Whatever is lovely...

Finally, brothers, 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.

Phil. 4:8

Webster defines "lovely" as being of the very best kind. Lovely doesn't refer to the mediocre or the good. We're talking about the very best.

In Luke 15 Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son. A son runs away from his father to live in sin, but finds himself in despair. He returns home to beg for forgiveness from his father, but that's not his father's concern.

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²²But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate."

In the same way, when we come to God, he doesn't care where we've been or what we've been doing. He's concerned about where we're going. Our God is happy to forgive if we return to him. He wants to clothe us in his very best robes. So, what are these robes? Psalm 30:11 says that he clothes us in gladness. Isaiah 61:10 says, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels."

God  clothes us in salvation, righteousness, and gladness. Just like he clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he sacrificed the Lamb, Jesus, in order to clothe us in salvation and rid us of our sin and shame. He wants us to have the best. God wants us to be lovely because he is lovely. When he saves our souls he clothes us in that which is lovely- himself.

God is truth. God and all of his creation are deserving of honor. God is justice. God is purity. God is lovely. Think about these things.

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!"
Psalm 84:1

Whatever is pure...

Finally, brothers, 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.
Phil. 4:8

Every single time I hear about purity, I hear the same exact illustration.



Your purity is like a white rose (or dress, or unopened present, etc.). Everyone likes it when it's nice, straight, and white- pure. However, when people touch it, its petals are torn, or it gets dirty, no one wants it anymore.
I HATE this illustration with an unquenchable burning passion. Because, - here's the deal - we are all that distorted, dirty, and destroyed rose, yet God is jealous for us. God wants us so desperately that he sent his son to die so that we could spend eternity with him, despite our incredible impurity.

We have all been touched, stained, and torn by the world. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. Titus 1:15 says, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." We live in a world where "nothing is pure." But that's exactly what God calls us to be. He wants us to have a pure heart, pure wisdom, pure devotion, pure religion, pure conduct, and pure faith. So, how do we do that?

 I John 3:3 says, "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." If we put our hope, or trust, our faith, and our lives in God's hands, we'll be as pure as God is. If we don't put our hopes into things of the world, whether it be money, people, careers, fantasies, or dreams, we'll find purity. We'll find that God is our portion. God is all we need. We don't need God alongside something worldly and impure. If we trust in him, he promises to empty us of the world's influence and overwhelm us with his pure love, grace, joy, and justice.

God is truth. God and all of his creation is deserving of honor. God is justice. God is purity. Think about these things.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Matt. 5:8

Whatever is just...

Finally, brothers, 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.

Phil. 4:8

We often refer to God as being just, but I started thinking about it, and that didn't make sense. "The wages of sin is death..." I sinned, so I should die. Revelation 21:8 says, " But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake of fire and sulfur, which is the second death." That's me. I've been a coward when it comes to proclaiming the gospel, I've been faithless, my ways detestable, and I've told my fair share of lies. Not only that, but Romans 1:18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." God's wrath is no joke. It's bad. It's what caused him to swallow people into the ground, set fire to cities, and exempt people from the paradise he made. He directs his wrath at sin and I am sinful. So, how on earth am I going to get to heaven?

Christ.

 God is justice. He created man, but they sinned. They had to die. That was the deal. But God still wanted them, even in their imperfect and sinful state. Someone had to die to rid mankind of sin so that they could remain in the presence of God. God's immense wrath had to be directed toward something. He chose to direct it at himself - his son. He humbled himself from everything to nothing and came to earth so that he might live a perfect life and be a perfect sacrifice for all. He was an outcast living in poverty who was tortured and endured indescribable agony though he was totally and utterly blameless. Christ came to earth in order to save our souls from death. He bore the wrath reserved for us though he was not in any way deserving. He came so that terribly imperfect beings could spend eternity in a perfect paradise in the light of God's glory. Romans 5:9 says, "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved from the wrath of God." Justified. Just as if we'd never sinned. God is the righteous judge who doesn't let sin slide. When he looks at humanity he sees their sin. But when he looks at Christians he sees that they have opened his "free gift....of eternal life in Christ Jesus." When he looks at my soul, he doesn't see something sin-stained, worldly, and hopeless. He sees Christ- who is perfect and worthy of heaven. That's God's justice.

God is truth. God and all he has created and all he has done for us is deserving of utmost honor. God is justice. Think about these things.


"The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He."
Deut. 32:4

Whatever is honorable....

Finally, brothers, 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.

Phil. 4:8

Honor [on-er] -noun : honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs or actions

 In honor of the Haloween tradition, thousands of children will dress up in costumes and talk to strangers in order to get buckets of candy. We have acre after acre of funeral homes where we honor the dead. We have medals of honor, honorable mention, and honor roll. We honor the flag, our ancestors, our traditions, other's wishes, veterans, and whoever is celebrating the day they were born. Our society says a lot about honor. But what does the world know about honor? We live in a world that is lacking honesty, fairness, and integrity.

So, what does the Bible say? How do we counteract this trend?

I Peter 2:17 says, "Honor everyone...Honor the emperor." In this one verse God tells us the criteria for who is deserving of honor. Everyone. From the lowliest of people to the most powerful man in the world, they are deserving of honor. No person made in God's image is deserving of gossip, backstabbing, violence, immodesty, lies, or any other sinful action in their direction. Regardless of their behavior, political views, religious beliefs, economic situation, or appearance, they are deserving of respect because they are part of God's creation. This includes ourselves. Many people have a harder time honoring themselves than they do others. We must remember that we too are God's creation. We are living sacrifice. We are his temple. We shouldn't defile our bodies with impurities, our minds with worldly wisdom, and our hearts with negativity and hate.

But most importantly, we are to honor God and the Savior he sent. John 5:22-23 says, "The Father judges no one, but has given judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him."

God is truth. God and all he has created and all he has done for us is deserving of utmost honor. Think about these things.

"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy..."

I Peter 3:15

Whatever is true...

Finally, brothers, 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

Phil. 4:8

What is truth?

That seems to be the question of our time and no one seems to know the answer. However, society claims to have come up with a solution: there is no answer. This is postmodernism. The postmodern worldview is one of acceptance. No one is wrong. Everyone is doing the right thing, regardless of what they are doing. Postmodernism is lacking a strong foundation. First of all, it just doesn't make sense for everyone to be right. My monotheistic beliefs clearly contradict the polytheism found in Hinduism. There's no way that we could both be right. Secondly, the belief in absence of absolute truth is an absolute truth in itself. It's an oxymoron.

Truth was obviously a big deal to Christ, since that's why he humbled himself by coming to earth to suffer and die on our behalf. When Jesus was talking to Pilate hours before his execution he said to Pilate, "For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world- to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Clearly Jesus believed in absolute truth, otherwise, he could have just maintained his glorious status as ruler of the world and not bothered to save our souls from hell, because it doesn't matter what everyone believes.

So, what is this truth? The "all paths to God" mentality is not upheld by the Bible, which clearly states that there is one narrow path to God- not 6 billion. Colossians 1 says, "Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you..." The truth is the gospel! The truth is the story of God creating people, the people separating themselves from him, and God bringing them back. That's truth.
God is truth. Think about these things.

"We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth."

II Cor. 13:8

More than a character

Over Christmas break I'll be working as a character at Opryland for their Dreamworks Experience package for the holiday season. There will be characters from Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. During training we put on the costumes and talk a lot about commitment to the character. As soon as that costume is on, we become that character. There's no breaking character, no removing of costume pieces, no talking like ourselves, and no standing still. 

Same goes for Christianity. When we put on the name of Christ, we become something totally different. We act differently, talk differently, live differently.

• We can't break character because we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. We have a world watching us and waiting for us to break down and become like they are, but we have to resist this temptation.
• We can't be seen in partial costume. Christianity is all or nothing. We are to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely in order to glorify God. Every weight. We can't just stop lying and assume that makes up for our gossip. We can't just do the convenient things Christ calls us to do. We have to be in Him 100%.
• We can't act like ourselves, but we are to be conformed to his image. It's not about carrying his name on Sundays and carrying ours for the other 6 days of the week. It's about becoming more and more like Christ in every aspect of our lives (we learn how to do this from Scripture).
• We can't stand still. There is nothing about Christianity that is lazy or idle. We are to be busy at the work of the Lord, and there is always something to do. Whether it's worshipping, studying, visiting, evangelizing, serving, or numerous other things, we can never neglect what God has called us to do. While there is a time for rest, there is never a time to stop glorifying God and growing closer to Christ. There are no plateaus in Christianity- only closer to Christ and farther away.
• There's help in distress. When I'm in the costume it's hard to see, hear, feel, and breathe. I have to give up all of my senses and trust that my handler is going to lead me. The handler is outside the costume to guide me and if there is a problem inside the costume I have a special distress signal to alert my handler. The Scripture is our guide. It is a light in darkness that cannot be put out. It promises that we will not stumble if we walk in its light. Not only that, but Christ cares for us. He is able to sympathize with us in every way, even in the persecution he promises we'll endure. He is a constant and reassuring presence in every time of need.

There is one major difference though. We can't take off Christianity at the end of the day. It's a full time gig. But once we put it on and embrace it, we'll never want to take it off. Putting on Christ means gaining access to our omnipotent Creator and Savior who promises us eternal life in the light of his glory if we commit to him for our short lives.

Romans 13:14

"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

Sin Sells

We often speak of the world as if it's naive of its wrongdoing, but that's simply not the case. Backyard Burger workers wear uniforms that say, "Guilt: Now Even Tastier." One of the biggest teen clothing lines is the Sinful brand. Axe slogans claim that they can wash off last night. TV shows revolve around partying, sex, revenge, gossip, laziness, and lack of purpose. There is no question that the world understands that what it is doing is wrong. Sin sells.

Proverbs 13:16 says, "In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly."

We live in a world full of people who love to do wrong. So, what do we do about this? Firstly, don't support these brands that promote wrong. Be one less customer of folly. Be an example to the world and give them no cause to call you a hypocrite. The world knows the difference between right and wrong because they embrace wrong and are happy to accuse you of wrong. But mainly, be lovers of God and his way. Proverbs 15:9 says, "The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he who loves him pursues righteousness." Lovers of God should not just avoid sin, but they should love doing right and glorifying God in the process. If we are people of a God that loves us unconditionally and is deserving of all praise for his grace and sacrifice, we should be in pursuit of his wisdom rather than walk with the fools of this world.