Slipping Away

There is a story , I wish I could remember form which book or sermon I heard it from , about a Chinese Emperor sending out spies to see what type of music and writings were being performed to get a feel for the morality of the people. The more sensual and debased pointed to a culture in deep moral decline.

Having grown up in the 60's and 70' mainly , I still recall TV ,music and movies being fairly tame. Yes you had swearing and some sexual situations in movies, but in general ,it was pretty tame.  Plus there was a clear distinction between good and evil . Even movies like Jaws or The Omen seem pretty lame to the new kids out there watching films.TV didn't start getting more risqué till the late 70's . Even then I remember pretty strict guidelines for swearing and sex.Even in music , although influenced by the 60's free love movement , still maintained a certain tongue and cheek approach and there were many artist that one could still listen to that didn't go there. 

However since the  80's , if I was a Chinese Emperor sending out spies , I would recoil in horror at what is on TV, in the Theaters, on our MP3's  and now even on our computers . The graphic violence in TV,Music,Movies seems to have exploded within the last 25 years. Unlike Psycho and the infamous shower scene, that shocked people then without really showing much , today the movies need to show every gut wrenching detail. Movies like Hostel,Saw show gore beyond description. Bands like Cannibal Corpse write lyrics not fit to be read .

Then you have sex . Movies , TV and the Internet are filled with pornography at the click of a remote or mouse. Then on TV shows every deviant form of sex is promoted as normal. From living together,to promiscuousness ,to homosexual and  lesbian love being passed off as normal , you have direct and blatant attack of God's given standard of what is healthy sexuality. Man and woman , married in a monogamous relationship.Plus we have had the rise of the bad guy being cheered for. That he is the "good"guy .

Music has become so debased and vulgar that what Elvis did to shock back in the 50's by shaking his hips , looks like a Sesame Street dance . It seems we are heading in a spiral of debauchery .

So what are we to do ? As Christians we are called to be salt and light , helping stop the tide of the depravity around us . But one of the first things we need to do is realize that what we see around us is normal for the natural man . Paul addressed this in Romans when he talked about God handing men and women over to their sins . In a way it is a judgment. God lifting His restraining hand against sin ,and letting the lust of that person take over.

 First  we need to realize that what we see around us is the outworking of the sinful nature. Pagans will be pagans . Second we must be discerning about all that we watch,listen to . I'm not saying that we need to turn only to Christian TV,music or movies (some of it is horrible anyway)but be mindful of the message its sending. I have no problem with art talking of what the real world looks like around me, but does it go well beyond , pushing the boundaries of decency . Is it violence for violence sake, how graphic is the sexual encounters and what is the world view. Does it portray a fallen world honestly or does it push a world view onto us. This is happening huge when it comes to the acceptance of gay relationships. Just turn on your TV.

Jesus interacted with the culture around him. He ate with prostitutes ,liars,thieves(tax collectors). Paul as well quoted from poets of his day . But what we must be is in the world but not of it. We need to show a dying world how the gospel works itself out in what we watch ,listen to and love . This is a tension that can sometimes choke the life from our faith. The world is seductive. We need to be willing to cut off anything that could cause us to stumble.

This world needs the gospel . The life transforming message of the cross of Christ. So let us instead of lamenting and entering our bunkers , what  we need to do is live real lives before the world . Showing how we once were sinners , in love with all that sin could offer. That we placed idols of sex,money,power etc.. and loved them instead of our creator. But God in His mercy and grace , opened the grave to show us our dead rotting sinful selfs in light of His holiness , the wrath that was due us for sin in everlasting hell . Then pointed to that place on Calvary where Jesus took my sin , one who was made sin on my behalf , so that I might be forgiven and given His righteousness. That will transform , that will bring light to the darkness.

So to keep us pure may we trust in Christ and reflect on this passage of scripture to help us remain in the world but not of it .

    [8] Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. [9] What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
(Philippians 4:8-9 ESV)

How Deep by Sovereign Grace Music

As we prepare our hearts to gather for worship , may we rest in the knowledge of God's amazing love.



[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,      

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

  [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:35-39 )

Bring Down The Thunder ......Not !

 Remember the story of Jonah. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh . So he fled in hopes of getting away from God's call to go and preach repentance. Well God used a extreme method , being in the belly of a whale is not my idea of a good time , to get Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah brings God's message , the people repent and what does Jonah do ? He gets angry . God rebukes him for his anger and shows He is a God of mercy.

Even the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of God's patience in the presence of great wickedness. Abraham pleads with God if he can find at first 50 righteous men , then it gets lower and lower. God's mercy is amazing considering the evil within the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the New Testament John and James want to call down judgement against an Samaritan village the would not receive Jesus . But Jesus rebukes them .


[51] When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. [53] But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.  [54] And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” [55] But he turned and rebuked them. [56] And they went on to another village.
(Luke 9:51- 56)

The point is God is full of grace and compassion . He is slow to anger. He takes no delight in the perishing of the wicked . Should our response be the same when we encounter those who are against the gospel .

Over the last couple of years atheism has been reinvigorated with what has become called their own four horsemen. Samuel Harris,Daniel Dennett , Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. They have no real new arguments but with their militant push and flare , have gotten much attention. Hitchens is perhaps the most visible. An excellent journalist and one who has wit,charms and bombast. His bestselling book ,"God is Not Great", received much press. I could quote numerous sayings , but needless to say his disdain towards Christianity is well documented. He is a clear enemy of the gospel.

Just little over a month ago , he revealed he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer . Needless to say , it is a very nasty type with a very low 5 year survival rate. To say there have been a few Jonah ,John and James in the ,"I'm a Stupid Fundy" ,announcing this is as a judgement of God against his blasphemies would be an understatement, they are from the nut wing groups and although vocal, they are a small minority. Is it  from God , yes . God is sovereign over all . Is it a judgement , yes in the sense we all are under the curse of sin and death. We know the wages of sin is death. But before we are so condemning ,  we were sinners just as hell bound , just as guilty.

So understanding grace , should we not extend that same grace to Hitchens in his time of need . Listen to the words of Christ.

[43] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
[44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
(Matthew 5:43-44)


        [35] But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be         great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. [36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
(Luke 6:35-36)

What we should do is love him , showing him the truth  of Christ by praying for him . Pray the Holy Spirit will awaken his dead heart to the light of Jesus Christ . That the same God he does not believe exist but hates at the same time , extends grace and mercy . He is an interesting man and in some ways reminds me of someone who would be very interesting having a pint of ale with .

So may the Lord Jesus Christ make Himself known to Hitchens and bring him to the same repentance of sin that the city of Nineveh experienced and I have. All for God's glory.

Its Not About Winning

Every Christian is called to be a witness . A witness of course in the courts would be called to give testimony to what they saw pertaining to the case on the docket . It could be an expert like a CSI or a person who is privy to information.  As a believer we are called to the task of bearing witness to the truth concerning Jesus Christ. No one is exempt from this task . The world is, as we once were , hostile to God . It hates Jesus Christ . Therefore we are called to the task to bear witness to God's truth found only in Christ . 

One thing however, it is not about winning the argument. Lets face the truth , when we start to be more vocal about our faith , opposition will come. Sometimes the dialogue can be very respectful but more and more it is not. In  fact it can become very heated. Now I'm not saying one needs to be weak and speak like a wimp. Passion is great but it most never get into a insult session . If the conversation begins to spiral out of control or a trade off of points , it is time to end it . Try always to bring it back to Jesus Christ and  the cross.

I cannot say that I have been great at keeping my emotions in check .I have said things and realize that at times it was not about witnessing and sharing the gospel, but about winning the argument . That is when it can get quickly out of control. We honor God by witnessing in a manor that glorifies Him .

 1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect...

May this passage always frame our chance to share the gospel. The focus needs to be on Jesus , why He came ,what He did and the hope of eternal life .Then it most be done with gentleness and respect. The best way to not go off the deep end is to know the gospel. You can't be expected to know every objection but you can at the very least have a general defense.Stay on focus . Ask Questions as well to show the weakness of the positions they may hold.

Be honest and staright forward and let God be God. Realize that you can't save no one . Your points can't convince anyone . But the Holy Spirit can take the word and open a dead heart. All we are called to do is bear witness of the hope within us .

Lastly , do not sugar coat the gospel . The message of the cross is offensive . Just as we were once a unrepentant sinner , at war with God , so are they . If they hated our Lord , then even that little gray haired lady can become just as hateful or more so , then that long haired ,Tattooed youngster . Never make assumptions . An unrepentant sinner come in all shapes,colors and sizes . So don't worry about winning but bearing witness to God's amazing grace . What an honor it is .

