Be Careful Who You Get Advice From

Since we live in a day where so many Christians are seeking advice from pastors, counsellors, books, medication, etc., etc., is there a way we can make sure that what we are seeking is the right kind of advice that lines up with scripture. After all, if our desire is to get the help we need, then we should not just seek out anyone, but the right one who gives counsel grounded in truth. While reading through James 3 this morning I came across some great counsel about counseling. Here it is:

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." - James 3:17

The wisdom that we need and can make a difference for us has to come from above, not from earth. The wisdom from above is saturated with several important things and if the advice we are getting is not characterized by these, then we need to walk away. Here is what James says the wisdom from above is known by:

- Pure

- Gentle

- Open to reason

- full of mercy and good fruits

- impartial

- sincere

Though I have never been in a counseling class, I wonder if this is what is taught to those who are studying it. The reality is that the only way we can give or get advice like that is to be totally immersed in the truth of God. The working out and expression of wisdom from above is characterized by those 6 things. We should not sit under any instruction for our life that is not known for pure, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

Finishing Well...I Never Thought I Would...

Have you ever said about an area or issue of your life, I never thought I would have done... (fill in blank).  We most likely all have and the real question is, how did we get to a place we said we would never arrive at?  The life of Solomon speaks to this reality.  

1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

This is quite a long way from the day where he asked God for wisdom so that he could govern God's people well in regard to what is good and evil (1 Kings 3:3-9).  What brought about this change for Solomon?  Here are some thoughts:  1.  Live with a vision for the last day of our life - "When he was old".  If we do not live with a vision of finishing well, we will not make all the right decisions along the way to get there.  2.  Who we Surround ourselves with can make all the difference- "his wives turned his heart after other gods".  It does not appear that Solomon surrounded himself with men who would keep him living in the right way.  

It is here where it all fell apart for Solomon.  The road to compromise will always lead to a cliff and as crazy as it may seem, some are willing to step off the cliff for the thrill of whatever it is.  It never ends up well either. This I have found to be true in my life and in the lives of others:

What we tolerate - We eventually will approve of - then, ultimately we will participate in   

When we leave God out of our lives we will be capable of doing anything, even that which we never thought we would do.  Solomon's prayer to God early on was to govern people with an eye on what is good an evil and in his old age he threw all of this out the window.  In his old age he allowed that which was evil to be established throughout Israel as he allowed the worship of Chemosh and Molech.

So, what is the answer to finishing well?  It lies in worship and the nearness of God.  We are capable of anything if we do not live in the nearness of God.  Let us draw near today and stay there, live there, breath there and die there.  That is how we can finish well.

Fresh Thoughts from a Pro Life Worldview

Here are some thoughts from Kathy Ireland about being Pro-life:  (found this on Fox News)

"My entire life I was pro-choice — who was I to tell another woman what she could or couldn’t do with her body? But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I doveinto the medical books, I dove into science," Ireland told Tarts while promoting her insightful new book "Real Solutions for Busy Mom: Your Guide to Success and Sanity."

"What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there, the DNA is determined, the blood type is determined, the sex is determined, the unique set of fingerprints that nobody has had or ever will have is already there."

However Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life.

"I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time," Ireland argued. "I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue."

Ireland also asserted that she believes "no justification is adequate" (for an abortion) unless another the mother's life is in danger.

"In that instant, your intention is not to kill but to save the life of another. If we’re about to demolish a building we make absolute certain there are no human beings in there before we take a wrecking ball to it, but the unborn doesn’t have a voice so it's up to us to speak for them," she added passionately. "If I see someone abusing a child I am going to stand up against that, and that’s how I feel about abortion. Women are not given all the facts, they’re told it is a harmless procedure and now it has turned into such a political football."

"You have to figure out your own values and why you have them. People are going to try and push and pull at your convictions, so you have to have boundaries and put them in place," she said.

Marketing Strategy of Jesus

In a day when so much focus is placed on how we market our local church, how should we best do that?  Mailers, radio, TV, door hangers, billboards, etc.  have become the norm for getting the word out.  They work to reach a some and are effective for name recognition, but can also be expensive and not the best use of funds.  There is a strategy that Jesus has for the church and it does not require money, but authenticity and an incarnational life.  

In John 13:34-35 Jesus says these words, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another".  

Jesus issues a command, not something that is optional in regard to our relationship with one another.  First we need to see how he loved: 1.  Life investment in them  2.  Loved them in spite of their issues 3. Ultimately he laid his life down in death. --- That is how we should love one another.

If we love and live like him, "all people will know that you are my disciples".  It will be clear to our communities that we belong to Christ when we love one another like he loved.  On the flip side:

When we don't love like he did, people will be confused about who we are and who God is.

This is where we are today - the culture don't get who we are and it is not because we don't have nice buildings, programs, or marketing strategies, but because we have not loved one another the way we have been commanded.

The clearest evidence we are his has nothing to do with buildings, denominations, location, music style, age or race makeup, economics.  This is where much of our focus goes and it is not the answer to effectively making it clear who we are as believers and who  God is.

The local church should be the most loving place in town, not the local bar or other secular organizations.  

The greatest challenge for the local church right now is to become the most loving place in town. 

Are we up to this?

Something From the Past

This week we went to Waco to see my parents for a couple of days.  We had a great time and I was finally able to get all of my old files, tucked away in storage.  Rummaging through one of the files I came across a quote I had once read from Abraham Lincoln.  Enjoy and ponder the significance of his words:

"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, who owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by a history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.  The awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become to self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.  We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has grown, but we have forgotten God."

Abraham Lincoln, April 30, 1863 - on a day he designated as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

Navigating Well in These Times

Society has shifted and sadly, in turn, so has the church.  The growing influence of secularism is taking such a toll upon our nation and barring any revival, it is going to get worse.  In some ways, we have gotten to this place because Christian leaders have not navigated the changing landscape well.  Evidence of navigating this landscape well is not found in how big one grows a church or ministry, but rather in how well we grow disciples who authentically walk with God.  The crisis we face now is whether or not we will lead in such a way that keeps people grounded firmly in the truth, regardless of the shifting of our society.  How does one do this?  Here is what Paul said to  Timothy:

¹In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ²Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³For the time will come when men 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. ⁴They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Could the reality of so many walking away from the faith and not persevering stem from our failure to preach the Word in every season?  Since we live in a day where people want to be told what they want to hear, we must "keep our head in all situations, endure hardship, and do whatever it takes to fulfill our ministry".  This is no easy task today, especially when people do not want sound doctrine.  Doctrine means embracing truth and postmodernism says there is no real truth but our own.  Since Jesus is the truth, it is he who must remain the center of all we do.  We must embrace our calling to do all of our duties of our ministry.

Security in the Aloneness of Preaching the Word

I have been spending time reading through the letters from Paul to Timothy.  There are no better books for pastors than the  Timothy letters.  For me, Pastoring again has led to want to make sure that I am fulfilling the Biblical mandate of the calling. There have been times after I have preached or during a sermon where I felt alone in my embracing and communication of truth.  There is an aloneness in preaching that can come when you point out the faulty thinking and practices of American evangelicalism or the sin nature that we can all embrace. Not many understand the enormity of calling the church to be only biblical in its functions and in these days I am feeling the weight of my call.  It wakes me up in the middle of the night to pray, forces me to my knees, and moves me to seek Him more in more in the Holy Writ.  Here is what Paul said to  Timothy in the 2nd Letter:

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.  For the time is coming when people will not  endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

The most important thing for me in my calling is to preach the word, when it is popular and when it is not.  It is what will chart the right course for the church.  This is no easy thing, but I would not want any other calling.  In a day where church can be about giving people what they want to hear, I am determined more than ever to proclaim Christ as central to everything and fulfill my ministry.

I have found a security in the presence of God and  Christ Jesus when I am fulfilling my calling to speak the truth people may or may not want to hear.  There is a security in the aloneness of preaching the word when the desire is to say what God wants said regardless of what itching ears long for.  It is the sober-minded who can navigate a body of believers to embrace fully the whole counsel of God and stay away from myths. That is my prayer for my life.