Love Of The Truth

At Open Arms Community Church we’ve been going through a series called “Growing Closer To God”. Last weekend we discussed the topic of how studying God’s Word (the Bible) grows us closer to God.

We saw many warnings in the scripture about deceiving spirits at work in our world and deceptive teachings that will come. We also saw the antidote for the rampant deception in our world, a love of/for the truth.

When we use that phrase “love of/for the truth” we are to understand first that this has always been God’s expectation, that what we do in pursuing Him and obeying Him would be motivated by a loving relationship not religious duty. That’s the first and greatest command, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”.

We are also to understand that true love compels us to pursue. If we really “love” then we feel compelled. Whether you say, “I love my wife” or “I love ice cream”. Either way you feel compelled by that affection/affinity to pursue them.

You have to wonder what many Christians have in this Christian Faith, relationship or religion, because so many seem so unmotivated in pursuing God (reading His Word, obeying His Word, spending time with Him in prayer, and spending time with fellow saints).

So many seem to “Believe” in God/Jesus and do the obligatory “church attendance” (sometimes), but seem to resent the imposition that Jesus and His commands make on their lifestyle. They seem to have thought that following Jesus would simply be adding a little bit of religious duty to their pre-existing lifestyle, but Jesus tells us He came to give a whole new way of life (not just a few religious habits), so we should understand that there will not just be a few changes to our way of life, but a completely different way of life.

In following Jesus we may stay at the same place of work, but we may not. We may stay in the same geography, but we may not. God has a way of taking those who follow Him and changing their life drastically.

Why do some seem to have these powerful life changing experiences for life long and others not? Why do some seem so easily moved off coarse, but others are more stable and stay on track? The answer is simpler than we think.

In 2Thessalonians 2:1-10 we find God warning us that as the clock of earths existence winds down there will be an increase of deception. Spirits and spiritual teachers will come try to teach things that sound, feel, smell, and seem good, right, and true, but in fact are wrong, dangerous, and destructive.

God tells us in these verses that the people being deceived and ruined by the deception will go from bad to worse simply because of one thing… they did not love the truth. As we reject or just take lightly the truth, the easier we swallow satan’s lies and the harder it can be come to swallow God’s word.

That is the second thing we need to learn from this phrase “love of/for the truth”.

Jesus tells us His “word is truth”, that His word is “flawless and eternal”, and that those who “hear it and do what it says” are blessed, but those who “hear it and do not do what it says” fall under a lack of blessing, a curse, even destruction”. (Matthew 7)

The availability of God’s Word, especially to us in America and those with regular internet access, makes this truth all the more convicting and us all the more accountable/responsible to God for how seriously and diligently we pursue God and His truth.

God is at work in our world. He is moving and doing awesome things, but so is the devil, and unfortunately to many Christians are buying satan’s lies and living a less than Christian life; A life of which I do not know for sure the final outcome.


So, what do we do?

First, 2Timothy 2:15 tells us to “do your best to show yourself approved” or “diligently study to show yourself approved” by God in “rightly handling the word of truth”. Do we “rightly handle” the word? Not only are we to handle it “rightly” by understanding it accurately, but we’re also to handle it “rightly” by actually handling it, using it, not letting it sit on our shelf or the back of our toilet collecting dust.

Second, as we feed on this Word of Truth we will fulfill God’s command to “grow in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.” 2Peter 3:18

Thirdly, we must understand that there will be things in the Bible we don’t understand at first, but the more we read it and the more we live it, the more we will understand, but even after decades of following Jesus and studying the word of God, there is much we still don’t fully understand, so what do we do.

Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us the knowledge that is hidden belongs to God (that is His business), but the knowledge that is revealed (understood by men) is given to us so that we may do what it says, in other words OBEY IT.

If we do these things we will be blessed and are true disciples/followers of Jesus. If we do not do these things we are easy prey for satan and his minions, we are going to experience less than God’s best in life, and we may not be authentic disciples/followers of Jesus (we may fall into the category of simply believing in God, but still on our way to hell with satan who also believes in God. James 2).

