Category: devotional

A Truth That Changes Everything

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There are some statements that, if they are true, change everything. Some sentences, if we understand them as true, should have such an impact on our being that we are never ever the same. I read one such sentence about Jesus recently in Hebrews 1.

Hebrews 1:3a — He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Here is what grabs me. If Jesus is who this verse says he is, then we can only have one wise response to him. If this is true, all other social and ethical arguments, all other apologetic arguments, all other political arguments fade away. The gravity of this statement being true is incalculable.

Interestingly, what caught me was not the first clause. Yes, Jesus is God. Yes, Jesus is the exact imprint of the glory of God made flesh for humanity to see. And that is more important than anything you have seen on the news in your entire life.

But what really got me is the phrase, “and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Stop and think what it means if this is true. Jesus, by the word of his power, his own personal power, his God power, holds the universe together. Jesus keeps the stars in the sky. Jesus keeps the earth spinning. Jesus makes gravity work. Jesus holds your atoms together so they do not fly apart.

How does that truth change everything? We live in a world of people who believe that they have the right to assess the fitness of Jesus for their worship or faith. People consider Jesus as one among many options. They may like Jesus; they may like another world religion. They may decide that scientific naturalism or pagan nature worship better fits what they want. But if it is really true that Jesus is the one who holds the universe together, then there is nothing left to argue.

Consider the concept of standing before God. Imagine that you are suddenly in the presence of Jesus. And realize that he has been holding the universe together since creation. What excuse would you offer him for not obeying his commands? How could you say to him that you preferred another option? What thing would you tell him is more important than him to you? How could you expect to be evaluated by a standard other than that of the one who created and who sustains the entirety of reality? How could you be foolish enough to tell him that you think he has been doing it wrong the whole time?

Friends, if that little sentence is wrong, then none of our lives and none of our faith matters. But if that little sentence is true—and it is—then we are created by Jesus, sustained by Jesus, and obligated to Jesus. We owe him our lives and our worship. And he has every right to tell us exactly what he wants of us. He has the right to save us or to leave us alone to our own folly. He has the right to treat us gently or to refine us with the fires of trials. He has the right to tell us what life is, what gender is, what marriage is, what worship is, what truth is, what our purpose is, what church is. If it is indeed true that he upholds the universe by the word of his power, then our role as part of creation is to respond to him exactly as he commands.

Golden Silence

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Some things have been clearly seen as true for a very long time. You may have heard the old quote, “Silence is golden.” Or, perhaps you have heard the more clever, “It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” These thoughts actually have a biblical backing from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 17:28

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

While this verse will make us grin, it also should bring us some wise conviction. It is foolish to open your mouth and weigh in on topics you know nothing about. That should be obvious. Yet, it is a strong temptation for some of us to do just that.

A dear friend of mine often used to label himself as “often wrong, but never in doubt.” He was recognizing his own weakness in a propensity to have a strong opinion on everything, even things about which he was not really informed. And my friend was not alone there. I think that it is common for people to be tempted to feel we should weigh in and have something to say about everything.

The key here is to recognize what is our motivation for speaking. In many cases, I believe that my own failure here is to want to speak so that people will see me speaking on a topic. I want people to think I’m as smart as everybody else. If I keep my mouth shut, what if they think I don’t know as much as them? Thus, speaking into a situation where I have no knowledge is often an evidence of ungodly pride. I want the approval of men, and I’m willing to pretend to know what I do not know in order to be seen as having something to say.

Friends, let’s guard against the temptation of this pride. Let’s be honest enough to ask questions about things we do not understand rather than weighing in with opinions we cannot support. Let’s be willing to be silent and learn when there is something to learn. No, we need not be afraid to have strong opinions, even unpopular opinions in society. Nor should we fear asking hard questions. Nor do we want to allow someone to silence us just because they consider themselves an expert and they think we lack credentials—that is not at all my point. But let’s not allow ourselves to fall prey to the temptation to talk just so others will think we know something. In truth, if we speak without knowledge, we will often prove ourselves foolish.

Perverting Justice Is Not Complicated

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Sometimes the simplicity of the book of Proverbs is what we need to straighten us out. Life feels so hard and so complicated. But the wisdom of the word of God speaks quite plainly.

Consider this thought on justice, especially in the light of the social confusion about justice today.

Proverbs 17:15

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

Here we see two things put together about genuine, biblical justice. We see two things that are deeply wrong, an abomination before the Lord. One is to justify the wicked. The other is to condemn the righteous. God hates both of these things.

Now, consider where we have gone in our society. Justifying the wicked is a popular thing. How can I say that?” First, our society has rejected God’s word and his ways. Thus, as a people, our nation has willfully rejected God’s definition of what is wicked. Therefore, when wicked people do wicked things, as a society, it is celebrated. Hollywood and politicians see things happen that God has called absolutely abominable, and these folks applaud it and demand that all others join them in that applause.

Of course, the primary focus in the proverb is one of legal justice. If a person commits a crime, it is an abomination to the Lord to pretend it did not happen. Sadly, in our society, we are hearing a regular call to allow criminals to be justified. If a person commits a crime, but they have been somehow socially oppressed, we want to ignore their wrong in order to continue to push forward a political narrative.

How about the idea of condemning the righteous? Do we do that too? You bet. A person might be doing things that are absolutely right in accord with the word of God or even the law of the land. But we are seeing them condemned in society today. Perhaps we see them condemned because they are of the wrong class, the descendants of privileged oppressors. Perhaps we see them oppressed because they refuse to applaud the actions that God has declared to be wicked.

Again, allow biblical justice to speak to us. It is evil to look at a person who has done evil—evil as defined by the word of God—and say to them that they are OK. It is also evil to look at a person who has not done evil—evil as defined by the word of God—and declare them guilty because of their ethnicity, their wealth, or their refusal to applaud that which God condemns. May God save us from our twisting of justice to call good evil and evil good.

Guarding Against Our Own Blindness

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I once heard Paul Tripp say in a message that mankind is often most blind to our own spiritual blindness. His point was that, as we examine reality around us, we have the hardest time seeing our own flaws. In our own assessment, we have a very difficult time assessing whether we personally have gone off track.

Proverbs 16:2

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Solomon saw the same thing. A man, left to himself, will assume all of his own ways to be right. He will give himself credit for good motives. He will assume that his reasoning is sound. And he will be blind to data that could challenge his position.

But Solomon also shows us that the Lord is the one who truly tests the heart. You see, it is not the confidence of the man that his position is sound that makes his position sound. Instead, it is the measure of God that determines whether a person’s view or actions are OK.

Christians, this is why you need three things in your life. First, you need a genuine relationship with God. You need to be prayerful. You need to be participating in formal acts of worship that shift your perspective.

Second, you need a relationship with the local church. If you are not actively committed to your local church, you are missing out on one of the most important ways that the Lord will use to help you see the flaws in your own self-confidence. God uses other believers to sharpen us. God uses wise believers to force us to rethink positions that seemed obvious to us. God uses godly people to show us how we are not living up to a godly standard. God uses the practices of the church to force us to think with an eternal perspective.

And thirdly, though not any less importantly, you need submission to the word of God. It is the Scripture that measures you and me to show us where our views are actually those of the Lord. Scripture tells us how to think about things like justice and righteousness. Scripture shows us how to handle accusations against others. Scripture teaches us about the hard issues related to gender, sexuality, the home, the church, the government, drunkenness, marriage, and the like. Scripture teaches us what pleases and what dishonors the Lord.

If left to ourselves, it will be natural for you and me to assume our ways are right. After all, if an idea comes into our heads, and we measure them by our own standards, we are going to typically approve of our own wisdom. But the Lord tests our hearts. He uses the Holy Spirit, the church, and his word to show us when our ideas match his and when they do not. And if we fail to love the Lord, participate in the church, and study the word, we will have ideas and ways that displease the Lord. And what is worse, we will not even know it.

The Heart of the Worshipper Matters

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In many religions in the world, the acts of worship that are performed are ceremony or ritual. And in those religions, the performance of the ritual itself is the significant point. A person might be sprinkled with sacred water, drink of a ceremonial wine, eat of a ceremonial meal, or speak certain ritualistic words, and, when they do such things, the performance of the religious action is assumed to be what is important. But this has never been the case with biblical faith whether true Old Testament Judaism or Christianity.

Proverbs 15:8

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

Note the opposing parallel statements in this proverb. God is deeply offended by the sacrifice of the wicked. God welcomes the prayer of the upright. What is the difference? In both lines, a person participates in religious ritual. One makes an offering. One says a prayer. And the differentiation between acceptable and abominable is the heart and life of the one performing the religious act.

Take something simple today, perhaps the singing of a song as an act of worship. What pleases God? Is God pleased when a person with a great voice sings a great song that she actually does not mean? Or is God more pleased when a person who lacks in talent sings a song of truth with deep sincerity? It is the sincere-hearted, faithful believer who pleases the Lord.

Or, go further. Both a genuine Christian and a person who does not know the Lord can participate in religious ceremonies like baptism or Lord’s Supper. A lost person can convince church leaders that he should be allowed to join in the ceremony. But God’s word is clear that such participation is an abomination to God. The Lord is not pleased with the religious ceremonial acts of an unconverted person, one who opposes the Lord in his heart.

Christians, we should not allow this to make us assume that ceremony does not matter. Nor should we let ourselves think that any religious action we come up with will please God if we are simply sincere. We need to worship the Lord in accord with his commands. And the Lord has commanded formal and informal acts of worship. But as we obey those commands, we should also recognize that the worship that pleases the Lord is worship from a sincere, forgiven believer who comes to the Lord with a genuine heart.

Mocking Guilt

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How is the word sin used in modern vernacular? If you think about it, you seldom hear the word sin used in public these days. And, if by chance you hear a person using that word, it is used as a joke or as something sarcastic.

Proverbs 14:9

Fools mock at the guilt offering,
but the upright enjoy acceptance.

While it may seem new to us that people would laugh at the concept of being guilty of sin, this is apparently not new. Solomon knew that fools mock at the guilt offering. Fools laugh at the concept of being guilty. Fools convince themselves that they face no judgment, that they face no eternity, and that the concept of sin is irrelevant or outdated.

Perhaps one of our clear messages to our society needs to be the fact that we understand that sin still exists. Not the sort of sin where a person, with a grin, might ask, “Oooh, do you think I’m a sinner?” No, we need to, with all seriousness, help our culture grasp that there is a God who made us and who has himself set the standard of righteousness. The God who made us is not at all lenient toward rebellion against his standard. Sin destroys. Sin brings death. Sin earns hell. God requires payment for sin.

Only if we understand that sin exists and sin is serious will we be a people who do not mock the guilt offering. You see, only when you realize that you are guilty and in danger of judgment will you love what the Lord has done to cover your sin with the blood of Jesus.

Sovereignty and Responsibility in a Shipwreck

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When discussions arise of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility, we often have a hard time. So much emotion is attached to the topic of free will and predestination, election and responsibility, that many cannot allow room for thinking past our feelings. So, perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider sovereign decree and human responsibility from a more temporal angle, one with less feeling included.

In acts 27, Paul and his companions are on a sea voyage to transport the apostle to Rome. Along the way, there will be a shipwreck. And that shipwreck has the potential to kill all on board.

What we need to notice for our look at the topic of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are the two guarantees that Paul makes in the chapter. First, Paul will make it clear exactly whom God will keep alive in the upcoming ordeal. Then, just after that, Paul will set forth a condition that, if unmet, will prove his first guarantee false.

Acts 27:21-26 – 21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”

God promised Paul that Paul would make it to Rome. And, more importantly for our purposes, God promised Paul that all on board the ship would survive. That was a guarantee. It will happen. God has sovereignly decreed it, and Paul knows it.

So, one might argue that Paul need take no action at all to see this happen. Paul need not speak to anybody about anything. Paul need not give warnings to any.

But watch what happens next.

Acts 27:30-32 – 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.

A group of the ship’s crew determined to use the boats to escape the doomed vessel. They were going to slip away unnoticed by the soldiers. But Paul gave the Roman soldiers a very significant warning. If those sailors leave the ship, the soldiers will not survive the wreck. If the sailors leave, the guarantee from earlier will not be true.

The sailors are not allowed to escape. That leaves the sailors on the ship to bring the ship in as close to the beach as possible. And, in the end, every life on board is spared.

Now, let’s talk sovereign decree and free will and possibility. Was Paul telling the truth when he said that God would spare every life on the ship? Of course he was. That was the ultimate decree of God. Nothing was going to change that.

Well then, was Paul speaking nonsense when he warned the Roman soldier that the people would die if the sailors left the ship? No, not at all. God intended to save the lives of all on board the ship through the means of the active work of the sailors.

Well, then was it possible that the people could die? It depends, of course, on what you mean by possible. The people genuinely would have died had the sailors left. But God used the means of Paul’s warning to prevent the sailors from leaving the ship. That allowed the sailors to remain and steer the ship. And through the means, God worked the physical salvation of all the lives on board. On the one hand, it was possible that the people could have died—hence Paul’s warning. But, from another perspective, there was no way this was going to happen. God decreed the end of the adventure as well as the means he would use to bring about that end. Was Paul free? Yes. Were the sailors and the Romans free? Absolutely. Did God work the outcome with absolute sovereignty? You bet. Were the people responsible for the choices they made? Of course. Were their decisions genuine? Yes. But, in the end, was God the ultimate cause of all that took place to save those lives? Absolutely.

Perhaps this will help you to think better about God’s sovereignty and our salvation. All we see here is parallel with our salvation with a few exceptions. Like the sailors, we are headed for doom if we stay on our natural course. Unlike the sailors, we are far more bent against God than they were bent against staying on the ship. Sin blinds us and our hearts are dead within us before God moves upon us. But, our choices, like the choices of the sailors and the Romans, are genuine choices. And God uses means, very real means, to move us. Yet, in all, we know that God has decreed the end from the beginning, and our salvation is based on his sovereign will and election.

Speaking the Gospel Before the Powerful

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How would you speak the truth of the gospel if you knew you were in danger? What would you say if you stood before someone who could hurt you but who gave you an opportunity to share openly? Would you be careful not to offend?

The apostle Paul found himself in a very curious position in Acts 24. After being unfairly accused by the Jews, Paul stood before a Roman official, Felix, and his wife, Drusilla. Felix had the power to release Paul or to abuse him. Felix was a harsh ruler who was guilty of having a Jewish high priest put to death. And Felix was blamed by many for causing the Jewish war from AD 66-70.

Felix’s wife, Drusilla, was a woman who left her husband to marry Felix. She was ethnically Jewish, though she was now a part of the oppressive Roman community. Married to Felix, Drusilla was very dangerous.

One might think that Paul would want to be careful with such a couple. Let’s see what Paul chose to preach when they asked him to deliver a little sermon for them.

Acts 24:24-25 – 24 After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”

Paul delivered a sermon about faith in Christ. This is no surprise. It is never a surprise to see that a Christian might call on people around him to believe. That is common, and generally acceptable. People like to believe in believing in general. And had Paul stopped there, his message would have likely done him no harm. The Romans like believing in all sorts of deities. Adding one more, Jesus, to the mix should have been no problem.

But then note the three topics in Paul’s little message: righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. These were dangerous. Righteousness is living rightly, guiltlessly, before the Lord. Paul tells us in Romans 3:10 that there is no one righteous, not even one. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Did he look these two in the eye and tell them that they too needed a righteousness they personally lacked? That is a dangerous message.

Paul next talked about self-control. And Paul was standing before a murderous official with his adulteress wife. Righteousness would not have been a comfortable topic. Self-control would have been even worse. These two were guilty of great sin because they both lacked self-control.

Then Paul preached on the coming judgment. We know that Paul had a well-developed eschatology, even by this time in his ministry. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes clearly about Christ’s return, the blessing of God’s children, and the wrath of God on the wicked. Paul had to talk about the fact that Jesus would come back and judge. He had to talk about the fact that only those who are covered by Christ’s grace and righteousness will go to heaven. He must have talked about the fact that those who refuse Christ will stand before God and be found wanting for their lack of righteousness and self-control. This would lead back to the preaching of faith in Christ as the only way that any person can be forgiven for their wrong and granted by God the righteousness they need to enter his eternal kingdom.

So, when Paul stood before a dangerous ruler, what did he do? He preached the gospel. He held nothing back. He told an unrighteous man that he needed righteousness that he could never personally achieve. He told a woman without self-control that she was guilty before God. Paul told both that they faced a judgment to come that they could not survive without personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

May we be people who are bold enough to tell this kind of truth, in love, to all. May we never hold back just because we want to impress a government official. May we never hold back just because the person we preach to could do us harm. May we honor the Lord Jesus and let his gospel message do its work.

The Vexation of a Fool

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The foolishness of modern society is something that we can see fairly easily. Our political system is a mess. Our system of higher education is corrupted. The morally unthinkable has now become the socially demanded. And civility has gone out the window.

Consider the words of wisdom that speak to something as simple as anger or annoyance.

Proverbs 12:16

The vexation of a fool is known at once,
but the prudent ignores an insult.

The Bible tells us that there are many differences between a fool and a wise person. One difference is that a wise person will have a different response to what bothers him. But a fool will show his annoyance at once when he is vexed, irritated, or annoyed.

Consider what you see on modern news shows, college campuses, or political forums. What happens when a person feels insulted by something a speaker says? There is no longer civil discourse. Instead, there is shouting, accusation, name-calling. Rather than listening to logic and discussing points of difference, there is immediate, fiery, unfettered anger.

Friends, see that behavior as foolish. Fools show their annoyance at once with no consideration for what others may understand or believe. Fools cannot allow you to speak your mind. Fools cannot tolerate the airing of views different than their own. Fools scream, yell, insult, and fight without listening. Fools do not take their time to think well about how to respond to an insult. Instead, fools immediately go on the offensive.

Where are you tempted to act like a fool? Is it in public? Is it on social media? Is it in church when somebody sits in your spot or rubs up against your pet peeve? Is it in the world of politics?

Let us be a godly and wise people. Let us learn that, while we are not at all required to agree with every opinion out there, we also need not fly off the handle at the first sign of insult. God knows what he is talking about. God says it is foolish to show your vexation at once. God says it is prudent to ignore an insult.

A Trite Accusation

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The strategies of the enemies of God against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ have not changed much. The devil and his minions have a fairly thin playbook. Sadly, humanity is often so blinded to history and logic that the old plays work time and time again.

Consider the way that the people of God have faced destruction and persecution in times past. In Exodus, the Pharaoh ordered the murder of Hebrew infants in order to keep his government from being threatened by the people of God. In Daniel, a faithful man was throne into a den of lions for praying, because some wicked men convinced an emperor that prayer was a threat to his governmental power. When the Jews clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion before Pilate, they argued that Jesus was a subversive even as they declared, “We have no king but Caesar.”

We see the same strategy used in the book of Acts as Paul has preached the gospel in the city of Thessalonica.

Acts 17:5-9 – 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

See the same accusation. When the people of the city could not get hold of Paul, they dragged some of his friends before the authorities. And what words did they use as a weapon? They said of the Christians, “They are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” The Jews claimed that the Christians were subversives because of the authority of Jesus.

It is worth recognizing that this move is the very same play in the enemy’s playbook that we have seen used time and time again for thousands of years. Why? Because he will use it again. Look at our present culture. Watch the way that political winds are blowing. Watch for an Orwellian move in our government to strip people of their rights, to persecute, to punish, to imprison, to shame people based on our thoughts. The secularizing forces in our government cannot abide a genuine freedom of religion. There will be, if the Lord does not move in a massive way, a stripping away of the freedom of Americans to live as genuine Christians. And the argument that will be used will look like the one in Thessalonica, Jerusalem, Persia, and Egypt. It will be an argument that says that a devotion to the Lord is dangerous for society, because followers of God value their relationship with God more than they value the political leadership of the day.

The funny thing is, in all of these cases, the argument, besides failing to actually work, is patently false. Daniel was a faithful servant of the king. Jesus did not intend to threaten Pilate or any Roman government. Paul even wrote to the church in Romans 13 to submit to government and in 1 Timothy 2 to pray for all our leaders. In general, followers of Jesus are faithful citizens of the countries where we live. There are, of course, certain commands we cannot obey, commands that violate the law of God. But unlike people without a clear moral compass, Christians recognize that we are under the authorities that the Lord has set over us and will follow their lead so long as their lead does not violate the higher authority of the word of God.

But, Christians, be aware of what the strategy is. You and I will be seen as dangerous, subversive, backward. And a large part of that argument will be that we are submitted, not to the atheistic worldview of our society, but to Jesus. The world hates the Savior. And the world will not tolerate his followers.

What then do we do? We remain faithful. We pray for the opportunity to live peaceful and quiet lives in Christ as Paul commanded: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). We trust our God. And we continue to take the gospel to the nation. Jesus has all authority. He has commanded us to make disciples. And that is what we do, even in the face of a false and trite accusation that we are somehow subversive elements in society.