Tag: Christian Living

–Winter of 2010

When Christians Disagree

After World War II the United Nations was brought into existence to promote world peace. But since its inception in 1945 there has not been a single day of global peace on the earth.  The goal to have a world where men and women get along has proven to be quite elusive.

The Bible opens with peace in the Garden of Eden and ends with peace in Heaven. But in between that beautiful beginning and blissful ending the scriptural record tells the story of God’s people “biting and devouring” one another. Since its earliest days the Church has been plagued with disunity.  Paul’s letters reveal that almost every local church mentioned in the NT had divisions. The Corinthians, Galatians, Romans and Philippians all had issues that created serious tensions among them.  Both Ephesus and Colossae had to be reminded of the importance of unity.

As the gospel spread its way across the known world, converts from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds filled the church. The Jewish converts came from a religion that had branded their lives with rules and regulations controlling their diet, their days, their dress – their whole way of experiencing and expressing their faith. It was almost impossible for them to break free from traditions that had been so deeply ingrained in them, yet these traditions were in reality nonessential to their new faith.  The Gentile believers were converted from paganism and eagerly accepted a simple gospel with no such encumbrances.  When the Jewish converts brought their traditions and scruples into the church as requirements for all believers, the Gentile converts would have none of it. Disagreement and disunity soon followed.

Paul dealt with this problem in I Cor. 8-10 as well as in Romans 14 and 15.  He divided the opposing sides into groups referring to one as the strong and the other as the weak.  These designations had to do with their level of understanding of the Biblical knowledge of Christian liberty and grace. The strong tended to despise the weak for their over conscientiousness and the weak tended to judge and condemn the strong for their liberty. Paul knew that it would take time to erase the differences so he laid down some very important principles to teach believers how to disagree on nonessentials and still maintain unity in the church.

Today’s church is not dealing with these identical issues but we are always faced with certain “gray areas.” Some things are wrong because the Bible condemns them.  Some things are right because the Bible commands them. But there are numerous “gray areas” that are not right or wrong for every person.  It is generally in these areas that believers become divided.  One has to exercise one’s own conscience in such cases and not every conscience is enlightened by Biblical knowledge. So how do we handle the disagreement that follows?  We need to follow the same principles that Paul gave these early converts.

Keep the welcome mat out!

Paul opens and closes with the strong imperative, “receive one another.” Never cut your brother off!  Never erect barriers between the two of you! Keep reaching out in love and acceptance! You don’t have to see eye to eye on everything to exercise love and acceptance.  Disunity can begin with the subtle decision to just stop saying hello or shaking hands. Don’t go there – keep the welcome mat out!

Be patient—a man’s heart cannot rejoice in what his head rejects.

You must understand that just because something is clear to you doesn’t mean that it is clear to your brother. Nor should you expect your brother to act upon something he cannot understand.  In I Cor. 8:4-7 Paul says that we know that an idol is nothing and eating the meat offered to it is nothing, but not everyone has this knowledge. Paul understood that every man has to be “fully convinced in his own mind” before he can move beyond certain practices that he has viewed as wrong even if in reality they are not.  For that man to act against his present knowledge is to offend his conscience and to commit sin (Rom. 14:23). Paul did not expect the weaker brother to remain weak forever, but he did expect the stronger brother to be patient and let the weaker brother’s mind expand in understanding so that his heart can rejoice in a clear conscience.

Exercise love – it will help you see the big picture.

Love weights the issues in the light of eternity.  It understands that the Kingdom of God is “not meat and drink.”  It is willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to help someone else along. Paul devotes I Cor. 9 totally to explaining this principle.  He says, “To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.”  Paul chooses to deny himself many of life’s externals because he knew that it was the eternals that really mattered.  This can only be done as you live life through the power of Calvary love.

Remember it’s not about you.

Authentic Christianity is others oriented.  It motivates one to seek another’s well being as much as one would seek his own. The Christian should not guide his conduct by merely what he is free to do, but by what will edify and build up one another.  “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well being” (I Cor. 9:24).

A final word

Disunity and disagreement do not glorify God; they rob Him of glory.  Abraham’s words to Lot are applicable today: “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee . . . for we be brethren” (Gen. 13:8).

–October of 2009

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen!

I Peter 1:6-7

The day of trouble eventually ends up on everybody’s calendar.  It doesn’t discriminate on whom it visits or how it comes.  It may be a phone call, a letter in the mail, a pink slip or a diagnosis.  It may involve your work, your family or your money.  But it will surely involve your mind and your spirit with nagging questions like, “Why me, why this and why now?”  The very fact that troubles come upon good people has puzzled saints from Job to John the Baptist.  There are no easy, all-encompassing answers, but there are insights into why God’s people face trials.  The Apostle Peter offers some amazing insight into trials in the opening verses of his first epistle.

Trials meet needs in our lives

Peter reminds us that life today is a school in which God is training us for usefulness in eternity.  Trials discipline us, prepare us for spiritual growth, build faith and teach us important lessons about the ways of God.  The phrase “if need be” indicates that God knows there are times when we need to go through certain trials to experience spiritual growth that would not come otherwise.

Trials are tailor made

Peter speaks of “manifold” trials.  The word manifold means variegated or various.  God matches the trial with our immediate need and present strength.  Just as He knows what we are able to bear, He also knows exactly what irritant we need in order to experience genuine growth and transformation.  At times He uses a hammer – a swift blow or series of blows that bring a quick and needed submission. At other times He uses a file – a more lengthy process of scraping and eating away at the rough edges of our life until He has shaped us into His will.  And when necessary, He will use the furnace.  The furnace attacks with ruthless fury until every ounce of impurity is consumed and nothing is left but pure gold.

Trials are not meant to be easy

Peter said that trials produce “heaviness.”  It’s a word that means to experience grief or pain.  It is the same word that was used to describe the sorrow that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane.  It is also the same word used to describe what one feels at the loss of a loved one.  No one should ever minimize the sorrow that trials can bring or speak of it in a cavalier manner.  The grief and sorrow are actually a part of the process.  A trip into the valley of sorrow has a way of cleansing the soul and reorienting life

Trials are timed and tempered by God

Peter tells us that trials last only “for a season.” Warren Wiersbe said, “When we walk through the furnace of trouble, God keeps his eye on the clock and his hand on the thermostat.”  Troubles last just long enough to remove the dross and purify the gold.

Saints and scholars still cannot adequately explain the nagging problem of trials to anyone’s satisfaction. And in all probability some of what I have said will not help the one undergoing present trials. But the testimony is unanimous from those who reflect on their years of walking with God that everything that truly enhanced and enlightened their spiritual existence came through pain and affliction and not through pleasure or times of happiness.  Though we can’t explain them, we would be immeasurably poorer without them.

–September of 2009

How to Handle Hurting Words

Read II Samuel 16:5-14 & 19:15-23

The humiliation of David’s temporary exile in the face of Absalom’s anarchy had to be one of the lowest moments of his long reign.  But insult was added to injury when, as he fled Jerusalem, a man named Shimei followed him shouting curses.  The accusation was that David was getting what he deserved because he was a murderous man – guilty of the “blood of the house of Saul.”

Shimei couldn’t possibly have spoken more unjust and hurtful words. If David was innocent of anything it was the blood of Saul.  He had spent years in exile to keep Saul from killing him. He had refused to speak evil of Saul, or take advantage of Saul’s fractious kingdom, or even lay a hand on Saul even though the Lord delivered Saul into David’s hand again and again.  If anything in the world was untrue, this charge was untrue!

Why Shimei’s Criticism?

The Bible tells us that Shimei was of the house of Saul.  So when Saul’s kingdom ended it brought about the demise of all the influence, power and financial advantage Saul’s relatives had enjoyed for years. Shimei just couldn’t let it go and was still carrying the old family grudge.  David’s misfortune gave Shimei the opportunity to vent all those years of stored-up malice. The timing and boldness of Shimei’s remarks were fueled by three things: first, he thought he could verbally assault David safely since David was fleeing for his own life; second, he knew the taunt about Saul would hurt David the most at this particular moment; and third, he believed that God was now on his side.  Shimei was sure that David was fleeing for his life because God has deposed him!

David’s Response

David refused to say anything to Shimei!  He did, though, speak words of restraint to his inner circle who wanted to remove Shimei’s head.  David’s silence toward Shimei and his response to his friends offers some valuable insight on how we should respond to hurting words or unfair accusations.

1. Develop a tough hide.  One can’t have a china-doll fragility about every little thing someone says (Eccl. 7:21-22).  One of the benchmarks of spiritual maturity is that we have gained enough confidence of who we are in Christ and of His unwavering love for us that the actions and words of others no longer have the power to devastate us. Disappoint and hurt? Yes!  Devastate? No!

2. Keep things in perspective.  David realized that Shimei’s cursing was nothing in comparison to the big issues surrounding Absalom’s treason. Unfair criticism from a sour old man can look fairly small in light of some of life’s more serious issues.

3. Learn to hold your tongue.  Not every criticism deserves an immediate answer.  In most cases, a hasty response to criticism causes one more distress than the actual criticism itself (Prov. 15:28, 26:4 and 29:11). Saint Augustine once prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.”  Neither is it necessary to say something even if you feel your words can fix the other person. One must carefully avoid a false sense of responsibility to fix someone else’s problem.  God is far better equipped to intervene and do the fixing.

4. Try to understand where the person is coming from.  Shimei was a descendant of Saul.   Saul’s loss of the throne brought significant loss to all his relatives including Shimei.  Even though David was totally innocent of any wrongdoing toward Saul or his family, Shimei still focused his anger on David because he was a visible reminder of what Saul’s descendants used to have and had no more.

5.  See God’s hand behind it.  David told his followers that Shimei’s cursing may well be from the Lord.  He was truly innocent of the blood of Saul, but he was not innocent of the blood of Uriah.  David’s keen sense of his own failures made him very open to God’s using whatever means necessary to make him a better man (Rom. 8:28).

6. Exercise forgiveness and move on. As the story makes clear, David returned to Jerusalem victorious. Shimei met David’s retinue with great humility and an abundance of apologies.  Shimei expected and deserved death but was given grace and forgiveness (Eph. 4:32).

There is one sure thing about life, and that is that sooner or later someone will offend you.  How one handles these offenses has a profound impact on one’s own spiritual advancement and the progress of those around them.  Too often Christians become stuck in a place of woundedness and become dysfunctional as they relive the experience over and over again.  David teaches us to deal with it and move on!  Paul would tell us to rejoice in such a trial because it gives us opportunity to learn many things about ourselves as well as to experience the grace of God.

My ninth-grade English teacher, Miss Splawn, was often frustrated by a boy in our class who talked incessantly. In despair she would say aloud to the whole class, “I can’t stop him!  I can’t kill him! I guess I’ll just have to let him talk on!”  We can’t stop the hurting remarks that people are going to make about us, nor can we “take off the head” of everybody who unleashes a volley of criticism at us.  But we can hold our tongue, learn the lessons that are there for us and ultimately exercise the liberating power of forgiveness!

–May of 2009

Consecration

“You are a People Holy to the Lord!” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

All the great Christian truths are prefigured in the Old Testament; they are announced ahead of time and prepared for through symbols and prophecies.  Easter is prefigured in the slaying of the paschal lamb, baptism in circumcision, the Eucharist in the manna and so on.          The same is true of consecration.  Consecration is the devoting or setting apart of anything or anyone to the worship or service of God. The race of Abraham, the nation of Israel and the tribe of Levi were thus consecrated.  The Tabernacle and later the Temple were both consecrated to God.  The Hebrews devoted their fields and cattle and sometimes the spoils of war to the Lord.  According to the Mosaic Law the first-born both of man and beast were consecrated to God.

When anything was thus consecrated to God it became His special possession and was designated as “holy to the Lord.”  When this designation involved places or things it carried with it certain restrictions upon their use. For instance, the Temple and all of its vessels and furnishings were set apart to be used exclusively for the worship of God.  Any other use or purpose would defile them.  When this consecration involved people, such as the nation of Israel, it carried significant behavioral and relational obligations.  To be the special possession of a Holy God required the children of Israel to “love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength” and to “fear the Lord their God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul” (Deut. 6:5, 10:12).   The book of Leviticus sets out the behavioral consequences of being God’s exclusive people in one oft repeated phrase, “And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.” (Lev. 20:26)  This call to holiness is repeated approximately fourteen times followed by specific ways holy people are to behave.

The New Testament builds upon the teaching of the Old Testament to explain both the privileges and the responsibilities of being consecrated to the Lord.  Peter uses God’s special relationship with Israel to illustrate that the Church is “a chosen race, a royal  priesthood , a holy nation, a people for God’s own procession , so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (I Peter 2:29).   Paul uses what we learned about the Temple to teach us that we “are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (II Cor. 6:16).

Though the New Testament uses symbolism, it moves beyond the symbolic to make the act of consecration very personal and real!   The Apostle Paul does this in his appeal to the Roman Christians.  He wrote, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

This is an unconditional surrender to God of my total self and of God’s complete possession of that self for His own perfect will.  It is surrender so real and so radical that Paul likens it to a “living sacrifice.”  What does it really involve and mean?

It means a total surrender of my body to God.

The word “body” here means all of one’s life, since human life is lived in the body.  Before we came to Christ, we used our body to “fulfill the lust of the flesh.” But now, as a Christian, our body is used for His glory.  Our body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . and we are not our own” (I Cor.6:19). Because of this we seek to “glorify God in our body, and in our spirit, which are Gods” (I Cor. 6:20).

It means a total surrender of my mind to God.

The mind is at the center of all my behavior.  My body doesn’t know right from wrong, but my mind does.   A mind transformed by the renewing of the Holy Spirit and the enlightenment of Holy Scripture will resist the values, goals and activities of the world even though it exerts steady pressure from without to conform us to its way of thinking and acting. If the world can get me to think like it thinks, then it can get me to behave like it behaves.  It has become so invasive that it now follows us into our homes and assails us with a world view that is diametrically opposed to God’s Word.  It lures us to look at life through the lens of “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I Jn 2:16).  But a mind that is totally surrendered, Spirit renewed and Biblically armed, will be able to “keep my body under, and bring it into subjection” to Christ.

It means a total surrender of my will to God.

The mind controls the body but the will controls the mind. So it is all important that my will is surrendered to His will.  The key to true inner strength and spiritual power lies in a totally surrendered will to the complete will of God. Oswald Chambers said it succinctly when he declared that “to be our utmost for His Highest is not a matter of wrestling, debating or reasoning, but of surrender.”

There is a very simple prayer, first prayed by baseball great Bobby Richardson, that I want each one who has read this article to pray before you lay this paper aside.  It would be very beneficial to continue to pray on a regular basis.  This is the prayer: “Dear God, Your will—nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Amen.”  Herein is both the heart and joy of consecration!