Note: Although the Bible is one book, it contains sixty-six documents all with various stories, personalities, places and teachings. None of which contradicts one another. However, if you were asked: “What is the central theme of the bible from Genesis to Revelation?” How would you respond? This short article by Tullian is amazingly simple over what some have made overly complex. Enjoy!
What the Bible Is Not
Tullian Tchividjian
Pastor and Author
Contrary to what many Christians have concluded, the Bible does not tell two stories: the story of Israel in the OT and the story of the church in the NT. No, the Bible tells one story and points to one figure: it tells the story of how God rescues a broken world and points to Christ who accomplishes this.
In the OT God revealed himself through types and shadows, through promises and prophecies. In the NT God reveals himself in Christ who is the substance of every shadow and the fulfillment of every promise and prophecy. In other words, the OT predicts God's rescuer; the NT presents God's rescuer. Therefore, the whole Bible-both the Old and New Testament-is all about God's rescuer.
Even though it's a children's Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible is, in my opinion, one of the best resources available to help both children and adults see the Jesus-centered story line of the Bible.
In the Introduction of that book, author Sally Lloyd-Jones rightly explains what the Bible is not before she beautifully explains what the Bible is. She writes:
Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn't do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It's about God and what he has done.
Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you'll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren't heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose), they get afraid and run away. At times, they're downright mean.
No, the Bible isn't a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It's a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne-everything-to rescues the ones he loves. It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!
You see, the best thing about this Story is-it's true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling on Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.
It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in the puzzle-the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.
My hope and prayer for all is that we would come to a bigger, better, deeper, and brighter understanding of this remarkable Story and its infallible Hero!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
The World: Love It or Hate It?
Note: Here is a short but interesting article on the need to make a distinction on the word, "world" used in the bible. We live in the world, we are part of the world, yet God gives to us some definite guidelines to follow: "Love the world, hate the world, go into the world, separate yourself from the world." Confused? You need not be. Read on. Enjoy!
Tullian Tchividjian
Pastor and Author
Have you ever wondered why the Bible seems to be guilty of double-talk when speaking of "the world"? John 3:16 tells us that God the Father loves the world so much that he sent God the Son to fix it. But we're told in 1 John 2:15‑17 not to love the world, and James tells us that "a friend of the world" is "an enemy of God" (James 4:4). We have Paul telling us in 2 Corinthians 6:17 to be separate from the world and to "go out from" unbelievers, while Jesus, in Mark 16:15 commands his disciples to "go into all the world."
What's going on? Is the world good or bad? Are we to love it or hate it? Enter it or exit it?
The answer: it all depends on which sense of the word world you mean.
As scholars point out, the word world has three basic meanings in the Bible. It can refer to (1) the created order, (2) the human community, and (3) the sinful ways of humanity, or cultural godlessness. It's this third meaning, for instance, that Paul identifies when he tells us, "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2). He's not telling us to avoid the created order or other human beings. It's actually worldliness that Paul is warning against.
Furthermore, when it comes to the world, it's necessary to differentiate between "structure" and "direction." It's the difference between what there is and how we use what there is. The world as structure refers to the people (such as my next-door neighbor), places (such as Miami), and things (such as art or music) of the created order. "Direction" refers to the ethical use or misuse of God's created goods. As the Bible teaches, God created all things good (structure). But our sin has broken and corrupted every good thing God created, "directing" it away from him. Everything in the created order (every person, place, and thing) has been twisted out of shape by our sin.
Sex, for instance, is a structural good that God has built into his creation, while sex outside marriage is an ethical misuse of that good. Or, to take an example one of my friends uses, the storytelling ability of movies is a structural good that's a part of God's created order (God himself is a storyteller). But the illicit sex, perverse humor, and shallow story lines found in many movies represent an ethical misuse of that created good. Therefore, while God loves the structure of the world (creation), he hates its sinful direction (fall), though he's now in the process of redirecting it back toward himself (redemption).
We are, of course, to follow God's lead in this. We're to love the world's structure (peoples, places, and things) while fighting against the world's sinful direction. Or, as Flannery O'Connor put it, if you are a Christian you "have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle against it."
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Is God Our Cheerleader, or Are We His?
Note: Here is a very good article that will put some perspective on how we try to manage the way we become encouraged. Read for yourself. Enjoy!
Is God Our Cheerleader, or Are We His?
Jay Sampson
I remember some things about the fall of 1987, but none nearly as vividly as our high school football team playing in the state championship. The whole city seemed caught up in the anticipation of what was happening. There was even a coach's quote that made it onto sweatshirts, bumper stickers and business signs: "never, never, never, never, never give up." Sadly, few in the stands wearing the shirts realized that they and the coach were actually quoting Winston Churchill. Nothing could deter our enthusiasm to cheer for our team! "NNNNNGU" was seen all over town.
In the semifinal game, as time grew short and our team found itself behind, the chants from the stands came raining down on the field. "Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up! Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!" Our team rallied to win and advance to the finals. It was all very cathartic for an entire town caught up in the exploits of its players. Those players would later say that hearing the cheers from the stands gave them encouragement to play well, but the truth is neither I nor anyone else sitting in the stands that night had any effect on the outcome of the game. The players had to pull it off. In fact, on the other side of the field was a group of fans equal in size and voice to our side. They cheered just as hard and just as loud - and their team went home defeated. We did all we could, but it was up to the team to pull it off... and they did.
Even though we would go on to lose the state championship, this great memory is replete with human drama and the glorious unknown. It makes for good inspiration. However, it parallels a disturbing trend I've noticed among followers of Christ to take this storyline and its exhilarating mystery and apply it to our spiritual lives. If I may oversimplify, I see two predominant schools of thought regarding how God is active in our spiritual lives. The core of the difference is who is central in the story. We love to be the center of the story and the focal point of God's affection. But when it comes to walking in the Spirit, is God my cheerleader, the one shouting "NNNNNGU" and praising my performance... or am I His? It may seem inconsequential, but what you believe about the roles in this scene has an impact on how the characters relate to each other, as well as how life's day-to-day events unfold.
In a recent devotional, beloved Christian author Max Lucado somewhat gave voice to the "God-as-cheerleader" viewpoint. In an excerpt from his book, Let the Journey Begin, Lucado, seeking to encourage the downtrodden, says:
"God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that's God applauding your steps. Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He'll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up. God is for you. God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If he drove a car, your name would be on his bumper. If there's a tree in heaven, he's carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it says. 'I have written your name on my hand,' he declares (Isa. 49:16)."
Now, obviously Lucado, who also authored a book titled It's Not About Me does not believe that we can find meaning by believing we are the center of the world. However, it sounds like Brother Max believes we can find value by believing that we are the center of God's affection. The logic would go something like this: Life is not about us, life is about God. And GOD is about us, so be encouraged. In this view, God's role in our life is as our biggest fan, perfect parent and consummate cheerleader. He wants your happiness even more than you do and he's cheering for it, so go out and get it!
To be sure, God has poured out His love on His children. He has loved us with an unfathomable love. He has demonstrated His love towards us by sending Jesus as our righteousness and our salvation. But whenever God occupies a grandstand in our lives and not a throne, we err terribly. At times (especially when time grows short and we find ourselves behind) we like to talk about God as our biggest fan. He cheers us on as we walk through life, telling us that we can do it - but ultimately having little to do with the final outcome.
It feels good and right to be the center of the story and the focal point of everyone's attention. When we think of all that God has done in Christ for His children, it is easy to see how we can think that God is solely focused on doing all He can to cheer for us. The problem with that logic comes in what we have to do to God to fit him into a cheerleader uniform.
In a curiously antithetical article, John Piper states the counter-argument, what we'll call the "God-as-cheered" viewpoint, this way:
"God is the one Being in the entire universe for whom self-centeredness, or the pursuit of his own glory, is the ultimately loving act. For him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue. When he does all things 'for the praise of his glory,' he preserves for us and offers to us, the only thing in the entire world, which can satisfy our longings. God is for us, and therefore has been, is now and always will be, first, for himself. I urge you not to resent the centrality of God in his own affections, but to experience it as the fountain of your everlasting joy."
He WANTS us to choose him, to follow him, to know that we are special to him but that it is up to him to make things happen, to order our steps. The result of God-in-the-stands, however, has some serious personal and theological effects. It's tough to serve a cheerleader God. If he is in the stands and on the sidelines and at the finish line, then how am I gonna get there? If he carries me only when I am too tired, can I just admit right now that I'm tired? Out here running on my own, I keep going in circles. I have no idea where I'm headed. If he picks me up only when I'm too discouraged to fight, can I just admit right now that, if I'm fighting and he's cheering, I'm gonna get handled... and quickly.
I think maybe I'm tempted to put God in the stands when things aren't turning out quite how I'd hoped. If God is cheering but I am the one running, then I can always blame it on me when things go bad - thereby absolving God of any possible egg on His face and paying the price for my own failure. You see the problem there, no? Relegating God to a fail-safe and fall-back will always get you to the same place, failing and falling again and again until you see that it is God who wills and works, God who makes alive, God who remembers based on His own choice, not your ability to perform.
For His own name and glory - God has created, worked, efforted, miracled. Now, needing fans, he has taken, among others, a washed up, tired, slow white kid named Jay and put HIM in the bleachers while placing himself on the throne of the victor. The race is over. The battle is won. The champion is seated on a throne... always has been. And, look at that, he does have a tattoo - only it's on his thigh... and it isn't MY name... it's his - King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16) - and all us tired cheerleaders in the bleachers are going WILD.
In the final analysis it's fair to say that there is something of a "both/and" thing going on here, similar to the quote from that sage Forrest Gump when he said, "Maybe both is happening at the same time." There is a time to know that God is your biggest fan, that he has all your successes and hopes in mind, that he doesn't want you to lick the trash can. Our name is written on his hand, and his greatness is written on his robe and thigh. But it truly seems from both general and special revelation that God has no bigger cheerleader than himself - and he has invited you and I to have a seat in the bleachers and join in the celebration.
Or, as a popular website reminds us these days, God is First. I am Second.
Is God Our Cheerleader, or Are We His?
Jay Sampson
I remember some things about the fall of 1987, but none nearly as vividly as our high school football team playing in the state championship. The whole city seemed caught up in the anticipation of what was happening. There was even a coach's quote that made it onto sweatshirts, bumper stickers and business signs: "never, never, never, never, never give up." Sadly, few in the stands wearing the shirts realized that they and the coach were actually quoting Winston Churchill. Nothing could deter our enthusiasm to cheer for our team! "NNNNNGU" was seen all over town.
In the semifinal game, as time grew short and our team found itself behind, the chants from the stands came raining down on the field. "Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up! Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!" Our team rallied to win and advance to the finals. It was all very cathartic for an entire town caught up in the exploits of its players. Those players would later say that hearing the cheers from the stands gave them encouragement to play well, but the truth is neither I nor anyone else sitting in the stands that night had any effect on the outcome of the game. The players had to pull it off. In fact, on the other side of the field was a group of fans equal in size and voice to our side. They cheered just as hard and just as loud - and their team went home defeated. We did all we could, but it was up to the team to pull it off... and they did.
Even though we would go on to lose the state championship, this great memory is replete with human drama and the glorious unknown. It makes for good inspiration. However, it parallels a disturbing trend I've noticed among followers of Christ to take this storyline and its exhilarating mystery and apply it to our spiritual lives. If I may oversimplify, I see two predominant schools of thought regarding how God is active in our spiritual lives. The core of the difference is who is central in the story. We love to be the center of the story and the focal point of God's affection. But when it comes to walking in the Spirit, is God my cheerleader, the one shouting "NNNNNGU" and praising my performance... or am I His? It may seem inconsequential, but what you believe about the roles in this scene has an impact on how the characters relate to each other, as well as how life's day-to-day events unfold.
In a recent devotional, beloved Christian author Max Lucado somewhat gave voice to the "God-as-cheerleader" viewpoint. In an excerpt from his book, Let the Journey Begin, Lucado, seeking to encourage the downtrodden, says:
"God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that's God applauding your steps. Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He'll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up. God is for you. God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If he drove a car, your name would be on his bumper. If there's a tree in heaven, he's carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it says. 'I have written your name on my hand,' he declares (Isa. 49:16)."
Now, obviously Lucado, who also authored a book titled It's Not About Me does not believe that we can find meaning by believing we are the center of the world. However, it sounds like Brother Max believes we can find value by believing that we are the center of God's affection. The logic would go something like this: Life is not about us, life is about God. And GOD is about us, so be encouraged. In this view, God's role in our life is as our biggest fan, perfect parent and consummate cheerleader. He wants your happiness even more than you do and he's cheering for it, so go out and get it!
To be sure, God has poured out His love on His children. He has loved us with an unfathomable love. He has demonstrated His love towards us by sending Jesus as our righteousness and our salvation. But whenever God occupies a grandstand in our lives and not a throne, we err terribly. At times (especially when time grows short and we find ourselves behind) we like to talk about God as our biggest fan. He cheers us on as we walk through life, telling us that we can do it - but ultimately having little to do with the final outcome.
It feels good and right to be the center of the story and the focal point of everyone's attention. When we think of all that God has done in Christ for His children, it is easy to see how we can think that God is solely focused on doing all He can to cheer for us. The problem with that logic comes in what we have to do to God to fit him into a cheerleader uniform.
In a curiously antithetical article, John Piper states the counter-argument, what we'll call the "God-as-cheered" viewpoint, this way:
"God is the one Being in the entire universe for whom self-centeredness, or the pursuit of his own glory, is the ultimately loving act. For him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue. When he does all things 'for the praise of his glory,' he preserves for us and offers to us, the only thing in the entire world, which can satisfy our longings. God is for us, and therefore has been, is now and always will be, first, for himself. I urge you not to resent the centrality of God in his own affections, but to experience it as the fountain of your everlasting joy."
He WANTS us to choose him, to follow him, to know that we are special to him but that it is up to him to make things happen, to order our steps. The result of God-in-the-stands, however, has some serious personal and theological effects. It's tough to serve a cheerleader God. If he is in the stands and on the sidelines and at the finish line, then how am I gonna get there? If he carries me only when I am too tired, can I just admit right now that I'm tired? Out here running on my own, I keep going in circles. I have no idea where I'm headed. If he picks me up only when I'm too discouraged to fight, can I just admit right now that, if I'm fighting and he's cheering, I'm gonna get handled... and quickly.
I think maybe I'm tempted to put God in the stands when things aren't turning out quite how I'd hoped. If God is cheering but I am the one running, then I can always blame it on me when things go bad - thereby absolving God of any possible egg on His face and paying the price for my own failure. You see the problem there, no? Relegating God to a fail-safe and fall-back will always get you to the same place, failing and falling again and again until you see that it is God who wills and works, God who makes alive, God who remembers based on His own choice, not your ability to perform.
For His own name and glory - God has created, worked, efforted, miracled. Now, needing fans, he has taken, among others, a washed up, tired, slow white kid named Jay and put HIM in the bleachers while placing himself on the throne of the victor. The race is over. The battle is won. The champion is seated on a throne... always has been. And, look at that, he does have a tattoo - only it's on his thigh... and it isn't MY name... it's his - King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16) - and all us tired cheerleaders in the bleachers are going WILD.
In the final analysis it's fair to say that there is something of a "both/and" thing going on here, similar to the quote from that sage Forrest Gump when he said, "Maybe both is happening at the same time." There is a time to know that God is your biggest fan, that he has all your successes and hopes in mind, that he doesn't want you to lick the trash can. Our name is written on his hand, and his greatness is written on his robe and thigh. But it truly seems from both general and special revelation that God has no bigger cheerleader than himself - and he has invited you and I to have a seat in the bleachers and join in the celebration.
