Quotes from Lutzer's Book

From Erwin Lutzer's 2010 book When A Nation Forgets God (my emphasis in bold):

...have we forgotten that God's power is more clearly seen in the message of the cross than in any political or social plan we might devise?...Do we cling to the cross with the deep conviction that it is not simply a part of our message to the world, but rightly understood it is the whole of it? (p134)

He refers to an analogy by a Christian writer of Christianity having become an empty bottle and then says this:

Regrettably, today the Christian bottle has been filled with many different agendas: pop psychology, environmentalism, and a nationalistic spirit that cannot distinguish between Christianity and the American way of life.  The cross has become an an ornament hung around the neck, not an instrument that changes the heart.

Some political activists have filled the Christian bottle with a strategy for political reform.  Salvation, it appears, is electing conservatives to national and local office.   Important though the right leaders might be, we must always remember that God is neither Republican nor Democrat.  When the cross is wrapped in the flag of a political party, it is always distracted or diminished.  Even for some who have experienced its power, the cross has become an addendum to what is thought to be more pressing agendas. (p 36) 

 

Helpful Books for Understanding Our Times

Two books I am reading...one for the first time, another is a re-read:  When A Nation Forgets God by Erwin Lutzer (2010) and World Chaos: Its Root and Remedy by G.H. Lang (1949).  Both are insightful and provide food for thought of parallels between what occurred in Germany prior to and during WWII and what is happening in our world today.

Lang's book, among many other valuable things, provides an in-depth look at the belief system of Hitler and his advisers that relied heavily on Fate (i.e. Karma, Kismet, etc.) and, thus, allowed them to, in delusion, rid themselves of any accountability to the God of the Bible.  Any belief system that accomplishes that, including evolution, is exactly what the natural man craves and what the enemy of man's soul will provide.  When one succumbs to such, they find themselves open to a wide range of ultimately destructive ideas.  For Hitler, the state became his god.  For some of Hitler's closest advisers, when Hitler died, they saw no value in living and thus took their own life.

Lang's book is available through Schoettle Publishing.  Lutzer's book is available from a variety of sources.

In Everything Give Thanks?

Ephesians 5:20 KJV - Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

In everything give thanks, Lord?

Even the pain, the hardships, the heartaches?

It is easy to give thanks for the good things: 

The health, the comforts Thou hast blessed me with.

But Thou alone, can make me thankful 

For trials that try my faith.

As Paul wrote, "I have learned in whatsoever 

My state, to therewith be content." (Philippians 4:12)

As he so learned by his trials, so I must learn.

Only by thy grace, can I learn to give thanks

For all things.

Thank Thee, Lord, for grace to do so.

- Becky Coffey

God's Will

Romans 12:2 KJV - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Is this passage teaching that we are to use our God-given faculty of discernment to determine ('prove') which of many options for God's will is the one that is good, acceptable and perfect in a particular situation?  Or, rather, is it that we are to have our mind so adjusted as to understand that God's will for us in any particular situation is in fact good, acceptable and perfect?  I think the latter.

The difficulty we face is acknowledging that anything contrary to our way of thinking and is burdensome to us might in fact be the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.  My will may be to take all steps necessary to alleviate a particular problem circumstance. Frankly, this is thinking that conforms to the world's way of thinking. God's will may be that I stay under that circumstance until He resolves it.  Which would be better?  My way or His?  His, no doubt.

Burdens and What To Do with Them

From F.B. Meyer in The Secret of Guidance:

The one cure for burden-bearing is to cast all burdens on the Lord.  The margin of the Revised Version of Psalm 55:22 reads thus: "Cast that He hath given thee upon the Lord."  Whatever burden the Lord has given you, give it back to Him.  Treat the burden of care as once you did the burden of sin; kneel down and deliberately hand it over to Jesus.  Say to Him, "Lord, I entrust to You this, and this, and this.  I cannot carry them; they are crushing me, but I definitely commit them all to You to manage, and adjust, and arrange.  You have taken my sins.  Take my sorrows, and in exchange give me Your peace, Your rest."

The Modesty of the Ideal Servant - F.B. Meyer

 Isaiah 42:2 KJV - He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

God is always at work in our world, leading the progress of suns, refreshing grass with dew, directing the flight of the morning beams, and even the glancing light of the firefly.  And while lovingly compassing our path and our lying down, he is not too busy to determine the fall of a shell on the sand of the ocean bottom.  But all his work is done so quietly, so unobtrusively, with such reticence as to his personal agency, that many affirm there is no God at all.

