Word to the Wise - Jeremiah's Vow

Word to the Wise | “My Feet Almost Slipped”, Pt. 5

My Feet Almost Slipped (Psalm 73)

By now, most of you have gotten the picture that the psalmist has painted. Basically, he has stated that believers develop a distorted view of God’s actions in the world EVERY time they lose sight of God. That is, when Christians fall out of fellowship with God, they will inevitably begin to believe the lies of the world. I have a saying that goes like this: “If a Christian does not fellowship with the church, he will eventually fellowship with the world.” This is the blindness that Jesus spoke about. It is a blindness that goes beyond intelligence and information. This darkness in the human soul prevents the person from seeing God’s action on our behalf. The problem is so profound that even when people are immersed in the deepest of spiritual darkness they still have an unquenchable need and desire for God. It is that desire that can awaken a person to God’s activity at any moment they meet the light of God. Some will run from the light, but many will embrace the light of God—the truth of our desperate reality.

This is precisely the psalmist’s point. After describing how a person out of fellowship with God describes the “blessings” of the unbelievers, he makes a 180 degrees turn around. Listen how the psalmist wrote it: “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny” (Psalm 73:16-17). When I entered into the sanctuary of God, or when my eyes were open by the light of God’s truth I was able to see the darkness in my soul that was keeping blinded and enslaved. He said: “I realized that their lives are empty and meaningless. Their destruction comes quickly.” This is not to say that they will die young. This is to say that compared to eternity, the unbelievers’ present “blessings” are temporary and quickly passing. Their enjoyment will last for a short season (maybe 70 years). But for us, for those who have turned our lives into God’s hands, our present suffering is temporary and our joy will be eternal.

The psalmist is encouraging us to take an eternal approach to how we live. Sure, life is rough some days. But wait a few years and see the glory of God manifested in our lives. Sure, the unbelievers seem to get away with disobedience and rebellion. But wait just a moment and you will see how they are destroyed by their own deception. Sure, I have been tempted by envy as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. But wait just a few years and you will see that their prosperity comes to nothing while we will inherit the streets of gold. Listen to the conclusion of this great psalm: “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory”; and to conclude he said; “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds” (Psalm 24; 28). If we want to have a proper and sober perspective about life, we need to stay “near God” or in fellowship with God.

Word to the Wise | “My Feet Almost Slipped”, Pt. 4

My Feet Almost Slipped 4 (Psalm 73)

The psalmist captured the false perception that many believers have about God’s justice. Many times believers lose sight of God’s goal for their lives, which is their sanctification. Listen how the psalmist describes the attitudes of the person that has lost sight of God’s holiness and has developed the wrong perception of their circumstances. The first thing Christians do when they take their eyes of God is to accuse God of ignorance. “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” (Psalm 73:11)

Once a Christian begins to question God’s wisdom, the next thing they do is describe the wicked from a human perspective and not from a holy perspective. Listen to how many Christians think: “The wicked are carefree… they increase in wealth” (Psalm 73:12). Once the Christian has convinced himself that the wicked are doing fine without God, he begins to question his own faith. He says to himself, maybe I am wasting my time with this God. Maybe my life would be better if I just went out and lived like the wicked. Listen to the words of a believer that has accepted the devil’s lies. “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence” (Psalm 73:13). The situation becomes so confusing for the Christian that takes his eyes of God that they become depressed (Psalm 73:16).

What a sad state of affairs. The psalmist captures the incredible ignorance that God’s people exhibit today, even though he wrote more than 2,500 years ago. Many sectors of the church today have not only complained about God’s requirements for fellowship with Him, and his wisdom, they have fully embraced outright sinful behavior and call it godly. How did these groups get this way? Let me suggest to you two main reasons: (1) they began to reject the Bible as their guide for life, morality, and godliness. This process began very early in the 20th century with the rejection of biblical inerrancy and proceeded from there to make the Bible a book of fables and allegories (further on this some other day). (2) The second reason is that these groups from within the church fall in love with worldly philosophies. Paul warned us against worldly philosophies, but many in the church have yet to learn the lesson.d

Word to the Wise | “My Feet Almost Slipped”, Pt. 3

“My Feet Almost Slipped”, Pt. 3

We have been discussing Psalm 73. Psalm 73 is a guide to every believer concerning our walk with Christ. This is the problem. Whenever we pay more attention to what unbelievers are doing or achieving, we will have a distorted view of the world. This is what happens. First, we look at “them” and compare our situation with theirs. Like the psalmist we say, I am trying so hard to live a godly life and I still have so many struggles. But look at unbelievers, they don’t care about God, they enjoy the pleasures of life and nothing happens to them. They are getting away with murder and God doesn’t do anything. And here I am, I just tell a minor lie and God broadcast it all over the world. Man I can’t get away with anything. This is simply not FAIR.

When a Christian thinks like this, he has missed the major (humongous) point of being a Christian. We are not here to compete with the world. We are not here to satisfy the flesh. We are not here to become rich and famous. We are here to be conformed to the image of Christ. At some point in our lives we recognized our sins. Then, we acknowledged our need for salvation. Then, we turned to Christ to be reconciled with God. Okay, if you did this, do not come back crying and complaining that you can no longer enjoy sin like you use. Let me help you with something. Once you cross the Red Sea (back to the exodus here), you CAN’T go back to Egypt unless you can swim across the ocean. We cannot go back to the world because when we accepted Christ as Savior we renounce the citizenship from Satan’s kingdom (the world) and accepted the citizenship of God’s Kingdom (heaven).

So, the Apostle Paul said this to the Colossian church: “If you have become a citizen of heaven, you are no longer free to seek the stuff from earth. Get your act together and start doing heaven’s stuff, because if you don’t the beatings will continue until you get it through your head that we have a spiritual nature that God is not willing to give up” (Colossians 3:1). Okay, okay, I took some liberties with the paraphrasing, but you get my point. Anyway, have a great Friday, enjoy your Saturday, and for goodness sake, go to your church on Sunday and worship the God of heaven who loved you to the point of sending His Son to take your sins away.

Word to the Wise | “My Feet Almost Slipped” Pt. 1 and 2

*EDITORS NOTE: This was originally sent out as two individual devotional thoughts. They have been combined for the sake of continuity.

My Feet Almost Slipped (Psalm 73)

Part 1

There are two reasons Christians’ feet almost slip—or backslide: First, they begin to envy the world. You know like; “Dad, little Johnny gets to stay out until midnight, why can’t I?” Well, son—God would say—because little Johnny is not my son and you have to follow my rules and not little Johnny’s rules. Or, Pastor, is it okay for me to go to the clubs once a week? And I will say, if you want to spend the rest of your life with a broken fellowship with God—sure, go ahead. (2) Christians’ feet begin to slip when they start walking by sight instead of walking by faith. Listen to the psalmist: “My feet almost slipped when I SAW the prosperity of the wicked.”

The Bible tells us that we walk by faith, not by sight. But whenever we put our eyes on the world, we are walking by sight instead of walking by faith.

Part 2

Yesterday we mentioned one reason that makes Christians “almost slip.” There are two aspects that explain the “almost slip” commentary by the psalmist: (1) Christians almost slip when we begin to envy what we perceive are the world’s “blessings.” You know, when we develop the desire to continue enjoying the things of the world after we have made a promise to the Lord that we are dedicated only to Him [something is wrong]. (2) Our feet can slip when we start walking by sight and not by faith. Every time we compare our lives, our successes, our failures, our struggles, etc. with the world, we are walking by sight. Whenever we SEE the world “prospering” we ENVY them. One of the most important lessons we can learn is to realize that the world has NOTHING to offer us—NOTHING.

Our second [way of slipping], following yesterday’s discussion, is that some Christians fail to understand that we are functioning under a different set of rules from the rest of the world. This means that while the world can lie, cheat, and steal, we cannot. The world can blaspheme God, but we cannot. The world can function in hatred and revenge, but we operate in forgiveness and love. Our rules come from God’s Kingdom. Their rules come from Satan’s kingdom. If you belong to God’s Kingdom, you cannot be wishing to live under the rules of Satan’s kingdom.

Example: After God had rescued the people of Israel from the Egyptian bondage they began to desire the “pleasures” of Egypt—which represents the kingdom of Satan. The Bible says that, “After 400 years God heard the cry of the people of Israel in Egypt.” After they received their freedom they began to crave the routine that slavery provided. They were willing to surrender their new freedom for the “safety” of captivity. In freedom they did not always know what was next. In captivity, someone else was making their decisions for them. They did not need to take responsibility for their lives.

This is what is interesting about this—God did not send them back to Egypt, but allowed them to wander in the desert for forty years. It took that long to get their minds away from their slavery mentality. They left Egypt, but Egypt never left them. This is the same with Christians today. They leave the world, but the world never leaves them. Thus, they ask, “Can I be a Christian and still enjoy the temporary pleasures of the world?” You can enjoy the temporary pleasures of the world, if you want to spend the rest of your life wandering in the desert without direction, purpose, or hope of entrance into the Promised Land—that is, without ever finding God’s rest for your life and experiencing the joy of salvation for your life. The Red Sea was not just an event. It was also a metaphor.

This is the metaphor: God saved them from bondage—Jesus has saved us from the bondage of sin. God led them through the Red Sea. Jesus has washed our sins away with His blood. After they had crossed the Red Sea, the water closed back again behind them. We have passed from death unto life. The closing of the Red Sea meant that they could not go back. There was no access back to Egypt. Once we have received Christ we cannot go back because Jesus said: “I did not lose none of the ones you gave me.” Rejoice: you are now in the desert on the way to the Promise Land and Egypt has nothing to offer us.

Word to the Wise | “Walking in the Light”

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7)

This is a very significant verse of Scripture. John gives two basic principles in this passage. First, he tells us that the Christian needs to walk in the light as He (God) is in the light. John does not say that Christians can or should live according to the light. That would mean that we could be sinless and we all know this is impossible. The Apostle says, instead, to “walk in the light.” This is a reference to our submission to God’s truth. God is truth (light) and the evidence that we are walking in the light is determined by our reception of God’s truth.

The second principle is that we “have fellowship with one another.” Most of the time this phrase is interpreted to mean that we have fellowship with fellow Christians. But this is not what John is saying at all. The fellowship John is speaking of is between the Christian and God. Allow me a paraphrase.

Since God is light (truth) and if we become transparent enough to accept God’s truth (His light), then we can have fellowship with God because we will both be connected through the light of His truth.

It is this fellowship with God in the truth that makes the third clause of the passage even more powerful: “He purifies us from all sin.” What a blessing to be in God’s presence and feel cleansed of all sin simply because we accept His truth and walk in His light! Amen.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/20/09)

Word to the Wise | “The Gift”

If we trace the path Jesus took on His earthly journey we can find some disturbing facts. He traded His heavenly glory for earthly poverty. Although He created the universe, He was born in a stinking stable only suitable to shelter animals. He owned all the wealth in the world, but had to depend on men’s offerings and goodwill to support His ministry. At times He was so hungry that He had to eat raw grain or pick His own fruit from a tree. He was ridiculed. His neighbors tried to lynch Him. Some called Him a lunatic and a friend of sinners.

He was falsely accused of crimes He never committed. The witnesses at His trial were paid to lie against Him. The jury was rigged and the judge responsible to dispense justice handed down a death sentence solely based on political calculations. They killed Him. And why did they do it? Because they chose to reject the gift only He could give—the gift of life.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/18/09)

Word to the Wise | “Patience”

Have you ever become impatient over a life situation you believe you should have mastered by now? It is very frustrating. How do we learn to be patient? There are two basic ways.

The first way is to go through a lot of trials ourselves until we learn the lessons that produce patience. Or, second, we can learn patience by observing other people going through their trials.

Suggestion: Learn patience with other people’s mistakes. It is less costly.

Three thoughts come to mind. (1) Learn to “cast all your cares upon the Lord and He will carry them for you.” (2) Practice “trusting in the Lord in all your ways and He will guide you to your destination.” (3) Practice “waiting on Him and he will never disappoint you.”

Even an intolerable situation becomes a welcomed learning event when we depend on His love and grace.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/17/09)

Word to the Wise | “God is Crazy About Us”

There are many reasons God saves us. He does it for His own glory. God takes pleasure in loving the highest order of His creation. He also saves us to satisfy His justice. God cannot declare the guilty innocent. That would violate the integrity of His character. The guilty must pay the penalty. Since God loves us, He sent His Son to pay the penalty. When Jesus volunteered to pay our penalty, God’s love found full expression—He was free to save us. And His justice is satisfied—the penalty was paid in full.

But, do you know the sweetest reason of all? God loves us unconditionally. He likes having us around. He wants to visit and fellowship with us. God is simply crazy about us. If we need to talk, He will listen. If we are hurt, He will comfort us. He can live anywhere in the universe, and yet, He chose to live in our hearts.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/12/09)

Word to the Wise | “Fellowship with God”

Most of us are familiar with Moses and his extraordinary faith. This is the man that confronted the most powerful ruler of his time without a single soldier or even a personal weapon for self-defense. All he had was a shepherd’s staff. And with it he beat Pharaoh’s pride.

The story, however, includes a very short statement that is often overlooked. God said to Moses, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4-6). Wow! God’s primary purpose was to establish an intimate relationship with the people of Israel–He brought them to Himself. Over the following decades and centuries God’s desire to fellowship with the people was rejected. But, in spite of the rejection God sent His own Son, Jesus, to reconcile us back unto Himself.

John quoted Jesus’ words in the book of revelation, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). From Genesis, when God had an intimate relationship with Adam and Eve, to the exodus when God called the people of Israel unto Himself, to the book of the Revelation, God continues to call men and women to open the door of fellowship to Him. Have you opened the door of your heart to Him? If you have, enjoy your invitation to dinner in God’s Kingdom.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/11/09)

Word to the Wise | “The Need for Single Mindedness”

In the movie The Last Samurai we find a scene in which Tom Cruise is fighting an expert samurai with a wood sword. He is getting beaten by the expert even though he had demonstrated progress. The son of the hero in the movies tells Tom Cruise: “You have too many minds.” He meant to say that Cruise was not focused. He was thinking about the opponent, the crowd, himself, etc., but that he was not focusing on the task at hand—to win.

The Bible says that a “double minded man is inconsistent in ALL his way” (James 1:8). In this passage James is specifically making reference to the person who prays with doubt. That is, they are not sure that their prayers will be answered. He is double minded.

We can have double-mindedness in many areas of our lives. A person, for example, may believe that he should attend church on Sunday, but they also enjoy sleeping until noon on Sundays, or they prefer to watch a movie, or just relax looking at the lake. Regardless of their purpose, as long as we prefer more than one thing at a time, we will have the tendency to choose the least beneficial.

The solution to double mindedness is singleness of purpose. To finish the previous example: In our house there is no debate whatsoever regarding Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we will go to church because that is what the Scott family does. It is the most beneficial and connects us with God.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/02/09)