My Crack at "The Shack"

The Shack is the story of a man struggling to understand a great complexity in life. He has just lost his young daughter to a serial kidnapper/murderer and cannot see how a good God could allow such a thing to happen. He believes that a loving God would have stopped it from happening and feels that a truly loving God must therefore not exist.

The book describes this man’s journey as he returns to the place of his daughters murder only to meet with “God” who walks him into a new, broader understanding of the love of God; helping him to find peace from the terrible sadness that has overcome his life.

Throughout the book I found many things that were very helpful and biblical, convicting me in my own selfish desires. It was a good reminder that the world we live in has been destroyed by sin and that God finds joy in his plan to redeem it. Other things were more troubling as they seemed to contradict very clear teachings in the Bible. Some parts were just plain odd as I couldn’t really understand what the author was saying. Some of these positives, concerns, and confusions are listed at the end as I don’t have time to cover them and others have written extensively on them. The thing that stood out most clearly as I read the book, and what I cover here, was a misunderstanding of the gospel.

The Shack attempts to explain the wonderful beauty of the relational aspect of the Trinity. From eternity past God was supremely happy within the relationship of the Trinity. The sufficiency of His own relationship provided no need for the creation. However, because He had so much love to share, He decided it would benefit His own glory even more to create humans which would be able to participate in the love shared within the Trinity. We were created as relational beings primarily to be in a relationship with Him.

The beautiful relational nature of the god in The Shack and the picture of forgiveness described are very inspiring to those people who have had bad experiences with stodgy old religion, shallow empty churches, or hypocritical self-righteous “Christians.” It is a breath of fresh air to those who saw God as a boring, begrudging rule-maker who wants to make us into mindless drones on our knees throughout eternity chanting his “goodness.” The Shack offers us a picture of a future with God that is full of every beauty God intended in the original creation. Heaven will be a perfect relationship with Him, partaking in everything He created humans to enjoy (including much of which we can enjoy here in this world). This is causing many people to say that their lives were changed from reading this book. Their understanding of God was radically altered as a bright, colorful world created by God was opened up to them.

This is where I begin to be concerned. When a book gets praise for changing lives, it is much more than a work of fiction. The Shack is actually theological fiction, as it was written by the author in a fictional story to teach his children about God. The Word of God is the only thing truly capable of changing lives to be pleasing to Him. With as little as The Shack contains actual Scripture references, I wonder how then it can change lives. The few times Scripture is introduced into the book, it is for the god of the shack to move us away from looking to the Bible for godly wisdom.

We in America tend to do what makes us happiest instead of doing what is right. So many people claim this book has helped them despite the fact that so much of the book is wrong. It is so easy for us to define God in a way that is more comfortable for us than to listen to God’s own description of Himself in the Bible. We like to make ourselves happy by creating a god in our own image instead of asking God to reveal His true self to us. Readers of The Shack claim to have grown closer in their relationships to God. This sounds very spiritual, but unless it reveals the true God of the Bible, they are only growing closer to an image.

Suppose you want to have a relationship with me. You desire to grow closer to me. Someone has given you a book that says it will draw you closer to me. You read it, study it, and find that it has changed your life. It has made you more peaceful, forgiving, kind, and generous and you say you feel much closer to me. It tells you I love poetry (which I don’t), and that my favorite color is green (it is not). The book describes my love for astrology (not true) and gives you my phone number and address (which are not accurate). It says my hair is dark brown, that I am 5’10” tall and I weigh 225 lbs. (not even close). There is a problem here. While you may feel like you’ve drawn closer to me, you have only grown closer to a false image of me. When you tell people that you know me and that I know you, you are actually deceived because you don’t really have any idea who I am. This is much more serious with God, because if it means the difference between heaven and hell, not just being my friend or a stranger, then you will want to be sure you truly know the real God. Careful discernment must be exercised to find out if the god of The Shack is the same as the God of the Bible.

The story of The Shack is a dramatic telling of one man’s road to forgiveness and joy, but claiming to be a Christian story, it misses out on the ultimate story of redemption as covered throughout the pages of the Bible. The gospel is the central theme of Scriptures; the redemption of people throughout history from the consequences of sin by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the praise and glory of God. While The Shack does touch on a few of these themes, it also undermines (perhaps unintentionally) some of the basic, foundational aspects of the glorious gospel.

It is definitely true that we were created to enjoy the glory of God in a relationship with Him forever. However, we squandered that possibility as we decided we were more capable than God of determining what was best for ourselves. Our pride determined that we would seek our own way instead of trusting God to be the leader of our lives as He purposed in the creation. This is the essence of sin; that we rebel against what God expects from us as His image bearers.

The 10 Commandments are not simply a list of rules that God created for us to follow, but a perfect picture of the character of His holiness. [1] There is one God who has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures. [2] Any picture or imagining of Him that is not revealed in the Bible is creating a false god. [3] His name is due honor and respect as it expresses His character. [4] The Sabbath rest commanded of us pictures the rest from striving to obtain his favor that we can find in Christ’s sacrifice. [5] Honoring our parents is a way that we honor God’s authority through the submission to the authorities God placed in our lives. [6] Murder (even anger and hatred) of an image-bearer of God are seen as a direct attack on His character. [7] Marriage was instituted to be a picture of the Trinitarian relationship and the relationship of Christ to His church; to seek for pleasure outside of this institution is metaphorical to seeking after false gods. [8] God gives some things to some and not to others. To take something that doesn’t belong to you is to question His providence. [9] To bear false witness (tell a lie) is to proclaim that there is deceit in the character of God. [10] God commands us to be content with what He has provided in life.

The god in The Shack claims that it has no expectations of people and therefore cannot be disappointed by us. Contrary to this feel-good expression, in the Bible God commands us to “be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

As we look at ourselves in God’s perfect mirror of the 10 commandments we see that we are so far from perfect holiness that we are completely helpless to obtain His favor. We begin to recognize the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and that we aren’t good people at all (Romans 3:12). When people in the Bible were standing before God, they were fearful for their lives as they realized that as sinners they could not possibly continue to live in the presence of God. Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3) and God hid him in a rock to prevent Moses from seeing Him and being killed (Exodus 33). Isaiah cried out to God not to kill him because he was a “man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6). When Peter recognized that Jesus was God, he pleaded with Jesus to leave his presence so he wouldn’t perish (Luke 5). Guilt arises in us as we realize that we do not deserve blessing, but we actually deserve just punishment in hell (1 Corinthians 6:9,10; Matthew 25:46). The guilt isn’t all bad, however, as it drives us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) and leads us to the good news of the cross (Galatians 3:24).

The good news of the cross is that Jesus, who lived the perfect life we are commanded to live, died on the cross taking the punishment we deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s justice and wrath against our sin was satisfied as He was pleased to pour out His punishment on His son Jesus (Isaiah 53:4,5,10). Those who repent and believe in Christ will be counted as sinless (John 3:16), but those who refuse to repent will not find their sins paid for but will pay for them on their own in eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). The Shack leaves the door open for those who deny Christ to still be reconciled with God.

Often times the love of God is misunderstood; pictured as God giving us a hug when we are sad or giving us nice things to enjoy. But the Bible always explains the love of God in connection with the death of Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). Love isn’t a warm feeling of pleasure magically given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is God allowing our sin to be transferred to Christ and Christ’s perfection to be transferred to us; so that His enemies (Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:3; John 8:44) become His children and friends. How truly amazing that God gives blessings to those who curse Him and offers eternal life in His kingdom to those who drag His name through the mud!

Because God loved us by giving us new life (1 John 4:9), we are “born again” (John 3:3) with a clean heart that desires to obey God. His commands aren’t a dead list of rules to us, but a delight (1 John 5:3) as we are being transformed into that image of His perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18). We delight to read of His works through the Bible (Job 23:12) as they are the words of life (John 6:68). We enjoy the fellowship of other believers at church gatherings because they have also been redeemed from their fallen condition (1 John 3; Hebrews 10:25). We are now able to forgive others because we realize how much God has forgiven us (Luke 7:47; Matthew 18:21-35).

No matter what a believer encounters in this world, we know that God is working through the corruption brought on by our sin to eventually bring goodness into our lives (Romans 8:28). We can handle the temporary trials because we know that one day we will be welcomed into heaven where there will be no more pain and death (Revelation 21:4) and we will get to enjoy the pure loving fellowship with God without our sin destroying every relationship.

While The Shack does a beautiful job of portraying loving relationships and the need for forgiveness, it lacks (and often contradicts) the holy, righteous demands of the Creator, making Him out to be at times a helpless bystander waiting for people to recognize He loves them. It tends to bring the glorious God of all creation down to a picture of a really good human. The God of the universe, revealed in the Bible, is much, much bigger and more powerful than this. He is in control of all things, working all things together for His glory and the good of His children. He will punish all sin wherever it is seen. He punished the sin of those who trust him on the cross of Jesus Christ and He will punish the sin of those who refuse to believe in eternal hell. It would have been perfectly just and right for Him to send us all to hell, but He has chosen to lavish His goodness on many and to redeem them to partake in His eternal glory in the beauty of heaven, far greater than anything we can imagine. This is what makes His love so great, that we nearly insignificant people would be cared for by the infinite Creator even though we didn’t deserve it. Praise be to God for giving mercy and grace to some to enjoy Him forever!

Quick Thoughts Running Through My Mind as I Read the Book

Strong Points

· When we question God’s goodness, we act as ignorant judges, believing ourselves to be more righteous than God Himself (pg. 159)

· Forgiveness requires leaving God to work out His plan and not allowing bitterness to control us.

· God is completely satisfied and self-sufficient within the Trinity.

· The main character, while often disrespectful of God, is at times brutally honest with God sounding like some of the Psalms crying out to God for understanding.

· Papa sensitive to Mack’s lack of a good father, as God is called in Psalm 68:5 “A father of the fatherless.”

· Mack realizes that God is a lot more complex than he could possibly understand and needs to trust in His goodness more. All good things come from God.

· God is not to blame for suffering and pain in the world, but we are for our selfish God-dishonoring decisions.

· God tells Mack that people like to determine good or evil based on their own feelings instead of looking to God for answers (pg. 134-136).

· We are created in God’s image to be in a relationship with Him. Our sense of justice, love, and creative imagination (pg. 141) show how we were different from the animals, specially made to be in fellowship with God.

