Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 209

Trusting in God’s Unfailing Love

Many thanks to those who have been praying for our daughter Angela Stump and her health, and peace and encouragement for her and her family. (See my original post about Angie, and the update.) Her surgery has been scheduled for Thursday June 14, at 9 a.m. (Her pre-operation appointment is Tuesday the 12th, which is also her 31st birthday.) It’s not easy to wait for the surgery, partly because it means more waiting to hear whether the tumor at the base of her skull is cancerous (it will probably still be a few days after the surgery before we know).

But we know now that God is good, that He is in control, and nothing is or will be a surprise to Him. Of course, we are praying for our daughter’s complete healing. If that healing doesn’t occur before June 14, we pray for a completely successful surgery. And no matter what, we pray that God will accomplish his sovereign and loving purpose in our daughter’s life. We know what she and her husband Dan know, that God is on the throne, and nothing we are facing, including the much that is still unknown, is outside of His loving hands.  

I am asking that Angela and all of us who love her will experience the sense of peace and trust reflected in Psalm 52:8: “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.”

We live in a world under the curse of sin and suffering, but it still remains in God’s hands and the promise of a redeemed world resonates in our hearts all the more as we deal with the adversities of this one. Thanks again for your prayers.

Let me share with you the beginning of chapter 37 of my book If God Is Good. This is a very small portion of a chapter in a very large book, so it is not complete, but I believe it is pertinent.

How God Uses Suffering for His Glory

Since God is the source of all goodness, his glory is the wellspring of all joy. What God does for his own sake benefits us. Therefore whatever glorifies him is good for us.

And that includes the suffering he allows or brings (biblically, either or both terms can apply) into our lives.

God refines us in our suffering and graciously explains why: “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this” (Isaiah 48:10). For emphasis, God repeats the reason.

If you don’t understand that the universe is about God and his glory—and that whatever exalts God’s glory also works for your ultimate good—then you will misunderstand this passage and countless others. Some consider God egotistical or cruel to test us for his sake. But the testing he does for his sake accrues to our eternal benefit.

How often have you heard people say, “I grew closest to God when my life was free from pain and suffering”?

THE REFINING PROCESS

Suffering can help us grow and mature.

John Hick writes,

We have to recognize that the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain cannot be the supreme and overriding end for which the world exists. Rather, this world must be a place of soul-making. And its value is to be judged not, primarily, by the quantity of pleasure and pain occurring in it at any particular moment, but by its fitness for its primary purpose, the purpose of soul-making.[1]

I prefer the term character-building to soul-making. And although Hick sometimes draws what I think are unbiblical conclusions, he correctly emphasizes human character above comfort.

Josef Tson, who faced much evil in communist Romania, told me, “This world, with all its evil, is God’s deliberately chosen environment for people to grow in their characters. The character and trustworthiness we form here, we take with us there, to Heaven. Romans and 1 Peter 3:19 make clear that suffering is a grace from God. It is a grace given us now to prepare us for living forever.”

Mountain climbers could save time and energy if they reached the summit in a helicopter, but their ultimate purpose is conquest, not efficiency. Sure, they want to reach a goal, but they want to do so the hard way by testing their character and resolve.

God could create scientists, mathematicians, athletes, and musicians. He doesn’t. He creates children who take on those roles over a long process. We learn to excel by handling failure. Only in cultivating discipline, endurance, and patience do we find satisfaction and reward.

As dentists, physicians, parents, and pet owners regularly demonstrate, suffering may be lovingly inflicted for a higher good.

We think to “love” means to “do no harm,” when it really means “to be willing to do short-term harm for a redemptive purpose.” A physician who re-breaks an arm in order for it to heal properly harms his patient in order to heal him. C. S. Lewis wrote,

But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless.... What do people mean when they say “I am not afraid of God because I know He is good”? Have they never even been to a dentist?[2]

      

[1] John Hick, Evil and the God of Love (New York: Macmillan, 1966), 259.

[2] C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (Whitstable, Kent, UK: Whitstable Litho, 1966), 36.

The Latest on Angie

Our daughter Angela called us late yesterday afternoon to let us know that the needle biopsy the doctor performed on Tuesday was inconclusive, meaning it told them nothing, so it’s not bad news or necessarily good. (See my previous blog for background.) The doctor has decided he wants to schedule a surgery to remove the mass and the surrounding area of muscle rather than do a follow up incisional biopsy (which would be taking tissue out of the mass, but delaying the time till the ultimate surgery.)

Ang is very glad to have him remove the whole thing as soon as possible, even though it may mean taking out more than is necessary if it proves to be benign (which would be wonderful).

The surgery will be scheduled for either next week or the following week. The doctor will have a neurosurgeon standing by if things get too dicey close to her vertebrae. They may have to remove the C-1 vertebrae that is next to her skull, but if they do, they say it hopefully shouldn’t complicate her life much.

So we still don't know if it is malignant, and probably won't until a few days after the surgery. More waiting and praying, but praise God, the surgeon’s report wasn’t bad, and the wheels are turning toward the surgery.

Thanks so much for your ongoing prayers. As many of you have experienced in other situations, yesterday was one of those tough “keep on waiting” days. But God is faithful and in control.