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/967870/love_of_the_truth.html?cat=34

The Other Side Of Spiritual Warfare

There is much discussion in sermons and books on the subject of spiritual warfare. When the phrase is used the first things that come to mind are the devil and demons sneaking around doing bad things to us, or maybe motivating non-Christians to mistreat us, or maybe even orchestrating tragic circumstances. While all these may be a huge part of spiritual warfare there are two other sides of the spiritual warfare cube that are not talked about much, but we must understand if we’re going to persevere and win the battles we will most certainly face as we do God’s work.

The first “Other Side” I want to address is the side where “Christians” are used by the enemy. Christians that are well-meaning, but very misguided.

We don’t hear to often about this, but the reality is that Christians can oppose us. Fellow Christians can be the tool of the enemy against us. We see this exemplified in the book of Acts where the circumcised brothers (Christians) were coming against the Apostle Paul and his ministry to the uncircumcised brothers (Christians).

Not only did they not like that Paul was reaching out to them with the Gospel, but once that ministry was accepted and approved, the circumcised believers had the expectation that these new uncircumcised believers would get circumcised and when Paul taught against it, these circumcised believers got all nasty with Paul.

We see Paul teaching us in 2Timothy (in Vs 10 & 14 we see that Paul is writing about Christians) 22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Note Vs 26 “the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

Paul tells Timothy that there will be Christians (the elect) who will quarrel with and oppose him and he tells Timothy that these people are in the devils trap and are the devils captive to do his (the devil’s) will.

Fellow Christians, influenced by satan, fueled by pride, selfishness, worldliness, fear, prejudice, and so on can become quarrelsome, argumentative, and even oppose (resist) us and the work the Lord has us doing.

We may find ourselves at odds with a dear brother or sister in the Lord. We may find them saying and doing the most unbelievable things to us. They may speak evil, they may try to divide, and even purposefully hurt (emotionally or physically or financially).

We’re taught that we are to love these people, bless (not curse), forgive, gently instruct, and pray for these people to come to their senses and escape satan’s trap.

I can tell you from personal experience this is a very painful aspect of spiritual warfare; people who say “Love ya, brother!” turning around and being nasty or just abandoning the relationship.

We must be ready for this and ready to respond in a Christ-like manner.

Now, the second “other side” of spiritual warfare (perhaps as painful or more painful than the first), the side of Me.

That’s right! If a Christian can become influenced by satan and fueled by pride, selfish ambition, worldliness, fear, prejudice, and so on to the point of becoming quarrelsome, argumentative, and even resistant (opposing) to other Christians, then I, as a Christian, could be one of these. I could step into satan’s trap.

We hate to hear it, but the truth is that if we’re not humbly submitted to Jesus and His way of doing things and regularly checking ourselves we can get off coarse and start making decisions that put us at odds with God and other Christians doing Gods work. It’s this case where the old saying is true, “I’m my own worst enemy.”

The sad thing is, this side of spiritual warfare is the least understood and accepted. We like to be able to blame the devil for all that’s going, or non-Christians, or even other Christians, or at the least God, but not me. Surely I’m not my problem. Surely it’s not my attitude, words, or actions that are the cause of my problems. Surely I’ve not opened the door for the enemy to come in and work havoc.

It’s the hardest thing in the world to take personal responsibility and acknowledge that by our choices we’ve partnered/cooperated with the devil, we’ve taken his side and worked his work and yet, this is exactly what is happening in so many Christian’s lives.

The answer to this particular problem is simple to state, but hard to apply… Repent (change! Turn away from the wrong and back to the Jesus way, Confess your sin and ask forgiveness and accept forgiveness), Restore (work toward doing it the right way. This may include going to others and working at undoing what you’ve done and fix what got broke), Submit yourself wholly to God, and then resist the devil and he will flee!

These are two sides we don’t hear much about, but if we’re going to succeed in spiritual warfare we must understand all the players and all the battlefronts, and the first battlefront of spiritual warfare is our own heart (but that is another message).

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/950155/the_other_side_of_spiritual_warfare.html

Sacred Vs Secular

Among churched folk (and those who were once unchurched, but have spent enough time around churched folk) there is a tendency to separate the sacred (with/for God) from the secular (without/against God). In other words to look at a thing, experience, activity, or whatever and judge it (right or wrong, for better or for worse) by some inward standard of whether it is holy or evil, right or wrong, good or bad, God or the devil.

The problem, and thus the error, we often fall into is our standards are flawed by three major blinders 1) Our prejudices (perhaps born of fear), 2) Our preferences, and 3) Our limitedness (fallibility and ignorance). There is a fourth, our Pride, but that is a whole other subject of which all 3 of these falls into.

I do not separate parts of our Christian life as sacred (with/for God) and parts of it as secular (without/against God). I fully admit that in the world there are things sacred and things secular, but as a Christian all of our life is sacred and every thing we do is meant to honor God and please Him.

So, let me make three statements and then give some real life examples.

1. God made everything! The days, nights, stars, animals, people, and every detail of these things. Though these and many other things of God's creation are abused by misuse, idolatry, perversion, and so on does not negate the good, necessity, and God-ordained purpose & practice of these things.

2. God also came in the flesh on a mission to redeem this misused, abused, and perverted creation (all of it) and called all of His followers to engage in the same mission. We’re called to redeem and reclaim that which has been stolen and destroyed, and take it back for God’s glory and kingdom. As God engages the world to take that which is meant for evil and use it for good, so should we.

3. God did also declare a standard of right and wrong, of how these creations were meant to operate, function, and be used, and he declares in the book of Isaiah, "Woe to the ones who call right wrong and wrong right!" (Don’t be too quick to yell “Amen” just yet!)

Example: Sex! Does God declare a standard of what is right or wrong concerning the function/experience of sex? Yes! Is there misuse, abuse, and perversion of this God designed function/experience? Yes! Does the misuse, abuse, and perversion negate, invalidate, or make sex wrong or evil? No!

You see, the misuse, abuse, and perversion is wrong, and perhaps you could say evil, but the proper use/application of this God created function/experience is not only good or great, it's beautiful, right, holy, and of God (a blessing from him and is blessed by him).

Here is the problem. We tend to focus in on surface issues and judge the whole. We declare the whole apple tree bad because of a couple bad apples. We'll focus in on a specific abuse of sexuality say, homosexuality, or child molestation, or premarital sex, or adultery and turn around and have a negative view/attitude toward all of sex. We act as though sex was created by the devil. We act as though sex is wrong and have a huge distaste for the subject. In some areas we even question how a person could be a Christian and practice such foul behavior.

You can apply this to so many broad subjects such as Alcohol, Sex, Entertainment, Holidays, Music, Technology, and so on.

But here is where I want to see transformation.

Instead of looking at the negative and finding the worst in something, instead of giving the devil and sin glory by preaching how bad something is or how disgusting and wrong something is, let's focus on the God side.

For example: Halloween. Here is a holiday that has been perverted by many people throughout the years, yet it started out as a "Christian Religion" holiday and has more roots in Christianity than the Christmas and Easter holidays.

Many Christians view Halloween as the "Devils day" and as a bad thing. It certainly can be argued that it has been perverted and come to that, but in all truth, whose day is it really? Who made October 31? God did! Do you think he made it for the devils glory? Do you think we as Christians should declare that day as the "devils day" or declare it as "God's Day"?

Sacred or Secular... as a Christian is there supposed to be a difference in our life? Is there supposed to be certain things in our life that are sacred (Godly, holy, right, and good, with/for God) and other things in our life that are secular (ungodly, impure, wrong, and bad/evil, without/against God)? The answer is simple. No!

See, sacred is who you are not what you do. And because it's WHO you are it changes WHAT you do into being sacred. As a Christ follower you want to do everything in word and deed for the Glory of Jesus (Colossians 3:17) . In other words, live a sacred lifestyle so that everything you do is sacred (pleasing to/for the Lord).

Sex now becomes a sacred experience because you're approaching it from God's perspective and according to God's Standard. The same is true for eating, speaking, music, food, holidays… you name it.

Am I saying that you're turning evil things into good or calling good evil? Like saying that something God calls wrong (gluttony) is now right and okay? Not at all! What I'm saying is that we are now going to approach and handle that area of our life according to God's Standard and enjoy the sacred side of food & eating without the abuse, misuse, and perversion (which is what gluttony is).

You can't take something that is blatantly wrong by Gods standard and call it right (such as premarital sex), but you can stop and look at the original God intended purpose and function of that thing (sex within marriage between a man and a woman) and rejoice in and practice it properly. In doing this you are not only communicating the gospel, but you are demonstrating the life God want us to experience, and you are reclaiming/redeeming what rightfully belongs to God and his kingdom, but was stolen by the devil. Sex, music, food, drink, language, technology, holidays, you name it… none of it belongs to the devil! It all belongs to God and should be used and experienced to his Glory and Pleasure. This is called “life to the full” or the “abundant life” that Jesus talked about in John 10:10.

Most of our "Sacred Vs. Secular" arguments are shallow and based on prejudices, preferences, and ignorance (limited understanding on the matter). Like Rock Music Vs. Classical style. We argue one style is sacred and the other secular (one holy/with/for God and the other unholy/without/against God), but God created music, period! All music belongs to him. Yes, there is abuse, misuse, and perversion of music out there, in all styles, but it doesn't mean we just condemn all music made in that style, and we certainly should not condemn it just because it's not a style to our liking. Do you condemn tomatoes and all who eat them as of the devil because you don’t like them?

God made everything and the things that God inspired man to "create" were moments that man was imitating our Heavenly Father, but when we took God's creation or the God-inspired creations of man and perverted, abused, and misused them, that is what made them secular, before that they were all sacred.

See, the same light bulb used in the church building, the same electrical outlet in the church building or your house, the same toilet paper in the church building or your house, they are all the same ones used in the strip club. Is the church or your house using secular light bulbs, electrical outlets, and toilet paper? Or do they order special holy & blessed bulbs, outlets, and toilet paper? Or is the strip club using sacred bulbs, outlets, and toilet paper? No! The sacred or secular is all in the proper or improper application; it’s all a heart issue.

My grandma used to say two sayings, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." and "Don't throw out the whole bushel, just because of a few bad apples."

How long will we quickly judge and condemn a God-created activity/experience, labeling it secular, and loose out on the sacred robbing ourselves of the life God intended us to experience?

How many ways, in how many areas, have we cut ourselves short by a false religious standard created out of a mans ignorance, prejudice, fear, or preference instead of Gods Word?

When will we say, "enough is enough, I'm not going to allow the devil to steal from me all God created and has for me!"? Whether he steals it through literal perversion, misuse, or abuse, or whether he steals by way of a distorted false religious standard based out of mans ignorance, prejudice, and preference.

Is your life sacred or secular? Is it full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Is it in line with the truth of Gods Word? Are you approaching life narrow-mindedly with religious (but unbiblical) standards and perspectives of holiness, righteousness, and spirituality?

Jesus said, I came to give you life and life to the full!(John 10) It is written that all things have been made pure through the blood of Jesus (Acts 10) and that we are to do everything to the glory of God! (Col 3)

I think many of us will be surprised to find out that God doesn't carry our perspective, preference, or prejudice toward a good many things in our world. To bad because the first thing I’d do is get rid of country music. Ha! ☺

Let's get back to His Word and do things his way!