Thursday, February 23, 2006

How Should I Know!?

Who has the right answer?
Take a look around, which church is the right church? Which televangelist has the right message? Which ‘purpose’ is the right purpose? “What Would Jesus Do? ®” [1]

The Barna Group (barna.org) recently issued a report that questions Americans’ understanding of ‘holiness’. One of the interesting things in the article is the quote, “…the implications of these perspectives for individual spirituality and the health of the Church.” The health of which Church is in question?

Many years ago, Dave Michaux, a Bible teacher (and current Chaplain of Colorado Springs Christian School), asked a question of his students. “If Jesus Christ were to visit earth on Saturday or Sunday, which church would he attend?” It is an interesting question. Dr. Michaux’s answer was a sort of epiphany. “His Church would go to Him.” Think about that for a moment. How many televangelists, preachers, teachers, church members, and parishioners would recognize Jesus Christ, much less drop everything to sit at His feet?

We live in a world of “agendas”. Individuals, communities, churches, and nations are all seeking goals. How do we KNOW which goals are the right goals?

It is an assertion, in previous articles, that a number of ‘truths’ ‘should’ be perceived, pursued, and lived.
Absolute moral Truth exists and the Bible defines that Truth. [2]

The chief purpose of our lives is to be “conformed to the image of His Son”. [3]

The first step to ‘conformity’ is salvation, something all of us need. [4]

While the primary purpose is to be “Christ-like”, the primary ‘mission’ is to spread the gospel of salvation (the ‘Great Commission’). Mark 16:15, crf. Matt. 28:18-20, Luke 24:46-47

How do we know which bandwagon is the ‘right’ bandwagon? Which church, televangelist, or movement has the ‘right’ agenda?

“You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything,” is a line from a Country Western song. It is ‘borrowed’.
Matthew 7: 24-27 tells us, ““Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.””

How do we know what we are ‘hearing’ are Christ’s sayings and not a twisted version to meet someone else’s agenda? In “Messianic Mixed Messages” we talked about the Bereans from Acts 17:11, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

The implication is clear. The Bereans did not accept ANYTHING preached to them at face value. We should do likewise. We are not to be just a passive audience accepting anyone’s word for the scriptures just because of their ‘credentials’. Whether it is church, television, or this blog, search the scriptures to see if it is Truth. Notice the Bereans, they were questioning THE evangelist. Paul is credited with starting more churches than any of the apostles did. He wrote more books of the New Testament than anyone else did. Yet, here, the Bereans receive commendation for challenging his testimony.

That does not mean ‘reject everything’. It means what it says; search the scriptures to determine “whether these things were so”. Christians are not ‘supposed’ to exist in a vacuum. Hebrews 10:24 - 25 tell us TO help each other do and understand what the scriptures teach. (“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”) The Holy Spirit guides us in understanding the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 2:13, “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”) We follow the example of the Bereans, “they searched”, and the command from Hebrews to “exhort one another”. [Like Trent in the last article corrected the use of eternal instead of everlasting (and the article was edited to reflect the correction).] Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

The bottom line then is to question what one hears. Search the scriptures to determine if it is true. Use and be used by other Christians to determine sound teaching. If it is not sound, reject it. The only way actually to accomplish this is to spend time in the Bible. Do not just dust off the Bible to carry to church so you ‘look’ like you are spiritual. Open it. Read it. Study it. Not occasionally, do it regularly. Again, what does it say about the Bereans? It says they searched the scriptures daily!

If one wants to know which bandwagon is the right bandwagon or which agenda is the right agenda - one has to become a Berean. Search “the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”






[1] “What Would Jesus Do” is a registered trademark of What Would Jesus Do? LLC
Image that - someone has actually registered that question as a trademark.

[2] Seeing Black & White in a World of Shades of Grey

[3] New Year - New Resolutions - New Perspective

[4] Dead and Judged - Judged Part 1
Escape Condemnation - Judged Part 2
Back Door to Heaven - Judged Part 3


Tuesday, February 14, 2006

A Journey… A Destination…

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

If that is true, what IS the destination? Most people (and religions) recognize that there is something after this life. Otherwise, the journey is simply from birth to death, with the destination being death. If death is not the ‘end’, then the answer must be ‘eternity’.

People ask, “What is the meaning of life?” This question has dogged humankind since the dawn of time. Before Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, and before the word ‘philosophy’ had been invented, people asked this question. It is still a popular question. Witness the popularity of Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”, or walk through the stacks at library looking at the thousands of books written on the subject.

There are only three people in history that truly understood their “meaning of life”. The first two were Adam and Eve. The third was Jesus Christ.

According to the Bible, until Adam sinned, every evening Adam and Eve walked in the Garden of Eden with God. They had the privilege every day of walking and talking with God. For them, the meaning of life was simple, God told them what He wanted them to do. Their mission was an everlasting* mission. When God created Adam and Eve, there was no such thing as death. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned,” Romans 5:17 (crf. Gen. 2:17, Ro. 3:23).

Jesus Christ understood the meaning of life. He knew what He had to do and why. He had to live a sinless life and die as a sacrifice for our sins. He had to do that to restore the everlasting* bond between humankind and God, and to conquer death. Romans 5:10-11 & 21, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” “…so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:10 “…but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,”

Originally, humankind was to last forever and in fellowship with God forever. Humans are still ‘designed’ for eternity. However, because of Adam’s sin, death entered the world. Along with Adam’s sin, each of us has sinned. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. That means we must face death. We also face separation from God because of sin.

Life is a journey; eternity is the destination. There is a conundrum. We know, both intuitively and Biblically that there is “something after”. That is because the human spirit is everlasting*. We know that there is something beyond death. We know that there are two possible destinations, the rest of eternity* with God and the rest of eternity* separated from God. Knowing that, we have a choice to be reconciled with God or not.

Going back to the ‘original’ statement, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” The question is not, “What is the meaning of life?” The question is, “Which destination will you choose?”

That is a true definition of free will. Will one accept the gift of God - Salvation, and the rest of eternity* with Him? Alternatively, will one reject the gift, and spend the rest of eternity* separated from Him?



* edited Feb 16 2006 in response to Trent's correct assertion that the human soul has a definate start point, and therefore cannot, by definition be eternal, just everlasting.


Thursday, February 02, 2006

Messianic Mixed Messages

Messianic: “of or relating to a messiah the expected king and deliverer of the Jews b. Jesus”

Home from a recent adventure, contemplating well meaning misguided attempts at seeking Truth.

The scene was a dinner party. An acquaintance queried, “Have you seen the new movie, ‘such and such’?” “I thought it had such strong messianic overtones that one should really see it!”

What wait a minute? There is something wrong here. The movie in question is not a morality play. It is not an allegory or simile like C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” [1]. It is a Hollywood blockbuster. A film rated PG PG-13 for frightening violence and disturbing images. A ‘Christian’ professional with a Masters degree in Christian Counseling is explaining messianic messages in a box office movie not even remotely ‘Christian’ in intent. As stated, there is something wrong here.

Hollywood is not in the business of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hollywood is in the business of making money. That is what they do. Hollywood makes movies to entertain to make money.

There is a disturbing trend here. The Lord of the Rings and Narnia sparked all kinds of ‘devotional’ and pseudo-spiritual guides designed to ‘appeal’ to wide audiences to explain Biblical Truth. Now there are people out there looking for messianic messages in any ‘blockbuster’. Understand the use of everyday anecdotes, stories, or movies, as a starting point to spread the gospel of salvation is not only smart; it is making use of available resources to fulfill the ‘Great Commission’ (Mark 16:15, crf. Matt. 28:18-20, Luke 24:46-47) [2]. However, looking for spiritual messages in mainline movies is inherently dangerous.

Here is the problem, how biblically grounded is the ‘messianic overtone’ in a movie? Two examples come to mind. First, consider an apple. An apple is an apple. Take a picture of an apple, and it looks like an apple. Have an artist draw a picture of the picture of an apple. Have another artist draw a picture of the apple in the first artist’s rendition, etc. Eventually and not very far removed, it no longer looks like an apple (or it looks like an apple but all kinds of things have been ‘added’, like the matte, frame, and background as each ‘artist’ adds their own unique touch).
Second, there is a ‘party’ game used in communication courses called ‘gossip’. The way it works is the first person in a group tells the second person a simple sentence. The sentence goes orally from one person to the next. The last person relates ‘their’ version of the sentence, and compares it to the original. Even among professional ‘communicators’ the ‘end’ version bears no resemblance to the original.

Here, the original is the Bible. The further we get from the Bible, the further from the Truth. The Bible is the original. We have it available. We do not need to look at a picture of it, or an artist’s rendition of an artist’s rendition of it. If we are searching for messianic messages, messianic overtones and Truth, go to the source.
In the book of Acts (17:10-12), we learn of the Bereans. Luke (the author) tells us some interesting things about the Bereans. “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (Verse 11) These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” We quote Verse 11 to encourage Christians to search the Bible to make sure the doctrine they are hearing (or in this case seeing) is the Truth. It is a good verse. Notice it commends the Bereans for searching and making sure what they were hearing is true. Verse 12 tells us what the end result of searching the scripture is, “Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” Plainly, searching the Bible to verify Truth leads to belief in the Truth, not belief in someone’s rendition of truth.

Looking for ‘messianic overtones’ in a movie is not where to find Truth. This is not a debate about what movies one should see [3]. This is simply an admonition to seek the Truth where the Truth is. If a theme in a movie, play, or anecdote is a place to open a dialog to share the gospel - share the gospel. Do not fall prey to the ever increasing trend that searches for the Truth about Jesus Christ and salvation in pop-culture [4].

John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Search for the Truth where the Truth is - in the Word of God.






[1] There has been heated debate all over the internet about C.S. Lewis’s works. One of the raging debates is whether the Narnia works are allegorical. Let us put that to rest here: “In an oft-quoted letter to a fifth-grade class in Maryland, Lewis wrote, "You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books 'represents' something in this world. Things do that in The Pilgrim's Progress but . . . I did not say to myself, 'Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia': I said, 'Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen.'" -- World Magazine, December 5, 2005

[2] A friend, at the same party remarked, “There are Biblical similes everywhere. Putting on a seatbelt in a car to be protected is like putting on the whole “Armor of God”!” (Referring to Ephesians 6:10-18) There are endless starting points to remind one’s self or start a conversation about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The problem is when we start looking at these not as reminders, but to ‘build’ our doctrine or beliefs on.

[3] The conversation about appropriate viewing, reading, or listening materials can spark a debate that will last until Christ’s return. When considering appropriateness the recommendation goes to the fundamentals of a ‘Christ-like’ attitude discussed in previous articles. One could simply ask, “Would I be viewing, reading, or listening to this if Jesus Christ was sitting next to me?” Oops, He is.

[4] This blog while it looks at history, politics, and current events is STILL trying to focus on the gospel of Salvation. There is an excellent place for both new and old Christians to build their fundamentals and foundational Truths of God. The "Pulpit of the Last Days" blog contains a lot of good material (to be sifted through and studied - as a Berean Christian). They present their material in ‘modular’ Bible Study format. While stressing the need for fundamental and foundational knowledge of doctrine, they also stress the need for a ‘Berean’ approach.