A Church in Danger

Have you noticed that there is a lot of hero worship in Christendom? There are “rock-star” pastors with thousands of followers and Bible teachers who sell out auditoriums around the country. I’m not saying popularity in the church is wrong. Jesus had quite a crowd that followed Him and hung on His every word. Take the fellow in Luke 9: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you where you go.’” (v. 57). He wanted to be part of Jesus’ entourage. But Jesus didn’t encourage this would-be fan. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (v. 58). I believe Jesus was saying, “This is not going to be the high-life you’re expecting. I don’t have a multi-million-dollar mansion to put you up in. I walk hot, dusty roads and sleep where I can.”
What did you expect from Jesus when you chose to follow Him? A solution to all your problems? A good reputation in the community? A full life with heaven thrown in after it’s all over? Just a few verses before He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23) Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and the cross. He might have also told the man, “Don’t hook your wagon to me unless you’re prepared to die.”
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a war going on between good and evil, between light and darkness. God’s people are the enemy of the present ruling authorities who are bent on the church’s destruction. If you choose Jesus, you need to know that you are also choosing self-denial, persecution, rejection, and suffering. That is what the Lord endured. Why should we expect any less?
I look at the modern church – particularly in the West – so comfortable in our air-conditioned sanctuaries. Where is the suffering? Where is the persecution? Where are self-denial and the cross? I’m pointing my finger at myself. I believe the enemy’s strategy against the church in the U.S. is not a full-on battle, but to make us relaxed and contented while he waters down our theology and sugarcoats our worship. Just before he hits us with an all-out assault.
I realize, Beloved, that this is not a warm and happy message. Take it as a warning. If our Christianity is comfortable, maybe we’re in more danger than we know.

Acts: When the Lion Roars

Paul sits in confinement in a Roman barracks while evil things are stirring outside of the jail, things that will move Paul into God’s perfect plan. Please read Acts 23:12-35.
Paul’s young nephew overheard the Jews plotting to kill his uncle. They were so committed to their hatred that they vowed not to eat or drink until their wicked deed was done. They created a ruse to get their intended victim away from the safe confines of the barracks – and the chief priests and elders were in on it.
But the boy told Paul and the Roman commander of the conspiracy. Realizing that his own life rested on the safety of his prisoner – a Roman citizen no less – the commander intervened and ordered a large detachment of Roman soldiers to get Paul out of Jerusalem. He appealed to Governor Felix who was in Caesarea on Paul’s behalf and they whisked him away in the night. Paul was kept secure in Herod’s palace until a trial could be convened.
Every time I read this account, I picture the angels of heaven and the demons of hell in a cosmic clash of epic proportions. I’ve been in the middle of those a few times –when good and evil are battling just over my head. That’s not saying I am good and an evil person is at war with me. That means God’s purpose for my life, or the life of someone I love is under spiritual attack. The battle over Paul was the devil’s attempt to squash God’s most prolific evangelist – and the spread of the gospel.
In His last message to His disciples, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (Jn 15:18).
Every time I stepped out in obedience to the Lord – to teach, speak, write, go to seminary, or fight for the soul of someone I love – the devil set me in his crosshairs and started shooting. I have heard His wicked voice in my ear and felt his hot breath on the back of my neck. Do you know what that means? I am right where God wants me to be.
The Scripture says, “[the devil] is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short” (Rev. 12:12). If that was true two thousand-plus years ago, it is more so today. He is “a roaring lion” (1 Pet 5:8). and he roars loudest at those who threaten his wicked kingdom. If the enemy is breathing down your neck trust that the Lord and his angels are breathing down his – and you, Beloved, are in the sweet spot of God’s will.

Do You Know the Rest of the Christmas Story?

There’s part of the Christmas story that we tend to ignore. The dark part with a paranoid king and some wise men from afar. Matthew reports that the Magi followed a star they had seen in the east (2:2) and when they arrived in Jerusalem (2:1) they raised quite a stir looking for “the one who has been born king of the Jews” (2:2). Herod got wind of this and called for the visitors who reported that ancient prophecies (likely passed down from Daniel) said the child would be born in Bethlehem (2:5). Herod ordered the wise men to report back to him after they found the child – saying he, too, wanted to “worship” him (2:7-8).
But that was a lie. He wanted to kill him. He had a reputation for violence and murdered members of his own family whom he viewed as a threat. A Jewish baby was no match for this king. But Herod was no match for this Baby’s Father. The Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod (2:12) and the Lord sent an angel to warn Joseph who took his family and fled to Egypt (2:13-14). The king, in a rage, ordered the murder of all baby boys in Bethlehem two years and under to secure his throne – another clue to the timing of the Magi’s’ visit. (2:16-18).
But who was really behind Herod’s actions? Who planted that paranoia in his mind and murder in his heart? Who would have wanted this child dead more than Herod? Satan. Satan was behind every threat God’s people faced because he knew his destroyer would come from the Jewish nation. Herod was reenacting Pharoah’s hatred when he ordered the death of all Hebrew baby boys born in Egypt. But the Lord called two midwives, a believing mother and even Pharoah’s daughter to save the day (Ex 1:15-22; 2:1-10) . Satan enticed Haman to order the -annihilation of the Jews in Persian, but God used Esther to rescue His people (Esther). You see satan’s evil presence over and over in Scripture – but you also see God’s mighty hand preserving His people and His promise.
Satan is also part of the Christmas story, for the Holy Child in the manger was born to break the curse of evil. He was born to set men free from their sins (Romans 6:18). He was born to bring light and life where death and darkness reigned (John 1:4-5). He was born to set right what had gone horribly wrong (Romans 8:22-24). This little baby was the fulfillment of God’s promise, the seed that would crush the head of the enemy (Genesis 3:15). When this newborn baby’s cry pierced the silent night, all of hell trembled.

Advent 2023: Hope is a Baby Boy

“For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

For hundreds of years the Jewish people watched and waited for the birth of this special child.  They looked to the heavens for signs of His coming. They held tightly to God’s promise, and their hope rested – as it should – on His faithfulness.  But they hoped for a Messiah who would free them from the rule of their enemies.  When Hope was born, they failed to recognize Him because He lay in a manger, instead of a palace or temple. He was surrounded by hay and the lowing of cattle rather than kings and priests.  They hoped for the Savior of the Hebrew nation. This Child, the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise, was the Hope, not just of the Jewish people, but of the whole world.

Today hopes for an end to poverty, violence, disease, and hatred.  But the true enemy of all humanity is evil – evil wrought by satan, the enemy of God and His creation.  The Jewish people expected a military savior, and our world today looks for a political savior, but God sent to us exactly what we needed – a holy and perfect Savior who would redeem us from our sins and rescue us from death and the righteous wrath of God.

The Lord promised us Hope and Peace and Joy and Love – and He fulfilled every promise in His Son, Jesus Christ.  The hope of all mankind came, not as a military conqueror, nor as a great political leader, but as a tiny and helpless baby – Jesus, the Child of Hope and Promise.

As we enter the month of December and ready our homes for Christmas, let’s prepare our hearts as well.  I hope you will join me every day up to Christmas for a devotional thought that will help us focus our hearts and minds on the birth of Christ. Jesus is the reason for the season. Beloved, you are the reason for the Savior.

Why God Can Never Coexist

Warning: get your steel-toed boots on this morning. I’m dipping in and out of Jeremiah this morning. Jeremiah was called by God to prophesy to the Southern kingdom of Judah before and during the Babylonian captivity. He was not popular among the Jewish hierarchy because he spoke against their greed and idolatry, proclaiming the coming judgment of the Lord.

Why would God bring such hardship upon His chosen people? “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in the house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’ – safe to do all these detestable things? ‘I have been watching!’ declares the Lord.” (Jer 7:9-11).

The people – God’s people – thought they could commit all these sinful things and worship pagan gods and still run to the Lord for His protection and provision. They believed God was there only to serve them whenever they called for Him. They refused to obey Him but they expected Him to accommodate them. Is it any wonder that He sent the Babylonians to deliver His judgment?

I hope you can see the correlation to the church today. We have taken the Lord God for granted. We have made Him an accessory to our lives – a convenience when we need Him and a Deity-on-a-shelf when we don’t want Him to disturb us. We expect Him to come to our rescue in a catastrophe and fade back into the background when the crisis abates (see 9/11). We have welcomed all sorts of evil and wickedness into the Body in the name of “inclusion” – which means we have excluded Him.

Consider God’s words in the verse above. What might He say to the church today? It ought to throw us to our knees. One thing is for certain – He is still watching. He sees the parades of sin and celebrations of evil in His house. He sees the way we dishonor and discredit Him in our daily lives. He hears us give lip-service to His Word and live as if we have never read it.

I realize this has not been a warm and fuzzy devotional, but it is a word that God has burned into my heart. Make no mistake: God cannot and will never coexist with any other religion or god. He stands alone as the One True God. All others are pretenders to His throne – not the one in heaven, but the one in your heart. Beloved, won’t you give Him His rightful place?

Prepare for Battle

When God prepares a people for a great move on His part, He always calls them to repentance – confessing and turning away from sin – and consecration – setting oneself apart exclusively for the Lord. Before the exodus out of Egypt, the people were to cleanse their houses and anoint their doorframes with the blood of a Lamb. By this, they were set apart from the Egyptians who would suffer the wrath of God (Exodus 12). Just before they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the Israelites were commanded to consecrate themselves “for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5). Often David ordered his men to consecrate themselves the day before a great battle.

All four gospels note the message of John the Baptist who called the nation of Israel to “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him” (Mark 1:3). Before a king came to visit one of his cities, the call would go out to level the roads on his path. John was also calling for “straight paths” before the coming King, but again, it was a call to repentance and consecration.

What do all these ancient practices have to do with you and me?

For many years, Christians have pleaded with God for a great move of His Spirit in the United States. We want God to “do amazing things among us.” We want Him to remove the influence of evil in our nation. We want Him to return our country to her Judeo-Christian heritage. Yet America is more sinful and brazen than ever before. What are we missing, Church?

Maybe we need to ask ourselves some questions. Are we – God’s people hearing the call to prepare the way for the King? Are we heeding the call for repentance? We love to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Are we humbling ourselves? Are we praying? Are we seeking His face? Have we turned from our wicked ways? Notice the Lord isn’t speaking to the world – He is speaking to His people. He is calling His Church to repentance and consecration.

I believe a great battle is coming in this nation. The sounds of war are loud and clear.  Beloved, will you repent and set yourself apart exclusively for Christ?

The People of God

I found something today in Numbers 9 this morning that is burning a hole in my soul. Please verses 1-8 and hang with me through a brief history lesson. The Lord called for the Passover celebration – their first as free people after four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. The first Passover was the day they were rescued from bondage and made their dramatic escape.

He had a list of requirements for anyone observing this sacred day. There was a specific menu they were to eat and restrictions as to who could celebrate: only native-born Israelites, and only those who were ceremonially clean- who were “pure” in a formal, religious sense. This was crucial because eating the Passover meal in an unworthy manner would bring about their death. God was serious about it.

But “some of them could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were ceremonially unclean” (v. 6). So they went to Moses to plead their case. “We have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the Lord’s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?” (v. 7).

Now consider the recent state of the church. God’s Word is clear about certain things. That life is precious, that homosexuality is a sin, that marriage is sacred, that children are to be protected, among many other matters. But men wanted their way so they appealed to other men who disregarded God’s Word and wrote their own rules that deny the Scriptures and the Holy One. So people sit comfortably in the pews who march for the “right” to murder unborn babies and approve of sexual sin in every variety, who dishonor the marriage bed, and parade men dressed as women before their children as “normal.” And God is appalled.  

Look back at Numbers 9. When the unclean people came to Moses, he did not say, “Well, I don’t see a problem here. Sure you can come to the party!” He said, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you” (v. 8). Moses took the matter to the Lord, and the remainder of the passage shows that God made a way for them to celebrate – after they were restored to cleanliness.

Church, it is time to find out what God commands. And then submit our lives to it. We must stop listening to people who “do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Mk 8:33). It is time to be the pure and holy people of the Lord.

Run!

I was studying late last night and got hungry. Suddenly an image popped up on my screen – a Mason jar full of cornbread and milk. I remembered the leftover corn muffins from supper the night before. I made a beeline to the kitchen.

This is exactly how satan works to draw us into temptation and sin. James described it perfectly – “ . . . each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (Jas. 1:14). Let’s reconsider my snack attack in light of this verse. I had a desire – I wanted something to eat while I studied. I saw an image that tapped into my love for cornbread and milk and aroused my desire. I knew where I could find what I wanted and I went after it. In less than five minutes I was enjoying my treat.

There’s nothing evil about cornbread and milk – except maybe the quantity I eat. But what if that deep desire has been for something else? What if I was craving alcohol or drugs or porn? What if I was addicted to gambling or – pick your own poison. What might satan parade before me then?  And how easily would I have fallen? Just as easily as I did for my favorite snack. Don’t be fooled – satan can read you and me like a book. He knows all about those secret desires we try to hide. He knows what to dangle in front of us to persuade us to follow right into a trap. Paul lamented this internal pull of sin in Romans 7 saying sinful desires still lived in him and waged war within him (vv. 14-23).

So what recourse do we have? We run. We flee from those evil desires (2 Tim 2:22). Paul said, “. . . when you are tempted, [God] will provide a way out” (1 Cor 10:13). Take it. Don’t stand there and try to talk yourself down. Run from the temptation. Get as far away from it as possible. Run to a trusted friend. Run around the block. Put down the phone. Shut off the T.V.  Go play with your kids. Do whatever it takes to distance yourself from the temptation.

Maybe you have even bigger temptations than cornbread and milk. Believe me, I do too. But God promised a way out. Look for it and run to it, Beloved. Freedom is on the other side of the door.

In the World But Not of the World

Is there any doubt that evil rules the world in which we live? It is impossible to avoid the influence of evil around us unless we hide in a cave. When Jesus prepared His disciples to go out into the world with His message, He said they would be like “sheep among wolves” (Matt 10:16). I feel that constantly just trying to live and survive in the culture of our day. So how do we live godly lives in an ungodly world? The Lord continued: “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” That’s a rather odd combination – so how do we pull that off in real life?

In the modern context, “shrewd” means “having or showing sharp powers of judgment; astute.” Similarly, in the original Greek, it means “wise, sensible, thinking, understanding.” One of Satan’s most effective tools is to dull our minds and then feed us from the world’s banquet table of ideas and philosophies. We must wake up our sleepy heads and think about the messages we are receiving. We must lay them alongside the Word of God, and see if they are true (Acts 17:11-12). Because we must live in this world, Jesus tells us to think about what we are hearing and make wise determinations.

In contrast to being shrewd, Jesus commands us to be innocent. Again, in the original language, it means to be “pure, not mixed with evil.” We must not attempt to mix the world’s philosophies and ideas with The Truth – Jesus (John 14:6).  God and His Word have not changed despite what the culture says. Men will try to reinterpret the Word of God to make it say whatever they want to hear (2 Tim 4:3-4). We must keep our hearts pure and devoted to Him alone. We must stand firm and not allow the world to mix us up. Paul said, “Stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Cor 14:20). In other words, grow up, pay attention, and do not even think about evil.

Jesus said we are “in the world” (John 15:11) but “not of the world” (v. 14). While we live alongside people who do not follow Christ we must live by His Word and for His glory. Beloved, let’s commit to being both shrewd and innocent in this evil world and show them by our lives The One True God who loves them and died for them.

Godly Sorrow

So you messed up. Again. You went where you shouldn’t go. You did what you shouldn’t do. Or you didn’t do what you knew you should. You looked at something vile and sinful. You let your mind go into a nasty pit. And now you are feeling the weight of your sin – you are feeling guilty and maybe even ashamed. That’s not entirely a bad thing. Let me explain.

Paul dearly loved the congregation in Corinth, his aim was to build them up, not tear them down (2 Cor 13:10), but this church had serious problems. Sexual sin was rampant among them, an overflow of the culture. Paul chastened them severely for tolerating sexual immorality in the body. A man was immorally involved with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1). Not only did the church turn a blind eye to this sinful behavior, but they were proud of it! (v. 2) They boasted about their “open-mindedness” (v. 6). Sound familiar?

Paul said they should have been “filled with grief” over the man’s sin and over their acceptance of it and him. The whole church was sick with sin and he wanted them to feel the fever and the burden of the disease. He wanted them to be ashamed of their immoral condition.

We have done a grave disservice to the church by claiming that guilt and shame have no place in a Christian’s life. This text and many others reject that philosophy. In his second letter, after the church had followed his directive, Paul said he did not regret the sorrow he brought on them. It hurt him to do it, but the result was good. “Your sorrow led you to repentance” (2 Cor 9). “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (v. 10). Because the man apparently repented, Paul insisted he should be restored to the church. He should not be burdened with “excessive sorrow” (2:6-8).

Sin should cause us to feel guilt and shame. Notice I did not say that sin should make us feel that we are shameful. That is the tool of satan. He attacks the sinner personally. The Holy Spirit attacks the sin and leads the sinner into repentance and restoration – or salvation if they are not saved. Repentance leaves no residue of regret or guilt or shame, but you and I will feel its weight until we do.

Beloved, if you are bearing the burden of guilt over your sin, let that godly sorrow lead you to Jesus. Confess and repent and God will forgive you and purify you from all unrighteous (1 Jn 1:9). Get that heavy weight off your back and walk in God’s good grace.