Mission Impossible

It has been said that the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible.  No one can meet God's standard of perfection set in Matthew 5:48 to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.  Actually, perfection is the standard, but the direction is the test.  God isn't finished with us yet and will not give up on us--we are a work in progress (cf. Philippians 1:6) and we are to do a spiritual work-out continually ("work out your salvation with fear and trembling").  We have made a commitment to Christ and surrendered the throne of our lives to Him and given Him ownership of our lives to do as the Potter sees fit. "Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me, while I am waiting, yielded, and still."  Another hymn says, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it..."

We all have the natural tendency to wander off from the flock or backslide in another metaphor, but Jesus is the Great Shepherd who searches for us and keeps tabs on our whereabouts.  Galatians 2:20 says that the Christian life is three things:  a relinquished life; an exchanged life; and a surrendered life.  We don't imitate Christ, we let Him live through us:  it's not imitation, but inhabitation!   "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (cf. Col. 1:27).  Did we in our own strength confide, sings Martin Luther, our striving would be losing.

The only victorious life in Christ is by the power of the Spirit and being continually filled--it's not a one-time event at all.  We may need to confess known sin and be filled again to walk with Christ in fellowship.  If you say, you cannot do this or reform yourself, it's because you cannot; Christian faith is not about AA pledges, or New Year's resolutions, or turning over a new leaf, but a change from the inside out. Christ's resurrection power must transform you, and He uses the power of the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit to accomplish His good will in us. We cannot sanctify ourselves, it is a work of grace from the Holy Spirit--the Helper that Christ sent.

With the presence of the Holy Spirit within, we are better off than if Christ were walking in our midst and we are better off than the Old Testament saints, who hadn't known the gift of the Spirit.   When you realize that you cannot live the Christian life you are on your way to surrendering your will to His and letting Him have His way with you--this surrender must be renewed daily or we will fall back into sin or never mature spiritually.

We should echo Paul's words in Philippians 4:13 that says, "I can do all things through Him that strengthens me."  In Colossians 1:29 he speaks of the mighty power at work within him.  "God is at work within you both to do and to the ill of His good pleasure"  (cf.  Philippians 2:13).  God always gives us the power to do His will and even the resources and supplies necessary.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Get Off My Case!

The closer we walk with God the more conscious we become of failure and sin within. Pray for a lively sense of sin, says Samuel Rutherford, the more sense of sin, the less sin.  The court that throws the book at a convicted felon will do it because he doesn't seem redeemable and is beyond hope, and the only chance at reformation is to make him very sorry for his crime.  Normally, there is leniency for the first time in court and it gets progressively worse and more strict.  Some people tend to throw the book at people because they have a false sense of their own personal righteousness; however, God says that He will show mercy to the merciful.  We all should say with Paul:  "I am what I am by the grace of God" (1 Cor. 15:10).

The way we see things reveals more about us, what about the things we observe-it's all subjective interpretation. We see reality as we are not as it is.  The Golden Rule says to treat others the way you want to be treated; therefore, do not ever throw the book at someone, unless he is a hardened recidivist and you seek to make him an example. The good judge always tempers his justice with mercy and metes out justice without bias and only after hearing carefully the arguments of both sides--he doesn't pervert justice or take bribes.

None of us really has his act together so well that we could escape death, if God were to decree suddenly to stop all evil in the world--no one would be left.  It's all relative, the standard of goodness is God, not man and God doesn't grade on a curve.  We are to judge nothing before the time according to 1 Cor. 4:6 and Jesus said that when you judge, judge righteous judgment (John 7:24, ESV):  "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

The admonition not to judge in Matthew 7:1 is not to judge harshly nor rashly, and considering what standards you want to be judged by--it doesn't make an absolute prohibition on judging.  In 1 Cor. 5:12 (ESV):  "...Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?" God judges those outside the church! We must purge the evil ones from the fellowship because allowing sin in the camp (cf. Aachan's sin in Joshua) infects the whole camp and having sin in the family brings down the whole family; if one part suffers, they all suffer.  Church discipline is a sign of a living and obedient church, and not out of control concerning its membership.

We are not to have a critical spirit of a brother because we don't have all the facts, and when we judge another it only shows what kind of person we are, or what offends us personally (usually the sin that we hate in ourselves). We don't know the details of our brother's case and are not to pry into his business like busybodies--live and let live and leave room for the judgment of God.  It is not our job to stop sin, because only God can convict of it and bring one to repentance and faith.  We must not habitually judge another brother because he stands or falls to his own master.   Soli Deo Gloria!

To A Higher Standard

Many believers strive to obey the letter of the law and are derelict of the spirit of it just like the Pharisees.  We are guilty of flaunting our liberty and thereby hurting our brother who has a weaker faith and doesn't approve of our behavior.  Romans 14:22 says that the faith we have we should keep to ourselves.  If we eat and offend our brother we are destroying the kingdom of God for the sake of a meal and wounding him spiritually.  How can this be?  We are held to a higher standard than just obeying the law, either civil, biblical, moral, or ecclesiastical.

In God's economy, the way up is down and we are all in this together--we must bear one another's burdens.  We all need each other--no one is a rock or an island to himself like Hindu and Buddhist karma teaches. No one in the body should be in need.  Karma disregards Samaritan acts and lets a person suffer his own karma without anyone's interference.  When we just go through the motions without our heart being involved or any real motivation we are obeying the letter of the law, like Saul performing the illegal sacrifice and Samuel telling him that to obey is better than sacrifice (doing it the right way and in the right spirit).

Just because something is legal doesn't make it moral, ethical, nor spiritually correct.  There's the politically correct thing to do and there's the spiritually correct thing to do.  Too many believers are guilty of complying on the outside while disobeying on the inside--they obey outwardly, while their face says no.  We must never be remiss of doing everything in the right spirit and being filled with the Spirit in our activities. "Whatsoever you do, do to the glory of God"  (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).  The law we are subject to is the law of love and I mean agape love, which is eternal and unconditional.

You can get technical and say that you aren't sinning, but inside you can know that you are evading the Spirit and doing your own thing, which is what sin is (man's declaration of independence from God).  "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way..." (cf. Isaiah 53:6, ESV).

Sometimes Christians think that if others do something it is okay, too. We rationalize and say: "Everyone's doing it," or "We always have done it that way and gotten away with it," or "It sounds responsible," or "It sounds like the rational thing to do."  We must follow the law of love, as I said, and obey in the right spirit, too, not just our outward duty--we go beyond the call of duty!  They may just be partners in crime or in cahoots and will bring judgments on themselves for their wrongdoing.

We are to look to the Bible for our standards of right and wrong and not human opinion or worse yet, popular opinion.  Christians are to stand out and stick up for Jesus and be counted, not defend the worldview or devil's world and all he stands for--it's an angelic conflict we're engaged in and the battle is the Lord's if we have faith.  We must not become casualties because we are ignorant of the devil's schemes and wiles.

We may think we can get away with something (Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out.") or that it is right in our eyes (God sets the ultimate standards, not us), but God wants us to be sensitive to the weaker brother and our liberty is limited by our brother's conscience--we must not stand up for our rights in the name of Christian liberty (this is liberty gone amok).

Yes, we must realize that the world obeys only the letter of the law, and we are held to a higher standard to do everything in love and to prove it by our deeds, not just in our words (1 John 3:18).   "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"  (1 John 3:17, ESV). We are to be known by our compassion, just like Bertrand Russell knew when he quipped:  "What the world needs is more Christian love [he was a famous atheist himself!]."   What we want to demonstrate is that Christians go beyond the call of duty and think of someone other than themselves.  As Jesus said, "Go the extra mile!" In sum, Jesus raised the bar in ethics and told us to be good Samaritans, love our neighbors as ourselves, and love our enemies.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Friend Of Publicans And Sinners

"The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray" (Proverbs 12:26, NKJV--italics and boldface mine).

"...to depart from evil is understanding"  (Job 28:28, NASB).

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil"  (cf. Proverbs 8:13).

"You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean" (cf. Lev. 10:10).

"A people without discernment will come to ruin"  (cf. Hosea 4:14).


Jesus was called the "friend of publicans and sinners" but did not say that of Himself ("You are my friends if you do what I command you," Jesus, in John 15:14, ESV), it was only assumed since He went where they were and was not afraid to get down and dirty with mankind. Jesus said that His friends were those who obey Him.  But it's the sinners who admit it that are closer to Him than those who think they're righteous   He was with them but did not condone their behavior, nor alter His mission to save man from sin.  He was not influenced by their sin, which is not something we can boast:  "Do not be deceived:  'Evil company corrupts good habits'" (1 Cor. 15:33, NKJV).  Note that He saved and loved us before we were His friends.

Are we to justify our friendship with the world as being like Jesus?  He who is the friend of the world, is the enemy of God, according to James 4:4. If we spend most of our time with sinners and little of it with God's people, who will influence us the most?  Jesus could be exposed to sin and no corrupted by it because He is holy, but we are highly influenced by our surroundings and environment, not to mention the kind of people we choose to associate with.

We can not justify watching sinful programs that are indecent, lewd, suggestive, disgusting, and risque, because we are "friends of sinners" (like Jesus).  Show discretion in entertainment choices.  Don't be like Demas who loved this present world and departed from the faith.  God has given us a discerning mind to know good and evil and we are to use it, to be wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.

You are what you think about.  It is also said that you're not what you think you are, but what you think you are. "Keep [guard] your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring [flow] the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23, NKJV).  "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he," Prov. 23:7    Be aware of the wiles of the devil and don't be ignorant (cf. 2 Cor. 2:11). "Come out from among them and be separate."2 Cor. 6:17.    

We are all vulnerable and susceptible to Satan's influence: He is the god of the media, entertainment world, academia, and even this world-system, and we are not to be influenced by this, but come out of it and be separate--that is what holiness is about.  "....without holiness shall no man see the Lord..."  (cf. Heb. 12:14).  We are to be cheerful that He overcame the world (cf. John 16:33).   He who walks with the wise will become wise, according to Solomon and a "companion of fools suffers harm."   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Limit Of Freedom

"... For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience? (1 Cor. 10:29, NKJV).


It is for freedom that Christ set us free, and we are not to be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (i.e., the Law, which was unbearable to the Jews).  The yoke we bear is that of following Christ and doing His will, which He does reveal to us:  "... The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will..." (Acts 22:14, ESV).  "'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful.'   All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything" (1 Cor. 6:12, ESV).  Even though we have liberty in Christ, we are to be restrained by our brother's conscience, not flaunting our freedom so as to offend him.

It is a dangerous thing to flirt with evil and see what we can get away with, and savor of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil again, ruining our innocence--which is always deliberate.  Jesus said to be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.  Even though we have the right to do something, doesn't mean we should do it--we must show restraint for our brother's sake.  In 1 Cor. 8:12 says: "When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their conscience, you sin against Christ." We can make someone fall from the faith by approving of things that he considers wrong if his faith is weak.  We are to be sensitive to the weaker brother. There are certain churches that teach taboos and forbid things not even mentioned in Scripture, but we are not to "go beyond that which is written." (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:6).

Things that are not mentioned as a sin in the Bible nor implied as an application are not sin.  This is why it's hard to make an anti-gambling, or abstinence from alcohol or teetotaler case from the Bible. Though forbidding "free love" is a clear violation, regardless of what modern man and society say. What was wrong in the time of Moses, is still wrong; right and wrong do not evolve with the times but are absolute and eternal.  The freedom we have is from the Law, not from sin--we are free to obey Christ and given the power to do it in Christ.  We are not free to sin, but free from the power of sin--we don't have to sin anymore.  What you may approve of is not necessarily the right thing to do in public, but "the faith that you have to keep between yourself and God."  And remember: "... and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23, NASB).

Everyone has a dark side that no one sees but God, just like the moon.  Someone has said we have four personas:  One the world sees; our friends see, we see, and God sees.  Hypocrisy is when these don't align with purpose and we pretend to walk the talk when we only talk the talk.  We don't want others to praise us as a great Christian or give that impression when we know inside we are only hypocrites.  Remember, your sin doesn't show your freedom but demonstrates your slavery.    Soli Deo Gloria!

What's Behind Karma?

The demonic doctrine of karma (from Hinduism and Buddhism) must be exposed because, in this so-called Age of Aquarius, modern man is fooled and taken in by Eastern philosophy and thinking, letting it influence the Christian faith.  Both Eastern faiths adhere to this and believe that actions in this life automatically determine your fate.  Many Christians flippantly, or even seriously, say, "What goes around, comes around," and think that everyone gets precisely what they deserve in life like God has a ledger-book mentality, just keeping score of our deeds and dealing with us accordingly. Case in point:  Job's friends accused him of evil-doing and told him to repent.

The beauty of our faith is that it is the opposite of karma:  We don't get what we do deserve (mercy) and we do get what we don't deserve (grace)--both contrary to the doctrine of karma and its exact-reward concept.  God doesn't just weigh out our good deeds versus our bad ones and deal with us as the result in the afterlife.  Eastern thinking believes you cannot escape karma because it is the system of justice in the universe--people get precisely what they deserve, whether good or bad, and what's more, you should not interfere with someone else's karma--everyone is an island or a rock to himself and has to deal with his own reality and fate in life because he deserves it.  This erroneous thinking also says that you can overcome bad karma with good karma, and this would make one believe it's alright to do evil if one balances it out or neutralizes it with a good deed--sort of like wasting fuel on a solo flight but planting a tree in remorse to make up for it.

How do we know karma is wrong?  The Bible teaches that suffering is not something we can comprehend and that there's an easy answer to--one only need consult Job.  If karma were true, why did Jesus suffer more than any man--did he deserve his sufferings?  There is not a man alive that God is not good too and doesn't deserve to die a thousand deaths--even believers.  George Whitefield was asked what he thought of the poor souls going to the gallows:  "There, but for the grace of God, go I."  It is said that if God were to actually wipe out evil from the earth, none of us would be left.  The question is not why is there evil, but why is there good.    The psalmist in Psalm 103:10 (ESV) delineates our thinking:  "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities."

Case in point:  If you remember the massacre of refugees by the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Thailand (known as the "killing fields") in the mid-'70s, you should be informed that this happened on Buddhist turf, and they refused to help their own Buddhist brothers (some 300,000 stranded in no-mans-land on the Cambodian border), because they felt they shouldn't interfere with their karma--Buddha taught that you are to be an island to yourself.  It was Christian goodwill and relief organizations that stepped into the save the day and be the example of Christ's love for the outcast and rescued those in need.  This is an example of that what the world needs is more Christian love, according to Lord Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, and mathematician, who happened to be atheist.  There is no basis for the love and compassion of one's fellow man in a world of karma.

There is a certain manner in which we get what we deserve, reaping what we sow, but this basically refers to our eternal destiny whether in the flesh or the spirit and if we are in the habit of judging we shall be judged accordingly.  Spiritually speaking, we are to sow to the Spirit, not the flesh.  But Christians do indeed suffer the consequences of their acts but are forgiven and there is no eternal aftermath.  The doctrine of karma has to do with the exact-reward concept that you cannot escape it and it is the final judge of your destiny.

One must not say that he has blown it and will suffer for it the rest of his life, because God doesn't punish us for our sins--He only prunes or disciplines us (according to Romans 8:28 all things will work out for the good) that we may grow and learn a lesson and be sanctified.  God isn't finished with us yet and is still working on us--we are a work in progress! The immediate response when something disastrous happens, is that God is out to get us, or we may ask, "What did I do to deserve this?"  We are not capable of understanding the motives of God and must accept by faith that He intends it for good just like Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God intended it for good" (cf. Gen. 50:20).

And so why is karma evil?  It denies grace and mercy and means that there is an impersonal force in the universe meting out justice mechanically like fate.  God is personal and deals with us accordingly, and knows us and has a plan of good and not of evil toward us and as Psalm 145:9 (ESV) says, "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made."  There is no one that will be able to claim that God is not good and that they got more than they deserved in life because of His blessings. The uniqueness of Christian thinking is the introduction of the concepts of grace and mercy as seen in the atonement of Christ.

People that believe in karma don't help out their fellow man, because they believe everyone must suffer his own personal karma.  Karma denies the reality of a substitutionary death (no one should interfere with someone's karma), as done by Christ on our behalf.  We get what we don't deserve and are delivered from what we do deserve!  Eastern salvation or "nirvana" is released from this impersonal law of karma.

God is not only "great" like Islam proclaims, but He is also "good," and this is what they deny, seeing God as capricious, arbitrary, or whimsical and able to treat man unpredictably, according to any rational basis.  This doctrine leads to pride in thinking because people think they are "self-made" and don't owe God anything for their prosperity (it is God who makes one have the power to get rich per Deuteronomy 8:17-18). This reminds me of the definition of an Englishman:  A self-made man who worships his creator.

There is justice (meting out punishment as deserved and giving one his due).  But God metes out justice with mercy and there is not always justice in this life--in which case they will meet it in eternity, so no one ultimately escapes it, except by the mercy of God in Christ.  "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Cf. Gen 18:25).  Governments are God's ordained means to monitor evil and punish wrongdoers, but God's justice is never escaped.  No one will be punished beyond that which strict justice requires, but believers escape justice by virtue of their faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, where He suffered for us.

We must acknowledge God's ultimate control of our destiny and that it is in His hands--He is sovereign over all.  Remember what Jesus said to those who inquired why a person was born blind, whether he had sinned or his parents:  "Neither, it was so the glory of God should be manifest."  It is good news that there is no karma (I'm not saying we don't sometimes get what we deserve, but there is no iron-clad law that cannot be escaped and our destiny isn't controlled by it), and one should rejoice in the fact that we can say regarding our salvation: "What did I ever do, to deserve this?" This answer is nothing, it was all grace--God gets all the glory from start to finish.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Committing Spiritual Suicide

Doctrinal accuracy is not an option in the church, but a mandate, as teachers are to teach sound doctrine and pay attention to what accords with sound doctrine (cf. Titus 2:1).  There is nothing wrong with the quest to be right, contrary to the teachings of the so-called "emerging church," which has the postmodern philosophy that we haven't nailed down biblical orthodoxy yet, making it "shrink-wrapped" or "freeze-dried."  It is dangerous to react to dogma by not believing in dogma or to be anti-dogma.  It is true, however, that one can be correct in his doctrine and have no spiritual life; we don't want to content ourselves on just being right theologically, with no inner reality.  Faith is more than acquiescence or consent to the church's dogma.

We cannot think that we are a cut above others or that less informed brethren are poor specimens of the faith.  It is vitally more important to be right in our hearts than in our minds--but both are necessary for a living faith.  "You cannot have a sound life without a sound doctrine, but you can have a sound doctrine without a sound life" according to R. C. Sproul.  You could say that one could get A's in theology class and hardly know the Lord at all, but if one does know the Lord, he will not ignore theology; however, it cannot just be in his head

We don't kiss our brains goodbye when converting but begin our search for the truth.  The sign of a believer is that he loves the truth and the sign of the unbeliever is that he rejects the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10)  The unbeliever does not "obey the truth" and will "reject the truth" (cf. Rom. 2:8).  It is not an option to dismiss doctrine as unimportant, an aside, or only a side-issue; one cannot ignore doctrine--it's just what doctrines will be adhered to.  If we dismiss doctrine, we are committing spiritual suicide because we cannot avoid it doctrine. You could say that it is necessary, but not sufficient for a healthy relationship with God.  You can have no normal relationship with God without it, but you can also have no normal relationship with it, too. We cannot dismiss doctrine as irrelevant, because of only childish faith balks at learning the things of God in depth.  (Cf. 1 Tim. 3:9:  "They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.")

We are to contend (per Jude v. 3) for the faith (the common body of knowledge we adhere to).  We must not remain an infant in the faith, unable to comprehend the meat of the Word. What some believers do is to reject all theology or doctrine because they have experienced bad theology or bad theologians and reject theology per se because of it.  This is not an option for the true student of the Word (cf. John 8:31).  As we use our mind to God's glory, we are to "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you..." (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV).

To despise theology is to despise the very Word of God.--not an option (can't avoid it!).   How can you be right in your heart, if you are not right in your mind first?  Our hearts reflect what we think:  "Keep [guard] thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23, KJV).  Proverbs says, (23:7, NKJV):  "As he thinks in his heart, so is he...."  We are what we think about and our heart is only a reflection of our thoughts.  To be sure, there can be no spiritual health with correct theology, and there can be none without it either. One should not content himself just to be doctrinally orthodox either.  This is what the situation with the Ephesian church was:  They were theologically sound, but had left their first love--this is dead orthodoxy!

We must apply what we know and make it our experience, not just pride.  According to 1 Timothy 4:1, one of the signs of the last days will be that churches will bail out theologically--they will not heed sound doctrine and "depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." When you ignore sound doctrine, it only opens the door to false doctrine.  We don't just ignore good doctrine because we've had a bad experience with bad doctrine.  Simply because we hate being wrong, we must not avoid theology altogether. God places a premium on the mind and deplores ignorance--ignorance is no excuse and is not bliss either!  We may be against intellectualism, but not against the mind per se and using it to God's glory, as we love God with all our minds.

God's will is to dispel our ignorance and it is the domain of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, as we "shall know the truth and the truth shall set [us] free" according to John 8:32.  "Canst thou by searching find out [fathom] the deep things of God?"  (Job 11:7, KJV).   The answer is "NO!."   Our religion is a religion of revelation and not of human origin:  "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes."

One modern phenomenon is that we are increasing in knowledge, but remaining unchanged in our natures.  There is a vacuum in everyone that only God can fill, according to Blaise Pascal.  Carl Jung said the "central neurosis of our time is emptiness."  Billy Graham says we are all on a great "Quest" to find meaning and purpose in life and live in a vacuum that is boring (only man is truly capable of being bored despite his environment and circumstances) and "nature abhors a vacuum."  Man not only needs knowledge, but he needs a relationship with God and the wisdom to use it.

It is actually pride that closes the door to learning:  To commence learning we must admit our ignorance!  "I believe in order to understand," said Augustine.  In other words, "all knowledge begins in faith." We must remain vigilant, humble, teachable, open-minded, receptive, needy, and willing to do as God reveals to us to be in the right frame of mind to mature.  When we learn the truth we must not merely say,  "How interesting!" It is meant to upset and challenge us and our lifestyle--God's Word is meant to shock us out of our comfort zones!

You must open yourself up to the possibility that you may be wrong and let God's Word do its thing and have its total impact!  If you've never made a mistake, they say, you've never made anything!   Finally, never get caught in the trap that you've arrived--that you do not have any more need to learn anymore, having the attitude of a "know-it-all."  Soli Deo Gloria!