If You Are Thinking about Resigning

I am not in your situation. I don't know how tough it has been on you. I don't know the forces that have marshaled themselves against you. I don't know the strain you and your family is under. I can't give you adequate advise because I know none of the details of what you are going through.

However, I can tell you that I have gone through some tough times. I can tell you that I have been offered an opportunity to resign from a position and chose not to. I can tell you that I have been desperate for the Lord to rescue me from the position He called me to. I can tell you how hard it is to continue on when resignation would be much simpler and seems the most logical thing to do. I know that  resignation is the right decision some times.

But please consider these words before you resign.

Elijah had whipped the prophets of Baal hands down. He had ordered that their execution. He had opposed the king and queen. He had prayed and seen God act in a drought, in a rain and in fire falling from heaven to light an altar on cue. He knew the power of God but was willing to die because the queen, Jezebel, had threatened him. So, he ran.

1 Kings 19:4 (ESV) ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

Let's consider his struggle and see if it might be yours as well.

Elijah was tired. He had stood before the people, taunted the prophets of Baal, prayed for rain and ran for some distance from Jezebel. He was just physically tired. He needed rest. But his natural reaction is to resign. Maybe this was his body's own mechanism for ensuring rest. Resignation means there are no more responsibilities to fulfill. It means that you can walk away without thinking there is something else to do.

So, I say get some rest but don't resign just yet. If you must resign; resign when you are fully rested.

Elijah was emotionally spent. He had become a stench to the king and queen. The people did not necessarily listen to him either. He opposed the popular religion in the land. He prayed, as we do, knowing that we are asking for God's will but always afraid that God will do something we don't expect. We are always afraid God will take us through a new trial before He delivers us. He has hoped for the fire to light the altar. He has hoped for the rain to fall from heaven. He has done all this at the Lord's command but he has had to do so with faith. Faith can be very emotional; especially when our lives depend upon it. Then, for all of his faithfulness, he is threatened by death. His emotions had nothing left. He was completely faithful to the Lord and the people were still going to execute him.

So, I say remove yourself from the situation for a time. Take the vacation days you have coming. Get out of town so that you cannot hear the complaints and criticisms. You may still resign but, if you must, resign when you are no longer emotionally spent.

Elijah believed he was alone. He didn't ask the Lord to give him people who would encourage him. He thought that there was no one who stood with him He saw the people as lemmings who would follow the next best thing which came along. He saw no one standing up for him. He needed encouragement from godly people. He didn't see the use of continuing on if he was the only one who was doing so.

So, I say: find some godly people who will be your encouragement. These are people who will pray for you. They will encourage you. You may still resign but you will have a support system for what you are doing.

These are three very hard things to do when there are people seeking your demise. Each and every one of these things can be used against you by those who oppose you. They will not understand your time off, your retreating from the situation or your sharing of your situation with others. They will say that you are lazy, emotionally unstable and a gossip.

You, however, must return to the very core of your faith. You must love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. You must love the people like the Lord loves the people. If you belong to the Lord you will come to Him. You will still obey. If He says, "Resign," walk out and close that door because the Lord has commanded it. If He says, "Stay," make sure you are fully equipped each day for a long haul. You will need to seek Him like never before.

There is only one question you must answer: "Does the Lord want me to resign?" Well, does He?

(Please forward this to a pastor or someone whom the Lord is using who is going through a difficult time. Most ministers go through a time like Elijah did at some time in their ministry. Most godly people will have this happen to them even if they aren't in the professional ministry. Remember that Paul said to Timothy: 2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV) ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, )

What Gospel Do You Want to Hear Today?

Galatians 1:6 (ESV)
⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

A few years ago I heard a seminary professor (not one of my professors. I heard this man in a different denominational meeting.) tell the story of "winning" a muslim young man to Christ. He told the young man that he needed to be a good Christian before he could be a good muslim. I admit I can't understand that "gospel." Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. How can they remain muslims if they change their identification from Mohammed to Jesus?

Many people do not think the gospel of Jesus Christ is preferable for them. They change it to fit the culture.  It is much easier to get along if you go along. However, this always perverts the gospel. It changes it from a gospel of grace which has been brought to us by God Himself to a gospel of imagination and adaptation brought to us by mankind. 

How does this happen? People want a gospel that is palpable to the culture. They like one that means there will be very little change to the beliefs and actions of the followers. They like being able to be like the world around themselves.. It feels much better to be in vogue so that you can look down on those who won't join you than to go against the culture and suffer its castigation. 

But the perversion of the gospel results in no gospel at all. It brings people who say that they believe but what they believe is contrary to the true gospel. The followers are left with a false sense of security. They believe they have salvation but will have the ultimate surprise when they stand before the Lord and He says, "I never knew you."

This is why we must be careful with something that is so valuable that it requires that we sell all that we have in order to have it. It is the Pearl of Great Price. It is the treasure found in a field which causes the discoverer to sell all that he has to own that field. To change the gospel, however so slightly, is to hold back some of what we have to purchase the field or the pearl. The full price is demanded. God will not take less.

So, I am very aware of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot add to it nor can I take anything away. I must understand it not as I desire but as it is fully presented in the Bible. I cannot make it adapt to the culture nor make it less offensive to those who want it to be a different gospel.

It is a gospel of grace. Why should that be so repulsive?

A Deeper Understanding of God's Grace

Job 36:15 (ESV)
¹⁵ He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

 

This is part of Elihu's admonition to Job. He assumed that Job must have done something wrong or he would not be suffering as he was. His premise to Job is wrong. His understanding of God may be right though I believe he said it without being aware of what he has said.

 

Elihu understands that sinners are afflicted. He claims that God delivers them by their affliction. Who are these afflicted? Are they afflicted because of adversity or is their adversity their affliction? In other words,  is their distance from the Lord their affliction? Thus, they receive adversity to open their ears so that they can come closer to the Lord and receive the deliverance of their affliction.

 

Therefore, should I look for a purpose in every bad thing that comes my way? Did 9/11 have a godly purpose? Does your mother’s cancer have a purpose for you or for her? Tragedies do not have godly purposes but they do have godly results. Let’s look at death as if it isn’t the end. Let’s look at tragedy without chaos. Yet, instead of blaming God for a fallen world, we should realize His grace in this world. Without His grace there would be nothing but chaos and we would never have any guidance.

 

Tragedies come because of the Fall of Mankind. We must understand that the Fall of Man was the rejection of God Himself. The Fall has a lingering affect on all of His creation. It is the reason we are not fully in His presence. It is the reason we are not fully glorified.

 

Yet, God in His grace is not pleased to leave us in our condition. We are afflicted with the Fall. So, He sends His grace. We either respond or we reject Him. Our fallen nature makes rejecting Him as the default. But God is patient toward us. He is long-suffering. We cannot appreciate His grace until we recognize His desire to open the eyes of those who are trying to keep them closed.

 

But some do respond. They open their eyes, recognize His grace and walk closer to Him to a point. Nearly everyone will go only so far if God does not again and again intervene. His grace is used to bring those who have been faithful even closer. Jesus said:

 

John 15:2 (ESV) ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

 

These are hard words for people who think that God's blessings always come in easily recognizable packages. They think that things which look good are good and things that look bad or bad. They cannot see that sometimes what looks good is bad and what looks bad is good. (If you are confused on this matter, please read Genesis 3 again.) Thus, the adversity which we face opens our eyes, ears and hearts to a deeper relationship with God. It causes us to give up our rejection of God.

 

This is why James could say:

James 1:2-4 (ESV) ² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 

The joy does not come from the trials. We are deluding ourselves in thinking we will be joyful over hard times. If this was the case we should seek hard days. We should torture ourselves so that we will have all the joy we can have. No, this is not the source of our joy. Our joy comes with the change God makes within us through the adversity. We reach out and cling to Him. We grow closer to Him. We grow more like His Son.

 

Yet, most Christians will reject these words written here. They want a care-free world in which God only comes to the rescue. They will have nothing to do with a god who welcomes adversity. They really never know much of His grace.

 

You are exceptional if you have gotten this far. You must be one of those who is experiencing His grace through adversity. You must be one of those who has been faithful and understands that He, by His grace, is bringing you through a tough time to prune away present and future rejections of Him. You are blessed by a deep understanding of His presence.

 

But how many will want that fellowship with God as you do? Not many I am afraid.

 

Is Sexual Intimacy Improving as Society Devalues Sex?

Proverbs 5:15-20 (ESV)
¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷ Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸ Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
¹⁹ a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
²⁰ Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 

I can't help believing that the more we strive to emphasize the pleasure of sex, the less we are receiving. The approval of sex outside of marriage has not enhanced sexual relations. Society tries to tell people that sex should be considered like a goodnight kiss once was. The big deal in old movies was whether the star had kissed the girl. Now it is whether he has slept with her.

But sexual intimacy is much more than a kiss. No physiologist would say that there are just as many senses involved as with a kiss. Sexual intimacy with several people lessens intimacy. The Bible says it is like taking your "water" and letting it flow down the streets. Do you ever think that the water which flows down the street is valuable? Would you reach down to drink it? No, you would see it as impure, possibly containing disease and carrying away the trash which has gathered on the road. It is ushered into the sewer where it belongs.

Sexual intimacy is intended for two people to share without the intervention of any others. It is special because there are no others. There is no one else to compare because there is no one else. It is special because one person shares it only with another person.

Sexual intimacy should be intoxicating. It should transport the couple into a euphoric state. It cannot be intoxicating if it is something mundane and made so by the comparisons with so many other sexual partners. How many men would like to hear the thoughts of a woman who has had twenty or thirty sexual partners. She may be thinking, "That was nice. It reminded me of when I was with . . . ." How many women would like to know the thoughts of a man who has had the same number of encounters. He may have lost the intimacy altogether. It is just a fun activity. To him, when it is over; it's just over.

Could it be that the Bible, God's Word, has gotten it right? A man and a woman should reserve their sexual intimacy for marriage and let no other person taint that relationship. It should be that special.

Or do you think Hollywood and society in general have it right?

We Serve a Sovereign God

1 Chronicles 29:11 (ESV) ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

God was never elected to His office of God. He is not up for election. There is no term limit. He does not need to be told He is God. He is the "I Am."

This is not what I hear from people. They seem to think that they can take the circumstances they wish to see in the world and choose a god which fits the profile they have developed. Therefore, they pick and choose the things of the Bible they want to believe. They manipulate any scripture which does not fit within their system of belief. They create a god to whom they can relate as they want. They certainly don't want a sovereign who rules without the consideration of what others think. They want a popular god whom is created in their image.

Believers cannot go this route. We must understand that we serve an Almighty who has always been. He is creator and sustainer of the universe. He is the One to whom all knees will bow someday. He is the One before whom we will all stand in judgment. We will not be able to give our excuses for our sinfulness nor explain how we were just going along with the world to get along with the world.

The understanding of complete sovereignty yields a healthy fear of God. This is not the fear of someone who wants to harm us. It is the fear of Someone who loves us so much that He expects us to follow what He has said. He expects us to understand that the things He has guided us into are for our own good. His laws bring life. His Word is truth.

Yet, He is a dangerous God too. He will act within His holiness. He cannot do anything else. We must treat Him with the utmost respect in this matter. 

Please think of it this way: I have a table saw. It is a dangerous piece of equipment. I have met people whose fingers were severed by table saws. I, therefore, operate under the rules of safety when using this saw. I still have all my fingers because of this.

God is a sovereign God. I must operate under the Word of God so that I do not cause Him to discipline me. My failures in this area always caused me pain. My healing has always come through confession and repentance. I come back under His rule and I am restored. It is not just dangerous to operate outside of His rule. It is an assured disaster.

Thus, the dangerous nature of God comes from a failure to observe His word. We do not need to be afraid of Him for doing something malevolent for He acts in benevolence toward us. We fear what He said He will do when we walk outside His boundaries. We pray for grace and forgiveness and He is extremely patient with us. However, that does not mean that He will never exercise His sovereignty when we act contrary to His Word.

So, we believers obey and worship Him as the sovereign God who has the right to tell us what we should and shouldn't be doing. He has the right to determine each day we live and even the day we shall die. He has the right to tell us to do things we do not like. He has the right to bring us into His confidence and reveal Himself to us.

But never forget that He also loves us in His sovereignty. He chooses to do so. We have not done so much for Him that He could refuse to love us. He loves us first.

He can do that because He is sovereign.

Let's Face it, God's Word Is Offensive to the World

I see a addition problem in which the solver has written 2 + 2 = 6. Should I point out that the answer is wrong? Will that be perceived as an act of hate?

I decide to point it out and I am told that the number "4" has been eliminated in their system. It was replaced with the symbol "6." I am looked down upon because I am not as enlightened. I am said to be closed minded because I will not accept this new system.

We communicate and unite with values. The elimination of common values results in a failure of communication and disunity (chaos). Thus, you will have an increasingly divided people who cannot communicate with each other. In fact, many people will not know how to respond to those with whom they cannot communicate. Hatred is a common reaction.

Don't you think it is peculiar that those who call others haters are doing so with such vehemence that you would have to identify them as haters too?

Where do values come to rest when long held standards are forgotten? When does a society begin to accept a man being united to his daughter or a woman united to her son? Can we really say that this is perversion when this union may be based on love? Didn't society at one time determine that some relationships were wrong that are accepted as normal now?

The real problem is that we have made our own social network's morality our own. We have no standard on which we can rest. Therefore, no one knows what will be counted as "normal" in the future.

I predict that society will grow farther are farther apart. Those who seek after God and obey His word will be outcasts. The Bible says that there will be people who will consider the Bible offensive. Those who follow it will be deemed offensive as well.

Being a Christian will mean something again when differences become clear. Those who follow  the Word of God will love it. They will read it and obey it. They will pray it, say it and meditate on it. They will know it so well that misquoting it will be obvious. Christians will truly be able to give a reason for the hope that is within them.

So, while I understand that being a Christian is going to be costly, I am encouraged that those who call themselves Christians will have a good reason for doing so. The gospel has always flourished under persecution. True testimonies have always been powerful.

Jeremiah 6:10 (ESV) ¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

Just More Christian Junk

I went to a Christian bookstore this past week to pick up a new Bible for my wife. I normally shop on line but this store had the translation I wanted deeply discounted. The store is part of a national chain so I suppose most of their stores operate as this one. I was shocked by what I saw. Maybe all Christian bookstores have gone this route. The store looked like a K-Mart with all the junk in the aisles. There were all sorts of cheap jewelry, t-shirts, stickers and emblems for sale. Many of the books were questionable. It seemed that putting a cross on any piece of plastic enabled this store to charge ten times more than it was worth.

I stood in line to check out and found a bunch of metal crosses in a bucket with a sign that said something like, "Find Your Blessing!" I got the idea that I was supposed to reach in the bucket and get a cross. The crosses had either "hope" or "love" or "peace" or some other word that was nebulous at best. I suppose you were supposed to reach in and buy one of these crosses and claim that word on the cross as your blessing. I kept looking for one that said, "Lottery Winner!" Alas, it was not to be found.

Is this what we have come to as Christians? Do we really think that using the name of Jesus to make money is acceptable?

I have people coming to me with Christian gimmicks all the time. They try to sell these things in order to generate money. They want our church to sell mugs and t-shirts and all sorts of things which will generate an income. I have personally said that we do not sell anything at the church which will not be directly used for a mission project or create disciples of Jesus Christ. I can't see how Christian junk can do that.

Do we sell things at church? Of course. We have dinner theaters in which the youth raise money for mission trips. We have our young girls selling soup that they have made to fund a special mission project. We have books sold for discipleship classes. But we do not try to make money for ourselves by selling things. Our mission is to make disciples. A disciples is someone who does what Jesus commanded.

It is so easy to forget what the main purpose of the church is. It is easy change the focus of the church from discipleship to attendance or financial stability. But once you have lost your focus in what you should be doing it is easy to see how selling Christian junk makes sense./

We are reaping the fruit of a lack of focus on discipleship today. Most people who call themselves Christians do not know what righteousness is. They believe that love is accepting every ones' idea of what is right. They believe that hate is telling someone what he is doing is wrong. They believe that everyone will go to heaven regardless of what they have done or believes. They believe in buying Christian junk but forget Christian discipleship. They have a faith of convenience.

Somehow we have got to return to the heart of the matter. We have to focus our lives on making disciples of Jesus Christ who do what He commanded. The rest is just more Christian junk.

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”