Month: July 2020

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”  John 14:6

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:12

Jesus warns us that the path to truth is narrow and so does Luke, and so does  Paul,  In fact almost every New Testament writer tells us the same thing.  Regardless of that, we live in a world that adamantly denies the narrow path and is trying to open up the gates to heaven to non-citizens in a way that is strikingly similar to the US and its southern border.  People use the same arguments for allowing anyone into heaven as do those who argue for open borders in America.  See if any of these arguments for open borders seem to fit the “everyone should get to go to heaven” argument.

“It is is not fair that we should get to have (this country) (heaven) just to ourselves.”

“There are a lot of good people who deserve to be in (our country) (heaven).”

“They should get to be in (America) (heaven) to avoid the terrible conditions they will face elsewhere.”

“(Our country) (Heaven) is a most wonderful place, so we should be able share it.”

“(We are) (God is) good and (good people) (a good God) would not keep people out.”

“The (constitution) (Bible) does not have the right to decide who can enter, and besides, the (constitution) (Bible) is outdated and written by people who are out of touch with the times.”

So let’s face it.  Many people believe that heaven should have open borders and there should not be any requirements or restrictions on any who enter.   Of course, the only way we can say that is to ignore the Bible’s teaching, or to decide the Bible is not the inspired Word of God.  The Bible says that salvation comes only through Christ, but there are many false alternatives that the world accepts for entrance into heaven.  Some even think intelligence should be a factor. After all, how could so many smart people be wrong.  But Paul warns Timothy in I Timothy 6:20: “O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and absurdities of so-called ‘knowledge.’”

Others believe that if we keep the law we will be saved, but Galatians 2:16 says, “yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

But surely if we are good people, we deserve to go to heaven.  But what does the Word say? “For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8)

“But I have been baptized” say many, “surely that will get me into heaven.  But Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:17  “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.”

Even giving to a church, going to church, building a church, or even pastoring a church, does not get us into heaven.  Well, what does, then?   Salvation is through grace  “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”  (Titus 2:11), which is proceeded by faith:  “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), and followed by the Savior’s peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Unfortunately, the learned and stubborn of this world have defined faith as “blindly following,” but that is not faith. It is not opinion or acceptance of that which flies in the face of evidence.  It is a sense of knowing.  True faith is as real as anything can be and it is faith in Christ that leads to salvation.  Nothing more; Nothing less; Nothing else.  It is this faith that comes by the Word of God: “Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17), and we change our minds about God, so that we might please God: “Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6), and thus there is only one way to be saved. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)  “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all …” (1 Timothy 2:5)   Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

In other words, as much as people want it to be so, heaven does not have open borders.  There is a step that one must take to become a citizen.  Good intentions are not enough, and the never-changing Word of God lets us know the truth and no matter what others want to think, there is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ.  It is not in the Bible, but there is a saying that says, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” and that is true. People who preach that all roads lead to heaven, may be well intentioned  (but I doubt it), but their words, if taken as true, lead people away from heaven. As Paul said, “If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.”  He doesn’t have a plan B attached to that!

I watched a rerun of the Biggest Loser the other night and as usual it was a tear-jerking event (well, for me anyway).  It was a special one that featured ex-athletes, many of whom I have seen on the professional circuit in past years, trying to get ahold of their lives again.  The difference between their current condition and their glory days was stark.  As athletes they were in peak condition and now they are well over 200 or 300 pounds and very obese.  As I watched I was asking the same question that I am sure many others at home and probably the athletes themselves were asking- How did that happen?  How did they go from winning Olympic gold medals, Super Bowls, and Tennis championships to barely being able to walk five minutes on a treadmill.  What had brought them to that point? We will talk about the how later, but first of all we should realize it can happen to anyone.  In the Biggest Loser it is mostly physical, but that kind of  slow but drastic change can also take place in other parts of our lives.

The people on the Biggest Loser had one advantage that we don’t have when we degrade in areas other than physical.  They have mirrors.  They could look in the mirror and see the differences.  None of them got there overnight just like none of us turn flabby in our spiritual life overnight.  Unfortunately we don’t have a mirror to reflect our spiritual condition.  We can’t see where we are or where we were by looking in a magic mirror, but there are some things that can help us see our spiritual condition.