Or, as a popular website reminds us these days, God is First. I am Second.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
How to Know the Will of God
Note: People are always asking about knowing the will of God. The will of God is made plain in Scripture, but what people want to know is “Should I marry this person?” “Should I accept this job?” “Which do I choose when two colleges that I am impress with offers me a scholarship?” “Would it be okay to smoke cigarettes and drink beer?”
Dr. Boice does a great job explaining this old but relevant concern. He comes with fresh insights while touching upon not the same old Scripture passages that are often mentioned. Of course, there is nothing wrong with familiar passages that we often hear about – the bible is the Word of God and all of it is relevant. But what I mean is that he explains using other passages that are often not touched upon all that much. I like his explanation of the Israelites being led by the cloud by day and fire by night and how God was there to protect Israel from the heat of the sun and the cold temperatures of the night. That was insightful – I liked that! Enjoy!
How to Know the Will of God
James Montgomery Boice
The Bible Study Hour
How can you know God's will? How is it possible for a man to know the mind of God? If God has a plan for your life, how does He reveal it to you? How can you find that plan? How does a sinful, finite human being come to know what a holy and infinite God desires?
Our starting point is Philippians 3:15, which assures us that God will reveal unto us the guidance we need for every aspect of our lives. Once an amateur pilot explained to me how airliners are kept on their course by radar. A pilot cannot always see what is coming, particularly in bad weather. At best he can see only about a hundred miles. And yet he can fly his aircraft safely in all weather, for the course is marked out for him by radar. If he deviates either to the right or to the left, the radar warns him accordingly. It is thus that God guides us. Our text does not mean that we shall always be able to see more than one step ahead in our Christian lives. It does not mean that we shall even always be able to see ahead at all. But it does mean that God has a plan for our lives—for your life and mine—and that He promises to reveal the steps of that plan to us.
The basis for this assurance lies in the nature of God. For it is God's nature to reveal Himself and His purpose to man. Quite a few years ago when I was in seminary I learned the famous definition of God contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." The first time a person hears that definition I suppose he inevitably thinks that just about everything that could possibly be said about God is wrapped up in it, for the definition is so long. And yet, as I began to memorize and study it, I learned that it was far from comprehensive. For one thing, there is no mention of God's being love. And God is certainly infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His love. Moreover, today I believe I should also like to see God's desire to reveal Himself to man included. I should like to say, "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, love, and desire to reveal Himself to man."
In one sense all that God has ever done has been directed to this end. When God made the world it was to reveal Himself to those who would eventually live on it. Creation reveals God. Hence, Paul tells us that "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). When God caused the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be written, this too was to reveal Himself to man. Finally, just as God revealed His power in nature and His purpose in Scripture, so did He reveal His personality in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus could properly say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
It is God's nature to reveal Himself. And God's revelation always involves a disclosure of His will for the individual person. On this basis Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse used to say that it was actually impossible for a Christian who wanted to know the will of God for his life not to know it.
Now this statement by Dr. Barnhouse also brings us to the first of the great biblical principles by which a Christian may unquestionably come to know God's will. For the Bible teaches that if you really want to know God's will, you must be willing to do it even before you know what it is. This is clearly taught in John 7:17: "If any man will do His will [and the phrase means 'wants to do it'], he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." In this verse, although Jesus was speaking literally of the rejection of His doctrine by the Jewish leaders, He was actually teaching the great principle that knowing the will of God consists largely in being willing to do it.
Now if we are going to come to the point where we are willing in advance to do God's will, we must recognize first that in ourselves we do not want to do it. If you are saying to yourself, "Oh, but I have always wanted to do the Lord's will," you are kidding yourself. For "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be" (Romans 8:7). And there is a great deal of the carnal mind in all of us.
In ourselves we are a bit like the Israelites when they had first come out of Egypt. They were a huge company. The Bible says that there were 600,000 men, and in addition to that there were the women and children. So the total must have been in the neighborhood of two million. Now this great host had been led into the desert where the temperature goes much above 100 degrees in the day-time and often falls below freezing point at night. When I was in Egypt in the middle of the summer of 1961, the temperature was 140°F at Luxor. And it was even hotter in the middle of the desert. In these circumstances the people would have perished from the extremes of temperature if God had not performed a great miracle to save them.
The miracle was the miracle of the cloud which signified God's presence with the people and led them in their wanderings. The cloud was large enough to spread out over the camp of the Israelites. It provided shade during the day-time; and it gave warmth by night, when it turned into a pillar of fire. It was the banner by which they regulated their march. When the cloud moved the people moved, and when the cloud stopped they stopped. One of the great hymns describes it by saying,
Round each habitation hovering,
See the fire and cloud appear,
For a glory and a covering,
Showing that the Lord is near.
Thus, deriving from their banner
Light by night and shade by day,
Safe they feed upon the manna,
Which he gives them when they pray.
The cloud was the single most distinguishing feature of their encampment.
Now we must imagine how it would be when the cloud moved forward and how weary the people would have become of following it. We read in the final verses of Exodus, "When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; but if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up" (Exodus 40:36-37). Sometimes it moved often, at other times not at all. We must imagine a family coming to a stop under the cloud's guidance in the middle of a hot afternoon and immediately beginning to unpack their baggage. They take down their bedding and set up their tent. And then, no sooner has it all been arranged, than someone cries out, "The cloud is moving." And so they repack their baggage and start to go on again. One hour later the cloud stops.
They say, "We'll just leave our things packed this time and sleep on the ground." Well, they do. And the cloud stays that night and all next day and all that week. And as they are going into the second week the family says, "Well, we might as well get it over with." They unpack. And immediately the cloud begins to move again.
Now the people must have hated the moving of the cloud by which God guided them. But no matter how much they hated the cloud they still had to follow its guidance. Because if someone had said, "I don't care if the cloud is moving; I'm going to stay right here," the cloud would have gone on, and he would have died in the heat of the desert, or he would have frozen at night. They hated God's leading. But by this means God was molding a nation of rabble, of slaves, into a disciplined force that would one day be able to conquer the land of Canaan. And He was teaching them absolute obedience.
It is the same with us. Neither you nor I naturally want God's will. We want our will. We will always hate God's way, and particularly His way of training us to be soldiers. But we must go through it. For through that training we must learn to say, "Father, even though I do not naturally want Your will, nevertheless, I know that it is the best thing for me; and it is necessary for my spiritual training. Lead me in the way I should go." And God will do that. For to know God's will we must come to the point where we first want to do it.
The second great principle for knowing the will of God is that nothing can be the will of God that is contrary to the Word of God. The God who is leading you now is the God who inspired the Bible then, and He is not contradictory in His commandments. Consequently, nothing can be the will of God for you that is not in accordance with what is taught in His Word.
God's will is expressed in great principles. Take John 6:40, for instance. I call this verse the will of God for all unbelievers. It says, "And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." If you are not a Christian, God is not at all interested in telling you whether you should accept a job with General Motors or with Dupont. He is not interested in whether you should marry Sally or Mary, or Henry or John, or whether you should enlist in the army. He is interested in whether or not you will believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your personal savior. God's will for you starts there. This is His will. And you must accept this demand before you can begin to go forward on any other level.
Another passage is Romans 12:1-2. It is an expression of God's will for the Christian. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." If you are a Christian, you can take it as an unchangeable principle that anything that contributes to your growth in holiness is an aspect of God's will for you. And anything that hinders your growth in holiness is not His will. God is interested in having you become like His Son, the Lord Jesus.
Colossians 3:23 is an expression of God's will for your work. It says, "And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men." I think this is especially applicable to young people. Not long ago a member of my congregation remarked that all too often young people interpret a difficulty in their work or their schooling as being an indication that what they are doing is not God's will for them; actually, she said, it is probably God's indication that they should work harder at it. This verse tells us that God wants us to do everything we have to do well.
A principle that is closely related to this one is found in Ephesians 6:5-6: "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear the trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." This is for you if you have a difficult boss, or a difficult teacher. The Bible says that it is God's will that you should avoid gossiping about him or her and instead work as well as you are able under his guidance. And you should do it, not only when he is watching, but when he is not watching—as unto the Lord and not unto men.
Perhaps you are saying, "Well, these principles are good, but they do not touch the small things with which I am wrestling." You want to know whether you should go to the movies as a Christian, join a bridge club, make friends with the people at work, join in social drinking, or some other thing. Well, let me give you a final principle that covers most of these. Philippians 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Do you see the instruction? God says that you are to pursue the best things in life. If these things are the best things for you, then do them. If not, you are to go another way. Just be sure that you take your guidelines from Scripture.
The third principle is also important. It is the principle of daily and even hourly fellowship with the Lord. Psalm 32:8 states it like this: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye." Clearly, if God is to guide us with His eye, He must first catch our eye. And this means that we must look to Him regularly throughout the day.
Let me illustrate this by a story. I have a good friend who is a gospel singer and who for many years was a bachelor. He once said, "You know, Jim, it is always easy to find a Christian girl to marry. And it is always easy to find a beautiful girl to marry. But it is not always so easy to find a beautiful, Christian girl to marry." I suppose he was partly right. At any rate, he eventually found a beautiful, Christian girl and married her. And she was perfect in every way but one. The one imperfection lay in the fact that at times she talked with a very shrill voice, especially in the presence of company. And because he was a great baritone singer, her voice often grated on his ears. This was the making of a serious problem in their marriage.
Well, the Lord had given him a great deal of tact among many other talents, and he used his tact to go about the problem in this way. One day he came to his wife and said to her, "Look, dear, do you know the first thing that a drama coach teaches an actress when she begins training?" His wife said, "No." "He teaches her to lower her voice. By nature a woman's voice is shrill, but it becomes warm and pleasing when it is lowered about an octave. A drama coach will teach an actress to say a phrase, count down eight notes, repeat it again, and then practice that repeatedly. I think your voice would be improved if you would do that." When my friend's wife agreed, they arranged a signal by which she would be reminded to lower her voice in the presence of company. The signal was for him to tuck in his chin.
My friend told me that there were times when this produced the funniest effect you could imagine. There they would be, sitting around the dining room table talking, and his wife's voice would be rising higher and higher. He would tuck in his chin and look at her. And then, often right in the middle of one of her sentences, she would catch his eye. She would notice his chin, and her voice would drop like a lead marshmallow and then go on at a pitch one octave lower.
She saw the sign when she looked at her husband. It must be the same in our daily walk with the Lord. The Lord knows that we shall go astray. It is our nature to go astray. Our speech will become unpleasing, or our conduct. And we will always do things that displease Him. But we must get into the habit of looking to Him often—in church, in our quiet time, in the various periods of our day—to catch His eye, to notice His sign. For if we do, we shall find Him watching. He will direct us. And He will guide us with His eye.
Now there is only one more point that I need to make, and it is not difficult at all. If you are serious about knowing the Lord's will and honestly seek it, then you must be prepared for the Lord to guide you into new ways. If there is one thing that I have most learned about the Lord's guidance it is that He does not often lead us in old ways. God is creative. He is infinite. And He is infinite in His plans for His children.
David Wilkerson, the author of The Cross and the Switchblade and a minister who has been greatly blessed in a unique ministry to teenagers in New York City, tells in the opening chapter of his book how he was led in new paths in his ministry. He had been a Pentecostal preacher in central Pennsylvania, and by his personal standards he was doing quite well. The church had grown. There were several new buildings. And yet he was discontent. One day he decided to spend the late evening hours, when he had been used to watching television, praying. He sold the television set after much hesitation and began to spend time with the Lord. He did this for some time. Eventually, out of these times of prayer he was led to begin his work helping the youth caught up in drug addiction and delinquency in Manhattan. God's will for David Wilkerson meant leading a country preacher into the heart and the heartbreak of the city.
It will also be true for you. If you will seek God's will, determining to do it even before you know what it is, if you will look to Him while responding to His voice in the Bible, then God will reveal His way and direct you in ever widening and ever more interesting paths. He will be close to you, and He will lead you in the way that you should go.
Dr. Boice does a great job explaining this old but relevant concern. He comes with fresh insights while touching upon not the same old Scripture passages that are often mentioned. Of course, there is nothing wrong with familiar passages that we often hear about – the bible is the Word of God and all of it is relevant. But what I mean is that he explains using other passages that are often not touched upon all that much. I like his explanation of the Israelites being led by the cloud by day and fire by night and how God was there to protect Israel from the heat of the sun and the cold temperatures of the night. That was insightful – I liked that! Enjoy!
How to Know the Will of God
James Montgomery Boice
The Bible Study Hour
How can you know God's will? How is it possible for a man to know the mind of God? If God has a plan for your life, how does He reveal it to you? How can you find that plan? How does a sinful, finite human being come to know what a holy and infinite God desires?
Our starting point is Philippians 3:15, which assures us that God will reveal unto us the guidance we need for every aspect of our lives. Once an amateur pilot explained to me how airliners are kept on their course by radar. A pilot cannot always see what is coming, particularly in bad weather. At best he can see only about a hundred miles. And yet he can fly his aircraft safely in all weather, for the course is marked out for him by radar. If he deviates either to the right or to the left, the radar warns him accordingly. It is thus that God guides us. Our text does not mean that we shall always be able to see more than one step ahead in our Christian lives. It does not mean that we shall even always be able to see ahead at all. But it does mean that God has a plan for our lives—for your life and mine—and that He promises to reveal the steps of that plan to us.
The basis for this assurance lies in the nature of God. For it is God's nature to reveal Himself and His purpose to man. Quite a few years ago when I was in seminary I learned the famous definition of God contained in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." The first time a person hears that definition I suppose he inevitably thinks that just about everything that could possibly be said about God is wrapped up in it, for the definition is so long. And yet, as I began to memorize and study it, I learned that it was far from comprehensive. For one thing, there is no mention of God's being love. And God is certainly infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His love. Moreover, today I believe I should also like to see God's desire to reveal Himself to man included. I should like to say, "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, love, and desire to reveal Himself to man."
In one sense all that God has ever done has been directed to this end. When God made the world it was to reveal Himself to those who would eventually live on it. Creation reveals God. Hence, Paul tells us that "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). When God caused the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be written, this too was to reveal Himself to man. Finally, just as God revealed His power in nature and His purpose in Scripture, so did He reveal His personality in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus could properly say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
It is God's nature to reveal Himself. And God's revelation always involves a disclosure of His will for the individual person. On this basis Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse used to say that it was actually impossible for a Christian who wanted to know the will of God for his life not to know it.
Now this statement by Dr. Barnhouse also brings us to the first of the great biblical principles by which a Christian may unquestionably come to know God's will. For the Bible teaches that if you really want to know God's will, you must be willing to do it even before you know what it is. This is clearly taught in John 7:17: "If any man will do His will [and the phrase means 'wants to do it'], he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." In this verse, although Jesus was speaking literally of the rejection of His doctrine by the Jewish leaders, He was actually teaching the great principle that knowing the will of God consists largely in being willing to do it.
Now if we are going to come to the point where we are willing in advance to do God's will, we must recognize first that in ourselves we do not want to do it. If you are saying to yourself, "Oh, but I have always wanted to do the Lord's will," you are kidding yourself. For "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be" (Romans 8:7). And there is a great deal of the carnal mind in all of us.
In ourselves we are a bit like the Israelites when they had first come out of Egypt. They were a huge company. The Bible says that there were 600,000 men, and in addition to that there were the women and children. So the total must have been in the neighborhood of two million. Now this great host had been led into the desert where the temperature goes much above 100 degrees in the day-time and often falls below freezing point at night. When I was in Egypt in the middle of the summer of 1961, the temperature was 140°F at Luxor. And it was even hotter in the middle of the desert. In these circumstances the people would have perished from the extremes of temperature if God had not performed a great miracle to save them.
The miracle was the miracle of the cloud which signified God's presence with the people and led them in their wanderings. The cloud was large enough to spread out over the camp of the Israelites. It provided shade during the day-time; and it gave warmth by night, when it turned into a pillar of fire. It was the banner by which they regulated their march. When the cloud moved the people moved, and when the cloud stopped they stopped. One of the great hymns describes it by saying,
Round each habitation hovering,
See the fire and cloud appear,
For a glory and a covering,
Showing that the Lord is near.
Thus, deriving from their banner
Light by night and shade by day,
Safe they feed upon the manna,
Which he gives them when they pray.
The cloud was the single most distinguishing feature of their encampment.
Now we must imagine how it would be when the cloud moved forward and how weary the people would have become of following it. We read in the final verses of Exodus, "When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; but if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up" (Exodus 40:36-37). Sometimes it moved often, at other times not at all. We must imagine a family coming to a stop under the cloud's guidance in the middle of a hot afternoon and immediately beginning to unpack their baggage. They take down their bedding and set up their tent. And then, no sooner has it all been arranged, than someone cries out, "The cloud is moving." And so they repack their baggage and start to go on again. One hour later the cloud stops.
They say, "We'll just leave our things packed this time and sleep on the ground." Well, they do. And the cloud stays that night and all next day and all that week. And as they are going into the second week the family says, "Well, we might as well get it over with." They unpack. And immediately the cloud begins to move again.
Now the people must have hated the moving of the cloud by which God guided them. But no matter how much they hated the cloud they still had to follow its guidance. Because if someone had said, "I don't care if the cloud is moving; I'm going to stay right here," the cloud would have gone on, and he would have died in the heat of the desert, or he would have frozen at night. They hated God's leading. But by this means God was molding a nation of rabble, of slaves, into a disciplined force that would one day be able to conquer the land of Canaan. And He was teaching them absolute obedience.
It is the same with us. Neither you nor I naturally want God's will. We want our will. We will always hate God's way, and particularly His way of training us to be soldiers. But we must go through it. For through that training we must learn to say, "Father, even though I do not naturally want Your will, nevertheless, I know that it is the best thing for me; and it is necessary for my spiritual training. Lead me in the way I should go." And God will do that. For to know God's will we must come to the point where we first want to do it.
The second great principle for knowing the will of God is that nothing can be the will of God that is contrary to the Word of God. The God who is leading you now is the God who inspired the Bible then, and He is not contradictory in His commandments. Consequently, nothing can be the will of God for you that is not in accordance with what is taught in His Word.
God's will is expressed in great principles. Take John 6:40, for instance. I call this verse the will of God for all unbelievers. It says, "And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." If you are not a Christian, God is not at all interested in telling you whether you should accept a job with General Motors or with Dupont. He is not interested in whether you should marry Sally or Mary, or Henry or John, or whether you should enlist in the army. He is interested in whether or not you will believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your personal savior. God's will for you starts there. This is His will. And you must accept this demand before you can begin to go forward on any other level.
Another passage is Romans 12:1-2. It is an expression of God's will for the Christian. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." If you are a Christian, you can take it as an unchangeable principle that anything that contributes to your growth in holiness is an aspect of God's will for you. And anything that hinders your growth in holiness is not His will. God is interested in having you become like His Son, the Lord Jesus.
Colossians 3:23 is an expression of God's will for your work. It says, "And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men." I think this is especially applicable to young people. Not long ago a member of my congregation remarked that all too often young people interpret a difficulty in their work or their schooling as being an indication that what they are doing is not God's will for them; actually, she said, it is probably God's indication that they should work harder at it. This verse tells us that God wants us to do everything we have to do well.
A principle that is closely related to this one is found in Ephesians 6:5-6: "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear the trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." This is for you if you have a difficult boss, or a difficult teacher. The Bible says that it is God's will that you should avoid gossiping about him or her and instead work as well as you are able under his guidance. And you should do it, not only when he is watching, but when he is not watching—as unto the Lord and not unto men.
Perhaps you are saying, "Well, these principles are good, but they do not touch the small things with which I am wrestling." You want to know whether you should go to the movies as a Christian, join a bridge club, make friends with the people at work, join in social drinking, or some other thing. Well, let me give you a final principle that covers most of these. Philippians 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Do you see the instruction? God says that you are to pursue the best things in life. If these things are the best things for you, then do them. If not, you are to go another way. Just be sure that you take your guidelines from Scripture.
The third principle is also important. It is the principle of daily and even hourly fellowship with the Lord. Psalm 32:8 states it like this: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye." Clearly, if God is to guide us with His eye, He must first catch our eye. And this means that we must look to Him regularly throughout the day.
Let me illustrate this by a story. I have a good friend who is a gospel singer and who for many years was a bachelor. He once said, "You know, Jim, it is always easy to find a Christian girl to marry. And it is always easy to find a beautiful girl to marry. But it is not always so easy to find a beautiful, Christian girl to marry." I suppose he was partly right. At any rate, he eventually found a beautiful, Christian girl and married her. And she was perfect in every way but one. The one imperfection lay in the fact that at times she talked with a very shrill voice, especially in the presence of company. And because he was a great baritone singer, her voice often grated on his ears. This was the making of a serious problem in their marriage.
Well, the Lord had given him a great deal of tact among many other talents, and he used his tact to go about the problem in this way. One day he came to his wife and said to her, "Look, dear, do you know the first thing that a drama coach teaches an actress when she begins training?" His wife said, "No." "He teaches her to lower her voice. By nature a woman's voice is shrill, but it becomes warm and pleasing when it is lowered about an octave. A drama coach will teach an actress to say a phrase, count down eight notes, repeat it again, and then practice that repeatedly. I think your voice would be improved if you would do that." When my friend's wife agreed, they arranged a signal by which she would be reminded to lower her voice in the presence of company. The signal was for him to tuck in his chin.
My friend told me that there were times when this produced the funniest effect you could imagine. There they would be, sitting around the dining room table talking, and his wife's voice would be rising higher and higher. He would tuck in his chin and look at her. And then, often right in the middle of one of her sentences, she would catch his eye. She would notice his chin, and her voice would drop like a lead marshmallow and then go on at a pitch one octave lower.
She saw the sign when she looked at her husband. It must be the same in our daily walk with the Lord. The Lord knows that we shall go astray. It is our nature to go astray. Our speech will become unpleasing, or our conduct. And we will always do things that displease Him. But we must get into the habit of looking to Him often—in church, in our quiet time, in the various periods of our day—to catch His eye, to notice His sign. For if we do, we shall find Him watching. He will direct us. And He will guide us with His eye.
Now there is only one more point that I need to make, and it is not difficult at all. If you are serious about knowing the Lord's will and honestly seek it, then you must be prepared for the Lord to guide you into new ways. If there is one thing that I have most learned about the Lord's guidance it is that He does not often lead us in old ways. God is creative. He is infinite. And He is infinite in His plans for His children.
David Wilkerson, the author of The Cross and the Switchblade and a minister who has been greatly blessed in a unique ministry to teenagers in New York City, tells in the opening chapter of his book how he was led in new paths in his ministry. He had been a Pentecostal preacher in central Pennsylvania, and by his personal standards he was doing quite well. The church had grown. There were several new buildings. And yet he was discontent. One day he decided to spend the late evening hours, when he had been used to watching television, praying. He sold the television set after much hesitation and began to spend time with the Lord. He did this for some time. Eventually, out of these times of prayer he was led to begin his work helping the youth caught up in drug addiction and delinquency in Manhattan. God's will for David Wilkerson meant leading a country preacher into the heart and the heartbreak of the city.
It will also be true for you. If you will seek God's will, determining to do it even before you know what it is, if you will look to Him while responding to His voice in the Bible, then God will reveal His way and direct you in ever widening and ever more interesting paths. He will be close to you, and He will lead you in the way that you should go.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Case Against Marriage
Note: After months of revived debate over divorce and its increasing acceptance among Americans, a new study affirmed born again Christians are just as likely as the average American couple to divorce.
The Barna Group found in its latest study that born again Christians who are not evangelical were indistinguishable from the national average on the matter of divorce with 33 percent having married and divorced at least once. Among all born again Christians, which includes evangelicals, the divorce figure is 32 percent, which is statistically identical to the 33 percent figure among non-born again adults, the research group noted.
"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," the study shows.
Therefore, divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience.
When I read about such studies and how Christians do not stand out as favorable models and examples in having long lasting marriages, it does not surprise me that secularism is doing more to change the public concept of marriage than the church is.
Read the article below by Albert Mohler, in which he comments on an article that appeared in Newsweek and you will see why I believe that secularism is changing the way people view marriage.
I have said this before in other blogs, but the church cannot blame the gays and their push toward civil unions for the public’s casual and corrupt view of marriage. We as Christians have done bad all by ourselves. Our inability to “love our spouse until death do us part,” is one major reason why society does not pay much attention to Christians who wax eloquent about God-ordaining marriage from the beginning and that a marriage with God in it will last a life time. We got the message down pat, but the example we lost. Our high divorce rate has taken the power away from our message.
Dr. Mohler toward the end of his article concluded with these words: “The essay by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison is an undeniable reminder of our challenge to rebuild a marriage culture, and to start inside our own churches.”
If only we place the same passion that we put in fighting the civil union bill into our churches, we would be fighting a more worthy battle. It is so cheap and convenient for the church to blame the gays and their emphasis on civil unions, when we ought to pay closer attention to what we have done to open the dike and allow secularism to pour in redefining marriage.
Read carefully the article below, it will enable you to see how much of the world, yes even possibly many Christians are starting to view marriage.
The Case Against Marriage, Courtesy of Newsweek
Albert Mohler
Author, Speaker, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Once upon a time, marriage made sense." So write Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison in the June 11, 2010 edition of Newsweekmagazine. The two women who wrote the article are both young adults who identify themselves as "committed to our careers, friendships, and, yes, our relationships." But, as for marriage, not so much.
As Bennett and Ellison explain their case, marriage once made sense, at least for women, because it "was how women ensured their financial security, got the fathers of their children to stick around, and gained access to a host of legal rights." But now, thanks largely to the feminist movement, they claim, the financial and legal rights are theirs without marriage. They never actually get around to saying much about fathers sticking around to take responsibility for children.
The Newsweek article represents what may be the most direct journalistic attack on marriage in our times. Though only an op-ed column, it presents arguments that had to date been made largely, if not exclusively, outside of mainstream circles. Consider this column an opening salvo in a battle to finish marriage off, once and for all.
Both women identify themselves as secular, and their rejection of marriage reflects the inevitable crumbling of a marriage culture in the wake of a moral revolution. As they explain, reserving sex for marriage is simply unthinkable to them and their peers. "And the idea that we'd 'save ourselves' for marriage? Please." Interestingly, they quote a young man who makes a remarkable case for why the loss of moral stigma for premarital sex breaks down the institution of marriage itself: "If I had to be married to have sex, I would probably be married, as would every guy I know."
And when it comes to having children without marriage: "We know that having children out of wedlock lost its stigma a long time ago." They then point with envy to Scandinavia, where a majority of children are now born out of wedlock, but parents claim to spend more time with their children than parents of other nations.
The secular worldview represented by Bennett and Ellison is joined to their status as young professionals. Marriage does not enhance professional prospects, they argue. Women who take their husbands' last name are considered less professional, less competent, and less ambitious than women who keep their own names.
As they explain, "We are also the so-called entitled generation, brought up with lofty expectations of an egalitarian adulthood; told by helicopter parents and the media, from the moment we exited the womb, that we could be ‘whatever we wanted'—with infinite opportunities to accomplish those dreams. So you can imagine how, 25 years down the line, committing to another person—for life—would be nerve-racking."
And just who are they seeking as partners, anyway? They explain that their generation of young women is looking for a "soulmate" — a fantasy they admit is hard to define and even harder to find.
And an adult lifetime is just too long for any realistic commitment, they insist. "With our life expectancy in the high 70s, the idea that we're meant to be together forever is less realistic." So while their generation of young women is, by their admission, unrealistic in what they are looking for in a partner, they are supposedly cold sober realistic when it comes to calculating the value of marriage, and finding it wanting.
This duo of young women go so far as to claim that "the permanence of marriage seems naive, almost arrogant." Others, of course, might be forgiven for seeing unbridled arrogance in dismissing an institution that has been central to human flourishing for thousands of years.
They cite authorities who make the predictable arguments that humans are not hardwired for monogamy, anyway. Bennett and Ellison propose that perhaps a series of short, mostly monogamous relationships is best. "For us, it's not that we reject monogamy altogether—indeed, one of us is going on six years with a partner—but that the idea of marriage has become so tainted, and simultaneously so idealized, that we're hesitant to engage in it," they explain.
In their essay, Bennett and Ellison cite a considerable body of research on marriage and make reference to our disastrous divorce rate. Nevertheless, it never seems to cross their minds that the very social trends they celebrate were the cause of marital decline — both in terms of individual marriages and the institution of marriage itself.
The moral revolutions of the late-twentieth century brought personal autonomy to preeminence. These moral revolutions included the rise of "no fault" divorce and a host of other developments that subverted marriage. Chief among these was the "liberation" of sex from marriage. Once sexual intercourse was no longer limited to married couples, marriage lost respect and binding authority, becoming more like a mere legal contract. Once having children out of wedlock was normalized (at least in many sectors of the society), marriage became a lifestyle option and little else.
There is an amazing lack of humility in the article by Bennett and Ellison, and a breathtaking lack of concern for other women as well. What about women who are not so professional, so secular, and so liberated from a desire for marriage? They are simply thrown under the bus, run over by the very social trends and moral revolutions these women champion and celebrate.
The Christian church should take careful note of this essay, not because its arguments are unprecedented, but because its distillation of these arguments in one of the nation's two major newsweeklies must not escape attention. Christians see marriage, first of all, as an institution made good and holy by the Creator. Its value, for us, is not established by sociology but by Scripture. We also understand that God gave us marriage for our good, for our protection, for our sanctification, and for human flourishing.
In other words, the Bible compels us to see marriage as essential to human happiness, health, and infinitely more.
The essay by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison is an undeniable reminder of our challenge to rebuild a marriage culture, and to start inside our own churches. "Once upon a time, marriage made sense," Bennett and Ellison assert. One essential task for the Christian Church is to rebuild and maintain a marriage culture — even when marriage itself no longer makes sense to so many around us.
The Barna Group found in its latest study that born again Christians who are not evangelical were indistinguishable from the national average on the matter of divorce with 33 percent having married and divorced at least once. Among all born again Christians, which includes evangelicals, the divorce figure is 32 percent, which is statistically identical to the 33 percent figure among non-born again adults, the research group noted.
"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," the study shows.
Therefore, divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience.
When I read about such studies and how Christians do not stand out as favorable models and examples in having long lasting marriages, it does not surprise me that secularism is doing more to change the public concept of marriage than the church is.
Read the article below by Albert Mohler, in which he comments on an article that appeared in Newsweek and you will see why I believe that secularism is changing the way people view marriage.
I have said this before in other blogs, but the church cannot blame the gays and their push toward civil unions for the public’s casual and corrupt view of marriage. We as Christians have done bad all by ourselves. Our inability to “love our spouse until death do us part,” is one major reason why society does not pay much attention to Christians who wax eloquent about God-ordaining marriage from the beginning and that a marriage with God in it will last a life time. We got the message down pat, but the example we lost. Our high divorce rate has taken the power away from our message.
Dr. Mohler toward the end of his article concluded with these words: “The essay by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison is an undeniable reminder of our challenge to rebuild a marriage culture, and to start inside our own churches.”
If only we place the same passion that we put in fighting the civil union bill into our churches, we would be fighting a more worthy battle. It is so cheap and convenient for the church to blame the gays and their emphasis on civil unions, when we ought to pay closer attention to what we have done to open the dike and allow secularism to pour in redefining marriage.
Read carefully the article below, it will enable you to see how much of the world, yes even possibly many Christians are starting to view marriage.
The Case Against Marriage, Courtesy of Newsweek
Albert Mohler
Author, Speaker, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Once upon a time, marriage made sense." So write Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison in the June 11, 2010 edition of Newsweekmagazine. The two women who wrote the article are both young adults who identify themselves as "committed to our careers, friendships, and, yes, our relationships." But, as for marriage, not so much.
As Bennett and Ellison explain their case, marriage once made sense, at least for women, because it "was how women ensured their financial security, got the fathers of their children to stick around, and gained access to a host of legal rights." But now, thanks largely to the feminist movement, they claim, the financial and legal rights are theirs without marriage. They never actually get around to saying much about fathers sticking around to take responsibility for children.
The Newsweek article represents what may be the most direct journalistic attack on marriage in our times. Though only an op-ed column, it presents arguments that had to date been made largely, if not exclusively, outside of mainstream circles. Consider this column an opening salvo in a battle to finish marriage off, once and for all.
Both women identify themselves as secular, and their rejection of marriage reflects the inevitable crumbling of a marriage culture in the wake of a moral revolution. As they explain, reserving sex for marriage is simply unthinkable to them and their peers. "And the idea that we'd 'save ourselves' for marriage? Please." Interestingly, they quote a young man who makes a remarkable case for why the loss of moral stigma for premarital sex breaks down the institution of marriage itself: "If I had to be married to have sex, I would probably be married, as would every guy I know."
And when it comes to having children without marriage: "We know that having children out of wedlock lost its stigma a long time ago." They then point with envy to Scandinavia, where a majority of children are now born out of wedlock, but parents claim to spend more time with their children than parents of other nations.
The secular worldview represented by Bennett and Ellison is joined to their status as young professionals. Marriage does not enhance professional prospects, they argue. Women who take their husbands' last name are considered less professional, less competent, and less ambitious than women who keep their own names.
As they explain, "We are also the so-called entitled generation, brought up with lofty expectations of an egalitarian adulthood; told by helicopter parents and the media, from the moment we exited the womb, that we could be ‘whatever we wanted'—with infinite opportunities to accomplish those dreams. So you can imagine how, 25 years down the line, committing to another person—for life—would be nerve-racking."
And just who are they seeking as partners, anyway? They explain that their generation of young women is looking for a "soulmate" — a fantasy they admit is hard to define and even harder to find.
And an adult lifetime is just too long for any realistic commitment, they insist. "With our life expectancy in the high 70s, the idea that we're meant to be together forever is less realistic." So while their generation of young women is, by their admission, unrealistic in what they are looking for in a partner, they are supposedly cold sober realistic when it comes to calculating the value of marriage, and finding it wanting.
This duo of young women go so far as to claim that "the permanence of marriage seems naive, almost arrogant." Others, of course, might be forgiven for seeing unbridled arrogance in dismissing an institution that has been central to human flourishing for thousands of years.
They cite authorities who make the predictable arguments that humans are not hardwired for monogamy, anyway. Bennett and Ellison propose that perhaps a series of short, mostly monogamous relationships is best. "For us, it's not that we reject monogamy altogether—indeed, one of us is going on six years with a partner—but that the idea of marriage has become so tainted, and simultaneously so idealized, that we're hesitant to engage in it," they explain.
In their essay, Bennett and Ellison cite a considerable body of research on marriage and make reference to our disastrous divorce rate. Nevertheless, it never seems to cross their minds that the very social trends they celebrate were the cause of marital decline — both in terms of individual marriages and the institution of marriage itself.
The moral revolutions of the late-twentieth century brought personal autonomy to preeminence. These moral revolutions included the rise of "no fault" divorce and a host of other developments that subverted marriage. Chief among these was the "liberation" of sex from marriage. Once sexual intercourse was no longer limited to married couples, marriage lost respect and binding authority, becoming more like a mere legal contract. Once having children out of wedlock was normalized (at least in many sectors of the society), marriage became a lifestyle option and little else.
There is an amazing lack of humility in the article by Bennett and Ellison, and a breathtaking lack of concern for other women as well. What about women who are not so professional, so secular, and so liberated from a desire for marriage? They are simply thrown under the bus, run over by the very social trends and moral revolutions these women champion and celebrate.
The Christian church should take careful note of this essay, not because its arguments are unprecedented, but because its distillation of these arguments in one of the nation's two major newsweeklies must not escape attention. Christians see marriage, first of all, as an institution made good and holy by the Creator. Its value, for us, is not established by sociology but by Scripture. We also understand that God gave us marriage for our good, for our protection, for our sanctification, and for human flourishing.
In other words, the Bible compels us to see marriage as essential to human happiness, health, and infinitely more.
The essay by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison is an undeniable reminder of our challenge to rebuild a marriage culture, and to start inside our own churches. "Once upon a time, marriage made sense," Bennett and Ellison assert. One essential task for the Christian Church is to rebuild and maintain a marriage culture — even when marriage itself no longer makes sense to so many around us.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Is Bad Ever Good?
Note: “Is bad ever good? Of course not. Not even if the ends justify the means! Bad is bad and the bible knows no alternative. However, can good come out of bad? Yes, this is what Paul was teaching from Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”
Sometimes the good may not show up for quite some time. Sometimes it does show up but we missed it. The point to remember is this: If you get the opportunity to witness a good situation from a bad moment, never think of the bad as being good in essence. No, the bad was and still is bad. But there is a sovereign God who controls all things and He is able to turn what was meant to be harmful and evil toward His people into something good (Gen. 50:20).
Now go and read the article below and renew your confidence and trust in the God of the Bible. Enjoy!
Is Bad Ever Good?
Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Job loss, financial crisis, rebellious children, disappointments, rejection, unexpected illness - the list of what we call "bad" goes on. Is bad ever good? Can anything good come from a bad situation? That depends.
Some negative circumstances we readily recognize as good. You're involved in a car accident - minor injuries - but x-rays reveal a small tumor. Surgery can remove it and literally save your life. It's in the early stages. You wouldn't have known about the problem apart from the accident. Was the accident good? No. But good came from it.
Many life-changing events don't spell g-o-o-d, however. Some may want to throw stones if we even suggest it. But consider these possibilities. What good can result from these bad situations?
Job Loss
Freedom to choose a new vocation.
Chance to pursue a long-time dream. Some successful a have risen from such bad circumstances. Fired from another home improvement chain, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus founded the successful Home Depot.
Dependence on God and His provision as Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides. (Philippians 4:19). May allow others a blessing by using their gifts to minister on your behalf.
Major Accident
Re-evaluation of your life: "Why am I still here?"
Complete change of direction. A car accident that almost totaled my husband's car (when we were still dating as youth) turned his heart toward full-time Christian ministry. He never wavered from that decision at the age of 18. Even serious injuries can purify our hearts if we let God do His work.
Marriage Difficulties
Reveals dormant (or prominent) marital issues that still need work. My husband and I often tell couples that conflict can be positive, not always negative. It can simply mean there's more growth potential in your marriage - lots of God's grace still to experience. One of grace's definitions to me is room to grow. God gives us much room to grow.
Empathy for others. You can add this to almost any situation you experience. Successfully working through (and even sometimes failing at) marital troubles can open up areas of tenderness and ministry to others in similar situations.
