The Fundamental Blog

I sometimes wonder if the definition of zeal belongs to the new believer in Christ. Consider the conversions of the Christians we know, or if we dare; look at our own walks of faith, with eyes that see. I realize that in a discussion like this, generalizations are going to be unavoidable, and it is never accurate to paint everyone with the same broad brush, but I think that you will have to agree that the problem of the waning zeal of the maturing Christian seems to run parallel with the cooling of the fire for the Lord that once burned hot. When we were babes in Christ, didn’t it seem as though there was nothing that we wouldn’t do for the faith? But now most of us must admit that we have somehow gotten more involved in the busy-ness of our daily lives and find it more and more difficult to attend to the faith, the church, the real church; each other.

Why do we fade away from the one thing that should hold us fast for all time, in fact, the one thing that we depend on for the salvation of our souls for all eternity! Complacency is at the root in many cases but there are also those who walk away because of adversity that they feel is unfair, or because of something that IF there were a loving God would not be allowed. “God, I trusted you and you still let Grandpa die! If that’s what believing gets for you, then just forget it!” Perhaps it’s a gradual wearing away of our stamina that cools the fire we once felt and as a result, our involvement lessens. When it seems like God doesn’t even hear our prayers, we need to take an honest look at the truth of the situation.

Do we long for the days of our conversions wishing that things would change and re-kindle the fire of our zeal? We must look at ourselves because if something has changed in the relationship between us and God; the change must be in us. God does not change, He can’t change. The Scriptures plainly tell us over and over again that God does not change. This fundamental truth is a primary thread throughout the Bible and because it is repeated over and over again, it seems as though God really wants us to, “get it,” in regard to this aspect of His character. 1 Samuel 15:9, Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 7:21, James 1:17; these are but a few of the occasions where God tells us, (and nowhere more plainly than in Malachi 3:6), “I the Lord do not change.”

The idea that God could change is flawed from the beginning. A.W. Tozer does a fabulous job of explaining the immutability of God. Paraphrasing from, “The Attributes of God,” Tozer explains that change can only occur in one of three ways, and they all fail the test of possibility in regard to God. Change can be from something worse into something better, from something better into something worse, or from one type of thing into another type of thing. Since God is the only perfect being, awesome and without flaw in all regards, it should be obvious that none of these conditions are possible.

Since God is perfect, how can He change for the better? He is already at the pinnacle of perfection, He IS the very definition of perfection, He can not become better than perfect. How can God change into something less perfect? To do so would make Him a lesser god and that would violate so many of the other attributes of His nature that it would be unthinkable. God can not change from a perfect God into anything else, He , (not even He), can deny Himself. “God is God, because God is God.” That’s really all there is to it! This means that if the faith relationship between us and God has changed in any respect, that the change has to have been in us, God didn’t change; He can’t change.

Humanity waffles, it sways like a willow in the wind. When things are hard we turn to God and beg His divine intervention in our lives; “Oh God, please heal this cancer; this situation, this heartbreak, this… whatever.” We are prone to make vows that none of us intend to keep as though we think we can trick God into trusting us just this once. But then intervention, or simply providence, arrives and the weight is lifted, we are free again and oh how we praise! That is until things start going reasonably well again. When that happens. we begin to puff up and think that we can make a move or two on our own and so we decide to have a go at doing things our own way. This inevitably leads us right back to begging God for help. It’s a ridiculous circle that all of humanity repeats over and over again.

Look at the kings of 2 Kings. With a few exceptions, you can very nearly flip-flop between good and bad kings. This one did right in the eyes of God, and the next did evil. We read the accounts and think, “How could they be so foolish? They had it going their way and they messed it up again, and again, and again…” We are no different though, God lifts us up and we shoot ourselves in the foot with our pride and beg God’s mercy and grace over and over again. The various kings of Israel and Judah erred in many different ways but the standard of God never wavered, not once. The people and their kings changed but the righteousness of God remained constant throughout.

So then, where are we today? Are we too tired to worship, to pray, to care one way or the other? Do we hear the need expressed and think that someone else will deal with it. Do we think, mistakenly, that faith is supposed to temper over time, that it’s OK that the, “honeymoon is over,” and we cool in the maintenance phase of our faith? We should be becoming MORE active in the church, MORE willing to step out for the faith, more Christian as we mature. This is the promise, “… ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty…” Zechariah 1:3. God knows that it is our hearts that have wandered, have cooled; but if we come back, He promises to meet us again just as He did with His chosen people of Israel.

Can we remember the way it felt to come forward? That first public confession of faith was God’s miracle in us. The tears that flowed as we brought our brokenness to the Lord, the grace that we felt as a cloak coming down from Heaven, the sparkling in our peripheral vision as we came up from under the water of the baptismal font, the realization that we had just entered into the kingdom of God as His adopted children, the gratitude that we felt because we knew that we were not worthy of God’s saving grace, His mercy, the realization that we had just become new creations; this was all, life transforming stuff! The fire was lit and oh, how hot it burned within our breasts. “Return to Me and I will return to you.” Why must we sit in the pew looking at our watches, why can’t we long for the ability to live forever in the love of the church, why is our faith waning? It is us. We have allowed it to cool, we have taken the Spirit of God within us and crammed Him into a box saying, “Stay in there unless I need you, if I do, I’ll let you out to help but then it’s back in the box with you.” We were tired, broken , had nowhere to turn when we came to Christ in the first place; Are we not there again right now? He transformed our lives then, He will do it again, He promises… “Return to Me and I will return to you.”

Have you never known any of this? Perhaps you never considered your estate before the Lord, perhaps you are not yet a Christian, but you understand the tiredness, the longing for more, the emptiness of a life being wasted in carnal pursuit. Jesus can restore you to a right relationship with God, the Father. In fact, ONLY Jesus can do such a thing. We need to consider whether we really are in the faith, examining ourselves and looking at the mess we have made of our lives on our own, Christians, we must come back to our first love, the love that was given us before we ever began to love. Are you without Christ, lost in a world darkened by the fall and in the clutches of the devil, having never found the freedom that we are talking about? Come also. Just as you are, filthy in your set of sinner’s rags, (the rags we all wear), come to the Lord Jesus Christ and He will restore your soul. He promises.

Every single soul will one day acknowledge Christ as the saviour of the world. We will all stand before the bar of God’s judgment. When Jesus steps up we will either see the Saviour of our soul, we will embrace Him and fall at His feet as He Proclaims, “Well done, good and faithful servant…,” or if we never made the time to consider eternity, or decided that we would rather live a carnal life forsaking the warning of the Holy Spirit, will see the same Saviour as the judge who must cast us into outer darkness. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved; believe not and be damned.” This is the simple choice that we must all make. “Return to Me and I will return to you.” This is a promise of God, and when we come back to Him, He will remake our lives into emblems that will resound across the hills and valleys, “These are the lives that are…”


All for the Glory of Christ

A soldier would never think of heading into battle without preparing for the threat that he knows he must face. Why then do we, as Christians, face our daily battles as if preparation didn’t matter? And yes, we do this all the time. We head out into the world in the morning without giving any thought to the challenges we are likely to face, and when we become overcome by the enemy we look to the heavens and ask, “Where are you now Lord?” Well, He’s right where He always is, right there beside you. But I wonder if He is scratching His head and wondering, “Why don’t you listen?”

In the olden days, the warrior would wear chain-mail or hammered plates that fit his limbs with jointed hinges to allow him to move. The warhorses were similarly attired because the foe to be faced was likely to use arrows, spears and swords as their primary weapons. This protective gear was suitable for repelling attacks by the weapons of the day. In 1 Samuel 17 we find the account of David and Goliath. David had, prior to this event, slain both a lion and a bear in the course of defending his father’s flocks in the open country. This was by the power of God and David says as much in verse 37 where he acknowledges that it was God who delivered him from the wild beasts he fought. This is an important, though often overlooked, statement because it will set the stage for what comes next.

After convincing King Saul that he was not afraid to face the Philistine giant, Saul starts to dress him in all the armor that a warrior would have been expected to wear into battle against such a foe. But I believe that David knew, even as he was being dressed, that this was unnecessary. The battle was not for him to win, it was for him to be the tool of God’s wrath against the one who dared to blaspheme the God of Israel. David relied on the power of God to protect him and give him victory over the lion and the bear, this was to be no different. David threw off all the ornaments of war and stooped to select the smooth stones that were all this shepherd needed to defend himself, and in the process glorify God. David knew that this was not a battle of brute strength or military skill, this was God’s battle and God was going to carry the day.

We also face battle each day, and we need to learn from David some key things in order that God can win the day, and be glorified in the process. We need to recognize the nature of our mission, properly assess our threat, and prepare to meet an unavoidable enemy with the right weapons. Before we get into the armaments of battle, lets dispense with any objections that might say that the battle may not necessarily come to blows. It will! Satan will not sit back and accept diplomacy from the Christian, nor should a true Christian be willing to offer terms. There is no treaty of peace offered to us that might allow us to pass through this fallen world, safe from attack. In John 16:33, Jesus tells us, “…In this world you will have trouble…” Not that you might have a problem now and then, NO, He plainly says, “you WILL have trouble.”

