Bulletin Articles
Pen Points 16
Allegiance Tested
It’s not when God agrees with us that our faith and allegiance are tested. It’s when He disagrees with us. It’s when His will puts our will in its place. We tend to find what we are looking for, and if we are looking for a god who thinks just like us, then what we have simply found is a deified version of self masquerading as the true and living God. It is idolatry at its core. But the true God won’t have that (cf. Isa 55:8-9). Putting our will in competition with His is always going to be a losing scenario for us. At the point of decision, we will choose self and find reasons to despise God, or we will choose God and humble ourselves under His mighty hand.
Freedom
Freedom is never without any restraint. There is no freedom without some kind of moral authority. And no one would really want there to be, for total anarchy will still end with someone claiming power and enforcing it on others. Further, no one wants others to be able to do whatever they want if it includes hurting people.
Freedom, then, is restrained by what is Good. Biblically, we are made free from the shackles of sin and redeemed for the purpose of glorifying God and doing what is right in this world. We are made in God’s image and meant to do good, to strive to do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Pet 2:16).
Christ is King
There is no conversion to Christ and His kingdom without the recognition that He is King. In a context of teaching the message of good news, peace, happiness, and salvation, the proclamation is made, “Your God reigns!” (Isa 52:7). This is the passage quoted by Paul in Romans 10 showing the need for preaching and the hearing of the word as it produces faith (v. 15). In the same chapter, confessing that Jesus is “Lord” is part of salvation.
Once we acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus, there will no need for the typical faith vs works debate, for anyone who bows in total allegiance to Jesus as King will not balk at the idea of doing what the King commands, nor will the person wait around before taking action. There will be no pushback, no requiring that the King answer to us concerning His will, and no thought that obedience somehow merits salvation. The King offers grace, and He tells us what He wants us to do. Both are true, and both work together. Obedience is not meritorious, but it is necessary because the King has spoken. Obedience to Christ is a primary difference between Christians and everyone else.
Die to Self
Outside of Christ, how people identify themselves will reflect their own feelings and desires. In Christ is different, for “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). “You have died” stands in sharp contrast to the world’s “affirm yourself” standards. This is always the struggle. Yet it is necessary, for if we wish to save our lives (i.e., affirm self and deny Christ), we will lose life. If we lose our lives for Him (I.e., die to self so that life is hidden with Christ), our lives will be saved. This paradox is basic to understanding who Christians are. Our identity is bound up in Christ, not in the false narratives of a self-centered world.
Spirit and Truth
Pomp and ceremony do not make worship more holy any more than does the physical location. God is looking for true worshippers who worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). He does not need the inventions of our hands, does not dwell in buildings made with our hands, and is not impressed by our monuments … “as though He needed anything” (Acts 17:24-25). What impresses us can itself become a form of idolatry, for if we need pageantry and physical splendor to feel like we are worshipping, we must ask whether our worship is directed toward God or toward our own creations, or even ourselves. When we marvel at what we have made for the God who needs nothing, we may well be creating a culture of self-worship. If we do these things to impress people, we are not doing so because it is what God asks for or needs. Rather, we want these things, and then we claim to have God’s stamp of approval when it pleases us. Yet the simplest family with the least amount can worship God wholeheartedly and thereby please Him. If God judges the hearts over appearances, then surely this applies to the way we worship as well. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that worship need be complicated or flashy. We can be dignified and honorable even while we joyfully praise Him, but it is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name that serves as a pleasing sacrifice to Him (Heb 13:15).
