The humility of Joshua

Josh. 3:7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
Josh. 3:8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
Josh. 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Josh. 3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Josh. 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

Note here how Joshua takes the influence that God gives him with the people and uses it to increase their faith in God. Although God tells Joshua that the parting of the Jordan would be the means by which he would cause Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, Joshua turns right to the Children of Israel and tells them that this would be the means by which they would know that God was among them and would not fail to drive their enemies out before them. The selflessness that was exhibited here by Joshua should be an example for all of us. How easy would it have been for Joshua to turn right around and say, "God has told me that he will part the Jordan in order for me to be magnified in your eyes!" However, he had a mind of service toward the people, to do what was best for them, and he knew that what was best for them was always more of God. More faith in him, more love for him, more obedience to him, and more trust in his words. If God's plan was for Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, there was no reason for Joshua to grandstand or pontificate, God can and will accomplish his plan without our egotism.
What a lesson in humility and service is here to be gained for us, how often is our first priority on making sure we look good or we get our due instead of doing what is best for others, particularly the children of God? Let us commit to be more like Joshua by using whatever influence or respect we have with others to point them back to Christ, if we use it simply to make ourselves feel better or to increase our material wealth we have prostituted one of the good gifts of God, and using what could have been used to glorify God as a means of glorifying ourselves makes us guilty of idolatry!

Active commands found in Colossians

1. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (2:6-7)
2. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (2:8)
3. Seek those things which are above. (3:1)
4. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (3:2)
5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness. (3:5)
6. Put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (3:8)
7. Put on therefore, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. (3:12)
8. Forbear one another. (3:13)
9. Forgive one another. (3:13)
10. Put on charity. (3:14)
11. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. (3:15)
12. Be thankful. (3:15)
13. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. (3:16)
14. Teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (3:16)
15. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (3:17)
16. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. (3:18)
17. Husbands, love your wives. (3:19)
18. Children, obey your parents in all things. (3:20)
19. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, in singleness of heart, fearing God. (3:22)
20. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord. (3:23)
21. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal. (4:1)
22. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. (4:2)
23. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. (4:5)
24. Redeem the time. (4:5)
25. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (4:6)

Was typhoon Haiyan God's judgement?

As substantial news begins to trickle in about the wreckage left in the wake of one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, the massive scale of the damage - particularly the potential of the final numbers - is truly staggering. It is feared that 10,000 may be dead already in one city alone, and as relief teams begin to penetrate the more rural areas that number may not be simply added to, but multiplied. All of this fails to account for deaths that potentially may come in the following days and months from disease, malnutrition, and starvation as the realities of looted hospitals, unburied bodies, and deserting personnel sets in.
As Christians, nay as humans, it is natural for us to ask why. Not a meteorologic why, but a philosophic why. What is the purpose for all of this suffering and death? The humanistic evolutionist would tell you that there is no rhyme or reason, that it is all an unfortunate accident of blind nature and chance. But as Christians, particularly those of us who believe in an all sovereign God who designs and commands the weather (Psalm 135:6-7 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.) we cannot accept that as a suitable answer. Why would God direct Typhoon Haiyan into this disaster-prone country with inadequate infra-structure to deal with such devastation? The first conclusion we jump to is that God must be judging this nation! Yes, that must be it, these people with their strange blend of Roman Catholicism and cultural mysticism have finally been judged by God with this massive wall of water, figuratively washing away the sins of these people! We've already decided that was God's purpose behind Hurricane Katrina and the indonesian tsunami, here again we pat ourselves on our collective backs for being bright enough to figure out what God is doing, and we nod our heads in consent to the grand justice those people received. However, let me insert a word of caution before we become too settled in our minds that this is the certain answer.
Job's friends were all in consensus that his material, familial, and physical devastation had come upon him as judgement from God for some particular sin. Though not one could put a definitive finger on just what it was, that did not stop them from making lots of guesses and never swayed them from their first and now deep-seated impression that it was God's judgement. The problem is, at the beginning of the story we're given a behind-the-scenes look at what really was going on between Satan and God and at the end of the narrative we find God rebuking Job's friends for making false accusations about both Job and more importantly God himself!
Roughly 2,000 years later, Jesus ran into the same assumptions by his followers on multiple occasions, was the man blind because God was judging him or his parents for sin? (John 9:2) What grievous sin had the Galilaeans committed that God caused them to be killed by Pilate? (Luke 13:1) Or what were the heinous crimes perpetrated by those whom God crushed under the fallen tower of Siloam? (Luke 13:4) And every single time Jesus had the same answer for them, this was not judgement from God for any particular sin but a result of sin in general which reminds us that we all must repent and thus bring glory to God.
While I do agree that sin has built in consequences that are not pleasant, and while I do not disagree that God has and may still judge individuals and nations by acts of nature, let me also point out that almost every time someone in scripture thought they knew the mind of God in the midst of a tragedy, appropriating judgement as the necessary answer, they were wrong. Do the Phillipines deserve judgement more than America? Do we imagine that since we stamp "In God We Trust" on our fiat currency, he will excuse the "Against God We Rebel" stamped on our hearts? Does our official pledge (of allegiance to a piece of cloth representing an earthly kingdom... But that's another discussion altogether) of "one nation, under God" blind him to the fact that we refuse to be under his Lordship and make a mockery of his commandments at every turn? No, but unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish!
Secondly, why do we assume that large catastrophes equal God's judgement but small ones do not? Many who assert that this storm was an outpouring of God's wrath against sin would be appalled if we we made that same claim if a single child drowned in a stream. But because this was so large, so far away, and thus so impersonal, we have many who find it easy to stay atop their holy perches and dictate to us all what exactly God is doing in this situation.
Lastly, the assumption that this typhoon was God's judgement on sin, is a very light opinion of sin. Every one of the people who have died in this storm or will die as a result of it were going to die eventually anyways. Many of these people may have died a much quicker and less painful death than they would have had the storm never blown their way. God judges sin in two ways, by pouring out his wrath against it on Jesus as he hung on the cross and by pouring it out on those who rejected Jesus for an eternity in hell. A typhoon does not begin to compare with the gravity of either of those.
Instead of trying to figure out why God judged the Philippines, why don't we let God be God and we his servants obedient to his commands. Which are,
1. To repent ourselves, seeing what misery sin has brought into the world.
2. To love our neighbors as ourselves, look into how you can help the people of the Philippines.
3. To preach the gospel to all people, rejoicing with those who accept it and mourning for those who reject it, knowing that they will face a final judgement that makes the largest typhoon on record look like a gentle rain.

