A Higher Standard

I recently finished a month-long course on purity which I would strongly encourage for anyone who is interested. It can be found at settingcaptivesfree.com and is called the Purity Challenge for anyone who is struggling with sexual sin in particular.

After finishing this course, it prompted me to start thinking about sharing the message of purity more with those around me and I figured, what better way to do this than to write several messages on it? So what I intend to do (though I may end up not following this plan, lol) is to split the message of purity up into different sections, the first one being titled 'A Higher Standard'.

What do I mean when I say a higher standard though? Well its a relative term and as I'll point out further along, the standard that Christ taught actually raises the bar higher than the laws of the Old Testament and is clearly much higher than the standard of the world.

Now, in order to effectively teach this message, we first need to give a basis for the world's standard.

The Bible teaches us that as the end times draw near, as the return of Christ becomes more imminent, the wickedness in this world will increase.

Matthew 24:12 NIV says, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold."

In this context, Christ talks about false prophets and persecution of Christians and then in verse 12, He declares that wickedness will increase. Now, I'm not fond of end-time predictions and I have no intention of giving anyone a date but as time goes on, it feels each generation is more wicked than the previous. There's more nudity, more fornication, abortion, murder and the list goes on. It doesn't take a university degree to see that the world is slowly diminishing in moral standards. Just as we can see a slow moral decline from the time of Adam, this generation, and the next, and the next, will all be part of that slow decline in morality until the return of Christ. 

Now, let's go back a bit to Exodus with Moses on Mount Sinai and the Law that was given. This was a big event when God established His covenant with all of Israel and gave all of His Laws to the people. He essentially gave a clear-cut standard. And we're familiar with some of the more known commands that are mentioned in the Ten Commandments. 

We have laws such as "Do not commit adultery", "Do not lie", pretty basic rules. And this continued on for quite some time until Christ came and what Christ essentially did was, not only fulfill the Law by His sacrifice on the cross, but He raised the standard. 

A clear example of this is in Matthew 5-7 with the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus not only reaffirmed the teaching that adultery was wrong but said that if a man even lusts after a woman, he has committed adultery in his heart (5:28). 

Christ raised the standards, He raised the stakes. Other Scripture, such as in Ephesians 5:3, Paul says there must not be even a HINT of sexual immorality among the children of God. 

I think about that command and I first think "Wow, dude, how am I gonna keep that standard?" and then the second thought being "That's a pretty awesome standard." 

Now, the Law was good, but ultimately, it didn't bring salvation. Works cannot bring salvation. In Romans, Paul speaks extensively on the relationship between the Law and Christ and how Christ brings freedom to those who follow Him. 

Here's the thing, with the life that we have in Christ, this is no longer about ceremony and giving sacrifices for the remission of sins, this has reached a whole new level of following Christ, ultimately imitating God in character. 

And some think "Imitating God? That's impossible!" 

Well amusingly enough, in Ephesians 5:1, two verses before the verse of sexual purity, Paul says "Be imitators of God".

Its right there, Scripture didn't get it wrong, God wants us to strive to have a holy and righteous character, to go beyond simply keeping our hands to ourselves but keeping our thoughts under control. This higher standard comes with greater strength because it is not with our own strength we overcome, but with His. 

Colossians 1:29 NIV says, "To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me." 

 I think I've shared this verse before. I wouldn't be surprised, its one of my favourites. Paul is so overcome with the Spirit of Christ and the power of Christ within him that he can barely contain it. Satan would have us think we cannot maintain this higher standard that Christ taught while on earth and through the apostles, but God would have us know otherwise. 

The famous verse in Philippians 4 clearly says that we can do anything through Him who gives us strength, and here's the cool part: remember that verse in Matthew 24 that said wickedness will increase? Take a look at the verse following it: 

Matthew 24:13 NIV says, "but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."

The same God who made the sun stand still for Joshua and protected Daniel in the den of lions is the same God who can protect us from the Tempter and the sin that lurks in darkness waiting to devour us. 

His promise to give us strength in our time of need in order to maintain this standard do not falter.

His promises remain. God bless you all. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV

The Reality of the Spiritual

I have a strange fascination with certain horror movies. Now, I'm typical when it comes to horror movies where I'll watch it for the thrills and then avoid all the mirrors in my house for the next two days. However, when it comes to horror movies not only concerning the supernatural but particularly demons, exorcisms and the like, I sense something different.

Now, I don't want any of you to be troubled by me admitting that but what interests me about these films is not so much the special effects or the scripting, but the elements on truth in them. The very real dangers that demons pose in this world, the reality of their oppression, the forces of good against it, the power of Christ against them etc.

And yet, there are other things that completely unnerve me. There is a new YouTube channel that is a cartoon mini-series about this kid and Satan. Its humourous and I have friends who watch it but what truly unnerves me is the deception behind it. This familiarity that is created with Satan and I keep thinking "Sure, he may be not be like that but he's definitely real."

See, the thing is: not only is the world unaware of the spiritual realm but, often as Christians, we are not as aware as we should be. Even more so, we neglect the influence and power we possess with regards to the spiritual realm.

As a rare occasion, my message will have a primary text that will be examined. Today, I want to focus on Daniel 10, so if you could all open your Bibles... nah, I'll give you the needed passages.

Now, some of you may be familiar with this passage. Before Daniel 10, Daniel had been praying on several occasions, receiving visions and interpreting dreams and now we read how Daniel was suffering. He had no food or wine and had not used any lotions for weeks. Then a man appeared to him and Daniel describes this man and, like any angelic description, the description of him depicts nothing short of majestic.

Now, the part I want to focus on is the angel's words. Notice, after he comforts Daniel, he says in Daniel 10:12 NIV,

"Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them."

Isn't that awesome? As soon as Daniel spoke, Heaven was stirring and God was planning to send an angel to speak to him. Now, the next few passages is where things get interesting. 

Daniel 10:13 NIV says, "But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia."

Now, here the term 'prince of the Persian kingdom' is in reference to a spiritual being, not a physical one, that had influence over the Persian kingdom in the interests of Satan (NIV Study Bible's words, not mine, don't want to plaigarise :P). Now, I don't know if we can know for certain whether this demonic power knew of the angel's mission, but he stopped him regardless and it was not until Michael, the angel who is the commander of the Lord's army, came and aided him. 

Why did this all happen? 

Daniel prayed. 

Then, following this, in Daniel 10:20, the angel says that he will go back to fight the prince of Persia who will be aided by the prince of Greece. I don't know about you but this is starting to sound pretty epic. 

Now, I could give a message on the power, meaning and necessity of prayer, though I will not do that this week. What I do want to focus on is the power we possess in our prayers. 

I'm not sure if we have forgotten this story of Daniel but I think we have a tendency to forget how God works: how He does the impossible by making the Earth stop spinning or causing water to come from a rock. When it comes to prayer, its even more fascinating in some ways because the impact of our prayers impacts the spiritual realm in such a way. 

One of my favourite quotes on prayer is by D. L. Moody who said,

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Saviour will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." 

Some other time, I may get more in depth with other aspects of prayer but here the author marvels at the little use they made of prayer because of the power there is in praying. 

The Bible says that our battle is not against fleshly powers but against spiritual powers and the weapon that God gives is His Word. How better can we use this weapon but to teach. preach and pray? 

1 Thessalonians 5:16 says to "pray without ceasing". Now, don't drive yourself insane by keeping your eyes closed in the hopes you won't walk into a wall, but remember, prayer is simply conversations with God. 

I've spoken before on the importance of remaining fully present with Him (link) and one way of doing this is to simply keep asking Him every few minutes "Am I in Your will?" and simply listen. We know that the prayers that are effective are the ones that aren't the longest, or the best-sounding or the loudest, but the ones done in faith. 

Don't wait until the end of the day and pray out all the prayer requests like a diary or a long, tedious list that begins to feel like a chore. Pray when God calls you to, pray continuously. Remember, the words you speak in prayer impact the spiritual and yourself more than we can comprehend. 

I hope, one day in Heaven, we can look back and see all the things that happened because of those prayers we gave in faith to God. 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13 NIV)

A Lukewarm Mindset

Today I want to share a message that I gave a while back when most of the youth group was away before Christmas break. Though this topic can intermingle with many others, I want to give focus to one central idea:  lukewarm Christianity.

The passages that will be examined today are primarily from John 18. In this chapter, we have Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane who has just finished praying His beautiful prayer from John 17 and is about to be betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Out of defense for Christ, Simon Peter cuts off one of the servant's ears to which he is rebuked by Jesus. Jesus is taken before the high priests and, during this time, Simon Peter denies Christ three times. Because a proper verdict cannot be determined among the Jews, Christ is taken before Pilate.

Now, I don't intend to go in depth over the entire chapter. That would require much too much typing and would probably cause a lot of people to get tired from so much reading, but what I do want to look at first, is Simon Peter.

In John 18:10-11 NIV, "Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, 'Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?'"

Today, Christianity is plagued with lukewarmness. What do I mean when I say 'lukewarm'? I'm talking about those who profess faith in Christ but don't follow His teachings, people who simply go to church and perhaps read the Bible but nothing really more than that. I will speak more on this throughout the message so don't get confused with any ambiguities just yet.

The first thing I want to focus on are the characteristics of a lukewarm Christian, the first one shown here. Now, I don't intend to call Peter a lukewarm Christian, but I do want to use this passage as an illustration.

Here we have Peter, likely with good intentions to defend Christ, where he draws his sword and attacks, but Christ's rebuke brings serious concern about Peter's actions. You see, today, many people will claim to do things in the name of Christ. They may have varying motives that benefit them in one way or another , butt on the outside, they look like genuine Christians. Here, Peter, acted in Christ's defense.

Who wouldn't? If someone were about to do something risk-tasking to the point where it could mean certain death. Maybe it looks like they were coerced or persuaded and you are gravely concerned. Wouldn't you come to their defense as well?

Then Christ rebukes him. He says, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

Peter was acting against the will of God! Christ has prophesied of His coming death and though Peter's intentions may have seemed spiritual and good, the very actions themselves were against His very will. In the other Gospels, Jesus emphasises this point by pointing out He could command and angels would come to His rescue, but He chooses not to.

In the same way that Peter acted out, though appearing noble but resisting God's will, so do also unbelievers and lukewarm Christians alike, act out. They will perhaps try and tell you that what you want to do for God isn't necessary, or that God wouldn't call you to do what seems like the impossible.

It seems, lukewarm Christians and unbelievers do not know our God at all.

Moving on, we find Christ before the high priests while Simon Peter and another disciple (likely John) were outside.

John 18:15-18 NIV says, "¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, ¹⁶ but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

¹⁷ “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter.

He replied, “I am not.”

¹⁸ It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself."

Now I want to address another characteristic of lukewarm Christianity that reveals true colours. Here, we have the other disciple who specifically went in to get permission for Peter to be able to enter as well. Once inside, it is probably likely that Peter was alone and here's why I think that. Notice what happens shortly after he enters. 

First, Peter is questioned about whether he is one of the followers of Christ. And notice how he is asked. It's as though the servant girl sees the disciples as something wrong, something to be looked down on by asking the question in the negative form "You aren't one of this man's disciples, are you?"

To this, Peter denies Christ and instead of going to watch while his Master is put on trial. The one Man who is the Light to the world, the Way and the Truth. He instead decides to go to an artificial light, that only brings temporary warmth, shared with unbelievers. 

The second characteristic I want to address is reaction under pressure or persecution. Though, some Christians may appear holy and righteous, they willingly choose to deny Christ in the face of their peers or co-workers in order to save face. And then, if things couldn't get any worse, they turn from Christ out of either guilt, the need to fit in, pressure or any other reasons you can think of, and seek fulfillment in something else, something that does not truly fulfill at all. 

But, here's the sad thing. As genuine Christians, we can act the exact same way. We genuinely worship Him but when we fall into a sin, we are consumed with guilt and in order to save face among our friends, we turn away from Christ and partake in other activities when, instead, we should be focusing on Christ. 

Before I shed some hope, I just want to bring us to how terrifying a lukewarm mindset really is. 

Matthew 7:21-23 NIV, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

Matthew 10:33 NIV, "But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."

Revelation 3:16 NIV, "So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Again and again, Christ teaches against the dangers of a lukewarm mindset and the result for anyone with this mindset is truly troubling. More troubling than the fate of atheists or unbelievers because they generally know, that according to biblical standards, they won't be entering Heaven, but here Christ is talking about people who genuinely believed they were following Christ, or perhaps they were faking it. Regardless of the intention, the result is the same. 

Either way, they do not enter Heaven. 

I have thought about this issue a lot and have learnt and concluded that lukewarm Christianity is basically about trying to accept Christ on our own terms, by only surrendering 'so far'. Maybe we make a few sacrifices so we can look holy but we don't really change who we are or try to do His will. 

You may be wondering how I could say that some lukewarm Christians can genuinely believe they are doing the right thing yet will not enter to Heaven. To this I reply that they have likely chosen to deceive themselves by ignoring certain Scripture in order to fit their own preferences. 

Because, the thing is, Christ calls for full surrender of self. He says in John 8, that who ever dies to self will be made alive and it is only when we die to ourselves that we can be confident of our eternal destination. 

There is hope that remains for those with a lukewarm mindset and there is hope that remains for the brother or sister who has fallen because of shame and guilt. A lot of people like to claim that God changed between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but if you really read, and I seriously mean that you seek out the Word, you will begin to see that God does not change and you find beautiful passages like this: 

Ezekiel 33:11a NIV, "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live."

There is a Jewish story that is told about the Israelites escape through the Red Sea. After the sea closes in around their slave masters and the Israelites cheer, the angels also cheer and God asks them why they are cheering. He says that the Israelites are humans but these angels know better and know that God does not cheer over their death but wishes for them to turn to Him. 

Now, that isn't Scripture but it does appear to fit His character. 

So, for whoever is struggling with either a lukewarm mindset or feels themselves falling into one, know that there is hope. There is still hope while we have today and there is a choice to be made. There is no day like the present to make that decision. Choose today whom you will serve. 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 NIV

Daily Scripture

Today, I want to speak on a topic that I'm sure we're familiar with and may even see as being too fundamental orelementary to even teach on, but  I think it is a refreshing message for a number of reasons.

I want to talk about Scripture, and when I say Scripture, I am talking about the Word of God, the Old and New Testaments combined, with all sixty-six books.

But why? Why is this important to talk about? In contemporary times, it feels that more and more people are either trying to add other so-called 'holy' texts to the Old and New Testament by giving them equal authority, or they are trying to demean the authority of the Bible as our basis of divine truth.

1 Peter 3:15 says to give a reason for the hope that we have in Christ.

That hope relies on the authority and the truth of Scripture.

Psalm 119:105 says His Word is a lamp unto our feet. It is our guide, and if we don't have our guide in life, we are walking around aimlessly.

So,  truly, the question that really needs to be asked first is: how do we know we can trust the Bible? This is essential because the Bible, or Scripture, stands at the centre of Christian teaching. If we lose that basis, then the teachings that we live by appear to be based only on thin air.

There is much reasoning that can be done with this particular question starting with pointing out that the Bible is a compilation of books written by 40 different authors over 2000 years and somehow it manages to remain in perfect harmony with itself regarding the matters of prophecies and doctrine.

But I want to remind you all of a verse that I think we can have a tendency to forget in the midst of trying to provide logic and reasoning to belief in Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 NIV says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Here Paul is teaching us that clearly, we must come to Him with earnest faith.

 In other words, if we're only looking to rationalise God and place Him in a box, we're not going to get far and whenever you are giving the hope that you have in Christ, no matter how much reason you add to the reliability of Scripture or the Resurrection of Christ, in the end, what it really comes down to is faith. 

Faith alone. 

Let's return back to Scripture before I get too off topic again. To summarise how we can know the Bible is the Word of God is based on the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV, 

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"

In context, Paul is referring only to the Old Testament, however, it is safe to say that the New Testament is inspired by God and because we can say this, it is also useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 

Now, I want to get to the core of my message today which mainly revolves around daily devotionals and the importance of daily devotionals in our lives. When I say devotionals, I'm not entirely talking about plans that have passages designated to read and a little message for each day. 

It can also mean simply reading a chapter, or more, from your Bible daily and meditating on that in prayer. 

In the past, I have paralleled reading Scripture with the manna from Heaven during the 40 years in the desert.  

Briefly, manna was sent down from Heaven, it was sufficient for the day but only for that particular day and would be rotten the next morning. 

I want to bring this point up again to emphasise the truth of it. In our Christian walks, we need that daily refreshment in our lives and as we progress in this message, we will begin to see why. 

In the Old Testament, God told the Israelites to choose that day whom they would serve. This applies to following Christ as well. Though we are saved by accepting Christ into our lives and surrendering to Him, daily, we must choose to lay down our desires and follow Him. If we are needing to do this daily, would it not also make sense to refresh our minds daily with His Word? 

In Ephesians 6, Paul talks about the armour of God and out of this entire armour set, one piece is used on the offense: the sword of the Spirit. 

Ephesians 6:17 NIV says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

In other words, Scripture, our Bibles. 

But how do we use the sword of the Spirit? By filling our minds with the truth of His Word daily and when it say, sword, its not meaning metaphorically. This sword is spiritual and convicts the innermost parts of our souls. 

Hebrews 4:12 NIV says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Scriptures teaches us to remain alert and on guard. We cannot allow our minds to grow dull lest we fall trap to one of Satan's lies. 

Perhaps, to emphasis the importance of daily devotionals from a positive negative. The Bible says that the enemy is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 

No where in Scripture does it say Satan doesn't take a day off of attacking God's children, so why should we take a day off of reading His Word? If Scripture is the sword and we daily require it to fight this spiritual battle we are engaged in, would it not make sense to dig into His Word daily? 

Now, I know that for some, daily devotionals aren't easy to maintain. I've struggled from time to time to pick up my Bible and read it daily. But here's the thing, if you will allow me to compare reading Scripture to one more thing.

Reading Scripture is like going to the gym. Its hard to get the motivation to do it a couple of times a week, let alone every day but once we get to the gym and start working out (apart from those who like to just go for the massages :P) and you feel your muscles being stretched, it feels good. 

In the same way, spiritually speaking, reading the Bible refreshes our minds and spirit. It nurtures us and the struggle to open our Bibles is forgotten as He begins to teach us. 

There is much more that can be said on daily devotionals, but I hope and pray this is sufficient so that you may all be empowered and encouraged with reading His Word each day. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)