Developing Leaders-Influence

The second most important development area in the life as a leader, is in the influence of others. One is only a leader, if they have followers. If no one is following a person, then that person is not a leader. To be a leader is to influence others in a certain direction or towards a certain vision. As a leader, a shepherd in the church, to influence others then is to equip them for their life in Christ. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11-13, “and He gave…the shepherds and teachers [to the church] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood”. Leader's must develop their ability to equip the saints, to influence them to works of serving God. Simply put, leaders must develop their disciple making skills, so that a leader makes disciples who make disciples. And developing this part of leader means to grow in teaching skills, serving skills, and loving skills. As character grows then leaders must partner it with a growth in gifts.

But influencing others, in leadership, also means that leaders must develop their shepherding skills. Jesus was the perfect shepherd. To serve Him and lead in His church, is to also be a shepherd for the people of God. Joshua, a growing influencing leader was told by Christ Himself, “only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you” (Joshua 1:7). This verse point to the fact that a leader, as part of influencing and shepherding others, must have strength and courage. This is a critical area that every leader, including myself, must grow and develop. Shepherding the people of God means wolves, stubborn sheep, and valleys of death, must be faced with courage. As part of influencing others then, a leader must develop the courage and strength to make the hard choices and lead the people in the face of all opposition and brokenness. 

Developing Leaders-Character

The most important part of a leader is their character. A leader can have a clear vision and can influence others. But without a godly character, ultimately the leader will leader their followers down the wrong road and away from God. The quality of a leader shows up in their character. This means the very first part and area that a leader must develop is their character. Joseph had character in the face of opposition. Daniel had character in the face of the ungodly. Paul had character in the face of persecution. The character of a leader makes or breaks the leader, so it must be developed and continue to grow the rest of the life of a leader.

The first way to develop the character of the leader is in a discipline to godliness. Paul tells Timothy, “train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Disciplining in godliness is a set of intentional activities that are done to bring growth and character development. So, in my life as a leader, I must spend a significant time in prayer. I must spend a portion of my time learning and growing in my knowledge of God and His Word, through study. An important action in training for godliness is having accountability to others, who can speak truth into my life. And the key action in training in godliness is repetition. Reading the Word, spending time in prayer, and being transparent with others, must all be done continuously so that growth and development is a continuous process.

A second way to develop the character of leader is to realize the place of a leader. Jesus said to his disciples, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). A true leader is also a follower. A true leader understands that they exist to leader others, which means they exist for the well being of those who follow them. A true leader must also be a servant, with the heart of a servant. So, developing the c character of a servant and growing in humility will lead to the growth of character. For my life as a leader, I must mortify the sin of pride in my life, humbly follow the example of the greatest servant, and bend down in my heart to serve those following me. Developing the heart of a servant is to develop the character of a leader.

A third way to develop character in a godly leader, is to imitate the perfect leader, Jesus, and those who are also imitating Him. Paul says to the Corinthian church, “imitate me as I imitate Jesus” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The life and character of a leader, must be one of imitation. No, we can’t or will we ever be God in the flesh and perfect. But Jesus lays out His character, his humility, his fruit, and his actions for us to see and follow. AS a leader, I must then grow in imitating my Savior and as I imitation my Savior, my character will develop and grow. I can also watch and follow other godly leader who are imitating Jesus, and see how they deal with the brokenness of this world. I can imitate and follow other godly leader, which will also develop and form my character as aa leader, as I follow a leader who is following the perfect leader. This development looks like a mirror reflecting light around a corner. As a leader of character and imitation of Jesus, I will form my followers into also be imitators of Jesus and followers of Him. 

The Great Divorce

This past holiday weekend, in the midst of ministry and school work, I was able to find a few moments to sit down and read C.S. Lewis' book, "The Great Divorce". This was a very enjoyable, inspiring, yet quick read. The book is only 146 pages, but is pack to the brim with solid biblical truth. It is in line with Lewis' other book, "The Screwtape Letters". Both books are allegorical fables. They tell a story, a fictional story, but are designed to teach and get the reader thinking about biblical truth. "The Great Divorce" is a allegorical fable about a man who rides a bus from Hell to Heaven and then spends time walking around Heaven listening to and watching conversations between those on the bus with him, and those residence of Heaven. The book title points to the fact that there is a very clear separation between Heaven and Hell, light and dark, God and earth, sin and sainthood, living for God and living for oneself. So as I was reading the fictional story, I was reminded of the fact that I am now in the kingdom of God, in the life of light, and have been totally divorced from the flesh, sin, selfishness, and personal pleasure. At the end of the story one will realize, as I did, that to be a lover of God, it must come with the divorce from everything that is not God or God delighting.

One of the interesting things I found from the story, is that all of those outside of heaven are pictured as dark vapor like ghost. All of those who reside in Heaven, are bright colorful beings of light. The sheer contrast between the two, brings the reader to realize the kingdom of God is a kingdom and realm of light. Where as the kingdom of self, is a dark gloomy almost smoke-like, existence. When a person truly surrenders to God and is saved by Him, they enter a life of light and bright beauty. When a person remains self-absorbed and in bondage to themselves, their existence, as nice as it may seem, is truly almost non-existent and very dark. This was a great picture illustrated in the story by Lewis.

As the narrator in the story walks around Heaven, after he gets off the bus, there are so many conversation that he overhears and observes, that Lewis does an excellent job illustrating all of the reasons that we will never choose God, and remain in our selfish dark existence. Here are some of the lines that struck me from these conversations.

-"I do not look at myself. I have given up myself. That was what it did for me. And that was how everything began". (This was a being of light talking to a ghost). 

-"I do not want help. I want to be left alone and do this on my own". (This was a ghost responding to a being of light who was trying to lead them to a life eternal in God). 

-"I forgive him as a Christian, but there are some things one can never forget". (This was a ghost responding to the plea of a being of light trying to get them to place their baggage down and come into the light). 

-"You are treating God only as a means to Michael. But the whole thickening treatment consists in learning to want God for His own sake". (This was a being of light responding to a ghost who would not come into heaven unless their child came to them first from heaven). 

And not only were many of the conversations the narrator overheard critical in the point of the fable and allegory, but also a few lines the narrator himself wrote down. Here are my 2 favorite lines from the entire book.

-You cannot fully understand the relations of choice ad time until you are beyond both.

-"But they (beings of light) aren't distinguished-no more than anyone else. Don't you understand? The Glory flows into everyone and back from everyone; like light and mirrors. But the light's the thing.

The Great Divorce is a book I would recommend for anyone to read. If one is not a lover of God, they can find truth in this book without it smacking them in the face. Lewis does an excellent job weaving the truth of God and salvation into a story that makes it clear, yet not so clear that it is like reading a Bible. This book, for a Christian, is an excellent read becasue it takes the imagination of the person and draws them into the heart and mind of God through this instrument. I would highly recommend this book for everyone.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Here is an amazing Thanksgiving prayer that I have had in my mind this entire week. We must not only be thankful this week, but throughout every week and every year. Thanksgiving must be on our lips continually, not becasue of our circumstances, but to Him who is behind every single circumstance.

"Honor and praise be unto you, O Lord our God, for all your tender mercies again bestowed upon us throughout another day.

Continual thanks be unto you for creating us in your own likeness; for redeeming us by the precious blood of your dear Son when we were lost; and for sanctifying us with the Holy Spirit.

We thank you, for your help and succour in our necessities, your protection in many dangers of body and soul; your comfort in our sorrows, and for sparing us in life, and giving us so large a time to repent. We are thankful for all the benefits, O most merciful Father, that we have received of your goodness alone, we thank you; and we beseech you to grant us always your Holy Spirit, that we may grow in grace, in steadfast faith, and perseverance in all good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you for being you and being the only true good, true love, and faithful in all that you are for us".

-John Knox

Psalm 100

Part 1

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

² Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

So, if we have a good translation, we probably notice that there is a larger space between verses 2 and 3, between 3 and 4, and finally between 4 and 5. Our translation is helping us out, by pointing the breaks of interpretation and helping us understand the flow of this Psalm. So, hopeful we can see that this is a 4-part Psalm. This Psalm rotates back and forth. First it points to thanksgiving and then gives a reason why, the points to thanksgiving and then gives a reason why. Look at verses 1 and 2. Verse 1 is the theme, point, or main thrust of this psalm. As the people of God, we are called to make a joyful noise to God and we are called to do it all over the earth. Remember, Genesis 1:28 is our commission from God. We are called to spread the glory of God over all the earth. And in spreading God’s glory all over the earth, it must come from the joyful noise and joyful heart. As Charles Spurgeon said of this verse, "we have a happy God so we must also be a happy people spreading the joy of the happy God". Being thankful is tied to being joyful. No matter what circumstance we are in, are we a joyful people? If we are joyful, then we must also be thankful. If we are thankful, the we must also be joyful. Joyfulness and thankfulness go together like 2-sides of the same coin. And then verse 2 not only restates verse, but also compounds the thought by driving it deeper. This is an important interpretation tool that we must see in many of the Psalms. Hebrew poetry and song is hard to make sense of at times. So, understanding right interpretation tools is critical. Verse 2, the author drives thanksgiving to gladness. A synonym I find very helpful for gladness at times, is cheerfulness. We are not only to spread God’s gory all over the earth with rejoicing, but as we go, as we serve God we must do it with cheerfulness and gladness. Our gladness is a sign of true faith. We might have heard it said that it is not about doing a duty for God it is about delight. We have this idea that if we serve God in a way that is not delight or is not cheerful or is not full of gladness, then we must not do it. Maybe we have heard it said, it is not about duty. But this verse nails the truth on the head. If we serve God without gladness, cheerfulness, or delight, our faith comes into question. But we must serve God. We must do our duty for God. Because not serving God or doing our duty for God, brings our faith into question also. It is serving with gladness. It is working with cheerfulness. It is true duty with delight. And a thankful heart is doing this. And the second line drives the point further. A thankful heart, a cheerful heart, a glad heart that is delighting in duty is one that is continually in the very presence of God with rejoicing and singing. In the Hebrew culture, singing was a sign of delight and worship. So, as a thankful people we must be thankful, but it must be a cheerful, glad heart that is ever worshiping and delighting in the very presence of God. Coram Deo, we are always in the very presence of God. We must always be a thankful, cheerful, glad, rejoicing people full of thanksgiving.

Part 2

³ Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

So why must we be thankful? The first reason we must be thankful is based in our knowledge of who God is. If we base our thanksgiving in our circumstances, then our thanksgiving will come and go. Our thanksgiving will be strong when life is good and none existent when life is hard. When suffering comes we will not be thankful at all. Spurgeon had an amazing line that still rings in my heart today. “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages”. This is a line about being thankful for who God is, for the knowledge of God. Even in the middle of trials, Spurgeon was and could be thankful because of who God is. Only when we know God can we truly know anything else, including ourselves. And as this Psalm then drives deeper, knowing not just God, but knowing God is our Creator and our owner. He created us and owns us. This is where true comfort comes from. And when we are truly comfortable then and only then will thanksgiving reign from our hearts. Our thanksgiving today, Thursday, and every day, must be rooted in God alone. Because then whether it is a wave or a blessing, a provision or a suffering, a gift or a pain, then and only then can we always be thankful.

Part 3

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

So, rejoicing, gladness, and cheerfulness must also be public. Here the Psalm in verse 4, shows that thanksgiving, joy in the Lord, a delight in who God is, must be a very public act. If we, as verse 1 shows, are going to spread the glory of God all over the earth through joy, that must be public. In verse 4, the public nature is the Temple, the very real visible presence and place of God and his people meeting. As I was reminded a few weeks ago in 1 Corinthians, we as the body of Christ, the church, are the very garden Temple of God. So, the very first public place that we must be a thankful people is in this group. Not only must this group be a big part of why we are thankful, we must also be very visibly thankful in this group. So, if we are sour, depressed, critical, angry, arrogant, greedy, or self-absorbed in church, that is the complete opposite of being thankful in the church. We must be in the very presence of God with thanksgiving. We must have a public devotion, a public awareness of thanksgiving we must have a public praise of God. And the imagery of blessing God is very important. The most basic sense of blessing someone is to give to someone something they do not have. When God blesses me with a house, He is giving me a house I did not have. If you bless someone with a new car, you are giving them something they do not have. The truth is, when we bless God we are giving Him something that he does not already have. But God has everything. That’s right God does have everything. But God does not have our praise, our thanksgiving, our gladness, our cheerfulness, that is our responsibility. We can bless God by giving him our praise, our gladness, our cheerfulness, and our thanksgiving. When we are thankful we are blessing God. As Isaac Watts wrote, “Let those refuse to sing, who never knew our God; But favorites of the heavenly king, must speak His praise abroad”.

Part 4

⁵ For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

The Psalm closes with another reason we must be thankful. In the first reason in verse 3, we saw that knowing God must driving thanksgiving, and knowing God and His relationship to us. Verse 5 gives us a knowledge of God, not in his relationship to us, but in His very character. Verse 5 is one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. God is good. This does not mean that God does good. This does not mean that there are certain periods that God has done good. This in Hebrew, is 2 words. God and good. Simply put God’s nature is good. God Himself is the very definition of good. That means every single action of God is good. Nothing that God does is not good. God is good. God is defined as good. If we were to look up the definition of the word good in Gods dictionary it would be one word. Good can be defined as God. And He is good which means he is steadfast love. God is also love. Every single action that God does is love. God himself is the definition of good and the definition of love and as the third line shows, he is also the definition of faithful. All that God does is good, loving, and faithful. Nothing is counter to any of that t God. That means that the cancer that Hiram has been bestowed by God is defined by God as good, loving and faithful. That means when my car broke down and is still breaking down, God is good, loving, and faithful in breaking my car down. As humans, we define good, loving, and faithful from a human perspective. But God is the very definition of good, loving, and faithful. That means as the people of God we must define good, loving and faithful from his perspective, from his character, from his very nature. Which means there is nothing in the universe that has happened, that is happening, or that will happen that is not defined by God as good, loving, and faithful. And in that truth, in that knowledge, how can we not be thankful. And that is the point I want us to show from this Psalm. If we are rooted in the very nature and character of God and His relationship to us, then we will always be thankful, we will always be rejoicing, we will always be cheerful, we will always be glad. 

Doctrines of Grace

A friend recently asked me, "what are the doctrines of grace"? To fully write about the doctrines of grace would take multiple posts. So, Lord willing, come December, after the thanksgiving holiday, I will write a series of post defining, explaining, and giving Biblical evidence for each of the doctrines of grace. Today, I just want to show why they are called the doctrines of grace and also tell what they are.

So simply put the doctrines of grace, are 6 doctrines or truths that the Bible teaches us. The 6 doctrines of grace are; the sovereignty of God, the total corruption of man, the unconditional election of God, the particular redemption of God, the irresistible calling of God, and the sealing of the saints by God. Here they are in a list form.
-Sovereignty of God's nature
-Total depravity of man
-Unconditional Election for salvation
-Particular redemption in salvation
-Effectual calling to salvation
-Eternal security

 These are called the doctrines of grace becasue these are the 6 most visible actions of God's grace. Grace in the simplest way is receiving something that one does not deserve. In God's character, salvation comes by grace alone (Sola Gratia). Salvation is a gift from God, where as, he acts and does everything to, on, and for us, in the entire process of saving us. We play no whatsoever part in our own salvation, except the sin factor. God in His grace, totally controls every aspect of salvation (sovereignty of God). God, in His grace, then overcomes the corrupt nature of man and his inability to ever chose God on his own (total depravity). God then overcoming the nature of man, calls the elect or those he chose to save, on no condition of their own (unconditional election). God choosing some for salvation then guarantees their salvation in grace, by overcoming their nature and drawing them to Himself and placing in them the desire to want Him and delight in Him above all else (effectual calling). God then in grace guarantees the salvation of his elect, by making a way for the elect to be saved, orchestrating the plan at the perfect timing, in the perfect way, for the complete salvation of all those he chose for his free gift of salvation (particular redemption). Finally, in grace, God makes sure that those He chose for salvation, which again is a gift from God, make it to eternity with Him (eternal security). Simply put, from the very beginning to the very end, the doctrines of grace teach that it is God's grace and His grace alone, that saves a person. That is why they are called the doctrines of grace.

*Like I said earlier, hopefully I will write about each doctrine after the holiday this week.*

Teachable vs. Teaching

I always find it interesting when other people try to teach me things. I recently had a conversation with a gentleman who was trying to teach me about my car. He was passionate and clearly wanted to impart knowledge he knew about my car, becasue he thought I did not know it. After his teaching was over, I thanked him for the knowledge and tried to gently let him know I already knew what he was try to tell me. This got me thinking about what it means to be teachable.