      

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. —Psalm 28:7

Cancer Comes to Our Family

"Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous....They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them."  —Psalm 112:4,7

Friday our youngest daughter Angela was diagnosed with cancer. We were out of town and received her call, putting it on speaker phone outside a store. It was a surreal experience hearing devastating private news with people walking past us, oblivious to our pain (just as we were oblivious to the boatloads of pain so many of them were no doubt carrying).

Yesterday I talked on the phone with our oldest daughter Karina. We rejoiced in God’s work of grace in her sister Angela. When I talked with Ang later, she told me that NO MATTER WHAT comes next, she and her husband Dan are trusting Christ.

Angela shared her story with friends on Facebook, tongue-in-cheek saying, “It isn’t real until it’s on Facebook.” Here are five paragraphs Angie wrote:

Some of you know that I've been having some severe left shoulder pain. A neck MRI and a shoulder MRI were ordered to help diagnose the problem. I got a call Friday from my doctor that said the results of my neck MRI "are very concerning." It looks like I have a mass at the base of my skull that they're confident is cancer.

My doctor referred me to an ENT cancer specialist up at OHSU, and I'm his first appointment after the holiday on Tuesday morning at 8:15. He will be able to tell me what the treatment plan is and then I'll know more. He had me get a CT scan on Friday afternoon to see if there is bone involvement, and PRAISE GOD there is not!

The interesting thing is that there seems to be no correlation between my shoulder pain and the cancer. According to the x-rays I have calcium build up on some tendons in my rotator cuff, which is still very painful (and will need further treatment from an orthopedist) but I'm thanking God for this apparently unrelated pain which was able to point to the more serious problem.

The hardest part is still not knowing exactly what to expect. On the one hand, this could just be a tumor he can remove with surgery and that will be it and I'll be fine after a quick surgical recovery, or it could be a whole lot more tricky. I just won't know until Tuesday, or possibly even after surgery what my life is going to look like for the next few weeks and months.

One thing I do know is that God is good and He is in control. He has chosen this path for me, and I have to walk down it, whether kicking and screaming, or by taking a leap of faith and trusting in Him regardless of the outcome. Another thing I know is that my husband is amazing and we're trusting that God will do something awesome through this!

Dan and Angie and our grandsons Jake and Ty are part of a wonderful fellowship called Gresham Bible Church. Dan recently became one of the elders, and he enjoys serving the church in this way. On Saturday Dan’s pastor, Vergil Brown, who I know and love, asked Dan to share about Angie in the next day’s service. But Sunday morning Vergil called Dan and asked him not only to share about Angela, but to bring the morning message. With 45 minutes preparation before going to church, here is the message Dan brought, which he called "Fix your eyes on Christ". This was Dan’s first sermon. Listen to it and I think you’ll agree it shouldn’t be his last. :) 

Nanci and I, unable to get a flight home until today, were so encouraged by Dan’s message, which was powerful, and an example of the good God is already bringing out of this difficult experience. Dan is a new elder at his church, and I can't think of a better perspective for an elder to bring to the body than what he shares.

(Our other son-in-law, Dan Franklin, is also a devoted Christ follower, who serves as teaching pastor at Life Fellowship Bible Church in Upland California. Dan is an excellent preacher, and I listen often to his messages. To have the husbands of my two precious daughters be godly men who honor and serve and lead them is a blessing and answer to prayer that overwhelms me at times and brings me to tears of gratitude to our Lord.)

Here’s what I texted my son-in-law Dan Stump after Nanci and I listened to his sermon just seven hours after he had preached it:

Wow. I can't imagine a better message. I have often been proud of you, Dan, but never prouder than in hearing this. I told Nanci I am so deeply grateful to have a son-in-law who speaks the truth from his heart, and is committed to serving and loving and honoring our daughter, who is more to us than life. Thank you for your commitment to be a one-woman man. I could not ask for anything more than what I heard you say, and am so deeply grateful to Him and to you. I know the Lord is using this not only in your lives and ours, but as GBC. He does a thousand invisible things for everyone we can see, and we are so grateful to Him for you, Ang and the boys. Thank you for having given your mind and heart to God's Word and great books which elevate God's Word. Thank you for serving your church as an elder. If I would have been there this morning, I would have said, "Wow, this is what it's like to be shepherded by a man of God."

In the message Dan quotes extensively from John Piper and David Powlison’s “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”.  When Angie called him at work with the news from the doctor (Dan teaches at Ron Russell Junior High in Portland), he was of course devastated. One of the first things he did was to go online to call up the article which he remembered reading. He reread it, this time with a very personal connection. Then he gave the article to Angela, who read it and was very encouraged. I quote from this terrific article in If God is Good. If you haven’t read it (the article I mean), I highly recommend that you do.   

I have been texting verses to Angela, who is the mother of two of my five grandsons, but will always be my little girl. Here’s the first passage I sent her:

I love you, Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:1-2)

I hope the passage encouraged her, but I know it encouraged me. So too did the verses from Psalm 112 which I cited at the beginning of this blog.

Angela has told me something over the years, and Dan alluded to the same thing in his message. She has said, “I know a lot of people suffer, but I haven’t suffered that much.” She had an ovarian tumor when she was in high school, she was in a car accident, and she’s suffered other things, but she feels that compared to many people, it hasn’t been much. But now things have changed. And God is not only doing a great work in her, He is also preparing her to be used by Him in the lives of many others.

As those of you know who have faced such things, Nanci and I have gone from shock to deep concern. We are leaning on each other, but above all we are trusting in God who loves Angela even more than we do (and that's quite a statement coming from me, because I don't think I could love her any more than I do).

Dan and Ang told our grandsons Jake and Ty (7 and 6) about the cancer and let them know how serious it could be. Their responses have been very touching. I have long believed that we should not always “protect” our children from bad news, but let them know enough so that they can pray to God about the situation and also see God’s gracious and sustaining presence even when He doesn’t answer as we like, and learn to trust Him.

This reminded me of a decision Nanci and I made twenty-two years ago when I went to jail and lost my job as a pastor for standing at abortion clinics to intervene for unborn children at the clinics where they were being killed. We explained to Angela and Karina, then ages eight and ten, what was going on. We took them to an abortion clinic and they actually saw their dad being arrested. When we were taken to court in a huge lawsuit, we told them we might lose our house and they might not be able to go to the church school anymore (we didn’t end up losing the house or the school). But we told them all that so they could pray to God and experience the realities of the situation and see what God did.

Dan and Ang have told Jake and Ty that it is possible she could die. Why? Because it IS possible. All of us are going to die, and some people die of cancer. Some people without cancer die driving to work. Believing in Christ does not mean denying this or pretending it isn’t true, but recognizing He is bigger than all things, including death.

When Dan told me they had chosen to share with their boys how serious the situation is, I commended them. Yes, we withhold some information from our children, but I believe we often go overboard and “shelter” them from learning that the Christian faith means facing hard realities with the knowledge that our Lord and Savior is God over all things, including cancer and all forms of suffering, and death itself. 

I told Angie what she already realized, that God knew of and ordained all of this that is happening before He created the world. We may be shocked, but none of this caught Him by surprise. Ephesians 1:11 says, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Yes, in this verse “everything” means EVERYTHING, even cancer.  

We return from vacation today, and thankfully live only two blocks from Angie, Dan, Jake and Ty. Can’t wait to give them all a hug.

Angie and I finished our wonderful Christ-centered phone conversation last night by praying together. I was outside, and knelt by a tree. I didn’t care who saw me or what they thought. What people think doesn’t matter when your daughter has cancer and you are lifting her up before the Creator and Savior.

Angie told me she doesn’t know what will happen next, but whether it’s the best or the worst news, she knows God is on the throne. She and her family will trust Jesus. She said she wants her boys to know that the God we serve is there not just in the good times, but in the worst times. As we discussed, He went to the cross for us.  What more could we ask Him to do to prove His love for us? (Children whose parents let them in on adversity now so they can learn and pray and grow in their faith in the hard times will be much less likely to “lose their faith” when they face suffering.)

I not only love my daughters, Angela Stump and Karina Franklin, I also deeply respect them. God is on the throne and is at work in both of their lives, and their husbands’ lives. Romans 8:28-29 is absolutely true for them and for us and for all of God’s children.

Your prayers for our little girl/godly-sister-in-Christ Angela (who turns 31 next month) are deeply appreciated.

Randy and Nanci Alcorn

      

The 180 Conference, and Prolife Issues as a Platform to Reach People for Christ

I’ve mentioned in a past blog my respect for Ray Comfort and his excellent 180 Movie. This fall, I’ll be speaking at the 180 National Conference taking place on October 20, 2012 at Calvary Chapel in San Diego, CA. The whole purpose of this conference is to equip believers to stand up for life.

Ray and his team have done a great job putting it together and have lined up several prolife speakers, including Pam Tebow (Tim Tebow’s mother), Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, Sean McDowell, and more. I’m looking forward to hearing all of them, including Ray himself as he shares about engaging the culture. (Check out the full list of speakers and topics.)

I especially love the conference’s emphasis on teaching Christians how to effectively share the gospel of Jesus Christ when engaging people in conversation about abortion, since over the years I’ve frequently been told that life issues are not what the church of Jesus Christ is to be about. A seminary student at my church told me something I’ve often heard in one form or another: “Issues like abor­tion are just a distraction from the main thing.”

“What’s the main thing?” I asked.

“The Great Commission,” he said. “Winning  people to Christ. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Everything else is a distraction.”

There are three perspectives we need to consider in order to understand the relationship between prolife efforts and the Great Commission. First, the Great Commission is a central command, but Jesus labeled another command the greatest. The Great Commission is really just an extension of the command to love God and our neighbors.

Second, even if all there was to the Great Commission was evangelism, standing up for those whose lives are endangered would qualify because it opens significant doors for evangelism.

Nothing opens doors for evangelism like need-meeting ministries. Students who do a speech on abortion have follow-up conversations that can lead to sharing the gospel. Those who work at pregnancy centers have great opportunities to share Christ, as do those who pass out literature at abortion clinics and go on campuses to educate about abortion. People who open their homes to pregnant women demonstrate a love which leads to sharing the gospel. Whenever we meet people’s needs, evangelism becomes both natural and credible.

Third, in His Great Commission, Jesus didn’t tell us only to evangelize. He told us to be “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). He didn’t just say teaching them to believe; He said teaching them to obey.

Jesus commands us to have compassion and to take sacrificial action for the weak and needy. So that’s part of “everything I have commanded you.” And if we fail to obey that part, and fail to teach others to obey it, we are not fulfilling the Great Commission. If the church doesn’t intervene for unborn children and their mothers, and if we don’t teach our people to help them, then we fail to fulfill the Great Commission.

If you’re able to travel to San Diego, I hope you’ll consider attending the 180 Conference. Learn more and register at www.180prolife.com.

      

Craig Groeschel on the Big &%#*! Deal about Profanity

I have had the exact experience Craig Groeschel is talking about in his excellent blog post “What’s the Big &%#*! Deal about Profanity?”: Christians enthusiastically recommending movies without qualification. I have learned to NEVER watch a movie based on someone’s recommendation, even if I asked about sexual content and language, as I am often reassured, “Oh, no, it’s totally clean,” only to find it isn’t anything close to totally clean.

Craig’s cautions apply not just to movies but also to novels. When reading, I am careful to avoid sections depicting immorality, often skipping to the beginning of the next chapter (especially when listening to an audio book), knowing I am missing things important to the plot development, but also knowing that honoring Christ by resisting temptation matters a lot more than following a plot. I don’t read any authors known for such depictions, since if I have to skip a lot it clearly means I should just skip reading the book in the first place.

But I confess that I have become more desensitized to profanity. And while one f-bomb used to be enough to keep me from watching or reading further, now I tolerate more. Some consider this a sign of increased Christian liberty, deliverance from the snares of legalism. In my heart, I fear it is a sign of decreased holiness, and disobedience to God’s Word. (Some believers need to learn that there are many other sins to avoid besides legalism. Self-righteousness is dishonoring to Christ, but so is lust, careless and dishonoring speech, and conformity to the world, including being entertained by what God hates.)

Before you read Craig’s blog, read the following from Ephesians 4-5. I guarantee it will cause you to take more seriously the words that follow from Craig.

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

27 …do not give the devil a foothold… 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption….

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater —has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

15 …Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What’s the Big &%#*! Deal about Profanity?

Craig Groeschel, Lifechurch.tv

Recently, when I asked a friend for recommendations of a good movie to rent, he responded enthusiastically, “Have you seen The Hangover? It may be the funniest movie I’ve ever seen!” Excited about a potentially great comedy, I asked a couple of my staff members about the movie. They too had seen it and said it was a riot and must see.

Since I wasn’t sure what The Hangover was rated, my last check point involved doing a little research to see if this was a movie for the whole family or one just for me and my wife to watch together. What I discovered floored me.

According to www.screenit.com, this comedy has more than its fair share of non-family-friendly scenes, intense language, and sexual situations. The rough spots include 91 different variations of the f-bomb (apparently it can function as noun, verb, adjective — maybe even a conjunction for all I know), 41 excretory words, 14 references to a person’s behind, 13 “hells,” and nine slang terms for male anatomy. To top it all off, this hilarious movie has 31 different versions of taking God’s name in vain.

When I told my friends and staff members that the movie had 91 f-bombs, which averages out to approximately one version of the “f” word per minute, they were all shocked. “Really? I didn’t even notice” was the most common response.

Really… you didn’t notice one “f” word each minute?

Read the rest of Craig’s article.

      

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Bad Doctrine is a Cruel Taskmaster

When I came across this statement somewhere, that bad doctrine is a cruel taskmaster, it stuck with me. I asked EPM staffer Julia Stager to provide some verses demonstrating it, and I added my summary statements to hers.

Jeremiah 7:31 – Bad doctrine can make you think you are pleasing God by doing things God most detests.

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

Psalm 40:6 – Bad doctrine makes you think that all sacrifices, even self-righteous ones, make you more pleasing to God.

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Matthew 23:1-7 – Bad doctrine can offer you rules that enslave you, and even “good” doctrine (technically accurate) can be twisted to “bad” doctrine by adding regulations that feed your self-righteousness when you manage to keep them.

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

Romans 1:21-23, 31-32 – The darkness of bad doctrine fosters more and more bad doctrine, and with it more and more darkness.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Colossians 2:20-23 – Bad doctrine with legalistic rules fails to empower us to live holy lives.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Job 4:7-8 – Bad doctrine tells us all suffering is our fault. Listen to one of Job’s friends:

7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? 
   Where were the upright ever destroyed? 
8 As I have observed, those who plow evil 
   and those who sow trouble reap it. 

Job 8:4-7 – Bad doctrine says suffering is always a punishment from God, and if you please God you will not suffer.

4 When your children sinned against him, 
   he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. 
5 But if you will seek God earnestly 
   and plead with the Almighty, 
6 if you are pure and upright, 
   even now he will rouse himself on your behalf 
   and restore you to your prosperous state. 
7 Your beginnings will seem humble, 
   so prosperous will your future be.

Job 4:17-19 – Bad doctrine tells us God does not care about us.

17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? 
   Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? 
18 If God places no trust in his servants, 
   if he charges his angels with error, 
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, 
   whose foundations are in the dust, 
   who are crushed more readily than a moth!

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 – Bad doctrine fosters a false worldview that leads to fatalism and depression.

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” 
   says the Teacher. 
“Utterly meaningless! 
   Everything is meaningless.”

 3 What do people gain from all their labors 
   at which they toil under the sun? 

Bad doctrine versus good doctrine, as laid out in 1 Timothy 4:

1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

9This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

11Command and teach these things. 12Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

      

What would you say to someone who doesn’t believe Jesus is God?

A blog reader asked, "What would you say to a sweet Christian friend who doesn’t believe that Jesus is God? She also disagrees with John 1:1 and says it is unclear in the Greek. But she is not a Jehovah’s Witness."

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is the first verse I ever memorized in Greek (and about the only one I still remember.) What it’s saying in the Greek is what is self-evident in the English translation—that Jesus was with God the Father in the beginning, and that He himself was God. From before time, God the Father and God the Son co-existed along with God the Holy Spirit (not mentioned specifically here).

Some people say, “We could translate that verse as, ‘The Word was a God.’” There are other passages in which you could insert the word “a”, and it is sometimes done. But in this particular passage, it is very clear that it is saying, “In his essence, Jesus was God.”

We’re told in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of the Father, but He is not a created being. He was with the Father and the Spirit in the beginning. He is the infinite, eternal, never-brought-into-existence, ever-preexistent God.

Someone can say they disagree with John 1:1 or that interpretation, but they are disagreeing with what the Bible clearly says. We know this because Jesus’ deity is evident not only in this verse, but also repeatedly in the gospel of John. For instance, in John 8, Jesus is talking to a group of Jewish people that includes the teachers, scribes, and Pharisees. He says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” It’s significant that He doesn’t just say, “I existed before Abraham,” but “before Abraham was I am”, because He is taking on the name of Yahweh—“I AM WHO I AM”—that God used when He revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14). Jesus was stating that as the Son of God, He was God—the eternal, pre-existent God of the Old Testament.

Some people say, “Well, that’s not how I interpret that passage”, or “He didn’t really mean that. He meant this…”  Well, how did the crowd who heard Him interpret it? We’re told they picked up stones to stone Him. Why? Because it was blasphemy for a man to claim to be God.  Clearly even His enemies understood what He was claiming.

If you look in the Gospel of John, it is full of “I am” statements from Jesus: “I am the bread of life,” “I am the gate,” “I am the Good Shepherd,” and “I am the light of the world.” It’s not just these things He’s emphasizing; it’s the very words, “I am.” This repeated theme establishes Him as deity.

 Titus 2:13 talks about “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” It’s not differentiating between our God the Father, and then our Savior Jesus Christ. No, the way the Greek is constructed, it’s talking about the same person. Jesus is our Savior and He is our God.

Another example is Jesus being called “God.” In John 20:28, He doesn’t rebuke Thomas when Thomas beholds Christ’s resurrection body and says, “My Lord and my God!” In contrast, whenever somebody falls on their knees to worship the angels in Scripture, the angels are terrified, saying, “Don’t you dare do that because I’m not God!” Likewise, when people fell down on their knees to worship Paul and Barnabas, they cried out, “No, no, no. I’m not God!” Why does Jesus not say, “I’m not God” to Thomas? Because He was God. Clearly He accepts worship as befitting to Him as Lord.

So how do you help people who don’t accept Jesus’ deity? I believe it is to sit down with them and say, “Please understand what this passage says. You can disagree if you want to as to whether Jesus is God, but just understand that Scripture is clearly stating that He is.”

The person who asked the question mentioned Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it brings to mind a story that I haven’t told for many years. There was a woman named Diane who was not only a Jehovah’s Witness, but who also trained other Jehovah’s Witnesses on what to say and how to persuade people when they go door to door. I had a friend who said to me, “Randy, you’ve got to meet this woman. We’ve been talking, and she’s got all her Jehovah’s Witness ideas. Would you be willing to meet with her?”

I said, “I really don’t want to meet her and here’s why: I’ve met with numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses and numbers of Mormons, and nothing ever comes out of it. We sit down, and I open the Bible. I start talking to them, and they are always just all over the place, bringing their stuff in and not listening. I really don’t want to do it.” (In other words, I didn’t have a good attitude at all about meeting with this woman!)

Finally he said, “Come on. Please meet with her.”

So I begrudgingly agreed, “Okay.”

I went into this meeting with this lousy attitude. Maybe I prayed that God would speak through me to this person, but I certainly didn’t believe that He actually would.

I sat down with Diane and said, “Could we start by agreeing together that we’re going to trust whatever the Bible says? You can turn to any passage that you want; I will turn to any passage I want, and we’ll go from there. We’ll trust the Bible.”

She looked at me and said, “Okay, that’s fine, because I do believe the Bible.”

I thought, Yeah, yeah, yeah. You say that, but what’s going to happen as soon as I open it up?

I turned to John 1:1, thinking I know how she is going to respond, and said, “From years of studying Greek with the Greek teachers, and the Greek expositors I’ve read, here’s what they say about this passage.” Then I turned to John 8 (“Before Abraham was, I am”) and set up the whole context. I looked at the Titus 2 passage and dozens of other passages.

Then I said, “Diane, what does it seem to you like the Bible is saying about Christ?”

She said, slowly and deliberately, with a sort of stunned look on her face, “It sounds like it’s saying that He’s really God.”

I’m thinking, Okay, she’s just going with me for the moment. Then it’s going to collapse at the end when she comes back with all her Jehovah’s Witness stuff.

We went through Scripture for about half an hour, and then I looked at her and asked, “So, bottom line, what do you think based on this? Not what have you been taught as a Jehovah’s Witness, but what do you really think God is saying about Jesus in the Word?”

She responded, “Well, I think it’s saying that I’ve been wrong, and that Jesus is God.”

I shared the Gospel with her, and she prayed and gave her life to Christ. She was disowned by her Jehovah’s Witness family and was baptized in a Christian church, and last I knew she was walking with Jesus.

The moral of the story is don’t give up on people who are in cults. Yes, there is a time when you just realize, this isn’t productive to keep talking with a person who seems never to listen to Scripture. Maybe you think, I’ve tried and tried to witness to this Mormon friend or this Jehovah’s Witness friend. I’ll pray for them, but it’s going to take a miracle of grace to break through. But it is always a miracle for someone to come to faith in Christ. And God does those miracles, sometimes when we least expect him to.

God taught me a very valuable lesson that day. There is no question in my mind that it was not my wit, wisdom, or good attitude (which had started out bad) that won this woman to faith. It was the power of God’s Holy Spirit at work in her life. 

      

Photo credit: photo 1 | photo 2

Should we literally gouge out an eye that causes us to sin?

A reader of my blog asked: "In Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus said it is better to take out your eye and cut off your hand if it causes you to sin, because that is better than going to hell. Why, then, don’t Christians actually do that? If we take what He said as how we should live, and obey what He says, why just take the parts we feel we can do and ignore what we can’t or what we’re not willing to do?"

Understanding this statement is a much bigger problem for those of us who are reading Jesus’ words today than it would have been for the people who were actually hearing Jesus say this. Why? Because it was a common way of speaking. There are even technical terms for an expression like that (such as hyperbole). It is something that is designed to be an obvious overstatement that is exaggerated to make a point. With that understanding, “Pluck out your eye and cut off your hand” is a way of saying, “Deal radically with sin.”

What makes it evident that this is not really what Jesus wants us to do (aside from the fact that He created our bodies and we’re not to destroy them) is that it really wouldn’t solve the problem anyway. If you put out your right eye, you can still put your left eye on what incites you to lust. If you put out your left eye, you can still lust in your heart and in your mind. Can a blind person lust? Of course. Doesn’t this prove the eye per se is not the source of our sin problem? If you cut off your hand, is that going to keep you from stealing? No, you can steal with the other hand. The point is, the sin nature is not ultimately addressed through the cutting off of body parts.

The eye represents what we see. The hand represents what we do. What I think Jesus is saying here is, “Deal radically with what you expose your eyes to. Deal radically with what you handle and do, the places you go, and what you touch.”

A much better, more biblical application than literally plucking out your eye would be to turn your eyes away from sources of temptation toward evil. For example, if you are struggling with lust, then turn that television off. Don’t watch that movie. Don’t read that novel. Don’t go to the beach where girls are dressed like that because the moment you turn away from one, you’ll be looking at another. Don’t take a stroll in a mine field, stay away from it.

Taking radical steps to stay away from temptation might still seem radical to us, but it isn’t nearly as radical as literally plucking out our eyes.

The same is true with the internet. If you’ve taken all the precautions, including having a filter, but have proven you still aren’t staying away from internet pornography, then totally cut off internet access, including giving up your smart phone.

You may say, “But wait a minute. I’ve got to have internet!” No. Actually, if you look up internet in a concordance, you won’t find it in the Bible. The World Wide Web is not in the Bible, nor is Google or Facebook or Twitter. You don’t have to have these things. If it seems like it would be radical to not have them, fine—be radical! Again, it’s not as radical as literally chopping off your hand.

I encourage people to think in terms of what this means for television. There are people who should not have cable TV. Network TV is bad enough; it may just give us a limited number of options that sometimes are bad, whereas it is almost infinite when you have hundreds of channels through cable. You can always find something inappropriate in a moment of weakness.

The solution if you struggle with this? Don’t have a television. Early in our marriage, Nanci and I went for years without having a television. We have one now, because I think we know better how to use it. But we don’t have cable, and I don’t want it. I don’t want more options (even for the things that are healthy and don’t dishonor Christ) to take me away from the limited amount of time I have already to read God’s Word, to read great fiction and non-fiction, to talk to my neighbor about Christ, to reach out, and to do what God has called me to do.

So with this hyperbolic language (which is not misleading because people knew it was hyperbole), I think Jesus is simply saying, “Be radical. Take whatever steps are necessary to keep yourself away from the temptation to sin. Follow me wholeheartedly.” 

      

Image credit: Photo 1 | Photo 2

Will we intervene for the least of these?

I deeply appreciated the blog by Tim Challies I’ve included in this blog. The responses on his post are worth reading too, and are very revealing, both the positive and negative ones.

As for Christians standing outside abortion clinics, I thank God they are there to obey Proverbs 31:8-9: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Their presence is the voice of an alternative. It is a warning for those about to kill their children. A warning is not the same as a condemnation. If someone is about to step off a cliff, for me to say “Stop!” may appear to some to have this subtext: “You are a terrible person and I condemn you for it.” But the real subtext may be, “You’re about to fall to your death, and I love you enough to not want you or your baby to die.”

A pastor once shared a heartbreaking story about a post-abortive woman he had counseled. As she was leaving his office, he said “Can I ask you a question? If there would have been anyone outside the clinic when you went to get your abortion, what would you have done?” She said that before she left her house she had decided that if there was anyone standing outside the clinic in opposition, she wouldn’t go ahead with the abortion. Tragically, there was no one there. This woman’s story—which likely is not unique to her—should break our hearts, and move us to action.

Listen to what Tim has to say:

Ashamed and Disappointed

by Tim Challies

Last week in Louisville I ended up staying in a hotel that was a little bit off the beaten path, so to speak, just outside the downtown core, out where most of the storefronts were boarded up and only fast food restaurants and strip clubs kept their lights on at night. Every time I walked from my hotel to the conference or from the conference to the hotel, I had to pass by an abortion clinic, a building with a sign that declared it a “Women’s Surgical Center.”

One morning, as I walked by that clinic, passing directly in front of it, I saw that three or four people were just outside, holding signs and passing out pamphlets. I was taken aback; here in Ontario it has long since been declared illegal to protest outside a clinic. Yet there they were, quietly and peacefully protesting.

Standing a little bit apart from those people were two men and a woman, each wearing an orange vest emblazoned with “Escort.” These three people were escorting young women from the parking lot to the clinic, walking them past the protestors, all of whom were behaving peacefully; two were seated on the sidewalk praying, the others were calling to the women and saying, “Please don’t kill your baby. You don’t have to do this!” One young woman walked by them—she couldn’t have been older than sixteen or seventeen—with her mother beside her, her head down. She quietly took a pamphlet and disappeared inside. The people on the sidewalk kept praying. A moment later another woman, perhaps in her twenties or thirties, passed by the protestors and went inside as well.

All of that unraveled in the few seconds it took for me to pass by—a very powerful few seconds. I was shocked and gravely disappointed—shocked again, shocked anew, that we allow this to happen, that our society not only allows this to happen, but is actually complicit in this genocide. And I was so gravely disappointed in myself, so ashamed. I felt no animosity toward those young women. They were doing only what they have been instructed to do, what parents and friends and guidance counselors and maybe even pastors have told them is the happiest outcome. “It’s just like having a tumor removed. It’s just a small surgery; it will be over before you know it. It’s better this way.”

That little girl who went in there was a sinner behaving like a sinner, an unbeliever acting out of unbelief, desperate to rid herself of the evidence of her sin or perhaps the evidence of a sin committed against her. She was wrong, of course, and will have to give an account for what she has done; but I harbor no ill-will for her. It is me I was disgusted with and me I was ashamed of. Disgusted that I could watch that and not do something, ashamed that I have no idea what to do and that I have done so little. I don’t even know what I ought to do. Cry out to God and ask him to intervene? Demand answers from God as to how he can allow this to go on? What do you do, how do you react, when you see someone about to commit murder? I, we, do nothing. We feel disturbed, we feel bad, we feel guilty and ashamed, and we walk away. This atrocity has been going on all around me all of my life and I do so very little about it. I stopped for a moment, felt revulsion, and then went on my way and ate breakfast.

A couple of years ago I was reflecting on the sins that we, as Christians in this day and this time, tend to tolerate. What I said about abortion then still rings true.

Christians hate abortion. We believe that God is the creator of life and believe that life begins at the very moment of conception. We believe that each life is a gift, whether it is a life that is wanted or unwanted by the mother, whether it is a life that will be “normal” or one that will be marked by profound disability. All humans are created in the image of God and, therefore, all life has intrinsic value. And if all of this is true, then of course we despise abortion and long to see it abolished. We hate it so much that we do…well…what do we do? If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that most of us do not do much of anything.

What have you done in the past week, the past month, the past year to actively combat abortion? If you are like me, you’ve done very little. You may have prayed that God will change hearts and change the laws of the land. And this is good, of course. If there is to be any change, prayer will be instrumental. You may have spoken to some friends or neighbors or family members, trying to convince them of the value of life. But very few of us have done anything substantial, anything that could possibly one day appear in a history text. Few of us move beyond the “I hate it” stage into some form of active combat.

If we imagine Christians a century in the future, or perhaps two centuries, how will this kind of action, or inaction, appear to them? What will the verdict of history be? How will we be able to explain our complacency? They will read our words, all perfectly preserved in digital media, and they will know that we wrote and spoke about our hatred for abortion and our desire to see it abolished. But will they see actions to go along with all of those words? Maybe we are just waiting for it to die a natural death.

They may judge us harshly for this. They may have every right to. 

My executive assistant, Kathy Norquist, who has shared about praying outside of an abortion clinic, posted a comment in response to another comment on Tim’s blog:

In response to: By the time they get to the clinic, their minds are made up.  They are already facing a difficult, terrible decision.  They are already questioning their future and what it means to make a moral decision.  *They already feel judged.*Seeing protestors who (let's be honest) are judging them as sinners, unbelievers, and murderers, is not going to change their minds.  

This grieves my heart because I stand in front of an abortion clinic (monthly) and do not feel judgment towards the women going in. How do you know what the people in front of the clinics are thinking? Isn't that judging someone else’s heart which we're never to do? Yes, we are to judge actions, but not motives/hearts. 

My friends and I are there to offer love, compassion and truth, in hopes that a baby's life will be saved and a woman will be spared the pain and suffering of the choice she is about to make. Thank you, Tim, for this honest and compelling post. For those who don't know what to do, I'd encourage you to simply stand in front of a clinic and pray. The more people the greater the impact. And if you hold an appropriate sign, that impacts people driving by and causes conversations in cars, and lets the world know what is going on inside the building. It's an opportunity to shine the light of Christ in a very dark place. Like John Piper says, God is always doing a thousand other things than we know or think behind the scenes. It is a privilege to stand in the darkness and offer the light. It would be wonderful to see hundreds of people in front of every abortion clinic in America, praying and seeking to reach out in Christ's name.

      

How does one gain the courage to make personal sacrifices for God?

A blog reader asked: "How did you do it? I would love to think I’m courageous enough to make the sacrifices you made in pursuit of the Father. But even thinking about cutting back on my cable TV packages makes me weep. :) Have you always been able to make deep sacrifices in your life? Is that more of a gift or a skill?"

Let me begin by clearing up that I have not made great sacrifices in my life; rather, I have made some sacrifices along the way. I assume you are probably referring to my being arrested, going to jail, and losing my job as a pastor back in 1989-1990 when I was involved in civil disobedience for unborn children. Maybe you’re also referring to the fact that 100% of the royalties from my books go to various ministries.

Here’s what I mean when I say I don’t consider those things to be great sacrifices: God calls us all to do certain things in our lives (although He doesn’t call us all to do the same things). What I have done is exactly what every one of us can and should do: that is, when we hear God speaking to us in an area—through His Word, the counsel of others, and in our hearts when we feel a compulsion from the Holy Spirit—we should do it.

Someone might say, “I have an uncle who is resistant to the Gospel, and he has been diagnosed with cancer. He’s on my heart and my mind. I feel like God is directing me to go share the Gospel with him.”

Does it take courage to do that? Yes, it takes courage, but on the other hand, let’s compare it to the courage of a martyr, perhaps someone who’s taken into an arena and killed for their faith. I have to think, “Is anything like that going to happen to me? What’s the worst case scenario?”

I often ask myself when I’m sitting next to someone on the plane, “If I share the Gospel with this person, what’s the worst that can happen?” Are they going to disapprove of me? Okay. If they do, so what? What does that mean in the long haul? Is it really that big of a deal?

But if I needed to share the Gospel with an uncle, then it would be important for me to ask people to pray for me, and then open my mouth and say the words to him. Once I start speaking and sharing the good news, it actually gets easier because now I’m committed.

There is a joy in sacrificing for Christ by doing things like standing up for the innocent. There is a joy in giving away a large portion of your income. In Acts 20:35 (the one saying of Jesus quoted outside of the Gospels that isn’t included in them) our Lord Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. The word translated “blessing” means “happy-making.” There’s a huge happiness that comes in doing what God has called us to do.

By all means we should exercise courage. I think we don’t have enough courage in our lives—I know I don’t. But in my experience, when I have followed the Lord step by step, it doesn’t hit me all at once. Rather, it comes in increments. For example, in the area of giving, it started with following Christ by giving this much, and then giving more, and now giving even more. With the unborn children, it started with Nanci and me opening our home to a pregnant girl and helping place her child up for adoption. I served on the board of a crisis pregnancy center, and we gave substantially more of our income to support prolife work. We also participated in Life Chain (holding up signs that read “Abortion Kills Children”), went to abortion clinics, and did sidewalk counseling (at first not disobeying the law, then standing in front where we could be arrested). All of that was gradual.

So I would encourage you to follow the Lord wherever He is leading you, then depend upon Him to give you more courage to take the next step. Our lives are supposed to be what Eugene Petersen calls “a long obedience in the same direction.”

Following Christ requires taking up your cross daily, which means little sacrifices made repeatedly again and again and again. One day you will wake up and realize (or if you are humble you may not realize) you have become a bolder and more courageous person. That should not be the exception, but the norm for the Christian life.

I’d like to share one final story, which I tell in a couple of my books, including Money, Possessions and Eternity. It illustrates the fact that in the body of Christ, we need to encourage and raise the bar for each other when it comes to courageously following Christ and obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Years ago there was a single young man in our church who had a substantial income in his profession. He told me, “I feel the Lord is leading me to sell my house and give away all the money to the poor and to world evangelism.”

I told him, “Good for you. I am really excited for you, because God will do great things in your life when you follow Him this way.” He was so joyful. He was just bubbling.

I didn’t see him until six or eight weeks later. When I did, I noticed he didn’t look as happy as the last time. The joy was gone. I came up to him and asked, “So how’s it going? Have you sold the house yet? Have you decided which ministries you’re giving to?”

He said, face downcast, “You know, I shared that idea with my Growth Group and they talked me out of it. They convinced me that I was being foolish. They said the Lord wouldn’t want me to do that. That would be unwise.” (His Growth Group consisted of older, more “mature” Christians.)

I looked at him and said, “If God is leading you to do that, do it! Don’t listen to other people.”

Unfortunately, he never ended up selling his house. And I remember what that said to me. It was a powerful illustration that we as Christians should be the last people to discourage each other from doing what God has laid on people’s hearts—what we are so quick to call “unwise.”

That man could have given away his house and still easily paid rent for a nice apartment and been in the top 98-99% of the world’s wealthy. And a group of older Christians in a local church talked him out of it! We should be doing the opposite. We should be raising the bar for each other, becoming more courageous and bold, following Christ more wholeheartedly, and sacrificing more with joy.