The Christmas Story in One Verse

As one who sometimes struggles with assurance of his own salvation, I find great comfort in the fact that I love God’s Word and that love is one sign that salvation is true in your life. I take it literally, except when the nuances of language clearly delineate it as speaking in metaphors and symbols. I believe it is true in its entirety, rejecting any ideas of the world that the stories are myths and fables. I believe it speaks with the full authority of God Himself, having been written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe it is sufficient in itself and that it provides all the knowledge and wisdom of how to live this life, that it does not need man’s help in instructing us about the human heart, soul, and spirit.  I also believe it is a treasure trove of truth that in this life we will never exhaust its fruit and that it must be mined like a mine of precious jewels. These are but a sampling of why I love God’s Word.

Yesterday, being Sunday, was yet another opportunity to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ to hear it preached. And it was one of those sermons I always love. It was sermon that our pastor preached on one passage, one specific verse, and I am always fascinated by these sermons because they always show the depth of the scriptures, that you can spend forty-five minutes expositing and drawing out so much with just one verse.

Being the Sunday before Christmas, it was a Christmas message. Pastor Micah went a different direction than others have in the past. He chose this one verse.

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Not the typical scripture for preaching the Christmas story, yet it really does capture the essence of Christmas and why it’s important.

Is there a more accurate statement that describes what happened on the day Jesus was born? The first chapter of John is a vital one because in it we find the doctrine of the deity of Christ. Jesus is the Word. Because He is the Word, we know He is eternal. Because He is eternal, we can know that the truth of His deity is true. Because He is God, then the Gospel makes sense. Christmas is about God coming down to earth and doing so as a man so that He could do what we cannot; live a perfect and sinless life. This made Jesus the one and only possible sacrifice for sin. This is why He is called the lamb of God.

Jesus came down to us and when He came as a babe in a manger, it was so much more than just that part of the story. He came as this verse says, full of grace and full of truth. Both are equally important in our lives. The truth of His sinless nature and why He came must not be allowed to pass by us. We are not like Jesus. We are the opposite. He came as a sinless man; we are sin-filled. Because he came as truth we are revealed as lost sinners and as those who cannot save ourselves. But because He also came full of grace, we have hope. When we receive the Christmas story as it is in truth, we can receive His gift; the gift of salvation and rebirth into His kingdom.

The depths of theology that one can dig into out of this verse are vast and deep. They tell the real story of Christmas. I suggest each of you take that journey. Find out for yourselves the wonders of the Christmas story by committing to a life-long journey that looks deeply into the joy of salvation through the reading and the study of God’s Word. Find a church in which the leadership is committed to making disciples through the saving and transformative power of God’s Word.

There is a gift for you this Christmas. Receive that gift. The gift of Jesus. The Word, that became flesh. The Word that dwelt among us. See the glory of this Jesus. Hear the truth He brought. Receive the grace he offers. He is full of grace and of truth. We need both.

This is the story of Christmas. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Merry Christmas

Is Jesus Your King?

One of the greatest stumbling blocks in the lives of the American Christian is found in the concept of Kings and Kingdoms. America was founded on rebellion, particularly rebellion against the king. Yet, to call ourselves Christians, demands that we relinquish our prideful desire to be independent and to humble ourselves in submission to a king, that king being Jesus.

We had a guest preacher come to our church yesterday and preach on Psalm 2. Take a moment and read that Psalm.

Psalm 2:1-12
 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,  "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.  Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,  "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."  "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"  Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

You might want to read that through several times because it runs quite contrary to the typical description we often hear preachers use in describing Jesus. And there is no question that what we are reading here in this psalm is a pre-incarnation picture of Jesus.

As we heard yesterday in our sermon, Jesus is not your “buddy”, He is your King. That Jesus loves you is a wonderful truth, and in His work on the cross we have been adopted into God’s family. But we have far too often made Jesus out to just be someone we can treat like we do our best friend. Yes, we have been adopted into His family and we can have an intimate relationship with Him now, but we can never lose sight of who He is and Psalm 2 is a stark reminder of the dangers of not humbling ourselves in reverent submission to His Kingship.

Look at a few quick points we hear from the psalmist.

Verses 1-3 tell us that the world’s leaders plot against God and call on us to break away from God and His Word. We are certainly seeing that today. Just look at America and its rejection of God’s moral law. And the people are more eager that ever in our history to change laws that give approval to things that God and His Word call sin.

