In the Spirit?

One day a few weeks ago I was listening to a local radio station that had "religious content" playing. Now I do this periodically just to see what's on the minds of people with various views of God. On this particular day I heard something that caught my attention, and really made me think.

What I was listening to was obviously a recording of a particular church's Sunday worship service. It was the sermon that was being delivered that day, and boy was it a rousing lesson! The preacher was going down a list of designations of Jesus.

"Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Lord, Savior…"

He really had the crowd stirred up! You could hear the "amens" and "hallelujahs" in the background. I guess you could say that they were "spirit filled" (as the old expression goes). At one point he stops, and appearing to be "led by the spirit" breaks into song – the song, "Oh, How I Love Jesus".

Now let me stop right here and make sure that you understand that it is not my intention to "make fun" of someone here. I do not know this man, but I'm sure that he is absolutely sincere in what he believes [Note: Sincerity can sometimes be deadly]. But someone can be sincere, and be sincerely wrong (cf. Matthew 7:21-23).

As this preacher broke out into song, he would sing the phrase "Oh how I love…", and then allow the congregation to sing the name "Jesus". This continued for the length of the chorus, until he got to the last line. Now if you know this song, you know that the last line is "because he first loved me". Well, upon reaching that section, the poor preacher got out the word "because"… and then appeared to go blank. Now this wasn't as before, in the way in which he would let the congregation sing. He was silent in the aforementioned instances. This time, he sounded as though he mashed his words together. He sort of mumbled for a moment. He had forgotten the most important line of the song!

Now this is the point of what I'm writing.

There are those who truly believe that the Holy Spirit guides them in their hearts in some miraculous, extra-Biblical way that works outside the bounds of scripture. But here's the simple question: If the Holy Spirit were truly guiding this man, then how could the Spirit have forgotten what the Spirit said through John? The Spirit himself inspired these words, the final phrase of the above song, recorded by the apostle John: "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19).

Certainly the Holy Spirit wouldn't make such a mistake! The scriptures came from the Spirit (cf. 2 Peter 1:20-21), thus, the Holy Spirit would know what the scriptures say! The Spirit likewise would never lead someone into confusion, but to truth, certainly not a mistake or error. (See John 16:13-15, then 1 Corinthians 14:33).

We need to be careful, and make sure we take a long hard look and study intently what Paul meant when he recorded the words we read in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13, and also Ephesians 4. Such direct revelation or guidance was done away with in the first century (1 Corinthians 13:8-10) upon the completion of the word of God, the Bible. If only some of these could grasp the meaning of what Paul means when he writes these words, and not get "hung up" on these false ideas about the Holy Spirit:

"But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way."- 1 Corinthians 12:31, NKJV

~Daniel

By His Power

I haven't written in a couple weeks. Here's my attempt to get back into the habit…

When I was young I had the opportunity to help my dad work toward restoring an old house that would eventually become my mother's frame shop and art gallery. There were many valuable lessons I learned during that time. This is one of them.

We were trying to renovate the front porch of the house we were working on and turn it into what you might call a "sun room". We started by demolishing the old porch, in the process removing all of the old brickwork and also the floor and the floor joists. This room was going to be rebuilt literally from the ground up.

As we put into place the foundation on which the floor would rest, there came a point at which we started assembling the framework that made up the floor joists. I can't remember the exact size of the beams, but I would image that they were at least 2" by 10" beams, each one being a few feet long. Needless to say, they were heavy. It was hard enough for someone my age and size (I was probably 11 or 12 years old) to just hold one of them. Before long, the joists had been put into their places, and were awaiting the sub-floor's installation.

I can't remember the exact situation, but for some reason we either needed to move something at one end of the porch. I don't know why, but I can assure you there was a perfectly valid reason for it, and not because of an afterthought. I think that maybe my dad was just making sure that everything was level, and wanted to have it as exact as possible [we'll save the lesson on excellence for another time, but for now, you can read this]. If I recall correctly, my job was to somehow fit a shim of some sort underneath the joists we had put into place. When my dad told me to do this, I thought he was crazy. How were we going to put something underneath those floor joists? My dad had the answer.

He turned to me and said, "I'm going to lift this up. When I get it up, you put it underneath [pointing to the spot]." He then turned around, wrapped his hands around the beams, and lifted up that whole side of the porch. Wow. What power. I quickly did my job so that he could put the floor joists down.

I don't know how much it weighed. I just know that I was blown away that my father could lift that much weight. I wasn't even sure that he could, until he did it. After that, if my dad said he was going to lift something, or move something, I didn't doubt it.

Do you ever find yourself in a position where you might doubt what God is able to do? You may not explicitly say that, or even realize that you are thinking that way. Sadly, some are guilty of offering up faithless prayers (cf. Matthew 21:22; ask for the right things, too, James 4:3), that is, they ask for things in prayer, but still have those doubts in their mind as to the effectiveness of their prayer (cf. James 5:16b). In doing so, they lack a full appreciation of God's power.

While being able to lift a lot of weight here on this earth is certainly impressive, it pales in comparison to the heavy lifting that God is able to do, and the power that he has. The psalmist David expressed it this way:

"Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God," – Psalm 62:11 (ESV)

David writes this in the context of God's power to save. David also writes:

"On God rests my salvation, and my glory; my mighty rock; my refuge is God." – Psalm 62:7 (ESV)

God showed that power when he raised his son from the dead (2 Corinthians 13:4) and likewise by that same power gives us the opportunity to be with Him someday as well. Paul writes that God raised Jesus, and will also raise us up, by his power (1 Corinthians 6:14). But we don't have to wait until the resurrection to appreciate God's power!

When we think the road is too hard to tread, or our working for God takes us difficulty here on this earth, think about things the way Paul did.

2 Corinthians 6:1-13 ESV - (1) Working together with him [God, cf. 5:21, D.H.], then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (2) For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (3) We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, (4) but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, (5) beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; (6) by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; (7) by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; (8) through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; (9) as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; (10) as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. (11) We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. (12) You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. (13) In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

~Daniel

They Just Don’t Know

I was browsing around Facebook today trying to find inspiration. I know that it's a strange place to go to look for inspiration, but you should try it sometime. It really gives you a feel for what is on people's minds right now. Sometimes it can be pretty eye-opening. One post I saw made me think.

Ryan O'Rourke, who works with the Cold Harbor Road Church of Christ in Mechanicsville, VA, had posted a link to a PBS documentary that he was watching. The documentary is called Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain. He had noted how it was pretty good "Islamic propaganda" and that "Al Qaeda would approve" of it. I watched the trailer myself on the PBS website. You don't have to watch long to see what road they are traveling.

It introduces the "ideal" of tolerance that supposedly existed in medieval Spain concerning the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It mentions how their "cultures intertwined" [not quite sure how, but supposedly did: likely through apostasy and compromise, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, also 1 Corinthians 15:33] and the "knowledge of the ancients was gathered". Sounds great, doesn't it! A great, multicultural society was brewing. Until those Christians decided to start what became known as the "Spanish Inquisition". It doesn't explicitly say that in the trailer, but that is likely what is being referred to. Because of their actions, the trailer claims, "moral absolutism and intolerance snuffed out the light of learning."

I haven't seen the documentary (yet) but I can deduce a few things from the trailer. It is likely that intolerance and "moral absolutism" will be used to show how Christianity, especially those who lived during that time, has led to "some terrible things, too". From time to time, someone will come along and try to grind their axe with Christianity by describing all of the terrible things that people have done in the name of God, and Christ. If only they knew, but they just don't know the truth.

First of all, not everything that is done "in someone's name" is necessarily approved by that person. I could do things in your name that you would find to be reprehensible. I could then cause people to think some terrible things about you, and what they think you think. But it wouldn't be true.

The same can be said of these "Christians". They did many things in the name of Christ which indeed the son of God finds abominable. Nowhere in the New Testament can the idea be successfully supported of coercing people by penalty of death to become "Christians". Nowhere do we find torture to be an acceptable practice for bringing about repentance. Instead, the Lord is the judge (Hebrews 12:23, 2 Timothy 4:8, especially James 4:12), any conversion is done through His Word (Acts 2:37). He will decide based on men's hearts and actions. We are never told to carry out such actions. In fact, we are told the opposite (Matthew 7:1-5).

What really stands out to me, though, and I think what really identifies the problem here is what John writes in 1 John 3:1:

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

Now it's not that they don't know we, i.e. Christians, exist. The sense of the word "know" here is more that of appreciation. They do not fully appreciate the true nature of the God of Heaven. They do not see him as God, nor do they glorify Him as such. Instead, they pursue this idea of multicultural co-existence and preference over truth. In their world, which contains no absolutes, any man can decide Christianity's tenants, like the Pope. If he can, why can't anyone else create their own view of God? What a crazy, mixed up view of God (twisting to destruction, 2 Peter 3:16).

Since they refuse to know God in the proper sense, how can they ever really understand who true Christians are? Well, they can, through the New Testament. God has made it plain:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools," (Romans 1:18-22 ESV)

~Daniel Howell

Busy, Busy, Busy…

I have become a person of lists. I have a task list that I keep track of daily which lets me know what I have to get done that day. I also have several calendars of which each correspond to a different aspect of my life.

Why all of these lists and calendars? Well, I have so many things going on in my life at any one given moment that I'm afraid I'm going to forget. I have bad dreams sometimes about waking up on Sunday morning and realizing I haven't prepared a sermon! If only that old adage "just open your mouth and the Spirit will fill it" was both scriptural and true for today's time! (see 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 for more on that)

Sometimes as I look over these lists I can't believe what all I have to keep track of. I have visits to make, I have lessons to prepare, I have a radio program to record. I have to write these blog posts! I have to mow the grass, clean our vehicles, and various other tasks around the house. I have to pay the power bill. The list goes on.

I wonder sometimes if other people's lives are like this. Is your life like this? Do you have lists of things that have to be accomplished? Do you also spend part of the time that you are working on one task thinking about what you have to do with the next task?

Oh, and what about when people try to "change your plans"? How do you react? You have a schedule, after all! How uncaring for them to not be considerate of all of the things that you have to get done, right?

Sometimes I have to stop and think long and hard about what Paul writes to the church in Philippi. In Philippians 2:4 we read the following:

    "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

That word for "look" means "to take aim at, consider". Now how does that make you feel when you look at it? It's so easy to be consumed with I or me and what I have to get finished. Where on my fancy calendars am I looking out for the interests of others?

Paul also wrote this to the church in Corinth:

"Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." (1 Corinthians 10:24, ESV)

Now realize what Paul is saying: I have things that I must look after and responsibilities (cf. Gal. 6:5), but my work doesn't stop there. God clearly wants me to be concerned with the welfare of those who are around me. In the immediate context that means my wife, and someday, my children. That means your husband or your wife for you, too! It also means my brothers and sisters in Christ (for example, see Hebrews 3:13).

Will you make space in your busy schedule for those who need you, in order to consider them? It may mean [collective gasp] taking some things off of that calendar! Let's do some real quick simple math: if you, and you alone are looking out for your interests and welfare, how many are looking out for you? What if we could all consider each other, then how many would be looking out for you and I?

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works," – (Hebrews 10:24, ESV)