THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTMAS

Even though Christmas day is past, it is a good thing to think about the meaning of the birth of Christ, just as Mary pondered all those things in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

This may surprise you, but the purpose of Christmas is missions. Jesus was the apostle, or missionary, sent to us by God. Hebrews 3:1 reads,

"Therefore, holy brothers and companions in the heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession."

But this verse assumes that if you ponder His mission, you must recognize that we are also united in this heavenly calling. All who come to Him are called.

Most of us hold dearly to the promise of Romans 8:28.

"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God:"

And you know I did not quote the entire verse here. The verse concludes,

"those who are called according to His purpose."

That's you. You too are called. This does not necessarily mean you are called to stand in the pulpit and preach. It may not mean that God is sending you to Bangladesh. But God has a specific purpose for your life. And your calling is crucial to the Kingdom of God.

Listen for His calling. And pray that He will be glorified as you do whatever God has called you to do. Pray that God will touch the lives of people who live and work around you, that they might receive Jesus who was sent to them at Christmas.

PURPOSE 2

PURPOSE  2

It seems strange to me that so many people are trying to live without thinking about the purpose of their lives. Of course that casts them onto the mercy of their glands. Last week I pointed out several things like comfort and pleasure that are illegitimate purposes for life. This week I will surprise you with two more possible purposes that are often less than God's plan for us.

Success is not necessarily God's purpose for your life. I should say short term success or success as we see it may not be God's will for you. Of course, a major problem with success is trying to win the wrong race. But in fact immediate or short-sighted success in the right area may not be the right goal either.

Let me give you a complicated illustration. Those of you who are directly involved in ministry, whether professionally or as a committed lay person can easily be confused about this. We rightly seek to reach as many people as possible. That is success. But let me call your attention to Jesus in John chapter 6. Our Lord ran off thousands of people who believed in Him, by telling them they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Can you imagine anyone in the church growth movement condoning that kind of preaching? I can hear some of those whose doctrine is soundest saying something like this to Jesus. "Okay, if you have to say that, express it in more acceptable terms." And frankly I'm not sure they would not be right some of the time.

But here we have our Lord, preparing to send His followers to reach the ends of the earth giving us an example of running people away by what He said and how He said it. All I can say is that Jesus showed us that pleasing God was more important than growing the church. So it is more important for us to be in tune with God than it is for us to work at what we assume God wants us to do.

Now of all these things I am helping you to think about, this final conviction of mine will surprise you most. Striving for righteousness is not the ultimate purpose of your life. If I had thousands of readers I would possibly be running most of you away like Jesus did in John 6. But I ask those of you who will listen, at least to show how wrong I am, to consider some things.

You can strive for righteousness in ungodly ways. The Pharisees did it with great zeal. You can try to be righteousness in human strength. If you do that you will sometimes become discouraged and give up altogether. At other times you will succeed enough in your own eyes that you will fall into the trap of the devil who fell from heaven because of his arrogance.

You may also strive to be righteous so God will owe you. You may say, "Since I have done all this, God will have to accept me." Or you might resent God, saying, "What's the use? I went to church; I was sincere; I did my best, but this bad thing still happened to me."

You are putting your faith in your righteousness. And your righteousness will send you to hell. You need to repent of your righteousness, and seek the righteousness that Jesus bought for you on the cross.  

So of course I am not quite saying the ultimate purpose of life is not being right with God. Certainly His will is true. But you can seek righteousness with the pride and self-centeredness of a Pharisee.

All true righteousness comes from Jesus who justifies the ungodly. From Him we receive a righteousness we could never achieve. In fellowship with Him we come to desire and delight in righteousness, but we are not righteous to be saved or so God will give us a good life. We hunger to do what is right because we know it pleases God who saved us even though our best efforts were foolish and filthy.

Jesus cried out for the highest purpose for us in John 12:28. "Father, glorify Your Name!" Are you crying out for God to work supernaturally in your life to bring glory to His name?

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PURPOSE 1

One of the greatest tragedies that is sweeping the modern world is confusion and therefore corruption of purpose. In how many areas of life have we confused our purpose and so lost all hope of fulfillment?

IS COMFORT YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE?

In John 12:27,28 Jesus said,

"Now is my heart troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"

Purpose was crucial to Jesus. But do you realize what our Lord said here? His purpose was for His heart to be troubled. It was necessary for Him to come into the hour of trouble to redeem us. What is your purpose? Is it to avoid trouble or heartache?

Your God given, soul satisfying, purpose is not comfort. Jesus said He would send us another Comforter. But the Holy Spirit is to be with us in trials. If your purpose is comfort, finding it will bring boredom rather than satisfaction.

WHAT ABOUT PLEASURE?

The purpose of your life on this earth is not pleasure either. God created pleasure. It can be very good as a side dish. But it makes a terrible main course.

The drug epidemic and the sexual revolution that are deadly parasites on our homes, our economy, and all the foundations of society are products of the unquestioned belief that pleasure is the highest human value.

I am aware that many of my readers would already agree with what I am saying. Although I am very pleased if some of you who disagree are reading this. But even those of us who basically oppose such behavior find ourselves tempted, even addicted to internet pornography or some other pleasure oriented problem, because we have been able to indulge in it secretly. I pray for God's deliverance which will certainly require uncovering the rattle snake's nest. Many churches have men's groups where it is safe to confess such things. Pastors may have to find or organize a ministers' group to deal with whatever you need to confess.

But many of us who are free from the most debilitating of these sins are living our lives as if pleasure were more important than anything else. We need to challenge that thinking with scripture, prayer and seeking a higher purpose from God.

IS YOUR PURPOSE SECURITY?

Have you ever been thrilled by stories of risk or sacrifice? They are the bread and butter of TV drama. Would you watch an adventure show in which the leading character never had any higher good for which he was willing to risk or sacrifice? Would you watch the show twice if the hero ran away from every danger in cowardice or cynicism? You would not because somewhere deep in your consciousness you know safety and security are not the purpose of life. I love the statement from Jim Elliott's college journal. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Jesus concluded with the highest purpose of our lives. “Father, glorify Your name!

I intend to write again next week on this subject. I suspect you will be surprised if not shocked at two things that I say should not be your purpose in life.

GLEANINGS

Are you familiar with the Old Testament principle of gleaning? It is stated in Leviticus 23:22.

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap all the way to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am the Lord your God."

Landowners, even poor farmers were commanded to take less profit to help the poor and the stranger. The Old Testament book of Ruth paints a vivid picture of gleaning in action.

This is unique among religions. Religions tend to favor the rich and powerful, those who can earn or buy or deserve salvation. But the God of the Bible sides with the poor and disenfranchised. By the gospel we must come to Him as beggars. He receives the spiritually destitute.

In a talk at The 1974 Lausanne conference on World Evangelisation Francis Schaeffer said,

"The Bible does clearly teach the right of property, but both the Old and The New Testaments put a tremendous stress on the compassionate use of your property. If at each place where the employer/owner was a Bible believing Christian, the world could see that less profit was being taken out so that the workers could have appreciably more than the going rate of pay, the gospel would have been better proclaimed than if the profits were the same as the world took and then large endowments be given to missions and other projects."

Okay, how do we apply this principle to our lives? First, I think it is a serious beginning to recognize this truth and start asking the question. How can you apply it in your situation?

And there is a possibility that this blog will be read by some of you who have employees. You could begin asking God to show you how to bring this about.

Others of us ought to affirm companies that pay their employees more than the going rate. I do not know their motivation but the In-N-Out Burgers’ website claims that cook/managers in their restaurants can earn up to $120,000 a year. They need to be held up as a model.

The owners of Hobby Lobby are clear about the motivation of Christian principles in raising the minimum wage of full time employees to $14 an hour. I would like to see companies who do this sort of thing publicly honored. Most of us do not have a large soap box. But you influence more people than you think. I did a little research to verify these figures. But in both cases I was given the information by people who did not have a greater platform than friends and relatives.

All of us relate in small ways to wage earners. For instance, how do you tip in a restaurant. Do you leave a tip for the ladies who clean your motel room on a trip?

