How Serious Must We Be?

In a previous post, I tried to demonstrate that our Christian faith must be lived out in a constant dependence upon the grace of God. And in order for that to happen, we must actually live in such a way that the only thing we can depend on is the grace of God to sustain us, and not our own will-power or self-sufficiency. Much of the posts I put up, especially that post, are constantly calling attention to the fact that Evangelical Christendom is severely lacking in how it manifests its relationship towards God, and that the grace of God is something that is far more glorious than we display and perceive it to be, primarily because of our negligence and our giving of ourselves to other distractions. What underlies all these motives is that I believe most of us Christians are greatly lacking in the seriousness with which we approach our Christian faith, our approach towards God, namely Christ, and also in our relationship towards other believers and non-believers.

I have a grid, if you will, that I operate off of. That grid, or rule, is the display of Christ on the cross and resurrection. That statement in and of itself is not sufficient though. I believe that as we continue to look into the cross of Jesus Christ, and the person and work of Christ, that it will have the most sobering effect on our lives, like a drunk man plunged into a frigid river: either he is too drunk to fight (the spiritually dead) or whatever soberness is left in his veins (quite literally) he will conjure up to swim, beat, and fight vehemently for shore, in spite of all exhaustion, cold, and weariness.

What I endeavor to keep before my mind is how great the depths God had to tread in order to win his church back to himself. If it took the death of Jesus, the Son of God dying from excruciating torture in order to bring his elect back to himself, then there must be a tremendous seriousness that must sit over the people of God, which is quite often scarcely found. It took not only the entire life of perfect obedience of Christ to overcome but one single sin of Adam, but that perfect obedience is sufficient for all those who come to Christ, the millions, if not (after all is said and done) billions of people who will fill heaven. But not only this obedience, but this one single death, at one moment in time, in the place of those billions who should have each died his death. And not only his death by himself is sufficient, but he received the wrath that was due unto them, all of them, on his shoulders alone. No other substitute stood by Jesus to aid him in the bearing of the wrath of God. Each sin alone is worthy of eternal punishment, and we have multiplied sins as though we are expert tradesmen at its craft and have duped the whole world in to buying from us: we are filthy rich with our sins. The quantity of that wrath is beyond what our minds are even capable of fathoming. I dare say, if we had but a mere glimpse of some of the greatness of that bearing of that wrath, we would faint forever and plead its sounds to be removed forever from our consciences with pleads like we have never considered. Our sins deserve and eternal punishment, and this is why only God could pay our debt: we had incurred an infinite debt in our offending of the Eternal, and Infinite God, and only an infinite being could repay that debt. And it is from that platform that I see the seriousness which all Christians must approach the Christian faith. But Christ did not stop at obedience, at death, at bearing wrath. He overcame all these things, swallowed up death, and resurrected to life. And all this was done to "bring many sons to glory" - "to the praise of God's glorious grace."

We would not trifle as we do if we rightly pondered such things. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." Much of the church would like to let all the emphasis fall on the love of God. But constantly in scriptures the love of God is contrasted over and above the depths of our sin. I see that one of the greatest ways of understanding the grace of God is understanding our own sin. To the depths we travel into the wretchedness of our hearts, it is to those depths that we will see that God has traversed with us, and even beyond that, more than we may ever know. It is in this seriousness that we must approach our Christian faith.

And not only towards sin and the removal of punishment, but in the display of love that is given for us on the cross and in the resurrection. We do not have a God of a simple love, of trite, happy-go-lucky love. His love is so much towards us that he gave us his Son, (John 3:16), and not only this but that his Son would die for us (John 15:13), and call us his friends, and even on top of that God did not stop. We aren't simply on God's good side now; we don't go to heaven to play with our dogs we miss that died when we were kids. No, God preparing for us "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:18) - a weight that gets heavier, and heavier, and heavier, for all eternity for our joy and happiness (let us not forget what that verse declares what is preparing that glory for us). The whole chapter of Romans 8 is a declaration of the benefits won by Christ on the cross in behalf of the called of God.

This is our grid which we must hold on Christian lives in constant perspective to. It is a difficult and rigorous task, but it is the only apportioned way the scriptures declares that we will see more and more and greater portions of the glory of God in this life. It demands a seriousness, it demands a constancy. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:1-4). This hymn declares what I have tried to say so succinctly, i felt it best to show it here.

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.

A Pathetic Christianity

What separates us from the world? What makes us different?

Christian band? You decide

Clearly there is not much.

Christianity is no longer CHRISTianity, it should simply be called GODianity. We have come so near to the removal of Christ from the Christian church that it would make God nearly vomit on the spectacle of putrid man-whoring that we have done in the name of His Son. Christians, for the last 200 years have become afraid of drawing lines in the sand. It is about time that we begin drawing lines. The apostles had no problem drawing lines and kicking people out of churches (2 Thess 3:6; ), there was a worldliness that was abhorred by the church. From the time of the Reformation until the early 1900's, people clearly, publicly, and unashamedly drew lines in the sand, declaring, "if you fall on this side, you are part of the church, and if you fall on the other side, then repent or get out of our church". People made enemies. Paul, clearly, had loads of enemies. He was beaten, rediculed, and demeaned, constantly because of the lines he drew.

The main criteria for this scorn was a false representation of the true Gospel. Paul says of all, including himself "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." So serious was this call, that Paul repeated once again for us in his next sentence. The Christian church is in this danger, and more than it has been in nearly 100 years. What is interesting about what Paul says about the gospel is that though he may disagree with the manner in which it is preached, he, by no means, allows for any distortion or mishandling of this gospel. Today, we are beginning to rush headlong into the latter.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will... The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry... What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Here's the point: The glory of Christ can be displayed through true content of the gospel being told, even if the person telling it is doing it for wrong motives. But, the glory of Christ cannot be displayed through a false gospel, even if the person is doing it with good motives (if that is even possible)

And this is where the current Christian church is allowing Satan to enter into the fold of God and rip us to shreds. We think to ourselves, "Oh, but he is such a great person and is so nice! How could I ever not want that person to teach me?" And here we fall with our necks placed upon the chopping blocks, beckoning our enemies dearly to chop our heads off. What niceness, I plead, is there in the gospel? The confrontation of an inflexibly holy God with a vile, wicked humanity who would rather crucify the Lord of Glory that to have him in this world for but one more moment? A Savior who says "Hate your father and mother and belongings and come follow me!"? Who says "You must hate your life in this world if you want to be my disciple"? There is not one shred of a 'nice' God. We are confronted with a God who is dead-set (literally) on the salvation of sinners from his own wrath and their sin at the cost of his very own Son's life. This is not a great act of 'niceness'. This is the most serious act of salvation and rescue the whole cosmos, creation, all of heaven and earth has witnessed. It is so much of a disturbance of the realities of the other creations that even "angels long to look into" these things.

No, we cannot have a weak, paltry, minuscule gospel, that says nothing more than that Jesus is simply a means to get your guilty conscience assuaged and that you can pray to at night so that he can give you all the worldly desires that your heart wants. This is no Christ you pray to. It is simply a god of your imaginations. Too few Christians are willing to draw a line in the sand and confidently, courageously, and boldly say loudly, "No, Christ Crucified is the God whom we worship and adore, and we will not allow the sickening representation that your wicked heart has conjured up to enter into our places of worship and teaching." We have quickly become churches who are sensitive to the needs of men and neglect the callings of God. Surely Christ was gentle and meek and lowly in heart, but none the less serious in dealing with their sin as when he was hanging upon the cross, shedding his very own blood in their behalf, bearing the weight of all of the Father's wrath upon himself. It is there on that cross that we see what true gentleness, true meekness, and what a lowly heart looks like.

Yes, we are to tolerate sinners and love our enemies, but within the church of God, we must not, and cannot allow for any false, loose gospel to continue to spread through the Evangelical Church. Either we strive to preach, teach, and proclaim the true gospel of the God who deals with sin and its sickening reality and pours out the inexhaustible riches of his love and grace upon those undeserving sinners, or may God have mercy on our churches and cause the doors to be shut, the musical instruments to break down and the people to leave the churches who have erected for themselves a weak, false notion of the true gospel of God.

True Beauty

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
1 Peter 3:3-4

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 53:2

Yet we are called to desire this God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls. It is a very difficult thing to direct all of our being to desire someone who does not, at first appearance, seem to be attractive to us. We are raised this way in our society, to desire the appearance, to look at the externals first, and then judge whether they are someone worthy of our affection.

We are constantly consumed with how we represent ourselves to others and to the mirror. We judge our acceptability based upon that reflection. If we appear externally unattractive, then we judge ourselves to be so. Yet if one feels confident in his or her external appearance, then they have a forgetfulness about how their internal appearance is. If the external brings a return, than what is the use in investing in the internal person of the heart?

Christ is called to be our object of all our delight, yet if he were to appear to us today we would look at him like we look at a distorted burn victim, or someone who has been maimed. As Jesus, after the resurrection, said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." (John 20:27). Wounds: the things that make a person the most uncomely of objects of attraction to the eyes of this world. Yet these wounds are the greatest display of beauty in the universe. Here we are called to place our hands in to the wounds of Christ, to feel beauty. We are confronted with all our vain notions of what true beauty is. Christ laid aside all his glory that he had with the Father before his incarnation (Philippians 2:5-8). If one were to look on that glory, they would be ravished for all eternity, not even coming close for the flick of a moment to even considering to desire to look at anything else. But Christ laid aside this glory in order to show us true glory. He became to us unattractive, 'normal' - if you will. And he was robbed of even this. His face beaten, his body ravaged, for the sake of love to us, to show us what is worthy of all our affection and joy and delight. This should raise our hearts against every vain and sickening notion of what is appealing that this world puts out at us. It is no wonder that Peter calls women, who are often terribly influence by men, to not make themselves attractive merely externally. This should not simply be a call to women, as in their day, but also to men, in our day. All of us have become consumed in how we present ourselves to this world.

Peter calls the woman to adorn themselves especially with two characteristics that were most poignantly noted of Christ in his death crucifixion: gentle and quiet spirit: as shown by Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." A sheep is noted for its gentleness, and the quietness is like Christ's: which Peter shows us is very precious in God's sight. These are not simply to be the adorning of women, since Christ perfectly displayed them, but they are especially and distinctly to be the adorning of women. And the sight of God here is to be juxtaposed with the sight of men. Though men may only see the external appearance such as "braided hair and jewelry" (we should insert our current infatuations here), it is not the sight of man that people are to be consumed with. When God looks on you, he is not concerned with your external adornment. When looks on you and sees "quietness and gentleness" he sees beauty. In whose eyes, then, are we striving to look beautiful in?

For us then, to learn what is truly beautiful, we must look at the cross, and place our hands in the wounds where the blood was shed that bought us from death and purchased our life. If we cannot find beauty there, we will not see beauty anywhere else in the world. We will only know a paltry notion of what true beauty is.

Our Reaction to Who Gets Saved and What It Takes to Save Men

We are oftentimes praise when some movie-star or some person who is very popular or famous in our culture becomes a Christian. The news circulates around the Christian world in such a great speed that to tell someone the day after is needless for they have surely heard about it. But we are often scarce in our praise of when one simple person, a lowly boy or girl, comes to believe on Jesus. Our eyes are flinted and we walk a bit taller when the popular people are converted, but we are awkward and shy when we hear of some person who has no popularity being converted. To me, this swelling is not from a simple joy at the rescue of that popular person’s soul from hell, but instead that they have been won over to ‘our side’, and will be against the whole of the popular culture. We are still captivated with our desire to meet these people, the same before they were converted. And all the while, we are negligent of those that are brought to Jesus all the time, and think for but a moment about their salvation. This should not be this way.

There is another thing that is troublesome. We think it is such a great work of God that he would work in the heart someone who is in open opposition to him, yet think it rather normal to someone who is quite indifferent to religion and then is brought to Christ. But this person does not understand the wickedness of the human heart. Sure it is a great thing when God brings down those who exalt themselves, especially against God himself, because they are not able to spread their lies any longer. But it takes no more exertion of God’s grace to save that openly obstinate person than to save the quiet, indifferent person. We see constantly that there are numerous people who are witnessed to so frequently, yet reject that invitation to come to Jesus, oftentimes for quite unreasonable excuses. Yet we see at times that it wasn’t any great, drawn out argument that brought those greatly obstinate people to him, sometimes it was just a simply action of love that bore witness to the power of the gospel. And so we see that one who is openly against Christianity, as Paul the apostle was, is, in relation to God no more out of the power of God for salvation than an every-day person. We are told that without Christ we are dead in our trespasses and sins, and it is not as though those obstinate people are deader and the indifferent people are less dead. Both are equally dead and both are in need of the resurrecting power and grace of God to bring them to life. Chapter 3 of the book of John so clearly demonstrates this truth, that it is the Spirit who brings renewing life, and we do not discern his ways, but see their effects, and we see that there is none out of the saving power of God. We also see that everyone, without distinction, who does wickedness, hates the light. The one who is overtly obstinate to God is as hateful of the light as one who is rather indifferent to the light.

This should have a sobering effect on our minds to show us how diligent we should be against allowing our minds to be darkened. If you are just as far from Christ when you are simply indifferent as when you are in open, blatant obstinacy to Christ, then we must be watchful against any part in our heart that becomes indifferent to Christ or raises up an opposition against any part of his commandments. The root of the indifference and opposition is sin and death, and it would as soon destroy you and prove your faith to be in vain, as it would keep the whole world in its stupor of darkness. So do not reckon that you are nearer to Christ if you are not in open opposition to him, as though you are closer than if you are simply indifferent. Satan has keeps much of the world in darkness by keeping them simply indifferent to the gospel, and they work their way to hell as fast as the one who is in open opposition.

A Christianity That Can Only Be Lived By God’s Grace

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:27-30

Many of us depend on our own ability to resist temptation than upon God’s grace. We submit ourselves in rooms with all kinds of temptations, maintaining a convenient ignorance, so long as we do not offend our weakened consciences. We fill our minds and hearts and thoughts with all sorts of worldly entertainments, from movies, TV shows, magazines, music, and so on, and do not even think twice. I believe we don’t think twice about the nature of the things we engage in because we don’t want to think twice. We know that if we are serious about our inquiry into the things we get entertainment out of or the places we go, we would be cut to the heart about what we are indulging ourselves in. We know that if we were to consider those movies, those TV shows we pour over, that we would find how unfit they really are for our Christian lives.

“If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out and throw it away.” (Matthew 5:27-30) There are three things to note about this verse. 1) something that brings you pleasure is causing sin; 2) stopping it; 3) and not returning to it

Your eye is something that is good to you. But Jesus tells us that if that good eye becomes something that causes you to stumble, do not hesitate - get rid of it. In the same manner, many of us look upon those things that we enjoy frequently: movies, TV shows, music, magazines, websites, but when we are confronted with sin in those things, we rationalize and think our way out of not having to eliminate those things out of our lives. This is exactly the opposite to what Jesus says: Jesus is not saying “If something is leading you into temptation or is a constant source of temptation, think rationally in your mind about how to not do those same things, or think those same things” – What Jesus says is, “If something is leading you into temptation or is consistently a source of temptation, get rid of it, at whatever cost to yourself it may be.” Jesus’ demand is so great that he is calling us to maim ourselves. Jesus is telling us to stop it at its source. Get it out of your life, out of your mind, out of your sight, at whatever cost to you it may be. For us Americans, this is often foolish to us. We have become so disgustingly able to rationalize ourselves out of nearly every situation. We have scarcely called sin to be sin where it is blatantly apparent to be so. In a TV show, where people are having sex, we sit and watch, rationalize (some are so blind that they can’t even rationalize, but think it no harm at all), and continue with our program. Here is the cost: you cannot watch your program, or the movie you want to see, it proposes things that would tempt you. And here turns on the rationalizing-machine. One can nearly dictate all the thoughts that run through much of our minds. It is no wonder that the proverbs say “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2) But the fundamental reality is that we, at the core, would rather have our entertainments, our enjoyments, than to cut out our eye. There are far too many Christians walking about today with healthy eyes and healthy limbs with filthy hearts and dirty mouths.

The last thing the verse calls us to do, which is most difficult, is to “throw it away.” And here comes the true test: are we those who, when a thing that brings temptation comes, set it aside for the time being, only to later on return to that same thing, thinking we are able to resist it more effectively? - "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly." (Proverbs 26:11) Or are we those who when something is a source of temptation, get rid of it and get rid of it for good? This is the true test. It ends all rationalizing; it ends all sorts of ways we conjure to make way for our pleasures and enjoyments in questionable activities. And it is here that God’s grace is most desperately needed.

Some would say, at this point, “You are being too impractical, for if I were to take your advice, than I could scarcely enjoying anything, and I would have to become a hermit who sits and reads books and avoids the world!” I would like to confront this head on. The problem here is not what you are being called to, but is that you realize how much of your life is wasted away on paltry activities and enjoyments. Of course you could scarcely enjoying anything, because most of what you enjoy now is fraught with sin, or laden with temptations to sin! It is almost as if you would have to change your lifestyle… but who does that anymore…

This is why I say that we are in desperate need of a Christianity that can only be lived by God’s grace. Too many of us live a meager, wanting Christian life. We only resist those floodgates of temptations that we think would be especially ruinous to ourselves, all the while, leaving open all sorts of creeks and streams into our souls, and even knowingly. When Christ says, “cut out your eye and throw it away”, he knows what he is calling us to do. He knows we are going to say, “But Jesus, who can live like that? I mean, so much of what I do now goes into contrast to the life that you are really calling me to.” Jesus gives us such a demand because it calls us out, it calls us to stop depending on our own ability to constantly deem for ourselves what we think is “good” and ”bad” for us. It calls us to a Christianity that says, “I must depend on God to assist and support me, for I do not have the strength in myself to resist and rid myself of all these temptations that fill my life.” If you are cutting out your eye and throwing it away, you have to depend on God. You are demonstrating by cutting out your eye, or cutting off your hand, that you cannot depend on your own ability to resist those temptations. If you could resist the temptations, then you could leave the eye in, and leave the hand on. But how often do we find it to the contrary.

Jesus says “it is better to lose one of your members than that your whole body to be thrown into hell” And I believe it was CS Lewis who said something to this effect, “Heaven will be filled with people missing an eye or an arm, but they will the better for it. But Hell will be filled with people who have their whole body intact and do not know the difference.” Are we going to be Christians who cut off those things from our lives, no matter how much we may enjoy them, and rest on God’s grace to sustain us, or will we continue to be those who conveniently rationalize tempting and sinful enjoyments, and rest in our own abilities to stand?