Accepting The Riffraff

Some of us are really the utter scum of society, the rejects you might say, and in some religions like Hinduism, we might be labeled "untouchables."  Mother Teresa of Calcutta was so brave in her charitable work with the untouchables that she became a "saint."  The Bible says in Isaiah 51:1 to look to the rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug.  This is so we don't get arrogant or look down on our brother:  Deut. 23:7 says, "Do not abhor an Edomite [the despised hybrids, who were descendants of Esau], for he is thy brother." No one for whom Christ died is worthless.  Remember your roots--don't ever forget where you came from!  In other words, don't ever forget what you were saved from!

Jesus was the supreme exemplar in talking to the woman of Samaria at the well, and laying aside all prejudice. Many of us have a stigma to bear that makes us unacceptable to "polite society."  For instance,  mental disability carries this sort of bad connotation that people don't want to accept as "normal (who says what's normal?)." Xenophobia is the fear of strangers:  Jesus certainly didn't have it.  Don't be intimidated by man:   Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man will prove to be a snare."

Are you afraid to associate with the riffraff or scum of society?  Do you think it will rub off on you and you will be affected?  Jesus wasn't afraid to associate with anyone it would seem:  "This man receives [by no means did He participate or condone their sin] sinners, and eats with them" (Luke 15:2).  The so-called friend of tax collectors and sinners.  They say we are known by the company we keep and the Bible does say in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that "bad company corrupts good character."  And Proverbs 12:26 says a wise person "should choose his friends carefully."

How can we reach out to the unsaved if we are afraid of them?   We don't have to befriend them (Christ was the friend of sinners and that is what we were; those whom He called "friends" were those who obeyed Him], but they are not cursed either and we cannot be tainted by them.  Jesus wasn't afraid to get down and dirty with anyone and to associate with the sinners so much that they said, "Doesn't he know this woman is a known sinner [what manner of woman she is]?"  What goes out of a man defiles him, not what goes in--Jesus internalized sin, whereas the Pharisees had externalized and thought cleanliness was just a matter of keeping unspoiled and unpolluted from the sinners-they felt unclean by merely entering a Gentile's abode!  (They had not learned that the essence of religion is thought control, and they thought all that was necessary was a certain behavior.)

How are we to reach out to the world if we are afraid of them?  No Christian brother or sister is beneath us and not good enough for us to fellowship with--for all the body parts are important and no one can say he doesn't need the other seemingly less vital organs.  It is true that God has placed some in unique positions to witness to that certain element and they have a circle of influence that we don't. When you realize that you really are also riffraff, it isn't hard to accept others.  The Scripture says that as Christ has accepted you, so you accept others--I don't mean accept their sin, but love the sinner and hate the sin.  Jesus never condoned wrongdoing and we are to stand up for Jesus and what is right.

Remember, not many mighty, noble, or influential are called, but God calls the weak to do His will and bidding.  Proverbs has a word to the wise:  "Do not envy the wicked [not just sinners, but evil men], nor desire their company" (Prov. 24:1).  That is, we must keep in mind that we are Christ's ambassador's and that only "iron sharpens iron" (Prov. 27:17)--we are the light and salt and should be influencing them, not vice versa.  God never calls us to be aloof and indifferent to our neighbor. There is no place for a "holier than thou" attitude described in Isaiah 65:5--cut some slack!

We are not to get a poor self-image and inferiority complex and think that we are worse than others, but to have a realistic viewpoint and face reality.  Don't get on your case and give yourself a hard time!   Remember, others are probably easier on you than you are!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You Free?

 "Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin,.." (Acts 13:39, NIV). 

As Christians, sin needs no longer lord it over us ("For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace," per Rom. 6:14).  The psalmist proclaims:  "Let no sin have dominion over me" (Psalm 119:133).  When we sin we do not demonstrate our freedom but prove our slavery.  We are free to live in the Spirit and have new power to overcome sin by faith, not bondage to the old sin nature.  We do not have the right to live as we see fit or do what is right in our own eyes as libertines or Antinomians.

Only Christians can defeat sin and live above it because the unbeliever is a slave to sin and his sin nature.  To state the Augustinian formulae:  The believer has the ability to sin, and the ability not to sin; the unbeliever only has the inability not to sin; while Adam had the power to sin and the power not to sin, Christ has the inability to sin.  Sinners are "voluntary slaves" and are "free" to choose their own poison, so to speak.