I have increased what I tip and not just when the service is especially good. I tip well because I know my waitress might be a single mother struggling to raise her children. I tip because I know that worker works long hours with little compensation, respect, or appreciation. I tip well because I remember that I did nothing to deserve the most important thing in my life. I often ask a waiter if we can pray for him as we pray over our meal. I tip well in hope of removing barriers to the gospel. What can you do that will improve the lives of people who need what you can give?

THE ISSUE OF ABORTION

In this and many elections I have been a one issue voter because I feel so strongly about abortion. My stomach rolls when I think of an innocent baby being torn apart in the womb. I see our nation standing before the Lord and hearing Him say, “Whatever you did or did not do for the least of these.”

However, there is more to the problem of abortion than its legality. My first concern is our society's attitudes toward sex. I don't know how legislation could have much effect that problem. But I would like to see a president use the bully pulpit and other prominent figures in our society use their influence to appeal to Hollywood, fiction writers, and other media to help turn our thinking around. I also think we need to show compassion and give help to teenagers and women in general under the  pressure of an unwanted pregnancy.

And I would also like to see adoption publicly affirmed and promoted. I like the promotion of adoption on soft drink cups at Wendy’s. I think it is interesting that there are so few children available for adoption that couples are paying tens of thousands of dollars to adopt.

I believe abortion is a major issue in America and the world. But we will not have significant impact on it if we are only concerned about its legality.

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HOW TO LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

In a prayer time that I was leading shortly after September 11, 2001 a six-year-old boy spoke up. “We need to pray for the terrorists!” I answered without thinking. “Pray that they will be caught and killed.”

That incident and the real danger of enemies on our door step plunged me into a serious quandary of how to love them. In Luke chapter 6 Jesus gave us a list of specific applications. And while I need to say these directives are personal rather than political, they should affect every area of a Believer's thinking.

Luke 6:27

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”

You have to begin by listening. Are you willing to listen to things Jesus says that go against what you consider common sense? Have you considered what good thing God has arranged for you to do for the person who lies about you or opposes something important that you need to accomplish?

Luke 6:28

“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Desiring God's blessing on someone is a foundation of intercessory prayer. I have several lists of people that I pray for every day as a personal spiritual discipline. And from time to time God impresses me to add someone to one of those lists that I just don't like. I have to pray for God to develop His love in my heart for them as I try to ask Him to bless them.

Luke 6:29

“If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.”

This  may be the most practical and difficult application of loving our enemies. And while the command to turn the other cheek, not to mention the ensuing commands Jesus gives us here, leaves us terribly vulnerable, it meant much more than that to the people who first heard it.

Some years ago I went on a mission trip to what you might call a “kiss culture.” Especially in the churches there, men greeted one another with a kiss on the cheek, often on both cheeks.  It did not take us very long to discover that the one receiving the kiss has to turn his cheek. If you did not turn your cheek, you got kissed on the mouth.

We were never comfortable with this custom, but we quickly came to understand the depth of relationship they were expressing. In such a culture turing the other cheek was an offer of relationship. In the case of an enemy, it was a vulnerable offer of reconciliation.

Let me skip down to Luke 6:35,36, a good conclusion to this passage.

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Genuinely loving your enemies requires a work of God in your life. We grow in this complicated and humanly impossible discipline as we spend time in His presence. To love like this you must be a child of the Most High. God must plant His spiritual DNA into your heart.

In a prayer time that I was leading shortly after September 11, 2001 a six-year-old boy spoke up. “We need to pray for the terrorists!” I answered without thinking. “Pray that they will be caught and killed.”

That incident and the real danger of enemies on our door step plunged me into a serious quandary of how to love them. In Luke chapter 6 Jesus gave us a list of specific applications. And while I need to say these directives are personal rather than political, they should affect every area of a Believer's thinking.

Luke 6:27

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”

You have to begin by listening. Are you willing to listen to things Jesus says that go against what you consider common sense? Have you considered what good thing God has arranged for you to do for the person who lies about you or opposes something important that you need to accomplish?

Luke 6:28

“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Desiring God's blessing on someone is a foundation of intercessory prayer. I have several lists of people that I pray for every day as a personal spiritual discipline. And from time to time God impresses me to add someone to one of those lists that I just don't like. I have to pray for God to develop His love in my heart for them as I try to ask Him to bless them.

