Your focus when standing at the foot of the cross

I began thinking this past week about the cross and its deep meaning in my life, for without it I have no hope either in this life or the next. It hit me however that people have a very different view of the cross based on their thinking. Allow me to explain. There is a way of thinking among Christians today that would look at the cross as a means of finding value in themselves. For example the would say things like this, "This cross reminds us how valuable we are to God. It should cause us to think about how much we are worth if Jesus would go that far to save us." This my friends is a dark and prideful way of viewing the cross of Christ and the pouring out His life on our behalf. The cross should never cause us to feel good about ourselves in the sense of raising our self esteem. If it does then when have failed to see the truth of the gospel and have not been saved. That may seem to be a strong statement but I stand behind it and wish to show from the Bible why I believe it to be true. If we seek to find value in ourselves at the cross we can not find value in Christ. We put our glory above His. In doing so we have missed the most fundamental element of the cross' necessity, namely, sin. It was for sin that Christ died. It was because of our desire to do all we could to defame His glory that He chose to give His life on our behalf. Consider this description of us before Christ redeemed us. "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." Romans 1:28-32 Or perhaps this description "If while we were enemies of God..." Romans 5:10 Or perhaps this description in Ephesians 2:1-3 "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." These verses (and many more throughout the Bible) don't give us much cause to raise an alarm of our goodness and inherent value. Which is exactly the point. The point of the cross was not to show us our value but God's. It was to show His beauty and His glory. If we look to the cross and see our value then there may as well be no cross. If we are worthy of such a deed from God then why would we need it to begin with. The beauty of the cross is that it shows us the extreme love of God for those who hated Him and the extreme wrath of God on our sin, and the extreme justice of God to not wink at our sin and wipe it away but to take the punishment for our sin on our behalf while we were still sinning. The cross shows us the severity of our sin. If you look into the bloody and beaten face of Christ and say to Him "thank you for showing me my value" you have missed the glory of the cross. When we see the bloody and beaten face of Christ it should draw us to our knees in repentance and cause us to shudder at the unexplainable glory of the only begotten who gave His life not for the valuable but for the condemned, helpless enemy, me. It was my sin that He chose to give His life for and that shows His glory. Let us fix our eyes on Christ not on ourselves. When we approach the cross may we see God as supremely valuable not ourselves. We put Christ on the cross. His love for His Father stayed Him there. The justice and wrath of God was poured out on Him and now and only now are we called His friends. I urge you to go to the cross to see the glory of God not your glory, for if you seek your own glory you find that you will have all eternity to find out why you were wrong.

Desires and Distractions

A few days ago I wrote in my blog about television and the reasons for which my wife and I decided to do away with it. I stand behind those reasons fully but I desire to go deeper and examine the real reasons the entertainment industry can stifle our relationship with Christ. Let me begin by saying that this is a personal conviction but one that I think is widely shared among us. I am not saying that doing away with television is right for everyone but I am STRONGLY recommending that we each seriously contemplate and evaluate its status in our lives. With that said let us begin.
About a year and a half ago I took a trip to New Orleans for school. I had to go down and take some classes and the best (and cheapest) place to stay was on campus in the dorms. So myself and four other guys got a dorm room to stay in for the week. One night during the week my friends decided to go out and eat and spend some time seeing New Orleans. I elected to stay behind because I was quite fatigued and just wanted to turn in early. As I sat in this dorm room with no telephone or TV I found myself doing what was good and right to do. Reading and spending some much needed time with God. To this point in my life the most I had ever been able to read at one time was about thirty minutes and it was tough going. I had problems concentrating and comprehending what I was reading. I had even been to a doctor to see if there was something that I could take to help me concentrate and focus more. Well you can imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw that two hours had passed and I was not wanting to quit. I began to ask myself what was going on. How was it possible that I was able to sit for that long and read without having the slightest difficulty in comprehension. Then it hit me. There were no distractions. There was nothing there that was tugging at my heart to cause me to follow after it. It was just me and God and the book he had provided to change my life. I would love to say that the reality of that moment hit me so hard that I immediately removed my television from my life. I would love to say that my wife is the one that wanted it and that is why we kept it for another year and a half. Neither are true. The truth is that when I arrived home I still desired to entertain myself with television. I did not at that time see God as more valuable. In fact at that time I had no idea that that was wrong. I felt convicted to remove tv but rationalized and justified my way into keeping it. That was not the end for God in this discussion. In the past year and a half He has being showing me more and more that anything that we desire more than Him is an idol. But truth be told in our mind we say that I don't desire anything over God because I don't want to be and idolator and lets face it, I don't have any statues in my house that I worship. Well for me that was not the case. I did not have any statues but I had plenty of things that caused me to not long after God. So here is a good test for determining what we desire more than God. 1. Do you have a daily time with God? If not then ask yourself why. What is in my life that is more valuable than spending time with the most valuable being that exists? What is keeping me from drinking the living water? What has so temporarily filled me that the perfect God is not appetizing? 2. If I am having a daily time with God or any time with God for that matter, what draws me away from that time with Him? For example, for me it is entertainment. When I am spending time with God I feel a pull to go do other things such as watch a show I have been withing all week to see or play my xbox while my son is asleep. It is as if there were a hook in my heart that I have bitten down on and is now pulling me away. That is nothing short of and idol. There are also those times where I have thought things like this. " I know that right now is a good time to spend with God and I hear Him calling but I am just going to finish this show and then I will do it. At that point, whether you do it or not, your heart has been revealed. You have just seen that that show holds more value in your heart than Christ. These are the convictions of my heart.
The riddance of television is not the only answer however. The heart is quick to find some other dung hill to wallow in. That is exactly what I find myself doing even now. I no longer have television service but I find myself just popping in DVD's to entertain me and bring me pleasure. Is not God more valuable than that? Is my vision of God so minuscule that I can not find Him more desirable than a movie? The answer is yes. My vision of God is that small and that is to my detriment. God has given and sustained His word to reveal to me who He is and yet I find joy in learning of fictional characters for an hour and a half. I would rather get to know someone who does not exist than to know the Christ who made me. My desires are warped. This should not surprise us. The Bible tells us clearly about our desires in James chapter four. "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people.!" Does it strike you as odd that James here calls us adulterous. Often we overlook that verse with this kind of thinking. "I have not committed adultery with anyone." That is a false statement. You may not have been an adulterer in a sexual relationship but we all are guilty of adultery in our relationship with Christ. John Piper said "Whatever lures your affections away from God with deceptive attraction will come back to strip you bare and cut you to pieces. It is a horrifying thing to use your God-given life to commit adultery against the Almighty." So the issue is not simply tv. I wish it were that easy. The issue lies much deeper than that. What do you find yourself enjoying more than you enjoy God? The answer to that question will lead you to the alter of worship to your god. Whatever you desire more than Jesus is indeed your god. We must ask ourself this tough question not just to feel convicted but so that we may repent. Let us see God as more valuable than the dung of this world. Let us fix our eyes on Christ not a screen. May our hearts be filled with joy at the thought of spending three hours with Him more than spending three hours in a movie theater or a football game. Let us be excited and overjoyed at the prospect of speaking with and hearing from the one whose voice created all we see. Let us draw near and know the God that formed us out of dirt and gave us life through Jesus. "Whom have I in Heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you." Psalm 73:25 Pray that I would desire Him more than anything and take pleasure in sitting at His feet and I will pray the same for you.
DAW

The identity of the Antichrist

Recently I have had some people asking me about the identity of the Antichrist. It seems that some believe a certain presidential candidate to be the one. In the next couple of paragraphs I hope to explain what I think the Biblical stance on this issue to be. But first let us make the assumption that the Antichrist is known to us. People tend to view this as very frightful and something we must fight against. I am not sure that is the proper conclusion to draw. I have three reasons why. 1. To assume we know the identity of the Antichrist is to assume more than the Bible tells us. I am certain that if God believed that we needed to know who the Antichrist is he would have put it plainly in Scripture. There is a reason for the confusing nature of Daniel and Revelation. We are not meant to know certain things. 2. If the Antichrist is here then to be blunt, there is nothing we can do to stop his rise to power because it is ordained by God. 3. If the Antichrist is here we should rejoice in knowing that very soon we are going to be with Christ.
However, these things are not of chief importance. The book of revelation is not simply a revelation of end times. It is a revelation of Christ in the end times. It is a display of His power in the worst time in world history. It is a glorious revelation of his absolute sovereignty over the events of men and Satan. Nothing happens without His first giving permission for it to take place or his ordaining it to happen. It shows how futile it is for Satan and all who follow him, to attempt to in any way "overthrow" God. One such way He shows this futility is by speaking a single word at the battle of Armageddon and all those who oppose Christ are destroyed. So my point is this. If we only read books such as Daniel and Revelation in an attempt to discover a secret timeline to the final days of this planet, we are reading them for the wrong reason. Those books are in the Bible for the same reason as any other book. They exist to reveal to us who God is. In light of that I would say that if we are spending more time trying to determine who the Antichrist is than who the real Christ is we may be in real danger of not recognizing either. The Bible was meant to show us God in all His glory and then to instruct us how to live in light of such a revelation. Let us live to that end. That we may know Christ and make Him known. When the earth fades and the enemy is vanquished and we are standing before God what will be important to know? The identity of the Antichrist or the identity of the real Christ?
DAW

The "necessity" of Television?

In our culture today there is "demand" that people have television. The reasons are many. They vary from things such as "to know what is going on in the world" to " keeping my kids entertained." (which I have a big problem with) Nevertheless in our great society, if you don't have a tv people look at you as though there were a tree growing out of your neck. Well, I suppose I will have to have the funny looks for the rest of my life. There has been talk in my house over the past year that maybe we should do away with our tv since we have a child and there is so much trash that fills the air waves. It is getting progressively worse everyday. The things that are being promoted as entertainment are pushing ideas of sexuality and degradation of Jesus Himself. This weekend God opened my eyes to filth of television. As I sat watching the local football game on Fox they ran an advertisement for upcoming shows that would air that evening after the games. There is an animated show known as "Family guy" and the promo for the show had Jesus walking on water in a fountain and performing f aux miracles in the attempt to be comedic. I find this very disturbing and not at all funny. The miracles that Christ performed were neither funny nor attempt at anything lighthearted. I would dare say the demoniac at Gerasenes would find this vain attempt at humor to be entertaining. Nor do I believe that the woman with the issue of blood would see it as anything but heretical. These are attempts by our society to show us what they believe of the eternal, all-powerful Christ. I shudder to think about how I will answer to God if I continue to allow such vulgarity into my home and my very own mind.
The level of sexuality on tv today has hit an all time high. It is rare when you can watch anything without seeing an advertisement with a half dressed woman in it or a commercial promoting treatment for male anatomy. These commercials are not on late night tv they are on all day on every channel. As I watched Monday night football last night there was an advertisement for a new movie coming out. The commercial itself was beyond belief in what it showed but then the name of the movie absolutely floored me and cause me to turn off my tv. It is called "Zack and Miri make a porno." Are you kidding me with this? Have we lost our minds to let this stuff into our house. How slow am I that I am just now having my directv service cut off? How long will we sit and let this filth into our lives without a second thought to Paul's words in Philippians 2:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Just one final note. I have turned off my tv service not in an attempt to boycott the "industry." I know that these things will continue until Christ comes back. I have turned off my tv service because I see the need to focus my mind and the minds of family on the only thing truly admirable that exists, Jesus Christ. The real Christ that is eternal and has made Himself known to us through His Word. I am making a decision for the sake of my family because God has called me to be the leader in my home and to glorify Him in ALL that I do. Watching television distracts us from God and more often than not it degrades our Creator. I have turned off my tv service because I am too afraid of God not to.
DAW

The Whoring Spouse

There is a tendency when we hear or see language like this to turn away and see it as an offense to God. We don't like reading words such as "whore" for obvious reasons. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Our eyes should run from such images and ideas unless they are used of God. There are many times in Scripture where God will use harsh language such as this to reveal to us certain things we often tend to ignore. You may ask "but why does he need to use this kind of language?" God does not use harsh terminology simply for shock value. He is not so limited in his means of communication. I believe that God uses such terminology to reveal to us the seriousness of certain issues. For example in the book of Isaiah God reveals to us that our righteous acts (not our evil acts ) in His eyes are as bloody menstrual cloths. The image is not pleasant, but it reveals to us the depravity of even our "good" deeds apart from the blood of Christ to cover our iniquity. God's word is cutting and sometimes it can be particularly painful. Such is the case in Jeremiah chapter three. God compares the people of Israel to a whoring spouse. "If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me." verse 1 It only continues from there. " You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom." verse 2 "The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: 'Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree and there played the whore.'" God's language here could not be clearer. Israel (and Judah as well) have in God's words "...done all the evil that you could." They have abandoned all that God is for images created by human hands, as they were following after false gods. But wait, that sounds strangely familiar. Romans 1:23 says we have "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." We have decided in futile thinking that something we create or see is greater than the creator. We have exchanged the beauty of God for our own "beauty". We have essentially told God that He is no more beautiful than what we see in the mirror everyday and as such we will worship ourselves instead of the God who made us. At least that has been my experience. It has been the unfortunate experience of my life that the majority of what I do, I do for my own benefit without so much as a fleeting thought to the glory of God. Paul says that we are to do all things to glory of God. That is to say that everything that we say and do and think is to show some of God's character. In my situation I have found that it is not God's name I wish to make great but my own. And I do quite well. I become defensive if someone says something in criticism of my character. I am quick to guard the "honor" of my good name. Yet when God's name is defamed I sit idly by in fear that they might know that I know Him. Or worse yet I find that I am the one defaming the precious name of Christ. I myself have traded the glory of God for the image of mortal man, namely, the image I see in my own mirror. I have played the part of the whore and as such I have defamed the glory of God. If this were the end of this post perhaps conviction would only lead to guilt and self condemnation, but God desires another path. He desires to make His name great and does so by loving us and reaching down to cleanse us of our treachery. For in the later part of Jeremiah chapter three, we hear comforting words from God. "Return faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. Return O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family and I will bring you to Zion." God offers us another way via confession and repentance. He offers forgiveness and mercy even to His whoring spouse. Thank you God for your loving kindness to me because you have opened the eyes of this adulterous heart and revealed to me your glory. May I live to that end. Amen.
DAW