 I'm leaving after this election!
I decided that if the Republicans win - I'm leaving. I decided that If the Democrats win - I'm leaving. I'm leaving the world where it's me against them. I'm leaving the world where it's OK to slander those who disagree with my view - rather than maybe, I don't know, maybe talk with them and try to grow in understanding one another. I'm leaving the world where I think the worst about those who don't share my views. I'm leaving the world where there are lines drawn that cannot be crossed - not lines of what I believe or what moral or ethical standards I live by - but lines that we can't cross to talk to each other. I'm leaving the world where we think an election is what will change things - that new laws - new executive orders - even new Supreme Court Justices will actually change things in our country and in our lives. I'm leaving the world where I myself, as well as all others around me, have their identity described by two labels - the "good one" I call myself - and the "bad one" the other side calls me. I'm leaving the world where I can be manipulated by a political party to the point where I immediately characterize people (without ever getting to know them) by which party they associate with at the time. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who commanded me to prove I am His disciple by the way I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who said that His kingdom was not of this world. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who put a Zealot and a Tax Collector in His group - and they didn't wind up killing each other - or at least protesting one another. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover how to lose my life so that I can gain it - to give my life and my rights away so others can be blessed - to consider others better than myself. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover the One Who gave His life away - who laid down His rights as God (even though He WAS God) - Who took my sin and my sorrows - Who even paid the price of my sin - Who was despised and forsaken - misunderstood - mischaracterized - mistreated - and yet considered it all joy when He considered all those who would be blessed as a result. I don't want Trump or Pelosi - Democrat or Republican - Conservative or Liberal - Socialist or Capitalist - or any other label or leader to be associated with my name any longer. I'm leaving to follow Jesus. I'm leaving to live for His kingdom and His righteousness. I'm leaving because the world's mindset - the Republican's mindset - the Democrat's mindset - honestly - even my own mindset - are not the mindset by which I need to live and make my decisions. I hope to have the mind of Christ. So . . . I'm gone. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live - yet not I, Christ lives within me. The life I want to live, I live by faith in the Son of God - Who loved me and delivered Himself up for me. As I leave I have a prayer - May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, my Rock and My Redeemer.
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 Last week we began looking at what we should do as our society continues in its current toxic direction. How can we avoid getting caught up in a world where every decision you make is liable to be used to peg you or categorize you into a particular position or political flavor? How do you maintain the ability to be the salt and light for the gospel that Jesus commands? After seeing that our lives are to be lived to the glory of God, let’s turn to principle #2 in our quest to live gospel-centered in our world.
Principle #2 – Lead a Loving, Quiet, Hard Working, Gracious Life This second principle comes from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. A little background may help us to see things a little clearer. When Paul preached the gospel to the Thessalonians, they received it with great joy as they turned from their sin to Jesus Christ. Very soon afterward though, this city became known for its persecution of Christians. Paul was followed from this city to the next one in which he preached the gospel. It was there that the people antagonistic to the gospel convinced the people of that city to drag Paul outside the city and stone him. So one thing we should remember here. We are nowhere near the kind of difficulty that the Thessalonians faced as Christians. But Paul’s godly counsel from God was perfect for them – as it is for us as well. That counsel was that the believers live a loving, quiet, hard-working, gracious life. Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12) The core principle here is a fascinating one. The Christian, according to this passage, is to have loving his or her brothers and sisters in Christ as a major goal in life. That would make sense because Jesus Himself gave this to us as His new commandment (see John 13:34-35). In fact – this is the one thing the world will be able to see and know whether we are His disciples or not – by our love for one another. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians about being ambitious! What kind of ambition should they have? Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. That almost sounds contradictory. When Paul speaks of a quiet life – he is not saying that we should never say anything – because that would be contradictory to God’s call for us to share the gospel. But what God is saying here is that we should speak in a way that is not filled with conflict, anger, and hostility. That is what the Greek Word for “quiet” here implies. Well, that gives us a tremendous amount of godly counsel doesn’t it? Saints, the current political dialogue on both sides is pretty filled with anger, rage, conflict, and resentment. It would be wise for us to check our hearts before speaking (or posting for all of us who are on social media) to make sure that we are not reacting out of the very attitude God wants us to avoid. Should we speak up for righteousness – absolutely! Should we speak up for the gospel – definitely! Should we comment on every post we see that opposes what we believe or think on social media – or in every conversation we have – ummm – not so much. The next admonition is to attend to our own business and work with our hands. I know one thing that would cut down on all the marches and protests we are seeing. That is for people to be busy working hard – especially when we are working with our hands. Oh, and by the way, when it says working with our hands, I don’t think that means typing away our last snappy response on Facebook, twitter, or whatever you’re on at the moment. Good old-fashioned hard work never hurt a society. In fact – the lack of it usually means people have too