Get Wisdom

Posted on by April 29, 2014
1

Proverbs 9:4-6 — Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

One of the things that saddens me, from time-to-time, is that the human race isn’t getting smarter.
I’m at a conference this week. I get invited to speak at three of four of these a year and I’m always impressed by the dedication to getting smarter, as well as the collective knowledge and wisdom of the folks — both presenters and audiences – that attend.
What bothers me is that I know that among the 800 people at the event this week there’s a good number who are not showing any kind of Biblical wisdom at all. I can see some of them eating and drinking far more than is good for them. There’s a fair amount of casual socialization. It’s a fair bet that some of these folks have broken homes or damaged lifestyles. There’s a disconnect between their business smarts and their life stupids! (Yes, I know that’s not grammatically accurate, but read it in the right tone of voice, and you’ll feel my frustration.)
So you remember my starting place. The human race isn’t getting smarter. I could bludgeon you with all kinds of statistics about health, wealth, happiness, social structure … but I don’t think I need to. You know what I’m talking about.
So what’s going on? How come we’re not getting smarter as a race?
Here’s a quote from pewresearch.org:

There are 2.18 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910, according to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

For those of us who care about missions … one way to look at that is “we’re not winning!”
Of course the enemy is at work. But there’s more to it. It’s about learning and motivation. How do we learn, and what persuades us to do things?
We learn in two ways. We learn through instruction, and we learn through experience. Instruction means going to people who are wise, learning what they have to teach you, and avoiding the pitfalls of life! Experience means trying it for yourself, falling into the pitfalls and (hopefully) getting up and trying again. Almost everybody is receptive to instruction for business and dependent on experience for life. Another way of saying that is that if Biblical instruction isn’t repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and (well, you get the idea), it isn’t going to sink in.
Then there’s motivation. Some people are motivated from the inside. Most people are motivated from the outside — other people’s approval. That can work pretty well (though it’s not ideal) for business. But it works really badly for life — especially in a world where most of the external approval is not for good Christian values! In addition, most people are more motivated by short term satisfaction than by long term outcomes. Bad stuff now looks better than heaven later.
So what’s the answer. What, you think I know? But I have some ideas. One is that we have to make Biblical instruction easier to consume. And then we have to say it, say it and say it again! The other is to keep working at “marketing” good behavior. We (Christians) have allowed media, entertainment, business … almost every arena of life, to be “stolen” from us. We need to take it back.
Please – let’s work at making the human race smarter!

Guide Book To Twenty First Century Living

Posted on by April 28, 2014
Reply

2 Timothy 3:16 — All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

There’s a peculiar notion that the Bible is out of date … It’s a weird collection of old books written two thousand years ago and more, and it’s got nothing to say for today. Maybe the problem is with the “old fashioned” language of many well-loved translations.
As I read the daily readings in our devotions today, I was struck by just how “real” the Bible is. Look at these verses in the Song of Songs:

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. (Song of Solomon 3:1-4)

The bride is dreaming … Did you ever have one of those dreams where you tossed and turned, restless, and found yourself wandering, looking, going with increasing desperation from place to place …
Or how about this from Psalm 39:

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, (Psalm 39:1-3)

Were you ever in that situation where you were in a meeting with people who were more powerful than you? You knew they were wrong … But speaking up could only hurt you … And then, finally, you could be still no more?
The wisdom of the Bible doesn’t age. Did I convince you yet? How about James on how temptation works?

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:13-15)

There is no twenty-first situation where the Bible has nothing to say. So if anyone tells you the Bible is out-of-date, trust yourself, and take them to the Word!

