Psalm 119:160 "The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever."
The NCAA basketball tournament is in full swing and the field is now down to the "sweet sixteen". One of the interesting stories of the tournament is the team from BYU. The Cougars have been ranked as one of the best teams in the nation, and they are still in the tournament in spite of the fact that one of their best players was kicked off of the team the last week of the season. He was kicked off the team because he had broken the schools honor code. Though it was never released how he had broken the code, word got out that it had to do with his sexual relationship with his girl friend. BYU is a Mormon school, and we are worlds apart from them as far as Biblical truth, but I have to give them props for sticking to their rules. I'm sure it must have been tempting to hide this, or put off any discipline until after the season, but they didn't. All of this made for a good deal of conversation on sports talk radio. As I was listening the other morning one of the commentators who was stirred by "unjust" way the school handled this, decided to give advise to churches and religious people on how to reach young people. He said if we are ever going to reach young people we need to catch up with the times. Now this isn't word for word, but he went on to say that the world is evolving at light speed, that morals and what is right and wrong are evolving. Then he compared religious people to some grouchy old man behind the counter at a local hardware store with a dial up phone yelling at little kids to get off of his lawn. What this sports guy said is really pretty main-stream, and I'm sure most off his listeners were nodding in agreement. The idea of sticking to Biblical morals truly is out of step with society. The belief in absolute truth and absolute morals is thought to be really out of touch and almost backward. The world tells us, things change, you need to catch up with the times, open your eyes, get out a little more. You religious folks are stuck in the past, we have cell phones now, color televisions, micro waves, and computers. Don't you see, abstinence is like the dial up phone and eight tracks, you need to catch up, it's time to evolve, and stop judging. I know we don't stand on the popular side of this discussion, but we old backward Bible believers have to stick to the truth that God has revealed to us in His word. Society will always change and follow it's whims, but the word of God does not evolve and change with the times. His truth was true six thousand years ago and is true today. His truth and righteousness are established from eternity to eternity. Our job is not to change truth, or water it down to make it more palatable to the taste of modern man. Our job is to know His truth, live His truth, and to share His truth as clearly as we can. Rest assured in these dark and unstable days, the best way to reach young people will be to present to them the unchanging true gospel of Jesus.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Heed the Warnings
Luke 17:26-27 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all"
It took Noah over one hundred years to build the ark. The moment he began to build the ark, it became a testimony and warning of a coming judgment of God. Anyone who paid any attention at all over those one hundred years would have seen the progression of the construction, and as it drew nearer to completion, they could have concluded that the judgment it pointed to must be drawing near. Sadly for the people of that day, they ignored the warning, and kept living as if there were no sentence hanging over them. This past week most of us saw the unbelievable devastation of the earth quake and tsunami in Japan. Not long after the quake a tsunami warning was given for the U.S. western coast. We were told to prepare for the wave to reach here around 8:30 in the morning. I'm enough inland so I didn't worry at all, but I was amazed to hear reports of people actually going down to the coast to check things out. One reporter on the radio was shocked to see joggers, bikers, and even a family with an infant in a stroller. The warning was given yet somehow people did not heed, perhaps they were thinking nothing could ever happen to them. My thoughts immediately turned toward the days of Noah, and the warning that Jesus gave us in the above verses. Jesus warns us that in the last days signs and warnings of His return will abound, yet people will live as if nothing is happening! We are living in dynamic times, and many Biblical prophesies are being fulfilled before our eyes, yet so many are taking no notice, so many are ignoring the warnings. How about us? It seems to me the ark is almost complete, but I wonder, are we living like it?
It took Noah over one hundred years to build the ark. The moment he began to build the ark, it became a testimony and warning of a coming judgment of God. Anyone who paid any attention at all over those one hundred years would have seen the progression of the construction, and as it drew nearer to completion, they could have concluded that the judgment it pointed to must be drawing near. Sadly for the people of that day, they ignored the warning, and kept living as if there were no sentence hanging over them. This past week most of us saw the unbelievable devastation of the earth quake and tsunami in Japan. Not long after the quake a tsunami warning was given for the U.S. western coast. We were told to prepare for the wave to reach here around 8:30 in the morning. I'm enough inland so I didn't worry at all, but I was amazed to hear reports of people actually going down to the coast to check things out. One reporter on the radio was shocked to see joggers, bikers, and even a family with an infant in a stroller. The warning was given yet somehow people did not heed, perhaps they were thinking nothing could ever happen to them. My thoughts immediately turned toward the days of Noah, and the warning that Jesus gave us in the above verses. Jesus warns us that in the last days signs and warnings of His return will abound, yet people will live as if nothing is happening! We are living in dynamic times, and many Biblical prophesies are being fulfilled before our eyes, yet so many are taking no notice, so many are ignoring the warnings. How about us? It seems to me the ark is almost complete, but I wonder, are we living like it?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Happy Lent
"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. Lent used to be a big deal to me, since I grew up in the Catholic Church, attending a Catholic school. On Ash Wednesday the day would begin with mass, and we would all have a black cross of ash smudged on our foreheads. The nuns in our school would have us fill out cards listing all the things we would give up for the forty days of Lent. We would also list all the extra devotions we would do in preparation for Easter Week. In my younger years my family took the season pretty seriously. We usually gave up all sweets (except on St. Patrick's day), we would also attend the stations of the cross on Fridays and say the rosary every night. I really don't have any problem with the practice of giving things up for Lent, as long as ones heart is right, in the giving up of things. As a youngster my heart wasn't exactly right, my primary motivation was scoring bunches of spiritual points with God, and my parents, and the nuns. Jesus warns us about fasting with wrong intent. He tells us that God is in that secret place, that is our hearts, He knows our unseen motives and intents. It is easy for us to look upon our fasting in a prideful or competitive way as the Pharisees did. If pride is involved it can lead to comparisons with others, expecting that the more I give up, the more spiritual I am, and the more God owes me. The right motive in fasting or giving things up for a season, is not the giving up, but setting our focus. Our tendency is to be too flesh centered or self focused. The fast is to get my focus off of me and my flesh, and set it upon the Lord and the spiritual. If I give up television or the computer, or newspaper, or meal, I do so that I might take that time that was for physical activity and fill it with something spiritual, like prayer, worship, or the word. Again, the focus is not the giving up of something, but in setting my heart to focus on the Lord. I remember another problem I had with Lent as a youngster, those forty days were the only days I gave up anything for the Lord. I would put in my time at Lent, and bingo, I was done for the year! It is not about spiritually gutting it up for forty days. We ought to have a Lenten type lifestyle throughout the year, looking to always live more and more unto the Lord, and less and less unto ourselves. There is no need for you to run out and put ashes on your forehead today, just let the beginning of this season remind you of the great grace we celebrate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And let that great grace stir your heart to live all the more for our precious Lord.
Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. Lent used to be a big deal to me, since I grew up in the Catholic Church, attending a Catholic school. On Ash Wednesday the day would begin with mass, and we would all have a black cross of ash smudged on our foreheads. The nuns in our school would have us fill out cards listing all the things we would give up for the forty days of Lent. We would also list all the extra devotions we would do in preparation for Easter Week. In my younger years my family took the season pretty seriously. We usually gave up all sweets (except on St. Patrick's day), we would also attend the stations of the cross on Fridays and say the rosary every night. I really don't have any problem with the practice of giving things up for Lent, as long as ones heart is right, in the giving up of things. As a youngster my heart wasn't exactly right, my primary motivation was scoring bunches of spiritual points with God, and my parents, and the nuns. Jesus warns us about fasting with wrong intent. He tells us that God is in that secret place, that is our hearts, He knows our unseen motives and intents. It is easy for us to look upon our fasting in a prideful or competitive way as the Pharisees did. If pride is involved it can lead to comparisons with others, expecting that the more I give up, the more spiritual I am, and the more God owes me. The right motive in fasting or giving things up for a season, is not the giving up, but setting our focus. Our tendency is to be too flesh centered or self focused. The fast is to get my focus off of me and my flesh, and set it upon the Lord and the spiritual. If I give up television or the computer, or newspaper, or meal, I do so that I might take that time that was for physical activity and fill it with something spiritual, like prayer, worship, or the word. Again, the focus is not the giving up of something, but in setting my heart to focus on the Lord. I remember another problem I had with Lent as a youngster, those forty days were the only days I gave up anything for the Lord. I would put in my time at Lent, and bingo, I was done for the year! It is not about spiritually gutting it up for forty days. We ought to have a Lenten type lifestyle throughout the year, looking to always live more and more unto the Lord, and less and less unto ourselves. There is no need for you to run out and put ashes on your forehead today, just let the beginning of this season remind you of the great grace we celebrate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And let that great grace stir your heart to live all the more for our precious Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)