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Doubt: Not necessarily intellectual.

by | Oct 10, 2018 |

What are some implications of the truth that the Holy Spirit in our hearts is God’s way of assuring us that Christianity is actually true? William Lane Craig explains:

This…also underlines the vital importance of cultivating the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. For though all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit, not all are filled with the Spirit. The New Testament teaches that we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God by sin (Eph. 4:30) and quench the Spirit by repressing his working in our lives (1 Thess. 5:19).

This next sentence is very true and very important. Don’t miss it…

The Christian who is not filled with the Spirit may often be wracked with doubts concerning his faith.

I can testify personally that my intellectual doubts seem most poignant when I am in a carnal condition.

Did you catch that? Dr. Craig is a world-famous apologist who teaches apologetics and debates people antagonistic to the Christian faith around the world, and he himself says that he struggles with doubts when he is, as he puts it “in a carnal condition.” In other words, if he’s not cultivating and awareness of, responsiveness to, and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit, he finds that–even with all his education and expertise, even though his career is literally showing how Christianity is true–he himself experiences doubt. He goes on:

But when a Christian is walking in the Spirit, then, although his intellectual questions may remain, he can live with those questions, without their robbing his faith of its vitality. As the source of the assurance that our faith is true, the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our lives needs to be cultivated by spiritual activities that help us to walk close to God, such as Bible study, prayer, devotional reading, inspirational music, evangelism, and Spirit-filled worship.

That’s from the first chapter of Reasonable Faith.

So, when a Christian is struggling with doubt, maybe the answer is not all about finding every answer to their every question. Maybe a big part of the answer also includes drawing near to God–cultivating closeness with him through those basic spiritual activities Dr. Craig lists.

What do you think? Do you have similar experiences to share?

Knowing the Truth vs. Showing the Truth

by | Oct 3, 2018 |

In the first chapter of his excellent, college-level presentation of the serious reasons for believing the Christian faith, William Lane Craig addresses some of the issues raised when we try to show people Christianity is true. He writes:

…in answering the question “How do I know Christianity is true?” we must make a distinction between knowing that it is true and showing that it is true. We know Christianity is true primarily by the self-authenticating witness of God’s Spirit. We show Christianity is true by presenting good arguments for its central tenets.

What, then, should be our approach in using apologetics with an unbeliever? It should be something like this:

My friend, I know Christianity is true because God’s Spirit lives in me and assures me that it is true. And you can know it is true, too, because God is knocking at the door of your heart, telling you the same thing. If you’re sincerely seeking God, then God will give you assurance that the gospel is true. Now to try to show you it’s true, I’ll share with you some arguments and evidence that I really find convincing. But should my arguments seem weak and unconvincing to you, that’s my fault, not God’s. It only shows that I’m a poor apologist, not that the gospel is untrue. Whatever you think of my arguments, God still loves you and holds you accountable. I’ll do my best to present good arguments to you. But ultimately you have to deal, not with arguments, but with God himself.

There are, of course, other important ways Christians show that the message of Jesus is true. There is the testimony of godly lives which are lived out consistently, even in tempting or trying times. Sometimes there is the miraculous power which God can work through believers (at His discretion). There is the faithful proclamation of the word of God itself (which God often applies directly to people’s hearts with His own power). I am sure Dr. Craig would agree with all of this. What he’s doing here is making a helpful distinction for Christians to remember when we begin to get excited about all the different kinds of compelling evidences which show how reasonable it is to believe that Jesus is Lord.

His main point is just to remember that, no matter how good we get at handling these different lines of evidence, they alone do not constitute the foundation of our knowing–for that we rest on the One who’s in us, interacting with our hearts and minds and granting us assurance when we struggle.

I would add, though, that the Spirit does not work apart from all the evidences God has given, but along with those evidences. Everyone should believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and therefore is the Lord, and then, when you study his life and teachings… that all of the scripture written before him is true, since he testified to its truth. And everyone should believe these things because of the evidence of the universe itself, the nature of humanity as we find it, and the historical weight of the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  These lines of evidence can be, as Dr. Craig points out, the kinds of evidences we present when people ask us why we believe.

And yet, we all know that there are times when our personal hold on this kind of evidence might not be as firm as we’d like. Sometimes we don’t have access to all these lines of evidence. Or sometimes we hear them challenged, and we don’t immediately know how to answer the challenges. Or sometimes painful things happen to us, and evidence of this kind feels far away and unhelpful. What then?

And this is, I think, the most helpful part of Dr. Craig’s observation here. Though these historical, observable evidences are actually enough to make us liable to believe in Jesus Christ, God, in his mercy and generosity of spirit, has not left us only external evidence. He also comes to us, personally, by His Spirit, and lives in us, and testifies to the truth of everything the Bible says. If we’ll listen to him, and yield to him, He’ll work the kind of assurance in us that we need to walk through a disheartening, confusing, and often painful world.

Focus and Motivation: The Perspectives Course

by | Jul 19, 2018 |

Wanted to pass along this opportunity, which will be held at Davisville Church this fall. One of the course’s organizers, Chuck Walton, has spoken at our missions conference and at the young adults fellowship, and once hosted some friends and me at his home nearby to tell us about his life as a missionary and opportunities for people to serve the Lord abroad today.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about the Perspectives Course. If you want some biblical focus to your sense of life mission, and especially if you think you want to be involved in missions at all, you might want to think about stepping out and taking this course!

Locations: Davisville Church
Days: Sundays
Time: 5:30 – 8:30PM
Dates: Aug 26 to Dec 9, 2018 (15-week course)

For more info, and to register, click here or here.

 

Fighting Passivity, Taking Action

by | Jul 18, 2018 |

For those of you who came out Monday night, and then stayed the whole time (which I think was basically everybody), I salute you! What I weird night…losing power 15 minutes before everyone showed up, piling in on the gym bleachers, then halfway through the study, moving everyone to the auditorium…where we had no microphone and no air conditioning, and the temperature rose through the whole rest of the study. Not the best environment to teach in, or to listen, for that matter. A few people have asked for the notes. With all the distractions I was hoping it made sense, but if you wanted to revisit any of the points, here you go!

One opening observation–sometimes there’s an idea that floats around that not doing things is more spiritual than doing things. The idea sometimes is that true spirituality waits around for God to do things. But that’s juts not an idea that you find in the bible. So first, here are a few stories (out of many) of people acting, in faith, from both the Old and New Testaments:

Caleb: Joshua 14:6-13, 15:13-19

  1. Actively part of God’s work in the world.
  2. Lived by faith (14:9)
  3. Asked for what God had already promised (v.12)
  4. Willing to take a chance (14:12)

Boaz: Ruth 2:4-12, 3:1-13

  1. A godly man. Taking care of his responsibilities.
  2. Knew she was a godly woman
  3. When presented with an actual opportunity to marry her…
  4. Took action.

Jonathan: 1 Sam 14:1-2, 4-14

  1. Doing his basic duty (v.1)
  2. …so he was part of the real battle.
  3. Operated by faith (v.6)
  4. Took action when doors opened.

David: 1 Sam 17:17-37

  1. Doing his basic duty (v.17-20)
  2. Cared about God’s name (v.26, 45-47), in a time when God’s people were being defamed (v.10)
  3. Took action (v.32)

Nehemiah: Neh 1:1-5, 1:11-2:8, 2:11-12, 16-18

  1. Doing his job.
  2. Cared about the things of God and God’s work. (1:4)
  3. Prayed for Favor. (1:11)
  4. Didn’t fear people. (2:2-3)
  5. Took action. (2:18)

Philip

Acts 6:1-5        Philip is known as faithful and spiritual
8:3-8        Goes to Samaria because of persecution, does what’s obvious.

Barnabas

Acts 4:32-36    He’s a living, active part of the church
9:26-30    takes Saul to Apostles
11:19-23  He’s sent to Antioch, and stays there in response to God’s work
11:26-30  gets Saul to help teach

Paul

Acts 15:36-41  decides to go see the churches
16:1, 4-5  finds Timothy
16:6-10            gets divine direction when needed
16:11-12          goes to the chief city of Macedonia

Summarizing insights from these stories:

1. Actively keep God’s commands. Make them your priority.

  • Be a person who’s privately and publicly following Christ.
  • Be a living part of your church fellowship.
  • Actively do righteousness.
  • Make God’s big aims for the world the things that shape your personal aims for your life.
  • Keep your life free of sin.

This keeps you “in God’s Will.” …that is, in God’s revealed will. Key: This is the only part of God’s will God holds you accountable to be in.

2. In areas where God has given guidance, but no direct commands…search the scriptures, talk with godly people, pray, and act.

  1. What does the scripture say about this issue?
  2. Talk to other godly people. God uses Christians who are Godly and wise to help other Christians. It’s part of what the bible teaches the body of Christ is for.
  • What do they think about your options?
  • Do they think your timing is good?
  • Do they think you should be patient? Do they think you should get going?
  1. Pray: For God to make your heart pure, for the ability to know yourself and your motivation, for freedom from the fear of people, for freedom from the fear of the future, for strong faith, for insight into the situation, and by all means, and for God to guide you.
  2. Take Action. “Action” may be to remain faithful in your current situation. Or it may mean to move into a new situation. But it might depend on what you want to do.

Two Issues Regarding Prayer:

Issue #1: “Waiting on the Lord”

  • It’s not about waiting for a sign. Should we pray for “signs”? Do we have any indication in the New Testament that people ever prayed for signs?
  • It’s not about being passive in areas that require us to do something.

What is it about? In the Psalms and Prophets, waiting on the Lord always refers to:

  1. Patiently continuing to trust in the Lord, and identify as one of his people, when you are in a difficult situation that you can’t change.
  2. Patiently staying faithful to do live according to God’s commands, even when evil people are prospering and exercising power.

So, “Waiting on the Lord” means—in situations we are powerless to change, patiently expecting God to come fix a situation that is painful or wrong, instead of lashing out or giving up in anger or despair.

Example: Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Issue #2: “Praying for a sign.”

  • We need to pray.
  • We should pray for guidance—it’s how we communicate that we’re yielded to the Lord’s will.
  • But we’re never told in the NT to wait for a supernatural sign before acting…and  we’re never told we need to have some 100% sure way to know exactly what his will is in every situation before we act. (No Spiritual GPS.)
  • Prayer is never meant to be a substitute for action.
  • So… see what the bible says, talk to other godly people, pray, and act.

Three areas where we need to think about these things.

 Once you’re already living a life that’s given over to actively keeping God’s commands…

 Jobs:

  • We know God wants us to work.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 We urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

 2 Thess 3:10-12 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

  • We don’t need to agonize over where we’re going to work or what work we’re going to do.
  • Go get a skill and work heartily at honest labor—provide for yourself, for a family, and for others in need.
  • If another opportunity presents itself—Search the scriptures, talk to other godly people, pray, and make a decision.

Relationships:

Proverbs 18:22  He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 6-9, 32

…It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband…. 6 But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. 7 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion… 32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord– how he may please the Lord.

  • Marriage is good.
  • Singleness is good too—if it’s used to serve Jesus. (1 Corinthians 7) (How does this look? This probably looks like, “What I’m doing now is so full and alive and it would all really have to change if I get into a relationship so I don’t really feel like it’s the right time.”)
  • God has his ways of shutting things down if we’re yielded to him.
  • Let the scriptures shape and guide your desires—what kind of person will best serve Jesus’ purposes in your life.
  • Pray for guidance. But…The NT doesn’t lead us to believe God will reveal to you beforehand who you’re going to marry. So don’t wait for that.
  • If you want to get married—Search the scriptures, talk to other godly people, pray, and act. 

