Just Do Something

This is from Kevin DeYoung's book "Just Do Something" - The full name of the book is "Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc."

"Passivity is a plague among Christians. It's not just that we don't do anything; it's that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God's leading. At times it may be; but it's also quite possible we are just lazy. When we hyper-spiritualize our decisions, we can veer off into impulsive and foolish decisions. But more likely as Christians we fall into endless patterns of vacillation, indecision, and regret. No doubt, selfish ambition is a danger for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps our inactivity is not so much waiting on God as it is an expression of the fear of man, the love of the praise of man, and disbelief in God's providence." (pp. 50-51)

James 3: A Story

James 3:7-10

• "For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so."

WARNING! Strong Language!

"It is true, I have, by and large, sharply inveighed against ungodly doctrines and have not been slow to bite my adversaries...Of this I am so unrepentant that I have resolved to continue in this burning zeal and to despise the judgment of men, after the example of Christ, who in his zeal called his adversaries a generation of vipers, blind, hypocrites, children of the devil (Matt 23:13; 17:33; John 8:44). And Paul calls the sorcerer a child of the devil (Acts 13:10); and some false apostles he calls dogs, deceivers, and adulterers of the Word (Phil 3:2; 2 Cor 11:13). If these sensitive ears had heard this, they would probably say that no one could be more biting than the immoderate Paul. Who is more biting than the prophets? But nowadays, of course, our ears are made so sensitive by the mad multitude of flatterers that as soon as we find that we are not praised in all things, we cry out that people are vicious; and when we cannot ward off the truth under any other guise, we escape from it under the pretext of the snappishness, impatience, and immoderateness of its defenders. What good does salt do if it does not bite? What good does the edge of the sword do if it does not cut? Cursed be the man who does the work of the Lord deceitfully (Jeremiah 48:10)!"

~ Martin Luther

Looking Back - Work

"He who is looking for opportunities will find them dressed in work clothes."

~ Anonymous

The Cult of the Next Thing

Mark Buchanan, in an article entitled “Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing” wrote this:

"I belong to the Cult of the Next Thing. It's dangerously easy to get enlisted. It happens by default—not by choosing the cult, but by failing to resist it. The Cult of the Next Thing is consumerism cast in religious terms. It has its own litany of sacred words: more, you deserve it, new, faster, cleaner, brighter. It has its own deep-rooted liturgy: charge it, instant credit, no down-payment, deferred payment, no interest for three months. It has its own preachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles: ad men, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors. It has, of course, its own shrines, chapels, temples, meccas: malls, superstores, club warehouses. It has its own sacraments: credit and debit cards. It has its own ecstatic experiences: the spending spree. Most of us spend more time with advertisements than with Scripture. The Cult of the Next Thing's central message proclaims, ‘Crave and spend, for the Kingdom of Stuff is here.’"

Judge more that you be not judged

I know the title of this post seems to contradict what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount but give me a chance to explain. Many today are attacking the objectivity, clarity, authority and certainty of truth. The result is that two of the very few so-called virtues left today are tolerance and diversity. I believe we Christians today need to be more judgmental. We are called and commanded to discriminate and discern. We Christians need to judge more that we be not judged.

The great theologian Steve Martin joked, years ago, "Never judge a man unless you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Then you’ll be a mile away and you’ll have his shoes." That's funny but what did Jesus mean when He said what He said in what is now one of the most popular and well-known verses by Christians and non-Christians alike? Everyone knows and often quotes this saying of Jesus: "Judge not that you be not judged." (Matthew 7:1) The phrase has been twisted to mean "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine but don’t judge mine and definitely don’t try to force your standards of morality on me." The phrase "Judge not" now means "I’m OK, you’re OK. Believe what you want but stay out of my way!"

Jesus said "Judge not that you be not judged" in the first verse of Mathew chapter seven. The irony is when you read the rest of the chapter. This chapter is full of warnings and admonitions by Jesus Himself to judge people. In verse 6 He says, "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." Jesus is telling us to discern or judge certain people as "dogs" and other people as "pigs." How can you not not give dogs what is holy if you cannot judge certain people to be dogs? How can you not throw your pearls before pigs if you cannot judge certain people to be pigs? Describing people as dogs and pigs seems pretty judgmental to me.

Than in the same chapter, in verses fifteen though seventeen, Jesus says this: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." Here, Jesus also tells us to beware of people who are "wolves" in sheep's clothing. He also tells us to judge whether someone is a "diseased tree" or not by their fruit. Again, this is sounding quite judgmental.

So, if this chapter is full of instructions on how to "judge with right judgment" (as Jesus also commands in John 7:24) what does He mean in the famous verse one? All we have to do is read the next few verses: "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matt 7:2-5)

Jesus was simply telling us not to be hypocritical judges. He was NOT telling us that we should not judge. In fact, the reason He gives for taking the log out of your own eye is so "then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." He starts off the chapter by tellings us to remove the log first and then He goes on and on with instructions on how to judge rightly. Remove the log from your eye so you can judge between dogs and children, pigs and people, wolves and sheep, and diseased trees and fruit-bearing trees. A half-truth is a lie. Read the whole chapter. Stop misquoting Jesus and judge more that you be not judged.

Are you shy?

Shyness is caused by morbid introspection. According to Dr. Bernardo J. Carducci of the Shyness Research Institute, shyness has three components:

• Excessive Self-Consciousness - you are overly aware of yourself, particularly in social situations.
  
  
• Excessive Negative Self-Evaluation - you tend to see yourself negatively.
  
  
• Excessive Negative Self-Preoccupation - you tend to pay too much attention to all the things you are doing wrong when you are around other people.

The theme in those components of shyness is obviously self - self - self. The Bible tells us to deny self and control self. Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt 16:24)

Let me suggest a few alternatives that may remove or restrict your problem with shyness:

• Christ-Centered - We should have an excessive Christ-centeredness. We must "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion [excessive self-consciousness] raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." (2 Cor 10:5)
  
  
• Spirit-Empowered - The fruit of the Spirit includes love, kindness and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23) These things are not works you do through more self-evaluation. The are produced, not by you, but by the Spirit working in you.
  
  
• Other-Oriented - Rather than focus on how others feel about you, focus on how you can make them feel. Replace your negative self-preoccupation with genuine love for others. "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." (Rom 12:10)

Atheists Are All Hypocrites

One of the favorite critiques of the church and Christianity by atheists and evolutionists is that the church is full of hypocrites. What a hypocritical critique. It is the Darwinian evolutionists, the so-called secularists, that are secretly Christian. They are the closet Christians. It is the secularists that are cheating and faking and pretending. Hypocrisy means to wear a mask like a stage player. It is the secularists who are acting like Christians.

No one really acts like an evolutionist. The secularists are cheating. No one really acts like a Darwinist. The secularists are stealing. They are stealing from the Christian worldview. They are not going around and randomly butchering or raping or eating each other. These secularists are acting as if life had meaning and significance. They are acting like they believed in morality. They are acting as if they believed in the Christian idea of right and wrong or good and evil.

You can always count on the atheist to ask the question "how could an All-Knowing and All-Loving God allow evil to happen in the world?" See what I mean? What a hypocritical question. They claim to live in a solely material world of randomness but that very question that they ask presupposes that there is such a thing as evil in the world. The have to steal from our worldview (of good and evil) in order to prove our worldview is false. What hypocrisy!

The secularist has no basis for ethics. As Cornelius Van Til put it: "All the optimistic theories of non-Christian ethics may be compared with men who think that they can leave this earth in a balloon. It is a contradiction in terms to think that one can leave this earth by earthly means and materials. Every balloon is bound to return to earth sooner or later. So every optimistic non-Christian theory of ethics is bound to return to pessimism sooner or later." Any optimism or certainty about ethics from an atheist is pure hypocrisy. Non-Christian ethics are nothing but relativity and randomness dressed in Christian clothes.

If the secularist really believes he is just a result of random chance or an accident (a toss of the cosmic dice) than why doesn't he act like it. Why does the secularist act as if there was such a thing as transcendent value and worth in the universe? I can't be an evolutionist or an atheist because they are all hypocrites. They don't really act like evolutionists. They don't go around raping and eating each other like animals. So, until they start walking the walk instead of just talking the talk; until they start living up to their own faith and beliefs I am not going to be going to their "church." They are all just a bunch of hypocritical closet-Christians.

Judgment Day at Blockbuster

Spend your time, your every moment, as if someone was videoing your every move and your every thought in order to prepare a video recording of you that would be given to a Just and Holy God on judgment day.

Follow you heart?

Disney leads the way in our culture, ever since each one of us was a child, in telling us that all we need to do is “follow our heart.” What they don’t tell us is that our heart will lie and swindle and deceive us. Jer 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things”

The world says trust your heart

• The Bible says don’t be deceived by your heart
• Prov 28:26 – “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”

The world says follow your heart

• The Bible says to keep or guard your heart
• Prov 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

The world says listen to your heart

• The Bible says to direct your heart
• Prov 23:9 – “Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.”

Our culture is a slave to their own emotions and feelings. Our feelings are a blessing from God but we are not supposed to be led by them. We are told to guard and direct our heart not be led by it.

Abusing the Poor

Wow, it's amazing how you can misunderstand a passage for so long. The passage about the widow who gave her last two small coins is probably not about what you think its about. Jesus wasn't saying what you probably think He was saying. Jesus wasn't recommending irresponsibility. Watch this!

Quick Fixes from the Psalms:

In a bad mood?

• "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad." (34:1-2)

Sad about something?

• "May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” (70:4)

Proud of yourself?

• "My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone." (71:15-16)

Bothered by enemies?

• "And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt." (71:24)

Struggling with evil desires?

• "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." (119:9-11)

Frenzied?

• "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (46:10)

Guilty?

• "...as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." (103:12)

Who Am I?

I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives. I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age. The more I am quoted the more I am believed. I flourish at every level of society. My victims are helpless; they cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become. I am nobody's friend.

Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same. I topple governments and ruin marriages. I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartache and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief. I make headlines, headaches and heartaches I make innocent people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses.

WHO AM I? ... I AM CALLED GOSSIP. I come in many forms: Church gossip, Office gossip, Shop gossip, Party gossip Telephone gossip and Online gossip. I make headlines and headaches. Before you repeat a story, ask yourself, is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? If not, SHUT UP.

Looking Back - Thomas Brooks

"A man's most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions."

~ Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)

A New Law

Here's a video I made using Derek Webb's song "A New Law" It addresses the tendency in the modern church to replace studying God's Law with man-made moralism (legalism).

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Orthodoxy (correct teaching) must not be separated from Orthopraxy (correct practice). Our theology must be right but our path must also be straight. Confession without conviction is chicanery (trickery). Doctrine without duty is deception. Belief without behavior is baloney. Faith without works is dead.

Spurgeon wrote this, "If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."

There is a saying that is engraved at the cathedral at Lubeck, Germany. The inscription reads,

• "Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us,
  You call Me master and obey Me not,
  you call Me light and see Me not,
  you call Me the way and walk in Me not,
  you call Me life and live Me not,
  you call Me wise and follow Me not,
  you call Me fair and love Me not,
  you call Me rich and ask Me not,
  you call Me eternal and seek Me not,
  if I condemn thee, blame Me not."
  

This reminds me of the words of Christ, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21) Praise without practice is vanity and we must not take God's name in vain. Orthodoxy must not be separated from Orthopraxy.

Feelings, nothing more than feelings.

We describe so many things as “feelings” when they have nothing to do with how we feel. Take, for instance, love, joy and peace. Love (the Greek word in the Bible is “agape”) describes unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. Many people just wait and wait to “feel” that “loving feeling” when it is their duty to love unconditionally. You don’t “fall” in (agape) love, you do it. You don’t wait until you feel it, you do it whether you feel it or not. Joy is not just a “feeling” either. You can have joy in the good times and in the bad. It is not a feeling you have but an attitude you keep. As someone once said, “Joy is not in things it is in us.” If joy was just a feeling that we experienced we could never be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor 6:10). True joy is the only kind of happiness that you give without having. Peace is also something we mistakenly think of as a feeling. Biblical peace is not a peaceful “feeling”, it is a peaceful standing. Apart from the grace of God we are at war with God. As Romans 5 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” Jesus is our peace in the sense that He reconciles us to the Father. Biblical peace is not like the hippy kind of peace that you just feel inside. It is an external declaration not an internal emotion.

Another mistake many make is feeling “spiritual” when they are actually acting carnal. Many people think that being spiritual is nothing more than just a good, subjective, “spiritual” feeling. We would rather FEEL spiritual than BE spiritual. We must realize that Jesus came “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:4) Walking in the spirit, according to Paul, has nothing to do with feeling spiritual and everything to do with the righteous requirement of the law being fulfilled in us. Walking in the spirit (being spiritual) is not freedom from the law but obedience to it. Feeling spiritual does not mean being free from self-control. Many have a false view that being “in the spirit” means being free from control. The Spirit is blamed for many “out-of-control” experiences. The fruit of the spirit IS “self-control” (Gal 5:23).

We must do the right thing in spite of how we feel. Many say, “I don’t FEEL like it’s the right thing to do” instead of saying “I do the right thing in spite of how I feel.” In our humanistic and sensual society, feelings have become the basis for morality. When asked to make a moral judgment we say things like, “I feel like __________” or “here’s how I feel…” “But why should I have to do _________ when I don’t feel like it?” That is the most popular response to excuse oneself from fulfilling obligations to others. Feelings have been elevated, somehow, to positions of absolute truth and power. But we must do the right thing in spite of how we feel. We cannot expect to only do right when we feel right. For instance, we must resist temptation. That means we must resist a feeling. Temptations wouldn’t be tempting if they didn’t feel good. All worldly pleasures feel pleasurable at least temporarily. Following a so-called “good”, yet forbidden, feeling won’t feel good forever. That is why Moses, by faith, chose to be “mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Heb 11:25)

Many times the expectation of “hurt feelings” prevents us from either speaking the truth, in love, or hearing the truth. How many times do we not say what needs to be said because we don’t want to FEEL embarrassed or we don’t want to hurt someone’s FEELINGS? The problem with many churches today is that the leaders care more about making everyone feel welcome than they do about making them hear the truth. Sometimes truth hurts, but in the long run it will set you free. Arguments and fights are usually caused by following your feelings instead of your conscience. As James says, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” (James 4:1) If we spent more time fighting off our feelings we would spend less time fighting each other. Doing the right thing doesn’t always feel good but it always IS good. Don’t wait for the right feeling before you obey. Many times feelings come after obedience. If a husband doesn’t feel loving towards his wife all he has to do is love her anyways and then the feelings will follow. The more loving you are the more love you will feel. In spite of how you feel, do the right thing.

Work to be done!

Here's a few good quotes reminding us of our need to stay busy. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." (Matt 9:37)

John Henry Newman: "Fear not that your life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning."

Will Rogers: “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.”

Martin Luther, when once asked what his plans, for the following day were, answered: “Work, work, from early until late. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”

Christ is the Substance of the Law

I got this from John M. Frame, Christ was not only perfectly obedient to God's Law, He was also the substance of the Law...

"Here I wish to say that Jesus is not only a perfect law-keeper (according to his humanity), but that according to his deity he is the one we honor and worship when we keep the law:

1. The first commandment teaches us to worship Jesus as the one and only Lord, Savior, and mediator (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5).

2. In the second commandment, Jesus is the one perfect image of God (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). Our devotion to him precludes worship of any other image.

3. In the third commandment, Jesus is the name of God, that name to which every knee shall bow (Phil. 2:10-11; cf. Is. 45:23).

4. In the fourth commandment, Jesus is our Sabbath rest. In his presence, we cease our daily duties and hear his voice (Luke 10:38-42).

5. In the fifth commandment, we honor Jesus who has brought us as his “sons” (Heb. 2:10) to glory.

6. In the sixth commandment, we honor him as the life (John 10:10; 14:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4), Lord of life (Acts 3:15), the one who gave his life that we might live (Mk. 10:45).

7. In the seventh commandment, we honor him as our bridegroom who gave himself to cleanse us, to make us his pure, spotless bride (Eph. 5:22-33). We love him as no other.

8. In the eighth commandment, we honor Jesus as our inheritance (Eph. 1:11) and as the one who provides all the needs for his people in this world and beyond.

9. In the ninth commandment, we honor him as God’s truth (John 1:17; 14:6), in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen (2 Cor. 1:20).

10. In the tenth commandment, we honor him as our complete sufficiency (2 Cor. 3:5; 12:9) to meet both our external needs and the renewed desires of our hearts."

John M. Frame

This Is Abortion (graphic)