Being Saved but not Being a Christian

To live is Christ...

Just what is a Christian? What does it mean to be born again, and after being born by the Spirit into Christ what should we expect coming from such a person? Of course we expect the testimonies about freedom from drugs, marriages saved, and many other large and unmistakable issues of bondage and sin. And those manifestations are all to the glory of God.

But is that it? After our lives have been changed dramatically from some major sins, does that complete the process? When Jesus said we are the light of the world was He referring to being delivered from alcoholism? When He said we are the salt of the earth was He referring to giving up cursing and coarse language? When Paul said we are epistles read of all men was he referring to our systematic theology? Just what kind of life should a believer be living in this present world?

I have found that most unbelievers never notice that we do not drink or smoke or even curse, these things have very little impact on people around us. Those issues may well be led of the Spirit in our own lives but those things are not what draws the attention of people who do not know Christ. What affects people are the relationship and interaction issues of our lives. The compassion, the love, the grace, the mercy, and the overwhelming “differentness” of our lives.

It is impossible to fully exhibit the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it has become fashionable to be content with something far less than what should be a demonstrable revelation of Jesus Christ through the prism of a redeemed sinner’s earthly life. We seem to salivate on judgment rather than forgiveness, exposing error rather than living truth, and projecting downward rather than lifting upward. We have been given the greatest and most eternally perfect gift imaginable, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and yet we sometimes assess others with the requirements of Pharisaical law. Why are we not willing to show uncommon and remarkable grace emanating from that grace that abides upon us?

We can claim that we are saved, but at the same time not be a Christian. That is because our claims that we are saved are based upon a profession of faith in Jesus Christ which guts the fullness of the word “Christian”. The word Christian means someone who is like Jesus because of his faith in Christ. It is not limited to a one time profession which has led to our redemption but then does not lead to a lifetime exhibition of that same Lord and Savior. Hollow is the systematic theology that proves a Biblical soteriology without also tethering that same saving grace to the richness of the life of Jesus Christ reborn in the heart of a redeemed sinner.

And somehow we have provided a set of sins that suggest either a proof or doubt of a person’s authentic conversion. These are usually centered on drinking, cursing, sexual sins, and other outward exhibitions of the sins that are so often attributed to a sinner’s lifestyle. The freedom from the practice of those things should indeed mark the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, but is that all we should be? Should our lives be nothing more than a reflection of several twelve step programs or are there deeper and more profound expressions of the Risen Christ in the midst of a darkened world? Is it Biblical to shed one’s life of some major sins and then continue to live your life with the same greed, pride, self-centeredness, and a degree of disagreeableness that mirrors the same coming from those who know not the Lord Jesus?

Gal.5:22 - 23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, ...

Gaze and meditate on the fruits of the Spirit. Let us look anew at what our lives should project and remember those fruits are meant to project our Savior and Lord and not us. I realize we all have fallen short of attaining perfection when it comes to reflecting and even living these revelations of our Wonderful Lord, but in these days it seems we no longer place them as goals and have replaced them with an exam on systematic theology which many times is defended with no trace of those same fruits. And when that scenario takes place that person may very well be saved but he is not being a Christian. And so our emphasis is on being saved and not being a Christian. How sad and unbiblical and, in fact, how unchristian.

We spend much time learning doctrine which is good, but how much time do we spend learning how to be like Jesus and how to walk in His steps? How many gatherings include sessions of confession with each other about how we may have acted unlike Christ during the week? How many Sunday School classes have the title “Being a Christian” or “Being Like Jesus”? Have we come to a place in the church that we no longer even sift our words and lives through the prism of what it means to be a follower of Christ? Are we content with being pro-life and pro-family but will not address the more obvious contradictions in our words, our tone, our demeanor, our grace, and the overall inventory of what should be the discernable light of Jesus Christ among those who know and live with us - and - more specifically our "enemies"? People should be able to experience a difference in us that goes beyond a set of four or five behavioral sins, they should sense a demonstrative essence of grace and love and hope that is above our human ability to manufacture.

They should see and hear and experience the Living Christ is us, the hope of glory. And this is not just accomplished by a display of our addiction-free lives, this must come from the living waters flowing from within us. So often we can defend a particular point of doctrine, or perhaps an entire array of doctrines, and actually not defend Christ simply by the way we speak and interact with others. The Christian community is filled with hate speech and an insatiable desire to find and uncover the sins of others. In a tortured attempt to expose the sins and shortcomings of the church we now have people whose actual motive and ministry is to provide people with a tabloidesque type of journalism that recounts and rehashes and even editorializes the sins and moral failures of others. This is not Christ and this only diminishes the light we are supposed to shine.

Where is doctrinal purity in the list of fruits? And when there is disagreement among believers, should that not provide a wonderful backdrop against which we can display the fruits more perfectly? “To live is Christ” says the Apostle Paul and that should be our creed as well. We can “win” an argument or even present something that is true and yet not be acting as a follower and imitator of Christ. It must grieve the heart of God when those who profess His name speak and act in a manner that hides Who He is and disguises Him as someone else. Make no mistake, living like, not just for, Jesus is not the easy road. It requires more than just knowing doctrine, or supporting pro-life candidates, or even evangelizing the lost. The truly sincere believer who desires above all to allow Christ to live through him will find the road narrow and not well worn, he will think that some of the directions cannot be correct, and he will find the going very slow and most times only rewarding to his inner man.

Let us look in the mirror of God’s Word. And we cannot look just at our favorite systematic theologies, we must look for and even seek the most uncomfortable and self indicting words that come from the Father's mouth. A stone sculpture cannot be formed with feathers, it takes hard chiseling with a tool that is sharper and harder than the stone it is molding. If we actually desire to live as Christ, we must choose to be chiseled, choose to endure pain, and choose to be crucified. We must choose to remain silent when attacked, choose to return good for evil, and choose to remain dead when provoked.

We must not only be saved, we must be a Christian.

Clothed With Humility

I Pet.5:5 - …and be clothed with humility…

The Spirit doesn’t suggest we be somewhat seasoned with humbleness. He doesn’t teach us to just barely keep ourselves in check with a smattering of humility. He doesn’t nudge us to tone it down and show a little humility. No, the Holy Spirit sets the bar infinitely higher than those easily reached plateaus. God desires us not only to act humble, and not just feel humble, no, He says be clothed with humility. What does being clothed with humility actually look like?

In the end being clothed with humility is a crimson garment of skin, hanging dead on a cross. Do what you will to this garment, mock it and you get no response. Say all manner of evil against it and still no response. Draw more blood and it only adds to its glory. Reject this garment and still it offers its love. And only when you have put on this garment will you understand its meaning and power made perfect in its humility and in fact humiliation.

As you walk inside this garment you will hear words of unkindness and attack as nothing. You will not see anything good about you except the garment in which you are clothed. You will find complete fulfillment that makes selfish responses unworthy of your garment. This garment reminds you of the grace which forgave you of your sins and it allows you to love those who have as yet no garment. This humility shrinks from self praise and is embarrassed by any mention of its own works regardless how sincere and sacrificial.

We as followers of the One who hung almost naked on those planks of death are to somehow emulate that infinite humiliation with a living humility about our own situation that should reflect Him and not us. Speak a word against the Savior and we are grieved, speak a word against us and we receive it as a platitude for Him. How often do we say great and swelling words of humility that profess us to be nothing and Christ as everything, only to respond with aggressive defense when personally challenged? And sometimes even returning evil speaking for evil speaking reveals our utter lack of humility about ourselves. Every time we defend ourselves we take from His glory.

