Expectations

I have nothing original or new to post this week, but I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on a quote that I've been thinking about for a few days. It is from A.W. Tozer's book, "Reclaiming Christianity."

"As God's people, you have every scriptural right to demand that you hear the Word in power, and if you do not hear the Word in power, you have a right to rise up and ask why. If you are hearing nothing but teaching, nothing but instruction, with no evidence of God in it, and the preacher cannot say, "I appeal to God" to say whether this is true or not; if this cannot be, then you have a right to demand that somebody preach that can. On the other hand, every man who stands in a pulpit to preach has a right to expect that the congregation believe in power and are so close to God, so surrendered, so full of faith and so prayerful that the Word of God can work in power."

Is All Scripture God-Breathed?

I am always amused when I hear people say things like, "I don't believe in Christian perfection," or, "We just cannot live a holy life." Doesn't the Bible tell us to do these things?

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14)."

Jesus said, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48)."

So what does it really mean when someone says that they do not believe in holiness, or Christian perfection? Since the Bible says that we should be perfect and holy it must mean that we do not believe what the Bible says. Even those who claim to respect the authority of the Bible will claim not to believe something that is clearly taught there.

Since the Bible is "God-breathed" or "inspired" by God I'm not so sure that any of us are in a position to decide which of its teachings we should or should not believe. Here's my suggestion, and the point of this blog. Rather than just ignoring something that is clear in Scripture, why don't we find a way to define it that makes sense in light of all Scripture? Wouldn't that make more sense than ignoring it and acting like it doesn't exist?

How do you define holiness and perfection? How should we define them? Do you suppose that if we define them the way that God intend that they will make sense? I would suggest that definition and diligent study is a far better practice than willful ignorance.

Is Sin Really So Bad?

Over the past few weeks I have taken notice of a lot of the sin around me. I've been watching as I see people (even within the church) live as though there is no such thing as sin. Worse yet, they live as though there is no consequence for sin. The Bible tells us, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, AND DEATH THROUGH SIN, and thus death spread to all men..." (Romans 5:12) The consequence of sin is death. Spiritual death. Separation from God. Could God have given us any more clarity on the issue through His Word? Over and over throughout the inspired word we read that SIN IS BAD! Yet we act like sin is alright.

The divorce rate among the church is as high as that of the world. Despite what some of us seem to think, the Bible does indeed teach us that divorce is not the will of God. We expect it from sinners, but it happens among professing Christians, and even in some instances clergy. Professing Christians are just as guilty of fornication, and gossip and other sins as anyone else. Notice that I said "professing Christians" and not Christians.

In spite of our ignorance (often willful ignorance) of God's Word, it still teaches that we are to live above these things. "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be DONE AWAY WITH, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." (Romans 6:6)

The point is this. The Spirit of God does not dwell in darkness. Too often those who claim to be the church dwell in darkness. We condone it by teaching that "we're all sinners." When we do that, we're condoning something that brings death. When we condone it within the church we're bringing death to the body of Christ. There are thousands of people who claim to be Christians who will not give up their sin. They still want to continue to look at pornography, they want to drink, or gossip, or control a church that is God's. They want to live like the world. You cannot be a worldly Christian. Those terms are mutually exclusive. If we are ever going to see revival in the church it will be because we have become serious about seeking holiness "without which NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD." (Hebrews 12:14)

The Offense of Holiness

I was in a situation the other night where I had some interaction with Christians who are part of various denominational churches. Some were talking, and I sat back and listened to the conversation. Eventually one of them asked me what church I pastor. I told him and he responded, "Isn't that the group that teaches that you're not supposed to sin or you'll lose your salvation?" I told him that it is. He shared that he feels the teaching of holiness is "pretty rough."

I cannot grasp the idea that holiness is offensive. I have taught a lot of things that could be seen as offensive by those who are worldly, but nothing ever seems as offensive as holiness. Even the suggestion makes people cringe. Why? It seems to me that we should be glad that Jesus died to save us from our sins. If we continue to sin, then what has Jesus saved us from?

I have no new idea or thought to share. I have only a question. Why is the idea of Jesus saving us FROM our sins so offensive?

Buying the Truth

Proverbs 23:23 says, "Buy the truth and do not sell it. Also wisdom, instruction, and understanding (NKJV)." While the Bible teaches us that God has revealed truth, and it is there for us to see we continue to wait for a mandate from above. People within the church wait for their colleges, or their leaders to tell them what they should believe. We seem to have come to a point where we expect those who are "enlightened" to share with us what they think we need to do. That is not the case.

We talk a lot about the church "being the church." If we are going to be the church it will be because we have made the necessary sacrifice to "buy the truth." Not "a" truth, but "the" one truth of God, revealed to us in His Holy Word. Throughout history the church has been the church when people have been willing to do this. It is when government type bureaucracy runs the church that it has seen problems. The apostolic church was not mandated by any government. It was not ruled by man. It was composed of people who had bought, and seen, and experienced the Truth.

I would suggest that the church is in trouble. We will not climb out of the whole in which we find ourselves until we ignore the man-made creedal statements, the liberal emerging-church type propaganda, the idea that others will tell us what God's Word means, and all of the other things that take the focus off of Scripture. We must buy the truth no matter what the cost. The church will stand when it's foundation in in the Word of God.

Holy Standard

Against what do we measure our spiritual lives? How do you know that your relationship with God is growing and maturing? I would contend that within holiness movements the standard against which we measure ourselves has become increasingly low. Rather than using the Word of God as our guide, we want to compare ourselves to the atheist who lives next door.

"I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as that guy," we tell ourselves. We are always on the lookout for those who are living far below the standard to which God has called us. They give us a great excuse to live beneath the holy standards of God's chosen people. I cannot even count the number of times that I've heard people excuse themselves with, "It's not like I've killed someone."

Here's a fact: If you are not living God's commands, and growing in a relationship with Him, it is like you've killed someone. It's exactly like that. Jesus died to SAVE US FROM our sin. I can't find anyplace in Scripture that would lead us to believe that He died to save us in our sin. Yet, we continue to live in sin. I read a blog by an emerging church leader just last week that claims that it's alright for homosexuals to serve in the church. He began his claim by asking readers to ignore the verses in the Bible that speak directly about homosexuality so that we can debate it from a philosophical perspective. Why can't we debate it from a biblical perspective? Homosexuality is not the only issue that some try to deal with in this way. We eliminate what the Bible says about divorce with regularity. We want to look at everything from our perspective and not from God's. If we eliminate His Word all that we're left with is our opinion.

Again I ask, against what do you measure your spiritual life? I would suggest that it should be God's Word.

Fellowship With God

God desires fellowship with you. The book of Genesis tells us that God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day. He lived in harmony and fellowship with Adam and Eve, and all of His creation. God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle in the wilderness so that He could dwell in the midst of His people. A temple was erected in Jerusalem, again, so He could live with the people. Even in our day God desires this fellowship. He wants to live in the midst of His people. He wants a relationship with each and every one of us, but (this is the important part) He will not compromise His holiness in the name of fellowship.

We like to talk about our relationship with God, and our fellowship with Him, but so many times we act like He steps down into the gutters where we live to have that relationship. God does not take a step down to have fellowship with us. He restores us to the image in which man was created. "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man (1 Cor. 15:49)."

We can indeed live in fellowship with God in this live, but we MUST REMEMBER that in order to do that we must grow and mature spiritually. We must allow God to make us something better than the fallen men that we once were. The Bible teaches that God draws men to Himself. Even when "He became flesh and dwelt among us" He was drawing us to Himself. It does not teach that He comes to us and changes His attitude toward our sin in the name of fellowship. He desires fellowship, but the change must occur within us. Why did God's fellowship with the Jews of the Old Testament cease at times? Not because He didn't want the relationship, but because THEY did not rise up to meet Him in holiness. They did not allow Him to make them something better than they were before.