Promise Made, Promise Kept

The Hope of the Promise. That is not a redundancy of words. Hope is an unseen expected assurance, not wishful thinking. And a promise from God is something that can be counted on. As Max Lucado said in his book Unshakable Hope, God is not just a Promise Maker, He is a Promise Keeper.

            When we think of promises, perhaps what we most often think of is not promises kept, but promises broken. Perhaps from our parents, or from what should have been a trusted friend. Or from a spouse.

            Worse yet, you might be reminded of promises you have made and did not keep. Guilt. Fear. Disappointment. Anger. Cynical bitterness. Sarcasm...

            Stop!

            That is not God.

            Read this from His Holy Word.

            “God is not a man, that He should lie.

            Nor a son of man that He should repent

            Has He not said, and will He not do?

            Has He not spoke and will He not make it good?”

Numbers 23:19

            First Promise Kept at the First Coming. 

            Christ’s first advent was the greatest to date “promise made, promised kept” that God fulfilled.

John the Baptist, in his moments of despair, asked Jesus, “Are You the Expected One, or should we look for another?” When imprisoned, the baptizer’s hopes were discouraged but not entirely dashed. He knew that if Jesus was not the promised one, that He could expect another because God is and was and forever will be faithful and true.

            As far back as Genesis 3:15, the Bible teaches that a seed of a woman (literally “sperm” in both Greek and Hebrew) would crush the head of Satan. That curse against Satan was literally fulfilled in the virgin birth of Christ, the only literal seed of a woman ever recorded.

Another 3:15 passage, Galatians 3:15, also teaches about the seed (singular) of man being the promise made long ago being fulfilled. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made… the covenant was confirmed before by God in Christ, and it does not nullify the promise. If the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

The promise was also made to Sarah, “The word of promise…Sarah will have a son.” (see Rom. 9:9). Paul preached in Acts 13:23 that Jesus was the promised Son of God and Seed of David who would become the Savior of Israel and of the world. “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus.”

Isaiah’s promise in Isaiah 1:9 was reiterated in Romans 9:29 that the Seed of the Lord of Sabaoth would come to save the world.

A Second Promise Kept: The Holy Spirit.

Another Promise Kept. Perhaps the second greatest Promise that God has made and Kept came 50 days after the Resurrection. When the Holy Spirit came down, it was the down payment of the Promise of a future Advent.

“Wait for the Promise of the Father” Jesus said in Acts 1:4. “I will send the Promise,” He had previously stated in Luke 24:49.

Simon Peter and those in the upper room experienced the fulfillment of that Second Promise kept. The Holy Spirit which Jesus Himself received was poured out on them all in Acts chapter 2. “The Promise of the Holy Spirit is being poured out today and this is what you now see and hear,” Peter preached in Acts 2:33, “the Promise is for you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Peter never stopped being in awe of those two promises kept. From a dank and dungy Roman prison cell, the aged fisherman was not bitter. Not disillusioned. No fist shook toward heaven, despite the scars on his back, seeing the cruel death of his best friend James, and perhaps having survivor’s guilt when his own life was spared.

No, from the prison cell Simon wrote these words of encouragement.

The Third Promise Will Be Kept: Jesus is Coming Again!

“God has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, and also escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Promise made, Peter Proclaimed, and Promise Kept. Four more times the imprisoned apostle used the word promise, finishing up with this defiantly faithful and unquenchable fiery man of God preached through his pen which echoes in our Scripture readings to this day.

“In keeping with His Promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”

And then as a nod to fellow prisoner in Rome, the Apostle Paul, Peter wrote “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation which also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.”

Christian Home Week -- The Beauty of the Beatitudes Introduction

The downloadable pdf is available at http://fbckilleen.com/wp-content/uploads/beatitudes.pdf

Introduction of Matthew

   Matthew was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, a tax collector when called by Christ. This gospel was written primarily to the Jews, emphasizing the supremacy of Christ to Moses.

Introduction of the Sermon on the Mount

   The Sermon on the Mount was delivered to the disciples, but heard also by the crowd, similar but different from “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke.

   A simple outline of the Sermon on the Mount is as follows:

1. The Kingdom and Blessings (Matt. 5:1-16)

2. The Kingdom and the Law (Matt. 5:17-48)

3. The Kingdom and God (Matthew 6)

4. The Kingdom and Others (Matthew 7:1-20)

5. The Kingdom’s Foundation (Matthew 7:21-27)

Introduction of the Beatitudes

As a kid, my favorite cartoon was Peanuts and good ole Charlie Brown. I had a book called “Happiness is a Warm Puppy.” If we were to put a Charles M. Schulz title to the beatitudes, it might be “Happiness is …”

The word “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word beatus which means blessed but the word is elsewhere translated as “happy,” “how fortunate,” “God blesses” (NLT), “You’re blessed” (the Message), and the amplified Bible expounds to “to be envied and spiritually prosperous…with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions.”

We could call these beatitudes the “Be Happy Attitudes.” Someone has said that they are not the “Do” Attitudes, but the “Be” Attitudes, meaning it is not what we do in the sense of legalism, but rather who we are in Christ. We should concentrate on “being,” not “doing.”

   Each beatitude builds upon the previous one, like a staircase. The first and last beatitude promise that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” From the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit within us provides for us a portion of the qualities found in each beatitude, but we must nourish and encourage each aspect to grow in our lives.

Other Beatitudes in Scripture

   Four other times in Matthew, there are pronouncements of “blessedness.” Chapter 11, verse six speaks about not being offended in Christ; Matt. 13:16 speaks on those who were able to see and hear Jesus at work, 16:17 pronounces a blessing up Peter for his proclamation of Christ as the Son of the living God, and 24:46 proclaims a blessing on those who are faithful when Christ returns.

   Luke records similar uses of “blessed” in chapter 6 and uses the word a total of 15 times in his gospel. John’s two beatitudes include the famous rebuke of Thomas’ doubting when Jesus says “blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.”

   Romans and James also have some beatitudes, and Peter echoes Jesus’ beatitudes in respect to suffering and facing reproach in 1 Peter 3:14 and 4:14. King James there translates makarios or makarios as “Happy” rather than “blessed.” And in typical numerical fashion, the Apostle John records precisely seven beatitudes in Revelation.

   The practice of issuing blessed promises goes back as far as the Old Testament, most notably Psalm 1:  “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night”

    A beatitude can be traced back to the first occurrence in Scripture, found in Deut. 33:29, “Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places.”

   As you study these blessed promises this week, look for blessings and sources of happiness in keeping God’s word and these “Be Happy Attitudes”. As Pharrell Williams might sing, clap along if you feel a beatitude is for you.

A heart the won't melt away

    The following is second part of a study on Caleb's Following God Fully found in Joshua chapter 14. Not only should you have a reverent remembrance of what God has done and what God DESIRES, ask yourself, do I have a ...

    Half-hearted fear or whole-hearted following (7b-8)

     Notice what Caleb said in Josh 14:7, “and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren  who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the LORD my God.”

    Did you know that fully following the Lord will help your heart? Not talking your physical heart but the heart you need to follow him. The word used here for melt means to turn to water. Deuteronomy 1 recalls we read earlier in Numbers 13.

     Read the following from Deut. 1:20-39. In his book Battle-Ready, author Steve Farrar points out that the ten “not able” spies and the two “notable” spies earlier were commanded by God and instructed by Moses to go into the promised land not to see whether they could take the land, but HOW they could take the land.

        ²⁰ Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. ²¹ See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  ²²Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”…

     …²⁶But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. ²⁷You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ ” ²⁹Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. ³⁰The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,”… ³² In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, ³⁴ When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: ³⁵“No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.” … ³⁸ But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.

     The ten “not able” spies not only didn’t believe God and didn’t obey God, not only did they forget what God had done and what God desired. Because they talked about what they were not able to do rather than God WAS ABLE to do, the heart of the people melted.

     But listen to this: 40 years later, two more spies went into the promised land, to the house of the harlot Rahab. Listen to what she said. Joshua 2:10-11 “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

     For 40 years, the people of Jericho and the inhabitants of the land which God had ordained and prepared for the people of Israel had melted hearts! Everything that happened in Joshua could have happened 40 years earlier under the rule of Moses if only the people would have trusted God with all their hearts.

     What is it that God has given to you that fear and faithlessness is keeping you from obtaining?  Fully following God begins with a reverent remembrance of what God has done and what God desires, and it will give you a heart that won’t melt away when times of testing come. And as we will see, fully following God will give you a Lasting LEGACY.

Do you have a reverent remembrance of what God has done and desires?

     You remember what Joshua and Caleb were famous for, right? Of course, you do. Moses had sent out 12 spies into the promised land to help prepare for battle. The story is found in Numbers 13, but 45 years later in Joshua 14, Caleb reminds Joshua what happened in Kadesh Barnea. Not that Joshua could have ever forgotten that...as a result of the events that transpired, the people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. 

    Remember What He has done. Caleb didn’t have to remind Joshua.  But it is important that we remember what God has done for us. It is wonderful and marvelous that God chooses not to call into remembrance our bad, but it is a terrible shame if we do not call into remembrance God’s good works. Moses sent the twelve spies into the land from Kadesh Barnea but only two brought a good report.

    The story is found in Numbers 13. 

¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

³ So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. ⁴ Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea[fn] the son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

    The reason for the spies to go out was not to determine whether they could take the land. God already made that decision. The passage says clearly that God was giving it to them. That was why they had been delivered from Egypt in the first place! God wanted to restore them to the Holy Land.

    Has God been good to you? Do you call it into your remembrance, as Caleb did to Joshua 45 years later. There is a reason we celebrate the Lord's Supper in the church. There is a reason we have Memorial Day for those who have fallen in service of our country. God wants us to remember the good things of the past so that we can take courage for the future.

    Remember What He desires. If we are to fully follow God, we have to remember what God has called us for. You have a purpose for being here on earth. You have a mission. Moses had sent out the spies to “see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.”

    Nowhere was their mission to see whether they could take the land. Their job description did not say, “Go see if God knows what He is talking about.” Their mission as spies were to spy the land for the battle that was about to come.

    You know the story. Ten came back with a bad report. A report that made the people’s heart melt. Write down three words. 

Word # 1 “NOTABLE.” 

#2 “NOT” 

#3 “Able.”

    If you know someone named “Joshua” or “Caleb”, think about them and how “notable the names are based on this Bible story. Then ask yourself if you have ever met anyone named for the 10 spies who said they were “not able”. (It's okay to glance back at the passage above if you don't remember them...you probably read right past them.)

    Moses, for some reason, recorded the names of the other ten. Do you want to be notable like Caleb and Joshua. Or do you want to be in group of 10 spies who said “We’re NOT ABLE. We’re NOT ABLE to do what God has called us to do.”

    Let us all have a reverent remembrance of what has done in the past so that we can do what He desires in the future. 

Go. GO! Go to God's Roman Road

The Gospel means “good message” and Christianity has reasons to be positive in a very negative world. Another word for Gospel is Evangelism and look at the center of evANGELism. An angel is a messenger and when the angel brought “good tidings of great joy” to world in Luke 2:10, the message was “to all people”.

We live in a negative world. But the gospel is a positive message and we need to share that good message to all people.

God’s Plan. Isn’t it great that God has a good plan? His plan, the gospel, is not something to be ashamed of. Romans 1:16 says “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation.”

Our Problem. The very reason we became a Christian in the first place was because of a bad “message”: we are all sinners and imperfect and in need of forgiveness. The “ABCs” of evangelism begins with “Admit we have all sinned” (Romans 3:23). Sometimes we, the church, get in the way of the “good message.” But we, the church, are not the only ones who have sinned and we need to communicate to the world that they too have a problem with not being perfect.

God’s Provision. God didn’t wait for us to get perfect. Romans 5:8 says that even though we were sinners Christ died for us. So God’s plan was to solve our problem with His providing the solution through salvation. Rom. 6:23 says the cost of our sin is death, but there’s a free gift: salvation. You don’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. You simply receive it.

Our Prayer. How do we receive a free gift? We must “leave” in order to “receive.” If you are going in the wrong direction, you must leave that direction and turn to the right destination. Romans 10:9-10 and 13 states you need to call on God from an inner conviction that leads to an outer and life-long confession. The Biblical word for leaving a sinful direction and receiving a salvation destination is “repentance.”

My family was south of San Antonio once and we exited (okay, I exited) Loop 410 to head for Padre Island. However, my direction was just a little off and we actually headed for Laredo. (If you don’t know, there is a BIG difference in Laredo and Padre Island!) The only benefit from that diversion is an illustration that even being a little off in our direction can take us to a very different destination.

This simple Roman Road presentation has a four-point outline: “Go. GO!”. Jesus commissioned us to go share this good message (Matt. 28:19-20) and the double “Go. GO!” indicates the urgency we must have to Go. So GO!

The scandal of Christ's Words

The Stumbling

“Does this offend you?”

Jesus asked the disciples when they were murmuring and complaining about some of the hard words He had spoken and they didn’t understand.

Do some parts of the Bible that are hard to understand “make you stumble” (John 6:61 NASB, ASV)? The Greek word for offend or stumble is the same word from whence we get the English word “scandal”.

Maybe it’s not the difficult to understand parts of the Bible, but rather the parts that you DO understand that offend you. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) said, “Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can’t understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.” (Watertown Daily Times, 1915)

The Ascension

Flash forward, several decades from when Jesus said, “Do my words offend you”. The Apostle John, now an aged man after hearing this as a young disciple, was exiled to the island of Patmos. An angel with a voice like a trumpet came from heaven and said, “Come up here!”

Immediately, the old apostle was ushered up into heaven to the very throne room of God, standing before God the Father and Jesus the Son.

That word, “Come up here” (anabaino in the Greek) was also used again in Revelation when two prophets in the end times were raised from the dead after three and a half days. “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them” (Rev. 11:12).

What is significant about “anabaino”? After Jesus said, “Does this offend you?” He immediately asked a second question.

The Seeing

Look at how Jesus follows up His question in John 6.  “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend (Greek: anabaino) where He was before?” (John 6:61b-62)

After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples saw Jesus ascend to heaven in the clouds. One day, we also will anabaino to heaven. On that day, which will matter most? To be offended by the hard words and commands of Christ. Or to offend Him by our disobedience and lack of faith?

The word of God may be offensive to the world, but not to the believers. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6, Luke 7:23).

The very words that may originally cause you to be offended or stumble are given to keep you strong, especially in times of hardship. “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble (skandalizo). They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”  (John 16:1-2)

Don't be offended, or stumble or even be scandalized by the hard teachings of God's Word. One day, we will ascend up to heaven, just as He ascended, and the entire world will stand before Him. Those who were offended by Him will be eternally ashamed. Those who were not offended will be eternally blessed. 

Is God shouting at you? Then Listen!

“Do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His?” 

Job 40:9.

     I thought of that verse after hearing the wall-rattling booms from Fort Hood this week. Those “sounds of freedom” from F-16s dropping 500-pound loads for target range practice may not be the voice of God, but they sure do get your attention (and the attention of the animals and a few car alarms).

     Even though I’ve lived here long enough to even appreciate those sounds of our military, I texted a friend who works on Fort Hood, just to make sure everything was okay. It made me think about the men and women who go through the “shock and awe” of actual battle. And even if it awakens us in the night, just knowing that those booms are from “our side” should give us a peace to go back and sleep at ease the rest of the night.

     Elsewhere in the book of Job, it says, “God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding” (Job 37:5).

Some rumblings and rattlings are not from God but rise to the deafening level that also gets our attention, causing us to try to understand things that are beyond our understanding.

     Romans 8 talks about groanings that are too deep for utterance of words. There’s a mystery about the thunder that rolls from one horizon to the other. In Rev. 10:4, John was going to write about the seven thunders he heard, when a voice from heaven stops him, “Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” There are some things we simply will not know here.

     There are things that rattle our world that don’t quite make sense: the death of a soldier or sailor or airperson, random violence, political and social clashes that are increasingly inexplicable. Even the death of a beloved spouse after 60 years of marriage can be comprehended but only scarcely understood unless you’ve lived through it.

     Have you ever been rattled by God? Or by humanity’s insanity? Are you trying to make sense of senseless acts that perhaps even make you ponder the very existence of a God who would allow such things to occur?

Be assured, you and I are not the first to wonder aloud “where is God in all of this?”

     It’s found in the unforgettable lyrics of African American Pastor and Poet Charles Tindley, who penned the refrain of “We’ll understand it better by and by” in 1906. The toe-tapping melody can almost eclipse the real pain found in the rich lyrics about being “tossed and driven on the restless sea of time” and how “we are often destitute of the things that life demands, want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands” and how God often leads us as He “guides us with his eye, and we’ll follow till we die.”

     The wonderings about all the rumblings of this world’s thunder is also found in the memorable lines of apologist C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Problem of Pain, during the early stages of World War II. The later “Narnia Chonicler” wrote this in 1940, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

     Is God shouting to you? Then listen!

     The point of all this is simply this: if you are rattled by the world’s rumbling, don’t be alarmed. It’s merely the sounds of freedom, preparing us for life’s battles and eventual victory. The ultimate Victor of the battle of all battles, Jesus Christ, said this, “I have said these things to you, that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

     Tim McKeown is associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Killeen and blogger at www.johnoneday.blogspot.com.

           

Don't forget the "once saved" part...

A person who is a believer, with God’s Holy Spirit living within them, cannot continually and unrepentantly reject God’s Holiness within them without burning their conscience and departing from the truth.

But what if our desires constantly and consistently deviate from God’s clear and explicit commandments? The Bible and especially Jesus is clear: We must die to those desires. Jesus Himself gave us this example.

“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done,” He prayed.

After all, is not the symbol of our faith a cross? A cross at that time stood for death, excruciating death, from which we get the very word “ex-cruc-iating” (“cruc” means “cross”).

What does the cross stand for? Merely that Christ died and we do not have to? No, for if that were the case, why would Jesus explicitly teach otherwise?

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matt. 10:38.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matt. 16:34.

Shall I go on? I could you know…

If a person claims to be a Christian and utterly refuses to follow His clear commands (see Matt. 7:21-23 below), that person should seriously question his or her faith.

“How dare you say that? Who are you to judge?”

I did not say it. The Bible did in 2 Cor. 13:5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

“Oh I am not disqualified! I prayed a prayer when I was a kid! I am saved by grace and faith, not by works!”

Where did we first learn about salvation and grace and faith? THE BIBLE. So, can we claim some parts of the Bible as true and other parts false? How is that consistent?

Let’s look how Paul (who wrote the most about salvation through faith and grace) how he tells us to examine and test ourselves. Did he really teach that we can pray a prayer as a kid and then live according to our desires and never feel a twinge of guilt? Never repent? (Jesus’ first sermon was, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”)

Here is the entire 2 Cor. 13 passage in the New Living Translation. Does this sound like you or I can pray a prayer and then live a life of rebellion or compromise or disobedience and still “pass the test” of true salvation?

5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you (literally “in” you); if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.

7 We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come—even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. 8 For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. 9 We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature.

10 I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down.

Paul is saying, “Don’t make me pull over the car! Don’t make me come down there and correct you! I would rather appear weak and not have to correct you rather than be the tough guy and demonstrate that your bad behavior will force us to exercise authority. Show that you are in the faith by living to the commands of Christ. If you oppose the truth, the truth won’t conform to you (sorry Os Guinness), you will fail and show yourself as disqualified from the faith!”

We are saved by faith and kept saved by faith and grace, but we prove the validity of our faith by our works, for which God saved us. If we show otherwise, we prove our faith is false. This is not sinless perfection. This is “saved to serve, not saved by serving” theology.

“Once saved always saved” hinges on one very important truth: ONCE SAVED.

If we fail the test of examination here and now or fail to examine ourselves and change, there will be a final test, and it is pass or fail. Jesus will be the examiner. Jesus said to those who practice lawlessness but still called Jesus “Lord, Lord” in Matthew 7:21-23—“I NEVER KNEW YOU.”

The cross of Christianity is not a shiny gold medallion to wear. It is a rough, splintery life to bear.

This is so hard to write because I am writing to a particular loved one whom I greatly love. I see why Paul said, “I would rather be weak than strong, but if you force me I will say some strong things.” And He had apostolic authority. He had the truth. He wrote the majority of the New Testament. 

If you reject what Paul said, you reject the Bible. Without the Bible, how can you pick and choose what is right and what is wrong? You reject the martyred lives who laid their lives down in response to the cross, without which we would not have the Bible at all. You make God in your own sinful image, no longer a Father who loves through disciplining us for our own good and His own glory. 

We submit to Christ, not only for a FREE SALVATION but also for CRUCIFIED LIVING. We follow a crucified Christ, who carried the cross and calls us to go and do likewise.

Warning to a compromised conscience

     How do we go from a compromised, weak conscience to a defiled, contaminated conscience?

     The Bible segues from 1 Corinthians 8:7 to the next digression of the conscience in Titus 1:15. Separated by at nearly decade in authorship, Paul writes these two sentences: “However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled,” and “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” 

     Even though he is writing from a different location to a different audience and in a different time, Paul is carrying forward the same thought: when people stray from what they know is right and wrong and willingly embrace wrong, they can “trick” their conscience. It no longer is just weak and vulnerable, like a computer with no virus protector or a person without a flu shot. Their conscience is open to attack.

     A mind closed asks questions but only to win arguments and satisfy himself. An open mind ask questions listens to the wisdom of the world. But an open mind without being firmly grounded in the faith in God and a firm grasp of morality can be easily swayed from the truth. British author Sir Terry Pratchett said, “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

     A closed mind which is right is better than an open mind which is open to being contaminated with error.

     Paul goes on to say that those with a defiled, contaminated conscience professes to know God with their lips but deny God in their actions and works. He uses a different word than he did to the Corinthians when he was referring to merely the ethics of a struggling conscience being defiled. In Titus, he uses a word which speaks more to the spiritual foundation, a deeper sense of defilement to the core.

     A conscience which is defiled at the roots can do no other than have defiled actions. It shuns and refuses sound doctrine (the next verse in the following chapter, Titus 2:1). With a deeper departure in the conscience needs a stronger response to turn from such defilement. A sensitive conscience responds to the word of the Lord; a struggling conscience responds to works and examples of others who are stronger in the faith; but a soiled, contaminated conscience needs a warning, a “rebuke” (Titus 1:13).

     The other day a potential school shooting was foiled when someone who heard something, said something to authorities. There comes a point when an intervention needs to occur.

      Jesus used this progression of first go privately, then with one or two witnesses. A defiled conscience needs an intervention. Matthew 18:16-18 says tell it to the entire church for a warning.

Consider this prayer from Psalm 141:15 (NIV)

Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.

Sin Loves A Party

   How does our conscience go from being sensitive and doing what is right to being totally seared, as seen in 1 Tim. 4:2 “In the last days, some will depart from the faith, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”?

   How do people do things that are unconscionable? Obviously, there are mental issues, but there are also spiritual issues that should not be ignored. There is a spiritual force of evil that the Bible teaches. From Genesis to Revelation, that evil is even personified as more than a force, but conscious, thinking entities of demons and above them all, the devil.

   But let’s not give the mental or spiritual all the blame. Some of the evil that occurs happens from another source: us! We are the source of weakening and compromising our own conscience and also the consciences of others.

   The second passage that speaks of the digression of a sensitive, convicted conscience is found in 1 Cor. 8:7-13 which speaks of a struggling, compromised conscience. “9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

   If misery loves company, sin loves a party. There is something that can lead to calling “evil” good and calling “good” evil and that is seeing it witnessed in others. The old adage of “Bad company corrupts good morals” comes straight from the Bible in 1 Cor. 15:33, translated in the ESV as “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

   That is one of the dangers of allowing the filth that comes in over the television or video games to compromise the clear teachings of the Bible. No, it doesn’t corrupt everyone, but the weak and already compromised conscience that already struggles will see others and join in the crowd. And for some, that first sin is the day they become hooked. Proverbs 22:25 calls it a snare or a trap. See also 2 Peter 2:18-20.

   Not only can evil lead others to stumble, we who are strong believers need to be careful on what we do in front of others that could lead them to stumble. We are free to do some things but if our freedom leads others to sin, we should not participate in those things.

Today’s prayer comes from Hebrews 12:15:

Lord, help me not to fall short of Your grace.
Keep any “root of bitterness” from springing up in me
and cause trouble by my witness to others.