Christianity has become a hundred buses driving in different directions with no destination. Does anybody driving know where we should be going? I have my doubts.
Sure, there are lots of PURPOSE DRIVEN sermons spewing from the mouths of preachers today. They speak of spreading God’s love, building the kingdom, and being Jesus to the world. Yet, the majority of the effort is spent just keeping the whole thing going. Billions of dollars are given to churches every year and over 75% of it goes to operations so that the church can … what’s the goal again?
Whenever one church’s enthusiasm and fervor dies off another is hyped up to “rally the troops” into giving 110% towards the goal. Are we there yet? Never.
Churches have been building roads to nowhere. Their cause creates confusion. Leaders who should understand what the church should be doing cannot explain the mystery of God’s will. What a relief it would be if the mystery were taken out of God’s will, and the clarity of the Bible rightly divided were taught from every church.
Help stop the confusion. When you read books that don’t rightly divide, write the author. When you hear a radio broadcast that takes the verse out of context, send a complaint.
When a young person approaches you with the confusion of modern Christianity show them that the mystery of Christ has been revealed! It has been revealed for two thousand years.
Explain to them in charity that we can know God’s will if we rightly divide the word of truth. Our job is to clear the confusion and make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery (Eph 3:9).
When Jesus sent his disciples to preach the kingdom in Luke 10:4 he gave them these specific instructions:
“Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.” – Luke 10:4-5; Luke 9:2
Twelve chapters later as he was preparing to “go to the Father” he gave these contradictory instructions:
“And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” – Luke 22:35-36
This is a clear contradiction. This does not mean that Jesus was confused. He gave the right instructions to the right people at the right time. Luke 10 is before he was preparing to go the Father and his disciples were displaying the glories of the kingdom to Israel by God’s promised provision.
We see differing instructions like this all the time. The same football team is given differing plays depending on the down, the quarter, and the scoreboard. Farmers tell their workers both to plant and to harvest depending on the season.
It would be foolishness to tell a twenty year old to “hold mommies hand” as they crossed the road. However, it is wise when dealing with a five year old.
Stoplights give contradictory information at the same time! One light is red and the other is green depending on which direction you are going.
The Bible is no different. It contains hundreds of contradictory verses that demand careful study to be reconciled (2 Tim 2:15). It is always necessary for us to determine who is speaking, to whom, and what is the context?
It would have been wrong for the disciples to take a purse and shoes in Luke 10. Yet, what was disobedience and a “lack of faith” in Luke 10 would be obedience and God-honoring in Luke 22.
It is the same way with the gospel committed to Paul. So many are attempting to follow the Lord’s instructions while he was on earth hardly noticing that he returned and gave subsequent information to the Apostle Paul!
Some of the doctrines revealed to Paul contradict prior instructions. It is necessary for us to rightly divide the further instructions given to Paul and the old instructions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
II Cor. 11:1…
1. Our dispensation of grace is simple compared to the dispensation of law and kingdom. Christ did it all for us. Praise God.
2. Eve didn’t fall by herself; she was deceived by Satan's policy of evil involving a tree. She abandoned God’s revealed plan for Satan’s. So must we go forth in our dispensation knowing that Satan will oppose God’s revealed program for us in this dispensation. We go out with the mindset that everyone is good and well intentioned; however, good people with good intentions can teach bad doctrine. You are ignorant and naive if you think that everyone who wears the title "preacher" is a good man. There is more to the Christian life than just being "positive".
3. Satan is not a roaring lion today; that is for the dispensation of the Tribulation when he will go about ripping the nation of Israel and the world to shreds. He is not a serpent today in the Garden. He is in the church and in the pulpit deceiving people with religious law. He is an angel of light today! We are called “children of light” by the Apostle Paul. Satan wants to be like us so we can be like him. (Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15)
HOW DO WE GET THE GRACE EFFECT??? I Thess. 2:13
The Thessalonians got the “most improved” award from Paul. (Acts 17:11; I Thess. 1:8) How did they do this??? II Tim. 3:10…”my doctrine” is the key. Paul’s doctrine creates the grace effect in us.
Let’s think about some aspects of the “grace effect”. I do not exaggerate when I say that all of the world’s problems stem from three things… For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (I John 2:16) Even for the Christian, these three choices daily seduce us into becoming anything other than God intended us to be. (Rom. 8:28-29)
The answer to our problems is found by experiencing “the grace effect”. Does that sound too simplistic for you? Well it shouldn’t; we are told in Romans 5:20… Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: Grace is the only answer for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Grace causes us to be established and stablished. (Rom. 1: 11 & 16:25) The world tries to solve these problems with science (psychology, psychiatry, and medicine). How is that science working out for us???
Now if grace is the answer to these three destructive life wreckers, how do we trigger the grace effect?
Paul prayed for the Colossians in this regard and shows us how to experience the grace effect (Col. 1:9-11). It starts with knowledge and continues with understanding and wisdom. The result is always a “worthy walk” through life. Grace doctrine must be resident in us to keep us thinking and living right.
1. How does the grace effect apply to our life situation/circumstances or life purpose? This will answer the problem we have with “the lust of the eyes”.
• II Cor. 5: 6-7… Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: [7] (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) God is not manipulating your circumstances to make you and me happy. We must remember that we are “absent from the Lord”; He is silent today, other than His Word. God was silent for 400 years during the inter-testament period.
• Rom. 8:18…Our purpose today is not kingdom building. We are in the business of “Body Building” (the church). (I Tim. 2:4; Eph. 3:9). These are not just words on a page; it is grace doctrine in us that keeps us focused. Jesus was the “minister of the circumcision”; Paul is the “minister to the Gentiles”. (Rom. 15:8 & 16).
• II Cor. 4: 17…This passage is talking about our lives that can get very taxing some times, very boring, very troublesome; however, according to this verse our lives are very short and the inward man is renewed day by day. Reminding ourselves of these “unseen eternal things” (our crucified bodies, our position in Christ) will trigger the grace effect in us.
• Phil. 4: 11-13…I can do all things through Christ WHICH strengtheneth me. He is not saying that he can do all things through Christ WHO strengtheneth me. Paul is not telling us that we can do more than we think we can. He is not saying that you can raise your family, teach Sunday School, help with VBS, sing in the choir, help with the youth group and you can also work in the nursery if you let Christ strengthen you. He is saying, do the things that God hath before ordained that ye show walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Those things will strengthen you. You truly can do all those “things”.
• Rom. 5:3-6…Believing the Word (not blind or ignorant faith---Rom. 10:17) triggers the grace effect. Trouble can get you down or it can give you hope. If you do not have grace doctrine residing in you, you will get a different effect or outcome in you life.
2. How does the grace affect apply to our relationship with others? This will answer the problem we have with “the lust of the flesh”.
• Gal. 5:13 & 19-26…Crucify your flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is how we handle difficult relationships.
• There is a “spirit of Jezebel” loose in the land (Rev. 2:20… Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (II Kings 9:23 & 35)
3. How does the grace effect apply to the way we think of ourselves? This will answer the problem we have with “the pride of life”.
• Rom. 8:1-2…The pride of life will tell us to “do something significant”; you will never amount to anything; you are not attractive, you are not smart, you are not talented, etc. Our self image as a grace believer is rooted in our position in Christ. We are not to glory in our flesh, we glory in the Lord. (II Cor. 10:17… But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Who needs psychology when you have this?
• What has changed my life dramatically in the last 10 years? Grace doctrine working in me. II Cor. 5:20; Eph. 3:9.
• Change your affections. Know that you are already dead. (II Kings 7:3-4).
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