Have you ever heard someone put down the study of theology? Have you ever heard a church member say that they want preaching instead of teaching? Have you ever heard someone put down doctrine as if doctrine or theology is something for a classroom on a seminary campus and not for the average church member? Perhaps if you have, the following quotes from Ligon Duncan will encourage you to stick with the study and teaching of doctrine, regardless its general popularity.
From: T4G – J. Ligon Duncan III. Proclaiming a Cross Centered Theology. Wheaton: Crossway, 2009.
“I want to convince you that everyone is a systematic theologian (whether they admit it or not—especially those who protest most loudly that they don’t believe in systematic theology). The only question is whether we will be biblical in our systematic theology or make it up as we go along” (19)
“The Bible itself, in the Old Testament and the New, makes clear that doctrine is for living. The study of doctrine is not (or at least ought not to be) an arid, speculative, impractical enterprise. Doctrine is for life! If the truth does not mold the way we live and minister, if it does not inform our speech, our relationships, our prayer, our worship, and our ministry, then the truth has gone bad on us—no matter how true the truth is. Biblical truth is meant to be expressed in our experience and practice, if we truly understand and believe it” (20).
“A wise, old, conservative Jewish professor of mine once told us with a twinkle in his eye, ‘A liberal Protestant, a liberal Catholic, and a liberal Jew can agree on almost everything, because they believe almost nothing!’” (24).
“When a congregation member comes up to you and says, ‘Pastor, tell me, what does the Bible say about angels?’ he doesn’t want a storied narrative. He wants a brief, biblical summarization that takes into account the shape of all the teaching of Scripture on that particular topic. That’s what systematic theology does. You do it all the time as a pastor” (34).
“He is praying specifically that his disciples would understand that he is leaving them and going to the Father, and that they would be built up in the truth of the Word of the Father that he had been speaking to them, so that his joy would be fulfilled in them. Jesus is saying that truth is for joy. Doctrine is for delight, the Lord Jesus says. If you denigrate doctrine, you denigrate what Jesus says is necessary for joy. You are a killjoy if you are against doctrine, because the Lord Jesus says truth is for joy” (39).
“We need to meet this postmodern uncertainty, this postmodern aversion to truth and doctrine, by celebrating truth and doctrine and by unashamedly asserting and declaring theology. I want to urge that your preaching, which ought to be expositional, ought also to be robustly theological. We need to be joyfully and emphatically doctrinal and theological in our ministry. I don’t mean that we ought to bring the vocabulary of the seminary into our pulpits (that’s not what we need to do); but I do mean that we need to bring the substance of the Bible’s theology into our preaching and bring our people into contact with it. We need to see the value of truth, doctrine, and theology, and we need to out-live and out-rejoice and out-die the critics of theology and doctrine” (44).
“Have you ever thought that refutation of false doctrine encourages the brethren? Well, that’s what Luke says. It strikes me as I think of it that the most enduring and edifying legacy of the early post-apostolic church is found in their polemics. When they were arguing against false teaching, they almost always got it right. When they were not, they were theologically hit-or-miss” 948).
“‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’ (John 15:16), Jesus says in the upper room. He is going to die in a matter of hours for the sins of the world, and he is teaching them about election. Why was it so important for Jesus to teach his disciples about election here, that he had chosen them rather than them choosing him? It was important because, as Matthew tells us, they were all going to abandon him that night (Matt. 26:31). Not just Judas, but all of them. If they were going to have one shred of assurance left, it would not be based on the fact that they had chosen him or followed him or remained faithful to him, because everything about their actions that night and the next day would scream into their hearts and consciences that they had no part of him. That is why they had to hear the Master say, ‘Friend, I knew everything in you, I knew all you’d ever done and all you’d ever do, and I chose you anyway. I chose you and nothing can take you away from me.’ The doctrine of election is for assurance. Doctrine is for assurance” (54-55).
A Jesus-Only Focus (John 14:5-6)
John 14:5-6
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Thomas, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, asks Jesus a very logical question. Jesus has said that they know the way to get where he is going. Thomas, probably speaking everybody’s mind in the room, says, “No, we don’t even know where you are going. If we don’t know where you’re going, we can’t possibly know the way.” This makes perfect sense, but only if Jesus is talking about going to a particular location. Jesus, as you will see, is not.
