May 17, 2012

Following Jesus is a dominant theme in the Gospels, so you hear a lot about it in church, and we even have a song titled; “I have decided to follow Jesus.”  I’ve read books, searched the internet and heard sermons about following Jesus, but they rarely have any practical help about this most important task of a believer.  Most people remain unclear about what it means for their daily life.  I frequently get comments like; “Following Jesus is important to me, but I’m not sure I know how.”  I usually say something like, following implies there is a leader and believers state that the leader they’ve chosen is Jesus.  Therefore, if you want to follow Jesus, you start by asking, “Where is he?”  As a believer, your answer is, He lives inside me.  (“The one who has been with you shall be in you.”  John 14:17)  So following is simply to BE RESPONSIVE TO JESUS WHO IS IN YOU.  That’s all it is, does it seem too simple?  (2 Corth. 11:3)  It has to be possible for the ordinary person, a child, or a new believer.  So now the question is, how do you follow an invisible internal Jesus?  I’m not an expert on the subject, but I’ll share a few things I’ve learned about following Jesus.  However, be assured that you don’t need to be a theologian, just responsive.

I live my life on this basis, and my experience is that God has led me through my normal faculties, that is by my thoughts and feelings.  I’ve never heard Him speak audibly, seen writing on the wall, or received a text or an email.  I’ve noticed that people use various terms to express how they hear God.  Some say “I felt led to do so I so,” others say, “I felt a nudge of the Spirit,” and some even say, “God spoke to me, or God told me.”  For me, I use the term, the “Check or Prompt” of the Holy Spirit, and it is the primary way I follow Jesus.  I live by an internal, “Check and Prompt” of the Holy Spirit, and people seem to know instinctively what I mean.  I act on what I believe is from God, and it’s always by faith.  That’s okay because “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)  Jesus hasn’t given me a roadmap for the journey He’s taking me on.  He’s more like a GPS that gives directions turn by turn.  And when I miss a turn, He recalculates and continues to give directions from that point forward.  For me, following Jesus is a matter of His applying impressions on my mind or feelings.  I’ve asked some of the greatest saints I know, including Billy Graham’s favorite Bible teacher, how they hear God?  They all confirm that this is also the way they hear God.  If it sounds too simple, remember it must be possible for a new believer or even a child.  Of course, He speaks through the Scriptures and other people but what we are talking about here is the inner awareness of God’s personal guidance.  Now for a few practical thoughts that guide me as I try to respond to the “Check and Prompt” of the Holy Spirit.

Illustrations and metaphors that speak of everyday situations often help me have a mental image of a spiritual truth.  For me following Jesus and walking in the Spirit is similar to walking physically.  The definition of walking is a series of interrupted falls.  Every step is an act of faith in which I trust my legs to support me.  Normally they do, but there have been times that I stumbled and skinned my knee and a couple of times when it was more serious.  No matter which it is, my goal is to get up and continue walking as soon as possible.  Babies learning to walk are a good model for anyone trying to walk in the Spirit.  They fall more often than adults, but they never seem to give up.  Even though I have been following Jesus for 55 years, I think I’m still in the toddler phase.  So just like a toddler, with every fall I get up and try again.

If I have an important decision to make, I pray for guidance and many times, I feel certain that the Lord has given me an answer.  However, sometimes I don’t have a clear sense of direction.  At those times and they happen more than I would have thought, I say; “Lord I don’t hear you saying anything to me about my concern.  You know I want to stay in your will, so would you please turn up the volume.  If you don’t, I will assume that you want me to have freedom of choice regarding this subject and that I should act according to wisdom and good counsel.”  Then if there are no serious consequences, I make a decision and act on it.  If on the other hand, the decision is consequential, I will make the decision internally, but not act on it.  I will wait a period of time to see if the Lord confirms it, or causes me to change my decision.

If you ask me, “Are you following Jesus right now,” I’ll do a heart check.  If I’m resisting God about anything, then I must say no, I’ve stopped following.  However, if I don’t sense that He’s convicting me about anything, then my answer is yes.  Actually, it would be a confident yes because it’s His responsibility to lead me.  God is the initiator, and I am the responder, so if my decision is wrong, or if I’m fooling myself, it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to let me know.  “God tests our hearts.”  (1st Thessalonians 2:4) And; “If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” (1st John 3:21)

Some say we can’t live like this, and quote the Old Testament verse that says; “The heart is desperately wicked how can we trust it.” (Jer. 17:9)  Well, my heart isn’t desperately wicked, and yours isn’t either if you are, “In Christ.”  That verse is for unbelievers.  The verse for the believer is; “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them…”  (Ezekiel 11:19)  That verse is an Old Testament metaphor for the new birth that God gives us by His Spirit.

Many people say they don’t hear the Holy Spirit, but I’m convinced that they hear more than they care to admit.  Soldiers report that God was talking to them when the noise of battle was breaking eardrums.  The guidance is there, but we often resist it or block it out as just a thought.  Some people try to make their mind blank in order to hear the Lord, but this brings frustration because turning off your mind while awake is impossible.  Guidance is not a substitute for thinking, so we should think, and ask God to direct our thoughts.  We need to check our thoughts of course, and if they ever violate Scripture, then we know that the thought is not from God.

Try for one day to listen for the “Prompt and Check” of the Spirit, then act on it.  The Bible calls this obedience.  The goal is to develop a lifelong habit of living like this but start by trying it for a day then a week, etc.  Of course, there’s a possibility of license or self-delusion, but this is what the Bible teaches.  We can trust God to correct our mistakes.

“Whoever serves me must follow me…”  (John 12:26)

“Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16)

History has proven that sexuality is one of the most powerful motivations within us.  But that is not a negative because the Bible tells us that God intentionally created us with a sexual nature.  On the sixth day, God created them male and female and commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply.”  Here is a paraphrase of what He said to them on that very first day; “He blessed them, and said now go have sex, and produce some children.” (Gen. 1:27-28)  They were obedient and; “Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant.” (Gen. 4:1 NLT)  Significant pleasure was part of that experience, because it is God’s plan that marriage is the place for sexual love.  However, after sin entered the world, humanity is free to express their sexuality, morally or immorally.  As followers of Jesus we should; “Flee from sexual immorality” (1st Cor. 6:18)

However, even though one is a committed believer it can be a challenge to do so, because the sexual drive in most men is so strong.  Nevertheless, by the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible to live a life that is pleasing to God.  A good example comes from the oldest book in the Bible.  “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz.  He was blameless–a man of complete integrity.  He feared God and stayed away from evil.” (Job 1:1)  Even though God affirms that Job is a righteous man, he struggled with the temptation to have unrighteous sex.  That obviously caused him to make the following statement.  “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.”(Job 31:1)  He motivated me to make the same covenant with my eyes.

In the two verses that followed God creating them “male and female,” and therefore the potential for sex, He gave them a variety of food to eat. (Gen. 1:29-30)  Food and sex are wonderful, but they both require us to use self-discipline.  If we eat unhealthy food, we can become sick, and if we eat too much, we can become obese.  Likewise, we must exercise self-control over our sex drive, or this wonderful gift will damage our human relationships as well as our spiritual life.  I believe that and choose to live my life within the boundaries that God has ordained.  Here are a couple of verses that address that; “For it is the will of God…that you abstain from sexual immorality.” (1st Thes. 4:3) “The works of the flesh are evident; sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.” (Gal. 5:19)

This issue affects both male and female, but since my ministry has been to men for more than fifty years, this paper is primarily for them.  Guys, we have to get serious about this because we’re becoming like the Corinthian Church.  The Apostle Paul wrote to them; “it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you…”  (1st Cor 5:1)  He wrote that two thousand years ago, but it could have been written today.  It could be called “The First Letter to the Californians” because immorality may be more prevalent now than at the time of the Corinthians.  Today’s church tends to address it when a crisis develops, but we must become more proactive and address this head-on.

While speaking at a weeklong Pastor’s conference, they asked me to address the topic of sexual purity.  I intentionally started that session with the following statement.  “I’m not sure I’m the right person to talk to you about sexual purity.  I confess that on my desk I have pictures of a couple having sex, another one of men having sex with each other, and there are also pictures of three women having sex, and I’m tempted to look at them….(Pause for impact)  It’s called the internet, and it’s on your desk too.  Now that I’ve got your attention, I want to address male sexuality in a way you probably don’t speak about at your Church.”

In the modern era, America has had at least two periods of radical changes regarding attitudes about sex.  The 1920’s were a time of loose morals and sexual liberation, but it did not affect the majority, and certainly not the church.  However, the 1960’s sexual revolution profoundly changed everything, not only in America but also the entire western world.  It was so pervasive that it eventually invaded every aspect of our culture.  I could write a lot about the cost to society, and it is enormous, but my primary concern is the spiritual health of my brothers in Christ.  At first, the body of Christ resisted it, but we did not resist enough, so the erosion of our values was inevitable.  In my view, it is because we left the entertainment/media door wide open.  Erosion is the right word because no serious follower of Jesus would make a conscious decision to lower their moral standards.  However, over time, they did as they accepted the Movies, Music, and TV, which is saturated with sex and produced by a God-less entertainment industry.  It’s common for many believers to recommend a movie with this caveat; “There’s a little too much nudity and sex, and the language is pretty rough, but the acting is phenomenal.”  That is a self-indicting statement, but sadly, they are unaware that while their salvation is intact, their moral values are compromised.

The last few years have seen an epidemic of moral failure in the body of Christ.  Sadly, it involved many of our spiritual leaders.  There are the well-publicized cases like Ted Haggard, a pastor in Colorado Springs who was President of the National Association of Evangelicals.  When confronted, he confessed that he was involved in homosexuality and drugs.  However, there are hundreds of others who are not as well known.  A highly placed Para-Church leader I know ruined his life with porn addiction, and it started while doing research about porn.  A few years ago, my former pastor fell while counseling a 17-year-old girl.  Each of these were Godly men who yielded to the subtle or not so subtle temptation they face daily.  It wasn’t the only cause, but pornography by way of the internet was on each one’s computer.  However, the eye gate doesn’t need the internet for sexual temptation to confront us.  Job and the Corinthian Church are good examples of that.  This paragraph could become a complete book if I presented all the details of the moral failures I am aware of, and it wouldn’t include those you know.

I was only mildly surprised when I learned the results of an anonymous survey of evangelical pastors by a well know seminary.  It revealed that a third of them report they have been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior.  That prompted me to raise the issue while speaking at another retreat with thirty-three pastors.  I told them, “I would bet that at least ten percent of you are involved with pornography.”  That would be three men, but two days later, five admitted to the group that they were struggling with porn.  I believe they were the brave ones and the true percentage is actually higher.  Regrettably, pastors are not immune to the sexual culture of the day.  A pastor wouldn’t deliberately rent an “X” rated DVD, but the same thing is on his desk constantly.  Additionally, many of them have HBO that presents “X” rated material in the privacy of their home.  Pray for your pastor.

Before you condemn the pastors, what do you think the situation is in the pew?  After meeting with men for more than fifty years, I know that a higher percentage of men in the pew are losing the moral battle.  In private meetings, many men have confided to me that porn and masturbation are habits they can’t defeat.  One man told me, “I yield to a certain habit way too often as I fantasize about one particular woman.”  My response was, “I don’t think that’s a problem.  Of course, that shocked him, but then I said; “I believe it’s a symptom of a problem, are you willing to look for the problem?”  He was, and of course, we quickly got to his internet habits.

A man in one of our small groups recently said; “Nudity in the movies doesn’t bother me anymore.”  He thought it was a victory and that it is a good thing, but he was unaware of what it is doing to his psyche as well as his soul.  It’s telling that our exposure to raw sexuality and over stimulation has led to men spending billions of dollars on Viagra and Cialis.  Those were never necessary before the sexual revolution.

For nearly every male, sex without boundaries would bring them great pleasure.  God is not against us having pleasure, even sexual pleasure, but He wants it to be moral.  Pleasure is actually His idea, in fact, He invented it.  King David said; “At the throne of God there are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)  Since He created us, He knows that some pleasures are uplifting and others are destructive.  Solomon who Jesus said was the wisest man who ever lived, was also incredibly rich.  He had the potential to have any pleasure he desired, but he also knew the consequences that his father David reaped for adultery with Bathsheba, and it led him to pray; “God help me understand the end of these pleasures.”  The Lord gave me a very practical example to help me think the same way.  One senior executive, I meet with was using marijuana, had experimented with cocaine, and was very open with me about that.  One day he told me that he went to a party and tried heroin, and it was amazing, but he would never do it again.  Then a month later, he tried it again, so I asked him why?  His explanation was; Glenn think of the best sex you ever had or could imagine.  Heroin is ten times better than that because the pleasure is so much more intense, it hits every part of your body; even your toes feel good.  I like pleasure, so why don’t I try heroin?  That’s easy to answer because I am convinced that it is destructive.  As a follower of Jesus, I let the Bible inform my view of sexuality, and it says that sex outside the boundaries is destructive to everything I hold dear.

While I’m speaking about sexuality, I will comment briefly on homosexuality.  I’ve met with numerous homosexuals and they usually tell me, “I was born with the desire for sex with men.  God wouldn’t have made me this way if it is wrong.”  I disagree that they were born with that desire, but to move the discussion to another level, I don’t debate it.  Instead, I ask, so you think that everyone should yield to the desires they find within themselves?  What about people with the natural predisposition towards alcoholism, obesity, or anger?  The Bible and reality say that some areas of natural inclinations must be resisted because they are destructive to ourselves and others.  I tell them that I was born with a desire to have sex with any woman I find attractive.  Do you think I should act on that desire?  Most say no, but one man said yes.  In order to shock him into reality, I very brazenly asked, would you want your daughter to know me?  That did get his attention, and it opened a very productive conversation.  I have a little more about homosexuality on my web page at:  “glennmurray.net”

Let me remind you that being tempted does not equal sexual immorality.  I have the same response that most men have when an attractive woman walks by.  In the past, that temptation always brought me self-condemnation, because I wondered, how can I have a thought like that if I am a new creation in Christ. (More about this on my web page; See, “Thoughts about an important Bible verse”)  However, I now know that yielding to the temptation is the problem, NOT the fact that I am tempted.  Remember; Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, and yet without sin.

Even though temptation is not a sin, I’ve decided to limit the temptations I choose to bring into my life.  Because I know that I’m not as strong as I would like to believe.  In the battle between my imagination and my will, the imagination always seems to win.  Also, I have decided that I don’t want to be entertained by what God calls sin.  Therefore, I skip most movies and TV that I wouldn’t invite Jesus to watch with me.  Actually He does whether I invite Him or not.  If I can’t say to my wife, mother, children, or grandchildren, “You must see this movie,” then I don’t go.  Of course, that limits me to “G” rated movies.  You may think of this as prudish, but to me, it has proved to be wisdom.  My life has been full and meaningful without those movies or TV, and I am thankful that I prevented their harmful influence on my soul.  In so doing, I avoided the proverbial frog in the hot water metaphor.

Here’s what I practice and recommend when overcome by a temptation of any kind.  I remind myself that God still loves me and that I am still his son, then I confess and repent quickly. (Repent means to live life in the opposite direction)  Even though David fell into temptation, he was called, “A man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22)  I believe one of the reasons was that after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, the Prophet Nathan confronted him, and he was quick to repent.  I also try to be quick to repent, then I pray something like; “Lord I agree with you that I’ve sinned and I’m truly sorry.  I don’t want to live like that; please help me be more consistent in my behavior.  Thank you that when I received Jesus, you forgave even my future sins and that you’re not mad at me because on the cross you took out all your anger on your Son Jesus.  I believe what you say about me: That I am completely forgiven, and You’ve made me as spotless a new snow.  Once again I surrender and ask you to continue to live your life through me.”  Then I move on and live like a person whose sins were forgiven and hopefully a bit wiser about the temptations of this world.

In dealing with temptation, I have several different methods and apply them as needed.  The first is avoidance and the seventh chapter of Proverbs, and several others are full of warnings.  Another is; Like Job, I’ve made a covenant with my eyes not to look at a woman lustfully. (Job 31:1)  It also helps me to watch other men as they watch the ladies walk by.  It is so disgusting how some of them leer at women that it motivates me to avoid looking like that.  Additionally, I use the well-known “Bounce Technique.”  It is impossible not to notice a woman who is provocatively dressed but then I immediately bounce to another person and often it is to other men who are looking at her.  One other thing is useful.  When traveling, I block the adult TV stations at the registration desk.  All of these are useful, but two other things have been the most helpful for me.

The first is accountability.  I believe one of the main reasons good men fall is because most of them were living unaccountable lives.  In fact, the only reason for personal or public morality is accountability.  We wouldn’t stop at red lights if we weren’t afraid of getting a ticket or having an accident.  Of course, we are accountable to God, but without human accountability, we can slip without being aware of it.  For me, accountability to a few close brothers has been super helpful.  Each of us has permission and the responsibility to guard each other’s blind spots.  I meet regularly with a small group of men, and we hold each other accountable.  My definition of accountability is; “Living life with the help of a few friends.

I think it’s telling that the Seminary survey about pastors who failed morally also showed that 70% of them said they did not have a close friend.  The enemy will ultimately win this battle if men continue to face it alone.  Isolated we are vulnerable, but the strength that comes from men that are together is empowering.  King Solomon in his old age gave us this wisdom; “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.  Three are even better…”  (Ecc. 4:12)  I am very grateful for the brothers who for years have been on this journey with me, and who give me encouragement, counsel, and accountability.

However, the most helpful and practical has been to fill my life with Jesus.  Whatever gets your attention, gets you…it’s a law of the mind, so I concentrate on Jesus.  At a number of men’s retreats, I have used an illustration to help them understand this principle.  I use a small bowl or glass filled with Rice Krispies.  I explain that for this illustration each Rice Krispie represents something that should not be in my life.  I can begin by removing one Rice Krispie at a time, but there is a better way.  If I slowly pour in milk or even water, the Rice Krispies are pushed out of the bowl and when the bowl is completely filled with milk, very few Rice Krispies are left.  The power of displacement is the reason they are pushed out.  I then explain that as we fill our lives with Jesus, there is less room for those things that are offensive to Him.  It’s a perfect illustration because every time I do it, there is always some Rice Krispies still floating on top.  So even when we fill our life with Jesus, we never reach a sinless state.

Until we decide to address sexual purity head on, both personally and corporately, good men are going to keep losing this battle.  I pray that our leaders will wake up and provide classes “for men only,” on how to resist the lust for forbidden pleasures.  The class would have teaching and discussions about the material in books like“; Every Mans Battle” by Stephen Arterburn, “Wild At Heart,” by John Eldredge, or “When Good Men Are Tempted,” by Bill Perkins.  There are others, but these three are very helpful.  This paper is simply meant to speak about the elephant in the room that everyone knows is there but we don’t address it directly.  For some definitive content about this subject, I encourage you to order any or all of these books from Amazon.

These thoughts were written with a spirit of humility and without any sense of finger-pointing.  I fully understand the difficulty of living for Jesus in a world that is constantly pulling us the other way.  I am in the battle with them because it could not be said of me, “he faced all the temptations that are common to man and yet without sin.”  So, I thank God for his total forgiveness and the grace of His daily sustaining power to follow Jesus, however imperfectly.

During the early years of my life in Christ, I memorized the Bible verse that says; “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  (2 Cor. 5:17)  I accepted it as true because I believe the Bible is true.  However, inside I didn’t feel like a new creation, a new person, so it made me wonder; am I really saved?  After receiving Christ, I saw changes in external things like my language, personal habits, etc., however, it was troubling that the internal attitudes like pride, lust, and materialism were only partially affected.  I wondered if something was wrong with me because it didn’t seem like that verse was true in my life.  I was told that it would take some time, but that is not what the verse says.  By faith, I believed that I was now In Christ, so why wasn’t I “a new creation” with the old having “passed away?”  Either I was not In Christ, or I needed a better understanding of what that verse meant.  So over the next few months, it became a priority to resolve this dilemma.  God graciously led me in a surprising way because things unexpectedly started to make sense after I was prompted to re-read the Genesis creation story.  It was a story that I knew well, but this time new insights were revealed which gave me a direction to pursue.

As I started to gain some clarity, there were other implications, but this paper is only addressing a couple of them.  First, it helped me understand how God can declare me to be a new creation, which I now accept as fact.  Second, it helped me reconcile a number of other verses that seemed to be conflicting.  They will be covered in some detail in part two of this paper.  For now, I’m eager to share the journey that caused me to become firmly convinced that I am truly a new creation, a new person in Christ.

The Bible says in Genesis chapter 2 that God created Adam by forming his body from the dirt.  Then He breathed His Spirit into that lifeless body and Adam became a living soul, created in the image of God.  Since God is a triune being, Adam became a tri-unity comprised of a body, soul, and spirit.  It follows then that since we are the children of Adam, we also are tripartite beings with a body, soul, and spirit.  We are definitely an integrated whole person, but each has a unique role to play.  So let’s examine the function of each part of us.  Our body gives us consciousness of the physical world through our five senses.  The soul and spirit are not as easily distinguishable, but Scripture makes it clear that they are distinct and different.  Our soul is the realm of self-consciousness or self-awareness and consists of our mind, emotions, and will and is what gives us personhood.  Before salvation, our human spirit gave us God consciousness, but when it is regenerated, it’s the place where God lives in us.  So now, we have the first glimpse of what part of me became a new creation, namely, my spirit.  However, let’s unpack it a little more by taking a closer look at this multifaceted being we call our self.

Before I go on, let me acknowledge that some theologians believe that the soul and spirit are the same thing.  I respectfully disagree with their conclusion and will explain why I don’t hold that view.  In the late 1960’s, prayer, the study of the Scriptures, and what the early Church fathers taught formed my view of this subject.  Additionally, Ray Stedman confirmed my conclusions because he was a Bible teacher that I trusted.  As mentioned earlier, the soul and spirit are closely related, but the Bible makes an explicit distinction between them.  In 1 Thes.  5:23, it’s very specific.  “May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.”  (NLT)  But Scripture also acknowledges that at times it’s difficult to discern the difference between the soul and spirit.  However, it does identify each and says that the Word of God will help us differentiate between them.    “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit…”  (Heb. 4:12…HCB)

So now, let’s return to the question that was troubling me.  The issue was not what happens eventually, but rather what happens the instant we accept Jesus as our Savior.  The Scripture uses a number of terms to describe what takes place at that moment, but the one we are exploring here is that we become, “a new creation.”  The following thoughts are an overview of my journey to discover if that was actually true for me.

BODY: It didn’t take prayer and Bible study for me to know that it was not my body that became new.  That was obvious and undebatable.  However, I am looking forward to the new body I’ll receive when I see Jesus.  (1 Jn 3:2)

SOUL:  So next, I evaluated my soul to see if it had become new.  Romans 8:29 gave me hope because it declares that the purpose of God for every believer is that they are conformed to the image of Jesus.  The question then is, when does this happen, when I was baptized into Christ or when I get to heaven?  I knew that the soul consists of the mind, emotions and will so I needed to look at each of them.

MIND: The Apostle Paul made it clear in Romans 12:2 that my mind was not made new at salvation.  That verse tells born-again believers (new creations in Christ) that they need to have their minds renewed.  That would not be necessary if they were made new at salvation.  By the way, our mind is not our brain.  That’s because the brain is part of our physical body and our mind is something that can’t be found with an autopsy.

EMOTIONS:  So next, I evaluated my emotions to see if they were made new when I received Jesus.  My personal experience plus knowledge of a multitude of dedicated believers tells me that the answer is a definite no.  It would be wonderful if receiving Jesus meant that a person whose emotions have been damaged would experience immediate and total healing.  That does happen sometimes but only in very rare cases.

WILL:  Our soul has one more very important component, but it also was not made new.  At birth, God gave each person free will, and He doesn’t remove it when we’re placed into Christ.  He leaves us with the privilege as well as the responsibility of making decisions about our life.  His desire is for our will to be subject to the Holy Spirit who now resides in us.  Life works best when our will is surrendered to His best intentions for us, but He allows us to make decisions that we think best.  That’s wonderful, but we can’t escape the fact that every choice has consequences.  Our will, (our decider), gets input from the appetites of our body as well as our mind and emotions.  But it’s also influenced by external sources as well.  God’s will for every believer is that the leading of the Holy Spirit will take precedence over other influences.

SPIRIT:  So if it wasn’t my body or soul (mind, emotions, and will) that passed away and was made new, that leaves just one possibility, my spirit.  (Gal 2:20)  I am confident that it is my spirit that is a “new creation” and to explain why I believe that I’ll start with a bit of history.  The soul and spirit of Adam were created in the image of God.  However, the consequence of original sin created a totally self-centered soul and a spirit that is separated from God.  That is the soul and spirit that I inherited at birth.  However, when I received Jesus, Scripture tells me that my spirit was reborn, but my soul was not.  My human spirit was replaced by the Holy Spirit of God,and the result is that my spirit was re-created/regenerated.  (2 Tim 1:14)  Now, He tells me to; “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)  My understanding of that verse is that we are to cooperate with God as He works to make our soul congruent with our spirit.  The key word is “cooperate” with God as He does the work of transforming our soul by a process called “sanctification.”  I must remain soft and pliable so God can continue His work within me, but my primary focus is my new identity in Christ.

By faith, I believe this.  But too often I subconsciously revert to thinking that the real me is my soul and body, which has not yet been renewed.  My tendency is to let my mind and emotions tell me that since I still have wrong motives, thoughts, and actions, I am not a new creation.  The solution for this is to trust my feelings less and to believe by faith what God says about me.  So it’s completely a faith issue.  And that’s a good thing because the Bible tells us, “Without faith it’s impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6)  Over time I have come to strongly believe that in my spirit I’m a new creation while my body and soul retain the human frailties that resulted from the disobedience of my grandparents, Adam and Eve.  (Eph. 1:13-14)

Even believers with a working knowledge of Scripture often find it difficult to reconcile some Bible verses. For example, various verses raise questions because they emphasize different aspects of our salvation.  For me, the breakthrough came when I determined that each verse was relating to either my body, my soul or my spirit.  The following topics will illustrate how I think that works.  For a more detailed view, use the table below.

Salvation: In some verses, the Bible is clear that salvation is a one-time event and is accomplished by God without human effort.  (Jn  5:24; Acts 16:30-31)  The salvation here is referring to our spirit and is called “justification.”  But the Bible also says we have a role to play in our salvation and gives us something to do when it says, “put on your new self”  (Eph 4:24)  and “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”(Phil 2:12)  This verse is asking us to cooperate with God and allow our soul to become congruent with our spirit.  This salvation is referring to our soul, and it’s called “sanctification.”  The Bible also teaches that our salvation is a future event, which is called “glorification,” referring to the time when we will get a new glorified body.  (Rom 8)  Therefore, it’s crucial to understand the three phases of salvation.  We’re saved, we’re being saved, and someday we will be saved.  These three statements are speaking of our spirit, soul, or body.  People often incorrectly interpret some verses because they don’t discern which part of us is spoken of.  Our spirit is saved, our soul is being saved, and our body will be saved someday.

The Holy Spirit: The Bible says that at salvation our human spirit is replaced by the Holy Spirit.  (1 Cor 3:16)   But then it tells us that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  (Eph 5:18)  The indwelling is in our spirit, the filling refers to our soul, and the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  (1 Cor 6:19)

Our mind:  The Bible says that believers have the mind of Christ.  (1 Cor 2:16)  However, it also says we must have our minds renewed.  (Rom 12:2)  We know that Christ doesn’t need His mind renewed and we have His mind.  So which is it?  In our regenerated spirit, we do have the mind of Christ.  But in our soul, we need to have our mind renewed.  One way is; “…taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5)

Truth:  The Bible says the believer has a knowledge of all truth.  (John 14:17)  However, in a later verse, it says that we lack understanding.  (1 Cor 13:12)  Again, we need to understand our essential makeup to understand that it is both.  In our spirit, we have a knowledge of all truth, but our soul (mind, emotions, and will) does not presently have knowledge of all truth.

These thoughts and the table on the next page will illustrate how I reconcile questions about verses that seem to contradict each other.

SPIRIT – SOUL – BODY

1 Thes. 5:23 and Heb. 4:12

Sociologists tell us that every known people group worships something or someone.  It may be ancestors, invisible spirits, or a god, as they understand him.  As believers, we’re not surprised by that because we know that based on Scripture, every person on earth is aware of God.  In the mid-1600’s the French mathematician Blasé Pascal famously said; “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person.”  I’m sure he got it from the Bible because it says; “…God has planted eternity in the human heart…” (Ec 3:11)  This means that every person has an innate sense of something greater than themselves. In another verse, it says, “… In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness.  (Acts 14:16-17 NLT)

There are a multitude of stories from all over the globe that illustrate the truth of those Scriptures.  I’ve chosen a few examples some of which are well documented and at least one comes from personal observation.  The details of others are believed to be true but cannot be authenticated.  Those from the distant past are based on stories told from one generation to next.  They are included here because each has a common theme even though they originate in a different culture, time, and geography.

With more than fifty visits to Korea, it’s like a second home to me, so I’ll start with a bit of their history.  After several earlier attempts, Protestant Missionaries first landed in North Korea in the mid-1800’s.  At that time, it was known as the “Hermit Kingdom” whose people worshiped numerous unseen gods, demons, and ancestral sprits. (Shamanism)  The missionaries discovered that the people had many lesser gods but one they considered all powerful.  They knew nothing about him but gave this god above all other gods the name, “Hanulnim,” which means “God of the heavens.”  The missionaries were wise and told them that the highest God which was unknown to them had made himself known by sending his son Jesus.  Over the years, the people increasingly embraced Jesus so when you hear them pray today the word they use for God is “Hananim.”  It’s a slight variation and means, One true God.  Today, the majority of denominations have their largest churches in South Korea.  I believe that the story of the Apostle Paul in Athens (details later) was the inspiration for the first missionaries in Korea.

China had its own version of an Unknown God, which they called, “Shang Di” which means, “The Heavenly ruler” or “Supreme Deity.”  He’s mentioned 175 times in the Chinese Classics, and the first reference was 2600 years before Jesus.  This is long before Confucianism or Buddhism influenced China.  Annually the emperors sacrificed a bull to “Shang Di” on the Altar Mound in the “Temple of Heaven.”  It is still well preserved in Beijing, but the practice ended in 1911 when the last emperor was deposed.  I have visited the place where this sacrifice took place and pondered, “What might have been?”  There were various developments over the years with missionaries arriving in 1807, but Marxist ideas started to take root in 1919.  When World War II ended, a civil war began which allowed Mao Zedong and his Communist Party to take control of the nation.  He expelled all missionaries in 1953, persecuted existing believers, and established atheism as the government’s official position.  In spite of this and at great personal risk, an evangelical house church movement developed and today is believed to number more than one hundred million members.

In the early 13th century, the Inca’s created the largest empire in the Americas.  Beginning in 1438 it was ruled by King Pachacuti who built the famous and majestic Machu Picchu fortress in what is now the nation of Peru.  It had a very violent culture and their worship of “Inti” the sun god, involved human sacrifices, including children.  At some point, King Pachacuti began to have doubts whether or not “Inti” was the true god.  He told the Council of Coricancha that the Sun God could not be all-powerful if a cloud or a man’s hand could block his light.  He asked his priests to research whether they had ever worshiped a God other than “Inti.”  After months of research, they returned with the following report.  In the distant past, they had worshiped Viracocha, a god who existed as three persons in one. (Trinity)  Pachacuti ruled that he and the other leaders would worship Viracocha from that day forward, but the people should continue to worship the Sun God.  In 1532, the Spanish conquered the lands of the Inca’s, and by 1618, they had ceased to exist because of a smallpox epidemic.

I was told the following story by The Honorable Preeda Pathanathurbur and verified it through research.  Preeda was born as one of the Karen people, but when I first met him twenty-five years ago, he was a Minister in the Cabinet of Thailand.  The word “Karen” was originally a derogatory term referring to non-Buddhist ethnic groups.  The Karen people do not have their own country but number about six million people on both sides of the border of Thailand and Myanmar. (Burma)  The Karen people had a tradition that their ancestors had lost the book that told them about “Y’wa,” the supreme God. (Awfully close to Yahweh) They believed that someday a white brother would come, return it to them and explain what was in it.  In 1795, an English diplomat visited the Karen people, and they thought he was the white brother they had been waiting for.  The Englishman said he knew nothing of the book or the God “Y,wa” and left.  In 1815, another traveler visited, and he had a book.  We don’t know what the book was but seeing the fascination of the people for his book; he gave it to them and left.  They put someone in charge of the book and later that person became a priest, and the people worshiped the book.  They couldn’t read it but were sure that eventually someone would come and tell them what was in it.  In 1817, a Baptist missionary named Adoniram Judson came to Rangoon, Burma, 800 miles southeast of the Karen people.  One day a fugitive from the Karen came to Judson’s door looking for work.  They became friends; he responded to the gospel and was discipled by Judson.  This man returned to his people and became the evangelist that explained the book and saw several hundred thousand people come to Christ.  Today approximately 35% of the Karen people are Christian.

Now for one of the most interesting stories.  Socrates and Plato describe a major plague in Athens that happened six hundred years before the birth of Jesus.  It was in the category of the Bubonic or Black plague with hundreds dying daily.  They called a meeting of the Council Leaders and discussed what to do.  Someone suggested that they send for Epimenides, a prophet from the island of Crete because he was the wisest man that anyone knew.  When he arrived in Athens, he was amazed that the approach road was lined with the images of hundreds of gods.  They told him the situation and that they had sacrificed to all their gods, but the plague continued.  When they asked him what to do, he said, “I’m very tired and need to go to bed so meet me at sunrise tomorrow morning with Sheep, Stones, and  Stone Masons.”  The next morning a large group of people was waiting on the hillside below the Acropolis, and the preparations he requested had been made.

Epimenides addressed them as follows; “I am not certain what to do so I am going to make three assumptions.  The first is that there must be a god that you do not know.  The second is that this unknown god is powerful enough to stop this plague if he wants to.  The third assumption is, if we acknowledge our ignorance of his name and ask for his mercy, he may stop the plague.  Now release the sheep on the hillside and mark the spot wherever one lies down.”  They protested again, people are dying, and the sheep had been penned up all night, they’re hungry and won’t lie down until the afternoon.  He was not dissuaded from his plan, so they released the sheep, and within minutes, sheep started to lie down on the hillside.  They came back to him and said, what do we do now?  He instructed them to send the Masons and stones to build an altar where each sheep laid down.  In those days, an altar was similar to a coffee table.  After they had built a number of these altars on the hillside, they returned and asked, what name shall we put on each altar?  He replied, “That would be the height of arrogance because we said, we do not know his name, Just label each altar with, Agnosto Theo,” which means, “Unknown god.”  They did so, and each sheep that laid down was sacrificed to this “Unknown god.”  Within a week the plague had stopped.  Six hundred years later Paul addressed the Athenians.  You can read the full account of Paul’s message in Acts 17:22-32, but a short version is; Paul acknowledged that they were a very religious people because while he was walking around the city, he had seen many objects of worship.  One of them was an altar to an unknown god, and he used it to tell them that the unknown God had made Himself known by sending His Son Jesus.  You might wonder if he knew that Epimenides was involved with the altars to the “Unknown god.”  I believe that he probably did because he had obviously read his writings and quoted him in Titus 1:12; “…Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.”

It’s an established fact that even the most remote tribes develop superstitions about the invisible.  Their desire to ward off evil spirits and appease a deity that brings good things is itself proof of a residual awareness of a higher being.  Additionally, they all have a moral code, which considers some things acceptable and other things unacceptable, so one must ask, where did that come from?  The answer is that God put it in the heart of every person as far back as the Garden of Eden when He created mankind with the ability to know right from wrong.  Even though our grandfather Adam made the wrong choice, humanity retains a moral nature, and every culture, however distorted, has moral standards.

These stories are proof that God has imprinted His existence on the human heart.  That makes me expect to find that God has been active in people’s lives before I meet them.  I’ll share one example of how that has been fleshed out in my life.  On my first or second visit to Seoul, South Korea, I met a wonderful Buddhist politician.  Over several years, he became a very dear and trusted friend.  We had many dinners and informal times together.  Early on, I knew that God had given me a love for him because while we didn’t have much in common, we forged an enduring friendship and as the years passed, we became increasing close.  We both knew that each of us was serious about our faith, but it wasn’t a topic we dialogued about.  I felt certain that the Holy Spirit would prompt me when He had prepared my friend to hear about Jesus.  One evening in one of the private rooms that are so common in Korean restaurants, I sensed God’s prompt that this was the night.  I asked his permission to ask him a personal question.  Not knowing what the subject would be he said, “I thought we already knew very personal things about each other.”  I agreed but said this one involves spiritual things and he quickly said, “No problem.”

Now a little background before I share the question I asked.  Buddhist theology is impossible to define because they have so many divergent views.  However, Buddha was very clear on one issue; “It is impossible to know if there is a god, so forget about the question.”  Buddhism is at best agnostic about the question of God, but it works out practically to be atheism.  So my friend had lived his life as if there is no god.  Knowing that and also knowing that God has put eternity in the heart of every person on earth (including Buddha), I asked; “At any point in your life have you ever had the sense that you needed to talk to God or that God was trying to talk to you?”  He thought for a minute and then said, “yes twice, once when I was a child and once during the Korea war.”  I responded by saying I was very comfortable asking you that because I believe that every person on earth has had that experience.  Then I told him about Pascal’s statement that; “In every heart, there is a God-shaped vacuum.”  I reminded him that a vacuum abhors a vacuum and longs to be filled.  Mankind has tried to fill it with power, success, money, pleasure, relationships, etc., but this vacuum is in the shape of God, and only God can fill it.  I kept tapping my chest trying to indicate the God-shaped vacuum in our heart.  It must have given him the impression that it is a little place in every person.  His response was; “Glenn I have very big one.”  I shared the good news of salvation in Christ, answered a few questions, and gave him the opportunity to receive Jesus.  He did and became my brother in Christ moving from agnostic to a believer because the impulse to respond was already there.  The important thing is to get in sync with God’s timing.

I’ve learned that the universal knowledge of God is especially evident in times of trouble.  When life and death issues confront people, a famous saying is usually true, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”  There are exceptions of course, but it is generally true.  My dear friend Dr. Scott Kellermann had a patient who tried to convert everyone he met to his atheistic worldview.  One day his daughter while riding her bicycle was struck by a car and seriously injured.  As Scott worked on her in the emergency room he heard the father say; “Oh God don’t let my little girl die.”  That spontaneous heart cry of a father, even though he was an avowed atheist proved what he instinctively knew but had spent his life trying to convince himself wasn’t true.

Scripture tells us that God also uses His creation to confirm the innate knowledge that He placed in every human heart.  Romans 1:19-20 says; “For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.”  (ESV)

Many years ago, I led Young Life clubs in several Sacramento high schools and often used stories and metaphors to make Scripture more understandable.  One night I read them these verses from Romans 1 and said, I made up a story to help you see how creation can reveal the existence of God.  To set the stage I tried to describe the ancient tribal culture of Australia 5,000 years ago.  Then introduced two 10-year-old Aborigine boys as the main characters of the story.  Their nightly activity of sitting around the campfire gave them a lot of time to look at the stars and talk.  One night one of the boys said to the other, “I asked my dad if he made the stars, and he said he didn’t, why don’t you ask your dad if he did.”  The second boy checked with his dad but came back the next night and said his dad did not make the stars.  They decide to ask their grandfathers, and when that didn’t provide the answer, they asked their great grandfathers.

You can imagine that the lack of an answer made them even more curious so on many nights they talked about the question, “who made the stars?”  One night they agreed that there must be something bigger than them so they asked their folks if that could be true.  The adults began a conversation among themselves and eventually conclude that it must be true, so they designed an activity to honor this unknown being.

When I meet people who tell me they don’t believe in God, I don’t believe them.  I don’t argue or debate, but I know that they know there is something greater than themselves and pray that they will eventually acknowledge it.  Sadly, there are numerous examples of people who live and die in rebellion to God.  Joseph Stalin’s daughter Svetlana wrote that she was with him during the atheistic Russian dictator’s last moments.  She said that on his deathbed, “He rose up on one elbow and shook his fist towards heaven.”  He didn’t believe in God, so you have to ask, what was that about?  The answer is that God put an awareness of Himself in his heart, but he refused to submit to Him and was defiant even in death.  Another example was Bertrand Russell, the famous atheist philosopher.  He said: “Life is like a bottle of very nasty wine and all one can do is hold on to unyielding despair.”  I am certain that his rejection of God led him to this kind of cynicism.

We started with the statement; “All people groups worship something,” and even though it’s been a cursory overview, we’ve shown some examples of that.  For some, that internal something that God put in every human heart has been dormant, but it’s still there.  Others have acknowledged it and made the only response they know how to make.  Still, others knew but rejected the prompting to acknowledge the existence of God.  These are still the responses of natives in the jungle, your next-door neighbor, your children, or the most educated person you know.  You might be asking the question, what difference does all this make to me?  Only you can answer that, but at a minimum, you now know that every person you meet has some level of awareness of God’s existence.

Most of us have both the innate knowledge of the existence of God, but we also know the good news about Jesus.  That good news is that God sent Jesus to tell us that He loves us and wants to forgive us and give us Eternal Life.  The gospel of John tells us that, “whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.” (Jn. 1:12)  There are only two options; Eternal Life or Eternal Death.  Moses said in Deut. 30:19 “I set before you life and death, choose life.”  God gave us free will; I pray you have made the right choice.

Many people ask; “What will happen to the people who haven’t heard about Jesus and likely never will?”  Theologians say: “They will be judged based on the light they’ve been given.”  They get that from Romans 2:11-16, which says; “For God does not show favoritism.  All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.  Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.  This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” (ESV)  God judges men, not according to what they do not know, but according to what they do know.  That means that you and I will be judged based on our response to our knowledge of Jesus.

The following allegory illustrates a fundamental truth.  An extremely wealthy man passed away, and his attorney called the man’’s son to come to his office to hear the last will and testament read.

The son had been on speaking terms with his father, but they weren’’t very close.  So he knew it was a waste of time but to honor his father, he reluctantly went.  He was certain that dad hadn’’t left him anything, and he knew why.  He had never lived up to the high standards of his Godly father.  He had tried but didn’’t seem to have the willpower, so he hadn’’t become the kind of person his father wanted him to be.  He went on to make a life for himself, but it never measured up to his father’s values.  For many years, he hadn’’t spent much time with his dad because it was uncomfortable for him.  He knew what a great man his father was but his own life wasn’t all his father had hoped for.

However, as the lawyer read the will it said his dad had left him everything he owned; “the business, his stock portfolio, bank account, all his real estate, the art collection, and the antique sports car that he always liked.

The son was incredulous and asked, “Are you sure that’’s my dads will?  Several years ago I read his will, and I wasn’’t included because I wasn’t the son he hoped for.””

The lawyer responded, ““Oh that was your father’’s old will, but he loved you so much that he made a new will.””

Then the attorney went on to say; your dad talked to me often about how disappointed he was that you didn’t know that he loved and accepted you.  Even though you didn’t’ achieve all the desires he had for you, his love was greater than you thought.  He said he told you this, but you either weren’’t listening or couldn’’t believe it was true.  If you had believed it, you could have had a much more satisfying relationship with him.

For many believers, our understanding of God is much like this son’’s relationship with his dad.  We’ve read and in many cases have been taught God’’s old will (Old Covenant) and we’’ve tried to keep its standards. We knew the standards were right, but we just couldn’t live up to them.  Oh, we’’ve tried many times, but we just haven’t been able to keep his commandments perfectly.

God knew that, so He made a new will.  Under the old will, we had to keep the law perfectly to receive His blessing.  However, under the new will, His acceptance is not based on our performance.

The new will is called the New Covenant or New Testament, and when we fully believe it, we can live a life of joy and freedom.

Here is the bottom line:

Let me say it a second time, God’s acceptance is not based on our performance.  However, since God’s requirement for perfection is unchanged, Jesus kept his laws perfectly on our behalf.  Therefore, the new covenant means that when we receive His Son, we become joint heirs with Him and inherit everything he owns.

The purpose of this paper is to answer a question that I’ve encountered numerous times.  In private discussions, I’m often asked; “What’s your opinion about tithing?”  Like many of those who ask, I was taught that the Bible requires all believers to give a tithe (10%) of their income to God.  During my early years of following Jesus, I accepted that and was careful to give a tithe on my income.  However, within a few years, the example of the Bereans inspired me to see if the Bible supported what I’d been taught.  Acts 17:11 says they received the Apostle Paul’s teaching and then; “examined the Scriptures daily to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”  My examination of the Scriptures led me to a different conclusion about tithing, and I will give you my reasons.  Some people, in fact, many of them my friends, will disagree with me because they have a sincere and strongly held conviction about tithing.  I respect that and make no judgment about their belief, but there are others, who like me, simply accepted it because it’s so frequently expressed in the church.  I encourage them to search the Scriptures and come to their own independent decision.  I’ve done that, so this will be a short overview of my thoughts on Stewardship versus Tithing.

The Tithe:  The law of Moses also known as the Old Covenant, required people to give a tithe (10%) to God.  However, as believers, it’s crucial for us to remember that the Old Covenant was canceled when Jesus fulfilled it and instituted the New Covenant.  Hebrews 8:13 says that the New Covenant made the Old Covenant obsolete.  Therefore, it’s totally inconsistent to proclaim the grace of the New Covenant while reminding people of the requirement to tithe from the Old Covenant.  Those who teach this often support their position by quoting Malachi 3:8-10.  “Will a man rob God?  Yet you are robbing me.  But you say, How have we robbed you?  In your tithes and contributions.  You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”  They use these verses to show that God owns 10% of your income and you own 90%, so you are robbing Him if you don’t give Him His 10%.  If you choose to live by this interpretation, you had better give the entire 10% plus offerings, or according to the Prophet Malachi, you are under the curse of God.  That’s a scary thought for the church at large because if those verses do apply to believers (I don’t think they do), then it means that 94% of them are under the curse of God.  (George Barna reports that only 6% are faithful Tithers)  His and other religious surveys confirm that even after years of emphasis on tithing, the vast majority of believers do not comply.  That tells me that privately they hold a different view of tithing than their leadership.  Actually, that’s a good thing if it means that most of them are not living by a legalistic view of giving.  However, I wish they could be released from the guilt that many of them live with.  To be consistent, those who promote tithing should also promote the other Old Testament concepts about money, and there are many.  It would mean another 10% every third year, and every seventh year you must cancel the debt of those who owe you money.  Additionally, there are many other things that are mandatory under the law, but those who advocate “tithing” are selective in which Old Covenant laws they endorse.

Here is some additional support from two early church fathers who considered the tithe to be canceled by the New Covenant.  1. The first is Justin Martyr, (100-165 AD) a first-century theologian.  He said; “Every Sunday those who prosper and so wish, contribute, each one as much as he chooses.”  2. The second is Irenaeus (130-202 AD) the most important theologian of the second century.  He said; “Tithing is a Jewish law NOT required of believers because they have received liberty and should give without external constraint.”  In spite of what the Church fathers were saying, Constantine the first Christian Emperor reintroduced tithing in the third century, to support the priesthood and build cathedrals.  However, people didn’t fully comply so in the 8th century Charlemagne, King of the Holy Roman Empire made it a law, which meant that if you did not tithe, you went to jail.  The average believer should thank God that is no longer in effect.

Financial Stewardship:  Churches often use the word “Stewardship” as a synonym for “Tithing,” but that is incorrect.  The dictionary defines a steward as; “a person who manages another person’s property or affairs.”  That correctly defines the believer’s relationship to money because, under the New Covenant, God owns 100%, not just 10%.  He doesn’t just own the “cattle on a thousand hills,” He owns everything, including our next breath.  In the world of investments, some people are known as “good money managers,” and that should describe the believer.  As a steward of God’s assets we manage not only His money but also everything, He’s entrusted to us, like our time, talents, health, etc.  It’s as if everything is “held in trust” for someone we respect very much and to whom we must give an account.

As beneficiaries of the New Covenant, the following verses and others instruct us how to think about our giving.  1. On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.”(1 Cor. 16:2)  2. “For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord”(2 Cor. 8:3); 3.  “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  (2 Cor. 9:7)  So you can see, Paul the Apostle taught that giving is voluntary, not based on a fixed percentage, and should be what we have “decided in our heart to give.”  We should consider how God has prospered us, but in the end, we like the Corinthians are free to give the amount we choose, “of our own accord.”  For our regular giving, we don’t know how much God wants us to give until we ask Him.  Then based on what we believe He’s saying, we give the amount He’s prompted us to give.  When a special need is presented, Scripture calls us to live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6)  Jesus himself did not meet every need but only did the will of the Father.  That meant not every paralytic was healed, or every person who died was raised to life.  With Jesus as our example, we should not give based on an emotional appeal.  We should ask God if He wants us to be part of meeting the presented need and then respond as He directs.

It’s true that the New Testament does not require a believer to give 10% of their income, but it does have a lot to say about giving and giving generously.  Most people are surprised to learn how much the Scriptures have to say about it.  Money and possessions are mentioned four times more than prayer and faith combined.  (500 verses on prayer and faith but over 2,000 about money and possessions.)  There’s more said about money in the New Testament than about heaven and hell combined.  So you can see that money is a very important subject, in fact almost half of the parables Jesus told, dealt with money. (42%)  By the way, He never taught what the prosperity gospel preachers teach.  They promote the un-Biblical idea that “Seed Faith” will bring you financial success or will cause God to answer your prayers.  This is a twisted and perverted use of Scripture in order to persuade people to give to their organization.

Conclusion:  God knows our current financial situation and future better than we do and has our best interest at heart.  Therefore, we can trust His guidance if He prompts us to give less than 10% or if He asks us to give more.  Whatever the amount, it’s likely to change from time to time so stay close to Jesus and be ready to respond to His leading.  God is fully aware of our personal circumstances and at times asks us to give sacrificially but not always.  There was a time in my life when we felt that 3% was the appropriate amount and then in other periods it was 30%.  During the last 60 years, our giving has varied but never our inner peace and joy.  Each person must come to their own conscientious decision about giving, by asking The Lord to guide them.  If the body of Christ was motivated by the idea of stewardship, there would be enough money for what God wants to accomplish.  If it produced more than needed, I’m sure He would let us know what to do with it.

Caveat:  The Bible is our only standard, and my prayer is that everyone would use Acts 17:11 as a guide to evaluate the teaching of any man and that includes this one.

There are numerous wonderful things that take place when we are spiritually born again. However, the focus of this paper will be on just one of them.  The moment we are placed into Christ, we become one with Him and are assigned a new identity.  This is what I want to explore because understanding our new identity is necessary for us to fully appreciate our union with Christ.  At salvation, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and from Sinner to Saint.

The true meaning of those two words is not well understood so let me start by defining them.  A Sinner is not just anyone who sins; it is the condition and therefore, identity, of a person that is alienated from God.  On the other hand, a Saint is not a person who has reached perfection and is therefore sinless.  It is a person who has been reconciled to God by having their sin forgiven.  As you probably know, the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and “hagios” which means “morally blameless” is the word they used for saint.  It’s the word the Scriptures use to designate those who are; “In Christ,” regenerate, saved, born again, and adopted into the family of God.  The Bible refers to these folks as saints sixty-seven times.

Here are a few of those references as the Apostle Paul writes to believers.  To the “Saints” in Rome (Rom. 1:7); To the “saints” in Ephesus (Eph. 1:1);  To the Corinthians, “Saints by Calling” (1.Cor. 1:2);  To the Philippians, “Greet every “saint” in Christ Jesus…”  (Phil. 4:21); To the “Saints” in Colossae” (Col. 1:2); “Peter visited the “saints” in Lydda.  (Acts 9:32)  None of these people were deceased individuals who had been canonized and assigned sainthood.  They were living individuals who were born again by the Holy Spirit of God.

If you are “In Christ,” God views you as holy and blameless, and therefore one of His saints.  So how can we explain the gap between what God says about us and what we experience daily?  The answer is in understanding what part of us became a new creation, therefore, a saint.  It wasn’t our body or soul that died and was given new life, so that leaves just one possibility.  (Gal 2:20)  Our spirit is the part of us that became a “new creation” and is what God views as saintly.  (See my article, “Thoughts about an important Bible verse”; Its on my web page: glennmurray.net)  When we receive Jesus, Scripture tells us that we are given His life, which means our human spirit is replaced by the Holy Spirit of God.  (Titus 3:5)  God no longer views us as a sinner, He sees us as one of His saints, so that is why Paul uses that word for the early believers.

Therefore, when I hear a person begin a talk with, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” I know they don’t understand their new identity in Christ.  It’s a Christian cliché, and it may be an attempt to be humble, but it’s misplaced.  If well taught, that same person believes that at salvation, they are by faith, placed into Christ, made one with Christ, receive the life of Christ and become part of His body.  So why would you call any part of His body, a sinner?  To be more Biblically accurate we should say, “I was a sinner, but I’ve been saved by His grace, and I am now one of His saints.”

Does that mean that a person who is saved, will never sin again?  No, but it does mean that when we sin, it doesn’t switch our identity from saint back to sinner.  Our identity was permanently sealed when we were reconciled to God.  (Eph. 1:13-14)  Unless you believe you lose your salvation everytime you sin, we are saints who can still sin.

Since even as believers we will still sin, how should we respond when the Holy Spirit convicts us?  Be quick to repent and say something like; “Lord I agree with you that I have sinned and I am truly sorry.  I don’t want to live like that; please help me be more consistent in my behavior.  Thank you that you have already forgiven me for this sin and you’re not mad at me because Jesus bore all your anger for my sin on the cross.  Once again I present myself as a living sacrifice and recommit to letting You live your life through me.”  Then get up and act like a saint whose sins were totally forgiven on the cross.  (See my article; God’s forgiveness, partial or total)

An experience that helped me understand and accept how God views me, took place while visiting a museum in Florence, Italy.  It houses Michelangelo’s magnificent statue of David, and even though I am not a connoisseur of art, I was mesmerized by it.  When one of the docents noticed my interest in the stature, he volunteered to give me its history.  He said that two other sculptors of equal talent tried to work on that block of marble but rejected it as being, “uncooperative.”  Then Michelangelo employed his artistry, and we have David.  Since everyone knew that two other sculptors of renown said that piece of marble was worthless, Michelangelo was asked, “How did you do that?”  His answer was simple but oh so profound; he said, “I just saw David inside and took away everything that wasn’t David. 

If we had been there while Michelangelo was chiseling away on the nondescript block of marble, we would not have recognized it as a masterpiece.  Nevertheless, even while it was unfinished, dusty, and messy, in Michelangelo’s mind, it was complete.  Others would have called it a work in progress, he saw only the finished statue of David inside.  That is a perfect illustration of how God sees believers.  When He looks at any person, who is “In Christ,” He sees His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased.  (Mat. 3:17)  He doesn’t see our faults or sins; He sees only the righteousness of Jesus.  We see ourselves and others as unfinished projects in the same way as we would have seen David in the studio.  However, God sees us as already perfectly conformed to the image of His Son and on display in heaven.  (Rom. 8:29-30)

The story of Levi, the tax collector, also helped me understand how God can view me differently than I view myself.  (Lk. 5:27-32)  The gospel of Luke says that Jesus saw Levi sitting at the tax booth, so let’s start there and see what we can learn.  Levi did not have “multiple personality disorder,” but he did have three identities.  The one that everyone knew we will call the public Levi.  He was despised because as a Jew he betrayed his own people and worked for the Romans collecting taxes.  Then there was the private Levi, the internal person whose thoughts are unknown to others.  One can only guess at what kind of person he had become on the inside in order to betray his people.  Then there was the Levi that Jesus saw because Scripture tells us there was also an Apostle sitting at that tax booth.  Jesus knew well the reputation of tax collectors, and He knew what was in Levi’s heart because he could understand his thoughts.  (Mat. 9:4…Ps. 94:11)  In spite of this, he chose to focus on the Apostle in Levi and called it out.  As you know Levi became Matthew, the apostle of Jesus, who gave us the gospel of Matthew.

In a certain way, we are all like Levi; we also have three identities.  The public persona our friends know, the internal person only we know but we are also the redeemed person who Jesus knows.  If you are “In Christ,” that’s the real you, and everything depends on which identity you focus on.  If you focus on the one your friends see, you will become plastic and make decisions based on what they will think of you.  If you focus on the person you know, you will be discouraged, defeated, and maybe even depressed.  Who doesn’t have some things currently or in their past that they would not want to be known?  However, if you believe and focus on what Jesus says about you, you’ll experience the abundant life.  (Jn. 10:10)

Levi had to wonder why Jesus would choose him.  He must have thought, Jesus you don’t know who I am or what I’ve done.  Of course He did, but Jesus is in the redeeming and transforming business.  If you are reading this, you are likely one of those he redeemed and transformed.  If you had been a member of the church in Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, or Corinth, the Apostle Paul would have called you a saint.  In the same manner, I believe if Paul wrote to the church of which you are currently a member, he would address the letter; to the saints at, ____.  If they read that letter on Sunday morning in your church, would you now feel that it applies to you?

Remember, if you are “In Christ,” God has given you a new identity and views you as righteous as His son Jesus. (2 Cor. 5:21)  We call ourselves believers, so by faith, let’s start believing what God says about us.

Now that you are one of His saints, God wants to make your mind, will, and emotions (soul) congruent with your regenerated spirit and conform you to the image of Jesus, by a process called sanctification.  This is also an important topic, which is covered in another article.

Ministry is one of the most commonly used words we hear in the church world.  Check the web page of any evangelical church, and they list; children’s ministry, women’s ministry, high school ministry, music ministry, men’s ministry, etc.  They are indeed ministry, but the way we’ve used that term has caused most believers to misunderstand its true meaning.  The leaders of the Reformation were intentional about restoring the Biblical understanding, and we would do well to revisit their teaching.  They explicitly established that a believer’s occupation is a ministry.  Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to help people understand that their vocation is not just a place for ministry but rather, the actual work they accomplish, is ministry.  Helping people understand that is a priority for me, so when asked to speak at a men’s conference, I began with the following statement.

“Let me start by giving you a little personal history.  I was formerly a layman like most of you, but in 1980, the Lord led me into the ministry.  I had always taught Sunday School, led Bible studies and worked with a  high school ministry called, “Young Life.”  But now it’s so rewarding to have all my efforts count for Jesus rather than most of my time being taken up with secular work.  I truly wish that all of you could experience the joy of being in full-time ministry.  Over the years, many have said to me if income weren’t an issue they would love to be in full-time ministry.  I pray that will happen to some of you but until then, at least by your prayers and finances you can support someone who is in the ministry.”

After a slight pause I said; “As arrogant and obnoxious as that sounds it’s very close to the way our church culture has taught us to think, but it’s, stinking thinking.”  The church has allowed and at times knowingly promoted a two-tier community of clergy and laity.  I strongly disagree with this because the clergy-laity distinction isn’t in the New Testament.  Hellenized believers (Those influenced by Greek thought) introduced it to the church in the third century.  Then it was handed down to us by way of tradition, but Jesus warned us about that.  “You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.  (Mark 7:13)  There’s nothing wrong with traditions unless they violate the Word of God.  I love many traditions because they’ve played a major role in developing family unity.  So there are many good traditions, but there are others that we need to abandon.  Many of our spiritual forefathers taught that the clergy-laity distinction is one of those bad traditions.  Here are a couple of examples.

Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517 and famously declared that justification is by faith alone.  It’s less known that he also strongly rejected the dichotomy between spiritual and secular occupations.  Luther more than any other person challenged this idea as harmful to the body of Christ.  Today’s evangelical church exists because of the reformation but often fosters the very thing that Luther rejected.  To him, “all work from the blacksmith who shod mules, to the priest who administered the sacraments was a divine assignment.”

Luther quotes:

1. “Therefore I advise no one to enter any religious order or the priesthood, indeed, I advise everyone against it unless he is fore-armed with this knowledge and understands that the works of monks and priests, however, holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God, by faith alone.” 
2. “…The same is true for shoemaker, tailor, scribe, or reader.  If he is a Christian tailor, he will say: I make these clothes because God has bidden me do so, so that I can earn a living, so that I can help and serve my neighbor…”

William Tyndale, (1526) another Reformation leader is known as the Father of our English Bible.  His knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures led him to oppose the hierarchal structure of the Church of England.  They taught that only the Clergy could read and interpret the Bible.  The church convicted him of heresy for opposing that view, and he was burned at the stake for making statements like these:  “If we look externally there appears to be a difference between washing dishes and preaching a sermon but to God, none at all.”  He also said, “there is no work better than another to please God; to wash dishes, be a cobbler or an apostle, all are one.”

These men and others believed and taught this because they understood what the Bible means when it speaks of ministry.  In the New Testament, the primary word for ministry is “Diakonia“ (dee-ak-on-ee’-ah). The literal meaning of that word is, “one who serves.”  (As waiting on tables)  So to serve is to minister.  Since we claim to serve God, our goal is to find out where and in what capacity He wants us to serve Him.  With that attitude, one can be a minister as a banker, homemaker, plumber, doctor, farmer, mechanic, executive, police officer, garbage collector, builder, or pastor.  Your daily work is your ministry if you believe that God has led you into your current occupation.

This isn’t the way most believers think today, and you can prove it to yourself.  When you hear the word “ministry,” what comes to your mind?  You probably will not think about the believing mechanic that fixes your car.  Or ask this question of your friends, “Do you know anyone in the ministry?”  They will most likely mention a pastor, missionary or Para-church leader, etc.  Or ask your pastor or anyone on staff or even the average member about the ministries in their church.  They will mention those that happen at the church but will not think to tell you about a member who serves Jesus and the community as a businessperson. For that reason, it’s regrettable, that most believers do not consider themselves to be ministers.  Even worse, some pastors don’t consider them ministers either and sadly, that’s true even in the best of churches.  I’m confident that many Pastors would disagree with that, but I was present when the following incident took place.  It reveals an unrecognized commonly held thought process.  A young man was planning to go to medical school after his undergraduate studies.  He took a job as a summer intern in his home church and later decided to forego medical school and join the high school staff.  In announcing this to the church, they said; “We are so pleased that God has led Doug away from medicine and into the ministry.” Using the metaphor of an airplane flight, it’s as if they said; we’re glad that God moved Doug from “economy” into “first class.”  I felt like standing up to protest, but I didn’t because I can’t change the culture with a statement.  What I will do is use every opportunity to educate believers about the true meaning of ministry.

God’s desire is for all believers to be His ministers and that includes pastors.  The Holy Spirit appoints them and gives them the role of equipping the church to do the work of the ministry. (Eph 4:12-13)  Their specific ministry is to serve those who serve, so that might be one of the reasons the Bible says they are worthy of double honor.  (1 Tim. 5:17)

Conclusion

Scripture says that Jesus is the creator and sustainer of the visible and invisible and holds all things together. (Col. 1:16-17)  God’s desire is for every believer to be His junior partner in His ongoing work of sustaining creation, and meeting the needs of society.  This paper is written with the hope that you will come to believe that however grand or trivial your work is, it’s ministry and is valuable to God.  If you think, God is calling you to do something else, then respond to His call.  However, if not then you’re job is your ministry until He moves you.  Preaching a sermon or teaching first graders in the public school is of equal importance to God IF both people can say, “To the best of my knowledge I am doing what God wants me to do.”  When any work is done with that attitude, it’s ministry.