I have come to the conclusion that being seated next to someone on a fully booked transatlantic flight, is the closest you can come to holding someone hostage without being charged with a crime, or criminally prosecuted. I was on my way to Romania, via Munich Germany, and for the first time in a long time I was excited. Usually, I get seated between the two mothers with the crying infants, and listen to screaming in stereo for the better part of eight hours, but to my surprise an older gentleman sat in the seat next to mine and nodded his head at me smiling.
Seeing as I had dodged the crying baby bullet, I pulled out my copy of William Gurnall’s ‘The Christian In Complete Armor’, and found the bookmark I had put there, a ticket stub from another flight, at page 560. Although the book can be found in three different volumes, the copy I have is the complete and unabridged version, which comes out to a little over twelve hundred pages.
I saw the gentleman seated next to me arch his eyebrows when he saw me pull the book out of my bag, but since he didn’t say anything I just started reading.
This was my third reading of the book, and if there is one thing you should know about me concerning my reading library, is that I abuse my books. On almost every page of a good book I own you will find highlighted passages, thoughts scrawled on the outer edges, and folded pages that I want to reread at a further date. About an hour into the flight, I felt the gentleman was looking at me, and as I raised my head, my suspicion was confirmed. He smiled and said, “Did you buy the book used? It looks like the previous owner wasn’t very kind to it.”
“I bought it new” I answered, “it’s just something I do when I read, I highlight and scrawl. I’ve done it for as far back as I could remember.”
“Is it a good book? What is it about?”
I informed him it was a Christian book, penned by a man who lived in the sixteen hundreds, and that yes, it was worth a read, or even two or three.
“So what do you do if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I’m a preacher”, I answered.
“Are you going to Germany to preach? Do you speak German?”
I explained that I was headed to Romania, and that my family lived there, and the orphanage our family built was also located in Romania.
We talked for awhile longer about our work, and about what I did, and then I asked him if he believed in God, and whether or not he was a Christian.
He smiled and said something that he meant as a joke, but nevertheless got me thinking. He said, “Well, I’m a Baptist but only when it suits me.”
Tragic and unfortunate as it might be many people today share this man’s beliefs when it comes to God and their faith in God. They are believers, or at least purport to be, only when it suits them. Throughout the rest of my flight, and for some time after arriving home I kept returning to the questions, ‘what has caused this spike in nominal Christianity, and why are there so many Christians in name only?’
I have concluded that there are four major reasons why the number of nominal Christians has multiplied exponentially within the span of a generation.
The first of these four reasons has been the enemy of true faith in Christ since the beginning of the early church. Although throughout the centuries it has gone by different names, such as Gnosticism, Agnosticism, Universalism, Humanism, Ecumenicalism, and Mysticism, today it is most widely known as liberal theology. The simple definition of liberal theology is the removal of Scripture as final authority in matters pertaining to Christianity, and the practice of selective application of Scripture. What I mean by selective application is that we pick and choose only those verses within God’s holy Word that suit us, those verses that do not challenge us, that do not compel us to righteousness, and that require nothing of us.
Of the sixty six books, 1189 chapters, and 31,103 verses of the Bible, we appropriate a handful of them, some not even in their entirety, which give us license to do as we wish when we wish if only in our own mind, and discard the rest of God’s Word as either irrelevant for our times, or absent of the contextualization required of us to fully receive them. These are just veiled excuses for disobedience, and justification for a hard and unrepentant heart.
Liberal theology is on an upswing, especially in America, because it offers all the benefits of being a Christian, without those pesky requirements such as repentance and sanctification. Men deceive themselves into believing they can have the best of both worlds, and that they can serve two masters, not realizing that Jesus said no man can serve two masters because well, they’ve conveniently discarded that part of the Bible along with all the other verses.
Blinded by their own perceived intelligence, such people live their lives fully assured that they’ve found a way to bypass repentance, to bypass holiness unto God, to bypass righteousness, and jump the fence into heaven.
To the theologically liberal God’s dictates and mandates are no longer things to be obeyed without question, but merely suggestions to be debated, and subjectively analyzed.
“I know that’s what the Bible says, but that’s not the way I see it. I know that’s what the Bible says but in my heart I don’t feel that’s right.”
No offense intended, but who are you, or who am I for that matter, to contradict the Creator of the universe? Justified disobedience, is still disobedience, and the reality is that man can only justify disobedience in his own mind, not before an omniscient God. Will anyone be able to stand before God’s judgment seat, and say “I know that’s what You commanded, but I knew better.”
The arrogance of some men is baffling to behold. I cannot fathom the level of pride it would take to place our own thoughts, ideas, and feelings above the very God we are purporting to serve. The Word of God is not subjective, it is absolute! The flesh however, rebels against the idea of obedience and servitude.
The second reason nominal Christianity has become so pervasive is loss of purpose. Whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve lost sight of that which is most important, being distracted by worthless and temporal things. The primary purpose of the church was to be a witness, to evangelize, to go into the entire world and preach the gospel of Christ to every nation. We seem to have forgotten that every generation needs to be evangelized, every generation needs to be instructed in the ways of Christ, and every generation needs to have the love of God birthed in their hearts.
We see the dangers of not passing on the love of God to our children in the lineage of Abraham, specifically the difference between his relationship with God, Isaac’s relationship with God, and finally Jacob’s relationship with God.
There is a very telling progression, or rather descent into disobedience with every passing generation, because the Word of truth and life is not passed on, nor are the fruit of the Spirit many are saying they have visible to their offspring.
If we study the Word diligently we see that there is a lessening of both faith and devotion in Isaac than that which was in his father Abraham. We all know the exploits and the history of Abraham, the patriarch, the friend of God, but from Abraham being God’s friend, we turn our focus on Isaac who viewed God as one merely to be feared. From Isaac, we turn to Jacob, who possessed even less faith than Isaac, who referred to God only in the context of being the God of Abraham.
Genesis 31:42, “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
This verse is in the context of Jacob’s labors on behalf of Laban his father in law, and the unjust manner in which he was treated, but I wanted us to see the first part of this verse, and perceive how Jacob viewed God. He did not say, ‘unless my God’ but rather, ‘the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac’. Essentially, at that point in his existence, Jacob was removed from a personal and intimate relationship with God.
If we fail to evangelize the next generation, if we fail to put in the time and raise our children up in the ways of the Lord, the pattern will simply continue to repeat itself at infinitum. The pattern has existed since the time of Abraham, and its course as well as its causality is as evident as it is tragic. The pattern always follows these three steps: The first generation experiences a spiritual awakening, the second generation maintains its integrity because of its parents’ faith, and the third generation falls by the wayside altogether.
This is the pattern that became evident in the lineage of Abraham as well, wherein the patriarch was close to God, and had a relationship with Him, his son Isaac was blessed in large part due to his father, and Jacob referred to God merely as one who his father served.
Genesis 26:24, “And the Lord appeared to him that same night and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”
We need to consider two big ideas in this verse. First, when the Lord appeared to Isaac, He introduced Himself as the God of his father. He did not appear to Isaac and say, “I am the Lord your God” as He often did with Israel, but the God of your father. Isaac had no intimacy or relationship with God, and because love for God did not reside in his heart, the only emotion he showed toward the God of his father was fear. Second, it was due to the bond God had with Abraham that he promised Isaac he would bless him. It was for Abraham’s sake that God would bless Isaac, and for no other reason.
We see the perfect portrait of the dangers of not continually and fervently planting the seeds of God’s Word in our children’s lives and hearts. We have the tendency to forget that every generation needs to be pointed to Christ that the pattern might be broken, and that the next generation will be as faithful and obedient to God as the present generation.
The third reason I believe there are so many Christians in name only has more to do with the church as a whole, than the individual. It is due to a combination of hierarchal structure, as well as inflexible and irrelevant formalities and ceremonies.
The primary church understood that in order for the body to function properly, every body part had to function. The nominal church has forgotten that if one body part is not functioning, then it inevitably atrophies. A good example of this is my little brother Daniel. Some time ago he was in a major car wreck, and due to some severe damage he suffered to his left leg he had to have multiple surgeries. Because of the surgeries, he was bedridden and unable to walk for a few months. Inevitably, his leg muscles weakened, they began the process of atrophy, and so before he could walk again, he had to undergo physical therapy to strengthen his legs again. It is the same within a body of believers, where the prevalent mentality is ‘it’s the pastor’s job, he gets paid to labor; he gets paid to be close to God.’ As such the rest of the body grows indifferent, ever weaker, ever colder, and begins to wither becoming powerless and largely irrelevant. In order for the whole to be strong, the individual members must be strong, and as such must grow spiritually as individuals. A church body must function as a single organism, each performing its duties and tasks that the entire body might grow in God.
There is also the danger of inflexible and irrelevant formality. What I mean by this, is that we have so programmed our services, down to the last thirty seconds, that we no longer leave room for the move of God, we no longer leave room for an extended prayer service or for true worship of the heart. Many churches, and I’ve sat in such services, are like a well scripted three act play, beginning with the praise and worship, followed by the taking of the offering, concluded by the fifteen minute sermon and the requisite dismissal. I’m not saying there should be no structure, but not one so rigid that it prohibits interruption or deviation from the set parameters.
The requisite honesty and objective analysis of the modern day church will cause us to conclude some very harsh truths. In most cases, throughout the world in fact, the average churchgoer is older. I have been in churches where people well over sixty were considered the youth of the congregation. This is alarming given the fact that in large part young people want nothing to do with God. The reason for this rebellion is because the youth of today need examples of what it is to be a godly person, and nominal Christians just don’t do it for them. Some who still come to church once in awhile dragging their feet, are merely following in the footsteps of their parents, themselves becoming nominal and indifferent seat warmers, with no passion for God or the things of God.
It would be easy for me to wax poetic at this juncture, to sugar coat the truth and say that there is still hope for the church of tomorrow, but the simple truth is that unless the older generation returns to prayer and fasting, to knowing and living the Word of God, to being examples worthy of emulating, to showing the love of Christ, and having the answers to the questions the younger generation so often poses, there will be no church of tomorrow.
The ‘so what if I choose to be a nominal Christian it doesn’t affect anyone but me’ mentality is a fallacy, and an outright deception. There is always a chain reaction that goes far beyond what human eyes can see, that spans generations and sows bitter seeds that lead to destruction.
Yes, there is a heavy burden on the shoulders of every individual believer, for the life or death of the church of the future, if the Lord so chooses to terry, will largely be decided by our actions, and reactions to the Word and will of God.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Enemies Within
Made it home safe and sound. It's been an interesting experience trying to get an internet connection. Luckily I have a friend who actually knows what he's doing when it comes to computers and after reconfiguring something, and as he put it, 'taking down a few firewalls', I'm able to get on the internet. I find myself eerily uncomfortable realizing how dependent I've become on technology. Not that I'm a big gadgets guy, up until a few months ago I still had a Nokia that couldn't text message, but it's amazing how easy it is to miss something as common place as an internet connection when you don't have one.
I am my own worst enemy! Likewise, you are also your own worst enemy. Why do I say we are our own worst enemies? Because it is through the self that the enemy is most often able to attack us, and in the flesh he has a faithful ally.
I realize it is hard to fathom, it is difficult to process the reality that there is something within us that wars against righteousness and sanctification. There is something within us that is wholly corrupt, wholly defiled, that is rendered inanimate when we come to Christ, yet still retains the spark of life, waiting and hoping to be resuscitated and resurrected, brought back to power and full life that it may commence its journey toward destruction and death.
I speak of course, of the enemies within the heart of every man, woman and child, who are ever patient, but also ever vigilant, waiting for an opportunity, a foothold, a crack in the armor that they can exploit and use to their advantage.
It is incumbent upon every believer to make war against these enemies of the soul, and be ever vigilant and watchful so that what was mortified will continue in its mortification, that we might daily continue to be transformed from glory to glory, into the image of Christ. There are four major themes that I want to focus on today, all equally destructive, but some more visible and active than others.
The first great enemy that strives for the hearts of men is pride. It is an old sin, and a formidable foe. The destructive power of pride cannot be underestimated, for when we underestimate our enemies we are sure to fall victim to their snares. Pride is one of those sins that only believers can be aware of in their hearts. The world names it by different names, whether self esteem, or a positive self image, but the world does not classify pride as a negative, it does not see it as a destructive and corrosive power, but rather as a positive attribute and something to strive for.
One of the most sinister aspects of pride is that it compels people to keep two sets of books, to have two different standards, one for themselves, and one for the rest of the world. What one might see as a weakness, a shortcoming, or a vice in others, he sees as a virtue and a strength in himself.
Pride also blinds men to their own impotence. There are few things sadder and more worthy of pity in this world, than a weak man who thinks himself to be strong and invincible. When God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel, in their pride, they cried out, Lord, we will do as you command; we will follow your precepts to the letter, only to break all ten of the commandments on their first day. Only when viewed in the context of humility, can pride be seen for what it is. Only when we compare the two, can we see the stark contrasts between pride and humility, and conclude that they are indeed diametrically opposed. Humility bends its knee, and cries out for help, humility trusts in the strength of God rather than self, humility is dependent on what Jesus did on the cross rather than in its own good works. Pride believes that it can do all things in and of itself, while humility cries out, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’
Contrary to popular belief, pride does not worm its way into a heart only after an accomplishment or a success, but is there far before that in the form of potential. I have known countless individuals who gave into the pride of potential, of what they might be able to accomplish if they really tried and applied themselves, only to see them go nowhere, and accomplish nothing of substance, because the pride of their potential blinded them to the reality that much potential in the world today goes wholly unrealized.
I realize this may sound contradictory, but many believers today are having to contend with the pride of humility, or as it is more widely known, the pride of false modesty. Any time you hear the words ‘in my humble opinion’, coming out of someone’s mouth, it is almost certain that you’ve just encountered the most prideful person within a stone’s throw. True humility is not aware of itself, it simply is.
I remember an encounter I had with a brother, who thought himself humble because he never wore a necktie. We had a long and belabored conversation about humility, and how he believed that wearing a necktie was a sign of pride, and throughout our conversation I kept trying to get him to understand, that thinking himself humble just because he didn’t wear a necktie made him more proud than those he looked down upon for wearing a necktie. As he was an older man, and very set in his ways, he became exasperated with me, and finally said, ‘you can try to talk me out of the way I think until you turn blue, I’m proud of my humility, and I’ll never wear a necktie. Whether it was a Freudian slip or he really didn’t see the irony in what he said, I simply responded, ‘Exactly! Thank you for making my point for me!’
Whatever it is we attempt to do in order to accentuate our humility, whether refusing to wear a necktie like the aforementioned brother, or a wrist watch, or a wedding band, because we are doing it to make ourselves seem more humble, we are in the very truest sense of the word practicing pride.
The second great enemy of the believer is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy has often been called the twin sibling of pride, and for good reason. Every time we see an ardent and vociferous champion of all that is good and just fall into the selfsame sins he was condemning everyone else of, we see the definition of hypocrisy live, and in living color. Hypocrisy is such a vile and detestable practice, that even the world has an aversion to it.
There has never been a clearer example of hypocrisy than that of the Pharisees during Jesus’ time. Their motto was always, ‘do as we say and not as we do’, and Jesus Himself had a very harsh and merciless reaction to such practices. It was not merely an indictment but the worst kind of insult to tell a Pharisee that ‘the prostitutes and tax collectors would see heaven first.’ These were men who thought themselves to be the highest religious authority in the land, these were man who had most likely memorized the first five books of the bible, and it was to these men that Jesus said, the worst kind of sinner would see heaven before them.
A sure defense against hypocrisy is always practice what you preach, and if you’re not practicing it, stop preaching until you are. We have seen the outcome and the end results of men who like the Pharisees of old thought that they could preach one thing and do another too many times for us to be ignorant of the dangers of hypocrisy.
I realize that the image of a holy warrior, riding a white horse, swinging his sword valiantly and felling anyone in his way is an exciting one, but if it is just an image we are projecting while the reality of our hearts is different, we will one day be counted with the Pharisees of old, and commanded to depart from before God’s holy face.
The third great enemy we must be ever watchful of is that of being overly sensitive, or what I’ve termed Christian egotism. Every one of us has encountered at least one such person in our lifetime, and if you haven’t, you just might be that person! When one is infected with Christian egotism, they feel slighted by everything and everyone. Whether the handshake in church was too long, or too short, or you didn’t spend an adequate amount of time conversing with them, such people read into everything, and do so to the extreme.
“Aha, he turned his head while he was speaking to me; I have a right to be offended!” Or maybe, just maybe, you needed a breath mint! Even kid gloves are too rough for such people, and if they find no reason to take offense, they’ll make one up in their own mind. If such a person happens to be reading this essay, well they’ll probably take offense at the tone of it.
Easily bruised, and unwilling to forgive, self pity is a constant companion for such individuals, because they always see themselves as victims and objects of scorn within the house of God. The underlying cause of Christian egotism however, is nothing as noble as being persecuted for the cause of Christ, but rather the unwavering belief that they are not getting the attention or the honor they deserve within the body of Christ. This is the reason for the umbrage, this is the reason for the protests, and this is the reason for the feelings of being slighted in so many cases.
“Don’t they know who was in their midst? Don’t they know the contribution I could have made to the fellowship of the brethren? They’re just jealous of my talents and that’s why they don’t use me in a greater capacity.”
If you’ve ever been guilty of these proclamations, I urge you to repent. It is when we humble ourselves that God raises us up, not when we raise ourselves up. Have any of your toes ever protested that they are not a nose? Have your eyes ever protested that they are not your ears? When looking at the body of Christ, we see a whole, and each member, each body part works in unity and complements the whole.
The last great enemy of the soul within the hearts of men is isolation. One of the glaring differences between the primary church, and today’s modern church is the fact that the primary church shared their joys and their hurts, their victories and their defeats with each other. They were united, a family, a body of believers, and they opened their hearts to each other in a most noble and glorious way. Today’s church is very different. In today’s church, you hurt alone, you experience joy alone, and you die alone. There is no cohesion, there is no unity, there is no openness, because too many are living duplicitous lives, and fear that if they open up, their true selves will come to light. Isolationism is not healthy for the spiritual man. We are encouraged time and again in the Word, to fellowship with one another, to bear with one another, to encourage one another, pray for one another, to correct one another, and even rebuke one another when it is required.
I realize it is difficult in times such as these to find a fellowship of believers that believe and preach the truth, but something as small as a Bible study in your home, with three or four people is better than never having fellowship with anyone. There is a reason we are called the body of Christ, and not the body part of Christ.
More often than not it is the unseen things that harm our spiritual growth rather than the visible vices and sins. Knowing this, our only recourse is to strive in guarding our hearts, and to be weary of the ever present and ever lurking enemies within. We have the power to overcome them, for our power is not in and of ourselves, but in Christ Jesus who conquered Satan, sin, and death.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
I am my own worst enemy! Likewise, you are also your own worst enemy. Why do I say we are our own worst enemies? Because it is through the self that the enemy is most often able to attack us, and in the flesh he has a faithful ally.
I realize it is hard to fathom, it is difficult to process the reality that there is something within us that wars against righteousness and sanctification. There is something within us that is wholly corrupt, wholly defiled, that is rendered inanimate when we come to Christ, yet still retains the spark of life, waiting and hoping to be resuscitated and resurrected, brought back to power and full life that it may commence its journey toward destruction and death.
I speak of course, of the enemies within the heart of every man, woman and child, who are ever patient, but also ever vigilant, waiting for an opportunity, a foothold, a crack in the armor that they can exploit and use to their advantage.
It is incumbent upon every believer to make war against these enemies of the soul, and be ever vigilant and watchful so that what was mortified will continue in its mortification, that we might daily continue to be transformed from glory to glory, into the image of Christ. There are four major themes that I want to focus on today, all equally destructive, but some more visible and active than others.
The first great enemy that strives for the hearts of men is pride. It is an old sin, and a formidable foe. The destructive power of pride cannot be underestimated, for when we underestimate our enemies we are sure to fall victim to their snares. Pride is one of those sins that only believers can be aware of in their hearts. The world names it by different names, whether self esteem, or a positive self image, but the world does not classify pride as a negative, it does not see it as a destructive and corrosive power, but rather as a positive attribute and something to strive for.
One of the most sinister aspects of pride is that it compels people to keep two sets of books, to have two different standards, one for themselves, and one for the rest of the world. What one might see as a weakness, a shortcoming, or a vice in others, he sees as a virtue and a strength in himself.
Pride also blinds men to their own impotence. There are few things sadder and more worthy of pity in this world, than a weak man who thinks himself to be strong and invincible. When God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel, in their pride, they cried out, Lord, we will do as you command; we will follow your precepts to the letter, only to break all ten of the commandments on their first day. Only when viewed in the context of humility, can pride be seen for what it is. Only when we compare the two, can we see the stark contrasts between pride and humility, and conclude that they are indeed diametrically opposed. Humility bends its knee, and cries out for help, humility trusts in the strength of God rather than self, humility is dependent on what Jesus did on the cross rather than in its own good works. Pride believes that it can do all things in and of itself, while humility cries out, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’
Contrary to popular belief, pride does not worm its way into a heart only after an accomplishment or a success, but is there far before that in the form of potential. I have known countless individuals who gave into the pride of potential, of what they might be able to accomplish if they really tried and applied themselves, only to see them go nowhere, and accomplish nothing of substance, because the pride of their potential blinded them to the reality that much potential in the world today goes wholly unrealized.
I realize this may sound contradictory, but many believers today are having to contend with the pride of humility, or as it is more widely known, the pride of false modesty. Any time you hear the words ‘in my humble opinion’, coming out of someone’s mouth, it is almost certain that you’ve just encountered the most prideful person within a stone’s throw. True humility is not aware of itself, it simply is.
I remember an encounter I had with a brother, who thought himself humble because he never wore a necktie. We had a long and belabored conversation about humility, and how he believed that wearing a necktie was a sign of pride, and throughout our conversation I kept trying to get him to understand, that thinking himself humble just because he didn’t wear a necktie made him more proud than those he looked down upon for wearing a necktie. As he was an older man, and very set in his ways, he became exasperated with me, and finally said, ‘you can try to talk me out of the way I think until you turn blue, I’m proud of my humility, and I’ll never wear a necktie. Whether it was a Freudian slip or he really didn’t see the irony in what he said, I simply responded, ‘Exactly! Thank you for making my point for me!’
Whatever it is we attempt to do in order to accentuate our humility, whether refusing to wear a necktie like the aforementioned brother, or a wrist watch, or a wedding band, because we are doing it to make ourselves seem more humble, we are in the very truest sense of the word practicing pride.
The second great enemy of the believer is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy has often been called the twin sibling of pride, and for good reason. Every time we see an ardent and vociferous champion of all that is good and just fall into the selfsame sins he was condemning everyone else of, we see the definition of hypocrisy live, and in living color. Hypocrisy is such a vile and detestable practice, that even the world has an aversion to it.
There has never been a clearer example of hypocrisy than that of the Pharisees during Jesus’ time. Their motto was always, ‘do as we say and not as we do’, and Jesus Himself had a very harsh and merciless reaction to such practices. It was not merely an indictment but the worst kind of insult to tell a Pharisee that ‘the prostitutes and tax collectors would see heaven first.’ These were men who thought themselves to be the highest religious authority in the land, these were man who had most likely memorized the first five books of the bible, and it was to these men that Jesus said, the worst kind of sinner would see heaven before them.
A sure defense against hypocrisy is always practice what you preach, and if you’re not practicing it, stop preaching until you are. We have seen the outcome and the end results of men who like the Pharisees of old thought that they could preach one thing and do another too many times for us to be ignorant of the dangers of hypocrisy.
I realize that the image of a holy warrior, riding a white horse, swinging his sword valiantly and felling anyone in his way is an exciting one, but if it is just an image we are projecting while the reality of our hearts is different, we will one day be counted with the Pharisees of old, and commanded to depart from before God’s holy face.
The third great enemy we must be ever watchful of is that of being overly sensitive, or what I’ve termed Christian egotism. Every one of us has encountered at least one such person in our lifetime, and if you haven’t, you just might be that person! When one is infected with Christian egotism, they feel slighted by everything and everyone. Whether the handshake in church was too long, or too short, or you didn’t spend an adequate amount of time conversing with them, such people read into everything, and do so to the extreme.
“Aha, he turned his head while he was speaking to me; I have a right to be offended!” Or maybe, just maybe, you needed a breath mint! Even kid gloves are too rough for such people, and if they find no reason to take offense, they’ll make one up in their own mind. If such a person happens to be reading this essay, well they’ll probably take offense at the tone of it.
Easily bruised, and unwilling to forgive, self pity is a constant companion for such individuals, because they always see themselves as victims and objects of scorn within the house of God. The underlying cause of Christian egotism however, is nothing as noble as being persecuted for the cause of Christ, but rather the unwavering belief that they are not getting the attention or the honor they deserve within the body of Christ. This is the reason for the umbrage, this is the reason for the protests, and this is the reason for the feelings of being slighted in so many cases.
“Don’t they know who was in their midst? Don’t they know the contribution I could have made to the fellowship of the brethren? They’re just jealous of my talents and that’s why they don’t use me in a greater capacity.”
If you’ve ever been guilty of these proclamations, I urge you to repent. It is when we humble ourselves that God raises us up, not when we raise ourselves up. Have any of your toes ever protested that they are not a nose? Have your eyes ever protested that they are not your ears? When looking at the body of Christ, we see a whole, and each member, each body part works in unity and complements the whole.
The last great enemy of the soul within the hearts of men is isolation. One of the glaring differences between the primary church, and today’s modern church is the fact that the primary church shared their joys and their hurts, their victories and their defeats with each other. They were united, a family, a body of believers, and they opened their hearts to each other in a most noble and glorious way. Today’s church is very different. In today’s church, you hurt alone, you experience joy alone, and you die alone. There is no cohesion, there is no unity, there is no openness, because too many are living duplicitous lives, and fear that if they open up, their true selves will come to light. Isolationism is not healthy for the spiritual man. We are encouraged time and again in the Word, to fellowship with one another, to bear with one another, to encourage one another, pray for one another, to correct one another, and even rebuke one another when it is required.
I realize it is difficult in times such as these to find a fellowship of believers that believe and preach the truth, but something as small as a Bible study in your home, with three or four people is better than never having fellowship with anyone. There is a reason we are called the body of Christ, and not the body part of Christ.
More often than not it is the unseen things that harm our spiritual growth rather than the visible vices and sins. Knowing this, our only recourse is to strive in guarding our hearts, and to be weary of the ever present and ever lurking enemies within. We have the power to overcome them, for our power is not in and of ourselves, but in Christ Jesus who conquered Satan, sin, and death.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
A Fool's Betrayal
Well, tomorrow I'm off to my homeland. Yes, I'm going to Romania for a little while. My wife has been there for almost a month, and it will be good to spend some time with her. It may be awhile before I post, but I will do my best to keep it as regular a thing as possible. Thank you all for your understanding.
I’ve had discussions concerning this topic with many friends and fellow brothers in Christ. Did Judas betray Christ due to greed, or was it something foreordained? Was Judas just a misunderstood saint, or was he in reality a greedy man and a thief who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver?
We can assume, but we all know where assumptions can lead, plus the Word is very clear on the character of Judas, and who he really was. Judas liked the shekels. Judas liked to have the money box, he liked to be in control of the finances, and it was no accident that of the twelve, he ended up carrying the money.
Like any malignancy, the love of money did not spring up in Judas’s heart fully matured, but it grew slow and steady from the seed that had been planted there by the enemy at an unknown season in his life. The love of money began to influence Judas’s character, and from there overcame him to the point of betraying his Lord.
There is a very telling occurrence that takes place some six days before the Passover, as Jesus travels to Bethany, and dines with Lazarus and his sisters that reveals the true colors of Judas, a revelation that only an uncontrolled outburst can bring to light.
A man’s true character is not the image he projects on television, a man’s true character is not the image he projects behind the pulpit; a man’s true character is revealed in those unguarded moments, those moments when they don’t think anyone is watching or listening. We’ve all seen examples of this in some politicians, who seemed by any standard to be the salt of the earth, until not knowing that their microphones were still on proceeded to blurt out a list of expletives that would make even the most hardened of sailors blush.
Then of course there is always the mandatory retraction an apology, with their designated representative explaining with a straight face and a furrowed brow that ‘it’s not what he really meant; you know he doesn’t really feel this way; you misunderstood; or if they are marginally honest, ‘you weren’t supposed to hear that.”
Just for your information, that’s exactly what they meant, that’s exactly how they feel, and no, you did not misunderstand it.
Unguarded moments reveal the hearts of men, more readily and thoroughly than spending a year in their company.
Judas had one such moment, when Mary took a pound of very costly oil, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.
John 12:4-6, “Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, ‘why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.”
The only reason Judas feigned umbrage, was because he had done the calculations in his mind and realized he’d be out three hundred denarii. Taking into account that a denarius was one day’s wage in those days, the fragrant oil with which Mary anointed Jesus’ feet was worth almost a year’s worth of wages. It was not out of tenderness of sympathy for the poor, he was a thief, and because he had the money box, he also took what was put in it.
The love of money continued to eat away at the heart and conscience of Judas, until it was all he could desire, and all that he wanted to possess. Finally, he went to the chief priests and asked what they were willing to give him if he would deliver Jesus to them, and they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 26:16, “So from that time on he sought opportunity to betray Him.”
Surely thirty pieces of silver must have been worth allot back then. Surely Judas would not have betrayed Christ for anything less than a veritable fortune. Well, thirty pieces of silver was equal to about one hundred twenty denarii, which would have been a little over a third of what the oil in the alabaster box was worth. Thirty pieces of silver also happened to be the price one paid for a slave.
So for the price of a slave, Judas betrayed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Would it astonish you if I were to tell you that today men are betraying Jesus for far less? Would it surprise you if I told you that men today are betraying Jesus for worthless, trivial, and temporal things?
Yes, today men betray Jesus just as readily as Judas did, and for far less!
There are four major things for which men have betrayed Jesus throughout the centuries, and still betray him to this day.
First, is the sin of Judas, the love of money. Yes, men betray Jesus for the love of money, and like a cancer eating away at the major organs, the love of money eats away at the vital and fundamental principles of a man’s constitution. When the rich young man came to Jesus, and expressed his desire to follow after Him, Jesus asked one thing, that he sell everything he had and give it to the poor. This, the young man could not do, for he loved his possessions more than Jesus, and as such sold his strength of character for the fleeting possessions of this earth.
The second thing men betray Jesus for, is company. Whether it is friends, family, a wife, a husband, or mere acquaintances, countless souls have set Christ aside to appease others. They allow human sentiment to stand as an immovable stumbling block between themselves and Christ, thereby betraying Him. This was Samson’s downfall, putting his relationship with Delilah above His relationship with his God. Any time we place anything above Jesus, we are betraying Him just as readily as Judas did, sealing our betrayal with a moist kiss.
The third thing that men betray Christ for are earthly pleasures. This can be a long list, but for the sake of brevity, earthly pleasures include everything that causes us to compromise our standard, to reject the fundamental truth that although we are in the world, we ought not to be of the world.
The fourth and final thing that men betray Christ for is their reputations. This has tragically become more popular in our present age than ever before. What we refuse to acknowledge, if only to ourselves, is that we can never popularize the true Jesus. Jesus was hated by the world; Jesus was mocked by the world; Jesus was misunderstood by the world; Jesus was rejected by the world yet those who claim to be His followers readily betray Him in order to be embraced and love by the selfsame world that hated their Master. Today many who name the name of Christ, are ashamed of Him, and so they attempt to homogenize and transform Him into an image they believe will be acceptable to the world.
“No man can go to the Father but by Jesus? That’s not what He really meant; what He meant was that if we try to be good people, and live our own convoluted spirituality, and set our own level of morality wherein we can do what we want, then not only will He welcome us into heaven, but give us lots of stuff here on earth.”
How horrible a thing it is to know the character of Christ, to know the nature of Christ, to know the divinity of Christ and still betray Him.
Many will weep bitter tears and echo the words of Judas, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
The enemy will then answer as did the chief priests and elders, “What is it to me? You see to it!” The enemy is neither merciful nor understanding. He will only court you, until you betray Jesus. Unlike Judas however, today you still have the opportunity to fall to your knees and repent, to reconcile your relationship with the One who gave His life for you, and love Him understanding just how truly priceless salvation is.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
I’ve had discussions concerning this topic with many friends and fellow brothers in Christ. Did Judas betray Christ due to greed, or was it something foreordained? Was Judas just a misunderstood saint, or was he in reality a greedy man and a thief who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver?
We can assume, but we all know where assumptions can lead, plus the Word is very clear on the character of Judas, and who he really was. Judas liked the shekels. Judas liked to have the money box, he liked to be in control of the finances, and it was no accident that of the twelve, he ended up carrying the money.
Like any malignancy, the love of money did not spring up in Judas’s heart fully matured, but it grew slow and steady from the seed that had been planted there by the enemy at an unknown season in his life. The love of money began to influence Judas’s character, and from there overcame him to the point of betraying his Lord.
There is a very telling occurrence that takes place some six days before the Passover, as Jesus travels to Bethany, and dines with Lazarus and his sisters that reveals the true colors of Judas, a revelation that only an uncontrolled outburst can bring to light.
A man’s true character is not the image he projects on television, a man’s true character is not the image he projects behind the pulpit; a man’s true character is revealed in those unguarded moments, those moments when they don’t think anyone is watching or listening. We’ve all seen examples of this in some politicians, who seemed by any standard to be the salt of the earth, until not knowing that their microphones were still on proceeded to blurt out a list of expletives that would make even the most hardened of sailors blush.
Then of course there is always the mandatory retraction an apology, with their designated representative explaining with a straight face and a furrowed brow that ‘it’s not what he really meant; you know he doesn’t really feel this way; you misunderstood; or if they are marginally honest, ‘you weren’t supposed to hear that.”
Just for your information, that’s exactly what they meant, that’s exactly how they feel, and no, you did not misunderstand it.
Unguarded moments reveal the hearts of men, more readily and thoroughly than spending a year in their company.
Judas had one such moment, when Mary took a pound of very costly oil, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.
John 12:4-6, “Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, ‘why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.”
The only reason Judas feigned umbrage, was because he had done the calculations in his mind and realized he’d be out three hundred denarii. Taking into account that a denarius was one day’s wage in those days, the fragrant oil with which Mary anointed Jesus’ feet was worth almost a year’s worth of wages. It was not out of tenderness of sympathy for the poor, he was a thief, and because he had the money box, he also took what was put in it.
The love of money continued to eat away at the heart and conscience of Judas, until it was all he could desire, and all that he wanted to possess. Finally, he went to the chief priests and asked what they were willing to give him if he would deliver Jesus to them, and they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 26:16, “So from that time on he sought opportunity to betray Him.”
Surely thirty pieces of silver must have been worth allot back then. Surely Judas would not have betrayed Christ for anything less than a veritable fortune. Well, thirty pieces of silver was equal to about one hundred twenty denarii, which would have been a little over a third of what the oil in the alabaster box was worth. Thirty pieces of silver also happened to be the price one paid for a slave.
So for the price of a slave, Judas betrayed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Would it astonish you if I were to tell you that today men are betraying Jesus for far less? Would it surprise you if I told you that men today are betraying Jesus for worthless, trivial, and temporal things?
Yes, today men betray Jesus just as readily as Judas did, and for far less!
There are four major things for which men have betrayed Jesus throughout the centuries, and still betray him to this day.
First, is the sin of Judas, the love of money. Yes, men betray Jesus for the love of money, and like a cancer eating away at the major organs, the love of money eats away at the vital and fundamental principles of a man’s constitution. When the rich young man came to Jesus, and expressed his desire to follow after Him, Jesus asked one thing, that he sell everything he had and give it to the poor. This, the young man could not do, for he loved his possessions more than Jesus, and as such sold his strength of character for the fleeting possessions of this earth.
The second thing men betray Jesus for, is company. Whether it is friends, family, a wife, a husband, or mere acquaintances, countless souls have set Christ aside to appease others. They allow human sentiment to stand as an immovable stumbling block between themselves and Christ, thereby betraying Him. This was Samson’s downfall, putting his relationship with Delilah above His relationship with his God. Any time we place anything above Jesus, we are betraying Him just as readily as Judas did, sealing our betrayal with a moist kiss.
The third thing that men betray Christ for are earthly pleasures. This can be a long list, but for the sake of brevity, earthly pleasures include everything that causes us to compromise our standard, to reject the fundamental truth that although we are in the world, we ought not to be of the world.
The fourth and final thing that men betray Christ for is their reputations. This has tragically become more popular in our present age than ever before. What we refuse to acknowledge, if only to ourselves, is that we can never popularize the true Jesus. Jesus was hated by the world; Jesus was mocked by the world; Jesus was misunderstood by the world; Jesus was rejected by the world yet those who claim to be His followers readily betray Him in order to be embraced and love by the selfsame world that hated their Master. Today many who name the name of Christ, are ashamed of Him, and so they attempt to homogenize and transform Him into an image they believe will be acceptable to the world.
“No man can go to the Father but by Jesus? That’s not what He really meant; what He meant was that if we try to be good people, and live our own convoluted spirituality, and set our own level of morality wherein we can do what we want, then not only will He welcome us into heaven, but give us lots of stuff here on earth.”
How horrible a thing it is to know the character of Christ, to know the nature of Christ, to know the divinity of Christ and still betray Him.
