future in regards to worry? An excellent question. Have you ever met someone who was constantly worried or “concerned” about things that were long off into the future? I know I have. I’ve even done it myself. Apparently, when we as people run out of things to worry about in our present day’s conditions, we decide to focus our attentions on things in the future that are even more out of our control, because the future has not yet arrived for us to live and do anything about. Lamentation 3:22-23 says, “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. ²³They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.“

Our God is the God of yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and if our God is eternal, so are His promises to His children (Philippians 4:19). Here Christ states to us, “Tomorrow will take care of itself. Why don’t you concentrate on today?” Every day has enough trouble of its own. We are bombarded by the onslaught of Satan’s devices through temptation, trials, and other struggles. We sacrifice valuable energy and mental capacity when we re-allocate those resources on something we can’t even work with (tomorrow). “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” There is enough evil in this world and in our lives to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Let’s concentrate on today, while we can actually do something about it, and allow God to be in control of tomorrow.

God has always promised that His grace is daily given to us as His children. He does NOT, however, provide grace for tomorrow, until it becomes today. Like a favorite song of mine says, “Grace for the moment…is all that I need.” It’s true. We don’t need tomorrow’s grace because tomorrow’s not even here. We don’t need to worry about tomorrow’s problems and heartaches, because tomorrow isn’t here yet. Prepare for them? Sure! There’s nothing wrong with adequate provision. But worry? Absolutely not? Only God can do anything about the future, for only God is God, and I am not.

Conclusion

So as I draw this study series to a close, let’s look together at verse 33 of our text. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In the midst of explaining to us why worry is sin, Christ flips the coin to what we should be consuming our minds upon. By using the word “de” interpreted in our bible as “but” it carries the idea of “rather than” or “instead of.” So instead of plaguing yourself with the anguish of worry, focus on these two things:

1. Seek first the kingdom of God – As God’s children, we are seek out the things of the One whom we belong to. This should be our #1 priority. To seek His kingdom, does not imply an earthly territory, but a spiritual one. How can we seek out the spiritual kingdom of God? By pouring our lives into the souls that need to hear of His Gospel for repentance unto salvation.

To seek the kingdom of God is to seek the lost, and to see God glorified in all things. We do the one thing we’ll never do in Heaven right now on this earth – evangelism. This is the heart of our pursuit of God’s spiritual kingdom. Why not instead of worrying about stuff, even the most basic things, we pour that energy used to worry into the actions of winning souls to Christ, and living a life of full obedience to Him?

But secondly, we are to also…

2. Seek His righteousness – When we seek after the righteousness of God, we seek something that commands holiness in our lives as believers. Worry has no place in this equation. Our strive should be that of a child of God who wants to live a life that honors Him in all things. In our lifestyle in this earth, the message should be clear: “My life is yours God. My heart is yours God. My mind…..is yours God.” Only when God has control of these things can His righteousness be seen in and through us so that He is glorified. As John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

“….and all these things shall be added unto you.” When we commit to being children of God who seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all those petty things we’ve worried about (food, clothing, water) are “added unto us.” This is God’s promise to us my friends. Why let Satan win with worry? What is there to gain? God promises us from His Word, “Put me first in your life….and I’ll take care of the rest.” What a promise my friends that we can live a life that relishes in the Fatherly provisions of our God when we first put Him as “head above all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11)

I'm Not Worried About This Message (Part 3)

2011-05-04T19:00:00.000-04:00

Part 3

We are back to our study on the sin of worry. As I shared with you last week in Part 2 (click here to catch up) we understand that Worry is wrong because it is in direct disobedience to our Lord, our Master and our Savior. Tonight we'll look at one more reason to forsake the sin of worry, and we'll wrap things up next week with reasons 3 and 4 to conclude our series. Please leave comments if you have been enjoying this series. It truly does the heart of a pastor well to hear how his feeble words are encouraging lives far beyond his reach.

2. Worry Disregards The Provider

Imagine for a moment that you are present with Christ and His disciple on the mount where He delivered this incredibly powerful sermon from Matthew 5-7. Imagine taking you place at his feet among many who are eagerly waiting to hear what words would come from His lips that day. Picture the scene around you – grassy fields, large clusters of lilies sprinkled among the lush green grass, and the sounds of sweet chirping from birds that were common to the Galilean region. And with all of these gorgeous aspects of Creation surrounding you, Christ then uses each of them as an independent illustration to further establish to us as His children the need to forsake the sin of worry in our lives. Let’s read together verses 28-30 and unfold each illustration Christ uses to help us further understand His teaching to us.

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Illustration #1 – The Birds

In verse 26 of our passage, Christ gives a very sobering reminder to us about how endearing our relationship to Him as one of His children truly is. Perhaps he saw some of those indigenous birds fly by as he spoke verse 26 and said, “You know, birds don’t have barns or silos. They don’t plant corn or grain. They don’t gather any wheat at harvest time. Yet….they are always fed.” It’s no surprise to us by God’s design that birds and many other animal species have an instinctive design to look for food for each meal. There are an abundance of resources at their disposal and they have the wherewithal to surmise a hearty meal each time hunger strikes.

They are not lazy, they most certainly do their part, but they are not frantic, they do not worry about where the next meal is coming from. They simply deal with the task at hand, and concern themselves with the next meal when hunger strikes again. They are content. They are not excessive eaters unless bound up in a domestic cage. You think that we could learn something from a bunch of birds? Contentment is a good anti-dote for worry. If the birds can do it, we should certainly excel at the task.

So who provides these meals? None other than our Heavenly Father. In fact, this is not the only time He’s spoken of His divine provision for birds of the air. Job 38:41 says, “Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.” Psalm 147:9 says, “He giveth to the best his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” God provides for His creation.

The obvious difference that needs to be understood here is that birds are a dime a dozen so to speak. Often someone may say when dispatching a household pest, “Well, there’s a thousand more where that came from.” And most certainly they may be correct. However, if God is so gracious and so provisional in his undergirding of the birds in our world, which are numerous and lack some of the uniqueness you and I share, how much more significant are YOU to God?

Let me put it this way. No bird was created in the image of God. No bird was ever promised to be an heir with Jesus Christ. No bird has a home prepared for them in Heaven’s glory. No bird has been given the promise of redemption through Christ’s atonement on the cross. So if God sustains the life of fowl creatures, who do NOT have those blessed promises…..don’t you think God would be that much MORE provisional towards His own children who ARE created in the image of God, who DO have a home in Heaven awaiting them, who HAVE eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord? Such a
thought makes worry look pretty foolish at this point, doesn’t it?

Illustration #2 – Your Lifespan

In verse 27, Christ literally pins worry to the wall when he asks, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Think about this statement for a moment. It’s a very pointed question that demands the emphatic answer of “NO” in response. It also demonstrates more deeply the foolishness of worry. How many of us have ever added a cubit (roughly 18 inches by ancient measuring standards; measured by the tip of the middle finger to the elbow joint) to our body’s height by worrying about it? If only that were possible, we’d have zero short people in the world.

But God didn’t allow us to be in charge of changing how tall or short we are? That same word for stature (hēlikia) is also translated as “age, time of life” which is the more proper understanding of this word within the context of Christ’s words to us. So, to rephrase the question, how many of us have every accomplished by worrying the additional life span of 18 months? 18 days? How about 18 seconds? It can’t be done. In fact, worry not only does NOT increase our life expectancy, but it actually DECREASES our normal lifespan.

Dr. Charles May, of the Mayo Clinic writes, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system. I have never met a man or know n a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.” We can diet, exercise, and practice beneficial lifestyle techniques, which, while they are all good for the body’s health and wellness, will NEVER force God into increasing the lifespan of our lives. We can’t live longer, but we can live shorter, much more unfulfilled lives in Christ through the sin of worry and the complementing sin of disobedience to our parents (Ephesians 6:1-3 - "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.²Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; ³That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.").

Illustration #3 – The Lilies

Our third illustration for tonight lies in verses 28-30. Here Christ addresses the concerns of clothing one’s self. Perhaps some of the people listening to him speak had only one change of clothing for their bodies. Perhaps others had more. Yet Christ points to the lilies of the field and the grass to provide an illustration of God’s provision for us. In verse 28, Christ shows us that one of the most basic of plants, a flower, is intricately and inspirationally designed with an array of glamour and stateliness that is fascinating to our naked eye.

What is so amazing about these beautiful creations is that they don’t “toil, nor do they spin” as Christ says. Meaning, they make no effort to grow on their own, and they have no part in how they are designed. God has taken care of all these things. The incredible beauty of flowers may seem awesome to our naked eye, but science shows they are even more incredible when seen closer under microscopic illumination. This is why Christ says that Solomon, the richest, wisest man in all the known world (and perhaps ever to be known) was never arrayed like one of these common field flowers.

Imagine that. All the money in the world couldn’t deck out a person more than how God has already decked out a simple flower. And more importantly, these flowers could be gleaned by the dozens for decoration in the home. Unfortunately, their lifespans were short-lived once plucked from the field where they lay. In verse 30, Christ says that the grass and the flowers “tomorrow [are] cast into the oven,”. They may be beautiful, but they don’t last long. In ancient times, when bread was being baked, they would use dead grass and flowers to act as kindling to get the fire going for their hardened clay ovens. That’s the lifespan of a flower. Beautiful, plucked, burned.

Now here’s my question, well actually, Christ’s question to us. If God bothers to dress a flower with such intricate beauty and design, when it lasts but for a while, how much more do you think God is concerned over providing YOU with necessary clothing? If we are bound for eternity in Heaven with God, don’t you think God would make sure to give more attention to us than the lilies of the field? Of course, and He does. He’s promised in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

These verses (26-30) simply point out to us, “Hey, did you forget who your Heavenly Father is? He’s the provider OF all, TO all, and FOR all. Why then should we worry about things our Heavenly Father has complete control over?” So why do we show God that we are so lacking in faith? He even says to us, “O ye of little faith?” in verse 30.

We show ourselves to be a faithless people by allowing worry to creep into our minds. As Christ so brilliantly illustrates to us, if he can take care of birds and flowers, isn’t it one of those “DUH!” moments to know that Christ would most certainly take care of OUR basic needs? If we can put our eternal destiny into His hands, why can’t we put our necessities in His hands also? Worry over anything, much less these things, only shakes a fist at God and says, “I don’t trust You!” Oh, that I could encourage you tonight friends, to do as the hymn says, “Trust and obey.”

I'm Not Worried About This Message (Part 2)

2011-04-27T12:00:00.020-04:00

Part 2

Yesterday we began a study on the sin of worry, a very common sin among believers, and yet a very deadly sin as well. All too often we don't view this sin as a problem, yet even medical sicence can surmize that many physical and mental illnesses can be directly associated to the side effects of a worrysome person. Part 2 continues today with 1 of 4 reasons why the sin of worry is so wrong (besides the obvious). Please enjoy the read and feel free to comment. If you missed Part 1, please click here.

1. Worry Is Disobedient To Our Master

In Christ concluding words from his previous thought (verse 24) he makes it very clear that God is to be our only Master. And if God is to be our only Master, we are to obey only his commandments. For this reason, we are given the first of three commands to “not worry”. Christians are forbidden, yes, forbidden by the very mouth of Christ to indulge in worry and anxiety. It is foolish and sinful. It disobeys the commandments of our Lord and Savior and, in essence, puts “me” on the throne of my life instead my incredible Savior.

It’s interesting to note how Christ handles this matter in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). You’ll notice that if you look back to the original language, there’s a progression that is implied in Christ’s words throughout this section of verses 25-34. The first command to not worry is here in verse 25. This instance, one of three, implies that worrying is already going on. In this verse’s context it denotes the command to stop your current state of worry without intentions of picking it up again. After all, as stated before, worrying can often become a person’s most treasured pass time in their thought life, manifesting itself in physical ways through depression, medical trauma (psychological disorders, consequences of immorality), etc..

Someone has said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind, which, if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out.” Christ says to us in verse 25, “Take no thought for your life” which is an all-inclusive term. The word “life” used here is the word “psuchë” which is a comprehensive term that entails all aspects of a person’s life (emotional, physical, spiritual, mental). Nothing in this life justifies the need to worry. It’s surprising how much a little worry can cause such enormous problems and tragedies in a person’s life. It’s a lot like a dense fog over a city. Science shows that a 100 foot deep fog cloud the size of 7 city blocks can be created by less than a full glass of water (8 oz. on average). A few gallons of water, therefore, could completely cripple a large city.

So also does worry act in the life of a believer. It doesn’t take much, and before you know it, your entire outlook and reasoning skills are saturated in the fog of worry. You can’t see the very hand in front of you for lack of clear vision. God’s omniscience dispels worry. There is nothing that catches God by surprise. In reality, the believer’s sin of worry shows a lack of contentment which is also commanded in Scripture, a quality Paul took comfort in (Phil. 4:11 – “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”)

In verse 25, Christ mentions the very most basic of necessities (food, water, clothing) for daily living. And often as I believe in our Western culture we have these things in such abundance that we don’t truly understand what it mean to want for these types of items. A girl says “I have nothing to wear” as she stares at a closet crammed with clothes. We say “there’s nothing to eat” when what we mean is there’s nothing we WANT to eat. “There’s nothing to drink,” we say although most likely we just don’t want to drink what available.

In Bible times, those things could not be taken for granted. People depended on the natural cycle of growing crops and natural rainfall to subsidize their living. If little snow fell on the mountains, that meant less water in the streams, thus, less water to survive on and feed crops and cattle, ultimately leading to food shortages and other material needs. Literally a simple thing like water could devastate an entire economy. Yet, with this knowledge, Christ said, “Don’t worry about even the basic necessities of life.” God is still in control. He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and our Lord can provide any and every need.

But notice in the last part of verse 25 he says, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” In simple terms, Christ is saying to them, and us, “Isn’t there more to life itself than just taking care of your body?” He is right, we live in a culture that is obsessed with taking care of the body (working out, dieting, dressing, plastic surgery). We do so many things to our body, and often times we give too much attention to it. There’s nothing wrong with trying to stay healthy, and get the proper amount of rest, but some literally obsess over their bodies.

In that very thought, “there is more to this life than our bodies” we need to remind ourselves that we cannot and should not live FOR our bodies. Our bodies do not give us any life in and of itself. It is God who gives our bodies life, and the ability for our body to perform any task or function is under his control. God is the source of all life we know of (spiritual, emotional, mental and physical).

And since He is in complete control, He is ruler of all, Christ says to us “Take no thought for your life.” Don’t worry about any aspect of your life. I am on the throne. I care for you. I will provide your needs. Your foolishness of worry will not bring a solution, but a greater destruction in your life.

I'm Not Worried About This Message (Part 1)

2011-04-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

Part 1

Introduction

If I were to ask you directly, we’d all have to admit that worry is something we all struggle with from time to time. Some have even made it a pastime in their lives. Living in America, one of the greatest nations in the world, we spend so much money on the things we worry about: security, illnesses, longevity, diet, comfort of living. People worry, and worry is a sin. It’s not a trivial sin that we can just dismiss from our thoughts, nor is it a sin that does not bear any consequences on our lives. Worry is a great sin that is completely contrary to our faith in Christ.

Some people may believe it IS a trivial sin, but it is not. Many of the common mental illnesses and even physical illnesses that are prevalent in our society today are a direct result of the sin of worry. Drunkenness, drug addictions, promiscuity, anxiety, paranoia, and depression are but a few of the damaging results of a mind consumed with worry. Many people make foolish life decision under the shadow of worry and face painful consequences as a result.

Before we dive into this study, we need to understand the difference between what worry is and what concern is. Semantically, we can easily substitute the word “worry” for “concern,” but yet still be committing the sin of worry. So let’s establish a foundational definition of what these two words mean so that our study maintains integrity.

“Worry” – a disquieted uneasiness of mind, an anxious apprehension concerning an impending or anticipated situation; fretting about a foreboding misfortune or failure; to strangle; to choke

“Concern” – have an interest in, give attention to, be engaged by a situation, as a matter of consideration or responsibility

In our basic English vocabulary, there is little to no difference between these two words as they are used in culture. The Bible says otherwise. My purpose for this study is to deal with the mental attitude and sin of worry. We are not trying to deal with those natural concerns that one would have and face in life when things are not going right, such as when someone is ill, or absent, or in danger.

Worry – The Overview

So, to preface our study, we need a Biblical definition of the word “worry.” Worry, as this Bible study will exposit to you, is “a divided mind” [Greek word merimnao]. You will see that word in several of the passages we study together as I point them out. A more working definition from a Christian perspective might be as follows:

1. To worry is to assume a responsibility that is not necessarily ours to assume; failing to recognize that God is bigger than any problem we might have, and loves us enough to seek our highest good in the midst of every situation.

2. Worry is a form of humanistic self-orientation that thinks, "It's up to me to take care of this situation," and is thus a form of practical atheism, acting as if there is no God to deal with the situation, or that God doesn't know or care about the situation.

So with these definitions assessed, let’s turn to the words of Christ in Matthew 6:25-34 for His clear, direct, and authoritative answer on this deadly, you read it correctly, deadly sin as stated before.

It is natural for us as earthly people to be naturally concerned about earthly things. And all too often we take that to an extreme where those concerns become worries that consume our minds and thoughts. We as fallible human beings can worry about ANYTHING. Even the basic necessities of life (food, water, clothing, shelter) can consume our mind and drive us insane with caustic thoughts that receive no answer.

However, in Christ we are new creatures that need to focus on heavenly things, things that we can do something about, rather than to be in a foreboding state of mind, spastically trying to figure out how our earthly needs will be met. This is why Christ uses the objects we see in Matthew 6:25-34. Christ doesn’t want us to worry about anything – even the basic necessities of life. This is the heart of what Christ is saying. Three times in this passage He tells us not to worry (merimnao, v. 25, 31, 34). Let me share with you four reasons why worry from Matthew 6 is wrong - next time!

Explaining Paradise (Ephesians 4:8-10)

2011-04-13T21:12:00.005-04:00

THE TEXTUAL BASIS

Ephesians 4:8-10 says, "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

In verse 8, Paul is quoting Psalm 68:18 which says, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them."

In verses 9-10, Paul gives an explanation of what he has just said in verse 8.

“He led captivity captive”
Man was held in captivity to sin and death.
The Bible says man is captured by si
(2 Timothy 2:26 - "And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.")

This verse also decrees a victory (victory over sin and death by the cross)
1 Corinthians 15:57 says "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

“He descended to the lower parts of the earth”
To descend, naturally means to go down
There is more than one definition for this phrase “lower parts of the earth”

In Psalm 139-13-16, it speaks of a mother’s womb.
"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

It is possible then to say this phrase can refer to the incarnation (the birth) of Christ

But also, in Psalm 63:9-10, it refers to the realm of the dead
"But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes."

THE EXPLANATION

Please feel free to consult this graphic as you read through the explanation. I'm a visual learner, so I trust it will help my readers also.

When a believer died in the Old Testament times, we believe by Scriptural evidence, that the person DID NOT go to heaven. Why? Because the price for their sin (Christ’s death on the cross) had not yet been paid.

God who is holy and righteous cannot have sin (Isaiah 6:3 - "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.") and cannot even look up on sin (Habakkuk 1:13 - "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?") – also remember what happened with Christ on the cross from the 6th to 9th hour. Because God cannot look upon, much less tolerate sin in the presence of a perfect Heaven, those who have not yet been redeemed could not experience the joyful bliss of Heaven’s shore. This is why a “green room” of sorts, or a holding area had to be established and reserved for such saints until Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.

There are 3 different words for “HELL”. One Hebrew word “SHEOL” and two Greek words which are “HADES” and “GEHENNA”. There’s a 4th word in Greek called “TARTARUS” but that is a bit beyond the scope of our lesson tonight, but I can answer a question about it if time permits.

“SHEOL” is used 65 times in the Old Testament. 31 times it’s translated as HELL (the place of torment), 31 other times it’s translated as the grave (when we die), and another three times it’s translated as “pit”

SHEOL refers to not just the burning fires of Hell itself, but the entire realm of the dead. Sheol had compartments. Deuteronomy 32:22 says, “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell…”). But there was also Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22-23 - "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.")

Christ also said to the thief dying on the cross in Luke 23:42 – “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The word used in that verse was Hades because it was a Greek work in the New Testament, not SHEOL from the Old Testament. The point to be noted is that both words “HADES” and “SHEOL” can be interchangeably used. They are equivalents of each other in the respective language.

So how does this all relate to what we’re talking about and what Paul says in Ephesians 4:8-10. TO simply explain, when Christ died on the cross, and cried out “It is finished,” He descended then into the lower parts of the earth (sheol, hades) and spent those three days preaching a message, not of evangelism, but of victory to the demonic realm of Hell explaining his now eternal victory over the sting of death and sin. Christ now has the ultimate victory over all this, and death no longer has any power over anyone through Jesus Christ’s redemptive work.

Christ did NOT endure the fires or torments of Hell, otherwise the phrase “it is finished” would have been a lie and would not have meant what it said. In 1 Peter 3:18-19 ("For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;") Peter explains my previous mentioning of Christ’s message to the demonic entities in Hell.

SO Christ’s purpose of descending was to lead Captivity “those OT saints waiting for Christ’s redemptive work” to be led captive (now under Christ’s control, not death’s) to return with Him back to Heaven with the Father. The only thing left then in Sheol/Hades are those who leave this world by death having never trusted in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ for their sins.

Lazarus and Abraham knew by hearing what the pains and torments of the burning, fiery hell sounded like quite possibly as they dwelt in paradise. If the rich man was able to call out and cry out to Abraham and Lazarus, could it be possible that they heard the screams and anguish of those who rejected God’s Son? This is speculation, but it is plausible such horrific sounds were echoed in the ears of those dwelling in the bliss of God’s prepared Paradise as they awaited the blood atonement that only Christ could provide.

At the end of verse 10 in Ephesians 4, we see that Christ ascended back up to Heaven. His purpose in that was to lead the OT saints to Glory where they now rightfully belonged, to join God the Father at His right hand. Jesus went to be with the Father so that we can join him when we die, which is why he didn’t stay on earth like some of us may wish He had done. When we die, we don’t leave him (if he had been on earth), but we join him in a mansion of Glory prepared for those of us who have trusted Him as our Lord and Savior.

CONCLUSION

This is what Paradise is all about. It was a temporary establishment that served the need and now has no place or reason for existence. How amazing to think of God’s providential hand in every aspect of His redemptive work, even down to the nitty gritty details of how to deal with OT saints who believed in God (like the patriarchs) until Christ could fulfill redemption’s plan. What an awesome God! What a Savior!

Have you trusted in His divine grace to us? Will you experience the eternal torments of Hell because you have rejected Christ’s free gift of salvation to you? These places may sound like locations in a fairy tale, but let me assure friend, they wouldn’t be in God’s Word (The Bible) if they weren’t literal, God –created places that you and I have the choice to dwell in. Yes, Heaven and Hell is a choice. And it all falls on the decision of what we will do with Jesus Christ.

Bible Questions and Answers (Part 1)

2011-04-11T17:56:00.001-04:00

In recent days, some friend of mine have requested I post in some way the questions that I have been asked in a recent Q&A session with our WORD student ministry. To accommodate that request, I am posting the questions and answers that I have exposited with the students during WORD Wednesday. Please don't mind the lack of eloquence in these writings, they were merely for my ability to answer the questions asked. So, you are getting word for word what I had penned down as my answers to these rather excellent questions during my study and preparation time. I have a few others to record for you coming soon and I'll be posting a blog post that explains a single question regarding the existence and purpose of Paradise for Old Testament saints. I hope they are a source of learning and discipleship for you. Please remember, these questions, not superficial in nature came from our young men and women in WORD. I praise God for the excellent questions asked by these young minds.

Question #1

Why did Adam eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden?

In Genesis 3:6, the Bible does not clearly show us WHY Adam decided to eat of the fruit. We do know, however, that Adam and Eve were directly told NOT to eat of the fruit. Eve fell through the deception of the Devil, in the form of a serpent, and we see that unfold in three ways:

She saw that the tree was good for food (it provoked her appetite, an appetite provoked by selfishness and discontentment for all God has provided.
She saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes. The Hebrew word there can be used to imply covetousness, or a form of lust in this situation for something she didn't already have. This appealed to her emotional appetite.
She being told by Satan that the fruit would make her wise, knowing good and evil just like God Almighty appealed to her intellectual appetite, thirsting for this knowledge she did not yet have. The New Testament confirms that Even fell through deception (2 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Timothy 2:14 and Revelation 12:9)

With Adam, we do not see any coercion here at all. We don't see that with Eve either. But in the case where Eve thinks what she is doing is right by Satan's prodding, Adam makes a willful decision and choice. The reasons why Adam made his willful decision are unknown. He wasn't forced, coerced, manipulated, or threatened. So did he do it to go along with his wife? To make her feel comfortable? Perhaps Adam thought, "Hey, Eve didn't drop dead like God said she would. Maybe this fruit is harmless after all and God was wrong." This hypothesis is merely that and that alone.

The bottom line is, to answer the question in short, why did Adam do it? We don't know. But what we DO know is that Adam's sin was a result of willful choice, a choice to disobey God Almighty, not through deception or any other sinful vehicle, but his own will brought about the eternal consequences you and I both experience on a daily basis. For this we have Scripture references like Romans 5:12 – "For as by one man, sin entered into the world, and so death passed upon all men, for that all hath sinned."

Even was deceived, Adam ate. A direct transgression without discretion.

Question #2

What are the best ways to remain calm and to have faith in God during trials, tribulations, financial struggles, etc.?

There are some wonderful words of encouragement in Scripture regarding this weighty issue. In Psalm 139, we see that god is not surprised by anything that happens in our lives as Christians. He knows all, and is very well acquainted with us personally on so many levels (verses 1-7). I would encourage you to read these verse and acquaint yourself with them. They are fascinating to read – the details that David describes of how intimately in tune God is with each and every one of us. It's a mind blowing thought! We also know that in Romans 8:28 God works all things out for those of us that love Him. The verse says "for good" implying that the "good" we see in Scripture may not be our own personal good or what we would think is good but that which is good for the glory of God and furtherance of the Gospel. This can be a common point of frustration for Christians by psychologically inserting the word "our" into that verse. We must be careful not to do so.

Often in hard times, Christ is seeking to do one of three things with us.

To make us a shining beacon and testimony to others that need to know Christ.
To chastise us for sin in our lives. This can be a brief period of time, or a period of months, even years. The length depends on our own stiff-necked will and selfish pride.
God is seeking to refine us into a better child of God, and through the trial, through the heartache e He makes us a more pure vessel of honor for His service.

In short, to answer the question, here are some things to constantly be doing during hard times, and even in good times.

Have a very active prayer life and devotion time. You won't remain calm and keep your faith if you don't nourish yourself spiritually and spend some face time with the Lord.
Seek the counsel, prayers, and encouragement of people you look up to. Sometimes that needs to be done in confidence. But you will gain strength and ways in which the Lord will remind you of His truths through the wise words of others.
Psalm 46:10 tells us to "Be still and know that I am God." You want to remain calm? Don't heap upon yourself the cares of this world. Scripture tells us to "be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." That verse doesn't imply being care-free, but avoiding being full of care. Worry is a sin, and it never changes any of our circumstances.
In the words of Bob Jones Jr., "Pray as if it all depends on God – work as if it all depends on you." Don't just sit back and wait for God to be God. Get off the couch, and do your part too. This is God's will for your life, and part of the entire process of trials in a Christian's life.

Question #3

How should we handle those who are mean to us, make fun of us and treat us wrongly? What kind of attitude should we have towards those we dislike?

Christ commands us in all things, in all attitudes, and in all situations, to glorify His name. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink , or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." That means how we talk, how we act – whatsoever is a blanket word for absolutely everything we do. There's no exception to that commandment. Christ also speaks about how we are to react when we are persecuted, reviled, and hated among men. Here are a few Biblical insights.

Matthew 5:11-12 – Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you (take abusively about you), and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:44 – But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

Luke 6:35 – But love ye your enemies, and od good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil

Romans 12:14 – Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Romans 12:17 – Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

When Scripture says to love our enemies, it doesn't say whether the enemy is by their choosing or by our own. It tells us to love them regardless of which side the strife comes from.\

Question #4

On Noah's ark, were there only two dinosaurs on the ark? Were there only two dogs? Would wolves be a kind of animal or part of the dog family?

In Genesis 6:19 God gives his declaration on unclean animals as "tow of every sort" that are to come into the ark. That means Noah would have brought tow of each kind of animal. When we talk about the word "kind" we are referring to a type of animal, not variations within the species. Thus, there would be numerous types of dinosaurs brought onto the ark. Two brachiosaurus could not produce a Velociraptor. Why? Because they are not the same kind of dinosaur. The same was true with birds, cattle, etc. However, within some species, there can be great variation, to extreme degrees even. For example, Darwin used the variation in finches on the Canary Islands as proof for evolution. He spotted 5 different species, each with varying beak sizes and heads. This doesn't prove evolution at all, but merely shows the variance within a species to the degree of adaptation within a given environment.

With the species of dogs, there is a plethora of variations within that species. Long hair, short hair, tall, skinny, big, small, even micro sizes of dogs now exist in some breeding circles. Since that is the case, Noah would have only needed to bring two dogs onto the ark. Other types of dog animals like dingos, wolves, etc. would also be brought onto the ark, and some of the interbreeding between those other species of dog-kind creatures has helped produce the vast variance in the dog species we see today. Rottweiler's, boxers, and poodles, oh my!

Question #5

Genesis 1:9 says that on the third day the waters under the heaven were gathered unto one place and that dry land appeared. Does this mean at the time there were no lakes or rivers? Is this Biblical evidence for a possible ancient continent of Pangea?

In short, yes. This verse does convey that there were no lakes and rivers, individual bodies of water that is before this verse went into effect during Creation Week. Once God spoke the word, a cataclysmic and tremendous upheaval of the earth's surface followed by the rising and sinking of the land, which caused the waters to plunge into the low places, forming the seas, the continents and island, the rivers and lakes. In Job 38:4-11, we see references to this as well. The most illuminating knowledge of this part of creation is in Psalm 104:6-9.

As far as the Pangea theory goes, there are several theories among Creationists on that matter. I personal believe there existed a Pangaea type world before the Flood. Current scientific evidence shows that the continents of Africa and South America are drifting apart at the rate of 5.7cm every year. In comparison, it's about the same rate at which your fingernails grow. Other scientists also see the vast similarities in the borders of the continents currently seen today, how they could possibly fit together like a great earthen puzzle. In further evidence, there are similar types of fossils found on the respective shores of both Africa and South America, possibly eluding to a once combined continental structure. Most believe that when the Great Flood of Noah's day occurred, the earth began to then drift apart and be split up into the islands, countries, and continents of the world we know and are accustomed to ever since history was initially recorded. If this were the case, and Pangaea existed, I believe it was by divine understanding and God ordained planning all along. Could we be wrong? Sure. It doesn't really matter in light of what's most important about the words of Scripture, but it's a great thing to study and ponder.

You Should Be Ashamed

2011-03-02T21:31:00.003-05:00

Introduction

What does the word shame mean to you? To hear that word resonate in your mind….what memories does it rehearse? What acts of sin does it bring back to your remembrance? Perhaps the more pointed question to ask this evening would be, “Does the word shame mean anything to you?” When I hear the word shame, it brings other words to my mind like guilt, sorrow, remorse, emptiness, wastefulness. Shame is a very useful reality if exercised properly. It is also critical in its endeavor to rebuke us for things we have done wrong. We understand what shame implies for us don’t we?

To think about something that is shameful to us might make us cringe or curl our legs under our chair. It may bring up a past grievance and sin that we wish we could erase from our mind and our history of life on this earth all together. And being someone who was born and raised in this great country called the United States, I believe that no other country on the planet has become more successful at removing shame from the lives of others than in our own culture.

Anymore, the only acts that would bring shame to a person would be those that are the most heinous, vile acts that one could commit. Society would condemn a person with shame over such crimes as child abuse, rape, and mass murder. But the common commissions of sin remain unchecked, and disregarded as something to be ashamed of.

People just aren't ashamed of their sin anymore. Greed, fornication, covetousness, homosexuality, pride, lusts of the flesh, lust of the eyes, manipulation, hypocrisy. No one cares. The average person in culture just does not feel ashamed about whatever it is they choose to do. The world has a myriad of excuses for all the things that people do that are sin in the eyes of God. And because of this devious design of mankind, this cuts people off from salvation because they have no shame. What do I mean by that? Allow me tonight to explain to you from the words of Christ in Mark 8:38 the two kinds of shame, and the consequences of that shame as applied to both believer and unbeliever.

Moral Shame

There are two ways of understanding what shame is. The first way, the most common way is the shame of one’s morality. Lying, stealing, sexual immorality & laziness are but a few of the many moral sins we should be ashamed of.

Look at verse 38 of Mark 8. It reads, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Notice the first phrase of this verse – “whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words…”
The point Christ makes to the people of Israel is clear as day. There are consequences to shame – both good and bad. A good consequence to shame, we could say, would be the remorse, the repentance, and the forsaking of sin through Christ’s forgiveness. The negative, however, would be to feel nothing, to be apathetic, completely unmoved, unmotivated in either direction by the sins we commit.

Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3:18-19. “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."

Can you see the brokenness….the bitter tears Paul sheds over the hearts of these people he just referred to. “And now tell you even weeping” – the sins of these people are breaking his heart. And because of their refusal to repent, they make themselves the enemies of the cross of Christ. Christian, when’s the last time you shed tears over the unashamed sin of your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors? Paul says they make themselves the enemies of the cross. How can you make yourself an enemy of the cross? The answer is simple. They have no shame for their sin, therefore, they have to reason to need Christ’s forgiveness.

“whose God is their belly” – their form of worship, what they choose to give credence to is the appetites, the selfish desires of their flesh. THIS is their god, rather than the one true God.

“and whose glory (boast) is in their shame” - they boast in their shame! They're the enemies of Christ. What they should be ashamed of is what they now brag about. My friends, a culture is in severe trouble when it brags about what it should be ashamed about.

Religious Shame

The second kind of shame we see in verse 38 is religious shame. Anyone who clings to a false religion should be ashamed of not their immorality but of their self-righteousness. They should be ashamed to think they are good enough to make right with God by being good. This is not what Scripture says, and is a complete lie in comparison with the words of Almighty God.

For example, in several areas of the Qur’an, it states if you are good enough and do good enough deeds, Allah will have mercy on you and let you into Heaven. Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. “ – John 14:6. Falsifying who the true God is is nothing new in this world. Many false religions plague this world, convincing people that they have no need to be ashamed, but can merit their eternity through other means than Christ's Gospel.

Christ says, "[you] adulterous and sinful generation" - does that mean the nation of Israel was rampant with immorality and wrong doing? No, but they were committing spiritual adultery and were not ashamed of the way in which they molded the worship of God into a comfortable religion that would gain, in their minds, eternity in Heaven.

My friends, we as sinners are very good at what we do. And consequently, we often are not ashamed of what we do. And as Christians, sadly, we do not often become ashamed of what we do when we taint the Gospel message by our wicked sin. We have grown into a comfort zone of living for God on Sunday and perhaps Wednesdays but live our own lives the way we want, by our own rules, with our own bar of right and wrong. We know what the Bible says, but we refuse to obey it.

The world laughs us to scorn because we give no true allegiance to our Savior in our daily walk, but merely a social acceptance, much like a country club, by giving him little of our attention, if at all on the weekends. Our Bibles go untouched, our prayer lives remain desolate, our spirituality continues to grow more and more anorexic in nature. It is as if we are Christian atheists. God on Sunday – me on Monday!

Israel refused to be ashamed of their twisting of Scripture, their secret sin, their hypocrisy, and they were not ashamed of themselves. Since they refused to be ashamed of themselves, they in turn were ashamed of Jesus. This is why Christ called them an “adulterous and sinful generation.” They were committing spiritual adultery against Christ by twisting what God had ordained to be true worship of Him into something invented by man with men’s rules, philosophies, and agendas. And by those very acts, they chose to have no shame for what they did and for how the rejected Messiah.

But now I draw your attention to what I believe are the most devastating words in all of Scripture. The next to last phrase of verse 38 says "of him shall the Son of man be ashamed…" Wow! Do you see that? Christ tells us very bluntly that if we choose to be ashamed of Him, He’ll be ashamed of us. If we reject Christ, Christ rejects us. Can you imagine facing the rejection of Almighty God because we refuse to repent?

Shame's Application

What is it about the Gospel that makes us so embarrassed? What is it that we’re so ashamed of? If someone pulled me out of a burning building, wouldn’t you take full advantage of every time we were together to commend him in front of others? “Hey, have you met my friend here? This guy saved my life. It was amazing. I wouldn’t be here today without him.” Of course you would. Why? Because of the great thing he did for you.

So what about Christ? He who came, born in a manger, who knew no sin, went to Calvary’s cross, beaten, bruised, bloody, disfigured beyond belief, and hung on a rough-hewn cross like a slab of meat…..just so you and I could be called the righteousness of God through saving faith in Christ. If he did all that, why then do we become ashamed of Him? If you’ve trusted Christ, He saved your soul. Let me ask again, “What is it then that we have to be ashamed of?”

Bottom line, if you don't feel the shame of your acts, whether immoral, or false religion, you'd better wake up, because judgment is coming. The ultimate sin of rejecting Christ will NOT go unpunished, and it lasts for all of eternity. No one comes to salvation without being ashamed of himself. Shame is the evidence of remorse over one's sin. Salvation comes to those who are ashamed, like the publican in Luke 17. “God be merciful to me, a sinner” If you're not ashamed of yourself, you will reject Christ. You have a choice to make. You're either ashamed of yourself or ashamed of Christ?

That ought to be a simple choice. We have EVERYTHING to be ashamed of. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Every bit of good in this world is nothing more than a poop rag in the eyes of God. What is there about Christ that we are ashamed of? Perfect power, justice, love, holiness, righteousness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, mercy, tenderness?

Conclusion

If you're ashamed of Christ, you've got it all completely backwards. YOU deserve shame. Christ deserves NO shame. He deserves all honor, glory, praise. Hebrews 2:11says He's not ashamed to call us brothers. Hebrews 11 says God's not ashamed to be our God. God's not ashamed to love and redeem us. Why would we be ashamed of someone who seeks to love and redeem us? That's the stupidity of sin.

But often when confronted with our sin, rather than be ashamed of our sin, we become ashamed of the Savior and we reject Him. All sinners who reject the gospel are ashamed of Christ, not because of anything He is or has done, but because otherwise we have to be ashamed our ourselves and our sins. And one day, Hell will be the feeling of full shame over your sin as it is judged.

Who's Writing The Labels?

2011-02-17T11:35:00.008-05:00

Introduction

Have you ever noticed the kind of STRANGE labels we have placed on certain things in our culture? The way we call things, or refer to them rather, can be quite strange if compared and analyzed. For instance, I think it’s totally weird that if someone has a problem with being cross-eyed, or struggles with one eye not focusing like it should, doctors call that a “lazy eye.” I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that the work ethic of one of my body parts needed to be called into question to explain my medical issue.

But we don’t do that with ANY other part of our body. Can you imagine walking into the doctor’s office for a consult, and your heartbeat is out of rhythm – perhaps you suffer from a heart murmur. But instead the doctor comes in and says, “Well, you’ve got a stupid heart. It doesn’t know how to stay in synch like it should.” Or what if the person suffered from liver failure and the doctor tells you, “Well you’ve got a deadbeat liver (or kidneys). It don’t wanna get off the pancreas and do it’s job.” No, my friend, that just doesn’t happen.

And what about in church? Oh yeah, we Christians have our own special labels for things. You ever been told you have a servant’s heart? What does that even mean? “Bill, you’ve got a servant’s heart.” – usually means they want you to start stacking chairs somewhere or moving tables. Just once I wanna rebut that statement when someone says it to me. “Chris, you have a servant’s heart.” Well you sir have a giver’s appendix. Or, you have the follicles of understanding – maybe the chin flaps of old age.

And we always have our special way of labeling something with each other, never calling something what it really is. For instance, “she’s a gossip” – no she’s got the gift of gab. We don’t say “no,” we say “I’ll pray about it.” People say, “that man is out of his mind.” No, that’s our youth pastor! And as humorous as those miss-appropriated labels are, as Christians we fall into a grave temptation to re-label sin in our lives. And when we do so, we do it casually and for various reasons, of which we’ll discuss momentarily.
It reminds me of grocery stores and advertisements I’ve seen across the internet. Here’s a few examples you can take a look at.

Each one of those pictures is clear evidence of a miss-labeled item, whether by complete ignorance or for comedic effect. But my point is that the world, and Christians alike, exercise the habit of changing the labels on sins in our lives. The reason we do so, is to create a more comfortable environment for ourselves, so we don’t feel convicted by Scripture, or awkward around others who do not share our standards and morale. Tonight let’s open the word of God to Romans chapter 1 and discovery man’s problem with miss-labeling sin, and RE-discover God’s correct labeling system as laid out in Scripture.

1. Man Re-Writes The Labels

It helps to understand the reasoning behind the miss-labeling epidemic by first looking at verses 18 through 20 of Romans 1 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

Paul explains to us here that because man is without excuse from knowing of God by his general revelation in creation and so forth, he is unexcused from his sin (who hold the truth in unrighteousness). They are without excuse, and are at enmity (bitter odds) with God. God punishes sin, and man doesn’t like to be told that what he is doing is wrong. Therefore, man decides to re-label sin as something else in order to appease the conscience, squelch the conviction, and create a false sense of happiness out of life. Verse 20 clearly says, “So they are without excuse.” And by God’s declaration, man has no wiggle room, but it doesn’t stop us from changing the labels.

Verses 22-25 show us examples of man’s invented labeling system for sin. Paul prefaces his illustration with the statement “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Here is the thesis for the following verses (23-32) as he illustrates how man has gone from wise men to fools in their minds. How often do we see that in culture today? It is no mere accident that man thinks he is smarter and smarter the more he delves into the delusions of evolution and scientific reasoning, all the while as they think they are becoming smarter, are in actuality becoming the greater fool. Paul shows that as an example in verse 25 by “worship[ing] and serv[ing] the creater more than the Creator.”

Let me illustrate to you in the following verses some ways that man has wielded his label maker on the things of God.

“changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man…” – man has decided to re-label idolatry as true worship. Instead of serving and obeying the one true and living God of Scripture, man resorts to idols made of their own hands. Even in today’s culture, we as the human race worship creation more than the creator through various religions and idolatry such as materialism, money, sex, power, and greed. THOSE things to man are what’s more important than God. That’s the wrong label my friends.

Briefly, Paul speak about the perverse sin of sexual immorality in verse 24. “…God gave them up to uncleanness…to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” Man has re-labeled what is right in regards to sexual purity. This sin by far is extremely obvious in our culture, spanning all demographics of society. Instead of sex outside of marriage, or even the more perverse sin of homosexuality being an abomination in the eyes of God, man has re-labeled it to be “your choice” or “a normal body function just like eating and drinking” – Hugh Hefner. Many even go so far to say in the realm of homosexuality that “people are born that way. They can’t help themselves.” This is man’s label for these sins. They are no longer wrong, they are right, and are exalted and encouraged.

Finally verse 25 gives the final blow in man’s label system. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie.” Man has gone so far in his relabeling system that what God has called true, man calls a lie, and vice versa. The word of God is no longer the authority in your life, it’s man’s reasoning and scientific discoveries. This world will feed you a plethora of new labels regarding sin my friends. It’s no longer a lie, it’s a fib. You don’t have an anger problem, it’s a personality flaw. You’re not a fornicator, you’re just doing something between two consenting adults. It’s not adultery, it’s a love affair. It’s not an abomination to God, it’s exalted by man. It’s not wrong anymore, it’s ok. It’s not God’s temple, it’s your body, your choice. Man has changed the truth of God into a lie by relabeling what God calls sin.

2. God’s Labeling System For Sin

So how do we make things right? Before we deal with the flawed labeling system of this world, we need to consult the true labeling manual so we can change the labels back to what they should be and once were. God makes no apologies for how he labels sin in Scripture and neither should we. If we are to follow the words of our theme passage “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), then we must hold ourselves accountable to God’s labeling system, not man’s. So let’s list a few example of the differences between man and God’s labels.

Sex outside of marriage is ok
1 Cor. 6:14 – Flee fornication

It’s ok to bend the truth a little
Exodus 20:16 – Thou shalt not bear false witness (lie)

Homosexuals are born that way
Genesis 2 – God created man in HIS image (straight)
Romans 1 - It is a perverse sexual sin in the eyes of God

Hating someone is ok
Matthew 5:22 – whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment

You can look, but you just can’t touch
Matthew 5:28: - whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

I can date/marry whoever I want
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – be ye not unequally yolked

I don’t have to go to church all the time
Hebrews 10:24-25 – forsake not the assembly

Cuss words are normal words
Ephesians 4:29 – let no corrupt communication come from your mouth; minister grace to the hearer

Dress however you want / live however you want / do whatever you want to with your body
2 Corinthians 6:19-20 – your body is a temple; glorify God in your body which is His

This is not an exhaustive list at all, but it’s clearly understood that we can’t handling making the labels. We fail every time. Our label system is intrinsically flawed because it caters to our own selfish desires, to “obey it [sin] in the lusts thereof.” – Romans 6:12. That is why Paul says in the verse part of Romans 6:12 to NOT “let sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” God’s labeling system is perfect. It is just, holy, without error. God, who knew no sin, CAN be, and SHOULD only be, the sole owner of the label maker when it comes to sin in our lives. We can call them indiscretions, personality flaws, or by-products of our environment all we want, but God sees it differently. And when it comes to whose standards we are held accountable by, God’s standards trumps man’s wisdom, or should I say his foolishness – Rom. 1:22 every time.

Conclusion

My friends, it all boils down to the choice you have to make. You can re-label and re-label sin all you want, and it doesn’t change how God sees it, what God calls it, and how he punishes those sins. And just because the label may make us feel less convicted over sin in our lives, it doesn’t change the severity of the punishment that goes with committing those sins. Why don’t you hand over the label maker and put it in God’s hands. Stop trying to rename sin to fit our lifestyle and repent, forsake those sins, and live our lives in righteousness by God’s standards and under his labeling system. Let’s change hands on the labeling by exercising 1 John 1:9.

And to those who do not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, you need a label change too. You may be living your life with the label of “I’m ok. I’m fine on my own.” God’s correct label for you friend is 2 Peter 3:9. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Your label says your ok. God's label says, "Ye MUST be born again." Why not walk out of here tonight wearing the correct label for your life, “saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”?

Grow Up!

2011-02-15T10:48:00.004-05:00

Introduction

It’s 2011. Although we’ve had some inclement weather and circumstances force us to get off to a rough start, we finally come to our theme launch event for the year. And with a new year, I believe we need a new focus, a new direction in our ministry. This is why we’ve come up with a theme to direct our focus and vision for this new year in WORD Youth.

What is youth ministry? Why does it exist? Contrary to popular belief, youth ministry isn’t about getting students to do stuff. Youth ministry exists to develop relationships and help teenagers (young adults) meet and follow Jesus. Youth ministry isn’t about serving our youth, but about the youth learning how to serve others.

And so with a new focus in ministry, I’m giving you a new title. After careful thought, I am purposing to no longer call you teenagers, but young adults. As young adults I believe there are greater expectations that can be placed upon you, in your attitude, in responsibilities, in your spiritual life and focus on the future. As a result, the leaders of this ministry are raising the bar on our youth ministry. We are sitting back with great anticipation of what you all are capable of accomplishing and, Lord willing, will accomplish this year together as a group for the glory of God.

I understand the phrase “growing up” is almost a cuss word in demographic you are a part of. But this is NOT a phrase that we should shy away from, avoid at all costs, and fear like the plague. With the launching of our theme, I want to take you on a short journey through scripture over the next couple of weeks on growing up. Although we will be mostly addressing the spiritual aspects of growing up, many of the concepts will and can apply to your physical growth and maturity as well.

