Working Out Your Own Salvation

Posted on December 26, 2016 by russellmckinney

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12, N.K.J.V.)

A man bought an acreage of hilly land dotted with boulders and covered with weeds and briars. He then began his work on the land. First, he paid a backhoe operator and a dump-truck driver to dig up the boulders and haul them away. Second, he employed a man who owned a tractor with an attached mower to mow down all the weeds and briars. Third, he hired a fellow who owned a bulldozer to level out the land. Fourth, he brought in a well-drilling company to dig a well. Fifth, he contracted a builder to build a fine house on the site.

One day a friend came to visit the now beautiful homesite. As the two men gazed over the place, the friend said, “Praise God for such level land that doesn’t have any boulders, weeds, and briars.” The comment irked the landowner but he let it go. Next, the friend said, “And praise Him for such a fine well to go along with the land.” Again, the comment peeved the landowner but he held his tongue. Finally, the friend added, “And praise Him for such a beautiful house. My, my, God surely is good.” At that point, the landowner could no longer remain silent. He looked squarely at his friend and said, “Well, you can praise God all you want but you should have seen what He had the place looking like when He had it all to Himself!”

Let’s get one thing clear: Works play NO part whatsoever in regards to an individual’s salvation. The words of our text were written by Paul as a part of his letter to the church at Philippi, and in the opening verse of the letter (1:1), he calls his audience “saints.” That’s significant because “saints” is a New Testament word that is synonymous with “Christians.” Clearly, Paul considered those believers in Philippi to already be full-fledged Christians rather than Christian wannabes who needed to earn their salvation by working for it. For that matter, this is the same Paul who says in Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (N.K.J.V.)

But now let’s get a second thing clear: Works DO play a part in how the Christian lives the Christian life. This is where our text verse comes front and center. The Christian is told to, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “…work for your own salvation…” No, what he says is, “…work out your own salvation…” That’s a different idea altogether.

Okay, so what does the idea mean? For one thing, it means that the Christian has a responsibility to actively pursue personal holiness in his daily affairs and to do everything he can to keep himself from the snares of sin. You see, sin always wants to bring the Christian back under its grip, and it takes work, real work, to resist that pull.

For another thing, it means that an inner salvation should produce outer works of service worthy of that salvation. As has often been said, “Salvation is not of works, but salvation works.” And how does it work? It works in that it produces good works. Good works cannot flow into a salvation experience, but they should flow out of one.

John Phillips compares the gift of salvation to a gold mine and says, “If someone were to give you a gold mine of incalculable worth, you would have a treasure, but the gold would not do you any practical good unless you worked it out of the mine.” Likewise, the Christian, having experienced salvation and thus been empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has tremendous potential for good in resisting sin and serving the Lord, but that potential doesn’t automatically translate into tangible results. Just as it takes long, hard, extensive work to mine gold from the earth, the same level of work is required to mine the Christian ideal from the Christian.

And so, Christian, the point of this post is that your moment of salvation was merely the beginning of you living the earthly life that God wants you to live. It was God empowering you to live out the Christian ideal. But you being empowered doesn’t mean that you will stay tapped into that power and use it to resist sin and serve God. That takes some WORK on your part. Yes, your life can closely resemble the Christian ideal, but for that to happen you are going to have to grab your pickaxe and shovel and put in the required digging. So, tell me, how are you doing on that? If your gold mine hasn’t been producing much spiritual gold lately, why don’t you head down into the mine today and start putting in the work it takes to bring that gold to the surface?

Posted in Backsliding, Change, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Work, Ministry, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Salvation, Service, Sin, Temptation, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to Have a Christmas Without Money

Posted on December 21, 2016 by russellmckinney

Margery Tallcott tells the story of a memorable Christmas that she and her husband spent with their six-year-old son Pete. It was during the time of America’s Great Depression and money was so tight that the family simply couldn’t afford to give gifts that year. With Christmas one week away, the father and mother were forced to break the news to Pete that he wouldn’t be getting any presents for Christmas. However, the father did offer a backup plan. He said, “I’ll tell you what we can do: We can make pictures of the presents we’d give each other if we had enough money to buy them.”

So, for the next few days father, mother, and son worked in secret to create their gifts by cutting out, drawing, coloring, painting, hammering, nailing, or whatever else it took to produce them. When a gift was finished, it was placed under the sparse little Christmas tree the family had managed to buy. No family member knew what any other member was making for them, and it was all great fun.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived and it was time to exchange the gifts. The “imagination” gifts to the father included a black limousine and a red motor boat. The gifts to the mother included a diamond bracelet and a fur coat. The gifts to Pete were all expensive toys that had been cut from magazine advertisements. Laughter filled the home as each family member opened each gift, and the careful thought and creativity that had gone into the gifts showed the incredible amount of love the members had for one another.

But then came the moment when Pete wanted to give his parents what he considered his best present to them. The couple had absolutely no idea what to expect, but they watched as he pulled out a crayon-colored picture that he had obviously gone to great lengths to draw. It was a picture of three smiling people – a man, a woman, and a little boy – with their arms wrapped around each other. Underneath the picture Pete had written just one word: US.

I have no idea where this Christmas finds you. I don’t know what your station is in life. I don’t know what your financial situation looks like. I don’t know what health problems you have. I don’t know what you are worried about. And I don’t know what the upcoming new year holds in store for you. But there are two things I do know. First, if you get to spend Christmas with your version of US, you are beyond blessed. And, second, regardless of whether or not you have an US, the gift that Christmas is really all about – God sending His Son to live among us, teach us, inspire us, die on the cross for our sins, resurrect, and ascend back to heaven – didn’t cost you one penny. For that matter, neither does the salvation that comes through you placing your belief in that Son as Savior (John 3:16).

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christmas, Money | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Incident on a School Bus

Posted on December 17, 2016 by russellmckinney

During some of my college years, I had a part-time job driving a school bus for elementary and middle school students. Since I myself hadn’t been a kid for a while, that job served to remind me just how cruel kids can be to each other. One episode in particular stands out from those days.

It happened during the winter months when my early-morning pickups took place before sunrise. I had a route that encompassed a long, winding road called “Bandana” that featured more ups, down, twists, and turns than a roller coaster. In addition to being the curviest route than any of our buses ran, the route was also the longest one. I had to be at my first stop around 6:30 a.m., and the way the route was designed the kids I picked up first in the morning were also the kids I dropped off last in the evening. I always felt for those children. They had to ride the bus twice as long as most kids.

