Simeon—Looking for Jesus

Luke 2:25-35

The only things we are told about Simeon are those things which matter most to God—things which pertain to his faith and his character, things which tell us about his relationship with God.  We are told that Simeon was just and devout—he was a man who loved God deeply, so much so that God was able to use him in a wonderful way. Read Luke 2:26-27.

Today, those who look for Jesus will find Him.

Simeon was waiting for something.  In fact, he had waited for a long time for this moment.  As Mary and Joseph came into the temple area, Simeon reached out and he took this baby Jesus in his arms, and he must have experienced that same feeling grandparents have when they first hold that new grandchild.  There was such joy and excitement.  Simeon burst forth in praise to God because this wasn’t just any baby.

Read Luke 2:28-32

Read Matthew 13:45-46

The pearl is so spectacular that the merchant realizes that nothing else really matters as long as he had that pearl and so he sold everything to obtain it.  For Simeon, seeing Jesus was all that he wanted in life.  With his own eyes and with his own arms he held the Messiah, to him, that was the Pearl of Great Price. Nothing else really mattered anymore.

More than anything else, Simeon wanted Jesus.

Read Luke 2:34-35.

Wow, thanks Simeon. We appreciate the uplifting words.  Remind us not to invite you over for cake and ice cream at his first birthday!

Simeon tells Mary and Joseph that His (the baby’s) life will involve as much pain as it will joy.  The sword that will pierce Mary will inch its way even deeper into her heart as Jesus experienced rejection, rejection that will eventually end at the cross. 

These words prepare Mary for the grief that she must carry.

Read John 1:10-11.

When God came to tell us the truth about our sinfulness and our need for Him, it wasn’t appreciated by everyone.  And so Simeon says that people will stumble over Him. Many people would turn away from Jesus. 

Simeon knew that God wanted to bless us, to save us, but that salvation would come at a great cost.  That salvation came through a baby born in Bethlehem, and it was going to cost the life of that child.  And unless this baby dies, there is no joy for us. 

The joy that Simeon experienced and shared with Mary and Joseph wasn’t just the excitement of holding a newborn baby.  It is a joy that is centered on knowing and believing that, in spite of who we are and what we do, there is a God who loves us and has sent his Son Jesus so that He could rescue us from our sins by dying for us on the cross. 

The sword that pierced the soul of Mary resulted in the greatest joy that we can ever possibly know.

Like Simeon, have you found Jesus? 

 

What should be the Focus of Our Faith?

The Church. Certainly scripture stresses the church as the beautiful bride of Christ. It is the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23). But, as important as the church is, it is never presented in scripture as the focal point of the Christian faith. Rather, it is the redeemed body of believers who meet together to help us focus on the part that matters and to share that message with others. 

Ethics. Our world is in great need of some basic ethical and moral teaching. All around us, we see the tragic results of lives lived outside the boundaries of God’s commands and precepts. And though I believe the Bible teaches a standard of morality that will enrich our lives, that is not at the very heart and center of the gospel message.

Doctrine regarding such matters as church organization or worship. Doctrine is important. It is important that we believe the truth which is based on God’s Word. But when the quest for correct doctrine becomes the focus of our faith, the part that matters, then what one believes assumes greater importance than the person in whom one believes. Seeing doctrine at the center causes the church to divide over a large variety of differences and disagreements. As important as correct doctrine is, it is not in itself the part that matters.

Tradition. Tradition is an important part of our religious experience. We have a set pattern of doing things that gives stability to our religious expression. Certainly we strive to base that tradition on scripture, but to focus on religious tradition as the center of religious experience is, of course, a very dangerous thing. Tradition is important, but it is certainly not the part that matters.

Emotion. We need to understand that man is an emotional being and the expression of emotion in religion is a very important thing. Many have made the mistake of trying to exclude emotion from religion, and that’s wrong. Others have reacted against the coldness of formal ritual and have tried to focus all of religion on their emotions. To them feeling good about God is the focus of their faith. But having a subjective feeling-based religion can carry us away from God. Emotion is not the part that matters.

What matters?  Read I Corinthians 2:1-2.

Read again, I Corinthians 15:1-8.

But what is the gospel? The word “gospel” means “good news”, but what is the good news?

“When I came to you, I preached the gospel, and here’s what I preached – that Jesus Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day”

Why does Christianity have a Cross?

The Cross Reminds Us How Awful Sin Is

The cross tells us why God cannot live in peaceful coexistence with sin. It’s a truth that God has tried to show us from the very beginning. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It always has been. James said, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:15).

The Bible gives us account after account of how that principle holds true.

God wants me to see the ugliness of sin so he has left me a record of our shameful history so I can see what sin does to people. But having done all that, enough still hadn’t been done. So God looked around and to show us how terrible sin is, to show us how utterly disgusting and repulsive it is, God “spared not his own Son”. And as I hear the sound of spikes echoing in my mind, as I think of what God had to go through on that tree because of my sins, I begin to realize just how awful my sins are.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Cross Shows Us How Great God’s Love Is

The awfulness of sin could only be countered by an infinite divine love. John said, “By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us.” (I John 3:16). Who taught us what love is? Jesus did. How did he do it? By giving up his life for us. John further writes, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (I John 4:9).

The Cross Shows Us How Involved God Is In Our Human Predicament

In Matthew 1, Matthew said of Jesus when he was born, “And they shall call His name

Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23). 

Jesus Christ is “God with us” in our human predicament of pain and mortality.

God loved us so deeply that he was required — not by any external compulsion but by love alone — to become God with us. To embrace us in our mortality.

The Cross Shows Us How Sin Is Overcome

The ultimate human problem is sin. It’s what separates us from God and makes it impossible for us to enter heaven. Nothing impure, defiled, or unholy can enter God’s presence, so there is no way I can go there to be with him. No way, that is, unless my sin can be removed.

And removing sin and its effects from a human heart is similar to trying to remove a crack from a pane of glass. It can’t be done!

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Summary

Isaac Watts’ wrote these words in a song that we often sing:

When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss

and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it Lord that I should boast

save in the death of Christ my Lord

All the vain things that charm me most

I sacrifice them to his love.

Have you been broken by the cross?  Have you bowed down before the cross?  Have you been changed by the cross?

 

Please open your Bible and begin reading I Corinthians 14:1-25 before you read the blog.
Guidelines for Worship

One of the things that Paul is going to tell us is that praising God is not the primary purpose of our time together. A second thing may surprise you is that Paul is going to say something about worship which opens the door for more acts of worship than we traditionally have acknowledged. We have traditionally said that there are five acts of worship, and only five – singing, praying, taking the Lord’s Supper, giving and preaching. I would suggest to you, based on I Corinthians 14 that there are at least six acts of worship. Furthermore, in this congregation, we engage in all six of those acts of worship every Sunday. Do I have your attention yet?

The Governing Principle in worship is Edification

Read I Corinthians 14:1-6

Paul indicates there was nothing wrong with the Corinthians wanting spiritual gifts. But if they wanted to have any spiritual gift, Paul said it should have been prophecy. As I said last week, a prophet was someone who proclaimed God’s truth. It was similar to our preaching today, except they didn’t have to study the Bible and prepare their messages.

But the reason that prophecy was the more significant gift because it was able to accomplish some things that tongues were not. The words that Paul uses over and over in this passage are the words “edify” and “edification”.

Speaking in tongues in a typical worship service in Corinth had no edifying value at all.

Remember that speaking in tongues meant to speak in foreign languages. Whenever that happened, they couldn’t speak to men (unless it was a language they understood); it provided no instruction, no edification. The only thing it could accomplish was to speak to God who understands all languages. 

The Corinthians, however, were more interested in something that was mysterious than something that was edifying. They didn’t care that nobody could understand them. Their concern was only for the excitement of speaking mysteries in the spirit. They didn’t care that the mysteries had no meaning to themselves or to anyone else.

There must be understanding for there to be edification.

Read I Corinthians 14:6-19

Eight times in this section, Paul uses the word “understanding”. Because just standing up here preaching doesn’t do any good unless somebody understands what I’m saying.

This should be common sense for us, but Paul says it just doesn’t make any sense to say things in front of the congregation that nobody can understand. But that’s exactly what was happening in Corinth.

First of all, if a musical instrument does not give a clear and distinct sound, nobody will recognize the music being played.

Second, Paul says a bugle call must be understandable.

Third, Paul says the same thing is true in everyday language. Unless you are speaking the same language as someone else, you can’t get your point across.

The purpose of our gathering is not merely to praise God. It is to edify one another.

Our worship should not hinder our work of evangelism.

Read I Corinthians 14:20-25

The misuse of tongues was having an adverse effect on the evangelistic outreach of the church in Corinth. Any unbelievers who attended a worship service where tongues were being misused would not be led closer to Christ. Instead, he would be “turned off”. In fact, Paul says that hearing strange languages being spoken without an interpreter may lead him to the conclusion that everybody in the church had gone crazy.

Application

Read Hebrews 10:24-25, then 26-27.

The writer’s point is that the Christian walk can be tough. We need each other’s support to make it. To avoid being deceived by sin, we need to meet together so that we can encourage one another toward love and good deeds. You see, one of the best ways to avoid sin is to be active in Kingdom service.

Everything we do in our worship needs to be tested by this rule in I Corinthians and Hebrews – are we truly edifying one another? Are we truly encouraging one another to be more active in serving God? Are we truly encouraging one another to live out our faith in a hostile world? Are we encouraging one another to serve in love? Are we encouraging one another to follow the example of Jesus Christ in our homes, in our workplace, in our neighborhood? Are we encouraging one another to speak up for Christ?

So let me ask you, “Who are you going to encourage this morning?” Because if the answer is “no one”, then I’ll be the first to tell you that you might as well have stayed home, because you didn’t truly come to worship.

 When Paul is asked about what is appropriate to do in the worship assembly, he asks two very pragmatic questions:

Is what we are doing serving the purpose of edifying, strengthening, encouraging, and comforting the other Christians who are present?

Is what we are doing going to make it clear to any non-Christians who are present that “God is present in this place”?

 

Problems in Corinth: Love—The Most Excellent Thing

I Corinthians 13:1-3

For those of us who are Christians, we are especially concerned with agape love – an unselfish, committed, sacrificial love – because that’s the kind of love that defines our God, and the kind of love that should distinguish us in this world.

John writes in his first letter, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (I John 4:7-8).

But, throughout history, it seems that the church has found it difficult to be loving. It is easier to be doctrinally correct than it is to love. It is easier to be active in church work than it is to love. And yet the supreme characteristic that God demands of his people is love.

The night before he died, Jesus said to his apostles, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

I Corinthians 13

If love is that important, then it makes sense that we need to spend at least a little bit of time in I Corinthians 13, the “love chapter” of the Bible. Paul is writing to a group of Christians who are not very loving toward each other. Rather, they were a selfish bunch of folks who did a lot of fussing and fighting because everyone was doing his own thing for his own good, with little or no regard for others. 

They had plenty of spiritual gifts in the church, but Paul closes out the 12th chapter of I Corinthians by saying, “I will show you a still more excellent way.” (I Corinthians 12:31).

Love is more important than miraculous gifts.

Read I Corinthians 13:1 

Paul says that speaking in tongues without love is the same thing as playing a cymbal solo. If you could speak 500 different languages but you didn’t say anything in love, then what you said was just noise.

Love is more important than preaching.

Read I Corinthians 13:2a

The gift of prophecy was one of the greatest of the spiritual gifts because the prophet proclaimed God’s truth to people so they would know and understand it. Paul himself was a great prophet. But a preacher who doesn’t have love is of no value.

Love is more important than knowledge.

Read I Corinthians 13:2b

Paul says that even if you know it all – if you know everything there is to know about nuclear science; if you know everything there is to know about medicine; if you know everything there is to know about philosophy and psychology and theology and every other kind of “ology” – if you know it all, you are virtually omniscient, but you don’t have love, then it’s worthless.

Love is more important than faith.

Read I Corinthians 13:2c

We’re told in the Scripture that faith is so important that it is impossible to please God without faith. And I suspect that all of you here this morning have faith.

I’m sure you believe that God is the creator of this world. You may believe that Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son, and that He came into our world and lived a sinless life, and that He died and was buried and rose again on the third day. You believe that He is now at the right hand of the Father, and is preparing a place for us, and that one day He will come again.

But without love, faith have no value.

Love is more important than generosity.

Read I Corinthians 13:3a

And Paul says if giving is done without love in your heart, it is a worthless sacrifice. Because people give for all kinds of reasons. Some people give out of guilt.  

Some people give to impress other people. Some people give because they think that God is waiting in heaven to zap ‘em if they don’t. Some parents give elaborate gifts to their children in order to try to make their kids love them. 

There are a lot of reasons why people give, but Paul says that none of them are good reasons. 

If love is absent from our lives, then our giving is empty. The motive for giving should always be love — love for God and love for God’s people.

Love is more important than martyrdom.

Read I Corinthians 13:3b

 How deep is your commitment? Are you willing to lay down your life for God, if it came to that? But Paul is saying that even if you go to church every time the doors are open, if you read your Bible faithfully, if you pray, if you do all the things that a Christian person ought to do, but there’s no love behind all that, then it’s worthless in God’s sight.

Summary

When the world sees us acting like our Father, they’ll know whose family we belong to. “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

As we have talked today, there may be some of you who have thought to yourself, “I wish my brethren would treat me like that.” If that’s your response, then you’ve missed the whole point of the lesson because the response Jesus wants you to have is to say, “I want to be a brother like that.” I want to live in a way that there’s no mistake about it. People will know who my Father is.

 

 Scripture Text: I Corinthians 10:14-33
The Proper Use of Freedom

A Review of Chapter 8 and 9

Chp. 8 Paul said that for a mature Christian, the meat itself wasn’t a sinful thing.  We know that an idol isn’t something real, and so the meat is just meat.  Or liberty allows us to eat.

But we must ask ourselves, How it would affect other Christians? What about those who just came out of paganism?

And so Paul lets us know that there are some things that we are free to do, but we need to be careful about how our actions affect others.

Chp. 9, Paul gives up some things.  In verse 14 he says “those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” (Verse 12) “Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.”

We see this principle used in the marriage union.  One person often gives “things” up because there is something more precious to them than getting what they want all of the time.

Paul would give anything up to preach the Gospel.

Chapter 10, Flee Idolatry

Read I Corinthians 10:14-22. Can we eat a meal with non-Christians who view the meal as worship to their god?

When we partake of the Communion, we are announcing to one another and to the world around us that this is who we agree with, this is who we have something in common with.  When we as Christians participate in the Lord’s Supper, we are sharing together in the blood of Christ and sharing together in the body of Christ.

For the Christians in Corinth to share a table with idolaters was to identify with the, to share something in common with the idol and with all those who sacrificed to it.  There was nothing innocent about it.  And so it is totally inconsistent for Christians to participate in any expression of worship that exalts something else as Lord.

A Christian cannot “drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons:…”

Principles for Using Christian Freedom

Read I Corinthians 10:23-24.  Our concern needs to be for one another.  I need to be sensitive to my brother in Christ and not do anything that might cause him to fall away from Christ.

Read I Corinthians 10:25-27. If it doesn’t bother my conscience to buy meat in the market, then buy it and eat it. 

Read I Corinthians 10:28-29. If you’re with someone who’s making a big deal about where the mat came from, then don’t eat it.  Don’t argue about it. 

Read I Corinthians 10:31-33. My life is not all about getting to do what I want to do.  My life as a Christian is about one thing, glorifying God. His glory is to be our life commitment.  Everything else pales by comparison.

Application for Today

Christians are not simply islands unto themselves who live an “every-man-for-himself” kind of life.  When we are thinking about what to do, the weaknesses of those who are new to the faith or who are immature in their faith must be taken into consideration. A person who is committed to Jesus Christ can never ride roughshod over the ideas or feelings of someone else for whom Christ died.

Paul addressed this same issue in Romans 14:5-6 when he wrote about observing “holy days” or holidays. He said, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.” In other words, some people observe holidays and some people don’t. So what’s the solution? “Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.“

Maintain a respect for one another even through the differences.

Summary

If the Bible settles it, great!  If not, then consider: How will it affect your brothers and sisters in Christ? Will it cause any of them to fall away or lose their faith because of your actions? What about you, will it draw you closer to God or take you further from him? Will it bring God glory and honor, or will it serve to dishonor him?

Our commitment to Jesus Christ demands that we balance our Christian freedom with our responsibility to one another and our responsibility to God. 

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

 

Marriage Takes 3

What use to be uncommon and unspoken has become common.  Divorce, it has reached epidemic proportions.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the ratio of marriages to divorces is 2 to 1.

While a husband and wife may vow to love one another in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, and for better and worse, the reality is that many individuals only stick around during times of wealth, health, and happiness.

You may remember that in times past families had many children.  You may even be one of 4 or more siblings.   Today children oftentimes have many parents.  There is the Daddy that was here, and the Daddy that is here, and the Daddy that will be here when this one decides to go on.

Sadly, the concept of commitment has been lost in our “disposable” and “instant gratification” world.  There is no doubt that the tentacles of divorce reach deeply inside most—if not all—church families.  And those tentacles have caused many problems throughout the body of Christ.  While we don’t talk about it much for fear we may offend some, this topic desperately needs to be addressed in order to stem the epidemic.

Here is what I want my sons to know about divorce.  As I speak to you today, listen in on what I want them to know and to understand. These are things we have discussed and things that we have tried to teach.

A good marriage is one of the richest blessings you will ever know.  It is an institution that was formed by God.

Genesis 2: 22-24:  “And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

While we pray that you are able to experience this one day, we want each one of you to realize that you do not have to be married or be a parent to serve God faithfully. Consider the biblical examples of faithful individuals who were single or barren/ childless and still served the Lord.  (Paul, Dorcas)  They were faithful to God even though they were not married.

There are many questions that you need to ask of yourself and of this person to whom you want to marry.  As you begin to date and to go out with potential mates…

Look for someone who will help you go to heaven.  If they are not spiritual, interested in God and His church, then they are not the person for you.

Dating is not a game.  Dating is not a social outlet.  If you want a social group to be with, go out with a group, join an activity, play on a sports team.  Dating is serious business.

There’s more to it than just good looks.  I want you to find someone that you are attracted to, but there is more to consider as you take this person into your confidence.  Physical beauty if fleeting at best, and the heart is what will last.

If you reach the point to which you are engaged to someone, remember that engaged is not married.  You need to stick to your limits, to your rules of contact.  If you are not married, do not act like you are married. .

Song of Solomon 3:5 “do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.”

Sons, as the male, you are to be the spiritual leader of your household.  Begin that leadership while dating.  Set the example and live a life devoted to Christ.

Sons, believe it or not, but your mother and I have been praying for your future spouses (and even their parents!) since before you were born.  This topic is so crucial that we believe the time to start teaching you about these things is not when you are a teenager, but when you were still toddlers.

Aside from your decision to become a Christian and your relationship with God, there is nothing more important on this planet than your choices in these matters.  The person that you choose to be your mate will either help or hinder your journey to heaven.

Our prayer is that your mate will be a strong Christian who can help you in your spiritual journey. We hope that as your grow and mature you will select someone with whom to spend your life who has similar values and priorities.  God needs to be first in both of your lives.

Make no mistake about it, good marriage takes a great deal of work.  You won’t receive a “how-to” book along with your marriage certificate.  This is one reason it is so important to keep your marriage God-centered. The relationship you see daily between your mother and I did not happen overnight.  We have been together through good years and bad.  We have had to learn how to communicate effectively with one another, how to air our differences, how to compromise, and how to let our words be reflected in our actions.

With each happy memory and each trial, our relationship has deepened and grown.  However, even after being married as long as we have, we still have to invest time and energy into our marriage.  That is why we try to regularly have “dates” without any children present—to reconnect, rekindle, and grow our own relationship.

While you are a big part of our family, you will not be with us forever.  However, when you leave, we (your mother and I) have to know each other, and to connect with one another.

Your mother and I have a rule that has been in place since the beginning.  We never joke about divorce or use that concept as an option for our lives.  We made this pledge to one another very early in our marriage, and it has been comforting during time of trial.  The Bible is clear that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16).

Never forget that God joins you together with your mate (Matthew 19:6), and His original intention was that man and woman remain married until death.

Mark 10:2-12 READ

Matthew 19: 8-9 READ

Jesus explains that while divorces were permitted because of the hardness of their hearts, “from the beginning it was not so.”

Keep your marriage intact and avoid divorce.  Invest time and energy in one another.  If you feel things are spiraling out of control, talk to your parents, preacher, shepherds, or godly friends.

Don’t confide problems to a friend of the opposite sex, as that will always compound the problem.  Find a happily married, faithful couple with whom you can spend time and glean wisdom.  Take time to find activities that both you and your spouse’s enjoy, and do those.  Be willing to compromise. And never take your spouse for granted.

The Bible is the best source of how men are to love their wives.

Ephesians 5:25, 33 Read.

The Bible is the best source of how women are to respect their husbands.

Ephesians 5:22-23, 33 again.  Read.

In Matthew 19, Jesus outlines the only allowance for divorce and remarriage—sexual immorality (verse 9).  READ AGAIN.

That’s it.  Unless your spouse dies, marriage has only one way out.  Divorce and remarriage is not allowed simply for irreconcilable differences or because one partner is no longer happy.  Many people have tried to manipulate this passage to find exceptions or to make loopholes. In fact, many men with advanced degrees have desperately tried to argue that they possess a “new found wisdom” about what this Scripture actually means.  But as we have taught you from childhood, you don’t need advanced degrees to understand the important matters of the Bible.   God is able to effectively communicate His plan on marriage and divorce.

Never change your views on biblical matters simply because it has become personal.  Remember, God is immutable (Malachi 3:6)—He and His Word do not change.

It is usually the case that those trying to conjure up “exceptions” to Jesus’ teaching on marriage have personal stakes involved. For instance, maybe their children, other relatives, or friends have divorced for reasons other than sexual immorality, and they want to find a way for them to remarry.  But the Scriptures are clear.

Many try to offer excuses to justify divorce and remarriage such as, “One part was not baptized at the point of marriage,” or “Children are involved,” or “The original intent was not for a biblically permanent marriage.”  They use mental gymnastics to find loopholes between Matthew 19 and I Corinthians 7:10-13. (READ)

Remember, these commands were written to believers and unbelievers, thus baptism does not alter an adulterous marriage.   Re-Read I Corinthians 7:10-13.

The decision to marry is important and should not be entered into lightly, or because of temporal lust.  Your mother and I agree that rather than jumping through hoops and rearranging the original intent or looking for a “way out” years later, your time would be better invested in creating, building, and maintaining a healthy marriage that includes God.

This is why trust is so vital in a marriage.  Go the extra mile and give your spouse information as to where you will be—don’t leave them wondering.  Post a copy of your wedding picture or vows where you can see it often.  Keep that golden band on your finger as a constant reminder.

Remember your parent’s favorite verse, a verse that we try to live by every day.  This verse was read at our wedding.

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Finally, here is a poem that says it all.

Marriage Takes 3 (author unknown)

I once thought marriage took Just two to make a go,

But now I am convinced It takes the Lord also.

And not one marriage fails Where Christ is asked to enter,

As lovers come together With Jesus at the center.

But marriage seldom thrives, And homes are incomplete,

Till He is welcomed there To help avoid defeat.

In homes where Christ is first, It’s obvious to see,

Those unions really work, For marriage still takes three.

SUMMARY

Marriage is for life.  Take your time now and later, your efforts will pay off.

Take time during the marriage, and you will be blessed.

Jesus’ way is the way we all need to live our lives. He knows best.

Adapted from an article in Think Magazine January 2009 by Brad Harrub.  All words and ideas are his.  Editing was done to fit it into this post.

 

Cultural Morality, Our World View

In a sentence: Moral relativism has become the norm and is the current world view of the majority of Americans.

More than twenty years ago, Allan Bloom observed in his book, The Closing of the American Mind, “there is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative…The students, of course, cannot defend their opinion. It is something with which they have been indoctrinated.” (pg. 25) 

Bloom was not merely speaking about whether one can know any absolute truths, but also whether there are any absolute moral truths.  Moral relativism argues that there is no absolute and no objective right and wrong.  Relativists believe moral rules are merely personal preferences and arise as a result of one’s cultural, ethnic, or sexual orientation.

Moral relativism has become the norm on televisions, in academia, and among politicians.  It is no longer “shocking” for us to see same-sex relationships on Television.  People see nothing wrong with killing the unborn if it may harm the health of the mother.  Everything is relative.

It has not always been so.  My generation has been immersed in these ideas our entire life.  If you were born in the 1940’s or later this shift in thinking has been projected toward you.  It was only because my generation was also buried in the teachings of Jesus Christ that many of us escaped the full brunt of these attacks. 

In the 1960’s, Joseph Fletcher argued that it was sometimes right to do wrong.  Philosophers like John Warwick Montgomery and pulpits around the nation condemned his “situation ethics,” but the notion of situational morality did not die.

Fletcher believed love, or the “agape ethic,” was superior to the “law ethic,” so that things done out of love fulfilled God’s ethic even if they violated God’s law.  This notion of love as a justification for our behaviors has rapidly spread throughout American society.

For moral relativists, abortion is preferable to raising an unwanted child.  They believe it is better to end a child’s life than to have him grow up unloved or disadvantaged.  Of course, they rarely consider how they may feel about that unwanted child in later days.  Pro-choice people rarely speak of the long-term emotional trauma many mothers of aborted babies feel.

God, however, hates the taking of an innocent life. (Proverbs 6:17) Abortion never shows love to the unborn child.  It is almost as if no one considers that an unwanted child could become wanted or that adoption to a family is possible.

The apostle Paul argued that the law is good, if one used it lawfully. (1 Timothy 1:8).  The law was designed to protect the innocent from evil and ungodly sinners. Moses said, “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day” (Deut. 6:24). 

The law teaches one how to love God and one’s neighbor.  Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.  And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” John 14:23-24

Moral relativists often think they are taking the higher moral ground by not judging or excluding anyone.  They speak in relative terms but practice judging and excluding in absolute terms.  Their claim does not match their practice. While they practice inclusiveness with the immoral person, they slander and exclude anyone who disagrees with their inclusiveness.

Moral relativists often claim that the belief in absolute moral truth is mean-spirited, intolerant, exclusivist, and judgmental.  Obviously, and objective view of morality will hold some things to be wrong, but the relativist contradicts himself because he also holds some things to be wrong.  He believes that anyone who says there is objective moral truth is wrong.  This conclusion makes the relativist judgmental and, possible, intolerant. 

If the relativist believes the absolutist to be wrong, he is just as exclusive as anyone else.

 Does my worldview really matter?

Culture War.  The term is bandied about regularly on talk radio, referred to frequently in print and the digital media.  But what is the culture war and how does it affect us?

 The Culture War is a struggle over which path society’s values and norms will take as it develops into the future.  It is ultimately a battle over world views.  The main war is between the Biblical worldview and a secular worldview.  It is a subtle struggle in that, by and large, it is a battle for the mind fought in the marketplace of ideas.  It is not a battle over trivial issues of whether one likes blue or pink, Ford or Chevy.  The Culture War is a struggle over a set of significant issues that touch all of lie and determine how one approaches reality.  In a universe that functions based on laws of nature, societal mores that have long-term consequences are being debated.  In this war, the most frequent victim is Truth and the ones taken captive are often those who do not even realize a conflict is being fought. 

One’s world view attempts to answer questions like:

Why am I here?

How did I get here?

Where did I come from?

Where am I going?

The decisions that we make in daily life will be based on a series of filters and presuppositions (world view) that determine how we approach life.  A world-view is a framework through which one draws conclusions; the lens through which we see the world.

What we believe matters.  The ideas that are within our mind have consequences.  We will choose our world-view as surely as we choose our daily diet.  Our assumptions determine our conclusions.  IF we assume eating donuts and watching television all day long is a healthy lifestyle, we may conclude that we should conduct our life in this manner. 

It is possible to believe something so strongly (and wrongly) that it is hard to believe anything else—even when presented with evidence contrary to our belief.  The long-term consequences of our collective choices will directly impact our lifestyle and outlook. 

SECULAR WORLD-VIEW

A secular world view begins with a starting point of subjectivism.  “There is absolutely no absolute truth” (save for the absolute truth that there isn’t one.) “Whatever you choose to believe is true for you and you alone. Whatever I choose to believe is true for me.  You believe what you want, I’ll believe what I want, and we’ll all get along nicely as long as you cave to my belief”   This is often called “tolerance” today.

At the root of the clash over cultural norms is authority—who determines the standard and what the standard is.  The secular humanist says man’s wisdom trumps all else; therefore, whatever each man decides for himself is right for him.  On the other hand, Christians claim God’s wisdom is the wellspring of authority and that Truth is found in the Bible.

Do you believe in absolute truth?  If not, you are in the majority.  Surveys indicate that people under the age of 36, by and large, do not embrace the concept of absolute truth. How is that possible? In the past, Biblical thinking permeated family life, public education, and community organizations.  Today, many young people are being trained in everything but the Biblical principles that would lead them to believe in absolute truth.

The Bible is being relegated to, at best, a collection of interesting stories or fables with cute morals similar to something in Grimm’s or Aesop’s. 

The pull of the world is strong. In many ways the secular humanists’ agenda and the resulting comprehensive worldview has been allowed to proliferate throughout the world with only limited contrary feedback voiced from Christian circles.  It seems that many Christians have yet to conclude that God, in His providential wisdom, gave humankind a guide to live and the intelligence to discern between right and wrong.

God’s verbally inspired Book has been relegated to a guide for worship and practice on Sunday and has been left to collect dust for the rest of the week.  Instead of looking to the Great Physician for the cure, people—even Christians—are appealing to today’s faddish healers and philosophers for help with everyday problems.

Read Acts 17:24-25 Put emphasis on “he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

Read 2 Peter 1:3 “all things that pertain to life and godliness”

We know that God has addressed every area, every facet, every problem, and every struggle of material consequence that a person may face in this life.  And, God knows that the “philosophy of men” would always be alluring with “persuasive words” according to the “traditions of men” and “basic principles of the world,” (Colossians 2:4, 8)

God knew there would be competition for our minds.  He has provided eternal wisdom for us within the pages of the Bible; by listening to His wisdom while attempting to overcome the everyday trials of life, we will neither be led astray, nor struck in the “futile ways” (I Peter 1:18) that is a result of listening to the traditions and philosophies of men.

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death”

Biblical Worldview

In the battle for the mind, one would be well served to heed the counsel of Ephesians 6:10-20, and “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places.” (Skip to verse 14) This verse talks about what we need to protect our soul, the belt of truth.  The belt of truth is essential because belts “hole it all” together.  And Jesus said we could know the Truth and the Truth would set us free. (John 8:31-32)

The Biblical worldview is one that approaches life from the vantage point that acknowledges these truths:

• The Bible is God’s divine counsel on life and eternity.
• The Bible is perfectly infallible and directs our every step.
• This world was created in perfection but is now only a shadow of its former self.
• This world is now a place of sickness, sadness, and death ushered in by sin.
• Time here is short; it is just a temporary pilgrimage.
• This world is not the end.
• There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun in eternity.
• Hope springs eternal when life is bound up in Christ.
• The creation should seek to align its thoughts with the Creator’s.
• Using the Bible as a standard, one should think critically/Biblically about the messages received from the world and discern right from wrong thereby.

Summary

If you want to develop a Biblical worldview, start today by also getting to know Jesus.

 How?  By reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Learn to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27).

How? By reading both the Old and New Testaments and getting to know your Father.  Take the proactive step of cleaning up your thought life.

How? By adhering to the counsel of Philippians 4:6-8 and praying prayers of requests, supplications, and thanksgiving, while meditating on thoughts of goodness and righteousness. Change your habits, and change your life.

How? By following like Paul, the admonition found in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

How? By studying the Scriptures and growing in faith (I Peter 2:2, 2 Peter 1:5-11). Make it a habit to become preoccupied with knowing God.

What’s your worldview?  Think about it.  It matters!

Adapted from articles by Phil Sanders and Jim Palmer, Think Magazine November 2008. Editing was done to fit their articles into my post.  I do not claim authorship in any fashion.