Month: September 2013

It’s Common Sense

It's-Common-Senseby: Brian Petrick

The correct definition of legalism is, “Trying to earn favor or salvation through good works.” Of course this is biblically impossible (Titus 3:5, Ephesians 3:8-9) because God’s love for us is always the same, and salvation is only by grace through faith and “not of works.” I think we would all agree on this point, that the first definition of legalism is the wrong way to go.

However, the definition of legalism most commonly used today is, “Too many rules, too many lists, too strict, or doing things by constraint that I do not really want to do.”

This is where many people have a problem. The neo-evangelicals or neo-Baptists: (Neo just means new – a new breed – not the way it used to be), they always refer to legalism with this basic definition, and then they say legalism is bad, it’s wrong! They say, “We have freedom in Christ!” This is true, but freedom still has it’s boundaries. Adam and Eve were free, but they still were not allowed to eat of one tree. They disobeyed and lost that freedom, just as every time WE disobey we lose more and more of our freedoms.

The problem with the neo-evangelical or neo-Baptist is that they use this fight against legalism as a cop-out in order to use this “freedom” as a license to sin. We (the saved) are definitely “free in Christ.” Freed from Satan, sin, death and Hell just to name a few, but we were also freed from these things so that we could be freed to some things! Freed to live for Him. Freed to serve Him. Freed to please HIM and freed to serve others. Christ did NOT free us to do whatever we want in violation of the guidelines of what the Bible teaches and then call it freedom. We should call that disobedience and rebellion!

I actually agree with the “Neo’s” when they say, “The rules should not take over the relationship,” and “the external should not supersede the internal.” Another classic is, “When we are governed by lists, then the lists keep getting longer and longer, and it never stops.” I agree with these statements – to a point. Let me explain:

The first statement – “Rules should not take over relationship.” I agree wholeheartedly. Anything we do for the Lord SHOULD be because we love the Lord and not because we feel we have to, and many times we get that wrong because of our old-nature. If we only do for the Lord when we feel like it, and only when our hearts are overflowing with love for Him (as it should always be), then let’s be consistent. I mean let’s not make our children go to school on the days when they don’t absolutely love school. I mean, their relationship in their heart is not right on that day, so why are we legalists, and make them go anyway? Let’s do the same with work. I do not think I should have to go to work on Mondays, because I am not in love with my job or my boss and my relationship and motivation is not right. What about when we make our children clean their room, or take out the garbage even when they don’t feel like it? They are not in love with their room, the garbage, or even sometimes with the parent who told them, but they are made to do it anyway.

Should our kids love the Lord enough to realize they should love school, and love to obey their parents? YES! Hopefully they do. Should we as adults love the Lord enough to be thankful to Him for His provision in providing for us a J-O-B, and out of relationship and love for Him, go to work and work hard (“as to the Lord”), motivated by our love for Him? YES! – and hopefully we do have days like that! But how many times have we gone to work (with the old nature attitude) – I hafta’ go, and I don’t wanna’,..but I will. Probably 80% of the time that’s how we go to work and our children go to school. Now I wish the love and the heart and the right motivation was in it for all of us, BUT EVEN WHEN IT’S NOT, and we still obey – it causes good results. God, in His mercy still blesses that kind of obedience. I can promise you, He does not bless ANY kind of disobedience. What would our lives be like if we only went to school as children on the days we were in love with school? Or, what if we only went to work on those days? Or, only obeyed our boss when we were in love with him (or her)? Not too hard to imagine what our lives would be like – right?

The second statement:

I have even heard some neo-evangelical pastors say, “Legalism is bad, but we should also not use our newfound freedom in Christ as a license to sin.” Of course, I agree with the last part of that statement. But, by saying that legalism (or too many rules) is bad, he is in effect saying, “Do not use this license to sin, but here,…let me give you a license to sin. Go now, and enjoy life and when anyone gives you a Bible-based doctrine or guideline plainly laid out in Scripture that you do not want to adhere to, just cry – LEGALISM!, LEGALISM!” Then you can go ahead with your violation of Scripture without any fear of your conscience (or the Bible) getting in your way.

Let me try to wrap this up. When we were saved, we should have not only received Jesus, but we should have surrendered our will to His will. Because of His great love for us demonstrated on the cross of Calvary, we should be so thankful that He set us free from the bondage of sin that we “should no longer serve sin” but we would search the Scriptures to see what pleases Him, and gladly do whatever it is. It is because we are so thankful, so dedicated, so surrendered to Him that we search the Bible to find out what displeases Him and stay away from those things. Not by constraint, or because we have to!

If you feel you have to serve Jesus, or have to have standards, or have to go soul winning, or have to get the sinful worldly styles, TV shows, videos or other ungodly influences out of your life, then you must have a heart problem. I am not saying you are definitely not saved (although that could very well be the problem), but I am saying you are definitely harboring, protecting and preserving unconfessed sin, and are not fully surrendered to the Lord!

One of my friends recently told me if we were honest in church, sometimes we would have to sing:

“I surrender some,” or “I surrender sometimes,” or “I refuse to surrender at all, and you can’t make me!”

A little boy, was told to go sit in the corner because of his bad behavior in school. He stood in the corner and the teacher said, “I told you to sit in the corner!” With that, the boy sat down. Then he raised his hand and the teacher said, “What is it boy?” He said, “Teacher, I may be sitting on the outside,…but I’m still standing on the inside!”

That’s the rebellion that’s inside all of us at times. Should we serve the Lord with gladness at all times? YES! YES! YES! But, even when we obey when we don’t want to, or our heart is not in it, we’re much better off, than when we don’t.

What if the little boy just kept refusing to sit? I’m sure the punishment would have gotten worse right? Our Father does the same with us, because He loves us enough!

Again, works cannot save us in any way shape or form, nor do they give us more love from God. He loves us unconditionally, this is absolutely true. But, when we clearly defy and disobey Scripture, we cannot file that under “freedom in Christ;” instead, file that under willful disobedience to Almighty God.

While God’s love for us never changes (as shown in the story of the prodigal son), his favor (or blessing) upon our life does, in direct proportion to our obedience or disobedience to his Word. How was the prodigal son’s life, as long as he lived in rebellion? Not too blessed, was it? Notice how the son, before he left said,…“Give me.” But, when he got right he said to the father, “Make me as one of thy hired servants.” Why? Because now he was fully broken and surrendered to do (not talk about doing) his father’s will with a heart full of love and respect.

I surrender all, but admittedly, not always. Even during those times, I should obey. That’s not legalism, that’s just smart. That’s obedience. Someone said obedience is doing what you’re told to even when you don’t want to.

If I commanded you to take a $5 bill from me and go down to Dairy Queen and buy yourself something once every day, that would not be a really good test of most people’s obedience. Especially the younger people. But, if everyday I commanded you take take some money and go to the health-food store, buy vitamins, vegetable juice and a salad, that would probably be a much better test. You may not want to, but if you did, you’d still be blessed with the healthy results over time, while the other person (whom God loves just as much), over time would be suffering with high blood pressure, diabetes, sluggishness and who knows what else.

Everyone wants the blessings,…while disobeying the Blesser! We cannot have the blessings of God, without obedience to Him.

Brian Petrick
Pastor
Biblical Baptist Church
Beach Park, IL

Whom He Had Prepared

Joshua 4:4
“Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:”

It could be that one of the reasons Joshua was the most qualified to lead Israel after Moses went to Heaven was because he didn’t wait until he was in a leadership role to train others. It says in the verse above, “Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared…” You must understand that Joshua had only been the leader of Israel for a short time. Preparation is never done in a short period of time. That means that while Moses was still alive, Joshua was preparing others to help conquer the Promised Land. I don’t know, but maybe he learned that Moses made a mistake by not preparing those who spied out the land, and that is why the ten spies came back with a negative report. Joshua didn’t want the same thing to happen, so he prepared twelve men before he sent them to spy out the land.

Every person should be involved in preparing others for future tasks. One of the weaknesses I find in churches today is that our Sunday school programs are considered an afterthought when they should be one of the primary ministries of the church. It is in the Sunday school where we prepare others to serve the LORD. It is in the Sunday school where we find those whom we can put into leadership. Sunday school isn’t the only place where preparation should be made, but in every walk and area of life you should be busy preparing others. Let me show you some areas where Joshua seemingly prepared these men.

First, prepare them in the Word of the LORD. These men needed to understand that God promised them the land of Canaan. This is one area where you can start preparing others for the future. You should be busy preparing someone what to believe by teaching them the Word of God. Yes, Sunday school is the arm of the church that teaches the Word of God, but we shouldn’t limit the teaching of God’s Word to Sunday school. The Word of God should be taught in the home, at the workplace, in the school and in any place you frequent.

Second, prepare people for a vision. Joshua prepared these men before he was the leader of Israel. This shows that he had a vision, and he was teaching them to have a vision. You should show those whom you lead how to get a vision. One of the things many people lack today is a vision for the future. The best way to train others to have a vision is to get one yourself. If you train others for your vision, then they will get a vision themselves.

Third, prepare others for the battle. Joshua knew that battles would come, and he spent time preparing these twelve men for the battle. The Christian life is filled with battles. If you don’t prepare others for the battle, then you are doing a poor job of preparing others for the future. Battles will come, and you should show others how to fight the battles. Most battles can be fought by showing people how to prevent them. Holiness will help prepare others for the battle. Prayer will help others for the battle. Getting God’s power will help prepare others for the battle.

Let me ask you, are you busy preparing others? I challenge you to get a vision for the future and find several people whom you can prepare. The Scriptures call this discipleship. I find it interesting that Joshua prepared twelve men, and Jesus also had twelve disciples. Find twelve people and prepare them to serve the LORD.

Overtaken With Blessings

Deuteronomy 28:2
“And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”

Rarely do you find a promise as open ended as the promise in the verse above. God promises that His blessings will not only come upon you, but they will overtake you if you hearken to His voice. You would be hard pressed to find a Christian who doesn’t want the blessings of God. One of the reasons we go to church is to learn how to get God’s blessings upon us.

What is interesting is that God says His blessings will “overtake thee.” To be overtaken means two things. One, it means they will suddenly come upon you, but it also means that you are moving in a direction in which others must catch up to you. What direction is it that you must be headed for them to overtake you? It is the direction of doing right. In other words, God’s blessings not only don’t come upon those who are doing wrong, but they also don’t come upon those who are not doing right. In order to be overtaken, there must be motion, and doing right is an action or motion. There are many people who don’t do wrong, but they also don’t do right. These people will not see the blessings of God. If you want God’s blessings to overtake you, then you must be doing right for them to catch up to you.

Furthermore, not only must you be doing right, but God says that you must “hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” To “hearken” carries several definitions that are important to being overtaken with blessings. Let me show you what they mean and how you can apply them to your life.

First, it means you are listening to God’s Word. There are several ways we listen to the Word of God. We listen to the Word of God by reading It on a daily basis. We listen to the Word of God by listening to preaching. We listen to the Word of God by hearing those who are teaching It. Friend, you can’t be hearkening to God’s voice if you’re not in Sunday school and church. Yes, you can most certainly read It daily on your own, but you must also hear It with your ears. This only happens at church. You will never be overtaken with blessings if you don’t hear God’s Word.

Second, it means to hear It with eagerness. This is interesting because I find many people hear the preaching, but they really don’t hear it. What I mean by this statement is they are audibly listening with their ears, but they are not listening with their heart. If you want God’s blessings to overtake you, then you must be eager to eat up the Word of God. Listen with the intent to change. Listen with the intent to respond. That is what hearkening to the voice of the LORD is all about.

Finally, it means you obey what you hear. You will never be overtaken with God’s blessings if you are not obeying what you hear God’s Word tell you to do. Sadly, I watch many people come to church and hear the Word of God only to walk out and disobey what they just heard. You will never be overtaken with blessings until you obey what God’s Word tells you to do.

Being overtaken by God’s blessings is as simple as listening and doing. Yet, not only will you receive God’s blessings, they will overtake you. In other words, they will control your life. This is the benefit of doing right. I challenge you today to become eager to hear and do what God tells you to do. In doing so, you will find God’s blessings will suddenly come upon you and overtake you as you serve Him.