Author: pastortravislv

I am a husband, and father of three, serving as pastor at Providence Reformed Church in Las Vegas, NV. We came here on July 1, 2015.

They Must Know A Preacher of God’s Word Has Been Among Them (Ezekiel 2:3-7)

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Ezekiel 2:3-7

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.
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As God began Ezekiel’s mission, he let Ezekiel know that his job was to preach to a people who, as a nation, were stubborn, rebellious, and simply unwilling to hear. They were a nation who had already been punished by God for their rebellion, as they were already in exile. One might think that their circumstances would make the nation more likely to hear, but they clearly were going to continue to be difficult.

As I read this section from Ezekiel’s calling, I find it resonating in my heart. Any Christian pastor today is called with much the same calling. We stand in a nation that has, for the most part, turned and rejected the commands of God. We have seen the destruction that turning from the commands of the Lord brings. We have seen the pain of divorce, of substance abuse, of a simple hardening of the hearts of the people; yet we continue, as a nation, to rebel.

For some pastors, they are given a call like Ezekiel’s for the church they serve. They stand and preach the word of God to a people who no longer are willing to submit themselves to it. They stand in pulpits across the land, open the word, and have an entire body of men and women declare, “That’s one opinion.” These men are called to preach to a people who Paul said would not endure sound teaching (2 Timothy 4:3).

And whether the pastor simply stands in a spiritually rebellious nation or among a people who refuse to hear, the calling of Ezekiel must resonate. God says, “whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” This is the call: Whether they hear or refuse to hear, when all is said and done, be sure that they know that a preacher of God’s word has been among them. They may hate what you say. They may rebel against what you say. But never let them miss the fact that a preacher of God’s word, not of man-made cleverness, has been among them.

In my particular setting, in the church, I have tended to encounter a people who want to hear the word of God. Our congregation seems to enjoy being taught from scripture, and always seems eager to acknowledge that the text of God’s word trumps all personal opinion. This does not mean that everything always comes easily for me as a preacher, but I seldom doubt that our congregation is committed to the scripture.

However, I have no guarantee that this trend will remain. Who knows how God will move in the hearts and minds of the people. There could be a day when I find myself standing before a people who do not submit themselves to the word of God. Regardless of whether or not the people want to hear the word of God, my mission is for them to know that, when they have heard me preach, they have heard a preacher of the word of God bringing them the word of God. My opinions do not matter. My cleverness is not relevant. My personal agendas are completely unimportant. What matters is that they know that a preacher of the word of God has been among them. And that means that I must be careful to bring them the word of God rightly-divided.

And for sure, I stand with many pastors in a land that has turned itself from the word of God. Let us preach boldly anyway. Even if the nation refuses to hear, let us preach. Even if the laws are changed so that we lose tax-exempt status if we continue to rely on the scripture, let us preach. Let it be said in the United States, whether they listen or not, that they know that preachers of the word of God have been among them.

The Lord Is In The Right (Lamentations 1:18a)

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Lamentations 1:18a

“The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
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So often, when we face hardships, we feel deep down that we are suffering unjustly. While we may have done a few things bad here and there, there certainly is no reason that we really deserve to face the consequences for what we have done. We have a tendency to excuse our own misdeeds and still hold others accountable for theirs. And these facts make Lamentations 1:18a so fascinating.

In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah the prophet is weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian invaders. God has finally brought his promised judgment to Judah, and Jeremiah sees with his own eyes the horror. The precious city, complete with the magnificent temple of King Solomon is going up in flames. People are enslaved and murdered. The strong city walls are broken down. The city and the people are facing utter ruin.

Notice, however, how Jeremiah, in the midst of his sorrow, speaks of what God has done. In verse 18 of the first lamentation, Jeremiah speaks for the nation, saying, ““The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word.” There is no wining. There is no “O, why me” stuff going on. Jeremiah looks at his life and the life of the nation, and he fully understands why it is that God’s judgment has fallen. As a nation, they have rejected God and his word. As a nation they are now rightly suffering God’s wrath.

Is it really Christian to have people thinking about how much we actually deserve God’s judgment? In Luke 13, when Jesus was responding to disasters, both natural and man-made, he told the people asking him the questions that, when we see tragedy, our first question ought not be “Why?” Instead, Jesus says that our first question should be, “Why not me?” Jesus said in Luke 13:5, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” This is a far cry from urging people to question the fairness of suffering.

Now, I’m not trying to be callous to anyone’s suffering. The Bible is clear that we are to weep with those who weep, and this clearly means that we never should be hard-hearted toward someone in pain. However, when we suffer, our first answer should be, “The Lord is in the right.” No matter how bad it is, God is always right. We may be suffering at the hands of evil and unjust people, but God has not wronged us. We may be suffering for no earthly understandable reason, but God has not wronged us. He is in the right. We must trust him.

And before we dare turn back and say that God is treating us unfairly, let us remember what it is that we actually deserve from him. He owes us his wrath and eternal fury. He chose to grant us forgiveness if we will simply trust in his Son. He made the sacrifice himself to pay for our sins against him. We deserve hell. Anything less than hell is God being gracious to us. So let us say with Jeremiah, “The Lord is in the right.”

Let us also learn from Jeremiah. He knew that Judah was suffering for rebelling against God’s word. Let us never do this. God’s word will stand. We may not ignore it. Let us become a people who read, study, and live our lives totally by his holy word as it is revealed to us in the Bible.

Context Matters

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In reading through the book of Jeremiah this morning, I find myself reminded of the importance of keeping the context of a text in mind. Any good interpreter of the Bible understands that verses should not be applied to situations for which they were not intended. Of course, if another inspired writer uses those words to apply in another situation, that is totally different, as the author does so under God’s direction. But it is not appropriate for us to take hold of verses, oblivious to their context, and make them out to be promises for us.

I bring as an example Jeremiah 2911. I have seen this verse used by many in memory verse plans, as it tells of God having wonderful plans to prosper his people. Generally, the plans offer no hint of the context of the passage; the reader is simply to assume that God is telling him or her that he loves them and has a wonderful plan for their prosperity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not questioning that God does love us or that he has a plan for us. I am, however, questioning whether Jeremiah 29:11 should be taken as a direct promise for the Christian of today.

Look at the verse in context, and judge for yourself:

Jeremiah 29:10-14

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

What is the context? To whom do these verses clearly apply? These verses were given by God to instruct the Jews who were about to be taken into Babylonian captivity. God told those men and women that he had a plan for them, a plan that would lead to their prosperity even in their foreign exile. That is the context and intent of Jeremiah 29:11.

One might ask, “Then can we learn nothing from such verses that are not intended for us?” Of course we can learn from these verses. We can learn of God’s character and faithfulness. We learn that God has been faithful in the past to his people. We can learn of Gods’ plan for his people. We can learn that God is good to his children. We can learn that God is in control, even when the world makes it look as though he is not.

A friend offered me a way to illustrate this point. Suppose a young man finds a letter from his father to his mother. In the letter, the young man reads these words, “I love you, and I will give of myself to protect and care for you until the day I die.” These words are written from the father to the mother about the father’s relationship to the mother. If the young man says that this was written for him, he is doing violence to the text. If, however, the young man is comforted by these words to his mother because he sees in these words his father’s genuine commitment, caring, and faithfulness, he is perfectly within proper bounds.

My warning to us is simple: be careful how you take verses for yourself. God has not said that you can grab Jeremiah 29:11 as a blanket promise that no harm will come to you in your lifetime. You should not run to this verse and say that you have a promise from God that you will prosper through an economic crisis. You indeed may prosper because of God’s grace, but do not assume that you are guaranteed total financial stability simply from the words of a promise that God gave to the Jews before their Babylonian captivity.

You might ask, “What’s the difference? You seem to be telling me that God has plans for me and will be faithful; so why can’t I apply this verse to myself?” My answer is that it is very different to trust in God’s character as it is revealed in the scripture than to trust in a promise that was not made to you. While you may come to the same conclusion, it matters how you get there. Since you are not about to be returned to Israel after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, it is better for you to trust in God’s character than for you to find rest in a promise taken out of context. Yes, this may seem like only a game of semantics, but it is important that we respect the Bible and its original intent enough that we learn from it as the authors intended rather than ripping verses out of their original meaning and making them say something we simply want to hear.

So, how do I deal with Jeremiah 29:11? I know that it is a verse written to the Jews who are going to Babylon. I learn from it that God is in control. I allow the fact that God is in control to give me comfort that, if he was in control when his people went captive, he most certainly is also in control in my life. I trust in God who has proven himself faithful time and time again, but I do not claim a verse that is out of context to proof-text my trust. I need not proof-text my trust in God, as my God has proven himself faithful over and over and over again.

A Thought on Hurtful Speech (Ecclesiastes 7:20-22)

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Ecclesiastes 7:20-22

20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.
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“I just can’t believe that he would say such a thing about me.” How often have you thought or said something like those words? How often have we found ourselves angry, indignant, and utterly amazed that someone would say something mean about us? How often do we find ourselves offended at the words of another, and want to demand satisfaction—either an apology or the opportunity to get them back with clever words of our own?

The book of Ecclesiastes is a tough one to interpret. It is difficult to recognize when we are seeing the worldly wisdom of Solomon that will be overturned with the eternal perspective of chapter 12. Sometimes there are things said in the book we can tell are simply the words of a man who is not viewing the world from a Godward perspective. But there are other times when we see real, Proverbs-like wisdom literature. I believe that just such wisdom writing is 7:20-22.

Solomon, with characteristic punch, tells us three things in a row that are worth our attention. First, he reminds us that all people are bound to error. Second, he tells us that we ought not get ourselves too worked up when we hear that somebody has said something against us. Then, he drops the hammer and closes the deal when he reminds us that, if we are honest, all of us have spoken ill of others before.

Is it not amazing that we will become so offended and demand justice when a person speaks ill of us, but, when we have spoken ill of others, we generally find ways to excuse our behavior? We say that we must be excused, because we were angry, because we did not understand the situation, because what they did was so horrible that we had to say what we said, or because, “Hey, nobody’s perfect.” We excuse our own flaws and we latch onto the flaws of others. We want to be excused while we want others not to be. We want justice for them and grace for ourselves.

So, perhaps we need to learn from Ecclesiastes 7:20-22. The next time we are hurt by the careless or even mean-spirited words of another person, perhaps we should remember verses 20 and 22. We too are sinners. We too have spoken ill of others in our past. We too have been mean-spirited in our own histories. And so, then we might be able to handle verse 21 and not get too worked up about it. Sure, if what they did was really a big deal, we can go to them and explain to them how hurtful were their words. But if we go, let us learn to go with grace, knowing that we have so often needed that grace ourselves for saying things just like what they said.

Heaven, Hope, and the Childbirth Motif (John 16:20-22, Genesis 3:15-16a, Romans 8:22)

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John 16:20-22 – 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Genesis 3:15-16a

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.

Romans 8:22 – For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
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In the Garden of Eden, humanity began its rebellion against its Creator. Mankind sinned against God, choosing to throw off his loving commandments. We chose self-rule rather than following God, and we received for our crimes the due penalty for our transgression.

Since that time, all of humanity has lived under the curse of God. People get sick and die. People suffer evil at one another’s hands. People struggle against the natural world. Relationships are strained. Selfishness abounds. And all of this links back directly to Adams fall.

Yet, in the garden, God made a promise. It comes in the words of his judgment against the serpent. God promised one to come, one who would crush the serpent. This is the first sign that someone would arise, descending from woman, who would set right the wrong done in the garden. And most evangelicals understand this promise to be a promise of the coming of Christ.

What strikes me this morning is actually the text of John 16:20-22 taken in the light of Genesis 3. This weekend, lord willing, I will preach through John 16:16-33. But I will not take the time to make the point that is on my mind today as I review the passage.

Jesus, in predicting to his disciples their coming sorrow, uses an interesting illustration. The Lord Jesus is about to be arrested and crucified. In that time, the disciples will be greatly sorrowful, weeping and lamenting. They will feel great anguish as their Lord, the one they have followed for the last three years, is brutally put to death. But that sorrow will turn to great joy when Jesus returns from the grave, having conquered death and paid the penalty for the sins of all who will trust in him.

Now, here is the point on my mind. Jesus uses an image to describe the disciples going from sorrow to joy. The picture Jesus uses is that of a woman in labor giving birth. She hurts, but the pain is turned to joy when the baby is born. Similarly, the disciples will hurt, but the pain will be turned to joy. My thought is that this too can be connected to God’s words in the garden.

Immediately after the serpent was judged and the first glimpse of the gospel is given, God turns his attention to Eve. He promises Eve that he will greatly increase her pain in childbirth as a part of the burden she must bear for her guilt in the fall of mankind. So, in a very real sense, a sign of the curse of sin on humanity is the suffering and travail through which women go in childbirth.

Is it not fascinating that Jesus uses the reversal idea of joy coming after the birthing process is over to depict what his disciples will feel when they see him alive after death? Could we not make a larger application? From the time in the garden until the consummation of God’s Kingdom, humanity suffers. As Paul Says, creation is groaning in childbirth. But with the resurrection of Jesus and his finished work of atonement, our pains are being eased. With Jesus’ paying for our sins, we who know him no longer sit under the wrath of God. While we still feel the effects of the curse over the world, that curse is about to come to an end. Soon Jesus will return. Soon the curse will be put behind us. Soon we will rejoice as a mother rejoices at the birth of her child. Yes it is painful, but that sorrow will be turned to joy when we, the children of God, are gather together with the Lord to be with him forever. We will live in the presence of God, in full joy, apart from any lingering effects of the curse. What a glorious day that will be! What a glorious eternity stands before us!

Christians, let us not fail to keep our eyes on eternity. This hope is a hope that God wants us to feel. He wants us to see the joy that is set before us in Christ. He want us to long for the days of a life without sin, without suffering, without pain, and with the greatest possible soul satisfaction. God wants us to pray for his kingdom to come. He wants us to speed that day with our prayers and our faithful sharing of the gospel. God wants us to be heavenly-minded people. Let us look forward to eternity with the anticipation fitting the joy ahead.

OK, Don’t Listen to Country Music for Theology, Please

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While flipping through radio stations the other evening, I heard a new song. It was country, with a reggae theme. I’m not a big fan of the style, but I thought I’d listen, as I noticed the first line mentioned a preacher. It turns out that the song is Kenny Chesney’s newest hit, and quite possibly the most unfortunate attempt at Christian-ish themes and lyrics I’ve ever heard.

If you’re still reading after that first paragraph, you’ve probably either heard the song or you really have nothing else to read right now. And, if you choose to continue, please take my following comments with a grain of salt. I do not really have any idea if Chesney or others actually believe what is sung in his song (I certainly hope they don’t). However, just in case anybody does believe such lyrics, here are some thoughts.

The lyrics, with my comments in brackets:

Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven
Kenny Chesney
http://www.metrolyrics.com/everybody-wants-to-go-to-heaven-lyrics-kenny-chesney.html

Preacher told me last Sunday mornin’
Son, you better start livin’ right
You need to quit the women and whiskey
And carrying on all night

[Not bad advice from the preacher, but I’ve got a couple of problems. If the preacher really only told Chesney to cut out his lifestyle without first calling him to find God as his treasure or to seek Gods’ grace in Christ, the preacher should stop his preaching right now. Yes, we pastors ought to call people on their sin. But we should use the sin of people to help them to see their need for Christ’s saving grace. And, if we see sin in the lives of church members who claim Christ, then we should take the action of restorative church discipline as outlined in Matthew 18 and Galatians 6.]

Don’t you wanna hear him call your name
When you’re standin’ at the pearly gates
I told the preacher, “Yes I do”
But I hope they don’t call today
I ain’t ready

[Pearly gates? Pastor, if that is your understanding of the focus of heaven, you’ve missed it completely.]

Everybody wants to go to heaven
Have a mansion high above the clouds
Everybody want to go to heaven
But nobody want to go now

[The only way that one would not want to go to heaven right now is if his view is so terribly unbiblical that he does not grasp that heaven is far better than any secular artist could ever imagine. Oh, and mansions have very little to do with this issue. Jesus is preparing a place for his own (John 14:1-3), but the point is to be in the presence of God, not to have a nicer living room than others do.]

Said preacher maybe you didn’t see me
Throw an extra twenty in the plate
There’s one for everything I did last night
And one to get me through today
Here’s a ten to help you remember
Next time you got the good Lord’s ear
Say I’m comin’ but there ain’t no hurry
I’m havin’ fun down here
Don’t you know that

[Um, it’s pretty insulting to all things related to Christianity if a man thinks $40 can atone for sinning in the eyes of an infinitely holy God. Atoning for our sin cost the Son of God his life. It is blasphemy to think that any person can pay for his or her own sin with cash. And, seriously, $40? You’re an award-winning country superstar, and you can only manage $40! Egad. Oh, and we pray for ourselves before God, there is no extra weight in the prayers of a pastor over sincere prayers of any believer.]

Everybody wants to go to heaven
Get their wings and fly around
Everybody want to go to heaven
But nobody want to go now

[Wings? No]

Someday I want to see those streets of gold in my halo
But I wouldn’t mind waiting at least a hundred years or so

[Gold, yes. Halo, no. Again, waiting as if there is more fun to be had here than there? That is the sign of a man who does not know God or understand heaven.]

Everybody wanna go to heaven
It beats the other place there ain’t no doubt
Everybody wanna go to heaven
But nobody wanna go now

Everybody wanna go to heaven
Hallelujah, let me hear you shout
Everybody wanna go to heaven
But nobody wanna go now
I think I speak for the crowd

[Let me just say this, you do not speak for the part of the crowd who truly has glimpsed the majesty and glory of God in their lives.]

Forgetting God (Jeremiah 2:32)

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Jeremiah 2:32

Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.
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So, you’re here, reading a Blog—a Blog by a pastor no less. It can’t be possible that the above verse has anything to do with us, can it?

It seems impossible that a bride would walk the aisle without dressing up. It seems crazy to think that she would simply forget to get dressed for the wedding, totally an impossible thought. Well, God says that it should be just as impossible for his people to forget him.

Do we? Do we live in this world and forget that we are under the watchful eye of a loving Father, a righteous Judge, an almighty Helper, a faithful friend? Do we forget that, even on the job, God is still our God and still totally our Master and our Sustainer? Do we slip into patterns that would make us look like people who have no God instead of being the people of God?

I certainly hope that, for you and for me, God would never be able to say that we have forgotten him. But I know that, if we are not careful, from moment to moment, we can lose our focus on the fact that He is the one by whom, through whom, and for whom we exist. Christians, put it before your eyes and in your mind this day that God is, and we are his.

Hard Questions PT 2

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Click above to get the MP3 of part 2 of the “Hard Questions” panel discussion.

Here is what is included:

0:09:15- What should Christians believe about the Creation/Evolution debate?

0:17:40- How does God judge those who have never heard about Jesus? Can they be saved?

Questions from the Audience-

0:22:57- If the first chapter of Genesis is allegorical, how do we know when it becomes historical?

0:24:08- Do you believe that the Bible teaches that the role of a woman is to be a homemaker?

0:25:20- What should a father’s priority be?

0:26:09- What kind of resistance should Christians have to homosexuality in our culture?

0:30:12- Since humans are cursed and fallen, how can we trust our interpretation of the Bible?

0:32:05- How should Christians think about the death penalty?

Christians and the Economic Crisis: A Postscript (Hebrews 13:2, 5-6, 16)

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Hebrews 13:2 – Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:5-6 – 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:16 – Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
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I simply want to add the above verses to yesterday’s discussion of a Christian’s appropriate response to the nation’s financial crisis. God calls us to be a giving, sharing, and caring people. He calls us to give and show hospitality. Who knows that he may not allow us to minister in very unique ways in this unstable economic time. For sure, we are to rely on him, trusting that he will care for his own.

I’m not trying to argue for us to be unwise. But I am wanting to argue that we should become more giving, less selfish, and less concerned with our own comforts at this time. Let us turn from worldliness to godliness. Let us show the world that God is worth more to us than anything on Wall Street. Let us give, love, show hospitality, and honor our God.

Hard Questions Panel Part 1

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The audio is available for part 1 (the first hour) of our “Hard Questions” panel discussion from the campus of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. This discussion includes answers from Phil Nelson, pastor of Lakeland Baptist Church in Carbondale, IL, Jonathon Peters and Mark Warnock, pastors at First Baptist Church of Columbia, IL, and yours truely.

If the title of this post will not work, visit www.lakelandchurch.org to find the audio yourself.

Here are the questions you will hear us try to tackle:

0:03:09- How did you become a Christian? What was your college experience like?

0:17:14- What makes you qualified to answer questions about God? Why should we care what you think?

0:20:00- How can we be sure that the Bible is the word of God?

0:28:45- How can we be sure that the Bible contains the right books?

0:36:55- If God is all powerful and all good, why does He allow suffering to exist?

0:49:13- Would it be hypocritical for a Christian to support a female candidate for elected office if they wouldn’t also support a woman as pastor of their church? What does the Bible say about feminism?

1:03:55- What does the Bible say about homosexuality? How should Christians think about the legalization of homosexual marriage in areas of our country?