January 12, 2016

"Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. Love each other deeply. Honor others more than yourselves." Romans 12:9-10

Who doesn't want true love? Who wouldn't benefit from it? What church couldn't use more of it? True love is hard to find. Maybe that is because it is hard to do. Which could be why it is hard to recognize.

In these two verses Paul gives us perhaps the most concise description of true love found anywhere - even more concise than I Corinthians 13.

Life is all about relationships and therefore, love is essential. God wired you to thrive within loving relationships but sin infected your nature with selfishness and selfishness is the great "anti-love".

So, the reason it is hard for you to love me is because you love yourself more. Until you want to love more than be loved you will struggle with true love. Wow, that's honest!

Perhaps that's why this verse describing true love begins by demanding honesty. Until you are honest about your lack of love how can you ever hope to honestly love?

Selfish love is manipulative. It always look for an edge or an angle to get what it wants. When you are angling for what YOU want you will not be interested in what I want. Selfish love is the "anti-love".

Insincere love uses people rather than serves them. When I feel used by you not only do I not feel loved by you, it can erode my self-esteem. No one wants to feel like an object.

How do you get over the selfish love so you can love others with a sincere love?

Back to the honesty! True love begins with you repenting to God for your selfish love. Call it what it is - SIN. Do you find it interesting that the first three letters of sincere are "SIN"?  The root of all sin is selfishness and that must be dug out by the root! Only the God of perfect love can do that.

The antidote for selfish love is God's love. Maybe that is why Jesus commanded us to "Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself". Until you love God more that you love you it will be impossible to love others without trying to manipulate them. Actually, you will try to manipulate God, too!

Get over it!

Root out SIN and get SINCERE!

January 11, 2016

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Micah 6:8

If they are well-intentioned then they are naive. If they are out to fundamentally change traditional America under the guise of they are not to be trusted and should be opposed.

If their idea of fairness is creating equal opportunities then count me an ally. However, if their notion of fairness is equal outcome by redistributing wealth from the successful producers to the non-contributing members of society I part ways with that.

As I mentioned in my previous post, "social justice" has become a buzz word for the practice of redistributing wealth by attacking the rich through punitive taxes and regulations. In the worldview of the progressives or socialists, the wealthy acquired their wealth by exploiting the middle class and it is now time to level that out.

In my last post I shared several issues of concern with the concept for social justice espoused by the President his political party which is currently in charge of our nation.

Today I want to get personal and highlight some of the concerns I have with their brand of "social justice".

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF “SOCIAL JUSTICE”?

1) It Will Impact Your Faith

The people who want to bring fairness and parity to American culture have already infringed on the rights of the Catholic Church by mandating them to distribute contraceptives and to fund abortions against their religious convictions.

They are infringing on the convictions of some military chaplains by pressuring them to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex marriages.

If the government's concern about fairness don't seem to extend to people with religious views that oppose their agenda.

2) It Will Impact Our Freedom

One way the progressives go about accomplishing their income redistribution agenda is by increasingly imposing higher taxes and restrictive regulations.

The class envy and class warfare strategy of the progressives is designed to weaken free enterprise capitalism and replace it with socialism of some sort.

Think about it. Losing money and personal property to the government is also a loss of freedom. If you don't have personal property rights you don't really have freedom.

 3) It Will Impact Our Finances

High tax rates and punitive regulations remove opportunity for businesses to prosper and strengthen the economy. It shrinks your take home pay and reduces your ability to save, spend and invest.

Also, the more money that is pulled out of the private sector into the government the more  the economy shrinks and struggles.

A government that is running up trillion dollar deficits every year and continues to borrow $.40 of every dollar it spends weakens the value of your spending power.

4) It Will Impact Our Future

Think about how your future will be impacted if your faith is opposed tor restricted, if your freedoms are reduced, and you can earn less money and save less money and have less money to invest.

What sort of a future does that bode?

For a clue of how your future could be impacted by the implementation of "fairness", study Greece or Spain or Italy and see what sort of futures their people are facing.

Perhaps you are thinking, "Brad, why are you getting so political? I thought this is supposed to be a spiritual devotional blog."

While this struggle is being played out on the political arena it is essentially a spiritual conflict between secular humanistic values and Judaeo-Christian values. The people of God must understand the nature of the battle so they can know how to pray, how to live, how to vote and how to discern the times.

January 10, 2016

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

If you have young children or if you have had them I am sure you are familiar this phrase, “NO FAIR!”

Fairness is a big issue in 21^st century American culture. There is great value and virtue attached to efforts to make things fair.

During the recent Presidential election we heard our President talk about fairness a lot. He promoted raising taxes for the higher income Americans to make sure they pay their “fair share”.

Many on the liberal side, or the left side of the political spectrum have – either intentionally or unintentionally – equated “fairness” with “justice” and refer to their efforts to make society fit into and conform with their notion of fairness – “SOCIAL JUSTICE”.

Let me ask you several questions about fairness:

·         Help me make a list of some things that are fair about life.

·         If you think something is fair but I think it is unfair – who is right?

·         If we both agree something is unfair how do we make it fair?

·         What happens if by making it fair for us we make it unfair for others?

·         Is fairness about opportunity or is it about outcome?

Are you beginning to understand the complexity of the problem?

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES WITH “SOCIAL JUSTICE”

"Social Justice". That phrase sounds good doesn't it? Social refers to people and relationships. Those are good things!  

And who doesn't like justice? God knows we could use a lot more justice! Different forms of the word "justice" appear 200 times throughout the Old Testament! So, obviously it is an important concept.

What is the problem with social justice? Why should you be concerned about it?

Several of the problem areas have to do with the underlying worldview behind the liberals view of "social justice". This worldview is vastly different from the traditional Judeo-Christian viewpoint. Here are several examples:

1) GOD VS. GOVERNMENT

Our Founding Fathers believed that our rights and freedoms were bestowed by the God Who created us and the role of this new government was to protect those freedoms. For nearly 150 years that principle was honored. But with the rise of the Progressives over the past century, that has begun to change. To them rights are granted by government.

Progressives have systematically marginalized God and the Bible and the role of faith in the culture. It appears their goal in diminishing those institutions has been to increase the role and influence of government.

Traditional ideas of justice center around protecting individual rights according to the moral values expressed in the Founding documents.

For many of those in power today, justice is meted according to what best serves government interests.

2) CONSTITUTION VS. CHAOS

Another fundamental different in how progressives view "fairness" has to do with the nature of truth.

Traditionally, justice and  notions of fairness have been grounded in the absolute truths of our Constitution which are based on the unchanging truths of the Word of God.

Many of our current leaders do not honor absolute truth. The same is true of a teachers and college professors. Rather, they are guided by situational ethics generally dictated by what best serves their political agenda. When justice is dictated by a whim, you essentially are in a state of chaos.

3) FREEDOM VS. FORCE

There is a distinct difference between believing that freedom is a gift from God and guarded by Constitutional rights and assuming that rights are granted by government to serve the state.

When your freedom depends on government granted rights, that freedom can be taken by the government at their discretion and you live under the threat of force.

4) DIGNITY VS. UTILITY

Traditionally, because individual rights were understood to be granted by God, there was dignity assigned to each person and his freedom was a sacred trust to be protected by government.

But in the worldview of most current leaders, the value on an individual is determined by how useful that person is to the state. Weakness, old age, mental impairment, or serious illness requires extra money and resources from the state and therefore makes you more of a liability than an asset to it.

Jesus told us to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves".

II Chronicles 12:32 talks about the "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do".

As people of God and the Church of Jesus Christ, we must know the times in which we live and understand how notions of freedom, rights and justice are changing so we can stand for God's truth and justice.

January 9, 2016

^"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:6-10

"Social justice" as espoused and practiced by those on the liberal left side of the political spectrum evolves from a misguided form of Christianity known as "Liberation Theology". 

This brand of Christianity is based on the belief that there are two categories of people: the oppressor and the oppressed. They see the mission of Christianity as liberating the oppressed from unjust economic, political or social conditions imposed by the oppressors.

According to this theology the only way to be saved, if you are the oppressor, is to give back what you have taken (actually - earned) and give it back (under pressure) to the oppressed in the form of reparations. Apart from that there is no salvation.

Liberation salvation is brought about by Jesus in the form of political and social "liberation" for the oppressed from the oppressor. Salvation is achieved when the oppressed achieve economic and political "equality" with those who were their oppressors through the forced redistribution of wealth.

Those who believe in this brand of faith tend to be very "evangelistic" in their zeal to bring about "social justice" because they believe their individual salvation depends on the collective salvation. In other words, none are saved until all are saved.

Of course, these beliefs run contrary to the Scriptural truths in the text verse above. Salvation is not earned through the merit of our work or our sacrifices, it was earned by the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and sealed through His resurrection from the dead. Those who believe in Him and accept His sacrifice for their sins will find salvation through that confession of faith.

While Christ's sacrifice was offered for all, only those who repent of their sins and turn from those sins and individually receive Him by faith. There is no such thing as "collective salvation". The Bible says each of us must find our own salvation by living in an obedient spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The evidence that such a spiritual transformation has actually taken place is our good works accomplished through the love and grace of God at work in our hearts and minds. One who has experienced and is in possession of a genuine Christian faith will have a concern for the poor and will give time, money and personal involvement toward meeting their needs. A true convert to Christ will care about the plight of the poor and will commit to caring for their needs. He will serve them and stand for them and sacrifice to meet their needs.

Jesus has no political agenda. He has no political party. He did not just die for those who are politically conservative. He came to seek and save those who are mired in spiritual poverty and oppression. As the Son of God, Jesus owned EVERYTHING but gave it all up to become poor so you can become rich in your spirit! He came to set the spiritual captives free from their sins. And He accomplishes that through His people who obey His Word and do His will and share the good news of salvation by grace!

True justice flows out of justification - being made right before God through faith in Christ and entering into a personal faith relationship with God. It is by grace you are saved! That's JUST the way it is!

January 8, 2016

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”  Zechariah 7:9-10

"Social Justice". 

That phrase sounds good doesn't it?

Social refers to people and relationships. Those are good things!

And who doesn't like justice? God knows we could use a lot more justice! Different forms of the word "justice" appear 200 times throughout the Old Testament! So, obviously it is an important concept.

What is the problem with social justice? Why should you be concerned about it?

Social justice is a problem when it is understood and applied as a moral justification for the implementation of socialism and when it attacks the wealthy successful people in our nation. Social justice is the philosophy that motivates most liberals and progressives who reside in Congress and other high positions of leadership in America.

I will assign well-intentioned motives to these leaders whose worldview assumes the only way one person becomes successful and wealthy is to oppress the lower classes. They see a moral mandate to use their power to punish the wealthy by forcibly redistributing their wealth through taxation and regulation.

If we were to apply their philosophy to the Parable of the Talents, they would have gone on strike against the  master who "unjustly" distributed his money to his three servants - five talents to one, three to another and only one to the third. Today's "social justice" activists  would send  in community organizers in an attempt to unionize these servants. Probably they would take legal action against this master for unfair labor practices. They would put pressure on the Romans to raise this guy's taxes and call on the scribes to write about how unjust and greedy this master is.

When this master returned to reward the successful five-talent servant with five more talents and the three talents servant with three more talents and take the one talent from the servant who failed only to give it to the guy with ten - they would have brought the full force of "social justice" against this evil capitalist! All available pressure would be applied against the ten talent servant and the six talent servant to be equally distributed to the one with no talents. This master would have been maligned and marginalized and re-educated into their value system!

That is far different from how Jesus told the story isn't?

Apparently there are different concepts of justice at work in this world. The "social justice" version of justice obviously values fairness even if it has to use force to make it "fair".

The version of "justice" in the Parable Jesus told values fruitfulness over fairness and freedom over force.

Which concept of justice do you believe?

Which concept will you embrace?

Which concept of justice will you practice in your life today?

January 7, 2016

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12:3-8

In the first two verses of this great chapter Paul shows the Church how to have unity on the team. That is by each member consecrating his ego to God, conquering the evil within, and concentrating on God's will. A winning team is the result of each team mate overcoming their personal battles through the power of God. No team wins without unity.

Now, in these next several verses there is another step forward from unity to community. And there is a change in metaphor from God's team to God's body. The Church is the Body of Christ and each member is part of that body. As you know, the more healthy parts that a body has the healthier that body will be. So, the great apostle shows you and me how to be a healthy, helpful and happy member of the body. That is the emphasis of our thought today.

How do I become a healthy member of a strong and productive body?

Examine Your Faith - " Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."

Once you consecrate your ego and get that out of the way, humility is the beneficial by-product. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself less. False humility is just a pathetic form of pride. Humility is valuing who you are in Christ. Humility is the ability to objectively see yourself as God sees you. Humility is declaring, "I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength." Humility is understanding, "Christ in me, the hope of glory."

Humility is understanding that God has faith in you! Humility is understanding that God has faith FOR you! Humility is allowing His faith to operate through you! Community results from faith operating with humility in the Body.

Express Your Faithfulness - "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith."

The evidence of your humble faith is your desire to serve God. You serve God by serving in His Body. Faithfulness comes from the willingness to do your part. Faithfulness is the operation of God-given faith through your God given talent. Faithfulness is understanding that every member of the Body is important to the health of the Body. Faithfulness realizes that God has given every Body all the parts it needs to be healthy BUT every member of the Body must exercise healthy faith.

The "measure of faith" given to serve God within the Body is called a "spiritual gift". Every believer has at least one! Using that gift within the Body is the equivalent of playing your position on a sports team. Community is the result of every member using his spiritual gift.

How do I discover what my "spiritual gift" is?

Experience Fruitfulness - "If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

One of the primary responsibilities of the pastors and leaders in a local church is promote the health of that church by helping each member discover his spiritual gift and one of the main ways that happens is by experimenting by serving in a variety of positions within the church.

By experimenting with different areas of faithful service you will discover what you enjoy doing. God hasn't invested faith in you in order to make you miserable. On the contrary, God wants you to find joy in serving and also, He wants you to give joy to others in the body as you serve.

The key indicator of where you are gifted, in addition to what is fun for you is this - where are you fruitful? What gets better when you help? What grows when you get involved? What positive changes do you affect when you serve in that area? What do you do that makes the Body healthier? Spiritual gifts bear spiritual fruit, therefore, find out where the fruit is and then serve faithfully in that area!

Would you put a guy at quarterback if he can't throw a football? Would you put a player at receiver if he couldn't catch a football? Of course not! You place him in a position where he can execute and make the team successful. The same is true in the church!

Community is the result of every believer serving God and each other humbly with the spiritual gift God has invested in them! The result is a happy, healthy and helpful church that overcomes evil with the good work God accomplishes through the faithful exercise of their gifts!

Do you know your spiritual gift? 

If so, are you using it faithfully in your church? 

If not, are you serving to discover where you will be fruitful?

January 6, 2016

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

Fitting into God's purpose has great significance for time and eternity!

Step one is to consecrate your ego to God. Let Him become your source of significance. 

Allow His Word to define your reality and His will to decide your priorities.

The next step after you consecrate the ego is to conquer the evil.

How can you overcome the evil around you if you have not conquered the evil within you?

And how can you conquer the evil within you if you yourself are evil? And how can you fit into God's purpose if you are evil? Those are pertinent questions that demand answers.

Romans 12:2 gives the answer - "offer your body as a living sacrifice".

So, how do we truly present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice? In a nutshell, we must die to our prior selves. This concept is wonderfully presented in this anonymous poem…

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart; 

That is dying to self.

When you give God your ego and you lay your evil nature on the altar before God, He will know you mean business and will do some serious business in your soul. He can cleanse the self-centeredness and the evil desires out of your heart. When you offer your will to Him and promise to do as He wills things will change for the better! God, through the blood of Jesus and by the fullness of the Spirit will cleanse you from sin!

Have you died to self? 

Are you a living sacrifice? 

What are you waiting for? 

Why not today?