OPCouples4Christ

Have you wondered if a baby knows right from wrong?  Do babies learn basic morality from family and society or is our sense of morality engrained in us from birth?

The New York Times printed a story on a Yale University study which helps shed some light on that question.  Researchers believe they have documented the fact that babies do have a very clear sense of right and wrong from very early stages.   

Al Mohler has a great blog entry about this very story. 

This is just further confirmation on what the Bible has already made clear.  The source of goodness is from God and He has placed his special image stamp on us as his special creation.  We are accountable to God because of the moral law He has specially placed in each little babies soul.

Last year, our small group raised some money to help a family in need.  I gave some money to that effort but then I reduced my tithe for that month.  My reasoning was this: I gave money to a needy family in the name of God, so I’ll just consider that part of my tithe.  That sounds fair enough.  But is it right?

My answer a few years ago would have been a firm ‘Yes’.  My answer today is a firm ‘No’.  Here’s why…

We Are a Family
The church of Jesus Christ is a tight-knit family of believers.  In fact, we have more in common with brothers and sisters in Christ than with siblings of similar DNA.   We are God’s family united by the blood of Christ. We are the household of God.

We Pay the Bills…
In my household, I make sure there is enough money to pay the mortgage, the electric bill, the food bill and everything else.  In God’s household, we are responsible for making sure those same bills are paid.   That raises the importance of tithing to a whole new level for me. 

Would you stop paying your bills?
You make every effort to pay your own bills in your own household.  Would you stop paying your bills to help a friend? No.  After all, if you don’t pay your electric bill, you’ve stolen electricity.  If you don’t pay your mortgage, you’ve stolen from the bank.  In the same way, the tithe is what God uses to pay the bills in His household.  We should not take from God’s tithe to give to an outside need.  Instead, we should trust God by giving on top of the tithe. 

Final Thoughts
God doesn’t need our money.  He wants our heart.  If you can’t afford to help others outside your tithe, then look for ways to cut back spending.  If you’ve already done that, then pray.  Pray that God will show you ways to bless people.  Maybe that means giving your time instead of just giving your money. Pray earnestly that God will use you to bless others and bring them to Christ.

What do you think?
Thats my thinking on the topic.  I’m anxious to know what you guys think.  Please feel free to leave your comments below.

I was mowing the lawn and I had a Matt Chandler sermon playing on my IPod.  Something Chandler said caught my attention:

“Most Christians are being made impotent by things that are morally neutral.”

Of course, by impotent he means useless or powerless.  He isn’t talking about … well… you get what I’m saying.  In simple terms, what Matt Chandler is saying is that its the smaller things of this world that keep us from fully knowing and loving our God.   We spend so much effort trying to weed out the obvious sins that we often forget that our walk with Christ isn’t grown by what we don’t do.  Quite the opposite, its what we do…with our time.  

Example

Do you spend a lot of time watching sports?   For a lot of us men, the answer is  ‘yes’.  But is watching sports sinful all by itself?  No Way!  

So why does Matt Chandler think something like sports-viewing can cause Christians to become impotent? 

When any “thing” commands more devotion than Christ, we’ve got a potential impotency problem.  Maybe you’ve made a New Year’s Resolution to read through the Bible in a year.  But wouldn’t you know it, TBS starts running King of Queens reruns at exactly your bedtime.  Before you know it, you’re fully devoted to watching a 30-minute sitcom while abandoning your resolution to grow in the Word. 

What To Do About It

Some of John Piper’s suggestions…

1 Cor 13:11 – When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Another day passes, another failure of the flesh.   How can I be saved when I just keep messing up?  Aren’t Christians supposed to be new creations?   Why do I still sin like the old creation?  These questions come up all the time in the mind of the believer. 

How can I quit sinning? 

CJ Mahaney discusses 3 methods that most Christians use for fighting their deep dark sins.  Do these sound familiar?

1. Portray sin in the ugliest possible terms (ie. frighten yourself into avoiding the sin).

2. Revert to Legalism (ie. create long lists of do’s and dont’s to reign in our impulses).

3.  Convince ourselves that the real problem is the desire for pleasure (ie. ignore that deep longing for pleasure and joy).

You might have tried these methods… and you have probably failed.  So how do we keep ourselves from sin? 

The answer:  Love Christ more than you love sin.

Example:  I find pleasure and joy when Mandi and I are living life as a united loving married couple.   But with all marriages, sin enters.  I might snap at her for something.  She might begin to hold a grudge against me for some offense against her.   But if I love my wife and I really love those fulfilling moments with her, I will do everything in my power to restore our relationship.   I will naturally begin to hate anything that comes between me and my wife.   

The same is true with Christ.  If we love Him and treasure our worship time with Him, we will naturally and actively pursue ways to cultivate our relationship with Him.  We will naturally hate those things that come between us and our Savior.  That is the new nature.  Thankfully, Christ is perfect.  He never holds grudges.  He never witholds affection.  He actively pursues us. 

So what keeps us from messing up in those moments of weakness?

We must love our time with Christ SO MUCH that the pleasures of the flesh pail in comparison to knowing and loving Christ. 

Phillipians 3:8 – Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage.  All I want is Christ.  (CEV)

Final thought:  When you love Christ, those temptations that used to smell so sweet begin to smell more like garbage. 

Your Brother,

Jon