The Hidden Life

Living Inside-Out to Release God'sBlessing

Bryan Fraser

Copyright © 2005 by Bryan Fraser The Hidden Life: Living Inside-Out toRelease God’s Blessingby Bryan Fraser All rights reserved solely by the author.The author guarantees all contents areoriginal and do not infringe upon thelegal rights of any other person or work.No part of this book may be reproducedin any form without the permission of theauthor.

Unless otherwise indicated, Biblequotations are taken from the New King

James Version. Copyright © 1982 byThomas Nelson, Inc. Also by Bryan Fraser: Because You Are Sons: God’s Heart forMen in RecoveryGospel Without Law: How the ApostlesWon the Western MindNo Demons, Please... We'reEvangelical: The Spiritual Roots ofAddiction

To Ellenor,who lives the hidden life

Table of Contents

PrefaceChapter 1. The Mystery ofFruitfulnessChapter 2. The Diversity of SpiritualFruitChapter 3. Bearing the Fruit GodHas Chosen For MeChapter 4. The Need to Slow DownChapter 5. Restoring the BiblicalView of RealityChapter 6. Wild Grapes: SeparatingOurselves from the Works ofDarkness

Chapter 7. Weeds in the Field:Getting Our Finances in OrderChapter 8. The Destructive Power ofthe TongueChapter 9. The Bitterness thatDefiles ManyChapter 10. God is Not a System!Chapter 11. A Hole in the Wall:Hidden HypocrisyChapter 12. Judging: Our God GivenObligationChapter 13. High-Risk ChristianityChapter 14. The Most ImportantDecisionPostscript

Preface

But My servant Caleb, because hehas a different spirit in him and hasfollowed Me fully, I will bring intothe land where he went, and hisdescendants shall inherit it. Numbers 14:24

The Christian life is a struggle to

make the unknown a reality. It is astruggle to an upward call that iscompletely beyond human experienceand imagination. We are called to attainwhat we have not seen using powers we

do not comprehend. Over and overagain, the Bible teaches us that the key tospiritual victory is winning the battlewithin; that is, living openly,consistently and transparently beforeGod. All the forces of hell are bent onpreventing us from achieving this onething. For to the degree that we neglectthe inner man to focus on the externaland the superficial, our efforts inspiritual work are futile and powerless.

This book is about who we are

in our secret places; in other words, whow e really are as opposed to who wethink we are, who we say we are, whowe wish we were or who we plan tobe. It is about who we are when all the

outer layers are stripped away and thehidden life is laid bare before God. Confronting who we are can be acutelypainful, almost overwhelming. But it isonly when we approach the cross aswho we really are that our painintersects the grace of Christ's blood andHe can transform us into who He meansus to be.

The pages following contain

many challenges, but few words ofcomfort. I do not apologize for myconviction that the evangelicallandscape is overcrowded with muchmisplaced comfort in these days,comfort that too easily allows us tosettle for so much less than our Lord

calls us to be. I instead commend thereader into the care of the trueComforter. For He is more severe, yetmore gracious; more demanding, yetmore patient; more intolerant, yet moreunderstanding than the well-intentionedvoice of human comfort could ever be.

Bryan FraserFort Nelson, British ColumbiaAugust 2005

Chapter 1. The Mystery ofFruitfulness

For God will bring every work intojudgment, including every secretthing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:14

WHAT HAVE YOU GOT

BURIED UNDER YOUR TENT? A Christian’s true identity is

revealed in the hidden life. He revealsit in the choices he makes when there isno recognition to be had and no

reputation to gain. He reveals it whenhe can choose the right thing or thewrong thing and no one else sees whathe does. These are the choices thatreveal the genuine person. Transparency before God is a highcalling. Many will exhibit acts ofsacrifice, of selfless labor, of everyform of Christian virtue when they are inthe public eye. But few attain to thatlofty status of character where they aretruly impartial to whether their conductis public or not. Achieving consistencybetween our hidden and public lives isone of the greatest challenges facing theChristian and is, in fact, the ultimateconfession of belief in God.

As much as our spirits desire tolive openly before God, the fleshcompels us to follow a double standardand is quick to exploit any opportunity itfinds to lead us in that direction. Itprompts us to readily remember our actsof obedience and to quickly forget ourhidden sins. The flesh prompts us tocompartmentalize the various areas ofour lives, deluding us into thinking thathidden sin in one area will not affect theothers. But the Apostle tells us that thebody is “knit together by what everyjoint supplies” (Ephesians 4:16). Things that have no apparent connectionin the natural world are knit together inthe heavenlies. Israel was scattered onthe battlefield of Ai because of the

secret sin of Achan’s family (Joshua 7). Even though their sin had no naturalconnection to the logistics of the battle,Israel’s entire effort was renderedineffective. The flesh also lulls us intocomplacency because of God’s delay inbringing our secrets to light. Eventhough we formally confess that the Lord“will both bring to light the hiddenthings of darkness and reveal thecounsels of the hearts” (1 Corinthians4:5), this judgment often seems far offand unreal.

Living in this world, we are

attuned to its laws of causation andconsequence. We have learned whatthings we must do in the natural world to

achieve results in the natural world. ButJesus calls us to bear fruit that remains,that is, His genuine fruit that willwithstand the fire of judgment (John15:16). When we apply naturalstrategies to spiritual objectives, theresult is either barrenness or perishablefruit. Using earthly methods andtechniques, the clever workman canachieve any result he desires. He cangather, build, harvest and in every wayappear to be bearing the fruit thatremains. Our natural eyes cannotdistinguish perishable fruit from thatwhich remains, so similar do they oftenappear. But, the Day will show eachone’s fruit for what it is (1 Corinthians3:13).

The purpose of this book is to

consider the goal of fruitfulness in ourlives and bring about in the reader a shiftof perspective from the natural to therevelatory. For if we desire to seegenuine fruit in our lives, we mustsubmit to God’s revealed conditions forfruitfulness. To the great distress of theflesh, what this ultimately means is thatwe bear fruit in accordance with ourfaithfulness in those matters where menhurry past but where our Lord waits andwatches.

WHY WE NEED TO SWEAT THE

SMALL STUFF

We bear fruit through faithfulnessin the small, obscure details ofobedience. The disciple who bears fruitis the one who makes no distinction inhis heart between small and largematters or between hidden and visiblematters. He submits to the heavenlyequation stating that “he who is faithfulin what is least is faithful also in much”(Luke 16:10). He is faithful when thematter seems trivial, he is faithful evento his own apparent disadvantage and heis faithful when no one else will everknow. He understands that it is thehidden life, not the outward presentation,that moves God “to show Himself strongon behalf of those whose heart is loyalto Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). For if we

disregard small things while attending tolarge things, then it is plain that our firstpriority is pleasing men rather thanserving our Lord Who sees all things.

Yet, it is easier to accept this

principle as a formal theologicalpremise than to apply it as a working,hands-on lifestyle. For every fibre ofour beings compels us to live as if wemust work to bear fruit. But the truth isjust the opposite: that we must actuallywork to become barren. When, throughour hidden sin, we break fellowshipwith Christ, we can bear no fruit. OurLord plainly teaches us that “without Meyou can do nothing (John 15:5).” Hereis the stumbling block that leaves so

many Christians in a condition ofbarrenness. Our secret compromisesand shortcuts move us away from Hispresence. We try to compensate for thisseparation by multiplying our outwardefforts to bear fruit, but to no avail for“without Me you can do nothing.”

The disciple who fully comes to

grips with this reality is forevertransformed in his perspective on hisspiritual condition. He is no longerimpressed with much outward activitythat is widely celebrated as being “greatworks of God.” He gains a newappreciation for those few spiritualfathers whose consistent lives set themapart from the rest. But most important,

he comes to understand that it is in factGod, not himself, Who brings forth fruit. He comes to understand that Godmysteriously brings forth fruit not inthose who display the greatest outwarddevotion, but in those who are withouthypocrisy in their hidden lives. In short,he comes to understand that God bringsforth fruit not in those who do, but inthose who are.

This principle of fruitfulness

runs cross grain to the instincts anddesires of the natural man. For thenatural man strives to bear fruit to Godthrough works that are highly visible,that do not cost him personally and thatenhance his reputation among men. He

is especially attracted to service that ishighly esteemed among men, but is anabomination in the sight of God (Luke16:15). He wants to ignore and forgetthe small, hidden acts of disobediencethat he places in the “non-spiritual”compartment of his thinking. Havingmade this artificial division between“spiritual acts of service” and “secularmatters of disobedience,” he thendeludes himself as to who he really is.He thinks that his true identity lies in thepublic presentation that he puts ondisplay. He thinks that he can bear fruitto God by offering up his visible worksand sacrifices. But if his secret, hiddenlife is full of compromise, then all ofthese efforts are as the offering of Cain

and amount to nothing (Genesis 4:5).

HIDING FROM THECROWD AND IN THE CROWD

When we speak of hidden sins,

there are two kinds to distinguish: thosewe hide from others and those we hidefrom ourselves. The sin we hide fromothers is the more commonunderstanding of ‘secret sin.’ We areacutely conscious of this sin, heavilyunder its conviction and determined toconceal its presence from all others. David’s adultery with Bathsheba is anexample of this kind of sin. Secondly,sins we hide from ourselves are thosethat we have pushed to the back burner

of our consciences and rarely consider. We generally commit these sinscollectively. We fall into behaviors thatare so widespread that we sense thesafety of numbers: “If nobody else isconcerned about it why should I be?” Sins of the tongue such as gossip andbackbiting are scarcely noticed if theyinfect the whole community. It is onlywhen we are cornered and confrontedthat we confess such speech for thedisobedience that it is.

The natural man, coveting his

secret sins, wants to “immediately forgetwhat kind of man he was” (James 1:24)and move ahead to consider what hewill “do for God.” He wants to make a

plan, get to work and generate results. Like Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8), hebelieves that he can bear spiritual fruitby imitating techniques he observes ingodly disciples. He focuses not on whohe is, but on what he does. He seeks tocover over his failings by exerting evengreater effort. He keeps up a franticschedule that helps him avoid closeexamination of his true spiritualcondition. He imagines that he canignore areas of compromise anddisobedience, yet still bring forth fruit. But God will have none of this. There isno shortcut, no end run around God’sprinciple of fruitfulness.

YOU CAN’T DO GOD’S JOB

AND HE WON’T DO YOURS God has chosen the imagery of

agriculture to teach us this importantprinciple of fruitfulness. The Bible isfilled with lessons drawn from elementsof agriculture: harvests, fields, seeds,rain, vineyards, crops, sowing, reapingand so on. Through these pictures, wesee a recurring theme of man’sdependence on God in bearing fruit. InPsalm 1, man is responsible for stayingrooted in the well-watered riverbed. Inthe parable of the sower (Matthew 13),man is responsible for being good soil. In the allegory of the vine (John 15), manis the branch responsible for remainingattached to the vine. Each of these

pictures shows that man has a criticallyimportant role in fruitfulness. He is toensure that the necessary conditions forfruitfulness are met. But he cannot,through his efforts, bring forth fruit. It isGod and God alone who miraculouslybrings forth the fruit in response toman’s obedience and faithfulness. This“division of labor” between God andman in these agricultural pictures isgiven to teach us the unfathomablemystery of fruitfulness: that we mustdepend completely on the Lord of theharvest who brings forth His fruit in itsseason.

In the ancient, agrarian world of

the Bible, people were utterly dependent

on the cycles and processes of theharvest year. They patiently submittedto their roles in the harvest cycle andlooked to God to show hislovingkindness toward them by bringingforth His harvest. Modern man,however, is far removed from thisprimitive dependence on the seasonalelements. He sets his own schedule andis the captain of his production. Inmodern agricultural science, we designgenetically superior seed. We fertilize,irrigate, decontaminate and irradiate ourcrops to the extent that the uncertaintiesof crop yields are greatly reduced. Theurbanite, even further removed from theagricultural cycle, simply buys hisproduce in the supermarket and hardly

gives a thought to its source. Thistechnological revolution has transformedus into a culture that is able to producewhat it wants when it wants it.

Within this technological context,

Christian thought easily drifts away fromthe fundamental division ofresponsibility between God and man soclearly taught in the Bible. Conditionedby the production-oriented mentality ofmodern, technological society, we workharder at trying to bring forth fruit andless on who we need to be in order forGod to bring forth fruit. We labor tobring forth fruit through goal-orientedstrategies and programs while neglectingthe obligations of personal holiness,

self-control and sacrifice. We assumethat our visible, structured ministrieswill overshadow our inadequacies inspiritual discipline. We look to thesecular social sciences to learn how toattract and retain the maximum numbersof people. We make “church growth” aprescriptive methodology instead of adivine miracle. We measure fruitfulnessalmost exclusively in terms ofattendance and numerical growth. Numerical growth is always viewedpositively, regardless of the messageused to achieve this growth, or thespiritual condition of the resultingcrowds.

In our desire for numerical

growth, we quickly look past the pricerequired to bear spiritual fruit:separation, discipline, and death to self. We replace these demands with amessage designed to attract themultitudes. Instead of calling people tolose their lives for Christ, we enablepeople to feel comfortable with theircompromised lives. Given the choicebetween ten committed disciples and100 interested adherents, we tailor ourefforts to produce the latter.

Our preaching assumes that, if it

can just attract a crowd, people willsomehow become committed discipleslater on. We become like contemporarychild educators who believe that the best

way to stimulate children’s interest inwriting is to have them write whateverseems good to them without regard forspelling, grammar or sentence structure. Supposedly, children will learn tocorrect all these errors later on. Butthey do not. These students spend theirlives unable to write or spell well. Inthe same way, those who begin theirspiritual journeys with the idea thatChristianity is all about "how Jesus isgoing to make me feel good aboutmyself" do not easily change theirperspectives later on. We forget ourmandate to teach every new disciple thetrue cost of fruitfulness.

This book will look at our

fruitfulness in Christ by reversing theusual perspective of considering whatwe need to “do” to bear fruit. It willinstead focus on a number of commonproblem areas in our hidden lives thatcan choke off the fruit that God wouldotherwise bring forth. We need torealize that not all the visible results ofour religious activities are genuinespiritual fruit. We need to focus on ourown responsibilities and stop trying totake over God’s unique role infruitfulness. Most of all, we need togrow in our appreciation of the mysteryand the “otherliness” of fruitfulness,becoming like the farmer who, scatteringhis seed on the ground, marvels that “theseed should sprout and grow, he himself

does not know how” (Mark 4:27). Meditation and Response

1. What hidden places in your life didthe Holy Spirit highlight to you asyou read this chapter?

2. Which of these places are mostprecious to you and seem like themost difficult ones to leavebehind? Confide your thoughts tothe Lord.

3. Can you think of a time when youtried to bear spiritual fruit usingyour natural strength? Asaccurately as you can, describe theresult.

Chapter 2. The Diversity of SpiritualFruit

What is spiritual fruit? What are

its forms and varieties? These arecritically important questions because adisciple who takes his faith seriously atall must come to an understanding ofwhat he is to produce. The term “fruit,”when used figuratively in the Bible,means "the result of an action, conditionor influence." The specific influencewhich brings forth fruit in a Christian’slife is the indwelling Holy Spirit. As Istressed in Chapter 1, the presence of the

Spirit in a disciple brings forth fruitwhen its growth is not inhibited byfactors preventing its reaching maturity. In this sense, fruit is the final and visiblemanifestation of a hidden, inner reality. This is the core idea in the concept ofspiritual fruit: that an exterior veneercannot conceal the inner substance. Thisprinciple of the visible manifestationrevealing the inward truth is clearly seenin Matthew 7:15-20:

Beware of false prophets, who cometo you in sheep's clothing, butinwardly they are ravenous wolves.You will know them by their fruits.Do men gather grapes fromthornbushes or figs from thistles?Even so, every good tree bears good

fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Agood tree cannot bear bad fruit, norcan a bad tree bear good fruit. Everytree that does not bear good fruit iscut down and thrown into the fire.Therefore by their fruits you willknow them.

Two important aspects of God’s

principle of fruitfulness are expressed inthis passage. First, there is theimpossibility of inward and outwardinconsistency: a thing will alwaysmanifest outwardly according to its innersubstance and nature. This manifestationcan sometimes be delayed and apparentonly in the latter stages of maturity, but itis certain just the same.

LOOKING FOR ORANGES

IN APPLE TREES Second, we see the corollary

truth that a thing can only produce "fruitaccording to its kind" (Genesis 1:11). Itcannot choose to bring forth a differentkind of fruit. To use the language of theanalogy, not only is a good tree unable tobear bad fruit, it is unable to bearanother kind of good fruit. It will onlybear that kind of fruit that is consistentwith its nature and purpose. Thisprinciple is essential to a properunderstanding of fruitfulness. There are,in fact, numerous kinds of fruit. Somekinds are to be brought forth by all

Christians at all times. Other kinds willbe brought forth in certain situations andnot in others. It is certainly a mistake fora Christian to focus exclusively on asingle kind of fruit and feel defeated ifhe does not see that particular varietyproduced at a time of his own choosing. Listed below are six kinds of fruitdescribed in the New Testament. Thislist is not necessarily exhaustive, but isintended to show the diverse nature ofspiritual fruit.

Godly Character. In several

letters to the churches, the fruit of theSpirit is shown to be attributes of godlycharacter (Galatians 5:22-32, Ephesians5:9). These qualities are not natural in

origin, but arise as a Christian dailysubmits his life to the rule of God.

Church Growth . Jesus

specifically identified the ingathering ofGod’s elect as fruit. “Behold, I say toyou, lift up your eyes and look at thefields, for they are already white forharvest! And he who reaps receiveswages, and gathers fruit for eternal life,that both he who sows and he who reapsmay rejoice together” (John 4:35-36). Inthis context, “fruit” and “harvest” aresynonymous terms for the addition ofdisciples to the church. Paul alsoreferred to growth resulting from hismissions work as fruit (Romans 1:13,16:5; Philippians 1:22).

Financial Offerings. Paul

referred to a gift from a Gentilecongregation to Jewish Christians asfruit in Romans 15:28 (See alsoPhilippians 4:17). This offeringdefinitively demonstrated that the Spiritwas dissolving the rigid barriersbetween Jews and Gentiles in thechurch.

Thankfulness. In Hebrews

13:15, expressions of thanksgiving toGod are called fruit: “Therefore by Himlet us continually offer the sacrifice ofpraise to God, that is, the fruit of ourlips, giving thanks to His name.” TheSpirit prompts the disciple to thank God

for all things where previously therewas complaining and cursing. The Biblerefers to this supernaturally transformedattitude as fruit.

Good Works . “And let our

people also learn to maintain goodworks, to meet urgent needs, that theymay not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14). TheSpirit will prompt Christians to worksof service, helps and mercy as Hisinfluence grows in their lives.

BUT I DON’T WANT TO

SMELL LIKE DEATH! The Hardening of the Lost. This

kind of fruit is intentionally listed last

because it will seem unexpected to manyreaders. Calling the hardening of thelost a spiritual fruit is a concept not wellunderstood or frequently discussed. Yetit recognizes the fact that the Spirit-filleddisciple impacts people both positivelyand negatively: “For we are to God thefragrance of Christ among those who arebeing saved and among those who areperishing. To the one we are the aromaof death leading to death, and to theother the aroma of life leading to life” (2Corinthians 2:15). As a Christiandeepens his relationship with his Lord,the fragrance of Christ on him will growstronger. This does not mean, however,that his spiritual aroma will have anincreasingly positive influence on

people. On the contrary, those whooppose the sovereign rule of God willsmell the aroma of death on him all themore strongly! The Christian has nocontrol over people’s responses. Hisonly duty is to keep the fragrance ofChrist pure and unmixed with otheraromas.

God has appointed some persons

for destruction (Romans 9:22) and Hesometimes uses his elect to complete thehardening of those who reject His Son. Paul was used of God this way in Acts19:8-9,

And he went into the synagogue andspoke boldly for three months,reasoning and persuading concerning

the things of the kingdom of God. Butwhen some were hardened and didnot believe, but spoke evil of the Waybefore the multitude, he departedfrom them and withdrew thedisciples, reasoning daily in theschool of Tyrannus.

God used Paul’s faithfulness to hardenthose He had prepared for wrath.

I previously stated that “fruit”

and “harvest” are synonymous termswhen used to refer to the ingathering ofthe elect. However, “harvest” alsorefers to the gathering of those destinedfor punishment and destruction, asshown in Revelation 14:15-19:

And another angel came out of the

temple, crying with a loud voice toHim who sat on the cloud, "Thrust inYour sickle and reap, for the time hascome for You to reap, for the harvestof the earth is ripe." So He who saton the cloud thrust in His sickle onthe earth, and the earth was reaped.Then another angel came out of thetemple which is in heaven, he alsohaving a sharp sickle. And anotherangel came out from the altar, whohad power over fire, and he criedwith a loud cry to him who had thesharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in yoursharp sickle and gather the clusters ofthe vine of the earth, for her grapesare fully ripe." So the angel thrust hissickle into the earth and gathered the

vine of the earth, and threw it into thegreat winepress of the wrath of God.

The overall picture that we need

to see is that the harvest at the end of theage includes both the elect and the lost. Our Lord has sent forth His disciples toparticipate in the harvesting of both. Asmuch as we desire that all should cometo repentance (2 Peter 3:9), we mustaccept the fact that many will behardened by the fragrance of Christ uponus. This hardening is a very real fruit ofthe Spirit.

YOU CAN’T PICK

DAFFODILS IN FEBRUARY

As God patiently waits for HisWord to have its full effect in the world,the ingathering of the elect will beuneven and unpredictable. In certaintimes and places, many will be savedand added to the church. Other times,the church will languish as wholecultures seem to turn away. We must becareful that we do not assume that abetter strategy, a better crafting of ourmessage, or a better understanding ofcultural distinctives would necessarilyhave produced a different response. God pointedly told Ezekiel that He wassending him to a people who would notrepent:

"Son of man, I am sending you to thechildren of Israel, to a rebellious

nation that has rebelled against Me;they and their fathers havetransgressed against Me to this veryday. For they are impudent andstubborn children. I am sending youto them, and you shall say to them,"Thus says the Lord GOD.' As forthem, whether they hear or whetherthey refuse--for they are a rebellioushouse--yet they will know that aprophet has been among them(Ezekiel 2:3-5).

The great temptation we face at

this point is to tinker and adjust themessage we preach in until we achieve amore positive response from ourhearers. We have convinced ourselves

that the presentation of the gospel mustproduce a positive response in everyplace at all times. But this is not thecase. A careful survey of church historywill show that the church has alwaysbeen expanding in one region whilefalling into decline in another. Thegospel presented in the same way withthe same faithfulness in two differentplaces may produce very different kindsof fruit. If God has appointed us to beara certain kind of fruit for a season, thenwe will have no success attempting tobring forth something different.

What is called for here is a

change in perspective in how weperceive fruitfulness. Despite the many

kinds of fruit that God brings forth, thereis the near-universal assumption todaythat a non-growing church is an unfruitfulchurch. We must have our numbers! There can be any number of reasons forstagnation in church growth. Churchescan be afflicted with apostasy, rebellion,pride, hidden sins or other factors thatwithhold God’s blessing. If these flawsare inhibiting growth then they certainlyneed to be rooted out.

But if a church is in a position of

humility and obedience before the Lordand is still not seeing numerical growth,then it needs to consider its waycarefully. God may lead it to start doingsome things differently, but then again

He may not. Jesus drew tremendouscrowds when he healed the sick andpromised people relief from thebackbreaking religion of the Pharisees. But when he preached hard thingsdifficult to accept, “many of Hisdisciples went back and walked withHim no more” (John 6:66). Are wewilling to accept this yoke? Certainlythere are times when the Lord’s primarycalling on a church is simply to standfast in its confession, that the people“will know that a prophet has beenamong them.”

Meditation and Response

1. Ask the Spirit to show you what

kinds of fruit He is calling you tobring forth.

2. Pray for your pastor and churchleadership: that they would havegodly insight to know how to leadthe people into the fruitfulness Godhas prepared for them.

3. Think of three Christians close toyou that are bearing spiritual fruit. Encourage them by confirming thefruit you see manifest in their lives.

Chapter 3. Bearing the Fruit God HasChosen For Me

FINDING THE ONE THING

YOU MUST DO The word of God comes to us in

two forms of revelation: the inspiredScriptures which reveal God’s natureand will to all peoples, and the voice ofGod, being His specific guidance toindividuals. We recognize that bothforms of revelation come from the sameHoly Spirit so that in all communicationfrom the mind of God there is perfect

unity and agreement. There is a general obedience

required of all of us regarding God’srevealed will in the Bible. We are toobey God’s laws, keep ourselves fromsin and live according to the wisdom Hehas given us in Scripture. But there isanother level of communication that isequally important in fulfilling God’spurposes in our lives. God would speakto me individually and show me thespecific works that He has for me. When an army goes into battle it has twosources of guidance. First, there is theplan of attack that is drawn upbeforehand. But as well, there are thefield commanders who give specific

orders to soldiers while the battle is inprogress. Both the plan of attack and thefield orders are essential for victory.

When we consider the various

Bible heroes God used to accomplishHis purposes we find again and againthat an essential ingredient in theireffectiveness was the voice of God. Godtold them something very specific to doand when to do it. They obeyed andbrought forth the fruit God had preparedfor them. Not only did these saints needto exercise faith, but they also required aspecific instruction in which to placetheir faith:

� Noah was to build an ark, andnot do a great many other things that

may have seemed good to him.� Abram was to leave hishomeland and go to a specific placethat God would show him.� Moses was to return to Egyptafter forty years in the desert and nota day sooner.� Jonah was to go not to any city,but to Nineveh because that waswhere God had prepared his work.

In the same way, without hearing thevoice of God, the church’s mission willnot go forward. Neither will ourpersonal callings reach their fulfillmentand potential.

DO YOU WORK HARD OR

SMART?

We will accomplish a lot more

for God if we work smart rather thanhard. The voice of God is somethingentirely different from all the humanwisdom we think will accomplish God’swork: self-sacrifice, self-denial, allkinds of grand projects, schedules andstrategies. It is an unfortunate truth thatmuch of our activity done in the name ofGod springs from our own imaginationsand ambitions. We get anxious becausewe don’t see any progress. Nothing ishappening. We think we have lost ourway. So we must act. We must stepforward with a plan of action.Something! Anything! Numbers 14:39-45 tells the story of some people who

felt they just had to do something. Then Moses told these words to allthe children of Israel, and the peoplemourned greatly. And they rose earlyin the morning and went up to the topof the mountain, saying, "Here weare, and we will go up to the placewhich the LORD has promised, forwe have sinned!" And Moses said,"Now why do you transgress thecommand of the LORD? For this willnot succeed. Do not go up, lest yoube defeated by your enemies, for theLORD is not among you. For theAmalekites and the Canaanites arethere before you, and you shall fall bythe sword; because you have turnedaway from the LORD, the LORD will

not be with you." But they presumedto go up to the mountaintop.Nevertheless, neither the ark of thecovenant of the LORD nor Mosesdeparted from the camp. Then theAmalekites and the Canaanites whodwelt in that mountain came downand attacked them, and drove themback as far as Hormah.

How can we explain this

disaster? Israel was in the right place. They were supposed to be in Canaan. They also understood their calling. Theywere to drive the Amalekites andCanaanites out of the land. But theyrebelled against the voice of God: “Nottoday. Not on this mountain. Do not go

up for the Lord will not be with you.” They had the battle plan right, but theydid not hear the voice of theircommander.

This passage is a wonderful

example of good intentions and hardwork. Good intentions and hard workdo not accomplish the will of God. Weaccomplish the will of God by waiting,hearing His voice and obeying. TheIsraelites were trying to accomplish theright thing, but in the wrong way at thewrong time. They worked hard, but theysure didn’t work smart. God doesn’twant us to do that. He doesn’t want usto work hard. Jesus says, “My yoke iseasy and My burden is light.” God wants

me to work smart. Simon Peter is aperfect example of the mentality of thehard worker.

When He had stopped speaking, Hesaid to Simon, "Launch out into thedeep and let down your nets for acatch." But Simon answered and saidto Him, "Master, we have toiled allnight and caught nothing; neverthelessat Your word I will let down the net."And when they had done this, theycaught a great number of fish, andtheir net was breaking (Luke 5:4-6).

Just like Israel in Canaan, Peter

was generally doing what he wassupposed to be doing. He was afisherman. He has fishing in the right

lake. He had the right kind of boat andthe right kind of nets, but he had caughtno fish. What was missing? It was notuntil the Lord showed him the exactlocation and the precise timing that hewas successful. Up until that time theyhad toiled all night and caught nothing.

ALMOST OBEDIENCE

So often we are very close to

being effective for the Lord. Weunderstand our callings and our spiritualgiftings. Maybe we have even hadprophetic confirmation of the workbefore us. But we never seem to breakthrough into the kind of blessing,productivity and confidence we know

God promises. Why is that? Theanswer is often a hearing problem. Listening for the voice of God requires avery childlike submission to God that thenatural man simply doesn’t like. We arenaturally action oriented. We areorganizers and doers: "Size up thesituation, find a plan that workedsomewhere else, plug it in here and let’sget on with it."

In order to appreciate Peter’s

fishing adventure, we need to putourselves in his place. That’s not hardto do because we’re cut from the samecloth he is. That is, until God teaches usotherwise, we place our experience andreasoning ahead of the voice of God. If

we expanded Peter's response, it wouldbe something like this:

Look Master, I know fishing. I didn'tstart doing this yesterday. This is mybusiness and this lake is my territory.I know when to fish and where tofish. If there were any fish here, wewould have caught them. We've beenat it all night. We need to get somesleep so that we can come back outhere tonight. If we just keep at it,sooner or later we’ll hit it right andcatch a few fish. Nevertheless, atYour word I will let down the net.

We can almost hear Simon's tongue clickand his eyes roll as he grudginglysubmits to Jesus.

We try to force our way throughlife that way, don’t we: doing whatseems right and sensible and prudent andfamiliar? In our stubbornness, we takethe attitude that, if God wants me to takea different road, he can put up a detoursign. But we can’t hear the voice of Godwhen we’ve got that attitude. As painfulas it is to the flesh, we need to put thatearthly, prideful stubbornness to death. Pride is a major obstacle to hearing thevoice of God. We want to be seen assomeone who knows what’s going on,someone who can see the course ahead,someone who is wise, cautious anddiscerning. But you don’t have to readthe Bible very long to see that most ofGod’s instructions to his servants were

illogical, foolish and outright ridiculouswhen seen from a natural viewpoint. Several examples will show how theGod’s approach to fruitfulness isspecifically designed to break down ourpride.

� God’s Tax Payment Schedule . "Go to the sea, cast in a hook, andtake the fish that comes up first. Andwhen you have opened its mouth, youwill find a piece of money; take thatand give it to them for Me and you"(Matthew 17:27).� God’s Travel Planning . "Gointo the village opposite you, andimmediately you will find a donkeytied, and a colt with her. Loose them

and bring them to Me" (Matthew21:2).� God’s Hotel ReservationMethod. "And He sent out two ofHis disciples and said to them, "Gointo the city, and a man will meet youcarrying a pitcher of water; followhim. Wherever he goes in, say to themaster of the house, "The Teachersays, "Where is the guest room inwhich I may eat the Passover withMy disciples?"' Then he will showyou a large upper room, furnished andprepared; there make ready for us"(Mark 14:13-15).� God’s Philosophy of Ministry. "And being assembled together withthem, He commanded them not to

depart from Jerusalem, but to wait forthe Promise of the Father" (Acts1:4).� God’s Plan of Evangelism. "Now an angel of the Lord spoke toPhilip, saying, "Arise and go towardthe south along the road which goesdown from Jerusalem to Gaza" (Acts8:26).� God’s Leadership SelectionProcess #1. "So he, trembling andastonished, said, "Lord, what do Youwant me to do?" Then the Lord saidto him, "Arise and go into the city,and you will be told what you mustdo" (Acts 9:6).� God’s Leadership SelectionProcess #2. "As they ministered tothe Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit

said, "Now separate to Me Barnabasand Saul for the work to which I havecalled them." (Acts 13:2).� God’s Plan of Evangelism #2. "Now when they had gone throughPhrygia and the region of Galatia,they were forbidden by the HolySpirit to preach the word in Asia.After they had come to Mysia, theytried to go into Bithynia, but the Spiritdid not permit them. So passing byMysia, they came down to Troas.And a vision appeared to Paul in thenight. A man of Macedonia stood andpleaded with him, saying, "Comeover to Macedonia and help us."Now after he had seen the vision,immediately we sought to go to

Macedonia, concluding that the Lordhad called us to preach the gospel tothem" (Acts:16:6-10).

For the most part, these

instructions are humiliating. Godintends for them to be humiliating. Godwants to put us in situations where, ifsomeone asks why you did that, the onlyanswer you have is “the voice of Godtold me.” Because until we are humbledand learn to hear His voice, we can’taccomplish His work. We can do ourwork, but we can’t do God’s work. Solet’s summarize two main pointspresented so far:

1. Hearing the voice of God is anormal and necessary way that God

leads us into his work,2. Hearing the voice of God is a

process designed to make ushumble and keep us humble.

HOW TO HEAR GOD

WHISPER IN THE STORM I now want to turn to the question

of how we hear the voice of God. Jesus'analogy of the sheep and their shepherdprovides an excellent picture of learningto hear the voice of God.

...he who enters by the door is theshepherd of the sheep. To him thedoorkeeper opens, and the sheep hearhis voice; and he calls his own sheepby name and leads them out. And

when he brings out his own sheep, hegoes before them; and the sheepfollow him, for they know his voice.Yet they will by no means follow astranger, but will flee from him, forthey do not know the voice ofstrangers (John 10:2-5).

The sheep come to know the shepherd’svoice through familiarity, by hearing thatvoice day in and day out: calling hissheep, giving direction, singing,scolding. In the same way, the Christianmust come to know God’s voice throughfamiliarity.

As I stated above, the written

word of God in the Bible and the voiceof God to us individually are one and the

same. It is a seamless word and there isno contradiction. When we study,meditate and meet with God in the Bible,we come to know His voice. Throughthe Bible we learn what His voicesounds like. We learn the voice of Godwhen it is merciful, when it is severe,when it is encouraging, when it rebukes,when it is tender and when it is harsh,when it says move ahead and when itsays “Wait.” For the voice of God is allthese things. It is exactly the same withour family members. Throughfamiliarity we come to know theirvoices. All we need to hear is a sigh ora single syllable and we know whatmood they’re in, if they’re tired, happy,sad, content or discouraged.

In the same way, a doctor studies

everything he can about the human heart.He listens to recordings of every knownheart condition. He listens to patients’hearts day in and day out. Why does hedo this? So that when he listens to yourheart he can hear what’s going on. Anauto mechanic listens to cars all day andlearns which parts make certain noises.Why does he do this? So when you drivein and ask him why your car doesn’twork he can hear what your car issaying? Familiarity.

The sheep can hear the

shepherd’s voice because they know hisvoice and they do not know the voice of

strangers. There are many other voicesall around us competing with the voiceof God: earthly wisdom, lies of theenemy, deceitfulness of the flesh, thepride of life. These voices all competefor our attention and beckon us tofollow.

Some of us know these voices

very well, but we don’t know the voiceof God. So even when He speaks to uswe can’t hear Him. God’s voice isunfamiliar and drowned out by morefamiliar voices. Interestingly, there is astrong correlation between Christianswho are strangers to their Bibles andChristians who are constantly in crisisand distress. God is speaking words of

comfort, encouragement and guidance tothem, but they can’t hear His voice. It isstrange and distant.

In recent years, a tremendous

interest in prophecy has arisen in thechurch. Prophecy is a marvelous giftand a source of encouragement andguidance. But some Christians try tosubstitute prophecy for the time theyshould be spending in their Bibles. Theytry to sustain themselves exclusively onthat diet. This is a serious error becauseprophetic prayer ministry and propheticcounseling will be of little value to aChristian who has not learned to feedhimself on the word of God. If I'm sickbecause of a poor diet and I go to my

doctor, he is not going to reach into hisbag and pull out a magic pill that willheal me. He’s going to tell me whatfoods I must start eating to get well.

The Shepherd calls His sheep by

name. God’s sheep are able to hear Hisvoice because they know His voice. And because they hear His voice He isable to call each one by name. If wewant to walk with God in the high placesand hear Him call us by name there is noshortcut around the discipline of Biblereading. We can’t achieve this withChristian books or sermon tapes orconferences or any other substitute, asuseful as these may be in their ownright. We've got to be in the Bible

ourselves and asking the Lord to fill upour minds with His thoughts. That’s theonly way to learn to know His voice.

HAVE YOU INSTALLED

YOUR SOFTWARE? There are a variety of ways that

God, through His Holy Spirit can call usby name. God can use an audible voice,an angel, dreams, visions or prophecy. But the most common way the Lord callsus by name is through Scriptures that wehave either memorized or readmeditatively. These benefits aredescribed in Proverbs 6:20-22.

My son, keep your father'scommand,

And do not forsake the law ofyour mother.

Bind them continually upon yourheart;

Tie them around your neck.When you walk, they will lead

you;When you sleep, they will keep

you;And when you awake, they will

speak with you. The word of God here is

pictured as God’s law which is passeddown from generation to generation,parents to children. Note three specificbenefits of binding the word of God onour hearts:

� When you walk, they will leadyou. As we go through your day theScriptures we memorize will guideus through specific encounters andappointments.� When you sleep, they will keepyou. Demonic dreams, satanicsuggestions and night terrors troublesome Christians in their sleep. Memorizing Scripture providesprotection from these attacks.� And when you awake, they willspeak with you. Did you know thatGod wants to have a briefing withyou each morning on the upcomingday? The daily horoscope in ournewspapers is a demonic counterfeitof what God offers us. But as in

everything, God was first. Taken all together, we call this

process illumination. It is where theHoly Spirit will quicken a Scripture inits proper context and apply it to aspecific situation or decision in my life.And in a way that you can’t describe, butthat you know is God, He says, “this isfor you right now.” But of course therequirement for this to happen is that ourminds have to be programmed with theword of God. If we’ve got 99% freedisk space on our hard drives then theHoly Spirit hasn’t anything to work with!

God desires to bring us into

fruitful work by leading us with His own

voice. But we must choose to make therequired investment. We can set asidethe time for prayerful Bible reading,learn to hear the voice of God and walkin our callings; or we can allow thecares and distractions of this world topush God away to the point where Hisvoice is lost among many others. Ultimately, our decision will make thedifference as to whether we work hardor work smart.

Meditation and Response

1. Can you think of a time when ranahead to serve God on your ownterms? What was the result in yourlife?

2. When was the last time God gaveyou some specific direction thatyou would never have come toyourself? How did you know itwas Him?

3. If you do not read your Bibleregularly, start reading scheduletoday. Before you read, always askthe Lord to speak to you directlythrough His written word.

Chapter 4. The Need to Slow Down

“…that you also aspire to lead aquiet life…” 1 Thessalonians 4:11

“…that we may lead a quiet andpeaceable life in all godliness andreverence.” 1 Timothy 2:2

NOT JUST A QUIET TIME,BUT A QUIET LIFE

In order to bear fruit, a Christian

must covet solitude. What I mean by thisis that he must jealously guard his life

against the whirlwind of distractions thatwould overwhelm it. The biblicalinjunction to lead a quiet life is not acall to forsake the affairs of this presentworld, but to exert our proper dominionover them. Jesus, our perfect example,led a quiet life even in the midst of themany demands placed upon Him. Herecognized the importance of intermittentretreat and quiet in maintainingfellowship with His Father. It was Histimes of solitude and meditation thatallowed Him to do “what He sees theFather do” (John 5:19). It was thisenvironment of quietude that gavedirection to his active work and Hemoved seamlessly between solitude andaction. We find His interaction with the

world measured, intentional andpurposeful. In the same way, the wisedisciple will judge the activities thatsolicit his attention and grant to each thetime and place it deserves. He willlearn to see his withdrawal from theworld as being as much a contributor tofruitfulness as his participation in it.

But the reality is that

Evangelicalism has created an artificialdichotomy separating active and passiveobedience. The Evangelical is moreoriented toward viewing outwardinitiative as the essential trait of truediscipleship. He understands the basicexpression of his faith as beingintentional action as opposed to passive

meditation. He is uncomfortable withthe idea of spending too much time andenergy cultivating the inner places of thesoul. We exalt aggressive and practicalaction in our religion, but attribute littlevalue to reflective solitude. “What doesit accomplish?” we ask. We wouldstorm the gates of the enemy, but declineto enter into the sitting room of our Lord.For the most part, whatever time weallocate to spiritual life goes to activityrather than solitude.

Christians today have lost

perspective of the importance of solitudein fostering fruitfulness. Like the culturearound us, we are becoming increasinglyinsensitive to the need for quietude.

Instead, we are conditioned to requireconstant stimulation and activity. Wemust have music or television on at alltimes at home. We cannot exercisewithout headsets plugged into our ears. We cannot travel without readingmaterials in our hands. Our weekendsare filled from Friday evening toMonday morning. Our vacations arebooked and planned months in advance. An unscheduled evening is considered“free” and available to be taken up withsome amusement or social diversion.

The problem with this picture is

not that these activities individually arewrong. Nor is any one of themnecessarily in direct conflict with

Christian discipleship. The problem isthat the modern Christian has lost hissense of “spiritual equilibrium.” Adecorator knows when too much color,too many pictures and too many piecesof furniture overwhelm a room. A chefunderstands that too many ingredientsand spices will conflict with each otherand ruin a recipe. But the Christiantoday does not perceive when hisspiritual environment has reached thatcritical threshold of clutter that isincompatible with fruitfulness. At best,he settles for an occasional “quiet time”when we are actually called to leadquiet lives.

A quiet life is essential to

developing intimacy with Jesus. It is notpossible to develop intimacy simplythrough allocating scheduled times whenwe tell Him what we need. We wouldnot consider this a normal way to relateto family members. Why do weconsider it adequate to live with ourLord this way? Family membersbecome like one another through beingaround each other all the time. In thesame way, we conform to the image ofChrist by abiding in Christ. Theexpression “abiding in Christ” canbecome an overused spiritual cliché, butit simply means maintaining anenvironment that allows us to perceiveHis presence. Certainly, Jesus is alwayspresent with us. But if we are

overwhelmed with other influencesclamoring for our attention, then we arehardly aware of Him. The fruitfuldisciple must have intimacy with hisLord. He must learn His ways, Hispreferences, His promptings and Hisspecific words of guidance.

SOUNDING THE CHARGE TO

BATTLES ALREADY WON The evangelical Protestant is at a

peculiar disadvantage in addressing theissue of solitude in his life. His heritagemakes him immediately suspicious ofthis line of thinking. Its flavor is toomuch like Catholic mysticism for hisliking. Solitude is not a highly regarded

value in modern evangelical thought. The values of meditation, contemplation,retreat, isolation and silence are oftenviewed as being too self-absorbed andself-centered. Such a focus on personaldevelopment is considered to be at oddswith the outward-looking call of theGreat Commission.

The history of the Protestant

struggle against pagan asceticism islargely responsible for Evangelicalism’slack of interest in the biblical call to aquiet life. The early Church was heavilyinfected with pagan heresies condemningthe body and its appetites, the physicalworld, involvement in public commerceand the social orders of marriage and

family. Although well intentioned, theChurch mistakenly integrated many of theteachings of these heresies into Christianthinking. In this way, such practices ascelibacy, poverty, self-torture andmonasticism came to be seen as theprimary avenues to sanctification. Thedisciple who wished to subdue the fleshand fully submit his soul to God pursuedan abandonment of the physical worldand its social orders. Flight from theworld rather than transformation of theworld became the highest form ofChristian devotion and commitment. Athousand years later, the ProtestantReformation waged and won a bloodywar against these distortions of theChristian faith. It stressed the doctrine

of justification by faith over against theattainment of holiness through artificialregimes of self-denial. It preachedChristian liberty in all matters notunlawful as opposed to an authoritariancode of human origin.

The Evangelical is a child born

out of this conflict. He understands thestruggle that was fought on his behalfand knows where the battle lines havebeen drawn. Yet, as is so often the casewith later generations, he continues tosound the call to muster the troops forbattles already won. He too easilyraises the banner of Christian libertyeven to his own hurt. In the matter ofsolitude, he is so focused on displaying

his freedom from human law that heneglects to submit to God’s true law(Psalm 119:97). He would ratherdisregard the call to solitude than evenappear to be subject to the traditions ofmen. We call this definition bynegation. It is the practice of identifyingourselves more by what we wish toavoid than by what we want to become. We fall into this error when we becomeso preoccupied with avoiding aparticular error that we reject thegenuine gift of God that we have seendistorted elsewhere. This is a perilouspath for a Christian to follow. Inchoosing it, many have missed muchblessing and opportunity. Withinmodern Evangelicalism, the abuse of

Christian liberty is a far greater threat toour spiritual welfare than the prospect ofa lapse into medieval asceticism.

The fruitful disciple joyfully

subjects himself to the law of solitude. He extends liberty to all others, but hehimself is a bondservant. He has trainedhimself to include conditions of solitudein his daily and seasonal schedules. When he senses that his spiritualenvironment is overcrowded he quicklysubmits to the Spirit’s prompting andwithdraws. Many will try to convincehim to fill up his schedule with so-called“good and profitable” activities. Otherswill judge his discipline as being overlylegalistic. But he knows the value of

quietness to his fruitfulness and holds tohis course.

Meditation and Response

1. Can you think of a time when theSpirit called you to withdraw orslow down? What was yourresponse?

2. Ask the Spirit to show you anyactivities or routines in your lifethat are keeping you from the quietlife he desires for you.

3. As you move to "de-clutter" yourlife, ask God to speak guidance intoyour life regarding a matter that hasbeen difficult to understand.

Chapter 5. Restoring the BiblicalView of Reality

“As he spoke these words, manybelieved in him. Then said Jesus tothose Jews who believed in him, Ifyou abide in my word, then you aremy disciples indeed.” John 8:30-31

WE CAN’T BE DISCIPLES

YESTERDAY OR TOMORROW Christianity, in its essence, is a

commitment to following Jesus today. This is a fundamental principle of

fruitfulness, and yet, we constantly findourselves trying to live either in the pastor in the future. Regarding the past, theLord is not particularly interested eitherin our greatest accomplishments or inour worst failures. Regarding the future,He has that same attitude toward all ourgreat plans for tomorrow. Jesus taught inthis passage that discipleship consists ofmy choices and actions today. Discipleship is not defined by what I didyesterday or what I plan to dotomorrow. Jesus neither denied norconfirmed the reality of these Jews’belief in Him. But He immediatelypointed them to the proving ground ofcommitment: discipleship. “If you abidein My word, then you are My disciples

indeed.” The act of confessing the

lordship of Jesus Christ and believing inHim is essential for receiving eternallife. James 2:19 reads “You believe thatthere is one God; You do well: Even thedemons believe - and tremble.” AsJames says, the person who confessesand believes in Jesus does well, but thatstep of faith is but the entryway todiscipleship. A confession of faith doesnot make one a disciple and Jesus madethis crystal clear to these Jews. Adisciple is one who continues in theword of Jesus today and every day.

A believer is not the same thing

as a disciple. A believer is defined bywhat he did yesterday, at a point in timewhen he made a confession of faith. Adisciple is defined by what he doestoday, as if today was the only day hehad on this earth. The fact that someoneconfesses to be a believer tells usnothing at all about his discipleship. Weknow something about his past, but hislife today is another question altogether.

During his ministry on earth,

Jesus was surrounded by believers. There were meetings where believersnumbered in the thousands and crowdmanagement was absolutely impossible. Jesus had to go out of his way to escapethe crowds and avoid being mobbed.

But by the time He went to the cross, Hedidn’t have many disciples.

THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN A BELIEVER AND ADISCIPLE

There is all the difference in the

world between a believer and adisciple. Jesus was willing to go to thecross and entrust His Church into thecare of the disciples who would remainbehind. But He does not place this sametrust in believers: “Now when He wasin Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feastday, many believed in His name, whenthey saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto

them, because He knew all men” (John2:23-24). Jesus understood that aconfession of belief does not makesomeone a committed servant in whomhe could depend. The majority of thebelievers who followed Jesus aroundthe countryside eventually lost interest indiscipleship and drifted back to theirown affairs.

A disciple of Jesus is someone

who has committed to following the pathJesus walked. He suffers the samethings Jesus suffered and faces the sameinsults and humiliations his Mastersuffered before him. A believer, on theother hand, still has a foot in bothworlds and weighs the cost of every step

of commitment as he goes along. Manyof the prominent Jews who met Jesusshowed this lack of commitment. “Nevertheless among the chief rulersalso many believed on Him; but becauseof the Pharisees they did not confessHim, lest they should be put out of thesynagogue: For they loved the praise ofmen more than the praise of God” (John12:42-43).

Another difference between

believers and disciples is that onlydisciples understand the methods andstrategies that Jesus uses to build Hiskingdom. A believer will try toaccomplish God’s work using man’sways. This is seen in the behavior of

Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-24:But there was a certain man calledSimon, who previously practicedsorcery in the city and astonished thepeople of Samaria, claiming that hewas someone great, to whom they allgave heed, from the least to thegreatest, saying, "This man is thegreat power of God." And theyheeded him because he hadastonished them with his sorceries fora long time. But when they believedPhilip as he preached the thingsconcerning the kingdom of God andthe name of Jesus Christ, both menand women were baptized. ThenSimon himself also believed; andwhen he was baptized he continued

with Philip, and was amazed, seeingthe miracles and signs which weredone. Now when the apostles whowere at Jerusalem heard that Samariahad received the word of God, theysent Peter and John to them, who,when they had come down, prayedfor them that they might receive theHoly Spirit. For as yet He had fallenupon none of them. They had onlybeen baptized in the name of the LordJesus. Then they laid hands on them,and they received the Holy Spirit.And when Simon saw that through thelaying on of the apostles' hands theHoly Spirit was given, he offeredthem money, saying, "Give me thispower also, that anyone on whom I

lay hands may receive the HolySpirit." But Peter said to him, "Yourmoney perish with you, because youthought that the gift of God could bepurchased with money! You haveneither part nor portion in this matter,for your heart is not right in the sightof God. Repent therefore of this yourwickedness, and pray God if perhapsthe thought of your heart may beforgiven you. For I see that you arepoisoned by bitterness and bound byiniquity." Then Simon answered andsaid, "Pray to the Lord for me, thatnone of the things which you havespoken may come upon me."

Before his conversion, Simon

understood how to get what he wanted inthe world. He knew how to influencepeople and make things happen. Butafter he believed, none of these skillscould be translated into bearing spiritualfruit. In contrast, Paul describes how thework of the gospel must be done bydisciples who understand God’sstrategies: “For our boasting is this: thetestimony of our conscience that weconducted ourselves in the world insimplicity and godly sincerity, not withfleshly wisdom but by the grace of God,and more abundantly toward you…Forwe are not, as so many, peddling theword of God; but as of sincerity, but asfrom God, we speak in the sight of Godin Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:12; 2:17).

When we look at the growth of

the church as it is described in the bookof Acts, we see almost no emphasis onthe Christians as believers. Acts is thestory of disciples, not of believers. Theword ‘believer’ occurs only once in thebook of Acts. And in that passage Lukeis identifying new Christians at themoment of their conversion. The word‘disciple’, on the other hand, appears 31times. We constantly read about whatthe disciples did, where they went andhow the Spirit empowered them to doGod’s work. The church grew andprospered not because it was filled withbelievers, but because it was filled withdisciples.

We read in Acts 11 that the

disciples were first called ‘Christians’in Antioch. The people of Antiochobserved that these strange people weredoing all the things that Jesus had done. Therefore they called them ‘Christians’or ‘little Christs,’ which was actually asarcastic label. We did not nameourselves. So from the very beginning,Christians were recognized and namednot by what they believed, but by whatthe world saw them doing.

In fact, if we look at the whole

New Testament, we see that the word‘disciple’ appears 271 times, comparedto about three occurrences for

‘believer.’ From this perspective, it isinteresting that the word ‘disciple’ is notin the contemporary evangelicalvocabulary. We don’t use it. We referto ourselves as Christians or believers,but not as disciples. The most commonand descriptive term for the people ofGod in the New Testament has beenedited from our vocabulary.

This is a telling observation

because the western church tends todefine itself by what it believes ratherthan by what it does. We categorizeourselves into denominations based onbelief systems about Jesus rather than byactions and practices. However, theNew Testament takes no interest

whatsoever in believing apart fromdiscipleship. The biblical view ofreality is that being and doing areinseparable. This was the ancientHebrew worldview and it is the biblicalworldview: that any entity in theuniverse does what it is and is what itdoes.

ARE YOU A SON OF

ABRAHAM…OR OF ARISTOTLE? As Christians, we have to realize

that the enemy has cast a great delusionover the world that teaches that thoughtand action can be convenientlyseparated. In the history of westernthought, this idea was first put forth by

Plato and further developed byAristotle. It is the idea that there is anessential reality beyond the physical lifewe live and observe; that this hiddenworld of thought and ideas is actuallymore real than the physical world: “Liveany way you like because your trueessence in Christ is defined by how youthink about him. This so-called realityis separate from your actual day-to-daylife in the material world.” As we canimagine, this philosophy is veryattractive to the flesh. It is also easy tosee that, although we cite Plato andAristotle, the real author of thisphilosophy is Satan himself.

The early church fathers were

very strongly influenced by Aristotle’sphilosophy and this pattern of thinkinghas permeated western thought eversince. Professional pollsters continue totell us what percentages of thepopulation believe in the Bible, theresurrection, the existence of Satan, etc. We’re immersed in this culture that putssuch great emphasis on what we think;that if we only think the right things thenthat defines who we are.

As Jesus continues to rebuke

these Jewish leaders, He draws a cleardistinction between what we believe andwhat we do. They based their argumentfor authenticity on the faith andobedience of Abraham: "Abraham is our

father” (John 8:39). The complaintJesus had against them is not that theybelieved wrongly. The problem wasthat their lives did not match theirconfessions. “You claim to beAbraham’s sons, but you don’t do thethings that he did. Nothing about yourlives gives me reason to connect you tohim. If you’re not doing his works, don’ttalk to me about what you claim to be.”

The biblical worldview is

clearly set forth in Matt. 7:17-18: “Evenso, every good tree bears good fruit, buta bad tree bears bad fruit. A good treecannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad treebear good fruit.” In the biblical view ofreality, there is simply no concept of a

Christian not doing the things ofdiscipleship. “If you are a good tree,you bear good fruit; if you are a son ofAbraham, you do the works of Abraham;if you’re a duck, you quack, swim andpaddle.” We are very prone to falldown in this obligation one inch at atime. Almost imperceptibly, we driftaway from our basic, daily obligationsand increasingly try to find our identityin orthodox confession.

Our society is tired of believers.

People are tired of hearing whatbelievers believe. People are notimpressed by a “Jesus” who is simplythe object of a belief system. But peopleare totally amazed by a “Jesus” who is

the center of a committed life lived outbefore their eyes. A disciple of Jesus isthe most attractive person in the world. People aren’t tired of them. What ourLord is saying to us is to make sure thatwe are doing His works today and everyday in the real world that we live in. We need to avoid the error of being onlybelievers. Jesus has called us to bedisciples.

Meditation and Response

1. What is an area of faith where yourpractice has been inconsistent withyour confession? Ask God to showyou a practical application for yourdaily life.

2. Think of a recent criticism of thechurch or Christianity that you haveheard in the media. Was thecriticism fair or unfair? Why?

3. Can you think of an example of aworldly strategy that your churchuses to accomplish spiritual work? Think of a better approach to thistask and support your answer fromthe Bible.

Chapter 6. Wild Grapes: SeparatingOurselves from the Works ofDarkness

“And have no fellowship with

the unfruitful works of darkness…”Ephesians 5:11

MAKE SURE YOU READ

THE WARNING LABEL The diligent disciple must often

give attention to the negative, as well asto the positive commands of his Master. Sometimes it is the prohibition that is

critical in achieving an objective. Warnings such as “do not mix theseingredients,” “do not exceed this speed”or “do not remove this cover” are meantto save us from damage and injury. Inthis verse we find such a prohibition thatis linked to our fruitfulness. We are toavoid any association with works ofdarkness. They are unfruitful by theirnature. They will pollute and sterilizethe otherwise fertile soil of our spirituallives.

This principle illustrates the

folly of exerting positive effort to bringforth fruit while, at the same time,exposing ourselves to works of darknessthat will suppress its growth. Yet in our

minds, we easily divorce these twopractices, imagining that we cansuccessfully keep them apart andunmingled. We ignore the reality that aspring cannot send forth fresh water andbitter from the same opening (James3:11).

God has thoroughly prepared us

to bear fruit. The Christian has theSpirit of God living within him and is,by nature, fruitful. If he abides in Christ(John 15), that is, if he keeps hisrelationship with Christ in reasonablygood repair, then he will bear fruit. God’s thorough preparation of hispeople for fruitfulness is beautifullyshown in Isaiah’s parable of the

vineyard:A song of my Beloved regarding Hisvineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out itsstones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth goodgrapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalemand men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and Myvineyard. What more could have been done to

My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bringforth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:1-4)

“What more could have been

done to My vineyard that I have not donein it?” the Lord asks rhetorically. Theparable makes it clear that God hasprovided all the ingredients necessaryfor fruit: good soil, choice vines andcareful tending of the vineyard. Butsomehow foreign vines have taken rootthe vineyard. And what is more: thesevines have not been introduced by anenemy as in the Parable of the Wheat and

the Tares, but by God’s own people. The result is wild grapes useless for anygood purpose. This imagery teaches usthat we bear fruit not so much by whatwe do, but rather by what we avoid.

If wild grapes are planted in the

vineyard, nothing else matters: not thequality of the soil, not the quality of thevines, not the efforts of the vinedresser. If we want to bear fruit for Jesus,guarding the purity of the vineyard ismore important than tending the vines. Or to put it plainly: keeping my lifeunstained from the pollution of the worldis more important than the things I try todo to bear fruit. When we consider thewhole picture of the parable, this is

obvious. The vines are good, the soil isgood, God tends the vineyard, He prunesthe vines. But if we plant wild grapes...

WHAT ARE YOU POURINGON YOUR GARDEN?

The following parable illustrates

how this applies in our lives.

There was a man who had abare patch of ground on hisproperty and he decided that hewould plant a garden so that hecould have some vegetables in thefall. So he cleared out the rocks andweeds, broke up the soil, hoed thesoil into rows, planted his seeds and

watered the garden. The following week, he was

changing the oil on his car. He hadalways dumped the waste oil on thatpatch of ground so, without giving itmuch thought, he poured the oil onhis garden. When the plants finallystarted to emerge, they had astrange color and low vigor so hedecided to see what the garden storehad to say. They recommendedsome fertilizer that wouldsupplement any minerals that thesoil might be lacking. So he appliedthe fertilizer and felt sure that thegarden would flourish now.

The following week, the manwas painting his house. He hadalways dumped used paint thinneron that patch of ground so, withoutgiving it much thought, he pouredthe paint thinner on his garden. Theplants now started to show definitesigns of distress and were droopyand yellow. So he decided to seewhat the garden store had to say. They recommended some manurethat would enrich the organiccontent of the soil and keep it moist. So he applied the manure and feltsure that the garden would flourishnow.

The following week, the man

was refinishing furniture. He hadalways dumped the used varnishremover on that patch of ground so,without giving it much thought, hepoured the varnish remover on hisgarden. The plants were now in realtrouble. The leaves had holes andbrown spots and many plants haddied. So he decided to see what thegarden store had to say. Theyrecommended Dr. Greenthumb’sSuper-Grow Miracle Tablets whichwere guaranteed to jumpstart anygarden. So he applied the tabletsand felt sure that the garden wouldflourish now. But despite thefertilizer, manure and the miracletablets, the garden continued to go

downhill. Only a few of the plantswere still alive at harvest time andnone of them produced any ediblefruit.

The folly of this man is clear and

we can see it easily. How could he beso foolish to think that the treatments hewas buying at the garden store wouldovercome the impacts of the poisons thathe was pouring on his garden? The manlived in two realities. On one hand, hehad dedicated that patch of ground to anew purpose. On the other hand, he waspolluting the ground the way he alwayshad previously.