And what is this? Our example, our Lord, lifts up the very instrument that caused Him such humiliation and through His servants preaches it throughout the uttermost parts of the world. And look again, the Lord Creator of all brings with Him the very marks of humiliation to His heavenly throne and eternally displays them for the entire universe to see. What humility is this? What utter humiliation is this that beckons us to follow and reflect? How can this humility do anything but drive us to our knees in Godly sorrow over our own hollow hubris and self righteousness? We are again undone by the glorious example of He who holds the stars and yet became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This Lamb of God wore the spit of sinful man upon His face and responded with forgive them. This Prince took the stripes upon His back of flesh and yet walked to the cross which awaited to humiliate Him in death. This Son of the Living God bowed His head and wore the cursed thorns as a crown of humble glory for the wicked and self righteous world. He went to Golgotha, yea, He sought the cross. How can we ever even scratch the surface of that loving humility? It will redound for all eternity to God’s glory and yet the Spirit bids His followers to follow in His steps. How often do we desire to avoid humility and run straight for the Garden tomb? Resurrection, yes! The humiliation of the cross, no! We think too highly of ourselves, and in fact, we should never think of ourselves, only of Him.

There is nothing that lifts us up so high as when we bow to Him. There is nothing that so mightily reflects Him as when we stand in the midst of persecution with joy and praise to the Risen Christ. There is nothing that so exalts Him as when we are abased. Our commandment is not only to reject returning evil for evil, it is to bless them which curse you and do good unto them which despitefully use you. Forbear and forgive with gentleness and meekness of heart is our journey, and the path to which we are called leads continually to Calvary. How our flesh detests humility, and so often our carnal minds construct some imagined scenario in which we stand as mighty soldiers, unjustly attacked and treated despitefully, and if we don’t return fleshly fire we most certainly articulate a pitiful inventory of our innocence and publish an inflated story of our sacrificial discipleship, all of which are obstacles not reflections of our Lord.

The Lord Christ refused to retain his untouchable eternality, exalted and separated from sinners, but condescended with the mystery of the ages and came in the likeness of sinful and repugnant man. That alone is without sufficient human definition and reveals a colossal, love driven humiliation. Just living as a man would have been a most breathtaking portrait of divine humility, but to actually seek the cross is without any words with which to draw any comparison worthy of the evidence. Even the angels were dumbfounded at such a spectacle and were ready to intervene if called, but they, like us, could not fathom how deeply God would bow to prove and provide what His enemies desperately needed.

And yet the Spirit through the great apostle beckons us to carry that cross as a garment of our own death and His glory as well. We are to put on Christ and reckon ourselves dead. What words does a dead man speak? How indignant is a dead man about untruths spoken of him? How ready is a dead man to respond to attacks against his character? How many lies, how many mockings, how many insults does it take for a corpse to leap from his coffin and defend himself? Does this corpse have his limits and is there only so much he can take?

Let us die to ourselves and in that death watch as God rolls away the stone of our flesh and allows our Savior to resurrect in our lives anew and afresh. We have nothing about which to defend, much less to boast. Our only boast is Christ and in Christ do we live. To roam about in our own desires and lusts and self righteousness is to walk in death. Lay down the lusts of the flesh and remove the grave clothes of our own making. Rejoice when pummeled and suffer persecution in silent worship of the One we serve. It is of no benefit to Him when we are offended at others. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them. A dead man takes no offense, and a resurrected follower of Christ hears nothing but every word that proceeds from His Master’s lips.

The Manifestation of Christianity

I Cor.2:4-5 - And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

There is much, much talk today in Christian circles. It comes in volumes through books, radio, television, blogs, preaching, teaching, and many other forms of media meant to provide a platform for…talk. Yes, talk is at a low premium today both in secular genres and in Christian formats as well. The brain thinks, it then sends the communication of that thought to specific muscles and nerve endings, resulting in forced air coming from the lungs and vibrating chords in the larynx, finally escaping through the mouth and contoured by the lips, volume, and a general manipulation of the sound waves to create…you guessed it…talk. Most everyone can talk, so it is of no great consequence to hear someone talk and even in evangelical spheres almost anyone with a voice box can and does talk for God.

But as they say, talk is cheap because it usually doesn’t take anything more than wind. People talk who do not believe what they are saying and people talk about things about which they are generally ignorant of and many times are regurgitating something they have been taught by some else’s…talk. So like grabbing a baton, one person listens to another talk and emulates his words if not indeed his style. Some talkers eventually garner a following because of the creativity and stylistic components in the way they talk. Many people are saying the same things and yet some rise to popularity while others saying the same things talk to much smaller crowds of talk receivers. This is due to both tangible and intangible elements.

Now come and sit in the imaginary bleachers with me and let us watch as millions of professing Christians hop in their cars and drive to a building that usually is in debt, and they sit and listen to talk. Some preachers talk verbatim from a copied talk of someone else; some talk from a script they have created by reading or listening to another’s talk; while others have constructed a logical thought process from the Scriptures and it now comes forth as…talk. So in essence we have become followers of talk about Jesus. Read again the verses above and see that Paul did not just talk, he through Christ manifested the works of the Savior.

Some of those works were helping the poor, some were enduring suffering and persecution, some were just supernatural manifestations of God’s love. But some were dramatic and powerful manifestations of God’s power which were not meant to exalt the Apostle Paul, but were used of the Spirit to allow sinners and saints alike to experience the presence and power of the Great God they claim to know and follow. The gospel spread like wild fire across the greater Mediterranean world on the wings of the demonstration of God’s power in gracious suffering, persecution with forgiveness, and many different revelations of the miraculous power of Jehovah Shammah, the God who is here.

To be sure the gospel was preached and lives were changed and believers were birthed, but this gospel was preached not with 40 minute talks followed by a return to unaffected normalcy, this gospel captured attention by the sheer power that was demonstrated by the lives that spoke this message of the kingdom. With no man made lighting, no spectacular sound systems, no nicely coiffed men dressed in cultural splendor, and with no visual electronic screens meant to enhance their talk, these pitiful but powerful followers of the Risen Christ carried the tangible demonstration of resurrection power in the cities into which they were led. They were divine conduits of redemption by much more than just…talk.

I realize the church has over the years given the written Word of God a primal place in the proclamation of God’s gospel, but is has now atrophied into a poor excuse for the powerlessness of God’s body on the earth and basically reduced us to a series of talks. To be sure the visible sacrifice of Christian workers who have heard the Spirit’s call is more than just talk, as is the thousands of missionaries who have left everything and serve in the uttermost parts of the earth this very day. These are more than just talk. But does God require of them and does God exhibit his power through them and not the church as a whole? Do we just continue to talk and listen to talk mostly void of the supernatural manifestations that authenticate that the words are spoken in the presence and approval of Almighty God?

I am not “talking” about the contrived pony shows that perpetrate counterfeit spiritual theatrics but have no value in the eternal gospel. I do not speak of the money making schemes and the blasphemous talk that creates an atmosphere of suggestion that God is speaking, and then financially rapes the listeners to line the pockets of ravenous wolves. I do not speak of the new movements that suppose that aspects of the eastern religions will provide a newness and interest in the easily bored western Christian church. But I also am not “talking” about the redundant trail of listeners that sit in air conditioned auditoriums and listen to their favorite teacher/talker and leave with a feeling of contentment with both the fulfilling of a religious obligation as well as leaving content with just hearing the Word as they have every week with no real manifested reality, especially in light of the narratives of Acts.

Let us be frank with ourselves, we do a lot of talking with very little manifested reality of that which we say we believe. We say we believe people who die without Jesus go to hell for eternity, and yet our witness is anemic and so void of passion and urgency. We spend more on our dogs than on missions. We say we believe God answers prayer and yet the lights in the church building are not lit during the week nights for praying believers to come and petition God for His power. We say we believe God provides for His people and yet we borrow obscene amounts of money from the world’s institutions. The world looks for something that manifests a reality different than their own, but all they see from God’s church is a paltry political agenda that mirrors those who espouse no God at all.

Have we not come to the end of ourselves? Is it not time to sow in righteousness and tears and lay prostrate in prayer and repentance before our Risen Lord until He rains His power again upon His church? Why could Elijah call down fire from heaven in an open rebuke of Baal’s false prophets and all we have is…talk? When the lights go out in our house and all the power goes dead, do we not run to the electoral box to find the problem? Do we not call the power company and report an outage and expect them to come quickly and return the power to us? Don’t we have perishables that may soil with refrigeration? How can we bathe without hot water? Yes, we realize the long term implications of living with no power in the natural, but we have settled into a powerless Christianity that operates by organization, financial cooperation, and a business like structure in the church usually held together by…talk.

Where is the supernatural love of God that should be coursing through the church and flowing to a dark and needy world? Where is the grace that so extends to sinners that their attention is aroused as they suddenly realize there is hope for the vilest among us. Where are the demonstrations of the Spirit that cannot be explained by the machinations of men? And where are the lives that are so dramatically changed by God’s power that the light they give off cannot be ignored? Where is the manifested reality of the Risen Christ that we, by our talk, portend lives inside us?

Who would go and hear a man give a talk about how strong he is without him ever manifesting that strength? You might go once, even twice, but soon you would grow weary of hearing such talk without any authentic proof. The testimony of Christian martyrs have been used of God to bring many into the kingdom, and yet in today’s church most refuse to abide quietly and with grace even the slightest inconvenience or persecution. Our defense is talk and our offense is talk, rarely do we see a manifested reality of the power of Christlike silence. We can very eloquently expound the doctrines of imputed righteousness, salvation by grace, the indwelling of God’s Spirit, and many other Biblical truths that are quite at home in our systematic theologies but rarely escape to be powerfully displayed individually or corporately by Christ’s church.

Thousands of evangelical churches exist in almost every fifty mile radius in America, but why so little urgent displays of Christ’s reality? Why are there not many street corners filled with people holding signs that speak of God’s good news? Why aren’t the poor in our cities inundated by the passion of God’s people reaching their needs? Why don’t the hospitals find it necessary to limit the hundreds of believers that desire to visit and pray for the sick? Why do old people in nursing homes go without visitors who come with God’s love? Why do most churches have no active ministry to the city’s widows? Ministry to the city’s single parent homes?

Of course there is much room for teaching, and some talk is more beneficial that others. But what do we do when others talk untruth and error? Oh, we…uh…talk. Usually among ourselves as to how bad that other talk is. Special prayer meetings? Solemn assemblies? Fastings? Weepings? Oh no, just talk. Maybe a little louder or a little more caustic, but still just talk. And neither side has much of any demonstration of the Spirit with which to authenticate the truth we espouse, we are usually reduced to a “he said - he said” type of battle about which the world knows nothing. But our brother James assures us that faith talk without deeds is useless, and in fact he uses feeding the hungry as an example.

The world seems to see nothing more than talk from the church. They do not see a manifested reality of the Living Christ, one that unexplainably draws them to us and our God. These sinners hear us talk about them, but do they see us love them? They see us go to church on Sunday, but do they see us be the church in our neighborhoods when we return? Can we live a decade in the same neighborhood without much notice? And even when they come to our church gathering on Sunday, do they see the demonstrable power of the Spirit of God or do they see a well organized, well scripted mini-pageant centered around a mini-talk by a well spoken man? Where is the Lord God of Elijah?

The western church is not yet desperately hungry for a fresh revelation of what it means to be a surrendered follower of Jesus Christ. We have created our own comfortable definition of what it means to be a Christian, many times completely centered on belief talk, but without much concentration on being a revelation of Jesus Christ through acts of love, acts of power, and acts of selflessness amidst those who need to see in our lives what they hear from our lips. I fear we are captives of our own talk, and we now glory in that talk which has become centered around the doctrines, albeit true, that do not require revelatory deeds. Written talk reinforces what we already know, and a mature disciple is considered one who has learned to talk accurately about what he or she believes.

So on one corner of the street Christians meet to see an entertaining performance meant to teach some truth or principle, while on the other corner Christians meet to hear a doctrinal rehearsal about what they probably already know. And so many times the different spectrums of service structures do not challenge our lifestyles with a direct and inescapable direction from the Spirit. Any residual effects of the service dissipate before we reach the parking lot. We have heard the talk and remain basically unchanged. Sure there are personal moves of the Spirit, but can we as the church collectively profess to a consuming and unquenchable desire to see and be a part of a move of God’s Spirit that will reach those for whom Christ died with a pattern of supernatural deeds and demonstrations that cannot be dismissed as a program?

So there is much talk that goes beyond teaching, it has become a redundant outlet for the church’s compulsion to share our opinion with ourselves and call it following Christ.

Is it not time for us as the followers of Christ to do less talking and more demonstrating the person, presence, and power of Jesus the Christ?

You're Just Fooling Yourself

You say you believe in Jesus and you are striving to be just like Him.

You say He controls you and yet you speak things that cannot possibly come from His lips.
You say you love Him and yet you spend much more time with others than you do Him.
You say you want to please Him and yet you so often please yourself.
You say He is Lord and yet you’ve created your own plan and called it His.
You say you love His brethren and yet you breathe fire down upon them.
You say you love His Word but you pull out what pleases you and leave the rest.
You say you care for the poor and yet they continue to walk right in front of you.
You say you desire His kingdom and yet you’ve built your own.
You say you care about the lost and yet you shed no tears for their souls.
You say you are nothing and yet you take offense when someone attacks you.
You say you believe in God’s love and yet you speak words of hate.
You say you believe in mercy and yet you show very little to anyone.
You say you believe in a kingdom to come and yet you store up treasures here.
You say you are humble yet you let everyone know what you have done for Him.
You say He says love your enemies and yet you barely love your friends.
You say that eternity matters most but you get all stirred about earthly issues.
You say God answers prayer and yet you pray so little and so predictable.
You say you are growing and yet you act as if you’ve arrived.
You say you believe in God’s truth and yet you act as if it is yours.
You say you are filled with His Spirit and yet you speak and act like you.
You say you believe in grace and yet you live in law.
You say salvation is a gift and yet you refuse to offer it without strings you’ve made.
You say you believe Jesus and yet you return evil for evil.
You say you desire forgiveness but you refuse to forgive.
You search for the sins in others and are blind to your own.
You say you speak for Christ but your words are yours.
You say your life was changed and yet you sound just like before.
You say you desire reconciliation and yet you seek to destroy.
You say Jesus is your Master and yet you love the praises of men.

You say you believe in Jesus and you are striving to be just like Him.

You’re just fooling yourself.

Is God's Grace More Than Theology?

The church of Jesus Christ has become very adept at defining and explaining the word “grace”. Unmerited favor is sometimes proffered as a definition of God’s grace, but anyone who has been changed by that grace knows full well it cannot be captured in human words. And when we think about the cross upon which our Savior died and gave His life, we are again confronted with a grace that must be defined by a speechless worship. Words sometimes detract from that which is fathomless in God’s grace to us.

Every good and orthodox believer knows and appreciates that salvation through Jesus Christ is by grace and grace alone. There are no works, no good deeds, no good intentions, and no religious ceremonies that could ever earn God’s favor much less God’s grace. The word “grace” itself is at odds with any supposed righteousness from our point of view because if it is by works it is not grace. Grace stands alone as a pristine gift of God, untarnished by anything else. It is offered with no strings attached because, again, that would not be grace. Grace does not demand works either before salvation or after.

If grace demands works in any element of its offer it is not grace. And of course sinners, saved and lost, have a difficult time embracing a grace without works because our pride desires some way to be approved or saved or even substantiated by the fruit of our own hands. We wrestle with the words “it is finished” by the mouth of Christ concerning His death upon the cross. We want to elbow our way in to that redemption somehow by something we can do, even if it is extremely small and insignificant. And yet we have nothing, absolutely nothing, that could even be considered helpful to the grace of God through His Son. Anything we have is not only useless, it is counterproductive in any part of this redemption by grace. We should, we must, stand without one plea in our own defense, in an utter and complete need of God’s grace.

And when we have come to that place of admission, and when we have by faith been made a partaker of that grace, we are saved and we are changed. The works and discipleship that follows is not a part of grace, it is because of grace. The change in our lives was not a precondition for God’s grace, it is a visible manifestation of an internal effect of God’s grace in a believer’s life. The expanse and reach of such grace is immeasurable, and that grace empowered by love has reached the vilest of sinners and has wrought a metamorphosis that leaves the wisdom of this world confounded. How could salvation complete with eternal life be offered by grace, free and full, simply by faith? It is the mystery of eternity.

But now that we have discussed the theology of grace, let us examine how a living recipient of God’s grace can exhibit and share that same grace practically with others. This is not as easy as it would seem, and much of the church has lost any sense of being a beacon of grace. Of course some claim they are exhibiting grace, but it is nothing but compromise and goes against the teaching of Scripture. But much of the church walks with an air of self righteousness and looks down upon many who are either brothers in Christ or sinners for whom Jesus died. How do we who contend that we live for Christ show grace in this world, even to those who are walking in darkness or compromise? That is a spiritual discipline which continues to be out of vogue in this generation.

Showing and speaking in grace toward others is never an easy adventure since grace is not in our nature, we are always much more comfortable with our old friends - self righteousness and judgment. Even when it comes to friends we have a short grace fuse, however as it pertains to those enemies or doctrinal combatants we seem to have very little grace indeed. Is it not curious that those who stand by grace alone have so little to share with fellow gracians? Troll the internet and ingest the different posts and comments and you may well come away with a head scratching perspective. You may get the feeling that believers are out to consume each other by means of harsh and demeaning words not meant to convey a perspective but aimed to destroy those of a different view. Should we not speak words with some grace even to those who have strayed significantly?

So is grace a theology that belongs in our statement of faith and systematic theology but disappears when we enter the real world? Someone once said that what we do is what we believe, everything else is just religious talk. And so it is with grace. We seem to show favor to those we believe have earned it in our estimation, not those who similarly do not merit it in our estimation. I find Jesus showing head scratching grace to many who absolutely did not deserve or merit it. Peter himself denied the cross right in front of the Savior, and later denied he ever knew the Lord, and yet Jesus saw fit to allow him to preach the first New Testament sermon. Such grace.

If grace is predicable and measurable, it is not God’s grace. If you can see a reason for grace, it again is not the grace of God. Watch how quickly people run to show grace to their doctrinal yokefellows and how quickly they run with law to those with whom they disagree. How disgusting it is to see followers of the Gracious One project self righteousness when indeed they have no righteousness of their own, only that which was given freely upon the dead body of Jesus who gave Himself in infinite grace. Whatever is not of humility is not of grace. Biblical doctrine without humble grace is not Biblical. Truth without humble grace is not truth. And Christ without humble grace is not Christ.

Showing grace does not come without difficulty and sacrifice. We are trained to respond with a selfish defense and a caustic retort aimed at disarming and even demeaning our brother or sister in Christ. Sharing an iron sharpening dialogue about doctrine often leads to the flesh, but when we are attacked personally we will respond in like kind and many times with graceless invectives that reveal what is truly in our hearts. Are we willing to endure untruths and unkindnesses for His sake? Are we further willing to avoid responding to personal attacks on our character? And further still, are we willing to show grace to those who have despitefully mistreated us, and said many untruths about us, and even used harsh and unchristian verbiage against us? Are we willing to close our ears to the choruses of our friends to respond, and to be questioned by our silence? Are we willing to bless those who curse us and be considered weak and not standing for truth? Are we willing to be criticized for not defending the faith once delivered to the saints? Are we willing to be labeled a compromiser? Are we willing to stand humiliated in front of everyone, unjustly?

He did.

The Enemy Within

Search the blogs and bookstores, google the names of preachers today, and you will find conversations and dissertations on many Biblical subjects. The authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ, the resurrection, the victorious life, and many other doctrinal issues are prevalent in the Christian media. You will find volumes today on practical “how to” subjects like how to be positive, how to be successful, how to get wealth, and a library of man centered articles and books. You will find resources in systematic theology and great preachers of the past and church history and denominational perspectives. At your disposal are references that teach on how to avoid evil, and why certain movements are veering away from Scripture, and why certain men are false teachers.

But you and I will be hard pressed to find a discussion about the enemy lurking within each and every believer. Our enemies are often identified as the devil, or Rick Warren, or Brian MacLaren, or some other popular movement that can be seen. But the church is in desperate need of an uncomfortable and vulnerable discussion about a very real and influential enemy, the enemy that lives and speaks and motivates us from within. The enemy is us. We have been so guilty of not only ignoring this fallen enemy, but so often we have incorporated him into our Christian walks and crowned him as boldness or discernment or spiritual courage. This enemy has seduced us through vain words and hidden agendas and impure motives, and blinded us into moving forward without a chronic pattern of self examination.

The self examination we need is many times not about any subject or issue, but it is about who we are and with what spirit we are being controlled. Do not assume that crucifying the flesh within is an easy and painless process, just recognizing the need for such inventory is a deep and excruciating spiritual truth, much less surrendering to the Spirit’s unabridged death ministry to our flesh. And there are protected doors within our flesh that will subtly offer other compartments of sin in deceptive gambits designed to protect our most treasured elements of practiced self. Simply put, without a time of complete self examination we will continue to live with the accumulation of self deceived issues. And this pattern can live and breath within the life of even the most Biblically astute believers among us. In fact, Biblical knowledge is sometimes used creatively by our flesh to keep us from recognizing our own flesh that dishonors Christ while drawing near to Him with our lips.

The weapon that will defeat our flesh is humility, and Christ-like humility can only come through the fellowship of His sufferings which is…the cross. Paul tells us the example of our Glorious Savior, the Creator of everything, provided the light of His own incarnate life as our example.

Phil.2:7-8 - But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Those words, when read and understood in the context of who He was, must cut our hearts before us. Our God, our Christ, came as one of us. That in and of itself is beyond us, but when the Spirit lifts the veil and gives a sacred glimpse into the Incarnate God man, and reveals the depth of His humility that allowed, yea embraced, death…even death by crucifixion, we are undone. It must be understood fully that this truth cannot be understood fully even while being an exhortation for us to follow. Crucifixion was humiliating for the worst of sinners, but for the sinless Lamb of God the humiliation is infinite. And yet we are directed to emulate the essence of that humility and thereby deny the flesh the spoils of sin it so desperately desires. Let us examine even the fringes of such an undertaking.

If we are not willing to endure pain and rejection and humiliation in our own lives, then this journey is not for us. If we are going to pick and choose our path so as to avoid the deepest roots of our fleshly entrenchments, then we can retire to the comfort of what we call our Christian lives as we now experience them. But if we can admit to ourselves in distressful honesty that we are in need of the cross inside our very hearts, then we must prepare ourselves for the crushing weight of the Spirit’s convicting light and His loving but uncomfortably powerful ministry of correction and crucifixion through genuine, open, and unfettered repentance. And this repentance must touch the little foxes that hide within the camouflaged recesses of our religiously wicked hearts. And if there are no surprises, no sufferings, no battles, no embarrassments, and no attempts as justifying or minimizing, then we have only touched the surface.

Have we even asked the question as to how we can show strength like our Master while forgiving the very ones who are crucifying us? Is there a divine power that speaks through humility in the utmost of authority and does not need the verbiage that comes from our flesh? Can grace and correction ride within the same words? Can boldness and humility coalesce? And can the Spirit of Christ be revealed through a conduit who has an ongoing penchant for duplicity? And in the face of these and other questions, does it appear that while we are concerned with watered down theology we are content with watered down humility that in actuality gives place to the enemy of God, our flesh? The lack of concern over how the Lord would have us speak and behave in these days of accessible communication is astounding.

We need a revival of seeking God as to how to behave in the Spirit of Christ. Just saying “I am nothing” is not any show of obedience, a computer can mimic those words that all of us know are required to be said. This is where the Apostle James’ perspective is necessary to glorify our Master. Words without deeds are useless, and saying we are followers of Christ without at least a sacrificial effort to become like Him is just as useless. Speaking the gospel without living it has led us to the general stalemate we now find ourselves in these last days. And being doctrinally orthodox does not reveal the life of Jesus Christ within a professing believer, and in fact it seems that being a “self aware” orthodox believer continues to lead many into fleshly hubris instead of humble grace.