Glamorous Deception

Posted on by April 27, 2014
Reply

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 — For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Do you remember Renee Martz? If you do you’re probably a good bit older than me. Born in 1940, Miss Martz became a child and teenage evangelist, feted in a 1956 headline “Glamorous U.S. Evangelist Woos Britain’s Teddy Boys” in the St. Petersburg Times.
Miss Martz is quoted as saying:
They are learning that Christianity can be fun … Religion does not have to be dull. It can be thrilling and exciting.
I’m not questioning the sincerity of Renee Martz. As far as I can tell she persisted in her efforts beyond her early years. Sadly, I know how few the real fruits of her efforts, and those of other “star” evangelists have been. On the other hand, I am glad to say that I know other people in ministry in England with a much lower profile, but much more real impact.
Glamor, and its friend beauty, are rotten planks to stand on. The Amplified Bible translation of Proverbs 31 says “Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], …”. Unfortunately we live in an age when visual stimulus, and personality, communicated through popular media, are increasingly influential.
There is an ugly tendency for some preachers to become the figureheads of personality cults, depending on the glamor of their presentation — and sometimes even their lifestyles — to build a following.
It’s easy to take a high and mighty position about all this … but it’s not necessarily a conscious plan by these preachers to step away from the simple preaching of the Word. It’s more a natural reaction to social phenomena.
We live in a world in which words, both in general and in particular, are being devalued. Influences are increasingly visual.
We live in a world where the number of Twitter followers, or the number of Facebook ‘friends”, are measures of success.
We live in a world where style is increasingly more celebrated than content.
We live in a world where “reality” TV is more interesting than reality.
The “star” preachers are providing their congregations with the image of a leader that they expect to see. They have been misled in one of satan’s clever plots.
Peter foresaw this, and wrote about it in his second letter:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 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 lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2 Peter 2:1-4)

Did you catch that reference to fallen angels … they are the ones who fell with satan. All those who depend on glamor and personality for their success are, in the end doomed to follow:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Raised In Newness Of Life

Posted on by April 26, 2014
Reply

Romans 6:4 — Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Did you fully understand what was happening when you were baptized?
From time to time these devotions focus on aspects of the Baptist theology expressed in “The Baptist Faith And Message”.
Here’s what article 7 says about baptism:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

Like the Lord’s Supper, It is an ordinance — something which Jesus commanded — and without it, it is not possible to be a full church member or join in the Lord’s Supper. In a way, baptism is key to church fellowship.
I can’t help feeling though, that to understand baptism as no more than a membership requirement is to miss, absolutely, it’s real significance.
It is an act of obedience. Two things — faith, and obedience — are at the heart of the Christian’s life. To be sure they are underpinned by, and flow from, a love of God and fellow Christians but faith and obedience are the visible witness.
Baptism is the believer’s public declaration of faith in a crucified, buried and resurrected Jesus.
Even understanding baptism as a declaration of obedience and faith does not get all the way to the heart. It is when we take in it’s symbolism of our death, burial and resurrection that we penetrate the matter fully.
Jesus’s death was a terrible desperate event. At the end He was forsaken even by God. The agony of “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) cannot be misinterpreted. The burial of our old sinful life is just as stark. The separation is absolute.
The burial, too, was very real. Jesus was laid in the cold tomb of an Arimathean. Our old life, too, must be buried.
The resurrection, too, was very real. There is a song I love to sing that contains the glorious triumphant line “up from the grave He rose again”. In truth, Jesus was lifted up from the grave by His father. Baptism symbolizes the lifting of the believer from the death of sin … Which only God can achieve.
We were privileged to see three new believers baptized at church this evening. Two were quite young. I could not but wonder how much they new of what their actions meant. Do not mistake me. I am not questioning the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life. I just hope, that over time the full wonder of baptism will be opened to them. They are raised in newness of life. May they truly walk in it!

The Work Of His Hands …

Posted on by April 25, 2014
Reply

Psalm 19:1-3 — The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

Is it one of your favorite hymns?

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;?I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art.?Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

I love it too. Sometimes the stress of work can get to me. But when I’m smart (and I just started being smart again!) I make the effort to get out of my office and walk around the lake. I’m reminded of the second verse of Pastor Carl Boberg’s hymn, that we rarely sing or hear:

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.?When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur, And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Psalm 19 is just one of the many places in scripture where creation is celebrated. Perhaps it is one that I love most because as a teenager I sang a hymn “The Heaven’s Declare The Creators Glory” for which Beethoven wrote the music. However that may be, I have come to see that there are three great truths in just these three verses.
First, God’s creation shows His glory. Heaven and earth show Him to be the Master Craftsman.
Second, creation pours forth it’s praise in a pouring stream. Why does the psalm say “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.”? Not “Day and night both praise Him, together” or (as might fairly have been said) “The infinite variety of day and night shows His creative genius” but “Day speaks to day, and night to night”. The idea being expressed is the continuous flow of praise without disruption — day is stitched to day, and night is stitched to night, so that the worship is never disturbed.
The third great truth is that as well as creation’s celebration of God’s glory being uninterrupted, it is universal. There is no place in all the earth where the voices of day and night cannot be heard. This is why Paul says in the letter to the Romans:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:18-20)

Paul’s warning is solemn.”Take notice”, he says, “of your surroundings. They will show God at work. Take notice, and have faith.”
As for me, I am truly grateful for God’s creation. It is His provision to me of all I depend on, and a refreshment to me whenever I need it.

