By Grace

Lies

2008-05-14T18:45:00.003-04:00

Have you ever wondered when it is okay to lie and when it is not okay to lie? Has the thought ever crossed your mind that lying in a certain situation may be better than telling the truth?

I just read an article about lying. It was written by John Piper in "Relevant" magazine. The article was written in Sept./Oct. 2007.

Piper tackled some important truths about lying.

He pointed out that there are two places in scripture where lying was accepted. First, in Exodus, Pharaoh sets out to kill the newborn Hebrew boys. To save them the midwives tell Pharaoh that the Hebrew women are vigorous and they give birth before the midwives have a chance to arrive at the scene to dispose of the child. This is a lie, yet God was kind to the midwives. Secondly, in Joshua 2, Rahab hides two of Israel's spies and her actions were seen as faith (Hebrews 11:31).

But scripture is clearly against lying; Proverbs 6:16-19, Proverbs 12:22, and Revelation 21:8. So we have to be careful how we view our speech. There are very few times in life that it is acceptable to lie. And most of us have probably never been in a situation where lying would be acceptable in our Father's eyes. Lying about hiding slaves on the Underground Railroad is certainly more worthy than lying about how fast you were driving!

So why do we lie?

We usually lie because we think it will somehow help our situation. Let me also point out that exaggerating is lying too! For some reason we think we are better off if we tell people the fish we caught were just a little bigger than it really was.

What type of heart does that come from?

It comes from a heart that is not trusting God. Piper closes his article with these words.

"Telling the truth is evidence that we know God and have faith in Him, because faith in the goodness and sovereignty of God conquers the deceitful craving for esteem and safety and possessions that causes us to distort the truth in order to gain a worldly advantage. With faith in a God like ours, there is no need to be deceitful. He knows what is best for us, and He will always give it."

What do you think? Is your view of God big enough that you don't have to lie?

Being Inconvenienced and Dr. King

2008-04-05T10:16:00.004-04:00

This past Tuesday was April Fool's Day. I left my house running a little behind, but I felt okay because it only takes me 10 minutes to drive to the school where I teach. Everything was going fine with my drive until I made the last turn to my school. Traffic was piled up like I have never seen before. As I creeped closer to the school I saw a group of students had compiled near the parking lots. I first thought maybe there was a bomb threat or something. But as I got closer I could see the students cheering and dancing, they were having fun, this was not an evacuation. As I pulled into the school the Senior Class was pointing the students into the teacher parking lot and the teachers were being pointed to the student lot. As I drove by them I gave a little smirk, a cute prank has been played, but I rushed into the school a little frustrated I was late due to the traffic.
When I got into the school the amount of complaining I heard from the faculty was unbelievable. I will not go into detail but some of these teachers were so self focused and so self absorbed that they could not see the humor with having to give up their parking spot to a student for one day. There was such a sense of entitlement that they could not even take joy in the fact that the senior class choose to do a prank that was not illegal (usually we have students sneaking out past curfew to vandalize with paint. They did write with window chalk on teacher's windows who parked in the teacher lot. Can't keep them completely away from the paint I guess. But at least this paint washed off.). However, few teachers saw the humor in any of this.
Where did we get the sense that we won't allow ourselves to be inconvenienced? I had to listen to teachers complain all day because they had to park somewhere different!
Let's talk about what it means to be inconvenienced. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A man who died fighting for what was right. Dr. King allowed himself to be inconvenienced. He could have gone his whole life and left things the way they were but he left his family and his place on earth because he was trying to lead a nation in truth. The truth that all men are created equal and the dream that one day his children would be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. Dr. King gave his life fighting for equality and I work with teachers that don't want to give up their parking spots for a day so the senior class can have a laugh.
Where did Dr. King learn to have the attitude that he was willing to put himself into mortal danger fighting for what was right. The answer to that question is, Jesus. Dr. King knew that Jesus had made the ultimate sacrifice for mankind! Jesus left his eternal throne in heaven to come to earth to die for man's sins. There is no greater sacrifice than that of Jesus. And Dr. King knew that, he had learned that love from Jesus.
So what is keeping you from being inconvenienced by others? May I submit to you that allowing yourself to be inconvenienced by others is the gospel. There has been and will be no greater inconvenience in all of eternity than for our God and King to leave his throne on high to lower himself in the form of man to heal the sick and seek the lost.

Problems With Our Prayer

2008-03-19T19:26:00.003-04:00

I have been making some observations lately about problems in my prayer life. I wonder if the 20s and 30 somethings out there share the same feelings about their prayer lives.
I have been convicted lately in two ways when it comes to my prayer life.
First, I have yet to adapt a lifestyle of continual prayer. I pray daily but I don't think I pray the way I am convinced elderly saints pray. I wonder if the wise and elderly believers I look up to had this same problem when they were 26 going on 27? 1 Thess. 5:17 really trips me up. It says "pray continually". What do you think Paul meant with those two small words? I think he meant far more than I understand in my mid 20s.
The second problem I have identified in my prayer life deals with the things I pray for. I came under this conviction when studying through the book of Colossians. In Col. 3:2 Paul tell us to "set our minds on things above". While reading some commentaries on this passage it came to my realization that the best way to examen whether or not you are setting your mind on things above is to examen your prayer life. What is it you spend time praying for? Do you pray for earthly things only? Or are your prayers filled with petitioning for such things as the expansion of God's Kingdom. Do you pray to be used by God and any way He sees fit? I have to confess my prayer life is not too often filled with those types of prayers. My prayers usually start of with "God I want..." And that is not always a bad prayer. We often don't have because we don't ask! God wants us to ask Him for things. What is not good is if our prayer life is ONLY filled with those prayers.
So my brothers and sisters, do you share some of these feelings? Have you every examined your prayer life? What have you found? Don't be afraid to go and look. There is freedom in our struggles!

Biblical Manhood

2008-02-29T20:50:00.004-05:00

Last weekend some of the Men from By Grace went on a great weekend retreat! The main topic we talked about was True Biblical Manhood. And what that looks like is a Man that is after God's own Heart. This is however contrary to what the "world" tell us. The world tells us that "true manhood" is driving a fancy car, making lots of money, being good at athletics, etc. This "world view" was really backed up today when I received a spam e-mail that told me I could take these "pills" and achieve my "manhood" by March 9th.
I can't begin to tell you how excited this made me (sarcasm). What is dangerous is we buy into this. Maybe not the "man pill" exactly, but men get trapped into trying to find ways to be more "manly".
I just want to remind the men that a true man is one who is after God's Heart.
And ladies I want to tell you, don't settle for a man who believes anything else.

Ledger and Owens

2008-01-25T19:18:00.000-05:00

As I reflect on my post about Shawn Taylor and how I asked the question "here is a black athlete in America whose criminal record was spoken about in ALL the articles reporting his death. Will the same happen when a white athlete dies who has a record?" I have not found an answer to that specific question yet, but one thing I realized when talking to a friend was, Heath Ledger was found dead with pills spilt around his body and every article I read the day after his death said "accidental death". However when Terrel Owens confused his medication and was hospitalized every article I read said "suicide attempt". The media bias is staggering!
I am still waiting for a white athlete's death to hear if his record is mentioned but hearing about the difference with Ledger and Owens is confirming what I believed to be true.
Will the Church lead the world in racial reconciliation? If not us than who?

Boo Cheetos

2008-01-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

How many of you have seen the new Cheetos commercial? A women is at the laundry mat and another women says something rude to her. The women who has been spoken to rudely looks and sees the mascot "Chester" sitting at a table. Chester says to her "go ahead those are her whites in the dryer." The women then opens the dryer and places some Cheetos in the dryer to ruin the rude women's cloths.
What in the world is Cheetos teaching us by this? I remember years ago they were playing off the idea that Cheetos are "dangerously cheesy" or something like that. That was Cheetos right? But what are they trying to say now? Eat Cheetos and give into your evil desires?
It is no wonder the high school students I teach act like is such cruel ways. I have been aware for the longest time the negative vibes sent out by some Movies, Music and Video Games, but this was the first time I had seen a TV ad encouraging you to act out in anger against someone.
Praise God that He has a different view of Grace and Mercy than Cheetos does!
The deeper issue is that we all have the same urges that woman in the laundry mat had. We want to slash another rude drivers tires or something wrong. I encourage you to take that sin to the cross. Sins you only think and don't act out are sins too. Repent. Set your hearts and minds on things above! Colossians 3:1-2

What's Your Price?

2008-01-02T18:42:00.000-05:00

What's your price? Hopefully you don't have one, but most of us do. Some of our prices are lower than others. I am talking about sin of course. What is your price when it comes to sinning? Does it take a lot for the devil to buy you or do you sell for low? I usually feel like I am on the bargain rack.
I recently was listening to a Ravi Zacharias sermon and he told a very interesting story on the subject of how easily we buy into sin. The story goes like this; there was a women on an airplane and the man next to her told her she was very beautiful and he would pay her 1 million dollars to spend the night with him. She was taking back at first but later agreed. They set the time and location, but as they were exiting the plane the man said to her, "I would like to only pay 10 dollars for you to spend the night with me." She was shocked and responded, "what do you think I am some kind of prostitute?" In which the man responded, "we have already established you are, we are now just negotiating the price."
So what is your price? Judas' price was 30 pieces of silver? I usually find my price is no amount of money but a feeling of pride or power that I get when I indulge in the things that draw me away from my Father. Is there truly any price we want to pay to be drawn away from our Father? So why do we act like there is?

Ohh Roger

2007-12-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

Well maybe we will have a better glimpse at how athletes of different races are treated when they find themselves in similar circumstances. I came across this article that addresses what we were talking about a few posts earlier (Questions about Race). Check it out (click here).
What do you think? Does Clemens deserve this bad press? What about Barry? Did he deserve what the media put him through? Maybe maybe not let us know what you think.

Where They've Gone Wrong

2007-12-12T20:38:00.001-05:00

I wanted to take just a minute to contrast the Christian faith and Mormonism. I had a conversation with my friend James the other day and we had a great conversation about this. It came to our attention that many of our Christian brothers and sisters know little about the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. Hopefully this will provide a small glimpse of the differences.
While there are many differences in these two belief systems (views of God and Jesus, etc.) I will just focus on the largest part I have seen and that is the particular view of Salvation.
The Mormons basically believe that Salvation comes by faith through baptism and works. "For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all that we can do." Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23. This is a huge difference from what the Christian Church holds to be true. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through-faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9.
So why do the Mormons seek to tack our works onto Salvation. The simple answers is, they can't fathom that "Grace" can be that simple. The Mormon Church often accuses Christians of teaching "cheap grace." But Paul refutes the teaching of "cheap grace" in Romans 6. Should we go on sinning so we can experience more grace? Paul's answer is "No! We died to sin." So not only is Salvation not by works it is also NOT an excuse to live a sinful life. Our grace is certainly not cheap. It cost our Savior his life.
You see the Mormons have greatly corrupted grace by tacking on our personal works. Paul sets the record straight in Galatians 2:21, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" There are no amount of good works we can do to gain Salvation. And praise be to God for that! If it were by works, even some minor amount of works, we would never, in this life or the next, be able to taste and see how truly glorious our Savior really is.

I Missed the E-Mails...

2007-12-05T16:40:00.000-05:00

I am sure most of you have heard about the new movie that opens this Friday, "The Golden Compass." Most of you have probably received e-mails speaking out against the movie. I did not get any of those e-mails, but my wife did and her Mom had done some research on the upcoming film. We began to talk about this movie (created after the books) and I was shocked to her the anti-Christian themes in the book. I am not going to go into great detail about it because I have a great link that will lead you to many articles that will allow you to examine the content for yourself. Here is the link: http://thepoint.breakpoint.org/2007/11/a-golden-compas.html
Well I hope you spend some time reading about this. Let's take a stand. We can abstain from going and inform friends and family that our money this Holiday Season can certainly be better spent.

Questions about Race

2007-11-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of questions about race, ethnicity, and racism. Most of my questions deal with race in the United States. In what I am about to write I don't have answers to the questions I am going to ask. I am just thinking. But I feel it is important for us to think about and discuss important cultural and spiritual issues. I am convicted by the Spirit when I read biographies of guys like Wilberforce and Lewis who would sit around with their friends for hours and discuss the "Christian" view of current events and other important social issues. I want more of that in my life. Challenge me.
I am not a football fan, however I enjoy keeping up with current events. I recently heard about the death of Sean Taylor as I am sure you did. I had never heard of this young man until he was shot and later pronounced dead. I was reading an article about him and found out how the shooting took place. The article then discussed his stats and then mentioned he was once convicted for brandishing a firearm. At the moment I read that, I automatically assumed he must have been involved in some shady stuff and I might as well be reading about some low life thug. The article had some redemption in my eyes when it quoted Clinton Portis saying Shawn Taylor's life was drastically changed for the better at the birth of his daughter. But I was left with a question.
Do news paper articles include everyone's prior records in articles describing their deaths? Joe Kennedy, the pitcher for A's who recently died, had no mention of crime. Perhaps he was never convicted of a crime. But why include Taylor's record? Was Taylor's crime mentioned because it involved a gun, the same weapon that killed him?
What about other athletes who die? I am assuming when Michael Vick, O.J. Simpson, and Barry Bonds die we will all read about their "wrong doings" again. But I wonder when Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire pass will we read about how they used to inject one another with steroids? I guess we will just have to wait and see...

Evolution

2007-11-13T21:04:00.000-05:00

So I was watching a show tonight on PBS. It was about the argument between Intelligent Design and Evolution. I have heard Darwin's theory many times but each time I hear it explained again it baffles me that people don't see evolution is as much faith based as religion.
If evolution is true and man came from monkeys and monkeys from other species that were brewed from some primordial soup that was brewed over billions of years after rocks in space collided, the question still stands, where did the rocks come from? Is there not faith involved in believing "in the beginning rocks"? I know faith is involved in "in the beginning God".
Now when you talk about Evolution, creation or not you have to admit that Evolution takes place. However there are two types of evolution. Micro and Macro. Micro Evolution takes place all the time. Micro Evolution means a change among species. For example during times of drought birds beaks will change sizes to gain access to water in hard to reach places. Macro Evolution on the other hand means a species can change completely. For example monkeys changing into humans over millions of years. Micro Evolution is seen all the time. However Macro Evolution has never been seen by humans. That is why it remains a theory. Sure I believe that birds beaks change during droughts. But I don't believe that birds evolved into dogs or cats.
What do we do with this information. So often we want to argue about it. However scripture does not call us to aimlessly argue about our faith. We are to defend it yes, but for what purpose do you defend your faith? Do you defend your faith out of anger for their disbelief or for sadness of their disbelief. Do you preach because you want them to experience, see and taste that Christ is infinitely more valuable than anything else?
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction." 2 Timothy 4:2

the Trinity

2007-11-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

I understand the Trinity a little more now. This past Sunday while preaching I explained that the Trinity was one of those things that I don't think we are really capable of completely grasping while here on earth.
I found myself again watching a John Ortberg video on the Internet. Here's the link
http://www.johnortberg.com/videoserver/video.php?clip=ortbergT1067
In this short video Ortberg talks about the Trinity and he refers to it as the "power of shyness." What he pointed out was each member of the Trinity points to another member. It is funny to think of shyness that way. We usually simply refer to shyness as a self centered thing. But the Trinity expresses shyness by pointing to one another. The Spirit points to Jesus in John 15:26, when the Spirit comes he will testify about Jesus. In John 8:54 Jesus takes the spotlight off of himself and points it to the Father. And when we see God in the Gospels, at Jesus' baptism and at the transfiguration, God points to Jesus. He says this is my Son who I am well pleased, listen to him.
All the members of the Trinity pointing to and glorifying one another.
Who are you pointing to? Who gets your praise?

Getting Over myself

2007-10-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

Isn't it all about me? I know it is not but sometimes I really feel my thoughts and actions reflect that. When I was younger my Mom would always say that my biggest problem was "I acted before thinking." It has taken me this long to fully understand this problem. Back then she simply meant I needed to stop saying and doing foolish things. But there was and is something much deeper at the root. I spoke and acted quickly because I thought little about others and even less about God the Father.
My selfishness has switched from hurting peoples feelings at a young age and into self righteousness. I wrongly think people owe me things and I even more wrongly think God owes me things. I am faithful. I attend Church. Heck, I am a church leader! I give lots of my time weekly to bible studies and church meetings. Is it too much to ask for something as simple as a truck that works?
Here is the truth. I don't even deserve an answer to that question. But the faithful God of the Universe answered me. He said that you were not created to simply lead Bible studies or even to drive trucks that worked. I was created to worship. And Christ came to earth and suffered much so that we would be able to glorify God! (Romans 15:8-9) You see it is not about us. We want it to be, but it is not. It is about God!

Quick thought about the Lord's Prayer

2007-10-23T21:55:00.000-04:00

I was recently listening to a sermon by John Ortberg and he was talking about the Lord's Prayer. One of the things he was saying is that "we often say things so often and so quickly that we don't pay attention to what we are saying." I agree. We all know the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." There is more to it, but I wanted to stop there.
What was revealed to me was that I should not live this life the way I so often do! I find myself in a circumstance and I say to myself "man I can't wait for God to come back so this will be over." But scripture clearly states "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). We should not be saying I can't wait for Christ to return simply because we don't like our situation. We can long for Christ's return, yes! But while we are on earth, our prayer should be what it is far too less. Our prayer should be God bring your Kingdom to earth, now.
God your Kingdom is void of pain, of suffering, no racism, lust free. God our prayer as your children is that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Father usher your Kingdom from Heaven to Earth through the Church.
Are you ready? When you prayer the Lord's Prayer do you really believe His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven?

