Can we tone down the Gospel?

"And they're off!!!"

    I was on my best behaviour that day:  for some reason, I have a reputation as a theological pit bull and my anonymous sister in Christ had done her level best to put the muzzle on, pleading for my utmost patience with her new friend.  I understand:  we've all been there, introducing people we love and esteem greatly, and it's our greatest hope that they love each other as much as we love them.  We arrange the place, the time, the atmosphere... and if we could borrow God's heart-changing power for just a second, it might be scary how far we would go to make them get along!
     I shook his hand and waited for a good moment to start with some gentle inquiries;  this man professed Christ, but it's tragic that in America in the 21st century, that and $5 will get you a mocha at Starbuck's, but nothing else.  I asked about the gospel and we were off to the races, galloping down the trendiest and most relevant perspectives on what can only loosely be called theology.  Of course, the further we went down that track, the more distant Scripture became in our rear view;  but the lowlight I want to respond to today was one I know you've heard, both in theory and practice:

"If we tell them about sin, judgment and hell, they won't like us and they'll think God is a big meanie!"

     I don't want to immediately dismiss the usual motive behind this approach:  just like my sister-in-Christ, when we speak to the lost, we have two people we love, we introduce them and earnestly desire that they would love each other as much as we love them.  Obviously, this is not a bad motive and one could easily classify this as "love for neighbor" (i.e. the lost individual);  their best interest and greatest good is to know and love Jesus, so how can we not present Jesus in the most winsome way?

     But there's something else that transcends love for neighbor, another law that is the greatest commandment:  "Love the LORD your God with all your heart..." (Mt 22:37).  Our role as messengers of Christ to a lost and dying world is not primarily for them... it's for Him and our love for Christ necessitates that we obey Him (Jn 14:15, 21, 23).  And furthermore, we are not left to guess how we are to promulgate His gospel;  the Scriptures are replete with the essential context of God's message of salvation, namely His sentence upon sin.  From the second chapter of the Bible onward, we learn He must judge and punish all disobedience.  All of God's prophets and messengers start with this clarion call to humanity; so there's an extremely relevant blueprint for evangelism (and a dire warning) tucked away in Ezk 3:16-19:

 

"And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul."

 

     We have heard a word, the final word, from God in the Person of Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2).  If a person

"He said what?!?"

neglects or spurns Him and His gospel, they do not turn from their wicked way (Jn 3:18) and lie under God's condemnation for sin.  It is required by God that, just like Ezekiel, we warn them and accurately convey His sentence of death upon them for their sin.  That's an inherent part of the job description of "messenger" many seem to have forgotten... they just deliver the message.  They don't get to change it, soften it, edit it or add to it.  The maxim "Don't shoot the messenger!" is predicated on this fact;  when you have to give your boss the bad news of coworker's insubordination, you sure don't want him to blame you for your coworker's words!  

     But if we do take it upon ourselves to polish up the message, their blood will God require at our hand.  So as much as we would desire the objects of our evangelism to love and know Christ, it comes back to the reality that the final outcome of each encounter really isn't up to us;  God has commanded the means of His salvation (the gospel in its full context;  Rom 1:16) and sovereignly planned and effected the result (Jn 1:12,13, 6:44).  His Holy Spirit convicts folks of their sin (Jn 16:8), not us.  In closing, listen to Paul back up Ezekiel with the exact same analogy:

"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God." (Acts 20:26-27)

May we follow in his footsteps and innocence.

Photos courtesy of Paulo Camera, spotzilla

True humility

If only...right?

     It is the greatest joy to watch an endeavour bear fruit both praiseworthy and good, something you have taken ownership of and invested in at high personal cost, and then say "I wish I could take the credit... but it's all God!"  I believe this joy is only available through the humility of an authentic grasp of the sovereignty of God and the working of His Spirit in us to "will and to work His good pleasure" (Php 2:13).  Or to put it another way, only Calvinists know that "every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights..."
     We are so quick to take the credit, aren't we?  The only thing we do faster is shift the blame!  Can you imagine the scene in Eden if eating the fruit did what Eve thought it would?  She would be vindicated as humanity's first feminist, and she would have herself to thank for it (with a shout-out on award night to the serpent!).  But instead, Eden is the prototypical horror story about what happens when we presume to supplement God's wisdom, to esteem our own judgment above His, and when we just want a little bit of the spotlight, darnit!  And that's exactly what a synergistic view of salvation does:  God gets most of the glory... He sent Jesus and all that, but when it came time to walk down to the altar and pray the prayer (or insert your own desired evangelical ritual), that was all me, man!
     No, it really wasn't;  when God irresistibly calls His elect and they first exercise the faith and repentance given to them, they really do choose God... because He chose them first (1 Jn 4:10, 19).  So everything of worth in us, from conversion to glory, has its origin and empowerment from God, and we just ride shotgun, where we occasionally get to pick the radio station.
     Along with this tidbit, I also have a heartbreaking episode to relate:  we were headed home from

"Is the dark side stronger?"  "I've got something strong in my diaper..."

church a couple weeks ago, and we had just finished reviewing my daughter's lesson.  I had returned my full attention to the road (who doesn't multitask?) when I heard from the back seat:  "Dad?  Do you sin?"  I don't think I had grappled with my depravity yet that day (ignorance is bliss, right?), so her question hit me hard:  who doesn't want to be the virtuous paragon of righteousness for their kids?  Isn't it "quicker, easier, more seductive" to set yourself up as their role model;  that way, you get the credit for their successes!   But I gave my little darling the only answer I could:  "Yes honey, I sin... that's why I need Jesus.  I need to be forgiven for my sin, so I repent and believe that Jesus died for me."  That's the best we can do for our kids:  tell them the truth that the only answer to the conflagration of God's judgment is the pressurized, fire-retardant foam of the grace of Jesus Christ.  Luther said to sin boldly, and a big chunk of his main idea was that only sinners can be forgiven, while the self-righteous openly mock the idea they need a Saviour (Mark 2:17).  The most seasoned, mature saints must affirm this...precisely the reason why they're mature!  So sit back on the first day of 2014, and relax in the fact that your moral effort (and subsequent failure) has nothing to do with your standing before God (Heb 4:10):  Christ has done it all and gets all the credit.

Photos courtesy of Biblestuff, chaines106

Biblical universes...

     I invested too much in a email theology question on Matt 24:24, so I had to post it...

"For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."

God's got it all right there, in His palm

      You (my friend) picked a great verse to hone our interpretive edges on...  I think one of the key points/ideas here is that of potentiality, or possible futures.  God knows all things exhaustively, both actual (that which His will has brought or will bring about) and possible (the alternate courses open to His sovereignty that He wisely rejected). 
     Our verse falls into the latter category:  the persuasive power of the false prophets (ordained by God, of course) is such that without the preservative power of the Spirit, the elect would fall away.  We see at least 2 other examples of potentiality in Matt, the 1st just 2 verses earlier (24:22) and the 2nd in 11:21-24;  God knows exactly what would have happened under different circumstances, which He completely controls.
     So the bottom line:  is it "possible" that the elect would/could fall away during the time of Matt. 24?  Arminians would say so, but when we think about what God has ordained from a 30,000 foot view (the previous paragraph), that assumes no other verses about what God does with the elect.  If God did choose this alternate universe where the elect are deceived, the Scripture given after His creation of this universe would differ from ours.  For example... "What shall separate us from the love of Christ?... those pesky false teachers!"  Or "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand... except the deceivers at the end of the age." (Jn 10:28)
     No, with what God says elsewhere, it is not possible for the elect to be deceived;  God has promised to keep them in His power (1 Pet 1:5).  Without it, we would fall, and it is this potentiality that Jesus warns us.  These warnings are another means of preserving grace:  Christ's sheep hear the warnings and flee from false christs.  

Photo courtesy of lauroroger

Good = ?

When you've got a hard heart, only one thing will break it...

     I have been struggling with bitterness this week;  I was passed over for a promotion at work.  And even worse, the guy who got it is a good friend and a strong believer!  So, my battle with self-pity and dissatisfaction has been severe and recurrent, like a bad case of gastroenteritis. 
     A few days before the hammer of rejection fell on my head, my wife and I were discussing a relative who has been never been married and would very much like to be.  My wife has strong matchmaking tendencies, and expressed her desire to "just see my relative happy!";  I responded with Ps 84:11 & 85:12:

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly...Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase."

     What my relative needs to do, I explained to my feisty wife, was change their definition of "good";  if God, in His inexpressible wisdom, has providentially denied us something we want, that thing must be bad for us.  In every society, there is a worldly definition of "good"... so when we are presented with the opportunity for more riches, romance, prestige, entertainment or the physical appearance of a 25 year old, the obvious question is "How can God NOT want me to have that???"  This disconnect between our perspective and God's goes all the way back, of course:  "So when the woman saw that the tree was good..." (Gen 3:6).  What God defined as death, Eve, in her sinful desires, defined as good.  Then there are the instances in Scripture where God gives unbelievers "good" things to blind them and accomplish their damnation (Ps 73:17f, Isa 2:7-12, 10:12, Rev 18:2-8). 
     So in the pit of my self-absorbed dejection, God brought to mind this point and I realized a false

Of course God wants me to have this!

seed of redefining "good" had crept into my heart and was sprouting its poisonous fruit.  No matter how much we want a new job, a new spouse, or new children (especially new children!), God knows exactly what circumstances and/or finances will conform us to the image of His Son.  For Paul, the Great Physician prescribed a full dose of suffering and crushing responsibility for His patient (2 Cor 11:23-28).  If anything, we can be happy that we get a little less!  Whatever toy or temporal pleasure He withholds from us must be, by definition, "bad".  So the next time you're frustrated with the allure of something you can't have, ask yourself:  "Is this good for me?"

Photos courtesy of stebulus, 401(K) 2013

Persecution, anyone?

     Isn't it incredible when you see God's promises come true?  The wonder and renewed certainty of the truth of God in Scripture is one of the many ways He upholds us and nurtures us in the middle of this "la vida loca".  Less than an hour ago, a notable verse came true for me...

 

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,..."  (1 Tim 3:12)

 

Our suffering is nothing compared to His...

    No, I wasn't crucified or flogged, nothing that would merit inclusion in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.  But according to our verse, the hatred of the world against God must find expression in some way, so I got a tiny dose of civilized Western persecution today.  Yesterday, I had an extended conversation with a JW at work, the most recent of many.  The last point he made was to ask for one instance in the Bible where Jesus was called Jehovah (or Yahweh).  So I walked him through Isa 6 and its N.T. exposition, Jn 12:41:  in Isa, the glory is explicitly emanating from Jehovah, and John just as explicitly tells us that the Person Isaiah saw was Jesus and he prophesied about Him for us.  My coworker had never seen this connection before, and was a little speechless (he usually gets mad when I stump him).  So today, he asked where I had gone to school (he meant my religious education).  I held up my hand in a big, fat zero, and told him that I had no formal training in theology.  He asked about my mentor, where did he study?  I was able to repeat my gesture, and his response was classic:

 

"Well, that would explain why you're so confused!"

 

     I said nothing, and he quickly told me he was just joking, and so I goodnaturedly chuckled and mentioned that's exactly what they said about someone else:  "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."  (Acts 4:13)  I too am a common, uneducated man.  But I know Jesus, and His words about the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant ring true:

 

"It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me..." (John 6:45)

 

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."  (John 16:13-14)

 

     We live in an unparalleled age of information, and we must avail ourselves of this incredible access and bounteous documentation.  But no education, formal or informal, can replace the supernatural Presence of God in His people.  The Holy Spirit is our divine Expositor, so learn to listen to Him as you preach the One who sent Him.

Photo courtesy of Bo Insogna

A Letter to the Senator...

     I have never cared about something enough to write to my legislators... or it could be that I've been deeply pessimistic about liberal legislators listening to a Christian conservative.  But the recent budget battle got me thinking about a political issue that transcends parties and that will quickly reduce us to financial ruin and slavery.  Please consider contacting your elected officials to beg them to take immediate steps to wean us off our national addiction.

 

 October 18, 2013                                                                                        

 

I'm begging you two for some sanity...

Dear Senator Murray,

 

     I am writing to convey my deep concern over our nation's economic path.  I, like most of the country, was unable to avoid the media frenzy surrounding the recent congressional battle to raise the debt ceiling, and I can't help but feel that we are one step closer to the complete ruin of our country;  but my angst is not rooted in the strife between the 2 sides, or the amount of procedure, committees and red tape utilized by our government.  The impending sense of doom I feel is rooted in what was not said, what was not mentioned or even hinted at on one channel, or printed in one article I read in the last 2 weeks.  The Tyrannosaurus Rex in the closet is the obvious reason why we need to raise the debt ceiling:  we spend more than we earn. 

     I am not a CPA, and I don't have a degree in finance, but this is one thing that every teenager getting his first paycheck learns pretty quickly:  you can borrow only so much before your friends get mad at you, the bank repossesses your car and the bankruptcy court forces you to sell your assets/toys.  For decades, we as a nation have elected representatives from both parties that enable us to enjoy a lifestyle significantly more expensive than the one we can afford, a privileged existence buoyed by subsidies, entitlements, legislative pork like the AEP dam project, etc. 

      So like any junkie being confronted by their caring, pleading family, we are faced with a simple choice:  cut back on the flow of destructive, addictive spending and start paying off the mountain of debt we already have, or we will overdose and kill ourselves and our nation.  This is the subtext of the last 2 weeks that has gone unspoken and thus unheard... this is the huge clot in our national artery, unseen and deadly.  No one wants to discuss it, but you of all people can't be ignorant of it.  As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, you are uniquely positioned and qualified to join the conversation on how we can save our country... I beg you to join me in correctly diagnosing and treating our national disease.

 

Sincerely,

 

Brett Schlee

 

Photo courtesy of orcmid

"Only Evil Continually..."

"...but the way of the wicked shall perish."

     I've always loved the King James Version... I just finished James White's "The King James Only Controversy", and so I freely admit the translation's shortcomings, but will echo him in calling it "venerable".  The title is from Gen 6:5, and describes unrestrained human sin before the time of the Flood.  So God acted justly, and wiped those naughty folks out, right?  And in these enlightened, more wholesome days, we have transcended our origins, completed our 12-step program for sin addiction and cleaned ourselves up.
     Or not... the only difference between the pre-Flood age and ours is that adjective "unrestrained";  since that little shower, God has been pleased to hamper our destructive desires and pursue His plan of redemption, starting with the tower of Babel and running down through history to the preaching of the gospel today.  Which brings us to the point of my post...

"Have you ever prayed that God would protect you... from you?"

     It's an interesting thought, but it's supremely biblical:  when it comes to reasoning and weighing out the enemies of the elect, Satan and the world usually get top billing.  If there is mention of our inner corruption, we often hear terms like "sin nature" or "the flesh".  And while the latter term at least is seen in Scripture, I am concerned that all too often, we deflect the force of what God must overcome to save us... namely, ourselves (Mic 2:1, Matt 12:34-37, Mk 7:20).  I'll explain:  I had the worst dream last night, and the main thing that terrified me about it was the bad guy.  It was me;  I was doing something horrible to someone I loved, without even thinking about it.  Yeah, I know dreams can be hazy and disjointed, just mental leftovers, all mixed together coming out of our subconscious.  Most of my dreams (and likely yours) are like that;  rather benign visions of flying or scenes from home/work that are too good/bad to be true.  

"You've got mail..."

     But it can be very healthy to be reminded of where we come from... sin really isn't something we do, it's who we are and God is actively holding back and protecting every person in the world from what we really want:  to enshrine ourselves and destroy anyone who won't worship us.  I've watched too many post-apocalyptic movies, and so that's how I picture a world without God's handcuffs.  

     So, think about it, and join me in thanking God on your knees that, for some mysterious reason, He decided to stop you in your tracks with His glorious gospel and rescue you from the bad guy... the one you see in the mirror every morning.

Photos courtesy of freefotouk, Rich Man