Have you ever thought about how holidays bring glory to God?

There is little debate that we humans are creatures of habit. What we see everyone else doing is what we assume we should do, and what we do (or did when we were younger), is what we assume our children should do. There are some habits and uniquely cultural activities that are healthy and I have no problem passing on to the next generation. When I got my first job I also got my driver's license and my first car, that's a fairly common practice in America and one that will probably be repeated by my sons, should God be so gracious. To brush our teeth every night, go to church every Sunday and go to Grandma's every Thanksgiving are all traditions that have legitimate value and are worth passing on.
The danger comes when we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that since we've adopted many customs and traditions of our culture and childhood that are good and healthy, everything our culture does is good and worth repeating. This is seen perhaps nowhere clearer than in the celebration of holidays. Some of your fondest memories may include shouting "Happy New Year" at midnight, receiving a heart shaped box of chocolates, hunting for eggs after a sunrise church service, watching fireworks, dressing up in costumes and making yourself sick on your collected candy, sitting around a large table eating turkey with your cousins, or tearing the brightly colored paper off your presents around a gaily decorated tree. And because there are such precious memories associated with the sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and feelings of those holidays we are lulled into thinking that they are all inherently good, after all surely something that feels so right can't be wrong... Or can it? The very word "holidays" points us to the fact that most of these were initially intrinsically religious, and even those that weren't at their inception take on moral value when they are celebrated by a follower of Jesus Christ who is to do everything to the glory of God. If we really do claim to desire to bring every thought and action under submission to the Word of God and the lordship of Jesus Christ, then willful ignorance is no excuse either. Can we disconnect Valentine's Day from it predecessor Lupercalia, the pre-Roman celebration of fertility from Feb. 13-15 to commemorate the she-wolf Lupa suckling Romulus and Remus and worship the Greek god Pan, which was celebrated by shepherds running nude through the streets? Can we redeem objects like the Easter Bunny and colored eggs and return them to their original symbolism of life after death and birth from virginity, or should we discard them as being wholly corrupted by commercialism? Is the "harmless fun" of dressing up in costumes and eating candy a sufficient reason to engage and partake of a holiday that has come to represent witchcraft, ghouls, vampires, zombies, and generally every creature that has been historically viewed as coming from hell? Can a christian celebrate Christmas and justify partaking of a Mass or the sacrificing of the Son of God afresh? To say nothing of the ancient pagan festivals held on Dec. 25 worshiping the "sun god", from which Christmas evolved (Jesus wasn't born anywhere close to Dec. 25)!
While I have an opinion and conviction about every one of these issues - which we should embrace, which to redeem and which to reject - the purpose of this article is not to tell you what to believe but to challenge you to think! To stop doing things just because that's the way you've always done it, or that's what everyone else does, and decide whether what you're doing is consistent with scripture and your obedience to it. With Halloween just a day away, now is a good time to ask ourselves what we are doing and why! I can handle it if you've studied the scriptures and have come up with a conclusion that is different than mine, what drives me crazy is people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and yet have never even stopped to think about how they bring glory to God through every activity they partake in, even the holidays that bring the warm fuzzies.

Cities of refuge

Num. 35:12 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment.
Throughout the Old Testament we have many pictures, types, and foreshadowings of Christ. Many times they come in the form of people; Abraham, Moses, David, and many others were a picture of the coming Messiah. However there are also times when inanimate objects and even certain ceremonies and days picture aspects of our Lord. The Cities of Refuge are one of those inanimate objects that give us a colorful illustration of part of what Christ would accomplish.
In order to see Christ as the City of Refuge we must see ourselves as those who had committed manslaughter and in need of a protector. We met that criteria in two ways. First, we were present by representative in Adam when he effectively killed all his descendants through the original sin (Rom. 5:12). Secondly, we were guilty in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him (Isa. 53:5). So while we might say we did not personally go out looking to kill either time, it does not change the fact that we were guilty of blood in both cases.
When a man was guilty of manslaughter, it was expected that a death penalty of sorts was placed on him in that the family of the deceased would look to enforce the law of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. We have here further continuity in the illustration, for we were by nature the children of wrath. I have heard this explained as though we ran to Christ to escape Satan, the accuser of the brethren, (and I suppose in a way that is true). However, it much closer to a correct understanding to see God as the offended family member, it was his wrath and condemnation we were under, not Satan's!
So here we are, guilty of the blood of an innocent man, whether intentional or not and we have heavy on our heads the impending and inevitable wrath of God. Our only hope is to fly to some mountain, to a Rock of Ages, to a City of Refuge and cast ourselves upon it in faith that it can withstand the fury of the pursuing party until the day of our trial. As Paul told the Corinthians that the Rock in the wilderness was Christ, so I say that refuge for us was only found in Christ.
All physical illustrations have their limitations when attempting to picture something spiritual, and this one is no exception. The striking difficulty here is that God is (by Christ) the slain innocent, he is the vengeful family member, he is the City of Refuge itself, and he is the judge that will eventually proclaim us just (albeit not for our innocence, but for the righteousness of Christ for us). But is it not fitting that in a foreshadowing of our redemption, its greatest problem is that God is "too" present and active? For in our salvation the same is true, God is both just and the justifier! (Rom. 3:26)

John Piper - Where are the faithful young men?

I was convicted by this, at the same time I thanked God that I know where a few of these men and women are and I am blessed to count them among my friends!

A puritan prayer

O Lord God,
There is no blessing we implore,
but thou art able to give,
hast promised to give,
hast given already to countless multitudes,
all unworthy and guilty like ourselves;
Make us willing to recieve the supply,
of our need from thy bounty.
To this end convince us of sin,
soften our hard hearts,
to bewail our folly, ingratitude, pride,
unbelief, rebellion, corruption.
Through the law may we die to the law,
then look with wonder, submission, delight,
to the provision thou hast made
for the glory of thy Name
in the salvation of sinners.
Give us a hope that makes us not ashamed,
a love that excites to holy obedience,
a joy in thee that is our strength,
a faith in thy Son who loved us and died for us.
May we persevere in duty
when not fully conscious of thee,
wait upon thee and keep thy way,
be humble and earnest suppliants at thy feet,
live continually as on the brink of eternity.
Let us be at thy disposal for the duties
and events of life,
submit our preferences to thy wisdom and will,
resign our enjoyments if thou ,shouldest require it
as our absolute Proprietor and best Friend.
In our unworthiness and provocations
make us grateful for the means of grace
and the ordinances of religion
and teach us to profit by them
more than we have done.
Help us to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day,
to enter upon the sabbath mindful of its
solemnities, duties, privileges,
setting all things worldly aside
while we worship thee.
May we know the blessedness of men
whose strenth is in thee,
and in whose hearts are the highways
to heaven.

