Good for Evil

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And shrewd in their own sight!” The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 5:20-21)

There continues to be wide-spread intentional confusion over the issue of what is political and what is religious. The increasingly secular narrative of our country pushes that politics relates to public matters and religion relates to very personal matters. It’s appropriate to discuss public matters in public, but we should all keep personal matters personal. This powerfully works to keep all “religious” matters out of the public square, out of conversation at work and school, and generally out of polite social conversation. The problem is that Jesus did not have these same distinctions. Jesus and all His apostles went about constantly and publicly proclaiming and loudly preaching about religious matters in intentionally public places.

The political and moral worlds do not divide along the lines that our culture currently divides them. Jesus was clear that we should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). However, what things belong to government and what things belong to God? The most basic way to divide these worlds is that what is moral (right and wrong) belongs to God, because moral goodness is defined by God’s character, then revealed to us as human beings. Moral evil is counter to God’s character, is at odds with God’s purposes in the world, and will one day be judged by Him and will not stand. In this vitally important area of discernment, we do not have the right to reverse the moral order. We have no authority to “call evil good and good evil”, yet it happens every day.

Political matters are most purely matters of civil government. These most basically relate to creating an orderly, secure, free, and just society. Political matters relate in part to commerce, national security, transportation, police and fire departments, and a justice system of courts. However, it doesn’t take much thinking to immediately see how these two spheres overlap in an inseparable way. The moral informs the conscience which drives and defines the political. If the moral compass is off because a person lives in rebellion against God, the way they live in the world will reflect this. When millions of people turn away from the revealed moral will of God, it surely will affect the political direction of the entire country.

A few points of clarification on where we find ourselves in the day God has appointed that we live our lives. First, Jesus is abundantly clear that we should not keep secret His teaching, the truth of His resurrection from the dead, or the hope of His salvation and second coming. We are sent to proclaim these things publicly to the nations, just like Jesus did.

Second, Jesus’ message cannot, and should not, be separated from His ethic. It’s a growing position to hear people say they love Jesus but reject His ethic. This means they love the idea of salvation and know they have a soul, but they reject what the Bible says about right and wrong (especially sexual ethics). This will not work.

The Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is not to affirm people in their sin and from there help to improve them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of repentance and faith. The good news stems from the bad news. The bad news is that we are ruined sinners (morally, then physically), beyond all hope of being made right by our own efforts. We are truly under the condemnation of a holy God. The good news is that Jesus was sent as Savior, to bear the just penalty of our sins. He comes not to make us better, but to give us a new nature that loves the things that God loves and desires to put to death evil ways. And this salvation begins now but will extend into eternal life. This is not a private matter, but life altering good news.

However, the narrative of our time is powerful, relentless, and persuasive, especially for our young people. It’s important that we have this conversation with our young people. A new study was released this week further showing the disconnect between younger generations and churches in America. It indicates that more than half of all young adults and teens don’t think that religious institutions care about what matters to them. As the survey unfolds, it becomes clear that the main issue being addressed is distance between generations on sexual ethics (LGBTQ matters).

Language related to LGBTQ people has intentionally and continuously been weaponized over the past decade to reverse the moral order. What used to be clearly understood as sinful sexual behavior, is now loudly celebrated as a right of personal expression. Those that speak against this behavior as morally sinful are said to discriminate, to be full of hate, to be inflicting mental harm, and creating physically unsafe environments. In this area, we have a major issue that has passed from moral to political in the public narrative. This language is winning the day and largely persuading the next generation.

God declares that sexual sin should be stopped, repented of, and can be forgiven in Christ. This is good news! The world today says that every form of sexual expression should be celebrated, indulged in to the fullest, and all who disagree should be loudly condemned. This survey quotes young people saying commonly heard phrases today, “The church doesn’t care about the rights of LGBTQ people. I’m spiritual, but not connected to the church. I want the church to fully embrace them for who they are. The church discriminates against people that are different.” When you go down the line with these statements in a church like ours, it’s important to speak to these comments: Jesus does care about LGBTQ people. Like all other sinners He bore their sins in His own body on the cross, but not so they could abuse that grace and continue in sin (Romans 6).

The Bible has no category for spiritual people that are outside the community of the church. Individual spirituality is not a biblical concept. God, and by extension the church, will never embrace sin as good. To tell someone their sin is good, is to lie to them and say something we do not have authority to say.  The church does separate good from evil according to what God has said is good and evil. The church must teach sin and call for repentance, but this is done out of love, not hate. It is the offense of the gospel. Everywhere the gospel is preached, many will not believe and hearing their sin exposed will provoke anger.

In closing, we must not stop declaring what God has said to be evil as evil, and what God has said to be good to be good. We must not be silent in the public square about these things. We must help the younger generations understand why we are saying what we are saying. We must first do the work of evangelists loving the lost, not affirming them in sin, but calling them to the merciful grace of God by repentance and faith. In all this, we live in our community being active salt and light.

Let us preach the Gospel in our time,

Pastor Vic

False Gospel

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel …” Galatians 1:3-6

From the time of Paul to our present day, many have spoken of the gospel and the way of Jesus. Some preach truth, but many teach lies, partial truths, and “different gospels” intended to steer the heart in a different direction. The Gospel means good news, but lies about Jesus are not good news. Telling only part of the story and leaving out essential truth to fill in with what false teachers think is an improvement, is not good news. Paul labored to separate truth from falsehood. He trained the elders of the new missionary churches to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing (Jesus, Matthew 7:15, Paul, Acts 20:29) who would intentionally work to come in and destroy the church by false teaching.

How are we to discern truth from error in a world over-filled with well packaged and endless information? Whom do we trust? Can we trust anyone? Can we know truth? Take heart that this is not a new problem or a new question. As Pilate questioned Jesus at His trial, he asked the same question, “What is truth?” Jesus gave Pilate the answer, but he would not accept it, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37-38). The Bible is revelation from God. If you would know the truth, look first to this ancient and divine document. It is the most precious thing you possess. Its words are true, living, active, sharp, will divide truth from error, and will tell you the truth about God, the world, and yourself.

But, briefly, let’s examine some false gospels that we all hear expressed regularly in our daily conversations. First, “All religions are basically the same. There’s a God out there, but you can get to Him pretty much any way you want.” This is like saying all Indian people look the same. Only a person who has never visited India, has no friends of Indian descent, and doesn’t care to even look closely at pictures of Indian people – would ever make such an ignorant statement. Even a cursory examination of the religions of the world reveals irreconcilable differences of worldview. The religions of the world are not the same. They do not have the same understanding of the nature of God or the nature of humanity. They express different moral codes and different understandings of existence after death. Anyone that really cares about their soul will press through this assumption and look more closely. This is a false gospel.

Second, “Jesus is my supreme moral example.” Yes, Jesus is our supreme moral example, but this understanding of Jesus cannot stand alone. People who begin and end with this understanding of Jesus do not accept Jesus as divine and do not see themselves as ruined sinners. They see Jesus like an inspiring figure from a biography. They look to Jesus for direction and inspiration for how they can take hold of their current life and improve it. This is moralism. This is self-improvement, not salvation. This makes the totally incorrect assumption that you have the ability in yourself to live like Jesus. You might pray periodically when you get stuck and ask for some help, but this is not the dependent life of biblical Christianity. This is an assisted life, that still largely succeeds because of your goodness and talent, and you still get most of the glory when you succeed. This is a false gospel.

Third, “I’ll preach the gospel with my good actions, and only use words when necessary.” This common saying confuses general revelation (the general sense from nature, ethics, and ordered beauty that there is a God) and special revelation (clear teaching about who God is and what He has done to accomplish salvation through the cross of Christ). Hear me clearly – general revelation is not sufficient for anyone to come to salvation. You cannot walk in the mountains and come to an understanding of substitutionary atonement. You cannot hold a baby and finally have a clear grasp of Justification by faith alone. These things must be taught. Those who bring clear teaching of the divinity and salvation of Jesus Christ, bring good news. Those who call for repentance from sin and belief in Jesus as Savior, proclaim a true gospel. Those who just live a moral life and leave people with the impression that salvation comes through being more moral like you, preach a false gospel of moralism.

Fourth, “I had an amazing spiritual experience that brought me close to God.” This one needs a little more explaining but is of vital importance in our entertainment, ultra-experience saturated modern world. People have emotional experiences every day and for many different reasons. All these emotional experiences are not from God. The most important thing that God desires from us is our heartfelt worship motivated by love and joy. Authentic gospel is always a very emotional and passionate experience, but Bible truth must precede authentic experience. Our worship must be according to truth and full of the Holy Spirit. If the ground of a religious experience is not biblical, then it is not of God. We can have very powerful emotional experiences that are of this world and lead to death. They are experiences void of the Holy Spirit, and instead of satisfying, they leave us seeking an ever more radical experience to outdo the last one. We must measure our experiences by truth, not truth by experience. Otherwise, it is a false gospel.

“As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:9

Jesus, give us ears to hear and believe Your word,

Pastor Vic

Thoughts on Evangelism

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24

This week, a friend asked for help in sharing the gospel with a dear person in their life. The following is a conversational guide I put together for how to turn a conversation toward a gospel conversation. I hope it’s helpful.

Transition: “Would it be ok if I changed the subject, and we spent some time talking about Jesus and the soul?”

Soul: “Can we start really basic?

• Do you believe you have a soul?  
• That is the spiritual part of you that relates to and is aware of God.”

Sin: “We know from personal experience and the Bible that we are all sinners.

• Do you think you have done wrong things?”  

Death:“The wrong things that we have done produce guilt, separation, and death in our life. Sin separates/breaks our relationships with people and with God.”

Jesus:“The Gospel (means Good News!) is the message that God is willing to forgive our sins.

• Jesus is the Savior.
• He accomplished our salvation on the cross.”

Cross:“On the cross Jesus met the justice of God by bearing the punishment for our sins in His own body.

• He was a substitute for us.
• He did this from a motivation of love.”
• (Romans 6:23, John 3:16)

Resurrection: “Jesus is not still dead. He rose from the dead and lives eternally. He is able to forgive your sins and also give you life that will never end. Jesus is the Savior, body and soul.”

Our Action:“I am inviting you to confess your sins and believe in Jesus as Savior.

• In His ministry Jesus called for people to believe that He was the Son of God and to follow Him with their lives.
• He still calls for us to believe in Him and obey Him in this same way.”

Invitation: “Will you confess your sins and believe in Jesus today?

• The work of salvation was accomplished by Jesus.
• This glorious forgiveness and life is available to you by grace through faith alone, not by your religious works.” 

If “Yes”: Ask the person to confess their sins in prayer, but out loud, by theirown words.

• Next, ask the person to express their belief in Jesus as Savior by prayer, but out loud, in their own words.
• Now, you give thanks to Jesus for forgiving your sins by prayer, in your own words.

If “No”:“You need to understand that you are actively rejecting the grace of God to forgive your sins.

• Unbelief will not be forgiven by God, but judged.
• You will face all the just penalty of your sins. There will be judgment.”

A few additional notes on sharing Christ with others:

• When you feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to speak to a person about Jesus – SPEAK! Pray for courage and love, then go for it. Forget about formulas and scripts. Speak the truth and God will help you.
• Pray for the patience and love of Christ as you speak.
• Really listen to the person’s responses and engage them where they are.
• Never assume what a person’s answers will be to these questions and statements. People will shock you. The Lord will amaze you in the ways that He is working in a person’s heart, before you arrive, to prepare their heart for your conversation.
• Refer directly to specific Bible verses as they are applicable.
• Call for decision. If people are not ready to believe, ask if you can reengage them at a later time to continue the conversation.
• If a person is not ready to believe at the time of your conversation, make sure they know they can express their confession and belief to Jesus at any time.
• Never hesitate to tell people about your salvation testimony.
• Actively seek to turn every conversation with a lost person into a gospel conversation!

May the Lord use your conversations today to lead others to salvation in Jesus,
Pastor Vic