Spirit and in Truth

So much of following Jesus can feel like this sometimes. You know you're supposed to be going one way, but somebody you heard about went too far that direction. You're supposed to take this certain path, but someone else got distracted and subsequently lost when they took that turn.

I almost want to make a series of blog posts about the "Pendulum Swings" of Christianity. Two important truths that sometimes get pitted against each other by those trying to live righteously. 

Why not. I might never add to this series again, but at least I tried. 

Pendulum Swing #1 - Spirit and in Truth: Being changed by a radical encounter with God while being grounded in the truth of God's Word. 

I'm going to begin with the latter.

---

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2nd Timothy 2:15

Being a radical, effective, relevant Christian doesn't mean ignoring the Bible. Jesus didn't throw out the scriptures when He came into town. He said that He came to fulfill them. He was constantly in the temple revealing truth in the scriptures. He quoted the old testament 78 recorded times. He spoke from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, and Malachi.

"I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You."

The Bible is actually the only offensive weapon given in the armor of God. It can divide soul and spirit, and it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. I'm gonna say that it's pretty important.

In our effort to avoid hypocritical and stale Christianity, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep the Bible.

---

There's a lot of buzz going around about religious "experientialism." Which is a fancy word for the desire for a "spiritual high." There's a real danger in seeking an experience with God without also being grounded in good doctrine. But to those that reject all experiences with God in fear of being floppy and emotional, I say that the experience with God is just as important as memorizing scripture. It's not an either/or thing. 

Moses' life was changed when he had his burning bush experience with God. Paul's life was changed when he had his encounter on the road to Damascus. 

What's the deal with the transfiguration? That seemed like a pretty powerful experience that strengthened the disciples faith in this Jesus they were following.

I think the reason the Pharisees strayed so far from God's Will was because they only knew the law of God. The words of God. But not the face of God. 

They were missing the heart of God. 

Moses said, "Show me Your glory." 

David said, "I will see Your face."

---

It's not that we need a balance between having an experience with God and knowing the truth of His Word. We need both desperately. If you're missing one, chase after it! If you're doing good in both, go deeper! Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. 

Old Faithful

I was teaching some of my students about the fruit of the spirit this week. You know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? And we spent a little bit more time on faithfulness than I had originally planned.

What is faithfulness? One side of faithfulness is being full of faith, believing for something against all odds. But looking at some of the other fruits in the list, I'm more inclined to believe that faithfulness is sticking with one's commitments to God and their community.

Being faithful means being consistently trustworthy. Like Old Faithful here.

And what's cool about the fruit of the spirit is you get it for free if you're abiding in Him!

Some examples of faithfulness in the Bible:

"Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (Scripture memorization)

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some" (Church attendance)

"Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Constant Prayer)

So many times we have excuses for not being faithful:

"Man, I've just been so tired this week with school starting and this new job. It's really taken a lot out of me." Doesn't the Bible say somewhere about believers being able to run and not grow weary, walk and not faint? Yes it does.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help out like I said I could, I've just had so many other things come up this week." I think one side of being faithful is the ability to not make promises you might not keep. Let your "yes be yes" and your "no be no." It's alright to say no to something if you can't be committed to it. Don't be guilted into making promises you can't keep.

"Sorry I'm late, getting the kids in the van was rough, couldn't find the diaper bag and there was so much construction on the way and..." Usually this is how excuses for being late go. It's never just one thing. It would be a powerful witness to an unsaved world if Christians developed a reputation for being on time every time. This means you'll have to risk being early *gasp* to meetings. You'll have to make fewer commitments.

One of my friends says that if you are five minutes late to a rehearsal, you're putting your five minutes ahead of everyone else's five minutes collectively. If there are 11 other people on your team, that's potentially an hour of wasted time.

I realize that this sounds harsh. I get it.

But being faithful when it's uphill is just as powerful as being loving when it's uphill.

Being faithful when it's difficult is just as important as being self-controlled when it's difficult.

Being faithful during extreme circumstances is just as rewarding as being peaceful in extreme circumstances.

So resist the urge to give up when you're bored. Resist the urge to move on before your commitment is fulfilled.

But the bottom line is: abide with Christ and faithfulness will follow.

The Character of God: Holy

Last week we took a look inside what it means that God is love. I believe this is important to what we are meditating on this week, which is the holiness of God.

There are more references in the Bible to God being holy or righteous than there is of God being love. God's holiness does not diminish His love, and His love does not diminish His holiness.

Just as His love demanded a response from us, His righteousness demands a response.

"He who has been forgiven much loves much."
"Be ye holy as I am Holy." 

Read with me this passage from 1st Peter, which is titled "Living Before God Our Father."

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear."

There are a lot of truths in this passage, let's dig a little deeper.

1) - "Be sober." When we interact with God our Father we're not meant to be flippant of light. His holiness is meant to be sobering. His holiness demands a response filled with respect and awe. Later on in the chapter it talks about the sacrifice of the precious blood of Jesus that has been spilled for our redemption. We're walking in sin when we enter His presence without the context of His sufferings.

 2) - "As obedient children." A loving father and His obedient children is the relationship we're meant to have with God. His love manifests itself in grace: an unmerited or undeserved favor. It also manifests itself in disciplining. This next passage will blow your mind if you let it get inside you:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness."

Love, Sonship, Fatherhood, Chastening, Respect, and Holiness are all linked together!! You cannot have a loving father without his disciplining. And you cannot truly love God without respecting Him, obeying Him, and fearing Him.

3) - "Not conforming yourselves to your former lusts." You don't get to be adopted into the Kingdom and keep your sin. The whole Bible is full of rebuke for those that claim to want to follow God but continue in sin. The Bible is described as a two-edged sword, capable of dividing our soulful nature (our feelings and thoughts) with our spiritual nature (the part of us that wants what God wants).

4) - "He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Yes, God's standard is high. Yes, the law is impossible for anyone but Jesus to walk out blamelessly. But God doesn't just wink at our sin. He calls us to be holy just like Him! Bear in mind these are all New Testament verses. Even in this new covenant we're still supposed to be holy!

5) - "Judges according to each one’s work" Anyone who tells you that God will not judge you is not telling you the truth. Take a look at 2nd Corinthians 5:

"Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord"

When Jesus comes back it won't be an option to arrogantly say, "Because of Jesus' sacrifice it doesn't matter what I did." This verse says that we're going to receive something in return for all of our good deeds, as well as all of our bad. And I find it appropriate that the writer of 1st Peter goes into the "terror of the Lord" just in case you missed the mood in which you should be taking these things.

6) - "In fear." Take a look at what the Bible has to say about Godly fear:

Psalm 111:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.


Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.


Proverbs 10:27: The fear of the Lord prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. (The fear of the Lord will make you live a long time!)

Psalms 112 takes a good look at what the fear of the Lord looks like.

His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Don't let your ideas of what you think holiness is put God in your little box. When He asks you to remove sin from your life don't call it unloving. When He forgives and gives you mercy for the sins you've committed don't use it as an excuse to sin more. God's holiness will never fit into your idea of what holy is, just as God's love will never fit into your idea of what love should look like.

So how do we walk this out?

Tip #1 - Ask God to make you holy as He is holy. Once you became a Christian God cleaned you of all unrighteousness. Now it's your turn to be devoted to the kind of lifestyle that will keep you in that state of holiness! The Psalmist did it like this in Psalms 139: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."


Tip #2 - Worship God in the beauty of holiness. (Psalms 96:9) Holiness is beauty to God. It was the spotless lamb that had everyone's attention in the book of revelation. Ask God to reveal to you the beauty of His holiness, and worship Him for being Holy. God is worthy of worship just because He's holy, regardless of the things that He does, so this is something that you can worship Him for even if it seems like your circumstances aren't the way they should be.

Tip #3 - Stay rooted. Stay locked into the Word of God, which is sharper than any two edged sword. If you are living in sin, the Word of God will root it out quicker than anything. And it's a strategy of the enemy to keep you as far from the Bible as he can keep you.

6 Excuses Given When Saying No To Discipleship

I've been dwelling on excuses that people give lately (me included.) There's a lot of them, especially when it comes to living righteously with obedience to everything God calls them to.


Excuses:

 - I don't want to be legalistic/religious.

 - God's standard is too high for anyone to meet.

 - I'm not called to be a missionary or full-time ministry.

 - Doesn't feel right to say you aren't supposed to do that.

 - I see great spiritual leaders doing those types of things all the time.

 - I haven't had the same opportunities

Reality:

 - Avoiding legalism should never be an excuse for a poor devotion life. If you're worried that it will turn into "going through the motions" don't get rid of the motions, put some fire behind them! The devil would love to label every act of righteousness as religioes legalism so that Christians never reach their spiritual potential.

 - God's righteous standard is too high. Get over it. It's not an excuse to sin. It's a call to live more righteously than what we're living now. The Psalmist asked God, "Search my heart, see if there be any wicked way in me." He was constantly in self evaluation mode, or more accurately, holy-spirit evaluation mode.

 - There is no second call for those who are supposed to live a "normal life." God's call for everyone, preacher, youth pastor, missionary, mechanic, plumber, teacher or waiter is to pray constantly, memorize and live out scripture, and worship God with abandon.

 - There's a way that seems right to a man and the end thereof is death. Don't trust your feelings. Trust every word in the Bible. I'm sure the pharisees int he Bible had a feeling that the messiah would come in thunder and lightning and save them from their roman oppressors. The messiah that actually came came went against every nerve in their bodies and that's why they got rid of Him.

 - Jesus says that there will be people who get to the judgement who have done great miracles such as healing people and casting out demons, and still won't make it into heaven. Don't get caught up in following people who have spiritual gifts. Follow people who are exhibiting fruit that was grown in the secret place of private devotion.

 - In the Parable of the Talents, the Lord gave three men talents, one he gave 10, another 5, and a third he gave 1. They each didn't have a separate standard by which they were judged, they were all called to fervent stewardship with what they were given. To simply give God back the things He's given you will not be enough come judgement day. You have to have ardent devotion to multiply what he's given. Don't be standing in front of the returning master of the house with a handful of seeds, get out there and grow some fruit!

Connected to the Vine?

I am confronted on a near-daily basis with this issue, and I really believe it's important to look at.

Every day I, or someone I know, justifies wrong-doing, bad attitudes, and other sin, with an excuse:

"I'm tired"
"I deserve it"
"They don't deserve it"
"It's culturally acceptable"
"No one told me not to"
"No one's perfect"
"That's not a realistic expectation"
"It's not as bad as that"

Jesus was very clear in the book of John about what the Christian walk was supposed to look like: fruit. If you're really connected to the vine, you'll produce fruit. If you're just next to the vine, then you'll look connected from some angles, but from others it'll be obvious.

Christians aren't supposed to be known by the fact that they attend church. And you know what, they aren't even supposed to be identified by carrying a Bible or posting verses to facebook.

Jesus says that people will know His disciples by their FRUIT.

You can look "shiny" or "new" or "on-fire," but if you're not connected to the vine, you won't bear fruit in ALL parts of your life.

By the way, fruit isn't success. Fruit is:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control

If our lives don't look like that, the only explanation is we're not connected to the vine.

Popularity vs. Christianity

Matthew 7:13-14 says "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it."

Few there are that find it.

Christianity is the leading religion in the world. 1/3 of the population of the entire earth would say, when asked, that they are Christian.

But how does this line up with what the Bible say about the gate being narrow? Surely Jesus isn't talking about a 1:2 ratio when he says narrow is the gate and few there are that find it.

Jesus has flocks and flocks of people that followed him to the different places that He went. He attracted a lot of attention. And following Him through the city and watching Him do miracles doesn't take much effort. I'd imagine He was probably pretty easy to find as well.

But it's not just spectating that leads to life. It's staying on the narrow road.

It's following Jesus even when He says "intolerant" things like "I am the way, and no one comes to the Father but through me." 


It's following Him even when He responds to your great idea with "Get thee behind me Satan." 


It's following Him even when He asks you to leave all your luxury, all your leisure, and all your recreation. 


Worshippers that worship the Father in spirit and in truth will likely never be popular over a long period of time. The reason is because God will always be asking for more of their time and attention, and they will be the ones that will respond "yes."

Later on in Matthew 7 Jesus is very clear that there will be those that will do great things for God in their life:

Prophesy
Cast out demons
Do many miracles

But Jesus says to some He will say, "depart from me, for I never knew you."

There is a Christianity that looks right on the outside, but without the relationship, without the faithful walking out of your faith in private, will lead to death.

Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Sometimes it's difficult in a society that's constantly changing to remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If society brands holiness as old-fashioned, it doesn't change the fact that God calls us to live rightly. The culture doesn't get to define what's right and wrong. We as created beings don't have the power to band together and change the standard set by the uncreated God.

If society brands marriage as boring and limiting, it doesn't change the fact that God created it as the most fulfilling human relationship. It's one of the most accurate parallels to how the church should relate to God.

If society brands faith in God as naive, it doesn't change the fact that God says He shall supply all of our needs according to His riches and glory. No amount of psychology-altering will change your circumstances unless God is involved. You can't work hard enough or think hard enough to fix your problems. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.

If society brands the Bible as intolerant, it doesn't change the fact that God is love just as He is a God of integrity. He was rejected by His creation but made a way for them to return to Him. Anyone who rejects His love in favor of their sin will be dragged into the fire by the sin they wouldn't let go of.

Regardless of the changing culture, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is no shadow of turning in Him. And to top it all off, He's a great deal older than us. Our vast and glorious human history is but a vapor in His eternal eyes.

He's not surprised by the internet.

He's not caught off guard by the current mindsets.

He is forever faithful, forever holy, and forever loving.

Something to think about when you pray.

Attitude is a big issue when dealing with situations. Our attitude affects not only the decisions we make, but also what kind of influence we have on other people when we're handling problems.

John Maxwell says, "The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up."

So how is our attitude when we relate to God?

This is a God who has just given the greatest gift He could give for us, and sometimes we're just too ticked at our situation to give Him what He deserves.

A lot of the time my prayers look like this:

God please heal/fix/provide/touch this sickness/relationship/need/situation.
I know you can do it. Thank you. 


My attitude is all wrong. Jesus says that when you pray, you should start with:

Our Father who art in heaven
Hollowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done


That's a whole lot different than my prayer. Jesus knows that our tendency is to get so stressed about the situation that it becomes all that we can see.

What He suggests is that we start by not only putting things in perspective, but putting things in their proper place. God becomes the one on the throne of glory, who is holy and who's reputation and authority cannot be matched. Our first petition is that His agenda is fulfilled, and that He be lifted up.

Honestly, when you realize that there is an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God that exists and is active in the world, the last thing on your mind should be, "God help me on my test. Thank you."

God is so big that real faith in Him should set us apart from the crowd. Our thinking should be so radically shifted that we should apear psycho to anyone who disbelieves.

Think about your attitude next time you pray. Are you on the throne giving orders, or are you a son or daughter of the King of Kings to whom all praise and all worship is due?

Immanuel - The Importance of Abiding With Christ

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, as well as His resurrection made a way for us to abide with God. With Christ as our mediator and our intercessor we can boldly approach the throne of grace.

It seems to me that the point of abiding in something or with something isn’t just a matter of living together, but it has an element of “staying” attached to it. To live and keep on living together. Abiding is the opposite of simply visiting.

When Jesus came as Immanuel He wasn’t just coming to be with us, but He was beginning an age where God would stay with man. Where sin would not have a foothold to separate us from Him. Jesus marked an era were God would abide with man continually, but also man is called to abide with God.

Jesus talks a lot about this in John 15. The fruit of the spirit of God, which is love, joy peace, patience, etc, can only be had by abiding with God, the true vine. We cannot function in a kingdom capacity unless we are staying with God.

We must be careful to abide and bear fruit. Jesus was very clear with a certain fig tree what the consequences are of not bearing fruit. It’s interesting to me that this is different from the gift of the spirit.

In Matthew 7 there is an account of people prophesying, casting out demons and healing the sick, but when it came down to actually abiding with Christ, Jesus said He never knew them. When you abide with Christ you produce fruit. When you don’t abide with Him you’re cast out (and burned - John15:6.) There’s no room for separation in an abiding lifestyle.

Jesus coming to the earth and being sacrificed as the spotless lamb ripped the veil of the temple from top to bottom signifying the importance and significance of God coming to abide with his people. A restoration of the abiding lifestyle that was intended for us in the beginning is the entire goal of the cross.