It was a bitterly cold morning and I had six or seven kids on the bus as I made my way along the route. The heater was doing all it could do to get the bus warm, but the kids still had to keep wearing their coats, gloves, and toboggans to prevent hypothermia. Anyone who has ever been on a cold bus on a winter morning knows the scene I’m describing. Of course, it’s not like I could even see the kids in the darkness of the bus. I just knew they were back there freezing in their seats somewhere.

The sideroad I had to drive down to pick up a certain girl was called “Lundy,” and that girl was my one stop down that road. In other words, she was the only reason why the bus had to put in the extra time to run that sideroad. That in itself was enough to put her in bad standing with the rest of the kids.

I got to the stop that morning and everything was business as usual. Like all the other kids, the girl was wearing enough layers of clothing to pass for a deep-sea diver. All I could see of her was a portion of her face. Through all the layers, she was carrying an armload full of books the way little girls carry their books, using two hands and holding the books close to her chest. I watched as she walked up the steps of the bus and started making her way back through the dark aisle toward her seat. Once she got past me, I lost sight of her, but I sure heard what happened next.

Sometime shortly after she passed me, she tripped and fell. From the sound of it, she fell for days. The sound of her falling was accompanied by the awful sound of all her books hitting the aisle floor. Even though I couldn’t actually see her, I got a clear mental picture of her lying there in a heap, probably bruised and scraped from the fall, clothes dirty from the bus floor, and books and papers scattered all over the place. Bless her heart, it was an awful experience for her. What I didn’t know was that it was about to get worse.

Unfortunately for her, she happened to land in the aisle right next to the seat of boy who couldn’t have cared less about her problems. Rather than bend down and help her, or even ask if she was okay, this little fellow just sat there unfazed. Then he proceeded to utter the two most bone-chilling words I have ever heard one human being say to another. Sarcastically, he asked her one simple question: “Walk much?”

Those words were so cold they took whatever heat the bus heater was churning out and turned it into ice crystals that hung in midair inside that bus. I had never felt so bad for anyone in my life as I did that little girl at that moment. So, I stopped the bus and waited as she picked herself up, gathered her belongings, and made her way to her seat. I’m sure that I also threw out some kind of rebuke to the boy for his lack of basic human kindness, but I can’t really recall what I said. Whatever I said didn’t matter much anyway because those two simple words – “Walk much?” – were so devastating that they rendered all conversation that came in their wake mute.

Most people have heard of the golden rule, which is recorded in Matthew 7:12 as a part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In that verse, Jesus says:

Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the Law and the prophets. (NLT)

I’ve read that variations of this rule were around long before the time of Christ and could be found in other religions such as Judaism and Hinduism. But what made Christ’s quote different was the fact that He reversed the spin. You see, the previous variations had all couched the rule in the negative. For example, one prominent Jewish rabbi had taught, “What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else.” In Jesus’ command, though, the rule is couched in the positive as the words “do not” are replaced with “do” and the listener is encouraged to do something good for someone as opposed to merely not doing something bad to them.

Getting back to my bus illustration, in Christ’s way of looking at things it wouldn’t have been enough for that boy to merely resist the urge to say what he said. Even more than resisting the temptation to say it, he should have gotten out of his seat, helped that girl up, and assisted her as she collected her books. That would have been Christ’s golden rule in action. Needless to say, that didn’t happen that morning. But I’m not picking on that boy. I myself, at various times in my life, have said or done things that were about as bad. Truth be told, many of us have.

And so, Christian, as the application to this post, let me encourage you to redouble your efforts at living out our Savior’s golden rule. There are people all around you who have in one way or another metaphorically fallen in the bus aisle and are just lying there in need of your help, and you can either sit there and gloat over them, like one of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus looking down upon a peasant, or you can do unto them as you would have them do unto you. The choice is yours, and it’s one you’ll face multiple times each day. Here’s hoping that you choose to put Christ’s golden rule into action each and every time.

Posted in Character, Children, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Mercy, Ministry, Personal, Service, The Sermon On The Mount, The Tongue | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Have You Dug Your Ditches?

Posted on December 15, 2016 by russellmckinney

And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.'” (2 Kings 3:16-17, N.K.J.V.)

2 Kings chapter 3 gives us an interesting story from the era when the one nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom (called Israel) and the southern kingdom (called Judah). The story features a wonderful spiritual lesson that I want to share with you in this post. However, before you can properly understand that lesson, you need to understand the basics of the story.

As the chapter begins, Jehoram becomes the king of the northern kingdom. He is the son of Ahab and Jezebel, the northern kingdom’s most notorious royal couple. Ahab is now dead (1 Kings 22:29-40), as is Ahaziah, the son who had replaced him on the throne two years earlier (2 Kings 1:1-18). So, the crown now falls to Jehoram, Ahaziah’s brother. Meanwhile, down south in Judah, Jehoshaphat is in the eighteenth year of his reign.

Jehoram, like his father and his brother, is a wicked king who does “evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 3:2). The best that can be said of him is that he isn’t as bad as his father, Ahab, had been. He is certainly an idol worshiper, just like everyone else in the northern kingdom, but at least he puts away a well-known pillar of the false god Baal that Ahab had ordered built during the days of his reign (2 Kings 3:2-3).

As for Judah’s king, Jehoshaphat, he is for the most part a godly king, but he isn’t perfect. Even though he walks with God, that walk is marred by the fact that he allows idol worship to continue in Judah (1 Kings 22:43). In addition to this, he is also known for having made a peaceful alliance with the wicked Ahab during Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 22:44).

Unfortunately for Jehoram, as soon as he ascends to Israel’s throne he is immediately confronted with a political problem that has been brewing ever since Ahab’s death. Ahab had forced the Moabites to pay him an annual tribute of 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 rams, but since his death they haven’t been paying it. Ahaziah, who had replaced Ahab on the throne, should have dealt with the problem, but he hadn’t and had died in the wake of an accident after only a two-year reign (2 Kings 1:1-18). That left Jehoram to deal with the matter.

He starts by rallying his troops and sending word to Jehoshaphat in Judah, asking for his help in the war against Moab (2 Kings 3:1-7). Since Jehoshaphat had been a loyal ally to Jehoram’s father, Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-40), he agrees to also help Jehoram. Was this decision God’s will? That’s doubtful, but, as I said, Jehoshaphat isn’t perfect.

Moab is located southeast of Israel and northeast of Judah, and so the two kings must decide whether to attack it from the north or the south. Quickly the decision is made to attack from the south by way of Edom, which is located just east of Judah and just south of Moab. By doing this, Jehoram and Jehoshaphat figure they can add the army of Edom to their coalition because Judah controls Edom and Edom’s king will do whatever Jehoshaphat tells him to do. And, as expected, the king of Edom obliges and so now we have three kings and their armies aligned together to attack Moab (2 Kings 3:8). On paper, the plan of attack looks pitch perfect.

But like many plans, an unforeseen problem arises. One week into the campaign, as the three armies are slogging their way through the wilderness of Edom to get to Moab, they run out of water (2 Kings 3:9). There is no water for the soldiers and no water for the animals. The situation becomes so desperate that Jehoram loudly complains that God has called the three armies together in order to have them fall to the Moabites (2 Kings 3:10). Jehoshaphat, on the other hand, starts trying to find a prophet of God who can give them wise counsel. When he learns that the prophet Elisha is in the area, the three kings make the trip to see the prophet (2 Kings 3:11-12).

Initially, Elisha balks at the idea of helping the idol-worshiping Jehoram. He even sarcastically tells him to go ask the prophets of his father and mother (2 Kings 3:13). Finally, though, Elisha agrees to help because he wants to help Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 3:14). And what word from the Lord does Elisha give the kings? He tells them that even though they won’t see any rain or hear any wind, they should have their soldiers dig ditches throughout the valley in order to catch the coming water (2 Kings 3:16-17).

Now the three kings have a choice to make. They can scoff at God’s word through Elisha and refuse to have their soldiers dig the ditches or they can accept the word by faith and have the ditches dug. So, what do they do? To their credit, they accept the word and order the digging of the ditches.

In turn, the next morning the three kings and their soldiers watch as water suddenly comes rushing into the valley by way of Edom and all the ditches become full (2 Kings 3:20). It’s possible that God sent this water by means of a direct miracle, but it’s also possible that He sent it by having flash floods hit high up in the mountains of Edom and wash their way down into that valley. Either way, He gets all the credit for providing the water. Later, just to complete the story, He also gives the three kings the victory over the Moabites (2 Kings 3:18-19, 21-25).

Now, as I close this post, I want to ask you a question: Have you dug your ditches in anticipation of God fulfilling that word He has spoken to you? Phrasing the question another way: Have you put shoe leather to that word you received from God? Truth be told, far too many of us have to see some tangible evidence before we will believe anything God says. You see, it’s one thing to hear God say, “I’m going to bless you and your spouse with a baby,” but it’s another thing to go out and buy a crib the next day. The fact is, though, that 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we Christians are supposed to walk by faith rather than sight, and faith will have you out there digging ditches in the midst of a dry land.

Posted in Belief, Choices, Decisions, Faith, God's Timing, God's Will, God's Work, Needs, Obedience, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Key Lesson About Life

Posted on December 13, 2016 by russellmckinney

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17 (N.K.J.V.)

The book of James will always have a special place in my heart because it is the first book I ever preached through as a pastor. What I found out, though, is that the book is kind of hard to outline. The problem is that James will clearly talk about one topic for a while and then make a quick jump to another one. And sometimes you don’t know if he is still on his previous topic or if he has moved on to a new one.

As for my text verse for this post, it can easily stand alone as a one-verse sermon. Trust me, any preacher worth his salt can apply the words “…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” to a myriad of real-life situations. For example, the words can be applied to you: believing in Jesus as your Savior, repenting of your sins, loving your spouse, raising your kids as you should, praying, reading your Bible, getting involved in church work, putting money in church, witnessing, showing love to others, reading Russell Mckinney’s blog….. (Okay, maybe I went a little too far with that last one.) But you get the point.

Please notice, however, that the verse actually begins with a very important word. It’s the word: “Therefore.” And what’s the famous line about that word? “Anytime you see the word ‘Therefore’ you need to figure out what it’s there for.” Okay, so what is the word “Therefore” there for in James 4:17? Answer: It’s there to link the verse up with what James has been talking about previously.

Of course, this raises the question of just how far back James wants his readers to go. If we take things all the way back to chapter 1, we can apply James 4:17 to counting it all joy when we fall into various trials (1:2-4), asking God for wisdom (1:5-8), keeping a proper perspective on life (1:9-11), enduring temptation (1:12-16), and all the topics that follow between there and James 4:17. But then again, it might make sense just to go back only as far as James’ most recent change of topic, and a new topic begins in James 4:13 and runs through James 4:16. The topic in those verses is that of foolish, arrogant self-confidence concerning assumptions made about future events. Those verses, including our James 4:17, read as follows:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (N.K.J.V.)

So, by reading James 4:17 in its immediate context we learn that the specific good we know to do is to live our lives with the understanding that God, rather than us, is ultimately in control. Seriously, it’s absurd for us to talk about all the things we are going to do tomorrow, next month, or next year when we won’t even live to see tomorrow, next month, or next year unless God wills it. This doesn’t mean that it’s a sin for you to set a lunch date for tomorrow, schedule a doctor’s appointment for three months from now, make a hotel reservation for six months from now, or contribute to a retirement account that you won’t be able to use for several more years. But it does mean that you should do all these things with the understanding that you don’t have the final say about any of your plans coming to fruition. After all, your life is just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes, and vapors don’t have any strength of their own.

Therefore (see what I did there?), as you make your plans, schedule your appointments, talk your talk, and dream your dreams, you should do it all with the understanding that God might have something completely different in mind for you. Putting it simply, you don’t run the universe; He does. And to believe otherwise is to, as James describes it, “boast in your arrogance.” You see, what we are really talking about here is you understanding just how small you are in comparison to how big God is. That’s a lesson we all need to learn, and according to James our failure to learn it is sin.

Posted in Aging, Attitude, Disappointment, God's Omnipotence, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Human Life, Humility, Pride, Submission, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Thunder Balanced With Love

Posted on December 9, 2016 by russellmckinney

From everything we can surmise about Christ’s chosen 12 apostles, John was the youngest. He was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James, who was also one of the 12 (Matthew 4:21). By combining certain passages (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), we deduce that Salome was John’s mother and that she was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. If this deduction is correct, it means that John and James were first cousins to Jesus and explains why Jesus, on the cross, committed Mary to John’s safekeeping (John 19:25-27).

Evidently, Zebedee was well to do in his fishing business on the Sea of Galilee. Mark 1:20 mentions that he employed servants that helped him on his fishing boat (or boats). Perhaps James and John were partners with their father. Then again, Luke 5:10 says the brothers were partners with Simon (Peter), which presumably means that Peter’s brother, Andrew, was also in on the partnership. Whatever the exact details were, what we know for sure is that James, John, Peter, and Andrew all left the fishing business behind and accepted Christ’s call to follow Him (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11). Before becoming followers of Christ, John and Andrew had been followers of John the Baptist. (It is unanimously believed that John is the unnamed apostle mentioned in John 1:35-42.)

To me, though, the most interesting thing about James and John is that they were both hotheads. As evidence of their fiery natures, Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Once, while Jesus and the 12 were making their way to Jerusalem, a certain village in the region of Samaria refused to let the group pass through the village. That was a slight the “Sons of Thunder” didn’t take lightly, and so they asked Jesus, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” (Luke 9:51-56) Jesus answered them, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” The group then continued on to another village without harming anyone. You see, it’s interesting that James and John’s first reaction amounted to laying waste to the offending village. They didn’t even ask Jesus to do it Himself. No, they wanted Him to give them the power to do it!

The brothers were also ambitious, even to the point of being greedy. In Matthew 20:20-28 and Mark 10:35-45, we read the story of how they, along with their mother, approached Jesus and asked if He would grant them the incredible honor of sitting next to Him in His kingdom, one at His right hand and the other at His left. If James and John truly were first cousins to Jesus, perhaps that had something to do with the lofty request. But Jesus informed them that He didn’t get to choose who received those choice positions. That threw cold water on the request.

As could have been predicted, however, a problem then arose in that the audacious request ticked off the other apostles. Things actually got so tense that Jesus had to give the entire group a refresher course on the fact that true greatness comes from humble servitude. I’m sure that’s not what James and John had in mind since they surely were no doubt thinking of Christ’s kingdom in terms of a political, military reign that would oust Rome and reestablish Israel to preeminence.

Still, though, despite John’s natural temper and ambition, he somehow ended up being historically known as “the apostle of love.” How did that happen? It’s primarily the result of him writing the epistle of 1 John, which features love as one of its main themes (1 John 2:1-11; 3:10-23; 4:7-21; 5:1-3). As a matter of fact, that epistle contains more about love – loving God, being loved by God, loving others, not loving the world – than any other New Testament book.

Okay, so how did one of the “Sons of Thunder” become “the apostle of love”? Well, there are multiple potential answers to that question. Perhaps John finally just grew into all the training he had received from Jesus during the years he spent with Him. Perhaps becoming indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost had something to do with it (Acts 2:1-4). Perhaps caring for Mary did as well. Each of these answers makes good sense.

But let me suggest another possible answer. I’m talking about the martyr’s death that John’s older brother, James, died. How could losing his brother in such a horrific way not have had a profound impact upon John?

The story of James’ death is found in Acts 12:1-2. As a means of keeping the burgeoning Christian church in Jerusalem at bay, Herod Agrippa I had James killed, making James the first of the chosen 12 to be martyred. No mention is made of how John reacted to his brother’s execution but surely experiencing something like that would have to knock at least some of the “thunder” out of you.

This is not to say, though, that John lost all the fight that had once characterized him. While the epistle of 1 John does have a great deal to say about love, it also features other themes and is written in language that is so bold, direct, matter of fact, absolute, and dogmatic it is shocking to the “politically correct” reader. Consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.) and as you read them think about how a man with John’s ultra conservative viewpoints and blunt speech would fare in our society today.

  • “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6)
  • “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
  • “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
  • “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.” (1 John 2:9)
  • “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
  • “They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1 John 2:19)
  • “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-christ who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)
  • “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:23)
  • “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” (1 John 3:6)
  • “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)

Obviously, even though John did tone down his “thunder” over the years, he never lost it completely. As further evidence of this, his epistle of 2 John is a warning to Christians about the dangers of embracing false doctrine, and his epistle of 3 John specifically warns against a man named Diotrephes who was causing problems in the church at the time. And then, of course, there is The Revelation in which John describes nothing less than the end of the world as we know it.

All told, I think we can look upon John as being a wonderful example of a Christian who matured to the point where he struck the proper balance between thunder and love. He never became so open minded, tolerant, and mush and gush as to accept all manner of sin in the name of love, but he did get out of the habit of looking for unbelieving villages to nuke. Living in this world in which extremist mentalities are becoming more commonplace, you and I would do well to learn from John. His balance of thunder tempered with love should be our goal, and I truly believe the Lord will help us get us there if we will let Him mold and shape us.

Posted in Aging, Anger, Attitude, Balance, Character, Family, God's Love, Greed, Humility, Love, Ministry, Persecution, Preaching, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Rebuked & The Rebuker

Posted on December 7, 2016 by russellmckinney

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:5, N.K.J.V.)

…Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. (Proverbs 9:8, N.K.J.V.)

…a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1, N.K.J.V.)

These three verses show us what the Bible teaches about you responding to a godly, accurate, wise rebuke from another. You should see that rebuke as something good, something that can help you become a better person. You see, the person who rebuked you has done you a favor because he or she could have left you unchallenged in your erroneous ways.

Unfortunately, this is not how most of us respond to such a rebuke. To quote the Ecclesiastes verse, we’d rather “hear the song of fools” than be told, “What you’re doing is wrong.” Rather than love the one who rebukes us — as the Proverbs 9:8 verse instructs — our natural tendency is to hate the person, become the “scoffer” described in Proverbs 13:1, and continue on with our wrong behavior. As Amos 5:10 says:

They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. (N.K.J.V.)

Over the course of my ministry, there have been times when God has burdened me to play the role of rebuker. Let me specifically mention three of those times. Once, it involved me preaching a certain sermon to a church I was pastoring that was going down the wrong road on a particular issue. On another occasion, it involved me confronting a church member about the fact that she was living out of wedlock with a man. And then there was the time when God had me rebuke our local high school football coaches about some egregious problems in their program.

So, how did each of these episodes turn out? Not very well for me, I have to say. Episode #1: After I preached that sermon, several church members left and many of the ones who stayed mourned over the departed ones so much that I could no longer carry on an effective ministry in that church and had to resign. Episode #2: The member that I rebuked for living out of wedlock quit the church and didn’t come back until I had left the church. Episode #3: The coaches implemented many of the changes I suggested and bettered the program, but they despised me and took out their anger on my oldest son, who had been a two-way starter on varsity as a sophomore but hardly touched the field his senior year.

