Servants of Jesus Christ: Called, loved, kept (Jude 1:1)

Jude 1:1

"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ" (NRSV)

Just in this small introduction we learn four things about our standing in the Lord, four characteristics that we become when we are grafted into the family of God:

• We become servants of Jesus Christ
• We are called
• We are loved by God the Father
• We are kept for Jesus Christ

What are all those things and how do they affect who we are?


Servants of Jesus Christ
During the First Century (and before) there were basically three ways one could become a slave or bondman/bondmaid: (1) One could become a slave during a battle, being on the losing side, and then being captured by the victors. (2) One could be sold into slavery by someone else (Think about Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers). (3) One could sell themselves into slavery as a result of a debt. The Greek word doulos literally means "one who gives himself up to the will of another" (Vine’s).

In one sense, as sinners, we have a debt, the debt of sin. When we give ourselves up to the will of the Holy Spirit, we are placing ourselves in His care as His slaves as a means to begin to pay the debt, a debt which, of course, we can never repay!

In another sense, Paul, in Romans 6:6, stated that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to the Lord. Those who aren’t saved are slaves to sin. Think of it! They have given themselves up to the will of sin and must follow that master. We who are saved—who are part of the family of God—have willingly given ourselves up to the will of the Lord.

I think for me, and perhaps for many of us, the problem comes that we believe there is a third option—giving ourselves up to our own will. According to Romans, there are only two choices, submitting to the will of sin or submitting to the will of God. There is no third, or no neutral, other choice. As Christians, our responsibility—and our free choice—is to give ourselves up to God’s will, to listen to His voice through His word and through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.

The question becomes, can I truly call myself a servant of Jesus Christ? Are my actions, my choices, my directions in life wholly determined by His will . . . or by my own? My own will comes from a sinful nature, that old person who was surrendered wholly to sin. As someone who has been saved by the power of the cross, I need to give myself up to the will of the Father. And how easy that really should be! God is loving, kind, generous, forgiving, and patient! He only wants the best for me all the time. I need to fully surrender to His will and to discover then what He has planned for me.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes." (Jeremiah 29:11-14a NLT)


We Are Called
According to Strong’s (G2822), kletos means to be divinely selected and appointed. Calling, then, is a two-pronged identity. First, we are selected by God. That doesn’t mean that God selected some and not others. No, we know that it is God’s will that all would be saved.

"The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NRSV)

We are all selected to receive salvation, but only some respond. Billheimer is convinced that one of the reasons that only some respond is a lack of prayer on the part of the Church:

"Without violating the free moral responsibility of any individual, the Church, by means of persistent, believing intercession, may so release the Spirit of God upon a soul that he will find it easier to yield to the Spirit’s tender wooing and be saved than to continue in his rebellion.

"God will not go over the Church’s head to do things in spite of her, because this would abort His plan to bring her to full maturity in the Son. He will therefore do nothing without her. To this John Wesley agreed when he said, ‘God does nothing but in answer to prayer.’" (Paul Billheimer, Destined for the Throne, p. 17).

Thus, we are all called in the sense that we are all selected. God has chosen to give the life of His precious Son in order to save His own creation, mankind. The fact that all are selected doesn’t make salvation any less wonderful. Think about those you love who are not yet saved. Don’t you wish for them to know the Lord Jesus as you do? You wouldn’t want God to have not selected them, those you love?

But there is being selected and accepting the selection. I could go on a job interview and be selected for that position. But if I don’t show up for work, then the selection becomes null and void. If I refuse to submit myself to the will of God, the fact that He has selected me comes to naught. The loved ones you want saved, God has selected them. We need to be in continuing, fervent prayer for their salvation.

Because of kletos, we are also appointed. As a part of the universal Church, we each have a specific place and purpose. And those purposes may even change throughout the seasons of our lives. As we grow and mature in the Lord, as our circumstances change, God moves us into different situations. Our job isn’t to cling to the past or long for the future, but rather do what He has put our hands to do today. Our purpose is to exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit in each interaction that we have during this day, to focus on the people that He so loves and to be His hand to them.


We Are Loved
Being loved by God is such a basic Christian belief that I think we often just run over it without basking in the idea that God, the Creator of the universe, the One who made all, controls all, determines all loves me! It doesn’t matter what my circumstances or what my problems. It doesn’t matter that I have sins and habits that still plague me. God loves ME! And He loves YOU! He loves us. John 3:16 begins: "God so loved the world that He gave . . ." He gave His Son. And He continues to give . . . His provision, His protection, His direction . . . His love!

All of us want to be loved. We crave the attention and affection that comes from someone loving us. And yet every earthly relationship will fail us. We will fail others. But God’s love cannot fail, will not stop. Our desire to be loved has been answered through His love. We need only recognize it, embrace it, bask in it. The Father loves us! There is nothing else so precious, nothing else so necessary.


We Are Kept
This is an interesting word, tereo. It means, in this context, keeping the eye upon. God is keeping His eye on us. He is watching us, but not only watching. As He watches, He takes care of us. There isn’t one thing in our lives that He isn’t aware of. There isn’t one need that He hasn’t already met. There isn’t one problem that He isn’t already solving.

If you think about that, there is great freedom in living, understanding what God is already doing in our lives. We are free not to worry about the future, not to bemoan the past! God is taking care of it all (and much more adroitly than we ever could). We are free to live today in the fruit of the Spirit and not concern ourselves with how things seem to be turning out. The Father—OUR Father—is in control and is going to take care of everything! Even when we sleep, even when we fail to think of Him, even in the most dire circumstances, He is keeping His eye upon us, making provisions at every step.

We are His slaves, willingly surrendered to His will, and in becoming this, we are called and appointed, we are kept, and we are loved. Is there anything else? Not for me!　

　

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Waiting in the Darkness

Psalm 130: 5-6

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning. (NRSV)

Sometimes waiting doesn’t seem like waiting. It seems, instead, like loss.

The disciples knew that Jesus had been crucified, that He had died. For them, death was an end. Mark 16:10 tells us that they were mourning and weeping. Their understanding of what had happened was ruled by the immediate and the physical. Death had come. Death was final. Everything they had lived and believed for the past three years was over.

Or so they thought.

The fact was that God was not done! And that’s what we need to remember in each seeming loss in our lives. God is not done! Rather than giving up, rather than trying to regroup, rather than believing there is no hope, we need to learn how to wait and how to hope in the Lord.

The Psalm says, "more than those who watch for the morning." Have you ever stayed up all night, wishing for the sun to come up? The waiting seems interminable, but eventually the sun does come up. In our lives, the rising sun is a constant. No matter how long the night seems, the sun eventually rises. Even in the northern lands, where night lasts for months, eventually the sun rises and light appears.

It is the same with the Lord’s plans, plans that He has for our good. Jeremiah 29:11 says:

"‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’" (NLT)

And again, Romans 8:28:

"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose." (NRSV)

God Himself is working out the plans He has for our lives. Sometimes those plans include times of darkness, times of loss, but that loss isn’t the end. It isn’t even a break in the plans. These times are there to strengthen our faith, to give us opportunities to learn how to trust His Word.

That Saturday between Good Friday (the crucifixion) and Easter (the resurrection) wasn’t a break in God’s plans. Rather, it was an integral part of what the Lord was doing in His glorious plan to save the people He created, the people He loved. The disciples didn’t understand that, rather than a time of mourning, it was a time of thanksgiving, of celebration. The promised salvation had finally come!

When darkness comes in our lives, rather than fighting with God or surrendering our faith, it is a time to praise Him and learn how to trust. There isn’t anything to be afraid of in the darkness; He has been there all the time!

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.

For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Isaiah 53

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him of no account. Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice He was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made His grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him with pain. When you make His life an offering for sin, He shall see his offspring, and shall prolong His days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of His anguish he shall see light; He shall find satisfaction through His knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (NRSV)

"When will we get there?"

"Mom, how many days ‘til we go to Disneyland?"

"Only seven days until we get married."

"The escrow will close in a month."

"Tomorrow we’re going on our first date."

Anticipation. It’s something that we live for, something that often fuels what we see as the mediocrity of our lives. We do our best to look into the future, to plan something "better" and then use that to fuel our efforts through the boring.

What did our Lord anticipate? When the Lord Jesus woke up that Thursday before Easter, what did He see? What did He sense? What did He plan?

He planned His death.

In fact, since the beginning of time, God has been planning His ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice that would save us from ourselves and from an eternity with Him, the Creator within Whom we are made complete.

After God had finished creating this reality, He stopped and saw that it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Looking back over the six days of creation, He saw the good. But in Genesis 3:15, He looked forward into the future and saw our need for a Savior. The Father knew from the beginning that He would have to die.

So when the Lord Jesus awoke that Thursday morning, what He had to look forward to was a death of horrendous proportions. But His physical and emotional sufferings at the hands of His human torturers was nothing compared to what He would suffer at the hands of the Trinity itself!

All of His existence (which is eternally backwards and eternally forwards), the Lord Jesus had existed as the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He existed within that perfect, sinless communion of absolute love, absolute justice, absolute sinlessness. Even during His life here on earth, He was still completely God (just as much as He was completely man).

But the Lord Jesus knew that morning that He would be facing the most devastating time of His existence . . . in the rejection of the Trinity! As He hung on the cross and became sin for you and me, He would experience existence without the Father. How that is possible, I don’t understand, but we know from scripture that it happened.  The Father rejected the Son.

"At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" . . . Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." (Mark 15:34, 37-39 NRSV).

While we can spend our lives in anticipation of heaven, God spent more than 6,000 years in anticipation this one brutal moment, the moment when the Trinity would somehow tear itself apart—even temporarily—so that the Son could become the sacrifice for our sin. The Lord Jesus woke up that Thursday morning knowing that the most savage of experiences would happen to Him . . . and yet He still walked down that path because of His love for us!

Somehow it makes the small things that He expects of me so much, much less. If He can do this for me, then the least that I can do is to live for Him through whatever pain, loneliness or suffering there is in store. At least I know that I will not be walking it alone because He has promised that the Holy Spirit will never leave me. The Lord Jesus suffered alone and rejected so that I wouldn’t have to.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.  For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

Fighting the Right Kind of Battle

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons—not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. "Drive out the wicked person from among you. (NRSV)

I tend to stay out of political conversations. Not because I don’t have an opinion nor because I’m convinced that things are going well in America. Neither is true. But I stay out of those conversations mainly because I believe that, as believers, most Christian Americans are on the wrong track. We are fighting battles we cannot win, in fact, battles we were told to avoid. And we are avoiding battles we were told to fight.

Exactly the kind of tactic the enemy—Satan—would use to undermine the Church. And it’s working. We are losing the battle because we are fighting on the wrong front.

Recently, there have been a number of articles (and news reporting) about how Christians have lost the culture war. Todd Starnes of Fox News recently reported:

"Seventy percent of senior pastors at Protestant churches say religious liberty is on the decline in the United States, and 59 percent of Christians believe they are losing the culture war. Eleven percent considers that war already lost." (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/02/20/have-christians-lost-culture-war/)

But the fact is, that isn’t even the war! Satan has deluded us into focusing on what’s not real and to be convinced that we are actually losing something when that’s not what we have lost! What we have lost is the true focus of where the battle actually is. And while our eyes are on the wrong "battlefield," Satan may very well be winning where the true battle is waging.

The battle is all about focus . . . where we should focus our attention . . . and how we should interact with ourselves, our Christian brothers and sisters, and the world.

Currently, many fundamentalists are bemoaning the fact that American culture has taken a turn that is uncomfortable for them. Public schools are teaching evolution; 40 million children have been aborted since Roe v Wade; same-sex marriage is becoming legal in an increasing number of states. America is making a moral shift and many Christians are screaming about bad that is, how horrible the people are who are creating this shift. The problem with this thinking is that these people who are creating this shift are not the enemy. They are, in fact, the very ones that our Lord Jesus Christ died for.

"For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12 NRSV).

Satan very cleverly allowed the United States to become a bastian of Christianity and to allow us, as Christians, to become comfortable with our lifestyles. We became, as it were, cultural Christians rather than focused, strong believers. And when the culture began to wan, rather than to look inwardly at our own sin, we have risen up in anger at those who would shake us from our comfortable existence. Being a Christian has never been about creating a culture. It has been, rather, about proclaiming the good news (the gospel) of the salvation of Jesus Christ. And what is that good news? It is that "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NRSV).

First came love. God loved us. And then came sacrifice. Christ died for us. THEN came salvation. We were changed into His image. And as His Church, our mission is to live out Christ in the world today. We cannot change the culture until we are willing to love—to sacrificially love—those around us who are not saved. And we cannot love them by demanding that they change their lives to suit us. Rather, as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 5, we are expected to be out among the unsaved non-believers who live immoral lives. We are expected to love them, to minister to them, to reach out to them while they are living as sinners, just Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.

We were never given permission to judge the world. God has reserved that privilege (and duty) exclusively for Himself. What we are to judge is the Church within—beginning with ourselves!

Paul talks about this in Galatians 6:

"My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. . . . Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith." (6:1-5, 7-10 NRSV).

• Let us not grow wear in doing what is right . . . don’t give up.

• Restore, in a spirit of gentleness, those are who detected in sin (within the family of God)

• If we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption.

The focus is not about battling the evil that is without. We are expected to live among that evil, in fact, to preach the gospel both with words and deeds. To give a cup of water, to turn the other cheek, to give both coat and cloak, and to walk circumspectly.

We are also to judge within, first ourselves and then our brothers and sisters in gentleness lest we also be tempted and fall into their sin.

So, to my fellow Christians who own businesses, rather than turn away gay nonbelievers, why not give them the best service you can, emulating our Lord Who gave His finest—His very life—for us?

And, to my fellow Christians who are continuing to embrace all kinds of sexual sin, turn away before the sin consumes you and you draw those around you into its abyss.

This is the kind of U-turn that we need to make as Christians. We need to begin to be harsh with ourselves. I need to look at my own life and tear out all that is displeasing to my Lord and Savior. But rather than be angry with my unsaved neighbors and colleagues, I need to further reach out to them in love, to sacrificially serve them until they can’t help but see Christ in me. If we want to win the war, this is how the battle must be fought. There is no other way to gain victory.

　

　

Shine in the Darkness

Matthew 6:3-4

"But when you give to someone, don’t tell your left hand what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you."

When I went out to water the backyard this morning, I was surprised to see only the moon and a couple of stars. I live in the desert and usually the night sky is crowded with stars; it can be an amazing sight. But this morning, the expected cloud cover obscured all but the brightest stars (which were, probably, actually planets). It got me to thinking. The stars that usually share these early morning reflections with me were still shining. I just couldn’t see them. But the fact that I couldn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there. They were, I’m sure, shining as brightly as ever, shining for an audience that was now invisible just as they were invisible to me.


They were still shining.


How often as Christians do we wait to "shine" until there is an audience? Forgetting that we always are living out our lives before an Audience of One? When we are in the shadows, when our lives are hidden by darkness, do we do things that we wouldn’t normally do exposed to the light of day, to the observations of others? Do we wait to be kind, to be forgiving, to be generous so that others will notice us?


Every good gift that we give, every loving act, every sacrificial service is always observed by our Heavenly Father. If our constant conversations are with Him, then we won’t worry about who else is present in the circumstance. We will express ourselves through love simply because it pleases Him.

© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.  For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com

The Phil Conundrum

 

In recent days, it seems that there has been more and more discussion about "Phil"and his rights. Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty TV show made some comments in an interview that upset the LBGT community. Everything hit the fan at that point, seemingly polarizing many in our country to one stand or another. I believe that the controversy is far deeper than that being discussed. For it shouldn’t ever be about what are the rights of the saved, but rather, what are the obligations.

There are several issues. First, the obligation of Christians to an unsaved world. Second, identifying whose obligation it is to identify sin. And third, what is the true cause of the decline of American morality.

The first two issues are actually tied together and very important because with obligation　(or responsibility) comes empowering. If we, as believers, are responsible for something, then we are thus empowered by the Holy Spirit. If we are not responsible, then we literally go into the lions’ den without the power of the Lord. The most concise explanation of a believer’s responsibility is the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19b-20a NKJ)

"Go . . . and make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." There are two assumptions within this command. First, that we are only to teach disciples to obey the Lord’s commands, and secondly, that only the Lord’s disciples are empowered to obey Him. So, just like the parable about the pig (Don’t try to each a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the pig.), we aren’t commanded to try to force the unsaved world to mold itself into the outward righteousness of Christian morality. It is, in fact, impossible to do so and, like the pig, only annoys them. Why? Because they are still the willing slaves to sin, and it is impossible for them to even understand the dynamics of righteous living! "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." (Romans 6:20 NKJ). The Greek translated here "free" actually means "free from obligation or restraint." In other words, the unsaved person is free from meeting the moral obligations that come to the Christian who is a slave to God. Why? Because they are incapable of meeting those moral obligations in the full sense of what that means. The unsaved person may look moral or immoral on the outside, but neither is important because the unsaved person is unsaved. Pure and simple. The issue isn’t whether or not we, as believers, can help them clean up on the outside by changing their behavior choices. The issue is—and always has been—if we can make them disciples.

Our responsibility is, then, to go into the world and preach the gospel, making disciples where we can and allowing those others to go their own way. Why? Because it is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to convict them of sin and lead them to the cross. Once we have presented the truth of the gospel, our responsibility is to watch as the Holy Spirit works. Our responsibility is to preach and pray, but never to "teach the pig to sing." (And I’m not equating the unsaved with pigs. They are, instead, dear souls that need our prayers and presenting the gospel.)

As believers going into the world, we work in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Our job is to preach (both with and without words, through the love of the Lord Jesus) and then, as a soul accepts the truth of the gospel, to instruct that person in the ways of faith so that he/she becomes a disciple. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict each of sin:

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11 NKJ)

The third issue, the cause of the decline of American morality, which we so easily place upon the unsaved around us is a much different issue. For some believers, it seems that they believe that the decline of American morals is due to the LBGT agenda, that America is dying because homosexuals can have equal rights, get married, work and live next to them and celebrate their life events. However, what if the decline of America, rather being due to the unsaved around us, is due rather to the decline of the American Church. What if, rather than saying, "You need to repent and change because your behavior is ruining my country," we need to say, "I need to repent and change because my sin is ruining my country." What does scripture say?

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ). This scripture has been preached and proclaimed by many prophets over the past 100 years. God has been speaking to us as a Church. But have we been listening? Are we listening today? Rather than say that the decline is due to the gays or the liberals (or anyone else that’s different from us), perhaps we should be wondering whether or not the decline is due to us and to the Church’s unwillingness to identify and repent of her sin. What sins exist within our lives and our hearts that need to be identified, confessed, and repented of?

A few months ago, I had an opportunity to preach on this passage of scripture. Near the end of the sermon, the Holy Spirit spoke through me and said, "What if it’s your one sin that is restraining God from healing this country?" What if it’s my one sin—your one sin—that is holding back the hand of God from America? Am I willing to give up that sin? Are you? Are we willing to look at the true cause of the decline of America and to take responsibility for it? Are we willing to turn off our TV’s, to put away our credit cards, to give up our leisure time . . . whatever it is that is sin in our lives in order for God to heal our land? The scripture says that God’s people must be willing to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. Are we?

The last issue is how we address those around us, how we present the gospel. The apostle Peter taught that we should always be ready to give a defense (an explanation) for the gospel:

"Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed." (1 Peter 3:15b-16 NKJ)

We are to be ready with meekness and fear. Meekness that comes from humility, knowing that we were once unsaved and that only God’s grace has saved us. And fear knowing that each word we say can determine a person’s response to the gospel. So speaking wisely, softly and in the great love of the Holy Spirit. That certainly doesn’t sound like we are to be ready to blast our way forward, declaring our rights. Most of us know that the LBGT agenda is at the forefront. Are we ready with an answer to points to Christ, rather than pointing to sinful behavior from nonbelievers? We are all sinners and we were all, at some point, among the unsaved. Don’t we remember those days? Those days of despairs and pride and lust? Condemnation of those behaviors closest to us would never compel us to the loving, risen Jesus? But a strong word for the need for salvation for everyone, including ourselves, might turn away the anger.

Homosexuality or gay marriage isn’t the issue. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). Being gay and getting married isn’t going to send someone to hell any faster than being heterosexual and attending church every Sunday. (There are the unsaved in both scenarios.) As Christians, we need to become wise in how we think and how we respond when we have the opportunity. And our response needs to always point the way to the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. We aren’t here to teach pigs to sing. We are here to make disciples that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

Hebrews 3:6, 12-15, 18-19

"Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. . . . Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ . . . And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." (NRSV)

The first, perhaps most important, part of this passage is the realization that the author of Hebrews was speaking to believers, not to non-believers. "Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." The author goes on to say: "For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end."

As Americans, we live in a society that is predominantly Baptist in doctrine. Many of us (including me, including many of our pastors) have some of our spiritual roots in the Baptist church. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There is so much that is right about what Baptists preach and practice. That being said, it is important that we understand Baptist doctrine so that we can determine whether or not we wish to believe or follow it. In this case, the Baptist doctrine that is important is the concept of once-saved-always-saved (some call it the perseverance of the saints). This is the idea that once you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are automatically going to heaven, regardless of what you do or how you believe from that point on. This doctrine is the foundation of all of our ideas that we just need to get folks "saved" and we are done! It is the basis for most street evangelism and for many other evangelistic efforts in America.

It is my firm conviction that this doctrine is wrong!

How would I, simply a woman seeking God, presume to make such a judgment? It is based on passages like this one in Hebrews and on studying the Messianic/Jewish view of our holy scriptures. I firmly believe that the Apostles did not believe that one simply had to say the sinner’s prayer and their work was done. (If that was the case, most of the New Testament wouldn’t have been written for there would be no need for it.)

That being said, what are the things that keep us from turning away from God?

• an evil heart

• an unbelieving heart

• deceitfulness

• a hardening of our hearts

• disobedience


An evil heart
We know that we have, in the flesh, evil, wicked hearts, hearts that are guided by the lusts of flesh: "But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death." (James 1:14-15). When we follow our own hearts, we lead ourselves into sin for our hearts are evil. The heart that we must follow is the heart of the Lord Jesus. In Him there is no sin; in Him there is no rebellion against God’s law for He Himself is God.


An unbelieving heart
It is entirely possible for us as believers to doubt God, to refuse to trust Him, to look at our circumstances rather than at His character and His promise: "He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For do not let that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, not dependable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8). "Not dependable in all his ways." When we refuse to trust God, we trust ourselves and our circumstances. We trust that which is not dependable. Only God is trustworthy; only He is dependable. And yet, when we create an unbelieving heart by looking at our circumstances rather than at His character, we trust in that which is untrustworthy.


Deceitfulness
A synonym of deceive is delude which means to mislead the mind or judgment. When we turn from God, we turn to delusion, to lies, and to the Master of lies, Satan. We purposefully deceive ourselves when we turn from the truth of God’s Word to the lies of lust and sin. Scripture particularly refers to deceit when we follow the sins of the lust of the flesh, when we involve our bodies in the sin (particularly sexual sins).

1Co 3:17-18a: "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. Let no one deceive himself."

Why would Paul tell us that we shouldn’t deceive ourselves regarding the defiling of our bodies? Because it is easy to believe the lies that our bodies are our own, that we should tend to the needs of our bodies. Our society has come to believe that lie that sexual needs are "normal" and that we need to focus on them, to tend to that need.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of God? And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

When we commit sexual sin, we sin against the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are telling God that the price He paid for us isn’t enough; it wasn’t worthwhile. The Hebrew word translated as "flee" in v. 18 means to run away or vanish. We are to so distance ourselves from sexual sin as to not be there at all! (The word translated here "fornication" actually incorporates all sexual sin.)


A hardening of our hearts
I live in the desert. While I’m fortunate to live on an asphalt road, there are also near my home many dirt roads. As people drive on those dirt roads, the roads develop ruts from the tires. If the road isn’t maintained, the ruts become so deep that it’s impossible to drive outside of them. That is the same as hardening our hearts. If we think about something enough, if we participate in an activity enough, pretty soon our very brain patterns become hardened and it becomes difficult to change that behavior. Additionally, if we sin enough, our consciences become seared and unable to warn us that the behavior is wrong. Pretty soon the "rush" of the moment becomes more present than the warning of the Spirit. The Spirit’s voice is silenced so a point where we can no longer hear correctly. Our hearts have become hardened to His corrections. It becomes almost impossible to change.


Disobedience
Disobedience to God’s laws follows all of this. Our lives, at this point, are filled with disobedience, not only in the original area of sin, but in other sins. Once the door to sin is opened, Satan comes rushing in with other opportunities to rebel against God’s laws. It becomes harder and harder to trust God, harder and harder to believe His word. Pretty soon, repentance is the furthest thing from our minds.

It is at this point that we may again begin to lean toward the "Baptist" doctrine of once-saved-always-saved, reassuring ourselves that our behaviors don’t earn us heaven, so it doesn’t really matter what we do. We said the sinner’s prayer once and we are covered by His blood, regardless of our sin. But if we truly believe all of God’s word, we can clearly see that simply "saying the sinner’s prayer" once isn’t enough. We have to live out our salvation every day. Otherwise, we may become one of those who "were unable to enter in because of unbelief."

© 2013 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.