Month: March 2022

Categories
Christian Living

Consistently Faithful, Even In the Face of So Much Evil

I already know this to be true – you strive to be a person who is faithful. Faithful to your family, certainly. Probably most who read this strive to faithful to God. Maybe a lot of us even strive to be faithful to our employers. You strive to be a faithful person.

But in the struggle to be faithful, you have probably thought – “There sure is a lot of unfaithfulness and evil in the world today. So why am I trying so hard to remain faithful, when so many others are getting ahead by their unfaithfulness?”a sign with two opposing arrows, reminding us we have a choice to be faithful or to sin

You are right about the level of unfaithfulness around us, but before you get too upset about it, remember that things haven’t changed all that much in the past four thousand years. Joseph proves my point.

Joseph is so consistently faithful to God. And yet, a great deal of sin is constantly around him. It begins with his brothers who exhibit quite ungodly behavior:

  1. In Genesis chapter 35, Reuben has slept with one of his father’s concubines.
  2. The brothers were in some way unfaithful as shepherds of their father’s flocks, because Joseph gives a bad report about them to his father in chapter 37.
  3. And their jealousy makes them ready to kill their brother, even though they eventually decide to sell him into slavery.
  4. They make a pact to lie about this to their father.
  5. Then we have Judah’s sons who are wicked and are both killed by God due to their wickedness. (You’d have thought son #2 would have learned a lesson from the death of son #1).
  6. Judah makes a promise to his daughter-in-law, but then refuses to keep his word to her.
  7. While on a business trip, Judah sleeps with a woman he thinks is a prostitute, but who is actually his daughter-in-law who has tricked him.
  8. And with Joseph now in Egypt we learn that Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce him on multiple occasions.
  9. We also have the cupbearer who fails to keep his promise to Joseph.

This is a lot of sin and unfaithfulness within his family and in the relationships connected to him. And certainly there was the temptation to get ahead by following the same path. But Joseph maintains his integrity and character and his faith in God – living in a way that honors his Lord.sign that says "right is right even if no one is doing it" reminding us to be faithful to God

Isn’t this so very similar to our world today – a mess of sin – with people in our families and our communities and our places of work who are unfaithful to God. And so many around us would prefer that we join in with them, because doing so would help them feel less guilty about their unfaithfulness. It leads us to ask the question: “Will I give in, or will I be faithful and obedient like Joseph?”

The path of sin is easier, because it is a shortcut to something we want (at least we want it at that moment), but the actual costs are terribly high in the end.

God, help me to be faithful and obedient to You like Joseph was, even though so many around me have rejected Your guidance and tempt me to disobey Your word and Your will.

What Bible verse(s) help you defeat the temptations that come your way? Or who helps you stand strong against temptation, instead of pulling you towards it?

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Categories
Bible

Bound to the Word of God. (Tied, Restricted, and Restrained.)

Bound means tied up. Binding restraints and restricts. It means we can’t do certain things because we are tied to something else. If you physically tie me — bind me — to my chair, I can’t go for a walk. I can’t drive my car. I can’t go to work. Physically binding me would keep me in one fixed location.photo of a ship tied to the dock - bound

But we can also be bound in other ways. I am bound by my vows to my wife, and therefore I am emotionally, mentally, and physically united to her. She and I chose this binding to each other. We willingly restricted ourselves to each other. I am not able to be tied to another woman nor even to be tempted toward another, unless I loosen the bonds that I chose when I said “I do” to Paige.

So… what are you bound to? The Old Testament prophet Ezra bound himself to God’s Word. And we are also to be bound by God’s Word.

When we become a Christian, we say that the Bible will be the standard by which we are bound. Which means we will be restricted from certain thoughts and actions because of choosing to be tied to the commands within this Book. If you think all this binding sounds restrictive… It is, but it is restrictive for our good.

We have a good Heavenly Father, who has defined what should bind us. He indicates that the binding in marriage of one man to one woman for life is for our good. Paige and I believed that to be true because God said it, but now we have also lived it. This May, we will have experienced the truth of the goodness of this binding for 25 years. We have discovered that God’s Word about binding is definitely true in this area of life.

And God indicates that the binding of ourselves to His Word is always for our good. I want you to believe it because God said it is true. But I also want you to experience it.picture of a Bible - to which we are bound as Christians

At a Pastor’s Conference, Seminary President Al Mohler said:

We are bound by God’s Word.

We are in the midst of a culture that is embracing and accelerating sexual immorality and the whole general environment of immorality. It is becoming institutionalized, and it is celebrating rebellion against the Word of God.

And yet here we are, bound by the Word of God.

Does your congregation know that you as a pastor are bound by Scripture? Do they understand that there are things you must preach simply because God has revealed these things in His Word?

Does your congregation feel bound by Scripture? Do your church members understand that when Scripture speaks, God speaks? And that when God speaks, it is the voice of God? And that they are bound by it?

The Bible is the very Word of God, and it binds me for my benefit.

And as a believer you are also restricted and restrained by Scripture – tied to think, speak, and act in ways that God commands in it.

I hope that you will set your heart to love being bound by God’s Word – because it is a binding that is for your good.

Is there any command(s) from God’s Word that was hard for you to obey at the moment, but now you realize that obeying it was good for you?

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Categories
Christian Living

Sanctification: a one-time gift of God? Or an on-going, life-long process?

A question came across my desk from a church member regarding the word sanctification:

In our Sunday School lesson, the author used the term “process of sanctification.” I have a problem with that phrase, because I believe we are sanctified only once – at the moment of our salvation. I believe sanctification is the initial act of God making us holy and setting us apart, but then we abide in Christ and continually grow in holiness. Can you help me understand this phrase – “process of sanctification”?

What would your answer have been to the question:

Is Sanctification a one-time gift or an on-going process?

photo of a question mark for this question on sanctificationHere is the answer I gave to my friend:

First, we need to define our terms. Because sometimes two people can be describing two different things using the same word. And other times two people find they are using two different words, but talking about the same thing. In this case, both words (holiness and sanctification) are being used to define something that occurs once and something that is a process.

You indicated holiness means both a one-time event and a life-long process. The author of the Sunday School lesson was using the word sanctification to mean the same thing. That is because the definition of sanctified is “to make holy unto God.” And so the words are tied together and carry a very similar meaning. Here is some information from a Bible Dictionary:

The word “sanctification” comes from the biblical root words that are translated as “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” and  “sanctification.”  As all these words are translations of the same root, no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others.

Therefore, you are right when you say that the word Holy carries two meanings:

  1. We are Made Holy to God by Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross, AND
  2. We are abiding in Christ as we strive to walk in a Holy manner.

And theologians use the exact same argument for the word Sanctification:

  1. We are Sanctified (made Holy) to God by Jesus on the Cross, AND
  2. We are in the process of Sanctification (becoming more holy) as we abide in Him.

From the Bible Dictionary again:

Sanctification is the matter of a life and not of a moment. A life may be consecrated (or sanctified) in a moment, providing the right relation to God with the person now in saving fellowship with Him. The life is thus made holy in principle. But the real making holy will occur over the whole life of the person. It is nothing less than the constant transformation by the Spirit of Christ until we, “speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head” (Ephes. 4:15).

photo of walking a path as a symbol of sanctification being a life-long processSo, to sum up – Your understanding of the way the word Holy should be seen in two different senses is the same way that Sanctification typically is seen, because the two words are tied together in meaning.

This is why it is important that we define our terms when speaking! As we talk these things out, we often find we are in close agreement. Unfortunately, many people become adversarial over such issues and break fellowship with other, damaging their relationship. Had they taken the time to patiently talk it out, they may have found out that they agreed on the issue after all!photo of two people angry with each other - symbol of us arguing over words like sanctification

Thus ends my response to my friend. But here is my question for us now:

  • Have you been Sanctified (Made Holy) by Jesus’ Death on the Cross?
  • Are you being Sanctified (growing in Holiness) by abiding in Christ now?
  • And in our adversarial society, will you commit to patiently talk to people before jumping to conclusions about what you think they mean, so as to maintain good relationships with others? (Part of our God-given role as Ambassadors of Reconciliation!)

As you go out today into the wide world full of the unholy, live as a person sanctified and set apart by God for His kingdom purposes. Be an ambassador of light and love for Him!

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Categories
God

Life Is Messy. Our Families Are Too. God Still Has A Plan For Us.

Though we can make things quite messy – including our lives and our family’s lives – I am thankful that God loves us through the messes we  make. 
photo of messy paint splatter everywhereFor example, I know that Abraham and Sarah were godly people. However, as we read their story in the Bible, we see that they still struggled to do what was right. Some of the errors they made: Abraham was fearful that the attractiveness of Sarah could get him killed as they travelled (he had more fear of man than he had trust in God). His fear led them to tell half-truths to several people (another word for that would be lying!). There was also impatience with God’s timing, which led Abraham to sleep with Hagar to help God out instead of waiting on Him. Then there was Sarah’s jealousy and mistreatment of Hagar. And yet, through it all, God was good to Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac.

That’s the amazing God we serve – still loving us in the midst of our messy mistakes and sins.

And we see this repeated in Abraham’s grandson Jacob, though it seems to get even worse. We find out that Jacob was a liar who deceived his brother and father, but his uncle Laban turned the tables on him, which landed him with two wives (which was not God’s plan for marriage). And his wife Leah finds herself married to a man who didn’t choose her. Leah was in this mess of a situation due to the lies of her father and herself. She was part of the lie which wed her to Jacob. Not only that, can you imagine the anger that this act would have provoked in Rachel, knowing that her older sister tricked the man she loved into this marriage. So add in family divisiveness. What a mess.
photo of an extremely cluttered and messy storage roomAnd yet, even though Jacob didn’t love Leah in the way that he loved Rachel, God still loved Leah and blessed her. And even though Jacob had also been a deceiver, God still loved Jacob.

The whole story is strange, and it is a bit difficult to understand God’s working through what seems such a dysfunctional family full of deceit and jealousy. However, even with all of the sinfulness in the family, God still loved them and had a plan for them. I’m thankful for this story!

Here’s why: I’m glad to know that God is so gracious and forgiving toward us. I’m so glad that He still has a plan to work through the messes that I make in my own life and within my own family.
Aren’t you glad He loves you and works through your messes too?

You don’t have to clean up your life to come to Jesus. But once you come to Jesus, He will begin cleaning you up. Come as you are, with all of your messiness. Turn your messy life over to Him. He’ll love you in the midst of it all, and He’ll begin to clean you up.photo of a clean and orderly grocery store reminding us that our messy lives can be cleaned up

Take a moment to thank God that even though you have been a mess and you have made some messes, that He is a God who loves, a God who forgives, and a God who redeems!

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Categories
Ethics

The Holiness of Every Human Life – Including the Life of the Unborn

From the title, you can tell that this is going to be a pro-life post. I know that some may not care for a post on such a controversial topic. But God’s Word on this is clear, and with this being an issue that is currently before the United States Supreme Court, I feel that now is a good time to share about the Sanctity and Holiness of Every Human Life.text image saying - sanctity of life

Life has value. God is the one who creates life. And regarding the uniqueness of human life, God made us in His image.

God is holy. His image is holy. Therefore every God-ordained life of every image-bearing human has inherent holiness. Inherent sanctity.

When one adult murders another adult, the life of an image-bearer of God is prematurely ended. The murderer demonstrates his contempt for God by de-valuing the God-ordained life of his fellow human. God created us to be His image-bearers. And to destroy that image shows contempt for God and His image.

In America, we have freedom and prosperity and live in an advanced society, and yet there are still so many people who are unhappy. Why is that? Part of the reason is our rejection of God’s morality. God created us to be like Him, so when we refuse and resist the morality that He has built into us, we become troubled. And so a key reason we find ourselves living in a troubled nation is because of our loss of the moral and spiritual center that God has established.

Yet here in our advanced nation, many of the leaders in science and education continue moving us further away from God – further away from His morality – by moving us away from His Life Ethic. God’s life ethic is the idea that Human Life is sacred from conception to death. And even as a nation, we don’t always disagree about this life ethic.

For example, WW II was a terrible war that pointed out the immorality of several other nations who did not value human life and who had a twisted life ethic.

At Pearl Harbor, we lost 2402 human lives.

Throughout the war, we lost 418,500 American Soldiers in battle.

And in the Holocaust of the war, the Nazis killed 6 million Jews and another 4 million people and prisoners of war. Ten million human lives – ten million image-bearers of God – murdered by the Nazi State.

All because of a flawed or missing life ethic.

We rightly call this blatant disregard for human life an atrocity against humanity. That is definitely what it was. It was the opposite of the sanctity of human life. But here in America, we have also committed an atrocity against humanity – as a nation we have disregarded human life in the womb.

In the United States, we have committed 59.5 million abortions. Where is our nation’s life ethic?

Such big numbers are hard to visualize, so let me show you a map for some perspective.a u.s. map showing the southeast u.s. in red to represent the number of abortions - the evidence of the lack of sanctity for human life

The number of abortions we have committed in 49 years equals the current populations of LA, AR, MS, TN, AL, GA, FL, and SC.

All the people living in those states right now equals 59.5 million people. Wipe out all of us living in the Southeast United States today… and that equals the same number of babies that have been murdered in our nation in the last 49 years.

Right now, our life ethic has us rightly angry over the devastation that is taking place in Ukraine. And if a bomb were dropped which destroyed the lives of everyone in the southeast United States, there would be outrage throughout our nation. And yet, because we have deemed abortion “okay” as a nation, we have allowed the same number of babies lives to be ended over these past 49 years.

God values human life. He created it. He ordained us as His image bearers. We do not have the right to end the life that He creates just because it has not yet exited the womb.picture of an infant holding the finger of an adult - reminding us of the sanctity of human life at all ages

Embracing God’s life ethic is important, though it is obvious that much of our nation does not. As a nation, we have embraced this sin as normative – and it has gone so far that we have now killed millions of our own children. The Holocaust sickens us. Rightly so. And yet, here in America, we have murdered 6 times the number of humans killed by Nazi Germany.

We need to become advocates for the Sanctity of Human Life.A bill from Mississippi is presently before the United States Supreme Court. I hope you will join me in praying that our Justices will help us to become a nation that believes in the Holiness, the Sanctity, of every Human Life, from conception to natural death.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to help us become a nation that holds life sacred. You made us in Your image. Transform us into a nation that honors You, the Giver of life who has defeated death, by holding every human life as sacred. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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