Lucid Theology

Weak Disciple June 3, 2010

Simple Sanctification? March 16, 2008

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

– Psalm 119: 9-11 (NASB)

Christ prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” These are simple words, yet utterly profound words which take us into the very heart of our Savior who understood that the only means of sanctification (of growth in the Christian life) was by the Word–the revealed, God-breathed book of God (see 2 Tim. 3:16).

Today is Palm Sunday, the day in which Jesus entered Jerusalem with the feigned worship of “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” (Jn. 12:13). May we not be like so many of those gathered that day, worshiping externally yet with empty hearts in the inside.

Seeing all that our Savior gave for us should overwhelm our hearts with gratitude and praise, desiring to live our lives for Him and Him alone. How do we do that? It’s simple: get in the Word. And allow that to be used by His Spirit in order to grow. Now the question is, do you want to grow? Or are you content in being a babe, being tossed here and there, not knowing what you believe? Or do you want to have a life full of discernment, delighting in knowing Your God more and more.

I came across an article I wrote last year which I think is suitable . . . Longing for the Word.

A Matter of Love February 11, 2008

It’s a been a long time since I last wrote on this blog—a long time indeed. And I have to admit that I do miss it a lot; hopefully in the near future I will be able to dedicate much more time to putting my thoughts online.

All Christians go through an ebb and flow of spiritual vibrancy. Sometimes one feels as though one is flying up high in great communion and fellowship with the Lord. Then there are those times when God feels distant and nowhere present. The sad reality is that we, as humans, are vacillating, hesitant, and unsure. In short, we are prone to not be the same person that we were yesterday; either from changing internal or external circumstances.

But thankfully we serve and worship a God who is unchanging: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). In the Old Testament prophet, Malachi, we find that God is dealing with His people, Israel, and with indictments that God is somehow unfair and unjust. God boils down the reason for His mercy shown on Israel due to his unchangeableness: “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).

We change, but not God. We are prone to be swept by our, sometimes, overpowering emotions (whether good or bad) but yet God is fixed and always does what pleases Him.

Recently, as I’ve been examining my heart and my passion for God, I’ve been noticing that things have not been as they have. A certain apathy and lethargy has blinded my view of God and consequently, my desire to be with Him. I’ve immediately thought to myself that I need to get more disciplined; discipline must be the key. And while discipline is a crucial issue, it is not the most important. Through one my good mentor’s advice, I’ve been learning that the key to unlock a consistent and passionate pursuit of God is a matter of love, not discipline.

In the last few years I’ve become an organized maniac who seems to have everything planned (hour-by-hour) at least two weeks in advance. You walk in my room and you’d find my books dewey-decimal’d (I just just made up a verb!) and you’ll find everything neatly arranged. Of course, compared to my good ol’ college dorm-mates, it’s a good thing. Discipline is a good thing; a good thing which many people sadly lack and don’t care for cultivating. Yet the rubber meets the road when I attempt to apply my zeal for discipline to my zeal for God. “If I can just get more organized,” I reason, “I’d glorify God and have more time for Him.” Granted, discipline does play a pivotal and important role in living a life for the glory of God, but as I’ve been made aware of recently, I need to cultivate love first and foremost.

The question that I need to ask myself is, “Do I really love God?” Am I cultivating a real sense of gratitude and passion for Him based on fiery love or mere dry duty? It is so easy to get caught up in doing what we always do, that we become a lot like the Pharisees whom Jesus detested and abhorred for their routinely, lifeless religiosity. I pray to God that we would be awakened, by His Spirit, to love Him more and more; to be filled with a biblical view of sin and an overwhelming view of His grace poured on us–wicked and vile sinners–deserving everything but love, grace, and mercy.

“We love, because He first loved us.”
- 1 John 4:19

The Natural Art of Forgetfulness October 14, 2007

Recently, I’ve been realizing how easy it is for one to forget the things which are so obvious.

God is holy and He hates sin. We know that.

God longs to be reconciled with His people. We know that.

God takes the initiative of saving lost and rebellious sinners. He stoops down to us. We know that.

God makes His ways known to us—He reveals Himself . . . and He has in His Creation and His written Word. We know that.

His presence is terrifying yet sweet; His Word is powerful yet gentle; His law is convicting yet delightful. We know that.

But O how so often do we forget that which is so simple and basic.

May God empower us to be effectual doers of the Word and not merely listeners of it (Jas. 1:22). Let us dig deeper into God’s revealed Word and let us always keep reminding ourselves of the basics—we are sinners in need of grace and mercy which is only found and obtained in Jesus Christ.

People of the Book October 10, 2007

Do we want to see the glory of God? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to see God’s magnificent radiance on display? In Exodus we find a particular experience that Moses went through that I think stands out from among the others.

Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your glory!‘ And [God] said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!’ Then the LORD said, ‘Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen’” (Ex. 33:18-23, emphasis mine).

This is amazing. Moses had asked to see the very glory of God and how did God respond? By saying yes. God knew that no man would be able to see His glory and survive; at seeing God’s glory, man in his complete sinfulness would not be able to behold such awesome, holy splendor. Therefore, God said He would put Moses in the cleft of a rock and cover his eyes while He passed by and let Moses gaze at His back.

The next day, when this was to occur,

“. . . Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.’ Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship” (Ex. 34:4-8, emphasis mine).

There’s so much truth in these texts that reading it alone seems overwhelming, but I do want to highlight the reaction of Moses. Moses here had asked God to see His glory and He conceded; He allowed Moses to see His back so that Moses might not die in the process. Moses’ immediate reaction is in verse eight: “Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” What a response! His reaction at seeing God’s back was of complete humility and acknowledgment of his unworthiness to gaze upon such a glorious God!

After having spent “forty days and forty nights” (v. 28) up on Mount Sinai, Moses came down. The text says that “. . . as he was coming down . . . Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him [God]. So when Aaron [Moses' brother and priest] and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him” (v. 29-30).

Now stop and realize that this was Moses—a finite, imperfect, and sinful man who was reflecting the glory of the infinite, perfect, and righteous God on his face, even after he had finished being in God’s presence.

Are we, like Moses, in the presence of God sufficiently, that after leaving Him we walk into the world radiating a faint glimmer of the glory we experienced with Him? I’m not saying that we are to scare people with an angelic-like ray of light that blinds people, nor do I want to stretch this text and make it mean something weird and mystical. I also don’t mean that we’re supposed to shout to everyone how holy we are by the amount or manner of time we spend in God’s Word in communion with Him. But I do want to make a point that our time in the Word of God should be a time where we are entranced by God’s greatness, beauty, wonder, fury, and righteousness, and that that should affect our whole being— our words, our actions, our thoughts, and our motives.

What keeps us from being so impacted by the Word? One of the biggest problems, in my opinion, is that there is a growing plague of biblical illiteracy within the church. Plainly put, people don’t know the Bible. The frightening reality is that many people are content in their illiteracy, which seems absurd when we live in a day and age (and especially in our country) when knowing God’s Word couldn’t be easier to know; but more than that, God commands us again and again in Scripture to guide our lives and grow our faith by the Word itself.

Not long ago people underwent persecution in simply having the Bible in their common language (let alone studying it), yet many of us have no problem in giving the Bible a place on our bookshelf and read on sporadic occasions or when we feel “spiritual” or in the “holy mood.” Even today, countless Christians around the globe are reading it with fear and paranoia thinking that at any moment someone might come in and at least torture them and arrest them. Many even lose their lives for their love and faithfulness to the Word.

One of the results of this biblical illiteracy in our country is that people then have no way to distinguish truth from error—no discernment. This is all too prevalent in the church today. It seems as though believers are willing to accept anything and everything that sounds or seems Christian, when in fact it might very well be contradictory to the Word. There is no discernment because there is no standard, namely, the Word of God.

Paul, in writing to the young pastor in the Ephesian church, Timothy, wrote, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15, emphasis mine). Paul saw the importance of knowing God’s Word. Timothy was to have a zealous, fervent diligence in handling the word of truth which is the Word of God itself (cf. Jn. 17:17b), knowing full well that he was accountable to God Himself. Paul, during his final days before his martyrdom, wrote to Timothy:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

This was the closing chapter of Paul’s ministry here on earth. His death was imminent and he wanted Timothy to be steadfast and unwavering in his commitment to the preaching of the Word. Paul knew that while he was there, he would be able to mentor Timothy, but this was his final exhortation. He had passed the baton and the responsibility now fell on Timothy.

Paul exhorts him,

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:1-4, emphasis mine).

Do you see Paul’s point here? Though his life was soon coming to an end, he couldn’t leave while not making it crystal clear that Timothy was to be ready “in season” and “out of season.” (Obviously, we’re living in an “out of season” time right now in America.)

If we are to rise above the biblical illiteracy that dominates the church, we need to go back to the source so that we won’t be as “. . . children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness in deceitful scheming . . .” (Eph. 4:14). Satan is not kicking back in his EZ chair popping out on Halloween to scare children. No! His is a continual onslaught against the universal Church of God—constantly scheming ways to discredit and confuse the church with heresy and lies. But we praise and serve a God who is faithful and omnipotent, and one day He will come again and call us home. He promised that He would build His church and that the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Mt. 16:18). That is a comforting truth that underscores the sovereignty of God over all.

Our duty while on this earth is to stand on the truth of God’s Word, know it, cherish it, obey it, and proclaim it. We are to dive into the depths of the Bible and come out with its inexhaustible riches, wanting to go back and dive even deeper than before. We are to be like Moses whose desire was to see the glory of God. He was earnest and he got it. What’s stopping us?

God has given us His Word. Let us not cast it aside and open it on Sunday mornings alone. May we be known as people who stand firm, along with Paul, knowing that whatever new popular fad is going on in the church, it will by no means deter us from our rock-solid foundation, the Word. May we be people of the Book.

SDG

The Constant Sin of Anxiety October 8, 2007

Applying the Gospel to all of Life

Anxiety.

Psa 127:1 A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Psa 127:2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Psa 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psa 127:4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

Psa 127:5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

I can sleep cause of your hand. You will fill my quiver. A rich legacy. Be kicking yourself for being so anxious when there is no reason to. Anxiety reveals lack of trust in God and possibly great selfish ambition. So the life lived always anxiously is a vain life. The wise know they can rest in the grace of God, unmerited by their own shortcomings. Christ has earned it all. Submit humbly to him.

Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

Isa 35:2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.

Isa 35:3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

Isa 35:4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

Isa 35:6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Isa 35:7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Isa 35:8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

I am a fool. I will not go astray. Hallelujah for tough guardrails. My heart may feel dry, but you will make it blossom. When I look upon your glory, my own attempts melt to nothing.

Jer 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

Jer 17:8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jer 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

You know my heart, you know it’s shortcomings, it’s blatant sin. And yet I am forgiven through the person and work of Christ. You have planted me firmly, I am built on the rock. No drought can scare me.

Mat 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Mat 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Mat 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

As I serve you only, as my master, I need fear nothing, I need not be anxious about anything. I can humbly walk in peace. Anxiety characterizes those who are living for self. Test my heart, give me peace in you.

you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

Mat 10:19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

Mat 10:20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Mat 10:21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,

Mat 10:22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

By the power of your Spirit, I will endure to the end. Not by any personal resolve, but by the Spirit that is in me. It is in my new character in Christ, in the Spirit, that I am being made more like him. By your grace, I will remain faithful. Oh that my ways may be steadfast! Fix my eyes on the cross.

Luk 10:41-42 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Like a child at your feet, may I seek that which is greatest, not being anxious about all the troubles of life, all the many things and details I could worry about, but which ultimately are in your hands. Though I am faithless, you are faithful.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Rom 8:33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

Rom 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Rom 8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Rom 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Rom 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Rom 8:39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus did it all. All to him I owe. I will be forever at peace, welling with joy and sweet harnessed passion because of your blood. I will behold the face of God, and am already called his son, a co-heir with Christ. Oh, reveal to me the truth of this! I want to have eyes opened even more! I don’t want to walk through life lukewarm! I want to be exuding a joy that is unmatched by joy in any other thing!

There is no area of my life that is not effected by this truth, specifically applied in any certain way. Every aspect of the Gospel is powerful. Every piece is atomic. It will have a huge impact on life, and make it so much happier than mere piety, or even than flagrant partying. Life lived in light of the Gospel has no shortcomings, cause it is under the canopy of truth, unsusceptible to rains of hopelessness or bitter fear. It is a perfect life. All imperfections in our life can be attributed to a lack of focus on the truth, a stumbling on our parts as far as gospel focus goes. But God is faithful to us even as we are faithless.