I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:15-20)
Often forgotten in the prophecies are the warnings Jesus gives to the churches in Revelation. As with many prophecies, there is a near fulfillment that is and a far fulfillment. The 7 letters to 7 churches that open the Book of Revelation were actual letters sent to actual churches and actually read as warnings, encouragements or indictments against them. The second reason the letters were sent was to reveal seven different types of individuals/churches throughout history and instruct them in God’s truth.
The last verse is the one I want to point to. Jesus is not ‘knocking at the door of your heart’ in this verse. It is obvious he is knocking at the door of the church. The church had become (and will become, like it is now) so pale and non-Gospel oriented that Jesus is outside it! Just think of Joel Osteen’s church at Lakewood and you have a perfect fulfillment of the kind of church Jesus is warning about here. Mr Osteen never preaches sin or wrath or judgment because he doesn’t want to offend anyone, wanting to stay positive. But how can a person repent if they don’t know they are sinning? He refuses to put a cross on his stage, because it might prove an “obstacle to anyone who might come.” But if they are not coming to the cross, what are they coming to??? Jesus is standing outside Mr Osteen’s church, knocking to get in.
That sad indictment is repeated over many parts of the body of Christ today. I pray you find a good church that has solid beliefs, and participate there. Support your pastor, if he stands on the foundational principles of the faith, and preaches them. He is a rarity these days, and precious. Treat him like he is.
The decline of belief is symbiotic. If you attend a church like Lakewood for any length of time, then you will fade into lukewarmness because the fire of wrath and rebuke from a holy God has disappeared. With the full counsel of God being preached, His perfect message of sin & wrath/mercy & redemption is held up and you will grow in Christ-likeness. Without the cross preached, who are the Laodicean congregants growing into looking like? Man, not God.
Remember the Weebles commercial of the early 1970s? Back then the commercials were of a more innocent quality than the ones we’re subjected to now. This Weebles ad from the 1970s is just so cute.
Whoever created that ad was a genius. Why? I remember the tagline even 40 years later! THAT is an effective ad. ‘Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.” These Hasbro toys, launched in 1971, were a small, egg shaped toy with a weight at the bottom. If you pushed the toy over with your finger, the toy tipped because of the spherical shape at the bottom but the weight inside at the bottom immediately returned the toy to its center of gravity and it popped upright. No matter how often you pushed it over, it always returned upright.
A weeble
The events of the world are dark and evil. They can easily infiltrate our heart with a depression that clouds us and weighs heavy. We do Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep as Paul advised in Romans 12:15. Christians should be defined by their faith, which includes compassion and love. We not only weep with those brethren who weep, but like Jesus, we weep for those who should weep but do not (Luke 19:41, MacArthur Commentary).
As the world descends into its prophesied Days of Noah, (Matthew 24:37), more and more of the world’s tragedies shock our sensibilities. The state of the world would surely cause any sane person to become depressed just by looking at headlines for one moment, never mind living in this cauldron of evil day after day. Opposition to the truth of Jesus Christ is another depressing item that causes many to weep with broken hearts at the broken churches and the broken bibles littering what today is called Christianity.
And dark clouds not only hover from without, but they can hover from within. Dark clouds of upset and impatience drift over the heart on little cat’s feet and poise, ready to descend at a moment’s notice. From within, a discouragement, frustration, a melancholy, or a depression can creep over the believer. Biblical illiteracy and confusion sets in to the heart, allowing more and more sin to infiltrate it. This becomes ripe ground for defeatism and depression. If some people are struggling with the dark clouds of spiritual depression, imagine how difficult these time are for preachers, whose main instrument is the heart! They labor with broken hearts much of the time.
I’ve been asked two questions recently. One is, don’t I get frustrated or discouraged with the rise in deception of the serpent, and its capturing into false doctrine of so many who profess to believe? And, how can a person stay positive in these dark times?
Many of the great believers of times past suffered from spiritual blackness of one level or another for periods of time that lasted from fleeting to lengthy. Asaph, Jeremiah, David, Paul, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Randy Alcorn, and John Piper were oppressed with clouds of melancholy or frustration or even full-blown depression at various times in their lives. Please don’t think you are alone. You’re not. Charles Spurgeon is almost universally recognized as a mature leader of the faith who also had a deep, long-lasting spiritual depression. Spurgeon said that depression happens frequently to many people.
However, please excuse my straight-forwardness, but please also don’t think wallowing in a spiritual depression is proper. It’s not.
Less talked about was that Spurgeon himself considered this a sinful weakness. He distinguishes between a God-appointed weakness and a human sinful weakness, and he places depression squarely in the latter category. Spurgeon believed despondency was not a virtue, but a vice.
He said “that to be unbelieving, desponding, nervous, timid, cowardly, inactive, heartless is not excusable and not proper” and of despondency, Spurgeon said “I am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into it, but I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.”
I was 40, halfway through my vacation, sitting on the steps, sobbing. Noelle comes down the stairs, asks me “What’s wrong?” I said, “I don’t have a clue.”
As the segment is summarized here, we learn of depression and two pastors’ responses to it-
…it begins with “MacArthur explaining that he has never really been depressed. Some Christians are a bit like MacArthur. To be honest, that can make it hard for them to empathize with the Pipers of this world who goes on to describe how he had a period of his life where he was significantly depressed that lasted several years. MacAthur’s incredulous “Years?!” demonstrates how very differently they are wired.”
“Years?!”
So how do we stay positive when the world is crazy and it seems like the visible church is collapsing under top-heaviness of celebrity pastors, megachurches, and false doctrine?
1. The number one way is to recognize, worship, and rest in the sovereignty of God.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that from the top government down, from Kings, Prime Ministers, Presidents, and Judges, down to the lowliest of tax collectors and pagan sinners, God has His hand in all they do and don’t do. He ordains everything and purposes it according to His plan. Judgment for the evil done on earth WILL happen.
I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. (Ecclesiastes 3:17)
Why would God delay judgment, and not take care of it all at once? One reason is this, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes continues:
I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. (Ecclesiastes 3:18).
He will not let evil go on forever, and He will purge the world of all unrighteousness.
2. Have faith. Ask for more faith. Faith.
Spurgeon preached that faith was the cure. Use your faith to trust God, ask for more faith to trust Him more. This is what Charles Spurgeon did. He noted,
When the sinner is pointed to the Cross and comes to trust himself with Jesus—viewing the blood sprinkled and the righteousness worked out—then the man can pray, can sing, can melt in penitence or can rise up in flames of love! … The inability of human nature is instrumentally removed by the energy of faith.
Speaking of energy… 3. Stay busy in spiritual disciplines.
In the conversation between Piper and MacArthur, MacArthur said that he stays very busy. Having to write several sermons per week keeps him in the Word. Studying for preaching infuses him with a joy that drags him past the discouragement and he leaves it behind. Staying busy in the word is his primary mechanism to stave off discouragement or depression. Also, he said he ponders Paul and other biblical heroes who have endured worse and yet stayed hopeful.
John Piper said prayer is his go-to discipline. He prays to the Lord to keep him and preserve him, more than any other prayer. Piper said he prays to God to keep him in His will, keep him in his marriage, keep him in understanding and wisdom, etc.
3. Bask in the glory of God in His creation, in faith
To sit long in one posture, poring over a book, or driving a quill, is in itself a taxing of nature; but add to this a badly-ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair, especially in the dim months of fog—
“Heaviest the heart is in a heavy air,
Ev’ry wind that rises blows away despair.”
“Creation” by EPrata
Others like Alcorn took heart during his two-month depression just knowing he wasn’t alone, that other men battled spiritual depression was a balm. He battled it and his other periodic depressions by taking time to pray in thankfulness and gratitude.
I opened this essay by mentioning the old toy “Weeble.” They wobble, but they don’t fall down. They don’t stay down because they have a weight in the bottom that keeps the center of gravity centered. No matter the length of your Christianity, whether you’ve been saved for days or decades, no matter the level of maturity, babe or grizzled soldier, Jesus is our center of gravity. With our feet on the weighty rock, we might be knocked around a bit, but He will not let us stay down. Sometimes our battles are with temptations, or with the enemy, or sometimes it’s with despondency or depression. Don’t let the evil of the world get you down, or even wobble you for a moment. Jesus has overcome all the world’s evil, and if we are in Him, we have overcome it, too.
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
In the bible, vines (usually grape) and fig trees were emblematic of agricultural abundance and that abundance bespoke wealth. Many fig trees meant prosperity. The promised land was described in Deut. 8:8 as “a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates.” It was not described as a land flat and therefore ripe for land prospecting development. It was not described as a land full of silver and gold mines. It was not described a land of great cities producing a rich population. The prosperity that was promised was riches from a bountiful earth.
Remember, that after the Fall, Adam was cursed with toil, and that the land would not yield unless he toiled with sweat and labor. What was it like before the Fall when the curse will be released? I can’t wait to find out, and that is what the Bible’s prophecies promise.
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,” (Genesis 3:17b-19b).
Doesn’t sitting under our own fig tree and our vine and sound relaxing? Refreshing? Cool? Like walking with God in the garden in the cool of the day. He used the vine and fruit metaphor to symbolize spiritual abundance.
And Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).
And look what Jesus did! He did everything! He accomplished redemption for mankind, by breaking His own body and allowing it to be poured out! We are His branches, connected to the Great Gardener whose vine covers us, and which provides all sustenance.
In the end, the “Land” will not solely be the Middle-East lands promised long ago to Abraham, but all the earth. (2 Peter 3:10-13).
When you’re out haying this summer, sweat running down your face, or you’re out mowing this summer, and thirsting because of the heat, or you’re gardening and battling the bugs who are killing your bean plants, remember, the prophecies.
“My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” (Isaiah 32:18).
“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.” (Isaiah 5:1)
How beautiful the relationship. We are the branches, closely grafted into the true vine. The true vine covers us, and we sit under it in peace and abundance. The abundance comes from the Vine Dresser who is the Father (John 15:1), who cares for the true vine in love and cares for his children, the branches.
Because writing a discernment lesson about a false teacher takes so much time, which means I have to spend a lot of time wallowing in her muck, it necessitates a spiritual wash afterwards. I got curious about Moore’s teaching on Ephesians 3:19, which The Hairbrush Story was allegedly about. She focused on the part of the verse which promises the full measure of God (NIV), or the fullness of God (ESV).
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
I love Martyn Lloyd Jones’ sermons, especially on Ephesians, which I am going through anyway. I decided to listen to his treatment of the verse, the same verse, the one and only verse, and see what I could learn. After hearing Moore, I really did want to know more about the full measure of Christ it is a majestic topic. The phrase kept rolling around in my head. So I headed over to the Martyn Lloyd Jones (MLJ) Trust Sermons and listened so my mind could be cleansed from the mud and I could learn about Jesus from a credible preacher. I found the MLJ sermon All the Fullness of God
As I was pondering these things, a tweet came up from my twitter friend Landon Chapman at Entreating Favor website and Fire Away! podcast. Here it is:
This is very, very wise. I take his advice to heart.
I have never immediately compared a false teacher’s lesson on a verse to a credible teacher’s treatment of it. Of course I always compare the false teacher’s lesson to the Bible. Also, it’s not often I can find a false teacher having focused solely on one verse for the point of her lesson and then find a preacher who also preached on that exact sole verse. Comparing would be easy. Not uncomplicated or fast, but easy as in apples to apples. The Moore teaching was still fresh in my mind, as I listened to Jones’. I listened to MLJ’s sermon three times in fact.
I found that Beth Moore and Martyn Lloyd Jones, having taught the same single verse, came to exactly opposite conclusions. Totally at odds with each other. One says yes, the other no. One says black, the other says white. One says up, the other down. By the picture below, you can easily see which Bible teacher’s teaching I found biblical.
Lloyd Jones’ well known nickname; A nickname I dub Moore
Moore taught that the full measure of Christ in us believers is something we do not currently possess.
Jones taught that the fullness of Christ is something we currently do possess.
Moore taught that we could possess it IF we do certain things.
Jones taught that the fullness is something every believer already has as a gift.
Moore taught that the reason we want the full measure of Christ is so we can get blessing and power.
Jones categorically rejects this.
Moore taught that the fullness was a feeling.
Jones taught that the fullness was a doctrine.
Moore taught that we want the full measure of Christ so we can get something, power, love, blessing.
Jones taught that having the fullness of Christ is something we aspire to because Christ is the prize.
They even have a different summation point-
Beth Moore teaching the point of lesson: “I’ve got to know somebody totally loves me.”
Lloyd Jones says the point of the verse is: “It is the highest doctrine of all.”
I won’t go on, you can see it on this chart I made. I included the links from which I delved into each lesson, and the minute at which I heard each teaching so if you care to check it out yourself, you can. Below the chart are the two illustrations each teacher gave. Moore’s was with the measuring cup and Jones’s was about a bottle. They come to opposite conclusions. Moore believes the fullness has a quantity to it and Jones says the full measure is about the quality of it.
Note: MLJ preached the Ephesians series between 1957 and 1980. Moore’s hairbrush story was re-published on LifeToday in 2012 and that is where I reviewed it, though she had delivered it at least as early as 2011 and maybe a year or two earlier than that. The comments in the chart are direct quotes.
The illustration: Moore’s measuring cup and liquid.
With this visual prop, Moore was teaching that we do not possess the full measure. However if we do certain things in our own power and then ask for the fullness, Christ will give it AND “the power that comes with it”. In Moore’s interpretation, we are all 16 oz measuring cups and some of us have 2 ounces of the fullness and others of us have 4 ounces and others get to be filled up completely. A total filling is not something that will happen on this side of eternity anyway.
Lloyd-Jones teaches the opposite. He focuses on ton the vessel but on the quality of the filling. He said we already possess the fullness of Christ in us when we’re saved. He said the power of God (omnipotence) is an attribute of God that is NON-communicable. MLJ also said the fullness is not a quantity, but a quality. Why?
because the amount varies. It varies in the same man from time to time. It varies from one of us to the other, and yet we all can have the fullness.
Here is an illustration to show how you can possess the fullness and yet have more of it. Take a bottle and put it into the sea. You can fill it. Then you can say that bottle is full of the sea. Then you can take a great tank and do the same thing. They both have a fullness but they haven’t the same amount. And the sea is always the sea. The little bottle full of sea has just the same characteristics of the sea in fullness as the tank has.
The drastic difference between the two teachings comes from their view of Jesus and of self. Jones’ eyes are on Christ, Moore’s is on herself. With her, the fullness is something we get, power comes with it, we do things with this power, we get blessing, we receive affirmation of love, and we can have more of it. We, we, we. Her eyes are on self.
Jones shows us where our eyes should be. Not on the bottle, not on the amount that is IN the bottle, not on the tank, not on anything we might think we get, but on the SEA. It is what is IN us that matters. It’s all about Christ in us, His righteousness, His fullness. It has nothing to do with our works, our deeds, our emptying, our effectiveness, our requests, or anything whatsoever to do with us. He bestows His fullness of Himself to us on salvation. It is all about Christ.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)
We underestimate sin. We underestimate its power. We underestimate its effect. We underestimate its presence. And we certainly underestimate how God feels about it. Most of all, we underestimate against whom we are really sinning against.
The story in Acts 9 is familiar. The scene is the road to Damascus, and a man named Saul was breathing out threats and killing the Lord’s disciples. Jesus spoke to Saul, soon to be Paul, and asked in verse 4: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
What? Saul was killing the disciples, not Jesus. Ah, but this verse shows us how intimately Jesus is involved in our lives, how tightly we are one, how, when you come against one of His children you come against Him. Saul was not just railing against the name of Christ in the disciples, but coming against Christ Himself.
for the union between Christ and his people is so close, that what is done to them is done to him. ~Gill’s Exposition
There is another scene in the Bible that displays a similar sentiment. It’s in Genesis 20. Abraham fears for his life and lies to Abimelech king of Gerar that Sarah is his sister so they won’t kill Abraham in trying to get to Sarah. Based on what Abraham said, Abimelech took Sarah.
Now comes the interesting part. Genesis 20:3 says what happened next was,
God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
I wrote about one aspect of the verse a few days ago, here in an essay titled Beware of desiring a dream/vision, word from the Lord. God said to Abimelech, ‘Behold you are a dead man’?! The dreams and words from God the false teachers say they receive today are far from that powerful – and deadly. Anyway, Abimelech pleads his case. He replies inGenesis 20:4-5,
“Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
God agrees with him. Abimelech had gone forward based on the information that was given to him, that Sarah was single. Given that he thought she was single, he took Sarah. However it was still sin.
Here is the climactic verse for the point of this essay:
God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me.” (Genesis 20:6). emphasis added.
There it is again. Abimelech learned the hard way that he was sinning. Worse, he learned that was sinning against God Himself. It didn’t matter that Abimelech hadn’t known Sarah was married. It didn’t even matter that Abimelech didn’t know God. Note that God did not say, ‘you would have been sinning against Abraham, the husband.’ Abimelech would have been sinning against Abraham. Ultimately though, all sin is performed against our Holy God. The King would be sinning against God if he had gone through with what he’d intended with Sarah. Here comes to mind the axiom, ‘Ignorance of the law is no excuse”.
Joseph was being tempted to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife. In resisting her, he said, “My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” It is interesting that Joseph did not say that his sin would be against Potiphar. This isn’t to say that Potiphar would be unaffected. But Joseph’s greater loyalty was to God and His laws. It was God he did not want to offend. ~GotQuestions
Psalm 51:4 says “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.”
All our sins are against a just and Holy God. Our sins might be toward a co-worker, a sibling, a passerby. But all sins are against God. We should keep this in mind.
No proof of the fullness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable as the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). Nothing, I am convinced, will astonish us so much, when we awake in the resurrection day, as the view we will have of sin and the retrospect we will take of our own countless shortcomings and defects. Never until the hour when Christ comes the second time will we fully realize the “sinfulness of sin.” JC Ryle
We should keep this in mind also-
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Our knowledge of the sinfulness of sin and our resulting feeling of guilt is tempered by our love for Jesus who atoned for that sin. It is this love for Him that makes us want to mortify it in ourselves all the more. And so it goes, until the Day when we awaken, and see the true effect of sin, and say “what hath God wrought!” (cf Numbers 23:23)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:3)
“False teachers are God’s judgment on people who don’t want God, but in the name of religion plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires. That’s why a Joel Osteen is raised up. Those people who sit under him are not victims of him but he is the judgment of God upon them. And they want exactly what he wants, and it’s not God.” ~ Paul Washer
We often think that the verse means that people who sit under a Joel Osteen or a Beth Moore are hapless victims, fallen prey to the insidious destruction of the prowling false teacher. No. The verse clearly shows us that people are the agitators, they are their own catalysts for false teachers being raised up. The people “accumulate for themselves” teachers who match their passions.
Notice that the onus of the act is on the people, NOT the teachers (not that I am saying the teachers escape culpability). But the people who have passions search out and look for false teachers that match those passions, and “accumulate for themselves” these teachers. And the teachers are only too happy to comply, because there is money in it, the usual reason false teachers want to be false teachers. (2 Peter 2:3). Paul Washer said someone like an Osteen is not making victims of the people he IS the JUDGMENT upon the people! In other words, they asked for him, they got him!
So people who want affirmation of their emotions in mystical visions, seek out a Beth Moore. People who seek prosperity and are greedy at heart seek out a Joel Osteen. People who are focused on the body and healing seek out a Benny Hinn. And so on. Prideful people who want to think they are earning their own salvation seek out the Pope. They accumulate for themselves the false teacher…
The visible church has an increasing tolerance for sin. I personally believe that this is because so many churches allow professing people to become members without due diligence. In addition, church discipline is rarely practiced, (Matthew 18:15-20), and when it is, often is practiced unbiblically. (cf John 12:42). Preachers do not preach against sin but give ear ticking messages.
When brethren urge each other to ever higher heights of sanctification by giving gentle reminders to slay sin or stop immoral behavior, they are often met with charges that they’re “unloving.” When discerning brethren employ their spiritual gift by detecting the false in some teachers and warn people to stay away from them, they’re sometimes met with charges of the not being loving enough- to the false teacher. The word “love” is tossed around as if it is the only attribute God displays or cares about.
For those and many other reasons, while sin rises in and out of the church, the tolerance of it is skewing our understanding of biblical love.
The biblical version of love is so often misunderstood today, that Cameron Buettel at John MacArthur’s blog is writing a series God’s love- the character of it, what it entails, even the condemnation within it. Here are excerpts of the first three essays in the series with the link to read more:
At first glance, God’s love doesn’t appear to be much of a theological problem. First John 4:8 couldn’t be clearer: “God is love.” Of all the ways to describe God, that is certainly the most endearing and widely-accepted. How many times have we heard the phrase, “A loving God would never ____”? What that person is really saying is that I have my own idea of what love is, and I will only accept a god who loves on my terms. That is the subtle form of idolatry that many people—even many churchgoers—buy into today.
The issue isn’t whether or not God loves, but whether the people proclaiming His love have the first clue what they’re actually talking about. True, God is love. But let’s not make the egregious error of assuming that’s all He is, or all He wants us to know about Him. The problem with God’s love, then, is that the discussion of it is being clouded and confused by people who don’t know what love is or who God is, and yet speak with assumed authority on both.
God’s love is a great comfort. But perhaps it’s not supposed to be as comforting as some people make it. As we said last time, God’s love is not a theological blanket that smothers everything else the Bible says about how He relates to us. That myopic, feel-good approach to God’s love often ignores its wider implications. Specifically, it overlooks the fact that God’s love carries an inherent condemnation.
But God’s love didn’t first appear two thousand years ago—that’s where it climaxed. The truth is that all of history bears the undeniable marks of God’s loving nature. From Genesis to Revelation, His great love is displayed on multiple levels and in countless glorious ways. In fact, His unchanging love is older than time itself.
In practical terms, once we understand God’s love and how we are to express it (in all its flavors and nuances), we understand better how to admonish in love. Admonishing each other is important part of daily living for the Christian, and part of fellowship within an identified body of believers called the local church. I read this essay today, promoted by Tim Challies. The author spends time explaining what admonishment is, and how to practice it- in love. The essay is titled,
Against a culture that says, “If you love me, you will accept me and never question me,” the Bible says “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In the Bible, love does not gloss over sin; it teaches sinners they need pardon for their sin and that—miracle of miracles!—God has provided that in Jesus Christ. Because God hates evil and evil-doers (see Psalms 5:5; 11:5), he teaches that genuine love cannot turn a blind eye to sin, it must rejoice with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Accordingly, those who claim to know him will embrace his truth and willingly speak to one another with loving correction. In short, love corrects, instructs, warns, and admonishes. But what does that look like?
I think that if you go through the Grace To You series on God’s love, it gives depth to our understanding of God’s attribute of His love and better practicality when we read an essay like Schrock’s. Both are needed. I commend these articles to you, in the prayer that you will be educated, edified, and the gory of Jesus will continue to shine brightly in His people, the Church.
Today’s essay brings you three different media on a similar topic: World Affairs. The first is from Robin Schumacher of The Confident Christian. Schumacher is a highly intelligent Christian writer and apologist who writes at The Christian Post. I always enjoy his articles. Recently he published an article about America’s decline, and the rise of the tyrant. His essay is titled Rise of the Tyrant.
The third is Pastor Nate Pickowicz and his Fire Away! podcast, this episode titled Things are Bad!
I posted Schumacher’s first because it grounds us in history. MacArthur’s is second because it gives a biblical overview and a celestial perspective. Pickowicz’s is third because of the Christian encouragement from scripture. The order I placed these will hopefully educate, strengthen the Christian’s biblical perspective, and encourage despite knowing the times in which we live are more chaotic each day.
Jesus ordains all things- even the disruptive and dizzying times in which we live. Schumacher wrote of it, MacArthur senses it, Pickowicz sees it, and we know it. Therefore I posted these resources in hopes that through each of their careful and restrained biblical lessons by mature pastors of the faith, we would be helped and calmed.
I would like to call your attention to a book written by Chris Powers, an artist whose ministry Full of Eyes I have recommended to you before. Powers describes the ministry,
Full of Eyes uses still and moving pictures as a means of proclaiming the beauty of God in His Son to the hearts and minds of people around the world.
Powers creates Gospel tracts, animations for music, study curricula to go along with the animations, and now, his book. Here is my Amazon review of the book, Visual Exegesis, Vol. 1
Beautifully rendered, sensitive drawings, June 7, 2016
I recommend Visual Exegesis, Vol. 1 whole-heartedly. Visual exegesis, or visual theology, has been part of our faith since John Bunyan’s “Map Showing the Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation” was published in 1691. Visual exegesis is simply an image or a collection of images that display in pictorial form, truths from the Bible. Powers makes clear in his introduction what his intent is, which is to approach the Bible with the mindset of a pastor, except instead of exegeting the word with word, to exegete the word with picture, noting that picture doesn’t ever supplant the word.
Doctrinal concepts are difficult to visualize but Powers has done a masterful job of applying picture to even the most abstract of verses. His representation of Jeremiah 17:11 and Genesis 3:15 come immediately to mind. The pictures in his book are arranged by theme, which include Awaiting Immanuel, Behold Your God, Made Alive, Growth, Suffering and Perseverance, and Turning the Title Page, with a total of 35 biblical scriptures pictorially represented. Powers asks the question Can We Draw Pictures Representing Jesus? and offers his interpretation of the Second Commandment on the question in answer.
The drawings themselves are beautifully rendered, sensitive, and in some cases tearfully moving or thoroughly convicting. The book is packaged in a 8X8 dimension, so it’s large enough to examine the pictures in detail but small enough to carry comfortably. Each depiction is accompanied by a thorough written explanation using scripture on the opposite page.
I’ve followed Powers since he founded his ministry and his growth is obviously Spirit-led and solid. His work is outstanding and I look forward to volume 2! I give the book 5 stars for its doctrinal credibility and illustrative beauty.
Portuguese and Spanish versions are coming soon. Powers is committed to offering his work for free. All of it, the animations, tracts, study guides, and this book, are made available to you at no cost. You may download the book as a free PDF here: http://www.fullofeyes.com/project/visual-exegesis-vol-i/
Here are some things one can keep in mind as you travel the road of visual exegesis. These bullet points are from Donovan McAbee, at Belmont University, from a class that teaches visual exegesis as a mode of interpretation,
How does the artist understand the biblical story?
How does the artist’s interpretation of the passage compare to your own understanding?
What aspects of the characters or scene does the artist emphasize?
Considering the biographical sketch of the artist and the historical period in which they lived, why might they interpret the passage as they do?
Compare the differences between the pieces and consider why the various interpretations exist.
The effectiveness of this activity hinges largely on the immediacy of the visual arts in offering an interpretation of a passage. While reading different scholarly sources of biblical criticism will ultimately lead students to recognize the influence of history, theology, and other cultural factors on biblical exegesis, the visual arts do so in a more spectacular and immediately evident way…
the-end-time.org 