Many will weep bitter tears and echo the words of Judas, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
The enemy will then answer as did the chief priests and elders, “What is it to me? You see to it!” The enemy is neither merciful nor understanding. He will only court you, until you betray Jesus. Unlike Judas however, today you still have the opportunity to fall to your knees and repent, to reconcile your relationship with the One who gave His life for you, and love Him understanding just how truly priceless salvation is.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Divine Courage
It has been pointed out to me in recent months that disproportionate amounts of my writings center on the words of Paul the Apostle. It is no secret that I admire the wisdom of Paul. Also worthy of note, is that having authored fourteen of the books attributed to the New Testament, it is somewhat difficult to happen upon a passage, not in the four gospels that Paul did not pen.
Another one of Paul’s virtues that I admire greatly is his courage. If he was zealous and bold in his persecution of the saints before his conversion on the road to Damascus, he became doubly so in his defense of the gospel and his preaching of the Lord Jesus afterwards.
There are many instances throughout Paul’s writings, or Luke’s account of Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts that causes one to conclude that his courage was not his own, but rather it came from a divine source. Since Paul was by far the most educated of the Apostles, having been taught the law from early youth, he was able to stand before men of great earthly power and renown and proclaim the gospel of Christ unashamedly. There was no fear in him, and whether Paul stood before magistrates, rulers, priests or commoners, the message of the cross was presented in its entirety, holding nothing back for fear of offense or retaliation.
For Paul the transformation from persecutor of the gospel to preacher of the gospel was instantaneous, like flipping on a light switch. Paul went from having his heart darkened with hatred against those of the way, to having His heart alight with love for Christ, ever willing to put himself in harm’s way, to suffer persecution, to endure hardships for the glory of God, and the furthering of the gospel.
Acts 9:20-21, “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed and said, ‘is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
Consider that ‘immediately’ refers to the time that lapsed between Paul having his sight restored, and being baptized, and preaching in the synagogues. After having been converted, Paul went to the synagogue, the selfsame place where everyone knew him as not only the man who had destroyed the followers of Christ in Jerusalem, but who had come to do the same in Damascus.
Paul could have come up with a multitude of reasons to put off his confrontation with those of the synagogues. He was after all a new convert, just a few days at the most. He was also ignorant of many things concerning Christ. He could have readily argued that first he had to go to Jerusalem, and learn everything he needed to about the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, then after having digested the information, set forth on such a taxing endeavor. Paul could have found an excuse not to preach Jesus, but he didn’t.
Paul had heard the voice of God, rebuking him of his sin. Paul had seen the Lord whom he was persecuting, because to persecute the followers of Christ is to persecute Christ Himself. Paul was stripped of his strength, self confidence, and sight, but Paul also understood through all these experiences the fundamental truth that Jesus was none other than the Christ, the Son of the living God, and his hatred was transformed into love. The rebel hands that sought to tear down the church, had now been commissioned the build it up, stone upon stone, for the glory of God.
With this newfound experience, and this foundational truth that Jesus is the Christ, he entered the synagogue and simply preached Him. Sometimes, to their detriment preachers and evangelists have a tendency to complicate the word of life. In order to be socially relevant, they water down the truth of Scripture, and in order to be friendly to seekers, they stop preaching Jesus. When we stop preaching Jesus, we stop preaching the good news of the gospel. When we stop preaching Jesus, we stop preaching the word of life. In the midst of the synagogue, Paul preached Christ, and Christ crucified. He could have preached on the Law of Moses, he could have taught on the old prophets, he was capable and had amassed enough wisdom and knowledge wherein he would have made an impression. However, Paul realized that the preeminent message must be Jesus and His Lordship, His sacrifice, and His redemption.
It took divine courage for Paul to stand in the synagogues; it took divine courage to stand before men who hated those of the Way because having been such a man he understood how readily they could resort to violence. So often we allow the fear of retaliation, opposition or rejection to keep us from preaching Jesus, and to this I say pray for divine courage, pray for a sovereign boldness to stand your ground when others have retreated, to preach Jesus when others have been silenced by fear.
Paul went to the one place where everyone knew of his reputation. These men saw him standing there, and I’m certain that before he began to speak, they were excited to hear him condemn the followers of Christ. Their excitement however turned to stunned silence when rather than condemning he encouraged his audience to follow after Christ.
By preaching in the synagogues Paul gave the greatest evidence of his newfound faith in God, of the sincerity and authenticity of his transformation both in mind and heart, and also of his decision to be a follower of Christ Jesus.
It was Paul’s first victory not only over those who would hate him and seek to take his life for the rest of his days, but also over his own emotions and fears. From that point forward, throughout the rest of his ministry Paul was indeed a fearless ambassador for Christ, leaning not on his own strength, leaning not on his own courage, but trusting in the divine courage that Christ provided by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have a friend who recently came to Christ, who is by nature a very shy individual. He is currently attending college, working towards a bachelor’s degree in business, and one morning Leo called me very excited. At first I thought something had happened, but then he proceeded to tell me what had occurred the previous afternoon.
Apparently he was in one of his classes, and before the class started he pulled his Bible from his bag and began to read it. His professor saw this, and asked him to stay after class. The professor informed Leo that he didn’t care what he did in his free time, but while he was in his class he wasn’t supposed to read the Bible.
At this point Leo started getting excited and said, ‘I know it wasn’t me, I’m not that kind of person, but I looked him in the eye and asked, professor, do you know Jesus, do you know what He did for you?’
The professor waved him off, but what stayed with Leo was the fact that he had experienced divine courage. Throughout our journey on this earth may we as faithful children of God, walk in divine courage.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Another one of Paul’s virtues that I admire greatly is his courage. If he was zealous and bold in his persecution of the saints before his conversion on the road to Damascus, he became doubly so in his defense of the gospel and his preaching of the Lord Jesus afterwards.
There are many instances throughout Paul’s writings, or Luke’s account of Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts that causes one to conclude that his courage was not his own, but rather it came from a divine source. Since Paul was by far the most educated of the Apostles, having been taught the law from early youth, he was able to stand before men of great earthly power and renown and proclaim the gospel of Christ unashamedly. There was no fear in him, and whether Paul stood before magistrates, rulers, priests or commoners, the message of the cross was presented in its entirety, holding nothing back for fear of offense or retaliation.
For Paul the transformation from persecutor of the gospel to preacher of the gospel was instantaneous, like flipping on a light switch. Paul went from having his heart darkened with hatred against those of the way, to having His heart alight with love for Christ, ever willing to put himself in harm’s way, to suffer persecution, to endure hardships for the glory of God, and the furthering of the gospel.
Acts 9:20-21, “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed and said, ‘is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
Consider that ‘immediately’ refers to the time that lapsed between Paul having his sight restored, and being baptized, and preaching in the synagogues. After having been converted, Paul went to the synagogue, the selfsame place where everyone knew him as not only the man who had destroyed the followers of Christ in Jerusalem, but who had come to do the same in Damascus.
Paul could have come up with a multitude of reasons to put off his confrontation with those of the synagogues. He was after all a new convert, just a few days at the most. He was also ignorant of many things concerning Christ. He could have readily argued that first he had to go to Jerusalem, and learn everything he needed to about the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, then after having digested the information, set forth on such a taxing endeavor. Paul could have found an excuse not to preach Jesus, but he didn’t.
Paul had heard the voice of God, rebuking him of his sin. Paul had seen the Lord whom he was persecuting, because to persecute the followers of Christ is to persecute Christ Himself. Paul was stripped of his strength, self confidence, and sight, but Paul also understood through all these experiences the fundamental truth that Jesus was none other than the Christ, the Son of the living God, and his hatred was transformed into love. The rebel hands that sought to tear down the church, had now been commissioned the build it up, stone upon stone, for the glory of God.
