Why We Don't Wither

"And since they had no root, they withered away." Matthew 13:6b
This verse describes those who had received the seed in The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. Do you recall the specifics of that passage? The Sower sows the seed~ some fell on the hard path and the birds came and snatched them away. Some fell on rocky soil and it initially sprang up, but then difficulties and trials made it wither away~ this seed was not settled, it had no root. Some fell on thorny ground~ the cares of life crowded out the growth. And then some fell on good soil~ and it flourishes. What makes the difference? In answering the question as to why Jesus speaks in parables~ Jesus informs, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not be given." Matthew 13:11b. It is the reason that those who are in Christ never wither but always bear fruit (see Jesus' own explanation of the parable in Matthew 13:18-23). This is a sure proof of our own election in God, that we persevere to the end~ that we don't wither. It is not in my human nature to persevere in trials and difficulties~ it has to be something outside myself or my abilities. It is the sovereign work of my GOD. I thank God today for these words~ "But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." Matthew 13:16

Waiting

"So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land." Genesis 16:3a
Sometimes the hardest thing we have to do is wait. Waiting upon the Lord is one of the certainties of the Christian journey. God is sovereign and is doing what He is doing for His own purposes and our own good. We must learn to wait well. What happens when we don't?

God had informed Abram that He was going to make him a great nation and that through his offspring the nations would be blessed. But it had been a long time since the Word revealed the promise (ten years). When time is all we have sometimes we try and help God out with His plan. Sarai chose to use a little human ingenuity and wisdom to make sure God's promises came true. She offered up her female servant to her husband so that he might have the heir through her. Now as hard as this is for us to understand~ this was not an unusual practice during that day. Everyone was doing it. So instead of waiting upon the Lord's plan~ let's implement the world's way to hurry the plan along. Surely it will be Okay~ our hearts are right, we reason. We are genuine and sincere in wanting what God has promised, right? Wrong! We want what we want and don't care a wit about what God has planned. Notice in Genesis 16 how quickly this human plan turns horribly wrong. This was Abram's sin as much or more as Sarai's~ he was given the responsibility to lead and he failed. We all know what happens with the rest of the story and how this one act still plagues generations today. And it might even have slowed God's plan for the couple due to discipline (it would be 14 more years before Isaac would be born!).

It is hard to wait! But we must learn the lesson well~ God has what's best in store for us, why would we want to short circuit the best? And when we learn to wait upon Him and trust explicitly in His Word~ the time of waiting will be precious because we will be waiting on Him with Him. These are easier words to type than to live.

God said to me....

Has anyone ever said to you "God told me to tell you?"  Usually this person has an issue with you and feels empowered by God to make you a better person.  Or what of a pastor who might say something like this~ "This message was laid upon my heart this morning."  [I have been guilty of this one myself in the past]  I have recently heard a person on TV speak about a "word of knowledge" about the healing of a left ear (the person described explicitly what the one healed was experiencing down to the very sensations.  After a moment of silence, the man with the "gift of knowledge" told someone who was feeling left out in the "ear healing business" because his problem was with his right ear that he too would be healed as well).  This idea is not just relegated to TV preachers (who we all have grown skeptical of)--this happens in the average pulpit of our land as well.  I read recently in a sermon that "words of knowledge" are a legitimate form of knowing God's will for one's life~ if the person has the specific gift.  What are we to make of all this?  What would the Reformers think of all this?  

This is no more that an adding to the Holy Scriptures and we all know what is said about those who do that sort of thing (see Revelation 22:18,19).  Some one might protest?  That cannot be!  But if God says something to someone~ surely if God says it, it becomes just as authoritative as the written Word, right?  God would not contradict Himself!  One bit of clarification is needed here~ I am not speaking about the Holy Spirit of God illuminating your mind to the Holy Scripture and speaking to your heart a real word~ this is legitimate because it is found only in the authoritative Word of God-- the Bible.  

The Reformers were clear in this area~ God speaks through His Word and it alone is authoritative.  Not my interpretation~ but the interpretation!  There is no room for a statement like this~ "That passage may say that to you but not to me."  We are in danger here of elevating our experiences and feelings to the same authority of Scripture when we dally in the areas of "God said to me," "God laid this unique message on my heart for you" or the greatest error of all~ "I have a word of knowledge!"  These statements and therefore this practice is very dangerous and always leads to apostasy and error.  That is what the doctrine of Sola Scriptura delares.  I pray that we reject all other forms of authority today and trust in the sufficiency of God's Word.  The Westminster Confession of Faith says it well- "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men."  

Happy 2010!

I love the New Year.  A new page is turned on the calendar~ an opportunity for a new beginning. Changes to focus upon and resolutions to be made (yes, I believe that resolutions are good if you are diligent to follow through).  But most importantly a new beginning in the long ago commitment to read the Bible through in a year (I am going back to my old system~ start the year reading in Genesis, Job and Matthew.  Read 3 chapters in Genesis and Job and 2 in Matthew until you get to the end of the section.  You can actually read through the Bible twice in one year by just reading 8 chapters a day).  

This morning~ God spoke to my heart after my time of meditating on the gospel yesterday (see prior post).  Colossians 1:23, "if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard."  NASB Says it this way~ "Continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel."  

I needed that word this morning~ God always proves Himself faithful.  Here is to a good year focusing on our God who is worthy of our meditations.  Praise be to Christ!  

The Gospel

As I come to the last post of 2009 I'll consider the precious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As I meditated on the gospel this morning I thought about 2009 and the bittersweet nature of it.  And I thought of the gospel and men of God in the Bible who experienced a similar bittersweet aspect of the gospel.  Men like Jeremiah (read Jeremiah 15), Ezekiel (read Ezekiel 2-3) and John (read Revelation 10:9).  Each experienced this bittersweet aspect of the gospel~ the word of God.  In John's case he was asked to eat the scroll (with the word of God written on it) and it was sweet in his mouth but brought bitterness to his stomach.  I had always wondered about that passage.  I had always been troubled by Jeremiah's complaints in Jeremiah 15~ I understand them more clearly at the end of 2009.  

Paul writes, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel,  for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also to the Greek."  Romans 1:16. The gospel~ what is it?  Good news, right?  And if good news why would Paul make a declaration of no shame?  What is there to be ashamed of?  If a doctor has a cure for an illness threatening to take my life and shares that news with me~ that GOOD news with me~ do I not take that news in joy and want to shout the results from the nearest mountain top for all to hear?  Why then shame?

Because of the nature of the gospel~ or maybe more to the point, because of our natures.  We are corrupt in sin -- our natures are flawed.  Helpless and hopeless are words that describe us.  And yet our natures are inclined to not think this way~ to minimize the problem or to maximize our ability to overcome the problem.  The gospel unapologetically declares that we are LOST with no possibility of a spiritual GPS to find our way.  It declares that we are DEAD spiritually with no possibility of self administered CPR to bring us back to life.  But notice what Paul says, "it (the gospel) is the power of God for salvation!"  The power is in and from God.  There is no power in me.  No power in my fellow man.  No power in our society or culture~ NO POWER! That is to say~ all that man attempts to do to save himself is meaningless activity.  We need a radical remaking.  We need a divine power.  That power is in a crucifixion -- a cross -- a cruel death -- a grave -- a Resurrection!  

This is a scandalous message or folly, right?  Wrong.  It is the gospel.  And it was God-imagined.  God-planned.  God-ordained.  God-wrought.  God-initiated.  God-orchestrated. God-produced.  God-centered.  God alone does all the work for our salvation.  No choice on my part.  One might object~ what about the rest of the verse? "to everyone who believes."  Yes, to everyone who believes.  Who is it that believes? The one in whom God calls.  Let's have Paul answer the question from Romans~ "And those who he predestined he also called and those who he called he also justified." 8:30a [for full effect read both 29 & 30].  This not only makes people ashamed today, it makes them angry.  But this is the gospel.  And what a gospel~ that God's choice is to save sinners!  To the one who has tasted it and seen it as glorious it is sweet.  And to me and my house it is GLORIOUSLY SWEET!      

What is Sola Scriptura?

John MacArthur contributes a chapter in Sola Scriptura entitled "The Sufficiency of the Written Word."  In the chapter he informs what the doctrine means in this helpful quote~ 

"The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.  It is not a claim that all truth of every kind is found in Scripture. The most ardent defender of sola Scriptura will concede, for example, that Scripture has little or nothing to say about DNA structures, microbiology, the rules of Chinese grammar, or rocket science. This or that "scientific truth" for example, may or may not be actually true, whether or not it can be supported by Scripture -- but Scripture is a "more sure Word," standing above all other truth in its authority and certainty. It is "more sure," according to the apostle Peter, than the data we gather firsthand through our own senses (2 Peter 1:19). Therefore, Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter to which it speaks.

But there are many important questions on which Scripture is silent. Sola Scriptura makes no claim to the contrary. Nor does sola Scriptura claim that everything Jesus or the apostles ever taught is preserved in Scripture. It only means that everything necessary, everything binding on our consciences, and everything God requires of us is given to us in Scripture.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to add to or take away from Scripture (cf. Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Revelation 22:18 -- 19). To do so is to lay on people's shoulders a burden that God Him-self does not intend for them to bear (cf. Matthew 23:4).

Scripture is therefore the perfect and only standard of spiritual truth, revealing infallibly all that we must believe in order to be saved, and all that we must do in order to glorify God. That -- no more, no less -- is what sola Scriptura means."

What the modern Church needs

This book I recently listed as one of my "must read" books. I found it while in New Orleans (they had 50% off for graduates at the campus bookstore) and I started reading it yesterday. I have known for about a decade that the five solas were an important outflow of the Protestant Reformation~ solus Christus, sola fide, sola gratia, sola Scriptura and soli Deo gloria (many will recognize the last one from my using it often in signing off on an article or a personal letter to you~ it means Glory to God alone!).

Each of the five solas were important~ Scripture alone being important because it informs us that our final authority in faith and practice is found in God's Word alone. It stresses the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures. The Gospel is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. It also is sufficient to us as Christians as we continue in the sanctifying grace of God. This truth or doctrine was an important aspect of the Protestant Reformation. Prior to the reformers rediscovering this truth--the church (Roman Catholic Church) and its traditions were held as supreme authority~ even making infallible the pope- whom they call the Vicar of Christ. The reformers read and studied their Bible and discovered that the church had wandered far from the right path and they then declared that justification before God was in Christ alone through faith alone because of His grace alone~ discovered in Scripture alone and this is all to the glory of God alone (the five solas).

This book states clearly the Protestant position of the Scripture's authority and parallels it against false Roman Catholic doctrine. The compilers hope that re-establishing the argument might bring a new reformation to the church today~ the modern church has lost its way again. We trust in the sufficiency of human ingenuity, intelligence and entertainment (among other things). We are once again in dire need of a rediscovery of this doctrine of Sola Scriptura. I pray that churches will shed their myriad of human methodologies for the pure and unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Word of God is sufficient enough for the church to preach it and teach it alone and accurately, of course~ for the purpose that God intended.

Please pick this book up and read it and join the compilers in this prayer that we might rediscover this Reformation truth.