How to Serve God:

  • We have lots of direct, clear commands in the NT about things we should be doing. Do all the things that everyone is supposed to do. (i.e. Search the Scriptures)
  • Be part of a godly church—talk to other godly people.
  • Get involved where you can—and where you want to.
  • Pray (For: God to give you a selfless heart, and a vision for his work in the Church, and for love for God’s people. Pray for the church. Pray for God’s people.)
  • Take opportunities as they come up.

Summing Up:

  1. If you don’t’ know Christ—your life can have a purpose that’s beyond you. It’s what you were made for. You find it by letting Jesus be your king.
  2. If you are a Christian—Following Christ does not mean that we live in perpetual fear of missing God’s will. We don’t have to be paralyzed because we don’t know what our next move should be. We’ve been given lots of things that God has clearly told us are his will. We should attend to those. And then, we should feel free to go places and do things that serve God’s purposes, as opportunities become available, or as we want to pursue them.

It’s time for you to finally get victory.

by | Jul 17, 2018 | ,

Samuel James has an excellent article on a needed topic: How to Leave Porn Behind. James writes:

The sin of pornography goes much deeper than the singular moments of watching and downloading. It’s about entire daily patterns of unbelief, laziness, self-absorption, and much more. Thus, repentance from enslavement to pornography must seek more than behavior modification in one isolated habit. It must be a resolve to bring every piece of the heart’s architecture, every beat of the rhythm of life, into the light of the gospel.

Many Christian men are fighting a losing battle with pornography because they are trying to remove the sin without adopting a radical lifestyle of repentance. They know their spiritual lives would be sweeter without giving way to lust. They know their capacity for rich relationships with other believers would expand tenfold if they weren’t smothered by midnight shame. They know their Godward ambitions for vocation and missions and pastoring are being squashed by it.

They really do want it gone, but they want everything else to stay where it is — and then they are perplexed why it just won’t work, even with accountability partners and internet filters. It won’t work long-term because this is not how God designed us.

James is on point when he writes about the need to adopt a “radical lifestyle of repentance.” He points out that if you really want victory, you might need to change your job, your friends, your hobbies, the entire way you spend your “free time,” and more. Another way to say all this would be to say, you can’t selectively obey Jesus. It doesn’t work. You can only defeat one sin by resolving to repent of all sin. When we’re really ready to defeat “that one thing” that embarrasses, or weakens, or plagues us, we have to lay our whole life on the table before the Lord and say, “Ok, have your way in everything.”

The teaching of Christ that always comes to my mind on this issue is:

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

…and it just begs the question: if Jesus would say this about a hand, and we can kind of know that he’s going over the top to make a point, isn’t it clear that he would definitely say this to us about the things that we might keep in our life which lead us to sin?

If your phone helps you sin, don’t have a smart phone.

If your friends always lead you to sin, deal with it, or change your friends.

If your gaming ends up in sin, stop gaming.

If your TV, movies, or internet, or social media time lead you to sin, cancel the service, delete the accounts, and just stop watching things.

If you won’t stop sinning with your boyfriend or girlfriend, break up with them.

Isn’t that exactly what the application of Matthew 5:30 should be?

I encourage you to read the whole article. And, wherever necessary, do whatever it takes to have Jesus, and not sin, as your Lord.

What will God make of us?

by | Jun 26, 2018 | , ,

When God’s Spirit is given a free hand to work in our lives, what might be the result? Where might we go? What might we do? Who can tell?

One thing is certain–the Spirit of Life is not limited by genetics, upbringing, circumstances, history, or any of the other things that seem to define us and dictate to us when God’s not alive in our life.

Along those lines, here’s a great meditation from Athanasius:

He is the Author of spiritual regeneration. Here is your proof:— None can see or enter into the Kingdom, except he be born again of the Spirit, (John 3:3) and be cleansed from the first birth, which is a mystery of the night, by a remolding of the day and of the Light, by which every one singly is created anew.

This Spirit, for He is most wise and most loving, if He takes possession of a shepherd makes him a Psalmist, subduing evil spirits by his song, (1 Samuel 16:23) and proclaims him King;

If he possess a goatherd and scraper of sycamore fruit, (Amos 7:14) He makes him a Prophet. Call to mind David and Amos.

If He possess a goodly youth, He makes him a Judge of Elders, even beyond his years, as Daniel testifies, who conquered the lions in their den. (Daniel 6:22)

If He takes possession of fishermen, He makes them catch the whole world in the nets of Christ, taking them up in the meshes of the Word. Look at Peter and Andrew and the Sons of Thunder, thundering the things of the Spirit.

If He takes possession of tax collectors, He makes gain of them for discipleship, and makes them merchants of souls; witness Matthew, yesterday a tax collector, today an Evangelist.

If He takes possession of zealous persecutors, He changes the current of their zeal, and makes them Pauls instead of Sauls, and as full of piety as He found them of wickedness.

Where will the Spirit take us? Who will He make us?

A Mountain of Grain

by | Jun 19, 2018 |

We should never grow tired of doing what Jesus calls “searching the scriptures.” In that vein, check out this heap of inspiration from Charles Spurgeon:

“Search the Scriptures.” — John 5:39

The Greek word here rendered search signifies a strict, close, diligent, curious search, such as men make when they are seeking gold, or hunters when they are in earnest after game. We must not rest content with having given a superficial reading to a chapter or two, but with the candle of the Spirit we must deliberately seek out the hidden meaning of the word. Holy Scripture requires searching—much of it can only be learned by careful study. There is milk for babes, but also meat for strong men. The rabbis wisely say that a mountain of matter hangs upon every word. Tertullian exclaims, “I adore the fulness of the Scriptures.”

No man who merely skims the book of God can profit thereby; we must dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure. The door of the word only opens to the key of diligence. The Scriptures claim searching. They are the writings of God, bearing the divine stamp and imprimatur—who shall dare to treat them with levity? He who despises them despises the God who wrote them. God forbid that any of us should leave our Bibles to become swift witnesses against us in the great day of account.

The word of God will repay searching. God does not bid us sift a mountain of chaff with here and there a grain of wheat in it, but the Bible is winnowed corn—we have but to open the granary door and find it.

Scripture grows upon the student. It is full of surprises. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows with splendor of revelation, like a vast temple paved with wrought gold, and roofed with rubies, emeralds, and all manner of gems.

Lastly, the Scriptures reveal Jesus: “They are they which testify of Me.” No more powerful motive can be urged upon Bible readers than this: he who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all things. Happy he who, searching his Bible, discovers his Savior.

How to Avoid Delayed Adulthood

by | Jun 6, 2018 |

“Maturity will always be in high demand. Societies need good citizens. Nations clamor for noble leaders. Businesses seek out responsible employees. Parents long for prudent children.”

That’s the beginning of a short, great article with all kinds of relevance for those of you in the Young Adults fellowship. It’s called “6 Ways to Avoid Delayed Adulthood.”

The author writes: “While maturity isn’t simple, it’s also not complicated. Maturity follows this basic path: desire, commitment, faithfulness, humility, courage, and resilience.”

I agree with this basic assessment. So much of our modern culture is built to prevent maturity–as if we should literally play games and chase our dreams forever–even though, as noted above, what society actually needs is maturity. But even more importantly, the Bible commends, and commands, maturity. It’s God’s design that those who know Him should be maturing, so that early in life they reach the status of “full-grown” in all the strength, steadfastness, productivity, and wisdom that status refers to.

So articles like these, when they are written to explore and apply Biblical wisdom, are helpful. Here, then, are 6 ways we can get on with life:

1. Wake Up: Desire. (“The first step toward maturity is wanting it. This virtue—basic desire—sits at the core of who we are and what we become.”)

2. Sign Up: Commitment. (“…desire alone is not enough. Without a concrete set of roles and commitments, even a healthy desire for maturity can become just a compost pile of good intentions”)

3. Show Up: Faithfulness. (“Signing up is one thing. Showing up is another. There are too many young people who want to move up but don’t want to show up…The majority of maturity is faithfulness.”)

4. Shut Up: Humility. (“You also have to learn to shut up. As we move through adolescence into young adulthood, we’re sometimes tempted to think and act like we know far more than we do.”)

5. Step Up: Courage. (“Closing our mouths and opening our ears is a vital discipline. But we should develop it out of humility rather than fear, patience rather than indifference.”)

6. Get Up: Resilience. (“If you want to grow, you’ll have to face the challenges that growth entails.”)

It really is worth it to click over and read the whole thing.  Hope you enjoy.

Tonight: Memorial Day, Grill, Front Field

by | May 28, 2018 |

Young Adults! Come join us at the Church building, out on the front field, at 6:30 PM, for a little grilling, some time in the Word and worship, and maybe some volleyball etc.

Bring a drink or side dish or desert to share if you can.

See ya!

 

Reading Together for Fellowship and Growth

by | May 25, 2018 | , ,

Have you ever heard of communal reading? Evidently, it was the norm among the first Christian believers. Check this out, from an interesting, and important, interview:

Can you give a picture of what a first-century communal reading would look like?

It would have occurred in many different ways. It could have been friends sharing literature. It could have been public figures actually having something at a theater or auditorium. They happened in both formal and informal venues: apartments, temples, synagogues. They were happening everywhere, courtrooms, private homes, schools.

There are even some pretty humorous examples of one first-century writer, Martial, who talks about how annoying it was when people were reading everywhere to everyone, even while he was in a public bathroom. So there are a number of accounts in the first century where it seems like there were more people reading communally than scholars have thought, and it was just pervasive.

Also notable is the type of reader, that it’s not just the elite. All sorts of people were reading. What my book really shows is there were more people involved in this than have been really seen so far. So I think, in one sense, their problem back then was everyone seemed to be reading and reciting literary works. But our problem today is thinking that no one was doing it or no one could do it.

The person answering the question is Brian J. Wright, author of the new book, Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus, a Window into Early Christian Reading Practices. 

It seems that communal reading was part of the culture, and especially, part of the daily life of the first Christians. It not only provided discipleship and fellowship, it also provided stability to their texts as they passed them down:

Are you then suggesting that this phenomenon of communal reading events might have provided some consistency to the transmission of Christian literature?

Absolutely, for the texts that would have been read more frequently. Let me give one non-biblical example. If someone were to misquote Homer, everybody would know, because that was just read so frequently. Paul’s writings and other early Christian writings that would have been quickly or immediately read and used, even in the first century, would have been similar. In fact, there’s countless examples after the first century of somebody standing up to read and there’s an uproar in the congregation over one word that had changed because of a new translation.

I reference in the book a letter Augustine wrote to Jerome about when Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate. Augustine’s congregation was in an uproar over one verse in Jonah (4:6) because there was one word that had been changed from what they knew. But I wasn’t just finding examples like this in later centuries like the third and fourth. I started seeing those same type of things in the second and even first century.

So, texts that were read more often would necessarily have been more well known, and people could, in a sense, stand up and say, “That’s not what we’ve been hearing” or “I’m not sure that’s the correct reading of that text” or things like that. I think that should increase our understanding and confidence that there may have been more stability to the transmission of Christian tradition and more stability to these texts than we’ve thought.

I recommend you read the whole thing.

Toward the end of the interview, Wright asks, “…instead of reading little and gathering infrequently, what might happen today if Christians read a great deal in community like they did in the first century?”

That’s a great question. Wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of groups like this broke out among the Young Adults fellowship? Let me know if you’re interested in being part of one.