A Mustard Seed

Sometimes it seems that I think about things other people just pass over. I am not always sure if I just missed the point, or if everyone else didn't know there was a point.

"Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." (Matt 17:20)

How big is a mustard seed?

And move a mountain ?!!!?

I remember a time when I was praying for the faith to move my truck when it broke down! (It didn't budge.) Obviously I have nothing remotely close to "size of a mustard seed" faith.

So is faith big and small, or great and little?

Either way, how do I get more faith?!!! I don't really care to move mountains, but gee, everyday things are really wearing me out.

Here I will go back to my opening, this is where I seem to veer off away from other people. That is because this really bothers me. I just don't understand this, and I seriously want to.

How am I going to get my obviously microscopic faith larger?

I see people who offer up or attempt various methods:

Some people pray. And they pray really hard, too. I can tell because of how loud and how serious their voices get.

They call that faith, but it just looks like they have finally convinced themselves- and whatever happens is fine with them.

Pray harder + think harder → more faith.

Other people talk. By that I mean they are convinced that "the power of death and life are in the tongue" (Prov 18:21) These people end up either like the Positive Thinking teachers whose only ccomplishment is making money selling books to people desperate to be "successful." Or they end up like the "white" witches, casting spells with their words to get what they want.

It doesn't seem to me like either of these have anything to do with God.

Jesus said to "Have faith in God." (Mark 11:21) God, not words, or any other thing I can imagine or work hard at.

Here I come to the end of this post.

What? you thought I had some quick, smart answer to give you?

No. This is way too important for something I can just come up with. (Even though I have not just started to think on this. Thirty years and enough books on prayer and faith to fill a library have gone into my desperate pursuit of faith.) Plus, I said in the beginning, this bothers me. A lot. Because I really don't have the answer to faith that "will move mountains."

I do promise though to add some later posts with very serious, and helpful, information and ideas for you to aid you in your pursuit of "faith the size of a mustard seed."

Wretched Man That I Am

Many people relate to the teaching on prayer from Luke 18 where the publican "standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13)

Mistakenly taking the teaching of Jesus regarding the publican and the Pharisee, "I tell you, this man [the publican] went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18:14) They add to this the teaching of Paul "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24)

Why do I say mistakenly? Isn't that what both Paul and Jesus intended us to feel?

In a word, NO!

So many Christians are stuck at Romans 7:24, unable to move on to Romans 7:25! How is it this horrible, condemning verse is so well known, and the next verse is forgotten? For it says,

"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."

What of this next verse? And how could that be "thanks be to God"?

Unfortunately, a long time ago verse and chapter numbers were added to the Bible. (Unfortunate only in the fact that some divisions occur where they disrupt a thought.)

Thus Romans chapter 8 begins (as we all know) "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Rom.8:1) (We all know this verse, but we have learned it in isolation, not relating it to the two verse right before it.)

Why do we condemn ourselves when God has said there is now no condemnation? The better question would be, "Why have we been taught to condemn ouselves?"

There is now no condemnation.

How can anyone call themselves "wretched" when they know this truth: ^"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor 5:21)?

Righteous or Wretched? What has God said?

What then about, "standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven" (Luke 18:13)?

Please! "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10:19-22)

Yes! Draw near to God with confidence! Having faith in the rightousness bestowed upon us in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

^"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Consider this my attempt to "provoke" (literal translation) you to love and good deeds, and especially assembling together in fulll assurance of our righteousness in Christ and our standing before God with no thought of condemnation.

What God has declared righteous, who are we to call "wretched"?

The Foolishness of AA

Get ready for more hurt feelings.
In which I point out the foolishness of 12 Step Programs and the other Pop Psych Self Esteem philosophy which has taken over Christendom.

Step 1. I admitted I was powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable.

This is followed by the 11 Steps of how I will overcome my addiction and how I will begin to manage my life. The first of these steps being-

Steps 2&3 I turn my life over to a God I create in my own imagination.

Somehow this is believed to be simpler and more powerful than saying, "Stop doing that. Take responsibility for your life and do what is right."

This sounds somewhat like a Biblical theme, "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning;" (1Cor.15:34) Probably that is why it is not said. Give a sin a different name, tell people it is not their fault, but most of all keep God out of this. (The real God that is.) (Is 45:5)

A god that comes from a man's imagination is merely an image of himself. For there are only two gods in a man's life, Self and Christ. The decision to follow one excludes the other. (Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34) The decision to follow Christ is the way of life (John 14:6).

I say allow the world to have their way. Allow the courts to accept only one method of "treatment" for people with addictions. The courts are of the world, not of the church. But I demand at all times that the world be kept OUT of the church.(James 4:4) And that in the church there be nothing spoken and taught but Christ and Him crucified, risen and coming again. (1 Cor 2:2)

Why is it again they do not use the Gospel? (Rom 1:16-17)

Mother of God?

At some point someone might think, Well, if Mary is the mother of Jesus. And Jesus is God. Doesn't that make Mary the mother of God?" Isn't that logical?

Well, "somebody" has thought of that and the Catholic Church made it a dogma of the (Roman Catholic) faith. Thus Mary was proclaimed theotokos, "Mother of God" at the Ephesus Council in 431 AD.

At what point would you think that real logic would intervene in this fatuous reverie?

How is it remotely possible that the infinite Creator of the universe and all that is in it, The Eternal, could have a mother? When was it The Eternal One was born?

Mary was the mother of Jesus, the Son of Man. God with us, (Immanuel) (Luke 1:30-33) who came and dwelt in human flesh so that He might suffer and die to redeem us from the sin in which we so readily wallow. (Eph. 1:7, Heb. 9:15)

I in no way wish to belittle Mary. For who in the history of (wo)man is like her? And of whom has it been said, by an angel no less, "Greetings favored one. The Lord is with you." (Luke 1:28) No, indeed Mary stands high enough on her own merit as a human being, and the mother of Jesus.

Yet she was a human being who did not understand what it was her Son was doing. (Luke 2:49-51, John 2:1-4) A human being who desperately needed to be saved, redeemed from the wretched sin nature she posessed as a daughter of Eve. (Gen. 3:17, 20, Rom. 3:10, 3:23)

Bless Mary for her faithfulness by which our Lord came to dwell in human form, for nursing Him and raising Him up to be a man.

And bless your mother for bringing you into this world, for giving you life. Bless her with the gift beyond measure- share with her the love of Jesus Christ which dwells in your heart because you have also been born again. (John 3:4-7)

[note- rollover Scripture references for pop up windows to read verses]

What if Satan Ruled?

What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall. Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America. He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer "Yes, sir," "No, ma'am," and the churches would be full on Sunday ... where Christ is not preached.
quoted from Michael Horton,"Christless Christianity: Getting in Christ's Way " in Modern Reformation.

So if the churches are full and the name of Christ can't be mentioned, what could they possibly be teaching?

Let's try to come up with some ideas:

• Your Best Life Now
• Purpose Driven Life
• Possibility Thinking
• 12 Step Recovery

Then there are the spiritual giants:

• Prayer
• Spiritual Formation
• Spiritual Disciplines
• Meditation and Silence
• Chicken Soup for the Soul
• Holistic wellness
  

O.K. I admit, I couldn't really come up with any ideas on how there could possibly be a church without preaching Christ, and Him crucified. So I just looked around at all the popular megachurches today.

And that, my brothers and sisters in Christ, makes me very sad indeed.

maranatha

Christless Christianity?

      "What happens when we take Christ out of Christianity?"
Author Michael Horton, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology, has explored that question in his new book "Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church."



      At his website for the book he gives a 5 minute introduction to its message. You can also download the first chapter for a further glimpse.

      From the website,

"Christians have always had their differences, but never in church history have there been so many statistics indicating that many Christians today are practicing what can only be described as "Christless Christianity."

Christless Christianity guides the reader to a greater understanding of a big problem within the American religious setting, namely the creeping fog of countless sermons in churches across the country that focus on moralistic concerns and personal transformation rather than the theology of the cross.

Michael Horton's analysis of the contemporary church points believers back to the power of a gospel that should never be assumed."

      Check out this especially pertinent warning to the church.

p.s. Do Not miss the link to Horton's article in Modern Reformation linked in the side bar

h/t Phil Johnson