Applied Truth

In John 17:17 Jesus said "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." He is praying for the disciples and for us as believers. There is a very practical and key truth for us in this passage. Jesus knows that our lives will be without any real power unless we are being sanctified by God's word. But before this can happen, we have to learn that this great, vital truth, is something that must of necessity be constantly applied by us, and that the application of the truth is as important as the truth itself.

There is no value at all in having an intellectual awareness of the truth unless we proceed to apply it, and there are many who fail at that point. It is a sad commentary on the church today that there are so few that have even an intellectual awareness of the truth, much less the ability to apply it to all areas of life. This is the essence of having a biblical worldview. Its almost extinct except in a very small remnant of the church.

Think about what Paul was writing in Romans 6. This chapter came after a long discussion of justification by faith alone, not by works. He knew that because of our evil tendencies, we could misconstrue justification by faith alone. That we might sway ourselves over to the idea that once we were saved it did not matter whether we were obedient to the teaching of the Bible on how to live and think. Its the idea that we have our insurance policy now so we can live any way we want to.

How prevalent is this in the church today? Its called antinomianism and its rampant in the church. Given that Barna's surveys show that only between 7 and 9 percent of people in America hold to a minimal Christian biblical worldview, that is that our faith is to effect every area of life; politics, education, economics, religion, and societal matters; it is clear Paul's concern was well founded.

Think about this: does God hate sin? Of course he does. He sent his Son to die for you to pay the price for your sin. Sin has a very real cost. God didn't just decide one day to forgive and ignore the sin in the world. His justice demanded payment for the sin. Jesus paid that price for us. How can we think that any sin, before or after we are a Christian, isn't a big deal? Its rebellion against God. The antinomian doesn't take sin seriously after having been "saved." And unfortunately many Christians are unrepentant in the fact that they don't take seriously the idea that it is sin not to apply the Bible to every area of our lives.

It is clear that antinomianism is rebellion towards God. He calls us to apply the biblical truth we learn in our lives. Sanctification is not optional, its required. And if its required, we are required to acquire the knowledge of God that we might grow in every area of our lives. Just as Paul went on to say later at Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Spend your time learning the truths and principles God gave us in his word. Then make every effort to apply them in your life. Knowledge or truth without application is rebellion towards God. Let's be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we learn to apply God's word to every area of our lives that we might bring all things under him and fulfill our dominion mandate, the purpose for which we are here, so that our lives will bring glory to our Lord.

Steak and Potatoes

The writer of Hebrews tells his readers that they still need milk, not solid food. He calls them infants because they still need the elementary teachings about Christ. He says its time to get acquainted with the teachings about righteousness, the solid food of the mature, those trained to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, and to live accordingly.

What's the state of the church today? Mature Christians or babies? Let's examine this passage from Hebrews and weigh ourselves in the balance. What are the teachings about righteousness. Righteousness can be thought of as right living, living in accordance with the commands and principles of God. The teachings he gave us because he loves us.

A mature Christian is one who is saved and cooperating with God in the process of sanctification whereby he learns the commands and principles of God and knows how to specifically apply them to every area of his life. What commands and principles of God apply to politics, education, economics, religion and societal issues?

For example, say you have a son who is growing up and is ready to select a career to pursue. What commands and principles apply to his choice of career? To the type of business? Whether he should be employed or self-employed? How he should interact with his employer or his employees? How the business is financed? Whether he should go to college? How he deals with customers or vendors? How his career choice will affect his future wife or even the timing of when he gets married? How his career choice will be affected by his desire to fulfill the biblical mandate to be fruitful and multiply? What is the dominion mandate and how does it drive these choices?

Can you give a biblical basis for each of those basic thoughts your son will need to address? If we cannot answer these questions clearly from the Bible then I would argue we aren't all that mature of a Christian. The church is called by God to train up righteousness in the men who will then train it up in their own families (yes, it is the man's responsibility). When is the last time you heard a sermon or Bible study in any of those areas? I know I haven't, over the years, heard many. So why is it a surprise to learn that most Christians are still spiritual babies.

The writer of Hebrews says the baby Christian needs to learn over and over the foundations of Christ, repentance, faith in God, baptism, death and resurrection, and eternal judgment. The mature Christian is to learn how to apply God's commands and principles to his life. Think about what you are learning. Think about what you learned over the last year. Are you striving toward solid food or are you content with the milk? If you are a leader in the church, are you bringing solid food to the table, or just the bottles? There is a time for milk ... and a time for solid food. Men, let's step up and have a full meal, a meal for men.

Where Have the Leaders Gone?

Leaders. Men are to be leaders. God designed them that way. In Genesis 1 we see God giving man a dominion mandate. To rule over and tend to that part of the earth given him. We see later in Ephesians 5:22-31 that men are to be the head of the family while fulfilling the roles of provider and protector. In Ephesians 6:4 we see men called to train up their children in the instruction of the Lord.

Men are to be leaders. But you know what's missing in our families, in our churches, and in our society? Men who truly are leaders. Godly leaders. They are almost extinct. That's not God's way, but it sure seems to be the way of the world.

If Christian men at this time in history are going to step up and take back their God-given place as leaders in their families, in the church and in society, they are going to have to accept and take on the responsibility of studying the Word of God directly. They must sit at the Master's feet and take personal responsibility for their lives and for their training.

Too many times everyone abdicates this responsibility to the minister or the Bible study teacher. Many don't even carry a Bible with them, they are content to accept whatever is told to them. Remember Acts 17:11? If you don't, look it up ... right now.

Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't get excellent Bible teaching, because you should. But God is your primary teacher, men. Leaders step up and take responsibility. God gives you the authority to be the leader. Start thinking biblically. Start applying the Bible to all of your life. Your family depends on you and will be the worse for it if you don't. Laziness in this area affects everyone around you. Your family will be weak, the church will be weak, and society will crumble.

If we aren't willing to study on our own and supplement that with excellent Bible teaching, and then apply what we learn to all of life and teach it to our family ... well, I guess its like Paul said to Timothy ... then we are worse than an infidel.

Let's get to it, men. If you're not sure where to begin, pray for God's guidance and then ask another mature Christian whom you respect. They will rejoice at the opportunity to help you.

Too Late? Don't know, or don't care?

What have we been witnessing in our world, in our country, and in the church is an alarming breakdown in the family. Marriages and families are falling apart. We are face to face with the collapse of society if this is allowed to continue.

It has been said before that our culture and our society is simply a reflection of the families that make it up. So if we stand face to face with this disaster, we must examine what has happened to the family.

What is the problem? When we look around we see growing unrighteousness in the world and in the church. The cause of unrighteousness is always the same. It always has the same thing at its core. It is living apart from God. Godlessness.

The Apostle Paul told us it was coming. He said in Romans 1:18-32 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness ... men are without excuse ... they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator ... they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God ... they have become filled with every kind of wickedness ... they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters ... they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless ... they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

Sounds like our world. Listen to the news, see what the media portrays, look at the video games children play, observe the schools. Has God been rejected? Have His laws been ignored or ridiculed? Has God been removed from our culture? Without a doubt this is happening more each day and families are being destroyed. Since the family is the key building block of all of society we see a breakdown in the church and in our nation.

Historically the leadership of the church took a strong role in training up men and women to live biblically and to train their children and their children's children in God's commands for life. What happened along the way? Where have our leaders gone?

Some churches have leaders that will "ring the bell" with a warning. Outstanding, but they are few are far between. And even this is not enough. Its only a bandaid. If we don't start teaching dad and mom how to live biblically, how to model Christianity for their children, how to see multi-generationally, and how to train their children from birth, soon it will be too late.

According to testing done by the Nehemiah Institute over the past 15 years children from Christian homes have declined in their understanding of the Bible and of how to apply it to every area of life to the point that they are almost no different than the world. At the current rate, one more generation, 10 to 15 years from now the remnant will be so small as to be negligible.

Where are our leaders? A big part of our problem is a lack of godly leadership. Leaders in much of the church no longer know how to lead. Its all about making everyone feel welcome and feel good. Give them what they want. That's not leadership, and we are paying the price for our lack of it.

Where are our leaders? Men, I call upon you to rise up, to take the mantle of leadership. Take the responsibility. Learn God's commands and principles for life. Live them and teach them to your family before its too late. God's wrath is being poured out on our land. Be one of the few lights that God will use to lead people back to the Truth.

Set the Standard, Don't Miss the Mark

Ever wonder what a small child gets out of a sermon? Does it make any difference to them to experience the teaching of God's Word in the gathering of His people? I'm certainly not an expert on children, but I know someone who is. Jesus knows the hearts and minds of our children and He instructs us in this area. He explains in the Bible what we need to know. You do turn to the Bible first to find the answers to your questions in life ... don't you?

If the Bible were your only source of direction in this matter, what would you conclude? You would see, Old Testament and New, that the small children were always a part of the gathering of the church, with their parents. It was the normative practice of the church. You would never find an example of the children being taken away for Sunday school, children's church, or for any other reason.

The gathering of the church and the hearing of the sermon, with his family, creates an excellent opportunity for a father to share with his children how the preaching of the Word is changing him and how he will apply it in his life and the life of his family.

The church is weak today because, if they know the word at all, they still don't know how to apply it to life. Look at the church, its not that different than any other organization whose people have "mostly good ethics." The church doesn't apply the word of God to every part of their lives.

Fathers, we must, as Paul said in Ephesians 5, make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. We have such a short time with our children, we must use every situation to show them how God's word applies to our own lives and how we apply it. They must see us learning and putting the commands of God to action. They learn by watching us.

Children drop out of church, by and large, after they turn 18. They don't see its relevance. Many men never go to church, men raised in the church. They don't see its relevance. They Bible is relevant to every area of life says Peter at 2 Peter 1:3. Let's train up a generation of young men and women who know the relevance of God's awesome word by applying it to our own lives and letting our children see it ... in every thing we do, and that includes how we worship God on Sundays.