Audio Link http://brettell.org/webex.htm
In a recent web conference, I gave the following message to a group of fellow believers all around the world. The “webinar” was generated and hosted by Dr. Jim Brettell, a Christian pastor and leader located in Little Rock Arkansas. Dr. Brettell is a pioneer in the internet church, one of the latest movements in the church where men and women have gone to the web to publish the word of God. It is believed that in the next few years, millions of people will actually go to church using the internet, tuning into live and recorded services, hearing the word of God taught while sitting in their own homes. While the internet church has its obvious drawbacks, it is a reality in 2010 and a reality that motivated Christian leaders ignore at their own peril. I have become one of those Chrisitan leaders who gladly use the internet to promote the message of Christ to a world of men and women who need Him so desperately as the day of His return comes on e day closer.
The theme of the Web Conference was “One Day Closer”, with each different teacher communicating what that phrase meant to him. When I heard the phrase, One Day Closer, I was moved to discuss the day when Christ will have defeated all of His enemies and placed them in their eternal abodes, when He will have submitted the kingdom to God-Father and when all free creatures in God’s universe will exist in a state of perfect righteousness. On that day, there will be only righteous thinking, feeling, speaking and acting in the life of all His creatures living with Him. All those who trust in Christ will be together with Christ and all of us will live free from sin and evil.
Imagine the world, ruled by Christ, full of angels and resurrected human beings, filled with righteousness, free from all sin, expressing love to one another and living this way forever. Gone will be the bad news we hear every single day, gone the hurt and pain caused by one person’s selfishness against another and gone the possibility that sin will ever harm us again. What a glorious day!
These following notes were used in my message that was delivered on Friday, 3/5/10. Dr. Brettell has also posted the recording of this message on a dedicated page on his website. If you wish to hear the audio of this message, go to http://brettell.org/webex.htm When you open the page, scroll down and look for my name connected with session # 2 and simply click on it. The link will take you to a Webex page and the recording will begin automatically. Thanks for tuning in. Continue growing in your faith and in your love for the Lord Jesus Christ to whom belongs all glory and worship forever.
Web Conference 3/6/10
One Day Closer Righteousness Rules
I. Introduction
Historical Context:
At the eternal life conference in eternity past, God-F, God-S & God-HS decided to create the universe and creatures to live in it. These creatures were made to worship and serve God. The creation of both angels and mankind have striking parallels that are pertinent to our discussion, the most important of these is the capacity to choose and the freedom to do so. First He created angels with volition and allowed them to choose sin and evil. 1/3 of the angels chose to reject whatever grace God offered them and they now exist in a permanent state of unrighteousness. Their minds and daily decisions within the A/C are guided by unrighteous goals, priorities and ideas. Then God made mankind and also allowed him to choose sin and evil for himself. The creation of mankind is God’s plan for winning the appeal trial of these fallen angels.
We find ourselves at this point in human history with a completed system of grace salvation being offered to the human race, with some having accepted God’s grace, others having rejected God’s grace and others not yet having made their decision. It is by accepting God’s grace that we prove out His point in the appeal of fallen angels, that no creature can live on his own apart from God’s grace. Fallen angels & humans who choose to live independent of God will demonstrate this truth forever.
The issue at hand in our time together is the unrighteous thinking, speaking and actions of creatures both angelic and human. The unrighteousness choices of creatures have caused the world in which we live to be a place dominated by sin and evil. Every human soul born into this life, experiences damage to their souls and endures great pain and grief.
1. Fallen angels – choose evil which is to live in opposition to God’s plan with the goal of defeating God’s plan in even the smallest way, to prove that He is not +R and perfect. If God could be found to be –R or imperfect, this would allow Satan a basis for a successful appeal on the grounds that God makes mistakes.
2. Unbelievers – choose sin and evil mostly unknowingly, without clear understanding of the implications of their choices or the havoc they cause through sinful choices.
3. Believers – 2 cag
a. Negative to truth – live as saved people but choose to reject knowledge of their Old Man beliefs/behaviors and therefore choose to live dominated by their sin nature causing pain to everyone in their lives because of their –R way of life.
b. Positive to truth – live as saved people who have yielded to the Spirit to have their hearts transformed into the likeness of Christ and therefore choose sin and evil less and less as their operating system. These believers gain the capacity to produce divine good giving aid to others and blessing everyone in their life.
Christ has defeated the devil through His work of death, burial and resurrection. God is allowing the forces of evil to play out the appeal trial, proving out the will of God that life without God is doomed to failure and must be condemned.
When the appeal trial is completed, Christ will take every –R creature in the universe and throw them into the Lake of Fire. At this time He will submit the universe to His Father and His +R will once again be the only standard by which creatures choose to act. There will be no more bad decisions and no more people damaging others through sin and evil. Every soul living with God in His kingdom will be free to live +R life and God’s +R will rule the universe. Come Lord Jesus Come!!
This study will cover Mat 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
We will discuss:
Hunger & thirst
God’s Righteousness
Results of living God’s +R
II. Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness
NAS Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Mt 5 begins the Sermon on the Mount and contains the Beatitudes (declarations of blessing). The S/M is addressed to Israel during the Age of Israel and so does not directly apply to the church, but to the Kingdom to come when the Lord returns.
Vs 6 – blessed – makarios – happinesses; those who fulfill these qualifications will be the recipients of many types of happiness
Vs 6 the ones hungering and thirsting – spiritual appetite, desire for God & +R
The S/M is for the Millennium and for believers of that dispensation and so this concept does not directly apply to the Church Age believer. What does apply to the church are the principles that transcend every dispensation. An example of concepts that transcend dispensations would be the Laws of Divine Establishment, the principles that God designed to govern both believer and unbeliever throughout all of human history.
a. Freedom – the right to use volition to choose for self
b. Marriage – marriage is found in every dispensation
c. Family – children are found in every dispensation
d. Nations – after the flood, God formed nations to protect freedom
One of the things that has existed in every dispensation and every generation is certain individuals who have a spiritual appetite . God designed the human soul with a need for God that we experience as desire, longings and yearnings deep in the heart. It is this spiritual hunger that characterizes those who are positive to the truth.
Gen 4:25-26 – With the birth of Seth, men began to call upon the name of the Lord
· The hunger in man’s heart led men to seek for the Lord
Psm 42:2 My soul is thirsty for God
· During the Jewish Age, men had a desire to know God
Mt 5:6 Hunger and thirst for +R; Jn 7:37 thirst for God
· Jesus’ day there were those who desired to be +R before God.
Gal 5:17 – desire produced by God-HS in the soul of the believer.
Spiritual Hunger & Thirst
1. God created the human soul with needs. Man is not meant to live on is own but to live in relationships with God and one another.
Gen 2:18 – not good for man to be alone
2. Some needs are intended to be met by God and others are intended to be met by other humans.
Jn 7:37 a thirst that only God can fill; Gen 2:18 – a need that only a mate can fill
3. Man is born spiritually dead and therefore separated from God.
a. We don’t have access to God to meet our inborn needs.
b. 1Cor 2:14 We are unable to process spiritual things to know truth
c. We don’t even know we are missing God, believe people are the answer
d. Man attaches all of his needs to man in the absence of God.
4. Living with unmet needs causes man to experience soul pain.
5. Man’s failure to find fulfillment through people causes him to find substitutes.
a. Phil 3:18-19 men obey their appetites and turn to worldly things
b. Eph 4:17-19 men develop addictions to ease their pain
6. The failure to find fulfillment through other humans can lead to opening the heart to seek for God.
Act 17:27 God has made us to seek Him, feel after Him and find Him.
a. When our initial strategies fail, some will realize that God is the only answer.
b. Others will use their failures to simply change strategies and continue seeking fulfillment through man and worldliness.