Functional Fools

     Psalm 14:1
                    The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”.......
                  

Today I was watching a little bit of Richard Dawkins , the radical atheist. But it caused me to think ,in reality most people are functional atheist. People go about the day without any real thought of God. They may say they believe in God but really show no outward sign of that reality.

In fact most often from my observations God and Jesus Christ become a swear word than any type of praise or worship. This goes for the poor to the rich . To the uneducated, to those with degrees. They are all equally functional fools. That is until disease or death comes calling and then , watch the Lord speak come flying. Oh Lord help me through or the classic , I know he/she is in a better place . Really?

Only the hardest of hearts totally reject God in times of trouble. The saying there are no atheist in a foxhole is mostly true . But in general most live day in day out without any real thought of God.

Christians can live as a fools as well. Often we frame our week with Sunday and our trip to a church but we should be living our lives Corem Deo , before the face of God. If we live each day without thinking,reading and praying , how are we any different.

May we show a dying world what its like to live before the face of God , with the hope of Christ anchoring our lives .

Wake Up Sleeper

"Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." 
— C.S. Lewis

This quote from Lewis echoes the idea that it is better to go into the house of the mourning than one of mirth or gladness.

[2] It is better to go to the house of mourning
      than to go to the house of feasting,
      for this is the end of all mankind,
      and the living will lay it to heart.
 (Ecclesiastes 7:2 ESV)

How often do we really have what is important laid out before us when times are full of success,money and prestige. When things are going well ,we tend to not think of "bad" things. In fact there is a whole power of positive thinking movement still having sway over people . The sad thing it is even present in the Church.


However when we are faced with suffering or the reality that no matter how positive we try to make ourselves , death is the end of us all , the grave is the great equalizer. As Lewis points out , pain awakes a sleeper to begin to look at the bigger picture . It is then that one may start to ask what is life about,why are we here and is there a God or life after death.

Plus it also strips away all the dross of life . What we think is vital will become trivial. When it all can be stripped away , the real mirror to our souls is revealed.

In the western  world where we hide from, as much as we can,  pain,suffering and death , we cannot ultimately dodge it. We will face it . The question is ? Do you hear God waking you from your slumber and your need of a Saviour.

Even on the Bad Days

Worship of the Lord is something we are commanded to do . It is not an option. The fact that God endows us with breath , life and all we have should be enough to want to spend time worshiping the God of all creation. The  command to have no other gods except the one true God , points to this fact. Go through the Bible and read about the people of God offering worship. It is something that should be as natural as breathing.

Now I attend a church , to remain nameless , that has a very loose atmosphere. We have no real call to worship, little public reading of scripture and the service is often more seeker friendly , than God centered . The music is modern praise and worship , with very few hymns. The sermons are hit and miss for me  . Often focusing on sermon series , with exhortations to live like Jesus . I would prefer more straight exposition.

It is very frustrating at times because I would prefer a more structured service that would promote a more holy and reverent  view of God we worship. The issue is not the style of music. Sovereign Grace Music and artist like Matthew Smith have shown that you can use electric guitars,drums and still maintain solid worship songs with depth in lyrics .So why do I keep going?

First because it is still good to gather with the saints to worship. Second , we are not to forsake the assembling together . Third , we are commanded to partake the Lord's supper till He comes again. Fourth , even if the sermons are not expository masterpieces , it is still good to hear the word preached. Fifth , even the Lord commended the faithful saints in weak churches ( read about the Churches in Revelation). Sixth , lone ranger Christianity is a self made myth to hide away in your own delusions , and guess what , your not perfect so get over yourself. Seventh, we are to honor those put into places of leadership . I truly like and respect our Pastors . I may not see eye to eye theologically , but see their heart to serve and love of the Lord.

But the most important is that the Church is established through the blood of the lamb , Jesus Christ. It is the place were redeemed sinners , gather and witness to a dying world each Sunday ,the life,death and resurrection of the Son of God.  It maybe weak, it may be faulty to human eyes and even foolish , but it is the bride of Christ . Who am I not to love her . For if Jesus can love me , then I can love my Church . We  one in that we are made holy not of ourselves  , but by His blood.