God and (Guess What?)

“Will a man rob God?” Malachi 3:8 

Money.  That’s what.  Seriously, will a man rob God? It reminds me of three intellectually-challenged thieves who allegedly tried to sell purloined paintings back to the gallery from which they were stolen.  They were arrested, according to the county sheriff’s office, although one suspect who tried to run away had a bite on his leg, courtesy of a police dog. The thieves were detained after they showed up at the gallery with three abstract oil paintings they stole, along with the gallery’s van! Dumb! But still, Malachi’s question poses the top award in the dumb thief category.  

God issued a simple challenge to Israel. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, ‘Says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” Malachi 3:10. It was a straight-forward command:  Pay your tithes! 

• Tithing was introduced by Abraham and Jacob before Moses and the law (Genesis 14:20; 28:22).
• Tithing is an act of worship, reverence, gratitude and recognition of blessing.
• In the New Testament, Paul, a Jew, continued the tradition of his fathers. 1 Corinthians 16:2.

Yet, the challenge involved some pain; to get, you have to give.  This may be the most important spiritual principle you will ever learn!  Let go and let God! Do not judge what is happening in your life before God is finished with His work! 

Jesus Christ is the “author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2). Good authors don’t tell the whole story in the first chapter. They don’t give it all away. They hold things back, revealing clues as the reader goes along. Good authors involve you in the characters, let you feel what they feel, let you put yourself in their position and learn with them. Good authors write the story so that you enjoy the journey of reading it. Then they wow you by tying up all the loose ends in a spectacular way.” To understand redemption, you have to be lost.  To understand getting, you have to give.  No one who ever received something great from God got it without a corresponding cost, usually something big. 

God gave an unprecedented challenge.  While He usually demands obedient faith, here He invites doubters to put Him to the test! “Try me!” (Prove, examine, test).  “Essentially, a proving ground is a giant sandbox. The secured environment allows people to experiment with things which they could not use in other locations due to safety concerns, and people can also experiment with radical equipment or ideas in a supportive environment.” Mary McMahon, Wise Geek. In the case of David, he had not proved Saul’s armor, but he had proved God against the bear and the lion with his sling.  That’s what got him the victory over Goliath.  You need to think of everything that has happened in your life up to this point as a gigantic proving ground for God to show his power and might.  God guaranteed that He would pour out a blessing so big that there would not be room enough to receive it.  The blessing would overflow the ability to receive.  (Hint: Do not measure God’s gifts according what you think He owes you, but according to what you deserve!) 

The irony here is that while God challenges you to prove Him, He is actually proving you!  He tests your attitude towards money; He measures your faith by your obedience; and He rewards you according to your faith.  Tithes and offerings are your spiritual thermometers!

One God, My God

“And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Acts 9:5 

The Bible begins with the assumption that God exists.  Without any attempt to prove this truth, the writer simply says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” God created—called into being—all things out of nothing. This creative act on the part of God was absolutely free, and for infinitely wise reasons. The cause of all things exists only in the will of God. This being true, God still provides mankind with evidence of his existence.  In 1947, a group of manuscripts were discovered in some caves near the Dead Sea which were a thousand years older than the then-oldest-known Hebrew texts of the Bible (manuscripts written more than 100 years before Christ). This awesome find has not been completely translated, even today.  They were called the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book of Isaiah, the crown jewel of the find, is the oldest copy in existence of any Old Testament book.  Isaiah’s prophecy prominently identifies Jesus Christ. In chapter forty we read a vivid prophecy of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.  But the real reason why Isaiah is so significant is that it declares the truth of one God forcefully and plainly. For this reason, the only God I am commissioned to preach about is the one true God! 

The Bible does not say that a possible divine entity we call God perhaps created.  It does not say that a cosmic force might have created everything. It does not say that we weren’t there so we cannot be sure. It does not say that a committee created. It does not say for us to fill in the blank who created. It says what it says.  Were there three creators?  No, because there is only one God who can be a creator. The very fact that he is the Creator distinguishes Jehovah as the one true God. “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”  Isaiah 37:16.  “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.” Psalm 96:5.  

Let’s go further. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:1-6.  This one God has manifested Himself as the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.’”  John 14:6-10. 

Do doubt, fear and depression swirl around you? Do you feel isolated, rejected or abandoned?  Remember, the God that dwells in you is the Holy Spirit—not a different God but a different manifestation of the same Creator God. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” John 14:18-20.  This experience represents the capstone revelation of God. His Spirit dwells in believers today!  This provides your personal proof that God is real, that He responds to your prayer, and that He will not just be a god, but He will be Your God! The Holy Spirit is still creating today. He will create a new heart in you. He will create a clean heart in you. He will create a new you! 

The Way That Seems Right

The freshly delivered millions of Jews stood on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea, still reeling from the events of the past few days. Now what?  Which way should they go?  Most had never traveled more than five miles from their birthplace.  The Red Sea seemed to be out of the question, and, even if they got through or around the water, nothing but uncharted wilderness lay beyond.  Philistia seemed like the logical direction.  Imagine their shock when God pointed to the Red Sea!  God’s way led them in a circuitous route, opposite of the way that made more sense to the travel agents. God’s way was a wilderness road. It did not factor in comfort, profit, pleasure or human pride. 

Every person seeks for a way in, a way out, a way up, a way down, a way around, a way through, a way across, a way by.  But the road too often eludes us.  Things are not always what they appear to be.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12. Leaders have echoed this sentiment since the day it was written.  It applies to virtually every venue of life. The “way that seems right” looks like a sure bet, a safe gamble, a secure investment. Encouraged by so-called friends, affirmed by popular consensus, and supported by disinterested third parties, it takes the form of a harmless drink, an insignificant relationship, a temporary fling.  But, the very phrase “a way” is not harmless, insignificant or temporary.  It is charged with importance throughout the Scriptures. David wrote, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way.” Psalm 2:12. A way of truth exists that is God’s way as opposed to the countless ways that compete as alternative ways.  

The term alternative bears scrutiny here.  Alternative lifestyles; alternative selections: alternative philosophies.  Sound familiar?  But, once you legitimize one alternative, then you legitimize a second, a third, a fourth, and so on, without end.  Consequently, you’ve reduced the right way to just another alternative! So, if I say that Jesus is the only way to be saved, and you convince me that Chemosh is another way, then I have demoted Jesus from everything down to just an alternative.  Indeed, the educational community’s diversity philosophy wants to see Christianity lowered to the status of just another religion.  In fact, they would like to eliminate Christianity and the Holy Bible as even an alternative choice. 

“There is a way that seems right.” Exercise great caution here .  Eve’s right way led her straight through the forbidden fruit. Cain’s way to peace was to murder his brother. Lot’s right way was the well-watered plains of Jordan. Sarah simply knew that the right way was for Hagar, the bond-woman, to bear Abraham a son. Esau sold his birthright with confidence. They all thought they knew the outcome.  But, personal analysis, gut feelings and carnal advice ended in destruction. 

What about you? Do you check first to see what makes the most sense?  Do you instinctively copy what the majority does?  Do you do what seems to be most profitable?  Do you take the path of least resistance?  Does the pain monitor influence your decision-making? I submit to you that the first question you need to ask is, “What does God say?”  

God’s way is seldom convenient.  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14. 

There is a way that seems right, but don’t forget, there is a way that IS right!  “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul said, “That I may know Him, in the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his suffering.” Jesus IS “The Way!” Reject the way that seems right and take the way that IS right!

The Urgency of the Call

“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.” Matthew 22:2 

There are certain phone calls you receive, or letters sent to you that demand immediate action on your part, like a call to register for the draft, jury duty, a subpoena or a letter from the IRS. But, no call is more urgent than the call of God on your life.  The parable of the Kingdom of Heaven explains why.  The kingdom of Heaven is not about the future destination of the saved; it is a spiritual kingdom that exists down here on earth.  In other words, if you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven here, you will never enter the actual place called heaven up there.  This was a picture of Jesus, as the Messiah, appearing to His people after the flesh, the Hebrew nation, only to be rejected of them.  John wrote about this.  “He came unto his own and his own received him not.” John 1:11. That’s when God turned to the Gentiles to take a bride for his namesake.  

But, beyond the application of the parable to the Jews, it is also an accurate depiction of the call of God to all people.  God, in his role as the Father, has invited us to a spiritual event, the unveiling of Jesus Christ as the bridegroom.  Few social events are more important, then and now, than a wedding.  Imagine the frustration of the Father when the guests rejected His invitation. There were two invitations typically sent out in Middle Eastern societies.  The first was a general announcement of a wedding; the second was the detailed invitation of the event’s logistics.  To be invited was an honor.  These invited guests were rude by saying they would not come.  But they seemed to be excused by the King as though they didn’t understand the seriousness of the invitation.  We don’t really know why they refused. 

There are lots of people who have no time for God.  Atheists and Agnostics are two classes of people who have at least contemplated the existence of God.  There are billions of others who live in ignorance of the one, true and living God.  The vast majority of people in Western Society are so caught up in the business of life that they never think about God in a serious way.  After the king excused the first refusal, he sent out the specific word on the wedding feast.  “All things are ready.  I have specific plans.”  This was not a joke, not a whim, not an abstract thought. 

There is a moment in time when a letter—in a manner of speaking—shows up in our mailbox.  It is the moment of truth.  A brush with death, an intense spiritual experience, a dream, a testimony, a song, an event in the news, whatever—something bears the imprimatur of a divine invitation to think about God. God says, “You haven’t had time for me, and I’ve let you go your way.  I’ve let you get away with it.  But now, I have some specific instructions for you.”  The invited guests, however, spurned the second call.  Thus, the King opened the banquet up to everyone. 

The king did not call off the wedding because the invited guests would not come.  Neither does God discard His eternal strategy based on human response.  Other people who never had a chance benefitted from the rejection of Jesus by his own people.  The people who were invited at last were not held up to a standard pedigree.  They were both good and bad.  In other words, the kind of person you are is not a qualifier for worthiness.  None of the elite guests came, but those who were not invited at first did come, and the wedding feast got underway. 

This parable depicted the Jewish people who rejected the Messiah, and the Gentiles who received Him.  To us, it demonstrates both the patience and the resolve of God.  God may allow you to hesitate, procrastinate, deviate and equivocate for a period of time.  The day will come, however, when you can no longer toy with the divine call.  How long has God been hinting at your future?  Don’t wait too long to answer the knock at the door!

What We Forget about God

“Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” Psalm 44:21

Today, I want to share a little thought—which is really a humongous thought—about the omniscience of God.  He knows all things.  From the most insignificant factoid to the intrigues of profound concepts, God not only knows about them, He knows the who, what, where, when, why and how of them all.  David said, “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.” Psalm 139:1-3.  Intellectually, believers grasp this.  From a practical standpoint, we are either clueless or maddingly forgetful. 

All of life originates in the space between our ears.  The philosopher said, “I think, therefore I am.”  Our words, actions, intentions, plans, imaginations—everything proceeds out of our brains.  Some brains are more active than others; some brains follow more complex algorithms than others; some brains possess a greater capacity to entertain thoughts than others.  But all brains expose humans to the crippling danger of egotism.  That is, we all think we are right.  Even when we are wrong, we find a way to justify our initial thinking.  That’s why we question God.  We insist on comparing our logic to His.  We subject His infinite knowledge to our finite understanding. I don’t know how many times I’ve said, “Well, that’s a question I’m going to have to ask God when I get to heaven!”  (I’m sure God trembles in His boots at the prospect of the confrontation!) 

Know this: God’s omnipotence operates as a function of His omniscience.  He knows, therefore He acts! When He acts, it is because He knows that’s the best action to take. When He doesn’t act, it is because He knows that the action is wrong or ineffective.  Humans don’t have access to that kind or that level of knowledge.  In fact, the more I understand God, the less I understand God.  Our problem is that we fail to come to grips with our limited and/or faulty understanding.  We lament, as did the sisters of Lazarus, why Jesus didn’t show up earlier, why He allowed someone to die, why He seemed to disregard the feelings and welfare of others, or why He didn’t follow our line of reasoning instead of His own.  

We often deny and criticize God’s actions.  Instead, we must learn to accept and rejoice in what He does because He acts out of his omniscience.  Don’t be offended that God didn’t tell you why He acted a certain way.  You wouldn’t have understood anyway.  Take comfort in the idea that He knows what is best.  Remember, His omniscience and omnipotence, as well as all His attributes, exist in perfection.  If my life is in the hands of a perfect God who loves me, then my only recourse is trust!  

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”

The Unwrought Purposes of the Heart

“Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.”  1 Kings 8:18 

Vision drives purpose.  President John F. Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth.” He was assassinated in November of 1963, but his dream was fulfilled with the moon-landing in 1969.  Dr. Martin Luther King preached, “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.  I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’”  King was assassinated in April, 1968, but days later, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 passed congress by a wide margin. 

David had purposed in his heart to build a temple for the Lord Jehovah. The tent that housed the Ark embarrassed him. He envisioned pillars, columns, porticoes and friezes. He saw cedar walls carved with flowers and fir floor planks. He saw cherubim overlaid with gold. The plan was fabulous, but when David was about to put it all together, God said it was not for him to do. He allowed David to dream the dream, to give impetus to the purpose, to even prepare the plans and gather the materials. But God said no to the final phase of construction.  But David left this world with an unwrought purpose in his heart. “Nevertheless, you shall not build the temple, but your son shall build the temple for My name.”  1 Kings 8:19. The purpose is as worthy as the fulfillment, because God, the Master Designer, weaves all the purposes into the finished product. 

A home missionary once told me, “I did everything I could.  I worked, witnessed, taught bible studies and knocked doors. Nothing happened.  Now I feel as if I am dying spiritually.  Is everything in vain?  Am I a failure?”  My response: No, you are not a failure. God has a larger plan in mind. You fought and conquered an unseen enemy. Like the Marines, you landed on beach to establish a position for others who will come later. God sees every sacrifice.  “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” Psalm 56:8.

Your vision for evangelism may not have happened yet. Your goal for your class may not have yet become a reality. Your loved ones may still be unsaved. What does all that mean? It means that whether you have seen the harvest or not, God used you to plant the seed. You blazed the trail, even if you don’t get to march in the final victory parade. Pray on.  Battle on.  Labor on. You are driving back the unseen enemy with your intercession. You keep the work of God advancing forward. Although your life looks like a vast wasteland, languishing in an unfinished, unfulfilled state, the unwrought purposes of your heart are sealed in the heart of God!  You must believe that God will see your desires through to the end. 

Jesus Christ gathered the materials to build the temple greater than Solomon’s. He called, mentored, led, taught and inspired his disciples.  It appeared that He would never see the completion of his house, not because of blood-soaked hands, but because of the shedding of his own blood.  Beaten and bruised, mocked and spat upon, bound and crucified, it looked as though the eternal purpose of God was stopped in its tracks. Peter sunk into depression when he looked at the mangled figure, like a common thief, brutally nailed to a tree.  Evil smirks curled the lips of the tormentors of Christ and Pilate feasted in his back chambers. 

But when they laid Him in a borrowed tomb, they did not destroy the unwrought purposes of God.  They unwittingly participated in the fulfillment of the very purpose they sought to thwart. “For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.  Trust God! In the end, all His purposes will be fulfilled!

The Time of Your Life

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 

“Having the time of your life” usually means “things are great; couldn’t be better.” Let’s re-focus our thinking on the word time. Time is life.  “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:14. What you do with your time is what you do with your life. Do you put things off because you don’t want to face the music?  Do you put things off to keep control in your own hands as long as you can? Do you put things off until you don’t have to make your own decision—it’s easier if someone else decides?  Managing your time is managing your life. 

Technology has so revolutionized our lives that we have more control over time now than we’ve ever had before—sometimes real, sometimes imagined.  Traveling, cooking, cleaning, talking, writing, learning—all are affected. Real time, slow time, daylight savings time, time warp, time travel. We can DVR, tape delay, replay, delete, overdub, simulcast, and re-run. But, there are two hugely critical elements that govern everything you do; what and when. What you do is not important if you do it too late. Figuring out what to do is hard enough; having a deadline makes it that much harder and nerve-racking—like April 15^th, or your anniversary or spouse’s birthday!  You have a window of opportunity, a slice of time when you need to act.  

First, you need to decide what to do.  Take the case of Terri Schiavo, a name that dominated the news in the early 2000’s.  She was a young wife who lay in a vegetative state while a court battle raged over whether to end her life. What should they do? An intense legal and bioethical drama played out on the American stage that set several significant factors in sharp relief: the renewed call for getting a living will.  (Most have not done it; most will not); the cold fact that judges, lawyers and health professionals really are in charge; and, the continual replay of the phrase, “I wouldn’t want to live that way.”  (Why don’t we ask, “How long does God want me to live?”).  It became a race against time.  The when intensified the what. 

If the what is decided, the when becomes paramount.  For example, in the geopolitical realm, world hotspots and tensions erupt with time and date stamps, like the perennial Middle East stand-off, nuclear proliferation, and the global economy.  In the world health arena, the rise of super-bugs, or virus and bacterial strains that resist medicines and anti-biotics, increase the worries of medical scientists.  Coming crises in freedom of religion, freedom of speech and constitutional crises loom large.  Time ratches up the tension in all these issues.  “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:11-12.  

You may not be in the loop to settle world events. But, what about huge decisions in your personal life?  Some things can’t be relegated to bucket list status.  They belong on TODAY’S CALENDAR!  Don’t wait on someone else; they may disappoint you.  Don’t wait on something else to happen; what if it doesn’t? Don’t wait until you feel like it; feelings are too fickle to govern your life. Don’t wait until it’s convenient; IT’S NEVER CONVENIENT TO DO RIGHT! Don’t wait until the devil leaves you alone; he won’t. Don’t wait until you understand more; no one ever understands everything!  Above all, don’t put your eternal destiny in someone else’s hands. If you know what to do, the when can’t wait! Do it now!

The Theology of Much

“Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20-21 

The God of the Bible is a God of abundance. He exists in perfection. There is nothing impoverished, pitiful or small in God. Everything about Him—the way he was born, how He lived, how He died, how He rose again, how He ascended, how He was glorified, and the way He exists today and throughout all eternity—puts unprecedented glory and power on display. He could not be better. He is the God of abundance. 

God never just gets by. To Abraham, “I am your exceeding great reward.” If exceeding is not enough, He is abundant. If that’s not enough, He is more than we can ask.” If that’s not enough, he can do “above all we are able to think.” When Satan says, Death, God says Life. When God says Life, he means life on a scale we can’t comprehend. He restored what we lost in Adam—AND MUCH MORE! We lost the quality of life in Adam, but we gained abundant life in Jesus. We lost the essence of life in Adam, but we gained eternal life in Jesus. We lost Eden in Adam, but we gained Heaven in Jesus. The power of Satan cannot overshadow the power of the Cross. The chaos brought about by Adam’s disobedience does not represent the final answer to man’s destiny. Pile sin high and wide; grace is always bigger and better.  The cosmos cannot get much lower and iniquity cannot get much worse. But as bad as it gets, the grace of God will—ALWAYS—be more! 

If you have ever stood at Ground Zero where terrorists brought down the once proud twin towers of the World Trade Center, you know what I mean.  “Rising from its square base, the redesigned Freedom Tower tapers into eight tall isosceles triangles, forming a perfect octagon at its center. From these, an illuminated spire containing a television antenna rises to a final height of 1,776 feet.” The Message:? Burn it down and we will rebuild it, bigger and better than ever. God sent that message to Satan millenniums ago. Tear it down and I will remake it…much more than it was in the first place. Are you intimidated by the world around you? Want to throw in the towel? Satan wants you to say, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em.” He wants the church to cave to sin’s tidal wave. But the abundance of sin only proves the greater abundance of grace. Just take a prayer journey and let God show you his storehouses of grace. But the theology of much applies to areas beyond the grace of God. 

There is a matter of forgiveness.  Mary Magdalene, a prostitute before she was saved, found that when God touches the life of someone in the depths of sin, he takes away their shame as well as their sin. “Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. If you don’t love much, you don’t know what you have been forgiven. When you get an idea of how bad your sin is, you get an idea of how much you need to worship Jesus!

Then there is the matter of blessing. “For to whom much is given, much is required of him.” Luke 12:48.   Apostolic have been given much. The oneness of God. The message of full salvation. The importance of holiness. The rapture of the Church. Galatians makes it plain.  If anyone preaches “any other gospel…let him be accursed.” Are you living up to your requirements?

Finally, there is the matter of desire. How much you seek after God will depend on how much you desire Him! God looks on the heart. The theology of much governs everything about your relationship with God. The much lacking in you reaches out to the much supply in God. Your poverty meets His wealth. Your smallness finds the answer in His greatness. He overmatches your weakness with His power. Whatever you have lost by coming to Christ, you will find much more in Christ!