Looking for God

                I am currently reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. While I would disagree with a great deal of Mr. Tozer’s theology, his writing impresses me in his eloquence and his genuine appeal to seek God whole-heartedly. Of course this brings to mind Jesus’ own words in Matt 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (NKJV). We are commanded to seek God. It stands to reason then, that God would make it possible – simple even. We need no special equipment save a copy of the Scriptures to seek God. No particular time of year enables us to pursue God more heartily. Our location doesn’t even matter when it comes to our quest for God. (I’m in Burger King pursuing this topic!) Now, you may say, “I’m a Christian. I’ve found God.” To quote Tozer, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love.” Our desire should be to know Him more and more every day, even if we have initially found Him in our lives. This becomes the sole responsibility of each individual. However, that does not make Christianity a selfish, “me-centered” faith. Again from Tozer: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?” You see, when you and I individually decide we are going to diligently look for God – not just once, but daily – we improve the body as a whole. Our corporal religion, our fellowship as a body of believers is vastly improved when personal spiritual growth is each one’s pursuit. The church body as a unit is stronger as its individual members grow spiritually healthier. So let me encourage you to daily look for God – pursue Him! After all, God has told us, “…from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 4:29).

A Heart for God

“So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel...” (1 Kings 11:9 - NKJV)

The pages of the Old Testament have a sad, but interesting commentary on Solomon's life: “…when Solomon was old…his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God…” (1 Kings 11:4). This guy was king! He was the wisest man of all time! He was a righteous man. How is it possible to start so well and end so sadly? What can we do to make absolutely sure we avoid Solomon’s mistake?

The Bible describes the heart as the center of man’s being. So, we have to protect it. In Proverbs 4:23, Solomon himself says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (He should’ve listened to his own advice!) The Hebrew word for “keep” is a word which means “guard; set a watch.” To keep our hearts righteous – or right before God – we have to guard what gets into our lives. God, in Ps 119:2, has a promise for those who do: “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” We must protect our hearts because, biblically speaking, our hearts make us who we are! That’s what Jesus says in Matt 12:35 – “A good man out, of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things.” Finally, we have to be aware there are those who want to turn our hearts away from righteousness. Solomon failed to be attentive to this. We can’t! The apostle Peter warns, in 2 Pet 3:17, “…beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked.” As Christians, we have to be focused on the fact God expects righteousness from us – in ALL areas of life. He told those present for the Sermon on the Mount, “…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:20). That’s the righteous call to the followers of a righteous God. We can do it. But, to do so, we must guard our hearts, “for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Passing Tests

Study, Study, Study

If you have teen-agers in your life, you’re probably aware this week (last week, if you’re reading this in Sunday) is Finals Week for many of them. Just reading that kind of gives me the willies. “Finals” means so much studying – reading notes, reading textbooks, practicing problems – all stuff at which I was never too great. But you have to do it. You have to be able to pass the tests.

As Christians, we have tests we have to pass every day. Not the “What’s the capital of Djibouti?” type exams necessarily. But, we face tests, challenges, trials of some sort on a daily basis. How do we “pass” them? We have to study. Our textbook, however, is different. It is a collection of God’s inspired words to us. Do you ever think about that? The Bible you read, write notes in, and bring to worship may be published by Nelson or Crossway or whoever; however, it is God’s very words to us. When you think of it in that light, it stands to reason…we ought to know it.

I mentioned in Sunday morning class how stunned I was to find so many religious websites which had the order of the Ten Commandments messed up. That was stunning to me! That is one of those things we just ought to know! (Especially if you’re putting it out for the world to see!) But, I’m not really talking just about memorizing Bible facts. You and I need to be people who truly desire knowing God as best we can. One of our brothers in Christ here at Linder has been an inspiration to me lately in his pursuit of a more complete Bible understanding. He and I have shared study tools and websites and I’d like to share them with you. We live in an era of never-before-seen availability. You can go online or in our church library and find a wealth of information to assist you in studying God’s word.

In our library, let me recommend the Truth for Today commentary series. They are written by Christians and are very scholarly. But, they are also very readable and practical. Also, take the time to look through the bound “Reason and Revelation” series by Apologetics Press. They’re members of the church who publish awesome Christian evidence material.

Online you can find an absolute wealth of very scholarly study tools. However, please read this DISCLAIMER: Many, if not most, of them are produced by folks who, though they obviously have good intentions, have very un-biblical ideas about the Plan of Salvation. So – be warned. Let me just recommend a few sites which have amazing study tools: 1) biblegateway.com; 2) biblesuite.com; 3) studylight.org.

There are many others, but these are just a few I use. See, the “I can’t find Bible study helps anywhere” excuse just went away! In Ps 119:15-16, the Psalmist says, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word” (NKJV). What a great attitude! I want to be that way, don’t you? I want to be equipped to pass the tests which are, without a doubt, going to show up in my life.

