Superstitions

While Christians affirm that God is supernatural, we of all people should not be superstitious. Yes, we recognize that from time to time in biblical history God has spectacularly suspended natural law as a strategic way to display the credentials of his Son, and to authenticate a select group of prophetic messengers. And yes, we also appreciate the overarching providence of God as he purposefully works within the framework of history and natural events. But we should be careful to note that the Bible condemns those superstitious tendencies that always seek to assign a spiritual relationship to a set of natural circumstances. This presumed cause-and-effect relationship can lead to a variety of erroneous and sinful conclusions. Consider when Paul’s hand was bitten by a snake and the superstitious people of Malta wrongly assumed he must have been a criminal (Acts 28). Or remember when the worldly Israelites lost a military battle and foolishly assumed that if they brought the ark of the covenant into the next battle they would win (1 Samuel 4). Think of the Pharisees who had constructed and employed an entire set of superstitious methods and devices in hopes of conjuring up good for their lives (Mark 7). Or envision the women of Judah who were chided for including mystical amulets in their daily wardrobe (Isaiah 3). We must be careful then to be sure we exclusively trust in God, not in any of the superstitions of our culture. We must be certain to rely on God’s word, and not the speculative connections between one thing and another.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org 

Sola Scriptura

Just before one of the strongest statements regarding the uniqueness and sufficiency of Scripture, the Bible warns us that as time marches on “evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). The threat of “evil people” opposing the truth has certainly been harmful, but at least they are easy for Christians to spot. Unfortunately, it is the “imposters” that often cause the most harm because their injury to the people of God is rarely realized until a great deal of damage has already been done. These “imposters” we are told are “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). Their deception is effective because they don’t blatantly attack the truth of Scripture head on, but instead they undermine the Scripture’s authority by advocating a rival source of authority. Sometimes it is the norms of our culture that are exalted to co-regent status. Other times it is the tradition of the church. Often it is the authority given to the impressions and impulses of the human heart. But no matter what it is we must remember Satan’s insidious strategy, that whenever impostors campaign for two sources of authority, the Bible always loses. They may say it won’t, but God has warned that when these deceived deceivers set up anything to be on par with Scripture, the Bible ends up being ignored. So, as our spiritual forefathers have rightly insisted upon, when it comes to hearing God’s authoritative voice of truth it must continue to be Sola Scriptura – the Scripture alone.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org 

Repent

Like a lot of preachers, Amos confessed he had no aspirations of being one. He told his critics that he was happy being a simple farmer, but that God had pressed him into service and commissioned him to call his generation to repentance (Amos 7:14-15). Being the unassuming man he was, he put his convicting sermons in the simplest of terms. He told the compromised “people of God” it was high time to “seek good, and not evil” (Amos 5:14). Their hearts, he said, needed to learn once again to “hate evil, and love good” (Amos 5:15). Unfortunately, there were few who heeded his message due to the intoxication of the prosperous times under king Jeroboam. “Life is good,” the people thought. “We go to ‘church’, God seems to be blessing us, surely he’s happy with us” (Amos 4:4 ff, 6:1 ff.). But Amos warned them, as Paul would later write, “do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). Because Amos’ peers were more in tune with their feelings than the precepts of God’s law they failed to detect what any simple country preacher could see – their lives stood in stark contrast to the lyrics of their worship songs (Amos 5:23-24). Perhaps it is so with us. And maybe what we really need is not the depth of some new theological insight, but just an honest look at ourselves, and an unsophisticated call to repent.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org 

Outlook and Attitude

It doesn’t take long to discover that the Christian life is certainly not a continuous experience of fun and laughter. And yet, we ought to be careful to acknowledge a serious problem when our Christian life deteriorates into a chronic series of joyless days and melancholy weeks. While we’re obviously not exempt from severe loss and terrible pain, even then our grief ought to be tempered by an evident dose of optimism and confidence. Because of our secured relationship with God through Christ “we don’t grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Even when facing the worst of potential outcomes we can expectantly say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). This perspective needs to be more than an undetectable philosophy tucked somewhere in the back of our minds. Luke tells us that when Paul and Silas sat locked in stocks in a Philippian jail their hearts and their voices were found “singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25). When you find that capacity lost because you’ve given yourself over to pessimism and despair, you need to remember Scripture’s warning of discipline to those who do “not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart” (Deuteronomy 28:47). No, not every day will be “a good one” but let us remember that our biggest problems were solved two thousand years ago and the happiness Christ has stored up for his disciples can never be taken away (1 Peter 1:3-9). So no matter what your week looks like, serve and worship God today with optimism and joy.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org 

Conlicting Voices

One of the unpleasant things about being a Christian is the experience of being perpetually bombarded by conflicting “Christian” voices trying to convince us of what God would have us think and do. All these instructors will claim to be Christ’s “sheep”, but Jesus warned that some of them will in fact be harmful and deceptive “wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Making the distinction between what is biblically sound and what is not won’t be as simple as we might imagine. Paul warned the Colossians that a lot of the errors proffered in the name of Christ are packaged in persuasive and “plausible arguments” (Colossians 2:4). We can always count on the fact that false teaching has plenty of truth mixed in. That’s what makes it so insidious. Peter described it as “twisting” the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). “Knowing this beforehand,” Peter went on to write, “take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people” (2 Peter 2:17). Learning how to be discerning, without being incredulous or hypercritical, is an essential Christian virtue. And one that will be all the more important as people increasingly “accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” and “turn away from listening to the truth” in these last days (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org