Year: 2022

Categories
Bible

God Is A Great Story-Teller

We all love stories. And God is great at providing amazing stories. And He has even written you into the story!photo of old books - reminding us that we love a good story

By calling God a story-teller, I’m not indicating the Bible is fiction. Too often, we’ve said something like “that person is telling stories” to indicate that they are lying. But a good story-teller is able to make a true account into a great story – not by embellishing it with fiction, but with tying the story together in a masterful way. Some are better at this than others. And God is simply the best!

As we read the true accounts of history in the Bible, we become amazed with how God unfolds His story of love and redemption and rescue. For example, we can see masterful story-telling in the story of Moses. In the story of the birth of Moses, we see that God is in control. And this should teach us that our great God is sovereign, and we can trust Him completely.

In the opening chapters of Exodus we find that the reigning Pharaoh has commanded that every Hebrew boy that is born is to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned. But Moses’s family places him in a basket in the river. The command of Pharaoh caused the family to try to hide Moses, and the best place they could come up with is the very river that was supposed to be the place of his death.a picture of the story of Moses in a basket in the Nile River

When Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to the river to bathe, she catches a glimpse of the basket, and she pulls the baby out of the river to raise him in the luxury of the palace. The family that had ordered the death of all the baby boys in the river pulls a baby boy out of the river and saves him from death. In a sense, Moses is resurrected to life. And this baby boy will be the one God will use to rescue His people from their bondage and slavery in Egypt.

How ironic that the ruler who says “drown all the infant boys in the river,” has his own daughter rescue God’s chosen spokesperson from the very same river! And on top of that, she then gives Moses back to his mother to wean him before bringing him to the palace to be raised. This shows how God is sovereign and is actively at work in so many ways.

Later on, God will tell us the story of another baby boy born (in Bethlehem) who a new king (Herod) orders to be killed. But instead of dying in infancy, God rescues this infant too, and He is the one God uses to rescue His people from their bondage and slavery to sin.a picture of the story of the birth of Jesus in the manger

This rescuing of His people occurs through Jesus’s death on the cross. And then Jesus is resurrected to life, proving to us all that He is the Savior of the world.

God’s story of love for us is remarkable. So why don’t we trust Him more completely?

Whatever you are worrying about today, turn it over to the sovereign control of God. If we trust the heart of God, then we can leave every worry behind. He is the master story-teller, and you have been written into this beautiful story!

Thank Him for rescuing you today and including you in His story of love and grace and redemption!

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Categories
Christian Living

Hypocrisy is dangerous. Instead let’s help each other with compassion.

Hypocrisy is a common theme in the Bible. Jesus makes several statements about hypocrisy against the Pharisees. But one of the most well-known statements He gives is from the Sermon on the Mount. And it is for all of us:

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

photo of finger pointing at you, symbolizing hypocrisy

We are operating out of hypocritical judgment when we condemn others who make the same mistake that we struggle with. And this is what Jesus is calling us to avoid. It is not a new struggle. We find hypocrisy readily available in the first book of the Bible.

I’m always amazed at the hypocrisy in the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. In that passage we are clearly shown how easily we can become unrighteously angry over another person’s sin even though we are in the midst of our own similar sin. Judah is incredulous over the sin of Tamar when he finds out that she has slept with someone to whom she is not married. He is infuriated at her unfaithfulness.

But just like Judah, we can become so good at judging others for their sin, while finding plenty of reasons to justify our own. Instead of having compassion for another person who has fallen into the trap of sin, we cover up our own sin and bluster on about how bad theirs is.

 

statue of lady justice - reminding us to not judge with hypocrisy

We also see king David do this when the prophet Nathan confronted him with the story of the man whose precious lamb was killed unfairly. David was outraged that a person in his kingdom would treat another person so terribly to gain something that wasn’t his. And yet David had just done the very thing by taking the life of Uriah to cover up his sin with Bathsheba. Hypocrisy.

Now back to Judah. Judah was infuriated to hear that his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar had become pregnant. Little did he know that he was the one that had gotten her pregnant. While on a business trip, he had met and slept with a woman he thought was a prostitute. But it was actually Tamar in disguise. When he got ready to have her killed for her unfaithfulness, she showed him the articles that he had left with her, thus pointing out to him his own unfaithfulness. His outrage turned to shame. Due to his own hypocrisy.

Before we get too incredulous at these extreme examples, let’s realize that we also struggle with engaging in hypocrisy. We do this when we struggle with our own impure thoughts, but condemn others for their sexual sin when their sin is made public. We do this when we struggle with our own covetousness and greed, but condemn others when their sin of greed is made public. We so often complain loudly about the splinter in others’ eyes when we have a log in ours.