We do not need a new definition of the gospel, we need a new demonstration of it. Many of us have strong convictions about someone like Mother Theresa not sharing Christ with dying Hindus and Buddhists, however are we not brought to shame and conviction from her humility? The consuming arguing that pretends itself to be defending the faith is not only unproductive, it can be counterproductive. This kind of interaction comes from the enemy that dwells within us and yet has camouflaged itself as a spiritual warrior. It basks in its own measurement of Christ and His followers, it assumes an exaggerated view of its own knowledge of truth, and it engages others from a tangible aroma of self righteousness that constructs a deluded and imaginary battle for the truth in which unchristian behavior can be justified. In essence this enemy convinces us of the rightness of the cause and then proceeds to blind us to our own state of spiritual need by keeping us distracted by an inflated view of our own value as a divine spokesman.

But the enemy within all of us, the fallen brother of Adam, has so often been allowed to act out even within the body of Christ. We seem to rely on him to facilitate spiritual victory while using the other side of our mouths to tout God’s power and sovereignty. And part of this so called victory includes diminishing and laying waste to those saints and sinners with whom we take issue. This enemy is not content to gently and graciously present our point of view, he must take no prisoners and keep record of the scalps. He minimizes and justifies his own shortcomings while illuminating and magnifying those of his targets. He sees no truth in the attacks that come to him, and many times will leverage those people from whom the attacks emanate to cease and desist. But he presents his attacks as both warranted and motivated by God Himself and must not be silenced.

It is past time for all of us to expose this enemy that dwells within as the scoundrel he is, and unmask his false claims of spirituality. Truth is interconnected and must be taught and presented and even confronted within the context of other truths that are just as valid. Truth is not a weapon to destroy but in the gospel context it is a vehicle of redemption which should never be served on a cold plate of self righteousness. In fact, truth should be shared upon the wings of humility that should define an unworthy recipient of God’s grace. And sometimes the revelation of God’s truth is most exposed and glorified in what appears to be defeat, and boldness in some circumstances works against the gospel and its message. All of us seek to be John the Baptist, but not many seek to be the Lamb silent before His shearers.

Standing on the platform of complete grace we should, as Paul suggested, count everyone else as more important than ourselves. We have severely overestimated our own worth and divine calling, and we have limited and redefined the admonition of “defending the faith” by giving that assignment to this vile enemy within us all.

Perhaps there is no more effective way to defend the faith once given to the saints than to allow the Risen Christ to live our lives for us.

An Unpublicized Perspective

Ken Silva and I are friends. We have had, as do friends, disagreements ranging from moderate to serious, but we remain friends. I want to share publicly what most do not know. It has been suggested that Ken is not even a brother in Christ, however in my personal interaction with him he has shown some fruit that even many who do not appreciate him have not shown. Both Ken and Mrs. Schlueter have criticized me and been criticized by me, but neither I nor they have ever attempted to attack the right to blog. And here is a small history of me on their blogs.

These are the links to articles by Ken and Mrs. Schlueter that have criticzed me.
Link
Link
Link

Here is a link to an open letter by me to Ken Silva:
Link

Here is the question I would ask. If I had posted such a letter about you, would you still be my friend? Ken still remains a friend and did not attempt to take down my blog because of my post. Is this not the behavior of a Christian? With anything I disagree with Ken about, he has acted as a brother in Christ even when I have confronted him publicly and in private. I always tell him I will still speak my conscience and he understands. In that I salute him for showing forgiveness.
Not many would continue to communicate with me given those circumstances, even the non-ODMs.

That is the rest of the story.

***UPDATED***

A Lesson to be Learned

As of yesterday, 7/26/08, it seems that Ken Silva's blog named Apprising Ministries has been taken down by the server due to Mr. Richard Abane's complaint about one particular article. I print one ofv several comments I left at a blog named crninfo which was created to confront inconsistencies and falsehoods they see in Ken and other's writings.

"I have spoken out about some of Ken’s tone and verbiage, however that is not the question at hand. Mr. Abanes was and is completely wrong and refuses to accept responsibility. The overall question is also can any ISP be petitioned to remove offensive material by anyone other than an “award winning” author? How about the post here abot Bentley, can he claim libel and demand it be removed?

This needs to be a lesson learned by all of us. Every writer here, past and present, has gossiped and slandered and libeled in private and sometimes in some public comment, and yet where does God the Holy Spirit get to minister? If we submit to the secular words police about one thing then we are submitting to them in general.

Will a message about the exclusivity of Christ, or the sinfulness of homosexuality, or the wrongness of Islam, or the sin of divorce, and a thousand other things be considered offensive enough to some so that the server demands their removal? This particular issue is not about Ken, this is about the church and how we deal with issues.

Mr. Abanes should have withdrawn his request, but he remained not only defiant, but ridiculously suggested he never actually sues Ken as if that exonerated him from guilt. What if someone who isn’t wn award winning author with a ton of books and with Rick Warren’s influence contacted the ISP, would they have succombed to their pressure.

Of course Ken could have taken the article down and rewritten it or petitioned the server or whatever, but the fact remains, the action By Richard was unbiblical and despicable. To any “objective simpleton” Mr. Abanes is obsessed with defending Rick Warren from even the slightest criticism, and his comments sometimes seem to reflect that obsession.

No one can legitimately accuse me of being partial to Ken, but he deserves to be treated fairly regardless of how unfairly we might believe he treats others. Our squabbles within the church must NEVER be exposed to the world on purpose, and when it comes to words and opinions we should handle it as brothers. If this is how we as followers of Jesus Christ are to deal with language we do not care for, than take down this site and begin petitioning all the individual servers on the sites we do not care for. W e can use the same carnal leverage that Hugh Hefner, ACLU, and all the rest of the teeeming mass uses and we’ll blend nicely from under our bushel.

This entire thing is wrong and I predict Mr. Abanes will continue to use eloquence and his elongated literary style of question and answer to provide a well crafted defense of his actions. But this situation is where Ken’s ctritics within the body will be tested as to their objective Biblical position or if their disgust with Ken’s writings will trump dispassioned Biblical interpretation."

This, my friends is wrong. Regardless how I or anyone else feels about Ken's views and words, he should not be silenced by other brothers, especially in the secular marketplace. If that pattern continues, you and I will be next.

I Cor.6:1-2 - Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

I grew up with two twin brothers two years younger than was I. We of course had our share of fights, but at a young age my mother gathered us boys at the kitchen table and told us that we should always stick up for each other outside the house. She taught us that just because we sometimes fought inside the house, we must always be brothers in the neighborhood.

Regardless of how deep our disagreements got sometimes, could you ever imagine brothers calling the police to settle our arguments? With the accessibility of communication these days, there will be a rise in disagreements and even confrontations. Our reputations and integrity will be questioned and even slandered, but we must never bring the world into our disagreements and even fights. Call Christian leaders to settle disputes, and if need be, suffer yourselves to be defrauded.

The opportunities for forgiveness in these days will continue to be many. Let us pray that God will give us the grace to exalt Him in these circumstances by stripping us of all selfish motives and not return evil for evil. Regardless of how strong and confrontational our differences may be, they must remain among us and the world has no part in God’s family. The recent issue between Richard Abanes and Ken Silva, both of whom are committed Christians, is a prime example. I have read the article in question and I saw nothing personal of the kind Richard suggested. But even if there were personal attacks, we must never seek justice from the fallen world. All of us have used verbiage that is unfortunate and incendiary in nature, but Richard was wrong in contacting the server that hosts Ken’s blog. I believe that crosses the Biblical line.

I pray this will be resolved without anymore rancor, but let this be an example in the future for all of us. All of our conversations and disagreements must be in house and the nose of the world’s camel must never be invited under God’s tent. Strong language, correction, confrontation, and even some things about which we later repent must never give place to malice that looks to world for justice. In fact, it would be better to fistfight than invite the world to stumble over Christ because of our actions.

We are brothers who stand by grace alone. I said grace alone.

If the Amish can forgive someone murdering ten of their precious little girls, surely we can forgive someone who says things about us.

A False Gospel

II Cor.11:3-4 - But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguilded Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For he that comes preaching another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not been taught, why do you accept these things?

Throughout church history there have been many heresies that have found their way into church teachings. There have been doctrinal disputes over the deity of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the existence of hell, the path to salvation, and a host of other false teachings concerning essential elements to the true gospel and also side issues. Some have taken root and produced cults while others have received very minimal popularity, but regardless we should always be testing the spirits to see whether or not they are of God. Our spirit should not be haughty and high browed, but strong and humble as well.

There are any number of false teachings today, some suggest they hold to foundational doctrines of faith while practicing compromise while others openly dismantle important teachings either openly or by constructing verbally nuanced mazes that can hardly be understood as orthodox. The atmosphere in evangelicalism is a mess, including the lethargic and hedonistic lifestyles of the average western believer, even those who haven’t succumbed to any false teachings but their lives are a false teaching in themselves.

But no other movement in the last 50 years has spread so fast and deceived so many in the west as the health and wealth movement which is sometimes referred to as the gospel of prosperity. Since the Day of Pentecost this teaching has never even been suggested much less tied to the gospel itself. A handful of men fifty years ago began suggesting that God’s covenant to Abraham extended to the individual believer today in a material way, and that in fact God desired everyone to become wealthy. Curiously enough the spread of this evil corresponded with a general prosperity in the west within which the falsehood could hide. And today multiple millions have embraced this unbiblical and preposterous teaching.

It is easy to see objectively what is at the core of this heresy, it is the love of money itself. And that kind of lust is most easily foisted upon those who struggle financially and even the most poor among us. When some false teacher tells a poor person that God actually wants to make them rich he has their attention through their lust. In this kind of falsehood the New Testament Scriptures are irrelevant since a complete reading of the that same New Testament reveals no such thing at all. In fact, most of the teachings about money in the Scriptures are a warning of their dangers not their pleasures. And in fact the Word clearly warns about these wolves who are fleecing the sheep.

II Pet.2:2-3 - And many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingered not, and their damnation slumbered not.

Yes, many millions will follow these false teachers. The New American Standard says,

(verse 2 ) Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

Could it be more clear? They preach a message of sensuality not of the Spirit. And the truth is maligned and compromised, and in fact the verse says the “way” of truth shall be maligned or defamed. And who is the way and the truth? It is Jesus Christ Himself. So these false teachers are preaching another Jesus and have changed and defamed Christ and His gospel altogether. They even use the profane term “gospel of prosperity” which is blasphemy. The Word gives ample warning against such heretics:

II Pet.2:14-22 - having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

These men have made vomit attractive and in so doing convinced millions to seek to be greedy and in God’s Name nonetheless. They have taken the pure gospel of the cross and resurrection and turned it a conduit through which to get money. Can there be any deeper blasphemy than that? Taking the blessed and bleeding Lamb of God and using His cross for financial gain is a damnable heresy. Anyone who sits and reads the New Testament through in a week will recognize the absurdity, to say nothing of the blasphemy, of such teachings. Of course there are three basic reasons people can be deceived to such a degree.

The first is a shallow knowledge of the Scriptures. The Bereans searched the Scriptures to see if these things were true, but today the average believer does very little reading, much less searching, of the Scriptures himself. I challenge you, even if you are already convinced that the prosperity teaching is heresy, to read the New Testament from Romans through Jude in one week. It will require sacrificing some of our accustomed lifestyle of entertainment and leisure, but you will be astounded at what you see anew and afresh when seen in its entirety and understood as a whole. That is the same challenge I issue to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons who knock on my door.

The second reason is the idolatry of men. Today’s media can through techniques enhance the stature, appearance, and authority of preachers. Skillful editing, camera angles, and communicative techniques have been able to deceive millions simply upon the weight of visual and audio manipulation. Just attaching a new and glossy book cover can increase dormant book sales. And since many people draw their spiritual food through television it has become an art form through which deception reaches right into homes and captures the gullible. Many preachers are held up and followed as idols, and I personally heard Benny Hinn say “There comes a time when your spiritual stature is such that many will believe whatever you say”. How right he was.

The third reason is that the culture has cultivated unbiblical lusts within the church. If a believer has a lust for money he must either repent or suggest his lust is from God. And so the American mindset that seeks money and success and advancement, has now been turned into a theology by slick manipulation of separated Scriptures and a distorted teaching that uses Abraham as the golden goose. Fulfilling people’s lusts is much less painful than repentance and so millions flock to hear these spurious promises that are erroneously couched as the voice of God.

The truth is that if I can convince you by my words, others can convince you of the opposite by their words. You should, you must, search the Scriptures. I again challenge everyone to read Romans through Jude in a week or two, and with a special ear towards this particular subject. The Holy Spirit will give you an open insight to this unassailable fact - the prosperity gospel is a deep and blasphemous teaching that goes against every clear teaching in the New Testament Scriptures. Avoid even those who sympathize with these heretics.

I will be posting more frequently on this subject since it has become apparent many do not realize the extent and influence of this deception.

Thank You Tom and Ingrid Schlueter

I have had some disagreements with Mrs. Ingrid Schlueter who oversees a blog named Slice of Laodicea. But any disagreements I have pale in comparison to many things about which I agree. I applaud Tom and Ingrid Schlueter as they went to a prosperity conference that I had first discovered on a television commercial. Since Brother Ray Comfort, a faithful preacher of the gospel, had been invited and scheduled to speak at this conference and I had wondered if some of the watchman blogs would criticize this conference since Ray Comfort was speaking. To her credit and others, they did not show any partiality.

Tom and Ingrid Schlueter “endured” one of the services where a bona fide heretic, John Avanzini, spoke. I am recommending you go to THIS POST and read what she has written and listen to the links she has provided. Mrs. Schlueter has provided a revelation of breathtaking heresy, and in many ways this prosperity movement may be more influential than any other “evangelical” movement. And because many people get their Christianity from the media, these men have used television and radio and literature to lure millions into grevious error. We cannot, we must not, fellowship with these heretics and if I have understood correctly Ray Comfort has decided not to do so in the future. That is a good thing, so thank you Ingrid Schlueter, this post is one of your finest exposés and will be used as a warning to many.

The Spirit of Redemption

Heb.9:12 - Neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Everything God does today is redemptive. Love redeems, and God is love. It is God’s nature to redeem and it seems He does not relish judgment. Many times the Lord informs us that He is patient and longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. He is slow to anger and plenty in mercy. The story of the blind men and the elephant illustrates something profound.

In the story, six blind men approached the elephant and each one of them only grasped part of the elephant. They argued with each other about what the elephant really looked like. They claim the elephant is like a wall (side), like spear (tusk), like a snake (trunk), like a tree (leg), like a fan (ear), or like a rope (tail). Obviously they could not reach an agreement.

And of course the Lord has many aspects of His character that all form His perfect being. Many present one of His attributes out of focus and at the expense of all the rest. Some will say God is a vengeful God, others say God is just love, and others choose another aspect of God’s character to magnify. But the one compelling thread that cannot be ignored is that God is redemptive, in motivation and in nature. If those six blind men where describing the Lord, even though they each had different perspectives, they would have all found commonality in this one observation. Every distinct part of their singular vantage point was permeated with redemption regardless how different it was from the other different vantage points.

That is God, that is the Spirit, and that of course is Jesus. Redemption is God’s nature and His eternal motivation. When God came to this world He did not come to condemn, He came to redeem. Jesus was redemption incarnate, and in that the Father was well pleased. And when the Spirit was given, He came to speak of Christ and draw sinners to redemption. The coming judgment that God has warned about is not God’s first choice for any sinner, He desires redemption. Not a robotic redemption that comes from His will and not from the heart of His children, no, God desires to see His human creation turn to Him and be redeemed, and everything He does is to that end.

If that is God’s heart, so should it be ours. We should cultivate a soft heart of redemption for our brethren in Christ and the lost sinners in this world. The offer of God’s complete redemption through Christ is good news and it must be told throughout the world, for in reality, it is only good news when it is heard. We cannot afford to waste valuable time judging others and spending our time as a disciple exposing and investigating others and their sins and shortcomings, we must be about the Father’s business which continues to be redemption. Everything we do should be redemptive. Even our correction should have a redemptive essence within it and not just an air of self righteous condemnation. It is a challenge to redemptively correct each other.

But let us face the agonizing reality that people by the millions and even billions are living a dour and hopeless existence without even the hope of earthly fulfillment much less the hope of eternal life. They meander through their lives, blind to hope and separated from redemption that was provided for them. And we, as the representatives of the Redeemer, are commissioned to be ambassadors of redemption rather than judgment. We should view sinners as the lost sheep that Christ is seeking to redeem, not as objects of wrath to which God is aggressively seeking to destroy.

A 16 year old single mother gives birth to a baby boy. She is a drug user and the child is born underweight and undernourished. He isn’t given a name until weeks after his birth, and as he grows he is neglected and often has to fill his empty stomach himself, sometimes in the streets. This little boy will never know who his father is, and in fact neither will his mother. His mother once traded her boy for one pitcher of beer. His mother uses drugs chronically and lives a life of crime. Bad checks, prostitution, theft, drugs, and other crimes catch up with her and she goes to prison for robbing a gas station. Since no one wants him, the child is placed in a boy’s home usually reserved for delinquents.

Throughout his life this boy is abused physically and emotionally tortured. His mother never shows him any love or even care, and neither does anyone else. His diminutive size makes him a constant target of bullies and in the end he turns to crime himself and becomes emotionally damaged to the point of psychosis. He winds up in prison for half of his adult life still never experiencing one moment of love and affection. He is a human shell who will spend the rest of his sad life in prison.

Do you feel any compassion for this child? Does it tug even slightly on your heart for what has happened to that boy? If you could would you have reached out to him with your love as well as the love of God? Well that never happened in this man’s case, and he is known by a name which some man who wasn’t his father allowed him to have. His name is Charles Manson.

How many of us have had nothing but revulsion and even hatred for that man? We have considered him a sinner above most sinners, especially ourselves. We assumed God has rejected him as well, and redemption has been the furthest thing from our minds. We did not know his story - we did not care to know. We are interested in condemning sinners, not in their redemption. Our personal stories are so much more sterile than is Manson’s, and with that we stand in judgment. The church has lost its heart and its calling, and so many times we say and think the same way the lost world thinks about people. Instead our hearts should melt with compassion toward those who are without redemption. Please remember, when compared with God's holiness, we were just as sinful as Charles Manson.

Somehow in the circles of evangelicalism the spirit of redemption has come to be seen as compromise. The cross, compromise? Grace, compromise? God’s redemption, purchased by God the Son, is the message and ministry of His church in these days. The pain and suffering that envelopes the world because of sin cries for an answer, a healing balm, which is the Lord Jesus and His redemption. Our lips must speak of Christ and Him crucified and allow the Spirit to penetrate sin hardened hearts and bring them into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

Everything God does is redemptive, and we should follow in His steps.

Arrogance and Ignorance

Arrogance. Ignorance. To the casual glance these words describe two different elements of a personal inventory, but upon further unpacking we will see that these two traits are Siamese twins and interconnected. It is difficult to place these behaviors in chronological order since they never stray too far from each other’s company. Ignorance is usually the precursor to arrogance, and arrogance perpetuates ignorance. It is without controversy that both these traits are supposed to be aggressively rejected by a committed Christian, one who is committed to exhibiting the Savior he professes to believe in and follow. But those two sins have subtly crept into the church and disguised themselves as boldness and courage and even elements of defending the faith.

Arrogance is contrary to everything Christian and not only flies in the face of the life of the One we should seek to emulate, but it departs from some of the greatest martyrs of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul called himself the least of the apostles and the chief of all sinners. Moses was the meekest man who ever lived. Peter acquiesced to the apostleship of Paul even though it meant he no longer was the chief apostle. And the Lord Jesus willingly allowed His face to be the target of the spit of mocking sinners. The entire New Testament is replete with admonitions to humility and meekness and gentleness. And yet many believers and even preachers have taken upon themselves the mantle of a high and lofty prophet who is given a divine indulgence for spiritual hubris and disregard for personal lowliness, and all of this while claiming to be a self defined defender of truth and receiving verbal attacks as persecution. Obviously we have redefined persecution as well.

It is distasteful at the least and disgusting at the most for comfortable American Christians to claim persecution while across the globe believers are hunted, imprisoned, and even murdered for their faith. They are usually not persecuted for some doctrinal nuance, but rather they are hunted and attacked for their faith in Christ and their unwillingness to blend in sociologically with that profession of faith. In essence, they not only refuse to recant their faith in Jesus Christ, they refuse to be quiet about it as well. Men are tortured, killed in front of their families, forced to watch their families murdered, and incarcerated for decades. All because the were standing for the truth who is Jesus Christ. That is a far cry from the pretenders in the west who lose sleep over television caricatures of Christians and claim persecution.

The arrogance of some western Christians is palpable and causes division among other believers who hold to the basics of the faith. They exchange written smirks among their doctrinal clubs and provide hubristic amusement that is understood and enjoyed by the enlightened among them. All in the name of defenders of Biblical truth which seems to be a carte blanche for any other unchristian behavior as long as you espouse the five solas or the inerrancy of Scripture or the fundamentals of the faith. And many times if you dare to comment in the midst of the ongoing narcissistic party, you will be attacked personally and with some literary creativity that is meant to illustrate some intellectual prowess, disarm through depreciation, as well as attract applause from the gallery of comrades. It breaks up the monotony, but it isn’t Christian.

Now these types of behavior are not only arrogant, they are ignorant. They are willingly ignorant of the many exhortations of the New Testament as well as the object lesson of the life of Christ. Many of the evidences of the Christ life such as mercy, grace, and humility have been either doctrinally emasculated by redefinition, or they have been positioned in scenarios far less vulnerable and far less threatening to our reputations. In other words, we have become quite proficient in manipulating truth in order to afford the least inconvenient sacrifice for us personally, while at the same time projecting ourselves as objective protectors of the same truth we are compromising. Having your doctrine and eating it too.

And in many circles come the barrage of posts and articles about certain men or certain practices that are incongruous to Biblical truth, and yet where are the same posts about our own struggles and compromises of that same Biblical truth that we so often shrink so the subject matter avoids the convicting truth about our own attitudes, tones, enemy centered love, and the embarrassing truth about our lack of intercession for the ones we so freely criticize. Moses asked God to take his life instead of the deserving rebels he led. Paul wished himself accursed for the Christ rejecting Jews. And yet instead of standing between God and those who we believe are deceived, we love to sit at God’s side and pretend we speak for Him in judgment toward the people who may be rebelling. And instead of offering ourselves as a substitute for their judgment, we expect a divine reward for telling God to “get ’em”. A striking difference, wouldn’t you say?

And if indeed we had the entire and unassailable truth given to us by God’s angel himself on a gold cd, how could we still be so arrogant with that which we did not earn, did not know, did not learn, and indeed did not deserve? I actually believe God is more pleased with a believer that has 65% of the truth and has a tangible humility, than a believer who has 85% of the truth and is arrogant. And in order to justify our words and arrogance, we quote the dead preacher du jour as if that carries any weight with God. Spurgeon said this, or Edwards used these words, or some other preacher of days gone by used lofty and harsh language that is used as our template and indeed excuse. And in that we don’t justify our words, no, we present evidence that we have progressed little since these men roamed the earth. Breaking with the Roman Catholic Church in the Reformation is our landmark to which we’ve hitched our Christian wagon, never taking the time to realize we should have built upon that event and pursued a church that emulates the Lord Jesus in much more meaningful revelations than just systematic theologies.

We’ve had centuries to refine our mercy and grace and love that should authenticate the revelation of our Savior’s life, but instead we revel in the partial revelation of Luther or Spurgeon and others by assuming their Christianity is monolithically complete and must never change. So instead of being exhorted by the living words of Scripture revealed and expanded by the Holy Spirit in this millennium, we are tethered to the words of dead theologians as our Protestant apocrypha. And we often quote these men as if they would agree with us if they were still alive which necessitates concealing the fact that we are discarding some of the more unpleasant parts of their theologies.

