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Misusing Unity

pastortravislv

We all know that the Bible calls Christians to be unified. We all know that the church around the world is not. And so, we assume, from what we see, that there must be something wrong with the church.

That seems like a sound argument with a solid conclusion, except it isn’t. The concept of Christian unity is a concept that is used as a bludgeon against following Christ. It is used as a weapon against any sort of theological discernment. It is used as a club to keep people from questioning the beliefs or actions of others. But that is not what the Bible’s teaching regarding unity is about.

Take the passage about unity we see at the beginning of 1 Corinthians as an example.

1 Corinthians 1:10-13 – 10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Paul tells everybody to agree. Does that mean that we all must jettison our theological beliefs? Of course it does not. In fact, here, Paul is not even arguing about the basic doctrines of the faith. Paul is arguing that the church in Corinth needs to stop being a collection of little cults of personality. Divisions over which teacher is the coolest, or from which stream your heritage has led to you, those are division that we need to avoid. No one of us has the right to act as though we are good and other believers are lesser because of our favorite author, our denominational background, or which conference we love.

But in no way is Paul writing to allow the Corinthians to throw out doctrinal distinctives for the sake of unity. No, Paul is just telling them to cling to biblical doctrine instead of championing their favorite teacher or club.

So, what does unity mean? Does unity mean that denominations are a sin? No, not on the surface it does not. In truth, there is sin that causes denominational division, the sin of improper biblical interpretation. There must be a missing of the mark for groups to disagree over whether or not we ought to baptize babies or whether or not speaking in tongues involves a private prayer language. Somebody is right, and therefore somebody is wrong. So, yes, sin causes denominations. But, no, dividing over biblical doctrine is not sinful. We are to do what we can to hold strongly to the word of God and its proper interpretation and practice.

What division is OK? Divide if you must make and hold a theological stand. If a person denies the trinity, divide. If a person demands a practice in worship that you know, from Scripture, is unbiblical, you may have to divide. It would be very hard for a charismatic and a cessationist not to divide over issues of worship practice. This last is not either group calling the other non-Christian. But it is each group holding tightly to the word of God as they understand it. And while they differ on such fundamental issues, there will be denominations.

Where we do not divide is over issues of personality and taste so that we show the world that we are just like bickering children. We do not have the, “my dad can beat up your dad,” or the, “ I think Piper can beat up MacArthur in a theological wrestling match,” debate lead to us dividing. We need to be gracious on issues where doctrine is not at stake. WE need to be gracious, but firm, on issues where we must divide over doctrine. And we cannot allow people to get us to turn from doctrine to develop a false unity.

Forgetting Holiness is Deadly

pastortravislv

One pattern I see in conversations about the Lord is that people expect God to meet their approval. Whether a person claims to be a Christian or not, it seems that most expect that God will do things the way that they would do things. And so it feels terribly uncomfortable when we see in Scripture the Lord having ways that are different from ours.

Consider the story of Uzzah. This man, in an attempt to protect the ark of the covenant, reached out and steadied the sacred box. And when he touched the ark, he died.

1 Chronicles 13:9-11 – 9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. 11 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza to this day.

Notice two things, the two angers in that passage. God was angry because of what Uzzah did, presuming to touch the ark. David was angry because of what God did, striking Uzzah down for his actions.

What is missing that caused both angers? What is missing is a human reverence for and fear of the holiness of God. When we do not get holiness right, we bring the anger of God on ourselves. When we do not get holiness right, we get angry with God and his ways. And only when we get holiness right do we avoid these angers.

God was angry with Uzzah for not treating him as holy. God had given a clear command that would not allow Uzzah, under any circumstances, to touch the ark. Uzzah violated that command. Yes, he may have had good motives, but he still violated the command of God.

The ark of the covenant was a physical representation of the holiness of God. For sinful man to touch such a thing is deadly. Why? God cannot allow sin to touch him. God is holy. God is so totally pure that he must properly and perfectly judge sin. Uzzah, as a sinner, could not touch the ark and live. That is not because God thinks sin is icky so he hides from it. Instead, it is because God’s holiness is infinite and unchanging, and thus his holiness will destroy sin like the blazing sun would destroy a piece of tissue paper put on its surface.

Was God wrong for doing this? Was God unloving, cruel, nasty, not worthy of worship? For a moment, David thought so. For a moment David set the ark aside and wend home mad at God.

But David was wrong. David, at that moment, lost perspective on holiness. You see, holiness is not just the purity of God that is a consuming fire against sin. Holiness is also the difference between God and mankind. David, for a moment, thought that he could measure God by David’s own standards. But human beings cannot do so. God is infinitely above us. God’s ways are perfect, even when we cannot understand them.

The only way Uzzah would have been right would have been to respect the holiness of God enough to know that Uzzah, without God’s protection, cannot touch holiness. The only way for David to be right before God would be for David to submit to the holiness of God, recognizing that the ways of God are perfect no matter what any human being feels about them.

And we need the same. If we are to be right before God, we must grasp that we cannot touch holiness in our sinful state. The only way we will not be consumed by God is if we are given, by God, a protective covering, a transforming grace, to make us able to stand in his presence. We need the grace of Jesus, or we simply cannot approach God at all.

And we must grasp that God’s ways are right by definition, as the holiness of God is a declaration of God’s absolute perfection. We are fools to think that we can measure the rightness of the actions of God from our perspective. God is perfect while we are sinners. God has all knowledge while our knowledge is limited and imperfect. God sees eternity while we see only a tiny glimpse of time. God is Creator while we are creation. We must yield to his perfection and know that his ways are perfect because he is holy.

The Prayer of Jabez

pastortravislv

Are you old enough to remember the fad that was The Prayer of Jabez? That book rocketed to the top of the Christian best-seller list and influenced countless believers. In it, Bruce Wilkinson offered to Christians what he believed was a secret key for us to break through our ordinary lives and find ourselves blessed by God in new and amazing ways.

Without writing a critique of the book, I want to address the passage and the concept of the prayer of Jabez. These verses were part of my daily reading, and it just seemed like a good idea to offer a couple of, hopefully, biblical thoughts.

The entire book and fad was based on the following odd little verses in the middle of the genealogical passages at the beginning of 1 Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 4:9-11 – 9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 10 Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.

The thing that started the fad for Wilkinson was the fact that this little narrative stands out in the middle of a list of names of who begat whom. This led Wilkinson to believe that, buried in the middle of the genealogy is a secret from God, a message on how to pray in order to receive blessing like Jabez did.

But there are major problems in interpreting this passage as a secret code to believers who, if they find it, will be brought to a higher level of blessing. Let me point out a couple of problems, and then offer what I think is a fair way to handle this passage instead.

A first problem is that of a form of Gnosticism. Gnostics believed that there is such a thing as a higher, sacred, secret knowledge that would raise people to heightened spiritual levels. Gnostics prided themselves on learning the secret spiritual code words to pass through the levels of the heavens. And while Wilkinson does not believe those things, his system mimics the secret knowledge idea. Telling Christians that praying this prayer on a daily basis unlocks blessings for them while not praying this prayer on a daily basis leaves those gifts unopened is gnostic-sounding, and it is certainly not anything like what we read in the rest of Scripture regarding the blessing of God.

A second problem with the call to repeat the prayer of Jabez is the concept of pagan fertility cults. Remember when the prophets of Baal spent all morning dancing around the altar of their false god and repeatedly chanted, “O Ball, hear us?” Pagans surrounding Israel believed they could force the hand of their deity by repeating certain prayers and certain sacrifices. But God’s word always presented true faith as a contrast, a polemic against such practices. God is not manipulated by our repetition of a mantra. Neither are his desires to bless us bound by our failure to repeat a phrase enough times. Jesus, teaching on prayer in Matthew 6, warns against vain repetition.

Finally, a simple interpretive framework does not allow for the interpretation of the above verses as the discovery of a key to unlock the blessings for your soul. You see, the word of God does not indicate to us in any way that such is the reason for that passage’s inclusion. The word tells us the story as a narrative and does not make further comment. For us to build a major belief system on 3 verses of obscure narrative that are never mentioned again in Scripture is hermeneutically irresponsible. You cannot handle Scripture like this and be faithful.

So, what do we do with the passage? Stop and ask what we actually know for sure. God is listing for us names of people born to people born to people throughout the history of Israel. Jabez stood out as more noble than his relatives. Why? He sought the goodness of God. Clearly, Jabez, in some form, believed in the Lord, called on the Lord, and asked for the favor of the Lord. The emphasis should not be on the specific blessings he asked for. Rather, the emphasis here should be on the fact that a man, blessed by God, called on the Lord when others around him were not doing so. A man stood out among his family by asking the Lord for help rather than thinking he could or should survive by his own merit and strength. And God blessed him.

I think the lesson for us is to remember that, even when others around us are not calling on and trusting in the Lord, there is a goodness, a grace, a blessing for those who continue to call on the Lord. No, there is no guarantee that we get rich from such a call. God’s word never calls us to hunger for riches or ease. Jesus promised us hardships and persecutions if we follow him. But God’s word also promises us his presence, his comfort, and eternal life as we turn from sin and trust in Christ. And the prayer of Jabez should remind us that it is worth crying out to God, even if we are the only ones in our family or in our nation who do so.

Why Are You Happy about the Rescue of the Soccer Team in Thailand?

pastortravislv

How sweet it is to have good new celebrated all over the Internet? From every angle, left, right, center, whatever, people are showing gratitude for the rescue of those kids and their coach trapped in the cave. And I totally agree.

But, just to be that guy, let me ask you a question: why? Why are you celebrating that these 13 people have been rescued? Don’t write me off here. Stop and really address it. Why?

I’m happy because… What do you say? I’m happy because they are alive. Great, why? It’s good that they did not die in the cave. I agree; why? Does your worldview actually have an answer to why this good thing, this thing that everybody who is not a moral degenerate agrees is good, is in fact good?

If your worldview is one of naturalism, I think you will be harder pressed than you think to tell me why the rescue of these people is good. Maybe you can argue that one of those 13 could possibly go on to do something for humanity. Maybe you will argue that giving the globe a psychological boost is positive. Maybe you will argue that this pattern of giving, if imitated, will improve human flourishing. But in truth, are any of those reasons satisfactory? Do any of those get down to the heart of why this is an actual moral good?

In truth, only a worldview that sees human life as valuable, valuable for a valid reason, has a real reason to celebrate. If all that human beings are is a collection of fluids, cells, random atoms bouncing around the universe, then there is no real, moral reason why it is good for this team to be alive. Their random atoms could have stayed in the cave and it would have been all the same to the universe.

But, and here is the truth, if indeed those 13 lives matter for the simple reason that human lives matter, then this is a great cause for celebration. And I argue that those lives matter, regardless of whether or not any of the 13 ever does one single thing to benefit society. Their lives matter because of the existence and revelation of God.

In Genesis 1:27, God declares that he created humanity in his image. That, my dear friends, is the reason that the rescue of those 13 from a flooded cave in Thailand is good news. Thirteen people who bear upon their very souls a reminder of the existence and glory of God are preserved. Thirteen people who are told by the word of God that their value is in the imprint of God on them have been spared. Thirteen reflections of the truth that God is the glorious Ruler over the universe are still living and breathing. This is ultimately good.

Good is good because good is what God declares is good. Saving these lives is good because it matches the purpose for the existence of the universe—to glorify God.

If you are a God-doubter, if you are an atheist, if you are a naturalist, why not stop and ask yourself what reason you have, what real reason you have, to celebrate the rescue of the team in Thailand. We all agree it is a good thing. But I say it is good because it matches the revelation of God and it preserves people made in his image. Why do you say it is good?

