Over the last few years I've been traveling a journey in my faith. This journey has modified my views on sanctification from what I had previously thought and what I had previously been taught.
Sanctification is first of all NOT salvation. Salvation is what Christ did for us through his death on the cross, if we accept him as savior. Sanctification is the process that we travel through after salvation, as our lives are transformed to become more and more like Christ. Sanctification can be summed up in two categories: works based sanctification and Holy Spirit Based Sanctification.
Works based sanctification is the idea that the things that we do or the things that we do not do will lead us closer to becoming more like Christ. These things can range from you have to tithe to be close to Christ, or you can't go to movies or you will be farther away Christ.
I was once told by a teacher that even if I didn't like something taught at the school, I should still make it a practice in order to glorify God, and eventually I would come to like it. While I agree with the intent of that statement, I believe that is also what causes so many issues in modern Christianity. In Churches all around our nation we have Christians who are posers. They put on a good act, and we tend to think they are sold out for Christ, but the reality is that they are still acting. We have lost the heart by approaching things from this perspective. People who are taught this perspective often end up thinking all they have are a list of rules and lose respect for the leaders and mentors who give them a list of things they cannot do.
I tend to lean toward the perspective of Holy Spirit based sanctification. Scripture gives us clear principles of how to live and it is up to the Holy Spirit's influence to transform our lives to become more and more like Christ. Before I lose some of you, this is in no way a permission slip to sin. In fact it is quite the contrary. This view is a call for Christians to be more diligent as there is no oversight by another person but rather Christ alone. This principle applies to things like how involved in culture we should be, what music to listen to, how liturgical we should make our services, whether we should raise our hands in worship, and so on.
In Acts we are taught that the only "things" gentile believers are required to do, is to abstain from idolatry and abstain from sexual sins. This is the only list in scripture we are given. Everything else we do must conform to the expectations of an holy God as we see in the lists that Paul specifically addresses to churches who were straying.
As believers attend church and read the Bible they will naturally learn more and more about living the Christian life. This is when the Holy Spirit convicts and leads the believer away from the act that is leading them farther from Christ, and back to Him.
It comes down to a heart attitude. Are you allowing the Spirit to lead you? If you are leading others, are you leading them or allowing the Holy Spirit to transform them. As Mark Hall said, maybe we need to let God change the heart, before changing the shirt.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
A Little Odd or Just Plain Wrong
This past week week, news broke of a family raising a "Genderless Child." The whole premise is that you raise a child with whatever stimuli it wants, rather than forcing it to comply with gender norms. Should the said child want to play with dolls, it can play with dolls. If it wants to play with army men, it can play with army men. In this case very few people know the true gender of the this child outside the immediate family. This entire story is certainly based on an interesting theory, but also is a terribly cruel experiment. In addition this is not Biblical at all.
Scripture clearly denotes gender differences. God specifically created males and females with different roles. He created man to be dominant and "manly." He created woman to be a helper and a caregiver. Does that limit the roles that a woman can preform? Not really (some exceptions do apply). All it has to do with is natural inherited traits.
When a child is raised as a male or as a female, he is being raised with his natural traits emphasized.
If evolution was true, it would only make sense to raise your child genderless. It was only by chance that we evolved both male and female. Therefore it was only by chance that you ended up male or female. It is up to you whether to decide whether to embrace that gender or not.
The implications of this are great. If we discredit God as the creator of the Universe there is no morality and there is no truth. Immorality becomes a norm and children can be raised "genderless."
Whenever we as people refuse to live life the way God intended there are consequences. I believe that can be seen over the last 50 years in the "feminizing" of the male populace. Men have been turned into puppets, rather than being the natural born leaders God intended him to be.
Simply stated, in order to live a radical life for Christ we must observe gender roles. Men Must be Men. Women MUST be women. God intended for us to live a certain way for a purpose and even if we don't understand why, it is not our job to mess it up.
Scripture clearly denotes gender differences. God specifically created males and females with different roles. He created man to be dominant and "manly." He created woman to be a helper and a caregiver. Does that limit the roles that a woman can preform? Not really (some exceptions do apply). All it has to do with is natural inherited traits.
When a child is raised as a male or as a female, he is being raised with his natural traits emphasized.
If evolution was true, it would only make sense to raise your child genderless. It was only by chance that we evolved both male and female. Therefore it was only by chance that you ended up male or female. It is up to you whether to decide whether to embrace that gender or not.
The implications of this are great. If we discredit God as the creator of the Universe there is no morality and there is no truth. Immorality becomes a norm and children can be raised "genderless."
Whenever we as people refuse to live life the way God intended there are consequences. I believe that can be seen over the last 50 years in the "feminizing" of the male populace. Men have been turned into puppets, rather than being the natural born leaders God intended him to be.
Simply stated, in order to live a radical life for Christ we must observe gender roles. Men Must be Men. Women MUST be women. God intended for us to live a certain way for a purpose and even if we don't understand why, it is not our job to mess it up.
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 21, 2011 Judgement Day
Folks, May 21, 2011 is Judgement Day. Just four days from now Jesus will judge the entire world and the apocalypse will begin.
At least that is what the crazies would have you believe. Allegedly, we have been living in the tribulation period for the last 23 years and Friday is the day it ends.
Harold Camping is the man behind this "revelation." Ironically this is not his first go around with end of the world prophecies. He originally predicted the apocalypse will begin in 1994. While the 90's were bad, it certainly wasn't the apocalypse. Mr. Camping had to go back to the drawing boards and come up with a new date.
As I said before that date is 4 days from now. I see the timer ticking away on one of the websites: 4 days - 10 hours - 11 minutes and 30 seconds until the world as we know it comes to an end.
The last time I knew, Matthew was still in the Bible, and will be until at least Friday. Its funny because it reads "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Perhaps I am reading it wrong but by my best analysis and the analysis of many Godly commentators, this passage is referring to the second coming of Christ. Mr. Camping must have a serious "in" with God because only God and Mr Camping are in the know.
As we study scripture it is interesting to see the number of believers who thought Christ was coming back immediately after He ascended into heaven. Numerous rebukes were given to the Christians who were just chilling out waiting for the second coming.
We are told in scripture that while yes, Christ is returning, we do not know when, so we must be busy evangelizing the lost until then. That is our command directly from the Word of God, not some date that an old guy in an office chair came up with.
It is interesting how the Parable of the 10 Virgins is a beautiful picture of Christ collecting His bride. We must be prepared. We must be ready. We also must not be lazy like the women who didn't bring enough oil for their lamps.
Often we don't live like the second coming is a reality. We don't share the gospel with the lost or even live like we are saved. Shame on us. We are not living our our scriptural mandate.
Guys, we don't know when Christ will return. We haven't been given a date. Christ may not return for another 1000 years but until then live your faith, devote everything you do to Christ, and live a radical life!
PS: For those of you leaving us on the May 21, so long! Its been good and its been real. You can email me with your address and I will attend to the disposal of your earthly property.
At least that is what the crazies would have you believe. Allegedly, we have been living in the tribulation period for the last 23 years and Friday is the day it ends.
Harold Camping is the man behind this "revelation." Ironically this is not his first go around with end of the world prophecies. He originally predicted the apocalypse will begin in 1994. While the 90's were bad, it certainly wasn't the apocalypse. Mr. Camping had to go back to the drawing boards and come up with a new date.
As I said before that date is 4 days from now. I see the timer ticking away on one of the websites: 4 days - 10 hours - 11 minutes and 30 seconds until the world as we know it comes to an end.
The last time I knew, Matthew was still in the Bible, and will be until at least Friday. Its funny because it reads "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Perhaps I am reading it wrong but by my best analysis and the analysis of many Godly commentators, this passage is referring to the second coming of Christ. Mr. Camping must have a serious "in" with God because only God and Mr Camping are in the know.
As we study scripture it is interesting to see the number of believers who thought Christ was coming back immediately after He ascended into heaven. Numerous rebukes were given to the Christians who were just chilling out waiting for the second coming.
We are told in scripture that while yes, Christ is returning, we do not know when, so we must be busy evangelizing the lost until then. That is our command directly from the Word of God, not some date that an old guy in an office chair came up with.
It is interesting how the Parable of the 10 Virgins is a beautiful picture of Christ collecting His bride. We must be prepared. We must be ready. We also must not be lazy like the women who didn't bring enough oil for their lamps.
Often we don't live like the second coming is a reality. We don't share the gospel with the lost or even live like we are saved. Shame on us. We are not living our our scriptural mandate.
Guys, we don't know when Christ will return. We haven't been given a date. Christ may not return for another 1000 years but until then live your faith, devote everything you do to Christ, and live a radical life!
PS: For those of you leaving us on the May 21, so long! Its been good and its been real. You can email me with your address and I will attend to the disposal of your earthly property.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Reality of Christ: A concept that will rock your world.
Sermon Preached at WCC on 4/2 and 4/3 of 2011
The Reality of Christ
A concept that will rock your world.
You sit there in your seats and say "Man! he's confident that he has something important." Frankly I am confident. Scripture is clear on the fact that Christ turns our worlds upside down; that is IF we let him.
I want to suggest a presupposition. I don't believe that the majority of us live our lives like Christ exists. The reality of Christ is foreign to us. We can't see him, we can't feel him, so we live our lives like he doesn't exist. It's not REAL to us. Yes, most of us have accepted Christ as our Savior, and when we are asked we will give a testimony, but he's still not real to us. We don't accept the reality of a spiritual realm. It is easy for us to live in the reality of what we see and hear but how easy is it to believe the reality of something that we can't see and is presented to us in a book that is 2000 years old?
I drive some weeks over 2000 miles. Every day I put fuel into my car. I know that if I don't have fuel the car won't go. I know that somehow the fuel gets from the tank into the engine and blows up in something called a cylinder causing it to bob up and down providing movement somehow. I have a very basic knowledge of combustion. I put fuel in the car and it goes.
I think Christians are exactly like that. They come to church and they get their weekly dose of Jesus. We sit in church and we hear what we are supposed to do and do it not really considering the why. Why should I love my family? Why should I have a personal relationship with Christ? Why should my life line up with what God wants?
In reality the reality of Christ effects us radically. It changes who we are and what we do.
My best example of this is my Dogs while they don't have souls and they do not know right from wrong, through much training they have come to realize what is expected of them. That said when we are out of the room, anything could happen.
It's the same way with children. When kids know that the parents aren't looking anything could happen.
When we accept and realize that Christ exists and we realize the gravity of what he has done for us it will fundamentally alter the essence of what we live for.
In the short amount of time that we have this evening I want to briefly touch on three huge area's that keeping the right focus on Christ transforms.
The reality of Christ Rocks our Perspectives (Worldview)
I'm not sure how many times this week I've heard the word Worldview. This seems to be a concept that gets tossed around all the time. It is also known as your faith perhaps, your religion, your system of belief, and even most simply your opinion. Just to make sure we are on the same page I feel obliged that I define it. Worldview is a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.
If I hold to a worldview that my dog is the most important "person" in the world, I may eventually come to the conclusion that dogs hold an equal or higher place as humans.
If I hold to a worldview that the world was created by random chance and I am here by coincidence, I may eventually come to the conclusion that life is pointless and I may find that sanctity of human life means nothing.
Essentially what you believe defines who you are. Let me say that again. What you believe defines who you are.
So how does this relate to the reality of Christ? If I hold to a worldview that embraces the reality of Christ, his birth, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension, it will inevitably come to fruition in what I do and what I think.
Christ said, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)
What is our foundation built upon? If our worldview is based on Christ, the winds of this world cannot knock it down. If it is built on the lies of Satan, it will collapse.
Paul grabs this concept and runs with it when he says "all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3) A Christ centered worldview is essential for an effective life. Paul continues on this thought when he says that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I [God] will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”( 1 Corinthians 1:18-20)
Scripture clearly presents the argument that a Christ centered world view is essential but why? How does this affect how we live?
First a Christian worldview helps us realize our depravity and our need for a Savior. Praise God that a savior is an integral part of the worldview. God sent His holy son to die a sinners death on the cross for us so we would not have to live in Hell for all of eternity.
As we realize the reality of the sacrifice that God made, we see our perspectives change. We see our sin and we see how it affects us.
Second, a Christian worldview helps us realize our responsibility to share the Gospel. With the reality that people on this earth are dying and going to hell, we become more ambitious in sharing the Word. I think that is the thing right there. Do you live like Hell is real? If we live like hell is a reality we will share the Gospel with the lost.
This concept leads into our next point the Reality of Christ Rocks our Priorities. When we accept the fact that Christ is real and we have a worldview based upon him, our priorities are adjusted. We recognize the need to share the gospel with a lost world, and everything we do in life is run over the litmus test of scripture. Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
The question is though, how do we diagnose misplaced priorities? Haggai 1:1-4
1. In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshuaa son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’”
3. Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:
4. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
True priorities are revealed by how we spend our time and our money.
The people in Jerusalem thought that their priorities were just fine. Shortly after returning from their seventy year exile they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. They also laid the foundation for the Jewish temple under the leadership of the Jewish priest Ezra.
But that was sixteen years earlier. They started out strong, but something happened and they lost their focus. They kept saying, "The time has not yet come to rebuild the temple." They didn’t deny that it was their responsibility, but they kept putting it off for another day. Now we know that those sixteen years were filled with economic struggle and political instability, so to put off rebuilding the temple probably made sense from a human perspective.
Yet God knows that the real problem wasn’t the economy; the real problem was misplaced priorities among God’s people. That’s why God asks them, "Is it a time for you to be living in paneled houses while the temple remains a ruin?" Despite their financial struggles they’d found the time and money to panel their homes. Each weekend they’d go to Home Depot to buy more supplies for more renovations, but all the while God’s temple was no more than a foundation and a pile of rubble.
Now let me just mention how we as Christians should apply a passage like this from the Old Testament. Clearly there is no literal temple today, because God no longer limits himself to a physical structure. The Jewish temple that Haggai’s generation would eventually rebuild was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and clearly God is not concerned with building a literal temple for his honor today. So it would be wrong for us to say that this building--or any church building for that matter--is the equivalent of the Old Testament temple. According to the New Testament, since Jesus Christ came to the world, the true temple of God is now the Christian community. According to 1 Corinthians 3:16 we ourselves as a congregation are God’s temple. So the equivalent of building the temple for us today is not constructing a physical building, but it’s investing our lives into building the Christian community.
However with that said, obviously in building up the Christian community, we use buildings. Whether it’s a home or a rented hall, a ministry center like this or an office building, we use buildings to strengthen the Christian community. But for us, buildings are not temples but tools for ministry, tools to strengthen God’s true temple. So this building isn’t a sacred place, but it’s a tool for ministry, an instrument to use in order to build up the people of God.
However even though the temple of God has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it’s just as true today as it was back then that how we spend our time and our money reveals our true priorities as God’s people. Our use of time and money is a barometer of our true priorities.
Of course that doesn’t mean that if you give more money to church and volunteer more time for ministry, that we’ll necessarily be more in tune with God’s priorities. I heard of a pastor who devoted so much time to ministry that he neglected his marriage. In the end he lost his marriage. Clearly his priorities were just as out of focus as the Christian who refuses to give any time or invest any money. So to say just giving more money and time refocuses our priorities is simplistic.
But our giving is does play a role in focusing our priorities around God’s priorities. The average Christian in America gives less than 3% of their total annual income to ministry. That not only counts their contributions to their local church, but also includes contributions to other ministry groups, non-profit organizations, and missionaries. So clearly there’s a lot of room for most Christians to grow.
I personally believe in the biblical principle of tithing. I don’t believe it was a law like it was for the nation of Israel, but I do think tithing is a principle. Elissa and I have made a commitment to never give less than 10% of our income, and we’ve have tried to live by that principle.
Now I’m not telling you that you have to tithe, but I am challenging you to evaluate your own giving. Does it reveal that you truly do value God’s priorities?
The next 6 verses of this chapter go into consequences of misplaced priorities. Because their priorities were wrong, they were struggling. They had unmet expectations. They expect a lot each time they planted their seed, yet when harvest time came they were continually disappointed with a small crop. They were unsatisfied in their personal lives. They’d eat, but they were never really full. They’d drink, but it was never enough. And they were broke. They’d make money, but as soon as they cashed their check it seemed to be gone. They never have enough to meet their needs.
Where are our priorities? Do they line up with the priorities of Christ?
When we do not live in the Reality of Christ, we can never expect our lives to be effective, but when we do live in that reality, anything is possible and our priorities will always line up with scripture.
Back a few minutes ago we mentioned that when we our priorities line up with Biblical principles, our relationships are improved. This leads us to our third point; The Reality of Christ also Rocks our Personal Relationships. We all have relationships. They vary from the mailman to our spouses; from the guy ringing the bell outside Wal-Mart, to the cop who pulls us over last week. We all have relationships and interactions with others. We can go through life just living and interacting OR we could be radical in our relationships. If we embrace the reality of Christ, our relationships will be Christ centered. We will make time for others, we'll show the love the Bible commands us to give even to those who we don't consider deserve it.
Matthew 22:39 says "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14 says "The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."" Do you realize how hard that is? I mean LOVING your neighbor as yourself. When I get up in the morning I'm looking out for Number 1. I could care less about the rest of the world. Elissa will attest to this! I crawl out of bed and I wonder down stairs EVENTUALLY, then I really don't want to talk to anyone. I am NOT a morning person. I need like an hour before I am coherent enough to function. When I get up most of the time I am not living the reality of Christ in my relationships. I know that allot of people here today are challenged with that.
The fact is this: Our lives can be changed by the reality of Christ. IF we allow it. It's up to us. I mean we get saved and we believe with all of our hearts that Jesus exists or we believe that he can save us from hell but that's where we leave it. We don't take it any farther. We don't live in the reality that Christ exists and that he did come to earth he did save us from our sins and he lives now in heaven.
We sit here and we blame the way we were raised perhaps. We blame pride. What we never do is blame ourselves for failing. We've allowed ourselves to get to the point of not caring because its so common place. We hear it every time we are in church. We read about it when we open scripture but let me pose this question to you. Is it real? Are YOU living the reality of Jesus Christ.
The Reality of Christ
A concept that will rock your world.
You sit there in your seats and say "Man! he's confident that he has something important." Frankly I am confident. Scripture is clear on the fact that Christ turns our worlds upside down; that is IF we let him.
I want to suggest a presupposition. I don't believe that the majority of us live our lives like Christ exists. The reality of Christ is foreign to us. We can't see him, we can't feel him, so we live our lives like he doesn't exist. It's not REAL to us. Yes, most of us have accepted Christ as our Savior, and when we are asked we will give a testimony, but he's still not real to us. We don't accept the reality of a spiritual realm. It is easy for us to live in the reality of what we see and hear but how easy is it to believe the reality of something that we can't see and is presented to us in a book that is 2000 years old?
I drive some weeks over 2000 miles. Every day I put fuel into my car. I know that if I don't have fuel the car won't go. I know that somehow the fuel gets from the tank into the engine and blows up in something called a cylinder causing it to bob up and down providing movement somehow. I have a very basic knowledge of combustion. I put fuel in the car and it goes.
I think Christians are exactly like that. They come to church and they get their weekly dose of Jesus. We sit in church and we hear what we are supposed to do and do it not really considering the why. Why should I love my family? Why should I have a personal relationship with Christ? Why should my life line up with what God wants?
In reality the reality of Christ effects us radically. It changes who we are and what we do.
My best example of this is my Dogs while they don't have souls and they do not know right from wrong, through much training they have come to realize what is expected of them. That said when we are out of the room, anything could happen.
It's the same way with children. When kids know that the parents aren't looking anything could happen.
When we accept and realize that Christ exists and we realize the gravity of what he has done for us it will fundamentally alter the essence of what we live for.
In the short amount of time that we have this evening I want to briefly touch on three huge area's that keeping the right focus on Christ transforms.
The reality of Christ Rocks our Perspectives (Worldview)
I'm not sure how many times this week I've heard the word Worldview. This seems to be a concept that gets tossed around all the time. It is also known as your faith perhaps, your religion, your system of belief, and even most simply your opinion. Just to make sure we are on the same page I feel obliged that I define it. Worldview is a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.
If I hold to a worldview that my dog is the most important "person" in the world, I may eventually come to the conclusion that dogs hold an equal or higher place as humans.
If I hold to a worldview that the world was created by random chance and I am here by coincidence, I may eventually come to the conclusion that life is pointless and I may find that sanctity of human life means nothing.
Essentially what you believe defines who you are. Let me say that again. What you believe defines who you are.
So how does this relate to the reality of Christ? If I hold to a worldview that embraces the reality of Christ, his birth, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension, it will inevitably come to fruition in what I do and what I think.
Christ said, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)
What is our foundation built upon? If our worldview is based on Christ, the winds of this world cannot knock it down. If it is built on the lies of Satan, it will collapse.
Paul grabs this concept and runs with it when he says "all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3) A Christ centered worldview is essential for an effective life. Paul continues on this thought when he says that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I [God] will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”( 1 Corinthians 1:18-20)
Scripture clearly presents the argument that a Christ centered world view is essential but why? How does this affect how we live?
First a Christian worldview helps us realize our depravity and our need for a Savior. Praise God that a savior is an integral part of the worldview. God sent His holy son to die a sinners death on the cross for us so we would not have to live in Hell for all of eternity.
As we realize the reality of the sacrifice that God made, we see our perspectives change. We see our sin and we see how it affects us.
Second, a Christian worldview helps us realize our responsibility to share the Gospel. With the reality that people on this earth are dying and going to hell, we become more ambitious in sharing the Word. I think that is the thing right there. Do you live like Hell is real? If we live like hell is a reality we will share the Gospel with the lost.
This concept leads into our next point the Reality of Christ Rocks our Priorities. When we accept the fact that Christ is real and we have a worldview based upon him, our priorities are adjusted. We recognize the need to share the gospel with a lost world, and everything we do in life is run over the litmus test of scripture. Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
The question is though, how do we diagnose misplaced priorities? Haggai 1:1-4
1. In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshuaa son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.’”
3. Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:
4. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
True priorities are revealed by how we spend our time and our money.
The people in Jerusalem thought that their priorities were just fine. Shortly after returning from their seventy year exile they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. They also laid the foundation for the Jewish temple under the leadership of the Jewish priest Ezra.
But that was sixteen years earlier. They started out strong, but something happened and they lost their focus. They kept saying, "The time has not yet come to rebuild the temple." They didn’t deny that it was their responsibility, but they kept putting it off for another day. Now we know that those sixteen years were filled with economic struggle and political instability, so to put off rebuilding the temple probably made sense from a human perspective.
Yet God knows that the real problem wasn’t the economy; the real problem was misplaced priorities among God’s people. That’s why God asks them, "Is it a time for you to be living in paneled houses while the temple remains a ruin?" Despite their financial struggles they’d found the time and money to panel their homes. Each weekend they’d go to Home Depot to buy more supplies for more renovations, but all the while God’s temple was no more than a foundation and a pile of rubble.
Now let me just mention how we as Christians should apply a passage like this from the Old Testament. Clearly there is no literal temple today, because God no longer limits himself to a physical structure. The Jewish temple that Haggai’s generation would eventually rebuild was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and clearly God is not concerned with building a literal temple for his honor today. So it would be wrong for us to say that this building--or any church building for that matter--is the equivalent of the Old Testament temple. According to the New Testament, since Jesus Christ came to the world, the true temple of God is now the Christian community. According to 1 Corinthians 3:16 we ourselves as a congregation are God’s temple. So the equivalent of building the temple for us today is not constructing a physical building, but it’s investing our lives into building the Christian community.
However with that said, obviously in building up the Christian community, we use buildings. Whether it’s a home or a rented hall, a ministry center like this or an office building, we use buildings to strengthen the Christian community. But for us, buildings are not temples but tools for ministry, tools to strengthen God’s true temple. So this building isn’t a sacred place, but it’s a tool for ministry, an instrument to use in order to build up the people of God.
However even though the temple of God has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it’s just as true today as it was back then that how we spend our time and our money reveals our true priorities as God’s people. Our use of time and money is a barometer of our true priorities.
Of course that doesn’t mean that if you give more money to church and volunteer more time for ministry, that we’ll necessarily be more in tune with God’s priorities. I heard of a pastor who devoted so much time to ministry that he neglected his marriage. In the end he lost his marriage. Clearly his priorities were just as out of focus as the Christian who refuses to give any time or invest any money. So to say just giving more money and time refocuses our priorities is simplistic.
But our giving is does play a role in focusing our priorities around God’s priorities. The average Christian in America gives less than 3% of their total annual income to ministry. That not only counts their contributions to their local church, but also includes contributions to other ministry groups, non-profit organizations, and missionaries. So clearly there’s a lot of room for most Christians to grow.
I personally believe in the biblical principle of tithing. I don’t believe it was a law like it was for the nation of Israel, but I do think tithing is a principle. Elissa and I have made a commitment to never give less than 10% of our income, and we’ve have tried to live by that principle.
Now I’m not telling you that you have to tithe, but I am challenging you to evaluate your own giving. Does it reveal that you truly do value God’s priorities?
The next 6 verses of this chapter go into consequences of misplaced priorities. Because their priorities were wrong, they were struggling. They had unmet expectations. They expect a lot each time they planted their seed, yet when harvest time came they were continually disappointed with a small crop. They were unsatisfied in their personal lives. They’d eat, but they were never really full. They’d drink, but it was never enough. And they were broke. They’d make money, but as soon as they cashed their check it seemed to be gone. They never have enough to meet their needs.
Where are our priorities? Do they line up with the priorities of Christ?
When we do not live in the Reality of Christ, we can never expect our lives to be effective, but when we do live in that reality, anything is possible and our priorities will always line up with scripture.
Back a few minutes ago we mentioned that when we our priorities line up with Biblical principles, our relationships are improved. This leads us to our third point; The Reality of Christ also Rocks our Personal Relationships. We all have relationships. They vary from the mailman to our spouses; from the guy ringing the bell outside Wal-Mart, to the cop who pulls us over last week. We all have relationships and interactions with others. We can go through life just living and interacting OR we could be radical in our relationships. If we embrace the reality of Christ, our relationships will be Christ centered. We will make time for others, we'll show the love the Bible commands us to give even to those who we don't consider deserve it.
Matthew 22:39 says "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14 says "The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."" Do you realize how hard that is? I mean LOVING your neighbor as yourself. When I get up in the morning I'm looking out for Number 1. I could care less about the rest of the world. Elissa will attest to this! I crawl out of bed and I wonder down stairs EVENTUALLY, then I really don't want to talk to anyone. I am NOT a morning person. I need like an hour before I am coherent enough to function. When I get up most of the time I am not living the reality of Christ in my relationships. I know that allot of people here today are challenged with that.
The fact is this: Our lives can be changed by the reality of Christ. IF we allow it. It's up to us. I mean we get saved and we believe with all of our hearts that Jesus exists or we believe that he can save us from hell but that's where we leave it. We don't take it any farther. We don't live in the reality that Christ exists and that he did come to earth he did save us from our sins and he lives now in heaven.
We sit here and we blame the way we were raised perhaps. We blame pride. What we never do is blame ourselves for failing. We've allowed ourselves to get to the point of not caring because its so common place. We hear it every time we are in church. We read about it when we open scripture but let me pose this question to you. Is it real? Are YOU living the reality of Jesus Christ.
Apart from God
Preached April 30, 2011 and May 1, 2011
Separation is a pain. Elissa is gone this weekend and let me tell you while it has been fun, it has also had its down sides. I had to cook my own meals, I had animals to take care of, and on top of that I had to make sure the house still looks like a house when she gets home.
Separation is a pain. Elissa is gone this weekend and let me tell you while it has been fun, it has also had its down sides. I had to cook my own meals, I had animals to take care of, and on top of that I had to make sure the house still looks like a house when she gets home.
Its only 4 days though. It's certainly not as bad as when Elissa had to go to SC for 4 weeks for school. We were married for 4 months and in order for her to graduate she had to complete a week of summer school. Those were the longest 4 weeks of my life. I'm not sure how I survived. I was never meant to be a bachelor. God did not intend that to be my life.
Separation from family is excruciating I have friends serving over in Iraq and Afghanistan right now who are going to be gone from family and friends for over a year. I can't imagine what that would be like.
Most of us here don't like the thought of being away from family or friends, but what about our relationship with God.
That's how we all started out. Our passage this morning is Ephesians 2:11-22. It shows a beautiful picture of the restoration we receive through Christ.
14 For he himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Separate from God. As bad as separation from family is, the separation from God is much more drastic.
It all started back in the Genesis. Picture this. Adam and Eve were created to live in the most beautiful place you could ever imagine. They had all they ever wanted. They had food, shelter, peace, and a perfect relationship with God.
Genesis talks of how God actually walked in the garden and conversed with Adam and Eve.
We are talking about the most perfect relationship ever.
Unfortunately this perfection was destroyed.
Adam and Eve had sinned. Despite the amazing situation they were in for some reason they had to have more. They were not content with what they had.
It is striking to me how much we tend to be like Adam and Eve. Our lives could be great. We have the car in the garage, a decent retirement account, and the best kids, but we want so much more. It comes down to pride. We know better than God does.
Fortunately tough when we sin the fate of humanity does not rest on our shoulders. Unfortunately for Adam and Eve it did.
Romans 5:12 says that "just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."
Because of Adams sin we are all cursed. We all sin. We are all separated from God.
What can we do about it? Absolutely nothing. We can't do anything about it. Nothing we can do can repair that relationship. Nothing we can do can fix the wrongs that we have committed.
We can't do anything, but God can. John Hannah said "No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God, "You put me here," and no one who is in heaven will ever be able to say, "I put myself here.""Verse 16 talks of the reconciliation through the cross. God restored the relationship by sending His Son to die on the cross for us. The amazing thing about this restoration is that it was planned since Adam and Eve sinned.
How neat is that. God somehow in his foreknowledge knew Adam and Eve would sin and already had a plan to restore them. Throughout the Old Testament we see a beautiful picture of the sacrifice that would take place with Jesus.
Just this past week we celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus. We celebrated the time where Jesus conquered death in order for us to have eternal life.
God the Father sent his only son to die a sinners death on the cross for you and for me. If anything that should humble us. I mean a Holy God dying for me. It blows me away. It's not what we deserve. We deserve death. Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Jesus paid the price for our sins so that we could spend eternity with him.
That is IF we accept him. The choice is ours. We have the free will to choose to follow him or not. I John 1:9 says that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
A holy God loves us so much that even though we sinned so heinously, he still gives us the option to restore that relationship. It's kind of crazy that we have a choice. A God who is more powerful that anything, gives us, peons of His creation, the option to love Him.
The care and the love is unbelievable. Unfathomable. Uncomprehendable. But that's our God!
If we accept Christ as our personal savior we are no longer separated from God. He accepts us as part of the family despite how much we have shamed him.
I'm reminded of the story of a rather wealthy man who had two sons. He had one son who was the picturesque picture of son hood. The other son was a loose cannon. He would rather party and have a good time. Well things happened and the loose cannon went to his father and asked for his share of the inheritance. His father gave it to him and he went off and partied and had a grand time. Eventually he ended up blowing all his money and working in on a farm feeding pigs.
From personal experience I can tell you that dealing with pigs is nasty. They are cute, cuddly and adorable. . . when they are babies. Then they grow big ugly and make nasty smells. The only saving factor is that they taste amazing.
This loose cannon, realizing his situation was terrible, and realizing that his life at home wasn't as bad as he thought it was, decided to return home. When he returned, his father welcomed him as if he never left. He honored him with a feast.
This father acted exactly like God the Father acts. Despite our sin and our disrespect, He welcomes us back with open arms. It's a joyous occasion form him when turn from our wickedness and return to Him.
If we do not accept Christ, we make a choice to live eternally separated from God forever. If you choose not to accept Christ, you accept to live an eternity in Hell. It's your choice.
So where does that leave us. We were separated from God, but God sent His son to die for us if we only accept Him. While we don't have to do anything, and nothing we do will increase our standing with God, we do have certain expectation we need to live up to.
When I lived in my father's house, there were certain expectations. I had certain chores to do. Most notably my obligations included taking out trash, letting out the Dog, and cleaning the house once a week. There were also expectations I had to live up to, like making sure the family name did not get slandered by my bad actions.
Gods family is no different. There are expectations that we must live out.
First we are called to love God. Scripture says that we are to love the Lord with all of our heart soul and mind. Easy right? It's pretty easy to love God when everything is going our way and we are getting everything we need. But what about when things aren't going our way.
Despite having a roof over my head and food to eat and clothes on my back it became easy for me to take my parents for granted sometimes. Even when everything was great, and I had everything I wanted, I could always find something I wanted to nitpick at.
What have you nitpicked God about today? Even though things are going well. Even though nothing is wrong.
What about when things are going wrong? How fast are we to blame God? If we are willing to blame Him during the good times how much easier is it to blame Him in the bad times.
Yes life is hard sometimes and yes God does allow bad things to come into our lives but the thing we never think about is maybe God loves us so much that He places challenges in our lives to grow us and make us better.
I can't imagine how sheltered I could have been as a child but my parents allowed different situations to arise in my life to challenge me. It has turned me into a better person.
Looking back on things, when my parents allowed me to endure those challenges, I wasn't too happy. They could have stopped it. But seeing as how it has bettered me, I really can't see anything but love in their actions. I can't help but love them back because of it.
God loves us so much. The least we can do is reciprocate that love.
We also are called to love each other. The passage that follows the one where we are called to love God completely, goes on to tell us that we need to love each other like we love ourselves.
I don't know about you, but I tend to have a rather inflated view of me. For the most part I keep my pride under control, but sometimes it slips and I'll make a comment that really shows the world how I feel about me. I totally dig myself. If it comes down to me and you, myself inevitably cheers me on.
That drive that cheers me on isn't supposed to be focused on me though. It is supposed to be focused on others. I am called to love others like I love me. It is not that bizarre of a concept though. Christ showed that same love when he died on the cross for us. Jesus referring to his upcoming death on the cross says this in John 15:12-13, "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." If Jesus cared enough for us to die for our sins, how hard is it to cast down our own pride and love and to care for other people the way that Jesus cared for others.
This love for each other inevitably calls us to evangelize the lost. When we recognize how much our savior loves us and how much he did for us, it is only natural that we spread the news of what Christ did for us with the entire world. In Matthew 28 we are exhorted to spread the gospel. It only seems like a natural outflow of the beautiful love we have already been shown.
If I was given a Corvette by someone I would certainly tell people how awesome the giver of that gift was.
If that is the case why is it so hard to share the Gospel of Christ? Christ gave his life for us so that we could spend eternity with him rather than spend an eternity in hell. Perhaps it is because we can't see it. Perhaps it is because it is so hard to comprehend the reality. Either way, I am challenged by it as well. I don't share Christ as I should. Sometimes it's because I'm nervous; Sometimes it is because I just don't care.
But yet, it comes back to that Love thing. That love that requires us to share Christ with others. That love that requires us to save the lost. The call is not optional; it's mandatory.
Our strength comes from the strongest one who ever existed. God. Through him all things are possible, like loving those who we don't believe deserve it and sharing the gospel with the lost.
This message this morning was meant to serve two purposes. The first is to encourage the Christians sitting in this service. Through Christ we can do anything. We can accomplish any goal that He wants us to complete. It is by Him we find the strength to live day to day in a cruel world that hates us and wants to see our demise.
The second purpose of this message is to show those of you in this audience, the love of the Savior. Jesus loves you so much and wants you to accept him as Savior. He DIED for you. Accept him today. It is as easy as believing that Jesus died on the cross for you, accepting that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and confessing your sins before Him. That is it. No creepy mumbo jumbo, no strange antics, just humbling yourself before the creator of this world.
Dr. Tim LaHaye is a prolific writer of this generation. He writes a lot concerning theology, family, and other Christian subjects. As a young boy, his father took him to the Henry Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan, for a tour. One thing that caught his attention was the huge electromagnetic crane. At the flip of a switch, all the metal and debris inside a boxcar would shoot up and stick to that electromagnet. However, each time a load was picked up, some items fell back into the boxcar. Passing closer, the boy saw pieces of wood that looked like steel at a distance, but would not stick and fell back into the boxcar again and again. He soon learned that some things in the boxcar were not made of the right components and would fall every time.
Those who do not have the right components of salvation on the day that Jesus shouts will not rise to meet Him in the air. They will stay where they are until the resurrection of the unsaved, who will have to stand at the Great White Throne Judgment before being cast into eternal darkness and eternal separation from God.
Jesus died so that we might have eternal life and be able to live for him. Do you have the right components. Remember the choice is ours. We can either accept Him or reject Him.
A Personal Exodus
This is a condensed version of the story of why and how I left the Bob Jones Fundamentalist circles.
- - - - - - - -
Five years ago this week I was just leaving Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, for summer break. The past week had been horrendous.
To give some background, I had gone to BJU when I was only 17. There was nothing significant about that age in and of itself. By the age of 17, I had been working full time for the last 3.5 years. I did not have a curfew as I always came home at night. I didn't party. Mostly my life was wrapped up in work and school.
This left me in a funny predicament when I got to BJU. Underclassmen were not allowed to drive their cars off campus for any reason other than to go home. If they went off at all they needed permission. At home if I went somewhere, it was always for a reason. I would inform my mom where I was going and I would go. At BJU there were hoops one had to jump through even to get this permission. I for one refused to jump.
This attitude didn't get me in any trouble for my first year, but in the first semester of my second year my sins caught up with me.
One night after being off campus in a fellow underclassman's car, we got pinched by public safety. This in turn led to the Dean of Men investigating the situation and coming down hard on us.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not attempting to explain away my sin. I was wrong, but through this situation I saw sides of Bob Jones that had only existed in dorm rumors and TV interrogation rooms. During this situation, in order to make us admit to more wrong than we had committed, we were pitted against each other and were told lies in attempts to turn more people in.
This is where it started. My eyes were opened.
I was bitter; Yet another sin to start my summer off.
I took the next semester off in order to clear my head. I wanted to work on the farm and not have to deal with BJU. As the fall progressed, I realized through scripture that my attitude was not what it should be and I started to think that maybe I had made up the things I saw in my head.
I returned to BJU with a resolve to obey and fit in. The irony was that deep down I could feel the Holy Spirit saying that something wasn't right.
That semester I took some of the best classes ever. My favorites were about learning to study scripture and how to apply it. This was what I yearned for. The problem was that the more I read scripture and listened to the Holy Spirit the more I realized that while the principles I was being taught were right, the application was way off base.
This is where it started. My eyes were opened.
I was bitter; Yet another sin to start my summer off.
I took the next semester off in order to clear my head. I wanted to work on the farm and not have to deal with BJU. As the fall progressed, I realized through scripture that my attitude was not what it should be and I started to think that maybe I had made up the things I saw in my head.
I returned to BJU with a resolve to obey and fit in. The irony was that deep down I could feel the Holy Spirit saying that something wasn't right.
That semester I took some of the best classes ever. My favorites were about learning to study scripture and how to apply it. This was what I yearned for. The problem was that the more I read scripture and listened to the Holy Spirit the more I realized that while the principles I was being taught were right, the application was way off base.
I honestly was confused and thought that I was in the wrong. Some of you out there reading this are convinced that I still am in the wrong but by the leading of the Holy Spirit and reading the Scriptures, I came to the realization that I in fact was right.
The issue was despite the fact that I was convinced it was right, I couldn't really tell anyone what I had realized. I was surrounded by a school who thought that my views were wrong. I had parents who wouldn't agree with me, as my father had been a pastor in the Bob Jones circles for 20 plus years.
I was dating a woman who's parents wouldn't agree with me on my viewpoints either. I realized that summer that it was all or nothing. I either had to toss of the legalistic views of the Bob Jones fundamentalist circles or accept them and live it out.
I refused to live those views out. I refused to accept their views on music, movies, drinking, dress, and separation from other churches and believers, just to name a few. I could not agree to accept things that had no criptural backing.
This is not to say I do not believe in the fundamentals of Christianity. I most certainly do. I live them out and believe them. Ironically the fundamentals of Christianity do not talk about the things on the list stated above yet the Bob Jones fundamentalists and many other groups of fundamentalists seem to think it does. My one and only difference was that I refused to allow my opinions dictate what scripture says but rather go to scripture for guidance.
With the refusal to accept these views I felt out of place. I kept seeing the fakeness and the dryness of this faction of fundamentalism. I couldn't stand it. The irony to this was that I was placed as a spiritual leader in my room at Bob Jones. I tend to think my views peaked through a little. By the end of the year, it got to the point that just about everyone close to me knew what I believed and knew I did not agree with the restrictions and limitations of the brand of fundamentalism we were entrenched in. I knew for that matter I couldn't go back.
This is not to say that my views and convictions were solid at this point. If anything they were quite spongy. I knew what scripture said and my views were being changed every day.
I was engaged to the woman who is now my wife so that complicated things. I had started on a journey that I was dragging her into and she being raised in these circles all her life was a few steps behind me since she had not started her evolution at the same time I did.
We were to be married in December so Elissa in an attempt to complete her degree continued her education at Bob Jones that fall. After we got married we were to move down to Greenville, so Elissa could finish her education, but I never had peace about it. Despite my lack of peace, we forged ahead with the plan.
In October my father gave his resignation to Whiting Community Church. He was to be done the Sunday following my wedding. With this revelation, God began telling me I needed to stay in Vermont and help out in this church that would have no pastor.
Complicating matters was that we had a family in the church who had recently joined who was radically fundamental. One of the members of the family led Sunday school and preached some things that were doctrinally wrong. Leaving in a few months, my father believed he could do nothing about it. God kept whispering to me that I needed to stay.
With much planning Elissa was able to work out her final semester so she could take it via correspondence and one summer school class. This was confirmation of what I had felt God telling me.
December came around. The church held a business meeting and I was elected to the pulpit committee along with 2 members of the radical family, and 2 others. We were tasked with finding a new pastor for the church. Various issues reared their dirty heads like what version of the Bible the pastor should use, does he have to be married, and several other legalistically minded things.
I was quite open in my views and this did not help the situation but I refused to be silent any longer. It eventually came to the conclusion that the family mandated that either I left the church or they would. I was willing to leave as I saw this situation being divisive to the body of Christ. The church family decided that they would rather see the radical family leave than me.
I was humbled by this. As a group we asked them to leave. We were told by them that our church was of the devil and we were going to hell. We were told the only reason they became members was to help us turn from our wickedness. We lost a week sister in Christ to their diatribes.
But praise the Lord that part is over. Dan Berry and I took care of the preaching for the next few months and by March we had figured a rough idea of what we were looking for in a candidate and selected a close friend of mine to come and be our pastor.
I saw many things that made me shake my head in shame in those fundamentalist circles. I was always told that just because one was bad doesn't make them all bad. You're right. It doesn't but it should make you reconsider your views.
I could tell you of dozens of truthful stories of people being abused and destroyed by these circles. Just recently they hit mainstream with 20/20 doing a report on a woman who was abused.
Today my life looks quite different than it did 5 years ago. For one I am married to a wonderful wife who supports and agrees with my viewpoints. She came to her conclusion alone without my persuasion, praise the Lord! Second, While I hate playing the what if games, I imagine that if I had not changed, I probably would have washed out of church all together. I was hurt and I was burnt. I saw people who believed they had a to do list after salvation in order to be acceptable to God. There were double standards all over the place. The only consistency is that they were consistent in their inconsistencies.
Today our church looks quite different than it did 3 years ago. Today we have a contemporary service on Saturday nights as well as a traditional service on Sunday mornings. We don't separate from people who believe slightly different than we do as long as we agree on the fundamentals, in fact we now belong to the SBC. We don't judge someone who walks in the door with earrings and tattoos. We don't look down upon the single mom who made a mistake when she was younger. Perhaps you doubt the validity or the impact that we are having. We have had 4 souls come to Christ in the last 3 weeks and we are holding membership classes on a monthly basis.
Christ, salvation, and the Christian life is so much more than that. It is not a list of rules, but an act of love. After salvation we have an urge to love God more and more and to serve Him. We desire to love others like we love ourselves. Jesus himself said the greatest commands were to love God and to love our neighbor as our selves. Peter later gives mandates to the gentile believers not to eat meat offered to idols and not to commit immorality. Other than that, there are no lists. I don't even believe you can call the mandates from Peter a list as the commands from Jesus cover both of them. They are more a statement of clarification.
I am not bitter. Please do not misunderstand me. I hold no grudges. My in-laws and my parents are still in those circles. As stated before, not all of the people in those circles are bad, but most of them are misguided. I am actually the happiest I have ever been. I have found true freedom in Christ.
God Honoring Music
This is my view on music. For some reason or another this topic comes up more frequently when I am talking to people than any others. Perhaps it is because they know my parents believe something different, or perhaps it is because they know I went to BJU or perhaps it is because my wife Elissa's parents are missionaries with GFA. Frankly it doesn't matter. I have come to a different conclusion than they have and the following states my beliefs. I don't post this lightheartedly, or out of naivety, I post it out of a love for my family, and my desire to be as open honest and transparent as I can be.
What I have found in my experience and in my study is that Music is the MOST divisive issue in the church today. Why is that? Because we ALLOW it to be.
We have allowed a simple facet of our worship to interfere with our relationships with our fellow believers.
What a lot people don't know and many fundamentalist pastors won't admit is that the people who sit in their pews on Sunday are NOT the same people who live Monday through Saturday.
From my experience, and my study at Bob Jones University, I realized something interesting. Around 10% of the students at BJU only listen to Hymns and Sound forth style music but of all the students at BJU over 50% listen to any music they want to outside of church. We're talking rap, rock, pop, or country. Most people will never know about this 50% because they are hypocrites. They won't tell people what they listen to. Around 20% would allow the hymns and Soundforth/Wilds style, but also would allow the sounds of Josh Groban, and easy listening. The last 20% don't have an issue with Hymns, sound-forth, easy listening, or CCM. I am in the latter category.
The funny thing is that more Christians have issues with my acceptance of CCM than with Christians who listen to their "Good 'ole rock and roll." I do not believe that there is an issue with ANY music that does not go against Philippians 4:8. The divisive part of this is that many people interpret this passage differently, the same way I came to different conclusions from my teachers, parents, and mentors.
The ultimate question is what DOES the Bible say about music. First we must assess the purpose of music. Colossians 3:16 emphasizes that music is to assist the Biblical truths to dwell in us richly. Ephesians 5:19 says that we should use music in the fellowship with one another, and in giving thanks to God. So we are told when to use music and the reason to use music, but how do we know what music we can use. Frankly you'll never find a passage in the bible that condemns a specific genre of music(Thou shalt not listen to JAZZ!"). What we find are principles to live by and to guide our choices. Colossians 3:1-3, rather than giving us a grocery list of things that are bad in music, emphasizes that whatever we use, must lead us to holiness. Psalms 150:1-6 throws this into the mix:
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works;
praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works;
praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
David here is describing the instruments that are used to praise the Lord. We see the brass section, we see the strings section, we see the percussion section, and even a vocal section. Verse 4 even mentions dancing. I can guarantee you that this was not the bumping and grinding dance of today, yet so many people of fundamentalist ideology throw the baby out with the bathwater. In the pagan temples there were drunken dancing orgies just like we have in night clubs today, but yet the worshipers still danced in worship of God.
The Psalmist describes every form of musical instrument possible to worship God available at the time. One can reason that these same instruments were also used in the pagan temples for worship of the gods. This is of no consequence though because I'm sure it was a different genre of music, right?
Fundamentalists often believe that there are certain genres of music must not be listened to. This stems from the idea that music is a moral entity. These people are wrong. Music is not a moral or immoral.
Music just IS.
A gun is a gun. It is not evil until an evil person gets behind it and starts murdering people
Sex is a beautiful thing until people start advocating prostitution and pornography.
Music is Music. The only possible way it can be evil is via the intent of the person performing it.
Inanimate objects cannot be moral. A gun does not have the ability to shoot someone unless the trigger is pulled. Music cannot make someone think a certain way or do things unless it is by specific intent of the person creating it.
At creation God created everything that is and ever will be. This includes music. Music is a creation of God. It is only through our perversion of beautiful things that we create monsters out of them.
The argument that most people against CCM is guilt by association. This means that if something is associated with evil that Christians should not partake in it.
Well I say that Christians should not drive Cadillac Escalades because these vehicles are predominately driven by drug dealers and gang bangers.
I also say that Christians should not eat Chocolate because chocolate is eaten by gluttons and fat people.
Christians should not have sex because people use it to make money via prostitution and pornography.
You would say I'm crazy if I said these things, but yet fundamentalist Christians do it all the time. You can't listen to jazz because the saxophone makes a noise that people in Timbuktu use to call out demons. You can't listen to something with syncopation because that makes you want to dance and we learned earlier that we can't dance because some people like to dirty dance and we don't want people getting the wrong idea.
Many times people against CCM pull out the arguments that "We did a study and it proved that CCM is bad because. . . ."
Many times this argument is people's blood pressure goes up when they listen to CCM. Yes you're right it could. If I took someone who believes that CCM is evil and wrong and force them to listen to it, I guarantee that their blood pressure would go through the roof. The same thing would happen if I was forced to listen to Gregorian Chants; my veins would explode! Anti-CCMers pull these experiments out of thin air and expect everyone to believe them. One experiment I heard about back in the day was the houseplant experiment. How do your plants do if you expose them to different types of music. It turns out that the answers are subjective. Anti-CCMers claimed that classical grew the best plants while rockers, thought theirs grew the best.
Another argument is that the messages presented in this music is vague. Sometimes yes the meanings are vague but so are hymns sometimes. Not every song we sing has to have a direct spiritual message. Does the ittsy bittsy spider have a direct spiritual message? No but you sing it to your children. While some groups may have vague song or two, the majority of the songs are direct and many quote scripture. Shocking?
In closing I want to present a few more questions with verses as their answers for consideration.
Q. What is the whole purpose of music anyway?A. Colossians 3:16 So that God’s word (His Bible truth) will dwell in us “richly”.
Q. Does God ever sing?
A. Zephaniah 3:17 YES! Can’t you just imagine it?
Q. How often should we use music?
A. Ephesians 5:19,20 “Always” in giving thanks to God and in our fellowship with one another.
Q. Is God pleased when we praise Him in song?
A. Psalm 69:30,31 Absolutely! It’s one of the best offerings we can give Him.
Q. What about musical instruments?
A. Psalm 150:1-6 How many do you count? Instruments of all types, for all occasions,
Q. Is music supposed to be only upbeat praises and happy songs?
A. Psalm 13:1-6 David often sang dark and depressing kinds of music but an answer of hope was always there (see verses 5 & 6).
Q. Does the Bible tell us what songs to listen to and what not to?
A. Colossians 3:1-3 Not exactly, but they must lead us to think of things that are holy.
Q. What about love songs?
A. Song Of Solomon 1:1,2 Love songs can be beautiful when sung 1) from a heart that honors God and 2) in the context of marriage. [How many popular love songs fit this criterion?]
Q. Are there any promises for those who keep their minds pure (including music choices)?
A. Matthew 5:8 What better reward can you ask for?
Q. Will there be music in heaven and on the new earth
A. Revelation 14:1-3 Awesome! Would you like to be there to sing it?
(Q&A from - http://ccmwhatisit.bizland.com/biblestudy.htm)
Nothing in Scripture forbids CCM or any other music for that matter. What we see is people in fundamental Christianity condemning CCM because of its "Roots." Most people argue that CCM is no different than any other modern secular music. I would urge you to give a sample disk of CCM to an unsaved person and ask them if they honestly like it and enjoy it. If you weren't first looked at like you were insane, you would end up finding that the non-Christian/unsaved world does not like CCM. They find it repulsive because it does not appeal to the fleshly desires they crave.
As with any activity any Christian partakes in we must measure it up to the litmus test of Scripture. If Scripture condemns something we must forsake it. If it does not condemn something, we are required to give grace.
Perhaps that's the key that we as Christians are missing. We've forgotten grace. We've forgotten what saved us and what bonds us together as Christians.
My urge is that we would stop majoring on the trivialities and differences bur rather rejoice and be united in the atoning work of our savior Jesus Christ.
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