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When in Rome, DON’T Do …

For much of our nation’s history, Christians could float with the current of culture as it was going generally in the same direction we wanted to go.  Christianity was ‘mainstream’–literally!  But, several decades ago, while complacency and compromise with things in the culture that didn’t fit with the Bible let us drift asleep, the current swept us down the wider branch that leads to destruction instead of the narrow creek off to the side that few find (Matthew 7:13-14).  Many are just now waking up to our danger and wanting to fight upstream but don’t know how.

I.  1 Peter 4:12-19.  We must know the current.  In the first century, Christians were persecuted because the paganism of ancient Rome insisted that they worship the emperor as a deity.  Terrible things occurred to those who trusted in no other God and wouldn’t bow to the affairs of the state.  Today, humanism that tolerates no god but man himself, seeks the state as man’s savior and demands fealty to doctrines contrary to biblical teaching, such as gender identity, homosexual marriage, abortion until birth, etc.  It’s no wonder that Christians today find themselves in the rapids and up against the rocks of persecution like those twenty centuries before (Philippians 3:10-11; Hebrews 2:10-11).

II.  2 Corinthians 10:2-6.  We must know our equipment.  To fight upstream in this spiritual battle, we must know that we will lose if we wage war as the world does.  We have spiritual weapons that can demolish strongholds.  Among many methods mentioned in Colossians 3:12-17, love is foremost to bind all these efforts together and should be used while leaning on God’s understanding (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).  The full armor of God with all of its various functions is essential as a true “life” preserver in determination to regain the narrow fork.  We must recognize the attitudes, beliefs, values, and practices of the world that we’ve accepted into our lives and put in the hard effort of paddling upstream to return to God’s Word in all things for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-11).

III.  1 John 3:1-3.  We must know our destination.  As individual Christians we must know to avoid the world (2 Timothy 3:1-5), but we must help others keep the focus of walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-11).  Fixing our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, we won’t grow weary and lose heart in the hard work that will be required to set ourselves back on the narrow fork (Hebrews 12:1-4).  Jesus is that hope through the temporary trials of the rapids and rocks (1 Peter 1:3-7) until we reach our goal.  It will take great determination to purify ourselves and encouragement of others to fight our way upstream.

The pull of the humanistic current of culture is strong and hard to resist.  Awakening to the spiritual battle, we must understand the danger, equip ourselves with the weapons God has provided for us, and fight upstream to the destination promised to us.  Who can you get to fight against the current with you?

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DON’T Lean on Me, When …

For many generations, the church in the West has been able to float lazily along on an inner tube because the current of culture was flowing in roughly the same direction.  And so, we fell asleep, not realizing that in the past few decades the current has reversed its course.  Like the frog in the pot that tolerates each increased degree of heat until it boils, Christians need to recognize what is happening to us and why.

I.  John 8:31-47.  Jesus addresses “the Jews who had believed him” and yet contrasts them with true disciples who abide in His word, know the truth, and do the works of God.  It wasn’t enough for them to be descended from Abraham if the shriveled and wormy fruit they were showing was that of their father, the devil.  The same goes for those who point to their baptism into Jesus for the forgiveness of sins but who are blinded by complacency in their faith or whose hearts are hardened by compromising with the culture.  These love the world more than they love God (John 12:37-43).

II.  1 John 2:15-17.  As we float along on the wide river that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14), we can take too much confidence that we differ from those drowning around us in degree but not in character.  What Eve reasoned in her mind to justify disobedience to God (Genesis 3:2-6) is exactly that which describes those who love the world.  The current of culture affects the love we have for God, which should be with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Luke 10:27-28), and therefore our obedience (John 14:15) and the seeking of His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

III.  1 Corinthians 1:18-25.  We’ve all heard Bill Withers’ song, “Lean on Me” that, if promoted, can be a false comfort from one not aware of himself floating with the current of culture.  Rather, we must stick to Paul’s model of comforting and demonstrating of the Christian life (1 Corinthians 11:1).  Our understanding before we became Christians was not to be trusted (Proverbs 3:5-6), so should it not be leaned on if we are complacent or compromised Christians.  Rather, we must lean on God’s wisdom as found in His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Avoiding the world’s wisdom (2 Timothy 3:1-5), we must walk in the light and awaken (Ephesians 5:7-14).

We must all jump out of the pot that is almost at boiling.  We must all sit up on our tubes and paddle furiously upstream. How much have you let tolerance of the world affect you?