Pride and evil speaking

Prov. 6:16-19
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

I have recently been meditating on these verses, considering that if something is said to be hated of the Lord and even abominable to him; I ought to also hate it and examine myself closely to ensure I am not caught up in something found on this list. As I thought about each of these sins, how they interacted with each other and what they looked like extenuated out to their furthest end, I was struck with a startling truth. Every one of these sins are engaged when we gossip about someone in order to elevate our position or reputation.
It starts (as so many sins do) with pride, we view ourselves as deserving of some recognition that we are not currently getting and so go about to change that, by dragging someone else through the mud.
Secondly, it moves to that member that James said was the hardest to control, the tongue. We craftily work in barbs, "white" lies or simply exaggerated truths, about whoever we need to cut down, into our conversations with those we wish to impress.
We are now guilty of hands that have shed blood. Not only is the hatred in our heart considered murder by God, (Matthew 5:21-22) but to wreck someone's reputation has long been considered a physical offence in courts of law because of the damage it does to their ability to interact in society and even make a living.
Of course none of this just happens. Bitterness builds up in our hearts as we allow our pride to steep and continue to tell ourselves that deserve better, that we've been wronged. We decide which words will do the most damage to our victim with the person to whom we plan to speak, we decide what lead-ins will be the most effective to portray ourselves in the most innocent light and our comments the most natural to the flow of the conversation. All of this is followed by a justification in our minds for doing what we did or what we're about to do.
It is now time to execute our plan, we've decided what to say, who to say it to, how to say it, and we now find the most convenient time to say it, preferably sooner than later. The longer it goes unsaid, the longer we remain in our current state and the longer we have to watch the one we hate deserve recognition we think should be ours.
There is here the assumption that what we are about to say is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This is the crucial link and the one we work hardest to convince ourselves we are not committing. For sure, there are times we can speak the truth with malicious intentions, but most of the time we, like Daniels opponents, have to fabricate something in order to maximize the effect it will have on cutting them down and ultimately building us up.
The last sin is exactly what we are hoping for; this entire process has been devised and executed with the sole purpose of driving a wedge. Many commentators say that when these lists are given ("six, yea seven", "three, yea four" etc.) the last item is the one with the strongest emphasis. When we consider the seemingly endless list of passages that call us to love the brethren, walk with them in unity, edify one another, forgive each other, and so many commands that are contrary to the notion of discord; we begin to understand how much God hates the one that sows such among his children.
Perhaps I've used some superlatives in this post, maybe I used words that you considered over-the-top or too strong for "such a small sin", but that is my great fear; that we are minimalizing something God sees as huge. Gossip, slander, lying, bearing false witness, sowing discord... these are sins that God despises and we are fools if we commit them and then try to justify ourselves by minimalizing them, they are wickedness of the highest sort!

War for love.

I open this post with the disclaimer that this post is a summery of Dr. Paul Tripp's sermon on "The War of Love" that I heard him preach tonight and not an original work.
1Jo 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
A couple of words that we rarely if ever used in the same breath are "war" and "love", yet this scripture passage teaches that we are in fact fighting a war of love and there are four battlefronts where this war is seen.
I. The confrontation of definition.
There has been much damage done to the church of Jesus Christ in America because we have allowed the world to redefine what is meant by "love". It is more than respect, it is more that affection, it is more than an absence of dislike. Love is willingly and sacrificially giving of yourself regardless of whether the one being loved deserves it or not! Herein is love... [God] sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
II. The confrontation of motivation.
The motivation that is presented to us here has nothing to do with whether we feel like it or not, love is a duty. However, biblical love is always joyful because it is motivated by something greater than itself. Our motivation is to be that we have been loved when we were the least deserving, the vertical love from God to us should cause us to manifest horizontal love for everyone around us. All too often we are guilty of the sin of forgetfulness though, we go throughout the day without ever once thinking about the fact that God saved our souls from hell. We allow other's action or our feelings to be the motivation for our love, instead of remembering that the greatest love ever manifested was manifested towards us! Such a great love cannot be bottled up inside of us, we should not be able to help but love others because of that.
III. The confrontation of conflict.
It is our nature to be bent toward deceit, this is even (perhaps especially) true with self-deceit. We allow ourselves to believe that because we raise our hands in worship, or because we regularly attend church, or work hard, or tithe, that we really do love God. God has given us another test, he says that any man who claims to love God yet hates his brother is lying. It's not okay to argue with your spouse on the way to church, it's not okay to get angry at the slow driver in front of you, it's not okay to get fed up with the kid's bickering and just start smacking, IT'S NOT OKAY! God says "Quit lying to yourself, because you are proving that you don't really love me!" This war for love is being waged a very regular basis, since our sovereign God knew just what to give us as the ultimate litmus test to see whether we truly love him or not.
IV. The confrontation of calling.
There is an incredible truth given to us in one little word in this text, that is the word ought. When we read that word we often think of it as synonymous with should, such as "I ought to go to the grocery store today." We think it means a good idea or logical suggestion, while that is a good definition there is another connotation being carried here that we tend to overlook. That is the definition that means a natural course or literally designed for that purpose. Such as "Rain ought to be wet" or "The sun ought to be bright". When we apply this definition to this passage we find a radical concept, that is that as Christians a part of our new man that has been put on is an intrinsic design to love. That is what we are called to do, what we should do, and also the very thing we were designed to do; love is our purpose in life. When we fail to love our brother not only are we in disobedience, but we are also using our bodies and emotions in a way that they were never meant to be used, against their very nature.
Cool quote: "Love (God) rescued me from love (for self) so that I can love (others)!
I hope this short outline helped you in some small way, the way the sermon did for me in a large way. I was called to reexamine my view of brotherly love, love toward God, and my very purpose in life.

Glory in the Lord.

Jer. 9: 23, 24 Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:
It is amazing how much the prophecies of the Old Testament still apply to us today, they were written thousands of years ago, to a culture completely different than ours, in a country on the other side of the world. They remain relevant for two reasons, one is because they were directly inspired by God and he knows just what to write that will stand the test of time, the other is because mankind stays intrinsically the same. Our time passes, cultures change, and circumstances change; but the way we think and act stays the same. It was obviously a struggle for the people of that day to stay humble, it always has been for human beings. Ever since the fall, when Adam and Eve were tempted with pride and fell, it has remained one of the greatest weaknesses of their offspring. We are so quick to take the credit for the blessings that we enjoy, the rich men brag of their riches, the strong men brag of their strength, the smart men brag of their brains, and everyone of them are simply enjoying a blessing given by God. The first angle we can take on these verses is that every good thing we enjoy on this earth is a gift from God and therefore not to be bragged about or gloried in.
The second way we could look at it, (which in my estimation is most consistent with the context) is that all of those things listed by Jeremiah aren't really all that good. Strength is a good thing, but it takes a lot of upkeep. it requires you to exercise regularly, eat properly, and do many other things regarding you sleep, diet, and activities, to keep your strength. Wisdom is good, but with it comes much more understanding of how little you really know, combined with the fact that a lot of smarts requires extra responsibility and time and focus on your specialty. Riches are helpful, but they bring with them the burden of extra management and oversight of just how you are using those riches. On top of all this, every one of those things will one day fade away! No matter how wise you are you will one day lose it either to the degeneration of your body or for sure at the time of your death. The same goes for physical prowess or strength, and we all know that money never lasts. If you somehow manage to keep it all to the day of your death, you still can't take it with you.
Contrast all of this to the gain that comes with knowing more about God and his son Jesus Christ. The more knowledge and understanding and wisdom you gain in regard to them, the better off you are. It carries no eternal downside to it, sure you may have to sacrifice some here on this earth because of it, but you probably won't remember that at all in ten thousand years. It will not fade away, you will carry your relationship with Christ and your knowledge of him to the grave with you and into eternity. The story is told of John Newton the author of "Amazing Grace", when he had gotten so old he could no longer see and was beginning to forget much about his life, he would still tell those that came to speak to him, "I know this, I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior". History tells of the apostle John, when he had gotten so old he could no longer walk and eventually he got to a point to where he could no longer even speak in sentences, he would say to all who would listen "Love, love, love". If you read his three epistles you would see why that was such a preeminent theme in his mind. For both of them it was all about Christ.
I would encourage you to not be so worried about your body or your mind or your finances as you are about Christ. Let him be your most passionate obsession and all the rest will fall into place.

Eternal security

Rom. 8: 38, 39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In last week's column, I wrote about the importance of examining ourselves to make sure that we are indeed new creatures, saved and changed by the spirit of God. Because I am afraid that there are many out there that have a wrong idea about what salvation is, and are going about with a false security. As much as Satan would love to tell a lost man he is saved, the flip side to that coin, is that he also tries to convince saved men they are lost. While this does not do quite so much damage as the former, it is a very real and very dangerous threat to Christianity. If the devil can convince a lost man he is saved until he dies, that man will forever be in eternal torment; but if he can convince a saved man he is lost, it will have no consequence on the soul, but it will make that saved man a much less effective servant for the kingdom of God.
With that in mind let us take a look at our two text verses, Paul lists every physical and spiritual resource you can imagine and diffuses any possibility, of any of them having the power to "unsave" a man. There are many denominations and religions that will tell you that there are ways to lose your salvation, ranging from something as small as missing a church service, to as great as committing suicide. There are also debates as to how you can become saved once again, or even if it is possible to be saved again once you have lost it. It is the doctrine of salvation by grace alone that sets true Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. Every religion outside of true Christianity teaches that you have to either do something to gain your salvation or do something to keep it, both are heresies. Paul says that there is nothing that can separate those who have been saved from God's love, no deed of their own, no power of hell, no act of another, is more powerful than God. When anyone claims that salvation can be lost, they are in essence claiming that there is something stronger than God. I can tell you this, if God can't keep me saved there is no hope for me; because if God isn't strong enough to secure my salvation, I'm certainly not stronger than God. If the perfect blood of Jesus Christ is not enough to pay my sin debt, what can I give that is worth more?
Do not give place to the devil, when he comes at you with accusations of your sinfulness and tries to convince you that you are not good enough to deserve salvation. You can rest assured in the fact that he is right you are not good enough to deserve salvation, that is what makes grace, grace, that is what is meant when the scriptures say that salvation is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Yes, we're saved unto good works, but not because of good works, we are saved because of God's love for us, and that is something that can never be changed.