“Going Pro”

I’ll admit right up front: most of you won’t care about the subject I use for my illustration. Yes, it’s sports. In fact, more to the point, it’s Oklahoma State basketball. Don’t stop reading! Let me just give you the background. OSU has a freshman basketball player, Marcus Smart, whom many people assumed would leave school after his freshman season and go to the NBA. He was projected to be a top five pick in the draft and rake in a guaranteed $7-9 million over the next two years. Wednesday he announced his decision to return to OSU for his sophomore season! He stayed in school! He passed (for now) on millions of dollars! This is a quote from Berry Tramel, columnist for the Oklahoma City newspaper. “Smart is not starting a revolution. This won't turn back the tide in college hoops’ favor. For every Smart, there still will be 10 Ben McLemores headed for the lottery and 50 Amath M'Bayes headed overseas. But when it happens, when a 19-year-old kid in the materialistic 21st century makes a decision based not on financial bonanza, he should be celebrated.”

Why do I share this? To celebrate Oklahoma State basketball? Well, ok, yes – just a little. But…mainly to celebrate a decision made by a young man. We have ten high school seniors who, in a few weeks, will enter a brave new world. No more will some of them call Mom and Dad’s house “home.” No more will Dad text them at 10:30 to remind them to be home in 30 minutes. Mom may not be there to make sure they get out of bed on time. As the song says, “Times, they are a-changin’.” For the parents of these seniors, I offer my sympathies – and my congratulations. It HAS to be sad! I’m two years away and it makes me sad. But, I know most of these kids at least fairly well. Believe me, these are young men and women of which we can be very proud. My congratulations to the parents who have invested time and energy into shaping and molding these kids into respectable, honorable young adults. Will these kids go off and always make the right decision? Almost certainly not. However, we can all trust these young people have been raised with a healthy dose of Prov 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (NKJV). This does not mean these “children” will remain faithful or that they’ll all be absolute model citizens. But, it does mean they have a foundation upon which to build their physical and spiritual lives as long as they cling to it. As their church family, what can we do to help these grads and their families?

1)    Pray for them. In 1 Thess 1:2, Paul writes, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers…”

2)    Encourage them in their faith as often as you can. Again in 1 Thess, Paul says, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (2:19-20). Let our kids know this.

The NCAA has a public service ad running which says, “Someday we’ll all be going pro in something.” Whether it’s going on to college, starting a trade school, or going to work, these kids of “ours” are going pro. Pray these young men and women make their choices, not based on financial reward or status or peer pressure. Pray all our children will choose their directions based on God’s Word and the teachings they have grown up absorbing. Encourage them to keep God #1 in every aspect of their lives, and they’ll all make the smart decisions. Congratulations Seniors 2013!

The “-Ism” Du Jour

We live in a world full of “-ism’s.” There are Atheism, Conservatism, Hedonism, and maybe the one which hits closest to home for me – Skepticism, just to name a very few. One which seems to be the “-Ism of the Day” for our culture is a relatively new term – Postmodernism. “Postmodernism is difficult to define, because to define it would violate the postmodernist’s premise that no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truths exist” (allaboutphilosophy.com).  Simply stated, it’s the belief we cannot know truth, and that my truth may not equal your truth, but we’ll call them both “truth” nonetheless. (For a very thorough explanation of this thinking, see www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=269#.)

            How is this thinking affecting the church today? Sadly, I would suggest this thinking is one of our greatest detractors. Postmodernism claims to be the inheritor to the 17th century Enlightenment, which is the home of another “ism” – Progressivism, promoting and defending a New Age way of theorizing and justifying human life and progress. Postmodernists are typically atheistic or agnostic while some choose to follow eastern religion views and practices. However, it’s not always that clear.

            Many of you probably have heard me say I believe Satan’s greatest victory in our time is not tempting Christians into blatant and wanton sin. It’s convincing us – specifically our younger generations – everyone is spiritually ok as long as they basically believe in God. From where does this thinking originate? It’s certainly not found in Scripture. God plainly states throughout the Bible He expects obedience to Him and to him alone, and that this obedience follows a pattern He set forth (Rom 6:17; Heb 12:1). This religious “I’m ok, you’re ok” thinking comes from postmodernism.  We have been so bombarded by naturalistic and humanistic thinking – that is, thinking which doesn’t follow God’s teaching – we have been all but cornered into thinking we really can’t know the truth!

Christian, we cannot accept this thinking! We cannot tolerate this thinking in our families, and certainly not in the Lord’s church. Col 2:8 says, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (NKJV). We have to be people who think! Just because the world around us tells us one thing and the majority accepts it doesn’t make it right. In Rom 12:2, Paul writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” The world is desperately trying to conform Christianity to its way of thinking – “No one can know what is and isn’t right or wrong. It’s up to the individual!” We must be people who continually renew our minds. This doesn’t mean we follow God’s Word with an ignorant uneducated faith. It means we renew our minds by looking at His Word and the evidence to support (or refute) the things we believe.

The apostle whom Jesus loved, our brother John, writes in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (bold mine – LCD). There is no better refutation for the idea that we can’t know God and His truth. God has provided the evidence for us to know Him and to keep on believing in Him and obeying Him…even if the “ism’s” of our day say otherwise.