Archive for April, 2009

Mammon Musings

I was just thinking about this morning since it is nearly impossible to read the paper or online blogs or watch the news and not hear something about the shape of the economy (though I am not sure our economy is that bad when compared to say…The Sudan!). How can Christians not get sucked into a worldly, save-all-you-can-give-as-little-as-possible, mindset?


Here are a few thoughts, not rules to be sure:

1. Acknowledge God’s ownership of everything (Psalm 24:1).
All you have is God’s. You don’t own anything! It is important that you understand this. It will relieve the burden of trying to control your financial world. Just because you tithe 10% does not mean the other 90% is yours.

2. Submit to whatever God wants to do with your money
Philippians 4:10-13 is perhaps the most misused text ever. What Paul is talking about here is financial situations in which he found himself. His conclusion was that he could do all things through Christ, whether he be in poverty or in prosperity. We rarely pray for Christ’s strength during prosperity, but we need it. We must submit to whatever God wants to do with the money he gives which includes what we should give and keep and even make. This will require much prayer.

3. Make what you have available to others
Allow people to borrow your resources, pay for someone’s lunch, let someone use your sporting equipment, remember its not yours! 

4. Know that the reason God gives money is to provide for you and to bless others
Ephesians 4:28 Paul said the reason someone should work and stop stealing is so they could give to others. 

5. Be content with what you have
Your level of income really has nothing to do with your level of needs. Just because you make more does not mean you have to live on more. It might just mean you give more. So be content with your stuff and your income. Just because your cell phone will not launch missiles or start your car, does not mean you need to buy the one that does!

6. Earn as much as you can, save as much as you can, give as much as you can

7. Refuse to give in to worry and anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34)
This does nothing for you! Allow yourself to be drawn out to the bigness of God and the fact that He will provide you with all you need to accomplish His purposes for you on this earth.

8. Enjoy what you have (1Timothy 6:10, 17-19)
Rejoice in God’s provision and goodness and refuse to make an idol out of money or golf clubs or clothes of cars or houses.

9. Remember, you will die.
Dont waste your life trying to gain more stuff, exhaust yourself in doing good and living for the glory of God in Christ. Only in doing this will you make much of Him. He is not glorified by how well you dress or how nice your car is or how many square feet your house is.

GB
2009
04/29
CATEGORY
Money
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God’s Love Did Not Save You

It seems there are some who believe that the reason God saved them is because He loved them so much. This is only a half-truth. God does not save us simply because He loves us, His love no doubt was the motivation to save us and the reason He sent His Son to the earth. But the reason God saved you was because His wrath was satisfied in the death of His Son whom He did not spare (Romans 8:32), but set forth as a propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25-27). 


Roll your cursor over 1 John 4:9-10, or look it up if you are reading by email.

Notice John does not say that God’s love saved us from our sins, but that His Son’s propitiatory work on the Cross saved us. What is propitiation? It means that Christ bore the wrath and anger and fury God has toward sin/sinners, on the Cross. This is what saved us. 

In our efforts to view God as a loving Father, let us not forget that His holy wrath had to be satisfied, otherwise He is not a God who is worthy of worship since He would, without payment, simply look over sins. This is not the God of the Bible! The Cross shows us He is a God of scandalous love as much as He is a God of blazing wrath. His love is what compelled Him to send His Son to satisfy His wrath on behalf of all who would believe. 
2009
04/28
CATEGORY
Love
Wrath
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Forget The Miracle!

One of the things that happened a lot when I first became a Christian was that someone would share their “testimony” in church or at a youth gathering or FCA meeting. This usually involved some kind of story about how they used to be lost and without God and how they came to know Christ and what had changed since then. 


I was always a bit puzzled by this because it seemed to go something like this: “I use to be addicted to drugs and pretty much hated myself, my parents, my brothers and sisters and I killed cats and ate them (OK thats over the top, but you get the idea) and constantly thought about killing myself. BUT, then I met Christ and all of that is gone now! Praise the Lord!” 

And I cant remember hearing from anyone who did not have a miracle story. The constant theme was “I struggled, I was converted, the end.” I could not help but wonder about the people in the crowd who were Christians and who still struggled with sin and was even owned by their own flesh and sinful desires at times. Was God not as close to them as He was to those who seemed to have a big S across their chest and a cape flapping in the wind?!

Interestingly enough you never have this kind of story in the New Testament. Or to put it differently, we all in some way, if we know Christ, have this kind of story. Whether you were addicted to drugs or addicted to morality before you met Christ, we all were under the wrath of God and all deserved hell and judgment and the fury of God since we were by very nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-4). But God who is rich in mercy, opened our eyes to the Gospel and saved us by His grace and walks with us as we all crawl through our progressive sanctification. 

So lets stop celebrating the miracle testimony and celebrate the fact that we have been brought from death to life. 

GB
2009
04/28
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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A Great Resource

If you are looking for some other Christian/theological blogs on the web, you will want to check out My Christian Blogs. It links to the top Christian blogs on the web. I don’t think YEARN will ever be at the top, I am quite content with my 20 or so readers! I have however, agreed to advertise My Christian Blogs in the hopes to promote YEARN a little more, its always nice to have someone read your ramblings! So check’em out!


GB
2009
04/24
CATEGORY
My Christian Blogs
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Friday Is For Fun

2009
04/24
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Condemned He Stood

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah, What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless, we;
Spotless Lamb of God was he.
Full atonement! Can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was he to die, 
“It is finished!” was his cry;
Now in heaven, exalted high:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When he comes, our glorious King,
All his ransomed home to bring, 
Then anew this song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

P.P. Bliss 1838-1876
2009
04/23
CATEGORY
Hymns
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The Same Mouth

2009
04/21
CATEGORY
James 3
tongue
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3 Ways To Live Part 3

We have thus far seen that the two options for life, the irreligious and the religious, are attractive at first sight but prove to be fruitless and godless in the end. We now come to what I think is the only option for life: The Gospel Way.


The Gospel Way is the only way to live. The Gospel, when applied to our lives, frees us from living for ourselves and frees us from any attempts to gain favor with God. The Gospel driven person obeys because God loves them. They see trials and difficulties as God’s means to grow and mature them. They understand prayer as a way to get God, not more things from God. They define themselves by what Christ has done, not what they have accomplished. They see all of life as a gift from a good God who loved them and gave His Son for them. When they sin, they preach the Gospel to themselves and lean on the promise that Christ became sin for them and paid in full the penalty of their sin. This is the only kind of life that can lead to joy and freedom and hope and peace.

I think at times we half-believe this Gospel. We either think we have to earn God’s love by doing good things and meriting His favor or we live with the nagging sense that we are not as good as we should be. So in turn, God loves the future us; the on time, less sinful, more patient, more generous us, but not the present us. We live with a fear that something bad is around the corner. We think in someway our past sins will come back to haunt us. We think God can use others but cannot use us. We rarely think of the Cross and all that Christ accomplished on our behalf. 

If I understand the Gospel right, the death of Jesus not only paid for our sin in full but also blanketed us in His righteousness. So now, its as if we never sinned and as if we’ve always obeyed God. He became sin for our sake (2 Corinthians 5:21) and exchanged His righteousness for our sin! Now God sees us as holy and without blemish and clothed in the righteousness of His Son. 

This is the sermon we must preach to ourselves and the source from which we must draw our strength and the reality by which we define our worth and value. Though I have called this little blog series 3 Ways To Live, there really is only one way! 

GB
2009
04/21
CATEGORY
3 Ways To Live
The Gospel
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Friday Is For Fun

488 years ago on April 17-18 Martin Luther stood trial at the Diet of Worms and asked to revoke his theological positions found in his writings. Here is a clip from the movie Luther that unpacks some of what went on.


2009
04/17
CATEGORY
Friday
Martin Luther
1 comment

3 Ways To Live: Part 2

I began a three part series yesterday called 3 Ways To Live. The first way I mentioned as an option for life was the irreligious way. You can check out the post if you missed it.


The second way to live is: The Religious Way

This person might be truly born again or not, its hard to tell. I would define religion in this instance as human attempts to gain standing and favor with God. In Christian circles many try to save themselves by following Jesus. They might embrace the work of Christ and His Lordship, etc. But they rely on their own performance and morality and works to define themselves and their standing with God. 

This kind of person thinks: If I obey, God will love me. If they can just get things right and pray enough and participate in enough spiritual activities God will love them. Their worth is in their performance. If they go through a day filled with hurry and stress and failure and anger, when their head hits the pillow at night, they think God cannot love them or at least like them. If their day has been filled with love and prayer and praise music and patient driving, then God must be pleased with them and grateful to call Himself their Father.

When it comes to prayer, this person sees it as a means of getting things and it heats up when problems arise. When it comes to trials, this persons usually responds in anger at themselves or God. They are angry at themselves because they must have failed in some way and brought this on or they get angry at God for letting this happen to them despite their constant good works and performance.

This person sees the world as good/bad, us/them, sacred/secular. They are good, the rest of the people in the world who don’t look, believe, dress, act and spend like them are bad. They typically make secondary matters primary and have the lifelong goal that their kids become moral, upright citizens in the world, not radical Christ-followers.  

This kind of life results in pride if a person performs well and despair if and when they fail. As a result the Gospel and all its power and resources, is useless to them. They live with a nagging sense of guilt that they are not good enough and could always do better and therefore never really enjoy Christ. 

This is why God abhors religion. This is why Christ got killed. This is what He came to save us from! 

More tomorrow.

GB
2009
04/15
CATEGORY
3 Ways To Live
Religion
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