Jim Wilson's Blog, page 40

Honoring God from the Heart

 

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).

"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men'” (Isaiah 29:13).

People have God-given escape valves to keep them from exploding. Laughter and tears are two of them. The mouth is another. The cure for a bad mouth is to keep good stored up in your heart.

However, not everything that comes out of the mouth is from the heart. Some of what comes out of people’s mouths is just what they have been taught, whether true or false, like in Isaiah 29:13. This is why people can recite sound doctrine but lose their temper at home.

The real person is the heart person, not the head person. We are two persons—the person taught by men and the person of the heart. Can these two be the same? Yes, but it is not automatic. We can teach children that it is wrong to lie. That is not the same as teaching children not to lie. The first is teaching the head; the second is teaching the heart.

Not everything that comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. Do the good truths you speak come from your heart, or only from your head?

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

Roots by the River will return after the New Year.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas! Roots by the River will return next week.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Cooperation, part 4 of 4

 

Sometimes we will encounter another Christian or Christian group on the same battlefield. Will we oppose their presence, tolerate their presence, ignore it, or unite with them to win the battle?

The question never really centers around the method of our group versus the method of the other group. The question is loyalty to the group versus loyalty to Jesus Christ. He commands both groups. For infantrymen not to accept the cooperation of tanks is not only stupid, it is disobedience to the one commander of both tanks and infantry. Our controversy is not with the other group— it is with Jesus Christ:

“John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us’” (Mk. 9:38–40).

Our determining factor is the person Jesus Christ. A man may not be with our group, and we may disapprove of his methods, but if we agree with his loyalty to Jesus Christ and with his message, we should cooperate. Paul saw this very clearly when he wrote:

“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice” (Phil. 1:15–18).

The other fellow’s motives should not be our concern. This is easy to say, but to enter into an open-hearted willingness to work with someone from another camp is not so easy. The problem is that we, as allied groups, are not close enough to the Supreme Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The solution, then, is to spend more time with Jesus Christ individually, in our group, and with other groups. This time should not be spent in thinking or talking about distinctives or differences, nor should it be spent in accusation or introspection. We should spend our time with God in prayer, praise, worship, reading, study, and meditation. When we listen to Him, talk to Him, sing praise to Him, and talk about Him, we will come to know Him better. We will begin to realize more of His love and power, and to follow more closely His commandments and purpose.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:34–35).

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Cooperation, part 3 of 4

 

Another way that pride is fostered is through the function of the unit. The method of warfare used in the particular unit becomes, so far as the men involved are concerned, the primary means of winning wars. For instance, the armor historian will tell of the heroic part that that unit played in winning World War II. In turn, we can find out how destroyers, submarines, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps, and the Army each won the last war.

The pride and loyalty that are encouraged, the rivalry and competition that keep units sharp and on their toes, can and do backfire. After a few years in the service, the naval officer has been indoctrinated to such an extent that it is difficult to cooperate with the Army, even though aims are in agreement. The individual thinks his loyalty to the Navy is synonymous with loyalty to the United States. Unfortunately, the Army feels the same way. Strained cooperation results. Thus, the function of one’s branch can become more important to an officer than the overall objective of the Armed Forces. This is a result of instilling pride in subordinate units to the neglect of higher loyalties.

In the Army of the Lord, the same error may occur. The different units (denominations, mission societies, and nondenominational groups) may develop a pride in the distinctives of their church or fellowship. The doctrines, liturgy, or methods that make each group distinctive are emphasized.

Many denominations and other groups are primarily the result of the ministry of individual men raised up by God: John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Hudson Taylor, as well as living leaders. These are the “subordinate commanders” who may get the fierce loyalty and obedience that belong only to the Supreme Commander, Jesus Christ.

Most of us would strongly deny this, yet we betray our loyalties when our conversations frequently begin with ourselves or our group and its leader. Is Jesus Christ the subject of our opening sentences as often? If anyone draws this matter to our attention, we explain that our group and Christianity are synonymous, or that our leader is the most devoted follower of Jesus Christ, or that we meant Christianity, even if we did not say so. Thus each group feels it is most representative of Jesus Christ.

Strangely enough, if we were to apply the mathematical axiom, “Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other,” we would conclude that all the groups were very nearly identical to each other and would enjoy great freedom in cooperation. This is not true. It is true that people who have a genuinely close fellowship and contact with the Supreme Commander have no trouble with each other, regardless of the groups with which they are associated.

We must guard our loyalty and keep it for the Lord Jesus Christ.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37–39).

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Cooperation, part 2 of 4

In the spiritual war the principle of cooperation is very important. First, it applies to each one of us individually. Most Christians are used to fighting (win or lose) their own spiritual battles. We are so used to fighting the spiritual war alone that when we come into contact with a fellow Christian in the same war at the same time or place, we find it difficult to cooperate and communicate. Cooperation is a prelude to concentration, and concentration is one of the keys to victory.

It should be immediately apparent that the Christians have the advantage of a unified command. Furthermore, their commander is not too far removed from the situation to provide effective cooperation. Jesus Christ Himself experienced the temptations and difficulties encountered in this world, so He is close to our situation in the sense of personal experience.

More important, He presently occupies a position close to all Christians from which He directs their cooperative efforts—that is, He dwells in their hearts. From there He can guide us as individuals or as part of a group: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20). “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Mt. 28:20).

Thus, if there is any breakdown in the principle of cooperation, it is not on the part of the spiritual Commander; rather, it must be traced to the individual combatants.

The greatest deterrent to cooperation is pride. Pride says I can handle my problems alone; I don’t need any help. Or perhaps it will allow me to accept help, but not from him! Sometimes pride keeps us from admitting our needs even to ourselves, let alone to anyone else. Other Christians could help us in our weakness, but we will not let them know what it is. A proud man wishes to win a struggle alone so he may take all the glory. When he loses no one else knows about it, or so he believes. James 5:16 says: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another.” This cooperation in the spiritual war is essential if we do not wish to be continually defeated at the point where pride hides the fault.

God’s attitude toward pride is explicit in the Scriptures. Proverbs 6:16–17 says, “These six things doth the Lord hate . . . a proud look.” In 1 John 2:15–16 it states, “Love not the world . . . For all that is in the world . . . the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

The Bible also describes the results of pride. Daniel 5:20 explains the downfall of Nebuchadnezzar in these words: “But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.” King Uzziah suffered leprosy until the day of his death, “because when he was strong, his heart was lifted up” (2 Chr. 26:16). Proverbs 16:18 states the principle in this way: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

In the military services, pride is deliberately generated in order to encourage obedience and high quality in performance of duties. Rivalry and competition in training bring the units to the peak of readiness. Yet platoons should cease to compete when they act as a company. They are held together by the company commander. Companies should cease to compete when acting as a battalion and so on up the line until the commander in chief unites the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

But a problem exists. Whereas the highest sense of loyalty should be to the highest commander, the greatest pride somehow frequently is generated in the smaller units, and the greatest loyalty is given to subordinate commanders: there may be fierce loyalty to the skipper and indifference, antagonism, or at best a lesser loyalty to the squadron commander. (This is no great difficulty as long as the skipper ensures no deviation from orders by the squadron commander.)

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Cooperation, part 1 of 4

 

In World War II, the United States narrowly escaped a crushing defeat because of neglect of a major principle of war: the principle of cooperation.

Until the invasion of the Philippines on October 20–23, 1944, we had fought two separate wars in the Pacific: the advance through the Central Pacific and the Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands, and the war in the Southwest Pacific via the Solomons and New Guinea. The forces of the former were commanded by Admiral Chester Nimitz in Hawaii; the latter by General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. When these advances met in the Philippines, the two leaders had no superior short of the commander in chief, the president of the United States.

The invasion was the responsibility of General MacArthur, with Central Pacific Forces filling a supporting role. The Seventh Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Kincaid was given to General MacArthur for the invasion and included units of escort carriers and old battleships, some of which had been raised from Pearl Harbor. The ammunition of these units was non-armor-piercing, high explosives, as they were for support of the troops ashore and not for an engagement at sea. Protecting the invasion from attack by sea was the Third Fleet, commanded by Admiral Halsey under Admiral Nimitz. The main striking force consisted of four carrier air groups each with four fast-attack carriers and a surface striking force of fast new battleships.

The Japanese sent a two-pronged surface attack against the invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf and a decoy carrier group from Japan into the Philippine Sea. The old battleships under Rear Admiral Oldendorf sank all but one cruiser in Surigao Strait, which took care of the southern prong. The fast-attack carriers turned back the northern prong in the Sibuyan sea and then proceeded after the decoy group away from the invasion fleet.

Because of poor communication between the commanders of the Third and Seventh Fleets, Admiral Kincaid thought that Admiral Halsey had detached his surface striking group of seven fast battleships to cover the northern prong of the Japanese surface force at San Bernardino Straits. In reality, Admiral Halsey took the battleships with him after the decoy air group. He had not let the commander in chief, Pacific, or commander, Seventh Fleet, know of his decision.

The Japanese northern arm returned to the attack, coming through San Bernardino Straits with four battleships and ten heavy cruisers. No one was there to meet them. They caught our escort carriers in Leyte Gulf. After sinking the Gambier Bay, for some unknown reason the Japanese admiral retreated. His only opposition consisted of torpedo attacks and smoke from destroyers and destroyer escorts. Our forces had intelligence of the enemy. We had an overwhelming superiority in surface and air power. But we did not obtain a decisive victory because of poor communication between cooperating forces. If it had not been for the decision of the Japanese admiral to retire, we might have suffered a decisive defeat.

When we fail to uphold the principle of cooperation, we cannot count on the enemy making mistakes or poor decisions, nor can we bank on scaring him with smoke and mock torpedo runs.

We must determine to have an overwhelming superiority to meet the enemy in a decisive battle at the right time, which cannot be achieved without cooperation. This cooperation is dependent upon two prerequisites:

1. Cooperating forces are allies, not belligerents.

2. The cooperating forces come under one commander.

Cooperation with an enemy is treason. Failure to cooperate with an ally is a violation of an essential principle of war and a gross error.

Unity of command is necessary for cooperation. The closer the commander is to the cooperating forces, the closer the cooperation. The farther removed the unity of command, the weaker the cooperation. In the invasion of the Philippines the supreme commander, the president of the United States, was very distant. Admiral Nimitz had a unified command; so did General MacArthur. But this was a meeting of two distinct commands—they had no common superior close enough to the situation to provide good cooperation.

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Something to Eat

 

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'” (Matthew 25:31-40).

“Whatever you did for one of least of these, you did for me.” Isn’t that wonderful? Would you like to do something for Jesus? Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, invite strangers into your home, visit the sick, visit prisoners. Suppose it is not Jesus you visit, but a con man or a thief. Have I ever been ripped off while caring for this kind of person? Yes, several times. However, the blessing of giving and receiving has been much greater than my negative experiences. The difficulty of this kind of giving is no reason at all to choose to be with the goats instead of the sheep.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Surprise, part 2 of 2

 

Surprise in warfare means more than “to cause wonder or astonishment or amazement because of something unexpected.” It means “to attack or capture suddenly and without warning.” The passage from Romans 5 clearly tells us that the love of Christ expressed in His death for us was unexpected. If the message is used with people who are dependent on their own effort or relative goodness, they will be “amazed.” If the messenger catches that man with his defense down, he will be “amazed” and surprised. In other words, he will be captured suddenly and without warning.

Surprise may be increased even more if we combine the message with a surprise in time and place. To hear the gospel in a Sunday evening evangelistic church service is no surprise. It is even possible that the message itself will surprise no one in the audience. On the other hand, a personal testimony of the saving grace of Jesus Christ backed up with the Word of God will be an effective surprise when it comes from a line officer. It will surprise noticeably when this occurs in a bar, at a cocktail party, in the office, in the field, aboard ship, or in combat.

It is much easier to be vocal in an evangelical church than in the above places. It is always easier to train for combat than it is to engage the enemy in a fire fight. The reason is simple: in the evangelical church, as in military training, there is no enemy. The presence of an enemy means fear and knots in the stomach, even though we have the opportunity to take the initiative and catch him by surprise.

On the defensive we have no choice but to fight. But when we have the opportunity to surprise the enemy, the decision to fight is ours. We would hardly pass up such an opportunity in physical combat, though it means fear and the possibility of death. Likewise, let us press our advantages in spiritual warfare, despite the problems and fears. Do not reject surprise in time and place.

To forewarn the enemy is to ask for strong resistance to any attack. The principle of surprise is one of the prime means of thwarting such resistance. This principle applies equally in personal evangelism. If we give men the chance, they will hide, cover up, and defend sin. Even if it is only a bluff, they will make a last stand defending sin. They will do the same with their ignorance Let us catch men with their guards down. Give them as little opportunity as possible to hide or defend sin. Above all, use the Word of God:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12–13, RSV).

This is our surprise. It is devastating. Remember, our objective is not to win an argument, but to win people to Jesus.

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. Christ.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Principles of War: Surprise, part 1 of 2

The Old Testament hero Gideon learned the principles of war by revelation from God, and one of them was “surprise.” The account in Judges tells us that the amassed armies of the “Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers” (7:12). This force consisted of one hundred thirty-five thousand. Fewer than fifteen hundred got away. We can say that Gideon with three hundred men surprised the enemy and won a battle of annihilation.

There are only a few elements with which surprise can be effected: time, place, and method, or any combination of the three. However, surprise also depends upon two additional and essential factors, namely, ignorance on the part of one commander, and intelligence on the part of the other. This ignorance may be natural (e.g., incompetence or inadequate security) or it may be induced (e.g., deception).

Gideon’s victory, Hannibal’s victory at Cannae, the German invasion through the Ardennes in 1940, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were all aided by the ignorance of the surprised nation. In the first two cases, deception helped immensely in the execution of the surprise, and in all four cases the surprising belligerent kept his intentions and plans secret.

The surprise of Gideon was one of time (night), method (lamps, torches, voices, trumpets), and place (three sides of the camp). The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise of time and place; the weapon was not unusual. The United States’ surprise at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was primarily one of weapon, although the time and place were a part of the surprise.

In the spiritual warfare we may use any or all of these elements. Surprise can be very effectively used in evangelism, whether mass evangelism (strategic surprise) or in personal evangelism (tactical surprise).

In the spiritual war, there are two commanders: God and the devil. One of them is the Creator; the other a created being. God is omniscient; Satan is not. Since surprise depends upon the ignorance (natural or induced) of one of the commanders, it becomes obvious that God cannot be surprised. God is omniscient. He has no limitation in His intelligence, nor can He be deceived.

This is not true of the devil. He has been surprised before. God did not deceive Satan; He just withheld information from him. The Bible speaks of it over and over as a mystery (cf. 1 Cor. 2:7–8).

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6–8).

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

An Upside-Down World

This post is an excerpt from Billy Graham's book The Secret of Happiness.

Here is a spiritual law which is as unchangeable as the law of gravity: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

We must get this fact firmly fixed in our minds: we live in an upside-down world. People hate when they should love, they quarrel when they should be friendly, they fight when they should be peaceful, they wound when they should heal, they steal when they should share, they do wrong when they should do right.

I once saw a toy clown with a weight on its head. No matter what position you put it in, it invariably assumed an upside-down position. Put it on its feet or on its side, and when you let go it flipped back on its head.

In our unregenerate state we are just like that! Do what you may with us, we always revert to an upside-down position. From childhood to maturity we are always prone to do what we should not do and to refrain from doing what we ought to do. that is our nature. We have too much weight in the head and not enough ballast in our hearts, so we flip upside down when left alone.

That is why the disciples to the world were misfits. To an upside-down man, a right-side-up man seems upside down. To the nonbeliever, the true Christian is an oddity and an abnormality. A Christian’s goodness is a rebuke to his wickedness [emphasis added – this is a good portion to quote]; his being right side up is a reflection upon the worldling’s inverted position. So the conflict is a natural one. Persecution is inevitable.

When Christ’s disciples began preaching that Jesus was the Christ, the people cried in consternation, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). Herein lies the fundamental reason for Christian persecution. Christ’s righteousness is so revolutionary and so contradictory to man’s manner of living that it invokes the enmity of the world.

If we could assume that people were basically upright, then it would be the popularly accepted thing to “live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:12). But as long as Satan is loose in the world and our hearts are dominated by his evil passions, it will never be easy or popular to be a follower of Christ.

The Bible says: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims…” (1 Peter 2:9-11).

Aliens are rarely shown the “welcome mat.” They are often accepted only with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Being aliens, with our citizenship not in the world but in heaven, we as Christ’s followers will frequently be treated as “peculiar people” and as strangers.

Our life is not of this world. “Our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Our interests, primarily, are not in this world. Jesus said: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20, 21). Our hope is not in this world. The Bible says: “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20, 21).

Hence, in every sense we are an enigma to the world. Like a few right-handed persons among a host of left-handed persons, we comprise a threat to their status quo. We cramp their style. We are labeled as “wet blankets,” as kill-joys, and as prudes. Like the enemies of Jesus, the world still inquires contemptuously, “Art not thou also one of his disciples?” (John 18:25).

- Billy Graham

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships