24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  (1 Cor 9:24-27 (NIV))

Well, the fast ended on Sunday.  Abby and I made it through without watching TV.  I didn’t really miss it much.  Sure, there were times when I was doing some mundane chore and wanted to throw the TV on for background noise. Instead, I would put on a podcast of a teaching from some churches, which was great!

The church podcasts that I started listening to are Mosaic Church (amazing stuff from Erwin McManus) and Mars Hill Church (so far I’ve listened to Marc Driscoll).  I don’t necessarily agree with some points from Mars Hill Church (see: women not allowed to be pastors or elders), but their podcast on “Good Sex, Bad Sex” is wonderful :). 

We still haven’t turned the TV on, I am happy to say.  We are still talking about limiting the use of TV or getting rid of it altogether.  Seriously, the only reason we watch TV is to “veg out” and have something to talk to other people about (to connect in some way).   Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about Jack Bauer.

But I would rather BE Jack Bauer.

No, I don’t think I’m cut out for random homicides and dealing with terrorists.  I do, however, desire to be a man who serves a greater purpose, who fights evil and injustice, and who is willing to sacrifice my life for Christ.  I need to grow and hone myself in order to do so.  I need to take any excess time that I have (outside of work and relationships) and use it to develop myself.  

Change is hard.  We all get comfortable in certain patterns and routines that become second nature to us.  I would feel like I wanted to turn the TV on at certain times when, in the past, I would normally turn the TV on.  I had to replace that habit with another one.  Another great scripture is, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:11 (NIV)). 

Now this is talking about the Lords discipline to His children, but I think it can also be taken as representative of any discipline that enables us to become more like Christ.  Basically, I would paraphrase: “discipline is tough, it doesn’t really seem alot of fun in the present, as you do the same thing over and over.  We aren’t focused on the short term, however, we are focused on eternity.  Each time you discipline yourself to do something that grows you and enables you to become who God has made you to be, you are planting or watering a seed.  Eventually that seed will spring up and produce a harvest that makes all your work seem like nothing.  It’s definitely worth it.”

Anyone else have a view of discipline?

Now that we have laid the foundation that, as children of God, we are internally bent toward God’s commands, that we are holy and righteous at heart, we need to move on toward the struggles of being a Christian. Just becasue we have pure hearts and aren’t helplessly wicked anymore doesn’t mean we struggle with sin anymore. The difference now is that we shouldn’t classify ourselves as “sinners” at the core; we need to classify ourselves as holy, righteous, overcoming children of God. Our starting point is no longer defeat (sinners), but victory (purity and righteousness through Christ). 2 Cor 5:21 states, “God made him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that in him we may become the righteousness of God.”

The question is what we do from this beginning point; how we live out our lives. Just because we are under grace and redeemed by God doens’t mean that we are free to sin. Instead, this truth gives us the ability to overcome all the sinful patterns that have been present in our lives. Basically, we have the strength now to recognize that we are not sinners by nature anymore because our hearts are changed and the Holy Spirit lives inside us, and this strength gives us the ability to overcome sin.

We have to struggle with sin because even though our hearts are changed, our ways of thinking are not. The wounds that others have inflicted on us are still there. The lies that others have told us are still there. The wrong views of the world are still there. Also, we live in a world that is constantly challenging us to live right, with “the prince of the world” fighting against us.

See the classic stuggle written about by Paul (Romans 7:14-25):

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!

In this passage Paul is showing the classic struggle of a Christian: We want to do His will, but we don’t always act on that desire. Quite the opposite happens at (more…)

Tags: holy and righteous at heart, wicked, righteousness of God, sinful patterns, sinners by nature, prince of the world

“Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and ‘your neighbor as your self’” (Lk 10:27)

One basic truth of understanding the Christian walk is that our person has three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body. You can basically break down the soul into your emotions, imaginations, thoughts, and dreams. Your body is just that: your physical, tangible self. Your spirit, however, is your heart (and thus also your conscience).

Your spirit is the part of you that has been renewed at conversion. When you give your heart to God and believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who died and was raised to new life….then you receive the Holy Spirit into your heart. You are now a son (or daughter for the politcally correct) of God. They Holy Spirit cannot dwell with uncleanness, and thus, you are no longer unclean. You are the righteousness of God (1 Cor 1:30; 5:21), and your heart is pure and houses the Holy Spirit.

One of the first and foremost truths that Christians have to receive the truth that your heart is not “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), nor are you “sinners bent toward sin” any more. These are old covenant ideas that have been propagated about churches today that helps you and I live in guilt, shame, and condemnation. I don’t want you to live in guilt, shame, and condemnation anymore.

What is the biblical justification for this?

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Eze 11:19-20).

God says here that he will give us an undivided heart and put a new spirit in us. He is putting His Spirit in us, the Holy Spirit! He also declares that “then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” This is the verse that debunks the whole “we are sinners and we want to always sin” preaching/teaching. A passage a few chapters later in Ezekiel takes this thought one step further:

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Tags: sinners, shame, condemnation, undivided heart