Russell Mckinney's Blog

Straight Talk About God and Life

Peacemaking

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9

If there was any lingering doubt that Jesus meant for the “blessed” described in the Beatitudes to be equated with Christians, it is laid to rest with this Beatitude. This time the promise is, they shall be called “sons (children) of God.” The term is a familiar one to students of the Bible. It reminds us of John 1:12-13, which says of Jesus: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” It also takes us to Galatians 3:26: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

And so the Christian is to be a “peacemaker.” But just exactly what does that mean? Clearly, the thought of ”making” peace goes deeper than just keeping it or even loving it. To “make” peace a Christian must exert himself. Intentional activity is involved. As Psalm 34:14 puts it: “Seek peace and pursue it.” Paul referenced this idea in Romans 14:19 and Peter referenced it in 1 Peter 3:11.   

Certainly, mending relational fences falls under the category of peacemaking. The way Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) and the disciples together is a beautiful example of this (Acts 9:26-27). So does seeking to prevent wars and end them. We hear this in David’s words, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). 

But let me point out that confronting problems can also be placed in the category, assuming the confronting is done in a manner pleasing to God. The Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel recognized the futility of crying ”Peace, peace!” when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; Ezekiel 13:10). Since true peace can never be found in a compromise with evil, a peacemaker might rightly be involved in great conflicts.

We see this even in the life of Jesus. On two separate occasions, He flew into a righteous rage at the site of the greedy, corrupt money-changers defiling the Jewish temple with their unscrupulous practices (John 2:13-17; Matthew 21:12-13). Anyone who witnessed these two scenes after hearing Jesus preach the Beatitudes might have been tempted to ask, “Jesus, what was that word about how blessed are the peacemakers?” 

Of course, Jesus did know all about peacemaking. The famous quote from the angels of the story of His birth is, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14). Furthermore, Ephesians 2:14-16 explains that Jesus is the Christian’s peace and has reconciled him to God, who is the “God of peace” (Hebrews 13:20). Likewise, Romans 5:1 says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” You see, there are valid reasons why Jesus is called “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).  

It was the idea of the conflict between the peace the Christian has and the lost person’s lack of it that prompted some famous words from Jesus. He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). Jesus was letting everybody know that the one who believes in Him becomes at peace with God, and that immediately sets that person in conflict with lost people, even lost family members, because they aren’t at peace with God (Isaiah 57:20-21).

The truth is, winning a lost person to Christ is the most lasting kind of peacemaking because it creates an eternal peace between the lost person and God. So, I’ll close with two verses of scripture which speak of how important it is for Christians to win others to Christ. First, there is Romans 10:15: “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” And, second, there is Ephesians 6:15: “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

February 20, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Evangelism, The Sermon On The Mount, Witnessing, salvation | , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Pureness Of Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

The Bible doesn’t use the word “heart” in reference to the organ that sits in the chest and pumps blood. It uses “heart” to refer to the center of one’s being. So, to be pure in heart is to be pleasing to God, not just in outer conduct but also in inner motives, attitudes, and desires. And God is able to do true heart exams. He says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  

But purity of heart does not mean sinlessness of life. Actually, it is the heart that keeps one from being sinless. Jeremiah 17:9 describes the situation this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Jesus agreed in Matthew 15:19 by saying, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” 

So, if our hearts are such wrecks, who was Jesus referring to when He talked about “the pure in heart”? The answer is, He was referring to people who, despite the inborn wickedness of their heart, still have a burning inner desire to please God. David was a prime example of such a person. Even though his sin-tainted heart caused him to commit the sins of lust, covetousness, adultery, and murder, he still had a very real desire to please God. This is evidenced by the fact that he cried out to God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).     

The Pharisees and scribes of Christ’s day focused exclusively on the outward appearance and completely disregarded anything involving the heart. They would have had Jesus say, “Blessed are the pure in conduct, for they shall see God.” A Pharisee could harbor an intense inner hatred for his brother, but that was alright as long as he didn’t actually murder him. He could go around lusting over every woman he met as long as he didn’t have sex with any of them. But Jesus came with a different teaching. He said, “Let’s focus on the inside. If you have hatred toward your brother, we need to treat that as murder (Matthew 5:21-26), and if you look at a woman lustifully, that’s adultery” (Matthew 5:27-30).

Jesus even reserved His harshest preaching for the Pharisees and scribes. He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” He was saying, “You men seem to look so good on the outside, so devout and holy, but you are rotten to the core on the inside. Only when you become clean on the inside can you truly be clean on the outside.”

In Psalm 24:3-4, David wrote about the direct relationship between pureness of heart and godliness of conduct. He wrote: “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.” You see, idolatry and deceitful swearing are merely outward evidences of an internal problem. If a person’s heart is pure, he won’t be committing those public sins. This explains why Proverbs 4:23 adamently says: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”    

As with each of the beatitudes of Matthew 5:1-12, Jesus was referring to saved people when he spoke of “the pure in heart.” The “pure in heart” have a desire to please God, and that desire will ultimately lead them to believe in Christ as Savior. This only makes sense because God desires that every person get saved by believing in Christ as Savior (1 Timothy 2:1-6; 2 Peter 3:9). It’s simply impossible for someone to be pleasing to God without knowing Christ as Savior.

And what reward does Jesus promise for those who are pure in heart enough to want to please God enough to believe in Christ as Savior? He says, “For they shall see God.” Let’s not be so quick to explain away this promise. Let’s not make it little more than, “They will see God in a sunset, a baby’s smile, or a charitable deed.” No, the Bible clearly and consistently teaches that Christians will not only one day see God but spend all eternity with Him. 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us that Christians have an incorruptible, undefiled inheritance reserved for us in heaven, one that doesn’t fade away. Just as the pure in heart have a desire to please God, He has a desire to be around them for all eternity. What a promise this was to all those commoners who served as the audience for Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, and what a promise it still is to every Christian today.

February 17, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Belief, Desires, Eternal Security, Heaven, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

The Importance Of Individuality In A Child

(Post 2 of a series of 4)

This will be the second post in my series on parenting. With this one, I want to talk about the importance of a child’s individuality. For my text, I’ll use Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Hebrew scholars tell us that a precise translation of the Hebrew of this verse would read something like: “Train up a child according to his way: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This explains why the Amplified Bible, which is a translation that adds in extra words to help clarify the exact meaning of Bible’s original Hebrew and Greek, renders the verse as follows: “Train up a child in the way he should go (and in keeping with his individual gift or bent), and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Why am I going to the trouble to dig deep into the original Hebrew of Proverbs 22:6? I’m doing it because an improper understanding of what this verse actually says has led many to an improper application of it. Have you ever heard this verse quoted as a promise that a child who was raised in a Christian home will always eventually return to that upbringing, even though that child’s life has downgraded into sin and worldliness? I have heard the verse preached that way many times.

The problem with that attempted interpretation is that it doesn’t hold up to the test of real-life experience. Saying it plainly, some children who were trained up to know the Lord and live for Him do depart from that training when they get older and never return to it. How many times have you heard someone say of a wayward child who is living in rank sin, “Well, he wasn’t raised that way”?

Parent, your job is to let your child run with the talents, abilities, and interests that God has built into that child. You don’t have the right to push some destiny or course of life onto your child. Your responsibility is to find out what your child’s weak points and strong points are and help that child get on a road in life that will lead to fulfillment, happiness, and contentment.

Having said that, let me name the main problem that parents have in this area: living vicariously through their children. The interesting thing is that this vicarious living can play out in one of two ways. I’ll give you examples of both.

First, some parents try to recreate their lives through their children. Let’s say that a father was always a great athlete. Playing ball came easily and naturally to him. So what does this father do? He tries to recreate his days as an athlete by pushing athletics onto his son. But let’s say that his son isn’t gifted in athletics and doesn’t enjoy sports. The boy would rather read a book than go outside and play ball. His father won’t let the child be himself, though. The father is too caught up in recreating his glory days through his son.

Second, some parents try to go back and change their lives by living vicariously through their children. This way ends up at the same problem, but it gets there by means of a totally opposite motivation. Let’s say that a father wasn’t the great athlete he always longed to be. So what does he do? He tries to go back and change his life by pushing athletics onto his son. He looks at his son and says, “I’m going to make you the ballplayer that I never was.” It doesn’t matter that his son doesn’t have the nature or the ability of a ballplayer. That father makes his son play ball as a means of doing the ball-playing he himself missed out on.

Of course, athletics is just one area where these two kinds of vicarious living show up. Here are some other illustrations involving other areas. I hope none of these describes you.

Let’s imagine a mother who is obsessed with turning her daughter into a beauty queen. Maybe this mother was herself a beauty queen or maybe she was the total opposite of a beauty queen, but whatever her motivation is she wants her daughter to be a beauty queen. So what does she do? She pushes that girl into beauty pageants, won’t let the girl eat like she wants to eat, makes her take singing lessons, dancing lessons, etc. You see, it’s all about that mother trying to either recreate her life or go back and change her life through her child.

Let’s imagine a man who is a skilled surgeon. This man says, “My son is going to grow up and follow in my footsteps. I’ll send him to the best college and the best medical school.” The only problem is that the little boy is a born mechanic. The father buys him one of those Operation games, but rather than taking the tweezers and practicing at surgery, the little boy takes the game apart just to see how it works. What should that father do with such a child? He should steer that child towards technical school, not medical school.

Let’s imagine the most practical, all-business, common-sense mother who ever lived. This mother tries to stamp her personality onto her daughter. The problem is that the daughter is not like her mother. The daughter is into the arts, things like poetry, music, and painting. So what should this down-home mother do? She should build responsibility and godliness into her daughter and then encourage her to let her creativity flow.

On and on I could go with the examples, but hopefully by now you are catching what I’m throwing. God doesn’t use a cookie-cutter to create children. He doesn’t use a “one size fits all” pattern. Each child comes uniquely designed and gifted, and it is the parent’s job to help that child build a life around what that child is gifted to do.

You say, “But Russell, how do I know what my child’s natural tendencies and abilities are?” The answer is, you spend time with that child, watch that child, listen to that child, and study that child. Also, you let the child try different things.

One of the best ways to find out whether or not your child has a musical ability and tendency is to sign that child up for music lessons. I took guitar lessons for a while, and my mom and dad really encouraged me about my guitar-playing. They bought me two nice guitars and every Saturday morning I went to a music teacher’s house and took lessons from her. I learned my chords and my notes, and I actually got to where I could play a few songs. Some of my friends and I even formed a group. We won our local 4-H talent show, played a few local events, and played in the regional 4-H talent show.

If some boys had that kind of musical encouragement and experience they would make a life-path out of music. But I didn’t do that. Do you know why? It was because I didn’t have either a real desire or a real gift for music. Oh, I could memorize the hand placements for chords and notes on a guitar. I wasn’t born for music, though. That’s why I didn’t stay with it. I guess the fact that I absolutely despised practicing was an early tip-off!

But what I’m saying is that I didn’t realize that I wasn’t born for music until I actually gave it a try. So, parent, don’t get so upset with your child when the child tries something but doesn’t stay with it. Just see that as a lesson learned in what your child isn’t meant to do.

I’m not a hunter. I don’t think hunting is morally wrong; it’s just not something I like to do. I can still remember, though, the one day when I tried to be a hunter. My dad used to do some hunting, and one day he took me bird hunting with him. We went up in the woods just above our house.

I was glad that my dad included me, and hunting is a wonderful way for fathers and sons to bond, but I didn’t enjoy walking through the woods, holding a gun, and looking for a bird to shoot. I was much happier being in the house watching t.v. Still, I classify that day I went hunting as a good memory.

So, parent, let me encourage you to study your child, learn what the child’s strengths and weaknesses are, and help the child to run with its strengths. The world needs brain-surgeons, but it also needs school-bus drivers to get the future brain surgeons to and from grade school. The world needs corporate CEOs, but it also needs bricklayers to build the office buildings in which corporate CEOS work. The world needs writers, but it also needs garbage collectors to haul off all of the discarded paper writers toss into trash cans.

Each child is unique and special, and it is a parent’s job to do all that he or she can to guide their child into the place in life that God has in mind for that child. Yes, that will take some effort, no doubt about it. It will all be worth it, though, when the child ends up happy, contented, and playing the role God built him to play.

January 26, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Children, Fatherhood, Individuality, Parenting, Sports, Uncategorized | , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Christianity In Shoe Leather

In my last post, “For His Name’s Sake,” I talked about how a Christian’s conduct has a direct effect upon Christ’s reputation in the world. If that conduct is sinful, that does harm to Christ’s name. Now let me give you a practical example that will help you to better understand this.

Let’s say that a man who isn’t a Christian goes to buy a used car. He walks onto a car lot and has a salesman come out, grinning from ear to ear. The salesman says, “Can I help you?”

The man says, “Yes, I like the looks of this car right here. Is it a good car?” The salesman says, “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Just between you and me, this car is the best buy on the lot. It is mechanically as sound as a dollar. I wouldn’t mind taking off cross-country in this car.” But even as those words roll off the salesman’s lips, he knows they are a lie. The mechanics have told him that the car’s engine needs to be completely rebuilt. 

Well, the trusting potential buyer takes the car out for a test-spin. The car does alright on the short test drive, and the man decides to buy it. The salesman says, “Step into my office, and we’ll sign the papers.”

As they step into the office, the buyer notices that hanging on the salesman’s office wall is a beautiful picture of Jesus. He also notices that the salesman has a little plaque on his desk. The plaque reads, “Christ is the answer.” The man says to the salesman, “I gather that you are a Christian.” The salesman says, “Oh yes. I’ve been a deacon in my church for twenty years.”

The man says, “Well, if you can’t trust a deacon, who can you trust?” The salesman says, “That’s right. You can trust me. That car is just a little bit too old to have any kind of warranty, but I’ll take care of you. If you have any trouble with the car, just bring it back to me. I’ll make things right. You have my personal word on that.”

So, the papers are signed and the deal is done. The man just bought himself a car. He climbs into it, starts it up, waves to the salesman, and pulls off the lot. He gets about two miles up the road when the smoke starts pouring out of the hood. Luckily, there is a garage right there on the corner. The man pulls into the garage, and the mechanic takes a look at the engine. The mechanic says, “Sir, I hate to tell you this, but this motor is completely shot. It needs a total rebuilding.”

Upon hearing that, the man immediately marches the two miles back up the road to the car lot. He finds the salesman in his office. He says, “Pal, you sold me a lemon. I drove that car two miles and the motor blew up. I want you to keep your word and make things right.”

And what does that used-car selling deacon do? He says, “Sir, I feel awful about this, but our policy is that all sales are final. And since the car doesn’t have a warranty, I’m afraid that there isn’t much I can do for you.”

You say, “Boy, that car-buyer won’t think much of that Christian salesman.” You’re right. I’ll tell you something else: He won’t think much of Christ either! He’ll say, “If that’s what being a Christian is all about, the Christians can have it. I can do better than that on my own. Who needs a Savior who can only produce that kind of behavior?”

This is why I say, Christian, that you are called to live your faith wherever you happen to be at the time. If you go around claiming to be a Christian, you’d better act right. If you have a tag that says “Christ is my co-pilot,” you’d better be honest. If you have a bumper-sticker that says “Honk, If You Love Jesus,” you’d better pay your bills. If you wear a shirt that says “My best friend is a Jewish carpenter,” you’d better watch your language. Why? Because it is the very name of Christ that is at stake!

You can call this “Christianity in shoe-leather.” It is bringing your Christianity down out of the clouds of doctrine. It is pulling your religion up off your church seat. It is transforming your spirituality from principle into practice.

And how do you do it? Each day that you wake up, you spend time in prayer and say, “Jesus, today, wherever I may go, whatever the day holds for me, lead me in the paths of righteousness. You be the guiding shepherd; I’ll be the obedient sheep.” Nothing less will do if you really want Christ to guide you into paths of righteousness.

January 11, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Backsliding, Business, Character, Discipleship, Doing Good, Holiness, Influence, Personal Holiness, church, obedience, salvation, submission | , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

The Right Kind Of Meditation

We’ve been mining Psalm 1:1-3 for spiritual truth this week. Here now is one last post on the passage. I’m calling this one “The Right Kind Of Meditation.”

The practice of meditation is typically associated with far-eastern religions and the mental exploration of one’s “inner self.” The Bible has nothing to say about that kind of meditation, and I put no stock in such a practice. However, in Psalm 1:2 the Bible does say of the godly, blessed man, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

The Hebrew word that is translated as “meditates” is hagah. Specifically, it refers to the sighs and low sounds a person makes while musing over something. Imagine a man or woman silently reading a line from a book, pausing for a moment to give in-depth consideration to the line, and then lowly saying, “Hmmm…” That catches the idea behind the word.

The point of the verse then is that we should devote diligent, somber study to God’s written word. We should do this studying “day and night.” This doesn’t mean that the employee has to quit work and study the Bible full time. It doesn’t mean that the student has to quit school and only study the Bible. But it does mean that we should make time during the day and night to study the holy scriptures. More than that, this studying should be serious enough and impacting enough to make us say, “Hmmm…” as God’s truths are driven deep into our hearts.  

It’s been said that we hold our Bibles high but rarely open them. The average person’s Bible study might even be compared to the eating habits of a certain tribe of backwoods Aborigines in Australia. The explorers and researchers who discovered this tribe studied the tribe’s cultural habits and noticed that by age thirty the adults have practically no teeth. Further study gave the reason. It was learned that the tribe enjoys cooking meat in the open sand with water and fire. The meat is eaten with the sand actually clinging to it. By the age of thirty, after years of grinding, the teeth are worn away. You ask, “Then how do the adults over thirty eat that meat?” The answer is, the children are required to chew the meat in advance and then give it to the adults. This, of course, keeps the vicious cycle going because those children won’t have any teeth left when they get to be adults.

That story describes a lot of people’s relationship to the Bible. They want someone else to “chew” the scriptures up for them. They want someone else to put in the hard work of studying and then hand them all that knowledge and understanding. In that way these people never have to meditate upon the scriptures themselves. They can grab a bite here and there from a sermon or a commentary and be nourished without actually having to dig into the Bible for themselves.

I’m certainly not saying that preachers and teachers don’t have their place in God’s plan. You ought to enjoy the fruits of the labors of good, solid, doctrinally straight preachers and teachers. What I’m saying is that you need to study the Bible yourself as well. You see, fine meat still tastes good even after it’s been chewed on by someone else, but doesn’t it make for a more pleasurable dining experience when you do your own chewing?

January 7, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Bible Study, Scripture, Teaching, The Bible, preaching | , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Constantine & Christmas

(Post 2 of a series of 4)

With yesterday’s post I began a series on the origins of the traditions of our Christmas holiday. That post explained the winter solstice and the Roman holiday known as Saturnalia. Now, with today’s post, I need to say some things about a Roman emperor named Constantine.  

Constantine became one of the emperors of the Roman empire in the year 306. Six years later, in 312, he found himself at a pivotal point in his war against his brother-in-law and co-emperor, Maxentius. According to the historian Eusebius, it was on the day before a crucial battle at Milvian Bridge that Constantine prayed to God and asked for divine assistance.

As the story goes, Constantine then saw in the noonday sky a vision of a cross of light. The cross was superimposed upon the sun and written on the cross were the words in Latin “in this sign you will conquer.” That night Constantine had a dream that reaffirmed his vision. Supposedly, in the dream, God told him to use the sign of the cross in all of his battles. So, the next day Constantine added the sign of the cross to his flags, and his army went on to win the battle at Milvian Bridge.

A short time after that, in 313, emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan. That Edict made Christianity legal throughout Constantine’s empire. This meant that Christianity went from being a despised and persecuted religion (which is where the New Testament record leaves it) to being an accepted and even highly favored part of Roman religion.

The fact is, over the years of his reign, Constantine took Christianity even further than that. With the help of the bishops of the church in Rome, he made Christianity nothing less than the state religion of the Roman empire. He lavished gifts upon Christian leaders. He made Sunday a holiday so that people, especially his soldiers, could attend church. He made Christian clergy exempt from government duty. He made churches tax-exempt. He even personally funded the construction of several lavish, ornate church buildings. In Constantine’s view, his Rome and the Christian church should be as close as possible.

All of this, of course, ultimately helped to bring about the financial, political, and religious empire that we know as the Roman Catholic Church. And therein lies the great debate about Constantine. Was he, as some contend, a true Christian who was used by God to greatly serve the cause of Christianity? Or was he, as others contend, a lost man who was deceived by Satan and greatly used by Satan to corrupt Christianity? The answer you get depends upon who you ask.

One of the most serious problems that people have with Constantine’s supposed salvation is in the area of how he handled Rome’s pagan festivals. Rather than outlawing those festivals, Constantine, with the help of the bishops of the church in Rome, “Christianized” them. A prime example of this is what happened with Saturnalia and the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. Rather than forbidding the observance of those days of pagan celebration, Constantine and the bishops simply changed the meaning of the days. The festival of Saturnalia, which ran from December 17th through December 24th, went from being about the birth of the sun to be about the birth of the Son. Likewise, December 25th changed from being the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun to being the birthday of the Son of God.

Please don’t think that December 25th is our best guess for the actual date of Christ’s birth. The Bible doesn’t tell us the exact date of His birth, but we can say with virtual certainty that it wasn’t December 25th. We can say that because the Bible does tell us that those shepherds and their sheep were out in the fields that night. In Israel the month of December is usually cold and rainy. During that month, shepherds normally keep their sheep penned up in sheepfolds. Furthermore, Luke chapter two says that Joseph and Mary made their trip to Bethlehem to register for the purpose of paying taxes to the Roman government. Such registrations weren’t usually decreed during the cold winter months because travel was just too difficult. Nevertheless, despite these Biblical roadblocks, Constantine and the bishops of Rome went ahead and made December 25th the official date that was given to Christ’s birth.

So what am I saying? I’m saying that the very idea of a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus was really just a way to claim Saturnalia and December 25th for Christianity. I’m saying that the idea of the world annually celebrating December 25th as the date of Christ’s birth came from the mind of Constantine and the bishops of Rome. I’m saying that it was Constantine and those bishops who linked the celebration of Christ’s birth up with days off from work, parties, evergreen wreaths, and the exchanging of gifts. And that’s where I’ll leave the story until my next post. 

　

December 4, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Catholicism, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Origins of Christmas Holiday, church | , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Great One-Liners

Several years ago a friend of mine handed me a list of spiritual one-liners. I want to share that list with you. I have no idea where my friend got these, but there’s some good stuff here.

Don’t let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews.

It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll find that God lives there.

People are funny; they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn’t belong.

If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has.

Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

Peace starts with a smile.

Be ye fishers of men. You catch them – God will clean them.

Forbidden fruits create many jams.

God grades on the cross, not the curve.

God loves everyone, but probably prefers “the fruit of the Spirit” over “religious nuts.” 

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

He who angers you, controls you.

Don’t give God instructions – just report for duty.

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

The will of God never takes you to where the grace of God can’t protect you.

We don’t change the message, the message changes us.

You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.

The best mathematical equation ever is: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given.

November 9, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Personal, Uncategorized | , , , | Leave a Comment

What Does The Bible Teach About Divorce & Remarriage?

Any series on marriage would be lacking if it didn’t address the issue of divorce and remarriage. For one thing, it would pass over an entire category of marriages, a category that has become commonplace in our society. For another, it would omit a fair-sized list of important Bible passages.

What I want to do is build a bridge that will allow us to rightly understand what the Bible teaches about divorce and remarriage. To build this bridge, I’ll use 7 “planks” of truth. Each of these “planks” comes straight from the pages of scripture.

Plank #1: God’s ideal for marriage is one man-one woman till death do they part. This is taught in both the Old Testament (Genesis 2:24; Proverbs 5:18) and the New Testament (Matthew 19:1-6; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Corinthians 7:1-5,39). While it’s true that prominent Old Testament characters like Jacob, David, and Solomon had many wives, it’s also true that such polygamous relationships were never God’s will. He allowed them, and even used them to further His purposes, but He never approved of them. Furthermore, even a casual study of these families will show that polygamy comes with a steep bill. It inevitably creates major problems because it evokes great jealousy among the wives.

Plank #2: God hates divorce. These are His words, not mine. They are found in Malachi 2:16. Note that He hates divorce, not the  divorcee. If you wonder why He hates divorce, I’m guessing that you’ve never been personally touched by it. Typically, it is a gutwrenching, heartbreaking, devastating ordeal. It is especially hard when children are involved. The kids get washed over by the tidal wave. For that matter, so do the grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws, and other family members. God doesn’t just hate divorce because of what it does to the husband and wife; He hates it because of what it does to the rest of the family on both sides.       

Plank #3: Despite His ideal for marriage and His hatred of divorce, God will grant a divorce in certain situations. One situation involves sexual immorality on the part of the husband or wife. Jesus said, “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32; 19:9).

The Greek word that is translated as “sexual immorality” is porneia. It is an umbrella term that covers every form of sexual sin: adultery (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:9), homosexuality (Jude v.7), and incest (1 Corinthians 5:1). Therefore, God considers all of these sexual sins as legitimate grounds for divorce. Not coincidently, these sexual sins, as well as that of bestiality, were forbidden under Old Testament law (Leviticus 18:1-30). So, to sum up, if a husband or a wife has any kind of sexual relations outside the marriage, God will grant a divorce to the victimized spouse.   

A second situation in which God will grant a divorce involves abandonment. It must be understood, though, that this abandonment is of a highly specific nature. It is a Christian spouse being left (abandoned) by a non-Christian spouse. Writing under the inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16), the apostle Paul wrote that the Christian is not “under bondage in such cases” (1 Corinthians 7:15).

Plank #4: In any case where God grants a divorce, He also grants the right to remarry, assuming the remarriage is in His will. In 1 Corinthians 7:27-28, Paul says, “Are you bound (married) to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed (divorced). Are you loosed (divorced) from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But even if you do marry, you have not sinned.” As for the new marriage needing to be in His will, that is a standard for any marriage (1 Corinthians 7:39).

Plank #5: Unscriptural divorce creates adultery. If a person gets a divorce on grounds that are not Biblical, and then remarries, that remarriage makes the person an adulterer. I realize this is a tough standard, but it’s the one that Jesus lays down in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9.

The specific example He cites in those verses assumes that both the husband and the wife will remarry and consumate their new marriages. God will see those consumations as adultery because, in His mind, that husband and wife will still be in marriage covenant with each other. To make matters worse, the consumations will also make adulterers of each of the new spouses.

Plank #6: There is forgiveness to be found in Christ for every sin in regards to marriage, divorce, and remarriage. The little epistle of 1 John was written to Christians, and it says in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That covers the Christian who needs to seek forgiveness of sin in this area. The issue with the Christian is not lost salvation; it is lost fellowship with the Lord.

But what about the lost person? Well, we must understand that the lost person is already living under divine condemnation. As John 3:18 says: “He who believes in Him (Christ) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Really, a lost person’s sin in regards to marriage, divorce, and remarriage is just more unforgiven sin in a lifetime filled with unforgiven sin. He or she doesn’t lose any fellowship with God because there is no fellowship to lose. The point is, the lost person needs to believe in Christ as Savior and thereby receive forgiveness of all sins. God’s word to such a man or woman is: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

Plank #7: Whatever singular marriage a person is currently in, God wants that person to remain in that marriage. Again I will reference 1 Corinthians 7:27, where Paul writes, “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed…” I’ll also mention the Malachi 2:16 verse where God says that He hates divorce. What I’m showing you here is that even if a husband or wife realizes that his or her current marriage is adulterous because it came after an unscriptural divorce, God wants that person to stay in the marriage. He or she shouldn’t end the new marriage in divorce and try to remarry the previous spouse. That will just make a bad situation worse.

Alright, now that we have these 7 planks of our bridge in place, we can do a little detail work on the bridge. Here now are 10 ”detail” pieces that will help fill in some of the gaps. As was the case with the “planks,” each of these is based upon scripture.

1. God is the only “judge” who can truly grant a divorce. Jesus said, “What God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). The judge downtown is just a man. He doesn’t have the power to separate a couple that God Himself has joined together. That judge can provide a legal document of divorce, but he can’t make that document stand good in the eyes of God.  

2. Even though there are many unscriptural grounds (incompatibility, alcoholism, drug addiction, spousal abuse, child abuse, financial problems, etc.) that people deem as worthy for divorce, not one of these is legitimate with God.

3. God does allow husbands and wives in troubled marriages to separate and yet not divorce. This should be remembered especially in marriages in which one of the spouses is truly at physical risk. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 says: “A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart (leave, separate), let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband…” Separation does not have to lead to divorce.

4. Even in situations in which God sees Biblical grounds for divorce, He does not demand divorce (1 Corinthians 7:12-14). He would be pleased if the couple worked out their problems and made the marriage last.  

5. In the Old Testament law that God gave to Israel, a man could not divorce his wife and then remarry her again if she got remarried and divorced after he first divorced her (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

6. Under that Old Testament law, a man could divorce his wife for virtually any reason as long as he provided her with a written certificate of divorcement (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). However, centuries later, Jesus explained that God allowed this practice merely because of the hardness of the peoples’ hearts. Such divorces were never His will (Matthew 19:4-9).

7. Under that Old Testament law, a priest could not marry a divorced woman, a widow, a defiled woman, or a harlot (Leviticus 21:14).

8. It is never God’s will for a Christian to marry a lost person (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). But such marriages do happen. For example, one spouse might become a Christian while the other spouse refuses to do so. Or perhaps a lost person falsely claims to be a Christian long enough to marry a true Christian. Or sometimes Christians simply marry people they shouldn’t marry. Regardless of how such a union comes to pass, God wants the Christian to stay in the marriage and make it work. This is clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 7:12-14.

9. It is noteworthy that when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, He said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands…” He didn’t say, “In God’s eyes, you are still married to each husband.” Why did Jesus word His conversation this way? It is at least possible that the woman provided each of those five husbands with the God-honored grounds of sexual immorality. If this was the case, God would have granted each husband a divorce, which would have, in His eyes, left the woman without a husband.

10. No Christian will have to worry about any eternally lingering effects of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Jesus taught that there will be no marriage in eternity (Matthew 22:30). The only marriage will be that of the bridegroom, Jesus, to His bride, the church, (Ephesians 5:22-32).

Well, perhaps after reading all of this you feel like you’ve been clubbed to death with the Bible. If you are divorced or divorced and remarried, you might feel like a second-class person in the eyes of God. Please don’t do that. Neither unscriptural divorce nor unscriptural divorce and remarriage is the unpardonable sin. There is complete forgiveness to be found in Christ!

Even more than that, God still wants to use you in wonderful ways in His service. Think about it, if He can use a murderer like Moses (Exodus 2:11-15), an adulterer-murderer like David (2 Samuel 11:1-27), a persecutor like Paul (Galatians 1:13), and a thief dying on a cross (Luke 23:39-43), He can certainly use you. 

You say, “But Russell, you don’t know how badly I’ve missed the mark on this subject.” Tell me, have you missed it any worse than that Samaritan woman at the well? She had five failed marriages on her track record and she was living with another guy who wasn’t even one of them (John 4:18). And yet, God used her as one of the greatest examples of soul winning in all the Bible (John 4:28-30,39-42).       

Listen, don’t let an unscriptural divorce or an unscriptural divorce and remarriage become the event that stands out as the mountaintop peak of your life. Once you’ve realized the sin in what you’ve done, receive the 100% forgiveness that Jesus offers and START AFRESH AND ANEW RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE IN SERVICE TO HIM.

I don’t know if you’ve heard but the Lord is running short on volunteers. If you want to serve Him, He will put you to work! Will you ever forget your bad marriage? No. Will you have to deal with some fallout from it as long as you live? Perhaps. But everybody has things in their past they’d like to forget, and everybody is dealing with some fallout from something. So, give yourself fully over to Christ and get on with your life. Stop living in the past. Realize that in Christ you really can have a joyous present and you really do have a glorious future.

September 8, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Divorce, Divorce & Remarriage, God's Will, Homosexuality, Husbands, Marriage, Polygamy, Wives | , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Don’t Be Afraid To Fly

The true story is told of a Midwestern farmer who found a young eaglet. The bird’s wing was injured to the point that flying was impossible. The farmer carefully picked up the eaglet and took it back to his farm. Not knowing exactly what to do with it, he put it in the pen with his chickens. It wasn’t long afterward that the farmer noticed something odd: The eaglet had begun to mimic the chickens. It pecked for food, drank from the waterer, and scratched around in the ground for worms.

Over the course of the next several weeks, the eaglet’s wing healed. But the bird made no attempt to fly out of the pen. It just continued to act like a chicken. The farmer actually began to feel sorry for the eaglet. The bird’s beautiful feathers were becoming dusty and its sharp beak was becoming discolored from all the pecking on the ground.  

One day a young man happened to pay a visit to the farm. As he passed by the chicken pen, he saw the eaglet scratching around in the dirt like the chickens. When he asked the farmer about the bird, the farmer told him the story. The young man said, “It was nice of you to bring him home and take care of him, but now that his wing is healed surely you will let him go.” The farmer responded, “He can leave anytime he wants to, but I’m afraid he’s forgotten how to fly.”

Upon hearing that, the young man became determined to help the eaglet. With the farmer tagging along, he took the bird out to the area where the farmer had found it. Then he placed the eaglet on his arm and yelled, “Go, boy, go!” The eaglet, however, didn’t budge. It just sat there looking confused.

Then suddenly, from high in the sky, a mighty shriek was heard. It was the shriek of a mother eagle flying overhead. When the eaglet heard this shriek and saw the mother eagle, it gingerly tested its injured wing and then cautiously launched off from the young man’s arm. At first, it circled slowly overhead as if gathering its confidence. Then it shot up into the sky to join the mother eagle. As the young man watched the eaglet soar away, he said to the farmer, “Now that’s what he was meant to do.”

Christian, I’ve got a question for you: Are you doing what you are meant to do for Christ? In Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, and Ephesians 4:7-16, the Bible teaches that God has imparted at least one spiritual gift to each Christian. Many Christians have been given more than one, but every Christian has been given at least one. A spiritual gift is not the same thing as a natural talent. It is an ability or skill that the Christian did not have before the moment of salvation. At the moment of salvation, when God the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside the Christian’s body and create the born-again experience, the Holy Spirit brought the gift or gifts to the Christian. Just as we our born physically with natural talents, Christians are born again spiritually with at least one spiritual gift. And every spiritual gift is to be used in service to Christ. It is the Christian’s unique way of doing something for the Savior.    

This is where I come back to the story of the eaglet that acted like a chicken. Perhaps you, Christian, need to learn from that eaglet. Tell me, are you content to live somebody else’s life? Is it enough for you to mimic another Christian’s spiritual gift? Are you afraid to take off and fly the way that God has gifted you to fly? Listen, sometimes you’ve just got to launch out in faith and go for it. I know it’s scary, but you need to do it. Don’t worry. If what you are doing is really of God, you won’t come crashing to the ground. Instead, you’ll spread your wings as you never have before and reach heights of service you never thought you could. But you’ve got to try. Remember, there is always room for another eagle in the sky of God’s service.

March 22, 2009 Posted by russellmckinney | Uncategorized | , , , | Leave a Comment