This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
I have nothing to add…
Why did so many Christian churches not speak out against the injustices of the Nazi regime? Fear, maybe, of persecution or simply a decline in offerings? Wanting to ride the wave of popularity and power? Perhaps it was easier to tell people what they wanted to hear? Who knows? But that disgraceful failure is one of the more dangerous consequences of picking and choosing from the Bible what seems convenient to believe.
Today, the same failure is routinely practiced in churches. It’s no mystery why churches that only preach what people want to hear are wildly popular. But God said,
“…prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:10b-11)
Imagine going to the doctor with a gangrenous wound, hoping it’s not serious. The doctor knows you are worried, so he says, “This is no big deal; we’ll just put a band-aid on it.” Inconceivable, but precisely what has been done, far too often, by people entrusted with the truth of God’s Word. Paul warned Timothy not to be tempted by the strong pull of popular opinion and desire. He said:
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:2-4)
If you haven’t found one yet, look for a church that delivers “the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
If you are lost and pull out a map, do you ignore the parts of the map that don’t fit with where you think you are? Of course not. If you did, you’d still be lost. If you are typing in an internet address, do you decide for yourself which letters are really necessary, skipping the others? Doesn’t work so well, right?
Which parts of the Bible are trustworthy and which parts are not? The Jesus Seminar presumed to decide that question, as it pertained to the sayings of Jesus. They black-balled a good portion of the Gospel accounts. For example, in their lofty wisdom, they declared Jesus never said, “I am the way and the truth and the life…” On what basis? They began with the assumption that Jesus would never have referred to Himself. In other words, they crossed out everything from the Gospels that did not conform to their own ideas. It is no surprise that the portion of the New Testament they found to be authentic closely resembled their own thinking. And was very short.
If you come to the Bible unprepared to let it challenge you and change you, it won’t. If you ignore everything you disagree with, what’s left will simply look a lot like you. God spoke about that kind of audacity through His prophet, Jeremiah:
“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have? (Jeremiah 8:8-9)
Everybody dies. So, if death makes life seem pointless (see Vantage Advantage), how does adopting God’s way of seeing reality change the inevitable? Putting it in blunt terms, how can we “receive life as a gift from a generous God,” if we know He will one day yank it back? Isn’t that view of life just a crutch for those who can’t face the hard truth about dying?
It would be, except for this. God made a promise about death in Scripture.
In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The LORD has spoken! (Isaiah 25:7-8)
Death seems certain when life is viewed “under the sun.” But for those who adopt God’s perspective, death will certainly be eliminated. Oh yeah? When will that happen, you ask? It already has! When Jesus was comforting His friend after the death of her brother,
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25 -26)
It sounds too good to be true, a get out of death free card. But, if you are struggling to accept what He said, consider this:
Another time, as He explained eternal life to His disciples, Jesus said He wasn’t lying:
“… If it were not so, I would have told you.” (John 14:2b)
Here’s the deal:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16-17)
Christians are losers. That’s what I used to think. Uptight, repressed people, afraid to have fun. So when my brother tried to tell me about Jesus, my responses were laced with sarcasm and scorn. Maybe you can relate – either to my attitude or to how my brother must have felt. If so, spend a moment or two considering an exchange between a man who had just met Jesus and his friend:
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” (John 1:45-46)
You’ve seen those signs that proudly announce that this town is the birthplace of some famous person? Nazareth apparently didn’t have one of those. But I suppose Nathanael’s snippy response was about more than that. I suspect at some point Nathanael had been burned by believing something that turned out to be a hoax. He may well have thrown out that sarcastic remark as a way of defending himself against being fooled again. That would have been why I said it. No matter why he said it, it probably put Philip off. He might have been tempted to say, “Well, just forget it; you’re probably right.”
But he didn’t. His response was elegant in it’s simplicity and effectiveness. He said, “Come and see.” Check Him out for yourself. No need to try to prove it to his friend. All he needed to do was simply invite his friend to come, to come and see. I’m going to have to remember that. There have been many times when my response to a sarcastic doubter was to try and prove Who Jesus is. Perhaps you know that’s a response that rarely works and usually left me feeling frustrated and inadequate. Philip intuitively knew Jesus could do His own proving, that he, Philip, didn’t need to do that part. His role was to simply invite his friend.
“Come and see.”
Do you still use your “Veg-e-matic,” or have you gone back to your kitchen knife and cutting board? There’s a reason you see so many infomercial products on garage sale tables. The old, tried and true methods, generally work better. They’ve stood the test of time. It’s important to remember that when you consider whether to buy the next better mousetrap. Or idea.
Our culture has majored in tearing down old, tried and true ideas. We celebrate our freedom from them, proudly following new, contemporary ideas. But history has seen many Veg-e-matic ideas tossed on the garage sale “free pile.” There really is value in paying attention to the wisdom of generations past. I’m not talking about ideas like the world is flat. I’m specifically thinking about knowing the value of living with a deep respect for Almighty God, a responsiveness to His guidance. People abandon that idea, thinking it will tangle them up in old superstitions. But check it out: that old idea is tried and true. What it really does is bring peace:
This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16a)
Can you really forgive if you don’t forget? God doesn’t think so. When He forgives He forgets. Speaking about all those who accept His forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus, He says:
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
So, this woman goes to her priest and says, “I have a word from God for you.” “Oh no,” he replies, “we don’t do that in this church.” She persists and he finally tells her to prove she really is in contact with God. He tells her to ask God to tell her the last sin he owned up to in confession. If she gets it right, he’ll listen to what she has to tell him. When she comes back, the priest asks her what God told her was his last confessed sin. She says, “God said He can’t remember…”
Of course, you could ask all sorts of logical questions about what could be impossible for an all-sovereign deity. But the point is this: once God has forgiven you, that is the end of it. He will never bring it back up and hold it as leverage against you. When you accept Jesus’ payment on the cross as a full payment for all your sin, your account is paid in full. It’s done.
David Blaine blows your mind by doing things that seem impossible. But if you knew how he did his tricks, they would not have the same effect. When God performs a miracle, He deliberately hides how He did it, in order to preserve the full effect. Because it’s the why that’s important with miracles, not the how. I know people who declare, “There’s no such thing as a miracle.” What they mean is there must be some physical explanation for how God pulled off His tricks. Perhaps they are right. But in getting all focused on the how, they’ve probably missed the why. And that is a shame.
Miracles are often called “signs.” Signs point to something. When you see a sign for a hospital, you don’t stop there to get medical attention; you head in the direction it points to. In the New Testament, most of the miracles, or signs, point to the validity of the identity, message and work of Jesus Christ. They are designed to work like starter fluid for faith. You don’t run your engine on starter fluid; you just squirt some in the intake when you are having trouble getting it started. God uses miracles to help people get their faith started. When you read about or experience a miracle of God, don’t get so distracted wondering about the how that you miss out on why it happened.
1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:1-4)
What makes a good president? We are awash with opinions about the Obama presidency and prejudgments about what Trump might do. But what are the standards by which those opinions are formed? I don’t believe such standards should be based primarily on political preferences. We’ve had great presidents from both sides of the aisle. Let me suggest a benchmark taken from Psalm 89, a declaration of praise addressed to God.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you. (Psalms 89:14)
If I could have my “druthers,” I’d like a president whose claim to leadership authority was based on a solid foundation of righteousness and justice, both of which preclude favoritism. I’d like a president who was known for how sincerely he or she loved, one known for being absolutely faithful. I’d like a president who bore the character of God.
Of course I understand we humans don’t measure up. But more than party leanings, those are the benchmarks I measure by as I wait for the arrival of the King of Kings. May God truly bless, guide and protect all of our leaders and develop a greater sense of understanding among all the people of this nation.
There’s a lot of weird churches out there. Unhealthy, conflicted and sometimes dangerously wrong in what they teach. Trouble is, these problems often lie hidden. You can’t tell the condition of a church by how nice it looks, how upbeat the music is or by the size of the congregation. Good churches come in many shapes, flavors and sizes. So, how can you know if you’ve found a good one? What do you look for? Here’s a description of the first church, the initial gathering of people who knew Jesus. I think it describes some of the most important things to look for in a church:
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (Acts 9:31)
Good churches will surely have a peaceful vibe and will seem to be growing stronger and adding people. But not necessarily always. For example, what seems like a lack of peace may actually be a manifestation of honest willingness to address a tough problem. And what seems to be peacefulness may be an unhealthy passivity of a congregation that is under someone’s thumb. Same thing with temporary swings in attendance.
But central to the health of a church are the two phrases highlighted above. A good church is very aware of the awesome and somewhat frightening presence of Almighty God. They understand His amazing power and perfect understanding and are reverently responsive to Him in a natural way. And a good church is mostly made up of people who, by having put their faith in Jesus, are alive with the Holy Spirit. Instead of going through religious motions, they are engaged in an exhilarating relationship with the Spirit, being encouraged, strengthened and instructed by Him. A church where these two are present will likely be one where you will be blessed and changed.
FRESH BREAD OF LIFE 