Everything is Connected

A few weeks ago, print advertisements were touting a new television program with the following slogan: "Everything is connected." From the fascination with all things Eastern to the digital explosion, it's a phrase that's seeing a lot of currency. Yet acolytes of the New Age and dot-coms ought not to be the only ones co-opting its meaning.

For the Christian, however, there is this major difference: God is in control. In Proverbs Chapter 15 (KJV):

³ The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

The question that often follows is, if God is in control, then why is there evil and suffering in the world? It's because God is in control that we live in a fallen world. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden (cf. Genesis 3), there were not only physical consequences (death and disease) but spiritual ones, as well (separation from God, i.e. sin). A fundamental Biblical law is that all action and thought have consequences, as Jesus reinforced when He said a man commits the sin of adultery in his heart when he looks at a woman lustfully (Matthew 5:28). The inner mind of man is not hidden from God, and He is a true and just judge.

Clearly, Adam and Eve's actions had consequences for the whole of the human race. Despite modern "me"-oriented philosophy to the contrary, both an individual's private and public actions affect others -- known and unknown, directly and indirectly. There are consequences. "The Butterfly Effect," the popularized notion explaining chaos theory in meteorology was summarized thusly: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" (Edward Lorenz) Setting aside its deterministic (and therefore non-Christian) underpinnings, chaos theory at the very least appreciates causality. In spite of the great complexity of the world and its inhabitants and the limitless variables, God is still in control.

As the Sovereign Creator, God enforces His laws unfalteringly and immutably. Again, everything is connected. Nowhere is this more evident than in prayer. As the Apostle Paul wrote memorably in Romans Chapter 8:

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Lest there be any confusion regarding prayer, the God spoken of here is the Triune God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the God who sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die on the Cross for the sins of those who believe upon Him. Jesus specifically instructed believers to pray to their Father in Heaven (Matthew 6:6) Prayer is not supposed to be any old supplication addressed to "whom it may concern," "Mother Earth," "the gods," or some other entity. When a believer hears someone say that "their prayers are with them," that believer ought to wonder, "prayers to whom?" Even when we're using the right words, God knows when we're praying to Him or to one of our idols (Self, fear, desire, and so on). In other words, prayer must be taken seriously.

Keeping in mind this essential qualification then, the Bible tells us that prayer can have a powerful and righteous effect, especially when more than one believer is involved. Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 18:

¹⁹ Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

Remember King Jehoshaphat leading the nation of Judah in prayer and fasting before the Lord (cf. 2 Chronicles 20)? God spared them from destruction at the hands of their enemies. The devil constantly strives to make man doubt God's promises. There is, however, in the midst of today's negative news, an occasional nugget of inspiration. The following story was in the news again last month, and it not only affirms that everything is connected, but that God is in control.

On September 23, 2002, Alice Mowatt, a 19-year-old British tourist, was struck by an SUV in Los Angeles. Her head injuries were so severe that doctors induced a coma and several times considered taking her off life support. Sgt. Dan Horan, the investigating police officer, prayed for her, and over the next few days asked others, by phone or e-mail, to do the same. In a few short weeks, an international prayer circle had formed. Ten weeks after her accident, Mowatt had recovered enough to return home to England, where she was greeted by hundreds of letters and e-mails. Nearly two years later, Mowatt reunited with Horan, once a complete stranger who simply took the time to care about someone else.

It should be noted that in the articles, there were no direct references to God or Jesus Christ, but then there rarely ever are in the positive "spirituality" stories from the mainstream media. (Had the story been a negative one, say, involving a church scandal, then there almost certainly would have been.) In any case, even the most cynical among us must acknowledge the selfless motives behind Horan's actions and the fact that, among the hundreds of those praying, surely there were believers among them.

Stories like these have additional meaning. "Personal faith" is an oxymoron. "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:26) Jesus calls individuals into a personal relationship with Him not only for their own salvation but for the salvation of other people's souls. Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) The selfless agape love that Christians are to exhibit cannot be man-made; it can only come from the Holy Spirit.

When an individual follows Christ, they are not giving up their individuality but rather the (love of) Self. While believers are indeed commanded to love one another, their greatest responsibility is as an individual before Christ. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "let your light shine before men," but he added that "when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen." (Matthew 6:6) An in-depth article on this subject can be found at Pilgrim's Post. The contrast of these two verses clearly indicates that faith can neither be isolated nor used as a show of personal holiness. A believer's close walk with Christ must eventually, sooner or later, have an affect on others, not through proclamation, but by action. The light of Christ will shine from the believer as a result of true faith and obedience rather than ritual. Jesus also said at the Sermon on the Mount: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting....But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting..." (Matthew 6:16-18)

Prayer is action but not a substitute for all action. Private and public actions have an effect, whether we are aware of it or not. David wrote in Psalm 139:4, "Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O LORD." But our lives are not predetermined simply because causality and order operate in this world. One cannot be both deterministic and a Christian. In His great mercy, God stays His judgment so that more may come into a saving knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ. If we allow ourselves to become fatalistic, to convince ourselves we know the exact timing of the final hour, we are hardening our hearts and deluding ourselves into a spiritual isolation. Reality will be all the more brutal if we do so -- the quickening downward spiral of the culture today painfully reminds us that we already have.

Trimming the Wick

In Matthew Chapter 25, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding party and the ten virgins, or bridesmaids. When the bridegroom makes his appearance at midnight, five of the ten virgins are unable to join the wedding banquet because they have failed to bring enough oil to light their lamps, a custom at that time. The five wise virgins who came prepared join the bridegroom at the banquet. Some time later, after having gone out to purchase some oil, the five foolish virgins plead to be let in, to which the bridegroom responds, "I tell you the truth, I don't know you." (v. 12)

The parable of the ten virgins is a tale of great importance for believers in any age, from the early Christians to today. No one knows the time of their own final hour nor the time of Christ's return. The chilling words of the bridegroom, "I don't know you," is a warning for Christians to be spiritually ready at all times, to submit their lives to Christ -- that is, to store up oil. This warning is echoed in Matthew Chapter 7 when Jesus said:

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
²² Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?"
²³ Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"

But today, the parable of the ten virgins should have eye-opening resonance to believers. When Jesus spoke of the last days, He used the metaphor of the fig tree (Matthew 24:32-33). Just as we know that summer is near when the leaves on the fig tree begin to bloom, so will we know the coming of the end of the age via Scripture's prophetic signs. We live in a time when many brothers and sisters in Christ are being deceived. Jesus warned, "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." (Matthew 24:4-5) Believers must be careful not to be swayed by the philosophies of religious men, disguised as Christianity.

Steve Lumbley at Apostasy Watch recently wrote an insightful and powerful commentary on the state of Christianity today. Entitled "God Will Build His Temple," he states that the visible, organized church will suppress the revival of God's Word among the true body of Christ, much like the religious leaders of the day opposed Jesus 2,000 years ago.

There are several dangerous threads in the church today that will rob believers of righteousness in Christ (their storehouse of oil). These threads, which are all very close in nature, threaten to entangle believers and suffocate the life right out of them.

Apostasy: As Mr. Lumbley points out in his article, there is a false revival sweeping through churches today. It comes in many guises and with different labels: purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, ecumenical, and so on. These movements have at least one thing in common. They gratify man's desire for self-righteousness and self-tolerance -- most especially self-justification of his sinful nature. The purpose-driven paradigm generally appeals to a more conservative and evangelical base while ecumenicalism has roots in liberal religious humanism. These differences are superficial since neither appeal to God's Word but rather our predisposed natures.

In the last century, there has been an explosion of cults and impostors, as Jesus warned there would be in the last days. It should be no surprise that Christianity has been stretched like a rubber band to appeal to all manner of man's fleshly desires, for it is Christianity that the enemy is so eager to distort. Consequently, is there any doubt why Christianity has been so relentlessly mutated and syncretized and diluted and deliberately misinterpreted for 2,000 years and that its truth has been so recklessly misrepresented and maligned more than any other with claims to divine inspiration?

Worldliness: More than any other time in the earth's history since the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), the world is reaching a unity in purpose -- one that is in defiance of God's law. We live in a time of worldwide communication and shared popular culture. The values of natural man, the spirit of this world (1 Corinthians 2:12), are pervasive and invasive. Many Christians are ignoring the Biblical principle of separation and are seeking identification (i.e. justification) with the world. They are seeking acceptance in a world that hates their values, and so they gradually abandon those values. The elevation of the flesh (intellect/body) over the spirit is the tragic result. A believer's position with respect to the spirit of the world, or Babylon, is thus referenced in Scripture: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins." (Revelation 18:4)

Materialism: It is not so much the possession of material goods but the love of them that shipwrecks faith. Yet, it is material comfort and possession that causes many to take their eyes off God. In countries where these kinds of blessings are plentiful, people have come to believe that they deserve it (entitlement). Because people feel entitled to these luxuries, they believe material goods are necessary for happiness and fulfillment. While Christians in these countries may be appreciative and "count their blessings," oftentimes they are more appreciative of the gifts than the Giver.

Over at Blogging Truth, there is a very good article on the effects of materialism on the believer. Possessions can definitely weigh down the spirit of believers, particularly when those possessions become an avocation. Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 6:

¹⁹ Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Pragmatism: In essence, pragmatism espouses that "the end justifies the means." It should not be confused with practicalness or realism, though they often converge. Paul Proctor squares off against pragmatism in the church in his excellent article titled "Blessed Subtractions."

While it is in direct conflict with God's Word, pragmatic thinking is nonetheless prevalent among Christians today. The current election year in the United States highlights an example of this. Many American evangelicals are planning to cast their vote for incumbent President George W. Bush this fall. It is a vote for the principles of the man rather than a vote for the platform of his party, which has time and again rebuffed evangelicals in favor of secular moderation. The thinking is, the alternative is much worse; thus their vote is for the lesser of two evils.

To vote for the leader who more closely shares the values of believers does seem righteous, not pragmatic. Yet, in the context of a political machinery (a now mostly indistinguishable two-party system) that is greater than any one man, this kind of vote may only delay the inevitable. For American Christians, there might be alternatives (consider, for example, the platform of the Constitution Party). There is, however, the danger of falling into escapism, the polar extreme of pragmatism. And that hasn't solved anything. Since pragmatism is inherently motivational, it is difficult to detect, and indeed, only the Lord can know an individual's heart (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Hedonism: Craig W. Booth writes about Christian hedonism at The Faithful Word. More often than not, hedonism in the church is not so much a definitive movement as it is simply recidivism. Unfortunately, Paul's words in Philippians 4:8 to think on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable" have been misconstrued and abused to qualify the pursuit of pleasure. Paul defines these terms, not through the distorted lens of man's protean sensibilities, but in the context of righteousness in Christ. The appreciation of arts, sports, learning, sensuality, and so on can quickly develop into idolatry in the absence/ignorance of God's Word. We end up justifying men rather than defending God. Rather, Paul is imploring us to seek out that which glorifies God, not simply that which is part of His creation. Hedonism subverts the subordination of the created to the Creator and wrongly implies that appreciation of the creation is appreciation of the Creator.

The end result of these subversive threads in the church is apathy. It is apathy that leaves the five foolish virgins unprepared. Their faith is dissolute. Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ should be awaiting the return of the Lord -- eagerly, earnestly, and unashamedly.

In 1 Peter Chapter One, the apostle Peter wrote to believers concerning Christ's return:

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
⁹ For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

For His Purpose

In the life of the believer, there will most certainly be moments of godly sorrow, reflections upon grieving the Holy Spirit. One ponders the time and energy wasted on useless detours and sin-driven pursuit -- time and energy that could have been used for righteousness in Christ. This kind of sorrow leads to repentance, as it did for the prodigal son.

Perhaps you've heard the phrase "a life without regret is a life not lived." It has some resonance in the lives of believers. Consider Solomon and his reflections on spiritual dissolution in Ecclesiastes. If we can accept that we are unworthy of God's blessings, which we are, then we can accept that God uses the mistakes we have made in our life to guide us to a greater righteousness in Christ. The devil, however, wishes to drive a wedge between believers and God by suggesting the opposite: that they can be worthy of God's blessings and that their mistakes can and will push God away. It is a deadly trap that focuses man upon Self, resulting in lifeless legalism or despondent licentiousness. Yet, the Apostle Paul wrote that God "has saved us and called us to a holy life -- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace." (2 Timothy 1:8)

In the verse from 2 Timothy, Paul spoke not only of God's grace but of His purpose. God's purpose calls the believer to a holy life. Not our purpose. While we may have a purpose for holiness that is indeed genuine, it still won't be God's purpose for our holy life -- one that He specifically designed for each of us to glorify Him. In Psalm 23, King David wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd....your rod and your staff, they comfort me." God can give us direction (the staff) through His discipline (the rod). Sometimes this means allowing us to suffer from our follies. "Do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." (Proverbs 3:11-12) God's purpose fulfills His Law, which is constant and immutable.

Do we pray to be righteous, or do we pray to listen to God's righteous plan for us? Choose the former and love the flesh. Choose the latter and love God. Would a father kill his own son? No. A man who is spiritual and righteous before men would do no such thing. Even the most hardened and worldly of men would recoil at the thought. Yet Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac for the Lord. Because Abraham was righteous unto the Lord, he passed the test. At the sacrificial altar, God said to Abraham, "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Genesis 22:12)

Contrast the godly righteousness of Abraham with the self-righteousness of King Saul from 1 Samuel, Chapter 13. At Gilgal, Saul made a burnt offering to the Lord, choosing not to wait for Samuel's arrival -- contrary to God's command. Saul believed that by doing a service for the Lord, he was acting righteously. However, he did not act righteously for God. His words betrayed him: "I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." (1 Samuel 13:12) By ignoring God's timing (purpose), Saul chose to gratify his own fleshly righteousness.

What can keep a believer from growing in Christ is their refusal to let go of Self, keeping the satisfying or unpleasant aspects of their life locked away from God. The believer who makes precious their personal righteousness is one still beholden to the Self, the flesh. In this sense, the legalist and the licentious man have something in common. But the same kind of bitter disillusionment greets both of them at the end of their journeys. A life lived for the stifling quest of personal holiness is a life lived without the inner joy that God gives believers who live for His purpose. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

If there be regret in our life, may it be for God's purpose so that His discipline (the rod) may direct us to righteousness. If there be righteousness in our life, may we not forget it is for God's purpose, not ours, and that these blessings of righteousness are bestowed upon us in spite of our unworthiness. Then we will be humbled, not because it seems spiritual or right, but because that can be our only possible action once in the presence of our Lord.

Authenticating the Faith

In the parable of the sower (Matthew Chapter 13), Jesus told the story of a farmer sowing seeds to illustrate the types of faith among believers. Some of these seeds "fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root." (Mt 13:5-6). A few verses later, Jesus explained the metaphor:

²⁰ The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
²¹ But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

Syndicated Christian radio talk show host Paul McGuire often refers to this type of believer as someone who's had a "Jesus experience," yet gradually falls away from the faith because they lack a solid Biblical world view. Jesus said that believers are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, "it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Mt 5:13). We have all seen the mistakes and missteps of public Christians mercilessly laid bare by unbelievers just waiting for that to happen.

Faith is two-fold: belief in and submission to Christ. For example, faith is strengthened when temptation (or the worldly) is rejected. But only through complete trust in the Lord can temptation be rejected on a consistent basis. Jesus responded to the devil's temptations in the desert with these words: "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" (Mt 4:10) Faith is weakened, however, when we focus on some hapless self-centered battle to suppress sinful urges, rather than focusing on what God wants for us in our lives. Authentic faith means placing the old nature at the Cross on a daily basis. For the mature believer, the rejection of the worldly arises from conscious obedience to God's word, which goes against all inclinations of the sinful nature. In other words, it won't always be easy and it can only be accomplished by submitting one's will entirely to Christ. The quest for personal perfection and holiness is frequently the tempting alternative because its only real function is to gratify the flesh. (And it seems more spiritual in man's eyes.)

Because believers are called to "not conform any longer to the pattern of this world," (Rom 12:2), they will sometimes think that means to live in a bubble rather than face the real world. But a sheltered individual may not recognize the deception of the enemy until it is too late. In general, the world is bad not because it likes being bad, but because it is deceived. By nature, sinful man is deceived. Man can take his sinful self out of the world, but he cannot take the world out of him. Only Jesus can.

Enclaves of religiosity have had a history of dissolution and error. The praise of men, even righteous ones, within these man-made oases becomes confused with righteousness in Christ. This is the same trap that many churches today face. In his article "Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse and Neo-Evangelicalism," Miles J. Stanford discussed a recent example of this kind of doctrinal drift within the organized church. Indeed, believers are to practice separation from the world ("Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins," Rev 18:4), but that separation is first and foremost a spiritual one. And mustn't this separation conform with the Great Commission commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20? For believers to be a witness for Christ, they must be spiritually separated and function in the real world. In the parable of the sower, faith is authenticated by trouble and persecution. Trouble and persecution do not occur when the believer runs away from the world.

The retreat of Bible-believing Christians from the world today has not increased their spirituality; rather, it has only increased the numbers of unsaved. That does not sound like fulfillment of the Great Commission. We still live in the church age. Until the day Jesus returns to rule the Millennial Kingdom, authentic faith, lived by believers in the world, is the witness to Christ's message of salvation. Instead, the most visible Christians these days are the ones trying to water down the message of the Gospel in a vain attempt to please the world. By rejecting the godly to avoid appearing supra-spiritual, these Christians risk falling into a snare of inescapable temptation. By placing the cart before the horse, they become indistinguishable from the world at large. However, the believer who places their complete trust in Lord can avoid both the traps of loving the world and running away from the world.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10:

¹³ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

The question then is, will we be able to recognize the Lord when He extends a hand to help us out of trouble (the "way out" as Paul describes above)? We are ready when we are trusting in the Lord. If an individual puts worldly possessions, worldly attachments, and worldly truths at the center of their life, they will not be able to see the way out provided by God. If faith is in name only, if it is merely a label, it becomes simply a human psychosis. If faith is built solely upon friendships, vague memories, and emotions, it will blow away in the first strong winds. We must keep the essentials (God's Word) and jettison the spiritual fat -- spiritual fat we create out of the apathy or wantonness of our sinful natures. In its place, we must build up the spiritual muscle that comes from complete obedience to the Lord.

Faith is authenticated by its steadfastness in the face of challenges. These challenges occur naturally during the course of a believer's life. "Naturally" is the operative word; it is risking disaster to prove one's faith outside of God's Will (i.e. to gratify oneself). As Jesus said to the devil in the desert, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" In God's time, we are drawn out of the world by our faith in and love of the Lord. And just as we must be ready to recognize when He provides us a way out of trouble, we must ready to recognize when He challenges us to leave our comfort zones.

David wrote in Psalm 23:

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

In love with love

The subversion of Holy Scripture continues to proliferate in these tempestuous times as demagogues hijack Bible verses and principles to suit their human-centered agendas. Currently entrenched political divisions in the United States and elsewhere serve as prophetic, albeit secular, signposts to a rapidly approaching future where divisions will be much more pronounced and where the facade of politics will have dropped away, leaving extreme moral and spiritual differences. "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child." (Mark 12:12) Notably, there has been, in the ranks of the secular mainstream media, much more public analysis of the core principles of Christianity. The so-called zeitgeist film, "The Passion of the Christ," which was released earlier this year, stirred the percolating but still latent last-days type of spiritual division. Partly because of the aforementioned film, partly because it is a presidential election year in the U.S. and George W. Bush, the incumbent president, has stated his born-again Christianity, partly because the spotlight of the world stage is on the Islamic terrorists, and partly because of controversies swirling around homosexual marriage, abortion, and the Ten Commandments, there has been a definite, if not authentic or sincere, resurgence of interest in Christianity.

As a result, this year has seen a peculiar trend by the typically secular and irreligious segments of society to try to claim Christianity for themselves. Well-known personalities are speaking out on Christianity. On the subject of Bush and his Christian convictions, Meryl Streep chafed at what she perceived as Bush's hypocrisy by going to war and not heeding Jesus' command to "turn the other cheek." Movie actor Alec Baldwin was rather more direct when he recently dismissed the "religious" (read: Bible-believing Christians) right as "fundamentalist wackos." Even more extreme were former labor secretary Robert Reich's comments that people who believe in a divine power with authority over man were more dangerous than terrorists. On a higher profile level, there are these words from John Kerry's acceptance speech at the recent Democratic National Convention: "We welcome people of faith....As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side."

The arguments are meant only to prop up a universalist and syncretized view of Christianity, one that blends other world views, religious beliefs, and humanist relativism. Most egregious and spurious are their obvious attempts to twist Scripture to justify human error -- sin. One common method is to blur the lines between what the Bible defines as love and what man wants love to mean. This reductive understanding of Biblically based, Godly love (agape love) has led to the contemporary morass of confusion, error, and wickedness.

Jesus said that love, indeed, is the greatest commandment. But note His distinction in Matthew Chapter 22:

³⁷ "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.
³⁹ And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Therefore, to love the Lord is to obey Him. The Apostle Paul defines love in 1 Corinthians Chapter 14:

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Thus, Bible-based love abjures wickedness and leads to repentance. Paul states in 1 Corinthians Chapter 6:

⁹ Do you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
¹⁰ Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The hoary Biblical paraphrase "love the sinner, but hate the sin" has been used and abused, and mostly abused. First and foremost, believers are told to flee sin; to resist the devil, not engage him. Because man is a fallen creature, "hate the sin" carries with it a Biblical warning. Paul implores believers to tread carefully when condemning sin: "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (Galatians 6:1) When caution is not exercised in this area, this famous line from Shakespeare's Hamlet often comes to mind: "[She] doth protest too much, methinks." Most importantly, "love thy neighbor" is adjunct to loving the Lord, thus inferring subordinance. The predication and order of these two commandments does not logically lead to contemporary relativism, i.e. "anything goes as long as you're happy and you're not hurting anybody else."

