Fire Protection Trumps Fire Insurance

            Once as I was outside grilling meat for supper my then four-year-old daughter approached me with a question. She asked, “Is there a special way to get to heaven?” I do not suggest that I have unlocked the mysteries of the four-year-old female mind, but I do think I know what she was asking. I think she was wondering if there is a shortcut to heaven—like the quick route we take to get from our Cameron home to St. Paul. She saw heaven as real place like I do and she reasoned that real places have real roads that lead to them. It is also an indication to me that the seeds of the gospel have been planted in this little one.

            I decided I would rather have her learn something out of the question rather than giving her a trite, fit-for-Sunday-School answer. So I asked her, “What is heaven?” This took the conversation deeper than she had intended, but it is a good question for all of us. The answer is that heaven is the place God lives. The question it prompts is: “How can any of us go there?

            If your answer is, “Ask Jesus into your heart,” you have not sufficiently understood the question. This is not about you finding some secret code or reciting the right mantra to spring you into a pleasant afterlife. You are as unfit for that holy place as you are for the heart of an active volcano. What is more, you have the here and now to worry about. What keeps you from facing judgment as these words reach you right now?

            If you lack something pertaining to getting to heaven it is not spiritual formulas or prayers to recite. Those are available in abundance. Just read the last page of gospel tracts and you will find sample prayers. The problem is that God is so glorious and we are so sinful. I explained to Lydia that the trouble with finding the way to heaven is that we can’t go there as we are now. We are not fit.

            But that is not the end of the lesson. I do not know if she followed all of the conversation after that and, honestly, I do not mind. By God’s grace, when the new birth comes, we make sense of all the information we have collected and not comprehended in the past. What I want those under my charge to understand is that, like a firefighter cannot walk into a burning building wearing street clothes, we cannot walk into the presence of the thrice holy God wearing fig leaves. We need a covering.

            Like you learn from the story of Adam and Eve, the only sufficient covering for sinners that permits survival before the gaze of God requires the death of a substitute.

Don't Be Afraid of Romans Nine

            The ninth chapter of Romans has been the subject of much debate through the centuries because a person’s view of divine sovereignty, human responsibility and the place of Israel in God’s plan may hinge on its interpretation. The exercise of interpreting Romans nine is so disturbing to some that they have opted to ignore teaching it. It is a lot easier to attack the interpretive work of another teacher if you haven’t done the exercise yourself. 

            This blog regularly deals with biblical counseling issues. Embracing what this chapter teaches will bring you to have a God-centered approach to any struggle you could ever bring into the counseling room

            Does God really have the right to do whatever He wants with people, including choosing to save them or leave them in their sins? Later I am going to answer, “Yes,” but let me illustrate.

            I grow rhubarb. I have a thriving stand of it in my garden. It belongs to me. I created a space for it with my tiller. I planted it. My family tends it. We pick some of it and use it for our purposes.

            We can use it for whatever we want. My wife makes killer rhubarb pie, rhubarb torte, rhubarb crisp and rhubarb crunch. I have even sampled some delicious rhubarb punch. I occasionally eat it like a stalk of celery, as disgusting as that might sound to you. Its large leaves, when picked, work well as a mulch to keep down weeds or as a hat to prevent sunburn.

            Rhubarb is valuable to me as long as it accomplishes my purposes. But it tends to shade some of my other garden plants and make them pale. It sometimes encroaches on the territory of other plants. When this happens I have to take action.

            What if rhubarb had a personality? Can you picture those red and green stalks meeting under cover of darkness to plot my overthrow and replace me with the garden rake or the largest tomato plant?

            What if I use my self-propelled Toro lawnmower to take out a section of the rebels? Would those stalks I left complain that the others never had the chance? Would they accuse me of violating the free will of those stalks that really wanted to be in a pie of only they had been given a chance?

            Get this: Even you rhubarb lovers would not take their side against me because the issue is not the free will of the rebels but the free will of the master. It is not what my rhubarb wants but what I want that makes the difference.

            This is where my illustration breaks down. Rhubarb does not have personality. It was not created with a mind, emotions and a will. It has not used its will to replace me. That is why the story of God’s redemption is so much more vivid.