Ultimately, what makes human life matter? See, o please see, that life matters because of our Creator. Random chance, cellular mutations, and survival of the fittest just cannot make life matter for the sake of life.

How Dare They Say That

pastortravislv

Sometimes things in the Bible take a good bit of work to understand. There are doctrines that have to make us work to wrap our brains around them. But there are other things in the Scripture that are gloriously straightforward.

In Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon gives us a nugget of wisdom that is really helpful in a very common situation. Imagine the scenario. You find out that somebody you know said something unflattering about you. It hurts your feelings. How should you react? Try this.

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22

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.

This is so great. Do not take to heart everything you hear that somebody said about you. Why? You do the same thing to others.

Now, before you get self-righteous, just go ahead and admit this is true. You have not, for the totality of your life, held your tongue. You have said nasty things about others in moments of frustration. You might try to avoid it. You might try not to do it. But you have not been perfect here.

But, wait, you probably didn’t mean it. Right? You probably should get a pass for what you said. You were frustrated. You were hurt. You were bothered. So you spoke. But deep down, you are not a nasty person.

Very good. Now, take the excuses you make for yourself, apply them to the other person who spoke negatively about you, and see what happens. At the end of the day, you should realize that you and the one who said stuff about you are in the same boat. So, the first and best piece of counsel is to recognize that you are just as guilty as they are, so get over it.

There is, of course, more to be done in these situations. We should always try to learn from negative things. Maybe we need to change and repent of something that someone else saw in us. Maybe we need to go and talk with them about hurtful speech and offer forgiveness. But so often, the best move we can make is to start with the understanding that they are only doing to us what we have done to others, that there is probably a reason why they got where they are—just like there was a reason why we got where we were when we spoke negatively about others. And if all that is true, we need to start from a point of grace. Do not take it to heart, because a lot of things are said that will disappear in a moment.

Why a Funeral is Better than a Party

pastortravislv

In Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon offers us a really weird bit of wisdom. He lets his readers know that going to a funeral is more helpful to a person than attending a great celebration. Why?

Ecclesiastes 7:2-4

2 It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Why is a funeral better than a party? At a funeral, those who attend are forced to consider the truth of our own mortality. Every person in the room at a funeral faces the fact that he or she will also someday pass from this life. Every person at a funeral is forced to take stock of things that they may or may not want to pay attention to in their normal lives.

On the contrary, a party is often a place where we ignore reality. Even the poorest of us pretend we have much at a party. We will whip up the best food. We will take time away from chores. We will forget about health issues and struggles for just a bit. At a party we relax and live in that moment alone.

There is nothing wrong with a party. We love a good celebration. But it is better for our souls to make sure that we do not forget to consider reality. It is better for our souls to remember that death stands before us all. It is better for our souls to consider how we can know for sure that there is something good awaiting us at the end of our 80 years or so.

The point is that a funeral makes us think about God. If it is done right, a funeral helps everybody in the room pay attention to what matters. A good funeral will offer comfort to a grieving family as it points people to the hope we have in Christ to live beyond our few years on this earth.

The Danger of Comfort

pastortravislv

I live in a nation that worships comfort and recreation. I live in a city that makes its fortune off of the wealth of people who worship comfort, recreation, and indulgence. And if I am not careful, I’ll go with the flow and allow my own comfort to lull me to sleep.

That is why reading about God’s judgment in the book of Amos is a very helpful thing for modern folks. Whether you live here in Las Vegas or anywhere else where life is full of comforts, you need to remember that there is a danger to being at ease for too long in this world.

In Amos 6, we find a judgment from God coming to the people of Israel. We see a nation that, for years and years, has been strong and successful. Their success and their comfort has only served to highlight their lack of a heart for God. Their wealth has served to emphasize their rebellion. And the Lord is clear that this is not a good thing.

Amos 6:4-6

4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory

and stretch themselves out on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock

and calves from the midst of the stall,

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,

6 who drink wine in bowls

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

The woes in those verses are woes that could be pronounced on us. The people are lazy and comfortable. They love their music and their wine and their fancy perfumes. But they as a people do not care about the fact that the nation around them is in utter rebellion against the Lord. O, friends, does this not speak to you?

The great danger that comfort presents to us is the danger of numbing us to the reality of the evils in our land. We are in good shape. Our houses are air-conditioned. Our cars are not broken down. Our food supply is abundant. Our phones entertain us more today than our TVs ever could decades previously. And what do we ignore because all this is true? What are we willing to compromise or pretend is not there because we are at our ease in our land?

May we be a people who thank God for the graces and comforts he gives us. No, I do not want to push us toward a legalistic moralism that demands we never watch a movie or enjoy a nice meal. But may we not let that put us to sleep so that we forget about the evils of our land. Our nation is broken and rebellious in so many ways. And we must care. We must cry out for God’s mercy. We must walk toward repentance. We must battle against the kinds of immorality rampant in our land that will bring the judgment of God. We must care about our ruin before it overtakes us.

Meeting God Is Terrifying

pastortravislv

One of the effects of poor proclamation of the gospel is that people no longer fear the presence of God. Of course the gospel does much to soothe our fears as we find ourselves under the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians have been given the freedom to approach the Lord as his children.

The problem is that, as many present what they would call the gospel, there is no element of fear in it at all. Many preachers and many who follow those preachers have bought into something far less than the gospel. These folks are genuinely concerned for the eternity of their hearers. They deeply want to see people saved, as do all faithful Christians. But their desire for the salvation of the lost has led them to a place where they focus more on the lost person than they focus on the glory and holiness of the God to whom they are supposed to be calling the lost. They paint a picture of God as a sad, desperate, weepy character who so wants those people just to give him a try. They present a God who will compromise any standard so long as the lost will give him a nod so he can save them.

But, such a picture is not a picture of the true God of the Bible. Yes, God is gloriously gracious. God is loving beyond our wildest dreams. God’s grace is overwhelming. But he is not willing to compromise his character even an ounce to bend to our will.

Consider the ending of Amos 4. In that chapter, God had been pointing out that the people of the nation of Israel were cruel, nasty to the needy, selfish, idolatrous, and faithless. Those people had been refusing to repent of their sin even though they were experiencing God’s chastening.

Amos 4:11-13

11 “I overthrew some of you,

as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;

yet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and declares to man what is his thought,

who makes the morning darkness,

and treads on the heights of the earth—

the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Stop, go back, read that slowly, and tell me if it makes you tremble. “Prepare to meet your god, O Israel!“ God tells these people that he has pointed out their sin. He has shown them what is required for their repentance. He has commanded. They have disobeyed. And now his judgment is coming. And the most frightening thing of all that the Lord could say to a rebellious people is “Prepare to meet your God!”

This is not, by the way, God saying he is going to kill them. It is far scarier than that. God is telling them that, in times past, he has been sending judgments to call them to repentance. Now, he is coming. Now he, the Holy One, will do the work himself. Now the Lord will come, and there is no one in creation who has the power to stay his hand.

Such a scene should be a part of a faithful gospel presentation and understanding. A presentation of the gospel that only has softness and pleading is less than biblical. A true gospel presentation includes the love and grace of the Lord, but it must also include the fact that, should any person turn his or her back on the Lord and his ways, they are in danger at a level they do not understand. They are called to repent. They are called to get under the love of Jesus. They are called to mercy. But if they will not come to that call, the only remaining element is, “Prepare to meet your God!” And they must understand, a faithful presentation must help them see, that meeting their God while unprepared is utterly terrifying.

Please do not hear me deemphasizing the love of God or his mercy here. ON the contrary, we only grasp the greatness of grace when we see the infinite judgment we deserve. Salvation means something when you have something to be saved from.

Stop Asking Dishonest Questions

pastortravislv

We have all heard people ask questions we know they do not really want to have answered. They like to make demands of us. They like to ask for explanations. But there are certainly people who will ask us things that, no matter how we answer, they will be unsatisfied.

This also happens when people say that they have questions about God and his ways. Often people will say that there is something they are bothered by concerning the Lord, the Bible, and theology. They act as though, if this one question was answered, they would be willing to follow the Lord. But Scripture and real life experience show us differently.

In Luke 20, Jesus was approached by religious teachers with a question. They wanted to know by whose authority he was teaching. Of course, their goal was to trap Jesus and make him look bad. So Jesus put a question in front of them. If they answered it honestly, he would answer them honestly. They refused.

Luke 20:7-8 – 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Notice that, when they refused to be honest with Jesus, the Lord refused to answer their question. I think we need to recognize that this indicates to us that God is not at all interested in our dishonest questions.

So, as people raise questions about God and his ways, perhaps you might ask them to seriously consider if they actually want the answer. Will the answer to this question satisfy you? Is there any possible answer that you think would help you? Help them to see that their questions are not often as real as they think. Instead, go ahead and help people to see that what they package as a question may be simple rebellion.

And be careful if this is you. God is not in any way obligated to answer even an honest question. He is God and we are not. How much less is he obligated to answer our questions when our questions are not even honest? Let us yield to God first. Sure, ask questions, but ask the Lord from a heart already submitted to him, and you will find the answers you receive far more satisfying.

They Need Scripture, Not Miraculous Evidence

pastortravislv

When we have friends, neighbors, or family members we want to see saved, we may find ourselves wishing for a supernatural occurrence to help them to believe. I’m not here talking about the work of the sovereign God on a heart to draw someone to Christ. Rather, I am thinking about something that is considered amazing, miraculous, and somehow a proof of the truth of the gospel. We want our family members to see a healing, to have a dramatic impression of the presence of God, or be miraculously preserved from a car accident. Then we think that they will let that evidence lead them to faith.

But such a belief is not in accord with the very words of Jesus. Our Savior did not say that the lost need a dramatic experience of evidence. Nor did he say that they need a really good argument. Jesus said that the lost, if they are to be saved, need Scripture.

In Luke 16, Jesus gives us the story of the lost rich man and the beggar, Lazarus. The rich man is in hell and Lazarus in paradise. The rich man has a conversation with Abraham, and that conversation represents the teaching point. First the rich man asked for relief from his torment, but that was not possible or proper. Then the rich man asked for Abraham to send Lazarus to be a miraculous witness to his brothers so they could avoid hell.

Luke 16:2931 – 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Note what is said here. The rich man wants something miraculous, something dramatic, something that feels like irrefutable evidence. Abraham says they have Scripture. The rich man does not think Scripture is enough. Who would ever expect that just continuing to quote the Bible, continuing to preach verse after verse, would somehow have an impact.

But what does Jesus tell us through the mouth of Abraham in this account? If they will not hear the word of God in Scripture, nothing will make them believe. They will not believe, even if a person rises from the dead. Of course, Jesus knows a thing or two about people rising from the dead in front of the lost.

Christians, may we see that the word of God taught by the Son of God here tells us that what the lost need is not a sign. The lost do not need to talk with the dead. The Lost do not need an irrefutable argument. After all, you and I have all seen people ignore irrefutable arguments. What the lost need is the clear presentation of the word of God. Because, if they will not believe the word of god, they would not believe if they saw a dead person resurrected before their eyes. That is what Jesus said, and it is still true today.

No, this does not make me anti-apologetics. What it makes me is one who recognizes what apologetics can and cannot do. Apologetics might make someone stop yelling at you long enough to listen to you. Apologetics might make a person think you less of an idiot than they originally thought you to be. Apologetics might gain you a hearing in a person’s mind. But, friends, at the end of the day, the only thing that will bring a person to salvation is the word of God spoken and the power of God sovereignly bringing a dead heart to life.