The impulse to redefine Godly love is as old as time. But as erstwhile Christian nations stray further from God's Word, the understanding of Biblically based love has become muddled. Love has been appropriated solely by human emotion and experience -- a love without God-given definition, limits, or understanding. It has come to the point now that the physical (sexual) defines love and the parameters of love. Humanist proponents seek to nullify the effect of God's Truth by reinserting their postmodern relativistic definition of love into a Biblical context. When they say "God is love," religious humanists mean not only to reduce God to the level of human emotion, but to imply reversal: that love is God. The conflation of man's (usually self-centered) love with God's love is the tragic result. God calls His children to model Godly love, not the love that man easily falls into, out of, confuses with lust, or manipulates for self-gain, pleasure, gratification, and so on.

At the very center of the moral quagmire is a reliance on human knowledge, experience, and emotion to define truth. That genuine, real, loving emotion and humane empathy can and does compel what the Bible defines as sins of the flesh, there is no denying. But that is the point: humanist love (and its manifestations) is much like the snake eating its own tail. Man fools himself by modeling selflessness on the outside to achieve godliness on the inside. The Christian model of sexuality -- marriage between man and woman -- requires love of and obedience to God at its center, without which it would dissolve into the cesspool of human knowledge, experience, and emotion. Sexuality is a function, not a driving force. It serves a divine plan; it isn't a divine plan. God designed the love and emotional experience between a husband and wife to be sustained by Godly obedience; again, as functions rather than driving forces. Beautiful functions and beautiful creations, but creations all the same. As subordinate creations, romantic love and sexuality cannot take the place of, nor act as substitutes for, Biblically based Godly love. They are subject to divine rules and limitations.

In today's society, many people are in love with "love" -- a love that reflects man. In essence, they are in love with themselves. A truth defined by man, beyond being merely pagan, leads to the antithesis of Biblical principles, where good is evil and evil is called good (cf. Isaiah 5:20). Biblical love calls for love of God over Self, not other men over Self, not society or the environment over Self, and certainly not the love of Self supreme. Man's ways lead to death (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25); they already have. And as Fallen Man must die, so must his so-called truths.

Conformed to Christ

When believers receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are His, not the world's. As fallen creatures, all men and women are spiritual orphans, cast out of God's presence (the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:23). When a person believes in the Son and receives His free gift of salvation, that person is returned to the presence of the Father. An orphan no more.

Jesus said in John Chapter 12:

³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
³² But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

The believer is delivered from Fallen Man's condition of spiritual abandonment and is adopted as a son or daughter into the Kingdom of God. One of the most oft-quoted passages in the Bible is Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31). A young man leaves his father for a far away land, whereupon he squanders his inheritance. He regrets his decision and resolves to return home. To his great surprise, the son is welcomed home by his father with open arms. The parable of the lost son neither suggests so-called "free grace" (or antinomianism) nor denies the plenary guarantee of eternal salvation. Rather, it illustrates the believer's justification by grace through faith. The key point is that the prodigal son repented: he "came to his senses" (Luke 13:17), turned around, and came back home. Repentance (from the Greek metanoeo, meaning "to turn back") is the action that brings the lost son back into the loving arms of his father. His inheritance remains. The gift of salvation is God's to give, but the believer's stewardship of that gift has very high stakes indeed. Had not the son repented, he would've been lost forever.

Christian stewardship involves making choices that fly against the natural tendencies of sinful man. The Apostle Paul wrote most pointedly, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." (Romans 7:14) Lot from Genesis Chapter 19 was an example of the carnal believer, very much attached to his city but nonetheless righteous before the Lord (2 Peter 7-8). Though God delivers Lot from destruction, He does not spare the man the horrifying consequences of his worldly life (Genesis 19:26, 33). A repentant King David suffers great personal loss as a result of his sinful episode with Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11-12), but the Lord keeps His promise of securing the throne in the line of David. Because of passages like these and the story of the prodigal son, the following question frequently arises: can the believer stray willy-nilly from God, then come back whenever he pleases and still freely receive salvation? It's a leading question. Although pretending otherwise, it expects an answer which presupposes that man is party to his salvation and that there exists an insecurity, however small, to the Lord's eternally secured plan for believers. Man has tried for centuries to reformulate or change Bible-based Christian soteriology.

Paul wrote in Philippians Chapter 3:

⁹ And be found in [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.

To be found in Christ -- that is is the goal of the believer. Or: to glorify God, to walk with the Lord, to be conformed to His image. In the preceding verse, Paul specifically states that this goal is achieved not from self-righteousness but from faith in Christ. Paul is not talking about any old kind of faith. Fallen man waxes poetic about "faith" all the time, yet he has no capacity for true faith. Sure, he has faith in himself, in fellow man, in the works of man -- but not faith in God. Upon receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, the believer receives the imprimatur of Christ, the Holy Counselor (Holy Spirit). Jesus refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in John 15:26: "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me." The capacity for true faith, that is, submission to Christ, cannot exist without the Holy Spirit.

God substantiates faith. Man must believe, but he is led to faith by the Holy Spirit. Man must submit his will to Christ, but he is called by the Holy Spirit. The believer may leave the house of the Father, but the Father does not ever leave the believer. The believer must return to claim his inheritance, but he would not return were God's Truth not written in his heart (Jeremiah 31:33). That is the "grace" component of justification by grace through faith. Grace is not for man to gain or lose; it is for the Lord to give. God calls his children home, as the "hen gathers her chicks" (Matthew 23:37) If an individual is willing to submit to Christ, he will hear the call, and that is the "faith" component. That kind of faith (in and from God) will lead to righteousness, but righteousness in and of itself cannot lead to faith. Consequently, authentic good works are always an expression of faith rather than a working toward faith.

On the subject of believers, Paul wrote in Romans Chapter 8:

²⁸ And we know that in all good things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Faith conforms the believer to Christ's image. Every individual is faced with dozens of choices each day, many small but of no less importance than the big ones. That is because making a choice can be boiled down to whether one puts their faith in Christ...or puts their faith in something else. And because faith can often be expressed in small, less visible ways or in ways not appreciated by man ("The Lord does not look at the things man looks at," 1 Samuel 16:7), we are instructed to not judge other men's hearts, no matter how desperately we may want to. (Judging action is a far different thing, though even there, Christians must remember that motive is far more indicative of faith than the action itself.) Christ daily conforms the believer via these many life moments and decisions; hence, Christians often refer to themselves as "works in progress." Family, friends, even strangers each play a part (willed by God) in setting a believer on his or her way, at different moments in life. The rate and manner of every believer's progress will vary; so long as we put our complete trust in Christ, the goal will be achieved.

Inherent in questions regarding carnal believers, the security of salvation, and "whether they can or cannot get away with it" is a perceptible, if slight, crisis of faith. To believe upon the Lord is to believe in His total power alone to change men. And it happens in His time as He sees fit. Overnight change is uncommon because there is a spiritual war going on in every believer's heart. A believer has two natures: the Holy Spirit and the sinful nature. The Lord draws us near Him as we reject the sinful nature. But when we lock things away from Him -- anything, including our own sense of righteousness or good works -- we are refusing to submit that part of ourselves to Christ. Even the most lily-white thing we possess in nature or action, we must let go of for Christ. Only He can give us a true eternal righteousness. We stray, but He fights for us more than we fight for Him. And that unconditional love is what should turn us around (as with the prodigal son) before it is too late and death closes in on us (we don't know when) and we are truly lost. We must make choices like that, to varying degrees, each day as we live our lives (2 Corinthians 7:10). The gift of salvation is freely given, but not without heavy accountability on the part of the believer.

Referring to Christ in John Chapter 3 (KJV), John the Baptist said:

³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

Remember the Bereans

In support of the Biblically-based concept sola scriptura, we often hear the story of the Bereans. Paul and Silas, after leaving Thessalonica under duress, went on to preach the Gospels in Berea around 50 A.D.

Luke wrote in Acts Chapter 17:

¹¹ Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
¹² Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

Sola scriptura, or literally, "the Bible alone" unequivocally argues for the total inerrancy and sufficiency of Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, said quite directly that "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35) and in his prayer to the Father, "sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17). Human tradition and philosophy, if not at odds with God's Word, are assuredly only shadows of the Truth (cf. Colossians 2:8). Sola scriptura does not necessarily infer literalism, though they are often confused. (However, literalism is regarded pejoratively, sometimes even by Christians, in order to undermine the concept of sola scriptura. Literalism as a method of Biblical exegesis is quite misunderstood. The late Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee once said that symbolism is, in fact, part of literal interpretation, so long as they're concrete symbols, e.g. the Cross, as opposed to "fuzzy" symbols, e.g. a fish, which can be interpreted a number of ways.)

Fallen Man's resistance to sola scriptura and the efficacy of God's word is quite memorably stated in Psalm 14 (and quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:11-12):

² The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
³ All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

As sinful creatures, we seek truth in the world where there is none. Because believers still retain the sinful nature, this tendency persists. If we are not closely studying and living the Word of God, we can be seduced by the philosophies of men -- we give in to the pride of life, one of the three Edenic temptations (cf. 1 John 2:16) later repeated by the devil in the desert (cf. Matthew 4). Believers must be wary of spiritual poison. We wouldn't dare eat or drink something that has even a drop of poison, but when it comes to spiritual matters, we are typically not as discerning.

Which is why we must remember the Bereans: there is something wrong when believers defend the works and words of men more avidly than the Bible itself. These days, many Christians are looking for Christ in the world rather than looking for Christ in the Word. As a result, an attachment to the world gradually develops, followed by a spiritual recidivism. When we cling to the philosophies of men, we begin to exhibit the behavior of men, rather than conform to the image of Christ. Superficial and utilitarian spirituality results when the Word of God is neglected, which is why name brand Christianity is so prevalent today. Modern evangelicalism has drifted from a primary emphasis on God's Word to an emphasis on the works of men that refer to, reflect, or in some cases rephrase God's Word.

From the giants of Christian literature, such as Tolkien, Lewis, or even Gibran (if you're so inclined), to contemporary Christian works, such as the Left Behind series, "The Passion of the Christ," or even the music of Johnny Cash, the words and works of man are ardently and articulately defended by today's Christians to a degree rarely seen when it comes to defending Scripture. Of course there is room for literature, philosophy, the arts, the intellect, and so on in a Biblical world view; that is not the issue. The issue is what believers should be passionately defending first and foremost. Living the faith as a witness for Christ and using man's works to witness for Christ are two very different things.

The English Christian intellectuals Lewis and Tolkien have both been quoted here in past entries without criticism and probably will be in the future. They are obviously not to be dismissed out of hand. To become so enamored with their works to the point of ignoring their doctrinal error, however, is to eventually allow oneself to descend into universalism. To do so would be to also ignore 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV): "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." In his rather provocatively titled "Did C.S. Lewis Go to Heaven?" (note: pdf file) John W. Robbins directly questions the Scriptural veracity in Lewis's writings. (That a critical eye has been cast on this, or any, pillar of Christian idolatry seems more important than Robbins's conclusions. However, Robbins far exceeds his prerogative when he renders judgment on the person of Lewis, by failing to acknowledge that all believers are works-in-progress.) Similarly, Berit Kjos argues that The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's magnum opus, owes more to paganism than Christianity. Again, the question is not so much whether Lewis, Tolkien, et al. are harmful but whether believers will continue to indiscriminately accept the words of men as truth without first searching their Bibles.

Chris Armstrong, writing in "Christianity Today," expresses a rather common view among modern Christians: "'To praise, exalt, establish, and defend.' The great Roman Catholic journalist and author G. K. Chesterton, in one of his gem-like short essays, urged all Christians to do these things when they came across worthy literary or artistic expressions....Chesterton argued that it's our job as Christians to seek out cultural products that say something worth saying-and then to recommend them to others." On one level, there is little to debate here; Armstrong even quotes Philippians 4:8 (though without the felicitousness with which he quotes Chesterton). But he gives no warning, no caveat emptor, for buying into so-called Christian entertainments that only superficially talk Christian. Armstrong rightly points out the sweetened secularism of many a contemporary family film, but he offers no discerning view for what he calls "Christian-themed" works. Simply because a work has ostensible Christian themes does not mean it truly carries the banner of Christ or that the Holy Spirit has breathed Truth into it, to any degree. To look past name brand, utilitarian Christianity will require more effort on the part of believers.

The Holy Bible is both descriptive and prescriptive, historical and spiritual. To live by the faith is to live by the Word. If the Bible is in error or insufficient, even to the most infinitesimal degree, then there is no faith. If the works or words of man cannot be substantiated by Scripture, then they cannot be accorded the label of truth. There are not many paths to Truth, save one, narrow and straight (cf. Matthew 7:13-14). After fasting 40 days and nights in the desert, Jesus resisted the devil's temptation to turn the stones into bread with the following words in Matthew Chapter 4 (and in so doing, cited Deuteronomy 8:3):

⁴ It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."