Overly critical???

This is not a post about an attitude of general criticalness, though it does relate.

This is about our attitude of criticism towards other believers for the “spiritual” things they do.

There are two extremes we can slip into.  On the one hand there are many who are so uncritical that anything they hear or see, they accept as Gospel Truth and as a result are blown about “with every wind of doctrine”.  Then there are those whose minds are like brick walls.  They attack everything and claim to have a monopoly on truth.

Going into personal experience here for a sec, I believe I can see God working on me in this area in the past few years.  I remember how hard I was on other believers in my thoughts in the past.  I remember constantly critiquing them, their prayers, their preaching, their lives.  I thought I could do everything so much better.  A good dose of reality, the reality of my own failure drug me out of a lot of that, though it is and probably always will be a struggle.

And then we can take the young woman whom I am courting as an example for a bit (I pray she will forgive me for this).  A little back, as she recounted it to me, she used to tend much more towards the side of accepting whatever came down the pike without analyzing it carefully.  Since then, she has matured greatly and attempts to think more about what she sees and hears in the light of scripture.

Two types of people can be imagined here.  Mr. Blown-About and Mr. Critical.

Mr. Blown-About will face the challenge of a great lack of growth because he has no focus to grow towards.  As every new thing comes down the pike he latches on and that is everything…. until something newer comes.  This is repeated ad nauseum and Mr. Blown-About is exactly at the same spiritual depth as he was ten years ago.  Shallow.

Mr. Critical will face the same challenge of a lack of growth, but in a different sense then his counterpart.  His critical spirit will not allow him to see when he can learn and grow from something different.  Mr. Critical will stay in stasis because, after all, the old way is the best way and boy, does he know the old way!

Both of these men will not grow.  How can we get around their shortcomings and grow?

I am convinced there is no answer other than that of a firm commitment to God’s Word.  When we dive in the word we find two answers.  First, that in the word there is a sure guide, a solid guide and that all must bow to its teaching.  Thus we will interpret all we hear through the grid of scripture vigilantly.  But second, we will see ourselves as the scriptures see us, as fallible beings that can learn from each other how to better understand that word.  Thus we will seek to find ways to understand scripture better as we listen to and view our fellow brothers and sisters.

There is no sure fountainhead of truth other than scripture and all in our lives must bow to this.  But our understanding of that Word can be faulty and a sense of humility should be present.

So, we must be critical, but humbly critical, not thinking that our ways are the best, but always trying to seek Christ’s ways in His word.  There is not surefire method to this.  Just honest seeking of the truth.

 

How does God judge those who have never heard His law?

Just a few short remarks to clarify.  What Francis Schaeffer says below is not a comprehensive analysis of what the scripture says to this topic.  Much more could be said.  However it is very clear and to the point and in my opinion quite thought-provoking.
I may write further on this topic but that will have to come later.  Till I see you next, keep glorifying the Lord of glory!

Begin Francis Schaeffer quote:

If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments.

Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments.

Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never head the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments? The Bible points out . . . that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.

We sin two kinds of sin. We sin one kind as though we trip off the curb, and it overtakes us by surprise. We sin a second kind of sin when we deliberately set ourselves up to fall. And no one can say he does not sin in the latter sense. Paul’s comment is not just theoretical and abstract, but addressed to the individual—”O man”—any man without the Bible, as well as the man with the Bible.

. . . God is completely just. A man is judged and found wanting on the same basis on which he has tried to bind others.

—Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, 2d ed. (Crossway, 1985), pp. 49-50.

Consider the principles set forth in Romans 2:

1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? . . .

14 . . . When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

What is God sovereign over?

God Is Sovereign Over . . .

Seemingly random things:

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. (Proverbs 16:33)

The heart of the most powerful person in the land:

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)

Our daily lives and plans:

A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way? (Proverbs 20:24)

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

Salvation:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:15-16)

As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

Life and death:

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)

The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. (1 Samuel 12:6)

Disabilities:

Then the LORD said to [Moses], “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11)

The death of God’s Son:

Jesus, [who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:23)

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27-28)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. . . . (Isaiah 53:10)

Evil things:

Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? (Amos 3:6)

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. . . . “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 1:21-22; 2:10)

[God] sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Psalm 105:17; Genesis 50:21)

All things:

[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)

This was borrowed from Tim Challies, who borrowed it from our King.

Knowing God giveaway by Christian audio

Christian Audio is giving away the book “Knowing God” by J. I. Packer for the month of January.  This is a great book, a definite classic.  I would highly recommend it, and you cant find a better price than free.

What war are you fighting?

It seems to me that humans really like having a war to fight.  At least humans that have not been lulled into meaningless complacency by the luxury of our culture.  We desire something to campaign for and to fight for.
Of course I am not using the word fight to mean a physical war, but more a mental one.
When I was younger, and some older people may well say that these tendencies yet reside within me, I recall going thru great cycles in my thoughts.  I would get all pumped up about some particular idea, or doctrine, and would push it with remarkable tenacity.  I would take up the banner of, say, my particular view of music, and campaign against all those who thought differently.  This war would consume my thoughts…. at least until another thing gained dominance in my mind.  And then I went to war for that thing….  And on and on it went.
Sadly many never grow out of this cycle.  I think, or rather hope that I did.
Even sadder are those who no longer are cyclical in these patterns, but settle down into their own particular war.  Fine-tuned their defences are.  They have handcrafted them over years.  And all too often the things that some people have chosen to defend with all their exertions and thoughts are so peripheral to the Christian faith that their efforts are far more detrimental than helpful.
Not to say that waging war over a particular doctrine is not a good thing sometimes.  That Martin Luther took it in hand to fight that huge battle over justification by faith is something that all Christians should be grateful for.  We need that sometimes.
But let us, like Luther, fight these wars for the right things.  Peripheral doctrines should be seen as just that.  Let us focus our lives on the gospel and make war over that!  Christ and His kingdom should be what is on our hearts and minds at all times.
War is necessary.  Inactivity is treason.  Making war over anything less than the gospel and Christ’s kingdom is just as treasonous.
Let us crown Christ King, over our wars.

