The High Cost Of Being A Disciple Of Jesus

The Cost Of Discipleship

The following material was taken from a recent message that I preached at Berean.

 We must not forget that there is a tremendous cost to be a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb,

And shall I fear to own His cause,

Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;

Increase my courage, Lord.

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy Word.

Isaac Watts

There is a great cost to being a disciple of Christ. A recent Gallup poll concluded that less than 10% of professing evangelicals were deeply committed to their faith. This is disturbing. Around the world Muslims are rampaging, rioting, raping and ready to die for their faith. While true Christians deplore the violence and viscousness of Islam we also are disturbed by the lack of passionate dedication among those who claim to be followers of Christ. There is little counterpart to Islamic passion and dedication among Christians. The Christian faith has nearly been extinguished in the West and what ever faith is left is weak, effeminate, and cowardly.

The problem with Christianity today in America is that so many professing Christians are following Christ with a superficial, lukewarm, and anemic faith. Where is the strong, courageous, bold and vibrant faith of our forefathers? Sadly it hardly exists any more. The Unfeigned faith of our forefathers has been neutered by lukewarmness, worldliness, unbelief, compromise, unconfessed sin, and  the distractions of a multitude of rival interests.

The problem with Christianity today is that so many professing Christians have never counted the cost of following Christ. Christians have  been preaching what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “cheap grace.” Bonhoffer defined cheap grace with these words:

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ…”

So we have today people being brought into the church by cheap grace, they are living by cheap grace, they worship in churches that preach cheap grace, so it’s not surprising that the church does not resemble in any way the church of the New Testament.

Coming back to our text we ask then, “What is the cost of discipleship?” It is very high indeed. It will cost you everything. It will cost you your life. It will demand full allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. It will demand full surrender, complete obedience, and the utter abandonment of your soul to God. 

Our text in Luke’s gospel will spell out the cost of discipleship for us. Jesus begins with this statement, “…if anyone desires to come after Me…” What does this statement mean? It clearly means to become one of His disciples. It means to be a follower of Christ and one who sits at His feet to learn the principles of the Christian faith. 

A Wonderful Article on Worship

Dear Berean Family, this article on contemporary worship is very relevant to our current culture as it relates to how we approach God in our churches today. As you know, I have emphasized the need to worship God based on biblical regulations and not based on the opinions and ideas of man. I trust that you will be encouraged by this article and that you will be a defender and champion of passionate, biblical and the serious worship of God. Perhaps the Lord is beginning to speak to His people and is showing them the need to return to Him in serious and reverent worship that has expository preaching as the center piece of the worship service. 

I have written something on the crisis that is sweeping Europe with the massive waves of Muslims migrants that are arriving in the millions. I will post this article soon. The terrible tragedy that happened in Orlando, Florida this past week should remind us that this terrible war with Islam is not going to go away any time soon. Islam has been waging war against the rest of the world ever since it swept out of the desert 1400 years ago. Most Americans have been fed a steady stream of propaganda and because of this they know almost nothing of the true nature of this false religion.  

The Imminent Decline of Contemporary 

Worship Music: Eight Reasons

By

T. David Gordan

By imminent decline of contemporary worship music, I do not mean imminent disappearance. Commercial forces have too substantial an interest to permit contemporary worship music to disappear entirely; and human beings are creatures of habit who do not adapt to change quickly. I do not predict, therefore, a disappearance of contemporary worship music, sooner or later. Already, however, I observe its decline. Several years ago (2011) Mark Moring interviewed me for Christianity Today, and in our follow-up communications, he indicated that he thought the zenith of contemporary worship music had already happened, and that the movement was already in the direction of traditional hymnody. He did not make any claims about the ratio of contemporary worship music to traditional hymns; he merely observed that whatever the ratio was, the see-saw was now moving, albeit slowly, towards traditional hymnody. If the ratio of contemporary-to-traditional was rising twenty years ago, it is falling now; the ratio is now in decline, and I suspect that decline will continue for the foreseeable future. What follows is a painfully abbreviated list of eight reasons why I think this change is happening.