 What is the victory that overcomes the world?  Our faith!   If we walk in the Spirit we shall overcome the flesh and not fulfill its desires and cravings.  How do we walk in the Spirit?  Keeping short accounts with God of our sins, shortcomings, and failures.  As Christians, we are "dead to sin" and "alive to righteousness!"  When one is dead to something he is no longer under its power or authority.

Some believers sincerely that they have and need a "free will" (this doctrine is not mentioned in Scripture and neither is the terminology--some deduce it from the fact that we have the ability to make choices).  Martin Luther said in his treatise, The Bondage of the Will, that we don't need a free will, but wills made free!  He saw a so-called "Babylonian captivity" of the church and deplored how Erasmus of Rotterdam, who wrote In Praise of Folly, said that man has a free will--too "grandiose" a word to describe our will.   This doctrine was debated in the 1500s and the doctrine of the freedom of the will was a hot item among theologians. Augustine said that we are free, but not freed (no play on words, but that we are not coerced). That is, that we have the power of choice, but God has not given us "liberty."

We are in slavery to our old sin nature and in bondage until Christ sets us free:  "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed."  I was set free in Christ--I didn't become a believer solely of my own free will--some people become Christians against their will, but God changes them or convicts them.  They say that if you came to Christ on your own, you probably left Him on your own too. God is always at work within the believer's heart to make him willing:  "For God is at work within you both to do, and to will of His good pleasure," (Phil. 2:13).  He can make the most stubborn and stony heart into flesh and make the unwilling, willing.

Real freedom is knowing Christ and the victory He can give over sins ("You shall call His name Jesus because He shall save His people from their sins," Matt. 1:21). "Submit yourselves, therefore, unto God, resist the devil and he will flee from you," James 4:7.   As believers we don't have to be pushed around by the world, the flesh, and the devil;  we can have victory in Christ.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Speaking Evil

  "...[A]nd casts no slur on others [his fellow man]" (cf. Psalm. 15:3).

Christians should be held to a higher standard and learn to tone done and restrain their rhetoric.

James said that it is impossible for a spring to have both fresh and bitter water.  One cannot speak with a forked tongue, so to speak.  Slander, gossip, lies, and threats are evil and Paul condemns such in Romans 1.  Today many politicians have no remorse or compunction about slandering other fellow politicians or politicos.  Leaders are held to higher standards yet use derogatory remarks and snap judgments to ridicule and made the butt of the common joke du jour.  They are supposed to be in a position of authority and to be examples, yet they poison the public with their words.   They have no right to do so even if it is a constitutional right because the Law of Moses forbade us to speak evil against a ruler of the people (Acts 23:5).

The powers that be are of God according to Romans 13 and we are to respect all in authority and pray for all our leaders:  how can one curse them and pray for them together?  The Scripture says: "show proper respect for everyone...fear God, honor the king."  It is one thing to disagree and quite another to maliciously and in a mean spirit to deride one's reputation and seek to destroy what God has build up.  God put them in office and they are showing contempt for His orchestration of history--don't forget that God is sovereign and rules over the nations (Psalm. 22:28).

One must also put away the "pointing of the finger" (per Isa. 58:9) and stop making someone or some group a scapegoat like Hitler did to the Jews.  We are all to blame and God is giving us the leaders we deserve.  Augustine said that government is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil.

 In conclusion let me add:  "Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes" (Eccl. 7:18).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Having No Vision

   "Without a vision, the people perish..."  (cf. Proverbs 29:18).
  "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people..." (cf. Isa. 10:1). 
  "...Men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do..." (cf. 2 Chronicles 12:32).

By vision, I mean the goal or the understanding and interpreting of reality (not political or economic), as in worldview:  the Muslims have hegemony (or domination) as their vision and will not stop until the whole world belongs to Allah--"Tomorrow  belongs to Islam."  Unless Christians have a common, worldview that encompasses believers all over the world, our faith will not stand the trials to be upon the world in the near future.  Islam is soon to replace Christianity as the world's most numerous religion.

What is it that joins us together, that unites us in Christ?  Fellowship is really two fellows in the same ship, they say.   A Christian in Sweden or Russia should have the same worldview or Christian outlook and I am not talking politics. We have no geopolitical concerns in our faith.   Christ's kingdom is not of this world and we are to build His kingdom, not ours.  How is this accomplished?  By the fulfilling of the Great Commission by the church at large.

Never forget that our mission is to fulfill the Great Commission--don't get sidetracked.  Keep the main thing the main thing and don't major in the minors.  Every other goal we have is to be subjective to this one.  The so-called "social gospel" (a misnomer) is not for the church per se individual believers may be led or inspired to do great works in Christ's name (one only looks at William Wilberforce devoting his life to freeing the slaves).  The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern (Prov. 29:7):  'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.  Is this not what it means to know Me?' declares the LORD"  (Jer. 22:16).

The government, or the powers that be, are ordained of God, and we are to be obedient unless they directly violate Scripture.   Aurelius Augustine said that "government is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil." To be anti-government is to be anti-God just as much as anti-family is. Before you shrug that comment aside and disagree, note that he is considered by many to be the greatest theological thinker of the first millennium.  Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, by the way.

Our mission on earth is not to make people come over to our way of political interpretation, but to know the Lord.  God's pet peeve or controversy with Israel was this:  "There is no truth, or mercy, or knowledge of God in the land," (Hosea 4:1).  I am not saying it is evil to be a member of a political party, but to associate it with the church or to imply that Christ would join your party is.  This is what has happened in today's evangelical-right movement that tends to have a self-righteous attitude because they desire to judge or condemn others.  They can have their convictions or opinions, but not the right to label them as "Christian."  So many of them are merely geography-related and have prejudices inherent.   Sincere believers in other parts of the nation disagree.

We are to be the salt and light in the world and I mean the world-system or the cosmos ("Virtually every significant social movement in Western civilization--from the abolition of slavery to child labor laws--owes its origin to the influence of Jesus Christ).  We are of the light and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).  But our light and salt are the Word of God, not some attainment of education, the standard of living, economic system, or political system.  God's people can thrive anywhere and surpasses the world-system that lies in the power of the prince of the power of the air--the prince of this world or Satan.

Are we sowing seeds of truth, not are we affiliates of some party-system?  The problem with too many Christians is that in their misdirected zeal or zeal, which is not according to knowledge, they look at the cosmos and become do-gooders bent on the betterment of society, but losing sight of the Great Commission--turning stones into bread instead of offering a cup of water in the name of the Lord.  Become spiritual leaders and servants, not political activists in league with the world!  In conclusion, let me cite George Bernard Shaw:  "What the world needs is more Christian love."  Soli Deo Gloria!

Jesus Bore Our Suffering...

Isaiah 53:4 mentions Christ taking up our pain and bearing our suffering ("He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases," according to another version).  Does this mean we are exempt from suffering and illness?  Are we to agree with the full-gospel-fellowship who believe healing is just as easy as claiming it and naming it in Christ and is part of our salvation?  Christ was made to suffer in our stead to taste of our weaknesses in order to sympathize on our behalf and to be able to intercede for us at the right hand of the Most High.

Scripture surely verifies Jesus reaching out to people in need and it seems no trouble is too small for His love, nor too big for His power.  Paul prayed 3 times that his infirmity or messenger from Satan would be removed, and God said "No."  Someone was once asked why they don't have as many healers working in America as in Africa:  "They don't have HMO's."  God is so big that everything is small to Him, and loves so much, nothing is too small for Him.

Charlatan healers claim that the miracle is part of our redemption and if you don't get healed, your faith is suspect.  It is true that Jesus said to the woman with the issue:  "Your faith has healed you," but when the apostles healed they had the gift to heal and it was not dependent upon faith.  It is deduced that it is a cooperative venture and it is done "unto you according to your faith" also.

If God doesn't immediately heal you by the anointing by the elders and prayers, for example, it has to be in God's timetable and He will work everything out according to His glory and plan.  In fact, we may have to wait until glory to experience our complete healing.  I know of examples where God has refused to heal and it has brought Him glory as to the building of a testimony.  Joni Eareckson Tada is a famous one that comes to mind and, believe you me, she sought out the faith healers at first as much as the next guy.

Sometimes the sickness or illness is a wake-up call and the person serves as an example or warning to others:  "Woe to me because of my injury!  My wound is incurable!  Yet I said to myself, 'This is my sickness, and I must endure it.'" (Jer. 10:19);  "There is no healing for thy bruise; thy wound is grievous..." (Nah. 3:19).   Hezekiah complained that God wouldn't heal him and that he was being taken in the prime of life!  God granted him 15 more years.

The primary reason Jesus healed the sick was to be an example to us:  How many hospitals have been founded by infidels?  God always has some disaster happen in order to give the opportunity for His children to do good:  Why does evil happen?  To give the opportunity for good!   There are certain things only God can do and what seemed impossible a generation ago is now within our grasp medically--who knows what man is capable of:  I only hope we don't forget that this knowledge comes from God.

Philosophers have said, "All truth is God's truth."  The church is the mother of science and science owes its very existence to it!  Now they seem to be at war and there is no conflict between true science and the Bible.  Let's hope God intervenes before man plays God and does immoral medicine just because he can.   Soli Deo Gloria!

All Authority

Giving the Great Commission, Christ said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (Matt. 28:18).  Peter declared at Pentecost: "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this:  God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah" (Acts 2:36).  We do not "make Christ Lord" as the modern-day terminology coins it when we get saved--He is Lord and to accept Him we cannot divide His offices as Savior and Lord, because He couldn't be Savior without being Lord of all (Acts 10:36).

We are rejecting Christ if we don't accept Him for who He is and acknowledge His lordship over our lives (i.e., lordship salvation as opposed to easy-believism that denies this doctrine).  We trust Him as our Savior and submit to Him as our Lord--obedience is the only test of faith.  We must surrender unconditionally and give up the ship and helm of our lives to His leadership.  He is the new Captain of our soul and the Master of our fate.

When we refer to the good Lord or simply the Lord we are generally referring to Christ Himself--that is the exclusive privilege that God the Father has bestowed on Him.  The Father is Lord also, and there is one Lord, but we give the nomenclature of Lordship to Christ in deference to His role as executing and completing our salvation and rising on our behalf from the dead.

We are to pray in His name and not just attach the phraseology "in Jesus' name, amen!" at the terminus of our prayers for good measure--this implies to His glory and will!  We have the privilege to pray in His name that angels don't have and can boldly approach the throne of grace in His name (cf. Heb. 4:16).  We are given authority over demons and Satan's dominion of darkness in His name.

When Jesus preached and taught, He did not do as the Pharisees and scribes had done:  He taught as one having authority and as no one had dared preach before Him;  because He didn't footnote His sermons by quoting the so-called authorities and interpretations, but made His own pronouncements:  "Verily, verily, I say unto you," or "Amen, amen I say unto you."  His formula was not to say like the prophets, "Thus saith the LORD." but He said boldly and audaciously proclaimed, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you so and so.  The people were heard saying, "Never has a man spake like this man!"  If He relied upon an authority, His teaching would not have the authority of what the Father told Him to say.  He was His own authority! One of the reasons they objected to Him was because He was making Himself equal to God.

In application, God wants us to not despise prophesying and urges us to speak the Word of God boldly as if they were oracles of God.  A prophet today speaks to the edification of the body of Christ and proclaims what God has revealed to him.  A prophet speaks to men on behalf of God, while a priest speaks to God on behalf of men. Modern prophecy doesn't consist in foretelling in as much as forthtelling.  Jesus never prefaced His words but dared to speak out and tell it like it is.  Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God" (Rom. 8:14). 

It has been said that a Christian has a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which He loves, a voice through which He speaks, and hands through which He helps--this is the epitome of spirituality--to know Christ and make Him known.

That was the title of the 1918 book by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, that made him a renowned and celebrated theologian.  Who is?  This is a vital and bona fide question:  Like someone has said, "We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers!"  When we are spiritual we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in a manifold manner.  There is no certain manifestation, such as talking about Jesus or the Bible.  Sometimes just touching base with someone in love and charity and meeting their needs is genuine fellowship and expression of being spiritual. There are telltale signs of spirituality:  A famous saying goes thus:  Where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is hope; where there is hope there is peace; where there is peace there is Jesus!  I have learned this and have observed it:  God meets us where we are and knows where we are!  We don't always need someone to preach at us, but sometimes we need a listening and sympathetic ear.

Just think of all the possibilities of expressing the nine winsome graces given by the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there He is.  The one who is spiritual simply walks in the Spirit and has continual fellowship with the Lord (keeping short accounts of his sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  The spiritual one simply is in touch with God and meets people's needs and is not self-centered, but Christ-centered.  He lives for Christ and not for himself.  This does not necessarily refer to a level of maturity or of being mature per se, because sometimes a baby believer can be more spiritual than the seasoned.

No one can claim to be always spiritual or that they have "arrived" at such a point of perfection, of not being conscious of sin or shortcomings.  Sometimes the wisest remarks can proceed out of the mouths of babes, as Jesus noticed:  Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants..."  I believe children can even be used by God: a child's voice convicted St. Augustine said:  "Take and read, take and read."

He that is spiritual simply walks with the Lord as Enoch and Noah ("Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God")-and we have this privilege too!  It is a "faith-walk" because "we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:17).  There is no veneer to see through or guise of spirituality, such as hypocrisy (he has nothing to hide and is straightforward in speech), but a genuineness and authenticity in action. He is the real thing, an original!  He's not out to outshine someone or be a rival.  "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments'  (1 Cor. 2:15).  There is a certain natural ability to discern the Spirit, in other words.  Whatever he does, he does to the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)!

There is no inherent dichotomy or division of believers into classes of spiritual and non-spiritual, first-class and second-class, or what Chafer mistakenly believed to be carnal and spiritual Christians. Just like it is wrong to have a "holier than thou" attitude (cf. Isa. 65:5), it is wrong to deceive yourself into thinking you are more spiritual than your brethren--you either are spiritual or you're not--there are no degrees to graduate to.  

Any believer can be carnal or spiritual at any given period of time, it is not a given (each day one must start all over in their walk:  "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25).  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24), and he must "abide in Christ" or stay in fellowship with God in order to walk in step with Him.  The most spiritually mature can indeed fall into sin like David did but he will ultimately recover and his carnality will not be a permanent or continuous state. The continuity of our status in Christ never changes; only our state of fellowship and relationship and/or sanctification.

This doctrine need not be problematic or an issue at all:  "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16). We are indeed free in Christ:  not free to live according to the flesh and our old nature, but power to live in the new nature or spirit.  The old nature knows no law, the new nature needs no law!  In other words:  Freedom to do what we ought, not what we want! We've never had the right to do what is right in our own eyes or to do what is scripturally wrong.  In sum,  "So we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step [pace] with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Do Christians Know God?

"...Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself" (Gal. 4:14).  

"But we do see Jesus..." (Heb. 2:9).

"...[T]his mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).

This is a loaded question and depends upon your definition of terms.  One may know a lot about God by virtue of doctrinal acquaintance, but be wet behind the ears or very naive in his experiential knowledge.  The Bible does say that in the age to come, no one will say, "Know the Lord," for everyone will know Him. They will know the rules or the ways of the Lord and actively put them into practice.  Jesus is the Way and they will know Him.  This obviously refers to having a relationship with the living God and growing and or maturing in it--faith is not static, but alive.

"We walk by faith, and not by sight," (2 Cor. 5:7).  This means we have to venture out in step and take that leap of faith like Abraham did, even not knowing where he was going.  No one gets saved without taking this journey of faith.  Paul said to the Galatians that it was like this:  "And now that you know God--or rather are known by God" (Gal. 4:9).  It is much more vital that God knows us!  Anyone who loves God is known by God (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2).  Those who God doesn't know will be cast into the lake of fire and are cursed:  Jesus will say unto them, "I never knew you."  This kind of knowledge is of having a personal relationship with the Almighty.  The elect are known by God for sure:  "For whom He foreknew [in the sense of having a relationship with and loving], He predestined..." (Rom. 8:29).

No one should want Christ to pronounce this to them at the judgment--to make sure that God knows you! (cf. Gal. 4:9)   By this I mean make sure you are saved!  This is not to satisfy idle curiosity, but a command in 2 Pet. 1:10 says:  "...make every effort to confirm your calling and election."  Your spiritual growth is stunted without 100 percent assurance.  You can't just hope you are saved, but must know it.  "For know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).  "...whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37).  Eternal security is not a biblical term, but eternal salvation is:  see Heb. 5:9 talking about God giving eternal salvation (not provisional or temporary salvation) to all who obey Him.  Heb. 9:12 says that we obtained eternal redemption by His blood.


Knowing you are saved is the first step to making sure you know God because everyone who is saved knows God--some just have a childlike familiarity with Him and haven't reached maturity yet.  Be assured of this:  If you are saved, you do know God--it is just a matter of how well.  Now that you know God (or rather that God knows you, cf. Gal. 4:9) you are to grow in the knowledge (2 Pet. 3:18).  "Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:l0).  This is a mandate in the Word--to grow--it is not an option for so-called Jesus freaks or fanatics: Jesus has little tolerance for lukewarm Christians who have lost their first love or are indifferent or disinterested in spiritual matters.