· We fear so much because we don’t trust God (pg. 142).

· The church that the world sees does not always represent Christ the way it should (pg. 177,178). Jesus told us there would be true and false believers mixed in with the visible church, with the false believers giving the church a bad name.

· God is not the stereotypical grandfather-in-the-sky. He is magnificent, beautiful, powerful, gracious, loving and merciful. Much more than we could ever imagine (which is exactly why the 2^nd Commandment forbids imagining or picturing Him as anything).

· Heaven isn’t a place where we are all wearing white robes, playing harps and chanting like monks for eternity. It includes everything we understand as loving and beautiful in this world multiplied by infinity. It contains relationships without sin, joy without pain, life without death, happiness with no interruption for sadness, complete use of our senses far better than we have ever used them on earth, expressions of art, music, dance, food, architecture, and science that we haven’t even begun to experience.

· The 10 Commandments aren’t a list of rules we are to keep to please God, but are a mirror to look at to see how far short we come up to His standard.

Weak Points

· There is a huge lack of Scripture throughout the book. The only times verses are brought up is for “God” to subvert the obvious understanding of the text. A good Christian book will be laced with Bible verses, especially in the parts where God is talking (read Pilgrim’s Progress). It is always dangerous to put words in God’s mouth as you may end up teaching something that is false and attributing it to the holy One of all creation (which is blasphemy). The Bible is discounted in this novel. The author represents it as a book of guilt and subjection rather than hope, encouragement, knowledge, and light. Scripture is downplayed as our source of God’s knowledge as personal experience is elevated to a source of truth.

· Anti-authoritarian – seminary, church, rules, structure, roles are all bad, not just abused by people, but essentially bad. The book says all hierarchy is a result of sin. Hierarchy is ordained by God in many things including government (Romans 13), Marriage (1 Corinthians 11; Ephesians 5; 1 Peter 3), and even in God Himself (1 Corinthians 11:3). Consistent with this anti-authoritarian theme, the author refuses to participate in any regularly attending church organization, directly opposed to a command in Scripture (Hebrews 10:25).

· Holiness/Transcendence is missing. God’s closeness/imminence is focused on to the detriment of his greatness. God is big, perfect, righteous, and holy. People in the Bible feared for their lives when they saw His glory. The Shack is missing the fear of God element (Proverbs 1:7).

· Mack does not act as though he is in the presence of One far greater than he is, but acts as if he is hanging out with peers. He uses foul language and snaps in anger at God. Not near the reaction of people in the Bible standing in the presence of God (Exodus 3; 33; Isaiah 6; Luke 5:8)

· God the Father and the Holy Spirit depicted as humans. Only Jesus became a man. God in the Bible never portrayed Himself as a human other than in Christ. He is spoken of as a consuming fire, a whirlwind, unapproachable light, etc., but we must be careful to describe Him as anything other than what He has revealed. Throughout the Bible the Father reveals Himself in masculine terms, not once as a woman. While God does not have a gender, it is dangerous to start messing around with how He has chosen to reveal Himself. The 2^nd Commandment forbids us from portraying God as any image; making the Creator part of the creation.

· God’s power and control over creation is limited. God is seen as helpless to overcome the sinful choices of man and is anxiously awaiting the day that people recognize how good they can have it with Him. God in the Bible is in control of all events, able to work good out of every situation and working to redeem those He has chosen from before the foundation of the world. It was His plan from before time to create people who would fall into sin so that He could redeem some from it by sending His Son to be a sacrifice. God’s purposes cannot be thwarted.

· God’s love and His justice are presented as contradictory attributes, where His love apparently limits His justice. The God of the Bible is just because He is loving. He will punish sin. He does not simply forgive sinners and ignore justice. He displays just punishment of sin on Christ at the cross; both loving and just.

· Papa suggests the word “responsibility” is nowhere in the Bible (pg. 206). While the English word may not be found in a couple of translations, the meaning of the word is littered throughout scripture; obligation and duty. Also misleading in this is that Papa says He won’t be disappointed in us because He doesn’t have expectations. He is more than disappointed in us; He is angry with our sin.

· The Shack claims that the Father was on the cross with Jesus, suffering with Him (Papa also bears the marks of the cross like Jesus). However, the Bible says that the Father forsook the Son (Matthew 27:46) as Jesus bore the guilt of our sin and it pleased the Father to pour out His wrath on the Son for our sake (Isaiah 53).

· Sin is downplayed and judgment is denied. Judgment is spoken of throughout the Bible and sin is an eternal offense to a holy God. God will punish sin (contrary to The Shack pg. 120) because He is offended by it. Sin is much more than its own punishment, it is wickedness in the sight of God.

· Very man-centered. It is not about revealing how wonderful God is in all of His glory, but about making man more comfortable with God. God is revealed in with human limitations. He is not portrayed as being very different than weak, limited humans.

· Papa says that all three persons of the Trinity became a man in Jesus. This is not an accurate portrayal of the Trinity. The Trinity did not become human, the Son did.

· The Shack claims that Jesus set aside his deity and was only a man completely dependent upon the Father. Orthodox Christianity says that in some awesome mystery, Jesus is 100% God and 100% man, not denying His godly nature when He became a man.

· Jesus says He is the “best way” to relate to the Father instead of the only way (John 14:6). Later Papa says He has followers in many different religions.

· The Shack teaches that all people are God’s children and He is “especially fond of” them all. The Bible teaches that we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), children of the devil (John 8:44), and we become His children when we repent and trust in Christ (1 John 3:10; 1 John 5:2).

· Relationship with God is emphasized so much that it ignores that believers are also “slaves” to Christ (Romans 6:16-19) and that God does have expectations of obedience from us (John 14-17; 1 John).

Confusing Points

· Racial stereotyping (Jews with big noses, jolly African American woman serving in the home, Strange Asian woman difficult to grasp)

· Instead of saying that all roads lead to the Father, Jesus says that He will travel any road to find people. Compare this all roads discussion to the roads Jesus talked about in Matthew 7 where He says the road most people are on leads to destruction but the road few are on that follows Him is the one that leads to glory.

· In American culture, kissing is a very intimate (often sexual) expression. It is odd then that the Trinity is often found to be kissing (once on the lips). As much as love and sex is misunderstood in our culture it is a bit confusing to see it casually displayed like this by God in the book.

· Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) is a weird, hard to follow, mind-in-the-clouds person with not much of a purpose. I just had difficulty understanding the reason for the eccentricities described.

Helpful Reviews I Have Read

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7831

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7830

http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/the-shack-by-william-p-young.php

http://mattandryan.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/the-shack-christianitys-next-big-thing/

http://theresurgence.com/the_shack_book_review

http://www.leadingtheway.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sto_TheShack_Uncovered

http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-04-11

http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-05-26

http://www.theshackreview.com/

The Holiness of God - Review

Isaiah (chapter 6) once got a glimpse of God's holiness and immediately cried out, "Woe is me. I am undone." Moses (Exodus 33) asked to see God's face and He replied, "No man can see God's face and live." The disciples trembled in fear after witnessing Christ's display of control over nature (Mark 4:35-41). These men instantly understood their place in the universe when they were confronted with the awesome holiness of their Creator.

In The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul unfolds the incredible nature of the mysterious attribute called God's holiness. Of all God's characteristics described in the Scriptures, none is so beyond our understanding as His holiness. When we think of God we often consider His love, grace, or kindness, but Sproul notes an interesting emphasis placed in Scripture. "The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy; or wrath, wrath, wrath; or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, that the whole earth is full of His glory." (pg. 26)

The book describes God's holiness as being separate, high above what we are. To be holy is to be of supreme and absolute greatness. Holiness is not just another attribute in a list of what God is like; it is all that God is. Holiness encompasses everything we understand about God and far beyond. God's love, grace, justice, mercy, wrath, kindness, righteousness, power, perfection, deity are all expressed as part of God's holiness. "When we call things holy when they are not holy, we commit the sin of idolatry. We give to common things the respect, awe, worship, and adoration that belong only to God." (pg. 40)

R.C. Sproul throughout the book discusses aspects of God's holiness and the effect it has on the lives of His creatures. He expounds on Biblical examples of the LORD's holiness revealed. He takes a look at how great men of God in history, Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards, were transformed and proclaimed holiness. Luther went from a Catholic monk who feared the holiness of God, to understanding faith in Christ and longing for His holiness. Edwards was a man who did not falter in preaching every aspect of God including His wrath, justice, love, and mercy, in his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

It is wise for us to study the holiness of our God and Savior. The more we understand who God is, the better we grasp our true place in creation. We recognize how utterly sinful we are and how righteous God is; how helpless we are and how powerful God is; how empty we are and how wonderful God is. "We may dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace" (pg. 183). We should, at the same time, both fear His holiness and

yearn for it; knowing that only His holiness can save us from the consequences of our unholiness.
The lives of many professed Christians seem so tiresome and dull. They see nothing exciting about being a Christian and worshipping the sovereign King of the universe. Often these people fall away, revealing they never truly knew who God is (1 John 2:19). "It is difficult for many people to find worship a thrilling and moving experience. We note here, when God appeared in the temple, the doors and the thresholds were moved. The inert matter of doorposts, the inanimate thresholds, the wood and metal that could neither hear nor speak had the good sense to be moved by the presence of God." (pg. 26) "People do not normally feel [overwhelmed] in church. There is no sense of awe, no sense of being in the presence of One who makes us tremble. People in awe never complain that church is boring." (pg. 137) The Holiness of God will be a book that will bring a sense of awe into your relationship with your Savior.

When People Are Big and God is Small - Review

The fear of man is a lot larger reality in our lives that we believe. "If you want to know whether or not you fear God, note your reaction when good things are taken from you." (pg. 114) "Fear of man is such a part of our human fabric that we should check for a pulse if someone denies it.' (pg 17) Do you want to see the fear of man rear its head? Start talking to people about evangelism. In our culture it is often labeled by other names; peer pressure, people-pleasing, codependency, pride, introversion, self-pity, etc. Edward T. Welch writes in When People Are Big and God is Small that we all have a fear of man and explains that freedom from it has three parts: a biblically informed knowledge of God, other people, and ourselves. He breaks down these three into steps that help reveal the sinful fear of others in our lives and replace it with a godly fear.

