by HARVEYOPP | Jun 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
Joy is the emotion of salvation. We rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Peter 1:8). If you’re a Christian, the Spirit gives you soaring delight in Christ. His beauty and greatness thrill your soul.
But quite a few believers struggle to experience joy. Why is that?
Some people by nature tend to be sad, and joy is an ongoing challenge. When I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s classic, Spiritual Depression, I was surprised that he mentions temperament or personality as “the first and foremost cause.” He may be right.
But there are other reasons. Young moms are often surprised at how tired they are — sleepless and exhausted — and they wrestle to find joy. If you are grieving or suffering, you may not realize that God has specific joys for you in your present circumstance. And don’t forget that our enemy hates us and will steal every ounce of joy he can.
But the most miserable Christians I’ve seen are those who live with a foot in both worlds.
They hedge their bets. They have one eye on heaven and one on earth. They call on the name of Christ, but they still try to find security, satisfaction, pleasure, or fulfillment from this world. They’re riding the fence. And they’re not happy.
Is that you? The only way to have joy is to say a full “Yes” to God. Which means saying “No” to the world.
The Great Yes
It is important for every Christian to be convinced that God is good. And what’s more — God alone is good.
If we are not absolutely convinced that God alone is good, we will not be able to say “No” to other gods that promise joy but deliver sorrow. We don’t dare to imagine that there is even a sliver of good apart from God and his will for our lives. Not a shred.
The Psalms drive this truth home.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2)
And again,
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (Psalm 73:25)
And again,
I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are . . . my portion in the land of the living.” (Psalm 142:5)
In the New Testament, James writes,
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. (James 1:16–17)
Every ounce of good in this world comes from God. Nothing can possibly be good unless it comes from God. A joyful Christian believes this truth. She banks her life — and her joy — on it.
Calvin put it this way:
it will not suffice simply to hold that there is one whom all ought to honor and adore, unless we are also persuaded that he is the fountain of every good, and that we must seek nothing elsewhere than in him. . . . For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him — they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him. (Institutes, I, 2, 1)
God is good. God alone is good. And all good comes from God.
Best of all, God gives us himself. And he is our joy — the unspeakably glorious delight of our hearts. David says,
In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)
The Great No
Satan tempts us to think we can find something good and satisfying apart from God. But we must declare a strong, resounding “No” to anything that promises good without him. This great “No” is at the heart of Christian joy.
The essence of sin is looking for good outside of God and his will. That is how our mother Eve was deceived.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it wasa delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. (Genesis 3:6)
We stumble in the same way she did. When I dig beneath the surface of any sin in my life, I find that I am trying to get something good apart from God and his ways. That good thing might be pleasure, security, significance, satisfaction, justice, belonging, comfort, some physical need, etc. But I try to get it without God.
In the end, it is idolatry. I am looking to something other than God to meet my needs and satisfy my desires. These gods promise joy, but they deliver misery.
That is why a half-hearted Christian cannot have ongoing joy in Christ. David says,
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply. (Psalm 16:4)
And again,
For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity. (Psalm 31:10)
We run after other gods to find joy, but we find sorrow.
A young woman knows that she shouldn’t marry a non-Christian, but she thinks she will find love and security in this relationship — even though God is not in it. She wants something good, but she is looking to another god to provide it, and her sorrows will multiply.
A man thinks he will find fulfillment in pornography or hooking up after work. Sexual pleasure is a good thing in God’s way. But this man is looking to another god to give to him, and these brief seconds of pleasure will turn to gravel and ashes in his mouth.
A woman looks for significance through gossip. She feels important when she talks about what other people are doing. She is not finding her worth in Christ. She is running after another god for her sense of value.
An unforgiving man holds a grudge. He thinks that it is his responsibility to make things right. Justice is a good thing, but he is not looking to the “Judge of all the earth” to give it to him. He is running after another god.
So choose today whom you will serve. Look to God and his will for every good gift in your life. Say with the psalmist, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup” (Psalm 16:5).
Half-hearted Christians are not happy Christians. Hope in God, and don’t run after other gods. That is the path to joy.
by HARVEYOPP | Jun 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
Near the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of His disciples what has been called His High Priestly Prayer (John 17). When we consider the content of His High Priestly prayer, we soon discover indicatives regarding the state of His followers in the world as well as imperatives on how they should walk in the world. In the midst of these two aspects of our Lord’s teaching about the relationship between His people and the world, we learn that there is one over-arching purpose for Christians and our relationship with the world. Let’s take a brief look at these three things:
Indicatives
Christians are in the world (John 17:11).
While this might be obvious to the reader, the point is that Christians are not physically separate from the world. Christians are in the world in the sense that they occupy the same space, go to the same markets and interact in the same society as non-Christians. They are not people who form their own sub-cultures or ghettos to avoid the world. They recognize where God has placed them and do not run from that reality. They are relatable, accessible, and approachable to those in the world in normal, ordinary ways (e.g., friend, neighbor, coworker, classmate, teammate, etc.).
Christians are not of the world (John 17:16).
Christians do not belong to the world. They are no longer conformed to the values and ways of living common in the culture and society around them. They belong to the kingdom of God and therefore have a new identity and loyalty to the King and his kingdom. Therefore, while they are in the world, they do not belong to our embrace the world as those who do not belong to Jesus Christ.
Christians are hated by the world (John 17:14).
It stands to reason that if Christians are not conforming to the world and its ways, the world would mock, ridicule, detest, and hate the counter-cultural ways of Christians. Therefore, as Jesus says, his followers should not be surprised that the world hates us. The world hated Him first and crucified him for who he was. In a later epistle, John wrote that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). The strong distinction of being in the world and not of the world causes Christians to be hated by the world who does not accept the King in whose kingdom we gladly live.
Imperatives
Christians are called to remain in the world (John 17:15).
Jesus knew his followers would be hated by the world. He knew there would be consequences and a high cost to identifying with him, and yet Jesus asks the Father that his disciples would remain in the world that has a predisposition of hatred and contempt. Christians are not to compromise or conform to the world due to this hatred, because that would be a denial of our identity. We are not to retaliate with violence or acts of force, because that would be a denial of his sovereignty. Rather, we are to respond like Jesus and suffer the hatred and mocking and contempt as the glory of God is put on display in our trials. By remaining in the world, we are called to love those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, and to give our lives away for those who have not given their lives to Jesus Christ.
Christians are sent into the world (John 17:18).
There is a temptation that every Christian will experience when faced with the reality that they are called to remain in a world that hates them. Should I embrace this suffering? Can I just retreat and retrench and wait for His return? The answer is clearly no. Jesus has sent his disciples into the world, and this speaks of a mission. The suffering Christian is sent to present Christ through their witness as an offense without being offensive. We do not shrink back due to the forces of hatred but press with greater, more powerful forces of love and compassion. In the same way that darkness cannot overcome light, even death cannot overcome his disciples because Christ has taken away its sting and no long has victory of us.
Overarching Purpose
Christians walk in the world so that the world may believe in Jesus Christ (John 17:21).
In and through all that Christians are and do in the world is the fundamental purpose of seeing people come to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus indicated in his prayer that there will be those who believe in him through the gospel proclamation of his disciples sent into the world to be hated and suffer for His name’s sake. Christians do not exist to mark time. They exist to see his kingdom come, and our existence is laced with a passion for seeking first that kingdom in all things and with all people, knowing we have a king so worthy of having worshippers from every generation and every nation, tongue, and tribe gathering around his throne.
Every Christians needs to know who they are, what they are called to do, and why they live in this particular way in the world. In this conversation of the Son with the Father, we get a clear picture that should become the mirror in our morning to remind us of these realities and responsibilities. The great assurance we have in this life is knowing these realities and responsibilities are comprised in a prayer that will never go unanswered, so let us so live, move, and have our being in Christ that the world sees, hears, and believes in Jesus as Lord!
by HARVEYOPP | Jun 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
Oliver Twist could hardly be accused of gluttony when he voiced his politely audacious request, “Please sir, I want some more.” But an identical demand from the overstuffed mouth of young Augustus Gloop, the obese candy addict in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, would elicit a call for temperance from any dietician worth her salt.
Gluttony is not that peckish sensation of wanting seconds when you haven’t had enough food to satisfy your hunger; it’s the sin of unrestrained overconsumption. Gluttony is thus the kissing cousin of drunkenness.
Proverbs 23:20-21 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
A temperate enjoyment of food and fermented beverage is heartily commended in Scripture (see Deut 14:26; Eccl 9:7; 1 Tim 4:3-4). However, Scripture decries dissolute overindulgence of any sort as a sub-Christian, feckless deficiency in self-control (Eph 5:18; 1 Tim 3:8; Titus 1:12).
What makes gluttony such a difficult topic to fit into our theology, is that identifying the sin is not as obvious as one might expect. It seems axiomatic that the corpulence of a person’s waistline is inversely proportional to their self-control—the less you can curb your appetite the more holes on your belt you’ll need to bypass. And it likewise seems as plain as a pikestaff that a thin person must possess unwavering gastronomic discipline. But this rudimentary “eyeballing it” assessment can actually prove quite misleading.
A metabolically fortunate individual may imbibe calories like a vacuum cleaner, while a person endowed with the metabolism of a hibernating bear turns asparagus into cellulite without breaking a sweat. Thyroid malfunction is another common cause of unavoidable weight gain, while myriad diseases incite unwanted weight loss. There simply is no universal visible indicator of the sin of overindulgence. Or you might say, there is no test that’s one-size-fits-all.
A glutton could be thin, and a nil-per-mouth could be portly. The people of Jesus’ day understood this. The Pharisees accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard (Matt 11:19), presumably despite his physical appearance, not because of it. It is highly doubtful that Jesus was a man of girth—it would have taken a long while to simply recover from his emaciating forty day fast, especially in light of his exceedingly ambulant itinerary.
That said, there is also a hefty probability that many Christians in our churches are succumbing to the temptation of intemperance in their eating habits. Pastor Rick Warren recently admitted that the idea for his enormously popular dieting program, The Daniel Diet, came to him while baptizing an exhaustingly long line of inordinately corpulent congregants. (We’ll overlook that Daniel’s diet made him fatter, not thinner. (See Dan 1:15).
The sin of gluttony is invisible in our churches in that we intentionally ignore it.
Here are five possible reasons why:
- Most of us are not at our fighting weight, so we feel like hypocrites calling out someone on their overconsumption, because we know we don’t have self-control either.
- Those who are at a healthy weight, and who understand the struggle to get there, have sincere sympathy for those who aren’t, and so perhaps are loath to add to their emotional burden by confronting them on sin.
- The pastor of the church is overweight and who wants the unenviable task of confronting him? Not me. He is, after all,more godly than I am in many other areas of his life.
- We don’t think of overeating as a serious sin because there are so many more pernicious sins that hurt other people.
- We don’t know if the person has a genuine medical reason for their appearance, and who wants to ask? It’s easier to assume the best of them.
As one who has been larger than is healthy, I can testify that a loving, concerned conversation from a close Christian friend was enough to make me realize my eating was a spiritual issue.
My immediate and immature reaction was to point out to my friend that there were many others within our circle of acquaintances who were way, way “more guilty” than I was. His reply was encouraging and convincing: “Yes, but you invited me to help you grow spiritually, and a victory for you will equip you to help others.”
I took my health more seriously, got more committed to a balanced, moderate diet, and made it a matter of prayer and worship to the Lord. What happened? My struggle with gluttony has gone underground.
Now that I am in better shape and fitness, no one bats an eye when I scarf down more than I should. So, I want to emphasize again: gluttony is not about weight gain/loss and exercise, it’s about spiritual growth and your walk with the Lord (1 Tim 4:8).
Physical health is an internal battle more than an external one. But it is a matter that Christians should help each other address. We don’t need more diet books, we need grace from God. We need support from friends. And we need the fruit of the Spirit.
And when you are hungry for grace from God just pray, “Please Lord, I want some more.”
by HARVEYOPP | Jun 10, 2015 | Uncategorized
What then is worship? The term comes to us in our modern speech from the Anglo-Saxon “weorth-scipe,” which later developed into “worship,” meaning “to attribute worth to an object.” Worship is the “worthship” of the one you worship. To worship Jesus Christ is to attribute worth to him.
As Revelation is, above all other books, the key to worship of Jesus Christ, we must consider Revelation 4:10-11:
The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
Here is true worship, and the order is significant. The first thing in verse 10 is that the twenty-four fall down “before Him who sits on the throne.” That is first, and that is always first. The falling down speaks of submission to the One worshiped, for here we find that they “fall down… and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.” It is imperative that we observe that there is first the submission and second the casting of their crowns before the throne.
In the days when Revelation was written, when a king was conquered by Roman legions, either he was brought to Rome to prostrate himself at the emperor’s feet or a massive image of Caesar was placed before him, and he was required to fall down, casting his crown at its feet. This was his act of total submission, of abdication to the emperor. So John the apostle, in Revelation 4, is revealing the first two essentials of worship. The first is the falling down, the submission to the One worshiped. The second is the casting of the crown at the feet of the One worshiped.
Now, what is the purpose of the crown? It is to draw attention to the one wearing it. It exalts the wearer. The true worshiper of Christ, in casting his crown at his Lord’s feet, is saying, “I want You alone to be exalted, You alone to be glorified.” The second requirement, then, is the desire to live for the glory of Christ and Christ alone.
Recent Comments