No Dice - 1 Corinthians 10:21

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. - 1 Corinthians 10:21

    The human foible of being ‘double-minded’ has left an indelible scar on mankind’s most noble efforts. Countless are the wrecks of good intention because of hesitancy at the last moment. Hedging ourselves by investing our time and energy in two different directions has never worked to bring about a Godly result and the Bible tells us to commit ourselves to the Lord. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” - James 4:8
    Perhaps it is best to start our understanding of what God requires of us by going back to the source, ‘ad fontes.’ The First Commandment spells out our duty to God in simple measure - “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” - Deuteronomy 5:6-7. Very simply, we must not allow, seek, or accept anything but the one holy triune God of Scripture as the sovereign Lord of all creation. We must not roll the dice, read the cards, or throw our fates at anything but the will of our Lord. Our unadulterated allegiance must be to God and God alone. “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” - Proverbs 16:3. It doesn’t matter how generous or noble our human effort might be; if it is not wrought by the will of God, it is the work of demons. “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” - Romans 14:23.
    By way of example, there is a scene from the 1999 film, “The Mummy” where Benny, a traitorous scoundrel, is approached by the monster and immediately starts pulling up talisman after talisman from a necklace he wears. Symbol after symbol he holds for a moment as he prays according to that particular belief, first Christian, then, Buddhist, then Hebrew, seeking one and only thing: to save himself. Ultimately, near the end of the film, Benny succumbs to his terrifying fate because he was a double-minded truly godless individual. There is a profound lesson in the character’s uncommitted position, one we should all heed. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” - James 1:6-8.
    History, if anything, has proven time and time again that mankind is constantly seeking to gain an advantage over the forces of nature and himself by whatever means necessary. Man, in his natural state, gives allegiance only to that which he believes will serve him and his purposes; a testament to our self-serving hearts, well attested to in Genesis 3. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” - Genesis 3:6.
    Holy Scripture tells us that God will not suffer our pride and hardness of heart forever. His patience is limited and rubbing the filth of our fickle hearts in His face will not long stand His divine judgment. We have all been commanded to - “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” - James 4:8.
    God will always be quick to forgive us if we come to Him in genuine humility and repentance, recognizing Him alone as Lord and Savior. And that fact needs no flip of the card or roll of the dice. It is our guarantee. It is our heavenly assurance.    

Boasting In Christ Alone - 2 Corinthians 10:17

 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. - 2 Corinthians 10:17-18

    It is all too often that we hear the bluster of one who is intent upon persuading both himself and us of his devotion to his faith. How ‘good’ a person he or she is. How many confessions? How often he worships? How often he reads his Bible? His position in the church as Bible school teacher. It often sounds as though he is trying to convince the world of his sanctity. It seems to be all about what he or she has done. It’s all about what they perceive to be their ‘Christian ranking’. What they and we often forget is that we have a Christian duty to act in a Christian manner; it is part and parcel of our having been justified. “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” - 1 Corinthians 9:16. We aren’t Christians because we do these things. We do these things because we are Christians! It’s part of our sanctification process. Like a school student, we are not to be exalted because we passed our tests; it is our duty as students to pass our tests.
    The Apostle, James put his finger upon the critical issue: the truly Godly do not boast in their Christian behavior. Only the legalists among us will perpetrate such a sinful attitude. All our boasting in ourselves amounts to nothing more than sin. “As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” - James 4:16.
    How insincere would we be if we were given something of inestimable value by our parents and we bragged to our friends how we obtained it for ourselves? What an outright lie it would be to tell others how hard we worked for what we have received by grace alone? How dare we brag about a possession as though we had earned it when, in fact, we did no such thing?
    Perhaps we forget at times that we are saved by God’s grace because while we were still living in our sin, He chose us. Understanding this, our salvation comes to us as a gift of our faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9.
    The only reason we could boast about the things we have done would be if our salvation was earned by our good works. We cannot earn them. Nor can our carnal works add anything to the justification we receive through the death of Christ Jesus. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we are saved from eternity in hell. To say otherwise cheapens Jesus’ death on the cross. To say otherwise suggests that in some way we contribute to our salvation, as though Christ’s death was insufficient
    We are saved only by the goodness of God through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. We can only boast of this and never of ourselves. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” - Titus 3:4-6.
    As we live our lives in Christ let us always remember the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made to save us from our sinful ways and respond in obedience to Him and the word of God. That is the Good News of the Gospel: Jesus did it all for us so that we can not boast in ourselves. We could never earn our place in Paradise. Jesus earned it for us so let us boast in Him and in Him alone.

A Sad State, Indeed - Deuteronomy 6:7

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. - Deuteronomy 6:7

    Recently, The State of Theology 2020 was published and I must sadly say, theology is not in a very good state. Starting with the response of U.S. adults to the very first statement - Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. - 52% agree vs. 36% disagree. You read it right. The majority of adults questioned, responded that yes, Christ was a great teacher but He was not ‘God.’ Based on this statement response alone, is it any wonder that our children have no solid grounding if the Christian faith today?
    So whose fault is it that our children have no truthful concept of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, or anything applying to the Christian faith? Some are quick to cast the dereliction upon society and modern culture in general as Christianity is scoffed at in the public forum. True. Others blame the school system since daily prayer and religious teaching has been removed from the curriculum. True. Peer pressure is also pointed to as a reason for the nations (and the world’s) godlessness. Also true. But while these scapegoats truly do play a large part in our children’s failure to know and love God, they are not the primary cause of theological ignorance today. No, the truth is even far more insidious.
    The leading reason our children are ignorant of faith today is the same reason they may not show courtesy or common table manners - we parents have failed to teach them! “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things.” - 1 Timothy 4:10-11. It is up to us parents to teach and guide our children in the Christian faith. If we fail to set the example, how can we blame the culture? We are even warned of the penalty for leaving our children without faith in God. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” - Matthew 18:5-6.
    But what of our parents? Can’t the blame be placed upon them because they didn’t teach us? Our parents will be judged for their sins and their sins alone; we will be judged for ours. Truth be told,  as human beings, all of us have some inclination of God and His providence. It is we who have chosen to ignore the truth of His holy word. It is we who refuse to honor the Lord’s Day as a family by attending services to glorify Him. It is we who leave our children to their own devices to dabble in the occult, to worship false idols, to entertain themselves rather than learn of God. Why? Perhaps the most common reason is that we view devout saving faith as an obstruction to worldly success. I mean, let’s face it: we all want our children to be successful in life, don’t we? And since the world is enmity with God, why would we want our children to face the uphill battle of succeeding in such a world while professing ardent faith in God? The reason is because this worldly life is not all there is. There is life after this corrupt and vile world.
    “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” - Psalm 78:2-4. Rather than pointing the finger of blame at our parents or their parents, we must today, at this very moment, take responsibility to teach our children well; to take them to church with us; to ensure that our children know that we have not been put in this world by ‘accident.’ It is up to us to set the examples our children grow to live by and share in turn with their children.
    Neither we nor our children should be so ignorant of Christ that we see Him as merely a teacher. Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.