The Voice Last week I began the post by considering the power of a really amazing voice. The power of the voice is also important because of the ability for others to hear and appreciate its beauty or the beauty of what is being communicated. Imagine the greatest singer that you have ever heard. Alone in the forest, their singing is no more superior than yours because no one is there to distinguish the difference. In this way, we can all enjoy our own glorious solos in the car or the shower, because we are our own audience. When we think about communication as a gift from God for the purpose of displaying His image and glory, we know that our part is in the hearing and obeying of that glorious voice. The revelation of God is the greatest news that anyone can ever hear. This is not only because of the beauty of God’s speech, but also because of the grandeur of God’s message. The content of the revelation of God is the most important thing that human beings can grasp. There is no information more pure and profound than the truth of God. Powerful Words The second portion of last week’s post was also titled powerful words. The reason for this is because last week we were thinking about how Proverbs 18:21 is so often misused to say that we have the kind of creative power that God has. However, today I would like to consider another passage that is misused in the same way but is actually about the creative power of God’s spoken word. In Romans 4:16-18, Paul is instructing us in the faith that is necessary for the covenant people of God. That text says: 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” Some false teachers have erroneously attempted to say that because God can speak things into existence and we are made in His image then we can also speak things into existence. However, notice that the passage is not about our ability but about our faith in God’s promises. Ironically the people claiming that if we had enough faith we could manifest health, wealth, and happiness are actually the ones who are not believing what God has said. If we could do those things then we wouldn’t need to believe God’s promises. This idea that you can manifest the reality that you want is not actually a Christian idea, but an eastern/new age idea. This type of thinking is very popular in our postmodern context, but it has the distinct flaw of being completely untrue and without any basis in reality or scripture. Better I want to leave you with this thought. It is much better to have faith in a perfect, good, kind, loving, gracious, just, and holy God who is all powerful; than it is to have power as a sinner. If we actually did have this creative, manifesting power in our words as God’s image bearers, the overwhelming testimony of human experience and divine revelation is that we would use it to our own destruction while seeking our own comfort and pleasure. But the text above is about how we as God’s people can live with great hope because of our faith in the God who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Faith is where we find our ultimate rest and hope no matter what may happen. Even through the most horrific temptation and trials through faith we rest and hope in the faithfulness of our God!
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Silver Tongued There is something amazing in a great voice. This can be either a singing voice or a spoken voice. Those with incredible tone and pitch can mesmerize us with their powerful singing. Maybe this is even more shocking for those of us who do not possess these gifts, but God has given us as human beings these wonderful voices that we can use in different ways. We can use our voices to garner praise and applause for ourselves or we can use our voices for God’s glory and worship. We can also use our spoken voice to affect other people through the transfer of needed information or the conveying of a necessary message. However, most of us, the present author often included, are far too frivolous with our words. We should realize that God is going to judge even our idle words (Matt 12:35-37). We ought not read past this too quickly. The things that we say really do matter, not only now but into eternity. God cares about the way we use this wonderful gift of communication. This is one of the ways that He has made us to be like Him. We are beings that communicate on a deeper level than the instinctive growls and grunts of the animal kingdom. We communicate and can receive communication so that we can form the kinds of relational bonds and societal community necessary to glorify God in His creation. Powerful Words The messages that we convey really do have power to affect people positively or negatively. The Bible does say that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). This is an often misinterpreted and misapplied text, but it is in the Bible and we must understand the wisdom of these words. The main way that this text is misused is to imply that we as image bearers of God have the same “creative” power as God has, to speak things into existence. People interpreting the verse this way would probably claim that for believers we are being conformed into the image of Christ and so we can exercise, through the Holy Spirit, this divine creative power. However, in the wisdom literature of the book of Proverbs this verse is not communicating some kind of divine law, but rather, a general principle. The power being spoken of in this verse is not “creative” like that which God used to create the heavens and earth, or that Jesus used to raise Lazarus from the dead. Instead, we ought to recognize that this is speaking of the “influential” power of our word. The point is that we can build people up with edifying and encouraging words or tear people down with spiteful and demeaning words. Our power is in our ability to influence how other people feel and even manipulate what other people do. Many of us have had the blessing of parents, mentors, counselors, or coaches who have used their words to breathe life into us through their encouragement and compassion. But many have also experienced the wickedness of bullies and abusers who used their words to belittle and destroy our hopes and dreams. Proverbs is not a book of mysticism but rather wisdom. Because God has given us the ability to communicate, He also wants us to be listening as well as speaking. So we must be people who are ready to receive and believe the revelation that God has for us. But that is enough for a post of its own, so I will save that for next week. Just one hint though. The place where God had collected His revelation for mankind today is in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. The End Death is so hard for us because of the finality of it. When someone or something that is alive dies that is the end for that being. As Christian believers, we know that physical death is not the end of anyone’s story. Every person will have to stand before God and give an account and divine justice will be accomplished. However, for our earthly experience, death seems so final! We see people in all forms of materialism and mysticism attempting to cope with this reality. The secularist is trying to find some serum or potion or technology to cheat the grim cold grip of death, but alas this is a fool's errand. The new age mystics believe that through some mixture of mindfulness and meditation they will reach beyond universal consciousness. But again, this is an attempt to escape reality, not to reach the truth. Still others just want to not think about the impending appointment of their own demise. These people pour themselves into whatever obsession or distraction they can find to help them forget or dismiss the fact of death. But none of these approaches are truly helpful or advantageous. Both nature and the scriptures reveal that death and judgment are sure (Hebrews 9:27). Instead let us face this enemy with the promises of God to give us real hope. Plot Twist What we need is a plot twist in the normal pattern of life and death in this sinful world. What we need is a hero who can conquer death and free us from tyranny of death (Hebrews 2:14). If death is an enemy then we need a hero who can save us from this horrible opponent. The Bible tells us that death is the result of sin. Sin is the reason that death is a thing at all in the universe. God is the author of life, but death is the consequence of our sin. God, who is just, must punish rightly and perfectly. This is because we are created in His image but sin corrupts that image and, therefore, lies about the character of God through our evil behavior. This means that we need a sinless hero to overcome the defilement of sin and set free all of us who are captured by sin. The story of the gospel is about how the sinless Son of God took on flesh like ours and died like us. Not having any sin of His own, He took on the sin of every person who would put their trust in Him and be gloriously saved. The point is now that the one who did not deserve death has died for those who do deserve death. The ones who do not deserve life can live because of His indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16). The Beginning The amazing thing is that death didn’t end Jesus, rather, Jesus ended death (1 Corinthians 15:20-26)! Jesus has dealt death the fatal blow and won the victory over sin and death and the grave. On this Good Friday as we remember Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and temporary burial let us also remember that Golgotha is not the scene of Christ's defeat but rather His decisive victory. It was death and the devil that lost the war that day and that is the reason that we can look back on the darkest day in history and call it good. Team You have probably heard the saying, “There is no I in team.” The point of that phrase is that we must work together to accomplish many things. This is, of course, true. Another phrase I have heard repeated often is, “We can do more together, than we can apart.” This is also true. We are created by God to be social and communal creatures. Even in the Biblical account of creation, God states that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). While this is referring directly to the covenant relationship of marriage, marriage is the fundamental building block undergirding all of society. God did not intend us to be lone wolves or small bands, including only those who are just like us. However, something must distinguish us from others or there really isn’t an “us” at all. Since this is the case, how should we define our unity? Certainly there is no “I” in the word “team” but there is a team. My point is simply that you must be able to recognize the players on both teams. So while I want to acknowledge and celebrate those who are on my team, I also must not forget that not everyone is on my team. Open Minded When someone starts defining who belongs on which team (especially theologically) many will start to criticize them for not being open minded enough. These rather noble and sophisticated critics want to help us backward thinkers understand the nuance and beauty of being open to new experiences and to the wisdom that others have gained from their standpoint and culture. The problem however with an open mind is that it cannot ever come to a conviction or principled stand on any matter. While I do think that we all need to interact with more humility and less pugnaciousness, this does not mean that we should not be willing to take a convictional stand and let that stand divide us as it will. Humility does not mean that we should not also stand boldly for the truth even in fellowship with other true Christians. I would remind you that the Apostle Paul opposed the Apostle Peter to his face when Peter’s practice was not in line with the gospel (Galatians 2:11-14). Sound Mind Brethren, we must be of sound mind. Our problem is that we are still in a state of recovery from our sinful past. As such, we need our minds renewed by the perfect word of God (Romans 12:2). Here, Paul points out that we are made into God honoring and life sacrificing disciples of Jesus Christ. Paul also told Titus that this renewal was spiritual and could only be accomplished by the power and working of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We need our thoughts redesigned by the Holy Spirit and redirected by the Scriptures so that we can discern the world around us from a biblical perspective. We are blinded by our sight. We see all kinds of things around us and forget the truth that can only be seen by faith. We need minds that are not simply open to any wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14) but are setted on the truth which God has finally and infallibly revealed in the Bible. Same Mind Beloved, rather than unity for unity’s sake, what we need is like-mindedness. Thankfully, the Lord has established groups where we can find this kind of agreement and fidelity. Those groups are called local churches. I take a view that is probably pretty strange in our day, that denominations are good. Most people assume that denominations are a sign of weakness in Christianity, because just look how divided we are. But what if, in the system of denominations that we have, we actually have diversity in Christendom, but unity in the churches. I believe that the best thing for the Kingdom of God in the world is for each and every true gospel preaching, Bible believing church to be united in their doctrinal conviction and fraternal fellowship. This means that we should never be willing to sacrifice the unity and commitment of the local congregation for some kind of larger ecumenism. I am a Baptist, and as such, I believe in the autonomous local church and the need of cooperation in our mission with other churches to reach the lost and disciple the nations, but those goals will be best accomplished by strong and united local churches. Need a Break There is a temptation that is both common and subtle. It is to relax into comfortable laziness that is not honoring to God or profitable for us. We are finite creatures and so we require rest. Oftentimes as with other good things that we have a need of like food we can begin to use our need as an excuse for excess. This is a reality most often in my own life when I replace genuine rest with glutinous entertainment. Of course I will excuse this use of time as “winding down,” but often this does not serve the purpose of rejuvenation that rest should bring. In our fallenness, we tend to go to extremes, whether that is working too hard without the rest we need, or being too relaxed without accomplishing what we should be doing. This could be caused by a lack of focus or it could even be a lurking sort of rebellion against the commands and calling that God has placed on our lives. At any rate, while we do need rest we must be vigilant that we are not making an excuse for being a sluggard (Proverbs 6:6-11). Need to Work Laziness can also contribute to more tiredness than strenuous work. We need to be using our muscles for the tasks that they were created for. God has made us to be working and toiling creatures for His glory. We all have experienced soreness or pain that can come from being immoble for too long. Think about what it is like when someone has not been able to use an appendage because of an injury. The arm that has been in a cast for 6 weeks will be weak from prolonged rest. The rest was necessary for the healing process but the muscles will need some rehabilitation to regain their strength and functionality. However, people can also have this same type of atrophy from prolonged periods of voluntary inactivity (Proverbs 19:23-24). We can become less able because of our own lack of discipline and effort. We must understand that God did not create us for ease and luxury, but rather for His glory! In the garden, man was given work and dominion before the fall (Genesis 1:28-31). Of course, the hard and hated part of working is a result of the fall but the purpose and fulfillment of a good day's work is meant for our good. We will have important work to do in the age to come as well. Remember that the scriptures teach that our future is one in a real world with real bodies worshiping and serving our real King (Revelation 22:1-5). Need to Rest However, even in our effort we must always be at rest. This may sound like a contradiction but what Jesus came to do for us is give us rest. The rest is not in a place but in a person. Our sabbath rest is to be found in Christ not only on the Lord’s day or in the age to come but everyday as we rest from our seeking to earn favor, grace or salvation from God through our merit (Hebrews 4:1-13). As believers we do strive to please the Lord but not to get something we don’t have but rather because of what we have already received from Him: amazing grace, steadfast love, and sure hope! |
AuthorEddie Ragsdale Archives
May 2024
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