Category Archives: Discipleship

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Scaling Down in Disneyland

Last month’s E-Teaching, Is Greed Only an Attitude?, about greed not being just an attitude provoked several readers to request practical help on making material adjustments in their lives—for which I thank God. It isn’t always easy to see the need to make any adjustments when living in the Western World, where so many are drunk with the delusion that, “He who dies with the most toys wins” (a bumper sticker you may have seen). How blessed is that day when you realize you’ve been living on an island of fantasy in an ocean of reality. Compared to the one-half of the world that is living on less than two dollars a day, we’re living in Disneyland. (I’ve added a few photos at the end of this e-teaching to remind us of that.)

So what can you do to begin to obey Christ’s clear command to lay up treasures not on earth but in heaven? Jesus told us exactly where to begin: “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven” (Luke 12:33). Jesus gave this commandment to all of His disciples, not just to one wealthy man, and it could not be more plain. Thus, the true disciple of Christ must take inventory of all he or she possesses and determine what to sell, the proceeds of which can then be laid up in heaven.

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Silver and Gold Have I Quite a Large Sum

Author’s Preface: In the article below, I’ve omitted the names of the ministries, the names of those who head them, and most of the source links that are in the original article. The reason is to avoid criticism from anyone who might object to my revealing such information (all of which is public information, by the way, and much of which the U.S. government morally believes you are entitled to know). Those who do not object to my revealing such information can scroll down and find the unedited article below the edited version. Please keep in mind that if it is wrong for me to publish the unedited version, it is also wrong to read the unedited version. And because of this fair warning, please don’t send me any criticism for having reported names, salaries, and other public information if you’ve made the decision to read the unedited version!

Some years ago I was admonished by one of the wealthiest men in my city, a retired CEO of a huge multi-national company, with the following words, “It is the responsibility of guys like you to tell guys like me what God expects of us, lest we not be ready to stand before Him one day.” It seemed, he elaborated, that too many preachers patronized “guys like him,” fearful of offending and hopeful of gaining something—and in the process ultimately sealing the eternal doom of “guys like him.” Sobering words to a patronizing preacher like me (at the time).

Emboldened by that old admonition, I’d like to address the subject of stewardship in the next few issues of HeavenWord. This month I want to focus specifically on the questionable example of stewardship being set by some spiritual leaders—because the church follows its leaders. There isn’t any doubt in my mind that Jesus would address this issue if He were personally preaching on the planet today, because when He was preaching on the planet, He quite often made sobering statements about stewardship, and He also exposed the money-loving spiritual leaders of His day (see Matt. 23:14; Luke 16:13-15). Imitating Christ, Paul also lamented that many in his day were “peddling the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17). He required that spiritual leaders be “free from the love of money” (1 Tim. 3:3). Peter, too, warned against false teachers who, motivated by greed, would exploit believers with false words (see 2 Pet. 2:1-3).

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American Idol

Imagine a person taking a block of wood and carving it to look like a bearded man in a robe. At the bottom of his wooden figurine, he carves the name “Jesus.” Finally, each day he bows before it in worship. Does that make him a Christian?

No, that makes him an idolater. He is worshipping something that he has named Jesus but who is not Jesus at all. His wooden god is a grave insult to Jesus.

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What God Wants

The amalgamation of all that comprises contemporary Christendom sometimes obscures the one thing that is by far the most important. Hidden underneath all the clutter is something that is supposed to be preeminent. Without it, all else that is done under the banner of Christ becomes essentially worthless and meaningless, and even counterproductive.

Yet once the mound of ministries and men, teachings and traditions, programs and personalities, fads and frauds have been scraped from the table, there it is, a golden key. It opens the most important door. It reveals the one thing that is of supreme interest to God. It is the answer to the question, “What is God after—what does He want—above all else?”

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Deception is an Election

In last month’s e-teaching, There’s a Sheep Born Every Second, we considered what we should do to avoid being deceived or misled by false spiritual leaders, those wolves in sheep’s clothing of which Jesus warned us. Obviously, God doesn’t want us, or anyone for that matter, to be deceived regarding spiritual and eternal matters. He wants everyone to know and believe the truth (see 1 Tim. 2:4). For that reason we might ask, If God doesn’t want anyone to be deceived, why doesn’t He just put an end to deception and deceivers?

The Bible’s answer to that question is quite interesting, and it opens a vista of insight into the very purpose of life itself.

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A Little Leaven…

Some years ago when I was a pastor, I walked into my church office after a Sunday morning service to find a sandwich bag on my desk containing three chocolate brownies. Some thoughtful and anonymous saint who knew my love for chocolate had placed them there, along with a piece of paper that had a short story written on it. I immediately sat down and began eating the first brownie as I read the following story:

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The Inward Voice

Although the Law of Moses was given to the descendants of Israel sometime around 1440 B.C., God had already given the entire human race another Law that predated the Mosaic Law by at least 2,500 years—a Law that He wrote upon every human heart. To that Law He held every person accountable, and against that Law every person sinned, which is why people died from Adam until Moses. As Paul points out:

So death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law [of Moses] sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses (Rom. 5:12b-14a).

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“Judge Not!”

Anyone who holds to any standard of righteousness in our “culture of tolerance” is in trouble. If you say, for example, that homosexuality is a perversion, abortion is murder, sex outside of marriage is a sin, or that Jesus is the only way to heaven, get ready to be labeled. You will be categorized as “intolerant,” because intolerance is not tolerated in our culture. You may also be branded as close-minded, because our culture is not open-minded to anyone who is “close-minded.” You may be criticized for being critical. And you will probably be branded as unloving, because our culture just hates people who aren’t “loving.” They really should start putting bumper stickers on their cars that say, “I Do Not Tolerate People Who Are Intolerant.”

Quite often, those who are are not tolerant of “intolerant” Christians even cite the Bible to prove how wrong intolerance is. “Judge not!” they quote Jesus as saying. They construe Christ’s words to mean that no one has the right to make a moral appraisal of anyone else. In so doing, however, they make a moral appraisal of those whom they accuse of making moral appraisals. If you say,”Homosexuality is wrong,” they say, “Don’t judge!,” and in the process they commit the very crime of which they find you guilty.

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Christian Clichés that Contradict Christ

It has been said that if you repeat something often enough, people will start to believe it, even if it isn’t true. This certainly seems to be true concerning many oft-repeated Christian clichés about God’s love. Consider the following statements that so frequently reverberate within our Christian circles:

1.) God loves everyone unconditionally.
2.) God loves everyone the same.
3.) There isn’t anything you can do to earn or deserve Jesus’ love.
4.) Jesus’ love for us is not based on our performance.
5.) There is nothing you can do that would make Jesus stop loving you.
6.) There is nothing you can do to make Jesus love you more or less than He does right now.

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Is it Biblical to “Accept Jesus as Your Savior”?

My friend Bernie Koerselman is a retired attorney who now teaches the Bible like he used to practice law—relentlessly searching for the truth. His favorite topic is the nature of saving faith. He wrote a book on that subject that we often give to pastors in our leadership conferences around the world.

Bernie sent me an article he recently wrote that I wanted to share with you, but it was too long for our monthly e-teaching format. So I made a deal with Bernie, and he has allowed me to summarize what he had to say. What follows is that summary.