Enemy at the Gates — by Pastor Larry Hoskins

"Don't go there," the missionary warned.  I was a youth pastor with several colleagues on reconnaissance for a potential youth missions trip to a London suburb.  Our missionary host was giving us a guided tour, and we were ambling by an ornate Hindu temple within a short distance of his home.  Walking past the temple's gilded doors, he looked at me earnestly and asked, "Are you dabbling in the occult in any way?"  "No," I replied.  "If you are," he continued, "don't go in there."  The man was not given to sensationalism, but the seriousness in his eyes and in the tone of his voice gave me a sense of foreboding.  The evil one lurked there, and while I never learned the details of the missionary's experience that led to such caution, it was clear that Satan was alive and well.  Well over twenty years later, I see his face, and his words still ring in my ear.

The Apostle Peter described the devil as our "adversary."  The Greek word means someone who has taken us to court and who is against us in a lawsuit.  Sometimes it is a synonym for an enemy.  In the West, we are less aware of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged.  We deal in "immutable facts" and "scientific proofs" and "rational arguments," but our adversary does not so easily fit into such categories.  We are so used to "natural laws" and "hard figures" and "individual accomplishment" that we rarely venture into the more elusive arena of the unseen spirit being and his minions.  Yet the fact that we rarely venture into that mental landscape does not mean that he is any less there.

Before 9/11, terrorists had long before tried to take down the World Trade Center.  American technology prevailed against that sinister attack, and we could sit smugly with a certain air of superiority, enjoying their failure.  Caution gave way to complacency which yielded to the casual comfort of everyday normalcy.  Life went on.  It seemed the enemy was gone.

But the enemy did not roll over and die.  No, he had the same goal of bringing down those gigantic towers.  He chose a different tactic.  He blended in, patiently, for years.  He held a job, paid his bills and looked like your average American.  Eventually, he went to flight training classes, bough a ticket to a destination, and boarded a plane like any other passenger.  Only he was not any other passenger, and he had others, equally "normal," with him to accomplish the same sinister plot.  This time, his plan succeeded, most victims were caught unaware, and his menacing ideologues who survived him danced in the streets.  After careful study afterwards, clues of their larger deception evidenced years of planning.  He was our adversary, and he had many names and faces.

Our adversary has many names and faces — the evil one, the accuser of the brethren, the god of this world, the one who disguises himself as an angel of light, and the serpent of old — to name a few.  Years ago, he raised a question in the heavenlies as to who had the right to rule — God or him!  Lucifer was so magnificent that one third of the angels in heaven, having seen both, opted for Satan.  And so the stage was set on earth to answer the question.  Whom will the human race follow?  When Christ was crucified, demonically inspired hoards danced in the streets at the success of their plot.  Years earlier, a satanically inspired king was moved to kill babies in Bethlehem, and like the terrorists, that first attempt failed.  But this time, success!  Or so they thought.  But the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.  The ground trembled, and the stone rolled away, and the resurrected Messiah appeared.  The dancers, drop jawwed, stood still.  The enemy's days were numbered.  The embers are glowing in the lake fire, and a certain judgment awaited.

Still, today, the enemy lurks in the darkness, and much like Germany near the end of World War II, though his final defeat awaits him, he is still very much alive, and even more dangerous.

When I was little, I used to sing a song: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart!"  "Where?" "Down in my heart."  I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.  Down in my heart to stay."  But a light-hearted, cavalier verse followed: "And if the devil doesn't like, it, he can sit on a tack!"  "Where?"  "Sit on a tack!"  "Where?" "Sit on a tack." "And if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack!  Sit on a tack to stay."  As my mother learned more of God's Word, she cautioned me against singing that verse.  "Why?"  I asked.  My godly mentor pointed me to few verses in the oft-overlooked book of Jude.  It speaks of false teachers who "revile angelic majesties" (verse 8) and whose actions are sharply contrasted with those of another angel in the next verse, "But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"  Michael had a tremendous respect for his enemy, but a recognition of his own limitations coupled with a trust and admiration for the greater power God.  He did not treat his nemesis lightly, nor did he engage him on his own, but asked God to fight his battle for him.  Dare we fight him on our own?

Sometimes, we have conflicts with our family, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, and even with those in our church.  It can be incredibly painful, and often it feels deeply personal.  But remember the question of "who has the right to rule?"  We, or those closest to us, are just as susceptible to the terrorist's attacks as were the passengers of the airplanes and the mighty Twin Towers.  He may not have succeeded the first time, but he keeps trying.  If those conflicts wear my face or the face of a friend, we have to remember that ultimately, we are not each others' enemies.  Our real enemy is not those closest to us.  Our enemy is the gates, covertly vying for our allegiance, but he is unseen and consequently, often ill-considered.  That is why we so desperately need God's power and protection:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places [i.e., it's against demonic forces].  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the [spoken] word of God.  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.  (Ephesians 6:10-18 NASB)

May God grant us the grace to not succumb to the enemy in the gates, but to stand by His strength fully armed in His truth, in faithfulness, in right living by His power.

Face the Truth or Believe a Lie — by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins
CMF Board of Directors

The Fox News website (2/18/10) recently featured an audio recording by Rosie O’Donnell on a radio program in which she interviewed Janeane Garofalo who ranted against Elisabeth Hasselbeck — a talk show host who is recognized as being politically conservative and a Christian.  Janeane accused Elisabeth of being “anti-intellectual” and “not compassionate.”  She noted Elisabeth’s “ridiculous take on religion” because she was “not about being inclusive” or “not about giving of oneself.”  Instead, Janeane noted that Elisabeth “prefers a punishing God” and that “she is not a Christ-like person.”

It is not uncommon, when someone has a difference of opinion or belief with another, for that person to attack the other person rather than to discuss the belief on its own merits.  This type of argument is called an “ad hominem” argument, which is a Latin phrase that can be translated “toward the man” or “against the man.”  Wikipedia discusses the basic form of the “ad hominem” arguments as follows:

Person 1 makes claim X.

There is something objectionable about Person 1.

Therefore claim X is false.

Simply put, if one can discredit “the arguer,” then the ideas he argues for must also be discredited.  On first appearance, it seems to make sense. But a closer examination may surprise you. Let’s consider the following example:

Jack says the bank is on fire.

Jack is a liar.

Therefore, the bank is not on fire.

The statement may be true that Jack is a liar (and that he has been proven to be so many times in the past).  But the statement does not say that Jack is always a liar, so while it is possible that the bank is on not on fire, it is also possible that The Liar Jack could have told the truth and that, in fact, the bank is on fire.  To know for sure, one would have to look not at Jack, but at the bank!  Truth stands outside of those who accept or deny it.

Today an entirely different concept is widely embraced — the view that truth is within oneself; it’s in the eye of the beholder.  It is often said, “That’s your interpretation,” or “That’s true for you.”  But do we really live in that world?  If a woman’s husband is literally and tragically killed in a car wreck, and she says to the doctor who informed her, “That’s your interpretation,” or “That’s true for you, but it’s not true for me.”  Does her saying so, no matter how sincere or earnest she may be, make her husband any more alive?  Is the literal reality any less true because of claims or beliefs or wishes to the contrary?  If beliefs made something true, there would be no more disease or death; poverty and famine would be a thing of the past, beauty contestants would have to come up with a different answer than “world peace,” and everybody would live happily ever after.

Janeane prefers a non-punishing god and inclusiveness (except, of course, including “exclusive” religions).  Elisabeth believes in a punishing God and an exclusive religion (meaning all will go to hell who do not receive Christ as their Savior).  So Janeane can attack Elisabeth and vice versa all day, and at the end of the day, neither is any closer to the truth because of ad hominem arguments.  Society would tell us that each has one’s own truth, yet if this is not true in the realm of objective physical reality (i.e., the bank is either burning or it isn’t), then why does belief in relativism, diversity, and inclusiveness make those views any more true than those who reject them, in the realm of objective ideological reality?  The mantra goes, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

Logically, truth requires submissive response.  If the bank is not burning, one can relax, submitting to fact.  If the bank is burning, the responsible person takes action to extinguish the fire and to save lives, submitting to the truth and the corresponding needs of the moment.  Such a submissive response may be easy regarding a bank — especially one’s own bank. In either case, the proper submissive response benefits the responder.

What about when an individual or group does not want to give a submissive response, especially when it comes to objective ideological reality?  If there is no God, no external authority, then there is no inherent right or wrong, so an individual or group defaults to anarchy, just as the Israelites did in the days of the judges: every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

But if there is a sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere-present God, and if He reveals Himself in various means, past and present (e.g., creation, dreams, visions, theophanies, prophetic messages, the person of Jesus Christ, and in the pages of the 66 books of the Bible), then a submissive response is not optional.  It may appear to be “optional” for a time in the permitted exercise of one’s free will.  However, a submissive response is essential and ultimately will be mandatory:  “Every knee will bow ... and ... every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).

There’s the rub! If all beliefs are equally “true,” then no submissive response is required, not even a change of opinion or belief; “live and let live!”  But if one embraces a belief that is contrary to what is absolutely true, then to persist in believing that which is false is lunacy or a delusion.  To insist that those who believe the truth need to be inclusive of beliefs that are absolutely false is foolishness.  If there is a punishing God as the Bible most certainly asserts — then to fail to seek how to remove oneself from such punishment and how one finds favor with that God — is a calamity of the greatest proportions!  To castigate those (who know that answer) for trying to convince others of imminent danger is at least short-sighted and ultimately eternally detrimental to the well-being of all who ignore their message.

Dr. Del Tackett in the Focus on the Family video series entitled, “The Truth Project,” notes that we came either from God or from “goo” – the primordial ooze from which we supposedly evolved.  So why do I believe in God? First, life has always come from someone living.  Each of us came from our parents who came from theirs, and so on Eventually, a first Cause that is self-existent and living must exist.  The alternative suggests that non-living “goo” became alive and evolved.  I’ve never seen something non-living come to life.  Second, personality has always come from something personal. “Goo” does not have personality.  Third, every culture, educated or primitive, has a sense of morality.  It may vary, but where does the common sense of right and wrong come from?  The Bible says that humans are created in the image of God and that God decides what is right or wrong. How does “goo” have any morality?  Fourth, the universe reflects design — look at an eyeball with an eyelid for protection, tear ducts to wash away impurities and to keep the surface of the eye moistened, a lens that focuses light, a pupil that widens and narrows to let in light, and rods and cones that translate light waves into a neurological signal that the brain can re-translate into an image — sight.  Look at our many systems: digestive, skeletal, immune, circulatory — to name a few.  “Goo” has no design and no intelligence.  When I begin to see that the universe requires a self-existent, living, personal, moral, and intelligent being, I begin to see God (with a leap of faith to be sure) but a far less leap than I would have to make for self-existent, impersonal, amoral, unintelligent “goo” to explain the universe.  As the Scripture says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).

When I begin to look at the Bible, it claims to be God’s Word (but that could be argued to be simply circular reasoning).  However, when I consider that 40 different authors, all of different backgrounds, education, social standing, and cultures, wrote over a period of 1500 years without contradiction, it is significant.  (I grant that some apparent contradictions exist, but reasonable explanations that do justice to both texts and that resolve the apparent conflict can be provided.)  Fulfilled prophecies also stand unique among other religious texts. For example, crucifixion was described in Isaiah 53 almost 700 years before the Romans even invented it.

Add to the text the impact of Jesus’ life throughout history, the empty tomb, the changed lives of His disciples who ran when He was arrested yet 50 days later, in the same city, argued before the same crowd that had crucified Christ that He had been raised from the dead — and I begin to conclude that our God and His Word have to have merit. God exists.  He reveals Himself, and He does so in the Scripture. We see the beginning of Creation, of family, of marriage, of the 7-day week, of Israel, of Messiah — all in the opening book of its pages. It’s what society has practiced for millennia.  Why would I then reject the Bible’s teachings regarding a day of accountability — the punishing God?

The next time you hear similar claims such as those brought against Elisabeth Hasselbeck, be assured that your faith is not a blind faith.  It has a reasonable basis.  It can be defended, and defended well, even to those who refuse to believe.  Some simply do not want to face the truth and prefer to believe a lie. (II Peter 3:5) 

Editor Notes:  Larry Hoskins is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and has been the Senior Pastor of Grace Church Aurora for sixteen years.  He also serves on the CMF Board of Directors.

Feeling Inadequate? You Are Not Alone! — by Pastor Larry Hoskins

He did not feel up to the task, and he is not alone! Have you ever felt that way?

Some time ago, I was visiting a men’s group at another church.  Knowing that church needed teachers (and that is not what this article is about), one of the men commented that he did not feel ready to teach because he did not know that much.  As I heard him, I reflected on my own past. I had begun teaching when I was in the eighth grade with no formal training, and now, understanding as a pastor a church’s need for more men who would lead, I asked him how long he had been attending the church.  “Five years,” he responded.  Trying to spur him forward past his reluctance, I smiled and said, “Couldn’t you teach some of what you have learned in the past five years to some of those who are just starting to come?  You’re five years ahead of them!” The meeting ended, and I do not know what he chose to do.  I do know that he felt inadequate, under-prepared.

Others have felt that same way. One good and godly man said to me recently when asked why he did not consider becoming an Elder, “I’m not sure that I know the Word good enough to be an Elder.”  He has been around the church and under the instruction of God’s Word for some time, yet he still feels inadequate.  I think most of us have felt that way at one time or another. 

In Exodus 3, after God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and told him that He wanted him to go to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.  It was a monumental task, as later the nation was numbered at over two million people.  Even though he had been raised in Pharaoh’s court and had been sovereignly groomed by the Lord for the position, after being a shepherd for the past forty years, Moses repeatedly argued with God:

Repeatedly, Moses brought up to God his apprehensions about himself and his concerns about how the people of Israel might respond to him.  He was not considering that it was the Lord God of Israel who was speaking to him and directing him into a very specific ministry.

After all of these responses to the Lord (and in between each question, the Lord gave an answer to Moses to disarm his concerns), how did God respond to Moses’ continuing sense of inadequacy and to his refusal to do what the Lord had clearly instructed him?

Moses taxed the patience of the Lord who became offended at his repeated refusals to bow to the command of the Lord.

Another great man, Jeremiah, likewise argued with God’s calling upon him to be a prophet:

Why is it that we are so prone to see our own shortcomings rather than the nature and wisdom of God who calls us to be ministers?  It was God who spoke to Jeremiah.  It was God who created him in his mother’s womb.  It was God who had an omniscient, timeless awareness of him before he was even created.  It was God who set him apart for this ministry.  It was God who sent him to the people of Judah.  It was God who directed Jeremiah to speak a very specific message to his nation.  Who was Jeremiah to argue with him?  Who are we?  Does not He know our limitations before He draws us or commands us to minister?  Why risk His anger for refusing to comply?

In a sense, we are right to consider ourselves inadequate.  Humanly speaking, we do not have near the resources to do the things that God asks us to do.  We can say with the Apostle Paul:

God’s work had to be done in God’s way with God’s resources and in God’s timing.  All of this requires a divine empowerment.  We are not adequate in ourselves to do what God asks of us, but we are made adequate by Him, as Paul discusses when he continues the above passage:

The central figure in our adequacy is the Spirit of God.  Where He is actively at work, and where we are responsive to Him there is life! That is why Jesus spoke of divine empowerment when He spoke of sending the Spirit just before He ascended to heaven:

Has God been tugging on your heart to start or to become involved in a specific ministry?  Have you been arguing with Him because you see your own inadequacies – however real they may be?  It is okay to be aware of your own inadequacies.  We need to recognize our own weaknesses, and we need to have humble hearts.  But it is not okay to be dismissive of the Power of God present in you through the Holy Spirit as if He has the same limitations that we do.  He shares none of them.  In fact, He makes us adequate when we ourselves are inadequate, and to quote the great poet, Robert Frost, in The Road Less Traveled, “that has made all the difference.”

Finishing What We Started—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

What does it mean to be a “member” of something?  The word itself, member, seems almost an antiquated term.  One pastor recently told me that few people become members of churches any more.  His comment makes an interesting observation, and it is deeply rooted in our Western culture.  I am told that in the East or in the Asian part of the world a much greater sense of “community” is emphasized while in the West we emphasize a much greater sense of “the individual.”  The former value puts aside individual interest in favor of the common good, while the latter discounts the common good for the good of self. These two focal points could hardly be more divergent. There’s the rub.

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “member” as:

1. a body part or organ . . .
2. one of the individuals composing a group
3. a person baptized or enrolled in a church
4. a constituent part of a whole . . .

Pastor Larry Hoskins
CMF Board of Directors

Intrinsic to every one of these definitions is a connection to something greater than the member—be it the physical body, the group, the people of the church, or the whole.  One of the key questions is how vitally integrated is the member to that to which it is connected?  It is obvious that all parts of my body are vitally connected, but not all are equally vital to the body.  My little finger is as vitally connected to my body—as is heart.  Take either part out of the body, and both will cease to live and function.  But take my little finger off of my body:  it will hurt and I’ll miss it, but I probably won’t die.  On the other hand, take my heart out of my body, and I will die along with my heart!  In short, my heart is way more vital to my existence than is my little finger.  Which kind of member would you rather be, and which are you?

Allow me to tell you my story as a member of CMF, but if you read it, don’t stop in the middle; go all the way to the end.  When I was asked to join the Board of Directors of CMF, I was asked to come along in the role of a consultant.  I am a pastor by vocation.  My total direct involvement with the military was taking an initial test given by a recruiter at my college for me to be considered for a fighter pilot, being picked up by the Marine Corps and put up in a hotel overnight, going through a physical exam, and then being told that my eyes were not good enough to qualify for the job.  I had enjoyed indirect association with the military.  I had met many quality military personnel, had spoken on marriage to military families at a Cadence International Hospitality House near Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, visited the Camp Hansen Marine Base there, and had been invited to an Anniversary Ball for the Marine Corps by one of the retired Marines in my church.  But that hardly qualifies as military experience, so I was wary of being on the Board of a Mission whose primary focus was equipping those in the military to reach and disciple others within the military and encourage them to do the same.  Still, they solicited my advice. I was a pastor, seminary-trained with many years of experience in ministry; and that, I was told, was what they wanted.  So I joined the Board of CMF. I would say that my involvement was more of a “toe in the water” than that of “jumping in.”

My first impression of CMF was that it is a small mission.  At the time it had a handful of office staff along with a few Field Staff (i.e., missionaries) and a group of “local reps” who were those who had agreed to actively minister within the military as a representative of CMF.  Not a lot seemed to be happening that I could readily tell bore fruit, so I was reluctant to give financially to a ministry that I didn’t immediately see produced “results.”  In fact, I initially told our now President/CEO, Bob Flynn, to take my name off the “member” rolls on which he had kindly placed me as a Board member, because CMF asks their members to make certain commitments that I was not yet ready to make—specifically, “. . .to participate actively and prayerfully in the ministry of the Christian Military Fellowship with my time, talents, spiritual gifts and financial resources.”

The Bible says to “let your yes be yes,” and I believe in spiritual integrity. I was willing to make the first three commitments, but I needed to see that investing some of the limited financial resources God had entrusted to my family was warranted by the ministry I was seeing.  To be honest, I wasn’t so sure that was the case, and uncertainty was why I asked Bob to remove my name from the member rolls.  In fact, at one point I submitted a lengthy letter of resignation to the Board that stated my concerns as well as my sense that what the Board needed and what I could provide were not the same.

Thankfully to God, the Board reaffirmed the value of what I brought to the table and they strongly asked me to reconsider my resignation, so I continued on in that role.  Over time, I began to see much more in CMF.  I had the opportunity to meet our Field Staff and see their heart for ministry to the military, to see the significant global prayer ministry, to see the resources and books made available to the membership, and to see the Board’s efforts as well as those of our Office Staff.  Over time, other ministries became evident as well—conference ministries for those in the military and also for churches trying to minister to military families, people encouraged by the monthly newsletters, financial aid as funds have been made available to help families heavily impacted by deployments, a growing number of local reps working with chaplains and with others in the military, care packages being sent to deployed troops, and more. My reservations were eventually replaced by an earnest enthusiasm for this ministry and by the confirmed belief that God is working in a significant way through CMF and that people of integrity at every level were doing the work of the ministry.

Why did I tell my story?  I needed to gain a greater ownership of the commitments I made a few years ago, and God did a work in my heart.  I have given more of my time, talents, spiritual gifts, and yes, more of my financial resources.  I am happy to continue to do so. Last year, the CMF Board spent two-and-a-half days at a Pray and Plan retreat.  Two major goals came out of that as a consensus of our meeting – 1) that we needed to find another Board member to replace one who had moved away and 2) that we needed to help our members gain a greater ownership of their commitment as members of CMF. God gave us our Board member.  So the first goal was accomplished to His glory.  And what about the second?

Many of you, our readers, have made the voluntary commitment to be members of Christian Military Fellowship.  That membership came with commitments that are detailed on the link to CMF’s Home Page on the Web (www.cmfhq.org).  Most of you who are members of CMF are also members or have been members of the military.  All in the latter group have made commitments.  When those commitments are met, it does not guarantee the success of the mission, but the likelihood of success in the mission is significantly increased.  When the commitments are just partially met, the opposite is the case.  The same is true of CMF.  We believe that God wants to use CMF to “encourage men and women in the United States Armed Forces, and their families, to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.”  We ask you to do so in many different ways.  First, we ask you to pray for CMF.  Second, as primarily an indigenous ministry (i.e., one in which those within the military minister to those in the military), we ask you to become local reps who establish local ministry fellowships where you seek to reach, to disciple, and to equip those in the military to do the same.  You don’t have to know everything in the Bible, and you don’t have to have a seminary degree.  Just learn, live and teach what has been taught to you from God’s Word.  If you cannot teach in a formal setting, do it sitting across the table from someone with a cup of coffee or find someone who can, and come along side them.  (Many resources to help you may be ordered or downloaded from CMF’s website to help you to that end!)  Thirdly, we ask for your consistent financial gifts.  Did you know that if 100% of our members gave just $10 per month, CMF would fully funded to meet its current ministry need?  All of us can afford two less Starbucks per month or one less fast food meal.  In fact, I think most of us could afford more.

I am pleased to say that, even in the current struggling economy, it looks like CMF will “break even” for the current year.  But “breaking even” simply means that we have not spent more than we took in; it does not mean that our entire ministry budget was met.  Imagine what would happen if each of us gave, not just $10 per month but even more sacrificially!  How many more lives would be reached for Christ?  How many more would grow in their relationship with Christ?  How many more resources would be made available?  How many Field Staff could be hired and how many more military establishments would have a CMF presence?  I can assure you that CMF is focused on ministry and that its leadership works to maximize every dollar spent.

The Apostle Paul charged us to let our “yes” be yes! If you are a member of CMF, I also urge you, as he urged Archippus, “Fulfill your ministry!” I can’t wait to see what God is going to do!

The Forger's Fire—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins, Th.M
CMF Board of Directors

Have you ever wondered why some of the things you want most in life are so difficult to attain?  The Scripture speaks of iron sharpening iron, and the imagery of the metaphor is difficult to grasp in our modern world.  Today, we think of electric grinders or a file that would sharpen a piece of iron such as a lawnmower blade.  It takes only a few minutes, and that is what we often expect in terms of human growth.  If I can just say the right word or give the right word picture, then genuine life transformation can occur — whether it be in ourselves or in someone we are trying to influence. In this “fast food” or instant society, why would we expect anything less?

Such thinking, however, runs contrary to the analogy and to life itself.  In the days when this proverb was written, they did not enjoy the luxuries of electric grinders or metal files; they had blacksmiths.  A blacksmith would heat a forge with coal, select the proper metal, and then, using a bellows, heat a portion of the metal until it was red hot, bringing it to a malleable state.  The hot metal would then be hammered on an anvil, usually 6 to 8 inches at a time, working the metal to the right thickness, length, and strength. From time to time the metal would have to be reheated to get it back to the right temperature; and it would be allowed to cool naturally while doing nothing to it, simply to help the consistency of the grain of the metal.  Somewhere along the way, it would be reheated and allowed to cool while insulated, so the cooling would be slower.  Many of these steps would be repeated several times. In short, iron sharpening iron is not an instantaneous occurrence; it is a long, slow, tedious process that requires a lot of hard, exhausting work from beginning to end, when the final product, a sword for example, is completed.

Sometimes we have difficulty making changes in our own lives, let alone the lives of those to whom we minister.  It takes time and a lot of it to develop the right thinking and the right behaviors — all impacted by the right value system as God has revealed for us in His Word.  That is why Paul described love, in 1 Corinthians 13, as being patient, and why Jesus said that all men will know that we are His disciples when we have that kind of patient love towards one another.  The Scripture says that love covers a multitude of sins.  We have to allow one another to be “in process.”
Even Jesus experienced frustration with His disciples in the iron sharpening iron process.  In Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees had come to Jesus to test Him; and He warned the disciples to beware of the “leaven” of those religious leaders.  Throughout Scripture leaven had been used as a picture of sin, but the disciples didn’t get what Jesus was talking about; they started talking about how none of them had brought any bread.  Jesus chastised them — they were able to tell the weather from common indicators in the natural realm, but they did not have the same ability from the common indicators in the spiritual realm. He says,

What was Jesus’ point?  On an earlier occasion, when a crowd of between 5,000 men and possibly as many as 10,000 more women and children were following Jesus to listen to his teaching, as the lunch hour approached, Jesus told his disciples to feed the crowd.  The disciples looked at their meager resources and said they didn’t have enough food.  After a search, they found a boy with a paltry five loaves and two fish.  But the disciples had another resource they did not see: Jesus.  He multiplied that boy’s lunch and fed the whole crowd, with twelve baskets left over.  A similar story followed an encounter with a crowd of 4,000.  Two major events provided ample opportunity for the disciples to see that they had Jesus as the most significant resource of all. Still they needed further instruction.  They had to be put back into the forge, reheated, and hammered again.

It was only after Jesus’ remarks that Matthew comments in the next verse:

How many of us as parents have experienced a multitude of disappointments along the way as we have raised our children?  But we did not quit and let the “bellows stop heating the metal in the forge.”  No, we kept heating the metal, hammering it again and again because we were working towards the final product: our child becoming a mature adult.  That is the same kind of love and patience that we are to have with one another — iron sharpening iron.

My congregation has shown great patience with me as their pastor.  I came to Grace Church Aurora eighteen years ago, as a young married man with a wife and a few children — a man who had never been a senior pastor. I  was only thirty-five years old; and I had a lot to learn about people, about life, about preaching, about ministry, and about myself.  I still have much more to learn.  They didn’t stop and throw me in the scrap heap.  They kept putting me in the fire, heating me up, shaping me with the hammer, letting me cool, and doing it all over as God has been working in my life through them. I hope I have done the same for them.

God has placed us here in each other’s lives for a purpose.  The Scripture tells us that the Spirit composes the Body just as He wills, so our presence together is no accident.  May He continually see in us the exacting process, person to person, that it takes for iron to sharpen iron as in the forger’s fire.
 

The Certain in God's Uncertain Plans—by Pastor Larry Hoskins

Someone once said, “What you see is what you get.”  We talk about people seeing the world as a glass “half empty” or “half full.”  The Bible is full of stories that demonstrate over and over the difference one’s perspective makes.

When Job and his wife lost their ten children and all they possessed, Job’s wife questioned why he held fast to his spiritual integrity, and urged him to curse God and die.  Job, on the other hand, asked, “Shall we accept good from God and not adversity?”  He fell on his face and blessed the name of the Lord.

On another occasion, the Israelites had turned their backs on the Lord, and God had placed them under His loving, but firm, hand of discipline, yet He was about to restore them back into His good graces.  Deborah, a judge God had raised up for that moment, summoned a man named Barak and told him to take 10,000 men from two of the tribes of Israel to gain the victory.  Barak didn’t see the word of the Lord as reason enough; he wanted Deborah by his side.  As a result, God removed the honor of victory from him and gave it to a woman named Jael who drove a tent peg through the enemy’s temple.

Do you remember the story of David and Goliath?  The enemy Philistine army was on one side of a great valley, and the Israelite army was on the opposite side.  In those days, rather than fighting a whole war, sometimes a champion from each side would fight as representatives of both armies.  Goliath, that great champion of the Philistines had been taunting the Israelites for days.  He was literally a giant of a man, and his weapons were huge.  Not one seasoned Israelite soldier took up the gauntlet.  No, it was a youthful shepherd who rose to the challenge. Here are his words to the “tall tree”:

The rest of the story is history.  This rookie recruit without even a suit of armor took five small stones and slung one deep into the forehead of the giant oak.  How great was its fall! How great was God’s victory!  What would have happened if any of the other Israelite soldiers had seen what David saw?  What blessings and honor they missed.

Many of us are having difficulties right now.  Some are going through job searches.  Others have lost spouses through death or divorce.  Others are going through bankruptcy.  Some of our children have made choices that deeply disappointed us; some parents have done the same.  Some of you have your own Goliaths to face—giants that none of us even know about.

In all of these circumstances, what do we see?  Do we see the circumstances and conclude that God is evil and want to curse Him like Job’s wife?  Do we desire the securing of someone else besides the Lord alongside of us, like Barak did?  Do we see the power of the enemy and of our own inability, like the Israelite army?

Or...like Job, do we see that God deserves our worship and blessing whether He gives or takes away?  Do we see that God provides opportunities for victory, like Jael?  Do we see that God is bigger than hugely opposing circumstances, like David, such that our greatest concern is for Him to get the glory and recognition that He deserves?

Whatever the darkness, be certain of this: God’s plans for His children are good and not evil.  He sees the past, the present, and the future with equal clarity, so He is not surprised by whatever we encounter—the circumstances or the emotional, spiritual, and mental struggles that may come with them.  He is present everywhere.  He knows all things. His power is limitless for His righteous purposes.

There is nothing, no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me.  If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment, but as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is.  That rest is the rest of victory. ─Alan Redpath

You see, we have such limited knowledge and perspective, and God’s plans, to us, have the ring of uncertainty.  That uncertainty results from our not knowing, but imagining the outcome.  It comes from not understanding God’s purposes and from the dissonance of what we are experiencing that does not coincide with our preferences or plans.  So often we want out of the trouble and back into the world of comfort rather than the growth that is part of God’s design through trials and heartache.

Whatever you are experiencing in God’s “uncertain” plans for you, may we all come to see our experiences with the right perspective, to enjoy His peace which passes all understanding, and to life in Redpath’s “rest of victory”!

Keeping Others' Interests in Mind—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins
CMF Board of Directors

Have you ever noticed how God never asks us to do something that He has not modeled for us?  We are told to pray without ceasing, and Jesus prayed so much that His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.  We are told to assemble together, and we see Jesus with others in the Temple and in their homes.  We are told to be gracious and merciful, and anyone familiar with the Gospel would know of God’s grace and mercy to us.  We are told to give, and God gave us His Son and spiritual gifts through which we can serve Him.

In fact, God’s dealings with us form a model for how we are to deal with each other.  We clearly see this fact in Paul’s letter, from prison, to the church in Philippi:

Christ comes alongside us in our life situations.  In love and through His Word, He whispers words of comfort and encouragement to us.  He sent His Holy Spirit who indwells our very bodies.  He could have just looked in the mirror and told Himself how great He was, but He was always ministering to others.  He made water into wine at the wedding in Cana when it had run out.  He fed the 5,000 men (some estimate that if women and children were included, that it may have been as many as 15,000) when they needed food.  He visited the unpopular tax collectors.  He raised a widow’s son from the dead, touched a leper, and wept with two grieving sisters who had lost their brother a few days earlier.  It’s almost impossible to find Jesus alone, and even then, in most cases we find Him praying for others.  The awesome God of all creation stoops to become a baby to show us, in terms that we mere mortals can grasp, what God is like.  Even as He fulfilled His mission, He prays for those who had placed a crown of thorns on His head, who had beaten Him, who had scourged and spit upon Him, and who had crucified Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Paul’s words to us are, in short, “Do the same thing. Be like Christ.”

It’s a fairly straightforward concept to be like Christ.  If we are not this way, the causes listed in the above passage are characteristics that we all are familiar with.  We can see them in others, and if we are honest, we can see them in ourselves: selfishness, empty conceit, and a lack of humility.  We saw them in Satan when he imagined himself to be like God.  We saw them in Eve and in Adam when they imagined that God was not good and that He was holding out on them and when they acted, independent of Him, in taking and eating of the forbidden fruit.  We saw them in David’s sin with Bathsheba and in Peter’s bold claims (along with that of all the other disciples) that he would never deny Christ.  They are behind our desire to hold positions of leadership to lord it over others rather than to serve. They are imbedded in every lack of consideration for the cure seen in Christ’s example.

What is that cure? Paul said, “With humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  In short, we are to have the attitude of Christ — the one He most graphically exemplified when He submitted to the Father to the ignominious death on the cross.

Many of you have given and labored so sacrificially — looking out for the interests of others.  You have taught, administrated, mowed lawns, cleaned, visited people in the hospital, cooked meals, led mission trips and Vacation Bible Schools, hosted a small group, ushered, and a whole host of other ministries with others in mind.

How else can we look out for the interest s of others?  First, we can let our yes be yes.  If we say we will do something, make sure we do it or take responsibility to get someone to do it for us if we cannot. Others counting on us will be encouraged rather than disappointed that we did not show up and then scrambling to fill the void.  Let us keep our commitments.  Second, show up on time.  We show up on time for work or for movies.  Let’s not shortchange the praise we give to God or offend those who have prepared to lead us in worship by showing up late for worship.  Let us not keep parents and children waiting for teachers to show up. Get up a little earlier. Plan for interruptions or “disasters” so when they come we can still be where we have said we would be when we said we would be or when we are suppose to be.  Third, volunteer.  When someone or some ministry is in need of help, whether it is mowing, cleaning, teaching, childcare or cooking a meal, think what it is like for someone trying to recruit others for a ministry.  How many calls would you like to make, and how many times would you like to be told no?  Say yes when you can, and the recruiter’s job will be a lot more enjoyable.  Fourth, share your faith?  You may be a sower, or one who waters, or one who reaps the harvest, but imagine what it will be like in heaven when someone thanks you for introducing them to our Savior.

The list could go on, but do not miss the point. Christ has done so much almost always with others in mind.  Let’s make sure that we are not looking out for our own interests, but also for the interests of others, too. May God get the glory when we do!

Judas Was A Hero?—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins, Th.M.

Treachery is a virtue.  That was a tribal worldview of certain tribes in New Guinea described by Don Richardson in his book, Peace Child.  Cannibalistic tribesmen would unwittingly visit a neighboring tribe who would, as they called it, “fatten the pig for the kill.”  The hosting tribe would repeatedly invite the tribesmen to eat with them, and it would happen so frequently that the visitor would think that he was developing good friends.  Then, after a while on one of those visits when he had become sufficiently portly, the hosting tribe would spear their guest to death and eat him.  They actually enjoyed the whole operation of making their neighbor a patsy for their betrayal.

When missionaries came to these tribes, and told them the story of Jesus, the tribesman whistled with approval as Judas betrayed Jesus.  Judas was their hero, and Jesus was a clueless mark whom Judas had played like an old violin.  When treachery is a virtue and when Judas is the champion, how does a missionary communicate that Judas was the villain and that Jesus was the hero?  God had prepared the New Guinea tribesmen for just such a reversal.

When two warring tribes wanted peace between themselves, a tribe would give one of their children to a family of the other tribe.  That child was called the “Peace Child,” and if a member of the recipient tribe killed the Peace Child, even though the tribes valued treachery, such a killing was culturally defined to be a reprehensible and ignoble act.  After a period of constant retaliatory killings had occurred between the tribes, a missionary learned that the Peace Child was the way to at least bring a temporary cease fire. And then it clicked!  Humankind was at war with God, and God sent His Peace Child to earth to bring peace between God and man, and Judas had betrayed the Peace Child and was responsible for His death.  Judas became the scoundrel, and Jesus the protagonist.  As a result of this missionary’s faithfulness, many of those New Guinea tribal peoples came to a saving faith in Christ.

The only reason so many of those individuals are now our brothers and sisters in Christ is because Don Richardson followed a principle of ministry that the Apostle Paul outlined in Romans 15:20-21 where he wrote:

Through Paul’s missionary efforts and that of others like him, many all around the globe have heard the gospel and believed.  It didn’t always happen right away. In fact, Paul makes it clear that it is a process in which God is causing the ultimate outcome.

Today, we live next door to neighbors and we work in cubicles where there are many who “have not heard.”  Recently, I was at a Board meeting for a missionary organization where another Board member lamented, “The church is all talk and no action.”  He was referring to the importance of evangelism, but few actually get around to sharing their faith with another person.  How are we doing at actually sharing the good News of Jesus with others?  How are you doing at it?  Our youth just gave us a glowing report of how they were sharing Christ with others around them.  We listened to their stories and saw the joy in their faces.  We also heard of a change of heart from one of our adult leaders.  Who would deny them that privilege?  Who would deny you that blessing.

So many around us live within a stone’s throw of the gospel at a Bible-teaching church, on the airwaves, on TV, or right next door.  Yet for all the proximity to the Good News, many have “no news” and many “have not heard.” The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

May we put into practice the same boldness that God gave to Paul in such a way that God, who examines our hearts, is delighted.

Editor Notes:  Larry Hoskins is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and has been the Senior Pastor of Grace Church Aurora for sixteen years.  He also serves on the CMF Board of Directors.

Perception and Reality—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins, Th.M
CMF Board of Directors

John Maxwell, a former pastor and trainer of business and church leaders has said,

Whenever he says it, the crowd he is addressing always laughs because of the obvious disparity between perception and reality. It reminds me of a plaque that a father of one of my students gave me once when I was a youth pastor which read,

Sometimes what we think is real and what is real are not remotely similar.  This is especially true when it comes to the spiritual realm.  We are born into a physical universe as people who have a physical body that the Bible describes as mortal and corruptible.  It further says of us as believers that though our “outer man” (our physical body) is decaying, yet our “inner man” (the eternal, spiritual person who is rightly related to God through Christ that resides in his or her physical body) is being renewed day by day.  Changes in our outer man are readily apparent.  If we eat a wholesome diet and exercise properly, our bodies are usually fit and look great.  If we become ill, we become weaker and often lose weight and color.  On the other hand, changes in our inner man are harder to see.  How does one see a “sinner” from physical birth become transformed into a “saint” with imputed righteousness at one’s spiritual birth?  At one minute, the person was a child of the evil one, under the wrath of God, but after trusting Christ for the forgiveness of one’s sin, that person is now a child of God for whom God has no condemnation.  Sometimes that change becomes evident in changed character or changed priorities, but often such changes are not readily apparent.

Because the physical world is so real to us and because it is our most obvious environment, many come to perceive that it is the only reality.  It is what we see when we open our eyes at the beginning of the day.  It is what clothes us. It gives us food and shelter.  It’s where we work.  We see the money that comes with working and what it buys; and the next thing we know, we are on the hamster wheel, eating to live, to work, to make money, to eat, to live, to work . . . and the cycle continues.

Many people put up with long commutes, long hours, difficult bosses, limited vacation, plus financial bondage to debtors — purchasing expensive clothes, cars, and houses to attain the American dream in the physical world. Such a life is summed up in the words, “He who dies with the most toys wins!”

Others see the excesses of such a materialistic world and retreat to a simpler lifestyle. T he Denver Post recently highlighted a man who rejected money altogether.  He lives in a cave and resorts to dumpster diving for food and clothing.  He bathes and washes his clothes in a nearby river.  If someone gives him money, he gives it away. Regardless of which way we live, we all have to live in a real physical world.

But what about the spiritual world?  The Bible tells us that we did not even begin to perceive certain things from the spiritual world until God revealed them, as Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:

Do you see how the lack of spiritual perception led a group of people to crucify the Lord? But if they had seen the greater spiritual reality, Paul notes that they would have never done so. Their spiritual perception of reality would have changed what they did in their physical world. What they did “made sense,” given their perception of reality, but it didn’t — if that perception were adjusted to a different set of spiritual truths.

Think about that for a moment. The Bible says a number of truths about our presently unseen future:

These verses tell us that our physical world is not the only reality.  One day, we will receive new resurrection bodies — immortal and incorruptible. We will be freed from death and from the presence of sin.  We will enjoy the presence of God in a new heaven and a new earth.  It is then that our physical reality and our spiritual reality will be most fully realized.  However, what we do now, in our mortal bodies in this fallen world, determines the quality of our inheritance in that ultimate reality.  What does that say about where and with whom we invest our time, talents, and treasures?

As we begin 2010, may each of us make the proper distinction between what is perceived and what is truly real.  May we invest ourselves in a life’s work for that which remains and for that which God rewards!

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Relationships:  Face Time—by Pastor Larry Hoskins—CMF Board of Directors

Pastor Larry Hoskins, Th.M
CMF Board of Directors

Some time ago, I came home to find my two college-age kids another college-age friend, all sitting in the same room of the house.  All three were engaged, not with each other, but with their keyboards and computer screens. Nothing was wrong with what they were doing, yet I found it surprising, even odd, that all three were “connecting” with someone or something outside of the room rather than connecting with each other.

Today, if we are a technical initiate at all, we will become acquainted with words or phrases like Facebook — “Friends” and the “Wall,” Twitter Updates (Tweets), a Blog, a Forum, e-mail, IM’s (Instant Messages), Chat Rooms, Blackberrys, and Text Messages.  These tools or types of communications have several benefits.  They keep us a little more in touch with each other and our daily comings and goings.  They allow many people to exchange ideas.  They save time and postage, allowing rapid and immediate delivery.  Large groups can be contacted all at once.  Others can contact us or we can contact them whether we are on the road, at work, in the house or at our children’s practice field.  What a day we live in!

Without intending to minimize these benefits, there are also certain drawbacks to this age of electronic communication.  Besides the issues of distraction and personal safety, electronic communication can keep people at arm’s length.  Whatever the communication is that takes place “at a distance,” it is not the same as seeing someone or a group face to face.  Non-verbal communication is missed, as is tone of voice.  “I love you, too” can be said earnestly or sarcastically and have totally different meanings in electronic fashion, yet be readily understood person to person.  There’s less privacy, and unless we turn off our cell phones, there are more interruptions and distractions.  There’s less “alone time” and “down time” at a personal level, so our “batteries” become drained rather than recharged.  Sometimes, even the environment of face-to-face conversation and relationships, is more conducive to a more intimate level of communication.  Loving accountability, which we all need from others (and which we all need to give from time to time) can have more of an edge when done by text message rather than in the context of face-to-face relationships.  Work is required to rightly relate.

Christianity at its core is relational.  Think about it.  Terms or phrases like Father and Son, brother and sister, and “my little children” are all relational.  “God so loved the world” is relational.  In fact, the Scriptures say that it is antithetical to say we love God — but that we do not love our brother or sister.  Our horizontal relationship with each other is always a reflection of our vertical relationship with God.

Relationships have, at their core, a certain level of association.  The Bible uses terms like sheep in a flock, branches on a vine, members of a body, and people in a family to say we are individuals yet always part of a group.  These dynamics are part of God’s design.  The degree of commitment and closeness with those we relate to is supposed to mark us as incredibly distinct from the rest of the world: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples,” Jesus said, “if you have love for one another.”

Such a biblical love is not instant; it is cultivated. It’s not immediate; it is developed over time.  It’s not built in short, rapid communication, but in longer, transparent vulnerabilities conveyed in an environment of mutual trust and acceptance.  This kind of trust and acceptance shares numbing pain and difficulties with personal sin — and that receives hard, often unwanted, words because we know we need them.  Even if we don’t know we need them we trust a friend when he or she says that we do.  This kind of love is mutual, because those same levels of communication are received and given in both directions.

Such love is also patient.  This unique kind of love is not necessarily the “feel good” love that the world sells.  It’s a “do the right thing, and relate rightly” kind of love — even if it is hard and painful.  The Scriptures tell us that systemically, we are of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”  Yet if this is the case (and it is), why are believers so quick to point out our differences.  When conflict arises, why are we so quick to backbite, gossip, grumble, complain, or even break off a relationship, leaving a friend or group — rather than gently working through the conflict, no matter how long it takes, to complete resolution?  The former kind of response is not the kind of love that marks us as Jesus’ disciples.  The latter can be exhilarating or painful for all involved, but it yields a stronger bond conveying that our relationship with each other is more important than getting our way.  That particular kind of love is distinct from that of the world.

When Jesus first selected His disciples, He appointed them “so that they would be with Him” (Mark 3:14 – italics mine).  It’s not surprising that in being with Him, they noticed that He would often go off by Himself to pray and that He would pray with them.  Soon they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Electronic communication doesn’t teach us what we’ll gain naturally by osmosis just by being with each other — the gradual, often unconscious process of assimilation or absorption of lifestyle, character, and wisdom.  It’s hard to see tender affection, gracious hospitality, and selfless serving of one another without spending time together.  Discipleship is intensely relational in more ways than mere expression.  It is life impacting life in a more total, comprehensive way.

Biblical community is being vitally connected with “one another,” too.  We are to pray for one another (I know of a military couple who has done this via e-mail, because it was the only way they could pray together while one of them was deployed).  We are to love one another, to be devoted to one another, to give preference to one another, to be of the same mind towards one another, to accept one another, and to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven us.  In fact there are almost forty “one another’s” in the New Testament.  It is impossible to connect at the level the Scriptures call for us to connect without significant and quality face-to-face time.

In the early church, Acts 2 tells us that Christians met day by day in the temple and from house to house.  The picture I get is that they worshipped together and they were constantly in each other’s houses.  It seems more spontaneous than planned.  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to sharing their lives, to eating together and celebrating communion together, and to prayer.  These types of relationships invite others into our lives and welcome the “intrusion” of the unplanned into the planned or better, of the friends and family into our sphere of relationship where iron truly sharpens iron, where the wounds of a friend are discovered to be faithful, and where we find encouragement and are stimulated to love and good deeds.  In short, we grow into Christ-likeness.

In an age of electronic communication that so often is “at a distance,” let us make sure that we do not have only surface-level relationships that trend towards detachment and isolation.  Real relationships move from acquaintance, to the discussion of facts, to the sharing of opinions, and to the exchange of feelings.  At the deepest levels we explore the spiritual aspects of our relationship with God and where He and His Word are making an impact on our lives, and where He helps us discover that we are falling short and need to change and to grow.  We explore serving Him together and enjoying fellowship with His people in church, in small group, and one on one.  Having “face time” with people — both with those who don’t know the Lord and with those who do — and lots of it, is the best way I know to take our relationships and our ministry with people (and theirs to and with us) to the next level.

So how are your relationships?  How is your ministry to others?  Is it “at a distance” or “face-to-face”?

What is Your Primary Identity — Sinner or Saint? — by Pastor Larry Hoskins

Are you being mastered, or are you mastering?  At the beginning of human history, two brothers offered an offering to the Lord. Cain was a farmer, and he offered fruit from the ground.  Abel was a keeper of the flocks, and he offered from the firstlings of his flock.  The Scripture tells us that God had regard only for Abel’s offering, and the author of Hebrews tells us why:  “By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain,” (Hebrews11:4 – emphasis mine).  No law had been given that required a sacrifice.  For some reason, however, Cain’s offering fell short.  The implication of the text is that Cain’s act of worship was merely an act that was never connected to faith in the living God.  He was just going through ritual observance without any connection from his heart and mind to that of God.  Such a fact warrants our consideration.  How connected are our hearts and minds to the heart and mind of God?

The story continues by noting that when God did not value Cain’s offering, Can became very angry and his countenance fell.  I can just imagine him hanging his head, furrowed brows, and drooping his shoulders.  Sin was spreading its ugly tentacles, and God gives Cain the opportunity to turn in the direction of faith.  God asks him why he was angry and why his countenance had fallen.  God was giving Cain the opportunity to do some reflective self-introspection.  An opportunity for insight and for re-direction was at hand.

How do we know this? God continued by saying, “If you do well (i.e., to turn from anger and to the Lord in faith), will not your countenance be lifted up (due to a totally different perspective and relationship with God)?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

The picture of sin crouching is like that of a cat dropping its belly as it stealthily draws near to pounce upon its prey.  Sin wanted to dominate Cain’s thinking and actions.  The next thing we see is Cain murdering his brother – a new kind of sin that had never been done before.  Sin has mastered him, when God had told can that he must master sin. What a tragedy!

Why did Cain find himself under the dominion of sin?  The fact of the matter is that he really did not want to“do well,” as God had described it. Cain’s actions lead us to the inevitable conclusion that he liked sin and that he was more interested in pleasing himself than he was in pleasing God.  He was a sinner who liked to sin, so he presented himself to sin as his master.  I sometimes wonder what it was like for Cain to have to spend the rest of his life with the knowledge of the fact that he had killed his brother. Did he really enjoy the “benefits” of being mastered by sin?

When we trusted Christ to save us from our sin, God gave us a new identity.  I call it a “primary” identity.  Throughout the Scriptures, believers are called saints.  The moment we placed our faith in Christ, our former primary identity of sinner was changed.

Now do not misunderstand me.  In the generic sense of the term in which a “sinner” is “one who sins,” yes, we are all sinners.  The Apostle John tells us that to think otherwise is to deceive oneself.  I am not talking, though, about the “generic” sense of the word.  I am talking about the specific, life-directing sense of the word sinner – our being “in Adam,” under God’s wrath, spiritually dead, without hope, without God, even being his enemies.  If being a “sinner” is our identity, then is it any small wonder that we would find ourselves constantly giving in to sin and allowing it to master us?

A new and better identity has been provided for us.  Rather than being “in Adam,” we are now “in Christ.”  We have been given His righteousness, and thus we can truly be called “saints.”  A saint is one who has God-imputed holiness.  The righteousness we have is not of our own making.  The Scriptures clearly say that if we keep the whole law but break it in merely one point, that we are guilty of all.  They also teach that all of our righteous deeds are as filthy rags.  Whether we have done one sin or a million, we fall equally short of God’s standard of holy perfection.  The only way a “sinner” becomes a “saint” is for God to give the righteousness of Christ to the sinner, and that is only done when a sinner turns to Christ in faith – trusting Christ’s death and resurrection to save him or her from his or her sin.

So how does a “saint” master sin? Romans 6 tells us that we master sin by “considering ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 5 tells us that we do that, not by trying harder, but by walking or living by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We do not master sin by mere human effort, by simply trying harder.  As Christians, we must make a clear distinction between our former manner of life — being “in Adam” — and our new manner of life — being “in Christ.”  When sin tries to master us by tempting us to sin, even those we have battled with for a long time, in the power of the Spirit, we must claim:

“I’m not ‘in Adam’ any more.  I’m dead to that life. My primary identity is not that I am a ‘sinner’ any longer.  My primary identity is that I am a ‘saint’ who is now ‘in Christ.’  So by the Spirit’s power, I choose to live in my new identity, and I cannot do that and sin.  By God’s strength, I will live in righteousness.”

When we think those thoughts and when we live them out in our thoughts, words, and actions, sin does not master us anymore; by God’s grace and power, we master it.

Which seems to be truer of you these days? Does sin master you, or do you master it?  Yes, we all fall from time to time, failing to live in our new identity and in the power of the Spirit.  We fall prey to those three enemies of the believer — the devil, to the world system, and to our own fleshly desires.  In that sense, we are all sinners.  But is that our primary identity?  As was the case with Cain, sin is crouching at our door, too.  It wants to master us, but we must master it.

Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Has your mind been renewed?  If so, which is your primary identity?  Sinner?  Or Saint?  Our actions may speak louder than our words.

Would She Save Her Arm, Or Loose It?—by Pastor Larry Hoskins

Get a fix? Or go to the hospital?  A mother of two children, she stood on the patio in her dazed stupor, trying to decide whether to go home and get a fix or to go to the hospital to lance a life-threatening infection.  Her name was Mariesol, and she was a heroin addict.

I met her on the street outside the church in Ensenada.  Her hair was disheveled; her clothes, dirty.  The top of her left arm was twice its normal size due to a growing infection, discoloring her skin with splotches of black and blue.  Some in our group wondered if she was being beaten.  Her boyfriend was also a heroin addict. In the center of her arm was a large boil-like inflammation, swollen and oozing pus.  She needed to see a doctor, she told us, but she didn’t have the $10 to pay for her visit.  Our team had those funds, so she climbed into our van with me and with our translator, Teresa.  She hit her infected arm on the mirror as she tried to get to the van, and she was in obvious pain.  The church members nearby urged us to take another man, as they were aware of Mariesol’s drug connections.  They warned us that we could find ourselves in danger.

As we drove her to the Red Cross clinic, I told her that I was safe, but that I needed her to tell us the truth.  She told us that she was a heroin addict, using about four times per day.  A worker in a Christian rehab center at our base camp told me that her addiction would cost her about $20 per day.  It almost cost this dear woman her life; it may still.

Continuing to the clinic, she said that she had fallen off a bus and injured her shoulder, which had become infected.  She denied being beaten, though that is common for those in abusive situations to protect themselves from further pain being inflicted upon them by their perpetrators.  When we arrived at the clinic, she closed her eyes as her body drifted gently in different directions due to the influence of the drug.

All the Red Cross could to was give her a pain shot.  They didn’t have the equipment or personnel to do what she needed, and they told us she needed to go to the hospital.

So there we stood, on the patio outside the Red Cross, with Mariesol trying to make up her mind.  She finally allowed us to persuade her to go to the hospital.  Outside in the parking lot where I had to stay with the van, I prayed with her for her healing.  She was moved to tears.  Her infection was so severe that the doctors said she might loose her arm and possibly her life.  We had to leave her there and return to our base camp.

Teresa and I tried to visit her the next day.  The doctors had lanced her arm and cleaned out the infection.  They wanted to keep her in the hospital for observation for 48 more hours, but she checked herself out before we got to see her.

What makes a woman unable to see that her children need her to be their mother?  What makes her unable to see that an infection could end up costing her an arm or her life?  Whatever her reason for going down the path to addiction, she had let heroin become her master.  She had bought into the deceptive lie that it could salve her pain. Instead, it compounded it by her allowing it to enslave her.

The Apostle Paul wrote,

Apparently, the Corinthians were using the phrase, “all things are lawful for me,” to justify their immorality.  At issue was their liberty.  In a sense, their emphasis on personal liberty was true, but they were mixing truth with falsehood.  Personal liberty was not the freedom to do whatever they wanted, but it was to limit the exercise of their freedom to what served God’s ultimate purposes for their lives.  What serves God’s purposes is “profitable” or beneficial.  It is what God honors and rewards. It has ultimate eternal significance.  Paul warned the Corinthians that personal liberty apart from that singular direction leads to slavery, or as he called it, being “mastered by” the very things they thought would set them free.  This was where Mariesol found herself.  If we are not careful, this is where we will find ourselves.

Being “mastered by” something does not always come in the form of addictions.  To be sure, many in our church, over my years of service here, have found themselves in the clutches of drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex, and the pursuit of money to the point where they were mastered by them.  I’ve come to see some great stories of redemption—of brothers and sisters being brought out of such slavery to a newfound freedom in obedience to Christ.

But being mastered by something can happen with seemingly harmless things that can take God’s rightful place in our lives.  When that occurs, on the outside, it can look noble and pristine, while on the inside it is corrupt and decaying as a white-washed tomb.

Standing on that patio outside the Red Cross, Mariesol’s indecision has moved me to ask myself a question.  Perhaps it may move you to ask yourself the same:  Is there anything in my life that is so mastering me?  Are we being dominated by some passion that exceeds our own passion for God and for His purposes for our own life?

Get a fix?  Or go to the hospital?  Mariesol’s answer was obvious to those of us with her, but she couldn’t see it.  She needed someone who would help her make the right decision.

I said to Mariesol, “Let us take you to the hospital.”  Sometimes those of us who are blinded by what we have allowed to master us need someone to give us the honest feedback and move us in the right direction, even when we are reluctant to go there.

Just like we were able to be in Ensenada for Mariesol, God has placed us in Aurora for the community around us.  Grace Church Aurora is a hospital.  God is the Great Physician.  If you find yourself mastered by something, if you find yourself addicted, go to the hospital.  If you find a friend or family member or co-worker so enslaved, ask them to let you take them to the hospital.  Sometimes, they’ll go back their old habits.  But sometimes, someone will stay and find healing and true freedom in the Lord and through the work of His children.  I’ve seen it lots of times at Grace Church Aurora.  Hopefully , by God’s doing, you will see it too!