Three Score And Ten?

Posted on by April 24, 2014
Reply

Psalm 39:4-5 — Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Myra and I have been saddened by what seems like a rash of deaths in friends and contacts.
Somebody that I have known and worked with for many years was diagnosed with cancer a few short weeks ago. On Sunday, he died.
Myra met with good friends of ours last week. The next day she heard that their daughter-in-law’s mother had died when an unsuspected blood clot stopped her heart.
I know you could tell stories just like these. I know some of them will seem much more tragic (of course there are no comparisons — every death is unique in its circumstances and it’s impact).
The tragedy of death is not what ran through my mind though. It’s the unexpectedness. How does that work? We all know that we will die. We know that all those we know and love will die. Why then is it such a jarring shock when death happens?
One reason is that, somehow, we want to be prepared. We have a sense that 70 or 80 years is about right — we find that in Psalm 90, and somehow that fits our “average” experience. But we don’t know — only God knows. Job knew that:

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. (Job 14:5-6)

Another reason that sudden death has the effect it does is the seeming arbitrariness. Why does one person die and not another? Why does one person live and not another? Ecclesiastes, the old preacher said:

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 3:19 KJVA)

Somehow, deep inside, we feel it should be different. Is there really no difference between us and the animals?
How are we to deal with all this? I don’t have any special wisdom, but I have come to a simple belief. The way to deal with it is to accept — to embrace the truth of these scriptures. The number of our days has been determined by God. We have no control. We might be in His presence this very minute, or tomorrow, or … It doesn’t matter when. We have to be prepared.

With Friends Like These …

Posted on by April 23, 2014
Reply

Psalm 41:9 — Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
One of the hardest things to understand is why trusted friends turn on us.
Did you ever have one of those experiences where somebody you had counted a friend, shared meals with, shared experienced with, suddenly turned cold … Or worse, one of those moments when you find they have been talking about you, working against you. David knew how you feel.
“Mine own familiar friend”: a friend that I am used to being with day by day — “in whom I trusted”: a friend I relied on, who was a dependable supporter (in the Hebrew, “the friend of my peace”) — “has lifted up his heel against me”: has turned on me and kicked me, like an unruly horse throwing it’s rider and striking with its hooves. More, it was a friend who had eaten at David’s table, or even depended on him for substance.
Absalom, David’s son led a rebellion. Ahithophel, one of David’s trusted counselor’s joined the rebellion. It’s hard to be sure about why he turned against his king, but we might notice that Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather — and David had seduced Bathsheba and committed adultery with her … and murdered her husband.
So often the treachery of friends has a root cause like that of David’s betrayal by Ahithophel. Something happens. Perhaps we give it less weight than it deserves … and friendships are broken, perhaps never to be repaired, certainly never to be the same again.
Myra and I had a saddening experience some years ago. A group of friends turned on us when they felt we had set more store in the welcoming of a newcomer than in the preservation of the familiar routine. It was particularly sad as we had been meeting for a weekly Bible study … and the community was irreparably broken.
How are we supposed to deal with these situations? How do we deal with the root of bitterness? David knew. He knew “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24). When David was betrayed he turned to that one friend who is guaranteed reliable. The psalm goes on to say:
But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favorest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. (Psalm 41:10-12)
“But Thou” — words of great comfort to me. In ANY circumstance I feel I can pray “Dear Lord, this is happening to me … But Thou … Will make things right.”
When friends turn their backs, maybe is time for us to turn back too … back to God.

Do It Right!

Posted on by April 22, 2014
Reply

Leviticus 14:1-2 — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

I owe the seed of this idea to my beautiful Myra. She commented on how detailed and precise the Lord’s instructions are for the diagnosis and treatment of Leprosy, and for the purification after leprosy passes. From there she moved to a comparison of our world, and the way rules are disregarded.
Leprosy is a terrible disease. It is spread by an insidious bacteria. It may remain hidden for years, with no symptoms showing. Then it may eat away at the body, causing loss of body parts, weakness … Even blindness. Perhaps even worse, the leper may injure himself as nerve ends become insensitive.
We live in a sinful fallen world. Each of us is inevitably infected by the insidious sin “bacteria”. The question is, what do we do then? Just as it does for leprosy, the Bible gives detailed prescriptions for dealing with the problem of sin.
The Bible tells us what the symptoms of the sin disease are:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

The Bible is full of instructions for the avoiding of sin — from the Ten Commandments, to the Book of Proverbs, to the Gospels to Paul’s letters. Everywhere you look in the Bible you will find all you need to keep you clean of the disease of sin.
There are instructions, too, for purification:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)

There are precise and detailed instructions for living — but what do we see as we look around? If your eyes see the same things my eyes see, you see the sin disease spreading, seemingly unchecked. What’s the root cause? Once again, the Bible has the facts:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

To see the pervasiveness of the disease, consider how many “good” people you know who have trouble playing by the rules … On the road, in the air, at the gym … Wherever. At the root of all of us is a lawlessness that can only be overcome by the grace of God.
So what can you do? Read the rule book, do your best to follow the rules, take the Judge as your Lord and Master and, when the time comes, throw yourself on the mercy of the court!

A People Faith

Posted on by April 21, 2014
Reply

2 Timothy 4:19-21 — Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletus sick. Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.

So look — “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So of course Paul is so kind as to remember all his friends at the end of his letter — but how is this little fragment of scripture “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”? Actually I think it goes right to the heart of our faith, for our purpose for being.
A thing which makes Christianity unique to me is that it is a faith based on relationships.
Our God is a God in three persons. As the shorter Westminster Catechism has it : “There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”
We were created for a relational purpose. The Westminster Catechism again: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
Again and again in the New Testament we find evidence of the importance of relationships, first two Jesus and then to His followers.
Let me take just two examples of the importance Jesus placed on relationships. Consider the “Great High Priestly Prayer” in Chapter 17 of the Gospel,of John. Verses 20-21 say “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Jesus longed for an intimate integration of His Church. He said of His followers: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35). There are many other proofs of the importance of relationships to Jesus. Any reader of the gospels cannot fail to see the whole story of the development of the apostles as a story of loving relationships.
As for the master, so for the disciples! The Book of Acts makes it clear that the early church was a collection of communities, groups of people united in their love for Jesus and for each other. The letter to the Hebrews lays stress on the importance of the assembly with the brethren … The letters of Peter and Paul give many instructions for family relationships … and so it goes … Wherever one looks in our Bible we see the importance of relationship.
Paul’s ending to his letter to his beloved Timothy — his spiritual son — was no casual set of courtesies. It is an object lesson in the importance of the loving remembering and maintenance of relationships.
As these thoughts have been passing through my mind, I have recognized a rebuke. I’m not good at maintaining my relationships. If I owe you an email, please take this as my apology!

The Strangest Day In History

Posted on by April 20, 2014
Reply

1 Corinthians 15:3-7 — For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

Newspaper reprint: Acta Diurna (Daily Record), Rome.

From time to time we like to entertain you with stories from the stranger corners of the empire. Here’s one from a dusty province out East called Judaea.
It seems that one of the local holy men got himself into trouble with the religious authorities, and they persuaded the Prefect (P. Pilate) to have him crucified. “Nothing odd about that”, you say. Well here’s what happened next.
According to his followers, the holy man came up from the grave, visited with various people over the next few weeks, finished with a fish fry breakfast on the beach for old friends and then vanished through a cloud into the holies!
The strangest stuff surely happens out East!

That’s how the resurrection might have looked to an observer in Rome in 37 a.d. — if the news even reached his ears. The thing is it wasn’t just some wild oriental story. That Sunday, all those years ago, was the strangest day in history precisely because it’s all true. That’s what happened. He is risen.
Maybe the events of that strangest day in history should serve notice on people in the great empires of the world. Today some 2 billion Christians in the world remembered and celebrated the events of that day. The empire that was Rome is long gone.
That “local holy man” — Jesus — has taken up residence in the hearts of billions of people. The stories of those early witnesses have become part of the most influential book that has ever been.
The search for knowledge about and understanding of this Jesus has driven scientific a philosophical progress. The principles He articulated form the foundation of legal systems across a good part of the world. A desire to represent the glories of His kingdom has inspired the most beautiful art ever created. A longing to show how much He is loved has inspired music that is loved and shared in at least two hundred countries in the world.
Strange indeed … The world changed forever by the disappearance of the man who wasn’t there.
He is risen indeed!