YOU and GOD

The term “best practices” is sometimes used in the world of business to identify activities, methods, and processes that are proven to be the most successful, yielding fewer complications and failures and producing the best outcomes.

For the Christian, Jesus set forth a clear set of best practices in Matthew 22:37-39: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboy’s first and only coach for 29 years—during which he led that famed team to 20 consecutive winning seasons, including 13 division titles, five NFC championships, and two Super Bowls—was once asked why he had been so successful. He replied, “In 1958, I did something everyone who has been successful must do. I determined my priorities for life: God, family, football.”

Many have done that, but the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the allure of materialism have sidetracked their pursuit. Lewis Sperry Chafer, referring to a friend who was devoting most of his time and energy in pursuit of an insignificant practice, said, “He reminds me of a bulldog chasing a train: what’s he going to do with it if he catches it?”

Another practice that Jesus put at the top of the list for His followers is found in His Sermon on the Mount, when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) The things Jesus referred to were what we eat, what we wear, and the basic necessities of life. He has promised to supply all of our needs, Paul reminds us in Phil. 4:19, “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  So, our priorities should be to seek God first, and to pursue the advancement of His kingdom and His righteousness as we trust Him to take care of our necessities of life.

In one of his sermons, Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., founder of Bob Jones University, told of growing up in southeast Alabama, where hunters loved to go possum hunting with good possum dogs. He said, “Many of the best possum dogs in the country were plain, ordinary cur dogs. We did not judge them by their ancestors. Most of the dogs had no certificates of birth, and they had no family trees.  One of the best possum dogs I ever saw was an old, mangy cur dog that nobody would have wanted for any other purpose except to hunt possums. There was a type of dog that nobody wanted. It was a rabbit-chasing dog.  Sometimes, that kind of dog would go down a possum trail until he reached where a rabbit trail had crossed the possum trail; then he would leave the possum trail and follow the rabbit trail. Everybody in our section of the country had contempt for such a dog.  We all liked good rabbit dogs. We liked to chase rabbits, and we did this often; but when we had a dog on a possum trail, we expected him to stay on the trail until he got the possum up a tree. About the worst thing anybody could say about a dog in our country when I was a boy was to call him a rabbit chaser. Some of you are on the possum trail of divine purpose. It is up to you to decide whether you are going to stay on the possum trail or whether you are going to be a rabbit chaser as long as you live.”

The Psalmist was laser-focused on staying on course for God: “I have set the Lord always before me.” (Ps. 16:8). “My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee and will look up.” (Ps.5:3)

Such was the sterling priority practice of the teenage Jewish exile, Daniel, in Babylon. In adulthood, he would stand at the right hand of five kings, of five different kingdoms, as a counselor/administrator.  His consistent practice of pursuing God was demonstrated in his pattern of praying with an open window toward the city of God, Jerusalem, three times a day—even on the threat of death. (Daniel 6:10)  His practice of godliness, of faith, of prayer, and of obedience had stayed him in good stead. It would, in the den of lions’ experience, prove successful again. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps. 107:8)

“I counted dollars while God counted crosses. I counted gains, while He counted losses. I counted my worth by the things gained in store, but He sized me up by the scars that I bore. I coveted honors and sought for degrees. He wept as He counted the hours on my knees. And I never knew ‘til one day at a grave how vain are the things that we spend life to save.” (The Heavenly Herald)

“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.3:12-14)

I grew up in the 1950s listening to the founder of Radio Bible Class, M.R. DeHahn, on our local AM radio station in Ottumwa, Iowa. DeHahn would teach the Word of God on Sunday morning broadcasts as we ate a bite of breakfast and scurried around, getting ready for church. The late medical doctor/Bible teacher had a gravelly voice and an exceptional ability to expound God’s Word in a way that any sincere heart could hear and believe.  His son once wrote of Dr. DeHahn, “Oh, he wasn’t a perfect man. He had his faults. He was human. Some people even thought of him as stubborn. But he was a man of the Book, the Word of God. And he was a man of courage. My father went home to be with the Lord on December 13, 1965. Yet I can recall his words to me on one occasion as if he said them only yesterday. Accenting his statement by pounding his fist on his desk, he said, ‘Richard, I don’t care if the whole world differs with me. I must do what’s right. I must act according to my convictions.’”

Convictions. That’s what we are speaking to in this second installment of “A Decision for and a Protest Against.”  In the previous post, I enumerated five convictions that all believers could be reasonably expected to adhere to.  Here are a few more fundamental tenets of the faithful:

(6)  It is important to conduct my life so as not to be a stumbling block to another believer, or a reproach to Christ in the eyes of the lost. “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” (I Cor.8:13) Paul, in Titus 2:5, says that we ought to so live “that the Word of God be not blasphemed.” Again, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (I Cor.10:23)

(7) Concerning marriage, a believer should hold to the conviction that marriage is a lifetime covenant, severed only by death. Those words traditionally have been repeated by couples at a wedding altar, and a breach of those holy vows is a serious matter before the God in whose name they have been uttered. Marriage is to be severed by death, and the Bible says that “God hates divorce.” Though it is common in our world today, it has never been a viable option for believers who are seeking to maintain Biblical convictions consistent with God’s revealed Word and will. “For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.” (Romans 7:1) “Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away.” (Malachi 2:15,16)

(8) It is my conviction that I am a steward before God of my time, my talents, and my tithes, and that I will one day give an account to Him of my stewardship of these things. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Cor.5:10)

(9) It is my daily duty to make sure that my mind and mouth are always in conformity to the Word of God: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor.10:4); “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” (Col. 3:17); “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” (James 3:2)

(10) It is my conviction that my citizenship is in heaven and that I am only passing through this life/world as a pilgrim; and that, therefore, my affections should be set on “things above and not on things of this earth.” (Col.3:1) “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” (I Pt. 2:11) “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.” (Hebs. 11:13) “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.” (Eph. 2:19)

Convictions. They are part of the testimony of every believer.  We do not look for opportunities to be controversial and “swim upstream,” against the current of culture. But inevitably, our stand for truth and upon God’s Word will pit us against the philosophies of the age at times. Back in the 1990s, Reggie White, a Pro Bowl defensive end with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, was a “shoo-in” as a future NFL Hall of Famer. But on a popular television program, while calling for ethnic and racial harmony, White put his neck in a noose, politically, when he said that homosexuality was a sin. He was excoriated by the public and denounced by fans. But he stood his ground, saying that “I am going to speak the truth. If people think that’s a contradiction and that’s hate, they need to take it up with God, not with Reggie White.“ White, an ordained Christian evangelical minister, lost a lucrative contract as a sports commentator with a major network, as well as multiple opportunities to endorse popular products that would have yielded handsome financial dividends. But he stood on his convictions.*

George Norris, a U.S. Senator from Nebraska in the early 20^th century, having taken a stand that was very unpopular with his constituents, said, “I would rather lie in the silent grave, remembered by both friends and enemies as one who remained true to his faith and who never faltered in what he believed to be his duty, than to still live, old and aged, lacking the confidence of both factions.” (Quoted in Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy)

*Reggie White was inducted posthumously into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, two years after his death at the age of 43.

Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” once said to  a 19^th century congregation, “Learn to say no! It will be more use to you than to be able to speak Latin.” Spurgeon, pastor to thousands, whose sermons were published worldwide, also said, “Neither when we have chosen our way can we keep company with those who go the other way. There must come with the decision to stand for truth a corresponding protest against error.”

He was talking about the importance of having convictions and being able to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means that uncomfortably you must at times say, “No!”

As believers, we are called upon to maintain a testimony for our Lord and Savior in a world of which the Apostle John spake when he wrote: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away…but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (I John 2:15-17)

To do so will require convictions. Some may be “ordinary” mundane things about what to eat or what not to eat; others may be extraordinary—matters of faith and practice that to bend upon would sorely wound one’s conscience: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23b)  “Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.” (Eph.6:14) Believers today and throughout history have “gone to the stake,” as it were, because they have been unwilling to bend on what they hold as a Biblical conviction.  History is tinted red with the blood of martyrs who have been beheaded, burned at the stake, beaten to death, or drowned because they would neither bow nor bend. Here is a brief list of core Biblical convictions that are principles upon which every believer would, I believe, rightly stand firm upon today:

(1) Whatever the Bible says is so. It is our final authority of faith and practice, and “all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim.3:16) “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no truth in them.” (Isa.8:20)

(2) The main purpose in living my life is to bring glory to God. It is not to make a name for myself, nor to “do my own thing,” nor to “enjoy myself while I do it my way.” God’s Word says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev.4:11)

(3) My body is the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and therefore I should glorify God in my body and not defile it by what I do with it, or by where I take it. I cannot justify wrongdoing in this temple by saying, “I am only hurting myself.” In sinning with, to, and through our body, we grieve God’s Holy Spirit, hurt our loved ones, our teachers, and those who have looked to us as examples. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor.6:20)

(4) The local church is the organism through which God is fulfilling His divine purposes today, and I will, therefore, be actively involved in the ministry of a local, New Testament assembly of believers: one that preaches the whole counsel of God and is engaged in obeying the Great Commission as given by our Lord in Matt.28:18-20—a church that I can support with my presence, prayers and pocketbook. A church that is unashamed of the preaching of the Book, the Blood, and the Blessed Hope of His soon return. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb.10:25)

(5) Children are an heritage of the Lord, and as a parent it is my responsibility (and privilege!) to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” (Ps.127:3) “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov.22:6) “And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children..” (Deut.6:6,7) It is not the responsibility of the school, nor of the church, nor of the state to train up our children. It is our God-given task, and we must hold to the conviction that nothing on our calendar from day to day is more important than this training.

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.” (I Cor.16:13,14)

(To be continued)

A missionary was visiting with Mahatma Gandhi, and at the close of their visit Gandhi said, “Before you leave, would you sing one of your hymns?” When asked what hymn he would like to hear, Gandhi replied, “Please sing a hymn that expresses all that is deepest in your faith.” After a few moments, the missionary broke out in

“When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died;
My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Often, we who have been redeemed from the curse of the law ought to go back to where, for us, life began. “Lead me to Calvary” should be our constant prayer: “Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget Thine agony, lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary.”

Come back with me for a few moments today as we kneel at the cross.

Paul, the Apostle, in his epistle to the Galatian saints, made three references to the cross. In each of these we can find something significant about the cross—the emblem of suffering and shame, and of the Christian’s faith.

(1) The Offense of the Cross: “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased.” (Gal. 5:11) The cross is the source of shame: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Gal. 3:13) In Deut. 21: 22,23 Moses gave instruction that if a man committed a crime worthy of death, and he was put to death by hanging on a tree, his body should not remain all night upon the tree, “but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day, for he that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God.” Cicero, a Roman statesman and orator, said of the cross and crucifixion: “The very name should be excluded from the thought, eyes and ears of a Roman citizen: no word can adequately describe such a nefarious thing.”

The cross was also a source of stumbling. (I Cor. 1:23) To the Jews, looking for a Messiah, it was a stumbling block since they were awaiting the appearance of their King. Pilate, interrogating Jesus, asked, “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” He would later have the superscription written on the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” And, while the cross was a stumbling block to the Jew, it was just plain foolishness to Greeks—lovers of wisdom, beauty, and bodies. The cross, to the Gentile, was not wise; nor was there beauty in a body that was beaten, bloodied and bruised. “Human nature, whether of the philosophic mind of the Greek, the religious mind of the Jew or the analytic mind of the Roman, or the intellectual mind of modern man, recoils from the thought of seeking salvation from a crucified messiah.” (MacArthur)

Contrast what Harry A. Ironside—the 20th-century Bible commentator and one-time pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago—said about Isa. 53:6, a verse which paints the picture of our suffering Savior as he pays the price for sin at Calvary: “To me verse six (‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all’) is the most wonderful text in the whole Bible. I have been trying to preach for sixty years and that is the first text I ever preached on. I was just a boy 14 years old, and out on the streets of Los Angeles with the Salvation Army. I started speaking on that verse, meaning to take 5 minutes, but a half hour later the captain leaned over and said, ‘Son, we should have been in the Hall twenty minutes ago; you’ll have to tell us the rest some other time.’ I have been trying to tell the rest all through these years since, but it is a text I never get beyond.”

(2) The Persecution of the Cross, Phil.3:18: “I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” Lucifer, of course, is the ancient and age-old enemy of the cross of Christ. He has been—and is to this hour—joined by unbelievers, modern religion, false prophets, and the masses of the world who are simply indifferent to the Cross. Rembrandt, the famous Dutch artist, in painting the scene of the crucifixion of Christ, painted himself in a corner scene, suggesting that he himself was just another interested but indifferent part of the crowd that crucified the Christ. “When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree…when Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.” (Studdert Kennedy)

(3) The Glory of the Cross, Gal.6:14: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Our Lord, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, “and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) We can and should then “glory” in the cross, as did Paul. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 3:13-15)

When Portuguese traders, following the trail of the explorer Vasco da Gama, settled on the south coast of China, they built a massive cathedral on a hillcrest overlooking the harbor. In time, though, typhoons and three centuries wreaked havoc on the structure, leaving only the front façade. That part of the cathedral stood long after most of the structure had crumbled to dust. Left “high on its triangular top, clean cut against the sky, and defying rain, lightning and typhoons, is a great bronze cross. When Sir John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong, visited Macao in 1825, he was so impressed by the scene that he wrote the famous hymn, ‘In the Cross of Christ I glory; towering o’er the wrecks of time; all the light of sacred story, gathers round it head sublime.’” (Samuel Zwermer, The Glory of the Cross, 1928)

Think of hamburgers and you might think of a golden arch; think of the Olympics and a burning torch might come to mind; think of freedom and the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island may loom large in your thinking; think of politics and a donkey or an elephant might be the physical emblems of what you have in mind. We do not have a golden arch or a burning torch or a Statue of Liberty or an elephant or donkey; BUT we have an “old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.” May we ever glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)

“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.” (Ps. 119:130)

The young person asks: “How do I know whether what I have always been taught is right…which church can I trust?  Enter the light of God’s Word: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

The believer whose body is assaulted by pain daily asks, “Why does God make me suffer like this?” Enter the light of God’s Word: “For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Cor. 4:17)

The missionary who labors faithfully year after year with few visible results wonders whether it is really worth the sacrifices he and his family have made. Enter the light of God’s Word: “For God is not unfaithful to forget your work and labor of love.” (Hebs. 6:10)

The businessman who struggles to keep his small business afloat is tempted to cut a shady deal in order to get ahead—like so many others are doing, with apparent success.  Enter the light of God’s Word: “Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” (Romans 12:17b)

The high school junior who becomes pregnant through a relationship with a boy who, learning of her plight, disclaims any responsibility and distances himself from her. Her high school counsellor advises her to proceed quickly and quietly to abort the baby—even though the girl and her parents are committed Christians, and they have always believed abortion to be an unbiblical choice.  The counsellor assures the girl that no one needs to know, and that she will give her all the help needed going forward. What to do?  Enter the light of God’s Word: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Ps.119:105) “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Ps. 139:13,14)

The middle-aged lady who believes she has internal physical problems for which there is no medical cure. Whether real or imagined, these problems fill her with constant fear. Enter the light of God’s Word: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7)

The young person who faces the uncertain future with a big question mark in his mind: “What shall I do with my life?  Shall I go to college? If so, where?” Enter the light of God’s Word: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Provs. 3:5,6)

The lady who is suddenly left without a husband through death and who wonders how she will ever cope without her longtime, loving mate. Enter the light of God’s Word: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper.’” (Hebs. 13:5,6)

The couple who just cannot seem to find happiness in their strained marriage, and whose friends and family urge them to give it up as a lost cause.  Enter the light of God’s Word: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (I Cor. 10:13)

The teen who feels the pull of peer pressure and wonders if it would be all right to attend a school event that might compromise her Christian testimony. Enter the light of God’s Word: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (I Thess. 5:22) “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23b)

The single lady who feels she has fallen in love with the man of her dreams—a man who meets every criterion she has ever had for a husband except for one: he is not saved, never having accepted Christ as his Savior. Enter the light of God’s Word: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” (2 Cor. 6:14)

The church member who has so many debts he just cannot see his way clear to giving a tithe of his income to God through his local church, even though he believes it is right to do so. So he gives a few dollars each week hoping that God will understand, reasoning that we are not under the law anyway, and that tithing was for the Old Testament believer.  Enter the light of God’s Word: “Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of thy increase.” (Provs. 3:10)

The person who suddenly faces death and is afraid to die, but is not afraid of what will happen to him after death. Enter the light of God’s Word: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” (Ps. 23:4)

The person who feels he has committed such awful sins that God would never forgive him. Enter the light of God’s Word: “Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord: ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’” (Isa. 1:18)

 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14,16)

Two great battles have been recorded as turning points in history: the battle of Waterloo (1805), sealing Napoleon’s doom and destiny; and the battle of Trafalgar (1815), which was masterfully won by the British Navy and established its global naval supremacy for more than a century.

The year 1809, about midway between those battles, is not known for a great historical event. But, quietly, a sovereign God was doing something on earth that would have far greater impact than either of the aforementioned battles: the statesman William Gladstone was born in Liverpool, England; the physician and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Boston; the musician Felix Mendelsohn was born in Hamburg, Germany; and Abraham Lincoln made his entrance into the world in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Just four births—but the effect they would have upon the world far eclipsed the impact of those great battles!

The most important day in your life, and the day that will make the eternal impact upon your destiny, is not your natural birthday but the day you were born into the kingdom of God—the day you became a child of God.

Maybe you have never experienced that birthday yet. It would be the saddest thing in the world to have been born naturally, lived on the earth, died, and gone into eternity never having been born again! “Better never to have been born, than to never have been born again!”

Who would not want to be a child of God?

To those who had put their faith in Christ, the Apostle John wrote, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.” (I John 3:2)

None of us is worthy, but God’s infinite grace, His matchless love, and His inexhaustible mercy have provided for us sonship!  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” How does one become a son of God? Very simple.  Two things:

First, BELIEVE on His name. It is something you do by faith. Suppose you were to receive in today’s mail a check drawn upon, say, Chase Bank of New York City, signed by Bill Gates. You would doubtless take it to your bank and deposit it into your checking or savings account, not questioning whether Mr. Gates could and would make good on the draft. If God draws on the Bank of Heaven a promise made out to you and signed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, why then would you not “cash in” on it by faith.

The only reason one would not do that, by faith, is unbelief, which is the only thing that can keep a person out of heaven. Jesus plainly said to the Pharisees of His day: “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life…How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me:  for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:40-47)

Jesus, stirred in his soul by the unbelief that kept men in His day upon the earth from become “sons” of God, agonized: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” (Matt. 23:37)

Believe ON HIS NAME. He is the Word, the Light, the Lamb, the Door, the Way, the Truth and the Life; He is Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Alpha and Omega. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

One evening, Charles Lamb and friends were talking about people they would have liked to have met—Chaucer, Sir Thomas Brown, and William Shakespeare, to mention a few. At length, the sacred name of Jesus was mentioned, the name which is above every name. There was a pause, then Lamb said, “If Shakespeare were to come into this room, we should all stand up: but if He (Jesus) came into the room, we should all kneel.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

Second, RECEIVE HIM! As the Bible says, “As many as (i.e., whosoever will!) received Him, to them gave He the power.” (John 1:12) It is personal, simple, powerful.

Sir James Simpson, the famous Scottish surgeon who developed the modern use of anesthetics, was once asked what was his greatest discovery.  The eminent scientist and surgeon simply said, “My greatest discovery is that I am a great sinner; and that Jesus is a great Savior.” Paul, God’s chosen apostle to the Gentiles, said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (I Tim. 1:12)

Won’t you believe and receive Jesus today and become one of His sons? Josephus, a historian who lived at the time that Jesus was walking the shores of Galilee, healing the sick and saving the penitent, said this of our Lord and Savior:

“Now there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man, for He was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him, for He appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from Him, are not extinct at this day.”

Sounds like Josephus might have believed and received. But the question today is, Have you?  Will you?

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:12)

John Scolinos, baseball coach at Pepperdine University and for three decades at Cal State Polytech U., became well known for a speech he once delivered at the Opryland Hotel in 1996 to 4,000 baseball coaches who were meeting in Nashville for the annual American Baseball Coaches Association. Wearing a home plate around his neck, he queried of the Little League coaches present “How many inches is home plate.” Several in the audience responded “Seventeen inches.” He then asked all the Babe Ruth League coaches present “How many inches is home plate?” The same answer was echoed, “Seventeen inches.” He continued asking high school coaches, college coaches, minor league and major league coaches the same question, “How many inches is home plate?” The same response came back from every group present, “Seventeen inches.” He then made his point that it never changes and that some things should never change, things having to do with time-tested character standards, whether in sports, in the home, in the church, in the nation. His conclusion: “Coaches, keep your players, no matter how good they are-your own children and most of all yourself at seventeen inches!” Scolinos applied his principle to the nation, to the schools and the dumbing down of educational norms that were at one time designed to build character, and, finally to the Church. One coach who heard Scolinos speak that day said, “I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curveballs and bunting…I learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.”

It’s a matter of character, which is the subject of what I want to share with you today. You will not find the word character in the Bible, but you will note that it bleeds through every person on every page of the Bible.  It is not defined but it is depicted, from the fall of Lucifer to the fall of mankind, from the beginning in the garden to the ending in the New Jerusalem.  Men and women whose lives wrote a story, depicting a character for good or for bad, for time and for eternity. Every person possesses character, some bent, some beautiful, some honest, some crooked; it cannot be camouflaged indefinitely, for at some time or other, in life or in death, it will be on center stage and one’s true character will be on display for a watching world.

Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright, arrived for a visit in the United States in 1882. Asked by officials what he had to declare, he replied “Only my genius.” Fifteen years later, alone and broken in prison, Wilde reflected on his life (character): “I have been a spendthrift of my genius; I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character.” (Hillsdale College, Imprimus)

Character’s core:  the inner person that men do not see but that God looks upon: “But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (I Sam.16:7)

Character’s crux: 19^th century evangelist D.L. Moody said that character was “what a man is in the dark.” When no one can see you and no one can know what you are doing or thinking, then the crux of your character, known only to God and to you, will be revealed, Moody opined. What a man is in the dark will depend upon what there is inside of him to command and compel him to do right or to fail to answer to the commands of his conscience and of his creator.

Character’s consistency: A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on his back across the river. “Are you mad?” exclaimed the turtle. “You’ll sting me while I’m swimming and I’ll drown.” “My dear turtle,” laughed the scorpion, “if I were to sting you, you would drown and I would go down with you. Now, where is the logic in that?”

“You’re right,” said the turtle. “Hop on!” The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle resignedly said, “Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there’d be no logic in stinging me. Why did you do it?”

“It has nothing to do with logic,” the drowning scorpion sadly replied. It’s just my character.” (Copied, Horizon)

Character’s course: When James Garfield was president of Hiram College a father brought his son to the school requesting that he be given a shortened course of studies, affirming that his boy could never take in all the required assignments. Garfield, a minister/educator said, “Oh, yes. He can take a shorter course: it all depends upon what you want to make of him. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years, but when He makes a squash, it only takes a matter of a couple of months.”

Character’s constancy: Charles Lindbergh spoke to the enduring aspect of character when he said that “short-term survival may depend upon the knowledge of nuclear physicists and the performance of supersonic aircraft, but long-term survival depends alone upon the character of man. We must remember that it was not the outer grandeur of the Roman but the inner simplicity of the Christian that lived on through the ages.”

Character’s crumbling: David Brooks in “Road to Character” wrote that our culture, technological and meritocratic, had not made a race of depraved barbarians of us but it “has made us less morally articulate. Many of us have no clear idea how to build character, no rigorous way to think about such things. We are clear about external, professional things, but unclear about internal, moral ones.”

Character’s components: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest…just…pure…lovely…of good report…virtue…praise….” (Phil.4:8)

Character’s conversion: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

That’s the way I remember an old song out of the past which goes on to say “than to be in Carolina in the morning.” Well, Ellen and I experienced that for a couple of weeks recently, and I’d like, on a personal note in this post, to share with you a few of our experiences.

First, we attended a Gospel Fellowship Association Conference in Greenville, South Carolina, that was planned and designed for the Interim Pastors branch of GFA.  Marshall Fant heads this program up and I have been a part of it since I stepped back from the senior pastorate in 2019.  There were a handful of men active then as interim pastors, and it has grown to 20 pastors that are now serving or ready to serve local churches who are in need of an experienced, qualified pastor to assist them, to shepherd them in the interim period as the church seeks God’s direction about the man of God they will eventually call as their pastor.  The men and their wives that we met are “top drawer,” Godly men with seasoned experience, most of them decades as under shepherds of local churches, and any church needing assistance in an interim period would be well served by the GFA Interim Pastor ministry.  Marsh Fant has timely podcasts that are also highly instructive and inspirational.  In a recent “You and God” I quoted some stunning statistics about the number of pastors leaving the ministry every month, hundreds and some estimate thousands!  That was a credible source that shared this information, and that was before Covid-19 made its ugly appearance in 2020, so one might guess the number to be even higher now. Many, many churches are now without pastors to lead and feed them.  If you are a member of one of these congregations or know of such a local church that would want a sound, Biblicist pastor, fully-vetted as to his theology and practical experience, I would encourage you to give to that church the following contact information: mfant@gfamissions.org.  The conference we attended was a spiritual shot in the arm for both the pastors and their wives. This GFA interim pastor ministry that God, through this sound mission board, has raised up for such time as this as a service of helps to local churches, is extraordinary.

The rest of our two weeks in the Carolinas was spent visiting family that we had intended to see in the spring of 2020, but the day we planned to drive from Maranatha Village, an exceptional retirement community for believers of like precious faith located in Sebring, FL., everything shut down over-night due to Covid-19, and it was impossible to find even a McDonald’s open for a cup of coffee or a rest room break. So, our delayed trip to visit family in the Carolinas was put on hold for a couple of years. We enjoyed a brief visit with a grandson who lives and works in Greenville, SC, Parker Nye. He graduated from Bob Jones University and is working in the business field.  He is single, smart and handsome and loves the Lord and works actively in a local church there. He loves Greenville and has chosen, for the present time at least, to make that his home.

Then, we traveled to King’s Mountain, NC, where Eddie and June Bridges have lived all of their married life (50 years plus). June is one of Ellen’s sisters.  We were only able to spend a couple of nights there, but thoroughly enjoyed that time.  King’s Mountain is an historic place where the local mountaineers, during the Revolutionary War, soundly defeated a well-equipped British brigade in a battle that played a significant role in turning the tide of the war against Great Britain.

Our next stop was in North Wilkesboro, NC, where Ellen was born and where she lived until she enrolled in Bob Jones University as a freshman in 1963.  That is where we met when I was a junior in the ministerial class. In those days we were assigned tables in the McKenzie dinning common, and attendance was required three meals a day, beginning at 6:45 a.m. and men had to have their ties on and women their appropriate dress attire for the day.  As I remember, the table assignments were changed every six weeks.  It was at table T-1 that I met the girl I fell in love with and would marry in 1965, 57 years ago, and counting by God’s grace. Ellen has a sister, Brenda (Terry), and a brother, Greg (Deborah), who live outside of North Wilkesboro, each of them having built houses on mountain tops adjacent to the Blue Ridge Mountains Parkway.  We stayed a week and a couple of days with Brenda and Terry, and our bedroom was on the 2^nd floor and we could look out each morning at a beautiful sunrise with pink and blue streaks above the tree tops over which we were looking.  It was a totally different world with no sirens or busy traffic to hear, nothing but peaceful quiet. We were able to see and to visit with some of Ellen’s relatives in the area, and also to attend a couple of different churches. It was amazing that almost every church you would drive by, either in the town or in the rural, mountain areas, was a Baptist Church. Many of them were probably Southern Baptists but in recent years there have been more independent Baptist Churches established.  We first visited the church that Brenda and Terry attend, and to get to it one has to leave the paved road, driving on gravel and eventually dirt, thinking that there is no way a church would be located at the end of the road. But there was and it was full of people and the preacher delivered a Bible message that any sound Baptist Church member would have been blessed by–we certainly were.  It was a great experience. The following Sunday we attended a church where Terry and Brenda’s son and grandson attend.  It was even further into a “holler” than the first church and it was hard to believe that a church of any size would be at the end of that road which wound three or more miles up and down a mountain path before, wouldn’t you know, in a beautiful clearing the nicest white church building with a steeple, and a cemetery located behind the church building, appeared.  A cousin of Ellen’s preached a stirring Biblical message and we left rejoicing for having had the opportunity of worshipping there with those folk, who, by the way, were families, mostly younger, with children. It was a truly amazing experience and we were reminded that God has a faithful remnant and they are located everywhere.  These communities are not far from Boone, NC, and it is beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain terrain and we love it!

Our trip home August 1 was eventful also.  The airline flight that we were on from Charlotte to Indy had to navigate through some turbulence and we discovered that, amidst screams, one could hit the ceiling of an airplane cabin and at the same time have his seat belt securely fastened!  We arrived safely and were glad to be home again.

Russell Blowers offered up the following description of what most of us would recognize as a pastor: “Somewhere between the call of God and the heart ward of the local hospital there exists a specialist in everything, variously called a ‘minister,’ a ‘pastor’ a ‘clergyman.’ He is a hero to his wife, a stranger to his children, a fine boy to his mother, an easy touch to some down and outers, a name on the mailing list of hundreds of agencies and organizations, an example to his flock.  To some he’s a fuddy-duddy, to some a stuffed shirt, to some he’s a character that never lived it up, to some he’s ‘Reverend.’ To others he’s ‘Johnny on the spot’ when death’s angel hovers over a loved one; he’s the one who is called when medics have done all that they can do; he’s the man who can mend marriages, but can’t fix his wife’s toaster. He’s the one who marries young lovers, prays with the sick, and buries the dead. He’s a financial expert, a public orator, janitor, errand boy, typist, file clerk, writer, public relations expert, poor golfer, professional tea-sipper, journalist, reformer, evangelist, pastor, business executive, counselor, prophet, book-worm, diplomat, human being, sinner, very poor golfer, bass, tenor, planner and terrible golfer!”

In his concluding chapter of the very exhortative book of Hebrews, the New Testament writer begins his concluding remarks with: “Let brotherly love continue.” In the remaining 21 verses, he mentions our relationship to those whose ministry we sit under, spiritually, with three admonitions: “Remember them which have the rule over you”; “Obey them that have the rule over you”; and, “Salute all them that have the rule over you.” (Hebs. 13:7,17,24)

In a podcast, Pastor Darrin Patrick reported these sobering findings from a Focus on the Family study: “1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, contention in churches or spiritual burnout; 50% of pastors will be divorced before the time they leave the ministry; 80% of pastors feel discouraged or unqualified in their roles as pastor; 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they had another way to make a living; four out of five of Bible School and/or seminary graduates will leave ministry in the first five years after graduation; 80% of spouses feel over-worked and 80% of them wish their husbands were not in ministry; 70% of ministers fight depression; 40% have had an extramarital affair, and 70% of pastors say that the only time studying the Word of God is when they are preparing a message.”

No doubt the situation has not improved. If those findings—reported and recorded before Covid-19 hit the world in 2020!—are anywhere close to reality, we should all give careful and prayerful consideration to those admonitions concerning “those who have the rule over us,” as inspired by the Holy Spirit and inscripturated in Hebrews 13.  Look at them again, briefly, with me:

1. Remember them which have the rule over you (v. 7): This means that we must “keep in mind, think of, retain in memory.” The word translated “rule” has the connotation of “leading with authority.” Those men in the early church who were leaders—such as the half-brother of Jesus, James, who led the mother church in Jerusalem (Acts 15)—were sometimes called “elders ” (I Peter 5:1, 2) and “bishops” (I Tim. 3:1) and “pastors” (Eph. 4:11). These were men who would feed the flock and yet were responsible for “taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” (I Pet. 5:1, 2) His readers were to “remember them” by following their faith and by considering the end of their way of life (v. 7). In so doing, they would not be carried away with strange doctrines. They would find themselves “outside the camp” and would be able to keep the right focus between the temporal and eternal. They would exude a right attitude of praise, and they would communicate spiritually (vss. 9-16). A lady who wanted to remember her pastor sent this note of appreciation: “I never really sat down and thanked you for everything you have done. L is in heaven because of you. You got out in the cold to hold my dying mother’s hand. Sat with my husband during my surgeries. Preached my dad’s funeral and my mom’s. I will work on being a better sheep, and thank you for looking out for our souls.”
2.  Obey them that have the rule over you (v. 17): This means we are to be persuaded and convinced; we are to depend upon and trust their spiritual leadership. It means to submit to one’s authority. The result will be that those who lead will have joy in leading, not grief. And, consequently, it will go better for the ones who obey. It should be noted that pastors do have differing leadership styles—from the extreme of being an “autocratic” leader to the opposite of “passive” leadership. Biblical models portray both of those leadership methods as dangerous and damaging.  Pastors are not called to be spiritual dictators, nor will they find a “laisse-faire” model in the New Testament. Instead, they are to take the “oversight.” James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church, provides a good example of Scriptural, pastoral leadership in his handling a major problem (as recorded in Acts 15). When a pastor executes the office of a bishop, led of the Spirit and filled with wisdom from above (James 3), the church will be a healthy flock and the leadership will function with joy, not grief. Horror stories of churches led by autocrats or by pastors in abstentia are far too numerous.  Nothing in the New Testament gives any credence for “Deacon Boards” assuming the role and responsibilities for what should be pastoral oversight.
3. Salute all them that have the rule over you (v. 24): This means that we are to “greet, welcome and respect” these men for their office and for their sacrificial service.  We do this by praying for them (II Thess. 3:1; 5:25) and encouraging them in their faithfulness. Obedience to the Word of God, and faithfulness in serving the God of the Word, is the best way to encourage your pastor. Deut.3:28 is insightful here. Moses, soon to pass the leadership baton to Joshua, exhorted the Israelites to “charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people.” Every pastor needs a good word of encouragement, as did Joshua. So do not hesitate to be forthcoming with a kind note or word of appreciation shared at the right time.

When I was a young pastor in the first church God placed me in to lead, I hit a pretty low spot on one particular occasion; in fact, it would eventually result in my resignation from that six-year stint. At my most difficult day, I found a note under a windshield wiper, left there by young Air-Force couple (young being 20 and 19 years of age, stationed at McConnell Air Force base and members of our church, the husband having been reared in a staunch Catholic home). The note was written as a poem, and it read: “We are thankful for a pastor like you, who will always stand for what is true; who is a man of convictions, and not contradictions; we hope that you keep preaching real strong, so that we may know the right from the wrong; feel free to preach and step on our toes, because when you do our spirit grows. So please don’t teach the ‘gospel’ of another, just keep on keeping on and ‘preach it, brother!’” I did not feel worthy of that admiration then, nor do I now. But at that moment, it did surely encourage a young pastor and his wife. Every pastor has received many such notes through the course of his ministry, as God moves the flock to remember, obey, and salute the ones who are leading them.