Today is Halloween, and I am not so sure how to celebrate. Like many of you, I have been wearing a mask and eating candy since March!
With trick-or-treating being limited because of COVID-19 concerns, we probably won’t be seeing as many scary costumes this year. Perhaps more people will seek their thrills from watching their favorite horror movies. Many people enjoy being scared.
However, I have heard people say that they don’t like to read Revelation because it’s too scary. Visions of supernatural demonic creatures, unholy oppressive governments and various disasters and calamities befalling mankind may indeed keep some people awake at night.
But I would suggest that the scariest parts of Revelation are not the sections that describe catastrophic events of the end times. I think the scariest parts of the book are those that point out the fate of those who oppose God by rejecting Jesus.
That, my friends, is what you should be concerned about.
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”—Revelation 1:3.
I sometimes have difficulty recognizing faces, especially of people I do not know particularly well. This pandemic has not helped my situation at all. Several times I have seen someone I think I know out in public and have opened the conversation with, “Hey, _________! Is that you behind that mask?”
I also sometimes have difficulty hearing people talk, especially if there is a lot of background noise. Again, the masks that we need to wear to protect others make it harder for me to understand what is being said. More than once I have been in a conversation where I have asked others to please speak loudly, clearly and distinctly so that I can understand them.
It’s good to know that God has no problem recognizing or understanding those who belong to him. He knows everything about us and he loves us anyway. No matter to what degree we might feel unknown by other people, our heavenly Father will always know us intimately, and that should give us great comfort.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”—Matthew 10:29-31.
We usually feel quite safe when we are praying, and with good reason. When Christians pray we are having a conversation with our heavenly Father who loves us more than we could ever understand. When we pray we feel snug and secure in the arms of the One who created us and, through Jesus, has redeemed us. It is the most natural thing in the world for believers to feel safe when we are praying.
However, sometimes it is a dangerous thing to pray. The Bible records several such prayers, one of which we find in Psalm 139:23-24—“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
To invite the all-knowing God to have full access to what is inside of us is a dangerous thing to do. Our hearts and minds are sometimes inhabited by thoughts, attitudes and desires that are downright sinful. To welcome a perfectly holy God to give careful inspection to our imperfect inner being puts us in a precarious situation! We cannot hope to hide anything from God, not even our best-kept dark secrets that no human being even suspects about us.
The prayer continues by asking God to see if there is any offensive way in us. It is implied that if (more likely when!) God finds such offenses that he will make them known to us. He will point out to us our thoughts, attitudes, words and actions that betray the sin within us, sins that include: greed, lust, an unwillingness to forgive, gossip, laziness, hatred, a lack of passion for the things that God is passionate about and various other offensive ways. When God reminds us of such sins within us, it causes us great pain to think that Jesus died to pay for these offenses, but we have not been able to put these sins behind us.
However, the prayer does not leave us in such a sad state of woe. The next request is that God lead us in a better direction, “in the way everlasting.” We don’t ask God to reveal our sins to us so that we can merely feel bad about them. We ask him to point us in a heavenly direction. Sometimes that means we must take better control of our thoughts and attitudes. It means that we must become better in tune with the Holy Spirit and follow his leading. It causes us to apologize when we have wronged someone, to gain better control of our speech, or to give up a questionable activity that hampers our witness. This invitation for God to lead us opens up the possibility for him to take us in a completely different direction.
That’s why this prayer is a dangerous one. Safe prayers offer no possibility for our comfortable lives to be disrupted in any way. Safe prayers invite no inspection from God. They expect no correction, no rebuke and certainly no interruption of our carefully and selfishly planned life.
I think that God hears more than enough safe prayers. Let’s pray some dangerous prayers for a change!
Psalm 101 contains some timeless wisdom for those who want to live for God. Let’s take a look at these principles and see how we can put them into practice in our lives.
Verse 1 says, “I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise.” Here the Psalmist promises to sing, first to others about the Lord’s love and justice. God loves us enough to create us for his pleasure. He loves us enough to send his Son Jesus to die for us. Surely we have something to sing about when it comes to God’s love! Then he says he will sing about the Lord’s justice. Justice is a much-discussed topic these days. Some talk a lot about justice, but their actions betray that what they really want is vengeance. Our justice will always be flawed. Even with the best intentions, justice is not always perfectly administered by imperfect humans. We must constantly strive for justice, but remember that the Lord will eventually mete out justice that is pure and true.
The second part of the verse promises to sing praise to the Lord. In addition to singing to others about the Lord’s goodness, we must also sing to the Lord himself. Our singing is one of the many ways that we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. We lift our voices together when we meet on Sunday morning. However, our praise is not limited to congregational singing. Through Jesus, God has put a song in the heart of every Christian, and it is fitting and proper to praise God for our salvation every single day.
Verse 2 lets us know that our singing must be backed up by right actions—“I will be careful to lead a blameless life—when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.” It is terribly hypocritical to sing the Lord’s praises on Sunday and then live the rest of the week as if you never even heard of the Lord! Careless living is a poor witness to others and an unacceptable offering to the Lord. While we can never attain perfection, Christians must strive to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God. The second part of the verse expresses a deep desire for God’s presence. This desire is a logical companion to one’s pursuit of holy living. We should seek God’s presence with every waking moment. The last part of the verse points out the important impact your godly living has on the members of your household. Don’t just do the right thing for your own benefit. Do it for the benefit of those you love most.
Verse 3 says, “I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.” I recently voted (early) to express my disapproval of abortion. I recently wrote a newspaper column and preached a sermon expounding on the evil of sexual immorality. I hate it when the Lord’s name is used as a swear word. I stand opposed to gambling in every form. These are just a few of the evils we must stand against. If we don’t take a stand against evil, we cannot rightly take a stand for what is good. Romans 12:9 is a companion verse—“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
These timeless principles for godly living need to become more and more ingrained in our lives. Let’s be diligent as we continually strive to live for him.
A few weeks ago I was watching our local high school team play a home football game. I like to attend because some of our kids from church play, and I want to give them some encouragement.
At one point our quarterback dropped back to pass. He lofted a long throw down the left sideline that found its target. All of a sudden one of our receivers was streaking toward the end zone, and our fans erupted in excitement. It wasn’t until the public address announcer called out the names of the quarterback and the receiver that I realized that the player who caught the touchdown pass was one of our kids from church! That made the play all the more enjoyable for me.
I wanted to make a point of talking to the young man at church that Sunday, so that we could celebrate his touchdown. However, I didn’t see him until after the service had started. We didn’t have time to talk then, but I caught his eye and raised both of my hands high in the air, signaling a touchdown. That put a big grin on his face!
Sometimes we can rejoice with each other in big ways. At other times, just a small gesture can be much-appreciated. In any case, let’s celebrate each other’s victories as often as we can.
Yesterday I wrote about how Caiaphas unwittingly prophesied that Jesus would die so that people could be saved. Another prophecy that was uttered unbeknownst to the speakers is found in Matthew’s gospel, where Pilate is trying to resist the Jews as they pressured him to sentence Jesus to death. “When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’ All the people answered, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!’” (Matt.27:24-25).
Little did they know how true their words were! The blood of Jesus is on all of us, one way or the other. Since we are all sinners, in a sense we are the cause of his death, because that is what was necessary to pay for our sins. The blood of Jesus is on every human being.
However, the blood of Jesus is on believers in a different sense. It is his blood that covers our sins and saves us from the wrath of God. His precious blood redeems us.
One way or another, the blood of Jesus is on us all. I hope that his blood is on you in a good way!
I enjoy reading those passages of Scripture where people utter prophetic statements without realizing it. One such passage is John 11:49-52—“Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.”
This unwitting prophecy came in a meeting of Jewish leaders who had gathered together to plot to kill Jesus. Caiaphas thought that the Jewish people would be better off without Jesus, therefore he should die. Little did he know that the death of Jesus was part of God’s plan to redeem all of mankind. His prophecy came true in a much greater way than he could have ever imagined! The death of Jesus not only saves us, it also brings us together as brothers and sisters, living together in the kingdom of God.
Old age slowly creeps up on some people. For others, it happens quite suddenly. One day they wake up and can’t believe what they see in the mirror!
Growing older is inevitable for those who manage to remain alive. It is something that we should expect. It is something we should plan for. It is something we should pray about.
Psalm 71:18 records this prayer—“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.”
In this prayer we see three desires.
First, the Psalm writer yearns for the presence of God. The more we mature, the more we should understand the need for God’s constant presence. Fellowship with our Creator and Redeemer is what we humans need in order to have a truly satisfying life.
Second, he asks for the opportunity to proclaim his message, a declaration of the great power of God. Jesus says that we are to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), and every Christian has their own story to tell about the great power of God that rescues us from our sins.
Finally, there is a request that this message be passed along to “the next generation”—to “all who are to come.” We need to understand and accept the responsibility of passing along our faith in God to those who follow behind us. Only as we do this will we fulfill our purpose in life.
Years ago my wife and I were driving in Lexington, Kentucky, listening to a local radio station. The announcer was talking about an upcoming ball game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Florida Gators. At this point Karen exclaimed, “What did he just say!?” I replied, “I don’t know. What do you think he said?” “It sounded like he said that Kentucky was playing against the fornicators!”
To this day this is an inside joke with us. Any time we hear the Florida team mentioned, we call them the “fornicators”.
“Fornicator” is a funny sounding word, but there is nothing funny about the sin of sexual immorality. The Bible clearly and consistently forbids any sexual activity except for a man and woman who are married to each other—no exceptions.
Jesus sent an angry message to the church at Thyatira because of their immorality. In Revelation 2:18-29, Jesus threatens to severely punish some people in that church because of their lifestyle of fornication.
Why does Jesus get so angry when people who claim to follow him choose to live a life of sexual immorality? Here are a few reasons.
First, they are breaking God’s commandments. One of the 10 Commandments forbids sexual sin (Exodus 20:14). If anyone wants to know if the prohibition against sexual immorality is written in stone, tell them that it most certainly is! Jesus hates it when people claim to live for him, yet they live a life of disobedience to God.
Second, Jesus gets mad because sexual immorality in the church harms the local congregation. The apostle Paul describes it as a yeast that spreads throughout the whole church (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). One cannot measure the negative impact on a congregation that is plagued with fornication. When the Holy Spirit is grieved by such behavior, the result is that blessings are taken away and spiritual confusion runs amok in the church.
Third, communion is adversely affected if fornicators participate. Jude says, “These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm…” (v.12a). The Lord’s Supper is only for those who are living in communion with God. The sexually immoral certainly do not qualify!
Fourth, those who are sexual offenders have rejected God (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8). They are not merely rejecting their parents, their Sunday school teacher, their minister or the elders of the church—they are rejecting God himself. No wonder Jesus gets so upset!
Another reason that Jesus gets so angry about sexual immorality in the church is that it tarnishes the institution of marriage. Marriage is a wonderful concept that was designed by God for the benefit of mankind. If we try to redefine it or ignore it altogether, we pay the price. Marriage is intended to be a beautiful illustration of the relationship between Jesus and his church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Sexual immorality mars that picture and makes Jesus mad.
Furthermore, the sexually immoral are not included in God’s kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), and if they don’t repent, they don’t get to go to heaven (Revelation 22:12-15). Since Jesus gave his life on the cross so that people could believe in him and be included in his kingdom and in his heaven, it’s no wonder Jesus gets mad that they would throw away an eternity of joy for a few moments of stolen pleasure.
Well, now you know how Jesus feels about sexual immorality in the church, and you know why. Do you agree with him?
When I lost my baby teeth I noticed that some of them had multiple cavities. I had heard over and over from my parents and teachers how important it was to take care of my teeth. I had never disagreed with them. It all made sense to me. I was all in favor of the principle of proper dental care. I just wasn’t putting the principle into practice.
However, this was a wake-up call for me. I distinctly remember deciding that from that time on I would be diligent about brushing my teeth. After all, I would only get one more set, and they would have to do me for a lifetime!
We only get one chance to live our lives. It’s good to know that God gives second chances and that forgiveness is available for Christians who make a mess of things. But we only get one life. It seems to make good sense to try to keep our lives as free from sin as possible. Let’s be diligent about holding onto the truth of God’s Word and applying it to our lives.
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”—John 8:32.
