Enjoying Christian Fellowship

Posted on May 19, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #2)

The Bible is clear that no brand of good works can produce salvation. Salvation is a gift by which God bestows His grace (His unmerited favor) upon the individual who has believed in Jesus as Savior. However, in the authentic salvation experience, God the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence inside the believer’s body and creates the “born again” experience inside the person. Inevitably, then, the indwelling Holy Spirit causes certain default behavior patterns to emerge in the Christian’s daily life. In the epistle of 1 John, we find ten of these patterns, and the first one is what I’ll call “Christian fellowship.”

John speaks of this Christian fellowship in two places. First, there is 1 John 1:3, where he says concerning himself and the other apostles:

that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (N.K.J.V.)

Second, there is 1 John 1:7, where he says:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (N.K.J.V.)

You’ll notice that in the first reference John speaks of the fellowship the Christian has with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus), and in both references he speaks of the fellowship the Christian has with other Christians. Basically, in the two verses, John is saying to his readers: “I and my fellow apostles have a fellowship with God the Father and God the Son, and this fellowship provides the basis upon which we have fellowship with one another. We now walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from our sins, and you too have this fellowship with us if you have been cleansed by Christ’s blood and are walking in His light.” The point is that the true Christian innately has a fellowship with not only God the Father and God the Son but also other Christians, and this fellowship will naturally work its way out in everyday situations in regards to those with whom the Christian chooses to align.

This doesn’t mean that the Christian will never talk to an unbeliever or be on the same ball team as an unbeliever. It doesn’t mean that he or she won’t have an unbeliever as a friend, either. But it does mean that the Christian, if presented with a choice, would rather hang around brothers and sisters in Christ than hang around lost people. This makes perfect sense because, after all, Christians fellowshipping with lost people is like light fellowshipping with darkness. It’s the children of God walking with the children of the devil, and that just can’t work long term.

As for where the fellowshipping between Christians take place, the list has to start with church services. Many people, even some professing Christians, have denounced church services, but that doesn’t change the fact that the New Testament heavily endorses such services. For example, Hebrews 10:25 tells us Christians not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Likewise, Acts 2:42 says of the early Christians in Jerusalem: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (N.K.J.V.). So, mark it down: A great place for the Christian to experience fellowship with his or her fellow Christians on a weekly, consistent basis is the local church.

Of course not every Christian attends church, and I’m aware of the reasons why. I understand about Christian shut-ins, bed-ridden Christians, and those Christians who have to work on Sunday just to hold down their jobs. I also understand about Christians who have had bad experiences in churches. Furthermore, I know that you can hear good preaching and singing on t.v., radio, and the internet. What you can’t get, though, at home or at work on Sunday is the fellowship that comes with engaging in corporate worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ at your local church.

Someone asks, “But is a church service the only place that Christian fellowship can occur?” No, it isn’t. Christian fellowship can take place during Christian retreats, Christian camps, in-home visits, hospital visits, or nursing home visits. It can happen when one Christian unexpectedly runs into another Christian at the store. It can happen when a Christian has a conversation with his Christian neighbor over the hedge that separates their lawns. It can happen when Christians sit next to each other at a ball game. It can happen at the workplace when two Christians have a moment to talk.

In all of these instances, as well as others that could be named, what differentiates mere human interaction from actual Christian fellowship is the emphasis upon spiritual matters. Once two Christians turn their conversation and their focus toward the spiritual (i.e., talking about God the Father, Jesus, God the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, worship, church, God’s will, prophecy, etc.), they begin to fellowship in a way that only Christians can. In other words, two Christians sitting beside one another at a football game and talking about how talented the other’s team quarterback is doesn’t constitute Christian fellowship. On the other hand, if those same two Christians sitting at that same game start talking about their Sunday School lesson from the previous week or how Romans chapter 11 should be interpreted, they begin to engage in Christian fellowship.

The Greek word translated in the New Testament as “fellowship” is koinonia. It’s a word that comes from another Greek word, koinos, which means “common.” As such, koinonia can be defined as “a sharing in common.” This sharing is much more than mere friendship, tolerance, or acceptance. It is a community in which the participants share fundamental spiritual commonalities.

With this in mind, what each supposed Christian should do, by way of personal examination, is ask himself or herself: “Do I enjoy being around Christians or do I enjoy being around lost people? Would I rather work beside a Christian or a lost person? Would I rather sit at a ballgame next to a Christian or a lost person? Would I rather live beside a Christian or a lost person? If I have to get in a car and take a road trip, would I rather be in there with a carload of Christians or a carload of lost people?” John says, “If you are a legitimate Christian, you’ll have a desire to fellowship with other Christians.” This fellowship isn’t the only evidence of salvation, but it’s certainly a good place to start.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Church, Church Attendance, Salvation, Series: "1 John", Sunday School, Worship | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A “Know So” Salvation

Posted on May 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #1)

Perhaps you’ve heard that God wants you to be saved from the eternal penalty of your sins by believing in Jesus, God the Son, as your personal Savior. But have you also heard that God wants you to live out your days knowing for certain that you have been saved? Just how serious is God about this matter of you having a “know so” salvation as opposed to a “hope so” one? He’s serious enough about it to have inspired one of His choice servants to devote an entire book of the Bible to the topic. That book is the one we call 1 John.

The same man who wrote 1 John also wrote the books of 2 John, 3 John, The Revelation, and the gospel of John. Who was the writer of these five books? It was John the apostle, one of Jesus’ chosen 12 apostles. As for what John’s God-inspired purpose was in writing 1 John, we don’t have to guess. In some of his closing words from the book, he says the following:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13, N.K.J.V.)

Those words “These things” refer to the teachings that John has provided leading up to that point in the book, Therefore, by consulting those previous teachings, anyone can take a litmus test in order to find out whether or not he or she has experienced an authentic salvation by authentically believing in Jesus. You see, the salvation experience changes a person on the inside and that inward change will at some point show up in that person’s outward conduct. Good works don’t flow into salvation to produce it, but they do flow out of it to evidence it. So, even though John doesn’t offer a list of things that one must do in order to get saved, he does offer a list of traits that a genuine salvation experience will inevitably produce in the life of the saved person.

I might also add that John’s list is quite extensive. All told, it names no less than ten tell-tale marks of salvation. Over the course of this blog series we will examine all ten of these marks, devoting one post to each, and as we do this we will come up with a pretty thorough resource for what might be called “the assurance of salvation.” By joining me for this series you, the reader, will be able to scripturally assess whether or not you have legitimately experienced the salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ. For the record, that salvation includes you being forgiven of all your sins, being granted eternal life, and being guaranteed entrance into heaven as opposed to dying and going to hell. Needless to say, when it comes to salvation, the stakes don’t get any higher. That’s why I encourage you to get on board the train as this series is just now pulling out of the station, and let’s find out together what having a “know so” salvation really looks like.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Eternity, Faith, Heaven, Hell, Salvation, Series: "1 John" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

That’s Some Building

Posted on May 14, 2021 by russellmckinney

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, N.K.J.V.)

Here in America we have church buildings galore. They come in all shapes and sizes and are found here, there, and everywhere all across the landscape. Our megachurch buildings look more like shopping malls than cathedrals, but most of our church buildings are the classic variety marked by towering steeples.

The problem with having so many church buildings is that we begin to think of a church as being a building rather than a congregation of people. That’s why we pastors must constantly remind our flocks that they are the church. Yes, our churches meet in buildings, but the buildings are just that: buildings. As someone has said, “A church are those who are left without a building after their building has burnt down.”

With this understood, what the apostle Paul does in our text passage is use the metaphor of a building to illustrate how new believers are added to what theologians refer to as “the universal church.” The universal church is simply the sum total of all of history’s Christians who get saved between the Day of Pentecost that is described in Acts 2:1-38 and the coming moment of the Rapture that is described in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. You see, when Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Mathew 16:18) He wasn’t talking about just one congregation of believers who meet in a brick building on the corner of Maple street and Elm street. No, He was talking about each and every believer who gets saved during what we call “the church age.” Again, the two bookend events of the “church age” are the Day of Pentecost and The Rapture. Everyone who becomes a born-again Christian during that age automatically becomes a part of the “universal” church. This “universal” church is also metaphorically called “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12) and “the bride of Christ” Ephesians 5:27).

Someone asks, “Will people believe in Jesus and get saved after the Rapture during the seven-year Tribulation Period that is prophesied to one day play out upon the earth?” Yes, they will. But those people will not become a part of the universal church (the body of Christ, the bride of Christ). Ultimately they, along with all the believers who got saved from Adam until the Day of Pentecost, will spend eternity with the universal church in the eternal city called The New Jerusalem (Revelation chapters 21 and 22). What they will not do, though, is ever become a part of the universal church. That door of opportunity closes at the moment the Rapture occurs.

Now let me get back to the metaphor of the universal church as being a building. In ancient times workers began building a building by first laying a cornerstone. Using that cornerstone as a base square, the workers would then lay the foundation for the building. Lastly, the layers of individual stones would be systematically set in place atop that foundation. With all this in mind, let’s now walk through how Paul used this process as an illustration of how the eternal, universal church is being built. First, Jesus, by way of His virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, and miraculous resurrection, has become the cornerstone (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:6-7). Second, the early church’s apostles and prophets, by way of their authoritative preaching and divinely inspired writing of scripture, began with Jesus (the cornerstone) and from Him laid the foundation of the church (Romans 15:20). Third, each Christian serves as an individual stone that helps to complete the building (the universal church) (1 Peter 2:5). As Peter figuratively describes us there in 1 Peter 2:5, we are “living stones.”

Doesn’t all of this make for a beautiful, metaphoric picture of the universal church? Not only is the Christian an integral part of Christ’s bride and body, he or she is also a part of Christ’s building. How’s that for a good Baptist preacher’s three-point alliterated outline? So, Christian, the next time you look at a church building, I hope you will recall the fact that Jesus is right now “building” His universal church, and you have the jaw-dropping privilege of being a “stone” in it. That ought to make you shout, and it ought to make you go out and serve Him all the more.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Church, Grace, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trusting in People Can Make You Look Stupid

Posted on May 12, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1, N.K.J.V.)

Our son Ryan played on the high school basketball team. Each summer the head coach would organize and run a travel-ball tournament as a way of raising money for his program. Teams from neighboring counties would send their summer teams to compete in the tournament, with teams from multiple age groups playing in various gyms located around our county. Like all the other parents of the players on our high school team, Tonya and I were expected to volunteer our services in some capacity to help make the tournament happen.

We signed up to run the scoreboard and keep the scorer’s book at one of the high school level games that was played at the high school gym. One of those teams had a superstar guard who was an awesome player. Unfortunately for him, though, he picked up two quick fouls early in that game and was subsequently benched. In case you don’t know much about basketball, high school players are only allowed five fouls per game, which means that committing three in the first of two halves forces a kid to play cautiously for the entirety of the closing half lest he foul out completely.

Well, the kid sat the bench for most of the first half, and everybody was assuming that he wouldn’t get back into the game until the start of the second half. But very late in the first half his coach decided to take a risk. The game was tight, and he really needed that kid’s talent on the floor. So, with the chances being relatively low that the kid would pick up his third foul in the limited time that remained, the coach put him back into the game. As the kid came to the scorer’s table to await the next stoppage of play so that he could be reinserted, I heard the coach say to him, “Don’t make me look stupid.”

You can guess what happened next. It took the kid about twenty seconds to commit his third foul. As soon as it happened, the coach sent another player to the scorer’s table to replace him. I blew the horn to signal to the refs that a player was being substituted, and the superstar guard began his long walk back to the bench. As his luck would have it that game, he had to walk right past his coach to get there. Instead of ranting and raving at the kid, the coach just glared at him with a death stare from the moment the foul occurred until the moment the kid walked past him. Needless to say, that kid had made him look stupid for putting him back into the game.

The spiritual lesson you can learn from this story is that people will let you down. Whether they do it accidently or on purpose, they will disappoint you. That’s why you should reserve your ultimate trust for Jesus Christ. Trust in Him to eternally save you. Trust in Him to meet your daily needs. Trust in Him to answer your prayers. Trust in Him to guide you. He is the one who loved you enough to die so that all your sins might be forgiven, and He is the one who, when all the dust is settled and all the accounts are finalized, will never leave you looking stupid.

Posted in Belief, Disappointment, God's Provision, Needs, Personal, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Let Your Fire Burn Off Your Ropes

Posted on May 10, 2021 by russellmckinney

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he arose in haste and spoke, saying, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:24-25, N.K.J.V.)

George Matheson, the great Scottish preacher, gleaned an interesting thought from this passage. Rather than focusing upon the fourth man’s miraculous protection of the three Hebrew boys in the fire, Matheson honed in on those words “walking in the midst of the fire.” He said:

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the furnace, the fire did not stop them from moving, for they were seen “walking around.” Actually, the fire was one of the streets they traveled to their destination. The comfort we have from Christ’s revealed truth is not that it teaches us freedom from sorrow, but that it teaches us freedom through sorrow.

What gave Matheson’s take on the passage even more depth was the fact that he himself was blind. He wasn’t born blind, but his eyesight began deteriorating only a few months after his birth, and by the time he was eighteen years old it was so bad that he needed assistance to complete his schoolwork. He spent the decades of his ministry in physical darkness, using memorization to recite not only his sermons but also the hymns and scripture readings for each service. Despite his physical impairment, he still managed to become one of Scotland’s most famous and accomplished pastors.

Actually, Matheson’s friends claimed that his blindness was his own type of fire, one that burned off some of his ropes in regards to spiritual insight and discernment. As Warren Wiersbe, in his book, Living With the Giants, says of Matheson:

He was not deceived or distracted by the surface things of life. He had the ability to penetrate deeper even though he could not see. A presbyterian council heard him preach once and responded: “The Council all feel that God has closed your eyes only to open other eyes, which have made you one of the guides of men.”

Surely it was Matheson’s unique take that allowed him to note how even our times of fire, when they are given over fully to the Lord, can produce a freedom for us that can’t be gained any other way. Like Nebuchadnezzar’s fire burning those ropes off Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the fires that you and I must sometimes endure can free us from our worries and doubts. Think about the perspective those three Hebrew youths had after their experience in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. Whenever some sort of trouble arose for any one of them over the course of the rest of his life, he could truthfully say, “Well, the Lord kept me safe in the fiery furnace, and what I’m going through now isn’t nearly as bad as that.” What inner peace and confidence that must have given each one of them!

This is the type of thing that George Matheson called “freedom through (by way of, because of) sorrow.” And it’s a freedom that you and I can gain as well if we will put our trust in the Lord when the flames are roaring all around us. You see, the truth is, there are lessons that can only be learned in the fire, and the child of God who has learned them there is indeed much better off than the one who hasn’t. Therefore, if you are currently having to endure one of life’s engulfing fires, just stick with Jesus through it and let Him use the heat to burn some ropes of bondage off you and create a special kind of freedom that you will be able to enjoy the rest of your days.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Followship

Posted on May 8, 2021 by russellmckinney

As Jesus passed on from there. He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9, N.K.J.V.)

A little boy got mad at his mother and decided to run away from home. A neighbor looked out the window and saw him on his tricycle going around and around in a circle in the driveway. The neighbor walked over there and said, “Son, why are you going around in circles in your driveway?” The boy said, “I’m running away from home, but mommy won’t let me cross the street.”

Many people, including many Christians, are merely going around and around in circles in life. They aren’t maturing. They aren’t growing spiritually. They aren’t getting anything done for Christ. They are just sort of trapped in an unproductive loop from which they either can’t or won’t break free.

One day Jesus walked up to a tax-collecting booth and said to Matthew, a Jewish man working as a tax collector for the Roman government, “Follow me.” In those early weeks of Christ’s earthy ministry, He had already been baptized by John the Baptist, tempted by Satan, performed His first miracle and probably several others, cast the money-exchangers out of the temple. and done a fair amount of preaching in not only the southern part of the land (Judah) but also the northern part (Galilee). So, Matthew had probably heard of Him. There is, however, no scriptural record of Matthew having talked with Jesus or even seen Him before Jesus said to Him, “Follow me.” Still, Matthew immediately left his booth, followed Jesus, and became one of the chosen 12 apostles.

Was that encounter Matthew’s salvation experience? Apparently. Was it his call into full-time ministry? Yes. Sometimes those two moments really can occur at the same time. The point, though, is that Jesus didn’t say to Matthew, “Believe in me and stay here.” No, He said to him, “Follow me.” That word “Follow” told Matthew that Jesus was going to lead him to new places. He had a plan for the rest of Matthew’s life, a plan that would take Matthew into unchartered areas of service. There would be no going around and around in circles, never getting anywhere, for Matthew.

It is interesting that when the gospel writers Mark and Luke offer their accounts of Christ’s calling of Matthew (Mark 2:13-14; Luke 5:27-28), they use the name Levi, which was Matthew’s birth name. Matthew, on the other hand, uses the name Matthew in his account. Evidently Matthew was the new name given to him by Jesus. It is as if Matthew is saying to his readers, “I don’t even want to remember who I was before I followed Jesus.”

Right now, no matter who you are or what station you hold in life, Jesus is saying to you, “Follow me.” If you are not a Christian, He is saying, “Follow Me and in so doing experience salvation right here and right now.” If you are already a Christian, He is saying, “Follow Me and let Me take you into new areas of service wherein I can use you.” He doesn’t want your life to ever get stale, stagnant, and boring, but He doesn’t want you to go racing off to do things that aren’t His will, either. What He wants is for you to always follow Him. It is often said that we need to be in good fellowship with Jesus. Well, the way to be in good fellowship with Him is to be in good followship with Him. You do that, and you’ll be amazed at the places to which He will take you and the ways in which He will use you.

Posted in Belief, Change, Commitment, Courage, Decisions, Dying To Self, Faith, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Obedience, Salvation, Service, Submission | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Good Old Days

Posted on May 6, 2021 by russellmckinney

Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this. (Ecclesiastes 7:10, N.K.J.V.)

Most of us have a tendency to pine for earlier days in our lives. I myself have a couple of time periods that I would thoroughly enjoy revisiting. One of them constitutes the years of my youth, those days when I didn’t have a care in the world other than that pesky business called school. The other one constitutes those years when my two sons, Ryan and Royce, were little fellows. I guess you might say what ties my two time periods together is the theme of little boys getting to be little boys.

It is interesting, however, that our text verse instructs us not to think of the so-called “good old days” as being better than the current ones. We’re not to ask, “Why were the former days better than these?” Solomon says, “When you ask such a question, you aren’t inquiring wisely.” In other words, you aren’t thinking straight if you think the former days were better than the ones you are experiencing now.