At its basic level, God’s Word does not condone, promote, nor empathize with the culture’s message around you that you can remain immature, irresponsible, unprepared, unskilled, and financially destitute for as long as you’d like while soaking up the pleasures of entertainment, self-gratification, and laziness. God’s Word tells young adults to grow up. Let’s begin the journey together tonight and discover what the Lord has for us by experiencing God’s Riches Over the World’s Unsatisfying Pleasures.

1. Growing Up Is Expected (1 Corinthians 13:10-12)

Just as a child is expected to grow up physically over time and mature in his behavior, mannerisms, and personality, so does the same expectation rest upon Christians. When you trust Christ as your Savior, it is not the end, but rather, the beginning of an amazing relationship with God. As James 2 tells us, there should be fruit (or proof) of our new life in Christ through our changed living, our new focus and passion, our changed mindset, etc.. Your elders, whether by age or position of leadership become the “fruit inspectors”, helping to prune you, and encourage you to radiate the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life.

Today’s culture has a different approach. In the physical realm, you are taught that at your age, these are the vacation years. Live free. Do what you want. Waste the time allotted to periods of sleep, laziness, and the leeching off of one’s parents. Culture didn’t used to be that way. The demographic by which you live in right now is saturated with materialism and self-gratification. In the Harris brother’s book, “Do Hard Things,” they point out that the “teenage” years are NOT a vacation time, but a training time in your life, and a crucial time at that.

Scripture shows us in 1 Corinthians 10, as Paul writes this epistle that growth, both physically and spiritually is expected out of believers. He illustrates his point in verse 11, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Perhaps Paul was recollecting back to his days as a Jewish boy during his bar mitzvah. In Jewish culture, at the age of 12 to 13, a celebration was held for every Jewish young boy called a bar mitzvah (meaning “son of the law”). This celebration signified the passing over from boyhood to adulthood. As early as 12 to 13 years old, once the bar mitzvah had taken place, a Jewish boy was no longer a boy, he was a man – and because he was now considered a man, he had greater expectations and responsibilities placed on him.

And so the same should be with young adults, especially as Christian young adults. It is not a high calling to expect young adults to have a desire for the Word of God, to want to share that knowledge with others, to practice what they learn from Bible study into their social life. Growing up reflects the power of Christ and His divine work in and through your life my friends. God wants you to experience His riches over the world’s unsatisfying pleasures. And as a child of God, He expects you to grow. Just as Paul was expected to begin acting and thinking like a man after his bar mitzvah, so Christ expects us not to remain babes in Christ, ignorant to the things of this world and to His Word, but as 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God: a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2. Growing Up Is A Natural Desire (1 Peter 2:1-3)

Secondly, the word of God tells us that growing up should be a natural consequence of your new life in Christ. Peter wanted believers to cultivate and experience a deeper, more intimate relationship with Christ – a Spirit-prompted longing for the Word of God. And he expresses that inherent desire for growth spiritually in a believer in verses 1-3 of chapter 2.

“Therefore” – Peter refers back to verses 23-25 of chapter 1 where he describes the Word of God as an incorruptible, eternal seed and the source of our salvation. This divine seed becomes and should be the source of a believer’s continued spiritual growth. It is our fountain of spiritual life and power.

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,” – if you want to be a young adult that continues to grow in the word of God, you’ve got to eliminate the sins that will hold you back. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Peter’s words command Christians to remove sins from their lives. The phrase used “laying aside” implies a casting off type of action, much like someone would shed a soiled garment. It is the same with believers. Those who repent and “lay aside” their sins, must make it a point to not pick them up again, but to leave them at the foot of the cross.

“putting aside all” – that word ALL is used three times in this verse, indicating totality. Peter is exhorting the believers in his letter to TOTALLY eliminate the sins that would inhibit them from FULLY desiring God’s Word in their life. Specifically Peter lists malice (any kind of general wickedness or baseness), deceit (guile, dishonesty, treachery), hypocrisy (saying one thing, and doing another), envy (resentment for the prosperity of others), and all slander (defamation of character). Although his list is not exhaustive in scope, Peter conveys that the removal of these stains in our lives will clear the way for unhindered desire for God’s Word.

As a Christian, whether new or old, this should be our worship creed. We should WANT to grow up by God’s help and the Holy Spirit’s leading. It should be a NATURAL desire out of believers to long for more, to anticipate what great things God will do in their life – to learn all they can about the one who saved their eternal soul. It is no less natural for a believer to be expected to have a longing for God and His Word than as Peter mentions in verse 2, a baby to have an intrinsic desire for nourishment from his mother’s milk. Believers need God’s truth in the same fashion as a baby would die without physical nourishment.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word” – for a baby, especially a newborn, there resides a singular dominant desire in his life, and that is for nourishment, for milk. Peter uses two words “newborn babes” to convey the illustration of a baby just momentarily born. As a father of three, I know with each of my children, their first, instinctive desire when born was to feed. It’s an inherent part of our make-up. That sole and desperate hunger for milk is the newborn’s first expressed longing designed by God to correspond to their greatest need, and it illustrates how strongly believers ought to desire the Word. It is singular and relentless because life depends on it. My friend, you spiritual life depends on your insatiable desire for the “sincere milk of the word.”

“desire” – this is an imperative verb that commands believers to crave something. Paul uses that same word in his epistles, expression intense desire or passion. In essence, it is a consuming desire Peter wants his readers to have for the truth of Scripture. Whether you are a new convert or more mature in the faith, having a craving for God’s Word is essential to growing up spiritually.

“the sincere milk” – meaning that our desire should be for the unadulterated, uncontaminated truth of God. I mention this because it is so easy today to be confused and carried away by the doctrine and philosophies of other denominations or groups. Between magazines, radio programs, TV shows, websites, even Christian bands, culture saturates us with spiritual junk food, leaving us malnourished and with a dull appetite for the real meant and potatoes of Scripture. If you want to maintain a strong appetite for truth, don’t feast on all the “Christian” world has to offer. Be selective, be discriminatory in your choice of study helps, spiritual guidance, and above all, fact check things with your Bible.

“that ye may grow thereby:” – just like it’s sad to see an adult who is malnourished and retarded in development, so even greater is the sadness that is seen in believers who are spiritually malnourished and underdeveloped. Let me make Scripture abundantly clear here – YOU are the ONLY reason for why you become spiritually anemic. Being surrounded by copies of the Bible and Godly spiritual leaders in this church, to understand why you fall into a malnourished condition spiritual is under YOUR responsibility. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Peter shows that if we cultivate and nurture that insatiable desire for the word of God, we will, as a consequence of such, grow in Christ. We will be spiritually nourished and fulfilled. How can we not be motivated by the opportunity to mature in Christ, and enjoy greater blessings over what the world has to offer? God’s Riches Over the World’s Unsatisfying Pleasures – GROW UP! Peter says that here. The phrase “may grow” literally means “it will grow you.” This isn’t a hope so, maybe so, guess so kind of promise, God’s Word WILL grow you, if you’ll consume yourself with learning it.

3. Growing Up Strengthens The Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:13-16)

Third, Scripture carefully shows us that not only does growing up become an expected action, and a natural consequence of salvation, but our growth in Christ helps to strengthen the local church body we have the privilege of being a part of. Paul just finished pointing out in the previous verses that the ministry of a growing church body rests in the passionate work and service of those in its care (pastors, laypeople, etc.). Spiritual growth, in part, happens when believers work together to produce a common goal in a church, the “perfecting of the saints.”

However, a church can’t grow if the leadership doesn’t grow – those in the classrooms of Sunday school teachers, under the preaching of pastoral staff leaders, can’t understand how to grow if the ministry leaders aren’t growing. This is an exhortation to myself and all those in ministry positions. And the same can be said of a youth ministry. A youth group cannot grow physically or spiritually if the young adults currently in that ministry are stagnant. Nothing gets accomplished, no one excels in their relationship with Christ. Now let’s analyze these few verses here together.

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith” – the ultimate spiritual target for a church is a united front where all people in the church work for the same Christ-centered goal in faith. Disunity in any kind of church body (congregation, youth group, etc.) is a sign of severe spiritual immaturity. Consequently, when believers choose to “grow up” and seek spiritual maturity, an atmosphere of unity is the inevitable result. What I’m saying friends in that we can’t have unity in our churches without you choosing to “grow up” and seek spiritual maturity – only those who are spiritually maturing saints can help a body attain that spirit of unit in a local church.

“unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” – God’s will for every Christian is for them to become more and more like His Son Jesus Christ. How is that possible. Believers must choose to grow up, to mature as Christians so that their speech reflects God, their attitudes reflect God, their habits, motives, desires, passions, loves and hates, all reflect the attitude and the mind of Christ. You can be an immature, anemic, growth stunted believer and expect anything less than the situation you’re in right now. God wants to mold us into His image, more and more. The more we feast on the things of God, the more we look like Christ, and less like ourselves.

But now look at verse 14. Paul shows us a result of spiritual maturity directly reflected in the beliefs of a church body. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” – the Christian who grows up and maturity spiritually does not succumb to the flippant fads and vain theology that plagues our Christian culture. A mature Christian can see through the junk and fact check the wisdom of man with the divine wisdom of God.

Let me emphasize to you all that in the world we live in today, just because it sounds Christian, calls itself Christian, and looks Christian, doesn’t always mean it is. A spiritually mature Christian will be able to recognize and point out those flawed devices. An immature Christian is gullible to the heretical doctrines taught and shared today, and many of those teachers make their teaching believable, creating pockets of supporters and listeners everywhere. One of the reasons why spiritual growth is so important is so that you can be grounded in God’s Word. Even in Christian music, many bands have a voice into Christian culture more than preachers do it seems. And I can promise you, not everything that gets marketed under the guise of Christianity is worth a believer’s heart & mind.

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” – in verse 15 Paul gives the solution to the “every wind of doctrine” he spoke of in verse 14. A spiritually mature, authentic believer will #1 not be victim to such false teaching. #2 he/she will be able to accurately and compassionately point out these flawed philosophies to other immature believers, not to condemn or derail them, but to edify and nurture them.

But herein lies the problem. ONLY a mature believer who is growing in Christ can adequately and properly speak the truth in love to someone. This is why growing up is so essential. We can’t help others if we don’t take care of our own abnormalities first. To confront someone with the truth in a loving way, when someone has sinned against God, when someone is embracing false teachings, can only be accomplished when done in grace and humility, a character quality developed only in those that choose to attain spiritual maturity in their own personal life so that by it they may help others.

Finally, Paul concludes his thought in verse 16 where he says “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” In essence Paul is saying that in order for a local church body to function to its fullest potential, we must trust in the power of Christ to keep the body unified, while at the same time, exercising our continuing spiritual growth and maturity to do our part in keeping a local body unified for the glory of God. When people choose to have Godly relationships, a maturity spiritual life, and an active role in ministry, God begins to work and use that church to His glory. May that be said about our church.

Conclusion

Just as a child will never experience the joys of adulthood if he/she never grew up, so a Christian is the same way if they don’t grow in Christ. God’s Word makes it abundantly clear that as Christians, you are expected to grow, to mature, to become more like Christ. But you should naturally WANT to do those things as a believer, to “know him more” as Paul said in Philippians, sitting at the feet of Jesus like Mary did, learning all that you can.

Let me share with you one last verse as we close out this series. Psalm 92:12-14 says, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;” God promises to us that if we plan ourselves in God’s Word, in His churches, in an intimate relationship with Him, that we will “flourish” (bud, spring, bloom). We will grow like a cedar in Lebanon (very dense, strong tree with a deep root system – incredibly hard to uproot or move). And in verse 14 it says we will be fat (not overweight, but this word means vigorous, rich, wealthy). This is God’s promise to those that seek and choose to GROW UP and experience God’s Riches Over the World’s Unsatisfying Pleasures.

But for some of you, you can’t experience this kind of growth because you’re not planted. Verse 13 says, “Those that be planted in the house of the Lord…” – that word planted is translated as transplanted, being moved from somewhere to the courts of God. Job 8:11-13 says, “11Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? 12Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. 13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:” Just as a reed or a marsh grass cannot grow without proper nourishment, so you my friend can’t experience growing in Christ without being saved. Would you permit me the opportunity tonight to show you how you can experience the greatest joy you will ever know in your life – a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the one paid the price for your sins – and mine!

