Why do we focus on darkness?
Carl R Trueman states
… "The gospel is light; it is truly beautiful. To wake in the morning and to know that whatever darkness lurks within our hearts, the light of Christ is sufficient to dispel it all is surely glorious. Why would anyone even want to dwell in any detail on the deeds of darkness when one could spend time reflecting on the magnificence of God manifest in the flesh?
I have often in the past stood with those who laughed at what we regarded as the ignorant, unsophisticated taboos of the older generation. But now I worry about the ease with which the rising generation talks explicitly of ‘the fruitless deeds of darkness’ in the name of cultural engagement, fear of being thought passé or simply a desire to slough off the legalisms of their fathers in the faith. You can, after all, get to heaven without ever having seen an R-Rated art house movie or having enjoyed a spectacular love life …"
This statement is true. The Lord Jesus is the light of the world. He has come into this dark world to save us. For we know that where there is light, there is no darkness at all.
John 1:4-5 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Psalm 18:28 "For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."
But it seems that we have become a generation who focus on darkness. We even try to find a way to use the Bible to justify certain worldly actions. We have pastors, who are more like life coaches rather than Men of God, who focus constantly on sex, to such an extent that one can listen to a sermon and learn more about debauchery and explicit acts that they probably didn't even know were possible than before they listened to the sermon! Something has to be wrong there! We have preachers who constantly focus on worldly riches and use an out of context concoction of verses to justify having nice BMW's and money. We have people who use verses to justify themselves getting tattooed. People even use the life and words of the perfect Lord Jesus to justify going to night clubs and drinking! These preachers read into Biblical text and try to apply it to non-Biblical situations, teaching us on every-day issues and how to handle them, as if the Bible falls short or is insufficient as a guide for us in today's world. Who are these people that they think they can come along in their incredibly short time on this earth and use their limited knowledge to place their own interpretations on a book which has stood the test of time for thousands of years and has stood up to attacks of hundreds of brilliant minds, and then try to teach people based on their eisegetical interpretations which are contrived from their own bias and have no real grounding apart from a few Bible verses taken from different contexts and mashed together?
The issue here isn't whether their interpretations are correct or incorrect That is something we must study ourselves and pray to the Lord over whilst we read His word. The issue is, as Children of God why would they want to do such a thing? Why would they not be satisfied with what the Scripture provides? Why would they not be satisfied with studying the pure and light things of the Bible, which is where their hope rests in? Why do they have the desire to seek out things that are dark in Scripture? Why do they have the desire to study worldly things in the context of Scripture?
The Bible encourages sanctification. In 1 Peter 1:16 God says "Be Holy, for I am Holy". Sanctification means to be set apart. Set apart to God. For whilst we are in the world, we are certainly not of it (or at least we shouldn't be). But today it seems that a Christians' favourite past-time is to dice with the world and see how close to the edge of the cliff they can get without actually falling off.
Collossians 3:2 states: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
As Christians we should focus on things above. Not on things of this world. Why do we occupy ourselves with things of this world? Why do we give those who insist on preaching on ungodly things the time of day? The most probable answer is, because we are sinners. And as sinners the darkness is appealing to us. Therefore we will gladly listen to preachers and teachers who give us a Biblically justified way to do what we want to do. But this is not how it should be!
1 John 1:5-7 states:
"5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
God is light. He is pure. He is in no way associated with any sort of defilement. Therefore when we read the Bible, let us seek the things that God is; purity, light, beauty. Let us stop using it as a puzzle that we piece together to justify worldly actions that are secretly appealing to us. Psalm 36:9 "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light." In His Word, let us look for God in the light.
If you read the Old Testament laws on cleanliness, you will see that this is a big deal to God. We should not be taking these things so lightly. We are told that if we become a Christian the Lord Jesus saves us and is inside of us. John 14:19 "At that day you will know, that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." Let us not try and discover just exactly what we can and cannot get away with. If that is your thought pattern then that needs to be sorted out. Let us not subject our body where the Lord resides to any defilement! Why would we desire to do such a thing?
What Carl R. Trueman says is true. Why do we feel the need to interpret the Bible differently to how it has been interpreted for thousands of years, because we now feel like it has become outdated? Why is our era so special? The Bible is relevant to every era. It is relevant to the first century church. It will be relevant to the church during the end times. Why do we think that parts of it are not relevant to us today?
Do you think parts of it are not relevant today? Do you find yourself searching the Bible to see if you 'can' do something that you want to do? Do you find yourself liberally passing off certain verses because they don't add up with your personal belief? Do you find yourself preferring to listen to preachers who preach on taboo and worldly subjects rather than on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you find yourself doing this, then not only are you committing idolatry, by creating a God that fits in with your life, but you also need to seriously question your salvation itself. If you are truly saved, as Carl R. Trueman says, you should want to look for the light and pure things in your Bible, not darkness. As Colossians says, you should "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."
People today complain how disrespectful our young people are of their elders. This disrespect does not just end with young people. Disrespect is in every part of our society. Disrespect for our parents, disrespect for others, disrespect for the authorities, disrespect for the Government, disrespect for Almighty God. Irreverence is such a problem in today's world. Let us set our minds on things above. Not on things of the earth.
Ephesians 5:11 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
-BACChristian
This statement is true. The Lord Jesus is the light of the world. He has come into this dark world to save us. For we know that where there is light, there is no darkness at all.
John 1:4-5 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Psalm 18:28 "For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."
But it seems that we have become a generation who focus on darkness. We even try to find a way to use the Bible to justify certain worldly actions. We have pastors, who are more like life coaches rather than Men of God, who focus constantly on sex, to such an extent that one can listen to a sermon and learn more about debauchery and explicit acts that they probably didn't even know were possible than before they listened to the sermon! Something has to be wrong there! We have preachers who constantly focus on worldly riches and use an out of context concoction of verses to justify having nice BMW's and money. We have people who use verses to justify themselves getting tattooed. People even use the life and words of the perfect Lord Jesus to justify going to night clubs and drinking! These preachers read into Biblical text and try to apply it to non-Biblical situations, teaching us on every-day issues and how to handle them, as if the Bible falls short or is insufficient as a guide for us in today's world. Who are these people that they think they can come along in their incredibly short time on this earth and use their limited knowledge to place their own interpretations on a book which has stood the test of time for thousands of years and has stood up to attacks of hundreds of brilliant minds, and then try to teach people based on their eisegetical interpretations which are contrived from their own bias and have no real grounding apart from a few Bible verses taken from different contexts and mashed together?
The issue here isn't whether their interpretations are correct or incorrect That is something we must study ourselves and pray to the Lord over whilst we read His word. The issue is, as Children of God why would they want to do such a thing? Why would they not be satisfied with what the Scripture provides? Why would they not be satisfied with studying the pure and light things of the Bible, which is where their hope rests in? Why do they have the desire to seek out things that are dark in Scripture? Why do they have the desire to study worldly things in the context of Scripture?
The Bible encourages sanctification. In 1 Peter 1:16 God says "Be Holy, for I am Holy". Sanctification means to be set apart. Set apart to God. For whilst we are in the world, we are certainly not of it (or at least we shouldn't be). But today it seems that a Christians' favourite past-time is to dice with the world and see how close to the edge of the cliff they can get without actually falling off.
Collossians 3:2 states: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
As Christians we should focus on things above. Not on things of this world. Why do we occupy ourselves with things of this world? Why do we give those who insist on preaching on ungodly things the time of day? The most probable answer is, because we are sinners. And as sinners the darkness is appealing to us. Therefore we will gladly listen to preachers and teachers who give us a Biblically justified way to do what we want to do. But this is not how it should be!
1 John 1:5-7 states:
"5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
God is light. He is pure. He is in no way associated with any sort of defilement. Therefore when we read the Bible, let us seek the things that God is; purity, light, beauty. Let us stop using it as a puzzle that we piece together to justify worldly actions that are secretly appealing to us. Psalm 36:9 "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light." In His Word, let us look for God in the light.
If you read the Old Testament laws on cleanliness, you will see that this is a big deal to God. We should not be taking these things so lightly. We are told that if we become a Christian the Lord Jesus saves us and is inside of us. John 14:19 "At that day you will know, that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." Let us not try and discover just exactly what we can and cannot get away with. If that is your thought pattern then that needs to be sorted out. Let us not subject our body where the Lord resides to any defilement! Why would we desire to do such a thing?
What Carl R. Trueman says is true. Why do we feel the need to interpret the Bible differently to how it has been interpreted for thousands of years, because we now feel like it has become outdated? Why is our era so special? The Bible is relevant to every era. It is relevant to the first century church. It will be relevant to the church during the end times. Why do we think that parts of it are not relevant to us today?
Do you think parts of it are not relevant today? Do you find yourself searching the Bible to see if you 'can' do something that you want to do? Do you find yourself liberally passing off certain verses because they don't add up with your personal belief? Do you find yourself preferring to listen to preachers who preach on taboo and worldly subjects rather than on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you find yourself doing this, then not only are you committing idolatry, by creating a God that fits in with your life, but you also need to seriously question your salvation itself. If you are truly saved, as Carl R. Trueman says, you should want to look for the light and pure things in your Bible, not darkness. As Colossians says, you should "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."
People today complain how disrespectful our young people are of their elders. This disrespect does not just end with young people. Disrespect is in every part of our society. Disrespect for our parents, disrespect for others, disrespect for the authorities, disrespect for the Government, disrespect for Almighty God. Irreverence is such a problem in today's world. Let us set our minds on things above. Not on things of the earth.
Ephesians 5:11 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
-BACChristian
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