Having 'IT' Both Ways...

“… The bottom line is this: if there is no God, if there is no life after death, then ultimately all of our ethical decisions are absolutely meaningless. That’s a true and inescapable conclusion. If we think about it, it’s the only conclusion we can reach if we have absented God from our thinking. The only alternative to an absolute ethic is a relative ethic. We cannot have an absolute ethic without a personal Creator.

To confess that God is Creator is to confess that we are not cosmic accidents, devoid of ultimate value. We came from somewhere significant and we are headed toward a destination of importance.” *excerpted from a publication by R.C. Sproul – “What We Believe”

We want to have it both ways. We want to not hear about God or hear about church and religion. We want to do our own thing and think/believe our own way – even if we do go to a church from time to time. We say that everyone should be allowed to do their own thing. We don’t want God or church or Bible shoved at us. But, we want good things and blessings. This perspective is not just owned by many youth and young adults – particularly as it relates to parents talking God and church to them, but also by adults of all ages. But… if everyone is allowed and encouraged to do their own thing, then if talking about God and ‘shoving religion’ is someone’s thing, then where is your argument? Why would it be wrong, then, for someone to want to talk to you about God? Why must they be barred from doing their ‘thing’ and you have the sole right to do your ‘thing’? Thus enters the contradiction. The reasoning breaks down quickly. As is referred to in the commentary above, if there is no absolute right or wrong as defined by a Creator God, who then decides what becomes right and what becomes wrong? 400 years of enslavement of African Americans in the U.S. other jurisdictions, along with the enslavement and devaluation of others, ought to teach a person what happens when relativistic perspectives, the ‘everyone is right’ belief are the ‘ethics’ that people adhere to. And yet, we conveniently push aside those realities or relegate them to a separate platform or deem them inapplicable in a conversation about relativity when they become personal.

 

If we deny that humans originate from God, are created in His image, and that they are of ultimate value as a result, then human dignity goes out the window. Again, 400 years of slavery in the U.S., and across the globe devaluation of persons to the point where they are considered property, or germs to be eradicated/exterminated, the recent racial battles become irrelevant if God is not the Creator Who imputes/places the ultimate value on human life – all human life regardless of what we may consider as a ‘viable’ life. If we are only going to assess life on the basis of our emotional feelings about what is right or wrong, which is where relativistic thinking gets germinated, then whose emotions are right?

You and I cannot have it both ways. Either God is God and is the Sovereign over all life, or he is not. Either He and what He says is the absolute truth, or he and his words are not, and we are not accountable based on them. We cannot have it both ways. Rejecting the absolute Sovereignty of God and His absolute truth leaves us in a no-where place of chaos.  

 

 

Sewing for joy

On Easter weekends, the youth at my church participate in a project called "30-Hour Famine," where the opportunity for raising funds for food insecurities, crises and disasters leads them to go without solid food for 30 hours. They have raised thousands of dollars for WorldVision, which has been able to often be doubled or tripled by other donors. On Holy Saturday, the 'famining' youth engage in a service project; a couple of years ago, they fashioned blocks to express something they are grateful for about Resurrection Sunday. I took them home and assembled into a cross for a hanging (I won't say how long I stayed up piecing and completing the hanging), and it now adorns the sanctuary during Easter season. On another occasion they made decorated t-shirts for a charity our church supports (it was so cool to have teen guys sewing and designing!)

I was asked to do an Advent stole vestment, and made this (still needed final ironing in this pic).

Another large banner for the church sanctuary for Pentecost (ignore my basement floor 'storage system' - it was about 2 in the morning when I took this pic). Using my phone camera doesn't do the piece justice. It is about 5.5 by 4 feet. The flames and Spirit depiction of a flying dove are in the background. I want to make another companion banner that has the I AM tetragram letters and the name of the Holy Spirit in Hebrew.

This is why I want to retire - there are days when I swell with the ideas of praising the Lord through my sewing gift. 

How Do You Walk?

