Titus 2:9-10 9 Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
Here Paul indicates that we can and ought to behave in such a manner that the doctrine of Christ is made more attractive in the eyes of those who are watching us. People should come to have good impressions of our doctrine through their personal experience of us.
Presently, much of our country is in a dizzy about Tim Tebow the quarterback for the NFL Denver Broncos. Tebow is very outspoken in terms of his faith in Jesus Christ. And, as trivial as sport may be, much attention has come to the Gospel because of him.
I have never met Tim Tebow. I do not know him personally and I tend to be inwardly reserved about the professed faith of celebrities. But over years now, Tebow has been consistent in both his words and in his outward behavior; notwithstanding the fact that many have tried to find fault with him and in him. I have heard the testimonies of people who do know him personally on some level and they to a man have said that he is the real deal.
Recently a famous sports writer went to Denver for the express purpose of finding “dirt” on Tebow…any kind of dirt. Below is an article he wrote concerning part of what he learned. The man is not a believer and he is apparently not yet connecting what he learned to Jesus; but hopefully he will soon. Hopefully thousands of people who both hate and love Tebow will be enabled to see the power of Christ in what they are observing.
Pray that this very young man will be preserved in his integrity and faith. Pray that God will indeed make him the instrument through whom more and more will behold the beauty of Christ and the Gospel.
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7455943/believing-tim-tebow
January 14th, 2012 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
http://thejohnsonhome.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/is-a-laborer-deserving-of-his-wages-why-poor-restaurant-tipping-compromises-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/
No one who serves you at a restaurant should be surprised to learn that you profess faith in Christ. Your kindness, gentleness and liberality should bear witness of the grace of God by which you live. If you eat at the same places often, the employees of those establishments should be happy to see you and should think very warmly of you before they learn that you are a Christian. One the other hand, if you are difficult and complaining and demanding and leave poor tips (less than 20%)—it would be good if you not pray over your food in a way that anyone would recognize and that you not leave any sort of Gospel literature behind. Love and good works make way for the Gospel. Acting contrary to grace should not be followed by the Gospel.
Witnessing is more than words.
Dear Church Family,
Would you indulge me just one more word about my grandmother? Please know that I have only ever mentioned these examples from my extended family to magnify the glory of God’s grace and to encourage you in what His grace can do.
This morning at 8:00am, my grandmother Ruth Mayer (96) went to sleep in Jesus and woke up in the presence of the One she loved and longed to see.
There’s so much I would like to say about my grandmother and the impact she made on my life by her simple, faithful example of devotion to Christ as a wife, mother and servant of the church. I thank the Lord for allowing me to know her.
But the thought I would like to share with you just now is the exceedingly precious truth of Psalm 116:15:
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.
I don’t fully understand the implications of this text and I don’t understand why it appears where it does in the context of Psalm 116.
What I do understand, and what is so meaningful to us as Christians, is that Christ was there at 8am this morning when Ruth Mayer finished her course in this world. He was present. He was in the details, the timing. He was watching over her. Her sojourn and her arrival in heaven were not matters of indifference to Him. Though she was known only to a relatively small number of people in this world, she was known and loved by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and she was welcomed into glory with as much rejoicing as the greatest of saints. One more for whom Christ died was safely home. No one was able to snatch her out of His sovereign, loving, nail-pierced hands.
My dear brothers and sisters, if you belong to Christ, you are precious to Him. If your death is precious in His sight, your life is precious to Him as well. He cares what’s going on in your life today. He cares about your trials, your pains, your burdens, your sorrows. He is in the details, the timing, of everything for your good. He is not indifferent. He will not leave you or forsake you. No one and nothing will be able to snatch you out of His hand. And He will be with you to the end.
I’m so thankful to know that one more saint has joined the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and made it to the end, urging us on to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and to run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God.
Look to Him, dear saint, knowing that He is looking after you. You are precious to Christ. May Christ be truly precious to you.
