Sign of the Times #1

The Good Ole Days

Why is it that we live in such a socially progressive culture? Every generation wants to be on the cutting edge, engaging in the newest social experimentation. We push the envelope and then wonder how we got here. We're most of the way down the slippery slope of modern philosophy and then hope our kids turn out different or better than we did. The only problem is that we're hypocrites. How else would you explain our fascination with the 'good ole days'? We are infatuated with antiques. Our automakers produce Mustangs, Challengers and Chargers that look like a muscle car out of the 60's. Clothing styles from 20 or 30 years ago always come back into style. We laugh at every rerun episode of 'I Love Lucy' and 'Happy Days'. Why? Because those were the 'happy days', weren't they? Back then, things were simpler, easier, more innocent. Back then, people weren't involved in the things they are today. Back then, social influences were more wholesome. Back then, there wasn't all this psychological engineering and social manipulation mumbo jumbo. Our biggest economic crisis was whether we had 35 cents to buy a pack of baseball cards. Yeah, those were the good ole days.

These will be the good ole days someday. If our progressive culture keeps progressing like it is, yes... we will long for the days we live in now. Isn't that a sad state of affairs?

The Good Shepherd

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep....
No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." - John 10:11,18

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker at church. He and his wife (and new son) are missionaries in St. Vincent. His sermon was on a familiar passage in the book of John, where Jesus claimed to be the good shepherd. In John 10:11, Jesus has the audacity to say that he is the 'good shepherd'. Why is that audacious? Because this is not just a cute metaphor to make a children's Sunday School a little more interesting. It's not just simply a word picture using sheep and the visual that we get with the little cuddlies being herded along by their strong shepherd. Oh, we are sheep. We've gone astray, and we need our shepherd. But here's the point the pastor was making:

When Jesus called himself the GOOD shepherd, He didn't use the word for 'good' that means what we think. We think of 'good' as being morally nice, not morally bad. But there is another meaning for GOOD in the original language: excellent good, perfect good, pre-emminent good, 'I am the best, the best there has ever been' good.

The Jewish people hearing him speak these things would have been outraged. In their minds, Moses was a 'good' shepherd... and certainly David was a 'good' shepherd. But then their minds race to what we know as the Twenty Third Psalm... The Lord is my Shepherd. Jehovah. The God of Israel. Jesus was making himself equal with the God of Psalm 23! Of all the audacity! How could he? Unless He was really the God of Israel in the flesh...

And this GOOD Shepherd laid down his life! He gave it all. Not just his body, not just biological - but he gave his very soul. Everything. He died. And if He did this for you, then your worries are over. He owns the rights to every last one of your worries. The pastor then challenged every Christian with the following response to this passage: If this is true, then why would any Christian resort to Prozac to calm their nerves? Why would any Christian resort to any drug to relieve depression, stress or anxiety? Why would any Christian be biting their fingernails over whether McCain or Obama becomes the next president? Drugs, presidents or anything other than the Lord Himself will not be there in your darkest hour. They will not see you through those deepest valleys. Only the Good Shepherd will. He has the power to lay down his life and to take it back up again. And if he has the power to do that, then he has to power to take care of your worries, because He is... the Good Shepherd.

Enjoying God Forever

"Thou wilt make known to me the path of life;
In Thy presence is fullness of joy;
In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever."
- Psalm 16:11

Q:What is the chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever – according to The Westminster Confession of Faith Shorter Catechism.

John Piper, in his book ‘Desiring God’ states it a little differently by stating, "The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever".

Are people, are Christian people glorifying God? Are they enjoying God? Jonathan Rauch in the May 2003 issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine coined the word ‘APATHEISM’. He defined it as ‘a disinclination to care all that much about one’s own religion, and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people’s’. He says that apatheists ‘are neither controlled by godly passion nor concerned about the religious beliefs of others’. He goes on to say that ‘even regular church-goers can, and often do, rank high on the apatheism scale’.

What about us? Are we indifferent, middle-of-the-road, fence-straddling apathetic people or passionately awestruck and devoted, zealous lovers of God?

Take a look at the following quotes:
Dr. Sam Storms - "One Thing":
"God created you... for the heart-pounding joy and mind-bending fascination and white-hot happiness that comes from relishing and rejoicing in the beauty of Jesus Christ. To relish and rejoice in the beauty of God alone accounts for why we exist. It’s also the solution to our struggle with sin. Enjoying God is the catalyst for substantive and lasting change. And enjoying God is the soul’s sole satisfaction, with which no rival pleasure can hope to compete."

