Disgusted With Our Sin...

"[Therefore] I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes"  (Job's repentance, Job 42:6, ESV).

"Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man"  (Peter's sudden awakening).

C. S. Lewis' catch-22:  "We must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good."

Ovid:  "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst."

"Why is it that I know what is right and do what is wrong?" Pierre in War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

There comes a time to throw in the towel and declare spiritual bankruptcy and stop trying to save ourselves.  But before the good news a little bad news is in order:  We must get a realistic handle on sin and call a spade a spade; that entails not inventing pretty un-offensive names for it like weaknesses,  mistakes, or habits--we are all as guilty as sin and must come clean and own up to this. The verdict is in:  "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil" (cf. John 3:19).   God levels the playing field and judges all equally guilty of Adam's prototype sin as our legacy as well as individual fault as a result of our inherited old sin nature or original sin.

Sin is the roadblock that hinders fellowship and a relationship with God and creates a chasm or schism between us that only Christ can bridge.  We are not only guilty of breaking God's law (definition of sin), but His heart--the law breaks us too!   We shouldn't be afraid God will hurt us, but that we'll hurt Him.  We are in the predicament of not being able to clean up our act and get our house in order in preparing for salvation--we must come as we are for a changed life, not with a changed life. 

To define sin we must call it by its biblical terminology:  lawlessness, iniquity, lack of faith, missing the mark, rebellion, trespassing, lack of love, autonomy or independence, and transgression.  When Adam ate the proverbial apple he doubted, disbelieved, and disobeyed.  His prototype sin rejected God's authority, doubted His goodness, disputed His wisdom, spurned His grace, repudiated His justice, and contradicted His truthfulness according to one theologian--that about covers the bases!

Why are we so bad?  If evil were yellow, we'd be all yellow.  Actually, we are not as bad as we can be because of God's restraining grace and whenever you see someone worse than you, you should acknowledge that there, but for the grace of God, go you, in George Whitefield's words.  We justify ourselves and don't think our sin is so bad, but the other guy is guilty.  

We are not as bad as we can be, but as bad off as we can be--that means we are totally separated from God in our whole heart, will, and mind and need total redemption of our soul.  Our thoughts are evil, our imagination is depraved and runs wild, our emotions are sick, and our wills are stubborn and selfish:  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  (Jer. 17:9, ESV).

Sin is not just our actions, but those we thought or intended, and our attitudes, both of commission and omission as the Anglican Book of Common Prayer addresses this:  "We have done those things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things we ought to have done." We all have feet of clay or weaknesses not readily apparent, but that God sees.  The sinner flatters himself too much to hate his own sin, according to Psalm 36:2.

The unbeliever is a sinner in the hands of an angry God, according to Jonathan Edwards preaching on Deut. 32:35 (ESV) saying:  "Vengeance is mine and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly." We all have an inner sense of ought and the Law is written on our hearts according to Rom. 2:15, so that we are without excuse and stand accountable to God.  We must realize our state of sin to be saved:  It is not that we are good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation.

The mandate or imperative from God is to repent and the goodness of God is meant to lead us to repentance according to Romans 2:4. God doesn't desire for any to perish, but for all to repent and gives man time and space to do it.  He commands men everywhere to repent (cf. Acts 17:30).   But the problem is that we cannot work ourselves up into repentance, it is the gift of God as he changes our hearts upon the hearing of the Word by grace.  Both Acts 5:31 and 11:18 attest to God's "granting" repentance to the Jews and Gentiles respectively.   

We don't need a Jewish Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, but a change from the inside out which is not turning over a new leaf or making a New Year's resolution. We need progressive repentance that continues our entire life.  We need forgiveness from all that we've done, and deliverance from what we are.  This is because we are born sinners and we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin. What God orders is true contrition, not just regret or feeling sorry--we have to be willing to turn our back on our sin and renounce it, counting the cost.

The good news is that Christ paid the penalty we deserve by dying in our stead and rising to the Father to prove His victory and show us hope eternal.   God has solved the sin question by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  As a priest, he saves us and redeems us, as a prophet he dispels our ignorance, and as our king, he sets us free from sin's dominion.  

Why should we try to be good to please God when all we have to do is accept the free gift of salvation offered to all who put their faith in Christ?  It's not a matter of our good deeds outweighing our bad ones, but all of our righteousness counting as naught and coming to the Father with nothing to offer but ourselves and our sins in faith willing to do His will.    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Window Of Opportunity...

You never know when God opens the door to communicate the gospel or to tell your personal testimony.   The first step is to break the ice and get the conversation rolling--pique their interest with something like:  "Have you ever considered what happens on the other side?" There are manifold opening lines one could concoct to challenge a person to think about eternity--don't force it, but wait for God's timing ("He makes all things beautiful in his time"), and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Don't be contentious, divisive, or argumentative, but try to build bridges and find common ground to start a dialogue. There are many barriers to break in witnessing:  The first mention of God; the mention of Jesus; the testimony of your salvation; and the way of salvation itself to challenge a person to make a decision--not making a decision is a "no" decision!

