Category: All Articles

Recommitting to the Great Commission

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry

–April of 2001

Recommitting to the Great Commission

Standing before the open door of this new millennium, the church has never faced so many challenges on so many different fronts.  Rather than moving forward as salt and light, our response has been paralyzed by uncertainty and fear.  It has been easier for the church to look inward toward developing inner piety than to look outward with the intent of sharing our faith with the world.  However, it is from this inward focus that the Holy Spirit faithfully seeks to turn the church.  Those He turns will become the missionaries of this our present day

Emerging Trends

What should the church expect to confront?  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has projected four major challenges or trends for the church in the 21st century.

1. Massive urbanization.  This century opens with a population of approximately six billion people, half of whom live in large cities.  Half of that number is under 25 years of age.  The holiness church has become far too comfortable in suburbia and has in all reality lost touch with the inner city.  To fulfill our calling and remain relevant, we must reconnect and re-engage the population of the world’s great cities with the gospel.

2. Aggressive secularism.  Secularism has turned former Christian nations into post-Christian countries.  Its onslaught has affected the emerging nations of Southeast Asia, and economically strong countries like South Korea, where one Korean elder said, “Materialism is eating the heart out of Korea’s prayer life.”  Secularism roots God out for economic prosperity and so-called intellectualism.  These are two fronts the church must face with answers.

3. Expanding non-Christian religions.  The expansion of Westernize has created militant and aggressive propagation of non-Christian religions.  Hinduism and the Muslim religion are enjoying significant growth even in the United States.  Though these two religions are not typically evangelistic, they have become so, due to the influence of the western world and its threat to their way of life.  The church can no longer ignore these as Eastern problems, but must prepare to evangelize those who embrace Eastern religions on Western soil.

4. The rise and fall of new political ideologies.  The fall of communism almost caught the church unprepared to move through the opening in the iron curtain to evangelize a new frontier.  China or the Middle East could be next, or it is also possible that doors that are now open may quickly close.  The church must be sensitive to the Spirit and ready to move in either direction.

 Some Things Never Change

Though these and other challenges will always confront the church, some things will remain the same.  God has not changed, nor has the need of every human heart.  The gospel is still the answer to the deepest need in all of our lives, regardless of culture or political persuasion.  God has offered no other cure than the cross of Christ and its redemptive message.

The Great Commission hasn’t changed.  We are not commanded to understand all the challenges of tomorrow, but we are commanded to confront those challenges with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and do so in every corner of the world.

 Equipping for the Task

If the church of Jesus Christ is to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, then those of us in the church must move quickly to restore the primacy of evangelism and recommit ourselves to the Great Commission.  This issue of the Revivalist unveils part of the plan we are implementing here at GBS to renew our historic commitment to world evangelism with an emphasis that permeates every aspect of campus life.

Let me challenge you and your church to re-engaged in evangelism.  The effectiveness of the church lies in her faithfulness to the commission.  The “Spirit and the Bride say come…”

Let’s add our voices to the chorus and call men and women everywhere to repent and receive the Gospel.

The Royal Order of the Unbended Knee

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture

–March of 2001

The Royal Order of the Unbended Knee

God comes to Washington was the title of a recent column by Tony Snow that reminded me again that God still has a faithful following, silently yet steadily, advancing His cause.  As a matter of fact, we all need to be reminded of this just every so often.  Even Elijah, the great prophet, needed such a reminder when he was hiding in a cave in the mountains of Horeb.  God came to him there and asked, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”  He groaned to God that he had been “zealous for the Lord God of Hosts” and that it would probably cost him his life.  In melancholy tones, he reminded God that “I alone am left.”

Elijah was suffering from physical exhaustion and emotional depression.  His present habitat (a dark cold cave) had afflicted him with a serious bout of tunnel vision.  He felt that God’s cause was dead and that he was the only mourner at the funeral.  God had to remind him that there was a silent army of 7,000 God-fearing men and women who had untarnished records of service in the royal order of the unbended knee.  Elijah needed to understand that God’s work was advancing despite how things looked.  He also let Elijah know that there was not only more work for him to do, but that a second generation prophet was waiting in the wings ready to pick up the torch and carry on the commission.

It is unquestionably true that sincere religious devotion has fallen out of vogue in the most visible circles.  It has been pretty easy in recent years to get spiritual tunnel vision if we allow ourselves to walk by sight.  Even Snow recognizes and reports in his column, “The common lot of religious activists, both liberal and conservative, embraces a Christianity that believes in the teaching of Jesus Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.”  We do have a political and academic environment that has accepted post-modernistic view and offers cultural protection and respectability while debunking the Christian faith.  Anyone who prays and believes the Bible with conviction is compared to an atavistic weirdo caught up in a dangerous cult, and for the good of society ought to be kept on a very short leash.

Nevertheless, God has to keep reminding us that you can’t set any of your spiritual gauges by the image makers, pollsters, and spin doctors that hold center stage in this present world.  If you do, you will head for the hills, find a nice dark cave, and end up with a perverted perspective on what God is doing in the world.

There are still tens of millions of Americans to whom religion is not merely a tonic, but is the essence of life and truth.  There are still millions who dare to lift up a standard in their community and sphere of influence.  The salt and light is still working.  God’s kingdom is still being advanced!  Though I’ve never banked revival in the church on what happens in Washington, it is refreshing to know that even there, in the capital of the Free World, we have a President who speaks the name of God with plain reverence rather than out of political calculation.

The unfolding days will give us plenty of things to get our head down about.  But for now, there is something that you can get your head up about.  There are still millions who belong to the royal order of the unbended knee.  Millions who pray daily, believe the Word of God, and dare to live out their convictions in the market place of this present world.  It might just be that you need to get out of your cave, stand shoulder to shoulder with those who haven’t “bowed the knee or kissed the image,” and let them know that you are there, too.  Who knows?  This may be the ripest hour we’ve ever known for revival.

What God Requires

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–Winter of 2001

What God Requires

In every age there are those who aspire to an intimate relationship with a holy God and to live the godly life resulting from that relationship.  It is also true that in every age there are those who have constructed their own brand of cheap grace to insure a minimum demand upon their life.  Standing between these two categories is a veritable host asking the eternally important question, “What level of living does God require of His people?”

We know that salvation and acceptance with God comes by grace through faith.  Yet no serious Bible student can escape being jolted by the flat ultimatum to “be holy for I am holy.”  Nor can we overlook the command to pursue holiness, “without which no man shall see the Lord.”  The call to holy living is repeated in various ways throughout the whole of Scripture.  If God means what He says, then salvation by grace through faith has some serious behavioral ramifications.

The Old Testament sets the tone and standard for God’s expectation of His people.  A summation of the first few books of the Old Testament clearly teaches us that God’s goal for human life is that we should live in real fellowship with Him—a fellowship that requires a correct understanding of who He is and a sharing of His revealed character.  Four times in the book of Leviticus (often referred to as the “Holiness Code”) God tells His people that He is holy and, because that is so, they must be holy.  He is requiring a holiness of life that is not only relational (meaning, a holiness that is derived and dependent upon a right relationship with God), but one that is also replicational (meaning, a holiness that shares His character and is behavioral, touching every aspect of our personal, social, moral, civil and religious life).  This behavioral aspect is presented further when we are given an Old Testament description of true religion, “Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart” (II Chron. 19:9).  Clearly God expects us to serve Him reverently with a life that is totally yielded and faithfully obedient to His revealed commands and statutes.

The New Testament standard is the same as the Old.  It teaches that we are redeemed from sinful bondage and brought into a relationship with God by saving grace.  This salvation is more than going to Heaven when we die.  It is an intimate personal progressive relationship with Christ.  It means that God radically and immediately re-orients our lives to the Lordship of Christ so that obedience to Him is a normal practice in our lives.  It means that He will also “purify our hearts by faith” through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, enabling the Holy Spirit to reproduce Christ’s character in us.  Although this is not done in our own strength, we are fully cooperative participants in this effort by the application of Biblical truths as we see new truth and by the exercise of certain disciplines that help maintain true piety in our lives.

Both Testaments call us to live lives that are morally pure, ethically righteous, and faithfully obedient.  This call to holy living is clear, and every Christian needs to take this call seriously.  Dr. John Oswalt in his book, The Call to Be Holy, makes the observation, “The fate of the American church and the church around the world depends upon what it does with the biblical doctrine of Christian holiness.”  Dr. Oswalt is right.  It is also right to note that my fate and yours depends upon what we do with the biblical call to holy living.  God requires holiness of heart and life.

Peace on Earth

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

–December of 2000

Peace on Earth

This month thousands of pilgrims from around the world will descend upon the ancient town of Bethlehem and its surrounding shepherds fields to celebrate the birth of our Lord and sing the beautiful words of the “Gloria in excelsis!”

Most of us in America will celebrate Christmas watching our children timidly parade in front of church congregations re-enacting the Christmas story.  Our brave little ones will be transformed into Jewish shepherds, wearing oversized bathrobes and white towels draped about their heads, or angels, wearing white sheets with tinsel-lined wings.  We will all smile proudly, nod our affirmation vigorously, and listen carefully as they join the pilgrims of Bethlehem in saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”  (Luke 2:10)

The words “peace on earth” will slip by most of us without notice.  Yet the cynic, as well as the serious saint, will recognize that the world has not found the formula for peace.  The god of war continues to stalk up and down the earth, threatening men and nations with bloodshed and destruction.  The Balkans are still trembling from the horrors of ethnic cleansing and falling bombs.  The Middle East is a boiling cauldron of tension, spilling over in outbreaks of violence.  Here in America broken-hearted families will stare at empty chairs this Christmas because of loved ones who lost their lives in the terrorist attack upon the USS Cole.

The god of this world also goes about seeking whom he may devour.  He has wrought havoc in a world now haunted by demons, disease and death.  Sin has ruined men by violence and squalor, misery and hatred.  The piercing words of the prophet, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” are painfully accurate.

Is there any hope for meaningful peace in our world?  Can men find calm in the midst of such chaos?  Oh yes!  The Prince of Peace has offered it, but it will be realized only in obedience to the divine formula for peace.  The divine formula is expressed in the form of a cross.  Paul said, “He has made peace through the blood of His cross.”  The cross of Christ has made inner peace possible now.  It can bring about an end to inner warfare and outward of misery in any man’s life.  The prospects of world peace look dim to those who gaze with a temporal eye.  But, the Savior who came as a babe in Bethlehem’s manger will one day return as a mighty King.  He will put all His enemies under His feet and usher in the time when it can truly be said that there is “peace on earth, good will toward men.”

The Battle for Truth

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture, Theology

–October of 2000

The Battle for Truth

The Clinton Presidency has forced to the forefront of this election year the two very important issues of moral absolutes and religious faith.  I suppose this ought to be cause for celebration, but I, for one, am deeply troubled with how I see these issues being addressed.  Both candidates have spent a considerable amount of energy trying to convince the American public that they are decent, honest, God-fearing men who have the integrity and character it takes to be president.  But a closer look at what is being said and how it is being communicated deeply troubles me.

The vice president has told the American public that he is a committed husband and father, who is solidly anchored in the traditional moral values that are important to our nation.  To reinforce his own testimony, he has secured testimonials from a high-profile lesbian, a movie star, and Ted Kennedy.  Furthermore, he has told us that as president he would defend the moral values of the American family while in the same breath telling us that he would fight for a woman’s right to an abortion and oppose the overturn of Roe vs. Wade.  He says and does all of this with no apparent thought of contradiction.

The nomination of an Orthodox Jew has opened up the other issue of religious faith.  This nomination has allowed the media to openly talk about the “barrier of race and religion” finally being torn down.  They have also been able to discuss the validity and equality of all other religions with that of Christianity.  A prominent media figure asked a guest this question, “How could an Orthodox Jew be elected when the vast majority of Americans say they are Christian and in saying that they believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven?”  His guest replied, “I am a Christian.  I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  But, I do not believe He is only way to Heaven.  I believe He is simply a way to Heaven.”  He went on to proclaim that the Islamic faith and the Buddhist faith were all legitimate ways to get to Heaven and Christ was just one of many.  The program host thought his response was just outstanding and applauded the fact that America is finally growing up.

What the vice president, the media, and the educational elite see as intellectual enlightenment, I see as an encroaching darkness.  Why?  Because both perspectives undermine the absolute truth found in Scripture.

Our civilization, both morally and judicially, was built upon the absolutes embodied in the Judeo-Christian faith as revealed in Holy Scripture.  Decency, civility, morally and justice all rest upon these moral absolutes.  Our own constitution would be in shreds if these moral absolutes were pulled from underneath it.  The rejection of these values bring chaos, confusion, contradiction and emptiness.  When a society proclaims that there is no transcendent source of moral truth, it is left to construct its own belief system out of a moral vacuum.

The perfect example of this took place some years ago when Cal Thomas had just finished giving a lecture at the University of Michigan.  A student who heard the lecture strongly objected to his thesis that our nation needs to promote values rooted in fixed absolutes.  Thomas responded, “If you reject my value system, what do you recommend to replace it?”  The young lady couldn’t answer.  Thomas pressed further by asking, “What is your major?”   “I am a senior, and my major is ethics.”  “On what do you base your own ethics?” Thomas posed. “I don’t know.  I’m still trying to work that out.”

Here is a typical example of what our American educational system is producing.  This young lady has been given no moral foundation for right or wrong.  She has been stripped of a belief in the Bible and even taught an antagonism towards values founded on Scripture.  Her moral compass has been completely destroyed.  Consequently, she has no way of finding what real truth is.

It is out of this moral wasteland that the modern mind has developed post-modernism.  This is a view of life that rejects not only Christian truth, but any claim to absolute truth.  This means that all viewpoints, lifestyles and religious faiths are equally valid and acceptable. A post-modernist has no problem accepting two completely opposite points of view. Growing out of post-modernism is multi-culturalism.  Multi-culturalism opens the door to say that the faith of a Muslim is as valid as that of a Christian because both are anchored in their own perception of truth.  Since neither can know absolute truth, the one is as adequate as the other for salvation.

Most of my readers see the fallacy of all of this and may be wondering what the point is.  The upshot of it all is this.  There is an orchestrated endeavor to destroy belief in the absolute truths of God’s Word and in Jesus as the only way to be saved.  The educational system that has produced both of our presidential candidates has been at the very heart of systematically destroying the absolutes that we have embraced as a nation.

The success of this endeavor will not be to stamp out Christianity, but to gain enough room to claim a society so pluralistic that the message of toleration and inclusiveness will be preached by politicians, made into laws by Congress, upheld by the Supreme Court, and enforced by police until most of the vestiges of Christian values are gone and Christianity is just one of many views.  This, my friend, will lay the foundation for a new world order.

We are, indeed, in a battle for truth.  Your voice and your vote can still make a difference.  If I were you, I would use them both.