The Hardest Battle To Fight

For the child of God we often talk of the looming battles that face us in life.  We caution 12-20 year olds that there are going to arise new temptations such as lust, lying, cheating, and other sins that will start bombarding them as they navigate the teenage years.  We strive with 18-22 year olds who are leaving for college to be wary of all the freedom that college brings, because with that freedom comes more temptations, and occasions to deviate from the path of God.  As we "mature" into adulthood we still impress the need to vigilant because the temptations are on every door step, and the pitfalls around every turn.  When we examine these situations we have to realize that there is one constant variable in this equation:  The Individual.

While thinking on these things I realized that all too often we characterize the battles in our lives with temptations as just that: a battle.  We do this because there are passages of Scripture, such as Romans 7, that paints a picture of a one one one, mono y mono, fight between the child of God and whatever sin is attacking us that day.  We tend to isolate each sin as an individual assassin who is trying to attack, infiltrate, and destroy us.  In our discussions with young men, in particular, we identify their main enemy as lust, we give them strategies to attack that enemy, ammunition, fall back positions, ect. (excuse my overly used military analogies) all in the effort of equipping that child of God to do battle with their enemy.  We use scriptures like "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 KJV), and "Put on the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11 KJV) as a means to support this battlefield mentality.  You get the picture of the child of God standing in armour, waiting for the attack with sword and shield in hand, ready to fight off any onslaught that is coming.  The problem with taking this analogy in that direction is its the wrong direction.  The hardest battles we fight are not some outside opponent assaulting the gates, but the nature of our hearts.

Paul in Romans 7 AND 8 addresses this very issue.  He states in Romans 7 that he "serves the law of God with the mind; but with the flesh the law of sin."  Paul states in Romans 7 that even though he kept the law of God in his mind his flesh, working through sin, would corrupt the law of God, and cause him to sin even more.  "I had not known sin, but by the law", he says, "but sin, taking occasion...wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." (v.7-8).  He basically says the law taught me what was sin, but then once I knew what was sin the flesh made me desire that sin even more.  That is how the child of God is today still.  We know what lust is because God tells us what is lust.  However, when we know what it is to lust, and even though we know it is a sin against God, the flesh (sinful) side of us pushes us to desire it even more.  Now going back to our military analogy:  In this instance our current method of dealing with this issue is to equip the child of God with all sorts of tools, and practices to keep lust at bay.  We use books like "Every Man's Battle" to try and coach a child of God in avoidance as a means to starve the flesh.  Basically a war of attrition.  Now there is nothing wrong with this book, and there is nothing wrong with that approach.....until it fails.  Which it will ultimately do because we are not addressing the "heart" of the issue.

Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."  
Here Christ tells us the issue with this person isn't the outward look, but the heart.  That is where we come back to with the child of God.  We can put on all the armour we want, we can set up boundaries, and guidelines to keep us from lust, but in our hearts if we desire lustful things we will always fail.  Armour can protect a soldier from an arrow, but not from a heart attack.  With this in mind we turn back to Romans 8 which is where Paul turned from Romans 7.  Given the nature of knowledge of sin, and subsequent resulting sin from that knowledge Paul ends Romans 7 with "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?.....I thank GOD through JESUS CHRIST."  As Paul then continues his thoughts into chapter 8 he tells us that we still have the issue of the mind serving through knowledge the laws of God, the flesh still being present with us, pushing us to follow the laws of death, but now a new character comes on scene: The Spirit.  "...That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (v. 4)  Now there is a way out.  The battle isn't a mono y mono warfare of a well equipped child of God, who through training, and diligence has "whooped" this devil, but rather a realization that my mind and my flesh will fail me if I'm not rooted in the Spirit of God.

Paul goes on to tell us how this Spirit working in accord with Jesus Christ takes care of all things pertaining to our care through intercession, and "groanings which cannot be uttered".  So the battle plan needs to be changed.  Yes there are steps, guidelines that can be implemented in the short term to help shut down some of the outward influences a child of God faces, but if the issue of the heart is not addressed then the walls are only protecting a rotting inside.  The child of God instead must rely on humble prayer to God for the changing of his/her heart, as well as verses such as Romans 6:10 which assure us that we are indeed dead to sin through the amazing works of Jesus Christ.  It's not a matter of trying to become dead to sin, or killing the sin ourselves, but rather accepting the fact that Jesus crucified our lust, ect, on the cross.  Let us then not let sin reign in our mortal bodies.  I have found in thinking on these things recently that in my own life this is the issue I've always had: accepting the battle as one I had to fight, and the sin as something that will always defeat me...eventually.  However the scripture in Romans 8 tells us we are MORE than conquerors through HIM.  We must then quit accepting defeat, and rather accept the fact that Christ has already won the battle, He is the Captain of our Salvation, and go to Him for our fight instead to our own devices.  Through reliance of Christ we can look the devil in the face, resist him, and he WILL flee from us.

Simple Explanation of John 3

If you're like me then you like simple.  Over the years I've heard so many ways PBs try to prove out John 3:16 not to mean an open ended invitation for the whole world to be saved eternally.  All of which are very good, but in some ways very complicated.  Case and point:  If I have to use the phrase "Well, in the Greek the word 'World' can mean..."  then I've probably lost 90% of the population I've been trying to talk to.  I therefore love a very simple, Bible based answer which the other day God blessed me to see.  Maybe you all have already seen this, but I found it to be so marvelously simple that I thought worth sharing.

John 3:14-16 - "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Now the first thing we see right off the bat, and what a lot of the Christian world sees is: a person believes, and then they have eternal life.  However if we look at the verses we see that Christ isn't saying that at all.  He is simply stating that if someone believes in Him they will not perish.  I will give an example that is relative to what Christ is saying but to the opposite direction.  