Luke 6:29

“If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.”

This  may be the most practical and difficult application of loving our enemies. And while the command to turn the other cheek, not to mention the ensuing commands Jesus gives us here, leaves us terribly vulnerable, it meant much more than that to the people who first heard it.

Some years ago I went on a mission trip to what you might call a “kiss culture.” Especially in the churches there, men greeted one another with a kiss on the cheek, often on both cheeks.  It did not take us very long to discover that the one receiving the kiss has to turn his cheek. If you did not turn your cheek, you got kissed on the mouth.

We were never comfortable with this custom, but we quickly came to understand the depth of relationship they were expressing. In such a culture turing the other cheek was an offer of relationship. In the case of an enemy, it was a vulnerable offer of reconciliation.

Let me skip down to Luke 6:35,36, a good conclusion to this passage.

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Genuinely loving your enemies requires a work of God in your life. We grow in this complicated and humanly impossible discipline as we spend time in His presence. To love like this you must be a child of the Most High. God must plant His spiritual DNA into your heart.

THE SOURCE OF LOVE

I have been doing research on three books that I am asking God to let me finish. Their working titles are FAITH, HOPE, and AGAPE. From time to time I intend to give you glimpses of each of these books in my blog posts. This is the first.

In the introduction to my book, Joy, I said that whole book was to some extent a definition of joy. That is not the case with AGAPE. In this book I would like to show you powerful elements of love and help you develop genuine love in your life. But love is much more difficult to define. That is primarily because of its infinite personal source. Agape comes from God and God alone.

Look with me at 1 John chapter 4:7 and 8.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Do you get the force of this statement? "God is Love!" "God is agape!"

In the same context verses 16 and 17 say,

"And we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

This gives us a glimpse into the nature of the triune God. Love is not something God developed later. He did not create us so He would have someone to love. Love is the very nature of the infinite God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit loved one another eternally. The first lines of this poem on John 1:1 reaches for this truth.

In the beginning, from before the beginning

There was God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

In perfect union, eternal love communing."

So verse 19 of 1 John 4 concludes that we love because God loved us first.

Love comes from God. We love out of relationship with Him.

Life-long Repentance

In Matthew 4:17 we are told that after His temptation in the wilderness and the arrest of John the Baptist Jesus began His preaching ministry with the call for repentance. "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Interestingly enough, the word the Lord uses here in Greek, the language of the New Testament, demands that the action of repentance be continual. When we come to Christ we enter into life-long repentance. Of course, this means a permanent change of thinking. But in our daily lives it also means we must continue to turn our hearts away from sins that inevitably creep in. Let me suggest three necessary aspects of continuing repentance.

1. A Sensitive Heart

How do you respond when someone accuses you of wrong? Do you put all your energy into defending yourself? Do you automatically attack? Or do you pray? You can ask God, "Father, is this an opportunity to repent?" Since our ultimate accuser is Satan, you may well discover that the accusation is not completely true. But even in this situation you may have an opportunity to bring your heart and your thinking more in line with your Heavenly Father's. If your heart is sensitive, what the enemy intends for evil will only make you more Christlike.

2. A Thoughtful Heart

The freedom to examine your heart comes to from saturating your mind in the truth of the gospel. Have you memorized verses that give you God's assurance? Do you think daily about their wonderful truth? You don't have to defend yourself. Jesus is actively defending you before the throne of God. (1 John 2:1) You are not condemned. (Romans 8:1) God sees you washed in His blood. (Revelation 1:5) There are hundreds more!

3. A Comforted Heart.

To react in repentance rather than defensiveness you need to be immersed in the love of God that His Spirit desires to lavish upon you. Do you regularly Give thanks for the love of Christ? Do you tremble in wonder at God's amazing grace? Only in such assurance will you be free to continually examine your heart and allow God's Spirit to bring it nearer to His own.

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KEYS TO HAPPYNESS

I thought about using the word blessedness in my title this week. Of course that would have turned readers away in droves. But blessedness is really what I want to write about even though we seldom, if ever, use such a word in these days. I was surprised to see it still listed in my Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. We tend to replace blessedness with words like success or happiness. But other words do not capture the concept of the blessing of God on our lives. So blessedness is still used in our English translations of Scripture. And while it means so much more, blessedness touches the core of true happiness.

