Category: devotional

Two Wickednesses that Led to Global Destruction

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In Genesis 6, we see the lead up to the flood.

Genesis 6:5-8 – 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

God said that the hearts of mankind, by this generation of humanity, were so wicked that the solution was a global destruction. In case you’re not sure, that means that things were bad. The Lord’s righteous wrath, his perfect hatred of sin, was about to be on display.

What is interesting is the evidence we have been given up to this point of the sinfulness of humanity. Back in Genesis 3, we see the fall of man with Adam and Eve in the garden. IN Genesis 4, we see Cain and Abel as well as the evil Lamech, a man who sang about killing someone. Interestingly, Lamech is also cited as a man who married multiple women, the first man in Scripture to clearly violate God’s design for marriage.

Then, in chapter 6, we have that weird passage about the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men.”

Genesis 6:1-3 1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Immediately, you should know that there are two significantly different proposals out there as to what this passage means. Many believe this passage to indicate demonic activity among humanity. This is based on the phrase “sons of God” which is used in Job to indicate angelic beings.

While that linguistic argument is convincing to many, I do not agree. I find myself agreeing with many others who suggest that the reference here to “sons of God” is simply a way to speak of human men in general or even more particularly to those men descended from the blessed line of Seth. It is also possible that such strange language is here being used because of the spread of the practice of religious prostitution, something certainly popular in Canaan after the flood.

My goal is not to convince anybody of how to interpret the phrase “sons of God.” Instead, my goal is to point out something that I believe is quite significant about humanity before the flood. God saw the wickedness of humanity. God saw that the wickedness was so great that he would shorten the human life span and flood the earth, wiping out every living thing except for a remnant he would save. But what wickedness have we seen? We have seen murder, and we know that is evil. And, we have seen a reference to sexual immorality, to the casting off of all restraint regarding human sexuality and marriage.

Christians, do you know murder to be a big deal, a judgment-worthy offense? Good. You should. Do you also see the casting off of sexual restraint as a big deal? I hope so. But the truth is, we live in a culture that is swimming so deeply in the ocean of sexual sin that we often times do not grasp its significance. So, I again call on us to remember that this is the kind of sin that God highlighted just before he highlighted the wickedness of mankind’s heart leading to the flood. Sexual sin is a big deal to God.

I hope not to come across as judgmental or holier than thou in this writing. My own sins are far too many to count, and I’ll not drop them here in an Internet post. The point I’m making is that God’s word opens with a very clear reminder to us that, if you want to oppose God and gain his judgment, sexual immorality and murder will do it. I’m sure there were other sins. But these are the ones that God cited for us from Genesis 4-6.

If you want a depressing side-note about our culture, just consider these two sins together. What part of our culture does the most to unite sexual immorality and murder? OF course this is the abortion industry. Is not the entire focus of the abortion industry to promise sexual license without consequence and to take the lives of the unborn? Are not there entire political groups dedicated solely to the proposition of perpetuating sexual rebellion and the slaughter of the unborn?

Christians, what do I want us to take from these thoughts? I hope we are sobered. I hope that we will remember that what God says is right is right. I hope that we will remember that rebellion against the ways of God is deadly. And I hope that we will see sexual sin from God’s perspective. Regardless of how much evil surrounds us, regardless of how much each of us has failed in the past, we must grasp how strongly God speaks against the casting off of restraint when it comes to our sexuality.

God has designed sex to be celebrated from within the bounds of biblical marriage. God designed marriage to be the union of one man and one woman for life. God commands that those who love him marry in the Lord, uniting only to those who are also believers and not simply to whomever catches our fancy. And God, from Genesis through Revelation, tells us that to rebel against him in our sexuality is a very big, world-destroying, judgment-bringing deal.

Have you failed in this area? Many of us have. I’m not telling you that you are hopeless. Nor am I looking down upon you in any way. I’m calling you to find the forgiveness of God. Repent of sin and turn to Jesus for mercy. As the ark protected Noah and his family from the flood that wiped out the world, so the grace of Jesus will protect all who come to him from the wrath of God we have earned.

Would You Have Gone?

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In Matthew 2, we read about the wise men who came to Jerusalem looking for the newborn King of the Jews. These men from the east had seen a new star in the sky and knew that this was a sign that the promised one from God had been born. They went to Jerusalem, as one would assume a king to be born in the capital city.

You probably know the story pretty well. After all, it is told around Christmas time on a regular basis. If you know the story, you know that Herod asked the Jewish priests and scribes around him where the Christ was to be born, and they were easily able to quote for him a Scripture that promised the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Then Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem to find the child.

Matthew 2:9-11 — 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

The wise men left Herod, found the

Christ, and worshipped him. This is a good and right response. When you become aware of the Lord, the right move is to worship.

Sometimes when I think about this passage, I actually find myself thinking about those whose actions are not mentioned. I think about the priests and scribes. To be fair, they may have been generally kept out of the loop and asked only a data question without any context. But I wonder. I wonder if the religious men around Herod knew that the wise men from the east were present. I wonder if they knew that these men were claiming to have seen a star. I wonder if they knew that Herod was sending the wise men to fish out the location of the newborn King.

What I know for sure is that these priests did not go. It seems like they had the data, but they did nothing with it. Knowing Scripture as well as they did, the priests should have recognized that it was time for the Christ to arrive. They should have known that the Messiah would be born around their generation. There was enough information available for these men to know that God had broken into history in a fantastic way.

If my gut guess is right, if the scholars knew about the wise men and the star and the promises of Scripture, then something very sad takes place in this passage. They knew the Christ had come. They knew the star had shone. They knew men were sent to find the baby. And they went back to their books, back to their lives, back to their temple, and did nothing with the news they had heard. They were told enough to know that God had broken into history and sent his promised one, and they were not concerned about it.

Like I said, this is a surmise on my part. It could be that the scholars were only asked the question without getting any info. If so, I cannot blame them for remaining in Jerusalem, as they had no info to go on. But I’m still convicted by the possibility. I’m convicted by the notion that a man could know that God is with us, that Christ is near, and stay home instead of going to worship the Savior.

Surmises aside, do you think you would have gone? If you knew where Jesus was, would you have dropped everything to run to Bethlehem just so you could bow down before the young Jesus? Would you have risked the danger of Herod’s wrath to catch a glimpse of God with us? I hope so.

Now, if you would have taken a significant risk to get where Jesus is, to see him, to bow before him, to worship him, does that show in your life today? After all, Jesus is with us. The Spirit of the Lord is with us. God’s people gather on a weekly basis to worship the same Jesus. God’s people shape our lives differently because of the finished work and presence of Jesus.

Ask yourself, “Does my life look more like the scholars or the wise men?” Do you have a lot of knowledge that leaves you unmoved? Or does what you know from the word of God call you to take note, get up, and act?

Christians, may you and I be a people who are not mere receptacles of knowledge. May the knowledge we have of the word of God and the claims of Christ change our lives. May it lead us to value worship greatly. May it lead us to change, deep and lasting change. May it lead us to not be able to sit still. May we never be able to neglect worshipping the Savior.

A Devilish Trick

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If you know the word of God, you know that Scripture is clear that there is a very real devil who is our enemy. The devil is not as powerful as the Lord. He is not omnipresent. Neither is he able to accomplish anything beyond the will of the Lord. After all, the devil had to ask for permission to test Job. But the devil is a very real, spiritual person who hates the things of God and who wants to lead people to destruction.

The devil has certain go-to tricks that he tries on people. I suppose that is not a surprise. After all, if you’ve been doing a thing as long as he has, you would figure out fairly quickly what seems to work, and you would stick with it. Let me show you one from the beginning that is a clear trick, but it still works.

Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

The opening salvo in Genesis 3 is an old favorite of the devils. He asks a question. HE does so with a lie. And he does so with a particular attitude.

The question begins, “Did God really say?” In this instance, the devil is not questioning the presence of divine revelation. That tactic comes later in human history. Eve had no doubt that God spoke with her husband with commands. So the idea of God speaking, even what God had said, should not have been a problem for the woman.

But then the trick rolls in. The devil asks if God really said something that God in fact did not say. He asks if God forbad the people from eating the fruit of any of the trees in the garden. Remember, God had given Adam and Eve freedom to eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except one. Thus, the question presents a lie about the command of God.

But the attitude and the purpose behind the lie is what is the real trick. You see, when the devil asks the false question of Eve, he is asking another question that is not in writing, but it is one we can all hear. The devil is getting Eve to question whether or not God is good. The question, “Did God really say,” is very close to asking, “How could he do such a thing?” The devil is getting Eve used to not simply knowing the commands of God, but to evaluating them based on her own perspective.

The devil still asks the question, “Did God really say.” He succeeds in that question when he gets people to begin to suggest that not all that God has said is what God has said. Today, as people believe they can determine what parts of the Bible are true and what parts can be ignored, they are falling prey to the beginning of the devilish questions.

The trick of lying about what is in Scripture is also a popular devilish trick. After all, if the devil can twist the word of God, adding to God’s word commands that God has not placed on his people, he can burden those people. In the New Testament era, the Pharisees added rule after rule and standard after standard to the law of God. They lost the heart of the Lord in their zeal to improve upon the law. And the devil still gets people to take the word of God, make the word stricter than is God, and then apply those man-made standards to others. It is a deadly practice.

And the hidden attitude behind the question, that is a major ploy of the devil’s. He loves to get us to start evaluating whether or not God is good based on how we feel about his commands. Note, if the devil can get you to evaluate the goodness of God based on a strawman, a false depiction of God and his ways, he is doubly happy. Either way, the devil loves to have people look at God’s ways, God’s plan, God’s commands, and then to ask us if we think this is really the right way. He wants us to think, “How could God command such a thing?” And the moment we put ourselves in a position to evaluate the goodness of God’s law, we are putting ourselves in a position above God, declaring that we have the ultimate ability to judge the word and ways of the Lord. This may be the devil’s favorite trick of all.

Christians, it is good for us to see the commands of God and understand their goodness. It is nice when we can look at a mysterious Old Testament regulation, learn about the cultural context, and see how God was helping and lovingly protecting his people. All that God has commanded is rational and perfect, and it is great when we understand why.

But it is not good if we ever allow ourselves to look at the actions of God and evaluate them as if we possibly have the capacity to judge them as bad. God is holy. God is unlimited in his understanding and knowledge and goodness. You and I are sinners with limited knowledge and limited goodness. And the devil loves to get us to think, in our limited and sin-darkened minds, that God should have handled things differently. The devil loves to get us to think that we, if we were running the show, would have never made such a law or let such a thing happen. This is a trick of his that he was pulling on Eve with the first question he asked, and it is a trick he still pulls on us today. Let us remember that our responsibility is to know what God has actually commanded, and to know that the God who commanded is absolutely, infinitely, unchangingly perfect.

Two Simple Truths We Need to Believe

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There are some things that, when you truly believe them, change your life. There are some verses of the Bible that I recognize, when I read them, that I need to receive their truths down into the depths of my very soul. Today’s reading in the word of God brought me two such verses.

Genesis 1:1 — In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Acts 1:9-11 – 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

In Genesis 1:1, we see the biblical claim that God created the universe. What you and I believe about this verse changes everything about how we view the world. Either this world is created by God with purpose and order and beauty and a goal, or it is not. If this universe is not created by God, it is nothing but randomness, chaos, meaninglessness, and futility. If the universe is created by God in the beginning, then God exists before the beginning. If the universe is created by God, it is his property to direct and do with as he pleases.

Friends, we live in a universe that the Lord created. The air you breathe and the earth you walk upon are on loan to you from the Creator. You own nothing. He owns everything. The reason you exist is simply that the Creator wills you exist. Your life’s purpose is bound up in the Creator. Your hope for eternity is found in the one who set the stars on their courses.

In Acts 1, we see the picture of Jesus returning, alive, to heaven. Then, as the men marveled at that sight, angels came and told them that Jesus, the very same Jesus, the living Jesus, Jesus the Son of Almighty God, will return to earth in just the same way that he left it. And this too changes everything about our worldview.

Friends, Jesus is alive. Right now, today, at the beginning of 2020, Jesus is alive. And Jesus promises to return. The world in which we live has a limited amount of time ahead of it before the Savior comes back. Life will not go on forever as things are now. Christ will again break into human history. Christ will descend back to earth. Christ will make right what mankind has made wrong. Christ rules and will rule forever.

What changes in you when you recall that Jesus is alive now and is returning? So many things that seem vital to you become insignificant. Little slights and insults that feel like major mountains become as nothing in the light of eternity and the Savior’s return. Real hurts, big pains, hard struggles dim and soften in the light of the eternity ahead of us. We can rest in the fact that Christ will do justice and set all things right. We can rest in the fact that the church will survive and grow to the end of the age. We can face persecution with the knowledge that the ultimate outcome of all things is already determined.

As the new year begins, Christians, take these two truths to heart—truths that many of you read on your first day of daily Bible-in-a-year reading. God created this world. It is his. You are his. Jesus is alive and is returning. You have hope and an eternity of joy in front of you if you are under his grace. Let these truths impact how you see everything, absolutely everything.

Have We Lost Wrath?

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The word gospel means good news. The gospel is the good news of Jesus. It is the good news of his life, death, and resurrection. The gospel is the good news of the perfectly fulfilled plan of god to save for himself a people.

It is interesting that, as we talk about the gospel in today’s culture, there are words that are emphasized and words that are whispered. Take, as an example, the word brokenness. In many presentations today, there is tremendous emphasis placed on the fact that our sin leads us into a broken state. As we step away from the plan of God and the ways of God, we break our lives. We hurt ourselves emotionally. We harm our families, our friendships, and our very own souls. And this is surely a true thing.

What I wonder, however, is if some who emphasize the soul-damaging effects of sin are failing to emphasize the biblical result of sin.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 – 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul emphasized the turning of the people to the gospel. But notice, in verse 10, that Paul has a word that is seldom used in popular circles these days. The people who were transformed in Christ were awaiting the arrival of Jesus, the one who delivers us from the wrath to come.

I am wondering if, in popular Christianity today, we have lost the concept of wrath. The wrath of God is his perfect, righteous, furious judgment for sin. Wrath is not God getting mad or getting his feelings hurt. God’s wrath is a set position of the Lord to always hate sin in all its forms with all that he is. And his wrath, poured out, leads to the judgment of and destruction of the wicked. A person who experiences the full wrath of God experiences hell forever.

Paul was not shy in his letter to remind the Thessalonians that Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. The gospel is a salvation from the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is coming. The result of sin is that wrath. And I believe that, if we fail to talk about this fact, we fail to paint a true picture of the gospel.

Please do not hear me attempting to knock those who use terms like brokenness when they discuss the effects of sin. The present experience of those who have walked away from God is quite often a strongly felt, strongly experienced brokenness. People in our modern culture may well be able to identify with the fact that, no matter how hard they have tried, they have not been able to escape their experience of being less than what they were created to be. And I do understand that this can be a significant entry gate to a gospel conversation.

What I am suggesting, however, is that brokenness is a symptom on the disease track, not its final dark end. Yes, sin results in brokenness. But, even worse, that brokenness, without a true gospel cure, leads to spiritual death and the wrath of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is our only rescue from the wrath to come. So, whether a person feels broken or not, the final judgment is on its way. Christ will return. God will judge. All who refuse the grace of God in Jesus will face, unprotected, the wrath to come. And none of us can survive that.

Christians, if you wish to talk about the soul-harming effects of sin, do so. If you can show a person that sinful choices lead us to personally experienced destruction in the here and now, that is a great conversation starter. But do not lose the wrath of God. Sin is an affront to the Living God. We are all guilty of it. Sin leads to wrath. And we need Jesus to rescue us from that wrath, or we will suffer the right consequences of rebellion against the Creator and Lord over all.

Teaching Affliction

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There are many running themes in the Scripture. When we study, we see that certain ideas find their way into book after book. These ideas are important, because they show us that God is completely consistent in his word to us. Examples of this include the true deity and true humanity of Jesus, the importance of the local church, the call to sexual purity, the need for Christians to love one another, the necessity of focusing on eternity, etc. You see the same principles of right thought and righteous conduct in book after book, author after author.

One recurring theme in the New Testament is one that we do not love, but which we must understand. Repeatedly in the New Testament, we see that the church of the Lord Jesus is destined for affliction and persecution in this world. I find that, as I prepare sermons or do personal devotions, I see a regular reminder that the lost world will not love the church.

1 Thessalonians 3:2-4 – 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

In the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells of his concern for the church in Thessalonica after he was forced to leave the city. IN fact, Paul’s concern for those believers became so strong that he sent Timothy back there to check on the believers in that infant church. Thankfully, when Timothy arrived in Thessalonica, he found the believers standing strong, even in the face of worldly hardships.

Notice what Paul says about his teaching when he was in Thessalonica. Paul says that he repeatedly kept telling the young believers that Christians will suffer afflictions. During his time of preaching and teaching in Thessalonica, preparing believers for persecution was a commonly repeated theme.

The funny thing for us to remember in all this is that Paul was only in Thessalonica for around three weeks. He then had to move on. The apostle had only three weeks to try to pour into the Thessalonians important doctrine. And in that time, Paul says that he not only mentioned the possibility of persecution, but he repeatedly pointed out to them that hardships would come.

Now, believers, if you only had 3 weeks to teach a new Christian what they needed to know, what doctrines would you include? Of course you would teach them the gospel and the significance of Scripture. You would teach them about evangelism and the local church. Hopefully you would point them toward the return of Jesus and our hope.

But if you want to be consistent with Scripture, you also would need to be abundantly clear that a lost world will strive to bring hardships to believers. You would not do a young believer any favors by pretending that God will protect us from pain in this life. Instead, you would be wisest to help them know that persecution is part of following Jesus until he returns. Even in a 3-week crash course in the faith, you would, if you followed Paul’s pattern, speak against any notion of a prosperity gospel or an escapist theology. Instead, you would strive with Scripture to weave steel into the character of young believers so that they would be ready to stand in the face of worldly affliction.

God is not Embarrassed

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Christian, if you are honest, you will know what it feels like to have a person be embarrassed by the word of God. Perhaps even you have been a little ashamed of what the word says. After all, the claims of the word are so very counter-cultural. God’s word has standards for human sexuality, gender, and marriage that are unpopular. The word tells stories of violent conquest that our world has trouble understanding. The exclusivity of Jesus Christ is simply not socially acceptable.

But, Christian, it is worthwhile for you and me to remember that God’s word is the revelation of God himself. The Scripture is how we know God. If you want to know what God is like, you must know him from his revealed word. And there is no discrepancy. Jesus is God in flesh, the word made flesh, who reveals God to us. The writings of Peter, Paul, Moses, Isaiah, Luke, James, and the rest are also the word of God—God revealing himself and his ways to us. And we have no right whatsoever to pretend that we can look at the word of God and judge any part of it more appropriate or less appropriate than any other part. All Scripture reveals the Lord.

God is God. God is perfect. When God tells us who he is or what he desires, we must understand that his ways are perfect. And when God’s ways do not match our cultural sensitivities, we must understand that God is still God and we are not.

All this came to mind as I was reading through the opening of 2 Thessalonians. As Paul writes to a church facing persecution, Paul comforts them by reminding them of the coming judgment of God.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 – 5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

My goal here is not to unpack the whole passage, but to notice the way that God inspired Paul to speak of his coming wrath in the judgment. The words in the verses above are an unashamed proclamation that Christ is coming, and he is bringing the wrath of God with him for those who reject him. Paul in fact intends to comfort the church in Thessalonica by reminding them that, regardless of how they suffer now, there is a day coming when Christ will return, will bring vengeance upon those who have attacked and hated the church, and will be glorified and marveled at by his saints.

Notice that, as Paul writes this, there is no blush. There is no sheepish grin. There is no hint of Paul hiding from what the word is saying. Paul does not apologize for the barbaric idea of wrath to come. Paul does not suggest that we deemphasize hell since it is off-putting to the world. Paul does not act as though this promise of judgment is a figurative notion for the primitive that the mature can outgrow. Paul knows Jesus will return. Paul knows that Christ will reward the forgiven and judge the damned. Paul knows this, proclaims it, and brings the church comfort through it.

The only way that Paul could write this proclamation with such boldness under the inspiration of God is if God is also willing to boldly proclaim it. This is the point that gets my attention. God is not ashamed of hell. Many in the church today are, but God is not. God is not embarrassed by his promise of the judgment to come. God knows that his ways are perfect, regardless of the sensitivities of the secular culture or a weak church. And, Christians, if we are to be like our God, we need to say what God says about what God will do. If God is not ashamed of his ways, shame on us if we allow ourselves to be ashamed of them. Yes, communicate with kindness and sensitivity. But never, no not ever, allow yourself to be embarrassed by the Lord’s ways, as to be ashamed of the ways of God is to be ashamed of God himself. To be ashamed of God is to put yourself above him, morally considering your own mind superior to his. God is not embarrassed in his perfection. Neither should we be ashamed of the perfect ways of the lord.

Two Reasons for Thanksgiving

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When the apostle Paul visited the city of Thessalonica for the first time as a Christian missionary, he was only there for about three weeks before having to move on. Paul shared the gospel and taught the basics of the faith to the people as much as he could. But after his departure, Paul feared for the wellbeing of the saints. After all, he had not been there for long, and persecution had arisen.

Both in 1 Thessalonians and its companion letter, Paul receives word that the saints are holding strong in the faith. And this causes Paul to rejoice.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 – We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

Notice the two reasons for which Paul gives thanks here. These are things that you and I must, if we are wise Christians, want to be true of us as well. Their faith was growing abundantly. Their love for one another was increasing.

How do you help your faith to grow? This is the process of sanctification. The Christians of Thessalonica were becoming more stable and firm in their trust in the Savior. God gives us tools to help in this area for ourselves. Prayer, Bible reading, participation in worship, Lord’s Supper, Christian fellowship, all these things (and more) are part of how we are strengthened in our faith.

What actually grabbed my attention in this reading, however, was the second thing for which Paul gives thanks. Paul said, “The love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” Two things get my attention. First was the scope of the love. The love that was here was a love of every one of those people for one another. Christian love in Thessalonica was not a thing only for persons of a certain emotional makeup. NO, the reason Paul gave thanks was that every Christian in the church was loving the brothers and sisters.

Then, of course, it does get my attention that loving one another is a significant reason for thanksgiving. After all, Christian love in the body is vital to the glory of Christ spreading around the globe. Paul can speak of strengthened faith and Christian love in the same breath because both issues are absolutely necessary for the church to be what God has called her to be. We cannot have strong faith and right doctrine and these be enough to please the Lord. WE must have a genuine love for one another, or our faith is empty and many of our religious actions are meaningless (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-4).

So, Christians, do you want to be the kind of folks for which the apostle would have given thanks? This is, after all, a thanksgiving inspired by God, so it reflects the heart of God. If you want this, then strive for these two things: strengthened faith and Christian love. Do not be satisfied with your faith where it is. Seek to grow. Participate in worship, fellowship, and spiritual disciplines. And seek to grow in your love for other believers. Do not be satisfied with an all-head and no heart or an all-heart and no head faith.

What the Bible Really Is

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When you think of the Bible, what do you think it is? Be careful here. I’d ask that you not give me an answer that is a stock response, which is true, but which may not match your actual beliefs. If you say the Bible is the word of God, does your thinking in relation to biblical issues match that statement?

1 Thessalonians 2:13 – And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

When Paul preached to the people in Thessalonica, he spoke to them as an apostle. That means that Paul brought the message of God with the authority of God to those people. And Paul was thrilled to see that, when they heard this message of God with the authority of God, they welcomed it as such.

Paul saw that the Thessalonians received the word of God as the word of God. They heard the message, and they understood that they were hearing the word, the communication, the heart expression of God. As a contrast, to make his point clear, Paul said that they did not receive this message as the word of men. This was not a message that they could debate. This was not a message they could receive part of and leave the rest. It is an all-or-nothing proposition.

Dear friends, what Paul said of the Thessalonians needs to be true of us. The Lord as inspired and preserved his holy word. God has spoken. And we need to receive the Scriptures, not as the words of men, but as they truly are, the word of God. We cannot take part and leave the rest. We cannot debate with the Bible. WE cannot adopt what we like or what is popular while letting the rest fly away. We need to read the Bible and realize that, in doing so, we are hearing the voice of God.

Signs of Election

pastortravislv

How do you react to the use of the word “chosen” for those who are the children of God? Some folks get very excited about the concept of election. OF course, others are strongly put off by the whole notion. And many have bigtime questions about how it all works.

What we cannot deny is the fact that the idea of being chosen or elected to salvation is a concept that runs through the New Testament. WE find it in book after book and teaching after teaching. So we should not ignore it.

The debate over sovereign election is not what is on my mind. Rather, I am thinking a bit about how we know who are the elect. After all, we do not have access to God’s perfect knowledge of the future. We do not have access to the Lamb’s book of life that was written before the dawn of time. How can we tell who is among the elect?

1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 – 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 that he knows that the people in the church of Thessalonica are chosen by God. How does he know? It is not because of any sort of apostolic knowledge of the secrets of the Lord. Instead, Paul knows those people are elect because he shared the gospel with them, and they responded.

Paul says that the gospel came to them in power, Spirit, and conviction. As Paul shared the word of God with these people, the power of God and the Spirit of God brought about genuine, life-changing conviction. The people changed in how they thought about Jesus. They changed in how they lived their lives.

Notice that the Thessalonians willingly received the gospel message even though they suffered to do so. They experienced the genuine joy of the Spirit of God, even in the face of persecution and hardship. They also let their faith be known to others, they shared the gospel.

Yes, I know many folks are bothered by discussions of election. Many are harshly and emotionally divided over this issue. And while I have a strong opinion here, one which I believe to be biblically informed, I think there is something to learn from the simplicity of what Paul said and did here. Paul shared the gospel with these people. He did not worry about who was or was not elect. And when people responded to the gospel in faith and repentance, he knew that those folks had been chosen by God.

What then do we need to do? We need to know that God is almighty. We need to take the gospel to all people everywhere. We need to trust that God changes hearts and saves souls. And we can expect to see genuine changes in the lives of those who are genuinely saved. There will be joy. There will be a willingness to follow Jesus even in the face of persecution. There will be repentance, worship, and evangelism. And when we see those things, we should, like Paul, be confident that someone has been chosen by God.