It’s clear by seeing Peter’s exhortation to his readers to grow in Christ, that he is discontent with the present condition of spiritual development going on in the church he addresses. And let me say to you in love, SO AM I. It’s 2011 and things need to change. Spiritual growth MUST happen and continue to happen in WORD before any more lives are changed, or any other blessings fall upon this group. I want to encourage and invite everyone to get on board, to be a part of this passionate pursuit of holiness, and the insatiable desire for feasting on the Word of God. YOU have the choice to make. You can choose to GROW UP, and experience God’s blessing’s over the world’s pleasure, or you can think you’re in better shape on your own. I want to be an encouragement and a help to those that truly want God’s blessings in their lives. And let us commit together to love those that don’t live for Christ, while exhorting them, passionately to repent and turn to Christ. You make the choice!

Honoring Your Pastor By Honoring God

2010-12-07T11:34:00.002-05:00

[I had the great privilege of bringing the Sunday morning message to our DBC congregation on Pastor Appreciation Day shortly after my tonsilectomy. So many people enjoyed the message, I thought that I should post it here.]

Introduction

Today we celebrate Pastor’s Appreciation Day. And there is much to celebrate. Between our three full-time pastors we celebrate a combined total of 75 years in the role of ministry between associate pastoring, senior pastoring, and youth pastoring. It is my honor to stand before you today and help honor our senior and associate pastors, Pastor Sparks and Pastor Shinkle. Working in the ministry these last 7 years at DBC, I’ve worked alongside both of these men and Travis Gilbert as well, gleaning the incredible privilege to be pruned, discipled, and trained in ministry by these great men. I can say without hesitation this morning that we have two great pastors at DBC.

But this morning is not about them entirely. Although we honor and celebrate the faithful years of service they have spent in ministerial positions, my goal, my focus this morning is to give you a backstage pass so to speak into the life of a pastor. I believe as a church we can better minister to our pastors by better understanding their lives as ministers – the ups and the downs. To begin, please turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians where we will study the Word of God this morning. The pastoral ministry is not an easy job. In fact, if you were to tell a pastor before he signed up to become one that he would experience heartache, depression, anxiety, fear, grief, remorse, a heavy heart, feelings of worthlessness, rejection, hurt from those closest to him, you probably couldn’t pay the man enough to make him want to take the job. It’s not surprise that the average tenure of a pastor by the latest Barna research group study is just 4 years. What could make it so short? I’ll share.

The Burdens of Pastoral Ministry

There are few things more hurtful to a pastor in his ministry than to witness and watch the effects of sin in people’s lives – broken relationships, shattered marriages, wayward children. All of these produce intense suffering and deep sorrow in the lives of those affected and involved, including the pastor. And even more compounding to this sorrow is witnessing the suffering believers go through due to the consequences of their own sinful conduct in the church under which a pastor is given the privilege to shepherd in his ministry.

Though richly rewarding in many ways, the pastor ministry is difficult, grueling, long, and costly. It’s not the cushy job that some would think it is. To spend time in an office, pouring over God’s Word in preparation for an upcoming service, is only the tip of the iceberg. Much more time outside of the office is often spent on phone calls, personal visits, studying, counseling, planning, administrating, preparing, and praying over the ministries of his church, and the lives of his sheep.

Any pastor worth his salt in ministry does not take this task, this calling lightly. And ministry is not for the faint of heart by any stretch of the imagination. To properly interpret the Word of God, understand theology, edify believers, and refute those in error requires diligent, hard labor. Proving to be an example to the flock, developing and training leaders, admonishing the unruly, encouraging the fainthearted, and helping the weak as 1 Thessalonians 5:14 explains all take their toll on a pastor. There are always those thoughts in the back of a pastor’s mind – “If only I had prayed more today”….”If only I had spent more time studying today for this message”….”If only I could have visited more people today”…..”If only I had more energy today”……”If only I had a little more encouragement today….things might be different.”

But perhaps the most difficult and painful aspect of ministry in any pastor’s life resides in the conflicts that may arise in the relationships between the shepherd and the sheep. All pastors know the hurt that comes when those in whom they have invested the most return the least. I have learned such sorrow in my own ministry this year. And when these situations, these heartaches occur, it’s all a pastor can do to not take the hurt personally.

People leave the church. People get mad at the pastor and leave the church. People fall into sin. People miss out on the blessings of God in their lives. And it’s during these times in a pastor’s ministry that one would self-evaluate and say, “Did I tell them enough? Did I show them enough? Did I pray for them enough? Did I love them enough?” – when the pastor may not be the reason to blame by any stretch of the imagination. This is what brings us to 2 Corinthians 7:5-16 this morning.

The Burdens of Paul’s Ministry

Did you know that the great Apostle Paul struggled with these same problems and heartaches I just mentioned moments ago? Yes, the great Paul who penned by divine inspiration over half of the New Testament we have today had heartaches and sorrow throughout his ministry. As the Apostle Paul pens 2 Corinthians, he is nursing his own broken heart over a church he loved and cared for dearly. While dealing with severe external pressures, afflictions and suffering, he pens in chapter 1 – “4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 8For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:” – Wow! That’s quite a statement. He was despaired (depressed) over his own life at this point in his ministry.

He even goes on to explain in verse 9-10, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”

Look over with me in chapter 4:8-12. Listen to how Paul describes himself. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you.”

Later in chapter 11 Paul records all the physical afflictions he had suffered over his time in ministry (beatings, imprisonments, stoning, threatening, etc.) but says in verse 28, “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” Regardless of his own physical issues, his main concern was for the churches he so selflessly nurtured and ministered to. Sadly, the Corinthian church, a church he spent almost two years of his life on had repaid him with disloyalty. They had allowed false teachers into their fold that attacked Paul’s character and ministry. Some of the Corinthians united against him. One of those members apparently verbally assaulted and abused Paul as recorded in chapter 2. The fact that the majority of the church didn’t defend him from these attacks hurt him even more, and as a result we have the written letter of 2 Corinthians, a sternly worded letter rebuking the congregation for their mistreatment and lack of love toward him.

But Paul did the right thing. With much anguish and hesitation, he wrote 2 Corinthians to a church that needed to hear it. And as he waited anxiously for their reply from Titus (his messenger to Corinth at the time) he describes an inward and outward struggle in verse 5 of chapter 7. “For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”

But comfort and encouragement came for Paul upon Titus’ return. Paul was comforted in six different ways through the information Paul received at the mouth of Titus upon his return to Macedonia where Paul had been staying. Today, I want to challenge DBC to minister to the heart of their pastors by following the Corinthians example in these four areas. Let’s look at them together in verses 6-16. These four areas outline the relationship every church should have with its pastor(s) respectively.

A Church’s Ministry To Its Pastor

The first of these seven areas is LOYALTY – “7And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.” Titus reported to Paul three specific characteristics of the Corinthians renewed loyalty to Paul by their earnest desire, their mourning, and their fervent mind (zeal) towards him. Out of a harsh letter that needed to be written to a wayward church, Paul sees their desire to see him again, their sorrow for how they had treated him, and a zeal to love him more and defend him from future attacks. By doing this they responded correctly to Paul and to God. They reaffirmed their loyalty to him realizing their disloyalty was a sin against God, the one who put Paul in his position.

How’s your loyalty to your pastor? I don’t ask you to glorify or deify the man of God, but respectfully honor those whom God has placed in charge to shepherd the flock you are a part of. Do you speak highly of your pastor? Do you question his judgment without seeking his counsel? Do you edify your pastor or criticize his actions? Do you seek him out for answers about the Scriptures, wanting to hear his insight on how a verse of Scripture applies to a given situation? How’s your loyalty to your pastor? Secondly, we see in the Corinthian church the act of

REPENTANCE – “8For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. 9Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

Paul new that he has caused sorrow in the Corinthians lives by writing the letter. And he did experience inner turmoil over it “I do not repent, though I did repent…” but he knew that confronting sin was more important than their feelings at the time. Sometimes confronting sin requires going beyond what love and compassion are comfortable with. But it’s necessary, because sin is a deadly killer. The sorrow that the Corinthians experienced was Godly sorrow for their sin.

There are times in the ministry when a pastor has to confront sin in his people. Sin crouches at the door of someone’s heart, false teachers are everywhere, and Satan is constantly trying to destroy the work of God. The faithful pastor must not and cannot shrink from his responsibility to faithfully preach the word of God, calling his people to Scriptural obedience in hopes that Godly sorrow will do the work on someone’s heart towards true repentance. Do you repent over sin when it confronts you through the preaching of the Word? Do you let your pastor pour his heart out to simply ignore his passionate pleading for your Godly living? What do you do when conviction grips your heart over the preaching of the Word? Repentance over sin encourages a pastor’s heart for the work of God.

Thirdly, we see the Corinthians exercise PURITY in verse 11 – “11For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

I know the word “purity” is not in this verse, but look at the phrase “have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” The word used in this phrase is “Hagnos” which implies being innocent or being pure. The Corinthians show how truly repentant they were over their sin by exercising purity in their walk with the Lord to abstain from those sins in the future. This true repentance produced “carefulness” in them, “clearing of yourselves” meaning vindication (righting the wrong), “indignation” meaning strong disgust or righteous anger over their sin, as well as fear, desire, zeal and revenge (righting the wrong). Do these words describe us as Christians when we repent of sin? How encouraging it is to the heart of a pastor to see these characteristics lived out as we live lives of purity before God, walking in truth, forsaking sin. It might make your pastor think you’re listening to what he says on a given Sunday or Wednesday night message.

Fourthly is OBEDIENCE – “14For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth. 15And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.”

With a hope in his heart, Paul sent Titus to Corinth boasting that they would humbly and obediently accept his requests, and they would be humble hosts to Titus during his stay. They didn’t’ let Paul down. By seeing how the Corinthians took Titus us with fear and trembling was complete evidence of their repentance to God for how they had previously treated Paul. Their willing obedience to the Word of God proved the genuineness of their repentance. When people are truly repentant, they submit themselves to the commandments of Scripture without hesitation, reluctance, or qualification. To have a congregation of such obedient people to the Word of God brings great joy to its leaders.

My friends, do you actively engage yourself in being obedient to God’s Word? When Truth is proclaimed and explained clearly through the study and preparation of one of your pastors, what is your response? Do you say “Yes Lord” or rather “Perhaps Lord”. If you want to be not only a faithful follower of Christ, but an encouragement to your pastor, be an obedient Christian.

CONCLUSION

In a message I preached to our student ministry back in the spring, I made this my theme statement for the evening…SIN AFFECTS EVERYONE. I bring this theme up because as I share with you true heart of pastors, YOUR pastors, this phrase is true as well. The ministry can be a very lonely place. And that is why encouragement and help are so important in the life of a pastor. Think about how your pastor feels when each week he pours his heart out before you for the glory of God for the salvation of souls, and no one is stirred enough to make a public decision or trust Christ as their Savior.

The ministry is hard…..but God is SO faithful. Whenever I am down, I go back to this verse of Scripture and repeat it back to myself. “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” – 1 Timothy 1:12. Ministry is a privilege, not a cakewalk. In a world where the average tenure for pastors is 4 years or less, churches have a job to do. Encouragement goes a long way. By being a blessing to your pastor, you can receive a blessing from your pastor as he continues his passionate pursuit of ministry. Today, take the time to honor your pastors. Love them, remind yourself to pray for them, encourage them, learn from them, help them in any way you can. I firmly believe with all my heart, the more a church loves the Lord, the more that church loves its pastors.

But let me also challenge you this morning – we all need a pastor’s heart. We all need to grieve over sin. To pray for others, to study the word of God, to defend the truth, to rebuke false teaching, to comfort those who need comfort, to edify those who are cast down. Will you accept the challenge to not only love your pastors as God desires you to, but to love others with a pastor’s heart? Let’s pray.

2010-10-13T09:44:00.003-04:00

Using God’s Law Practically

1 Timothy, chapter 1:8, says, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully” God’s law is good if it’s used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. Well, what was the law “designed” for? The following verses tells us: “9Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; (verses 9-10). If you want to bring a homosexual to Christ, don’t get into an argument with him over his perversion; he’s ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no. Give him the Ten Commandments. The law was made for homosexuals. Show him that he is damned despite his perversion.

