Category: Joy

A Lot to Learn in 2016, part 2 - Decisions

1/18/2016

A Lot to learn in 2016 part 2 - Decisions

Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. Genesis 13:10-13

Lot had a problem. He did not have his own walk with the Lord. Abraham interacted with God - both hearing and speaking to Him - and Lot just followed Abraham. There is a problem with this kind of living. Eventually you will have to walk on your own. What will happen then? How will you know, follow, and experience an interactive relationship with God? What will counteract your heart - which according to Scripture is deceitful and wicked. This was Lot’s problem - and as we will see in this part of, “A Lot to Learn in 2016,” it does not go well for those who follow in Lot’s steps.

Abraham and his nephew Lot were both in the business of raising livestock. When you prosper in this endeavor you will eventually have problems - and they did. Their herdsmen began go quarrel over pasture land. Rather than have a growing enmity between their servants, Abraham proposed that they separate from each other so that enough pasture land would be available for their herds. This was the moment where Lot would have to make his own decisions - and the first one is indicative of a man who does not know how to follow God himself - but who relies on other people to hear God for him.

Abram offers him any of the land that was before them. Lot got first choice. What he chose was the land near Sodom and Gomorrah. He chooses a place where the people were wicked and sinning greatly against the Lord. He chose on the basis of what "he" saw. Scripture says that he looked and saw that this land was “like the land of Egypt” and therefore he chose it. In Scripture, Egypt is not considered a good place to be. In addition to this - we also learn from the passage that the place Lot chooses is “near” Sodom. The problem here is that we also learn that the men of Sodom were considered “wicked exceedingly and sinners against Jehovah.” Lot’s first choice was to live by what his eyes saw and what his selfish desires wanted. He didn’t consider that by doing this he was moving closer and closer to sin. He did not consider that he would be taking his family into a place where there would no longer be Abraham’s godly influence - but the influence of exceedingly wicked sinners.

Lot moved his tents as far as Sodom. The phrase used here in Hebrew means he moved “near” Sodom. There was enough in Lot to know he shouldn’t go into Sodom - so he did the next best thing - he moved near it. Here is a lesson we need to learn from Lot. What you move toward in your life - is likely what you are going to become. Having followed a godly man (Abraham) Lot now was going to have as his strongest influence, ungodly, exceedingly wicked men. If Lot had his own relationship with God he may have done this to influence those men - but we know that what he saw was their prosperity - and the “good life” and place they lived. There is going to be more - much more to this in our next installment. But . . . before we go there let’s consider something in our journey together. There is a “Lot” to learn even at this point.

What drives your decisions in life? If our decisions are made with what we see with our eyes as our primary information - we will wind up in a mess. If we are seeking “the good life” as defined by the world around us - we will once again wind up in a mess. If we joyfully grab first choice in things (and don’t consider others better than ourselves - Philippians 2:1-3) and want first place - we will surely wind up in a mess. Lot’s decisions were driven by the (1) Lust of his eyes; (2) the lust of his flesh; and (3) the boastful pride of life. By the way, these three things are all defined as sin and worldliness in 1 John 2:15-17. Lot made a choice that increased the worldliness in his life - and then deceived himself by thinking that only by moving “near” sin he would be fine. These kind of choices don’t bring blessing - except in the immediate gratification of our fleshly lusts. The long-term results of these kind of decisions - are disastrous in our lives. Let me state this positively though - so you will have something to do on when making decisions.

First - make decisions by wisdom, which is defined as seeing life from God’s perspective. We look at things through His Word, His Spirit, and the wisdom that comes from spiritual sight. Don’t just seek an answer - seek Him and ask Him to give you His eternal perspective on your choices. Second - make decisions in light of long-term (honestly - eternal) joy and delight. Ask yourself, what is going to last? What is going to be an eternal blessing? What will benefit me spiritually - so that I can take it with me when I leave this world? Lastly, make decisions that move away from sin - not toward it. Consider the sins of your past - and the sins God wants to deliver you from in life. Don’t move toward those things - and especially don’t think you can get nearer to them without them influencing you. If God wants you to minister to someone or minister somewhere that is one thing - because that doesn’t move you closer to sin - it moves you closer to sinners - but only for God’s purposes of leading them to Christ and influencing them for godliness and the gospel. A parallel question to this might be, “Am I moving toward influencing others - or being influenced by them?” You can move toward sinners or sinful situations if the first is true - your seeking TO influence them. But if you are going to BE INFLUENCED - you need to move toward godliness and be sure that their influence brings you closer to God.