Certainly we who follow Christ have the right and a responsibility to hold each other accountable for sin, but let’s be sure that we are also examining ourselves and that we are avoiding harsh judgment toward others. We are called to be compassionate in our accountability, realizing that we are all sinners saved by grace.image of one person helping another up a mountain - no hypocrisy, only help

Do you need to remove any judgmental thoughts or any unrighteous condemnation from your life? We all still struggle with sin. Instead of condemning each other for it, let’s work to lovingly help each other out of it.

I’ll help you. I hope you will also help me.

Father God,

Thank you for Christian brothers and sisters who love one another so much that instead of condemning each other for sin, we are trying to find ways to help each other out. When the battle gets too strong for each of us on our own, give us hearts of compassion to run to the aid of each other without judgment and condemnation.

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Categories
Christian Living

Consistently Faithful, Even In the Face of So Much Evil

I already know this to be true – you strive to be a person who is faithful. Faithful to your family, certainly. Probably most who read this strive to faithful to God. Maybe a lot of us even strive to be faithful to our employers. You strive to be a faithful person.

But in the struggle to be faithful, you have probably thought – “There sure is a lot of unfaithfulness and evil in the world today. So why am I trying so hard to remain faithful, when so many others are getting ahead by their unfaithfulness?”a sign with two opposing arrows, reminding us we have a choice to be faithful or to sin

You are right about the level of unfaithfulness around us, but before you get too upset about it, remember that things haven’t changed all that much in the past four thousand years. Joseph proves my point.

Joseph is so consistently faithful to God. And yet, a great deal of sin is constantly around him. It begins with his brothers who exhibit quite ungodly behavior:

  1. In Genesis chapter 35, Reuben has slept with one of his father’s concubines.
  2. The brothers were in some way unfaithful as shepherds of their father’s flocks, because Joseph gives a bad report about them to his father in chapter 37.
  3. And their jealousy makes them ready to kill their brother, even though they eventually decide to sell him into slavery.
  4. They make a pact to lie about this to their father.
  5. Then we have Judah’s sons who are wicked and are both killed by God due to their wickedness. (You’d have thought son #2 would have learned a lesson from the death of son #1).
  6. Judah makes a promise to his daughter-in-law, but then refuses to keep his word to her.
  7. While on a business trip, Judah sleeps with a woman he thinks is a prostitute, but who is actually his daughter-in-law who has tricked him.
  8. And with Joseph now in Egypt we learn that Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce him on multiple occasions.
  9. We also have the cupbearer who fails to keep his promise to Joseph.

This is a lot of sin and unfaithfulness within his family and in the relationships connected to him. And certainly there was the temptation to get ahead by following the same path. But Joseph maintains his integrity and character and his faith in God – living in a way that honors his Lord.sign that says "right is right even if no one is doing it" reminding us to be faithful to God

Isn’t this so very similar to our world today – a mess of sin – with people in our families and our communities and our places of work who are unfaithful to God. And so many around us would prefer that we join in with them, because doing so would help them feel less guilty about their unfaithfulness. It leads us to ask the question: “Will I give in, or will I be faithful and obedient like Joseph?”

The path of sin is easier, because it is a shortcut to something we want (at least we want it at that moment), but the actual costs are terribly high in the end.

God, help me to be faithful and obedient to You like Joseph was, even though so many around me have rejected Your guidance and tempt me to disobey Your word and Your will.

What Bible verse(s) help you defeat the temptations that come your way? Or who helps you stand strong against temptation, instead of pulling you towards it?

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Categories
Bible

Bound to the Word of God. (Tied, Restricted, and Restrained.)

Bound means tied up. Binding restraints and restricts. It means we can’t do certain things because we are tied to something else. If you physically tie me — bind me — to my chair, I can’t go for a walk. I can’t drive my car. I can’t go to work. Physically binding me would keep me in one fixed location.photo of a ship tied to the dock - bound

But we can also be bound in other ways. I am bound by my vows to my wife, and therefore I am emotionally, mentally, and physically united to her. She and I chose this binding to each other. We willingly restricted ourselves to each other. I am not able to be tied to another woman nor even to be tempted toward another, unless I loosen the bonds that I chose when I said “I do” to Paige.

So… what are you bound to? The Old Testament prophet Ezra bound himself to God’s Word. And we are also to be bound by God’s Word.

When we become a Christian, we say that the Bible will be the standard by which we are bound. Which means we will be restricted from certain thoughts and actions because of choosing to be tied to the commands within this Book. If you think all this binding sounds restrictive… It is, but it is restrictive for our good.

We have a good Heavenly Father, who has defined what should bind us. He indicates that the binding in marriage of one man to one woman for life is for our good. Paige and I believed that to be true because God said it, but now we have also lived it. This May, we will have experienced the truth of the goodness of this binding for 25 years. We have discovered that God’s Word about binding is definitely true in this area of life.

And God indicates that the binding of ourselves to His Word is always for our good. I want you to believe it because God said it is true. But I also want you to experience it.picture of a Bible - to which we are bound as Christians

At a Pastor’s Conference, Seminary President Al Mohler said:

We are bound by God’s Word.

We are in the midst of a culture that is embracing and accelerating sexual immorality and the whole general environment of immorality. It is becoming institutionalized, and it is celebrating rebellion against the Word of God.

And yet here we are, bound by the Word of God.

Does your congregation know that you as a pastor are bound by Scripture? Do they understand that there are things you must preach simply because God has revealed these things in His Word?

Does your congregation feel bound by Scripture? Do your church members understand that when Scripture speaks, God speaks? And that when God speaks, it is the voice of God? And that they are bound by it?

The Bible is the very Word of God, and it binds me for my benefit.

And as a believer you are also restricted and restrained by Scripture – tied to think, speak, and act in ways that God commands in it.

I hope that you will set your heart to love being bound by God’s Word – because it is a binding that is for your good.

Is there any command(s) from God’s Word that was hard for you to obey at the moment, but now you realize that obeying it was good for you?

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Categories
Christian Living

Sanctification: a one-time gift of God? Or an on-going, life-long process?

A question came across my desk from a church member regarding the word sanctification:

In our Sunday School lesson, the author used the term “process of sanctification.” I have a problem with that phrase, because I believe we are sanctified only once – at the moment of our salvation. I believe sanctification is the initial act of God making us holy and setting us apart, but then we abide in Christ and continually grow in holiness. Can you help me understand this phrase – “process of sanctification”?

What would your answer have been to the question:

Is Sanctification a one-time gift or an on-going process?

photo of a question mark for this question on sanctificationHere is the answer I gave to my friend:

First, we need to define our terms. Because sometimes two people can be describing two different things using the same word. And other times two people find they are using two different words, but talking about the same thing. In this case, both words (holiness and sanctification) are being used to define something that occurs once and something that is a process.

You indicated holiness means both a one-time event and a life-long process. The author of the Sunday School lesson was using the word sanctification to mean the same thing. That is because the definition of sanctified is “to make holy unto God.” And so the words are tied together and carry a very similar meaning. Here is some information from a Bible Dictionary:

The word “sanctification” comes from the biblical root words that are translated as “holy,” “hallow,” “hallowed,” “holiness,” “consecrate,” “saint,” “sanctify,” and  “sanctification.”  As all these words are translations of the same root, no one of them can be treated adequately without reference to the others.

Therefore, you are right when you say that the word Holy carries two meanings:

  1. We are Made Holy to God by Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross, AND
  2. We are abiding in Christ as we strive to walk in a Holy manner.

And theologians use the exact same argument for the word Sanctification:

  1. We are Sanctified (made Holy) to God by Jesus on the Cross, AND
  2. We are in the process of Sanctification (becoming more holy) as we abide in Him.

From the Bible Dictionary again:

Sanctification is the matter of a life and not of a moment. A life may be consecrated (or sanctified) in a moment, providing the right relation to God with the person now in saving fellowship with Him. The life is thus made holy in principle. But the real making holy will occur over the whole life of the person. It is nothing less than the constant transformation by the Spirit of Christ until we, “speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head” (Ephes. 4:15).

photo of walking a path as a symbol of sanctification being a life-long processSo, to sum up – Your understanding of the way the word Holy should be seen in two different senses is the same way that Sanctification typically is seen, because the two words are tied together in meaning.

This is why it is important that we define our terms when speaking! As we talk these things out, we often find we are in close agreement. Unfortunately, many people become adversarial over such issues and break fellowship with other, damaging their relationship. Had they taken the time to patiently talk it out, they may have found out that they agreed on the issue after all!photo of two people angry with each other - symbol of us arguing over words like sanctification

Thus ends my response to my friend. But here is my question for us now:

  • Have you been Sanctified (Made Holy) by Jesus’ Death on the Cross?
  • Are you being Sanctified (growing in Holiness) by abiding in Christ now?
  • And in our adversarial society, will you commit to patiently talk to people before jumping to conclusions about what you think they mean, so as to maintain good relationships with others? (Part of our God-given role as Ambassadors of Reconciliation!)

As you go out today into the wide world full of the unholy, live as a person sanctified and set apart by God for His kingdom purposes. Be an ambassador of light and love for Him!

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