Deluge: Who or What?

Natural disasters have a way of waking us up to the reality of death, making us think about the sort of issues we don’t usually think about in the relative ease and comfort of our first world lives. To a Christian, coming face-to-face with death and the destruction of the highly predictable world we are accustomed to can confront us with questions about what caused the calamity.

The most common explanation is to say that “God did not cause it, but he can use it for good”. This sort of statement has become a kind of slogan which even people who are not saved affirm in the face of calamity. It sounds reasonable at one level because God is good and compassionate and He is not the author of evil. Deuteronomy 32:4 says “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Habakkuk 1:13 says “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”

However, does this mean that God could not or would not act to bring about a flood like the one we experienced? Instead of trusting our fallen instincts we need to know what the Lord has revealed in scripture. We can’t believe something just because it sounds right, especially if it contradicts the clear teaching of scripture. So what does the Bible teach? Before we go looking for answers, let’s be sure to recognise that there is the potential for every fiber of our being to want to reject what the Bible says if the answers we find don’t fit with what we feel must be right. We are fallen and we live our lives immersed in a culture that has subtly but very effectively manipulated how we view the world we live in. Scripture says we should “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). So let’s be vigilant and tread carefully…

The book of Job is a natural place to start. The events in chapter one of Job present one of the most compelling incidences of suffering by natural calamity in scripture. Verse 19 describes how Job lost his ten children as a result of a “great wind”. Although Satan was the agent in Job’s affliction we see in verse 12 that it was God who gave him permission. In fact, in verse 8, God initiates the discussion that leads to the affliction by asking Satan “Have you considered my servant Job…?” In verse 21, in responding to the news of this natural disaster Job says “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”.

In chapter 2, the heavenly discussion between God and Satan that initiated the events in chapter 1 is repeated – God asking Satan to consider Job again in verse 3. Then in verse 5 Satan says to God “…stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” Then in verse 7 it says that “Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores”. Here we see that Satan’s delivering this affliction is the result of God’s “stretching out His hand”. Satan is real and his intentions are evil, but he did nothing which God did not permit him to. Then in verse 10 after Satan afflicts Job, Job tells his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Moving further into the book, in Job 9:6 the inspired author says “who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble” and in Job 9:12 he says “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?” In Job 38:8-11 God asks Job “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, …and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Job’s understanding of what happened in the first chapters is confirmed towards the end of the book where in Job 42:2 he says in prayer “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Again a few verses later it says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

There is little doubt in this instance, that God is ultimately decisive in this calamity. But what about the rest of scripture - is Job’s affliction an isolated case? The Psalms are another part of scripture that is filled with suffering and affliction and a number of verses specifically relate to our quest. Psalm 135:6 says “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Psalm 89:9 says “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. (89:9); Psalm 104:32 says [He] looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! Also Psalm 147:18 says “He sends out his word, and … makes his wind blow and the waters flow”.

The book of Isaiah likewise makes it clear that God is sovereign over calamity when in Isaiah 45:7, God says “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. Isaiah 31:2 says “And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words”. The book of Amos asks rhetorically "If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). Similarly, Lamentations 3:38 says “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?”

The global deluge that destroyed the entire world with the exception of Noah and his family is described in Genesis 6. In verse 13, God declares “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” In response to the depravity of Sodom in Genesis 19, the Lord “rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” Another example from the Old Testament is the foreshadowing of the “lifting up” of the Son of Man in Numbers 21, when God responds to the grumblings of Isreal by sending “fiery serpents among the people” which bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

What about the New Testament - do we see the same declaration of ultimate sovereignty over nature and natural disaster? Jesus showed His control over nature when He rebuked the waves in Luke 8:24-25, and commanded unclean spirits in Mark 1:27. The smallest events in nature are shown to be under God’s control including even the death of a sparrow (Matthew 10:29). Also, the very hairs on your head are all numbered according to Matthew 10:29-30.

In Luke 13, Jesus is questioned about the tower in Siloam which fell on and killed some Galileans. His response indicates that the event was an intentional form of temporal judgment saying in verse 5 “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” James refers in James 5:11 to the afflictions of Job as “the outcome of the Lord's dealings”.

Make no mistake, our conclusion is a hard truth. Floods are ultimately from God. In spite of the world’s tendency to attribute disaster to “Mother Nature”, the creation does not have a will of its own. God is sovereign and Satan has no freedom other than what God gives him. God governs everything in creation including natural disasters that result in pain and suffering. That is what the Bible teaches, and in light of that fact, no matter how good our intentions are we cannot say that He was not ultimately decisive in bringing the floods we suffered through.

There is good news though, and we’ll look at that next post…

For now, let us sing to the Lord as David in his Song of Deliverance:

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . This God—his way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31).



Deluge: Drowning…

This is a picture of what was a bridge to a neighboring suburb just a few days ago before the unimaginable happened. With my wife and three young children I drove across that bridge the day before this photo was taken. The world awoke that day to the horrific images of a violent deluge resulting from a deadly combination of a land soaked to capacity from many weeks of rain and a series of freak storms delivering masses of water over a wide area.

The Queensland floods last week, were and still are a calamity that is hard to come to terms with. The area declared a disaster zone is larger than Europe - this is a flood on an unprecedented scale. The torrent caused widespread devastation well beyond the borders of Queensland across four of Australia’s six states, bringing the city of Brisbane to its knees and washing away whole towns in regional areas. The news of floods in many other countries across the globe is staggering.

For many hundreds of thousands of people this disaster has cast a deep shadow over their lives. We watched helplessly as the silent unstoppable killer rose up and devoured everything in sight, witnessing this devastation first-hand. We were cut off from access to the outside world with no power and dwindling food stocks, and had no access to vital medicines. We were engulfed by the adrenaline rush in the frantic rescue of people, pets and possessions in the early hours of the morning, and worst of all many lost friends and family who were swept away in the raging waters. In the aftermath, the overwhelming scale of the clean-up and the grief we feel for friends and family who’ve lost everything brings our emotions to the brink even as the stench of death and disease still fills the air.

In the wake of this disaster, when the reality of what has happened starts sinking in, questions arise. Who or what has caused this tragedy? Why has this happened? How do we live after this and what should we do now? Answering those questions is not easy and it does not come naturally. Something inside us wants to run and hide and forget this ever happened. Nothing makes sense. Despair is all around.

Answers seem very far from our grasp, but for Christians having biblical answers for the sake of our own understanding and to enable us to respond appropriately is crucial. Many Christians will be tempted to answer the questions that arise after this disaster in the same way as the world. These answers may seem right and even sentimental but they are a hindrance. We need to know the truth.

The first glimmer of light comes when we remember that we have been given truth. Psalm 119 says that God’s Word is “a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path” (v 105) and that the “sum of [His] word is truth” (v160). Fortunately, in His providence, our Lord has plenty to say in His Word about natural disasters. What follows over the coming days is a look at what our Master has revealed about calamity – who is responsible, why does it happen and how we should respond…

Treasure Christ

...press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...(Phil 3:14)

Read Dead Men!



Although the Scriptures are paramount in the Christian diet, other resources can be helpful. We should search the Scriptures like the Bereans in Acts 17 who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily”, but also we should recognise that God has used people throughout the ages to establish a beacon for biblical truth.

In fact, God ordains that there have been teachers throughout the history of the church to help us grasp and apply the truth of Scripture. God Himself says of this in Ephesians 4:11-15 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ … so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Also, in Hebrews 13:7 He says “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”

God has called a long line of godly people to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) by producing resources which He wants us to use.

God has also ordained increasingly abundant access through technology to a rich array of resources from people like the early church fathers and the reformers of the 16th Century.

The reality is that although there are today people who are fulfilling this mandate from the Lord, it is of immense value that we leverage the full spectrum of additional resources God has provided. In short, we should “read dead men”!

Have you heard that a fish knows least of all what it is to be wet? You’re thinking this must be part of another blog post right? Wrong! This saying perfectly illustrates why we should “read dead men”. The benefit of reading books written by the leading shepherds in previous generations and era’s is that it provides a sort of portal through which we can escape the natural bias that is built into anything which anyone in your own time says or writes. This is critical because the lenses of your culture do have a distorting effect which you most often cannot even discern, never mind escape.

With hindsight, the distorting effect of culture can be seen in the mistakes or omissions that have been made by some of the greatest teachers that ever existed, who were unable to escape cultural bias.