Let me use my own life as an illustration. Do you know why God would never classify those days of my youth as being better than the days I’m living now? It’s because I am serving Him so much more prolifically now. Back then, my service pretty much amounted to going to church, doing a little praying, and reading my Children’s Living Bible when the mood struck me. That was it. I certainly wasn’t preaching sermons and serving as the pastor of a church.

The same can be said of those years when Ryan and Royce were very young. Yes, I was preaching and serving as a pastor at that time, but I wasn’t writing blog posts, didn’t have my sermons on You Tube, and didn’t have a radio ministry on four national stations. Therefore, from God’s perspective, my current days are better than those previous ones because I’m reaching a lot more people now than I was back then. Consequently, I’m earning more rewards, eternal rewards, for my efforts.

Speaking more practically, the benefits of machinery and technology that I currently enjoy are way better than any previous days I’ve known. The house of my youth didn’t have central air-conditioning, but the house I’m currently living in does. I had a push mower to mow the yard of that place, but now I have a riding mower. I used to be happy if channel 3 (CBS), channel 4 (NBC), and channel 13 (ABC) were coming in clear, but now I have hundreds of crystal-clear channels through Dish Network. If I had to miss a television show back then, well, that was just my tough luck. Now I have a DVR, which is even better than my VCRs that came before it. Leftover food used to be eaten cold out of necessity, but now I have this thing called a microwave. A bicycle or a motorcycle used to be my only means for independent transportation, but now I have my own car. Oh, and did I mention this modern marvel called the internet? It sure is better than that World Book Encyclopedia set my mom and dad paid good money to buy.

Getting back to those days when Tonya and I were raising our two little ones, as wonderful as those days were, we are now enjoying blessings they never provided. For example, Ryan is a college graduate who is now fully employed as a p.e. teacher/coach at one of our county’s local schools. He has grown into a fine young man. As for Royce, he just completed the courses for his two-year Associates degree at the local community college and will be graduating from there in a few days. This fall he’ll begin his classes at a local university in order to earn his four-year Bachelor’s degree. During their younger days, Tonya and I could only hope and pray that the boys would turn out as well as they have. The accomplishments they’ve already locked away remind me of another verse from Proverbs, one that comes just before our text verse. I’m talking about Proverbs 7:8, which says: “The end of a thing is better than its beginning…” (N.K.J.V.).

You see, the key to you fully appreciating your current days is simple: You must focus on everything that is BETTER now rather than focusing upon everything that is WORSE now. It really is all a matter of perspective. One writer has even said that if we live long enough, we might very well look back upon the days we are experiencing now and think of them as the good old days. Wouldn’t that be an ironic twist? Regardless of what happens in the future, what is certain is that we can find plenty of blessings in what is going on right now if we will only look for them. Trust me, they really are there. You just have to get your mind off that romanticized, idealized past of yours and start recognizing all the things that are better now than they were back then.

Posted in Aging, Attitude, Complaining, Contentment, Human Life, Personal, Thankfulness | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Curious Case of the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, & Manasseh

Posted on May 3, 2021 by russellmckinney

God had given the land of Canaan to Israel (Abraham’s descendants, the Jews). Consequently, some forty years after unbelief and cowardice had initially cost them their first opportunity to make the land their own (Numbers 14:1-38), God again guided them to its brink for a second chance at taking possession of their possession. But first they would have to cross the Jordan river.

A curious thing happened, though, before the nation crossed the Jordan and began the military push westward into Canaan. Two of Israel’s tribes decided they liked the land on the east side of the Jordan enough to settle down there and live out their lives. Those tribes were the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad. The story is told in Numbers chapter 32.

The land in question was known as Jazer (the northern part of the land) and Gilead (the southern part of it) and had been brought under Israel’s control when Israel’s army had defeated the armies of the Amorite king Sihon and the Bashanite king Og on its march toward the Jordan (Numbers 21:21-35; 32:33). As it so happened, the land was incredibly lush and perfect for raising livestock. This fact wasn’t lost on the tribes of Reuben and Gad, both of which had large amounts of livestock. And so, their leaders went to Moses and asked that the land be given to those tribes for a permanent dwelling place (Numbers 32:1-5).

Moses’ initial reaction to the request was not favorable to say the least. For one thing, he didn’t want the nation to undertake its military conquest of Canaan minus the men of two tribes (Numbers 32:6). For another, he feared that allowing those two tribes to settle east of the Jordan would create enough discouragement among the rest of the nation to cause a second failed attempt at conquering Canaan (Numbers 32:7). He even accused the leaders of the two tribes of acting like their forefathers who had refused to take Canaan forty years earlier (Numbers 32:8-15). He told them, “If you turn away from following the Lord, He will once again leave our people in the wilderness, which will mean that you have destroyed all of us” (32:15).

Being taken aback by Moses’ strong words, the tribal leaders of Reuben and Gad proposed a deal. They said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, and then our fighting men will leave our livestock, little ones, and wives in order to take the lead in moving the army of Israel into Canaan” (Numbers 32:16-17). They promised Moses, “We will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has received his inheritance in Canaan” (Numbers 32:18).

This deal was acceptable to Moses, and he gave the two tribes permission to build their sheepfolds and their cities (Numbers 32:20-32). Even though he warned them that their sin would surely find them out if they reneged on the deal (Numbers 32:23), history would prove them true to their word. As Joshua 22:1-4 informs us, the tribes held up their end of the bargain very well.

To make a murky situation even murkier, at some point toward the end of the negotiations, half the tribe of Manasseh decided to join the people of Reuben and Gad in living on the east side of the Jordan (Numbers 32:33). In an interesting twist, once all the fighting was finally completed, the tribe of Manasseh actually received land on not only the east side of the Jordan but also the west side. Half the tribe settled on the east side in territories they had won by driving out the previous inhabitants (Numbers 32:39; Joshua 13:1-7), and the other half settled on the west side in land that was allotted to them by Joshua (Joshua 13:8-12; 22:7).

Through it all, though, the central question regarding the tribes that settled on the east side of the Jordan is always: “Were they right to do so?” Truth be told, Bible scholars and commentators differ in their opinions on the matter. I’ll lay out the basic cases for each point of view and let you decide which camp you think has the right take.

Commentator William Macdonald is a good example of those who don’t think the tribes were wrong in what they did. In his Believer’s Bible Commentary, he points out that God had actually given the land east of the Jordan to the people of Israel and told them to possess it (Deuteronomy 2:24, 32; 3:2). With this in mind, he then logically asks the question:

“What was to be done with the land east of the Jordan River if none of the children of Israel were to settle in it?”

Likewise, James Mays, in The Layman’s Bible Commentary, says:

“…this geographical separateness was not a division of the unity of all Israel as responsible for her mission and as recipients of the Lord’s blessing.”

Similarly, B. Maarsingh in Numbers: A Practical Commentary, says of the deal proposed by the leaders of the tribes of Reuben and Gad:

“In this promise a very different mentality comes through. No longer were they implying that they would be satisfied if only they got their share; rather the message that comes through is, ‘We are together one people; we live by only one promise and are led by one God.'”

The Baker Commentary on the Bible takes its assessment of the situation to an even further extreme by saying the following:

“The wise provision of the sovereign Lord for his people is clearly seen in this account. He provides for the needs of the cattlemen; he gives an enlarged inheritance to Israel (more than the west side of Jordan); he provides warriors to lead Israel in its further conquests.”

However, while these opinions are all perfectly reasonable, the fact is, the majority of scholars and commentators believe the tribes were wrong in what they did. Many point out the practical problem of the tribes on the east side of the Jordan not having the river as a natural protective barrier against enemy attacks from the east. This, accordingly, allowed those tribes to be the first ones to be conquered when the Assyrian empire started marching westward and making inroads to conquering Israel’s northern kingdom (2 Kings 15:29).

Moving from the practical to the spiritual, the New Scofield Study Bible calls the tribes that settled to the east of Jordan “world-borderers” and compares them to “carnal Christians.” Along the same lines, in his Matthew Henry Commentary, Matthew Henry surmises that the lust of the eye and the pride of life caused the tribes to make their request. David Jeremiah, in The Jeremiah Study Bible, follows suit by attributing their request to them being “unable to wait for the best.”

Merrill Unger also favors this interpretation of the tribes choosing to settle for less than God’s best. In his Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, he writes:

“How easy it is for God’s people to get so near to what is God’s purpose for them and yet be diverted from it by what is expedient from a worldly standpoint… Especially is this true of the good and providentially advantageous things of this life that in themselves are by the mercy of God, but which, if we settle down in them, become the ‘good’ that is the enemy of the ‘best’ that God has for us. This is what happened to Reuben and Gad with regard to their very great multitude of cattle and their desire to settle down in the place that was a place for cattle, but not the place of full blessing God had promised them.”

George Williams, in The Student’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, is especially critical of the tribes. He writes:

“The path of self-will is never so smooth as that of faith and obedience. God’s plan for Israel was first to conquer Canaan, and then, the vast region between the Jordan and the Euphrates. Reuben and his allies elected to reverse this; the result was present suffering and future loss. They had immediately to bid farewell to their wives and children and march away to a seven years war, in which many of them would probably lose their lives; and later on, they were the first tribes to be carried into captivity and exile…”

Coming at the criticism another way, J. Vernon McGee, in his Thru the Bible commentary, transfers the whole story into the New Testament world by mentioning that the people of Gadara, whom Jesus encountered when He cast a host of demons out of the Gadarene demonic and into a herd of swine (Mark 5:1-20), were the descendants of the tribe of Gad that had once settled in that general area. McGee writes:

“Now who are the Gadarenes? They are the tribe of Gad, living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. And when Jesus came to them, He found them in the pig business, you remember. And when He healed the demon-possessed man, the Gadarenes asked the Lord Jesus to leave their country! They had gotten into a sad condition. This always happens to the child of God who fails to cross Jordan and get into the Land of Promise.”

As you can see, the camps on both sides of the debate make good arguments to support their cases. So, what side of the debate do I favor? I probably tend to agree that all those who settled on the east side of the Jordan missed God’s fullest slate of blessings upon their lives. But should we classify their decision as “sin”? Well, I’m not sure I would call it that. I do, however, suspect they somehow missed out on the highest and best God had in mind for them.

I will admit, though, that those people did a lot with that land. Numbers 32:34-42 lists all the cities they either built or renamed for the Lord, and the livestock produced by those tribes became known throughout all Israel. As evidence of this, Psalm 22:12 refers to the strong bulls of Bashan. Does this productivity mean that those Jews actually were in God’s will by dwelling in that land? Perhaps. Then again, it’s quite common for people outside God’s will to get a lot accomplished in terms of worldly affairs.

As I said, I lean toward siding with Merrill Unger, David Jeremiah, and all the others who believe those people missed God’s ideal best. I won’t sneer at you, though, if you lean toward the other side. It really is an interesting debate, one that we won’t know the full answer about until we get to heaven. Until then, I won’t come down like thunder on those people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, but I won’t sing their praises, either. And if I ever find myself being tempted to settle down in a land that I’m a little dicey about, I’ll be sure to seek God’s wisdom and will all the more to make certain that I get the decision right.

Posted in Choices, Decisions, Desires, Discernment, God's Will, Impatience, Patience, Temptation, Waiting | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Posted on April 30, 2021 by russellmckinney

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, N.K.J.V.)

This verse has always haunted me in regards to some of the television programs I watch, some of the movies I watch, and some of the music I enjoy. I mean, just how “pure” are those old westerns? Just how “lovely” are those scary movies? Just how “noble” is all that 1980s music?

Several years ago I heard a fundamentalist Baptist preacher preach against listening to any and all secular music. Since his congregation consisted of a bunch of older people, he specifically referenced what we might call “good-time oldies” music. I’m talking about rock-and-roll music from the 1950s and 1960s. The preacher said, “You say, ‘I just listen to the golden oldies.’ Well, you know what those songs are, don’t you? They are what we were preaching against back then!” I had to laugh because the man did make a good point.

Christian liberty might be loosely defined as “Christians being permitted to do certain things that are not specifically forbidden in scripture.” By that definition, a lengthy list of debatable actions can be placed under that heading. That list could include: watching movies, listening to secular music, playing video games, celebrating Christmas, drinking alcohol without getting drunk, undergoing plastic surgery, attending Nascar races, riding Harley Davidsons, and women wearing makeup.

The pushback to majoring in Christian liberty is the fact that Christians are scripturally forbidden from loving the world or even having friendship with it (1 John 2:15-16; James 4:4). The Bible uses the word “world” to refer to the planetwide system that operates in opposition to God. This is the “world” over which Satan rules (2 Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31). The question becomes, though, can’t the case be made that just about everything is a part of this system?

Think about it, if theme parks are part of the world system, are we in sin for visiting them? If the NFL is part of the world system, are we in sin for watching the Super Bowl? If Hollywood is part of the world system, are we in sin for watching movies? If the music industry is part of the world system, are we in sin for listening to secular music? If the video game industry is part of the world system, are we in sin for playing video games? Speaking for myself, I’m still looking for that line that runs between enjoying Christian liberty and committing the sin of being friends with the world.

And then there is the fact that even sinless activities can become hinderances to the Christian. No one understood Christian liberty better than the apostle Paul, and he said, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify” (1 Corinthians 10:23, N.K.J.V.). The word “edify” is defined as “to build up.” That means, Christian, that even if certain activities don’t tear you down, you might be better off forgoing them because they don’t build you up.

This brings us to the title of this post. At what point does the phrase “garbage in, garbage out” start applying to the Christian’s walk with Christ? If we watch either too many movies or even just one that we’d be better off not watching, does that harm our ability to serve Christ? If we get on Netflix and binge watch the latest popular t.v. series, does that make us worldly Christians? If we listen to secular music, does that make us friends with the world? If we spend time playing video games, whether those games be the latest Madden football game, the latest Call of Duty war game, or whatever, does that make us bad Christians?

As is the case with so many areas, I suppose what we are looking for here is a God-approved balance. On the one hand, we don’t want to become good little legalists who can’t enjoy life because we are walking around in constant terror of committing some sin. Remember, Jesus did say “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30, N.K.J.V.). On the other hand, we don’t want to become good little worldlings who operate more like friends of the world than friends of the Lord, either.

Again, I freely confess that striking this proper balance continues to be a work in progress in my life. One thing I have learned is that I can find certain things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy in venues that have nothing to do with church gatherings or gospel singings. That Baptist preacher I heard preach that night would disagree with my take on that, but he’s not the one that I’m trying to please anyway. Therefore, I’ll just keep serving the Lord and let Him keep teaching me where those boundaries of Christian liberty fall regarding the things I do.

Posted in Choices, Christian Liberty, Decisions, Doing Good, Entertainment, God's Will, Grace, Music, Personal, Sin, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What Satellite Chips Have to Do with Holy Conduct

Posted on April 28, 2021 by russellmckinney

…as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16, N.K.J.V.).

A country doctor had a sign in his office that read, “First visit $25. All other visits, $10.” A cheapskate who was new in town walked in for a physical but didn’t want to pay the first-visit price. In his attempt to save the extra $15, he greeted the doctor by saying, “It’s good to see you again, doc.” The doctor knew instantly that he’d never met the man but played along and proceeded with the exam. When he finished he said, “Well, the bad news is that your condition is quite serious.” Now worried, the cheapskate nervously asked, “What should I do, doc?” Without showing an ounce of emotion, the doctor replied in a monotone voice, “Just keep doing what I told you to do the last time.”

Life can get hard, and when it does we are tempted to cheat a little to get by. For the Christian, however, this should never be an option. We serve a holy heavenly Father, we have been saved by a holy Savior, and we have the holy Spirit living inside each of us. If all that isn’t enough, our text passage calls us to be holy in all our conduct.

Like many people nowadays, my family has a small satellite that is mounted to a corner of the roof of our house. That satellite captures a programming signal from deep space and sends it inside our home to a couple of receiver boxes that are hooked into our four televisions. That process enables us to enjoy satellite television programming on each of those tvs. But I am old enough to remember those massive NASA-sized satellites that many people in rural areas used to have sitting in their yards. Those behemoth satellites were the precursors to the smaller units that we know today.

When those first home satellites hit the market, you could purchase one and then sit back and watch any and every television channel that was known to man. I mean, if it was broadcast via a satellite, you could find it somewhere on your dial. That included premium movie channels such as HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime. A few years later, though, those channels and many others started scrambling their signals. That meant that you now had to pay a monthly fee to subscribe to those channels in order to watch them.

Not long afterward, specially designed electronic chips started popping up on the black market. A satellite owner could pay a one-time price for a chip (the price was usually $100 or less), plug that chip into the satellite’s receiver box inside the home, and PRESTO all those scrambled channels magically became unscrambled. Paying that one-time small fee sure beat paying those high monthly prices to get to watch those channels.

There was only one problem with those chips: they were illegal! But that little issue didn’t seem to bother all the folks who were trying to “beat the man.” And, yes, a whole lot of those folks were professing Christians who got up every Sunday morning and went to church. I have to say that even back then I thought that behavior was pretty hypocritical. (This to say nothing, of course, of the whole other matter of Christians watching movies featuring profanity and nudity on HBO, or Hell’s Box Office, as some Baptist preachers started calling that channel.)

Eventually, the temptation to employ an under-the-counter electronic chip to get programming you weren’t paying for was defused. That happened when the people scrambling the channels got smart and started scrambling them afresh and anew each week. The chip-designers, whoever they were, couldn’t keep up with that, and even if they could have, people weren’t about to pay for a new chip each week. It would have been cheaper just to pay for the channels legally. That relegated the black-market-satellite-chip era to a relatively brief season in mankind’s sordid history.

For some reason, I had those old satellite chips on my mind today. I have to smile a little when I think back on those days even though I doubt that God found it amusing that many of His people were breaking the eighth commandment. By way of a reminder, that one reads: “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15).

Like I said, life can be hard, and there are times when we are all tempted to sin just a little to make it easier. Whether it be cheating on income taxes, telling a half-truth, loading a baseball bat to give it more pop, or using an illegal chip to watch movie channels, we all have our individualized ways of lowering the bar of personal holiness. But what we must keep in mind is that God is watching us (pun fully intended), and He’s looking for holy conduct. That holds true for everyone, but it holds exceedingly true for anyone who claims to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

So, Christian, are you being tempted right now to lower your bar of holiness in order to get along a little easier? Oh, be careful of that. Remember, it’s far better to have a television screen with a scrambled signal than a life with one. Don’t mar your holy conduct and lose eternal reward just to gain a slight edge in a world that isn’t your real home anyway. If the Lord wants you to have a certain channel, He will make a way for you to get it without you resorting to sin. Just trust in Him, and let Him do all your programming.

Posted in Backsliding, Character, Choices, Decisions, Desires, Discipleship, Doing Good, God's Holiness, God's Will, Holiness, Personal, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment