Works In Progress

"[U]ntil we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13, NIV).
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NIV).
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Phil. 3:12, NIV).

Not that we ever attain maturity this side of glory, but we are always "works in progress" or the masterpiece of God that He isn't finished with yet.  But "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6, NIV).  We are never perfect, but that is the standard we aim for and our goal looking at Christ as the Exemplar, but the test is the direction we are headed in our walk with Christ--forward or backward!

There is often some sin that easily overcomes or besets us so that we stumble and don't reach the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:14).  Hebrews 12:1 talks of setting aside our easily distracting sin so that we can press on to maturity and don't get tripped up on the way to the Celestial City.  Note that it's usually the case that there's some unconfessed sin or somewhere that needs overcoming that hinders maturity--the devil gets the best of us and held us captive to a certain degree.

The writer of Hebrews mentions one sure sign of the immature or infant believer and that is that he is incapable of solid food or the meat of the Word, but feeds on the milk (cf. Heb. 5:13) or the basics such as the necessity of salvation, faith, repentance, baptism, and judgment. The immature believer balks at learning the deep things of God, having lost his taste for sound doctrine.  We all must learn the basic lesson that we cannot get away with sin and God disciplines those He loves.  Sad to say there are some ABC churches that never progress into the deeper truths of the Word thinking wrongly that doctrine is too arcane for the average believer.

The infant believer is totally dependent on others for his spiritual nourishment and hasn't learned to feed himself or even to see the need for it as he may go to church simply to get a lift or encouragement, and not to worship God and contribute of his spiritual gift to the body.  He is basically tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (cf. Eph. 4:14) because of this naivete and not having a firm foundation of Bible doctrine to discern good and evil and false teaching from sound, biblical teaching.

Once he learns how God speaks to him and communication is achieved he has progressed in his walk and able to go on to maturity, but this vital step trips up too many believers who become spiritually dependent on one preacher as their favorite and lose discernment as if only drinking from one fountain.  The mature believer discerns good and evil and can smell false doctrine when it approaches the church.  The pastor should inoculate the body from heresy by preparing them for what is out there and warning that Satan seeks whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8).

There may be several types of attendees in the church:  seekers, unbelievers, doubters, fence-sitters, contra Christians, adolescent believers, even pagans, atheists, or agnostics, besides the flock he is assigned.  Just as Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep and to feed His lambs, the preacher must be sensitive to all members of the body--knowing where people are is a key to resonating or connecting with them.  The prophetic message is known as comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.  There are some who are at ease in Zion and have become complacent and feel they have no need of preaching because they are "mature."  No one ever outgrows preaching and the preacher is even preaching to himself as well as the body!

Everyone in the body should feel they have been fed adequately to feel a part of the body and to identify with the preacher with something they can take to the bank.  Just like Elijah went 40 days on one meal, sometimes a spiritual meal can have multitudinous applications and can have the ability to nourish the believer for an extended time--sometimes it's not how much one digests in the meal but how good the nourishment was and the preacher may really hit home on something that can get the ball rolling spiritually.   That's why everyone in the church may feel the preacher was speaking to them personally as an individual and it related to him--a personal message from the Lord!

We must realize that we are not perfect just because we're saved and our lives speak volumes.  The church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners--the requirement for membership is to admit one's a sinner and has fallen short of God's glory.  No perfect people need to apply it's said!  The phrase "please be patient; God isn't finished with me yet!" is the reality for everyone, not just infant or newborn believers.  This ought to be every believer's slogan.  We never reach perfection but that doesn't mean we don't aim for it.

People may even think we are cantankerous for being Christians, but just think how much more cantankerous we'd be without Christ in us and the Holy Spirit restraining us.  When we see great sinners in our eyes we ought to utter what George Whitefield said when seeing a man going to the gallows:  "There but for the grace of God, go I." We all can utter what William Jay of Bath said:  "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior!"  Only when we realize our sinfulness are we candidates for grace and this is the job of the preacher--to show the body its sins because we all tend to justify ourselves and put ourselves in the best possible light.

We all need to go to church regularly not only because it's commanded and the right thing to do, but we all need regular spiritual checkups or take spiritual inventory once a week or we may get off on a tangent and go our own way even into heresy or backsliding.  We cannot stand still and go nowhere in the spiritual life with Christ, but we are either walking forward or backsliding--no treading water with Christ permitted! One doesn't just reject the church or turn one's back on Christ or the faith, but one slips away one small step at a time in a gradual timing that one may not notice until he may not even believe himself how far out of it he is and needs repentance.

For instance, one doesn't turn one's back on the church but misses or skips a service or two then it becomes a habit to find other things to occupy Sunday morning with than to attend church and then one believes he doesn't need church--one may even be deceived into thinking that the electronic church is a good substitute for being active in the church and fellowship just because one is getting favorable teaching from someone who doesn't offend them.  Note that if the preacher never steps on any one's toes or is afraid to bring conviction on the body for its shortcomings and sins, there must be something amiss--he should realize you cannot please everyone!

There are certain plumb lines or measuring sticks to gauge maturity.  The mature believer knows who he is in Christ as to his spiritual gift or how God uses him to fulfill the Great Commission in both ministries to the body and mission to the lost.  You only find out your gifts by experimenting with service and the growing believer has a servants heart!   This entails being discipled or mentored in the basics and has had experience in sharing his testimony and in actively witnessing for Christ, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  From my experience the newborn believer has a newfound love and hunger for the Word and reads it voraciously and regularly--no one has to tell him this either because it's all-natural for a baby to feed.

It's such a joy to know and to fellowship with an infant believer--it's the adolescent ones who know enough to be dangerous and must be edified or set right before they go astray.   It's a pity when the believer loses his initial love for the Lord and has fallen for the world and what it offers--there is no place for both a love of Christ and love of the world in the heart at the same time.   In God's economy, the way to be filled is to be emptied, and this implies we must say "No" to self before we can say "Yes" to Christ.  Sometimes we just have too much of the world in us to have any appetite for the things of God.

God has nothing against newborn believers, just that some believers tend to stay immature and don't want to grow up.  Christ wants zealous believers who are all sold out for Him and serve Him with gusto and wholeheartedness.  It is a joy to be with a believer who has been in the presence of God and has experienced the Lord's goodness.  Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on!  That's where the mature believer gets the can't-help-its or the desire to spread the Word (cf. Acts 4:20)!  What God desires is those who worship in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24)--not lip service or hypocrisy! This is natural for newborns and mature believers but those who are stunted in their growth have trouble passing muster.  It's par for the course that this attitude of complacency can affect a church body and its worship become perfunctory or routine--performed as if a duty, not a pleasure!

And so our walk with Christ is by faith, not by sight according to Hab. 2:4 (the verse that awakened and roused Luther from his dogmatic slumber).  We must learn not to rely on feelings though we will have them and this is a major step since fact and feeling are often confused. The divine order: fact, faith, and then feeling.   We must get our thinking straightened out according to the mind of Christ and have the mind of Christ.  The more aligned with sound doctrine we are the more divine our thoughts and we are to have this as a Christian worldview affecting all academic disciplines and all of life and reality.

Noah was a just man who walked with God just like Enoch and Moses are said to do--quite a resume for anyone--and we have no excuse not to do likewise because we have the indwelling Spirit.  The mature believer knows how to keep short accounts with Jesus of his confessions and to stay in close fellowship with Him.  He readily engages in the angelic conflict with Satan and his minions and knows the Word adequately as his offensive weapon of choice enough to fight off an attack with his shield of faith.  This is why Hebrews tells us that the mature believer who is ready for the solid food knows to discern good and evil (cf. Heb. 5:14).

Finally, it would all be in vain if the believer had no love in his heart to share even if he had every gift of the Spirit.  God shares His love with us and sheds it abroad in our hearts so that it overflows to others and they can see the love of Christ in action through us.  Some believers never progress to this stage of maturity in learning to love and be loved--Dr. Karl Menninger, MD said that sin is the refusal of the love of others [and by application of God].  We all can become stunted if we don't find love in life and live for ourselves--selfishness is the prime sin or thinking it's all about us!  Even an infant is starved for affection at times and must be hugged, knowing love by instinct.  We all need to learn to reach out to others in need and realize we are here as servants on a mission to glorify God.  Never lose focus of the fact that "Christianity IS Christ and all else is peripheral [or circumference]" according to John Stott (emphasis mine).


CAVEAT AND WORDS TO THE WISE:  THERE ARE SOME WHO HAVE A ZEAL FOR GOD BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE (CF. ROM. 10:2; PROV. 19:2).  ALSO, SOME ARE CONVERTED TO THE PROGRAM, NOT TO CHRIST AND EQUATE GOOD WORKS WITH SPIRITUALITY--THEY MUST BE DISTINGUISHED BUT NOT SEPARATED, I.E., GOOD WORKS MUST SPRING FROM HEALTHY FAITH AND SAVING FAITH MUST PRODUCE GOOD WORKS OR FRUIT!  DON'T FORGET OUR MARCHING ORDERS TO KNOW GOD (IS TO LOVE GOD) AND MAKE HIM KNOWN THROUGH LOVE IN ACTION, TRANSLATING OUR CREEDS INTO DEEDS OR PUTTING OUR BELIEFS INTO ACTION--THAT'S WHERE IT'S AT AND ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST! 

Let me add:  Eph. 4:15, ESV, says, "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ."       Soli Deo Gloria!

Not Holier Than Thou

"Consider everyone as equal, and don't think that you're better than anyone else.  Instead associate with people who have no status..."  (Romans 12:16, CEV). 
"We won't dare to place ourselves in the same league or to compare ourselves with some of those who are promoting themselves.  When they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding"  (2 Cor. 10:12, CEV).

We have no right to have a holier-than-thou attitude (cf. Isaiah 65:5) and think we've arrived (cf. Phil. 3:12), and don't need our fellow believer to encourage us or meet our needs--none of us is an island and only Christ is the Rock.  Some believers seem to become Lone Rangers or lone wolves and don't hold themselves accountable to anyone, walking with the Lord as if it were "Me and Jesus."  We are members one of another and no member of the body is self-sufficient and can stand alone.  We tend to privatize our faith especially when we are at our weakest and don't want anyone to know our faults; however, we are to accept the faults of one another and remember that we have them too. Romans 15:7 says we ought to "welcome one another" as Christ has welcomed us.   Our faith is a public matter and when stifled or muffled it cannot grow.

Remember:  We are all saints and all equally holy in God's eyes.  Martin Luther said that we are, at the same time, sinners and saints, as it says in Galatians 2:17 (ESV):  "But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?  Certainly not!"  However, note that the Bible doesn't call us sinners, though we are, we are called saints now because we are justified in His sight, though we technically do still sin.   Even Paul didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet and become perfect, though this is the command in Matt. 5:48 stating:  "You, therefore, must be perfect, as You heavenly Father is perfect."  What does this mean but that direction is the test and perfection is the standard or goal?  We are held to a higher standard as believers than the world in our witness and testimony.

Pollyanna Christianity is erroneous and we are not to buy into the theory that, if you are walking with the Lord, everything is hunky-dory.  Christians have trials, tribulations, adversities, temptations, and many kinds of sufferings that unbelievers are unaware of and cannot relate to.  If we have certain sins that we cannot overcome, it is high time we get the body of Christ involved.  James 5:16 says that we may need to confess our faults one to another and this may be why we are sickly or ill.  The AA has a good thing going for it in that they learn the "buddy system" and realize that one-on-one help is a good system to find sympathy and survival techniques because they learn to help and encourage each other.  Every one should find someone they can relate to and be honest with because true fellowship is linked to two people being in the same boat, as it were.   What we need in the body is a little more realism; God isn't looking for the ideal person, but the real person!

Self-righteousness is one of the worst sins, and that made the Pharisees repugnant in Jesus' eyes and we must realize we can be guilty of it too when we think we are in line and are not willing to admit our faults.  Even Job found out in the end that he was guilty of it and was forced to repent!    In the story of Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector the people looked up to the Pharisees at the time as holy people and tax collectors as common sinners, but the tax collector humbled himself before the Lord and had the right mindset that he was a sinner and in need of a Savior.   To the Pharisee, his faith had degenerated into a religion of works and performance, whereby he was just trying to impress the people--his motives were wrong and that is what only God can see.

He thought that appearances were everything and that he could impress God!  Actually, the only way to impress God is to realize that you cannot impress Him and that you are at His mercy--your unworthiness is the only ticket.  In God's economy, the way up is down and we must humble ourselves in His sight to be exalted, as John the Baptist said, "He must increase, and I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV).   The tax collector didn't actually say, "God me merciful to me a sinner," but "the sinner," because he felt so sinful in God's eyes.  The worst attitude is to look down on our brother and to judge him when we do the same thing--he wasn't comparing himself to anyone more sinful or even feeling worthy!

When we've been forgiven, we are merciful to others in their sin and don't feel so self-righteous that we are holier than everyone.  We forgive as the Lord forgave us (cf. Col. 3:13).  If we are not doing this, we have forgotten that we have been saved and that God was merciful to us.  Are our sins more easily forgiven than theirs?  That is the epitome of self-righteousness, to believe it's okay for us to be that way, but not anyone else.  The Pharisee was sure glad he wasn't like the so-called tax collectors and sinners, who were beyond redemption in his eyes.

We are all bad and as bad off as we can possibly be, but not too bad to be saved if we plead with God for mercy and realize our status as utterly sinful.  "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God," (Rom. 8:7, ESV):  Even our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's eyes (cf. Isaiah 64:6) and there is nothing we can do in our natural self to prepare for salvation or to make ourselves worthy; God must do a work of grace in our heart and make believers out of us (cf. Acts 18:27).  Apart from the Holy Spirit's wooing none of us would believe and without the Father's granting of it none of us would come to Him (cf. John 6:44, 65).

The biggest obstacle to overcoming sin is to admit it freely and to come clean; this is called repentance whereby we make a U-turn, or about-face and turn from it to believe in Christ.  We simultaneously turn from our sins toward God in faith:  "and they must change their hearts and lives as they turn to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus"  (Acts 20:21, CEV); and Acts 26:20 (ESV) says clearly "that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance."  Peter says in Acts 3:19 (ESV):  "Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out."  No one can convince us we are sinners and need repentance but the Holy Spirit, whose domain is the conviction, not our domain to convict.  We should never think that our sins are unforgivable because God can forgive any confessed sin.

But it is worse when we think other people are unredeemable and they have gone too far and are beyond salvation or grace.  We're all in the same boat as far as God is concerned, just like we all drowned, some of us in six feet of water and some in six hundred feet, but the fact is that we all drowned in sin.  If sin were yellow, we'd all be all yellow with no exceptions.  We must realize this before we can have the right mindset to repent.  We shouldn't be ashamed of our sins, because we are all sinners and have different areas of weakness, but the point is that we are all sinners, some just more refined or cultivated than others.

Personal faith becomes merely "religion" when it isn't authentic and only performance or degenerated into keeping the rules or even a philosophy instead of a relationship.  Christianity isn't a catalog of rules or a list of dos and don'ts!  Religion can never save anyone and is, in effect, an attempt to reach up to God, while Christianity is God reaching down to man in grace.  Religion is merely a do-it-yourself proposition or trying to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps, while Christianity is when God changes your heart from the inside out and gives you a new life and spirit.  We don't turn over a new leaf, make a New Year's resolution, or make an AA-like pledge, but we give our hearts to Jesus and start over with Him in charge of our new life.   Faith can degenerate into religion when one is merely worried about appearances and isn't accountable to anyone so that it becomes highly subjective.

In summation:  We are not to play the "let's compare" game and think we are better than others or thank God we are not like others:  As George Whitefield said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I," when he saw a man going to the gallows!  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Obedient Christian

It has been wondered among believers what the obedient Christian looks like--can we spot them? Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments (cf. John 14:21).  Obedience is the only test of faith according to John MacArthur, and can be distinguished but not separated from it, as they are equated and correlated in Heb. 3:17-18; Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7, and John 3:36.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said eloquently: "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."  In Acts 5:32 it says that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him.

There is no such thing as a disobedient Christian as a subclass or rank of Christian, though Christians can and do disobey God and sin both willingly and unintentionally. We never reach a point of entire sanctification or perfectionism as Wesleyans and Deeper Life or Keswick movement people like to call it, because if we deny we have sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us according to 1 John 1:10.   Also, Proverbs 20:9 (ESV) says, "Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure, I am clean from my sin?'"  The psalmist said he'd seen the limit of all perfection in Psalm 119:96.

We are not fruit inspectors of each other's fruit but should examine ourselves carefully to see whether we are walking in the faith--don't break faith!  In other words, we should be too busy in our walk with the Lord to wonder about our brother's walk and whether he is obedient.  We should search our own hearts and examine our own fruits.  The Spirit-filled life exhibits the fruit of the Spirit in increasing bounty as one matures because fruits are grown and if we abide in Christ they are a natural result.

The reason we obey God is that we are His creatures and it is fitting and proper as we owe Him this.  We don't feel we have to as believers but want to or get to.  God alone is worthy of our obeisance and homage.  God's commandments are not burdensome (cf. 1 John 5:3) and we do them "in love."  To love Him is to obey Him!  The Bible was given to shed light on God's will and as believers, we naturally seek God's will in our lives as a matter of His lordship.  All sin is disobedience according to Scripture, and we become more godly and less sin-prone as we mature in Christ.  God's Word gives us instruction in righteousness.  Bear in mind that it is God's Spirit living in us that gives us the power to overcome sin and obey Christ and become Christlike--we cannot do it on our own (the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible!).  God's commandments are for our own good and He knows what is best for us.  We must not rely on the energy of the flesh, but learn that He gives us the power in the Spirit--we don't have the freedom to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.

The Navigators taught me a great truth:  The obedient Christian is regularly involved in prayer, getting into Bible study and reading, fellowship and worship, and witness and outreach.  We have both a ministry to our brothers and a mission to the unsaved in our obedience.  There are Lone Ranger Christians who navigate solo and think they don't need the body--if you love Jesus, you will love His body!  We must be "rooted and grounded" in the body of Christ and in the truth to have discernment and growth and move forward in our walk.  It is absolutely impossible to be living in obedience apart from the discipline, nurture, discipleship, and fellowship of the body of Christ! We all need each other and no one, no matter how gifted, has all the gifts and doesn't need the other members of the body.

Furthermore, obedience not only implicates obedience to the Word per se, but to all dully delegated authority or "the powers that be" in Paul's lingo.  A Christian must obey the law unless it is in clear contradiction to the Word.  He is a good and upright or model citizen who not only exercises his rights but does his responsibilities.  To obey authority also means parental and any authority in loco Dei or in the place of God, even an institution.  The government is a God-ordained institution, just like the church and the family--but family is the premier authority and most important one to be protected.  Another aspect of obedience is submission to one another in the name of Christ, and not lording in over others, for instance, but allowing Christ to rule in His body, the church.  The final aspect of obedience that must take place is accountability because if one is a rogue all on his own and doing his own thing he is out of fellowship with Christ and disobedient to direct commands.  Every believer needs accountability and is accountable, whether it is to his suiting or not.

In my personal walk, obedience is how I relate to the leading of the Holy Spirit as I walk in the Spirit and walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7).  Paul said, "As many as are led by the Spirit are sons of God."  The goal is to know Christ through the body and, our walk and make Him known by our testimony, witness, and mission.   When I read the Word I get "Aha!" moments where I feel God speaking to me or me of something convicting, which you might call an existential experience--you can experience God in the Word and He has promised to use it to speak to us.  I obey Christ by submitting to authority and not trying to make up my own rules, and do my own thing, like Israel was doing in Judges 21:25 ("each man did what was right in their own eyes...").

I believe prayer is the acid or litmus test of the believer and a true gauge of his pursuit of holiness and fellowship with God.  Fellowship is another test to consider:  '"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another ..." (1 John 1:7, ESV).  God has put me in the ministry of doing a Bible study and I am being obedient by preparing and studying for that--when God considers us faithful, He puts us into the ministry. I also obey God by abiding (or staying in fellowship by having no unconfessed or unjudged sin) in Christ and being sensitive to the Spirit so as not to quench or grieve the Spirit  I am ready to witness of my faith in obedience and look for open doors from God at all times, and thank God for every opportunity that He gives me to share my faith in observance of the Great Commission. In short, I have heard it expressed very well:  A great Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment! There are many commandments in the Bible as well as prohibitions, but basically, we become a natural as we go on to know the Lord and walk with Him in faith and fellowship.  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Dysfunctional Personhood...

Some well-meaning brothers gratuitously tell us to "get our act together."   It really hurt me when someone who knew me well told me that--touche--it hit home!   We don't have to get our act together to get saved, contrary to popular opinion.  We come as we are to God  ("Come as you are!  But don't stay that way!), because He accepts us with all our foibles, discrepancies, failures, idiosyncrasies, and weaknesses--the whole package!

It is common axioms that no one is perfect and to err is human, but few of us are willing to make this known publicly--we are just like Mark Twain quipped:  "Everybody is a moon; and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody," or like the double personas in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It is assumed by the present-day Secular-Humanist philosophy, which elevates or deifies man, and dethrones God, that we are basically good or inherently good--born innocent with a blank slate.  If we start off perfect how did the world get so depraved and why isn't there anyone perfect?

The fourth-century British monk Pelagius was one of the first heretics of Christendom and he believed that Adam's sin affected only him and that since God commands us to be perfect, we must have that inherent ability or the command doesn't make sense--why tell someone to do something he can't do? This doctrine of perfectionism or that we can attain unto it, was condemned at the Council of Carthage in AD 418, and even Rome sees it as a perversion of the gospel. It is been revived recently as "entire sanctification" or that we can reach a point in our walk that we no longer purposely sin or are "perfect,"  like it says in Matthew 5:48 to be "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect."

It is assumed that some people are too bad to be saved or that they have gone too far. No one is beyond the reach of the grace of God. If you do the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit you simply are unconcerned about repentance and salvation. "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13, ESV).  You can drown in 7 feet of water just as easily as 700 feet.  It just takes one sin to make a person deserving of hell and eternal damnation at the Great White Throne Judgment.  We must learn not to depend or rely on ourselves and stop trying to save ourselves.  The Secular Humanists proclaim that no deity will save them, so they must save themselves!

Well, this begs the question:  How bad off are we as unbelievers from being saved?  How far is a blind person from realizing the beauty of a Rembrandt, or simply the beauties of nature of-of mankind? How far removed is a deaf person from appreciating a Mozart or Beethoven symphony?  We are not as bad as we can be; you can always say that God grades on a curve and that you are better than Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein and think you have an edge, but this is false assurance because the plumb line or measure of standards is Jesus Christ Himself and we all fall short of His example of fulfilling all righteousness and living for us to prove it.  We are not as bad as we can be or what you would say "utterly depraved." However, we are as bad off as we can be or totally depraved.  Every part of our inner being is affected with evil and sin, and if sin were blue we'd be all blue--that includes our minds, wills, and affections or feelings-our complete soul.

We are dead spiritually to God and cannot communicate or have a relationship with Him, but must be reborn in the Spirit to become God's children and have fellowship with Him.  The point is that we are as bad off as we can be, but salvation is as great as can be and no one is too bad to be saved--it isn't that we are good enough to get saved, but that we are bad enough to need salvation.  According to C. S. Lewis:  We don't know how bad we are till we try to be good, and we can't be good till we know how bad we are (what a catch-22!).  Soli Deo Gloria!

So, Are You A Sinner?

"If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar" (1 John 1:10).
"For everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness, sin is lawlessness" (per John).
"And who fain would serve Thee best
Are most conscious of wrong within."
John Stott:  "It is no use giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them."

That's a loaded question and not so easily expounded upon. First of all, according to R. C. Sproul, the renowned Reformed theologian, we are all sinners in that we sin and we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin (i.e., we are born with the inclination to sin or with the cards stacked against us). We are born in sin (Psalm 51:5 says, "Surely, I was sinful at birth....")  You could say we lie because we are natural born liars and we don't become liars when we tell our first lie.

We are deeply flawed and radically corrupt and deformed in our heart, mind, and will by depravity, and are inherently evil, not basically good, as humanists assert.  My pastor says that God no longer "classifies us as sinners [though we really are]."  He also says, "Sin no longer defines us."  This means that we are above it and God no longer holds it against us (Psalm 32:2 says, blessed are those "whose sin the LORD does not count against them."

This may also seem like a trick question:  Either way, you answer it, you can be refuted!  N.B. that the Bible calls Christians "saints" and sinners are generally referred to those who are lost in their sin and not overcoming it. An exemption is Gal. 2:17 calling Christians sinners ("...we ...find ourselves also among the sinners").  We are no longer slaves to sin, nor under its power as believers.  We don't have the right to live in the flesh because we are forgiven, but the power to live in the Spirit.  Martin Luther, the renowned theologian, and pastor who inaugurated the Reformation said that we are at the same time sinners and just.  God reckons us as just as righteous as Christ because He sees us in Christ as our position.  In the Bible, when it calls people "sinners" it is generally referring to the lost or the unjust--that doesn't mean Christians aren't sinners who have reached "perfectionism" or "entire sanctification" (cf. Psalm 119:96 says, "  To all perfection I see a limit;" Prov. 20:9 says, "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin'?"

The titanic struggle that Christians have is to overcome sin; even pagan writer Ovid wrote that he "sees the better things and approve them, but he follows the worst:"  This is exactly what Paul was referring to in Romans 7 when he said that nothing good dwells in him and said, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it but is sin living in me" (Rom. 7:15-17).

The key to conquering sin, and we are more than conquerors in Christ, is to keep our eyes on Jesus and stop trying so hard--but learn to trust!  The more we try to stop sinning in our own strength, the more enslaved we become, because we are reinforcing it (my pastor says).  Some good ideas to avoid sin is to keep busy, especially in the work of the Lord, and to think of things of good report and of virtue as Phil. 4:8 says.   There's always a way of escape according to 1 Cor. 10:13 and we never have to sin anymore.

It is important to realize how bad of a sinner we are and that we have no hope of saving ourselves, but throw in the towel and give up the ship to Christ as one's captain.  We don't realize how bad we are till we try to be good, and, conversely, we can't be good until we realize how bad we are.   This is a catch-22 to reflect on.  We are not as bad as we can be, but are as bad off as we can be--even Hitler loved his mother and wasn't as bad as he could have been and he is considered by many to be the paradigm of evil along with Judas.

This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man!  Our sin, no matter how much or how little is enough to condemn us, because to God sin is like antimatter to matter.  I am grateful that even though I am a great sinner, I have a great Savior!  I just keep short accounts and "move on" as my pastor says.  I don't live in the past.

The devil accuses you of sin, but the Holy Spirit does an open and shut case against you and there is no argument.  We all have feet of clay and have weaknesses not readily apparent. But God doesn't grade on a curve!   Jesus sees through the veneer and exposes our dark side that we want to hide--He is the only one that really knows us better than we know ourselves even.  God doesn't grade on a curve!  Yes, we are bad, but not too bad to be saved!  We are never good enough to be saved, in other words, but bad enough to need salvation:  ironically, some people don't even want to admit they are sinners because they "haven't done anything that bad."

We often compare ourselves with others who seem worse and get proud:  "Compared to Saddam Hussein I am a saint!"  We may think of ourselves as just a "run-of-the-mill" sinner, but we should be comparing ourselves to Christ who is the express image of His glory and the divine standard:  "Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48).  Caveat:  God doesn't grade on a curve;  the standard is is perfection, the test is direction!

Well, what is the biblical definition of sin?  In the study of hamartiology sin is from the Greek word hamartia, a marksman's word for "missing the mark."  It is suggested that one shoots at a target and misses the bull's eye.  When one misses achieving this standard he "sins."  There are both sins of omission and commission.  When God says in negative terms:  Thou shalt not, and we do, it is a sin of commission  When we fail to do God's will and leave something undone, which we should have done, it is also sin--this is a sin of omission.  Having a mind and willpower makes us able to sin.  Basically, sin is nonconformity to the law of God, anything not of faith, when we know the right thing to do, and fail to do it, any transgression, trespass, or perverted act.

Some things may be sin for one brother and not another.  We can sin against a brother (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12), but basically all sin is against God and only His forgiveness brings salvation from past, present, and future sins.  Any act of unbelief is a sin according to 1 John 5:10.  Sin is also lawlessness according to 1 John 3:4.  The Anglican Book of Common Prayer adds: "leaving undone that which I ought to have done."

However, Jesus internalized sin (the Pharisees had "externalized" sin by reducing it to what can be seen by men like fasting; eating kosher; ceremonial washing; et cetera), saying that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts."  It is not a matter of having clean hands, but a clean heart to be pure in God's eyes.  "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).  Sin is a disease or an illness and we cannot say we have a little sin no more than we can say one is a little pregnant!  In short, when we sin against God, we violate His nature and holiness; when we sin against man, we violate his humanity and dignity as a human in the image of God, according to R. C. Sproul.  He goes on to say that all sin is an act of treason to overthrow God.  I have heard it said, that sin is "man's declaration of independence from God."

It is a grave mistake to rename sin with pretty names to be less offensive like:  shortcomings, errors, mistakes, habits, vices, et cetera.  Billy Graham says that this is like relabeling a poison and calling it the Essence of Peppermint, which would make it more dangerous to the kids.  The closer you get to God the more aware you are of sin:  Samuel Rutherford said, "Pray for a lively sense of sin, then you'll have less sin."   Great saints have often discounted their holiness and downgraded themselves out of humility:  John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners."  Paul called himself "the chief of sinners."  A good definition from Charlie Riggs is "any thought, word, omission, action, or desire contrary to the Word of God."  The whole purpose of the law is to make us cognizant of our sin not to be a way of salvation, or a code to live by for good measure--we are incapable of keeping it:  "For by the law is the knowledge of sin"  (Rom. 3:20, Phil.).  The Law measures us, it doesn't save us!

To become Christians we must be willing to turn from sin (repentance) and turn to God (through faith in Christ by grace).  We need not only to be against sin in theory but renounce sin and any individual sins God has laid on our hearts.  [Believers are still sinners, by the way, according to Gal. 2:17. and John says in 1 John 1 that "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us in v. 8.] We need to repent of all our sins, not just the ones we don't like and keep our pet sins. Legalists see sins and not sin (God can make us a new person with a victory over it by putting a new man in the suit, not a new suit on the man):  Our problem is the old sin nature, or our sinful flesh or carnal man.  We must be changed (passive case) from the inside out (i.e., God does it!).  This is due to our solidarity in Adam and what's known as "original sin" (therefore sin is universal (termed the universality of sin) and the common-held belief that nobody's perfect--as they say, "To err is human."

We don't try to be the Holy Spirit and convict people of their sins, that's the role of the Holy Spirit alone.  In due time He will show them the error of their ways:  thus we have so many Christians doing what we wouldn't because they haven't matured to our level yet.  It is the consensus that we all grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).  We go from glory to glory and increase in Christ-likeness as we grow and mature according to 2 Cor. 3:18. ("...we are transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory....").

Albert Camus said that "the absurd is sin without God."  This is true:  if there is no God, there is no absolute value system and everything is only relative.  No one can say with certainty that something is a sin.  We need a divine standard to appeal to:  some call this "natural law"--this is what convicted the Nazi war criminals who claimed they only obeyed the law of the "Fatherland."  We all have a conscience and an innate sense of right and wrong which makes us culpable for our sin.  Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a famous book: Whatever Became of Sin?  Even psychiatrists are starting to use the word again and think that "God" may have a point!

There is a very well-known preacher of a megachurch that refuses to preach on sin because he regards it as a "killjoy word."  I recall Calvin Coolidge, the man of few words, coming home from church and his wife asking him what the sermon was about:  "Sin."  "What did he say?" "He was against it!"  If  I make any point, I want you to be sure that God cannot tolerate sin in His presence (Satan was booted out of heaven) and His eyes are too pure to behold evil (Hab. 1:13). God is just and must do something about the sin question.

But God is love and also gracious and has found a way out of the dilemma.  The gospel message is that God has solved the sin problem through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  If we truly repent of our sins and receive Christ as our Lord and trust Him as our Savior we will be delivered and rescued from the coming wrath or calamity of God (1 Thess. 1:9).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Celebrating Failure?

I am glad that there is not anyone that is perfect in the Bible except Jesus, our only Exemplar and whom we should emulate as we see Him in the Word and other believers. King David, for example, was a great man of God and the only one in the Bible that was a "man after God's own heart," but his success on the battlefield and with the pen and harp didn't translate into paternal success, as his children took after him in the worst way--seeing his failures, rather than his successes.  For instance, they saw disregard for human life in his murder of Uriah the Hittite, and lack of control over his lust in his many wives and concubines.

Cases in point:  The Bible is a place where we can see many godly fathers, (e.g., Samuel and Eli who also failed as fathers, and even great kings failed to have sons who were chips off the old block! The godly King Hezekiah's son Manasseh was the evilest of all Judah's kings.

When we go through failure ourselves, we sympathize with others in our shoes and when we say, "Been there and done that" we understand what they are going through. The cliché goes, "Don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in his moccasins!"  To be specific, I have a lot of grace and patience toward backsliders because I have been that route myself and a bone that is broken heals all the stronger.  People who have had drinking problems also have more tolerance toward this fault; they have learned to support each other in times of need.

I have been divorced and was a failure as a husband, but that doesn't mean I can't be a success at something else and find God's will for my life.  Success is doing God's will with a smile and enjoying the toil and task God has given us, leaving the results to God, who gives the increase, as we plant, water, and reap.

I am patient with divorcees and realize that Christians aren't perfect.  After all, being a friend is accepting someone despite their failures and even when we know their weakness and mistakes we still like them as a person who deserves our respect because of the dignity God has given a man, in the image of God.  The bumper sticker is right-on:  Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.

It is worth mentioning that God tells it like it is and doesn't sugarcoat the truth in the Bible not sparing the details, if is edifying, by either positive or negative examples.  We need to see that King David isn't perfect, even though Jesus is called "the Son of David."  What we have to realize is that God can use even us in our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, if we surrender to God's ownership of our life.  However, note that we all have "feet of clay" (according to Chuck Swindoll) or shortcomings that are not readily visible to others--a dark side that only God sees, like the moon that has a dark side we don't ever see.

 A contemporary news personage is Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings who last year was the MVP and won national acclaim on the gridiron, only to manage national disgrace and shame the year after, ruining his career because he was a failure as a father when he was supposed to be a role model.

This begs the question:  Who is a failure?  The answer is that we are not to judge or condemn someone, but to have an attitude of grace, as the great preacher/revivalist George Whitefield said about the condemned prisoner:  "There but for the grace of God, go I."   Some people are just held to a higher standard, because to whom much is given, much is required.

To sum it up in a sentence:  We are given examples of failure and shortcoming in the Scriptures so that we wouldn't give up, but hang in there and not be discouraged, but there's hope for all of us to have a chance at having an impact for the Lord at something.  Soli Deo Gloria!