You Light Up My Life

In 1977 Debbie Boone had a hit that was called "You Light up my Life". One line in that song says "It can't be wrong when it feels so right." How many people have used that line when they were breaking the seventh commandment?

The Law of Christ

In Galatians Paul goes through a detailed argument why the Law is inadequate. He then says in Galatians 6:1 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." What is the Law of Christ? He did tell us in Galatians 5:14 "The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." That is the message of the Law, love God above all and to love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.

Starting Point

When we were living in the Philippines I read a book about marriage and how to deal with marriages in trouble. I agreed with the premise of the book but I disagreed with the starting point. The author started from the position that marriages were in trouble and there were Christians who were divorced and remarried which is true. Then she looked at how to help these people. The Bible was not her starting point and she only used it to back up her point. The starting point should have been the Word of God. It is not that we don't accept the breakdown and the redefining of the family unit but let us make sure that we don't allow that to redefine our doctrine. The Word of God must be preeminent.

Thanks Mike

I will be away for the next lesson but my good friend and fabulous Bible teacher will be filling in for me. My prayer is that God will continue to use Mike and this series of lessons to grow us in our knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks again Mike for your help. I will try and post from time to time while I am away. However, this is suppose to be a Sabbath Rest.

A Profound Mystery

In Ephesians 5 Paul talks about the relationship between husbands and wives which is a relationship built upon love and submission. He then makes this great statement: "This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church." Ephesians 5:32 He reminds us that the relationship betweeen husband and wife is the same as the relationship between Christ and His church. We should remember that this is so profound and so important that when we take our vows lightly we are saying to the world that is how Christ will treat His church. Christ loves His church so much that He died for it. Christ loves His church when the church is unloveable. And in Hebrews He states that He is not ashamed to be called their God. What message are we giving the world?

Don't Judge Me

One of the favourite lines used by people who wish to break their marriage vows is "Don't judge or you will be judged." This is often spoken in a judgmental way when someone tries to challenge them on their decisions. They don't want to be challenged they want to be left alone and by leaving them alone it is as if we have given approval to their actions. It is not judging to call sin sin.

Where are they?

After our lesson on the sixth commandment, You shall do no murder, where we talked about many issues including abortion one gentleman who I respect greatly came up to me afterward and asked me where I thought all those aborted fetuses were. I quickly responded that I believed that they were in heaven. Afterward I thought about that question and wondered if some believed that they were nothing more than garbage. If that was the case then why not abort. However, because we believe they have a soul and are persons then they will be in heaven.

Can a homosexual be a Christian?

One day a colleague came into the office where I was working and sat down across the table from me and asked, "Can a homosexual be a Christian?" I started to say no then stopped and started to say yes stopped again and finally said, "Anyone can become a Christian but a person who becomes a Christian will not continue to live a life of sin. If there is no change in a person's life I would doubt that they had truly become a Christain."
Too often we want to change a person before they become a Christian. Just as it is the Holy Spirit's job to bring new birth it is also His job to change that person. Our job is to share the good news of the Gospel and leave the results to God.
It would have been a different answer if the question had been "Can a Christian be a homosexual?"

Thank You for the cross

Tonight after we had talked about the sixth commandment, You shall not murder, a friend came to talk to me about the cross. When we look at the Ten Commandments and see that it is impossible to keep them and even if we did like the rich young ruler we can never keep the standard that Jesus sets in the sermon on the mount. It is then that we need to stop and say, "Thank You for the cross." Without the cross we are guilty of breaking everyone of the commandments but Jesus took our guilt upon Himself and paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. Thank You for the cross, my Lord.

Forgiveness is not an option

When Jesus talked about the sixth commandment He took it from what others did to what we do ourselves. Because the root of all murder is hatred He said that hating your brother is breaking the commandment, You shall do no murder. When He continued to teach He taught them to pray then added these words, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6:14 - 15 Christians, forgiveness is not an option.

Checks and Balances

Some people see the Old Testament Laws as been harsh and unforgiving. However, if one was to take time to study the Old Testament and the Laws that resulted in the death penalty they would see that these Laws were not to be entered into lightly. First, it required two or more witnesses to convict a person. These witnesses had to be reliable and trustworthy. They were to maintain cities of refuge for someone who had accidentally taken another person's life.
Besides this they were to be careful not to cause accidental death by putting a parapet around the roof of their home and by not having an open pit that someone may fall into by accident. Because of these checks and balances we do not see many people being put to death for breaking the Law.

One Gunman, Three Guns, Six Dead

Yesterday we heard about another murder suicide at a university. This time in northern Illinois. How does this relate to the sixth commandment.
When we do not accept the first commandment that there is one God and He alone is God then all other commandments become negotiable including "You shall do no murder."
I know there is a whole debate about guns and gun control that has been badly distorted by both sides and I do not wish to enter that debate at this time but just to say that guns are so available that anyone who wishes to obtain one can do so either legally or illegally.
We live in a violent society. Where did sixteen year olds in Colorado learn to kill like those trained in the military? Video games have taught our youth to be killers. Not all video games do this but it is disturbing that there are more and more games that do. I know that kids have always been fascinated with guns and the pretend art of killing but today it is so realistic that some cannot distinquish between make belief and reality.
Without the knowledge of God there is so regard for the sanctiy of life. God said that we are made in His image but when God is ignored then human life is no different than the life of a pesky skunk. If they upset our comfort then lets get rid of them.
Christians take two approaches to the Ten Commandments. Either they think that they are estential for salvation or they ignore them completely. However, you cannot ignore the moral law of God. When we acknowledge that God is sovereign then we have a great respect to human life. Only He has the right to give and take life.

Killing or Murder Part 2

I saw this on the internet. As a member of the clergy he should have known better.

Killing or Murder?

The KJV of the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill" while newer translations such as the NIV say "You shall not murder". So what is the difference and does it matter? The Bible does not forbide certain types of killing but it does forbide murder. People have read the commandment as it is given in the KJV and have immediately concluded that all killing is wrong including the killing of animals. God does not forbide the killing of animals but when we take another person's life it is an assult on the character of God. God made man in His image. Therefore life is sacred. Thou shall not murder.

Pulling the plug

There has been a great deal of debate in the church today about when one should pull the plug on a person who is being kept alive by machines. There have been a number of high profile cases such as the Terry Shiavo case. When the brain is dead the person is dead. They may be able to respond to stimuli but there is really no brain activity. The instructions to my family is that they are to let me go to be with my Lord. Too often it is like we are playing God determining when a person can live and a person should die. My sister was in a coma for a few months after an accident but her brainw as still active and she did recover though still suffers from the effects of the accident. Those are cases where we should do everything we can to keep the person alive but in the case such as Terry Shiavo where the brain has no activity the person should be allowed to die.

Hey, What about me?

When my daughter was taking a nursing course in London, Ontario one of the instructors suggested that all girls under the age of eighteen if they became pregnant should have the pregnancy terminated by an abortion. This upset our daughter because her birth mother became pregnant with her at the age of sixteen. If this had been the law at that time then our daughter would never have been born. Others have even gone so far as to say that any unplanned pregnancy should be terminated. If that was the case then my youngest sister may not have been born. My mother never planned to get pregnant at the age of forty seven but she did and many people, including her brothers and sisters, have been blessed by the life of my youngest sister. God says, "Life is sacred."

Roots and Wings

One thing that parents can do for their children is to give them roots and wings. They need the security of roots but the freedom to fly. Soon after our youngest two children had left home they both came back. There was a need in their lives and we were so thankful that they could feel free to come home. For both of them they needed the security of home and today they are both gone again. They were secure enough with the roots of home to take the wings of independence once again.
Our role as parents is not just to get our children from the cradle to graduation. It is not enough to make them independent because some day we will need to depend upon them. We can make them so independent that when we have a need they are to busy being independent to help us.

When Your Son or Daughter Honours You.

When my oldest son was interning at a church in Winnipeg we had the privilege of visiting that church for a Sunday. After the service a lady came up to me and said that she wanted to meet me because of the things that my son had told her about me. I was very honoured that day.

A Walk in the Woods

This morning I was walking along the abandoned rail way line near our home. I came to a place where there was bush on both sides. I saw cardinals and bluejays as well as other birds. I was reminded of the times I walked or cross country skiied near our home in Thunder Bay with the boys. They were wonderful teaching times and it reminded me of Deuteronomy 6 where Moses tells the people, "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Some of the best teaching times are those unplanned, unrushed times when you are walking with your children. The picture is of my number 3 son cross country skiing.

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

I remember when I first started teaching a fellow Mathmatics teacher told me about one of his students who never came to school on Thursdays as that was the day his grandmother washed his only pair of jeans. He had been kicked out of his home and his grandmother gave him shelter but he had none of his belongings. Another time we had a student who was sleeping in a car because he wasn't allowed to go home.
In the last school I taught in there was one teacher in my department that was talking about a student in his class who had been kicked out of the home. He said that he couldn't do that because once they were out of his home he would no longer have any influence in their lives. Our teenagers need to know that they must abide by the rules of our homes but they should also know that our love for them is unconditional. There may be a time that they need to be away from the family but they should know that it is because we love them and we are doing what is best for them.
I am so thankful that my children always feel that they can come home. However, I hope that they can make their own lives and teach their children to love, honour and obey them.

Evangelism 100

Before we enroll in Evangelism 101 we need to complete the 100 course. That is the course on evangelism that involves families. More people come to Christ through the Christian home than through any other means of evangelism. Christian parents often miss the crucial times because we are too busy or too preoccupied. Before a child is old enough to go to school or Sunday School they have already been taught in the home. The question is, What are they taught?

Honour your Parents

Twenty years after my father passed away I would like to be able to tell him how much I appreciated and loved him. I may not be able to tell him personally but I can show my own children who he was and what he taught me.
Both of my parents have gone to be with the Lord but their influence lives on. My mother was the kind of person who when you were with her you alwys felt that you were the most important of all her eight children. When you were with my dad you always felt that one of the others was the most important. I know that both of my parents loved each of us deeply but it was years before I learned that my father really loved me and was proud of me. That came as almost as great a shock as to learn that my mother loved the other children as much as she loved me.

Observing the Lord's Day

Today I see two trends with regards to the Lord's Day and both of these are distructive. The first trend is legalism where the laws (in part) of the Old Testament Sabbath are transferred to the Church age and the Lord's Day. The second is secularization of the Lord's Day. Because we are not under the Law but under grace we say that we are free from the Law's demands and we marginalize the Lord's Day to an hour that will not inconvience us.
So how then should we observe the Lord's Day? Mark Buchanan in his book, Rest of God, says we should cease from what is necessary, embrace what gives life and then do what you want.
We must cease from what is necessary. That means we should minimize the work we do around home from general housekeeping to yard work. That does not mean we will do nothing but we will avoid putting off our chores to do on Sunday. It means that we should avoid shopping when possible. That does not mean that if we are taking a drive and see a quaint shop or a road side market that we won't stop and purchase something but we will avoid making Sunday our day for grocery shopping or other types of shopping. We should also avoid job related activities as much as possible. I was a teacher so there was always the temptation to do my marking or lesson planning but that did not give me rest. In the words of Bob Newhart, "Stop it!"
We must embrace what gives life. A priority for Christian families should be to worship together. We need to teach that corporate worship is special and not something that we enter into casually. Remember we teach more by example than by words. We should continue the work of Christ and that is restorative work. We can do that by visiting the sick, the elderly, our families, by spending time with our children in story time, reading, play time. We need to take time to write letters and emails and read inspiring books. And we should not forget to rest.
We need to teach our children to trust God. We can do that in many ways but one way is by stopping work and using our resources to help others.
We are free but to teach children that we are free we must teach them about rules and guidelines. Freedom without rules is chaos and chaos is not freedom. We cannot learn to be free without learning that we must be obedient to rules but the rules are there to help us be free not to bind us. The rules were made for mankind and not mankind for the rules.
If we do this then we can do what we want to do.

Chronos and Kairos

The Greeks have two words for time. The first is chronos which means chronological or sequential time. The second is kairos which speaks of the right or opportune moment. Our lives are governed by chronos but the Sabbath is kairos. If we are governed by chronos then the Sabbath is an interuption or and inconvience but the soul needs to stop and celebrate the Sabbath as a kairos time.

Just Monday

Sometimes commericials tell us a great deal about our society and its values. In my study of the Sabbath I came across two robbers of the Sabbath rest. One is leisure and the other is feasting.
First leisure. We have developed a culture of waiting for the weekend. What it says about us is that work is not what matters but leisure and this translates into our Sabbath rest. What is the most important part of the week? To many it is the leisure of the weekend.
Then there is a commercial about a couple enjoying a meal at a local resturant. When they are asked what the occasion is they say it is nothing really, it is just Monday. We have feasted so often and for no reason that we forget what a Sabbath celebration is all about.
No no one will deny that leisure and feasting are not important but we need to see how they can enhance our Sabbath celebrations rather than marginalize them.

Remember, Observe and 5:30 am

I woke up at 5:30 this morning hearing the sleet hitting our window. And while I listened to the snow and wind I started thinking again about the fourth commandment. I have known that the fourth commandment is different in Deuteronomy than in Exodus but for some reason I never took time to notice the first word.
In Exodus we are told to remember the Sabbath Day because God is our Creator. We are to look back at what He did for us. However, in Deuteronomy we are told to observe the Sabbath Day and in doing this we are to look ahead. The second giving of the commandment tells us that we are to observe the Commandment because our God has redeemed us but I didn't notice that it is also telling us to look into the future when the the commandment will be fulfilled because of the coming of our Redeemer.