I am not a generally frustrated person. Somethings do frustrate me, especially when there is no way I can control it. For instance, right now I am sitting on my couch at 10.15am on a Wednesday in my pajamas. Normally I would be at the church greeting some of our senior citizens and preparing to teach them from the Word of God. This is what I find fulfillment in doing. I know I have been called of God to preach and teach the Bible, so when I am unable to, I get frustrated. You might ask why I am not at the church. Good question. I have a respiratory infection and bronchitis and the doctor told me on Monday that I needed to stay home at least until Thursday. This is out of my control and it frustrates me.
But, there is something greater that frustrates me. Let me start with a little background. I went to Mercer University where I studied Christianity. Mercer is not known for being theologically or biblically accurate. They think that through their experientially based learning and lack of faith in the God of creation they have created a more acceptable version of Christianity that does not offend anyone and does not condemn anyone because it is just as applicable to our milieu as Hinduism to an Indian, Buddhism to the Chinese, Shintoism to the Japanese, or pagan immorality to the sex cults in our world. It goes beyond a pluralistic "what works for you" mentality to a belief that there is no hell or punishment and that all roads lead to the same God. Classical Universalism would be the best way to term this belief. Mercer is not alone. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Furman, and others are all in this same vein of false teaching. I have learned their system from the inside.
This morning, as I was trying to decide how to decide how to spend my day on the couch, I was flipping through the tv listings and saw that the History Channel was airing a show titled "The Gates of Hell", which was to be a documentary on the history of the belief in Hell and search the historical locations where it has been believed that demons enter into this world. I thought it looked interesting, so I tuned in. If you ever watch a History Channel religious documentary, it will undoubtedly interview liberal professors from the aforementioned institutions that do not hold an orthodox belief in the fundamentals of Christianity, but some sort of syncretistic view of several non-biblical religions. In this particular documentary they did interview one Christian conservative local church pastor; and that is where my frustration began to set in. In the midst of a survey of ancient religious views that all contained a version of hell and a discourse on Dante's Inferno as the most ascriptive view of Hell in religious history, they portrayed the ridiculous thoughts of the Salem witch hunt from the early 1600s. The documentary stated that the biggest impetus behind the Salem witch hunts was the thought that Satan had entered the human realm and invaded these humans. The frustration comes from the point of view in this documentary that those of us who, like the one pastor the interviewed, hold to an orthodox view of a real and literal hell are uneducated, ignorant fools who are akin to the fearful inhabitants of Salem.
My frustration is not that there are people that claim that the Bible is false nor is it that professors have lost their faith through higher education. Yes, that does bother me and I wish that the Holy Spirit of God would intervene in their lives and enlighten them to the truth that is found in Christ and His Word. What frustrates me is that in their search for "truth" and "tolerance" they have become so intolerant to the proponents of God's Word that they must resort to defamation in order to make their argument look better. This greatly frustrates me because it causes many to fall into their path of sin and creates problems in the realm of evangelism for those like me who want to see the darkness of sin penetrated with the light of Christ.
In my very first blog post, I cited 1 Peter 5.8 as the basis for my title "Un-devoured". The truth is that Satan is seeking to devour us with whatever deceptions he can, whether it is through muddied truth in a documentary or weak, spineless Christians who refuse to stand up for the truth. See, you and I live in a world that does not see things the way that we do as believers in Christ. Paul instructs Timothy about living in such a culture. I do not believe that Paul had the History channel in mind when he wrote these words, but they do ring true for you and for me IF we are serious about the necessity of Christ for our society. Hear Paul: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears the will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (2 Tim 4.3-4). I believe we are in that time right now. We have to take a stand against the false teachings that berate our faith and seek to impact the community around us. See, Paul knew what we would be up against and the faith for which we must fight.
My frustration does stem from the depiction of Bible believing Christians in this time in which we live. My greater frustration comes from the fact that we do not do anything about it. Most of the time we take a little ridicule from those around us and forsake the call which Christ has placed on our lives. We want to avert the discomfort of telling someone that Christ is the only way to escape our sins and receive salvation, and thus become the syncretistic professor from Harvard. Whether we sit in the pew on Sunday and raise our hands to the songs being sung or shout a hearty "Amen" when the preacher makes a good point to which we want to add our own spiritual emphasis, or we sit in derision of our own thoughts and study to seek holes in the truth of Scripture, when we forsake the call of Christ to share our faith, we forsake the truth that Christ is what this world (read: our family, our neighbors, our coworkers, our classmates) needs. See, Paul anticipated our frustration with the teachers of false doctrines and through the Holy Spirit of God gave us the next verse of 2 Tim 4 where we see the antidote of our frustration: "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Tim 4.5).
Here are a couple of simple observations from this verse. First, while Paul was writing specifically to Timothy, in our Bibles and our context it is more than necessary for us to understand that the designation "you" is speaking to each one of us without exception. For us to overlook this simple statement is paramount to excusing ourselves from the application of Scripture to our own lives. No longer can we designate what follows to the "professionals" (i.e., pastors, missionaries) or the "super-spiritual" (i.e., SS teachers, deacons, church leaders). What follows is for every believer in Christ. Second, Paul instructs us to be "sober-minded". What Paul means by this term is for us to think clearly about what is at hand. This comes from understanding the Gospel of Christ first and foremost. We must understand and hold to a literal and everlasting Hell, and the necessity of salvation through Christ for that punishment to be averted. But, it also calls us to be exegetes of our immediate context. If we do not understand the culture around us, the needs they have, and how to communicate the Gospel to them, then we are not thinking with a sober mind. I am a big proponent of watching TV shows and movies. I am a bigger proponent of having as many lost friends as Christian friends. The operating question here is "How can I understand my culture and lead lost people to Christ, if I am not exposed to my culture and lost people?" The third aspect of being sober-minded is keeping the two separate. While I am a proponent engaging culture where culture is, I do not want to give the impression or permission to participate in all that culture offers. We must clearly be able to distinguish between what is Christian and what is not Christian. When we start to blur the lines, we cease to be sober-minded, rather we become inoculated against what is inherently wrong and sinful. We must remain sober-minded. As parents, that means we guard our children. As adults we must seek to understand more about what it means to be a Christian in this life and teach that to our children.
The third observation we must make from this verse is centered around Paul's final command for us to ALL "do the work of an evangelist." This does not mean that we are all supposed to give up our jobs, rent a van and travel from church to church with the same greased back hair, high shouting sermon, and talk in ways that church members do not understand. Paul is simply saying this: "In order for you to overcome the frustration of false teaching in the church and in our culture, simply study the Bible, understand it and tell people about Christ." Being an evangelist is not a vocational Billy Graham job, but it is a call for you and for me to live out our faith and share it. Probably the worst attitude that Satan has brought into the church is the idea that I can be a "life-style" evangelist. Go read Romans 10.13-17. What does Paul say? People will get saved because you didn't cuss or because you gave the cashier the extra change she overpaid you. NO! People get saved because they hear the word of faith in Christ. That means we MUST speak the Gospel. Yes, we do need to live it out. Yes, we must make our walk match our talk, but we must TALK. I am frustrated because too often, we rely on the walk and never utilize the talk. Paul says there is a truth of Salvation. My Bible says there is a hell and there is a Christ. Will you share Him? That is what our churches and our society needs.
But, there is something greater that frustrates me. Let me start with a little background. I went to Mercer University where I studied Christianity. Mercer is not known for being theologically or biblically accurate. They think that through their experientially based learning and lack of faith in the God of creation they have created a more acceptable version of Christianity that does not offend anyone and does not condemn anyone because it is just as applicable to our milieu as Hinduism to an Indian, Buddhism to the Chinese, Shintoism to the Japanese, or pagan immorality to the sex cults in our world. It goes beyond a pluralistic "what works for you" mentality to a belief that there is no hell or punishment and that all roads lead to the same God. Classical Universalism would be the best way to term this belief. Mercer is not alone. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Furman, and others are all in this same vein of false teaching. I have learned their system from the inside.
This morning, as I was trying to decide how to decide how to spend my day on the couch, I was flipping through the tv listings and saw that the History Channel was airing a show titled "The Gates of Hell", which was to be a documentary on the history of the belief in Hell and search the historical locations where it has been believed that demons enter into this world. I thought it looked interesting, so I tuned in. If you ever watch a History Channel religious documentary, it will undoubtedly interview liberal professors from the aforementioned institutions that do not hold an orthodox belief in the fundamentals of Christianity, but some sort of syncretistic view of several non-biblical religions. In this particular documentary they did interview one Christian conservative local church pastor; and that is where my frustration began to set in. In the midst of a survey of ancient religious views that all contained a version of hell and a discourse on Dante's Inferno as the most ascriptive view of Hell in religious history, they portrayed the ridiculous thoughts of the Salem witch hunt from the early 1600s. The documentary stated that the biggest impetus behind the Salem witch hunts was the thought that Satan had entered the human realm and invaded these humans. The frustration comes from the point of view in this documentary that those of us who, like the one pastor the interviewed, hold to an orthodox view of a real and literal hell are uneducated, ignorant fools who are akin to the fearful inhabitants of Salem.
My frustration is not that there are people that claim that the Bible is false nor is it that professors have lost their faith through higher education. Yes, that does bother me and I wish that the Holy Spirit of God would intervene in their lives and enlighten them to the truth that is found in Christ and His Word. What frustrates me is that in their search for "truth" and "tolerance" they have become so intolerant to the proponents of God's Word that they must resort to defamation in order to make their argument look better. This greatly frustrates me because it causes many to fall into their path of sin and creates problems in the realm of evangelism for those like me who want to see the darkness of sin penetrated with the light of Christ.
In my very first blog post, I cited 1 Peter 5.8 as the basis for my title "Un-devoured". The truth is that Satan is seeking to devour us with whatever deceptions he can, whether it is through muddied truth in a documentary or weak, spineless Christians who refuse to stand up for the truth. See, you and I live in a world that does not see things the way that we do as believers in Christ. Paul instructs Timothy about living in such a culture. I do not believe that Paul had the History channel in mind when he wrote these words, but they do ring true for you and for me IF we are serious about the necessity of Christ for our society. Hear Paul: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears the will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (2 Tim 4.3-4). I believe we are in that time right now. We have to take a stand against the false teachings that berate our faith and seek to impact the community around us. See, Paul knew what we would be up against and the faith for which we must fight.
My frustration does stem from the depiction of Bible believing Christians in this time in which we live. My greater frustration comes from the fact that we do not do anything about it. Most of the time we take a little ridicule from those around us and forsake the call which Christ has placed on our lives. We want to avert the discomfort of telling someone that Christ is the only way to escape our sins and receive salvation, and thus become the syncretistic professor from Harvard. Whether we sit in the pew on Sunday and raise our hands to the songs being sung or shout a hearty "Amen" when the preacher makes a good point to which we want to add our own spiritual emphasis, or we sit in derision of our own thoughts and study to seek holes in the truth of Scripture, when we forsake the call of Christ to share our faith, we forsake the truth that Christ is what this world (read: our family, our neighbors, our coworkers, our classmates) needs. See, Paul anticipated our frustration with the teachers of false doctrines and through the Holy Spirit of God gave us the next verse of 2 Tim 4 where we see the antidote of our frustration: "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Tim 4.5).
Here are a couple of simple observations from this verse. First, while Paul was writing specifically to Timothy, in our Bibles and our context it is more than necessary for us to understand that the designation "you" is speaking to each one of us without exception. For us to overlook this simple statement is paramount to excusing ourselves from the application of Scripture to our own lives. No longer can we designate what follows to the "professionals" (i.e., pastors, missionaries) or the "super-spiritual" (i.e., SS teachers, deacons, church leaders). What follows is for every believer in Christ. Second, Paul instructs us to be "sober-minded". What Paul means by this term is for us to think clearly about what is at hand. This comes from understanding the Gospel of Christ first and foremost. We must understand and hold to a literal and everlasting Hell, and the necessity of salvation through Christ for that punishment to be averted. But, it also calls us to be exegetes of our immediate context. If we do not understand the culture around us, the needs they have, and how to communicate the Gospel to them, then we are not thinking with a sober mind. I am a big proponent of watching TV shows and movies. I am a bigger proponent of having as many lost friends as Christian friends. The operating question here is "How can I understand my culture and lead lost people to Christ, if I am not exposed to my culture and lost people?" The third aspect of being sober-minded is keeping the two separate. While I am a proponent engaging culture where culture is, I do not want to give the impression or permission to participate in all that culture offers. We must clearly be able to distinguish between what is Christian and what is not Christian. When we start to blur the lines, we cease to be sober-minded, rather we become inoculated against what is inherently wrong and sinful. We must remain sober-minded. As parents, that means we guard our children. As adults we must seek to understand more about what it means to be a Christian in this life and teach that to our children.
The third observation we must make from this verse is centered around Paul's final command for us to ALL "do the work of an evangelist." This does not mean that we are all supposed to give up our jobs, rent a van and travel from church to church with the same greased back hair, high shouting sermon, and talk in ways that church members do not understand. Paul is simply saying this: "In order for you to overcome the frustration of false teaching in the church and in our culture, simply study the Bible, understand it and tell people about Christ." Being an evangelist is not a vocational Billy Graham job, but it is a call for you and for me to live out our faith and share it. Probably the worst attitude that Satan has brought into the church is the idea that I can be a "life-style" evangelist. Go read Romans 10.13-17. What does Paul say? People will get saved because you didn't cuss or because you gave the cashier the extra change she overpaid you. NO! People get saved because they hear the word of faith in Christ. That means we MUST speak the Gospel. Yes, we do need to live it out. Yes, we must make our walk match our talk, but we must TALK. I am frustrated because too often, we rely on the walk and never utilize the talk. Paul says there is a truth of Salvation. My Bible says there is a hell and there is a Christ. Will you share Him? That is what our churches and our society needs.
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