Pastor Phil's Blog

Pursuing Holiness

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:29:55 GMT

My recent thinking, Bible study, and meditation has led me into the ‘deep waters’ of the pursuit of holiness, a phrase that comes from Hebrews 12:14. In contrast to so much in our lives today, this pursuit that is not quick or easy. We’re so used to fast food, instant messaging, microwave meals, and online information, the notion of waiting for anything is almost un-American! In fact, it probably is…but it is biblical!

To pursue holiness is to intentionally head in a direction in life that flies in the face of all this world holds dear, to daily seek to take steps that draw us closer to God, and distance us from the ways of the world. At first, it seems like this would mean a life of misery, but then we factor in that Jesus offered “abundant life” to those who followed Him. What we often think of as “abundant life” – according to this world, that means things like lots of money, living in luxury, enjoying the ‘easy life’ – is a cheap imitation, a counterfeit set up by Satan to lure us into his trap. He comes to ‘steal, kill, and destroy,’ but of course, no one would buy that. So he sugar-coats his poison, and at the same time makes the life of following God seem dull and drab.

What are we truly pursuing in life? If we decide to pursue holiness, it will take resolve. Those who belong to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, have begun their new life – eternal life. The full experience of that life does not come during this life, but the closer we follow after God and pursue holiness, the more of it we know! This is something worth pursuing – indeed, nothing else in life can really compare.

A friend sent me a quote from A. W. Tozer this week: “No matter how we argue, true holiness and spiritual power are not qualities that can be once received and thereafter forgotten, as one might wind a clock or take a vitamin pill. Every advance in the spiritual life must be made against the determined resistance of the world, the flesh and the devil.”

Reading this, you might be tempted to think with resignation, “There’s simply no way I can do that! I’m not strong enough!” And you’d be right. In fact, at that moment, you will be closer to taking significant steps in the pursuit of holiness than ever! As my old seminary professor Howard Hendricks would say, “That Christian life isn’t hard; it’s impossible!” You and I can’t live it on our own.

Enter the Holy Spirit, who has been given to every believer…to guard, guide, and empower us. Paul knew the inability of living the new life on his own: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom.7:24). A few lines later he wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom.8:1). Pursuing holiness doesn’t mean “trying harder,” it means “trusting more.” Henry van Dyke’s poem captures well how this pursuit can happen in each of our lives:

With eager heart and will on fire,

I strove to win my great desire.

“Peace shall be mine,” I said; but life

Grew bitter in the barren strife.

My soul was weary, and my pride

Was wounded deep; to Heaven I cried,

“God grant me peace or I must die;”

The dumb stars glittered no reply.

Broken at last, I bowed my head,

Forgetting all myself, and said,

“Whatever comes, His will be done;”

And in that moment peace was won.

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Palm Sunday and April Fools

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:45:41 GMT

This year the Passion Week fell on the first week of April – April 1^st through 8^th. This meant that Palm Sunday, the day we remember the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just five days before His crucifixion, fell on the day often referred to as ‘April Fool’s Day.’ No one is certain how this designation began, but it has evolved into a day when people play practical jokes or hoaxes on each other. For the average school kid, this amounts to saying something amazing, like “Aliens just landed in New York!” (come to think of it, that doesn’t sound so amazing), then saying “April fools!” The idea seems to be that you are a fool for believing whatever they said!

It occurred to me that if ever there was an “April Fools” hoax, it was played out on Palm Sunday. On that day, crowds lined the road into Jerusalem and shouted praises and showered adoration on Jesus. On this day, He was “Hosanna,” a title that suggested they believed Jesus could save them. They shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” indicating they saw Him as God’s chosen Savior. If they really believed these things to be true, their faith would have been life-changing. But it wasn’t. Instead, less than a week later, this same population would shout, “Crucify Him!” “April fools!”

It would be easy to point an accusing finger at ‘those fickle Jews’ and condescendingly shake our heads at their lack of sincerity. How could they treat Jesus like the Lord one day, praising and adoring Him, and then totally reject Him just a few days later? Shocking! But then, perhaps we ought to think of our own actions…how easy it is to lift our voices in songs of praise and adoration to Jesus when we’re together in a worship service, only to live the rest of the week like we don’t know Him!

Who is the real fool? Scripture can help us here! Psalm 14:1 says the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Paul writes that those who do not honor God become futile in their thinking: “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22). But in an ironic twist, while it is crazy foolish to deny or ignore God, those who believe in God are also fools – fools for Christ! Paul refers to himself and other apostles that way (1 Cor 4:10), and instructs Christians, “If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise” (1 Cor 3:18).

What’s the difference between a fool, and a fool for Christ? A fool is one who doesn’t take seriously God or His Word. A ‘fool for Christ’ is someone who takes God and His Word seriously, thus becoming foolish in the eyes of the world.

Think of it: As Paul spells out in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, as far as the world is concerned, the idea of God saving people who simply believe in Jesus is foolish. Some look for signs; others pursue worldly wisdom; God chose to save those who respond to the foolishness (in the world’s eyes) of the gospel. What is that gospel message? Christ died for your sins, and rose from the dead. God says He will save those who believe. Paul writes in v25 that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.”

Time for a new twist on “April fools!” Instead of playing ‘April fools’ and telling people something that isn’t true to fool them, let’s tell them something true that might seem foolish to them – at first. By talking with our friends and neighbors about Jesus this month, we can all be ‘April fools’ for Christ…and share the ‘foolish gospel’ that is actually wiser than men!

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The Pig and the Feeder

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:00:16 GMT

Had a delightful time this week shooting some skeet (truth-be-told, I missed more than I hit), seeing some awesome wild game, and shooting a wild pig. (For proof, see picture.) I’m not an accomplished hunter, but I didn’t have to be. I was in a blind, had a high-powered rifle with a great scope, and 50 yards in front of me was a feeder, which regularly spews out delicious corn so pigs will be tempted to come out of the trees and brush and into the open. This pig did – sniffing, looking around, back-tracking, nervously suspicious the whole way – but it came. The rest is – well, history.

And it got me thinking. Satan has his ‘feeders’ all over the landscape…spewing out his tempting “corn” – what John the Apostle called “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.” The Apostle James tells us exactly how Satan goes “hunting” for us – that is, how he lures us into his deadly traps. He writes that “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).

Satan has ways of luring all of us away from God’s way and into his. Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t sugar-coat its heroes: We get to see them in all their humanness. So we learn that even the “greats” – Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Peter, etc. – everyone is able to be tempted. We’ve all got scars – some more obvious than others, but when we stop trying to hide behind our spiritual facades, we’ve all got our foibles. The great thing about our spiritual lives is that – unlike the pig – we get to learn from ours. But it strikes me as obvious that we never will, if we don’t stop pretending they don’t exist.

Over more than a quarter-century of ministry, I’ve seen too many Christian leaders fall. They denied the warning signs, took chances with sin, played ‘fast and loose’ with the commands of Scripture, and in a tragic twist on the words of James 1:22, proved themselves to be hearers of the word only, and not doers. I am no better than they are – indeed, only a misguided self-righteousness would ever claim that. Every seasoned saint can recognize in themselves what Paul saw in himself near the end of his life, that he was the “chief of sinners.” But they can also recognize the awesome grace of God.

Asaph wrote in Psalm 73:2-3, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” What follows is a veritable step-by-step description of the kind of thoughts which entice us to evil. Asaph is at his wits’ end – “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me – until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end” (verses 16-17). God invites us to come to Him with our struggles, our temptations, our pains – not to excuse them, but to expose them, to show them for what they really are, and to replace them with His grace.

James exhorts us to “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). The hymn “Near To The Heart of God” reminds us that “There is a place of quiet rest, a place where sin cannot molest; There is a place of comfort sweet, a place where we our Savior meet; There is a place of full release, a place where all is joy and peace…Near to the heart of God.” To every believer, that is a place to pursue! Satan is trying to get us all ‘out in the open’ where he can bring us down.

What do we need? Places ‘near to the heart of God’ where we find safety and strength. We need to be in the Word, in prayer, in a small group with other believers, and in regular fellowship in a local church.

Nothing like a little hunting to teach a lesson…so learn a lesson from the pig and the feeder…and draw near to God.

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Let us Pray

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:16:24 GMT

Have you ever wondered why prayer is so hard? Consider what we’re talking about here: You are invited by the eternal God, Creator of the universe, to an intimate one-on-one meeting. At this meeting you not only will be able to talk to Him about your life, you will also be allowed to share with Him your needs, burdens, doubts, and concerns, and He will listen to you! On the face of it, you’d think this would be the kind of thing Christians would line up for! Why not?

Hebrews 11:6 contains a phrase that bears reflection here: He who comes to God must believe that He is… If you’re going to come to God, you need to have settled that God exists, that – to borrow from the late Francis Schaeffer – He is there! That same chapter in Hebrews reminds us that faith (believing) is “the conviction of things not seen” (v1). We can’t see God the way we see each other – physically – so we must believe He is there.

When we do – even in feeble faith – believe God is, and come to Him in prayer, the results are out of this world. Looking for relief from stress? Go to God in prayer. Need wisdom for touch decisions ahead? Pray about it. Facing a major trial in life? Give it to the Lord in prayer. Have a loved one who is being thrashed by Satan? Lift them up to the Lord in prayer. The hymn What A Friend We Have in Jesus reminds us:

What a friend we have in Jesus; All our sins and griefs to bear;

What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.

Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear;

All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.

Of course, anything this good, and this positive, and this powerful, isn’t going to be easy – since the enemy of our souls is going to attack it at every turn. You see, Satan knows all about God. He was cast out of heaven for rebellion, and knows that nothing can impede us spiritually if we are plugged into our heavenly Father in prayer. So guess what He does? He tries to get us to pray to someone – or something – else.

In his classic Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis records this bit of advice from the older demon Screwtape to his young nephew Wormwood, on what to do when his “patient” (the Christian he is trying to defeat) starts to pray:

If you look into your patient’s mind when he is praying…the object to which he is attending…is a composite object containing many quite ridiculous ingredients. There will be images derived from pictures of the Enemy as He appeared during the discreditable episode known as the Incarnation… I have known cases where what the patient called his “God” was actually located – up and to the left at the corner of the bedroom ceiling, or inside his own head, or in a crucifix on the wall. But whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it – to the thing he has made, not to the Person who has made him.

I thought of this when a week ago a local church invited people from the community to a session entitled (I am not making this up), “How to Pray Without Talking to God.” The speaker seemed to think this was a good idea. The ad for the meeting stated, “The good news here is that you can pray without believing in God and that you can have a rich and fulfilling spiritual practice without adhering to a set of creeds or dogmas.” The speaker encouraged people “to look within, rather than outside themselves for a God in the sky, for the spark of the divine that is at the core of their being.”

On a light-hearted note, suppose I offered you to come over for dinner without food? Or to sing a song without chords, notes, or lyrics? Or to dance without any movement? Or enjoy a view of nothing? Or to read a book without words? We would say these are all illustrations of the absurd. So too is the idea of praying without believing in God! This is Satan’s trick, to get us looking into ourselves, seeing within ourselves the “god” we need (in case you’re wondering, this is what Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden to get her to sin), generating a good feeling of self-assurance. But when we’re falling, and reach up for a Divine hand, none will be there.

Whether you feel weak or strong in your faith, we all need to pray, believing in God, to present our lives, our praise, our thanks, our confession, and our needs before Him. Forget the gimmicks, no psychological ploys are needed to make you feel better, no inward imagination to put in the place of God. Just believe that He is, and come to commune with Him.

Just remember Who He is!

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Komen to Our Senses

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:12:10 GMT

There’s been some progress in breast cancer research recently, which is great news for the millions of women who face the threat of the disease every year. But the biggest battle right now may be in what direction the largest fund-raising organization for breast cancer research takes in the coming year. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has for years been fending off reports that they were linked with Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America. This was especially egregious, given that medical research indicates a direct link between abortion and incidence of breast cancer! In effect, Komen was raising money to research a cure for breast cancer, then passing some of that money on to an organization whose single predominant function was to perform abortions, which causes breast cancer!

Komen denied it’s involvement, or said that its funds only went to fund breast examinations, and the story held up – until this year. Then Komen announced they were no longer going to send grant money to the abortion giant, and a firestorm ensued. Even though Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms, the only recognized way to accurately screen for breast cancer, the giant organization attacked Komen. The result? At least for the time being, some relationship between the two groups will continue. But now…the truth is known.

Karen Handel, until last week Komen’s Senior Vice President, resigned and revealed ‘the rest of the story.’ Komen has never been a political organization, so they were ‘blind-sided’ by what Handel called Planned Parenthood’s “pre-meditated” campaign, a “vicious attack on a great organization,” what she termed “nothing short of a shakedown to coerce a private entity to give them grants.” She concluded: “Komen is a breast cancer organization. It’s not an organization that knows guerrilla campaigning and guerrilla tactics like Planned Parenthood unleashed on Komen. … This was never about the fight against breast cancer for Planned Parenthood. What it was about, remains about, is the fight to advance Planned Parenthood’s agenda. And they sucked Komen into the middle of it, and they used them in all of this. It’s a disgrace.” The ‘cat’s out of the bag,’ now, so-to-speak; hopefully, Komen will be able to finally break from supporting the biggest abortion provider in America.

In the ongoing culture war which is being played out on the American landscape, this is a vivid illustration of what is at stake. No one can call this a ‘conservative vs. liberal’ issue – it’s a question of an organization which raises money to find a cure for breast cancer giving that money to places that actually have something to do with finding and providing a cure for breast cancer. But for a staunchly liberal organization like Planned Parenthood, which loudly proclaims a right of “choice,” it is clear the only choice they allow is the one they favor. Increasingly, issues like this are surfacing, and for those who defend biblical morality, such as seeking to end abortion, affirming that only a man and a woman constitute a true marriage, and declaring that homosexuality is an immoral lifestyle which destroys lives, the vicious attacks are ‘Komen’!

Examples of such attacks have increased in recent days. It’s time for Christians to recognize that as we stand for Jesus Christ and hope for a fallen world, we implicitly expose deeds of darkness, and those who embrace such deeds will not be happy. It should not surprise us, therefore, when a three star general is not allowed to speak at West Point because he is an out-spoken Christian. We should recognize the encroaching evil when religious institutions are told they must ignore their conscience and provide birth control and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees, that we all must pay for abortions in a government-mandated health care program, that military chaplains must perform “same-sex weddings,” that no Bibles or religious items can be brought to patients at military medical facilities, that all federal agencies must promote the acceptance of homosexuality internationally, and on and on.

Perhaps it’s time all of us were “Komen” to our senses! The apostle Paul gave a clarion call for believers to stand for truth and expose evil in Ephesians 5. We are to be “imitators of God” (1), to “not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you” (3), for these things bring “the wrath of God.” (6). Paul then writes (verses 7-16):

Therefore, do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light… And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light… For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

A few verses later, Paul reminds us that we are all in a battle – not against people, even those who are seeking to impose evil on our society, but against “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Our response should be to be prepared (put on the armor of God – see Eph. 6:13-20), to not shrink from exposing evil, and always be ready to give an answer to those who will listen (1 Peter 3:15).

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What you talkin’ about?

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:27:21 GMT

The late Gary Coleman starred years ago as Arnold Jackson in the television comedy Different Strokes. In the show, Coleman became famous for his character’s catchphrase, “What you talkin’ about, Willis?” In this, my second blog entry, I figured someone might be wondering (imagine Arnold Jackson saying this), “What you talkin’ about, Phil?” What subject drives me more than any other? What can someone who frequents this blog know they’re going to be reading about? What am I going to be talkin’ about? The answer is, I’m gonna be talkin’ about the gospel of God’s grace.

It is now just over half a century since I trusted Christ as Savior. As a young boy, my knowledge of difficult theological questions or life issues was limited; about the only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to go to hell. That was enough for my mother to sit me down and explain the ‘good news’ that God loved me, that sin separated me from God, but that God had sent Jesus to earth to die for my sin, and that by believing in Jesus I could have my sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life.

That message is still the focal point of my life, now fifty years later. In future incarnations of this blog, we will discuss a wide variety of biblical, theological, and practical issues. Over the years, I have come to see the importance of applying biblical truth to every area of our lives – that God’s truth is not only for spiritual concerns, but for the ethical, financial, moral, sexual, academic, career, relational, and every other area of life. But it all starts with a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. So before we tackle some of those other areas, I thought I’d take this blog and talk about the difference knowing God makes in a person’s life.

My “Exhibit A” for this blog is Rich Suplita, a psychology prof at the University of Georgia who I read about recently. Rich grew up in a Christian church that got the gospel all wrong: It equated salvation with good works. Behave yourself, and God loved you. Step out of line, and you’re eternally doomed. That isn’t good news – it’s bad news. Suplita eventually had had enough. The kind of God who gave a gift of salvation, then made assurance of that salvation dependent on his ability to stop sinning, just didn’t jive. Of course, that kind of “salvation” isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Suplita didn’t know God – he knew a form of religion that is no more than a prison of guilt.

Unable to believe in this kind of “God,” Suplita went in the opposite direction. All the way! He embraced atheistic humanism, earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Georgia in 2005, and by 2010 was a popular teacher there. He sponsored the UGAtheist Club, and would stand in the University of Georgia’s Tate Plaza holding a hand-made sign that read “Ask an atheist” (that’s him in the picture)! He took on all comers – in his own words, “I was trying to offer an atheistic apologetic of how you can explain whatever happens to be true through the lens of atheism, and I think I was pretty good at that.” Then something happened. Suplita finally got a taste of the real ‘good news’!

A year ago, around Easter, Suplita went to an event at Tate Plaza sponsored by a local church. He listened to the message. He talked with some of the church members. They encouraged him to read the Gospel of John again, to reconsider what the Bible said. A few weeks later, Suplita came to faith in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Now when he visits Tate Plaza, he’s the one sharing the gospel.

Suplita says that there still is an existential crisis in the world, but "Only when you postulate an eternal God that you can actually have some sort of meaningful relationship with can you get around that existential crisis." Belief in the existence of God, the invitation to have a personal relationship with Him and the opportunity to live to bring Him glory were the answers to the meaning of life that he was looking for. Only when he saw that there was life after death and a purpose for life here today did he have hope, security and a reason for getting up in the morning. "It's helped give me peace in that sense, in that my life's about something and the lives of my daughters are about something that is lasting and enduring and can never fade away," he said. "And there is intrinsic hope in that."

The Bible is clear, and the message is simple: Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31). Stop trying to do enough to deserve eternal life; Jesus paid the price for all your sins. Believe in Him, and receive the gift of eternal life. If you still have questions, a good website to check out is http://www.faithalone.org/gospel.html.

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My first blog

media@newbraunfelsbible.org — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:34:58 GMT

While most of the world, it seems, has transitioned into communicating mostly in cyberspace, I have resisted. If I’ve had something to say, I’ve ‘put it out there’ in newsletters or periodicals – the kind that are still printed on paper. Electronic communication – like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. – is much quicker and pervasive. The amount of information, personal or public, true or false, meaningful or nonsense, that fills the internet and other digital communication networks in a given day now, outstrips what came out in a year when I was born. There is no way to keep abreast of what is happening in the world – now that everything can be reported (even what you had for breakfast) and passed on almost simultaneously – and anyone who wants to have a life has to select what to take the time to read.

With this in mind, I hesitantly enter the blogosphere – where billions of words have poured forth from a myriad of authors, all who consider their contribution a worthwhile addition to this information glut. Since I am often critical of what others have written, I won’t exempt myself from the same standard. What will make what I write worth the investment of someone’s time? If it is true, to paraphrase the words of the wisest man who ever lived, that “the writing of many blogs is endless, and excessive devotion to them is wearying to the body” (Ecclesiastes 12:12), why should anyone read mine?

My response is that what I have to say is only worth reading insofar as it is tethered to God’s Word. The topics I discuss may not always come directly from a biblical passage, but the opinions I give and the exhortations I make will, I trust, always find their ultimate source in the truths found in God’s Word. Even this will not mean that what I say is always right, but I will endeavor to reflect as truthfully and faithfully as possible what Scripture teaches.

For those of you who follow, may our times together be mutually beneficial, fulfilling the words of Proverbs 27:17:

“Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.”

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