All for the glory of God

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Cor. 10:31
The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Younger Children is "What is the chief end of man?" The answer being "Mans chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." As the custom of catechizing our children has become rarer, we have begun to lose this prime truth that ought to be the governing force in our lives. If I were to ask most professing christians today why they ate and drank, I can say with fair confidence that the majority of them would say it was in order to stay alive or healthy. I doubt as to whether there would be even one that told me their motive for eating and drinking was to bring glory to God. If I were to put this question in different words and ask how much we do each day for the express purpose of bringing God glory, I don't think the answer would be much different. The sad truth is that we do relatively little, if anything, on a regular basis with the prayer that God would use that action to glorify himself. If we begin to grasp what exactly it is that Paul is teaching here it would change the way we live our lives, it would change the way we think, our entire worldview would have to be completely reassessed.
Now to be sure, God is bringing glory to himself every day, in every way. God is conducting the entire world in the way he wants it to go, and therefore glorifying himself whether we acknowledge it or not. If we are not actively seeking to glorify God it does not rob him of glory, but it does rob of us of a blessing. When we are living our lives with the subconscious belief that the chief end of man is to pleasure himself, we are living in disobedience to scripture, we are living a life that makes our self god, by inserting ourselves where God was meant to be, that is the center of our lives. While we don't think of ourselves this way most of the time, it is in fact how most of us live out our lives. We eat to keep us alive, we work to pay our bills, we spend our free time doing what makes us feel good, we sleep so that we feel better. When we ought to be eating so that we may serve God better, pay our bills because that is what God expects, spend our free time doing what God has asked of us, and sleeping so that we are refreshed to do God's work.
For the vast majority of christians and the world alike, we spend our lives thinking, or at least acting like, we are the center of the world. With such sayings as, "You only go around once", and "It's a dog eat dog world", and "You have to look out for number one first", the truth of what is in our hearts begins to spill out. It's true you do look out for number one first, the problem is we have put the prime number on the wrong individual, we are not number one, God is number one.
I would encourage you with each passing day, to take this truth to heart in a way that changes the way you act. I have resolved to live my life in such a way as to make sure that the reason I do what I do is that it is something that glorifies God. That applies both to the "grand tasks" such as what I preach, down to the "menial ones" such as what and when, I eat and drink. Don't waste your life thinking you are the chief end of your life, do something that will transcend this life, make glorifying God your chief end.

The throne of grace

Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We live in a culture, in which the reality of God has been watered down, to some it is nothing more than an exclamation of surprise, others honestly believe in God but his holiness and purity have been belittled by the televangelists with their catch phrases, like, "Just say 'Jesus, I take you!' and he's yours". The Jews lived in the polar opposite of this culture, under the Old Testament law there was only one group of people that could offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Of this group of people there was only one man that could come before the mercy seat, (the mercy seat being the throne of God in the holy of holies, where a single sacrifice was placed once a year to atone for all the sins of the Israelites that year). When this high priest would go into the holy of holies to offer this sacrifice, he would go in with bells tied to the bottom of his robe and a rope tied around his ankle, because the people knew that if he went before the throne of God in the wrong way, God would strike him dead. Therefore, if the bells stopped jingling for a certain period of time, the people outside would know to pull his dead body out of the holy of holies, for they could not go in to retrieve him.
The writer of Hebrews then, is telling the recipients of his letter (who were Jews), that since Jesus had been crucified for all God's children, the veil separating the holy of holies from the rest of the temple had been miraculously torn in two pieces. This signifying that anyone could now come to the mercy seat to find grace, and come boldly not fearing the wrath of God on their unrighteousness. The difference is, that before the death of Christ the high priest would go before God, hoping that he had done everything necessary to appease the wrath of God. Now we come before God with the full understanding that we can do nothing good enough to appease God's wrath, but instead fully trusting that Jesus' death and resurrection did fully satisfy him. The high priest went before God the same way that those that trust their good works to save them do, without any assurance that they had done everything necessary to appease God. The writer of Hebrews wants to make sure that we understand this old covenant is no longer in place, but instead we can come boldly before the throne of grace, trusting in nothing but the finished work on Calvary to save us from our sins.
All of this does not negate the fact that we still must honor God's holiness, and fear his justice, boldly does not equal impishly or arrogantly. Instead it implies the same healthy relationship between a father and son, we still honor, respect, and in God's case worship him, but we do it with complete trust that he is looking out for our best interests, and no matter what offenses we have committed against him, he will always be our father. We can disappoint, offend, or displease him, and it ought to break our heart when we do, but that does not bar us from boldly and humbly approaching the mercy seat and asking for forgiveness for the sake of Christ.