I offer these illustrations as evidence that I know what I’m talking about when I say that people don’t typically respond well to being rebuked, even if it’s a godly rebuke. Rather than love you for what you’ve said, more often than not, they’ll hate you. The ironic (and sad) part is that they will still hate you even if they eventually make the necessary changes you suggested in your rebuke.

In light of this, Christian, perhaps you are thinking, “Then why would I ever rebuke someone? I don’t want to be hated.” Well, for one thing, if you are serious about being the “salt” and “light” that Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:13-14, you have a God-given responsibility to speak truth into peoples’ lives, and oftentimes that truth will of necessity involve some sort of rebuke. You say you want to be like Jesus? Fine. Do you think it was Him complimenting the Jewish religious leaders and Roman political leaders that got Him nailed to a cross? No, it was Him rebuking them.

And then for another thing, there really is a small percentage of people who will acknowledge your rebuke for the help it is and will appreciate you for caring enough to offer it. Fortunately for me, I’ve had a few of these experiences as well. I haven’t had as many of them as the bad ones, but I’ve had enough to keep me encouraged that a godly rebuke offered in the way God leads you to offer it can sometimes produce ideal results. Again, it’s the exception to the rule, but it does happen.

In keeping with this, let me now close out this post by citing two more passages that deal with rebuking. At first glance, these two passages seem to contradict each other, but it isn’t all that hard to figure out the explanation. The first passage is Proverbs 9:7, which says:

He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. (N.K.J.V.)

And the second passage is Proverbs 24:25, which says:

But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. (N.K.J.V.)

After reading these two verses, you might be thinking, “Which is it, God? Does the one who rebukes a wicked man harm himself and bring shame to himself? Or, does he have delight and have a good blessing come upon him?” The answer is, both.

As we learned previously from Proverbs 13:1, a scoffer (a wicked person) will not take kindly to being rebuked. Such a person will hate the rebuker and criticize him or her for offering the rebuke. That will bring shame and harm to the rebuker, which is exactly what Proverbs 9:7 predicts. But that isn’t the end of the matter. It isn’t the end of it because even though the wicked person won’t appreciate or bless the rebuker, God will.

You see, it’s God, not the scoffer, who grants the delight and the good blessing upon the rebuker. He does this because He truly appreciates those who have the courage and the wisdom to do the unpleasant job. Sometimes this reward will be poured out on earth, but most of the time it will have to wait until the afterlife. Never doubt, though, that the reward will be granted somehow, somewhere, someday. That, Christian, should be incentive enough for you to play the role of rebuker whenever God burdens you to do it.

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Blessed by God or Blessed by Satan?

Posted on December 5, 2016 by russellmckinney

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9, N.K.J.V.)

Let’s take a quiz. You see a businessman who is enjoying a high degree of worldly success. He has the beautiful home, the nice car, the big bank account, and all the rest of it. What is your first thought about the source of his success?

Or, you see a woman who rises to the top of her profession. She gets the job title, the large salary, the spacious office, and all the power and influence that goes with the rank. What is your first thought about the source of her success?

Or, you see a coach whose teams win game after game. This fellow is beloved by a fanatical fan base, respected by his peers, and can seemingly do no wrong. What is your first thought about the source of his success?

Or, you see a church that is growing by leaps and bounds. It has the highest attendance in town, huge offerings, and a bulletin full of programs. Again, what is your first thought about the source of that success?

Going way back into history, it has been human nature to equate worldly success with God’s blessing. Likewise, it has equally been human nature to equate a lack of worldly success with God’s cursing. The story of Job is one of the oldest in the Bible. It is generally believed that Job lived sometime during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Job was the wealthiest man in all the East. He was also a man who feared God, shunned evil, and was blameless in the eyes of God. But when God allowed Satan to attempt to break Job of his devotion to God, Job lost his children, his wealth, and his health. That’s when Job’s three friends enter the story (Job 2:11). Their names are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And what do they immediately assume about Job’s situation? They assume that God has stopped blessing Job and started cursing him because Job has somehow sinned.

Eliphaz says, “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the blast of God they perish. And by the breath of His anger they are consumed” (Job 4:7-9, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, the innocent aren’t the ones who get cut off. Therefore, surely you’ve plowed iniquity and sown trouble. That’s why all this has befallen you. God has blasted you for your sins.”

Bildad says, “Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice?…If you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you and prosper your rightful dwelling place…Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers” (Job 8:3,6,20, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, God doesn’t make mistakes in His justice. If you were pure and upright, all this wouldn’t have happened to you. The fact that all this has happened to you is proof positive that you are an evildoer.”

Zophar says, “For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open His lips against you…Know therefore that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves…For He knows deceitful men. He sees wickedness also” (Job 11:4,5,6,11, N.K.J.V.). Translation: “Job, you can proclaim your innocence all you want but you’ll never fool God. He knows how deceitful and wicked you really are. As a matter of fact, you’re lucky that He hasn’t judged you even worse for daring to say that you are innocent.”

And it isn’t just in Old Testament times that we find this wrong mindset on display. In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus talks about two events that had recently rocked the Jews. First, Pontius Pilate had ordered the killing of some Jews from Galilee, evidently while they had been in Jerusalem at the temple bringing their sacrifices. Jesus asks, “Do you suppose these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?” Second, He references a tower in Siloam that had recently fallen and killed eighteen people in the process. He asks of those eighteen, “Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?” The point of both questions is: Just because something awful has happened to someone, don’t assume it happened as a way of God “getting them” for their wickedness.

You see, such reasoning begins from a wrong premise and ends at a wrong conclusion. One side of that coin is: God only lets bad things happen to bad people. Something bad happened to you. You must be bad.” And the flip side of that same coin is: “God only lets good things happen to good people. Something good happened to you. You must be good.”

These assessments are far too simplistic for not only the God of the Bible but also the reality of life because the categories simply don’t divide that cleanly and evenly. Does God sometimes pour out His blessings upon His devout followers? Yes. Just ask Abraham. Does God sometimes pour out His judgment upon the wicked? You bet. Just ask Sodom and Gomorrah. But does God sometimes allow bad things to happen to good people? Absolutely. Just ask John the Baptist, Stephen, and the apostle James.

Furthermore, does God sometimes allow good things to happen to bad people? Obviously, He does. Just ask any brutal dictator who oppresses his own people, has them put to death by the thousands, and yet still lives to a ripe old age in the lap of luxury. Cuba’s communist dictator, Fidel Castro, who died at the age of 90, leaps to mind as an example. Does anybody want to stand up and say that his wealth, power, and long life were the result of God’s blessing upon his life?

This brings us back full circle to our text passage. When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Jesus didn’t say, “Hold on there, those aren’t yours to give.” To the contrary, in other passages Jesus actually calls Satan “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31, John 16:11). Likewise, the apostle Paul backed up that idea by calling Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

And so, if Satan has the world’s “good stuff” at his fingertips and is looking around for someone upon which to bestow them, who do you think he’s going to choose? Will it be the devout Christian who is making a marked difference for God in the world? No. It will be the person whose efforts are pleasing to Satan and who is furthering Satan’s work in the world.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that everybody who is experiencing success the way the world views success is getting it from Satan. That’s another one of those inaccurate blanket statements about good/bad and blessing/cursing that can’t be supported by either life or the Bible. What I’m saying is that a lot of people who are experiencing such success ARE getting it from Satan, and it takes a high degree of spiritual discernment to figure out where blessings are coming from and who is truly living a life pleasing to the Lord.

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Micah’s “Church” (part 2 of 2)

Posted on December 3, 2016 by russellmckinney

As we pick back up with our story, the young Levite named Jonathan has just been hired to serve as the priest of the “church” that Micah has set up at his home. This “church” is a shrine Micah has built to house his two false gods – a carved image and a molded image. Micah’s son has previously been serving as the shrine’s priest, complete with wearing a priestly ephod, but it’s Jonathan who now becomes the lead priest.

Jonathan is a young man completely out of God’s will for his life. Even though he is from Israel’s priestly tribe of Levi, he is not from the line of Aaron and therefore has no business serving as a priest anywhere. Furthermore, whatever form of ministerial service he is qualified to perform, he is supposed to be doing it at Israel’s Tabernacle in Shiloh, not some idolatrous shrine that Micah has erected at his home in the mountains of Ephraim. To make matters worse, Jonathan allows a bond to develop between Micah and himself, a bond that causes him to become like a son to Micah (Judges 17:11). And, as always, whenever someone finds himself in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, eventually trouble will ensue.

In Jonathan’s case, the trouble takes the form of five men from the tribe of Dan who come knocking on Micah’s door. These men are on a reconnaissance mission to spy out the surrounding area for their tribe. And why is the tribe of Dan doing such recon work? It is because that tribe, even though it is 64,000 strong (Numbers 26:43), has been unable to completely drive out the Amorites and thus hold the territory it has been allotted following Israel’s conquering of Canaan (Joshua 19:40-48, Judges 1:34, Judges 18:1).

The main problem is that the Amorites continue to possess the lowlands of Dan’s inheritance. That forces the Danites to live in the hill country, and hill countries aren’t conducive to planting and harvesting crops on a scale large enough to feed over 60,000 people. So, the tribe is now seeking to conquer other lands further north and settle them. But are these expansion efforts God approved? Not a chance. God wants the Danites to trust Him to help them drive out the Amorites rather than search out lands that are easier pickings.

Perhaps the five Danites know about Micah’s home as they make their way northward, or perhaps they just happen upon it, but either way the house becomes a lodging place for them (Judges 18:2). While they are there, it doesn’t take them long to ask Jonathan why he is living there. Verse 3 says “they recognized his voice,” which most likely means they realized that his dialect wasn’t from those parts. When Jonathan tells them that he is Micah’s priest, they excitedly ask him to inquire of God for them whether or not their mission will be successful (18:5). Jonathan answers, “Go in peace. The presence of the Lord will be with you on your way” (18:6). Here again we see evidence of these people’s strange mix of belief in idols and belief in the one true God of Israel.

But is this a genuine word from God through Jonathan? Please. Let’s not forget that if God had His way Jonathan wouldn’t be at this house and these Danites wouldn’t be on this mission! So, for Jonathan to tell them, “The presence of the Lord will be with you on your way” is about like a preacher saying the same thing to a husband about to meet his mistress in a hotel. Did you notice that no mention is made of Jonathan inquiring of the idols, let alone him inquiring of God? No, as J. Vernon McGee says, “This is the sweet talk of a hired preacher who says what people want to hear.”

Well, the five Danites head off on their mission and eventually come upon the city of Laish, which is located about 100 miles from Dan’s territory and is actually outside the territories the people of Israel occupy. The surrounding land is large and lacks nothing (18:10), and the people of Laish are a quiet, peaceful people who all get along with one another and have no official alliances or treaties for protection (18:7). In other words, Laish is exactly what the Danites have been hoping to find. Taking land from these people will be a cakewalk compared to claiming the full inheritance of their portion of Canaan from the Amorites.

So, the five spies go back to their tribe, which is spread out over the territories of Zorah and Eshtaol, and convince the tribe to march against Laish (18:8-11). 600 of Dan’s finest soldiers then head out armed with weapons of war (18:11). Their families travel with them (18:21) on the assumption that Laish will be defeated and the city will be ready for immediate resettling.

After first camping at Kirjath Jearim, the army moves into the mountains of Ephraim and comes to the house of Micah (18:12-13). There the five spies basically say to the rest of the group, “You won’t believe what’s going on at this place.” After being greeted at the site’s gate by Jonathan, the army remains at the gate with him while the five spies go in and loot the place by taking the carved image, the molded image, the ephod, and Micah’s other household idols (18:16-17). Imagine the absurdity of stealing “gods” that weren’t even powerful enough to keep themselves from being stolen!

When the spies get back to the gate with their stolen goods, Jonathan initially objects to the theft (18:18). But when the Danites ask him to come with them and serve as the priest to their entire tribe, he shows his true colors as nothing more than a hireling shepherd by gladly accepting the offer and taking his place in their ranks (18:19-20). After all, a fake preacher will go with the higher offer every time.

And so, the Danite army resumes their trek to Laish, this time with false gods and false priest in tow. Meanwhile, back at the house, Micah rounds up a group of his neighbors and they manage to catch up to the army (18:22). In a funny exchange of words, the Danites ask Micah, “What’s the matter with you?” Micah answers, “You took my gods and my priest and now you ask me, ‘What’s the matter with you?'” But since Micah and his little group are vastly outnumbered, he can’t actually do anything to stop the Danites. So, when the Danites threaten to kill him and his entire household, that settles that, and Micah and his group return to their homes (18:25-26).

All that is left now is for the Danites to lay waste to helpless Laish, and they accomplish that in short order by attacking unexpectedly and burning the city (18:27-28). Following the slaughter, the tribe of Dan rebuilds the city, renames it Dan, and relocates there (18:29).

And what becomes of Jonathan and the idols? The Danites erect the carved image as their god and make Jonathan the priest of their new religion (18:30-31). Over the course of time, Jonathan marries and has sons and those sons also become priests to the Danites (18:30). In other words, Jonathan’s family illegitimately becomes to the tribe of Dan what Aaron’s family legitimately is to Israel. The whole story even closes out by noting that all this took place while the house of God (the Tabernacle) was in Shiloh (18:31). That reminder serves to show the stark contrast between God’s will at Shiloh and the whole sordid mess at Dan.

Now, as I bring this two-part study to a close, I’d like to leave you with three more spiritual lessons that we learn from this fascinating story. First, we learn that any so-called “spiritual” work that is done apart from God and His will simply won’t produce genuine, lasting fruit. Micah acquired his false idols, built his shrine, hired his personal priest, and said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me.” But everything he did was done according to human logic, planning, and ingenuity, and God wasn’t the least bit impressed by it. And we are left to wonder just how much supposedly “spiritual” activity going on in our churches, denominations, Christian schools, and para-church organizations today is genuinely God’s will and thus able to produce the right kind of lasting fruit for Him.

Second, we learn that most people, when faced with difficult times, will grab onto the easy way out when it presents itself. This is what the homeless, jobless Jonathan did when he happened upon Micah’s place and was offered a job as the priest of Micah’s little “church.” As soon as he heard the salary package of ten shekels of silver per year, new clothes, and room and board, he was sold on the idea. This is also what the tribe of Dan did when they couldn’t easily drive out the Amorites from that section of Canaan that God had allotted to the tribe. Rather than keep warring against the Amorites and trust in God for the victory, the Danites bailed on God’s will, aborted the spiritual lessons that God was trying to teach them through their difficulties, and took the easy way out of conquering Laish instead.

Finally, third, we learn that when an individual misses God’s will, it can have consequences that are so far ranging as to be almost inconceivable. Follow along with me here. Approximately 400 years after this story in which the tribe of Dan embraced idolatry, the nation of Israel went through a civil war as the ten northern tribes broke away from the two southern tribes, formed their own new kingdom, and installed a king named Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:1-24). Jeroboam then promptly plunged the northern kingdom into full-blown idolatry by erecting two golden calves for worship (1 Kings 12:25-33). One calf was at Bethel, which was located in the mountains of Ephraim. Sound familiar? That’s where Micah had lived.  The other calf was at Dan. Sound familiar? That was the city that had formerly been known as Laish. You see, the idolatry that came to characterize Israel’s northern kingdom can be traced all the way back to Micah’s false gods and his false priest Jonathan. By the way, do you know what ultimately happened to the northern kingdom? In 721 B.C., the Assyrians conquered it and carried the people away as captives. Why did God allow that to happen? He did it as a judgment against the northern kingdom’s idolatry. Wow.

So, just to put a period on this whole study, let us be careful not to make the same mistakes as Micah, his mother, his son, Jonathan, or the tribe of Dan. Nothing we do that goes against God’s will can be considered harmless, and we would all be scared to death if we knew the long-range damage that our poor choices can create. In the end, Micah’s little “church” played a foundational role in leading the ten northern tribes into idolatry, and that in turn eventually led to their downfall. And if that isn’t enough to convince us that big doors swing on little hinges when it comes to spiritual matters, I don’t know what would be.

 

 

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Micah’s “Church” (part 1 of 2)

Posted on December 1, 2016 by russellmckinney

Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. Judges 17:1 (N.K.J.V.)

The time period of the book of Judges is famously known as the period when “there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). Sadly, spiritual matters certainly weren’t spared from all the ungodly behavior. The story found in Judges chapters 17 and 18 is a case in point. It involves a man named Micah, his mother, his son, a false priest, and some members of the tribe of Dan. And would you believe that not one single person from that entire cast of characters walks away from the story looking good in the eyes of the Lord? As a matter of fact, the story is so rich in spiritual lessons that I’m going to devote a couple of posts to it.

The story begins as so many of life’s stories do, with a money issue. A man named Micah, who lives in the mountains of Ephraim (Judges 17:1), confesses to his wealthy mother that he is the one who stole her 1,100 shekels of silver (17:2). Apparently, he isn’t worried about the theft until he hears her pronounce a curse upon whoever has robbed her. That throws enough of a scare into him to get him to confess his crime and return the money.

Surprisingly, however, Micah’s mother isn’t angry with him. Rather than scold him, she calls off the curse by evoking the name of the Lord in saying, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son” (17:2). But it’s what the woman does next that gives us our first indication that this story is going to feature a strange blending of belief in God mixed with rank idolatry. Even though this mother had once named her son “Micah” (which means “who is like Jehovah”), she now says, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image” (N.A.S.V., emphasis mine).

Are you kidding me? Did that mother just dedicate a large amount of silver to God to be used to make false idols for her son? You talk about warped theology! Remember that this family is Jewish, and the first and second commandments of God’s law to Israel plainly say: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Exodus 20:3-4).

Nevertheless, this mother stands true to her commitment by taking 200 shekels of the returned silver – a sum worth many thousands of dollars in our currency – to a silversmith and having him fashion a carved image (wood overlaid with silver) and a molded image (solid silver) from them. She then gives both idols to her son to keep in his house (17:4). Micah, for his part, absolutely loves the idea of having idols under his roof. Actually, the new idols simply add to the collection he already has. We know that he has other idols because Judges 17:5 and 18:17-18 both mention him having “household idols” in his “shrine” (The Hebrew word translated as “shrine” literally means “house of gods.”)

To make his whole shrine even more bizarre and blasphemous, Micah goes so far as to install one of his sons to be the priest over the shrine (17:5). Even more than that, he attempts to give the son some priestly credibility by making an ephod for him to wear in his priestly role. (An ephod was a vest-type garment, a breastplate, that a high priest wore over his chest while performing his priestly duties.)

So, now Micah has his own personal “church,” complete with his false idols and his handpicked priest. He either doesn’t realize or doesn’t care that all this is a million miles outside God’s will. At this time, the center of worship in Israel is supposed to be the Tabernacle (Deuteronomy 12:1-14), which is located in Shiloh (Judges 18:31). There the descendants of Aaron serve as Israel’s God-sanctioned priests, and if anyone outside Aaron’s line tries to serve as a priest, he is to be put to death (Numbers 3:10). But Micah isn’t concerned with any of these obvious contradictions to what he’s doing. He has his own private “worship” site and is thrilled about it.

And Micah’s life gets even better when one day, completely unexpected, a young man named Jonathan (18:30), from the tribe of Levi, shows up at his doorstep looking for a place to stay (17:7-8). This young Levite has been living in Bethlehem of Judah and I think it’s fair to say that he’s as confused as a goose in a hailstorm about what he’s supposed to be doing in life. In order to understand the low level to which he has sunk, you need a little background information.

There were three clans that made up the tribe of Levi, with each clan taking its name from one of Levi’s three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Each clan had specific duties to perform in service at the Tabernacle. The clan of Kohath included the descendants of Aaron (Israel’s first high priest), and Israel’s official priesthood was made up of males from Aaron’s line. The males from the other two clans, the clans Gershon and Merari, were set apart as caretakers of the Tabernacle and aides to the priests. Summing things up, all the Levite males ministered in some way at the Tabernacle during their appointed times of the year. When they weren’t “on shift” at the Tabernacle, they were free to go about the business of their lives.

When Israel conquered the land of Canaan, the tribe of Levi was not allocated a specific region of the land the way the other eleven tribes were. Instead, the Levites were given 48 Levitical cities that were scattered throughout the land (Numbers 35:1-8, Joshua 21:1-8), with each of the eleven other tribes proportionately contributing certain cities from their territory. The Aaronite priestly division of the Kohath clan was given thirteen cities, while the rest of the Kohath clan was given ten. The Gershon clan was given thirteen cities, and the Merari clan was given twelve.

But guess which city wasn’t one of the 48: Bethlehem of Judah. This raises the question of why this young Levite had recently been living there. I don’t want to drift off into wild speculation here, but there just doesn’t seem to be any God-approved reason for him to have been living in a city that wasn’t on the list of the 48. This indicates that this young man was in a spiritual fog himself, backslidden, and far outside God’s will as he hiked into the nearby mountains of Ephraim looking for a new life. One thing we know for sure: When he knocked on Micah’s door, he was about to go from bad to worse spiritually.

As soon as Micah learns who Jonathan is, he starts concocting a plan to install this young Levite as a priest over his “church.” In Micah’s way of thinking, at least Jonathan is a member of Israel’s priestly tribe, even if he isn’t a member of the Kohath clan from which the actual priests come. This would be like someone today favoring or handpicking a person simply because that person is from a certain family. It’s unclear whether Micah plans to demote his son as priest or if he simply wants to add Jonathan to the ministerial staff, but Micah’s offer to Jonathan is simple: “Live with me, be a father and a priest to me, and I will pay you ten shekels of silver per year, plus new clothes, food, and lodging” (17:10).

Well, since young Jonathan is currently homeless and destitute, he jumps at the offer, and Micah quickly installs him as his own live-in priest over his little “church” (17:11-12). The foolish, undiscerning, quasi-religious Micah even says, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as a priest!” Talk about spiritually clueless! He’s stolen money from his mother, initially lied about stealing it, accepted false idols from her, brought the idols into his home, built a shrine to them, installed his son as a priest, and has now installed another unqualified young man as priest. Yikes!

Here again we find this family trying to sprinkle God over their ungodly behavior. Notice that Micah doesn’t say, “My idols will be good to me because I have a Levite as a priest.” No, he says, “The Lord will be good to me….” Oh sure, Micah, you and God are just fine! Don’t you hate it when people do things of which God couldn’t possibly approve and then try to get all spiritual by talking about how good He has been to them? You just want to look at them and say, “Stop it. Just stop it.”

And that’s where we will leave off the story until next time. It’s like those movie cliffhangers from the old days. “What will become of Micah and his ‘church’?” “Will young Jonathan come to his senses and repent of his sins?” “What will become of the false idols?” “Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion of Micah’s Church.” Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I saw too many reruns of the old Buck Rogers serial featuring Buster Crabbe when I was little.

But before I close this post, let’s ask the question, “What lessons have we learned so far from this story?” Well, first, we’ve learned that some people try to blend idolatry and walking with the Lord. Micah, his mother, Micah’s son, and Jonathan all tried to play this unwinnable game. Trust me, if you have undeniable, obvious sin and wrongdoing in your life, you and God aren’t fine. No way. And that sense of so-called “peace” you have about whatever your idol happens to be is either the devil lying to you or you lying to yourself. Beware of believing your own rationalizing.

Second, we’ve learned that some people try to dictate the terms of their worship and religion. Do you know where you will find Micah today? You’ll find him serving on a pulpit committee, treating the whole process of finding his church’s next pastor like a business decision rather than a spiritual one and working hard to get “his” man in as pastor. Or, you’ll find him lording over a deacon board ensuring that the church goes in the direction in which he wants it to go. Or, you’ll find him holding an influential office in his denomination, making important decisions based upon his personal likes, preferences, and mindsets rather than honest spiritual discernment.

And, of course, all the while as these modern-day Micahs are out there creating their personal shrines and staffing them, they are praying, making a show of religion, and talking about how right they are with God and how much He is blessing them. If you want to know what’s wrong with our churches and denominations these days, look no further than all the Micahs who are currently wreaking havoc on God’s will and God’s plans.

And then, third, we’ve learned that just because someone is in the ministry, that doesn’t mean they are in God’s will being there. Just as there are many modern-day Micahs, there are plenty of modern-day Jonathans too. How many uncalled people are in the ministry right now? How many unqualified pastors are in pulpits right now? How many preachers would preach for free if that’s what it took to preach? How many pastors would serve without what they considered to be an adequate salary package? How many evangelists would stick with it if there were more bills than converts? How many missionaries would remain in foreign lands if the persecution hit hard? How many chaplains would keep ministering if they became despised and rejected for being too narrow minded, politically incorrect, and in tune with the Lord? I truly believe that if God peeled back the curtain and allowed us to know the answers to these questions, we would be shocked and saddened. You see, the fact is that we are not nearly as removed from the days of the book of Judges as we like to think.

Posted in Church, God's Will, God's Work, Idolatry, Ministry, Money, Preaching, Worship | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments