Anxiously Awaiting On Everything Eternal…

Fishers of Men

Ancient fisherman did not fish the same way their modernized descendants do. Hebrew fisherman would take a light out to sea and shine it into the ocean with their nets dropped. As the fish would come up to the light all the fishermen needed to do was pull in the nets and haul their catch home. Modern fishermen have a much different method. The can have hundreds of shiny lures specially crafted to look exactly like the fishes prey, and they have developed special techniques and ploys in order to get the fish to bite.

How is this related to Matthew 4:19? Let's look at both types of fishing as applied to the Kingdom of God.

The ancient fisherman relies on faith and the light. He has nothing else but himself, his boat, and perhaps a few friends. He may need to wait patiently while the fish congregate over the light, but there is very little effort other than simply waiting. Conversely the modern fisherman uses his lures and his perfected technique to catch the fish. He relies on his own wisdom or his special gadgets. This reminds me of how many modern churches are. They have so many programs and shiny things developed to bring in the largest crowd, or they have the most articulate and theologically educated teacher speaking at every event. Matthew 9:35-38 says:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Emphasis mine. In order for there to be a harvest to gather, some sort of work had to have occurred before the workers were sent out. In the same way, this points in every way towards relying on the Lord for our catch instead of ourselves and our own cleverness. The catch is ready, we just have to be diligent workers and obey the voice of the Lord!

The heart of the second related point I wish to make lives in 1 Corinthians 1:17:

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

And to take it a step further--and consequently make it even harder to swallow--Paul says in 2:1-5:

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

First we must address "emptying the cross of its power" through our "words of human wisdom." How often we bank on our own cleverness to deliver the Word of God, and how often we come up short. To me, emptying the cross of its power is a pretty serious allegation, and that makes me want to shut up more (see Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). As Paul says in the second passage, let our messages be preached not with wise and persuasive words--including five point acrostic and/or alliteration employing sermons with coma inducing power point slides, but in demonstration of the Spirit's power. Why? So that the converts faith rests on God's power not man's wisdom. We should be relying on the light that shines from Christ through us to attract those that the Lord has prepared instead of our own intelligence and gimmicks.

So does all of this mean that we can collectively as a church sit back and do nothing? Absolutely not. It simply means that we should move our focus from being Martha to being Mary (Luke 10:38-42). Our chief goal is to maximize the amount of glory the Lord receives. What better way to start things off than to sit at His feet, listen to what He has to say, and be obedient to that instead of concentrating on what we think we should be doing.

Turn

I just spent two hours witnessing to Georgia Tech students on the sidewalk. This is kinda long, so read it later if you dont have time. Please don't TLDR it.

Every year there is a particular group of people who come to Tech campus and stage a protest. They bring all manners of banners with spiritually offensive messages on them. I got a call earlier today from a friend stating that they were at it again, and this time they had quite a crowd. The last time I saw them here--and by them I mean one person, the protest was basically ignored. I was one of the only people to actually talk to the guy.

So I head out from Rib's and Blues on 5th street towards The Shaft. About halfway there I started feeling heavy. I can't really explain it, but I felt very afraid. I felt hated, and like something did not want me to go.

As I walked by the library and turned onto Atlantic street I was greated with the sounds of someone shouting. As I walked closer there was a man holding a small Bible and a shirt with the words "Repent or go to Hell" written in bold red letters. "Georgia Tech is a cesspool! What are you doing here? You are filling your head with worldly knowledge so you can get more money!" he shouted as he stared straight at me and waved his little Testament. The irony of this situation made me chuckle. I am a born again Christian, and I am at Georgia Tech because God led me here, but that's a story for another day. I pulled my NASB bible out of my backpack as I walked by him.

I continued on only to be greated by even more shouting. The little amphitheater where we often hold outside club meetings was packed to bursting with shouting students, and down front was a sweating man in a gray suit yelling some unintelligable scripture. All around the theater were men wearing message boards and holding giant banners with miscellaneous messages of condemnation on them. I met with my friend Justin and one of his classmates from Kung-fu, and they were both witnessing to a young Muslim lady and an atheist that had just finished talking to one of the bannermen. We spent alot of time with those two after we got them away from the bannerman, and it seemed that they were open to the Gospel, but they voiced their disgust over the bannermen's methods.

Overall, I really don't know what to say about the experience right now. It's all still sinking in. I spent most of my time walking around and telling people that the message of Christ is contrary to what these people were preaching. I got a very good response from most of the people there, and a few other Christians rallied with me. I also witnessed to two of the bannermen. Those guys were spouting off scripture like machine guns, and it depressed me a little. They never gave me enough time to look through my Bible to find the verses that I wanted to show them, and their knowledge is further proof that I really need to get into memorizing scripture.

But one particular person stood out to me. He wasn't carrying a banner, he was holding an NIV new testament (which, according to all the others bannermen the KJV was the only true version of the Bible), and he seemed different than the others. My heart really goes out to that man, because he is a shining fire in the midst of currupt and pharasaic men. He said something that pierced my soul and stirred up a fire so bright that I swear my body temperature went up a couple of degrees. "You may not agree with what these guys are saying--I definately don't, but look at all these people. Some of them are interested now for whatever reason. So go witness brother!" he said. Those few words hit me like a Mac truck. So I witnessed. For the first time in a long time, I told people about Jesus directly.

I am convinced that God can turn anything for His glory, but now I have another concrete example of it. Through the false teachings of those people, I was able to preach the love and grace that I am so familiar with. I am unfathomably joyful that God used me, and I have been praying all week that something would happen so that I could be a light to this campus.

As a thought exercise, consider this verse (took me a while to find it):

"15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." Philippians 1:15-18

These people were teaching false doctrine. How do I know? One particular man said that he stopped sinning once he was saved. Another said I was going to hell because I didn't read the KJV version of the Bible. This guy arrogantly spouted off statistics about the different changes from the KJV to my NASB, and yelped a short victory "booyah" when he was finished. His friend triumphantly chimed in an equally arrogant "Buuuurrrrnnned!" The fruits of these people were confusion, hatred, anger, outrage, and the general stirring up of nonbelievers and believers alike. The gospel we preach should, and will, make people uncomfortable, but this was not the intention of the bannermen. They justified their condemnation and overtly incorrect views by taking verses completely out of context. I think that's enough to convict them. But if you still don't believe me, go to their website and make your own decision.

The above verse talks about the motives that people have for preaching the Gospel, not the Gospel they preach. There are tons of different verses that condemn false teaching, but this particular verse applies to people who preach the Gospel, but for their own selfish gain. It assumes that the message preached is the correct one. That is very important. We as Christians cannot stand for false doctrines. While I was talking to the other Christians around the amphitheater, I had a friend from CCC quote the spirit of this particular verse to me in their defense. Consider:

"3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain." 1 Timothy 6:3-5

The theme of this particular verse is about financial gain, but part of it rings true here as well. Some of these people fit the description in verses 4 and 5 perfectly. Most of them were arrogant, they were stirring up trouble among the people. Jesus commands us to be peacekeepers!

In any event, God was glorified today through the actions of these people, but it was not in the way they intended. I met some new Christian friends there, and I was able to witness to the people who were there for the "comedy hour." While riding on the bus back to the TSRB I felt a deep burden for this campus, and I cannot simply stand around and do nothing anymore. All of the organizations I have been a part of on campus seem way too much like a social clique than a ministry machine. I don't know where God is leading me, but I feel something stirring in me. It feels so good to be used by God, why in the world would I ever want to go back to being a comfortable and complacent follower? If I am apathetic, am I a follower at all?

Difference

Welcome back to the first Sunday Post in a long while. It seems that when I go to church at home I never write one of these. But today, since I stayed in ATL, I did my own Bible study and therefore will write about it.

What is being different all about? I am doing a painful read through of the Old Testament (see this post) and right now I'm about midway through Numbers. There are a ton of things (around 900 of them) that God tells Moses to relay to his people in the form of laws. Each of these laws are designed to make his people look different from the rest of the world. Take this one for instance:

2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD,

3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.

4 'All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

Numbers 6:2-4

In this passage the Nazirites are commanded to be different. They cannot drink wine nor can they eat grapes. Hence they are set apart from the rest of the world. In the same way, we Christians of the new day should be set apart. If we look like the world then how will we be able to witness to anyone?

But all of this should be obvious right? I think it should. But the problem comes with execution. We need to apply this creed to all aspects of life; one at a time. Our relationships, friendship or romantic, should be based on this idea. I have a friend who has been going through a struggle with sexual sin. This person was confused and concerned about why they fell in certain situations. The biggest problem was that this person was in those situations in the first place!

We should never put ourselves in compromising situations no matter how innocent we think those situations may be. I know that in romantic relationships once you start the ball rolling, and it can be set off with something as innocent as a kiss, it will cascade into things you did not want to happen. I have seen the strongest and most faithful Christians I know fall to sin in this way. I myself have fallen in this way.

So we have to keep ourselves out of situations that would make us look exactly like the world. I know I'm convicted of this alot. That's why it's crucial to have friends who will hold us accountable to these goals. But who likes to be held accountable right?