Wise fools

Rom. 1:21, 22 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Paul uses the first few chapters of Romans to prove that all men know of God, through a universal knowledge written in our hearts by God. This is seen to be true, all the world over, any civilization you find will always have a basic knowledge of a god, an alter, and a mediator between basic men and that god. Paul then builds on that principle, and teaches that all men left to their own devices will reject the true God. Which brings us to our text verses, where Paul says that even though man knows God, they refuse to acknowledge his omnipotence and instead try to come up with any other explanation for this law written on their hearts.
We deal with this in so many different ways in our modern world, we see people chalking their existence up to evolution, or the blessings they enjoy as coincidence. Pride has caused our heads to swell, and now wisdom (or education) is the name of the game, and yet the theories the world comes up with to explain away God sound so juvenile (or as Paul says foolish). The one we deal with with the most regularity, is the theory of evolution. The entire theory was thought up on the presupposition that there is no God, and it has spread so quickly because of the dogma that has been so aggressively pushed saying that you can not be scientific and believe in God. In recent years this has extended to the point that scientific establishments have begun firing their scientists based solely on whether or not they believe in creation. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Their logic doesn't seem make much sense to me, no one in their right mind would find a clock on the side of the road and conclude that a garbage truck had driven by and it just so happened that all the right pieces had fallen off, and fallen together, to make the clock. Even if a garbage truck drove by once a day for millions of years the chances of the right pieces, falling in the right place, to form a clock are non-existant. Why then, do we look at something much more sophisticated, with billions of cells, doing everything in perfect sync, and believe it was an accident of nature? Especially since hundreds of scientist have tried to make a living organism out of non-living substances, using all the ideal situations and places, and have failed. But we will believe that it all happened by chance? Who is wise, and who is the fool here?
Now, we have to conclude that micro-evolution happens around us all the time, that is that there are some animals that adapt to their environment as it changes. However this is just further proof for an amazing creator. Never before has a species morphed into a completely new species, and those that claim to believe that they do regardless of proof or evidence, are fools claiming to be wise.

Seek ye first

Matt. 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Aug. 22, 2007
In this portion of scripture, Jesus had just finished telling his disciples not to worry about their clothing or food or lodging, because God takes care of all nature, and he is surely able to take care of us. Now like anything, you could take this verse out of context and proportion and use it to excuse laziness or irresponsibility, you could say "God is going to take care of my needs, I don't need to work or provide for my family." However that's not what Jesus is telling them, he's telling them they need to prioritize. He says "Seek ye FIRST", the priorities need to be in the right place, if you don't have your spiritual state in order don't worry about the physical. The bible clearly states that there is no gain if you get all the physical benefits this world has to offer and lose your soul to hell.
The doctrine of fasting illustrates this point perfectly, when we are serious about some spiritual issue we forgo meals in order to pray without losing our focus on the matter at hand. We are admitting that there are issues that are more important than our physical well being, and that is our spiritual well being. We live in a society that is constantly catering to our flesh, it teaches us that we ought to have everything we want exactly when we want it. To withhold food, so that we can study the bread of life (the bible) more fully, is considered foolish by the majority of America. To deprive your body of sleep so that you may rest more fully in Christ, is a foreign notion to most Americans. Jesus Christ said that if your priorities were right (seeking the kingdom of God) then all these things, (food, clothing, housing) would be added unto you. All the physical pieces are able to fall into place once the spiritual one are taken care of.
In the Old Testament we read the story of David's death, and when David was about to die he gave the kingdom to his son Solomon, now Solomon was not the oldest or most experienced son, but David chose to give it to him anyway. Soon after this God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him he would give him anything he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom to lead the Israelites according to God's will. God told Solomon that because Solomon had asked for righteous wisdom instead of money or long life or prosperity, God would give Solomon wisdom as well as all the physical blessings, if Solomon would follow God the way David had. 2000 years before Jesus was ever born, God told Solomon since he sought the spiritual things first God would add to him all the other things. 2000 years after Christ's death the principle still stands, the priority is spiritual, the real important things of life are those that pertain to the kingdom of God.
Let's determine that we will not let the world brainwash us into believing the physical life is more important than the spiritual. Let's decide that we will make sure our walk with God is where it needs to be, before we worry about our job or bills. Let's make sure we are following Christ's will and not ours.

A lively God

Heb. 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Aug. 1, 2007
About 200 years ago a preacher by the name of Jonathen Edwards preached on this passage, his sermon was entitled, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God". It is reported that he read this sermon word for word off his notes in nearly a monotone voice, and yet by the close of the service the listeners were clinging to the pillars of the building, screaming that it was as if they could feel the flames of hell licking at their feet. What caused this reaction, clearly had nothing to do with his delivery, but instead with the profound content of the verse. When we break it down, we find layer after layer of doctrine condenced into these fourteen words.
First off we see that falling into the hands of a God ready to take vengance on those whom vengenace is due, is a fearful thing. We often lose sight of the fact that we serve a God that is complex and multifaceted, we do not undersand evrything he does, we're not told to understand we're told to believe and accept it as holy. It is a very popular subject today to talk about the love of God, there's nothing wrong with that, God is love. (I John 4:8) The problem arises when we attempt to limit God to that single attribute, God is not limited and he is as fearful to those who reject him, as he is loving to those who are his children.
Second, we see that it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. That is to find youself completely at his mercy. God can do all his holy will and "none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan. 5:35) Our God is all powerful, and at every moment of every day we are completely at his mercy, even "the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as rivers of water he turneth it withersoever he will" (Prov. 21:1) Once again we try to limit God to a position where he is convinient for us to access. God has hands that reach to every corner of the earth. To be at the mercy of such powerful hands and be deserving of punishment would be fearful indeed.
Thirdly, we see it is a living God. Whether you choose to recognize it now or at the moment of your death, there is a God and he is very alive. Two prevalent ideas in this age is that there is no God, or that God is not active. The secular realm sticks to the "no God" argument, the obvious point of this scripture is that the fearful thing is that he is alive. The "religious" crowd tries to tell you that God got this world spinning and then just sat back and let it alone. This word "living" however entails being "lively" or active, our God is not limited to heaven, he works in evryone's life, every day, acting for the good of his children and his own glory.
These are just the three most obvious points of this verse, but still enough to make us reconsider how we view God and fit him into our lives. Do we think of him as an unlimited deity that can do all his holy will, or a limited God that we have carved out to fit our wants? As C. S. Lewis said of Aslan "He is good, but he is not a tame lion."

God is greater than our heart

I John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. July 11, 2007
It seems as if the modern world we live in has completely forgotten that this verse is in the bible. The prevalent theme being pushed by Hollywood today is "follow your heart", and the modern Evangelists, for the most part, have latched onto it. After moderating the "conversion experience", the recipient will ask the evangelist "Now am I saved?" He replies "What does your heart tell you?"
Such an interaction teaches the convert that the status of his salvation depends on what his heart feels. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" There comes a time in many believers lives when their highly deceitful heart tells them, "You can't be saved, you're not good enough." It is at that time that our confidence in the saving power of God coupled with his all sovereign, keeping power, takes over. The second part of what our heart told was correct, we're never good enough for salvation, however we can be saved if we remember I John 3:20 is still in the bible. We have a God who is greater than our hearts, and though the logic of our heart would seem to tell us we are headed for hell, our faith in a sovereign God overrides that.
When the greater part of Christendom begins rejecting or downplaying the sovereignty of God, it hurts all aspects of our life, but no one area is hit harder than the area of conversion. Because if we do not serve an all powerful God, what hope do we have for salvation? I know for a fact I'm not good enough to earn it, the bible tells me I'm not smart enough to choose it, and my heart isn't trustworthy enough to sustain it. My faith lies solely in the blood of Jesus Christ and the love and power of a God that saved me when I never did a thing to deserve it.
Last week we discussed the worth of a soul, and the fact that our souls are worth more than the entire world. If that is what God saved, what do you have to deserve God paying such a high price? Is baptism an act that merits salvation, does mere water have some sort of efficacy that makes it worth God's while? Is church membership worth more than all material gain on the globe, can we do any works that would pay for such a debt? Would God pay the price of His only begotten son dying on a cross, if it took our works to keep that salvation? Obviously the question to all the answers above is a resounding "NO"! Understanding the biblical doctrine of the sovereignty of God in conversion, leads us to an understanding of the fact that we belong to a God that is greater than even our heart. Such a God deserves our all, does he not? Our all will not save us, it will not repay the debt he payed for us, but it is a service we do anyways, out of love and worship for such a God as ours.