If you have ever been on a guided hiking tour along a trail and/or through a wooded park, the hiking guide continually warns the tour group – “do not wander off or leave the group. Stay with the group for your own safety as there are hazards, and cell signals are almost nonexistent.” The guide has walked the trail often and knows all of the pitfalls, all of those things that could make for an unpleasant journey. So, what would you do? Does a sense of adventure, the thrill-rush of the unknown spur you to walk away or hang back while the group goes forward? Do you believe that nothing bad will happen (hey, I believe in God and He said nothing bad will happen to His people), that getting off the trail can’t possibly lead to encounters with wild animals, new or strange plants that could prove harmful, pits, etc.? Because you are smart enough to figure out what to do? That losing sight of the group and hiking guide will not happen, or if it does, you have good skills for wandering around, and will catch up to them? After all, isn't the walk intended to reveal new and amazing, enjoyable-to-the-eye things? Yet the hiking guide won’t take you into those really cool places; he’s just keeping to some well-beaten path? Where is the fun in that? After all, God gave me a mind to think with, and desire to discover – I just want to exercise it for a while, then get back to the group when I’m finished!

Sadly, sometimes our view of 'fun' is shaped by the world, and involves risky behavior, stepping outside of known boundaries or safe paths, finding attraction in things and places that are potentially harmful – just like the imprudent walker/hiker who sees only the thrills of ditching the hiking group and doing it his or her way. How many know that wandering away from the expert guide puts you in danger, danger that will be exceedingly challenging for you to negotiate, no matter how smart you think you are? That stranded in a place without a cell signal, where the environment is such that it is hard to determine exactly where you are, is a very real possibility – are you willing to take that chance?  

That is the warning God gives to us, because He does not want to see us get harmed. He loves us. He values our lives. He lovingly tells us to follow His Son, Jesus Christ, and allow Him to lead us to places He would have us go. Because God is Omniscient – He knows all things – He knows what is best for us and leads us along that way. He also has desired and predestined us for a future that will bring us the abundant life He has planned for us. He saved us, already knowing where we would go, even whether we might stumble along the way. He thus has designed the path upon which we will find success. Just the opposite: to walk without God, to leave the path He has put us on,  is like walking in the dark – the dense darkness – without a torch or flashlight, i.e, without the True Light. Like a hiker or walker who strays away from the group and puts him or herself in potential risk situations, so will the believer, who leaves the path that Jesus and the Father have designed just for them, and can subsequently place him or herself in a risky situation (the risk is relative to one’s relationship with God, which is super serious, and can risk harming oneself physically, emotionally, and spiritually).  

The youth studied a few months ago the idea of walking with God, and their feedback on that study has been in the sanctuary for all to see. Walking with God, following His Son, takes us along a narrow path, bordered by guardrails for our safety, and for our best life and enjoyment. Our natural inclination, though – based on our fallen human nature – is to go our own way and leave the path, and this inclination impacts us strongly when we are adolescents and teens, especially when we fall out of the nest and have more freedom. It also impacts us strongly when our children grow older and we are left with an empty nest. We might see ‘shiny pennies’ everywhere, things that beg us to leave the path to satisfy what we think we need, what will make us more fulfilled, will affirm our personhoods, or appeal to our fallen human nature relative to moral judgment and behavior. God sent His Son that we may follow Him and enjoy an abundant life in Christ.

If you have seen the tendency within yourself to leave the path God has designed for you, to not walk in the Way, pray to God to fill your heart and mind with His Word, so that it will guide you along the path following Christ. Ask Him to show you how to walk with The Truth, The Way, and The Life, even if others will not.  Ask Him to help you learn that the guardrails along the path He has designed for you to walk in are to give you life, and not take life away. It is with much urgency that I invite us all to walk with the King, to follow Him, for the time is short and our vision limited – we can’t see the next moments, let alone see the past the curves in the path ahead. Walk wisely (according to the wisdom of God) and humbly is God’s call to all.

