Ingratitude - Part 3

II Tim. 3:1-9 ... "In the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, ... etc."

In the two previous articles I have stated that the origin and energy of sin is self-interest. That is what II Tim. 3:1-2 clearly states: "In the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self." In the following eight verses a list of 18 sins is given. It is my conclusion that each of them is an express-ion of self-interest, being a "lover of self," or simply being selfish.

Consider the first-named in that list, being a "lover of money." What is more selfish than that? Money buys good clothing, fashion, pleasure and power. To a great many people money is the Golden Rule ... "He who has the gold is the one who rules." In an election year in this country, every candidate for an office persistently begs people of their political party to donate money on regular schedule (monthly). If you dare ask, "How much should I give?," the immediate answer is, "MORE!" It takes mountains of money to win an election. The idea is paramount that money has power. Furthermore, the Bible strongly emphasizes that money buys pleasure, a reality obvious to everyone. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, what did Jesus say the young man did with the bag of coins his father gave him? (Luke 15:13, 30).

What has just been said of self-interest leading to the love of money can also be demonstrated by the third and fourth sins in the list in II Timothy 3 ... boasting and arrogance. I would like to go through the entire list and demonstrate from Scripture the way in which self-interest leads to each sin named. It is a very easy task, and so relevant to daily life. But that would take far more space and time than I am willing to give in this series of articles. There is, however, one of them that claims central attention in the development of this series. It is something rarely recognized as being a sin, because it has taken control of the mind of so many people. Even in the church it is prevalent, and yet it is ignored without thought or consideration. There are occasional lessons given on ingratitude, but they seldom boldly proclaim and emphasize that it is a SIN! The usual assessment is that it is unbecoming and the result of distraction, then the emphasis shifts to the need to be grateful. No one is confronted with the realtiy that ingratitude is a sin, named in the same list with being "brutal, haters of good, treacherous and reckless." (Read the list!) Everyone recognizes the sinful nature of these other spiritual malignities of human char-acter, but we glide over ingratitude and do not emphasize it as sin.

One may argue that being ungrateful refers only to the failure to show gratitude to God. But the text in II Timothy does not limit the direction of being ungrateful. It is a sin to be ungrateful either to God or to people who give you of their time and material resources. In future articles, this theme will be discussed further in the hope that it will generate a dominant spirit of gratitude within all of us.

Ingratitude - Part 2

Mat. 16:24 ... "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

It is my axiom, which 65 years of careful Bible study and life experience have revealed to me, that the origin and basis of all sin is selfishness. And a corollary to that axiom is that selfishness, and not hate, is the opposite of love. Hate is just one expression of selfishness.

This may come as a new thought to many, but when you consider all things, it gradually becomes an irrefutable truth that selfishness is the origin and driving force of all sin. It is evident in nearly all of life that what consumes the attention, the interest, and the modus operandi of anyone's life is selfishness,  the desire to get what YOU want, to make YOU get ahead, and to make YOU feel good. If you do not agree, I challenge you to take any sin mentioned in the Bible. Then with a mind free of bias (unselfish thinking!) and willing to recognize truth, carefully analyze that sin to discover what motivates it and what it is meant to achieve. Then you will convince yourself, and there will be no room left for doubt, argument, and debate. Consequently, a new vision appears. The way to circumvent sin and live a pure life in the goodness of God's grace is to work strenuously to minimize self-inerest in your life and be willing to benefit others for their sake.

This is exactly what Jesus meant when He declared in Mat. 16:24, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." For two centuries in the Church of Christ it has been preached that there are five distinct steps that lead to salvation and conversion to Christ: -1- hear the Gospel, -2- believe it, -3- repent of sin, -4- confess Jesus as the Son of God, and -5- be bap-tized into Christ for the remission of sin (Acts 2:38). Then it gradually was recognized there is also a sixth step ... to be faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10). But, dear reader, I am now telling you that there is a seventh essential step which must precede baptism. It is what Jesus made perfectly clear in Mat. 16:24, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself."

Until a person denies himself, he is not ready to follow the path that leads to foregiveness and disciple-ship. However, very strangely this is seldom pointed out and emphasized. Consequently, many people (perhaps most!) become "disciples" with self-interest still dominant in their thinking. And that unabated, undiminished self-interest is the source of 100% of the problems experienced in our personal lives and in the corporate welfare of the church. The "five steps" that end with baptism are like spiritual surgery. But not denying yourself is like leaving the wound open and unbandaged. And then self-interest surges right into the new life in Christ, just like bacteria into an open wound. And that continuing power of selfishness contaminates Christian life, preventing spiritual growth and development. Without being aware it is happening, Satan appears and begins to "sift you like wheat" the way Jesus told Peter he would do with him during the night when Jesus was arrested, (Luke 22:31).

Ingratitude - Part 1

Acts 20:35 ... "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

In II Tim. 3:1-9, there is an extended statement of what lies ahead in the progress of Christianity. It begins with an ominous prophecy: "In the last days difficult times will come." There follows a list of 19 sins that will become prominent among people in general, and it is that mix of sin that shall bring about what is called "the last days." Sin is, after all, what brings difficulty into life. Were it not for sin, we would have no difficulty.

There was no problem in Eden until Adam and Eve produced it by believing Satan's lie and disobeying God. After that, all kinds of problems arose; and ever since then such problems have multiplied, become more difficult, and produced greater damage. The first problem was, that sin separated man from God. The second was that it made man mortal and set him on the path that ends in death and decay. Sin led to man being expelled from the Paradise of Eden into the raw world of nature where he was exposed to dangers of all kinds -- vicious animals, disease, accidents, storms, droughts, floods, and earthquakes. Sin brought into human experience jealousy, envy, hatred, cruelty, vain competition, and murder. And then man became his own worst enemy. Finally, sin imposed on man a new lord and master, Satan. The spirit and dominion of evil spread all over the world and enslaved everyone who lives, for we all sin (Rom. 3:23; I John 1:8) and yield our souls to Satan (Rom. 6:16).

In II Tim. 3:1-9, we are told that, when we enter the last period of world history, which is referred to as "the last days," the prevalence of sin and ensuing difficulties will progressively become worse, especi-ally for Christians and the Lord's church. It's both interesting and revelaing that the first of the 19 sins listed is selfishness, which is indicated by the phrase, "Men shall be lovers of self." Their primary interest will be whatever pleases themselves, not what pleases God or benefits fellow humans in need. So much of what is called "benevolnce" is really selfishness in disguise. By giving, the person is look-ing ahead to gain more than he gave -- credit form God, coveted recognition and praise, and the activation some strange law that giving yields dividends with interest to a giver.       

....... (to be continued)

For Whom There Is No Peace, Part One

Isa. 48:22 ... "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord."

One of the central concepts of the Bible is peace, and it is also a frequent subject of concern for people in every age. There are many aspects of peace, and it would take a lengthy dissertion to present and dis-cuss them all. This brief article assumes the usual meaning of peace as the welfare, safety, and pleasant course of life that prevails when there is no strife, conflict, or disturbance. Unfortunately, such a condi-tion is seldom entirely present, and when it does occur to our great satisfaction, it does not last very long. It is God's desire, however, that peace prevail so that we may live pleasantly. He sent His own Son down from heaven, to live among us in human form, to promote peace on earth. In Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is called the "Prince of peace." And when He was born in Bethlehem, God sent a host of angels to pro-claim, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

The way to peace is revealed in Rom. 5:1, "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The way to real and enduring peace is therefore "through our Lord Jesus Christ." There is, however, an esential prequisite, being "justified by faith." This means the recognition and total conviction that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God," (Mat. 16:16). This is the faith that motivates the individual to submit His life to Jesus, (Mat. 16:24-27).  More is required than the pious cry of "Lord, Lord!" as hands are clasped and eyes are lifted upward. This is so often an emotional reaction in a church service that reverts to routine human behavior during the week following. One's appeal to the Lord must proceed into modeling your attitudes, speech, and routine conduct to the stan-dard of life which Jesus taught and then modeled in His own way of life displayed before us and des-cribed in Scripture. So Jesus said in Mat. 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."

The lack of real and enduring peace, which would make the world a wonderful place to live, is the result of rejecting the Prince of Peace sent by God. That rejection is often deliberate, resolute, and overt. There are many places in the world where the mention of Christ and His teaching are banned. Some of those places are in the United States, which was once called a "Christian nation." I myself was twice warned not even to mention God's name in the public high school where I taught in Nashville. Others have lost their jobs for mentioning Christ and commiting to His teaching on subjects that are no longer accepted in an organization. When the conscience of a generation is not formed and buttressed by a moral stand- ard that advocates morality, honesty, human dignity, and the unselfishness of real love, the result is the climate of conflict, danger, and outbursts of cruelty that occur practically on a daily basis in the USA and other countries.

When peace is established and maintained by force, it will never be fully successful or endure for long. The annals of history prove that statement to anyone who will bother to read them. When there is no higher being to whom a person yields than himself, or perhaps his group, there is the urge to defy authority, the peace-by-force entity. Thus, we see continual public protests, which often beome destruc-tive and inflict injury and sometimes death. The very enactment of a law to define human conduct becomes a provocation to many to oppose it, defy it, and use all means to dismantle it.  The only peace that will be effective and endure is that not based in power and managed by force, but that which God has offered to the world in His Son and the message of life, truth, salvation and righteousness which He brought down from heaven and gave to us for our greatest good, (Heb. 2:1-4).

Many will reject this brief discourse with the argument that Christ and His teaching have been with us for 2000 years and have failed. I will answer with this story. A well-known evangelist came to a town to offer the appeal of Christ and His Gospel to the public. Thre was a large factory in town that produced soap, and many earned their living by working in that factory. Somehow, the owner of the factory, to show good will to the preacher, invited him to lunch. In his car, driven by a chauffeur, the owner picked up the preacher at the place he was staying and took him to the restuarant. On the way, they passed through a slum where dirty kids played in the street, drunks staggered down the sidewalks, and harlots appealed to men on street corners. The factory owner said, "Just look at all this corruption! Christianity has been in the world 2000 years, and it hasn't prevented all this." The preacher then pointed to the dirt and squalor that motteled the skins and clothes of the people along the street and answered, "You mass produce soap here, and it hasn't made your town any cleaner." The owner rebutted, "That's an unfair statement. Common sense makes it obvious that soap will not clean unless it is used!" The preacher replied, "Precisely, sir! And Christianity won't lift people up to a level of dignity, morality, and good conduct unless it is used."

(This subject will be continued in later posts, if I may further write them.)

Joy vs Happiness

John 15:11 ... "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

Contrary to popular opinion, at least in the Biblical context, joy and happiness are not the same thing. Though this has for years been occasionally publicized in sermons and various publications, many speakers and writers go right on equating the two. Some even say that "happiness" is the better term because people use it more in daily speech than they do "joy." To me, this is deplorable!  I am disgusted with a speaker or writer who puts "happiness" in the place of "joy." Joy is a pure, basic Biblical term, but happiness is not. Of course, the words "happy" and "happiness" are used in recent versions of the Bible rather than "joy," but in the original language that is not the essential meaning of the words so translated. Joy is a gift of God; happiness comes from within us. It is the product of our emotion when things go to suit us, when we are made to feel good, when we succeed in something important to us.

The words "happy" and "happiness" come from the root HAP, which signifies "chance." If a combina-tion of things line up to produce something that is pleasant, you are happy. But when those things fall out of alignment, according to the vagaries of the flow of daily events, happiness disappears and you are left flat, empty, and let down. Such alignment of the components of happiness is a chance occur-rence, and thus happiness is the product of chance. Daily life is a succession of such a rise and fall in chance. But joy, as a gift of God, is not by chance. It is an act of God. And it stays with you, unchanged, unless you choose to hand it back to God through sin and foolishness.

If further proof is needed that joy is a gift of God, then consider Gal. 4:22, where it lists the "fruits of the Spirit." Of the nine things named, the second is joy! The expression "fruits of the Spirit" means "precious results that the Holy Spirit produces in our life." And such is JOY! It is indubitably a gift of God. Nowhere in Scripture does it say "happiness" is a "fruit of the Spirit" or a gift of God. That is because, as I have just shown, happiness is the product of chance.

In the past, when I have spoken on this subject, I have heard the comment that it is "just a matter of word meanings." That dismisses all the testimony and proof presented. And that, my friends, is sheer foolishness and the product of mental laziness. Words express units of thought; it's the main way we communicate ideas. And we can accurately communicate ideas only with words that have accurate meaning. When we are talking about the things of God and His revelation, we absolutely MUST use words that express in truth the meaning involved. I take word meaning seriously, and I try very hard to use language that is faithful to the meaning intended. Extemporaneous speaking, while appealing to most listeners, very often fails in using words accurately.

Will You Be Remembered?

 Luke 22:19 ... "Do this in remembrance of me."

When Jesus presided over the final meal with His disciples in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem, He was facing death by crucifixion the next day. In His human state, He dreaded the torture and inde-scribable agony He would suffer; and surely, He was sad at leaving His friends. He knew they would be devastated by His terrible death, and He sympathized with their sorrow. He loved them and wanted them never to forget Him and what He did for them. It was the future mission of these men to make disciples of Christ of as many people as possible. And that mission continues from one generation to the next as long as the world stands. Jesus' desire to be remembered by every generation was His purpose for instituting the Lord's Supper to be observed by His disciples until He returns again.

It is common among people to hope that a person will not be forgotten when he passes from the worldly scene. So, we often leave behind mementos of ourselves ... pictures, personal items, letters, diaries, objects we have made, etc. Especially, we want a monument to be set up at our grave that displays our name, vital dates, perhaps a picture, a pertinent motto and, in special cases, a statue. But practical obser-vation should convince us that, in spite of all effort, those who survive us will not remember us for very long. Memory gradually fades as days past; grief is relieved by daily occupations until the person can again smile and enjoy life. The mind dwells less and less upon the life of the departed, though for some people it may take years before they can go through a day without a flashback of memory.

Of course, family and loved ones retain good memory when they wish to retrieve it, especially in con-versation or browsing through a photo album. But when one comes to the end of life's journey, the following generation will think with less detail and affection of the lives of his parents. Looking to the past, dear reader, can you name each of your 8 great-grandparents? or, each of your 16 great(x2)-grand-parents? Unless you are an avid genealogist, you may not know the name or anything about even one of your great(x3)-grandparents. So, let us face reality; we will be forgotten and unknown within three or four generations. Even if you leave behind a detailed biography, it will be of slight interest to few and of no interest to most within a century. So, as we are told in Rom. 12:3, "I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think."

When a person becomes a Christian, however, he is given status as a child of God and granted a place in God's holy family that is eternal. Then, as we are assured in Rev. 21:27, "those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life" will be taken into heaven to live in glory forever. God does not forget the name and life of anyone who lives "faithful (in Christ) until death." His name is enrolled in the Book of Life in heaven, and beyond death he will be given by Christ a "crown of life," (Rev. 2:10). To run the course of life in this world with no interest in religion, no relationship with Christ, and no thought of answering to God beyond death, (see Rom. 14:11-12), is to be forgotten not only in the world you leave behind, but in the spiritual world everyone enters beyond death. To deny future exis-tence does not make it null and void. To disregard it by living as you wish, by "doing it my way" as Sinatra sang it, is to boast now of your independence and then bitterly regret it for an eternity. The first step to true wisdom and eternal identity is, therefore, to "deny (yourself) and take up your cross (assume your responsibility), and follow (Christ)." These are the best words it is possible for me to offer to any-one, and they are here offered for your benefit rather than mine.

Your Unavoidable Choice

Rom. 12:9 ... "Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good."

There is one final component of Christian character to add to those presented in the previous 17 articles on this subject. It is to make the right choice, which no one can avoid, between following the path of evil or the path of good in one's course through life. This involves the concept of dualism, which views the world as divided into two spheres, good and evil. Behind the good, supporting and promoting it, is God; behind the evil, promoting and supporting it, is Satan. These two beings are diametrically opposed to each other and in perpetual deadly conflict. Satan's goal is to overthrow God and destroy Him, annihilating everything that is good. It is God's purpose to overthrow and destroy Satan, annihilating all that is evil.

God has already won the first phase of this great conflict, (see Rev. 12:9). Satan is no longer in heaven, but he is for sure here on earth, where he continues in fury to wage war against God and all that comes from God. His chief weapon is deception, by which he blinds our eyes to his presence, his ambitions, and his opposition to all that is good. Satan's work in deceiving people is exposed throughout the Bible, and it's quite evident in every sin recorded from Genesis to Revelation. In John 8:44, Jesus was speak-ing of Stan when He declared that "there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies."

Satan's greatest lie is that there is NO difference between good and evil, that everything is relative, and the words good and evil are subjective in meaning. The Bible and the religion it projects are ridiculed because they teach there are "absolutes" and "imperatives" that condemn certain ideas and behaviors. When we are told that the difference between good and evil is nothing but prejudice and intolerance, we are hearing the voice of Satan. It is like what John saw in Rev. 13:11, "I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke as a dragon."

A part of Christian character concomitant to the one being discussed is discernment, the ability to see that good and evil are distinct and opposing forces in everything that moves and operates in the world about us. But there is more to it than just discernment; there is also the accompanying driving urge to embrace what is good and then support and promote it with all the force you can. And that is because we recognize that whatever is good comes from God. Love for God, reverence for God, and faith in God motivate us to exalt whatever comes from Him and then cling to it. This is why everyone who rejects the God of the Bible, who sent Christ here to save us, can never possess Christian character.

It is a character flaw to fail to discern the presence of evil in so much of life about us and carelessly accept it as just a part of our culture. There is a great mixture of evil from Satan in every part of con-temporary life that we have come to tolerate and even adopt as normative -- in lifestyle, speech, cloth-ing, entertainment, grooming, and even in the context of worship. This character flaw will continue until we become serious about what Rom. 12:9 demands of us, "Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good."