Dedicated

2007-10-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

I finished reading a biography on William Wilberforce a short time ago. Christian biographies are something that always minister to my soul. If you do not make it a habit to pick up a Christian biography every once in a while, I strongly recommend it. This particular one, “Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce” by John Piper was a gift from my mother-in-law.
For those of you who have never heard of the man, Wilberforce served on Parliament in England from the late 1700s into the early 1800s. Wilberforce was a champion of the faith and saw to it that one of the cruelest enterprises known to man was put to an end in his home country of England. I am of course referring to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Wilberforce however did not see this enterprise ended over night. He felt convictions from the Father early in his life as a believer and saw them out, shortly before his death. Wilberforce dedicated more than half his life to the abolishment of the slave trade and slavery itself. But how did such a man make such a difference, to change the course of an entire nation?
A verse that personifies Wilberforce is Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Wilberforce was convinced that no man had the right to be idle. Upon giving his life to Christ as a young adult, Wilberforce sought to leave Parliament to “dedicate his life to the Lord” by becoming a minister. Thankfully he sought the advice of a very famous theologian John Newton. Newton advised him that his talents could be used by God in the public life. Wilberforce stayed in Parliament but did not function as the other members. Wilberforce knew something that most did not know then, and many still do not know today; if you are in Christ there is no such thing as a secular job. That means as a child of God, all the things you do are done for the Kingdom.
What is it you are doing for the Kingdom? We don’t all have to run out and become ministers (though some should). Most of us need to minister right where we are! Perhaps Wilberforce may have enjoyed more a life of being compensated for studying and preaching scripture, but that was not God’s plan and Wilberforce accepted that. He dedicated and used his status in Parliament to change the course of history for the Kingdom and for his Father God.
There was no easy answer for Wilberforce. The question I am sure he asked was, “How do carry myself in Parliament unto the glory of God?” But he kept asking, and what God revealed to Wilberforce was that he was not put into Parliament to make laws, but to eradicate laws that were offensive to God.
What is your job and whose glory are you doing it unto?

Wasting Away

2007-09-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

The Internet is a tool that has many pitfalls. Countless believers and unbelievers alike can get sucked into hours of viewing sexually explicit material and a sin that we talk far less about, the hours we spend online shopping dreaming about the things we wish we only had enough money to buy. Amidst the hardening of my heart against the Internet, God has been revealing to me that he is ruler of the universe and that he is reconciling all things to himself. See, my complaints with the Internet are not all that valid. My blaming the Internet for sin in my life and the life of my brothers and sisters is as legit as Adam and Eve blaming the "fruit" for sin entering the world. There are countless things on the Internet to occupy the mind and hearts of believers for Kingdom purposes. One of the things I have been spending time doing is watching sermon clips of one of my favorite theologians, John Piper. The other night I was watching some clips from his series "Don't Waste your Life." He spent some time attacking retirement in America! "Why are people spending the best years of their lives (60s-80s) on the golf course while half the world has no food, clean water, and is dying of disease?" This is a valid question that you should spend some time pondering.
It made me think of my Grandmother (Gramme). Gramme is getting ready to celebrate her 85th birthday this October! She is a widow who spends her days sweeping her porch, cooking, reading, and working with her stamp collection. She has been a follower of Christ many more years than most of us have been alive (unless you're over 70). Gramme was a public school teacher for more than 30 years and her love for the Lord is unparalleled to anything else. She lead Sunday school classes and adult Bible studies for many many years. She just recently began leading another study at her current Church on Sunday mornings. We spent a few hours together pouring over her study in Acts. Her excitement for teaching the Word at 84 was more than exciting for me to see. It was an inspiration to hear her say "Chris, I am so happy to be teaching the Word again. I have just been feeling like I have been floundering lately." I was in awe of this statement. What 84 year old feels like they are floundering because they have not been taking people through scriptural truths? I thought life was "you work until you retire." NOT TRUE. Our work for the Kingdom is never done until our Father calls us home. What work is the Lord wanting to start in you? How is he structuring your life and retirement plan so his work will be carried out through your entire life?