Scriptures to put into your Faith Arsenal:

Ephesians 5:15-16

Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

1 Corinthians 7:17

Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

Matthew 10:38

And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

2 Corinthians 5:7

for we walk by faith, not by sight—

Proverbs 16:25

Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death.

John 6:65-69  And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” ⁶⁶ As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

1 John 1:7

but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Thessalonians 4:1

Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought towalk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

Colossians 2:6

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

Matthew 7:13

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

John 10:1-18
“…I am the door…”

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Ephesians 1:3-6
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

John 10:27

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

John 12:26

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Psalm 89:15

How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.

Psalm 56:13

For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.

John 12:35

So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.

Genesis 6:9

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

Ecclesiastes 10:3

Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.

Jeremiah 6:16

Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Psalm 37:23

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way.

1 Peter 2:21

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

1 Peter 4:3-5
You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. ⁴ [Your former associates] are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme. ⁵ But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

Hard, torrential rain, leaky roofs, and vulnerable faith

With all of the massive amounts of rain we have had in the last few days, and how it has impacted our church building, I have to admit I’ve been a little preoccupied by it. Today when I was picking up my co-worker to commute to work, the building across from her house was having the roof repaired. She mentioned that it was old and was probably leaky – with all the rain we’ve been having, she said, the water found its way to all of the weak spots. And immediately – at the speed of the Holy Spirit, the below analogy came to mind. 

“Analogy of hard rain falling onto roof - it reveals where there are vulnerabilities in the structure, and water will leak through. It is kind of like the work of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification: He reveals to us where there are weak spots, vulnerabilities in our faith and character. He shows us where they are saggy and blistered by the world and its influence, and our own natures, and where we may have tried to plug up the holes with the equivalent of spitballs or tarps. With the rain damage, the homeowner most often must contract with an outside source to repair the vulnerable spots on the roof. The expert contractor uses his knowledge and skill to repair the vulnerabilities in the roof – for a fee – and may offer a warranty period of up to 20 years. Yet, the indwelling Holy Spirit, Himself, not only repairs our vulnerable places, those weakness and immaturities in our faith, or where our character is out of alignment with Christ – He can eventually perfect them for eternity …the price of the repairs to the ‘homeowner’ is submission to the Holy Spirit’s plan.

“The Holy Spirit uses tried and true tools to firm up and strengthen us and help us become leak-resistant: -- (1) God’s Word, which He helps to be operational in us to strengthen and shore-up our faith structure to withstand the torrents, and amend our character; (2) He promotes within us the desire for unceasing prayer as an avenue that keeps us continually in communication with the Father, receiving confirmation and affirmation during the building project; (3) He enables us to engage in true worship, worship that acts like rolls of tar paper that help shield the foundations that have been built; (4) and (5) the Holy Spirit also empowers us carry out the stewardship of what has been built into us and for us, and in using the service and ministerial gifts God endows within His redeemed people so that we can enjoy living into the new life being built in Christ.”

I cannot look at a leaky roof the way I used to!  

Hebrews 3:4 -- For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

2 Corinthians 5:1 -- For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Ephesians 2:10 -- For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:19b-20 – [You] are of God’s household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

What Look Are You Going For

A few years ago while working with a charity group, one of the youth volunteers came on a particular service day dressed in semi-opaque leggings and revealing top. One of the adult mentors was given to understand that this style of dress, this look, was cultural based, part of the old tradition in that particular culture where girls in their late teens 'communicate' through their dress, behaviour, domestic skills that they are marriage ready, and ready to bear children.

The adult mentor acknowledged the generations-old tradition, however, the mentor gently explained that the culture in which the girl was presently living - the sex-charged western culture - saw a whole different meaning to how she presented herself. Instead of a young woman living out a tradition from her cultural community, the young men outside of her insular culture did not see or understand her dress style as a communication of marriage readiness, but rather, see the look as one advertising an interest in a sexual encounter. The adult mentor attempted to inform the young woman that in the broader community in which she now lives, one where nearly everything from language, dress, media and entertainment, proclaim a sex-obsessed mindset that is done away with any moral hedges. This sexually charged culture in which we live is lustful, objectivises women and men as sexual vehicles, and even promote clothing to promote and communicate the desire for and invitation to a sexual encounter - clothes that are skin tight, short and exposing an immodest portion of flesh (chests/breasts, thighs) underclothes, etc. The self-expression teens believe to be their innate right here in this sex charged western culture where one is 'free' to express verbally and through clothing, language, and other communication any and every desire - ignorant of the fact that this self and cultural view are shaped by the power of this world. The adult mentor tried to inform the girl that the attention she was receiving because of her style of dress was not honouring her, but was instead from persons who were seeing an invitation to sex. They are not seeking to marry but are seeking that which is reserved for the marriage bed. That is how corrupt the thinking is, how the power of the 'prince of the air' has shaped the minds of young people and many older adults to respond. The adult mentor attempted to explain that while in her insular culture or community there are adults to monitor how a courtship takes place, to set up guardrails to protect the young woman's honour, the western culture does not generally take that view, so that the young woman may be in a compromised position and unable to handle the type of response her style of dress attracts. Those persons have more experience at manipulating persons and circumtances to achieve the goal of sexual conquest.

That the influence of this sexually charged culture is so pervasive, one can enter into many churches on any given Sunday and see males and females of various ages who are attired in a way that reflects the world's sexual agenda. Sadly, the look that many are going for even in the church, particularly the western influenced church, is that of being sexy or attempting to look 'good' - albeit the world's definition of looking good, cute, attractive.

Sadly, too, the young woman was not swayed by the reasoning of the mentor.

For Christians: we are commanded by the Lord to be salt and light to a world darkened by the influence of satan. Jesus tells us that our lives would be lives lived sacrificially (Luke 9:23) if we would be followers of Him. Our speech and expressions, even what we do and the lifestyle we project, are to honour Him (Psalm 119:1-19; 1Corinthians 6:9-20). Sometimes, as Paul writes to the church at Corinth in the sixth chapter, verse 12, and later in chapter 8, there are options Christians have that are legal or lawful to do or express. However, in a Christ-shaped mindset, a follower will not want to exercise their 'rights', are willing to 'sacrifice' their rights if they could become a stumbling block for those weak in their faith. The principle here is that we will want to be able to discern whether what we say, what we do, and even what we wear are projecting us as Christ's light to others, or if a person hearing us, or viewing how we dress and how we look perceive a view or action reflecting the world's mores. When they see us or hear us, is what they see or hear pointing them to Christ, or pointing them to us or to thoughts away from Christ? Will they witness a call to be transformed to look like Christ, or a rubber stamp on those ideals of culture shaped by an antichrist world?

We are all imperfect, and as such, we are just as susceptible to stumbles regardless of how long we have been worshiping the true God. (Romans7:7-25) We don't always get a slam dunk in our actions as Christians. That is why God has given us the greatest guidebook ever so that we can see His mind on our lives. Are we willing to do so, are we willing to be transformed away from satan's world view to God's worldview? What look are we going for?

Are we Growing in Christ?

Are We Growing in Christ? Special Bible Study beginning June 13.

--A Follow-up to Tuesday, May 9 Bible Study (and May 7 sermon!)--

Dear Friends,

A recent Bible study had Daniel 9 as a basis for its discussion. The passage reminded us not only of the importance of prayer, but the kind of prayer God will hear. As we fleshed out those principles, we were reminded of the key avenues or means of grace that God works through for growing up His children ‘in Christ’, that is, to enable us to be transformed to be more like Christ in attitude, perspective, and behavior (in another Bible study we learned that this process is called    ‘sanctification’). We are informed by God the Holy Spirit in Paul’s letter to the Romans at    chapter 12, verses 1-2 (NRSV) concerning that will of God: 
   
“1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your    bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.    2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,    so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and    perfect.” [also see 1 Peter 2:5, Romans 8:9-11, and Ephesians 1:3,4 and 2:10]    

It was reiterated to the Bible study group what these key avenues or means of grace are that God uses in growing His children (these are not necessarily listed in order of primacy):    
1. Prayer    
2. Bible study    
3. Worship    
4. Stewardship    
5. Service    

During the Bible study, we were invited to do as ‘homework’ finding scriptural    passages that inform us and instruct us concerning each of these means of grace.  We are called by God to grow up and grow into Christ, as noted in Acts 2:37-47, where the passage outlines principles for growing the Church and growing individually ‘in Christ’. 

We were invited to a special study on these means of grace via a different approach from how we studied them before. To stimulate our thinking on these things, here are some optional questions for each item as we search for Biblical support for each item. A study Bible, a Bible concordance or index,    biblegateway.com, biblestudytools.com, and similar resources, may prove helping in finding answers . To frame one’s mind and heart for this activity, why not pray for guidance to find what God desires for us personally, and as a Church.    

#1 – Prayer. What is prayer? Why do we pray? (people often ask this question when they    reason that since God knows everything why should I pray?) What kind of prayer pleases God?    (The answers can be found in the Bible)    

#2 – Bible Study. A former bishop in the church noted that there was a    significant level of Bible illiteracy within the church community. During Sunday morning comments a while back, it was also related that during a particular youth retreat a few years, youth were not able to differentiate the Bible from a prayer book.  Indeed, in many churches, persons do not bring a personal Bible to church services to follow the Bible readings, notate, or follow along in a sermon. Others opine that the Bible is either too hard to understand, or outdated-- not relevant for today. Each of the fundamental points of the issues raised herein, of being Biblically literate/illiterate, knowing what the Bible is, and the authority and    relevance of the Bible – are described within the pages of the Bible. What priority does Bible study hold in our lives? Why should a person who identifies him/ herself as a Christian study the Bible? What can happen if a person chooses not to study or rely upon the Bible, or even rejects its absolute truth? Answers are in the Bible.    

#3. Worship. ‘Worship’ is viewed many different ways – but, how does God view worship? What is worship according to God, and what is the worship that God desires? What worship will    God not accept? All of these can be answered in the Bible.    

#4. Stewardship. Many churches schedule ‘stewardship seasons’ to encourage persons’  financial support for the church or to learn about tithing. Yet, how does God view stewardship, that is, what does He say stewardship is? The answer is in the Bible.    

#5. Service. In many churches, there is a perception of great challenge for and/or reluctance on the part of many churchgoers to become persons with a ‘servant’s heart’ – some are convinced that service is only for ‘certain people’ in the church, or that one must be personally asked by a religious professional or by clergy to be a servant or take on a service role. Believers who are ‘in Christ’ are called by the Lord to serve. Yet, what does it mean to be a servant of Christ? What might service look like within a church fellowship setting like St. Christopher’s (or elsewhere),  that is, in what roles might lay persons serve to support the church and the community surrounding the place of worship? How does this coincide with the spiritual gifts that believers receive when they are saved, or does it? Are Christians only required to serve ‘at church’?  Answers to these questions can be found in the Bible.    

Conclusion. The Gospel of John, chapter 10, identifies Christ as the Great Shepherd. He says His sheep hear His voice. He further says that He came so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. A shepherd leads by voice, words and by action. The sheep respond to the voice and to the words and action. Christ’s words have life in them. He is reaching out to us to follow Him. How will we respond to that call? And what happens after we come to Him, after we accept His call to us to be His followers and for Him to be our Lord?  Namely, what is God’s will for you and for all of us called by Him, what does He call us to be  and to do? The answer is in the Bible! That is what it looks like to ‘grow in Christ’.    (2 Peter 3)

If Jesus showed up...

If Jesus showed up at your school, house, on your date, recreation place, in your crew, or while you were on your computer, would He like what He saw?

Think about it…cuz He already has…

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

Psalm 139:1-16

1 Lord, you have examined me
    and know all about me.
² You know when I sit down and when I get up.
    You know my thoughts before I think them.
³ You know where I go and where I lie down.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ Lord, even before I say a word,
    you already know it.
⁵ You are all around me—in front and in back—
    and have put your hand on me.
⁶ Your knowledge is amazing to me;
    it is more than I can understand.

