Drew Boswell

a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.

Playboy is so Passé; Keeping Your Path Pure in a World of Lies

playboy-kE7F--621x414@LiveMintLast week Playboy magazine announced that it would no longer publish nude pictures of its’ models. Video killed the radio star, and the internet killed the “angel in the centerfold.” With an internet browser search one could pull up literally millions of pornographic websites, with thousands being added daily. The magazine that led the way into this industry has now been surpassed by a deluge of images and video. Scott Flanders, Playboy’s chief executive said, “You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture.”[1]

That which was “groundbreaking” is now old fashioned. In by-gone days pornography was limited to seedy book/video stores that required parking one’s car and entering an establishment. Now, porn is just a click away of a phone, tablet, or computer. No accountability, easy access, and complete anonymity. The access is getting faster, more precise, and with better wifi strength.

As a Christian father who is trying to rear faithful Christian children, that which was difficult in a previous generation, has now become extremely difficult. The “rebranding” of Playboy is a marker that, in order for them to continue to be viable in the porn industry, they have to either take the industry further (add even more content, or more profound evil) or change to set itself apart from the industry (an inventing of a new type of evil). They are working hard to see what kind of new evil they can create (which really isn’t new) and to see how they can get it into people’s hands.

But sin and sin taken to its’ extreme is nothing new. Even with all that we see with Planned Parenthood and videos of their depravity[2] – it is nothing compared to parents (God’s own people) throwing their children into a fire to a false god as an act of worship.[3] Sin and its’ continuing morphing and reshaping is always the same. It may change in form and how it operates, but at the root level it looks the same.

Every generation has to figure out how to navigate the evils of its’ day and to face the future with faith. In every generation there are those that rail against the evil of it’s day, and has a belief that it is growing worse. But the Bible has stood the test of time and as God’s Word tells us how to navigate these treacherous waters.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”

_____________________________

In the following passage from Psalm 119:9-16 we see that there are three components to consider when desiring to walk before the Lord in holiness.

Psalm 119:9-16

I.  To Treasure God’s Word

9     How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

 How a person keeps his way pure deals directly with the Word of God. It’s power and influence overcomes anything the world and its’ manifestations of generations has to offer. Now matter what orientation or design, and as new it may seem to us, God’s Word is sufficient to give you what you need to maintain purity before the Lord. The outward obedience before the Lord begins with an inward love and seeking after the Lord.[4] The Scriptures sanctifies the believer and enables him to resist the temptations of the world.

“sanctification” is a translation of the Greek word hagiasmos, meaning “holiness” or “a separation.” In the past, God granted us justification, a once-for-all, positional holiness in Christ. Now, God guides us to maturity, a practical, progressive holiness. In the future, God will give us glorification, a permanent, ultimate holiness. These three phases of sanctification separate the believer from the penalty of sin (justification), the power of sin (maturity), and the presence of sin (glorification).[5]

God’s Word is seen as a treasure that is sought after, guarded, and buried in the heart so that the person may not sin against God. When we begin to see God’s Word as being precious, it enables to see the world around us clearer and how the lies of this world are false. If we are to help the next generation, the best thing we can do it is point them to the priceless treasure of God’s Word.

II. To Understand God’s Word

12  Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

Having established that the young man in order to keep his way pure must treasure the Word of God, he must now properly understand it. God must reveal its’ meaning to the heart of the reader. Again what begins as a treasure of the heart now overflows out of the mouth. What God changes on the inside becomes manifest on the outside.

A false sanctification begins on the outside, but does not touch the heart. This is religion rooted in external behavior and legalism. God teaches the heart that loves Him through His Word, and this overflows into action.

kid_reading_bibleIII. To Keep Your Focus on God’s Word

14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Once again the Word of God is seen as a treasure and once found there is delight. But not just in found riches, it is all riches combined. To meditate is not the eastern philosophy of emptying the mind. Instead, the biblical definition of meditation is to fill the mind with God’s Word. The word meditate carries the idea of a cow chewing cud, chew, chew, swallow, and then chew again.

If we see it as having great value, and we fix our mind on it, and meditate on it, it then sanctifies us and it becomes apart of who we are – it changes us (and our outward behavior.) If you have wandered from God’s Word His grace will allow you to start again, refocus on His Word and watch how he changes your heart (once again).

So no matter how crude and vulgar the world may seem around us, we must keep our focus on the Word of God and allow it to guide our steps. Our steps are guarded because the Word of God is apart of who we are. Parents do not fear; just keep focusing your children on the Word of God. Teach them to love it, treasure it, and fear the God who wrote its’ words.

______________________

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/business/media/nudes-are-old-news-at-playboy.html?_r=0

[2] http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/29/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-the-planned-parenthood-videos/

[3] 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6.

[4] Holman Old Testament Commentary, Psalms 76-150, Max Anders Ed. (Nashville, Tennessee; Holman, 2006) 242.

[5] http://www.gotquestions.org/sanctification.html

A Reaction to The Ashley Madison.com Leak: Genesis 3

 

imagesEd Stetzer in an article submitted to Christianity Today said, “Based on my conversations with leaders from several denominations in the U.S. and Canada, I estimate that at least 400 church leaders (pastors, elders, staff, deacons, etc.) will be resigning Sunday.”[1] That means that tomorrow (Sunday) across the country over 400 faith communities will be losing their pastors, key leaders, deacons, staff members, etc. because of the Ashley Madison leak of membership information. The truth is that 40 million men’s sin has come to light. As a man who himself sins, I do not judge nor point a finger. These men thought their sin would remain hidden, as we all do.

Ashley Madison is a website that advertised itself as a means for a man to have an affair. But as we will see it really made it easier for a man to have the fantasy of having an affair. Popular figures, NFL stars, and millions of other not-as-popular men’s names have been placed on the internet for the world to see. There have also been a string of suicides to this information leak where men were unable to deal with their sin being exposed.

In an article for Gizmodo.com Annalee Newitz wrote, “Overall, the picture is grim indeed. Out of 5.5 million female accounts, roughly zero percent had ever shown any kind of activity at all, after the day they were created.”[2] As the story develops it has become clear that the site was made up of 40 million people. 35 million were men who paid to have access to women’s accounts (who supposedly wanted to have an affair.) Of the less than 5 million all but around 3,000 were shown to be false accounts generated by ashleymadison.com. These were women’s accounts that were completely fake. So 35 million men were interacting with false accounts.

Newitz says, “The men’s accounts tell a story of lively engagement with the site, with over 20 million men hopefully looking at their inboxes, and over 10 million of them initiating chats. The women’s accounts show so little activity that they might as well not be there.”[3] There was no statistically mentionable activity by the women.

So what does this mean? It means that many men were paying for the fantasy of having an affair, but not many actually were having a “real” affair. They weren’t aware of it, but the fantasy alone was enough to drive them to keep checking their e-mail on the site and to sift through the fake accounts. Newitz goes on to says, “Either way, we’re left with data that suggests Ashley Madison is a site where tens of millions of men write mail, chat, and spend money for women who aren’t there.”[4]

How does this happen?

____________________________

Sin’s Transformation

Genesis 3:6

[6] “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Independence

Eve observes the forbidden fruit and made up in her mind that it looked ok to eat. She believed the serpent’s lies that God was keeping something “good” from her. This is what has snagged us all. We say things like, “I don’t see anything wrong with this.” “It looks ok to me, in fact I believe that this will make me very happy.” “God is trying to keep this from me, because he doesn’t want me to have this.”

The fruit wasn’t rotten, “it was good to eat.” The fruit looked very appealing, it wasn’t gross. She knew that this experience would allow her to know something that God did not want her to know. God tries to keep certain experiences away from us not because He wants to keep some happiness from us, but instead He wants what’s best for us.

Adam instead of being the leader of the home, became the follower. Instead of correcting his wife and telling her the truth, he buys into the lie as well. He was right there the whole time. Satan had gone to the woman to disrupt the created order of what God had established. Adam became the woman (helper) and the woman became the man (leading).

Separation

Now when it is too late, they saw the folly of eating the forbidden fruit. They saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they had fallen into. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favor forfeited, his likeness and image lost, dominion over the creatures gone.

They saw their natures corrupted and depraved, and felt the disorder in their own spirits of which they had never before been conscious. They saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath. They saw as Balaam, when his eyes were opened (Num. 22:31), the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in hand.

Their eyes were opened but what they saw they did not want to see. They saw themselves separated from God. Isaiah 59:2 says “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Because God is holy and righteous, He will not continue in friendship with those who disobey His commands. He hates everything that is wrong and punishes all disobedience of His commands by death.Romans 6:23 says “…the wages of sin is death…” Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were cut off from their friendship with God. Their relationship with God was dead.

They had taken sides with God’s great enemy, Satan, and they too, were now the enemies of God.

Imagine a green branch broken from a tree it would not die immediately, but in time separated from its life source it would die. The same thing happened to Adam and Eve. Death wasn’t evident in their bodies on the day they disobeyed God. But they had died to God.

