Preach

Always preach the Word of God as if you were doing so for the very last time in your life.

One day it will be.

Camel

In Matthew 19:16-26, as well as in Mark 10:17-27 and in Luke 18:18-27, Jesus encountered the rich young ruler. Jesus told the rich young ruler, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

The rich young ruler went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The rich young ruler, as wealthy as he was, did not want to pay the high price that it cost (and that it still costs today) to be a true follower of Jesus.

Jesus then told his disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I believe that one of the reasons for this commentary by Jesus is that when a person has great wealth, then he or she tends to put his or her trust in said wealth instead of in God.

A rich person tends to put his or her trust, and his or her faith, more in his or her savings, or bank account statements, or investments, or property holdings, or ownership interests, or retirement funds, instead of in God.

A rich person tends to put his or her trust in the tangible evidence of his or her wealth, instead of in God.

God clearly has blessed certain believers with great wealth. Old Testament examples include Abraham, David, and Solomon. New Testament examples include Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

At the same time, however, I have seen how earthly wealth and earthly riches have destroyed the testimonies of countless so-called believers, as they switched their faith focus from God to their earthly accumulations.

God has blessed you with wealth, then use it all for His great glory.

If God has blessed you with wealth, though, be very, very careful, as the enemy surely will try to use your wealth to snare you, and to get you to lose faith in God and gain faith in your riches instead.

Don't let your earthly riches cost you a place in God's eternal kingdom.

Think of a camel trying to contort its way through the eye of a needle.

That's what you're up against.

Prayer

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote, "Pray without ceasing."

In James 5:16 (NKJV), James wrote, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

In Luke 18:1-8 (NKJV), Jesus spoke a parable about a widow and a judge. The widow sought justice from the judge against her adversary. The judge, who did not fear God nor regard man, nonetheless eventually granted the widow's request for justice because of her persistence and her perseverance. Jesus concluded the parable by saying, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

God rewards the believer who persists and perseveres in prayer. God's response may not be as speedy as the believer desires, and may not even be in the exact form that the believer desires, but God will respond to believers who cry out in anguish for His almighty help and deliverance.

Persevere and persist in prayer. Cry out day and night to Him. God is listening. He will respond in His sovereign time and in His sovereign manner.

Take Up His Cross Daily

One of the most consistent messages of Jesus, as seen in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23, was, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

Denial and the daily taking up of the cross run contrary to the grain of our fleshly nature, but such is the true cost of following Jesus.

Denial and the daily taking up of the cross may come in the form of obedience, service, surrender, trial, tribulation, suffering, and even death itself.

Our fleshly nature will always seek ease, comfort, and pleasure, but such is not the true cost of discipleship and submission to Christ.

In Matthew 7:14, Jesus adds, "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Flee from anyone who tells you that the Christian life should be one full of comfort, ease, and pleasure. Jesus tells us the exact opposite, that the true Christian life will be difficult and will involve significant self-denial and the daily taking up of the cross.

True Christianity is not easy and never will be. Just look at the price that Jesus paid.

Covetousness

In Luke 12:15 (NKJV), Jesus addressed a crowd, and He told them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

We live in a world which is addicted to materialism and riches. We always want more stuff. We always want the latest item or the newest gadget. If it's trendy or stylish or hip or cool, then we've gotta have it.

Tragically, that attitude also has infected much of the church by way of the poison of the prosperity gospel. Too many so-called Christians see God as really nothing more than a genie in a bottle, ready and waiting to grant us all of our materialistic wishes and covetous desires.

Tragically, that also is what far too many churches and pastors teach these days, and it is destroying the reputation of the church, as the world sees so-called Christians who covet and lust after earthly treasures just as much as anyone else does.

God does not want you to be rich. He wants you to be righteous.

God does not want you to be happy. He wants you to be holy.

God does not want you to be comfortable. He wants you to be a person that reflects His character.

That is true abundance.

A Roaring Lion

In 1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV), Peter writes, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

Be alert. The devil is absolutely vicious and bloodthirsty, and he will do all that he can to tempt you, to discourage you, and to ruin you, your walk, and your testimony. The devil loves nothing better than to see people abandon the faith and return to the world, and he will stop at nothing to accomplish it.

I have seen far too many seemingly faithful believers who have gone off of the Christian path and who have abandoned the faith. It is so utterly sad and so utterly tragic.

It is vital to remain firm in the faith, no matter your life's circumstances. It is vital to remain obedient to God's Word and submissive to God's will, no matter what. It is the only way to resist the roaring lion that will never give up trying to devour you.

Suffering For Christ

In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Corinth about how he had been suffering for Christ. Paul listed the multitude of sufferings that he had endured, including how he had been "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches."

In today's day and age, the vast majority of Christians have absolutely no interest in suffering for Christ as Paul did.

In today's day and age, the vast majority of Christians are more concerned with personal comfort, materialistic prosperity, and earthly treasures.

In today's day and age, that is why the church is becoming more and more irrelevant in so much of the world.

In today's day and age, the church needs fewer comfort-seekers.

In today's day and age, the church needs more Pauls.

Striped Candy

A. W. Tozer once reflected on the sorry state of the contemporary evangelical church. Tozer observed:

"It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God's professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments. This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture designed to house the golden calf."

Tozer also commented:

"The striped candy technique has been so fully integrated into our present religious thinking, it is simply taken for granted. Its victims never dream that it is not part of the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Any objections to the carryings-on of our present golden calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, 'But we are winning them!' And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world's treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total commital to Christ? Of course, the answer to all these questions is 'no.'"

What is amazing is that A. W. Tozer died back in 1963.

A. W. Tozer died 48 years ago.

A. W. Tozer's words and his criticism of the sorry state of the contemporary evangelical church, and its striped candy mentality, however, are as timely today as they were a half-century ago.

Rivers In The Desert

In Isaiah 43:118-19 (NKJV), God tells Israel, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

In these verses God is telling Israel how He will deliver them in the future. We today also can take comfort in these verses and know that God similarly will deliver us and make roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for us as well.

One of the enemy's most common attacks against believers is to get them to focus on past mistakes, errors, and sins, so that they get discouraged and stop serving God. Frequently the enemy wants us to focus only on former failures, while God wants us to focus on new opportunities to honor Him and to glorify Him. That's where God provides roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for us.

Repent of your sins, learn from your mistakes, correct your errors, and focus on your walk with God and the future that God has in store for you.

You can't drive forward if you're stuck in reverse.

Hands

Elisabeth Elliot:

"Leave it all in the hands that were wounded for you."

Faith

Elisabeth Elliot on faith:

"Faith's most severe tests come not when we see nothing, but when we see a stunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain."

"Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them."

Amused

To follow up on yesterday's "Jesustainment" blog post, today I offer the words of Charles Spurgeon on the same issue:

"I fear there are some who preach with the view of amusing men, and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and their ears can be tickled, and they can retired pleased with what they have heard, the orator is content, and folds his hands, and goes back self-satisfied ... Now observe, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he is on the left hand of the judge, and if still, 'Depart, ye cursed,' shall be his portion?"

(Charles Spurgeon, "Soul Saving Our One Business," The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 25, 674-676)

Jesustainment

I've invented a new word today, and that word is "Jesustainment."

"Jesustainment" is what is substituted for true teaching and true worship in many churches today.

"Jesustainment" dilutes God's Word and turns Sunday morning church services into something more akin to a flashy Broadway show or production, without offering anything of true or lasting spiritual substance.

"Jesustainment" offers amusement instead of true spiritual edification.

"Jesustainment" favors the world's entertainment values and gimmicks over a pure presentation of God's Word.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once observed, "The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it."

"Jesustainment" should not come as a surprise to the authentic believer. In fact, Paul wrote about it to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV), when he predicted, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

If "Jesustainment" is the norm in your church, and if Sunday mornings have become nothing more than a weekly, "feel-good" entertainment show or production, then flee for your soul.

Not My Will, But Yours

In the Garden of Gethsemane (which means "oil press"), prior to His trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed (Luke 22:42, NKJV), "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."

Jesus' prayer, uttered as "His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44, NKJV), was one filled with anguish and obedience. That is what total submission to God's will is all about.

Elisabeth Elliot has observed, "I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience, until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: 'Thy will be done.'"

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy will be done", and then He prayed it Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We, too, must pray, "Thy will be done", but it can be very difficult for us to do at times, because our fleshly nature frequently wars against it. Oftentimes our fleshly nature tries to convince us that our will should trump God's in our lives, and that we know better than Him concerning what is good, right, and spiritually edifying for us.

But we must follow Jesus' example. Jesus deliberately subjugated His human will to God's perfect will, even though Jesus also knew and also understood the enormous pain, suffering, and sacrifice on the cross that would be a part of it.

But it made all the difference.

The next time that you are tempted to think that your own personal will should trump God's in your life, think of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how He subjugated His own will to God's, and how His subjugation of His will, and His sacrifice on the cross, made eternal life possible for you and for me.

The Cross

Elisabeth Elliot:

"To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss."

Rightly Govern A Nation

George Washington:

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

Suffering

Elisabeth Elliot:

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love - that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary's cross, though 'legions of angels' might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."