Trusting In Gods Will...

"But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry given me by the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace."  (Acts 20:24, HCSB).  
"But nothing, not even my life, is more important than my completing my mission..." (Acts 20:24, CEB). 
"For David, after serving his own generation in God's plan, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and decayed"  (Acts 13:36, HCSB).

"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand," (cf. Prov. 19:21). 

We all have had come to forks in the road and wondered which way to go.  In fact, if we don't care where we end up, it doesn't matter which road we take, we'll end up somewhere for sure!  But God's will doesn't work like that: either we are in or out of it and the safest place to be is right there in the middle of God's plan for our lives.  Jesus knew this too and from the time of His youth He sensed His divine calling to be about His Father's business and superimposed that will on His, as His motto of life became "Thy will be done!"  He taught us as disciples to pray likewise and to follow in His steps.  The temptation comes to do things our way, and that is the epitome of sin--doing our own thing, that we stop trusting God and try to save ourselves by our own efforts.  But we must trust and rely solely on Jesus for salvation and not on the energy of the flesh or our own willpower.

Jesus faced a dilemma in His life when He was faced with the temptation to do things His way or the Father's way--in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Finally, in total relinquishment, He prayed, "Nevertheless, not as I will but thy will be done."  He could've decided to avoid the draft of the Father to be our Savior and just saved Himself and He'd still be God, but we would be lost sinners.  It's good He chose to die on our behalf instead of avoiding the Via Dolorosa and its crucible.  But we are to follow in His steps and to take up our cross and die to self too.  We are to live for God's will not ourselves.

We should always be assured that God knows best and also that God didn't answer some of our prayers.  He knows how to run our lives better than anyone of us and we ought to give Him full ownership.  We can be assured that Jesus knew the trials of facing these kinds of dilemmas and that the only way we can avoid regrets is to trust God with all our hearts and not lean unto our own understanding (per Prov. 3:5-6).   We have no better idea than God and His plan for us is that which is perfect and good for us.  We are to fulfill God's purpose for us and realize His will in all our ways.

The life lived for self is filled with regret, insecurity, and worry because there's no place for trusting God. "He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee" (cf. Isaiah 26:3).  God wants our faith to be tested in the crucible of fire to make sure it's genuine, saving faith and faith isn't worth much if it's easy!  God cannot force faith either and have it worth anything because that isn't real faith, but coercion or determinism.

For this reason, God makes faith a gift of grace and elects us to believe by grace; it's not because of merit or wisdom we have it but we believe through grace (cf. Acts 18:27). Even if salvation were by wisdom or intelligence, God is the One who makes one wise or intelligent--you cannot escape grace. "Grace reigns through righteousness" (cf. Romans 5:21).    It has been granted unto us to believe; i.e., it's a privilege!  (cf. Phil. 1:29).  It's the work of God (cf. John 6:29). God works in us both to do and to will of His good pleasure (cf. Phil. 2:13).

But we can rest assured that Jesus went through every type of trial for us and we don't experience anything unique that He cannot relate to us with as a human (cf. Heb. 2:18).  "[B]ecause we don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin (Heb. 4:15, CEB).     Soli Deo Gloria!

Expecting Heaven On Earth

"Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?" (Lam. 3:38, HCSB).
"I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, Yahweh, do all these things" (Isaiah 45:7, HCSB). 

Many people wonder where God is when it hurts or during a disaster, even a pandemic; why would God allow such evil?  "Who can command these things to happen without the LORD's permission?" (Lam. 3:37, NLT).   First, we must not believe that God intends for this life to be heaven on earth, but a dress rehearsal for the next, a trial run. Similarly, in grief people especially ask where was God when my son died?  The same place He was when His Son died!   This shows:  God cares, loves, and grieves like us being in His image.

We are here to prepare for the next life and to fulfill God's will.  We are here to make music on God's stringed instrument meant to vibrate forever. Suffering and adversity build character and people either react or respond as some improve or get better but some only get bitter, as the saying goes: the same sun melts the butter hardens the clay.

Where is God in disasters in principle, though?  He's in the hearts of His children who are His hands to care, His feet to go where needed, His ears to listen, His voice to speak, and His mind to focus on the problems and fix them if God wills.  That's why we pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, where it's always done.  The enthusiastic crowds of the triumphal entry of Jesus also only saw the short-term good of Christ (maybe they were a fan of His miracles like feeding the multitudes) and failed to see the big picture of His whole purpose: not to save from Rome but sin.

He clearly had bigger fish to fry and wasn't the conventional Messiah they had their hearts set on--deliverance from Roman tyranny and bondage.  He wasn't the Messiah they had in mind at all and didn't know what was meant to be by virtue of their ignorance of prophecy.  And they needed an attitude adjustment to God's plan and we must also ask ourselves if we do too. Israel had cried out "Hosanna! but failed to see what kind of Savior He really was, they missed the point!  Our salvation from sin is paramount in God's eyes--all else is circumference.  God's will was misconstrued. We don't fit God's will into our plans but our plans into God's will; we don't ask God for approval of our plans but seek His will.

It's a fact though that Israel needed redemption from Rome and they were in somewhat desperate straits due to subjugation; however, they failed to realize the seriousness of sin and how it offends God--this problem had priority.  John the Baptist started his ministry admonishing sinners to repent, Jesus did likewise inaugurating His kingdom. We also must realize what Jesus meant when He said that His kingdom is not of this world.  Our hope and reward are in heaven and "the LORD is our portion."  Nevertheless, God needed to immediately deal a death blow to sin and treat it as radically as possible--sending His Son do die.

We must see the big picture and take God at His Word, trusting in Him who holds the future.  The Bible says that where there is no vision, the people perish (cf. Prov. 29:18, KJV).  Take God's Word at face value!  We must focus on the main thing and keep the main thing the main thing, and get with the program!  It's clear the crowd missed the whole point of Christ's coming but we have the vantage point of history and the whole revelation of Scripture.

Let us all set aside our personal agendas and goals and give over ownership of our lives to Christ guiding and leading us His way and according to His perfect will.  We are seeking His kind of salvation:  eternal peace with God and deliverance from the bondage of sin, not to mention an eternal heritage.

The happiest, most fulfilled people are those who set aside their own goals and seek God's will for their life and labor for something bigger than themselves, living for and serving others, not themselves.  We live in light of eternity knowing our reward is not in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14) This is salvation:  giving over ownership of our lives to Christ as we submit to His Lordship and trust in His salvation alone.  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Less Than Expected

It doesn't pay to get our hopes up only to be shattered and neutralized.  High hopes can demoralize when unrealized.  We might even have great expectations for ourselves, only to be disappointed.  Everyone has flaws and even dreams, but we must live in reality and shoot for the stars yet realistically know our aptitude. Our real altitude is our attitude and no one can take this away. But if we aim at nothing, we're sure to get there!  It never hurts to set goals and achieve them in increments or steps that are achievable, accountable, and measurable.  We must see results to stay encouraged.  All achievements are surpassed, records are broken, reputations faded, tributes forgotten, and trophies trashed or destroyed, but God has a plan for us (cf. Job 23:14; Psalm 57:2; 138:8). When King David had achieved God's purpose, He took him (cf. Acts 23:13).  Just as we expect a lot of ourselves, God has a lot invested in us and a lot on the line and expects performance and faithfulness to Him.  Don't let God down! "We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps" (Prov. 16:9, NLT).

Jesus knew what was in man and wasn't surprised at Peter's flaws and the fact that he was only human when he said, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!"  When Jesus found him sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."   We must all come to this statement of faith and realize our disqualification to meet the Lord. To make the sinner realize he's a sinner is Job One for the preacher, we preach the bad news as well as the good news of Jesus.  Repentance is part of the Law, which measures us, it doesn't save us.  Sin is a killjoy word and many preachers don't want to go there for fear of offending the flock, but this is part of the message to preach:  "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" The opening words to the ministries of both John the Baptist and Jesus.   Those who think they are specimens of virtue may be further from God than any sinner who realizes his sin.  Jesus said that those who say they can see are the real blind ones.

Jesus expects us to own up to our sins, even the ones acceptable to us or our pet sins, and to make restitution spiritually and to come clean if God gives the opportunity, renouncing sin, even the one that easily besets us.  Repentance involves a complete moral turnaround from sin to God.  It's more than an AA pledge or New Year's resolution.  It's an about-face or U-turn from our sins and involves the heart, mind, and will: the whole persona.  We turn from our wrongdoing to do goodwill towards God, or His will  Anything less will not do and is a moral failure in God's eyes and lets Him down for He expects us to give ownership of our moral lives to Him.  It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (cf. Romans 2:6).  We will be judged according to our works (cf. Romans 2:6; Psalm 62:12; Prov. 24:12).

We must not overestimate ourselves or our abilities; we all have limitations and should realize the domains God has called us to.  I hesitate to make political or scientific statements, because of a lack of formal training, despite having strong opinions.  But that's just what they are and I'm still entitled to my opinions, just not my own facts and must learn to distinguish the two. If I opine on these areas, it leaves much to be desired to a trained observer or student.  But I do know a thing a two about worldview and have studied it enough to know some facts and have educated opinions formed by experience in these academic disciplines.

We don't want to let our Lord down by becoming less than expected to Him.   He has a plan for us to be achieved if we abide by His will and walk with Him.  He has a purpose for us anyway but we want God's best for us and to have Him prosper our endeavors.  The best we can hope for is God to say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant (affirmation), you have been faithful in little and shall be in charge of much (promotion), enter into the joy of the Lord (celebration).  This involves acknowledgment of us or affirmation (good job!), and even promotion and reward for our labor in the Lord, which is not in vain (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58).

Said reward depends upon our faithfulness in the ministry God has given us and we are called to (cf. John 3:27, NLT.    This is usually found out by knowing our spiritual gifting. We all have gifts, talents, opportunities, energy, relationships, resources, and time that we are accountable for as blessings.  May we say, "Mission accomplished," as Paul said in Acts 20:24, "The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me." Finally, we want to rejoice at the final audit of our life when we go one-on-one with the Lord at the Bema or Tribunal of Christ.   (Don't let God down!)   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Preaching The Good News...

"The Desire of All Nations shall come" (cf. Haggai 2:7).
"Preach the Word, be instant in season and out" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2). 
"Proclaim the message, persist in it whether it is convenient or not..." (2 Tim. 4:2, HCSB). 
"... And how can they believe without hearing about Him?  And how can they believe without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? ... " (Romans 10:14-15, HCSB).  

"Where there is no vision, the people perish," (cf. Prov. 29:18, KJV).  Our mission statement and vision from above should be to spread the word--the message of Christ.  "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord," according to 2 Cor. 4:5.  But we cannot preach the good without the bad!  This is also called preaching law and gospel. Salvation is freedom from the yoke of the Law and put under a much easier yoke of  God's will and Christ's yoke.  We must get them lost first and make them realize their depravity and predicament before getting them saved!  The discerning theologian can distinguish law and gospel in the Scriptures.   Law is what God requires of us and how we measure up and fail; the gospel is what Jesus did and does for us and what we receive by grace.  Jesus and John the Baptist both inaugurated their ministries:  "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!"  clearly Law and our duty to God.  NB:  Although repentance is demanded of us, it's a gift of God (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31; 11:18).

We must first be convicted of our sins before we can confess them! It's not our job to convict--that's the prerogative of the Holy Spirit who shall convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (cf John 16:13).  No one is more lost or blind than the one who doesn't know his sin or realizes he's lost!  Jesus told the Pharisees that because they said they could see, they were really blind; for He came to seek and to save the lost--the precondition for salvation is that we realize we don't qualify for it.  In a play on words, we sue God for peace in His divine court!  We are spiritually bankrupt and have no options but to repent and turn to God in faith! He dictates the terms and makes the rules.

Preaching is a bad news/good news announcement and preachers ought to know where the parishioners are spiritually and reach out to them in love, not over their heads, nor getting personal, nitpicking, pointing to or stressing any one sin over another as a hobbyhorse or agenda such as taking up a campaign against smoking.  We aren't doing anyone any good by bypassing or skipping the bad news of sin, judgment, and hell but giving aid and comfort to the enemy and confirming people in their sins. Having false assurance is worse than no assurance.   It's really an act of love to tell it like it is and to warn people of the wrath to come and that there's only one escape through Christ's blood.

We must not ignore the hard sayings of Jesus or the offensive truths that people don't feel comfortable with because the preacher not only can comfort the afflicted gut afflict the comfortable--false assurance is worse than no assurance.  "Speak the truth in love!"  (cf. Eph. 4:15).  To preach the Word means to do it in love and honesty, not to water it down or domesticate it!  We don't gloss over the truths that seem like a hard pill to swallow! Martin Luther said that the sinner doesn't see his sin, and it's the preacher's job to show it to him.  Only when we know the whole truth are we able to appreciate the good news and put everything into a spiritual perspective.

In sum, Arthur W. Pink said, that "there some who say they are saved, even before they have any feeling that they are lost." We must see that the gospel must be preached clear enough to be rejected too; we must not preach easy-believism or cheap grace as Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it and offer salvation without repentance but realize that repentance and faith go hand in hand and can be distinguished by not separated--believing repentance or penitent faith--they cannot be divorced! Soli Deo Gloria! 

Contending For The Faith...

"... And if someone asks you about your Christian hope, be ready to explain it," (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15).
"If you don't stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all" (Isaiah 7:9, HCSB).

"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.  for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2-3, NIV). 

"TELL ME YOUR CERTAINTIES; I HAVE ENOUGH DOUBTS OF MY OWN!" -JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE 

NB:  I'm focusing on the essential doctrines that make up orthodox Christianity, not keeping one's faith in them unto salvation, nor faith in faith as if faith saves, when only Christ saves--it's the object of the faith that matters.  The faith has been delineated in several creeds, but then again Christianity is not about believing a creed but knowing a Person.  

Augustine's dictum to be on the same page as much as possible in the Spirit is appropriate for a day of sects and dissension or contention in the church:  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."  That's why the church body shouldn't be ignorant of its teaching and have a working knowledge of the doctrines of the particular church and even a refresher course might help to keep these things focused and in mind--what they stand for as a church with a church mission and statement--"Without vision the people perish," (cf. Prov. 29:18, KJV).

Paul had already condemned sectarian spirit by rebuking the carnal Corinthians for taking up partisan politics in the church: "I am for Paul; I am for Peter; I am for Apollos; I am for Christ."  Nothing so divides a church like partisan politics, even government politics, because people have their own personal loyalties in these matters and some will die for them because they are invested in tribalism or that they only believe what their tribe tells them is true.  In other words, they've closed their minds and won't even listen to plain facts that might change their minds.  Socrates said that the first step to learning is to admit our ignorance; i.e., we cannot think we know it all or have a monopoly on the truth.

Now contending doesn't mean we are to be contentious!  When the Reformation happened, contention arose because the Catholics declared tradition to be of equal authority as Scripture; therefore, the split became permanent by this Counter-Reformation at the Council of Trent in 1545-63.  There is dialogue called godly controversy which is essential, and ungodly controversy that generates more heat than light and isn't worth the adrenaline.  We must never forget that it's evil to sow discord among brethren and God hates it (cf. Proverbs 6:19).  If we cannot live in peace we ought to separate and not cause dissension, a work of the flesh.

We all have our pride and some people will never admit they're wrong, admitting all people have a basic need to be right, but their religious faith is especially vulnerable to this.  The cause of this chain of events may be church rivalry or a competitive spirit of when people tend to play the "let's compare" game (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12) and take sides, not realizing that all the members of the church body should be on the same side and even on the same page spiritually.

Paul said that he was engaged in declaring and affirming the gospel (cf. Phil 1:7), while Jude said he was contending for the faith or defending it (cf. Jude v. 3).  There are certain nonnegotiables that we cannot compromise in our faith that make it orthodox faith and there are doctrines that are gray areas and open to discussion. Some doctrines are essential to orthodox Christianity such as the inerrancy of Scripture, the deity of Christ, and the Trinity.   We ought to fight for our convictions in the sense of being able to defend them and stand up for what we believe, declaring and showing our true Christian colors and not standing on the sidelines,  but we don't die for the doctrine of adult baptism where sincere believers disagree.  We don't just want a faith we can live with but one we will die for.

Instead, we understand there are honest quarrels in the faith and we must stick to our guns and not compromise but keep the main thing the main thing and remember what's essential and that we have much more in common than we disagree on:  we agree to disagree and carry on, going forward without being disagreeable, contentious, judgmental, or divisive: this may call a believer out of his comfort zone to serve where he disagrees with something but they must learn to do it love not because they on the same page on everything, for even mates or spouses don't agree on everything--we leave room for disagreement of opinion, noting that there's a place for opinion and then there's a place for church dogma or teaching.

There are gray areas per Romans 14:1: pick your battles!  We ought to be in a church that we feel we can serve in and be in basic harmony and union with its teachings, fellowship can only happen where there's an agreement to base it on.  Our fellowship ought to be based on the personhood or personage of Christ in the Spirit.

I have heard on good authority from Pastor Neil Johnson of my church that we ought to triage our spiritual disagreements.  It is inevitable to disagree and we must be prepared.  It is said that you hold opinions, but convictions hold you, and I know that we don't just want a faith we can live with but one we will die for.  If we have nothing worth dying for, what's the point?  That's like saying if you won't die for your convictions or integrity you may have none!  It is said that we must be willing to die for Christ and our confession in Him, but fight for the faith that is essential for its teachings, and discuss and leave options to agree or disagree on gray areas (cf. Romans 14:1) where we are open-minded and willing to keep the door open to talk without being dogmatic.  In other words, there's a time to build bridges and a time to erect walls!

Sometimes believers just come from different necks of the woods and need to get to know each other before they feel comfortable or at ease; but beware that we become too at ease in Zion that we become complacent and think we've "arrived," and don't need the body by becoming a solitary saint or spiritual Lone Ranger.  No one in the body is a rock or island that is completely independent of the rest--we all need each other on some dimension or level and we are meant to complement each other just like a spouse does.  When we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we don't get sidetracked by issues anymore that don't matter in the grand scheme of things, but welcome the brother even if he errs and doesn't see the big picture or the whole truth as Priscilla and Aquilla took Apollos aside to straighten him out and teach him the Word of God more accurately (cf. Acts 18:25). 

They say that every challenge is an opportunity and every opportunity is a challenge!  But sometimes we fail to live up to the challenge and take the easy way out and fall short of the goal; we don't want any wasted opportunities to win over our brothers in Christ by gently leading them to a knowledge of the truth, perchance God grant them repentance (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25).  Today we have too much fanaticism and tribalism in the church whereas believers adhere to a "my-way-or-the-highway" mentality and are not willing to "cross the aisle" of church dogmatics to the point of being ultra sectarian or on the verge of being a cult where a church thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong because they have a monopoly on the truth: we must KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING!

Note that the Ephesian church had its doctrines orthodox but had left their first love!  If we do not have love, our doctrines matter little.   We must prioritize our doctrines and realize that God loves all believers, not just those who are of us: the only one who can say that if they are not with Him they are against Him is Jesus.  We ought to pick our battles and not fight over something that has little at stake or we have nothing to gain: some believers even quarrel about the meaning of words in Scripture (cf. 1 Tim. 6:4)!  The man of God must not quarrel! (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24).

For some people it's difficult to admit they are wrong and to be humbled because of spiritual pride; let's beware lest we also become victims of our own spiritual pride!   We must be willing to go in the direction of the facts and truth as revealed--in the Bible.  Of all people, I have no right to condemn a believer of another church because of disagreement because I have been there and done that in my spiritual journey to know the Lord: we are all on the road to the Celestial City and are at different stages of maturity and I can see how God opened my eyes a little at a time to more accurate teachings.

We must learn to doubt our doubts and keep the faith!     CAVEAT:  Dr. Harry Ironside said there should be caution, "Beware lest we mistake our prejudices for our convictions."  I see more of danger for those who don't know what they believe and are ill-prepared to defend their faith in the open marketplace of ideas or the public square and forum.  In sum, it's much better to be at peace with our brethren than to just be right or orthodox--orthopraxy or ethics matter too.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Heart Of A Servant

Jesus is our Exemplar and we should learn to emulate His lifestyle and follow in His steps.  "Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for all" (cf. Mark 10:45).  We are no better than Him and are obliged to do no less.  He raised the bar on ethics by His example and incentive.  When asked who would be the greatest, He said the one who is the servant of all and humbles himself like a child (cf. Matt. 18:3).  To be child-like in faith, not childish, that is.

Therefore, we are all called into the ministry in a sense because He used the word diakonos, deacon or servant in Koine. We have the ministry of reconciliation as Paul put it. This is a dog-eat-dog world where only the strong seem to survive but we are called to minister to the down and out and reach out to the untouchables, riff-raff, and so-called scum for the Lord's sake. The trouble with this world according to Lily Tomlin is that even if you win the rat-race, you're still a rat!

But we don't want a world of the survival of the fittest or the law of the jungle with no mercy or relief organizations to aid those in need  If only the strong survive, how did they arrive? We must recognize that Christianity is counter-cultural and we stand opposed to the world's way of reckoning, even success has a new meaning.  In God's economy, we're all weak and we are to bear one another's burdens and to comfort those in need.   No one is a rock in need of no one; we're all products of God, our DNA, our nurture, and nature which is sinful.

When George Whitefield saw a condemned man go to the gallows, he said, "There but for the grace of God, go I."   Paul reiterated this by saying, "I am what I am by the grace of God (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).  We are to have the same humility and not see ourselves as an elite in this world but as the recipients of grace that we don't deserve.  God shed His grace on us!  When we've been touched by grace and it's changed our lives, we want to pass it on and spread the word because this is what makes our faith and God unique from all other religions.

Our success is not how many servants we have, but how many we serve!  We serve by virtue of having a spiritual gift and venturing out of our comfort zone to serve (and this is how we discover it) We need to make an impact and not just an impression.  (Our righteousness is God's gift to us! per Isaiah 45:24; Hosea 14:8; Rom. 15:18)  That is, it's not so easy to make a difference for Christ.  And the only happy people are those who've learned to serve, according to Albert Schweitzer, and this is the right mindset for us as well.  As Bob Dylan said, "You've gotta serve somebody."

The servant is in a win-win situation with God because the reward is not only in the doing itself, having its own reward, but in the receiving of a great and precious reward that won't fade away.  We're in a no-lose situation!  The emphasis is on our deeds, not our confession, because there are many nominal Christians or ones who are believers in name only paying lip service, and we are to live out our faith by giving it away and showing it to the world via our deeds, letting our light shine.

We must recognize Jesus being humble enough to become one of us, getting down and dirty with us, to identify with our issues and problems, even experiencing the O.J.T. of real life, Reality 101. Jesus feels our pain and relates to us, having been "tempted in all ways like us, yet without sin" (cf. Heb. 4:15).  Jesus has been there and done that, thank God!   So John the Baptist summed it up very well: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (cf. John 1:29).  We see this interpreted as being that the way up is down in God's economy!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Defender Of Faith...

The UK's crown prince has a notion to change the motto of the sovereign from F.D. or, defender of THE faith, to defender of faith!  Instead of keeping the faith, it's keeping faith per se!  This disembowels the theology of the church because faith doesn't save, Christ does!  It's the object that matters, not the amount.  People can be sincerely wrong!  In other words, we don't have faith in faith but faith in Christ, even if it's mustard-seed-like.  Faith is seen as the channel that acquires it, grace the source that applies it, and Christ the means that accomplished it.

Faith is an abstract word that can more easily be seen than described.  People who observe us may proclaim:  "Now that's what I call faith!"   That's because true faith expresses itself, it has a testimony to share!   I'd rather exercise it any day than know its definition!  We see someone's faith by their deeds, not because they tell us they have faith.  Abraham was counted faithful because he obeyed. We must be obedient to the faith (cf. Acts 6:7; Romans 1:5; 16:26; 2 Thess. 1:8).  That implies there's no easy-believism and justifies lordship salvation.

Samuel told Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).   Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  They are linked and the only test of faith is obedience, not ecstasy, religious experiences or highs, visions, or dreams, or private messages from God.  God doesn't want our achievements either, but our obedience!  Faith is the way to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices--We are not called to martyrdom and the more we suffer doesn't mean we are holier.  Therefore, "stand firm in the faith" (cf. Isaiah 7:9, HCSB).  As believers, we are primarily people "on a mission." 

What is faith then?  It is the gift of God that opens our hearts when the Spirit woos and quickens our spirit.  "This is the work of God, that you believe..."  It is composed of Fiducia, Assensus, and Notatia in Latin, and therefore it has a volitional, emotive, and cognitive element. The elements are confidence, trust, and knowledge.  We must believe the right creed concerning Christ without heresy.  But spreading the Word or the gospel message isn't disseminating a creed but presenting a Person.

We trust God with confidence and faithfulness as we proceed from faith to faith or grow in it.  As we are saved by faith, so ought we to continue in it (cf. Col. 2:6).  We progress in maturity from one faith to another (cf. Romans 1:17).  We may get a spiritual encounter that makes us "high" on the mountaintop but God won't leave us there, He tests our renewed faith as if by fire because it's more precious than silver or gold.  Do we walk by faith or by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7)?  Once we have it we realize faith goes beyond reason, not against it. 

Saving faith is not storybook faith or mere head belief, but in the heart; it's not childish, but childlike, not simplistic, but simple!   Faith is not gullibility and doesn't commit intellectual suicide, but is based on evidence and sound reasoning, and intellectual integrity.  We are not called to believe despite the evidence nor to be irrational.  We have good, sound reason to believe and should defend the faith as Jude called it to contend for the faith (cf. Jude 3).  Faith without evidence or knowing why is blind faith!

Dead faith doesn't save, we must desire to live it out (cf. Romans 7:18) and show it to the world--to give it away!   Works validate faith and without them faith is suspect.  We are not saved by works, though; but not without them either!  The formula of the Reformers was that we are "saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."  CAVEAT:  Faith that is easy isn't worth much; there must struggle to give it merit--it's a choice a decision of the will.

There are two vital, juxtaposed factors to faith we must never forget:  faithfulness and repentance.  Faith and faithfulness go together and one can distinguish them but not separate them, likewise with repentance--don't divorce them.   Therefore they say there is no genuine repentance without saving faith and vice versa, or we come to God by penitent faith and/or believing repentance.     Soli Deo Gloria!

My Theology On Prayer...

"He told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not to be discouraged" (Luke 18:1, HCSB).   

We don't need to understand all the intricacies of correct prayer etiquette, format, or go by some template to pray effectively; what we do need is faith in God's will and to walk with Him in fellowship--unconfessed sins block prayer.  The better we apprehend God's will, the more we can accomplish with God.--that's the key.  Some people are too inclined to posture out of religiosity and don't realize that we can pray with ease standing on our heads if we so desire.  But there may happen a crisis that may force us to our knees in humility.

We must realize God sees the heart and our motives in prayer too.  It's much better to have a heart and not be able to articulate it than to be fluent and not have a passion for one's prayer life.  Men seem to not be able to overlook the semblance of prayer and the verbiage, but God is able to translate our feeble utterings into divine words on our behalf.  In other words, it's not so much how we address and approach God, as to how sincere we are and the faith we express.

What I'm saying is that there is no prefabricated M.O. or theology on prayer, in that if you know all the answers, it entitles us to answered prayer.   God isn't going to give us a blank check if we pray in a certain methodology.  We can be right and dead wrong in our hearts; for instance, praying to the Lord means we ought to own Him as our Lord and not be paying lip service. The Pharisees were known for being showoffs with long prayers and praying that others may see--flaunting it in public--they might've prayed correctly. 

But the true prayer warrior prays in his prayer closet or sanctuary where there are no witnesses but God. The measure of prayer is how effectual it is in achieving God's will, not our own felt-needs.  We don't come to God with a wish list as if He were Santa or a genie at our disposal.  The closer we get to God, the more we see prayer as an experience with God, gaining entree into His  throne room and into God's dimension, and then realizing the purpose of prayer is prayer!

James 5:16 says that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  This is so and we ought to not trust so much in our own righteousness in times of need but seek out the aid of the body of Christ.  The best of us aren't too proud to ask for prayer.  There is a direct correlation between results and righteousness.  But note that our righteousness is God's gift to us and not our gift to God.  We don't need a sermon on prayer, a lecture, or to read another book on prayer as much as we need to pray and exercise its muscle in our discipline--we need practice what we do know and not be critical or judgmental of other's or too introspective of ourselves.

There is proper prayer etiquette if one wishes to be nit-picky:  Ephesians 2:18 says to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit.  But that doesn't mean other prayers aren't heard, for God hears all His children.   Actually, all members of the triune God are and ought to be involved.  Jude 21 says to pray in the Spirit--practicing God's presence is paramount.  I have witnessed many types of prayer from attending many churches in my spiritual journey and pilgrimage and have witnessed prayers being answered that I wouldn't pray or not done according to the template of the Lord's prayer:  Our heavenly Father...

Jesus did say we can ask anything in His name and that is the key, but we must have faith and not be double-minded.  Merely saying the wording "in Jesus' name" is no magic formula or guarantee of being heard (neither it is an excuse for unanswered prayer), for it means we are praying His will and seeking His glory, not ours.  Most unanswered prayer may be due to just not continuing in prayer and giving up, taking a "No" too readily.  But we ought not to ever pray amiss for our own selfish desires and not God's will.   Find your voice, be real, know your genre or even the key that fits your talents:  You cannot sing the blues from the back of a limo.  As an illustration, there's no prefabricated prayer for salvation, God must judge the heart.  

Finally, prayer is a litmus test of our faith and heart, not of our indoctrination; that is, when we feel least like praying, we should pray all the more.    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Who Do You Say That I Am? ...

"My heart says of you, 'Seek his face!'  Your face, LORD, I will seek.  Do not hide your face from me, ..." (Psalm 27:8-9, NIV).   "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from any one of us" (Acts 17:27, KJV).  

Peter is known for answering this in saying Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah to come, is not just some great leader, prophet, or teacher--which doesn't do Him justice.  He was right in his confession, but Christ wasn't right with him quite yet, and Peter had a lot to learn before he could own Him as Lord.  Christ was nigh to his lips but not tied to Christ's will as of yet, seeing the purpose for his calling as an apostle.  He wasn't aware of what he was getting into.  Of course, we have the vantage point of the full counsel of God to put this into perspective.  

But Peter was of the inner circle with James and John, Christ's bosom buddies, and witnessed the glory of Christ and heard the witness of the Father, Moses, and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration.  Besides, the three that bear witness are the Spirit, the water, and the blood and these three are in agreement (cf. 1 John 5:7).

It is said that we perceive His deity by His character and personal credentials: in that, He committed no sin; in His signs or miracles that bore witness with purpose; and in the testimony of the prophets being fulfilled.  Normally we don't believe people claiming deity (and He made claims like no other man and spoke like no other), but when someone lives like Jesus did and makes this kind of impact we tend to believe His virgin birth and resurrection are consistent with it ad confirm it.   After all, the miracle of the resurrection proves His deity once and for all. 

Hezekiah had to destroy the "Nehushtan" or the "bronze serpent" that the people of Israel had begun to worship because he saw it had become a fetish and idol.  We must focus on Christ to see His glory and not get sidetracked or major on minors.  Glory naturally exudes from Him and the good news for us is that we can share in it and reflect His glory to others.  We worship "the God who is there" and glory is a sign of His presence.   In other words, it doesn't matter what we think of the king or of the president, but only what we think of Christ concerning our souls--we must keep the main thing the main thing.  Even Moses reflected God's glory too in coming down from Mount Sinai he hid his face from the people.

Normally, Christ hid His glory. But someday we shall all see Him as He is.  This vision of Christ showed that Christ is the light of the world and doesn't reflect the glory of God, but is the glory of God in His own right.  In His light we see light! He lights all who come to Him.   Jesus had to make this point to disclose Himself fully, for it didn't matter what they thought of the leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees or Sadducees, nor even Herod, but what they made of Jesus would determine their eternal fate.  They had to come to the realization to preach Jesus and stay focused on Him: knowing it's all about Jesus!  Everyone had to come to their own climactic decision and decide for themselves who Jesus is.  We recognize Jesus due to His glory and from then on should have known that everything Jesus does is full of grace, truth, glory, and purpose. 

Richard of Chichester quipped quite pertinently that we should know Christ more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly.  Indeed, Jesus' reputation preceded Him and everyone knew that He went about preaching the good news and doing good deeds, including healing the sick, but Jesus didn't want to be known as a miracle worker or a healer but as our Savior.  Note that Jesus had done works to bear witness of His deity and told the people to believe in Him for His very works' sake.  We may know Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, whereas "Lord" refers to His exalted position, "Jesus" to His purpose to save us, and "Christ" as to His promise as the anointed One. There is no other name by which we can be saved and we must bow to, and Jesus is the one who claimed to be the only way Himself (cf. Acts 4:12; John 14:6). 

Even though the disciples had this mountaintop experience, the life for the believer wasn't going to be that way, walking on cloud nine or in the memory or glow of some spiritual experience.  We need to learn from Reality 101 and apply our faith, turning creeds into deeds, living it out--not just professing it.  Our daily walk needs to be renewed daily and every day we must surrender to His will and renew our faith as we progress from faith to faith and from glory to glory.

We all must have some comfort zone to retreat to, some inner sanctum, or prayer closet that we can find God in private retreat--it's something to be privatized, not flaunted or publicized.   I like what Francis Schaeffer said, "God is there and He is not silent."  We must not be ashamed of Christ, but we don't wear our religion on our sleeves either. Wearing crosses as a chic accessory or fashion item doesn't do His glory justice nor even our testimony.

In sum, seeking the face of the LORD (cf. Psalm 40:8) is the "main business of the Christian life" (Jonathan Edwards), and "begins at salvation" (R. C. Sproul).  "... [I]n thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore" (cf. Psalm 16:11, KJV)).    Soli Deo Gloria!  

To Gain What We Cannot Lose...

Martyred missionary Jim Elliot is known for his famous line:  "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."  Our very souls are at stake and the chips are high-- an eternity in focus.  What will pass away is not worth holding to in perspective.  Even Jesus didn't cling to His life but for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and despised the shame!  We are all called to take up our own cross or its burden that is given to us for Christ's sake--but He didn't ask us to do anything He didn't do and nothing He won't be with us in--He was honest enough to warn us of the cost of following Him and to count it.  Remember, Jim would tell you that you've got nothing to lose but infinity to gain by trusting in the Lord.  It is said that he was warned he could die going to the jungles, but he only replied," I died years ago when I accepted Christ."

It may be as simple as re-prioritizing our lives, or as involved as sacrificing or laying down our lives--we all have a mission and calling from God that is suited for us in God's perfect will.  Winston Churchill offered no easy road to victory over the Nazis and warned of "blood, toil, sweat, and tears," ahead for the UK.  Likewise, Jesus doesn't want mere lip service but wholehearted, devoted followers that are gung-ho for Job One--the Great Commission, not lukewarm hypocrites.

When Jesus is our number one priority, all else fades in respective significance and we can say goodbye to self and live solely for Him, not-self.  We can relate to Jesus and identify with His cross.  We become new creatures in Christ and have a new identity.  But somehow the problems we now face seem small because when the one giving orders is our Helper and Advocate, helping us do His will, it is no longer a burden we cannot bear.  The same God who got us to the climactic situation is the same one who will get us through it.

So what is a disciple then?  He meant we are to deny ourselves (cf. Mark 8:34), not asceticism, but who we are as a person--our identity is in Christ.  We die to self and fully relate to Christ for our identity--saying farewell to the old man and welcome o the new man created in Christ's image.  It's not a matter of denying ourselves "things" nor of having low self-esteem, but of giving Christ first place in our lives.  It's not necessarily privation, but we cheerfully take the road less traveled for the sake of the Name.  We get true humility:  not thinking less of ourselves, but of ourselves less!

Jesus went on further to elaborate that discipleship involved taking up our cross: we must be willing to follow Christ wherever He leads, even to the point of death obediently and cheerful as martyrs.  We are willing to go all the way cheerfully on our assignment from God in an act of faith, fulfilling our calling of God's purpose. God doesn't call us to suicide missions with no purpose, and don't get the impression that salvation is by martyrdom, that the more we suffer, the greater Christians we are or our reward, but we must be willing to lay down our lives in faith despising the temporary rewards of this life; our belief in God is not mere lip service but a witness to others to show them how it affects our lives.

We are to go on to "follow Him"  (cf. Mark 8:34) or be willing to go wherever He leads.  I like to say that we should be willing to go anywhere as long as it's forward; we should never stand still in our faith or tread water but progress from faith to faith!  Faith marches forward and doesn't balk or stand still!  We say that the summation of Christian ethics is to follow Christ and this is the full application of our faith--it's not just a profession but a mission to complete--some merely make a profession of faith but don't live it out with their lives and belie their testimony.

The Greek philosophical goals to know God and to know thyself apply since they go together.  We must have no delusions about reality and realize we are lost without Him.  We cannot follow Christ if we do not know Him, and we must believe in Him for who He is and realize what we are in truth as persons.

That's why broad is the way that leads to damnation because it's the easy way of least resistance, and usually a cop-out.  When we suffer for the sake of the Name, we enter into the fellowship of suffering (cf. Phil. 3:10), gaining eternal reward that we cannot forfeit.  This is the ultimate future investment--not a 401(k). We must always have the perspective that this world is passing away and everything here is fleeting, knowing the brevity of life and how short our time is to do God's will, and only what's done for Christ will last and be rewarded. 

But most people are short-sighted and don't see the music that vibrates for eternity when we do things in God's name, making a difference for Christ's kingdom.   If we only could realize the impact our lives have, we would not lose heart and our attitude would be changed, as they say in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life."   A true disciple is a fully dedicated follower of Christ who stays the course and doesn't give up and goes all the way with the Lord through thick and thin.

When the chips are down, he doesn't lose faith but grows by adversity in fortitude and grit.   All in all, we must acknowledge some who boast of great faith or even are pretenders of it, but we are not judged by our faith!  We are judged by what we did with it; namely, our works (cf. Rom 2:6; Psalm 62:12; Prov. 24:12).   ("to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4, KJV).   Soli Deo Gloria!