To know Him is to love Him.  "Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21).  God hides Himself:  "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself" (Isa. 45:15).  Job wondered:  "Oh, that I knew where I might find him" (Job 23:3).  He will be found by those who diligently seek Him, not triflers. He finds us first:  "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1).  The trouble with the world is that no one is looking for God--"There is none that seeks God" (Rom. 3:11).  They are seeking the gifts without the Giver, the benefits without the Benefactor. Pascal said that he would not have found God, had not God first found Him.  "I was lost but now am found!"  This is the beginning of our relationship with God:  The main business of the Christian life is to seek God and His face.

God's pet peeve or controversy with Israel is that they don't know Him.  (Hos. 4:1)  "There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land."  The exhortation to Israel: "Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).  God wants a relationship with Him: "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice [religiosity], and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings [going through the motions]" (Hos. 6:6).   Psalm 14:3 and Rom. 3:11 say that no one seeks God--they seek the benefits, not the Benefactor; the gifts, not the Giver.  Knowing God is the business of the Christian life a well as always seeking Him. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).  If you want to boast, do so about knowing God!  "But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD ..." (Jer. 9:24).

The book of Daniel is a good example for us.  Daniel dared do great things in God's name, he demonstrated great energy for God, he had great thoughts of God.  What will the people who know their God be like?  "But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action" ["shall firmly resist him" (the enemy), or "be strong and do exploits"] (Dan. 11:32).  In other words, spiritual strength and boldness come from knowing the Lord.  We are commanded to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord" (2 Pet. 3:18).  Col. 1:10 says, "Bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Even Paul didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet and to have arrived:  "I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Phil. 3:10).  We never stop learning and growing in our knowledge of God and the finite cannot grasp the infinite as they say.  But we have the mind of Christ and have the unique capacity to have a relationship with God.  We have the mind to know Him, the heart to love Him, and the will to obey Him, because we are in the image of God (imago Dei). We are the literal ikons of God and reflect His glory:  we are made to glorify Him (Isa. 43:7).

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) says that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." We are unique creatures and living beings:  Animals are oblivious to God and have no capacity to know Him--they are indifferent to spiritual things and don't even wonder if there is a God--you will never see a simian building a chapel, even in a trillion years of so-called evolution!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Marching Orders

"And do this, understanding the present time:  the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed"  (Rom. 13:11).
"Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8).

KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING!  DON'T MAJOR ON THE MINORS!


The church today is sidetracked with many foci that are not commissioned by Christ--personal agendas and political causes, for instance.  The church was given the Great Commission and this should be the focal point of its ministry.  All other ministries are secondary and should be relegated to the lesser degree of importance--they are not of paramount value compared to the number one goal of achieving the calling given us to spread the gospel and make disciples of all nations.  This commission, by the way, is not any one person's burden, because no one person has all the gifts, but it is the shared burden of the church at large.  We need to do our part as an individual, as well as corporately as a church.

What we have today is the social gospel where churches are into causes so much that they are derelict of their evangelical duties (not just for evangelists--Paul exhorted preachers to do the work of an evangelist).  You might say they are turning stones into bread or of multiplying bread to feed multitudes and attracting crowds, not converts.  People are being converted to the cause, not to Christ.  Bleeding hearts are into the church and taking over because they see it as a social vehicle for change--an opportunity to spread their agenda. They have no interest in Christ Himself and no love for Him, but if He is not the center of church life they feel right at home because they have a concern for the betterment of society and to usher in their idea of peace on earth--and the church is only a vehicle for change.

The priority of the church is the Great Commission and if this loses emphasis the people never get converted to anything other than a cause. They are, in reality, converted to a program, not to Jesus Himself.   The Great Commission includes making disciples (not just converts--they must be followed up and mentored or trained in the Scriptures), and in taking part in spreading the good news first at home (teaching members how to spread the good news too is implied), then elsewhere via missionaries, etc.  There is no limit to the amount of impact one obedient church can have, and this does not depend on its size, because Christ was more interested in quality than quantity.

Today, with all the so-called mega-churches, we see attention given to size as what is impressive, and what most of them are is really crowds, not families;  a church is a local body of believers who function as a family in Christ, not strangers who just happen to worship together.  The order of growth is to believe in Christ, to belong to His body, the church, and to grow and become what He wants for you in Christ.

Until Christ comes the marching orders for the church are not to sound the alarm as doomsayers as some today are wont to do, (we are to be ready, yes, but not to predict or act as if we know some secret revelation from God Himself as a latter-day prophet would),  but to occupy the land or you might say do business as usual, in obedience; to proclaim the Lord's death till He comes; to purify ourselves in holiness and sanctification; and to watch the signs of the times (be ready saying every day, "Lord, will this be the day?"), so that we can judge for ourselves whether we feel the time is near and as we do to not forsake the assembling together of ourselves (Heb. 10:25); and most of all to worship God corporately and personally.

We are not to have an agenda of being prophecy nuts or of warning people of the coming of Christ and of coming judgment as if we are unbalanced or fanatics (what we need are more clear-thinking interpreters of the times who understand the Christian worldview, not self-appointed ministries claiming indirectly to be prophets or to be prophesying).

Many errant preachers have presumptuously predicted the coming of Christ and have been wrong (i.e., William Miller on Oct. 22, 1844, called the Great Disappointment because Christ was a no-show).  The last hour was announced by John (cf. 1 John 2:18) over 17 million hours ago and Paul rebuked believers who jumped to the conclusion that the coming was near and refused to even work.  It should be comforting and encouraging that Christians will be finally delivered ("Therefore comfort ye one another with these words").

In summation, the sole emphasis of the obedient and model church is the Great Commission, and any other ministries are only secondary as they only should serve to unite the body and to reach out and spread the good news as a body.  Liberal causes are rampant in the church and the church has no business getting into political causes or the so-called social gospel, which is a misnomer, and should stay focused on the gospel. The great inquiry and judgment on that day of judgment will be whether we did our part in this Commission.  Causes are not taboo, but the church's function is not that; individual believers can be involved in them, but this is their own business and calling in life as they see fit.  The church can give out bread, but only if it also gives out the gospel first. What we need is a wake-up call to the church, not an alarm to the world at large!  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Sharing Ignorance At Bible Studies

What is a Bible study but to increase in our comprehension of the Word from someone who knows the Word?  I have been to LDS Bible studies and know where they are too, and I have attended many church Bible studies through my more than 40 years as a believer in many churches.  We don't just share our ignorance but must have someone who assumes leadership because all things are to be done decently and in order as in a church.

Contemplate your goal:  do you just want to be a better person with more virtue (any religion will do), or do you want to know the Lord?  Hosea says that the people perish for lack of knowledge and that a people without discernment perish.  God's pet peeve against them is not knowing Him--not lack of being religious or doing the requirements of the law of Moses.  Part of the appeal of cults and sects is that they seem to make good and virtuous people that have it together:  "You're a good man Charlie Brown."  The goal should be to know the scoop, the lowdown, the skinny, or to be in the know spiritually speaking, which will improve our relationship with Christ.

The application is important, but it is not everything.  The ultimate goal is to apply the Word to us, but God wants to know Him and the Word teaches us about Him. "If thy Word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction," says Psalm 119:67.  "O how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day long," says Psalm 119:97.  As we apply the Word we grow in sanctification and Christ-likeness.  There is an intrinsic reward in knowing and loving the Word per se and meditating on it by memorizing it.

Some Christian Bible studies are no different than Catholic, JW, LDS, or Unitarian Bible studies!  Anyone can study how we are to be more honest and develop integrity and general virtue, for instance.  How do you get filled with the Spirit would be foreign to them, because they aren't--they're just good people and as I have mentioned before, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good, but dead people alive.  Teaching about walking in the Spirit, or developing the fruit of the Spirit are Christian and nonsectarian.

It is alright sometimes to be non-denominational but Bible studies should be willing to take doctrinal stands and not just ignore them for the sake of the Bible study or unity.  I am not ecumenical or interdenominational and do not believe we should just cooperate with each other for common goals.  I believe in the autonomy of the local church--no outside authority can dictate dogma or policy.  The more the members of the Bible study can agree in the Spirit, the more the Spirit can bless them and they can enjoy His presence.

In summation, if you go to a Bible study and realize that you could have learned this at a Mormon or Jehovah Witness study, then it is not what you need, even if you enjoy it and it is good company or fellowship for you--you may need fellowship then!  Teaching is a gift and not everyone is qualified to teach a Bible study; that means members don't share their ignorance and by virtue of that they can teach.  CAVEAT:  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NO ONE KNOWS SOUND DOCTRINE!  Soli Deo Gloria!