Keys to the Deeper Life- Part 2

At the inspiration of A.W. Tozer’s book, Keys to the Deeper Life, in my last blog post I discussed the need for a “radical life” in order to know God and to keep grace from being “cheap grace.” At the end of Chapter One, Tozer more fully defines a “radical life” by saying, “We must return to New Testament Christianity, not in creed only but in complete manner of life as well. Separation, obedience, humility, simplicity, gravity, self-control, modesty, cross-bearing: these all must again be made a living part of the total Christian concept and be carried out in everyday conduct.” He is making the case that all our prayers for revival are for naught if we are not actually living the New Testament life. I would like to explore some thoughts about his list. Obviously it’s not all-encompassing, but Christians who live their lives in this manner would most certainly be well on the road to sanctification and would certainly affect their culture. Here are my musings on Tozer’s list:

Separation

I was listening to an archived webcast of “Generations with Kevin Swanson” today where Swanson was interviewing Greg Harris, one of the pioneers of homeschooling and father of Joshua Harris, pastor and author. Harris made a point about “separation” that gave me an “ah-hah!” moment. He pointed out that separation is NOT isolation. He gave the analogy of a Christian’s home being an embassy for a foreign land. For example, one would expect to find Spanish cuisine and Spanish culture in a Spanish embassy in Australia. The Spanish embassy is in Australia, but it is not of Australia. It retains its own culture and flavor, while being physically present in a different culture and country. The same holds true here. As ambassadors of Christ, our homes are to be embassies of heaven. One should find the fragrance and culture of Heaven when they enter, even though we are physically here on earth. They can also find out how to become a citizen of Heaven as well. Obviously like all analogies, this one does break down. But, it does help us to understand that as Christians, we must live our lives according to the dictates of our real home: heaven. Our lives need to witness forth and glorify God. We do that best when we quit trying to be like the world, when we quit trying to be “relevant,” and instead actually practice New Testament Christianity. That will separate us, but will not isolate us.

Obedience

As I’ve written numerous times in this blog before, there is no question that God wants our obedience to His Word. That obedience is what will separate us from the culture. This is not obedience in order to earn our righteousness, but is the obedience that is part and parcel of sanctifying us after conversion.

Humility

As a people who have peered into our souls and found them wanting, we know the depths of our depravity and the amount of forgiveness we have received from God (and if you haven’t done that…you might want to question your salvation, for you probably don’t even know what you are saved from!) We cannot be anything but humble toward others when we truly understand the grace that has been extended to us by God. Pride is the natural mode of the flesh, and we must fight it at every turn. Do be careful, though, not to misinterpret humility as lack of conviction of the truth. One can stand for the truth in a humble manner.

Simplicity

This relates to the separate life. A separate life is a life of simplicity. We in the Disneyland of America get so completely tied down with our toys and our activities that we are like the rat on the treadmill…running, running, running, running, yet never getting anywhere. We justify all the activities as being good things or as exposing our children to different aspects of life, but in the process we miss out on the truly important things in life…things like relationships, service, love of our neighbor, time together as a family in daily worship. A simple life is not a boring life, but rather is a calm life, and a shelter in the storm that is our culture. Imagine your neighbors seeing your home and life as a shelter when their lives are raging in the storm…and then you will see the Gospel-witnessing power of simplicity and separateness.

Gravity

I had to ponder this one a bit, but found it made a lot of sense. Our lives here are pitifully short in light of eternity. As ambassadors for Christ, we only have a short time to bring the Gospel, to advance His Kingdom. Those are critically important things…far more critical than the “bread and circuses” of our culture. Does it mean that we are grumpy and never smile? Of course not! We have our joy in our Lord and we most certainly can enjoy our lives. But it does mean that we understand the importance and the brevity of our lives and the difference we can make in our world…thus we go about our task with gravity and zeal. I think of the closing scene of the movie, Schindler’s List, where Schindler realizes the difference he had made in the lives of so many Jews…BUT he grieves because he realizes how many more he could have saved had he truly applied himself wholeheartedly. As Christians, we don’t want to look back on our lives and say, “If only…”

Self-Control

This is obviously a fruit of the Spirit. But how does it relate to living a life in the vein of New Testament Christianity? A person who is self-controlled is a person who is able to resist temptation, and thus is able to progress toward a holy life and more Christlikeness. A self-controlled person isn’t buffeted by the whims and pressures of the world because he understands where his life and his joy is…and it isn’t in this world! A person who is self-controlled reminds me of the meditation I did on “meekness.” A meek person would certainly be a self-controlled person. And if you think being meek is being wimpy…you need to read this post! A self-controlled person is a steady person, a rock and an anchor in a storm…and thus a witness to the world as they whirl about in the storms of life.

Modesty

Do I need to even stress how modesty isn’t even on the radar screen of today’s society? And I don’t mean just in terms of dress, but also in terms of lifestyle. Do we keep up with the Joneses in ostentatious lifestyle choices? Do our children use pop culture to determine style of dress? Is the world our standard? Modesty says we should be using the Bible as a standard, both in dress and in lifestyle. In dress, our women certainly don’t have to be dowdy or wear a Christian version of a burqua…but they DO need to uphold a standard of virtue in the way they dress so as not to communicate messages of sexual availability. They also need to be sensitive to how their dress may cause their Christian brothers to stumble. (Ladies…ask your husband or your dad, and then listen to what they say; they see things you don’t when it comes to suggestiveness in dress.) In lifestyle, do we need to live in a mud hut? Of course not. But we do need to be cognizant of what we are spending our money on; our spending habits are the best indicator of what we truly love. Does our lifestyle promote relationship and service? Does it bring people to us in ministry opportunity? Is our home a haven into which we bring the unsaved? These are outworks of modesty in lifestyle.

Cross-Bearing

Jesus made it clear that the world will hate us just as it hates Him. After all, we are His hands in the world right now. We bear His image. As a result, we can certainly expect persecution if we are to attempt to truly live a New Testament life. As long as we are tepid, the devil is quite happy to let us just roll along. After all, we aren’t really affecting anyone, and because we lack introspection, we ourselves may not even be saved! He’s happy if we just stick with cultural Christianity. But if we look to start a life patterned after this list…look out! There will be roadblocks everywhere…from family, friends, church members, and even strangers! There will be a cross to bear. But remember that Jesus bears that cross with us, enabling us to endure beyond anything we considered possible. And there is joy in the endurance, in the journey.

The premise of this chapter in Keys is that our prayers and appeals to God for revival in our country as the solution to our societal problems are not effective as long as we as Christians are not actually living as Christians. As long as we have compromised with the culture, we don’t offer the culture any hope, anything that is different. We as Christians may very well be the answer to our own prayers! Imagine the effect of the culture actually seeing authentic Christianity lived out in front of them. There would be those who would turn away in disgust…but God would move in the hearts of many who would see God’s active hand in our lives and want the same. That is called revival! And revivals change cultures for the glory of God.

Radical, Dude! Keys to the Deeper Life- Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts on A.W. Tozer's, Keys to the Deeper Life. It's difficult to know where to begin...there are so many good "jumping off points." So I guess I'll start with some quotes (in red) out of Chapter 1: "Leaning Into the Wind."

Most evangelicals no longer initiate; they imitate, and the world is their model. The holy faith of our fathers has in many places been made a form of entertainment....

It's not difficult to see that for most of the evangelical world, our Christian faith doesn't inform our entire life, our entire being. Rather, it is compartmentalized, brought out when it fits, and kept firmly locked away when it doesn't. We aren't initiating by living a life that is separate and distinctly Christian. Instead we are living a lot like the world, investing in the trinkets and comforts, educating our children in the same manner, living lives so busy we can't begin to form relationships with anyone outside our families, and in some cases, so busy we can't grow the relationships inside our families! And yet we go to church, read our Bibles, pray, have quiet time...but still live in most ways similar to the world. It's duplicitous…and James 1:8 tells us a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways....

That note of protest which began with the New Testament and which was always heard loudest when the Church was most powerful has been successfully silenced. The radical element in testimony and life that once made Christians hated by the world is missing from present-day evangelicalism. Christians were once revolutionists -- moral, not political -- but we have lost our revolutionary character. It is no longer dangerous or costly to be a Christian. Grace has become not free, but cheap. We are busy these days proving to the world that they can have all the benefits of the gospel without any inconvenience to their customary way of life. It's "all this, and heaven, too."

The church once stood in stark opposition to the world…in today's vernacular, the church would be “radical," and that's meant to be a pejorative. Jesus reminds us that the ruler of this world is Satan, so one would expect when the light that is the church shines brightly into the world, exposing its offerings for the lies that they are, there would be opposition...hatred! Being a “radical” Christian was dangerous and costly. Do I want danger and cost? Honestly? No. But do I want a real, authentic, close, intimate relationship with Christ, one that fills and stirs my soul in only the way Christ can? Absolutely. What if that means danger and cost? Well…if the choice is between knowing Christ in a close, intimate way or staying at a distance in order to remain “safe,” then bring on the danger and cost! It is the fruit of that close relationship with Christ, especially in the face of danger and cost, that witnesses the saving power of the Gospel to a dark and hurting world! God promises us the grace to endure, and while that type of grace is free, it most certainly is not cheap!

Tozer decries grace that has become cheap, and given that grace is God’s means of salvation, to cheapen it is to slap Jesus and His sacrifice in the face. Paul makes it very, very clear that we are not to continue to sin so that grace may abound (Romans 6:1-2). A Christian is to abhor sin, to mortify it, to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit for holiness and Christlikeness. When we proclaim the Gospel as “free” and mean there is no post-conversion requirement for obedience, for change, and for holiness, we proclaim “cheap” grace and a false gospel. And worse…when we as Christians “prove” to the world through our own example, the benefits of “Gospel without inconvenience”, we are living a life of cheap grace that both misrepresents our Savior and lacks the power to stand in the face of any opposition at all. A life of obedience to Christ will be inconvenient in the eyes of the world, but it is the only life that is truly fulfilling because it is the only life that draws us closer and closer to our Savior in a real and tangible way.

A person who strives to live this kind of life, to know Christ in a manner that is more than an intellectual exercise, to bring His light into the darkness of this world will be labeled a “radical”…and it’s appropriate, because he is radical compared to the milque-toast, culturally-relevant, culture-embracing, seeker-sensitive evangelical church of today.

Wear the label with the same humility of another “radical”…your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Join Me!

I am reading a new book by A.W. Tozer entitled, Keys to the Deeper Life. Many bloggers and writers write book reviews, and they are helpful when determining whether you would like to take the time with a book. In my case, though, I would rather use my format to muse upon quotes and sections of the book that strike me as important and interesting. My writings will be my way of considering, thinking about, and applying what he is saying. If you find my posts causing you to want to read the book, I was able to find it at Amazon.com at a very reasonable price.

In the meantime, please join me in the journey into Keys to the Deeper Life.

Philoxenia

Philoxenia- Now that's not a word that is heard every day...probably because it's Greek! It's English pronunciation is a bit more common in speech, but unfortunately not so common in practice. It's not even a nuanced translation; philoxenia literally means "love of strangers"...and we translate it as the word "hospitality."

I did a word search for "hospitality" in the New Testament and found four instances of its use.

The first is in Romans 12:13, (ESV) "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." This is in a list of commands under the summary heading of "Marks of a True Christian." Obviously "Marks of a True Christian" is not part of the original text of the Bible, but is the publisher's commentary on that set of verses. Yet it is a worthy summation of the verses. So God is saying that one of the marks of a true Christian is that he seeks to show love to strangers.

The second is in I Timothy 5:10 (ESV) "and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work." This verse is in regard to the older widow's qualification for the widow's list... a list of women to be cared for by the church in their older years as needed. So one of the qualifications is that this woman has shown love to strangers...and look at the list in which this requirement is embedded! It's obviously not an afterthought or a meaningless task.

The third is in Hebrews 13:2 (ESV) "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." This follows verse 1 where we are commanded to let brotherly love continue. It would seem then, that showing love to strangers is tied to letting brotherly love continue.

The fourth is in I Peter 4:9 (ESV) "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." This verse is in the middle of two verses commanding Christians to keep loving one another and to keep serving one another. Thus it would seem that showing love to strangers is directly related to loving one another and serving one another. In this instance, the one another is obviously other Christians, so the "stranger" here would be a brother or sister in Christ whom we don't know. By showing them love, we get to know them and thus encourage the love and unity for which Christians are to be known.

It seems that God is pretty serious about hospitality being practiced by the saints. So two questions seem to arise.

1) Just who is a "stranger?"

The immediate thought that comes to mind when asking that question is the question asked in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, "Who is my brother?" It would seem that a stranger is anyone you don't know well. That could be another Christian at church. It could be a person in the next cubicle at work. It could be someone you just met.

The bottom line is that God is interested in you as a Christian establishing and growing relationships! God cares about people...and He obviously wants his adopted children to care about them as well. After all, relationships with people (believers) are going to be eternal! If the person is a believer, you are strengthening his faith and ministering to him and his family. If he isn't, you are putting practical effort forth to witness the Gospel to him (and maybe his family) through love and service in your own home. Either way, the person won't be a "stranger" for long!

(Does that mean you can't have anyone you know over? Of course not! Relationships are important to God, and strong relationships witness to the world. There isn't a much better way to build a relationship than over a comfortable meal!)

2) What would "hospitality" look like?

I think there is a huge difference between "hospitality" and "entertainment." There is a place for both, but one should not confuse one with the other.

"Entertainment" is the huge bash a family might put on for Thanksgiving, going all out for days to prepare a fabulous meal with all the trimmings, decorating the house and setting a table to celebrate. It requires a tremendous amount of expense and work (especially for mom!), but provides a special time for all the guests. Think, "Martha Stewart!"

"Hospitality" on the other hand is a simple inviting of a person (or family) to join you in your everyday meal. It has the feeling of "family." There isn't a huge imposition on you, other than maybe making the meal in a slightly larger quantity than you would have otherwise. Your guests are welcomed into your home to delight in a new-found relationship. The ultimate in hospitality would be to create a feeling where your guest would be comfortable enough to lie down on your couch for an after-meal nap! Obviously, that is an extreme example...but the idea is to create an environment that is genuine, comfortable, warm, inviting, and friendly. You are witnessing the love of Christ in a very direct manner. A person who feels comfortable is much more open to talking of things that are important...like the Gospel!

The guest who is being "entertained" will undoubtedly have a special time, but it is very unlikely he will feel comfortable. He won't feel like family; he will feel like a guest. And that's the whole point of hospitality. If you "love a stranger," he will feel the connection...like family.

Think of how effective this would be in sharing the Gospel! Think of how this attitude of hospitality would affect your children; they would see their family actively and intentionally ministering to both the saints and to the unsaved. They would see the Gospel in action and in word. Think of how easily they could be involved in something this concrete! Think of how they will learn to serve and to love others. Think of how you would actually get to know your neighbors! I don't know about you, but most of our neighbors would easily qualify as "strangers!" That's a sad admission, but I suspect it is true of most people in today's world. A Christian family who intentionally and regularly practiced hospitality just within their neighborhood would be a witness to the Gospel through the first Fruit of the Spirit: love...and they would stand out from the rest of the "Christians" (see my post on the sad state of American Christianity here) in their acts of love and service through their hospitality.

So...start practicing hospitality! It is both commanded and commended by God. It shows the Gospel to an unbelieving world. It teaches your children through example.

You don't have to do it every day, or even every week at the beginning. Start with once a month...or even once every two months. But be intentional. I suspect it will be habit-forming, and would happen much more often over time. But you have to start.

How about this week?

Joy in the Journey

I don't like to keep referencing my other blog, but some of what I have written there lately applies to the purposes of both of these blogs. So rather than create the post twice...I'll just send you there through a link.

I heard a wonderful quote on Kevin Swanson's radio program today. His guest, Steve Maxwell said (paraphrased), "If our joy comes from entertainment, our joy is limited by income. But if our joy comes from serving others, we have the potential for a lifetime of joy."

I used that thought as a springboard for commentary and application. You can read about it here.

Lord Foulgrin on "Radical Obedience"

As I continue to reread Lord Foulgrin's Letters by Randy Alcorn (previous post here and website here), I keep coming across excellent observations about how we, especially in America, are confounded regarding living a full Christian life. Here are a few more examples. Remember this text is from a letter to a demon underling on how to disrupt a Christian's life, in this case a man named "Fletcher."

From Chapter 21:

Focus Fletcher on yesterday or tomorrow. Let him celebrate past obedience and anticipate future obedience, as long as he doesn't obey in the present. Distract Fletcher from what the Carpenter has for him today. If nostalgia or regrets concerning the past consume him, fine. If his plans for world travel or changing jobs or building on to his house consume him, fine. The Enemy wants his service today. Everything which distracts from today's obedience serves us. (Emphasis added)

If he must be a Christian, make him a moderate one, the kind who makes sure he "doesn't go overboard" or "get radical" or "go to extremes." (emphasis added) Let his Christianity be one more category of his life, alongside business, sports, and hobbies. If that's all it is, it'll do us little harm and the Enemy little good.

In the last post from this book, I ended the quote with the thought that "an unholy world will never be won to the Carpenter by an unholy church." and the observation that the only way for the church to be holy is for the individuals within that church to be holy. Today's quotes show two distinct ways we avoid the holiness God desires for us.

The first is obedience; and not just any obedience, but obedience today, now. Each and every moment of every day should be considered in light of obeying God's commands in Christ. Today's Sunday School lesson dealt with the same issue: We show we love God most when we "hunger for righteousness." So... am I obeying now? Where have I disobeyed today? That disobedience, either active (through a conscious act of disobedience) or inactive (through inaction when one should have obeyed), is sin. As Christians we need to confess that sin before the Throne of Grace in prayer, appropriating the cleansing Blood of Christ to cover it and separate it from us as far as the east is from the west. And then...obey!

The second is the fear of being "radical" or "extreme." If we actually were to obey God, our lives would look far different than the world around us. Even those within the church would drag out the labels "radical" and "extreme" in an attempt to bring us back in line with the prevailing evangelical culture. (I've been called those names by people who have read what I have written in my blogs, and I must admit it's encouraging to read respected authors who think similarly to what I've written!) Unfortunately, those labels work very well to squelch the fire of many a well-meaning Christian who desires to go hard after Christ. Alcorn is making the point that we don't make Christianity our life but rather just one more category to go alongside all the other things we do. Especially when we have children, we "fit it in" alongside all the sports and activities instead of letting it regulate what we do and how we look at all those sports and activities. What would our lives look like if we actually lived as Christians and not as people of the world who also wear the cloak of Christianity?

Even more importantly, how would we impact our world of we actually lived as Christians instead of as "...a baptized version of the world with mere cosmetic differences?"

Can we start focusing on the present when it comes to obedience?
Can we actually be radical and extreme and not worry about the labels?
Can we actually show Christ to the world through our very lives?

My prayer is the answer would be "YES!"

Post on Prayer

Over at my Home Discipling Dad blog, I have posted regarding prayer. The majority of the post is generic and outlines John Bunyan's thoughts on what true prayer is. As such, it is applicable to the mission of this blog as well and I would commend it to you.

May we all learn more about the wonderful privilege of approaching the Throne of Grace in prayer!

Living the Radical Life

"Our people are laid waste with sexual temptation and failure and guilt because their soul and their mind have shriveled down to the size of a TV sitcom."

It's not often that I simply direct you to another website, but there are two articles/blog posts that seem to have immense practical application to holiness and serving Jesus as Lord. The quote above comes from the first. It is the written version of a sermon given by Pastor John Piper to Passion 2007 just this last week in Atlanta. The article deals primarily with sexual sin, but its point could just as easily be applied to any sin and that sin's accompanying guilt, both of which paralyze us to radical service to our Lord. Although somewhat lengthy, I would commend it to you in its entirety. Print it out, sit down with a cup of coffee...read/muse/pray...and take action on what you read!

It can be found here.

A second link is a set of blog posts is by Joshua Harris, senior pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. These posts flow out of a couple of sermons given at the beginning of the year on Psalm 90. In particular, Harris focuses on the verse, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." When you consider what God has to say about himself versus us as finite humans and then compare it to what A.W. Tozer has said in Knowledge of the Holy (blog post here, here, and here), it will help you to continue to put God in His proper sphere, while teaching us to consider what it truly important in our short lives.

Harris makes several posts on the topic and the sermon on the subject can be accessed from the first few posts as well. They can be found:

here, here, here, here, here, and here.

May you be blessed by these wonderful gentlemen's writings... and may they help you serve the Lord in a radical, life-changing, Kingdom-advancing, Gospel-bringing manner.

Lord Foulgrin on "Feelings"

Randy Alcorn of Eternal Perspectives Ministries is a prolific author of both fiction and nonfiction. I am particularly drawn to his fictional works because of the truths that are so effectively taught through his stories. I've read most of his stories more than once. Right now I am rereading Lord Foulgrin's Letters and came across a good quote to launch a post. Letters is in the same vein as C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, but it includes an ongoing story about a human family currently being plotted against by the demons. This passage is from a letter from Lord Foulgrin to his protege, so it is written from the perspective of a demon.

What's most exciting is how we've served up moral relativism to the forbidden squadron. Relativism reigns in the church--the sludgebags improvise morals as they go. Ask Conhock about it. One of his patients recently walked away from her marriage because "the Holy Spirit gave me a peace about it." And her so-called Christian friends offered no argument! After all, they were to "judge not," and show love to their friend by refraining from disagreement.

There've always been Christian sludgebags who disobey the forbidden book. But there have never been so many who kept right on going to church and claiming the spiritual high ground in the midst of their disobedience.

The vermin explain their sin with sanctimonious language like, "We've prayed about it and sought counsel, and we feel it's the right thing to do." Don't let it dawn on them that to the Enemy what they feel is inconsequential (emphasis added). His moral laws--confound them--don't give a rip about how any of us feel. The sludgebags have no more power to vote them in and out of existence than they have power to revoke the law of gravity.

...the forbidden squadron will never be more than a baptized version of the world, with mere cosmetic differences.

Take cheer, Squaltaint. An unholy world will never be won to the Carpenter by an unholy church (emphasis added).

In just a few paragraphs, Alcorn has targeted two of the major problems in the church today: the misapplication of "Judge not lest you be judged." and the reliance upon feelings rather than obedience to determine truth and direction.

"Judge not" is a post-modernists dream, for its misapplication almost immediately silences all criticism and discernment. However, we as Christians are called to judge (discern) all the time. This verse is more pointed...we cannot judge as God judges. That's a huge difference. We should absolutely judge when it comes to the breaking of God's moral statutes, especially by those who claim allegiance to Christ.

In this therapeutic age, we give far too much credence to "feelings" when determining right and wrong, determining truth or falsehood, or determining direction in life. God's patterns, principles, and precepts are not subject to how a person "feels" about them on a given day. Rather, they are absolute. As a believer, God expects you to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit and act according to His commands...regardless of how you feel! To do so will result in that pattern of action becoming normative in your life...and you are one more step along the path of sanctification!

Both of these attitudes, the lack of discernment and the reliance upon feelings, cause the church to be a mere "baptized version of the world." If there is to be an impact upon our world, we must be a holy church, and to be a holy church, we must be a holy people. That will only happen if we are a separate people who live according to God's revealed Word.

So, as a start in countering the falsehoods put forth by the demons (and our culture):

1. Judge in a discerning manner according to the Word of God!

2.Don't listen to feelings (feelings lie), but rather obey God's Word in the power of the Spirit!

Out of the Office...

Gone on vacation...sans computer!

Merry Christmas!!!

Recovering a Huge Vision of God

The final chapter of The Knowledge of the Holy (two earlier posts here and here) is perhaps the best because it puts application to the thoughts and musings of the previous 100 pages. Tozer’s desire is that the name of God be glorified in the church again, and for that to happen, the individual must glorify God through personal revival.

He says there is only one secret… “Acquaint thyself with God.”

Tozer then goes on to present a brief summary of the conditions necessary in order to do this acquaintance.

First… “We must forsake our sins.”

Second… “There must be an utter committal of the whole life to Christ in faith.” He describes this as involving a “…volitional and emotional attachment to Him accompanied by a firm purpose to obey Him in all things.” Consider some of my earlier posts (here and here) on the necessity of obedience. And note his intentional use of the words “utter” and “whole” and their implications to how we live here in America.

Third… “There must be a reckoning of ourselves to have died unto sin and to be alive unto God in Christ Jesus, followed by a throwing open of the entire personality to the inflow of the Holy Spirit.”

Fourth… “We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world and become completely detached in spirit from everything that unbelieving men set their hearts upon, allowing ourselves only the simplest enjoyments of nature which God has bestowed alike upon the just and the unjust.” This one really sounds difficult to me. However, I suspect that as I accomplish the first three, the fourth will naturally follow.

Fifth… “We must practice the art of long and loving meditation upon the majesty of God.” Tozer warns that as we progress deeper in becoming acquainted with God, we may for a time, lose friends and gain a passing reputation for being holier-than-thou. But he also states that if we were to turn from this effort simply because of these things, then we are not fit for the Kingdom of God. We fear the world more than we fear God.

Sixth… “As the knowledge of God becomes more wonderful, greater service to our fellow men will become for us imperative. This blessed knowledge is not given to be enjoyed selfishly.”

Tozer concludes that as we develop an intensified knowledge of God, there is no way it cannot begin to affect those around us, especially those in our circle of Christian friends. We must purposefully share our increasing light with our brothers and sisters. As this happens, the church as a whole grows to bring more glory to God.

Implications of Knowledge of the Holy

Tozer says that it is often easier to understand about God from the negative. In other words, when we consider what He is not like, we better understand what He is like. For instance: God had no origin; He had no beginning; He requires no helpers; He suffers no change; He has no limitations in His essential being; there is no place God isn’t; nothing can sway His hand.

What does this mean to us in everyday life? In a word…majesty. We have such a low view of God, often (if we are brutally honest) as not much more than the big vending machine in the sky. Think how often our prayers are nothing more than a list of requests! Yes, we have been adopted as sons of God and have been given permission to address Him as “Abba.” But in no way does that change Who He is relative to who we are. But since we now consider Him to be our “big buddy in the sky,” we feel free to live our lives in whatever way we see fit. We don’t see our sin as a big deal…yes, maybe our bigger sins, but certainly not the smaller ones. We don’t strive for holiness. We don’t fall on our faces in awe of God, especially in light of what He did for us on the Cross! God and His demands on our lives fall to a distant second place when compared to the demands and cares of the world.

Oh, how I want to go back and study, internalizing the insights Tozer has compiled here, praying that the Holy Spirit will help me to develop a massive view of God that leaves me in stunned awe and adoration. Just consider what a motivation such a view would be when it comes to the difficulties of challenging our culture with a life lived wholly sold-out to Christ.

Aircraft Operating Manuals

As a short reprieve from A.W. Tozer, I'm going to continue my airplane analogies a bit further.

