Getting Grace

What does it mean to have God's grace in our lives? How do we get it? Where do we even get this phrase? The first time that we hear the word grace in the Bible is in Genesis. We read that Noah found favor (grace) in God's eyes. So how'd he do it? Well, let us take a look at the verb here. Found is an active verb in the perfect tense. The fact that it is active shows us that he DID something. God could have easily said this in many different ways, but chose to show it in the active tense. Noah found grace. This is like the Shepherd finding the lost sheep. There was action involved. Noah longed to walk with God, he strove for it. And God did indeed walk with Him.

So what was Noah's secret? Did he live in a better world than ours? Maybe a simpler time would make it easier to walk with God? Actually, the whole reason Noah was told to build the ark was the corruption of all the people around him. Their hearts were always bent on evil. Even after years of preaching the only people who listened to this man were his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. If we had an eighty year ministry that produced results like this, we would shut it down and blame the preacher. But God didn't. Instead, God used this man to repopulate the entire Earth. All of creation was saved by this man's faithfulness. It could not be measured by his success in converting those around him. Instead, God's grace in his life was only evident in obedience and God's judgement upon those around Noah and sparing the family of this righteous man.

So are we saved by action? Not our own. Jesus action in our stead is what saved us, just like Noah's action saved his family. We must walk with God in order to have any real righteousness. There is a form of pseudo-righteousness that looks good for awhile, but in the end, it leads to condemnation. So how do we have real righteousness and not just be self-righteous? (To see where self-righteousness gets you check Matthew 23)

Conclusion

So would we be like Noah? Could we stand for right when the world was that evil? Before we ask ourselves that, check your life now. Are we walking with God? Would we be ashamed or nervous if God did show up? Do you have something that jumps to the top of your mind when you think of God's return?

If something does come to mind, ask yourself. Is it sin? Is there something I am trying to justify before God? We humans so quickly want to explain to God why what He calls wrong isn't really wrong. We know its foolish when we hear it aloud, but we end up doing it all to quickly. Instead, let us call a spade a spade. Indeed, let us call sin, sin. Repent, give it to God, and ask Him to replace that sin with something that glorifies His Name. If we try to remove things from our lives and do not allow God to replace them with something new, we put ourselves in grave danger.

So what is a Christian to do. Read. Read your Bible. Nothing helps us overcome sin like God's word.
D.L. Moody once said. “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” Let us live by that.

Are You Known in Hell?

Some of you who have worked for a family business know that sometimes it doesn't matter how well or poorly you do your work, but what matters is who you know; or rather, who knows you. In our spiritual warfare we have a similar issue. It truly matters whom we are known by.

"What do you mean?" you may be asking. Well let's take a look at a story in the Book of Acts. Acts is a book about the very beginning of the Christian Church, and in it we find much wisdom and instruction. Here we have a story of Paul, one of the great apostles, and how he was affecting those around him. His name was well known in the area, to the extent that some wannabe prophets used his name in their attempted demon extortion.

"In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches," they quoted. Impressive, huh? They used the very name of God, under the authority of the man they had seen do the same thing and guess what happens. The demons tell the seven guys that they have indeed heard of Paul and know the name of Jesus, but they have no idea who these seven foolish men are. So instead of leaving the posessed like the seven men had planned, the demons decided to chase and torture them.

So, what can we learn from this? Many things, I believe. Today I want to focus one of the things here that I hadn't really noticed before reading out of a new (for me) book titled "Why Revival Tarries" by Leonard Ravenhill. A very good read. Mr. Ravenhill points out that Paul's name was known by these demons. Why? Because Paul was a warrior. Paul was a spiritual combatant. These demons knew Paul's name because they feared him.

Why would demons fear one man but not seven? Did they miss the math lesson where seven is definately bigger than one? Nope, that has nothing to do with it. They feared Paul, not for Paul's sake but for the sake of what Paul did. Paul was not a warrior for himself. Paul was a warrior in Christ. The seven men had no power because they had not done what Paul had. They expected the battle to be won in public. But that is not how it works. That is never how it works.

