Hebrew Course 4
Learn the Hebrew Alphabet ~ Lesson 3
By Jeff A. Benner
Consonants
The "nun" is pronounced "n" as in no.
The "final nun" is the form of the letter used when at the end of a word. The pronunciation does not change.
The "hey" is pronounced "h" as in hello. Usually, a word ending with the letter "hey" is a feminine word. This letter is also used as a prefix to words meaning "the" (the definite article).
Notes
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The English verb "to be" and its various tenses such as "am", "is" and "are" do not exist in Hebrew and need to be added in the translation.
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English has two indefinite articles, "a" and "an" which also do not exist in Hebrew and must be added in the translation.
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The vocabulary word below "ba’ah" is the feminine form of the masculine verb "ba’" (came) which was introduced in lesson 1.
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The final syllable of most Hebrew words is accented by pronouncing the final Consonant-Vowel-Consonant as a syllable. For instance, the word for "I", in the vocabulary list below, is pronounced "a-niy" rather than an-iy.
Practice
.1 
.2
.3
Vocabulary
I 
.1
Where 
.2
Son 
.3
She 
.4
Prophet 
.5
Came (f) 
.6
What 
.7
The 
.8
Sentences
Where is my father? 
.1
I am a father. 
.2
Who is she? 
.3
The prophet came. 
.4
What is a prophet? 
.5
My son came. 
.6
Copyright © 1999-2007 Ancient Hebrew Research Center
Hebrew course 3
Learn the Hebrew Alphabet ~ Lesson 2
By Jeff A. Benner
Consonants
The "mem" is pronounced "m" as in mother.
The "final mem" is the form of the letter used when at the end of a word. The pronunciation does not change.
The yud is pronounced "y" as in yes. When the yud is added at the end of a word it means "of me" or "my".
Vowels
The Hhireq. This vowel is pronounced "i" as in machine.
The Tsere. This vowel is pronounced "e" as in grey.
Practice
.1
.2
Vocabulary
Mother 
.1
Who 
.2
My mother 
.3
My father 
.4
Sentences
Who came? 
.1
My father came. 
.2
Copyright © 1999-2007 Ancient Hebrew Research Center
Hebrew course 1
Introduction
By Jeff A. Benner
Why Learn Hebrew?
There are many reasons to learn Hebrew such as to read the Tenach (the Old Testament of the Bible written in Hebrew) in its original language or simply to learn how to pronounce Hebrew words such as those in Strong’s Concordance without having to use the transliterations. Probably the most advantageous reason to learn Hebrew is the ability to understand the original author’s words, rather than through the translator’s opinion of the author’s words.
Learning the Hebrew language can be both fun and exciting. By simply studying the pages to follow for just a few minutes a day you will soon be reading Hebrew and be building a small vocabulary of Hebrew words and phrases.
Direction of Reading
Unlike English which is read from left to right, Hebrew is read from right to left just as many other semitic languages such as Arabic. This may sound difficult but in a very short time you will get used to it.
When sounding out a word it will be easier if you remember the Consonant (C) and Vowel (V) patterns. In English the consonants and vowels may be arranged in any order such as in the word "circle" which has the following pattern; C-V-C-C-C-V. Hebrew on the other hand is very consistent in that a vowel always follows a consonant (except the final consonant which may or may not be followed by a vowel), such as in the following words "Melek" (king) C-V-C-V-C; "Meleko" (his king) C-V-C-V-C-V and "Hamelek" (the king) C-V-C-V-C-V-C. The Yud (Y) is another exception to this as it can be a consonant acting as a vowel, just as our English "Y".
The Hebrew Alephbet
English uses the word "Alphabet" which is the first two letters of the Greek Alphabet; Alpha and Beta. Hebrew on the other hand uses "Alephbet" as they are the first two letters of the Hebrew Alephbet; Aleph and Bet. The Hebrew alephbet consists of 22 consonants and no vowels. The vowels are dots and dashes added above and below the consonants. One advantage to Hebrew is that the sound for each letter remains the same unlike English where one has to memorize many variations such as the word circus where one "c" is pronounced like an "S" and the other like a "K".
Below is a chart of the Hebrew alephbet as an introduction and these letters will be learned in the accompanying lessons. An audio clip for the names of each letter is also available. The first letter is in the upper right hand corner and is read from right to left.
Five of the above letters have different form when it appears at the end of word. These letters are called the "final" letters (sophit in Hebrew).
Several of the letters in the alephbet are very similar and can easily be confused with other letters. This is very common at the beginning but soon you will be able to make the distinction between these letters without difficulty. Below is a chart with these letters and you may want to refer to this chart on occasion during the lessons.
Modern and Ancient Hebrew
The pronunciation of some of the consonants and vowels have changed over the centuries but this does not affect the meaning of words so we will learn to pronounce them according to the modern Hebrew. Modern Hebrew pronunciation is also divided into two parts, Ashkenazie and Sephardic. Since Sephardic is the pronunciation adopted by the State of Israel, we will also use this pronunciation.
The Hebrew Vowels
In modern Hebrew vowel pointings called "nikkud" (nikkudot in the plural) have been added to words to provide the vowel sounds for each word. The chart below lists these vowel pointings and will be learned in the accompanying Hebrew lessons. These vowel pointings are used in Biblical texts, Prayer books, Hebrew Grammar books and children books but are not normally used in Hebrew writings such as in novels, newspapers, signs, etc.
The Lessons
Each lesson includes new consonants, vowels, a practice section, new vocabulary words and sentences. The practice session will allow you to practice the new letters and vowels and refresh yourself on old ones. The vocabulary section will consist of a few words using the new letters and vowels to begin building your Hebrew vocabulary. The Sentences will allow you to begin using your new words in sentences. To assist you in learning the letters and words, I recommend that you put the letters and words you are learning on flashcards so that you can study them at any time.
Copyright © Ancient Hebrew Research Center
Hebrew course 2
Learn the Hebrew Alphabet ~ Lesson 1
By Jeff A. Benner
Consonants
The "aleph" is the first letter of the Hebrew alephbet. This consonant is silent.
The "beyt" is pronounced two ways, a "b" as in ball, and as "v" as in visit. A dagesh (a dot in the middle of the letter) indicates that the letter will have the "b" sound, while the abscence of the dagesh indicates the "v" sound. When the beyt is prefixed to a word it means "in".
Vowels
The qamats. This vowel, which is placed under the consonant, is pronounced "a" as in father. Since the aleph is silent, this consonant/vowel combination would be pronounced as "a". (Note: The aleph here is not part of the vowel, it is simply used here to show the placement of the vowel only)
The patahh. This vowel is also pronounced "a" as in father.
Practice
.1
.2
Vocabulary
Came 
.1
Father 
.2
Sentences
Father Came. 
.1
Note: the : at the end of the sentence is a period.
First Steps with God course , lesson 11
First Steps with God Course, Lesson 10
Lecture 11 - 3. inviting others to join
Continuing in Your New Life
Inviting Others to Join
Jesus calls people to “Follow Me.” He calls people to “Walk with Me.” You and I are followers; we are disciples of Jesus Christ. To the first disciples, He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Part of fishing for people is to invite them to fish for more people; all disciples are to fish; all disciples are to encourage others to walk with them.
A. Make more disciples
In the final words of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives what is called His “Great Commission,” a commission that is true for all disciples. In Matthew 28:18, He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The command, the invitation, for all disciples is that we make more disciples; we are to be involved in evangelizing and baptizing them. We also are to be involved in people becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ by teaching them to observe absolutely everything that Jesus has taught.
Paul uses different metaphors, he talks about the fact that we are ambassadors for Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, he tells the church in Corinth, “… in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” God has entrusted to us the amazing Gospel that there is the way to be friends with God. “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.” So Paul makes that appeal. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake God made Him Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him,” in Jesus, “we might become the righteousness of God.”
All disciples are invited to invite others to walk with them, to walk with Jesus. All disciples are to be self-replicating–or to say it differently, Christians are in the business of cloning.
B. Regeneration
This should be the most natural thing in our lives. What I want to do this morning is to walk through this process with you, to show that this isn’t frightening; we don’t have to have an MDiv or some other degree. This is simply for disciples and it’s an absolutely natural process because that process began at conversion.
In conversion, God changed us, that’s the doctrine of regeneration, and changed people live changed lives. We’ve talked about the fact that things can’t continue as they were before; you and I have been given a new birth; you and I have been given a new life; we have been made into new creatures; we are part of a new creation. Our lives must be different; changed people simply live in a changed way. As you and I start to live out our changed lives, people are going to start to notice.
1. People Will Notice
In Philippians 2:14, Paul says, “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, in order that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life…”
We do truly live in a crooked, twisted, and perverse generation. Yet as you and I live out our lives, we are going to live it out as lights of the world, holding fast to the word of life, and people are going to start to notice that there’s something different about us. Jesus uses other metaphors to make the point that you and I are the lights of the world. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” Then He builds a couple of images to help us understand. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” You can take a city, and when you turn its lights on and stick it up on top of a hill, you’re going to see it. “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” What’s the point of lighting a light and then hiding it? We’re not going to light a light and then stick it under something; the whole point of lighting a light is so that it will illuminate the room.
Then in Verse 16, Jesus drives the point home: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good words and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You and I are the city on the hill; we are the light that has been lit in order to illuminate the room; as we live out this kind of life, we’re different, and people will see it and notice that there’s something different.
In the preceding verse, Matthew 5:13, Jesus uses a different metaphor, which is that of salt. He says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Now, we know that salt technically cannot lose its taste, but what Jesus is actually talking about is salt being defiled; that means that we can dilute salt with other substances so it loses its ability to preserve. The point that Jesus is making is that Christians don’t live in isolation from the world. He has just finished the beatitudes, and they’re so strong that there might be this temptation to think, “Well, I need to live separate from the world.” Jesus says, “No, Christians don’t live in isolation from the world.” Just as salt was used to preserve meat, so also Jesus (quoting one commentator) “calls His disciples to arrest corruption and prevent moral decay in their world”; that’s our function of our being salt of the earth.
Just as salt can become mixed with various impure substances, therefore becoming worthless as a preservative, so also Christians can mix themselves with the things of the world and become worthless as agents of change and redemption. You and I are the salt of the earth; we are agents of change and redemption, and we are here to arrest corruption and to prevent moral decay, just as salt keeps meat from going bad. As you and I live as salt to the earth and lights of the world, people will notice that we’re different; this is the kind of changed lives that changed people live.
I really like the King James translation of Titus 2:14; it uses an English word in a way we don’t any longer. Jesus says that He, “…gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Now, 400 or 500 years ago in English, the word peculiar meant special. What Jesus was doing was purifying for Himself a people who were special to Him–those who are His people.
I often think of us as a rather odd lot of people. You and I, to the eyes of world, are just a little peculiar and that’s okay, that in fact, is the way it must be. We’re living changed lives and people are supposed to notice that our lives are different.
2. People Will Wonder
As people start to notice that you and I are a tad peculiar, they’re going to start asking the question, “What is it that makes these people different?” There’s a quotation that some people say Martin Luther said and some people say St. Francis of Assisi said; I don’t know, but it’s a great quote: “Preach at all times. If necessary, use words.” Our lives preach louder and our deeds proclaim truer than any words could ever say. People will see our changed lives and they will start to wonder, “What’s different about them?”
One of the more powerful examples of this in Scripture is Peter’s instruction to wives, specifically to wives who are married to non-Christians. In 1 Peter 3:1 he says, “Likewise, wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word,” if they don’t respond to the spoken Gospel message, “they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, the putting on of clothing, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”
Peter tells these wives that the way to win husbands to the Lord is not to preach at them or not put all emphasis on the externals of beauty, but rather to focus on the internal beauty of women of God. Wives are to be those who are gentle–the very way in which they live their lives will speak volumes.
3. People Will Respond
As people start to notice how you and I live out our changed Christian lives, they will start to wonder, “What’s so different about them?” Eventually, what’s going to happen is that they will respond to the witness of our lives one of two ways.
This is a great verse, 2 Corinthians 2:14, where Paul uses a powerful image of smell to make his point that there are two ways that people are going to respond to the witness of your life. Paul writes, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.” There is your changed life. “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…”
In other words, we smell differently to different people; to one, a fragrance from death to death; to the other, a fragrance from life to life.
As you and I live out our changed lives, to some people we are going to be the aroma of life; this is again what Jesus was talking about back in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
To some, we will be the aroma of life; but to others, we will be the stench of death, their death. In 1 Peter 4:3-5, he writes, “For the time that is past,” the time before your conversion, “suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they,” your past non-Christian friends, “are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign You; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
To some, we will be the aroma of life; and to others, we will be the stench of death. Our non-Christian friends will see our changed lives and they will not understand and they will malign us.
4. People Will Ask Why
The key in this whole living-out-our-lives-as-followers-of-Jesus natural process is that if we smell like the aroma of life, then they will ask us why. People will come to us and they will say, “Why do you smell so good?” They probably won’t use that metaphor, but that’s what they’re asking. “Why do you smell so good?” Paul tells the Colossian Church in 4:5-6, “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
Paul is saying that as we live out our different lives, our speech will be gracious, not cutting, condemning, judgmental, or critical. Our speech is going to be gracious, and they’re going to want to know, “Why are you so gracious?” We need to know how we ought to answer each of these people, and the question simply is: “Are you and I ready to tell them why we smell so good?”
C. How Do I respond?
1. Share personal Testimony
Again in 1 Peter 3:15-16, he says,“…always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” People look at us and they should see that we have a hope that they don’t have, “yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience.” What we’re talking about here is the whole issue of, what in the church has historically been called, “having a personal testimony”; being able to share our stories.
I’m not talking about how we would share our faith with someone who doesn’t know us, that we might run into on a bus or something, although that’s important. What I’m talking about is our having a testimony that we can share with the people whom we know. When they see that our lives are different, that we have a gracious speech, and that we have a hope that they don’t have, how are we going be able to tell them why we have this hope and why our speech is so gracious. This is the issue of friendship evangelism.
There are some powerful images and stories in the Bible about personal testimonies, and they can be phenomenally powerful. I think one of the most powerful is in the story of John 9, where Jesus heals the man who had been born blind (the whole chapter is about this story). The religious leaders are all bent out of shape, and they’re not willing to say that Jesus was the one who gave him sight, so they go through this foolish repetitive set of questions. They get his parents in and ask them. Then finally, in verse 24, “So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ‘Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.’” What they mean is that Jesus doesn’t follow all of their religious rituals, so He is a sinner; He cannot have possibly healed him. So then in Verse 25, the blind man answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Powerful personal testimony is really hard to argue against, such as “Once I was blind.” or “Once I was dead in my sin, unable to see God or what was right; unable to see what righteousness was.” or “I was dead and had no hope, but now I can see.” We would just simply have to write the person off as a complete cuckoo case. The religious leaders kicked the blind man out of the Temple and had nothing to do with him; they thought there was something seriously wrong with him.
Another good testimony is in Acts 4, where the young church had been witnessing to the risen Jesus and the religious leaders were unhappy (what a shock). In Chapter 4, they bring Peter and James in to defend themselves; starting at Verse 19, “But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,’ in other words, I really don’t care what you think, “‘for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’” This shows the power of personal testimony.
You and I both need to be prepared to have a personal testimony. Let me just give some practical tips along this line.
The first practical tip is the well-known acronym of KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Personal testimonies don’t have to be complicated; they don’t’ have to be this long, drawn-out, well-crafted, logical treatise because that’s not what saved us and it’s not what’s going to save anyone else–keep it simple.
Share with them what your life was like before you became a follower of Jesus; if you do this, my encouragement is to keep it minimal. I’ve heard some personal testimonies that were 90% of what a rotten jerk they were; it’s like they are glorying in past sin. Tell people what your life was like before Christ, but don’t glory in it; keep it to a minimum. Tell them why you decided to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you may even want to relay the details of your conversion experience, then share with them the difference it has made in your life. “I once was blind but now I see!” Keep it simple.
Our personal testimonies are something that we can prepare and practice beforehand; I would encourage all of you to practice them. Find ways to communicate the truths of our lives to people within 3 to 5 minutes, but again keep it simple.
2. Invite them to walk with you
Please understand that our personal testimonies are only the first step. If somebody comes up to us and says, “You smell so good. You have the smell of life about you. Your speech is seasoned; it is gracious.” If we were to simply tell them why our lives have changed and then stop, we haven’t finished, have we? We must go to the next step of inviting them to walk with us because you and I are all fishermen. You must be prepared and I must be prepared; having told our testimonies, and perhaps woven into our testimonies the very plan of salvation, we can then share with them how they too can be followers of Jesus Christ.
a. ABC
There are many methods out there for sharing salvation. I tend to use the ABCs a lot; I’m sure you’ve noticed. What does it mean to be a Christian? Being a Christian means to:
A. Admit that you’re a sinner and you’re separated from God; acknowledge that His evaluation of you is right.
B. Believe in your heart that Jesus is God, He is Savior, and He is Lord–He is who He says he is. Believe that He did what He said He was going to do–die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. Then
C. Commit your life to Him. He’s not only our Savior, but He is also our Lord.
There…I did it in about 50 seconds!
b. John 3:16
Perhaps we want to get used to using John 3:16 as I did in the first talk of this series. Find a way to say, “God loved the world. He created the world but it was separated from Him by sin and yet He still loved it. He loved it so much that He gave His only Son. Jesus is the only sacrifice for sin. Jesus is the only way that this alienated world can ever be reconciled to its Creator again. Whoever believes in Him–it’s not simply enough to have intellectual assent, but you must commit your life and belief to Him. Then you will not perish, but you will live forever. You will live a new kind of life, an eternal kind of life, that doesn’t start when you die, but it starts right now. John says that we have already passed from death into life.
c. Romans
Perhaps we might want to use John 3:16 as a way to share. Perhaps we would want to use those three famous verses in Romans. Actually, a lot of people like to carry a small Bible with them and have these three verses underlined; they’ve memorized them so they can turn to them and actually have the other person read the verses.
Read Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Every one of us has missed the mark. Every one of us has failed to do what our Creator has called us to do.” Turn to Romans 6:23 and read, “For the wages of sin is death,” which is the penalty for living separated from a holy God, “but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The only way to get to heaven and the only way to have our sin forgiven is through the work of Jesus Christ and it’s a free gift. There’s nothing that you can do; no religion or no amount of good activity can earn your way to heaven; it is the free gift of God.
Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord., if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead then you shall be saved.” Your assurance is that God has committed that if we confess Jesus is who He says He is and He has done what He has said He would do, then you shall be saved.
Again, these three are probably the most famous verses in the entire book of Romans that contain the whole plan of salvation with which we can share with someone in two minutes.
d. Metaphors
It’s always helpful for non-propositional people to have illustrations; I’m a propositional person, so I don’t think in terms of metaphors. Some of you are helping me to learn to think metaphorically!
The most common illustration for salvation is that there is this great chasm, the Grand Canyon, and we and our sin are over here, and God and His forgiveness is over there. The chasm is so great that there’s nothing we can do to get over to where God is. So the cross comes down and it fills the chasm through the work of the only Son of God, who then invites us across to live in the full presence of God the Father forever.
Illustrations are good and they’re powerful, and we can mix and match these things. We must be prepared as we share our personal testimonies to move beyond our testimonies and to become fishers of men, saying, “You too can have this hope that I have; here’s how you can do it”; it’s as simple as ABC.
D. Practical Advice
1. Focus on Jesus
I have some practical advice: Be sure to keep your focus on Jesus because it’s so easy to become distracted. The issue isn’t our being religious; the issue isn’t our good deeds; the issue isn’t our being able to answer their intellectual questions. (Very few people actually have intellectual questions. Most people’s problem with God is moral not intellectual.) Your story isn’t really the issue either, the issue is Jesus. We must stay focused on who Jesus is–He is God; He is Savior; He is Lord. We must stay focused on what Jesus has done–He has died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. As we develop our personal testimonies and learn to share the Gospel, make sure the focus isn’t on us, but make sure the focus stays where it belongs–on Jesus.
2. Don’t Accept Too Much Responsibility
As we try to put this whole issue of personal testimony into action, please don’t accept too much responsibility. One of the reasons I think people get frightened is that we tend to assume too much responsibility in this whole process.
Do we know why some people think we smell so good? Do we know why we are the aroma of life to some of our friends who are watching our actions? Look at our friends and think, “These people don’t like me; these people are drawn to me. What’s the difference? Why are these people drawn to me?” Are they drawn to us because we have powerful stories or compelling arguments? No, that’s not what’s going on at all.
Jesus says in John 6:44 that “no one can come to the Father unless He draws them.” The point is that God is at work in the lives of these people, and He is drawing people to Himself. So when someone looks at us and says, “You smell good,” it’s not because of us, it’s because God is at work in their lives–He’s drawing people to Himself.
There is balance in all of this. I’m not saying that we should totally be passive. I don’t think that there’s normally a time where we’ve shared our stories and then we should just leave it and wonder if they’re going to ask us how to be saved. There certainly is a time when we have to take the initiative. We can say, “Would you like to have the same hope that I have? Would you like to have the same power at work in you that is at work in me?” You don’t want to push this, there is a balance to all this, but certainly there’s a time in which we can ask them the question. There also will be times in which it is obvious that they want to know themselves.
3. Don’t become the Holy Spirit
Don’t become the Holy Spirit; it’s His job to convict people of their sin (John 16:8), not ours. As we are sharing our lives with people, if they’re turned off, there is nothing we can do about it because they’re dead in their trespasses and sin and only God can quicken, or enliven, their spirits. Do not accept responsibility that is only God’s.
Paul Little writes, “It is the Holy Spirit, not we, who converts an individual. We, the privileged ambassadors of Jesus Christ, can communicate a verbal message. We can demonstrate through our personality and life what the grace of Jesus Christ can accomplish, but let us never naively think that we have converted a soul and brought him to Jesus Christ. No one calls Jesus ‘Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
If you and I share, then we have never failed; we only fail when we don’t share. When we share, we’ve done our part and it’s not our job to convict people of their sin; it’s not our job to save them; it is not our job to convert them.
If they reject us, what does Jesus say? They are not rejecting us, they are rejecting Jesus. If they reject Jesus, then they are rejecting the One who sent Jesus. So when they are rejecting us, they are not rejecting us; in fact, Jesus says very clearly that when they reject us, we are blessed.
Right after the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” You never fail and I never fail if we share; the rest is really up to God, isn’t it.
The fact of the matter is Christians are the great cloners of all time, bar none. We were changed in conversion and changed people live changed lives. To some we stink, that’s fine, but to some we smell wonderfully and we are to be prepared to tell them why.
As soon as we tell them why, we must ask the most fundamental question, “Would you like to join this journey of real life with me? Would you like to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a child of God? Let me tell you how.” Then let God be God and do what only God can do, and that is give life to the dead–this is most natural thing in the world for a Christian.
© 2004 Bill Mounce. Website: www.BiblicalTraining.org.
First steps with God course, lesson 10
First Steps with God Course, Lesson 10
Lecture 10 - 1. Walking Together
Continuing in Your New Life
A. Our New Family
When you and I became Christians, we walked through the gates of heaven, as it were, one person at a time; no family plan, right? We don’t get into heaven because of mom and dad or uncles or aunts, we walk through one person at a time. Yet on the other side of that gate lies our new family; a family with whom we can walk together as we go through life and a family where we have a new father and new brothers.
It’s interesting that the word “brothers” is the most common way in which the New Testament refers to believers, men and women alike. We are brothers; we are a family that is not broken down based on gender or race or class. We are a family that is bound together by love for our Father, and then that love for our Father flows through Him out to one another; it is in fact this loving unity that is to characterize the family of God which proclaims Jesus to the world.
In John 17, Jesus is praying to God for the church, and in Verse 21, His prayer is: “that they,” meaning you and me, “may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us,” Why then is that so important? “so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one.” Then Jesus repeats Himself in Verse 23: “I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.”
That is what biblical community is all about; as you and I are bound together in our love, people will look at us and they will say, “Oh how they love God.” When people look at us, they will see the Father’s love in us and see that in truth, God did send His Son to the world; all of this is tied up in the fact that you and I are the family of God. We are to be an authentic, biblical community.
B. Challenge of Authentic, Biblical Community
Because this authentic biblical community is so important, it should come as no surprise to any of us that there are great challenges in creating it. If it’s really this important and if it is God’s way of showing His love and drawing people to Himself, certainly we’re going to expect great challenges in community.
The American Culture (and this is an American phenomenon–perhaps partly European–but it is primarily our phenomenon) is one of individualism and of isolationism; it is not one of community. Gallup, in his polls, has shown time and time again that Americans are among the loneliest people on the earth; we have more toys than anybody, but no one with whom to play–this culture of fragmentation and isolation is lonely.
1. Circles of relationships
In “The Connecting Church,” a book I would really recommend that you read, the author, Randy Frazee, talks a lot about the fact that we have many disconnected circles of relationships:
The circle of relationships that we call the church
The circle of relationships that we call work
The circle of relationships that we call family
We also have the circles of relationships connected with our kids: soccer teams, basketball teams, neighborhood stuff, Girl Scouts. The list goes on and on; we have many, many circles of relationships and so many of them are not connected. So the very thing that we crave the most, authentic deep relationships built upon the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, we will never find because we are so busy living fragmented, disconnected lives without margin. The American Culture is one of isolation; it is not one of community.
2. Changing culture
In his book, Frazee goes on to document the cultural changes in America over the last 100 years. What I enjoyed in reading this book were all the things that I take for granted, but then I realized that there was a shift, a change, from when I was a kid. He talks, as many sociologists do, about the flight of rural America into the de-personalized, big, urban centers in this country. He talks about how we used to sit on the porch and talk to people when they came by; but now instead, we sit inside our air-conditioned homes or perhaps go outside on our private back decks.
We also used to walk to neighborhood stores, but now we drive to superstores. In fact, now we can go through the speed checkout and not even talk to a cashier. We used to walk around the block and now we have treadmills in our basements and our bedrooms so we can watch the news. We used to go to the post office; as fast as it is, there’s usually a line. Now there are televisions that we can look at so that we don’t have to talk to anyone as we stand in line. We are getting to the point where we never really have to leave the house; we can shop on the Internet and not even pay sales tax.
In his book, Frazee talks about a man named Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor who did some research, and his research shows that Americans entertain friends at home 45% less often in the late 90s than they did in the mid to late 70s. He also uncovered the rather shocking fact that between 1974 and 1998, the frequency with which Americans spent “a social evening with someone who lives in your neighborhood” fell by about one third. The home has become a place of solitary confinement. However, even this characteristic is nearly lost as the home has become, for many, simply a boarding house where people occasionally eat and mostly just sleep.
The other day, there was a plea to American families to functions “as families”. The plea was that if we could just do this, it would be one of sthe greatest thing we could do–have at least one meal a week together.
We live in an individualistic, fragmented, lonely culture, and yet the problem is that we were built for community. When God made Adam, He looked at him and said, “It’s not good that he’s alone.” We weren’t made for isolation. What is true of the intimate relationships is also true with larger social units, the social units of family and the family of God, so God created the church to meet that deep need of community, which is inside of every one of us.
C. Model of the Early Church—All about God
Certainly, as we look at the model of the early church in Acts 2, we can see exactly what God intended for us to be like. Here is the description of the early church in Acts 2:42:“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
1. Center of our lives
When we look at this picture of the early church, we start to get a taste for what God wants community to look like; it starts first and foremost with God, doesn’t it? God is in the absolute center; it’s all about God. God pervades everything that they did: they devoted themselves to the prayers; they were praising God; they were involved in evangelism and people were being saved; day by day, they were involved in worship where they were attending the temple together. Jesus and God were the absolute center, the absolute focus, of the early church and He pervaded everything that they did.
If God is not the center of this family, then we are nothing more than friends and casual acquaintances; that is all we are;. Without God, there cannot be anything else; we’re just a social club and a community center. However, it’s because God is our Father that therefore you and I can truly be brothers, not divided by gender or by race or by class; it’s all about God, and He is in the absolute center.
As we read the story of the early church, we quickly realize that if God truly is the center, both independently and corporately, then this very fact is going to have to push itself out, flowing in different directions. You can’t just love God and do nothing else, can you?
I love the fact that when they asked Jesus, “What’s the greatest commandment?” He answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and the second is just like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27) I don’t like that translation. It actually means that you shall love the “other person” as yourself.
We can’t love God and He can’t be the center of our lives without it’s flowing out into other areas of our lives–it’s absolutely impossible, and Jesus makes that clear. There are at least three different directions out of which our relationship with God and our love for Him flows.
2. Growth into Spiritual Maturity
One way in which our love for God flows is into the area of spiritual maturity, both individually and corporately. As you and I love God, we will learn more about what He is like. In order to be like Jesus, we must find out what Jesus is like and then we will learn and grow. This is why the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching; this is the whole area of discipleship and growth.
In Colossians 1, Paul is reviewing his ministry to the Colossian Church. He talks about how his goal for their lives was that they grow up–that they mature. In Colossians 1:28, Paul says, “Him,” meaning Christ, “we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,” in order that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” That is his goal, maturity in Christ. Then Paul adds, “For this I toil” (now watch the pronouns), “struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.”
This is one of the ways in which the centrality of Christ in our lives and in this church pushes itself out. We must grow in our knowledge and then be transformed by that knowledge; therefore, we are committed to biblical preaching; there will never be any other kind of preaching from this pulpit, and that is our commitment.
Growth into spiritual maturity is why this year in the adult Sunday school classes, we’re going to go through a systematic theology so that we can learn and be challenged. This is why we have the Biblical Training Institute on Wednesday nights so that you can learn enough to call yourselves biblically literate. This is why, among many missions efforts, we support biblicaltraining.org, an online school giving away a seminary education to the world.
These are all different ways in which we are taking seriously the fact that, as God is center of our lives, one of the ways in which that is going to affect us is our desire to grow into maturity — to train and be trained.
3. Devoted to Fellowship
The centrality of Christ also pushes its way out in a second way, and that is in the whole area of fellowship.
The Acts 2 Church devoted themselves to fellowship; they didn’t kind of pick and choose, did they? They devoted themselves to fellowship; day by day, they were breaking bread in their homes. I think as we read this passage, it’s fair to say that the church was the social center of their lives. The circle of relationships in that church was the central set of relationships in their lives.
a. “Christian Crockpot”
I’ve often encouraged you with the idea of the “Christian Crockpot.” The idea is to get up Sunday morning and throw a bigger roast in the crockpot, a couple more potatoes, a couple more carrots, and a couple cans of soup. The Christian Crockpot got me through seminary! It’s not hard to do, just turn it on medium when you leave. You go to church and you look for someone you don’t recognize and you say, “This isn’t natural, you’re my brother. Come on over, and let’s get to know each other.” What do you call a family where siblings don’t know each other? I call it dysfunctional.
So also in the family of God, we must be devoted to fellowship and that’s why God made crockpots! (Not really!) May I encourage you to buy an oversized crockpot and then use it? When I was in graduate school in Scotland, one of the most influential families was a family who, every Sunday, would look for someone they did not know in the church and invite them over. (They always picked the students up, too, and brought us over because they felt so sorry for us! We had very sad faces.) Her ministry was to entertain, to make people feel welcome, and to say, “Welcome into my family”; we had this Sunday meal together so much of the time.
b. Primary social circle
May I encourage you to make the family of God the primary social circle in your lives? Again, may I encourage you to make the family of God your primary social set of relationships, because as long as we have many, many circles of relationships that are disconnected and our lives are fragmented, we will never deal with the loneliness that is in our lives. We will never have a sense of connection because we’re scattered all over the place. One of the things that Frazee is really encouraging in his book is to narrow our scope of circles. We can have friends outside the church (hopefully we all have non-Christian friends outside the church), but may church be the primary social circle of our lives.
I would love to see the day in which this church building is full every single hour. I would love to see when you young moms are going a little crazy with the kids, to call up another young mom that’s going crazy and say, “Let’s meet at church for coffee.” We always have coffee here at church! While you’re here, let your kids run rampant; you can clean up when you’re done. Have coffee together, talk together, share your lives together, and be encouraged by one another.
I look forward to the day when my son comes home and says, “Dad, let’s play basketball (which he loves to do because he can always beat me now). So instead of going to some center, we would say, “Hey, let’s go to church to play; in fact, let’s call someone up and let’s have him and his son come, too. We’ll set up the hoop in the gym and we’ll play together.”
I would love to see the day when those of you who have moved into retirement from teaching all of your lives, which means you now really have time to serve the family of God, say, “I’ve taught math and science for 40 years, I’ll be in the Library from 2-4. If your kids are struggling, bring them by; I would love to share my life’s experience with these, my young brothers.” Retirement means now you really have time to serve the family of God. I can see that day when these things happen, but it’s not going to happen until we become devoted to fellowship, and that means making this church body the center of our relational lives.
c. Grace
Authentic biblical community is a lot more than just the fun times and the sharing times; as important as those times are. If we are going to be devoted to fellowship, I think it means that this place will have to become a haven of grace. I’ve been reading Philip Yancey’s amazing book, “What’s so Amazing About Grace?” I would encourage you to read this book.
Through the pages, Yancey is trying to define what it means for God to treat us with grace. He says that God’s grace means that there’s nothing that I can do to make God love me more and grace means there’s nothing I can do to make God love me less. God doesn’t love me for who I am; God simply loves me. He is a God of grace to me. Oh that you and I should become receivers and givers of that kind of grace! This is where all the “one anothers” come in Scripture. Scripture says:
We are to live in harmony with one another. We are to not pass judgment on one another.
We are to not speak evil of one another.
We are to encourage one another.
We are to show hospitality to one another.
We are to bear one another’s burdens.
As Paul says in Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
It’s impossible to be obedient to God in isolation, isn’t it? It is absolutely impossible to be an obedient Christian and live in isolation. If we’re off living by ourselves, how can we bear one another’s burdens? If we refuse to attend services, how can we show compassion to one another? It’s impossible. What it means to be devoted to fellowship is to have God central in our lives, not us, not our jobs, not our wealth (which is really God’s), not our fame, not our fortune, but God. If God is truly central in this life of ours, we will push out and we will be devoted to fellowship just like the early church was devoted to fellowship.
4. Ministry
In Acts, there is a third way in which we see that the centrality of Christ pushes its way out into their lives, and that is in the whole area of ministry. If God is central in our lives and if God is central in the family of God, then it will show itself in service and outreach.
a. Within the body
The centrality of God will show itself, first of all, in service to the body. In Hebrews 10:24, the author says, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” That’s a great way to say it, isn’t it? Let’s sit down and think through how we can go about encouraging and stirring up one another, to love one another, and to do good things. Let’s be deliberate about this, and think it through. “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
This is why Paul repeatedly says that all the gifts that are given to the church: the gifts of ministry, the gifts of service, the gifts of preaching and teaching and showing mercy and giving and having faith. All of these gifts were given for the edification of the body and for the common good; they were given to you and me so that together we can serve one another; we can serve the body of Christ.
That includes our finances, which was certainly one of the outstanding features of the early church. God was so central in who they were that while they weren’t commanded to sell everything, they did and they shared with the people. I know people often think, “Well, it doesn’t say that I have to sell everything”; that is true, yet there are many other passages that perhaps give us cause to think. For example, in 1 John 3:16, John writes, “By this we know love, that He,” meaning Jesus, “laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” What does it look like in practical application? “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”
The answer is “It can’t!” If you and I love God, we, of necessity, must love the other person. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” In other words, talk is cheap.
b. Outside the Body
If God is central in our lives individually and corporately, it will push itself out into ministry, into service for the body, and also into service outside the body; this is what missions and evangelism is all about. As you and I are pervaded and unified by the love of God as our love for Him grows and spreads out so that you love me and I love you, people will look at us and say, “Boy, they’re different; look at how they love Jesus; that message of the cross must be true.” This is the goal that Jesus sets up in John 17; it is something that comes out of community. As you and I live in community, we show Christ to be sweet to the world. People will respond to us in the same way they responded in Acts 2–we will have favor with all people. People will be saved and will be added to us.
D. Hard Work
Community is hard work, isn’t it? If you’re reflecting on what I’m saying, this is not some light, easy task that comes naturally; it’s radical and countercultural–just like Jesus and just like the early church. Paul says, “For this I toil.” Toil is a word that refers specifically to manual labor that is used if we were going to go out and dig a ditch; this is the word that is used. “For this I toil and yet I am struggling, not by my energy but by His energy that He is working powerfully within me and through me.” (Colossians 1:29) Community stuff is hard work.
1. Begins With a Common Purpose
Community begins with a common purpose; that’s where it all starts. This church is neither a community center nor a social club. It is not a place where you can come and have your spiritual sensitivities tickled. This is the family of God that is here for one central purpose, and that is to glorify God in everything that we say and do and don’t say and don’t do.
I love the illustration of A.W. Tozer when he says, “How do you tune one hundred pianos so that they can all play together? You don’t tune them to each other, you tune them to the same tuning fork.” As our lives are focused on one tuning fork, and that is God, it pervades our lives so that we say and do only what will advance the kingdom of God; even in our eating and drinking, Paul tells the Corinthians. Do whatever you do with your driving purpose to glorify God; that’s our common purpose; that’s the tie that binds us together, not the fact that we meet in the same building. It’s God who is central. If our commitment to God is central in our lives, it must fan out into at least these three different areas of discipleship, fellowship and ministry.
2. Simplify your life
May I encourage you to simplify all your life, even as I struggle to simplify my life? I’ve been faced with this issue that I have to simplify my life. Again, I would really encourage all of you to read Randy Frazee’s book, ¬The Connecting Church,” because it’s a very convicting book along those lines.
May I also encourage all of us to make these, our brothers, the central set of relationships in our lives? Has anyone here lived in a natural family where there has never been conflict? I’m not seeing any hands. When conflict comes, what do we do? Do we run away and hide? I encourage all of us to work through it, to lean into it, to grow from it, and not to turn tail and run. We need to be kind to one another, tenderhearted to one another, forgiving one another; just as God in Christ forgave you, so also you and I should forgive others.
3. Become “Haven of Grace”
If we do that, then in God’s way and in God’s timing, we will become that haven of grace, that place of honest open authentic relationships where the masks come down, where we have freely received grace from God; where we have freely received grace from one another, so in turn we turn around and we extend it back; where we bear one another’s burdens; where we encourage one another towards holiness, a place where loneliness will no longer be, but instead a place where that deep sense of belonging that is built into all of us will be satisfied.
More importantly, though, we will be a place where people come in and they look at us and say, “How they love Jesus! Jesus must be who He said He is; He must be the answer to the problems in my life; He must be the solution to my sin.”
This is a radical and countercultural way of looking at life. It’s especially radical for Americans to look at Acts 2 and say, “Let’s be that kind of church”; radical and countercultural…just like Jesus was radical and countercultural.
© 2004 Bill Mounce. Website: www.BiblicalTraining.org.
Steps with God course, lesson 9
First Steps with God Course, Lesson 9
Lecture 9 - 1. Walking with God
Continuing in Your New Life
A. Sanctification
Today, I want to talk about the whole topic of walking with God. This topic has been a very difficult talk to put together, because I didn’t know where in this series of twelve to put it; if this were a series of thirty, it would have been the twenty-eighth because it’s a little hard, maybe a little too much. However, it’s really important that over a twelve-talk period, I cover all the basic fundamental issues that we as new believers need to know. So, in biblical language, “gird up your loins” (get ready) and hang in there, because we do need to talk about this whole issue of sanctification.
Sanctification is a fancy, theological term, which simply means that we are set apart from sin. Sanctification means that in our walk with God, we are to become holy. When we became Christians, we were, in a sense, babes in Christ, but just as babies are to grow into mature adulthood, so also are we to grow spiritually into spiritual maturity.
1. What does spiritual growth look like?
What does spiritual growth look like? Spiritual growth means that as we walk day in, day out, we look more and more like Jesus and less and less like the world. Spiritual growth means our attitudes and behavior more and more start to reflect the attitude and behavior of Jesus Christ. Our lives start to show the fruits of the Spirit; where there was no love, now there is love; where there was no joy, there is now a deep joy that looks beyond the circumstances of life, rooted in the peace we have with God because we have been reconciled. Sanctification is the process of looking less like the world and looking more like our Heavenly Father.
2. God’s will for your life
Have you ever asked yourselves, “What is the will of God for my life?” or “What does God want me to do?” This question is the easiest question to answer! The answer is in I Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification….” Almost everything else is just commentary. What God wants is for us, one step at a time, to look less and less like the world and more and more like His Son, Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of verses that talk about sanctification, and my favorite is Romans 12:1-2, where Paul says to the church in Rome, “I appeal to you,” I urge or beg of you, “therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
You see, this is the will of God for our lives; to look at what God has done in all of His mercy in saving us, and then in response, saying, “I give everything that I am to You sacrificially. My desire is not to be conformed to this world, not to allow it to squeeze me into its mold, but rather to be transformed. Not transformed by legalism or by all these rules I must follow, but to be transformed from the inside with the renewal of my mind showing itself in my walk.” This is sanctification; this is what our walk with God is to look like.
B. God allows difficult circumstances
The practical question of sanctification obviously is “Have we started the process of growth into spiritual maturity?” or “Have we started to change and look less like the world and more like Jesus?” In His love and His grace and His mercy and His power and His sovereignty (He is King of King and Lord of Lords), this loving God allows difficult circumstances into our lives to help us grow; to help us in our walk; to help us become more like Jesus.
A good, loving, all-powerful God will allow difficult circumstances into our lives. He will allow accidents; He will allow sickness; He will allow perhaps unemployment. Then, on top of all these good things, He will allow us to be persecuted for our faith (“Oh, good!” Yes, it is.); these good things will most likely start with our friends. Our friends will look at us and say, “Hey, you’re different. What’s wrong with you? Do you think you’re better than we are? Come on, let’s keep doing the things we have always done.” Our friends will not understand when we say, “No, I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Perhaps we will suffer at work; perhaps we’ll be passed over for a promotion because our bosses hate Christians. Perhaps our neighbors and even our family members will ostracize us because they think that we think we’re better than they are and we’re standing in judgement of them by being Christians. Difficult circumstances are going to come into our lives, and we know that because it comes into all Christians’ lives.
1. What did I do wrong?
We are going to be tempted to say, “What did I do wrong? Certainly, I’ve done something wrong for these difficult things to happen to me.” The answer from Scripture is, “No, you probably did something right, and that’s why these difficult circumstances are in your life.” Paul tells his friend Timothy in II Timothy 3:12, “Everyone who seeks to live a godly life in will be persecuted…”
The world hates our Master, and Jesus says that, “If they hated Me they are going to hate you as well.” So when these difficult things happen in our lives, whether simply because we’re human beings living in a fallen world or whether it’s because we’re Christians, our tendency will be, “Did I do something wrong,” and the answer is possibly, “No.” The answer probably is that God wants to do something right in our lives, and so in His sovereignty and in His control and in His goodness, He is going to allow these difficult circumstances into our lives so we can grow in our sanctification and holiness.
2. We grow in the difficult times
When times are good, we rarely grow; isn’t that sad but true? When the marriage is good, the family is good, work is going smoothly, the car is not breaking down, and we still don’t have to paint that side of the house yet, when things are going good, how many of us grow in our faith and trust in Jesus Christ? Not many. Yet, when times of stress and hurt and difficult challenges come is when we tend to grow more and become more like Jesus Christ; that’s His purpose in our lives, that we look like Him.
3. Test our genuine faith
When these difficult times occur, there are all sorts of things that could be going on in our lives. One of the things that could be going on when difficult circumstances come is that God wants to test how genuine our faith is. Now, He knows whether or not our faith is real, but He wants us to know that our faith in Jesus Christ is rock solid. In the midst of these difficult circumstances, God wants us to be not only confident but He wants our faith to be refined–to be pure. In I Peter 1:6-7, Peter describes all the wonderful things that happen to a Christian; he says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
That is part of what is going on when difficult times come into our lives; we are being purified, refined, and tested so that we can know for sure and praise God in how we respond; we know that our faith is genuine and real.
4. Produce Christian character
When difficult things come into our lives, what God is sometimes doing is just trying to produce a Christian character in us. For example, in Romans 5:3, Paul says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”
The Christian life is a process, isn’t it? I don’t know of any one of us, who, when we first became Christians, could look at suffering and say, “Yeah”; that’s not natural, but it is supernatural! The Christian walk is a walk, a process, and it takes one step at a time; and as we get farther down this process, this walk, we learn to rejoice in our sufferings.
We don’t rejoice in our sufferings because we’re masochists, but we learn to rejoice in our sufferings because we know God wants to produce endurance, character, and hope in our lives and this is how it happens. My other most favorite verses regarding these things are James 1:2-4, although sometimes I feel like taking a big black Magic Marker and crossing them out (I haven’t yet). James says: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (Man, I’m running for the hills! “No, count it all joy, Bill.”) “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
God’s will for your life and mine is not the avoidance of pain, but it is His will that we look like Jesus. In His sovereign control of all things and in His love and compassion, the best way that God can get us to look like Jesus is to allow difficult circumstances to come into our lives. God calls us to respond to these difficult circumstances not in fear but rather in faith, to listen, learn, and grow, walking the walk. This is how our faith is tested and made genuine and pure; this is how we become like Jesus.
Many know that we lost two daughters at birth, and that’s when I got the Magic Marker out for the first time; to get rid of these two stupid verses. I don’t know how I worked through that process, but I am not who I was fifteen years ago and Robin is not who she was fifteen years ago; that was because of God’s sovereign control and love and grace and mercy. God allowed difficult circumstances into my life and Robin’s; in the midst, He said, “In the storms of life, hang on,” and that’s what we did–here we are today, and it means we have two more children waiting for us in heaven.
C. Response is to compartmentalize lives
When difficult situations come into our lives, the question is “How are we going to respond?” Hopefully, we will hang on for all God is worth. However, I know that temptations will come; temptations to run away and hide, temptations to not lean into the pain. We will be tempted to do anything we possibly can to get away from the pain and to make the pain go away and make it stop.
One of the ways in which we will be tempted to avoid pain, among other things, is to compartmentalize our lives; I can say this because it is true of all Christians. We are tempted to divide our lives into sections and say, “God, I’m not going to give You all of myself,” so we shut off doors to certain rooms of our lives. We will say, “I will give you part of my life, but I’m not going to give You that part because it’s too painful and it hurts too much.”
I often think of life as being a patchwork quilt, a quilt made up of many, many squares; and so we say, “Okay, God, these squares are Yours–I will give You these squares–but other squares of my life, I will not give to you because it’s too painful. I don’t trust You and I don’t think You have my best at heart, so I think I know better and I want to keep other areas of my life to myself”; and life becomes this little patchwork quilt. For those of you who are new Christians, this may be a little hard to hear. I don’t mean to be a prophet of doom, but you need to understand that these are the challenges that will lie ahead for your lives; perhaps you have already started to feel some twinges.
1. Compartmentalize time
The question is “What’s going to happen when you’re tempted to compartmentalize your lives?” For example, you will be tempted to compartmentalize your time. You will be tempted to say, “This square is Sunday morning; this is the time I’m going to give to God; this is His time. However, I will keep other days and time periods for myself over here; these are different squares of the quilt. God, I’ve give you these squares, You should be happy with Sunday mornings, but I’m going to keep Sunday afternoon and all the time I’m at work or whatever during the week for myself because they belong to me.” You are going to be tempted to compartmentalize your time.
You will also be tempted to compartmentalize your money. Understand that God does not need your money because it’s all His, but Jesus says, “where your treasure is there your heart is also,” period and end of discussion. Again, this will be a temptation: e compartmentalize our money and so we have this square over here, in the patchwork quilt of our lives, which represents our loose change; now, it’s not too much so it doesn’t affect our lifestyles–this is our loose change we can throw at God. “You know what, God, You should be happy.”
After the loose change, we keep the rest of “my money” over in other squares of our lives and say, “This money is none of Your business, God.” “You know, I need this money for my wealth and my portfolio so I don’t have to trust You in retirement.” “This money is for my bigger house.” “This is for a third car even though there are only two drivers in the house.”
2. Compartmentalize money
We compartmentalize our money, forgetting, of course, it’s all His. Even our bodies are His; we were bought with the precious blood of the Lamb of God and we don’t own anything. We are stewards of God’s wealth and we are called to use His wealth to advance His purposes. When we stand before the Judgement Seat, we will be held accountable for how we spent God’s money. Yet the temptation will be to compartmentalize and say, “Okay, God, here’s my loose change; the rest is mine.”
3. Compartmentalize affections
You will also be tempted to compartmentalize your affections. You will be tempted to say, “In this situation, in this square, I’m going to love God; but in other areas of my life, He can’t have my heart. I’m not going to give Him my affections in these other areas. In this area of my life, He has my affections, and I’m going to go to church Sunday morning and put on a nice religious smile, and when someone says, ‘How are you doing?’ I will say, ‘Fine.’” I think the word “fine” should be struck from the English language; it’s a terrible word. Fine means “My life is really lousy right now, but I’m not sure you care enough so I’m going to gloss it over.” At least that’s what it means at my house.
We’ll go to church and we’ll put on the face and tell everyone we’re fine and we’ll also sing with smiles; however, we can’t wait to get home to visit the pornography sites, to pick up those magazines, or to molest little boys and girls. I know the statistics:
50% of American males go to porn sites once a week.
25% of women are sexually molested
I also know that statistically, the church is no different than the world. So we have our affections, “Oh, I love You, God,” but can’t wait to go home and look at naked women on the Internet; that’s sick.
There are many areas in which you will be tempted to compartmentalize. You will be tempted to compartmentalize your tongue. “Okay, I’m going to stop using the Lord’s Name in vain, and I might stop saying these couple of words, but oh, man, I’m going to keep gossiping, slandering, passing critical judgment, and devaluing people.” The temptation to compartmentalize is everywhere in our reality, and I wish this were not true. I really wish that God had done things differently; He didn’t ask me, but I wish it were! I wish that when I became a Christian that sin was completely removed from my life, and that there wouldn’t be these challenges or sin pulling me.
4. Give all to God
I wish that I could just give all of myself to God. I wish that I wouldn’t shut doors to certain rooms in my heart, but that’s the nature of reality; God, in His love and wisdom, saw this was the best way to do things, and He is right and I am wrong. Every time, God is right and I am wrong. This is how God has called us to grow into Christ’s likeness–in difficult circumstances and challenging times. We are to open all of the doors to all of the rooms of our lives and throw away the patchwork quilt; to have one single, big square of our lives and every last bit of it is His.
I am so scared that, if you are a young Christian you will be so overwhelmed that you will run out of here saying, “Whoa, I don’t want anything to do with this.” Remember that this is a walk, a process, and it is something we do one step at a time. Sometimes, we will have two or three challenges, but often, at least in my life, I’ve noticed that God only allows one problem at a time. He says, “Okay, Bill, time to deal with this issue in your life; you didn’t respond properly to that person. In fact, you tend to react too strongly to people; time for you to work on this.”
The worst thing we can do when these challenges come is compartmentalize them and say, “No, I’ll give this to You, God, but I’m keeping these parts to myself” because that’s not the deal we made. When we became Christians, we understood that Jesus is Savior, He is Lord, He is the Boss; He is Master, and we are His disciples. Paul tells the Corinthians that we are to glorify Him with anything and everything we have, including our bodies. Jesus gave all of Himself to you and to me, and He expects all of us back; I think that’s why He calls us followers.
Jesus calls us disciples because He wants full-time, fully devoted disciples; that’s the only kind of crop He wants. In the Parable of the Four Soils, the only soil that is acceptable to the farmer is the one that produced the full crop. So also in the area of discipleship, the only thing that is acceptable to God is a fully devoted disciple of Jesus Christ; there are verses that tell us this all throughout the Bible. In what I think the is most important verse on discipleship, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me,” if anyone wants to be My follower, My disciple, a Christian, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34)
If we want to be followers of Jesus Christ, then we must deny all of our wills. We must say no to ourselves, and then everyday we are to live as those who have been crucified to our own wills. Every day we must say what Jesus said in the Garden, “Not My will but Yours be done”; that’s how we follow Him as fully devoted disciples. Jesus also says, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33)
The Parable of the Young Rich Ruler applies to all of us, because God demands all. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.” If you want to push the metaphor, he didn’t say, “I was cut by Christ,” He didn’t say, “I was wounded by Christ,” nor “I was perhaps a little maimed by Christ,” he said, “I was crucified with Christ; I died.” “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”
D. What if we compartmentalize?
Romans 12:1-2 makes no allowance for a patchwork-quilt-kind-of-life; it does not. Romans tells us to present our bodies and everything we are to sacrifice to God, and that means we will not look like the world but we will be transformed from the inside out; this is the challenge all of us will face, and perhaps are facing.
What is going to happen if we compartmentalize our lives? What will happen if we hold back pieces of ourselves from God? What are the consequences of refusing to open all of the doors of our lives? Well, it will start by harming our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we sin, we will realize there is something between God and us; we will experience guilt, and guilt is a good thing; we will experience depression. As things go on and don’t get better, God will start to remove His peace from our lives, and He will start to remove His blessing from our lives. Eventually, we are told that as a loving Heavenly Father, God will discipline His children for their sin.
E. Sufficiency of the Cross
The amazing message of the Gospel is that because God is the God of mercy and grace, He extends His goodness to those in need and those who don’t deserve it. Because of God’s mercy and grace, you and I can stop this downward spiral of sin whenever we want. The wall between God and us can be removed, and the peace and blessing can come back into our lives; all we have to do is repent; all we have to do is confess. “Yes, God, once again, You’re right and I’m wrong. Once again, I went my way and it was the wrong way. I am trul