Complete the Thought (CTT)

When quoting scripture it is vitally important that we not pluck small segments out of context. Sometimes that means reading the verses leading up to the quoted text… many times it involves reading on beyond the quoted text. Sound doctrine demands we check our cliches, church-isms, and quick-quotes against the whole of scriptures, lest we deceive ourselves and those who follow.

CTT | Will Man Rob God?

Faithful Stewardship Leave a comment

Today’s post is a continuation of sorts from Monday’s CTT post, “Sow a Seed?”

It is time to deal with the issue of the Tithe. This will not be a short post. The issue of “tithing” is one of great abuse in modern-day churches. Let us begin with the most abused proof-text found in Malachi.

Malachi 3:8-10 (ESV)

8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Sometimes, even this proof text is reduced only to verse 10 in order to present a quid-pro-quo promise of prosperity. Is this valid? No. Let’s work through the context of this passage.

The Context of Malachi

This book is one (of many) of Prophecy. Though an exact time-frame isn’t possible to nail down for Malachi, this book was written after the Exile from Babylon and after the temple was rebuilt and worship resumed. This book of prophecy is intended for a specific people for a specific purpose. Let’s look at the first chapter to see how it plays out.

Malachi 1:1-5 (ESV) | The Lord’s Love for Israel
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

The very first section is addressed to Israel. God declares “I have loved you” to Israel, and then God repeats Israel’s complaint of “How have you loved us?”. Israel is suffering and blaming God for it. They question God’s love for them. God’s answer to them is interesting. He points to Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel) and Esau. God’s Covenant with Abraham didn’t extend to Esau, but to Jacob. Indeed, Israel is suffering, but not like Edom. God declares that once Israel sees Edom remain in ruin while they receive His promise, they’ll Praise God for His Greatness. Now the next section.

Malachi 1:6-14 (ESV) | The Priests’ Polluted Offerings
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

After addressing Israel as a nation, the Lord specifically calls out the sin of the priests. This is no small matter. We’ll see just how serious in the next chapter.

Malachi 2  (ESV) | The Lord Rebukes the Priests
1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

God is invoking His covenant with Levi. The priests had forgotten their place. They had profaned the Covenant of Levi.

Malachi 2:10-16 (ESV) | Judah Profaned the Covenant
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! 13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Malachi narrows the language a bit in the next portion to that of Judah, which brings God’s current reproach into the present-day of Malachi, for only Judah, the Southern Kingdom remains after the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles. God preserved Judah by covenant, for the Messiah is to be the Lion of Judah. Jerusalem and the Temple are within Judah, so God has not moved away from the Priests just yet, God is calling out the sin of Judah that have been blessed off on by the Priests. Malachi is confessing the sin of Judah before God and before the Priests by way of accusation. This confession should be coming from them, but Malachi is offering them while prophesying the consequences should they refuse to repent. He closes out this section with a Word from the Lord. This is another one of those places in Scripture where Adultery and Idolatry are held in equality. Both demonstrate faithlessness.

Malachi 2:17 (ESV) | The Messenger of the Lord
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

Not only has Israel doubted, the priests profaned the covenant of Levi, and Judah been faithless… they have declared evil doers “good in the sight of the Lord” and even claimed that He delights in evil doers. Remember what the Apostle Paul closes out Romans 1 (ESV)

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.

Now, we’ve caught up to Chapter 3. Let’s see how it flows into our proof-text.

Malachi 3  (ESV)
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Here we have a Messianic prophecy. If you’ve ever been puzzled by Jesus’s harshness toward the Chief Priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees, think back to Malachi.

Malachi 3:6-15 (ESV) | Robbing God
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. 13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

So, here we are. It really didn’t take very long, 3 short chapters. Is this some generic proclamation of “principles” such as Proverbs? No. This is a specific rebuke to the children of Jacob, regarding the covenant with Moses and Levi. God points out that they had turned aside from His covenants and statutes from the days of their fathers. That would be the covenants and statues handed to them via Moses. They were indeed under a curse, the Mosaic Curse. You don’t need to guess or divine what curses were being invoked, they come from the Law. Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (ESV). Here are a few relevant examples:

  • Deu 28:23 And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
  • Deu 28:32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.
  • Deu 28:33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

So you see, Malachi isn’t saying that failure to give 10% (tithe) is the root of the curse, nor is he saying that simply tithing unlocks divine financial blessing. God is calling Israel to repent and return to Him under the Mosaic Covenant.

Bro, Do You Even Tithe?

The obligation of the Tithe can only be found in the Mosaic Covenant. Before the Covenant, it was freely given as an act of worship and thanksgiving to God by Abraham. So, if we are talking about the “cursed portion”, “robbing God”, “bringing the full tithe to the storehouse” we must be talking about the Mosaic Covenant. Let’s give it a look.

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 (ESV) | Tithes
22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

What does it mean that the Levite has no portion or inheritance? Well, let’s look to their portion as recorded in the book of Numbers.

Numbers 18:21-32 (ESV)
21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance.24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance.Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

So, are they then expected to offer a Tithe? Yes.

Numbers 18 (ESV) cont…
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. 27 And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”

Finally, we’ll look in Leviticus at a key conclusion statement after the instructions on Vows and the Tithe:

Leviticus 27:30-34 (ESV)
30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

The Mosaic covenant cannot be kept anymore. There is no Earthly Temple where God chooses to Make His Name Dwell. You don’t Tithe, not in accordance with the Law of Moses. Therefore, you do not incur the curses or the blessings of the Law as found in Deuteronomy 28. You simply don’t. We are not grafted into the Mosaic Covenant. We are partakers in a better covenant.

Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant

Hebrews 8 (ESV) 
8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Closing Thoughts

Is it a sin to give a tithe, as in 10% of your income? No. Not at all. Is it a sin to encourage brothers and sisters to shoot for 10%? No. But be very careful in your “encouragement”. Do not offer them promises that are not for them, and do not place a yoke on their necks that you are unable to bear. We cannot keep the Law of Moses by our own doing. Jesus kept the Law and His righteousness is imputed to us by Faith, not by works of the Law. God loves a cheerful giver, indeed. God blesses those who give freely and not under compulsion. He also punishes those who would abuse His children and cause even the littlest one to stumble. Fear the Lord, and know that we are part of the New Covenant, secured by the Blood of Jesus, our Great High Priest.

Hebrews 9:23-28 (ESV)23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Amen. We look forward to the Great Day of His Return.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

CTT | Sow a Seed?

Faithful Stewardship Leave a comment

If you’ve spent any amount of time listening to a televangelist or traveling revival preacher or faith healer you’ve undoubtedly heard the “principle of sowing and reaping” leading into a charge or challenge or even command to “sow a seed offering” into their ministry. Is that biblical? No. God did not institute a money tree. There are no “money seeds” that you can sow to reap money as the fruit of a money tree.

Which came first?

Genesis 1:9-13 (ESV) | The Third Day

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

As with all of creation, God made the plant/animal/person first and provided them with the ability to reproduce via seed. Of the fruiting plants, the seed is found in its fruit. Why am I making a big deal about this? Because seed comes from harvest. Also, seed is bound to its own kind. There is indeed a principle of sowing and reaping, but the relationship between the seed and the harvest is fixed.

Christian Giving

Galatians 6:1-10 (ESV) | Bear One Another’s Burdens

6 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Here, we see the Apostle Paul encouraging the elders and spiritual leaders to pastor the congregation, particularly those caught in any transgression so that they might be restored. Pastoral care must be done carefully, gently, and humbly. These good works are sowing to the Spirit. Paul then says  Let the one who is taught the Word to share all good things with the one who teaches. It is fitting for a pastor’s needs to be met by the congregation he shepherds, and for the church to seek material aid from other churches.

2 Corinthians 9 (ESV) | The Cheerful Giver

1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;     his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Verse 6 gets abused heavily by extortionists in the pulpit. Notice verse 10, God supplies the seed to the sower. Our giving is to be a willing gift, not as an exaction (v5). There is no quid pro quo going on here, yet that is often how this verse is preached. God will multiply our seed for sowing and in crease the harvest of righteousness in keeping with how we sow. But pay attention to the fruit, in which we find the seed. Remember Gal 6:8a, For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption… seed bears after its own kind. Proverbs 22:8 (ESV) Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail. 

Is God bound by the “Principle” of Sowing and Reaping?

There is a very dangerous implication in much of the fleecing sermons alleging a so-called “principle of sowing and reaping” and the compulsion to “sow a seed offering” (of course into their pockets), and that is the implication that unless you “sow a seed offering” God is unable to bless you. Many of the more brazen con-artists (false teachers) will rattle off a list of things God can’t do for you unless you “sow a seed” into their ministry: career advancement, miraculous healing, recovery, financial blessings, etc. So, is God limited by your failure to “sow a seed”? No. He isn’t bound by this so-called principle. We’ve spent the past several weeks of our Gospel Wednesday segment looking at the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Gospel According to Matthew chapters 5-7. Let’s look again at what Jesus taught in the middle of the sermon:

Matthew 6:19-34 (ESV) | Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The money-grubbers will twist this passage to say “you can’t serve God and Money; therefore, you should give them your money so that God can then be allowed to bless you”. That statement cannot be justified in this or any other passage in the Bible. If you are being coerced into to giving so that you might obtain a financial blessing, you are actually being tempted to “Lay up for yourselves treasures on earth“.  You cannot serve God and money. So attempting to “sow a seed offering” by diverting money you owe your creditors so that God will be forced (quid-pro-quo) to bless you with more money is folly. God looks at the heart, and He is not mocked, what you sow you will reap. If you sow to your own flesh, from it you will reap corruption.

Identify the Tree

So, we’ve established that is it right for us to give, and to give generously, willingly, and cheerfully, particularly to those who have taught us God’s Word. But we also see there is danger in sowing to the flesh and in sowing sin. We need to learn to identify the false teacher. Again, let us turn to a portion of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:15-20 (ESV) | A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

The fruit of a false prophet is what he teaches, his doctrine. Reflecting back on the third day of creation, remember that the fruit is for bearing seed. A false teacher who brow-beats the congregant compelling them to give him money in exchange for some undetermined blessing from God is sowing to his own flesh. And there are many hidden in the church. Jesus taught against it, charging us to beware of false prophets by their fruits. Paul charged Timothy to be on guard against such false teachers right after giving the qualifications for Elders.

Titus 1:10-16 (ESV)

10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Those are indeed very strong words of rebuke. A sermon that is taught specifically to raise funds via quid-pro-quo promises is false teaching. That individual should be silenced. The role of the pastor is to preach and teach the Word of God, not raise funds, and not to compel others to give money and NOT to offer promises that God will bless those who give them money in ways He won’t bless those who do not give.

Conclusion

We are to give willingly, generously, cheerfully, and faithfully to the ministry of the Gospel. We are to take care of our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ not just in our own local church but in the Church abroad. We are also to share good things with the one who teaches the Word of God, our Pastors and Overseers. However, we must also be on guard against false teachers/prophets, those who would seek to selfish gain and who are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. There are no Biblical money trees, and those who lay up treasures on earth will lose it all to moth and rust. Do not be like them. You will know them by their fruit. Trust in the Lord and in His Word. He who takes care of the birds who neither sow nor reap will also take care of His adopted children. Be anxious for nothing. God does not need our good works, our neighbors do. So do good works for others as an extension of the Grace you’ve received from God.

Jude 1:24-25 (ESV) 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus, Jorge

CTT | Christian Bookstores: A Modern-Day Aeropagus?

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I write this post with a heavy heart. Rather than share a Bible study to help right a wrong, today I will be sharing a lament from a trip our family made this past Saturday. My wife and I spent much of the weekend discussing this matter, and she has been such an encouragement to me in this.

Background

Last Friday, my wife told me she wanted to upgrade her Bible to a nice journaling ESV Bible. Her current Bible is one of those NIV “Women of the Bible” Study Bibles that I got her in our first year of marriage (before this blog existed), and she likes to take notes in the bible and we now spend our study time in the ESV at home and at church. I saw a great one online, but I also heard on a local Christian Radio station that Family Christian Bookstore was opening a new hard site locally, so I thought it might be better if my wife could hold the Bible and inspect it to see if that’s what she wanted.

The Trip

So we went to the newly opened bookstore. There was a mobile van for a local radio station I didn’t recognize outside, but otherwise not much fanfare. One of the nice ladies took a liking to our little ones and offered some stickers and puzzles as she led us into the store. My eyes were following my little ones as they carefully followed the associate to the counter to get their goodies, and then I looked at the table that was laid out before me, front-and-center at the main entrance to the bookstore.

DiscountFalsehood

 

My heart just sunk… and then my pulse began to race. I just wanted to look at Bibles. I’m not here for this garbage. Why is this selection here? 50% off? Family Values (okay, kudos for the word-play on “values”)? With Easter Sunday coming up, this selection just infuriated me… John Hagee’s 4 blood moons nonsense, Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling mysticism, and the typical fare of Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Johnathan Cahn, and Joyce Meyer.

And then I saw one book cover with a crown of thorns on the cover. In large print, the title was “The Day I was Crucified”. I didn’t want to dare hope it would be a Gospel book, especially among all of the other titles on 50% sale here… but I thought, “Maybe the author is proclaiming the Gospel and saying he was crucified with Christ by Faith”. And then I read the subtitle:

The Day I Was Crucified: As Told by Christ Himself by Gene Edwards

Details

Take a journey alongside Christ and experience the depths of his love in this recounting of the harrowing crucifixion, as if told by Jesus himself. Master storyteller Gene Edwards invites readers to encounter history’s most powerful and defining moment unlike ever before.

No work of modern literature can usher you so powerfully and intimately into the Savior’s heart like The Day I Was Crucified.

Product Details:
Pages: 208
Release: 01/2015

Can I just tell you how badly I wanted to scream in the middle of the store? I didn’t. It is one thing to listen to someone imagine what one of the Disciples or Old Testament figures might have been thinking as fallible human beings… but this author presumes to write a work of fiction from the perspective of God the Son on the day He laid down His life for our sin?! And this thing was published? It’s being sold in a Christian Bookstore? My eyes went back to the several piles of “Jesus Calling”. Further back in the store, there was an entire end-cap dedicated to Sarah Young’s book… and there was even a youth and children’s version for sale.

Not a Christian Bookstore

I realized I wasn’t in a Christian Bookstore. I was merely in a spiritual exchange brokerage house, a place where anyone seeking literature of a spiritual nature can come and peruse various spiritual books just loosely tied to a “Christian” theme. Entire sections dedicated to “Charismatic Interests” and most of them boldly including “Mysticism” and “Mystics” in their titles! In the Bible section, you find “the Voice” and “the Message” parodies intermixed with all of the others. I only mention these because they were the half of the store I had to walk through to get to the Bibles.

Now, you might be asking, “What would it take for you to consider it a Christian bookstore? If it agrees with you?” That would be a fair question and potentially a valid rebuke. My definition of a Christian Bookstore would one that centered on Christ rather than on keeping it’s demographic as wide open as possible to make the most money. It’s not enough to simply be a bookstore free from nudity and violence… in many ways, peddling so much false teaching under the guise of being a Christian bookstore is more dangerous… because unsuspecting immature Christians are trusting the store to be selling valid material. And that’s when it hit me… they reach millions of people with this garbage… Churches organize their small-groups (and sometimes Sermon series) around this tripe… and we wonder why the Church is questioning the inerrancy of scripture?

The Aeropagus

Let’s do some history study before we look to the scripture reference that lead to the title for today’s blog.

Areopagus,  earliest aristocratic council of ancient Athens. The name was taken from the Areopagus (“Ares’ Hill”), a low hill northwest of the Acropolis, which was its meeting place.

The Areopagite Council probably began as the king’s advisers. Early in the Archaic period it exercised a general and ill-defined authority until the publication of Draco’s Code of Law (c. 621). Membership continued for life and was secured by having served as archon, an office limited to the eupatrids (Greek: eupatridai, “nobles by birth”). Under Solon (archon 594 bc), the composition and authority of the council were materially altered when the archonship was opened to all with certain property qualifications, and a Boule, a rival council of 400, was set up. The Areopagus nevertheless retained “guardianship of the laws” (perhaps a legislative veto); it tried prosecutions under the law of eisangelia (“impeachment”) for unconstitutional acts. As a court under the presidency of the archōn basileus, it also decided cases of murder.

For about 200 years, from the middle of the 6th century bc, the prestige of the Areopagus fluctuated. The fall of the Peisistratids, who during their tyranny (546–510) had filled the archonships with their adherents, left the Areopagus full of their nominees and thus in low esteem; its reputation was restored by its patriotic posture during the Persian invasion. In 462 the reformer Ephialtes deprived the Areopagus of virtually all its powers save jurisdiction on homicide (c. 462). From the middle of the 4th century bc, its prestige revived once again, and by the period of Roman domination in Greece it was again discharging significant administrative, religious, and educational functions. (reference: Areopagus | Greek council)

And from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (via Blue Letter Bible)

This hill belonged to (Ares) Mars and was called Mar’s Hill; so called, because, as the story went, Mars, having slain Halirrhothius, son of Neptune, for the attempted violation of his daughter Alicippe, was tried for the murder here before twelve gods as judges. This place was the location where the judges convened who, by appointment of Solon, had jurisdiction of capital offences, (as wilful murder, arson, poisoning, malicious wounding, and breach of established religious usages). The court itself was called Areopagus from the place where it sat, also “Areum judicium” an “curia”. To that hill the apostle Paul was not led to defend himself before judges, but that he might set forth his opinions on divine subjects to a greater multitude of people, flocking together there and eager to hear something new.

As the last portion of the quote suggests, we’ll now go to Acts 17.

Acts 17:15-34 (ESV)

15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription,‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Conclusion

I didn’t feel like my family was safe in that store. I didn’t want my son watching the kids videos (particularly after seeing the kids version of Jesus Calling). My heart broke as I saw ailing and frail people perusing the “healing” section and handing each other what they’d found. As I looked through the Bibles, at least there was one other family in their to buy a bible. Sadly, we didn’t find the Journaling Bible my wife wanted, so we’ll have to order it online. I did pick up the “ESV Reader’s edition“. A beautiful Bible without verse numbers or footnotes, only chapter book and chapter headings at the top of the page. I’m very excited to read through the Epistles uninterrupted by verses. We left that store quite deflated… hearing the radio station van play “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor, didn’t even make me flinch. Of course it’s a secular radio station… why expect anything different?  What makes my heart remain heavy to this day, though, is the nagging thought that while we do what we can to preach Law and Gospel here in these small bible studies, read by a few folks who are interested discussing in what God’s Word says… it feels so insignificance when pitted against the mass-produced tidal wave of false doctrine being passed off as Christian. Thank you for reading here, and for the many of you who also blog and share the Word of God with others.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV) | Preach the Word

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Amen. In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

 

 

CTT | Forgiveness by Faith

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Dear friend, have you (or a friend) been led to believe that if you petition the Lord for something “with all of your heart” and fast and pray with enough faith then He will grant you your petition? Are you sometimes tempted to measure your faith or your forgiveness by your circumstances? What happens when your petition is denied or the opposite of what you ask for happens? When something you desire doesn’t come to pass, how quickly do you wonder if God is punishing you, or worse, that your faith and your very salvation are in jeopardy? Dear Christian, look not at the circumstances… but rest on the Word of God. Place your trust in Him. That’s not a throw-away feel-good line. Place your trust in Him, even when you don’t get your way, even when times are hard, and even when you feel your heart will break from the strain.

When it comes to Old Testament champions, King David is a top contender. A man after God’s own heart. It is on his throne that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sits for all eternity. A man of great faith, but a man nonetheless guilty of sin. What separated King David from King Saul? He was a man of Faith and repented of his sin. Today, we are going to look at a terribly low point in King David’s life, one that often gets paraphrased. We are going to read through the account and its aftermath, and we will see the faith of the man after God’s Heart, Kind David.

2 Samuel 11 (ESV)| David and Bathsheba
1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

One of the biggest problems with paraphrasing this story, is that in so doing we sometimes lose sight of the fact that Uriah was an honorable man, faithful to his God, his king, and his people. He was a humble man. He did not suspect anything, nor did he see fit that he should lie in his own bed while the Ark, Israel, and Judah dwell in booths and his commander (Joab) and Joab’s men slept in the open fields. David tried to cover up his sin by having Uriah sleep with Bathsheba, so that he would think the child was his. Uriah acted nobly, and David was deeply in sin.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. 19 And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, 20 then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

First adultery, then deception, now murder.

2 Samuel 12 (ESV) | Nathan Rebukes David

1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

And the Lord sent Nathan to David, to rebuke him and pronounce judgment for his sin. David repented, was granted forgiveness, yet judgement remained. The child would die. Why must the child die? Because this sin utterly scorned the Lord, but beyond that we are given no further explanation. This is where we must learn to trust in God by faith, and not by circumstance or by sight. If David was forgiven, his life spared, then why would God take his son from him? What is David to do now? Let us pause the story and turn ahead to Psalm 51, written by King David after being rebuked by Nathan.

Psalm 51 (ESV) | Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

We see here David’s complete confession of his sin, and we see his repentance. Nathan had already pronounced forgiveness and judgement. David isn’t just pleading for his life, he is petitioning God for something far more precious… that he remain God’s servant. That he not be cast away. David saw what happened to King Saul once the Spirit of the Lord was removed from him. He was now well aware of the full penalty of his sin against God. David is also learning what forms of worship truly matter to God… in verse 16, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Repentance, in humility to God is a prerequisite for the burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings in worship.

2 Samuel 12 (ESV) cont… | David’s Child Dies
15b. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

King David pleaded with the Lord on behalf of the child. He fasted and prayed day and night and would not be moved for 7 days. The child died, as Nathan had prophesied. Does this mean that David wasn’t forgiven? No, it doesn’t. Was it hard? Absolutely. And God made it clear that the child’s death was a direct result of David’s sin. It is also clear that the child’s conception was a direct result of his sin. David had no business staying behind while the armies of the Lord waged war, he had no business looking upon Bathsheba as she bathed, and he had no business taking Bathsheba. Uriah was an honorable man, murdered to cover up David’s sin. Yet, in all of his sin, God forgave David when he repented… and the innocent son paid the price for David’s sin.

As we fast forward to the future… we see another son born of the house of David, only He was born of a virgin. His Name is Jesus, the Christ, Son of the Living God. He was truly born without sin, lived a perfect, sinless life, and laid down His life for you and for me.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (ESV) 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It is by faith that we receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By faith are we healed of our unbelief and forgiven for our sin. Circumstances will change, and we will face many trials and tribulations, many of which will be of our own doing (sin). Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, by faith in the One True God and His Son, Jesus. Walk in Him, Trust in Him, and rest in Him.

Romans 8:1-11 (ESV) | Life in the Spirit
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Amen. Dear Christian, don’t measure God’s forgiveness of your sin by your earthly circumstances; rather, measure His forgiveness of your sin by Christ’s death and resurrection. This forgiveness is by faith, not by works. Trust in Him to carry you through this life, even when the world distracts and condemns you.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

CTT | Born That Way? Yes.

Faithful Stewardship Leave a comment

In light of some of the recent hullabaloo on social media regarding yet another conservative public figure asserting that practicing homosexuality was a lifestyle choice, it is inevitable that someone is going to proclaim with great zeal and vigor, “it’s not a choice” or “I didn’t choose to be homosexual” ultimately ending in “I was born this way”. The objective Truth of this matter is that, in fact, they were born that way… and so were you.

You are, in fact, Born That Way

Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV) | By Grace Through Faith
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This isn’t only a New Testament understanding, King David also rightly understood this Truth of mankind after the Fall.

Psalm 51:1-6 (ESV) | Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

We were born dead in our sins and trespasses. We were born that way. Dead. The wages of Sin is death, all sin leads to death. David recognized that his sinfulness was his from conception, and his iniquity from birth. We are all born selfish, self-centered, self-gratifying, vindictive, manipulative little sinners. From birth. I love babies of all types, they are beautiful in my sight and they are precious in God’s sight, but the fact remains that they are dead in sin from conception and through birth. No one has to teach a child “right & wrong”, they get the wrong automatically.

Am I excusing sin? Nope. Am I minimizing the sin of homosexuality? Absolutely not. Am I making an equivocation error? No. So let’s get ahead of this train, I’m not saying that homosexuality is “no more of a sin” than gossip, I’m saying that gossip is no less of a sin than homosexuality.

Nature versus Nurture is a False Dichotomy

Dear Christian, there is no point in arguing against the notion that someone is born with homosexual proclivities. No matter how you phrase it, or define words like “homosexual”, “attraction”, “gender identity”… the Truth is that we are all born sinners by nature. And that sin nature will nurture sinfulness leading to death. Where the focus needs to be is in the fact that the Only way out of that death is the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who laid down His life as the perfect and ultimate Sacrifice, taking upon Himself the due penalty of our sin. I strongly recommend conceding the “born that way” point, so that we can move on to the Only Truth that may grant us the faith required to be set free in Jesus Christ.

The homosexual lobby is pushing hard against the Church to accept their sin by insisting that they ARE their sin. They will often assert that since they were “born that way” it’s because God “wanted them to be that way”, so either they are accursed without hope or God accepts their sin since “it’s his fault”. It’s a pale argument, but one that gets many twisted up, particularly in our post-modern anti-Biblical society. God is fully aware of the sin of every man and woman from creation to the end of days. In that Knowledge, He made a way, the Only way, of Salvation.

John 3:16-18 (ESV) | For God So Loved the World
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God doesn’t wait for the moment of your conception to decide that you are born in sin. Adam decided that for all of mankind back in the Garden, when he sinned.

Romans 5:10-21 (ESV) | Death in Adam, Life in Christ
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What does it mean for the Law to increase the trespass? Without the Law we’d have no way of knowing just how unworthy of God we truly are. That knowledge does increase our understanding of our sin but it also deepens the understanding of God’s Grace for the one who has faith. Note that we are talking about ALL SIN. Of which sexual immorality is a portion, of which homosexuality is a portion. If there is no forgiveness of the sin of sexual immorality, there is no forgiveness of any sin.

Denial of the Sin Makes Forgiveness Unreachable

The problem with the sin of homosexuality, is that the lobby is pushing to deny that it is a sin. It’s one thing to repent and throw yourself at the mercy of the Judge, but it’s another thing entirely to defy the Judge and declare that a crime was not committed.

Romans 1:28-32 (ESV) 28 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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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.

We are wholly and completely without excuse. Please don’t cherry-pick the sin you hate the most and skim over the others… all who practice such things as whats on this list deserve to die as punishment for sin. That is the Law of God. There simply is no getting around that. There is Only one way for us to deal with the Law, and that is by faith in Christ’s atoning work at the cross on our behalf.

Once Forgiven, Always Repentant

We carry sin in our flesh. We each must deal with the curse of sin for it is appointed for man to die and then face judgement.

Hebrews 9:26-28 (ESV) 26… But as it is, [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

For those who are in Christ Jesus by faith, our forgiveness is assured by the Holy Spirit, so that in that great and final day when the Judge sees us under His blood and made clean by His righteousness. Until that great day, we walk in fallen flesh and we must deal with the temporal with eyes focused on the eternal in Christ.

Colossians 3:1-17 (ESV) | Put On the New Self
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Conclusion

Yes, they were born that way, and so were you. The Gospel is as available to them as it was to you. Preach the Word to them (both Law and Gospel), and pray that God the Holy Spirit might open up their hearts to accept the Word of God and the gift of saving Faith. Rebuke those who would dare make themselves (and their sin) superior to God or His Laws, in love and humility, remembering that you once walked among them in the dark yourselves. There was only One who was righteous, and He became sin on the cross to bear the full brunt of God’s Wrath, so that we wouldn’t have to die in our sin.

Amen.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge