Author: believersarmedanddangerous

Guilt

How often we feel guilt as Christians and wonder how to handle it.  Guilt really results in one of two emotions, often both.  We either feel convicted or condemned.  How do we handle each of those?

Condemnation tells us that we are unworthy to do what God has for us.  “How could God love you after what you’ve done?”  We feel lowly, discouraged, separated from God, and we feel like crawling in that dark place under the house and just hiding from God in shame.

Conviction is the feeling that we have sinned, and we need to make things right with our God.  It’s a feeling much like condemnation bringing disappointment and discouragement in having failed Him.

Condemnation comes from the devil.  It is meant to draw us away from God, to keep us from our intimacy with Him, to stop our service for God and to dwell in self-pity.  It makes us ineffective in our witness.  Walter Martin used to rightly say, “To the devil, the next best thing to a lost soul is a sterile Christian.”  Condemnation makes us sterile by driving us away from God.

Conviction, though, is God telling us we need to repent.  He is reaching out to us to restore us to our intimate relationship with Him.  It is a healthy thing, and because He has paid the price for our sin through the death of His Son, He is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins (1 John 1:9)

Sometimes we tend to hang onto sins we’ve confessed.  Satan reminds us of past things we’ve done, people we’ve hurt.  Again, this is his attempt to keep us from our God.  I sometimes find myself asking for forgiveness of sins I committed years ago, sins I’ve confessed dozens of times before.  In the light of Scripture, God wonders what in the world I’m talking about:

Hebrews 8:12 (ESV)
¹²  For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

God can willingly forget things.  Our confessed sins are among those things He chooses to forget.  It isn’t He who keeps bringing those past sins up.  It’s Satan reminding us and our flesh dwelling on them.

If we feel unworthy and discouraged, unfit to address God with our problems and sin, that is from Satan, and we need not pay attention.  And, we shouldn’t dwell on the sins of the past, God doesn’t even remember them.

When we feel separated from God because of the sin we’ve committed, we should seek Him out.  The conviction we feel is from Him as He desires to draw us back to His side.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 (ESV)
²⁴  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

1 Peter 3:15-17 (ESV)
¹⁵  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶  having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Over the years, we’ve all seen Christians on street corners, in parks, and on college campuses shouting the gospel at passersby.  Sometimes they appear happy that onlookers are mocking them or shouting back insults.  “Persecuted for the Lord,” they tell us with a smile.

A question that has bothered me for quite some time is, “Is this how Jesus wants the gospel presented?”  The two passages I cite above would seem to say, “No.”  Yet, we see Christians shouting down and browbeating those who might disagree with them. 

I think some of this might be due to an abuse of spiritual gifts.  We all do it.  My gift is teaching.  The abuse of this gift is to be a know-it-all, and I must admit, I have a tendency to overwhelm someone I’m talking with with the things I know.  Walter Martin, a personal hero of mine, used to say we should just say something pithy.  Don’t give the person too much to digest or they’ll just think you’re argumentative.  Give them enough to think about, and the Holy Spirit will work on them.  There’s a lot of wisdom in that.  Maybe these shouters are abusing their gift of evangelism?  Maybe the immediacy of people dying in their sin drives them to shout and browbeat.  I can understand. 

I think it’s more than just that, though.  I think much of it is an attitude of our hearts.  There is certainly nothing wrong with street witnessing or standing up at abortion clinics and city council meetings to patiently and respectfully express our views.  The Bible tells us how to do that in the verses cited above.  Whether it effects the people with whom we’re speaking is up to The Holy Spirit.  I know we get frustrated at a lack of obvious fruit at times, but God has given us the method He wants us to use.  It is our job as His servants to use it.

In the book of Acts, Paul is said to have “reasoned” with people.  Even when the Scripture says the disciples “preached boldly” it doesn’t indicate shouting, just a lack of timidity or shame, no holding back on the full truth of the Gospel.

The Los Angeles County Fair used to have a booth run by the International Bible Students, a spinoff group of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  When my wife and I would go to the fair, I always tried to visit their booth and share a little of the gospel.  Once, the fellow I was talking to called to all the others working at the booth to show his friends I wasn’t calling him names or raising my voice.  As a result, he and his friends listened to what I had to say.  We discussed points where we differed, and they could see the gospel.  What I learned from that encounter was that he had experienced Christians shouting at him, calling him heretic, and cursing him.  That isn’t the way to get people to listen.  True, the fellow I was talking to was lost and believed in another Jesus, another gospel, and another Spirit.  But, he was someone for whom Christ died.  He should be treated as such.  Berating and browbeating him did little more than to strengthen his view that his organization had the love of God, and the Christians yelling at him did not.

So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that we should follow Paul in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 and not be quarrelsome, but respectful and kind to those with whom we share.  Give them the full gospel, heaven and hell, but be good examples of Christ’s love.  It doesn’t matter how they act toward us.  Our obligation is to follow what God’s word tells us.  As I said, “These are people for whom Christ died.”

Let’s be Christians to them.

Proverbs 15:1 (ESV)
¹  A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

This past week, I was reading about the widow at Nain (Luke 7:11-17).  What impressed me in the study, other than the miracle itself, of course, was that Jesus touched the stretcher upon which the widow’s dead son lay.  Observant Jews were not to touch anything to do with a dead person (Numbers 19) or they would be unclean: a big deal in Jewish culture. 

With Jesus’ touch, though, the young man did not remain dead.  He rose up, spoke, and Jesus presented him to his mother.

The passage in Luke also tells us that Jesus had “compassion” for the widow.  The word for “compassion” is the same word He used in the parable of the Prodigal Son when the father saw his son a long way off, had compassion on him and ran to him and hugged him.  The compassion Jesus felt was deep.  This wasn’t, I think, just because she had lost her son, which was devastating in itself.  She had also lost her support.  She had no husband or another son. 

It was very difficult for Jewish women, and especially widows, to support themselves in these times without a male bread winner.  According to the Law, they were included every three years in a tithing feast (Deut. 14:28-29), in a day of feasting once a year at the Feast of Weeks (Deut. 16:9-12), and at the annual Feast of Booths, a week-long celebration and feasting which included widows, too.  That was it so far as the festivals were concerned, though.  To survive, widows could also glean during the harvest times, and 10% of the crops each third year was distributed between the Levites, strangers, fatherless, and widows (Deut 26:12-13).  So, she could endure, but it was a hard life.  Jesus’ touch changed that.

Jesus also had compassion on a leper and healed him in Mark 8:3.  We’re told He touched him even though those who might touch a leper were unclean according to the Law.  Here the leper, too, was not just delivered from the malady but from a pitiable life.  According to Mosaic Law (Lev. 13), lepers had to wear torn clothing, let their hair grow over their faces, live alone, and shout, “Unclean, unclean,” whenever they were around others.  In healing the leper, Jesus’ touch changed all that.

There are others Jesus has touched, of course.  Like with the widow and the leper, He had compassion on them, and when He touched them, they were never the same.  Their lives were completely changed for the good.  If you know Jesus, you’re one of those people.  What a joy to experience the touch of our Master and see the changed lives we live.  If you don’t know Christ, He’s reaching out to you now.  Why not give your life to Him, and feel His healing touch?

Philippians 1:27 (NKJV)
²⁷  Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,

Our pastor’s message a couple of weeks ago included this verse pointing out a balance.  Our conduct should be in equal proportion with the value of the gospel that brought us to Christ.  What a great thought.  Our behavior should show our gratitude for the gospel which saved us  But it should also be in equal portion as the gospel itself.  Later in Galatians (5:22-23), we see the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  These should all be displayed in our lives for the world to see with the same power as the saving power of the gospel.

Another point, though, struck me.  Paul is speaking to those whom he led to the Lord and how their actions reflect that.  What if those who brought us to Christ were to look at our lives and conduct?  Would they be pleased to see how far we’ve come in the years since we first were introduced to Him?  Do the people around us see the gratitude in our behavior.

A lot of years ago, I led a person to Christ unsuspectingly.  We’ll call him Mike.  I was sharing with his wife who was studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The Holy Spirit used me to lead her through the corruption and error of the Watchtower Organization and back to the truth of the gospel.  Mike was in the room listening. He later told me that he had accepted Christ through what I was showing his wife.  Mike’s wife came out of the Watchtower and rededicated her live to our Lord.  A year or two later, I read a letter to the editor in the Orange County Register strongly and reasonably defending the faith.  Mike’s name was at the bottom as the writer.

Joy swelled inside me at the evidence that Mike was still walking with the Lord and, in fact, stood strongly for the gospel.  I think Paul was displaying that same joy here in Galatians as he had heard about the conduct of the people he had brought to the Lord in Galatia.

I hope those who have helped me grow are joyful over what they see in what Christ is doing in my life.  There have been so many pastors, friends, teachers, and students who have powerfully affected the relationship I have with Him.  And I am extremely grateful for all that they have done.  I also hope our lives, yours and mine, are honoring to the God who controls them, fills them, and directs them.

Psalm 147:11 (ESV)
¹¹  but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

There’s a story that the demons one day wanted to have a yard sale.  They collected things from all over hell to put into the sale, pitchforks, union suits, air conditioners.  One brave demon even approached Satan himself and asked if he would like to contribute something.  Satan asked, “What sort of items are you looking for?”  He was told anything of value would be appreciated.  He gave his article to the demon and the demon sped off to place it with the others.

At the end of the sale, Satan’s item was returned to him.  It was priced too high.  The demon asked what it was.  “It’s a wedge,” said Satan.  “I use it to divide churches, marriages, friendships, all godly relationships, really.”  The story goes that it didn’t sell.  He still has it, and he still uses it.

Proverbs 6:16-19 (NKJV)
¹⁶  These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
¹⁷  A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸  A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,
¹⁹  A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

The Bible tells us of seven things God actually hates.  Last but not least is sowing discord among the brethren.

How do we sow discord?  We gossip.  We criticize. We don’t like the color of the church walls, we don’t think the music is very good, too loud or too soft.  It’s too old or too “young.”  The preacher taught something I don’t agree with.  I saw a deacon buying beer, and so it goes.

If God hates this, we should do our best to control it within our body.  When we hear an unkind word or are disapproving of someone’s actions, it is up to us to keep it to ourselves until we’ve addressed it with that person.

If a teacher or even the pastor teaches something you don’t agree with, it is up to you to talk with him and see what he meant.  You might be the one who is wrong.  Matthew 18:15-17 says just this, that we should take it to the one involved.  If you’re still convinced you’re right, then get another Christian of like mind and again approach the individual.  If he still doesn’t listen or change your mind, take it to the church leadership.  It stops there, by the way, and nothing more should be said outside that small leadership group.

Don’t let Satan use you as his wedge.  Stop dissension within the body.  Confront lies, answer questions, and stand with God in his hatred of discord.  Division starts one person at a time.  Stopping division happens the same way.  Be that person.

God says there are consequences to sowing discord, so watch yourself:

 Proverbs 6:12-15 (ESV)
¹²  A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,
¹³  winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,
¹⁴  with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;
¹⁵  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

You’re a first century Christian and reading through Matthew and come across the phrase, “it is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” (Matt. 4:4).  You ask yourself, where is that written?  The early manuscripts of the Bible did not contain chapter or verse divisions.  So, unless you were very familiar with the Old Testament, chances are it would take you months of reading through the entire text to find that portion of Scripture.  Even if you knew it was in the book of Deuteronomy, it would still take you some time to locate it. 

Interesting side note: early manuscripts of both the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testaments were written not only without divisions of chapters and verses but also without word separation.  So, you might see: “haveyoueverseenabundanceonthetable” which could be translated “Have you ever seen abundance on the table,” or, “have you ever seen a bun dance on the table.”  The translators would need to be able to read the passage in context to understand the meaning and translate it accurately.

Back to divisions.  At the time of the writing of Dead Sea Scrolls, it appears it was common to divide books up by paragraphs.  The Hebrew letter Peh (open) was placed at the beginning of a paragraph and the Hebrew letter samekh (closed) was placed at the end of each paragraph.  This at least divided up the text into usable portions but did not help identify one passage from another.

Over the centuries which follow a few other divisions were made.  The Jews divided the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) into 154 sections so they could be read one each week over three years.  Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260 – 339 a.d.) divided the gospels into more manageable portions.  These and other systems were introduced over the years but are not the divisions we use today.

Archbishop Stephen Landgon (c. 1150 – 1228 a.d.) came up with the modern chapter divisions we use. 

So, now we had somewhat manageable portions of Scripture we could study and share more easily.  Imagine, though, trying to point out a sentence in Psalm 119 which is longer than some complete books of the Bible.  A usable system of still smaller divisions was needed.

Not until the 16th Century was a widely accepted verse division of the New Testament accepted.  Robert Estienne developed a verse system which he published in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament.  In 1571, Estienne issued a verse system for the Old Testament, and we use his verse division system for both the Old and New Testaments today.

While none of the chapter and verse systems we’ve seen over the years are in any way inspired, they do make study and communication of the passages much easier. 

So, next time you’re reading through Matthew and come across Matthew Chapter 4:4, “But he answered, ‘It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”, look at your reference list.  Some editor has most likely listed Deut. 8:3, and Langdon and Estienne have made it easy for you to find it.

As you know if you’ve been reading my blogs for the past 10 months, God has given me a a heart to help Jehovah’s Witnesses come out of the darkness of the Watchtower organization and for Christians who wish to deepen their understanding and their faith in Christ.

Since we’ve also seen that the mission of the church may be to teach and equip believers, the work of the ministry is also to be the result of that preparation by the local church.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV)
¹¹  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
¹²  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
¹³  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

To further my part in doing the work of the ministry, I’ve put together and am announcing a new website: AnswersAZ.com (Apologetics Networking System & Watchtower Emergency Rescue Service of AriZona) which is dedicated to helping Christians deepen their faith in Christ, to help them in their attempts to better understand and evangelize Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to better inform Jehovah’s Witnesses of the fatal flaws in their theology, the corruption of the organization, and their need for Christ alone.

AnswersAZ.com is not meant to replace this blog.  It is meant to stand on its own as a resource for anyone interested.

So, please visit AnswersAZ.com.  I would appreciate any comments and suggestions to improve.  It’s still very much a work in progress, but there is plenty there to give you a taste of what I’m shooting for.

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)
¹  He entered Jericho and was passing through.
²  And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
³  And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.
⁴  So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
⁵  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
⁶  So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
⁷  And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
⁸  And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
⁹  And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
¹⁰  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

I’ve been looking at Zacchaeus lately.  What an interesting story.  Zacchaeus was the only person mentioned in the Bible to have been saved in the city of Jericho.  But, what a man to save.

According to verse one, Jesus was just passing through Jericho.  It wasn’t His destination but was a major city on the main road from eastern Palestine to Jerusalem.  According to Luke, Jericho was the last city He visited before entering Jerusalem to die on the cross, and Zacchaeus was the last to be saved.  You would think Jesus would make a major push to bring people into God’s Kingdom at the end of His earthly ministry.  But, only one man was saved? 

Zacchaeus was known by everyone in Jericho and by those regularly passing through.  According to Edersheim’s Life and Times of Jesus, there were so many Roman taxes archaeologists still haven’t been able to name them all.  And, Zacchaeus got a cut of everything that was collected.

He says in verse 8 that he would return any money he had received through defrauding taxpayers.  So, he had most likely been a cheat.  Tax collectors were seen as sinners in Jewish life.  Righteous Jews had nothing to do with them.  And Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector.

But, Zacchaeus received salvation this day and the change was obvious.  The man who had defrauded the people of Jericho was now giving half of his wealth to the poor.  Jewish law required a cheat pay back double any money he had made through fraud.  Zacchaeus gave back twice that.  The people of Jericho saw an immediate change in him.  Many must have questioned what caused the change in this chief tax collector.  Imagine the opportunities for telling people about how Jesus had moved in the life of Zacchaeus.

Jesus spoke to great crowds during His earthly ministry: 5,000 men at one time.  But, most often, Jesus shared one-on-one with people.  Individuals were saved and changed.  Others saw the change in them and wanted that new life as well.  Such is God’s plan and the story of our faith.  The gospel is most often shared with individuals.

Paul was saved by an individual encounter with Jesus and millions have found salvation through Paul’s letters.  Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Whitefield, John Wesley, D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and Greg Laurie all had personal encounters with Jesus and through them millions have heard the good news God has for them.  Most of these men were led to Christ by an individual Christian.

Who knows, maybe all of Jericho was saved through the witness of Zacchaeus.  Thousands of travelers passed through this great city on their way to Jerusalem.  Think of how many heard the good news from the townspeople.  Jesus wasn’t holding back when He shared with Zacchaeus.  He had a greater plan.  He isn’t holding back with you either. 

We are the Zacchaeuses of our Jerichos.  Those who knew us before we met Christ can see the change.

Keep your eyes open.  You may be a Zacchaeus, or you might be the person God uses to bring one to Christ.

Romans 10:9 (ESV)
⁹  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I was an agnostic until I was 21.  I had been raised in a home with a religious mother but a non-religious father.  We would go to church once in a great while, but my parents said they didn’t want to influence us in what path to take, so they presented, really, no path at all.  I remember attending Catholic mass with my mother a few times in my teens, but I was really not impressed.  When I asked sincerely where Cain got his wife, the priest said, “We don’t ask those sorts of questions.”  I felt a blind faith was an empty faith, so I didn’t darken the door of a church for a long time.

When I met my wife, hers was a strong and genuine Christian family, and I began to attend church with them.  By that time, I had come to the mistaken conclusion that Christianity was some sort of club.  Most people I’d seen who attended church were good people.  I wanted to be a good person, too, so I began to attend church.  I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, but my view of Christianity hadn’t changed.  I thought these folks who said you needed to be, “born again,” were just mouthing words someone else had coached them to say.  It was a sort of game I understood and eventually learned to play myself.

In 1975, Jerry, a Jehovah’s Witness, was hired at work.  Shortly thereafter he asked who the “born again” Christians were.  I raised my had, and nearly every day after that he would raise one problem or other about what Christians believed.  For a while, I went to my wife’s parents for answers for Jerry.  They eventually gave me a copy of Walter Martin’s “Kingdom of the Cults,” where the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses were laid out plainly and how they differed from historic biblical Christianity.

At one point, Jerry and I began to talk about salvation and what it meant.  Martin’s book laid the biblical position out clearly for me: salvation required turning control of my life over to Jesus Christ.  I thought, “That’s great.  I’ll share this with Jerry.”  But, God said, “Read it again.”  I had never really done it myself, turned my life over to God’s control.  I was unwilling to let anyone control my life but me, so I said, “no” to God.

Well, after about six months of consciously fighting with God for my future, he finally threw me up against the wall and made it very clear what my choices were.  He showed me the dark destination I was headed for.  I saw what needed to be done and grudgingly  turned my life, hook, lie, and sinker, over to Him.

It was the best decision I’ve ever made.  My life was forever changed, and I now know what it means to have a personal one-on-one relationship with the God of the universe.

The reason I’m writing this is that I don’t think I’m the only one who thought Christianity was less than it is.  Maybe you think that still.  It’s not a club like the Lions or Elks.  It’s the proverbial hospital for sinners.  Jesus, its Head, is the one and only source for forgiveness of the sin in our lives and reaches out to us all to have a personal relationship with Him.  We only need to make Him Lord of our lives, not a Character we know about and talk about.  Knowing about someone is not the same as knowing someone.  He’s real.  His gift of salvation and forgiveness is real.  The peace and joy that accompany His forgiveness is real.  If you haven’t taken advantage of it, there’s no time like the present.  Just ask Him to take charge of your life and follow Him.

I spent much of the last couple of days discussing the evidence for Christianity with an atheist on FaceBook.  The point I made that he was most resistant to face, and actually never did, was the fact that Christianity began in the very city where Christ was crucified, where all the witnesses to His execution lived, where the proclaimers’ stories of His resurrection could be most easily refuted if their tales were false, and where there were both Roman and Jewish leaders who were more than willing to disprove those stories..

The example I used in our discussion was this, “Suppose we went back to Dallas in January of 1964 and proclaimed JFK had been risen from the dead?  What would be the chance of building a following of 5000 within just a few short days as the disciples of Christ did?”

Just like our example, the Church of Jesus Christ was founded only a few weeks after His death by those claiming His resurrection.  These were men who were so frightened of the authorities that most of them hid while Jesus was killed, laid in the tomb, and rose from the dead.  They were certainly changed men when they stood in the temple proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection just a few short weeks later. 

All but one of these men died a horrible death.  Peter was crucified upside down because he refused to die as his Master had.  Thomas was run through with a spear as he preached the gospel in India and continued to preach until he died of his wound.  Andrew was crucified  on an “X” shaped cross and preached to his executioners and standers by until he died of his wounds.  Bartholomew was skinned alive but, as with the others, told of Jesus during the ordeal.  And, those are just a few examples.  Yet, none of these men ever denied the story they told of a risen Christ.  What do you suppose happened that took frightened men and changed them into bold proclaimers of a truth they were all willing to painfully die for?

Should someone ever tell you they doubt whether Christianity is true, ask them how they think the Church began, tell them about how hard it would be to start the church in the city of Jerusalem where Jesus was executed;  about the men who were once frightened but then stood courageously proclaiming a truth they died for.

There are a lot of reasons we know Christianity is true.  These are simple and easy to understand.