Month: July 2010

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’…
Genesis 14:22-23

After Lot separated from Abram and began to dwell in Sodom, four kings made war with five other kings of the land. The king of Sodom was one of the five battling against these four. In the process of this war, the king of Sodom was smitten, and Lot was taken along with all his goods. Well, Uncle Abram rushed to his rescue and, along with 318 men born in Abram’s house, delivered Lot and the other people and goods taken captive from Sodom. The king of Sodom offered to take the recovered people and give Abram all the recovered goods, but as we see from our text, Abram refused!

So, why would he turn down such an offer?  After all, hadn’t he gone to a lot of trouble?  Hadn’t he risked his life and the life of his men?  His reason was simple.  Abram had put his hope in “the LORD, God Most High,” and Abram wanted God alone to get the glory for his preservation and success.  Soren Kierkegaard said “Life can only be understood backwards,” and Abram lived with that awareness.  In other words, he made decisions as he moved forward based on what he knew was waiting at the end.  He had a goal in mind at the end of his road, and that destination guided him in the way he lived every aspect of his life.  Heb 11:10 tells us that Abram had his sights set on “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

I wonder how many of us would have made the same choice Abram did.  Would we have justified taking the riches offered by the king of Sodom?  Would we made our lists of all we could do with such a treasure, or would we have considered the consequences as Abram did.  The men of Sodom were recognized as being “exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.” (Gen 13:13) God had already promised to make a great nation from Abram (Gen 12:2), but Abram knew that this wicked king would take the glory for the work of God if Abram received his gift.  He refused to allow that because Abram had a purpose and a calling, a singular desire in all that he did.  It is the same for every believer as summed up in 1 Cor 10:31— “do all to the glory of God.”  Abram lived with that goal in mind.  Do we?

Jamie

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Matthew 5:29-30

We continue this week in Conformed to His Image considering “Continuing on the Journey: What It Takes to Finish Well.” The above verses describe an act that will not only prevent people from finishing well, but it will prevent them from finishing at all! The inevitable end for those that refuse to pluck out and cut off as necessary is an eternity in hell. I’d say it’s important that we understand how we are to practically live out this instruction.

Have you ever been shocked when certain people were exposed in their sin? You thought they had a solid relationship with the Lord. Perhaps they even held an office in the church and had encouraged you through their ministry over the years. But all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, you hear they were caught in some heinous sin. What happened? They stumbled at these verses. They didn’t pluck out and cut off! These great stumblings don’t happen overnight. They happen by degrees! It is the little foxes that spoil the vines! (Song 2:15)

Christ’s example prior to our text is a good one in this instance. He warns of looking after a women (it starts with a look) to lust after her and instructs us that we must recognize that sin to be as great as the actual act of adultery! (Mt 5:27-28) What is often the problem that leads to this gradual decay? We justify ourselves in sin that either we claim isn’t sin at all or that we classify only as a “small sin”. There’s no such thing! When we allow “small sins,” pretty soon we don’t see them as sin at all, and we move on to something a little worse. We go in a little deeper.

Pr 7:8-9 describes a foolish youth that is led into adultery, and notice how it began:

Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.

He passed along the street “near her corner”. What was he doing there? What good can come from it?!! He went the way “to her house”! He had no business there! He should have found another route even if it was out of the way. V. 9 shows the gradual decline. Notice it starts with this young man in the twilight. There is a little light still present at the outset of his journey, but before all is said and done, it is the black, dark night!  Pluck out and cut off, dear soul, before it is too late!  Don’t toy with sin.  It will consume you!  Consider the question that Pr 6:27 asks: “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”

Jamie

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
Lk 14:26

My wife recently posted the following quote from Oswald Chambers’ daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest as her Facebook status: “Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever.”  It was a statement that had spoken very deeply to her as she read it that morning, but as the responses began to flow in from others, she was surprised to see some Christian friends resisting the point Mr. Chambers was making.  She defended her post by quoting the verse above, and it would seem to me that many Christians don’t really grasp the extent of Christ’s statement.

Too often, we read this verse and immediately begin to explain away the word “hate,” but let’s stop and consider it for a minute.  Christ, the living Word of God, chose this precise word.  You can look it up in the original Greek, but you won’t be able to get around the force of it.  It is the same word translated “hated” when Jesus described the way the world would feel about His disciples: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” (Lk 21:17) No one questions the forcefullness of that usage of the word, and yet we always soften the verse above.  We shouldn’t.  Christ picked that word because of its strength.  He picked that word to get our attention and show us what was really required to be His disciple!

We’ve recently finished reading a section in Conformed to His Image where Ken Boa described seven practices common to those that finish their spiritual race well.  He was careful, however, to point out that none of the other six will really be practiced unless the first one, which is intimacy with Christ, is the center of our existence.  He’s absolutely right.  Christ must be our everything.  We must love Him to such a degree that it cannot even be compared to the love we have for another.  In fact, except we love Him with all of our being, it is impossible to properly relate to those around us.

When Oswald Chambers said we have to live face to face with God without taking anyone else into account, he was describing the life of a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  It doesn’t matter what my dad and mom think, what my wife and children would have me do, or what my brothers and sisters believe would be best.  My personal opinion doesn’t even matter.  What’s important is what God thinks.  What would He have me do?  His command and will for my life is my only direction.  An attitude short of that is not true discipleship.  We will never fully obey God if we filter everything he tells us to do through the opinions of those around us.  But if we are completely given to Him, loving Him to such a degree that it can’t even be compared to the affection we feel for anyone else, then we’ll find our love for those around us to be greater than it ever was before we were fully submitted to Christ. Only as you “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” will you be able to love “your neighbor as yourself.” (Lk 10:27)

Jamie

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge,
But he who hates correction is stupid.
Proverbs 12:1

I’ve heard it said that it was no mistake that God gave us two ears but only one mouth.  The wise man is more interested in hearing than being heard.  I’ve taught my kids since they were little that it wasn’t nice to call people stupid.  But there are some, according to God, that are just that!  Stupid people, God says, are those that refuse to be corrected.  They cannot be taught.  They know best, and nothing you say can convince them otherwise!

Uzziah was a good king.  According to 2 Ch 26:4, he “did what was right in the sight of the LORD.”  It’s shocking as you read his story to find out that he died a leper and that his leprosy was a direct judgment from God!  Where did Uzziah drop the ball?  How did he veer so far from the right path?  V. 16 tells us that “when he was strong his heart was lifted up,” and he decided that he should burn incense in the temple, a right God had granted only to the priests.  His pride led him into error, but one thing could have prevented his destruction.  If he could have received instruction and correction, his life might have turned out very different.  But when the priests faithfully rebuked the king and reminded him of the Lord’s commandment (v. 18), he refused to listen.  He refused to be taught.

God can teach us through anyone and anything.  He used a donkey to talk to Balaam and got Peter’s attention with a rooster.  After Christ cleansed the temple, it wasn’t the aged chief priests and scribes whose lips dispersed knowledge, but it was children that cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  (Mt 21:15) God has not left Himself without witness and reveals Himself even by the rain that falls from the heavens. (Ac 14:17) Above all, in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, (Heb 1:2) and that voice is still heard by His Spirit that reminds us of His words (Jn 14:26).  So, here’s the all important question: are we listening?  Are we still teachable, or have we gotten too big for our britches to humble ourselves and be a student?  Has pride convinced us that we should be the one educating others and not the other way around?  The wise man is “swift to hear, slow to speak,” but “a fool’s voice is known by his many words.” (Jm 1:19, Ecc 5:3)

Jamie