Category: Pastor’s Corner

“But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”   2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB)

Due to my racking up birthdays, and depending on how one looks at it, I possess either the advantage or the burden of a longer view of life. What I observe in my long view is that much of Christendom is picking up speed in conforming to the ever-declining “values” of this world. It is my conviction that Christianity is being appropriated by unredeemed lives, naturally void of spiritual discernment. The result is a pagan collective now identifying as the “new and improved” Christians. Not only is the Church waning in its impact upon the world for Christ—the Way, the Truth, and the Life—but it has willingly bent the knee to embrace the many gods of this world, and most ignobly, the rebranded, redacted “christ” of their vain imaginings.

You can read this in the Word of God: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7)

This third command seems simple at a casual glance. Don’t cuss using any of God’s names. That’s not too restrictive, because it leaves open a huge pile of other curse words we can throw around without consequence…right? That’s poor exegesis, because the emphasis is not about cursing at all. It is about flippantly invoking God’s Name to shore up your speech or a stance you have taken. Don’t imply that God is your nodding character witness, for what you are attempting to do or promote “in His Name.”

Look at the principle underlying this command. Yes, our words matter. Yet our heart attitudes, motives, thoughts, and actions speak as well. God is not manipulated by using His Name, or our spouting rote phrases of worship while our heart is darkened toward Him.  A better picture of the third commandment: Don’t let our lives take His name in vain, let alone our words.

God’s principles and precepts are timeless. Being in His Word should find us humbly receiving it, with a thirst for Spirit-led meaning and resolve to obey its practical application in our life. God’s Word reveals truths about Him that will, to the one who listens, continually sharpen and challenge us.

God’s Word is not given to erect arbitrary hurdles for our discomfort and His amusement. His chosen people under the Law were commanded to live above the cultures of the pagans. They were in every situation to shun the debasing practices rife around them.  Logically, they could not point the nations to the One True God, if they themselves were simultaneously prostituting themselves before local idols.

To develop that “bigger picture” thinking into our reading of the Old Testament, we should connect the story to God’s call for our distinctiveness as Christians here in the church age (1 Pe. 2:9-12).  No, we are not a refined and better Judaism. We are children of the New Covenant through the finished work of Christ, and we are to shine in this darkened world for Him. It is an inescapable truth that we are not here for our ease. We are called to labor as His ambassadors. We are to point the way to the One True God for the pagans in our midst. We pray and witness, that some would receive eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus, before they enter eternity.

But from within Christendom, the pointing has instead turned to paganizing the church. As if watching much of Romans chapter one being acted out, the cast and crew today without fear push openly to take God’s Name in vain with a spirit of prideful rebellion. The Word of God is rejected joyfully. God’s precepts and principles are grossly twisted for the “new understanding” of unregenerate congregants. “Worship” devolves into the creatures worshiping themselves worshiping. Attractive image and self-focus are the standard currency of the industry. Theology that congratulates cutting-edge apostasy is spewed by the ministers. Confident declarations are aired that that the “church” is ready for change, and god is too. Their god is on the leash, toothless and trained to heel.

Their god.

The LORD my God that I serve does not change. You cannot teach Him. You cannot reason Him away. He is omniscient, omnipotent, eternal and omnipresent. He is awesome in power and does not share His Glory with another. He is the Creator and Sustainer, and He is the One to whom we all will give account (Heb. 4:13). There is salvation only through His Son, and sanctification only through the indwelling Spirit and the immutable Word of God.

And He will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

As we approach the end of the year, we often think about the past year and look to the new year with anticipation. Many times, these two years are pictured as an old man or father time as the old year and a baby representing the new year. A saying that often goes with the image is “Goodbye old faults, old complaints, old grievances. Goodbye grouches, goodbye bad habits, goodbye pessimism, goodbye hard times. Welcome fresh start.” We look forward to the new year as an opportunity to change things we don’t like or to begin anew. It’s a time of resolutions, a commitment to do better or to take a different direction or to stop an old habit. What we often find out is that it doesn’t take very long to realize that nothing has changed and more often than not, we are continuing on in our old ways. The New Year isn’t really that new after all, it’s more of the same. But what if that could be different, what if the new year truly could be “new”?

We love new things, like a new car, a new house or a fresh experience. We are always seeking something more and have an almost insatiable appetite. We are just wired that way and I would say created by God with those desires. The problem is, we are looking for satisfaction in places that are finite and broken. The world we live in and our own fallen nature quickly spoil that which was fresh and new. But God has done something wondrous, He is the God of the fresh and new and what He offers never gets stale. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Whenever God speaks of something new, He is not referencing to time or something that is recent but “new as to form or quality, of a different nature from what is contrasted as old” (Vines Expository Dictionary). It is fresh, unused, unworn, of a new kind or unprecedented. This is the new God is speaking of. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are not the same old “you” – you are brand new and unprecedented! Your relationship with God is new, it has changed from one of enmity to one of sonship. You are now indwelt with the Spirit of God and thus have a completely new nature, one that desires and has the ability, by the power of Christ, to live a life pleasing to God. In the verse just before vs 17, Paul speaks of knowing Christ by means of the flesh, that is a view that based purely on human considerations. Now as a new creation he is seeing things differently and in a fresh new way. So it is with us who know Christ as Savior. We no longer look at our world or our circumstances though solely human eyes, but through the lens of God’s word as it is revealed in Christ. 

I find in the definition of “new” an aspect that is encouraging and that is of being “fresh”. We like new things because they are fresh. They are not worn or used. All the potential is still available and hasn’t been used up. The new car has many miles of trouble-free driving before it. The new house is just waiting for the creation of memories as it becomes a home. A newborn child has its whole life ahead of it with all its dreams and aspirations. In the same way, as believers we too have so much potential! You will never exhaust the potential that God has for you; you will never wear out His grace, mercy and love. Your relationship with God will never get stale. You are now able to discern circumstances and the world around you according to reality that is based on what God says – not by man’s failed, old, frustrating and pessimistic ways. In Scripture, God describes many things that are “new”, things like:

New Wineskins

New Name

New Covenant                                            

New Jerusalem

New Commandment                                

New Song

New Creation                                             

New Earth

New Man                                   

New Heavens

New Self                                     

So as we start this new year, keep in mind your newness. You are not what you once were but something new and fresh. As God says, “Behold I am making all things new!”  (Revelation 21:5)

“As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming…” Ephesians 4:14

Paul’s concern for the churches he birthed or nurtured into maturity is evident throughout his writings. The body’s steadfastness was always on his mind and heart. One of his illustrations likened unequipped saints to so much debris the wind tosses during a storm, as the verse above declares (Ephesians 4:14).

When the wind comes in strong, it changes all that it overpowers. We’ve seen this in our region’s recent fast-moving storms. Destruction altered the landscape. Repairs can help, but much was lost or irreversibly altered. Strange enough, in a few years most will not remember what it looked like before this storm. New winds will demand our focus; history will blur under newer pressures.

Comparatively, Jude also spoke of stormy assaults on the faith once delivered (Jude 3,12-13). The destruction of the basic tenets of faith is still a goal of the enemy today. The church must be vigilant, to withstand that storm.

Jesus himself taught us the importance of hearing and heeding Him. Without our life’s foundation built firmly on Him, destruction is certain, and great (Luke 6:46-49).

The eleventh chapter of 2 Corinthians is a remarkable passage. Paul is speaking plainly to a congregation that has had their moments of victory, and seasons of compromise. Paul must upbraid them; they are so dull in discernment:

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 2 Cor. 11:3-4 (NASB)

Paul then continues in that chapter to expose the false teachers’ methods. He makes an appeal to the Corinthians: pull yourself out of the weeds spiritually, and get back to following Christ and His true under-shepherds.

They had fleshly hearts that idolized a teacher’s “credentialling” and “boastful signs of victory.” Paul countered these false values by appealing to the Corinthians from his own “spiritual resume.” He recounted his weaknesses, and things he’d suffered for His Lord. Please note Paul’s greatest suffering, as he agonizingly revealed in verses 28-29:

Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?  2 Cor. 11:28-29 (NASB)

I want to try and summarize what Paul is getting at, in my own language: “Mark the true apostle by his overwhelming concern for you spiritually; and not for his own advancement, ease, popularity, or even skin. The true apostle is one that counts his physical assaults as nothing, compared to the burning in his heart for your steadfastness, growth, and unwavering proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord.”

Two friends are in my heart as I write today.

One has suffered the loss of all material goods, at the hands of the people he had come to serve. Everything. Gone. What would you think? His response is one of caring concern for the souls of those who now have more possessions, but do not possess the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And what of his tiny flock, in this community?

The other is running a gauntlet of increased opposition, violence, threats and invented charges to shut down any gospel witness in his region. Physical assaults and property destructions are now common. Many have been driven away. What would you focus upon? His heart is for the battered believers, and shepherding them for their encouragement amid such fierce attacks. And, how to continue to present the gospel to those so numbingly blind?

I share these things to encourage you. Labor at maturing in your Spirit-given gifts of Faith, Knowledge, Wisdom and Discernment. The wind is steadily blowing here, and your foundation must be on Him, and not shifting sands.

Would you also commit with me to pray through Jeremiah 20:7-13? As you do, remember each other, and our brothers and sisters in fierce storms, now. May we be found glorifying God and making His Name known, regardless of the winds that would delight in tossing us about.