See, we have this idea that being teachable means that we must be open and learn from every single person that wants to speak into our lives. We think being teachable is, in humility, sitting at the feet of every teacher and learning from every single person that wants to impart knowledge to us. This is not want it means to be teachable. Being teachable means that we are humble and open to learn from others and learn from the community of saints. Yes, there are people that we all must be open to learning and growing from. God has given Elders and teachers to the church for the equipping and growing of the saints. So we all must be humble and teachable from the leaders that God has placed over us in our churches. For me personally this means I must be open to what many of my peers have to say, my professors, and former elders in my life. But being teachable though, does not mean I have to be open to learn from everyone.

The Bible tells us that we must be wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. This means that every person must be discerning and knows what is good, healthy truth, and what is false, heretical lies. So for my life personally I am gentle and humble in how I learn and even how I respond to those who try to teach me. But I am also discerning and I reject what is wrong and tune out those who do not know the truth, even as they try to teach me. I must respond in gentleness and love, but this does not mean I have to learn from them.

So the point in all of this is, as Christian we all must be humble and open to learn from others. We especially must be open and learning from the leaders God has placed over us in our lives. But we do not have to be open and learn from every single person. We need great wisdom and discernment, which only truly come from God, and learn from those who will lead us to growth and depth of God and His character. We all must be learners, but we do not have to be learners of all. So do we discern what is truth and what is not? And do we then learn from those who speak the truth and silently tune out those who do not? We all must be discerning teachable students of the Word and those who speak the truth from the Word, but not teachable students from all.

Nothing New

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

The last hurdle I had to get over in my growth, was the truth that there is nothing new in Biblical knowledge or doctrine. This was a new concept for me and something I had to work through.

In the world today, becasue we are prideful human centered creatures, we tend to think we can do things better, understand things more, and grow in our mental ability. We tend to think that past generations had no clue and were living in the dark ages with minds that were stunted. We tend to think that as we grow in our understanding, we will discover new truths, new ways, and new ability. Yes, we are growing as a society and yes we are understanding more about the world around us. But when it comes to God, His Word, His people, and His truth, there is nothing new under the sun as the verse states above. God wrote His Word over 2000 years ago. God's Word has not changed since. God's Spirit came 2000 years ago. God's Spirit has not changed since. God has called a people for Himself and called them to be His Church. God's people have not really changed, spiritually speaking, since. So when it comes to new things discovered in the truths of God, that is just a lie of the Devil. The Devil wants us to think there are new things and new truths, when in reality they are simply a distortion of the truths from of old. And this is a hurdle that every Christian needs to get over to find growth in what God gave us millennia ago.

So when I was 25, I began to swallow the hard truths of God. I discovered as I swallowed them, as I drank deeply from the depths of God, I found the community of saints both past and present were echoing what I was reading and were teaching many of the truths that were jumping out from the pages of God's Word. And as I began to grow, I soon realized that the church had been saying these same things from ages ago. I soon discovered for example, that what Deuteronomy taught (we will never chose God without Him choosing us first), was the same truths that Paul taught in Ephesians, which was the same thing that Augustine taught that Calvin taught that Edwards taught that Matt Chandler was teaching. As I began to grow and see that there truly is nothing new under the sun about the truths and doctrine of God, the Bible became a living breathing acting magnificent colorful book. As I grew in my knowledge of God and discovered truths from old, the Bible became real and drove my mind to be transformed. And as my mind was transformed, so my heart and affections were changed and then I was able to do all for the glory of God. And as I cleared the hurdle of old truths for a new day, I was able to swallow more, learn better from those around me, and drink deeply from the history and teachers of the Church.

So that is my journey to where I am today. I am still growing, still learning, and still have much room to grow. But as I have cleared each of these 4 hurdles in my spiritual walk with God, I have discovered a faith that is not about me, not about what I want, not about what I think, not about my life, but a faith that is about changing the world around me for the glory of God alone. Things are still challenging. God is still very mysterious. But I can now say, 9 years later, that I am glad I was able to clear each of these hurdles, so that I can be a sharp, mature tool in the hand of my sovereign Lord who has a plan and ordains everything to happen around me for my good and His glory.

