The World is looking for Christians who believe

Hebrews 3:1

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”  A few thoughts came into my mind, after rereading this for the third time this morning.  Paul is not addressing unbelievers; he is without any doubt addressing those who walk with God, those whom God has blessed in this world.  Your first thoughts may be that is not addressing me, but I do know a few people that need to read that verse and apply it to their life.  Stop, it does apply to you and me, we have a belief problem, but often it is off our radar. 

It is my personal belief, that what the world needs to see is Christians who believe God, Christians who are not ashamed to be considered a fool for Christ, who listen for His voice and have already made the decision to obey.  But so many have been taken captive by the deceitfulness of sin.  They have grown wise in their thinking, and have acquired much of what the world calls success, and what is referred to as success brings with it pride and arrogance.  Take care, brothers, because there is not room for pride and arrogance in a believers heart, it will always lead to an evil and unbelieving heart, it will lead you to fall away from the fellowship of other believers, it will lead you away from the living God.  Is that where you find yourself?  It matters not what title you have at the local church, it may be pastor, or teacher, elder, or deacon, but have you began to trust in programs or money more than you trust in God.  You still say the right words, but your heart is unbelieving and evil.

It is so important to remember that this is referring to a saved man, a man or woman who trusts in the Lord, they have walked in the years of drought and have not feared, they have placed their roots into the stream of faith, Jeremiah 17:7-8, talks of such a man, but both the saved and the unsaved are referred to in the same chapter verses 5-6, have verse 9 in common.  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Verse 10 gives a clear understanding of who can understand your heart and mind, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

I also believe that not one of us who are in Christ wants to fall away from the living God, so what are some signs you and I can look for?  Jesus said to watch your heart for these things; evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness; all of these come from within our hearts and defile a person. You may want to look this up in Mark 7:26.  For these reasons, we need to have an accountability partner, and we must have the fellowship of a local church.  Do not believe that you can live the Christ life without being in fellowship with others who also are living in this world system, in this present darkness.  Hebrews 3:13!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Culture of Noise

Hebrews 3:7-11

We are living in the culture of noise; it matters not where it is, meaningless data, or just racket coming from the radio, TV, or any of the other noisemakers.  We often lie to ourselves about desiring quiet, but give us a moment of silence, and we will find a way to quickly fill that space with sound, of some kind.  So that being true, how do we engage in conversation with God, who speaks to us in those times of silence?

Verse seven begins in this manner; “Therefore, (anytime therefore is used in Scripture it is important to look at the verses that came before the therefore) as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  Therefore, I was provoked with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’  As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.” (Hebrews 3:7-11)  So what came before the therefore; we who are in Christ are His house, it is the exchanged life, Christ now lives in us, and we now live in Christ. 

What kind of house, have you welcomed our Lord into?  Is your house so filled with stuff, so filled with activity that it is impossible to hear his voice?  If that describes your life you have been deceived, you are being misled and do not understand that the Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into all truth, to be our teacher, to be our comforter.  If we understand that truth, but keep choosing to fill our schedule with activity and noise, are we any different than those in the time of Moses who hardened their hearts and rebelled?

Galatians 2:20 holds so many keys to opening our hearts and minds to the exchanged life, you have been crucified with Christ.  “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” If you have come to understand this great truth and yet live life as if it was your business to schedule the events of life with no regards for hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, are you living in rebellion?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Exchanged Life

Hebrews 3:1-6 

It is amazing how others define us.  Many who knew you as a child or teenager have established your identity in their minds, though you are no longer that person.  As a person who was blessed to work for one of the great companies of this century I was often referred to as a 3M’er and to many including myself that was my identity.  I knew what the term meant, it was more than a job, or a place to work, there were many who worked for 3M who were not 3M’ers in my way of thinking. 

Knowing my need to be defined by others, to have an identity; if I had been a Jew living in the time the book of Hebrews was written, I would have wanted to be seen as a son of Abraham and I would have looked to Moses as one who I should emulate.  Being a Jew is not that much of a reach, to look at myself as a 3M’er my identity was wrapped up in a company, and in the Jew’s case it was Abraham and Moses.  But they had by faith received Jesus Christ as Lord, they had entered into a relationship with God and His church, but they were still holding fast to the only identity they had known.

As a Christian my real identity was never in 3M Company, and when it was it was a misplaced identity.  3M was never my source, God was the one who formed me in my mother’s womb, he has blessed me with all that I know and all that I have, and by His faith and grace He gave me the desire to bow my knee to Him and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be my God.  So I have some understanding of how easy it is to misplace our identity.  But my need came from a person who wanted to be identified as part of something greater than myself, where as the Jew knew, they had been taught from a child that they were the “Chosen” of God, they were different from all others who lived on this earth, and because of that identity they are the object of hate from many.

If I hung-on to a title, can you imagine the difficulty these Jewish Christians had in looking to Christ and leaving the identity of Moses or Abraham!  Let us pick-up the story in verse 3, “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses – as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.  (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things, is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.  And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”  What these Jewish Christians had to understand is no different than what the church of 2011 must understand, when Christ came into our life, we exchanged our identity with His, that is why it is referred to as the exchanged life; we exchanged a dead spirit to God for a live one, we exchanged hate for love, no hope for a living hope.  In fact, the Scripture states this truth clearly in Galatians 2:20.

Two men who God has used to help me understand these truths and I quote the following from them: "Those who believe that they aren't fully acceptable to God will find it difficult to experience intimacy with him.  It's not easy to warm up to somebody if you don't think that they particularly accept or approve of you.  One of Satan's most effective tools is to cause Christians to feel that God frowns when He looks at them."
(Dr. Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries.)

"One of the best kept secrets in Christianity is that God accepts us.  True, He can't stand our sinful acts, but he loves us.  He doesn't have us on performance-based acceptance.  He has us on Jesus-based acceptance."
(Dr. Bill Gillham of Lifetime Guarantee Ministries.)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

I understand - Maybe - Maybe Not

Hebrews 2:17-18

It is great when someone tells us I understand what you are experiencing; I’ve also been through that same situation or experience.  If they say I understand, but have not experienced it, they are just being nice, but you understand that they have no real perception of your circumstance.  That is what Hebrews 2:17 is saying, Jesus understands your circumstances, in that He was made like his brothers in every way; Jesus understands your situation.  In no way does that imply that Jesus was sinful, in fact the Holy Spirit addresses that point in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  

As a small child Jesus obeyed His parents, as a young man He honored His mother and father, in His death He honored His mother by making sure she was cared for.  Folks, his hormones were no different than yours and yet He refused to submit to them.  I have no doubt that He had business dealings as a carpenter and was tempted by pride or greed.  No one else in all creation has been attacked in every way known to man by evil, as was Jesus, yet he did not sin. 

My greatest need at this stage of life is to understand that Jesus called me friend, that He is also my big brother.  That He understands so much more than my circumstance, He was my designer, and His love for me does not hinge on my performance.  This is why Hebrews 2:17-18, should speak to our hearts: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because he himself has suffered when temped, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Mom's often said she was Flabbergasted

Hebrews 2:10-18

Help my lack of understanding; those were my thoughts while reading these verses.  O’ how I wanted to look at what a commentary had to say, but I chose by faith to believe that the Holy Spirit is my teacher, and I will ask Him to guide my thoughts and to open my spiritual eyes to His truth.  I believe my mother would use the term flabbergasted after reading these verses.  Verse 10-12, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.  Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”  We have stated often that Jesus is God, and that by an act of love and in obedience to His Father, He became a man, born of a virgin, and totally dependent on His Father in heaven.  It is important to understand that this is being written to Jewish Christians who place Abraham in a role of importance, and the writer was warning them of relapsing into Judaism, or putting the importance on ceremonial observances.

It has often been said, the Bible is the best commentary on the Bible, and once more I found that statement to be true.  Hebrews 5:7-10, “During the days of Jesus life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” I must be quick to confess much of this is beyond my understanding at this time, but this much is clear, Jesus’ death was a physical death, and in the garden He was crying out to His Father in regards to the death on a cross, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)  How often I’ve read that and dismissed it as Jesus was God and He knew it had to be done in order to redeem man from the penalty of sin.  But today I saw verses 43-44, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”  No one other than Jesus Christ has ever faced such a crises, the real suffering came that night, while the men who were His disciples slept. 

My understanding of these verses is much like my faith, very shallow, very small, but this I know, my Lord has total understanding of my trials and temptations.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Commom Sense fall Short

Hebrews 2:5-9

Have you ever said, it just does not make sense, and whatever the problem is you are confused.   For me, that was algebra, it mattered not what the teacher said, pie was not square and it was to be eaten.  No matter what I tried I could not get my mind to understand the logic of algebra, and yet I do understand it is based in logic.  But what if what we call logic, the theory of deductive and inductive arguments does not work?  What is left for us, not common sense, because it does not make sense, so we now have to choose to agree that it is beyond our reasoning and our understanding, and that we by faith will accept it as truth; or we will say it is beyond my understanding, and I choose to reject it.   That may be where you find yourself when reading these verses!

The Creator, putting on skin is one thing, the Creator choosing to be born to a virgin is quite another, but let your mind go to this, the Creator choosing to become lower in form and in power, and in authority than His creation, totally dependant on His Father.  We find this in Philippians 2:5-8, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: “Who being in the very nature” God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” It is very important to add this insight, “The comment of a great scholar on Phil. 2:7.  Is "emptied, stripped Himself of the insignia of majesty"; and again, "He divested Himself, not of His divine nature, for this was impossible, but of the glories, the prerogatives, of Deity. This He did by taking upon Him the form of a servant" (Commentary on Philippians, 12th ed., 1908, by Bp. Lightfoot.). 

This is beyond my understanding, for you see being God, He had full knowledge, full understanding of man.  He chose to create man with the full knowledge that His actions would require Him to ask His Son, His only Son to step out of glory, to take on flesh and to die for the sins of man.  With full knowledge that man would reject this great and precious gift, if you say you fully grasp that, you’re delusional.  It is dumbfounding, it is astonishing, or as mother would say, “it just flabbergasts me.” 

I’ve come to this understanding; I do not want a God that I’m equal with in knowledge or understanding, that is a very small god, then he would look and act just like me.  I have by both knowledge and understanding come to this understanding found in Isaiah 55:8-9.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  As heaven is higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  It comes down to whom you believe, and what action you put to that belief.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Is this action in keeping with the " Will of God?"

Hebrews 2:4

How are you doing with the “Will of God”?  I’ve not heard anyone use the term in this manner in sometime, but as a child, and in my youth, it was common to hear this phrase, “see you next week, if it is God’s will?” That makes me wonder, do we no longer consider the will of God?  Are we so much into ourselves that we do not even inquire or think, or ask the question; are my actions in keeping with the will of God?

Let me be quick to confess; I’m guilty of not stopping, of not asking, of not even thinking on a regular basis, is this action in keeping with the will of God?  I am no longer a rebel, I want to be in the will of God, but often I just assume that I am, and that is not necessarily close to the truth.  How can we go back to a mindset of asking first before acting, be submissive to His Divine will? 

God called David a man after His own heart, and Psalm 40:8 opens a window to that kind of heart; “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”  Could this be our problem, we put other stuff in our minds and hearts; we have not put the written word of God in our heart so that we have a guide that reminds us of “the will of God.”

What if we learned from this great king David, the one God calls “a man after His own heart.”  We would learn to seek God, yes, we would learn to pray before acting, we would ask God to let the Spirit lead us, look at Psalm 143:10, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!  Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!” 

You may be wondering, has Jesus Christ spoken on this subject, and that is always a great question, and the answer is often; one time his mother and brothers were worried about him and came to talk with Jesus, a man in the crowd said teacher your mother and brothers are outside and want to speak with you; this was Jesus’ reply to that man: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  (Matthew 12:48-50)

Many today who recall the past often wish we could return to that time, but it is history, it’s called the past for a good reason, and much of it you would not want to go back to.  But to return to a mindset of seeking first the kingdom of God, to not only say words about the will of God, but to set our hearts and minds on being submissive to the will of God, that is what James 4:15 instructs us as the rule of everyday life.  “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:15)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice