The Devil’s Up to his Old Tricks Again

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I had the privilege Tuesday of attending a rally at the Georgia State Capital for former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran who was recently fired because of his Biblical beliefs. If you are not aware of the story, feel free to click here when you are finished reading the blog and you can catch up on the events of the last couple of months.

At the heart of the conflict is an increasing view in our culture that the Bible is not the authoritative standard for faith and morality. This, of course, comes as a shock to no one since we have all witnessed over the last several decades the decline of moral accountability and the rise of moral relativism. This attack on the authority of God’s Word is not new; in fact, the devil has used this strategy since his first encounter with Adam and Eve.

When tempting Eve in Genesis 3:1-7, the devil first created doubt as to the content of God’s instructions to Adam and Eve (“did God actually say…), then the truthfulness of God’s instruction (“you will not surely die…), and finally the intent of God’s plan (God knows that …you will be like God…). For millennia, the devil has used the same strategy – create doubt, distrust, and disobedience.

At the core of our culture’s moral relativism is the denial of the authority of God’s Word. Chief Cochran wrote and self-published a book to help men understand the grace and forgiveness available only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The book is based on Biblical truth, and as is often the case, Biblical truth offends those who do not wish to live under God’s authority. If you would like a copy of the book you can purchase one by clicking here to go to Amazon.

So, what can we as believers in Jesus do in these times when God’s Word is under attack? Let me suggest 3 important practices.

First, we must KNOW God’s Word so that we do not fall prey to the devil’s trick of doubt, distrust, and disobedience. Now more that ever, we need to regularly READ and STUDY the Bible. The best way to recognize the devil’s lie is to be confidentially acquainted with God’s truth.

Second, we must OBEY God’s Word. We cannot expect others to uphold a standard to which we do not hold ourselves. We must not rationalize and marginalize the Bible, but rather submit ourselves to ALL of its teaching.

Finally, we need to unashamedly STAND for the principles of God’s Word, encourage others who publicly stand in that Word, and challenge our leaders to lead according to the TRUTH of God’s Word. Jesus has called us as His followers to be a positive influence and a shining example to those around us (Matthew 5:13-16).

Do not let the devil trick you with his oldest scheme of doubt, then distrust, and disobedience.

Beware of Kilogram Christianity

scalesI have found a way to lose over 50% of my body weight immediately.  I don’t have to eat a special diet or engage in grueling exercise.  I don’t have to take pills, spend $500 on extremely small portioned meals mailed directly to my home, or spend hours in front of my TV working out to the latest exercise DVD.

All I have to do to reduce my body weight by 50% immediately is to stop weighing myself in pounds and instead weigh myself in kilograms.  There are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram.   A 200 lbs man weighs 90.7 kg.  No, I haven’t lost my mind, I know that 90.7 kg = 200 lbs, and I know that my weight in kg = my weight in lbs. Changing the standard of measurement does not change the reality of the weight.

How many times, however, do we think we are so much leaner spiritually because we measure ourselves with the wrong standard, when the reality is that we are spiritually out of shape?  We look around and see that we act better than most folks around us and think we are in good shape.  The problem with that measurement is that others are not the standard by which we are to measure ourselves, God’s Word is.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The devil has won a tremendous battle in believers’ lives by keeping us from the Bible.  Do you treat worship as though it is optional and escape the penetrating preaching of the Word.  Do you neglect small group Bible study and avoid the tenacious teaching of the Word.  Do you rarely pick up your Bible lest you stumble upon some convicting truth that forces you to deal with your unhealthy spiritual condition?

We are in desperate spiritual condition because we have grown comfortable with the comparison of ourselves to others who are not as “spiritual” as we think we are, when an honest look into God’s Word will perform spiritual surgery even in the heart of the best among us.  We easily and loudly lament our culture’s abandonment of the Biblical principles upon which our founders established our country, yet we are reluctant to let the Word of Christ pierce into the inner chambers of our heart.

What are you doing to measure yourself by God’s standard? Do you regularly read, study, and meditate on the Bible? Do you let God’s truth, revealed in the Bible provide both the framework and fabric for your life? All other standards of measurement leave us sorely lacking.

Challenge #2 – What Do We Do With Worship?

I believe in the value of music in a believer’s life as I wrote in an earlier blog.  I strongly believe in the value of music in the corporate worship experience. I do believe, though, that we have made the music the central focus of worship.  How often have you heard people refer to the musical portion of the service as “worship” and the pastor’s part as “preaching,” as if the two are mutually exclusive? The so-called “worship wars” that have pervaded many churches indicate we have crossed an idolatrous line and have begun to worship worship.

My point is not to argue worship styles or to defend one style over another.  I like them all as long as they are done with energy, enthusiasm, and genuineness.  My point is we have made the wrong thing central to our worship.  The church is in a mess because PREACHING is no longer central in our worship experience.  I once heard the joke about a young child critiquing his first visit to “big church” by saying, “The music was good but the commercial (preaching) was too long.”

Here are my thoughts on what we need to do to recenter our worship around the Word of God preached.

  1. PREACHERS – stop slacking!  Spend the necessary time to deliver to your dear people a Bible centered message.  Quit stealing sermons from the internet, quit filling the time with cute sound bites, quit tickling ears, but proclaim the Word and apply it to life.  Make it interesting and make it meaningful, but by all means preach it!  That is the PRIMARY task to which God calls us.  (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
  2. PREACHERS – pray!  You cannot deliver a WORD from God if you don’t have a Word  FROM God.  A sermon is not a speech.  It can be erudite and alliterated; it can be humorously illustrated and cleverly applied; it may be entertaining, but it cannot accomplish with human instrumentation anything of Spiritual significance.  Bathe your message in prayer and preach with confidence that only comes from the anointing of God.
  3. CONGREGATIONS – come hungry!  Don’t come to church with your mind already made up about what you want to hear or not hear.  Expect that God knows what you need better than you do and come with an empty heart to hear what God has for you.
  4. CONGREGATIONS – free the preacher to preach.  I have been misquoted as saying that I am a preacher and not a pastor. That is wrong on at least three accounts.  First, I never said that nor do I believe that.  Second, you cannot be one without the other.  I cannot connect my people to the Word of God if I do not sympathize and move among my people.  I love them and because I love them I want for them what God wants for them.  Third, preaching is pastoring.  The term “pastor” sounds an awful lot like “pasture” which conjures up shepherding images.  The pastor’s primary task is to lay spiritual food before Jesus’ sheep.  Free the pastor up to give ample time to study and pray.  You will NOT be sorry you did.  (Acts 6:1-7)

When we return preaching to the place of prominence in our public worship – as God prescribes – we will be inching closer still to revival.

See also 1 Corinthians 1:21 and  Romans 10:14