The Cloud

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set before us". Hebrews 12:1

This verse has become a great encouragement to me. The writer of Hebrews had just got done writing about many important, faithful, and active children of God. Hebrews chapter 11 is a long list and description of many different individuals from the Bible that played an important role in the history of God's people. Then beginning chapter 12, we have the verse listed above. The writer is making it known to the reader that they are in a long line of faithful people of God, and they must not only live in view of the history of God's people, but they must also let the history of God's people impact and drive them today. And the writer is making an important point still today in the 21st century. Not only does the church in 2016 have important Biblical people like Abraham and David, but there is still history since the book of Hebrews was written, important historical figures like Athanasius and Martin Luther, that are the cloud of great witness. The church today still must be encouraged, driven, and learned by the cloud of witness, both Biblical figures and more modern figures. And this is a great encouragement to me.

But this was not always the case for me. The third hurdle I had to get over was the hurdle that history and what it teaches is critically important and still vital for me today. So I came face to face with this reality at the same time I came face to face with the hard things I had to swallow and the truth about the community of saints.

I was 25 and I had just lost my job. The economy was starting to slow down and the construction company I was working for began to get slow. So on Halloween that year, I found out I no longer had a job. I had recently began serving in my church in leadership and had in fact preached my very first sermon in the church the summer before I lost my job. So there I was having a growing family, beginning to discover my gifts in the church, and now out of employment looking where I could turn. I began to look to God at this point, but I had no real depth of knowledge about God. I was asking God why did this happen, I began to get angry at God for letting this all happen, and I started to wonder what was next. That Christmas I received 2 gifts that would forever change my life, perspective of God, and understanding of history. I received a book entitled, "Knowledge of the Holy" and another book that was filled with sermons by Jonathan Edwards. As I sat around Christmas day, I soon discovered, from both of these historical works, that I had much to learn from God and much more I needed to learn about God. Through the writing of A.W. Tozer and Jonathan Edwards, my mind was blown wide open about who and what God is. I came face to face that winter with the reality that church history and works in Church history still had much to teach me today. Because of both of these works, my growth and journey has forever been changed.

And as a response to reading both of these works, I soon began to get a hold of anything I could find from the history of the church. I began to read Martin Luther, Augustine, more Edwards, Martin Lloyd Jones, the Puritans, and John Calvin. I studied men like Athanasius, John Knox, and Polycarp. I read about the Reformation, the Great Awakening, and the Missionary Movement of the last 200 years. Coming face to face with the history of the church, I soon discovered I had a lot to learn from men who were dead centuries before I was born. These were movements that are still felt today. These are theological struggles that are still around today. These are teachings that still matter today. And most important, these are men living in a world that I am still living in, dealing with the same sin and brokenness that I still deal with, and are teaching from the same Bible that I still read today. I soon discovered that my greatest teacher, outside of the Bible, was what Church history taught me about the Bible. And I had to clear this hurdle.

9 years later I no longer have to clear the hurdle of getting into, understanding, and loving what the history and cloud of witness teach me. I know turn to history as my greatest teacher. I use Calvin every week as I study the Bible. I turn to Athanasius when I need help on the Trinity. I look to Augustine to understand sin better. I read Edwards when I want to drink deep from God's depths. I let Luther speak into theological truths. And the Puritans make life with God that much more clear. Thanks to getting over this 3rd hurdle, I now love history more than ever. And History loves me more than ever as men and times still speak and teach me today. So the writer of Hebrews is right. We do live in view of a cloud of great witness, men who were faithful in some serious unfaithful times. The question that I have truly and deeply answered a yes on, is, do we let history still teach us today? If we don't, not only are we not clearing a hurdle that will drive our growth, but we are rejecting a Biblical truth from God Himself.

Human Creation

So if God created the human body at creation in the form of Adam, and that physical form is conceived at conception by the parents what does that mean for the soul and spirit? Are the soul and spirit created by God at conception or are they passed along by the parents at conception along with the body? God created only once at the beginning of time with the seven days of creation and He will recreate a new heaven and new earth at the end of time as well but He does not create every time at the conception of new babies. So does that mean that the parents can create a soul and spirit every time they conceive a new child? Psalms 51:5 supports the idea of parents passing everything to their children in stating, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”.  This would explain how and why every human being is born in a sinful state. It would show that Adam’s sin is imputed to his ancestors and that no one excluding Jesus Christ can escape the penalty for being born sinful. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit with Mary so that is how Jesus was not born sinful or with a sin nature. That is why Jesus was the only one who could ever die for sin and the penalty for that sin.