⁷ Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?
    Where can I run from you?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
    If I lie down in the grave, you are there.
⁹ If I rise with the sun in the east
    and settle in the west beyond the sea,
¹⁰ even there you would guide me.
    With your right hand you would hold me.

¹¹ I could say, “The darkness will hide me.
    Let the light around me turn into night.”
¹² But even the darkness is not dark to you.
    The night is as light as the day;
    darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made my whole being;
    you formed me in my mother’s body.
¹⁴ I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
    What you have done is wonderful.
    I know this very well.
¹⁵ You saw my bones being formed
    as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
¹⁶ you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
    were written in your book
    before I was one day old.

Please share.

If you haven’t done so, read or re-read Proverbs 30. It is packed full of Godly principles for living. One of my favorite ones is the prayer for God to provide for my needs – not too much and not too little. This prayer and principle supports the reading at Hebrews 13:15 we had last night at Bible study regarding what true praise to God is, i.e., it is a worshipful and obedient life daily vs. the occasional foot-stomping and hand-clapping we may do of a Sunday morning. (all of heaven and several here on earth are watching!). Check out Proverbs 30 and see what catches your attention. The link is to Biblegateway.com; it is helpful viewing the Proverb in a couple of different Bible translations because of how the original Hebrew is written.

Enjoy!

Are Christians in Places Like Africa, Asia, and Several Other Countries the Only Ones in the Church of Christ under Attack?

Good question. It is true we are called as Christians to care and pray for our persecuted and suffering brothers and sisters. We are also commanded to stay alert – to view this world through Christ’s eyes, watching for His return. And His high priestly prayer in John 17, that He offered to His Father on his last night on earth, concerned the physical and spiritual welfare of those whom His Father has chosen to follow His Son. He recognized that this call to be a Christ follower would be no easier for us than it was to be Christ in the flesh, and knew that we would also come under attack just as He did. We would suffer. (Matthew 16:21; Romans 8:16-18; 1 Peter 4:12-13)

We’ve heard the readings in the past few months of Jesus’ temptations from the devil, and the devil’s and his demons’ persistence in trying to disrupt Jesus’ ministry, and thwart His ultimate purpose for coming to earth (His calling), which outlines some of the ways His followers would be attacked. Violent persecution and hostility are only a couple of ways that the devil satan attacks followers of Christ. We should remember that the devil is not new. He's been doing the same thing in the same way for thousands of years on humankind. And is still finding the same success against Christians and believers in contemporary times. He has experience in attacking, and he is always in attack mode, as we’ll see below.

1 Peter 5, beginning with verse 6, we are cautioned to remove pride from our hearts, to cast our anxieties on God so that they will not prove to be distractions or untoward burdens that take our focus from Christ. We are further cautioned to discipline ourselves, to learn to follow Christ, set up guardrails founded on the Word of God to protect ourselves, to be alert to those things that take us off the path of God's will for our lives. Why? Because the enemy, satan, “walks around like a roaring lion seeking to devour someone.” Not just trip up. Not just coerced to tell a little white lie or just a little pilfering. He seeks to devour. He tries different ways:  through violent persecutions, harassments, and other hostilities, to erode our belief in an Almighty God, to make us think we are alone in our suffering (as Pastor Melana’s sermon spoke to). He uses circumstances and people in authority to restrict Christian's movements and activities. But one of his favorite ways to devour Christians is to nullify us and our usefulness to God, to find ways to knock us down so that our faith suffers. To raise doubts so that our trust in God pales. To mask the course of rebellion against God and the One who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life so that we see it as an innocent venture into self-fulfillment and self-determination, or ‘getting a life’. He gets us to doubt scripture so that we do not see it as the relevant, authoritative Word of God.

As 1 Corinthians 10 reminds us, God provided the record of Israel's rebellion against Him so that we would not be ignorant. A character who first appears in the Bible book of Numbers (thank you Holy Spirit-led Bible study!) named Balaam was instrumental in luring God's people away by appealing to their flesh, that is, their sin nature by using divination - spiritism, devil worship, magic, astrology, numerology, and the like, and by inducing them towards acts of lust that violated God's moral laws, so that they became prey to idol worship, greed, sexual immoralities. In the New Testament, in Jude and Revelation 2, God calls this kind of falling away, typifies it, as abandoning oneself to the error of Balaam. And do you know what is the saddest thing in all of the above? The fact that many Christians are ignorant of, have no understanding, that they are in a war with the devil daily and to know what that entails! And that their faith and/or relationship with God is on the brink of being devoured, severely damaged, because of that ignorance.

If we are alert, if we are paying attention, we will see that the devil has not changed his methods of disarming God's people. The Church in the U.S. and in so-called Christian-friendly countries - while it may not be suffering the wholesale persecutions we've been reading about - is nevertheless suffering, and many within the Church are falling prey to the same things the devil has utilized to neutralize Christians and God-followers in times past. The devil's tactics are succeeding: churches are populated with members who see much of the Biblical mandates as old-fashioned, outdated, and not viable in a modern world culture. They are churchgoers who are weighed-down with misbeliefs, who follow their horoscopes and practice astrology – believing that a constellation can control their lives, who find magic and witchcraft/sorcery both entertaining and worthy of noting; who idolize people and things (and even themselves), who lust after riches, status - feeding off the culture’s obsession with these things; who no longer regard fornication, adultery, homosexuality as sin or a departure from God’s moral law, and rather than observing and accepting God’s moral law, are deceived to accepting the culture’s view (shaped by satan) that the Bible’s teachings are out-of-step, and that advocating such behaviors will attract more people to the Church, that the whole ‘sin thing’ is narrow-minded; who feel good Christians should accept modern viewpoints on sex because to not do so shows a lack of Christian love, and is discriminating and judgmental. (I have heard mothers from different denominations who identify themselves as Christian, and some youth pastors/leaders advise their teens that premarital sex is acceptable, as long as you are mature enough to handle it.) Some churches and church denominations have re-set their agendas, that were once Bible-driven, so that they can accommodate such behaviors, and realign and re-interpret the Bible to adapt to their postmodern view of Christianity. The Church is under attack to be drawn away from Christ, and like the Israelites, it doesn’t even recognize it is at war. And when the consequences of falling prey to the devil’s tactics are finally felt, it is easier to blame God than to recognize the error of Balaam. (Revelation 2:12-29)

Compromised believers or worship communities may be in a worst state than the persecuted church. The persecuted church, as we have viewed in the many articles and news from those churches – see their numbers are growing even under persecution, see the work of God in miraculous ways, and many of those suffering brethren have seen their faith become so much stronger, and their resolve so much deeper, by God's grace and blessing. They recognize their temporary condition cannot compare to eternity with Christ – which has already begun in the here and now. Christ crucified and risen is still being preached and taught even under hostile conditions, and many are coming to belief in Christ. In the compromised church, however, a Christ of convenience constructed on emotional whims and eddies, fashioned on a revamped, syncretistic framework of idealism is being proffered, and truth has been replaced by relativism. Often the numbers in the compromised church dwindle, yet, more often in the western churches, they can flourish because the message being offered appeals to the flesh, are not morally demanding, and offer worship on an entertainment platform that entreats people to a few minutes of happy, rather than sound Biblical teaching. (compare Luke 9:23-24 and Romans 5:3-4 with 1 Timothy 4:1-3, and 2 Timothy 3:1-7)

As we pray for our persecuted brethren, let us not also forget to pray that all who profess Christ will be aware that they, too, are under attack in such a subtle way that they may not recognize the danger. Pray the prayer in Colossians 1:9-12 for the entire Church – those persecuted and those deceived – that they will be focused on Christ and grow into a deeper relationship with Him, and be faithful conquerors. (Ephesians 6:10-18; John 16:33; Romans 8:31-39)