Sometime ago I decided that the political scene in America is so flawed as not to be worth my time or interest. Since then I have maintained little more than a curious glance from time to time. While acknowledging my responsibility to pray for those in authority, I have not thought myself obligated to be a supporter of any party or candidate.
However, a recent development has arrested my attention. It relates to the decision of the Children and Family Services department of Cuyahoga County, Ohio to remove an eight year old boy from the custody of his mother and to place him in a foster home. The reason for this radical decision is that the boy is obese. And, indeed, he is. He reportedly weighs 200 pounds. Average weight for a boy his age is sixty pounds.
There can be no dispute but that the boy is dangerously over-weight or that he faces serious health issues if this situation is not corrected. However, his life is not in imminent danger. His mother is not disinterested in his well-being, albeit apparently inept at doing what is needed for his good. The agency reports that they have been dealing with this situation for twenty months and decided it best to remove the boy from his home.
We should think soberly regarding the implications of this action. It is the most drastic action possible, short of placing the mother in jail. The government is making a judgment call. It is the judgment of government officials that they can provide better parenting for this boy than his parent or parents. Thus, the government will at least temporarily, perhaps permanently, end the relationship between parent and child in terms of normal daily relations.
Is that not an amazingly audacious use of governmental authority? It cannot be disputed but that someone needs to help that mother take better care of her son. Perhaps she should be required to meet with a pediatrician in order to have the implications of her son’s obesity explained in vivid detail. Perhaps she should be required to take a class in nutrition. Perhaps she should receive competent counseling with respect to the proper way to discipline her son. But, for the government to intrude into the home and remove the boy, again apart from imminent danger, is sobering and frightening.
There are more than a few in government who presently view bringing up a child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to be a form of child abuse. The idea of teaching a child to view the Bible as the inspired Word of God and Jesus Christ as the only mediator between God and man is considered by some to be a form of brain washing. What if enough of these folk came together and decided that children in devoutly Christian families are being subjected to mental and emotional abuse and must be removed for their own protection? The action of this governmental agency in Ohio could become a precedent for just such a decision in the not too distant future.
This kind of development causes me to think that we must pray more…or, at least that I must pray more. It also forces me to think more seriously than I want to regarding politics and political candidates. It is my personal persuasion that our political institutions have become seriously corrupted by power and money and deceit. Yet, we are still granted the privilege of being politically active and vocal and of exercising our wills in the political process. For that we should be thankful and accordingly should be as involved as our consciences and personal judgment will permit.
November 29th, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
Psalm 107:21-22 21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.
Those who love God find much inward resonance with the prayer of the Psalmist: Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness! We yearn for our Heavenly Father to receive recognition and honor for His amazing goodness to the sons of men. It is entirely of His mercy that our world is not consumed. Indeed there is much suffering and tragedy and death. But, look at the ungodliness! Look at the immorality! Look at the greed and the idolatry, people loving and worshiping the gifts while ignoring, even despising, the Giver. Justice would demand much more suffering and death than what we see. The mercy and kindness of God must be acknowledged and praised.
Since the rank and file of mankind refuses to acknowledge God, we His people must do it for them! Of course, we cannot alleviate the burden of guilt that our neighbors accumulate by their refusal to thank the Lord; but, we may help stay His anger upon our culture by thanking Him for His goodness to His enemies. Since they will not glorify Him we should endeavor to glorify Him for them.
On the other hand, our hands are full in seeking to give Him appropriate thanksgiving for His amazing goodness to us and to our families. In a very real sense there is no breath left after we render sufficient praise for what we have received at His hand. Or, are our lungs full because we have not tried to exhaust ourselves in shouting out our praise? Brethren, our conversations should be filled with expressions of wonder at God’s fresh mercies to us every day. Our prayers should be longer simply because of how much time we spend telling our Father how we so appreciate His patience and His liberality and His free grace toward us. God is surely worthy of such conversation and prayer.
The honor of God is the most compelling argument for thanksgiving. Yet, realizing our wretched tendency to turn everything back upon ourselves, I will dare suggest that another compelling reason for abundant thanksgiving relates to our own mental and spiritual health. One reason for our deficiency in thanksgiving, I suspect, is pain. We experience pain and the pain so occupies our thinking that thanksgiving does not readily come to mind. Perhaps it is not physical pain, perhaps it is emotional anguish over finances or over a strained relationship, even a strained marriage. Perhaps it is pain on account of reaping a harvest of bad decisions or of years squandered. Pain is pain. Pain disturbs our minds and dominates our energies. However, the goodness of God abides even in our pain. We can humble ourselves and confess our sins with the promise of forgiveness because of His goodness. We can plead our need in Christ’s name with the assurance that He hears and will come to our deliverance in the way He chooses because of His goodness. Our pain has a good outcome in Christ and in Heaven because of God’s goodness. There is always hope and there is always help, because of God’s goodness. Furthermore, in the very experience of pain we have many good gifts: the laughter of children, the prayers of brethren, the comfort of friendships, the benefit of good food and music…all right in the midst of our pain. The goodness of God is always with us.
Apart from the purpose of being thankful we miss so much of the goodness, however. Apart from exercising ourselves to be thankful just because it is right, we will become preoccupied in an unhealthy and untruthful way with our pain. Focusing on the arguments compelling thanksgiving rescues our minds from the dulling torment of pain. The feeling of thanksgiving often follows the simple resolution to be thankful. The mere fact that God commands thanksgiving taken seriously may become the occasion of delivering us from a sense of hopelessness.
Observe in Scripture how frequently joy and rejoicing are connected with thanksgiving. Note above:
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.
The rejoicing is not simply are command, it is a fruit. The effort to be thankful gives rise to rejoicing if done conscientiously. Thus it is that thanksgiving is good for our mental health.
November 22nd, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
I was recently reminded of a poem by George Herbert entitled The Elixir written in 1633. Here’s the full text of the poem:
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything
To do it as for Thee.
Not rudely, as a beast,
To run into an action;
But still to make Thee prepossest,
And give it his perfection.
A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heav’n espy.
All may of Thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean,
Which with his tincture–”for Thy sake”–
Will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and th’ action fine.
This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.
Perhaps some of you recognize these words. Four stanzas (1, 3, 4 and 6) of this poem were turned into a hymn which can be found in our Trinity Hymnal (#555).
An “elixir”, as Herbert is using it here, refers to a solution or substance that was thought to change base metals into something precious, like gold. Herbert, the poet, is using that figure to illustrate that for the Christian there is a truth (a “tincture”) which properly applied can turn the ordinary details of our lives into something precious, like gold.
What is that truth that “turneth all to gold” and makes even the sweeping of a room to be something rather “fine”?
It’s the truth that for the Christian, everything we do can be done for God. It’s adding “for Thy sake” to even the most mundane or difficult tasks God calls us to perform. It’s seeing our good God behind and in all life’s details, great and small, and following from the heart Paul’s directive in Colossians 3:17:
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
The “tincture” that makes drudgery divine is the truth that for the Christian all of life is an opportunity to glorify our Savior.
Now, it’s important to be both clear and honest about what we’re saying here. After all, we know there’s really no such thing as an elixir that actually changes the molecular structure of a base metal into gold! Even so in the spiritual realm. We’re not talking about turning mundane things into something other than what they are. In fact, we’re not even talking about thinking of mundane things as something other than what they are. God is not about asking us to play mind games that detach us from reality and enable us to float untouched above all of life’s dull and painful moments.
What we’re talking about is embracing the mundane, the difficult, the painful (as well as the good and pleasant!) heartily as unto the Lord and not to men (Col.3:23). How do we do that? We trust with faith and hope that He is changing us through those things for His glory and our good (i.e. He has a good and gracious purpose). And we choose by faith and a sanctified exercise of the mind and will to approach each day and each day’s work and each day’s trouble with a desire to serve Christ, to please Him and to bring praise to His name.
That perspective doesn’t change the nature of the mundane or difficult into exciting and easy! Changing diapers is changing diapers. Washing floors is washing floors. Doing business is doing business. Enduring sickness is enduring sickness. It doesn’t really do to speak of those things in such spiritualized terms that we deny the flesh and blood, earthy reality of life in this fallen world.
What it changes is the attitude and the aim with which we do them. And that makes all the difference.
So let me encourage you to apply the elixir! Try it. See if it works. Begin the day with Herbert’s prayer:
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything
To do it as for Thee.
Trust me, it won’t make the dirty laundry piles any smaller. And it won’t make the pains in your body go away. It won’t make the effect of the curse any less bitter. But I’m confident it will do your soul good and it will bring your Savior glory.
In the end, isn’t that what we really want as Christians? So to live that the One who loved me and gave Himself for me might be glorified. Do it for Jesus! Whatever it is He’s called you to do, whatever He’s called you to endure- do it for Him. When we remember that, indeed, even drudgery becomes divine!
Please understand that I am not endorsing everything in this article, neither am I endorsing this periodical or its political agenda. I am posting this because it corroborates an assessment in a recent blog. The hostility against Christianity is not paranoia.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/tebow_scores_one_for_christianity.html
November 7th, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
NKJ 2 Timothy 3:1 ¶ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Keeping in mind that the “last days” began with the ascension of Christ, there is still a sense in which we should expect an acceleration of evil prior to the return of Christ. It could be that there will be several periods of accelerated evil followed by powerful interventions of the Holy Spirit leading up to the very last days. Indeed that appears to have been the case already. All that said, a compelling case could be made for concluding that the days in which we are living are the most “evil” with respect to opposition to Christianity and Christians. That is, the most evil in our own national history. One small example is Tim Tebow. Tebow is now the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He was formerly one of the most acclaimed college football players in history at the University of Florida. He is also an outspoken Christian, the son of former missionaries. The very mention of Tebow’s name sends many fans into hysterics. This is a hysteria of hatred and venom. Why? He is humble (apparently he should be because by all accounts he is not very good in the pro game–but given his accomplishments in college he might be otherwise). He is polite. He has a sterling reputation from all I can gather. So, why the hatred? Largely because he is very outspoken regarding his faith in Christ. Sometimes I think his expressions are a bit mistimed; but I greatly admire his determination to mention Christ whenever he can. The hatred for him is alarming to my mind. It is a reflection of an mounting intolerance of any public mention of Christ or Christianity. It is a new day in that regard.
What does this have to do with parenting? It is my growing opinion that Christian parents must assume a heightened responsibility to train their children how to succeed in a overtly hostile world. We all know that the world has never been a friend to either grace or the Gospel. However, for the entire course of our nation’s history there has been an outward respect for Christianity. There have been some bitter battles over churches or denominations as reflected in our Constitution’s unequivocal repudiation of a “national” church. That is not the same as hostility against Christianity. Increasingly there is a rejection of Christianity and especially any mention of the Christian Gospel in the public square.
Parents cannot ignore the signs of the time. There need to be many conversations regarding the factual warrant for Christianity. The nature of the Bible needs to be explained over and over and over again. The veracity of Biblical history in both the Old and New Testaments must be discussed in growing detail as children mature. Parents must acquaint themselves and their children with the various aspects of apologetics. Archeological discoveries demonstrating the history of the Old Testament should be discussed. The hypotheses of evolution should be analyzed and debunked. Creation science should be presented in its best and most authentic expressions. Caricatures of the Bible and Christian doctrine should be explored and disproved. Parents cannot assume that providing children with a general education from a Biblical point of view will immunize them from the attacks that they will encounter. This is a different day. There have always been scoffers and mockers; but increasingly scoffing is becoming a national pastime, especially amongst those who fancy themselves as intellectually sophisticated. Training needs to occur somewhat akin to that of the military with soldiers who may be taken as prisoners of war and interrogated with unrelenting hostility. An observation formed over the years is that children growing up in conservative Christian families yearn to be accepted and thought of as “normal” when they enter the real world. This often leads to a period of compromise and even rebellion against the religion of their parents. In our present culture that tendency may be heightened by the strong reaction against all things Christian which is developing more and more. Your children may find themselves in the university or in the work-place alongside other young people who have actually been taught that Christians are evil people who would deprive them of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, your children need to be firmly rooted in what is true and why it is true and why pluralism is not true. That is peculiarly the work of parents and it will require very close, very personal and very frequent conversations. It will require more time than even the most conscientious parents are accustomed to give their children in terms of one-on-one instruction.
Then there is the matter of discernment and grace in personal relationships. Referencing the matter mentioned above, it is painful to me to see kids from Christian families endeavoring to prove that they are cool and with it to the non-Christian world. The insecurity and feelings of inferiority and fear of rejection ooze from them. That is painful and it is exceedingly dangerous. Perhaps parents are too insensitive to the fact that their children’s generation is indeed the generation they must deal with, work with, socialize with and raise their children with! Parents often despise the younger “worldly” generation and think to train their children to hate it too. They fail to understand that their children cannot avoid their own generation. On some level they (our children) must negotiate a living, working relationship with their particular generation. Training them to fear or hate their own age group will greatly hinder them. On the other hand, we do not want them to take up the cancerous evils which are eating up lives and families in the world. So, parents must invest a great deal of time (there is no other way) in training their children to be discerning in a non-reactionary way. Teach them why so many in their generation are sexually aggressive and flamboyant in their dress and speech and music and movies and behavior. Teach them why it is so. Teach them why it offends God (not just that it is wrong, but why it is wrong). Teach them why sexual sin is so destructive to individuals and why it inevitably creates serious problems for future relationships. Parents cannot enforce dress “codes” and dating standards on their college graduate children. They must so train their minds and hearts in the goodness and wisdom of God that they enforce standards upon themselves. Similar instruction must be given in the matter of drugs, particularly using prescription drugs to achieve a measure of “peace” and “happiness”. Street drugs are not the drugs of choice at present. Prescription drugs are…not just with junkies but with average American housewives and businessmen. Are you preparing your young children to discern the dangers of an increasingly drugged society? What about the use of money and the danger of debt? Again, what I am seeking to emphasize goes far, far beyond simply telling kids that certain things are wrong. I am talking about painstaking conversations explaining in great detail why certain commonly accepted practices are both wrong and destructive. The aim is to persuade their hearts concerning the wisdom of righteousness and the happiness of righteousness as opposed to the folly and misery of “pleasure”. The law of God is good, as well as right. But this requires some in depth explanation in a culture which practices unrestrained lawlessness.
At the bottom of all the instruction that parents give, whether apologetics or ethics, must be the Gospel. And, at the bottom of the Gospel must be the compelling graciousness of Jesus Christ. Parents must work at making Christ both real and desirable to their children. One thing that is helpful in this regard, especially as children become older, is to avoid cliches as much as possible. Work at finding new and different ways to speak of Christ and our need for Him with respect to our relations with God and with regard to every other relationship we will ever have.
I recognize that this article dumps a lot of responsibility on parents. However, it is a different day now and immediate trends indicate that a much different day is just around the corner. It is difficult to realize how greatly our culture’s opposition to the Gospel and toleration of various evils have increased in the last ten years. Frankly, my concern is that the ordinary methods are not enough. I am speaking about regular family devotions, regular church attendance, home-schooling or Christian schooling. These things are good and helpful and should not be abandoned. But young children need a great deal of face-to-face, one-on-one instruction from their parents over years covering very serious subjects. I do not think it will be enough to do the ordinary things and have one or two conversations along the way. All of this is counsel, of course, and cannot be binding to anyone’s conscience; however, I would suggest aiming at three to four hours a week devoted to one-on-one instruction for children 5-10 and four to five hours a week of one-on-one instruction for children 11 and up for as long as it can be arranged. The instruction should be adapted to their age and should be interactive and repetitious in a fresh way. And when children get older and the time is more difficult to come by, parents must nonetheless press for a few hours each month of close personal conversation.
My suspicion is that few parents actually practice one-on-one personal instruction with their children, especially concerning the matters listed above. In larger families I fear that parents expect that general remarks made before the whole crew will suffice or that the older kids will pass on instruction to their younger siblings. That will not suffice…not for the evil day. Christian parenting must be about so much more than providing a safe, loving environment coupled with the Gospel. Children must be prepared to live in the world that now is and to live well for the glory of God and for their own prosperity. That will require much more than almost any of us have ever thought of giving.
November 3rd, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, 15 To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
This text and others like it in the Bible attach a wonderful promise to the life of faith and faithfulness to the Lord. The righteous SHALL flourish! Those planted in the house of the Lord SHALL still bear fruit in old age.
Fresh and flourishing, even into old age! Ah, now that’s a vision of the Christian life we all desire for ourselves, isn’t it? Vigorous faith exercised in zealous, active service for the Lord all the way to the end. Sound minds and bodies functioning well until the day we pass into eternity! Surely the Lord who gives such desires would want His people to live this way?
We’re blessed at GRBC with many examples of the truth of this promise. Paul White fitting glasses for Christ’s sake on the backside of Nepal wonderfully illustrates what this text is talking about.
But I think we need to be careful how narrowly we define “fresh and flourishing” or how we limit the kind of fruit-bearing this text has in view. Surely it’s a wonderful thing when God’s grace fits a man physically, emotionally and spiritually to go on missions trips into his 70’s. What a wonderful thing! But is that the only way the promise of this text is fulfilled?
Yesterday afternoon, I had the privilege of sitting at the bedside of my 98 year old great aunt, Grace. She lives in a Christian retirement community in Pittsboro. Recently, she fell and broke her hip. After surgery, she now finds herself sharing a room in a rehab facility for six to eight weeks. I won’t go into the details of the place I found her yesterday. But needless to say, she very much wants to be “home” in her own room with all that is familiar back at the retirement community.
In relating how she’s been doing and some of the discomforts of her present circumstances, Aunt Grace never complained. Instead, she gave glory to God. She said things like, “Isaiah is a great book.” And she quoted from memory one of the “I will be with thee” verses. And then she said from her bed, “The God who created the universe knew me before the foundation of the world! The mind cannot take it in. If He knew me then, surely He knows and cares about me now.”
Still bearing fruit in old age? I’d say so. Is this the way she’d like to be spending her 98th year? No, of course not. She’d like to be home making the dresses that she has been sending to orphanages in India until recent years. She’d like to have her long departed and beloved husband by her side. She’d like to be speaking the word to someone. But her God has her in a hospital bed. And she’s still bearing the fruits of faith to the praise of His glory and grace!
But let me give you another example, my 96 year old grandmother, Ruth (Grace’s sister). She lives in the same Christian community in Pittsboro. She has memorized more Scripture than any person I’ve ever known. At one time, she had almost the entire New Testament committed to memory. She accomplished that while a young wife and mother. For years, she remembered the birthdays of all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren with cards, always including a verse cut out from her daily reading calendar. She had the sharpest mind in the family and she had given it to the Word of God.
In recent years, that sharp mind has diminished. Sometimes she sits in her wheelchair, staring blankly with her mouth drooped open. And she doesn’t always recognize the family she so long remembered in her prayers. What about my Nanny? Is she still bearing fruit into old age? Why has God allowed this to be part of her story at the end?
Well, of course, I can’t answer all those questions about today. But I can tell you she was fresh and flourishing for most of her 96 years! And very soon she will wake up in the presence of the Lord Jesus whom she so long loved and looked for and her mind, now touched with infirmity, will be far sharper than it ever was in this sin-cursed world. And the fruit of her simple life of faith, her example and her prayers, lives on in the lives of her children’s children’s children!
Where did this fruit come from? Nanny and Aunt Grace walked with God in humble faith all their days. They filled their hearts and minds with the truth and promises of His Word, WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG! They didn’t desire great things for themselves. They were planted in the house of God (the church) all their days and fed their souls on the Word day and night.
And the promise is, in fact, coming true in their old age. They’re still bearing wonderful, God-honoring fruit. It’s just not the kind that our results-oriented, success-driven American Christianity tends to value. But surely it is fruit well-pleasing to the Lord. And it’s the kind of fruit we should desire when we’re old.
Whatever the Lord has in store for me in the days ahead, I want to bear fruit like that. He doesn’t owe us vigorous health all the way to the end. We won’t always have exciting opportunities to serve our King. But whether working on the backside of Nepal or sitting in a hospital bed, I want to be able to say, “My God is good, my Savior is sufficient, He has never failed me, His Word is true!” That’s the fruit of grace. And it’s the fruit of a lifetime of faith in God and feeding on His Word.
Today I see many Christians “worried and troubled about many things.” I almost ache to find believers in Christ who are happy in Jesus, content with their lives and their families, humble in their faith, appreciative of grace, faithful in their devotion to the church and the Bible and cheerful in their walk with the Lord. It seems rare these days to find Christians who are truly content in their God, their salvation and the simple life of faith. Somewhere along the way, the church seems to have embraced the idea that you’re only a serious Christian if you’re in a perpetual state of agitation. Whatever happened to the values expressed in the words of Micah 6:8?
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
May I commend the example of Aunt Grace and my grandmother Ruth. No books will be written about their lives. But surely they have been fresh and fruitful even in old age. What made them what they are? It’s not rocket science. Seventy-five years ago, on a day just like today, Nanny set her memory verse card on the windowsill while she washed the dishes and committed another verse to memory and its truth to her heart. Seventy years ago, while the babies napped, Nanny gave herself to a time of prayer. And five years ago while in her nineties, while the mind was still working well, she reviewed her verses, gave herself to prayer, attended the worship of the church, walked humbly with her God.
And she’s still bearing fruit in old age.
What would ever cause such a question to be asked? A previous generation of Christians is appalled that there would ever come a time when this question would be raised seriously. Christians drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking in any form and cursing (that is using profane and vulgar expressions) would have constituted an apostasy in their estimation.
One reason that this question demands attention perhaps is that previous generations answered it in a way that was not entirely legitimate. Alcoholic beverages were declared to be sinful and thus the consumption of them was declared to be a violation of God’s moral law. I grew up in a church which had as part of its covenant the commitment of members not to consume alcohol as a beverage (I suppose the assumption behind the word “beverage” being that some form of alcohol might be used upon occasion for medicinal purposes). The problem with this position is that it lacks clear exegetical warrant and cannot account for the use of alcohol (wine) as a beverage in Scripture. Would Christ have transformed the water into fermented grape juice if consuming fermented grape juice is indeed intrinsically sinful? Would He not have told everyone to be satisfied with water and then rebuked them for consuming alcohol in the first place?
There is now a recognition that many sincere believers erred in declaring certain practices inherently sinful when the Bible itself does not do so. This recognition maybe partially responsible for the situation which gives rise to this article. There appears to be an assumption now that if the Bible does not explicitly forbid a particular practice that practice must be permitted. The idea appears to be that apart from explicit Biblical condemnation no one has a basis to question, much less condemn, any practice. We are to conclude that those who would dare to do so are “legalists” and “fundamentalists” and should not be granted a hearing. The counterpoint to legalism is supposedly liberty, “Christian liberty”, in the minds of many. There is now an equation of grace with the freedom to do whatever is not explicitly forbidden. Believing in salvation by grace seems to mean the freedom to live without law or restraint.
Consequently, we find professing Christians openly consuming beer or liquor. We find people speaking of loving and following Christ with a cigarette lodged conspicuously between their fingers. We find people testifying of their love for God while also employing euphemisms for sexual sin and thinly veiled blasphemies of God’s name on their social media communications.
Is this the liberty for which Christ shed His blood? Is this that holiness into which we have been called? Are we to conclude that this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in God’s children?
Galatians 5:13-14 13 ¶ For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
One compelling argument against the public use of alcohol and tobacco on the part of Christians is the command of Christ that we love our neighbor as ourselves. There can be no dispute that the consumption of alcohol is a risky proposition. Take a serious look at the statistics related to alcoholism among young people, binge drinking, the effects of alcoholism upon families, the suicide rate among those who regularly consume alcohol and those who do not, the devastating affects of drinking and driving, etc. One would be hard pressed to demonstrate that it is an act of love to encourage anyone to consume alcohol.
The responsibility of witness and influence is intrinsic to being a Christian. Christians are called to be light and salt in the earth. We are to reflect the light of Christ in the midst of darkness.
Ephesians 5:11 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
We are to live no longer to ourselves but unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. The entire bent of our lives must be not the enjoyment of fleshly pleasures but the pleasure of doing good to others…the greatest good being to show them the excellency of Christ. The total impact of our living upon others must be toward that which is truly good and away from that which is injurious. In other words, we are to be a blessing to the world for Christ’s sake.
How is the open consumption of alcohol consistent with love? How is that a loving use of the influence which Christ gives us upon the lives of others? Does the fact that we may enjoy alcohol to the glory of God and that we may have the discipline to recognize the buzz and to desist from drinking justify influencing others to do what has proven to be destructive to so many in our culture, especially so many young people? Is this risk necessary? Do we have no safer alternatives?
I am purposely avoiding texts pertaining to the conscience because too many Christians manipulate those texts contrary to their intent. If they do not like something, they declare it a violation of their conscience and therefore wrong for themselves and for everyone else in their presence. It is too often a sinister attempt to control others. My challenge is not does the public consumption of alcohol offend another person’s conscience. Rather, my question is this: is it an expression of love and Godly influence? Does it exemplify that which is in another’s best interest?
Apply the same principle to smoking. I have never met a smoker who told me that they really hoped they could persuade their children to smoke. I have never heard one of them say, “I want my child to desire and enjoy cigarettes the way I do”. Why is that? Because we know what Spurgeon did not. We know beyond doubt that smoking causes a myriad of physical problems. Where is the love in encouraging others to do what is harmful? Loving our neighbor and doing good to him involves doing what we can to discourage behavior that is harmful. That is the exact opposite of smoking.
I strongly suspect that some of those who flaunt their consumption of beer and cigarettes in the name of Christ do so to prove to old fogies like me that they have liberty and that they can love Christ and still be shocking in their behavior. I and other old fogies are not worth the danger. Perhaps they should think about the young people who are observing this behavior and thinking that it must be good and harmless or else people who love God would not do it.
Here is a directive that we should all weigh seriously in such matters:
Romans 14:22 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
If you are fully persuaded in your conscience that you can indeed drink an alcoholic beverage to the delight of Christ or even smoke a cigarette with His smile upon you, why not do it in private and away from the eyes of those who may be harmed by your liberty? Why do that which might possibly encourage others to do what has proven harmful and even destructive to so many? Is that consistent with Christian love?
October 25th, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
