Trust And Obey!

The hymn goes to "trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." Too many believers have not learned this simple lesson and are often stubborn and recalcitrant or even rebellious against authority reminding one of the slogans to question authority. I've even heard that you should question authority, but never mother! Obeying authority was never meant to be blind and without cognizance of what we are doing, for we are responsible to be moral and legal. But we should heed authority when it is legitimate. Many youths today could never make it in the service because they insist on knowing the why behind every order and can't just follow orders. 

They wouldn't be in the service hadn't they declared allegiance to the US Consitution and to those in the chain command to obey unless it's an illegal order. I wonder if you recall poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade? It says, "Ours is not to wonder why ours is but to do and die!" If soldiers always demanded reasons for orders and explanations or more justification, they would never get anything done and you couldn't have a military. Those who are not ready to follow orders do not belong in the military, not even as officers.

However, a Christian can choose not to go into the military, but he still doesn't escape the issues of obedience in his life to follow Jesus. The idea of discipleship is to learn to be a follower and basically to simply trust and obey. Some believers actually go to jail before learning the lesson and must get rehabilitated in a correctional facility. By the way, do you remember the unjust judge that was tormented by the elderly lady and finally gave in to her request? We can be the same way and our questions may be answered, but we've only proved that we are not humble and meek, which are sure signs of the devoted, committed follower or disciple of Jesus. 

Even children trust their parents completely at first, then their faith wanes, then they start asking why, and finally, they rebel or go their own way. Part of submitting to one another and loving one another as Christ loved us is to live an obedient life. We should never lose track of our Exemplar who became "obedient unto death." We should all strive to become obedient Christians and not spiritual Lone Rangers doing only what's right in our own eyes as Israel did write in Judges 17:6; 21:25.

The old slogan "Just Do it!" is relevant in following Christ, for unbelievers are characterized as the "sons of disobedience" in Ephesians 2:2. Caveat from A. W. Tozer: "Jesus will not save those whom he cannot command." A disobedient follower is a contradiction in terms. Children have the opportunity to become our role models: they wonder, trust, forgive, obey, and ask questions with a teachable spirit. Final advice: be like Peter, not understanding the order, and while fishing without any luck, trusted Jesus and said, "Nevertheless, at thy Word, Lord, I will cast down my net." Soli Deo Gloria!

If War Is Hell!, What's Hell?

"Wicked men will hereafter earnestly wish to be turned to nothing and forever cease to be that they may escape the wrath of God' (Rev. 6:15-16, NKJV).
"When all is done, the hell of hells, the torment of torments, is the everlasting absence of God, and the everlasting impossibility of returning to his presence... To fall out of the hands of the living God, is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our imagination."--John Donne
"I believe in God and if I woke up in hell I would still believe in him."--Robert Louis Stevenson
"When you take away the doctrine of hell, society loses an important anchor."--Paul Johnson

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is famous for these words ("war is hell") during the Civil War and his name is synonymous with them.  People often say they went through hell on earth or similar metaphoric language to be hyperbolic.  We should never trivialize hell and think it's nothing but a jolly boys' club or where bad people can get together and have a good time.  Hell is a solitary venture for the most part because part of the punishment is facing up to who a person is without God and fellowship--learning to admit one's own evil nature.  We don't hear of hell, fire, and brimstone preachers anymore like Jonathan Edwards, who facilitated the Great Awakening in the 1740s.  Actually, Christ mentioned hell twice as much as He did heaven, so it must be real--its duration is for as long as heaven (everlasting).

People do suffer in hell but not unduly--there are degrees according to one's sins and responsibility or opportunities.  God metes out justice with nothing more nor less--punishment is not beyond that which strict justice requires.  God cannot be cruel nor unjust and He doesn't torture souls, but in their own misery, they might wish they would be annihilated rather than stay in hell.  The symbols of fire and sulfur are to highlight the misery factor.  God is everywhere by nature, even in hell, but He's not there except in His wrath and justice, not His love and mercy.  All vestiges of love and mercy are erased and the time has slipped by for them with no more chance for salvation--the worst torture that will cause gnashing of teeth and weeping will be one's own regrets and self-inflicted misery of a conscience accusing them.  No one suffers unjustly and people will know God as a consuming fire, not as their Father.  It is evidently a place of torment, but mostly psychological and not what one would make out to be a torture chamber of cruelty.

God is certainly there, but in judgment.--but God isn't cruel!  There is no praise of God and no place for repentance, for these come by the grace of God, not man's effort.  Yet, what is sad, is this is what the impenitent want--to be separated from God's love and to be by themselves.  God is the source of all goodness and love, and imagine a place without any of that!   Hell is just that--separation from God's goodness, just as Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"  We can be assured though that the Judge of all the earth will do right (cf. Gen. 18:25).  Jesus did say that there are degrees of punishment, for Sodom and Gomorrah will suffer less than Capernaum!  Jesus said that some sins will warrant only a few stripes!

When we picture hell as outer darkness, we must realize that God is light and in Him is no darkness!  These people have rejected God and don't want anything to do with His light!  Part of the misery of hell will be that its purpose is punitive, not correctional or for sanctification and there can be no escape--there's no hope of reform and what's worse they will be haunted by the reason they are there and will realize it's all their fault, not being able to blame anyone!  No one repents or gives God praise in hell!  But the people there are those that wanted justice, not mercy and they're getting it!  If there were no hell, there would be no justice!

Remember the words from Dante Alighieri's Inferno (Part 1 of Divine Comedy):  "Those who enter here, abandon all hope!"  Never equate hell with cruelty (God has no mean-spirited bone in His body), but a place of perfect justice, being unjust to no one!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Before Honor Comes Humililty

"Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:4, ESV).
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:8, ESV).
"For by the grace given me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned" (Romans 12:3, ESV).
"Thus says the LORD:  'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD" (Jer. 9:23-24, ESV).   
"[A]nd submit to each other out of respect for Christ" (Eph. 5:21, CEB).

It is a cliche that when you think you're humble, then you're not!  This is the will-o'-the-wisp of virtues that we strive for but can never attain consciously.  Moses was considered the humblest man on earth in Numbers 12:3 (or should I say "meek?"), and I don't think he knew this or mentioned it. Jesus was confronted by two ambitious disciples who wanted to be Number One or Numero Uno in the kingdom and told them that He who is greatest must become humble like a child.   Diotrephes loved to be the leader (cf. 3 John 9) and was ruining his church.  Even Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (cf. Mark 10:45).  When He did the servile act of foot-washing it showed us that nothing should be beneath us!

The fact is that the way up is down in God's economy the way up is down and we must echo John the Baptist's sentiment:  "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV).  Jesus also proclaimed that many who are first shall be last (cf. Mark 9:35)!  The idea is not to promote yourself, as Proverbs says, but to let others praise you. and not your own mouth!  James 4:6, ESV, says, "But he gives more grace.  Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The primary prerequisite to humility, then, is to confess one's pride and go from there!

Humility is an elusive goal but this doesn't eliminate our need to pursue it.  True humility is not having low self-esteem or thinking less of yourself and not thinking it's all about you; however, it's not thinking of yourself at all (knowing it's not all about you), but being teachable--putting others first!  The problem with man is his ego, this brings the opportunity to promote it and elevate it to the place God should hold in our lives.  

We are hard-wired to worship God, but if we don't we will worship someone else, most likely ourselves with an inflated ego to become egotistical.  We abhor someone fixated on himself.  No one likes someone who is arrogant or conceited and humility keeps our ego in check and prevents us from getting a big head--in Paul's case he had a thorn in the flesh to do the job.

There is no place in God's plan for selfish ambition, but we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  Jeremiah 45:5, ESV, says:  "And do you seek great things for yourself?  Seek them not..." (i.e., for our personal gratification or lust).  The issue arises:  "How does one win the humility contest then?"  Jesus said that we must become as humble as a child (being teachable), so I would suggest getting to know children and learn from them (cf. Matt. 19:14, "Suffer the little children to come unto me")--they're evidently humble.  Children are not perfect, or blank slates and without sin, but we can learn from them.  

We must never be self-serving or self-centered!  We should stop tooting our own horns and be promoting of best interests ourselves; if God is blessing you and giving you fruit, it doesn't matter who criticizes you, and if there's no fruit or blessing, it doesn't matter who praises you.  We are all guilty of advertising ourselves or putting our best foot forward and not letting anyone see our so-called dark side that no one sees but God and us.

Being transparent and real and not phony and putting up a facade of being ideal is the goal, for all have fallen short of God's glory!  We cannot confess our sins too much to God, (however, don't keep dredging up old sins that are forgotten by God!).  God deletes our sins from His memory bank, but we need to keep short accounts and confess all known sins as soon as we're convicted to stay in touch and fellowship with Him.  He's all ears, but when we have persistent issues, we should confide in a trusted Christian friend (cf. James 5:16).

Satan's temptation to Eve was to "be as gods."   We can learn a lot of pride by looking at Satan:  Pride or focusing on self rather than Jesus was the first sin (cf. Ezek. 28:17; Isa. 14:14) and what God found in Satan, when "his heart was lifted up,"  and is one of the abominations in God's eyes recorded in Prov. 6:17, and so we must give God the glory and credit for our labors and not think we are anything more than unworthy servants doing God's bidding. 

We should always give praise where praise is due, and credit to whom it's due, not seeking our own well-being, but that of others and looking out for their best interest, not thinking of ourselves any more highly than we ought--but a sober and justified assessment and appraisal of our talents and gifts, valued according to the faith granted us (cf. Rom. 12:3 above).

NB:  It hurts to be humbled, and so it's always better to humble yourself than be demoted!  Instead of thinking such a high estimate of ourselves, we ought to think more highly of others and see the good in them, while we see faults in us overlooking their faults.  (One giveaway sign for lack of humility is to revolve the world around you and to use the pronoun "I" a lot like Job did in his defense in Job 29, or Paul in Romans 7).  God's looking for real men and women, not ideal ones!

In sum, we are indeed fruit inspectors, but of our fruit!    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Utter Damnability Of Sin

"You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong..." (Hab. 1:13, ESV).
"... Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6, ESV).
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way..." (Isa. 53:6, ESV).
"[T]he only part of Christian theology that can really be proved [is original sin]."--G. K. Chesterton, Christian apologist
"What's wrong with the world?" "I am. Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton."  
"We have done those things we ought not to have done and we have left undone those things we ought to have done."--The Book of Common Prayer (Anglican). 

God doesn't just frown upon sin or disapprove of it, He cannot stand the sight of it and it has no place in His presence (much like matter versus antimatter)--He cannot even countenance evil per Hab. 1:13.  Sin isn't a bad enough word to describe our virus of rebellion; it's the ultimate killjoy word that many preachers refuse to mention even in passing since it has offensive power, even to the elect.  It's the job description of the Holy Spirit alone to convict of sin (cf. John 16:13), but we must resort to the power of the Word of God to do the work.  We only need to be exposed to the light to see our darkness:  "the law is given to convince us that we fail to keep it," according to D. James Kennedy.

Sin has been characterized many ways to bring the point home that it's our legacy and birthright that we cannot escape--in fact, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin by virtue of already being in sin!  Yes, we go astray and lie even from the womb according to Psalm 58:3.  To illustrate the essence of sin, one should see it as man's ultimate Declaration of Independence from the authority and government or sovereignty of God over one's life--to be the "captain of your soul and master of your fate" like in the humanist poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley.  It could be called an act of autonomy or self-rule over God-rule.   In this sense, sin is rebellion and being volitionally defiant.  We all miss achieving the perfect standard or "missing the mark" (hamartia in Greek) which was set by Jesus' perfect sin-free life of righteous obedience to the Mosaic law.

Many people feel that they don't commit many sins, but they don't realize that what we fail to accomplish or do in the Lord's name as we ought are sins of omission. "I coulda, woulda, shoulda!"  The Westminster Catechism (ca. 1646) defines sin as "any want of conformity unto or transgression of, the Law of God."  It has also been precisely defined as "any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the law of God" by Charlie Riggs of the BGEA. Clearly, all wrongdoing is sin!  What is ironic is that the closer our walk with Christ, the more clearly we sense our sin and get convicted--Samuel Rutherford said to"pray for a lively sense of sin, the greater the sense, the less sin."

Jesus revolutionized the concept of sin, since the Pharisees had merely externalized it and portrayed it only as certain behavior that can be seen, but Jesus read their hearts and said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and evil proceeds in Mark 7. Proverbs 23:7 reiterates:  "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  Dr. Karl Menninger, MD, said that sin is the "refusal of the love of others" [namely, God's]" in his landmark book Whatever Became of Sin?  Even psychiatrists are putting it back into the equation as persons being responsible for their own choices and beginning to use the term again according to Billy Graham.  Sin is self-defeating and destructive as God warned Cain in Gen. 4:7 (NKJV):  "...And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.   And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" ["sin wants to destroy you, but don't let it"].

There is no way to defeat sin apart from God's grace, we are slaves to it before salvation!  The paradox is that God really wants what's best for us, and even the rules concerning sexual immorality are only for our good and to watch over our soul and it's purity and health.  Sin is just not God's plan for man, but something He permits or allows, and will ultimately judge and do away with by sending it all to hell.  The point is that if we couldn't sin we would be robots and couldn't obey God of our own free will or choice.  We either choose for or against God with our behavior and thought life.  After salvation, we don't have the right to live in sin, but have the power to defeat it, the power to live in the Spirit.

We cannot blame anyone else for our personal sins, and we certainly cannot judge Adam and Eve for the Fall and believe we would've done anything different--we all repeat their sin.  Their sin was the prototype of all sin and if we analyze it we can see as they:  spurned His grace; contradicted His truth; rejected His authority; disputed His wisdom; repudiated His justice; even resisted His grace (unknown source)!   In short, they didn't take God's Word at face value or take Him at His Word, but were, in effect, unbelievers--Eve first doubted God's Word, then questioned it, she believed Satan's rationalization, then disbelieved God's Word, then finally disobeyed it outright of her own volition in rebellion--and Adam didn't intervene or help her, but was cowardly and irresponsible--both sins.

We all have eaten of the Proverbial Apple and have duplicated Adam's sin, and become defiled by a sin nature and stand in solidarity with Adam before our salvation! Note that the first couple didn't choose evil, they chose self over God--they didn't know what evil was yet.  (Idolatry is always putting self or something in God's place or where it belongs in God's plan or order.)  Adam and Eve thought God was holding out on them, with the help of the serpent's guile and deception.  Note that many scientists blame man's problems on the environment and society, especially psychologists, but the first sin was completed in perfect surroundings--the garden of Eden. We are just like our first parents seeking our own good, delight, and wisdom--the essence of sin is selfishness.  We must look inward and blame ourselves for our shortcomings and failures, not play the blame game and point fingers--we must assume responsibility for our own sins--"the soul that sinneth shall die" (cf. Ezek. 18:4).

You could say that we are great sinners and totally depraved--not utterly depraved, since God restrains evil--though we are not as bad as we possibly could be, we are as bad off as possible.  Every element of our nature falls short and is tainted with sin, just like being a little pregnant, we cannot be a little sinful or depraved.  If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow!  Our wills, hearts, bodies, and even intellect are stained by sin and only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us and make us clean enough to enter God's presence. It has been said by William Jay of Bath:  "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior." This is very humbling but also encouraging--no one is too far gone or too bad to be saved, but bad off enough to need salvation!

The catch-22 is, therefore, that we must see how bad we are to be good or repent, but we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good.  The terrible double whammy of sin is that it not only estranges and alienates us from God and others, but it enslaves and traps us and has power over us and the only freedom is to be set by Christ (cf. John 8:36).  Salvation is not only forgiveness of our sin but the power to overcome it and eventually deliverance from its presence.   We are not basically or inherently good, period, nor are we ever good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!

There's just no escaping our birthright which is really a virus or disease that devours us and destroys us in the end apart from grace.  Sin becomes neutralized in effect for us when we make up pretty names for it and refuse to call a spade a spade--this is the mere escaping reality and not owning up to our sin as God sees it.   It is by grace that we get convicted of our sin, as Paul called himself the "chief of sinners" (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15) and John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. This should be encouraging because this means there's hope for everyone and no one is beyond the reach of God's grace!

The real, cold reality of sin is that we don't break God's laws, they break us, but we break God's heart in our sinning.  Just like you cannot get away with violating the laws of nature without consequence, it's likewise with God's divine laws of morality defining sin.   We can praise God that Jesus is the Answer to the sin problem:  as our Prophet, He frees us of our ignorance of it; as our Priest, He is the offering and releases us from the guilt of it; and as our King, He frees us from the power of it.

In closing, let me mention that Christians are still sinners in that they sin (cf. Gal. 2:17), but we are called "saints" because in God's eyes Christians are justified, as God is both just and the justifier of the unjust by virtue of His grace and mercy.  In His mercy we don't get what we deserve; in His grace, we get what we don't deserve!  It is a sad commentary on mankind that he grows callous to his sins and has the tendency to justify them whatever way possible to silence the conscience.  Caveat:  we must refrain from making up our own rules or standards of right and wrong as if we judge God; He judges us and is the sole moral center of the universe!    Soli Deo Gloria!