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None of Self and All of Thee

In our relationship with God as in our earthly relationships, we would all insist that we love the other, but to what degree do we love?  The transition to love for God begins when we recognize ourselves in the first stanza of this song and obey the gospel:

O, the bitter pain and sorrow That a time could ever be,

When I proudly said to Jesus, “All of self, and none of Thee” …

[In brackets, I will tell the story of four Valentine’s Days or my spiritual journey: In our last semester of college while student teaching, my wife and I both obeyed the gospel on Sunday, February 14, 1993, just four months before we would graduate and be married, and thus we began our married life together as new Christians.]

I.  1 John 4:7-12.  Growing in our relationship with God, however, progresses from our second birth–just as a baby grows from his first birth or a marriage grows from a wedding.  Sadly, many Christians stagnate for years with a head knowledge of God and the gospel.  They can often cite book, chapter, and verse and can tell all about the love of God (Romans 5:6-8) without truly loving Him in return.  They are caught in the second stanza:

Yet He found me; I beheld Him Bleeding on th’ accursed tree,

And my wistful heart said faintly, “Some of self, and some of Thee” …

[On February 14, 1994, my wife gave me a study Bible to celebrate our first birthday in Christ.  I dove into knowing everything I could learn about it, God, and salvation, even completing a Bible degree.  While my wife was always a solid rock of faith–even through a cancer diagnosis of 2012 and a first brain tumor diagnosis of 2017, I used the gifts God gave me to teach and preach for the next three decades with a strong head love for Christ that went up and down through the years.]

II.  1 Peter 1:6-9.  In the Old Testament, God speaks about refining His people in the furnace of affliction.  In the New Testament, He speaks of using various trials to test the genuineness of our faith that hopefully leads to the salvation of our souls.  In most places today, the freedom to worship and general lack of persecution has made Christians complacent in our spiritual growth and content living with a low level of faith.  Struggles can stir us to a heart love for God as seen here:

Day by day His tender mercy Healing, helping, full and free,

Bro’t me lower while I whispered, “Less of self, and more of Thee” …

[The previous summer had my wife reacting to air quality, chemicals, surfaces, electricity, and wifi.  In desperation, she attended a naturopathic clinic in Kansas in January that showed a mold toxicity in her system.  I began mold remediation and reconstruction in the house to prepare it to sell while also cleansing, storing, trashing, or burning our possessions.  Living with a friend with similar issues, my wife met me for dinner on February 14, 2020, less than a month before her second diagnosis of brain tumors, where we spoke about our uncertain future.  Through radiation, a host of physical struggles, and months of hospice care, God gave us a last season together while He and I worked to break through my wall and I could grow in my heart love for Him.]

III.  James 4:7-10.  A total submission to God in a Christian’s head, heart, soul, and strength is required for him to truly love God and live (Luke 10:27-28).  This soul love can only come with a yielding of oneself to Him entirely and is beyond a head and heart love.  It comes through much prayer and perseverance.  When seeking of His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) is added to fear of God and the keeping of His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13), submission can be achieved.  It is beyond the first four stages of grief after a great struggle or loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression.  It is found in acceptance and is spoken about in the last stanza of the title song:

Higher than the highest heavens, Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lord, Thy love at last has conquered, “None of self, and all of Thee” …

[I did not arrive here when my wife died in mid-December.  It was only in the past couple of weeks when I finally gave up in my fight against God, no longer struggling to make provision for the flesh (Romans 13:11-14), that I awoke to that soul love for God and Christ, my Savior.  Not that I no longer face temptations, but I am wearing the armor of God while fully submitting to Him and seeking for Him.  And so, this is the lesson I am preaching this Sunday, February 14, 2021, on the 28th anniversary of when my wife and I first professed our love for God, having first realized His great love for us.]

Which stanza of the song do you find your love for God?

 

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Behold Your Gods, O Israel

Writing just decades before the Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity, Amos attributed its decline to the sins of Jeroboam two centuries before (Amos 7:8-11).  This is how any nation ends that doesn’t put God first.  From a study Bible section on the historical situation of Amos, I’ve substituted the U.S. for Israel:

“The U.S. was enjoying great prosperity and had reached new political and military heights.  It was also a time of idolatry, extravagant indulgence in luxurious living, immorality, and corruption of judicial procedures and oppression of the poor.  … The U.S. at the time was politically and spiritually smug.  … The nation felt sure, therefore, that she was in God’s good graces.  But prosperity increased the U.S.’s religious and moral corruption.”

I.  1 Kings 11:9-40.  Because Solomon had not lived up to the “if” God gave him in following His commands (1 Kings 3:14), God raised up enemies for Solomon.  Among them was an ambitious man named Jeroboam, who once he heard that God was going to give him ten tribes of Israel to rule, turned against Solomon and escaped to Egypt until the crowning of Solomon’s son as king.  Even though God knew the choice that Jeroboam would make, in His greatness, God still gives Jeroboam his own “if” that if followed would result in his own covenant like God had made with David.  Jeroboam was faced with a choice after the prophecy came true if he would trust in God’s promise or in his own power to rule his new nation.

II.  1 Kings 12:13-32.  Because he rejected God for the might of his own strength, Jeroboam needed to rewrite history, lest the people of the ten tribes of Israel he now ruled remembered that they were God’s people.  So, erecting golden calves in the northern and southern reaches of his new nation, he told them that these were the gods who had really rescued them from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 32:7-10).  He then assigned priests from any tribe he wanted to (based on bribes perhaps?) and even offered sacrifices himself.  Jeroboam’s sins became so ingrained in the culture that the works of every evil king was compared to him, e.g. 1 Kings 22:52.  There would be no dynasty for Jeroboam as he turned from God’s offer (1 Kings 15:29-30).

III.  John 4:19-30.  Once the prophesied split was made, Jeroboam divided his country not just from Reheboam but from David [and so ultimately Christ] (2 Samuel 7:16) and from Moses [and so the covenant with God] (Exodus 19:5-6).  The Assyrians sent the Northern Kingdom off into captivity after Amos wrote.  The area was resettled by a mixture of peoples, but did that mean that God was done with them?  The heir of David’s covenant revealed Himself as the Christ to a Samaritan woman at a well and spoke of true worship that was soon open to all.  With joy, she went away proclaiming Jesus as the Christ to any who would listen.  John 15:1-17 gives us our own “if” to obey His commands and abide in Jesus.

Will we trust in God’s promise or our own power?

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What Portion Do We Have in David?

An heir to his grandfather’s and father’s big legacies, Reheboam had a choice if he would seek God like they did or lean on his own understanding.  Just as we cannot get to heaven on the coattails of another’s faith, the new king should have tapped into what had made David and Solomon’s forty-year reigns great in the first place.

I.  1 Kings 12:1-5.  Born sometime, no doubt, in the spiritual decline of his father’s reign into a chaotic household of 999 stepmothers or “aunts” who worshiped a variety of gods, Reheboam might argue today that he was a victim of a lost world plunged into sin and relative morality.  And yet, he was on the waning edge of Israel’s golden age and knew the covenants God had made with his grandfather.  His dad built the temple!  At the moment of his crowning, however, Reheboam had a choice to make.  Would he include God in his decision-making (Joshua 24:14-15) or would he lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6)?

II.  1 Kings 12:6-17.  He had at least heard of his father’s wisdom given to him by God (1 Kings 3:10-13) if not seen those coming to the palace seeking it (1 Kings 10:21-27). But, he seemed to have forgotten the important ‘if’ attached to the gift (1 Kings 3:14) and the reason for the spiritual decline of the kingdom because his father had ignored it too (1 Kings 11:1-4).  So, when forced to choose between relying on those who had advised his dad and stepping out on his own, he chose the counsel of the young men who had grown up with him.  The result was that he did get to establish his own legacy–that of splitting God’s kingdom!

III.  John 5:19-23.  Jesus lived to be his Father’s Son as well … except that His Father was God!  He went around doing good (Acts 10:38), spent regular time in prayer (Mark 1:35), insisted on others knowing the Scriptures as He did (Mark 12:24), and was an example for us to live up to (John 13:15).  His dying on a cross and rising from the dead empowered us to be our Father’s children as well (John 20:17).  So, we must seek wisdom (James 1:5-8), answer with gentle words (Proverbs 15:1-5), seek advice from godly counselors (Proverbs 24:6) who follow God’s Word (Psalm 119:24), and live as an imitation of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Oh, how things might have turned out differently if Reheboam had chosen differently!

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By Him All Things Were Created

Since the second Person of the Godhead is eternal, what was Jesus doing from creation through incarnation?  The Great Christology of Colossians 1:15-20 tells us quite a lot.  Far from just arriving on the scene for the first time in Bethlehem (Luke 2:11), God says that He alone would be the Savior (Isaiah 43:11) over seven centuries before.

I.  Colossians 1:15.  Jesus was active as the exact imprint or essence of God.  Ask and someone will say that Lincoln is on the penny.  Is he or is that his image?  Jesus backed this concept up with Caesar (Matthew 22:19-21).  Hebrews 1:1-18 further explains this and its necessity for Jesus’ preeminence over all things but especially our salvation.  He was God to be our Savior but man to be our sacrifice.  Though the subject of theophanies in the Old Testament isn’t conclusive that they are Christ and not angelic ambassadors speaking for God, being the exact representation of God would allow for Jesus to be addressed as God if was indeed Him (Genesis 16:10-13, Genesis 18:17-19, Joshua 5:13 — 6:2, Daniel 3:24-25, et. al.).

II. Colossians 1:16.  All things were indeed created through Jesus (John 1:1-18), and so He has dominion over all things as our Sovereign Lord (Romans 9:16-21).  This also means that because of His sovereignty, all things were created FOR Him as well.  Throughout the Bible, God upholds the idea of property rights (Proverbs 22:28, Acts 5:4).  David brings us back to the concept from creation that all things belong to God (1 Chronicles 29:14-16).

III.  Colossians 1:17.  Jesus has also been active since creation (and still is) at sustaining all things.  This means what we often attribute to the laws of nature are really the laws of Christ.  Again Hebrews 1:1-3 deepens our understanding of Jesus’ work.  That means He was upholding the universe while challenged (Matthew 22:18-21), in the garden (Matthew 26:53-54), before Pilate (John 18:36-37), and at the cross (Luke 23:34).  He is sustaining it now while we are here in this chaotic world and for our loved ones who have died in Him.

That Jesus is in control is a comforting thought, especially when we are bombarded by the world’s headlines.  We must put our trust in Him and in His gospel!

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Before the World Existed

In the 1st century, those who had been with Jesus or witnessed the power of the resurrection of the dead had a difficult time believing that He had been a man.  In the postmodern skepticism of the 21st century, many can’t believe He was ever God.  Jesus was more than a good man and teacher, religious philosopher or advocate for the common man.  The alpha and the omega, He is eternal and through whom all things were made.  Therefore, He cannot be placed on the buffet with other leaders from world religions.  Through His great love for us, though we were sinners, Jesus died and then was raised from the dead for our justification and sanctification.  Jesus stands alone.

I.  John 1:1-18.  Jesus was God and was with God before creation and at creation.  It was through Him that all things were made.  After the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, John records that the Son’s followers saw Jesus’ glory, the glory of the only God, who was at the Father’s side, who had seen God and made God known to us.  From eternity to creation, then, Jesus was in His glory and was awaiting His role as Creator and through whom all was created (Genesis 1:1-27).  Before He took on the image of man, Jesus made man in the image of Himself.

II.  John 17:1-5.  Before Jesus went to the cross, we glimpse from His own lips what He longed for in prayer–the glory He had with His Father “before the world existed.”  This rare peek into His eternal nature also gives us a clue how He endured the pain and shame of the cross.  While fixing His eyes on the glory that He would return to in complete fellowship with His Father, Jesus gave us a way to run the race that is set before each and every one of us (Hebrews 12:1-2).  Told to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Him, three of Jesus’ followers were allowed to witness that glory while Jesus was transfigured (Matthew 17:1-8).

III.  John 17:20-24.  Jesus will only give His glory to those who are seeking the Savior’s glory (Romans 2:6-10).  In this life we hope for it as He who promises it is faithful (Romans 5:1-2).  The sufferings of this life can’t compare to the glory that is promised to us (Romans 8:18-21).  The promise comes in a spiritual body that is resurrected in power and glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

This is why we forsake the world and all its glory (John 12:42-43).  Just as Jesus longed to be clothed once again in the glory He had with His Father before the world existed, we too must live every moment here in a relentless pursuit of the glory that is promised to us in Him.

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Give Thanks

In President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863, he told us to set apart and observe “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”  Though secular culture has made the day about food, family, and football, the holiday still retains the name.  But, does anyone ever ask, “To whom are we giving thanks?”

I.  Luke 17:11-14.  On the border between Galilee and Samaria, Jesus encounters an ethnically mixed group of lepers who had enough faith to call out to Him for healing (Mark 11:22-24).  Jesus tells them all–even those not part of the covenant–to go show themselves to the priests (Leviticus 13), and as testament to their faith, they all head towards Jerusalem while they still have the disease that makes them unclean and unable to mix with people.

II.  Luke 17:15-19.  All ten were healed, but only one turned back to thank Jesus–and that one was a foreigner to the covenant and Law.  From this we can see that God wants us to give thanks.  He doesn’t need our thanks, but He wants us to acknowledge His blessings to us in gratitude.  The healing happened before the Samaritan returned to give thanks and so wasn’t dependent on his action, but God approves of our ‘attitude of gratitude.’  Also, Jesus remarks that it was one who didn’t have the Law, sacrifices, temple, or priesthood who gave thanks when those who had the advantage of those things just continued on their way.  Alike under sin (Romans 3:9), we are all able to come to Christ through faith (Ephesians 2:12-15).

III.  Colossians 3:16.  God’s Word dwells in us richly when we sing with thankfulness in our hearts.  That’s the simple message of the song, “Give Thanks.”  Alike in sin, we are given God’s Son on the cross and at the tomb to overcome sin and give us life (John 3:16; Romans 7:24).  The result in us should be thankfulness in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18) as we recognize what God has done for us (Romans 8:31-32).  So, do you give thanks?

Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One,

Give thanks because He’s given, Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now let the weak say, “I am strong,”  Let the poor say, “I am rich

because of what the Lord has done for us.”

Give thanks,

give thanks,

give thanks!

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Ask What I Shall Give You

Is it better to “grow up in the church” or to escape the world to seek truth on your own?  The first may not know the sharp edge of the world’s heartache, but often a personal faith is taken for granted and underdeveloped.  The second can create an abiding faith but a lifetime of overcoming sinful habits and baggage.  Inheriting the kingdom from his father, Solomon began well as someone who grew up in the church often does.  But, did he seek God or let his heart be led astray?

I.  1 Kings 3:3-28.  In the beginning of his reign, Solomon loved God and walked in the way of his father, King David, yet as he still worshipped at the high places, there’s a hint that his heart wasn’t fully after God’s heart like David’s was (Acts 13:22).  He asks for wisdom or discernment to govern God’s people, which pleased God, and he was granted many other blessings.  What can an abundance of God’s grace do in a heart, vulnerable to temptation and sin, that is not fully chasing God?

II.  2 Samuel 12:7-9.  When David had yielded to sin, the prophet Nathan tells him that God had given him much and would have given him much more, but David had repaid God’s grace by despising God’s Word.  This principle is carried out in the New Testament by Jesus (Matthew 25:29).  We must prove faithful in what we have been entrusted, so that God can use us in even bigger ways.  Sadly, Solomon did not do this, allowing his blessings, projects, and power (2 Chronicles 1:14-17) and the comfort found in sin (1 Kings 11:1-4) lead his heart astray.  Clearly, the wisdom he had to warn against such falling (Proverbs 5:1-9) wasn’t enough to safeguard his heart.

III.  Philippians 4:4-7.  If we seek God and His Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33) and ask for wisdom (James 1:5-8), we must still apply these things to our hearts to truly live for Christ and honor Him as holy (1 Peter 3:13-16).  How do we do this?  We must sell all that this world has to offer (Matthew 13:44) and press on to the goal despite obstacles (Philippians 3:12-16), holding on to what we have already obtained and adding to that in increasing measure (2 Peter 1:3-11).  Then God will guard our hearts.

What could Solomon have achieved if he hadn’t let his heart be led astray?  How could God use you if you used what you’ve already been entrusted with to seek Him and His Kingdom?

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Work Out Your Own Salvation

After the wedding is over, who does the work in the marriage relationship?  The answer is both … if the marriage is to be successful.  So it must be when we enter into a relationship with Christ.  The Bridegroom has conquered sin and death by the cross and the tomb, but believers meet Him at the altar by obeying the gospel.  In baptism the wedding is over, how now can the marriage work?

I.  Galatians 3:26-29.  When we enter that covenant, we become “heirs according to the promise.”  No longer separated by our sins from God, we become children of God, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).  Some of that suffering comes from choosing to walk according to Scripture instead of in the way of the religious world around us.  It’s a very narrow path to navigate (Matthew 7:13-14).  Stray a little too much towards ritual and our faith becomes a Checklist Christianity; a little too much towards relationship and it becomes Cultural Christianity.  Rather, true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

II.  Philippians 2:12-16.  For our part, we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  And it is hard work indeed.  Maintaining any good relationship is.  We must not grumble or argue to not wreck our influence for the gospel of Christ.  There is a process of partaking in the divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world.  We must add various virtues one to another in increasing measure and practice them with diligence to not fall and find a rich welcome in the Kingdom of God (1 Peter 1:3-11). Only you can strengthen or destroy your own relationship in Christ.

III.  Hebrews 10:38-39.  For His part, God promises to work in you, to work and to will for His pleasure.  So, as you are working out your own salvation, He is molding and shaping you into His Son’s image.  So, faithful living requires many moment-to-moment decisions to walk as Christ did (1 John 2:6).  We can no longer live for ourselves but rather make it our aim to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).  As two become one in marriage, we are, as members of Christ’s bride, united with our Bridegroom in death and so also life (Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:5).  Therefore, we do not shrink back but live by faith