If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him; let it prepare his heart for grace as happened on the day of Pentecost. If you want to bring a Muslim to Christ, give him the law of Moses; they accept Moses as a prophet. Give them the law of Moses and strip them of their self-righteousness and bring them to the foot of a blood-stained cross. Let’s say your table needs dusting in your living room. So you dust it clean; all the dust is gone. Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight. What do you see on the table? Dust. What do you see in the air? Dust. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains and let the light of God’s law shine upon the sinner’s heart, all that happens, is that he sees himself in truth. “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:” (Prov. 6:23). That’s why Paul said, “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). That’s why he said, “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 7:13). In other words, the law showed him sin in its true light.

Now, I’m a strong believer in following in the footsteps of Jesus. Never should I approach someone and say, “Jesus loves you” as an attempt to share the Gospel with someone. It’s totally unbiblical; there’s no precedent for that in Scripture. Neither should I go up to someone and say, “I’d like to talk to you about Jesus Christ.” Why? Because if I wanted to awaken you from a deep sleep, I wouldn’t use a flashlight in your eyes. That will offend you. I’d turn on the light dimmer very gently. First, the natural, then the spiritual. Why? Because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Cor. 2:14).

The precedent in Scripture is given in John 4 for personal witness. You can see Jesus’ example with the woman at the well. He started in the natural realm, swung to the spiritual, brought conviction using the seventh commandment, and then revealed Himself as the Messiah. So, when I meet someone, I’ll talk about the weather, I’ll talk about sports: let them feel a little bit of sanity. Get to know them; maybe a joke here and there and then deliberately swing from the natural to the spiritual. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the use of gospel tracts.

I say, “Ah, do you think you’ve kept the ten commandments?” He says, “Ah, yeah…pretty much.” I say, “Let’s go through them. Ever told a lie?” He says, “Ah, yeah…yeah, one or two.” I say, “What does that make you?” He says, “A sinner.” I say, “No, no. Specifically, what does it make you?” He says, “Well, man, I’m not a liar.” I say, “How many lies, then, do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten and a bell rings and ‘liar!’ across your forehead? Isn’t it true if you tell one lie, it makes you a liar?” He says, “Yeah…I guess you’re right.” I say, “Have you ever stolen something?” He says, “No.” I say, “Come on; you’ve just admitted to me you’re a liar.” I say, “Ever stolen something, even if its small?” and he says, “Yeah.” I say, “What does that make you?” He says, “A thief.” I say, “Jesus said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Mat. 5:28). Ever done that?” He says, “Yeah, plenty of times.” “Then from your own admission, you’re a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart, and you have to face God on judgment day; and we’ve only looked at three of the ten commandments. There’s another seven with their cannons pointed at you. Have you used God’s name in vain?” “Yeah…I’ve been trying to stop.” “You know what you’re doing? Instead of using a four-letter filth word to express disgust, you’re using God’s name in its place. That’s called blasphemy; and Christ said, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Mat. 12:36). “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7).

Now the wonderful thing about God’s law is that God has taken the time to write it upon our heart. Romans 2, verse 15: “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” Now, conscience means “with knowledge.” Con is “with,” science is “knowledge.” Conscience. So when he lies, lusts, fornicates, blasphemes, commits adultery, he does it with knowledge that it’s wrong. God has given light to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Sin which is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4); righteousness which is of the law (Rom. 10:5; Philip. 3:9); judgment which is by the law. His conscience accuses him—the work of the law written on his heart (Rom. 2:15)—and the law condemns him.

So I say, “So if God judges you by this standard on the day of judgment, are you going to be innocent or guilty?” He says, “Guilty.” I say, “Well, do you think you’ll go to heaven or hell?” And the usual answer is, “Heaven.” A product of the modern gospel. I say, “Why do you feel like that? Is it because you think God is good and he’ll overlook your sins?” He says, “Yeah, that’s it. He’ll overlook my sins.” “Yeah, well, try that in a court of law. You’ve committed rape, murder, drug pushing—very serious crimes. The judge says, ‘You’re guilty. All the evidence is here. Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?’ And you say, ‘Yes, Judge. I’d like to say I believe you’re a good man and you’ll overlook my crimes.’ The judge would probably say, ‘You’re right about one thing. I am a good man, and because of my goodness, I’m going to see that justice is done. Because of my goodness, I’m going to see that you’re punished.’ ” And the very thing sinners are hoping will save them on the day of judgment, the goodness of God, will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by nature punish murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, and blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it’s found.

So with this knowledge, he’s now able to understand. He now has light that his sin is primarily vertical: that he has “sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21), that he has violated God’s law and that He has angered God and the wrath of God abides upon Him (John 3:36). He now understands the need for a sacrifice. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Gal. 3:13). “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). We broke the law; he paid the fine. It’s as simple as that. And if a man will repent, if a woman will repent and put their faith in Jesus, God will remit their sins so that on the day of judgment, when their court case comes up, God can say, “Your case is dismissed through lack of evidence.” “Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.”

The Grace : Law Ratio

John Wycliffe, the Bible translator. He said, “The highest service to which a man may obtain on earth is to preach the law of God.” Why? Because it will drive sinners to faith in the Savior, to everlasting life. Martin Luther said, “The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God’s law and to show the nature of sin.” In fact, as we read these quotes, these men have so much conviction you can feel their teeth grit. They say things like, “If you do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts.” Stony ground hearers who will receive the word with joy and gladness.

Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, “Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.”

John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, “Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace.” And you say, “90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty heavy. Couldn’t it be 50-50.” Think of it like this. I’m a doctor; you’re a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it’s absolutely essential that you are totally committed to this cure; if you’re not 100 percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it? Probably like this.

“Come in here. Sit down. I’ve some very serious news for you: you have a terminal disease.” I see you begin to shake. I think to myself, “Good. He’s beginning to see the seriousness of this situation.” I bring out charts; I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about this terrible disease. How long, then, do you think I’m going to have to talk about the cure? Not long at all. When you’re sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say, “By the way, here’s the cure.” You grab it and gulp it down. Your knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire the cure.

You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word “bath.” What’s the point? See, Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:” (Matt. 5:6a) How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Rom. 3:11). Turn with me to John 3:19-20 which says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God’s law and understood that God saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as adultery, hatred the same as murder, I began to say, “I can see I’m condemned. What must I do to be made right?” I began to thirst for righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.” And Charles Finney said, “Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel.” He said, “To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts.”

You see, my friends, the problem is that Lazarus is four days dead (John 11). We can run in the tomb, we can pull him out, we can prop him up, we can open his eyes, but “he stinketh” (vs. 39). He needs to hear the voice of the Son of God. And the sinner is four days dead in his sins. We can run up and say, “Trust Christ as your Savior.” Still, he needs to hear the voice of the Son of God, or there is no life in him; and the thing that primes the sinner’s ear to hear the voice of the Son of God is the law. It’s a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ that he might be justified through faith (Gal. 3:24). Bottom line, the law works; it converts the soul (Ps. 19:7). It does what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Allow this final illustration to put things in perspective for you.

You’re sitting on a plane, sipping you’re coffee, eating a cookie, and watching a movie. It’s a good flight, very pleasurable, when suddenly you hear, “This is your captain speaking. I have an announcement to make. As the tail section has just fallen off of this plane, we’re about to crash. There’s a 25,000 foot drop. There’s a parachute under your seat; we’d appreciate it if you’d put it on. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for flying with this airline.” You say, “What!? 25,000 feet!? Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute!” You look next to you; the guy next to you is eating his cookie, sipping his coffee, and watching the movie. You say, “Excuse me, did you hear the captain? Put the parachute on.” He turns to you and says, “Oh, I really don’t think the captain means it. Besides, I’m quite happy as I am, thanks.” Don’t turn to him in sincere zeal and say, “Oh, please, put the parachute on. It will be better than the movie.” Now, that doesn’t make sense. If you tell him that somehow the parachute will improve his flight, he’s going to put it on for a wrong motive. If you want him to put it on and keep it on, tell him about the jump. You say, “Excuse me, ignore the captain if you wish. Jump without a parachute…SPLAT!” He says, “I’m sorry; I beg your pardon.” “I said, if you jump without a parachute, law of gravity. ‘Splat!’ on the ground.” “OH man! I see what you’re saying! Thank you very much!” And as long as that man has knowledge he has to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity, there’s no way you’re going to get that parachute off his back, because his very life depends on it.

Now, if you look around you, you’ll find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight. They’re enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Go up and say, “Excuse me. Did you hear the command from our Captain about salvation, ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.’ ” He turns to you and says, “Oh, I really don’t think God means it. God is love. Besides, I’m quite happy as I am, thanks.” Don’t turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say, “Please, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. You’ve got a God-shaped hole in your heart only God can fill. If you have a marriage problem, drug problem, alcohol problem, just give your heart to Jesus.” No. You’ll give him the wrong motive for his commitment. Instead say, “Oh, God, give me courage!” and tell him about the jump. Just say, “Hey, it’s appointed to man once to die. If you die in your sins, God will be forced to give you justice, and His judgment is going to be so thorough. Every idle word a man speaks he’ll give account thereof on the day of judgment; if you’ve lusted, you’ve committed adultery. If you’ve hated someone, you’ve committed murder, etc., you’ve broken God’s law. And the only payment for God’s justice outside of eternal death in Hell is the price Christ paid on the cross for your sins and mine friend.

Conclusion

Tonight, let me challenge you as to the validity of your salvation. Modern evangelism says, “Never question your salvation.” The Bible says the exact opposite. It says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). Better now than on the day of judgment. The Bible says “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:” (2 Peter 1:10), and some of you know that something is radically wrong in your Christian walk. You lose your peace and joy when the flight gets bumpy. There is a lack of zeal to evangelize. You never fell on your face before Almighty God and said, “I’ve sinned against You, oh God! Have mercy upon me!” You’ve never fled to Jesus Christ and His blood for cleansing, in desperation crying out, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” And there’s a lack of gratitude; there’s not a burning zeal for the lost. You can’t say you’re on fire for God; in fact, you’re in danger of being one of the ones that are called “lukewarm” and will be spewed out of the mouth of Christ on the day of judgment (Rev. 3:16) when multitudes will cry out to Jesus, “Lord, Lord.” And he’ll say, “Depart form me ye workers of iniquity (lawlessness): I never knew you” (Mat. 7:22–23). No regard to the divine law.

The Bible says, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”—lawlessness (2Tim. 2:19). Perhaps you, my friend have never come to grips with your standing before God. While you may think you are all right, Scripture and the law show us that “There is none righteous, no not one.” – Romans 3:10. I want to invite you to come to Christ tonight, but before you can make a decision for Christ, you must come to grips with who you really are. We are all sinners. We cannot circumvent the law of God. We will all stand before Him one day in judgment. My friends, don’t let your pride and arrogance stop you from trusting Christ as your Savior. Let the Scriptures be your schoolmaster to educate you on your need for salvation. Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 16:5). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Let us show you tonight how to be saved. “But other people will see me.” Don’t let pride stop you friends. Your eternal soul weighs in the balance. I do not preach to you that Christ makes life one big bowl of cherries, but one day, YOU will have to jump out of that plane. Will you put on the parachute and live?

2010-09-16T08:10:00.003-04:00

Christ’s Examples of Evangelism

So we’re going to now look at examples of “law to the proud and grace to the humble.” In Luke 10:25 we see a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. This is not an attorney, but a professing expert on God’s law. He stood up and he said to Jesus, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, what did Jesus do? He gave him law. Why? Because he was proud, arrogant, self-righteous. Here we have a professing expert on God’s law tempting the Son of God. And the spirit of his question was, “And what do you think we’ve got to do to get everlasting life?” So Jesus gave him law. He said, verses 26-29, “What is written in the law? How readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”

So Jesus then told him the story of what we call the “good Samaritan” who was not “good” at all. In loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, he merely obeyed the basic requirements of God’s law. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spirituality of the law (of what the law demands in truth), was that that man’s mouth was stopped. See, he didn’t love his neighbor to that degree. The law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God.

