Announcement

Hello all:

Due to recent events, I am going to take a vacation from the blog for a while. I do hope that I will be able to get back to it soon, so please check in every once in a while, but I don't know when that will be. Thank you for your support!

Driven into waiting arms

“for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”
-Proverbs 3:12

You know, I was listening to a sermon series by Mark Driscoll a few months ago, and this particular sermon was on trials. Even though he set the sermon schedule a year in advance, he knew that particular was going to be rough. If a sermon on trials was coming up, it would undoubtedly be surrounded by trials. In the same way, my mother, who is a Bible study teacher, has vowed to never teach the Book of James again because of all the trials she went through while teaching about trials.

This is not God punishing people for teaching certain passages. Quite the contrary! This is God timing things so that when you face trial, you’re already reading the right passages. He’s timing it so you understand it when you go to teach it.

In my case, I had just started my little series on pain when the call came. There was a death in my wife’s family. We hurried down to her hometown over the weekend for the funeral. We only today got home.

Right now, my wife is on the phone, trying to comfort a family member. I really don’t know whether she’s going to help much or not. She is pointing to Jesus, because He is the only real comfort either of us knows. This family member will either hear the call to Christ, or think my wife is being terribly insensitive.

It has been a very painful half year for my wife, and there have been times when I have made the same plea to her. Turn to Jesus. It has been the sort of pain that could have broken her, sent her into wild depressions. It didn’t. She leaned on God for strength, and now she is passing on the message of the Cross to her family.

I’m proud of her. More than that, I’m happy for her.

Pain can either turn you to the right road or the wrong road. It can either make you see the folly in your life and cause you to change, or it can make you chase folly all the more. God calls out to us through pain. In pain He tells us that all is not okay, that it is not right.

Not that He is to blame for death. That’s ultimately our fault. If it had not been for sin, there would not have been death. But we sinned, and we earned death. Death is here because of us. But God can use it. God can use pain to try to reach us.

A good parent, this verse tells us, disciplines his children. This we should already know. Only the worst parents let their children grow up without boundaries, without discipline, and without consequences. We, like wayward children, have run after our own desires and lusts. Out of love, God allows pain to come into our lives. It is through trials that we become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4).

Like wayward children, we have a choice as to how to respond to that pain. Do we recognize our own folly? Do we realize the futility of our pursuits? Do we come to realize what is really important? Or do we run farther into ourselves?

I don’t know how my wife’s family will respond to her pleas tonight. I am praying that this pain will not be wasted. I am praying that this pain will drive them into the arms of Jesus.

Podcast: The Trouble with Statues

This is a transcript of our current podcast. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
-Exodus 20:4

We’re continuing our look at the Ten Commandments, and already, with number two, we’re going to run into some problems, because people number the commandments in different ways. Some include this one in number one, saying we are forbidden from making images of false gods. Others say, no, you shouldn’t make images of the true God. It is a separate commandment.

I’m taking this as a separate commandment, but even if you don’t agree, this is still going to apply to you. A warning against making images of God is repeated in Acts 17:29: “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.”

The Bible tells us not to make images of God. Why is this important? I mean, what does God care if we build Him a little statue or paint a picture of Him? Shouldn’t He feel honored that we want to do this for Him?

I’m reminded of a very funny Simpson’s episode where Homer is searching for a gift for his wife, Marge. He decides to get a bowling ball, measured to his hand and with “Homer” engraved on it. Marge was understandable furious. Obviously, he had bought the gift for himself, not for her.

I think a lot of our worship is like that. It’s more for us, not for God. God tells us over and over again in Scripture that He is not a man, but Spirit. He does not want us to depict Him like a man. But we do it anyway. Why? Because that’s the way we want it.

And in this we prove that we’re not worshiping at all, but only entertaining ourselves. It’s like we’re buying a gift for God, but it is measured to us and it has our names on it.

But this goes deeper. When we make an image of God as a man, we are trying, in essence, to make God in our image. But we have it backwards. We are made in HIS image. When we bow down before a golden idol, we are bowing before a creation of a creation. But God is the Creator of all things. “God is spirit,” Jesus tells us, “and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Should God be honored with our efforts, no matter what they are? Why would He be? He told us in His Word how He wishes to be worshiped. If we ignore His wishes and instead worship as WE would rather, then why would He be honored by that? Would you be honored if you were given a bowling ball measured to someone else’s hand and engraved with that guy’s name?

Lastly, any effort we make to depict God as a man falls short. We tend to depict one aspect of His glory at the expense of all others. Someone will depict Him as a comforter, and someone else as a judge, and someone else as creator. But our efforts fall so short of the truth.

Nothing shows that so clearly as when God did come in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. All the wonder of God was wrapped up in a man, and He was rejected. Why? Because the people had for so long been trying to form God in their own images that they did not recognize God when He walked right up to them.

They were expecting a God interested in the things they were interested in; they were expecting a God that agreed with them. This is the danger when you start making images of God. More often than not, you are only making images of yourself, and you may not recognize God when He stands in front of you.

If you are worshiping your own idea of what you would like a god to be like rather than God Himself, repent and believe in Him. Turn to the real Jesus and seek out what He is really like. You will be forgiven.

Podcast: The Trouble with Idols

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
-Exodus 20:2-3

This is a transcript of our current podcast. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

We’re starting a series today on the Ten Commandments, and I have to say, I was very tempted to go backwards through them. Almost like a countdown. The reason is, if you get this one down, you’re not going to have an issue with the other ones.

In this commandment, God tells us, “It’s only Me up here. I checked around before creating everything and, nope, just Me. So quit worshiping other things!”

Which most people pass right over, because they don’t think it’s about them. I mean, modern America is rather nonreligious as a whole. There’s not a whole lot of worship of Belial going on.

Maybe not, but we’re still one of the most idolatrous cultures in the history of the world.

See, Romans 1 expounds on what this commandment is really talking about, and it gives us a working definition of paganism and idolatry. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (verse 25).

It’s not just about worshiping a golden statue. It’s about putting anything created above the Creator. Anything created, so that can mean women, wealth, sex, power, fame, food, or whatever.

What is first in your life? Is it God? Do this little test for me. Check your bank account and find out where your money’s going. Now, a huge chunk of your money will probably be going to rent and food. As long as it’s a reasonable amount, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the rest of it. Are you spending your money on candy, on lavish trips, on some sort of self-promotion, on women, on lust, on luxury? Is it going to help spread the word about Jesus? Where is it going? Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Tell me where your money is going, and you’ll find your heart right there with it.

If you put God first in everything you do, you won’t have to worry about the other commandments. They’re going to come naturally to you. You will love God so much that you won’t even think about stealing, murder, or coveting.

Jesus provided our example in this. You may wonder where His heart is. Well, He gave up everything to come serve us. He, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). See, He had everything in heaven. He created the world, and it was all His. But He gave it up, came to earth, and died for us.

And we need it. We have all put other, meaningless things before God. We have all abandoned Him for stuff. In His justice, He can and should leave us to our own paltry lusts and be done with us. But God came in the form of a man, Jesus, and died in our place. He took the punishment we deserve.

If we repent and believe in Jesus, we will be forgiven.

The theology of pain

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,”
-Proverbs 3:11

If God loves us, why is there pain in the world?

I’ve heard this question quite a bit. It’s not a new one. James and Peter both address it in the words of Scripture. Recently, I read C. S. Lewis’ response to the same question in The Problem of Pain. It took him about 150 pages to answer it; let me give a quick response over the next two or three posts.

I grew up thinking I was a Christian. I practiced all the outward mechanics of Christianity, including reading my Bible, avoiding sin where I could, and going to church. But it was all religion, no love. I did it because I thought that is what I had to do.

My world fell apart in my late teens and early 20s. I was really without direction, lonely, and sick of myself. I didn’t really like the religious, yet unbelieving, man I had become.

It was a painful time, but I thank God for that pain, because it roused me from my sleep and brought me before Him. See, without the pain, I would not have known that anything was wrong in my life. As pain will tell me that the stove is hot, so too did pain tell me that I needed something more out of life.

A good father will spank his child, and the child may wonder, “If my father loves me, why does he hurt me?” But we know why he does it: to teach the child, to guide him, to instruct him, to move him. It’s not out of sick pleasure he does it, but out of duty.

The pain teaches us that there is something wrong. It teaches us that we have missed the mark.

Now, the spankings of a good father will often produce a good son, but sometimes they will be twisted within the son, and the son will rebel against the punishment, claiming it was undeserved and the good father was abusive. That’s not necessarily the fault of the father, but of the son’s stubborn will.

And so we sometimes react with pain in our own lives. We will stand and declare ourselves innocent, and that God has punished us unjustly.

But the Bible tells us differently. We have all fallen away from God’s glory. While we were made in His image, we have tainted His creation and gone about our own desires. We have acted out of lust, greed, selfishness, ambition, hatred, and anger. We refuse to acknowledge Him as our Lord and Creator. We think a football game is more important than worshipping God in church. How should God react to this?

If your young son acted in these ways, what would you do?

We have all sinned. We have all fallen. No one is innocent. We have all been coasting through life, attending to ourselves, to our own desires. Sometimes, God allows pain into our lives to wake us from that sleep and let us know that something is wrong.

It is better to feel the pain now than later. In sin, we all deserve to die, for that is the rightful punishment of sin. But Jesus came to earth in the form of a man to die in our place. If we repent and believe in Him, we will have life eternal.

If a little pain now can bring us from our daze and send us on our knees now, then that little pain will have saved us from eternal death.

Pain in our fingers is a warning for us to keep the rest of our body from the fire. Pain in our lives also warns us of the fire of death, and points the way to life, who is Jesus.

I know some people reading this will not think this applies to them. Some are wrong, and they are like children who deny the punishment of their fathers was just. Others are right. This answer is not a complete one, but though I am unable to give a complete answer to the question in this small space (it took Lewis 150 pages!), but maybe we can start here. Ask God to teach you the purpose of the pain in your lives. Chances are, it is trying to lead you to Christ.

The wine is a-bursting!

“then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
-Proverbs 3:10

We’re going to need to tread carefully here, since the relationship between Christianity and money is one of the most easily misunderstood and most wrongly-taught doctrines in Christendom. On the one side, we have the Prosperity Gospel, which teaches us that if we have faith, or if we pray a certain prayer, or if we claim something in God’s name, we will be rich beyond belief, because Jesus died so we can have a nice job (literally, I heard a very famous preacher say that once).

On the other side, we have people who say that God hates rich people, and if you’re not scrounging for every meal, you’re going to hell. They believe poverty is closest to godliness, and if you want to be saved, you can’t have any worldly possessions.

And both sides have passages taken out of context to support their cause.

There are rich saints in the Bible. These include Abraham, Job, David, and Joseph of Arimathea. There are poor saints in the Bible. These include Paul, Job (again), and Peter. Jesus Himself would fall into the latter group. In neither group do we have a tremendous lack of faith. It is not a lack of faith that makes you either poor or rich.

There are warnings in the Bible to be careful with riches. Why? Because it is so easy to be drawn away from a devout life when you have a lot. These warnings are similar to the warnings Paul gives against marriage, because a wife or husband can be a distraction from the Christian life. Of course, he also warns against singlehood for those whose desires would make celibacy difficult. A warning to be careful in certain situations does not mean the situation is sinful. It only means that every situation of life has dangers to sin. A rich man may begin relying on his wealth rather than on God. A poor man may start blaming God because he doesn’t have enough to eat.

What this verse is talking about is stewardship. If you look at the previous verse, it is speaking about being generous in your giving. Give of what you have. Give in joy. Do not fear to give so generously, for it is God that provides your food for you, not yourself. He will take care of you; He will keep your barns and vats filled. And He will continue to take care of you, even after this life is done.

God not only provides your money, food, and clothing, but also provides a way to eternal life. In our sin we have fallen short of God’s glory, but the Father’s Son, Jesus, came to earth in the form of a man to die for our sins. If we repent and believe in Him, we will be rescued from our sins and live, even after we die.

It is not a promise of money. Frankly, money is a little too temporary for me to spend so much effort teaching it. I’m much more interested in things that are more eternal. It’s also not a call to sell your home and move out into the street. God may be calling you to either riches or poverty, I don’t know, but in either case, the call to life is worth it. This life is but a brief period of time; use it to make sure your forever is secure, not your pocketbook.

What do you do with your paycheck?

“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;”
-Proverbs 3:9

Imagine, if you will, a man. Every two weeks, as soon as he gets paid, he rushes out to the store and buys CDs and movies and video games. He does this so much, in fact, that he can’t afford to pay the full electricity bill each month. He’s always borrowing money for rent.

Where would you say this man’s priorities lie?

You’ve probably met people who do this. Honestly, I used to be one in a way. When I first started working in high school, I really didn’t have many expenses, so I had money all the time. I bought guitars, CDs, and such. I spent a small fortune recording a CD that is, frankly, pretty bad. I didn’t save any of it. I wasn’t a Christian, so I certainly didn’t give any of it to the church. I spent my money on entertainment. Why? Because it was my priority.

After college, I wasn’t making much money, and things were tight. But I like food, and so I found myself going out for lunch at least twice a week. I was struggling to make ends meet, but I was spending a good chunk of my salary on food. Why? Because it was my priority.

When you get your paycheck, what is the first thing you do with it? Go the lunch? Put some aside for the new car? Buy mulch for the flowerbed? Go to the movies? Where you spend your money is an indication of your priorities. If you struggle to pay the rent, but every two weeks on payday you’re at the store for a particular thing, that is your priority.

The Bible tells us that God should be our priority. It often uses this word, “firstfruits.” The firstfruits are simply the first product of your work. If you are a farmer, it is the first of the season’s harvest. If you get a paycheck, it is the first money out of the bank. What is the fruit of your labor? The first part of that fruit should be the Lord’s.

Paul tells us more about this: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). This is not a set amount that you have to pay, but as you prosper. That is to say, give in proportion to what you have been given.

We do this for a couple of reasons. The first is to acknowledge that our fruits really belong to God anyway. It is He who has blessed us with whatever we have. If you don’t understand this, you won’t understand giving. This is not MY money, some of which I have to give to God. This is GOD’S money, some of which He lets me keep.

The second reason we do it is out of faith that He is the one providing for us. He has promised that He will take care of us, and so, in faith that He will, we give up some of the money He has already provided to help spread His Word.

The grace of God is sufficient for us. Once we get that priority right, everything else falls nicely into place. Once we acknowledge Him as Lord, as provider, as Father, the giving of the firstfruits is not such a hardship. It is a joy. After all, it is only by His grace that we are saved. We do not deserve heaven. We have acted selfishly, hatefully, and lustfully, and we do not deserve to be saved. But Jesus died in our place, so if we repent and believe that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead, we will find eternity.

What does that new CD compare to that? The more mercy God has shown me, the easier it is for me to give. It is the least I can do to show my love for the One who saved me from death.

The theology of navels

“It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
-Proverbs 3:8

At one time in my life, I would have looked at this verse in a certain way. I would have seen healing and refreshment and said, “Ah, yes, so it is. When we turn to the Lord in times of trial, it is like healing and refreshment. He comforts us and gives to us peace. He guides us through the hard times, just as in Psalm 23:4, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.’”

That’s what I would have said. And I would have been true, but rather missing the point.

And while I love the ESV translation of the Bible (which is why I use it almost exclusively now), the ESV misses it here too.

The King James Version is a bit more literal when it says, “It shall be health to thy navel.” Navel? Yeah. Well, doesn’t that just mean it provides the body with healing, just like it says in the other versions? Well, yeah.

But the image here is not one of momentary and occasional healing, but of a feeding and provider through an umbilical cord. That image is so important to the verse, because if you don’t get that image, you’re going to miss what Solomon is saying.

I once saw the provision and healing of God as something we need in times of trouble, when our soul gets heavy and we become weary. Then we would turn to God and be drawn into Him, and He would heal our spiritual (and sometimes physical) wounds.

That is true, but it is more than that. God’s healing does not come like a meal – at certain times of day and to varying degrees – but it is rather like a mother’s provision for her unborn child. We are constantly connected to God, constantly being protected, guided, fed, and formed. So, yes, God is with us when we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but Psalm 23 never tells us that this is the ONLY time He will be with us.

So too is the next image. By “refreshment to your bones,” Solomon, I believe, is speaking of the constant circulation of blood through the marrow that keeps the bones strong. If you remove that source of life, the bone becomes brittle and breaks.

In other words, it is not that we should turn to Him in times of trouble, but “In all your ways acknowledge him” (Proverbs 3:6).

Guidance and provision come from God continuously. When we accept Jesus as Lord, we are given the Holy Spirit. Not for a moment, but for the rest of our days. Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus is always making intercession for us with the Father. James 1:5 tells us we can go to the Father for wisdom.

Finally, Jesus told us this, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He is truly with us always. Though He died for us on the Cross, He rose again, and lives still. He is eternal, and through Him we can live forever with Him. Repent and believe in Him, and you will find Him. He will not leave or forsake you, not even after death.