Rightfully, Edward Welch begins and spends much of the book describing the amazing attributes of God explaining, "The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord" (pg. 19). God is a lot bigger than we can even begin to imagine. "Scripture speaks of unimaginable love alongside holy anger. God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love, but he also does not leave the guilty unpunished" (pg. 103) We need to understand all sides of God's holiness; His grace, love, and mercy, balanced with justice, anger, and wrath. God is awesome, powerful, beautiful and His handiwork is displayed everywhere. Many of today's sermons in America feed into self-centered thinking by providing self-help sermons. "The result [of too many application sermons] is that our goal can be self-improvement rather than the glory of the Holy God. We need more sermons that leave us trembling." (pg. 96) "A growing knowledge of God displaces the fear of people, and it casts out our tendency to be casual with our secret sins." (pg. 107)

Another step in overcoming the fear of man is having a biblical understanding of ourselves and others. It is important for us to realize how sinful we are and that our dependency is on God not on others. Welch says we ascribe too often God's attributes to other people, "People are our favorite idol. We exalt them and their perceived power above God. We worship them as ones who have God-like exposing gazes or God-like ability to "fill" us with esteem, love, admiration, acceptance, respect, and other psychological desires" (pg. 45). He states that too often we worry that other people will think we are fanatics, that we are stupid, or that they won't respond to us the way we want (fear of people), instead of being more concerned about our own sin and obeying God (fear of God). We then begin to make excuses for our fear of man, calling our sins "shortcomings," saying we are only human, or appealing to the majority for decisions. Instead of living godly we give in because we fear others. In reference to this, Edward Welch makes this convicting statement, "Sometimes we would prefer to die for Jesus than to live for Him." (pg. 39) He declares that "what we fear shows our allegiances. It shows where we put our trust. It shows who is big in our lives." (pg. 47)

When People Are Big and God is Small is a great book that dives into the excuses we make for the fear of man and the remedies for them. The heart of the book is the gospel message, which Welch digs deep into and reveals a better understanding of the gospel than a basic 'Romans Road' presentation describes. He says, "The good news of Jesus is not intended to make us feel good about ourselves. Instead, the good news humbles us" (pg. 146). Throughout the book we find out that we are more sinful than "all fall short" leads us to believe. We take every second of blessing from God and lace it with sin (boasting, self-pity, lies, fear, worry, lust, coveting, etc.). We are idol factories, exaggerating the power of people over us and ascribing them the ability to fulfill our desires. We "stretch the truth" to make ourselves more comfortable in a situation and justify it by saying we are only human or others just don't understand the situation. We create a perceived need in our eyes (more accurately a lust), and make justifications for desiring something God hasn't granted us. When discussing the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the good news of Christ's death and resurrections the author states, "When the fear of the Lord matures in you, Christ becomes irresistible" (pg. 123).

In the book, Welch gets right to the root of these issues, lays out God's wonderful news of His love and transforming power, and offers practical advice on steadily overcoming the fear of others. "THE problem is clear: People are too big in our lives and God is too small. The answer is straightforward: We must learn to know that our God is more loving and more powerful than we ever imagined." (pg. 113)

Accountability

No cutesy pictures today. No eloquent prose. Just the plain and simple fact that we need accountability. A child is accountable to her mother, as a teenager is accountable to his girlfriend. Laws operate to keep us accountable to each other, so that our society doesn't run a muck with murderers and looters. Even our consciences work to keep us in check, and, in the final analysis, we are accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Why? Wouldn't it be a lot more "fun" if we were to simply do as we please, with little consideration of any such thing as "consequences?" I mean, really; why can't anarchy work? Doesn't decadence and self-satisfaction satiate our otherwise unquenchable desires for appeasement?

It doesn't seem so. Life loses all meaning without accountability. If we truly are to "eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," then why don't we simply "eat and drink" until we die? Because these things don't satisfy. A final reckoning, an eventual accounting makes requisite purposeful living.

An eye towards the judgment should spur us on towards purposeful living. But, it's so hard for us to conceive of death and eternity, isn't it, when there seems so much life left to live? That is why God's plan is all the more encouraging, when you consider that "no man is an island," but instead is planted amidst a similar people, on a similar journey.

For the Church, we answer to each other as brothers and sisters. We are to hold each other accountable, that we present ourselves "holy, cleansed by the washing with water through the word, and presented to Him as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:26-27)." I am firmly convinced that our greatest strength as a church is to hold each other accountable, as "iron sharpens iron." Fellowship and friendliness and all that are well and good, but if we are not doing the hard and gritty work of discipleship, then we meet to no avail.

May we allow the natural vehicle for sanctification do its work in our lives, as our brothers and sisters in Christ challenge us to be "accountable before God and men."

Stewardship of Souls - Consider Your Own

I really enjoyed Kevin’s sermon on Sunday on the Stewardship of Souls. It was both convicting and encouraging. Afterwards, Molly (my wife) and I were talking for a while on the application and impact of such thoughts. If you were in attendance, you will remember a couple of points he made that I have been pondering on a bit lately: we don’t really care about lost souls the way we should, and a person must understand their sin before they can understand God’s love.

I simply want to emphasize the importance of these two points. First, we must really understand our sin before we understand God’s love. Everyone knows John 3:16, “God loved the world in this way; He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” Consider also Romans 5:8, “God showed His love toward is, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And look at 1 John 3:16a and 1 John 4:9, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us”; “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Our love has nothing to do with God liking something so much in us that He just had to do something to help us. He loves us because He is love, despite the fact that we are the complete opposite. We have done nothing in our lives to merit His attention, yet he pours His grace on us by the second. Scripture says that He doesn't show His love by giving us a warm fuzzy feeling or by giving us better lives now, but He showed His love for us by dying on the cross in our place, rising from the dead, and offering us eternal life in His presence if we turn from our sin and trust in His sacrifice for righteousness.

The more you understand how desperately wicked your heart is, the more you will praise God for saving you despite your heart. My brother once told me he is uncomfortable at churches where people hold their hands up in the air while they sing with their eyes closed. He said he thinks it’s weird and doesn’t understand why they do it. I told him that many of those people are so full of joy because they have been redeemed so much. I said to him that these are people who know they deserve eternal punishment for their sin, but instead have been given eternal life, and they are exceedingly joyful. He didn’t think his sin was that bad (if we are honest we must all admit we don’t see our sin as God does), so he had no reason to see how wonderful God’s love is.

Many people today misunderstand the love of God (shown in much of contemporary Christian music), and believe that God sees some great potential in us and He wants to give us a hug to make us feel better. While the love of God does give us joy, it doesn’t solve all problems in this life (Jesus actually promised that it will cause division and bring persecution) and our immediate happiness isn't the reason Christ died for us. We must understand that when Scripture speaks of the love of God, it always refers to sending a Savior to people who don’t deserve it (who actually deserve the condemnation they stand under).

This I believe is the root of why we don’t care about lost souls enough to be more faithful in reaching them with the gospel. We don’t see our own sin as so evil and wicked that it angers God, that it deserves a just punishment of hell. We aren’t weeping over the sin in our own lives, so why would we care about the sin in other peoples lives. We should see how sin has dismantled God’s creation and have great sorrow, causing us to reach out to sinners in pity. They (as we once were) are in bondage to sin and sit under the wrath of God. All they know how to do is sin and they are so blind to it they don’t want to know how to get out of it. This should move our hearts (if not our eyes) to tears and our feet to action.

Listen to this testimony from a man named Paul Washer. Listen to him weep as he agnoizes over his sin and praises God for saving him from it.

He weeps over his sin because he knows how much God saved him from it. He gives God all the glory for pulling him from the wreck that was called his life. Is your testimony like this? When you tell others about what Christ did to you, do you tell them about the wickedness that God saved you from? Do you tell them Christ transformed you and made you a new creature that desires holiness and righteousness? Is your testimony about the love of Christ changing your sinful heart or about some guy named Jesus who makes your life more fun?

When you look at your life, do you see it as littered with sin that offends an infinite, holy God. Maybe you prayed a prayer and admitted, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but do you know that your lies deserve punishment. Your lustful thoughts are adultery and deserve hell. Thoughts of hate are seen by God as murder. When you say, “Well I don’t think God is that way. I think God is this way,” you are making an idol in your mind. Sure we may say that we understand that the Bible says we are sinners, but do we truly believe it? Do you hate sin? Is it an ugly stain on your soul that tears you apart inside knowing that it offends God?

Why aren’t we better at evangelism? Because we don’t hate our own sin enough and we don’t weep over others who are caught in sin. May God make us weep over our own sin and make us humble in our evangelism because we recognize how much we have been saved from the wickedness of our own hearts.

When It's Naughty to be Nice

Beloved, it seems we have a problem. It turns out that the Western church is embroiled in a battle; a schizophrenic civil war, to be more precise. This shouldn't surprise you. Dating as far back as the penning of Romans 7, we have done, and continue to do, that which we shouldn't, forsaking that which we ought to do. Shoot, this dates back to the advent of the sin nature, then. More specifically, however, I find that, in my own life, in my reading, and in my daily experience, there is an inner struggle between what is "nice," and what is "holy."



It's a natural tendency, of course. The path of least resistance rarely, if ever, merges with the straight and narrow, and yet, it must be a four-lane highway, with all the traffic it gets. "Now, we don't want no trouble," do we? No, for our own self-preservation, the only thing we fight for is the lowest common denominator, a banal mediocrity that quietens everyone and pleases no one. Yet, when I consider the life of Jesus, I find that He very often was confronting the niceties of established religion, and was consorting with the rough rabble of prostitutes, tax collectors, and lepers. I think His most telling statement to this end was, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9:12-13)."

And, let's be honest. Doesn't even our neighbor see through our niceness? If we can see in each other our own insincerities, doesn't God certainly see through it, He who searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts (1 Chronicles 28:9)?" Sincerity of heart is what counts, not appearances. Jesus' track record with the Pharisees and religious leaders should well demonstrate that.

What lies at the root of our ingratiating desire to "just be nice," anyway? Do we fear our fellow man that much, that we sacrifice what we know to be right for what we know to be easy? Do you realize that the nicer your facade, the less relevant you become? Don't we understand that Christ made such an impact precisely because He moved past cliches, past the status quo, so that even the secular voices need respect His impact? People don't want packaged answers and glib diatribes nearly as much as they want honesty. Think back to when you became a follower of Christ. Were you responding to your deep-seated need to simply have a pleasant life? Of course not! You had found in Christ Jesus the answer to your deepest need, and a God big enough to handle any question, even if you can't understand the answer. Let's be real for once, because things aren't always nice. Wipe away the veneer; be geniune, and find true satisfaction.

Shape Up, Or Sin Out!

There is a universal law in our world termed entropy, and I fear it is true of myself as well. Entropy states that there is a "inevitable and steady deterioration of a system," and my life suffers from it, for sure. Just as things tend to degress naturally (i.e., the cleanliness of my room), so does my spiritual life, which is life itself, to be quite true.

Isn't it true that we are most drawn to prayer when we are at our most pathetic? Don't we often look to God when things are going poorly? Why is that? When skies are sunny and temperatures mild, do we think to go to the One who made them that way?

It seems if I were to take a more preventative stance in my guard against sin, I wouldn't lurch from this spiritual seesaw, "being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine." I mean, let's be honest, we need no false prophets to succumb to the allures of erroneous doctrine. It takes only a furtive glance, a misplaced word, an unguarded mind.

I am challenged to guard against my entropic tendencies, and not rest on the victories of today. As a sinner, I can quickly err tomorrow. It is, perhaps, what we commit to in the easier times that proves us victorious in the hard ones. So, pray in earnest, and do so often. "Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think," and give yourself undue license to indulge.

An athelete proves himself in the offseason; a farmer commits when the ground lies fallow; a soldier enlists before the battle cry ever sounds. A Christian, then, must resolve now that they'll remain ever ready for the Lord's return, lest they be found lacking oil for their lamps (Matthew 25). "The spirit is willing," eh, "but the flesh is indeed weak." Allow the Spirit of God to do vigilant work in your life, then, and avoid the 'slippery skin' you're in.

References: Ephesians 4:14; Romans 12:3; 2 Timothy 2; Matthew 26:41

Christ, Our Judge & Lawgiver

Lord, haste the day when we enjoy the writings of clear, concise thinkers like
R. A. Torrey and John Owens! I have been encouraged yet again by but a few pages of our Puritan brother, John Owens. In his work Sin and Temptation, he deals with the efficacy of the Law to prevail over sin. There is, of course, no such thing, as the Law instead acts to give us knowledge of sin (Romans 7:7; "I had not known sin, but by the law"). The Law even manages to magnify our sin, demonstrating our tremendous need of a Savior.

So, what do we do? We strain and strive to live rightly, casting aside the gross, objectionable sins, while paving the way for the dark insidiousness of "blindness, superstition, self-righteousness, and pride." Per Owens, "what sin loses sensually, it gains spiritually" in these various areas. How often we find ourselves mustering in our own strength and resolve to prevail over sin, ignoring "true gospel grace," as Owens terms it. He makes a powerful analogy: "Locking up wild beasts does not change them, for the inward violence remains. Likewise, it is grace alone that changes the heart of man."

I pray today that you find yourselves not in a humanly straining towards holiness, but in a Godward straining towards the Savior. I am convinced that much of our struggle with sin is in an attempt to conquer it ourselves, rather than leaning on the singular One who proved victorious over it. The spotless, righteous Lamb of God, who was in every way tempted, and yet evidenced no inkling of leaning towards it. Surely He shall prove strong to save, and Victor over sin and its entanglements. Surely we would be wise to place our faith in Him. Though we be His disciples, we are often found to be of such little faith, are we not? Choose this day to lean wholly on Him, and not on your own surmising. As the Law demonstrates your need, go to Him for its satisfaction.

Standing in the Presence of God

Imagine you are out for a stroll through the park. The sun is shining, warming your skin to the perfect comfort. The leaves are rustling in the slight breeze. You notice the birds in the branches singing their songs and the squirrels chattering at you as you disrupt their hunt for acorns. The many colors of the leaves, grass, flowers, and birds blend together more perfectly than a rainbow. You can’t help but be thankful to God for providing such a beautiful place to enjoy His creation.

Then He suddenly appears face to face with you. When you think of God’s character, what attributes come to mind? What would you do when confronted by Him? What would you say? How you answer the questions will give you some insight into how highly you think of God and of yourself. A proper understanding of God’s Holiness and your own sinfulness drives you closer to the Savior and deeper into your calling.

The word holy is very difficult to define. Literally, it means to be separate. In Bible study, we once talked about what it means to be consecrated and we discussed it as being set aside for specific use. When we are saved, God makes us holy, cleansing us and making us different from the world to be used for His glory. Holiness encompasses all that is God: His purity, righteousness, goodness, love, and sovereignty. The depths of God’s holiness are so great that I could never cover them in such a short piece like this. I only want to mention a couple interesting points about the holiness of God and discuss how a few people in scripture react to His holiness (for deeper study on holiness check out The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul, Holiness by J.C. Ryle, and The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges).

Exodus 33:12-23 gives us a glimpse into the relationship of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness. God is talking to Moses on the mount explaining His commands for Moses to lead Israel and Moses asks God to let him see His face. God tells Him that it cannot be done, because nobody can see the face of God and live. God is so holy, and we are so sinful, that we would be consumed faster than a dry leaf on the surface of the sun. He tells Moses to hide in a crack in a rock while He passes by and will allow Moses to see His back but not look upon His face.

In Hebrew language, when you want to place emphasis on something you are saying, you say it repeatedly. Jesus often said to those he taught, “Truly, truly” or “Verily, verily.” He was telling His listeners that what he was saying is extremely important. A few times scripture expresses the importance of something to the third degree, emphasizing its supreme importance. In Revelation 8:13 the angel calls three “woes” upon the inhabitants of the earth. Jeremiah (7:4) addresses the hypocrisy of the people by saying “This is the temple of the LORD” three times. Only one of God’s attributes is raised to the third degree. You would think that listening to today’s Christian music or many popular Christian messages that it would say God is “love, love, love.” Isaiah shares his vision of God (chapter 6) and says the angels surrounding Him were saying, “holy, holy, holy.” God isn’t simply holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy.

Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah records his experience of seeing God sitting on His throne and then his response to such a revelation. He didn’t say, “Oh boy, I feel so comforted in the presence of God.” Or, “I feel such an overwhelming joy in your presence Lord.” Isaiah cried out, “Woe to me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and live with people of unclean lips and I have seen God.” He was immediately aware of his utter sinfulness and knowing what God told Moses about seeing God and living knew that he should die. Isaiah called a curse upon himself and said he was “undone,” or “coming apart at the seams.”

Mark 4:35-41 (Luke 8:22-25)
Consider the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were afraid their boat was going to sink and they would die, but Jesus was sound asleep. They were extremely frightened and they woke Jesus up to help. Jesus didn’t respond to them at all but simply commanded the sea to be calm. Even though Jesus controlled the sea miraculously, the most surprising part of the story is the reaction of the disciples; “They were terrified…” Their lives were spared. Their boat sat still. The sun was shining. No wind. Birds chirping. And they were terrified! They knew at once they were in the presence of the holy God.

Luke 5:1-8
Finally, look at the story of Jesus taking Peter off shore and telling him to drop his net in the water. Peter complains, saying he has been fishing all day and night and hasn’t caught a thing, but despite not being able to understand, he obeys anyway (another great sermon in here). They ended up catching so many fish that when other boats came to help they all began to sink.

In a book I just read and reviewed, the author explains that knowing the fear of God prevents us from being casual about sin and that it actually encourages us to flee to Him for holiness. These men knew that the Person who was in their presence knew every intimate detail about them. There was no hiding, no running, and no making excuses for their sins. There was nothing they could do but be terrified and hope for mercy. This is a proper reaction to the presence of God. Part of us should fear God for we are unclean and He is righteous; another part runs to His holiness for we know we must be holy and only he can grant that to us.

The good news, however, is that God did not leave these men in their condition. An angel came to Isaiah with a hot coal and purified his lips. Ultimately, Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead so that we could be made holy and righteous. Though we are sinful and unclean, He cleanses us from our unrighteousness, then calls us to obedience. There is a pattern in of these stories (as well as our stories), it starts with brokenness and ends in a mission. If you have been broken over your own sins, repented and trusted in Christ, you have been called to serve Him.

Now the trick is deciding what He wants you to do.

The Attractiveness of Sin

Galatians 5:13-16
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Romans 13:14
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

I was brought to these passages, among others, in my study of John Owen's "Sin and Temptation," as he speaks to The Challenge of Personal Godliness (subtitle) . Though the original writing dates back to the 1850s, I have found its admonitions wholly pertinent in my life, and very applicable to our present circumstance.

I was prompted, then, to write this note b/c I fear that we, as American Christians, often feel justified in our flirtations with sin, often for the sake of entertainment. I have grown more and more convicted in what I do with my "free" time, as it is often filled with "innocent" movies, unspecific searches on YouTube, and casual walks in the mall, to name a few. None of these things are evil in and of themselves; however, they are easily conducive to such evil, and often lend to it simply by the very nature of their occurrence. That is, because I am casually involved in these things, and "mindlessly" engaged, I am so very prone to sin's entanglement. Paul states that, yes, we are free, free indeed; but, may it never be that we use such freedom to indulge the sinful nature, especially in frivolities. We who have been given one singular life to exhaust upon the glory of our Savior would be remiss not to follow His very pattern; even as He lounged with Lazarus, or supped with the Pharisee, He was about His Father's business.

I would challenge you to apply what Paul says in Galatians; rather than indulge the sinful nature, aggravate it by "serving one another in love." Do you find yourself with nothing to do? Get to know your next door neighbor. Call a church member who you don't know as well, or have been avoiding. Engage the Word in an unfamiliar passage (or a familiar passage; shoot, they are just as needed). Be about your Father's business.

I leave you with two quotes from Owen's work:

"When we indulge with delight in thoughts of forbidden things, we commit sin, even though our will has not yet consented to perform the deed." And again: "When there is a readiness on the part of the soul to listen to these silent voices--[those] secret insinuations that arise from deceit--it is evident that the affections are already enticed.

Praying Christ's Victory Over Our Flesh,
Pastor Jeremy