To know that all men are sinful and have fallen is the more important truth to gather and to see how far men have fallen is the much better understanding to have when it comes to the soul. All men’s souls are totally depraved and fallen and a need for something is where the focus needs to be on, which brings us to the fall and the realization that all men are sinful and ugly in God’s sight. To understand the fall and how far humans have fallen is a great truth to focus on in respect to mankind and the relationship to God. As was established earlier, man was made in the image of God. This means in respect to the fall of man many things were lost or distorted. First the fall of man from its perfect state must be confirmed as an actual historical event, not some mere mythological story. Genesis 3 records the events of man and woman failing their first test from the serpent to challenge God. Genesis 3 also records man and woman playing the blame game then to pass the fault and guilt to someone else. Jesus confirms this event as actual history when He talks about the creator stating, “That in the beginning the Creator made them male and female” (Matthew 19:3). So the historical event of the fall is recorded and proves that mankind actually fell from the perfect state to a marred sinful state.

But what exactly was the fall, what took place and what were the results of the fall of man? The first step in the fall came in the form of a test from the serpent, filled with the devil, to Eve. The serpent says, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’”. The serpent is testing Eve and leading her down a path that leads to ruin. After Eve’s response the serpent then questions God, stating, “You will not surely die”. Eve then falls for the three lusts in the sin nature, the lust for the flesh, “Saw the fruit was good for food”, lust of the eyes, “pleasing to the eye”, and the lust of pride, “Desirable for gaining wisdom”. Eve falls to her temptations and Adam joins her when he also eats some of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. A direct disobedience of the will of God takes place. A fall from the perfect created state ensues, and there are many results of this fall. First and foremost is a spiritual separation and break from a direct relationship with God the Creator, a break in the fellowship. Another major result of the fall of man is a physical death and spiritual death. God realized He could not have a sinful fallen man living forever in the world that He created, so God let a physical death come to mankind. (Genesis 3)

Each participant of the fall also received consequences from God for their actions. The serpent was punished by having to crawl on his belly for the rest of time. The devil will ultimately be sent to hell and was punished by having his head crushed by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and the defeat of sin and death. The woman will experience pain in childbirth, and her heir, Jesus, must die for the salvation of all man because of the fall and entering of sin into the will and plan of God. As for Adam, first he must work for his food and weeds will spring up in nature so that toiling and work are now required. Death and the curse to all of creation were given to Adam. Romans 8:19 tells us, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” and later in 22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”. All of creation has suffered because of the fall of man, not just mankind.

But what does the fall mean for mankind today? How does Adam’s sin and stumble affect us in the world today, and what sort of results has it given us besides the results given by God in Genesis 3? Romans 5:12 reminds us, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”. So all men have sinned, because it has been imputed to us through Adam, which means all men are separated from God because of that sin. All men have sinned though Adam and that first sin in the Garden of Eden. All men are fallen and separated from God. All men are totally depraved and lost without hope. Ephesians 2:1 reminds us, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin”.  Mankind chases after their sin nature and desires rather than chasing after a relationship with God. Man can do nothing on their own because they are all lost and need God’s help. Man is sinful in all of its being and nature because of the fall. Romans 7:18 reminds us again, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature”. Every single ounce of the human being is pushing away from God and racing head long into the lust of the flesh and sin nature. Titus 1:15 clarifies it again even more sating, “But to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure”. The fall and entry of sin into the perfect existence ruined everything, especially man in God’s eyes. Man needs help from our Creator to get back in a right standing relationship. God must first call us back so that man can chase again after God and His perfect will and decrees.

Humans are amazing creations by God. Creatures that if left perfect could do mighty and creative activities to worship the Creator. But mankind could not stay in this perfect state. Even with the moral code and the image of God as part of us we still made mistakes. So the sin nature infiltrates every human down to the core and flows through every aspect of man, the body, soul and spirit. Man is fallen and needs to get back in that right standing with God. But man, cannot in his own will or desire, he still needs God and depends upon God. Romans 3:10-12 needs to remind us again and again, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (NIV). The human mind body and soul are amazing but still depraved. The question then is are you letting God call you and run from the sin nature or are you letting the sin nature control you. Romans 8:8 remind us nicely, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God”.