What to do? What to do?

Read: Acts 4:13-22

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another,
16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”
18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.
22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

Reflect:

What to do?  What to do?

In the passage above two groups of people are faced with the same question – what will we do?  The first group of religious leaders were perplexed at the miracle performed in the name of Jesus.  Their response to “warn them to speak no more to anyone in (Jesus) name” was really one of compromise because they were afraid of the people.

When face with the same question, the response of Peter and John is one of stark contrast: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Respond:

Take a look at the newspaper headlines today.  There are plenty of opportunities for the Christian to respond either in compromise or integrity.  Let’s follow the example of the Spirit-filled life of Peter and John and stand boldly.

The Truth about Lying

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” 

Albert Einstein

Has anyone ever lied to you?  I know, that is a stupid question, but take a moment and think about what the lie(s) did to your relationship with the liar.

Liar- now that’s a harsh word.  Most of us have an easy time with thinking about other types of “really bad” sins, but in the final list of sins found in the Bible, those  who have trouble with the truth are included with the rest.

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8

Do the people closest to you trust your word? Are you careless with the truth?  Earlier today I read the following passage.

Ephesians 4: 21-25

“…You have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.  Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

Paul is careful to give us clear direction regarding how we should live our lives honoring God.

1. Put off the old self including your deceitful desires and put on the new self by renewing our minds.

2. Put away falsehood and speak truthfully to those around us because we are family.

Take a moment and think about your relationships and the truth.  Is there a difference at home and at work or at church?  If you’re doing well, great.  If not, decide how you can start to repair relationships and build confidence?  Take one practical step today.

Hot Summer Nights

Here’s one of the most interesting and challenging series I’ve listened to in quite a while.  Kyle Idleman from Southeast Christian Church tackles a subject most avoid.

The heat is on, and as a culture we are constantly tempted by lust and sexual immorality. Pornography seems to be commonplace, and immodesty is a fashion statement. So what about the Bible? It says to flee sexual immorality. How do we flee in our pressure cooker of a culture? We learn from David to respond to sexual sin through repentance and brokenness.

Kyle uses the stories and failures of Biblical characters to challenge the status quo today. Listen or Watch the series here: Hot Summer Nights.

An Equal Opportunity Offender

Yesterday the actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan were contrasted with the teachings of Christ.  Today, consider the antics of a group of “Christians” protesting at funerals across the nation.

Today a Missouri judge ruled in favor of Fred Phelps and his group’s right to protest and condemn grieving families at funerals. CNN reported that “a small Kansas church had brought suit over its claimed right to loudly march outside the burials and memorial services of those killed in overseas conflicts. The state legislature had passed a law to keep members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church from demonstrating within 300 feet of such private services.” The Missouri judge overturned the state law because of the potential to violate the free speech of the group of protesters.

Beyond the First Amendment.

For the follower of Christ this is not a free speech issue.  The behavior of this group is anything but Christian and they continue to cause damage to the cause of Christ.  These are the same type of people I referred to yesterday who brought the woman caught in adultery before Christ recorded in John 8: 3-11.  Look at how Jesus responded. Instead of joining in with the crowd of accusers and stoning the woman, He said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Jesus did not condemn her, but he also did not condone her life.  He challenged her to live a new life.

A final thought from Romans 12:17-18

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Redefining Lostness

If you know you are sick you may go to a doctor; if you don’t know you’re sick you won’t-you just die.

Tim Keller’s book The Prodigal God drives home the following point: Moralistic religion works on the principle, “I obey, therefore God accepts me.” The gospel works on the principle, “I am accepted by God through Jesus Christ, therefore I obey.”

These are two radically different, even opposite, dynamics. Yet both sets of people sit in church together, both pray, both obey the Ten Commandments, but for radically different reasons. And because they do these things for radically different reasons, they produce radically different results-different kinds of character. One produces anger, joyless compliance, superiority, insecurity, and a condemning spirit. The other slowly but inevitably produces contentment, joy, humility, poise, and a forgiving spirit.

Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Maybe redefining lostness is a start.

The Power of Words

A great post from Phil Steiger at “Every Thought Captive”

Psalm 12

1 Help, LORD, for no faithful one remains; the loyal have disappeared from the human race.
2 They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts…..

Read the post here.

Why?

One of the top “news” stories of the week focuses on the sexual indiscretions of Tiger Woods.

Why?

Why do the people in our society seem surprised? Why do they even care? Why is it that a relativistic culture is judgmental in the least? Let’s face it. We’ve looked the other way as political leaders, celebrities and even leaders in the church have failed to keep up with expectations.

Is is like a traffic accident where traffic is slow because of the temptation to take a look at the scene? Is it really because of concern for the wife and children?

Why would a man at the top of his career with a beautiful wife and children risk it all for illicit sex?

I’ve been reading a book by Tim Keller called Counterfeit Gods. In it, Keller gives a clear look into the many areas we all fail. Love, Sex, Money, and Success are all attempts to find satisfaction. How many of us are slaving for a Counterfeit God?

Here is an excerpt:

“The human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.” Thus anything can be an idol and, really, everything has been an idol to one person or another. The great deception of idols is we are prone to think that idols are only bad things. But evil is far more subtle than this. “We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.”

In all of humanity’s search for meaning, I am reminded of how Pascal is paraphrased as saying that there is a “God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man”.

Tiger is not alone.

Cheap Grace – Costly Grace

In the last couple of days I have been involved with a conversation on modesty, another on coarse language, and minutes ago I heard a well know television pastor say he wants to “spread a very wide net so that as many people as possible are reached”-unfortunately his message is one of self affirmation, encouragement and one without repentance.

It reminds me again of Bonhoeffer’s work.
“Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but deliver Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

“Devotional Classics” edited by Richard J. Foster & James B. Smith; “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Guarding Your Heart

Vigilance is the “action or state of keeping watch”.

Proverbs 4:23. Over the years I have used this scripture at one time or another with each of my kids as a warning of letting anything or anyone else get in the way of their relationship with God.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23

The same applies to us as we consider Jude’s encouraging words at the end of his brief letter. How do you guard your heart? Jude gives us three areas to consider.
…Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Jude 20-21

1. We build the faith by “hiding the word of God in our hearts” Psalm 119:11

2.In Romans 8:26 we read “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

3.And John reminds us in his first epistle; “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” 1 John 2:24

Hiding God’s word in our hearts brings Life to what we believe and makes me more aware of my own need and weakness so that I lean upon the Spirit of God to intercede.  When those two areas are working together, I believe there is a real, tangible sense of  remaining in the love of God.

Twisted Things

In Acts 20: 29,30 Paul warned the people of “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

Twisted things. A friend of mine asked me recently how a group of believers could follow after twisted things and leave the Truth of God’s word behind.

Twisted teachings are often subtle and designed to pull people away from the Faith. Jude wrote of “certain people who crept in unnoticed.” False teachers appeal to our desire to be justified in our actions. The people Jude wrote about probably spoke the Truth-but only part of the Truth. Like the original false teacher in the Garden, who asked “Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”, these people plant a seed of doubt helping people rationalize their actions. “Didn’t Jesus say to judge not? How then can you say that any way of living is offensive to God? What’s the harm in telling part of the truth to someone to make them think more highly of you?” What’s the harm? Really.

How can we as followers of Christ do anything that contradicts the Truth? Paul, Peter and Jude all warned of keeping the Faith pure.

How can we recognized the ones from among us speaking twisted things?

Paul wrote to Timothy saying:

“…evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3: 13-17 (ESV)

Study the Scriptures. Is the person on the radio or in the church or in the ABF saying something that compromises the Truth even though it sounds good or desirable or even reasonable? Take a few minutes to read 2 Timothy 3. It will challenge your thinking.