Doubled Up

Has anyone ever heard the same message twice and said to themselves, "Ugh, not this again. What is the deal with the Pastor, doesnt he realize he just taught this 6 months ago?!" Has anyone ever wanted to say something, but then thought to themselves, "What's the point? It's all been said before, they don't need to hear it again." Has anyone ever heard the same message twice and said to themselves, "Wow, I don't think I could ever get tired of that message! God is so good!"

Personally, I've fallen into all three categories, so I'll let you in on a little secret: The first two happen when we're not giving our all to God! For whatever reason and with whatever excuse we have decided that something or someone else takes priority in our lives, and 'magically' that translates into a lack of excitement or even hostility toward the teaching of God's truth. It's actually quite simple; we are just too blinded by our sin to realize it. If we feel like God is boring or repetetive or far away, it's because we are actively doing something wrong (i.e. we are sinning, and God isn't pleased with it). In my life, the most common two things that I miss are Bible reading and prayer. The importance of these two activities has probably been stressed to me thousands of times, yet here I am, stressing it again to myself and to my readers.

It's amazing how quickly such joyful activities can become a burden, or get excused away due to other religious activities. I am a member at quite a few Bible studies, so it's easy for me to say to myself, "Dude, Evan, you are so spiritual. God is pleased with you. I mean, you get into the Word prolly twice as much as 99% of the world, so reading it every day is not that big of a deal. Just take a break tomorrow and worship him by doing what you love; go take a break and have some fun!" Wait what!? Red Flag! Sounds more like my sinfulness and complacency than Christ talking; wouldn't you agree?

The Bible takes no such stance with meditation on Scripture. Psalm 119 is a great psalm for the importance of the Word and way of God. Psalm 119:10-11 says

"With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You."

I need to seek God with my whole heart, not half way. So diligently should I seek it and meditate on it and read it continually that it is hidden in my heart. Memorizing something takes time and effort and repetition. I'm sure making that transition from knowledge to application (head to heart) doesnt require any less effort. Besides, if God is the principle thing, the one thing we want in life and our only hope, then we will already be devouring His words like there's no tomorrow. I know a few people like that - they absolutely love the Lord and are a continually an encouragement to me to keep focusing on Him.

Once we get this down, the same message over and over again doesn't get boring. Instead it is encouraging! I hope this message was encouraging to you. But if it's same old same old "God is important, read the Bible, blah blah..." I'd do some soul searching. I know I had to before I wrote this one. I didn't know what to write, because I'd heard it all before. Hah. No more.

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." - Hebrews 3:13

Treasures of Wickedness

I'll be honest. I get so caught up sometimes in what is going to benefit me on earth, and base moral decisions with that as the most weighty factor. I recently wrestled at a wrestling tournament in which I had to forfeit first round to a girl, because the computer randomly paired her up with me, and we aren't allowed to wrestle girls at King's. This is based on the moral principle that men should treat women with gentleness, respect, and modesty. To be blunt, wrestling involves some sketchy situations that would certainly not be consider gentle, respectful, or modest if a girl was involved. So, I forfeited. I got about 4 positive responses and all other negative responses. So basically I did not win favor in the sight of man, nor the pleasure of placing higher than I did.

But who cares? Maybe a few wrestlers I half-know, or one of the assistant coaches. What does it gain me in the long run, though? I seriously hope I'm not looking back on that day for the next 50 years saying, "Man, if only I wrestled that girl..." It seems so important at the time, but when its all over, winning a few more matches doesn't matter one iota. How I lived my life is what will matter. People are more likely to look back and see a righteous pattern and use one of these incidents as an example than to praise me for getting 4th place in a small tournament rather than 7th. Proverbs says, "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death" (10:2). Funny how God hits it right on the head every time...

Perhaps you've heard someone say before that "The man with the most toys in the end wins." That has to be the most ridiculously hollow philosophy to ever form on the face of the earth. Wins what? What toys? Who cares? Everyone's dead in "the end"! The only thing that's left, as Bobby has been stressing to us in High Point recently, is our relationship with Christ. We are either his friend or his enemy, and only that is truly eternal. "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death" (Prov. 11:4).

So let us not waste our time any longer storing up earthly wealth or treasures of wickedness, because ultimately a life focused on doing that will only lead to disappointment, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33). The Lord will take care of our earthly needs if we make our focus living a righteous life pleasing to him.

"The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectation of the wicked will perish" (Prov. 10:28).

A Christian According to John

Well, technically according to the Holy Spirit who led John to write these words, but for simplicity we'll avoid technicalities as much as possible. As many of you may know, there is a problem at The King's Academy. Committed Christians are few and far between, and sin is often overlooked as 'no big deal.' I do sincerely apologize for every and any way I have contributed to this. There is a probability that many people may think they are Christians and are not, or just claim to be, and are not, and I think I know how people are able to pull off this balancing act between professing and practicing. It has occurred to me that a lot of people are going through an entire high school career having no idea what it means to be a Christian. What are the criteria for being a Christian? How do I know if I am a Christian? What sorts of things characterize a non-Christian? These are questions I hope to answer in this blog by using First John as my primary source. I've found it has a plethora of straightforward statements concerning those who love and know God.

A Christian…

Walks in the light, and he who walks in darkness is not a Christian - "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1:6).

Realizes that he or she is imperfect - "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1:10).

Is obedient to the Word - "...He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar..." (2:3-6; see also 3:24; 5:3).

Loves his brother - "He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now" (2:9; see also 3:10,14-15; 4:20-21).

Does not love the things of the world - "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15).
The things of the world are - "...the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..." (2:16).

Will never lose his or her salvation - "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us"(2:19).

Confesses Jesus Christ - "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (2:23; see also 4:15; 5:1,10,13).

Abides in love - "Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father" (2:24). "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another" (3:11) (see also 4:7-8; 4:16)

Practices righteousness - "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (2:29; see also 3:10).

Is not involved in habitual sin - "Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him" (3:6; see also 3:8-9; 5:18).

Should not be surprised if the world hates them - "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you" (3:13).

Has the Holy Spirit in them - "And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us" (3:24).

Overcomes the world – “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (5:4-5).

Has the Son of God – “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (5:12).

Is not under the sway of the wicked one – “…but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (5:18-19).

And once faced with all these criteria it suddenly becomes obvious why only by the grace of God anyone can ever become a Christian.

Ephesians 4:29-32

Paul in these verses lays down a few guidelines for directing our speech. The first is the goal, edification; then the result, imparting grace; then a few no’s: do not grieve the Holy Spirit, put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and malice; and on a positive note, be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. From the context I truly to think he is referring mostly to our speech.

I think if everyone took verse 29 and directly applied it to their life, there would be a lot less noise at school. I can see so often that I let corrupt words slip out of my own (or out of another’s) mouth, and if I cut away all unnecessary speech – since Paul does say “necessary edification” – I would certainly be a less talkative person. I hope that doesn’t become something I fear, because giving up some words should seem like a piece of cake in light of the fact that Christ calls us to give up everything. Simply not talking a lot would be easy, and probably provoke some conversations in which I could speak in a gracious and edifying manner. In my experience as a Christian, that opportunity is one of the most invigorating experiences, knowing that you’ll be able to share the gospel with someone. Paul goes from this verse into verse 30, which says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit,” and while he doesn’t specifically refer to speech in this verse, I think this can be taken in a similar manner as “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.” I seriously struggle with this, and whenever I slip up I always treat it like its “no big deal” or “God will just forgive me.” Attitudes like that, though, are what keep me from being close to God. It is a big deal when we use God’s name lightly, because God is not a light subject and the implications of his name are not simple. We cannot simply toss around the name of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being like it makes no difference, and this is something I seriously need to work on.

Verse 32 is pretty straightforward: Paul lists a bunch of attitudes we shouldn’t have. Now, anger is one of them, but we know from the context that he must be speaking here about an unrighteous anger that borders on hatred. All these things that he lists can be related to speech, and when I first read it, the first specific sin I thought of was gossip. How often do we let words come out of our mouths that are demeaning to others? It’s surprising, really. I think it’s because we don’t bother to really listen to ourselves. It’s like we just say what we feel without any discernment, and even though some might consider that “healthy” or “natural,” I’d consider it foolish. Sure, it’s natural. Sin is completely natural for human beings. We need to flee from that and continue to put on our new nature, which is characterized by the second verse: kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. Instead of trying to get revenge on those people who have wronged us, or simply tear down others in order to make ourselves look good, we should put others before ourselves, be understanding of their situations, and forgive them for what they may have done against us, because that is what God was like to us. Christ came down and did all these things and had this kind of humble attitude. He died on the cross for our sins, all of them. The least we could do is forgive our brothers the comparatively little things they do against us.

Ephesians 4:25-28

Paul continues from his previous section by echorting us with specfic examples of how we can live as we were called. Namely, by putting aside lying and instead speaking in truth, having a righteous anger and/or putting unrighteous anger aside before it is too alte, working for what we need rather than stealing it, and also giving up what we earn to "him who has need" (v.28).

Paul makes application extremely easy in this section by given specific examples of what we can do, the first among which is being truthful. The truth is essential to every part of iving; it affets everything from integrity to even simple knowledge of our surroundings. The situation gets annoyingly tedious when you feel compelled to check out everything someone says because you know you can't trust them. You can't change how you act based on that person's statements, because you can't even be sure their claims are legitimate. Nothing could be accomplished and communication with that person would be next to impossible because they are inconsistent in presenting you with reliable information and insights. I know people like this, and it is inexplicably frustrating. Paul mentions that we are members of one another, so with this lying subject he is specifically referring to Christians. If we lie to eachother, say, about what is going on in our lives, we will never be able to help eachother (or congratulate or encourage each other, but my argument assumes we would have no reason to hide the good things). If we seek help from each other and we lie, then we actually hurt eachother, which goes directly against our higher goal of the edification of the body.

Coming back to the topic of frustration, lets turn to verse 26: "Be angry, and do not sin." Anger can be righteous, and when it is derived from a love for God and hatred of sin it is even commanded. The most common example of righteous anger is Christ's cleansing of the temple, when he expelled it of the traders and "thieves" who had infested it (Read my post, Passion, for a more in depth analysis). However, Paul understood that anger, when prolonged, can easily turn harmful, resentful, and negative, which is why he commands to set aside any anger before the day is over. He doesn't want any evil motives to work their way into anger that is pure, and an easy way to do that is to let it go while you're still conscious.

The last verse doesn't seem to fit with this section (25-32), which has to do mostly with word relatied sins or good works. It simply says not to steal. Do not take anything that isn't yours. Rather, work (hard) for what you need, and then give what is yours to others who need. That seems simple enough, but it is easy to find oneself justifying the use of others' resources that they have not given away. Sin is not always blatantly obvious (though it becomes moreso with a greater understanding and knowledge of the word), and we need to be careful, whatever it may be, not to "give opportunity to the devil."

(Thank you MacArthur Study Bible for all your helpful notes ^_^)