Working on the Boat

"What James is saying is this: If a person says he has faith, but he gives no outward evidence of that faith through righteous works, his faith will not justify him. We are not saved by a profession of faith or by a claim to faith. That faith has to be genuine before the merit of Christ will be imputed to anybody. You can’t just say you have faith. True faith will absolutely and necessarily yield the fruits of obedience and the works of righteousness…. those works don’t add to that person’s justification at the judgment seat of God. But they do justify his claim to faith before the eyes of man. James is saying, not that a man is justified before God by his works, but that his claim to faith is shown to be genuine as he demonstrates the evidence of that claim of faith through his works." ~ RC Sproul

God decided to save Noah and his family from the flood that would ravage the Earth and destroy all life. God came to Noah, warned him about the flood and gave him specific instructions on building the ark. Noah chose to believe God and began building the boat. The Bible says that Noah believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.
 Noah was saved by grace, through faith, in a boat. God saved Noah in an ark, but gave the ark building job to Noah! God could easily have provided Noah an already assembled ark; But He decided, in his wisdom, to give Noah the job. Noah was given the opportunity to prove that he believed. Yes, Noah was saved by God's grace, but he still had to build the boat! It pleased God to do it that way. Noah proved he had faith in God by obeying God's command, starting to build the ark and persevering until the job was finished.
The day we were saved by God's grace, through faith in the shed blood of Jesus, we were given the opportunity to start building our boat; The opportunity to put hands and feet to our faith. I pray we continue. I pray that we persevere till the end.

Tactics

Have you noticed how the tactics keep changing? For years people have been trying to prove that the biblical Jesus didn't exist, that he was a fairytale or a myth; They denied his existence. Then, the majority report seemed to say that he did exist, but he was just a good teacher and a wise man who had good ideas, but still just a man; They denied his deity. Now we're hearing that he did exist and he was God, but he didn't really say what the Bible reports him to have said; They deny his message.

Someone once said that it's easy to tell the difference between the truth and not the truth; It's much harder to tell the difference between the truth and almost the truth. They say Jesus didn't mean what we have always thought he meant when he talked about Sin or Hell or his being the only way to the Father; He was misquoted, missinterpreted and misunderstood. It's been a misunderstanding all these years! And what's really scary is that this foolishness is not coming from atheists, it's coming from....... preachers! This apostate rhetoric is actually being espoused by so-called 'men of God'! "Yes Jesus said it, but that's not what he meant" has become the new lie from the Devil. Be careful. 

Is it any wonder the Bible warns us to not be ignorant of the devil's devices. 

Heart and Head

It takes your heart and your head to be a good Christian. The Bible tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God"; God expects us to not only believe in Him (that He exists), but to believe Him (trust Him even when it doesn't seem possible). Faith allows us to go beyond what is tangible and know what our senses cannot know. But we mustn't think that we have to check our brains at the church door. Christianity is reasonable. It really does make sense! Apologists spend their entire lives explaining Christianity with reason and logic. Just watch a debate between atheists and apologists and you will see that both employ the same rules of reason and logic to make their points. Neither will allow the other to slide by with unreasonable or illogical arguments. Their opinions may differ, but both seek to prove their argument with reason and logic. Reason will keep us from falling prey to religious nonsense.
The Bible tells us to be disciples (learners, students) of Jesus. We are told to be ready with an answer when we are asked why we believe. That answer should be logical and reasonable and always based on the scriptures. Faith doesn't mean we accept every religious-sounding idea that comes down the pike whether it makes good sense or not! Just because a man is called Minister or Pastor doesn't mean he gets a pass on the requirement to be reasonable and logical (and especially biblical!). The Bible warns us to "try the spirits to see if they are from God"; In other words, make sure everything passes the head test and the heart test. Is it logical and reasonable (and by reasonable I don't necessarily mean does it make sense, but rather, does it pass the laws of reason); Is it biblical (do the scriptures bear it out); Does it sit well  your spirit (does the Holy Spirit bear witness in your conscience that it is faithful and true)?
Keep your head and your heart both in the game. There will be mysteries you can't humanly explain, but that doesn't mean they are illogical or unreasonable; Let your Faith guide you. There will be things preached to you that sound religious, but stretch the scriptures awkwardly or are downright contrary to scripture; Let your head guide you. Faith and Reason are not mutually exclusive.

Torn

I find myself torn. I'm torn between two paths. On the one hand, I love people. I believe that we are all created in God's image and are equal in his eyes, created with purpose and meaning, created with value. I don't want anyone to perish. I don't want anyone to suffer or be absent from God's presence. I want everyone to see God for who he is and love him and be loved by him. I want us to love each other and put away our differences (and our indifference) and put an end to racism, hate and "man's inhumanity to man".
On the other hand, I'm so tired of trying to tell people about Jesus and being called intolerant, phobic, insensitive, unreasonable and simple-minded for my trouble. Part of me wants to just be quiet, keep it to myself and let them find out the hard way. I know that one millisecond after they die, they will believe in God. And I know that it will be too late for that knowledge to benefit them.
It is only the love of God that the Holy Spirit has "spread abroad in my heart" that keeps me going. It is that love that keeps me preaching a Gospel that I know most people don't want to hear, don't appreciate, and will revile and ridicule me for. I pray that I never give in to my emotions, my human frailty. I pray that I keep on preaching, expounding, being a living witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sign of the Times

 The signs of the end are all around us. No, I'm not talking about the wars and rumors of war or the earthquakes increasing in number and severity or even the nations rising against each other. All those things are happening and may very well be legitimate signs of the end, but I'm talking about something even more telling about the days we live in: I'm talking about the apostasy of the Church!
 We have homosexual churches; we have churches that only teach "good" things like self esteem and joyful living, but none of the "bad" things like sin or hell; we have churches that don't believe Jesus was the Son of God; we have churches that don't believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God! We have all these in the name of progress and tolerance.
These churches don't have a God of wrath, only a God of love. They don't have a God who holds people responsible for their actions, their God forgives everyone of everything and accepts everyone into His Heaven. These churches hold that there are many ways to God and, as long as you are sincere you'll get there. If you have "itchy" ears, you won't have to walk too many blocks in a large city until you'll find a church that teaches what you want to hear! And you'll probably be in the company of many!
 We can't say we weren't warned. Jesus told us what would happen and so it has begun. The spirit of antichrist is not only in the Earth, it has opened it's own church! Doctrines of demons are being preached from the pulpits of prestigious churches and the pews are full!
 2 Tim 4:3 "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." Two old sayings come to mind: "You deserve what you allow" and "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything".

But Why?

When I hear a fellow Christian say they believe something, I often will ask them why they believe it. It is surprising how many times either the person doesn't know why they believe it or isn't able to articulate why they believe it, or I get an answer like "That's what my Pastor says" or "That's what my family has always believed" or maybe "Isn't that what it says in the Bible?". I find that most of the time we can't give a credible answer to why we believe what we say we believe!
1Peter 3:15 tells us to "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." God is not simply calling on us to know the answers to a bunch of  questions someone may ask. It is a call to a comprehensive defense of our hope or what we confess to believe. Not being able to defend a belief shows a lack of knowledge about that belief and anything we have such a lack of knowledge about should never be something we base our eternal hope upon. How can we have true faith in something that we have such little knowledge about that we can't explain why we believe it?
If you can't explain to someone else why you believe something, then you probably don't know enough about it to truly believe in it. Get into God's word and see if it holds up to scripture. Meditate on it and try to explain it to yourself in simple terms. Then you will be prepared to give an answer about, or defense of, your hope. People are looking for answers, not opinions.

Justice and Punishment

I don't want to go to hell. I don't want anyone else to go to hell. I do believe there is a literal hell to avoid and I don't see a problem with there being such a place. As R.C. Sproul puts it -What is mysterious about a holy Creator punishing willfully disobedient creatures?  Shouldn't Almighty God have the right to punish sinners? Where is the justice in letting law-breakers go unpunished?
I hear people talk about how a loving God wouldn't send a person to eternal torment in hell. But, if I am warned of the consequences of breaking a law and I choose to break it anyway, the judge doesn't send me to jail, I sent myself! The judge only sentences me according to the law! We have all been warned that the wages of sin are death. We have been told about hell. Will we choose righteousness which leads to reward or sin which leads to punishment?
God certainly has the right to punish those who break his laws. Actually, his righteous and just nature require him to. It is only by his great mercy that He has made a way of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
The old saying is, if you don't want to do the time then don't do the crime. So, live right and live forever.... Or live any old way you want to and pay the price.

Rejection

"Will a person who has never heard of Jesus go to hell?" It would hardly seem fair to punish someone for something they never got a chance to do, namely, reject Jesus. But, let's look closer at that question for a moment.
The reason Jesus came was to save us from our sin. What sin?.... the sin of rejecting God. We think more about Jesus saving us from our sins (actions) than him saving us from our sin (heart attitude). Original sin came about when Adam rejected God and God's government. Jesus came to bring the possibility of being forgiven for rejecting God. Faith in Jesus' redemptive work washes away the sin of rejecting God. Rejecting Jesus means we are saying "no thank you" to God's merciful plan of forgiveness for the sin of rejecting God. When we reject God's means of forgiveness (Jesus), then we reject the only way to gain forgiveness for rejecting God in the first place!
I know that's a little confusing, but read that last paragraph again if you need to. Rejecting Jesus is actually rejecting God's plan of forgiveness for rejecting God. The book of Romans says that God has made his existence perfectly clear to everyone in the things he has made. No one has an excuse for not believing in God. Just look around you..... it's so obvious! But there are those who don't want there to be a God, because if there is a God they would owe him their praise and obedience. They would rather have autonomy instead, so they make an argument against his existence. They reject God. And they reject Jesus who is the forgiveness for that rejection!
A person who has never heard of Jesus still has all the obvious proof throughout creation that God exists. If they reject that proof and don't seek after God, they wouldn't have believed in Jesus either. How could Jesus be the son of God if there is no God? God is just and righteous and everyone will get a fair shake. Actually, those who accept God through Jesus Christ will get a merciful shake and those who reject God (whether they also reject Jesus or not) will get a fair shake.... because Heaven is mercy, Hell is justice.

Deserve

I remember an incident from high school many years ago. We had an assignment due on Monday and on Saturday night it snowed... and snowed and snowed some more! Needless to say, there was no school on Monday. Actually, there was no school that whole next week.
We returned to school the following Monday and only 3 students out of 28 turned in their assignments. The rest of us begged and pleaded for more time and, sighting the heavy snow and subsequent power outages, our teacher extended the deadline one more day. The next day, 12 kids handed in their assignments. The other 13 students gave numerous lame excuses and, to our amazement, the deadline was extended yet again. The next day 4 more students handed in their assignments and I couldn't believe the 9 others could be so bold as to ask for another extension! To make a long story short, the last student handed in their assignment the following Monday... two whole weeks late!
When our assignments were graded and handed back to us, our grades were horrible! The teacher didn't take off points for the papers being late, but he went through each of them with a fine tooth comb! He marked off for every little minor mistake. He marked things that he normally let go. Naturally, we cried foul. Why was he being so mean? Why was he being so picky? Why was he trying to fail us all? Why? Why? Why?
Finally, someone made the fatal mistake of saying that we didn't deserve such poor grades. The teacher asked if we all felt the same way and we all did. He asked us to hand the papers back and he would re-grade them and this time, he would give us the grades we deserved. He then proceeded to do just that.... we got zeros! All but the 3 students who turned their work in on time got zeros! And we deserved them. We took advantage of our teacher's mercy and then complained when he graded our papers very strictly.
God has let time go on for better than 2000 years now, his mercy giving all of us time to repent and turn to him. We seem to think that, because he has let us go so long, either he doesn't care how we act or maybe he doesn't even exist! My guess is that there will be a lot of whining and complaining on judgment day when we stand before him to give account for our lives. I bet the complaints of "this is unfair" and "you're unjust" get used a lot. I bet a bunch of folks will say "we don't deserve this!" when they're sent to eternal punishment.
We have abused God's mercy and grace and used his patience as an excuse to sin against him. But not much longer.

Two Pastors

I believe there are two types of Pastors. One I call the  "Good Shepherd" Pastor and the other I call the "Little Bo Peep" Pastor.
The "Good Shepherd" Pastor is like the leader Jesus talks about in the Bible. When one of his flock wanders away he immediately leaves the 99 and goes after the one. He finds that one and returns with him to the safety of the flock. This Pastor knows that He is responsible for the souls he has been put in charge of. When one of his church members leaves the church, he goes after that member and finds out what the problem was and comes back to the church with the member in company. Most of the time, just knowing that the Pastor notices and cares about their leaving wins back that member.
The "Little Bo Peep" Pastor is like the one mentioned in the nursery rhyme who says "Leave them alone and they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them". This Pastor says things like "I won't beg anybody to go to my church" and "I guess they never were real members anyway, else they wouldn't have left us".  This Pastor never checks to see what the problem was, or if indeed there was a problem, or if maybe that church member just lost his way. The Pastor stays home, safe with the 99 and the one is on his own.
 We have too many "Little Bo Peep" Pastors these days. They are content to stay home with the 99 or 98 or even 97 rather than bother with chasing after the errant one or two or three. Everyone wants to be wanted  and appreciated and, especially with our "mega-churches" these days, confused and/or hurt people are falling through the cracks and being forgotten. Just a call to say "We miss you" or "Is something wrong?" may solve the problem.
Pastor..... you are responsible for all your sheep, the easy ones and the hard ones. You may have one that leaves and you can't get him to come home, but it is your duty to try.