The Word Is Not Imprisoned

I recently posted a new page titled “Jason’s Personal Testimony.” The Title of the testimony is How God Justified Me by Grace Alone Through Faith Alone in Christ Alone To the Glory of God Alone! Just click on the link above. Hope you all enjoy. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have. My email address is jksnider@sbcglobal.net. It is a PDF file which makes it available to print. You are welcome to do with it as you please.

Also the page “About Us” has been updated. Merry Christmas to you all! May we celebrate the coming of our King.

Do not blog like this: “And they loved the praise of man. The reward they sought for…was not the enjoyment of God’s fellowship, but the admiration of others. Jesus said, ‘They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others’ (Matt 23:5-7). This love affair with the praise of man made genuine faith in the self-sacrificing Christ impossible. So, Jesus said to them, ‘How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:44). Their hearts were not drawn to God as their reward, but to the praise of man.” (p.194 What Jesus Demands from the World, John Piper).

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I am currently reading a book by Jerry Bridges entitled The Practice of Godliness. I have only read four chapters thus far, but I had to stop and inform you all of some sweeping words already impacting my life.

Bridges makes this statement, “Godliness is no optional spiritual luxury for a few quaint Christians of a bygone era or for some group of super-saints of today.”

Just to set the context, he begins the book (like everyone should) by defining his terms. In this case, he defines what he means by godly and godliness. He points out that Paul emphasizes godliness to Timothy and Titus to which he exhorts them to pursue it. Then Bridges addresses Peter’s comments in 2 Peter 3:10-12 that we are to live holy and godly lives. Peter also began the letter by saying, “everything we need for life and godliness” has been given to us (2 Peter 1:3). So, godliness is to be pursued. Now, the defining of godliness.

Bridges goes to Genesis to begin defining godliness from Scripture. The description of Enoch among his descendants should be strikingly different. If you were to read chapter five of Genesis you will find only one description that is missing the words “and he died.” Enoch did not die because he walked with God. So, the key to life (the opposite of death) is walking with God. Enoch is mentioned in Hebrews 11. It says that Enoch “was pleasing to God” (Heb. 11:5). It goes on to say in the next verse that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). So, it can be stated that Enoch was pleasing to God because of faith. The writer of Hebrews connects this pleasing faith with “for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

To further explain godliness Bridges describes the life of Enoch as a life “devoted to God.” He says this is the meaning of godliness. He goes on to say that godliness “is always devotion in action.” This attitude of devotion to God has three elements. Bridges asserts them as: the fear of God, the love of God, and the desire for God. With this context set, now the quotations.

It is sad that many Christians do not have this aura of godliness about them. They may be very talented and personable, or very busy in the Lord’s work, or even apparently successful in some avenues of Christian service, and still not be godly. Why? Because they are not devoted to God. They may be devoted to a vision, or to a ministry, or to their own reputation as a Christian, but not to God (p. 15).

These words drove me to ask of myself: What am I devoted to? What are my motivations? And in the depths of my heart what are my intentions? Our focus can easily be thwarted or numbed. I found in my heart an attitude of not acknowledging where my devotion was and is. I was in a mode of doing things without thinking (i.e. amused). If that were not enough, this next paragraph stung me as well.

It is possible to be very orthodox in one’s doctrine and very upright in one’s behavior and still not be godly. Many people are orthodox and upright, but they are not devoted to God; they are devoted to their orthodoxy and they standards of moral conduct (p. 36).

This quote again cut even deeper to the motivations of my heart. I hope you too will be exposed to your motivations and see to it that you are devoted to God.

This past weekend I (Kimberly) spent a night, by myself, at the campus conference center and hotel (known to Southwesterners as the LDC). As Jason and I tried to explain to others what I was doing, we tried to come up with a name to call my time alone. The whole purpose was for me to be refreshed in the Lord. I had become so tired physically and spiritually, I really needed uninterrupted time with God. As I sat in the room and began journaling, I simply called it a retreat. At first I thought how odd that a word could have such different meanings. I was reminded of when Yosemite Sam screamed, “Retreat!” in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, he meant to turn around and go the other way quickly!  That was definitely not what I was doing! However, the more I thought about it, that’s exactly what I needed to be doing. It wasn’t long into my prayer of confession that God revealed to me I needed to head out in a completely different direction.

When God made me a mom, He changed my life. During the months of pregnancy with Lydia my attitude and heart changed about how I believed a household should be run. I quickly became passionate about the household, meaning not just the house itself, but also all the people in it. What I learned this weekend was that somewhere along the way, that passion from the Lord became my own personal goal of success. If I just worked a little harder everything would be perfect. Daily I was asking myself questions such as “Why am I failing? Why am I letting my family down in different areas? On paper it should work, why is my day not going like it should?” It didn’t make sense to me. Suddenly it was so clear, I was failing at what I wanted to do and how I wanted things to go, so I would be looked upon as a success in this world. I really wasn’t involving God in it too much. It is amazing how subtly it happens. Yes, the concept was a godly one; I am thinking, “I’m just trying to carry out what God has commanded me!” I see now that it all depends on the state of my heart and a right relationship with the Lord. To put it plainly, I was living a life of unbelief. Of course (as always) I didn’t set out to think this way, but I did not believe that God could carry out what He called me to if I let Him have it all. I needed to be living a life of faith. He wants me to come to Him every day and find out what is in store for the ministry in which He has called me: my family.

Once I repented of that, I wondered what a life of faith looks like. Sometimes it seems so much easier said than done. I searched several verses and came up with this list (not exhaustive by any means):

Humble – Habakkuk 2:4

Confident in the Lord – Matthew 17:20

Believe that Jesus can do anything – Luke 7:9

Persistant – Luke 18:8

Faith is initially given to be able to continue in a life of faith – Romans 1:17

It is not based on works – Romans 9:30-33

Comes from hearing the Word of Christ – Romans 10:17

Acknowledging that faith is a gift of God – Ephesians 2:8

Not shifting from the hope of the gospel – Colossians 1:23

Walk, abounding in thanksgiving – Colossians 2:7

It is to be pursued – 1 Timothy 6:11

Believe the impossible can happen – Hebrews 11

Faith will produce works – James 2:14-26

In case it wasn’t clear, I came away from my retreat very refreshed. No, this week has not been perfect and I have continued to struggle with some of the same habits, but I have seen fruit in the way I responded. It was a little bit easier to battle. So if you haven’t spent time in solitude and uninterrupted time with the LORD lately, I highly recommend a retreat.

On Systematic Theology: Reading Scripture Resulting in Biblical Theology Resulting in Systematic Theology 

We, the church, have found ourselves, at least some of us, with seemingly strong theological conclusions, however, we have hardly any idea how we developed these conclusions. Like the saying of any good math teacher, “Show your work even though the answer may be in the back of the book. The answer is not the answer unless you show your work.” How do we teach theological conclusions or systematic theology and not teach someone how to unearth that conclusion? Simple, we tend to preach and teach someone else’s conclusions. This has a lasting effect on the church which results in an unequipped body. This must change. There is a way to preach and teach the Bible by which you feed the sheep and delicately show them how to read the Scriptures.

If you pick up any systematic theological textbook it will basically give you the conclusions or answers to the theological questions they have either discovered or taken from someone else. So, you find yourself in this situation: you begin a conversation with someone who is an unbeliever and you are discussing a topic of theology. Furthermore, this person is well educated and directs some logical reasoning back at your conclusion. Then you realize that you have no idea how to explain “your work” on coming to that conclusion. There you stand with no explanation for the hope that is within you.

The church, by that I mean every believer, [should] be brought to a point they can write or explain theological conclusions with their Bible (but not proof-texts). This means that they are being equipped and they are equipping others to continue to study the Bible. This will happen in the home, the office, the grocery store, etc. Moreover, this may be one reason why people are not sharing the gospel or discipling their children because they do not know how. Thus, I think catechisms are the lazy way to teach our children, and we are severing these truths from the word of God. This does not mean that we abandon the confessions and systematic theology books; rather we use them to check our work. If we are way off in our conclusions, we must work harder to find out why—namely, through the study of the Scriptures and prayer.

Therefore, the church needs men and women dads and moms who can rightly divide the WORD, not a catechism or systematic theology book. However, this takes work. Are you willing to work hard to find the treasures found in Scripture? Let me state why this is going to be difficult. First, there are many things you have learned that you will have to unlearn. Next, in a sense you may be working backwards. This becomes very frustrating, but it will pay off as we begin to discover the treasures within God’s word. Lastly, it will be hard because we are lazy (and too busy) and undisciplined in our walk with the Lord. When we discover Jesus, we will be changed. We need to SEE Jesus, so to see him is to find him revealed in written form i.e. the Bible.