On a cold day this fall, I suddenly heard the honking of geese. They were flying in a southern direction- obviously heading for a warmer place to spend the winter. Earlier I had noticed a group of ducks floating on a body of water. I was not sure if they were local ducks or if they too were just passing through, but the water that they were floating on was a sewage lagoon.
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I must admit that I was a little grossed out, but for someone who did not know what sort of pond it was, the scene could have looked peaceful and even pleasant. There were beautiful trees and lush grass surrounding the pond and the ducks looked quite healthy and happy.
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That scene got me to thinking about how things are not always how they seem. The scripture actually warns us about those who seem good but are actually evil. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (NKJV)
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Satan and his ministers do not always look like a murky sewage lagoon. Instead they might look more like a peaceful pond. They might even say a lot of things that sound good on the surface.
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Satan’s messengers try to look like spokesmen for Jesus Christ, and Satan tries to make himself look like an angel of light. Let us not forget that the true light of the world is Jesus Christ. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12 NKJV)
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Before the apostle Paul warned about the Satan and his ministers in 2 Corinthians 11, he warned, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted--you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NKJV)
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Today even some church leaders are saying that there are many ways to God, but Jesus Himself was very clear when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6 NKJV)
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When someone pretends to be a spokesman for Christ and says that there is a different way to God, they are giving a different gospel and are thus ministering for Satan rather than for the truth. They are like the stinky sewage pond that may look good on the outside but is a mess within.
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Jesus is the only way to eternal life. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12 NKJV). We should not expect the false teachers who give another gospel to have horns and a pointed tail. We should not even expect that they will look ugly and menacing, but we should be able to compare what they say to what the Bible teaches.
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I would not want to eat a duck that had been swimming on the sewage pond, and I would not want to follow a false teacher no matter how good they looked or sounded.
For further questions or comments, please contact southtownbc@yahoo.com
Friday, November 29, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Can You Relate to The Bible?
How high can you count? My three year old surprised me by counting to 5 all by himself. His older brother was not able to count that quickly. For some reason he had trouble figuring out the difference between 3 and 4. He would count one two four and then get stuck, even though he knew six, seven, eight. Finally I came up with a rhyme so that he could remember three. I told him to say, “three is like me.”
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Soon he was counting by saying, “one, two, four is like- three is like me, four, five…” Before long he no longer had to use the rhyme because he had learned the number 3.
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It can be frustrating trying to learn something and getting confused. To those of us who have been counting for a long time, three and four do not sound all that much alike, but to my little boy they were very confusing.
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The same sort of confusion can come when people first start to study the Bible. Theologians are able to quickly distinguish between Noah and Moses, yet some of them have still fallen for the trick question about how many animals Moses brought on the ark (Noah built the ark, not Moses).
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For those reading through the Bible for the first time, all those names and events can look like advanced algebra to someone who has just learned how to count. Once you figure out the difference between Noah and Moses, you then have to figure out the difference between Elijah and Elisha.
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It is kind of like watching a TV series for the first time. When you tune in during the middle of the second season, you do not know all the characters. You do not even know right away who the good guys are and who the villain is, but as you watch you begin to sort things out. Imagine thought that the TV series took place over hundreds and even thousands of years of history and the characters were constantly changing. If the series were really exciting, you would want to go back and watch the first season to find out what led up to the events in the second season. That is what the Bible is like.
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The Bible is not just a bunch of random stories that are not connected. It is a history of a people and of a particular family group and it traces that family group all the way to Jesus Christ.
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Once you realize that the events of the Bible are connected, you can then start to see how exciting the scriptures really are. That is part of the reason why I like to preach through a whole book of the Bible and explain who the people are, the significance of the events, and how we can relate those events to our lives.
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Often when people go to church, they only get a small sample of Bible verses and then the next week they get another random sample from another place in scripture so they do not get to see how the events are connected. It is almost like seeing a bunch of random movie clips without sitting down and ever watching the movie. My goal is to plant a church where God’s word is preached verse by verse so that people can see who the Bible characters are. Then they can also learn about who God is, how He interacts with man, and how He is relevant to our lives today.
-
Soon he was counting by saying, “one, two, four is like- three is like me, four, five…” Before long he no longer had to use the rhyme because he had learned the number 3.
-
It can be frustrating trying to learn something and getting confused. To those of us who have been counting for a long time, three and four do not sound all that much alike, but to my little boy they were very confusing.
-
The same sort of confusion can come when people first start to study the Bible. Theologians are able to quickly distinguish between Noah and Moses, yet some of them have still fallen for the trick question about how many animals Moses brought on the ark (Noah built the ark, not Moses).
-
For those reading through the Bible for the first time, all those names and events can look like advanced algebra to someone who has just learned how to count. Once you figure out the difference between Noah and Moses, you then have to figure out the difference between Elijah and Elisha.
-
It is kind of like watching a TV series for the first time. When you tune in during the middle of the second season, you do not know all the characters. You do not even know right away who the good guys are and who the villain is, but as you watch you begin to sort things out. Imagine thought that the TV series took place over hundreds and even thousands of years of history and the characters were constantly changing. If the series were really exciting, you would want to go back and watch the first season to find out what led up to the events in the second season. That is what the Bible is like.
-
The Bible is not just a bunch of random stories that are not connected. It is a history of a people and of a particular family group and it traces that family group all the way to Jesus Christ.
-
Once you realize that the events of the Bible are connected, you can then start to see how exciting the scriptures really are. That is part of the reason why I like to preach through a whole book of the Bible and explain who the people are, the significance of the events, and how we can relate those events to our lives.
-
Often when people go to church, they only get a small sample of Bible verses and then the next week they get another random sample from another place in scripture so they do not get to see how the events are connected. It is almost like seeing a bunch of random movie clips without sitting down and ever watching the movie. My goal is to plant a church where God’s word is preached verse by verse so that people can see who the Bible characters are. Then they can also learn about who God is, how He interacts with man, and how He is relevant to our lives today.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Don't Stay Up All Night
I drove home late the other night and began to get tired. As I stopped to get gas, it changed from night to morning as the clock ticked past midnight. I was still about an hour from home and I wanted to get back to my family and my own bed. I walked around as the fuel pumped. I wanted to feel more awake for the final leg of my journey.
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No doubt about it, the sleep was sweet once I was finally able to lay my head on the pillow, but how important is sleep? Had I continued to drive without getting out and moving around, I would have become a danger to myself and others. Had I continued to drive much later instead of arriving at home it would have also been hazardous.
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Sadly, some suggest that sleep deprivation is a sign of spirituality. No doubt we must take into account the verses that say, “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:33-34 NKJV) In other words, if you are too lazy to get out of bed and go to work, do not be surprised if you are a victim of poverty.
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Still, there is another side to this issue. With modern lighting, it is much easier to stay up late and avoid sleep. From the Christian perspective this too can be a problem. First of all, let us not forget that God created man to need rest. The Lord said in Mark 2:27, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath day was set apart for man as a day of rest because God understands that we need to rest.
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The Psalms speak of meditating on God’s word day and night and even give special attention to focusing on it at night, but simply depriving ourselves of sleep can end up being an exercise in vanity. Psalms 127:2 tells us, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Let us not neglect the gift of sleep. Even modern medical science shows us that sleep deprivation is hazardous to our health. As Christians our bodies are God’s temple. We need to take care of our bodies, and that includes getting enough sleep.
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But sometimes laziness can take the form of being poor stewards of our sleep. For example the person who only got 4 hours of sleep because they stayed up half the night watching TV is not less lazy than the person who got 9 hours of sleep after a hard days work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 tells us that the sleep of a labouring man is sweet.
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As Christians we need to be careful not to love sleep so that it leads to poverty (Proverbs 20:13), while still getting the rest that God made us to need. This is one of the many areas of the Christian life where if we only look at a couple of isolated verses, we can end up with wrong conclusions. Biblical balance shows us that we should not be lazy and spend all our time sleeping, but it also shows us that we need rest. Therefore, if you are reading this in bed and it is time to get up, throw off those covers and get to work. If you are falling asleep while reading this after a hard days work, then reward yourself with a good night’s sleep.
For further questions or comments, please contact southtownbc@yahoo.com
-
No doubt about it, the sleep was sweet once I was finally able to lay my head on the pillow, but how important is sleep? Had I continued to drive without getting out and moving around, I would have become a danger to myself and others. Had I continued to drive much later instead of arriving at home it would have also been hazardous.
-
Sadly, some suggest that sleep deprivation is a sign of spirituality. No doubt we must take into account the verses that say, “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:33-34 NKJV) In other words, if you are too lazy to get out of bed and go to work, do not be surprised if you are a victim of poverty.
-
Still, there is another side to this issue. With modern lighting, it is much easier to stay up late and avoid sleep. From the Christian perspective this too can be a problem. First of all, let us not forget that God created man to need rest. The Lord said in Mark 2:27, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath day was set apart for man as a day of rest because God understands that we need to rest.
-
The Psalms speak of meditating on God’s word day and night and even give special attention to focusing on it at night, but simply depriving ourselves of sleep can end up being an exercise in vanity. Psalms 127:2 tells us, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Let us not neglect the gift of sleep. Even modern medical science shows us that sleep deprivation is hazardous to our health. As Christians our bodies are God’s temple. We need to take care of our bodies, and that includes getting enough sleep.
-
But sometimes laziness can take the form of being poor stewards of our sleep. For example the person who only got 4 hours of sleep because they stayed up half the night watching TV is not less lazy than the person who got 9 hours of sleep after a hard days work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 tells us that the sleep of a labouring man is sweet.
-
As Christians we need to be careful not to love sleep so that it leads to poverty (Proverbs 20:13), while still getting the rest that God made us to need. This is one of the many areas of the Christian life where if we only look at a couple of isolated verses, we can end up with wrong conclusions. Biblical balance shows us that we should not be lazy and spend all our time sleeping, but it also shows us that we need rest. Therefore, if you are reading this in bed and it is time to get up, throw off those covers and get to work. If you are falling asleep while reading this after a hard days work, then reward yourself with a good night’s sleep.
For further questions or comments, please contact southtownbc@yahoo.com
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