But listen to what God’s Word in this Psalm says about those who plot against Him.

Psalm 2:4
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

As they think they are breaking free from God’s sovereignty and power, God is laughing at them.

The day is coming when the world leaders and those who follow them, are going to hear from God.

Psalm 2:5
 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury…

Jesus came the first time with salvation, not to judge the world, but to warn us that we must repent and follow Him. But the second time He comes, and oh yes, He is coming, He will come to judge. He will be coming with wrath.

Psalm 2:7-9
 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

God has given His Son, Jesus, the nations. And to those who have sought to be free of God’s fetters and cords, Jesus will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware.

That ought to change how we see Jesus and how we preach to the lost. There is a judgment coming to those who refuse to bow before the King.

What do we do? What do we say to them?

Psalm 2:10-12
 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

We must warn them of the imminent danger of the return of Christ. We must “Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son.”

As far those who are willing to place themselves under a King, the sovereign King of Kings? How blessed are we, for we have our refuge in Him.

This is serious business. There are only two choices in this life. Have Satan be your king and follow him. Or let Christ be your King and submit yourself to His Kingdom.

Be careful what you choose.

The bad news: His wrath may soon be kindled.

The good news: How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

I pray you take refuge in the King.

The Obedience of Faith

I began studying the letter Paul wrote the Colossian Church yesterday. Though my first reading and subsequent study, dealt only with the first eight verses, which would be considered merely the greeting of the letter, I have already learned something new and vital to my understanding of the life of a Christian in respect to faith.

My newfound knowledge came in the area of the word faith.  In verse three, Paul is telling the Colossians how he thanks God for them, whenever he prays for them. He then explains why he thanks God for them, saying in verse four, it is “because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.”

In my study I learned that the Greek word used for faith is pistis, which is derived from the Greek word peithō. A deeper study of the Greek word peithō tells us that one of the meanings it carries is to obey. So, when we define faith, we find that it involves a belief that the object of our faith is something that we can have so much confidence in, that we are compelled to obey its source. And what is the primary source of our faith? It is Jesus who we place our faith in. Thus, our faith, as defined in the scriptures, demands our obedience to the object of our faith. In simple terms, we are to have such a strong confidence in Jesus, that we are led to believe that what He says to us, is true and we can rest confidently in obedience to Him. We are to obey what Jesus has said to us.

The very reason that Paul opens his letter by telling the church at Colossae that he thanks God for them, is because they are obedient to Christ’s call on their lives and that is demonstrated to all by their love for each other. Remember that in the New Testament, every single Christian is called a saint. When Paul says they love the saints, he is speaking of the love they have for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Every single person who has entered into the family of God by their faith in Jesus, is called to love their fellow saints in the faith. 1 John 3:14 gives us the litmus test for true faith in Christ saying that “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”

If we do not love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then our profession of faith is a farce and a lie. Unless that love exists, we are not Christians. This confirms the idea of faith demanding obedience to Jesus.

As I pondered this thought over the course of my day, the Holy Spirit began to work on me. By evening I had moved on to other thoughts and had as usual, went back to the everyday things of life. But at 3:00 a.m. this morning, I woke up with a bit of a headache. As someone who stumbles through with the struggles of what the shrinks call bi-polar manic depression, I often cannot sleep. What happens is my brain won’t turn off. It’s sort of a sensory overload, I guess, and it can be quite frustrating, as it just becomes impossible to rest.

So, here I am awake in the early hours of the morning. But rather than fight the battle to go back to sleep, this morning I could hear that quiet voice of God speaking. First of all, I took a few minutes in prayer just to praise and thank God for the blessings of my life. Then I simply let God speak and what I am hearing this morning is Jesus preaching the sermon we all know and call the Sermon on the Mount. As the Holy Spirit brought that sermon back to my mind, I began to ask myself questions. Questions that center on my faith. This morning I am sharing those questions with those of you reading this. The questions are to be answered in the context of faith, meaning that I am to obey my Lord, Jesus, for that is what saying I have placed my faith in Him means. It means I trust Him so much that I am willing to do the things He calls me to do. My prayer for each of you is that you will take some time to open your Bible and answer some of these questions in your own heart.

For me, this morning, my questions come straight from what we call the Beatitudes.

Am I poor in spirit? Do I mourn? Am I gentle? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Am I merciful? Am I pure in heart? Am I a peacemaker? Have I been persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Have people insulted and persecuted me, saying false, evil things against me because of Jesus?

Those are powerful questions that honestly, bring strong conviction to my heart. I don’t think I can say yes to most of those questions, so in them I have a lot of soul searching to do.

The reward for living the life that Jesus describes there, which goes completely counter to the culture we live in, is that we will be blessed. Blessed here brings the connotation of happiness. Look at the rewards of such a life.

Matthew 5:3-12
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”

Even in the early morning, when my eyes are fuzzy and my brain tired, I can see clearly the power and blessings of an obedient life of faith.

How about you?

I hope and pray your faith and my faith will reveal itself to each other and, to the unsaved world, so that Christ will be glorified, and His love will be on display for all to see.

I’m tired now. But having spent time this morning in God’s Word, causes me to simply rest in Jesus. I hope you also will do the same.

  

Looking For Unity In the Midst of a Self Culture

We’ve all heard the expression, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Honestly, all of us have felt that way before. It seems our fallen, human nature, works hard on us to never be satisfied with what we have, who we are, and how others perceive us. It is precisely this attitude that leads us all down the path of discontentment. It is what robs us of joy and makes true happiness seem nothing more than a pipe dream.

It is this attitude of discontent that fights against the truth of the scriptures. We don’t want what we have, we want what we don’t have, we want what God has said no to. The Bible develops this theme in the very beginning. It is the essence of the sin and the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve lived a place where there was no death, no sickness. They had everything they could ever desire. Even work was without trouble. The very name Eden is defined in the dictionary as “a state of perfect happiness or bliss” and as “paradise”. Who wouldn’t want to live in Eden? Who wouldn’t be content with that.

But then comes the “but” in the story. Genesis 2:16-17 tells us that “the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

And there it is. Everything here is yours, you’re free to eat of it all, oh wait, except this one tree. Leave it alone, God tells them. He even warned them that eating of that one tree would cause death. Yet, there it is; discontentment. In spite of all the good things they had, they wanted the one thing they weren’t supposed to have. And rebellion was born in the heart of man. They had perfect bliss. But it wasn’t enough, they wanted more. They wanted what God said no to.

Nothing has changed since that time. God has blessed us with so much and yet it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough because God has also given us free will to choose and we still use that free will to choose what He has said not to choose. We want we God has told us will bring pain, sorrow, and even death.

God blessed us with life and made us, both male and female. Now we want to decide that we want to choose our sexual identity. God blessed us with sex, not only as a means to fill the earth with children, but He made it pleasurable and the source of beautiful intimacy. But He told us it is to be enjoyed in the context of marriage and to be performed only in the commitment of one man and one woman. But we want to have sex with other people. We want other men’s wives and we want it with anyone we choose, without the lifetime commitment of marriage. We want to be able to get married but if we tire of our spouse, make them disposable, just like everything else we consume. We want to have sex free of the responsibility that it may result in children, so we legalize abortion and murder our own off-spring. We want to have sex with our own sex. We want everything God has told us can’t have, we are not content with the beauty of what He has given us.

Recently, a prominent pastor/teacher, John MacArthur, has come under fire for condemning the idea of women being pastors. In the past week I have read the words of many who are commenting on this topic, and the church is certainly divided on this doctrine. Certainly Dr. MacArthur came across harsh in how he stated the error of allowing women to be pastors, but that is irrelevant to the truth that the church needs to stand firm on the scriptures in this, as it should do in all issues on which scripture speaks.

Maybe some of you interpret scripture differently and believe in your heart that women should be allowed to pastor churches. I would disagree and honestly, I have tried to consider the arguments I have seen in support of this issue for women pastors and I just cannot find that to be justified as I look at the entirety of scripture.

As I started out in this writing, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t another case of the sinful nature we possess to have what God has said no to. It is hard to argue that God did not make men and women vastly different. And scripture seems to stress that men and women, even individuals within the binary gender creation that God has created us in, have different roles. But those roles are, in no way, to be seen as one being better than the other. Open up 1 Corinthians 12 and we see that the church is a body and that body is made of many parts. Not one single part is more important than the other. The body cannot function properly unless each part works in conjunction with each other. Yet, this also means that each part has a specific function and that part needs to operate within its own Biblical sphere.

So, I suggest that maybe women and men ought to find unity in the fact that there are certain roles God calls us to and if we rebel against that, we are hurting, not helping the body of Christ. We cannot interpret nor properly apply scripture from the tainted and sinful viewpoint of the human flesh, for it has, since the very creation of man, wanted what God has said no to. We have to seek desperately the teaching of the Holy Spirit as we develop our doctrine.

Ladies, you are important to God, to the church, to your family, and to the world. Vitally important. We men need you. Other women need you. God made you women for a reason and be careful that you don’t put your wants, above His.

This culture, by the feminist movement, has told you that being a wife, a mom, and all the other things women do that men really aren’t very good at, have little or no value. They have attacked your self-worth. And it has even permeated the church. We men, well we have failed you. We have failed to make you feel like the queens you are. But the value of women is beyond my ability to express. The Bible is filled with examples of how important women are to the church.

The church, like the culture, is at a crossroads. We need to repent, all of us, and get back to the place God calls us to be. We need to get back to putting God first, not our feelings or our desires, for they will take us into rebellion against God.

Again, I am not posting this to start a debate. I am posting it to beg all of us to look deeply into the heart of God and turn back to His way. Even if His way, is not what we want.

Let us at least join together in prayer for God to help us to be united, with one mind, His mind.

1 Corinthians 2:16

“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

God bless all of you.

3 Things To Do When Waiting On God

So much as occurred in the metropolitan areas of where I live lately, that it’s easy to get into a state of despair over where our culture is headed. Murder just seems to be a regular occurrence right now. Last week, a brother in Christ and a good friend lost his son while serving in his duties as a state trooper. The news in St. Louis continues to report children being shot and killed. Often it is mere children doing the killing. Nationally there is a continuous battle of those who support our president and those who don’t. Life right now just seems wrong. I pray day and night for God to change this world or for Jesus to just come back and usher in the new heaven and new earth. But until He does, I, we must wait.

At my church we are studying the Book of Acts, which is the story of the church and how it came into being. Its author is Luke, the physician who also wrote the Gospel that bears his name. While Luke’s Gospel records the story of Jesus and his life before and up to His ascension back into heaven, Acts begins at the ascension of Jesus and then tells the story of the church and its work to take the Gospel out into the world.

Chapter one of Luke finds the disciples in a very difficult place. They have just watched their leader, not just any leader, but the Son of God, the great Immanuel, God himself, ascend into the sky. They are left leaderless. But before He left Jesus gave them instructions.

Acts 1:4-5
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

They were told to wait. They were told to wait for what the Father has promised them. They were told they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Wait? How do like waiting? If you are anything like me, waiting has never been an easy thing. Waiting is hard. Remember when you were a child and there were presents under the Christmas tree with your name on them? But the response from mom and dad when you asked if you could open them was, no, you can’t open them until Christmas morning. So, you had to wait. But now as adults, as parents, grandparents, as employees, and even as citizens of a society that appears to be falling apart, we are often waiting on God to do what He promised. It’s hard. Especially when what we are waiting for involves those we love.

So, what do we do as we wait upon God?

In Acts 1:12-26, we see what the disciples of Jesus did.

They obeyed Jesus. He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait. So, they did. But they didn’t just brood and worry as they waited.

Acts 1:14
These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

They devoted themselves to prayer. But they prayed together as they unified themselves with each other. The church had yet to be born. Yet, they did what church does. They gathered together and prayed.

Then they did something else.

Acts 1:15-16
At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,  "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

They looked at the scriptures to see what God had commanded them to do and by properly interpreting and applying God’s Word, they also obeyed scripture and followed through on replacing Judas, who had left the twelve to betray Christ.

Acts 1:20
 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’

As they waited, they turned to the scriptures and did what it had prophesied them to do. This is what church is about. Properly interpreting and then understanding how to apply the Word of God so that we know what God wants us to do. And then doing it.

Acts 1:24-26
And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen  to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”  And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

They also prayed about the scriptures and sought God’s sovereign leading in accomplishing what they were to do. That they cast lots to decide who replaced Judas does not mean we do that now. This is the last time we ever see that method of hearing from God again, for we have received the Holy Spirit, which is what they were waiting for and we have the full revelation of scripture to test what the Spirit leads us to and to insure it lines up with God’s Word.

But don’t miss the application we find here in the response of the disciples in Acts, chapter one.

When God has us in a period of waiting on Him to move, we need to do three things.

1.      We need to gather together with other believers in a spirit of prayer that is united and dependent with each other.

2.      Our prayers need to be scripture dependent. We need to pray through God’s Word.

3.      We need to pray in the Holy Spirit, meaning we are dependent on Him to guide our prayers.

It’s so tempting when things get hard and we are struggling to wait on God, to either sit and do nothing or to act impulsively in our own perceived strength and wisdom. Bad idea.

Church is important. But church is more than going to a building on a Sunday morning and just sitting through its program. Church, as we see in the Book of Acts, is God’s people uniting together in prayer and worship, and helping each other grow into obedience to God.

If you are not entrenched within a body of believers committed to Jesus and to being in one accord to unite in prayer and worship, then you must find that today. Go to church and become part of the body. Get into a small group that gathers weekly to encourage and exhort you. Find someone to be your accountability partner who will push you to be more than you are and to grow more like Jesus every day.

Waiting on God is hard. But He hasn’t left us alone. He lives within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He gave us His Word to know who He is and what He promises to do for and to do with us. He gave us the church to put it all together in. Don’t try and isolate yourself from what God has provided for you. Become the church.

God bless all of you.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorrow That Leads to Salvation

There is a teaching out there that I was made aware of in recent months that I had not really heard a preacher or teacher ever speak about. Certainly, many who lay claim to be Christians often seem to be accepting of it, but that’s a different issue, as sometimes Christians are slow in their growth as disciples of Jesus. The idea being put out there is this. Repentance, which does mean a change of direction or of the heart, does not require we change our minds about sin to have salvation. The teaching suggests the only change of heart, the only repentance needed for salvation, is to change your mind about who Jesus is. This is false teaching and this morning as I did my morning Bible study, the text I was in, confirms this.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10
For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—  I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

If you are unfamiliar with the context here, this is Paul responding to the response of the Corinthians when he wrote 1 Corinthians, the letter in which he confronted the sin in their church and their response to it. To better grasp the entirety of this situation, you need to read carefully both First and Second Corinthians. But the point that I want to make today is this; Though we are not saved by any work we do; true salvation experiences result in certain responses. Repentance is a necessary fruit of salvation.

Obviously, as we see happening in the Church of Corinth, Born-Again Believers still sin. They are susceptible to falling into a sinful pattern or situation. But when we do fall into sin and get off the path, it is the responsibility of the church, the pastor, the elders, and even the people, to lovingly confront the one in sin. Paul had done this in First Corinthians. Actually, Paul was more focused on how the church had allowed this sin to go on without action, than he was on the single offender.

We find here in chapter seven of Second Corinthians, Paul’s vindication of the way some responded to his first letter. But the point I am making here is that repentance plays an extremely important role in our salvation experience. It is Paul who is making the point. Listen again to what Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 7:9,  “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.”

It hurt Paul to hurt the people of the church in Corinth. Paul became depressed over the whole situation. Yet, in one of those great nuggets of treasure we find in scripture, Paul reminds us in verse 6 that God “comforts the depressed.”

But how God comforted Paul here was by the repentance of the Corinthians. And it was the very change of heart towards their sin, that changed his sorrow into joy. Why?

2 Corinthians 7:10
 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Paul was in God’s will when he confronted their sin. And though that brought much sorrow, that sorrow had a fruit to come, repentance and that repentance leads to salvation. That’s what the text says, people.

We must stop being afraid to face the difficulties in confronting sin. We must stop trusting in ourselves and our psychological nonsense about not hurting people’s feelings by speaking truth to them.

However, tread carefully in this endeavor. Jesus gave specific instructions on how to do it. Follow His way and be sure it is soaked in pure, Godly love. It’s about restoration, not destruction. Anyone can tear down a building but being part of restoring one that needs repair, well, that is not an easy task. It might even bring sorrow and pain for a season.

2 Corinthians 7:10
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Sin is serious. If we love God, we will hate sin. If we love each other, we will do whatever it takes to be sure we are all on the track of salvation. There is a “sorrow that is according to the will of God.” That sorrow will culminate in joy. There is also sorrow that is worldly and that leads to death.

Don’t listen to me. Open your Bibles and figure out what all this means. It’s important. It’s literally life or death. Eternal life or eternal death.

Chossing the Right Route

Proverbs 16:25
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Most of us Christians are familiar with that verse. When we hear it, we usually think of the unsaved. We look at the people around us and we apply it to them. They don’t want to follow God, believe in Jesus, and accept that He is the only way to get to heaven, so we apply this saying to them and them only. And yes, it does apply. If our faith is true, then all who reject the Gospel, the plan of salvation as laid out in scripture, then they will find themselves outside God’s heavenly Kingdom. They will be eternally damned and live in hell.

But if we were to be honest with ourselves, look hard at the Word of God and use it as the only standard by which we judge ourselves, we might be surprised to find out that far too often, we choose our own paths.

Last Sunday while preaching through the Book of Genesis, our pastor used a very good analogy to describe the way people navigate through life. If you know me well, you know I love analogies.

He was talking about using GPS units. The ones that are independent of your phone. Garmin and TomTom are two of the more well-known units. They stick on your dashboard and you type in a destination and then usually this woman’s voice instructs you with step by step directions. “Turn left at exit 23B.” “Take the third exit at the roundabout.” “Make a U-turn,” she says should you miss her last command. And then theoretically, she guides you to your destination in the most efficient route, getting you where you’re going.

But Pastor Micah mentioned something that many of us do as we use these devices. I used one these GPS units quite often as a repairman for AT&T, traveling the streets of the greater metropolitan St. Louis area. I almost always did this. You see, you don’t have to follow her commands to the letter. If she says to turn left at Telegraph Road, but you know the area, or think you do, better than her, then you can take a different street and she will then say this, “Recalculating.” She will then determine the new path to your destination based on the street you now are on. Sometimes I would do this because I liked the scenery better my way. Other times I wanted to stop at a specific restaurant to eat at. In other words, I simply liked my way better than hers. Even though most of the time, the computer chip in the GPS knew that its directions were shorter or faster, it was my belief that I knew the direction I was going would please me more than the lady speaking through its speaker.

That is fine for getting from point a to point b. But the truth is, most of this are doing this with God. When Jesus ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent us His Holy Spirit to live in us and to be our guide. John 16:13 tells us that
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” All truth. This is our Spiritual GPS unit; which God has placed within the heart of ALL believers.

But what we do is we read our Bibles, our pastors preach its truth to us, and the Holy Spirit says this is the way, and then we say “Yea, but…” Then we go the way we want and expect God to just recalculate the route our way. And then we wonder why we have trouble, sickness, and sorrow in our hearts. Sometimes we even blame God. “Why didn’t you recalculate that little change I made and then get me to my destination without the pain?” we ask God.

When we venture off the route and make a left instead of a right, because we want the pleasures on that street, be they sexual, financial, relationships or whatever, God allows us to experience the difficulty that he knew that road would bring after the pleasures of our sin had passed. The road I took to eat at Bandanas, might have at its end a traffic jam. Or maybe a tractor trailer waiting to plow me over at the next stoplight. He is trying to grow us and to teach us that he is God, He is sovereign, and He knows what is best for us.

Oh. the pain and sorrows we might have avoided had we just followed the way He set out for us as written in the Bible and confirmed by the Holy Spirit. This the cost of free will we all clamor for so loudly. The truth is that usually we use our free will to make sinful and/or poor decisions that God had already warned us of.

The good news for Christians is that God has provided a recalculated route for us in the work of Jesus and by His mercy and grace He will get us home to heaven. He made this promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

But following our own way at any stage of our journey towards God is never the best option. He is the perfect GPS. Follow Him. If He says turn left, then do it.

Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 30:1-5
 “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the LORD. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.  For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade.  But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.  For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes, all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.”

This is what happens when you try and direct your own way. But listen,

Isaiah 30:18-22
 So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.  O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.  Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.  Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.  Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!”

The result?

Isaiah 30:23
Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock.

When we follow our way, even turning just a little to the left or right of His way, we lose the blessings, but when we turn to Him, “He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.  Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.  Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.”

God isn’t recalculating anything, but He will show the way back and the only way, His.

We get to choose. His way? Or ours? Remember this, There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Choose wisely.