What does that mean, you may ask. Simply put, it means that we don't do our spirituual battling in front of other people. We do it alone with God. How? In prayer. In communion with God. No Christian will win any battle by standing strong and fighting alone. The only way we can win is by kneeling and admitting that the battle is not ours, but the Lords.

Conclusion

In the end, where does this leave us? It leaves us before the Throne of God. We must first come there as humble, broken, unworthy servants before we can be used for His Will. To do otherwise is only a futile attempt on our part to do God's work. God does not need our inteligence or wisdom, He needs our surrender. Only in surrender to Him can we be useful soldiers on this battlefield.

Acceptance VS Belief

Sometimes people will get all riled up over something that they see as a big deal. Some of these things are truly important, others are things they misunderstand. One such important issue that many modern Theologians will talk about it the fact that the phrase "accept Jesus" is not mentioned in the Bible. "Why do we use it then?" they ask.

It's a good question. Why do we use terms like this that aren't found in the Bible? Well, some terms we don't see in the Bible are because they are words we made up to explain an idea. Words like Theology and Trinity are not in the Bible because we created those words to explain truths we see in the Bible that did not have just one word for them before that. Both of those two words are not specifically used in the Bible but the concepts thereof are referenced throughout.

But what about a word as simple as accept? That surely is not used because of a different reason right? Yes. The reason accept is a more common term in Theology than believe in some circles has to do with the language that we used to use in Theology. Much Theology was developed during and right after the Reformation. And what language did many of the Reformers read and write? German, it was one of the dominate languages of high thought. Even many who did not speak it as their mother tongue used it for Theology and Philosophy. And in German 'accept' is written 'annehmen' and it literally means "to take on or to put on, to accept." Alternately in German 'believe' is written 'glauben' and it literally means "to agree to or understand." So as you can see, in German to accept means to apply to life and believe means more along the lines of  merely understanding a concept. Therefore, in German the word annehmen was used to show we needed to apply what we believe, whereas glauben was used to show what we know from an intellectual point of view.

So what does this mean? Well, the reason we started using the word accept is because in the language that was used in the time much of this Theology was put to paper, words meant things differently than we understand them now. In German "accept" (annehmen) is to apply, but in English "accept" means much less. In our modern English we would be more inclined to use the word "believe" for its implications. 

Conclusion

So in the end, when we both mean is the same when we say we need to "accept" or "believe". We need to apply to our hearts the principles that we see in Scripture. We cannot just "know about" Jesus, that does not work for people in English or in German. (or any other language) The Devil knows and trembles. If we do not apply it, whether you use the term believe or annehmen does not matter, as long as you do indeed apply it to your life.

Googling Godliness

Technology is a wonderful tool. We use it all around us every day. I greatly enjoy using all sorts of things that run on electricity in my day to day activities. But sometimes I do believe that we have made our tech toys a little too close to our hearts.

I was preparing for a lesson the other day and needed to find a verse to support my thesis. I was not near a computer and still have a cell phone that cannot actually surf the web. I was stuck. So I did what I used to do when I needed a verse. I read my Bible. I skimmed the Book of Matthew from the middle to the end with no success. Then I started at the beginning of the book. Still couldn't find that verse. But I did find much other wisdom that I had not thought of while preparing that made me rethink my lesson for that day. In fact, in reading some other verses that I was going through brought light to the subject I hadn't even realized that I needed and was lacking.

I think this is a problem in our modern Theology. Probably not the biggest one, but an issue we do need to address. We have such easy access to the Internet we no longer remember things on our own. We just google it. In a great many things this is totally fine, but with our Theology we need to be extra careful how we use technology.

Am I saying that I am going Amish? Well, the fact that I'm typing this is proof that I am not. The technology is not evil. Using it is not wrong either. Depending on it for our Theological basis, however is quite wrong. We need to be able to study the Scriptures without the aid of the internet and grow in God without having to google what our favorite Theologian or Preacher thinks on the matter.

What am I saying then? Well, its fairly simple. We have reached an age where we don't think about the answers to questions anymore. We just google them. Lets not do that with our spiritual lives. Let us instead close our laptops and open our Bibles. After we have studied, then we can see what others also believe.

Conclusion

Let us be like the Bereans. We are told that they went to the Scriptures themselves to see if these things that they heard were true. They didn't just see what the 'in' preacher of their times thought, they checked to make sure that the things they learned were in line with the Bible. If we check the exact verse we find yet another important detail on the Bereans. They checked the Scriptures daily. This is one of the things we lack in modern America. We do not check the Scriptures daily. In fact, we hardly have time to squeeze in both Sunday's service and Bible Study in the same week. Let us fix that in our lives and truly study the Scriptures daily to see if these things are true.

Devil's Decorations

Christmas season is in full swing. Trees are up, carols are playing, the weather is finally winter-like, and stores are stuffed. We often measure the holidays by how busy and festive they are. But American Christmas hasn't always been this way. Let's take a look at Christmas back in the very start of America.
William Bradford, the Governor of Massachusetts  Colony, banned the celebration of Christmas in any festive way. This law was active there for twenty-two years. Here is a transcript of the law, in fact.

“For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offence five shilling as a fine to the county.”

From the records of the General Court,
Massachusetts Bay Colony
May 11, 1659

What does this mean? Well that anyone who celebrated Christmas was breaking the law. No one stopped working, no one feasted with family, nor was any form of celebration allowed, including decorations. No trees, no wreaths, no celebration whatsoever.

Why would a Christian Church (the Puritans) ban the celebration of Christmas? What does this imply? Well they felt that some people were celebrating the holiday poorly, and therefore they banned it for everyone. If they didn't celebrate it the same way they 'leaders' did, they were not allowed to celebrate it at all.

The flaw in this plan is the fact that they were trying to produce actions of a contrite heart without changing the heart of the person. We cannot make rules to save people or to change their hearts. If it worked that way then Christ would not have had to die. (Galatians 2:21) We cannot save others by making them look like Christians. They must truly become Christians to be saved.

So not decorating or avoiding celebrating in order to "fix" other people does not work. "But what about the history of some of our decorations?" I also hear people ask, "Are they not of evil origin?" By this people mean that things like the Christmas tree, wreath, and various other decorations. Again let us see what Paul says about things like this. Paul talks about things that others use for evil but we use to glorify God in I Corinthians chapter 8. He is specifically talking about the problem of things that were sacrificed to idols, but the same idea applies. Just because one person uses it for evil does not mean we need to avoid it. If we decorate for Christmas to celebrate the birth of the Saviour of mankind, that is wonderful. If we are not decorating because God convicts us, that is also wonderful. But do not expect every other person to follow our convictions.

As for those who wish to not celebrate Christmas at all (like the Puritans), the Bible has this to say.

^{ROMANS 14:6} The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Here Paul tells us again that it is not what we do but why we do it that matters. He tells us that both ways can honor God if done for the right reason. But both things can also dishonor God if done for the wrong reason. Remember it is the heart that matters, not merely the actions. (Matt. 15:11)

Conclusion

What we can take from this is simple. What we do can honor God if we do it for the right reason. Some people will honor God by celebrating festively, others will do so without decorations or presents.  So instead of arguing the point with those that disagree; (Romans 14:1) thank God for His Saviour and celebrate in a way that glorifies Him. Enjoy the Christmas Season by celebrating God's arrival to take away the sins of the world. May God bless you this Christmas season.

Proper Prayer

One of the most interesting things that I have noticed among Theologians recently is the abandonment of "The Sinner's Prayer." Now, I know why they do this. They firmly believe that there is no "magic password" to Heaven. I agree. But let us not throw out the baby with the bath here. We need to make sure we don't condemn the concept of praying such a prayer completely.

One argument they will throw up is the fact that Jesus never gave us such a prayer. But if we were to apply this criteria to other parts of Theology we would have to throw out everything from the Trinity to Grace. That's a lot of stuff. Jesus Himself never used the words Trinity or grace. But these are still both very important parts of our Theology and should remain so.

Not only that, but those who claim there is no sinner's prayer in the Bible do so a bit quickly. Jesus actually did give us something very similar to this. In fact, this is the prayer our modern one was modeled after.

"But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest, saying, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner!'" LUKE 18:13

Here we find the original sinner's prayer. What is the important part? Is it the words? Maybe it only counts if we say them in the original language, or if we stand where this man did? No. It is neither the words nor style. What mattered here and what matters now is the condition of the person's heart. This tax collector was broken before God. He knew he was not good enough for God. He knew God had the full right to punish him. He admitted this and cried out for mercy. That is the key. It isn't what words we use. It isn't going to help to recite the sinner's prayer a hundred times if you don't mean it. But it also won't help to throw out this prayer just because some people abuse it.

So what do we do? We preach the word. Day in day out; when necessary, use words to do so. Our lives should be an example to others so that we can preach in all situations. We need to show people it is not the words, but the heart and our acknowledgement of our sin and God's holiness that can save us. We have to let God convict people. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict people. (John 16:8) We are called to be faithful. (I Cor. 4:2) That is all. We are not called to convict people. We are called to be faithful in our lives. This means both in earthly things and in spiritual things. Sometimes that will include correction and admonishment, but only at the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

In the end, we cannot determine the thoughts of a person's heart when they pray this prayer. All we can do is be faithful in what God called us to do. May we do so as humble servants.

Faulty Feelings

Sometimes we just don't feel like Christians. It may be we are just low on emotional kindness. Sometimes we just don't feel nice, or patient, or forgiving. As Christians what are we supposed to do? Should we sit around and wait until we feel like loving and forgiving again? Should we fake those emotions? Should we try to will ourselves into feeling that way again? More importantly, what about those time when we don't even feel love for God? Have we grown apostate? Are we fallen?

Actually, Christianity is all about these moments. Those times when we don't feel emotionally drawn to do what we are called to do. What did Jesus say about this? "Take up you cross and follow Me." No one is always comfortable carrying his or her cross, thats just not the way it works. Sometimes we must chose to deny our emotions.

So what do we do? First, we pray. Whatever we may be going through, we should bring it to the Throne of God. Then, we obey. God does not ask us to conjure up feelings and emotions. God never tells us that we are to 'feel like Christians', He tells us to act like them. We will run into unpleasant times, in the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. This is not necessarily a sign of apostasy. It may, in fact, be a sign that one has some growing to do that we did not realize up to this point. God shows us where we need to improve at a rate that we can follow, and He will not ignore a point just because we do so.

God does not use the Irresistible or the Indisputable because they work against the very thing He is working towards. God will not force His Will because He desires us to become like Him by choice, not by force. It is not a question of whether or not He can, but whether or not it is right. God does indeed desire us to become like Him, in both thought and action, but He will not make us do so against our will. God's desire is for us to be His heirs in truth, not as mechanical drones that are forced to be obedient due to lack of choice. We see this choice from Adam and Eve in the Garden, (Genesis 3) down to the Israelites choice in the wilderness, (Joshua 24:15) the Kings of Israel and Judah, and the choices made by those in the New Testament.

Conclusion

So what does that mean for our emotions? Well, that God will not force us to emotionally be 'stuck' in Super-Christian mode. In fact, most of our growing happens in the slumps we face, not in the high points. We find that Joseph, Moses, Elijah, and David all grew through extremely low points in their lives. The key is to continue in obedience to what we know, not what we feel.