“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Nowhere does false doctrine distort the truthfulness of the Bible more than in the manner in which God and man are portrayed. The portrait of God painted by false teachers is usually one in which the Creator is pictured as a loving, kind, and benevolent Friend with arms wide open to all men everywhere.
While God is full of grace and truth, extending His mercies to us, He is also holy. When men and women come to God on His terms - personal faith in the atoning work of Christ - only then can God shower His blessings of salvation and sanctification upon them. Occasionally God is presented in His perfect holiness by some - stern and demanding, without a hint of grace, leaving man in the hapless state of trying to pacify an angry God. He is shown to be less than He really is - either less holy or less loving than the Scriptures attest.
False teachers often depict man as moral and upright, needing only to live a blameless life to enjoy God’s favor. Certainly man is noble - made in the image of God - but sin has so devastated the likeness that it is impossible for man to please God with mere good deeds. He must come to the cross for the image to be restored. Man is made to be more than he really is - more righteous, just, and deserving of salvation than the Bible speaks of.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Let Him Be Accursed!
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!” Galatians 1:6-9
A visit to the circus usually isn’t complete without a stop by the so-called “circus mirrors.” Remember passing in front of these and watching yourself grow like Jack’s beanstalk or swelling like a wrestler? We all giggled at such weird reflections; but when such distortions arise on the spiritual plane, it becomes more than a laughing matter. When false doctrine twists and perverts the true message of the Gospel, its adherents are in great danger. That is why the Apostle Paul had such harsh words for its propagators, announcing twice: “...let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9). Strong words for a deadly poison.
How then can we identify teachings that warp the clear intention of the Scriptures? One noticeable clue is a concentration on a single subject. We are to measure everything against the whole counsel of God. For example, the Bible does talk about works a good deal, but it does not propose them as a means of salvation.
Another is the elevation of the false teacher himself. The teaching of Scripture is given so that man can honor, revere, and obey Jesus Christ. False teachers usually are motivated by pride and greed. They teach so that their hearers can follow them, not Christ.
A visit to the circus usually isn’t complete without a stop by the so-called “circus mirrors.” Remember passing in front of these and watching yourself grow like Jack’s beanstalk or swelling like a wrestler? We all giggled at such weird reflections; but when such distortions arise on the spiritual plane, it becomes more than a laughing matter. When false doctrine twists and perverts the true message of the Gospel, its adherents are in great danger. That is why the Apostle Paul had such harsh words for its propagators, announcing twice: “...let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9). Strong words for a deadly poison.
How then can we identify teachings that warp the clear intention of the Scriptures? One noticeable clue is a concentration on a single subject. We are to measure everything against the whole counsel of God. For example, the Bible does talk about works a good deal, but it does not propose them as a means of salvation.
Another is the elevation of the false teacher himself. The teaching of Scripture is given so that man can honor, revere, and obey Jesus Christ. False teachers usually are motivated by pride and greed. They teach so that their hearers can follow them, not Christ.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Be Careful What You Pray For!
“They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them.” Psalm 106:13-15
One noted evangelist put it this way: “You may get what you want, but you may not want what you get.” It is sometimes easy to want something so much that we channel all of our efforts to attain it.
That is what the Israelites did in the wilderness. They grew so weary of their manna diet that they grumbled loudly for good, old-fashioned meat. God gave them their request, but it brought death along with it because of their rebellious hearts. All of us can relate to that incident. After much toil, we finally receive our desire - only to discover that it brought a lot of heartache. How can we protect ourselves from seeking the wrong object?
First, by delighting ourselves in loving, worshiping, and serving God above all else. “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). When we want to please and honor God more than we want anything or anyone else, our requests will be aligned with His will.
Second, be willing to lay down your request before the Lord. Whatever you want, give it completely to the Lord for its fulfillment. Let Him be the Judge as to whether He will grant us our petitions. Leave it in His hands. “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Psalm 37:5).
They did not wait for His counsel,
But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them.” Psalm 106:13-15
One noted evangelist put it this way: “You may get what you want, but you may not want what you get.” It is sometimes easy to want something so much that we channel all of our efforts to attain it.
That is what the Israelites did in the wilderness. They grew so weary of their manna diet that they grumbled loudly for good, old-fashioned meat. God gave them their request, but it brought death along with it because of their rebellious hearts. All of us can relate to that incident. After much toil, we finally receive our desire - only to discover that it brought a lot of heartache. How can we protect ourselves from seeking the wrong object?
First, by delighting ourselves in loving, worshiping, and serving God above all else. “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). When we want to please and honor God more than we want anything or anyone else, our requests will be aligned with His will.
Second, be willing to lay down your request before the Lord. Whatever you want, give it completely to the Lord for its fulfillment. Let Him be the Judge as to whether He will grant us our petitions. Leave it in His hands. “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Psalm 37:5).
Friday, June 4, 2010
God’s Ultimate Intention
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10
The attributes of God are many - love mercy, grace, forgiveness, kindness, goodness. Yet none of those marvelous qualities would be known to mankind without the following character trait - giving.
God, by His own choice, holds nothing to Himself. His love, mercy, and grace are generously bestowed upon man because He has sovereignly willed to share Himself and His bounty with us. We have life only because God has created us by an exercise of His will. We can receive salvation only because He wills to grant it.
The ultimate testimony to the Giver of all good things is, amazingly, the saints, the redeemed ones. “In order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7
The Supreme Giver’s gift to men of salvation though Christ will resound throughout eternity. Believers will be the showcase, the tangible evidence of His evergiving heart. Thus, while we enjoy the eternal benefits of salvation, its fundamental root lies in the reality that our God is the preeminent Giver. It is that truth that all of the heavenly hosts will marvel at without end.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave...” John 3:16
The attributes of God are many - love mercy, grace, forgiveness, kindness, goodness. Yet none of those marvelous qualities would be known to mankind without the following character trait - giving.
God, by His own choice, holds nothing to Himself. His love, mercy, and grace are generously bestowed upon man because He has sovereignly willed to share Himself and His bounty with us. We have life only because God has created us by an exercise of His will. We can receive salvation only because He wills to grant it.
The ultimate testimony to the Giver of all good things is, amazingly, the saints, the redeemed ones. “In order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7
The Supreme Giver’s gift to men of salvation though Christ will resound throughout eternity. Believers will be the showcase, the tangible evidence of His evergiving heart. Thus, while we enjoy the eternal benefits of salvation, its fundamental root lies in the reality that our God is the preeminent Giver. It is that truth that all of the heavenly hosts will marvel at without end.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave...” John 3:16
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Sufficiency of Christ
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:7-11
His friend’s letter reached Hudson Taylor in Chinkiang on September 4, 1869. The Spirit of God moved powerfully in his heart as he read it at the mission station. Hudson Taylor recounted the dramatic change in his life in a letter to his sister in England:
“As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and the strain are all gone. When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes...” That sentence read: “But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the faithful One.”
Taylor continued in his letter: “as I read, I saw it all...I thought, ‘I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me?’ As I thought of the vine and the branches...how great seemed my mistake in having wished to get the sap...I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh, and of his bones....
The sweetest part...is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything as I realize this; for He I know is able to carry out His will...”
His friend’s letter reached Hudson Taylor in Chinkiang on September 4, 1869. The Spirit of God moved powerfully in his heart as he read it at the mission station. Hudson Taylor recounted the dramatic change in his life in a letter to his sister in England:
“As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and the strain are all gone. When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes...” That sentence read: “But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the faithful One.”
Taylor continued in his letter: “as I read, I saw it all...I thought, ‘I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me?’ As I thought of the vine and the branches...how great seemed my mistake in having wished to get the sap...I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh, and of his bones....
The sweetest part...is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything as I realize this; for He I know is able to carry out His will...”
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Abiding in Christ
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5
While the Christian life is most certainly a fight of faith, it is not endless striving and straining. There is a monumental difference between abiding in Christ and striving; and understanding the discrepancy can make a major change in the joy, peace, and contentment we experience as we serve Christ.
J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission, wrestled with the distinction until one day, at age thirty-seven, he saw the total sufficiency of Christ for every need. The catalyst for this liberating discovery was a personal letter from a missionary friend, John McCarthy, who wrote:
“To let my loving Savior work in me His will, my sanctification is what I would live for by His grace. Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the love of an Almighty Savior...This is not new and yet ‘tis new to me. I feel as though the first dawning of a glorious day had risen upon me. I hail it with trembling and yet with trust. I seem to have got to the edge only, but of a sea which is boundless; to have sipped only, but of that which fully satisfies. Christ literally seems to me now the power, the only power of service; the only ground for unchanging joy.”
“I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5
While the Christian life is most certainly a fight of faith, it is not endless striving and straining. There is a monumental difference between abiding in Christ and striving; and understanding the discrepancy can make a major change in the joy, peace, and contentment we experience as we serve Christ.
J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission, wrestled with the distinction until one day, at age thirty-seven, he saw the total sufficiency of Christ for every need. The catalyst for this liberating discovery was a personal letter from a missionary friend, John McCarthy, who wrote:
“To let my loving Savior work in me His will, my sanctification is what I would live for by His grace. Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the love of an Almighty Savior...This is not new and yet ‘tis new to me. I feel as though the first dawning of a glorious day had risen upon me. I hail it with trembling and yet with trust. I seem to have got to the edge only, but of a sea which is boundless; to have sipped only, but of that which fully satisfies. Christ literally seems to me now the power, the only power of service; the only ground for unchanging joy.”
“I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
God’s Wisdom
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” James 3:13-16
The two major New Testament Greek words from which we derive the English word wisdom offer compelling insight into the nature of God’s wisdom.
The first is sophia, or sophos, which, according to An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words by W.E. Vine, refers to the “the insight into the true nature of things.” When viewed from the perspective of Scripture, prevailing philosophies - like humanism, Marxism, materialism, and secularism - are seen for what they really are: vain systems of ideology which are morally bankrupt because they are founded on ever-changing and eroding values. While they appeal to individuals, God’s wisdom penetrates the veneer and allows us to unveil their real, deceitful base.
The second word is phronesis, or phronimos, which has to do with the more practical aspect of wisdom. It is the same word which also is commonly translated as prudence which means “sensible or practically wise.”
Such wisdom means that daily we act in accordance with the truths of Scripture, ordering and aligning our lives with their commands. The more we obey, the wiser we become. God’s wisdom, thus, is both penetrating (unmasking superficial doctrines) and practical (working out our daily lives in submission to clear scriptural principles).
“A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power.” Proverbs 24:5
The two major New Testament Greek words from which we derive the English word wisdom offer compelling insight into the nature of God’s wisdom.
The first is sophia, or sophos, which, according to An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words by W.E. Vine, refers to the “the insight into the true nature of things.” When viewed from the perspective of Scripture, prevailing philosophies - like humanism, Marxism, materialism, and secularism - are seen for what they really are: vain systems of ideology which are morally bankrupt because they are founded on ever-changing and eroding values. While they appeal to individuals, God’s wisdom penetrates the veneer and allows us to unveil their real, deceitful base.
The second word is phronesis, or phronimos, which has to do with the more practical aspect of wisdom. It is the same word which also is commonly translated as prudence which means “sensible or practically wise.”
Such wisdom means that daily we act in accordance with the truths of Scripture, ordering and aligning our lives with their commands. The more we obey, the wiser we become. God’s wisdom, thus, is both penetrating (unmasking superficial doctrines) and practical (working out our daily lives in submission to clear scriptural principles).
“A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power.” Proverbs 24:5
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