Your thoughts on Pentecostamania desired

Most of those who read this blog are likely not best described as pentecostal.  Probably dont come anywhere near that term.

Recently, due to certain circumstances, I have revisited this topic and am once again rethinking my beliefs.  Am I a cessationist?  Or a continuationist?  Ie… Are the supernatural gifts of the spirit active today?  And then if so, how should we see them?  How should we use them?

Well, my convictions on this are to remain for the present shrouded in mystery.  Suffice it to say that though I do hold convictions, I dont hold them strongly, and am very willing to dialog respectfully with a disagreeing party, of whatever stripe he or she may be.

So, thoughts?  Do the gifts continue?  Have they ceased?  If they have ceased then what do we think of the pentecostal churches?  If they continue how should we incorporate them into our churches?

The ME-centered war on sin

There are times that come to us all when we are really struggling with a particular sin that seems to loom before us like a tidal wave.  Or maybe it is a whole set of sins that are threatening to immerse us.  It seems that we are wading thru neck deep mud and only making slow progress, or, sometimes, no progress at all.

Then something happens!  A thought comes to mind and we are suddenly invigorated with new-found strength!  We make a firm resolution in our mind to stand staunchly against this sin and overcome.  And we march away gaining victory over sin and live happily ever after in perfect holiness!

Um, no.

This is not likely a description of your walk.  More often, if you are like me, you may get just a little bit down the road, just enough to get excited that you might be on to something, when along comes a temptation hand-crafted it seems to hit you in just the right way, and like David of old down you fall flat on your face back in the mud you thought you had escaped.

What went wrong?  We can try to jump back up and keep trucking, and we should do that, but while jumping back up lets take a careful look at our lives to see if anything is askew.

I guess what I am getting at is this.  If we fight this war on the misguided foundation of our own strength of will we will fail time and again. And fail badly.

Why is this?

We humans are selfish.  We are about us and our own ways.  Whenever God’s word gives a reference to the natural heart of man it is never good.  “At war with God”.  We “hate the light and will not come to the light”.  Our hearts are “desperately wicked”.  And we could go on and on.  We are not content to dwell under the law of God because we want to pave our own road.

And though we have been redeemed and made new creations we still dwell within these bodies of flesh and are still subject to its temptations.  Romans 7:14-24 details this struggle for Paul.  Even while saved we still deal with the tendencies to run off God’s way and do it our way.

But how does this relate to our failure to gain victory in these situations?  What I am arguing for is this.  When we hype ourselves up, when we grit our teeth and vow to fight on, all too often we are running off the path God has ordained for victory to be obtained and are fighting sin “our way”.  We are warring with sin our own way.  Fighting God’s war without listening to the General’s orders.

What we do is throw to the wind all that God’s word tells us of how weak we are and how only He can defeat sin.  Because we are not carefully studying His word and applying it to our lives we forget that we will, when fighting on our own strength, fall woefully short.  Christ is the only one who can save, not only from the penalties of our sin, but also the current power of that sin.  We are the ones being saved.  He is the mighty savior!

Christ-centered sanctification is, well, just that.  It is focusing on His strength, and His holiness, and His eternal worth, and getting our eyes off of ourselves and any stupid little three step plan or trick of the trade.  When we run to Him, when we glory in Him and get our eyes off of our own resolve, then He saves!  God is glorified by saving a man who knows his own weakness and cries out for help!  Think of our condition before we were initially converted.  It was solely by His grace that we were moved to pursue Him.  Solely by His grace that our eyes were opened to perceive the depths of our sin. And solely by His grace that Christ’s blood was applied to our account and we were justified!  God was glorified by saving a man who could not save himself.  And the same is true now.  God saves the humble.  We must cry out to Him, recognizing our lost condition without Him, relying only on His strength and then He will mightily save!

We need to ground ourselves in the teachings of God’s word on this.  Preaching this truth to ourselves daily, and not just this but the whole of the gospel, is so important to walking in victory.  I find that often going back to read romans 6, 7 and 8 refreshes me greatly.

Ground yourself in God’s word.  Trust only in His grace and strength.  Then, and only then, will victory come.

For the King,

Caleb

Expositional Preaching

Ok, so this is not intended to be a full-on defense of expositional preaching nor a total bash of topical preaching.  This is just a few thoughts on the matter.

Expositional preaching is the term for preaching that moves thru the scriptures systematically text by text.  The aim is to bring to light what each verse, chapter and passage are intending on communicating.  This method is over and against topical preaching in which a topic is selected and all the verses related to that are discussed.

There is a time and a place for topical preaching I believe.  But in our modern day where there are more heresies in our churches than hairs on the collective neighborhood’s heads the need to allow the bible to speak for itself is very evident.  As we preach systematically thru the word the topics we need to address will be.  But also the “other” verses, the ones we usually dont hear preached on, are brought out.   The whole teaching of the word, beginning to end, is what we hear, rather than what our preacher decides to speak on.  Not to question our pastors; they have a high calling and are to be honored.  But to allow God to speak for Himself both is most faithful to His word and takes the weight off of our pastors shoulders to “fix” us by addressing what we perceive to be our needs.

Viva la Expositional Preaching!!!