In the airline world we have massive books that tell us about the systems of the plane, how they work, how they are to be operated, and how to handle things when they don't work as advertised. We also have books that tell us how to most efficiently fly the plane within the safest parameters.

For instance, let's say the book tells us to fly a final approach speed of 142 knots. That would be the designer's calculation as the speed which gives us the best stall protection (assuming we are flying something that could actually stall...not an Airbus) and maneuvering capability while giving us the least energy necessary to dissipate on landing.

As the pilot, I can override the designer's calculations and increase or decrease the speed. If I increase it, I then the result will be a longer landing roll. This could result in something as minor as hotter brakes, or in something as major as going off the end of the runway! If I decide to fly slower than the designer's calculated speed, I could stall the airplane and crash.

The bottom line is the designer built the plane. He knows how it is best flown. If I am smart, I will listen to what he has to say and do it!

The spiritual lesson is that God "built" the human being (us). He knows how we are to operate best. He has given us a "manual" telling us the best way for us. If I am smart, I will heed what it has to say and live according to its patterns, principles, precepts, and commands. If I don't, I can expect anything from minor difficulties to major crashes...and perhaps an eternity in hell!

Bottom line... Read your Bible. Repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins if you have not already done so. And then follow the Bible, thus becoming more and more like your Lord Jesus every day, and thus operating the human being that is you in the "best way possible according to the Designer!"

In the Center of the Cross

This is a picture of the Primary Flight Display on an Airbus A320. It shows our attitude in relation to the horizon, our heading, our airspeed in knots, our altitude, our mach number, our vertical velocity, and the particulars of our automation.

Specifically what I would like to draw your attention to are the two lines that form a cross right in the center of the instrument. Those form what is called the "Flight Director." There is a little black box that is right in the center of the cross. By pitching the plane up or down or rolling it right or left, you move that box to center it up underneath the crosshairs. The function of the crosshairs is to tell you where to put the airplane in order for it to fly in the manner you have asked it to. In short, if I were to set the automation up, you as a non-pilot could fly the little box into the cross, and you would be able to make the plane do something you would not be able to do on your own. On the other hand, if you were to ignore the cross, really bad things usually happen!

I took one of our pastors in the simulator one day and after learning how to keep the box under the cross, he came up with the following insightful application to real life:

If you want to get to your proper destination in this life, you must stay in the center of the Cross. When you are not in the center of the Cross, really bad things usually happen!

A Message from the Grave

We recently returned from a wonderful week-long tour of Plymouth, Boston, Salem, and Lexington/Concord. Believe me when I say that being in Plymouth over Thanksgiving is something everyone should endeavor to do once in their lifetime!

Anyway, if you were to tour Burial Hill Cemetery in Plymouth (William Bradford is only one of many famous people from our history buried there), you would find many, many gravestones from the Puritan era. One of the things the Puritans tried to do was communicate a message with what they put on those stones. Here is a quote I found that relates to one of my previous posts.

Short is our longest day of life
And soon its prospect ends.
Yet on that day's uncertain date
Eternity begins.

The Knowledge of the Holy

A.W. Tozer has a wonderful little book (slightly over 100 pages) entitled, The Knowledge of the Holy. The premise is that our view of God is far too small, which in turn inhibits our ability to experience the transforming power of the Spirit in our lives. My family attends a church that has a much higher view of God than most, but as I read this book, I find that we are sorely lacking as well. “The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him—and of her.”

The purpose of this post is to outline and summarize the attributes Tozer brings out about God, to include their definitions. An “attribute” is something God has revealed as being true about Himself. It isn’t a definition of Him, but rather is something intrinsic to His nature. We must also consider all of the attributes as one, with each attribute contributing to the others. You will note that most every one of these attributes deals with the concept of infinity, something of which finite man can scarcely conceive, yet it is still worth our efforts…for without the attempt, we can never know about our God. Tozer says we absolutely must break ourselves of the habit of thinking of the Creator as we think of His creatures. Please take some quiet time and muse and wrestle with the implications of each of these attributes. Look at how often we define God in a manner similar to that of a creature. Even better…get the book, and see some of the musing and implications Tozer comes up with.

God Incomprehensible- An infinite God is not comprehensible by man. Bits and pieces as He chooses to reveal, yes; otherwise He cannot be known. We tend to reduce Him to manageable terms, and the result is a God we can in some measure control…in other words, not God at all. I think of the things I teach about God. I can have confidence they are true and I can proclaim them confidently. However, this particular attribute opens my eyes to how easily I come to think I have God “figured out.” The only things I can “figure out” about God are those which He tells me, and even then it will only be partially since I as a finite being cannot begin to comprehend His infinitude.

God as the Holy Trinity- No matter how hard one tries or how many deep theological words he uses, this attribute cannot be satisfactorily explained, only believed as “truth for the heart.” Three, yet One. Separate, yet in total, perfect, complete unity. Perfect in love.

The Self-Existence of God- Origin can only apply to that which is created. That God was not created means He has no origin. He is “Someone Who was made by none.”

The Self-Sufficiency of God- God is what He is in Himself, and as such, He has no need. “Need” can only be referenced to a creature, and not to the Creator.

The Eternity of God- Since time came into being at the creation, God is outside of time. God is unaffected by the farthest reaches we can consider in both past and future. “God dwells in eternity, but time dwells in God.”

God’s Infinitude- This is something we cannot grasp, yet we must at least make the attempt for it will help us to come to grips with the other attributes. Infinitude can only belong to One, and it says God is measureless. Measuring is something we do as Creatures. The infinite cannot be measured, and when we try, we end up with something that isn’t God!

God’s Immutability- God never differs from Himself. He never grows or develops. Since He is already perfect, any change is impossible.

God’s Divine Omniscience- God possesses perfect knowledge and has no need to learn. It also means God has never learned and cannot learn.

The Wisdom of God- God’s understanding is infinite, and this infinite wisdom is the root of all truth. Among other things, it “…is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means.”

The Omnipotence of God- Because God is infinite and He is self-existent, He must have limitless power as well. This perfect, complete, limitless power must go hand-in-hand with the idea of sovereignty as well.

God’s Divine Transcendence- God is exalted far above the created universe. He is not just the highest in an ascending order of beings. He stands fully and completely apart.

God’s Omnipresence- “God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.” “In His infinitude He surrounds the finite creation and contains it.”

God’s Faithfulness- To be unfaithful is to change. Since God cannot change, He is absolutely faithful in all He does. He is perfectly consistent, with all He does in perfect agreement with all He is.

God’s Goodness- This is the attribute that disposes God to be “…kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men.” It is this goodness that allows a distinction between kindness and cruelty and even between heaven and hell.

God’s Justice- Justice and righteousness are almost perfect synonyms in Scripture. Justice is the way God is. His acts are the perfect definition of justice. In no way should we ever attempt to think of God as conforming to an external, independent criterion.

God’s Mercy- This is “…an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate.” Mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt. Tozer also goes to great length to dispel the idea that God in the Old Testament is a God of justice whereas the God of the New Testament is a God of mercy. Remember…God is immutable!

God’s Grace- While similar to mercy, grace is God’s goodness directed toward man’s debt and demerit.

God’s Love- God is not literally “love” as is so often ascribed, but love is an essential attribute of God. It’s very difficult to actually define “love,” but we can describe how love manifests itself. Good will, friendly, giving freely to the object of its affection, self-sacrificial, taking pleasure in the object of its affection are examples of this manifestation.

God’s Holiness- “We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not the best we know infinitely bettered.” God’s holiness is something “…unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable.” Holiness is who God is; He is the standard.

God’s Sovereignty- This is the absolute freedom of God to do that which He desires. Nothing can hinder, compel, or stop Him.

I know this resulted in a long post. I hope you will take the time along with me to ponder these attributes in a heart-felt attempt to know and thus love the God of our salvation more and more. I hope to place another couple of posts on this book, one involving some implications of furthering our understanding of God’s attributes and another summarizing Tozer’s final chapter wherein he “puts feet to the ideas” and challenges us to rise to the occasion of glorifying God more and more.

Giving thanks to my Lord, Who is far more than I could ever imagine…

HYPOCRITE!!!

Some people who read my blogs and who know me personally have leveled the charge of "hypocrite" at me, claiming that my life and what I write here and on my HomeDisciplingDad blog don't match.

You know what?

They are right.

My life does not conform with what I write here, and I doubt that most of the people who read this blog could state that their lives do either. My purpose in writing these blogs is not to expound from on high as a person who has "made it," but rather to compile thoughts and musings of what I find in the Bible and what I read from respected authors that show what my life should be like...almost like a series of goals at which to aim.

I can honestly and sadly say that I fall far short of most of what I write. But if I don't at least have these thoughts in front of me, then I don't have direction. I would like to be the person who has made great strides against idolatry, whose life illustrates strong obedience to God's commands, who always loves his wife as perfectly as Christ loved the church, who has shepherded his family away from the ways of the world and into following Christ unashamedly, who witnesses the Gospel and the love of Christ daily to a lost and hurting world, who prays unceasingly, who loves God with every ounce of his being, 100% of the time.

But I fall short, often very short. I know that.

But without vision, the people perish; and these blogs are places for me to compile what I hope is a God-centered vision for myself and for my family... and just maybe, for those who do me the honor of reading them as well.

So, yes, in a sense, I am a hypocrite; but in another, I am a sinner, justified by faith, living in grace, and praying for a life more conformed to Christ.

A Foolish Life

I was reading a back-issue of Randy Alcorn's Eternal Perspectives Newsletter (free subscription at Eternal Perspectives Ministries) and came across the following quote:

"Any life that leaves us unprepared for death is a foolish life."

This has a similar flavor to the couplet inscribed on a Puritan-era tombstone in Boston:

As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be.
So prepare for death,
And follow me.

We in America absolutely detest even thinking that our lives are finite. It is an uncomfortable subject for many reasons, not the least of which is that we unconsciously consider this life to be superior to the next. As Christians, we should know better!

But the bottom line is that each of us will face death, and only God knows the span of our life. Both Randy Alcorn and this voice crying out to us from the grave are pleading with us to consider our lives in light of their finitude. To a Christian, this should call us to consider if we are truly living our lives in a manner worthy of our status as God's adopted children. Are we building His Kingdom? Are we finding joy in doing His will? Are we shining light into a dark world?

Or...are we living for ourselves, for our "Disneyland" experience here in America (as my pastor likes to put it)? Are we so chummy with the culture that we cannot begin to fathom God's radical call on our lives?

How does one prepare for death? I propose that one prepares for death by the intentional living of his life, becoming more and more like Christ every day, obeying Him, and doing His will. By the end of our lives, our only plea on our deathbed should be, "Oh, that I had more time to show the love of Christ to the world...but to die is gain!!!"

We should be striving to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant"...not "Well done, good and faithful servant, for you broke that sporting record" or "Well done, good and faithful servant, for you died with the most toys" or even "Well done good and faithful servant, for you attended church faithfully." The key word here is servant. We serve the risen Lord, doing His bidding in the world. We don't ascertain that bidding through circumstance and feeling, but rather through careful study and application of the Scripture. And I dare say that most of what we in the American Evangelical Culture are doing reflect the intent of the latter comments above, and will burn up as the chaff it is.

Trust me when I say part of the reason I write is to preach to myself. I admit it... I love my vacations. I love my home. I love my toys. I love the accolades I get from my job. I take for granted God's blessings in my life. And NONE of these things will amount to a hill of beans from God's viewpoint. In fact, there is a good argument to be made that they may even be idols! And if you've read some of my earlier posts on idolatry, you know how God abhors idolatry. Where is my focus? When will my actions match my words?

Oh Lord, in the name of your Son, Jesus, please make it so!!! Please give me, and all who read this, the desire to conform our lives to that of our Savior. And when that desire is there; please turn it into action. Give us a vision for what You want from us on this earth. Give us a vision of what truly matters, and grant the joy and desire to do those things! Then Lord, take all the glory from our transformed lives!! Amen!

May we have a healthy understanding of death... and how to prepare for it....

Tozer on "The Exaltation of God"

A.W. Tozer has something to challenge me on almost every page I read. In his book, The Pursuit of God, he has an essay on The Exaltation of God. In it I found the following quotes:

"Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being who He is, and we being who we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full Lordship on His part and complete submission on ours."

This is the point that the evangelical culture in our country seems to have conveniently forgotten. The EC ignores Lordship...especially "full Lordship." And if you don't recognize full Lordship, then complete submission is not even on your radar screen. Do we really take time to get quiet before the Lord for an extended period of time and ponder who He really is? Maybe if we did that, we would arrive at the same conclusion as Tozer.

"The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. And this is not judicially, but actually."

Tozer makes the point of mentioning "judicially" because he understands that we are justified by faith alone, which makes us right with God judicially. But we then have the challenge of sanctification, which is the act of bringing our total personality into conformity to God's. This is an actual, intentional, laborious process, and it involves, in the power of the Holy Spirit, actually changing who we are.

"The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all, we step out of the world's parade."

Doing the above means determining to exalt God... and that means being different from the world. How many of us quickly get defensive here, professing that we don't really love the world, but are just living in it? God's way and the way of the world are completely antithetical; you can't have it both ways. Tozer goes on to quickly cut our excuses out from under us with the next quote:

"Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who or what is above, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time."

(In Tozer's day, he probably didn't have to deal as much with this one: Between God and sports!) When the rubber meets the road, which choice will it be? If the answer isn't 100% "God," then we are not honoring Him and He is not our true Lord. Note that Tozer phrases it as "forced to make a choice." This is not an intellectual agreement; he means it to be real life. If we know what God is asking of us, and yet refuse to willingly conform ourselves with a joyful heart, then we are dishonoring our Lord...and that raises the question of what we truly believe. That's the whole point of this blog. Are you serious about your faith? If so, then it has to show as you grow in Jesus' righteousness. You can't sit still; you must be becoming more like your Lord.

And I write/preach this to myself as well....

May we all seriously consider what we need to do to pass Tozer's test on honoring the Father of our Lord and Savior.

Practical Tips for Obedience and Change- Part II

This morning I had the pleasure of sitting under the teaching of Dr. John Piper as he conducted a seminar on "Christian Hedonism." (Yes...sounds like an oxymoron, but it's not!) The purpose here isn't to describe or defend Christian Hedonism. If you would like more information on it, go to Desiring God and put it in the search box. You will have more information than you can possibly digest! While you are there, purchase a copy of Desiring God for a more thorough treatment of the subject...AND a life-changing view of our Lord and Savior!

I took away from his seminar several items that relate to obedience and Christ's Lordship. First and foremost is that Christ IS Lord, but that for the believer, it is not a thing of duty and burden. In fact, if you are acting out of simple duty, you probably don't really know Christ! Instead, our actions...including the keeping of God's commands...are to be motivated by joy! We are actually commanded to have joy! I won't go into the theological defense of how God can command an emotion...go to the website for that. So bottom line... obedience to the commands of God is a joyful thing! But Pastor Piper also said that it is a continual fight...you must fight for joy, probably on a daily basis...or even more often! And he gave some strategies that are applicable (there are more, probably available on the website or through some of the other books he's written).

1. Meditate on Scripture day and night. That means reading it, memorizing it, and musing upon it.

2. Pray. Pray for joy. Pray for what you are learning in your meditations on Scripture.

3. Preach to yourself instead of listening to yourself! I highlight this because it struck me as important, yet immensely practical, simply because it is something we don't do! We wake up in the morning and listen to ourselves grumble. We listen to ourselves all day long, and if we were to actually pay attention, we would be amazed at how often what we are telling ourselves is negative and joy-killing. Quit doing that! Instead, preach to yourself sermons based on the Scripture you are reading and meditating upon. Preach about God's goodness and glory. Preach about His promises. Preach about His expectations of you in your sanctification. Train yourself to listen only when you are preaching and not when you are grumbling.

Becoming more like Christ isn't a burdensome work of drudgery. Make no mistake; it IS work and it DOES require change. But it is a joyful thing to become more like our Lord! Let's make the most of every day in doing so!

Toward more joy and more Christlikeness!!!

Practical Tips for Obedience and Change

In my last post I challenged every Christian reading it to consider God's commands for obedience to His Word and how that would require a person to change his attitudes, his actions, and his life in conformity with Scripture. That's a huge challenge. In fact, it is a challenge that will take your entire life!

So how would one go about this? Here's a suggestion for how to start. If you are serious about this, you should already be reading your Bible. The next time you are reading, ask God to reveal his commands, principles, and patterns to you. Get a journal and write them down. Then take some time to muse and pray over how you would apply that particular command, principle, or pattern to your life personally, to your relations with those in your family, to your relations with those in your circle of influence, and to the world at large. Each command, principle, or pattern will not necessarily apply to each of these realms, but consider each as you muse. And then make a point of actually applying what you are discovering!

Here's an example (I just went to a book of the Bible and looked to find a command.)

I found First Peter 4:9- "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling". First I would ask what "hospitality" means. If I'm going to show it to someone, I'd better know what it is as God defines it. Use a Vine's Expository Dictionary for this sort of thing...it works great for the layman like me!

So how do I show hospitality to my immediate family? Could it be in the atmosphere I create in my home? Could it be in how I express my love for each of them? Could it be regular meals around the dinner table instead of on the run?

How do I show hospitality to my circle of influence? Do I invite people over to share meals regularly? What kind of meal- fancy or normal? Do I make them feel a part of the family? Are they comfortable in my home? Do they feel the love of Christ in me and in my family as we converse?

How about to the world at large? Am I quick to invite someone I've just met to break bread in my home?

And of course, we can't forget the last part. How do I do this without grumbling? Prayer, of course. But what should my attitude be toward showing hospitality to anyone? Am I not showing them the love of Christ in a real, tangible way and thus witnessing a changed life in action? Does that not take grumbling out of it?

I hope this will challenge you to take seriously God's commands, and to strive to apply them daily in your life such that you look more and more like your Savior each day!

Obedience and Change

Using my computer NAS Bible softward, I did a search of the New Testament for the words, "obey," "obedient," and "obedience." It generated forty-four hits. A quick scan of them showed that the first five pertained to the water "obeying" Jesus when He calmed it. The rest typically had something to do with believers and their relation to God, His Son, and His Word or to their carrying out of everyday life in reference to the Word.

Here are links to the ESV Online Bible with the individual words searched:

Click here for a search of the NT for the word, "obey."
Click here for a search of the NT for the word, "obedient."
Click here for a search of the NT for the word, "obedience."

If you were to do the same search and peruse these verses, you would come away with the understanding that God actually cares that we as believers obey Him! That is something that goes against almost everyone's basic nature, especially here in America. We loath being told we have to do something a certain way; we cherish our independence and our right to do and to act in the way we please. We prefer to focus on grace, and ignore that God has a claim on our lives. But we are not our own; we are bought with a price and are now slaves of Christ. He has every right to command us how to live our lives and to expect our obedience.

Also consider the analogy of a parent and a child. We as parents expect obedience from our children for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that we typically know better than they what is good for them. One of the steps of salvation is "adoption," where we as believers become adopted children of God. In this case, though, we never grow up. We will always be His children, and He has every right as our Father to expect our obedience and we should expect that His commands for us result in what is best, even if we can't see it.

The bottom line is that Christ obeyed perfectly. If we are to become like Christ in sanctification, we also should be obeying more and more each day. Obviously we won't have perfect obedience this side of heaven, but we certainly should be progressing that way.

...which brings me to the second point. If we are progressing in obedience to the Word of God, then our lives are going to change. You cannot be the same person this year that you were last year if you are concentrating on conforming your life to God's commands. For example, you will be more patient, more loving, more God-centered, more service-focused, more joyful, more ______ (you fill in the blank). Your life should be more organized according to the standards in the Bible rather than the standards of our culture. You cannot be the same person; your life must reflect more of Christ and His way today then it did at a previous point in time. (The longer the time frame, the more obvious the change should be.) If you are the same person and haven't been moving toward Christ-likeness in obedience, then you should seriously question your progress in sanctification. And if there is a problem with sanctification, then you should have a serious self-examination of your salvation.

The bottom line for the Christian is that a major part of your sanctification is obeying God as He revealed His will in the Word, thus conforming your life to that of Christ. That requires work. It requires the power of the Holy Spirit. It requires that you actually renounce/repent of the way you are and change, sometime dramatically, the way you act and live. If more people who go by the name, "Christian," would do this, then we would actually look different to the pagan world, and would be a far better witness.

Praying for obedience and change, both in my life and in the lives of those I love....

"I 'Made' Jesus my Lord!"

I've been doing some reading lately of material by John MacArthur as well as listening to different podcast programs. I have blogged on the Lordship issue previously, but I want to return to it in light of some of the things I've learned.

First, it was pointed out that every time the term, "Lord," and the term, "Savior," are used together, "Lord" is always given first billing. It is always "Lord and Savior" and never "Savior and Lord." This indicates the relative importance of the two in God's eyes. Unfortunately we in the evangelical culture see it in the latter when in reality, God sees it in the former. This results in our pretty much ignoring the implications of Jesus as Lord while enjoying the benefits of Jesus as Savior. This is to our peril.

Secondly, how often do you hear someone say they "made Jesus Lord of my life" or something similar? MacArthur points out a glaring error in this sort of thinking. It requires quite a large amount of arrogance to even consider that you as the creature made your creator your Lord, as if it were up to you! The fact is, Jesus is Lord and there is nothing you or I can do about it. In fact, there is no question that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

The real issue isn't that Jesus is suddenly Lord of one's life; He's always been Lord of one's life. The real issue is that you have been disobedient. A more thoughtful way to put it is something like, "Jesus has always been Lord, and I've sinned in disobedience. In the power of the Holy Spirit, I am endeavoring to grow more and more like Jesus through obedience to His Lordship!"

So, how about it? Shall we put Jesus' Lordship in its proper place and focus on obedience as we strive in the power of the Holy Spirit toward sanctification? I fear this is missing in most every evangelical heart today, including mine.

Let's change that, starting now....

Anemia or Power?

As I continue upon my A.W. Tozer readings, I am finding him to be immensely quotable, with pearls of wisdom and challenge sprinkled liberally throughout his writings.

In The Pursuit of God, Tozer addresses why we in modern Christianity are so devoid of "spiritual receptivity." Spiritual receptivity is crucial because it is the ability for us as saved sinners to "hear" God as He speaks in His Word. It is only when we hear God speaking to us personally in the present tense that we experience the power of a transformed life. Tozer points out that we often view God as having been silent, then speaking as the Word was written, and then going silent again. We say "God spoke" in the past tense. But he contends that God has never been silent and that His Word "speaks" (present tense) today to those who are spiritually receptive enough to hear. And the fruit of hearing that speaking is a changed life that is decidedly counter-cultural, yet undeniably powerful.

But he contends that far too few people who go by the name "Christian" ever develop this spiritual receptivity. Instead they develop, in the manner described in the following quote, the theology and standards they apply to their lives...and the results are powerless and anemic at best.

"We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences the model for our own. And for a generation, the trend has been downward. ... It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical ways. But it can be done."

In other words, we look around and endeavor to copy others we think of as "spiritual" and "mature" and compare ourselves to still others who are not as spiritual, and then say we are doing well, or "growing." Tozer describes that as distinctly unbiblical, as he should because what he describes is the making of a standard out of our friends' and peers' lives. If our standard for anything in our life is "That's the way 'Joe Smith' (or 'the Smith family') does it," then we are living as Tozer delineates. Note that he says it will require a determined heart and a large amount of courage to turn from this pattern. A person who desires to break out will be going against not only the worldly culture, but the church culture as well. He will be different, and that difference will not be appreciated by those unwilling to consider how their lives are being lived.

What is Tozer's answer? How can this be accomplished?

"Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days. Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there."

Note some specific parts of this quote, with some expounding thoughts in amplification:

"Exercising one's self unto godliness."
Exercise is work. It is a determined effort with a particular goal in mind. In this case, it is hard work toward godliness. (No, this isn't works righteousness; this is for the Christian who is saved by grace through faith, and is in the sanctification process.)

"Trust"
Trust that God intends for you to achieve that godliness and that His Word is sufficient.

"Obedience"
Obey the commands, precepts, and patterns you find in God's Word, trusting that God knows better than your peers, and if He desires your holiness and godliness, He alone knows how to achieve it in you.

"Humility"
Humble yourself before God and His Word, acknowledging the weakness of your own strength and knowledge, along with your willingness and desire to learn by listening to God speak.

"Repentance"
The action of repentance is "to turn." Turn away from and question your current practices, no matter where they came from (for example, family worship...or lack of it...how you conduct your personal time with the Lord, how you raise and educate your children, how you interact with your neighbors, how you and your spouse organize your home, the impact of sports, vacations, how money is spent, and on and on and on...don't leave a stone unturned, understanding this is a process and isn't something that will occur or change overnight; but it needs to start). Until it is validated in Scripture, each and every practice you bring forth is suspect as being cultural instead of Biblical. Repent before God of how you've always done things, and humbly ask that He speak through His Word in direction for your life and the way you live it.

"Sincere return to God"
The flip-side of the repentance coin is when you turn from your life as you've always known it, you are sincerely, humbly, obediently turning to God alone as your source.

"Go to the Bible itself for spiritual standards"
This is the key to the entire list. The whole point of not being spiritually receptive, and thus lacking in spiritual power is that we don't use the Bible as our standard; we use one another! The exercise, the trust, the obedience, the humility, the repentance, and the return to God all hinge on making the Bible the final and complete standard for life. Anything else will lead right back down the path to spiritual weakness and anemia.

"Delight in what one finds in the Bible" (like what was found in my post on Psalm 1?!)
This isn't to be drudgery. What we find in the Bible is Life!!! It is a salve to the injured soul. These spiritual standards are an easy yoke and a light burden. In short, they cause delight. And as we saw in Psalm 1, a delight in the Law of the Lord produces a solid life characterized by fruit that nourishes all who cross our path.

So what will it be? More of the same anemic, powerless faith? Or a break from the standard of man to the Standard of God, His Word... and the Kingdom power to affect our world and win souls for eternity... all in joy and delight?

Doesn't seem to require a lot of debate in my mind....

True Spirituality

In today's day and age, many talk about "spirituality" instead of "Christianity" or "religion." It is as if being spiritual is the name of the game. Here is what A.W. Tozer (from That Incredible Christian) said were the marks of someone who is truly spiritual...and it is a far cry from anything that passes for "spirituality" today!

1. First is the desire to be holy rather than happy.

2. A man may be considered spiritual when he wants to see the honor of God advanced through his life.

3. The spiritual man wants to carry his cross.

4. Again, a Christian is spiritual when he sees everything from God's viewpoint.

5. Another desire of the spiritual man is to die right rather than to live wrong.

6. The desire to see others advance at his expense is another mark of the spiritual man.

7. The spiritual man habitually makes eternity-judgments instead of time-judgments.

Muse on these for a while, asking honestly if they describe you. If your answer is similar to mine, then some humble appealing to your Heavenly Father is in order....