May God help us to make good, godly decisions. May we be wise and seek and desire His perspective in all things. May we be seeking eternal benefit in life rather than a quick fix high. And may we truly learn from Lot in this situation (as well as in any we face this year) that there are much better ways of decision making than the ones he chose.

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Joy in Weakness and Need, part 2 - Just How Weak are We?

8/12/2015

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Whenever you begin to explore what God does to bring us to embrace weakness, you first need to start with “why” this is necessary. One of the difficulties we face is coming to grips with just how weak we truly are when it comes to the things of God in our lives. That is because we have a tendency to think we are not all that weak.

According to God’s estimation of things (which, by the way, is always spot on in everything He takes the time to comment on in His revelation to us) the sinful human race is without strength when it comes to spiritual matters. If you are wondering where such a comment originates, it is from Ephesians 2:1. All those in the human race are, “dead in our transgressions and sins.” On a scale of ability – the dead do not do well. That is because they are – well – they are dead. They have no ability – except to stink things up after a short while.

Because we are dead in our sins – we are without strength prior to the working of the grace of God. We don’t even have the strength to respond to anything spiritual unless God draws and enables it. But things don’t stop there. Even after salvation – we are unable to deliver ourselves from sin – or enable our own spiritual growth. The testimony of God is that the only way we are able is through Christ. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) When you state this verse in the negative you get this, “I can do nothing through me who strengthens me.” Sin entered the human race because we believed the lie that we were better at determining good and evil for ourselves rather than turning to God and His wisdom about such matters. We also have the problem of thinking, “We can handle it,” when it comes to living our lives as God desires. The truth – we can’t handle it unless God’s grace is active in our lives.

Some may balk at all this talk of weakness in our lives. They may even take to referring to how we can do all kinds of things every day. But what we are referring to is not the strength to get up and start our day – the strength to eat breakfast and walk or drive to work – and to work throughout the day. We refer to being able to live in a way that pleases and honors God. Since the fall we have been unable to live so as to glorify God. That should be abundantly obvious to anyone who takes a good look at the world around them. To the wise it is super-abundantly apparent when they look at their heart within themselves.

Speaking of the heart, Jeremiah prophesied in 17:9 that the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. The question from God was then this, “Who can understand it?” The answer is that no one can fully plumb the depths of his or her own sinfulness and selfishness. We have an astounding ability to deceive ourselves by either defining sin downward – or – by comparing ourselves among ourselves rather than to the Lord to whom we are accountable. This alone requires strength and ability we do not have on our own. Add to this the fact that we become bound in our sin – often being enslaved by and to our own lusts and desires – and we have a combination that truly leaves us without moral or spiritual strength.

What is fascinating is the way that we are also deceived when we think we DO have high morals – or biblical standards to which we adhere. I have not only met people like this – I’ve met them in the reflection of mirrors before which I’ve stood. Here is the rub on those with high standards. They come with high views of self as well. The Pharisees had the highest biblical morals of their day – and yet this did not lead to either a humility or mercy on their part. They were neither humble (Lord, I thank You that I am not like other men) nor were they merciful (dragging the woman before Jesus demanding that she be stoned for her adultery – still wonder where the guy was from that situation). Since the fall of man into sin – we cannot even handle success without ruining ourselves with pride, arrogance, and merciless attitudes about others around us.

Hopefully all of these examples are helping you embrace your place humbly before God – calling out for mercy, grace, and strength to live to the glory of God. This is the good place we find ourselves if we believe the testimony of God about mankind. The truly amazing thing is that when we freely admit to our spiritual and moral bankruptcy we find ourselves in a very good place. Jesus stated this in the first beatitude in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The word “poor” means someone who does not even have a penny to his name. He is “beggarly poor” and has nothing. He is in a position of absolute need. That, dear saints, is our position before God. We are needy in an infinite measure. What is wonderful is that God, who knows our every weakness, knows this as well. He has made provision for us in Christ Jesus. Once we confess and own our weakness – He states that the kingdom of God is at our disposal as we seek to live for the glory of God.

Knowing weakness is not exactly fun. It goes against our flesh to admit this – but it is the first step in knowing God’s strength. May God gives us an accurate view of ourselves in our sin so that out of that devastating position – we can know His grace and mercy – and – His gracious strength for all we need.

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Joy in Weakness and Need, part 1

7/15/2015

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I do not like being weak. I also am not exactly a fan of admitting that I have serious needs in my life. Yet one of the most important principles of spiritual health and welfare is to both recognize and joyfully embrace the FACT that we are spiritually weak and needy people. For the next several weeks I want to tackle this topic. It is one that we often don’t understand. We want to hear about victory, about our riches in Christ, about how God will instantly answer prayer. We want to hear about health, wealth, and prosperity in Christ. To even speak about weakness is considered in some Christian circles to be sin – or unbelief.

When we don’t know about God’s purposes for weakness and failure in our lives, we can become very depressed, confused, and downright angry when these things do make an appearance in our walk with God. Please do not misunderstand – I do believe in God’s riches being ours in Christ. I do believe God answers prayer. I do believe God wants to bless and strengthen us. And as long as we understand that it is spiritual blessings rather than just material wealth – I can even agree that God desires for us to prosper. I diverge with many though, when it comes to how God brings us into the actual possession of these riches. When it comes to the way that God brings true spiritual prosperity to us – I believe that we have to know His purpose behind failure, frustration, defeat, and desperation.

Too many in our day just want to be able to name a promise, claim it, and then have it show up in our lives. We prefer a McDonald’s drive-thru type of spiritual experience to the kind of long-term, pain and frustration ridden path that was walked by the majority of those in Scripture. Too often people preach based on the end of the story – without addressing the whole story in the process. A basic perusal of the majority of Bible stories will help acquaint us with some of the less popular tools in God’s spiritual tool box. Allow me to mention a few of these tools.

Abraham and Sarah had a miracle baby in their 90’s – but it was only after years of disappointment and painful discouragement. It was only after seeing the folly of taking matters into their own hands (Hagar and Ishmael). It was only after reaching the point of having little hope – and yet believing God’s promise. All too often we bypass the years 25-90 in their lives. We miss that they were thoroughly convinced of their own inability – and had to hold fast to the Lord in weakness and need. More is accomplished in those days of dryness, darkness, and sorrow than we can imagine. Things happen in the wake of religious fervor becoming religious failure that cannot happen anywhere else.

We don’t usually talk about such things. We don’t invite people who are in the midst of their dark and dry times to address conferences and big meetings. Yet it would be wonderful if someone would help us walk through them. The average new believer comes to Christ in the midst of thrill and joy. They can walk with God out of sheer exhilaration for 12-18 months (by the way some don’t make it this long). The problem comes when God begins to address the issue of living out of ourselves as a source. Difficulties arise as we face the cross – the self-life – the descent into the problem of indwelling sin – and the depth of our need and inability to live for God without resurrection power.

God’s school of true spirituality involves breaking our love affair with ourselves and our own relative comfort. It involves turning us from our own wisdom and thoughts to a life reliant on God’s wisdom – and an ability to think the thoughts of God day and night. It is a school where the fundamentals of denying ourselves and taking up our cross are reviewed again and again in real life situations. We will find that our Father is astoundingly patient and longsuffering in His quest for us to truly grasp the cross-centered life. That life – and the full experience of His life involves taking the Romans 7 highway – the death to self turnpike – and the “I am crucified with Christ” freeway.

It is on these well travelled roads that we will learn the “secret” to the Christian life is only secret because we wrongly despise need, weakness, and the way to brokenness. Rather than be discouraged by these things – we should be filled with joy when God engineers them in our lives. It is my hope before this series of articles are over to help you see why Paul said that he would gladly boast in his weaknesses. It is my hope that rather than send you constantly in a tailspin of depression and sadness – times of recognizing weakness will become a reason for gladness and joy. Whether we see it yet or not – these momentary difficulties (when viewed in light of eternity) are truly working for us a “weight of glory” as we learn to approach God fully aware of our great weakness and need.

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Articles

A Lot to Learn in 2016, part 2 - Decisions

Joy in Weakness and Need, part 2 - Just How Weak are We?

Joy in Weakness and Need, part 1

Biblical Articles

Categories

​Articles

A Lot to Learn in 2016, part 2 - Decisions﻿

Joy in Weakness and Need, part 2 - Just How Weak are We?

Joy in Weakness and Need, part 1

Biblical Articles

Categories

Articles

A Lot to Learn in 2016, part 2 - Decisions