Stretching the Scripture

[i]

Monday, July 3, 2017

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.  Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.  1 Thessalonians 4:11-12^(NLT)

One of the troubles with being very unfamiliar with the Word of God, (especially during a crisis), is that we can stretch God’s book to fit what we want, rather than understand what God is really saying.

I heard the story about a man who had never even opened a Bible, but had heard God will lead you if you read the Scriptures.  He didn’t know where to start, so he just looked Heavenward and asked:  God, if you’re up there, show me the way to do what I should.  With that he flipped the pages open and looked at the first verse his eyes landed on:

Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.  Matthew 27:5^(NLT)

Well…that seemed rather harsh, so he tried one more time, fanning the pages like an open deck of cards; this time his eyes fell on the last part of Luke 10:37:

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”^(NLT)

The man decided the Bible was not for him!

Now, while that’s silly, I’ve known some people to take that kind of approach, although it’s much more sophisticated…and full of unbelief.  It’s where you ask God for something in prayer that’s filled with “thees”, “thous”, and “wherefores” – and, when it doesn’t happen to your satisfaction, you conclude God doesn’t answer your prayers.

Besides being silly and unbelieving, it’s also not very honest to go into prayer knowing that if you don’t get what you want you’ll bail on the idea that God ever listens…or worse, that He even exists at all.  But if you honestly believe in God at all, the asking part of prayer presupposes that God can give an answer as He deems is best for you.  Isn’t that why Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane about his impending ordeal:

My Father!  If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.  Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.  Matthew 26:39^(NLT)

Praying in accordance with God’s will should be the goal of every believer and follower of Jesus Christ.  But you cannot know that will unless you’re willing to spend time getting to know Him.  That means studying His Word…not just flipping it open and hoping for the best every time a crisis appears on the horizon. 

If that method of “discipleship” had any merit, I would have been quite disturbed when this morning’s text showed up:

Make it your goal to live a quiet life… 1 Thessalonians 4:11a ^(NLT)

After all, I just called the doctor’s office about what time to show up Monday for surgery on my vocal cords!

For You Today

The Bible is not a magic book; rather it is a love letter, expressing God’s will and way for our lives so we can learn how to come close to Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

NOTES

---

[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com and Pixabay.com

The New Theology; Having Faith....in Faith

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.   2 Peter 2:1 (NLT)

Close to forty years ago Francis Schaeffer wrote about the heresy 21^st century false teachers of the new theology….faith in faith itself hold up as the way to having your cake and eating it too!  Schaeffer wrote:

Probably the best way to describe this concept of modern theology is to say that it is faith in faith, rather than faith directed to an object which is actually there….The same word, faith, is used, but has an opposite meaning.  Modern man cannot talk about the object of his faith, only about the faith itself.  So he can discuss the existence of his faith and its size as it exists against all reason, but that is all.  Modern man’s faith turns inward.[1]

Have you ever prayed for a pony?  A child that prays for a pony to be standing next to the tree on Christmas morning, silver-buckled saddle and bridle, all ride-ready and waiting is generally going to be disappointed that inward-turned “faith” doesn’t work.

Francis Schaeffer makes the point of the Apostle Peter’s warning about false teachers and preachers who want us to swallow that “genuine” faith is all about believing like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz; if you click the heels of your ruby red slippers together three times and believe hard enough, you’ll be back in Kansas when you open your eyes.  Or that pony will be there.  Or the cancer will not have happened.  Or…or…

The main problem is that God isn’t even a consideration in that kind of “faith”.  That’s having faith in faith – not faith in God.  Faith in God, by comparison, is a childlike trust that a prayer, once offered TO God (not flung in space in spite of God)…is then released into the care and better decision-making ability OF God. 

In truly Christian faith, our prayers are a matter of placing our trust in God’s ability as Creator, Sustainer of Life, Lover of All Persons, His ability as GOD, to straighten-out our crooked prayers and give us what is best…not what we crave.  This is the essence of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden:  nevertheless…not my will…your will, Father.  ^{(Matthew 26:39)}

Francis Schaeffer makes the point with clarity that this is the primary difference between what passes for Christianity at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, and what Jude^(1:3) calls the genuine faith, once-delivered to the saints:

In Christianity the value of faith depends upon the object towards which the faith is directed.  So it looks outward to the God who is there, and to the Christ who in history died upon the cross once for all, finished the work of atonement, and on the third day rose again in space and in time.[2]

The “new theology” suggests (over and over again) that we can have what we want, when we want it, so long as we build our faith.  That new Cadillac, new house and any pony you can imagine is our right!  This is so opposite of what Scripture actually says about faith…that it is our gift from God to trust-in and rely-on God ^{(see Mark 11:22)}. 

So, really…the “new theology” isn’t really that new.  It’s been around since Adam and Eve decided they wanted what God had (and we know how badly THAT turned-out). 

For you, today

When you pray, it would be a good thing to begin with, “Our Father”, and let that set the tone for what you’re going to ask. 

Forget the Ruby Red Slippers, Dorothy, have faith in God; leave the keys to the new house and Cadillac in His hands. 

That’s real faith!

---

[1] Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, (1968 Intervarsity Press – here quoted in Trilogy, 1990 Crossway), 64,65

[2] Schaeffer, ibid.

I'm Important; I'm Somebody

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”                Matthew 26:39 (NLT)

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Pastor Jim Standridge “preached” a sermon in May (see the sermon).  As he was speaking a member of his congregation fell asleep.  He left the pulpit and, while walking towards the man said, “Don’t you fall asleep….I’m important; I’m somebody”. 

(Granted, I have a predisposition to agree with not having people fall asleep during preaching; snoring can be contagious!)

On the other hand, who could condone reading the riot act to a fellow believer in the midst of a worship time – when our focus is supposed to be on the Lord Jesus Christ?

I cannot judge what was in Pastor Standridge’s heart when he did what he did.  But his actions are inexcusable.  The pulpit of God is a place for the minister of God to deliver the Word of God with grace, dignity and sincerity.  Using that sacred desk as a “bully-pulpit” to force an agenda, unburden pent-up frustrations and anger, or any self-aggrandizing behavior disqualifies the one who speaks.  (In case you missed it, God was not speaking; the man was spewing his anger.)

The example of Jesus

Jesus rarely displayed anger.  The chief examples of when he did get angry are when he tossed the tables of avarice in the Temple[1], and in debate with the religious leaders[2].  In both those cases the adversaries were attempting personal gain at the expense of the Kingdom of God.  God is very seldom patient with that.

To the non-religious leaders Jesus helped and healed; he didn’t embarrass them with long, stinging harangues in front of an audience.

In another New Testament example[3] while the Apostle Paul was preaching (a very long sermon), a young man named Eutychus fell asleep, just like Pastor Standridge's member.  Unfortunately for the “E-man” he was sitting in an open 2^nd story window and fell out.  He died from the fall!  Paul didn’t get angry over the sermon-sleeper; he rushed to the young man and raised him from the dead. 

As previously noted, I don’t condone sleeping through the sermon (I especially don’t recommend it in Oklahoma).  But we need to be very careful before judging actions, so as to assign evil motives.  After all, the young Oklahoma worshiper could have worked a double shift the night before and just succumbed to the lack of sleep. Perhaps, just perhaps in this case – sleep was more needful than a tongue-lashing.  

Which is “preaching” and which is “tongue-lashing”?

The key indicator (for me) about why this was a tongue-lashing and not preaching is the statement which came before:  “I’m important – I’m somebody”.  True preaching gets out of the way and points to God, while selfishness (a prominent characteristic of culture in 2013 America) points to me.  (Note the picture at the head of this article.)

Even Jesus got himself out of the way when praying and preaching; it was always God’s will that came first.

Go thou, and do likewise!

---

[1] Matthew 21:12

[2] Matthew 3:7 and others

[3] Acts 20:9