the gate

I like this guy….from chapter 4 of “the pursuit of god”: 

At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christian’s faith is unseen reality. Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real.

The spiritual is real. If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. `He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.‘ (Hebr 11:6) This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights. `Ye believe in God,‘ said our Lord Jesus Christ, `believe also in me.‘ (john 14:1) Without the first there can be no second.

If we truly want to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I say knowing well that that word has been used with scorn by the sons of this world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach. So be it. Everyman must choose his world. If we who follow Christ, with all the facts before us and knowing what we are about, deliberately choose the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no reason why anyone should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if we gain we rob no one by so doing.

The `other world,’ which is the object of this world’s disdain and the subject of the drunkard’s mocking song, is our carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest longing. But we must avoid the common fault of pushing the `other world’ into the future. It is not future, but present.

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i know my last post was about homosexuality too, but please don’t mistake me as becoming that kind of christian with a pet sin aversion.  it just happens to be in the news a lot and has me thinking.  i’ll make sure to make my next post about heterosexual sexual sin.  LOL.

the california supreme court just made another groundbreaking ruling regarding homosexual rights.  they ruled that medical professionals have no legal right to deny medical help based upon religious beliefs.  now, let’s not over simplify this.  we are not talking about ER doctors with severely injured people on their table.  i’m sure that virtually any doctor, regardless of their beliefs, will do their best under those circumstances.  but this lawsuit in particular covers several doctors refusing to inseminate a lesbian woman with donor sperm.  this is much trickier.

the dictionary lists the words morality and ethics as synonymous.  so essentially, “medical ethics” as a practice (they take an oath, remember?) is a practice of moral choices.  those oaths are designed, in part, to protect the people from having doctors that make decisions on their behalf based upon their own notions of what is in fact moral.  fair enough.

but what about the flip side?  is it really fair to force a doctor to abandon their own beliefs to appease their patient?  life or death should be a no brainer.  save their life, that’s what you swore to do.  however, do “optional” procedures count? 

if i requested that a doctor gouge out my eyes so i could try to play piano like stevie wonder, or remove my legs because the kids tease me for being too tall, should they be mandated to do so?  i understand that these examples are slightly non-sequitor (and ridiculous!), but they illustrate the extremes of the matter.  this time, the lawsuit was based on a procedure (insemination) that these doctors can/would/have performed on heterosexual women, but refused to perform on a homosexual woman.  eventually, they will have to deal with those procedures that they refuse to perform for anyone.

at the end of the line is a scary predicament.  what can this country really force us to do or not do in our professions?

as a follower of jesus, i find it impossible to separate my beliefs from my decisions.  they are a package deal.  even when I choose the wrong thing, they are packaged because i didn’t just choose the “other” option, I chose the “wrong” option.

now that same-sex marriages are legal, can i be sued by a homosexual couple for whom i refuse to perform a marriage ceremony, even though i am perfectly willing to perform one for a heterosexual couple?

not to sound too hal lindsey, but the mark of the beast is coming.  we have to draw some lines somewhere, don’t we?

what would you do if you were a doctor and were asked by a homosexual woman to be inseminated by donor sperm?  what would you do if you were a pastor and asked to marry a homosexual couple?  if you are a christian with neither of those responsibilities; how will you live out the message of the Scriptures to love and do good to the homosexuals in your oikos while still standing for truth as defined by God?

living as a christian in california just got a whole heck of a lot more complicated.

** we now resume our normal programming **

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I am breaking the magicians code by posting the secret to this trick.

It was too good to pass up and thought you might like to learn it.

Please don’t share this with no one else.

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A man shouted frantically into the phone, “My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only 2 minutes apart!”

“Is this her first child?” the doctor asked.

“No!” the man shouted. “This is her husband!”

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One of my favorite books is Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It is on my top ten list of favorite books. The portion of the book that I can read, and re-read, is from Chapter 1. It is entitled, The Study Of God, and begins like this;

On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:

It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so cast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind fo self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn and run away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thought of God….

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe…. The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

And whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.

These words, spoken over a century ago by C.H. Spurgeon (at that time, incredibly, only twenty years old) were true then, and they are true now.

These words are so true. So this weekend, take a dive and think deep thought about our great God. For He is altogether lovely.

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For quite a number of years, I have been meditating on, reveling in, and pointing people to Romans 14:17 — The sum and substance of the kingdom of God is … righteousness, peace (harmony, amity with other believers; see v19), and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In it’s essence, God’s kingdom is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

After last week’s posts on happiness (here and here),
I want you to think about that phrase, “joy in the Holy Spirit.”

One of the great preachers and teachers in the history of Christianity is Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was for almost 30 years pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. One of his masterful works is his 14 volume “Exposition Of Romans.” It stops at Romans 14:17. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains why:

I was at Romans 14:17. I had dealt with “righteousness”, with “peace” on March 1st, and there I was stopped. I was not allowed to deal with “joy in the Holy Ghost”. I have the feeling that this was not accidental. God intervened and I could suggest a reason why. I was able to deal with righteousness and peace (I had fleeting experiences of it), but the third thing is the profoundest of all. Why was I not allowed to deal with it? Because I knew something, but not enough about it. “I want you to speak with greater authority on this,” God said . . .

Here is what I would put before you. For six months, until September, I did not preach at all. For four months I have had the most valuable experience of being a listener. My general impression is that most of our services are terribly depressing! I am amazed people still go to church… The note missing is “joy in the Holy Ghost”. There is nothing in these services to make a stranger feel that he is missing something by not being there.

As Adrian Warnock says, “These words from the greatest preacher of the 20th century should make us sit up and take notice. This missing factor of phenomenal, unexplainable, uncontainable joy is the biggest need of our churches today.”

In his book, Spiritual Depression: It’s Causes and Cures, Lloyd-Jones says, “The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful Church … Nothing is more important … than that we should be delivered from a condition which gives other people looking at us, the impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who ‘scorns delights and lives laborious days’ … Christian people too often seem to be perpetually in the doldrums and too often give this appearance of unhappiness and lack of freedom and of absence of joy. There is no question at all but that this is the main reason why large numbers of people have ceased to be interested in Christianity.” (pp. 18-19)

Now that’s something to think … and pray … about!

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R.I.P. mr. cook, you’re done.  you cannot stop “the chosen one”.

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for all of us members of the Church in california, we need to start asking ourselves some serious questions.  the california supreme court voted to allow same gender marriages in our state last week.  the “what if” just became reality, so now what?

in the past, the Church has done a pretty lousy job of dealing with homosexuality.  and i suspect that we are going to do a pretty lousy job of dealing with homosexual marriages as well.

the Scripture is clear  :  homosexuality is sin.  i believe that anyone who wants to use the Bible to defend homosexuality as a practice cannot and must go outside of the text to do so.

now, what does that mean for those of us in the Church that do not struggle with that sin, have no intention of marrying someone of our same gender, and yet live in california and will soon have to face this dilemma?

it seems simple to me, yet infinitely complicated at the same time.  we must defend the eternal truths of the Scripture by teaching that homosexuality is sin, and yet we must treat those around us with love, respect and grace.  too often, people with the correct message content shoot themselves in the foot with incorrect delivery.  and according to the Scripture, both content and delivery are important issues.

when Jesus dealt with the issue of the adultress who was about to be stoned, He did not try to convince the crowd that she was not sinning, He merely reminded them that they too were conflicted with sin.  the first step should always be to remind ourselves that we too struggle with sin every day.  this may help us to have grace and mercy on someone that is struggling with this particular sin.

but the story didn’t end there, Jesus then confronted her sin and told her not to sin any more.  grace is not an excuse to continue sinning.

here is where i think the Church has struggled and often failed.  we have expected people to choose what is Biblically right of people who have not been set free by the Son.  in other words, those that are in slavery to sin and are still dead in their transgressions typically don’t make very good moral decisions.  and they certainly don’t feel any reason to follow a statute given by a God that they do not know.  if you don’t get that, you’re pretty dense.

the Church cannot move to treat the symptom, it must move to treat the disease.  the problem with our society is that it has not been set free.

remember the great commission in matthew 28?  Jesus’ words are very logical and chronological.  Go…make disciples….teach them to obey…

i’m pretty sure Jesus understood that people will not obey the Scripture until they choose discipleship to the One.  furthermore, they cannot until they are set free from their slavery to sin.

so simply said, we should not be trying to make people stop being homosexual.  we should be trying to help people encounter Jesus and choose to follow Him.  then we can tell them, as Jesus told the adultress, “go and sin no more” and teach them to obey the Scripture.

laws are not the answer.  Jesus is.

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Unhappy Christians, when tempted, are very apt to seek pleasure away from the Lord. But those who rejoice in the Lord always shall find the joy of the Lord to be their strength, for it shall be cords of love and bands of a man to hold them fast to their King.

Happiness - The Privilege and Duty of Christians, by Charles Spurgeon, June 10, 1877
(If you’ve never dined on one of the prince of preachers’ nourishing meals, click that link and dive in!)

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Come, Christians, why are you cast down? Why are you so disquieted? Have you forgotten your redemption, forgotten your adoption, forgotten your justification and forgotten your safety in Christ?

[…]

We have every reason to be happy and if we are not so, it must be because we fail to remember the privileges which our Lord has bestowed upon us. Let me stir you up, my Brothers and Sisters, to happiness this morning—

“Why should the children of a King
Go mourning all their days?
Come, cease to groan, and loudly sing
A Psalm of gladsome praise.”

What a blessed task is mine—to urge my Brothers and Sisters to be happy! How highly favored are you to be exhorted to so delicious a privilege!

Happiness - The Privilege and Duty of Christians, by Charles Spurgeon, June 10, 1877

Oh Happy Day indeed!

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