Seeking God in All Scripture.

The following is an article that I wrote for the Renew Magazine which is part of the Bibles For Missions and the Bible League of Canada.


In October my wife and I, along with over one thousand other guests attended The Bible League of Canada’s Banquet of Praise. One of the highlights of that evening was to hear Dr. Joel Nederhood talk about the importance of the Word of God. He warned us not to be hypocritical in our approach to that Word. We often say that it important to place the Word of God in the hands of the peoples of the world while we ignore the Bible that is in our own home.

At the Ontario BFM Regional Meeting the director for the Bible League of Canada told us that the Bible League makes an effort to promote placing the whole Word of God.

If we are to have a Biblical worldview then we must begin at the beginning with creation and the fall of man and then we can trace the story of redemption from the Garden of Eden to the end of the Revelation. The Old Testament is vital to our understanding the story of redemption.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Gospel was preached to those in the past. (Hebrews 4:6). Jesus told the people in His day that the Scriptures spoke about Him.
This truth came very real to me as I recently lead a study on the Tabernacle. John tells us that the Son became flesh and dwelt (or tabernacled) amongst us.

Everything about the Tabernacle pointed to the Son. The materials (gold, silver, bronze and wood), the colours (blue, scarlet, white and purple), and the very structure all showed an aspect of our Saviour.

To enter the Tabernacle you had to go through the gate. Jesus said that He was the gate and no one could come to God except by Him. After you entered through the gate you came to the bronze altar where sin and trespass sacrifices were offered up to God. As we come to God we must come by the cross. Before anyone could go into the Holy place he had to stop at the laver for cleansing. Though we have been cleansed from our sins we still have to come daily for cleansing (1 John 1:9).

Then we come to another door or curtain. This door invites us in to dine with Him. On the one side we see the golden lamp stand reminding us that He is the light of the world and on the other side is the table of showbread reminding us that He is the Bread of Life. At the veil that separated the Holy place from the Most Holy place was the altar of incense that speaks to us of prayer.

Finally, we come to the veil which in the time of Moses said, “Keep out!” but today has been removed so that we can come with confidence into the very presence of God (Hebrews 4:16).

My study of the Old Testament has helped me see that all Scripture speaks of Jesus and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and instructing in righteousness. If you have never read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation then why not begin right now. Ask God to open your eyes so that you can see Him and the story of redemption. Believe me, you will not be disappointed.

A Biblical Worldview

I read this morning that only 9% of born again Christians have a Christian worldview. That is correct, less than 1 in 10 of born again Christians. Why is it?
First there is an epidemic of Biblical illiteracy. In many churches there is no Biblical preaching or teaching but we cannot blame our leaders completely. They are only teaching or preaching what people want to hear. I know that some who call themselves born again have a humanistic point of view.
Do Christians really know what the Bible teaches regarding homosexuality, abortion, and other issues including missions, finances, family values, etc.
I have even heard that there are people who call themselves born again who believe in evolution. My question to them is what are they born again from? If we are evolutionists then there is not original sin so we don't need a Saviour but a therapist.
We need the Bible to be central in our churches. Biblical illiterates are not going to have a Biblical worldview.

The Word vs ...

Some people like to follow a charismatic leader but we must remember leaders die but the Word lives.
Some people think that experiences are important. If we have the experience then we will know the truth. However, experiences fade but the Word remains.
The Word of God must be central to our teaching and to our preaching.

Soul Liberty

At a previous church we attended in another city one of the favourite doctrines was soul liberty. Now I believe in soul liberty as it relates to disputable matters but there were some in the church who persisted that because of soul liberty they could reject portions of scripture because they saw them as fables, myths or just stories.
Now here is the danger, who decides what Scripture is true and what is just a story to teach us a moral lesson? If it is me then I put myself above Scripture and in the place of God. There is no liberty when it comes to the acceptance of the truth of Scripture. All Scripture is God breathed. There may be different interpretations of some difficult passages but it is not a "private interpretation". God has given us Scripture, the Holy Spirit and Biblical scholars who can help us. All Scripture is true.

The Second Coming

The false teaching that Peter deals with in his second letter seems to deal with the erroneous teaching around the second coming of Christ. Peter makes reference to Christ's glory which refers to his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. Each of the Synoptic Gospels connects the Transfiguration to the second coming of Christ. (Matthew 16:29; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). Today there is also much false teaching concerning the second coming. One thing we need to know for sure is that Christ is coming again for His church and we are to be ready and watching.

Consumerism and the Bible

Today you have what seems to be unlimited Bible editions and translations. I know I have many different Bibles including KJV, NKJV, LB, Message, NIV, NASB, RSV, ESV, and maybe a few more. That may be a problem but that is not the real problem. Companies are producing Bibles like other commodities, reaching out to specific groups as if the Bible is a self-help book. If we read the Bible as a self-help book then we fall into the consumer mentality however, if we read the Bible to understand God and then to understand ourselves we will always come away renewed in our spirits. The Bible may be a help and a comfort in a time of need but it is not about helps but about revelation. Remember who is God and who is not.

Not all paths lead to the summit

A friend gave me a clipping this morning from the religious page of the London, Ontario Free Press. It shows how mixed up we are when we reject the fact of absolute truth. I am sure the editor in his mind is sincere but not only is he misguided but he is leading others astray. Let me quote just one paragraph from his article: "It is as if we are all on the same mountain, just walking toward the summit from different sides. As long as people are growing in wisdom and love, I say thanks for being on the journey with me." I wonder where that journey will end?

Grace Walk Again

There were two books that I read that turned my thoughts to 2 Peter. One was Grace Walk by Steve McVey and the other was Hidden in Plain Sight by Mark Buchanan. When I was reading Grace Walk I was feeling frustrated. I agreed with much of what he said but there was something missing. It came to me as I read a passage of Scripture he quoted on page 69. He quoted 2 Peter 1:3 - 4. When I turned to that passage it struck me that he stopped too soon. Peter then says in verse 5, "for this reason". McVey wanted to stop at the end of verse 4 but Peter was only beginning.
I then read Mark Buchanan's book and he used 2 Peter 1:5 - 7 for the text of his book. I knew then that the reason I was frustrated with McVey's book was that he did not see the discipline that is necessary to grow in our walk. Yes, we have everything we need but having everything and being what we should be are not the same thing.

Election

There has always been a debate about election or free will. So where do I stand? Since the Bible teaches that we are elect of God I must believe in election or God is not sovereign. But the Bible also teaches that man has a free will so I must believe in free will or God is not just. Does this create a tension? Absolutely. But I must accept it by faith knowing that this is just one of the many doctrines that I do not understand.
Free will makes me responsible. Election gives me comfort and security. There are those who preach election but one should never preach election to the lost - they need to preach that they are called by God to Himself. Only after they have answered the call then you can teach the doctrine of election. Wow, it makes my head hurt but it makes my heart rejoice.

The Haunting Question

Os Guinness wrote in his book, "The notion of calling, or vocation, is vital to each of us because it touches on the modern basis for individual identity and an understanding of humanness itself."
Some look on our calling as "constrained to be." We are prisoners of our category, be it gender, class, race, generation, or ancestry. This is the way of the caste system in India looks upon life,
Others look on our calling in the opposite way as "courage to be." This is something that both Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama both believe. We then must invent ourselves. Is this true?
A third way of looking upon our calling is "constituted to be." There are some who are pursuing the homosexual life style in this way. This is also the way true evolutionists see their role.
The Christian looks upon their life as "called to be." Only when we respond to Christ and follow his call do we become our real selves.

Mr Magoo

I am short sighted. Without my glasses I feel helpless. Oh, I can see somewhat but I cannot see very far clearly. I feel like Mr. Magoo the almost blind cartoon character. When I cannot see I lose things and the worst is when I lose my glasses. Like Peter said if we forget the essentials of our faith then we are like a short sighted person who has lost his way.

Beauty and the Beast

G. K. Chesterton once said, "Unlovely things must be deeply love before they can become lovable." Paul said the same thing in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
We have come to the final virtue that Peter mentions, love, agape love. Here we learn not only to love the lovable but also those that are unlovable whether they are the too good or the too bad.

Brothers

I wrote this about 15 years ago. I know that my sons think differently about each other today. However, this does say something about brotherly kindness.

Tonight my oldest son was going swimming and we asked him to take his brother with him. He was so put out that he had to take his brother that finally his brother didn't want to go with him. I know that each one needs there own space and their own time but sometimes we hurt others feelings because of our own selfish wishes.

When I was 14 my two older brothers took me with them on a trip that they took from Saskatchewan to what is now Thunder Bay. I know that it was not in their plans to have their younger brother tag along but I appreciated being with them. The next summer once again they took me with them when they went to British Columbia.

Brothers are often cruel one to another but they are also a great gift from God. I don't see my brothers that often but I appreciate them and even though we have different interests we still care for each other. I am thankful for the time they spent with me. I hope that my children will have similar memories when they are grown and have children of their own.

The word that is translated brotherly kindness is actually brotherly love, the greek word being phileo which stands against the word agape which is used for love as the last virtue. I think the translators used the word brotherly kindness so as not to confuse the two but it sort of misses the meaning.

The Mystery of Godliness

The next virtue that Peter mentions is godliness. Now we know that we cannot make ourselves godly so why does Peter tell us to add godliness? Godliness is being like God and we cannot be like Him unless He makes us godly. I think that is why Paul calls it the mystery of godliness. Right after his description and qualifications of elders and deacons he then gives almost a song about godliness.
"Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory." 1 Timothy 3:16
Then a few lines later he says "Train yourself to be godly." 1 Timothy 4:7
This is a mystery. We cannot make ourselves godly but we are to train ourselves to be godly. How does that work? Once again we are to work out what God has already worked in. I need to meditate on that.

One Year Later

It was one year ago that I started this blog. At that time I was using it to record my thoughts regarding the Ten Commandments but over the past year I have expanded it so that I use it to record my thoughts on what I am teaching at the time. Currently I am teaching 2 Peter and this morning I was looking at the virtues that Peter tells us that we need to add to our faith. Today it was perseverance. How interesting that it was perseverance that was today's virtue and it is perseverance that has brought me this far with the blog. Someone told me the most blogs do not last even one year. In that year I have posted 349 entries. My thanks to all of you who have taken time to read these ramblings. By putting my thoughts out there in cyberspace it has kept me honest.
Perseverance is not one of those glamorous virtues but it is essential whether we are in a job, a marriage, a sport, etc. Some one said that it is too soon to quit. Perseverance is only good if you are going in the right direction. If you are not then don't persevere. Stop, turn around and start again.

Steroids

Last week I worked with a police officer and he told me about a call that he had to respond to. A seventeen year old high school student was out of control and did about $20000 damage to his parents house. The parents could not deal with him so they called the police. It seems that he was taking steroids and that was what made him act the way he did.
Peter tells us that we are to be self-controlled. Three times in 1 Peter he mentions self-control. The first is in 1 Peter 1:13 - 16 where he connects self-control to holiness. Then in 1 Peter 4:7 he connects it to prayer and finally in 1 Peter 5:8 he tells us to resist the devil.
Self-control is not one of those exciting virtues but it is an important virtue in our spiritual growth.
Again let me remind you that if you want access to my lessons they are available but I do need your email address. Send me a note or a comment on this blog and I will send you the necessary information.

Mr. Know-It-All

I taught at a high school that had not one, not two but three men who acted as if they knew everything. There was not a subject that they were not an expert. Someone asked me one time what it was like to work with such authorities.
When I thought about knowledge I thought about the purpose of knowledge. Knowledge is not an end in itself but rather a means to an end. By knowledge we get to know God.
Knowledge has two ugly step sisters. One is called pride who says look at me and what I know, I must be special. Then there is her green eyed sister who is called envy. She says why does that person have more knowledge than I have. When we know that the purpose of knowledge is to know God then there is no room for pride or envy.

For Goodness Sake

How often do we use the word "goodness" without thinking about what we are saying? Goodness is the first of the seven virtues that Peter mentions. But what do we mean by goodness? Often we want to look good, feel good, do good but do we want to be good?
When we lived in Manila I had my wallet stolen by a truck driver who came to deliver water to our house. When I phoned the landlord I had to be careful not to accuse the driver of stealing my wallet as he might lose face. In eastern cultures they are more concerned about looking good than being good. But that is true in our culture as well. We may not talk about losing face but we want people to think good thoughts about us and think that we are good rather than being good.
By the way, I did get my wallet back. The truck driver returned it with everything in it.

Read Your Bible, Pray Everyday and

When I was growing up in Sunday School we use to sing a song
Read your Bible, Pray everyday,
Pray everyday, pray everyday.
Read your Bible, pray everyday
And you'll grow, grow, grow.
Now there is truth in that song but I believe it gets things backward. Like physical growth we grow because we are humans and it is in our nature but in order to grow we must eat, drink and exercise. In reality it is the food and drink that are the fuel to make us grow but we grow because of our nature.
It is the same in the spiritual. We have a spiritual nature that has all we need to grow but we also need to be fed. This is where Bible reading and prayer come in to the picture. All the Bible reading and prayer will not make a non-Christian grow as it is not in their nature.
Let us read our Bibles and pray everyday so that we can fulfill what we are meant to be.

The Garden

Peter gives us seven virtues which some look at as seven steps or seven beads on a string. However, I prefer to see them as seven flowers in a garden. The base is faith and these seven virtues grow from that base into a beautiful garden. So it is not that when we achieve one of these virtues that we can start on another but rather they all grow together and it is as they grow and bloom together that the beauty is seen.

Post Modern House

Ravi Zacharias tells about visiting a post modern house. It had stairs that went no where and pillars that held up nothing. He looked around and asked, "What about the foundation?"
What is post modernism built upon? What is the foundation? Our foundation must be faith in the living God.

The Call

I just finished reading Os Guinness' book, the Call. This is a book I would recommend to anyone. Peter tells us that we are called by God and that we are to make our calling and election sure. All of us are called by God. In once sense our calling is the same as we are called to be growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God. But there is a unique calling upon all of us. One thing that calling does for us is to help us live for the Audience of One. There is no room for pride or envy when we understand God's call.

For or Against

Last year I read at least 6 books that I disagreed with. I did not enjoy that experience but others asked me to read them. This past week I finished reading two great books: The Call by Os Guinness and The Prodigal God by Tim Keller.
Peter deals with false teachers but before he exposes the false he makes sure that his readers understand the true. They need to know what they are for before they can know what they are against. My goal in teaching 2 Peter is to first make sure that we have a knowledge of God so that we can recognize false teaching when it comes.

An Invitation

If you would like to view my lessons on 2 Peter on line just send me a note either by comment or by email and I will send you the link. These lessons are in powerpoint but you can view them on line.

Knowledge of sin

Romans 3:20 says, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (KJV) or the NIV says, "through the law we become conscious of sin" Peter uses the word "knowledge" because the heretics of his day claimed to have superior knowledge. However, this knowledge did not lead to righteousness or the awareness of sin. We must also be careful when we read this verse because we like to think that it says that we will be made conscious of sins but it doesn't says "sins" but "sin". I have just finished reading a wonderful book by Tim Keller called Prodigal God (thanks for the present CPH)and in it he has a chapter called redefining sin. Read it, it alone is worth the price of the book.

Mathematics

I taught Mathematics for 35 years. In Mathematics it is important that there are some facts that are true. Euclid called these axioms. From these axioms he went on to prove his propositions. In mathematics there are two ways of proving a theorem or an hypothesis. The first is through deductive reason which starts from true statements such as Euclid's axioms and builds upon those facts. The other way is inductive reasoning which begins with an hypothesis. You then show that if this hypothesis is assumed true for a certain step, such as the Kth step that it implies that it must be true for the (K + 1)st step. Now all you need to do is prove that it is true for step 1, then the hypothesis must be true for step 2, step 3, etc. Whether you use inductive or deductive proofs you still need truth. Today truth is attacked at all levels but imagine teaching mathematical proofs without truth. The knowledge about God is based upon truth, the truth that God exists and that He has made Himself known through His Son Jesus Christ.

The Truth Project Part 2

Yesterday I mentioned the truth project. If we are to have the knowledge that Peter talks about then this knowledge is the knowledge of truth. Take a few minutes and listen to the following promo for the truth project.

The Truth Project

Last September I along with our pastor and a fellow Bible teacher attended the Truth Project seminar. Since that time I have seen the importance of teaching that there is absolute truth. Jesus said that He came into the world to bear witness to the truth, He also said that He was truth. He then said that we would know the truth and that the truth would set us free. The answer to me is that truth is not only absolute but it is found in a person, that is in Jesus Christ. He is truth. Once we know that He is truth then there is no room to question whether truth exists or not, whether truth is absolute or relative. Truth is Jesus Christ. Listen to Him and know the truth.

Thanks Peter

This morning we began our study in 2 Peter. We only made it through the first verse but that was okay as we had a visit from a special person who travelled from the first century to help us understand his letter. Thanks Peter and thanks brother-in-law.

Faith

Faith is big today. How often you have heard someone discribed as a person of faith or you have heard someone say that their faith would get them through. But what do they mean by that? What is faith?
The picture of faith is my grandson jumping into the pool. Everything in his little mind says don't jump but he trusts his daddy and his daddy says jump so he overcomes his feelings and he jumps.
Peter says, "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:" 1 Peter 1:1
There are a few things that we should notice about this faith. It is not a feeling but it is confidence in the truth claims of God and he calls this faith precious. This faith is not something we conjure up in ourselves but it is given to us by God Himself.

RIghteousness

"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:" 1 Peter 1:1
Scripture tells us that we have no righteousness in ourselves. All our righteousness is nothing but a pile of dirty rags. Even when we clean them up they are still rags. Peter tells us that it is not our righteousness but God's which comes to us through Jesus Christ. This righteousness is accredited to our account making it a legal righteousness rather than moral. The word is "imputed" which means credited to our account.
There is one more thing about this righteousness. This righteousness proceeds faith. If we do not have God's righteousness then we cannot have faith.

A new name

When Jesus called Peter his name was Simon but Jesus gave him a new name. His original name meant "reed" but his new name meant "rock". Throughout the Gospels he was more of a reed than a rock but when the Holy Spirit came upon him at Pentecost he became a rock. By Acts 15 he was no longer known as Simon but by Peter.
There are many in Scripture that were given a new name: Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joshua, Paul to mention a few. When we have an encounter with the living God we cannot remain the same and we have a new name, Christian.