The Lukewarm Churchgoer...

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." --Edmund Burke
"Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:21, NIV).  
"The Lord says:  'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught'" (Isa. 29:13, NIV).
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.  Is that not what it means to know me?' declares the LORD" (Jer. 22:16, NIV).
"For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth" (Mal. 2:7, NIV).  

But where there's a clear-cut command in Scripture we must fly our Christian colors and take our stand--only the coward stands aside according to James Russell Lowell:  "Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, For the good or evil side, Then it is the brave man chooses, While the coward stands aside." 
"We must show our Christian colours, if we are to be true to Jesus Christ.  We cannot remain silent and concede everything away." --C. S. Lewis
"The bottom line is that at a certain point there is not only the right, but the duty, to disobey the State." --Francis A. Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto

By definition, you can hold opinions, but convictions hold you, according to Rick Warren: you may discuss an opinion, but you would be willing to suffer, even die for a conviction--Christ ought to be OUR conviction.  We ought never to be caught on both sides of the equation, straddling the fence as it were, unwilling to declare and our stand for or make known our convictions. Silence isn't always golden!  

CAVEAT:  DO NOT USE YOUR INFORMED CONVICTIONS AS TOOLS TO JUDGE OR CONDEMN A WEAKER BROTHER'S CONSCIENCE--WE ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO OUR OWN CONVICTIONS AND WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDINGLY.  AS AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO SAID CONCERNING THE CHURCH, "IN NONNEGOTIABLES, UNITY; IN NEGOTIABLES, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS CHARITY."  DON'T ARGUE OR CAUSE DIVISION ABOUT MERE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION!  AND NEVER BE CONTENTIONS, DIVISIVE, ARGUMENTATIVE, OR JUDGMENTAL IN SPIRIT!  NOTHING SO DESTROYS A CHURCH LIKE PARTY SPIRIT, WHEREAS SHEEP ARE TAKING SIDES BETWEEN LEADERS.  ALSO, WHEN SINCERE BELIEVERS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUE CONFESS CONTRADICTIONS, ONE OUGHT NOT TO BE JUDGEMENTAL OR AN ACTIVIST--CUT SOME SLACK AND GIVE THE UNINFORMED AND UNEDUCATED A BREAK!   THE WORLD LIES IN THE POWER OF THE EVIL ONE.  


Christ will spew the lukewarm or tepid believer or churchgoer (ones having a bogus profession), out of His mouth in disgust and judgment, writes John in Revelation 3:16.  But the debate goes on about just what this means.  I contend that it doesn't necessarily just mean low-energy believers, or lackadaisical ones, or even ones with little sentimentality or feeling--OR NO FEELINGS.  Because God is pleased with faith, not feeling anyway.  What kind of believer is repulsive and ignominious or odious to God?  The believer who won't apply what he knows and stand up for Jesus when a time to give testimony is at hand and someone is needed to stand for the truth.  You cannot remain neutral on everything to please everyone, that's the path to failure.

People pleasers are losers!  It has been said that there may not be a formula for success but the sure road to failure is to try to please everyone.  If we are following Christ we will have people who despise us, hate us, and misuse us and even harass and persecute us, to the point of mocking on occasion--we will have enemies!  We must be willing to lay down our life and be ready to give Christ our life in the ultimate sacrifice.  We are not saved by martyrdom, but we must hate our very own life and love Christ will all our being, as number one priority. We are not to get a martyr complex, though, thinking that the more we are persecuted, the better believer we are, either--persecution comes with the territory.

There comes a time and opportunity when we not only have the right to disobey the state and even all authority but the duty.  Martin Luther said, "I dissent, I disagree, I protest" and the Reformation was born.   We must obey God rather than man!  Taking stands is progressive and God tests us:  some believers have never stood for anything!  They have never been against anything, nor even for anything.  We should not just see the evil and say "Why?" but see the good and say, "Why not?"

On a personal level, a real friend will not desert you in time of trouble and will come to your aid, sticking up for you.  If someone bad-mouths or disses your friend, do you defend his honor or integrity or do you just let it slide and let someone cast a slur on your ally?  Lincoln pitied that man who couldn't feel the pain when the whip was on another man's back.

And so the lukewarm believer (I use this term loosely because unsaved people can have head belief) is a persona non grata and in limbo or no-man's-land (out of fellowship), and no one knows where he stands so they exclude him from fellowship by virtue of God's judgment.  He may have worldly friends, but he's no friend of God. Christ calls us to make informed stands for Him and to show or declare our Christian colors to the world at large as its salt and light.  Christians can be wrong politically and still be good Christians!  We are not to render Christ irrelevant to the marketplace of ideas and rule Him out of the equation and public dialogue though.  Being silent when we ought to speak up is a grave sin of omission!

In a sense, God does respect those who take stands more than those who refuse to take a stand and remain neutral, even if they are wrong because He knows where they are spiritually and God respects moral courage more than a timid spirit.  He has not given us a spirit of fear.  That doesn't mean they are saved, but God can work with them and they have hope.  Jesus said He'd rather have us hot or cold, but not lukewarm.  To say we ought not to take stands because we could be wrong is a cop-out and fails to understand the condition of the unsaved.

Newsflash:  we all could be wrong!  "Whatever is not of faith is sin," (cf. Rom. 14:23) period.  God doesn't expect righteous deeds from the unbeliever, period.  It's the same in war, God hates cowardice and there's a special place in hell for cowards, regardless of which side they were on God expects bravery to the bitter end.

Remember, God starts small and works the way up to greater responsibilities of moral courage, but one must have moral authority as the prerequisite.  We must pick our battles or quarrels, and realize that some are not worth the adrenalin and cause more heat than light, but not to get into the habit of being neutral--we must stand for something, or we stand for nothing.  Stronger believers need to grow in love and weaker ones in knowledge.

The adage that sincerity is what matters doesn't hold water, for our God is the God of truth and all truth meets at the top as God's truth.  In the final analysis, all of us will give account of ourselves to Christ at His Bema (tribunal or Judgement Seat) and we have no right to do evil in God's name, nor to hijack our faith and declare that our cause celebre is God-given or that we speak for Christ as some kind of vicar as the Pope does when he pontificates.

In sum, we shouldn't just memorize the Dance of the Pious, go simply through the motions, nor follow the crowd of least resistance (for narrow is the way to eternal life and few there be that find it); this means not just going with the flow (for something dead can go with the flow!) but this entails knowing Christ with first-hand experience and knowledge and desiring to live it out the faith in love. But don't be a believer who wants the benefits without the Benefactor or the perks and privileges without the responsibilities.

CAVEAT:  HE WHO KNOWS THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND FAILS TO REALIZE IT OR CAPITALIZE ON IT SINS: WE OUGHT NOT TO PRIVATIZE NOR FLAUNT OUR FAITH!   (cf. Js. 4:17).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Should We Raise Clones Of Ourselves?

"I have no greater joy than this:  to hear that my children are living according to the truth" (3 John v. 4, CEB).  

Some children grow up to be genuine chips off the old block and realize their parents wildest fantasies or dreams, even surpassing them.   It was said of Seth that he was in Adam's image, this may have been what was meant--someone to carry on the true family heritage and legacy.  We all leave a legacy, good or evil and will be remembered by more than a brief epitaph on our tombstone.  To be serious, parents are proud when their children are like them on a rare basis, because then they would be clones with all the flaws they have. Do they want them to make the same mistakes?  Where would we be if no one ever went out on a limb or took chances, but always played it safe, taking the road of least resistance and following the crowd? 

Kids are looking for role models, even Michael Jordan ("I want to be like Mike"), instead of looking to Jesus as the Exemplar and perfect man as well as perfect God, while parents are often remiss to be the role models their position of authority as in loco Dei (Latin for "in the place of God") implies. To make matters worse, our leaders are forsaking their role models and character seems to no longer matter.

We all have feet of clay or have faults not readily apparent to the public eye.  You could also say that we all have skeletons in the closet and are glad that only God knows the real us.  They say there are four personas we show:  one to the world; one to our friends; one to ourselves; and one that only God can see and know in reality--which is the real self and may not even be known by us, for we don't even know ourselves as well as God does.  All parents, in reality, want their kids to grow up to better themselves in the rat-race and the dog-eat-dog world and to even be better off financially and to find their dreams and realize the American dream as individuals.

No parent really wants their kids to make the same mistakes they did, or to have the same personality traits, flaws included or even illnesses and defects included--they want good parenting skills too.   If you are bipolar, for instance, you don't want that curse on anyone, and just because you have learned to manage it (you never overcome it, cure it, or defeat it), you wish for your kids to be normal, whatever that means, and in today's society the normative behavior standards are indeed questionable and social workers don't talk of being abnormal, but "deviant" (from the expected)--what's normal? is the new mantra.

Likewise, believers in a church body are not meant to be clones of each other, i.e., having the same spiritual gifting.  Some are eyes, some voices, some hands, some even hearts for the Lord, and we all need each other, no person has all the gifts and is self-sufficient, an island or rock, that is. The song is sung, "I am a rock, I am an island" is the world's philosophy, not biblical. Also, no one person has a monopoly on the truth, has cornered the market on knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and knows it all, or can speak for Christendom or the even the church body at large, in which case they are really hijacking the faith and pontificating for Christ, as the Pope does when he speaks ex-cathedra as the Vicar of Christ.

However, Christians need to take stands for what they believe, noting that even a dead fish can go with the flow, but they can be wrong and are responsible to God, and that is why they should not be so presumptuous as to believe they can speak for Christ, we are all fallible, even the so-called infallible Pope. We are meant to work in harmony and unity, that doesn't mean uniformity and there will be disagreements (there are many so-called gray areas in which we must be tolerant and not dogmatic):  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials (nonnegotiables), liberty; in all things, charity," as Saint Augustine of Hippo said.   But we ought never to become disagreeable and learn to agree to disagree; steering clear of ungodly controversy but not shying away from godly and necessary battles for the truth, fighting the war of polemics and contending for the faith.

We ought, therefore, to submit to one another and serve one another, looking out for each other, so to speak, not just taking an interest in how they're doing.  The church is a family, an organism, a fellowship, a ministry and mission in one, and a flock of God, but not an organization or a crowd to hide in--you must have an opportunity to serve, function, and grow in the faith according to your gifting, whether ministry to believer or mission to unbeliever.  In a body, as well in a family, we ought to celebrate diversity as a sign of strength and that God has given more opportunity to show His love for the brethren and ministry opportunity.

Note that life is about making choices and being responsible for them, no one can remain neutral, for taking no stand for Christ is one against Him. He who is not with Him is against Him.  The conclusion of the matter is that we don't want our children to be like us, imitating us, but individuals who want to be like Christ, and God will decide what gifting they receive and the amount of opportunity and ministry given to be faithful in.  (Remember Paul in chains preached that he wished Agrippa could be like he was, except for his chains!)  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Are We Fighting For?

"Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes" (Neh. 4:14, NIV). 

Famous quotes not in the Bible: 
"To cut off Law from its ethical sources is to strike a terrible blow at the rule of law." --Russell Kirk Kilpatrick
"The bottom line is that at a certain point there is not only the right but the duty, to disobey the State." --Francis Schaeffer  "... [B]ut as for me, give me liberty or give me death! " (Patrick Henry, 1775).  "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country."  (Attributed to John Paul Jones). 

Nehemiah was a great extrinsic and intrinsic motivator (he got results!) to get the people to work building the wall and to fight for the nation against any enemy.  All soldiers eventually wonder what they are fighting for and if it's a worthy cause or in vain.  Who wants to die for a lost cause?  Regardless, veterans serve the country by virtue of obeying orders and submitting to authority, which they vowed to do. 

In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's epic poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," we see that it's not the job description of soldiers to second-guess their superiors, ("ours is not to reason why?"), but they must be willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice, of laying down one's life for one's friends (Jesus called this the greatest sacrifice and expression of love), the soldier must be willing to give their all ("ours is but to do and to die").  There would be utter chaos in battle if every soldier thought he had the moral authority to question orders (unless they are immoral or illegal).  The chain of command has earned moral authority and it should be respected and shown all due respect.  "The powers that be" are of God (cf. Rom. 13:1), even Jesus told Pilate his power was granted from above.

What inspires troops to die?  It certainly isn't for a tax cut, political agenda, or factory job!  They got inspired by Thomas Paine's Common Sense during the Revolutionary War about the ideals of constitutional democracy--our grand experiment.  All veterans who fought for our nation ultimately believed in the rule of law, the bill of rights including free speech, freedom of religion and the freedom of the press, and equal justice under the law, that no one should be above the law, for the law is the king as Samuel Rutherford wrote in Lex Rex (the rule of law) under the Supreme Law of the land, the US Constitution, as we are a nation of laws, not of men.  They swore allegiance to the US Constitution and all enemies domestic and foreign. 

Do I need to remind Americans that both Democrats and Republicans have given their lives for our freedom?  Freedom isn't free, it has been bought in blood sacrifices.  We don't have a Republican Guard like Saddam Hussein did, or a Gestapo like Hitler, we have Americans of all political persuasions giving some and some gave all for our country.  We all need to fight for something bigger than ourselves, that will outlast us, and show our Christian colors, not standing cowardly on the sidelines, but undauntedly engaged in everyday mundane realities and exigencies.

There is more that unites us than divides us and servicemen find this out in the military.  "United we stand, divided we fall!"   We need not wonder how brothers in arms unite in the time of need and learn that their buddy may be of a different political persuasion, but it doesn't matter in the foxhole!  We need to have unity without uniformity and keep our nation "one nation under God."   We don't have to agree on everything but can find commonality and common ground to come together in our common fight against all enemies of our constitutional democracy.

".... But they refuse to stand up for the truth...." (cf. Jer. 9:3).  Cowards don't have anything worth fighting much less dying for (they won't take a stand or be counted for Jesus), and we all need to reexamine our priorities and live on purpose, knowing that life and principle is something of value and worth it all.  If you have nothing worth dying for, you haven't yet begun to live. To sum up:  the primary purpose of government is to curtail evil and keep it at bay, and when obstruction of justice occurs, it's the greatest of evil: government overreach and interventionism.   But God hates the perversion of justice (cf. Deut. 16:19). And Augustine said that an unjust law is no law at all!  

CAVEATS: "You twist justice making it a bitter pill for oppressed.  You treat the righteous like dirt .. How you hate honest judges.  How you despise people who tell the truth." (cf. Amos 5:7,10).  "Truth forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne." (James Russell Lowell).   Soli Deo Gloria!

God's Crucible Of Adversity...

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10, NIV).  
"Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty" (Job 5:17, NIV).
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze" (Isa. 43:2, NIV).
"... All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come" (Job 14:14, NIV).
"Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him" (Job 13:15, NIV
"If we are to enter God's kingdom, we must pass through many troubles" (Acts 14:22, CEB).
"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings..." (Rom. 5:3, NIV).
"No matter how deep our darkness, he is deeper still." --Corrie ten Boom

Reality 101 is about adjusting to the curve balls thrown at us by our adversary Satan, as we adjust to the real world with all its pitfalls, known as OJT of real life.  "He speaks to [us] in [our] affliction," (cf. Job 36:15).  As part of the divine curriculum, it has been granted unto us to suffer for His sake.  We have no right to ask God "Why?" because "He is too deep to explain Himself, too wise to make a mistake, and too kind to be cruel"--we must accept it all on faith that God knows what's best.  People are always suing for pain and suffering, but Christians must grin and bear it as a given in life (not that we are Stoics who see it as fate from an impersonal force), but making the most of it and learning from the experiences; then we can proudly say, "Been there, done that!"

We all must go through some kind of school of hard knocks and learn from our mistakes. If you haven't made a mistake, it's been said, you haven't made anything!   The best way to learn is through adversity, which is the only way to build character. So lay out the welcome mat and apply your experience to comfort others in their affliction.  As a consolation, remember that Christ Himself learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8)!

What is going on as we progress in our sanctification?  God will indeed finish what He has started and isn't finished with us yet, as we are always "works in progress" (cf. Phil. 1:6).   The defining characteristic of Christianity that makes its practice unique is that we find meaning in suffering--it's all done through the Father-filtered hands of God and has a purpose.  In psychology and religion, there is no meaning to suffering--it's seen as a distraction and unnecessary element of life, and ideally should be eliminated. (Note that Buddha said that "life is suffering"). 

But there is good stress as well as negative stress (and no one escapes life stress-free!) and it builds character; we shouldn't pray for a life that's stress-free and easy then, but a character that can withstand anything God can throw at us by way of trial and tribulation, this is the stress that no one can avoid and is part of life--can we expect good from God only and not evil?  But whatever evil happens, God means it for our good (cf. Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28)!

For Christ didn't even exempt Himself from trials and was honest enough to warn us we'd have them, and our crosses pale in comparison to His, who doesn't ask us to do anything He didn't do.  Trials, temptations, tribulations, suffering, troubles, and adversity, and discipline are inevitable.  It has been said that experience is not what you've been through or what has happened to you, but in you and what you do with it!  As an illustration of what God is doing in our lives picture a sculptor who sees a piece of marble and starts work on it and is asked how he can fashion a horse out of it: just by chipping away everything that doesn't look like a horse!  God must take away everything that doesn't look like Jesus because we're the icons of God!

We signed up for a crucible when we got saved and it comes with the territory as we enrolled in the school of Christ.  But the comforting factor in our suffering is that it's done in love and is not meaningless; in fact, we'll thank God someday for His wisdom.  God reserves the right to micromanage our lives at will and does so without our consultation.  Every day of our lives has been mapped out by God in Providence and He does so with the motive of love and His glory--for we exist to bring glory to Him (cf, Psalm 31:15; 139:16; Isaiah 43:7).

As a word of encouragement, we should bear in mind that God is always with us, so we are never alone; God is on our side so we cannot lose, and God believes in us so we have purpose and meaning, for God has a purpose for everything!   It was proven by Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Viennese Jewish psychiatrist who spent years in a Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, that when we see purpose and meaning in our suffering that we can endure nearly anything, even a POW, or concentration camp (because God is with us)!  We don't have to thank God for these troubles, but should praise Him for the opportunities they bring to glorify Him, always remembering that no cross means no crown!

In short, crucibles are necessary because the same sun melts the butter hardens the clay (we either become bitter or better); we must never wonder why bad things happen to good people because no one is good--we should wonder why good things happen to bad people!

CAVEAT:  DON'T GET A MARTYR COMPLEX, (WE AREN'T SAVED BY MARTYRDOM!) AND THINK THAT THE MORE YOU SUFFER, THE HOLIER OR MORE RIGHTEOUS YOU ARE, CHRIST WANTS US TO LIVE FOR HIM AS "LIVING SACRIFICES' (CF. ROM. 12:1)!

In conclusion, William Kirk Kilpatrick, psychologist, and educator, said the test of a philosophy is not what it says about the pains it can handle, but the ones it cannot.    Soli Deo Gloria!