Book Review: So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore

07 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Dan Nelson in Book Review, Christianity

Someone gave this book to my wife a few months ago, and said that we just had to read it. He said that what we are describing in our own spiritual journey sounds a lot like what is in the book So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman. My immediate reaction was, “But I do want to go to church- I really want to go to church.” I had apprehensions about the book for a couple of reasons besides the title. First it contains an advertisement for The Shack. Lots of red flags go up in my mind- The Shack was the most painful thing I’ve ever read. Secondly, the pages of “What others are saying about” the book are just not very helpful. They are random statements from people I have no idea if I can trust, and some I know I can’t trust just by what they say. One stated “These writings are more than a book. They are a living two-edge sword, God revealing himself…” which is a sure sign of someone who doesn’t know the difference between scripture and a fictional story. Yet I trusted my friend and read the book.
So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore tells the fictional story of Jake, a burned out pastor who wants more out of his relationship with Christ. In the middle of some tough times a man named John, who just might be the actual apostle John (wink), enters Jake’s life and starts giving him some direction. The story follows snapshots of Jake’s life as he encounters John over the course of a few years and Jake follows his spiritual journey.

I have mixed feelings about the book. The dialog is a bit choppy and sometimes forced at times. The flow of the book isn’t difficult to follow, but doesn’t really flow well. It starts at the time of a crisis with his daughter, and implies that he is looking back at the events, but the crisis shows up in the middle rather than the end of the story.

Those minor issues aside, the book provides some very provocative thoughts about following Christ and why it can’t be done (or at least can’t be done very well) in the institutionalized church. There is much they have to say that I had to fully agree with, but they took it to such an extreme that I can’t agree with a lot of what they have to say. They simply take it too far. The theme of the story is that serving Christ isn’t the same as serving the church, and serving the church actually hinders or entirely prevents the ability to truly follow Christ. When we serve the church as an institution, it becomes a burden and ties us to the institution and restrains us from serving Christ as He leads us. They use examples of Sunday School as rewarding those who follow the system rather than Christ, recurring broken relationships between those in the church fighting to keep their particular program in place or the facade of themselves looking good or the facade of the church looking as being a hindrance. And I agree that all these things exist. Yet the authors attack not just the problems that churches experience, but any kind of structure or organization of a church, even to the point of a church body actually meeting.

They picture the church as a free-floating, come-as-you-go spiritual journey with absolutely no structure, no accountability (the thought of being accountable to others they claim is unbiblical), and no set meeting. The church to them would be a group of always changing relationships with no obligations to one another, except as they are led by the Spirit.

I don’t believe this is the biblical model of the church. Yes, there is organization to the church. No, it doesn’t need to have a staff of dozens to operate. Might it? Yes, but their argument is that when you get to a certain point you begin to defend the institution and programs rather than what Christ says you should do. This may happen, but just because it might happen and sometimes does happen doesn’t mean that it will. If God did not intend for us to gather, why would we be given instructions as to how to organize the church and defend doctrine? Isn’t that the main focus of the letters to Timothy? Why would Paul tell him to appoint overseers?

I think what the book does a good job of pointing out that in our endless committee meetings and programs we spend so much time and effort bogged down with sustaining them we lose sight of our first love. What it fails to address with the institutionalized church is that it is often being run by those who have no idea what they are doing. (Not usually the pastors, but many of the church members). In this they are seeing a problem, but trying to fix it in the wrong way. They touch on this issue, as in this example during a conversation between Bryce, a friend of Jake, and John:

[Bryce says] “…The people whose spiritual maturity I respect most seem to gravitate away from helping us run this thing [the church]. I’ve been very disappointed that they won’t join our leadership teams. It means we have people in leadership positions who don’t know God very well, but who have strong opinions about the way things should be.”

“That should tell you something.” [John responds]

“It tells me that maybe the ones I thought were mature aren’t, since they were so unwilling to serve us.”

“Okay, that’s one possibility, or maybe they wanted to invest their time serving people instead of attending an endless supply of committee meetings.”

The implication of the dialog is that whoever becomes mature leaves the “organization” of the church, as though becoming wiser in Christ will make them break free from the chains of oppression that the church places on people, to which I disagree. And yet they make a good point-“there are people in leadership positions who don’t know God very well,” but come to the wrong conclusion that everything about the church and its organization and structure must be thrown out.

I think the problem they are overlooking is that our churches are filled with the unregenerated. People who think they are Christians but are not. I don’t think it is the fault of any “structure” but that we accept anybody with a pulse who says “I believe” as an active voting member of the church with no attempts made to explain doctrine or to discern if they are saved or help them discern if they really are Christians. (Even demons are “believers.”) Our church buildings are full of people such as this (and I will add that I was one of them for a long time). The problem the authors are trying to address throws out the baby with the bath water in a sense. The problem isn’t the church, the problem is what we call the church.

The longer I type the more I realize how deep this hole goes! To wrap things up, these are the things I like about this book:

It makes you consider how much time you are spending tied down to responsibilities (i.e. programs/church meetings) rather than following Christ.
Because the main character is a pastor who struggles with keeping his job and appeasing the masses versus following what God says, it makes you look at what flaws may exist in our churches and the dangers to those pastors we highly regard.
It truly makes you question if what you are doing is because it is comfortable, because you are trying to control your own life, or if you are really honestly allowing God to take over.
It does a great job of pointing out that those who leave the church to join the house church movement, or to form a church of their own often fall back into the old problems of being tied to programs and meetings because they are focused on the church and have lost sight of Christ. It is a great warning for those who are considering moving in that direction.
It is entertaining and easy to read. (I read it in a day).

And what I don’t care for about the book:

It simply goes too far in trying to abolish any sense of a church outside of “conversations” or friendships. Those things are deeply important, but they aren’t the only things that are important.
It attacks the problems seen in our church buildings today (which is good) but comes to the conclusion that churches should not exist in any (that’s A-N-Y) structure rather than seeking to correct why the problems exist.

Overall, do I recommend you read it? It depends. I recommend it to a mature Christian who isn’t going to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14). It does help show flaws in the church that should be addressed, and really does help shed light on how God changes lives differently in everyone, even though we can’t see Him working until much later. I recommend that a new believer not read it, because I fear it may be difficult to discern truth and simply be too confusing for them. If someone who is just coming to Christ they could (at worst) look at it and actually forsake the assembling of the saints, which I fear would lead them further from Him.

Child of God?

25 Sunday Oct 2009

Posted by Dan Nelson in Christianity

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Child of God

To whom does this refer?

I want to address something that I hear quite a bit in many different ways. It is the statement “You are a child of God.” It is often used incorrectly, and I want to address it. So the question is, is everyone a child of God, or not? If not, whose children are they?

I saw this sign while I was in California last year. I have heard a lot of people say things similar, but this statement is confusing, and because it was posted outside this church rather than on the inside is even more confusing. The purpose of this post is to make it clear that this statement does not apply to everyone, only certain people. My aim is to help Christians discern what the Bible says rather than what popular culture says. (In other words, it is not intended for non-Christians). Now, who are these certain people and who are the ones who do not fall in this category? Let’s look a some scripture. We’ll start in Ephesians:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
(Ephesians 1:3-6, New King James Version)

Look at verse five. We have been predestined to adoption as sons. I’m not going to go into predestination- that is an entirely different topic(!), but I do want to closely examine the thought of adoption as sons. When my wife gave birth to my children, we didn’t have to adopt them. The thought of adoption our own children is just, well, goofy. Why would we have to adopt them? They were already ours! However, if we didn’t have to adopt them because they were already ours, then in order to make someone our child who wasn’t born to us, then we do have to adopt them. So if we must be adopted by Jesus Christ Himself, then we can not already be His children.

Well, wait, it says “us.” That’s written to everyone, right? I mean, everyone reading those words are included in that statement, aren’t they?

No. Look at the opening to his letter:

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2, New King James Version)

Paul is writing to the saints. All Christians are saints. You don’t have to be declared a saint by your church, or wait a certain amount of time after you die to obtain it: sainthood is simply part of our Christianity. (Again, an entirely different post, but take my word on that for now, and when you finish reading this go seek it out for yourself). There are many passages equating Christians with sons of God.

So this means those who are not Christians, that is those who have not been “adopted as sins by Jesus Christ Himself,” are not children of God. What does that mean? Whose children are they?

In explaining The Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Jesus says this:

³⁸ The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. (Matthew 13:38, New King James Version)

And John describes the relationship between him and man:

⁸ He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:8-10, New King James Version)

Now with this passage, I want to make it clear from the context that John is writing of sin in the sense of an ongoing life of sin, not just sin in general. The key phrase is “practice righteousness”.

However, these two passages show clearly that those who are not children of God are the children of the devil.

I say these things not to be arrogant or cruel or condescending or anything but to point out biblical truths. As Christians we use this truth to drive us to warn others to escape the coming wrath. We must remember that we ourselves have been rescued, and we are no better than they are. We are just better off. We are never allowed to look down on another because of sin.

If you are not a Christian, take this as a warning in love. I want all who are not followers of Christ to become His! I admit that only until recently this was purely for selfish and pragmatic reasons. I wanted everyone to become His because the world would be better and people would get along better. Diseases would lessen (think of STDs and deaths related to gluttony alone!) The selfish part was that I want to believe what I believe and share it with others without fear of retaliation from them. But now I live with a different purpose. Life may be better if everyone turned to Christ right now, but the fact of who He is is the reason they should turn to Him. Turn to God for He is Glorious beyond all of creation-not to make your life better!

Deeper Conference 2009

21 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by Dan Nelson in Christianity

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Deeper Conference

I want to take a moment to share some of the topics we heard while at this year’s Deeper Conference. For those interested, Deeper is a two day conference held yearly by Living Waters ministries. The past two years it has been held at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia. We went to the first one in 2008 and returned again in 2009. I am really looking forward to returning in 2010!

The core group consists of Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, E.Z. Zwayne, and Todd Friel. Johnny Hunt is the pastor of First Baptist Woodstock, and he spoke as well. Scott Krippayne “led worship”. (I really don’t like that phrase. If Christ isn’t leading our worship, then worship isn’t really happening. And why do we call singing worship as though listening to someone describe attributes of God isn’t worship? But more on that another time.) (I don’t want to diminish what Scott did for us- he did a superb job.) For the past two years they invited additional speakers as well. In 2008 we were treated to Paul Washer, Ken Hamm, and Marshall Foster. This year we heard Mark Cahill, Greg Koukl, and Ravi Zacharias.

I am going to give a brief review of what each talk was about this year-just some highlights that in no way touches on all that we encountered. I hope it will entice anyone who may want to go in the future to seriously consider it.

Ray Comfort

Ray is always a joy to listen to. He is a well versed speaker who has learned through his many many hours of open air preaching how to hold an audience. He spoke on “The Atheist’s Sixth Sense”- common sense. He discussed Romans:

²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹ because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
(Romans 1:20-25, New King James Version)

Essentially he gave a brief overview of how rampant atheism is becoming today. Sixty-one percent of psychology/biology professors at the top 50 universities consider themselves to be atheist or agnostic. I loved his description of atheists as being “reverse idolators.” That is, when we think of an idolator in a Christian setting, we find someone who picks out the good attributes from the bible and pieces them together so they create for themselves a god that they like and proceed to worship that god, sometimes even giving him the name of Father or Jesus. The problem is that they don’t look at the way God describes Himself. A “reverse idolator” is someone who picks verses out of the bible to piece together a god they don’t like and then choose to ignore it. The problem is that they don’t look at the way God describes Himself.

Emeal (E.Z.) Zwayne

Emeal’s topic was “God of the Generations”. This is the second time I have heard him speak, and I was greatly helped by his presentation. One of the biggest areas I struggle with is how to raise my children to know God. He discussed the importance of raising our children in Christ and the consequences. He spoke on Ephesians:

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³ “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” ⁴ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4, New King James Version)

I think one of the biggest hang ups I have had- and I know others do as well, is that we feel like we are being egotistical when we tell our children that they must honor us. But we must do this because we are called to by the scripture. It is our duty, especially as fathers. He gave some great practical ways to accomplish doing this.

Johnny Hunt

Pastor Hunt spoke on “The Forbearance of God.” It is not an easy topic to discuss (to start, what is forbearance?) but he did a wonderful job. Forbearance means to restrain one’s self. All of humanity should be destroyed because of our sins, but we are allowed by God to continue. Christ came and through Him we have the atonement for sins. It’s all about righteousness. God revealed His righteousness to us, then provided righteousness to us through Christ. There is more great information, and I suggest reading through it. He provided his notes here.

Mark Cahill

I had heard of Mark Cahill, but only in name. I knew that he had written a book (more than one, I discovered) but apart from that I knew nothing. He gave a very convincing talk about the need to share our faith with others, and how disastrous the failure is if we do not. He spoke on “The Holiness of God.” He said that Holiness is a chief attribute of God, and that we are to be holy as well. Jesus is holy, and we are made holy through Him. (Look at Exodus 15:11, Leviticus 11:45, Luke 4:34, & Ephesians 5:8). So because of this we must “read and heed.” We must study the word and show ourselves approved. Ask God to search you (Psalm 139:23-24), and examine yourself (2 Corinthians 13:5). Holiness is not an option. If we are Christians we will be different from the world. He then discussed and asked us to examine what was drawing us away from God. Is it people we hang out with? The music we listen to? Movies? Television? (The average American spends enough time watching television to read their bible 22 times a year). Internet? Video Games? He also gave a quote that I love: “Do not get pleasure out of the things Jesus Christ died for.” His website is here.

Kirk Cameron

Kirk spoke on “Keeping the Foundations Secure” and how vital it is to protect our marriages. He gave us three principles to strengthen our marriages, and they were: “The Heart of the Problem is always a Problem of the Heart”, “You are either ‘Singing Sinatra’ or Dying to Self” (there is no middle ground), or “Learn to burn bridges and build alters.” Identify sin and wage war. He used the movie Fireproof to make some great points about what his character did in the movie, and why it is so important for our families.

Ravi Zacharias

We were blessed to hear Ravi Zacharias speak not once but twice. His first discussion was on “The Veracity of God.” No other question shapes your life more than “Is there a God?” He also made a point that you must examine your world view. So many people will claim to be Christians, and give textbook answers to some big questions, but when you ask them “Why?” they are clueless. Why, Christian, is Christianity better than Islam or Buddhism or Atheism? He discussed what it would mean if, as Frederick Nietzsche said, “God is dead.” What if there is no God? If we know right from wrong, then there must be moral law. If there is moral law, there must be a moral law giver. The question of evil only comes about persons, but never about inanimate objects. We are the cause, and looking to ourselves as the determiners of what is good or evil will lead us to make moral decisions only on what feels good. As long as it doesn’t hurt others. Yet, chosing to do something that doesn’t hurt others assumes infinite knowledge because how can you know the results of your actions? His second talk was on “The Uniqueness of God.” I have listened to quite a bit of Ravi Zacharias through his podcasts, and I have read one of his books, but this talk was entirely different from anything I have heard from him before. The most valuable thing in the world is Truth. He discussed Professor Dallas Willard “Three stage argument” for the existence of God, and how Jesus brings all of it together. It was wonderful, and I have to say I am going to have to listen to it again to get the fullness of it.

Todd Friel

Todd spoke on “The Stunning Kindness of God”. So many people want to know what about those who haven’t heard the gospel? Wouldn’t it be cruel of God to send people to Hell for not believing in Jesus but then not letting them hear the gospel? However, we are not sent to hell “for not believing in Jesus” we are sent to hell for being evil in our nature, for lying and blaspheming, and creating false idols and false gods to worship among the many other multitude of sins we commit. Todd went into several ways God’s kindness leads us to repentance, how he gives us common graces, through general and specific revelation, and for sending His Son. A great discussion. For more check out Wretched Radio.

Greg Koukl

Greg Koukl is a Christian apologist who discussed “Evil, Suffering, and the Goodness of God”. While most people try to ponder the question of “If God is so good, why hasn’t he taken care of evil?” It is a problem that must be dealt with for everyone, not just Christians. But Christians have the best answer. The fact that evil exists proves that God exists. Wish you could have heard the explanation, because I had never looked at it like that before. A wonderful talk not only on evil in our world but the amazing things that God has done to deal with it. During the breakout session he spoke on “The Trinity: A Solution, Not a Problem.” For the sake of keeping this post short, I will just say it was an excellent talk. You can check him out at Stand to Reason.

But I’m going to cut off my discussion there. This is just a taste of what we discussed. I missed Mark Spence’s discussion on “A Glimpse of Jesus” because I went to listen to Greg Koukl’s talk on the trinity. I have only touched a fraction of what was discussed, and you had to experience the musical worship (piano and vocals led by Scott Krippayne). My only disappointment was that we did not take part in communion as we had the year before. Overall, every speaker was outstanding. I was given much to be thankful for, much to ponder even more deeply in my studies of God’s Word, and blessed by the time spent with other believers and my wife (without children!)

If you are interested in hearing or seeing what we did, the CD’s and DVD’s for both Deeper Conferences are here. If any information comes up about Deeper 2010, I will post links here! Hope to see you there!

Why Adoption?

09 Wednesday Sep 2009

Posted by Dan Nelson in Adoption, Christianity

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Adoption, Gospel

Why are we adopting? There are many reasons. I want to explain some of them to help some who don’t understand why we would do such a thing and to share with those who love the thought of it.

First, a quick update on the process for those who have been following our saga. We have all paperwork completed for the home study. We now will wait for our home study visit. We are also beginning to work on paperwork for our dossier to send to Russia and complete the required education. Our prayer request is that funds continue to work out. So far our checking account has only decreased by $6 despite the amount we’ve spent or preparing to spend. (Check out Shannon’s blog for more about that). We are also trying to determine if we should take our kids with us when we travel to Russia.

Most who we have encountered have been extremely supportive about our decision to adopt, but some are not. Some think it is an absolutely wonderful thing that we would consider adoption. Some think we are insane for bringing in more children to our home when we already have “a perfect family.” Most do not truly understand that someone may want to adopt a child for the sake of adopting a child. Most people- I include my past self in this- believe adoption is only something that someone does if they aren’t able to have their “own” children. So why would someone who already has biological children want to add more?

First, I am a Christian. There are some important things about adoption and Christianity. If you are a Christian you are adopted. Adoption is inseparable from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

¹ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, ² but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. ³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:1-6, New King James Version)
⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
(Ephesians 1:4-6, New King James Version)
¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:15-18, New King James Version)

Another reason is that I am a Christian. (Wait, wasn’t that the first reason? yes, keep reading). As Christians God gives us tasks He wants us to do, and we must follow through. We usually say, “God called me to do this,” but I want to explain how I know God has called me to do this. It’s an easy phase to throw around, but what does it really mean? Let’s face it, in our pluralistic society anybody can say anything and claim it as being God’s will. And most accept it without another thought, but many then proceed to use that as an excuse to disregard God. After all, those who flew airplanes into office buildings claim they were following the will of God. So, a bit of background to explain from where I am coming from. I believe that the Holy Bible is the Word of God. The bible was written by men through the inspiration of God (see 2 Tim 3:17). In the original language it is inerrant. It is sufficient to answer all questions God wishes to reveal to us. Read this next part very carefully: God loves communication and has many ways to give us information. He may communicate with us through dreams, teachers, friends, nature, or any other way. We must be exceedingly cautious that when we think God is communicating with us that it does not contradict scripture. If we think God is trying to tell us something, we pray about it, we read His word, and we obtain counsel from godly men and women.

God began to work on me a long time ago. I mentioned in an earlier post that between May and August we had chosen to adopt, but our decision did not start there. I knew that when Sam was born in 2005 that I did not want Shannon pregnant again. I wasn’t sure if I wanted more children. In fact, I told people emphatically that two was enough. We had our boy and a girl, our perfect family, and our plans that we had lain down before we were married had been carried out. Yet I couldn’t shake the thought of more kids. Yet I pushed it from my mind. I decided it was my wife’s decision because she would be the one who would be doing the most work, at least in the beginning. She would be the one to stay with them through the day. We did not want to and decided that was the plan. Occasionally I would bring up the subject and ask her if she still did not want to, and the answer was always, “not even a chance.”

I began to pray more earnestly about it in April & May of this year. My prayer was, “God, please reveal to me if this is your plan for us. Please let me know if this is what you want us to do.” I told Shannon that if we were going to adopt, we should act now because we were running out of time. Our children are at the perfect age and we are at a really good age. Our finances are in order with student loans almost completed. I am fortunate to make a really good salary. She was shocked because she had been thinking the same thing. It was time. We began to move forward.

Two things I want to point out about this. First, why did I even pray? It was something moving within me that made me want to know if it was something I should do. Second, Shannon was already thinking very seriously about it, and when I approached her this time she almost broke down because she was praying the same things.

The third reason is that I am a Christian. (See a pattern?) I will explain in a future post, but something happened in 2008 that changed my life. No longer do I desire to have a really big sprawling house, or a nicer car, or a condo down on the gulf coast. I began then to look at the big picture, not as a selfish individual, but as just an insignificant wave in the ocean of humanity as life is being played out. For me to keep the amount of money I make and waste in on myself is just too selfish for me to continue. I can no longer squander the resources with which I have been blessed.

In the beginning, I had doubts if this is something we should do. But as I was questioning my decision, I began to think that there were children in an orphanage somewhere without a family. The idea that the children we will adopt are already waiting was too much to ignore. That thought has shifted again. It is no longer that “there are children in an orphanage” but that my children are in an orphanage. Right now. Please, God, speed this process.

On Being Alone and Temptation

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by Dan Nelson in Christianity

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Alone, Christian, Tempation

I want to take a moment to point out something to Christians. There are times in your life that you, Christian, deny God’s existence.

Most of us think that only atheists or false Christians who buckle at the risk of persecution or mega-church pastors who go on national television and answer the question of “Is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven?” with “I don’t know” are the ones who deny God. In reality, denying God’s existence is much more ubiquitous than you think, and you probably do it.

Let’s take a look at you this last month. Let’s say you are being tempted with a particular sin. Your friends are gone, your family is out, your spouse is out, and you are alone. It’s a struggle. It’s the time you are most likely to give in- when you are alone.

There. Did you do it? Did you deny God? Did you agree, “Yes, the most difficult times are when I am alone.” Or did you say, “Wait wait WAIT! I am a Christian. I am never alone.”

What we do is a reflection of what we believe. What we believe we believe does nothing to prove what we believe. How we act shows what we believe. If I believe that a new elevator in a new building will take me to the 30th floor but I refuse to get on because nobody has tried it yet and I am afraid, then I prove that I don’t really believe in the elevator.

As Christians, there are some things we believe. (Many more than this list has). We believe that God created the universe. God is aware of all things. We believe that He loves us and is aware of what we do, and wants us to turn from evil and turn to him. We believe he plays a vital role in our lives.

So understand this: If we believe these things then we take it to mean that He is always with us.

Always with us.

Not figuratively.

Not poetically.

Literally. God With Us.

So what does that mean? It means if we truly believe He is with us, then we are never alone. If we believe that the most perfect and pure being in existence is with us, but act differently because we are not with other human beings, then we are proving that we don’t believe God is who He says He is. We deny Him. We call Him a liar.

I’ve done this before. Knowing myself I will do this again. I hate that fact. I struggle over it- I feel like Paul when he says, “¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”
(Romans 7:14-20, New King James Version)

God does not judge us by how we act around others. He judges us on what we do and think. Consider Jesus’ teaching about adultery and murder. It isn’t just about our actions, but also our thoughts. We cannot put on a show for others, look nice at church, say just the right words of encouragement and then go home and turn the porn, or turn to food for our comforter, or drunkenness, or ignore Him until next Sunday, or do whatever our pet sin is and think we are getting one past God. People like those are called hypocrites, and Christ has strong words about them. I say these things not to be mean or condescending, because I used to be exactly this type of hypocrite. I want everyone to turn to trust Christ and experience the fullness of what he offers.

As Christians, we are not perfect. Once we have salvation we will continue in sin, but once God has revealed that sin to us it is no longer fun- it becomes revealed to us as an abomination to the righteous God. A pastor gave an analogy. If God turns a pig who loves to eat garbage into a man, the man will realize he is living on garbage. The man will vomit it from his mouth and run from it. He will turn and feast on good food. If he happens along and sees his old friends eating the trash, he will try to pursuade them to leave. If he ever thinks that the trash maybe wasn’t so bad after all he may take a taste of it and realize how putrid it truly is and again flee from it. Not to wallow. Because he is no longer what he once was.

God reveals sins differently to each person. Some are cast off as soon as they are revealed, some take great struggling on our part. But we will be changed.

Now what are we to do with the realization that we are never alone?

Ask God to continue to reveal it to you. Ask Him to show you the extent of what it means to never be separated from Him. In times of temptation turn from it and turn to Him. Seek to find your comfort in Him alone. He is an infinite source of joy. The things of the world are fleeting and insufficient. As we turn to them we find they fall short of our desires. If we have found the ultimate pleasure in this world it will eventually disappoint. We must seek something more- a better car, bigger house, a bigger office, a higher paying job, a job managing more people, more (or more perverse) sex or pornography, more food, more more more of anything.

God is infinite. His mind is infinite. His joy is infinite. In Him we have the ultimate pleasure though singing praises to Him, learning about Him, serving Him, giving back to Him, fellowshiping with Him. “So whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the Glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) That means he is still the source of our joy whether we are experiencing it through prayer, reading our bible, spending time with our families, enjoying a sunset, among many other activities. Any God honoring activity activity can be used this way. Just be careful to enjoy the gift giver and not the gift.

And as a warning, do not try to walk the Christian walk alone without other Christians looking out for you. Going the road without other Christians is not a part of God’s plan. He sent the disciples out together. Paul always had a companion as he went out. This message is not intended to suggest that you can not have fellowship with other Christians. You must. Look at Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and Galatians 6:1 for more about helping one another.

As John Piper stated that if God, being the most perfect thing in existence turned our attention to anything except himself, it would be proof that He hated us. You are never alone, and your source of nourishment, peace, patience, joy, and comfort is only a prayer away.

The Nelson Chronicles

~ Family, Marriage, Adoption

Category Archives: Christianity

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