Author: petebeck3

Pete Beck III ministered as a pastor and Bible teacher in Burlington for over 34 years. He is married to Martha, with whom he has four children, ten beautiful grandchildren, and four amazing great grandchildren. He ministers in his local church as a Bible teacher and counselor. He has published two books - Seeing God's Smile and Promise of the Father - as well as a wide variety of Bible-related articles which he has compiled into books in PDF form.

Is There Some Way to Tell if I Am a True Believer?

 

 

 

 

 

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT)

Paul exhorted the church in Corinth to take test to see if they were true followers of Christ. Wouldn’t it be great if it were as simple as answering a couple of questions? Unfortunately, people are adept at saying what they think others want to hear and putting on a false front for others to see. Churchgoers learn all the right answers, even if they do not come from the heart, and cover up struggles by putting on a smile when around other Christians. King David wrote that God seeks truth on the inside (Psalm 51:6), where he alone sees with perfect clarity.

O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4  Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. Psalm 139:1-4 (NASB)

So, is there any way to know for sure if we are really a Christian or a self-deceived counterfeit?

Repentance and Baptism

When people come to Christ God may points out specific sins to us, which he wants us to stop committing; but, the larger and more important aspect of repentance is turning away from a self-directed lifestyle. Water baptism is a very huge step Jesus directs all his followers to take. The believer who submits to water baptism signals his or her allegiance to Christ, death to sin, and a leaving behind of the self-directed life.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (ESV)

Going down into the water is a picture of our being united with Christ in his death. The coming up out of the water symbolizes the spiritual reality that we are identified with and participate in Christ’s resurrection. The remainder of our lives is to be lived in the power of Christ’s resurrection to the glory of God. This cannot happen unless we learn obedience, which is one of the most significant goals of the gospel.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26  but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— Romans 16:25-26 (ESV)

Lordship and Obedience

The “gospel” of personal salvation does not emphasize obedience. Instead it focuses on forgiveness, so much so that many people think they can continue to live a sinful lifestyle because God will be sure to forgive them. This is a sin of presumption: we presume on God’s mercy while being casual towards sin. While it is true that God is merciful and we are all sinners, the gospel does not give us a license to continue deliberately in a sinful lifestyle without making any attempt at cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the work of transformation. The fear of the Lord seems to be missing. People who do such things are either not saved at all or have in their future a somewhat scary encounter with the living God, who will discipline them as he sees fit in order to help them change.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Hebrews 12:6-7 (ESV)

The true gospel, however, emphasizes the Lordship of Christ. People who grasp that Jesus is Lord over all things, especially over the lives of those who come to him for salvation, understand that obedience to him (loyalty) defines the relationship.

Truthfulness on the inside will produce loyalty in our behavior. Falsehood in the inside will produce a sinful lifestyle. What we are inside always comes to the surface eventually.

If Jesus is Lord, then we will say “yes” to him in every area of life. When we say “yes,” the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to help us live it out. If we only see Jesus as a savior, we may feel comfortable saying “no” to him. There is something extremely disingenuous and paradoxical when a follower of Christ says, “No, Lord.” Those two words do not ever properly go together.

Grace and Transformation

The true gospel of God’s grace transforms us from the inside out. It sets us apart to fulfill God’s purposes through the activity and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This always results in obedience to the Great Commission and in all the little details of life. Followers of Christ no longer belong to themselves. We have been bought and paid for by God through the death and resurrection of his Son.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

Grace and Obedience

Grace is sometimes misunderstood and equated with mercy. Mercy is when God does not punish us according to what our sins deserve. Because Christ already took the punishment for our sins upon himself, God no longer must pay us back in kind for our sins. His justice has already been served. Instead he works on an entirely different plane. He deals with his children in order to transform them into Christ’s image, bring glory to himself, and validate the gospel’s claims. A side benefit to us is that we experience great joy and fulfillment in the process. Sometimes he is extremely kind and patient with us. At other times, we may encounter the severity of God. God’s “woodshed” is not a place we want to visit.

Think about it. God is not glorified by disobedient Christians. When we disobey God, we fail to reflect Christ to a watching world. Our disobedience often gives unbelievers an excuse to reject the gospel. They may reason that the gospel is a hoax because we who profess to believe are behaving badly. Grace is God’s power working within the believer to enable him or her to obey. It really is that simple. The Holy Spirit is God’s Agent of grace to us. He indwells every child of God, empowering us to live the Christ life. This is an amazing secret to being God’s proper representatives in the world. Paul called it the “law of the Spirit of life.”

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3  The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 (NLT)

Testing the Genuineness of Our Faith

Many believers have never been taught that God’s Spirit can and will enable them to live a life of transformational obedience. The “gospel” of personal salvation sets us up to believe that God does not expect much from us on this side of the grave. He forgives us for our continuing failures and absolves us from taking his commands seriously. The true grace of God, however, encourages us to realize that after being released from the just condemnation our sins deserved, God empowers us by his Spirit to live a God-glorifying life of obedience.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

Which gospel did we receive? We can easily tell by checking our attitude toward obedience.

  • Do we realize that our lives no longer belong to us, or do we think we still have the right to direct our own affairs without reference to God?
  • Do we routinely excuse our sinful behavior because we do not believe God really cares that much whether we obey or not?
  • Are we aware of God’s working in our lives to set us free from sin in specific areas? If so, are we cooperating with God’s grace and living in the fear of the Lord?
  • Have we embraced God’s mission as our mission? Are we Great Co-Missionaries?

If we feel no need to surrender our lives and personal affairs to Christ, we may not be a true follower of Christ. If we feel no desire or conviction to repent from a self-directed life and from specific sins, we may not be a true child of God. If we feel fine about never sharing our faith, perhaps we do not have the Great Witness, the Holy Spirit, living inside us.

These are very real considerations. Perhaps examining our lives in this way makes us feel uncomfortable; nevertheless, it is a good thing for us to do so.

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT)

We do not earn our salvation through good works, but, if we are truly saved, good works will surely follow. This is because the Holy Spirit will inspire us to do these things and give us the inner power to accomplish them. That is what the law of the spirit of life does. As James put it: faith without works is dead. We demonstrate the reality of our faith through our good works done in love and faith via the power of God’s Spirit.

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 18  Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” James 2:17-18 (NLT)

Sadly, the modern church has many people who have never been truly born again. They have never had their spiritual eyes opened to the revelation of Christ, who is both Savior and glorious Lord. They have never been filled with God’s Holy Spirit. They do not know personally what it means to be in relationship with God.

Three things help us to know if our faith is real.

  1. Have we believed the gospel in our hearts, rather than simply mentally agreeing with it?
  2. Do we have an inner “witness” from God’s Spirit that we belong to him?
  3. Do our lives give evidence of transformation and obedience to Christ?

If we cannot say yes to these three things, it is time for us to earnestly seek God until we have a breakthrough.

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT)

Prayer

Lord Jesus, the Bible says that we can know that we have eternal life. You said that your sheep hear your voice. I want to know you in the deepest way possible. Holy Spirit please open my spiritual eyes, unstop my spiritual ears, and heal my hardened heart so that I may see Jesus for who he really is. Come, Lord Jesus, into my life as both Lord and Savior. Holy Spirit, transform me on the inside to make me an obedient child of God. I surrender every aspect of my life to you. I trust you to do in me what I cannot do for myself. Amen.

Share this post...

How Can I Transition from Spectator to Player?

 

 

 

 

 

Christianity is not a spectator sport. The Reformation renewed some very important truths of the faith that had been lost over time, one of which is the priesthood of the believer. This doctrine means that in the New Covenant there is no clergy-laity distinction.

All followers of Christ are called, equipped, and expected to partner with the Holy Spirit in the adventure of using their spiritual gifts, time, energy, finances – everything – to fish for people and encourage them to become followers of Christ and fishers of men in their own right.

Every football and basketball season an interesting phenomenon takes place. People personally identify with their favorite teams. When their team is doing well, they feel good about themselves and become enthusiastic, vocal, and visible fans. What is so intriguing is that many of us think that we somehow acquire greater worth and prestige, if our team excels and does better than the other teams. It is almost as if we were the ones who are competing. All big sporting events are filled with such fans who get satisfaction out of watching others play the game. So are churches.

We all know that playing and spectating are vastly different. When we spectate, we can imagine ourselves making better decisions and better plays than the players on the court or the field, but the reality is that we are not playing.

Jesus has invited his followers actually to participate in the greatest “game” of all time, which is being a great co-Missionary, his Spirit-filled and empowered representative.

Unfortunately most of us who call ourselves Christians are merely spectating fans. We may agree with the concept of being involved in the Great Commission, but we have into the trap of being passive -sitting on the sidelines, hoping that someone else will lead our family member, neighbor, or friend to Christ and teach them how to follow him fully. Many Christians think that evangelism is inviting someone to church, where they will hear the preacher talk about Christ. We do not see ourselves as the one who can best do that.

However, the truth of the matter is that we cannot transfer our responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission to someone else. God does not give us the option of merely being fans or spectators. God asks us to be players – disciples and disciple makers.

Not everyone is equally gifted at sharing the Gospel and discipling others, but we are all asked to participate. Some may win thousands to Christ, while others may help only a few become followers of the Master over a lifetime.

Sadly, a great number of those who call themselves Christians have never led even one person to faith in Christ. In some cases they have given up trying. This ought not be. Could this be because we do not even talk about Jesus in a serious way with anyone outside of church meetings?

Practical Tips

If you realize that you have been spectating instead of playing, what can you do? Here is a list of suggestions.

  • Ask God to forgive you for succumbing to laziness, fear, and the spirit of the age that tells us to keep our faith to ourselves.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to stir in you the fire of enthusiasm for Jesus and the Gospel.
  • Ask him to give you a love for those who live around you who do not yet know Christ.
  • Familiarize yourself with the Gospel. (I recommend The King Jesus Gospel by McKnight. You can read my summary by clicking here or you may wish to read my articles on the subject.)
  • Pray for opportunities to speak meaningfully to people.
  • Make it a priority to get to know the people in your neighborhood, at work, at the gym, at school, and wherever you have the opportunity to connect. As you spend time in conversation, you will begin to see how Jesus and the Gospel can help them. Your care for them may give you a platform from which to speak about Jesus to them.
  • Visit people and have them over to your home. The more time you spend with people, the greater the opportunity you provide for the Holy Spirit to work in the relationship.
  • Offer to pray for people on the spot when a genuine need for God’s help surfaces.
  • Join a group (or start one) whose focus is fulfilling the Great Commission. In many cases this will be what some call a “missional” church, as opposed to an event-oriented spectator church. We need to be encouraged in the work of the Great Commission because, although it is rewarding, it can be difficult and discouraging at times.
  • Never, never, never, never give up. Your heavenly reward will be great!

To learn more about this way of living for Christ, visit our church website – www.lifenet.us.

Share this post...

How Can We Know if We Are Born Again? Part 3

 

 

 

 

 

The New Birth Is a Sovereign Work of God’s Spirit

There are reasons that Jesus chose the term “born again” to describe what happens to us in the salvation process. One is that it parallels natural birth in significant ways. Think about it: what part did we play in our natural birth? Did we decide to become human beings? Did we conceive ourselves? Did we exert the effort to be born? Of course, the answer is “no” in every case. Why then should we think we can birth ourselves spiritually? Is it because we still think that we are in charge of our lives?

Jesus deliberately left Nicodemus (and us?) in a frustrating and confusing state of mind, which was revealed by the religious leader’s next question.

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” John 3:9 (NASB)

Perhaps we are asking ourselves the same sort of questions. “Do you mean that, even if I want to be born again, I cannot simply make it happen? Can’t I simply pray a prayer or something?”

Let’s go back to our natural births. We had no choice or direct participation in our conception and gestation, but, by the time we were born, we were alive and kicking, having a nascent will of our own. If we are alive today it is because we endured the birthing process, which propelled us into this precarious thing called life outside the womb. At first we were absolutely dependent on our mother and father, or on whomever cared for us. Later, as we grew and matured, we learned to fend more and more for ourselves. The long term goal was for us to become self-governing, responsible adults. (Did we make it?)

Yet, even as adults we never become truly independent, especially not from God. God never intended that. He created us to rely upon him and partner with him from cradle to eternity. God is our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. He has always been and will always be that to us. (Hebrews 1:3)

"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth And have been carried from the womb; 4  Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. Isaiah 46:3-4 (NASB)

Every breath we take ultimately depends on God. We do not choose the day of our birth, our gender, race, nationality, DNA, personality, parents, height, weight, hair color, or anything else that fundamentally defines our being. God did that for us. Are we okay with that? Some people are not. That is why we have an emerging group of people called transgenders. That is why people try to be someone or something else besides who God created them to be. But that’s another subject.

Understanding the new birth requires us humbly to acknowledge our dependence upon God.

That in itself is a pretty big hurdle. Our pride and self-sufficiency wants to get some credit for our salvation. Otherwise why would we balk at this biblical idea? The Bible teaches us that God the Father chose us before he created the world, which was definitely before we could have been part of the process. (Ephesians 1:4-5) Similarly, Jesus died for us before we were naturally conceived, born, or drew a breath. When we finally showed up in history, at the exactly proper time, the Holy Spirit, acting as God’s agent and administrator, connected us in time with God’s eternal plan and work. He began his secret work in our hearts before we were aware of it or even wanted it, when we were still his enemies. (Romans 5:8-10) We were born into the world naturally with a built in hostility toward God, because we were spiritually dead. (Ephesians 2:1-5) If the Spirit had not intervened, we would have had no ability to positively respond to Christ or his gospel. All of this is very humbling, isn’t it?

For us to become a born again follower of Christ, we need to have the Spirit’s work in our lives. When we heard about Jesus and his fabulous offer of forgiveness and eternal life, we were intrigued and drawn. Not everyone is – only those in whom the Spirit is working. Just being drawn toward Christ is evidence of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Jesus said:

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 (NASB)

That being the case, the fact that you are reading this article is an indicator that the Spirit is at work in you.

Jesus understood perfectly this sovereign aspect of the new birth. He knew that only those whom the Father chose and drew would respond to him and his message, and he was okay with that. In fact, he rejoiced in it.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 26  “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. 27  “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 11:25-27 (NASB)

One sure sign that a person is born again is her or his ability to acknowledge the miracle of the Holy Spirit’s work in his or her life.

I remember reading John’s words after my new birth experience, which caused me to wonder thankfully at the mystery of the Spirit’s work.

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:7-8 (ESV)

I realized that the Spirit had sovereignly and mysteriously touched my life and opened my spiritual eyes to see and comprehend the reality of Jesus’ risen lordship. I could not do that for myself. Yet I did have a part to play.

Our Participation in the Work of the Spirit

Before having my eyes opened in a flash on that very special evening so long ago, the Spirit was secretly at work in my life. He had been drawing me toward Christ for years. I just did not comprehend that it was he. When my girlfriend, now wife, told me of her conversion, the Spirit was setting me up. After talking and arguing with her, I was further drawn. I remember saying to my best friend that I thought I was going to try out this Christian thing. He warned me of the dangers. Nevertheless, I made the decision to pray a sincere prayer to a God I wasn’t sure was really there. It went something like this.

Jesus, if you are real, please come into my heart. I cannot pretend that I believe in you. Show me that you are real. Amen.

No one forced me to pray like this. It was my choice; yet, knowing what I know now from Scripture, I realize that the Spirit was at work in my making that choice. This is part of the mystery of how God works. He is sovereign and we have a choice. Don’t ask me to explain how both can be true, but they are.

And that is how we relate to God’s Spirit from now on. He is our invisible partner in a mysterious dance. He indwells us, thinks his thoughts through us, empowers us, convicts us, comforts us, encourages us, strengthens us… He is the best forever friend we will ever have, and he will never, ever leave or forsake us.

Paul perfectly describes this mysterious partnership in his letter to the church in Galatia.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NET1)

The Elect

The Bible has a name for those whom God chooses to be his children from before the foundation of the world. They are the chosen or the “elect.” Many followers of Christ balk at this biblical term because they falsely believe that being part of the elect somehow strips them of responsibility and choice. As I mentioned before, our responsibility and God’s sovereignty are both true. The doctrine of election was important to Jesus and should be to us.

Jesus was not trying to build a worldwide movement by reducing the entry requirement. He was content with having disciples only from that group who were genuinely born again by the Spirit – the elect.

 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36  “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37  “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38  “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39  “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40  “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:35-40 (NASB)

It is important that, like Jesus, we only build with those people in whom God has been at work. Our church meetings are full of false disciples, whom Jesus called “tares” or weeds. We cannot always tell the difference between who is real and who is not, but God knows. Over time it will become apparent to all. Do not try to make becoming a disciple too easy. Leave room for God’s Spirit to work. He will, you know. We don’t have to manufacture anything. It is God’s work to build the church.

Conclusion

I wrote this this third part of this series to emphasize the Spirit’s role in the new birth. Why is this important in our being able to know if we have been born again? I believe if you have really been born again, you will know that God did it. You will realize that without the Spirit you are lost. May God open our eyes to the reality of the Spirit’s work!

Prayer

Jesus, I want to know you in the way I read about in the Bible. Please come into my life and be my lord and savior. I give myself to you. Please forgive my sins and the way I have lived independently from you all these years. From now on, I belong to you. Holy Spirit, open my spiritual eyes, unstop my ears, and heal my hardened heart so I can see, hear, and believe God’s words. Reveal Jesus to me, so that I can behold him and be born again. I depend on you to do this. I will not give up until you answer my prayer, which I know you will. Thank you. Amen.

Share this post...

How Can We Know if We Are Born Again? Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

The church is filled with what Jesus called “tares.” A tare is a weed that resembles wheat until harvest time. Then the difference is evident. Tares bear no fruit. The only way to become a real child of God is through the new birth. How can we know for sure we have been born again and are not among the tares?

The New Birth Is Self-Authenticating

This simply means that born again people know it. If you are not sure, perhaps you never have been. However, before going farther, let me acknowledge that many, who have grown up in Christian families and believed in Jesus from a very young age, cannot point to a defining conversion experience. I have heard many say that they have “always believed,” meaning that as far back as they can remember they have believed in God and Jesus. They cannot say here is when I was born again. Nevertheless, they can know for sure that they have been. I gave four keys for discerning this in my previous article.

My experience was much different. Even though I grew up with a certain familiarity with the Bible, being Roman Catholic, no one ever explained the real gospel message to me. I did not know that I could know for sure who Jesus is. I did not know I could know that I have been eternally forgiven. I was not aware that eternal life begins when we are born again. This is because I grew up in a religious system that keeps people in a continual state of suspense regarding their eternal destiny.

The Catholic Church has devised a clever system that keeps people in perpetual dependency on the priesthood and the church to stay in a right relationship with God. It offers a way to get back into God’s good graces as needed by going through the priest and the sacraments. Catholic priests serve as mediators between God and man, which is an outright contradiction of Scripture. There is only one mediator, and his name is Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). This false religion distorts of the true gospel message and offers no sure promise of salvation. Paul wrote that those who proclaim such a false gospel will be cursed. (Galatians 1:8)

I remember sharing with my wife’s father, a lifelong Catholic, just before he died that he could know for sure that he is forgiven. I explained to him that Jesus took our sins upon himself so that we will never have to face judgment for them. I further pointed out that Jesus gives us eternal life right now. We don’t have to wait until we die to know we have it. John the beloved disciple who was close to Jesus’ heart wrote the following:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 (NASB)

If we know we have eternal life now, then we need no longer be under the thrall of any church or priesthood’s power to enslave us to a perpetual not knowing.

If your church or religion keeps you in the dark regarding your eternal destiny, it is not the true gospel!

My wife’s father suddenly understood for the first time in his life just how great a gift is the real gospel. He believed and received everything Jesus had for him that morning sitting at our kitchen table. A week later he crossed the threshold into eternity, knowing where he stands with God. He could mark the day he was born again. I look forward to one day being greeted by him at heaven’s gates.

Likewise, my conversion was just as clear cut. I transitioned from being a doubting seeker to a confirmed believer in an instant of Holy Spirit revelation. God mercifully removed the blinders from my eyes so I could finally see Jesus for who he truly is – the risen Son of God. In that instant I was born again. Everything from then on in my life was different, and that was in 1971. This is 2019. You do the math. This was no flash in the pan emotional experience. It was and is real. I have no doubt that I have been born again because the new birth is self-authenticating. My father-in-law knew that his life was different. The same thing happened to my then wife to be when she was born again. We do not wonder. We know.

Before a person is born again, he or she cannot understand what it is. It is only afterward that we gain understanding. In other words, we cannot figure out what the new birth is without receiving it. We cannot reason our way into the experience because it is Holy Spirit generated. This should not surprise us.

Jesus did not come to scratch the itching intellect, but to fill the hungry heart.

When we believe and obey, God opens our understanding.

Nicodemus’ response revealed that he was operating out of his intellect only. All of his great learning and study as a Jewish religious leader was not sufficient for the things of God’s Spirit.

Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” John 3:4 (NASB)

Here we have the perfect contrast of rational religion versus a supernatural revelation-based relationship with Christ.

Great learning and Bible knowledge only brought Nicodemus to the place of coming to Jesus. It did not open the gate into eternal life. Only revelation by the Spirit can do that.

God’s Spirit opens the “eyes of our heart” to see who Jesus truly is, bringing us into a faith relationship with him. This is why people say that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. The relationship we have with the Lord Jesus is as his appreciative servant. This spiritual relationship automatically provides us with a new relationship with the Father in heaven. We become his children through the new birth.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13 (NASB)

The Holy Spirit enters every born again child of God, becoming his or her source of life and power.

The secret of the New Covenant is that God lives his life through us. This all happens when we see Jesus by revelation and believe on him in our hearts, declaring him to be our Lord. It’s called the new birth.

Because Christianity is relational and revelational, one’s intellectual capacity is not the primary consideration. That is why children can easily come to Christ. They are not restricted by the acquired cynicism and skepticism found in many adults. Their hearts tend to be more open and receptive to revelational truth and God.

Getting back to Nicodemus, once again Jesus did not answer as one might expect. Instead he restated his earlier declaration with more detail. Because the new birth must be experienced in order to be understood, Jesus’ purpose in this conversation was to create a hunger in Nicodemus to experience this for himself.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7  “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8  “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:5-8 (NASB)

Here Jesus explains that to enter the kingdom of God, one must have two births, a natural one and a spiritual one. Then he acknowledges that the new birth is mysterious and entirely dependent on the sovereign activity of God’s Spirit. This will be the topic of Part 3.

Conclusion

The self-authentication of the new birth comes from the Holy Spirit. Whether or not we can mark a particular new birth experience or not, we should be able to know for sure that we are born again. Using the four keys in my previous article will help, but ultimately we have an inner “witness” from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:15-16 (ESV)

If you do not have this inner knowledge that you are God’s child, I encourage you to seek God until you do.

Prayer

Jesus, I want to know you in the way I read about in the Bible. Please come into my life and be my lord and savior. I give myself to you. Please forgive my sins and the way I have lived independently from you all these years. From now on, I belong to you. Holy Spirit, open my spiritual eyes, unstop my ears, and heal my hardened heart so I can see, hear, and believe God’s words. Reveal Jesus to me, so that I can behold him and be born again. I depend on you to do this. I will not give up until you answer my prayer, which I know you will. Thank you. Amen.

Share this post...

How Can We Know if We Are Born Again?

 

 

 

 

 

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:7-8 (ESV)

If we must be born again, two questions immediately come to mind: what does that mean and how can we know if we have been? It all sounds rather mysterious and mystical. It certainly did to a certain Pharisee named Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, most likely to avoid persecution by others in his religious order, who were openly and viciously hostile to Jesus. He wanted to learn more about this miracle working teacher. His opening statement revealed to Jesus his deepest need.

 …”Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” John 3:2 (NASB)

Because Nicodemus had an open mind and heart, he correctly reasoned that Jesus must be sent by God. The miracles Jesus performed required God’s help. It would be unreasonable for God to affirm and use a person who does not please him. This was good logic that should have been obvious to all the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders. Most of us would applaud such clear thinking, openness, humility, and hunger to know more. Jesus, who never used flattery to manipulate people, rather than congratulate him for what he understood, quickly confronted this man’s ignorance of crucial spiritual matters. We do not show love to people when we coddle their feelings at the expense of their eternal destiny. It doesn’t matter how many theological degrees we may have, if we have not been born again, we have nothing. This brings us to a very big truth regarding the new birth, our first key to knowing if we have been born again.

Key #1. Revelation Is the Only Gate into the New Birth

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (NASB)

Jesus knew that Nicodemus would have no idea of what he meant by being born again, and this was on purpose. He wanted this well-educated man to immediately grasp that his religious training and knowledge of the Bible had not served him as well as it should have. Nicodemus was woefully ignorant of what mattered most. This is the case with many churchgoers who have grown up in and around Christianity, who have a fair grasp of the Bible, who know how to talk the Christian talk, but who have never been born again. They, like Nicodemus, are in a very precarious situation, thinking that they are secure with God, when they are actually outside of God’s family and in danger of spending an eternity separated from God.

Jesus also wanted Nicodemus to understand that human reasoning alone is insufficient when it comes to the things of God. Nicodemus’ opening statement revealed that he knew Jesus was from God, but he did not yet really see who Jesus was and is. It is not enough to simply know about Jesus. We must see him with spiritually opened eyes. Even the demons know that Jesus is God’s Son and someone great, but they are certainly not born again.

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! James 2:19 (ESV)

A good indicator that someone is born again is that she or he clearly sees and understands that Jesus is the Lord of Lords.

Key #2. Revelation Produces Faith

Just knowing about Jesus is never enough. We must have revelation from God that not only opens our eyes to his true identity, but also sparks faith in our hearts that enables us to receive from him and give to him.

Revelation from God causes faith to explode inside us. Suddenly we know who Jesus is in a way that causes us to worship and serve him as our Lord. We receive forgiveness and life. We give him ourselves.

A great example of this happening is the account of Thomas encounter with Jesus  after his resurrection. Apparently Thomas had never previously really known Jesus, except as team leader and as a great teacher and prophet. But when Jesus appeared to him in his resurrection body he realized something he had never seen before.

Then he [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:27-29 (ESV)

Thomas had the distinct privilege of beholding, touching, and talking to the resurrected Jesus. We are not at a disadvantage however.

We may not physically see Jesus, but we can definitely behold him by revelation from the Spirit of God, and that act of beholding will always produce faith. This is a clear indicator of the new birth.

"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." John 6:40 (NASB)

Jesus was continually on the lookout for those who had received such revelation and faith. One of the first such persons he found was unexpectedly a Gentile. The Roman centurion who asked Jesus to come to his home to his heal his servant understood in his heart who Jesus was and is. We know this because of his expressed faith.

But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10  When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. Matthew 8:8-10 (ESV)

 

Key #3. Revelation Produces Action and a Lifestyle Change

One way we can know that we have been born again is if our faith results in action. The centurion’s faith prompted him to come to Jesus for help and to declare that all he needed to do was to simply say the word for his servant to be healed. Jesus saw the faith through his actions, and so can we.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:33 (ESV)

Being born again should produce a thinking and lifestyle change. Faith coupled with repentance (changing our thinking to agree with God and his Word) ought to result in a life dedicated to God and his kingdom.

If believing in Jesus has not made any appreciable difference in your life, it is safe to say that most likely you have not been born again.

Key #4. Revelation Produces a Confession of Allegiance to the Lord

Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus asked his disciples a probing question designed to reveal if any of them had yet received such a life changing revelation regarding his true identity.

He [Jesus] *said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17  And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:15-17 (NASB)

Notice that our Lord did not coach them in what to say. He also did not do what many well meaning preachers do: he did not put the words in their mouths by leading them in a “sinner’s prayer.”  Jesus did not tell his disciples, “Now say after me. Jesus is the Messiah.” No, he waited for the Spirit of God to reveal this.

Paul understood the importance of believing from the heart, the place where faith resides because of revelation from the Spirit.

But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:8-10 (NASB)

The new birth is precipitated by the Spirit’s revealing to us who Jesus truly is – the Lord of Lords and Messiah King of Israel. Seeing (with the eyes of revelation) is believing. The one automatically follows the other. What we believe in our hearts, we naturally speak.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 (ESV)

When we publicly profess our allegiance to Jesus our Lord, it gives strong evidence of the internal work of the Spirit.

I put this key last because it is the one that is easiest to fake. We can say anything, can’t we? But if what we say agrees with how we live, we can be surer that what we say is real.

Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46 (NASB)

Summary

It is vital that we grasp that the new birth is not simply a nice sounding but toothless theological term. Rather, it is an actual experience every child of God must have. It is initiated and carried out by the Holy Spirit as we participate by faith. The new birth depends on our receiving a revelation of Jesus’ true identity as Savior and Lord. This means that God opens our spiritual eyes and makes us alive in our spirits by supernaturally connecting us to his Spirit. Through the amazing process called the new birth, we receive an entirely new spiritual identity. We become a new creation.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3 (NASB) 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)

Being different in the core of our being changes our thinking, words, and actions. If we still think as unsaved people do, if our words sound exactly like those of our friends and neighbors who don’t profess allegiance to Christ, and if our actions do not reflect a loyalty to Christ and his teachings, we should wonder if we ever have been born again.

Prayer

Perhaps you now seriously question if you have been born again. If so, consider praying the following prayer.

Jesus, I am not sure I have ever been born again. I want to have everything you died to give me. Holy Spirit, please open my heart and mind to know by revelation who Jesus truly is. Let me behold him by faith in the Spirit. Make me a new creation. I invite you, Spirit of God, into my life. Jesus, I profess my loyalty to you. I receive forgiveness and life from you. Father in heaven, I want to be your child. You said that no one who comes to Jesus will ever be turned away. Well, here I am. Amen

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37 (ESV)
Share this post...

What if I am struggling to follow Jesus and feel like giving up?

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s be honest. Following Jesus can be very difficult. For some, it becomes so painful that they turn back and may even renounce their allegiance to Christ. Why is this? The answer may surprise you. History is littered with those who started well and ended poorly. Solomon tells us that how we finish is perhaps greater indicator of who we really are than how we begin.

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2  It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 (ESV)  

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (ESV)

Jesus will one day judge every person who has ever lived on the basis of his or her actions. This is because what we do reveals what we believe and who we are. We can say anything in the heat of the moment, but what we do tells a truer tale.

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18  knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19  but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21  who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:17-21 (ESV)

Judgment according to our deeds neatly meshes with salvation by faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross and resurrection. The two are not antithetical, but are complementary. If we are truly saved by our faith in what Christ did for us, we will remain loyal to him over a lifetime.

Faithfulness (allegiance) to Christ is an unmistakable earmark of those who truly know him. When our lives are finished and we stand before God, how we lived will be the final declaration of what we truly believed. Sobering, isn’t it?

Reason #1: We do not really know Jesus.

Nevertheless, our loyalty to Christ will be tested, and when we are in the midst of such, it can be difficult for us. Let’s take a look at such a case from the New Testament, an instance when many of Jesus’ followers decided to turn back. He had just announced to the crowd:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” John 6:53-55 (ESV)

I don’t know about you, but that sounds a little weird. Was Jesus teaching cannibalism? Who was this guy? That is exactly what many in the crowd were thinking. Why did Jesus use such a strange way to communicate the truth of our union with him? Was there a better way to teach a deep mystery of God? I rather think not, nevertheless, by couching this truth in a difficult saying, Jesus revealed the hearts of his followers.

Someone wiser than I once said, “God offends the mind to reveal the heart.” Faith resides in the heart. If all we have is mental assent to Jesus, life’s tests will uncover that insufficient foundation. Those who have not believed from the heart will eventually stumble and fall away.

Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” 61  Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62  Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63  The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64  But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65  Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” 66  At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67  Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” 68  Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69  We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:60-69 (NLT)

We cannot follow Jesus unless we first come to him, and we will not come to him unless the Spirit of God draws us. (John 6:44)In other words, unless God opens our eyes to Jesus’ real identity, we cannot follow him. It’s too hard. Many try, but somewhere along the way something will be said or something will happen that will trip us up, influencing us to fall away.

None of us perfectly understand who Jesus is, but we do need to “see” as Peter saw that he is from God and in him is life. We must realize that he is someone great, God’s Son, who is worth following no matter what. This is what enabled Peter and the rest of the twelve to hang in there.

So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69  and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69 (ESV)

 

Reason #2: We do not understand the cost of discipleship.

Unfortunately, we may have begun our faith walk after having heard a version of the “gospel” which requires little or nothing of us. We live in a consumerist society, which has conditioned us to look for “good deals.” We have adopted a “What’s in it for me?” mindset, sometimes without realizing it, that influences how we view everything.

The consumerist “gospel” minimizes the cost of following Christ and maximizes the benefits.

The consumerist gospel focuses on heaven, eternal life, prosperity, and being happy. Who wouldn’t want that? But if that is what you think following Jesus is, you are certain to be disappointed. Jesus called his followers using the opposite message.

Jesus warned people up front that following him would cost them everything. (Luke 14:33)

In our opening passage, Jesus just told the crowd that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have life, which offended their sensibilities. When he saw that they were offended, he did not back down. He let his words stand, knowing that many would cease to follow him on that day. It was a test. Life provides us with a series of tests to reveal what is inside us. Many of these tests will be difficult, if not impossible, to understand the “why.”

Following Jesus will force us to give up the requirement to understand everything up front. We follow him regardless of how well we understand where we are going, what we are doing, or why this is happening.

Following Jesus means we give up control over our lives. It means we relinquish the title to what we own. It means we make no demands from God. It means we serve where we are sent, without complaint or questioning. It means our new friends are fellow travelers on the same discipleship journey and may not be the people with whom we would normally associate. It is very much like being in the military, in that regard.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote of this mentality in his famous Charge of the Light Brigade.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Some may view this act of unquestioning loyalty to be foolish, but the only foolishness was on the part of the commanders, not the men. The military is built on the loyal obedience of the soldiers who stake their lives on decisions made by very imperfect leaders. Followers of Christ are expected to trust their Lord just as fully, knowing that he may charge them into the gates of hell. The big difference is that we know that our commander never errs and following his commands will result in eternal life and reward.

Following this military theme, Paul wrote:

Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NLT)

Paul’s point is that we are to avoid conflicts of interest so that we will unhesitatingly obey the Lord. We who follow Christ are under the command of the Holy Spirit, whose voice we must learn to heed. Soldiers also know the rules of the military. We who follow Christ have the written words of God in the Bible, and make the commitment to prioritize them to the highest place in our lives. We believe they are true and authoritative. Followers of Christ do not make excuses for disobeying the Bible, nor do we minimize its authority, even when its message runs contrary to the current popular beliefs of the culture or to our own sinful desires.

Following Jesus means we prioritize obedience to him over family, friends, career, and personal convenience or ease. (Luke 14:26) Following Jesus means we do not turn back when the cost of discipleship exceeds anything we were prepared to pay. Those who give up everything realize that God may indeed require everything. (Luke 14:27-30)

Christ does indeed give us abundant life. He blesses us beyond anything we might imagine, but he does not insulate us from suffering, through which we learn obedience. (Hebrews 5:8) Our obedience reveals if we are real disciples. (1 John 5:3)

So, what do I do if am currently struggling?

If you are contemplating turning back, ask yourself the following questions.

  1. Do I really know who Jesus is? Am I convinced that he is worth following, no matter what? If not, my advice is to pray and seek God until he opens your eyes.
  2. Have I counted the cost of being his disciple? Have I told him that all I am and have is his? Have I relinquished ownership of my life to him? Have I given up the right to direct my own affairs? Have I told him that I will suffer whatever he may require, as long as I can be his follower?

If not, now is the time to get real. Many are called, but few are chosen. Make your calling and election sure by making the commitment to be a true disciple. Stop waffling. Double-minded people will not make it. God’s Spirit will help us, but we must take responsibility for our part.

Prayer

Jesus, I am struggling. Now I realize that my allegiance to you has been less than it needs to be. Holy Spirit, open my eyes to the true wonder of Jesus, so I will value him more and more, even above my own life. Right now I make the commitment to follow Jesus no matter what it may cost me and those I love. Remind me of this prayer when I want to turn back. Help me to let go of what is “mine” in order to fully receive what you have for me, which is far better. Come, Holy Spirit, live your life through me. Amen.

Share this post...

Come, Follow, Fish, and Teach Others to Do the Same

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” Matthew 4:19 (NLT)

Many people are called by God to become disciples, but Jesus said that few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14)

When we truly hear the call of God through the words of the Gospel and the inner voice or prompting of the Holy Spirit, we are immediately faced with a choice. We can resist, ignore, or surrender to God’s call.

Many people are sifted out immediately because they will not obey the call to come, but even more are left behind by the next requirement. People initially come to Christ because he is wonderful, loving, generous, and offers everything a person would ever truly need, including everlasting life. The consumer in us thinks that this is a “deal” too good to pass up, and we are correct.

However, once we come to Christ and spend time with him and begin to read the Bible, it dawns on us that there is a cost to following him. In fact, following Jesus will cost us everything.

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26  “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27  And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-27 (NLT)

Jesus laid down his life for us and asks us to show our allegiance to him by doing the same. It is one very important way we glorify God. But out of stubbornness, selfishness, fear, pride, or for some other reason, it is at this point that many turn back and make the decision not to follow him. They eliminate themselves from the ranks of the “chosen.”

For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 (NASB) 

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14  "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)

Jesus promised that he would transform those who follow him into fishers of men, and telling others about the Gospel makes us just that.

This means that every true follower of Christ shares the Gospel with others.We may not be evangelists or preachers holding large meetings, but we can share one-on-one with people as the Lord directs and provides us with opportunities.

Followers of Christ are called disciples. They make the commitment to follow Jesus and, with the help of his Holy Spirit, obey his teachings and share the gospel message with others. When our hearers respond to the Gospel, a new responsibility confronts us.

Jesus wants us to teach these new followers to do as we do. This is called making disciples.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)

Discipleship is a journey that begins with a call, which prompts us to come to Jesus the Savior. If we continue on the journey, we must decide to follow Jesus the Lord. Along the way, Jesus will teach us how to fish for people. Some of those who hear our message will also respond to his call to come and follow and fish. We are responsible to make them into disciples, too. This is the discipleship journey.

Share this post...

How Do We Align Ourselves with God’s Purposes?

 

 

 

 

 

At work, if we understand the purpose of our employer, it helps us to get in line with company goals and focus on what is important to our boss.  It is no different with Jesus and the kingdom of God. Our Lord told his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, not their own success or comfort. It was only after the resurrection that the first apostles began to truly understand what this means. Today followers of Christ can also be slow on the uptake when it comes to grasping God’s purpose for them and the church.

Many suppose that the gospel is primarily for us, but actually it is first and foremost for God. Are you surprised? If so, it’s because we live in a culture in which everything is promoted or sold in terms of what it offers the consumer.

Replacing society’s “me first” focus with prioritizing God and his desires is the biggest part of what it means to be transformed by the Spirit into a disciple.

Jesus died on the cross for us who believe, but that was not the main thing on his mind as he approached and endured that horrible agony. He was most concerned about pleasing his Father in heaven. His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane is the supreme example of embracing God’s will, no matter what the personal cost.

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” Matthew 26:42 (NLT)

For us to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, we, too, must surrender to God’s will for our lives. Only after that can we go on to experience God’s purpose for us through the gospel.

Love

I love Bible verses that capture the simple essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ. One such is found in Paul’s First Letter to Timothy.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV)

Paul’s admonition to Timothy, and to all who would later be privileged to read his letter, was to allow God to develop in him a heart motivated by God’s love. God’s love is selfless and sacrificial, as evidenced by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It is also focused on God’s glory. Jesus kept his focus on pleasing his Father, holding on to the promise of glory which awaited him on the other side of the cross.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)

Jesus told us that love sums up all of God’s commands. Love is not a feeling. It is a motivation to faith and good works. Jesus healed and set people free because his compassion moved or propelled him to do so.

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. 41  Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”Mark 1:40-41 (NLT)

God’s love can never be content to simply feel empathy. It must act. The aim of the gospel is to produce in followers of Christ the kind of love that acts as God would. It will reveal itself in love of God and our neighbor. It will be heartfelt and practical. It will be compassionate and selfless.

Purity of Heart

Where this love comes from is very important. Paul tells us that a pure heart is essential. In this he is in complete agreement with our Lord, who blessed the pure of heart.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8 (NLT)

Purity of heart comes when our motives are clean and our devotion to God is single. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we are selfish. The essence of sin is when we self-direct our lives without reference to God or dependence on his Spirit. It usually takes a prolonged work of God’s Spirit to change us on the inside, so that we begin to put God and others first. All of us followers of Christ are works in progress, but hopefully we are going forward. Really, only God knows the condition of our hearts, and we can be sure he is at work there continually.

Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Corinthians that all our works of faith and sacrifice are worthless in God’s sight unless they are motivated by love. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

If we want to align with God’s purposes in the gospel, we will cooperate with God’s Spirit as he purifies our hearts to properly love God and people.

A Good Conscience

Secondly, our love should come from heart that is devoid of offense toward God and men. Jesus wants us to have clean consciences. This does not mean we are perfect, but it does require us to come into the light when we sin through confession and repentance toward God. It means that we are not covering our faults and sins with a thick layer of hypocrisy, pretending to be what we are not. It means we are working toward being more and more transparent and honest. This requires that we allow the Holy Spirit to work humility in our lives in an ever greater way, which is never easy.

A Sincere Faith

Thirdly, God wants our love to be motivated by a sincere faith. Such faith is free of hypocrisy and self-promotion. It does not pretend to be something it is not. Its motives are pure.

Many people understand the concept of faith, which combines loyalty to Jesus with taking God at his word and acting on it, trusting that he will come through as promised. The problem is that some use faith to obtain what they want instead of what God wants.

God is not primarily interested in making us wealthy and comfortable. He is much more concerned with developing our hearts to be like his, which normally requires us to endure suffering by faith from time to time, and, in some cases, extensively.

A sincere faith focuses on what God wants, which is the furtherance of his gospel and kingdom, not on what we may want for our personal comfort and ease.

When the gospel accomplishes its purpose in individuals, it brings glory to our Lord and furthers the advance of God’s kingdom. People are generally attracted to followers of Christ who exemplify love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. May God help us to be like that. May God’s glory and his kingdom be our foremost concern. Everything else will follow.

Share this post...

How Do We Choose Sides among Competing Loyalties?

 

 

 

 

 

Semper fi (semper fidelis) is the Marine Corps motto. It is Latin for “always faithful” or “loyal.” I have known a few Marines, and they take this seriously. Marines pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag, Constitution, and nation and are willing to defend her in times of war at the cost of their lives. Semper fi could easily be the motto for disciples of Christ, too. A follower of Christ, above all else, is loyal to Jesus the Lord.

But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 (NLT)

Just as Joshua called Israel to choose whom they would serve, Jesus told his followers that they would have to choose between him and every other competing allegiance. The early disciples understood this very well.

The modern church has allowed a type of syncretism to invade the church that deceives people into thinking that they can maintain allegiance to Jesus and competing gods, ideologies, and kingdoms, without ever grasping that devotion to one is the betrayal of the other.

Jesus put it well regarding our relationship with the kingdom of Mammon.

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 (NLT)

Money is not the only master that craves our allegiance. This article will take a look at what it means to be loyal to the Lord Jesus and how that impacts our relationship with competing ideologies and kingdoms.

Allegiance to Christ

In his exceptional book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone, Matthew Bates shows conclusively that one major aspect of faith is allegiance. You can read my book summary by clicking on the above link, if you want to follow his argument. To summarize, not only is faith trusting in the efficacy of Christ’s atoning work on the cross, it also is acknowledging his Lordship as demonstrated through his resurrection.

Christ’s death on the cross invites us to receive the benefits of his atoning sacrifice. The proper response to his resurrection is to surrender to his lordship and show continuing allegiance to him thereafter.

Bates writes:

When the full gospel is presented, the call to action is organically embedded in the story. Jesus the enthroned king has summoned everyone, including you and me, to turn away from all other allegiances and to give him exclusive loyalty. (p. 202)

Jesus clearly taught this truth.

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.Matthew 10:32-39 (ESV)

A danger for us lies in trying to harmonize opposing loyalties, thinking that it is possible to maintain peace between warring kingdoms. James clearly states the necessity for us to choose sides.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4 (ESV)

When we fail to take sides, we side against the Lord and commit a form of spiritual adultery, a very sobering thought.

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters. Luke 11:23 (NASB)

Jesus vs. The Kingdom of Self

God created us to live in synchronized dependence upon the indwelling Holy Spirit. Imagine a flock of birds wheeling in the sky, seemingly being conducted by God himself as they veer on cue in unison. Perhaps they are. This is a great picture of what it means to live in harmony with the Spirit, which is the normal Christian life. (I recommend that you read Watchman Nee’s book, The Normal Christian Life. See my summary. ) Humans have a spirit, soul, and a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). God designed us so that our spirits would take the lead in sync with God, with our souls and bodies following effortlessly. The spirit is where we connect with God. It is the innermost part of us that is unified with God’s Spirit when we are born again (1 Corinthians 6:17). When Adam and Eve elected to disobey God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they forsook their spiritual dependence upon God, choosing to live independent self-directed lives. This choice resulted in death and destruction and created in us an inborn propensity, perhaps a lust, to experience life on our terms without reference to God. Jesus came to restore us to his Father’s original plan, but it came at great cost to him. He had to lay aside his own inherent desire for self-preservation and security in order to please the Father by dying as our substitute, the Lamb of God.

Jesus’ willingness to lay down his own soul and physical life is the only reason we have been given the opportunity to lay down our own. Disciples are called to follow Jesus’ example by willingly dying to the kingdom of self in order to show full allegiance to God.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV)

The essence of discipleship is renouncing our sinful allegiance to self and declaring full allegiance to Christ. This is the part of the significance of water baptism, which is a public declaration of allegiance to our Lord. The symbolism of going down into the water and rising up out of it reflects that we died to our old way of life and now seek to live exclusively for him.

Death to self is all inclusive, yet Jesus usually collects in small payments over a lifetime. Some of us quickly yield large chunks of our soul to his lordship. For others it is a long, tedious, and painful process. Becoming a disciple is comparable to signing a blank check, knowing that Jesus will fill in the amount later, whenever he pleases and for whatever amount he desires.

The kingdom of self prefers a personal Savior to a Lord. A personal Savior will rescue me from hell without intruding on my day to day life, but a Lord requires everything from me.

Jesus vs. the Kingdom of Family

The Bible is full of examples of God’s people being more loyal to their loved ones than to him, and it always has bad results. The first person who comes to mind is Adam. He decided to support Eve in her rebellion rather than obey of God. Abraham listened to Sarah’s unbelief, had a baby through her servant Hagar, and now we have huge international problems as a result. Eli the priest did not call his rebellious sons on the carpet, showing he preferred them over God. (This is God’s account of the matter, as related to the young Samuel (1 Samuel 3:12-14). David failed to properly discipline his son, Amnon, for raping his half-sister Tamar. His lapse of imposing God’s justice on a beloved son set the stage for a seed of bitterness to be sown in Absalom’s heart, which turned to hatred and outright rebellion. The entire kingdom went to war because David loved Amnon more than God. David was a man after God’s own heart, but even he was plagued by competing loyalties involving family.

God wants us to love our families dearly, but without ever allowing that love to hinder our devotion to him.

There may be times when we are forced to choose sides between loved ones and God. Allegiance to Jesus will always lead us to choose the God side.

This is easily seen when a new believer has to elect between following Jesus and retaining a good standing with the family. In Islamic countries, this choice might also include the threat of death. It is somewhat less clear, perhaps, when one spouse wants to fully follow Jesus, but the other does not. Or when children resist their parents and don’t want to attend church meetings with them. Sometimes disciples get weary facing the resistance offered by non-compliant family members and decide to scale back their devotion and obedience to God. All of these situations test our loyalty to God.

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:29-31 (ESV)

Let me conclude by saying that allegiance to Christ is never an excuse or pretext to ignore, abandon, or neglect our loved ones. Faithfulness to family is an earmark of a true disciple (1 Timothy 5:8), as long as it does not pull him or her away from our primary loyalty to God.

Jesus vs. the Kingdom of Mammon

Mammon is one of the most insidious masters of all. In America we consider the pursuit of wealth part of our birthright, along with the pursuit of happiness. Such thinking has even invaded the church in the form of what some call the “prosperity gospel.” While having money is certainly not in itself a bad thing, money is a root of all sorts of evil, according to the Bible.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (ESV)

The average Christian does not understand the pernicious pull of money away from the things of God. When the cost of things is our first consideration when deciding on a course of action, it is possible that money rather than God is at the helm in our lives. When we choose to hoard what we have rather than tithe or otherwise be generous, we are serving the wrong god. The love of money can exist in the hearts of poor as well as the rich. It is an attitude of the heart. Likewise, it is possible to have great wealth but not be owned by it.

Ownership is the central issue. Does God own our money, for which we act as his stewards, or do we imagine it belongs to us?

Jesus made it clear that our possessions can end up owning us if we are not careful.

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:20-21 (ESV)

Jesus vs. the Kingdoms of This World

Before Jesus entered into public ministry, the devil tempted him to pursue the acquisition of power and authority over the kingdoms of this world illegitimately.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9  And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8-9 (ESV)

This was a clear cut case of choosing between competing allegiances.

The kingdom of God is an “imperium.” It is the most glorious and powerful kingdom that will eventually destroy and replace all competing kingdoms. (Daniel 7:13-14)

The devil and earthly authorities and kingdoms seek our unqualified allegiance, just as Satan asked for from Jesus. They want us to bow down to them, in the same way as Nebuchadnezzar demanded that all his subjects bow down to the golden image of himself or suffer death. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused and were thrown into the fiery furnace for their courageous allegiance to God. Jesus or an angel (“one like a son of the gods”) met them there, keeping them alive to the great astonishment of the Babylonian king, which resulted in his conversion of a sort. Allegiance to God’s kingdom may carry a large price tag, but loyalty lived out actually can change the course of history.

There is a great clash between worldly kingdoms and our Lord’s. It is not always apparent, which is especially the case in the U.S., where our democratic republic enlists the cooperation of its subjects, embroiling them in politics and government. (For a in depth analysis, you may wish to read my summary of Between Babel and Beast by Peter Leithart.) We are taught that it is our civic and religious duty to be good citizens. The government has cleverly co-opted religion with our consent. In Paul’s day, it was much different. The governments of Israel and Rome were hostile to the faith, persecuting it even to the death at times. Believers, for the most part, were not tempted to join the government, but kept a safe distance by necessity. Government wants to “suck us into its bowels,” seeks our allegiance, and demands us to die for it, as needed. It claims ownership of our land and other property, which we rent back by paying our taxes. It claims ownership of our children, which we retain if we follow the rules. It licenses nearly everything and even tries to impose limits on what churches can teach.

As long as governments stay within their divinely sanctioned limits of providing order, justice, and protection, things can work pretty well.

It is when government aggrandizes itself and begins taking upon itself what belongs properly to God that our allegiances are tested. Jesus taught that we must give to government what properly belongs to it – honor, taxes, and limited allegiance, but we must give ultimate allegiance to God alone. (Mark 12:17)

When government demands that we disobey God or otherwise violate our consciences, we are required to disobey, while still maintaining a proper reverence for authority.

Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28  "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." 29  Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! Acts 5:27-29 (NIV)

Today we face potential threats from government when it tells us what stance we must take regarding homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion. If things continue to spiral downward, disciples of our Lord may have to choose between obedience to God and obedience to the state, between freedom and imprisonment. In China, believers are routinely imprisoned for not kowtowing to the State. In Islamic nations, martyrdom is often the consequence. But this is all part of God’s wise plan. Whereas government wants to use us to further its ambitions, Jesus asks us to voluntarily offer our lives as part of his plan to bring into line godless powers and authorities. Instead of using the force of arms, God uses the power of martyrdom.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Revelation 12:11 (NIV)

Martyrdom is perhaps the highest form of declaring allegiance to the Lord Jesus. Islam asks its martyrs to die in the pursuit of forcing others to bow to Allah. Christ asks his followers to offer their lives to him as part of his plan to release divine power on the earth to save many souls and bring down every rival kingdom. As the church father, Tertullian, wrote: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Truly God’s ways are not ours!

Conclusion

A disciple lives by faith, which is a combination of declared allegiance to the Lord Jesus and complete trust in the efficacy of the finished work of Christ and the power of outpoured grace through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The secret of the New Covenant is that God not only forgives and reconciles us to himself, but he also lives his own life through us.

Jesus told his followers:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Serving such a God is more of a joy than a requirement, more of an adventure than a duty. Choosing sides in a world of competing allegiances is fairly straightforward, once we understand who Jesus is and what is at stake. Living up to our declared allegiance is impossible on our own, but it is completely doable with God’s help.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

Prayer

Jesus, I confess that you alone are Lord. I give you my heart, my hopes, my dreams, my past, my present, and my future – my life itself. Help me to be loyal to you above all other competing allegiances. I love you more than my own life, my family, money, my beloved country… everything. Holy Spirit I depend on you to live Christ’s life through me. I am not up to doing this alone, and you never intended me to do so. I dedicate myself to your Kingdom and mission and know that you will never ever leave or forsake me. Amen.

Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4  I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5  You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. Psalm 63:3-5 (NLT)
Share this post...

Between Babel and Beast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Peter J. Leithart

This book grows in relevance as our nation declines spiritually, morally, and politically. It is difficult for an American Christian like myself to objectively view his or her country. We may not agree with the author’s points and conclusions, but followers of Christ must seriously consider America’s place as a world empire from a biblical perspective. We must also ponder that nearly every great empire throughout history has somehow managed to co-opt religion to its benefit. I hope you read this with an open mind and a repentant heart. I imagine it will be as difficult for you as it is for me to contemplate that we are a very flawed nation that is perhaps on the verge of catastrophe.

Part One: Empires in Scripture

Chapter One: A Tale of Two Imperialisms

The first chapter examines God’s resistance to man’s attempt to construct a nascent imperial empire at Babel. In opposition to Babel, God introduced his own plan for world order through Abraham.

God’s reign in Zion, not the city-and-tower of Babel, is the center of international order and the hope for global peace… Gentiles formed the boundary of Israel’s land, and as such they were incorporated as the frontier of Yahweh’s empire that had Zion at its capital… and this implied that the Gentile would eventually share in their redemption as light and life spread from Zion to the frontier, from Jew to Greek. (p.11)

Yahweh’s imperial program ran as a tangent to the history of Babel. Yahweh confronted Babel, but instead of sending a chosen army of holy warriors to plunder the great city, He founded His empire by calling Abram away from empire. (p.12)

All this was in preparation for uniting the nations to confess, with one lip, one great Name. (p.14)

…the Gospel of the kingdom is… the gospel of God’s imperium. (p.52)

Chapter Two: Rod, Refuge, Messiah, Beast

This chapter shows how…

The struggle of the Old Testament is not empire versus non-empire, but between rival imperialisms, rival visions for the political salvation of a human race divided linguistically, culturally, and religiously in the wake of the rebellion at Babel. This is why empire is always a seduction for Abraham’s children. For Israel, looking at Babel is like looking in the mirror. (p.33)

Babylon was renewed Babel, associated with the original program of imperial rebellion, false eschatology, sacrifice, and tyranny. (p.19)

When God sent his people into captivity in Babylon, he initiated a new phase of his plan for Israel.

More importantly, by resisting at crucial moments, Daniel and his friends broke the uniformity of Neo-Babelic worship and created fissures in the homogeneous political structure of Neo-Babel. Shemites who once cooperated in building Babel staked out a space of independence… Yahweh scattered citizens of his empire among the nations for a reason, not just to teach Israel a lesson, but to begin forming a martyr-people whose faithful resistance would remake Gentile empire. (p.22)

Leithart defines what it means for an empire to become “beastly.”

The Bible condemns violence, but bloodthirsty injustice is not, in itself, enough to make an empire a beast. Empires turn bestial when they begin to eat the people of God and drink their blood. (p.33)

Babelic empires are founded on the blood of innocents. Bestial empires are founded on the blood of the saints.  (p.53)

The Good News of Empire

Jesus heralded the kingdom or empire of God.

Every time Jesus spoke of Himself as “Son of Man,” He claimed to be the heir of imperial authority, the Emperor who fulfills God’s original anti-Babel imperial promise to Abraham. (p.37)

Leithart claims that God inverted Babel when the Holy Spirit fell on Pentecost.

The pneumatic church became God’s renewed imperium. The Spirit-filled church became the new Zion, the mountain from which Israel’s God rules, from which he reaches out to the Romans and barbarians. It is anti-Babel at nearly every point: many tongues, not one; scattering, not gathering; built on the blood of a willing victim; Jew and Gentile united in God’s work, not in opposition to Him. Yet the ecclesial imperium is at certain points a mirror image of Babel. All tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples confess with one lip that there is one Lord, Jesus. Jesus sends his Spirit to enliven the church as a multilingual, multi-ethnic, multinational empire. (p.38)

The church operates by vastly different ways from Babel type empires.

The fulfilled Israel of the church, by contrast, was founded by the victim not the victimizer. It was a city founded by crucified and risen Abel rather than Cain… The church’s sacrificial practice imitated that of Jesus, as willing martyr-victims mixed their blood with His. Renewal came through violence suffered, not violence enacted. (p.40)

Revelation envisions the delivery of the kingdoms of the world to the victors who overcome by faithful witness to death, the victors who follow Jesus-Victor to victory. (p.50)

Beast and harlot are cleared away to make room for the Bride.  Kings and empires are no longer chosen to shelter the church. Instead, the church as the fifth empire keeps its doors open day and night so that kings from across the sea will be able to enter and pay homage to the Son who reigns from Zion. (p.51)

Part Two: Americanism

Chapter Four: Heretic Nation

American is a new kind of human being… The American was a long time coming. Conceived by Luther, gestated by Calvin, he was born of the Puritan parents who begat America. It took thee labors to bring finally to birth – the English Civil War, from which American Puritans escaped, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. From these emerged a new character type distinguished by a boundlessly optimistic sense of possibility and inventiveness, an extraordinary willingness to try, fail, and try again that has been the astonishment and envy of the world. He is generous, always ready to help. He is sentimental; even American warriors have a soft side. The American is fiercely independent; don’t tread on him, because he won’t be pushed around. He is willing to extend the same independence to others, to live and let live. The American has a dark side; He is utterly confident of the rightness of his every cause, infatuated with violence, insatiably hungry for novelty, not greedy for stuff so much as greedy for new stuff. He assumes that if the world were rightly ordered, it would look like global America and is bewildered by people who resist this utopia. Like most people, the American’s virtues and vices are sometimes hard to distinguish. (pp.57-58)

Christianity played a big part in shaping America because…

…it put forward a new and powerful ideal of community which called men to a life of meaningful participation… the church was an unprecedented social and political form, and it burst the bonds of all prior political categories. (p.59)

The early Puritan settlers conceived of themselves as representatives of God who established the colony…

“to serve the kingdom of God and advance the purposes of the gospel.” (p.67)

…for the Puritan colonists, America was not “just another plot of ground in a fallen world.” Rather, “The new World, like Canaan of old, belonged wholly to God. (p.68)

America was chosen to be the bearer of freedom and also of Christianity, and distinguishing the two was no longer easy to do. (p.74)

Over time, America’s mission changed from the earlier Puritan mission to advance the kingdom of God to the new mission of advancing American ideals.

…America is an inherently globalizing, universal nation. It cannot remain to itself and be itself… It is difficult to see how this is anything more than a sacralization of national interest: America exists to promote Americanism. (p.75)

The Civil War created a nation by a massive effusion of blood…The North offered this massive sacrifice to realize a vision of America’s future. “The contest on the part of the North is now undisguisedly for empire,” wrote a British journal in 1862. (p.79)

Lincoln…speculated that God might want the war to continue until every drop of slave blood is atoned for by the blood of a Union or Confederate solder…In general the war’s terrors and injustices were valorized by reference to Americanist typology and eschatology: mine eyes have seen to glory of the coming of the Lord…not to make men holy, but to make men free. (p.79)

The Revolutionary War had never shaped a coherent sense of the nation as a prevailing object of fealty, over against local communities and regions…Out of the carnage [of the Civil War] a national religion was born, a fresh commitment to the Union that Americans would defend to the death.

The church did not have enough critical distance from this Americanism to speak to it. Some traditional preachers did not address politics at all with the effect of leaving…

“the laity without a moral compass or guide… (p.80)

Sacrifice American style can only go on and on. For in Americanism, this fourth great biblical religion, there is no final sacrifice, no end to bloodshed, until we have rid the world of evil, until the Amer can creed becomes the creed of humanity. (p.81)

Chapter Five: Chanting the New Empire

This chapter compiles quotes from significant early leaders that show that empire was on their minds.

America’s Founding Fathers were not  anti-empire. Quite frequently, they stated the opposite. Washington described America in 1783 as a “rising empire,” and later predicted that the “infant empire” that was born from the Revolutionary War would one day have “some weight in the scale of Empires.” In Hamilton’s opinion, expressed in Federalist #1, America was “the most interesting” empire in the world, and in Federalist #11 he looked ahead to “a great American system, superior to the control of all trans-Atlantic force of influence, and able to to dictate the terms of connection between the Old and New World.” (p.86)

Thomas Jefferson describe our nation as an “Empire of Liberty.” American foreign policy could be called “imperial anti-colonialism.” (p.87) George Washington wrote:

If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by our justice, shall counsel. (p.96)

In short, “during the period of American innocence and isolation,’ the United States had forces stationed on or near every major continent in the world; its navy was active in virtually every ocean, its troops saw combat on virtually every continent, and its foreign relations were in a permanent state of crisis and turmoil.” (p.97)

Congress maintained only a small navy whose peacetime mission was to police the world, enforcing Western standards of behavior,  protecting U.S. commerce, and serving as a general adjunct to U.S. diplomacy… In short, naval captains were doing more or less the same job performed today by the World Trade Organization: integrating the world around the principle of free trade. Freelance imperialism has been a recurring feature of American history. (p.103)

American expansion gained momentum as our nation adopted the belief in its “Manifest Destiny” to acquire all the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific by force of arms or otherwise. The author concludes this chapter:

In early American entanglements around the world, we acted neither more of less foolishly or wickedly than other nations have. Our treatment of the American Indians remains a dark blot on our history… Our problem is not so much the history itself as the mythology or ideology of Americanism that blinds us to the real force of our history. The heresy of Americanism is a shield that allows us to act like Babel while convincing ourselves that we are fulfilling a divine mission on behalf of the human race. Such blindness became more dangerous as America assumed its preminsnt place in the world. (p.109)

Part Three: Between Babel and Beast

Chapter 6: American Babel

The author asserts that in the 20th and 21st centuries the United States remained “nearly as religious as they ever were,” and her sense of purpose “remained as thoroughly infused by American eschatology as it had been in 1620 or 1789 or 1840, though her international actions had become more overtly imperial.” (p.115)

Commerce had expanded everywhere, so that American interests were global, and it should be U.S. policy to protect and promote commerce. (p.116)

The new world order requires a world police, and we should pay our share of the costs of watching the global neighborhood. (p.117)

I would argue that we assumed a lot more than our fair share. John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, believed that…

“peace and civilization would only survive if the United States…exercised dominance over the globe.” (p.120)

“American policy must establish, ensure, and maintain, the dominance of America.” (p.121)

This is a Babelic stance. America conceived of herself as the

“indispensable nation” whose “job is to change the world, and in its own image.” (Condoleeza Rice, p.122)

“We believe everyone should be like us, and we believe that everyone wants to be. And we take steps to help them become like us, sometimes whether they want to or not.” (p.123)

Like Babel, we claim to guarantee international order, but often spread confusion. (p.125)

Americanist ideology gives sacred cover to our pursuit of national interest. (p.125)

He concludes:

When we violently impose our will on the world, we are acting against the better angels of our nature. But we are not betraying our true selves. We are being as Americanist as apple pie. (p.135)

Chapter 7: Among Beasts

This is for me the most sobering chapter, especially in light of increasing Antisemitism and anti-Christian rhetoric by citizens and government leaders. The author states:

America is not a beast, but Americanism could adapt itself to bestial ideology. Though we are not a beast, we enjoy the company of beasts; we send them money, train their soldiers, and have even permitted beasts to write constitutions that leave them free to be beasts. (p.137)

This, of course, relates to our bedfellow relationship with some Islamic nations that hinges upon our strategic and economic interests. The author concludes:

For much of the last century, the United States has forged alliances with repressive despots. During the Cold War, we thought we needed the brutes to stave off the Red Menace. Now, as we wage the war of terror, we say we need friendly beasts to help us deal with the less friendly ones… Realism of this type is not only foolish, but it puts us on the path of great evil…We fund our favorite beasts, then turn a blind eye when they devour the saints. It is a dangerous position, not only for the Christians who suffer at the hands of our allies, but also for the United States. Those who consort with beasts might become bestial, and beasts do not long survive. (p.150)

Conclusion

The author states that “as far as Christians are concerned, the only appropriate response is to repent of being Americanists.” (p.151) He suggests removing the American flag from our podiums and beginning to preach the imperium of the church rather than the U.S.

Throughout Scripture, the only power that can overcome the seemingly invincible omnipotence of a Babel or a Beast is the power of martyrdom, the power of witness to King Jesus to the point of loss and death. American Christianity has not done a good job of producing martyrs, and that is because we have done such an outstanding job of nurturing Americanists who regret that they have only one life to give for their country. (p.152)

Shall America devolve into a beastly nation before our Lord’s Second Coming? We are definitely trending that way. I love my country, but it is important for us to realize that as Christians we can only give conditional allegiance to everything besides Jesus. He is the only one who deserves our unconditional loyalty.

Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18  For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19  They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20  But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21  He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Philippians 3:17-21 (NLT)

Prayer

Jesus, we acknowledge that you alone are Lord and that the nations are a drop in the bucket in your eyes. We believe that your hand has been upon our nation for good in many ways, but we also acknowledge that we have been far, far from perfect. Lord, do not let our love for our country blind us to her faults. Neither let us become anti-American. Lord, we pray for our nation and its leaders. Help us to be a force for good in the world. Forgive us for the many times we have pursued our national self-interest above your principles. Keep us from becoming a beastly nation. As your followers, help us to reserve unconditional loyalty for you alone. If necessary, help us to resist anyone and anything that would try to break that loyalty and allegiance. Jesus, you alone are Lord. Amen.

Share this post...
Share this post...