"BUT IT'S NOT FAIR!! IT'S WRONG!!"

Romans 12:19, "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord."

There are few things that are more painful to me than to find out that I was betrayed by someone who I thought I could trust. Or to find out that someone who I thought was my friend was saying slanderous things about me behind my back. Or that they were falsely accusing me of something. When it happens, my knee jerk reaction is to either lash out in revenge or set the record straight in a way that I will put them in their place.

Of course, the greatest example of someone who was wrongfully accused was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The accusations brought against him were completely false and yet he allowed himself to be punished wrongfully in order to save us. But there's another great example of a man who was wrongfully accused, Joseph.

You may remember the story of Joseph, how he was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar. His wife had a crush on him and tried to seduce him. When he refused, she accused him of trying to sexually assault her. It was bad enough that she falsely accused him, but she accused him of the very thing that SHE was guilty of.

Sometime later, Joseph has the miraculous day where he wakes up in the prison, but goes to bed in the palace. In one day he went from being a prisoner to the prime minister of Egypt. He was the second most powerful man in the world at that time.

One thing I find interesting about the story of Joseph is that there is no indication that he ever attempted to set things straight. He certainly could have. Nothing is said about whether he went back and dealt with Potiphar and his wife. But we do know how he dealt with his brothers who had done such a hateful thing to him. Genesis 50:19-20 must have sounded like beautiful music to his brothers:

"But Joseph said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving many lives."

God had actually used the evil actions of his brothers to save the lives of the people of the near east; which ironically, included them, and possibly Potiphar and his wife (assuming they were still alive).

But you may ask: Is God really using the injustice done to me for good? Romans 8:28 says that God works in ALL THINGS (my caps) for the good to those who are called according to his purpose. So the answer is, yes.  He is using everything to mold and shape us into the image of his son, who:
"when they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."(1 Peter2:23). 
Sometimes when these things happen, and we are slandered and unjustly accused, God may be orchestrating events in order to position us to be used in a mighty way for his glory. It was certainly the case in Joseph's case. And he could see that the sovereign hand of God had been moving in order to put him in the place where he would become the ruler of Egypt. It does happen, and it's not uncommon. But if we allow ourselves to be eaten up by bitterness, unforgiveness, and a desire for revenge, we will completely miss out on what God may be doing. I recently heard someone say that we must be in a position that God is able to work in our lives. And that means having our hearts and minds in tune with him.

I don't believe that it means pretending that it doesn't hurt. Some things hurt! And they hurt bad! But it does mean that when it hurts really bad, that we cry out to our heavenly Father and give it to him in surrendered trust. Don't focus on trying to get justice through your own efforts. Let God, "who judges justly", do what he is going to do and let him implement his own plan.

The most important thing is if we do allow God to handle the situation in the way he wants to, we will come out on the other side looking more like Jesus. And if we look more like Jesus, we become much more useful servants to our Lord and Master, and God may implement a greater plan than what he had us doing before.

Go with God and may you be richly blessed.

Don't Allow Weeds to Grow in The Church

The Parable of The Weeds (Matt 13:24-29)

Just to paraphrase the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus tells the story of a farmer planting good seed in his field. During the night an enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. Of course both came up and the servants asked if they should go and pull up the weeds. The farmer said not to because the servants might end up pulling up the good wheat along with the weeds.

This is later explained that the wheat are the children of the kingdom and the weeds are the children of the evil one. Both are allowed to grow and live together until the judgment. Then Jesus will separate the good from the bad. The children of the evil one will go to their judgment and the children of the Kingdom into glory.

Often this is explained that the church will contain both children of the kingdom and of the evil one. Too may times it is used as an excuse to not properly exercise church discipline. However, Jesus clearly explained that it is NOT the case. In verse 38 of chapter 13 Jesus said, "The field is the world". He didn't say that the field is the church.
When you understand that the field is the world, it is easy to understand what he meant when he said that if the servants uproot the children of the evil one at the present time, they might end up pulling up the children of the kingdom.

In 1 Corinthians 5: 9-11, Paul explains that when he says not to associate with immoral people, he is not refering to the people of the world, but to those who call themselves believers but persist in immoral lifestyles:

"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people --not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." 

Using a little imagination one can easily understand the implications if God judged the wicked now. The entire infrastructure we depend on would collapse. Food and fuel would not get delivered. The power would go out, and so on.

The point is that the church is not supposed to look like this. Rebellious sin is not to be tolerated within the church body. Of course, there will be unbelievers within the walls of the church buildings. And there should be. The fact is, almost all of us at one time were unbelievers attending a church gathering. The hope and goal is that one day every unbeliever attending a church gathering will one day become a believer as well. Or, if not, after a time they will no longer be comfortable and will leave. The church should not be a place where a "weed" can flourish as a weed. We are to be distinct. 1 Peter 2:9 says:

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

If the church looks like the rest of the world or allows herself to be contaminated by the world, it will not be able to declare his praises. Instead the church may be guilty of profaning his name among the nations just as the nation of Judah had done. (Ezek. 36:22)
May it not be said of us that we profaned God's name because we wanted to be like the rest of the world.
May God bless you.

Comments

A Leap of Faith

John 10:10, "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

"All men die. Few men really live." Wm Wallace, Braveheart

After my divorce was final last year, I decided to check one off my bucket list. I hesitated to call it "celebrating", because a divorce is nothing to celebrate, so I called it a "rite of passage". The truth is, during our engagement I was invited by some coworkers to go skydiving one weekend. My (then) fiance, said if I was going to go, to do it before we got married so if something happened, she would be mourning the death of her best friend, and not be a grieving widow. I decided not to go. But I always wanted to do it. Now was my chance.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning (July 23) as I drove up to Sebastion Florida. I decided on this place because it was right near the coast, so I would have great views of the ocean. The really cool thing about skydiving in South Florida is that you get the full benefit of the fall. No matter where you live, you jump at around 14,000 feet. If you go in a place like Denver, you land at approximately 5,000 feet meaning only a 9,000 foot fall. In Sebastion you land at 19 feet. So you literally fall 14,000 feet.

I arrived at the place, signed up, paid for it, and spent a seeming eternity signing waivers in case something bad happened. Then I met the man who would do the tandem jump with me and he explained what would happen and how it would all go down. I decided that because I most likely would not do this again, to go all out and have the jump video'd by a separate jumper. Finally the moment came and we boarded the plane.

The plane ride up was really cool. We were in a Cessna Caravan which is a big, single engine turboprop. It was about a 20 minute flight up to 14,000 feet and then it was time to "lighten the load". My partners and I were the last to jump.

The only thing I can say is the sensation was very different than I expected. For one thing, there's no feeling of accelerating. That's because you are already moving forward at about 110 knots. Terminal velocity is around that so actually you are just gradually changing direction. It was all over in about 5 minutes.

I reflected on that experience, and other adventures I've had. I've always been a bit of a daredevil. I love the adrenaline rush of skydiving, cliff jumping, and crazy rollercoasters. Although I've had to stop riding rollercoasters after I hurt my back slightly. Even beekeeping provides that rush. Yes, I admit it. I get a bit of a charge out of handling bees with my bare hands...especially if people are watching and freaking out.
I thought about how fear has kept me from pursuing dreams and goals that I have had, and something occurred to me that struck me as very profound:

Skydiving is very easy...child's play really.
The reason is simple -- there's very little risk. And my fears, while very real, are not based on reality. I'm not sure if irrational is the right word, but in reality, it is extremely unlikely that anything bad is going to happen. I don't believe that the skydiving place has ever had a mishap with a tandem skydive. So while the voices inside of me are screaming, "Don't do it!" another voice, the logical, practical one is saying, "There is nothing to be afraid of. You checked out the the skydive place's safety record, Or the water below the cliff, and you've watched the rollercoaster make it's loop and you know it's going to be fine. You took a MUCH greater risk when you got behind the wheel and drove here today." Ultimately, we listen to the practical voice and we jump.

That isn't the way it is in real life.

Those risks are VERY real.

The new dream job might be a nightmare. The business startup might fail. Moving to that place you've always wanted to live may be a disaster. And that relationship could very well end with your heart being broken.

What's crazy is, now the voice that was saying, "Don't do it", is now screaming, "Please!! Get me out of this dead-end, meaningless rut". And the practical voice that assured me that the skydiving was perfectly safe, is now saying, "It's too risky. Don't take any chances. Play it safe". That voice is greatly amplified by the hurts and disappointments I've already experienced.

So while I may have conquered my irrational fear with the jumps and rollercoasters, I'm still crippled by fear.  It's just that now it's more rational.

I suppose that a little of the rational fear is good if it makes us count the cost and weigh out the choices. It can keep us from doing stupid, irresponsible things. But that "rational fear" can keep us in bondage too. I found that sometimes I was doing adventerous things to convince myself that I was "really living".
But it was all superficial. I was having "near life experiences".

The only answer I have found is complete, surrendered trust, in the one who is completely trustworthy. Last year I came to the complete end of myself. The expression; "Jesus is all I need", came to have whole new meaning because Jesus was all I had. I had trusted God before, but not completely. It was always with reservation. I was holding back. But when I got to the end of myself I realized what I was holding on to: A vapor -- nothing.

It was actually a wonderful place to come to, because at that point I had nothing more to lose. Sometimes I think God has to get us to that point, so he can begin doing his work in us. In order for us to be filled by him, we first have to be emptied of ourselves.

So while on July 23, 2016, I took a plunge out of an airplane; felt the adrenaline rush and had a blast, I didn't really take a risk. But on August 25, just over a month later, I embarked on a trip back home to my extended family in Minnesota, that would culminate in me moving to Knoxville Tennessee. That was a risk. When I set out that August morning, I didn't know where I'd end up. I never had an end-game plan. What if I couldn't find work? Or what if I can't handle a cold winter? Or (this happened to my dad in Oregon) what if I find out I'm deathly allergic to something that blooms in the spring everywhere here? Or any number of things. I had to trust that God had this under control.

Of course, there's a risk in surrendered trust. And that is that God most likely has a plan for my life that is quite different from the plan I have for my own life. It's funny how we read Jeremiah 29:11 and never see that. It's HIS plan, not mine. God called Peter to step out of the boat. He called Abraham to leave his family and go to a land he would show him. Did you ever notice that God didn't even tell him where he was taking him? He just said he would show him. Jesus said in Luke 9:23-24;

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

So I'm learning what it means to say, "Not my will, but yours". And that I must become less, so that he can become greater. I still have a long ways to go, but I'm closer than I was before. Maybe close enough that I can see a little better how it ends...And surrendered trust has a GOOD ending.

YOU CANNOT LOVE JESUS CHRIST AND DESPISE HIS BRIDE, THE CHURCH

Hebrews 10: 24-25, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up on meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the day approaching." 

This past Sunday Neil Silverberg, one of the pastors at the church I am a member of preached on the importance of being a committed part of the church of Jesus Christ. There are many issues he hit on but I want to point out one or two. And hopefully provide a template to use in looking for a church home in the process.

Here are some reasons people give for not being part of a local church:

1. I don't need to be part of an organized church. Church to me is getting together with a couple of friends and discussing life and the bible at Starbucks. Often Matthew 18:20 is cited, "For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them."

Answer: There's an old saying, "A text without a context is a pretext". It is true that Jesus is present when two or three come together, but the context of this passage is intercessory prayer. It is not describing the anatomy of a church gathering.

Here is a template to apply to the meeting at Starbucks, or any other gathering for that matter.

Ephesians 4: 11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

There are 5 ministries that God provides to build up his church:
1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Evangelists
4. Pastors
5. Teachers

So here are the questions:
Was your group founded on an apostolic foundation? Meaning was it planted and established with leaders and pastors appointed to care for the group?

Is there an evangelistic outreach to reach the lost?

Are you under the care of pastors and and benefiting by teachers who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit?

Do you have the prophetic word of God being spoken into your life in a relevant way?

I would dare say that the Tuesday morning coffee group does not provide any of this.

Another objection I have heard is, "I don't need the church. I don't need pastors and teachers because I have my Bible and that's enough.

Answer: This same Bible tells us that God has chosen to work through his church by special giftings and anointings, given to individuals for the building up of the members. In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul exhorts his protege to show himself a workman who correctly handles the word of truth. If there is a correct way to handle the word of truth, then there is also an incorrect way to handle it. That is why God established a a 5-fold ministry. In addition, he gives different spiritual gifts to the individual members for the common good (2 Corinthians 12:7-11). If you are not actively a part of a local church congregation, you are not benefitting from the ministerial gifts which are provided by the Holy Spirit. You are not benefitting from spiritual gifts given to other believers, and others are not benefitting from gifts that you have been given.

The church isn't relevant.

Answer: That's a HUGE issue today. Pastor Neil cited some statistics about millenials leaving the visible church. The major reasons were lack of relevance and authenticity. "They have a dim view of church and religion but a hunger for transcendence". In response to young people leaving, many congregations are attempting to attract them by being "cool". That is actually making the problem worse because in our attempt to be "cool" we become even more phony. The answer to the call for relevance and transcendence is the very Gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the only message that offers true hope. The gospel is transcendent because it's final fulfillment is in the next life.

In almost every case I know of where a professing christian used to be a part of a local church and no longer sees the need, there has been deep hurt. I get it! I've been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. The problem with the legitimate body of Christ is that I am a part of it. I am an imperfect, broken sheep being carried in the arms of the good Shepherd. And so is everyone else. We all fall short and we get it wrong sometimes. Sadly, someone is bound to get hurt.
Also, there are a LOT of unhealthy  churches out there and even more entities passing themselves off as the church, which are no more the church of Jesus Christ than a cow is a monkey. Jesus said in Matthew 24:11 that there would be many false prophets, not just a few. Often these false churches have one or both of these characteristics:

1. Revolve around a personality -- usually a very charismatic individual who attracts people.
2. Incomplete and therefore misleading view of scripture -- 2 of the most common themes are the Prosperity Gospel (Jesus wants to fix your problems and give you a great life) or the Social Gospel (It's the job of the church to change the world). [Also, Universalism is very appealing because it basically says that there is no coming judgment.]
This is why it is so vitally important to have spirit-filled leadership that correctly handles the word of truth. It is also crucial to be as the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and "search the scriptures daily", to see if what the man in the pulpit is saying is true. You don't need to be a Bible scholar, just write down the references, look them up later and read them in their context. That will tell you a lot.

Now you may be asking; Where can I find such a church as you have described?
I will admit, they are few and far between, but they are out there. If you are truly seeking to be a part of the true body of believers God will provide. A healthy church won't necessarily have all 5 ministries in equal proportion. Often the apostolic may diminish once a congregation is well established, unless that congregation has a special calling to plant churches. There should be an evangelistic ministry toward preaching to the unsaved. But that will vary with different congregations. The pastoral, teaching and prophetic ministry are vital to the life of a congregation. Without it, the congregation is truly a flock of sheep without a shepherd. The wolves are going to have a field day.

I don't have a nice concise conclusion, so I'll just say I'm done. If you are still reading, thank you for bearing with  with me. Feel free to share this. If you have any comments or questions but don't want to leave them publicly, you can PM me.  I don't pretend to have any answers but but you never know what the Holy Spirit might do.
I pray God's richest blessings on all of you.

Church Discipline

"Expel the wicked man from among you." (1 Cor. 5:13b)

Our church family is working through the New Testament and today's reading is 1 Corinthians 5 which tells about the man having an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. There seems to be a lot of confusion about church discipline. Churches seem to go from one extreme to another. Either they don't do it at all, and anything and everything goes. Or it becomes abusive because it is applied when it should not have been.
A few things stood out to me as I was reading this passage and I observed two main purposes in putting someone out of the church fellowship:
1. To restore the one who is the offender. Verse 5 states, "Hand this man over to Satan, so that his sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." The purpose here is that hopefully by putting him out of the fellowship it would cause him to repent. In 2 Corinthians 2: 5-11 (assuming it's the same person) when the man does repent Paul says to bring him back in to the fellowship.
The second reason is to keep the church body from being infected.
Verse 6 in chapter 5 says, "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?" This man's sin had become an infection that was harming the rest of the body. It says they were boasting and in an earlier verse it says they had become proud.
So it appears that two purposes are to hopefully bring the immoral brother to repentance while at the same time protecting the rest of the fellowship.
When should a person be disfellowshipped?
Matthew 17:15-17 gives a pattern of going to the person privately first, then take one or two witnesses. If that doesn't work take it to the church. The last part of verse 17 says, "If he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector." It is to be done only when all else has failed. It is NOT to be done to someone who is struggling with a stronghold in his life. It is when he REFUSES to listen.

I'm going to go out on a limb here somewhat but I DO NOT believe that this applies to criminal activity. I have personally experienced where a church used excommunication to deal with a child molester. If it is criminal activity it needs to be dealt with by the governing authorities. Romans 13:4 says that those in authority are there by God's design; (vs. 4b) "He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." A church body does not have any authority to deal with criminal activity. And if they attempt to do so, they could be charged with harboring a criminal or being an accomplice -- or forcing others into that position. Obviously, putting a criminal out of fellowship likely would be fitting but then bring in the governing authorities appropriately.

These are my thoughts on this subject. I hope it makes sense and I hope you all have a very blessed day.

The True Source of Our Sin

James 1: 14-15, "But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death."

We all know that gasoline is extremely flammable. If you take a bucket and fill it with gas, place it in an open room and throw a lit match at it, it will literally explode in flames. But here's the thing. without a flame, spark or some kind of trigger, that bucket full of gasoline will sit there harmlessly.
In many ways, that's how the sinful nature is. As long as we can keep the triggers away we can behave pretty well. We see that in the narrative of David and Bathsheba. David was going along doing pretty well until he saw this woman bathing on her rooftop. That was the trigger. She didn't cause him to sin. she was the trigger that brought out the sinful nature that was already in David.

Now let's imagine that we empty the gas out of the bucket, clean it out, and fill it with water. What happens when we throw the match at it now? Nothing. And if the match lands in the water, it will put the match out.

That's what God is doing in the process of sanctification. He is emptying the gasoline out, cleaning out the residue, and replacing it with water.

Now imagine for a moment that David didn't have any of the lustful sin nature within him. What happens when he sees Bathsheba  bathing? It's like throwing a lit match at a bucket of water. Nothing is going to happen. Because the new nature doesn't respond to sinful stimuli.

Now the fact remains that our sanctification is a process that will never be completed until our savior takes us to be with him. So in many ways, we will always be somewhat flammable. Because of that, it is necessary to make sure that we keep the open flames and sparks of temptation away. Put the blocking software on your internet devices and unplug the TV if need be. Do what we need to to keep from acting out or sinfulness. But I wonder if sometimes we stop there, without going to the real issue, and that is, in my fallen nature, I am a bucket full of gasoline.

We need to go to 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

I need to confess that I am a bucket full of flammable liquid and ask him to clean it out of me. That is the real heart of the issue. We need God to give us the new nature.
God bless you all.

Judgment is Coming

Rev. 20: 12, "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."

I realize that I am a "day late and a dollar short", but there is something that has been gnawing on me about, both the book and the movie, The Shack. This issue has been brought up but it keeps bugging me that it's a much more important issue than has been made of it. That is the part about Mac, as a boy, murdering (or at least, attempting to) his father by lacing his dad's liquor with poison.
In the book, it was one short sentence. The movie, however accentuated and dramatized it as the opening scene. It is never brought up again and Mac is never required to deal with what he had done.

The thing is, that scene could have been left out entirely and it wouldn't have made any difference. Just leave it that Mac ran away from home to escape his abusive, alcoholic father. It would have made sense to omit that part because after the book came out, some of the detractors made mention of it as a problem.  But rather than remove the scene, the producers highlighted it.

WHY??

I'm convinced that it was left in on purpose even though it really had nothing to do with the actual story because it sends a very clear message:

THERE IS NO COMING JUDGMENT.

Therefore, there is no need for us to repent of our sins.
This is all too common in modern evangelical Christianity today. We've abandoned the true gospel and adopted a "therapeutic deism", where salvation means that God sent his son to die for us to remove our pain and suffering. In other words, we are victims; not villains.

Now some might say, "But that wasn't what The Shack was about. it was about dealing with incredible pain and grief" I agree. So why was that part in there if not to promote that philosophical view of the gospel? It would have taken nothing away from the issues of pain and grief to leave it out.

Another might say, "Well people won't respond to the gospel if we talk about the negative aspects like judgment and the need to repent of sin. That sounds so harsh, unloving, and uncompassionate". That's, no doubt true. But if it is the truth, shouldn't we tell people the truth, regardless? What would you think of the weatherman on the radio if he KNEW that all the computer models showed that by tomorrow, we were going to have a very strong storm system coming through which could produce some of the worst, severe weather we'd had in recent memory. But in the interest of not alarming people and wanting to give a "positive, uplifting" forecast, decided to predict a beautiful day full of sunshine. People would be outraged. And he would undoubtedly be fired. When it comes to the weather, we want to know the truth so we can be prepared. Doesn't it seem that when it comes to people's eternal future, that the most loving thing we can do is tell people the truth?

The message the early apostles preached contained a lot of warning, Acts 2:40, "With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation' ". As Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said, "The gospel has only one message for the unrepentant sinner:

JUDGMENT IS COMING!" (my caps)

Sadly, we've come to the time that Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come when men 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. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths".

I read The Shack and I saw the movie. I enjoyed both. But some things in it are a serious problem. And even though this is a work of fiction, too often these are the views that are coming from pulpits. And it is easy to fill a church up with this type of message. Yes, God intends to heal and great wholeness is found in following him. But man has a FAR greater problem that the hurts, grief and pain he experiences in this life. We are condemned (John 3:18) before we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Having all of the other things restored won't do us any good if ultimately we are going to face judgment and be lost for eternity anyway. And preaching the "therapeutic" gospel message that leaves out the all important parts about judgment and repenting of works that lead to death (Heb. 6:1), while sounding kind and loving, is actually the most hateful thing anyone can do.

Well, I'm finished, and I don't have a nice, neat way to conclude this so, because I am done, I'll stop.

May God bless you all.