Loving Our Neighbor Through Church Discipline

Satan is crafty and sin is deceptive. The book of Proverbs teaches that “there is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death” (14:12, 16:25). Like putting makeup on a pig, sin disguises itself so we don’t see its true nature. It slowly lures us to its desired end while making sure the dark path looks clean and pretty. As far as we can tell, everything looks right so we continue moving forward not realizing the trap is laid and we will soon be caught.

The blinding nature of sin is one of the many reasons God has given us the local church. As we do life together, we have an obligation to look out for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Someone may not be able to see the trap ahead, but it’s clear to those around them. Do we love them enough to warn them?

We continue look at marks of a healthy church that are seldom emphasized today. Using 9 Marks of a Healthy Church as our guide, we’ve examined expository preaching, biblical theology, the gospel, a Biblical understanding of conversion, evangelism, and the value of church membership. Today, we’ll look at the next mark: biblical church discipline.

Read it at: http://growingingrace.blog/2019/04/15/loving-our-neighbor-through-church-discipline/

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How Loving Others Points to God

For a worldview or religion to be compelling you would expect it to nurture good relationships. This is especially true where offence is involved. Where there are relationships, there are hurting people, for people hurt people. We are human. If a worldview or religion is true, we should expect that it will help us relate to one another and navigate the nasty quirks of our humanity.

Does Christianity provide a compelling vision for relationships including a method of dealing with offence? Some would say “no, Christianity is all rules which makes people get all judgemental.” Others would say, “no, Christianity is all forgiveness which turns people into doormats.” So which is it?

Last week we looked at the compelling way God relates to us. To summarize, God’s relationship with us is based on His grace, not our performance. How are we to relate to others?

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)

As God relates to us, we relate to others; with love and grace. Consider the following verses:

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. . . .
10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. . . .
16 God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. 1 John 4:7,10,16-21 (NLT)

We are to relate to others in the same manner God relates to us; with love and grace. There are some things we can say about this . . .

Continue reading: https://clarkedixon.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/compelling-grace-part-2-how-loving-others-points-to-god/

Reconciling a God of Love with the Problem of Evil

By: Daniel Merritt

Theologians and philosophers when engaged in explaining the mysteries of life, wrestle with two mysteries that challenge the mind and the soul. Those mysteries have to do with the problem of evil, which has two components: moral evil and natural evil. Of the two, moral evil poses the easiest solution, as we grasp that bad things happen as a result of man’s capacity to choose between good and evil. The choices one makes brings about consequences; bad choices bringing about consequence that can adversely affect the individual who made the choice and have a ripple effect that affects the lives of others.

It is a lot more difficult, though, to provide satisfactory answers in the face of natural evil. Natural evil would include “evil” or “acts” that is the result from natural events that would include floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, disease and other “events” that occur which bring in our lives tragedy, pain, suffering, and even death. Devastating natural disasters in life often leave one pondering: “Where is God in the midst of all this suffering, loss of life, and destruction? It is not fair or just that these often disastrous acts occur (insurance companies call them ‘acts of God’)!”

The age-old dilemma was posed by Epicurus (341-270 BC): “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil, is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” While simplistic answers are not forthcoming, approaching the subject from a Christian perspective does yield some thought-provoking insight. Six will be considered.

First insight, the Bible teaches that the sometimes “bipolar behavior” of nature is the result of The Fall. Natural evil is a result of man’s sin, the consequences of having a ripple affect which reverberates throughout creation. The Bible teaches that natural evil is a consequence of deliberate rebellion against his Creator, the result being that in addition to man being affected by sin, creation suffered negative consequences, as well. The present world is not the way it was created to be. As a result of man’s disobedience to God, pain, suffering and death entered the world. Paul tells us that all creation was affected by The Fall and that all creation groans and is in travail from the consequences of man’s sin and awaits the time when it is freed from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 8:20-22). The sometimes-unpredictable acts of nature were not present prior to sin entering the world. The world is broken as the result of man’s rebellion against his Creator. Creation has been subjected to the curse of man’s sin and as a result, the present world is functioning abnormally from God’s original design, bringing forth “acts” that are a distortion from the way God originally created the world and man.

Regarding the consequences of the curse of sin that affects man and creation, Francis Schaefer succinctly writes, “I do not think Christians take the Fall and the present abnormality of the world with practical comprehension and seriousness. I mean by this that although Bible-believing Christmas certainly do hold to a historical Fall and the present abnormality of the world as a theological truth, when it comes down to living, this is often forgotten. In other words, we forget that everything is abnormal today and that much of the sickness in the world and sorrows in other areas are a result of this abnormality. or to say it another way, there is so much in history that God did not mean to be there, in the way that He created the world and created man” (Schaeffer, Letters, IL: Crossway Books, 1985, 157). Schaefer’s words are most insightful in regard to the “why?” of natural evil.

Continue at: https://pastorbrianchilton.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/reconciling-a-god-of-love-with-the-problem-of-evil/

Don’t Let Your Love Grow Cold

When asked about what it would be like before His return, Jesus made this stunning statement to His disciples: “And many will turn away from Me and betray and hate each other… Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:1–12 NLT)

As we look around at the world, it’s not hard to see that sin is running rampant and that the love of many is growing cold. The world sins. This should not come as a shock to believers. What is shocking is that Jesus isn’t talking about the world in this passage, but about Christians. The Greek word for “love” used in this passage refers to agape love, which is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. It is this selfless, sacrificial love, developed in us through the work of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus tells us will grow cold.

Why Would This Happen?

Find out at: https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/312721-dont-let-love-grow-cold-john-bevere.html

God’s Freedom To Love Revisited

Some object that if libertarian free will is required for human beings to love truly, then wouldn’t that undermine God’s love. After all, God is love by nature (1 John 4:8) because love is a moral value and if God were not loving, God would not be good. But God cannot choose to not be good, ergo he cannot choose to not be loving, ergo He cannot choose whether or not He loves us. In that case, a reductio ad absurdum argument is lodged against the Argument For Free Will From Love. If we say free will is necessary for true love to be possible, we must admit that God is not truly loving. If we say that God doesn’t have to be free to be truly loving, then we have to admit that libertarian free will isn’t really required for love to exist.

As Greg Koukl put it “I have always thought that was wrong-headed because this would mean that it is impossible for God to love, because God can’t NOT love; God can’t sin.”

The Response I’ve Usually Given 

I have typically responded to this type of objection when presented to me by others by saying that there’s a difference between God’s love and human love. Philosophers realize that there are two different kinds of properties; essential properties and accidental properties.

Essential attributes are attributes that things have to have in order to be what they are. Were X to lack properties 1, 2, and/or 3, it would cease to be X. It has 1, 2, and 3 by logical necessity, in virtue of being what it is. A car has the essential property of being a 4-wheeled motorized carriage with a steering wheel. If it were a 2 wheeled vehicle with handles, it would be more like a motorcycle than a car. A square has the essential properties of 4 corners. A triangle has the essential properties of 3 corners.

Accidental properties, by contrast, are properties we could lack and still be what we are. I have brown hair, but I would still be human Evan Minton even if I dyed my hair or shaved my head entirely. My car is white, but I could have it painted blue and it would still be a car. My hair color is not an essential property. Neither is the color of my car.

God is, in virtue of what He is (i.e A Maximally Great Being), omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and morally perfect (which entails being a being of perfect love). If he were to lack any of these properties, he wouldn’t be God. Just as if a house lacked walls and a roof, a bedroom and a kitchen, it would cease to be a house. Human beings are, in virtue of what they are, bipedal primates who are rational, moral, volitional agents. These are essential attributes of humanity. God could create embodied rational, moral, volitional creatures who aren’t bi-pedal primates (lizard people), but they wouldn’t be “humans”. These hypothetical lizard people could even still bear the image of God, since John Walton1 and Michael Heiser2 have observed that what the imageo dei is is being God’s representatives on Earth. I see no reason to think why intelligent lizard people couldn’t do that so long as God endowed them with the pre-requisite mental faculties required for the job. But, nevertheless, these lizard people would still not be “human” because a human is not a lizard creature. A human is a primate. Not even God can change this fact. Now, God could call these hypothetical lizard people “humans”, however, you don’t really need omnipotent creative power to call a cat a dog or a pizza a ham sandwich.

Continue: http://cerebralfaith.blogspot.com/2019/02/gods-freedom-to-love-revisited.html

Do You Have The Reflex Of Love?

It’s not a good decision to take off your 3D glasses while viewing a movie in 3D. It’ll really mess with your head. It’s disorienting. Everything is fuzzy and out of balance. You can sort of still follow the plot and make out a few of the characters but you’ll miss so many things. 2D eyes in a 3D world leaves you very limited. It makes the movie you paid for just a drab and blurry show.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.” –2 Corinthians 5:16

I think of those 3D glasses when I read that text. Paul was living and ministering in 3D but they didn’t have the glasses for it. or at least they weren’t wearing them. This is why when it came for picking which ministers they’d follow the chose the flash super-apostles. The humble and constantly suffering apostle didn’t stand a chance. They picked charisma over character, every time.

Until the gospel changes our way of seeing the world we’ll do the same thing. We’ll skip over the runt David and beg God to let us anoint the skilled and savvy. And it’ll bite us every single time. Because character won’t come simply because we thrust someone into a position. How many times do we have to see high-profile (and incredibly gifted) leaders fall before we realize these words of Craig Hamilton are true?

Continue: http://www.mikeleake.net/2019/03/do-you-have-the-reflex-of-love.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mikeleake%2Fblog+%28Borrowed+Light%29

Fully Living—Fully Loving Part II

“Jesus wept.”¹

In this, the second part in this series on “Fully Living—Fully Loving,” we ask the question, how do we remove the barriers in our life that hinder or block our learning how to fully live and fully love?

First, we need to recognize that we have a problem—and admit it. As long as we deny the truth about ourselves, there is no healing or recovery. So I need to admit, “I have a problem. I need help.”

Second, read good books, listen to CDs and tapes, attend classes, seminars and retreats that deal with personal growth and recovery. Learn all you can but, remember, intellectual knowledge doesn’t produce healing or recovery, it just helps to understand our problem and know how and where to look for help.

Third, realize that we get damaged in damaged relationships and get healed in healing relationships. Every one of us—single or married—needs a soul-brother for men or a soul-sister for women. That is, we need someone who won’t judge us, put us down, try to fix us or give us unsolicited advice—someone with whom we feel totally safe so we can be totally open and honest, and feel free to share our deepest emotions (negative as well as positive), as well as our joys, sorrows, successes, sins and failures and thus be known for who we truly are—warts and all.

We all need someone who knows us fully and loves and accepts us exactly as we are. This is what frees us to change and begin to experience healing in the deepest parts of our personality. Furthermore, only to the degree that we are known can we ever feel loved. Nobody can love a mask and nobody can ever feel loved who hides behind a mask. As long as we stay in hiding, we can never experience healing and grow to become a whole and loving person.

Fourth, if we have deeply repressed emotions we may need, as I did, intense skilled therapy. We each need to find the type of therapy that works for us, and a therapist with whom we can work. What works for me may not work for you and vice-versa. Group therapy can also be very helpful.

Fifth, many of us will need help to learn not only how to get in touch with our feelings, but also how to express them in healthy and creative ways. Learn from the life of Jesus. When he was sad, he wept.¹ When he was angry, he expressed his feelings. At times he did this verbally and when he found the money changers ripping people off in the temple, he got a whip and drove them out.² What we need to remember, however, is to always speak and act the truth in love.

Last and most important of all, learn to put God first in your life and seek his guidance and help for every area of your life. Learn how to pray effectively by praying the right prayers.³ Ask God to confront you with the truth about yourself. If you are serious about this, God will show you; but be prepared because it usually takes pain to break through our defenses. For me personally, only when my pain is greater than my fears am I able to get in touch with my inner pain. Remember as God’s Word says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”⁴  God’s Word also says, “Behold, You [God] desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”⁵

If you consistently follow these six principles, you too, will be well on the road to fully living and fully loving.

Suggested prayer: Dear God, please help me to be totally honest with you, with myself, and with at least one trusted friend and/or counselor, with all that is in my inner self. And please help me to get in touch with any and all unresolved guilt and/or repressed negative emotions, and learn how to express (‘get rid of’) these in creative ways so that every barrier in my life that blocks my fully living and fully loving will be removed. So help me God. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus name, amen.”

1. John 11:35.
2. John 2:14-16.
3. See “How to Pray Effectively” at http://tinyurl.com/kb62w.
4. Psalm 145:18.
5. Psalm 51:6 (NKJV).

Note: For further help, see articles on recovery at: www.actsweb.org/articles/Recovery.php