Monthly Archives: March 2011

On most of our Florida beaches there are signs warning about the stingrays. They tell you to shuffle your feet in the water so you don’t step on one. They’re not aggressive creatures, but they don’t like to be stepped on, and they defend themselves instinctively.

Every summer I see people who ignore the signs go dashing out into the water. I often see them a little later in the day grimacing in pain while sitting with their foot in a bucket of warm soapy water at the life-guard’s station.

Warnings and helpful directions are there for a good reason. Those who choose to ignore them, or who just don’t take the time to read them, are most likely going to suffer the consequences.

God also warns us and gives us vital instructions in life. But like the tourists who just dash out into the surf, people dash out into life without a clue about what it’s really all about.

The Bible is available for us today in many forms. It’s amazing how few are familiar with what it says, or take its warnings seriously. When asked what the Bible mainly teaches, there are some shockingly ignorant answers.

We often hear people say that it simply teaches us to be good to everybody. Others say it teaches that there should be no distinctions among people. They insist that God wants no one to have more money, better homes, better jobs, and so on than anybody else. There are those who say it teaches that Jesus mainly taught us to respect and tolerate the teachings of all religions. There are some who say that the Bible guarantees that we’re all going to heaven when we die. Still others think that the only important message in the Bible is that you have to be “born-again” so you won’t end up in Hell. There are even some who would say that there is no main teaching in the Bible at all. They see the Bible as a collection of vague and often contradictory teachings mixed together from many different cultures and ancient traditions.

Some of these answers are plainly the opposite of what the Bible actually says. They lack any factual support. Others of these ideas have a little glimmer of truth in them, but are hardly sufficient summaries. Not one of them is a good answer. They all fall short of being a good and accurate summary of what God tells us in his word. None of them is in agreement with places where the Bible itself tells what is most important.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism deals with that in Question 3 which asks, “What do the Scriptures principally teach?”

It’s not just an academic question. The Bible isn’t just a book of information, or a collection of inspirational essays. It’s not the opinions of smart people, or the enlightened insights of sensitive humanitarians.

It’s God’s word, and it unravels the complicated issues that you deal with every day. It reveals the boundaries that separate what’s evil from what’s good. It tells what’s worth living for, and warns against the luring deceptions we face all the time. It explains what’s behind everything, and it pulls together things that seem to be disconnected.

It is helpful to organize what the Bible says so we can better remember and understand the details God gives about living in his world as his people.

You can’t really make sense out of life without knowing its main message. When you start with the wrong focus or with wrong expectations, you’ll draw wrong conclusions. Wrong beliefs effect the decisions you make about important choices in life and simple daily preferences. When you see how everything anchors in God’s basic principles you’re guided in a way that’s safe, good, and truly enjoyable.

The Answer the catechism gives is simple but profoundly accurate and helpful:

The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

This is a surprisingly excellent summary of the main purpose of God’s word. In the Bible God tells us what is true about himself, and how we therefore ought to live. These are the main things God communicates to us in his word. Belief and duty need to stay together. They can’t be separated. You have to know what to do, and do what you know.

People often degrade beliefs as if they are not all that important. They don’t realize that what we believe dictates what we do, why we do it, and whether or not we please God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Without understanding who God is and his moral law, no one can be sure about what is sinful, and what is good.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ ”

Our fallen human nature makes us refuse getting help or instructions about what we should do.

There are those who think it’s noble to avoid asking for directions to get somewhere when they’re lost. They would rather lose time wandering around trying to figure it out on their own. I know some say this is a typical male trait — they might be right. But it’s not smart. It’s as if the adamantly self-reliant would try to navigate a minefield without a map of where the land-mines are.

Then there are some who are just too busy to bother reading about warnings and instructions. They struggle to assemble new things for hours rather than read the directions that come with it.

Some are like those infamous lemmings who follow the crowd wherever it’s going, even over a cliff to their own death.

As it turns out, Lemmings aren’t really that stupid. However, they’ve become a metaphor for those who follow others to their own destruction. Rather than knowing God’s word on their own, some blindly follow trends and fads in worship, missions, and morality. Many popular pastors and writers have hijacked evangelical Christianity and made many segments of it into something that actually offends the God who reveals himself to us in his written word.

There’s a lot of expense put into warnings about storms and freezes here in Florida. Up in places more tothe north there are signs reminding drivers that bridges freeze before the roads do. Those who ignore those warnings are foolish and dangerous.

The same is true about what God warns us in his word. What he says is serious. God is real. He’s not just a figment of our own imaginations. He’s not an undefinable force of the universe that can be understood in contradictory ways. What we believe about him is the foundation of everything we do.

Psalm 19:7-8 explains the great value of the content and teachings of God’s word:

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes”

What God says to us in the Bible can’t be ignored or known only superficially. If we’re to see our souls transformed, if we’re to be truly wise, if our hearts want to truly learn to rejoice, and if we’re to be enlightened in our outlook on life, then we need to know that word very well.

It might be that Paul had that well known Psalm in mind when he wrote to encourage Timothy.

2 Timothy 3:15-17, “and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

This means that the wisdom we find in the Bible, God’s own word, is profitable for us because:

• It teaches us what is true.
• It reproves us when we do things that are wrong.
• It corrects us about what we should believe and practice.
• It trains us in how to live so that we please the God who made and saved us.

This verse links believing the right things with doing the right things. It’s not enough just to believe certain facts to be true. We need to live by them and see the duty they impose upon us.

Beyond teaching us what we should believe about God, the Bible makes it clear that our responsibilities as God’s people aren’t undefined either. It’s easy to say what you think your duties should be, but it’s quite a different thing to actually perform those duties consistently and seriously. We need to know and to do what God tells us is our duty.

In James 2:19-20 it says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”

It’s a dead faith that thinks it can just believe good things, but not be concerned to do them. It’s not a faith that really trusts in God’s warnings and advice. It hypocritically says it does, but obviously there’s really no trust there if it lives in ways that ignore those warnings and instructions for life.

How well do you know your Bible? Do you know what it principally teaches about God, and about our duties here on earth? Do you know the details of what the Bible says and promises about every area of life? It’s your text book and manual for living.

God’s word is not just something comforting to read when you need a lift. It’s what you need to know and understand to live as you should in God’s world. It’s how you learn about the work of the Savior who alone makes you able to understand and to do what God says. Some books are just written to entertain you. Some try to impress you. Some are published to inform you. The Bible will do all that, but it will also change you.

Since it’s God’s word and comes with his power and promises, it can transform your life. Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.”

Do you memorize parts of God’s word? Do you think about it throughout the day, and apply it as best you can?

The Scriptures tell what we need to know about God, and how he made things to be. It tells about our duties as we live here on earth as God’s people. The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.”

Don’t be one of those sad people who thinks he can live without a serious commitment to read and to know personally what God advises. Don’t be so arrogant that you think you can live well by following popular trends and be only generally acquainted with the Scriptures.

Read it and think on it every day. Pray that God will help you to live consistently in the ways it teaches. At the end of each week, ask yourself what have you turned to that has informed you about life the most? Was it the daily news? TV shows? commercials? Movies? popular music? social media? or is it the Bible? Have you read it and thought about it for as long as you spend time with these other sources of influence?

The Bible is where you learn how to glorify God and to enjoy him both now and forever.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

There are some really big questions of life. Often they tend to loom in the back of our minds. They work their way to the surface in those challenging times, the very lonely times. That’s when people wonder why they’re here, what’s the point of it all?

To the secularist, there can’t be an answer. There is no “why”. Without an understanding that God is central in it all, we’re just part of an accidental series of events that evolved out of primal life forms. If that’s true, then there’s really no purpose in our being here, no reason beyond just surviving, and doing our best to enjoy what time we have while we’re alive.

Those who think this way, usually end up very unsatisfied and depressed. They just live to get as much pleasure as they can out of life while it lasts. They eventually discover that indulging their own pleasures never really satisfies. It just makes people hunger for more. Death in that view of things is just the end of it all, and there’s nothing else beyond the grave.

So when pleasure ends, life may as well end too. Many come to think that it’s therefore merciful to eliminate the elderly, the sick, the depressed and the handicapped. They kill unborn babies if they don’t think they can live a pleasureful life, or if they think they are an inconvenience to the parents. There’s nothing to human existence beyond getting things and enjoying them for awhile.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes what God says in the Bible. It starts with that big question: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is simple but profound: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.”

What an astoundingly different outlook on life! There is a good reason why we’re here, why we were created and put on the earth.

The second catechism question is about how we can know how to fulfill that purpose. Question 2 asks: “What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?” The answer points us back to the writings God preserved for us to know why he put us here. It says, “The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”

In Psalm 19:1-2 God moved King David to write,

1. The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.

It’s not reasonable that God would make all things to display his nature and glory but then keep it as a closely guarded secret. If God created everything to tell about himself, he would also create us able to understand it, and to have a way to find out about it.

That’s exactly what he did. He gave us a book, written by many chosen writers throughout early human history, and kept free from error by his perfect oversight so that it exactly preserves his truths for us. That book is what we call The Bible.

Later in Romans 1:20 the Apostle Paul said, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”

Everything in the entire universe is here to declare God’s glory, and God gave us a written document to tell us so.

From the most infinitesimal things we can see or measure, to the most vast expanses of the cosmos, and in all the mysteries of both, God’s the complex detail in all he made and his incomprehensible power amaze us.

There are many places in Scripture which summarize our importance in the Creator’s world.

When God first made humans he explained their purpose. In Genesis 1 he said he made us in his image. We are a simplified reflection of his nature. He made us to “have dominion” over all other things on the earth. We are to manage creation so that its seen for what it is, his handiwork. We’re to be the objects of his mercy and grace even in our rebellion against him.

In Colossians 1:16 Paul said, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

In John’s glimpse of heaven in Revelation 4:11 Jesus Christ is honored with these words, “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.”

When Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers about the dietary rules some were insisting upon, he said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The Apostle Peter gives a warning to those who teach God’s word. In his First Epistle 4:11 he wrote, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Peter’s concern was that ministers stay true to what God had said in his word. They were to teach as God’s oracles, those called to deliver the Creator’s message.

The purpose is that God is to be glorified in all things. This is the goal of all teaching, of all living, of everything we do. Through the redemption that is ours in Jesus Christ. His is the glory and the dominion, forever.

Man started to think of his own pleasure as the main purpose for being here. He re-directed all the glory to himself instead of to his Creator. Aside from the work of God’s grace to repair that twisted mind-set, we all would be this way to the extreme.

That’s what Paul said in Ephesians 4:18 about all who aren’t made alive by Grace in Christ. There God’s word says, “having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;”

This is why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Man-centered religion might accept that there is a god of some kind or another. However, the god of those religionists is there for their own pleasure, rather than their being created for his pleasure.

We are here to glorify him and to enjoy him forever. This changes everything.

If you’re redeemed in Christ, your goals in life aren’t just to find momentary pleasure for yourself. The pleasures offered by the culture of our lost world can’t really satisfy and fulfill you. Your life was designed by God to expect more than just pleasing feelings. The best you can get aside from living for God’s glory is a temporary experience. When it fades you’re left with emptiness, and a hunger for more. Moses knew this when he decided to side with God’s oppressed people instead of enjoying the luxury of a life in Egypt’s royal palaces.

In Hebrews 11:24-26 God’s word says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

1 John 2:16-17 warns us saying, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life— is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

In Christ you can find eternal satisfaction in glorifying God and enjoying his fellowship. That’s what was made to satisfy you. Any other goals in life are deceptive illusions.

Don’t believe the lie. You were made to enjoy honoring God in all things. Any substitute will keep you from experiencing real life-satisfying pleasure.

This means that your values aren’t found in your bank statement or in all the things you have. These things are part of the distraction from what you ought to do with what God gives you. They aren’t ends in themselves. They are your’s to manage responsibly for God’s glory.

In Matthew 16:26 Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Real value is when you use your time, talent, income, and possessions for God’s glory. As Jesus said, by obeying God in all things, you lay up treasures in heaven. That doesn’t mean just some remote reward for after you die. It means you build up riches in God’s Kingdom, beyond just what this world offers. You fulfill your created purpose, and life takes on a whole new meaning.

It means that your entertainment isn’t just to find pleasure for the moment. Indulging your physical urges and imaginations will not honor God if it’s contrary to his morality. You can enjoy your foods, movies, romance, jokes, games, and web-browsing in ways that fully please God. Any other way just buys into the lies of hell itself. It baits you into a trap. You’re here to enjoy the created world in ways those out of fellowship with God can’t imagine.

There’s no better way to occupy yourself, than to appreciate the wonder and beauty of God’s creation and redemption. Friends and families that share those values are the best companionship.

As the writer says over and over again in Ecclesiastes, aside from fulfilling our created purpose of honoring God in all things, all is vanity — emptiness.

If you’re redeemed in Christ, Church isn’t just a nice social group, or a way to get an emotional or psychological boost. It’s the union of God’s people as a spiritual family to learn together, and to serve God together. It’s not just membership in an organization or fraternity.

Belonging to a sound church means being a living and responsible part of the gathered body of Christ on earth. Submitting to the appointed Shepherds who lead the churches, and helping it do its worship and work, brings a blessing beyond merely what you think you get out of attending or donating. It secures the promised blessing of God for obedience to the order he set up himself.

The Creator, our Redeemer, calls you to be committed to a local body that worships, learns, prays, serves, and encourages.

Our culture, influenced by the attitudes and values of a fallen world, has reduced the church to little more than a service or entertainment corporation. What Christ calls you to is radically different than that. It’s how he tells you to unite together to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Knowing your created purpose is how you can find real peace for yourself, and meaning for all you plan for in your life. The best you can do for your children isn’t to prepare them for a career, or an envied social life, it’s to prepare them to live for God’s glory in all things.

When John wrote his Third letter, he said in verse 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

You best help those around you, you best meet the real needs of the needy, not by feeding them, clothing them, or providing health care. While it’s good to help others in material ways, that’s not what really makes a difference. You best help when you restore them to fellowship with God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This isn’t just a formal creed. It must be your way of life. 24 hours of all seven days of every week, all year long, all life long — you need to live the way God calls you to live.

Your only hope, God’s only promise of a satisfying existence here on earth and beyond, is found when you do what you were created and redeemed to do … glorify God and enjoy him forever.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)