            The story of the Bible is not about great people who achieved great things for God. The story is of a great God, period. We are allowed in His story because He decided to let us in. We belong to Him. He created a space for us. He put us here. He takes care of us and makes us thrive here. He uses us for His purposes.

            Are you ready for this? He has the right to do whatever He wants with us because He is God. Bad thing for us, we have darkened minds, self-focused emotions and depraved wills. Our fallen wills have chosen to replace the living God with anything from statues made of stone to sports to sensuality. Good thing for us, this God does what He wants in complete harmony with His character. And that changeless character is merciful as well as holy.

            The content of the chapter is summarized in verse 18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” Does this mean that God actively chooses the people who get to be saved while passing others by, or is there another way of looking at it? Two primary views emerge: Either (1) God saves individuals on the basis of His character and sovereign plan or (2) God saves nations on the basis of His character and sovereign plan. The second view leaves open the possibility for God to rescue or condemn nations independent of His dealings with individual people.

            It is true that God judges nations while saving His people inside those nations, but that is not the message of Romans 9. While there are national aspects to the election of God (Deuteronomy 7:7-8), this text will demonstrate that viewing God as the Savior of individuals is the interpretation that best fits the purpose of Paul’s letter. The story of God’s redemptive plan for the nation of Israel is an illustration that directs us to His redemptive plan for individuals, not the other way around. Romans nine contends that God is the sovereign ruler over nations and individuals within those nations for His own good purpose and His own glory.

            We humans, like so much rebellious rhubarb, are not running to submit to God’s rule. People who are troubled with talk of election and predestination have an incorrect view of the nature of man and the nature of God. Men are not crawling over one another to get into the kingdom of heaven and God is not standing outside with a stick, beating those poor willing souls away from the gates.

            God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden because He is God and because we are rebels. As the book of Romans has clearly illustrated, the shocking reality is not that God would dare allow rebels to suffer eternal punishment but that He would dare save any of us.

            Does this make sense to you? Does it make sense that this is God’s world and that He can do whatever He wants? Beware if it does. When you take this point of view you need to be ready to answer some questions. If God is indeed sovereign, every event in His world is subject to the scrutiny of the people in His world.

            How, for instance, do you answer the skeptic who asks you how you can believe in a God who would raise up wicked men like Herod the Great, Adolph Hitler and Osama bin Laden to kill so many innocent people? What kind of God would allow earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes to kill children? “If that is God, I choose not to believe in Him,” your unbelieving friends might say.

            You could take the current theological way of escape from hard questions and say that God has limited His knowledge of some future events. Redefining God’s attributes by giving Him this “openness” might make you think you are protecting His reputation from blame for events you cannot explain. But you can never satisfy a sinner whose heart is hard by cutting God down to the sinner’s level of understanding.

            There are some questions we can never answer. Can you be satisfied with that and still run to your Savior even when He has left you hurting and weak?

            The Gospel of Luke (13:1) records an instance where some men questioned Jesus about a horrible crime Pilate reportedly committed against some Galileans in the Temple. Jesus replied reminding them of yet another tragedy in which a tower fell and killed eighteen people. We cannot know why they asked Him about this but we can know what our response to such events needs to be. Jesus said that such events call us to repentance. Catastrophes are a reminder that our lives are short and unpredictable and that we are accountable to God. While men are shaking their fists at the Creator they should be kneeling in shame, pleading for forgiveness.

            So this begs the question: Do you want a God without a plan and without control over His creation? If He is not in charge, the alternative rulers deserve more fist-shaking than God is currently getting. Do you want a God Who chooses not to control nature or Who is surprised by the wicked plans of wicked men? When your unbelieving friends look at a sin-cursed world and seek to accuse God of wrongdoing, turn the tables like Jesus did. The burden is on them. Unless they repent they will perish in similar fashion.

            This is Paul’s argument in Romans nine. Man says, “That’s not fair.” God says, “Don’t ask for what’s fair.” Man says, “What about my free will?” God says, “What about my free will?”

            Consider some thoughts that may help you as you approach what has been called “the most neglected chapter in the Bible”:

            There are some things you can know for sure when you approach this difficult chapter:

1.   It does not contradict what the Bible says elsewhere. The Bible has proven itself immune to the charges of its critics. This does not mean that there are no difficult passages, only that those passages are part of a unified body of revelation from God.

2.   It presents God as He is, whether you like it or not. Romans nine does not seek to accommodate those who seek to create a lesser god.

3.   God is never confused or in error. Whenever there are charges of wrongdoing, God is never the defendant.

4.   It is possible to correctly understand the hard texts. Your confusion over circumstances or biblical texts does not change God’s character or His word. The emotions stirred by a difficult text should never determine your interpretation of that text. Your theology or system of belief must bend to the plain reading of any Scripture text, not vice versa.

5.   The safest action for hurting or confused people is to run into the presence of God, never away from Him.

This One Isn't Mine

I recently came across a church covenant from a vibrant inner-city ministry that is worthy of a close look:

I, _______________ commit to:

1. Living a life of faith in Jesus Christ, and obedience to the Great Commission. This means that I will live a lifestyle of discipleship and outreach.
2. Pursuing (engaging in) biblical literacy and practice. This means I will study, learn, and apply the Bible to my life.
3. Setting myself apart by giving a "holy apathy" to any cultural trends which are not conducive to reflecting God's righteousness, holiness, magnificence and value to this world.
4. Learning history in order to understand and overcome the world and societal issues which marginalize my existence, sear my conscience and destroy my character.
5. Giving regular and creative thought as to ways in which to establish and perpetrate a justice-oriented, biblical, collective conscience, among the men, women and children of my generation.
6. Responding biblically to any trials or adversity which encroach upon my life.

These statements are carefully supported with Scripture. As God gives the gift of regeneration to His elect on the east side of St. Paul, this lifestyle cannot help but bring hope to the inner city.

Reaching People Who Have Made the Trade

Evangelism has never changed since sinners first needed forgiveness. Even before the cross the message was always about a saving God bringing that which does exist into existence and bringing the dead to life. Abraham believed that and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Certainly we have more of the story unfolded in our day, so we call sinners to run for mercy to a risen Savior who bore our sins in His body on the cross. But is there any difference in the way you reach Sunday School kids and the way you reach people who have never darkened the door of a church? The gospel does not change, but the very concepts of God, Jesus, sin and forgiveness are either foreign or redefined to the average unchurched person. You cannot believe a message you cannot understand.

I have seen this firsthand because I have been working with men in our community who have been in trouble with their families, in trouble their girlfriends or wives, in trouble at work, in trouble with the law…drugs, etc. There are many church members who have a hard time finding Habakkuk in their Bibles. That’s a shame, but I'm talking about high school graduates who don't know what the Garden of Eden is.

Where do you start? “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”? But who is God?

I usually start in Genesis instead of John or Romans. I want these men who are in trouble with people to understand what kind of God made man and what God’s kind of man looks like. Once they see that, we have defined our terms and I can explain why they are also in trouble with God. The message of redemption only makes sense once you understand you are in trouble.

Working with troubled men over the last year has brought me to make some general observations:

1. Most of these men grew up without an active father.
2. Most of these men have not been able to hold a steady job.
3. Most of these men are very angry.

Based what I know about the Bible's estimation of men, I think my last two observations are related to the first. But simply protecting the girl from his wrath or getting the guy to work are not the primary objectives. Regeneration, not behavior change, is the solution to these big problems.

So one of the first homework assignments I give to an unbelieving man is to read Genesis 1 and 2. I often ask them to lead in that reading with his wife or girlfriend. That starts some interesting discussions. After reading those chapters I ask him to answer some questions:

1. List all the conclusions you can make about this God when you read these chapters (for example, “He must be very ______________ because He _______________.”).
2. What were the things God gave Adam to enjoy? List them.
3. According to Genesis 1:26, what was Adam's job?
4. What were some other jobs God gave Adam to do (see Genesis 1:28; 2:15; 2:19-20)?

If you do his homework assignment yourself you may or may not be surprised to see that work came before sin. God commanded Adam to rule over the earth. He told Adam and his wife to have babies. He told Adam to cultivate and keep the garden. Men are wired to love one woman and work hard for the glory of God. Go figure.

Something else worthy of note here is that before they took the forbidden fruit their exclusive delight was found in God and God's gifts. In other words, they had unlimited pleasure inside the boundary. I often illustrate that as a fence labeled “boundaries of legitimate pleasure.”

Then we work together to see all that Adam and Eve had inside those boundaries. Inside they had fellowship with God and all that he is. They had companionship, work, food, the beauty of the garden and even marital sexual pleasure.

Then we talk about the consequences Adam and Eve experienced outside “the fence.” Outside they found guilt, pain and death. When you see what they traded for a piece of fruit I usually say, “That must have been some piece of fruit.”

Talk of that exchange readily takes us to their own lives and the consequences they are reaping. It is easy to see how God defines idolatry and it is easy to see the “exchange” of Romans 1 in living color when you work with men who live there. It is also humbling to wake up to the fact that I have made the same trade.

For Whom Did Christ Die?

A common question asked at ordination councils (at least in some church associations) is this: “For whom did Christ die?” I got that one from a pastor who sat on the council during my doctrinal examination. This is not a bad question. In fact it ranks right up there with the question Why did Christ die? It has, though, often been asked to identify whether the candidate believes Jesus died for everyone equally. Some would say that the answer to that question determines whether or not an individual is evangelistic.

Sorry for emoting, but that’s crazy. Was Jonathan Edwards evangelistic? How about Matthew Henry? Were George Whitefield, William Carey and Charles Haddon Spurgeon passionate about reaching people with the gospel? These guys all believed that Jesus died particularly for the elect. Put it into our day. Can we doubt the evangelistic zeal in our day of R.C. Sproul, C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, John MacArthur and Mark Driscoll, teachers who still believe the theology of the apostles and the Puritans?

There are number of ways to answer that question:

· Christ died for sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Isn’t everyone a sinner? Surely, but Jesus pointed out that some people are not convinced. He said He did not come to call the righteous but sinners. The righteous need not apply.

· Christ died for us all (Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Timothy 4:10). All people equally? Look at the way Isaiah uses his pronouns. He starts the chapter asking a question similar to the one we are discussing: “Who has believed our message?” (53:1). The sin-bearer of Isaiah 53 died for all who would eventually believe. Paul told Timothy that Jesus is the “Savior of all men, especially of believers.”

· Christ died for many (Isaiah 53:11-12; Mark 10:45). That is a large, unspecified number. Many people were bought with the blood of Christ so we can expect to find them all over the place.

· Christ died for people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). He purchased people from all around the world with His blood. The evangelist can preach with confidence that the powerful gospel will call many from the grave of their sins.

· Christ died for the weak brother (Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:11). Because he is a brother, Paul says you can know he is one for whom Christ died.

· Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Like “sinners,” the “ungodly” encompasses the population of planet, but a limited number will ever count themselves in that number.

· Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But who is “us”? Look at the particular message of Romans. It was written “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints” (1:7).

· Christ died for His sheep (John 10). Jesus laid down His life for His sheep (verse 11), but made it clear that not everyone is numbered with His sheep (verse 26).

· Christ died for the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). The very design of marriage makes a groom say “yes” to His bride and “no” to every other. Jesus died to make His bride—not the neighbor lady—holy.

· Christ died for the Father (Romans 3:25). What? Absolutely. This is the meaning of the word propitiation. The death of Christ was not all about the worth of people. It was about satisfying the Father’s righteous demands.

If you are reading this article as someone unsettled about the condition of your soul before God, follow this closely: The death of Jesus Christ does not tell you how valuable you are. It stands as a solemn witness to the condition of the messed-up race to which you belong. It testifies to the immense demands of God the Father and the measureless sacrifice of God the Son, who bore His Father’s wrath in his body. Because He conquered death by rising again, you will stand before Him one day and give an account of yourself. Yours is not to see your value but to flee the coming wrath. Where else will you go? When you see yourself as God sees you, turn from your sins and believe this good news, you can join the ranks of the rescued and say, “I cannot identify which people Jesus died to rescue, but I know He died for me.”

Perseverance of the Saints: How God Demonstrates the Rescue

Finally, that doctrine called “Once Saved Always Saved,” right?

Not so fast. A common error in Christendom and Blogdom is to take off with a little bit of information on something we find distasteful and create a target that is easy to knock down. The biblical doctrine of Perseverance frequently falls prey to that kind of attack. Please don’t do that. Just listen before you jump to conclusions.

The first article from the Synod of Dordtrecht’s teaching on Perseverance of the Saints says:

Those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He also delivers from the dominion and slavery of sin, though in this life He does not deliver them altogether form the body of sin and from the infirmities of the flesh.

The greatest number of arguments I have heard against the biblical doctrine of Perseverance find their foundation in anecdotes rather than Scripture. Most of us know people who made convincing professions of faith, even achieving leadership positions in the church only to abandon the faith by joining some cult or living immorally. Think Judas.

Maybe our trouble is that we assume “saved” means “claims to believe.” We rightly point out that people are either saved or lost with no middle ground, but some assume that people who appear saved and turn permanently away have lost their salvation. Arminian theology contends that men are saved and lost based on the choices of their free will. Please understand that this is more than semantics. Denying the doctrine of Perseverance guts the power of the cross to change sinners and enthrones the will of man.

Please hang with me here. We may differ on what it means to be “saved.” Paul told the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:18) that the message of the cross is “the power of God” to those of us who are being saved. He meant that the cross of Christ actually rescued people from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:1-7). The cross did more than provide a choice at a fork in the road for sinners. It delivered those for whom it was intended. Saved people do not possess entire practical sanctification but they are fundamentally different from lost people.

I pointed out in the article on “Limited Atonement” that salvation is not a miracle cure for a deadly disease available for those who are smart enough to take the treatment. It is a voice calling corpses in a graveyard to life (Ephesians 2:1). Those who are alive in Christ possess eternal life now (John 3:36; 5:24) based on the performance of Messiah instead of their own (2 Corinthians 5:21).

If you are an Arminian, we agree on at least one thing, my friend in Christ: We should not give the benefit of the doubt to professing believers who are living for the devil. You say they had it and lost it. I say they never had it. Jesus called people out of darkness into a new kingdom (Colossians 1:13-14) where the subjects of the King receive a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Lordship salvation is the only kind of salvation. “Once saved always Saved” is better worded, “if saved, always saved.”

Those who have been bought by the blood of Christ are kept saved by the power of God and will persevere in the Christian faith (John 6:37; 10:27-29; 17:11; Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 7:25; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 24).

Jesus did not die to provide a potential salvation. The “plan of salvation” goes from foreknowledge all the way through glorification (Romans 8:28-39). We do not need to live in despair, thinking we have to whip up some works-based righteousness in order to stay in God’s family.

Believing this makes a difference in “real life” because we know it is possible to live differently by God’s grace. You live a holy life because you have been rescued from a horrible life (and death), not because you are afraid of losing your spot. Parents do not produce obedient children by the constant threat that they will be kicked out of the family if they do not measure up. We give them their family identity by loving them and disciplining them (See all of Hebrews 12). Believing in this completed work of salvation delivers us from fearing we have not met the expectations required to survive the judgment of God. It also delivers us from fearing the extra-biblical standards of church people.

Irresistible Grace: How God Applies the Rescue

Many years ago after an incident in which my minivan became hopelessly stuck on a frozen Wisconsin lake in February (long story, feel free to ask for details), I saw an illustration of an important biblical teaching. Preachers do that (look for illustrations, not drive on snowy lakes).

Back to the story. Through the darkness, the driver of a very powerful four-wheel-drive Chevy truck saw my overheated vehicle and drove through deep snow to rescue me. He hooked a chain to my chassis and dragged me to the main road that crossed the lake. I didn’t flag him down. I could say I cooperated, but my spinning wheels were useless until he dragged me to the place where my wheels could work.

The bottom line is this: my rescue was all about his decision to come and get me. My contribution to the process, if you call it a contribution, was being obviously in trouble.

Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). Why did he say that? He said that because he was pointing out (see more in verses 26-46) that God’s people will be saved at the time and by the means he has ordained. They will repent and believe, but even those are gifts. In other words, Jesus was articulating the doctrine that would later be called “Irresistible Grace”.

Many of those who oppose this doctrine do so because of a faulty caricature. They testify of their own resistance to the gospel’s call to repentance. People say, “If this is true, then why did I resist so long before I turned to Christ?”

Of course everyone resists God. Stephen spoke of this in Acts 7:51, as did Paul in Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19. This is our nature. Total depravity, right? So then, spiritually dead people can only exercise faith when a work of God called “regeneration” frees their will. Faith comes after the new birth (John 1:11-14; John 3:3-8; Titus 3:4-5; 1 Peter 1:3, 23; 1 John 5:1). The Canons of Dordt used these words to defend this doctrine:

Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.

So are we puppets, unwilling people dragged into the family of God? No more than Lazarus resisted coming forth from that tomb. No more than I fought the guy in the Chevy truck. The Canons of Dordt coupled this doctrine with Total Depravity:

…this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and--in a manner at once pleasing and powerful--bends it back. As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. It is in this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright.

Because man is spiritually dead, only a gracious work of God can change his condition. This work, then, does not force unwilling people into the kingdom but makes unwilling people willing. This is what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus. It is what God did when he granted Gentiles faith. It was the experience of Lydia, whose heart God opened.

The suggestion that this doctrine is anti-evangelistic cannot stand up against the facts. Evangelist John R. Rice wrote, “Satan uses this doctrine of ‘Irresistible Grace’ to lull Christians to disobedience and lack of compassion and burden to get people saved.” In reality, believing this promotes aggressive evangelism. We do not need manipulative altar calls, a great band or funny cartoons to woo more people to salvation. God uses means and his chosen means of rescuing sinners is the preaching of the gospel. Ours is not to dress it up but to spread it thick. As one preacher said, “We stand in the service of the all-sovereign God of the universe whose words do not fall to the ground, whose purposes must be accomplished and whose people will be saved.”

So many adjectives, so little opportunity to use them without sinning...

The Chronotype
28 S. Main St.
Rice Lake, WI 54868

Dear Editor:

I didn't want to write this letter. There are times when you have to allow obvious folly to show itself for what it is, as Proverbs says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.” So when I heard that a handful of people from a Baptist church in Kansas showed up in Menomonie last week to increase the pain of an already tragic event, I groaned in disgust and figured everyone else did the same and we would leave it at that.

But then I heard honest people around town asking about Westboro Baptist Church and their hateful protests. “Is that really what you Baptists believe?” people wondered. I groaned again and realized that this time I have to follow the counsel of the next verse in Proverbs: “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

The simple answer is "No." But let me expand on that a little bit.

Like many Christians, most Baptists are concerned about the current moral climate of our nation. In fact, you don't even have to be a Christian to say that. Where people like me part company with the protesters from that organization in Kansas is what we think should be done about it.

Most Christians who believe like I do think our message is powerful enough to change people without emotional manipulation. We don’t need to create persecution by picking fights nor do we need to create publicity by hurting people. The Christian gospel with its exclusive claims does not need our help to make it controversial.

I’ll use a metaphor from another tragedy that is fresh in our minds. If you know the 35W bridge has collapsed, it is not unloving to warn those who are speeding toward the danger to turn around. However, rather than standing by the highway mocking drivers as they plunge over the edge, we think it most loving to both warn of the danger and show them the safe way to cross.

Sincerely,
Steven L. Svendsen, Sr.
Rice Lake Baptist Church

When Joking Becomes Judging

News reports the end of August were full of examples of people messing up. The one that seemed to draw the most media attention—particularly Internet media attention—was the response of a contestant in the Miss Teen USA pageant to a current events question. Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina, was asked this question: “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?”

Her response: “I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and that I believe our education, such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the US, should help the US, or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future.”

In our pride we may laugh at Miss Upton’s cryptic response. I know I did. I even made a hair color joke out of the story. But, in her defense, few of us know what it's like to have a microphone in our face in front of a national television audience. She is not unlike a lot of women you servants of the Lord end up counseling. A young girl finds herself in a vulnerable situation and does not handle it well. Her wrong response to the vulnerable situation brings mockery and even anger from those who see it.

The Lord Jesus met yet another woman who was subjected to the same kind of public scorn. John 8:1-11 records an incident where some religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus in the temple, claiming she had been caught in the act of adultery. Rather than rendering a verdict from the law of Moses, the Lord Jesus stooped and wrote things on the ground. Whatever he wrote served to show the woman's accusers that they had no business acting as legal prosecutors in this case. We do not know the history, the guilt or the innocence of the woman brought to Jesus, but we do know that he became a servant to her. For the purpose of this blog entry, let's focus on the work of the Lord Jesus toward vulnerable, sinful people—a work he continues today through us.

How are you doing what Jesus did? You can serve people in the same two ways he served this woman (and many others): providing refuge and truth.

Refuge: Like the woman brought to Jesus, many young women you encounter are being used by others. Can we really say the men who brought the woman to Jesus were genuinely interested in glorifying God by helping her? Can we really say all our jokes about the pageant contestant were neighbor-loving?

Truth: Like the woman brought to Jesus, many young women you encounter have made sinful choices. The Savior certainly did not consider the sin of the woman taken in adultery an unimportant matter. His last words called her to leave her life of sin. The Gospel of Christ provides more for us than a home in heaven. It provides help and hope for change right now. Truth is essential even if it is not popular. Evangelism and discipleship are the order of the day in Biblical Counseling.

We might well ask how many of the "accusers" of Miss Teen South Carolina offered her compassionate help in public speaking or geography. Better to identify yourself with the Savior than the accusers.

Hope for a Depressed Thief, Part Two

Jordan...continued

I want you to consider God’s diagnosis of what is going on inside your heart. I know enough of your background to say that I would be surprised to read in the paper that you were arrested and charged with retail theft. I know that you would bristle at the thought of that. However there are other ways to steal.

Just like Jesus taught that hatred is heart murder and lust is heart adultery (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28), he also taught that stealing is more than stuffing a DVD into your shirt at Wal-Mart. Listen:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, emphasis mine)

It is that word “defraud” that I want you to see. You could substitute the words “cheat” or “swindle” or “con.” I honestly think that you fall into this category for these reasons:

• You stole from your employer because he had to go without services he hired you to perform. Instead having you, a trained staff member, complete a task, he had to get a less-than-satisfactory job done when you were not there to carry your portion of the load.
• You stole from your girlfriend when you became “too physical.” You may claim that you did not go “all the way,” but any sexual pleasure you get from her robs her and her future husband (even if you think that future husband is you) of something that belongs only to them.
• You stole from your parents and your church because as a member of both of those families you selfishly kept back simple service that should have been theirs because you thought you were too busy to serve (busy playing games and doing what pleased you).
  

I do not intend to judge you, but God’s word is the best judge of any of us. What does this text say? Because you have repeatedly turned from the instruction you grew up with, I give you the words of the Holy Spirit written about Jordan through the apostle Paul: Jordan “is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

You may question what I am about to say, but I think I have your attention now. There is a solution to this problem. Jesus did not die for victims of other people’s sins. He died for sinners. If you think the things you are going through right now are the fault of someone else, I am not going to be able to help you. But if you are one of those sinners, I can offer you hope for a solution. Jesus died to rescue sinners from their sins. Thieves are sinners. Jesus died to rescue thieves from their stealing. Here is one text that gives the way out:

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)

Here is the bottom line. You need to find your pleasure in a better place. Follow the logic of the text I just gave you:

• You do not stop being a thief when you stop stealing, but when you start doing something useful with your hands.
• You do not start doing something useful with your hands until you have an internal desire to share with those in need.
  

I will take you elsewhere in Scripture to show you that you will not have that internal desire until there is a fundamental internal transformation that only comes when you run from the judgment you deserve to the mercy provided by the one who died to rescue people like you from things like stealing.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

The gospel of the Redeemer who conquered sin and death turns thieves into givers. It makes you do useful things with your hands for the good of others who need what you do.

My call to you, Jordan: run to the only one who can not only rescue you from the judgment you deserve, but to the only one who can rescue you from yourself.

Hope for a Depressed Thief, Part One

Jordan:

You have given me a great deal of information and first let me say that I know you are hurting. I want to assure you that the kind of depression you are experiencing is all too common and that I have great hope to offer you.

Just to list some of the information you gave me about why you are so depressed:

• You were fired because you regularly decided not to show up for work. Aside from the legitimate excuses like your sudden illness and your car trouble, you admitted to skipping out on work numerous times to be with your girlfriend and sleep late because you stayed up watching TV and playing video games. This is not the first job you have lost because of this.
• Your girlfriend has broken up with you saying your relationship was “too physical.” You have threatened suicide in an attempt to get her back.
• Your parents want you out of their house because they say you do not help. Your church ministry and attendance is only because of house rules and even that has ceased despite pleas from your parents and pastor.
  
  

When I offer you hope, you should know that I am not talking about finding a place to live, landing another good job or getting your girlfriend back.

You claim to be a Christian. You certainly do have a good grasp of things that are in the Bible and can even point to a time when you prayed to ask Jesus into your heart.

Please follow through with what I am about to say. I am calling your profession of faith into question. I have one primary reason: Your life has shown a pattern of delighting most in the things that please you and you have consistently run from the consequences rather than turned from the sinful behavior.

Christians are not those who have prayed the right prayer but those who have turned from sin to Jesus Christ. That does not mean Christians are sinless but it does mean Christians do not live in sin. First John 1:5-8 says:

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

In the Garden of Eden (a story you know very well) Adam and Eve had one main passion: delighting in the living God and what he had provided (food, home, family, fellowship…). The first time that main passion was replaced (by a piece of fruit), the whole problem started. The Bible calls it idolatry and it shows up in innumerable ways among Adam’s kids.

In your case, the guilt you are feeling right now is in part because you are guilty of a specific kind of idolatry. It is called stealing. Let me explain.

To be continued...

Does God Send People to Hell?

This letter was written to a counselee who was burdened about an unbelieving friend and wrote a letter for me to evaluate. While the general content was biblical, the statement was repeatedly made, "God does not send anyone to hell." I responded like I did because the letter seemed to me to place a great deal of emphasis on the free will of man and very little on the free will of God. This is not intended to be a slam on Arminian evangelists as much as it is an attempt to set modern evangelism next to biblical evangelism.

Zeek:

I have often heard and have said myself, “God does not send people to hell.” You made that statement in the letter to Zelda several times. I have had to back way off of that statement on biblical grounds.

While it is true that the “free will” of sinners always chooses (apart from a work of grace) to reject God and so chooses hell, the Bible does teach that the wrath of God abides on unbelievers and that he does in fact consign sinners to eternal punishment (Isaiah 50:11; Matthew 10:28; 24:50-51; Luke 12:5; Romans 1:18; Revelation 20:11-15). The wrath of God is in no way inconsistent with his mercy. The perfect love of God is in no way inconsistent with his perfect hatred (Psalm 5:5-6; 11:5; 106:40; Proverbs 6:16).

I grew up picturing Jesus on the outside of the sinner’s heart waiting to be let in (with the only handle being on the inside)—kind of like we are doing him a favor. I pictured a pale, anemic Savior rather than the sovereign God of the universe who always gets his way. Aside from being a misunderstanding of Revelation 3:20 (it's a church door, not a heart’s door), this view gives depraved man way too much power to make a godly choice.

There is an urgency in this message. Ours is not to pass judgment on whether we should let Jesus in. Ours is to flee the coming wrath. We are on the outside. Salvation is on the inside. We who have been brought inside call sinners to run to the only place of safety. There really is no choice.

Some look at such a theology as unfair, as if there are some innocent sinners who really want to go to heaven, but God will not let them because they are not elect. This is a gross misunderstanding of the precious, Christ-exalting doctrine of election. The amazing thing is not that a loving God would dare judge any of us but that a holy God would dare save any of us. We all deserve wrath. Sinners who repent are not of a higher quality of depravity or smarter than those who do not. We can take no credit for a faith that is “not of ourselves.”

Consider:

• The people of Noah’s world suffered well-deserved wrath. God was merciful to some.
• The people of Sodom and Gomorrah suffered well-deserved wrath. God was merciful to some.
• The people in Egypt and in the Red Sea suffered well-deserved wrath. God was merciful to some.
• Every human being is dead in trespasses and sins, fully deserving wrath, but God, who is rich in mercy, has chosen to save some (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Now this thrice-holy God has sent his Son to absorb his wrath toward sinners and thrown the doors of mercy wide open. We call Zelda to the only way of escape and urge her to throw herself on that mercy.

Here are two links to studies that might help you communicate to your friend just who this God is whom she is rejecting:

Romans 9:10-13
Romans 9:14-18