Warfare

The Christian life is often compared to warfare. Every follower of Christ is called to prosecute sin from within our own hearts. True Christianity is a daily fight.

1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

There are three enemies in this war: sinful desires, the selfishness of this world and evil. The daily warfare mentality is a crucial part of whole-life stewardship. Every day we have a new opportunity to fight, pray and struggle for godliness or to allow our passions to control our lives.

I have been reading a very provocative book by Soren Kierkegaard called- Attack Upon Christendom. The book was one of the very first to bring up the concept of "cheap grace". Kierkegaard argues that a religion that cost nothing is worth nothing. Jesus' own words, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow that leads to life and those who find it are few."

I have been reflecting on- and hopefully engaging in- this warfare a lot lately. I know based on my own habits of sinful patterns that one of the keys to fighting this war is to not allow sin an opportunity to engage a foothold in our thoughts. Sin is a sleeping giant within all of us. It is crucial that we not allow it to awaken.

Philippians 4:8, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

• Do I struggle with lust? I am told to flee sexual immorality- 1 Corinthians 6:18.
• Am I tempted to lie? I shall not lie to others because I am a new creation in Christ- Colossians 3:9.
• Do I find myself saying "I deserve?" Philippians 2:14 tells me to do all things without grumbling or complaining.
• Am I tempted to be lazy at work? Jesus commands me to work while it is day because night (death) is coming- John 9:4

Holiness is not an option for the Christian. It is a life goal that must be pursued and fought for. Hebrews 12:14, "without holiness no one will see the Lord." Am I saved by this pursuit of holiness? Absolutely not. I am saved only by the perfect work of Christ on the cross. I put my trust only in His grace. But I am commanded to pursue holiness; therefore I must.

We are a slave to our affections. There was a time in my life when I believed I was a Christian but allowed my continual appetite and affection for sin to control my life. I believed that I was saved by grace and therefore forgiven to commit all kinds of terrible deeds. Looking back, I don't believe I was converted to Christ at that time. I was making a mockery of His grace. His grace is costly. It required my total surrender.

Although I fall short, I must battle, fight, watch and pray. Are you in the battle? Kierkegaard had a powerful analogy in Attack Upon Christendom. Kierkegaard writes, "Imagine a man with a loaded pistol says, 'I will torture you to death unless you make your life here on earth as comfortable as possible.' This would be comical."

Kierkegaard is making a point that Christianity that promotes the easy path is a joke. It makes a fool of the words of Christ that the way is narrow. Unfortunately this is what we see taught in many churches today. Say a prayer. Walk an aisle. Be baptized and you are forever saved. Does that one time intellectual agreement save us? Of course not. We are saved only by continual faith in the promises of God. We are saved by trusting continually in His grace alone. We are saved by a daily fight for holiness and a continual desire to be conformed into the image of Christ.

Are you engaged in daily warfare for His sake?

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge

On Church

I have been reading a lot lately on house churches. My family currently attends an excellent, God-honoring church in Dallas- Northwest Bible. The church is doing a lot of good in this city. The pastor- Neil Tomba- is a humble guy who seems to model the Christian life well.

But I have unrest in my soul because I only know a handful of people with any real depth although I have been involved in small groups there. My life doesn't intersect enough with the people that I see on Sundays or at Bible studies. I don't know if God's intention for church was to have us stare at the back of someone's head for 90 minutes on a weekend.

My journey into this house church issue started with reading a book by Randy Frazee called "Making Room for Life". Then a couple of books found me that really spurred thoughts- "Revolution" by George Barna and "Houses That Changed the World" by Wolfgang Simson.

Allan Karr who oversees a network of church planters at Golden Gate Seminary has said that, "75% of a traditional church's offering is consumed by staff and buildings. This leaves little to do actual good works. In contrast, house churches are often able to give up to 90% of their offerings towards works that help the poor, missions, etc... Traditional church is fine if you like buildings. But I think the reason house churches are becoming more popular is that their resources are going to something more meaningful."

One of the textbooks that I used in studying Greek was by David Alan Black. I did a search for some materials by him and found an interesting blog that he keeps. One of his articles was on the subject of house churches. He brings up some great observations about what church has evolved into:

• The Lord’s Supper has changed from a celebration to a ceremony.
• Worship has changed from participation to observation.
• Witness has changed from relationship to salesmanship.
• Leadership has changed from servanthood to professionalism.
• Mission has changed from being missionaries to supporting missionaries.
• Body life has changed from edification to entertainment.
• Buildings have changed from functional to sacred.
• Child care has changed from the hands of parents to the hands of strangers.

In March of 2006, Time magazine did a story about the house church movement: http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1167737,00.html

There are some other reasons that I believe house churches have appeal other than the obvious reason of being able to stretch resources much further:

1. It can unify believing neighbors and become an intriguing structure to non-believers who start to witness true community among Christians.
2. Offers disabled and elderly people in a neighborhood a more viable worship option than traditional church.
3. If done right, it can really facilitate deeper growth among members because it forces members to participate and not be just a spectator.

I don't know where this is going in my life. But it seems that materials keep popping up from nowhere that have my attention. The Holy Spirit may be leading me there.

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge

How Now Shall We Give?

Francis Schaefer wrote a book called: How Should We Then Live? Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey wrote How Now Shall We Live? Both books challenged Christians to abandon the common thinking of the world. Rather, we should have a distinctly Christian worldview and life.

Someone needs to write a book called How Now Shall We Give? I had a conversation with a client at lunch yesterday on this topic. We were talking about the disparity between CEO pay and worker pay. The average CEO makes 475 times the amount that the average worker makes. This number is actually down from 2001 where the ratio was 525:1.

But shareholders and employees of publicly traded companies have a choice. If they believe a CEO is excessively greedy, they can vote with their feet. Employees can find other jobs. Shareholders can invest their money in companies that have a stewardship mentality. All of the information to make a sound decision is available online. Publicly traded companies are forced to have a level of transparency.

This is not the case with non-profit organizations. Anyone can set up a 501c non-profit organization and claim that they are in the business of charity. I am certain that there are abuses of this tax advantaged status at universities, hospitals, museums and other humanitarian causes. But since I am a Christian, I am most concerned about church-related organizations. I see church leaders teaching and living a version of a prosperity gospel that is openly condemned in the Bible. I see church leaders using tax-advantaged status as a vehicle to use a church as an ATM machine.

II Peter 3:10-11, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives."

Transparency is one key to living a godly life. Knowing what I do now, I personally would never give a dime to an organization that would not willingly open their books for scrutiny. I attended a church at one time that was not transparent in how they used finances. As that church has increased in size, the lack of transparency continues. They have found it necessary to purchase all kinds of "ministry" aids such as a private jet, a personal trainer on the payroll to serve staff members and who knows what else. If you ask the church to reveal how they are spending the "tithes and offerings" that they receive they will give you the standard line: "You need to trust us. If you don't trust us, leave."

How a church can justify this approach is beyond comprehension. If you are considering giving to an organization or church, you should know with some reasonable level of confidence that your money is being used wisely. Pastors and staff need to be paid. Buildings need to have heating and air conditioning. But if you see warning signs like pastors living in $2 million plus homes, churches having private jets, personal trainers on the payroll, etc... you should ask questions. If you don't receive satisfactory answers to those questions, don't give the money that God has entrusted to you to that church.

Yes, you give to God. But I am convinced that God wants us to be wise as to how we give. There are many organizations that are doing true works of the Lord. Oddly enough, these are usually the organizations that are not constantly preaching about the Scriptural "mandates" of tithing. There is nothing wrong with asking for money. But please be transparent- after all you are a non-profit organization. To view a list of how some larger organizations are using money- go to: http://www.ministrywatch.com

How now shall we give? We should get the maximum amount of resources in the hands of the best stewards and the most godly leaders. Andrew Murray, "How different our standard is from Christ. We ask how much a man gives? Christ asks how much he keeps?"

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge

The Race

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Hebrews 12. This chapter has provided me with encouragement in times of trial and weakness. Hebrews 12 has sustained me with the assurance that God is preparing a people for a destination that far surpasses anything we experience on this fallen earth.

As I reflect specifically on Hebrews 12:1-4, I offer these observations. The verses say:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Verse 1: We have a race to run. The Christian life is never meant to be one of ease and comfort. It has been designed by God to be one of endurance, struggle and effort. No great athlete becomes great by accident. It takes years of preparation.

We also have a crowd watching and cheering us on in this race. Perhaps those who have died in faith now pray and root for the current participants in this race. Hebrews 12:1 would seem to indicate that this is true. In times of temptation, I have often visualized a godly relative who has gone on to be with Christ watching my life. Sin loses its appeal in the face of a great cloud of witnesses.

We must throw off everything that hinders this race. I have written about this ad nauseam in other blogs. Money, possessions, worldliness, sex, power, pride, etc... are all thorns that seek to uproot faith. We must guard our heart against them. We would be hard pressed to run a race if we had a fifty pound weighted vest attached to our body. Likewise, it is difficult to run the Christian race when we allow inward or outward temptations to distract us.

Verse 2: We have a goal to strive towards. We have an example to follow. Running a race would be pointless without a finish line. Christ is the object of our faith. He is the author of our faith in that He created us. He is the perfecter of our faith in that He was the only runner to run the perfect race. He lived a sinless life so that He would satisfy the justice requirements of a holy God.

Jesus kept His eyes focused on the joy of eternal reward for obedience. He endured the humiliation of the cross. He despised the shame that it brought. But He endured in order that we may be participants in the glory of God- experiencing His presence in a renewed body on a renewed earth. Our Savior awaits the completion of our race. He is at the throne of God ready to judge the runners of this race.

Verse 3: Do we get tired of doing good? Consider Him. Do we feel that we are alone in this world resisting greed or lust? Consider Him. Do we feel that life is unfair because we have to deal with ____? Consider Him.

Christ- the only One who ever lived righteous- endured opposition from sinful men and women so that we might not grow weary or lose heart. What a comfort it is to know that we are not alone in trials. We have a Savior that has experienced all of the weariness, despair and loneliness that we sometimes feel. We must experience many trials and hardships to enter the kingdom of God- Acts 14:22.

Verse 4: Resisting sin is hard. But remember that most of us are not shedding blood to do it. Christ did. He suffered a horrendous death to purchase us. His blood was costly. We have a model of self denial to follow.

We will receive no discharge from Christ until we die. Our struggle against the world, our flesh and Satan are never over. Our retirement is Heaven. Until the day that we breathe our last breath, we run. Holiness is the objective of every Christian- to be changed inwardly and outwardly by the Spirit of Christ.

I pray for perseverance so that we might run the race well.

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge