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The Joyful Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

I remember when my step-dad would come home, often times after he was drinking.  He was a man who was out of control and he was not a man full of joy.  He was a man full of rage and hate, which he took out on us kids and on his wife.  Even when he was not drinking, he was a man who had a short fuse.  Never did we want to leave one of his tools out of place, definitely not outside overnight, and never did we want to break something that he would have to fix, because then he would “break us.”

I share this not for sympathy’s sake, as the life the Lord has blessed me with has shaped and molded me into the man I am today, but as a small illustration as to what a man with no joy is.  My first step-dad had no joy in his life.  The raising of a family was a burden to him, and the things of the Lord were, shall we say, something my mother pushed on him.  So what should a man find joyful?  Or better question that we can ask is, what or who should fill us with joy, that we might find joy in the people things around us?

First off, let’s look at the who.  Who should fill us?  And the Sunday school answer here is “JESUS!!” And this is where we start; we cannot start from any other source.  We must start with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  If we are not born-again Christians, washed clean by the blood of Christ, we will not be filled with true joy.  Sure, we can have joy in other things or other people in this world but it is a fleeting joy that will ebb and flow as time goes by.  Think of your favorite sports team. Now think of that great season they had, and that great game, and that one great play where they won the championship.  That was a moment of great joy.  That great joy didn’t last did it?  It is not the same when they are losing or having a bad season.  It is a fleeting joy.

When we have Christ, however, we see something more; we have something more.  We have eternal joy that surpasses all earthly joy.  The joy that we now possess can and will endure all things that will come to pass, even when those things that come to pass are worse than a losing season or a lost championship game.  Scripture speaks of joy often and throughout both the Old and the New Testament.  We can find any number of passages with joy or rejoice contained throughout, either as a description of what someone is doing because of what the Lord has done for them.  We can find passages about being joyful or rejoicing as a command because of what the Lord has done, for instance look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always.”  This is a command to be always rejoicing, or to be always filled with joy.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 118:24, a familiar verse to many, “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” It reminds me to rejoice and give thanks to God for today and what this day brings; the challenges, the opportunities, the struggles, the victories, and the accomplishments. Each day is a gift from God’s own hand and we come to the realization that even the breath that we take and the sun rising are gifts.  Then we can begin to be joyful because we realize the gracious gifts our Heavenly Father has already showered us with.

So we must start with being born-again, but we are also not on our own.  We are washed by the blood of Christ and imputed with Christ’s righteousness.  The Father sees Christ in us when He looks upon us.  Now, it is the Holy Spirit that indwells us and empowers us and enables us to do these things that we speak of.  Ever hear of the fruits of the Spirit?  They are named that way because they are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 

Joy is listed second in this list, and not by happenstance.  If you have the Holy Spirit, He will fill you with joy.  You will find joy and will be able to rejoice if you keep your focus on the things of the Lord.  We have been commanded in Scripture to seek first the Kingdom of God and then these other things (the things of the world) will be added to us (Matthew 6:33).  We will be able to rejoice even in the mist of trials, even when the darkness is overtaking us.  We find that in James 1:2 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.  There is a reason for this as well and we find that in verses 3 and 4, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

As a man of God, the joy that we have begins with the joy that we find in Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Not just us men, this is true of any and all who are the Redeemed.  That is our true joy.  But men, it is you that set the tone in your own homes.  You are the physical and spiritual leaders in your homes for your families and examples for your friends and co-workers.  What joy do you demonstrate?  When you have a bad day at work or school, or wherever you come home from, do you let loose on your family?  Or do you come in the door and let the joy of your heart fill the house and spread to the hearts of your wife and your children?

Let me ask you this question: does your wife or your children fear you when they make a mistake?  I am not talking about when a child has broken a rule or has misbehaved and it comes time for discipline.  That is a separate subject.  Do they fear you when a child loads the dishwasher wrong, or your wife squeezes the toothpaste out of the tube incorrectly?  Do they fear you when you come home from a tough day?  Are they hesitant on any day that you come home?  What would they say about you?

We will have bad days or rough days; these things will happen. I could share a multitude of bad days that I have had that I did not intend to have when I left for work, or left for school that morning. But that did not give me permission to first, get frustrated and second, take that frustration out on those that the Lord has given me responsibility over.  I can thank the Lord for those events, knowing that one day I will not have to endure such things.  But until that time, I can take my cares and concerns to Him in prayer, rejoicing in the fact that I have eternal life and an eternal reward far greater than any temporal matter.

The joyful man of God is not a happy-go-lucky guy, who is easy going and seems like nothing ever bothers him.  The man who is happy-go-lucky is really someone who does not like to get into the deep end of the pool of anything.  Said a different way, he has little conviction of anything, or anyone.

The things of this world can bring us joy, but they cannot be the purpose of our joy.  They cannot be the center or the source of our only joy.  It must be Christ.  There is nothing in itself wrong with enjoying sports, movies, boating, or whatever it is, but it must not distract, compete, or replace Jesus Christ.  We invalidate the joy of Christ and the salvation He brought to us and the joy we find through the Holy Spirit if we have to go and fill our lives with joy in things of this world.  Unbelievers see these things and will doubt our own profession of the transformative power that salvation is.

True joy is only found in Jesus and Him alone.  We share that joy with one another when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with unbelievers.  We share the joy of Christ when we gather physically together as believers, whether that is for Sunday morning to worship our Great God, on a Sunday evening, a midweek bible study, small group bible study, a one-on-one study, a lunch, a coffee, or whatever it is.  We share that joy when we are together, because we are in Christ and washed by Him.  That very fact, being washed by the God who created the universe in the span of 6 days, should bring you great joy.

Every time you leave your house, every time you stand in line, every time you are late getting home, every time you get a flat tire, every time you end up in a place you did not think you would, rejoice, be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit that dwells within you.  You are in a position that so much of humanity is not.  You are among the redeemed; you are part of a select few; you are part of the House of God; you are a child of God.  Rejoice, for this is the day that the Lord has made, and you can tell anyone and everyone who hears about the amazing God that you have.  Only He knows if they will also be adopted into the house just as you have.  If they are, all heaven will rejoice just as that person that you shared the gospel with will.  So again, I say rejoice.

The Bold Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

To be bold in our world today is a tricky matter.  To take a stand on any matter can improve your reputation or destroy it.  One of the biggest concerns that has come to light is that if the position that anyone takes on an issue will be the wrong one if it is against the majority.  This person is not just on the wrong side and needs their thinking corrected, but must be cancelled.  Everything about them, their history, their present and anything they could do in the future is now pointless and worthless.  But still, should this prevent anyone from taking a stand when it is the right one to take?   How do we know if it is the RIGHT one to take in the first place? We know that, as men of God, we must start with Him and His Word.

To be bold, whether in person or with our online presence, we must begin with understanding how we are to conduct ourselves with our words and our deeds towards other believers and unbelievers.  Being bold is not necessarily holding up a sign on a street corner condemning a particular sin and screaming at the top of our lungs that all that commit it and live in it are going to hell.  It is true, but it is the wrong way to go about it.  Jesus Christ never did it that way.  He went and had a meal with those sinners.  He went and had gentle conversations with them.  That is incredibly more bold than vocal outbursts of harsh words.

Being bold in today’s world is demonstrating true Christ like love.  Our culture is all about love, it is a love-centric love, but it is not a true love, it is the emotional love.  This type of love ebbs and flows with the current of emotions; it is not steady and does not weather the storms like the love of Christ.  We explored the love of Christ a bit in other articles so I do not need to dive deep into it all here.  But it is this true love that drives us to be bold, to get the truth of Christ out into the world. We should have a desire to preach the Word to all creation (Mark 16:15) and to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19).  This does take boldness, especially, in a culture that is more and more hostile toward Christianity, and Christians in particular.

I can write on boldness time and time again and encourage people to be bold out in the world as they go about their business, but it requires so much more.  Being bold does require us to use words, but more importantly it requires our presence, no matter if in the streets, in our place of work, or online.  So how might we be bold men of God in a world that is set against God?  Let us go to the Word, for that is where we must start.  That is our foundation; that is the bedrock of truth that we must stand on that gives us strength for our boldness to withstand the onslaught that will come from back at us.

So, what does the word of God say about being bold?  Oh, it says so much. We can begin with the Old Testament, and particularly the Prophets and how bold they were.  Looking at Jeremiah 7, God calls the prophet to the gate of the temple and calls the people to repent of their sinful ways.  The people for generations have walked in sins making a mockery of temple worship, worshipping Baal along with God, along with many other sins.  The people were going through the motions, but did not truly worship God the way He had prescribed.  God told the prophet what he was to say and then God even warned him of the outcome in Jeremiah 7:27-28.

27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

Let’s look at Daniel 3.  King Nebuchadnezzar made a very large image of himself out of gold.  He gathered all the rulers of his kingdom to come to the dedication of this golden image, and at the sound of the instruments they would bow in worship of the image.  And in all likeness, all the peoples would do the same.  However, as we see in verse 8, Chaldeans came forward and called out the Jews that had been exiled to Babylon.  These Jews that were called out where none other than Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.  We know the story, but we may forget the bigger picture of what is going on.  These men stood up to the commands of a king even if it meant their death, and even if it was a dreadful death.

The law that went forth was that at the sound of music all are to fall down in worship, and who ever does not fall down is to be thrown into the midst of the furnace.  They are to be burned alive.  These young men, who were in their teens when they were exiled, now probably in their twenties, are being confronted by a very angry and hostile king, and being threatened with death if they would not do something as simple as bowing down to a golden statue.  But look at their response in verse 16-18, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 

This is the boldness that we need to have in today’s world, the kind of boldness that does not look at the consequences that may come upon us and influence our actions and chip away at our boldness, at our resolve to live for Christ.  Our light needs to shine bright, especially now, and when we fear the consequences of what this world and the powers of this world might do to us, then we have failed to obey the mandate of the Master.  There will always be consequences for our boldness, but we cannot let that dictate our message to the world, because for every action that we take there will always be consequences.  This is the way of the world that we live in.  There are good consequences and bad consequences, but we cannot let the fear of consequences dictate how bold or how timid we are in living out our faith or preaching the gospel.

Let’s look at Acts 4:13, the NASB reads “13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”  That word, confidence, is from two Greek root words, pas meaning “all” and rhesis, “a proverb or statement quoted with resolve, there is a bold resolution to speak all things.  It can also be understood as frankness, bluntness, or publicity.  Now we need to back up and understand what Peter and John were doing before verse 13, so that we might have a full understanding of what “they” saw as the confidence of Peter and John.

In Acts 2, Peter preached the first sermon after the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and many men came to saving faith.  In Acts 3, a lame man is healed and Peter is preaching after the healing.  Now in Acts 4, Peter and John have been arrested by the Sanhedrin and are beginning to address the religious elite with the truth.  Now that takes boldness and courage.  Peter and John are preaching the gospel to men, not behind a curtain of anonymity.  Their identity is totally known and these men may be facing the same fate as their teacher, Jesus Christ, and yet they are preaching to the Sanhedrin without holding anything back.

This is boldness.  This is what we must do.  To let those that need to hear the words of the gospel see our confidence, our boldness in the gospel.  So that no matter what they do to us, it will not shake us, it will not move us off our course.  We have a singular mission and that is to preach, to share that message of salvation.  Not that life on this planet may be better, not that you can have your best life now, or that you will have health and wealth, but that you can be saved from the wrath to come.  For the trials and tribulations that we may suffer here are but momentary light afflictions compared to the weight of glory to come.

The Apostle Paul wrote about boldness in many of his letters to the churches as well, and he endured many trials in his missionary journeys.  He detailed some of his trials in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, “23 Are they servants of Christ? —I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”

These were some of the consequences that he endured just for going about and sharing the gospel to those that needed to hear it.  Many who need to hear it will be hostile to it, but that should not be why we are timid.  2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.  That word, timidity, could be translated as cowardice.  We cannot shrink away when it comes to sharing the gospel. 

We must be bold in our speech, but not overbearing.  It is not the way of Jesus Christ, who is our example, to corner someone and yell and scream and condemn them to hell.  Even though He is God, He has every right to condemn every one of us to hell.  He is a gracious God, who willingly went to the cross to purchase us from the wrath to come, the just penalty that our sins deserve.  That is why we must with all love and gentleness share the gospel.  Sharing the gospel also requires listening and having some understanding of where that other person is spiritually.

We see Jesus’ example after He called Matthew in Luke 5:29-23 “29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?’ 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’” Jesus did not just eat with them. He would have had conversations with them about the kingdom, about the good news that comes through faith in the Son of God, that glorious truth that can only come through salvation of what is to come.  We are living in a Romans 1 culture where the wrath of God is being revealed, where good is being called evil, and evil is being called good.  But we must not lose faith or become weary in our resolve to be bold.  We must stand firm, even when we are maligned for the faith that we have in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must stand fast on the Word of God, even when we are told that it is some ancient text written by men.  It is the one book that holds all the truth that is needed for all that we need to know of who our God is, how He has related to us, how we are to relate to Him, and how we are to relate to one another.

Give Thanks to God For…

Posted on by brettyamaji

As with many folks in America, this week is all about preparation to celebrate a holiday.  Now that might mean a bunch of different things.  From packing a suit case and hitting the road or getting on an airplane.  Or just going to the store to get all of the ingredients for the Thanksgiving holiday feast.  Whatever your plans are this week, for most people it seems to pass by with little sincere consideration of thanksgiving.  Sure, we give a passing gesture of what we are thankful for, a brief thought of thanks, and the traditional thanks for the banquet feast we are about to overstuff ourselves with.  We will give thanks for the family and friends that we will share it with and we might even let God in on the festive moment of thanks with a placated prayer and then we set Him back in a box.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but I hope you get the idea that we more often fail to come to the Holy Day – holiday – of Thanksgiving with a heart full of thanks.  A heart ready to give thanks, not for the things that fill our table, or house, or garages, but to the One who has filled our hearts.  Yes, it is good and right to acknowledge Him and give thanks to Him for filling our table and house and all of those things.  But all these things should not be the first that come to mind when we gather in celebration of Thanksgiving.  Let’s look at a particular Psalm to get an idea of how we ought to approach this particular Holy Day, Psalm 95:1-5:

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.

The opening verse speaks to everyone coming together in a communal gathering to sing prepared songs with great joy to the God of the universe.  This is not a haphazard, “let’s throw something together right at the last second as we go to grandma’s house.”  It is prepared worship; we have thought things through.  We know what we are thankful for, but above all we know Who we are thankful to.  It is not some mystical abstract force, or chance, or luck that you are saved or blessed of the Lord.  It is by His gracious hand that all is accomplished and all are blessed, we would be wise to remember all that He these blessings.  Even the unbelievers that are living on this world He blessing, that should be demonstrative enough of His goodness and His lovingkindness. Verse 2 reminds us that we are in the very presence of this great God, and if we have forgotten His credentials, take a look at verse 3.  He is a great God and a great king above all gods.  There is none like Him, nothing to compare Him to.

He is a consuming fire, and when the Israelites heard Him speak from the mountain in the desert they shook with fear.  This is the very same God that we are to be giving thanks to.  This is the very same God that parted the Red Sea.  His power is the same today as it was then and it is the same as when He said let there be light and there was light.  He does not change.  We may not see a physical manifestation of Him in our time like a burning bush or a pillar of cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night, but we have something far greater.  We have the precious blood of Christ, the Rock of our salvation.

The last 2 verses remind us of His majestic reach of what belongs to Him on this world.  It does not even go into the great expanse of the rest of the universe but remains on planet earth.  The depths of the earth and the peaks of the mountains are in His hands; they belong to Him and all that they contain.  It goes on, the seas are also His and I love how verse 5 ends, “for it was He who made it, and His hands form the dry land.”  It was by Him, and through Him, and for Him that creation was created.  It was not for our benefit alone that He did what He did.  We do benefit, yes, and we should give much more thanks that He created us, that He redeemed us for Himself and by Himself, and much more than we should give thanks for a holiday meal.

The Trustworthy Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

One of the greatest characteristics of a man of God is to be trustworthy.  To be trustworthy is to say that someone is to be found worthy of putting trust or our faith in them.  To put it bluntly, if they said it, they will do it.  Seems straightforward, and I should be able to wrap this characteristic article up in one simple paragraph, right?  Nope, to be found trustworthy is actually much more complex than this.  There are so many ways that break others faith or trust in us by what we say or do, or what we do after we say something wrong.

God created us to be social beings, whether that is within our family groups, friend groups, or local church fellowships.  We need that interactions in a social setting, but we also need help, we need to depend on one another in everyday affairs and in spiritual affairs.  Again, this is where these 3 groups which I listed out above again come into play.  They will help us along and we will help them along as well, but the depth and topic of help will depend of the depth of trust we have built up within those groups.  Let me illustrate, let’s say you are trying to help a fellow believer with a sin issue, which at this point they are confessing they have a sin and they need prayer, accountability, and encouragement through their fight over this sin.  However, you tell a couple of other folks in the church who are not the Pastor or Elder (who may not even need to know every sin issue).  This is actually gossip, and now will that fellow believer come back and feel confident in revealing a private matter with you again? Probably not, as they have no trust in your ability to keep such things confidential.

Keep your commitment in word and deed. If you say you are going to do something, do it. If you make plans with someone, be there. Seeing things through is the trademark of a trustworthy person.  Let your yes be yes and your no be no, we tend to think little or lightly of this verse and others like these as we are afraid of commitments and vows these days.  Generally speaking vows do not even mean all that much, just look at the divorce rate, even among believers.  If and when we make a vow, and the wedding vows are some of the biggest ones as we make them between our spouse and God, but really when we make a commitment we need to honor it.

Getting back to the (yes being yes reference) this is actually teaching us that we do not need to invoke swearing (not the foul language) by God or heaven or by our mother’s life, but letting the fact that we saying be even because we our trustworthy.  The fact that I have agreed to say that I will do what you have asked of me you have no doubt that I will follow through, you can trust me because I have proven myself through past experiences and behaviors to be worthy of that trust.

Be honest. Even when the outcome will not be in your favor, tell the truth. This shows you have good character, which builds trust. This is not speaking of telling lies, this is speaking out on what this truth is.  Take Stephen in Acts chapter 6 and 7, when he was accused of blasphemy.  He could have just as easily countered the accusations that were leveled against him, but instead he recounted the history of Israel from the calling of Abraham to the sojourning of Jacob to Egypt, to their enslavement and their eventual deliverance.  He then revealed the true nature that the nation of Israel had fallen into, a nation of outward religious works and that is what upset those religious leaders so furiously that they killed him.  It did not end well for him, but it did spark a massive growth for the early church and it in the next chapter of Acts we see the calling of another man of great honesty, Saul, who we come to know as the Apostle Paul.

Be transparent. When you make a mistake, admit it. This shows that you are able to take responsibility for your actions without blaming others. This is one of the easiest temptations to fall into, as we try to distance, or at least limit our exposure to ourselves to the outcome of the issue that we may have caused.  Take a look at Genesis 3.  When after Adam and Eve had sinned and then were aware of what they had done so they hide themselves.  As God was walking in the garden He called them and confronted not both of them, but God confronted Adam and what was Adam’s response?  “It was the woman who ‘YOU’ gave to me.”  Adam realized he messed up, he sinned, but was trying to limit his exposure of guilt, and blame to Eve and to God who created her.  Of course, we know how that worked out for him.

Be on time. When you are late, you are showing people that you don’t value them or their time. You are also showing the that you have a hard time keeping your commitments.  In our current culture and society people have lost the sense of the importance of being on time.  Being on time or punctual is a lost part of discipline.  We are unable to manage time effectively anymore, it seems even more so know that so many people have been working remotely.  Lost time is wasted time, it is something that can never be recovered.  I have seen more young people in the last few years late for their own weddings because being on time was not that important to them, than ever before.  Time is a luxury item that no one can afford to buy, let alone waste.  Everyone, can earn more money, most people in 2020 and 2021 have received more ‘free’ money than ever before, and with increased minimum wages and labor shortages we can earn more money, but we can never earn more time, earn more days, or years.  When we waste them, they are gone forever. So as Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

Keep confidences. If someone has told you something, it is because they trust you. Do not share this information with others. Guard the person’s business carefully.  This is beyond any type of professional courtesy.  When someone shares something with us that should be kept in confidence, or in secret we lose full and complete trustworthiness.  As one Christian is to do with another, we are to confess our sins, not to every and all Christians, but to those that we have close fellowship relationships with, those that we have built a deep relationship with.  I cannot give a list of things that could be shared and cannot be shared with other, as this things are truly set by the subject and the closeness of the relationship.  When we engaging in divulging these intimate trusted secrets we are engaging in gossip and that is clearly defined as a sin.

Don’t gossip. Talking negatively about others behind their backs erodes trust. Remember if people gossip with you, they will gossip about you. We can engage in gossiping without us actually revealing anything anyone has revealed to us in confidence as mentioned in the previous point.  Just because we were not trusted with the secret, does not mean we do not lose our trustworthiness by being a gossip.  We may be spread a complete falsehood about someone.  Or it could be something that is in fact true but has been distorted through all of the hushed retelling, as each person embellishes a little bit with each iteration of the story.  Regardless, this is an affront to our God because His Word clearly states that we are not to be a gossip.  Gossiping will cause fractures and divides within the body of Christ, and when a Christian is engaged with unbelievers in gossips it is damaging to the testimony of Christ and the transformative power of His gospel.

Apologize. If you have done something wrong, admit it quickly, sincerely and ask what you can do to make it right.  When I say quickly, I do not mean hastely, I mean as soon as you realize you made the error.  As Jesus says leave your offering on the alter,  do not even what to finish the ceremonial offering process when it dawns on you that you made a mistake.  Go and make it right with your brother, then come back and finish.  This apology must be sincere, God is concerned with the heart, He is not concerned with outward appearances and actions so much as He is with our hearts and our relationships with Him, His Son, and with each other, the apology must be from the heart with the intent and follow through to restore the relationship.  The restitution of the relationship is not always complete by saying “I am sorry,” there may be trust issues that have to be worked through, there may be restitution, discipline that must be handled, among other things.  But has the one who did the offending or the thing that wrong someone else you must first recognize it and offer up the sincere apology with the intention to retore the relationship.

Be predictable. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Be the person who is steady in the room.

This is a hard one to master as we are emotional creatures.  God made emotions in us to glorify Him and we must be masters of those emotions in order to do that.  This goes far beyond just the outward appearance of being steady or level-headed.  Does this mean we cannot have that belly laugh or that sobbing cry, or even get mad, of course not.  We certainly can be happy, sad, and get mad, but to have outbursts of anger, uncontrolled anger at the drop of a hat, or crying fits for simple feedback at work on how we might do something better is not being in control of our emotions.  We all have been depressed at some point in our lives, even at some point in the last year, look through the gospels and you will see the emotions of Jesus Christ our Lord, and remember He was without sin, because He did not remain there and His emotions where never out of control, even when He made the scourge and ran off the money changers from the temple.

Set the tone. Your attitude will cause a ripple effect with others. Make sure that the ripple effect is positive.  This is similar to your emotions but is slightly different.  Setting the tone is deciding how you will approach things; how will you handle situations when they come at you.  You know you will hit obstacles in life, that is the nature of living on this side of glory.  You will face temptations and trials, persecutions and limitations because of one thing or another.  How will you handle it?  Will you, because you know these things will come, face it with a positive attitude look for a way to navigate through it, over it, around it? Or will you look for a way to side step it, a way to blame someone else, a scape goat, or look at it as a reason to not do anything?  Or as an excuse to sin all the more?

Your trustworthiness is set by no one else but you.  It is not set by anyone else.  There are no other factors that are used in determining it.  Sure, the world may say otherwise, but that is the world and the deceiver rules the world using deceptive tactics.  We live in the world but we are not of the world.  We are not to be conformed to the image of the world but to the image of Christ, so as men of God we are to be more and more like Christ and less and less like the world.  The Word of God is full of truth and is full of trustworthy statements, I would rather rely upon it and be transformed to the image of Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. 

The Selfless Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

We, as men of God, are to be selfless, or in another word, unselfish.  But what does that mean?  Does that mean that we have to give up on all our dreams or give all our money over to God, or the poor, or to those who are in need?  Are we do expend all our time and energy on endeavors that enrich and uplift other people?  Well, the short answer is no, but you must keep reading to get the full answer.  So, what does God’s Word say about all these things?  Take a look at Luke 6:35:

35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

As we can see, this is our Lord Jesus telling us not just to love our family and friends but our enemies.  We are to love those that hate us.  Just pause here and really consider what that means.  Think about what it means to love your family and friends and what you get in return for loving them, and being a loving member in their lives.  Now love someone that hates you, love someone that will not reciprocate, love someone that wants nothing to do with you.  That is what we are commanded to do.  That is preciously what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8) and while we were enemies and hostile to Him (Romans 8:7)

To be generous is relatively easy.  Even to do good deeds is a remarkably easy task when we have the means and motivation. Even when we do not have the means or motivation, it is it is easy to do good deeds for those that we love, and those that we agree and get along with.  But that is not what we are commanded to do.  We are commanded to love those that do not love us.  We are to give to them and lend to them with the expectation of nothing in return.  Give without even expecting a simple thank you in return.

Let me back up for one moment to look a little deeper at the word love.  We may overlook and sometimes undervalue this 4 letter word.  We kiss the wife good-bye in the morning and say, “I love you”, or tell the kids that we “love you” before we send them off to bed.  It is a simple word packed full of meaning.  But it is also a word that has to be lived out.  There has to be action behind that word to give it meaning.  In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 we can see what Scripture says about love

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. 

The truest love is explained here, that is agape love.  Agape love is usually the love that is expressed by God to His creation and upon His creatures.  So how do we know that this is the truest and purest form of love? Again, let’s search the Scriptures. First John 4:8 says, “God is Love.”  But what does that mean for us?  The word love is translated from different Greek words, and that is how we get our different biblical love types.  In this case, the word love is translated from the word agapos, which means that God is the very source of this love.

So, what does it mean to have agape love?  It means that you choose to love them.  It is a deliberate action demonstrated toward and for the highest good of someone else.  God did this by sending His own son Jesus Christ to die in the place of penitent sinners.  To say that you love someone that is a world away from you, that might not like you is a ‘nice’ gesture, but that is all it is, a simple gesture.  Agape love is demonstrated in the other person’s life, you know, your enemy’s life.  If you want to follow His command and be a selfless man of God, you must demonstrate a self-sacrificing love to someone that does not so easily or readily reciprocate your love. Or in other words, someone that demonstrates any love other than agape.

Getting back to our starting verses in Luke, we can see that God Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.  The thing about the Scripture is that there are so many things that are clearly delineated into a right and wrong, good and evil, light and dark, and moral and immoral.  God is kind to those that are ungrateful to Him and are, at heart, enemies of God.  Yet He so loved us with agape love that He sent His son to take our punishment for the sins, the moral failures of His standards that we all committed.

God the Father is demonstrating how He is being selfless to those who are His enemies.  He chose long ago, before the foundation of the world, that He would redeem sinners.  The choosing of Abraham long ago is both the actual selection of a real people nation – Israel – and a foretaste of the calling of Christians.  It is the deliverance of Israel from bondage under Egypt to the deliverance of sinners from under the bondage of sin. Now some might say that they did not need this deliverance and that they are not enemies of God, because He either does not exist, or they have not offended Him.  But here is the thing, as I just stated in the previous paragraph.  There are rights and wrongs and there are friends and enemies of God.  Better said, there are those who are of the household of God and then there are those who are His enemies.  God emptied Himself. He was selfless so that He could make His enemies His family and we are commanded to demonstrate that kind of love.

It is easier said than done, which is why we must do it in His Spirit and in His strength.  For if we do anything on our own it will fizzle and fade, and if we could keep it up, it would ultimately be done for the wrong reasons.  Even without us realizing it, we can do things with selfish motivations and self-glorification and for what we can get back.  We can love like this because He first loved us (1 John 4:10).  We can be selfless because we, who are in Christ, have the mind and the heart of Christ.  We must have a heart that aches for those who hate and revile Christians.

God our Father has always been and is still this very day merciful to us.  Those of us who seek to be men of God are to emulate that same characteristic through agape love.  Now, demonstrating love does not mean accepting and tolerating all things that are going on in the world.  That is not love.  To be tolerant of all things is actually the opposite of loving.  It is a demonstration of selfishness, showing/revealing that we do not really care enough to be concerned about others and their eternal destination or how they get along in their day to day lives.

This selfless love is a big deal.  It is referenced many times throughout Scripture and it transcends so many of the issues within the contexts of Scripture, covering every issue that we encounter today.  Here is the bottom line: for us to demonstrate, or more precisely to have selfless love, we must have that type of love for God and for our neighbors.  We cannot love one another and especially not our enemies without a right and proper love for our God.  The Good Samaritan story demonstrates just who our neighbors are.  We must have both a right love for God, by loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second, is like it that we will love our neighbor as ourselves.  Luke 10:25-37 is where we can find this interaction and story.

25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

You must understand the tension that exists here between a Jew and a Samaritan.  There were racial, ethical, religious, and cultural tensions and differences and hatred that divided these two peoples.  We could very easily say that the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies.  Then Jesus basically tells the people and the lawyer that asked the question – someone who was very knowledgeable about the Mosaic law – that these are the ones they are to love unconditionally.  Unconditionally love those with whom we might have racial, ethical, religious, cultural, political or any other differences.  That is exceedingly hard to do if we do it without God.  With God all things are possible, even loving someone that despises you.

To unconditionally love an enemy is to look beyond the differences and despite what separates us love them anyway.  It does not mean to ignore or disregard what might be sinful issues, but to deal with them appropriately, which is a difficult thing to do.  Dealing with sin in someone’s life is a most difficult task, but it is a selfless task.  We live in a time of great sin, but that is no different than any other time in human history.  Addressing sin in our own lives is a constant battle that we will never win without the assistance of the Holy Spirit and help from the fellowship of believers.  When we have men of God who are actively fighting against their own sinful tenancies than we will have more Christian men who are selfless. I will echo our Lord Christ Jesus’ words when He exhorted the Lawyer and the crowd to go and do the same as the Samaritan.

September 11 Memorial

Posted on by brettyamaji

For so many of us, September 11, 2001 is not just a day that passed by in our lives like any other.  It is a day that has scarred each of us in one way or another.  From those that were killed that day, to those of us who answered the call to take up arms in the fight on terrorism. To those who have fallen in the course of that cause or are living with physical or psychological wounds and scars.  These are just a few reminders as to why this is more than just a date on a calendar from 2 decades ago.  Much like we do for another tragic date in history, that being December 7, 1941, we memorialize it.  We set it aside to remember what happened that day, the lives lost, and the changes that have transpired because of it.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed that morning, and the events that resulted in those deaths altered the course of our country.  For instance, I never would have thought I would see armed soldiers in American airports.  Thankfully, it did not last too long as we now have the TSA (say what we will about the TSA, they do serve a purpose), as well as the creation of the Office of Homeland Security.

I could recount stats and timelines but there are countless sources for that already.  What I want us to focus on is a time of reflection.  A time to remember where we were that day and what we were doing when we first heard of the news of the attacks.  What was our first reaction, was it panic? Were our thoughts of the end of the world? Was it seeking prayer and shelter in God the Father who is a Strong Fortress?

I went to work on September 10, 2001 at 9:00 pm as the Night Manager in a small-town grocery store about 50 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.  It was a typical night of restocking grocery items on shelves and making the products look nice for the next day’s business.  Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing on the radar for this 21-year-old kid who, at the time, worked 6 nights a week, served one weekend a month in the US Marines, and lived alone, but had plans to get married, an education and a better job.

Of course, that all changed the very next morning.  As I was finishing up my duties, my Assistant Night Manager, who had the night off, called me and told me about a plane that flew into the World Trade Center.  I did not believe it, for starters, her and I had a great rapport and did a lot of kidding around, and another is that something like this was just so far out there that it was inconceivable.  With my work finished up, I rushed home and turned on ABC news and listened to Peter Jennings all day long as I packed my military gear and checked in with my command.

But as I watched the second plane hit the South tower, and then as I watched both towers fall, I will tell you that my first thought was not of the Father, it was of unbelief.  No one could do this to us here in America.  That was my first reaction.  Then it was of all of those people trapped in the buildings, of the people on the planes whose lives on this earth were extinguished in the blink of an eye.  We are told this in James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

I grieved, yes, for the loss of their earthly lives, the loss that will be felt by their family and friends, but the greatest loss, the greatest tragedy is of those who died so suddenly who were unbelievers.  Those that died in their unbelief have no hope in eternity.  They will and they are experiencing the wrath of God even now.  We do not know when we will depart this earth, whether we are believers or unbelievers, we are not guaranteed tomorrow, not even the next hour.  This is one reason why it is so urgent to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those that we come into contact with, because we do not know at what point we will pass from this world to the next.

The Humble Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

I will admit that this is a difficult characteristic to define.  We will do this through the Word of God and, more specifically, the example set by Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry.  I could have used a multitude of different sources and definitions, reviewed a plethora of different papers, books, blogs, etc. to work through this “hard to nail down” subject, but since Scripture is sufficient for all things – not to mention that humility is mentioned almost 100 times – it only makes sense to start there. Proverbs, the book of wisdom, tells us this in chapter 22 verse 4:

“Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life;”

Humility begins with the fear of God, which is not a trembling, terrified fear, but an awe-filled referential fear. This text declares that this is an admiral trait to have within us; there are rewards to be had if we have a humble heart.  These can be eternal or temporal.  Riches are not necessarily only financial or material, but can be riches as in those we might call friends.  Honor.  It goes without saying, but when does a humble person ever get disrespected because of their humility?  Life here may not speak of the quantity of life, but the quality of life: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Philippians 2:3-5, “3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”

The Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian church about what their motivation should be in their service to one another.  Humility is not the outward acts of being humble, but is the inward motivation that reflects true humility.  It is the condition of the heart that will motivate the hands into action.  We can also say that true humility will generate in us a desire to serve others and yet go unnoticed or unrewarded. 

So, what are these two passages trying to tell us?  It is telling us to consider, declare, deem, treat, and rate others of more value than ourselves.  But in order to value someone more than ourselves, we must have a valuation scale. Let me take a time out here.  I am not determining or stating that we assign some arbitrary value to other people.  Each person that makes up the human race has dignity.  That is clear throughout Scripture because we all, whether unbeliever or believer, are created in the image of God. We are to be treating others better than we treat ourselves. That is respecting and caring for others.

In contrast to humility, there is the sin of pride, most prominently displayed in narcissism.  Narcissism is essentially a heart full of pride that is so deceived by sin that it does not realize it.  People who are narcissistic tend to be selfish, but in a way that is hard for them to see it as being selfish.  They are self-focused to a point that everything is about them, how everyone treats them, how this is against them, how great they are at this or that.  This is not humility.

Yet, humility is also not a low value of ourselves.  We are not to look upon ourselves as worthless or of lesser value than any other person.  As believers we must understand that 1) we are valued and valuable, but 2) the value of Jesus Christ is so grand, so fantastical that in comparison it makes us look like we have no value. This is why in Job 25:6 Job declares “How much less man, that maggot, And the son of man, that worm!” We must remember Christ died for us. To be humble we must be looking outside ourselves to those around us. 

As I stated in the beginning, humility is a hard word to define, and it is also a hard thing to describe.  So, let me define it this way.  Humility is to love and serve that which is unlovable.  It is to know, love, and serve that which may never reciprocate, either by choice or ability.  Jesus Christ exemplified this very thing in washing His disciple’s feet.  This narrative is found in John 13:1-17.

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” 8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Let me start with the fact that Jesus already knew two things.  The first was that Judas Iscariot would betray Him and the second He would be, in a matter of hours, crucified. The basic definition that I gave earlier fits this situation, that you know, love, and SERVE those who are unlovable and who may not be able to reciprocate that love.  Does that not rightly fit Judas Iscariot?  If Jesus was returning to the Father shortly why would He need to stoop down to the lowest stations in that culture, the foot washing servant?  Because He is humble and was giving them an example to follow.  Jesus said as much in verse 15. But here is another thing that Jesus makes very clear.  Look at verse 16 Jesus is Lord and Teacher and no one is greater than He and yet even He, the King of kings and Lord of lords, took on the role of the lowest station at that time.  No one else can say that serving in whatever need there is – within the church – is beneath them.

When someone says, “I am humble” what is it that they are actually saying?  There are only two response categories that the answer can fall under.  Some might argue that there is a third category, and that being indifference.  But I do not believe that the ability to be indifferent is applicable here because there is something that will always motive our choices and actions.  It could be something that keeps us from helping or serving.  It is not by indifference; it is selfishness that prevents that. 

The first response would be of pride.  This declaration of one’s own humility is actually the exact opposite.  It is a statement of their pride and ego.  It is done so without fully understanding the weight of their sin, or the price of their salvation, and quite possible comprehending what they were destined for prior to coming to faith in Jesus Christ.  Hell, that place of eternal wrath and punishment for sins not wiped clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.  The sin of pride is all about self, that is narcissism.  We all know someone that is at some level a bit narcissistic.  One thing about narcissism is that the one with it rarely admits it, usually because of their false sense of humility.

The second response would be of true humility.  This is a declaration of not one’s own work, but the admission of what Christ has done for them.  They have an understanding of what it means to be a child of the Most High God.  And they understand what they have been saved from with a true realization that they could not do it for themselves.  For every Christian, this should be our response, but on this side of Glory we are still prone to sin.  We must continue to be reminded to have a humble spirit.  When we are truly humble, we are more protected from so many other sins.  The sin of pride tends to sprout other sins, so we must guard our hearts and always be able to see when we are becoming more prideful. 

The man of God will have a sense of humility.  He will serve in any way he can wherever he can and will do so with all thankfulness.  To be humble is to deem others of greater value than himself and to see his God as that of greatest value.  He will recognize the great divide that separates himself and God and will have a sense of being undeserving of being called and redeemed by the blood of Christ.  For it was Jesus Christ who bridged that gulf, that divide, so that the man of God might have a right relationship with the God of the universe.  The man of God will recognize through his humility that he brought nothing to his own salvation.  That it was only through the completed work of redemption of Jesus Christ.

Does this characterize you? If so, you are demonstrating a characteristic of a man of God.  If it does not, pray about it.  Get into the Word of God. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, for right living and walking as Christ walked.  We have been told how to do it, but not just outwardly, the heart must be the focus.  If you are not saved, I pray for you that today would be the day of salvation, but know what it is that you are being saved from, an eternity in Hell.  A place where all unbelievers go to be punished for all of eternity, with no relenting, no breaks, and no reprieves.  You will, if you are redeemed, spend eternity instead in the marvelous presence of Jesus Christ and His glory, but count the cost, there is a cost to following Christ.  There may be relationships with family and friends that are lost, lifestyles that change, your desires and thoughts will be changed because He will place in you a new heart that seeks Him and desires Him and less of self.  Let today be that day!

Why Do We Celebrate Easter?

Posted on by brettyamaji

As the title suggests I am writing about Easter.  Is it wrong for a man of God to allow his family, or in a broader sense, any Evangelical Christians to celebrate Easter?  If you have read, that you might have already answered that question, but we cannot give a clear answer to that until we have a clear understanding of the context.  You see, the name Easter, like so many words in the modern English language, are loaded with multiple means.

So where did the name Easter come from?  The history is not as strong as some would like and I am by no means highly educated in this matter, but I wanted to give some insight into some possible historical lineage.  The Saxons of Northern Europe worshipped a goddess of the east called Eastre or Eostre.  She was referred to the goddess of spring with her symbol being the hare which happens to be the symbol of fertility.  However, there is very little, if any, physical evidence that there was truly a group of humans that ‘worshipped’ a goddess called Eastre.  There are several other examples that I can give, but they are the same.

It appears that the Easter celebration that Christians celebrate, which is the rising of Jesus Christ from the dead, has been taken over by the secular world.  Could it be that simple, that quick, and that easy?  In the last 100 years, do more Americans look forward to an imaginary man-sized rabbit hopping into their houses to seal their hard-boiled eggs (or hollow plastic eggs) and hide them outside, rather than the rising of a Jesus Christ?  The secular world says we cannot tell our children about Jesus Christ because that has not been proven true. It might negatively impact how they see the world.  But we actively promote the Easter Bunny on TV and in stores and in our schools, and sadly in some churches.

That last one is really a sad one.  The church should truly be counter cultural and should not allow something like that to creep into it.  Should a church have an Easter Egg Hunt? Some will outrightly say no, others will say yes, and I will say with caution: it depends.  Definitely no bunnies, but if you want invite the kids of the neighborhood and share the gospel in a friendly and inviting environment, sure.  But the gospel message must be the focal point, not the eggs, or candy, or the fun.  It is the message of the gospel.  Jesus did not rise from the dead so that we might worship a bunny and enjoy chocolate on this particular Sunday.  He defeated death so that we would no longer be slaves of sin.  And no bunny, chocolate, or egg will ever give hope of defeating the death that waits for those who are still under sin.

So why do we celebrate Easter?  Let me rephrase that.  Why do we celebrate Resurrection Sunday?  Because it is the day that Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior defeated death.  He declared to all that death no longer had power over Him and those that would be found in Him.  If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, well, He still would be dead, showing that He was not God, and as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19:

14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. 15 Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But Paul does not stop there.  He continues on with the good news with verses 20-22, especially at the end of verse 22:

20 But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 

I started with a question and I want to get back to it.  Is it wrong to celebrate with the hiding of eggs?  While I would say no it is not and Scripture does not say that it is forbidden.  How does it seem to you?  Is it too close to the secular celebration of Easter and the hoppy man-sized bunny?  Then I will suggest to you what was recently suggested to me – hide lambs with Scripture verses inside.  Your children will find the treasure of the wisdom of God instead of the foolishness of men and all to His glory.  Resurrection Sunday is coming – He has risen! He has risen indeed.

The Teachable Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

It is a difficult thing in our culture to have a teachable spirit.  We have an innate belief that we are smart and intelligent and are generally put off when told that we are wrong about something.  This is not having a teachable spirit.  I am, of course, not speaking of learning skills like accounting or plumbing or nursing, but am speaking specifically about those things that we believe.  Although we do want to be teachable in whatever profession or hobby that we might have and enjoy.

A belief is something we hold true based on information that is not entirely conclusive to all.  To believe in something is the same as saying we have faith in that thing being true.  But it also requires a presupposition.  We must have a preconceived notion that what we will eventually come to believe in is true.  To illustrate this, let’s assume that humanity is basically good, that at the core we have a good heart or a good character.  Overall, our good deeds or even just our good intentions will outweigh our mistakes, our misdeeds, and all of those mean-spirited thoughts.

There are several beliefs that someone who believes this way must bring to the table. Their belief is built on 2 major assumptions, the first being that we must know what good is.  We have a standard of what good is and what good is not, that which is evil. The second assumption is that we know (without measuring and tracking) all the deeds, intentions, and thoughts (good and evil) that have been done throughout the world in all situations and in all history.  This is an impossibility as no one can truly understand the intentions of the heart of another person, let alone all people that have ever lived.

In order to counter this belief, we must look to something other than ourselves to judge what is good and what is evil.  Otherwise, we run the risk of good and evil being abstract.  To the Biblically sound Christian, that standard is the living God and what He has declared in His Word.  He is the very definition of good.  Jesus says so in Matthew 19:17 when he responds to the man asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, “And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’”

I will use a rough illustration to try to explain this.  Instead of using a tape measure to measure something, we use our own feet.  For me and my size 9 ½ shoes, the distance between two points might be the distance of 4 heel to toe feet. However, for someone who has size 14 shoes, their measurement of 4 heel to toe feet will actually be different.  The measurement is only accurate if we are both using the same scale, such as a standard tape measure. 

To be teachable, one must be willing to have their beliefs challenged.  As Biblical evidence is given to a belief or as counter to a belief, one must be willing to submit to the authority of the teaching that Scripture is.  To belief that mankind is basically good would fly in the face of the plain teaching of Scripture.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”  If the heart is deceitful and sick and that is the center, the source of all that man is, how can he be good?  If a piece of fruit is rotten in its middle how “good” is it in its entirety?  Sure, there are “good” parts, but the whole is contaminated.

Another example that is prevalent today is that women can pastor and lead churches.  Let me start this illustration first by declaring what proponents and opponents of this argument say and what Scripture declares as well.  Men and women are of equal value, but here is where the difference begins – Scripture declares distinctive roles between men and women.  God created them male and female, the male first as the head and the female from male to be his equal and his helpmate.  Woman is not made to be a subject under the rule and authority of the man.  With distinctive roles, we have different responsibilities.  I am not saying that the role of women is to be responsible for the domestic care; men are equally capable.

The basic premise of the belief that women are able to pastor and lead churches is based on humanistic belief structures, not Biblical mandates.  It is based on human value systems and not sound Biblical principles. Scripture again gives ample evidence that they are not to be pastors in the church.  First Timothy 2:12 says “But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.”  This does not mean that women are not to speak or that they could not teach or lead a women’s study, or teach a Sunday School children’s class.  What this is speaking to is the fact that a woman is not to have teaching authority over a congregation.  A pastor’s responsibility goes far beyond preaching duties.  They include counselling, modeling, and living a Biblically sound life.  There will be further discussion on this topic later, but I wanted to use this here as an illustration.

It is not easy to have someone come along side and tell us that we might be in error in our thinking.  That stings our pride, but just as Proverbs tells us in 12:1, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”  If we truly love knowledge, then we must welcome the challenges to our thinking.  We serve a living, gracious God who has provided to us all that we need for life and godliness, and one of those things is His Word.  Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”  We can and must allow the Word to teach us, to correct our wrong thinking, and we must use the pure unaltered Word of God.  Not allowing the darkened reasoning of the world to filter the Word of God.

The greatest example is the creation account in Genesis.  Did God really say that He created all things in 6 literal 24-hour days or is this an allegorical tale or poetic picture?  The deception is that we look at modern science theory and interject that into the creation account.  By doing this, we are, of course, using worldly views to filter Scripture.  But if we stand on the fact that Scripture is inspired by God, who is infallible and immutable, does not lie, and understands who and what we are, it demands that we read and understand the creation account the way it is written.

We must have a high view of Scripture from the onset, that God has inspired it and that it is sufficient for all life, even today, and that it is without error.  With regard to any belief system there will be some foundational presupposition.  Now, what does this mean outside of Biblical Christianity?  With regards to the belief system of evolution, that is being declared fact.  The theory of evolution has no eye witnesses and cannot be repeated; it is not observable.  Proponents of evolution do not belief that they hold a presupposition, but in fact they must.  Since they have no account during all those years of evolution, they must assume certain things.  They look at the fossil record and extrapolate out what must have occurred millions and billions of years ago. 

Most scientists, and really most people who believe in the Theory of Evolution, will not even entertain the idea of belief in the Bible.  This is because things that are spiritual cannot be tested by science, but on the flipside, there are things in the Biblical account that can be tested.  The historicity can be measured up with what we know through non-biblical historians.  However, most of these validations are not considered trustworthy because the accounts are recorded in the Bible and are spiritually based.  I will counter that argument by stating the fact that non-spiritually based writings from the same time periods are seen as creditable, which demonstrates a clear presupposition.

Biblical Christians believe that Scripture is true in every regard and that each word – Old and New Testaments – are true and accurate and there is no error and that God the Holy Spirit was at work in the men who physically wrote the 66 books of the Bible.  On the flip side to that belief is the belief that there is no such thing as God and everything can be explained by science.

To be teachable is to allow others to instruct us, to be able to have our thinking challenged with a humble spirit as we are not all-knowing creatures and can have incorrect thoughts and beliefs regarding some things.  Now let me say this.  Because someone might try and challenge our beliefs, we must be able to defend what we believe is truth.  How do we challenge one’s beliefs and how do we defend our beliefs?  It must always be done based on Scripture.

Again, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that Scripture will teach us and it will reprove and correct.  Our beliefs, and therefore how we reprove and teach one another, cannot be based solely on feelings of truthfulness or even on life experiences.  It must go beyond and above these things, although they can add to the applicability of Scripture.  The danger of relying on life experiences and emotions is that they can be skewed and lead to a misinterpretation of Scripture.

I leave you with one final illustration of this.  One major counter argument against Christianity or the authority and sufficiency of Scripture is the supposed ill-treatment of women.  But if we search the Scriptures, we can find a plethora of women who are powerful and influential. Quite truthfully, women are honored in Scripture.  How can I say all of this? Read through the Bible and see how many women are dignified through the pages: Esther, Ruth, Mary (Jesus’ mother), the Samaritan woman, and Lydia. 

You may not recall who Lydia is, but I will say that she was financially well off as she was a trader in purple fabric and traveled all over the region.  We may not think much of it, but during that time period, it would not be easy for a woman to lead such a successful business life.  She did these things, not her husband, which suggests that she was not married.  While Paul and his travelling companions where in Corinth, she supported them for an extended period of time.  Meaning Lydia opened her home and provided for all the needs of these men until they left.

Allow the Word of God to instruct you and to change you where needed.  Scripture is sufficient for every area of our lives and for all instances, circumstances, and scenarios that we come across.  We must have a spirit that is willing to be taught and to even unlearn what may be incorrect.  This, of course, takes humility.  Earthly wisdom can cause us to puff ourselves up and become prideful.  We must be wary of this and remain humble, knowing that wisdom is from the Lord.

Come to know and love Scripture.  Seek its truth when you are challenging someone else’s views or beliefs, but also seek it when you are being challenged. See if what they say is true and that you are indeed in error.  This is Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  We are to sharpen one another, by teaching one another and having our wrong thoughts corrected so that we can grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).  I will leave you with this question, are you teachable?

The Disciplined Man of God

Posted on by brettyamaji

When we think of people who are disciplined, we think of professional athletes, and one reason is that they are the pinnacle of their respective sport.  Pick your favorite athlete and consider the amount of time that goes into them practicing, studying, and working out.  They have a very specific, regimented diet that they keep, not to mention the fact that they have been working in their sport for all of their lives. We must also be disciplined in order to be leaders and protectors of our wives and children.  Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

In verse 26 Paul is not talking about running an actual race or literally boxing.  He is using an illustration to tell us that there is a purpose to being disciplined.  This discipline is keeping ourselves in control of what we do with our time and our energy.  Use it wisely to maximize our efforts so that we can excel in the things of the Lord.  The apostle is also saying in verse 27 that he must live out what he is preaching to others, and that is where the discipline comes in.

We are to live a disciplined life so that it does not invalidate our testimony.  It should give proof of the power of the One who redeemed us.  There will be outward evidence of a new life, but not what most people think it should be.  We should never be confused about this simple truth.  It is not the discipline within us that will lead us to salvation.  Instead, it is through salvation and being transformed that brings us to want to be disciplined.

So, what does it mean to be disciplined and in what shall we be disciplined?  That is a difficult question to answer as there is not a hard and fast list in Scripture.  We can, however, gather a list of things that we know we ought to have control over and be disciplined in.  Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list.  You can find several other lists out there, many books have been written regarding Spiritual Disciplines.

1. Emotions (Proverbs 29:11)

We are to be in control of our emotions at all times.  Not just emotional outbursts, but the emotions that course through us.  Emotions can be so damaging to those around us, but also to ourselves.  They can leave us bitter and feeling unworthy or unloved.  We must be on guard against rampant emotional outbursts or rampant emotional swings that we hide from one another and never deal with.

2. Words (Ephesians 4:29)

The words that we use can do one of two things.  They can edify, or they can tear down.  They will build up, encourage or challenge someone.  However, they can also tear them apart, deflate them, and cause them to withdraw from the fellowship.  Be careful with the words you use.

3. Thoughts (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Our thoughts are to be pure.  It is, of course, is impossible to keep every impure thought out.  However, when a lustful thought enters our mind, it is not sinful at that moment.  It is sinful when we dwell upon it and toy with it.  Like when King David first laid eyes on a bathing Bathsheba, that glimpse was accidental; it was not sinful.  But the second view and the ensuing lust was.  Sinful thoughts will have an impact on our emotions and on our words.

4. Bible Study (Psalm 119:97, 2 Timothy 3:16)

This is by far one of the most important aspects of discipline for a man of God.  This can be broken down into 2 parts: Bible intake (regular Bible reading) and Bible memorization.  We must be filling our minds with the Word of God so that we might know Him better and meditate on His word (not the empty mindedness of Eastern religions). We are to be filling our minds and thinking on His word, pondering the depth and truth of it.  We are also to hide it in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him.  He has provided a means of escape for every temptation.  And I tell you, if you quote an appropriate verse for a particular temptation in the time of struggle, along with prayer, you will overcome that moment of temptation.

5. Prayer (Hebrews 4:16, Luke 18:1-8, Matthew 21:22)

Speaking of prayer, we should not be lacking in prayer.  Right behind Bible study, we should be known for our prayer life.  The danger is never that we pray too much, but that we pray too little.  One way to jump start your pray life is whenever you get even the smallest inclination to pray, stop and offer up a prayer to God.  It does not need to be a great orated 10-minute prayer.  A simple prayer praising God for being God and for providing you salvation is the greatest prayer.  Communion with your God, that is what prayer is.  The most intimate relationship you should have is between you and your God, not you and another human sinner, even if you are married.  How much and how often you pray tells you how intimate that relationship is.

6. Fasting (Matthew 4:2-4, Matthew 6:16-18)

Yes, fasting is commanded in Scripture and fasting is expected.  Sometimes we fast for health reasons and sometimes we give up things for a time for other reasons.  But I am talking about Biblical fasting, not eating for a day (or longer) and spending that time in prayer or Bible study.  Fasting is about giving something up that is a physical need to demonstrate our spiritual dependence on God.

7. Confession (Proverbs 28:13, 1 John 1:9)

We are commanded to confess sin.  First and foremost, we are to confess our sins to Christ.  He is our Great High Priest who has been tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin, so He knows our struggles.  We are to confess sin to someone else, a trusted fellow Christian who can help and pray with and for us, especially if it is a sin that we are repeatedly falling into.  Along with confession comes repentance.  We are called to repent, but again repentance does not happen in a vacuum that no one is supposed to know about.

8. Worship (Matthew 4:10, Matthew 28:17, Philippians 2:6, 1 Chronicles 16:29)

God has declared how He will be worshipped.  He is a God of order; He is a God of Holiness.  He will be honored as God, and He expects us to come to Him with offerings of praise from our lips and from our hearts.  We do not get to choose how we will honor and worship Him, for He has declared the how.  But because God has created us with creative minds, we have been granted some leeway in the means of worship.  That is to say, we can choose the style of music, the instruments, the furniture, the lights, and even our attire.

9. Fellowship (Acts 2:42, John 10:24-25)

I am separating fellowship and worship as I believe they are two different disciplines.  Fellowship is about being engaged in the lives of one another; worship is about being united together to honor and praise Jesus Christ.  We cannot be engaged with one another unless we are around one another and having everyday conversations.  But it also requires us to have more than just everyday conversations as well; we must challenge one another in the things of the Lord.

10. Rest (Psalm 127:2, Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 6:9-11)

This is a strange one as we do not think we should need to be disciplined in getting rest.  But we humans are the worst in all of creation in getting proper rest.  We either get too much (and become lazy) or do not get enough rest (and get burned out).  Improper rest leads to other issues with our thoughts and emotions, which lead to other issues with our service, worship, and fellowship.  God created us to work 6 days and rest 1 day.  We must balance how much we work and how much we rest.

11. Celebration (1 Corinthians 10:31, Matthew 11:19)

Celebration is the fun that we have.  It is also those life events that we truly celebrate, weddings, births, graduations, etc.  I have never known such events where there was not food present.  Sometimes there is alcohol present, and it is easy to get caught up in eating too much or drinking too much.  But do not forget that the sin of gluttony is not limited to just consuming too much food.  This sin is about obsessing over food too much, so do not make food or the drink too big of a priority to the celebration.

12. Service (Colossians 3:23-24, Mark 10:45)

Service to the people of God is important.  It is important because it demonstrates our love and devotion to the Lord by our love for His people.  It also demonstrates our submission and obedience to His command to serve one another; it takes discipline to do it.  Serving others stings pride, but through our serving, it can also build pride.  So we must be mindful and disciplined to be watchful of that.  Also, I want to point out that we are commanded to serve, but our service should never, ever replace corporate worship.  When serving in a capacity during a time of corporate worship service, we are removed from that worship.  Serving is a type of worship, but it cannot replace corporate worship.

13. Evangelizing (Mark 15:16, Matthew 28:19-20)

Evangelizing is not just for missionaries in far off countries, and it is definitely not for Pastors on Sunday mornings.  Sunday mornings are meant for the proclamation of the Word of God and the Worship of Jesus Christ.  In general, unsaved people do not come to a church service to hear the truth about God.  That is up to all of us.  We are to go and preach the gospel to all of creation and to share the truth about people’s condition without Christ, but that they have eternal hope with Him.  This is the first step in making a disciple, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and not just our personal testimonies of coming to faith.

14. Disciple-Making (Matthew 28:19-20)

Disciple-Making is an important discipline for the man of God.  I am not merely speaking of sharing the gospel and getting a confession of faith.  What I am saying is a long-term relationship of making a disciple of Jesus Christ.  This is a multi-year long relationship, where one mature man of God works with a young in faith man of God (and disciple making is not limited to men only) to teach him the things of the Lord.  We are not gifted spiritual disciplines and Biblical understanding upon conversion.  There will be questions and problems that the new Christian will face.

As I have stated before, this is not an exhaustive list, and even the descriptions are not as deep as we could have gotten into. I really wanted to get your minds working so that you could evaluate our own walk.  How are you doing in these disciplines, are you as disciplined as you think you are?  If you need something more, there are plenty of good books out there.  The one that I would recommend is “Spiritual Disciplines” by Don Whitney.