We Are Telescopes

WE ARE TELESCOPES

To the world, God is merely a minute abstract entity—perhaps a sheer array of ideals. For God to become the axis upon which all of life is hinged, to them, is acting in pure absurdity and imprudence. In their mind, for any person to see God as more than a mythical being is damning evidence of their gullibility. In condemnatory pity, they gaze upon the devout as a congregation of the naïve. They inquire, with arrogance, “Where is your God?” To them, at the minimum, God is seen as a particle of light that is hardly perceptible in the night sky. We, who are in Christ, should understand through the studying of the Word of God, that our purpose is to enjoy the grace that He has bestowed upon us and extend His glory to the ends of the earth. In John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life, the reader collides with the simple, yet not uncomplicated, question, “What does it mean to glorify God?” The world’s view of God is greatly skewed. Sadly, not only the world’s view of God is off-center, but many in the Church have a minimal view of the Almighty God. Our God is perfectly holy, perfectly just, perfect in love, and exceedingly glorious! Our job is not to magnify God in a way that manipulates people into believing that He does things that He never promises. Our job is to reveal His infinite greatness with His truth. We are not, as John Piper notes, to magnify God in the sense of “making something tiny look bigger than it is,” as with a microscope. Rather, we are to reveal that tiny particle of light that the world sees for what it truly is! The object that, to the naked eye, looks like fragments of light are actually billions of stars gathered into a vast galaxy. The world perceives God as being small and insignificant; we are to be the telescopes that reveal that our God is so much more! This is what it means to glorify—or magnify—God. Not only should we take on the task of glorifying God, but we should enjoy it! People have this misconstrued idea that one either glorifies God with their lives or they pursue their own joy. In actuality, they are the same path. If you want immeasurable joy in your life, then live to the glory of God. If you want to glorify God with your life, then delight in Him! Be a telescope that reveals the greatness of God.

The Enemy Has A Blog

     It sounds like a simple alternative to the Way of Christ. They even use some of the same terminology. Yet, hidden deep within these sugar-coated posts are words that, if followed, damn men to hell. They call it "Theistic Satanism" because it is not as "arrogant or close-minded" as classic Satanism. In fact, they are quite evangelistic. They prey upon every desire of human flesh to entice prospective followers to join them. They say things like, "[We] recognize Satan as the giver of knowledge and a respecter of free will. If Satan stands for anything, He stands for freedom from being under the slavery of anyone or anything. We encourage our members, in their discussion with others who may disagree with our beliefs, to be respectful and confident, but not arrogant. After all, this is how our Father operates, and as His disciples, it’s our honor to do the same." They believe that God and Satan are polar opposites, and that they both exist. However, they follow Satan because he doesn't make you follow a set of rules that ruins your fun. In their own words, "Theistic Satanism, on the other hand, is based on the worship of deity who not only accepts physical pleasure as an ingredient of worship and attaining godhood, but actually encourages it. In contrast to the prudish prohibitions of Yahweh and his forces (designed to keep humanity in bondage – not the fun kind), our Lord Satan is the advocate of our libertarian freedom – in the mind, in the spirit, and in the flesh." Not only that, but they now offer "hope" for an eternal life. "Satan has a glorified body, meaning a body that will never die. He is able to manifest either materially or spiritually. In like manner, as those on the road to godhood, we shall also have glorified bodies. As gods, our material existence will mirror our physical existence, in a presence that is incapable of susceptibility to disease and death. This will not happen in this life, but as we progress towards divinity in the Way of Satan, we will become as He is, an everlasting deity with a glorified body, with the ability to manipulate said body to appear in various levels of materiality."
     If this does not wake a Christian up to the reality that this world needs Christ--then I dare say that Christ may not be in them. This is Romans 1 stuff!

     For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
    Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
    For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
   
(Romans 1:18-32 ESV)

   Theistic Satanism states, "Theistic Satanism, on the other hand, is based on the worship of deity who not only accepts physical pleasure as an ingredient of worship and attaining godhood, but actually encourages it."

    Do you see what the Enemy is doing? THE SAME THING HE HAS ALWAYS DONE! He is playing upon our sinful nature labeling sin as "acceptable" and encouraging it. Theistic Satanism is using hot-button topics such as homosexuality and sexual exploration and declaring in summary, "Join us! We accept it! It's not a sin!" The United States is so shocked that Christians view sexual immorality as a sin, when in reality it should be no shock. It is in our Scripture! If we are going to believe God, we must believe what He has spoken! Do not for one second think that I am perfect. I have committed sins in the sexual immorality category. The beauty of the gospel is not that "If we follow these rules, we can be saved." It is that God chooses to love me despite me because He is full of grace, mercy, hope, and patience. Would a loving God send people to hell? No. However, a perfectly Holy and loving God cannot possibly be in the presence of sin, therefore those still in their sin are condemned to hell, not because God throws them there, but rather because they have sent themselves there by rejecting the atonement for their sin...which is Jesus Christ. 

    To be  perfectly honest, we as believers should not be surprised by the world's decay. We have missed the mark on so many levels that this is to be expected. We have traded grace for a checklist of do's and dont's. We have traded justice, mercy, and humility for arrogance and malice toward anyone who rejects your first attempt at sharing the Gospel. We have traded the Gospel for, as Matt Chandler would call it, "Moralstic Therapeutic Deism." We have stopped talking to God and replaced it with programming in our churches. We have forgotten the verse just prior to the verses that I posted which says,

^"16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”    

^{Are we to blame for the decline of the world around us? Just a question that maybe we should all dwell on. Are living as Christ has called us to live or have we become the religious rule-keepers that the Pharisees were? Are we truly following Christ or a system of similar ideals? The only hope for humanity is the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We must repent. We must pray. We must Believe.}

The Truth about Election and Freewill...

There were times in my life when I was fully opposed to the notion of God's foreknowledge in the sense of who will and will not be saved. Then I read the Bible. There was a brief moment when I began to lean more toward the opinion that God does not truly allow for choice, but instead predetermines who would be saved. Then I read the Bible. Here is the truth about Election and Freewill...I don't understand how they coincide, but they do. Here's what I do know: the transcendent, self-sufficient, self-regarding God of the Universe who created all things and holds all things together has grace upon sinful, wicked, disobedient, pathetic man. God cannot be in the presence of sin because he is the epitome of perfection, therefore we must consider the kindness AND the severity of God. Man deserves hell. period. We deserve the total and eternal separation from the magnificent presence of God. But God, in His grace and mercy, saw fit to send His son to die for our sins on the cross and to rise again because He loves us and for His glory and name's sake. This is what I understand in regard to the tiring debate between Calvinists and Armenians and everyone in between, that it is about the GRACE of God. It is by grace we are saved through faith, not of ourselves so that no man may boast, it is a gift of God. Whether we are simply granted the gift or if we accept the gift ourselves, the key is that it is grace.

PS: Sorry I have not blogged on here in a while. I have been blogging on http://www.subsurfacetheology.blogspot.com

a word to encourage...

The month of September (and even in to the early days in October) was quite the growing experience. I felt emotions ranging from extreme happiness to the pits of sadness, from accomplished to failure...and everywhere in between. I have dealt with difficult people, situations, obstacles, and ministry woes. I'm sure that I have not been the easiest person to deal with...and to the people who may have been affected by my unintentional wrath...I'm sorry. Some of you will look at me and say, "You've been in a bad mood?" I can wear a mask and wear it well (I'm working on it). While preparing a sermon entitled, "Joy in Tribulation," I was reading through James chapter 1. Now, my outlook is little brighter. After reading that and venting to my wife, I have learned to thank God for the difficulty because it is for my spiritual growth and maturity. Thank God for difficult people, they teach you patience and how to love even when it is not easy. Thank God for hard times, because they make the good ones that much sweeter. I hope this is encouraging to you. Cortney--I love you. Thank you for being so patient. Lily--duh. I love you too.

soli deo gloria,
Heath 

Transformed or Influenced?

Part II. This is a more complete statement on my thoughts that came out of Church History class.

Over the course of the past year, I have dedicated much of my time of study to the book of Romans. The book of Romans is considered to be the masterpiece—the pinnacle of the Apostle Paul’s writing. Many of the early church fathers held the book of Romans in the highest regard. Martin Luther wrote, “Night and day I pondered Romans until I grasped the truth. I felt myself to be reborn. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.” John Wesley said of the book, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins….” John Calvin said, “When one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.” Famous 16^th Century Bible translator, William Tyndale, commented, “It is the principle and most excellent part of the New Testament... No man can read it too oft, or study it too well; for the more it is studied, the easier it is; the more it is chewed, the pleasanter it is. . . the more it is searched, the more precious things are found….” The reason that I spend so much time in the book of Romans is because Paul includes the Gospel from Old to New Testament in its entirety, and does not only explain it in its basic detail, but gives instruction as to how we are to live the Gospel in our everyday lives.

Recently, while sitting in my Church History class at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the question was raised “Has Christ ever transformed a culture?” Some would enthusiastically respond, “Yes!” While others would, just as ardently, disagree with them. The professor was sided with the ones who suggested that Christ has never transformed an entire culture. One student, who I consider a friend, was passionately opposed to the professor. The next thirty minutes were intriguing as we heard the opposing arguments to this question. To me, this question seemed to be an easy one in the beginning as I thought, “Yes. Sure Christ has changed a culture.” This brought up thoughts of the Welsh Revival and the Great Awakening. Then, hearing the professor’s arguments, my thoughts seemed to affirm the position against Christ transforming a culture. Then, a question arose within my mind that I truly feel was from the Holy Spirit. What is the difference between transforming and influencing? This is the question that shook up my pre-conceived notions towards the original question. Let’s think about transformation; it is a complete, permanent change. It is when something or someone that has been one way since the beginning is completely altered into something new. What is influence? Influence is the capacity or power of persons or things to have effect on someone or something, lasting or not. The new question that arose in my mind, then, was “Has Christ ever transformed a culture, or has He simply influenced it?” Then as my mind always does, I kept chasing rabbit trails. I cannot answer with certainty the original question, because I departed mentally from the conversation to follow a new question; “Has Christ truly transformed me, or do I simply let Christ influence my life?”

How does this at all tie into Romans? In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul writes “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” How many times in ministry have I heard churchgoers ask the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” I cannot count the amount of times that I have heard exasperated church members complain, “God has not shown them what to do.” To that, I used to say, “Just wait. He will show you.” That suggestion is true, but I also realize now that the statement is also incomplete. For us to really discern the will of God in our lives, we need to definitely wait on the Lord, but we also must ask ourselves, “Have we been transformed, or simply influenced, by Christ?”

I am a musician who enjoys many different styles and genres of music. It is very easy to tell what music I am currently listening to by how it influences my style. But that’s the problem with simply being influenced. Every time a new style becomes the predominant style that I listen to, I begin to imitate that style. The problem with having Jesus as simply an influence in your life is that wind of something shiny and new and more appealing to our flesh can carry us away. We see this in Ephesians, where it is written in verse 14, “…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Jesus did not die and rise again to be an influence in your life. Jesus is not just a good teacher. Jesus is not a self-help expert. Jesus died and rose again so that you could be transformed by making Him the Lord of your life. See, when we follow Christ, it is no longer you or I that live, but Christ living in us. We are completely transformed. Our way of thinking is transformed into how Christ thinks. Our way of viewing the world is transformed into how Christ would view the world. Our view of love and forgiveness is transformed into how Christ would love and forgive—which, by the way, is unconditionally (and quite frankly, a big deal). Our view of giving becomes one of humble sacrifice, just as Christ’s was. We are completely transformed.

In conclusion, take an examination of your life. Are you letting Christ simply influence your life, or are you daily dying to yourself, taking up the cross, and letting Christ be the one who transforms you and lives through you?

Influence or Transformation?

I am sitting here in my Church History class listening to the professor and a student debate about whether Jesus has ever transformed a culture. While listening to the debate, a thought came into my head...Did Jesus ever transform a culture or just simply influence a culture? Then (as is my thought process) I chased a rabbit trail and inquired within my mind, "What is the fine line between influence and transformation?" Then, from there, I began thinking about my own life and the life of my family, friends, and students.The question I asked myself was, "Have I let Christ transform my life or simply influence it?" Is Jesus simply a good teacher or is He Lord of my life? Just a thought. Read Romans 12:2

The Optimist and the Pessimist

I have had a terrible day. There I said it. This morning, I woke up early to get ready to go to school. The day, however, began great. I had the opportunity to sit in my chair and watch TV with my wife and daughter. The time came for me to leave, so I kissed my wife and daughter and walked out the door. When I sat down in my seat, I buckled the seat belt and adjusted the mirror like any good and responsible driver would. I cranked the car...and well let's just say I began day with a near heart attack. The previous day, I must have gotten a little too into Trip Lee's "The Good Life" CD. For those who are movie savvy...the volume knob goes to 11...and it was turned all the way up. After my mild heart attack, I proceeded out of the driveway. The windshield fogged up and would not relent. It was like the atmosphere was determined to blind me so that I would die. Then, waking up a bit, (whether that was from the coffee or the wild white-boy dancing to Trip Lee) I got distracted. I forgot my GPS. I hate Atlanta. I got lost. Then, while trying to navigate my way through the streets (with the help of my dad on my cell phone) I forgot to glance at my speedometer. Instead, I glanced in the rear-view mirror. Blue lights. Polite Officer. Speeding Ticket. Now...I'm lost and a criminal. I finally reached school...greek class. Lost. Speeding Ticket. Greek Class. These three= bad day. Then I read,

5Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God. 

So, as an optimist...bad days are merely opportunities to see how God can transform a bad situation into good. How? By simply remembering his mercies.