God Always Has the Last Word

"Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Corinthians 1:20)

Anyone who has ever listened to radio at all will recall famed commentator Paul Harvey. And anyone remembering Mr. Harvey will also recall with fondness his well-known telling of "The Rest of the Story." When it comes to the wisdom of this world, beloved, that so-called human "wisdom" which always finds itself at odds with what God declares to be true, Scripture teaches us that again and again God makes such worldly wisdom appear foolish.

Recently I was doing some reading and came across a wonderful example of God doing just that, this time in that realm of human knowledge and science which man loves to call "evolution." The debate between supporters of this theory and those who are creationists and stand upon the clear teaching of God's Word has long raged, as we all know well. One such example concerns that which we know today historically as the "Neanderthal Man." In the late 1800's, I believe it was, while mining limestone in a valley in Germany, workers discovered bones in a cave that appeared human. Scientists of the day declared this find to be a "missing link" between ape and modern man and proof positive of the reality of evolution. While that myth has certainly been largely disproven over time, still there are those who point to Neanderthal Man as evidence that creation cannot be true.

What is so amazing (and amusing) about Neanderthal Man is just how he came to get his name. He was so named because he was discovered in a place called "Neanderthal" or translated from German the "Neander Valley." And where did the Neander Valley get its name? Two hundred years earlier, in the late 1600's, Lutheran theologian Joachim Neander, a gifted writer of prose and poetry, would wander in that region near Hochdal, Germany, and commune with God. He would compose verses of worship and sing them to the Lord. One of his favorite spots for such personal communion with God was a gorge not far from Dusseldorf through which the Dussel River flowed. He strolled in that valley so often, in fact, that he became identified with it and it was eventually named after him, being called "Neanderthal" or "Neander Valley."

And what hymns of praise did Joachim Neander compose there in the same spot where Neanderthal Man would be discovered two centuries later? You and I should be very familiar with certain of his writings, at least:

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
The King of Creation!
Oh my soul, praise Him
For He is Thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near!
Join me in glad adoration!"

Joachim Neander would certainly have been horrified to learn that his name was ever associated with such a baseless God-rejecting theory as that of "evolution," beloved. The fuss over Neanderthal Man has largely disappeared and is no longer much of an issue today, even among those who reject creationism completely. But the wonderful hymns that Joachim Neander penned still continue to bless followers of Jesus Christ today as we worship and glorify our Creator together! As this godly Lutheran theologian himself wrote:

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!"

And we can almost hear that wonderful voice of Paul Harvey saying, "And now you know the rest of the story!" Glory to God!

Ron

The Joy of Fellowship with One Another

"But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7)

There is no greater joy than that of genuine "fellowship" among Christians, beloved! This past weekend we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Christian friends with whom we have served the kingdom of God in the past and just catching up on what's been going on in our lives respectively. As we sat and talked and laughed for hours together, the time apart and distance melted away and the bond that holds us closely in Christ manifested itself in wonderful ways. Though we had to say "goodbye" to them last night, knowing that they are headed back home today, still the memories of those hours together will linger and bless our spirits and renew us for the challenges which God's Spirit has for us.

Is that not how it ought to be whenever true believers get together? When our hearts are focused upon the "light" of God's perfect holiness and we are seeking diligently to "walk" in that light for all to see, should not God's own koinonia or "fellowship" be the natural result? What a blessing it is, then, that God pours out upon us whenever we, as John so eloquently put it, "walk in the light" of God's holiness, enjoying that continual cleansing from sin and our relationship by grace with our heavenly Father!

Let me encourage you today to stop and give thanks to God for the "fellowship" of friendship with brothers and sisters in Christ, for that oneness that we have in Him as we with one accord and one spirit seek to live for God's glory and to follow the leading of our Lord and Savior wherever it may take us. And let me also encourage you to keep on "walking in the light" of God's holiness as you pursue the path of personal righteousness and are able to be an instrument of God's grace in the lives of others. Now more than ever, this crazy world needs to see the consistent lifestyle of true believers who are sold out to Jesus Christ. Will you be one of those?

Ron

Contentment: The True Test of Trust

"Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am" (Philippians 4:11)

Thomas Paine, the political author of the late 1700's, wrote that "these are the times that try men's souls." From what I see and hear all about us today, beloved, that statement spoken in the throes of the American struggle for freedom could well be repeated today. These are the times that try men's souls! Uncertainty about the future abounds and with it fear and anxiety. What are we to do? How can we get on top of all this stress and angst?

How many of you recall the commercial first released years ago by the Carnation company claiming that their milk came only from "contented" cows? Watch out! You're dating yourself with this one! With the possible exception of that early advertisement and its use of this wonderful word, we really seem to know very little today about the quality of genuine "contentment"! Yet it is one of the most fundamental qualities of the Christian life which is taught in the Scriptures.

The Greek word autarkes means literally "suffice oneself" or "be sufficient unto oneself." The focus of the word is clearly upon not needing to depend upon others. In the verse which precedes this one, beloved, we find the apostle acknowledging the sacrificial gift of the Philippian believers, knowing that due to the persecution they were suffering, it had been difficult for them to send anything to him and that even now they had needed to scrape such a gift together to send to him. He did not want them to think that he had been languishing in his circumstances under house-arrest and wringing his hands, only to revive his joy and his trust in God when their gift had arrived.

And it is in his explanation to them of his inward calmness of spirit that we find our own true test of personal trust in God today. Paul had grown up around material prosperity but had in his ministry known abject poverty as well. He had experienced both ends of the "prosperity" spectrum and had learned the secret of trusting God in each and every circumstance of life. That secret he had revealed to them a bit earlier in this letter:

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (1:21)

Jesus Christ had become the "core" of the apostle's life, his reason for living. Thus, into whatever circumstances his path with Christ led him, Paul was content because he had been led there by Christ, would be sustained there by Christ, and would be led forth by Christ. He was truly content with his life because it was focused completely upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Would you know such contentment as this today, beloved? Then set the needle of your compass upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Make knowing Him and serving Him the central point of your existence and you too will discover this same contentment in all things which was the life experience of the apostle. Let Him be Lord of your life and what surrounds you will cease to cause you worry or anxiety. You will respond to your circumstances with the same calmness of spirit exhibited by Paul in these verses. It will all become part of the backdrop of God's plan for you and you will learn to rejoice in His sovereign control over your life. You will give Him praise as did Paul when times are tough and when times are good. You will find a sense of self-sufficiency that is rooted in the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ!

Ron

The Measure of Real Faith

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1, NAS)

I believe that it was in the 1970's that it became quite common for people to hear the exhortation to "keep the faith," beloved. Unfortunately, no one ever really explained what that "faith" was which everyone was being urged to keep!

The Bible urges us as Christians to "keep the faith" in our daily living today. The Apostle Paul put it in this unique way:

"In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16)

But how can we ever "keep the faith" when we don't always understand what it is and how it operates in our lives? The writer of the book of Hebrews has masterfully defined what "faith" is and, in doing so, has also explained for us how it is to operate. Note first the declaration that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for." The Greek word hupostasis means literally "a standing underneath" in the sense of that which lies at the foundation of anything. This author declared faith to be the assurance of "things hoped for,"of all that we cannot now see but know is there and will be ours. What God has promised us, then, we put our faith in completely, knowing that the promises of God are "yea and amen" in Christ!

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1:20, KJV)

We exercise true "faith," beloved, not because of any strength or power inherent in us, but because the One who has made those promises is Himself faithful! So "faith" is the assurance that God can and will take care of us.

But the writer of Hebrews added the statement that faith is also "the conviction of things not seen." The Greek word elegchos means literally "a proving" as in something that has been put to the test and found to be real. Such "conviction," then, is based upon what God has done in the past! That the promises of God have been long-proven is one of the major claims of Scripture:

"Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him" (Proverbs 30:5)

The Hebrew word tsaraph is a "smelting" term having to do with the refining of ore. The promises of God have all been tested and proven in the "fires" of life's daily trials. We do not need to react to each new trial of life as if God had never before proven Himself faithful to us! His promises are true and His providence unfailing. Just what is the measure of your faith?

Ron

Check the Price Tag!

"Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19)

How many of you have ever had the experience, beloved, of checking out the price tag of a particular garment in a store and gasping in amazement at how expensive it was? I have known folks who have treated themselves to such an item, then later when wearing it and having it admired, have replied, "What? This old thing? Why, I've had it ages!"

It is true that perishable items such as clothing, household furniture, and automobiles do grow older and eventually wear out, becoming to us "this old thing" or "our old clunker," regardless of what we originally paid for it. And there is absolutely nothing unusual about such a quirk of human nature.

But Peter was talking about a "price tag" of a different sort, beloved. He was writing about the price of your individual redemption and mine. And the price that God had to pay to buy us back from sin should absolutely always make us gasp in utter amazement! Nor should there ever come a time when we view our salvation through God's grace as "this old thing" and something that we've had forever.

Yet that is precisely what happens in the minds of so many Christians today. We become so accustomed to being saved that it almost comes to be "second-nature" to us. In essence, it becomes "this old thing" that we take for granted! And the longer that we are saved, the more likely we are to develop such an attitude within.

What is so deadly about such an attitude is how it affects our relationship with God. Once we begin to devalue the cost of His grace in our lives, we begin to minimize the awfulness of sin in our thinking. We lose sight of the impact that our sinfulness has upon the perfect holiness of God. And as sin loses its ugliness to us, we further minimize the need for His grace and, thus, the high price which He had to pay. Such a process becomes a vicious cycle of downward progression.

Another area that is affected is our attitude toward the lost around us. Because we take God's grace for granted in our own lives, it becomes difficult to feel heartbroken over those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is difficult to feel any sense of burden for them. And when that happens, our zeal for "missions" diminishes and can be lost altogether.

What is the solution, then? I think that it is very simple. Go back and look once again, really look, at the "price tag" of your salvation! Stand there and realize that it cost the Lord Jesus Christ His very blood to buy you out of sin and into the family of God. Read and re-read Peter's words about how it took "the precious blood" of Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God, to satisfy our sin-debt and to set us free from its bondage. Then fall on your knees before God and begin to truly praise Him for heaven's greatest gift, that of eternal life. When you do, you will find yourself crying out with the Apostle Paul:

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)

I believe that, were Paul still living on earth today, he would agree with the words of Charles Gabriel, the most prolific gospel song writer of the Billy Sunday evangelistic era (1910-1920):

"I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean.

How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior's love for me!"

Go check the price tag one more time, beloved! When you do, I don't think you will ever see your salvation in the same light again.

Ron