Into The Harvest
"So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." Matthew 9:38
Theological Snobbery
I was a bodybuilder in high school. Granted, I was not some muscle bound freak of nature. In fact, I was quite skinny. But in every sense of the word, I lived the bodybuilding lifestyle. I trained religiously everyday in the weight room for hours on end. I consumed a diet of high calories and protein, and very little fat, sugar, or carbohydrates. I even competed in a small bodybuilding competition my freshman year in high school. I was a bodybuilder in every sense of the word. The only problem was that I did not fit in with the majority of other bodybuilders that I knew in the gym where I worked out.
There were a few things that bodybuilders did that I did not do. And these things that I did not do separated me from the others. Most of the bodybuilders in my gym at that time took anabolic steroids. This helped them make huge muscle gains and they looked the part of a bodybuilder. I on the other hand was lean and very low in body fat, but I was small compared to them. And because of that, although I was a bodybuilder, I was not viewed as a bodybuilder by some.
When it comes to my theological leanings, I am reformed. I believe fully in the sovereignty of God in all areas, including salvation. I believe in the five points of Calvinism. I believe that salvation is not a mere human decision, but a supernatural transformation wherein God literally makes a person into a new creation. I believe in the five solas of the reformation. And I confidently affirm the 1689 London Baptist Confession of faith. These are all tenants of the reformed faith.
However, as I have gotten older, I have come to see that much like my bodybuilding venture, I don’t check all of the boxes and fit in with many others who would call themselves reformed. It seems that a great many in the reformed community have added other criteria that one must adopt in order to call themselves reformed.
When I was newly reformed in my theology, I embraced many of these check marks that I will mention. But over time, I began to ask myself why. For example, many preachers feel that in order to be truly reformed, we must do away with any kind of age segregation in the church. Meaning that there are no youth groups and young children should always be with their parents in the main worship service.
Ive met some preachers who will proudly tell others that they do not believe in youth group and that their children do not go to children’s church, but sit in the main service. Its almost like a boasting right or badge of honor. And let me say that by no means am I saying that children should not ever be in the main worship service. But to mandate that in order for them to learn they must be in the main service is an over reach.
The real question we must ask is, “Are the children learning and growing in their faith?” Some genuinely may be, and praise the Lord. But many times very young children who are forced to sit in the main worship service every Sunday instead of going to a children’s church hour are not paying any attention to the preacher. And many times, its because the preacher is more concerned about being viewed as some great theological giant than he is actually relating and applying the Word of God to those whom he preaches to.
It is a fine thing for families to worship together in corporate worship. But it is also not a sin for families to allow their children to attend a class designed for their age group with peers of their own.
There seems to be what I call a theological snobbery within many reformed circles. To be truly reformed, you must do church a certain way, the puritans must be your favorite choice of books, and the preachers that you listen to must all be Calvinistic. You must attend all of the right conferences and have all the right theological leanings on secondary issues of the faith. And if you do not do these things, then you are viewed not truly being reformed.
One of my favorite preachers is Leonard Ravenhill. And he did not have a Calvinistic bone in his body. But that man preached more truth than some of the more famous modern day Calvinist preachers that I hear today. We give our eight year old daughter the option of sitting in big church or going to children’s church each Sunday. Sometimes she wants to sit in the service. And other times she wants to go to children’s church. And I can tell you that every time she goes to children’s church, she comes home talking about what she learned from scripture.
Im not saying that there is anything wrong with churches who decide not to have a youth group or children’s programs. If that is what works for your church, and disciples are being made, then praise the Lord. But on the other hand, we need to be careful about pointing a chastising finger at churches who do utilize children’s church or youth group. If that is what is working to bring their people to Christ, then to God be the glory. There is no where in scripture that tells us exactly how these things should be. The true test is the spiritual growth of those in the church.
The pharisees were really good at patting themselves on the back for their high knowledge of the scriptures and they often criticized and looked down upon others who would not abide by their man made rules. We must be very careful not to become modern day pharisees in our reformed circles. And I do not say this as an accusation. As I said opening up, I am reformed. And I am just as much prone to puff up with pride. I have to diligently guard my own heart daily.
Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that knowledge puffs up a man. Now as Christians we are to pursue knowledge and wisdom from scripture. But in this pursuit, we can easily become puffed up and wise in our own eyes. We can easily start to believe that our way is right, and everyone else is wrong.
I am reformed. But I am no longer concerned about being accepted by or conformed to what many believe it means to be reformed. In fact, I never tell people that I am reformed or Calvinistic unless they ask me. Because those words do more harm than good to those who are not of those belief systems. My greatest aim is not to check all of the modern day boxes of what it means to be reformed. Rather, I want to be biblical. And I want to meet people where they are and see them come to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
There was a time when I tried to check all of the boxes in regards to being reformed. But the older I get, I no longer care what other men or even preachers think of me. I only want to be pleasing to the Lord, and to be used by Him to shepherd His people to know Him. I am still prone to stump my toe on the rock of theological snobbery. All of us are. But in those weak moments, I am reminded that He must become more, and I must become less. When it comes to church, do not design your programs to fit neatly into what the majority do within a theological circle. Do what is best for your people to grow in their sanctification and in the grace of Christ.
Which Comes First; Sports or the Church?
What we prioritize in life is a great indicator of what we worship. At times, our profession of Christ as the greatest desire of our life is betrayed by our actions. And many times, we attempt to justify the very actions that accuse us of being idolators. Because if you want to see someone go into defense mode, just try and take away their idol. I know that to even think about speaking or writing to people about rethinking their priorities is akin to trying to take a piece of raw meat away from a hungry animal. However, I believe that as Christians it is crucial that we contemplate this issue.
An idol is anything that we place more value upon than God. And one of the biggest idols in our world today is sports. Particularly when it comes to our children. Thankfully, by His grace, the Lord saved my wife and I when our children were very young. Lacy and I made a commitment to the Lord that our children’s extra curricular activities would not ever take precidence over the worship of God.
We were put to the test fairly quickly. Our son Andy was playing his first year of football on the 3rd grade team. After his tryout, the coach told us that Andy would most definitely be one of his starters. He said he saw that our son was very athletic at a young age and would have a bright future in football. We later found out that his football practices were held on each week day afternoon at 6 PM, including Wednesdays. This happened to be the exact time that our mid week evening church Bible studies began.
We had a choice to make. We could have justified letting Andy practice by saying, “It’s only for a few months. And besides, it’s not like he will be missing Sunday morning.” But that was not the path we took. At the next practice, I met with the coach and shared with him that Andy would not be able to attend practices on Wednesday, because we had church at that time. The coach seemed to be understanding.
However, when game day came around, Andy did not start the game like the coach said he would. In fact, he did not get to play at all. As the season progressed, Andy would get to play maybe for a minute or so each game, but that was it. It was clear that our son was being punished for not being present for Wednesday night practices.
As our children have gotten older, they have continued to be involved in many different sports teams and activities. And we have seen the heartbreak on our children’s faces at times when they have been slighted by coaches due to our decision. We have even had Christian friends at times attempt to convince us to compromise our stance. And most of the time, their justification is, “It’s not like they are missing Sunday morning.”
Jesus said many times that believers would be persecuted for following Him. In fact, I would say that persecution by the world is one of the identifying marks in a Christian’s life. The definition of persecution is to be ill treated or treated in hostility by someone. So within those parameters, persecution has a broad spectrum. Persecution can be not being accepted or cast out of a group for your profession of Christ. Or in the most extreme cases, it can lead to death. Persecution marks the life of a true Christian. That is why Peter said that we should rejoice when we are persecuted for the name of Christ.
“But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” 1 Peter 4:13-14.
Jesus said that persecution was something that was to be expected by believers. And that when persecuted, we should be joyful. Because when persecution comes in the life of a Christian for standing firm for Christ, it is because they have chosen to swim against what is popular in society, for the glory of God.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.” Matthew 5:11-12.
Granted, Christians are not to look for persecution. Honestly, I think anyone who went around looking for ways to be persecuted would need to check into a funny farm. Because persecution is not pleasant. Rather, persecution for a believer comes, not because they seek it, but because they choose the path less traveled in Christ instead of the Vanity Fair of the world. Christian persecution usually comes any time that believers place the things of the world second to Christ.
But when Jesus says that believers will be persecuted for His name, what exactly does He mean? What does it look like to be persecuted for Christ?
There are many believers who view Christian persecution as sickness, job loss, financial hardships, and a lack of material things. But if these maladies do not come about or have been caused due to living for Christ, then they are not persecutions, but just the effects of living in a fallen world. The rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). It is important to make this point, because the persecutions that Jesus said believers would experience are not just hardships, but they come solely from a believers life of obedience to Him.
With that distinction made, there are very few professing Christians living in the United States who are experiencing true persecution due to their obedience to Christ. Keep in mind, we are not talking about hardships. Because unfortunately, we all experience hardships in this life. We are talking about hardships that are brought on because of living for Christ. And the reason that we see so few Christians experiencing this type of persecution in our nation is because there is little to no separation from the world in their lives. The world does not desire Christ to be the top priority in life. And unfortunately, neither do many professing believers.
Christians are commanded to be in the world, but not of the world (Romans 12:2). That means that there are to be lines of separation in our lives. We are not commanded to disguise ourselves to look like the world in order to win the world. Too many churches today have bought into that lie, and their church services, which look more like a rock concert than true worship, bear the proof. Rather, Christians are to be in the world, but there is to be a noticeable difference. That is to say that the way that believers live their lives should be a contradiction and a curiosity to the world.
The true Christian cannot listen to or watch the same entertainment as the world, because of their love of Christ. The true Christian cannot dress the same as the world, because of their love of Christ. The true Christian cannot use the same crude language of the world or take part in sinful pastimes, because of their love for Christ. And the Christian will at times, forbid their children from attending certain events that are scheduled during times of worship, due to their love for Christ.
Is it a sin to occasionally miss mid week church or Sunday services? Absolutely not. Sometimes there are things that prevent us from temporarily gathering with the church. But compromise is a slippery slope. It’s always a struggle for those who love Jesus to ever choose to neglect any opportunity to gather with the saints and worship our Lord. Because for the true believer, gathering with believers and worshipping Christ is the heart cry of their soul. But the struggle gets to be less and less the more compromise is let in.
I know that in the world’s eyes, it is a praiseworthy thing for parents to do anything possible to promote and seek the advancement their children’s opportunities in sports and education. And these pursuits in and of themselves are not bad things. The problem arises when these pursuits become ultimate. Meaning that they are seen as a top priority.
Ive heard Christians attempt to justify neglecting the worship of God and gathering together with other believers for worship by calling the ball field or the dance recital “their mission field.” And while it is a good thing for believers to go to unbelievers in order to be a light for Christ, when it comes at the expense of breaking God’s command to not neglect gathering with the saints, it is not missional, but disobedient.
“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25.
“It’s only a church service, so whats the big deal?”
This is the familiar rebuttal that I hear all the time, even from professing Christians. Our own children have even expressed this same justification in hopes of being able to play in games that conflict with church gatherings. But it all comes down to priorities. And what you prioritize will serve as a testimony to those who oppose your decision. Do you want to reach the world for Christ? Ask yourself, “What does the world see as being a priority in my life?” You can profess to be a Christian that loves Jesus all day long. But the old saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”
I want my children to have a great education and excel in the sports that they love. I want them to be involved in and a part of the pastimes that they love. And I do not want them to be penalized or seen as an outcast on their teams or extra curricular activities due to missing a practice or a game. But I want them to know Christ more. If they experience rejection due to choosing to gathering with the church over their sports, therein lies a teaching moment to explain to them what it is to experience worldly persecution for Christ, and the spiritual joys associated within that decision. I want my children to see the prioritization of Christ and His church as the focus of how we lead our family.
If you model to your family that sports and recreational pastimes are things that regularly take precedence over the church, don’t be surprised and dismayed when your children grow up and do not prioritize Christ. They may agree or disagree with your decisions, but know that your children are watching how their parents lead. Know that your community is watching how you lead. And it will impact the way they view the world, the church, as well as how they lead their own families. All Christian parents would say that they want their children to know the Lord Jesus and to be saved. But many of those same families see Christ and the church as a secondary part of their lives.
Some of the coaches and parents in our community who know that our family makes Wednesday night church a priority may disagree with our stance. But at the end of the day, no matter if they agree with us or not, they know that the Lord is the most important part of our lives. Our children may at times disagree with our decision to prioritize the church, but when they are grown they will be able to say, “Our parents never wavered in their commitment to make Christ preeminent in our lives.”
When it comes to our Christian witness, we model what the priorities in our lives are to our community and to our families by what takes precedence in our weekly schedules. Again, we can say to others that Jesus is preeminent in our lives. But is that what others see as being true? It’s easy to say that we are Christians. But talk is cheap. And if at times the world does not shun you for putting it second to Jesus, then just might want to take stock of your priorities.
In conclusion, this is not a legalistic plea for believers to make Christ and His church the priority in their lives. In Malachi 1:10, the Lord told believers who were gathering regularly with the saints for worship that He wished they would lock the church doors and stop coming. Because although they were coming to worship, their hearts were not in it. So to the person who may grumble or scoff at making church a priority in their lives, I would say keep living your life the way you want to. I’m not asking anyone to do something that they do not want to do. Im simply asking that we all evaluate our priorities in life, and for us to snuff out any and all idols in the process. The Lord is not after our burdensome submission, He wants our prioritization of Him in our lives to be the desire of our hearts.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” 1 John 5:3.
We prioritize the things which we are most passionate about in life. Sports and dearly loved hobbies are not at all a bad thing. The question is, are they of first importance in your life? Are the preeimanent, even over the Lord and His bride? And for the believer who has truly been regenerated, they have been given a new heart which now desires the things of the Lord more than anything. For the Christian, it is not a burden or a struggle to make Christ and His church their top priority in life. Rather, it is their hearts desire.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
“And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Colossians 1:18.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.
Beautiful Scars
A few years ago, I went to a high school track meet to watch my son throw the shot put. If you have ever been to a track meet, you know that it is an all day event. And there were a good many races before the shot put started. So I found my place on the bleachers, and settled in to watch the races. The first event was the mile run. The competitors lined up and as soon as the gun fired, they were off.
Out of the five runners, two of them left the others in the dust. And these two runners were neck and neck for most of the race. On the last lap, one of the runners pulled slightly ahead of the other. As they approached the finish line, the lead runner turned his head to look back at the man behind him. When he looked back, it caused him to slow his pace just enough for the runner behind him to take the lead and win the race. If he had not taken his eyes off of the finish line to look back, he would have won.
Satan’s greatest distraction for causing believers to stumble and take their eyes off of Christ is to tempt them to look back to their past instead of prize of Christ that lies ahead. Maybe it’s a past sin that causes regret. Or perhaps it is a sin that was committed against them that causes the person to reply the hurt over and over again in their minds.
Dwelling upon and constantly looking back to the past can derail the future. And dwelling on the past is a byproduct of an unforgiving heart. For the person that dwells upon their past sins and says, “I just cannot forgive myself” you are declaring yourself to be more righteous than God. For the one who repents of their sin and trusts in Christ, the Lord says that he casts our sins as far as the east is from the west (Proverbs 103:12). The same way God has forgive us, we are to forgive ourselves.
And for the person who dwells on a hurtful and tragic sin committed against them, the real issue is forgiveness. I have heard it said by people who cannot let go of someone hurting them, “I have forgiven them, but I will never forget what they did to me.” God says something much different. He says that He will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12). This does not mean that God no longer has any recollection of our transgressions. Rather, it mean that He will no longer dwell upon them. He will no longer bring our sins to His mind. To harbor any form of unforgiveness is to consider ourselves to be more Holy than God.
Isaiah 43:18-19 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
In Isaiah 43, God is telling Israel to forget a future tragedy that has not yet happened to them. In a nutshell, Israel was very wayward in their relationship with God. So God is about to allow the Babylonians to enslave the people of Israel for approximately 70 years. And after 70 years, the Lord tells Israel that He will restore them and bless them greatly. And before this takes place, God tells them not to dwell on this tragedy that will befall the nation in the future, but rather trust in the blessings that will come out of that hardship.
Remember Not the Former Things
This is the first portion of Isaiah 43:18. We are to forget the former things. But how can we forget painful events in our life? When the Lord commands this, He does not mean to erase the past from our minds. That is impossible. Rather it means to no longer give your past weight in your life. Whatever happened, it is now over and done. And the weight of that sin has been placed upon Christ, rendering it completely powerless. It is choosing to no longer hold the past again yourself or someone else. It is making the choice to no longer let the past control the direction of your future.
Nor Consider the Things of Old
This is God’s command not to dwell on the past. Don’t keep rehearsing or replying it in your mind. If it is something you have done, repent and ask for God to forgive you. And if it is some sin that was committed against you that you cannot let go of, consider Christ on the cross. And the fact that it was your sins that He bore so that you would be spared from the wrath of God. ‘I can never forgive’ is a phrase that no true Christian can utter. It is to say you deserve God’s forgiveness for your many sins, but others do not. We are commanded to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. And if we do not forgive others, Christ says that we will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15). Do not consider the things of old. Look forward to Christ, not backwards to what has been done. And for the Christian, do not look backward to what has been forgiven.
Behold, I am Doing a New Thing
When we hold on to the past and keep looking back, we are in danger of missing the new thing that He is doing in our lives. We are to look for the good that God is doing in our lives. Notice in the verse, God asks the question, “Do you not perceive it?” If you are still dwelling on what has past, you will likely not perceiving what He is doing in your present and future.
Remember the wife of Lot. As Lot and his family were fleeing from the city of Sodom and Gomorrah which was being consumed by God’s firey wrath, his wife turns around to look back. The original language actually uses words that indicate that she may have been going back to the burning city, not just looking at it. And she was turned into a pillar of salt. She could not perceive the future blessings that God had in store for her. And she ran back to her past.
Satan desires to remind us of our past so that we miss the blessings of God. The great German reformer Martin Luther often felt the temptation to look back at his sinful past. He felt that Satan tortured him with memories of his past transgressions, reminding him that he deserved separation from God for his sins. And Luther wrote this;
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: “I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”
The Apostle Paul was a great sinner before his conversion to Christ. He was not only an enemy of Christ, he also was a persecutor and murderer of Christians. No doubt Paul had much guilt over his past sins, and there were most likely other believers who had loved ones that he had put to death. But Paul did not spend his life looking backwards. Nor did the disciples and leaders of the first century church hold Paul’s sins against him. In Philippians, the Apostle Paul wrote;
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was said to be a very handsome man. As the myth goes, he walked by a pool of water and caught saw his reflection in the water. He spent the rest of his life staring at his reflection, missing out on life, because he could not lift his gaze from his looking at himself.
I believe there are people who are no different than Narcissus. They are deeply cut or injured by some tragedy in their life. Immediately, they look down at their wound and lament at the pain. But over time, the wound heals and eventually becomes just a scar. The immediate pain is gone, and the wound is no more. But many still spend their time staring at the scar, and dwelling upon the pain once was. Like Narcissus, they spend their lives gazing at themselves, all the while completely missing out on the blessings that God has given all around them.
Imagine a man who committed a terrible crime. He is sentenced to years in prison, and after he has served his time, the jail door are opened and unlocked. He is free to leave. However, the man cannot move. Instead of running towards freedom, he sits in his cell with his head in his hands, replaying the events that led to his incarceration. This is unforgiveness. No matter if it is neglecting to forgiving yourself, or refusing to forgive others, unforgiveness is a self imposed prison. The door to the cell is open. But the one who refuses to forgive chooses to sit in the cell, and look at the past instead of walk out of the prison.
God can turn your pain into His purpose. He can transform and use your past by His providence. Paul greatly regretted His past as an enemy of Christ. But God used it for good. Once saved, Paul ’s past gave him a greater understanding of the religious leaders who opposed Christ. Because he once was them. Nicky Cruz was a violent gang member in the 1950’s. As an adult he heard the Gospel and was radically saved. Cruz went on to create a ministry to the gangs that he once ran with and wrote his testimony in a book called ‘Run Baby Run.’ God desires to use our painful pasts for His glorious future plans. Remember Joseph who was abandoned by his brother and sold into slavery. Eventually God restored Joseph’s reputation and made him second in rank next to Pharaoh. When Joseph finally confronted his brother who had betrayed him, he did not tell them that he would never forgive them. Joseph forgave his brothers, saying to them, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). God does not want to constantly remind you of the pain of your sinful past. He wants to redeem it to be used for His present and future glory.
For the Christian, the emotional scars that you bear should be a reminder, not of the pain that once was, but of His amazing grace in your life. Our past should be a reminder of how we are forgiven in Christ, and how in like manner, we are to forgive those who once sought to do us harm. God is creating rivers where there was once a desert, and sunshine where there were once storms. The question is, can you not perceive it? Don’t listen to the Satanic lies of the devil who desires to sow seeds of pain and unforgiveness in your heart. Satan whispers, “God cannot use you due to the sins of your past.” But it’s a lie. Just ask Paul, David, Joseph, or practically any of the other men and women in scripture. God always has a purpose for allowing pain in our lives. And God can always redeem our past sins for His purposes. And His purposes always resound to His glory.
Look to Christ, who we all have sinned against. Yet those in Christ will never have their pasts held against them by the Lord. The agony that Jesus endured at Calvery etched scars on his hands and feet from the nails that pierced his skin. But the scars of Christ are not a merely a reminder of His pain, but of the great glory that came out of it. Without the pain of the cross, there would not be a resurrection. And without a resurrection, there would be no redemption for mankind. Jesus overlooks our transgressions, He forgives our sins, and He calls us to look ahead to the future that He has for us. Don’t look back to the past without seeing how the Lord has turned what was once an emotional wound into a beautiful, God glorifying scar.
Children’s Church & Youth Ministries; God’s Will or Man’s Design?
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus preached primarily to those who thought themselves to be religious. The Pharisees were the main targets of the rebukes of Christ. They followed the laws of God, but also added their own laws and religious requirements to His word. The Pharisees not only added their own laws, but they imposed them on others. And anyone who did not follow the laws of the Pharisees, they deemed them to be sinners.
The most hilarious example of their self righteousness (in my opinion) is when Jesus dined with the Pharisees in Luke 11. The Pharisees had a law that stated a person must wash their hands before eating. In the passage, the Pharisees were astonished that Jesus did not wash his hands before the meal. And knowing their self righteous hearts, Jesus responded to their shock.
“And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” Luke 11:39.
Jesus dismantled their self righteous attitude. He said that they were more concerned with the outside of the cup (how religious they appeared to others) than the inside of the cup (their true standing before God). As 21st century Christians, it is easy for us to shake our heads in disgust at the self righteousness of the Pharisees. But in all actuality, we are all very prone to falling into the trap of becoming Pharisees.
Phariseeism, as I call it, is at it’s core, making laws where there is no chapter and verse to support it. I’ve known Christians who would declare anyone who smoked a cigarette as being in sin. Although the practice is not healthy, smoking is certainly not sinful. Ive known Christians who have demonized anyone who has a tattoo as being in sin. Again, there is nothing in scripture (in the right context) that forbids a person from getting a tattoo. These are examples of making a law where there is none. And this is being a modern day pharisee.
Sadly we are still prone to make laws where there are none. Particularly in the church. I have begun to see this more and more in the areas of youth groups and children’s church. Especially within reformed baptist circles, this issue of having a youth group or children’s church seems to be an ever evolving in house debate.
The concept of youth group and children’s church has come under scrutiny in the last few years due to a growing concern over proper discipleship. We’ve all heard of those youth groups that are more about fun and silliness rather than actually teaching the scriptures. And I have known children’s church programs where it is really more of a day care center than teaching children foundations of the faith. These man centered ministries to youth and children are unfortunately a reality in many churches. And I will be the first to condemn those kinds of ministries.
However, because there are many wonky youth groups and children’s ministries, the knee jerk reaction by many has been to just dismiss the idea of youth groups and children’s ministries all together. In attempts to avoid these pitfalls, for many Christian, the pendulum has swung to the side of frowning upon the mere idea of having a youth group or children’s church.
Some have gone so far as to verbally say that the ideas of youth group and children’s church are unbiblical. What they mean is that no where in scripture do we see a youth or children’s discipleship group. But on the other hand, we do not see anything in the scriptures that forbid age related discipleship groups either.
Just because there are unbiblical youth and children’s ministries in our world does not mean that every one of them is therefore bad. Just as there are many churches that are unbiblical, you cannot dismiss the idea of church altogether based on a few bad apples. You cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Because of this stigma, there are parents that have chosen to completely remove their youth and children from discipleship classes geared towards their age, and instead keep them in adult classes or in the main church services. Although they would never say it, many who make this decision proudly inform others that their children will only be discipled in the adult services, almost like some kind of badge of their righteousness. But let me press back just a little and ask, could the decision to shun all age related discipleship groups actually be to the detriment of the child’s spiritual growth?
Lets consider children’s ministry first. Most children do not have the mental capacity to understand the majority of preachers in the pulpit. Big words and theological concepts that many adults struggle to understand are being unpacked in most orthodox Christian churches on Sunday morning. And most of the children that I see sitting in church are either coloring a picture, playing with toys, sleeping or visibly upset. I have nothing at all against children being in the main service at church. So long as they are actually learning, understanding, and growing in their spiritual walk. And granted, there are some children who can grasp these big concepts. But most below the age of 8 cannot.
I know some will bristle at what I have said. I have been told by some who disagree with me that all that is needed to bring salvation to our children is to have them placed under the reading of scripture. And God will supernaturally bring them to new spiritual life. I agree that salvation is indeed a supernatural act of God. However, the person who is receiving the spoken word must not only hear the word, but they must also be able to understand what they have heard.
We have a biblical example in Acts 8. There was an Ethiopian Eunuch who was reading the book of Isaiah. Philip saw him reading the word of God and asked him if he understood what he was reading.
“So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:30-31.
The text does not say that the eunuch read the word of God and automatically just from reading the words, he was saved. He did not understand what he was reading. It took a teacher like Phillip to explain the passage in Isaiah so that he could understand.
When the resurrected Christ walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it was clear that the disciples had read the Old Testament. But they did not understand that all things written by the prophets and Moses pointed to Christ. Then Jesus, beginning with Moses, walked them through the Old Testament, explaining it to them so that they would understand.
The ultimate question we should ask is, ‘Are my children comprehending what they are hearing?” If they are, wonderful. But again, most children require a lot of explanation, and things must be explained in a way that they can understand. At a conference, a man asked Paul Washer his view of children’s church programs. Washer responded by saying that he knew of children’s church programs where the children were actually learning and comprehending more biblical truths than the adults.
I’ve known parents who have told me that the reason they keep their young children in the main church service as opposed to sending them to children’s church is because they are teaching them to be able to sit through the church service. But I would much rather my child walk out of church having learned more about Jesus than using that time to train them to sit still.
If a children’s church program is not teaching the Bible, then yes, that is a major problem. But if the program is teaching the children Biblical truths and right doctrine in a manner where the kids can actually understand and are growing in sanctification, then I fail to see the problem. It all comes down to determining where which setting the child will best understand the scriptures that are being taught. Personally, the church that I pastor is blessed with very biblical sound Bible teachers who lead our children’s church each Sunday, teaching doctrinal truths in ways that our children are comprehending.
Now let us consider youth groups. I have heard the argument made that in the first century, there was no age segregation in the local church. However, Josephus (1st century historian) once wrote of parents in the early church sending their youth out to sit under certain rabbis, along with other youth, in order to be taught the scriptures. Before one can argue examples from church history, they must not be ignorant of church history.
Let me say that I do believe that our youth and children should be part of the collective body of Christ, and should in no way only be with those that are their own age. That is where the body life of the church comes in. We need older men pouring into young men, and older women pouring into younger women. Also church outreach and gatherings should include people of all age groups, not just some. But there are times when it comes to discipleship where there are great advantages in having the teaching geared towards certain age groups.
As with children’s church, the question that must be asked is, “Are my youth growing in their knowledge of the Lord?” If they are in a youth group that is heavy on fun and light on discipleship, then that is a major problem. But if the word of God is being properly expounded in the context of a youth group, then again, I fail to see the problem.
Once more, I am in no way against children or youth being included in classes or setting where the teaching is primarily geared towards an adult audience. What I am against is placing a child in a class setting where they are comprehending little to none of what is being said. On another personal note, our church is blessed with a wonderful youth minister who teaches our youth in a verse by verse manner, giving explanation to the passages as he unpacks biblical truth. There are many youth ministers and children’s ministers who labor in study each week in order to rightly proclaim the word of truth in a manner where those under their teachings can understand and comprehend.
Most especially in reformed circles, there is a strong tendency for people to jump on bandwagons and plant hard and fast flags. There is a tendency for people to make up laws where there are no laws. There is a tendency to attempt to say, “Thus saith the Lord” where the scriptures are silent.
And most. of the time, this is done in all good intentions to guard right doctrine and create guardrails to aid in sanctification. But that is exactly why the Pharisees created extra biblical laws. So that they could better enforce the laws and commands of God, they created new laws in attempts to strengthen what was already written. And in doing so, the Pharisees went outside of the bounds of inspired scripture, and added to the commands of God.
Children’s and youth ministries are not unbiblical in the sense that they are sinful and or frowned upon by God. That is, unless they are not actually proclaiming the word of God. In fact, I would say that these ministries are a necessity for relating to those who need help in understanding the scriptures given their given age. It’s great to have children in church. As long as they are actually comprehending what is being preached. And a mid week youth bible study is in no way sinful, as long as the youth are comprehending and growing in their study of God’s word.
“For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified…” 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
God is less concerned with the location where an individual is taught and more concerned with them growing in sanctification. It is up to parents to determine where that spiritual growth happens best, and where the child or youth is best comprehending and understanding what is being taught.
Be vigilant to guard right doctrine. Be watchful to make sure that your children and youth are growing in their faith. But be cautious of making laws where there are none. Be weary of jumping on a bandwagon, simply because everyone else in your theological circle is on it. Let the scriptures be your guide in all things, not the opinions of man.
The Deception of Having it Your Way
Burger King had a slogan back in the early 90’s that they used on most all of their advertising. ‘Have it Your Way.’ However you wanted your burger, this was Burger Kings way of saying, “Whatever you want, we will make your preferences our priority.” And they made a bundle off of their willingness to give their consumers what they wanted.
Many churches have adopted Burger Kings slogan in order to to draw a crowd. When it comes to repentance, ‘Have it Your Way.’ When it comes the worship service, ‘Have it Your Way.’ When it comes to contemporary music verses traditional music, or the way the pastor preaches, ‘Have it Your Way.’
The reason there are churches that have a ‘Have it Your Way’ mentality is because they view the church primarily as a business, not a movement. And they view their members as customers who need to be kept happy, not souls that need to be saved. Therefore the pastors and elders begin to play the role of CEO’s who focus on numbers and not spiritual shepherds who focus on leading people to the Lord.
But the church is not a business, it’s a family of God’s redeemed people. And the questions that many Christians need to ask themselves are these; Is the church primarily about me, or about God? Should God be concerned with meeting our preferences? Is worship about us, or is it about God? How should our worship be directed?
To answer these questions, we need to look to God’s word and what it tells us about worship. In Leviticus, the sons of Aaron went to worship the Lord. In our modern day context, they played some part in the worship service. They were church folk.
And the sons of Aaron would have claimed to love the Lord. God had given guidelines for how He was to be worshipped. It was clear that worship was to be about God, and not man. But Nadab and Abihu decided they wanted to add fire to the altar.
Maybe they thought fire would spice up the worship service. Maybe fire was just their preference. Regardless of their intentions, God had never told them to get creative with worship and add in whatever they felt was best. Here is the account and how God reacted.
“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” Leviticus 10:1-2.
God was not pleased with their attempts to change His worship to conform more to their own preferences. God killed the sons of Aaron in church. God killed them while they were worshipping Him. God does not care about marketing tactics or making the worship service more palatable to the people so that they are pleased. The church is not a ‘Have it Your Way’ organization. Worship is all about Him.
Worship that is centered around man’s preferences will draw a crowd, no doubt about it. But worship that is led by what we want is ultimately us worshipping ourselves. It’s not enough to just be in the church building. It’s not enough to go through the motions of worship. God looks at the intentions and motivations of our hearts in worship. Are we motivated to praise by what we want? Or are we motivated to worship because of how great God is?
In Malachi, we see again the issue of God’s people offering insincere, man centered worship. And we see in passage this the example of the people of God coming before Him yet again and kindling fire upon the altar as an act of worship. They were worshipping God by their own standards, with no regard to honoring the Lord. And God says something shocking to His people who worship Him in vain.
“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.” Malachi 1:10.
In essence, God says to His people, “I wish you would bar the doors to the church building and not even come.” Because their worship was more about them than it was the Lord. They wanted to have it their way, not God’s way. And then the Lord says that even if they do come before Him in worship, He will not accept it. Because the Lord sees the self centeredness of their hearts.
‘What if I don’t like what the pastor is saying?”
Your opinions are unauthorized fire. The question is not do you like what he says, but is what he is saying backed up with the truth of God’s Word? If that man in the pulpit speaking the word of God, nothing else matters.
‘Contemporary music or traditional music?’
Your preferences are unauthorized fire. The question is not ‘Does the music make me feel like worshipping,’ but rather, ‘Do the words that I am singing serve to draw my mind to who God is and to make His glory known?’
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Proverbs 29:5.
The problem is that our default position is to fear man more than God. And the snare is the temptation to compromise on the issue of prioritizing God in worship. And when we compromise in order to please man rather than God, it is ultimately the sin of not trusting God. And so many church leaders fall prey to this snare, because they fear man more than God.
I was called to pastor the church that I am currently at almost six years ago. And at that time six years ago, it was a church that epitomized worshipping the Lord with unauthorized fire upon the alter. The worship music was for the most part, man centered. The leadership model was comprised of what they called the PAT, or Pastor Advisory Team rather than Biblically qualified elders. And I was told on more than one occasion that my practice of preaching verse by verse through books of the Bible was something that I should change. As I was told by one leader while I was preaching through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, “We are not an Old Testament Church, we’re a New Testament Church.”
Did I have a fear of man? With five kids and a wife to support, you bet I did. Was there a strong temptation to just compromise and go with the flow? Absolutely. But I chose to trust God. Not because I am so spiritually strong, but rather because I saw how spiritually weak I am without God. And I knew that if our congregation was to ever experience the power of God, then I would have to refuse to go along with the status quo, even if it cost me my job. I was forced to trust God.
I did not come in as the new pastor and make any immediate changes. For the first year, I just loved on the people and just observed as continued to preach God’s word. After about two years, I began to see the Lord using His word to bring about changes. After a string of sermons on Biblical worship, some congregants began to voice their problems with many of the man centered things that were going on in our services. Then after going through the book of 1 Timothy, some of our deacons approached me and said, “Eldership is clearly in scripture, so why don’t we have elders?” To which I replied, “That’s a great idea.” We began a two year process of teaching on the Biblical leadership structure and training future elders.
I wish I could say this road was paved with silver and gold. But it was not. As these changes began to take place, many others in the congregation voiced their anger at the church beginning to deviate from what they preferred. And as a result, a great many people ended up leaving the church. Those who wanted a worship service to fit to their preferences left the church. Those who did not like verse by verse preaching left the church. And those who lost their control of the church after the PAT was disbanded left the church.
On more than one occasion, I had irate individuals make threats to my job security if I continued to preach things like eldership and promote changes in our worship service. I had two choices before me. I could have fallen to my knees before these individuals who wanted a ‘Have it Your Way’ church and pleaded for their forgiveness, and said if they would only stay I would make sure to do whatever they wanted. Or, I could trust God along with the small handful of people in the church who desired to stand firm on God’s word and to make our worship more about Him. From a business standpoint, the first option would have been the obvious one. I was scared. I was tempted to compromise for fear of man. But I, along with other Godly men and women, chose to trust the Lord and stand on His word.
Throughout the following years, the Lord has continually brought people to our church that do not want a ‘Have it Your Way Church.’ The Lord has continued (and is continuing) to lead people to our church who desire the pure and unaltered word of the Lord and nothing else. And I take absolutely no credit for any of it. I did nothing. I merely stood and read the scriptures each week. The Lord brought the change, and He has been faithful to those who resisted the temptations of man centered worship.
You can have it your way in worship. But don’t expect God to be there. Unauthorized fire is still placed upon the altar in worship service today. It just comes in the form of our preferences and opinions. When it comes to worship in the church, we are to lay our preferences at the door, and place our eyes upon Christ, not ourselves.
Bumpersticker Philosophies
You can learn a lot about a person from bumperstickers. When someone places a bumpersticker on their vehicle, its usually to relay something about how they view the world. From politics to overall worldview, bumperstickers give others a window into the guiding principles that the driver holds in high esteem. And when it comes to governing principles, there is a reason why our country was founded upon Christian principles. Christianity gives us a standard to live by. God’s standard. Christianity defines truth for us. Truth in regards to God, man, and the world at large. Christianity gives us freedom as well as guardrails to keep us from destroying ourselves.
In the late18th century, a movement called romanticism arose in arts and literature that highlighted human inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. Romanticism rejected conventional norms and promoted individualism as the great goal of humanity. Romanticism eventually gave birth to postmodernism in the 21st century. Like romanticism, postmodernism carries the idea that truth is subjective, and feelings override objectivity.
Postmodernism along with romanticism have chipped away at the Christian foundation that our society was built upon. And when the pillar of truth that is Christianity is removed from a society, all chaos ensues. These two ideologies have given rise to these bumpersticker philosophies that encapsulate this secular worldview. Slogans like;
“Follow Your Heart.”
“Live Your Truth.”
“I Only Believe What I can See.”
In Genesis chapter 3, the serpent deceived Adam and Eve with the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat. At first glance, the forbidden fruit was appealing to look at. But once they believed the lie and partook of the fruit, it brought sin and death into the world. And although these catch phrases may sound appealing to some, the results of following and living these words out ends in chaos and heartache. Let’s serious consider the implications of what living by these worldview slogans looks like.
“Follow Your Heart”
This slogan has been inserted into more big screen Hollywood love stories than any other. It sounds romantic. It sounds bigger than life. The problem is that the heart is never defined. In a secular worldview, the phrase, ‘Follow Your Heart’ really means, ‘Follow Your Feelings.’ To the postmodernist, the heart is directly correlated with human feelings. Feelings are temporary. They are unstable at best. And feelings can change like the wind.
If every marriage is based on each individual spouse following their feelings, then no union is safe. The moment a husband or wife doesn’t feel loving or forgiving towards their spouse, the marriage ends. Why? Because they believed the cultural lie that they should follow their heart/ feelings.
Furthermore, the individual who is living in a sinful homosexual lifestyle would claim that they are merely following their heart/ feelings when it comes to sexual partners. And that opens the door for the child molester to justify their transgressions as crimes of following the heart. Following your heart/ feelings is not romantic, it’s dangerous.
God warned us of the dangers of following the heart. Whereas the world romanticizes following the heart, the Bible says that such foolishness will end in destruction. Love is not a feeling. It’s a willful choice. Jesus did not sacrifice Himself for the sins of many because He felt like it. Christ set His affections upon a particular people before the foundation of the world and chose to redeem them, regardless of their rebellion and the cost. Jesus love for His bride was not led by temporal feelings, but rather it was an act of the will. That is true love. To settle for following your heart/ feelings is not love. It’s a cheap imitation of the real thing.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.
The fruit in the garden of Eden was deceitful. It’s beauty was misleading. In the same way, the slogan ‘Follow Your Heart’ is deceitful. It’s romantic appeal is misleading. And it leads to wickedness and death.
“Live Your Truth”
This is the war cry of the 21st century postmodern society that we live in. It implies that truth is relative. Truth can vary from person to person. And no one can ever be told that they are wrong about what they believe. Because for them, no matter how far fetched their belief is, it is true for them. And therefore, society must affirm each individual’s truth.
But in order for truth to exist, there must be things that are not true. Otherwise, truth has no meaning. Furthermore, for someone to claim that all truth is subjective, one would have to ask, “Is that statement subjective?” They would have just made a truth claim. To which if the person wanted to be consistent, they would have to answer in the affirmative. And to that end, their whole worldview collapses upon itself.
Under this umbrella of ‘Live Your Truth’, biological gender has no meaning. A man can claim to be a women and vice versa. And no one is allowed to tell them they are wrong, because again, it’s their truth. Because of this worldview, we have seen things that would have been considered insane twenty years ago accepted as a social norm today. Let’s carry a live your truth mindset to it’s end.
What if someone’s truth is that they are Superman. Last year, a young man actually climbed up to the roof of Grace Community Church in California and proclaimed that the could fly. That was his truth. He jumped off of the building and was killed instantly upon impact.
Politically, the postmodern worldview made a push a few years back to actually defund the police in many states. Some people actually tried to flip truth on it’s head and began to propose that the police were the bad guys and criminals were the oppressed. In place of police that were governed by the guardrails of the constitution, it was proposed by some states that the people act as law enforcement. When wicked people are given the power to decide what is right in their own eyes, the culture crumbles into anarchy.
If there is no truth, then even civil laws can be viewed as subjective and open to each individuals interpretation. You cannot pick and choose. You cannot say that truth is relative in regards to gender, but objective when it comes to governing laws. Either there is absolute truth that applies to gender, laws, God, and reality, or there is not. And if the slogan, ‘Live Your Truth’ is followed to it’s logical end, it results in a Godless, lawless, wild wild west society.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.
This is a truth statement. It is not subjective. And if this is true, then the words are Christ (the scriptures) override our feelings and desires. There are not many genders, because Jesus tells us that God created man and woman. And there are not multiple God’s but one, and He is Christ the Lord. His word gives us truth on issues of law, morality, the sexes, and reality as a whole. The world was created through Christ and for Christ (Colossians 1:15). Therefore there is no truth outside of Christ.
“I Only Believe What I can See.”
Empiricism is the view that all concepts, beliefs, or propositions are based on or justified by experience. It relies on our five senses, sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. Primarily, empiricism says if we cannot see or touch something, then it cannot be real. But empiricism, drawn out to it’s end, falls flat.
For example, we cannot see math, but we know it’s a reality. We cannot see laws of science, but we know that they exist. We cannot see gravity, but we see it’s effects. In the same way, when it comes to God, we see the proof of God all around us in creation.
“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20.
Furthermore, we know that there is a God because humans have a conscience. If we are the result of a cosmic accident, and have evolved from space dust, then there is no right or wrong. As Darwin said, the strong will survive. There can be no moral absolutes. As one pastor put it, what’s wrong with star dust bumping into star dust?
But humans know right from wrong. Even the atheist knows that murder is wrong. Why is that? It’s because man is made in the image of God, and because they are made in His image, they know right from wrong innately. And God has written His word, His image, on the heart of every man no matter if he professes belief or not.
“They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” Romans 2:15.
Creation and even the human heart itself attests that there is a God. Just as we know that gravity exists due to it’s effect, we know that God exists, because the proof is all around us as well as in us.
“Follow Your Heart.”
“Live Your Truth.”
“I Only Believe What I can See.”
These three slogans have been popularized by our world, but they were seeded in philosophical antiquity. Romanticism gave way to what we know as postmodernism. These secular ideologies promise freedom, but lead to shackles. They promise a happy life, but lead to heartache and slavery to sin. And they promote a life apart from God in exchange for following our own ways. Just like the fruit in the garden, their appeal is only surface deep. Don’t live your life by cheap bumpersticker philosophies. Live in light of the Lord Jesus.
Follow Christ, not your heart.
Live for Him, for He is the Truth.
Believe, because He has made Himself undeniably known.
Do You Truly Believe?
When God saved me, He did it through my hearing a sermon on Matthew chapter 7. Particularly one portion of that chapter.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
I had grown up in a wonderful church. I regularly heard the Gospel proclaimed and I had the head knowledge of Christ crucified. But there was no transformation present. I had no real love for God or for His word. In my mind, I was saved because I had walked an aisle and said a prayer.
That is why Matthew 7 crushed me. Because it completely demolished the view that I had of my salvation and works righteousness. At age 33, I realized for the first time in my life that I was that man who would have heard Jesus say to me, “I never knew you.”
God saved me through that brokenness. God called me to proclaim the Gospel to the nations in Panama out of that brokenness. And eventually, the Lord called me into full time pastoral ministry out of that brokenness.
And to this day, that passage in Matthew chapter 7 still haunts me. Because I never want to wear a religious garb in the pulpit and be a different person outside of the church. I don’t want to be one of those preachers that nit pick the lives and Christianity of others in order to make myself look more pious.
Because of Matthew 7, I am consistently made aware of my own sins and need of repentance. And it makes it almost impossible for me to hold a self righteous view of others. I believe the Apostle Paul realized this in his own life. He called himself the chief of sinners. God saved a terrorist like Paul so that no one could ever say, “My sin is too great for God’s grace to overcome.”
Even in writing this, I do not want it to come across as me saying, “I have arrived.” As Paul would say, by no means. I see more and more of my great need for God’s grace and forgiveness in my life daily. I am so prone to forget the promises of God and the goodness of the Gospel and to seek fulfillment in my own ways. As Martin Luther once said, I need to preach the Gospel to myself every day, because I forget it every day.
Recently, I began to ask myself why Christianity in particular was filled with so much extreme hypocrisy. Why do we hear so many stories of pastors who disqualify themselves from ministry because of moral failures? Why do we see so many people file into churches each week with smiles, saying things like “God is so Good” and “Jesus is my rock” only to get in their cars and not open their Bibles again until the next Sunday?
Over and over in the Gospel, we read Jesus preaching on repentance and belief as the only means to salvation. As Christians we understand repentance, or at least the definition. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action. It is a turning from sin.
But we often skim over the believe portion of Jesus commands. It is so easy for us to say to ourselves, “I believe in Jesus.” But we have to ask, what does it mean to truly believe something? Imagine that you were relaxing in your home one weekend. All of the sudden, you realized that your home was on fire. You believe that your house in going to burn down, because you see the proof of the fire right before your eyes.
And because you believe that you and your family are in danger, your actions change. No longer are your lounging in your recliner, but rather you are frantically exerting all of your energy to see that you and your family get out of the house safely. Your actions follow your belief.
Now imagine that you run into your living room and scream to your spouse, “The house is on fire!” And your spouse replies, “Wow, I can smell the smoke and see the fire, and I agree we need to evacuate!” But instead of moving, they continue to lay there watching the television. You would have to say one of two things; Either your spouse is going insane, or they truly do not believe what they have professed to have seen with their eyes.
This is sadly the pattern we see in Christianity more times than not. People who will say all of the right things about their belief in Christ, but behind closed doors, they live their lives as if there were no Gospel at all. Their profession of believe is in word only.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus commands us to repent and believe the Gospel. He commands us to change our actions. And our belief that the Gospel is true becomes the catalyst to our repentance.
Here is what I am saying. If we truly believe that the Gospel is true, then our lives, my life, will look radically different. If we believe that the Gospel is true, then no longer will we justify the lack of prayerlessness in our lives. If we believe the Gospel is true, then we will desire obedience to Christ and become horrified at our sins. If we believe that the Gospel is true, then we will see eternal souls in our interactions with others and be concerned over their salvation. If we believe the Gospel is true, then our obsession with materialism and worldly trinkets would fade, and the great commission and making Christ known would become our obsession.
Do you believe, I mean truly believe, that Christ is risen from the dead and that He now rules and reigns over all things at the right side of God the Father? Do you truly believe that the day will come when you stand before Him to give an account?
Before answering yes too quickly, ask yourself if you are professing belief, yet still sitting comfortably in a burning house. We can so easily deceive ourselves. If we truly believe the Gospel, then actions such as repentance, prayer, and pressing in to His word will be the natural actions that follow.
We all go through times of spiritual dryness. We all go through times of putting on the mask of belief while living a life that does not match that confession. But in those times, we need to be reminded of the truth of the Gospel. We need to be reminded that Christ died for our sins. And that we are not justified by our religious activities, but we are saved by Christ and Christ alone.
And in that salvation, something supernatural takes place. Jesus changes our hearts to actually be concerned. In Christ, we now have a heart that desires to walk in obedience to Him, and that grows more and more to hate the sin in our lives. True belief is accompanied by a change of heart that leads to a change in thinking and in action.
Jesus said in Matthew 7 that many people would stand before Him claiming Christ as their Lord, expecting to be granted eternal life in Heaven. These people justified their profession with their external religious activities. But Jesus responded and said, “I never knew you.”
Matthew 15:8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;”
I never want to be the man who professes Jesus with my lips, yet possesses a heart that is far from Him. I don’t want to profess a belief that holds no passion. And I don’t want any one else to be that self deceived person either. As the Apostle Paul said, we should be those who constantly examine themselves to see if they are truly in the faith. To see if their profession of belief in Christ has the fruit of daily repentance to back up their claim.
When you read the commands of Christ to repent and believe, realize that repentance can never be genuine unless your heart has first been pierced that a belief in Jesus that has dramatically changed how you think about your life. If you do not get the Gospel right, then what you have done is restrain the hearts of people, and their hearts will not be transformed. Someone with a belief that is in profession only without a real change of heart is a person that has conformed to a pattern of religion but has not been transformed by the Holy Spirit. If your belief in the Gospel is merely an empty profession, then you have given yourself just enough of Jesus to never truly know Him. There is a distinct difference in knowing some facts about Jesus, and truly knowing Him. And if you truly know Him, your life cannot help but be transformed.
False Unity & The SBC
Two years ago I attended the Southern Baptist Convention in California. The convention had been slip sliding away from standing firm on scripture in many areas in years prior to this meeting. I attended the meeting in California to see first hand for myself if there were any signs of course correction. I attended the meeting in California to cast my vote on many of these issues and make my voice heard. Unfortunately, the liberal landslide was on full display with no turning in sight.
I returned from California and called a meeting with our congregation to report in full detail everything that I had witnessed at the convention. And then under the supervision of our elders, our congregation voted almost unanimously to remove our church from partnership with the SBC.
I do not condemn any pastor who is still affiliated with the SBC. Partnership with the convention is a matter of conscience and conviction. In fact, I still pray for the SBC and rejoice in their victories. However, for our church, we just could not see ourselves unifying with a convention that seemed to compromise on standing firm upon God’s Word more and more each year, all in the sake of unity. But if unity comes at the expense of Biblical compromise, then what is it that we are really unified around?
I did not attend the Convention this year in Indiana but I have been trying to keep up with it via online reports. And it is still my prayer that the convention returns to Biblical orthodoxy. But it appears that the leadership within the convention is still more concerned with unity rather than obedience to God’s Word.
At the Convention in California a few years ago, 88% of messengers voted to remove Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church from fellowship for allowing a woman to serve in the office of a teaching pastor. The removal of Fern Creek Baptist Church for having a woman pastor was also affirmed by a vote of 92%.
I read an article this afternoon that stated pastor J.D. Greer, who is a former president and current leader in the SBC, presented his concern that the convention will lose minority churches if the convention banned churches that allowed women pastors. Greer does not believe an amendment prohibiting women pastors is needed.
In regards to the proposed amendment to ban churches that affirm women pastors, Greer said, “I remain convictionally opposed to this amendment, not because of its content but because of its attempt to undermine our historic principles of cooperation. It overturns a system that works. I don’t oppose the Law Amendment because I’m a closet moderate or soft on theological issues. I am concerned that the missional, cooperative balance that has characterized our Convention since the Conservative Resurgence is about to be overturned.”
To ball park Greers argument, he is concerned that a ban on churches that allow women pastors would fracture the missional and cooperative balance between churches that differ on their views of the roles of men and women within the church.
I’ve heard some SBC pastors say things like, “These secondary issues should not matter because what matters is the Gospel.” The problem with that statement is that the roles of men and women is already under assault in the world. And once a little compromise is made on the roles of the genders, it becomes easier to move that needle further and further away from what scripture says. Every denomination that has eventually embraced homosexuality as not being sinful began with compromise on the roles of men and women.
The SBC and Greer say that they want to unite upon missional efforts and not focus on things like the roles of men and women in the church. First Baptist Orlando was praised by the SBC at the meeting in California. The North American Mission Board stated from the stage that they were partnering with First Baptist Orlando to plant churches around the nation. The SBC and NAMB were willing to overlook the fact that FBO had LGBTQ leaders teaching in their church and affirmed transexual individuals as members of the church.
The SBC’s subtle message was, “Let’s not worry about the things we are not in agreement on. Rather, lets unity in spite of our theological differences around the banner of missional church planting.” But if the purity of right doctrine is not guarded in our church planting efforts, then we are not leading people to Christ, but further away from Him. Christian unity matters, but not at the expense of right doctrine. Because true Christian unity cannot be had unless it is centered around ‘Thus saith the Lord.”
Heath Lambert, who is the pastor of FBC Jacksonville disagreed with Greer. Lambert said, ““The real issue on this matter is the Bible. The Bible is crystal clear that the office of pastor is reserved for men as qualified by Scripture (1 Timothy 2:11-12; 3:1-7; Titus 1:6). Baptists know this. That clear knowledge makes this whole thing much easier than some of the overcooked debates around this issue would lead you to believe.”
The Executive Director of the SBC Pete Ramirez said, “What worries me is that we make decisions without thinking about the consequences for ethnic churches. There are many ethnic churches that, for translation reasons, use the title of pastor for a person. But it’s a matter of translation. It’s not that the person is ordained. It’s not that the person has a [ministry] license. We are, as a convention, putting ourselves in the business of churches and saying, ‘If you don’t change this, you can’t be part of us. This is a radical change as Southern Baptists that I think we could regret long-term as we fulfill the Great Commission.”
Yes Mr. Ramirez, fellowship in Christ is not inclusive, it is exclusive. If churches are not united around right doctrine, then there can be no true fellowship. I continue to pray for the SBC. But as it stands, they have still yet to understand that a unity at the expense of departing from scripture does great harm not only to our missional efforts, but also to our hopes of reaching people with the Gospel. It is expected to see our world depart from a firm grasp on truth. But when the church departs from truth in the name of unity, there is no difference between us and the world.
Worldview Inconsistencies
Everyone has a worldview and no one is neutral. We all experience the world and filter the information around us through our worldview. The atheist lives inconsistently with their worldview. The atheistic worldview stems from Darwinian evolution. At it’s core this is the belief that the universe and all of creation is the result of a cosmic accident. All that exists is merely the byproduct of time and chance acting upon matter. Therefore the appropriate motto for the atheist is, “The strong will survive and prevail.” According to the atheist, existence is purposeless and meaningless. This is a worldview of hopelessness and futility.
However, most atheists would agree that murder is wrong. They would agree that rape is wrong. And if someone stole their car, they would cry out for justice. But according to their worldview where the strong will survive and there is no ultimate authority, why is anything wrong? If they truly believe that their existence is merely the result of a cosmic accident and humanity has evolved from space bacteria, then there is no right or wrong. The strongest bacteria will survive. That is their worldview. So given that worldview, why is anything declared evil or wrong in a universe that is just the result of chaotic random accidents?
The atheist will also claim that they do not believe in God, they believe in science. They believe in things like evolution and the theory of induction, which is the belief that we can know things will be the same tomorrow based on what we saw yesterday. Induction is the belief in a consistent universe. For example, induction says that we know the sun will rise tomorrow because we saw it rise today. Scientific terms like induction state that there is a rhythmic consistency to the universe based on patterns of the past.
However, the science believing atheist also believes that the origin of all creation was an unexpected, random cosmic explosion. An atheist scholar named Michael Langford once stated that all that exists is the result of one big accident. The belief of an accidental big bang is not consistent with the scientific theory of induction, which many atheists claim to believe. According to the atheist, the universe is not consistent, it is extremely unpredictable.
Neither does the agnostic live consistently with their worldview. The meaning of the word agnostic literally means ‘without knowledge.’ The agnostic would say that we cannot know for certain that there is a God, because we cannot really know anything for certain. And to the agnostic that would make this assertion, I would ask, “Can you know for certain that that statement is certainly true?” The agnostic’s worldview falls apart within the very definition of their belief.
You see, the atheist who cries out for justice is actually living inconsistently with the worldview that they profess to live by. Justice is a Christian concept. Morality is a Christian concept. Induction is seen in the created order of God, not in evolution. The atheist and the agnostic have to borrow from the Christian worldview in order to make sense of their own. The profession of their lips is inconsistent with the worldview that they claim to believe in.
However, many times professing Christians also live inconsistently with their worldview. I have met so many professing believers who claim to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But they live their lives as if there were no God. They have little to no prayer in their lives, no pressing into to read the scriptures on their own, no desire to repent of their sins, and a love for the vanities of the world. For lack of a better phrase, they live as functional atheists.
There are even churches that claim to glorify Jesus, yet they promote and give approval to practices of sin that the scriptures clearly speak of as grievous abominations before God. In Matthew 15:8, Jesus said of these kinds of people, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” They profess that Christ is their worldview, but they live by the ways of the world.
In the case of the person professing Christ yet living in rebellion, there are only two explanations. Either they are liars, or they are self deceived and have never known Christ. If Christ is our worldview, then we filter everything in creation through the lens of the word of God. This is not to say that the Christian never sins. But when the true Christian sins, it breaks their heart. They do not love their sins, but they hate them and desire to repent of their transgressions.
The most misunderstood doctrine in the Christian church is the doctrine of regeneration. It is the doctrine of what takes place when God saves a man or a woman. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Spurgeon described regeneration like this; He called his readers to imagine that there was a fat, dirty pig. The nature of the pig is one that loves filth. The pig by nature loves to roll in mud. It loves to eat the slop, which is basically garbage, that the farmer feeds it in its trough. Again, this is the pig’s nature. It is what it loves from birth. And if you were to give the pig a choice between eating a clean steak dinner with all the fixings and eating slop, the pig would choose the slop every time.
Spurgeon then asked his readers to imagine that something supernatural happened to this pig. All of the sudden, the pig was transformed into a man. Immediately the man would notice that his mouth was full of garbage, and vomit in disgust. This man would be confused as to why he was lying in mud and desire to be clean. And he would devour the steak dinner instead of the slop. The man’s nature is not like that of a pig. He had become a new creation with new desires that accompanied his supernatural transformation.
In the same way, the natural desires of a lost person are focused on the flesh. Psalm 58:3 says that the wicked go astray from the womb. We are born with a sin nature. Like the pig, we do not naturally desire to be separated from the filth of the world. Rather, the lost man or woman loves it. If they were given a choice to indulge in the sinful pleasures of the flesh or to feed on the words of the Lord, they would choose their sins every time.
But as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, something supernatural happens to the person that God saves. They literally are made into a new creation. They are given a new heart with new desires. In Christ, they no longer desire the slop of sin. The regenerated person now desires the righteousness of Christ.
Everyone has a worldview. Sadly, most people live inconsistently with their worldview. Even many who would profess Christ as Lord. If you are a Christian, does your worldview match the profession of your lips? The scriptures call us to examine ourselves in light of God’s word. Do not ask, “Have I made a decision for Jesus?” Ask yourself, “Have I been supernaturally recreated? Do I have new Godly desires and a distain for my sins?” And if not, cry out to the sovereign Lord of the universe to save you.
Salvation is a supernatural work of the Lord. And true regeneration results in a transformed life that has a worldview influenced by Jesus Christ.
What Does it Mean to Believe in Christ?
What does it mean to believe in something? This is the question that kept me awake at night after the Lord saved me many years ago. I had known many professing Christians who had claimed to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, but there were glaring inconsistences in their lives. They had no fear of the Lord. They had no sorrow over their sins. And their pressing into and seeking to know the Lord more deeply began and ended with Sunday morning worship. There seemed to be no passion for Christ nor a hunger for righteousness. Their profession of belief in Christ seemed to be disconnected from almost every area of their lives.
True belief is followed by change. Years ago my family and I lived in Destin Florida. And every September, it was common for hurricanes to develop over the gulf coast. And as soon as the weather man reported that a hurricane had been sighted and was making its way towards our area, people would begin boarding up their homes and evacuating the city until the storm had passed.
I remember one year when we were preparing to leave Destin due to hurricane Dennis, which was a category 4 storm. As we were packing our cars to evacuate the city, I noticed that our neighbor was sitting on his porch just relaxing. I walked over and asked him where he was planning on going when he left Destin. He replied, “Oh Im not leaving. Im going to sit out here and watch the storm.” He believed the storm was coming towards his home. But he was ignorant to the danger that he was in. Our neighbor eventually did end up evacuating the city at the last minute when the storm was moments away from hitting Destin. And hurricane Dennis brought massive damage to the Gulf Coast.
If you believe that a storm is coming, you get out of it’s way. If you believe that your life is in danger, you take the necessary steps avoid harm. Anyone who would claim that they BELIEVED that they were in the pathway of danger yet REFUSED to take steps to avoid that danger is either insane or a liar. They are either crazy or they do not truly believe that their life is in danger.
Why then do we see so many people claiming to believe in Jesus, yet they have no fear of living in sin and no movement or change to avoid the wrath of God to come?
In the case of professing Christians that claim to believe yet do not live like it, I think many of them have failed to understand what true belief in Christ looks like. And the fault for this error is two fold. First, this fault is laid at the feet a many pastors who have neglected to preach the full counsel of God’s word. They call sinners to believe and repent, but they fail to explain from scripture what this looks like in application. And secondly, most of the fault falls directly upon the individual for not seeking the Lord themselves. Ultimately, those who have misunderstood what true belief in Christ looks like have no one to blame but themselves.
In Ezekiel 36, we read that the Lord gives those whom He redeems a new heart. Salvation is not merely a human decision (John 1:13), but it is supernatural. We do not have the power to change our hearts. Only Christ can give man a new nature. And the byproducts of a new heart are new desires. When God changes a heart, he also gives new desires. Where once the sinner desired their sin they now hate their sin and desire to follow after Christ. And because of the Holy Spirit that resides in them, when they sin it breaks their heart. And they strive to turn and run in repentance to Christ.
Proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Someone who truly believes has a reverent fear of the Lord. The understand that the commands of God are not to “ruin our fun.” Rather, the commands of God are given to protect us and lead us into greater joy in Him. And those who neglect to live their lives in obedience to Christ abide under His wrath.
Another reason many today misunderstand what it means to truly believe in Jesus is a lack of contextual knowledge of the scriptures. In Romans 10, the Apostle Paul calls people to confess Christ as Lord and they will be saved. I have heard countless people attempt to use this verse to justify salvation apart from obedience to Christ. They will claim that they do believe and confess Christ as Lord, so therefore they believe they are saved regardless of how they choose to live their lives.
But the context of Romans 10 destroys that argument. Paul was addressing Christians in Rome. And during this time, if anyone refused to confess that Caesar was Lord, they would be executed. When Paul wrote in Romans 10 that if those whom he was addressing (persecuted Christians in Rome) would confess Jesus as Lord, He was calling them to literally give their lives for the sake of their belief in Christ. In other words, their belief was accompanied by sacrifice and self denial. Their confession was not merely a congnative expression, but it had implications upon their lives.
Do you truly believe in Jesus? What has your belief in Jesus cost you? What former practices of sin have you set aside in your life to follow Christ? Does your belief stem from a new heart that hates your sin and desires to know and follow Christ? Or is your belief just empty words. Remember, even Satan and his fallen angels believe in Christ. But they have not been changed by the grace of God. And their belief is one that does not save. Does your belief in Christ reflect a life that had been changed and is continuing to change more and more into His image?
In Matthew 7 Jesus says that the way to eternal life in Christ is narrow and broad is the road that lead to destruction. The Lord says in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” So many who claim to believe in Christ think that they are traveling the narrow road. But because of their refusal to understand what it means to truly believe, they ignorantly walk the broad road. And their lack of knowledge regarding true belief will prosecute them when they stand before the Lord.
True belief is proceeded and followed by repentance, which is a turning from sin and a desire for the things of God. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
into the harvest
Into The Harvest 