The Modern Good Samaritan

Liberty depends on the Spirit of the Lord

2 Corinthians 3:17 “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Quick question: what do you think of when you think of “liberty”? Most of us think of being free from the unsolicited and unwelcomed use of force against us by others. Take a look at the following short video. It outlines the concepts of liberty in an easy-to-understand way…

Notice that many of the concepts of liberty as outlined in this video are also outlined in Scripture…

1. “You shall have no other gods before me.

2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

6. “You shall not murder.

7. “You shall not commit adultery.

8. “You shall not steal.

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” — Exodus 20:3-17

Notice how the second half of the 10 Commandments deals exclusively with respecting the rights of others (as outlined in the video). The violation of these rights is a direct assault on liberty. Notice, too, how the key to respecting the second half of the 10 Commandments is contained in the first half. A proper relationship with God will foster a proper relationship with our fellow man. You might say, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

See how that works?

Jesus even condensed these 10 commandments into 2 for us…

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and Prophets.” — Matthew 22:37-40

We live in a world where liberty is assaulted daily. Governments and criminals (but I repeat myself) murder, steal and enslave constantly. What is the answer? The Gospel. It is only through the proclamation of the Gospel that men are set free from their sin and enabled by the Holy Spirit to love God and, in turn, love others. Remember…

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

A Reformed Toy

The toy figure of Martin Luther, the man credited with starting the Protestant Reformation, is the fastest selling playmobil toy ever. Little Martin Luther comes complete with a writing quill and a German-language Bible. It’s a shame he doesn’t come with a supply of Papal Bulls to burn — but you could probably make those yourself.

It appears Martin Luther is much more popular in our day than he ever was in his own. Read this or this to see what I mean.

Simple Worship

Sometimes all you need to worship God is to enjoy the good gifts from His hand and then return them to Him in praise. Something as simple as a minor sleet storm and small hill can send the heart of the believer toward God in adoration.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” — Genesis 8:22

“He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding…” — Daniel 2:21

God’s greatness was on display recently in the midst of a little winter weather… and our family enjoyed it and praised Him for it. It may not have looked like a worship service, but there was worship going on.

The “Perfect” Christmas Gift (a repost)

Note: This was originally posted on December 10, 2012

The Old Testament Law set an impossibly high standard. There is no aspect of life that is untouched by God’s Law, keeping it would be a monumental task. Then Jesus came…

… and made it more difficult.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes the impossibly high standard even more impossible (if that’s even possible). The Law forbid murder, yet Jesus said anyone who is even angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. The Law forbid adultery, yet Jesus said anyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart. The Law outlined righteous behavior, yet Jesus pointed out that to keep the Law out of obligation is to fail. True righteousness comes from within, and sinful man has only one nature — sinful.

You’d think Jesus would cut everyone some slack. Mankind was already having a tough enough time just trying to keep the letter of the law, but keeping the spirit of it, too? Come on! And yet, rather than cut any slack, Jesus insisted the standard was set.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:17-20

You need to understand that the scribes and Pharisees were basically full-time law keepers. It was pretty much their job. And Jesus is telling everyone that the standard for entering the kingdom of heaven is to do better than the scribes and Pharisees — a tall order, indeed.

Then, Jesus takes it up yet another notch…

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” — Matthew 5:48

The standard has officially reached the level of “absurd.” No one is perfect like God. And, if Jesus is correct when he says this is the standard for entering heaven (and he is), then the question becomes…

Who can ever enter heaven?

The answer is in Christmas.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” — Galatians 4:4-5

Notice Paul mentions that Christ was born “under the law.” This is crucial. You see, we all failed in keeping the law. We didn’t even come close to keeping the impossibly high standard God set before us. None of us rate entry into the kingdom of heaven. So why does it matter that Christ was born “under the law”?

So he could keep it. Notice again what Jesus said in Matthew 5…

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” — Matthew 5:17

He came to fulfill the law — to perfectly keep every, single aspect of it. He is perfect like the heavenly Father. He not only rates entry into the kingdom of heaven, he is the King.

So, why should we care? Well, remember how Jesus said “…unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”? Guess what. Our righteousness CAN exceed theirs because Christ transfers HIS righteousness to our account. It’s called “imputed righteousness.”

When Jesus Christ was crucified he not only took upon himself the sins of his people, he also gave to them his righteousness. He bore God’s wrath for our transgressions against God’s law and gave to us his perfect fulfillment of the law. He stood before God as guilty so that we might stand before God justified.

“For our sake he [God the Father] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Christ’s righteousness is the perfect Christmas gift.

The Message Goes On

No Laughing Matter

A funny video has been making the rounds lately. In it, Victoria Osteen, the wife of feel-good false teacher Joel Osteen, speaks about the relationship between man and God in what can only be described as “worthless drivel.” This is followed by a quick 2-second response by Bill Cosby. Here’s the video…

While the Coz’s response is dead-on accurate (and funny), this is really no laughing matter. Thousands upon thousands (if not millions) of people are being deceived by the false gospel of the Osteens. Al Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, has taken a more measured approach in his response to Victoria’s comments.

“America deserves the Osteens,” he said. “The consumer culture, the cult of the therapeutic, the marketing impulse, and the sheer superficiality of American cultural Christianity probably made the Osteens inevitable. The Osteens are phenomenally successful because they are the exaggerated fulfillment of the self-help movement and the cult of celebrity rolled into one massive mega-church media empire. And, to cap it all off, they give Americans what Americans crave — reassurance delivered with a smile.”

The Bible warns us over and over again to be vigilant in the teaching of the true Gospel because teachers like the Osteens are coming…

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.” — 2 Timothy 4: 1-4

Paul Washer, the founder and president of HeartCry Missionary Society, called this a long time ago…

“False teachers are God’s judgment on people who don’t want God, but in the name of religion plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires,” he said during a sermon. “That’s why a Joel Osteen is raised up. Those people who sit under him are not victims of him, he is the judgment of God upon them because they want exactly what he wants and it’s not God.”

In his response to the Victoria Osteen video, Mohler pulls no punches in his conclusion about the situation. “Prosperity Theology certainly sells books and draws crowds in the United States,” he said. “But what does it possibly say to a grieving Christian wife and mother in Iraq? How can it possibly be squared with the actual message of the New Testament? How can any sinner be saved, without a clear presentation of sin, redemption, the cross, the empty tomb, and the call to faith and repentance? Prosperity Theology fails every test, and fails every test miserably. It is a false gospel, and one that must be repudiated, not merely reformatted.”

May God open eyes everywhere to this truth.

Creation Declares the Glory of God

All of creation declares the glory of God — Scripture makes that clear…

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” — Romans 1:20

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” — Psalm 19:1

But how often do we just go through the motions without once marveling at the beauty around us? How often do we stop and consider the majesty of God in little things?

One woman spent an entire school year photographing the majesty of God’s creation in a simple field. She put 180 days of photographs together in a video that clearly illustrates the beauty of God’s creation. Visit her post here, and be sure to go to the bottom of the post to view her video. It may change the way you look at the world.

Life is a Vapor

Robin Williams, the much-beloved comedian and actor, died yesterday. In reflecting on his life, one television news show played a clip from the movie “Dead Poets Society” that seemed most appropriate for the occasion. In it Williams’ character, Mr. Keating, a teacher at a prep school, shared these lines of a poem with his students…

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles to-day

To-morrow will be dying.

The biblical counterpart to that would be James 4:14…

Yet you do now know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Both passages reflect on the brevity of life. But they express very different views with regard to what we should do in light of the shortness of our lives. The first one calls us to make the best of the time we have. In “Dead Poets Society” the phrase was Carpe diem, “Seize the Day.” The message was to enjoy life while you can because it will soon be gone.

 

The Bible directs us to have an eternal perspective…

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” — Colossians 3:2

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” — Philippians 3:20

The Bible makes it clear that we are eternal beings. As John Piper puts it, “You and God are both in the universe to stay — either as friends on his terms, or enemies on yours — which it will be is proven in this life.”

Our admonition, then, is to live for eternity…

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” — Matthew 6:19-21

We are supposed to enjoy the things here on earth, too. But, our enjoyment of them is designed to turn our attention to the one who gave them to us. The blessings in this life are meant to be returned to God in praise.

I’ve never been what you would call a “fan” of Robin Williams, but I certainly recognize the quality of his body of work over the years. He was an extraordinary talent, and his passing has caused me to reflect…

Old time is still a-flying:

Am I saving treasures for eternity,

Or in things that will be dying?

The Sin of Nationalism on Display

My last two posts have dealt essentially with the sin of nationalism. I find it ironic and providential that I just ran across the latest column of political commentator, Ann Coulter, where she masterfully — and unintentionally — illustrated my point.

Ms Coulter wrote a piece entitled, “Ebola Doc’s Condition Downgraded to ‘Idiotic,’” in which she soundly criticizes Dr. Kent Brantly for going to Liberia to treat Ebola patients in the name of Christ. A couple of her arguments include…

• The $2 million spent on his care by the missions organizations that sent him overwhelmed any good he did while in Liberia.
• His time would have been better spent trying to “open the eyes” of the influential in America because that would have done “more good than marinating himself in medieval diseases of the Third World.”

The underlying premise behind Coulter’s column is that American Christians should take care of America first. In fact, Coulter goes on to explain that Dr. Brantly’s primary motivations for going on a mission trip to Liberia were…

• To avoid the criticism of being a Christian witness in the U.S. — “…American Christians go on ‘mission trips’ to disease-ridden cesspools [because] They’re tired of fighting the culture war in the U.S., tired of being called homophobes, racists, sexists and bigots. So they slink off to Third World Countries, away from American culture to do good works.”
• To gain the prestige associated with being a foreign missionary — “Right there in Texas, near where Dr. Brantly left his wife and children to fly to Liberia and get Ebola, is one of the poorest countries in the nation, Zavala County, where he wouldn’t have risked making his wife a widow and his children fatherless. But, serving the needy in some deadbeat town in Texas wouldn’t have been ‘heroic.’ We wouldn’t hear all the superlatives about Dr. Brantly’s ‘unusual drive to help the less fortunate’ or his membership in the ‘Gold Humanitarian Honor Society.’ Leaving his family behind in Texas to help the poor 6,000 miles away — that’s the ticket.”

After this, Coulter goes for the jugular… “Today’s Christians… are strangely timid for people who have been given eternal life. They need to buck up, serve their own country, and remind themselves every day of Christ’s words: ‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.’”

All of this is of paramount importance, you understand, because, according to Coulter, “America is the most consequential nation on Earth, and in desperate need of God at the moment. If America fails, it will be a thousand years of darkness for the entire planet.”

Whew!

Allow me to retort…

1. The $2 million spent on Dr. Brantly’s care did not overwhelm any good he might have done. Everything belongs to God and He supplies us as needed when we are about His business, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:19
2. God does not need to “open up the eyes” of the influential in America in order to accomplish His goals. He is in complete control, even of the influential… “The King’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.” — Proverbs 21:1
3. Christians are motivated to action by things much stronger than avoiding criticism and gaining notoriety… “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” — Romans 8:14
4. Suggesting Dr. Brantly willingly went into a “disease-ridden cesspools” because he was too afraid to face being called names in the U.S. is just (I will censor myself here and use the word “silly”). The man literally risked his very life to treat Ebola patients. Coulter calls that “timid.”
5. Coulter’s suggestion is for Christians to stop showing that kind of timidity, “buck up,” and “serve their own country” — this is the meat of the issue. Christians who follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit to the far reaches of this earth ARE serving their own country. I may have a U.S. Passport, but the United States is not my country. I belong to God’s Kingdom. Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, them My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” You see, those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have our citizenship in heaven.

I do agree with Ms Coulter on one point: America IS in desperate need of God. But never make the mistake of thinking God is in desperate need of America. His kingdom is quite secure.