1 Contemporary worship music hymns not only were/are comparatively poor; they had to be. One generation cannot successfully “compete” with 50 generations of hymn-writers; such a generation would need to be fifty times as talented as all previous generations to do so. If only one-half of one percent (42 out of over 6,500) of Charles Wesley’s hymns made it even into the Methodist hymnal, it would be hubristic/arrogant to think that any contemporary hymnist is substantially better than he. Most hymnals are constituted of hymns written by people with Wesley’s unusual talent; the editors had the “pick of the litter” of almost two thousand years of hymn-writing. In English hymnals, for instance, we rarely find even ten of Paul Gerhardt’s 140 hymns, even though many musicologists regard him as one of Germany’s finest hymnwriters. Good hymnals contain, essentially, “the best of the best,” the best hymns of the best hymnwriters of all time; how could any single generation compete with that?

Just speaking arithmetically, one would expect that, at best, each generation could represent itself as well as other generations, permitting hymnal editors to continue to select “the best of the best” from each generation. Were this the case, then one of every fifty hymns we sing should be from one of the fifty generations since the apostles, and, therefore, one of every fifty should be contemporary, the best of the current generation of hymnwriters. Perhaps this is what John Frame meant when, in the second paragraph of his book on CWM, he indicated that he had two goals for his book: to explain some aspects of CWM and to defend its “limited use” in public worship. Perhaps Prof. Frame thought one out of fifty constituted “limited use,” or perhaps he might have permitted as much as one out of ten, I don’t know. But our generation of hymnwriters, while talented and devout, are not more talented or more devout than all other generations, and are surely not so by a ratio of fifty-to-one.

2. Early on in the contemporary worship music movement, many groups began setting traditional hymn-lyrics to contemporary melodies and/or instrumentation. Sovereign Grace Music, Indelible Grace, Red Mountain Music, Reformed Praise all recognized how difficult/demanding it is to write lyrics that are not only theologically sound, but significant, profound, appropriate, memorable, and edifying (not to mention metrical). If the canonical Psalms are our model, few hymn-writers could hope to write with such remarkable insight (into God and His creatures, who are only dust) and remarkable craftsmanship (e.g. the first three words of the first Psalm begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph (א), each also has a shin (ש), and two of the three also have a resh (ר), even though each is only a 3-letter word. Even those unfamiliar with Hebrew cannot miss the remarkable assonance and alliteration in those opening three words: “ashre ha-ish asher”).

3. As a result, the better contemporary hymns (e.g. “How Deep the Father’s Love,” “In Christ Alone”) have been over-used to the point that we have become weary of them. These two of the better contemporary worship music hymns are sung a half-dozen times or a even a dozen times annually in many contemporary worship music churches; whereas “A Mighty Fortress” may get sung once or twice (if at all); but neither of the two is as good as Luther’s hymn. What is “intrinsically good” (to employ Luther’s expression about music) will always last; what is merely novel will not. Beethoven will outlast 50 Cent, The Black Eyed Peas, and Christina Aguilera. His music will be enjoyed three hundred years from now; theirs will be gone inside of fifty years.

4. It is no longer a competitive advantage to have part or all of a service in a contemporary idiom; probably well over half the churches now do so, so we have reached what Malcolm Gladwell calls the “Tipping Point.” Contemporary worship music no longer marks a church as emerging, hip, edgy, or forward-looking, because many/most churches now do it. Churches that do not do other aspects of church-life well can no longer compensate via contemporary worship music; they must compete with other churches that employ contemporary worship music. Once a thing is commonplace, it is no longer a draw. And contemporary worship music is now so commonplace that it is no longer a competitive advantage; to the contrary, smaller churches with smaller budgets have difficulty competing with the larger-budgeted churches in this area.

5. As with all novelties, once the novelty wears off, what is left often seems somewhat empty. In a culture that celebrates what is new (and commercial culture always does so in order to sell what is new), most people will pine for what is new. But what is new does not remain so forever; and once it is no longer novel, it must compete by the ordinary canons of musical and lyrical art, and very little contemporary worship music can do so (again, because its authors face a fifty-to-one ratio of competition from other generations). Even promoters of contemporary worship music prefer some of it to the rest of it; indicating that they, too, recognize aesthetic criteria beyond mere novelty. Even those who regard novelty as a virtue, in other words, do not regard it as the only virtue. And some, such as myself, regard novelty as a liturgical vice, not a virtue because of its tendency to dis-associate us from the rest of our common race, heritage, and liturgy.

6. Thankfully, my own generation is beginning to die. While ostensibly created “for the young people,” the driving force behind contemporary worship music was always my own Sixties generation of anti-adult, anti-establishment, rebellious Woodstockers and Jesus freaks. Once my generation became elders and deacons (and therefore those who ran the churches), we could not escape our sense of being part of the “My Generation” that The Who’s Pete Townsend had sung about when we were young; so we (not the young people) wanted a brand of Christianity that did not look like our parents’ brand. Fortunately for the human race, we are dying off now, and much of the impetus for contemporary worship music will die with us (though the commercial interests will “not go gentle into that good night,” and fulfill Dylan Thomas’s wish).

7. Contemporary worship music is ordinarily accompanied by Praise Teams, and these have frequently (but by no means always) been problematic. It has been difficult to provide direction to them, due to the inherent confusion between whether they are participants in the congregation or performers for the congregation. In most circumstances, the members of the Praise Team do the kinds of things performers do: they vary the instrumental or harmonious parts between stanzas, they rehearse, etc. In fact, if one were to watch a video of the typical Praise Team without any audio, they ordinarily look like performers; their bodily actions and contrived emotional expressions mimic those of the entertainment industry.

Theologically and liturgically, however, it is the congregation that is to sing God’s praise, and what we call the Praise Team is merely an accompanist. But there is a frequent and ongoing tension in many contemporary worship music churches between the performers feeling as though they are being held back from performing for the congregation, and the liturgists thinking they’ve already gone too far in distinguishing themselves from the congregation. Many pastors have told me privately that they have no principial disagreements with contemporary worship music, but that they wish the whole Praise Team thing “would go away,” because it is a frequent source of tension. I have elsewhere suggested that the Praise Team is not biblical, that it actually obscures or obliterates what the Scriptures command. I won’t repeat any of those concerns here; here I merely acknowledge that many of those who disagree with my understanding of Scripure agree with my observation that the Praise Team is an ongoing source of difficulty in the church.

8. We cannot evade or avoid the “holy catholic church” of the Apostles’ Creed forever. Even people who are untrained theologically have some intuitive sense that a local contemporary church is part of a global and many-generational (indeed eschatological and endless) assembly of followers of Christ; cutting ourselves off from that broader catholic body may appear cool for a while, but we ultimately wish to commune with the rest of the global/catholic church. Indeed, for many mature Christians, this wish grows as we age; we become aware that this particular moment, and our own personal life therein, will pass away soon, and what is timeless will nonetheless continue. Our affection for and interest in the timeless trumps our interest in the recent and fading. We intuitively identify with Henry F. Lyte, whose hymn said, “Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.” We instinctively wish to “join the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all” (to use Edward Perronet’s language). Note, in fact, the opening lines alone of each stanza of Perronet’s hymn, and observe how, as the stanzas move, our worship is connected to both earthly and heavenly worship, past and future worship:

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall;…

Let highborn seraphs tune the lyre, and as they tune it, fall…

Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, who fixed this floating ball;…

Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God, who from His altar call;…

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, ye ransomed from the fall,…

Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line, whom David Lord did call,…

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget the wormwood and the gall,…

Let every tribe and every tongue before Him prostrate fall…

O that, with yonder sacred throng, we at His feet may fall,

Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all!

It is not merely that some churches do not sing Perronet’s hymn; they can not do so, without a little dissonance. Everything that they do intentionally cuts themselves off from the past and future; liturgically, if not theologically, they know nothing of martyrs, of Israel’s chosen race, of David’s lineage. Liturgically, if not theologically, everything is here-and-now, without much room for angels or seraphs, nor every tribe and tongue (just those who share our particular cultural moment). To sing Perronet’s hymn in such a setting would fit about as well as reading Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at a Ku Klux Klan gathering.

“Contemporary worship” to me is an oxymoron. Biblically, worship is what angels and morning stars did before creation; what Abraham, Moses and the Levites, and the many-tongued Jewish diaspora at Pentecost did. It is what the martyrs, now ascended, do, and what all believers since the apostles have done. More importantly, it is what we will do eternally; worship is essentially (not accidentally) eschatological. And nothing could celebrate the eschatological forever less than something that celebrates the contemporary now. So ultimately, I think the Apostles’ Creed will stick its camel’s nose into the liturgical tent, and assert again our celebration of the “holy catholic church, the communion of the saints.” The sooner the better.

The Lies We Are Being Told 

Here are the lies we are being told by this politically correct and anti-Christian culture. It is shocking  to realize how many Christians have bought into this anti-Christian propaganda. The Christian worldview today is under siege as never before.  There are few defenders on the walls of the kingdom opposing the advance of humanism, secularism, and the host of false religions that are marching their armies against us.

The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies. Here are the lies that the world is using to reshape the culture and to replace the Christian faith. What is desperately needed today is for a prophetic voice to be heard once again in the land. O that the Lord would send forth a mighty leader of the caliber of John The Baptist or Elijah to call the people of God to repentance and faithfulness in the battle for our survival.

The Clever Lies Of Multi-Culturalism

1. The wealthy must pay their fare share of taxes.
2. Socialism is good.
3. Capitalism is evil.
4. White Christian males have terrorized the third world.
5. Having a big family causes overpopulation and creates a food shortage in the world.
6. Islam is a religion of peace.
7. Christianity is just as guilty of terrorism as Islam.
8. The crusades were an unjust attack of Christendom against innocent Islamic countries.
9. There was no Armenian and Greek genocide committed by Muslims.
10. Migration is a right.
11. Having open borders is a good idea.
12. Nationalism is a bad thing.
13. Global warming is a major threat to the world.
14. Over population is a threat to the world.
15. Criticism of Islam is islamaphobic and racist.
16. The government is responsible to take care of us.
17. Deportation is a crime.
18. Christianity is the problem with the world.
19. All religions are the same and have equal value.
20. Sharia law can co-exist with European, American or Western law.
21. Multi-culturalism is good for society.
22. The Christian worldview of Europe and America is the perpetuating of white racism and fascism.
23. The Christian faith has nothing to say about law, culture, and society.
24. European colonialism is the cause of the unrest in the third world.
25. Europe must welcome massive migration and not resist Muslims to remove its guilt for the crimes of past wars, colonialism and Christian arrogance. 
26. All cultures have value and who are we to judge another culture?
27. We must not offend our Muslim neighbors with our cultural traditions, Christian symbols, or religious holidays.
28. The United States is not a Christian nation.
29. Revival is the only way to change nations or bring in lasting change.
30. Christian love demands that we welcome anyone who wishes to come to our country regardless of their motives and intentions.
31. Jesus is coming soon.
32. There is no Jesus.
33. The Bible has errors.
34. Those who resist the dismantling of Western Civilization are racists and bigots.
35. Our forefathers were racists and bigots.
36. The gospel is not the only way to heaven.
37. Islam had nothing to do with slavery or the slave trade.
38. Islam can coexist with all other cultures and religions peacefully.
39. Abortion is not murder.
40. The fetus in the womb is not a life but just a blob.
41. American exceptionalism is arrogant and racist.
42. All reputable scientists are evolutionists.
43. All truth is relative.
44. There is no truth.
45. All words must be deconstructed.
46. Islam poses no threat to society.
47. Radical Muslims have hijacked a peaceful religion.
48. Freedom of speech must not include criticizing Islam or the prophet Mohammad.
49. Europeans who came to the new world were guilty of genocide against native Americans.
50. Christopher Columbus was a genocidal maniac.
51. There is no universal standard for objective truth.
52. Same-sex marriage is not a perversion.
53. Those who oppose same-sex marriage are religious bigots.
54. Free speech only applies to the political left.
55. Native americans were living in a peaceful paradise when the Europeans arrived.
56. Multi-culturalism= all cultures are equally valid and have much to add to society--except Christianity.
57. The founding fathers were all slave holding racists and bigots.
58. You are an uneducated moron if you do not believe in evolution.
59. Privileged white males are whats wrong with America.
60. The country would be safer if we removed all guns from society.

What Does The Bible Say 

About The Church

The Bible teaches us that those who have been born again make up the body of Christ which is His church. The church is the main instrument that God is using to accomplish His eternal purposes in the world. The apostle in the book of Hebrews tells us that we are not to be negligent in attending the worship service of the local church. Hebrews 10:25 records, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” It’s impossible for a follower of Christ  to be a faithful disciple if he is not involved in a Bible-believing and Christ-exalting church. It is in the church that we are nourished in our faith and strengthened in our resolve to walk with God. 

As believers, we are The Bride of Christ. We are the Army of God. We are the light and salt to a dying world. So apart from the ministry of the local church, the bride is not prepared to meet her husband; the army is not trained for warfare; the light is not kept lit, and the salt loses its saltiness. If we are to be mighty for God in this world, we need His church. 

How do we define the church? The word church means a called out body or company. The church is the gathering of the elect of God from all the nations of the earth. By the preaching of the Gospel, the individual members of the church are called out from the world and brought into the fellowship of the body of Christ. Those chosen and called by God’s sovereign grace make up the New Testament Church. Acts 13:48, “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” 

The church has been described by a number of different terms. It has been called “The Church Militant” to refer to the church on earth active in the fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. It has been called “The Church Triumphant” to describe the church in heaven having taken its place around the throne of the Lamb of God to worship Him in glory. The church has also been described as “The Visible Church,” which is the local church and “The Invisible Church” which describes the church universal that operates throughout the world. When these verses are used, the local church is being referenced: Acts 5:11, 4:26, and Romans 16:4, When these verses are used the universal church is being referenced: Ephesians. 1:22, 3:10, 21, 5:23, Colossians. 1:18.  

The church is the bride of Christ. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:22-33 exhorts husbands and wives on their duties to one another. 

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respect her husband.” 

This passage uses the analogy of marriage to explain our relationship with Christ. We are married to Christ, and He is our husband.  What a special privilege it is to be the Bride of Christ. A bride loves her husband, obeys her husband, honors her husband serves with her husband, cherishes her husband, is loyal to her husband and is faithful to her husband. We, as the church of God, have the duty to be all of these things to the God who has called us and washed us in the blood of His Son.

The church is the dwelling place of God. James, in his letter in chapter four verse five says, “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?’” 

The church is the temple of God. Paul the apostle wrote to the church at Corinth, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” I Corinthians. 3:16-17.  The life of a believer is the place where the shekinah glory dwells and is manifest. Not only do we have a responsibility to protect the purity of our individual lives, we also have a responsibility to protect the life of the church in which we are joined in membership. 

There are three things that make up a biblical church, preaching, the Lord’s supper, and church discipline. No church is true to its biblical calling if these three things: biblical preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and church discipline, are not faithfully observed. Are there other marks or signs of a true church? What things should we expect when we worship with those who claim to be the people of God? Here are eleven important Characteristics of the true Church of Jesus Christ. This is a list I wrote out as I was asking myself what would I want and expect to find in a church if I were looking for a place where my family and I could worship God.

1. A biblical church should be known for its love for the Word of God. Acts 17:11 says, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessolonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” 
2. A biblical church should be known by its love for the doctrines of grace. 
3. A biblical church should be known by the presence of agape love. 
4. A biblical church should be known for holy living by its members.
5. A biblical church should be known by its obedience to The Great Commission. Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” 
6. A biblical church should be known by its understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Martin Luther believed that justification by faith was the article of a standing or falling church. Justification is the Gospel. A church that has gone astray from the doctrine of justification will go astray in many other areas as well.
7. A biblical church should be known by its prayer life. 
8. A biblical church should be known by its separation from the world. I John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
9. A biblical church should be known by its passion to exalt Christ. To exalt Christ means to praise Him. It means to lift Him up in all that we say and do. 
10. A biblical church should be known by how it worships God. The Bible is our guide on how to worship. We are to pattern our worship after the instructions and examples that we find in the Word of God.
11. A biblical church should be known by the fact it has a faithful pastor. We cannot forget how important this is. A church can have many wonderful things but if it does not have a faithful and godly minister it is not a biblical church.

Questions:

1. What kind of people make up the New Testament Church?
2. How important is the church of Jesus Christ?
3. How do we define the church?
4. What three things are necessary for a church to be a biblical church?
5. What kind of things should a church be known for?

The Influence Of Christianity 

On Woman

Many non-Christian feminists and humanists make the claim that Christianity and the Bible are oppressive and degrading to women. But is this really the case? Has Christianity had an adverse effect on women? Did Jesus and His apostles disrespect women and teach others to do the same?  The facts of history demonstrate that the status of women in the western world has been dramatically improved because of the influence of the Christian faith. All one needs to do is to examine the plight of women in the Eastern world and in the Islamic world. Women in these cultures are still denied many basic rights rights that are available to men. When women appear in public they must be veiled. Saudi Arabia, the birth place of Islam for instance, bars women from driving automobiles. In countries where Islam is the major worldview, men can beat their wives. All of the horrendous things that men can do to women in Islam have the full sanction of the Quran. 

The treatment of women in Western countries is completely different. The reason for this difference is the influence of Jesus of Nazareth. The Apostle Paul taught that men should “Love their wives as Christ loved the church.” The love of Christ for His church was a sacrificial love, unconditional love, eternal love, an electing love, and a love characterized by tenderness and kindness. The New Testament gave honor, respect and consideration to women that was never heard of in any other culture of the world.

In ancient Greece, a woman was not allowed to leave the house unless she was accompanied by a male escort. A wife was not allowed to eat, fellowship, or mingle with the male guests in her husband’s home. All women were segregated in their private living area. Men kept their wives like slaves under lock and key. The status of women in ancient Greece was no different from that of slaves. Girls were not allowed to be educated and were not allowed to speak in public. To do so brought shame on the husband. Women were treated as inferior creatures to men and basically had no rights and privileges equal to men. 

The plight of Roman women was not any better. Everything that was true of women in Greece was equally true in Roman society. Women had very few rights as compared to men. They were viewed as being inferior and had no better status than common slaves. The role of women was to work, slave, provide sex and remain in silence in the homes. Women could not speak in public, and when they did travel publicly they were veiled and attended by male guards. The role of women in ancient Greece and Rome must have been very oppressive and appalling.

Jewish women, based on the oral traditions of the synagogue, fared no better. Jewish women were also barred from public speaking. The oral law prohibited women from reading the Torah out loud. Synagogue worship was segregated, with women never allowed to be heard.

In the midst of this Eastern world came a man from Galilee named Jesus Christ. Jesus’ treatment of women was diametrically opposite of that of the ancient world. It is a fact of history that the awful plight of women in the East was dramatically improved when Jesus appeared in the land of Palestine. The teachings of Jesus impacted the status of women in ways that was unheard of before. 

That women have the right to vote, attend college, drive  a car, work  outside the home, run for office, lead in the largest companies and corporations in the world and even to serve in the military is a testimony to the powerful impact and influence of the Christian faith on Western civilization.  In Western nations women are treated with respect, honor, and love. The courtesy and kindness that is shown to women is not matched in any other country, culture, or people group in the entire world.

It is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions that so many women believe that it is Christianity that has been a curse on women. The fact that many women today believe this lie demonstrates how powerful the propaganda against the Christian faith has been. I have traveled the world over many times and can testify to all that I am saying. History does not lie. The facts are clear, but the prejudice is great against the faith of those who love and follow Jesus Christ. 

Untold millions of unfortunate women live in Eastern countries where the influence of Hinduism and Islam suppress women and hold them down in a cultural sewer. What feminists in the West do not realize is that by working so hard to destroy and discredit the Christian faith, they are actually destroying the very religious system that gave them the rights that they now take for granted. Feminists reject the Biblical teachings on pro-life, moral purity, the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the law of God and the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. But by rejecting these things, they are undermining the very principles that were used by God to mold Western civilization into the most compassionate, educated, and advanced societies that has ever existed. It remains to be seen what will replace the Christian worldview in the West. But this much we know —that the West is descending into a new dark age that will be more frightening and dangerous than we have ever seen.

I fear that one day many women in the United States and in Western nations will wake up under the oppressive heel of Sharia law and will wonder where did the freedoms and the blessings of Western civilization go? They will have to face the sad reality that they fought against the very faith that gave them the highest standard of living and freedom that the world has ever known. How sad it is to cut off their nose to spite their face.

One author made this insightful comment on the influence of Christianity on women.

“As a result of Jesus Christ and His teachings, women in much of the world today, especially in the West, enjoy more privileges and rights than at any other time in history. It takes only a cursory trip to an Arab nation or to a Third World country to see how little freedom women have in countries where Christianity has had little or no presence. It’s (Christianity) the best thing that ever happened to women.”  Sue Bohlin

Imagine a world without Christianity. Other religions have left a dark stain on the curtain of history. Only the Christian faith has elevated women, purged societies of many evils, erased centuries of prejudice and corruption and continues the march of reform in the nations of the earth.

Defining Moments

Recently, I read a fascinating book by Dan Schaeffer called Defining Moments. From his introduction Schaeffer says,

 “One morning you wake up, totally unaware that today you will make a decision that will define your life for years to come, maybe forever. If you had known this moment was coming, you would have prepared for it; but you didn’t. That moment is coming, and you won’t be able to escape it. You can hope you will say or do the right thing, or you can prepare for that moment now.”

Over the years in my ministry, I have had many such defining moments. There have been decisions to be made, choices to make, and paths to choose. It has not been easy to face these many defining moments when they have arrived. With each one of them there was a price to be paid, a cost to count, and a possible consequence that might be faced. For me, to live with a clear conscience was of far more value than to choose the path of least resistance. One of my favorite poems is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

During my years as a pastor, I have seen many people who  have sat under my ministry make decisions that have not only defined them from that moment on but also revealed the true nature of their soul. This is one of the heart-breaking aspects that comes with the privilege of serving the Lord. Some of those that you minister to will make wise decisions, show discernment, and will pass through those defining moments with grace and wisdom. Others will break your heart as you see them flounder like a ship on the rocks in a storm.

Do we sell our soul to the highest bidder? Friendships are often forged on the anvil of convenience rather than conviction. For some, loyalty is only given where there is no cost and where the comforts of compromise seduce the soul. This is not an age of conviction, character and loyalty. Rather, this is an age of compromise, cowardice, and convenience. The Apostle James reminds us with words that pierce us to the very depths of our souls, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.

There will be crossroads that we must face in life. It’s possible that some decisions will be made, choices cast, bridges burned, doors closed, character revealed, direction set, and their destiny sealed. Think long and hard when you come to those crossroads in life. When you are facing a defining moment, will you make a wise decision? Will you show discernment? Will you respond in a way that will demonstrate that you are truly a servant of the Most High God and acquainted with His ways?

Christians must not sell their soul for the cheap prizes of the flesh.  We should remind ourselves of the cost of discipleship, the principles of obedience, and the awesome authority of God’s Word. (Many have forgotten that one of the commands of the Word is, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive for they watch out for your souls…” Hebrews 13:17.) How many times have I seen those who profess faith in Christ ignore or defy the wisdom and authority of the pastor and of the church. Those individuals came to the crossroads of life and failed to make wise decisions. I have never once met a person who has made unbiblical decisions who has not tried to rationalize, justify, and defend those poor decisions. But cleverness and sophistry are no substitute for simple obedience to God. Those who fail their defining moment test will also seek to justify their behavior by finding someone to give approval for their actions. We must not forget that the approval of man means nothing if we do not have the approval of God. Like the Apostle Paul a wise and discerning Christian will say, "I seek to please God rather than to please men."

“Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization. The only testing ground of the heroic is the mundane…habit is the daily battleground of character.”

Job was a unique man. In the defining moment of his most crushing trials he could say, “Though He slay me yet will I trust Him.” and, “He knows the way that I take when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold.”  King Ahab could not lead his wife Jezabel. Annanias and Saphira, a married couple in the early church, sinned together and died together. Job stands out as a righteous man whose faith withstood the seductive sarcasm of his ungodly wife who chided him, “Curse God and die.” Job was not bound by the chains of a strong-willed woman. There are few Jobs in the world today. 

Cross roads will come. Defining moments will arrive. May we be faithful, wise and discerning to make the right choices when those days come.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

and I—I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.”

The Doctrine of Salvation

“Once admit that we are all naturally dead in trespasses and sins, and have no power to turn to God—once admit that all spiritual life in the heart of man must begin with God—once admit that He who created the world by saying, “Let there be light,” must shine into man’s heart, and create light within him—once admit that God does not enlighten all professing Christians in this manner—but only some, and that He acts in this matter entirely as a Sovereign, giving no account of His matters—once admit all this, and then see where you are. Whether you know it or not, you admit the whole doctrine of Election!”

                          J.C. Ryle

“If when you get on your knees before God you do not realize that you are a ‘debtor to mercy alone’, I confess I do not understand you. There is something tragically defective, either in your sense of sin or in your realization of the greatness of God’s love.” 

              Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

My new book on the Doctrines of Grace will be available soon!