Destiny or Deity?

With the Super Bowl fast approaching, the issue of whether or not God is rooting for a particular team to win always seems to surface. It has been perpetuated to new levels the past few weeks by Ray Lewis, the star linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens who is a professed Christian. During the Ravens playoff run, Lewis has been telling his teammates and media that God has ordained for the Ravens to win the Super Bowl. He has also been quoting Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper." I will not take the time to discuss the actual meaning of this verse but I can assure you that it is not about a football game.

But the question still lingers? Does God care who wins on Super Bowl Sunday? Is God a Baltimore Ravens fan - at least for this season? I really believe the fact that we even ask such a question is indicative of a society that has lost its way. Karl Marx once famously said, "religion is the opiate of the masses.” I would argue that sport is the new religion.

That being said, the answer to this question is not as simple as it would seem. Many theologians say that the notion of God meddling in a football game trivializes the power of an almighty force. That God might care about a touchdown or an interception offers a far too "mechanistic" view of God, they say.

"God is not a puppeteer who controls all of our motions and actions," said John Freeman, a professor with the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. "That idea of being controlled takes away free will...It's offensive."

Conversely, some NFL chaplains - all NFL teams have chaplains, with the exception of the Oakland Raiders - say God's hand is at work. How else to explain that the perennially awful Atlanta Falcons now have a shot at being champions, says their team chaplain, Rev. Charles Collins. "Yes, of course God cares. God cares about everybody and every little thing that happens (in the game)."

So does God care? Is He the one pulling the strings of mediocrity to ensure the Cleveland Browns - better known as the basement dwellers - never have another winning season? Is He so obsessed with Tom Brady, like the rest of us, that He continues to help him win at an unprecedented clip despite his head coach being Bill Belichick often referred to as Bill Beelzebub by the media for his cold and tight lipped press conferences?

I found the best answer to this question from R.C. Sproul Jr. who wrote a blog on this very topic during this time last year right after the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. He says and I quote:

"The truth is God does decide, and He does care. He not only decides who will win the Super Bowl, He decides who will win the game of hearts that I play with my children. He decides, or rather decided, everything. There are no places, let alone no playing fields, where God stays on the sidelines. We need to remember that everything that happens must have a sufficient cause. And we must remember that every sufficient cause eventually traces its way back to God before time. This happens because that happened. That happened because this other thing happened. Eventually this takes us to “God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’"

Of course God works in and through secondary means. He gives the gifts. He creates the weather. The one who numbers the hairs on our heads softens the ground where a defensive back slips, and a playoff game ends on an eighty yard touchdown pass. There is no thing, no cause, over which He is not sovereign.

Isn’t it, though, somehow beneath His dignity to be concerned with such things? Yes, of course it is. God has only one concern - the manifestation of His glory. And that is how He determines what will happen in a football game, and what will happen in an election, and what will happen in a cancer ward. His goal isn’t ultimately to make little boys in Pittsburgh happy, or little boys in Denver happy. His goal, which cannot be thwarted, is to show forth who He is. (emphasis mine)

Does that mean He plays favorites for the likes of outspoken Christians like Tim Tebow or Drew Brees? Of course. Because God loves those who are His, even as He loves His own Son, God is certain to favor them. That favor, however, isn’t a path to winning a football game, but is instead the path to true victory, becoming more like Jesus. God isn’t glorified in giving Tim Tebow unlikely victories that somehow redound to God’s glory. No, God is glorified in making His children, including Tim Tebow, more like His Son. Sometimes that means leading them to the thrill of victory. Sometimes it means leading them through the agony of defeat." [End quote]

As I mull over Sproul's assertions which I agree with, I realize the more difficult and pertinent question for me isn’t does God care, but should I? As I stated previously, our society is fixated on sports entertainment. Most see it as an escape from the doldrums of every day life, others view it as a chance to live their dreams through professional athletes. But as a Christian, my most important prayer is not asking for a Patriots victory. No, not even in the Super Bowl. My utmost petition to the throne of grace is for my children to have ears to hear the gospel, a heart to believe it, and grace to accept His providence in all things, even when the Patriots lose.
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“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.” - Charles Reade

"I Don't Do Poor"

I was at a friend's social engagement recently and found myself sitting next to two women who were discussing the best places to go on vacation. One woman mentioned that the Dominican Republic was a fantastic place to go and relax for a week. After a long pause, the other woman said, “I have heard good things about the Dominican Republic but I don't do poor.” She continued to say that she would rather not vacation around poor people because she prefers pristine resorts that feature all the latest comforts and accommodations. I must admit that her comments have been ringing through my mind for the last few weeks as I contemplated all that was behind her statement, “I don't do poor.”

