Ok, I know some of ya'll are going to call me on this, because I said I would expound on the Gospel in the last Blog entry; but it occurred to me that before the Gospel, there must be conviction, or a deeply held belief. We'll get into what that conviction is later.
One of the issues I have with our churches is that they teach the Bible, but they do not teach doctrine, or history, or church history. Thus we have churches full of passionate Christians who cannot really explain what they are passionate about. The music is amazing, the preaching is exciting, but many mature Christians are still drinking spiritual milk despite the fact that they may be ready for meat. (Mature Christians will get that reference). I am not condemning anyone or any church. I am simply pointing out what I believe to be a fatal flaw in our Black churches.
Thus, in a effort to review for myself, and educate others, it is a good exercise to talk about these Christian doctrines that every Christian should have a working knowledge of. A doctrine is a standardization of beliefs.
Using my experience as a guide for understanding true conversion, I will attempt to frame the doctrine of total depravity, and make a case for why we have to understand that doctrine as it relates to ourselves in order to truly receive the gift of Salvation.
Long introduction right? What is Total Depravity? Total Depravity is the idea that men are born as slaves to sin and as such we cannot choose to follow God, or believe in Calvary, apart from God's grace.
Many of you are saying, duhhhhh, I knew that already. It is my hope that you did know that already. But let's dig deeper into the application and implication of this doctrine.
I actually like the example on Wikipedia. Imagine a glass of water with a few drops of poison added. Most of the mixture is water, but it is unfit for consumption because of the poison. The doctrine of Total Depravity is like that. Man is born into evil, capable of evil, corrupt and selfish. Man's first and driving instinct is to serve himself. Those are the drops of poison. Man is also capable of great compassion, incredible bravery, amazing intellect, and incredible feats of strength and ingenuity. That is the water.
Because the poison is thoroughly mixed in the water, man is seen by God as corrupt, because God is Holy. Even if man does good, it is viewed by God as evil because even our good deeds are self-centered acts of indulgence. I would submit to you that even when we are working in the church we are working toward something selfish----the Bible speaks of crowns in heaven, and treasures in heaven. The bottom line is that no one operates out of a pure love for God, thus all of our motives and works are filthy rags before a Holy God.
We cannot separate the water from the poison. Even when we do good, we sin. Let's look at some scriptures to support this:
Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Genesis 8:21: "And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
Job 15:14: What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
Job 25:4-6: How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? 5 Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; 6 how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!"
Psalms 51:5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
John 8:34: "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.'"
You see, there is no shortage of scriptures telling us how wretched we are.
One more point and then I'll stop. If we are so horrible (and we are) why do go around trying to make ourselves look and appear to be so 'blessed' so 'righteous' when the Bible clearly says we are not? Why do try to work on our 'self-esteem' so much or put so much confidence in ourselves? The Bible clearly tells us that we are 'worms.' Is it because we don't really apply the Bible to our lives. Is it because we only want to believe part of the Bible? Whatever it is, when Christians really understand the doctrine of Total Depravity then we humble ourselves before a Holy God and beg Him for forgiveness, and thank Him for his grace and mercy. We wouldn't spend so much time thinking about ourselves. How much attention should we pay a worm?
In the next post, I want to look at how Total Depravity relates to the doctrine of Election and the Gospel (I hope I get to the Gospel).
Monday, October 22, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Last Black American Idol: Blessed Assurance
The thought of going home and entering into the kingdom of the Most High is an amazingly joyous one. No matter what I am going through, I can always think about going home and seeing my Father's face for the first time. Hallelujah! It really makes you want to shout! It makes you want to run up and down the aisles at church like an NFL running back---knocking down ushers and deacons along the way (just kidding).
But it is that thought that has produced a joy in me that no one can remove, because no one but God put it there. It is my blessed assurance that because I have repented and believe in Jesus that I am now a joint heir with the son and therefore grafted into the family of God by the spirit of adoption. That is the joy in every believer.
That is also the idol that many of us worship. Many Black Christians hold on so tight to their own salvation; the blessed assurance, that they are not able to move into a deeper relationship with God. The belief that they don't have to do anything else to be saved is a snare to many in the Black church. To be blunt, we tend to sit on our blessed assurance and we don't move properly into our roles as God's ambassadors in this fallen world. We target the thing we want----salvation----and we deny the gift-giver access to our hearts and minds by continuing old patterns of behavior.
Brothers and Sisters, your blessed assurance is dangerous. Yes, if you are truly saved that will never change. However, if you are a Christian and you believe that you can live any kind of way because your are forgiven, then your very lifestyle is a snare and a trap to the unsaved. There are too many of us in the church who are running around recklessly endangering the salvation of others by calling ourselves Christians and living like the world.
If you are truly saved, and you understand your salvation, then that should produce in your a thankfulness, a gratefulness that causes you to love Jesus enough to seek his face. If you understand that every lie, every piece of candy that you stole, every lustful thought you've had about someone who was not your spouse, carries with it a death sentence---then you will understand what God has done for you and it will cause you to be so joyous that you will get serious about working for the kingdom of God, for the glory of God. Our zeal for God should drive us to understand Him more and better.
But it seems to me that we are woefully ignorant of our faith, of our church history, and of sound biblical doctrine. If we don't know about our faith then how can we give a reason for the hope that is in us. How can we be good ambassadors if we are ignorant about the country we represent, and are misguided concerning the King. It is a shame that Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses know the Bible as well or better than Christians. It is like we get saved and give up. We must not sit around on our assurance and do nothing. Let Him who began a good work in us continue that work. We must study the word, meditate on the word, and pray for wisdom and understanding.
In the next few posts, I am going to examine the pillars of our faith, starting with the Gospel. Until them, watch this brother give a defense of our faith to these two Mormons. I must say, he could have been more loving, because we are supposed to combine the truth with love. However, he made his point using the scripture and sound doctrine. I wonder how many of us could have done the same, or would we have failed when confronted about our God.
But it is that thought that has produced a joy in me that no one can remove, because no one but God put it there. It is my blessed assurance that because I have repented and believe in Jesus that I am now a joint heir with the son and therefore grafted into the family of God by the spirit of adoption. That is the joy in every believer.
That is also the idol that many of us worship. Many Black Christians hold on so tight to their own salvation; the blessed assurance, that they are not able to move into a deeper relationship with God. The belief that they don't have to do anything else to be saved is a snare to many in the Black church. To be blunt, we tend to sit on our blessed assurance and we don't move properly into our roles as God's ambassadors in this fallen world. We target the thing we want----salvation----and we deny the gift-giver access to our hearts and minds by continuing old patterns of behavior.
Brothers and Sisters, your blessed assurance is dangerous. Yes, if you are truly saved that will never change. However, if you are a Christian and you believe that you can live any kind of way because your are forgiven, then your very lifestyle is a snare and a trap to the unsaved. There are too many of us in the church who are running around recklessly endangering the salvation of others by calling ourselves Christians and living like the world.
If you are truly saved, and you understand your salvation, then that should produce in your a thankfulness, a gratefulness that causes you to love Jesus enough to seek his face. If you understand that every lie, every piece of candy that you stole, every lustful thought you've had about someone who was not your spouse, carries with it a death sentence---then you will understand what God has done for you and it will cause you to be so joyous that you will get serious about working for the kingdom of God, for the glory of God. Our zeal for God should drive us to understand Him more and better.
But it seems to me that we are woefully ignorant of our faith, of our church history, and of sound biblical doctrine. If we don't know about our faith then how can we give a reason for the hope that is in us. How can we be good ambassadors if we are ignorant about the country we represent, and are misguided concerning the King. It is a shame that Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses know the Bible as well or better than Christians. It is like we get saved and give up. We must not sit around on our assurance and do nothing. Let Him who began a good work in us continue that work. We must study the word, meditate on the word, and pray for wisdom and understanding.
In the next few posts, I am going to examine the pillars of our faith, starting with the Gospel. Until them, watch this brother give a defense of our faith to these two Mormons. I must say, he could have been more loving, because we are supposed to combine the truth with love. However, he made his point using the scripture and sound doctrine. I wonder how many of us could have done the same, or would we have failed when confronted about our God.
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