A normal day at the office

I was watching a very interesting documentary on Discovery Channel last night titled Louis Theroux : The Most Hated Family in America.

One of the reasons I found this documentary so interesting was how these people were able to get it so right, but yet so wrong!

… Now  now, hold your horses.. I’m not saying what they doing is right at all, far from it.

But for all their wrong and misguided ideas, and complete mis-interpretations of scripture they do hit the nail on the head when it comes to telling people that if you don’t know God, and don’t live under his rule (though I would have used the word grace/love/guidance a long side the word rule) you will goto hell..

Unfortunately even here they miss the mark by quite a bit as they seem to think their conversations should be “seasoned with brimstone and full of salt”, rather than “seasoned with salt and full of grace”

So today I went to go check out their website http://www.godhatesamerica.com and sent them a message asking them what their take on Titus 3:2 is

to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

If I get a response, it should be quite interesting and I’ll post all relevant info here.

Please note : I’m not doing this to get some kind of response from them, or to bait them into a flame war.. I’m geniuenly interested in their response, and hope to build some kind of meaningful dialog out of this (though I doubt it will get that far)

See you all next year and have an awesome New Years.

Night before Christmas

How familiar do the following advertising slogans sound to you?

“Love yourself this Christmas” , “Where the heart of Christmas is”,  or what about “The Magic of Christmas”

If you were to pop into any shopping centre today the first thing you would notice is the large Christmas tree in the centre court, followed closely behind with children’s activities focused on Santa Clause and all the goodies he has to bring.

But you will be hard-pressed to find any kind of real reference to  Jesus and what truly should  be remembered on Christmas day.  Sure you might find references to Him, or about Him, but it will be purely commercially motivated. I am amazed at how easily stores have the ability to somehow take Santa, Reindeers and the nativity story and just roll it all into one, as if Santa was right there with Jesus when he was born!

If you had no clue about what was really going on, you could easily assume that Jesus was actually delivered to Mary by Santa himself!

To so many of us, Christmas is a story about peace, traditions, family, and good feelings . It is about making wrongs right, and giving leftover food to the poor.

But how wrong we are.

Romans 3:10-11 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” But there is hope, because as 1 Timothy 1:15 informs us, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”, which means that Christmas is not about gifts and shopping specials and all that is worthy of spending money on, but rather that it is a date set apart to remember the day God stepped into our world to rescue us from our own sinful ways and give us eternal life if we believe in Him.

Jesus himself reinforced this for us when He said “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.“

It is this Jesus that we should remember and share with those around us as we celebrate Christmas this year. For on Christmas day a King entered this world.

A king who the bible says is the King of Righteousness and the King of Glory.

He is the king of Ages, the King of Heaven, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords...

He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever graced our planet! He is God’s son and the sinners Saviour. He is the center piece of civilization and the miracle of the Ages; most importantly, He is the only one qualified to be the all sufficient Saviour!

It is this King who we should celebrate on Christmas day.

This same King has died on the cross for you, so that you may receive the greatest gift of all, the gift of eternal life.

The bible teaches us that God is a just and holy God. He can not look upon sin without acting justly towards that sin. What this means is that if we mess up even once, God has to condemn us to hell. It isn’t because he wants to,but because he has too. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be a just and holy God, instead he would just be a liar or somehow who gets kicks out of making humans suffer. Thankfully God is not like this.

He is a loving God who loves us, but must also punish sin.

This is where the tricky bit comes into play..

I’ll repay all my sin by doing good!

We might argue that if we do enough good that it would some how out weigh our sins and that we could (on our own) pay for them. This of course is ludicrous! Lets just look at it from judicial view (based on human standards). If you kill someone (or even steal for that matter) and you stand before the judge and he asks you “How do you plead?” You can’t respond with “Well, I gave X amount to charity this week, and did extra hours at the homeless shelter” or even “I stopped Global warming!” See, you good doesn’t somehow cancel out your wrongs.. If Mother Teresa went and killed just one person before she died, she would still be sentenced to jail even though she had saved 1000’s of lives prior.

It doesn’t get better, because Jesus says that even if you are angry at your brother it is as bad as murder

Matthew 5:21-22

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.”

So, if your good doesn’t out weigh your sin, what about not sinning at all?

The bible is very clear on this subject.

Romans 3:10-18 says :

10As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13″Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14″Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15″Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know.”
18″There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

1 John 1 :8-10 says :

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Though we can definitely rejoice in verse no 9 (because he is faithful and just), but vs 8 & 10 is definitely a warning to all those who think that judgment can’t touch them, or that sin does not exist.

I know! I’ll be very religious

You might find this quite a surprise, but God hates religion. He says we will be tossed out like filthy rags if we think religions can save us ( Isaiah 64:6 ). In Hebrews 10  God tells us that religion will not save us, but a relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus Christ will give us the relationship we have been searching for. We will be made clean before God, because Jesus who become a man, came and died for us, so that he may become the substitute of all those who believe in Him, giving us eternal life.

See, God doesn’t forgive sin until it is paid for, but the good news is that he has already paid for it.  There is nothing left for us to do but to accept him as God, and surrender to Him as Lord!

Then our sins will be paid for, and sin can not harm us anymore. (meaning we will share eternity with Him)

Though, just to clarify things a bit..

There is one kind of Religion that God does enjoy, and this is the Religion mentioned in James 1:27 : “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Now it isn’t saying that if you do these things you will somehow earn your way into heaven.. No, no.. What it is saying is that if you are going to put your efforts into trying to do the things that pleases God, then you should seek after these things.

Now of course this isn’t a complete list, but it does give us an idea of what we should be aiming for.

So I leave you with the same question I started with..

How are you paying for you sins?

Right, first off I’ve got a two part sermon from John Piper which will really challenge you on the way you think about life, money and your priorities.
This sermon is also not a once off sermon listen (no sermon should ever be), every time I listen to it I learn/get challenged by something else.
I Hope you enjoy it and are challenged as much as I was/am.

Note : You must right click on the link and select “save target as”.

John Piper

1. John Piper – Appearance of the Unwasted Life – Part 1(18 megs)
2. John Piper – Appearance of the Unwasted Life – Part 2(11 megs)

Another Series that I really enjoyed, is “Ask an honest question, get an honest answer” by Mark Meynell from All Souls Church in London.
This is a great 3 part Series going through the book of Habakkuk.

Mark Meynell

1. Mark Meynell – Lord why don’t you listen? (6megs)
2. Mark Meynell – Lord, why do you tolerate wrong? (6megs)
3. Mark Meynell – Lord how do I get it so wrong? (5megs)

Hope you guys find these helpful.

More sermons to come.

Well here is a simple explanation of what God wants for us.

God’s will for us is very simple indeed, and the Bible is quite clear on what it is.
Colosians 1:26-27
the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Hebrews 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Ephesians 1:9-10
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (even Christ == Christ is that head)

Basically (from the passages above) God’s will for us is to become Christians.
It is that simple.
Once we have become Christians, we must aim to become more “Christ like” in everything we do.

God’s will is as follows :
If you are not a Christian : become one (through his sovereign grace of course).
If you are a Christian :  Glorify God (What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever)
Or in Jesus’ own words :
Mark 8:34 :
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

That is why we have the bible today.. That is why we must read and study it. If we don’t, how can we ever Glorify God, when we don’t know how to?
So then what about dreams/visions/the sense that God is telling me something?

Well, again.. Lets look at the Bible :
As we have already seen : God’s will is for us to bring glory and honour to his name by picking up our cross and following in Jesus’ footsteps (by the way, this doesn’t mean to become like Jesus. We can’t do that, we can only strive to live like him.)

Within the boundaries of “Living for Christ”  we are actually  free to do as we please. Obviously there will be choices one must make.
Like choosing between spending a year at home after school, or going to bible college for a year.  Obviously choosing the latter is better in terms of growing in Christ. But the first option is not necessarily wrong!

Or what about choosing a girl friend..What does the Bible say about this? Well God is very clear on this..
Can’t be related, must not be married, isn’t of the same sex and is a Christian (though is more advised than a rule.. But still strongly advised, and I would rather be safe and see it as a “rule” ).

Within these boundaries we are free to choose any female we want too..
The rest really comes down to personal taste.

What if we think God is trying to tell us something.. Well, go to the bible and see if it adds up.
Lets first look at the bible’s examples of dream and visions.

Look at Daniel, every time there was a dream. He interpreted it. (God supplied the dream, and the interpretation)
The same goes for Joseph. He had visions + dreams, and God would allow him to interpret it.
Both of these cases God gave them the “power” to interpret these dreams. It wasn’t by there own power but by God’s.
In both these cases God also used these dreams NOT for their own benefit, but for the benefit of Israel, his nation.

When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush.. God wasn’t telling him.. “Hey Moses.. tomorrow you have to wear a blue toga, and matching sandals.” No, God was telling him how he is going to save HIS people through Moses… and not how he was going to save Moses’.

From these examples we can see that when God did speak people, through dreams or through some other means he did it because he was looking after His nation.
This was because they did not yet know the mystery of God. Like Hebrews 1:1-2 says.
But, we now know the mystery of God, it is Christ.

I would say that the reason people now claim to receive messages from God (in tongues, dreams or otherwise) can be a couple of reasons.. (here are some)
1) The person no longer reads the Bible, doesn’t understand the purpose of God’s will. No longer gets spiritual milk that allows them to grow in Christ (attending Church etc),
and so start adding ideas about God, without backing it up with scripture.

2) A person is looking for answers, and when no answer is given (or the right answer is given but is ignored because they don’t want to hear it), they start looking for answers else    where. The subconscious can very easily create a “dream” supplying you with the “right” answer (though maybe not biblically right) because deep down, that is really the answer the person has been looking for. Again, the Bible is placed to one side, no cross checking takes place.

3) Demonic intervention, trying to take you away from God . (though this extreme, there is no reason why Satan can’t send you “signs” through others.) But again, because we don’t cross check with the Bible, we end up believing in these signs and dreams. Instead of just getting on with living our lives for Christ.

Basically, what I’m saying is this :
God wants you to be a Christian. If you are one, then he wants you to follow in his Son’s footsteps. To do this we need to CONSTANTLY read our Bible’s so that we can know how to do this. When we have to make a difficult decision, we can check the bible.. (in context of course) If the bible has no clear answer on the topic (say, maybe what career path to take).. We can choose what we want..

You can break down our daily choices to 3 sections :
Right/ Wrong (these are choices the bible is quite clear on.. No thinking required.. Just obey, and pray for strength)
Wise / Unwise (these are choices that require a bit of thinking, prayer, and further bible study. Also speak to others around you.)
Who cares : these are everyday choices we make that really don’t require any kind of biblical application (like breakfast :p )