One of my favorite scripture passages that deals with this crucial concept is Psalm 1. It begins, "Blessed is the man." Let me point out several important perspectives of happiness that God shows us in this Psalm.

First, Real happiness is Deep. If we used the psychological definition of happiness we might call happiness, contentment. But contentment is contingent upon how a person feels in a given moment. Your momentary contentment may be shattered in the next instant.

In Psalm 1:3 we read about a truly happy person. "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season." His happiness does not depend on what is happening in a moment or season. You can trust God in painful times if the source of your blessings are deeper than what is happening on the surface. Yes, you are weeping in this long night of pain or sorrow. But it need not overwhelm you. You can trust God to bring you into His joy in The Morning.

True happiness is Heavy. The life of the person depending on God is sometimes uncomfortably heavy with trials. But you can rejoice in knowing that the heaviness is fruit being matured in your branches. The chaff is not heavy. But it will be blown away.

Finally, Complete happiness is Ultimate. If you asked Kids, who are exhausted and playing poorly in a high school ball game with their team far behind, "Is this is a good game? They would say? "No! This is a terrible game." But if they somehow turn everything around, and come back to win against impossible odds in the final seconds, what would they say about that game?

In this corrupt world I am sometimes tired and weak, foolish and sinful. But I can grin in the struggle because I  know how it will end. Jesus already took the penalty for me. God has promised to lay on my shoulders all the glory that Jesus earned. Romans 8:18 and following assures me that nothing I endure now can compare with the glory that will be revealed in me.

LOOKING TO OUR HOPE

You occasionally hear God blamed for the condition of the world because He created Adam and Eve already knowing they would sin and plunge all of us into darkness.

Of course you have to consider that God also knew the hope set before us in creation. In Romans 8:18-20 Paul says, "I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope."

Let's consider the possible worlds God could have created. He could have abstained from creating any world at all. He was eternally self-sufficient. He could have created a world without sentient beings. He could have created intelligent beings who could not choose to reject Him. But in none of these worlds would we have the choice to love him, the challenge of true devotion, the chance to obey in the face of temptation. And none of these options would give us the possibility of repentance, redemption, or the wonder of grace as we know it.

When Jesus commanded the stone to be removed from the tomb of Lazarus in John 11, Martha protested, "Lord, by this time he will stink."

I too stink. Our world stinks of sin and corruption. Jesus answered Martha and me, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

That day they saw a pantomimed foretaste of what we hope for. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Romans 8 continues with verses 22-25.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Suppose two people were given an odious task. One is told, “At the end of one year you will be paid $10,000 and be sent on your way.” The other is told, “At the end of one year you will be rewarded with forty million dollars and be revered by the entire world for the rest of your life.”

Which one will be better able to endure? In a hard world you can have a great hope.

In his book 10 Philosophical Mistakes, Mortimer Adler posed this question. If you were asked in the middle of a ball game with your favorite team so far behind that they could never catch up, "Is this a good game?", what would you say?

But suppose your team comes back at the very end and to win against impossible odds. That would be a better game than you could have imagined while your team was behind.

We are hoping against sight and smell in the promise of the Sovereign God who created the heavens and the earth that we will see glory beyond anything anyone can imagine!

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BLESSED

We don't hear the word blessed much in these days although it is probably not in danger of dropping out of the English language. We need a word for what God alone can do in our lives. There is a sense in which every person and every creature on earth is blessed by God. He gives us food and drink and every breath of air we breathe. But we find the fullest expression of blessing laid out by Jesus in His declaration of blessedness in Luke 6 and Matthew 5. In Luke the blessings are set against woes.

These blessed statements clearly represent the values given by Jesus to be sought by His followers. They, however, are counterintuitive. They go against our innate tendencies and the world's definition value and success. Jesus begins in Luke 6:18 with "Blessed are the poor." Who thinks poverty is good? He concludes the Matthew 5 passage by saying, "You are blessed when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you on account of me."

There are at least three crucial perspectives of these beatitudes given us by Jesus. First, we are blessed in spite of these things. You may be poor in the world's goods, but you have become a child of the King! James 2:5 says God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom promised to those who love God.

But we are also blessed by these difficult things. God uses difficult and painful things to develop the character of His children. So James chapter 1 tells us to count it all Joy when we fall into all kinds of trials. These blessings are not merely external like the things the world values. There is a couplet in my book of poems from The Gospel of John[1] that reads.

"Then you will come to know and understand

All that you longed for, but you couldn’t be."

God uses difficulties not simply to give us things, but to make us into joyful people. He makes us meek rather than people who manipulate to get what we want. We become merciful rather than pointing out how life is not fair to us. And all the worldly desires are removed so by our pure hearts we come to see the face of God.

Finally, we are blessed eternally by these values. The beatitudes must be seen in God's perspective of time. All the good things of this world will end in loss and sorrow and grief. But the good brought about in our lives by the Spirit of God is eternal.

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[1] https://goo.gl/0c2JxP

NATIONAL UNITY 2

I wrote last week that I am alarmed over the seriousness of our national disunity in America. In that blog I pointed out that Jesus did not come to bring unity but a sword. Believers are called to certain convictions that we can never compromise and that the world may never accept. 

But I believe it is more important that I write to you about how to interface with a society that differs from us at such crucial points.

Some years ago I read about some of the people involved in the Chinese church's Back to Jerusalem Movement being amazed that they were not praying for the fall of the communist government. They were instead praying for God to work in it.

1 Peter 2:13-15 reads

"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every Authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."

Paul wrote something nearly identical in Romans 13. These men lived in a world where Christians were already being persecuted. Paul appealed to Caesar when he was arrested in Jerusalem. But he stood up to the authorities who wanted to quietly release him and Silas in Ephesus.

How does that speak to us today? Could King George have been as wicked as Nero who burned Christians alive on poles to light his garden parties? How do we know which to do in the circumstances that we face today?

We need to begin by saying we will have to struggle with the issues that we face. There are no simple answers to modern questions.

We will have to struggle with right and wrong. It will not always be simple or obvious.

And we will need to struggle over our witness and the glory of God. This will include decency, integrity, humility, and honesty.

And most importantly, we must struggle to discern the will of God.

I basically agree with Francis Schaefer's statement in The Christian Manifesto that a government that becomes breeches its calling by God should be overthrown. But I believe he missed a point in his argument. That is the issue of God's timing. When God told Abraham he was going to give his descendants the land of Canaan, He said they had not filled up their sins. Four hundred years would pass before God said it was time.

I don't know where we are in America. But I know it is the will of God to pray for our country and for our leaders by name and by need. And I will struggle in prayer and God's word over the issues of politics and voting and our country.

NATIONAL UNITY 1

I have been alarmed of late over the bitterness and seriousness of our national disunity in America. A few elections back I thought I was being funny by asking people who they were going to vote against for president. I stopped asking that because no one thought it was a joke.  Of course this is not restricted to America. Much of the world suffers from similar or worse political divisiveness. This is a dangerous fact about our world.

I have longed for a president who wanted to use the bully pulpit to bring us nearer to national unity. But for those of us who are serious about the Bible and faith in Jesus, I need to admit to a different perspective. In Matthew 10:34 Jesus warned us that He did not come to bring peace but a sword. If we follow Jesus, many things about us will offend others.

Many today will find our morals offensive. I want to say it lovingly and wisely, but I will have to stand against the murder of over a million innocents a year by the practice of abortion. I am going to have to tell people that I love that homosexual behavior is sinful and homosexual marriage unnatural.

Some will find our thinking offensive no matter how gently and respectfully we express it. 

Ideas have conclusions. And our thinking will go counter to worldly thinking. That is why we see some of the thinking of our founding fathers being rejected by society and ignored by bodies like the Supreme Court.

Some will even be offended by the gospel. It will offend some people that their own righteousness will never save them. Others will be offended that a wicked person can be forgiven.

What are we to do? We should pray for unity in our country. I believe we would be foolish and disobedient if we did not. But there are issues in America where we will have to stand with our Lord even against unity in our country.

I have more to say on this subject. There are things we can do to work for unity. But lest I take away from what I have written here, I need to wait until next week to deal with them. In the meantime, I encourage you to think about what Jesus said.

THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY

In Luke 20:1-8  the scribes and Pharisees challenged the authority of Jesus who the day before had cleansed the temple. Incidentally, they also questioned his authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. His question of what they thought was the authority of John the Baptist silenced the rulers. This passage brings us face to face with the question of all authority. And it highlights the genuine authority of Jesus that obviously did not need to be defended.

This story shows us, The Authority of Righteousness.

His cleansing of the temple did not lean on any human or earthy authority. But everyone who saw what he did knew that what Jesus did was right.

He depended upon, The Authority of Revelation.

As He cleansed the temple Jesus quoted Scripture. "It is written!" I once heard Henry Blackaby comment, "I know people who talk a lot about the inerrancy of Scripture who do not submit to its authority in their lives. But authority is the question of inerrancy. Believing the Bible is true does not mean I understand everything I read. It means Scripture has the authority to call me into account.

His presence also brings out, The Authority of His Person.

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, I doubt if anyone was thinking about His right to do it. They were too busy fleeing from His presence. I believe that is a sign of nearness to God today. His nearness to you may be wonderful. But it will also overwhelm you with His majesty and authority.

And in this account we see, The Authority of Purpose.

Real authority is not an end in itself. It always accomplishes the purposes of God. 

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(I have a new video trailer for HOME IN THE WILDERNESS on the book page of my website.

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RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION

Proverbs 14:34 reads,

"Righteousness exalts a nation,

but sin is a disgrace to any people."

I recently read a speech by Winston Churchill entitled The Defense of Freedom and Peace. It was subtitled, The Lights are Going Out. The great orator proclaimed to Americans who had not yet entered the war that it is the conflict of spiritual and moral ideas which gives free countries their strength. Especially in the light of history resistance against the domination of the Nazis should not be seen in any other way. By some estimates they put as many as 20 million people to death simply because of their race, or their weaknesses, or unwillingness to support the evil cause.

Even 70 and 80 years later we can feel good about our sacrifices to defeat that evil regime. But where are we in the world today? Where are we as a nation? Since 1973 Americans have brutally extinguished nearly 60 million innocent lives simply because we found them inconvenient.

This was not done by our government. We do not have S.S. troops pounding at our doors in the middle of the night. We did this ourselves to those who by any reckoning were the most innocent among us. Most Americans now admit that abortion is wrong. It is interesting to me that many people say they believe abortion is wrong to justify not doing anything about it. We believe abortion is wrong, so we must be free from responsibility before God, or history for that matter.  

But what can we do? I am sympathetic with those who see the crisis as overwhelming. But nothing is impossible with God. Let me suggest three essential approaches to the problem.

First come to this crisis with humility and compassion. We all share in the cultural, intellectual and moral corruption that has swallowed up our nation. This is not simply the problem of churches that did not stand against abortion. This is not simply the fault of another political party or someone else. Most of us would agree that German people who ignored the disappearance of their Jewish neighbors or were afraid to speak up no matter what it cost them, shared in the guilt.

And we who are also guilty need to seek ways of ministering to girls faced with unwanted pregnancy, and unplanned and unwanted children. Do we have means to intervene in the lives of young people who realize they have sacrificed their vision of the future on the altar of sexual freedom?

Next, address the problem with wisdom and intelligence. If we simply demonize political opponents or shout at them in protest, rather than listening to their arguments and seeking to persuade people, we will make little headway in the issue.

Finally, we must face this problem in prayer and worship. We will not turn this evil around without the mighty hand of God. We need to see this as a matter of spiritual war, crying out to God about every issue small and great. We have no greater weapon in spiritual warfare than worship that connects us with God Himself.

The culture of death is a daunting reality. But it is no greater than slavery that the enemy foisted on our fathers a few generations back. Against all social, economic, and political odds Great Britain outlawed the vile trade on her far flung shores. And eventually Americans were willing to plunge ourselves into a horrible civil war.

If your faith is not built on a powerful relationship with Almighty God you will not be able to pay whatever price is demanded of us to defeat this horrible plague.