Because of a difficult marriage season in our own lives, my husband and I pursued training as marriage enrichment leaders years ago. God has so blessed as we've tried to help other couples and led marriage weekend retreats.
Greater dependence on God and prayer.
Deeper marital intimacy after you "hit the wall" and move past it. Runners often experience this halfway point where they must push past in order to succeed and even finish the race. With bodies screaming, and mind racing along with legs pumping, they may feel resistance with every move.
But pushing past that "invisible wall" they move past the point of no return to success. It's a principle you can apply to almost any bad situation if you want to move forward and realize the good.
Rebellious Kids
New dependence on God and prayer support from others. God often forges friendships and support networks through mutual experiences.
Opportunity to believe and see God work in seemingly impossible situations. Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham - who later called himself "Rebel With a Cause" in his autobiography - brought grief to his parents as a prodigal son. But God brought Franklin back, and he is now President of Samaritan's Purse, an organization that has literally reached around the world for Christ.
Revealing of deeper issues in relationships that can ultimately bring you closer to God and your children.
Loss of Loved One
Deepened heart hunger for God and a new dependence on Him. Often results in a new longing for your real home in heaven.
Reevaluation of what is truly important in life (simplifying of priorities).
Influence in making new laws/groups to help prevent tragedies that could have been avoided. (ex. MADD- Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
Testimony to the unsaved. At one young man's funeral, a relative challenged the friends of the deceased to choose Jesus. Eleven did.
Opportunity to bring comfort and healing to others who have experienced grief as well. God used the testimony of my friend Susan who lost her teenage son and opened up a world of writing, speaking, and grief ministry.
Other Apparent Tragedies or Disappointments
New, total dependency on God (as with all the situations above).
Enlarged opportunities to show God's amazing grace and power through our difficulties. The video on this site about Nick Vjuicic is a great example, or you can see more of his life here. Josh Hamilton, a Texas Rangers baseball player and recovering drug addict, shares his Christian testimony many places. One of those is called I Am Second.
Empathetic heart that can help bring others through their difficulties.
Before you object with "That hasn't happened to me. Nothing good has come from my situation!" remember God's plans for you: "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).
And the good He desires may differ from your definition. But it will ultimately be good and bring good. In some cases, we won't see - or understand - the good on this side of heaven. But our omniscient God does.
Don't misunderstand me. Few of us immediately pop up smiling from a tragedy or disabling situation with, "Praise the Lord!" Healing takes time, but bad can be good if we will ultimately trust God to "work all things together." It's not time, but God, that will bring the good He has planned all along.
A Matter of Choice… Or More?
It's a matter of choice, right - how we respond to the negative circumstances of our lives? That's the key. Yes and no. It is a response, and it is a matter of choice. But it's more. It's a desire. A deep down desire that longs, that craves, that chooses to trust God while we're in the waiting room with Him - no matter what the outcome.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 NIV
What about you? How has God brought good out of a bad situation or experience in your life?
Sometimes the good may not show up for quite some time. Sometimes it does show up but we missed it. The point to remember is this: If you get the opportunity to witness a good situation from a bad moment, never think of the bad as being good in essence. No, the bad was and still is bad. But there is a sovereign God who controls all things and He is able to turn what was meant to be harmful and evil toward His people into something good (Gen. 50:20).
Now go and read the article below and renew your confidence and trust in the God of the Bible. Enjoy!
Is Bad Ever Good?
Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Job loss, financial crisis, rebellious children, disappointments, rejection, unexpected illness - the list of what we call "bad" goes on. Is bad ever good? Can anything good come from a bad situation? That depends.
Some negative circumstances we readily recognize as good. You're involved in a car accident - minor injuries - but x-rays reveal a small tumor. Surgery can remove it and literally save your life. It's in the early stages. You wouldn't have known about the problem apart from the accident. Was the accident good? No. But good came from it.
Many life-changing events don't spell g-o-o-d, however. Some may want to throw stones if we even suggest it. But consider these possibilities. What good can result from these bad situations?
Job Loss
Freedom to choose a new vocation.
Chance to pursue a long-time dream. Some successful a have risen from such bad circumstances. Fired from another home improvement chain, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus founded the successful Home Depot.
Dependence on God and His provision as Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides. (Philippians 4:19). May allow others a blessing by using their gifts to minister on your behalf.
Major Accident
Re-evaluation of your life: "Why am I still here?"
Complete change of direction. A car accident that almost totaled my husband's car (when we were still dating as youth) turned his heart toward full-time Christian ministry. He never wavered from that decision at the age of 18. Even serious injuries can purify our hearts if we let God do His work.
Marriage Difficulties
Reveals dormant (or prominent) marital issues that still need work. My husband and I often tell couples that conflict can be positive, not always negative. It can simply mean there's more growth potential in your marriage - lots of God's grace still to experience. One of grace's definitions to me is room to grow. God gives us much room to grow.
Empathy for others. You can add this to almost any situation you experience. Successfully working through (and even sometimes failing at) marital troubles can open up areas of tenderness and ministry to others in similar situations.
Because of a difficult marriage season in our own lives, my husband and I pursued training as marriage enrichment leaders years ago. God has so blessed as we've tried to help other couples and led marriage weekend retreats.
Greater dependence on God and prayer.
Deeper marital intimacy after you "hit the wall" and move past it. Runners often experience this halfway point where they must push past in order to succeed and even finish the race. With bodies screaming, and mind racing along with legs pumping, they may feel resistance with every move.
But pushing past that "invisible wall" they move past the point of no return to success. It's a principle you can apply to almost any bad situation if you want to move forward and realize the good.
Rebellious Kids
New dependence on God and prayer support from others. God often forges friendships and support networks through mutual experiences.
Opportunity to believe and see God work in seemingly impossible situations. Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham - who later called himself "Rebel With a Cause" in his autobiography - brought grief to his parents as a prodigal son. But God brought Franklin back, and he is now President of Samaritan's Purse, an organization that has literally reached around the world for Christ.
Revealing of deeper issues in relationships that can ultimately bring you closer to God and your children.
Loss of Loved One
Deepened heart hunger for God and a new dependence on Him. Often results in a new longing for your real home in heaven.
Reevaluation of what is truly important in life (simplifying of priorities).
Influence in making new laws/groups to help prevent tragedies that could have been avoided. (ex. MADD- Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
Testimony to the unsaved. At one young man's funeral, a relative challenged the friends of the deceased to choose Jesus. Eleven did.
Opportunity to bring comfort and healing to others who have experienced grief as well. God used the testimony of my friend Susan who lost her teenage son and opened up a world of writing, speaking, and grief ministry.
Other Apparent Tragedies or Disappointments
New, total dependency on God (as with all the situations above).
Enlarged opportunities to show God's amazing grace and power through our difficulties. The video on this site about Nick Vjuicic is a great example, or you can see more of his life here. Josh Hamilton, a Texas Rangers baseball player and recovering drug addict, shares his Christian testimony many places. One of those is called I Am Second.
Empathetic heart that can help bring others through their difficulties.
Before you object with "That hasn't happened to me. Nothing good has come from my situation!" remember God's plans for you: "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).
And the good He desires may differ from your definition. But it will ultimately be good and bring good. In some cases, we won't see - or understand - the good on this side of heaven. But our omniscient God does.
Don't misunderstand me. Few of us immediately pop up smiling from a tragedy or disabling situation with, "Praise the Lord!" Healing takes time, but bad can be good if we will ultimately trust God to "work all things together." It's not time, but God, that will bring the good He has planned all along.
A Matter of Choice… Or More?
It's a matter of choice, right - how we respond to the negative circumstances of our lives? That's the key. Yes and no. It is a response, and it is a matter of choice. But it's more. It's a desire. A deep down desire that longs, that craves, that chooses to trust God while we're in the waiting room with Him - no matter what the outcome.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 NIV
What about you? How has God brought good out of a bad situation or experience in your life?
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