Run for Your Life!

As the Apostle Paul wrote to his younger protégé Timothy, he gives him some divinely inspired wisdom that we would all do well to heed.  “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

The Bible doesn’t often call us to run away from something, but here we find that it is exactly what we are to do when confronted with the evil desires of you.  The phrase “evil desires of youth” we often equate with sexual desires and that may well be true, but commentators through the ages have mentioned other youthful desires from which we should high-tail it:  quick tempers, rash decisions, impatience, love of novelty, quick to disagree and fight.  You could probably add a few to this list yourself.

The apostle’s advice is simple when it comes to those things that capture our imagination and can lead us astray:  “Don’t flirt with it. Don’t stand there and pray about what to do. Don’t get near it. If it comes knocking, run for your life!” 

There is something FROM which we need to run, but there is also something TO which we are to run.  We are to join along with other believers in pursuing (chasing after) righteousness, faith, love and peace.  As diligently as we run from the lure of evil desires, we are to run toward those attributes that reflect the character of Christ. 

These verses make it crystal clear that we are responsible for our choices.  We can choose to flee temptations or give in to them.  We can choose to run after righteousness, faith, love and peace or to stop short.  Choose wisely.

Can we trust our Bibles?

As the Lord gave the children of Israel His commands on how they were to relate to one another and to Him, He added this caution:  “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).  It was important that God’s Word not be handled carelessly.  It was His revealed truth and therefore needed to be kept intact. 

When it comes to the Bible you hold in your hands, you have the benefit of mass production through printing presses.  Before this the books of the Bible were copied by hand. The scribes who diligently copied each page did so according to a stringent set of rules to keep errors from occurring. They went beyond just proofreading the pages they copied.  They would also count all the letters on the original page; then, after they had copied the page, they would count the letters on the copy to see if the numbers matched.  They did this to keep them from copying a word twice, skipping a line, or copying the same line twice.  If the count did not match, they would destroy the copy they had worked on so laboriously and start over.

Imagine that!  One error in the copy and it was destroyed.  It’s no wonder that the copies of the Bible we have today are so consistent with the earliest manuscripts that have been found.  The ancient scribes were careful not to add or subtract anything because they knew it was the Word of God.

As you open the pages of your Bible, remember that it is God’s revealed Word.  Remember also that it has been carefully preserved through the centuries because the men who copied it revered it as God’s Word.  Do you have the same reverence for the Word?  If so, don’t merely read it and respect it, let it change you from the inside out.

 

The Church – part seven

When we began planning for our first church building, we committed to a simple idea – excellence without excess.  Our desire was to build a functional, attractive facility but not one which was flamboyant or ornate.  Our priority was to have a beautiful church, but we wanted to make sure that we never confused the church with the building in which the church meets.

A beautiful church can meet in a cathedral or in a grass hut.  It can even meet under a tree in a field.  The church, as we said at the beginning of this series, is the body of Christ.  Those redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus was the church – and the church can be a thing of beauty.  If the church is not the building, then what does a beautiful church look like?

A beautiful church is one which reflects the image of Jesus.  Jesus loved His Father without reservation and expressed that love in following His will without reservation.  Jesus loved people so much that He lowered Himself to take on flesh, to dwell among us, to serve us, to teach us, and to die for our sins.  Jesus opened the way to heaven to all who would believe.  A beautiful church is one which loves God, loves others, and offers the hope of heaven to a fallen world.

Although we were not attempted to build a gorgeous building, as I was showing a guest around following a funeral service, she said to me, “You have a beautiful church.”  She was right, she just didn’t know how right!

The Church – part six

Perhaps you’ve heard the statement by Morton Kelsey: “The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.” Is this true?

Without a doubt Jesus never intended the church to be a museum for the saints.  The church is not to be merely a beautiful building with fine furnishing designed and built to impress Christians.  Buildings and furnishing have their place, but they are not the church!

How about the statement about the church being a hospital for sinners? There is certainly some validity to this.  The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  That means we all start from the same place – we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior. 

There is, however, a shift that takes place when we come to a sincere faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  The Bible says that we become a new creation!  We are born again!  We have a new nature!  And God sees us as His, as saints, as holy, as people set apart for a purpose.  We move from death to life, from darkness to life, from sinners to saints.

Does that mean we stop sinning? Sadly, it does not.  We still struggle with the old patterns of the flesh until the Lord calls us home.  Daily we have to take off the old and put on the new.  We have to learn to live as the person we are in Christ not the person we used to be.  So maybe we should change Kelsey’s statement a bit.  Perhaps we should say that the church is a hospital for the saints as daily we cease conforming to the pattern of the world and continue our transformation to be more like Jesus.

The Church – part five

Lord Horatio Nelson was Britain’s greatest naval hero. As his fleet was sailing into battle one day, it is reported that Nelson’s men began to fight among themselves. Calling out their names, Nelson pointed toward the approaching fleet and exclaimed, “Gentlemen, there is the enemy!”

All church members would do well to adopt the same outlook.  Too often we have looked at those in our church who have different opinions or different preferences as adversaries or even enemies.  When we do so, we fail to recognize that they are brothers and sisters.  We fail to acknowledge God’s desire that the church be in unity.  And we do so to our own harm and to the detriment of the Kingdom of God.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  When we are in conflict in the church, we need to be careful not to paint others as enemies.  We have one enemy.  He is the father of lies.  His job description is to steal, kill and destroy.  It is not that our fellow member is being used by Satan, but Satan will take very opportunity to disrupt and derail the work of God’s church.  He’s an opportunist and he’s always looking to stir up trouble.

This does not mean that we ignore conflict in the church, nor does it mean that we never take action when it comes to the hurtful actions of others.  What it does mean is that we respond to others with a desire for restoration to full fellowship.  Even when church discipline is exercised, restoration and unity should be the driving factors.

An old Pogo cartoon (and, yes, that dates me) made the statement, “We have met the enemy and He is us.”  In the church that statement holds no truth.  Those who have a common faith also have a common enemy.  We must be sure to know the difference between our church family and our enemy!

The Church – Part Four

I’ve always heard it said that if you find the perfect church don’t join it – you’ll just mess it up.  We all know that the church is filled with imperfect people.  None of us has reached the point of sinless perfection in our thoughts, words, or actions.  Even though this is so, God’s Word calls us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  (Ephesians 4:1)

In the church you will find people with their faults and failures, their weaknesses and their insecurities.  You will also find people who are committed to Christ and growing in their faith.  The odd thing is that they can be the very same people!  The church is filled with people in progress.  It would make perfect sense if we all wore t-shirts emblazoned with “Under Construction.”

Because the church is filled with imperfect people, it is important that we give each other a little wiggle room.  As the Apostle Paul put it, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3)

May God give us the humility and patience to tolerate the failures of others, the discernment to help our brothers and sister grow in the faith, the passion to mature to be more like Christ, and the joy of being part of the body of Christ.

The Church – part three

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He shared with His disciples words that are today called the Great Commission:  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

As part of Jesus’ call to His followers, He instructs them to teach others what He has commanded them.  The disciples became conduits to communicate Jesus’ truth to others who would believe in Him.  They were not just to make converts, they were to teach them.  To teach others implies a body of truth that must be both guarded to avoid corruption and shared to both educate and mature believers.

As we continue our consideration of the church, we need to grasp that the church has that same responsibility.  We have been entrusted with biblical truth.  Part of our mission is to share that truth.  This is done in a variety of means from preaching to teaching to videos to books and pamphlets.  The imperative for the church is to find the best means of sharing God’s unchangeable truth in a way that people who live in a ever-changing world can understand.  The message must always remain the same, but the methods we use are wide-open.

The central truth to the Christian faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that He is the only way to the Father, that He is truth-embodied, and that He is the source of true life (John 14:6).  We may change the way we teach that truth (from flannel boards to chalk boards to PowerPoint), but the truth itself must be zealously guarded and taught.

There are many who declare that it does not matter what you believe so long as you believe something.  It sounds high-minded and noble, but it is absolutely meaningless.  Would we apply that standard auto-mechanics?  Of course not!  Do I tell my mechanic when I have a loud noise in my engine, “It doesn’t matter what you tell me it is, so long as you tell me it’s something”?  Would you apply the same standard to your doctor? “Doc, it doesn’t matter what diagnosis you give me for this lump in my chest so long as you give me some diagnosis.”  What foolishness!

The church is here to say “What you believe does matter!” There is such a thing as eternal truth, and every faithful church is responsible to teach it clearly.  Sure, some churches may seem to care more about the paint color in the nursery or what brand of grape juice to use for communion, but those are just periphery issues.  Jesus has called us to teach what He has given us.

When you’re looking for a church, it’s great to know what kind of youth program they have, what kind of music they play, and what kind of building they meet in, but first and foremost find out what truth they are teaching!

Beware of Christians?

I just became aware of the film “Beware of Christians.”  The title is meant to grab attention … and it does.  It is a film made by Christians to challenge the typical notions of what it means to follow Jesus.  Based on the preview I saw, it could be helpful in a dialogue on the Christian faith in our culture.  

Having not seen it in its entirety, I hesitate to endorse the movie or to bash it.  On the surface, I’m glad that the issue is being talked about.  It is easy for the Christian faith to be co-opted by the culture.  It is easy to shape our faith to suit our needs rather than have our faith shape us.  Perhaps Muslims in Afghanistan equate Christianity with America, but it far from the same thing!  What does it mean to follow Jesus as a high school student, a college student, a young professional, a wife or husband? These issues are worth discussing.

The vision of our church is expressed in three words:  Believe, Belong, and Become.  We want people to believe in Jesus and grow in their faith; belong to a small group where they can get the encouragement and accountability they need; and become more like Jesus daily in their attitudes and actions.  But I grew up with the attitude of Believe, Belong and Behave!  It was about performance, checking off the right boxes – that defined for me what it meant to be a Christian.

I’ll post more on this later.  I’m glad the conversation is started.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a civil, thoughtful, and biblical discussion of what it means to follow Jesus in 21st century America?  You can check out the video preview below.

 

Beware of Christians

This video preview should challenge us to consider what it really means to follow Jesus!

The Church – part two

I began last week a consideration of the importance of the church.  We live in a time when the local church has been denigrated in the culture … and not always without cause.  Because there are imperfect people in the church, abuses and scandals happen far too often.  The accusation that the church is filled with hypocrites certainly has some truth to it.  And then there are those “churches” that preach hate and protest the funerals of fallen soldiers.  If someone is looking for a reason to shoot at the church, there is no shortage of ammunition to use.

Before we jump on the bandwagon, let’s consider one of the biblical terms used for the church – the bride of Christ.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Here we read something vitally important to our understanding of the church.  We learn that Jesus loves the church! In spite of her problems and imperfections, Jesus loves the church.  Remember that the church is not a building, an organization or a denomination; the church is the people of God, the body of Christ, the community of believers.  Jesus is not infatuated with our programs or edifices; but He loves us!  We are the community of the dearly loved.

Jesus loves us the way a faithful husband loves his wife.  He is constantly seeking what is best for us.  His desire is that we fulfill our purpose and reach our potential.  He looks forward to the day that He can present us to His Father without spot or blemish.

Any discussion of the church should begin the fact that, in spite of our problems, Jesus loves His church … and so should we.  We can be honest about the imperfections we see, but we should tread carefully when it comes to being critical or condemning.  The church is Jesus’ bride.  I don’t want anyone bad-mouthing my bride, and I am sure that Jesus doesn’t want anyone bad-mouthing His!