Absolute Truth

I've had almost 48 hours to think about this and believe God has helped me reach some clarity. A nice long walk on a beautiful day didn't hurt either. I have found a commonality between the last post on persecution and a conversation I had Friday evening. I want to explore that further here.

In the last post I noted that one of the things Christians are often accused of lacking is "tolerance". I put it in quotations because I think people making those accusations are operating under a different definition than I am. Their definition usually goes something like this..."you can believe whatever you want as long as you don't attempt to impose your beliefs on others". However, that definition is now being extended to "you can believe whatever you want as long as it doesn't upset someone else". If it does, it will increasingly be called hate.

So how did we get here? We live in a postmodern society which says, "All values, beliefs, lifestyles and truth claims are equally valid." It is moral relativism. Truth is what you believe it to be. What might be true for you might not be true for me. Truth ultimately depends on the moment...also known as "situational ethics". There is no black and white, only shades of grey. For anyone to say differently is viewed as arrogance and intolerance. This thinking also promotes a "whatever feels good" mentality and lifestyle. You have effectively set yourself up as your own idol and life revolves around you. It doesn't take a genius to see that this way of thinking will ultimately lead to chaos as your idea of truth will eventually collide with mine.

Of course, what is more arrogant than claiming you are the barometer of truth? It works both ways but most don't see that. The real belief being espoused by those who live under moral relativism is that there is no absolute truth. Unfortunately, as I was reminded Friday evening, many Christians are prone to falling into this same trap.

I was having a discussion with a good friend of mine, former member of my care group and life long Catholic, when I shared my concern regarding a couple of people I knew who were wandering off in different spiritual directions and putting their hope and purpose in things other than Jesus Christ. His response was to feel like he needed to defend them and to tell me that I was judging them which I shouldn't be doing. I feel that having concern is different than judging someone but it is true that there is an implicit judgment in that what they are doing is sinful. So here is the verse he was thinking of:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." - Matthew 7:1-2

This may be the most misused verse in the Bible by believers and non-believers alike. He was using it to say that I have no right to say that someone is involved in sinful actions and that their heart is straying from the Lord. I will certainly agree that only God can judge the heart but to say that I can't have concern based on the fruit, or lack thereof, I am seeing in someone's life is simply wrong.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5

Since he was upset that I would point out sin in someone's life that was jeopardizing their relationship with God, it begged this question from me - "How do you believe you get to heaven?" You would have thought that I asked him, "Which of your family members would you most like to get cancer?" He was visibly angry that I would ask such a question and stated that he would never answer a question like that where he was being put on the spot. Keep in mind, this was asked humbly and out of sincere curiosity and the only expectation I had is that he would have an answer. This is really Christianity 101 and I thought a Christian of 50 years would have an answer. His defiance was the last thing I expected.

There were already signs of postmodernism in him that he was so defensive about the idea of calling a sin a sin. Upon reflection, the next piece of information I got out of him was the clincher. As he was telling me why it was so wrong of me to ask him that question, I said that I thought that Scripture was pretty clear on the matter. He then took great offense at my using the term "Scripture" and said it made me sound insincere. OK, at this point I was pretty lost. But I think I understand (somewhat) a bit better now. He went on to say that the Bible was basically unknowable. There is no way that human beings with finite minds can hope to correctly interpret God's Word. There are different interpretations and schools of thought for pretty much every verse and for me to claim that I had some understanding of what the Bible says was arrogant and wishful thinking.

There is the commonality. My friend doesn't believe in absolute truth because he finds the author of truth - God - to basically be unknowable. How incredibly sad. I will be the first to admit that there are a lot of challenging parts of the Bible that are difficult to understand. That is why I study as much as I do and listen to godly men who immerse themselves in the Word and preach with wisdom and discernment. I make no claim to understand everything and know that I won't have every answer until I am in heaven. But just because we can't understand everything doesn't mean that we can't understand anything. I used John 3:16 as a verse that is readily understandable and at the core of Christianity. Why would God give us His Word if He knew we wouldn't be able to learn from it?

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 1 Timothy 3:14-17

He also made the comment that anything Paul wrote was mysterious and impossible to understand. Yet, here is Paul writing to his friend and disciple Timothy, and making some very clear statements. First of all, Timothy has had at least some understanding of Scripture his entire life. Keep in mind, that the Holy Spirit grants us wisdom, well beyond the capabilities of our finite human intellect. Timothy has clearly had the indwelling of the Spirit throughout His life as does every Christian from the time they are born again. Secondly, the Scriptures make us wise for salvation, meaning they help us to know and see God and open our hearts and lives to Him, even as our faith begins as an act of God's grace. Also, the Scriptures are essential for rebuking and correcting. That sounds a lot like it is our duty to call sin what it is and to bring our Christians brothers and sisters back in line with God's will when we see them drifting away.

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." - Colossians 3:16

The message of Christ is wisdom. If that message was unknowable to us then that verse would make no sense. That conversation left me confused and saddened. I was unprepared for what I heard and it has been on my mind and heart ever since. I am reluctant to ask any follow-up questions because I have already been met with anger from what I felt were very innocent and non-threatening questions. But it did leave me with a couple thoughts.

If you are a Christian you are commanded to study Scripture. You don't get to just throw your hands up in the air, say you don't understand anything and go about your life. Yes, there will be passages from which you don't have complete clarity. You won't understand everything. But to use that as an excuse to not study at all is to basically throw the Bible back in God's face.

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it." - Joshua 1:8

If you don't know God's truth then you don't know absolute truth. That means you will fall prey to your own ideas of truth and you will simply join the postmodern masses. Your light for Christ in this darkened world will also dim and your witness will be greatly neutralized if not extinguished. You may still be saved. Only God knows that. Regardless, you will have lived a life that will only be a shadow of the purpose God intended.

“If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” - John 8:32

Persecution

"Christians must understand most emphatically that the world around us is in conflict with the Word within us." - A.W. Tozer

Joel Osteen was recently on TV with Piers Morgan (who replaced Larry King). Joel had taken a lot of heat from Christian circles after his last appearance with Larry as he was unwilling to clearly share the Gospel and tell people that Jesus was the only way to salvation. This time Piers pressed Osteen on whether homosexuality was a sin, and much to my surprise, he spoke God's truth:

His answer was not a bold declaration but, give him credit, one that is faithful to Scripture: "Yes. I've always believed, Piers, the Scriptures shows that it's a sin."

Osteen added: "But you know, I'm not one of those that are out there to bash homosexuals and tell them that they're terrible people and all of that. I mean, there are other sins in the Bible too."

That modest caveat didn't help. One of the nation's largest homosexual advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign, blasted Osteen for his "hateful remark" and demanded an immediate apology. HRC president Joe Solmonese charged that Osteen's "tired and dangerous statement" only "furthers ignorance and discrimination" and "adds a burden to those already struggling to accept their sexual orientation or gender identity."

I doubt Osteen was surprised by this reaction from the HRC. It's probably why he has been so reluctant in the past to label sinful activities sin. In his book "Your Best Life Now" he uses the word "sin" or "sins" a total of 4 times in 310 pages. It just isn't a feel good word and tends to cause darkness to lash out when the light shines upon it.

It seems clear to me that this will be the issue that will be used as the primary means to target Christians. We will be accused of lacking fairness, tolerance, equality, acceptance and love. Of course, we will be shown none of those either. But this won't be surprising. If you read the Bible, you know this is coming:

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Matthew 5:10-12

19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. - John 15:19-21

Consider these other examples:

Over the past month, several progressive activist blogs have waged an ugly war against Chick-fil-A. The company's alleged atrocity: One of its independent outlets in Pennsylvania donated some sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar run by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which happens to oppose same-sex marriage. In the name of tolerance, the anti-Chick-fil-A hawks sneered at the company's main product as "Jesus Chicken," derided its no-Sunday work policy and attacked its operators as "anti-gay." Michael Jones, who describes himself as having "worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School," launched an online petition drive at www.change.org "demanding" that the company disavow "extreme anti-gay groups." Facebook users dutifully organized witch hunts against the company on college campuses.

Remember the "anti-gay blacklist" that resulted from the Prop 8 fight in California in November 2008? Anyone who had made a donation in support of Prop 8 (against gay marriage) had their name released on the Internet. Many were directly targeted. At least one individual was forced to resign from his job. Many others had their property vandalized. Violence toward Mormons and Catholics was common.


These will not prove to be isolated examples. They will occur with more frequency. You need to decide what side you will fall on. Will you honor and stand firm for God's Word or will you join those whose idea of human justice opposes God's truth? Will you join the ELCA and the Episcopal Church in selling out their brothers and sisters in Christ in order to acquiesce to the demands of a world that sees itself as the highest authority? As John Piper says, "If there isn't someone in your life who hates you, then you either don't know enough people or speak enough truth."

I have a few thoughts on how Bible-believing Christians should live in these increasingly dark times:

1) Love people. Build relationships. The saying "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" may be cliche but there is truth in it. By all means speak the truth because that is the ultimate act of love. People may not take it that way but to not share God's Word in the spirit of grace and love is to not love that person at all. They may not believe you but let them know this isn't meant to be a personal attack but that God simply desires the best for them. God's commands weren't meant to take away freedoms but to give freedom in Him, to give life and give it abundantly.

"All love and no truth is hypocrisy. All truth and no love is brutality." - James MacDonald

2) Osteen does have a point that homosexuality is not a greater sin than any other. We are all sinners and it is essential to remember that you are no better than anyone else. We have all fallen short of the glory of God and it is only by His amazing grace that you have faith and an eternal home in heaven. Show that same grace to others.

3) Share the Gospel. Never just share the law and walk away. If you are asked a direct question regarding your stance on homosexuality or gay marriage, answer it in truth but don't stop there. Do your best to explain point #2.

4) Have urgency in your witnessing to others. We still have a window of opportunity to share our faith mostly unobstructed without fear of real persecution. Take advantage of every opportunity God places in your path right now because you don't know what tomorrow may bring.

5) Don't be afraid. The temptation will be to skirt the issue or just not get involved in such conversations for fear of retribution.

"The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" - Psalm 118:6

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." - Matthew 10:28

Finally, do not hold onto your life so tightly that you lose your grip on God.

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” - Proverbs 21:21

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/ask-pastor-john/why-is-homosexuality-wrong

http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/06/06/what-if-your-child-is-gay/

http://betweenthetimes.com/index.php/2013/01/11/the-beheading-of-louie-giglio/

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/for-the-first-time-a-majority-of-americans-believe-homosexuals-are-born-tha

Christ's Life or Death?

From Pastor Tullian...

I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the neglect of Christ’s active obedience in the so-called “Young, Restless, and Reformed” crowd–of which I am a happy part. There’s a lot of talk about “Cross-Centeredness” as if the death of Christ (his passive obedience) is more important than the life of Christ (his active obedience). The truth is, however, that our redemption depends not only on Christ’s substitutionary death, but his substitutionary life as well. Christ’s life is just as central to our rescue as his death. Apart from his law fulfilling life, there is NO righteousness to impute. As I’ve said before, we are not saved apart from the law. Rather, we are saved in Christ who perfectly kept the law on our behalf. This is nothing new…it’s been a stamp of historic Reformed theological conviction for centuries!

So, Christ’s death is not the center of the Gospel anymore than Christ’s life is the center of the Gospel. One without the other fails to bring about redemption. It’s much more theologically accurate to say that Christ himself is the center of the Gospel. I think this is a really big deal. And the practical life implications of this neglect are disastrous.

Tonight's thought

The gospel is not just something we need at conversion so we can spend the rest of our life obsessed with performance.

And from this morning...

Most of us treat prayer like an appendix (of a book) rather than the foundation.

The giants of church history dwarf us because of the time and energy that they devoted to private prayer. They were Daniels in private and in public. Luther spent the first two hours of every day in prayer. He once said to Melanchton that he had so much to do that he needed to spend an extra hour in prayer. On the contrary, we too often see prayer as an interruption to our ambition.

Luther was not shy in his prayers. He would often pray loudly and boldly. He said praying was hard work. And he’s right. There is so much working against us in our prayers. Distraction arises in our cold heart and disturbance comes up in those around us.

In all of his busyness, Calvin spent hours in prayer every day. Unless we fix certain hours of every day in prayer, he said, it would slip from our memory. We must taste the sweetness of the fellowship of God in our prayer. We need to strive to grow in prayer.

Romans 8: 28

When I left Mt. Calvary Lutheran church a few years ago it was a low point in my spiritual walk. I felt betrayed by my spiritual mentor of several years and had a deep sense that the community I was leaving was more interested in preserving the status quo rather than seeking and following a God who was so much bigger and greater than the things to which they held fast.

I felt I had experienced significant spiritual growth while I was there as well as significant setbacks. When I left, my desire to pursue God was at its lowest in quite some time. I had lost numerous relationships and felt spiritually flat. I still had my men's care group which God has always used as a foundation but the motivation to grow above and beyond that had departed.

So, without a traditional church home, and certainly no desire to quickly give my heart to another community while I was still grieving the loss of my former home, I began to have my eyes opened to some of the solid Biblical pastors of our day. My brother introduced me to John Piper and I began to see God in a new way. Through Piper's website, Desiring God, I learned of other preachers such as Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller. It still amazes me that in my 30s I had never heard of any of these guys. That is an indictment on me and my search for more teaching. Perhaps it is also an indictment of a church home that taught its members that the teaching they received on Sunday morning was sufficient for the rest of the week.

Suddenly, I had an incredible assortment of Biblically-rooted, passionate teachers at my fingertips. My desire for God and the Scriptures was once again set ablaze. Sure, there have been an occasional week or two here and there over the past few years when my heart wasn't earnestly seeking God. But those weeks have been rare. I didn't know that God intended my time outside of a traditional church community to be the greatest season of spiritual growth in my life thus far. He truly does work for our good...often times when we least expect it.

What Do You Need?

I was listening to Matt Chandler yesterday as he continues his sermon series on Habakkuk. At the end of the sermon he had a time of prayer. He asked his congregation, "What do you need from God right now?"

I had to stop and think about that for a minute. I had just listened to a John Piper sermon earlier in the day which was on the Lord's prayer and the last 3 petitions - daily bread, forgiveness and deliverance from evil are all things Jesus knew we would need every day. That last petition could also be interpreted as asking for strength to keep pursuing what is right and pure and holy.

So I finally came up with "joy in the pursuit of holiness." I have talked often on this blog about realizing how important it is for me to pursue holiness in the context of God's strength, glory and promises, rather than my own self-discipline and white-knuckle approach. But even with a Christ-centered strategy (and I have a tendency to fall back into failed methods) I often find that it becomes, dare I say, joyless at times. It's great to see God's sanctifying work in my life but the battle can be so difficult and relentless.

The truth is that if I am struggling to find joy in my pursuit of God the temptations in my life will be that much more alluring. I know I can find joy elsewhere even though that joy is temporary, futile and ultimately meaningless. But in a season of dryness and fatigue, the mirage seems more worthy of my pursuit even when I know there is nothing truly worthwhile there.

Francis Chan writes in Crazy Love, "If you are running toward God then you won't be running toward sin." I have taken that very literally. I know I run to sin when God isn't my main focus and priority. I am trying to run toward God more and more. But it isn't easy. So many things pull at me. It's tiring and frustrating. The lines in the Casting Crowns song "East to West" are so spot on:

I start the day the war begins
Endless reminding of my sin
And time and time your truth is drowned out
By the storm I'm in

How I tire of the storm. I know why Paul says to "run the race with perseverance". I hear you Paul. I need perseverance x 1000. I want to get to heaven so I can see my God face to face. But I want to get to heaven even more so I can rest...so that my battle with sin will be no more.

Until then...I intend to fight in God's strength and grace.

What do you need from God right now?

7 Questions Before Teaching/Preaching

These are the 7 questions that Francis Chan asks himself before he preaches. I think these are good for anyone who is going to be teaching or discipling others.

1. Am I worried about what people think of my message or what God thinks? (Teach with fear)

2. Do I genuinely love these people? (Teach with love)

3. Am I accurately presenting this passage? (Teach with accuracy)

4. Am I depending on the Holy Spirit's power or my own cleverness? (Teach with power)

5. Have I applied this message to my own life? (Teach with integrity)

6. Will this message draw attention to me or to God? (Teach with humility)

7. Do the people really need this message? (Teach with urgency)