We are all going to die.  There is not way around that fact.  Now, I can deny that all my life if I want to, and never accept or "believe" in the fact that I'm going to die, and I will still die.  On the other hand lets say after I get out of my teenage years I finally come to realize that fact, and "believe" now that I will actually die one day.  My belief in the fact that I will die does not confirm, or even initiate the dying process, nor is it necessary for my eventual demise.  I'm dying whether I believe in it or not, but my belief in it is a testimony to the fact that I will indeed die.

Seeing it in this light we see that Christ is making a statement of fact.  If you believe in Christ it is a testimony to the fact that you ALREADY have everlasting life not an initiatory action to BEGIN eternal life.

SECOND SIMPLE STATEMENT

I love when the bible explains itself and this is one of those moments.

John 3:18-21- "He that believeth on him is not condemned:  but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

I guess in however many times I've ready this passage of scripture I've never really grasped what these verses were saying.  See, with these verses the previous verses gain new light.  Now when we are talking about v. 16 we have a better framework for what is happening.  A truer statement has never been made: "whosoever believeth in Him (Christ), should not perish but have eternal life."  That statement of fact is expounded upon in these last three verses.  The common mistake is to think that from v. 16 you can make a worldwide call to whomever for salvation, and anyone COULD make a choice to be "saved" that day.  However, vs. 19-21 point out clearly:  there are those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil, and that they hate the light, neither will they come to the light.  This is a group of people who , no matter how many times, or how many ways you preach the "light" of the gospel to them they will always flee from it because their works are evil, their hearts are evil, they are not children of God, and they will always run from Christ instead of to Him.  There is no opportunity for them to "accept Christ" because they flee from Christ, and would never run to Him unless there has been a change in their heart (i.e. New Birth).There is, thought, the last group.  This group is described as a people who "do the truth".  When they hear the "light" of the gospel they are drawn to it light a moth to a flame because they are "wrought in God".

In conclusion I find the simplest way to explain John 3 is not a Greek lesson the word "kosmos", but rather the explanation Christ Himself gave:  The ONLY people in the world that God so loved that will ever believe on Him, and have eternal life are those who "doeth truth" that are "wrought in God", and are drawn to the light.

Fight...and fight some more

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."

- 1 Timothy 6:12 KJV

At Zion Rest Church, where I attend and preach alongside Elder Charles H. Kitchens, and Bro. Derrick Kitchens, I have been going through the book of 1 Timothy.  Subsequently we finished this series last Sunday  afternoon.  The whole book, to me, is very important for the Church today given the prevailing attitude of "Laodicean Contentment" I've noticed among a majority of churches.  

In the beginning of chapter 6 Paul will tell Timothy "Godliness with Contentment is great gain."  Obviously the two characteristics there should not be separated: godliness WITH contentment.  When we start separating godliness FROM contentment then we end up in a state much like the church at Laodicea which was very content in their present state, but lack a key aspect of godliness that's inherent in the true Church: Love of Jesus Christ.

The entire book of Timothy from the first chapter to the last is stressing the importance of the Church to not become content in the bad way.  In the first chapters Paul tells Timothy the church is to be focused on the essentials of Discipleship which is "...charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned..." (1 Timothy 1:6 KJV).  He then goes on in chapter 2 to stress the need to pray for "all men".  All men believed here to be all the different KINDS of men, as he addresses 2 in particular ("...kings and all that are in authority..") with the goal in mind for all these kinds of men to be "saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth." Paul echoes this same idea in Romans 10 for all of his Jewish brethren that are children of God to be "saved" because they have a "zeal of God but not according to knowledge".  

At the end of the book Paul wraps up the commandment to Timothy with the above stated verse: "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..."  This encouragement is here to remind us that whereas we set out to keep charity out of a pure heart, faith unfeigned, being instant in prayer for others, it gets difficult, and we get lazy. Therefore Paul tells Timothy, and us, fight...and then fight some more.  Keep up the battle.  Never faint.  Lay hold on that eternal life that we profess to believe in, and live a life in this world that sheds light on that "life and immortality" that we have through Jesus Christ alone. 

Here then in 1 Timothy Paul gives us 3 main bullet points for the Disciple of Christ to latch onto for continued growth, and continued "light-shedding" here in this world.

1. 3 attributes every Disciple of Christ must hold to: charity out of a pure heart, good conscience, and faith unfeigned
2. Prayers, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks MUST be made for all men - even those in authority over us (i.e. Barack Obama) because God has a people among "all men" and it should be our desire for them to be operating "according to knowledge of the truth"
3. Fight...and fight some more

A New Beginning

Given the recent inspiration from my brother in Christ Jeremy Sarber I decided to take back up the blogger title.  My hope would be to "study aloud" the Word of God, and share the good news of the Gospel that has impacted my life so profoundly.

When looking at my life I can't help but marvel in how amazingly God has moved me from a life devoid of the blessings of the Gospel to the life I live today where I am married to an amazing woman of God, father to an amazing young boy, and am surrounded by Godly men and women I can thankfully call my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Maybe you have a testimony similar to mine that you had a time in your past where you "walked according to the course of the world", but now are blessed to know & believe the Gospel.  I think a lot times I become numb to the immense blessings in my life, and need to stop and reflect more.  To think of where I have been and where I am now takes me to my knees, and crushes me with the weight of His grace.

I'm not that eloquent, and I cannot promise that these postings will be that good, but hopefully through the grace of God I will be able to share with you the "good news" I find in the Gospel as it has played out in my life.