Say no to dumb sheep.

November 9, 2007 at 11:03 pm · Filed under Bible Study, Colossians

My fellowship bible study yesterday was quite a convicting one. After having pondered upon it for a while, as well as taking some time to dig on my own, I felt it was worthy to write an article about the implications of bad and good teaching/preaching.

My church fellowship is currently doing a verse by verse exegesis in the book of Colossians. We spent the whole summer picking apart chapter one of Colossians. It was a very fruitful summer, in which we learned about the perfect and complete sovereignty of Christ. We learned how Paul wrote to the Colossian church to fight the gnostic heresy that Christ was somehow an emanation from God. But, in fact, we are shown that Christ is the beginning and the end. He is the complete and perfect image (or essence in the original greek) of God. Much more can be said about the sovereignty of Christ, but that is more of a tangent from the point of this post; so we will leave that for another article.

The reason Paul wrote Colossians was to address the bad teaching (gnostic heresies) that the church of Colossae was dealing with. In fact, the church didn’t even realize there was bad teaching; they were deluded and decieved into these heresies. Paul had to hit them upside the head in order for them to realize the wrong ideas that were being rooted into their head. He had to explain them in full magnitude who Christ really was and how to really understand (gain a full understanding - epignosis) of Christ.

I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. -Colossians 2:4,5 (NASB)

You fool, you dumb sheep!

We are lucky in this day and age to have great theologians to have teachings from: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Piper, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, and many many more. But even more so, we have THE BIBLE. Imagine living in the times of the Colossae church. None of the epistles have been in written form for them yet! And here, today, we neglect what God has given us; His very own words to us. In fact, we are like dumb sheep today. One of Satan’s favorite tools to delude Christians is to have them follow the first thing that drops in front of them. He wants us to avoid reading God’s word. He wants to keep us stupid, uneducated, and unintelligent. This is how so many people today fall victim to false teaching! It is the mere dependence on others to do the studying for us that opens up a whole slew of problems. This is most certainly the reasons why emerging church has been picking up so much momentum today. We are too lazy to pick up the bible and see for ourselves what it really says! I am most certainly guilty of this. It is so easy for me to just trust what John Piper or John MacArthur say about certain things, because I trust their theology. However, they are still just sinful man. Our faith should lay in God and not in man. This was a wake-up call for me to have faith in God to teach me the truths he allows me to. I should test with fire everything that is taught to me. Test it by hitting where the source of all teaching should be: the bible.

Why are you so prideful? You are just a sheep.

Once you start to educate yourself in the word, you will have the notion of being “right”. Certainly today, there are great teachers that lead the flock closer to God, but just as much, if not more, are leading the flock astray with bad teaching. Take for instance, Joel Osteen. He is seen as a heretic, a horrendous teacher leading the flock astray for his half-picture approach to the gospel. But who are we to judge? Do we take pride in the knowledge that we contain within’ us?

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. -Hebrews 6:1-3 (ESV)

The key here is “if God permits”. How can we boast in knowledge, if knowledge comes from God alone? So let’s put this into perspective. Imagine you are a kid again and you have a science fair coming up. And (especially if you were a lazy kid like I was) you’d find anyone to do the work for you. So, let’s say, your mom is super-awesome and she says: “Son/Daughter, go watch some TV, I will do the whole project for you, you don’t have to do a single thing at all.”. Your mom then spends the whole night, not getting any sleep at all, to create a wondrous and beautiful science fair project. When morning rolls around, you stroll into the classroom with your glorious project in hand. Now, imagine saying to the other kid who did a project on the same thing, but it was much worse and you say: “Look! You did it all wrong, see my project. This is the right way to do it. How can you be so stupid!?”. If you have common sense, the first thing that comes to mind is: how dare this kid boast about his project!? He didn’t do a single thing!

But just with knowledge of truth, we didn’t do a single thing either.

God regenerates our mind to understand truth. In the grand scheme of things we have no claim to attainment of knowledge. Because of this, we have absolutely no reason to boast in our knowledge. So, then, how should we respond to pastors like Joel Osteen? I think those more educated in God’s truth will be quick to condemn the efforts of Joel Osteen. But, remember this, we have no right to judge him. For to judge him, would be like claiming knowledge attained better than him. We should realize that, as hypocritcal as Joel Osteen and other bad teachers sound, we need to accept them as someone who loves the flock. We must be more gracious in our criticisms of not so good theology. (Note, by “accept” I don’t mean to let the teachings flow into your life, that would make you a dumb sheep. By “accept” I mean that you must not be judgemental and boastful to the knowledges you have gained over others.)

A delicate balance

Now by no means do I endorse what Joel Osteen teaches. What I would say is that we need to be smart sheep, not a dumb one. We need to educate ourselves in the word of God (to the point of which God allows us to reach). And through this gain of knowledge, we need to be graceful and tactful in our speech and in our actions. We should never be in a seat of condemning or judging; that is left for God alone. Realize that everything, including our knowledge of truth, comes from God. Knowing that will humble you and put you in your place in the matters of this world. I know I was definitely brought down from my prideful heights.

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Epithumia, watch yo-self.

November 7, 2007 at 6:13 pm · Filed under 1 Corinthians, Bible Study, James

Yesterday, I was reading my friend’s blog and she had written up a short story of how she overheard two guys having a conversation that degrades women:

Boy 1: What do you think about this hot weather?

Boy 2: It’s ok, it’s been like this all week.

Boy 1: Well, to tell you the truth, I kinda like it.

Boy 2: Yeah, me too. It gives the girls at school a reason to dress like sluts.

This conversation made me think about the word lust. It is easy to say “These boys have a problem with lustful eyes.” But what does lust really mean? Lust is so often tied to sexual desires that we forget it is actually a root of all of our sins. Take this passage in James:

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. - James 1:12-15 (NASB)

What is lust? To get a better understanding for what lust really meant, I looked it up in the original greek text. Lust in the greek is Epithumia. Epithumia, in short, is a compound greek word meaning to have an over desire or an over passion for something other than God.

Total Depravity: our sinful and lustful nature.

The passage in James opens a window to our lustful nature. A nature which chiefly produces sin. We naturally lust after things, have an over desire for things other than God. It is easy to condemn the two boys for their over-desire in women. But what about yourself? You can have a lust, an over desire for anything: having the perfect physical body, moving up the corporate ladder, etc. Not only does lust come in forms easy to condemn, it comes in things less noticeable. For example, it can come with family or friends. Do you have an over desire to please friends and family? An over desire to fulfill contentment, if they are pleased with how you act? What it comes down to is that at the root of our nature we lust after things that will “benefit” or glorify ourselves.

We are responsible for our lusts. Why wallow in lusts, finding those for blame?

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. - James 1:13,14 (NASB)

We inherit sinful nature from Adam. We produce our own lusts, it is not from anyone else, especially not God. Matthew Henry says this about the source of lust:

Every man, when tempted, is so through being drawn away of (again here, as in Jam 1:13 , the Greek for “of” expresses the actual source, rather than the agent of temptation) his own lust. The cause of sin is in ourselves. Even Satan’s suggestions do not endanger us before they are made our own. Each one has his own peculiar (so the Greek) lust, arising from his own temperament and habit. Lust flows from the original birth-sin in man, inherited from Adam. - Matthew Henry Commentary

God is not to blame for our inherit sinful nature. Even Satan isn’t. Satan may be a deceiver to which his aim is to enhance our lust, but he does not create the lust that lays within’ us. That is why we all struggle with different lusts. Satan works to attack the lusts that we each individually carry.

Persevere through the trial, fight the lust within’

We know we deal and struggle with our inherit lust. What, then, should our response be? Throw in the towel? Absolutely not, God calls us to persevere through our trials. What does it mean to persevere? Persevere or Endureth in the original greek text is hupomeno; it means to remain under, to bear under pressure. Sin and lust is like a 1000 pound rock left in our hands. You should find comfort in knowing that God knows exactly how much you can lift. He knows your weight limits:

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13

So, then, let us respond to our depravity with a fierce joy and comfort in God. Knowing we serve a God who is faithful (pistos - that can be relied on).

Back yo-self lust.

Why write a whole article on lust? I, myself, struggle with lust. It may not be lust in the sexual desires sense, but I certainly have over desires that push God away. And too often my response to lust is to throw in the towel, to give in; to end up sinning.

Despite my sinning and lustful nature, God still is graceful. I don’t think I will ever come to not appreciate and be brought to my knees by God’s allowance for me to be a part of his kingdom, even though I am so degraded with the sins I commit.

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Reforming…

November 6, 2007 at 6:26 pm · Filed under Bible Study

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. -1 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

I start this blog, in hopes that I will push and hold myself accountable to the truths that God has allowed me to obtain. In these times, the word of God is often used irresponsibly, left to vain interpretation revolving around “feelings”. By all means, I seek to avoid this. I want to be a proper steward of the word that God has provided me; not only for learning truth God bestows me, but to constantly reform myself to what God teaches me. For just as James puts it, we should not merely be hearers of the word, but doers as well.

Albeit my desire to be a proper steward of God’s word, I am still a man. More properly, a sinful man, as we all are. So, in my blog, I hope to be able to share humbly and graciously, as well as receive sound correction humbly and graciously.

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