He spreads the breakfast table each morning for myriads living in wood and ocean, and in the homes of men as well; but he steals away before we catch sight of him to whom we owe all.  We know that he has been at work but he is gone without a sound, without a footmark, leaving only the evident touch of his hand.

Thus it was with the work of Christ.  He put his hand on the mouths of those who blazoned abroad his fame.  He repeatedly told the recipients of his bounty that they must not make him known.  He stole away from the multitudes that filled the porches of Bethseda, and the healed paralytic knew not who had healed him.  He lingered as long as he could in the highlands of Galilee, until his brethren remonstrated with him.  He did not quarrel nor cry out, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

This quality is God’s hallmark upon the best work.  His highest artists do not inscribe their names upon their pictures, nor introduce their portraits among their groups.  It is enough for them to have borne witness to the truth and beauty of the universe.  The wish for nothing more than to reveal what they have seen in nature’s holiest shrines, or in the transient gleams of beauty in the human face.  To win a soul for God; to cleanse the scar of the leper; to make blind eyes see; to give back the dead to mother, sister, friend – this is recompense enough.  To look up from the accomplished work into the face of God; to catch his answering smile; to receive the reward of the Father who is in secret – this is heaven, compared with which the praise of man is as valueless as his censure. - F.B. Meyer in Christ in Isaiah

The Presence of Christ

Man has at his best longed for something more than a mere knowledge of an omnipresent God. Man at his worst has fled from the place where God met personally with him, showing proof of a darkened mind resulting from a tragic fall.

Let us focus for a few moments on the Presence of Christ. We acknowledge with gratitude that the divine attribute of Omnipresence is attributed to Christ. Scripture tells us much of His localized presence. This is by no means an attempt to think less of blessings brought to bear on our souls by the manifested presence of God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. However, given our marvelous union with the Son of God, our interest in the value of His present work and our longing for the Blessed Hope, His personal return to set up His kingdom, we want our minds and hearts to be enlarged as we think and meditate upon the Bible’s story of the theme at hand, The Presence of Christ.

His presence cheers the heart and soothes the soul. Those who have been privileged to encounter Him directly have deemed it a blessing greatly desired to stay with Him. The Gadarene demoniac, harassed by the dark forces of evil, upon deliverance, sat with Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. He was so enamored with what the Lord had done for him that he would go with Him on further journeys. This the Lord denied, but the story is enough to reinforce how precious the presence of Christ is when the dear delivered one demonstrated the longing of his soul.

Mary, a sister of busy Martha and loving Lazarus, chose the better thing. She sat at His feet while He taught and soaked up the time with Him. His presence caused to fade into the background all non-essential earthly responsibilities for this woman.

The disciples eventually began to understand our Lord’s message to them that He would die. His death, they saw, would cause them to be left alone without their leader and love. While fear was present, sadness was there, too. Our Lord knew their concerns and promised that after His death He would not leave them orphans. He fulfilled His promise when He breathed on them saying, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” and pronouncedly so at Pentecost where they were filled with Christ’s vice-regent for proclaiming the ‘wonderful works of God’.

Even now, saints gather, maybe few in number or maybe many, and have no more important promise to claim than what our Lord said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. His presence for that assembly elevates the mundane to the supernatural and sometimes even the ecstatic. To walk away from such a gathering and be able to say, “Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place”, encourages the saints and can serve as a testimony to those on the outside. It is all about His presence. Without it, a church may meet, but they are a shell. A lamp stand being removed, Christ distancing himself from an assembly, is such an awful thought to the spiritual minded man or woman that they are wise to choose the repent option presented by our Lord where He makes it clear what may cause Him to take such drastic action.

The future, what of it? Will not His presence on the earth bring unparalleled peace, joy and justice to a sin-cursed world? And, is not the grand object of desire for the saved to be among that number who will meet Him in the air upon His return? There is something about His presence! It is alluring. Those that are privileged to be near Him as the first fruits in the future, do so, “and they followed the Lamb, whithersoever He went”. It may be their duty, but because of the One whom they follow, it is their blessed privilege.

As rich as it is to consider His presence with us, it is equally blessed to consider our presence with Him. His High Priestly prayer of John 17 included a request for us to be with Him where He is that we may see His glory. Paul said to “depart and be with Christ is far better”. It seems to me that there is a great matter to consider here. Our immediate enjoyment of the “far better” upon death is one type of being in His presence. Our resurrected state where we will be caught up to meet Him in the clouds and “so shall we ever be with the Lord” is another type of enjoying His presence: a different body, a different abode highlighted by being with Him.