Miracle Money?

I, first, heard about it a couple of months ago and I ignored it. I have heard it again this week and I cannot afford to ignore it anymore. Some ‘men of God’ are performing miracles whereby one can just find that you have money in your pocket or in your bank account. Believe you me, I hear that ‘some men of God’ are able to rain down money on people. It’s exciting, isn’t it? NO! It is very pathetic and scary! These so called miracles are acting in strong opposition to God’s Word.

At creation, God established three mandates namely work, rest and marriage. God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to work therein (Genesis 2:15). He established a day of rest (Genesis 2:2, 3). God also established marriage when he brought Eve to Adam (Genesis 2:22). No matter what we might think of these mandates, they will remain until Christ comes.

Now, it is sad to note that some Christians think that work came into effect as a result of Adam’s sin. This is not true because work was ordained by God even before the entry of sin. People, especially Christians, should be eager to work and earn their living instead of expecting the so called miracles where one becomes a millionaire without work.

God can do anything. However, it is also important to remember that God always honors his word. If he said that we should work, he expects that from us. God blesses the work of the hands of his children and in his grace, he provides through the work of our hands.

Therefore, Christians’ attitude towards work should always be positive. We should never expect God to put money in our pockets while we are sitting idle. No matter how godly you are, God can never put money in your pocket while you are idling. Apostle Paul was a true servant of God but he had to make tents to earn a living (Acts 18:1-3) hence he could boldly say:

“For when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now to such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to ear their own living,” (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12).

Friends in Christ get this right: It is not God’s will that you have money which you have not worked for. It is one thing to have God move the hearts of people to assist you with money for a particular cause and another thing to have money in your pocket without knowing where it has come from. If this happens to you, you ought to be afraid rather than rejoice.

When Success Eludes God’s Children

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose,” boldly declares Romans 8:28 (KJV).

It is good that the verse clarifies that it is not for everyone that all things work together for the good. It is only those who love God and are called by him. Those who are called by God are his children. So, in other words, the verse says that all things work together for the good of Christians.

It is one thing to accept this verse as it is it appears on the pages of Scripture and it is quite another to accept it in real life experience. We are living in the world that exalts success. Everywhere we go, achievements are lifted high and rarely do we hear stories of failure. It is as if failure does not exist. Even in churches we share our victories in Christ and hardly do we share otherwise.

This has led many to believe that Christianity and success are synonyms; however, this is not true. Christians also face failure. However, what differs between Christian and non-Christians is that the former have a comfort that God in all things (including that failure) is working for their own good while the former regards it as a hindrance to their brighter future.

This is not to mean that Christians accept their failure and sit down. Not at all! They work hard to succeed yet at the same time they realize that failure is not out of God’s plan for their life. A very well known American theologian, A.W. Tozer, once wrote that Christians travel an appointed way. This is true. Everything that happens in our life including failure was already ordained by God even before the foundations of the earth were laid.

Therefore, we should never regard failure as a weird thing in the plan of God for our lives. Believe you me, God will allow failure to come our way as long as it is part of his plan for our lives.

Salvation and Good Works

The fifth and last trustworthy saying is found in Titus 3:8 and reads: “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

Good works do not produce salvation but salvation produces good works. For sure, salvation is by the grace of God and there is nothing we do to earn it yet true salvation will always produce good works. This is what Apostle Paul is stressing in this trustworthy saying.

The relationship between salvation and good works has sometimes caused confusion but I believe God’s Word clarifies the issue better in the saying. Every Christian is saved to do good works.

The only difference between good works of a Christian and a non-Christian is that a Christian does good as a result of the Holy Spirit who has come into his life. It is this Holy Spirit who motivates and gives the believer the grace and desires to please God by doing what is good.

A non-Christian, on the other hand, will do good works hoping to be accepted by God and usually driven by the natural guilt that is in all those who don’t have Christ due to original sin of our first parents which all of us are born with.

Godliness

The third ‘Trustworthy saying’ is found in 1 Timothy 4:8, 9: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.”

Timothy being a young man was most likely involved in some sporting activities. Apostle Paul then takes advantage of Timothy’s knowledge of sports to communicate an important truth. He tells Timothy that physical exercises are good but they cannot surpass the need for godliness in a life of a Christian.

Now, godliness does not just come automatically in ones life; there is a need for deliberate effort to pursue godliness while still relying on God’s grace. This is why the apostle is bringing in the analogy of athletics.

In as much as athletes train for physical fitness, Christians while relying on God’s grace should ‘train’ for godliness. This is where spiritual disciplines like studying God’s Word, prayer, fasting, meditation and others come in. Christians should not neglect these things.

It is also true from the saying is that Christians should always bear in mind that all the things we do in this world will pass away but only that which is done for Christ will last. Therefore, Christians must always seek to glorify Christ with their lives. Remember:

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last” (Anonymous)

This is not to discourage Christians from participating in other activities that the world offers us like education, business, sports, and music. Let’s get involved in these things; however, we should never at a single time let them take the place of God in our lives because they will one day pass away but our relationship with God through Christ is eternal.

The Worst Sinner (conmakhalira.wordpress.com)

The Worst Sinner

As I indicated in my previous post, the first “Trustworthy Saying” is found in 1 Timothy 1:15 and reads: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst.” In the verse two important truths are presented before us.

First, the reason Christ came into the world was to save sinners. Although while on earth Christ healed the sick, cast out demons and performed miracles, his main goal was to save sinners and this was achieved when he lived a perfect life, died on the cross and later rose from the dead on behalf of all believers. Christ himself affirmed this when he said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). By the way, Bible Scholars say that this is the key verse of the Gospel according to Luke.

Therefore, we, preachers of God’s Word, miss the point when we emphasize on the physical well being of people the main reason Christ came into the world. For sure, Christ did not come into the world to make the poor rich rather he came to save sinners like you and me who were once dead in our sin but were made alive in Christ by God’s grace alone (Colossians 2:13, 14). This remains the main reason of Christ’s coming into the earth even today hence preaching should center on this.

Secondly, it is important to note how Apostle Paul addresses himself in the verse. There is no doubt that Apostle Paul is one of the men that God has used greatly in the Church. Paul also wrote almost half of the New Testament yet when he examined himself, he felt that he was the worst sinner.

This is what happens to every Christian who is growing in his/her faith hence becoming closer to God. The more we get closer to God, the more we realize how greatly we fall short of His glory. Any Christian who gets closer to God can’t help it but realize how sinful he is and how holy God is.

For instance, consider Prophet Isaiah, the moment he came closer to God, he immediately realized how holy God is and how evil his heart was and he cried out, “Woe is me for I am (sinful)” (Isaiah 6:5). The same can also be said of Apostle Peter. In his first encounter with Jesus, it dawned on him that Christ is holy and he was very sinful hence he told Jesus: “Depart from me a sinner” (Luke 5:8).

Therefore, it should scare us when we take the holiness of God for granted. We have every reason to be afraid when we play with the holiness of God as a child’s toy. For sure, God is a our Father and we always have to approach His throne of grace with confidence as his children yet at the same time we should bear in mind that He is holy and we are not. The only reason he welcomes us is because of Christ who clothes us with his holiness. Without Christ, you and me are the worst sinner hence we should continually work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

With Fear and Trembling

In my previous post, we looked at the first part of Philippians 2:12, 13 which reads: “Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure.”

We discussed what “work out your salvation’ means. Today I would like us to all look at the phrase: “with fear and trembling.” What does this mean? Does it mean that believers should always live in fear that their salvation might be lost or God will take it away from them?

Not at all! Scripture now and again assures all believers that they are in safe hands of Christ and no one or anything can snatch them from the hand of Christ. In other words, believers cannot lose their salvation (John 10:27, 28; Romans 8:38, 39; Ephesians 2:13, 14; Philippians 1:6). Therefore, “with fear and trembling” does not mean that believers should be afraid of losing their salvation.

The phrase, rather, refers to awe and reverence that automatically comes out of believers when they ponder at their salvation, especially, on how God humbled himself to become a despised servant and later die on the cross for sinners and his enemies and rose from the dead. This act leaves believers with no other option but marvel at how this could be. It is this reverence of failing to fully grasp the depth of God’s love and grace that the phrase is referring to.

For sure salvation is an awesome thing and we can agree with Paul that the gift of Christ to the fallen world is “an indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).

Work Out Your Salvation

Philippians 2:12, 13 reads: “Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure.”

Do these verses teach that salvation is by works? Not at all! Salvation means more than just regeneration (being born-again) because salvation includes being declared righteous before God on the basis of Christ’s righteousness (justification) and being conformed to the character of Christ (sanctification).

These verses are referring to sanctification. In sanctification God plays his role and we pray our role too. God gives us the grace to will and work for his good pleasure but it takes us to obey and act.

Consider an example of a drunkard who gets converted. God will give him the grace and power of not going back to getting drunk but it will literary take this person not to touch the bottle and put it on his mouth. It’s absurd to think that because this person is saved whenever he is tempted to get drunk, an invisible hand of God will always push his hand away from the bottle.

This is what it means to work out our salvation. God gives us the grace and power to reject sin but it takes us to take action to avoid or overcome sin in our lives.

Give Me More of Christ Not the Devil

There are some wrong things done in the Church which are obvious and it doesn’t take long to notice that they are wrong. But there are some wrongs which are not obvious or may be we choose to deliberately ignore them and little by little they get established and grow roots. Eventually, there are no longer regarded as wrong. One such wrong which in my view has grown roots is a certain attitude towards the devil or Satan. Some Christians tend to mock, insult or make fun of devil.

I remember meeting one preacher at a certain Christian gathering and saying “Brother, make sure that the devils gives back what he owes you. Squeeze his neck until he vomits all your blessings.”

Now what is wrong with that, you may ask. Well, the Bible discourages us from doing that. The Word of God in 2 Peter 2:10, 11 reads:

“Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, where as angels though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord” (ESV)

Apostle Peter is writing about false teachers and he describes how they conduct themselves and one thing that he points out is that they blaspheme the glorious ones. Now, the glorious ones in this passage refer to Satan and his fallen angels and not the angels in heaven that’s why Apostle Peter goes on to explain that angels though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against Satan and other fallen angels.

Jude also gives us a similar message in Jude 8-10:

“Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you’” (ESV)

Jude is also discouraging Christians from insulting or making fun of the devil and other fallen angels like the false teachers he describes in the passage were doing. Therefore, I would like to remind us of this truth again: as we sing or preach, let’s avoid the temptation of insulting or making fun of the devil. The word of God discourages it.

Another sad thing I have also noticed is that sometimes preachers or Christian singers spend more time talking about the devil than Christ in their sermons and songs. This should also be discouraged because at the end of the day, listeners get to hear more of the devil than Christ and Satan enjoys that because we end up shifting most of our attention from Christ to him thereby letting him control much of our thoughts and actions.

I should also warn here against two extremes which Satan would want Christian to go. One is the extreme where he wants us to believe that he is too weak or he doesn’t even exist. If we go to this extreme, he will attack us when we least expect. The other extreme is the one where Satan wants us to believe that he is all-powerful like God. If we go to this extreme, we will always walk in fear of him; however, the truth is that Satan is under the power of God (Job 1:12).

Martin Luther who is said to have often fought against the devil as if fighting a physical being once gave a true picture of the devil in regard to his war against Christian in a hymn titled, “A mighty fortress is our God.” He said:

For still our ancient enemy (Satan)

                    Does seek to work us woe;

                    His craft and power are great,

                    And armed with cruel hate,

                    On earth is not his equal.

                    If we in our own strength confide,

                    Our striving would be losing,

                    (If) the right man (was not) on our side,

                    The man of God’s own choosing.

                    Do you ask who that may be?

                    Christ Jesus, it is he;

                    Lord Sabaoth,(is) his name,

                    From age to age the same,

                    And he must win the battle

That’s it! The devil being a fallen angel is more powerful than us; however, we thank God for Jesus Christ because only Christ must win the battle. Let’s not buy into the lie that we can defeat the devil with our own strength. Only Jesus can do that in and through us. Let’s not waste time insulting or making fun of him rather let our response be like that of Archangel Michael, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan”

My Prayer for 2013

My prayer for 2013 is that God will enable us to live a thankful life all the time and that the worship of Him will take a center stage in our lives.

My prayer for 2013 is also that Christians will love the Bible more and will be like the Bereans who whenever they heard a preaching, they received it with all eagerness but also examined their Bibles to see if whatever was preached was indeed God’s Word (Bereans 17:10).

My prayer for 2013, further, is that God will enable Christians to realize that Christ is enough and that we do not need to add anything to him to make Christianity more beautiful or more appealing. I pray that Christians will not be taken captive by empty deceit but will walk in Christ, rooted and built up in him (Colossians 2:6-8).

My earnest prayer for 2013 is also that Christians will not sick the ‘blessings’ without ‘the giver of the blessings’ for Christ once reminded us: “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you (John 6:27).

My prayer for 2013 is that we will all seek to glorify God alone and in that way our lives will be meaningful.

May you have a blessed and gracious 2013.

Thank You

This is the first post on this blog in this year 2013. A few days ago, we were in 2012 but now the year 2012 is fast becoming history. Oh, how time flies! As we sink deeper and deeper in the year, I would like to take time and thank God for enabling me to write and share His word in 2012. Writing is never always easy; however, by His grace, He enabled me to put ink on paper in the year. Glory to Him alone.

Above all, I thank God the Father for His indescribable gift of Christ. It is because of this Christ that this blog exists. Without Christ, I could not have written whatever has been posted on the blog. Please ascribe all the errors on this blog to me but all the glory belongs to Christ whom without him, I am a dead man in sin and trespasses.

My thanks also should go to the readers of the blog, especially, those who take their time to give me feedback and comments. You will never know how encouraging and motivating your feedback is to me.

I would like also to thank my family and friends for supporting and encouraging me to keep on writing. There were times when the mind went blank not knowing what to write next but you helped me with ideas and topics. There was also time for tough love when I had to share a hard teaching on the blog. Thank you for encouraging me when I was hesitant. What could I have done without you?

As we look forward to what God will bring us in 2013, I pray that He in His grace will continue to use this blog to glorify himself and that He will increase while all of us decrease for “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him” (John Piper).

May you have a blessed and gracious 2013.

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