Category Archives: Sin

Church Today, Eternal Life, God's Standard, God's people, Restoration, Righteousness, Sin

In the Church but not of the Church

Posted by admin on June 30, 2010 at 12:07 pm.

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things (Phil 3:18-19).

                Every time I read these verses from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I wonder if the people he describes are among the body of the local church or if they are outside it. Having been in ministry for almost 3 decades, I lean toward them being in the church. Of course, they could be in either place, but he is writing this portion with tears, suggesting that there is a nearer and dearer relationship with these people than would develop with unbelieving people. While I am sure that Paul consciously developed relationships outside the local body, the deeper relationships would grow within it, among people that he was discipling and teaching. These, I would expect, would create more emotion in him if he needed to characterize their lives in this way.

                It’s not much different today. There are people in the church that are Christ’s enemies. Oh, they give lipservice to His Truth, but their lives are so lukewarm that the people of this world cannot see any significant difference in them from themselves. These “Christians” are the ones that are uncomfortable when conversations at work turn to spiritual things. They feel guilty when a friend or co-worker boldly proclaims what these “Christians” say they believe. Sometimes in private, they will try to minimize the things that their bold friend had proclaimed.

                These are the people that Jesus referred to when He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 7:21). As Paul says it, “Their end is destruction.”

                Often the people Paul describes here will try to compartmentalize their lives – Sunday is for God and the other six days are for the things I want to do. They are reluctant to see their decisions to spend money or to indulge in their favorite pastime or dessert as spiritual decisions, and certainly not sin. After all, they can “worship” God just as easily on the golf course or fishing lake as they can in a church building! Their “appetite” may mean food, literally, or it may mean their favorite indulgence.

                When Jesus wrote to the Church in Laodicea in Rev. 3, He observed that the lukewarm people in that church saw themselves as rich and not in need when they were really poor and blind and naked. They gloried in what really was to their shame. So it is among so-called Christians today who assume the prosperity of their lives must imply God’s favor with them. There is often a smug sense of self-righteousness, a “righteousness” that God tells us is like the rags stained with a woman’s menstrual impurity (Is 64:6), as far as He is concerned.

            How do we respond to such people in the Church? First, make certain that we are not among them! Be sure that sin is confessed and the core truths of the faith are true at the deepest level in our hearts. In addition, we should pray and weep – as Paul did – for these who are our friends whose faith is so shallow and whose hearts are so deceived.

Christ's afflictions, Church Today, Humiliation, Humility, Isaiah 66:1-2, Repentance, Restoration, Scripture, Sin, Solemn Assembly

Solemn Assembly

Posted by admin on June 15, 2010 at 4:54 pm.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly (Joel 2:15).

                Economic disaster was imminent when Joel prophesied to the nation of Judah. Locusts had come through and had wiped out the crops. Unlike our day where we have grain stored away for years and we even bid on the FUTURE price of those commodities, when their crops were destroyed they didn’t eat till the next year (at least not that food).

                Richard Owen Roberts, a student of revivals throughout history and an author on the subject, identifies the “solemn (or sacred) assembly” as the answer prescribed by God for any kind of imminent appeal to avoid disaster. When the “Ark of the Covenant” was captured by the Philistines, Samuel proclaimed a fast and called the people together to repent before God (I Sam 7). When kings Asa and Jehoshaphat were threatened by nations mightier than they were, they each called upon the people to fast and repent at a solemn assembly (2 Chron 14, 20). When God declared judgment for the sins of his grandfather, Manasseh, King Josiah was moved to repentance himself and called the people to the same in 2 Chron 34:29.

                Usually the solemn assembly was accompanied by fasting because throughout the Old Testament, fasting was a sign of self-humiliation, mourning and repentance. It is significant that historically the singular sign of a repentant spirit was the willingness to mourn through fasting. That’s why the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) has historically been known as “the Fast” (see Acts 27:9).

                God responds to the Solemn Assembly – not because there is anything magical about an assembly – but because He responds to brokenness and contrition. When Christians mourn and confess and repent of their sin He takes notice because He sees that we understand the seriousness of sin. When Isaiah wrote that Jesus was “crushed” for our iniquities in Isaiah 53:5, that word is the same Hebrew word that is translated “contrite” in Psalm 51:17 – “a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” The power of a single Christian’s repentance is significant, but when a group of Christians – as in a local church – gather to genuinely mourn their sin, His heart is moved to action on their behalf.

                In our day the Church has decided that His blessing must rest upon the mega-church because everyone strives for “bigness.” Pastors flock to the seminars or books of the most recent “success” story to learn their “secret,” which they are glad to share – for a price. (I even have a book in my library on how to use fasting to grow your church – apparently the author sees fasting as one of the tools in a pastor’s ecclesiastical toolbox!) But Isaiah tells us that if God wanted to build a BIG ministry, He wouldn’t need us. What He is looking for are those who are “humble…contrite…and who tremble at His Word” (Is. 66:2).

Atonement, Eternal Life, Heaven, Jesus, Peter, Repentance, Satisfaction, Sin

Justice, Not Love

Posted by admin on June 4, 2010 at 3:16 pm.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10).

                Sometimes changing a word in a familiar passage of Scripture awakens our minds to the truth that is really there. I had a professor in seminary that used to intentionally misquote I John 1:9 for just that point. He would say, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and LOVING to forgive us our sins…”

                My professor’s misquotation highlighted the common misunderstanding in our hearts concerning the basis for our forgiveness. We imagine that God as the compassionate Heavenly Father feels so lovingly toward us when we confess our sins that He chooses to forgive. After all, that always seemed to be the basis for our parents’ forgiveness when we offended them. I know a woman who recalls that at the age of 5 she figured that she would crawl up in God’s lap and He would be so moved by her that He would forgive whatever wrong she had done. After all, it had worked with her earthly father!

                But God does not forgive because He feels sorry for us. If He did He would not be a perfectly holy God. He forgives us because Jesus’ death satisfied His wrath against our sin. Lest I am misunderstood, let me say that He does love us, and He does have compassion for us, and He is moved by our repentance and brokenness. But that is not the basis for His forgiveness.

                Romans 3:26 points out that the purpose of Christ’s atoning sacrifice was that God might “be just (in His character) and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” If He, like the Islamic god, Allah, simply forgave sin capriciously, according to His mood when we happened to arrive at His judgment seat, He would not be just at all – He would actually be UNjust.

                No other religious system in the world offers a way to forgive sin without detracting from the holy character of God. Christianity is exclusive. And that is why Peter could say in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Apart form Jesus, there is no forgiveness.

Church Today, Heaven, Repentance, Scripture, Sin, Worship

Sinful Sin

Posted by admin on May 4, 2010 at 4:43 pm.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it [the Law] produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (Rom 7:13).

                When I get to heaven, I intend to look up my dear friend Willie. When I was in my 20’s Willie was in his 80’s, and has since met Jesus face to face. Willie used to pray that God would make “sin exceedingly sinful.” I confess that I really didn’t understand what he meant at the time; I thought this phrase was just a quaint phrase that he had heard way back when from some preacher. I was right, but the preacher was the Apostle Paul!

                I think I understand a bit more about Willie’s prayer today. I have observed that sin isn’t particularly sinful to most of the American Church. We harbor sensuous, lascivious thoughts, but don’t consider them sin because we don’t act on them. We ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit to meet with Him in prayer and study, but feel no guilt. We spend all that God has entrusted to us (and often more!) on ourselves, so that we have nothing to give, and then we work overtime to pay for our indulgence and use our “fatigue” to justify our failure to spend time with Him.

                One of the evidences of this pervasive attitude in the American Church is that there is a disconnect in the minds of many attendees between their willingness to lift their hands to worship Him, but their unwillingness to rid their lives of known sin. How people can sing of God’s holiness while defiling their marriage bed is beyond me. How they can sing of His grace to them while they let lost friends and family die and go to hell doesn’t make sense except that sin isn’t particularly sinful to them.

                And it isn’t just the attendees…Hotel chains that service business meetings and conferences have observed that the number of pay-per-view movies usually RISES if the meeting is connected to a church! I hope that this is not true when my denomination comes to town, but I am afraid to ask. Sin is not particularly sinful, even to church leaders.

                I wish that I could say that sin is utterly sinful to me. It’s not the case yet, but it’s my prayer for myself. Willie used to say that he wanted to be so holy in this life that when he got to heaven the shock wouldn’t be too great. I hope that our tribe will increase.

Jesus' Teachings, Messiah, Pain, Scripture, Sin, Struggles, Suffering, hardship

Hang on Jesus’ Words

Posted by admin on March 5, 2010 at 5:20 pm.

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19:47-48

                Things certainly are different in our day! Today we ignore, rather than “hang on to,” His words. The difference between the response in the time of Jesus and our own is not a matter of the delivery because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into the words of Scripture just as the breath of Jesus carried them through His lips. It is also not because men are innately different today than in that day. I would suggest that the reason we don’t hang on Jesus’ words because we don’t have the motivation that they had in the time of Jesus.

                The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah, a deliverer. They were oppressed by an authoritarian political regime that didn’t care about their Jewish laws and practices. Rather than being the head, they were the tail (see Deut. 28:13-14) because they had not paid attention to the Lord’s commands. His judgment upon them had led to their subservient position.

                People in America today – even Christians – are not looking for a Messiah, at least not a Messiah like Jesus. We are too comfortable in our position on top of the world. When our bank accounts run dry, when our health gives out, when our families decide to blow us off, then we’ll hang on Jesus’ words. But probably not before, unless we have been trained well (and sometimes, not even then!).

                I’m glad that the Church can be there when life happens for people in our world, but the truth is that the fix is not an easy one. It’s always simpler to get into trouble than to get out of it, because the source of that trouble is always sin. Sometimes it’s the original sin that plagues all mankind on this side of heaven, sometimes it is a specific sin that has led to our circumstances. But either way, the remedy is Jesus – His death for us or His words to us.

                I am very thankful for the easy life God has blessed us with in America with our many freedoms and creature comforts and I recognize their Source, but I fear that unless we wake up and hang on his words again like our Founding Fathers did, we’ll repeat the cycle that plagued the Jewish people.

Husband, Marriage, Scripture, Sin, Struggles, Wife

A Wife of Noble Character

Posted by admin on February 26, 2010 at 9:35 am.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Prov 31:10

                My blog normally is a meditation on the Scripture, and I want this one to follow that pattern, although as you read it, it may seem more personal, perhaps even self-serving.

This evening I spoke with a friend that I and many others have been praying for. He left his wife and children for another woman, but in His mercy God has heard our prayers and has prompted this man to repent and return. I am profoundly grateful because this repentant spirit seems to be a rare thing in our day.

Our conversation led to his statement that many of the couples around us are struggling in their marriages. I know that this society is far more promiscuous than my parents’ generation, but he suggested to me that stable marriages seem to be the exception rather than the rule – even within the evangelical church. As I have reflected upon our conversation this evening, I am in awe at the provision that God has made for me in my wife of 31 years.

I came to know Christ while in college, and, while my conversion changed me from an insecure, socially inept kid, I still struggled. I began a lifelong study of Scripture in those days, so I was comfortable in a Christian setting, but not so much socially. In my loneliness, I recall praying that God would provide me with a wife. I was attending at that time a church in which I was the only single person between 16 and 66, but the thought never occurred to me to go to another church where there might be some single Christian women. My purpose was not marriage; it was a deepening walk with Jesus, and He would provide if He chose to, though I wasn’t expecting Him to. Despite my naiveté (or maybe because of it) God brought Mary to me. I recall that we laughed hilariously on our first date to a local play (most of the hilarity was the ineptitude of the local actors rather than the play itself), and we have been able to laugh together ever since.

But the secret to our 31 years was not laughter, although that is important; it has been commitment, personal devotion to Christ and humility. I don’t deserve her and I know it. Though she deserves far better than me, somehow God has made her believe that she doesn’t deserve me. This humility is largely what prompts us to serve each other and set the other first. It gets its fuel because each of us is into the Scripture each day where we both realize that we are indebted to the grace of God both for eternal life and for temporal existence. We are imperfect people and we fail each other more often than we like to admit, but that humility and grace has led us to take seriously the vows we made on our wedding day that we would set the other ahead of ourselves until death. When I think back to how naïve I was on that day, I am amazed! But we made these vows before the God to whom we will give an account, and “divorce” has never been in our vocabulary.

At the risk of sounding too simplistic, the plethora of marital problems in our day is the result, I believe, of the tendency among this generation to ignore the Scripture. We are a generation of Christians that says we believe the Bible, but we don’t read it, we don’t memorize it and we certainly don’t meditate upon it. Everything is quick and external to us in the 21st century Church. Worship is entertainment with hardly any reference to the Scripture; real Bible study is rejected in favor of a light devotional thought or platitude. Our children know virtually nothing of the Scriptures (because their parents don’t), and Sunday School has given way to fun activities. But David wrote, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee” (Ps 119:11).

Thankfully, my repentant friend indicated that for the first time in his married life, he is regularly reading the Scripture. That’s what will keep his marriage together, just as it has my own. Recalling our conversation, I am astounded by God’s grace to provide my wife for me, because I don’t deserve a stable marriage any more than my friend does. I concur with the writer of this Proverb, “She is worth far more than rubies.” And, yes, after we returned home this evening, I told her how grateful I am for her.

Christ, Matthew 23:30-32, Sin, Uncategorized

Sins of the Fathers

Posted by admin on January 28, 2010 at 2:20 am.

And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! (Matt 23:30-32)

                The truth is that we have all – to some extent – participated in the sins of our ancestors. That’s a hard concept for many of us in modern times. We don’t want to be judged by the sins of our parents and grandparents, but it appears that we should be. This statement from the lips of Jesus Himself suggests that if we had lived in a previous generation we would have responded the same way.

                Two of the notable saints of the Old Testament seemed to understand this truth because both Daniel and Ezra are recorded as seeking forgiveness for the sins of their ancestors (Dan. 9:3-19; Ezra 9:5-15). They seemed to understand that they were suffering under God’s judgment because their parents and grandparents had failed to follow Him with a whole heart.

                Most of us understand our culpability for our own sin, but perhaps the Church today needs to gain a healthy spirit of repentance for the sins of the previous generations. If we are struggling with materialism as a people, it may be because the roots of that sin have been sown in our hearts by our parents who wanted to provide for us better than they enjoyed as children. After all, the sins of the fathers are visited on the children to the third and fourth generation.

                I don’t know how to communicate this without making it seem that succeeding generations will be held accountable for the sins of their parents, but that is NOT my intent. I will be judged for my sins, and His grace is sufficient for me to overcome any influence of my ancestors. Still, that influence persists, which explains why most people who have descended from troubled homes or from parents that rejected Christ have a harder time believing than those whose parents have faithfully served Him.