Similarly, in Luke 18:18, the rich, young ruler came to Jesus. He said, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said, “How can I get everlasting life?” We’d say, “Oh…um….pray to God, confess your sins, and trust Christ as your Savior.” But what did Jesus do with His potential convert? He pointed Him to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments, commandments to do with his fellow man. And when he said, “All these have I kept from my youth up,” Jesus said, “One thing thou lackest.” And he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments: “I am the Lord thy God…thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:2–3). He showed this man that His god was His money, and “you cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt. 6:24). Law to the proud.

Then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus (John 3). Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God’s law. He was humble of heart, because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the Deity of the Son of God. A leader in Israel? “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” So Jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth, who had a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being paid for and “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son…” And it was not foolishness to Nicodemus but “the power of God unto salvation.”

Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). They were devout Jews, who, therefore, ate, drank, and slept God’s law. Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator, said the reason they were gathered together on the day of Pentecost was to celebrate the giving of God’s law on Mt. Sinai. So when Peter stood up to preach to these Jews, he didn’t preach wrath. No, the law works wrath; they knew that. He didn’t preach righteousness or judgment. No, no. He just told them the good news of the fine being paid for, and they were pricked in their hearts and cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (vs. 37). The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in His blood. And the hymn-writer said, “By God’s word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I’d spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.”

...part 4 continues next week!!

2010-09-15T08:34:00.003-04:00

Law To The Proud…Grace To The Humble

My friends, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they’re going have to jump out of the plane. Hebrews 9:27 explains, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God’s law, then he want to know as the Philippian jailer says in Acts 16:30 – “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” If we’re true and faithful witnesses, that’s what we’ll be preaching – that there is a wrath to come; that God “commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). Why? “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness” (vs. 31).

You see, the issue isn’t one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn’t matter how happy a sinner is, how much he’s enjoying “the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25), without the righteousness of Christ, he’ll die without Christ, only to spend eternity in Hell. Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it’s not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance, and thus produce more false converts, instead of true believers.

Now with that thought in mind, let’s take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a brand new stewardess. She’s carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It’s her first day; she wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does. Because as she’s walking down the aisle, she trips over someone’s foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. Now what’s his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, “Aahhh! Man that hurt”? Of course! He feels the pain. But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor and say, “The stupid parachute!”? No. Why should he? He didn’t put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.

Now if you and I have come to Christ for salvation for the right reasons, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won’t get angry at God; we won’t lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle: we came to have eternal life – to flee from the wrath that’s to come. And if anything, tribulation and persecution should drive the true believer closer to the Savior. And sadly we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who abandon ship when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They’re the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking all the information necessary to make a knowledgeable decision to trust Christ as their Savior. As a result, they make a profession of faith, but repentance and saving faith, has not occurred in their heart.

Remember Romans 7:7? Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the law.” How can a man repent if he doesn’t know what sin is? Any so-called “repentance” would be merely what I call “horizontal repentance”. He’s coming because he’s lied to men, he’s stolen from men. But when David sinned with Bathsheba and broke several of the ten commandments (when he coveted his neighbor’s wife, lived a lie, stole his neighbor’s wife, committed adultery, committed murder, and dishonored God), he didn’t say “I’ve sinned against man.” He said, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psalm 51:4). When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). The prodigal son said, “I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight” (Luke 15:21). The Bible says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Cor. 7:10). And when a man doesn’t understand that his sin is primarily vertical, he’ll merely come and exercise superficial, experimental, and horizontal repentance, and fall away when tribulation, temptation, and persecution come.

A.B. Earl said, “I have found by long experience that the severest threatening of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they’ll not escape danger until they see it.” Now I’d like you to do something a little unusual. I’ll not embarrass you; I give you my word. But I would like to ask, how many of you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl? Now, I want to admit something to you. I was thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl: I was thinking, “Nobody’s listening to me; they’re thinking of something else.” So, to make a very important point, I’d like you to be really honest. If you were thinking of something else and you haven’t got a clue what A.B. Earl said, could you raise your hand up nice and high.

A.B. Earl said, “I have found by long experience [that’s the true test] that the severest threatening of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they’ll not escape danger until they see it.”

You see, you try and save a man from drowning when the man doesn’t believe he’s drowning, he’ll not be too happy with you. You see him swimming out in the lake; you think, “I think he’s drowning. Yes, I believe he is.” You dive in, pull him to the shore, without telling him anything. He’s not going to be very happy with you. He won’t want to get saved until he sees that he’s in danger. They’ll not escape danger until they see it. And sadly, what’s happened in Christianity today is that we have preached the cure without first convincing people of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law, that they are transgressors.

Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No, no. With the law he breaks the hard heart and with the gospel he heals the broken heart. Why? Because He always did those things that please the Father. James 4:6 says, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” This is also repeated in 1 Peter 5:5. And consequently, as Proverbs 16:5 states, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Mark 2:17 – “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick:”, and only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate and want the cure.

....continued with Part 3 on Thursday (9/16/10)

2010-09-02T07:59:00.006-04:00

Introduction

Hell has a secret. It has been doing its best to keep this secret from us, from this world, for hundreds of years. Worst of all, Christianity has aided Hell in keeping this secret. It is a secret that needs to be shared with the world. In actuality, it’s not a secret at all, but has become one due to its lack of being vocal. This secret is directly reflected in the evangelism efforts made in Christianity today. To our shame, as Christians, we promote its secrecy, and encourage others to do the same in their evangelistic endeavors. And as a result, Christian culture produces more and more false converts in our communities, churches, and families worldwide.

What is the secret, you ask? It’s quite simple. I can boil it down to a single statement for you this evening – Hell’s big secret is “preach redemption without the reason.” In essence, tell them about Christ and salvation, without explaining sin and the law. As a result, modern evangelism, easy-believism, and the prosperity gospel have saturated our culture in hopes of “winning over” more people to Christ. But inadvertently, it does nothing more than make Christianity today look like a farce, or a complete joke.

Tonight, I would like to invite you to study with me in the Scripture, what true, Biblical evangelism is all about. My purpose in this study is two-fold – first, I want to explain to Christians the desperate need to incorporate God’s law into their witnessing conversations and apologetics, explaining “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). My second purpose for our study is for those who are searching, for those who have yet to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior, my prayer is that by the end of this study, you will have a complete understanding of your position before God as a sinner in need of a Savior – that with clear understanding you’ll want to know more and come to faith in Christ.

What’s Missing In Modern Evangelism

The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Allow me to illustrate the good/bad news balance needed in the Gospel. Imagine if I said, “I’ve got some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf.” You’d probably react by saying, “What are you talking about? That’s not good news: it doesn’t make sense. I don’t have a $25,000 speeding fine.” My good news wouldn’t be good news to you: it would seem foolishness. But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I’m insinuating you’ve broken the law when you don’t think you have.

However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: “On the way to this meeting, a state trooper clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for blind children. There were ten clear warning signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed, but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was extremely dangerous; there’s a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course, when someone you don’t even know stepped in and paid the fine for you.”

Can you see that telling you precisely what you’ve done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense? If I don’t clearly bring instruction and understanding that you’ve violated the law (the bad news), then the good news will seem foolishness; it will seem offensive. But once you understand that you’ve broken the law, then that good news will become good news indeed.

Now in the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins,” it will be foolishness and offensive to him. It’s foolish because it won’t make sense. The Bible says that: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness” (1Cor. 1:18). It’s also offensive because I’m insinuating he is a sinner when he doesn’t think he is. As far as he’s concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him. But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I take the time to open up the divine law, specifically The Ten Commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he’s done wrong, that he has offended God by violating His law, then when he becomes, as James says, “convinced of the law as transgressors” (Jam. 2:9), the good news of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness, it will not be offensive, it will be “the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 1:16).

God’s Law Applied To Mankind

Now, let’s look at Romans 3, verse 19 and 20. We’ll look at some of the functions of God’s law for humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” So one function of God’s law is to stop the mouth, to stop sinners justifying themselves and saying, “There’s plenty of people worse than me. I’m not that bad of a person” No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world guilty before God.

Verse 20 says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” So God’s law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Romans 7:7 explains, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Paul says, “I didn’t know what sin was until the law told me.” In Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” God’s law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.

Paul, the writer of Galatians, shifts gears in this verse using a metaphor about the Jewish Law, the Greek word "paedagogos" which was in ancient Greece, a trustworthy attendant for children. The "schoolmaster" in the historical context of this Scripture was not the teacher, but rather the slave, who cared for his master's son's from around the age of 6 or 7 until they reached puberty. The servant (usually elderly) would escort the child to school and care for his safety in his immaturity making sure he was instructed, seeing that this child too was his master. Once the child grew up, he was no longer required to obey his servant.

The technical duty of the attendant, according to historians, was to guard the children from evil, both physical and moral, rather than instruction. He went with them to and from the school and the gymnasium, and was personally responsible for their safety and protected them from any bad company. This is a striking imagery of how the Law was primarily given for a certain purpose as an attendant to lead us to Jesus, who is the real teacher. Paul makes it clear that the Law was never given to teach us (we could never obey it), but rather it was a finger pointing to the One who is the only teacher, Jesus.

And the tragedy of modern evangelism is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of “life enhancement”. The gospel degenerated into “Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” Let me illustrate just how ridiculous that philosophy is. Please listen to this carefully. I will refer back this illustration throughout our study together.

ILLUSTRATION: Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put is on as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve his flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, un-straps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he’s told. He’s told to put it on because at any moment he’d be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn’t notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute.

Let’s analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he’s concerned it’ll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.

Now listen to what modern evangelism says. It says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” But that’s not completely true. In other words, “Jesus will improve your flight.” So a sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, gives Christianity a try to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution that Scripture tells us we will experience as believers. Oh, but wait a minute. No one told him about that. You see, if they did, he might have weighed the options further and counted the cost. The other passengers mock him, and as a result, he takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he’s offended for the word’s sake (Mark 4:17), he’s disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called “good news”.

...... continue with Part 2 next week!

2010-08-30T08:21:00.003-04:00

Christian Turtles and Believer Bunnies

[This is the devotion that I gave at our "Back to School" overnight event with our teen boys this past Friday night.] “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14

I've always loved stories- especially ones that teach us something about life. One of the great story writers that I remember is a man named Aesop. He often used animals to communicate truths about people. One of my favorite Aesop's fables is the tale of the tortoise and the hare. The hare was a supercharged speedy runner who boasted that he was the swiftest animal in the forest. Nobody drag raced him because they knew they would get burned. Yet one day, an unlikely contender took on the bunny's challenge to compete: the not so quick turtle. The hare knew that he would blow the tortoise's shell off, but he still took on the challenge. The race started with the hare leaving the turtle in a cloud of dust and fur.

Yet then, something interesting happened. On the way, the hare decided there was plenty of time for a nap. So while he snoozed for a while the tortoise kept plodding along. When the rabbit woke up, he couldn't see the tortoise anywhere, so he laughed and said, "He still hasn't caught up with me!" But as he ran toward the finish line, to his amazement he saw the tortoise crossing it. Slowly and steadily, the tortoise had won!

The Christian life is a race. Some believers are like the foolish rabbit- starting and stopping, running and napping. Yet in their pride and self-confidence, they lie down for spiritual "breaks", and oftentimes never get back into the race. They had a quick start with lots of energy and excitement, but when the race got difficult, and Christianity wasn't as much fun anymore, they dropped out.

Other believers are like turtles. They start slow, but they are determined to keep going. The ups and downs of the spiritual life don't deter them from keeping their eyes on the prize. They know that there are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity, so they just keep plodding along on the straight and narrow path. Here are some characteristics of the two different animals- see which one better describes you.

Rabbit:

I'll serve Jesus as long as it's exciting and amusing. If church is fun, and God showers me with blessings, I'll keep going. Yet if it starts to get tough and challenging, I think it's nap time.

Turtle:
I'll serve Jesus no matter what the cost. Whether I have blessing or trial is irrelevant. I know there are ups and downs, but through God's grace I'm going to press on.

A philosopher once said that the essential thing in heaven and on earth should be "long obedience in the same direction." Like the apostle Paul, make it your lifelong aim to "press toward the mark" for Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:14). You'll be the one to win the prize.