We are not to judge our witness as to its effectiveness, but only plant seeds (relying on the Word of God as you know it), water them and let God give the increase.  Caveat: Don't try to convict the person of his sins, but let the Holy Spirit do His job as He will.  The most important aspect of witnessing is our faithfulness and not our knowledge--God can work with what we know and will give us the words to speak at the time.  You don't need to feel you need all the answers to witness and you never will.

There will come a time when you will have to get to the real issue--the moral decision and not the smokescreen of an intellectual problem, as if they are feigning some ability to believe--they can believe; they just won't, unless they are willing to do His will (cf. John 7:17).  You cannot argue a person into the kingdom and it shouldn't be attempted--it will only feed their ego and reaffirm their skepticism and cynicism.  You must make it clear that there is enough evidence for the willing person who wants to believe, and never enough for the person not willing to do God's will.

How do you open doors? (Even Paul prayed for open doors in Eph. 6.) When God opens the door, no one can close it (cf. Is. 22:22).  You must absolutely realize that only God can and will with prayer--speak to God about the person before speaking to the person about God as a good rule of thumb.  But don't be hesitant, but be always ready, in season and out, as Peter says--preach the Word boldly and let them see your faith in action!   You will find that God is giving you the wisdom to speak His Word and will guide you by the filling of the Holy Spirit--enabling to do His work.  

If you genuinely care about a person they will sense it and will give you the opportunity and time to share a testimony or give a reason for the hope within you, as Peter says.   We don't preach to people, but share and relate to them on their level--find out where they are (neither go over their heads nor condescend), and level with them in an area of commonality.

Your story uniquely qualifies you to witness to certain people that others cannot reach.  In a sense, we are all things to all people or people for all seasons in this regard.  When you see God opening doors, know that He is blessing your witness and proceed faithfully and confidently with this assurance.  But note:  Once you see the door open to share the gospel message, make an immediate beeline to the way of salvation--sometimes this window of opportunity is very small and we must be attentive to see its arrival.  Remember, you are in a win-win situation when witnessing because God is responsible for the outcome and result, while He expects you to just be a faithful witness and tell your own personal story. You cannot lose!  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Reluctant Prophet VII

Israel was commissioned by God to be His messenger of the gospel to the world, but they botched it miserably and that is why the church had to come into being--to make Israel jealous.  God's grace has never been limited to one family, clan, tribe, nation, race, or peoples; but always open to all who have faith like Abraham ("Everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham," says Gal. 3:7).

Jonah was a type of Israel who was ordered to go to Nineveh to tell them to repent and went to opposite way! Now, before you condemn him for his disobedience, compare this to sending a Jew to Hitler in Berlin during the Holocaust to tell him to repent or else!  It was a suicide mission, to say the least, and Jonah had a survival instinct--get as far away from it as possible.  He actually didn't believe God would hassle him in Tarshish, and may God wouldn't have any authority there.  He asked the next boat if they were "going his way" and he was off to escape God.  But he found out you cannot run away from God but the Hound of heaven will always catch up.  Jonah was out of fellowship and fell asleep in the hold of the ship during a violent storm.

To say the least, Jonah was a reluctant prophet and a negative example in Scripture of how to obey.   God used Him anyway and turned the situation around by His providence.  Jonah is the most famous, infamous, and even notorious of all prophets and people sure like to mock his faith and story as fiction--but Jesus, Himself, believed it.  Jonah is indeed a lowlife in this book who happens to be the only one not on board with God--the ship's crew repents, the city of Nineveh repents and Jonah is "angry enough to die."  He has a death wish, but I wouldn't say he is suicidal--he is in a depressed funk and takes it out on God.  

Why?  His prophecy didn't come true about God destroying the city and he actually wanted it destroyed--he didn't love his enemies.  Jonah must have been aware of the doctrine of the providence of God and could've seen how God was moving behind the scenes in the small details of his life as He prepared (Providence in action!) a storm, a fish, a goad, and then a worm to convict him.

Jonah should not be judged by us, but only looked upon as a lesson to learn from, even if negative. He is one of the few prophets in the Bible that was successful and got the people to repent.  He certainly didn't want to be known as a "false" prophet and humiliated; on the other hand, he had no right to be angry and should have recognized that God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy.  This is a lesson on universal grace and for us not to have self-pity and lack compassion for our fellow man--we shouldn't be so willing for them to be judged.

In summation, we are all reluctant prophets who must complete our "commission" to share the gospel message to the lost everywhere God plants us and sends us.  We cannot run from God, but must reckon that if God wants to use us as a vessel of honor, nothing will stop him and there is no Plan B--get with the program!    Soli Deo Gloria!