That part of them which was made in God’s image, so they could know, love, and obey God, was immediately separated from God when they disobeyed His command. Their bodies would also eventually die, and they would go to a place of punishment which God prepared for Satan and the evil spirits.

Adam and Eve thought that they could cover their own sin. But God does not accept us based upon our outward appearance and behavior. Just as Adam and Eve tried to make themselves acceptable to God by putting on clothes, many people today think that they can make themselves acceptable to God by the outward appearance of respectability – becoming church members, being good parents, being law abiding citizens, holding membership in civic and charitable organizations.

I Sam. 17:7 says, “. . . man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Are you trying to cover your heart condition by trying to look a certain way on the outside?

Genesis 3:8

[8] “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

 God would come to the couple everyday at a certain time (in the cool of the day) and they would talk and learn. It was the couple’s responsibility to oversee the Garden and the animals, and they would seek advice and direction from God. “Walked with God” is a favorite expression in Genesis, depicting the righteous conduct of Israel’s hero’s, including Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God until now.

Now they hid amongst some trees and were seeking to hide their sin from their creator. They were embarrassed to be in front of each other. Eve because she had led them into rebellion and Adam because he had followed her, he participated in the sin.

There were signs that they were now separated from God:

 First, their attitude toward their bodies changed immediately. Before they disobeyed God, they were naked but unembarrassed. Now they were separated from God, and their minds were no longer under God’s control. Their minds became evil, and their attitude toward their bodies changed. They were embarrassed by their naked bodies.

Secondly, they tried to provide for their own needs. Before they were separated from God, they looked to God to provide everything they needed. But now they tried to do things for themselves. They clothed themselves with fig leaves. They no longer trusted God to give them what they needed. They were trying to live independently of God.

 Sin has transformed the world. It brought a separation between the man and the woman but more importantly, it brought a separation between everyone and God. God could no longer come and walk with them because He cannot allow sin in his presence. Their relationship was broken.

But God has sent a Second Adam. This Adam corrected the mistake that the first Adam made. His name is Jesus Christ. I Cor. 15:45 says “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life giving spirit. Jesus came to fix what was destroyed at creation.

________________________

It is my hope that when the men who stand before their congregations tomorrow that the congregants will see that they have fallen for the same lie that all mankind have fallen into. It is my hope that the churches will handle their admissions with grace and mercy and an understanding that they are themselves sinners. I hope that the men who step down get the help that they need (in their marriages, in their personal lives, with their children) and that they will come to see another path for their lives. We serve a God who is never surprised, but always have a plan. The universal fall of man is not an excuse, for leaders are held to a higher standard (1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Tit. 1:5-9).

God can take our sin and in His omnipotent power take our mistakes and use them for His glory. If you are on the list, then admit it, step down, mourn the sin, seek to rebuild the relationships, but don’t give up. God is still with you, “for He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5,6). We have all experienced the emptiness of sin and how it leaves us betrayed.

These men tried to fill an emptiness within them that God had designed to be found somewhere else. We have all done this (in other ways and forms). We should never excuse the sin, nor seek to run from it. It should be dealt with as Scripture commands, but at the same time our attitudes should not be the same as the men who rush to throw stones at the adulteress only to see Jesus writing something in the sand.

John 8:3-9

“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.”

What did Jesus write in the sand?

Perhaps a website.

__________________________

[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/august/my-pastor-is-on-ashley-madison-list.html

[2] http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

 

 

The Life that God Blesses; Ezra 7:1-28

 

book6In the story on Jesus feeding the 5,000 there is a simple point that we are to learn. “Everything in our service for the Lord is dependent on His blessing”. In this story, the feeding of the 5,000, the supply in hand was totally inadequate to meet the demand, and yet the demand was met.

“The meeting of need is not dependent on the supply in hand, but on the blessing of the Lord resting on the supply.” Which leads us to ask a question, “Do we really seek the Lord’s blessing in our lives?” Do you really want and seek God’s blessing on your personal life, your family, your service for the Lord, and on His church?

There are a number of men in Scripture whom God blessed: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and David are prominent examples. But Ezra is also a man whom God blessed, even though he is not so well known as the others. We first meet him in chapter 7 of the book that bears his name. There is a 57-58 year gap between the events in chapters 6 and 7. The temple had been rebuilt under the ministries of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, aided by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah.

The exiles that had returned to Israel during that first wave were either dead or very old by now. They had settled into the land and, as we will see, in many cases had begun to blend together with the unbelievers of the land. The walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt, leaving the city vulnerable to attack. God raised up Ezra to bring spiritual reform to His people.

Ezra was born in Babylon and had close connections with King Artaxerxes. No doubt he enjoyed comfortable living conditions there. But he was burdened with the low spiritual state of the exiles that had returned to the land. Ezra was willing to give up his comfortable situations in Babylon and endure the hardship and hassles to bring reform to God’s people.

But how could he accomplish this overwhelming task? The answer occurs in a phrase that first occurs three times in our chapter, and then five times in the rest of Ezra and Nehemiah: God’s hand was on these men (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Neh. 2:8, 18).

God’s hand is another way of saying God’s blessing. God blessed these two men and their labors for Him. If we want His blessing or hand to rest on us, then we need to study their lives. We could add more factors, but limiting ourselves to Ezra 7, we learn that . . .

To have God’s hand of blessing on us, we must study and obey His Word, with a view to teaching others and glorifying God for everything.

That theme is stated in Ezra 7:10, which explains why “the good hand of his God was upon him” (7:9): “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” The connection between Ezra and God’s Word is repeated no less than eight times (7:6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 21, 25, and 26)! There is a definite correlation between our commitment to know and obey God’s Word and His hand of blessing being upon us.

_________________________

Four Things To Consider As You Seek God’s Blessing Upon Your Life: 

  1. All should seek God’s blessing on their lives above all else. (Ezra 7:1-5)

“1 After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest- 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. ”

God’s blessing flows through family lines. Verses 1-5 trace Ezra’s family lineage back through 16 forefathers to Aaron the chief priest, brother of Moses. There are a number of gaps in the list. Seraiah (7:1) was the high priest at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, who executed him about 130 years before (2 Kings 25:18-21). Thus Ezra was a great or great-great grandson of Seraiah.

The point of the genealogy is to show that Ezra was qualified as a priest to teach God’s law. Also, it “prepares us to meet a man of considerable importance” You may be thinking: “If God’s blessing flows through family lines, that’s not fair! What if I came from a godless family? What hope is there for me to experience God’s blessing?”

The answer is, first, never ask God to be fair with you! You want mercy, not fairness. But, second, there is great hope for you, because you can be the start of a long heritage of God’s blessing on your children and grandchildren. You can’t do anything about your ancestors, but you can do something that will positively affect your descendants.

Psalm 128:1 promises, “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.” It goes on to show how the wife, children, and grandchildren of the man who fears the Lord will be blessed. No matter how rotten your upbringing, if you will follow the Lord, you will be blessed and you also will be the source of great blessing to your children and grandchildren, perhaps for many generations.

This genealogy also should serve as a warning to those who have been blessed with godly parents. Aaron had sons who were consecrated as priests, but they did not obey the Lord and He struck them dead with fire from heaven (Lev. 10:1-3). Aaron also had a grandson, Phinehas (Ezra 7:5), who took bold action for God so that a plague was stopped among the Israelites.

Israel had fallen into the insidious plot of Balaam, who counseled the Midianite king to seduce Israel into idolatry through intermarriage. An Israelite man brazenly had brought a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of all Israel. Phinehas took a spear, went into the tent, and pierced them both through, probably while they were in the act of immorality!

As a result of Phinehas’ bold action, the Lord told Moses that He was giving to Phinehas His covenant of peace, and then added, “and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God” (Num. 25:13). Phinehas’ bold obedience resulted in blessing on his descendants for hundreds of years, right down to Ezra!

The lesson for those who have godly parents is, you can either disobey the Lord and deprive your descendants of God’s blessing, or you can be bold in obeying the Lord and bring His blessing on your descendants. But the point stands in Scripture, that God’s blessing flows through family lines.

God’s blessing refers to God’s doing above and beyond what human effort can produce or expect. Just before He fed the 5,000, Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” John adds, “This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (John 6:5-6).

Philip does a quick calculation and answers, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” Philip and the disciples didn’t have 200 denarii, which was about 200 days’ wages. Even if they could scrape together that much, it would not have been sufficient for everyone to receive just a little!

But Jesus could do far beyond what human calculations and effort could ever hope to do. The result was that the people all ate “as much as they wanted” (John 6:11), and they even gathered up twelve baskets full of leftovers, a full basket for each disciple!

God’s hand of blessing on Ezra is seen in that an unbelieving king “granted him all he requested” (7:6). The king’s grant is stated in the letter that he gave to Ezra (7:12-26, written in Aramaic).

The king granted five things: (1) He authorized Ezra to go to Jerusalem and insure that God’s law was both taught and observed (7:14, 25). (2) He provided a generous grant to buy supplies and temple vessels for the temple worship (7:15-20). (3) He commanded the treasurers in the provinces to supplement anything else that Ezra needed, up to 3¾ tons of silver, 600 bushels of wheat, 600 gallons of wine, 600 gallons of olive oil, and salt without limit (7:21-22). (4) He exempted all temple officials and workers from taxation (7:24). And, (5) he authorized Ezra to set up a judicial system to see that these laws were obeyed and that violators were properly punished (7:25-26).

Ezra 7:27-28 “Praise be to the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king’s powerful officials. Because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.”

Verse 27 makes it clear that it was none other than God who put it into the king’s heart to beautify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. But Ezra still had to go and ask for it (7:6, Kidner, p. 62). Sometimes the Bible compresses a lot into a passing phrase (“the king granted him all he requested,” 7:6)!

To go before such a powerful monarch and his counselors and powerful princes (7:28) and ask for such extravagant provisions for a subject people whom the king easily could have exterminated, took some courage! The source of Ezra’s strength is stated: “Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me” (7:28).

Thus we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and yet at the same time, it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). God’s blessing involves and requires our working, and yet it goes far beyond anything that we can do.

I want God to do more through me for my life, for my children and grandchildren, and for my ministry that than I ever could and to go beyond my effort, my ability, or my expectation All of us should seek His blessing on our lives. But, how does that blessing come?

  1. God’s blessings come to those who study and obey His Word. (Ezra 7:6-10)

He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. 7 Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. 9 He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.

I realize that Ezra was specially gifted for the role of teaching God’s Word, and that not all are so gifted. But whether you are gifted to teach in a formal way or not, you are nonetheless required to learn God’s Word so that you know how He wants you to live.

Ezra 7:6 says that he was “skilled in the law of Moses.” The word “skilled” means “swift” or “ready,” implying that Ezra was quick to understand and put together the various parts of God’s Word. While giftedness has something to do with it, skill also requires effort and practice.

Ezra had “set his heart to study the law of the Lord” (7:10). It was a deliberate decision on his part to spend time in God’s Word. Even if you are so gifted, studying God’s Word will not happen automatically and spontaneously. You have to discipline yourself to do it, and the minute you let up, other things will crowd out the Word.

Ezra “set his heart” not only to study God’s Word, but also “to practice it” (7:10). It is nonsense to say that you want God’s blessing while you are knowingly living in disobedience to His Word. The goal of Bible study is not to fill our heads with facts, although facts are important. It is to change our hearts and lives into conformity to Jesus Christ.

Note, by the way, that Artaxerxes trusted Ezra’s character and integrity to the extent that he gave him enormous material resources and told him to use it for the temple. If anything was left, he told him to do with it according to the will of his God (7:18)! Ezra’s obedience was obvious to this king. Our obedience should be obvious to those in the world who know us.

  1. The study and obedience of God’s Word are the foundation for teaching it to others.

Whatever you have gleaned from God’s Word and incorporated into your daily life ought to be passed on to others whom God puts in your circle of influence. If you teach others what you know in your head but do not practice in your life, you become like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day–hypocrites.

This does not mean that you must be perfect before you teach God’s Word, but it does call for the integrity of admitting your shortcomings and the honest effort to apply it to yourself. One of the occupational hazards of preaching God’s Word each week is that I can easily fall into the trap of studying the Word so that I can tell everyone else how they should live, but not applying it to myself.

Thus we all should seek God’s blessing above all else. His blessings come to the ones who study and obey His Word. Such study and obedience are the foundation for imparting the Word to others, whether personally or in public settings. Finally,

  1. The final end of God’s blessing should be our glorifying God for His abundant mercy.

After Ezra cites the incredible letter from King Artaxerxes, he breaks forth in praise to God (7:27-28): “Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart … and has extended lovingkindness to me…. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me….”

Ezra didn’t take credit for devoting himself to studying God’s Word or for his bold presentation to the king. He gave all the credit to God for His abundant mercy. Any good that appears in anyone’s heart, whether in a believer’s heart or in the heart of an unbelieving king, comes from God who deserves all the glory. When God blesses us, our response should be to bless God for His great mercy in using us.

______________________

jacob-bible-movieIt is remarkable that God is pleased to be known in the Bible as the God of Jacob (Ps. 46:7, 11). Jacob was a man with many shortcomings and faults. He connived his brother out of the birthright. He bargained with God at Bethel, promising to follow Him if He would take care of him and bring him back safely to the land (Gen. 28:20-21). After his many years of trying to out-maneuver Laban, he returned to the land full of fear about what Esau might do to him. The night before he was to meet Esau, the Lord met him and wrestled with him, dislocating his hip so that Jacob always walked with a limp after the encounter.

But before dawn, the angel of God said to Jacob, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” Jacob gave this great reply, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). The Lord did bless Jacob, the conniver, by changing his name to Israel, one who has wrestled with God and prevailed. The greatness of Jacob was not related to the strengths and abilities of Jacob. It was due to God’s hand of blessing resting on Jacob.

I hope that you will join Jacob and I in praying, “God, I won’t let You go until You bless me.” His blessing comes to those who study and obey His Word with a view to imparting what they have learned to others, all to the glory of God. May the hand of the Lord our God be upon you for His name’s sake!

Overcoming Discouragement; Ezra 5

mouse-trap-helmet copyAre You Discouraged?  

Have you ever been discouraged? That’s like asking, “Are you human?” Rare, if not non-existent, is the person who has never been discouraged. Why do we become discouraged? Sometimes discouragement stems from a physical cause. We are simply tired and worn out from working too long and too hard without a break.

Or perhaps a bodily illness inclines us toward depression and discouragement. Another cause of discouragement is that we can be too idealistic. Coupled with idealism, discouragement often comes when people disappoint us. We were counting on someone who let us down. We had high hopes for a person who turned against us or failed spiritually and morally. It’s not hard to hear the discouragement in Paul’s lonely voice from prison, “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10).

Disappointment with God is another cause of discouragement. You prayed and worked for something, but it did not happen. As far as you could tell, it would have been for God’s glory if it had come about, but it fell apart. You even had “claimed a promise” from the Bible as you prayed and worked, but from your perspective, God didn’t keep His promise. You begin to wonder whether you should ever try again to do anything for the Lord.

People try to deal with spiritual discouragement in many wrong ways. Many plunge themselves into other things that they think will bring them fulfillment: entertainment, sports, travel, or their careers. Tragically, some turn to drugs or alcohol or adultery. All these things only dig them deeper in to discouragement.

In Ezra 4:4, we read, “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building.” The work on rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem stopped for about 17 years. According to Haggai 1:4-9, the people’s focus shifted to building their own houses, and they neglected building God’s house. If the subject came up, they responded, “We tried that. It didn’t work!”

How could this dismal situation be reversed? How could the Lord’s people put their discouragement behind them so that they could finish the task of rebuilding the temple? To turn things around, the Lord raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah,who spoke to the people in the name of the God of Israel (Ezra 5:1). Under the renewed leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the people began to rebuild and in spite of further opposition, the work was finished in a little over four years.

6a00e54ecc070b883301b8d0bbba5f970c-800wi

Ezra 5 gives us four ways to overcome discouragement in our work for the Lord.

  1. To overcome discouragement, we need a fresh encounter with God’s Word. (Ezra 5:1-2)

1 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

If you go back to Abraham’s or fast forward to the church explosion and expansion in Acts, all great efforts and advances of the kingdom begin with a word from the Lord. When we are discouraged, the thing that will most refresh us is to hear God speaking to us in our particular circumstances through His Word.

I have often found that the passage a preacher reaches on a specific day has particular relevance to the very circumstances I am going through at that time. There are a number of ways that you can have a fresh encounter with God’s Word, but in every case, you must have exposure to that Word. In other words, it won’t happen if you never open your Bible or sit under the preaching of the Word.

When you are discouraged, you may not feel like getting into the Word, but you must go against your feelings, if need be, and expose yourself to the Word. God speaks to us through His Word, and so you must take the time and effort to expose yourself to it.

________________________

images

When you do, God’s Word will do at least four things:

A. God’s Word confronts our sin.

That is the main thrust of Haggai. He directly confronted the people with their sin of building their own houses while neglecting God’s house. God used him to stir up Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the people so that “they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (Hag. 1:14). You may be thinking, “When I’m discouraged, why would I want to be confronted with my sin? That doesn’t sound very encouraging!” It may not be pleasant at the moment, but it’s the medicine we all need.

Sin destroys us and damages those who are close to us. To neglect the Bible because it confronts our sin is like avoiding the doctor when we know that we have a disease. It may not be pleasant to go through the treatment, but without it we will be in poor health. Scripture is profitable for reproof and correction (2 Tim. 3:16).

B. God’s Word confirms His grace if we will repent.

While Haggai confronted the people’s sin, Zechariah gave them hope that God would remember them and keep His covenant promises to send the Messiah. Zechariah’s name means “whom the Lord remembers.” His father was Berechiah, which means “the Lord blesses.” His grandfather (mentioned in Ezra 5:1) was Iddo, which means “at the appointed time.”

Those three names sum up the message of Zechariah: “Whom the Lord remembers, He blesses at the appointed time.” Although Zechariah was the prophet of hope and encouragement, he began his message by talking about God’s fierce wrath because of His people’s sin (Zech. 1:2). But immediately he follows it with the Lord’s gracious invitation, “`Return to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, `that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 1:3).

If we will repent, God will be gracious to us. This is illustrated in our text: Ezra 5:1 is a new, new beginning. The first new beginning was in chapter 3, when the returned exiles gathered in Jerusalem, set up the altar, celebrated the Feast of Booths, and laid the foundation of the temple. Then the opposition discouraged and frightened them, resulting in 17 years of doing nothing about the temple. But now, we have a second new beginning. Thank God that He allows for new, new beginnings, and new,new, new beginnings!

C. God’s Word reorients our priorities under His lordship.

These two prophets spoke “in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them” (5:1), and Haggai exhorted them to get their priorities in order by putting God’s house first.

Wherever we turn in God’s Word, it confronts our skewed priorities. We’re all prone to let the things of this world crowd the things of God out of first place in our lives. The Word keeps calling us back to the basic priority: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33).

D. God’s Word shows us how to live in a manner pleasing to Him.

Without the word from these two prophets, most of the Jews back in the land probably thought that they were doing okay. They may have congratulated themselves for giving up their comfortable lives in Babylon and making the long and dangerous journey across the desert. Perhaps they thought, “Sure, we don’t have a temple yet, but these things take time. The Jews back in Babylon don’t have a temple, either. We’re better off than they are. At least we came back to the land!”

But then the prophets spoke and the people realized that to please God, they needed to commit themselves to rebuild His temple. It’s easy to think that you’re doing okay in the Lord if you compare yourself to other Christians. We always seem to compare ourselves to those who aren’t quite as committed as we see ourselves! But then you come to God’s Word, and it exposes the thoughts and intentions of your heart! You realize that God wants purity in your thought life.

He calls you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You learn that Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. But you don’t love His church like that! So the Word shows how we need to adjust our thinking, our priorities, and our behavior to please God.

________________________

  1. To overcome discouragement, we need to get back to work for the Lord

Discouragement had led the people to abandon work on the temple for 17 years. These prophets called them back to work. There is something encouraging about serving the Lord, especially if you’ve been on the sidelines for a while. There is the encouragement that He can even use me, in spite of my previous failures.

Whether it’s physical labor or being used spiritually in someone’s life, there is joy in knowing that you are laboring for God’s eternal kingdom, and that someday you will hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

One cause of discouragement is that we become self-focused. Often that self-focus generates self-pity and self-justification for why we quit serving the Lord. With Elijah, we begin to say, “I have been very zealous for the Lord,” but everyone else has “forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets …. I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10). That kind of self-focus prevents us from seeing the needs of others and ministering to those needs.

  1. To overcome discouragement, we must persevere in the face of opposition (Ezra 5:3-5, 11-14)

3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?” 4 They also asked, “What are the names of the men constructing this building?” 5 But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.”

So the people after 17 years of stopping, begin to rebuild. Their lives are refocused on Him. No, sooner had the people begun to build than Tattenai, the governor over Israel, and his sidekick and their colleagues came and challenged them (5:3).

“The eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews.” The eye of the enemy and the eye of God are continually upon us in all the work of life. Knowing that the eye of God is upon us, we can persevere even when the enemy is watching and trying to get us to quit.

The letter shows that the Jews gave a strong testimony to Tattenai and his colleagues of God and His ways. The message that they send is that we have sinned before our God, but he is a God of mercy and we seek to worship that kind of God.

They give a brief history of Israel, Ezra 5:11-14 “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. 13 “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon.”

But the point is, the Jews had given Tattenai and his colleagues a strong witness about God and His covenant faithfulness to His people. One way to persevere in the face of opposition is to give a strong witness of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Knowing that others will be watching us, it adds to our commitment to Christ. If we will be bold for the Lord, we can know that His eye is upon us in whatever response our enemies come back with.

  1. To overcome discouragement, we need to trust the sovereign God to accomplish His will through us.

God was sovereignly at work behind these events of the renewal of God’s people. The fact that this governor allowed the work on the temple to continue while an inquiry was sent to Darius was due to God’s eye on His people. In order to fulfill his purpose, God used and coordinated the preaching of the prophets, the work of the leaders, the determination of the whole community, and the decisions of the unbelieving government officials.

It’s also obvious that the Jews saw God’s sovereign dealings with them in history, and this knowledge enabled them to put the current opposition in proper perspective.

The Christian faith is tied to the fact that God made promises and fulfilled them in history, demonstrated by Jesus, who actually came, died, and rose again. Although God is sovereign, decisions we make do affect history.”As Paul exhorted, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). We can know that as we work for the Lord, we are working in harmony with the sovereign God who is working out His purposes in history through His people.

__________________________

By God’s grace, through His Word, getting back to work, persisting in spite of opposition, and trusting that God will use us we can overcome discouragement. 1 Corinthians 15:59 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord“

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The Power of Asking “Why”; Part Two

Dr. Daniel Povinelli, a behavioural scientist, in a documentary entitled Surviving Progress explains that up until recently the purpose of studying chimps was to look for similarities and show how they were similar to human beings. But his study has shown that the major difference between apes and humans is the human’s ability to ask “why.” Povinelli says, “Humans are probing for un-seen phenomenon to explain the observable.”

In a study with shapes where two identical shapes are given the test subject and they are asked to place them in a circle the same way; only one of the shapes is slightly askew on thScreen Shot 2015-08-08 at 11.51.08 AMe bottom and won’t stay upright. The chimp will try again and again to put the shape upright and will eventually give up.

Whereas the human will try several times but will eventually turn the shape over, examine the bottom, or shake it, asking, “why won’t the shape sit up like the other shape?” His conclusion is that this is a major difference between humans and chimps — humans ask “why?”

Screen Shot 2015-08-08 at 12.09.35 PM

In our organizations it is so easy to look around and figure out what is expected of us or our organization. You may have been “putting the shape in the circle” for a long time. But you know something isn’t right. A chimp would just keep doing the same thing — again, and again, and again. But has intelligent leaders we have to stop and examine why this isn’t working. Why does the shape keep falling over? Why does the staff not communicate? Why do we have such a high turnover rate? Why do some leaders feel they can’t trust other leaders in the organization? Why . . . (insert problem here)?

If it is a human tendency to ask “why,” then why do some leaders stop asking this fundamental question?

1. Not ready for the unpleasant answer or willing to deal with difficult or “sticky” situations.

Most of the time, once you start asking this question, there will be a very obvious reason — and that reason may be a person. People are complicated and filled with emotions. If something isn’t working properly it will also, without question, involve change. If you put these two primal elements together (people and change) what you get is explosive.

Unlike in fifth grade when your volcano science project exploded as planned, this reaction ends in hurt feelings, people leaving your organization, or the end of friendships. If we don’t ask “why,” then we don’t have to deal with the fallout. If we don’t ask “why” we become like our chimp friends trying to do the same thing again and again expecting to get different results (which I believe is Einsteins’s definition of insanity).

2. They are too busy asking the wrong question.

Hieronymus_Bosch_051A fundamental skill in magic is one’s ability to misdirect. The magician will do something (waving a hand, flashing a bright handkerchief, etc.) that will encourage you to look in one direction while he uses his other hand to do “magic.” While you are looking one way, he is doing something the other way. If our attention is in the wrong direction, and we are focused on the wrong things it is more than likely because we are asking the wrong questions.

If, for example, you are asking “how” before you are asking “why” you will more often than not feel overwhelmed in the enormity of what needs to get done. The reason and explanation (the why) drives our hearts to do whatever needs to be done (the how). If we are not focused on the end goal, the vision, and the rationale of our great attempts, then we become consumed with the drudgery of day-to-day details. Why always has to come before how. When you are evaluating your situation, write the questions of your heart down and see if they are in the proper order.

Squirrel.

3. They feel that the problem is not meant to be fixed.

m10qg-quotes-on-giving-upOk, so you tried a few times and you failed. You tried something and it was not supported, not funded, not liked . . .etc. Perhaps you are even now holding a scar from your service in the trenches. It is so easy for leaders to let problems go (especially if it’s not “that big a deal.”) You know that if that problem were fixed it would help the overall organization, but you have tried and it didn’t work the way you thought it would so you have essentially quit.

In your attitude, you are saying, “let someone else solve the problem.” If you are a leader then it’s your job. If you are in an organization that doesn’t want to listen to your ideas or value your inout then it is time to move on. Find a place where you can use your gift of asking “why,” and solving problems. Don’t allow your heart to simply accent to “this is how is has to be.” Keep pushing forward.

*This is part two of a two part series. Click here to read “The Power of Asking ‘Why’; Part One”

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

Contact Drew