The poison that this man poured

on his garden was a much larger factorin the final outcome than the fertilizers. If he had simply avoided polluting hisgarden with engine oil, paint thinner andvarnish remover, he would have had afruitful harvest. Even without thefertilizers, the plants would haveproduced a good crop. The extrafertilizers might have given the garden aboost, but the critical thing was to avoidpolluting his garden in the first place.

The flesh deceives us to act just

like this gardener. It prompts us to bedouble minded. It entices us to polluteour lives with things we shouldn’t getinvolved in and then turn away andimagine that we’re going to do things for

God and somehow bear fruit. Jamesdescribes this person in 1:23-24: “For ifanyone is a hearer of the word and not adoer, he is like a man observing hisnatural face in a mirror; for he observeshimself, goes away, and immediatelyforgets what kind of man he was.” If Iam polluting my life with things I do,things I watch, things I read and places Igo; I can’t just turn aside temporarily,attend a whiz-bang Christian conferencefor a few days and think that the equationis somehow going to produce a fruitfulharvest.

We are to discern those things

that we allow into “our garden.” We areto separate good from evil and maintain

a wall that keeps the evil from pollutingour garden and rendering it fruitless. TheBible, from beginning to end, reveals aGod who separates and divides. Hebegan his creative work by separating inGen 1:4: “And God saw the light, that itwas good; and God divided the lightfrom the darkness.” He will concludehis work of judgment by separating inRev. 22:14-15: “Blessed are those whodo His commandments, that they mayhave the right to the tree of life, and mayenter through the gates into the city. Butoutside are dogs and sorcerers andsexually immoral and murderers andidolaters, and whoever loves andpractices a lie.” God is alwaysseparating: light from darkness, good

from evil, the holy from the profane, therighteous from the unrighteous.

A BLACK AND WHITE

VIEW OF THE WORLD But whereas God separates good

from evil, the world places everythingon a relative scale somewhere betweenthe two. God would have us view theworld in terms of good and evil,whereas the world would have us onlysee shades of grays: “some things are notso bad; others are a little better.Whatever works for you. Noboundaries, no limits.” How many of uslike being called a black-and-whitethinker? It’s an insult, isn’t it? We much

prefer to think of ourselves asenlightened, as reasonable, as open-minded, as balanced. We even foolourselves into believing that people willbe attracted to Jesus if we can showthem how much we have in commonwith the world.

Do you know what the Bible

says about all this? It instructs us:"Come out from among them and beseparate, says the Lord. Do not touchwhat is unclean, and I will receive you"(2 Corinthians 6:17). There is nothingvery balanced or open minded about thatcommand, is there? We don’t likecalling things unclean. It makes us standout as different, strange and narrow-

minded. THERE’S NO LIBERTY FOR

A BONDSERVANT The Christian who would bear

fruit must get past this attitude and takeon the role of a bondservant. Abondservant considers only his master’spriorities and not his own preferences. He jealously guards his vineyard andasks, “What affect will this thing have onmy harvest.” He separates that whichwill destroy his harvest from that whichwill enhance it. The immature Christian,on the other hand, asserts his right topartake. “There’s no law against this. No one can tell me what I can let into my

vineyard.” The immature Christian isconcerned with what things he isallowed to do much like a child isconcerned with what freedoms he isallowed: how late he can stay up, howlong he can stay at his friend's house,how much he is allowed to spend. Theconcept of Christian liberty is veryprominent in the immature Christian’sdecisions.

Proper management of our

Christian liberty is essential to ourfruitfulness. The definition of Christianliberty is freedom from being judged byothers in matters of faith and conductabove what is clearly set forth in theBible. Liberty describes the horizontal

relationship between two persons ofequal status. In the context of ourChristian faith, it means that one personmay not impose his own standards ofconduct on another. I do not haveauthority to tell a Christian brother whatmovies to watch, or another how toinvest his money or another how manynights a week to spend at home, oranother how to spend his leisure time, oranother what he can eat and drink.

But just because we don’t have

to listen to each other, it doesn’t meanwe don’t have to listen to the HolySpirit. Liberty has absolutely nothing todo with a Christian’s verticalrelationship with the Holy Spirit. If we

bring every choice before the HolySpirit He will tell us exactly what canstay and what has to go. Liberty plays avery minor role in the bondservant’sdecision making. He maintains his rightto Christian liberty, but he rarelyappeals to it. When he makes hischoices, he no longer asks "Do I havethe freedom in Christ to do this? Heasks instead "How will this choiceaffect my fruitfulness?"

When we are uncertain about any

course of action, Paul's admonition inPhilippians 4:8 provides a marvelousstandard. I call it the Holy Spirit filter:

Finally, brethren, whatever things aretrue, whatever things are noble,

whatever things are just, whateverthings are pure, whatever things arelovely, whatever things are of goodreport, if there is any virtue and ifthere is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

Whatever can pass through this filter canenter our vineyard. If it can’t passthrough this filter, then it’s got nobusiness in our lives.

What have you let into your

vineyard? What are you reading that hasno place on your shelf? What impuritiesdo you allow your eyes to behold that godown into your very soul? What do youallow into your physical body thatdesecrates God’s holy temple? What

path do your feet tread where you wouldbe ashamed to walk arm in arm withJesus? If you feel the Holy Spirit"leaning on you" in these matters, thenyou may have some business to take careof with Him. Pull those wild vines outof your vineyard! Close the gates, repairthe broken wall and allow God’s fruit tocome forth.

Meditation and Response

1. Within your own Christian culture,can you identify three forms of"spiritual pollution" that are largelyignored? Why do you think thesepractices are tolerated?

2. Identify a sin that the world views

as "not really being that bad." Howwould you say the world's opinionon this matter influences Christianthinking?

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show youany habits or practices in your lifethat you need to forsake in order tomove forward in your spiritualmaturity.

Chapte r 7. Weeds in the Field:Getting Our Finances in Order

hoard (hôrd, h rd) n. A hiddenfund or supply stored for future use

"…the cares of this world and thedeceitfulness of riches choke theword, and he becomes unfruitful.”Matthew 13:22

THE ENTANGLED SOLDIER The real danger of money for the

Christian is not so much addiction to the

pleasures it can provide, but thedeceitfulness of money itself. TheChristian who ignores God’s principlesfor money management will soon havehis perspectives distorted. He will seekhis security in that which can bring nosecurity. He will fear that which cannottouch him and he will see great value inthose things that are worthless. It isthrough these deceptions that themismanagement of money preventsChristians from walking in fruitfuldiscipleship with Jesus and ultimatelyleads to barrenness.

The New Testament is explicit

regarding the disastrous effects moneycan have on our fruitfulness: “No one

can serve two masters; for either he willhate the one and love the other, or elsehe will be loyal to the one and despisethe other. You cannot serve God andmammon” (Matthew 6:24). Thisstatement is not a prohibition, but anobservation of fact. Note that Jesus doesnot say, “You may not serve God andmammon.” If Jesus had prohibited usfrom serving God and mammon, then wecould conclude that serving these twomasters simultaneously is a possibility. But He says “You cannot serve God andmammon.” What He means by this isthat it is an impossibility. It isinconsistent with our natures.

Paul expressed the same

sentiment in 2 Timothy 2:4: “No oneengaged in warfare entangles himselfwith the affairs of this life, that he mayplease him who enlisted him as asoldier.” ‘Entangle’ is a veryexpressive metaphor. It provides theperfect picture of what the apostle wantsto say. The dictionary definition of'entangle' is: “To twist together orentwine into a confusing mass.” Thesoldier who entangles himself with theaffairs of this life has his obligations soconfused that he can no longer focus onhis primary objective: that of pleasingHim Who enlisted him as a soldier.

TWO COMMON CHRISTIAN

MONEY MYTHS

However, the Bible clearly

recognizes that we must deal with moneyduring our time on this earth, so wheredo we cross the line? Exactly whatpractices constitute the entanglement andservitude that Scripture warns against? In comparing what the Bible says aboutmoney to what we commonly teachourselves about money, what emerges isa popular, evangelical catechism that isan impure mixture of Bible doctrine,eastern philosophy and ancient Romanlaw. The result of this blending is thatwe often condemn ourselves on pointswhere Jesus would not condemn us andwe justify ourselves in matters where Hewould rebuke us. So I want to begin by

examining two common errors regardingthe Christian and his relationship tomoney.

The first error is asceticism.

This is the practice of pursuing povertyas a means of achieving spiritual purity. It had its origins in Middle Easternphilosophy and spread into the earlychurch through the monastic orders. Asceticism teaches that a person issanctified through separating himselffrom all material enjoyments: money,sex, wine, good foods, property, worldlyambition, etc. While asceticism bearsthe outward appearance of self-denial, itis, in reality, intensely inward lookingand self-centered. The ascetic is

narrowly focused on his own conditionto the neglect of the Great Commission’scall to “go therefore and make disciplesof all the nations.” The legacy ofasceticism remains even in post-Reformation thought today, causing manyChristians to suspect that money issomehow dirty and unspiritual. Whilethey readily accept the affluenceafforded them by western society, theysuffer from a false guilt that they reallyshould not enjoy their prosperity toomuch.

But the truth is that God gives

money as a blessing and source ofenjoyment to His people. In contrast tothe error of asceticism, several

scriptures show that God gives money toHis people for their pleasure. Proverbs3:9 reads, “Honor the Lord with yourpossessions, and with the firstfruits ofall your increase; so your barns will befilled with plenty, and your vats willoverflow with new wine.” The samehigh view of material blessing is foundin Ecclesiastes 5:18-19: “It is good andfitting for one to eat and drink, and toenjoy the good of all his labor in whichhe toils under the sun all the days of hislife which God gives him; for it is hisheritage. As for every man to whom Godhas given riches and wealth, and givenhim power to eat of it, to receive hisheritage and rejoice in his labor--this isthe gift of God.” Jesus was entirely

consistent with these Old Testamentteachings in Mark 10:29-30:

‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus replied,‘no one who has left home or brothersor sisters or mother or father orchildren or fields for me and thegospel will fail to receive a hundredtimes as much in this present age(homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,children and fields—and with them,persecutions) and in the age to come,eternal life.’

The second error that has crept

into the church comes from ancientRoman law and is the concept ofabsolute free enterprise: that a person istotally free to use his own money and

property any way he wishes withoutconstraint or interference from any otherparty. Evangelicalism has recruited thisidea to support the concept that Goddoesn’t care what we do with ourmoney, as long as we “have the rightattitude toward it.” I call this an errorbecause the common teaching we heartoday is that, once I present my offeringto God, the remainder is mine to managehowever I please. This idea is adeparture from the biblical concept ofstewardship: that the remainder as wellas the offering belong to God and mustbe managed according to Hisinstructions and principles.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Evangelicalism presents very

little instruction on what God requires ofthe portion we keep for ourselves. Thisquote from an actual published sermonon wealth illustrates this viewpointperfectly: "[Jesus’] concern is with ourattitude towards wealth. It is not what aman has, but what he thinks of what hehas, that matters to Jesus. There isnothing wrong in having wealth, evenenormous wealth; what counts is aperson's attitude towards that wealth." The Bible’s teaching about money isexactly the opposite of this myth. Whereas the myth claims that a man canchoose what attitude he will havetoward his money, the Bible teaches that

his attitude will follow after his money. The clearest verse stating this

truth is Matt 6:21, “For where yourtreasure is, there your heart will bealso.” This is such a simple,unambiguous statement! Jesus describedthe way our hearts really work. Hewarns us that mismanaged moneyquickly ensnares and enslaves us. Yetthe myth is repeated constantly: thatChristians can put their treasures in oneplace and somehow direct their hearts ina different direction. And so we end upwith these two strangely contradictorymisconceptions: (1) that we have libertyto do as we please with our money andcan still keep our hearts pure towards

God, and yet, (2) we would really bebetter off spiritually if we separatedourselves from God’s materialblessings.

GO TO THE ANT

The watershed of God’s

direction for money management isdivided into two biblically definedpractices: ‘storing’ and ‘hoarding.’ These practices are contrasted veryprecisely in the Bible and, once weunderstand what they mean, we get aclear picture of what the Lord requiresof us in our money management.

Storing is the practice of setting

aside sufficient resources to last throughone’s normal economic cycle. By‘economic cycle’ I refer to the normalinterval of one’s income or harvest. Ancient Israel was an agrarian culturethat harvested crops in certain seasonsand then stored the harvest for use duringthe rest of the year. So Israel’s economiccycle was the agricultural year. Thiscycle required the people to build barnsto store enough supplies to see themthrough to next year’s harvest. The Bibleviews wise planning and prudent storingof the required supplies to be a positivevirtue. "In the house of the wise arestores of choice food and oil, but afoolish man devours all he has"(Proverbs 21:20). "Go to the ant, you

sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!It has no commander, no overseer orruler, yet it stores its provisions insummer and gathers its food at harvest"(Proverbs 6:6-8).

We apply the principle of storing

to our own circumstances depending onour cycle of income. The one whoreceives a paycheck every two weeksmust plan and store his money until thenext payday. The one who is self-employed with a more irregular incomemust store more than that. The farmerwho harvests two crops a year needs tostore his harvest income until the nextharvest six months away. The point wewant to see here is that the biblical

concept of storing is limited to what aperson needs for the term of thisrecurring income cycle.

A GRIEVOUS EVIL UNDER

THE SUN Now let’s contrast storing to

hoarding. We can think of hoarding asan abuse of storing and is defined as “theallocation of wealth to a hidden fund orsupply stored for future use.” Inherentin the concept of hoarding are twoassumptions: (1) the availability ofwealth surplus to the requirement of myeconomic cycle and (2) the fear of afuture shortage of supply. Hoarding isalways tied to fear and anxiety about the

future. The owner chooses to direct hissurplus into a future supply fund ratherthan re-circulating it into someimmediate use. The Bible’scondemnation of hoarding is clearly seenin several Scriptures:

� “People curse the man whohoards grain, but blessing crowns himwho is willing to sell” (Proverbs11:26).� “I have seen a grievous evilunder the sun: wealth hoarded to theharm of its owner” (Ecclesiastes5:13).� "’They do not know how to doright,’ declares the LORD , ‘whohoard plunder and loot in theirfortresses’" (Amos 3:10).

� ”Your gold and silver arecorroded. Their corrosion will testifyagainst you and eat your flesh likefire. You have hoarded wealth in thelast days” (James 5:3).

The point where we cross the

line from storing into hoarding is wherewe take income that is surplus to ourpresent need and set it aside for thepurpose of removing the uncertainty offuture need. God forbids this use of ourmoney. This is precisely how the richfool got into trouble.

Then He spoke a parable to

them, saying: "The ground of a certainrich man yielded plentifully. And he

thought within himself, saying, 'Whatshall I do, since I have no room to storemy crops?' So he said, "I will do this: Iwill pull down my barns and buildgreater, and there I will store all mycrops and my goods. And I will say tomy soul, "Soul, you have many goodslaid up for many years; take your ease;eat, drink, and be merry."' But God saidto him, "Fool! This night your soul willbe required of you; then whose willthose things be which you haveprovided?' "So is he who lays uptreasure for himself, and is not richtoward God" (Luke 12:16-21).

We see the principles of both

storing and hoarding in operation in this

parable. The original barns that the mantore down were of the normal sizerequired for storing as we have alreadydiscussed. At this point, God has nocomplaint against him. The man did notoppress the poor, nor did he acquire hiswealth dishonestly. He is free to enjoyGod’s material blessing (asceticismrejected). But once the man acquiredwealth surplus to the needs of hisharvest cycle, he violated God’sprohibitions against hoarding and laid upenough provision for many years(absolute free enterprise rejected).

Another application of hoarding

is the principle of manna. Manna wasthe miraculous food that God provided

every night for the children of Israelwhen they were wandering in thewilderness. God’s purpose in sendingthe manna was to train Israel to dependon his daily provision and to have nofear for the future.

This is the thing which the LORD hascommanded: "Let every man gather itaccording to each one's need, oneomer for each person, according tothe number of persons; let every mantake for those who are in his tent."'Then the children of Israel did so andgathered, some more, some less. Sowhen they measured it by omers, hewho gathered much had nothing leftover, and he who gathered little hadno lack. Every man had gathered

according to each one's need. AndMoses said, "Let no one leave any ofit till morning." Notwithstanding theydid not heed Moses. But some ofthem left part of it until morning, andit bred worms and stank. And Moseswas angry with them (Exodus 16:16-20).

Israel’s economic cycle during

this period was 24 hours. In this setting,hoarding was defined as keeping moremanna than was required for that day. God’s condemnation of hoarding is seenin that the leftover manna bred wormsand stank.

Hoarding has become the

unspoken “acceptable” sin withinEvangelicalism. It is a debilitating sinthat robs the church of financialresources, blinds Christians to theirpeculiar callings, and dulls their spiritsto the needs around them. Hoarding ispracticed under various benign termssuch as “saving,” “investing,” and“retirement planning.” We defend thesepractices by calling them sensible,realistic and responsible. But in reality,hoarding is blatant disobedience. Theresult is fear, anxiety, spiritual dullness,poverty of resources for God’s work, theonset of rationalism toward God’s word,and unfruitfulness. Despite the manyScriptures that speak directly againsthoarding, it is widely practiced and

seldom rebuked. HOW RICHES DECEIVE US

I want to list four impacts of

hoarding on a Christian's life: 1. Hoarding draws a Christian

away from the biblical injunction tolive for today.

"Therefore do not worry, saying,"What shall we eat?' or "What shall wedrink?' or "What shall we wear?' Forafter all these things the Gentiles seek.For your heavenly Father knows that youneed all these things. But seek first thekingdom of God and His righteousness,and all these things shall be added to

you. Therefore do not worry abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will worryabout its own things. Sufficient for theday is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:31-34). Jesus could hardly have spokenmore plainly: Don’t worry about whatyou will eat, drink or wear. Seek theKingdom of God and all of your needswill be supplied.

2. Hoarding dulls the

Christian’s spirit towards the call tobear fruit. “Now he who received seedamong the thorns is he who hears theword, and the cares of this world and thedeceitfulness of riches choke the word,and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew13:22). Notice especially how Jesus

calls riches deceitful. Mammon isdeceitful because it reverses the role ofmaster and servant. Do you notice howthe world tells us that when we hoard,our money is working for us. But Jesussays just the opposite. When we hoard,we are serving mammon, not the otherway around. Why is that? Becausewhen we hoard, we never have enough. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “Whoever lovesmoney never has money enough;whoever loves wealth is never satisfiedwith his income.” Hoarded moneychokes the fruitfulness of the wordbecause the owner becomes obsessedwith tending it, growing it and keeping itsafe.

Proverbs 23:5 says, “Cast but aglance at riches, and they are gone, forthey will surely sprout wings and fly offto the sky like an eagle.” The man whohoards is always worrying that hiswealth will do exactly that. Will it besecure? Will it be stolen? Will it belost through inflation, business failure,market crash, or fraud? He has no timeto attend to the fruitfulness of the word. He has stored his wealth where mothand rust destroy and where thieves breakin and steal and it demands his fullattention.

3. Hoarding produces fear,

anxiety and restlessness. “The sleep ofa laboring man is sweet, whether he eats

little or much; but the abundance of therich will not permit him to sleep”(Ecclesiastes 5:12). "Therefore I say toyou, do not worry about your life, whatyou will eat or what you will drink; norabout your body, what you will put on. Isnot life more than food and the bodymore than clothing? Look at the birds ofthe air, for they neither sow nor reap norgather into barns; yet your heavenlyFather feeds them” (Matthew 6:25). Hoarded treasure allows us no rest; wecan never get it out of our minds evenwhen we try to sleep.

4. Hoarding leads us into an

unbiblical attitude of isolation andindependence from God. Proverbs

18:11 says, “The rich man's wealth ishis strong city, and like a high wall inhis own esteem.” The retirementindustry has programmed Christians towalk in lock-step with the world: “Build up your hoard during 40 years onthe job and then, if you get there, you canlive for ten or twenty years in your ownairtight fortress without depending onanybody.” Is this the picture we find inthe Bible?

God says to us, “Enjoy My

world. Enjoy its riches, its bounty;satisfy yourself with all of the goodthings that money can give you. I’ll giveyou all you need. But don't hoard. Don'ttry to make yourself independent of

Me.” The man who hoards cannot hearthe call of God on his life because hehas already built his future in his ownmind. He must manage and protect hishoard today and then spend it tomorrow. How can he hear the voice of Godcalling him to the work of the kingdom?

What can we believe God for?

We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give usthis day our daily bread.” Can webelieve God for our daily bread? That’sa simple enough thing to believe in, isn’tit? I could ask 10,000 Christians thatquestion and every one would answer'Yes, Absolutely'! Why then do so manyof us hoard up for the last days as if ourGod is made of wood or stone? The

answer is unbelief. Unbelief! For if wecannot believe God for our daily bread,then how can we believe in Him to savethe lost, heal the sick and raise thedead? The sad answer is that wecannot. This is the cost of hoarding. Forif we can’t believe God for money, thenwe can’t believe Him for anything.

Meditation and Response

1. In what ways do you find thatmoney brings anxiety into yourlife? In what ways do you find it ablessing?

2. Review your own moneymanagement in light of thestoring/hoarding distinction. Ask

the Spirit to show you any changesyou should make in how you handleyour finances.

3. Can you think of a time when youruse of money produced guilt? Wasthis false guilt created by a wrongview of money or genuine guiltbrought on by the Holy Spirit?

Chapter 8. The Destructive Power ofthe Tongue

My brethren, let not many of youbecome teachers, knowing that weshall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word,he is a perfect man, able also tobridle the whole body. Indeed, weput bits in horses' mouths that theymay obey us, and we turn theirwhole body. Look also at ships:although they are so large and aredriven by fierce winds, they are

turned by a very small rudderwherever the pilot desires. Even sothe tongue is a little member andboasts great things. See how great aforest a little fire kindles! And thetongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among ourmembers that it defiles the wholebody, and sets on fire the course ofnature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, ofreptile and creature of the sea, istamed and has been tamed bymankind. But no man can tame thetongue. It is an unruly evil, full ofdeadly poison. With it we bless ourGod and Father, and with it wecurse men, who have been made in

the likeness of God. Out of the samemouth proceed blessing and cursing.My brethren, these things ought notto be so. James 3:1-10

HOW TO BE PERFECT

When we think of factors that

determine our fruitfulness, taming thetongue does not come to mind. On thesurface, there seems to be nothingespecially critical about keeping ourtongues under control. When we think ofadvancing the work of the church and thekingdom of God, we immediately thinkof more high profile ministries:evangelism, healing, spiritual warfare orprophetic intercession. I have never

heard of a conference on taming thetongue. And yet the truth is that ouruntamed tongues will do more to inhibitfruitfulness than all of these otherministries will ever do to advance it.

The religious man is naturally

inclined to want to do visible, excitingthings for God and ignore the routine,hidden duties. But the spiritual man iscalled to be faithful in the small detailsof holiness so that God can put him incharge of greater things. We can think ofmany examples in our everyday liveswhere the basics are the key to success.The doctor tells us to eat moderately,exercise and get plenty of sleep if wewant good health. The mechanic tells us

to change our oil every 3,000 miles ifwe want the engine to last. The dentisttells us to floss every day if we want tokeep our teeth. These warnings all havethe same message: if we don't keep upwith the basics, there is no magic bulletthat is going to compensate for ourneglect. The management of our tonguesis exactly like that in our spiritual lives. Whatever good things we want to seehappen will be thwarted if we do nottame our tongues.

James explains that “If anyone

does not stumble in word, he is a perfectman, able also to bridle the wholebody.” Now this is an extraordinarystatement! If the apostle had left the first

part of this sentence blank, what mightwe speculate makes a perfect man? Thathe resists all temptations that come uponhim? That he sells all he has and givesit to the poor? That he prays day andnight? That he devotes himself to goodworks and denies his own pleasure?

But James bypasses these

obvious “spiritual” answers and focusesinstead on our tongues. An untamedtongue will quickly render ineffective allthe other works, prayers and offeringswe make to God. James goes on, “Seehow great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world ofiniquity. The tongue is so set among ourmembers that it defiles the whole

body.” This principle can apply to anindividual or to a whole church. All ofour efforts at ministry, evangelism,encouragement, prayer, reconciliationand service will be defiled if ourtongues are out of control.

WHAT WORDS DO

We are all familiar with the

saying, “Actions speak louder thanwords.” But the Bible does not say this. James tells us in Chapter 2 that words offaith without works are dead andhypocritical. But he immediatelyfollows in Chapter 3 with the warningthat a few idle, evil words will destroyour works completely. Our words speak

very loudly, so we need to understandhow to be good stewards of ourtongues. In order to see why our use ofwords is so important, we need to firstlook at an overview of the biblical viewof words themselves: what they are,where they come, and the power theyhave.

Psalm 33:6,9 reads: “By the

word of the Lord the heavens weremade, and all the host of them by thebreath of his mouth...For he spoke, and itwas done; he commanded, and it stoodfast.” There are two fundamentalprinciples of speech we need to seehere: (1) words have their origin in thespiritual realm. God, who is Spirit and

who exists eternally before all createdmatter, in His wisdom, decreed that theuniverse would come into existence atthe command of His word; (2) His wordhas power, it calls into existence thatwhich was not, it forms order out ofchaos, it names that which was unnamed.

The most distinctive feature of

the Christian view of the universe is thebelief that there is an invisible spiritualrealm that controls and gives definitionto the observable physical realm. Incontrast to this principle, anyone whohas been educated in any publicinstitution in western society during thelast 150 years has been taught in nouncertain terms that the physical

universe is a closed system; that thephysical forces that we can observe andmeasure are only influenced by otherphysical forces that we can observe andmeasure. Now this is a very good wayto do science. In fact, science must bedone this way. In my work as a forester,I base my practice on the assumption thatthe physical world can be observed andmeasured, and that the physical world isgoing to behave the same way tomorrowthat it does today. This scientificmethod has made possible the standardof living that we enjoy today.

But the secular worldview that

dominates in western thought today hasgone further than this. It has

emphatically stated that this observable,physical universe is all there is: “Talkabout God and heaven if it makes youfeel better about the meaning of life. Butdon’t talk to us about the spiritual realmand the physical realm interacting andinfluencing each other. We can’t see it,we can’t measure it and we don’t wantto know about it.”

Now the reason I’m bringing all

this up is not to try to argue the Christianviewpoint to the secular skeptic. But Iwant to point out that, as Christians, welive in this intellectual environment allthe time and, if we’re not careful, wefall into this same mindset that declaresthe physical realm to be more real than

the spiritual realm. But the Bibledeclares, “By the word of the Lord theheavens were made.” Words havepower to call into existence that whichwas not. James tells us that we havebeen made in the likeness of God. Weare like God. Two aspects of thislikeness come to bear on the subject ofspeech. First, God has bestowed ameasure of His authority on man andmade him a steward over His creation. Second, God has made us unique amongall His creatures in that, like Him, wehave the facility of speech. We usewords.

This combination of authority

and speech is clearly seen in Genesis

2:19: “Out of the ground the Lord Godformed every beast of the field andevery bird of the air and brought them toAdam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each livingcreature, that was its name.” Do youknow that you exert this same authorityover creation? God makes us stewardsover different relationships in hiscreation. He gives us friends, brothers,sisters, co-workers, government leaders,husbands and wives. And whenever wespeak of someone in a particular way,we exert influence on him to becomelike that. God has bestowed thisauthority on our words, whether we areconscious of it or not.

BINDING AND LOOSING Every one of us has had things

spoken over us in the course of our livesthat have had tremendous influence andpower. There have been words ofencouragement, guidance, edificationand motivation that have empowered usto accomplish and achieve. But we canalso recall words of ridicule,accusation, slander and insult that pulledus down and pointed us toward failureand hopelessness. Words are not justideas that vanish into the past once theyare released. But they carry enduringauthority, either to bless or to curse. Words have tremendous power. Perhaps the most direct declaration of

this truth is in Proverbs 18:21: “Deathand life are in the power of the tongue.” Depending on how we speak of anotherperson, we can bring him life or we cankill him.

Another aspect of the interaction

between the spiritual realm and thephysical realm is spiritual warfare. TheBible constantly reminds us of theongoing spiritual warfare between theforces of God and the forces of Satan. Inthe context of spiritual warfare, thespiritual realm is referred to as theheavenly places, the heavenlies orsometimes, simply heaven. Even thoughGod’s final victory is assured, there arereal battles being fought over regions,

over countries, over cities and overindividuals. And God has called us toparticipate in this spiritual warfare usingwords. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we donot wrestle against flesh and blood, butagainst principalities, against powers,against the rulers of the darkness of thisage, against spiritual hosts ofwickedness in the heavenly places.” God has given us authority to influencethe outcome of this battle. We are towrestle against these powers.

Matthew 16:19 shows us how

this authority is applied, “And I willgive you the keys of the kingdom ofheaven, and whatever you bind on earthwill be bound in heaven, and whatever

you loose on earth will be loosed inheaven." This declaration made to Peteris our inheritance as the church and it isa foundational statement about ourwords and their authority in spiritualwarfare. The expression “binding andloosing” has its origin in a practice inancient Israel of bringing a difficultquestion of conduct before a rabbi. Therabbi considered the matter and thenrendered a judgment as to whether aparticular proposed course of actionwould be forbidden or permitted. If heforbade the person from going aheadwith the action, he was said to “bind” it. But if he gave permission for the action,we was said to “loose” it.

So what the Lord is saying toPeter here is that our words carryauthority to influence and direct thecourse of spiritual warfare in theheavenlies. The forces of Satan areintent on spreading murder, suffering,spiritual blindness, confusion anddestruction. If we speak and pray wordsof life, of edification, of hope, ofencouragement, of mercy, of forgiveness,of reconciliation, then the spiritual hostsof wickedness in the heavenly places areweakened and driven back. It is in thisway that we bind them; that we prohibitthem from carrying out their objectives.

If, on the other hand, gossip,

slander, whispering, grumbling,

faultfinding, complaining, backbiting anddivisiveness characterize our speech,then Satan’s forces are strengthened andreleased to accomplish their objectiveswithin the physical realm. Or, as Jesussays, they are loosed. As an example,one of the sad realities ofEvangelicalism is the short tenure ofpastors. So many pastors move fromone church to another throughout theircareers or leave the ministry altogether. Several years ago, I recall hearing ofone denomination where the averageterm of a pastor was two years. Thesepastors were defeated not by theirworkloads, but by the words of theirown people. They were cursed in thespiritual realm and doomed to failure by

those who whisper and find fault. Yetthese people are largely ignorant of thetremendous power of their words torelease the forces of hell against theirp a s to r s . We must not whisper orgrumble against our spiritual leaders. Ifwe have an issue, we must take it tothem directly. If we still can’t abidewith how they see things, we should gosomeplace else. Don’t stay and grumbleagainst them in secret. The stakes aretoo high.

OPENING OUR MOUTHS ISSERIOUS BUSINESS

Now given this understanding

about the power of our words, let’s

consider the matter of gossip. Gossip isdefined as critical talk about anotherperson, regardless of fact, that does nothave the specific intent of impacting thatperson in a positive manner. Notice twothings about gossip: (1) Gossip does notrequire the specific intention of harminganother person. Speaking criticallyabout another person qualifies as gossipsimply if we have no productive reasonfor doing so. This points to the falseview that there are three categories ofwords: words that build up, words thathurt and words that are neutral. Butthere is actually no neutral speech. Everything we say is either helpful orhurtful. Everything we say either buildsup or tears down. Everything we say

either advances the kingdom of God orimpedes it. So if we find ourselvesdroning on, and if we find that thesubject of our conversation is someonewho is not there, we need to beespecially watchful. Proverbs 10:19gives us a sober warning: “When wordsare many, sin is not absent, but he whoholds his tongue is wise.” (2) Gossipcan be composed of true facts. But if thehearer has no reason to learn of thosefacts, the communication is gossip.

An examination of several

reasons that people gossip can behelpful in diagnosing its presence inconversation.

� Because of pride: the desire to

demonstrate to a third party that wehave discernment about what’s reallygoing on with someone.� For self-advancement: thedesire to emphasize that someone hasmore problems, weaker character,poorer judgment, less intelligence ora worse attitude than I do.� Because of low self-esteem: thedesire to pull someone down to mylevel.� To gain acceptance: the desireto gain approval from someone whowill be sympathetic to my opinion.� Because of jealousy: the desireto harm someone I envy.� Because of bitterness: the desireto injure someone who has injured

me.We can train ourselves to hold up ourwords about other people against thischecklist. And if it fails at any point, itis probably gossip.

Opening our mouths is serious

business. And yet, we are called toopen our mouths and speak forth God'swords of life. What makes themanagement of our tongues so difficult isthat the proper use of our tongues canseem so similar to the wrong use of ourtongues. We are called to teach, todiscern, to judge, to pray, to prophecy,to exhort, to counsel. Yet almost beforewe realize it, prayer can turn into gossip,discernment becomes faultfinding and

judgment becomes divisiveness. It ishard to imagine a narrower road than thecourse of pure and edifying speech,however following some basicguidelines can help us manage ourtongues:

� If you don’t need to talk aboutsomeone don’t. If I train myconscience in these principles, it willgenerally tell me when I am crossingover the line. “A talebearer revealssecrets, But he who is of a faithfulspirit conceals a matter” (Proverbs11:13).� Discipline yourself not to listento gossip. You may hurt somefeelings once in a while, but you willbuild up the church. “He who goes

about as a talebearer reveals secrets;Therefore do not associate with onewho flatters with his lips” (Proverbs20:19).� Let your praise andencouragement be genuine and letyour criticism be necessary. “Let nocorrupt word proceed out of yourmouth, but what is good for necessaryedification, that it may impart graceto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).� Husbands and wives: practicegodly speech with your spouse. Don’t think that all these principlesare suspended within the bond ofmarriage. Filter what you say to eachother just as you would with anybodyelse. “Nevertheless let each one of

you in particular so love his ownwife as himself, and let the wife seethat she respects her husband”(Ephesians 5:33).

In Matthew 12:36, Jesus issues a

warning that reflects on the weightyresponsibility of our tongues: “But I sayto you that for every idle word men mayspeak, they will give account of it in theday of judgment.” On the surface thisseems strange and unfitting. Will not theLord have great crimes and injustices toattend to in the day of judgment? Will henot have His hands full with issues somuch more serious than words we havelong forgotten? But when we considerthe power, the authority, the great

capacity to deal life or death with ourwords, we come to understand what asolemn responsibility he has given us.

So let us be careful in using this

amazing gift of the tongue. Let us offerpraise when all we hear iscondemnation. Let us speak of hopewhen we are surrounded by cynicism. Let us speak healing when it isfashionable to maim and tear down. And finally, let us remember that it onlytakes one idle word to destroy a life thatGod has created in His own likeness.

Meditation and Response

1. Can you think of some typical

situations in your life when you aretempted to gossip? How can youbetter manage your tongue in thesesettings?

2. How does this view of the authorityof your words change yourperspective on the power ofprayer?

3. We are called to edify, or build upone another (1 Thessalonians5:11). Ask the Lord to show youspecific words of edification tospeak to those close to you.

Chapter 9. The Bitterness thatDefiles Many

“Does a spring send forth freshwater and bitter from the sameopening? Can a fig tree, mybrethren, bear olives, or a grapevinebear figs? Thus no spring yieldsboth salt water and fresh.” James3:11-12

"Look carefully lest anyone fallshort of the grace of God; lest anyroot of bitterness springing up causetrouble, and by this many become

defiled; lest there be any fornicatoror profane person like Esau, who forone morsel of food sold hisbirthright.” Hebrews 12:15-16

A HURT THAT CAN’T BE

RESTORED We all realize that personal hurt

and betrayal are an unfortunate part oflife. As we move beyond such an injury,only two roads are available to us:forgiveness or bitterness. Bitterness isdefined as an intense hostility or hatred. But the particular aspect of bitternessthat distinguishes it from hatred is that itis an affliction of the victim. Bitternessis a hatred generated by an injury that

cannot be restored. Bitterness alwaysinvolves an irreversible hurt to thevictim. “I was hurt. I was robbed. Iwas betrayed. And I can never get backto that previous state.” The injury isfixed in history and it cannot be undone.

Another peculiar aspect of

bitterness is that the bitter personassumes he has a right to be bitter, infact he may actually enjoy it and find hisidentity in it. Bitterness brings theillusion of having control over theoffending party. For this reason, peoplewill often persist in bitterness for years.

Among Christians, bitterness is

easily confused with the spiritual fruit of

longsuffering. Longsuffering is thequality of showing patient endurancetoward the failings of others. Bitternessresults, however, when we internalizehurts others have inflicted on us. Thebitter Christian often imagines that hiscontinuing silence and avoidance of apast hurt is longsuffering. But unless trueforgiveness that is grounded in the bloodof Jesus Christ has occurred, bitternessquietly takes root. The picture ofbitterness as a root is very telling. Theroot of bitterness grows beneath thesurface and is not easily evident in itsearly stages. It is only later, as the writertells us, that it springs up and causestrouble. In previous chapters, we haveseen the principle stating that spiritual

fruit is incompatible with foreign plants. It will not grow where there are wildgrapes or weeds in the field. Nor willspiritual fruit come forth where the rootof bitterness has sprung up. We arewarned, therefore to look carefully lestwe fall short of the grace of God.

WHY TIME DOESN’T HEAL As an example of a victim of

bitterness, the writer to the Hebrewsgives us Esau, the son of Isaac. Thestory of Esau and the Edomites whodescended from him is one of the greattragedies of Bible history. It tells ushow one event, occurring almost beyondthe limit of recorded history led to 2,000

years of jealousy, cruelty and,ultimately, the destruction of a nation.

As is always the case with

bitterness, this episode begins with apersonal injury in which Jacob consEsau out of his birthright as the firstbornson.

Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esaucame in from the field, and he wasweary. And Esau said to Jacob,"Please feed me with that same redstew, for I am weary." Therefore hisname was called Edom. But Jacobsaid, "Sell me your birthright as ofthis day." And Esau said, "Look, Iam about to die; so what is thisbirthright to me?" Then Jacob said,

"Swear to me as of this day." So heswore to him, and sold his birthrightto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esaubread and stew of lentils; then he ateand drank, arose, and went his way.Thus Esau despised his birthright(Genesis 25:29-34).

Although his own impulsiveness

and lack of self-control are largely atfault, Esau has been victimized by hisbrother’s treachery. The crime againsthim is permanent. He will always besecond. And so in this way the root ofbitterness is planted. It begins to growand it drives a wedge between the twonations descended from these brothers:Israel and Edom. It is important to note

that the treachery of Jacob against Esauis never resolved. Neither brother everbrings it to the surface. Jacob does notask for forgiveness and Esau does notoffer it.

Immediately after this episode,

Jacob flees the country and is gone for anumber of years. Then, after bothbrothers have made their fortunes, Jacobreturns. The reunion of Jacob and Esauis fascinating because it is so typical ofhow bitterness is denied and glossedover:

Now Jacob lifted his eyes andlooked, and there, Esau was coming,and with him were four hundred men.So he divided the children among

Leah, Rachel, and the twomaidservants. And he put themaidservants and their children infront, Leah and her children behind,and Rachel and Joseph last. Then hecrossed over before them and bowedhimself to the ground seven times,until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, andembraced him, and fell on his neckand kissed him, and they wept. Andhe lifted his eyes and saw the womenand children, and said, "Who arethese with you?" So he said, "Thechildren whom God has graciouslygiven your servant." Then themaidservants came near, they andtheir children, and bowed down.

And Leah also came near with herchildren, and they bowed down.Afterward Joseph and Rachel camenear, and they bowed down. ThenEsau said, "What do you mean by allthis company which I met?" And hesaid, "These are to find favor in thesight of my lord." But Esau said, "Ihave enough, my brother; keep whatyou have for yourself." And Jacobsaid, "No, please, if I have now foundfavor in your sight, then receive mypresent from my hand, inasmuch as Ihave seen your face as though I hadseen the face of God, and you werepleased with me. Please, take myblessing that is brought to you,because God has dealt graciously

with me, and because I have enough."So he urged him, and he took it(Genesis 33:1-11).

Despite all of the tears and

emotion we see here, what is mosttelling is what is not said. Neitherbrother brings up the birthright matter. Esau attempts to minimize the injury byhis statement in v. 9: "I have enough, mybrother; keep what you have foryourself." Do you catch the flavor ofEsau’s attitude here? It illustrates twocommon characteristics of bitter people.First, bitter people maintain that there isnothing to forgive. “Oh, it was nothing;I’ve gotten over it; I‘m big enough to putit behind me.” But the reality is that old

injuries that are never truly forgiven arenot resolved. Second, the bitter personassumes he has a right to be bitter. People can actually enjoy bitternessbecause it gratifies the flesh andprovides an energy that they learn to relyon.

How must we deal with

bitterness to be free from it? The worldoffers two poor solutions to bitterness:either to keep it in and be sick or to let itout and defile many. Keeping it silentlyinside is no solution, but neither isventing bitterness outwardly. The resultof talking through one’s bitterness toothers is to draw them into it as well. The only effective and permanent way to

be free from bitterness is for the injuredparty to forgive the offenderunilaterally. Now by unilaterally, Imean the bitter person must forgiveregardless of what the offender does. The offender may never apologize, maynever admit to the injury, or may noteven be aware of the injury.

BUT I HAVE A RIGHT TO

BE BITTER! This requirement is a common

stumbling block for bitter people. Theysay, “He’s the one who hurt me. It’s upt o him to come and apologize. If heapologizes then I’ll forgive him.” Well,what if he never apologizes? Are you

going to nurse your bitterness for the restof your life? And all too often theanswer is: “Darned right I am; I have aright to!” Esau faced the challenge toforgive Jacob and he failed. He choseinstead the way of pride and denial: "Ihave enough, my brother; keep what youhave for yourself."

Now we want to trace this root

of bitterness through Esau’s descendants,the Edomites, and see how it grows. After the account of Jacob and Esaucloses, the Edomites disappear from theBible narrative for about 500 years. Then, all of a sudden during Israel’sdesert wanderings with Moses, Edomcomes into the picture. We pick up the

story in Numbers 20:14-21:Now Moses sent messengers fromKadesh to the king of Edom. "Thussays your brother Israel: "You knowall the hardship that has befallen us,how our fathers went down to Egypt,and we dwelt in Egypt a long time,and the Egyptians afflicted us and ourfathers. When we cried out to theLORD, He heard our voice and sentthe Angel and brought us up out ofEgypt; now here we are in Kadesh, acity on the edge of your border. Please let us pass through yourcountry. We will not pass throughfields or vineyards, nor will we drinkwater from wells; we will go alongthe King's Highway; we will not turn

aside to the right hand or to the leftuntil we have passed through yourterritory."' Then Edom said to him,"You shall not pass through my land,lest I come out against you with thesword." So the children of Israelsaid to him, "We will go by theHighway, and if I or my livestockdrink any of your water, then I willpay for it; let me only pass through onfoot, nothing more." Then he said,"You shall not pass through." SoEdom came out against them withmany men and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israelpassage through his territory; soIsrael turned away from him.

In the course of five centuries,the bitterness of Esau has matured andflowered. We see here the principle thatbitterness is not healed by time. Exactlythe opposite has occurred: the root ofbitterness has sprung up and defiledmany. Edom knows exactly who Israelis and remembers Jacob’s treachery veryclearly. Bitterness remembers details. One of the best indicators of a root ofbitterness is a detailed memory of a pasthurt. If someone claims to have forgivenhis offender, but can still remember thetiniest details of an incident 20 yearspast, we should be skeptical. Whengenuine forgiveness occurs, the HolySpirit causes those memories to fadeaway.

From that time forward, Edom

maintained an active feud with Israeland tension between the two nationsgrew. In fact, Edom’s bitterness towardIsrael became so intense that one entirebook of the Bible is devoted to Edom’sbad attitude: the book of Obadiah. Theoccasion of this prophecy is that Edomis actually celebrating the defeat ofIsrael by an invading army. And theLord says to Edom, “You had better geta new attitude or I will do a lot worse toyou.” Let’s look at some of Obadiah’sprophecy:

For violence against your brotherJacob, Shame shall cover you, Andyou shall be cut off forever. In the

day that you stood on the other side--In the day that strangers carriedcaptive his forces, When foreignersentered his gates And cast lots forJerusalem-- Even you were as one ofthem. "But you should not have gazedon the day of your brother In the dayof his captivity; Nor should you haverejoiced over the children of Judah Inthe day of their destruction; Norshould you have spoken proudly Inthe day of distress. You should nothave entered the gate of My people Inthe day of their calamity. Indeed, youshould not have gazed on theiraffliction In the day of their calamity,Nor laid hands on their substance Inthe day of their calamity. You should

not have stood at the crossroads Tocut off those among them whoescaped; Nor should you havedelivered up those among them whoremained In the day of distress. "Forthe day of the LORD upon all thenations is near; As you have done, itshall be done to you; Your reprisalshall return upon your own head(Obadiah 10-15).

The person who nurses a root of

bitterness long enough will rejoice introuble that comes upon his offender, asif there is some justice in it. Edom hatedIsrael with an intensity that defied anyrational explanation. Esau’s bitternesshad consumed them. In fact, Edom’s

days were numbered. The climax of Edom’s violence

against Israel comes during the finalhours before the crucifixion of Jesus. The death of Jesus was brought about byan unlikely partnership: the Jews and theRomans. The role that each of thesenations played in his crucifixion is wellknown. But for one brief moment, at theheight of the drama, the Romans and theJews stood aside and the fate of Jesuswas thrust upon Edom.

After hearing the accusations

against Jesus, we find Pontius Pilate, theRoman governor over Judea, trying toavoid hearing the case. Then through an

incidental remark by one of the Jews,Pilate discovers that Jesus is actually acitizen of Galilee to the north. This isPilate’s escape clause because he canlegally dump the whole affair into thelap of the governor of Galilee, HerodAntipas. And Herod is an Edomite.

For 2,000 years, the root of

bitterness had wound its way from Esaudown to Herod. Herod was atreacherous and cruel man and was, in asense, the personification of Edom’sbitterness. Edom had refused to acceptGod’s decree that God would bless thenations through Israel and not throughEsau. So Edom’s final opportunity toforgive Jacob’s injury is given to

Herod. We read the account in Luke23:8-12:

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he wasexceedingly glad; for he had desiredfor a long time to see Him, becausehe had heard many things about Him,and he hoped to see some miracledone by Him. Then he questionedHim with many words, but Heanswered him nothing. And the chiefpriests and scribes stood andvehemently accused Him. ThenHerod, with his men of war, treatedHim with contempt and mocked Him,arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, andsent Him back to Pilate. That veryday Pilate and Herod became friendswith each other, for previously they

had been at enmity with each other. Herod’s failure to come to terms

with God’s chosen anointed one marksthe final chapter of Edom’s history. Forty years later, the Roman armyinvaded Edom. They brought suchdestruction that it was impossible to tellwhere the cities had stood and where thecrops were grown. And so, just asObadiah prophesied, there are noEdomites today.

PULLING OUT

BITTERNESS BY ITS ROOT This story of Esau’s bitterness

against his brother offers us several

lessons about bitterness and how wemust deal with it. First, we must acceptGod’s grace on God’s terms. Godordained that all nations would beblessed through Israel. But as far asEdom was concerned, God should havechosen us. It was our birthright thatJacob stole. Edom never acceptedGod’s blessing on God’s terms.

Second, the grace of God will

make no apologies for the past. It willnot re-write history. Whatever hurts andbetrayals we have suffered are apermanent part of our past. When weforgive those who have hurt us, Godpromises to bless us richly, but He doesnot promise to restore the same things

that we lost. Finally, true forgiveness that

frees from bitterness can only beaccomplished through the blood ofJesus. The natural man cannot pull outthe root of bitterness. The natural mancannot erase those hurtful memories. The natural man cannot restore the lostyears and the stolen opportunities. Freedom from bitterness is asupernatural transaction.

Meditation and Response

1. Has someone stolen something fromyour life that can never berestored? If you have never dealt

with this hurt properly, go to theLord in prayer and tell Him that youforgive this person unconditionally.

2. Pray for your church, that roots ofbitterness would be unearthed andpulled out. This is a spiritualtransaction, because many peopledo not consciously realize that theyare nursing bitterness.

3. If you have trouble releasingbitterness against someone,meditate on the total sacrifice ofJesus, Who had everything He hadtaken from Him, in order that youand I might have eternal life.

Chapter 10. God is Not a System!

"Because of the multitude of

oppressions they cry out;They cry out for help because of

the arm of the mighty. But no one says, ‘Where is God

my Maker,Who gives songs in the night,Who teaches us more than the

beasts of the earth,And makes us wiser than the

birds of heaven?'” Job 35:9-11

WHEN THE SYSTEM

DOESN’T WORK There is a rigid mindset common

to all monotheistic religions that regardsGod not as a genuine person, but as aninflexible system of cause-and-effectinevitabilities. God is not an intimate,trusted friend; He is the paymaster whomeasures out wages due for servicesrendered and promptly punishes everyinfraction. It was this mindset thatsought to uncover the sin responsible forthe blind man's loss of sight (John 9:13-34). It is this same mindset that believesthat our obedience effectively puts Godin our debt, making His blessing abalance owing that He is obliged tobestow. And according to this mindset,

fruitfulness always follows from theright methods dutifully applied. If youwork the system, the system works. Guaranteed!

As if in response to this common

distortion of our heavenly Father’sattitude toward His children, the Biblegives us the account of Job. Job’s storyis that of a man whose “God,” so tospeak, quit working. When the bottomfell out of Job’s life, God did notrespond in the way the “system”demanded that God should. Job’s losseswere staggering. He lost all of his tenchildren and all of his property in oneday. Then he lost his health and all ofhis social standing in his community. But

as great as all of these trials were, Job’sgreatest affliction was that, in the midstof his troubles, he couldn’t find God: “Ifonly God would tell me where He is inall this I would be satisfied.” The onething Job wanted from God was a word,an answer, an explanation of what washappening.

Yet even when the story is

concluded and Job’s fortunes arerestored, an explanation is not part of hispackage. Job does not find hissatisfaction from learning of the “divinewager” between God and Satan. Instead, Job receives a revelation ofGod’s majesty and mystery thatcompletely dissolves his complaint

about the “system.” The Book of Job confronts us

with the question: “What are you madeof when life goes sour and God isnowhere to be found? Christian, can youstand in your faith when the ‘system’crashes?” When we consider Job’sexperience, we should check our ownspiritual attitudes. Do I only rejoice inmy God when he keeps me in mycomfort zone? Or do I have a deeperbasis for my relationship with Him? When God does not play by our rules,we are very susceptible to bearingresentment against Him: “Who does Hethink He is, treating me this way?” Holding God hostage is a hard way to

make a living, yet it is far too commonamong Christians going through difficulttimes.

God drove Job to the very limits

of spiritual endurance. Very few of uswill face the extremes of his trial. Butall of us who follow Christ are going toencounter times when we hurt and wecan’t find God’s hand in it. When wefind ourselves in that place, the trial willpass less painfully if we can learn fromthe experience of Job.

ASKING GOD FOR GOD

The book of Job can be difficult

to interpret because much of what the

characters say is false. Job’s friends areunsure about the nature of Job’saffliction. We find them probing andspeculating about God’s justice andJob’s failures. But it is Elihu, the lastand youngest speaker, who drives rightto the core of the matter: “...no one says,‘Where is God my Maker, Who givessongs in the night‘”? The natural manseeks out God my Provider, God myHealer, God my Deliverer, God Whoscratches wherever I itch. But where isthe man who says, “I just want to knowthe God Who made me. I want to knowHim simply because He has created mewith the capacity to know Him and Hehas not given that capacity to a cow or toa seagull.”

It is only this man who is truly in

relationship with his God. All the rest,who only run after God for theimmediate needs He satisfies, will neverhave God for Himself. The man whoseeks after God simply as a means toother benefits makes Him one god amongmany. Such a man is an idolater of thesubtlest variety, but an idolater just thesame. Christendom is full of suchpeople who trumpet their faith only aslong as God continues to give them whatthey ask for. God exists primarily togive them life, liberty and happiness. Aslong as they prosper, they know that Godis good and walking alongside them.

According to this theology, if youplay the system right, you will alwaysprosper-- guaranteed. Conversely, ifyour life is not working out, then youhave obviously slipped up somewherebecause the system always works. Youmust be in sin. If you will just find themissing link and make amends, then Godwill deliver you because the systemalways works!

WHAT WE GAIN WHEN

GOD DOESN’T ANSWER But what happens when, one day,

God doesn’t answer? I cry out just as Ialways have for the same things God hasalways given me, but His arm does not

appear. The book of Job tells the storyof how Job and his friends learned thatGod is a person, not a system. Joblearned this truth by passing throughwhat this passage figuratively calls “thenight.” “The night” symbolizeswhatever unpleasant experiences andconditions of life we wish would passus by: trials, uncertainty, troubles,affliction. Job learned, as we need to,that, if our only response to the night isto plead for daybreak, then we miss agood deal of how God prepares us tobear His fruit.

A Christian’s capacity to sing

songs in the night will be stronglycorrelated to his fruitfulness and his

spiritual fitness in general. Night is anideal picture to teach this spirituallesson for three reasons. First, night is atime of limited visibility. In the dark ofnight we cannot see many things that areactually present. We must learn to restin the fact that God can see the wayahead when we cannot. “I will guideyou with My eye” (Psalm 32:8). Thedisciple who would bear fruit must beable to focus on the business at handeven when he faces great uncertaintyabout tomorrow.

Second, the duration of night is

measured. Night is a temporarydarkness that inevitably gives way todaylight. Neither the very good times

nor the very bad times in our livescontinue indefinitely, but each gives wayto the other. Fruitfulness requires us towork through both extremes and avoidbeing carried away by either. TheChristian who is alternately crushed bytrials and swelled up by success will notbe stable in his work.

Third, night is a necessary

condition for the maturation of fruit. Inorder for many plants to bring forth theirfruit, they must pass through cycles ofnight and day, summer and winter, heatand cold, rain and drought. Fruitfulnessdoes not result from an atmosphere ofperpetual comfort and absence of stress. The spread of the gospel over the

centuries gives ample evidence of thisprinciple. Historical persecution fromwithin and outside the Church, politicaloppression, economic instability andphysical disasters have all stimulatedChristians to greater fruitfulness atvarious times.

There are those who argue that,

when a Christian is suffering, God’s oneand only interest is to relieve thatsuffering as quickly as possible. If thatChristian only “had enough faith,” thenGod would do just that. But the HolySpirit has seen fit to include the book ofJob in our Bibles to teach us thatsuffering is more complicated than that. One purpose of suffering, given in verse

10, is that we might learn to ask thequestion, “Where is God my Maker,Who gives songs in the night?” Thecapacity to know God my Creator andrejoice in His presence even when nightprevails is a great source of strength tothose who develop it.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were

imprisoned in the darkness of aPhilippian jail. We read that “…atmidnight Paul and Silas were prayingand singing hymns to God, and theprisoners were listening to them.” Payclose attention to the fact that they wereb o t h praying and singing. Prayershows confidence in the future of God,but singing shows confidence in the

presence of God. They were no doubtpraying for deliverance, but they weresinging as well. In order to cope withsuffering, a Christian needs both. It is agreat mistake for Christians to wearthemselves out with lots of prayer, butno singing. In the midst of their night,the only comfort they will accept is theapproaching dawn.

When Job’s tragedies came upon

him, he began his search for comfort asmany of us do: by demanding light. Hewanted to know where God was in allthis. Job made the mistake that we allmake from time to time. We think thatwe will be comforted by gaining somesmall insight into God’s design for our

lives. Yet in taking this position, weplace ourselves in the center of theuniverse and displace God. TheChristian who will only be comforted byan answer to his most immediateproblem will only have that comfortuntil his next problem comes along. Butthe Christian who learns to sing a songin the night receives an enduring comfortthat will not be swept away by changingcircumstances. In the end, Job did notfind his peace until he beheld God as Hetruly is: eternal, sovereign and holy.

Learning to sing a song in the

night is a crucial step in ourdiscipleship. We can only maturespiritually if we learn to sing God’s

song in the blackest dark of night. Theheartiest, most stirring song of mid-dayis of no value when the terror of thenight falls upon us. A Christian must beable to sing God’s night song when onlyeternity is in view and all else ishidden. Our fruitfulness depends onlearning songs in the night. The eternalfruit that God would bear through usmust pass through the night in order toreach its maturity. There is no otherway.

Meditation and Response

1. Do you frequently try to "figure outwhat God is doing?" Have yourefforts brought you peace or

anxiety?2. Think of a trial in your life that has

passed. How would you rate your"songs in the night" while you werepassing through this trial?

3. Identify a time in your life whenexperienced the "peace of God,which surpasses all understanding"(Philippians 4:7).

Chapter 11. A Hole in the Wall:Hidden Hypocrisy

THE LEAST RELIABLE

INDICATOR OF OUR HEARTS The Christian who would bear

fruit must understand how God sees. God is looking for good soil to bringforth his fruit. The intrinsic qualities ofgood soil are found in the unexposedlayers that are hidden from casual view. Only when one digs deep to inspect thesoil will he find the attributes that willenhance or inhibit fruitfulness. In the

same way, God looks for the innerqualities and secrets of those who wouldbear his fruit.

The story of Eliab, David’s

brother, illustrates how God sees:Now the LORD said to Samuel,"How long will you mourn for Saul,seeing I have rejected him fromreigning over Israel? Fill your hornwith oil, and go; I am sending you toJesse the Bethlehemite. For I haveprovided Myself a king among hissons." So it was, when they came,that he looked at Eliab and said,"Surely the LORD's anointed isbefore Him!" But the LORD said toSamuel, "Do not look at his

appearance or at his physical stature,because I have refused him. For theLORD does not see as man sees; forman looks at the outward appearance,but the LORD looks at the heart" (1Samuel 16: 1, 6-7).

Now I suspect that no one had

ever talked about Eliab this way before. It was plain to everyone that Eliab wasthe right man for the job. Even theprophet Samuel, who had endured somuch disappointment over King Saul’sfailures, was convinced that Eliab hadthe right qualities. But in a singlemoment, Eliab saw his ambitionsdisintegrate, for the Lord does not see asman sees.

When God says that he looks at a

man’s heart, this means that God doesnot focus on the more public indicationsof human character. From God’sperspective, the outward appearance isthe least reliable indicator of the heart. We all put our best foot forward whenwe’re at church. A man’s behavior athis workplace gives a slightly betterpicture of his character. An even closerapproximation of his true identity is hislife at home. But the clearest measure ofa man’s heart is what he does when he isalone and no one will ever find out. This is the heart that God sees. And, infact, this is who we are.

God will not tolerate a hiddeninterior hypocrisy. Outward religion isnot a veneer that will divert God’s eyesfrom our secret behavior. In the eighthchapter of Ezekiel, God took the propheton a secret tour of the temple, the “houseof religion,” and showed him what wasreally going on.

So He brought me to the door of thecourt; and when I looked, there was ahole in the wall. Then He said to me,"Son of man, dig into the wall"; andwhen I dug into the wall, there was adoor. And He said to me, "Go in, andsee the wicked abominations whichthey are doing there." So I went inand saw, and there-- every sort ofcreeping thing, abominable beasts,

and all the idols of the house ofIsrael, portrayed all around on thewalls. And there stood before themseventy men of the elders of the houseof Israel, and in their midst stoodJaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Eachman had a censer in his hand, and athick cloud of incense went up. ThenHe said to me, "Son of man, have youseen what the elders of the house ofIsrael do in the dark, every man in theroom of his idols? For they say, "TheLORD does not see us, the LORD hasforsaken the land"' (Ezekiel 8:7-12).

Despite all of Israel’s outward

piety, this is what the Lord saw: “whatthe elders of the house of Israel do in the

dark, every man in the room of hisidols.” The way a person conducts hisprivate life determines how the Lordregards him. So we read in Psalm 90:8,“You have set our iniquities before You,our secret sins in the light of Yourcountenance.” The hidden life is the onethat sits front and center before God’seyes.

THE SIN OF THE HIGH

HAND The Christian who harbors a

secret indulgence lives in an isolatedsituation. He has severed all access tofellowship with Jesus. He has no accessto cleansing, forgiveness or

sanctification. This pattern offellowship is described in the Law ofMoses. According to Moses, there weretwo kinds of sin that could breakfellowship with God. We find thesedescribed in Numbers 15. The first kindof sin is the unintentional sin. This iseither a sin committed in ignorance,where I didn’t know that my action waswrong until afterward, or it is a sincommitted impulsively, without anyprior thought or planning. Anunintentional sin could be taken care ofquite easily: “So the priest shall makeatonement for the person who sinsunintentionally, when he sinsunintentionally before the Lord, to makeatonement for him; and it shall be

forgiven him” (v. 28). The second kind of sin is the

presumptuous sin. The Hebrew textrefers to this as the sin done with the“high hand.” This sin is described inverses 30-31:

But the person who does anythingpresumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one bringsreproach on the Lord, and he shall becut off from among his people.Because he has despised the word ofthe Lord, and has broken Hiscommandment, that person shall becompletely cut off; his guilt shall beupon him.

This sin is a premeditateddefiance of God’s commend. Here is theperson who knows perfectly well whatGod requires, but brazenly sets his willtoward disobedience regardless. God’sverdict is that the presumptuous sinnershall be completely cut off; his guiltshall be upon him. He has no access tothe sacrifice that restores fellowshipwith God.

For the Christian, the distinction

of the presumptuous sin is not discardedunder the new covenant of grace. TheNew Testament clearly reinforces theconcepts of unintentional andpresumptuous sin. The pattern of theunintentional sin is found in 1 John 1:9,

“If we confess our sins, He is faithfuland just to forgive us our sins and tocleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we fall into sin through impulsivesubmission to “the lust of the flesh, thelust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1John 2:16), Jesus is both our priest andour sacrifice. Through Him, we haveatonement for our sin and restoration offellowship with the Father.

But the condition of the

presumptuous sinner is described inHebrews 10:26, “For if we sin willfullyafter we have received the knowledge ofthe truth, there no longer remains asacrifice for sins.” There no longerremains a sacrifice for the Christian who

abides in wilful, presumptuous sin. Hehas no fellowship with Jesus. He has noaccess to the Father through prayer. Anyoutward appearance of religion in hislife is artificial because he haswithdrawn himself from the fountain ofgrace and life.

The real tragedy of the

presumptuous sinner is that he doesn’trealize anything is wrong. He stillprays. He still worships. He stillconfesses his “lesser” sins. But he is agrape plucked from the vine. He seeshimself and his religious life in a wayentirely different than God sees him. Hesees the outward things of his life asbeing more substantial than his

presumptuous sin. And yet the one thinghe wants to conceal and forget is the onething God sees: his secret sin.

But just as God sees our secret

sins, so he also sees our hiddenrighteousness. Proverbs 22:29 reads,"Do you see a man who excels in hiswork? He will stand before kings; Hewill not stand before unknown men."Here is the picture of the man who livesand works consistently outside of theking's presence. His conscience is hisguide to excellence, regardless of hissetting. In the proper time, the king willtake notice and elevate him to his properposition.

WHEN GOD HASFORGOTTEN ME

I think that every Christian at

some point in his life is convinced thatthe King has forgotten him. "I've beenleft behind. I played by the rules, I dideverything I knew to do and for what?" Psalm 37:1-8 speaks directly to theperson in this funk:

Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers ofiniquity. For they shall soon be cut down likethe grass, And wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His

faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires ofyour heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth yourrighteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patientlyfor Him; Do not fret because of him whoprospers in his way, Because of the man who bringswicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret--it only causes harm.

I don't think anyone had a better

case against God than Noah did. Hewas the only man left in the world whoserved God. And nothing ever changed. There must have been days when hewondered what the point was. "I'mgoing to be 700 pretty soon. Whatdifference has all my righteousnessmade? God doesn't see. Nothing everchanges." Of course, the day came whenthings did change: "I have seen that youare righteous before Me in thisgeneration" (Genesis 7:1). God knewwho Noah was and all the things that hedid. At the proper time, God broughtforth Noah's righteousness as the light.

If you find yourself in an obscureplace far from where you want to be,then consider carefully what has been setbefore you. Remember that the King iswatching. Remember also that He doesnot see as man sees. It's a struggle for usto see as God sees, but the righteousnesswe do in the darkness is not hidden fromHim. He has seen it and he will bring itto light. When God decides to exaltthose loyal to Him he will defy the oddsand deliver your justice as the noonday.

Meditation and Response

1. Is there a familiar idol in yoursecret room that needs to bedestroyed? Pray for the Lord to

bring you a trustworthy prayerpartner that can receive yourconfession and give you support inabandoning this idol permanently.

2. Pray for your leaders and pastorsthat they will withstand the attacksof the enemy in the area of secrethypocrisy.

3. Have you been faithful in aparticular area and received noanswer or recognition? Ask theLord to give you strength andendurance to walk in the timing ofHis answer.

Chapter 12. Judging: Our God GivenObligation

EVANGELICALISM’S

FOUR-LETTER WORD Modern Evangelicalism is

marked by a well-intentioned reluctanceto judge others that stems from the verycorrect desire to be inclusive. Certainlythe gospel, if it is to be the true gospel ofChrist, must be inclusive of all whowould bow at the foot of the cross. Thechurch must be blind to the former sinsand mistakes of all who would come to

Jesus. As I have already stressed inChapter 5, the Christian life is livedbefore God today. Past sins are wipedaway by the blood of the Lamb. But thesword cuts both ways. Those whowould come to Christ today must alsorepent of today’s sins. Repentance isGod’s prerequisite for mercy; so must italso be the church’s.

However, it is commonplace

today for the church to tolerate thefellowship of confessing Christians whoare living in sin and are unrepentant. The explanations given for excusingtheir behaviors are various:

� They are working throughdifficult issues in their lives,

� They are very close to turningaway from their sin,� They are new Christians whodon’t understand what repentancemeans,� Their life circumstances makerepentance too difficult right now,� It’s better to at least have themamong us where we can graduallypush them in the right direction.

Underlying the church’s failure

to judge the sin in its midst is theassumption that these unrepentantChristians are, in fact, fruit: that if thechurch is full on Sunday morning thenour ministry must be bearing fruit. Inreality, misplaced mercy prohibits true

fruitfulness and will ultimately bringforth stagnation and barrenness.

The question of judging is made

especially difficult by the current cultureof tolerance, acceptance and diversitythat we find all around us. The heart ofthe philosophy of diversity that oursociety presents today is the pervasivemessage of relative moral truth:

� “My truth is true for me andyour truth is true for you.” � “Every group has its owntruth.” � “No one is wrong, but neither isanyone right.”

Within this culture of diversity, no beliefcan be allowed to call itself ‘true’ at the

expense of calling another belief ‘false.’When Pilate asked Jesus, “What isTruth?” he was reciting the mantra of ourpresent culture of diversity. Absolutetruth is the one concept that cannot betolerated in our society of tolerancebecause everyone has the equal right tobe told that what they believe is OK andtrue for them. Within this socialcontract, the ultimate objective is toavoid judging anybody.

So when Christians speaks of

right and wrong, or moral truth or sin,we are told that we are judging and thatwe must stop it. If the man on the streetknows one verse from the Bible, it isMatthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not

judged.” The world would have usbelieve that there is some sort ofrighteous humility in keeping ouropinions to ourselves and nevercriticizing another’s behavior orconduct. We have been duped by thiswidespread view of pseudo-righteousness and, as a result, judginghas become a four-letter word inEvangelicalism today.

On the surface, the New

Testament’s teaching on judging caneasily appear contradictory: we are tojudge, but then we are not to judge. Anexamination of a few passages illustratesthis apparent riddle. Matthew 7:1 says,“Judge not, that you be not judged” but 1

Corinthians 2:15 counters: “But he whois spiritual judges all things.” Luke 6:37is more emphatic: “Judge not, and youshall not be judged. Condemn not, andyou shall not be condemned.” ButPhilippians 1:9 declares, “And this Ipray, that your love may abound yetmore and more in knowledge and in alljudgment.” Romans 14:4 warns us,“Who are you to judge another's servant?To his own master he stands or falls.” Yet 1 Corinthians 14:29 instructs us:“Let the prophets speak two or three,and let the other judge.”

Who are we to judge? Who are

we not to judge? How, when and why? The fact is that the Bible calls us to

judge in some ways and not in others. The key to understanding thesedistinctions is to consider the range ofmeanings of the word ‘judge.’ In NewTestament usage, ‘judge’ has three basicmeanings: (1) measurement against astandard, (2) comparison and (3)condemnation. Simply put, God requiresus to do the first while forbidding us todo the last two.

1. Measurement against a

standard An example of this kind of

judging is the statement: “The car istraveling over the speed limit.” Thisstatement amounts to holding the speed

of the car up against a measurablestandard (the posted speed limit), butexcludes the observer’s personalopinion of that speed limit. This conceptof judging arises from the illustration ofthe plumb line in Amos 7:8, “Behold, Iam setting a plumb line in the midst ofMy people Israel.” God’s standards, asrevealed in the Bible, are the “plumbline” against which we are to judgehuman behavior. Also, when we refer tothe Bible as the ‘canon,’ we derive thisusage from the Greek word meaning ameasuring rod. John 7:24 says that weare to “judge with righteous judgment." That is, we are to judge people againstGod’s measuring rod rather than ourown subjective standards.

Judging as a measurement against

God’s standards is the only kind ofjudging that we are authorized andcommanded to do as Christians. Twoconditions accompany this obligation. First, we must exclude our personalpreferences and opinions from thismeasurement. We are not to accuseanyone of being a lawbreaker whereGod has made no law. Second, we areto avoid hypocrisy. To the best of ourunderstanding, we are to satisfy our ownconsciences that we have removed theplank in our own eye before we try toremove the speck in our brother’s eye(Matthew 7:3).

However, this second conditionmust not be understood as requiring amoral perfection that will never beachieved in this life before we canjudge. This misconception is frequentlyheard as a reason to avoid speakingjudgment: “Oh, we’re all just sinnerspainted with the same brush, so whatright have we to judge anybody?” Thisfalse humility often disguises a morallaziness and is a rationalization of themany instructions we find in the NewTestament to judge and exercisediscipline. Judging is not an earnedprivilege; it is a command. The church’sobligation to discipline presupposes anobligation to judge:

� “Those who are sinning rebuke

in the presence of all, that the restalso may fear” (1 Timothy 5:20).� “Brethren, if a man is overtakenin any trespass, you who are spiritualrestore such a one in a spirit ofgentleness, considering yourself lestyou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).� “Brethren, if anyone among youwanders from the truth, and someoneturns him back, let him know that hewho turns a sinner from the error ofhis way will save a soul from deathand cover a multitude of sins” (James5:19-20).

Before we can discipline, we

must judge. And this judgment is to bedone by real, fallible people who

stumble on occasion themselves. It isnot a pleasant task. In fact, anyone whoenjoys it is likely not well suited to it. The one who points out his brother’ssins should do so with tears, not with anattitude of triumphal superiority. Butjudging must be an integral part of ourspiritual lives because the underlyingpremise of this process is that God’slaw is a source of life, light andprosperity.

2. Comparison In this context, judging means

comparing one person to another inorder to rate their relative righteousnessor unrighteousness. An example of this

kind of judging is seen in the statement:“The award panel judged the first,second and third place winners.” Weare forbidden from doing this. We judgein this way when we compare our livesto others and decide whose sins aremore severe in the eyes of God: “I thankYou that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or evenas this tax collector. I fast twice a week;I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke18:11, 12).

It is not difficult to pick out the

faults of others. Our society today is abattlefield of addictive behaviors,rebellion and tragic lifestyle decisions. Dysfunctional behaviors are passed

down from one generation to another. Itis an easy thing for someone who has hislife in fairly good order to comparehimself to someone with more visiblefailings. But what of that hiddenrebellion in my heart that the Holy Spiritpointed out long ago? 1 Timothy 5:24warns us: “Some men's sins are clearlyevident, preceding them to judgment, butthose of some men follow later.” Whichwill God judge more harshly: theobvious sins which are clear for all tosee or the hidden sin that is coveted andprotected? I can compare myself tosomeone who has left behind a cleartrail of mistakes, but how do I knowwhat he’s been given compared to whatI’ve been given: “For everyone to

whom much is given, from him muchwill be required” (Luke 12:48).

The biblical prohibitions against

comparing my righteousness to that ofothers are crystal clear: “Do not judgeaccording to appearance” (John 7:24). And again, “So then each of us shall giveaccount of himself to God. Therefore letus not judge one another anymore” (Rom14:12, 13). It is evil for us to compareourselves to others. We need toremember that each of us has only a dimunderstanding of the utter blackness ofour own sin. We also need to rememberthat God will judge others according tostandards we know nothing about and isfree to judge one person according to a

different standard than another. Forthese reason the apostle wisely counselsus: “In lowliness of mind let eachesteem others better than himself”(Philippians 2:3) because I don’t knowwhat God is expecting of me comparedto what he is expecting of others.

3. Condemnation The third meaning of judging is

the issuance of a verdict on someone’seternal destiny or the punishment that isappropriate to his offence. This act ofjudging is shown in the statement: “Thecourt issued a judgement of three yearsimprisonment.” As with comparison,we are forbidden from doing this.

Again, the scriptures prohibiting this arenumerous and explicit:

� “Judge not, and you shall not bejudged. Condemn not, and you shallnot be condemned” (Luke 6:37).� “Who are you to judge another'sservant? To his own master he standsor falls” (Romans 14:4).� “Therefore you are inexcusable,O man, whoever you are who judge,for in whatever you judge another youcondemn yourself” (Romans 2:1).� “There is one Lawgiver, who isable to save and to destroy. Who areyou to judge another?” (James 4:12).� “Therefore judge nothing beforethe time, until the Lord comes, whowill both bring to light the hidden

things of darkness and reveal thecounsels of the hearts. Then eachone's praise will come from God” (1Corinthians 4:5).

WHEN JUDGMENT IS

GRACE We constantly hear the complaint

of the world that the church judges it. Insome cases the world is right. If wecompare or condemn, then we haveoverstepped our bounds and theiraccusation is justified. But in mostcases, where the church simplyproclaims the word of God, it is Hisword that judges the world, not thechurch: “He who rejects Me, and does

not receive My words, has that whichjudges him--the word that I have spokenwill judge him in the last day” (John12:48).

Fruitfulness requires that we

judge with righteous judgment and carryout God’s discipline when discipline iscalled for. It is a painful duty. We willbe called hypocrites and we will becalled merciless. But our role injudgment is neither to dispense mercynor condemnation. Our role is to beGod’s light in the world and so we arewhen we submit to this difficult calling. Perhaps the greatest encouragement tofaithfulness in this matter is to realizethat, in this current age, God’s judgment

is grace. Every place we set our feet-we are God’s message not only ofrighteousness, but also of grace. Ourhomes, our workplaces, our towns,every place we go is blessed andpreserved because we are there. Theworld will never know this. The worldwill never thank us.

In the movie It’s a Wonderful

Life, we see the story of a man who wasovercome by the pressures of life. Hisstress finally brought him to a placewhere all he could see was his failures. His plans had fallen through. He had letdown people who had depended onhim. He finally makes the statement thatit would have been better if he had never

been born. And then he has the chanceto see his world without him in it. Without his light and his preservinginfluence that world is a dark andhopeless place. It’s a Wonderful Life issuch a wonderful movie because it’strue. God has placed every one of us inthe circles we walk as judgment- but inbeing God’s judgment, we are His grace.

Meditation and Response

1. Think of a time when you avoidedjudging someone when you had anobligation to proceed. What madeyou turn away?

2. Identify an incident of disciplinaryjudgment in a church that you have

attended. Did the leadershiphandle the matter properly? Whyor why not?

3. Can you think of a time whensomeone brought righteousjudgment into your life? How didyou receive it and what was thespiritual outcome?

Chapter 13. High-Risk Christianity

Unless a grain of wheat falls intothe ground and dies, it remainsalone; but if it dies, it producesmuch fruit. John 12:24

“RISK” DOESN’T APPEAR

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT The concept of 'risk' in the

Christian life is a contradiction. Risk,by its definition, is the assessment ofprobabilities and percentages. A stockmarket investor realizes that his

investment always carries a certain riskof losing its original value or evendisappearing completely. He assessesthis risk against the potential profit andmakes his decision accordingly.

The risk a Christian takes in

obeying God is not like this at all. Suppose God leads me to undertake awork in a certain location. If I haveheard God’s voice accurately (pleaserefer to Chapter 3), there is no issue ofprobability as to whether God willprovide. The Christian does not step outin faith because God is generally prettyreliable and comes through more oftenthan not. On the contrary, if the thing isfrom God, no matter how outlandish or

unusual it appears at face value, it willsucceed. Alternatively, if it is not fromGod, no amount of planning, preparationor resources can prevent its failure.

We believe these tenets to be

true and yet we live with our feet firmlyplanted in this world and are easilyswayed by its conventional wisdom. Inour weakness, we too easily assess the"risk" of a venture according to theextent of our sight and the strength of ourarms. One of the most perilousencounters in decision-making can occurwhen a young person approaches anolder Christian for counsel regarding astep of faith. The bright-eyed youngsteris filled with hope, devotion and

marvelous expectations. He sets hisvision before the elder and seeks hisblessing in stepping forward. Nowcertainly we have all witnessed rashdecisions of youth and have probablymade some ourselves. All too often thegreat plan does not come together,enthusiasm turns to despair, hope turnsto bewilderment and the discouragedpilgrim quietly tries to piece together thelife he left behind.

But hold on... Was the problem

really impatient immaturity andinexperience as we so quickly assume? Or was the venture simply not of God tobegin with? It is at this point that thewise counselor must tread with care.

For an equally unfortunate outcome isfor the older Christian to look only to hisown experience and throw cold water ona genuine calling. How many of uswould have counseled young Davidaccording to the wisdom of Saul: "Youare not able to go against this Philistineto fight with him; for you are a youth,and he a man of war from his youth" (1Samuel 17:33)? For 99 other youngmen, the counsel would have been valid,but for David, this thing was from God.

Those who walk with God will

receive marching orders from time totime that defy common experience andconventional wisdom. Our Lord willsend us in directions where we cannot

see the way, the means or the purpose. Should we refer to these decisions as"risks"? I think that we can use termlegitimately when we consider the factthat obedience often costs things dearand precious to us: friends, reputation,material wealth, comfort or security. Inthis sense, our "risk" is in not knowinghow God will respond to our obedienceregarding these things. But in the finalanalysis, it is important to note that theword 'risk' does not appear in the NewTestament. The God of the inspiredwriters is clearly a God Who acts inaccordance with His word, not One Whois subject to the probabilities of worldlyuncertainty. As we consider our way inthis life, the most critical issue in our

decision-making must not be the degreeof departure from the ordinary, but ratherhearing clearly from Him Who ordersour steps (Proverbs 16:9).

WHEN A LEPER CRASHES

YOUR PARTY As in all things, Jesus modeled

this level of obedience for us to follow.Immediately following the Sermon onthe Mount, a leper approached Jesus andconfronted Him with some very seriousrisks. The encounter between Jesus andthe leper must be rightly understood as atemptation as difficult as any He enduredduring His time on earth. It was anencounter that threatened His reputation,

His ceremonial purity and, ultimately,His capacity to atone for the sins ofmankind. In reaching out to this leper,Jesus set an example for us in showingus the things we must risk if we want tosee spiritual fruit in our lives. Thismeeting is recorded in Matthew 7:28-8:3,

And so it was, when Jesus had endedthese sayings, that the people wereastonished at his teaching, for hetaught as one having authority, and notas the scribes. When He had comedown from the mountain, greatmultitudes followed Him. Andbehold, a leper came and worshipedHim, saying, "Lord, if You arewilling, You can make me clean."

Then Jesus put out His hand andtouched him, saying, "I am willing; becleansed." Immediately his leprosywas cleansed.

We have the tendency to regard

the man Jesus as a sort of superman: apeculiar hybrid creature being half-manand half-God. Our minds naturally driftin this direction when we consider Hismiracles. Yet Jesus was fully andcompletely man, willingly sharing all thesame limitations and weaknessescommon to the rest of us. We read inPhilippians 2:8-9 that Jesus, "being inthe form of God, did not consider itrobbery to be equal with God, but madeHimself of no reputation, taking the form

of a bondservant, and coming in thelikeness of men." Jesus voluntarilyemptied himself of His divine attributes,that he might fully identify with us in ourweakness.

Jesus was a man unlike any other

who has ever walked the earth, but Hewas still a man and, as such, was totallydependent on His Father for every workHe performed. Jesus could not doanything He wanted at any time. Hehealed the leper instantly. Yet inunbelieving Nazareth, we read “Hecould do no mighty work there, exceptthat He laid His hands on a few sickpeople and healed them" (Mark 6:5). Just like you and me, Jesus could only

do what He saw His Father doing. It is only because Jesus was one

of us that He can claim to be ourexample. The multitudes regarded Jesusas a celebrity; they praised Him as thehero of the nation; they applauded Himas the greatest miracle worker the worldhad ever seen. They did not, however,regard Him as an example to befollowed. This is the fundamentaldistinction that separates the multitudesthat follow Jesus down from themountaintop from the disciple whofollows Him to the cross. Jesus is ourexample. We read in 1 John 2:6, “Hewho says he abides in Him ought himselfalso to walk just as He walked.” In all

that Jesus did, He left for us an examplethat shows us how our lives shouldpattern His.

The appearance of the leper

before Jesus is an unexpected turn ofevents. In an instant the carnivalatmosphere is dead silent. The crowdholds its breath, waiting to see howJesus will deal with this uncleanoutcast. A moment before, Jesusappeared to be in complete control,riding the wave of the crowd’s approvalinto Jerusalem. But the leper’s requesthas put all that at risk.

Service to God and risk go hand

in hand. The Christian who says to God,

“Here I am; use me,” must certainlyexpect that his comfort, his plans, hissecurity will all be put at risk. Goddemands that we take risks. Risk is theprocess of transferring ownership of ourobjectives from ourselves to God.Without risk, there can be no finalachievement of God’s true spiritualpurposes.

CAUTION: MULTITUDES

AHEAD The first risk we see in this

passage is the risk of reputation. Whatwould the multitudes have thought ifJesus failed to heal the leper? WhenJesus pronounced the cleansing of the

leper, how did He know the power ofGod was going to show up? The answeris that Jesus kept such close fellowshipwith His Father that He was able to actin accordance with His Father’s will. Isthis any different than what we arecalled to do? When Jesus did the worksof God, He had to exercise the verysame dependence on His Father that youor I are called to express.

It rarely occurs to us that Jesus

was tempted with the same doubts, fearsand reservations we feel when we callon God to act. This is confirmed inHebrews 4:15, "For we do not have aHigh Priest who cannot sympathize withour weaknesses, but was in all points

tempted as we are, yet without sin." Would you be tempted to doubt if a lepertold you that you could heal him? Well,then Jesus was tempted too. That’s whatthe Scripture says.

God seems to delight in putting

the reputations of his servants on theline. Noah had to build an ark on dryland, Moses had to toss his staff downbefore Pharaoh, and Joshua had to marchIsrael into the Jordan River. Each ofthese men had to lay down his reputationand trust God to lift it up again. Godalways maintains the reputations of Hisservants, although He does so on Hisown schedule.

The second risk Jesus faced isrisk of rejection. Before the leperappeared, Jesus was the champion of themultitudes. Everybody was on His side.But mixing with lepers was not whatthey had in mind. Leprosy was the mostfeared and loathsome disease in theancient Near East. The leper’s bodyliterally decayed from the outside in. The hair fell from the head andeyebrows; the fingernails loosened anddropped off; the fingers and toes slowlyfell away, along with the nose, the eyesand the tongue. There was no questionthat any association with this man wasgoing to cost Jesus a lot of popularity.

If we follow the life of Jesus

from His baptism to his trial beforePontius Pilate, we can trace His gradualrejection by the multitudes. Jesus mixedwith too many fringe elements; Histeachings on sin and money and sacrificegot too pointed. Literally, "multitudes"refers simply to a great number ofpeople. But in the New Testament, italso assumes a qualitative sense. Itrefers to the majority of hearers of thegospel who take only a passing interestin the phenomenon of Jesus. They watchfrom a safe distance and take cover inthe anonymity of the crowd. Theirattitude toward Jesus conforms towhatever they see around them. Theymove forward as long as the majoritymoves forward, but they keep their

options open and are ready to disappearif things get uncomfortable. Themultitudes are attracted to Jesus as longas His road is parallel to their own; aslong as His agenda enhances theirpersonal objectives. The multitudeslove the promises of Jesus, but have nostomach for His cross.

As Jesus draws nearer to the

cross, the attitude of the multitudes turnsfrom that of adoration to rejection andcondemnation. We see the culminationof this betrayal in Matt 27:20,

“But the chief priests and elderspersuaded the multitudes that theyshould ask for Barabbas and destroyJesus. The governor answered and

said to them, "Which of the two doyou want me to release to you?" Theysaid, "Barabbas!" Pilate said to them,"What then shall I do with Jesus whois called Christ?" They all said tohim, "Let Him be crucified!"

The multitudes are not quite sure

if Jesus Christ fits in with their prioritiesand objectives. They find Christianityattractive in a general sort of way, butsome of the demands of Jesus are toocostly, too extreme, too unreasonable. The person who maintains this attitudeand hangs back with the multitudes isplaying a most dangerous game. For inthe end, if he does not decide for Jesusagainst the multitudes, then he will reject

Jesus utterly. When Jesus returns therewill be no middle ground. The one whowould follow Jesus must risk rejectionby the multitudes.

The final risk Jesus faced is the

risk of everything. When the leperexpressed his faith, Jesus stretched forthHis hand and touched him. In order toappreciate how incredible this actionwas, we need to consider everything thatleprosy stood for in Israel. Besidesbeing a horrible physical disease,leprosy was one of the most seriousforms of ceremonial uncleannessaccording to the law. A leper waspermanently unclean and everything hetouched became unclean. The leper was

to live outside the city limits- not only asa safeguard of community hygiene, but tosymbolize his ceremonial uncleanness.

When a leper traveled anywhere

near other people, he had to shout,“Unclean, Unclean” as he approached. When people heard this warning theywould get out of the way as fast as theycould. Nobody wanted to be around aleper. Not only did they face the risk ofcontracting leprosy, but anyone whotouched a leper became ceremoniallyunclean himself. Now the orthodox thingfor Jesus to do in this situation is towithdraw and separate from the leper. After all, according to the law, Jesuswould become unclean Himself. The

watching multitudes understood thisperfectly.

By the time Jesus began His

ministry, the Pharisees had become themost influential sect in Judaism. Theirbasic objective in religion wasseparation from the unclean. In fact, theterm ‘Pharisee’ means ‘the separatedones.’ Their basic motivation in lifewas to express their devotion to God bywithdrawing from all that was unclean. The Pharisees calculated very preciselywhich people in society were the worstsinners. And then they carefully avoidedany contact with them. And theyconcluded that God must have this sameattitude.

Now to be fair to the Pharisees,

they had good reason to think the waythey did. After all, the law taught thatthe unclean always infected the clean,never the other the other way around. For example, suppose a man was outplowing his field and he stumbled onto agravesite. That man would beceremonially unclean for seven days. Ifhe sits in a chair, the chair becomesunclean. If someone else comes alongand sits in the chair, then that personbecomes unclean. All of these lawswere given to teach how infectious sinis. The nature of sin in the world is tospread to whatever it touches. This isbasically how the Pharisees viewed the

world. The Pharisees wanted to bepure, so they simply figured out everyperson and situation they needed toavoid.

THE LAW OF

CONTAMINATION IN REVERSE What the Pharisees failed to

understand was, that when the Spirit ofGod comes into contact withuncleanness, the whole process isreversed. The Spirit is not infected bythe unclean, but the unclean is purified. What Jesus did next was the mostastounding thing these people had everseen. Jesus drew near to the leper,stretched forth His hand and touched

him. Jesus embraced sin. He identifiedhimself with it completely. At thatmoment, the law of sin, unrelenting sincethe fall of Adam, was superseded. Rather than being contaminated Himself,the power of God flowed from Jesus tocleanse the leper.

We need to understand clearly

what was at stake here. Jesus, the Lambof God, was on His relentless journey tothe cross. Now the law required thatonly the blood of a lamb without blemishcould accomplish our redemption. IfJesus becomes contaminated withleprosy, He is disqualified from going tothe cross for us. Jesus knew perfectlywell what He was on earth to do. And

yet He risked everything for the sake of afilthy, diseased outcast that nobody elsecared about. He put everything on theline.

I don’t know precisely what God

will call you to risk. But I can tell youwhat your risk will look like. It willrequire you to disregard much of yourexperience. It will contradict logic andreason. It will immediately cause somefriends and family to oppose you. It willcost you something you thought youcould not afford to lose. But as youconsider what God requires of you andget quiet before Him, you will hear Hissure and unwavering voice: “Go ahead. I’m in this. I’m with you. I will honor

your risk.” Meditation and Response

1. When has the Lord asked you to dosomething that was likely going tocost you something precious? Whatwas your response?

2. Think of a time when the Lordasked you take a risk and He gaveyou something better than he tookaway.

3. Pray for the Lord to show yourchurch leadership a risk that Hewould have them take.

Chapter 14. The Most ImportantDecision

But he left his garment in her hand,and fled and ran outside. Genesis39:12

WHEN GOD WAITS AND

WATCHES There is a road that each of us

must travel before we will bear the fruitGod intends for us. For each of us theroad is different. It is known to God andHe has prepared it specifically for each

one of us. It is a temptation we mustresist, a sin we must lay down, adecision we must make, an ambition wemust place on the altar. God preparesus, molds us, chastens us and then leadsus to this fork in the road. He waitsand watches to see what we will do. Hewill not intervene. The decision totravel the road is ours alone.

I want to be very specific about

the road I am describing here. I am notreferring to an unclear decision where Iam uncertain about what my choiceshould be. God is not capricious that Hewould cause my destiny to hinge on aparticular choice when I honestly do notknow which way to turn. But the road I

refer to is one where there is no questionabout the decision that must be made. Itis a decision that proves my character,my convictions and my faithfulness to thevalues I claim to hold. It is a decisionthat will cost something very dear to me,that will humble me, that will offend theflesh, that will cause false friends todesert me. If I refuse to take that road,then my life in Christ becomes acontradiction and a great gulf is openedbetween my hidden and visible lives. But by choosing the road, my faith isvindicated and God’s blessing on mywork is activated.

Perhaps nowhere else in the

Bible is this principle illustrated more

explicitly than in the life of Joseph. Thetheme phrase of Joseph’s story is: “theLord was with him.” Even during thoseyears when Joseph’s life was filled withtragedy, the Lord was determining thesteps that would eventually make him themost powerful man in Egypt. Joseph’slife bore the fruit it did only because hechose to take the road that God preparedfor him. Everything that God hadplanned for Joseph followed from hisdecision to run from Potiphar’s wife. Although he had no idea of itsconsequences at the time, it wasJoseph’s most important decision. Bychoosing that road, Joseph demonstratedthat he had the character God requiredfor what lay ahead. With Joseph, as

with each of us, his road was peculiarlysuited to his calling and hiscircumstances.

Joseph’s decision challenged

him in two areas where he was mostvulnerable and most susceptible torationalization. First, he was facing alife of forced celibacy in Egypt. As aHebrew slave in Egypt, he was a socialpariah. It was detestable for an Egyptianeven to eat with a Hebrew, let alone togive his daughter to one. So histemptation appealed to his sexual desireand also questioned the character ofGod: “Who is this God of yours Whotreats you like this? You should behome in your father’s house, enjoying the

wife God has given to you.” A commonelement of temptation is the allegationthat God has failed to provide for ourneeds so we had better grab what wecan for ourselves. Second, Josephwould likely pay a high price forspurning the woman’s advances. Heknew that his exalted position asoverseer of Potiphar’s house was quitean achievement for a young man and thatshe had the power to ruin him if shechose to. It would be very prudent tosubmit to her and avoid stirring up heranger. Joseph had every reason tosubmit to her seduction: sexualgratification, keeping his job, staying outof prison. Life had not been kind toJoseph. Didn’t he have the right to

salvage what comfort and security hecould find? Who would have faultedJoseph for looking after himself? Hisonly reasons for resisting her wereintangible from the world's viewpoint:character and conviction.

THE DECISIONS WE DON’T

GET TO MAKE When Joseph fled from

Potiphar’s house, he did not realize thathe had made the most important decisionof his life. But God saw a man who hadno variance in his hidden life, a manwho held to his convictions regardlessof the immediate disadvantages of doingso. The distinctive thing about the

history of Joseph is that this decision isreally the only one that he made prior toPharaoh’s appointment. For the mostpart, other people determined the majorevents of his life:

Joseph was…

� Appointed to be a shepherd,� Shown favoritism by his father,� Given dreams by God,� Sent to Shechem by his father� Sold into slavery by hisbrothers,� Taken to Egypt by slave traders,� Purchased by the captain ofPharaoh’s guard,� Prospered in his job by the

Lord,� Made overseer of his master’sestate,� Propositioned by his master’swife,� Put in prison by his master,� Made overseer of the prison bythe warden,� Given the interpretation of thebutler and baker’s dreams by God,� Given the interpretationPharaoh’s dreams by God, and� Made head over all Egypt byPharaoh.

God determined all these events

for Joseph. Joseph didn’t plan any ofthis and certainly wouldn’t have if he

had had any input! In one sense, the“big” decisions were not Joseph’s, butGod’s. But as we understand the storyfrom heaven’s perspective, Joseph’sone, small choice, made without anywarning or forethought, was the bigdecision. It was the choice that God hadto see if Joseph would really make. Within Potiphar’s house were all thecomforts of the world. As long asJoseph remained there, he would enjoythe prestige and security that came withhis position. But Potiphar’s house wasnot his rightful home. Deep inside,Joseph knew this. When the time camethat he had to choose, Joseph made theright choice. Joseph made the rightchoice in his hidden life, when “none of

the men of the house was inside”(Genesis 39:11), when only he and Godwould know.

The Christian who would bear

genuine, abiding fruit must likewiseobey the call to flee from Potiphar’shouse. Joseph had his God-appointedtime in Potiphar’s house, but the daycame when his convictions and thedemands of the world collided. He hadto choose. And God provided theprecise time and place where that choicewas to be made. Our God is a God ofdetails and specific appointments. Because of one small, secret decisionwhere we obey, we find ourselves atprecisely the right spot to catch the big

train that God has scheduled for us. Thisis how God brings forth His fruit. Hisways are mysterious beyond allunderstanding.

Potiphar’s house represents the

outward, visible life that we control. Aslong as we remain, we are masters of ahouse that is familiar, predictable andcomfortable. It is a place where we candisguise our true identities and receiveprestige, honor and reputation from theworld. But we can bear no abiding fruitthere. For Potiphar’s house is a houseunder judgment. Judgment againstPotiphar’s house was delayed, but all ofits fruit was later destroyed in the plagueof locusts. They “…ate every herb of

the land and all the fruit of the treeswhich the hail had left. So thereremained nothing green on the trees oron the plants of the field throughout allthe land of Egypt” (Exodus 10:15). TheChristian who has compromised hishidden life will not appear muchdifferent from the one who is consistentand faithful. He will go about his worklooking much like the faithful servant. But his fruit is the fruit of Egypt. It is thework of wood, hay and straw that willnot survive the day of fire (1 Corinthians3).

YOU CAN’T SEE GOD’S

FORK IN THE ROAD ‘TIL YOU’REPAST IT

No matter how carefully we

plan, life will take different turns thanwe would have chosen. “A man's heartplans his way, but the Lord directs hissteps” (Proverbs 16:9). We see ourlives from the earthly perspective. Wesee ourselves setting everything up,making opportunities and plotting ourway. But heaven looks at that same lifeand sees God walking ahead, preparingthe road. It is God, Himself, Who makesour opportunities and leads us to theplace of decision. Someone may ask,“Can I recognize this crucial fork in theroad?” In hindsight, we often can. Many fruitful disciples can look back toa particular turn in the road and discern

how God began to bless them richlyafter they had made a difficult choicethey knew was required.

But we can rarely recognize this

crucial road as we approach it. We seewhat we think are critical decisionscoming up, we give them all the attentionand prayer support we can muster andthey often come to nothing. Anothertime, we must make a quick decisionwith little warning and it becomes apivot point for all that follows. WhenGod sets this road before me there willrarely be an obvious connection betweenthis decision and the outcomes of othermatters important to me, especiallyspiritual matters. We are not able to

choose which of our decisions becomethe ones that release God’s blessing intoour lives.

It must be this way. For it is

only when a Christian regards all of hisdecisions as being equally significant,only when he has a single set of criteriafor making both his hidden decisions andhis public decisions that he can beassured of making the right choice in thecrucial decision. In the final analysis,the most important decision is everydecision! The Christian who wouldbear fruit to God must break free fromthe “double-standard” stronghold thatholds this world captive. He mustcultivate consistency and transparency in

all of his conduct and affairs. Thediscipline of the fruit-bearing Christianis a high and difficult calling. The fleshwill protest against it, mock him and useevery strategy to lure him back to thecompromised dullness of this passingworld. But “when he has beenapproved, he will receive the crown oflife which the Lord has promised tothose who love Him” (James 1:12). Doyou want to settle for anything less?

Meditation and Response

1. Think of a time when a "small"decision to do the right thingchanged your life in a verysignificant way.

2. Can you identify some spiritualfruit that resulted from things thatfollowed?

3. Ask the Lord to show you anyinconsistencies in your decisionmaking between "large" and "small"decisions.

Postscript

We choose to go to the moon in thisdecade and do the other things, notbecause they are easy, but becausethey are hard. John F. Kennedy

Long distance runners describe a

condition popularly known as "runner'shigh." It is a sensation of well-being,euphoria or happiness that is achievedonly after the runner has passed beyondthe normal threshold of physicalendurance. Although it is debatedwhether the condition is physiological or

psychological, those who experience itidentify a common trait: that theconscious mind is irrationally freed fromits focus on the physical stress the bodyis enduring. Two aspects of runner'shigh parallel the Christian's pursuit of atransparent life and deserve ourattention.

First, achieving runner's high

requires that the runner surpass thecomfortable limits of known physicalrealities. He must reject the body'sdemand to quit as it encounters therational threshold of pain andexhaustion. In the same way, theChristian who wishes to see the powerof God bring forth enduring fruit in his

life must be willing to break throughmany comfortable thresholds that attemptto define his reality. There is no greaterattack launched by the enemy than thatthrown against the Christian who setshimself to righteousness in his hiddenlife. He must persevere past the pointwhere his own strength fails and appealto God to provide His strength.

Second, the runner must cross

this threshold alone. He must reachdown into himself and decide that hewants to achieve something beyond theordinary. He cannot compare himself tothe other runners because he has no wayof knowing their inner struggles. Heknows only his own pain. The Christian

who desires to live transparently beforeGod must also cross the thresholdalone. No one else will judge hishidden life to know if he passes the testor not.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul

bemoans the tragedy of those who haveshipwrecked their faith by violating theirconsciences (1 Timothy 1:19):Christians who were progressing well,but fell into heresy and corruption. Yetan equally tragic outcome is theChristian life never lived at all. Here isthe ship that is fully fitted for service,yet never leaves the safety of port for theopen sea. It sails back and forth in theharbor where it was built, ferrying

mundane and familiar cargo. While Ihave made a few references to thechurch body in this book, I writeprimarily to the individual Christian. Christian fellowship is a marvellous giftfrom God that provides us withencouragement, friendship, strength andbelonging. But just as all gifts of Godare potentially subject to abuse,community can also allow us to hidefrom ourselves and settle for a spirituallife of indifference and non-commitment.

It is an easy thing for us to blend

into the crowd and merely assume theappearance of one who has taken upChrist's yoke. No one will ever accuse

us and no law will ever condemn us formediocrity. The Christian who onlylooks after the appearance of his visiblelife will attract little attention and willdraw no criticism. In community, he hasthe luxury of keeping the inner man asinvisible as he chooses. As far as allcan see, his life is in order, he keepsshort accounts and contributes what isexpected of him. Yet in all this he is buta ship puttering about the safe confinesof the harbor, outfitted for an oceanvoyage never taken.

Christian discipleship, on the

other hand, is synonymous with theexploration of the perilous and theunknown. Every page of the New

Testament beckons us to challenge theset of realities the world delivers to usand to sail out of the harbor intouncharted waters. This is ourinheritance in Christ. For each one ofus, there is a "runner's high" that Godcalls us to achieve; that place where westep out in obedience and walk with Godat a level outside of the laws andeconomy of this present age. It is in thisplace and nowhere else that we standwithout contradiction before our God.

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