My first thought was that most Americans probably feel as she does - “If I am going to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, I don't want to be around poor people the whole week.” Perhaps the constant reminder that Americans live better than most of the world would dampen the good time or the fact that the money spent on a typical American vacation could feed a family in a third world country for years.

In the Book of Daniel chapter four, verse 27 we read the following, “Therefore, O King let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.” These words were uttered by Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon as a warning for him to repent or else God would take his kingdom. God exhorts Nebuchadnezzar to turn from his sins, practice righteousness and show mercy to the poor. One of the first warning signs that we have become corrupted by our culture is that we lose touch with the poor. We become detached and uncaring because of our own wealth.

Philip Yancey in his book “Soul Survivor” poignantly distinguishes the rich from the poor by stating that if a person has the resources to buy a book and the education to read it, he or she is part of a small privileged population. This fact stunned me. This seemingly simple act that Americans do every day – buy or borrow a book and read it separates us from the majority of the world who do not even have access to books much less the money to buy one or the education to read it.

So this begs the question of why did God tell Nebuchadnezzar to show mercy to the poor? I believe the answer is much deeper than just seeking to meet the needs of others. Isaiah 58:10-11 holds the answer, “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones, you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

Part of ministering to the poor is for our own healing to keep us from self-consumption. It takes the focus off of self and puts it on others which echoes the kingdom principles outlined by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount found in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7. It also creates within us a thankful heart as we come to acutely understand all of God's blessings upon our lives. In addition, it teaches us sacrificial giving which I have found in my own life to be the greatest key to sustained joy as God's presence is manifested in a life that pours itself into another.

As you go through your day, I hope and pray that you will consider the poor both overseas and in your own neighborhood. There are many Americans who are struggling these days due to the harsh economic conditions. Take the time to find out the needs of others and ask God to make you the vessel by which they are met. In the process you will grow closer to God and He will draw closer to you.
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"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed." - Proverbs 19:17

Sacrifice Not Success

Last Monday I began taking a Revivalism college course that is being held onsite at my church. During the class, my professor showed a YouTube video called “Agony” that contained an excerpt from one of Leonard Ravenhill’s sermons entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." Ravenhill was a 19th century English Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church to compare itself to the early Christian Church as chronicled in the Book of Acts. His most notable book is Why Revival Tarries, which has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

At one point during his sermon, Ravenhill says Christianity is not measured in success but in sacrifice. This point really caught my attention because I believe that part of the reason the Church today is not as effective as the early Christian Church is because we are a results driven society. We are constantly bombarded in our daily lives with statistics and metrics to measure how we are performing at work, at school, at home. It is no wonder that this mindset has crept into the church.

Jesus never focused on success when it came to the ministry. If anything, He continually admonished us to go and preach the gospel and let the Father worry about the increase (I Corinthians 1:6-7). He told us to love others, even our enemies, but perhaps due to our human nature and pride, we just can’t leave it at that, can we? We need something to achieve. We need a barometer to justify and validate our efforts.

One of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament is Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I think when most people read this verse and see the word “prosper” they assume it means a person is saved as a result of hearing the Word of God. But the Word of God also prospers unto judgment too. I think of Noah and all that time he spent building the ark and warning his contemporaries of God’s pending judgment and no one got into the ark except for Noah and his family – eight souls total. Most would view that “result” and conclude that Noah failed in his mission because so few were saved; but in God’s view, Noah was a complete success because the Word of God he spoke and lived as he tirelessly built that ark was unto judgment.

My life and your life if you are a Christian, will not only be examples unto salvation but also unto judgment as God will use our words and lives to exact His justice upon those who have refused His salvation. This is why his Word is always prospering when it goes out because its purpose is two-fold – to save and to judge.

The key I believe for those of us walking with the Lord is to understand God’s gauge for success and it has nothing to do with pie charts, bar graphs, or flow charts. God’s measurement for success is simple – how much do you love Me? When Peter first saw Jesus after He resurrected in the Gospel of John, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and three times Peter said yes, and three times Jesus told him to “feed His sheep.” Jesus is always measuring our heart never our actions or results. He looks upon the heart to see the love for Him and how it is manifested toward others. And to be honest, when the love of Jesus has captured your heart, all else fades away, doesn’t it? When we are truly ministering to the Lord than the response of others no longer matters as our “success” is found in Him alone.

“Five minutes inside of eternity I believe everyone one of us will have wished we had sacrificed more, prayed more, loved more, sweated more, grieved more, wept more.” – Leonard Ravenhill

The Valley of Transformation

A dear friend of mine recently gave me a book entitled, Hinds Feet on High Places. It is an allegorical novel by English author Hannah Hurnard, which she wrote in 1955. The story is about a young woman named Much-Afraid, and her journey away from her Fearing family and into the High Places of the Shepherd, guided by her two companions Sorrow and Suffering. It is an allegory of a Christian devotional life. The book takes its title from Habakkuk 3:19, "The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

I have only read about half of the book thus far, but it has already enraptured my soul. The main theme that keeps repeating is how the Lord uses suffering to bring us to the mountain top. I have come to realize in my own walk that I spend much more time in the valley than I do on the mountain top, and that is not because the Lord is some type of sadist that enjoys watching us suffer, but because it is only in the valley that He can transform us into the image of His Son.

C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist, once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts to us in our pain.” Perhaps it is just human nature but for whatever reason we seem to listen more intently when we are suffering. Our Savior, of course, is not a stranger to suffering either as the the prophet Isaiah describes Him as, “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) It is also within the realm of suffering that God comes into full view. It seems to be most often His modus operandi for revealing Himself to us. 

When the Apostle Paul was knocked off his horse and blinded on the road to Damascus, the Spirit of the Lord appeared to Ananias and told him that he was to put his hands on Paul to restore his sight. Ananias was confused, of course, given Paul had been persecuting Christians during this time, prompting Ananias to ask the Lord why He would use such a man for His work. Now listen to the Lord’s reply, “Go [go and find Paul], for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16, italics are mine). The great Apostle Paul, who has written one third of our New Testament canon, was commissioned by God to suffer. Why? Because it was through his suffering that the gospel was going to move forward to the outermost parts of the world and in the process, Paul was going to become more like Christ.

So, what effect did this have on Paul? Look at his summation of his sufferings in Philippians 3:7-8, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Pretty powerful, I know. Paul looks at all the he has lost and suffered and sees it all as rubbish because he has gained Christ.

God’s number one purpose in our lives as Christians is for us to be completely satisfied with Him ... just Him. It is in this realm of complete abandonment that we reach the mountain top for Jesus Christ IS the mountain top. Even when we are deep in the valley, when we are abiding in Him, He “shall renew our strength and mount us up with the wings like an eagle and we will run and not be weary and walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

Another Great Awakening? Why Not?

The professor of my Old Testament survey class recently referenced Jonathan Edward’s great sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." He mentioned it in the context of the Great Awakening that took place circa 1730-1755. Edwards was an American theologian and he preached the sermon on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Similar to Edwards' other sermons and writings, it combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the secular world and citations of scripture. It remains Edwards' most lauded work, and is widely studied both among American Christians and historians.

According to sources close to Edwards, he hoped that the imagery and message of his sermon would awaken his audience to the horrific reality that he argued awaited them should they continue to live without ever knowing Christ as their personal Savior. His underlying point was that God has given humanity a chance to rectify their sins and that it is the will of God that keeps wicked men from the depths of Hell.

As I thought about Edwards sermon, I was reminded about how little we hear about Hell today even among Christian pastors and teachers. Admittedly, it is not a subject that has anyone running to the pulpit to preach, but it was the topic of Hell and judgment in part, that brought about the first Great Awakening in this country. The reality that a revival was spawned due to preaching that stressed God’s judgment of sin seems hard to believe given our society today which emphasizes the rights and happiness of individuals above all that is moral and good. Even sin is not called sin anymore as we have euphemized the word by referring to it as a personality shortcoming, an addiction, or a social quirk. It is no wonder that this mindset has seeped into our churches as sermons focus solely on the honey and not the bitter herbs of scripture.

Of course, the Bible is clear that the same gospel that saves men and women from their sins is also the same gospel that will judge them for all eternity. The same God who loves the world is also the same God who will one day judge it. The same Christ that told people who thirst to come to Him for living water is the same Christ who will proclaim to those who reject His salvation, "I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23).

Pastor David Jeremiah recently stated that the preacher who only preaches the positive messages of the Bible and not the whole counsel is not only unfaithful to God but has violated God’s Word. I often wonder if we reverted back to preaching the way Edwards and his contemporaries did, if we would not see another revival surface. I know what you are thinking. People do not want to hear about sin, judgment and Hell, but as we watch our world turn itself upside down and plummet further into national debt and lawlessness, perhaps a gospel message that underscores the sovereignty of God and emphasizes divine justice is exactly what people need to hear. After all, this is not a numbers game. We are not trying to grow churches just to say we are the biggest, but are interested in reaping the fields that Jesus Himself said are white unto harvest (John 4:35). Maybe we just need to use a different reaping tool to reach the lost. A pitchfork perhaps, instead of a rake. A plow instead of a spade. A tractor instead of a sickle. We need to get the root and the root is sin and a gospel message that only emphasizes God’s love and mercy fails to instill any accountability to its listener.

All of God’s Word is powerful. God has told us this through His prophet Isaiah, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Let’s not be afraid to speak it. Even the portions that are unpleasant or make us sad. It may be these very passages that bring a person to salvation.

The Perfection Standard

After witnessing the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team win its 78th straight game last night and its second championship in a row, I am reminded of how enamored we are as a society with the pursuit of perfection. Just two years ago, the New England Patriots were within minutes of achieving a perfect 19-0 season which had never been accomplished in professional football. For months their pursuit of perfection captivated the New England area and every football fan across the nation, prompting ESPN to include a “patriots” tracking symbol within their update scroll to ensure fans were kept up to date, every minute of the day on team developments.

What is it about perfection that captivates us to such an intense degree? Could it be that it signifies an achievement without blemish, without error, without defect? Or perhaps it exemplifies all that we hope to be in life, not only within athletic competitions, but also within our careers, our marriages, and our churches.

While all of these are certainly plausible reasons for why we are entranced with the pursuit of perfection, I believe at the core we desire it because our God is perfect and we are made in His image and likeness, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female…Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 5:48).

You see, it has always been God’s desire that we be perfect. When He created us that was His purpose and hope but as sin captivated our hearts, it alone drew us away from God and we ceased to be perfect and God’s standard became unattainable. It is this dilemma of trying to reconcile sin with perfection that prompted God the Father to send his Son Jesus Christ to earth to become the necessary propitiation or satisfaction for our sins (I John 2:2).

Many believe that when we die our good works will be weighed against our bad works and as long as our good works balance out our bad works than we will be permitted into heaven. But the Bible has something very different to say. Isaiah 64:6 states that all our acts of righteousness are like filthy rags to God. Why is this? Because even our good works are stained with sin before a holy and just God for we are all sinners; we have broken God's commandments. In this sense we are all wicked, and therefore, we do not stand a chance of escape from Divine justice.

That is why, if we had to rely on our obedience to God’s commandments or laws, we could never be justified before Him, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). With tears of sorrow, even the holiest Christian admits he/she sins ever day. As long as we remain on earth it is a sad reality that we continue to sin and miss the mark of perfection.

If we were honest with ourselves, we would not ask whether we have obeyed God’s laws enough to be justified - we know we have not. Rather, every one of us should ask: What can free me, a guilty sinner, from my sin?

Thank God for His Son. There is hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We read this good news in Romans 4:5 when the Apostle Paul declares, “To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” You see, it is God Himself that justifies the sinner. Paul insists that it is to him "who does not work" but "believes" that God accounts as righteous. God justifies the ungodly by faith alone because Jesus Christ alone is perfect and we are made perfect in Him!

What a glorious truth to contemplate. All of us, through the blood of Jesus can attain perfection before God! Romans 10:9-10 tells us how to do it, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

While it was wonderful to watch the University of Connecticut women achieve perfection last night, it was something that was only attainable by those 12 women. What Jesus Christ is offering is attainable to anyone, anywhere, right now. If you have not attained the perfection offered by Jesus, won’t you today?