OK then, you have your WWJD bracelet, the cross necklace and your Christian T-shirt; you head out the door and find that you have a flat tire and someone keyed your car. But you were armed right? How could this happen? This is not the armor we are supposed to adorn ourselves with to withstand the attacks, any more than Saul’s armor was suitable for David. The nature of our mission is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our words, attitudes and deeds, so naturally Satan is going to try to topple us at every turn. The nature of our mission will automatically earn a response from the enemy because he wants us to fail in a BIG way.

The weapons we might think would do us good in our battle to sing the praises of Jesus are all wrong. These are things that might be helpful if, and again I say, “IF,” the enemy were physical; he is not! Ephesians 6:12 reads, “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.” Not earthly rulers, earthly authorities or earthly powers, but spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. How can we think, even for a moment, that our earthly sticks and stones will have any effect on an enemy in the heavenly realm? We can throw stones into the sky all day long and the only thing we will accomplish is to make ourselves targets as we dodge the very stones we threw, as they come falling back to the ground. But we are not without hope.

The preceding verse, Ephesians 6:11, tells us, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Now here’s hope! A heavenly answer to a war being waged in the heavenly realm. There has been much written concerning the armor of God, by many who are far more renowned than am I, but allow me to place it before us once more that we may not forget the provision that God, Himself has made for us in this dark and fallen world.

The belt of truth… Truth is the very simplest of choices, it requires no clever web of support to prevent it’s being found out. It has been said that we can tell the truth and then forget about it, but that if we tell a lie, we will have to remember it forever. A lie requires constant maintenance to prevent the possibility of it’s being exposed. Truth is the one, simplest, commitment to our character that we have available to us. To be known as a truthful person is a high honor indeed, but never forget that the glory belongs to God for it is His truth we uphold. The breastplate of righteousness is ours thanks to Christ. His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross did not only remove our sin debt but it also allowed us to have a share in the righteousness which was then nobody’s but His alone. Jesus took our sin, and gave us His righteousness.

To stand with our feet fitted with readiness wearing the helmet of salvation behind the shield of faith, makes us invincible before the enemy. To have the conviction of the surety of the permanence of our salvation, and to know that there is nothing that can harm us as long as we hold to the truth of our faith in Christ Jesus; this is a very good place to be. If we have these then we can weather any storm knowing that regardless of the obstacle, our help comes from the Lord, the Lord who spoke all that is before us into existence by His awesome power. And where we now stand armored against the attacks, where is our own weapon? It is the sword of the Spirit!

The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I am firmly convinced that the truth of the Word of God can not possibly come out of us unless we first get it INTO us! We must read our Bibles, learn the Word so that when we are besieged, the Holy Spirit will have for us the comfort of God’s promises to soothe us. We must not imagine that God wants only for our happiness in this life, nor that we should be spared trails. God wants us to be happy, IN HIM, but desires Holiness over happiness and though He may allow us to be tried in many ways, He has promised to be there in the trial with us. The Word of God is so powerful that, though Jesus could have flung Satan away from Him in the desert, Jesus used Scripture to counter the attacks of the devil. At the snap of a finger Jesus could have destroyed Satan, if it had been the will of the Father, but instead used His Father’s words to rebuke the evil one.

Finally, in our battles we must include prayer. We should be starting our day with prayer, praying throughout the day and ending our days in prayer. God gave us prayer to allow us an avenue to communicate with Him, what could be any better than knowing that we have God on, “speed-dial,” anytime we need to get a message through? Prayer can be formal, structured, hurried, on the fly or in an anguished moment; but prayer must never be irreverent, or insincere. God always answers prayer. Sometimes, “Yes,” sometimes, “No,” and sometimes, “Not yet,” but there is always an answer. And we have promises in regard to prayer, in Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Anxiety is only evidence that we do not trust in the strength of God’s promises; in everything, means that there is nothing too small that God does not want to hear about it from us; how can we hope to attempt to understand a peace so perfect that it TRANSCENDS ALL understanding? I can not imagine, but I know I want some of that! We all want that, and we all need it too. And who should tremble in battle when promised such perfect peace? The enemy is spiritual, so too must be our defense, for how else can we hope to stand except by the power of God. And God deserves nothing less than an army faithfully devoted to carrying out a service which is…


All for the Glory of Christ