And we can never come out from our arrogant ignorance until we allow the Spirit to hold up a mirror to our spiritual lives that exposes and magnifies the vast areas that are irreconcilable to the faith we profess. It is indeed possible to profess the entire systematic orthodoxy of Biblical theology and yet live, breathe, and act like an unbeliever. Until we realize that deception is not limited to written doctrinal areas, we will continue to be self deluded as to our own self righteous mirage. And these works that cannot save but must substantiate our faith in Jesus must be freed from the doctrinal prison of our own definitions. The works of a Christian must exceed just speaking the gospel, they must be revealed in acts of human compassion, acts of good Samaritanism, and even acts of personal behavior that can and should be used by the Spirit to evoke at least curiosity from onlookers. Why aren’t unbelievers confounded and confused by our speech and behavior that seems so contrary to the ladder climbing and self serving atmosphere of today’s world? Could it be that we have succumbed to that same spirit and only Christianized it so as to appear as though we are standing for truth, when in fact much of our communication can be viewed as protecting the peace by promoting war, or bragging about humility, or preaching the cross by crucifying others. How ignorant, how arrogant.

We deserve nothing and we’ve been given everything. Speaking the truth in love and seasoned with grace should come naturally from sinners who have gained nothing on their own and who personally abrogate God’s law daily in many different ways - and we claim to be undeceived. I am often criticized for speaking too much on humility and am told to attend to my own situation. I stand in total need of everything I have written, but I contend the church needs a revival of humility before we can see God move among us in power. How have we gotten to the place where humility is seen as compromise, arrogance as boldness, and ignorance as discernment?

I realize in some circles I will be a heretic, but God help me to be a humble one.

The Scandal We Call

The Sermon on the Mount - part one

The message of Jesus that we have come to refer to as “The Sermon on the Mount” begins at Matthew chapter five and goes through chapter seven. We have quoted these words in many ways and have labeled the verses 5:3 through 5:12 as the Beatitudes. These words are lofty and sometimes pragmatic, and there are several teachings that are even shocking. Taken as a whole, this message is scandalous both in its content and the church’s refusal to obey. So much of what Jesus said in these three chapters has been interpreted down and adapted to fit neatly into our blended lifestyles. After all, the Lord could not possibly have meant all that He has said…could He?

I have read the Sermon on the Mount many times and have preached from its pages, and there are an innumerable amount of spiritual principles and commands that are both obvious and implied. The entire weight of these teachings is overwhelming when we attempt to understand them as unvarnished truth spoken to believers individually and the church as a whole, which is the body of Christ. I desire to briefly examine the words of Jesus against the backdrop of what we have systematically contoured them to mean for our own convenience. I will only need 10 verses for this post, that will be enough to give us an ample glimpse into how we have changed and ignored the very meaning and exhortations spoken by the One who we claim to believe and follow.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The poor in spirit. We can surely take these words to indicate one important aspect of what we call humility. The western world rejects this type of thinking, and so does much of the evangelical community of late. The church is told to hold yourself in high esteem and to climb the ladder of success and fortune. The poor in spirit are usually run over and ignored, and many times are considered unmotivated and even lazy.

I believe the poor in spirit corresponds with the verse in Philippians 2 that says to esteem everyone better than yourself. That sentence in and of itself is a colossal challenge and if taken literally it should - it must - indict all of us. How many days do we rise from sleep with a passion to esteem everyone better than ourselves? Our problems, our lives, seem to consume us, surely not the burdens and issues that others are carrying. Do we cling to being poor in spirit, uncomfortably humble, and being willing to be ignored and even unnoticed? Have we allowed the Holy Spirit to so change us that when we are offended or attacked personally we immediately retreat to the cross and say nothing? With gladness?

Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

There is so many heartaches that are concealed within the hidden corners of what passes for civilization. All over the world people mourn with little comfort. But this revelation first given from this mountain exhorts His followers to not sorrow as do others, for our comfort comes from above. Sometimes against the backdrop of tragedy is where the darkness can see the light most clearly. It rains on the just and the unjust, but comfort comes most specifically to the household of faith. The word blessed even indicates some supernatural experience that is entirely out of character with the circumstances. Happiness and contentment and even blessings in the very midst of mourning is a great light to our world. Exchanging mourning for dancing goes against the grain and glorifies our Comforter.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

The meek. Webster says it is “showing mildness or quietness of nature”, and yet I am sure our Master referred to a spiritual quality much deeper and much more sacrificially reflective of the precious Spirit of God. This meekness is not some personality trait some may be born with, no this for all of us and comes at great expense to our egos and fleshly desires. This meekness can only come when we recognize who we were and what grace actually means. To understand the incarnation should bind us to this meekness since the Master we follow did not even demand a place to sleep, and He created a place to sleep for the entire world.

Moses was the meekest man who ever lived, and Paul said he was the least of all the saints. What kind of meekness is that, coming from the human conduit who wrote most of the New Testament Scriptures? This was certainly because Paul had seen the glorified Christ and that glimpse never left his heart. Have we seen the Christ? Oh not with earthly eyes that quickly forget, but with the eyes of the Spirit that sear His glory to our hearts and minds? The many times I have felt and experienced God’s presence in my Christian life I have inevitably felt both a sense of His greatness and my own unworthiness. And in a spiritual miracle I am both built up and laid low at once.

The church has become too self promoting and so narcissistic which is not what draws the darkened world. We can never outdo the world in self promotion or egotism, but sometimes the church tries. Oh let us humble ourselves under His mighty hand and allow His strength to be reflected in our meekness.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

Righteousness. True righteousness, perfect righteousness, can only be found by faith in Jesus Christ so the Master must be adding a practical component here. We as believers are made perfect before our Maker by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, but we are commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling so we may present a visible representation of the power of the resurrected Christ. This righteousness which has been imputed to us will and must have an impact on our earthly lives as sure as electricity has an impact on a light bulb.

And the Master shows us that blessedness comes from hungering after that impact. Seeking and meditating upon our spiritual righteousness and thirsting to see its manifestation in our lives brings joy and contentment. This is sometimes depicted in strict and legalistic terms that sets out a set of rules about which to adhere, and when the believer meets these man made requirements he thinks he feels a sense of contentment before God when in reality he is breeding self righteous and not the righteousness of Christ. You see the righteousness of Christ when exhibited in a living follower of Jesus Christ has a much to do with others as it does with the believer himself.

There is some real conundrums when we examine the life of Christ against what we have constructed as practical righteousness. Some of the people Jesus communed with and some of the things he did we would condemn as compromise today. The life of Jesus would not be altogether accepted as separated in fundamental and conservative circles today. He got dangerously close to sinners, and he broke what everyone thought was the law of Moses. He never handed his disciples a set of rules etched in stone, and his harshest rebukes of those who loved Him centered upon their judgment of others and their sin.

You see, hungering and thirsting for righteousness is a journey of deep humility and brokenness because with the smallest part of self righteousness and pride the entire journey falls apart into a Pharisaical system that serves one‘s flesh and not our Savior. The core motivation for spiritual righteousness is usability in God’s kingdom and not for the praise of the believer. And in a sentence, hungering and thirsting for righteousness is seeking and demonstrating the heart of Jesus Himself to a world who desperately needs to see Him.

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

True mercy comes from a heart that both recognizes the awful situation of someone else as well as the grace of your own situation. So often we are tempted to take advantage of someone else’s misfortune which can provide us with a fleshly sense of superiority. So many people who have shown very little mercy for others seem to beg for it themselves when they are in need. Jesus tells us that mercy breeds mercy, and we should be children of mercy who are neither blind to the sin of others or blind to that same sinner’s need of mercy at a time when it would be so easy to ride the waves of judgment.

It is impossible to expound fully on the mercy that Christ has shown the world, and specifically those who trust in Him. Mercy seems to carry with it a sense that those who need it do not deserve it, and this is most true spiritually. We have been made recipients of God’s eternal mercy and emanating from that knowledge must be an eagerness to imitate the One who has shown us such mercy. It is better to give than receive, and in this instance we are promised a harvest from our seeds of mercy. Self righteousness hates mercy, and mercy disarms self righteousness. We are called to be the ministers of God’s mercy to a dark world in desperate need of mercy.

END OF PART ONE