The ones who hunger and thirst in Mt 5:6 are those who have realized that there is more to life than what can be seen with their eyes and known with human logic. They have opened their minds to something bigger than themselves. They have realized their need for forgiveness and realized that they cannot earn it themselves. They have looked into their own hearts and have discovered their hunger and thirst. They hunger to be loved in spite of their flaws and failures and they thirst for an existence that is free from the sin and evil that has broken their hearts and kicked a hole in everyone they love.
The people in view here are hungering & thirsting for +R. What does Jesus mean? What does it mean to hunger/thirst for +R? Let’s look at +R.
Vs 6 Righteousness – dikaiosune – the thinking of a Judge, the standard by which the judge determines right/wrong, guilt/innocence; The righteousness of God.
God’s Righteousness
1. God’s righteousness is perfect rightness and is absolute.
2. Perfect rightness is whatever the Creator says is right/wrong.
3. Absolute means that His +R is 100% and can’t accept anything less.
4. God’s +R is the standard by which He determines if creatures are worthy to be blessed or cursed – Act 17:31
5. If a creature is 100% +R, then God blesses; If a creature falls short of 100% +R, then God curses.
6. Creatures who stand before God for judgment who possess 100% +R will be blessed to live with Him forever in a state of perfect +H.
7. Creatures who stand before Him for judgment who fall short of 100% +R will be rejected from His presence and live in a state of misery forever.
Christians will experience God’s +R in 3 primary ways
A. Imputed +R given at salvation to all who believe the gospel
Rom 3:22 This +R comes from God by faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe
· Faith (in the gospel) is the requirement for God to credit His +R to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
· Christ took our sins upon Himself and gave His +R to us through our union with Him
1. The moment we trust Christ for salvation we are imputed (credited) with His +R
2. In the courtroom of heaven our sins are counted as paid and God’s +R is counted as ours through union with Christ – Justification.
3. Every believer has faced and seen the last of God’s Justice in a punitive sense.
4. Imputation of divine +R has made us worth the same as Christ – worthy/blessing
B. Experiential +R developed through spiritual growth, accomplished by the transformation process whereby the believer takes off his/her old man beliefs/behaviors and puts on the new man beliefs and behaviors.
Heb 12:11 – divine discipline; God’s training & growth program yields peaceful fruit +R.
· Discipline strips down the Old Man and inspires obedience to New Man – NM is +R
Eph 4:24 – NM is created in likeness of God in +R and holiness from the truth
· NM is the thinking of Jesus/humanity and is aligned with God’s +R from the truth
C. God’s +R will rule the free universe among all who live with God.
1 Cor 15:24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
1. At the present time, while the appeal trial of satan continues, Christ has been given all authority in heaven and earth, holds the highest position of authority.
2. While Christ holds the highest position, creatures continue to freely live by their own sinful standards and methods.
3. At the end, when Christ has brought human history to a close, all creatures who rejected Him will be confined forever to the Lake of Fire.
4. Even then, though they might continue to reject His right to rule them, they will bow down to Him and confess that He is the Lord – Phil 2:10-11.
5. In contrast, those who live with God forever will be enabled to think, feel and act out God’s +R with every thought brought into captivity to Christ.
6. For those of us who live with God forever, we will enjoy total freedom from sin, evil and every form of harm that we now endure in the present state.
To hunger & thirst for +R, is to deeply desire to receive God’s own +R imputed at salvation, then the desire to attain a mature status as a Christian to be able to live according to experiential +R and finally, every creature who knows God hungers and thirsts for the day when all sin and evil will have been eliminated from us and from all those we love.
1. From birth until death, every human being lives within an environment where sin and evil dominate every relationship and all human interaction in general.
2. Being born into sin, experiencing human development while dominated by a sin nature, being raised by sinful parents, living among other sinful people has harmed the soul of every human being.
3. Every human being has experienced soul pain from having a sin nature and relating to other people who are dominated by their sin nature.
4. When a sinful person encounters God and is given a vision of life without sin, life without hurtful interactions with others, it causes a hunger to be formed.
5. This hunger/thirst is attached to an image of life where no one does wrong, no one acts selfishly and where no one is harmed.
6. As a believer learns what the bible says about the eternal state, his hunger becomes a hope, a confidence that one day this will actually occur.
7. The hope that every believer possesses is that one day, at the end, God will eliminate sin/evil and create an environment where our every thought and deed edifies others.
8. The bible describes this future, perfect life with the following words:
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Eldridge says it well in this one.
I Hate Valentine’s Day
Love & War part 1: He Said
by John Eldredge
“My soul finds rest in God alone…”
(Psalm 62:1)
This week’s devotional is from Love & War by John and Stasi Eldredge.
I hate Valentine’s Day. There, I said it.
Most of the guys reading this just thought, “Yes! I can’t believe he said that.”
Most of the women just thought, “What a jerk! I can’t believe he said that.”
But it’s true. I hate Valentine’s Day. Stasi loves it; it’s one of her favorite holidays. (God, what are you thinking?!) I hate being told, “Today, you will be romantic.. Today, you will be amazing. Today, you will ‘Get It All Right.’ And tonight, you will arrange for one of the most romantic evenings you two will have this year. Tonight, sex will be on a level with the Hallelujah chorus. Hollywood will have wished they had filmed this day.
Who wants to live under that kind of pressure?
The rule of human nature seems to be this: The harder you push, the more the heart flees. The more we demand the heart show up, the more it disappears. We may try to Get It All Right, out of fear or guilt (like most guys on Valentine’s Day), or maybe even out of a desire to be good. But that is not the same as loving.
So I find myself dreading the approach of Valentine’s Day. Can I pull it off? Will she be happy? And now we’ve got a culture crazed with the upgrade of everything. Dinner and a card used to be a home run. That sounds so blasé these days, like you barely even gave it a thought. Now you have got to make it an all day. We have blown this day way out of proportion. It has taken all the fun out of it.
And the truth is, women feel the pressure, too – the pressure to be beautiful, the pressure to have just the right earrings to go with the right dress, the pressure to have the perfect hair – to achieve “sexy” without tipping over into “skanky.” A woman feels the pressure to make all the right conversation, not to order too much at dinner, and certainly don’t eat it all. And a woman feels the sexual pressure coming – either to offer sex “because it’s Valentine’s Day” or because she wants to win her man.
Real romance doesn’t work like that.
Romance seems to happen not because you have turned your google-eyed attention to romance, but because the two of you are focused on other things – a beautiful fall day leads to a spontaneous walk in the woods.. An evening out “just because” becomes lovely after the two of you stumble on a great little restaurant.
Romance requires free hearts.
Pressure, on the other hand, kills everything it touches.
I don’t think most of us have any idea how much pressure we bring to our marriages.
There is the pressure one of you feels from the other “to be happy.” Usually because somebody’s childhood wasn’t all that happy and they can’t bear the threat of unhappiness in the marriage, or because we deeply believe that If you’re not happy it’s because of me. The message comes across loud and clear: “Do not be unhappy.” The spouse feels the unnamed pressure and comes to resent it.
Christian couples feel the added pressure to have a model marriage, to be a “witness” to our families and neighbors. Therefore nothing can ever be wrong. We’ve got to present a good face to the world. We feel the pressure to pray together, to have family devotions, and to love going to church. We feel the pressure to be “Christ-like” in our marriages – and since none of us are even close to that level of sainthood, we feel a lot of guilt and shame. But we feel compelled to hide all that because, after all, we are Christians.
There is the pressure – and how bizarre is this, really – that someone love you. Of course we want to be loved. Of course it hurts when we feel we are not loved, especially by the closest person in our life. But insisting that someone love you is like telling a fawn you have just seen slip into the woods to “Come Back Out,” or commanding a hummingbird to land on your finger and “Stay There.”
And then there is the Biggest Pressure Of All – the pressure we feel to make each other happy. After all, this marriage is supposed to make me happy. Right?
The human heart has an infinite capacity for happiness and an unending need for love, because it was created for an infinite God who is unending love. The desperate turn is when we bring the aching abyss of our hearts to one another with the hope, the plea, “Make me happy. Fill this ache.” And often out of love we do try to make one another happy, and then wonder why it never lasts.
It can’t be done. You will kill yourself trying.
We are broken people, with a famished craving in our hearts. We are fallen, all of us. It happened so early in our story, back in the Garden of Eden, that most of us don’t even realize it happened. But the effects of the Fall are something we live with every day.
Every woman now has an insatiable need for relationship, one that can never be filled. It is an ache in her soul designed to drive her to God. She aches for intimacy, to be known, loved, and chosen. It also explains her deepest fear – abandonment.
Men face a different sort of emptiness. We are forever frustrated in our ability to conquer life (Genesis 3:17-18). A man aches for affirmation, for validation, to know that he has come through. This also explains his deepest fear – failure.
Now, take these fears, brokenness, and this famished craving, throw them together into the same house and lock the door. What ensues is the pain, disappointment, and confusion most people describe as their marriage. But what did you expect?
Of course you are disappointed; your spouse is disappointed, too. How can we possibly be enough for one another? Two broken cups cannot possibly fill one another. Happiness flows through us like water through a volleyball net.
Your unhappiness – and your spouse’s – means you both have a famished craving that only God can meet.
You have to have some place you can turn. For comfort. For understanding. For the healing of your brokenness. For love. To offer life, you must have life. And you can only get this from God.
Trying to sort your way through marriage without God in your life is like trying to be gracious when you are utterly sleep-deprived. At some point, you lose your ability to be kind; you lose all perspective.
We live in a great love story, set in the midst of war. The great and terrible clash between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness continues. They are fighting for the human heart.
Jesus is the hero of this love story and we are His Beloved. So the greatest gift you can give to your marriage is for you to develop a real relationship with Jesus Christ, where you are finding in God the life and love your soul so desperately needs.
This Week
Ask the Lord to show where you have put pressure on yourself and your spouse to be enough to satisfy the craving in your soul, then ask Him to meet you there so that you can know the rest that is found in Him alone.
Prayer
“Lord, help me to have such a powerful relationship with you that I can give and receive love freely, without the pressure to be or need to demand from others that which only You can provide.”
Our baby – Our Delight
We all love or children and want them to find happiness in life. When they are first born, we delight in their every act, every funny expression, their first smile, their first step and words. We allow them the full range of expression of their personalities and desires, setting boundaries only for safety. They are selfish, demanding little dictators who do their very best to take control of everyone and everything in the periphery.
Child Training
At some point, we realize that we have to get a grip on them and their behavior lest they become juvenile delinquents and end up in prison. So we begin to place demands on them to change their behavior to comply with social norms. We teach them manners, respect for adults, respect for the rights of others and a whole list of ideas that “good” people teach their children. We use whatever means we can conceive that “work” on our children to make them comply with our new rules. We bribe them with our praise and approval. We scare them by spanking them when they resist our demands.
Personhood is not Behavior
Well informed parents recognize the distinction between a child’s person (real self) and their behaviors. The real self, while selfish and demanding is also tender, easily hurt and certain to misunderstand why parents implement their ever increasing demands. Loving parents who understand how vulnerable their children are try to protect and reassure their children while they tighten behavioral boundaries. They teach their children why they have created rules about behavior and help them to align their true desires with the expectations of society. The goal is to allow their children to express their true self and channel them into constructive avenues without suppressing the real self. It is not possible to avoid suppressing their desires but in love, parents try to minimize it as much as possible. I pray that I have given my children the love and approval they need, taught them the truth about why Christians do what they do and most of all been a good model of a Christian who serves the Lord with all of his heart because I love Him. I wish the same for you.
Real Self – False Self
The following principles have been developed from the observations of psychologists who study the patterns of human behavior. These concepts describe the adaptations children make based on conclusions they reach when they enter into the socialization process. Children adapt to the pressures exerted on them by parents and authority figures by practicing behaviors that are demanded of them. Children conclude that by adopting these overt behaviors they can gain the approval, acceptance and praise from parents, authority figures and peers and protect themselves from the pain of rejection by these same people.
These concepts track the adaptations of the real self, our original, authentic, honest self that is egocentric, selfish, demanding and resistant to authority. Under pressure to conform overt behaviors to meet social expectations, children create a false self, actually layers of false selves that serve as masks and roles played that please the authority figures over them. The adoption of overt behaviors that conflict with the true desires in their hearts causes children to abandon their real feelings and identify their personhood with these false constructs termed the false self.
1. Synonyms for Real Self: True self, Child within, Inner child, Deepest self, Inner core.
2. At the core of our inner experience, under the layers of learned behavior and defensive adaptations, is the real self, the childish self with which we began.
· We began life as a child with childish thoughts, feelings and expressions.
· At our core, we are still the child who is genuine, authentic, honest & real.
· Our real self is needy, selfish, self indulgent, fearful and demanding of others
· Our real self is genuinely simple, uncomplicated, need focused & relational
· Our real self is naïve, believes easily, acts on what he/she believes
· Our real self is shamelessly aware of our needs, unafraid to selfishly pursue our needs, willing to use any means to receive our needs from others.
3. The false self is a learned strategy that is put around the real self to evoke approval, acceptance & praise from people and prevent disapproval, rejection & anger from significant people in our life.
· Real self’s honest, selfish, demanding approach is not acceptable in society.
· Parents & other authority figures exert pressure on children to comply with their demands and adopt acceptable behaviors in exchange for approval & praise.
· Children, unable to orient to God, comply with the demands of parents, authority to gain the approval, acceptance & praise they crave.
· False self consists of overt behaviors that play the part, assume the characteristics that were expected for the purpose of pleasing parents in exchange for their approval.
· Children build a false self, built in layers, by putting on specific behaviors that comply with expectations during different phases of human development.
· At every stage of growth, new and different demands are made and forced upon children who comply by playing the part expected, to gain the needed approval.
4. Initially, parents accept & delight in our real self, overlook our selfishness, comply with our demands and express affection unconditionally regardless of our behavior.
· Parents are delighted with babies, lavish affection on them without expectation of any behaviors and praise them for every action they perform.
· From birth until parents begin to train children, the child is allowed and even encouraged to express his real self for which he is praised and rewarded with laughter and affection.
5. When parents begin to train children, to bring them into compliance with social norms, the rules of the game change for children.
· Specific behaviors are demanded in exchange for approval & praise.
· When children resist, parents often use pain to induce obedience
· When children resist, parents can withhold affection, approval and praise.
· When children comply with parental demands, approval is used as a reward
· Children confuse love that gives them self worth with the approval for compliance
· Children believe that the love they need is dependent upon their compliance with parental demands to practice specific overt behaviors.
· Children adopt and practice behaviors they believe will give approval and praise.
· Children learn a human works system that succeeds in gaining the approval they crave from parents, peers and everyone they deem important.
6. Under pressure from others, children learn to practice specific desired behaviors in order to gain or maintain the approval/love they crave.
· These overt behaviors are not a genuine expression of a child’s changed belief system
· The overt behaviors adopted are in conflict with the child’s genuine desires and natural ways of expressing himself.
· The overt behaviors become a necessary role that children play to be accepted.
· Children adopt a false self, a self that is not in concert with their inner desires but a self that does whatever is expected to gain the pleasure of approval and avoids the pain of disapproval from those they need to meet their needs.
7. The real self is left behind & forgotten in the child’s heart as layer upon layer of different roles are adopted in order to comply with parental and peer expectations.
· The child rightly concludes that the honest expression of his selfish, demanding real self is not valued but produces pain and rejection from parents.
· The child rightly concludes that his real self has no value to produce approval from parents or peers because only specific overt behaviors are accepted.
· The child devalues his real self, abandons his honest cravings & feelings by repressing them, he becomes numb to his true self, no longer aware of his real self.
8. The child builds layers of pretense by compliance with social demands, loses touch with his real self and identifies his self with the false self he has constructed.
· The real self has no value to produce approval, therefore he/she concludes that he/she has no intrinsic value – this causes the self the ultimate pain of rejection.
· The pain of rejection must be minimized so the self implements the defense mechanism of repression through going numb & forgetting the real self.
· The child views self as the false self that produces the desired result – approval.
9. By the time we reach adulthood, we have put on layers of expected behaviors from parents, peers, teachers, coaches, the world and anyone else we give the power to accept or reject us by caring about them and what they think of us.
· Peter had long ago lost touch with the real condition of his soul, had identified himself with his pretense of manhood and was committed to playing his part.
· Peter truly believes he can produce courage and loyalty from his human will, believes that is what God desires from him and believes if he is able to produce courage and loyalty that God will be pleased.
· Peter’s real self is still needy, fearful and totally alienated from the reality of God’s grace and what God truly desires from the believer.
· New believers learn the system of desired behaviors, learn what is considered worthy of approval and adopt these behaviors as a new role to play out using the power of human ability and human will.
· We enter into the Christian life using the only skills we know, using the only strategies that have ever worked for us and assume that God expects the same things that our parents, peers and others expected.
10. At the moment of salvation, God gives us His righteousness in Christ making our real self as worthy as Jesus, by grace, before we have a chance to perform any behaviors.
· God invests value in our real self, rejects our false self, rejects the strategies that built the false self and has no interest in works produced by human ability or will power.
· God never asks or expects us to produce overt behaviors that are not in concert with our inner desires and true motives.
· God never asks or expects us to play a part or produce overt behaviors that create the appearance of spirituality apart from the power of the Spirit in concert with genuine love for Him and desire to please Him.
· God’s plan is for us to lay aside the false self, to reject role playing, reject man’s expectations and reject the practice of overt behaviors to gain man’s approval.
· God’s plan is for us to become totally honest about what we truly want, what we are thinking, what we are truly feeling at any moment regardless of whether our desires, thoughts and feelings align with His essence or not.
11. God gives us a new nature that is connected to the real self and enters us into His plan of transformation that takes off the false self/old man and replaces it with the new man that is aligned with the beliefs of Christ.
· We must take off the layers of the false self, the human works systems, the human good systems that we have used to gain approval from man.
· The old man is populated by these different false systems of behaviors we use to please people and gain their approval.
· The new nature and new man is totally honest, genuine, pretends about nothing, uses only truth, practices only truthfulness, rejects pretense and works only because he loves God, never to gain man’s approval.
For the last 11 Sunday evenings 7-9 PM, I have been working with Dr. Jim Brettell using Webex, a program that creates an internet classroom. Listeners sign into Webex on the internet and are able to listen to Dr. Brettell and I discuss Christian Spirituality, with an emphasis on taking off our Old Man. The bible uses the term Old Man to indicate the habitual, sub-conscious beliefs, thoughts, feelings and behaviors that every human being developed in their life before Christ. Many of the articles on this site discuss our old way of life. The following link takes you to a page on Dr. Brettell’s website where you will find links to all 11 audio recordings of our sessions.
If you are serious about understanding why you can know the truth but be unable to fully implement it into your life, why you try with all your might to be and do what the bible commands, but still find yourself giving in to old patterns of behavior, then these sessions are a place to begin a journey that will open your eyes to the difficult reaalities of the spiritual war. I encourage you to listen to these 11 sessions, to read the articles you find there and here so you can develop the spiritual strength and maturity to live a life that is compatible with the Lord Jesus Himself. I wish you well on your journey to intimacy with God, the sweetest experience available in this life and the next.
http://brettell.org/webex.htm
God designed man to be needy. He created us with different kinds of needs, both physical and needs in the soul. Our physical needs are met by logistical grace that provides all that we need to function in the physical world. Our soulish needs are related to our inner longings for love and relationships. In this article we will discuss how mankind is confused about how to have our needs met and from whom. We will give a representative list of human needs and explain what Jesus said about fulfilling the emptiness of the soul.
Celebrating Human Strength
The world tells us that we should admire other human beings that use their human ability to be strong. Darwinism, the dominant idea of our day, tells us that “the strong survive” and emphasizes “the survival of the fittest”. Many of our popular movies lionize those who are callous, have no compassion and have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. It is no wonder that the world celebrates human strength since it is all the world has on which to depend. The world admires those who use their own abilities to meet their own needs or even better, those who successfully pretend that they have no needs. The bible tells us another story.
Weakness Made Strong
God did not make us to be strong. He made us to be weak and needy. The human soul is incredibly fragile and needy. In fact, in the real world, which is the spiritual world, we are totally helpless. Helpless to save ourselves, make ourselves spiritual or meet the God given needs He placed within us. We are needy by design. God made our souls in such a way that we need Him in order for us to be complete and fulfilled. His great mercy designed us to need Him so that perhaps we might seek Him, having exhausted every other means of achieving happiness. The bible teaches that if we will enter into an intimate relationship with God, then our hearts will find rest and fulfillment.
Dependence on People
We are confused though. Instead of needing God, we think we need people. Born without God and having only people with whom we can relate, we conclude that our needs are to be fulfilled through people. All of our relational strategies are built around the goal of inducing people to like, admire and accept us. We believe that if we can maximize our human assets to cause other people to praise us then our souls will be complete. This is why we are so fearful of rejection, conflict and loss of human support. If you have raised children, you have seen the power of peer pressure, which is the raw evidence of our false dependence on people.
Dependence on Human Ability
We are also confused about the role of human ability. Most churches teach us to use our human abilities to produce Christian works as the way to please God. We learn what God considers right and wrong and we try to comply with His standards through human will. We focus on producing the appearance of spirituality so that other humans will give us respect and approval. We believe that this approval will fulfill our souls and even believe that human approval is the same as God’s approval. Having developed our beliefs using people as the objects of our needs, we hunger for the love of man more than the love of God. We must come to understand that in our humanity we are bankrupt, helpless and totally dependent on God for our happiness.
God made the human soul with needs. Those needs are evident in all of us from the moment of birth. As we reach adult status we learn to hide our neediness with the appearance of strength. We learn how to play the game so that others will think we are strong but our neediness remains. It is this neediness that drives every pursuit of our lives.
Needs Experienced as Desires
We experience our needs as desire and deep longings. Our desires and longings are the expression of our divinely designed needs. In the bible, Jesus calls these needs/desires hunger and thirst. Each of us experiences deep cravings and longings for affection, acceptance, admiration and a sense of accomplishment. Every desire and longing we have shows us that we have needs that ultimately only God can complete. The complete list of human needs is beyond the scope of this article but the following represent our core divinely designed needs.
Man’s Needs – God’s Provision
1. Unconditional love – from God, man & self. We all want to be loved as we are in spite of our flaws and failures. God provides His love in total to all who trust in Christ as their Savior.
Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
· At the moment of salvation God directed all of His love to the baby believer who must then grow into a mature state where he can experience God’s love.
2. To fully know and be know by another – All of us long to be able to fully share our hearts with someone who will understand us.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.
· In heaven, we will be able to freely & fully interact with God and others.
3. Acceptance, inclusion and belonging – family – We are herd bound. God made us to crave a position where we belong in a group.
Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household
· At the moment of salvation we are accepted as natural citizens of heaven and are adopted into God’s family where we become children of God.
4. Recognition, praise and appreciation for our contributions – All of us desire to be recognized and praised for our accomplishments
Matthew 25:21,23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’ 23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
· At the Judgment Seat of Christ, our legitimate Christian service will be evaluated and rewarded by Christ and our need for recognition will be fully met forever.
5. Ability to edify and impact others – make a difference – God designed us to contribute to the betterment of others.
1Cor 12:7 Now to each one (Christians) is given the manifestation of the Spirit (spiritual gifts) used for the common good
· We have been given the power of God through the Holy Spirit and also given a divinely enabled ability to supernaturally serve the members of the church, having an impact and spiritual influence on their lives.
God designed us to have needs that we could not meet on our own. He made us to need Him if our souls would experience the fulfillment of our needs. When we come to God through Christ, at that moment, God provides the supply to meet every need of the human soul. As we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to abandon our attempts to meet our needs through people (take off old man) and accept God’s gracious provision in Christ (put on new man).
Driven by Desire
These core needs drive and motivate all human behavior. All human behavior can be traced to the desire to fulfill these core needs. Both God and the devil use man’s needs/desires to motivate us.
Peter tells us that the corruption in the world is caused by misdirected desire.
2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Paul tells us that the corruption of our old belief system is motivated by desire.
Eph 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
The Holy Spirit also uses our desire system to motivate us to spiritual life.
Gal 5:17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Phil 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will (desire) and to act according to his good purpose.
Jesus discussed God’s answer to our thirst for relationship in John 7:37-39
John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from his innermost being 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Thirsty Souls
Jesus called out to those who were “thirsty”, meaning those who were aware of their need for God. Jesus talked about our human needs experienced as hunger and thirst in in Mt 5:6 – hunger & thirst for righteousness – desire for rightness with God; Jn 6:35 –Jesus, who is the Bread of Life – come to Him and you will never hunger; believe on Him never thirst; Jn 4:6-26 – woman at the well – living water & you will never thirst again. Jesus called out to identify those who were aware of their need for God. He knew that we experience our God given needs as deep desires and longings.
Empty Souls
He said that we feel these desires in our innermost being. The Greek word koilos means an empty place, a cavity, a hole, it is most often translated as the womb and is used for the stomach. When used for our needs/desires being misdirected toward sinful objects it is translated as our appetites (Rom 16:18; Phil 3:19). What we learn from Jesus is that God designed an empty place in the heart of mankind and from that empty place we feel deep desires. It is also in this empty place in the heart of man that we experience fulfillment when we attach our desires to God. Without God, man chooses to fill the emptiness with false objects of happiness. When we bond and attach or hearts to these false objects of pleasure, it causes us to become addicted to them.
Filled by the Spirit
Finally, Jesus explains that the divine answer to the needs/desires generated by the emptiness in our hearts is found in the ministry of God-Holy Spirit. The living water that fills and overflows from within the heart of the spiritual believer is the ministry of the Spirit. The divine means of meeting our human needs is a relationship with God Himself. The Holy Spirit who indwells our bodies making us the temple of God guides us into the understanding and application of all truth. It is God’s truth that sets us free from our false beliefs that lead us into misery and transforms us and gives us the same joy experienced by Jesus Himself.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Let me prompt your thinking about your needs with some questions:
1. What would you say is your greatest need/desire?
2. What is your most noticeable need/desire in relationships?
3. How successful have you been in your close relationships?
4. Describe your relationship with your parents
5. Did you feel loved and secure as a child?
6. Describe your parent’s relationship. Was it close? Was there a lot of fighting? Did they divorce?
7. Do you find yourself seeking something in your relationship with your spouse that you can’t seem to ever get?
8. Would you be willing to redirect your need/desire toward God?
9. Would you be willing to admit that you are seeking something from a member of the opposite sex that you can only get from God?
10. Are you hungry for praise from people?
11. Are you terrified of rejection?
12. Do you avoid conflict at all costs?
13. Have you been married and divorced a number of times?
14. Are all of your relationships filled with conflict?
15. Are you so disillusioned with relationships that you have given up?
16. Are you truly happy?
17. Are you overly concerned with appearances?
We all begin our lives seeking what we need from people. It never works and eventually after enough conflict and failure, we give up. We may stay married for the children’s sake but our hearts are filled with despair. We lose hope in ever finding happiness in our close relationships. If this describes you, then great!!!
Now, maybe you will stop trying to squeeze from people what you can only get from God. Now perhaps you are ready to seek God in a different way. Stay tuned. I will try to help you learn the new way to meet your needs.
This article was written by Gene Cunningham, a Pastor, missionary and an excellent writer. Enjoy!
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, and angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.’ ” – Luk 2:8-11
The Humility of God
As we near this Christmas celebration I want to dwell deeply on the amazing simplicity of this most amazing of all stories. I do not know your circumstances, but I am sure many of you are alone, far from loved ones at this time. Others will be in financial difficulties, as the “festivities” swirl around them, wondering how to meet the bills that are piling up. Some I know have lost their homes, and others jobs, leaving bleak future prospects. You may feel unloved, unappreciated, and unimportant. It may be that your failures, personal shortcomings, or hardships only add to a sense of loss during this time when we should all be celebrating. It is especially for such as these that I write this offering this Christmas. I pray that God may open our eyes to the greatest of all miracles, and how it touches all of common life, with all its limits, with God’s infinite grace.
What is God saying to us, what lesson was He giving to the world, in the circumstances of our Lord’s humble birth? All true perfection that is found in this broken world is discovered in the providential working of a holy and perfect God working an infinite and eternal plan. From the very beginning, man was made in the image of God (Gen.1:26). With the loss of the fullness of that image, due to the fall of Adam into sin, God’s redemptive plan began to work for its fullest restoration. That restoration and “refreshing” (Act 3:19) would come through the “seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15), “Who is Christ” (Gal 3:16). The Lord Jesus Christ came to bring salvation, justification to sinners, and reconciliation to God. But He also came to illustrate what that restored “image of God” looked like in daily life.
And so in the birth of Christ we see the miracle of “The word become flesh”, combined with the countless other miracles of grace in the commonplace things of life. The eternal King came into a poor peasant family. His birthplace was not in a palace, but as an outcast in a stable, with a manger for a bed. The annunciation of His birth was not made in the Temple, nor the schools of the learned scribes, but in the fields, to shepherds who were themselves outcasts of the religious elites of the Temple service.
The God of Small Things
What kind of God would choose such a setting for the birth of His son, the Savior of the world? What kind of Deity would ignore the entire religious system which for nearly 1500 years was dedicated to His name, in favor of “the off-scouring of the world” (1Co 4:13)? What strange plan would send angelic messenger and the choir of Seraphs to rough and rustic men of sunburned face and calloused hands? As I think on these things I can only say that it is our God, who loves the unloved, who shuns the so-called great and powerful in favor of the weak and forgotten. It is the true God, breaking down all our fabricated images and idols of beauty, power, grandeur, influence, and wealth. It is He who created us in His image, returning in the glory of simplicity, the power of meekness, the wealth of humility, to begin a work of the “restoration of all things” (Act 3:21). He wanted “the eyes of (our) understanding (to be) enlightened; that (we) may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:18).
Should we not be astounded that the God of all creation, to whom the angels sing in everlasting chorus, “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8) should count as His longed for inheritance those whom He has saved from sin and shame? Did not Christ remind us of this, when He spoke to His Father in the upper room, repeatedly speaking of us as “the men whom You have given Me out of the world” (Joh 17:6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 24)? How remarkable that God truly “raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the beggar from the dung-heap…that He may seat him with princes” (cf.1Sa 2:8; Psa113:7). As Mary declared in her song, “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty” (Luk 1:53). Was it not clear that He came to “turn the world upside down” (Act 17:6) when His first major discourse spoke of the “blessed” condition of all who came to Him from the common-place of daily life and its struggles (Mat 5:3-12). It is from this context we get the phrase, “the salt of the earth” (Mat 5:13).
The True Hidden Treasure
Now what is the meaning of all of this? What practical applications can we find from the essence of the story of the birth of Christ? We can begin by stating without hesitation that God loves the simple things and the common people of this earth. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “God must love the common man, He made so many of them.” But beyond this, it is an inescapable truth that God redeems not just “the foolish…weak…base…despised…nothings” (1Co 1:27-30), but also their very circumstances. It is “out of weakness (we are) made strong” (Heb 11:34b). It is in the very midst of affliction that we can find joy through His word ( 1 Th 1:6, Jam 1:2). Our gifts and offerings to Him are not dependant on what we have, but rather are magnified by what we have not (2Co 8:1-3, Luk 21:3). It is not by belonging to some great congregation, but rather by being part of a small despised group that we prevail (Jud 7:3-7).
How can I put this in the most simple and useful way? It would be to urge each of us to look for the true miracle of the life we have in Christ in the face of our husband/wife, in the presence of our children, and in the opportunity to give a word in season, or a helping hand to some downtrodden soul, or a cheery smile on the street. If we will allow the Spirit of God to fill us with the spirit of the first Christ-mas, we will find that God still delights to make His home among the small and humble, and in every heart that will give Him entrance by faith and humility. May each of us be found a fitting “stable” for His incarnation into our lives at this time, and from this time forward. Our world is bankrupt, far more spiritually than financially. On this historically dark and cold Christmas Eve, may the Spirit of Christ bring light and love and hope to you and yours. For the Christmas story is not of the past, but is of an ever-growing spiritual renewal and reconciliation that will continue until His kingdom comes. Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Shamgar had an ox goad
David had a sling
Dorcas had a needle
Rahab had some string
Mary had some ointment
Moses had a rod
What small thing do you have
That you’ll dedicate to God?
Wishing you all the most blessed Christ-filled Christmas,
Gene, Nan and the Cunningham clan
John Piper preaches a Reformed Theology, which teaches a high Calvinist approach to salvation. He believes in a limited atonement and a limited offer of salvation only to the elect. The elect in Reformed Theology are those God has chosen to believe the gospel and does not include all mankind. I am in strong disagreement with him in the area of salvation. When it comes to living the Christian life though, he is right on and writes very well. I offer his article on finding meaning in Christmas.
Finding the Greatest Gift of All in The Gospel
John Piper
Christmas turns our attention to gifts like no other season.
We think about giving just the right gift to the people we love; we savor the thrill of receiving gifts from family and friends. And in the midst of all the activity, we try to stop long enough to remind ourselves of why we’re celebrating with gifts in the first place: it’s Jesus’ birthday. This time of year just sings with reminder after reminder of the time when God Himself came down to our planet in the flesh.
The birth of Christ, as humble and great as it was, made even greater gifts possible — spiritual gifts such as grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, transformation, freedom, peace, and joy. Yet even these spiritual gifts pale in comparison to the ultimate gift — God Himself.
Here’s how we find the greatest gift of all in the Gospel:
Understand that nothing is truly good unless it leads to God.
Realize that God is the source of all goodness, and all the good gifts He gives must help you connect to Him if they are to bring true goodness to your life. Remember that only God makes the good news good.
Take the focus off yourself and place it on God.
Honestly examine what makes you feel happy. Is it the affirmation of God lavishing gifts on you? Is it a sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you’re worth God’s attention? Know that your good feelings should be rooted in God’s worth, not your own. Recognize that true joy can only come in the way that God designed it – from knowing and celebrating Him. Understand that the point of the Gospel isn’t just to give you a variety of powerful gifts. It’s to help you see and savor God’s glory. He is the true treasure.
Communicate what salvation really means.
Think about whether or not you’d be truly fulfilled in heaven if God weren’t there with you. Realize that no amount of pleasurable experiences can make up for the lack of His presence. Whenever you present the Gospel message to others, don’t focus on its power to help them avoid the pain of hell or to get into a heaven full of privileges. Instead, emphasize what’s most important about salvation. Let people know that salvation enables them to live with their Creator and enjoy His presence forever. Don’t say, “Salvation is great!” Say, “God is great!” because His saving love is the gift of Himself. He is the Gospel. Understand that the Gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it’s a way to get people to God. Know that if you don’t desire God above all other things, than you haven’t yet truly believed or obeyed the Gospel.
Let the Gospel help you see God’s image.
Rejoice that, although you don’t have any video recordings of Jesus from when He walked the earth as God incarnate, you can see Him when you let the Gospel message and the Holy Spirit’s affirmation of that message draw you closer to Him. As you learn more about Jesus in the Gospel, pray to see His face more clearly and understand the image of His glory more fully.
Ask the Holy Spirit to awaken you.
Understand that the Holy Spirit authenticates the Gospel as God’s own word. Ask the Spirit to awaken your soul to see God’s manifest presence in the Gospel. Rely on the Spirit’s power to help you confirm that the Gospel is both reasonable and spiritual. Remember that God’s glory is what the Gospel events and promises are meant to show.
Realize that seeing God’s glory is the key to becoming more holy yourself.
Understand that you are transformed more into Jesus’ image by means of focusing your attention on His glory. As you admire Jesus’ purity and holiness, your sinful habits will begin to feel foreign and distasteful. His worldview will gradually shape your values, thinking, and decisions. His wisdom, power, and promises will give you greater confidence to choose faith over fear. His glory will inspire you to delight in His fellowship and yearn to see Him face-to-face in heaven. His love will empower you to love others more.
Join God in His joy.
As you see how glad God is to have His Son, Jesus, rejoice with Him that He thought of the perfect plan to extend His love to all people through Jesus. Don’t be somber when pondering the Gospel. Realize that it’s a message of great joy.
Let your love for God lead you to repentance.
Know that you can’t appreciate how the Gospel makes forgiveness possible for you if you don’t first feel genuine remorse for your sins. Recognize that the only way to truly experience that remorse is to ponder how glorious God is, and to let your love for Him motivate you to repent because you want to please Him.
Appreciate how God’s gift of pain leads you to Himself.
Understand that when you’re willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel message, you’re choosing the beauty of God’s truth over the ugliness of Satan’s lies, and you’ll be able to see God’s beauty more clearly. Remember that you can trust God to meet every genuine need you have, no matter what your circumstances, but true needs are only those that are necessary for you to do God’s will and bring glory to Him. Know that the Gospel’s aim is not an easy life. Rather, it is deeper knowledge of, and trust in, God.
Don’t let miracles distract you from the One who performs them.
Remind yourself that the material world God has created, the spiritual power He gives believers, and the signs and wonders He sometimes unleashes in answer to prayer are meant only to draw you closer to God. Make sure you’re not focusing on God’s miracles at the expense of God Himself.
Consider why you truly want to grow to be more like Jesus.
Ask yourself: “Do I want to be strong like Christ, so I will be admired as strong, or so that I can defeat every adversary that would entice me to settle for any pleasure less than admiring the strongest person in the universe, Christ?”, “Do I want to be wise like Christ, so I will be admired as wise and intelligent, or so that I can discern and admire the One who is most truly wise?”, “Do I want to be holy like Christ, so that I can be admired as holy, or so that I can be free from all unholy inhibitions that keep me from seeing and savoring the holiness of Christ?”, and “Do I want to be loving like Christ, so I will be admired as a loving person, or so that I will enjoy extending to others, even in sufferings, the all-satisfying love of Christ?” Make sure that your goal to become like Jesus is rooted in a passion to see and savor Him in the Gospel message.
Adapted from God is the Gospel by John Piper, copyright 2005 by Desiring God Foundation. Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Ill., www.crossway.com.
It has been Christmas day for 43 minutes by my clock. The children have long been asleep and Santa Claus has made his way down and back up our chimney, bringing presents to our 4 precious charges. This year I think we made progress with them by emphasizing the birth of our Savior more than the gifts they might receive. It’s a good thing because Santa had a tough year with the recession and all. Our youngest left a note for Santa that said she didn’t have a list because she didn’t really care what she got, because she was thinking about Jesus. Did she really mean it or was she simply saying what she thought was expected? I don’t know, but I know she wrote it down from her own soul, without any adult helping her. I am encouraged.
Growing through Challenges
This year has been challenging on many fronts for my extended family. Many in my family are unemployed this year, which is very unusual. Both my family and my wife’s have strong work ethics imprinted on their DNA from generations of hard working, barely surviving men and women. We have discussed the Father’s plan and realize that he is in the process of changing us, transforming us into the image of his Son. He has to tear down the false ideas in our hearts to build up the true ideas within us. If we don’t allow the adversities to reveal our flawed thinking so we can reject it, we will try to build the truth over the lie. We will use the form that looks like the truth but we will still be motivated by the lie, by the selfish, by the human idea of what happiness is and where it comes from. My brothers and I agreed that God is boiling us down and separating the wrong so that we can be made right. I am amazed at their courage to face their own lies and allow God to change their hearts. I am encouraged.
Relativity
Our nation is in deep, deep trouble. Everything is upside down and inside out. What is clearly foolishness is applauded as virtuous and what is true is seen as prejudice and bigotry. This is what happens when there are no absolutes, there is no true/false, right/wrong or good/bad. The nation Israel went through times like this as is indicated in the book of Judges by the phrase “there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. This phrase is a wonderful description of relative thinking. Relative thinking says there is no right or wrong, only opinion and every one of us has one. While this approach might seem to be the result of enlightened thinkers, it is actually a formula for chaos.
Absolutes
God offers mankind absolutes that reveal those things He has created that do not change or move. An absolute is totally true, always true, never changes and can be counted on to be the same. The Captain of a ship steaming at night saw a light ahead and radioed, “this is the Roosevelt, a 100 ft. steamer and we seem to be on a collision course, I suggest that you give way”. The radio returned fire with this, “this is the Bronson Bay station, and I am a lighthouse, I suggest that you give way.” The lighthouse is an absolute that doesn’t change or move, by which we can chart our course knowing where we are.
When absolutes are watered down or abandoned as they are today, we lose the ability to chart a clear course because everything changes with circumstances. Without absolutes to go by, every idea is relative to its context and situation. Right is right because it serves our purpose, not because of an unalterable idea of what is right and what is wrong. USA has given up its absolutes and replaced them with political correctness and hypocrisy wrapped in pretty paper. Congress is in the process of enacting economic suicide and they call it healthcare reform. Our president is willing to say anything from both sides of his mouth in order to push us into a one-world government. He serves the evil one but knows it not.
Adversity makes us Choose
Yet, in spite of the evil of our government, I am encouraged. I am encouraged because I believe what my bible says, that God uses adversity to grow His people and uses persecution to scatter His message. The day is coming and it will be sooner than we expect, when any Christian who holds to absolutes will be branded an enemy of the people. We will be called bigots and small minded because we refuse to include everyone in our theology. When we assert that homosexuality is wrong we will be called homophobes and guilty of hate crimes. When we asset that Jesus is the only name given under heaven that leads to God, we will be ridiculed and admonished to come into the 21st century. In my lifetime, I expect that ministers will be imprisoned for their faith and believe it or not, I am encouraged. We need harsh pressure to make us choose who and what we really believe and where we will stand. The adversities of our day will work good for the church, not bad. Be encouraged.
Sticking with the Truth
My church seems to be shrinking in numbers. Some of our people have been going to other churches. These churches offer bigger and flashier ministries with more people for their social life and for the singles, a better chance to find a mate. My church is not flashy and perhaps we are stuck on a method and need to change, perhaps. We could change the way we present the Lord’s message but we won’t do so to accommodate those who would have us shorten our message of truth and replace truth with entertainment. The reason is that the only way to be successful in life is to live by absolutes. When life gets tough which it is certain to do, the only thing that will hold you up is the Lord and His word. It is the truth that will free us from the pain and fear of an uncertain world because we know how to interpret the times and His will in the times. My church is committed to teach these absolutes as we know them and even though we could shine our packaging up a bit, the core of truth is there, it is steady and it will remain as long as my Pastor and I have anything to say about it. I am encouraged.
We can always find reasons to feel discouraged. Life in the devil’s world is difficult to say the least. As we grow older, life seems to get even harder. Health trouble, loss of loved ones, financial difficulties and uncertainty about the future. If you use your circumstances as your happiness, life will feel like a roller coaster ride, up and down. Instead of deriving happiness from your life situations, look to God’s word and the absolutes He offers for your comfort and encouragement. Christmas marks the birth of our Savior who has redeemed us from all of our troubles and offers us victory over the difficulties of the devil’s world. His victory over sin and death is shared with all who will believe that he did for them. We have the victory in Christ and that gives us good reason to be encouraged.
This was an article sent to me by my dear friend and fellow sojourner Cindy Lennon.
The Gospel on Offense – The Faith of Tim Tebow by Mark Earley
America ’s largest church has a capacity to hold 16,000. But while Tim Tebow
may not be a preacher, when he runs into the University of Florida ’s football
Stadium-affectionately known as “The Swamp” -his congregation numbers just over
90,000. And you can bet they’re hearing Tim’s message.
It’s not just that this University of Florida quarterback wears Bible verses
etched into his “eye-black” on game days. Tim Tebow has been making headlines
for more than simply his Heisman Trophy win as a sophomore and his two national
championships. This summer the New York Times, GQ, and Sports Illustrated, all
covered the quarterback’s strong Christian faith.
Last year, when the Florida Gators won the national championship, the
pre-game show followed Tim into a local Florida prison where he can regularly be
found sharing his testimony and preaching the Gospel.
And this top-notch athlete, who spends his spring breaks and summers
ministering to orphans in the Philippines has actually helped change the culture
of the University of Florida . According to Sports Illustrated , “Since Tebow’s
arrival on campus, and in large part because of him, the University has launched
a series of community-service initiatives.” Even coach Urban Meyer has taken his
family on a “Tebow-inspired mission trip to the Dominican Republic .”
The press seems to be fascinated with outspoken Christian quarterbacks like
Tim Tebow; Sam Bradford, the 2008 Heisman winner; and now USC’s Matt Barkley.
Only a few decades ago, it would have been taken for granted that these would be
the kinds of fellows any father would want his daughter to marry. Now they are
put under the microscope as some kind of curious anomaly-well-known athletes who
actually exhibit character.
In our doped-up, mug-shot celebrity culture, sadly these young men do look a
little out of step. And that’s to our culture’s shame. Perhaps that is why last
year when the press asked Tim Tebow a rather impertinent question-they were more
embarrassed by the response than he was. It was at a Southeastern Conference
news media event where one reporter asked in front of the crowded room, “Are you
a virgin?” Tim answered with an unequivocal yes and had yet another platform to
explain how his faith impacts every area of his life.
That platform for sharing the Gospel is exactly what Tim’s parents prayed
for before he was born. Tim’s father, Bob, a missionary in the Philippines, had
been weeping over the millions of babies aborted in America . It was then that
he prayed, “God, if you give me a son, if you give me Timmy, I’ll raise him to
be a preacher.”
Soon after, when Pam Tebow learned she was expecting, the parents’ faith was
put to the test. After a series of grave complications, doctors encouraged them
to abort the child. They refused. Born small and weak, Timmy struggled from the
beginning. But his dad continued to tell him, “God’s got a purpose for you, and
at some point, He’s going to call you to preach.”
Dad was right. God’s message would come through the roar of the crowd,
beamed to millions via satellite. But little did they know, Tim would don a
jersey, not robes, and use a stadium for his pulpit.
Tim’s a great example of an opportunity every believer has-to put our faith
to work on the field of play where God has gifted us and called us. =
This is the third article in the recent discussion of the Old Man – New Man
Biblical Terminology
The terms Old Man (self) and New Man (self) found in the bible refer to the person we were in our old life without Christ and then our new life after salvation. The terms are not actual as if we were a different person before salvation and another after we trusted in Christ. The terms are personifications that describe our personal characteristics, our beliefs, our ideas, our relational strategies and behaviors before Christ and afterward. When Paul, who alone uses the terms, refers to the old self (Rom 6:6, Eph 4:22) he is thinking about our whole lifestyle before salvation. When he talks about the new self, he is thinking about our different lifestyle after salvation. This article will delve deeper into the old and new selves by discussing the beliefs, ideas and emotions we develop and use in our old life. Notice how the different pieces of the human puzzle are presented here and put together to explain why and how we are the way we are.
Sin Nature
As discussed in the previous articles, Adam’s sin has caused all of us to inherit his selfish nature. This selfish, sinful nature causes us to view our self as the center of the universe and our self-interest as the most important issue in life. We naturally put our self first above God, others and any other concern. As we grow up and build our own ideas about life, self-interest is the overriding concern in all of our beliefs. Our thoughts and feelings are controlled by selfishness and our sin nature causes us develop views that promote self above all other concerns.
Human Needs
God created Adam and Eve and in His creation He designed the human soul. We have all inherited the basic design God created in our original parents. By design, He made us all with human needs that we are compelled to have fulfilled. We experience our needs as desires. All of us hunger and long for what we need and we know that we need because all of us have wants. Our God given human needs drive us to seek others that will love us, accept us, approve of us an include us. The human soul is empty by itself and naturally seeks relationships with others to meet our needs. These God designed needs can be observed in the raw by watching young children relate to parents and peers. All human behavior can be understood and motivation traced back to the drive to meet these basic human needs.
Knowing Nothing
We begin life as babies with no knowledge, understanding, ideas or beliefs. We are born only with some basic instincts that guide us. For example, we are born with the instinct to cry when we feel need and the instinct to nurse on our mother’s breast. Almost immediately though we begin to build our own impressions about self, others and life itself. It is these earliest impressions and ideas that form the core of our own views about our self, others and about how life works. As we grow up, we build all of our beliefs on these core ideas. Additionally, our core beliefs determine how we will interpret all further life experiences. Once our core ideas are in place they control how we view life and everything we experience in life.
Stages of Development
As we progress in years, life comes in stages. It is during these stages of human development that our ideas are constructed. These stages correspond roughly to ages 0-2 years, 2-5 years, 5-12years and 12-18 years old. Each stage brings its own developmental challenges that must be mastered for a child to grow properly into the next stage. For example, the earliest stages are focused on developing the motor skills of walking and using our bodies to negotiate our world. The latter stages focus more on our mental development, relationships and the building of a worldview. The most important development in our growth is the way we learn to relate to others. The methods we learn and develop by relating to our parents are termed our relational strategies.
Life Experiences
Beginning early with the most basic issues of life we build our beliefs out of our human experiences. From the toddler stage through our teen years and beyond we form our ideas about self and others based on how we are treated, loved and nurtured. If our parents love us unconditionally, treat us kindly and discipline us fairly we develop the healthy core idea that we have intrinsic worth and expect that others will also care for us. By contrast, if we are treated harshly, loved only when we behave and disciplined with anger, we conclude that we are worth little and expect others to care only when we produce something they want. We learn how to relate by relating to our primary caregivers, developing our relational strategies based on what works with them to gain their love and approval. Whatever works with mom and dad to make them laugh, smile and praise us, we learn to use over and over. We then store these effective approaches in our inventory of ideas where they become our primary methods of relating to our peers and the opposite sex. Because we know nothing and have nothing to think with, we base all of our ideas on our immediate experiences either good or bad.
Development Summary
We are born with a nature to put self first and driven by the need for love, approval, acceptance and inclusion with others. We are born knowing nothing and having no frame of reference on which to draw accurate conclusions about how to meet our needs. We grow and develop in stages building our core beliefs first and then constructing more complex ideas upon this foundation. We build our ideas based on our primary relationships and reach our conclusions purely on the basis of how these significant others relate to us. We learn what works to induce others give us what we need and we use these methods over and over. Based purely on our own experiences with our parents and peers we build our own life views about everything in our world. Your personal opinions and views that you hold in your heart today did not form there by accident or happenstance. Your personal viewpoints were formed by choice as you interpreted your life experiences, reached your own conclusions about these experiences, believed these conclusions you reached and then used these personal conclusions as the basis of your relating and behavior in your life.
Conclusion
We believe, think, feel and behave according to the inner program running in our heart. All of the ideas we have believed and used to live our lives form this self-chosen belief system that controls our life. Driven by our needs that feel like desires within us, we pursue relationships with people using the relational strategies we learned from interacting with our parents. Growing up in stages, we built our own ideas based on what seemed to work, seemed to induce others to care and what we hope will work to get love for ourselves in the future. We are, we think, we feel and we behave the way we have chosen using the freedom of soul designed by God. The good news is that we are what we have chosen to be. It is good because if God has enabled us to choose what we will believe and we have chosen what we are, then we can also choose to change what we are. God has made us so that we can choose making us responsible and He made us so that we can change giving us opportunity.
Stay tuned for the next discussions where we will talk about how and why we feel the way we do and what God has provided so that we can think and feel like Jesus.
