A Warning Against The World - 2 Corinthians 6:14-15

    
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? - 2 Corinthians 6:14-15

    At first glance this passage creates a bit of a paradox if we, as Christians, are to fulfill our duty - “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20. How can we possibly do as Christ commands if we follow the mandate of our title’s passage?
    It does not direct its warning to the preaching the Gospel, but to keeping our hearts from falling into the black hole of secular culture. For us to be ‘yoked’ with unbelievers is to be bridled with them in our thoughts, words, deeds, and desires. Christians should share nothing common to the heathen culture at large, especially anything that promotes or encourages the same. No ads, video programing, music, books, magazines, fashion, organizations, or associations that promote an un-Christian worldview should be part of a Christian’s lifestyle. If we truly love God, our desires will reflect what God desires. “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” - 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.
    One look at the current culture immediately points to a lifestyle that habitually speaks of ungodly thoughts, words, and deeds. It has everything to do with the heart that drives the mind toward sinful transgression. It has become so bad that it is hard to find family programming on tv to day that promotes a godly world view. Even Madison Avenue pushed its diabolic poison into our homes via the cable, the internet, and radio. So one can see how difficult it is to separate oneself from the world, the flesh, and the devil. But separate ourselves, we must! “You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” - Deuteronomy 14:1-2. As the old adage goes - we should never give the devil a seat at our table.
    Christians should avoid the pitfalls of modern culture like the plague, doing nothing that directly violates the divine will of God. We must keep in mind that because we are of a fallen nature, our natural inclinations and predilections drive us toward the ungodly, but our feet need not slip. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” - 1 Corinthians 10:13.
    No, the mere act of peculiar hair-styling, body piercing, tattooing, or other self-mutilation is not sinful - it is the ungodly desire to-express oneself in any manner that is not of the Lord. We must constantly remember the words of the Apostle Paul - “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” - 1 Corinthians 6:12. His words describe refusing to allow oneself to be conquered by or enslaved by any mind-set or behavior that cannot reveal a godly heart. It is the tainted heart that drives us toward ungodly attitudes and actions. We must always keep before us Paul’s admonition - “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31.
    We have the strength and the power to defeat the assaults of the evil one and His name is Jesus - “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13. Let us always be sure to keep our eyes on Christ, our mediator, Savior, and Redeemer and we will not succumb to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Doctrines Of Men? - 1 Timothy 6:3

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.- 1 Timothy 6:3

    I have heard some of the wildest expositions on the Bible come from people who stoutly condemn men like Luther, Calvin, or Knox, suggesting that they are pushing some contrived ‘man-driven religion’ over and above the Holy Scriptures. These folks like to use the Aramaic name for Jesus and consistently refer to God as Yahweh. And they almost always insist on quoting only Old Testament Scripture or the ‘red words’ of Jesus contained in the New Testament.
    Using these people’s erroneous interpretations of Scripture, it’s a wonder that they aren’t constantly condemning the words of today’s pastors as too dogmatic and ‘not the word of God!’ To be fair to these purveyors of convoluted thought, I would agree that no, the words of Luther and the Reformation giants are not the inspired words of God. They are simply human words based on the careful exegesis of the Holy Scriptures in all relative languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. In fact, most of the reformers agreed to the consensus of men arrived at by the early church councils dating all the way back to Apostolic period.
    Again, I agree with the critics when they vociferously disagree with the importance of ‘church tradition’ as proposed by the Roman church. Church tradition takes a distant second to Scripture regarding the correct interpretation of God’s Word. Think: Scripture is never wrong; tradition can be and often is wrong.
    And neither are the words of today’s pastors and ministers equal to the very words of God. But to suggest that doctrine is purely man-made delusion is as patently wrong as saying that there is no doctrine within the words of Scripture. “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” - Titus 2:1. The very concept of non-doctrinal Christianity is a sham.
    The very words of Scripture have taught us to test what we are told and taught. We’re not supposed to accept every word that proceeds from the mouths of men as truth.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1. The biblical writers were not naïve or stumbling fools; they knew that there would be surreptitious attempts by evil men to influence and reshape God’s words to meet their diabolic agendas. Even the honest readers of Scripture were convinced that every word had to be meticulously interpreted and their meanings derived from using proper hermeneutics and exegesis. “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” - Act 17:10-11.
    The Bible, even in its earliest manifestations, used the words of the original languages for ‘doctrine.’ Eventually, the term ‘orthodoxy’ would come to denote the understanding of ‘correct views.’ 
    Many people today are of the opinion that ‘doctrine divides.’ Well, it’s supposed to. It’s supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff. If we don’t know what we believe and why we believe it, then how could we possibly know that we have it right?
    I suspect that to suggest that the early church fathers, as well as the Reformers, were simply trying to make up doctrine out of whole cloth is just another way for false teachers to make their personal interpretation hold weight against blessed and more studied men; men who studied the Holy Scriptures in every conceivable manner before concluding not only on what it truly says but also on what it truly means.
    Proper interpretation of Scripture relies on the understanding that the Bible has as its thought two things: God’s relationship with man and our response to God’s divine plan for us. If we misinterpret either aspect of interpretation, we have wrongly interpreted the Word of God. And that is why we must rely on doctrine.


 

Would You Rather I Lied To You? - 1 John 1:8

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  - 1 John 1:8

    “Who has sinned today?”If you want to throw your next get-together into turmoil, just ask that question of your guests. Invariably, you won’t get many to admit their sinfulness. It just goes to show exactly how full of ourselves we have become. Scripture is clear on the issue -  “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” - 1 John 1:10.
    Obviously. That isn’t a very tactful way to approach the subject of indwelling sin in our lives. However; the spectacular nature of our sinful pride is so apparent that we have little excuse to even suggest that we are ‘without sin.’ We spend so much time making excuses for our thoughts, words, and deeds that we forget what David declared in his psalm of repentance and contrition - “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” - Psalm 51:3. Yes, and whether we’re willing to admit it, our sins are always before us, too.
    Of course, what many people think of as sin falls into ‘the most heinous of deeds’ category. In fact, most people don’t even consider their thoughts or words to be sins. After all, what does my thinking have to do with being overtly sinful and how do the words that come out of my mouth make me a sinner? Everyone has bad thoughts from time to time, and everyone says bad things from time to time. That doesn’t make us sinners; not if everyone does it, and not if I don’t act on my thoughts. Does it?
     Jesus Christ had a different opinion. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” - Matthew 5:27-28. The key to Christ’s interpretation isn’t as much in our actions, although they do count, but the well-spring of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Where, exactly, do they originate? Our hearts!
    In The Book of Jeremiah, God said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” - Jeremiah 17:9-10. This is one of the clearest statements made about the sinfulness of man in the entire Bible; but there are others.
    That anyone, even slightly versed in the knowledge of Holy Scripture, could miss the point of man’s innate sinfulness is astounding. That believers in Christ could so thoroughly miss the point of our sin is a clear sign that they are professors of a faith that they know very little about. “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
    In our hypothetical, even if outrageous scenario, I can hear the door slamming and the car engines starting now. They’re fleeing from our get-together like there’s a fire! Have we embarrassed them? Offended them? We probably have. And if given the chance to ask them all just one more question as they angrily turned and sped away from us, our question should be - “Would you rather I lied to you?” Sadly, many would. That’s the world today. Even the most vociferous professors of the Christian faith dislike admitting that they are hopeless sinners without Christ. Confessing their sin is beneath them. Like politics; they just don’t want to talk about it. And their greatest excuse is that their faith is a private matter for them and no one else’s business. While tactfully approaching the subject remains our God-given command, there are those who would still brusqly push away any admission of or attempt to discuss the subject.
    Nothing within this short missive is a lie! The truth often hurts and is most insensitive, but it’s still the truth. And the truth is so important in the eyes of God that he commands it. If we lie, we will reap the whirlwind; if we tell the truth, we will have mercy. “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” - Proverbs 28:13. Some may prefer a lie to the truth, but Christian love demands we speak the truth. And I would rather offend someone with the truth than to let them slide unfettered into hell on the coat-tails of misplaced kindness.

A Miracle Everyday - Hebrews 2:4

   
. . . while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. - Hebrews 2:4

    Over the years, many of us have become jaded to the miracles that God performs right before our very eyes. In fact, some of us have become blind to them while we were or are still in our youth. How can it be that we no longer, and in many cases, have never recognized God’s phenomenal work in our lives? “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”- 2 Corinthians 4:4. This doesn’t mean we are constantly walking with the devil in our lives. But if we cannot walk with God and see His work in the world, then yes, it’s because we’re being influenced by Satan, and no other.
    But what of these ‘miracles?’ Shouldn’t they stand out from the normal and the mundane? Shouldn’t we too see the Red Sea part, the sudden restoration of a blind person’s sight, or our loved ones raised from the dead? Perhaps we have a mistaken idea of what a genuine miracle in our day looks like.
    Let’s look to determine whether the events that take place during our lifetimes are really just normal instances of chance or luck, or are they something else? The great American theologian, R.C. Sproul has said, “Chance does not exist. It is merely a word we use to describe mathematical possibilities.” Let’s face it; we would look pretty silly if we ruminated how chance played a role in the birth of a child. Chance has nothing to do with it. We know that a viable infant birth will take place after a healthy nine-month gestation period. Then, you say, “Well, that’s normal. There’s no miracle there.” Think carefully about what you are saying. In 21st Century America, the infant fatality rate through abortion, miscarriage, or early complications, while less than 100 years ago, is still with us, while your children were all born healthy. That is not chance; that is a miracle. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” - Jeremiah 1:5.
    God’s providential hand is evident in everything from a human birth to a safe drive home after work, to health after a serious illness, to recovery from an addiction. The problem is with us; we take everything for granted and assume our lives should be worry free, anxiety free, debt free, and sickness free. But we should know that our lives will be anything but free from tribulation. We live in a fallen world and often reap the whirlwind because of it.
    It is part of our human nature to deal with issues and problems during our lifetimes. There’s no avoiding it. With over seven billion people on our beleaguered planet, to have God making adjustments in our daily lives to keep us from constant and terrifying heartbreak, illness, and death is miraculous.
    The fatal car crash that occurred right in front of you but miraculously left you untouched. The spot in your breast that turned out to be just a fatty mass rather than cancer is miraculous. The lightning bolt that struck your front yard oak tree just after you finished pruning it is miraculous. Being found alive in the bay after your boat capsized is a miracle. Think of the many, many people who experienced these same events but with catastrophic outcomes, then consider yourself. That isn’t chance or luck; that’s a miracle!
    If you or someone you know has seen spectacularly terrible possibilities turn into blessings, then remind them that there are miracles every day. And don’t be grateful to chance or luck but to the God of our salvation - “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” - Job 5:8-11.
    You are a living miracle; I am a living miracle; our children are living miracles. Be grateful for every common blessing and act of providence that He has ever shown us. He truly is an almighty God!

What Proceeds From The Heart - Proverbs 4:23

 

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. - Proverbs 4:23

Scripture tells us many things about the human heart, both good and bad. But it’s the neutral comments that seem to speak loudest. Our title passage is one that does so. We are told to be vigilant with our hearts. We must be careful what we allow into it, but most important, we need to control what comes out of it in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Our hearts were given to us to hold our emotions; our brains were given to us to hold our emotions in check. A quick perusal of mankind’s history assures us that all emotions are not necessarily designed for our benefit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” - Jeremiah 17:9.

Our hearts often define us. Our mannerisms, our joys, our concerns, our values, our morals depict to others what we hold in our hearts. We can be humanists at heart, believing in the infallibility of mankind, his imaginations, and his ability to make things right, or our hearts can display our desires for a Godly life under God’s own terms. Biblical counselor, Jeff Forrey, has said, “Both ways of describing the heart’s role presupposes some kind of relationship with God, whether it is intimate or distant.” He says that the heart influences our thinking patterns, our behavior patterns, and our feeling patterns. Truer words have never been spoken.

So how can we direct our hearts to achieve the best likely outcome of thought, word, and deed. Jesus had very specific directions when it came to our hearts. “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” - Matthew 22:37-39. When we read this command from Christ, we must be careful to note that while we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, it is secondary to the supreme command that we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind! God and His ways come first. And in perfect honesty, we cannot possibly love our neighbors the way we should unless we first love God.

Once we give to God what is God’s. Our emotional life should come into focus so that we can see the overblown sentimentality that so often parades as brotherly love in this day and age. If we’re not as passionate in our defense of our love for God as we are for the impoverished or oppressed, then we are merely virtue signaling and hoping that people see us as having the moral high ground, which is impossible. It is impossible because man can not shape his thoughts, words, and deeds, let alone his feelings, based upon the shifting morality of humanist beliefs, which change with each succeeding generation and within each individual culture. Human based morality often changes by the hour.

True, Godly morality is unchanging because God is unchanging. “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” - Psalm 33:11. Therefore, we wage war with God. His statutes are unchanging and they truly are ‘written in stone.’ They don’t change with next passing wind. They don’t change like the weather. They don’t change like our tastes do. They are here with us forever. And what of those who deny these truths? God made it clear many, many years ago. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” - Proverbs 19:21.

We can resist, reject, and refuse the Word of God if we so choose. But we can never thwart it.

Are we in a constant battle with ourselves and others? Are our emotions literally hijacking our thoughts, words, and deeds - our very lives? As long as we remain recalcitrant toward God and His very specific plan for our lives, we will remain unhappy, unfulfilled, and incomplete. If we cannot guard our heart, we will muddy the springs of life that flow from it. We must seek intimacy with God Almighty and close the distance between ourselves and God’s designs for us if we are ever to be truly in line with our emotion-driven thoughts, words, and deeds. Only God’s Word has the power to clear the water.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! - Psalm 139:23-24

    The song ‘Joy To the World,’ expresses our duty to the newborn Savior in no uncertain terms: let every heart prepare Him room. It’s quite easy to see what we are to do in preparing for Christ. We should be about the business of cleaning up our hearts as we would clean up a room for someone we love.
    It begins with gratitude to God for choosing us from the beginning. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” - Ephesians 1:3-4. The very least we can do is to ready our hearts for the Savior’s arrival not just on Christmas day, but every day.
    Many of us will say that our hearts are truly ready for Jesus to enter, but are they? Think about the last twenty-four hours. Have we had evil or selfish thoughts? Have we been self-indulgent? Have we exhibited worldly pride in our attitudes and actions? Have we been unloving to our neighbors and even to members of our own families? Have we been unthankful or expressed self-entitled attitudes to those around us? The detrimental effects of our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds are ever present when we refuse to take stock and repent of such evil inclinations. As I said before, we need to clean our hearts up and ‘prepare Him room,’not just on Christmas day but every day! “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10.
    What should we be seeking if we truly want to display our love of God and fellow man? We should seek a change of heart and mind; only then will our souls progress in the right direction. Only then will we be living the life God has designed for us. “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” - 2 Timothy 2:22-23. This is God’s plan for us.
    And pray! We should pray for those less fortunate than ourselves, in both the spiritual and the material sense. While there will always be those with less than we have, there will always those who have more than we do. It is for these individuals and ourselves that we should be praying. Wealth and worldly possessions only bind us to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Pray that we might repent of our ungodly ways and that we will seek the Lord when and where He may be found. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” - Isaiah 55:6-7.
    This is what it means to ‘let every heart prepare Him room.’ As we celebrate Christmas Day, let us all take stock of our inner thoughts, words, and deeds. By the Holy Spirit of God, let us get ourselves in order that He may bless us to say, “Yes, yes! There is room at the inn.” Let us welcome Him into hearts prepared for our King. Today, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is born! Prepare Him room.

Merry Christmas

For A Limited Time Only - Luke 13:22-24

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. - Luke 13:22-24

    How often have we seen an advertisement that said in big bold letters, “For A limited Time Only!” The ad elicits a quick and certain response from us. We are to drop what we’re doing at the moment and run down to see the great deal. Be it a car, a TV set, stereo, or even a great price on a T-bone steak, we stop what we’re doing and go see if we too can share in the limited-time offer. Or, we may simply ignore it and if we wait long enough, the offer will usually come around again in a few months.
    The big deal is always a tangible commodity and is subject to the possibility of breaking down, spoiling, or being stolen from us. By now, we should know that this is the way of the world. In worldly issues, we can afford to wait, but what of spiritual issues? “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal-” - Matthew 6:19.
    There is, however, a spiritual offer that we should not ignore. This offer should prompt us to stop everything else in our lives and respond immediately, as it truly is for a limited time only. It will not come around again after we have passed from this world.
     The time limit is easily discernible: it is limited to our life-time. Once we are gone, the offer no longer stands. We may choose to wait until we are on our death-beds to accept the offer, assuming, of course, that we know the time and the place of our passing. The atheist, George Carlin, once alluded to a ‘two-minute warning’ before death. But we neither know the day nor the hour. Mind you, as far as I know, Carlin never got his two-minute warning and died an atheist.
    “Well, maybe non-believers go to another wonderful eternity,” they say. The world seems to believe that there are many roads to salvation. The world is wrong. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6. We can never lose the gift of great value Jesus provides for us. Christ’s most valuable offer comes to us at a great cost, a cost that we could never have paid with any worldly currency. No good work, no prayer to the universe, and no humanitarian or patriotic deed will cover the cost that only Christ’s precious blood does. Jesus has paid the price of our eternal salvation. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23.
    This offer of salvation is good for the lifetime of the man and woman for whom it was paid. For the lifetime, but not a moment longer! To continue to ignore or put off God’s eternal design for mankind is to flirt with eternal damnation, guaranteed damnation. “Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” - Hebrews 3:10-11.
    Christ will not be sacrificed again for the fickleness and indecisiveness of man. Therefore, we are highly advised to accept the salvation that has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. “For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2.
    Yes, the offer of eternal salvation truly is for a limited time only. The time is running out fast for the many who have not accepted Christ’s offer, Let it come as no surprise to those who ignored the offer - “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” - John 5:28-29.