shared here back in July. He reminded me that I also presented biblical
money management in five big principles back in February during my Soul
Stuff series: work (God's plan for getting money), plan (God's plan for
always having enough), give (God's plan for gratitude and overcoming greed),
pay (God's plan for acquiring things), save (God's provision for rainy days
and retirement). He told me his family has been doing the five money
principles ever since and God has been blessing them indeed. Praise the
Lord. He told me they have talked through the five parenting principles and
are beginning to practice them in their home. Then he asked for me to lay
out biblical principles for other arenas of life. Maybe I will.
But, I have to say, I'm not a big life issues guy. I don't generally think
about life in terms of life issues. I'm a strong believer in heart molding.
I really believe that if you lead someone to confess Jesus is Lord, die to
themselves, and abandon themselves to Christ and the gospel, life issues
tend to take care of themselves. For example: some would say I should do
lots of sermon series on why to tithe. I say teach someone to love Jesus and
they won't embezzle from Him anymore. If someone loves Jesus, they will
tithe. Some say teach a bunch of marriage stuff. I say if you teach a man to
die to himself, he will love his wife like Christ loved the church and will
give himself up for her--(his pride, his selfishness, etc.) If a man dies to
himself, he will become a biblical husband. Some say do lots of parenting
sermons. I say teach someone to abandon themself to Christ and they will
parent how their heavenly Father parents them. If someone is sold out to God
they will parent biblically.
This is the philosophy behind my preaching style--simply going through books
of the bible and calling the people called NEHBC to align their lives with
each passage we come to--ie: the continual molding of hearts by God's Word
over a long period of time. The life issues tend to take care of themselves.
This is not to say practical life issues shouldn't be addressed. I'm not
saying that at all. I don't minimize the urgency of a troubled marriage,
financial crisis, or someone's addiction. Those issues should be lovingly
addressed by the church with the gospel. We do those things at NEHBC....to
buy people time for their hearts to be molded by God's Word. We, Christ
followers, have a tendency to focus on practical life issues when it comes
to Christianity and our walk with Christ becomes a never ending stream of
treating life issues that pop up; our immediate needs in the moment. But the
truth of the matter is, these urgent, immediate needs are very often
symptoms of deeper spiritual issues--a heart that is not molded by God's
Word. To give the majority of time to treating immediate life issues is like
going to a doctor for an ongoing migraine, then going back for lack of
energy/exhaustion, then going back for vomiting, then going back for fading
eye sight, only to find out you have brain cancer that is causing these
immediate, urgent life issues. Do you want your doctor treating your
headaches and lack of energy or your cancer that is causing these symptoms?
Well, both, but much more so the cancer because you understand now that the
medication for the headaches and lack of energy are just buying you time
while the real problem is being addressed. This is the way it is with our
walk with Christ. Our life issues that pop up, (struggling marriages,
financial mess, depression, addictions, etc) are very often the headaches
and lack of energy being caused by cancer--a heart not molded by the Word of
God. The marriage is bad because of selfishness and pride in the spouses,
the finances are bad because of a lack of self control, the addiction is
there because of unbelief in something God says is true. So, practical
marriage help is great--it provides immediate relief, and counsel from a
financial expert is great--it provides immediate direction for the
situation, but if the heart is not changed, over time the marriage will
continue to struggle and the financial mess will not be overcome. We must
not be deceived into thinking the symptoms are our greatest needs; we must
be sure to treat the real problem--what is going on in our hearts.
Let me remind you of what the Scripture teaches us about this issue. Jesus
wasn't sent to earth to die because of poor marriages, financial
mismanagement, and depression. Jesus died because we were dead in our sin,
cut off from God, with a sin nature that needs to be killed. He died so we
could have a new nature that now needs to be honed, formed, and molded. So
then, what we need is heavy doses of teaching about holiness, dying to
ourselves, and selling out to God in order to discipline/reshape our minds
and hearts. Part of the results of our hearts being molded by the Word of
God is that our marriages are healed, our finances are sound, our addictions
are conquered. And while those are great spiritual victories to be sure, we
must never forget that our walk with Christ is about so much more than that.
So, how does this impact the corporate teaching ministry of the local
church? Well, to be sure, the local church must be in the ministry of
tending to both the symptoms and the real problems. Jesus did both in His
earthly ministry. But like Jesus and His ministry, the local church must
also never lose sight of what is most important--treating the heart. If the
majority of the time is spent treating symptoms, while that might draw a
crowd because people feel they are receiving immediate relief for an urgent
life issue, it does not make disciples, which is our marching order from the
Head of our church. So, at NEHBC, we offer biblical guidance for life issues
in our Center for Biblical Counseling, in special topic small group bible
studies, in mentoring relationships, and from time to time in our regular
small groups. But my preaching ministry and the main dose of the teaching in
our small groups is given to treating the heart of our problems--the need
for our new natures to be honed, disciplined, and grown. And this is the
reason I preach through books of the bible. As we go through the bible
systematically, we address the issues God says we need to address--which is
mostly heart issues. From time to time we do cover practical life
issues--when we get to those issues in the text. By preaching through books
of the bible, I address practical life issues as often as God does and I
address heart issues as often as God does. Thus, God is determining the
amount of life issues medicine and heart change medicine being served in our
worship services and small groups. Isn't that awesome?
One challenge for the Christ follower is to recognize the difference between
the migraines and the cancer AND the relationship between the two, in the
spiritual realm of their life. It helps the Christ follower understand that
while immediate relief for a life issue is good, their greatest need is to
treat the heart of the problem and not the symptoms. Thus, the Christ
follower does not succumb to falling into the trap of their relationship
with Christ being an endless stream of dealing with immediate, urgent, life
issues. Another challenge for the Christ follower is patience. Biblical
heart changes happens slowly over a long period of systematic, faithful
teaching of God's Word. Every expository sermon or lesson is like a wave of
water that washes over the heart, incrementally reshaping the heart. The
Christ follower should think about the corporate teaching ministry of their
church as settling into twenty to thirty years of sitting under the
systematic teaching of God's Word. Over time, God's Word, which is alive and
completely trustworthy and sharper than any two edge sword and never returns
void, conquers the human heart. Along the way is left a trail of conquered
addictions, healed relationships, peaceful finances, and personal integrity,
but much more than that, there is the sense of living in the abundant life
offered by Christ, there is the joy of being a trained, equipped, focused
disciple of Christ, living on mission and living out one's life purpose, for
the glory of God.
Preacher, preach the Word. In season and out of season. You don't need to
add to it. Don't take away from it. You don't need to be an issues driven
preacher. Don't be the doctor who treats the symptoms while the cause eats
away at their lives. Issues driven preaching is fine from time to time, but
it cannot be their main diet. The better alternative is text driven
preaching. Pick a book of the bible and just walk through the text. Just
explain what He says in the way He says it and call, beg, plead, and urge
them to obey it. That's what we do.
Christ follower, be patient. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Many of the
effects of disciplining yourself to sit under God's Word for a long period
of time will not be able to be measured and thus we are tempted to think it
is a waste of time. But, it's not at all. Along the way, the Lord will do
things to show you how far you have come and how much your heart has
changed. He'll use you to do things that surprise you. These are the little
things He does to help us mark our growth in order to urge us onward. Pray
and ask the Lord to give you an unquenchable hunger for the Word of God.
Just make it your life plan to sit under good, systematic teaching of God's
Word.
I love God's Word, don't you?
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