Verse six is one of the most often quoted verses of the Gospel According to John. It is a statement in which Jesus claims to be something, he says “I am” and then follows it up with what he claims to be. He has already claimed to be the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, and the resurrection and the life. Here, he claims three things in one sentence. And, like the other 5 times before this one, this “I am” claim of Jesus’ is very important.
Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. The way that this sentence is written, it is clear that Jesus is claiming to be three distinct yet related things or concepts. His words indicate that he is uniquely each of these things, there is not another way, another truth, or another life. And all this is something he claims to be in the light of what Thomas asked him about how to get where he is going.
So, let’s do our best to take these three one at a time. First, Jesus claims to be the way. Thomas just asked where he is going, and assumed that he could not know the way to get where Jesus is going without knowing the actual destination. In response, Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way.” This, ladies and gentlemen, is a profound and yet weird statement. When you think of a way, what do you think of? Perhaps a road comes to mind. Perhaps a trail pops up in your head. Perhaps a set of directions that you print out from MapQuest will be what you think of first.
Why does it feel so weird for Jesus to claim to be the way? It is because you expect someone to tell you that they know the way to get somewhere, not to be that way. If I told you that I live on Silver Street, you have no trouble understanding that . If I tell you that I am Silver Street, you might feel a little funny. But here Jesus goes, just claiming to be the way.
What concept is at stake here? It is a crucial one. Jesus wants his followers, including Thomas, to know and clearly understand that, in order to get to the proper destination, you do not look for a means to get to a destination that is beyond Jesus. Jesus is not a means you use to find the path to heaven. Jesus does not give you the teaching you need to learn your way to heaven. Jesus does not tell you the good things to do in order to make your way to heaven. No, Jesus tells you that there is only one way for you to get to heaven, for you to get to God, and that is him. Jesus will not show you a way that is somehow separate from him; Jesus is your only way.
With this concept in mind, it is a touch easier to understand Jesus claiming to be the truth. Think of how often you have asked a person to simply tell you the truth. When you ask them this, you are asking them to give you information. You are not, by any means expecting them to refer you to themselves. Yet, Jesus, in the light of his first claim, to be the way, goes another step further and claims to be the truth.
Here we go again. Jesus does not point his disciples to a truth that is beyond himself. Jesus does not tell them that he will tell them a truth that he knows. Nope, Jesus says that he is the truth.
Then, in his last statement in the first half of verse six, Jesus claims something truly amazing. He claims to be the life. Like seeking a way, like seeking truth, people often seek life. Here is the amazing concept: Jesus is not saying that he gives life, as if life is something to be had apart from himself; instead, Jesus tells his disciples that he, himself, Jesus, is the life. You do not go to Jesus to find a life that is apart from Jesus; when you come to Jesus, you find life when you find him.
So, do you feel lost? Are you looking for the way to God? Are you looking for the right path? Do not look to a religion. Do not look to a set of morals, values, or philosophies. Do not look for experiences, meditations, or deep feelings. No, if you want a path to God, there is only one, Jesus.
Are you confused? Are you sick of the deception and lies that are all over our news media? Do you want to know the truth? Don’t go to some library on a fact-finding mission. Don’t go to some kind of new age religion to get hold of a technique to open your mind. Don’t look for a set of facts apart from Jesus. Go to Jesus, he is the truth. He does not tell you truth, he is truth.
Are you wanting to get a life? Are you wanting to truly feel spiritually alive? Are you wanting to live forever with God? Don’t seek that life as something unique to itself. You do not find life as if life is a thing to be found. Jesus is the life. He does not give you a life that is somehow different than himself; he is the life.
And Jesus tells us that no one comes to the Father except through him. In case you are thinking that Jesus is telling you that he is one of many possible ways to God, think again. He makes it abundantly clear, in case the disciples missed his emphasizing the word “the” in calling himself the way, the truth, and the life, that there is only one way to God. If you want to be made right with God, Jesus is that way, the only way. This statement from Jesus is totally exclusive.
Now, just to do a little logic together, let’s ask the questions. If Jesus says he is the only way to get to God, what are the possibilities? Either Jesus is wrong, mistaken, confused, and there are other ways to God; or perhaps Jesus is lying, deceiving, tricking his disciples and there may be other ways to God. The only other option is that Jesus is telling the truth, and there is only one way to God, through Jesus himself.
So, if you are not sure where you stand before God, let me ask you this question? Have you come to God through Jesus? if not, you are not in God’s family, not forgiven by God. If you have tried to add something to Jesus, you have missed the point. If you have come to God, sort of through Jesus and sort of not, you have not come to God. If you want to be part of God’s family, if you want to be forgiven by God of your sin before him, you must come to him through Jesus.
And Christians, if you are listening to the words of the Savior here, you should learn that we are to develop a totally, Jesus-only vision of all things. Jesus points us to himself in all things. He does not want us to use him as a way to get to God, He is the way. He does not want us to seek him to learn some truth, Jesus is the truth. He does not want us to come to him to find life, he is that life.
Ask yourself, is your hope totally in Jesus or are you thinking that Jesus leads you to a way that is somehow apart from him? Ask yourself, do you think that there is truth outside of Jesus? Ask yourself, are you looking for Jesus to give you eternal life as if eternal life is somehow different from him? Folks, Jesus is how you get to God, not just a sign pointing you to God. Jesus is the truth, not just a truth teller. And Jesus is your reward, not just the means by which you get to your reward. He is not your ticket to heaven, he is your heaven because heaven is not heaven without Jesus.
Christians, God wants you to hear this, think about the awesome truth of who Jesus is, and worship him. Your life, from how you do things and how you think to what is your reward is totally wrapped up in Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, you don’t know the way, you don’t know the truth, and you don’t have life. Develop a Jesus-only focus in life.
Doctrine Matters (Titus 1:9)
TITUS 1:9
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
This verse is the final category presented by Paul in Titus that a church elder must meet. It is significant how much space Paul gives to this topic. This section gets even more words than does the section on family. While a pastor must have a good family life, and while a pastor must have a solid character, he also must, absolutely must, have solid, biblical doctrine. This tells us that doctrine very much matters.
Speaking of the pastor, Paul writes, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.” A pastor must cling tightly, never even for a moment letting go of the trustworthy word, the Bible, as it has been taught for generations. Trusting the Bible and keeping faithful biblical interpretation is central to what a church leader must be.
Why should a pastor keep to the word so solidly? There are two reasons. A pastor or elder is to instruct people in right doctrine. He is also to reprove or rebuke those who teach false doctrine. Neither of these things can happen if the pastor himself is not totally committed to God’s word and to rightly handling it.
I just spent three days with seven thousand Christians being challenged to never, under any circumstances, allow any adjustment to the gospel or the word of God. If you look around the world, if you look even around our own community, you will find churches and individuals who simply refuse to stand firm with the Bible as the inspired, unfailing, sufficient word of God. We must make it plain, regardless of how popular or unpopular, that we believe, as Jude says, the faith that was once, for all time, delivered to the saints.
You might not be called to be a pastor or an elder, but you have something to learn here. If doctrine in a pastor is crucial, doctrine in a church member and a servant in the church is crucial too. If the pastor’s job is to teach you, it is your job to listen, to learn, to study, and to grow in faithful, biblical doctrine.
Get your doctrine in order if you are going to be a faithful part of the church. This means that you do not assume something to be true without biblical support. This means that you read the Bible and good books by good preachers and teachers who are devoted to the Bible. And be careful. Just because a man says he is devoted to the Bible does not make it so. Test those who teach things. Have their doctrines been held by the saints over the centuries? Are their doctrines clearly present in the word? Be careful, because what you think, what you believe, matters very much.
Encouragement from Small Numbers and Long Odds (Judges 7:2)
Judges 7:2
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
Have you ever thought that God simply must do something in the way that you expect? One might think that, after a little time spent in God’s word, we would remember that we do not often get these guesses right. Looking at this passages in Judges is certainly one way to remember that God works in ways that we would not predict.
The statistics do not work well in Gideon’s favor from the beginning. There are 135,000 men set up against his 32,000. But then God tells Gideon that this group is too large (the good guys not the bad guys) for God to deliver Israel. So, God then whittles the Israelite force down to 10,000, a ratio of 13.5 to 1. Then, in the strangest move ever, God shrinks the Israelite force down to only 300 men. What in the world! Three hundred men against 135,000? That’s a ratio of 450 to 1—not winning odds.
But, God is amazing. He does things in ways we do not expect. God was not interested in simply giving Israel a military victory—that would have been too easy. No, God is interested in his top priority, his own glory. God will not allow his glory to be taken by a strong Israelite force. So, God uses only 1 out of every 107 volunteers to take on the enemy. And, God wins. God does the impossible. And in doing so, God gets all the glory.
Is your church too small? Is your family too messed up? Is your past too much to overcome? Not for God. He can rout an army with a tiny band of men. He can KO giants with small young men. He can make the sun stand still, part the sea, put a stop to rivers, and shake the mountains. God can do anything. Don’t be surprised if God might choose to use even you, in all your weakness; because using you might just be the thing that will give God the most glory.
Intermarriage, Glory, Purity, Joy, and T4G (Joshua 23:11-13)
Joshua 23:11-13 (ESV)
11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
Throughout the Old Testament, God constantly reminded Israel not to intermarry with the peoples of the land. This call from God had nothing to do with modern racism, putting people down simply because of their ethnicity. Instead, God’s call not to intermarry with the people of the land was always focused on the fact that the people of the land worshipped false gods and those marriages would lead God’s people astray.
My thoughts this evening [last Saturday] are not so much focused on marriage. This is strange, as I’m actually in my van on the way home from a wedding. So, perhaps I’m just weddinged out.
Without pondering weddings, then, is there anything we can learn from the text above? How about this: God told the people that, were they to intermarry, they would be led astray and lose the favor of God that they had been experiencing. If they were to bring pagan living into their households, they were going to make themselves enemies of God. Thus, bringing false religion into their homes was tantamount to declaring war on God.
OK, here comes the pointed application—ready? What do you allow into your life on a daily basis that has the potential to lead you away from God? What do you, by your own choice, bring into your life that will dampen your love of God and your commitment to his glory first and foremost?
We live in such a culture of false beliefs, false religion, false sources of joy that it is almost impossible not to be tainted or corrupted by the faulty values espoused. Whether it is entertainment or simply the newspaper, the culture we live in sets itself in opposition to God and his law. If we allow ourselves to remain immersed in the bad thinking of the culture, we will be led astray just as much as were the Israelites who eventually intermarried with the pagans of the land.
What can you do to fix this? You cannot remove yourself from the world; you have to live here. You cannot avoid all bad input. However, you can be careful, think clearly, and set important guards up in your life to help you to avoid being led to think like the world. Besides avoiding evil, the positive side of this is to regularly fill your mind with that which honors God. Think on that which is honoring to God, and you will find yourself not enjoying the filth of the world (Phil 4:8).
[Six Days later]
Now I’m home from Together for the Gospel, and I have seen even more of the truth of my above thoughts. O how wonderful it was to take 3 days of life to be with 7,000 friends, all of whom were singing with gusto the doctrinally-driven, emotionally-rich, glory-filled praises of the Lord. We sang. We heard the word of God preached again and again and again. We talked about gospel things. As we did all of this, the darker influences of the world, the coarse humor, the sinful desires, they seemed to fade away. It was as if we who are believers were going into detox and finding ourselves cleansed, refilled with gospel joy, and set loose to bring this joy back to our churches. Christians, you will find joy as you turn from evil and fill your heart, set your mind, on that which glorifies the Lord.
An argument for the Authenticity of the Scripture (Mark 3:20-22)
Mark 3:20-22
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Here is one interesting little authenticator of the Scripture. You might have read in conspiracy-theorizing fiction (think The Da Vinci Code) that the Bible was actually written by liars who wanted to make Jesus look super good and give power to the early church. However, what we see happening right here in Mark 3 simply does not fit with such a conspiracy.
In verses 20-21, we see Mark tell us that Jesus’ own family thought he was nuts. In verse 22, we see that Mark then tells us that the most prominent religious thinkers of Jesus’ day called him demon-possessed. Simply put, if an author was trying to spin a yarn about Jesus being more than he actually claimed to be, they would not have written these things down for future consumption. The questioning nature of Jesus’ own family and the Pharisees is evidence that Mark’s gospel was written, not by a man who was attempting to convince us of something false, but rather by someone who wanted to communicate the facts, regardless of the light they shed on the characters in the narrative.
Of course a good conspiracy theorist might argue that this authenticating device is exactly the tricky little thing. Maybe Mark planted this ugly little passage in order to throw his detractors off the trail. The problem is, in those days, people simply didn’t’ write like that or think like that. It is a decidedly modern writing style that brings realistic twists and red herrings into the plot of fiction to make it look more realistic. Such devices simply were not used at the time that the biblical authors wrote. We must not translate Dan Brown’s writing style back into the first century A.D.; it just will not fit there.
By the way, I’m not mad at Dan Brown for writing a piece of fiction. I see the undo harm that books like Brown’s can do to the faith of the naive, but I do not expect anything different from a lost world that loves its conspiracies. However, an author that will raise such questions about the Son of God must repent of this and embrace Christ to be forgiven—just as all people must repent of sin and embrace Christ to be forgiven.
The point I want to make is only this: Mark’s gospel shows us clearly that it is not a sneaky little fiction designed to deceive its readers. The Marks of Mark’s writing (clever huh?) are marks of truth and authenticity. Mark would not have allowed negative light to be cast on Jesus from his family if Mark did not believe what he was writing to be true—every bit.
Good Things Gone Bad (1 Corinthians 6:12)
1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV)
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything.
Sometimes we wish that God would have given us a list of things that are permissible and things that are not so that we would have no doubts. If we had a nice little IPod app that would allow us to look up our exact circumstances and situation so that we knew what was OK with God, we think our lives would be easier. Maybe that would have made life easier; maybe not. Either way, God did not give us an encyclopedia of situations with laws for every possible permutation. Instead, God gave us his holy word, and that is sufficient for everything we need.
Think, for example, about the text above. While it does not necessarily give us specifics on every situation in life, the verse above is extremely helpful in knowing what is acceptable for us as Christians. IN fact, the verse above leaves the door open for something to be OK for one Christian while not being OK for another. The rule is, do not be enslaved by anything.
Let’s avoid, at this point, the discussion of substances that are potentially physically addictive. That opens up a can of worms that we need not address to gain glorious truth from the verse above. Instead, let’s simply apply one standard of measure for life. Something is bad for you, enslaving to you, if one of the two following statements is true of you:
· Are you willing to sin to get what you want?
· Are you going to sin if you do not get what you want?
If either of the above is true, the item in question, whatever it may be , is a sinful thing for you.
Now, take those points, and apply them in areas other than smoking, drinking, or whatever we like to immediately put on the “bad” list. A young couple could be sinfully enslaved to the desire to have a child. That desire could actually become a sinful idol, an obsession that the couple is willing to sin to achieve. It is possible that the couple might even try giving God an ultimatum, saying they will only continue to follow him if he grants this one request. Either way, the couple has been enslaved by a desire for something that is generally good, but which in their case has become a trap for them.
Try another situation. Pastors want their churches to grow. We want numbers of people. We want to see people saved. We want to raise funds to send money to missions. We want to be influencing on our communities. Are we willing to sin to achieve this end? O I hope not. Are we going to sin if our desires are not met? Again, I hope not. Yet many in the clergy are willing to compromise to get numbers and are willing to comfort themselves with inappropriate things if their desires are not met.
We should be able to take the two points above along with 1 Corinthians 6:12 to examine just about anything in our lives. It might be lawful, but it might not be profitable. IT might be OK for some, but not for you. It might be that you need to ask God to temper your desires, as your want for something good could easily turn into a God-dishonoring lust. Make sure that God and his glory is your number one priority. Set your mind and heart on him, and be sure that nothing on earth, not even a good thing, enslaves you.
Why, God? Why Do Miracles? (Mark 2:6-12)
Mark 2:6-12
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Have you ever noticed that we seldom ask God why he performed a miracle of kindness? When things happen that we do not like, we cry out to God, saying, “Why would you let this happen, Lord?” However, when God does something amazing and good, we seldom say to God, “How could you let such a wonderful thing happen?”
We would, however, do well to think about the miracles of Jesus and their purpose. Take for example the miracle in Mark 2. We have in this chapter the famous scene of the four friends bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Carrying their friend on a mat, the four discover that there is no way to get close to Jesus. So, the four creative friends climb up to the roof of the house, dig through, and lower the paralyzed man down on his mat to Jesus.
In a fascinating moment, Jesus sees the faith of these folks, and announces that the sins of the paralyzed man on the mat are forgiven. This, of course, gets the attention of the Jewish teachers, which is where our text above picks up the story. The Jews wonder just who Jesus thinks he is, declaring a man’s sins forgiven.
Jesus, for his part, chooses to heal the man on the mat of his paralysis. Why? The Jews have determined that only God has the right to forgive sins. Jesus wants them to know that he is God, and thus can do things that only God can do. Healing a paralyzed man with a command is something only God can do. Forgiving sins is something only God can do. So Jesus heals the man with a command to show that he is God, can do things that only God can do, and thus can forgive sins too.
There are at least two things that we should learn from this event. First, you should recognize that Jesus is God. Jesus did the miracle for the purpose of showing you that he is God and has the right to forgive sins against God. If you want to be forgiven of your sins, you must come through Jesus. No one will ever be put in right relationship with God who does not come to God through Jesus (John 14:6).
How about this for a second point? Start thinking about why you are asking God to do the miracles that you pray for him to do. When you ask him to heal a sick person, save a soul, or grow your local church, think about why God might want to do this. Yes, God is loving and kind, but are there more reasons? Start thinking about the ways in which the working of God in each situation might result in God being glorified for the action. Start praying for things that do not merely make you comfortable or feel good, but pray for things that will redound to the praise and glory of God.
So often our church prayer meetings are full of simple requests that honestly will have no impact on how the world sees the glory of God. Praying that little Bobby’s broken arm will mend without complication will not do a great deal to help your neighbor see that God is glorious or that Jesus is the way. However, praying for God to bring souls to Christ, that will result in his praise. Think, Christians, about how what you pray for might actually show the world that God is amazing.
Why Did God Create Evil Spirits? (Mark 1:23-28)
Mark 1:23-28
23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
One of the common questions that I am asked, especially by children, is why God would have created the devil. Once children grasp that God made everything, and that the devil is a creation, they simply cannot imagine why God who is good and loving would make such a creature.
One answer that I have not yet given, at least not in this form, which grabs my attention is here as I read this passage. Look at what happens. An evil spirit is tormenting a person until one particular moment. Then, out of nowhere so far as the evil spirit is concerned, his power is totally and irreparably broken.
We know that God does the things that he does for the sake of his own glory. This means that God created mankind for his glory. It also means that God created the demons for his glory. This is not to make God guilty of sin or the author of evil, but rather it is to be true to the Scriptures which declare that God made all things, and apart from him, nothing was made (cf. John 1:1-3; Gen 1:1; etc.).
Looking at this instance in mark’s gospel, we see at least one reason for the existence of the evil spirit. The spirit exists for Jesus to cast out. When Jesus commanded the demon to come out of the person in mark 1, Jesus showed those around him that he indeed had the authority to command evil spirits to leave people alone. Jesus is greatly powerful, greatly to be praised. Casting out that demon showed the world that Jesus was stronger than any evil spirit. Thus, the demon, in its own unintentional way, glorified Jesus by losing to him.
It would do us all good to remember that God has indeed made everything for the purpose of shining a light on his glory. All good things, all beautiful things, all wonderful things show us those attributes in God. All ugly things, all evil things, all hurtful things contrast with the beauty of God, and they show us God’s power when he defeats them. Sin glorifies God, because when God rightly punishes sin, his justice is magnified. Sin glorifies God also because when God forgives a sinner, his grace is magnified. We ought never to intentionally sin so that grace might be displayed, but we must recognize that everything in the universe, even our sin or evil spirits, ultimately serves to display the power and glory of our God.
How Do I Know If This Is of God? (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (ESV)
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
What is your standard for judging something true or Godly? In our culture, we often determine what we will believe based on our own experience of what we consider to be true. This, of course, is central to post-modernity. Post-moderns reject any overarching truth claims in favor of miniature claims of each individual’s experience.
Sometimes this kind of thinking leads people to judge a man to be of God or not of God based on what that man accomplishes. If the TV preacher’s prophesy comes true, if the church growth expert gets a big crowd, if the crusade evangelist has hundreds walk the aisle, then Christians often determine that the man must be from God. How else, they reason, would the person experience such success?
Now, let your mind wander back through the first five verses of Deuteronomy 13. God offers the people a set of very strange circumstances. What if a man claims to be a prophet? What if that man predicts something and it comes to pass? What should we then assume about that man? The answer is this: nothing whatsoever.
The way that we should judge a supposed prophet is not at all based on his success. Perhaps we can prove that a man is not from God if he makes a prophesy that does not come to pass—God was clear about that. However, just because a man predicts something truthfully means nothing. God makes it plain that such a man could very well then turn to the people of God and lead them away from God. No, the way to judge if a prophet is sound has more to do with whether or not his teaching leads the people to obey the commands of God.
So, think through the Bible teachers and miracle-workers you have seen or heard. Don’t judge them to be from God just because of success. Nor should you judge a man to not be from God if his ministry is not huge. Instead, judge a man’s ministry based on the word of God. Is he teaching the word? Is he obeying the word? Is he calling the people of God to the word? If he does these things, he is calling people to God. If he ignores these things, regardless of his supposed flashy success, he is not of God.
Pastor Travis Peterson 