A.W. Tozer - "The Pursuit of God":
"God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole lives there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than just a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day".

Charles Spurgeon
"Delighting in God exerts a transforming power upon us and lifts us above the wrong desires of our fallen nature".

Because we were created in the image of God and created for His glory we need to respond to his great love by magnifying Him above all things. Psalm 34:3 - O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. Sam Storms draws a vivid analogy using microscopes and telescopes. Both microscopes and telescopes are designed to magnify objects. A microscope magnifies by focusing on something quite small causing it to look much larger than it really is - this is magnification by distortion. On the other hand, a telescope magnifies by focusing on something indescribably huge and massive and causing it to appear as it really is. Are we viewing God through a microscope or a telescope?

To see God (and enjoy him) through the telescope requires a few disciplines:
1). A focused heart - Philippians 4:8 - endeavor to increase your spiritual appetite by meditating on spiritual objects. This requires an intensity and exclusivity of your devotion
2). Proper posturing - endeavor to promote your spiritual appetite by laying yourself in the way of allurement – that is, exposing your soul to the things that awaken spiritual desire and deepen holy longings
3). Expressing worship - we should express our longings to God; they will increase by being expressed. Our passions often wither in silence. "...we delight to praise what we enjoy...praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment" - C.S. Lewis

Knowing and enjoying God with you,
Mark

Burning Hatred

"Thou dost hate all those who do iniquity."
- Psalm 5:5b

Elsewhere in Psalms, God is one who is referred to as having ‘indignation every day’ (7:11). The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and He made them to wander in the dry, dusty wilderness of the desert for forty years. In the NLT, Romans 2:8 warns us of this sobering truth: "But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds". Isaiah the prophet, speaking on behalf of God, pronounces judgment on the people by crying, "Woe to the wicked" (3:11). Hate. Indignation. Burning anger. Wrath. Judgment. Woe! This doesn’t sound like the Celestial Grandfather we’ve conjured up in our minds who might ‘wink’ at a couple of our small sins. No, this doesn’t sound like the "God is Love" we learned about in second grade Sunday School.

While the Celestial Grandfather label might be a little irreverent, God could not be ‘more love’ than He is when he is adhering to His perfect standard of justice. Sin that is swept under the carpet and ignored is the speeding car of injustice that is an inevitable twisted wreck waiting to happen. Sin has a price tag attached to it and it is extremely expensive. Eternity in hell is the cost for one small act of disobedience. A ‘forever’ of torment for the wrong view of God. The lake of fire for a little white lie. Everlasting, conscious punishment for looking the wrong way at a woman or hating a brother in my heart.

‘Hatred’ most often gets associated with being the opposite of ‘love’. But for God, ‘hatred’ and ‘love’ co-exist perfectly. They are not opposites, but rather compliments. Because there is perfect hatred of sin, there is perfect love of the very ones who commit the sin. God’s Son Jesus Christ is the embodiment of that love, delivering all those who forsake their sin from God’s ultimate act of punishment.

"God hates the sin and loves the sinner" is a phrase often heard. And while that is a true statement in one regard, God does hate that one who practices his iniquity. For one who refuses to give up his sin, who will not die to his lawlessness… he will eventually give up and ultimately die in the spiritual sense of the word, unless the blood of Christ washes away his iniquity.

War and Peace

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ - Romans 5:1

What is the opposite of peace? War. If we aren’t at peace with God, then we are in a spiritual war with Him. Many unbelievers may think that because they really aren’t aggressively against God that they are at peace with Him. Others may believe that indifference or neutrality toward God certainly does not rise to the level of ‘a spiritual war’. Still others may actually believe there is a supernatural war going on, but they choose to be nonpartisan, failing to realize that they are the very enemies of God. Those against whom God is warring are operating in the flesh. Another verse in Romans (8:4), indicates that "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God".

How do we come to a truce in this spiritual war? The hostility toward God must cease, but it cannot end as long as we are at enmity with Him. God’s anger is kindled against those who are at enmity with Him and these will be objects of His divine wrath. But God has also made humankind objects of his divine compassion by sending Jesus Christ to us. By placing our personal trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, surrendering our lives to His control, and turning away from our sin, then our spiritual war with God will be over.

A new war begins at this point: the war with the enemy, Satan.

The Death of an Old Friend

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense. Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids,are in charge). His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was awarded a huge financial settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

I can't take credit for this great piece. It's from a resurrected email I received a few years ago. May Mr. Sense rest in peace.

Compassion

"But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." - Matthew 9:13

Jesus had just called Matthew to "Follow Me", a tax-collector of all people. In the ensuing scene, Matthew’s fellow tax-collectors and fellow sinners are enjoying dinner with Jesus and His newest disciple. The Pharisees are of course immediately irate. "Why is Jesus eating with the despised tax-collector and sinners?", they wanted to know. This is not simple curiosity, but rather a rhetorical question revealing their ugly self-righteousness. Jesus responds with the obvious: the healthy do not need a physician but rather those who are sick.

Then comes the rebuke: "go and learn what this means". This phrase was commonly used to rebuke someone for something they should have already known. The verse Jesus is referring to is found in the Old Testament book of Hosea, chapter 6, verse 6 (For I delight in loyalty, rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings).

The Greek word in this verse for ‘compassion’ is pronounced 'eleos' and means mercy or pity. What Jesus was after here was typical in His approach to the Pharisees: He wanted them to know that tenderhearted mercy and undeserved pity toward others was to be desired over the self-righteous, judgmental, looking-down-the-nose attitude that prevailed in their hearts.

That Jesus would quote this verse from Hosea is of particular interest. Faithful Hosea was married to the adulterous Gomer. Hosea’s response is a beautiful picture of God’s faithful love for the stubborn and adulterous nation of Israel.

What response would God require of us? Go and learn what this means.

Things to Avoid

Things to Avoid
By Martyn Lloyd-Jones - taken from his exposition on Ephesians 6

1). The first thing we have to avoid is dissipation of energy. However much energy we may have, if we misuse it, dissipate it, throw it away, the result will be that we shall have less of it, and will become less effective and efficient. The need is for our activity to be thoughtful, disciplined, governed and directed. Every man has to sit down and plan his life, and decide what he can do and what he cannot do. He must be resolute, and not governed by ‘what people say’.

2). I suggest that we must also avoid spending too much time in what I would call ‘enervating atmospheres’. If you are in a wrong atmosphere, you will not feel very strong. We can spend too much time in the wrong company. If you spend too much of your time in a worldly atmosphere you will find that the edge of your spiritual life will become dulled… you will not be able to pray so well, and you will lose your taste for the scriptures. Lets make sure we are not producing a wrong atmosphere by [foolish talking and jesting]. That type of talk belongs to the world and not to us.

3). Avoid bad reading… general reading, polluting reading. There is much nonsense being talked about these days. The Apostle [Paul] states it thus in Romans 13:14: ‘…make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof’. If you feed the flesh do not be surprised if you fall into its temptations and its lusts; make no provision for it. Let us watch our general reading. Keep a watch on your thoughts and imaginations. Thoughts and imaginations can be evil, and we are to mortify them speedily.

4). We are to avoid people who do not believe in the Bible as the Word of God, for they will do you harm; they will take from your spiritual energy and you will eventually become diseased. I am referring to a certain attitude about the scriptures, to the teaching that man with his reason is able to determine what is right and what is wrong. Have no fellowship with [Christians] who do not believe the Bible to be the Word of God. [They] undermine the very basis and foundation of the faith; have no fellowship with him.

Shame and Consequence

I received an email today that had several pictures of the concentration camps in Germany during WWII. There were hundreds, thousands of dead bodies. The email stated that President Eisenhower ordered that photos be taken because people someday would deny that this ever happened. I am not sure if the executive order on the pictures is an urban legend or not, but no one in their right mind can deny that the holocaust happened. The point of the email was to use vivid imagery to compel people to remember that ‘the only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’. It was a call to make sure that mankind never exterminates mankind.

Unfortunately, this is still happening in our very own country. It’s called abortion.
The shame and the consequence belongs to us for allowing this to continue. The shame and the consequence belongs to our country for giving hearty approval of it. Nazi Germany’s got nothing on our culture when it comes to atrocities.

Lord have mercy.

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

- Psalm 139:13-16