much time on their hands to have their hands doing something productive. Twice Paul gave an admonition for the believers in Thessalonica to be attending or minding their own business. We need wisdom and discernment to know when our actions are helping others – and when they are just meddling in other people’s business. At the risk of being accused of “meddling” myself, I want to offer a few questions for us as I close out this article. First and most importantly, how are you doing in loving the believers around you? Begin with the church you currently attend, and then move out to other believers you know. Second, are you a busybody – politically? The current political monologue from both sides is just itching for a fight. Does it seem like you are being constantly pulled into that fight – and I mean from either side. By the way, I used the term “monologue” because, let’s be honest, very little of what is being said lately involves any kind of dialogue. Our daily news resembles more of a gossip circle than it does a news cycle. How caught up are you in it? Let me go at it from a different angle. How’s your blood pressure when it comes to political discourse? On a much more palatable note – do you work hard? When it comes to outsiders who do not know Jesus – are you still able to witness to them – or has your participation in the current political monologue made it to where they don’t want to hear a thing you have to say? How well are you noticing the needs of others around you lately? Are you still able to see hearts and hurts in folks – or has life become more of a “me vs. them” thing – however “them” is defined for you? Are our lives seen by those around us as loving, quiet, hardworking, and gracious – or – has the current climate co-opted you into being an angry participant in one side or the other of whatever the latest debate has become? Saints – we cannot let ourselves be so pulled into this mess that it prevents us from being an effective witness for Jesus. May our actions be such that we can say what we believe on other matters in such a way (and with such a brevity) that we can make a beeline to the gospel. It will take a great deal of wisdom – and often a wiliness to just be quiet. But if I remember a certain proverb – it reminds us that, “He who wins souls is wise!” May that wise person be us!  Anyone read facebook lately? Anyone stop reading facebook discussions because of how offensive and incendiary they quickly become? In the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage there have been an avalanche of articles and posts on social media both for and against gay marriage. This was inevitable because people on both sides of this issue are very passionate about what they believe. What does not have to be inevitable is some of the vitriol that begins being exhibited by Christians as things begin to get heated. Whether or not the “they started it first” argument is used or not, as those redeemed by God through Jesus Christ – and – as those who are called to manifest the fruit of the Spirit – we need to learn a very valuable spiritual lesson. We need to learn how to share offensive truth less offensively. Hopefully this article will be helpful in doing so.
First of all – a true confession is in order. I am a recovering offensoholic. In my past I have kind of enjoyed being sarcastic. The ability to slip in truth wrapped in little barbs of sarcasm and veiled insult is a “skill” I am wanting to unlearn as quickly as possible. God is revealing to me that more often than not these verbal darts are not very effective when sharing truths that in themselves are going to be offensive to the person hearing them. The proverb, “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” has sparked repentance for the way I’ve said things more than once. There are times when I finish writing a piece that I have to go through a Holy Spirit edit several times – before I have any peace in posting or sending it. The problem is that in our current situation – barbs and sarcasm will quickly turn what could be a logical, profitable conversation into an all out verbal war. After being nailed by the verbal shrapnel of several of these conversations, I want speak so that if there is a descent into ugliness, it is because of truth shared in love. There is no gain when truth is shared in an effort to win – or to score points with Christians who quickly gather to “my” side. The biblical fact is that God wins in all matters of truth. If I speak His truth with love and a genuine desire to engage in an exchange of ideas, I believe God will use it to do deeper work in people’s lives. One of the things we must understand is that our culture no longer has any clear authority by which it speaks. Just like in the book of Judges we live in a society where every person is their own authority. Judges 21:24 says, “. . . and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That is where we are currently. Therefore we need to grasp that everyone we speak with is an authority unto themselves. Thus when we share the Scriptures, they will not accept them as an authority. Now please understand that God’s Word was, is, and always will be truth. Whether people agree with that or not does not matter – God’s Word is still true. When you try to share this, people will be offended – and often will say things that will be offensive to you. We will be accused of being someone who does not think, someone who holds to antiquated ideas, someone who is brainwashed, or as I was recently called . . . an idiot. Are these things offensive? Yes they are. BUT – this is where we can become even more effective in what we share. Let me explain. When we are insulted, we have a choice to make. First, we should review what we’ve said to make sure that while sharing the truth, we did not descend into any kind of name-calling or inflammatory statements. Remember, our message itself is offensive to the lost. Paul spoke of the offense of the cross – and Jesus Himself told us that we would be treated like He was treated. People who are already offended with our moral point of view, and who do not know Christ, will more often than not say offensive things. Get used to it – and be ready for the temptation to say similar things back to them. Also know that if you do – the opportunity will no longer be there to influence someone. It will most likely deteriorate into stronger and stronger comments, insults, and end in a verbal barrage and a scorched-earth mental landscape. Once we determine if we said something unnecessarily offensive, we can proceed in the conversation. (By the way, if you said something you should not have said – apologize. You’d be shocked how many times this begins to disarm the conflict allowing it to move back into a conversation.) The second thing I am going to suggest may seem very hard, but it will allow you to be able to converse with the person so much better. In order to share it though I need to ask a question. Do you want to know what they think? Please re-read that question because I did not ask if you want to convert to their way of thinking – but – do you want to know what they think. What I’ve found over several conversations is that when I genuinely try to hear what they are saying and thinking, it helps me to share truth with them more effectively. Too many of the conversations I’ve read recently have made a quick trip to the most commonly used arguments against each other. I can almost predict what will be said in the first two or three rounds of statements. What I cannot predict is the reasoning behind them – or the hurts that a person has because of previous barbs thrown their way. If you don’t want to genuinely hear what they have to say – you won’t have any genuine ministry to offer them. But if you go deeper – even being willing to listen or read things you won’t agree with – you will be able to discern what needs to be discussed. You may even find room to offer an apology for how they’ve been dissed and dismissed. If they know you care enough to listen – they may start listening to you. Once you begin the conversation in earnest – listen for statements that reveal serious conflicts with the message of the gospel. I usually read and listen looking for their source of authority (usually themselves in the end), their view of Who God is (this usually is a hodge-podge of ideas from self, internet sites, and on some occasions actual study of the Bible), and what they see as the problem with things as they are currently. This last concept is basically what they see as sin (which is a word they will almost never use as you do) and what offers redemption or salvation from the problem (again two words they will tend to avoid). From this point I begin to engage the person with questions involving these things: 1) What or who is their authority? (Who or what has the final say in their life) 2) What determines if something or someone is good or bad? 3) What is the problem or problems in life? And then finally, 4) What is the answer or answers to these problems. As I ask questions about these things, I respond to their answers with the gospel – sharing lovingly, graciously, and usually with reference to my sin and how God saved me from the penalty for it. I make a beeline to the gospel – and seek to eventually draw things in that direction. That does not mean that I try to share the “plan of salvation” at every turn. Instead it means that I deal with issues concerning salvation such as: Who is God? What is sin? Who or what has the right to call something sinful? How can a sinful person know a holy God? How can a righteous and holy God love us without being a hypocrite about His righteousness and holiness? What did God do to pay the price He demands as the penalty for sin? These are the things I head to in the end – because they are the things that matter. But in the meantime I also try to understand where they’ve come from – and if there are serious hurts and problems in their past. When these things come up – I want to genuinely care for them, apologize when Christians have been unloving and unkind, and offer real love to them in praying for and empathizing with their offenses. The goal in all this is to truly love them and share and show them Jesus. This is not hard . . . actually, apart from God’s grace it is impossible! I cannot tell you how many times I have to stop and pray – back up – and deal with wanting to offend back because I’m offended. I thank God that He did not deal with me in this way – because I would have been consumed in wrath very early in His gracious dealings with me. We cannot back up from sharing that sin is sin. We cannot back away from being honest about what the Bible proclaims. This is not love – it is dangerously stepping away from God’s righteousness and truth simply because it may offend. We share the truth – but we do so without the verbal barbs – without referring to the most offensive examples of homosexual activism (or any activism for sinful activity). We speak the truth without name-calling (even if we’ve been called and are continuing to be called names). We choose to ask penetrating questions not just so we can probe their thinking – but hopefully so that they will probe their own thinking as we lovingly share what the Bible has to say. I go back to John chapter 4 and how Jesus addressed the Samaritan woman at the well. Let’s be honest saints – that situation was made for some serious name-calling. She was a Samartian – she was guilty of adultery – she was an outcast from her own society – she held errant spiritual views – and she was currently in a sexually immoral relationship. Wow, what a list of potential names that provides. Yet Jesus did not use a single one of them. He asked questions – made biblical statements boldly yet lovingly – and eventually through hearing and understanding her – was able to address her deepest spiritual needs. Her need, by the way, was not to be proven wrong in an argument. She needed living water. The result of that conversation was that her sin was boldly and lovingly addressed, she was drawn to admit her sin and turn to God, and finally – she became a witness to others of God’s grace as she was saved. Now that is where I want to see a conversation go in the end! Just one more comment though – as you learn to do this not everyone will be converted instantly – or possibly even at all. But the sound of loving, biblical, redemptive conversations will ring further than you think. Imagine what one would look like on facebook? We’ve all seen the ones that turn nasty – with both sides eventually walking away with verbal bloody noses. Imagine one where the believer does not descend into name-calling of any kind – but – where they endeavor to do their best sharing the truth in love. That, my precious saints, will look very different. It is also what we need to begin seeing more and more as the grace of God is expressed in love through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So share the truth, precious redeemed ones! Share it even if it carries with it the offense of the cross – the offense of seeing ourselves as sinful and lost – the offense of being in need of God’s forgiveness – and the offense of being available only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just DON’T do this one thing – share this wonderful message in an offensive way that adds to the offense of the cross – and does NOT reflect the love and patience of God or the fruit of His Spirit.  It is only a few days until the movie “50 Shades of Grey” is going to be unleashed on the public through local theaters. I find it sad that this movie is infecting audiences on Valentine’s weekend. I’ve not seen the movie, nor have I read the book. All I needed was to read reviews about the basic content of the book and movie to know that I wanted nothing to do with them. The book and the movie are part of an ongoing effort to recast love as something overtly selfish and self-centered. They are attempts by a fallen culture to denigrate women and deceive men into thinking that women want relationships and sexual intimacy to involve selfish demands, violence, and denigration. Nothing could be further from the truth. But, just as the Bible warns us, this movie comes to us dressed as an angel of light. The truth is that its message is demonic – even though it parades around dressed in characters like a wealthy mogul and a beautiful woman. Scripture would refer to the man as a whoremonger and violent abuser – and the woman as a ring of gold in a pig’s snout. (Sorry – but every once in a while biblical language is needed to shock us back toward reality – and away from the Hollywood glitz and glamor.)
Our culture has been imploding for years. The sexual revolution that began in the 1960’s promised us a less burdened, more wonderful, loving world. One sees something far more sinister in the decades old wake of this movement. It began with a turning from God in the matters of love and sexual intimacy. By removing the so-called Victorian era restraints from our lives we were promised freedom. What has come instead is an ever more perverse denigration of our lives and relationships. God intended sex to be embraced in marriage (between a man and a woman). 50 Shades of Grey is not about sexual freedom – it is only just another step into the perversion and slavery of sexual immorality. Love is selfless – does not demand its own way – and is kind and gentle. This is what the Scriptures tell us. Love lays down its life for the beloved – and would rather die than see harm come to the one that is loved. A godly husband is one who protects his wife and family by giving himself over to a godly sexuality – even before he is married. He embraces full manhood – looking forward to the day that he can win a wife by showing her he will be like Christ in his love for his bride. He reveals, by his behavior and his character, that he does not see love as 50 shades of grey where the black and white of sexual morality is blurred by a selfish drive for whatever his flesh demands. He sees things in plain black and white, where his understanding of sexuality embraces the wisdom and blessing of God’s Word. There is another film coming to theaters this weekend. It is one you will probably not see advertised all over television and print adds. This movie is entitled, “Old Fashioned.” It is worth seeing simply from the audacity of its content and shocking scenes of sexual morality in it. It is rated PG-13 not due to sexual immorality – but due to the dangerous things it says about purity, chivalry, and real manhood. I watched the trailer for this movie and was astounded by its audacity to speak of things like chivalry, respect for women, commitment to godly principles, and promises made to one’s future spouse (before we are married). The only reason I used the word audacity is because such things are usually mocked in our culture. There is a line in the trailer where the main male character says, “When did treating women with respect become the joke?” Unfortunately that is what is happening to our culture as it continues to run madly toward sexual immorality. Purity, godliness, sexual morality, virginity have all become things we mock and make fun of instead of things that we strive for and honor. Yet it is these things that God holds up for us to honor, embrace, and strive for as we live for Him. These things become even more important when we’ve had pasts before we came to Christ that have been lived for the world’s definition of love. This is a false definition that promised freedom and happiness, but instead only delivered bondage and broken lives in need of God’s healing. Thankfully His grace can and does bring forgiveness and a promise of something far different. Another scene that shocked me was when the main male character was asked why he lived by the principles he did. His answer was this, “I don’t believe dating trains us to be good husbands and wives. It trains us to be skilled in the superficial.” When the woman asking him this answered, “Who talks like that?” His answer was only, “I do.” Who does talk like this? Theater reviewers may find that number to be many more than they think. It was little surprise to me that when I looked for reviews on this movie – the majority of secular reviews blasted it saying that it was heavy handed and preachy. They hated the premise – and hated the things it lifted up for us to consider even more. To embrace a life that views sex as something other than a hedonistic plunge into whatever our desires demand is foreign to our current sex-crazed world. Yet, I believe that there will be a large group of people who will see this movie and feel relieved. They will be relieved that there are still people out there who embrace “Old Fashioned” values. They will rejoice over something that sees chivalry, respect for women, respect for God’s order, and romance that does not mean immediate demands for sex as good things. They will be excited over a movie that doesn’t attempt to drag us down to the lowest levels of immorality, but rather attempts to help us have something that is moral, good, and yes – godly (gasp). They will be grateful for a portrayal of purity that makes us want to strive for something higher and better. What is truly amazing to me is that God’s way is not in hues of grey. Love, according to what He wants for us, is bursting with color and joy. Having been saved out of a sexually immoral lifestyle, I can attest that the world’s way is the one that is grey and lifeless. It doesn’t bring joy, and it constantly doesn’t live up to its billing. Each new relationship is begun with hope that it will be better than the last – but only winds up being fodder for additional country songs about broken hearts and broken lives. Every woman should know the joy of a man who pursues her because he truly loves God and loves her in a selfless and self-sacrificing way. Every man should know the manly call from God to pursue a woman by showing her his character and willingness to lay down his life for her. This is God’s way – not 50 shades of grey – but 10,000 bright and brilliant colors of true love.  Divorce or Conscious Uncoupling?
Recently a new way of looking at marriage and how it ends has come boldly upon the scene. This old way of seeing marriages end was called divorce. It was and is a messy exercise as two people who pledged fidelity and a life-long commitment to each other break a covenant made before God and witnesses who came to support their union. Divorce is painful and involves both a sense of loss and a sense of failure. Promises were made – a covenant was made – and now it is being broken. Things seem wrong, because something has gone wrong. Some divorces are due to infidelity and adultery. Some divorces are due to abandonment. Some are due to two people who site irreconcilable differences. Some are simply due to one or both parties just not wanting to be married any longer – and wanting their freedom back to live and do as they want. But, as I said at the beginning of this article, a new wind of doctrine is blowing over the wreckage of couples across the world. This new wind offers us arguments on why this whole, “till death do us part” thing was never a good idea in the first place – especially for those of us who have evolved toward longer lives than our Paleolithic ancestors. This new wind of doctrine is called, “conscious uncoupling.” Conscious uncoupling is a term developed by Dr. Habib Sadeghi and Dr. Sherry Sami. These two postulate that the high divorce rate may be a mile marker in our evolutionary history. The problem may not be us – it may not be selfishness and self-centered thinking and actions. We may be just not responding properly to the evolutionary cycle we are in at this present time. They point us back to the evolutionary theory of the upper Paleolithic period, which supposedly takes us back to roughly 50,000 to 10,000 B.C. Life expectancy was under 50 for both men and women. Today life expectancey is 76 for men and 81 for women. What, you may wonder, does this have to do with the high levels of divorce (0ver 50% of all marriages end in divorce today) in our current day? Everything – according to the good doctors. You see, evolution has advanced greatly since the days of our Paleolithic grandparents. Marriage for a lifetime to them meant, at the most, 20 years. But due to our evolutionary advances in longevity – we are expecting marriages to last anywhere from 25 to 60 years. Sadeghi and Sami want us to see that we’ve not evolved in our view of marriage. Our longevity has evolved way past our marriage stability quotient (have no idea what that means – but it sounded really good didn’t it). That is where Conscious Uncoupling comes in to rescue us from our lack of evolutionary progress in views of marriage and relationships. We need to see that our evolutionary progress calls for a way to be in at least two to three strong relationships in a lifetime. The idea of “till death do us part” must evolve or perish as we move toward the eventual perfection that we seek (Even though there was no conscious force or individual that started evolution – we were just an amoeba that wanted more out of life – but honestly never knew why it did or any way to determine, beyond natural selection, why it even thought there was any morality involved. Actually, in light of this whole marriage mess – it might have been higher evolutionary thought to just embrace asexual reproduction as an amoeba, because you only have to get along with yourself – but I digress). Therefore Conscious Uncoupling is the answer to our lack of evolutionary progress in the area of relationships and marriage. In Conscious Uncoupling there is no blame game – no fault assigned. There is just the realization that we are “uncoupling.” We are now free to move on to meaningful relationship number 2 or 3. Geez, we may find that we are so far behind that we could have 8 to10 and be perfectly fine. This would be laughable if it were not being embraced by so many. Sadeghi and Sami even go so far as to compare our relationship issues to our evolution from being bugs to humans. Bugs have an exoskeleton that is outside its body and is rigid and unflexible. Humans evolved into an edoskeleton that is on the inside, which allows for wonderful flexibility. The lack of flexibility in bugs is why they did not eventually rule the earth – human edoskeletal flexibility is why we have risen above the bugs to rule the world. The leap our two scientists take from there is to postulate that if we become spiritually and relationally inflexible – by – oh, let’s say – holding marriage to be a lifelong covenant between and man and a woman – we too may become relationally extinct (Personally, I'm now terrified about a relationally-rigid comet or asteroid that will cause me and all other "marriage-rigid" people to become relationally extinct - sigh!). Their point is to say that the flexibility of conscious uncoupling will advance us greatly in the area of relationship evolution. In Sadeghi and Sami’s article and writings, the word marriage begins to give way to new terms like coupling and uncoupling (Houston we have a problem – sorry, sounded like NASA trying to dock the Space Shuttle). This is done for a reason. If there is no marriage – there can be no divorce. If we have coupled (which we can now, due to evolutionary extrapolation, do 2 to 3 times in our lifetime), then it is so less traumatic to just consciously uncouple. Sounds nice and neat doesn’t it. Be flexible – don’t be like a bug – you’ll only be left behind by the superior species which leaves inflexibility behind. Here we have radical worldview differences on display for all to see. Worldview begins with things like origins. Our view of origins matters – tremendously! Sadeghi and Sami see our origins coming from an evolutionary viewpoint. There was no creator – and as a result no real purpose for life, marriage, or anything else. There is only the relentless onward march of natural selection to weed out what is weak and reward what is strong. What comes across subtly (maybe not so subtly) in their writings is that traditional, lifelong-covenant oriented marriage is out. It is outmoded, out-dated, and evidently being out-sourced to a much more open view of relationships. Marriage is out and “coupling” is in! We either advance in relationship-evolution – or are left behind and crushed like the rigid marriage bugs we are. Here is the worldview according to God’s revelation of Himself. You and I, and our ancestors, were never Paleolithic – and given to tiny lifespans that are rising due to evolutionary wisdom and wonder. We were and are God’s creation. When God made us, we were innocent and not subject to death. When our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to rebel against God’s command, we fell – and – we also died. We died spiritually instantly – and later experienced physical death as well. Things have been devolving ever since. As sin increased – things have gotten worse. Life expectancy for our early ancestors was longer than at present. They lived into the hundreds of years. For someone to have died when they were only 75 to 81 years old was tragic. As the years have progressed – our life expectancy has gone down – even if, in the short –term it has gained a little at various points in modern history. Relationships were instituted by God in Genesis 3, and consisted of marriage between one woman and one man. What God put together was never meant to be something man could separate due to convenience or some uncoupling instinct into which we've evolved. God’s intent was for them to selflessly give themselves to each other for life – maturing together and caring for each other in each and every stage of life – until death parted them. Our current mess in the area of marriage and family is not due to our being too rigid. It is due to our being too sinful and selfish. But mankind does not like such terms because they imply that there is an absolute right and wrong (something that also comes from one’s worldview as well) which extends even to relationships and marriage. We do not just couple and consciously uncouple. That would indicate that during the entire process we are still two people. God’s Word reveals that in marriage the two become one. Want to know why divorce hurts so badly? It is because the two, who have become one, are now tearing apart – not back into two, but tearing the one in half. The world may attempt to redefine marriage and divorce into their newest pet terms, Coupling and Conscious Uncoupling; but the reality of God’s sovereignty will remain – as will the fact that in marriage there are no longer two - but one. The pain of divorce will also be just as real as it has always been. We may change the words and even try to alter concepts – but the pain will still be there. The sense of failure in a relationship will still remain. That is because we are the creation of God – we are under the commandments of God – and we will still feel pain when we reject the purposes of God. One bright spot in all this though, is that we also have the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ to put us back together when sin and rebellion have torn us apart. Maybe I’ll start calling that Conscious Redeeming.  Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord remind you this week that He has NOT forgotten you - nor will He ever forget you as one of His redeemed children! Have you ever thought that maybe God has fogotten you? Have problems arisen and surrounded you to the point where you really wonder if God has just forgotten you and no longer remembers you or hears your cries? Some might be tempted to think I only say this from a lack of faith - or from not seeing the facts (the biblical ones) properly. But the truth is that many of God's choicest saints came to this point in their lives. In fact, I have come to the point where I am a little shocked if those who are following hard after the Lord have not experienced this. David experiened this when he wrote, "Why O Lord do you forget me? Why O Lord do you hide Your face from me?" in the Psalms. Moses cried out to God, "Do not take us up from here unless You Yourself go with us!" Job had searchings of heart that go beyond anything any of us have experienced - and many of them had to do with whether God had left him or not. This is far from a rare experiece. In fact, the godly men and women of earlier times called these experiences, "the dark night of the soul." What do you do in these "dark nights of the soul" so that you do not give up in your pursuit of the Lord? The main thing you do is turn to Scripture and find reassurance in the promises of God that even as He hides Himself for a period of time - He has not - nor will He forsake you. Today I was reading in Isaiah and came upon this amazing promise. "But you have said, 'the LORD has forsaken me, and the LORD has forgotten me.' Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold I have increibed you on the palms of my hands . . ." Isaiah 49:14-16, NASB When God's people had wondered if God has forsaken and forgotten them, God made it clear that even if a brand new mother could forget her nursing child - He would not forget His people. What this means is that you would see all the mothers in the world forget their newborn infants before you would see God forsake and forget His people! What a wonderful promise. That means every time you look at a mother with her newborn - and note how much she loves that little baby - you can be assured that God feels similarly about you. When you see the light on at 2 or 3 in the morning because that mom is totally committed to caring for that little one - you can walk out into the night or day knowing that with an even greater commitment God cares for and loves you! But there is an even more amazing statement made here in Isaiah 49. In verse 16 God tells us that He has "engraved" or "inscribed us on the palms of His hands. The word that God uses here for this means to cut, inscribe or pierce. How do we know that God has not forgotten or forsaken us? Literally - there are inscriptions on the hands of God Himself that will forever remind us of how much He loves us! What are those marks? They are nail prints in his hands that God chose NOT to heal as His Son, Jesus Christ, was raised from the dead. The disciples saw those glorious wounds of eternal love after He rose from the dead. Jesus told Thomas to put his fingers into those nail prints to realize that it was truly Jesus that was before him. The price of our forgiveness and salvation is forever etched into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we ever need proof that God has not abandoned or forsaken us - all we have to do is look there. That statement - that commitment - that price that was paid - and those wounds that He bore and bears to this day - forever speak to us that He will never leave us or forsake us! Let me close this article with the words to a hymn that we sing. Crown Him the Lord of love Behold His hands and side, Those wound yet visible above In beauty glorified. All hail redeemer hail, For Thou hast died for me! Thy praise and glory shall not fail Throughout eternity! - Matthew Bridges - Dearest redeemed ones of God, know that He loves you! He will not forsake you - nor will He forget you! He has loved you with an everlasting love, and has drawn you to Himself with lovingkindness. He loved you long before you ever thought of even acknowledging Him. While you were yet a sinner - even in the moment when you were your very worst - Christ died for you! (Romans 5:8). His love for you is and never has been because of your performance or your level of recent obedience. You are forever graven on His hands. Those wounds - now glorified in heaven - are there not as a reminder of your shame and disgrace. They are there for the glory of God - who has loved you forever - and who will love you for an infinite number of forevers as time marches outward to the vanishing point and beyond! If you ever doubt this - just remember to look at His hands - and know and rejoice that you have been inscribed there for all eternity! The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
I want you to listen today so that you can hear something. In order to hear what I want you to hear – you will have to pay attention to what is happening in the spirit world. If you are not careful to do this – you may miss hearing this wonderful song. When was the last time someone sang because of you? Some women have the joy of having a troubadour come beneath their window and serenade them with music and song. When this happens, the woman is most often touched by the gesture – and she feels very loved. But not every woman is fortunate enough to have someone do this for her. I read a passage today that pretty much blew my mind – and made me know that I am very loved. Please note that I avoided the phrase, “felt like I am loved,” because it was wholly inappropriate for what happened. I KNEW I WAS LOVED! Here is the kicker, though . . . YOU CAN KNOW TOO! The prophet Zephaniah spoke of something God was doing – and would do. He was working wonderfully with His people – and He was “saving” them as a result! What a glorious thing this was – and still is! But even more glorious than this is how God reacts to His “saved ones” in whom He is working. There are two sounds I want you to hear – and the fact of their occurrence is verified here by the prophet Zephaniah. The first is that the God who saved you is rejoicing over you with great gladness! There is something you need to hear – God is rejoicing over His saving work in your life. As you grow in grace, as you grow in your understanding of Who He is, as you grow in your faith, and as He sanctifies you more and more (and this is even as you struggle and fail and have difficulty) God rejoices continually in what is happening in your heart and life! He is thrilled over the ongoing changes that are happening in you. But there is more – and this is what truly amazes me. God sings over you! Remember the beginning of this article? The prophet Zephaniah revealed to the people of Israel – and to all those who would experience God’s salvation in the future – that God sings over us. For those of you who maybe doubt God’s love – He is not singing to blues either. The word used here is very instructive to us. The word for singing here is “ranan.” This is a Hebrew word that means a ringing cry, a loud shout, or loud, almost rambunctious singing. The idea behind the singing and shouting is that jubilation is at the core of it. God sings for joy – filled with jubilation and excitement over how He saves us! He is rejoicing because of His grace. We read in Ephesians 1 that the marvelous salvation God has given us should be seen in the context of “the praise of the glory of His grace!” That is what is happening here. God is singing and shouting jubilantly not because of some great thing in us prior to salvation. He is singing and shouting because of the very glory of His grace given to us. He wants to sing for joy because how we’ve been redeemed – and how that redemption reveals the love and the true character of God. Oh, what a thrill to see grace at work, and it is such a thrill that God Himself is moved to song over it – and He sings over us as that grace is revealed in our salvation and transformation. I remember reading that the angels sing and shout for joy when a sinner repents. This is even more awesome – that God Himself sings all through the process of our salvation. I want to offer a word of great encouragement to all those reading this. God loves you! He loved you enough to provide blood – the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ to pay for your sin. He loved you enough to give you, as a gift, the very righteousness of His Son so you could be acceptable in His sight. He loves you throughout the rest of your life as He sanctifies you - drawing you to Himself – changing and transforming you by His grace. He loves you and longs for the day when faith shall be sight – when the very presence of sin will be taken away at your glorification. He loves you so much that He sings loudly with shouts of joy over the salvation He watches at work in you. So the next time you wonder how God feels about you – oh, dear saint of God, listen. Don’t listen for what you can hear with your physical ear. Listen with the ears of your heart – listen with your spirit – read the Word of God, Zephaniah 3:17 especially, but read with understanding and grace the glorious truth of His singing. Listen for you will hear the exalted Lord of the universe sing of the grace that has been lavishly applied to you. He sings for joy – shouts with great gladness. He does so because more than you can know, more than you can imagine, and more than you can ever comprehend . . . He loves you! For a couple of weeks now we have been looking at Psalm 101 and the godly man. This week I want to do an overview of this Psalm and bring out a key trait of the godly man. In Psalm 101 we see a pattern that is important for us if we desire to be godly. Note throughout the Psalm you see David stating, “I will” over and over again. He actually makes this statement about 7 different things in this chapter. I call these 7 things “The Seven I wills of a Godly Man.” Before we are done with the articles on this Psalm we will look at all 7 of them. But for this week we need to get the idea of what David is doing here.
A godly man rejects a passive life—and chooses to actively pursue his relationship with God, as well as actively oppose and renounce evil in his life. This is an example that we do not need to miss because it highlights something that is not being emphasized in our day. Men need to reject passivity and accept the role of leadership in their homes and in society. There is no place where this is needed more than in the area of spiritual leadership and development. If you will note, the seven “I wills” of a godly man have to do with moral and spiritual choices. Too many men grow up thinking that church, God, and spirituality are the stuff of women—and that their mothers and wives will take care of that area. But this is wrong and diametrically opposed to what we see in Scripture. God desires for a man to grow up, lay aside his toys. Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 13:11 when he writes the following words, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” Paul wrote this in the context of defining what love really is. When you read this chapter you realize that love is a choice, not a feeling. Love is a choice to deny yourself, die to what you want at the time, and live for the benefit of someone else. The “Seven I Will’s” of a Godly Man” are choices. They are choices that require men to die to themselves—and die to their passivity about things in life. They choose instead to pursue a path of godliness, holiness, and love of God first, in their own lives, and then in their family. In order to do this, many men will have to put down the toys of their youth—and begin to live for God—and then live the life of a servant of God and serve their family. You cannot do this when you are too busy playing with man-toys like video games, fantasy football teams, and other things that dominate your time. You will have to “do away with childish things” and give yourself to choosing to love others. A great start is to act on every character trait mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13—and apply it in your relationship with your wife, children, co-workers, friends, fellow church-members, and neighbors. Guys, God has a role and the purpose for us to fulfill. We live in a time when MEN are needed desperately in our homes, in our churches, and in our society. Too often we have made our wives and other women fill a role God meant for us to fill. Let us rise up from in front of the television or the computer—and become the godly men we were meant to be. Let us be like David and make some rock-hard “I wills” in life—make choices that will make an eternal difference! |
Biblical ArticlesMost of these articles are taken from the Calvary Courier, a weekly newsletter that is sent to the folks who attend Calvary Chapel Jonesboro. Due to the response to these articles, we've decided to print some of them which proved to be very helpful to God's people at the fellowship. 
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