The Potter and the Clay: God Has All Authority

After He had risen from the dead, Jesus approached His disciples and said to them: ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’ Mathew 28:18
All authority. One of the most difficult aspects of our faith is accepting this truth. God has all authority . . . to run His creation as He sees fit, to make decisions according to His design and will, to take what already belongs to Him. Many good believers refuse to accept this. During good times they praise God, worship in church, and do good works. But when the bad times come, the truly life-altering times, these very same people refuse to accept this truth, that God has the authority, the right to do as He has done.
Our unwillingness to accept this truth is a roadblock to the development of our faith. When we choose to question God, the bonds of our relationship become strained. We cannot grow closer to God if we are questioning His actions, and in this we fail to increase in knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). When this happens we cannot be productive servants to the kingdom. How can we lead others to trust and obedience and the joy of the Lord when we are questioning His will? It is understandable when a Christian wonders ‘Why’. It is not sinful to ask God why. But it is harmful.

This is where a humble servants’ heart comes into play in our faith. To hold a grudge against God, to resent Him and question Him for allowing terrible things to happen is to make war on Him. Romans 5:1 tells us: ‘Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Clearly then we show that we do not have peace with God when we question His decisions.
We would be wise to ask these questions: Doesn’t the creator of the universe have the right to decide how He runs things in His creation? Who am I to reply against God? Does not the potter have power over the clay? (Romans chapter 9).
It requires a deep level of Christian maturity to accept the fact that God knows what He is doing, even in the hard times, even when it makes no sense to us. Job understood this when he said ‘The Lord gives, the Lord takes, blessed be the name of the Lord’. This degree of Christian maturity does not come easy, and indeed is rarely seen these days.
My grandfather, the humblest and most righteous man I have ever had the privilege of knowing, suffered through numerous physical ailments in addition to a descent into Alzheimer’s during the final years of his life. This made no sense to our limited human understanding. Why would a good God allow His faithful servant to suffer? What did it accomplish?
Maybe it was a process that prepared us to be able to help others later through similar struggles. Maybe grandpa touched someone’s life in that place and turned their heart to God when nothing else had worked through that person’s long life. We don’t know. But instead of making war on God, instead of questioning His wisdom, we, by His grace, choose to accept that He knew what He was doing. And so, by grace, we have peace with God. Philippians 2:29 offers this hard truth: ‘For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake.’ Remember that suffering produces in us perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is being poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (Romans 5:4-5).   
There is no future in waging war on God. The creator of the universe has His reasons, and we can either question this divine being or we can take comfort in believing that He doesn’t think like us (Isaiah 55:9), that He has a plan and a reason for everything that He causes or allows to happen, even when it remains a complete and agonizing mystery to us. For great is His love for His people. When we question Him, we are saying ‘I think I know a better way for You to run Your creation’. This sort of arrogance puts up roadblocks between us, and can lead us astray, into the dark hopeless thought patterns of unbelievers.

God has the right. Let us accept this difficult truth and grow in knowledge of God, so that we might find comfort, joy, and peace in His divine design, for if these things be in us, we will be ready and able to share the Light of this world with others.

President Trump and the Citizen Christian

In these days of insta-shaming, where everyone has a networked mouthpiece to deliver their diatribes, we are constantly assaulted by hateful opinions and faulty assumptions. How is the Christian to respond to such malevolence, especially when leveled against his/her president?
It can be confusing, and downright scary. But there is hope. But there is comfort.

2 Corinthians 13:11 provides this beautiful exhortation: ‘—Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.’
America is tearing itself apart by allowing itself to be dictated to by the hateful tales of those who love not each other but dissension. Romans 16:17--18 urges us to: ‘—note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.’

It is clear that a minority has decided it should have the right to dictate the fate of America. Hatred feeds hatred. Social media, spurred and encouraged by mainstream media, has decided to declare war on our President. I take offense at this. Whenever anyone in the world verbally bashes my president, they attack my nation, the land that I love. Not only is it damaging the perception of us as a united people in the eyes of the world, it also smacks of un-American sentimentality.

If people don’t agree with his policies, so be it. But boycotts of his very existence are not doing anything good for America. Does it not seem strange that a small minority has the largest voice? A majority of American voters elected our president. Where are the voices of these voters? Have the haters driven them to silence? Have they cowed the majority into a tragic case of social laryngitis for fear of being attacked simply for voicing support for our President?

In our Declaration of Independence we find this wise and relevant passage that gives us insight into the ironic hate-filled fervor of protestors: ‘—and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.’

For sixteen years our once great nation was beleaguered by such ‘government’, in this case from those corrupt officials from within our own government—the bureaucrats. Through long years of abuses of power and thieving of authority to which they had no right, those in our government twisted the Constitution and vied to take for themselves what was not conducive to a healthy America. They did not represent our best interests, but rather sought their own interests.
Right now protestors are proving the relevance of these passages. They have grown accustomed to suffering under the tyranny of a bureaucracy; and now that we have a president who is trying to abolish this abusive variation of our once great government they don’t know how to respond. They are afraid. They fear it might backfire. They fear it might upset the status quo.

But we voted for a man we believed could help ‘throw off such government’. We elected a business man because we were tired of suffering under the agenda of abusive politico. And already, unlike those who came before, unlike politicians, this president is working to fulfill the promises he made to us, and for which we elected him. However misguided or extreme his positions and actions may be at times, it is clear that our president is deeply concerned for the safety of ‘we the people’.

We don’t need any more protests, which do nothing but sow the seeds of dissension. We need to show the world a united front. We need to show them that we stand behind our president, whom we elected. Because these rifts in our nation are openings, invitations for anti-American infiltrators to come in and hatch their nefarious agendas among our hateful protestors. God knows we don’t need another Citizen Genet. What we need are Christian citizens, who live, act, and breathe love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us this timely fact: ‘Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, is not provoked, thinks no evil . . .’

God and the Irreverent Church

Pastors today have a tendency to deliver blasé messages that, at best, teach us merely how to walk through the world as good people. A particularly excellent message (for a modern pastor, anyway) might even expound on the way to treat our neighbors. But mostly we are taught how to manage our finances, what the qualifications are of a good church leader, or why we need to give to missions.

They rarely if ever teach us how to treat God.

This seems like a major oversight to me, considering the tremendous emphasis the bible places on treatment of God by God’s people. I mean, the bible does kind of go on and on about this particular subject, vigorously stressing the importance of treating God properly. This inculcation is especially made clear in Hebrews 12:28 ‘Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.’

Boom, there it is: Reverence and godly fear.

Sadly, we are no longer taught to revere God. There is remarkably, disturbingly, little respect shown for God during church services, let alone outside the church. We may honor Him with our mouths, but our hearts are, in truth, far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

And this appalling failure commences before church even starts, in the sanctuary. Years ago pastors would close the doors to the sanctuary before service began, with the understanding that those who entered through these doors would do it with mouths closed and hearts open. We were to enter God’s holy place with reverence, keeping silent before Him, meditating on His word. The term ‘sanctuary’ denotes a holy, or sacred, place. Today when you enter the church sanctuary you are assaulted by what sounds disturbingly like a middle school cafeteria; people are standing around yammering away, sipping their lattes, in a hubbub that is distinctly irreverent.

You find no respect for God in God’s house.

This may seem like a petty point to some, but it is indicative of a larger problem in modern Christian society, and it serves as a display of our disrespect toward our Creator: there is no longer any place where we show God the reverence He deserves.

For Christian piety and godly fear to thrive (and they must, or our faith will continue to crumble) we must find a place besides our bedroom, where we shut our mouths and honor God. In Leviticus 19:30 God commands His people: ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.’ Ecclesiastes 5:2 commands us to rein in our blathering: ‘Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hasty before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.’

If church services are classes for the Christian education, and our pastors are the teachers, then our Christian education is incomplete and our pastors are failing us.

Above all else in this world, we need to revere our God. It is clear that for some time now our ‘teachers’ and those in control of the church have been steadily relegating the Creator of the universe to the role of an impersonal ideal. This way God appears more acceptable to larger numbers of people (which means more money for those running the show). They figure that if they can whittle God down from His 'IN THE BEGINNING GOD' immeasurable self, to a generalized sense of good, then their attendance figures will increase, with an attendant increase in income. This is why church and religion have become big business.

And it all began with an improper irreverent view of Almighty God.

Think on this: Does your pastor permit idle chatter in the sanctuary before the start of services? Does he play loud obnoxious music—that focuses on us rather than on our Savior—that grieves God? (Amos 5:23). Does he fail to offer a moment of silence to permit the Holy Spirit to move through the assembly?

Is it possible your pastor is failing you, failing in his duty to you? If so, you might want to consider spending more time alone with God. Also, make it your duty to keep silent while you sit in your pew or chair at church, choosing to meditate on God’s great word before the services begin, instead of indulging in idle and irreverent chatter. Be an example of a reverent servant of God.

False Teachers are Wolves in Sheep Costumes

False teachers are Satan’s messengers. False teachers are men-pleasers; they preach more to please the ear than to direct people to God. Teachers are meant to be guides, shepherds, leading men to God. Every sermon, every book they write, must serve this purpose: to direct people to God’s word. We cannot increase in knowledge of God without spending time in His word. Pay attention to their ‘messages’. Do they exalt the self instead of God? Do they seek to lead you to a worldly ideal of a better life, rather than leading you to Godly action and humility? God resists the proud (1 Peter 5:5). If your pastor teaches you to think highly of yourself, to believe that you have power within you, then he is teaching you to be proud. This is one of the most blatant indicators that your pastor is a false teacher. YOU DO NOT HAVE POWER WITHIN YOURSELF. You cannot save yourself. If we could save ourselves, if we could fully order our steps—fate—in this world (Psalms 37:23, Proverbs 16:9), then we would not need a Savior. We are in desperate need of a Savior, every hour of every day. We owe Him. We need Him. If your pastor does not lead you to this biblical conclusion about your place in this world, then he is failing you, and he is certainly not helping you to increase in knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). False teachers teach us to say Yes to the self, to our desires, but the true servant of God teaches us to say No to the self, and Yes to the will of God. False teachers say ‘Declare to yourself that you are a masterpiece’, but Jesus says ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24). 

The reality of mankind’s fallen state and desperate need for Jesus is glossed over by false teachers, in order for them to avoid uncomfortable commands, and instead tell people what their itching ears want to hear.
Let us not focus on what we want, which is the way of the world, but rather let us reflect on God’s will.

The only way to protect ourselves from false teachers is by knowing God’s word. It is our shield. So spend more time in scripture, reading it, meditating on it, living it. Because if you don’t, you may find yourself being duped by these wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15).

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like . . .

Have you ever scratched your head at the parables Jesus gave in the Gospels? It is truly amazing when God finally opens the eyes of our understanding to scripture, and allows us to know what has been beyond us. His Growing up, His ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ parables were completely inscrutable to me.

Matthew 24:14-30 informs us that the kingdom of heaven is ‘like a man traveling to a far country that called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.’

What the heck? What does that mean?

Most believers know that to better understand one verse you need to read the preceding and succeeding verses. Verse 13 speaks of the Son of Man (God the Son) returning. And then, in the following verses, we are treated to a parable featuring a man traveling. Coincidence? Doubtful. As we see in the rest of the parable, this man is both powerful and exceedingly generous, giving out of his abundant grace (and in measures according to his own unfathomable will), and rewarding those who had multiplied what he had given to them.

Are you starting to understand the parable? I trust you are; these passages are indeed illuminating.

In the parable we begin to see that ‘the man’ is clearly God, that his servants are Christians, and that what he gives to them in his grace is the opportunity for salvation. The moral of this parable concerns what we do with what he has given us. Do we bury our salvation? Do we hide it, keeping it for ourselves without ever sharing its light with the world, like the ‘wicked and lazy servant’? Or do we invest this great gift, sharing Christ with our fellow travelers? Do we recognize that we are duty-bound to our Lord to share the light He has given us?

As we scurry about our business this busy week, hassling our way through congested parking lots and crowded stores, let’s try to keep the memory of our Savior in mind, and to recall that He shared His light with everyone He encountered, showing us how to expand the kingdom of heaven. Because those who sit in darkness are in desperate need of the light. They need out love, our tender mercies, our time, and our example. As Jacob Marley said: ‘Mankind was my business’. So let us be about our Father’s business this Christmastime. It can be as simple as letting that person ahead of you in line, donating to the various charities to provide gifts for the poor children, or a simple smile as you greet someone in the marketplace. Those who squander the gift will have no place in the kingdom (Matthew 25:30), and this is a fate we should not wish on our worst enemies. Rather, when we see these masses, we ought to recall verses 35-36: 'For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink . . .'