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A Soldier’s Mentality

02 Feb

Every year we celebrate Veteran’s Day. It is a day to remember the service of the men and women who have endured or are enduring, the difficult hardships related to serving our country, especially in a time of conflict. You might argue whether or not the warring between nations is necessary or not, right or wrong, but the high cost of service for the individual is real. It comes with the territory.

Paul, the apostle, was encouraging young Timothy to be strong and bold in his service to God. He told him to,
“Put up with your share of hardship as a loyal soldier in Christ’s army.” (Phillips, 2 Tim 2:3).
Too few of us are not aware of our responsibilities as a disciple of Christ. More often we are trained as disciples to “bless” the comfortable events of Christian living and “curse” the uncomfortable events. This is not the Gospel Paul preached.

He taught there was more to the Good News than just being forgiven and set free from the authority of sin. In fact, it is only the beginning of an even more exciting journey. With the sin question supernaturally dealt with we must go on to fulfill the very reason for the forgiveness given us through Christ. Paul identified this challenging journey saying,
“Accept, as I do, all the hardship that faithfulness to the Gospel entails in the strength that God gives you. For he rescued us from all that is really evil and called us to a life of holiness—not because of any of our achievements but for his own purpose. Before time began he planned to give us in Christ the grace to achieve this purpose, but it is only since our Savior Jesus Christ has been revealed that the method has become apparent.” (Phillips, 2 Tim 1:8a-10a)

Paul made this same plea in the Letter to the Christians Ephesians.
“Praise be to God for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children (Gk, huios, should be translated sons) through Jesus Christ…” (Phillips, Eph 1:3-5)

As a soldier in the service of our country you go through a very intense time of basic training. Designed to equip you with a foundation, you grow in responsibility and ability in your duty of service.

As a soldier in God’s army there are basics you must embrace to help grow toward a maturity that God has defined in his word. Comfortable and hard situations that we face is part of your experience in basic training, and how you respond will help to measure your progress. God defined it as “A life of holiness.” (Phillips, 2 Tim 1:9) And in Ephesians he describes this maturing as becoming, “His holy and blameless children living within his constant care.” (Phillips, Eph 1:4) We learn from both scriptures the “calling” from God is only available to us “in Christ.” To attempt to achieve this divine “calling” by any means other than “in Christ”  would destine the believer to failure and frustration. Only in the power of your personal relationship with Jesus and the unfolding of truth by the Holy Spirit can you grow in the plan and purpose of God. It might not be as comfortable as you would like, but it comes with the territory.

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Posted by on February 2, 2024 in A Soldier's Mentality

 

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Your Only Son

23 Jan

Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, God spoke a command to His servant Abraham. He commanded, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” (Genesis 22:2 NASB)  What would be your response to that command if you, as a father, where told to slay your only son before the God you worshiped  Actually, in the region Abraham lived, sacrificing children to ungodly gods was a common observance of worship in heathen circles. So, God was not asking Abraham to commit a crime, as a father had complete control over the life of his child. Even so, is it God’s character to require human sacrifice as an act of worship? The answer is, “No!”

God operates at a level far above what we operate. Because He sees the beginning from the end, and all in between, His plans and judgments are from that perspective. How wonderful to serve a God that knows all things! For example, Abraham was convinced God was requiring him to slay his only son in obedience. God, however, knew there would be an alternate sacrifice made available in time to prevent the death of Isaac, God knowing full well that Abraham was prepared to carry this to the end, was in every way satisfied with this test. The significance of that test will be discussed later. If God had desired to reveal the end of the test to Abraham then He might have ask, “Are you willing, Abraham, to offer your son up as a burnt offering sacrifice to me?” That would not have been a test, only a question. Jesus made a statement in Matthew 10:37, “He who loves father or mother…son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” God MUST be first or he might as well be last! Remember, He deserves all we have and more, and He does not want us to just know Him, but to be the expression of Him. The only way that can happen is if we are willing to “trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” (Hymn: Trust And Obey)

God, knowing the outcome of Abraham’s test before he issued the command, may cause one to question, “Why, Father, did Abraham need to go through the steps of obedience when you already knew his obedience would carry through to the end and satisfy You? Witnesses! Yes, witnesses, witnesses in the heavens watching to see what happens; the angels of God, the fallen angels of the adversary, the demons and Satan himself were watching to see what Abraham would do. Satan and his soldiers are hoping for a failure in this “faithful” man, Abraham.

And Abraham’s walk through in obedience served another eternally awesome purpose. The significance of this matter can not be overstated. Let me explain. Adam was given authority over all of God’s earthly creation. (see Genesis 1:28-32) When Adam sinned, the authority he was given became subject to the one he subjugated himself to. Consequently, Satan is later described as the “Prince of the power of the air,” (Ephesians 2:2) and the, “Ruler of this world.” (John 12:31.) Because the earth is on “lease” to the Adversary, there are things God can not do on the earth without a legal avenue. That legal pathway is through God’s original overseer, man. But not just any man would qualify. Only a man of faith, willing to demonstrate his obedience to God without fail could be used.

In this scenario, Abraham and Isaac where shadow and type of the Father and His Son, the Christ. Note the parallels, both were fathers, both had sons, both offered their son to be a sacrifice, the sons were willing, they both knew the promises in their sons, they both knew their sons would be raised as a necessity to fulfill those promises, they both had a weapon; Abraham a knife, and the Father had the Jewish priests and Roman rulers bent on protecting their self established kingdoms, and they both had the authority to make those decisions. The prior sacrifice with Abraham and Isaac on this earth was the needed, legal permission, for the Father God and His Son, the Christ, to complete their self appointed duties to be the final sacrifice, on this earth, for all mankind. No one else need apply, job completed forever! If you have read the articles on Job you might remember that I said, in my opinion, the event of Job, the sacrifice of Isaac, and the event of Noah and the flood are probably the three most spiritually impacting events recorded in the Old Testament scriptures. The Father has planned things to happen, and they will, so make sure you are on the right side of eternity.

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Posted by on January 23, 2024 in Your only Son

 

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Right Philosophy For Living

11 Aug

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http://clipart.christiansunite.com/Pictures_of_Jesus_Clipart/With_His_Disciples_Clipart/

Have you ever thought of yourself as a philosopher? Does the very word “philosophy,” “philosopher,” etc. invoke uncomfortable concepts in your mind. What comes to mind when you think of “philosophy?”

DeVerne Fromke, in his book “Ultimate Intention” shares about this concern:

“Many may be concerned by the use of the term “philosophy.” There is a vain philosophy of this world which we are warned to avoid. But there is also a divine philosophy. The very fact God made man with a deep gnawing in his bosom which longs to know “why,” “why,” demonstrates that man is born a philosopher. Failure to properly answer the philosophical gnawing in man’s breast is causing fundamentalists by the hundreds to become fertile soil for the false philosophies  of the world.”

We are warned by the writer of Colossians in chapter 2 verse 8,

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:8.

That is a warning that has severe implications as stated above. Paul is not writing, however, to say all philosophy is bad anymore than he would say all wisdom is bad. We have but to read the scripture passage in 1 Corinthians 1:18 thru 2:13 to understand there is a wisdom that is worldly, or humanistic and a wisdom that is divine, from the mind of God. The warning here is to allow the divine “system” of wisdom to direct your life, your motives, purpose, and vision for God’s eternal plan and for yourself. Any other “system” of life-directing philosophy will lead to actions that will take you away from the path of reality to frail motives, fake purposes, and false visions. Even the everyday decisions you make from your unique perspective reflect better judgment when your life is directed by God’s wisdom. So, wisdom speaks that I must decide what philosophy of life I want to determine my motivation, define my purpose, and establish the direction in my life!

So, where does this divine philosophy come from? Where is its starting point? How is it administered? God, our Father, has summed up all talk of this invaluable divine philosophy down to a “ Person,” “Christ Jesus! That’s right. The philosophy that truly meets man’s deepest needs and glorifies the Godhead is the Person of Christ Jesus.

DeVerne Fromke continues:

 “…God’s answer to man’s need is not a philosophy, but a Person. Paul knew better than to meet the Corinthians on the level of human philosophy. Instead, he preached what was to them an obnoxious message – Christ crucified. God used this message to manifest His power. He used that which seemed like utter foolishness to uncover their pride of intellect and man-centered wisdom. Such is God’s way. We present a Person, Jesus Christ, who becomes a divine way (philosophy) of life in us.”

We see this confirmed in God’s Word:

1 Corinthians 1:30

“God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.” Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

The same passage in the Ferrer Fenton translation of God’s Word:

1 Corinthians 1:30

“But from Him you exist in Christ Jesus who has brought a philosophy from God to us—as well as righteousness, purity and redemption”

The Person of Christ IS our Wisdom, our Philosophy, and He is the only Philosophy qualified to shape our morals, character, and expressions in this life to God’s glory and for our good!

God bless!

 
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Posted by on August 11, 2018 in You Are A Philosopher

 

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Categories of Philosophy

11 Aug

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Do you see yourself as a philosopher yet? This might sound like a strange question, but it really isn’t. The reality is that we are all philosophers. It is in our DNA from the time of Adam. Whereas the animal kingdom is governed largely by instinct, we have been designed by our Creator to be in His image and likeness. We are creatures of reason and logic with a precondition to learn new and different things. We have a God-given mind that requires feeding. We can feed it with bad input, good input or the best input. What feeds our mind determines how we view life and respond to it. That becomes our philosophy for living.

We all will choose between two opposing philosophical narratives. That decision will define our fellowship with God. An earthly, or human wisdom and a divine wisdom as declared clearly in 1 Corinthians 1:18 through 2:13. I encourage the reading of those scriptures to clarify this subject matter.

Two definitions will help qualify the balance of this post.

Philosophy – System, process of thought, wisdom.

Philosopher – A person who lives and thinks according to a system of philosophy.

As expressed in the above scriptures it is fair to say that human wisdom comes from the character of mankind and divine wisdom comes from the character of God. Character, by Webster’s Dictionary, is the complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person.  Which of the two do you think is worth taking to your grave?

Adam and Eve had to choose the “system” of wisdom that would govern their lives. These opposing philosophies were offered by way of two trees planted in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Why were they placed there? God’s glory expressed in His eternal plan and purpose necessitated man’s free-will choice to obey God or self. The tree of life offered the choice of being governed by a divine philosophy from God and administered by the Holy Spirit. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil offered the choice of being governed by human philosophy from one’s own spirit man who died to the Spirit of God when the forbidden fruit was eaten. This decision required them to be dependent on a restricted philosophy that included the overwhelming influence of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life; see 1 John 2:16.

Adam and Eve were in God’s grace at the moment of creation and through a cloaked temptation they choose to disobey a direct command given to Adam by God. God’s grace departed them leaving them to their own ability.

We have not escaped the predicament of making that same choice in our own life. We can accept the gracious offer from God to receive divine wisdom, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to govern our decisions, or we can certainly hang onto the wisdom we now have. That wisdom does not satisfy in the long-term and ends in the Lake of Fire through the choice we made!

We, being originally outside God’s wonderful grace, due to our own sin, are wooed by the Spirit of Grace to come under that precious gift. By free-will choice to accept the Person of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, we are saved by grace through faith.

Please note: Grace means “unmerited favor,” “receiving what we don’t deserve” AND depicts God’s ability working on our behalf!

Allow me to give an example; Eph 2:8-9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;” NASB

This could be read as;
“For by God’s ability you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; NASB

Bless God!

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Posted by on August 11, 2018 in You Are A Philosopher

 

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