Often times I will get into discussions with Christians about whether or not it is right for one person to “judge” another, especially as it relates to their salvation.  My short answer is that while I am not the ultimate authority on someone’s salvation, or the intentions of their heart, we as Christians are called to exercise wisdom and discernment, which includes by necessity making judgments and acting upon them.

To give an example of this, Michael Jackson was a fantastic singer.  He did a lot of good things.  He was accused of sexually molesting children.  Now, ultimately, the authority of whether or not Michael Jackson was guilty of the crime he was accused of is determined to be the court (not me).   That being said, if I was looking for a babysitter, Michael Jackson would not have been on my list of people to call.

That seems perfectly reasonable, right?  That’s me using my God given discernment and wisdom to make a judgment that in my mind, would protect my children.  God, in the same way, wants to protect his children.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:15-17 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.”  Now this only seems loving and helpful for Jesus to warn his children, Christians, to be on guard against dangerous teaching/people that would potentially lead to Christians getting hurt or led astry.   What does Jesus encourage us to do?  Look at the life of a person, and make a judgment about whether there is good fruit (love for God manifested in obedience to God) or bad fruit (a desire to pursue their own will apart from God).  That judgment He is calling us to make, is exactly whether or not a person is a true follower of Christ, or merely pretending.  Now, this was Jesus saying this, but I’m afraid that if he said this in most churches today, they would tell him “it’s not your place to judge, who are you!”. 

In 1 John 3:9-10 it says – “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”   Why would this be in the Bible if it were not meant to be read, understood and acted upon?  Now, we are all sinners, God is not calling us to go around beating down struggling sinners, comparing our strengths against their weaknesses.  That is what most people think of when they thinking about judging, and that is NOT how Christians are to love one another.  We are called to love all people, especially our Christian brothers and sisters, and encourage them at all times.  God wants us to enjoy community with other struggling sinners, saved by the grace of God.

At the same time, because living as a Christian brings with it enough struggles on its own, we are called to judge with wisdom and discernment those persons who are in authority in our church, as well as those who we would surround ourselves with in Christian community.  Many will ask, ok, what does that look like?  Thankfully we have a model in Matthew 18:15-20 – “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

My encouragement to all of us to this, judge with a loving heart.  Even after Jesus gave this model in Matthew 18, immediately afterwards, Jesus instructs on forgiveness, that we should always be ready to forgive and receive someone who is truly repentant of their wrongdoing.  Make judgments as you need to, in order to protect yourself and those under your care, but make sure that there is always love and a desire for reconciliation with all people.  We cannot bend the standards of God, but we can always call people to be reconciled to Him.  One of the pastors I admire in many ways, John Piper once levied a gentle rebuke to another pastor who was speaking sarcastically about a church that espoused bad theology, he said, “I am not against your judgment, but those comments should come behind tears for those who are lost there”.  So that’s what I would say.  Make your judgments as you need to, but make them with tears and prayers for all to be fully reconciled to God, remembering that apart from the grace of God, no one has any hope.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

I intentionally chose the timing of this message to coincide with the start of the work week.  Hopefully it will be received as an encouragement, and not the last bit that pushes you over the edge!  I realize that Monday’s are difficult for most of us, but it’s probably a time when we have some measure of clarity about the end to which we were created, even if that understanding only extends to reveal to us that we were created for more than just our jobs.

Now for the readers among you, you’ll realize that I stole today’s title from our President’s book.  My point today differs slightly from the message of his book though, to say that the only hope we have in the world, is to lose hope for the world altogether – at least as it pertains to our “ability” to find lasting happiness in it apart from God.    Do you know anyone who seems to have everything, wealth, a beautiful spouse, power, but who doesn’t love God and seek to keep His commandments?  Have you ever had a chance to ask, or has that person shared with you, about whether or not he/she is truly happy?  What about those people when they are in the hospital, or at home, when they are preparing to die?  Have you ever had the opportunity to have that conversation with them?  Now, my purpose in asking that isn’t to be morbid, or suggest that you find these people and ask these questions in an accusatory way.  No, the benefit isn’t for them, necessarily, but for yourself.  Leaving room for the most hardened of hearts who might say otherwise, I can honestly tell you, that 100% of those conversations I’ve had with people over the years, has revealed that those people are not truly happy.  Why is that?

If advertisements are always telling you about things you “need”, implying your life will be more happy as a result, what does it mean when someone who has everything still isn’t happy?  The entire advertising industry would be shut down overnight!  What would happen if the President of your company, the position you hope to hold one day, honestly told you that everything he thought he wanted from the job turned out to make him miserable, and the source of his recent divorce?  Would you still pursue that job?  The honest answer is even having those conversations, even understanding the truth, people still pursue the lie.  So why is it that we are trying to consume our way to happinness?  Why do we try to work our way towards happiness?  I don’t claim to know all the answers, but they are good questions to ask ourselves.  My own guess would be that maybe we want to be in control (pride) thinking that we can manufacture happiness for ourselves.  We don’t want to deal with the reality, of what we already know – your job (or the next) isn’t going to make you happy, your spouse isn’t going to make you happy, money and all that it can buy for you isn’t going to make you happy, everything in life ultimately fails to deliver on it’s promise of lasting happiness.

If you’ve never talked with someone who “had it all” – you can listen to the words of Solomon from the Bible, someone who had more wealth than imaginable, more capacity for sexual satisfaction than imaginable (700 wives and 300 concubines), was the smartest person on earth, ruled a kingdom, and would tell you that everything in his life was worthless.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 – “I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.  I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”  I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.  I made great works. I built houses and plantedvineyards for myself.  I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.  I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.  I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.  I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and manyconcubines, the delight of the children of man.  So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

Solomon’s warning to those who would hope based on their own hands, to pursue happiness apart from God:

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 – “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.  Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.  Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

The reason I write this is because this lie – that lasting happiness can be found apart from God, is one of the main barriers to faith.  By definition, whatever thing is pursued apart from God, as an end unto itself, is an idol before God.  One cannot truly place their trust in God, while pursuing happiness apart from Him.  This coupled with last week’s message about the total depravity of man, should give a good picture of how carnal man, apart from saving faith, operates to pursue “good” or “happiness” apart from a desire for the glory of God.  Ironically, the sin in man, is the very reason why he cannot ever be happy on his own.

Augustine said it this way – “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for thy sake”.  That is to say, the greatest love one can have, or greatest joy, is a love and joy in a thing that is solely rooted in God, and pursuing the glory of God in that thing.  This is how man can live, work, play, take a spouse, and enjoy all of the goodness of life that God has given, without turning those things into idols, which in turn would destroy any ability to have lasting happiness in those things.  Does that make sense?  I realize I might’ve lost some people there.  I myself had to sit and reread that a few times to really understand what was being said by Augustine and why that makes sense, if we truly believe that God is the greatest good we could ever know and enjoy.  I hope you see that.  I hope you believe that and feel it in your heart daily.  I hope that seeing, believing, and experiencing the goodness of God offers you great hope for eternity with God, where the fullness of His glory will be clearly seen and enjoyed by us.  I hope this is a challenge and a framework whereby you can begin to pursue God in every area of your life, rather than compartamentalizing your worship of Him to certain times and places.

My exhortation for your joy is to first ask yourself what are the ways in which you pursue happinness currently.  Then ask yourself if you truly believe that God is the greatest good and source of joy for you?  Often times the answer will be “He should be, but He’s not”.  My encouragement is to pray for God’s grace.  Be encouraged that the answer to that prayer will always be “yes”.  Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart”  Next, Ask yourself if your happinness in things derive from seeing the glory of God in them?  God isn’t against you enjoying sports, taking a spouse, enjoying sex with your spouse, making a good living, or any other part of normal life, but God loves you and wants for your joy to be made full (John 15:11, John 16:24).  Your joy will only be made full in as much as God is the core reason why you find joy in all areas of your life (Psalm 16:11).  Have the audacity to lose hope in finding happinness in the world, to pursue happinness in God.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Another week come and gone.  Happy Friday everyone!  I hope today’s WFTD will give you some encouragement as you make the final push through your work day, and into the weekend.  Some may see this as a cop out on my WFTDwriting, ha ha, but I assure you, I’m only doing what I believe to be most helpful.  If you’ve read the rest of the week’s emails this should be uplifting.  Sometimes what I find is most helpful is for me to just get out of the way and let the Word of God speak into hearts on it’s own.  So with that, I want to encourage you with Psalm 145, written by David, rejoicing over the goodness and greatness of God.

Psalm 145 – “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.  Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.  One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.  On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.  They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.  They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.  The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.  All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!  They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.  The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.  You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.  The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.  The LORD isnear to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.  The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.  My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”

I include all of that scripture because I know each of you will find youself somewhere in there.  Be encouraged, the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  The Lord is near to everyone who calls on Him in truth.  He will hear your cry and save you.  The Lord upholds those who are falling, and raises you up when you are bowed down before him.  Seek and savor the goodness greatness of God, Who loves you more than you know right where you are.  Delight yourself in God, and God will give you the desire of your heart.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

In Matthew 6, Jesus is delivering the best sermon ever preached, the sermon on the mount.  Here Jesus is surrounded by a large group of people, and is basically turning the religious order of the day on it’s head.  Namely, Jesus is exposing that true religion is not found in behavior, but in a changed heart.  This of course is meant to lead people to understand that they cannot change their heart, they’re sinners by nature, and in need of a savior.  Jesus is also going to lay out a way of practicing righteousness from the heart that is glorifying to God, and profitable for the edification and sanctification of the doer.  Sadly, most of American Christianity is not even in a position to understand that message fully yet.  We almost have to take a step back, and encourage believers to even make an attempt at practicing righteousness – something that was taken as a given in the audience Jesus was speadking to.

Most church services on Sunday are packed full of “emotional experiences” with a rocking band, and a stand up comedian for a pastor – but the practice of righteousness is not emphasized.  Most of the people are too busy hearing a message of free grace, that God loves you despite your sins, that they neglect the whole point of the gospel – Jesus came to save you from your sins, not so that you could remain in them.  Let me say it this way – if you love your sin and feel no repentance leading you to want to practice righteousness, you don’t love God.  It’s that simple.  1 John 5:18 – “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”  If you love God, practicing righteousness should not be a burden to you, but a delight.  1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”  You are losing those things that were full of empty promises and lies, and gaining the steadfast love of God.

Here is what Jesus says about practicing righteousness in Matthew 6:

Verses 1-3 – “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Verses 5-6 – “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Verses 16-18 – “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

My question/exhortation is this – Do you give to the needy – at all?  Do you pray – at all?  Do you fast – at all?  Note:  For more info on what/why fasting go here:  http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-crazy-idea-of-fasting-in-09  These are understood and taught by Jesus to be regular parts of a Christian’s life and practice of righteousness.  Now the wrong response to these questions would be to say, “well, no, I don’t give to the needy, so I need to run out and do that…. gotta check off that box!”  God doesn’t need your money, he doesn’t want your money for its own sake.  God, wants your heart, and for you to be joyful not in your money or circumstances, but in Him.  My encouragement is to pray to God to give you a heart for those things that will draw you closer to Him, with your final aim being your sanctification, and joy in a stronger relationship with God.  Discipline your heart and life for godliness, our reward in Christ is great.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Be careful… we’re about to take a ride through some seminary teaching / theological terms, so bear with me.  Today’s WFTD is a largely a doctrinal discussion, but I believe it’s very important.  If there was one foundational theological truth that was most important to developing a right understanding of the gospel, and right affections for God, it would have to be understanding and embracing the doctrine of total depravity.  Now to break apart the Christianese, the doctrine of total depravity simply holds that when Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, he and all of humanity that was to follow him became enslaved to sin.  That is to say, Adam, and everyone who was born through Adam (that is all of us), shared in that sin, and are by nature sinful creatures from birth.  This does not mean that we are all equally evil – certainly Hitler, and others were likely far more evil than Mother Teresa (maybe not, you never know!).  What it does mean, however, is that man is not capable of ANY good in himself/herself, that is not in some way tainted by their sinful nature.  This means that even the generosity and service rendered by man to others, is flawed in some way, perhaps as a way to boost one’s ego, etc.  Basically, you might say that you are better than I am, but one your best day, your best deed is still flawed by your sinful nature, whether consciously or otherwise, such that your “good deeds” would never achieve the righteousness of God, that God would approve of you.

This is EXTREMELY controversial to many people, especially those who consider themselves as being “good people”.  Before you write me off here, consider the words of Jesus, who himself said in Mark 2:17 – “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Most people want to compare themselves to others around them, and say that there is some “goodness” in them.  Experientially, I can sympathize with their assessment, because I agree that if we are morally relativistic, and compare ourselves to others instead of a holy God, then of course we are going to see some relative goodness in ourselves.  Unfortunately, believing one is “good” apart from God is maybe the biggest barrier to truth dependence in faith on Christ.  After all, if you’re pretty good to begin with, then you don’t need Christ for much.

The problem is that God isn’t just “better than everyone else”, God is pure, righteous, and holy.  God’s holiness is perhaps the greatest distinctive of His deity.  In Isaiah 6, we get a picture of what happens when man’s righteousness is confronted with the holiness of God.  Isaiah 6:1-5 – “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Now I can’t speak about you, but I will go on record, with 100% certainty that Isaiah was a better, more moral man than I am.  But what happens when Isaiah’s “goodness” is confronted with the holiness of God?  He literally calls on God to curse him as a sinner – he was completely undone.  The angels who are flying around Jesus in circles are shouting “holy, holy, holy”.  In Hebrew (the language Isaiah was written in) when a word is repeated three times, it means the purest essence of that thing.  The hebrew word for holy is “qadowsh” with a new testament equivalent of “hagios” – literally meaning set apart or separate.  We were made in the image of God, but as fallen creatures, God is altogether separate from us.  Specifically the righteousness of God is so completely pure, that our best good deeds, are not even worthy to be compared to God’s holiness.  Apart from God none of us is good, that is what we need to understand intellectually, and drive into our hearts.

Again in Isaiah 64:6, we are told – “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”  When good moral people go are confronted with the holiness of God – it’s not only their “bad” deeds that will be judged, but their righteous deeds will have enough sin in them to condemn them.  From birth man is at enmity (at war) with God.  From birth each person can behold the glory of God in creation, understand there is a creator, and yet every single one of us rejects God, because our sin is the same as Adam’s – we would rather try to be God, than worship God.  (Romans 1&2)  Our sinful behavior isn’t our greatest problem, our greatest problem is that we are born by nature sinners, and as sinners we are enslaved to sin, and thus continually reject God – we have no hope.  This is the depth of man’s depravity and hopelessness before the righteous judgment of our holy God.  Romans 3:10-18 – “as it is written:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

My friends, why am I telling you all of this?  My passion is for you continued sanctification and joy in reconciled relationship with a holy God.  Don’t allow the gap that I’m putting between man and God be a source of discouragement, it should have the exact opposite effect.  God IS completely holy, and for those of us who have been reconciled to Him through Christ, that should be very comforting that we will spend eternity with a holy God.  Also, I want you to see what it meant for a perfectly holy God, Jesus, to come in the flesh and die for us.  That is the depth of love of our savior.  Moreover for us, who are being saved by faith, we identify ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection, and the same holy God who died for us, is alive with us and in us, so that we can have encouragement as we struggle each day to be set apart in holiness.  Lastly, I want you to have exceeding joy in what Christ accomplished on the cross.  He did not merely pay the penalty for the bad things you’ve done and will do, he paid the penalty for your very nature, and has purchased for you through his blood, grace to be a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).  Before you were a sinner by nature.  Now by nature you are a child of God, an heir with Christ, and you are free to pursue infinite joy in God.

I’m saying these things because I want your affection for God to grow.  This is the picture we are given by God in Luke 7:41-47 – “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  Know that we have been forgiven of more than we can possibly know until we see with our eyes clearly the holiness of God.  My hope and prayer is that in our brokenness over sin, God will produce in us a wellspring of joy at our reconciliation through Christ.  His holiness is greater than our sin, His perfect righteousness absorbed the wrath of God, we are not 95% dependant upon Christ, we are 100% dependant upon Christ, and His steadfast love was, is, and forever will be more than enough.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

I’ve been walking with the Lord to some measure for a while now, and as time goes by there are a few things that I’ve come to realize.  One is that the moment you relax to believe a battle has been won, you’ve lost.  We have great strength and power through Christ who dwells powerfully within us, but when we move our gaze away from Him and the cross, our sin and our flesh is quick to fail. (Rom 7:21-8:1)  Another is that there is no end to the books that have been written on theology and Christian living, some good, some not so much, that it is an impossible task to wade through the amount of information that we could take in.  (Eccl 12:12-13) This makes sense because God is infinite, so the knowledge of Him is the same, and a life lived as a Christian is all-consuming, so the amount of instruction and encouragement to address each situation is neverending.  Therefore, my attention is usually directed towards helping us see our heart’s as depraved as they are (Rom 3:10-12, Psalm 51:5), and to encourage us all to continue to cling to the cross, our hope purchased through the blood and resurrection of Christ (1 Pet 1:13).  So if I look into the Word of God, as a sinner saved by grace, can I offer any encouragement to other sinners saved by grace who are struggling, and overwhelmed by the flood of information coming their way?  I hope so.

My encouragement is to daily ask yourself one question, and work to influence it’s outcome – “Is there anything that my heart longs for more than Christ and His righteousness?”  This is a simple question for us to ask ourselves daily.  The fruit of our heart is easy to see and evaluate, it’s around us every day through our actions, and our relationships.  Look at how you live, and it will speak to the true desire of your heart.  Where do you spend your time and money?  What things are you striving towards?  What is the one thing that you think if it changed would “make you happy”?

This is based merely on the words of Christ as to the great commandment for us all in Matthew 22:36-38 – “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

Know that as I pray for my own continued repentance from sin, that you are prayed for as well.  May we all continue to be conformed into the image of God, for the glory of the name of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

I could have also titled this message, “Why I Teach the Bible”.  Obviously God has uniquely gifted each of us to encourage and edify one another in our faith, and so some of my desire to teach is an innate desire to be helpful to others in teaching coupled with some measure of ability to do so.  The fuel for my desire to teach, however, is the Biblical misunderstandings that I see permeating much of Christian teaching today, especially in the South, where we have this phenomenon of “cultural Christianity”.    Well-meaning churches have regressed from personal accountability and teaching salvation that produces a love for Christ that overflows in a desire to obey Him, to support a more emotive-based love for God that is “experienced” through worship on Sunday.  These are the churches where the people can’t remember what they learned about God from the Bible that week, but comment on how great the songs and band were.  Others have moved away from personal accountability to support a “social gospel” message.  Persons at the church are told to “live like Jesus lived”.  “Who cares if he’s cheating on his wife?  He serves at the soup kitchen every week, tithes generously, and volunteers at the orphanage monthly.”  Now my cynacism here is meant to highlight a problem in the theological teaching of sin, salvation, and repentance, rather than a condemnation of those messages entirely.  We should strive for authentic joy in our worship, we should strive to live like Jesus lived; but how we achieve those things cannot be by changed behavior merely.  If we want to call ourselves true Christ followers, we have to push the battle deeper, where we seek to change our heart’s affections by God’s grace.

Now, if someone comes up to me and confesses they are cheating on their wife, and asks me what I think they should do, the first thing I’m going to do is to tell them to… stop cheating on their wife.  I’m not discouraging altering behavior so as to limit the hurtful impact of your sin on yourself and others, I think that is wise to do that, and commanded Biblically.  What I do want to argue for, however, is the same thing Jesus argued for with the Pharisees – don’t be content with external changed behavior.

Matthew 23:25-28 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Even more important, and deadly is what I see happen often in the life of professing believers.  A believer will seemingly come to Christ, and start making life changes.  After a while, the fire that burned within that person has dwindled, and they coast on prior “victories” over sin, content in their changed life, as if they had achieved righteousness.  Don’t allow changed behavior to pacify your thirst to root out sin in your life.  I’ve said this many times before, but it cannot be said enough – sin is not a matter of behavior, but a matter of the heart.  If your heart is sinful (it is) then that sinful heart will manifest sin in all sorts of different ways in your life.  Did you ever play that game as a kid “Whack-a-Mole” where moles would pop up from the machine, and you would have to hit them on the head to knock them down, then others would pop up?  That’s how most people attack sin.  They see a sinful behavior, and they try to stop it.  The only problem with that game-plan for sin in your life, is that as soon as you “overcome” one sinful behavior, another is ready to step in and take it’s place (usually pride).  Satan is much more clever than people give him credit for.  If Satan can keep you from Christ by removing the sinful behaviors in your life, he will.  If Satan can make you proud that you’ve “overcome” sin, causing you to relax your guard, no longer looking to Christ and the cross in total dependance, he will.  Satan is perfectly content with outwardly righteous “Christians”, as long as inwardly they are not totally dependant upon Christ for their righteousness.

Be encouraged by the words of Paul, the self-confessed “greatest sinner that ever lived” – Philippians 3:8-15 – “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have alreadyobtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”

Those words are so clear I barely feel the need for any exposition.  Paul’s exhortation to his readers is my exhortation to us all.  See, meditate on, and savor the person and worth of Christ in the gospel and strive after Him for the rest of your life.  You will never be righteous based on your outward behavior, you need to get to the root of sin, the heart of it.   Christ, who lived perfectly in every thought and intention of his heart, has called us His own.  We too should strive inwardly for changed hearts, pleading with our Lord and Savior to grant us the grace necessary to be increasingly conformed into His image, from the inside out.  Christ has died so that we might be reconciled to God, let us purpose ourselves to that end, always beginning with our hearts.  My sin will end when my heart is perfectly satisfied and joyful in God alone.  Be encouraged, that is a battle the Holy Spirit in every believer has already accomplished.  Saturate your hearts with the truth of God’s Word and may it end in your perfection, that you would radiate the glory of God from a fully transformed heart.  Pray for grace, leading, and encouragement from your fellow believers – it is a lifelong joyful course of struggle for us all.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

I had lunch today with a friend of mine, and the topic was how God goes about saving people.  To be sure the details of God’s work differ from person to person, but there are some truths that have been ignored in modern Christianity.  In a popular appeal to the masses, salvation has been extended out to the world as “a decision for Christ”.  There’s just one problem, we’re all sinners.  We’re not simply sinners by volition through the things we choose, but we are sinners by our very nature – at enmity with God.  Therefore, as Romans 3:10-12 says about us ALL – “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  Now by nature, I by can form an argument support it on various issues, even persuading people to my opinion.   However, I do not possess, nor does anyone possess the ability to convince someone of their need and the implicit worth of Jesus Christ as their Savior.  My encouragement as a Christian, is that Jesus doesn’t call us to try to “convince” people at all.  Have you noticed that in the Bible?  Jesus never pleads with people to be reconciled to Him.  Why then do we?

In Luke 19:10 Jesus proclaims – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Mark 2:17 – “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ who was prophesized of in Isaiah as “”The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;make his paths straight.'”  How was John the Baptist preparing people for Christ?  Acts 13:24 – “Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.”  John came to expose people’s hearts to themselves so that they would see their need for a savior and repent of their sin – to realize just how LOST they were.

Salvation is for sinners – those who see their sin, realize they have no hope, and turn to Christ in faith in repentance.

Numbers 21:4-9 – “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

The people of Israel above were dying.  Do you think they considered it a “choice” whether they would look to the bronze serpent, raised up, and live?  NO, of course not.  Every single one of them who realized they were dying, look on with faith.  So too saving faith is for those who are dying, who have no hope apart from Christ.  They realize they have nothing else, their sin has broken them to nothingness.  Our Lord Jesus Christ, in mercy meets those people there, and they are raised up with Him to new life.  My question for us all is how do you view your faith in Christ.  Is He all you have?  Do you see your obedience to Him as a matter of life or death?  If that is too much to take in, let me ask you this – how can you put your faith in a savior, yet not realize your need for that savior every moment of every day?  Jesus didn’t come to change the behavior of people, He came to ransom the hearts of those broken over their sin, the poor in spirit.  May our understanding of our depravity, and God’s Holiness grow, that our dependence on Him, and affection for Him would increase into eternity.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Do you look back fondly on what summers were like when you were in school?  I know I do.  Granted, there was a lack of freedom to some degree, but when you can wake up each day and your biggest “problem” is figuring out how to spend you time, you know it’s going to be a good day.  For most of us, those days are long gone.  In their place we’ve joined the rat race that embodies America, found a routine that works for us overall – A cup of coffee in the morning, quick breakfast, work, another cup of cofee after lunch, work, off to the gym, shuttle around kids, etc.  Time seems to move so much faster the older you get, “free time”, becomes the punchline of a joke.  Amidst all of this, you have competing priorities – work, school, relationships, family, organizations, church, and on and on.  We make more money, buy a house, a car, other things, only to realize that all of those things require upkeep that requires more of our… time.  In the eloquent words of the Notorious B.I.G, “mo money, mo problems.”

As you’ll notice, this is my second day in a row where I’m pushing out an email right at 5pm ish.  So trust me when I say, I’m right there with all of you, when I say that we all need to work hard towards setting boundaries with our time, such that God is our ultimately priority.

In Matthew 6:33, we are exhorted by Christ – “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” and the other necessities of life will work themselves out by God’s providence.” 

Again, when Christ entered a town and was staying at a house with two women – Luke 10:38-42 – “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Now I’m not saying not to go to work, or not to see to your family, these are all good things, given to us by the Lord, so that we would be sanctified, and He would to be glorified.  What my encouragement today is, is to look at your daily life.  Are some of the things that you’re treating as “necessities” as important as you make them out to be?  Would the world fall apart if you missed on ball game on TV, or one day at work?  Trust me, none of us are that important.  For your peace and joy, seek after the One Good thing given to each of us by the Holy Spirit, access to limitless joy in the relationship with have with Christ, our Lord.  Spend time to delight yourself in Him each day, and I assure you, your life will not suffer for it.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

While most of us grew up in America, and access to water has never been an issue; water in 1st century Israel was a prized commodity.  Wars and skirmishes would break out over the rights to a well that was known to produce good water.  It was common that a person would likely come and draw water from the well quite often, at least daily for drink, washing, and cooking needs.

On His missionary journies (John 4), Jesus came to a well in Samaria, and spoke to a woman there who had been married multiple times before.  Jesus told this woman of “Living Water”, water that would cause those who drink of it to never thirst again.  Clearly the Samaritan woman was desirous of water that would not require her to lug a heavy jar full of water to and from her house every day, but she couldn’t see that was Jesus was offering was much greater than meeting a physical need, or easing a physical burden.

Jesus’ offer of Living Water was one of spiritual cleansing and refreshment.  Now many people read the passage in Luke 4 and think of Living Water as water that you drink once and then never have to drink again.  That wasn’t what Jesus was saying at all.  He was saying that those who drank Living Water would in themselves have a spring of water that would well up inside them (verse 14), carried with them, so they would never be thirsty again.  Thus, for believers, it’s not that we no longer have to go to the well, it’s that the Well is within us.  In Ephesians 5:18 we are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:15-21 –  ^“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

It’s a progressive verb tense meaning that it should be an ongoing activity, meaning we should keep being filled with the Spirit.  That’s my same exhortation for us today, as fellow believers who have a well of living water within us, the Holy Spirit, that we should continue to go to the Well, seeking to be filled.

How do your recharge yourself throughout the day?  While there’s nothing wrong with seeking physical and mental rest by watching a football game, watching a TV show with friends, etc. – How are you actively filling yourself with the Spirit of God?  Does your free time primarily consist of things that are devoid of any redeeming qualities that stir your affection for God, and encourage your growth in obedience to Him?  My encouragement would be to be intentional about your time, to refresh yourself with the Word of God, with Christian Community, and prayer throughout your day.  For your refreshment and joy in Him.

Grace and Peace,
Adam