COME BEFORE WINTER

Strike while the iron is hot - When you have an opportunity to do something, do it before you lose your chance.

How many wasted opportunities have we had in our lives.  Perhaps it was as simple as driving behind a slow car on a two lane road and not taking the passing lane when the chance presented itself?  Maybe you did not ask that girl out when you had the chance, only to find that when you got around to it she was already dating someone else?  Could it be that it was something far more important that you missed out on because you did not strike while the iron was hot?

In Paul’s second letter to his son in the faith, Timothy, he tells him to come before winter.  Paul is a prisoner in Rome and does not expect to be alive in the Spring.  If Timothy waits much longer the winds will change and he will not be able to sail against the winter breezes.  His chance to get to Paul while he is still alive will be lost.  Paul has been poured out like a drink offering and has fought the good fight.  He has expended his life in the pursuit of the will of God and in service to the cause of Christ.  He has been successful.  He counts the scars on his body as evidence of this success: beaten times without number…39 lashes…beaten with rods…stoned… three times shipwrecked…been in labor and hardship…through many sleepless nights…thirsty…without food – all for the Gospel of Christ.  Paul did not miss an opportunity to do the things he had been prepared to do by the Lord.  Now, sitting in a prison in Rome he awaited his death for preaching the Gospel.  “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.  Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because the live in a gray twilight that known neither victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt as Quoted by John MacArthur)

The Lord calls to us…do we always act when we sense His prompting?  Come before winter – act now to restore your relationships…act now to demonstrate the love you have been holding back…act now to share your faith with that friend whose response you have been uncertain of…act now to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved…Come before winter. 

GRACE ABOUNDING OR SIN ABOUNDING?

Known as the "mad monk," Grigori Rasputin was an outlandish figure in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. A wandering peasant and self-styled holy man, Rasputin became a favorite of Nicholas and the Empress Alexandra in 1905 after he laid hands on their son Alexis, apparently healing the boy of hemophilia. Rasputin was soon a fixture in the royal household and a particular confidante to Alexandra. Wild-eyed and unkempt, Rasputin was strangely charismatic and his personal magnetism was legendary; at the same time his bouts of drinking, womanizing, and wild behavior created a scandal in Russian society. He was finally killed in 1916 by a cabal of aristocrats who feared Rasputin's influence had grown too great. Rasputin's death became the stuff of legend: assassins fed him poisoned cakes and wine, and when the poison failed to kill Rasputin they shot him and beat him. Still Rasputin didn't die, until finally the men bound him and tossed him into the Neva River, where he drowned (www.answers.com).  Seventies pop group Boney M summed up Rasputin's exploits very nicely: “Most people looked at him with terror and with fear / But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear.”

The theology of Rasputin centered around a virulent form of antinomianism: one must become very familiar with sin, so that God’s grace can be demonstrated to its fullest extent.  As far as we know Rasputin took full advantage of some of his theology, with plenty of evidence for the first portion (familiarity with sin) but no evidence for the second portion (familiarity with God’s grace). The “mad monk” was not the first man in history to misunderstand the graciousness of God or to ignore the teachings of Paul in Romans 5-7; he is just better known than the Gnostics, the Manicheans, those involved in Marcionism, Johannes Agricola, or Anne Hutchinson. 

Most of us today don’t recognize any of these names or even the word “antinomianism” (anti-against; nomos-law), but that does not mean it is not present in our society and even within the church today.  I believe this crazy view of God’s grace is manifest in two particular ways today: universalism and ego-centrism. 

The universal aspect of this is seen in a reduction of the value of any obedience or desire to become more Christ-like (contrary to an extraordinary number of passages in Scripture and the majority of the book of James).  The one who professes faith in Christ but does not care how he lives is surprisingly similar to the Universalist who thinks, “We are all going to heaven anyway so in the end if I cheat my brother, what does it matter?”

The ego-centric aspect of today’s antinomianism is seen in the rejection of God and any moral law as the natural result of man becoming obsessed with self.  If I am the center of my own world, then I have that great ability and even omniscience to justify my own behavior.  Why should I voluntarily limit or submit myself to any rule of God if I truly believe that I have been forgiven and God’s grace is sufficient to cover any sin?  If it covered my past sins, and God is aware that I will continue to sin and has made His grace to cover those as well, then why hold back my own desires, especially if there is grace waiting to cover my sinful actions!  If there is unlimited grace why should I ever care about obeying any moral law?

If you are so full of self and believe that because of grace no moral law has any bearing or hold upon you, then you have not been taught the truth, are so young in your knowledge of Christ and the things of faith as to be still sipping on “milk” (or not consuming the Word at all), or you are simply not a believer.  Paul’s great frustration in his personal life was that he could not get away from sin and did not always do those things he knew he should do.  God’s grace frees us from the master we had – sin.  God’s grace gives us a new Master – Christ.  Everyone will serve their master; either you will be a servant of sin or of righteousness.  Christ did not die so that we could be even further enslaved to sin.  He gave His life to free us from those chains so we could have life more abundantly.  We strive to live in obedience to God’s Word because of God’s grace. 

If you don’t want to live like Christ, perhaps it’s because you don’t know Christ?

SAFE IN HIS ARMS

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

How is a child supposed to sleep with that little ditty ringing in his ears?  There you are, a typical 4 year old, just drifting off to sleep with your mother sweetly singing to you when suddenly the bough is breaking and you are coming crashing down to the ground!  It’s as bad a those poor blind mice being chased by the crazy butcher knife waiving farmer’s wife!

Where is your security…I mean your eternal security?  Often believers will refer to that day they raised their hand and took Jesus as their Savior.  That’s a good day, but if your eternal security rests in a decision you made, how secure can it really be?  Don’t forget, we are the people who paint the bathroom a different color every year, can’t decide if we want waffles or French toast for breakfast, and keep switching between Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs.  Let’s face it; we are fickle.  The only thing we are settled on is whether it’s Alabama or Auburn!

If our salvation rested in our ability to make a correct decision to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, then the security of that decision would be tenuous at best.  If I can choose one way, I can just as easily choose another way.  And if my choice is the basis for my salvation, then God is obligated to save me or “unsave” me as I see fit – or as I choose.

Scripture teaches us that God is the only one whose will and choice are perfect.  He makes no arbitrary decisions, takes no rash actions and never changes His mind.    

Are you safe with a God who would let you decide your own eternal fate when you can’t settle on what color you want the walls painted, or are you safe in the arms of a God who has chosen you in Christ before the foundations of the world?