Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

James 4:1-4
1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

I led our small group through a discussion of this passage this evening. There is much to be said about these four verses. (Unfortunately for my small group very much was said) One thing that struck me tonight was the connection between life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (and I'm not talking about the declaration of independence).

Here's the connection:

The things that you do and don't do in your life are determined in large part by your view on Christian liberty. Subsequently your view on Christian liberty and the resulting actions can (doesn't have to) play a large part in determining how you pursue happiness.

Here's what I mean...if you are a member of a extremely conservative church that practices secondary separation there are lots of things out in the world that you aren't going to do and therefore aren't going to be exposed to. You probably won't go to or sometimes even watch movies, you won't listen to anything that resembles secular music and certainly won't attend a concert. Sometimes you won't own a television. You won't drink alcohol, and probably simply because of the way you live your life and things you avoid you won't have very many unsaved friends.

I personally think that this view of life and Christian liberty is wrong. I don't think that it allows a Christian the true freedom that we have in Christ. While I do appreciate what these folks are trying to accomplish by setting up parameters, all too often in my experience you wind up with a group of people who base their standing before God on the things that they are avoiding and not the grace that results from the shed blood of Christ. Their pursuit of happiness in the Christian life becomes a checklist of things to do and even more things not to do. To often true joy for them is looking at the person next to them and saying "God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector" (Luke 18:11)

One thing that you would have to say about this group is that they generally don't fall into the category that James describes in verse 4; they are anything but "friends of the world". Call them Pharisees, call them legalists, you can even call them white-washed tombs, but you can't call them friends of the world.

Now, let's look for a moment at the antitheses of this group.

This is the group who has what in my opinion is a more biblical view of Christian liberty. They have the freedom to watch movies, and even go to the theater if they want. The definitely own a television and probably have a favorite sitcom. They listen to CCM regularly and sometimes might even through in a few secular songs on their ipod playlist. Someone from this group might even drink alcohol occasionally as long as they aren't doing it in excess or causing a brother to stumble. I'm certainly not saying that you have to do all these things to have a biblical view of Christian liberty, but I do think that someone who truly understands Christian liberty will probably feel free to do at least some of these things, as long as they don't take precedence over their walk with Christ or cause themselves or a brother or sister to fall into sin.

They will never be called a pharisee and avoid the term legalism like the plague. However, this group stands a far greater chance of falling into the category of verse 4 than the other group. Because of their view on Christian liberty, this group finds themselves right out in the middle of the world very often. They are exposed to much sin and temptation in the world that the other group is not. (The other group is exposed to sin and temptation as well, but it seems to come from those inside their ranks and not so much from the world which they avoid.)

My friend Roy described it like this tonight. For the Christian there is a fence that separates us from the world and creates a divide. One side is the world's side, and one side is God's side. Both of the aforementioned groups would say they are walking on God's side. There is however a difference. The first group has erected a huge fence that keeps them almost completely safe from the world, but also hinders there ability to make a difference in the world for Christ. The second groups fence is very small and they can jump back and forth from one side to the other. They spend the majority of their time on God's side, but jump over to the world's side from time to time.

This is where the problem lies. What if the person is second group begins spending more and more time on the "other" side of the fence. They really enjoy some of the things on the world's side, and hey, there's nothing wrong with them in and of themselves. Then what if that person begins spending more time on the world's side of the fence than on God's side. Their pursuit of happiness has changed from a passion for the things on God's side, to a "desire for pleasure" on the world's side that only fulfills the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Suddenly, without even realizing it they have become a friend of the world! Based on James 4:4 they are not only an friend of the world but they are an enemy of God.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he made it clear that we must be careful in our excercise of Christian liberty:

1 Cor 8:9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

We must also ensure that it doesn't become a stumbling block for ourselves either. While I pray that we all adopt a more biblical view of Christian liberty, I also pray that we take a long hard look at James 4 and are very careful that the object of our affection is the Creator and not the creations on the other side of the fence.

My 4-year-old's Literal Hermeneutic

I have been completely out of commission for some time now. I have several posts partially written that I am mulling over in my brain, most still related to historic premil eschatology which was the topic of conversation several months ago on upward affections. I am up to my nose in work right now so I still don't have time post anything of substance. I just wanted to share this quick story about my 4 year old daughter that might brighten your day.

The other day my wife asked my two daughters to clean their room. Ashlyn is 8 years old and Kara is 4. After a few minutes of cleaning my wife heard Ashlyn speaking to Kara in sort of a confused voice....

"Well what should I do with it then?"

To which Kara replied very matter-of-factly...

"I don't know, I just know that at church they told us not to put the Bible on the shelf...maybe you should put it on the chair or somethin..."

It must have been that Scofield study bible that she teethed on when she way a baby!

Guest Blogging on Truthtalklive.com

Since my boss is busy and doesn't even know how to spell blog, he asked me to pinch hit for him as a guest blogger on the truthtalklive.com blog. The title of the thread and the show was "Pharmacy Free Counseling", that's certainly not going to stir up the hornets nest :)

You can check out the thread here.

The Vast Temptation of Christ

I am currently teaching through Hebrews with the college class at our church. It has been a remarkable study for me. One thing that I recently had to teach through that I have always struggled to really embrace was Hebrews 4:15:

Heb 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the passage and I believe that Christ was indeed tempted in all points as we are and that He didn’t sin. My problem has always been the fact that based upon my understanding of the hypostatic union, because of the full deity of Christ He really couldn’t have sinned. I am ashamed to say that this truth always made verses like Hebrews 4:15 seem a little “not so special”. I mean, if He was tempted, but He really could never have given in, that’s not much of a temptation. Obviously I never said things like that out loud, or even intended to think that way, that’s just where I was.

During my study of Hebrews and to my great delight I was thoroughly rebuked by John Piper and C.S. Lewis in regards to my foolish thinking regarding the temptation of our great High Priest.

In his sermon on this passage Piper recounts Lewis responding a weak minded person like myself.

Fifty years ago C.S. Lewis imagined someone objecting here: "If Jesus never sinned, then he doesn't know what temptation is like. He lived a sheltered life and is out of touch with how strong temptation can be." Here is what Lewis wrote in response to that objection:
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.

Jesus knows the battle. He fought it all the way to the end. And he defeated the monster every time. So he was tested like we are and the Bible says he is a sympathetic High Priest. He does not roll his eyes at your pain or cluck his tongue at your struggle with sin.

I have never been so delighted to be rebuked so harshly. The whole book of Hebrews has been an amazing blessing that has resulted in my seeing and savoring Jesus more than ever. This truth though, about our truly sympathetic High Priest, is something that has really gripped me and caused me to fall on my face before my sinless Savior.

What's Going On Inside of Me? (Part 2)

In part one we established why we do what we do starting with the heart and ending with behavior and actions. [If you haven't read that yet I would encourage you to read it first] No one screamed stop yet, so lets move on to part 2 and discuss specifically how this relates to our response to temptation. Once again I am going to attempt to use the circles to illustrate how this works itself out biblically.

First of all let's talk about Proverbs 4:23.


Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

This is the reason that the heart is at the center of the circle. It is the command center. We are told here to watch over our hearts, other translations use a more urgent term; guard your heart. This verse bears a couple of questions. First, what do we guard our heart from? Second, how do we guard our heart? It would seem clear that we are to guard our hearts from sin and temptation. Since our behavior flows from that which fills the heart (Matt. 12:34) we must build a fort of protection around it to keep it from being filled with evil. Here is how I think that works out practically.

As you can see, I would argue that a Christian should guard his heart with an overflow of affection for God. This establishes a fortress around our hearts that is naturally combative to anything that would try to enter that might be anti-God. As you see the white representing the affections think about the white blood cells that God has so richly blessed our earthly bodies with. If something foreign begins to enter into our bodies and try to establish itself the white blood cells immediately go into action to destroy the enemy. Romans 8:13 says that we should be "putting to death the deeds of the flesh". This describes the Christian in preventative attack mode and is illustrated below:

This is a picture of those times in our lives where our affections are overflowing to an active onslaught against sin. This are those time in life where it seems that resisting and fleeing temptation are automatic. As you can see the heart is overflowing and shooting at temptation with both barrels. The temptation doesn't even penetrate to the point where it is considered by the intellect and will. The Christian is so deliberately seeking God in thought and deed that temptation doesn't even stand a chance. It is at these times in life when we must fall on our face before God in worship and adoration for the gift of the Spirit through which we can put to death the deeds of the body. If for a second we begin patting ourselves on the back for the great job we are doing we should stop in fear and trembling lest we stumble:

Prov 16:18 -Pride goes before destruction,And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

But unfortunately, as a result of our depravity we don't always do as we should, or as we'd like to. It is at those times that we echo the words of Paul in Romans 7: 18-20

...I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

I think that this is what's going on when we find ourselves giving in to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). This is illustrated below:

I think that James 1:13-15 describes what you see above perfectly:

Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

When are we tempted? James is clear that it is when we are drawn away by our own lust, or you could say our own affections. When we become self focused and not God focused we lose our fort, and our heart is left vulnerable. We contract a spiritual HIV and our immune system against sin is no longer functioning like it once did. Even the simple temptations can now prove to be fatal.

So what is the treatment? How can we avoid this horrid disease? Proverbs 4:23 is the answer. We must guard our hearts kindling Godward affection. This affection is born out of regular study and meditation on God, His Word, and our Savior. This is the person James describes in James 1:25 who stoops and gazes into the law of liberty (parakupto) as opposed to a casual listening or reading and a subsequent quick forgetfulness.

May God grant us hearts that are guarded by an overflow of affection for Him and that resist temptation for His glory.

What's Going On Inside of Me? (Part 1)

Over the past month or two I have been thinking a lot about the intricacies of a Christian's response to temptation. What's going on inside of a Christian when he is on the warpath against sin and slaying the dragon of temptation with the greatest of ease? On the other hand, why does the same Christian who slayed the dragon so easily last week, encounter a seemingly weaker dragon this week and fall prey to it? What changed? Was it simply a behavior change? Did his thinking falter? Is it a mind thing? Did his desires change? What happened?

As I thought about this more and more I began to have a really strong desire to illustrate this somehow. I thought that if I could get it on paper and see it for myself, it would help me do a better job of guarding my heart with all diligence, and fleeing temptation. It might even be a help to others, so what follows is my initial attempt.

Before we even begin to discuss temptation I think we must conclude what a Christian looks like from the inside out, and what makes him different from a non-believer.


The Unbeliever


Here is our first chart, this is my proposal of what a non-believer looks like from the inside out:





Let me explain. First off you can see the gray heart of stone at the core of the unbeliever. God has not replaced this heart of stone with a heart of flesh. You see that surrounding the heart is nothing but sinful flesh. The green circle is the intellect and will. The intellect makes active decisions to choose what the will desires most. The will, will always desire the overflow of the heart, which in the case of the unbeliver is always to please their sinful flesh (Romans 3:10-18, Romans 8:8, Romans 14:23). The blue circle then represents actions and behavior. The unbeliever acts on the sinful choices made by the intellect through the will representing the sinful desires of the heart.


The Believer

Below is chart #2. This is my proposal of what a believer looks like from the inside out.

You can see right off the bat that the believer above looks different. There has been a change on the inside. The gray heart of stone has been replaced with a red heart of flesh (Eze. 36). You can also see an area of white surrounding the new heart. These are new affections found in the believer as a result of the new heart. The believer can now seek after God, do good and please God. Unfortunately the sinful nature is still there represented by the black circle. The good news is that the heart is no longer surround by or in bondage to it. However, because of the curse of sin the flesh will always be battling agaist the Godward affection in the believer.

Here is an example of what the battle looks like and the subsequent results:

This is what takes place when the beleiver falls prey to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). The affection for God is [temporarily]overcome by the sinful flesh. This results in the intellect making the active decision to choose what the will wants and the will wants to satisy the flesh (the overflow of the heart). Therefore the subsequent behavior and actions sinfully carry out the intellects active decision to choose what the will desires most which was to satisfy the sinful flesh which was an overflow of the heart...whew, that's a keyboard full.

Now let's take a look at the bright side:

This is what it looks like when the Christian wins the battle against the flesh, when by the Spirit he is putting to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13). You see that heart is overflowing with affection for God which leads right into the will and intellect. The intellect then actively chooses what the will desires most which is to please and make much of God. The subsequent actions and behavior are then an overflow of the will to please God which is an overflow of the Godward affection of the heart.

So what say you? Is this really how it works, is it biblical or just philosophical. Does it make sense or is it wacky? I'm going to wait to post part 2 which actally deals with the response to the temptation until I see if what the meta thinks of part 1.

Perseverance of the Saints - Affirmations and Denials

A colleague and myself were tasked to come up with a set up affirmations and denials regarding the doctrine of perseverance today. This is a draft of what we came up with and I would be interested to get your input.

Perseverance of the Saints

A. We affirm that true believers will persevere in the faith to the end of their earthly lives. (Matt 10:22, Heb 3:14, Matt 24:12-13, Gal 6:9, Col 1:21-23)

We deny that those who are true Christians can fall away permanently and end up in hell.

B. We affirm that professing believers who do not persevere to the end of their earthly lives were not true believers. (1 John 2:19, Matt 7:22-24, Luke 18:9-14)

We deny that those who fall away and stay away were ever genuine believers. (1 John 2:19)

C. We affirm that God is the One Who preserves Christians. (John 6:35-40, John 10:27-40, Phil 1:6, Jude 24-25, 1 Peter 1:3-5)

We deny that Christians preserve themselves in their own power. (Eph 2:8-9, Phil 2:13)

D. We affirm that there are biblical passages that appear to contradict this teaching by warning against apostasy. (Heb 2:4, Heb 6:4-9, Heb 10:26-29, Heb 12:4, Matt 10: 32-33, 1 Cor. 15:1-2, 2 Peter 2:1)

We deny that these passages actually contradict this teaching. Rather, there are exegetical explanations for these passages that do not contradict the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

E. We affirm that these warning passages are legitimate warnings against apostasy that should be taken seriously by all believers. These warnings are prospective and are designed to elicit faith that perseveres to the end. (Phil 2:12, 2 Cor 13:5, 2 Peter 1:10)

We deny that these warning passages are not applicable to believers and can, therefore, be ignored. (Acts 20:27)

F. We affirm that the elect are saved through perseverance, not apart from it. (John 15, 2 Peter 1:10)

We deny that the cliché, “once saved, always saved,” is sufficient to adequately describe this doctrine.

I'll be interested in your feedback.