Is the King James Version God’s “Perfect” Word?

Posted on October 28, 2009 by russellmckinney

There are some Christians who staunchly believe the King James Version of the Bible is a “perfect” translation. This belief is called “King James onlyism.” I encountered this belief early on in my pastoral days and have since spent untold hours studying it. In regards to “K.J.V. only” advocates, I’ve listened to sermons from Jack Hyles, who ruled as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, for over 40 years. I’ve spent hours reading David Cloud’s “Way of Life” website. I’ve subscribed to “The Sword of the Lord” paper, which is edited by Shelton Smith. I’ve even attended two Sword of the Lord conferences in Walkertown, North Carolina. So, trust me, I’ve heard the arguments for the K.J.V. translation being a “perfect” Bible. Here are three of those main arguments.

#1: God has promised to preserve His words. The supposed “proof text” for this promise is Psalm 12:6-7, which says in the K.J.V.:

The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

According to the “K.J.V. only” folks, the K.J.V. is God’s preserved word for the English-speaking people. Putting it another way, the K.J.V. is God’s way of fulfilling His Psalm 12:6-7 promise to “keep” His words and “preserve” them forever, at least in regards to the English language. As for the more than 7,000 other languages in the world, especially the more than 3,700 languages for which we currently don’t have a Bible translation, evidently God doesn’t have a promise of preservation for them.

Sarcasm aside, the majority of commentators tell us the word “them” in the line “thou shalt preserve them” refers to the oppressed “poor” and “needy” of verse 5 rather than the “words of the Lord” of verse 6. Why do they interpret the Psalm in this way? They do it because 95% of Hebrew scholars agree that “them” in verse 7 should be translated as “us.” This makes the Psalm about God preserving the godly weak in a world of the ungodly strong rather than preserving His word in some singular translation of the Bible. Consequently, translations such as the English Standard Version, the Holman Christian Standard, and the New International Version use the word “us” in verse 7 instead of “them.” Of course, how those other translations read means absolutely nothing to the “K.J.V. only” folks.

Before we move on from this first argument, let me also mention that it is commonly accepted that the K.J.V. translation, which was first published in 1611, has been revised at least four times before what we call the “modern” age, with the last revision taking place in 1769. And how many differences are there between the 1611 version and the 1769 one? Over 22,000! While most of those changes simply involved either changes in the spelling of certain words or the correction of printing errors, let’s not ignore the more than 100 of them that involved actually “revising” (i.e. “changing”) a word or phrase. This leads to the question, “If God’s preserved word for English-speaking people is the K.J.V., which version of that translation is the preservation?” The vast majority of the “K.J.V. only” people would answer, “The 1611 edition.” Okay, fine, then why did God allow all the changes to take place to it, and why is everybody in the “K.J.V. only” camp today reading a later revision?

#2: God’s word is settled in heaven. The so-called “proof text” here is Psalm 119:89, which says in the K.J.V.:

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

I once heard Jack Hyles say in a sermon that the “word” that is settled in heaven is the King James translation. He said that when he got to heaven he would see a King James Bible there. I guess all those Christians who make it to heaven but can’t read English will have to take the time in eternity to learn the language. Then again, God might just instantaneously give them that ability the way he caused those Pentecost believers to speak in languages unknown to them (Acts 2:1-13). Actually, however, since Jack Hyles also taught that the K.J.V. is the “incorruptible” “seed” of “the word of God” that 1 Peter 1:23 says is necessary for anyone to be “born again,” maybe there won’t be anybody in heaven who’ll have to learn to read English after all!

Would you believe the most extreme of the “K.J.V. only” group even contend that the K.J.V. is actually superior to the Old Testament’s original Hebrew and the New Testament’s original Greek? This idea was most famously promoted by Peter Ruckman, who founded the Pensacola Bible Institute. He went so far as to teach that the K.J.V. is advanced revelation over the Bible’s original texts! This doctrine is now known as “Ruckmanism.”

#3: The men who served as the translators of the K.J.V. were all godly men who believed they were handling the word of God. While the group of translators who gave us the K.J.V. might have been godly men, they weren’t even “K.J.V. only” themselves. In the original K.J.V., which was published in 1611, there are eleven pages that serve as the Preface. This Preface is labeled “The Translators To The Reader.” By way of that preface, the translators clearly encourage the use of other translations. To quote that Preface, “a variety of translation is profitable for finding out the sense of the Scriptures.”

Those same K.J.V. translators also praise translations that came before theirs by saying:

Truly (good Christian reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one…but to make a good one better or out of many good ones, one principal good one.

Furthermore, those translators made a point of saying that scripture must always be in the most current, up-to-date language so that the common people can easily understand what they are reading. The direct quote is:

But we desire that the Scripture may speak like itself, as in the language, that it may be understood even of the very vulgar.

Ironically, even the meaning of that word “vulgar” has changed since those translators wrote. During their day it meant “common, simple, or uneducated.” Now it typically means “crude, lewd, offensive, or profane.” Does that make the translator’s argument or what?

Along these lines, it’s hard to defend the clear readability of the K.J.V. when it uses such archaic, obsolete words as:

“abjects”; “aceldama”; “affright”; “afore”; “agone”; “ague”; “almug”; “ambassage”; “amerce”; “anon”; “appertain”; “assayed”; “astonied”; “beeves”; “bethink”; “betimes”; “bewrayeth”; “blains”; “bolled”; “brigandines”; “bruit”; “caul”; “chambering”; “chapiters”; “chapmen”; “chode”; “choler”; “churl”; “cieled”; “clouted”; “cogitations”; “collops”; “concision”; “concupiscence”; “contemn”; “cotes”; “countervail”; “crookbackt”; “cruse”; “cumbered”; “daysman”; “descry”; “discomfited”; “doleful”; “durst”; “emerads”; “ensample”; “espied”; “felloe”; “flagon”; “forswear”; “gad”; “gainsaying”; “glede”; “habergeon”; “harrow”; “hart”; “hoar”; “holpen”; “hough”; “husbandman”; “implead”; “importunity”; “inditing”; “jangling”; “kine”; “knop”; “lade”; “lees”; “listeth”; “mammon”; “marishes”; “maw”; “mete”; “meteyard”; “murrain”; “neesing”; “nitre”; “noised”; “noisome”; “obeisance”; “ouches”; “outwent”; “paps”; “paramour”; “pate”; “patrimony”; “penury”; “peradventure”; “pilled”; “plaiting”; “prating”; “purloining”; “purtenance”; “quarternion”; “redoud”; “requiet”;”rereward”; “ringstraked”; “sackbut”; “scall”; “scrip”; “servitor”; “sheepcote”; “sith”; “staves”; “stomacher”; “suretiship”; “surfeiting”; “tabret”; “taches”; “thitherward”; “trode”; “trow”; “unction”; “untoward”; “vaunt”; “verity”; “victuals”; “visage”; “wen”; “wimples”; “winefat”; “wont”; and “wot.”

In addition to these outdated words, there are also those various instances where the meanings of certain words have changed over the centuries. Consider the following examples:

The word “fetched” in “fetched a compass” (Joshua 15:3; 2 Kings 3:9; Acts 28:13) doesn’t mean “went and got.” Instead, it means “to turn around” or “to go around” or “circled.”

The word “leasing” in “seek after leasing” (Psalm 4:2) doesn’t mean “entering into a contract whereby you pay for the use of property or land.” Instead, it means “lying.”

The word “replenish” in “replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28) doesn’t mean “fill something up again.” Instead, it means “fill.”

The word “wax” in “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” (2 Timothy 3:13) doesn’t mean “polish,” “treat,” or “cover.” Instead, it means “increase.”

The word “conversation” in “ye have heard of my conversation in time past” (Galatians 1:13) doesn’t mean “a talk” or “a dialogue.” Instead, it means “conduct.”

The word “instant” in “be instant in season, out of season” (1 Timothy 4:2) doesn’t mean “happening immediately.” Instead, it means “persistence,” “readiness,” or “steadfastness.”

The word “mean” in “he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29) doesn’t mean “unkind,” “unpleasant,” or “cruel.” Instead, it means “obscure” or “insignificant.”

The word “without” in “without the camp” (Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 4:12; Numbers 5:3; etc.) doesn’t mean “in the absence of.” Instead, it means “outside.”

The word “simplicity” in “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3) doesn’t mean “easy to understand.” Instead, it means “sincere,” “pure,” or “not corrupted.”

The word “emulation” in “I may provoke to emulation” doesn’t mean “imitate in an effort to surpass.” Instead, it means “jealousy.”

The word “let” in “only he who now letteth will let” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) doesn’t mean “allow.” Instead, it means “restrain.”

The word “polled” in “he polled his head” (2 Samuel 14:26) doesn’t mean “recorded the opinion of.” Instead, in the case of a human, it means “to cut the hair.” In the case of an animal, it means “to cut the horns from.”

The word “carriages” in “we took up our carriages” (Acts 21:15) doesn’t mean “a four-wheeled passenger vehicle pulled by animals.” Instead, it means “”baggage.”

The word “prevent” in “shall not prevent them” (2 Thessalonians 4:15) doesn’t mean “keep from happening.” Instead, it means “precede” or “go before.”

The word “wit” in “we do you to wit” (2 Corinthians 8:1) doesn’t mean “keen intelligence” or “mental sharpness.” Instead, it means “make known to you.”

The word “charger” in “in a charger, the head of John the Baptist” (Mark 6:25) doesn’t mean “a horse trained for battle.” Instead, it means “a platter.”

The word “quick” in “the word of God is quick” (Hebrews 4:12) doesn’t mean “moves at a fast rate.” Instead, it means “living.”

The word “rank” in “rank and good” (Genesis 41:6) doesn’t mean “having an unpleasant smell.” Instead, it means “fat” or “healthy.”

The word “devotions” in “beheld your devotions” (Acts 17:23) doesn’t mean “times of prayer or religious observances.” Instead, it means “objects of worship.”

The word “convenient” in “to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28) doesn’t mean “blending in well with a person’s needs, plans, or activities.” Instead, it means “fitting” or “proper.”

I certainly mean no disrespect to the K.J.V. translation. After all, I did grow up reading it and have preached from it for the bulk of my pastoral ministry. I’ll even agree with the assessment that the K.J.V. has been used in God’s service more than any other translation. But let’s not go off the deep end here. The K.J.V. is not “perfect.” To the contrary, it has various demonstrable translation errors in it. Mind you, it’s one thing for a translation to use a word that is correct for the age but archaic for a later age. It’s something else entirely, though, for a translation to offer an incorrect translation. Here is a list of some of the translation mistakes in the K.J.V.:

Genesis 42:27; Genesis 43:21; Exodus 4:24: “inn” should be “the lodging place” or “the encampment”

Genesis 49:6: “they digged down a wall” should be “they hamstrung an ox”

Exodus 20:13: “kill” should be “murder” (This clears up an apparent contradiction between this verse and passages such as Exodus 21:12-21.)

Judges 15:19: “in the jaw” should be “in Lehi” or “at Lehi.”

1 Samuel 27:10: “Whither have ye made a road today?” should be “Where have you made a raid today?” or “Where have you gone raiding today?”

1 Kings 10:28: “linen yarn” should be the Egyptian town “Keveh”

Psalm 77:2: “my sore ran in the night” should be “my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing”

Matthew 6:25: “Take no thought” should be “Do not worry” or “Do not be anxious”

Mark 6:20: “observed him” should be “kept him safe” or “protected him”

Luke 14:7: “chief rooms” should be “places of honor”

Acts 5:30: “and hanged” should be “by hanging”

Acts 12:4: “Easter” should be “Passover”

Acts 19:2: “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” should be “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

Romans 8:16,26: “Spirit itself” should be “Spirit Himself”

1 Corinthians 4:4: “For I know nothing by myself” should be “For I am conscious of nothing against myself”

Galatians 2:10: “forward” should be “earnest” or “diligent”

1 Thessalonians 5:22: “all appearance of evil” should be “every form of evil”

1 Timothy 6:10: “the root of all evil” should be “the root of all kinds of evil”

2 Timothy 2:15: “Study” should be “Be diligent” or “Do your best”

James 3:2: “For in many things we offend all” should be “For we all stumble in many things”

You see, if even one of these errors stands up to scrutiny and proves to be factual, it means the K.J.V. loses the claim of perfection. You can’t be wrong in even one way and still be “perfect.” Please understand now, by in large the K.J.V. is a reliable translation that does a good job of translating the Bible’s original Hebrew and Greek into English. We’re talking about just a few problems in the translation’s vast universe of words. Nevertheless, those problems are there.

In closing, let me mention Romans 10:2, where we learn that it’s possible to have a zeal for God that is misdirected in that it is “not according to knowledge.” While the zeal is sincere, it is either uninformed or ill-informed. In the cases of some of the “K.J.V. only” folks, their zeal is uninformed because they’ve never really taken the time and put in the work to study the issue for themselves. In the cases of others, their zeal is ill-informed because they’ve studied the issue in great detail and reached the wrong conclusion about it.

Either way, it’s an honest-to-goodness shame because the “K.J.V. only” people are, by in large, devout Christians who desire to live a life pleasing to the Lord. I know some of them personally and can say without reservation that if everybody served Jesus as well as they do, the world would be a better place. I just wish they’d consider all the evidence against the King James translation being the best translation for the 21st century (to say nothing of it being “perfect”) and give other translations a chance. One thing is for sure, if they won’t, most of their children and grandchildren will. That’s just the way things are trending. And I, for one, think it’s a good thing.

Posted in Balance, Bible Study, Discernment, God's Word, King James Only, Pastors, Preaching, Scripture, The Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Clint Eastwood Westerns

Posted on October 17, 2009 by russellmckinney

I’m going to drop my pastoral guard and admit something to you: I love Clint Eastwood westerns. There, I said it. Now hang on and hear the rest of it. I don’t love every scene in them, and I’m fully aware of the valid criticisms that can be brought against them. But I’m not going to lie and say I don’t love those movies. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve got Dish Network with a DVR feature that allows me to fast forward through scenes I’d rather skip.)

The reason I love Eastwood’s westerns can be summed up in one simple word: justice. In those movies, the bad guys get theirs. Consider the following examples:

  • In those famous “spaghetti” westerns (The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly; A Fistful of Dollars; and For a Few Dollars More), Eastwood is the gunfighter/bounty hunter who takes care of the outlaws the law can’t handle.
  • In Hang ‘Em High, he’s the wrongly hung man who turns marshal and rounds up the culprits.
  • In Two Mules For Sister Sara, he prevents the dastardly French from making inroads into Mexico.
  • In Joe Kidd, he’s the rancher who has to put a stop to Robert Duvall and his group of vigilantes who oppose land reform.
  • In High Plains Drifter, he’s the marshal’s ghost who comes back to handle not only the hypocritical, cowardly citizens of Lago but also the outlaws who killed him.
  • In The Outlaw Josey Wales, he’s the Missouri farmer who turns guerrilla fighter to avenge the senseless killing of his family.
  • In Pale Rider, he’s the mysterious preacher (actually another ghost, that of a gunfighter) who saves a little group of prospectors from a greedy, ruthless mining company.
  • In Unforgiven, he’s the ex-killer who gets back into the business to bring down not only the men who brutalized a prostitute but also the mean ole’ sheriff who pretty much let them get away with it.

Do I sense a pattern here? Sure do. If you want some real justice dispensed, call Clint Eastwood and give him a horse and a six-shooter.

What makes Eastwood’s justice so particularly appealing is the fact that it gets carried out so swiftly. In many scenes, troublemakers are dealt their comeuppance in a matter of seconds. In no case does the justice take more than the span of a movie. This stands in stark contrast to our own legal system, a system that typically gets bogged down in things like continuations, booked court calendars, recesses, appeals, appeals of appeals, and retrials.

Oh, and did I mention that the villain in a Clint Eastwood western never goes free? Forget loopholes, circumstantial evidence, and the like. If the guy’s got it coming, he gets it! No questions. No apologies. No regrets. In the late 1980s, Eastwood served a couple of years as the mayor of his hometown of Carmel, California. He missed his calling in that he should have been its sheriff.

Am I the only one who ever wishes that God would hurry up His justice? I have no doubts that His justice is found in spades in the afterlife, but why can’t it be found more in this life? Consider the following three examples of known murderers who, as best we can tell, escaped justice in this life altogether:

London’s “Jack the Ripper” taunted the police and got away with viciously, sadistically killing five prostitutes in the Whitechapel section of East London in 1888.

Josef Mengele, the German SS officer and physician known as “The Angel of Death” because of his horrific experiments upon Jews in Germany’s concentration camps of World War II, escaped to Argentina following the war and lived uncaptured for decades before dying of a stroke in Bertioga, Brazil, in 1979 and being buried under the name “Wolfgang Gerhard.”

The serial killer known as “The Zodiac Killer” killed at least five victims in Northern California between 1968 and 1969, taunted the police by sending them codes to decipher, but was never caught.

The families of the victims of these men could well have asked, “Where was God when all of these crimes were being committed?” Even more to the point, they could have asked, “Where was His justice afterward?” Frankly, there would have been no easy answers to either question.

I love Deuteronomy 32:4, which says of God:

He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

I read that verse and think, “Yes, yes. That’s the God I serve!” But then I hear the news about a crime that has remained unsolved for decades or some other grievous miscarriage of justice. Such things simply don’t appear to line up with Deuteronomy 32:4.

Actually, though, there are even scriptural examples of people who, evidently, escaped justice in this life. One that comes to my mind is Herod Antipas. Even though he had John the Baptist beheaded (Matthew 14:1-12) and played a role in the trial of Jesus (Luke 23:6-12), historians tell us he lived for several years after these events. Where’s the justice in that?

I think we have to admit that causing justice to get done in this world just doesn’t seem to be a high priority with God. If you think this is a blasphemous statement, then you’ll have to label Job a blasphemer, too. He himself admitted to being thoroughly confused by God’s lack of justice when he said of God:

He destroys the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? (Job 9:22-24, N.K.J.V.)

Additionally, Job also asked:

Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? (Job 21:7, N.K.J.V.)

Such talk puts Job in good company. Another godly man, Asaph, once said:

Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease. They increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning (Psalm 73:12-14, N.K.J.V.)

Likewise, Jeremiah asked God:

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? (Jeremiah 12:1, N.K.J.V.)

Similarly, Habakkuk got very blunt about the matter when he said to God:

Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore perverse judgment proceeds (Habakkuk 1:4, N.K.J.V.)

So, why does God so many times delay His justice until the afterlife? I would offer two reasons. Reason #1 is: God is merciful, patient, and longsuffering because He loves even the wicked and hates banishing them to hell. As 2 Peter 3:9 says:

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (N.K.J.V.)

Likewise, 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God:

…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (N.K.J.V.)

Similarly, Ezekiel 33:11 says:

“Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'”(N.K.J.V.)

Reason #2 why God’s justice is delayed is: God wants to allow the iniquity of the wicked to reach its full measure so that His judgment upon them can reach its full measure. In Genesis 15:16, God explains to Abraham why His descendants can’t go ahead and possess Canaan. That reason was: The iniquity of the Amorites wasn’t yet complete, which meant that it hadn’t yet reached its full measure.

The Amorites were one of the most powerful of the races who occupied Canaan, and in the Genesis 15:16 verse they represent all those races. God knew that when He finally did give the order for the people of Israel to go in and claim Canaan, that order would be accompanied by the command to kill the land’s inhabitants, including the women and children (Exodus 23:23-33, 33:1-2; Deuteronomy 9:1-5, 19:1, 31:3-5; Joshua 6:21, 8:24-29, etc.). Such a cold, calculated command would demand a worthy reason, and delaying Israel’s conquest of Canaan for over 400 years would give the land’s inhabitants more than four centuries to revel in their sins and bring them to a boiling point that would befit such an extermination.

In closing, let me say that these two reasons for the delays in God’s justice are still at work today because each of them is indelibly woven into the very fabric of His nature. One comes under the category of hope while the other comes under the category of doom, but the immediate effect of both is the same: the delay of justice. You see, God has more than a quick scene or a two-hour movie in which to impart His justice. He paints on the canvas of eternity. That means that, in the short run, He can be more merciful, longsuffering, and patient than one of Clint Eastwood’s characters. But it also means that, in the long run, His brand of justice, one that lasts for all eternity, is much more devastating than Clint’s.

Posted in Coming Judgment, Eternity, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Hell, Justice | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tim Tebow and Jesus

Posted on October 14, 2009 by russellmckinney

The Monday (10-12-09) edition of USA TODAY ran an interesting article entitled “And I’d like to thank God Almighty.” The article addressed the issue of Christian athletes loudly bringing their Christianity into sports. If you’re any kind of fan, you’ve seen them do this. The basketball player makes the winning shot and says in the courtside interview, “I just want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for helping me make that shot.” The Nascar driver wins the race, emerges from his car, dons a cap, and says to the reporter in victory lane, “First of all, I want to thank Jesus Christ, for without him none of this would have been possible.”

The article prominently mentioned Tim Tebow, the star quarterback for the Florida Gators, the nation’s top-ranked college football team. Tebow has been a part of two national championship teams at Florida. He’s won the Heisman Trophy. He’s been named All American. He’s been praised as a leader, an upstanding student, and an ideal role model. He’s also been an outspoken Christian who has fervently mixed his Christianity with his football since the first day he stepped foot on campus.

The problem Tom Krattenmaker, the writer of the article, has with Tebow is the staunchly conservative brand of Christianity that Tebow promotes. He points out that Tebow takes off-season missionary trips to Asia under the auspices of his father’s organization, The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association. According to Krattenmaker, the bottom line of that organization is: “Only those who assent to its version of Christianity will avoid eternal punishment.” He then cites two examples of the concerns he has with the organization. First, the ministry boldly states, “We reject the modern ecumenical movement.” Second, the ministry’s literature estimates that 75% of the inhabitants of the Philippines “have never once heard the gospel of Christ,” even though more than 80% of Philippine citizens identify themselves as Roman Catholic.

Now, before I press on to what I really want to say with this post, let me be clear about a few things:

#1: I understand full well the inherent danger of doctrinal compromise in the modern ecumenical movement. There are reasons why I pastor a non-denominational church, and that’s one of them.

#2: Despite my wariness of ecumenicalism, I know there are sincere Christians to be found throughout the various denominations (Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Church of Christ, etc.)

#3: I do believe that the religious system of Catholicism is a false hybrid of authentic New Testament Christianity and that it is laced with erroneous teachings and practices.

#4: I do believe there are some legitimate Christians within Catholicism’s ranks.

#5: I do believe in the eternal punishment of those who die without ever having placed their belief in Christ as Savior.

So, you see, I’m not writing to lambaste the beliefs of Tim Tebow or The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association. For the most part, with a few exceptions, I agree with their basic tenets. Instead, what I want to write about is the “Jesus always makes you a winner” mentality.

Are we to believe that Jesus always wants His followers to succeed in sports? Does the fact that Tim Tebow’s team beat Louisiana State last Saturday prove that Jesus favors Tim Tebow over the players on the L.S.U. team? Maybe the Lord just doesn’t like the state of Louisiana in general. After all, He sent Hurricane Katrina to “get” New Orleans, didn’t He? We’ll just conveniently overlook the minor detail that Katrina did incredible damage to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, a conservative school in the Southern Baptist Convention denomination. We’ll also overlook the fact that there might just be some Christians on a team from Louisiana.

What I’m saying is, it’s very easy for Tim Tebow to give all praise to Jesus for letting him run for touchdowns when he is doing that running behind one of the biggest, baddest offensive lines in college football. It’s very easy for him to credit Jesus for letting him throw touchdown passes when he is throwing those passes to some of the fastest, most skilled receivers on planet Earth. I wonder, would Jesus seem nearly as powerful to Tebow if he played for a team that wasn’t loaded with such players?

Tebow can talk all he wants about the power of the Lord, but when it came time for him to choose a college team to play for, this home-schooled son of a missionary didn’t pick a small, Christian, ultra conservative, non-ecumenical school that barely had a football team. He picked one of the most secular “football factories” in the United States. Think about that. There’s the power of the Lord, and then there’s the power of incredibly gifted teammates. It’s easy to shine for Jesus when the greatest disappointment you have to face in a season is the gap between winning a national championship or having to settle for finishing second in your conference and in the top five nationally.

My son Ryan is a Christian. His belief in Christ is real and he is a great kid. He’s also a good athlete whose best sport might very well be football. However, through no fault of his own, he suffers from attending a school system that rates very low in sports. He never won a football game during his 5th-grade season. Likewise for his 6th. That 6th-grade team scored three touchdowns total. Ryan ran for two and threw for the other one. This season was his middle-school, 7th-grade season. He made all-conference, but his team won one game.

Since Ryan and Tim Tebow both claim the same Savior, why does that Savior work so hard to get Tebow his wins and acclaim but allows Ryan to get gang-tackled season after season? I would submit that Tebow’s natural ability and otherworldly teammates have much more to do with his athletic success than Jesus does. I say that Jesus isn’t nearly as personally involved in the outcome of sporting events as Christian athletes want to believe. Put a batter up against a pitcher and the outcome will depend much more upon how good the pitcher’s stuff is than how often the batter prays.

Please understand that I’m not trying to completely eliminate Jesus from sports. After all, His sovereignty knows no limits. And let’s face it, any Savior who knows the number of hairs on a person’s head has to be interested in all of life, right down to the minutest details. But we need to get back into the realm of reality on this subject. If an athlete wants to thank Jesus for allowing him the health to compete, that’s fine. If He wants to give Him praise for dying on the cross for his sins, that’s a form of witnessing. When it comes to final scores, though, he needs to keep his mouth shut about Jesus. If Jesus was really that actively involved in that department, Notre Dame would never lose a game. Remember, that’s the school with the famous “Touchdown Jesus” shrine. Oh, wait, scratch what I just said. I forgot, they’re Catholics.

Posted in Evangelism, Sports, Thankfulness, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Life Is a Vapor, But Then What?

Posted on October 6, 2009 by russellmckinney

I got the call yesterday morning that a faithful member of our church passed away during the night. What made the news so shocking was the fact that Bill had seemed fine Sunday morning. He and his wife, Celeine, had taken their usual seats in church and enjoyed the service just like they always did.

I myself wasn’t fine that Sunday morning, and Bill picked up on it as soon as he saw me. For various reasons, I didn’t sleep well that Saturday night. Then, I got up Sunday morning with a fair amount of vertigo. That was only the second time in my life I experienced vertigo (and I don’t want there to ever be a third). As I walked into church that morning, I put up a brave front and figured that nobody would be able to tell that I was struggling a little just to remain upright. But when I walked over to shake hands with Bill and Celeine, Bill looked right at me and said, “You’re sick.” I’ve got to admit that I was taken aback by the straightforwardness of his remark and the accuracy of his diagnosis.

After I explained to him what was going on with me, he asked me something I will never forget. His question was, “When was the last time you had a physical?” I stuttered and stammered a little and then finally got out the answer, “Oh, I don’t know, I guess it was five or so years ago.” The truth was, I couldn’t remember. Bill’s reply was, “You ought to go have one. You might have some high blood pressure.” (For the record, I’ve had my blood pressure checked in the past few months. It was fine.)

After the Sunday service, I got involved talking to other people and didn’t really say much to Bill and Celeine. I regret that now. If I had known that was the last time I would see Bill on this earth, I would have made a point of spending a lot of time with him. But we never know such things, do we? Life really is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

We don’t know exactly what took Bill’s life around 1:00 a.m. Monday morning. He lived each day with a garden variety of physical ailments. I can’t even begin to remember the number of hospital stays he endured, the surgeries and the procedures. At his home yesterday afternoon, the family showed me the list of medications he took. It looked like an encyclopedia of Latin. He had to have a chart just to keep it all straight. I think that’s why he encouraged me to get a physical. He knew far better than most how quickly your health can deteriorate.

I took great joy in informing the family that Bill no longer needs all his pills or his oxygen machine. His soul has now departed (Genesis 35:18-19) from his “body of death” (Romans 7:24). I’m happy for him. I’m also a little envious. I’ve noticed that something strange has happened to me over the past few years. I’ve begun longing for heaven to a degree I didn’t expect to reach until I was much older.

And here’s the shocking thing (at least it’s shocking to me): My increased longing for heaven springs much more from a desire to leave behind the pain, suffering, injustice, and wickedness of this world than it does a desire to see the splendors of heaven. I’ve begun to see heaven not so much as a desirable location but as an escape from an undesirable one. I’m as excited about getting to leave this world as I am about getting to enter into heaven.

Do I still love my wife and want to spend our “golden years” together? Yes. Do I still love my two boys and want to watch them finish growing up? Yes. Do I want to hold grandbabies in my arms and get to spoil them? Yes. Do I want to keep on enjoying all the pleasures of life? Yes. But do I now see this life for what it is and look forward to a better afterlife? Most definitely! I think it’s quite appropriate that the text God has given me for Bill’s funeral sermon is Job 14:1-6, a passage which begins with the words: “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”

Bill is out of that trouble now. He is in that better place that we like to talk about. But his is only a better place because he knew Jesus as his personal Savior. Can you imagine how awful it would be if this life was the highlight of your eternal existence? Can you imagine being born of woman, living out your “few” days (few in relation to eternity), experiencing all of life’s trouble, and then having your soul depart for a gruesome place of suffering and anguish? Can you imagine lifting up your eyes in hell and being in torment (Luke 16:19-23)? I don’t even want to think about such a horror.

But the stark reality is that most of the people on earth right now are staring straight down the gun-barrel of that horror. They don’t know Christ as Savior and if they die tonight their souls will not go to heaven. This should compel us Christians to be all the more involved in evangelism. We must share the good news of Christ’s gospel with those who need it. Someone once shared that gospel with Bill, and he responded by placing his belief in Jesus as his personal Savior. For that reason, I won’t have problems preaching his funeral and his family won’t have to search fruitlessly for comfort. But that puts us in the minority, not the majority. And that, Christian, is not a good thing.

You say, “But Russell, I’m just one person and the task of world evangelism is far too overwhelming.” You’re right, it is. That’s why Jesus doesn’t expect you to take on that task. What He expects you to do is engage in individual evangelism. Don’t focus on winning the masses of China to Christ. Focus on that one person the Lord puts right in front of you today. You know the one, the one with your name on them.

Maybe the person is a family member. Maybe the person is a friend. Maybe the person is a coworker. Maybe the person is a neighbor. Maybe the person is a fellow parent from your kid’s ball team. What I’m saying is, door-to-door evangelism to rank strangers has its place, but so does relational evangelism to people you already know.

You see, the fact is, some “Bills” will die tonight, and one of them might just be a lost person you know. That person needs Christ, which means that he or she needs you to tell them about Him. Stop talking about politics, the weather, the economy, or the ball game, and press on into spiritual matters, eternal matters. Be tactful, but get the conversation there. Tell that person about Jesus.

If you don’t feel comfortable quoting scripture, at least tell the person what Jesus has done for you. Talk about the trouble you’ve experienced in this world and then talk about heaven. Make a point of explaining that you are guaranteed heaven only because Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you have believed in Him as Savior. You don’t have to hold an evangelistic crusade. You don’t have to try to be someone you’re not. But you do need to be a witness who’s trying. And don’t worry about how the person responds to what you say. That’s not your department. Your job is simply the telling.

I will miss my friend Bill, but I know his soul now resides in heaven’s glory. He has been reunited with Christian loved ones who passed on before him. Most importantly, he now sees Jesus face to face. That Savior that he only knew by faith he now knows by personal appearance. That’s a joy that everyone should get to experience. I realize that’s not going to happen, but you and I can help it happen for some folks if we will open up our closed lips and share the gospel.

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Christ's Death, Coming Judgment, Death, Evangelism, Heaven, Hell, Salvation, Trials, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Christian as a Teacher

Posted on September 29, 2009 by russellmckinney

Allow me to offer three illustrations that involve teaching. Teaching, of course, can be a wonderful thing that produces desirable results. As we will see with each of these illustrations, however, sometimes the whole process can turn sideways in a hurry.

Illustration #1: A man was attempting to house train his dog. Every time the dog made a mess in the house, he threw the dog out the window as punishment. After about three weeks, someone asked the man how the training was coming along. He said, “That dumb dog – now every time he makes a mess he finishes up by jumping out the window.”

Illustration #2: A teenage girl took first-aid training. A few days later she burst into the house and said, “Mother, I just saw a terrible accident and I used my first-aid training.” The proud mother, with visions of her daughter heroically giving someone mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, said, “Oh, honey, that’s wonderful. What did you do?” The girl said, “When I saw the blood, I sat down and put my head between my knees so I wouldn’t pass out.”

Illustration #3: The starting quarterback on the high school team got injured and the team had to send in an untested freshman to replace him. Normally, the freshman was the team’s punter. Since the coach didn’t trust the freshman to run the offense, he said to the kid, “Just hand the ball off to Jones, our big fullback, for three plays and then punt.” The freshman said, “Got it, coach” and ran onto the field.

On the first play, Jones ripped off a long run. The hometown crowd roared. The next play Jones rumbled for another big chunk of yards. The crowd roared again. The next play Jones ran the ball all the way down inside the one yard line, just inches away from a touchdown. The crowd went into a frenzy.

Then the team lined up for the next play. The freshman quarterback took the snap, dropped back a couple of yards, and punted the ball completely through the end-zone, far up into the stands. As the team came off the field, the incensed coach grabbed the young quarterback and screamed, “What in the world were you thinking when you punted that ball?” The youngster said, “I was thinking, ‘we sure do have a dumb coach.'”

Teaching gets trying at times, doesn’t it? But let’s keep at it, especially in the realm of Christian teaching. As Solomon attempted to teach his son, Rehoboam, about the dangers of adultery, he told him to obey his words so that the young man wouldn’t have to admit to a certain truth about himself. What was that truth? Solomon didn’t want Rehoboam to have to say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! I was on the verge of total ruin…” (Proverbs 5:12-14, N.K.J.V.). You see, right there is the highest motivation for Christian teaching. The Christian teaches for the purpose of keeping someone from total ruin.

There is a debate as to who wrote the Bible’s book of Hebrews. Whoever it was, though, wrote under the inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16), and in Hebrews 5:12 he rebukes the Jewish Christians to whom he is writing. And what does he rebuke them for? He rebukes them for not being spiritually far enough along to be TEACHERS of the word of God. Obviously, those Christians had been saved long enough to have become capable of teaching God’s word, but they hadn’t done their “learning” and therefore still needed to be taught themselves.

Whatever else we might say about that verse, it certainly proves that God wants Christians to be teachers of His word. This doesn’t mean that it’s His will for every Christian to be a pastor, Sunday School teacher, missionary, theologian, or seminary professor. It does mean, though, that each Christian should be doing his or her part to instruct others in what “Thus saith the Lord.”

So, how are you doing on that, Christian? Can you effectively weave the teachings of God’s word into everyday conversations? Are you a veritable well of scriptural instruction to your friends, acquaintances, and coworkers? If you have children, do you make a point of telling them what the Bible says about controversial issues? I hope you will agree with me that your answer to each of these questions should be: yes. And in case you are wondering why this is such a big deal, let me remind you that God just might want to use your teaching to save someone from spiritual ruin.

Posted in Bible Study, Children, Influence, Parenting, Scripture, Teaching, The Bible | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Prayer Worth Praying

Posted on September 25, 2009 by russellmckinney

My friend Malcolm Woody once sent me an e-mail that included an awesome prayer. The prayer came from John Baillie, the Scottish theologian who wrote the classic book A Diary of Private Prayer. The prayer goes like this:

Teach me, O’ God, to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.

Let me use disappointment as material for patience.

Let me use success as material for thankfulness.

Let me use trouble as material for perseverance.

Let me use danger as material for courage.

Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering.

Let me use praise as material for humility.

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance.

Let me use pain as material for endurance.

The idea behind this prayer is that everything that life brings our way can be harnessed and used in God’s service. There is no circumstance that can’t be redeemed. Good days, bad days, ups, downs, joys, and heartbreaks can all produce what Baillie calls “the fruits of holiness.”

Romans 8:28-29 says:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

Those verses mean that God doesn’t waste anything. He repurposes all things (disappointment, success, trouble, danger, reproach, praise, pleasures, pain, etc.) by making them work together for a very specific type of good in the life of the Christian. And what is that specific type of good? It is the conforming of the Christian to the image of Christ.

You see, a life filled with nothing but disappointment will conform a Christian to some of the image of Christ but not all of it. Likewise, a life filled with nothing but success will conform a Christian to some of the image of Christ but not all of it. It really does take the whole gamut of human experiences to conform a Christian to the complete image of the Savior.

Someone once asked a certain Christian, “Why do you work so hard at trying to be like Jesus?” The Christian answered, “When I get to heaven I will at last be made completely like Him, and I don’t want the change to be such a shock to my system.” That’s the idea! The more we are conformed to Christ’s image in this life the less radical the completion of the conformation will be in the afterlife.

And how do we become more and more conformed to that image in this life? We allow God to use ALL of life’s varied circumstances to mold and shape us. That’s why John Baillie’s prayer is so worth praying. So, Christian, why not pray it today? Better yet, why not make it a part of your daily praying? After all, it’s really not all that hard to memorize, and it will help you to truly grab hold of the teaching of Romans 8:28-29.

Posted in Adversity, Courage, Disappointment, Fear, God's Sovereignty, Humility, Loneliness, Persecution, Perseverance, Personal Holiness, Prayer, Problems, Sanctification, Sickness, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sin & Church Attendance

Posted on September 22, 2009 by russellmckinney

Can you imagine getting drunk Saturday night and then going to church the next morning? Can you imagine rolling out of a bed you share with your live-in lover, getting dressed, and going to church? Can you imagine having beer on your breath as you attend a church service? Can you imagine not paying a bill you owe and then trying to worship with the person to whom you owe it?

As a pastor, I’ve seen professing Christians do these things. Each time I was left to wonder about the mentality that could create such behavior. I’m sure that Ananias and Sapphira would have some thoughts on this subject. They lied about their level of commitment to the Lord and were struck dead after bringing their offering to the apostles (Acts 5:1-11). Nadab and Abihu would have some thoughts, too. They were devoured in flames as they attempted to perform their priestly duties while under the influence of alcohol (Leviticus 10:1-11).

The hard, cold truth is that if God still imposed such high standards for worship, we’d be seeing a lot of funerals in our churches today. The current status quo reminds me of the worshipers of Amos’ time. Even though the northern kingdom of Israel was wicked to the core, the citizens were still faithfully attending their supposed “worship” services at Bethel and Gilgal. Amos sarcastically mocked these services by saying, “Come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression” (Amos 4:4).

Far too many Christians seem to have the idea that sprinkling church attendance onto their sins makes those sins more acceptable. Do they not realize that a rotten egg is still a rotten egg no matter how much sugar you pour on it? Going to church might ease your conscience a little and make you feel better about yourself, but it won’t impress God. You can attend a hundred different services in a hundred different churches and still not do any substantive business with Him until you repent of the sins that characterize your life Monday through Saturday.

1 Samuel chapter 15 will preach. That chapter records how God spoke through the prophet Samuel, commanding King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites. That meant that every Amalekite man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey was to be put to death. Saul, however, didn’t fully carry out that command. Instead, he took Amalek’s king as a prisoner of war and spared the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs.

Samuel went out to see Saul, and Saul boasted to him, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” With words dripping of sarcasm, Samuel responded, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen which I hear?” When Saul explained that he planned to offer the animals as sacrifices to God, Samuel told him, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

Samuel was teaching Saul that no amount of “worship” can make up for rank disobedience. You can “play church” all you want, but God will never ignore the fact that He hears the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen in your life. As Saul described the spectacular sacrifices he was planning to offer up as “worship,” Samuel might as well have said to him, “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you because the fruits of your disobedience are drowning out your voice.”

1 Peter 4:17 says: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God…” Peter wrote those God-inspired words sometime between A.D. 63-65, which is over nineteen centuries ago. Needless to say, if he could truthfully make that statement in his day, how much more can we make it today?

Tragically, our churches have become infected with what has been called (at best) “casual Christianity” and (at worst) “sloppy grace.” Additionally, this problem is compounded by the fact that we live in terror that people will quit church if we rebuke them over their sinful behavior. That’s why we acceptingly wink at all kinds of blatant sin.

Our acceptance of these sins, however, kills our credibility with lost people. You see, lost people instinctively understand that professing Christians should conduct themselves in a manner that bears a fair degree of resemblance to the personal holiness that marked Jesus’ life. Consequently, when even they can look at our lives and recognize that we have far too much bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen about us, why should they show an interest in accepting the Savior whom we call “Lord”? After all, if He can’t clean up our lives by helping us repent of our sinfulness, who’s to say that He will do any better with their lives?

Posted in Backsliding, Character, Church, Church Attendance, Discipleship, Disobedience, Doing Good, Faithfulness, Holiness, Obedience, Personal Holiness, Repentance, Sanctification, Sin, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Temptation’s Wreckers

Posted on September 17, 2009 by russellmckinney

As a lifelong resident of North Carolina, I’m interested in historical tidbits of information about my state. Somewhere along the way, I picked up an old legend about Nags Head, a town located on the Outer Banks of eastern North Carolina. This legend has never been officially verified, but it sure makes for a good story.

The legend has it that in the 1700s Nags Head was home to a group of ruthless land pirates known as “wreckers” (sometimes also called “bankers”). These men would hang lanterns around the necks of “nags” (horses or mules) and slowly walk the animals up and down the beach at night. Out in the darkness of the Atlantic ocean, a ship would mistake the bobbing light for the light of another ship. Figuring the other ship had found safe passage around the dangerous shoals just off the island, the ship in the darkness would turn inland and run aground on Diamond Shoals.

In the mornings, the “wreckers” would walk along the shoreline to gather up whatever timber or other goods the tide had brought in from the wrecked ships. The found loot was then sold for profit. Even now visitors to Nags Head are shown old houses that were supposedly built and furnished with material taken from these shipwrecks, and the assumption is that Nags Head got its name from the practice of the land pirates hanging the lanterns around the necks of the nags. Estimates say that over 2,000 ships perished off this coast during that time period, with many of the shipwrecks being ships that were fooled by the “wreckers.”

Nags Head is now a tourist town of around 2,700. If it ever was a haven for land pirates, those days are long gone. This doesn’t mean, though, that there aren’t still some “wreckers” out there that need to be avoided. A “wrecker” is anyone or anything that causes another to sail into dangerous waters. For example, a seductive man or woman can wreck a marriage, a bottle of booze can wreck a life, a dirty business deal can wreck a career, and a church leader who doesn’t follow the Lord can wreck a church.

The key to avoiding a “shipwreck” is to accurately recognize a wrecker for who or what it is. Don’t fall for just any old light on a dark night. Don’t be misled by a false reality. Don’t be so quick to trade the known for the unknown.

Most of us have heard the saying, “God won’t put more on you than you can handle.” Even though this saying’s principle is a sound one, there is no Bible verse that specifically supports it. The verse in question actually has to do with temptation. It is 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (N.K.J.V.)

Please note the teaching of this verse. God will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to withstand. To the contrary, whenever you get close to your breaking point, He will provide you with an escape hatch out of that temptation. His job is to provide the way of escape, and your job is to use it.

I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now, but could it be that you are considering sailing off toward some strange light? Are you just about to change your course in life simply because you think this light will lead you into safe waters? Friend, beware of the wrecker! If God really wanted you to chart that course, the way would be much clearer and more sure. The night wouldn’t be so dark, and the light wouldn’t be so questionable. Therefore, rather than turning yourself toward that light, you need to start looking around for God’s way of escape from that temptation. Based upon 1 Corinthians 10:13, that way will be there, and if you use it, you will be spared a disastrous shipwreck.

Posted in Adversity, Change, Choices, Contentment, Deception, Decisions, Discernment, God's Will, Greed, Lust, Problems, Temptation, Trials | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Lord, Send Us Rattlesnakes”

Posted on September 15, 2009 by russellmckinney

Once upon a time there was a family of backslidden church members. The family consisted of a father and three sons. They had all once been very active in church but lately had fallen away completely.

Many people visited the family and asked them to come back to church. That list of visitors included not only the pastor but also the deacons. Unfortunately, however, all the visiting, counseling, encouraging, and rebuking produced no effect upon either the father or any of the three sons.

One day when the sons were working in the field, a big rattlesnake raised up and bit the middle son. The boy became very sick, and the doctor was called. The doctor did what he could, but the prognosis was not good. He said, “About all we can do now is pray for this young man.”

Those words sent the father into enough of a panic to call the pastor. The pastor immediately went out to the home and was informed of the desperate situation. The father said, “Please, pastor, we need you to pray.” The pastor said, “Very well” and then started his prayer.

He prayed, “Oh wise and all-knowing Father, we thank thee for Thou hast sent this rattlesnake to bite this young man in order to bring him to his senses. He has not been inside the church house for a long time now, and it is doubtful that he has in all that time felt the need for prayer. Now we trust that this will prove a valuable lesson to him and that it will lead to genuine repentance.”

As the father and the other two sons listened to the pastor’s prayer, they were surprised by the bluntness of it. What they didn’t know was that the pastor was about to get even more blunt. He continued praying, saying, “And now, Father, wilt thou send another snake to bite the older son, another to bite the younger son, and another BIG ONE to bite this father. For we have all been doing everything we know for some time now to restore them to the fellowship of the church, but it’s been to no avail. It seems, therefore, that all of our combined efforts could not do what this snake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing left that will do this family any good is rattlesnakes. So, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes! In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”

People often ask, “Why does God allow His people to suffer?” Well, sometimes He does it as a form of chastisement. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” Likewise, Hebrews 12:8 says that if we are without chastisement, we are not true children of God.

No loving, right-thinking parent enjoys disciplining a child. We’d much rather see our kids display obedience. But the plain truth is, sometimes kids disobey, and that disobedience must bring painful consequences. If it doesn’t, what’s the incentive for obedience? God understands this better than we do, and that’s why He is in the business of disciplining His children.

Tell me, are you at a loss as to how to pray for a wayward Christian? Is there someone close to you who is legitimately saved but just as legitimately backslidden? If you have such a person in your life, do you love them enough to pray for God to send some “rattlesnake” to afflict them? Obviously, we’re talking about the final card in the deck here, a “last straw” request, tough love administered to a sizable degree. Nevertheless, such chastisement is necessary in extreme cases. You see, as unsettling as it is for us to contemplate, sometimes it takes a “rattlesnake” to get a person’s attention and bring them back to God.

Posted in Adversity, Backsliding, Church Attendance, Discipline, Disobedience, Obedience, Parenting, Personal Holiness, Prayer Requests, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Idolatry in Early Bloom (A Word About Youth Sports)

Posted on September 11, 2009 by russellmckinney

When you are the parent of a child involved in youth sports, you know more than you want to know about gyms, football fields, baseball diamonds, and soccer fields. You know how time consuming those places are. You know how much gas it takes to get to them. You know how much it costs for your kid to not only be there but be wearing the cool garb all the other kids are wearing. Your life is not your own. You lost it all over again when they handed you the latest schedule. Of course, it’s been so long since you had it, you barely remember those days anyway.

A Christian with any degree of spiritual discernment can understand that college sports and professional sports have reached the status of idolatry in this country. But what many don’t understand is just how far down into the age brackets the idolatry has worked itself. A World Series in which the President throws out the first pitch and each player on the field is a millionaire is just the tip of the iceberg. A Super Bowl that offers Bruce Springsteen as halftime entertainment doesn’t paint the full picture. Neither does a Final Four where hundreds of fans have spent a couple weeks worth of paychecks just to sit in the nosebleed section of a dome and watch the games on a big screen. The fact is, the idolatry is in early bloom all the way down into the youth leagues.

The same parent who doesn’t mind calling in sick for work over a mere sniffle turns into Indiana Jones to get a kid to a game early Saturday morning. “Here’s your assignment, Dr. Jones, should you choose to accept it: Drag your child out of bed over protest (no bullwhip, please), get a uniform on the deadhead, grab a few Pop Tarts (the real breakfast of champions) on your way out the door, climb into the family truckster, exceed the speed limit, commit at least two cases of road rage, get to the site one minute after you were supposed to be there, watch the game and see your kid not do what he has been coached to do, drive back home as you fuss at the kid for not doing what he has been coached to do, and then spend the rest of your Saturday collapsed around the house trying to recover from the assignment.” Any takers? The hands of parents go up all over the countryside.

You say you are up for a sequel? Fine, let’s toss around a few more ideas. We could have Indy be forced to hunt down and buy a new, expensive football helmet because the one they gave his kid for standard issue looks like something Dick Butkus turned in at the end of the 1967 Chicago Bears season. Or we could have the coach of Indy’s kid suggest that Indy buy a lighter bat for the kid because the team only has three bats and none of them is light enough. And then, after Indy has shelled out $250 for the new bat, we’ll have three or four other kids on the team want to use it. Now we’re talking! And Indy will have to teach his child the lesson of sharing with those who haven’t contributed one dime to the cause.

If I sound like I have an intimate knowledge of youth sports, it’s because for years Tonya and I moved through our calendar year by rotating from one youth sport to the next. In the spring and summer, it was baseball. In the fall, it was soccer or football. In the winter, it was basketball. I was a head coach and an assistant coach. I was a parent and a fan. I experienced everything from recreation league teams to travel teams to middle school teams to high school teams. One of my sons even played some college baseball. And what did all of my experience teach me? I point you back to my earlier assertion: Youth sports is oftentimes nothing less than idolatry in early bloom.

I really don’t know what else to call it. One of the definitions Webster’s Dictionary gives for “idol” is: “Any object of passionate devotion.” Similarly, one of the definitions it gives for “idolatry” is: “Excessive love or veneration for any person or object.” You see, an idol doesn’t have to be a graven image standing in your backyard. It doesn’t have to be a golden statue in the midst of an elaborate temple. An idol can be anything upon which you pour an inordinate amount of time, energy, money, and zeal.

Show me a father who won’t put a dime in the church offering plate but will gladly pay $200 for his kid to have that hot new pair of Nike basketball shoes, and I’ll show you an idol-worshiping father. Show me a mother who won’t volunteer to do anything at church but thinks nothing of working the concession stand at the ballfield or baking cookies for the fundraiser for her child’s soccer team, and I’ll show you an idol-worshiping mother. Even if that father or mother is a Christian, it’s hard to deny that their purest worship goes to youth sports, not to Jesus.

Just as some churches have “children’s church” or “wee worship” to train their children how to worship in the sanctuary with the adults, our society does the same kind of thing with the worship of sports. We use youth leagues to get our children ready to worship at the larger athletic stages. When a child never sees a parent praying but often sees the parent arguing umpires’ calls, the child gets the message: Arguing umpires’ calls is important; prayer isn’t. When a child never sees a parent reading the Bible but the parent knows the league rulebook from A to Z, the child gets the message: Knowing the rulebook is important; knowing the Bible isn’t. Kids aren’t stupid, and they pay more attention than we realize. It doesn’t take them long to figure out where our priorities lie. Once they’ve done this, all they have to do is embrace those same priorities and grow up. That’s how you build adults who worship sports more than Christ.

So, what should you, as the Christian parent of a child involved in youth sports, do about this problem? Let me suggest three things. Bear in mind that I don’t pretend this is an all-inclusive list. I offer it merely as an attempt to help you put on your thinking cap.

First, do an honest-to-goodness self-evaluation and be real as to how big the problem is in your life. Truthfully, I’ve seen some Christian parents who genuinely had youth sports in a right perspective. On the other hand, I’ve seen others who were way out of the banks on this issue. So, where are you? Compare what you do for youth sports to what you do for your Savior. As the old saying goes, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Second, sit down with your child and ask questions you never ask. “Do you still enjoy playing this sport?” “Are you playing because you want to play or because you think I want you to play?” “Do you dread going to practice or the games?” “Has playing this sport made you happier or sadder?” You might be surprised at the answers you get. Never take away a sport your child enjoys playing, but don’t make the child keep playing if the experience has turned painfully sour. It’s true that kids sometimes need to be pushed, particularly kids who are naturally lazy. But it’s also true that some parents keep their kids playing because to let them quit would be embarrassing to the parents, not the kids.

Third, get your worship back into proper alignment by rededicating yourself to Christ. This will knock youth sports off the throne of your life and give Jesus back His rightful place. If you will make this one big decision, it will take care of so many little decisions. Does Jesus want you to make a fool of yourself by arguing with an umpire? No. Does He want you to pull your child away from church Sunday after Sunday because your travel team plays in weekend tournaments that keep you constantly on the road and out of town? No. Does He want you to make your child keep playing a sport simply because if the child doesn’t keep at it he will never make the high school team? No. You see, once you have rededicated yourself to Jesus, that familiar question, “What would Jesus do?” takes on a whole new importance. If Jesus wouldn’t do something, you shouldn’t do it.

Perhaps by now you’re thinking that I’ve been reading either your mind or your mail. I haven’t. It’s just that, as I said, I know this subject very well. And despite the conclusion you may have already drawn about me, I do understand that sports doesn’t automatically equate to idolatry. Sports is fine when kept within acceptable parameters. For that matter, it can even be a great thing in that it promotes exercise, teaches teamwork, and rewards hard work. It’s only when sports gets taken to the point of fanaticism, craze, and downright absurdity that it becomes idolatry. In that case, it has no place in the life of the Christian.

In the end, I certainly don’t expect our society to repent of its idol-worshiping ways anytime soon. For example, there will still be stadiums full of people, on Sundays at 1:00 p.m., in frigid weather, cheering wildly at Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers games this fall. Needless to say, those folks won’t all have just come from Sunday morning church services, either. We Christians, however, must reserve our worship for Jesus. More than that, we must show our kids just how devoted we are to Him. If that involves adjusting our mindset, so be it. If it involves missing a game, so be it. If it involves the extreme of quitting a sport, so be it. We must do whatever is necessary to bring every area our lives, including the area of youth sports, under the lordship of Christ. This won’t just help our kids; it will help us as well. And, after all, aren’t we the ones who are supposed to be molding and shaping them?

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