Gaining weight might happen over a period of months or years when we have neglected to push the plate away like we should.  Gaining spiritual flab might also happen over a period of months or years when we have been pushing God away rather than running towards Him. Throughout the journey with the people on the Biggest Loser we heard how they got to where they were.  How seemingly suddenly, but not really, they rolled out of bed one morning and had moved up eight sizes and could no longer tie their own shoes. This morning, however, we will look at how we can avoid spiritual obesity that can just as easily sneak up on us and steal the pleasure that we can have in life.

Let’s pretend we have a magic mirror for a minute- that we can look into it and see our spiritual condition.  What would be staring back at us? The Apostle Paul that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) In other words, if we want to see a spiritually fit person staring back at us, we need to be in the Word of God. One of the early signals that we’re moving away from God is a diminishing desire to study His Word.  Just like someone physically degrading by not eating the right foods, we are not consistently taking in the nourishing food of Bible.  We are caught up in the junk food of the world.

Another symptom that we are losing control of our spiritual condition is a diminishing desire to be around God’s people.  Being around loving, spirit-filled, people of God, gives us accountability, strength and support.  It is like hanging around a gym for our physical well-being.  Being around the right people encourages us to stay on the right track. The right kind of fellowship strengthens us, just as much as the wrong kind of fellowship weakens us. In fact, that truth is repeated throughout the Bible. Ecclesiastes says it this way: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

Finally, if we find ourselves increasingly thrilled over the things of this world, we are probably moving into spiritual obesity. The Apostle John said in 1 John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all this is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father, but is of the world.”  If we replace prayer and service, reading and fellowship, with the things of the world it will affect us.  We cannot eat like we want, avoid exercise, and not treat our bodies right and expect good results.  The same thing goes for our spiritual lives.

So there are remedies against getting out of shape spiritually.  Routine Bible study and church attendance will yield great results.  Prayer and service will help us stay in shape. If we do these things we can be alert to the traps the world sets for us.  Where we put our time will be what shapes us.  Lust, an unhealthy desire for things in this world, can do more to kill a relationship with Jesus as anything I know. Paul told us if we “walk in the spirit…You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) Peter said it even more strongly “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)

That is the unfortunate thing about both spiritual and physical obesity.  People are unhappy, but continue the same habits that keep them there.  People are afraid to give things up because they think that those things give them true happiness, but they usually aren’t happy.  The 1/2 pound of chocolate makes them happy for the moment, at least until they walk by a store window and see their reflection or walk up flight of stairs and have to stop every other step.  The sin that we are involved in seems great at the time, at least until we have a moment of reflection and realize that it’s fun effects were temporary and we are still not content on the inside. Satan’s lie is that the alternatives to fattening foods are tasteless and the alternative to sin is funless.  Both lies, but we fall for them.

So we need to be spiritual biggest losers.  Losers of those things that hold us back and make us spiritually flabby.  If we are in a spiritually fit condition, we will be happier and will finally find a purpose in our lives.

• “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Most of us will not be called on to put our lives on the line for others, but it happens every day in hundreds of ways throughout the world. The person who dives into icy water to save someone from drowning, the soldier who throws  his body on a grenade to protect his buddies, the fireman who rushes into a blazing building to save a child, a bystander that confronts a gang to extricate
an innocent person from their midst.  These are all real-life examples of people who put someone else’s safety above their own.  We like to think that we are all like this, willing to put

 thoughts of self out of the way for a moment in time, so that we can save another.

When I was attending Redwood School in Grants Pass, probably in fourth or fifth grade, the circus came to town.  As I sat in class I noticed the flag hanging in the front of the room and the small spear-like pole with a sharp tip which supported it.  I happened to be wearing my cub scout uniform that day, so I was in an especially gallant mood and started daydreaming about a lion escaping from the circus and terrorizing the school.  I saw myself jump on a desk, scale a bookcase, and pull the flag pole from its holder.  I took the flag off the pole and folded it neatly like any good soldier, oops, scout, would.  I took the pole outside and approached the lion.  Remembering lion fighting from several Tarzan shows I had seen, I held the lion at bay with the small spear.  When it became apparent the lion was going to charge, I broke the spear over my knee and jammed the longer part of the spear in the lion’s open mouth!  About that time the teacher interrupted my heroics by asking me a question.  I hadn’t heard  the question, since I was busily saving 400 kids and teachers, so I could not answer. My teacher then made the mistake of saying that since I was apparently thinking about something other than Columbus, maybe I would like to share it with the class.  That was probably a mistake on her part. Since I was saving the school, I said sure, and hustled up front to tell the tale standing straight and tall in my Cub Scout uniform.  The story went over really well with the whole class and opened the door for me to tell stories the rest of the year when we had a little extra time in class.  I don’t think was the outcome my teacher had hoped for.

Why, you might be asking, did I take this trip down memory lane and kidnap you along the way?  Well, besides the fact that I am telling a story of me saving the entire school, I am using it to illustrate that we have probably all dreamed of helping others with some heroic act during our lifetime (some of us might still be doing it!).  Seldom, however, do we picture ourselves doing something in a cowardly way. We never see ourselves as the chicken scrambling faster than his three little brothers just fresh out of the shell; or the whimpering child lying in the middle of the floor in the midst of danger sucking our thumb like a newborn, or on a sinking ship pointing out a fake Clint Eastwood to a little old lady so we can steal her life jacket.  No, we seldom say we want to grow up to be a coward someday.  But courage is so lacking today.  So many tend to wilt under the smallest of pressure.  We don’t like to take stands unless they are safe and we don’t speak up unless we are preaching to the choir.  Plainly speaking, in most cases, we are a bunch of weenies.

We are so concerned with our own happiness, our own wants, our own pleasures that even if we have a chance to help someone else, we probably won’t even notice him.  Eyes that are turned inward will seldom be aware of the things that are outward.  We like to believe that we would step up if needed- that we would the one in the crowd that would rush to the crashed car or the crumpled woman or the fleeing purse snatcher.  But the truth of the matter is that we have trouble even handling the smallest of deed needs- the person who needs an encouraging word, the neighbor who desperately needs prayer, the co-worker who needs to hear about Jesus, the friend who is caught up in sin, are all challenges that we seem to struggle with as much as pulling a tiny tot from the path of the oncoming train.  Thankfully, Christ did not hesitate to step it up for us.  He went to the cross knowing the pain that He would bear, but did it anyway.  He knew that He would be beaten beyond recognition, but He did it anyway.  He knew that he would face an excruciating physical death and the weight of all our sins in just a few hours span, but He did it anyway.  Why? So that we would not have to.  He went where we deserved to go, so we would not have to.  He went so that we could, in turn, have courage to do what is right- to stand in the face of great odds- to never give up and to sacrifice for others regardless of the cost.

One of the saddest but compelling stories from WWII was about a group of about 20 prisoners under an especially cruel guard. Each day they would be required to take a shovel and go out into the prison yard and dig. At the end of each day the prisoners would come back to their barracks and line up their shovels against the wall for the guard to count. On this particular day when the guard counted, he only counted 19 shovels. “Who lost their shovel?” the guard shouted. “If the man who lost his shovel does not step forward I’m going to kill five of you at a time until he does step forward!”

It was at this point that a young 19-year-old POW stepped forward taking the blame for having lost his shovel. The evil, blood-thirsty guard immediately took out his revolver put it to the boy’s head and pulled the trigger killing him instantly. As the teenager’s dead body lay crumpled on the ground his fellow prisoners were aghast because of what had just happened.  But they didn’t know the half of it.

By mistake or on purpose, no one really knows for sure, the guard had miscounted the shovels. Twenty shovels were leaning against that barracks wall.  That 19-year-old POW knew that when he stepped forward, he was offering his life as a sacrifice for his fellow prisoners, but he did it anyway.  Nineteen years old, hundreds of miles from home, dying for something he did not do, to save men who would not be able to thank him, just a few weeks before the war’s end.  Some would call that stupid.  I would call that Christ-like.

If we were to prioritize things in our lives, how high up would our concern for others be.  Paul tells us to,  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2:3-4  When we follow our own selfish desires to the detriment of others, and then say we are brave enough save someone else, we are fooling ourselves.

We are like the man who is asked, “If you had two houses, would you give one to the poor?”

The man replies, “Yes.”

The man is asked, “If you had four cars, would give two to the poor?”

Again he replies, “Yes.”

He is finally is asked, “If you had two shirts, would you give one to the poor?”

The man quickly says, “No.”

“You will give houses and cars, but won’t give shirts. Why not?” he is asked.

“Because I have two shirts,” he replies.

We can say that we will do all kinds of things, but the truth of what we would do in tough times is probably previewed in the way we live our daily lives.  If we live our lives for ourselves in times of leisure how can we say would sacrifice in times of danger?  It is like the man who says he would die to protect his family, but can’t take the time to talk to his kids about their day.  It doesn’t make sense. If we are Christ-like, our world will not revolve around us, but Christ.  And as our world revolves around Him we will notice others needs before our own. And finally, we will be able live a life that is not obsessed with “numero uno.”  And finally we will find the contentment we have always searched for.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-9

This portion of scripture is known quite well to the Jewish people as Shema which means “hear” in Hebrew. It is very important in Jewish family tradition.  It should be equally important to us, especially in these times when young people are being hijacked from the faith daily. But the Jews look at this passage much differently than we do, so to appropriately apply the verse to us today, we must first understand the verse.The Jews use the phrase “the Lord is one” to prove that Jesus can’t be God, but they don’t realize that this phrase actually supports our belief that Jesus is God.  We are not worshipping three Gods in God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but one God.  In Corinthians 8:6 it says, “yet for us there is one God.”  This is important because the rest of the verses are teaching us to pass this truth down (along with the others in the Word) to those who are younger, so that they can continue to hand the truths down to those who are younger than they.  It does us no good to pass down misinformation about the Word to our younger generations.  When I was coaching I always felt it was harder to undo something wrong that players had been taught than to  take players who knew nothing and teach them what was correct.  If we are going to teach, we should teach truth.

Our first step in continuing a line of knowledge about God down through time is take seriously the admonition to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  If we do not love the Lord completely and without reservation, our endorsement of Him will be suspect.  If we never speak of Him or pray to Him or converse with Him and then turn around and say that He is the most important person in our lives, few will believe it, especially those who are younger.  The most important step in sharing Him is loving Him with all our being. A model is a representation of the real thing.  We are supposed to be models of Christ.  Young people around us are getting their impression of who Christ is by who we are.  I had a portly oldgrandpa tell me once, “we are supposed to be role models, not just models with rolls.”  That is true.

The things of God then must be “impressed in our hearts,” not just present in our heads.  They must be etched deep within us. Our knowledge of God is not enough; it must be deeply seated in our soul.  It must be the inescapable truth that we base our lives on and then we can “impress them on our children.”  We cannot impress on others what is not impressed on us.  It would be like trying to mold jello without a mould.  When the verse mentions children, it might be speaking primarily of our own children if we have them, but it also means secondarily any children we have influence over.  It can mean nephews, nieces, grandchildren, neighbors, or even children of acquaintances.  We need to take every opportunity to share the “hope which lies within us.”

When do we share?  I think Moses covered pretty much all the time when he said, “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  So in the home and out of the home, at your leisure and on the job, we are to look for chances pass our love of the wonderful Triune God on to the younger set.  It only took two generations for the people of Israel to have forgotten the wonderful miracles in the desert.  How much more quickly can a love of God disappear when it is not accompanied by incredible signs and wonders, if we don’t “intentionally” keep it alive?

As the Jews always seemed to do, they took the line, “tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads” quite literally.  Many would wear phylacteries which were small boxes containing scriptures on their hands and foreheads.  Jesus condemned this ostentatious display of false religiosity.  The phrase above meant that our love for God and our desire to pass that love on to others should not be hidden, but should be apparent in everything we do. Somewhere between a hidden love for Christ and a thirty pound cross some wear to look spiritual is the truth of what God wants from us.  God wants a love for Christ that can’t be hidden, but not a love that slaps people it their faces with its heavy-handed hypocrisy.  Ironically, the anti-christ will someday test loyalty with marks on the forehead or hands, Christ never asks that of us.  For Him, it’s what’s inside that counts.

The Jews took the words, “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” literally again, and it led to the Jewish practice of the mezuzah which was nailing a small container holding a passage of Scripture to a doorpost. But we must remember that hanging scripture on the wall does not make our houses Christ-homes any more than wearing a Christian t-shirt fills us with Christ. It is all about the trueness of what lies within.  The verse above has been the flagship verse for hundreds of children’s ministries and even more so, families. 

That is all well and good, but sayings on a wall do not make God’s truth reality.  We cannot pass on what we do not know.  What this verse is really telling us is, love the Word, learn the Word, live the Word and share the Word, especially to the young we have contact with.  Children are like wet cement waiting to have an impression left in them.  If we don’t leave the impression, something else or someone else will. If we love God, we must pass it on. If we do not pass Him along, He will go the route of the false gods of the past and his reality will be lost until He returns again to an unsuspecting world.  We must do all we can to protect our younger generation from that.

I remember watching an interesting show a few years back and it stuck with me. Bear Grylls is a well-known outdoors adventurer and had his own show. Bear would take out a celebrity guest each week and they would spend two days in some remote area, facing the elements, experiencing some wild challenges, and living off the land.  They actually faced some pretty dangerous situations, as well.

I was amazed at the similarity between each of the guests from one week to the next.  All of them  had very good careers and the money and fame that so many seem to wish for.  But each one talked about how unfulfilling that life was by itself.  I don’t know what it is about the outdoors, especially when there are stressful situations involved, but people seem to open up a little more about their lives.  I remember especially the episode with Deion Sanders, the speedy, flashy, brash all-pro super-bowl winning football player of the Dallas Cowboys. He talked about sitting in the motel room after winning the Super Bowl and wondering why there was still an emptiness. He went on to say that he had to turn his life over to The Lord because there was nothing that the world could offer that would fill that void within him.

The apostle Paul told Timothy that life need cannot be met by anything the world has to offer. That has been proven out time and time again by thousands upon thousands of people who seemingly have it all, but still need something more. The verse below is a talking about money, but by extension, it could be talking about fame and power. They all come from the same shaker.

“But those who want to get rich (famous, powerful) fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money (fame, power) is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  1 Timothy 6:9-10

All people search for fulfillment in their lives.  Unfortunately, even some who know Christ still look for the things of the world for that fulfillment. Christ can give our lives meaning like nothing else can.  That relationship is the only thing that can fill that void that we are born with. Jobs, relationships, hobbies, family are all important, but they are not shaped like the hole that lies within all of us and are never meant to fill it.

When we consider the incredible efforts we make to find fulfillment, there seems to be a common thread of error that frustrates the search.  Our desires hinge on self.  We want fulfillment in ourselves and for ourselves. But according to God’s Word true fulfillment can only take place if we desire to seek God’s will in our lives. Matthew tells us, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33) When we attempt to serve self rather than God an irreconcilable conflict sets in because God has a purpose for all of us and we will never find fulfillment when we choose desires that are outside of His purpose. No matter how much we have; no matter how much we do; no matter how much we know; if we live for self satisfaction, we will never be satisfied.  If we live for God then we are not battling against Him, but are empowered by Him.

Every few months I pull out a favorite poem of mine just as a reminder of God’s grace. It is by an unknown confederate soldier.  It epitomizes a life that has the fulfillment we all seek.  The life that is not all smooth, but has meaning.  The life we all want even though we may not know that is what we want.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.  I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.  I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for but got everything I had I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

A life with Christ should not be sullied by trying to make it meaningful with meaningless endeavors.  Our lives can be meaningful beyond measure if we let God have His way in our lives. 

Then and only then, will we see why we are here, what we can do, and how wonderful life can be.  …and that’s the truth.