This effect is especially magnified today when the average number of media messages each person is exposed to is in the thousands. The post-modern world distorts ideas and concepts in very specific and unhelpful ways, some even blatantly satanic. Our culture today is one in which there is an exponential numbing to things which even a generation ago would have caused an outrage.

All this is important for Christians, because we are supposed to be the stewards of a gospel message that never changes, and the lamps from which the light of the glory of God is seen by the world. Flowing on from that, the under-shepherds of the body of Christ especially need to be well equipped to teach away from the errors of our day.

Finally, we should  “read dead men” because the Lord has instructed us to do so.  

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

Tethered



Sometimes we need to be reminded of the foundational issues in our faith. Going back to basics is often what yields the most fruit in our walk with the Lord.

There is really no more a foundational issue than what you believe about the Bible. As Christians, we should be tethered to it, and there are some very good reasons for this:

1. it is inspired by God or God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20–21)

2. it is inerrant (contains no errors – Psalm 19)

3. it is authoritative (we must do what it says - Psalm. 119).

4. it is sufficient - 2 Peter 1:3–4; Psalm 19; 2 Timothy 3:17; Hebrews 4:12
5. it is relevant - totally relevant for every situation. (Psalm 19; 2 Tim. 3:17; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 40:8)

Although these things can be denied by someone who is still a Christian, denial would raise questions about a person's salvation since accepting these shows the work of regeneration of the heart by the Holy Spirit. Given the biblical support for believing these things about the Scriptures, 1 John 2:4 reinforces this: “Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him…” A fruit of the indwelling Spirit is agreement in word and deed with the scriptures.

Especially at this time of year, when many people break from home groups or are away from fellowship as a result of the holidays, drawing near to God through His Word is essential not to neglect.

The Word is the weapon of choice for the soldier of Christ. According to Ephesians 6, God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit which has been given to us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might because we wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So we must be sober-minded and watchful because our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

For the word of God is living and active... 

Hearing God’s Heart at Christmas

So much can be said about the wonder that Christmas should be, and the tragedy of what it has been made.

For those who love Christ, it is enough to meditate on what is in God’s heart at Christmas time, and through this to hear His still small voice.

My Son “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:7-8)

He has done this for you; what have you done for Him?"

Does your heart beat with his heart this Christmas?

Are you pursuing in your life the things He was born and bled to obtain?

There is nothing that we should want more in life than the reward of His incarnation, His humiliation and His suffering.

Make War!

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9)  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rom 6:6) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own". (1 Cor 6:19)

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13) In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Heb 12:4) For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2:18) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8) Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24) Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Cor 10:5) Discipline your body and keep it under control. (1 Cor 9:27) Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14) For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Tim 4:10)
  
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2)

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (John Owen)

Surveying the Separation of Sheep

The internet has made it too easy for anyone with a computer to publish just about anything and claim that it is fact. In addition, the exponential effect of more convenience combined with many more “truth-claims” has made us lazy. Combining these trends creates the potential for the body of Christ to be easily deceived.

Adding to this problem, our culture unfortunately makes it hard to get at the truth. The idea of “tolerance” has been twisted to the point where nobody can challenge anything that anyone says (culture says there is no absolute truth, and everything is relative). This is the breeding ground for today’s “pluralism”, which says that it does not matter what you believe.

One of the effects of this is that churches have buckled under the social pressure to be “inclusive” and so have avoided teaching hard things. These churches focus instead on being “seeker-sensitive” and tailor their messages to meet people’s “felt needs” instead of teaching the Bible. As a result doctrines that are not “soft” like Predestination, Perseverance and many others are often neglected.

There is a biblical obligation for us to avoid being deceived which underscores the fact that it does matter what you believe. 1 Timothy 4:16 says “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”. 2 Peter 3:18 exhorts us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.

We should always be driven by what Scripture says, and not by our own fallible minds and emotions. Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things…” If at any time, our thoughts and feeling seems to contradict what Scripture says, we should reject our thoughts and feelings. As we grow in spiritual maturity, and are exposed to deeper insights into things in Scripture which we may not have been aware of before, and we may then be tempted to compare what we think and feel to what the Bible says. The deep rooted pride in all of us may not want to yield to biblical truth that exalts God and gives Him the due credit for things that the flesh would prefer to take credit for.

Although Predestination and Perseverance are not essential to believe for salvation, they are still important. God has given us His Word, so that we may know Him and understand His plan of redemption. He is glorified when we study His Word and understand what He has done for us. We come to know Him more intimately when we do, which leads to deeper worship. Denying anything which is clearly taught in the Bible is an act of disobedience. If we love Him we should not want to be purposefully disobedient.

We should never evaluate God or His works as if He is like us. In fact, many people struggle to accept hard teachings like Predestination and Perseverance for this reason. God has revealed enough about these issues to make it clear that they are biblical. As humble fallen creatures, we must strive to acknowledge and embrace what God has revealed, and accept that we cannot understand His ways perfectly. John 8:23 says “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. John 18:36 says “My kingdom is not of this world.” Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The fact that something does not make perfect sense to us does not make it untrue if it is clearly taught in scripture.

Here are six observations extracted from an exposition by John Piper on John 10:15-16…

1. Jesus Calls Himself a Shepherd

Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd." Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd." Jesus is probably thinking of himself here as the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:22–24 where God says about his people Israel, I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them: I, the Lord, have spoken.

The flock of God is the people of Israel. God promises to put his servant David over them to be their shepherd. And he speaks of having to judge between sheep and sheep.

This leads to the second observation, namely, that in John 10 . . .

2. Some Sheep Are Christ's and Some Are Not

Verses 3b–4: "He calls HIS OWN sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them." Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd; I know MY OWN and MY OWN know me."

In other words, not all the people in the flock of Israel truly belonged to Christ. Some were his sheep. Some weren't.

The reason some belonged to Jesus so that he could call them HIS OWN is that . . .

3. The Father Had Given Them to the Son

Verse 29: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

This is Jesus' way of talking about election. God has chosen a people for his own. These are his elect sheep. He then gives them to his Son so that they can be saved by faith in him. You can see this clearly in John 17:6 where Jesus says to his Father, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

So Jesus can speak with confidence about some sheep among the flock of Israel that are definitely his, because they first belonged to the Father by election and then were given to the Son by the Father—"Yours they were, and you hast given them to me." (See John 6:37, 6:39, 6:44, 6:65; 17:9, 17:24; 18:9.)

Therefore, knowing those who are his,

4. Jesus Calls Them by Name and They Follow

Verses 3b–4: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Verse 27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

He separates sheep from sheep, as Ezekiel said, by calling his own by name. When he calls, his sheep recognize his voice and they follow him, and he gathers them into a new flock, namely, the church, the true Israel of God.

Be sure you see the thrust of these verses: being one of Christ's sheep enables you to respond to his call. It is not the other way around: responding to his call does not make you one of his sheep. That is the offensive thing about this chapter. It strips the unbeliever of the presumption that the final determination of his life lies in his own power. Notice verse 26: "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep."

Picture yourself as a Pharisee hearing the message of Jesus and saying to yourself, "If he thinks I am going to be sucked in to this movement along with the tax collectors and sinners, he's crazy. I have a will of my own and the power to determine my own destiny." And then picture Jesus, knowing what is in your heart, saying, "You think you are in control of your life. Truly, truly I say to you, you do not believe because the Father has not chosen you to be among my sheep." The final boast of unbelief is destroyed by the doctrine of election. Those whom God chose he also gave to the Son, and those whom he gave to the Son the Son also called, and his sheep hear his voice and they believe.

But that is not all that Jesus does for his sheep.

5. The Good Shepherd Also Lays Down His Life for His Sheep

Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verses 14–15: "I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."

In other words those whom the Father chose, he also gave to the Son; and those whom he gave to the Son, the Son also called; and those whom he called, he also justified by laying down his life for the sheep.

And on the basis of this sacrifice . . .

6. Jesus Gives Eternal Life to His Sheep and It Can Never Be Taken Away

Verses 27–30: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

In other words those whom the Father chose for himself he also gave to the Son, and those whom he gave to the Son the Son also called, and for those he called he also laid down his life, and to those for whom he died he gave eternal life, and it can never be taken away.

The picture we have in John 10 is of a great shepherd who sovereignly saves his sheep. The Father gives them to him. He dies for them. He calls them by name. He gives them eternal life. And he keeps them forever.

You've Never Felt More Alive

Ever visited a place so beautiful that you were in awe? The Island of Bora Bora in Tahiti does that. It’s devastating when you find out that you can’t live there unless you were born there.

If you’ve ever found yourself speechless at the beauty of creation, you’ve experienced an amazing aspect of the capacity for worship which God placed in every person.

It is because of our fallen nature that only the most magnificent things in creation manage to break through and touch us in that way. We should experience that awe in even the smallest things we see in creation because everything was designed to do that.

We may be partly deaf, but all of creation screams God’s glory! God’s eternal power and divine nature are clear in the things which He created ever since the creation of the world (Romans 1:20), the heavens declare His glory (Psalm 19:1 & 8:1) and specifically the gospel has been proclaimed in all creation (Col 1:23). Even in the New Jerusalem, the glory of God is the light and the Lamb (Jesus) is the lamp (Rev 21:23). That is awesome!

There is something God put inside the heart of man (Eccl 3:11) that leads us to discover a strange and counter-cultural reality. We experience the greatest sense of fulfilment when we encounter something so amazing that it makes us feel insignificant. Our world says we find this in ourselves, but the very design of our being in those moments when we are in awe of something far greater than we are shows us this is not true.

When we lose ourselves we find ourselves, and God designed you to lose yourself in Him, and in His wondrous plan of redemption. God’s ultimate purpose for all of creation is His own glory, and God is most glorified in you when you are lost within His love, displayed in the giving of His precious Son for you.

Before the foundation of the world, before you were born or took your first breath, the Father chose to give to His Son a bride - to love the Son forever, to serve the Son forever, to praise the Son forever, to glorify the Son forever. His bride would be a redeemed humanity who will fill eternal heavens with praise and honour as they gather around the throne of God crying out forever and ever, "Worthy is the Lamb." (Rev 4&5)

Redemptive history ends when the last name is redeemed and the Father will have gathered and presented the bride to His Son and everything will be in subjection to Him. When everything is done, and all the redeemed are gathered and the Father has given the Son His bride, the Son in an act of reciprocal love gives the bride and Himself back to the Father so that God is all in all. (1 Cor 15:28)

We are saved, because we are caught up in a glorious divine expression of love between the Father and the Son that is way beyond us. The price for His bride was His own blood. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ like a lamb spotless and unblemished.

Lose yourself now, as you meditate on Jesus, your Saviour. His sweetness is without measure. His mercy in saving you is without bounds. He is the radiance of the glory of God… (Heb 1:3)

To Die Is Gain

Treasuring anything in your life above Christ is a tragedy!



http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_dwyl/dwyl_full.pdf

Do You Pisteuō?



This sounds like something you don’t write about in a Christian blog. But you can relax. This page is not going to get flagged by your accountability program!

Pisteuō (πιστεύω) is the greek word which in most English translations of the Bible is given as “believe”. It occurs about 250 times in the New Testament. For example John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So what?

Here’s why you should care: According to many sources the number of Christians in the world is over 2 billion which represents the majority of people, and yet according to Scripture there won’t be “many” who as John 3:16 puts it “don’t perish”: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Mat 7:14) That means many of those 2 billion people are deluded, and will realise they were not Christians when it’s too late! Put another way, many people who would call themselves Christians are not really “believing”.  

Kinds of Believing

There are kinds of believing that do not save! Like the many” mentioned in John 2 verses 23 & 24 who “believed in [Jesus’] name when they saw the signs that he was doing but Jesus did not entrust (or believe - pisteuō is the word used here) himself to them,…”

Interesting that word “many”. In the verse before Matthew 7:14 quoted above, it says there are many who try to enter through an easy way (instead of the hard way), and that way leads to destruction.

Scripture tells Christians to test themselves to be sure they are believing: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Cor 13:5) From a human perspective that sounds weird! Flesh wants to say “surely if I believe something, I would know whether I believe?” Therein lies the problem. Salvation is a miracle! Being “born of God”, receiving Christ, believing in Jesus are by grace alone through faith alone.  You don’t save yourself. Saying you are a Christian, because you say so is nonsense and theologically implies you have saved yourself. Tragically, that is exactly what is behind the professions of many of the 2 billion professing Christians.

Pisteuō

So pisteuō is an important word to understand. Pronounced as pist-yoo'-o, it means to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing). That is by implication to entrust: - believe, commit (to trust), put trust in.

The word is derived from another greek word, pistis (πίστις - pronounced pis'-tis) which means  persuasion, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; with constancy in such profession.

John 3:16 is a wonderful verse for those who love Christ, but like anything in Scripture it can get twisted. Many people who know John 3:16, would say they do believe in Jesus like it says. But the kind of "believe" they mean may be the wrong kind. It's more like the kind you mean when you say "I don't believe in Santa". This is an intellectual assent to a fact, without any evidence in their lives of the commitment that follows if you really believe. If you overlay the above definitions of pisteuō onto John 3:16, the kind of believing implied is one in which “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever relies upon Christ for salvation and commits to him should not perish but have eternal life.

Saying it that way makes it a little harder for people to say “sure I believe in Jesus!” Even demons do that! (James 2:19)

The amazing story of the French tightrope walker, Charles Blondin, crossing Niagara Falls is a great illustration of what true faith is.
In June of 1859 he attempted to become the first person to cross a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile across the mighty Niagara Falls.

He walked across 160 feet above falls several times, each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet! On one occasion though, he asked for the participation of a volunteer. A large crowd gathered and a buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oooohed!” and “Aaaaahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across one dangerous step after another -- blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow.

Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"The crowd enthusiastically shouted, "Yes, yes, yes. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything!"

"Okay," said Blondin, "Get in the wheelbarrow....."

No-one did!

The story of Charles Blondin paints a real life picture of what faith actually is. The crowd had watched his daring feats. They said they believed, but their actions proved they truly didn't.  James Chapter 1 captures this nicely: “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

It's one thing for us to say we believe in God. It's true faith though when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Church Health-Check

Every now and then, you take your body down to the doctors office to make sure there is still a pulse! The Body of Christ is no different.

Whether you're a Pastor, Elder, or just one of the flock, Christ calls us to serve eachother in love and in truth, so be constantly discerning about where your church is at, and where you are at in it, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 

Satans spends much of his time in church, trying to distract, deceive and distort. Know he is there.

"To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints..." (Eph 6:18)

Mark Dever, who was down-under last year, gives a clear description of the vital signs to check...




Why These Nine Marks? from 9Marks on Vimeo.

Responding to "Fun"

Ever had someone say to you: “don’t be so serious!”?

Too many have believed the worldly post-modern lie that what is convenient, easy, and “fun” is always good…

"The kind of religion that God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull  and lifeless “wouldings” – those weak inclinations that lack convictions – that raise us but a little above indifference. God, in His word, greatly insists that we be in good earnest, fervent in spirit, and that our hearts be engaged vigorously in our religion:

“Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11)."

- Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746)

According to http://thesaurus.com/browse/fervent

Main Entry:       fervent/fervid

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition:          enthusiastic, excited

Synonyms:       animated, ardent, blazing, burning, devout, dying to, eager, earnest, ecstatic, emotional, enthused, falling all over oneself, fiery, glowing, go great guns, heartfelt, hearty, hot*, hot-blooded, impassioned, intense, passionate, perfervid, pious, religious, responsive, serious, sincere, unfeigned, vehement, warm, warmhearted, wholehearted, zealous

So be serious about your God!

Intensity in Prayer

This dull flesh, in its worldly leanings, needs the Lord's constant grace. This is especially true in prayer, when we are before the throne of God. It is then that the knowledge of His holiness and majesty should light a blazing fire of passionate surrender within us and obliterate anything which is not focussed solely on our communion with Him. But, sadly this is often not the case to our great shame.

As little children, prone to wanderings and weakness, sometimes we need some help remembering Who we are talking to. Something from Desiring God:

Whatever it takes, Lord, give me...

Delight in you as the greatest treasure of my heart.

Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Desire to know you, be with you, and seek your kingdom above all else.
        

Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Discernment that comes from a renewed mind that I might know your will.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Desperation because when I stop feeling my need for you I tend to wander.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. (Psalm 119:67)

Discipline to plan for what I discern as your will.
    

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Diligence to do your will with all my heart.
        

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)