Offensive

I am going to offend you. I'm just warning you before it happens, but it will happen, someday, sometime, something I write will offend you.

Why?

Because I am not perfect. I am a fallible human.

Don't judge the message by the messenger. Judge the message against the Word of God. Do your own study and compare everything I or anyone else teaches with the Word of God.

Hebrews 7:28

For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

Priests (pastors) have weaknesses, only Jesus is perfect.

I John 4:1

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Check everything you are taught against the Word of God.

2 Timothy 2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Notice it does not say make sure you have a pastor that divides the word properly, this responsibility is laid on each of us.

Acts 17:11

These [the Bereans] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Be as the Bereans. They searched the scriptures for themselves to see if the things they were being taught were true.

All that preach or teach, myself included, are fallible humans. We make mistakes. We interpret incorrectly. It is up to you to dig in and study these things for yourself, come to your own conclusions, allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate the text, just for you.

Look at pastors, teachers, and preachers as merely messengers. Don't discount the message because of their weaknesses (they all have them). But also, don't expect their message to be flawless. I venture to say that if you agree 100% with a pastor, teacher, preacher, then you haven't been doing your homework. There is not one person (friend, pastor, teacher, etc.) that I can think of that I agree with 100%. That is why I advocate listening to a variety of teachers and preachers. Get a varied diet. Get varied perspectives and outlooks. Use various commentaries in your study.

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things. (John 14:26 & 16:13) Some of what your pastor, teacher, commentary will teach you is being inspired by God, some of it is their own voice. We all have influences and experiences that shape us and shape our thinking. That will come through in our teaching.

So, as I said in the beginning, I am sure I will say something, sometime, that you will disagree with. I hope you do not get offended, but rather agree to disagree civilly. If you feel I have fallen into error, I do want to hear from you, but I won't be drawn into arguments.

The Size of Sin

I posed a question on Facebook yesterday asking if God can forgive Ted Haggard. It didn't draw a lot of response, I understand it's a controversial topic. But I was glad to see that all the responders agreed that Mr. Haggard can be forgiven, no matter what he has done. Examples of David and Paul were brought up. David committed adultery and murder. Paul committed murder. God forgave both of them.

Then I posed the question asking whether there are bigger sins and smaller sins. Again, glad to see that the response was that God forgives all. But I can't keep from thinking that people view someone like Ted Haggard a little differently than someone that gets a speeding ticket. And I think that view colors their thinking of how God feels about those sins, as well.

I ask you, do you feel a sorrow and shame before God when you speed? When you tell a little white lie? When you break your word to someone? (I'm sure you had a good excuse.)

I say we should. Because there are no big sins or little sins with God. Sin is sin. If we break one law, we have broken all. Think of God's law as a whole, like a big glass window. Whether you put a tiny hole in it or a big hole, it is still broken. (And by God's law, I mean the whole Bible, not just the Old Testament law.)

Now, man does look on things differently. There are definitely different worldly consequences to speeding or committing murder.

I think when we change our paradigm in this matter, it helps tremendously. It will answer a lot of questions for you.

This will change your thinking on separation from God. I guarantee that most people feel more of a separation from God over so-called big sins, but not too much over so-called small sins. I came up with a little list (I'm quite sure it's not all-inclusive) of areas of my life that are not right. I have pride in many areas, I try to impress, which is really just looking for man's approval, I'm critical, can be judgmental at times, I can get caught in comparison to others, I shift blame, I bristle with authority, procrastinate, I'm inefficient with my time, I have fears, I'm not a good listener because I'm too self-centered and would rather just talk about myself all the time, I lack self-control, of my tongue, and in the area of food. There, that was not pleasant. Do I look at myself and say, "at least I've never killed anyone." Do I brush these things off? Do I diminish them? What does the Bible say?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 2:10

Think of a high ceiling. You may be able to jump within one inch of it, or 1 foot of it, but if you don't reach the ceiling, you don't reach the ceiling. God doesn't say that those that are in the top 10% are accepted, He says ALL fall short. His standard is perfection and therefore we HAVE to rely on the perfection of Jesus, as our Savior. Referring to my list, Proverbs 16:5 says that pride is an abomination.

Questions to consider:

--Does this make a difference in how you will treat others?

--Does it make a difference in your pride, your ego, in how much you think you have it together?

--Does it make a difference in your condemnation of yourself?

--Does this cause you to have compassion on the unbeliever? Knowing that the only difference between you and he/she is that you have accepted the gift of salvation. There is no difference in the amount of sin in your lives.

--Does this change your thinking on sin separating you from God? If sin separates you, is it all sin, or just the so-called big sins?

--Does this change the way you view eternal security? Can you lose your salvation if you sin? If so, which sins?

--Does this change the way you view being a little dishonest with someone, breaking your word? That God views it the same as murder and adultery? Do you think you should take that a little more seriously?

The bad news is none of us can ever come up to God's standard. The good news is that Jesus did and became our substitute. We need only accept that He died for our sins, and gives us His righteousness, to be in right-standing with God.

Pruning Time

John 15:1-2

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

I am feeling this right now. It's not pleasant, but I can see in God's Word a promise--that if I submit to the pruning, I will bear more fruit. It's certainly much more fun to bear fruit. But I would rather be pruned, then cut off altogether. I have also noticed a distinct difference in this pruning than what the devil does. The devil brings thoughts of doubt, fear, condemnation, guilt, to keep us from bearing fruit. God, in His pruning, reveals areas we need to cut out, so that we can bear more fruit. It's not pleasant, but even in the midst of it, I have peace and joy. When the devil messes with you, he tries to rob your peace and joy. Those times are depressing. This is not. So, the other day, when I ran across this verse, I just knew it was God speaking directly to me, comforting me, in this unpleasantness, letting me know that this is for a season, and the best is yet to come.

Early in the Morning

I just came across a great blog for women--Girl Talk. I was particularly compelled by this post, on getting up early to have time with the Lord.

I was doing really well with this for a long time. There for a while, I even got up at 5:45 each morning. My days were always more peaceful after making this sacrifice, I seemed to use my time more wisely, my interaction with my children went more smoothly. Times when I fall out of this routine are times that are not so good.

Well, summertime came, with a much-needed break from school, and I fell off the wagon altogether. I have never been a morning person; I can stay up really late, much more easily. So, it was all too easy to fall back into my old habits. Now, I did listen to sermons most every day, so that did help keep me afloat. But I know I need to be doing my own studying.

With the new school year starting, I thought I could schedule in a time for study in the mid-morning, while my son was working on his schoolwork, and my daughter was doing something quietly herself. It hasn't quite worked out that way. That time was being pushed each day to the afternoon and many days, forgotten altogether.

I just need to get back to my early morning habit. The blog post I linked above was a good encouragement to me, with helpful hints on how to make this work. I encourage you to check it out. I'm not legalistic about an early morning routine, but I've come to realize it's what works best for me. It's painful to get up that early, but only at first. The rewards are well worth it. And if some other time of day works best for you, more power to you.

Greatness

Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who knew no sin to become sin so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.” If you’ve been around awhile, you’ve heard me say this, Luther calls it the great exchange. All of our sin, idolatry, narcissism, pride, jealousy, envy, me-ism, all of it, which is sin, goes to Jesus, and he dies paying the penalty for our sin. And he gives us, in addition, reckons to us, imputes to us his righteousness.

This means that you and I now possess, through faith if we are the children of God, the righteousness of Jesus, the perfect, sinless, obedient, selfless, worshipful, imaging life of Jesus. It’s reckoned, credited to our account. So now we want to pursue greatness, not for an identity, but from our identity in Christ. We want to pursue greatness, not for our righteousness, but from the righteousness that is given us by Jesus. Not for our glory, but from the glory of God. Not for God’s approval, [but] from God’s approval in Christ. Not for the love of God, but from the love of God.

Greatness is pursued by the children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells them in newness of life, greatness of life, rich or poor, living or dying, healthy or sick, succeeding or failing to the glory of God and the good of others by the grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is our joy, which is our joy. That’s what greatness is. I don’t know if I’m the only one excited about this, but I am very excited about this. It means a passionate, free life that glorifies God, helps others, and gives me joy. What a gift. What a gift.

--Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Seattle, from the sermon Redeeming Greatness (August 15, 2010)

Please checkout all the great content on MarsHillChurch.org

Delivered

I love all the pictures we have in the Old Testament. When I was growing up, it seemed, that the entire Old Testament was just stories for kids. I don't recall sermons preached from the Old Testament. The thinking was that we are New Testament believers that have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13), we aren't under the law (Romans 6:14), so what use is the Old Testament to us? (Now my memory could be skewed, but that is what my perception was.) This is, however, entirely false. The Old Testament is chocked full of wonderful stories with so many layers of depth--many, if not all, explaining truths in the New Testament. So, as I said, I LOVE those illustrations that are in the Old Testament.

I was explaining a concept to my son today, so I used an Old Testament illustration. (On a side note, if you have kids, one of the best things you can do for yourself, is teach them the Bible. Light bulbs will go off in your head. It is a wonderful thing, how it works.)

If you recall, in the story of the Exodus, the Israelites were in slavery to the Pharoah. Moses was sent by God to deliver them. God did numerous signs and wonders in the process. After the 10th plague, God led them out of Egypt and out of their slavery to Pharoah.

We can analyze the significance of the details.

Slavery in Egypt = slavery to sin--this is a picture of us before we come to a saving knowledge of Christ

Coming out of Egypt = getting saved

Now there are pictures of two types of Christians after the Exodus.

1) A Wilderness Wanderer - this is someone that is saved, but they don't walk in victory, don't have peace and joy, they go around the mountains in their life over and over and over.

2) A Promised Land Dweller - this is also a Christian, but they walk in victory. They don't go around the mountains in their life, they fight their battles with God on their side. They enjoy peace and joy.

Something significant stuck out to me this morning, that I had never thought about before. At what point did the Israelites "get saved"? I noticed two important events.

1) The Passover--The Israelites were commanded to spread the blood of a lamb on their doorposts in order to be "passed over" by the death angel. So they were saved from death by the blood. We are saved from death (the penalty of sin) by the blood of Christ. This is a once, for all, atonement. See Hebrews 7:26-27, 9:11-12, & 10:9-10.

2) The Crossing of the Red Sea--The Israelites left the same night of the Passover. They traveled until they were trapped by mountains and sea. Pharoah came after them to get them back. God did a miracle by parting the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to cross over on dry land. The Pharoah and his army chased after them, but God let the waters cover them, drowning them, assuring the safety of the Israelites. So this is the point when the Israelites were truly free from their slavery. It happened through water. We are delivered from our slavery to sin by the water of the Word. See Ephesians 5:24 We must wash in this water as often as we can.

Something else to note, that I find very interesting, is that once the Israelites were out of Egypt, God never sent them back (that would be a picture of losing salvation). There were lots of people that disobeyed and there were consequences, but no record of anyone going back to Egypt, either voluntarily, or by command of God. Neither do we "lose" our salvation when we sin. We can lose our inheritance, like the Israelites. The majority of them didn't get to go into the Promised Land (their inheritance). They didn't have faith, they didn't obey. In fact, Moses was one of them that forfeited the inheritance, he did not get to enter the Promised Land.

I am fighting to keep this a short blog. There are so many things in this I want to develop, but I will leave it at this. I encourage you to read the story in Exodus, in light of these things I have brought out. There are even more analogies I could draw. Can you find them? You may also do a word study on reward and/or inheritance. Do you want to be a Wilderness Wanderer or a Promised Land Dweller? Read the story of Joshua and Caleb, in Numbers 13 and 14, to see what it takes to be a Promised Land Dweller.