February 11, 2015

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

The world of college basketball in particular and the world in general suffered a significant loss with the death of Coach Dean Smith.

At the time of his retirement in 1997 he had won more games that any other NCAA Division I basketball coach. The number of wins was impressive but what set him apart was how he built a winning tradition while developing scores of young men into outstanding basketball players and, more importantly, successful men beyond basketball.

Dean Smith built the North Carolina Tar Heels into a national dynasty through his system he dubbed the "Carolina Way". 

The "Carolina Way" wasn't a successful because it changed the rules of basketball or the size of the court or the height of the rim but because he was able to motivate his players to execute within the rules of the game more effectively than other coaches. Not only did he respect the rules of the game and taught his players to, as well, but he was also able to convince the best young basketball players in the country to join his team. Furthermore, Coach Smith understood and respected the fundamental of the game and taught them to his players better than most other college coaches. He innovated within the rules better than just about every other coach of his time.

So, the "Carolina Way" embraced and taught by Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith was so successful because it submitted to the rules of basketball, the fundamentals of basketball and the strategies of the game and he was able to convince talented players to come to Chapel Hill and submit to his system. He is respected by those within the game because of the way he respected the game!

That is essentially what Solomon says about wisdom. Wisdom begins when you stop believing you are the smartest guy in the room and submit to God's wisdom, God's will and God's way. 

Wisdom begins where your dependence on your own knowledge ends.

February 10, 2015

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

Solomon, who wrote these words, was the wisest man who ever lived who was not named Jesus.

For the past six weeks we have been learning from him about making wise decisions. The question I have been trying to burn into you mind at every invitation, every impulse, every opportunity and every decision point is: "what is the wise thing for me to do?"

But Solomon reminds us that asking that question just brings you to the edge of wisdom. Gaining wisdom begins with "fearing God". What does it mean to "fear" God? To fear God means that you "give Him recognition and reverence by submitting to His will and His ways".

Fearing the Lord means waking up in the morning and declaring "You are God, I'm not!"

Fearing the Lord means confessing, "You are Holy and I am sinful!"

Fearing the Lord acknowledges, "You are wise and I am a fool!"

Until you submit yourself to God, you have not properly recognized Him or given Him reverence.

If you remember, this is how Solomon became wise in the first place!

“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings."  I Kings 3:7-13

How can you ask, "What is the wise thing for me to do?" and not submit yourself to God?  If Solomon couldn't get wisdom until he submitted to God, how do you think you have a chance at it?

Just as it is dangerous and destructive to spend your life living on the edge of sexual immorality, so it is futile to live on the edge of wisdom without submitting to the fear of God.

Will you wisely submit to God today?

February 9, 2015

I’m convinced that one of the most difficult things that the Scripture asks us to do is found in Romans 12:15. That verse says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

Now the mourning part is not so hard. If there are those who are having a difficult time in life, going through trials and tribulations, we can usually muster up enough sympathy and empathy to hold their hand and provide a shoulder for them to cry on, maybe even to cry with them,and to pray for them during their difficulties.

But to “rejoice with those who rejoice” may be harder.

"It is, indeed, more difficult to congratulate another on his success, especially if his success involves disappointment to us, than it is to sympathize with his sorrow and his loss. It is only when self is dead that we can take as much joy in the success of others as in our own" (Barclay, p. 182). "

Now, it is pretty easy to rejoice at the wedding of a friend if you’re happily married. But if you’re single, and you’d like to be married; if you’re lonely and feel rejected, then an invitation to someone else’s wedding may be a pretty difficult thing to handle.

You drive an old car that’s showing its age, and then your neighbor buys a brand new SUV.

Your sister’s kids are all star athletes and honor students and yours act like juvenile delinquents.

Someone else at the office gets a promotion and a raise, and you don’t, even though you have seniority. It is kind of hard sometimes, isn’t it, to “rejoice with those who rejoice” ?

You see, one of the difficulties is that when something good happens to others, we often compare ourselves to them. “Well, I’m smarter than they are.” Or, “I work harder than they do.” Or, “They’re just lucky. They get all the breaks, and I don’t.”

Imagine that you are at an NFL game with a friend. You were given two free tickets to the Redskins game and so you invited him to go with you. These are the best seats you have ever had! You can’t believe your good fortune. It turns out to be a great game and they are winning big against the Cowboys and you have a great view of it all. With every big play , you and your friend jump up and rejoice together, high-fiving and cheering for the home team. You rejoice with those who rejoice. But then, between the third and fourth, a voice comes over the P.A. and announces that someone in the stadium is going to win a new house, a new car, a dream vacation. He announces the level, the section, the row. It is someone in your row! But when he reads the seat number you see that your friend is sitting in that seat. He has won. You have not. They were your tickets. You invited him. You just happened to sit the wrong seat. Technically, both are your seats. But he got the big prize package – you didn’t! Now how easy is it to rejoice with those who rejoice? Suddenly you are overwhelmed with feelings of anger, envy, discontentment. You pretend to be happy, but inside you mutter and complain. You hate your friend and want what he has been given.

To rejoice with others when they are rejoicing is a hard thing to ask. Especially when things aren't going as well with you. God is asking you to be as happy for others as you would be if the good thing was happening to you.

Are you able to do that?

If you can, it is an indication that God's sincere love is at work in you. If not, there is some work to be done.

February 8, 2015

"Honor God with your body." I Corinthians 6:18

Suppose you have spent much of your life as close to the edge of sexual immorality as you could until you stepped off the edge and now you are living with painful regrets.

You dishonored God with your body and you still struggle to forgive yourself and handle the guilt. 

So, now you want to make sure you never step over that line again. In fact, you are trying to back away from the edge but you are not sure how.

I will suggest three ways to stay far from the edge of sexual immorality.

First, ask right.

If you want a different result you need to ask a better question. Rather than asking, "What's wrong with it?" Paul counsels the Corinthians to ask "what honors God?".

Had you asked that question earlier in your life would you have the regrets you have now?

Second, adjust right.

Now that you are backing away from the edge, it is time to deal with your past. How?

Confront your past. Don't deny it. Don't dodge it. Don't excuse it. Face it!

Confess your past. Agree with God that you were careless and selfish and deliberately disobeyed him in a committing a sexual sin.

Claim His forgiveness. His Word promises that "if you confess your sin He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness." Once you confess your sin claim His forgiveness.

Clean it up. Repent of your old sinful ways and begin honoring God with your body.

Commit yourself to God and find an accountability partner to help you keep your commitment.

Third, act right.

Discipline your heart, your thoughts, your habits, your eyes and your internet.

Determine ahead of time how you will avoid tempting and compromising sexual situations.

Delight yourself in your sexuality in ways that honor God! If you are married, celebrate your love and satisfy yourself and your partner as God intends!

Honor God with your body!

Discover the Biblical plan for love and marriage and sexuality and submit to it. When you do and when you honor God He will honor you with a marriage relationship you always dreamed of!

February 7, 2015

"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." I Corinthians 6:18-20

Our culture has a way of luring you to the edge of immorality and then ridiculing you if you cross the line.

Next week leads up to Valentine's Day and in this week the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues will come out as well as the erotic movie, "50 Shades of Grey". Both are produced for the purpose stirring up lust.

In sharp contrast to those sensual productions, God's Word calls followers of Christ to "flee from sexual immorality". What does that mean? It means to run as fast and as far as you can away from the source of the temptation.

Seriously? How realistic is that demand?

How can we be expected to do that?

What is the wise thing for a Christ-follower to do?

Discipline yourself to stay close to God so you can stay far from the edge of immorality. Paul gives you several compelling reasons for "honoring God with your body".

First, when you give into sexual immorality you are sinning against your own body. That reference is not to just the physical body but the soul, the psyche and the spirit. Those are scars not easily healed.

Second, when you involve your body in sexual immorality you are desecrating the Holy Spirit since He dwells in you. I don't think that is something you really want to do.

Third, you are reminded that, as a Christian, your body is not your own. When you committed yourself to faith in Christ you gave Him your all. When Jesus died on the cross to redeem you from sin He purchased you body, soul, mind and spirit. You are His!

In addition to disciplining yourself, determine in advance where you will draw the line. Write a script of what you will do and what you won't do in a moment when you are not under the pressure of temptation and the fog of emotions.

Finally, decide to honor God with your body! That means if you are married you honor God when you enjoy sexual relations with your spouse. It is His gift given to you to celebrate your oneness in Him!

It also means if you are not married then you honor God by abstaining from sex and saving yourself for marriage.

So, honoring God with your body as His Word requires will take the strength and power that only He can give you through His Holy Spirit.

Don't flirt, flee!

February 6, 2015

"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you are bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."  I Corinthians 6:18-20

To get the full impact of the advice Paul is giving these new believers who are commanded to stand apart from their perverted pagan culture, you should read verses 12 through 17 and then the first section of Chapter seven.

I believe when you read this section in its full context it will become clear that God is not motivated by prohibiting you from sexual expression but rather, He is protecting you from perverting it and depreciating it.

God, through Paul, is telling these Christ-followers, "don't employ sex in this way so you can fully enjoy sex this way"!

There is much to be said here but I want to focus on the concept of discipline because if there is a place where discipline is necessary it is in this area of your sexuality.

Discipline is a much despised and neglected concept in our 21st century culture much as it was in the 1st century Corinthian culture. Like then, we want our pleasure when we want it, and how we want it and we don't like anyone telling us we can't do that!

Let me give you a definition of discipline that could change your attitude toward it. Discipline is saying "NO!" to one thing in order to say "YES!" to a better thing!

No one can have it all and if you want better than what you have say "NO!" to what you have to get something better!

God's Holy Spirit is saying, through Paul, if you want better sex say "NO!" to your ideas of sexual expression and say "YES" to His.

What if you believed God, Who created you and who invented sex, desires for you to enjoy His gift to its fullest extent, would that change how you interpret this Scripture? Would that help you have a more positive attitude toward His Biblical standards?

I think it is pretty obvious that if these Corinthian Christians were enjoying amazingly fulfilling sex lives Paul would not have had to write these directives. So, isn't it safe to assume they weren't?

And doesn't it make sense when something is not working well for you should choose a better way of doing it?

So, if you want to choose a better way of expressing your sexuality doesn't it require you to stop expressing it the way you are now?

That my friend, is discipline!

If you can discipline yourself into a sexuality that honors God but you choose not to, what does that say about you?

February 5, 2015

"Flee from sexual immorality." I Corinthians 6:18

You live in a culture that is constantly pushing you and pulling you and luring you to the edge of immorality. And the power of the external stimuli coupled with the internal desires virtually guarantees that if you have not built sufficient margins away from that edge you will get drawn to it. Then, more often than not, when you allow yourself to get drawn to the edge of immorality you will step off the edge.

See if you agree with this, tragic moral choices are generally preceded by a series of unwise decisions.

Most people don't go running to the edge of immorality, the creep to it one unwise decision at a time. Right?

The chief accomplice in this gradual decent to disaster is this seemingly valid statement, "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"There's nothing wrong with having lunch with him/her. Everyone has lunch!"

"There's nothing wrong with having dinner together, After all, we both work late and we have a deadline on this project!"

"There's nothing wrong with confiding in him/her. He/she is such a good listener and he/she understands me."

"There's nothing wrong with listening. He/she needs someone to talk to."

"There's nothing wrong with just dropping by."

"There's nothing wrong with a hug."

And you know what? Probably in certain individual circumstances  each of those statements can be true. But together as a continuum, they each bring you a step closer to the edge of immorality. And once you arrive there it isn't likely to end well.

If you have regrets that center around a moral failure, I am pretty sure you can trace a similar path that led you there.

And if you based your decisions on the "there's nothing wrong with it statement", how did that work out for you?

Since you already have the regret and you can look back with more objectivity, did you really believe the "there's nothing wrong with it" explanation or were you rationalizing something you knew to be wrong?

Are you still making that statement to justify unwise decisions?

What do you think would be a wiser standard for measuring decisions if you are a follower of Christ?