With this newfound experience, and this foundational truth that Jesus is the Christ, he entered the synagogue and simply preached Him. Sometimes, to their detriment preachers and evangelists have a tendency to complicate the word of life. In order to be socially relevant, they water down the truth of Scripture, and in order to be friendly to seekers, they stop preaching Jesus. When we stop preaching Jesus, we stop preaching the good news of the gospel. When we stop preaching Jesus, we stop preaching the word of life. In the midst of the synagogue, Paul preached Christ, and Christ crucified. He could have preached on the Law of Moses, he could have taught on the old prophets, he was capable and had amassed enough wisdom and knowledge wherein he would have made an impression. However, Paul realized that the preeminent message must be Jesus and His Lordship, His sacrifice, and His redemption.
It took divine courage for Paul to stand in the synagogues; it took divine courage to stand before men who hated those of the Way because having been such a man he understood how readily they could resort to violence. So often we allow the fear of retaliation, opposition or rejection to keep us from preaching Jesus, and to this I say pray for divine courage, pray for a sovereign boldness to stand your ground when others have retreated, to preach Jesus when others have been silenced by fear.
Paul went to the one place where everyone knew of his reputation. These men saw him standing there, and I’m certain that before he began to speak, they were excited to hear him condemn the followers of Christ. Their excitement however turned to stunned silence when rather than condemning he encouraged his audience to follow after Christ.
By preaching in the synagogues Paul gave the greatest evidence of his newfound faith in God, of the sincerity and authenticity of his transformation both in mind and heart, and also of his decision to be a follower of Christ Jesus.
It was Paul’s first victory not only over those who would hate him and seek to take his life for the rest of his days, but also over his own emotions and fears. From that point forward, throughout the rest of his ministry Paul was indeed a fearless ambassador for Christ, leaning not on his own strength, leaning not on his own courage, but trusting in the divine courage that Christ provided by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have a friend who recently came to Christ, who is by nature a very shy individual. He is currently attending college, working towards a bachelor’s degree in business, and one morning Leo called me very excited. At first I thought something had happened, but then he proceeded to tell me what had occurred the previous afternoon.
Apparently he was in one of his classes, and before the class started he pulled his Bible from his bag and began to read it. His professor saw this, and asked him to stay after class. The professor informed Leo that he didn’t care what he did in his free time, but while he was in his class he wasn’t supposed to read the Bible.
At this point Leo started getting excited and said, ‘I know it wasn’t me, I’m not that kind of person, but I looked him in the eye and asked, professor, do you know Jesus, do you know what He did for you?’
The professor waved him off, but what stayed with Leo was the fact that he had experienced divine courage. Throughout our journey on this earth may we as faithful children of God, walk in divine courage.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Fitting Comparison
Contrary to popular belief, human nature has not evolved over the course of millennia, but rather has remained eerily predictable. That which was, is again, and refusing to learn from the mistakes of those that came before us, we fall into the same snares, make the same foolish choices, and distance ourselves from God just as our ancestors did.
We have grown tragically comfortable with paying God lip service, with cloaking indifference in the robes of tolerance, and with justifying disobedience by convincing ourselves that God has changed, and His standard has been lowered. We march in orderly fashion toward eternity, dragging our feet in a semi-conscious fashion, no longer bothered by things that only a few years prior would have enraged us, and stirred within us a righteous anger.
With our mouths we say one thing, with our hearts we pursue the contrary, finding comfort in the idea that we are in the majority, and surely God couldn’t punish a majority. We chase after the extraordinary, we want to see the mystical, we want to experience something new and different, no longer content with the simplicity of intimacy with Jesus.
We’ve been deceived into believing that we can bypass prayer, we’ve been deceived into believing that we can bypass righteousness, and still experience the power of God in the fullness of its glory.
As far as sound doctrine is concerned, progress itself has relegated it to irrelevance, like the pony express riders of old, or the telegraph. We’re too educated, too cultured, and too cosmopolitan to take the Word of God at face value. We find sound doctrine too rigid, too politically incorrect, too costly, and so we gravitate toward those who offer the widest path possible, never taking the time to consider where this wide path is leading. As long as we can do what we want, as long as we can satisfy the proclivities and appetites of the flesh without being challenged by the truth, church is great, and the preacher understands us and where we’re coming from, because he speaks to the big needs in our lives, such as greater self esteem, and a positive self image.
We view the men of God as entertainers, our offering as the admittance fee, and if we are not entertained, if we are not made to laugh and feel better about ourselves, we feel as though we haven’t gotten our money’s worth.
We’ve grown so accustomed to dry, monotone, lifeless presentations of a pseudo-gospel that whenever someone comes along who is sincerely passionate about the Word, and the power of God, when someone comes along who is uncompromising in the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are stirred, but only to a certain point.
During the time of Ezekiel, God forewarned him of the attitude of the people, and their reaction to the warnings he was speaking. Although some twenty six hundred years have lapsed since God spoke to Ezekiel, the core of the message, and the implications are as relevant today as they were then. The spiritual condition of today’s modern churches and the spiritual condition of the people of Israel during Ezekiel’s time are eerily similar, and upon reflection one can draw a fitting comparison.
Ezekiel 33:30-32, “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
I do not know what prompted this message to Ezekiel from the mouth of God. Perhaps Ezekiel began to see that more and more people were coming to hear him speak, perhaps he began to see that there was a growing interest in what the Lord was saying, but although the reason for this word is never given, the message is crystal clear.
Just because the people came to hear the word of the Lord, it did not mean that they followed through and did what the word of the Lord instructed.
Today there is a growing interest in the prophetic. The crowds that are gathering to hear what the Lord is saying are growing larger in number, the chorus of amen seems to get louder, and for many who have been preaching a warning message, and a message of coming judgment, this might seem like progress.
I recently received a letter from a brother who preaches a message very similar to our own ministry, basically a message of repentance and obedience toward God, and he was very excited because as he put it, ‘I think we’re finally making headway, I think the people are finally starting to listen.’
The problem has never been the listening, or the hearing, the problem has always been the doing. We are anxious to hear what will be, we are anxious to hear what the future holds, and once we have received this information, we gloss over the most important aspect of the word, namely what we must do in order to be spared and sheltered from the coming storms.
“Keep the repentance to yourself preacher, keep the need for holiness, just tell us what’s coming, and make it quick I have to get back to my life.”
What’s the point? What’s the point of knowing without doing? What’s the point of seeing prophecy unfold without being reconciled unto God and walking in His will?
Every time I preach and someone comes up to me to shake my hand and say ‘great message’, I just want to look them in the eyes and ask, ‘but will you do what the message instructed?’ So many hear the word ‘judgment’, but are somehow wholly immune to the word ‘repent.’
The underlying foundation of the message I preach is not judgment, but repentance that we might be spared the judgment that is reserved for the unrighteous. Maybe it’s my fault, maybe I don’t make myself clear enough, but I find no joy in the crowds getting bigger, or the message getting out, because I know a great majority will hear the words, but will not do them.
Knowing what is coming and not taking the necessary steps to make certain that our hearts are pure, and that we are walking in the will of God is allot like a man who is driving down the road, and sees a major wreck blocking all lanes, but rather than step on the break, he accelerates.
The church is hastening God’s judgment, because it refuses to obey Him, and those few who remain that still preach the uncompromising Word, are getting weary, and hoarse, and dismayed.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
We have grown tragically comfortable with paying God lip service, with cloaking indifference in the robes of tolerance, and with justifying disobedience by convincing ourselves that God has changed, and His standard has been lowered. We march in orderly fashion toward eternity, dragging our feet in a semi-conscious fashion, no longer bothered by things that only a few years prior would have enraged us, and stirred within us a righteous anger.
With our mouths we say one thing, with our hearts we pursue the contrary, finding comfort in the idea that we are in the majority, and surely God couldn’t punish a majority. We chase after the extraordinary, we want to see the mystical, we want to experience something new and different, no longer content with the simplicity of intimacy with Jesus.
We’ve been deceived into believing that we can bypass prayer, we’ve been deceived into believing that we can bypass righteousness, and still experience the power of God in the fullness of its glory.
As far as sound doctrine is concerned, progress itself has relegated it to irrelevance, like the pony express riders of old, or the telegraph. We’re too educated, too cultured, and too cosmopolitan to take the Word of God at face value. We find sound doctrine too rigid, too politically incorrect, too costly, and so we gravitate toward those who offer the widest path possible, never taking the time to consider where this wide path is leading. As long as we can do what we want, as long as we can satisfy the proclivities and appetites of the flesh without being challenged by the truth, church is great, and the preacher understands us and where we’re coming from, because he speaks to the big needs in our lives, such as greater self esteem, and a positive self image.
We view the men of God as entertainers, our offering as the admittance fee, and if we are not entertained, if we are not made to laugh and feel better about ourselves, we feel as though we haven’t gotten our money’s worth.
We’ve grown so accustomed to dry, monotone, lifeless presentations of a pseudo-gospel that whenever someone comes along who is sincerely passionate about the Word, and the power of God, when someone comes along who is uncompromising in the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are stirred, but only to a certain point.
During the time of Ezekiel, God forewarned him of the attitude of the people, and their reaction to the warnings he was speaking. Although some twenty six hundred years have lapsed since God spoke to Ezekiel, the core of the message, and the implications are as relevant today as they were then. The spiritual condition of today’s modern churches and the spiritual condition of the people of Israel during Ezekiel’s time are eerily similar, and upon reflection one can draw a fitting comparison.
Ezekiel 33:30-32, “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
I do not know what prompted this message to Ezekiel from the mouth of God. Perhaps Ezekiel began to see that more and more people were coming to hear him speak, perhaps he began to see that there was a growing interest in what the Lord was saying, but although the reason for this word is never given, the message is crystal clear.
Just because the people came to hear the word of the Lord, it did not mean that they followed through and did what the word of the Lord instructed.
Today there is a growing interest in the prophetic. The crowds that are gathering to hear what the Lord is saying are growing larger in number, the chorus of amen seems to get louder, and for many who have been preaching a warning message, and a message of coming judgment, this might seem like progress.
I recently received a letter from a brother who preaches a message very similar to our own ministry, basically a message of repentance and obedience toward God, and he was very excited because as he put it, ‘I think we’re finally making headway, I think the people are finally starting to listen.’
The problem has never been the listening, or the hearing, the problem has always been the doing. We are anxious to hear what will be, we are anxious to hear what the future holds, and once we have received this information, we gloss over the most important aspect of the word, namely what we must do in order to be spared and sheltered from the coming storms.
“Keep the repentance to yourself preacher, keep the need for holiness, just tell us what’s coming, and make it quick I have to get back to my life.”
What’s the point? What’s the point of knowing without doing? What’s the point of seeing prophecy unfold without being reconciled unto God and walking in His will?
Every time I preach and someone comes up to me to shake my hand and say ‘great message’, I just want to look them in the eyes and ask, ‘but will you do what the message instructed?’ So many hear the word ‘judgment’, but are somehow wholly immune to the word ‘repent.’
The underlying foundation of the message I preach is not judgment, but repentance that we might be spared the judgment that is reserved for the unrighteous. Maybe it’s my fault, maybe I don’t make myself clear enough, but I find no joy in the crowds getting bigger, or the message getting out, because I know a great majority will hear the words, but will not do them.
Knowing what is coming and not taking the necessary steps to make certain that our hearts are pure, and that we are walking in the will of God is allot like a man who is driving down the road, and sees a major wreck blocking all lanes, but rather than step on the break, he accelerates.
The church is hastening God’s judgment, because it refuses to obey Him, and those few who remain that still preach the uncompromising Word, are getting weary, and hoarse, and dismayed.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Wisdom of David
I believe there is already a consensus as to David’s bravery. In fact his bravery is indisputable from what we read in the pages of the Bible. When the whole of Israel’s army trembled at the sight of Goliath, David, at the time little more than a boy had the strength of character to stand his ground and face the giant.
What some readily gloss over however is David’s wisdom. In my free time, whenever I’m not traveling, writing, or doing an interview, I love sitting down with the Word of God and reading the psalms of David. There is so much wisdom within the Psalms, that to dismiss them or otherwise ignore them is utter folly.
The season of his early childhood was becoming a faded memory. David was now king over Israel, the most powerful man in the entire nation, but throughout his life he never forgot his beginning as a shepherd boy, tending to his father’s flocks.
David was not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination, but his heart was always sincere before God, and his brokenness and repentance whenever he sinned were evident to all. As I was reading the first verse of Psalm 16, I began to meditate on it, and there are some tasty morsels that revealed themselves as I pondered these few words.
Psalm 16:1, “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.”
To understand the deep profundity of this supplication, we must understand that it did not proceed from the lips of a defenseless pauper, or someone who had no earthly means of defending himself, but from the lips of a king. David had bodyguards, David commanded an army, yet he cried out to God to preserve him, for he did not put his trust in his chariots or his archers, his warriors or his riders. As a nation we can learn much from David’s prayer, and also see where we have gone astray, where we have missed the mark, and why it is that for some time now nothing seems to be going right.
When a nation refuses to acknowledge that it is God who not only made it great, but who preserves it, God will remove His hedge of protection to show the nation the true measure of its impotence. It matters not what nation it is, it matters not how far and wide an empire spans, it matters not how rich they are both in resources and finances, when God’s hand of blessing is no longer upon a nation, and when He no longer preserves it, decline and downfall are imminent.
This is why in his great humility and wisdom David prays this prayer and says; ‘only You can preserve me, and this is why I put my trust in You. Only You can bless me, and this is why I put my trust in You. Only You can protect me, shelter me, give me victory, and so I will put my trust in no other, nor will I put my trust in myself, but only in You O God.’
When times get hard it is inevitable that some turn to God, it is inevitable that they cry out hoping to get some relief from their struggles. Wisdom however dictates that we are to place our full trust in God, even when everything is going well, when we don’t have a care in the world, when the work of our hands is blessed, and when everything is going our way. This attitude is what separates the wise from the foolhardy, this constant and perpetual leaning on God rather than our own wisdom, understanding, or abilities.
Too often, nations as well as individuals begin to take more of the credit for their success, as they grow more successful or powerful. The more things go our way, the more the enemy whispers in our ear, fueling our pride and our self reliance, deceiving us into believing that we are strong in and of ourselves, that we are powerful in and of ourselves, and that God had very little to do with our successes.
The tragic result of giving in to the enemy’s whispers, is that nations as well as individuals cease to be thankful to God, they cease to seek His face, they cease to rely on Him, and begin beating their chests, highlighting their own greatness and ingenuity.
David knew that without God, though he had an army at his disposal, he was still vulnerable, though he had great treasures at his fingertips he was one event away from becoming a beggar, roaming the streets, hoping for a crust of bread.
David is aware that apart from God even the most assured success can become an abject failure and that even the most meticulous of plans can crumble under the weight of their own perceived wisdom.
One other aspect of David’s wisdom that I gleaned from his words is that he was a teachable student of history. He looked back at the history of his people, and saw where they had strayed, he saw what their mistakes were, and he purposed in his heart not to follow in their footsteps.
Psalm 16:4, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after other gods; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips.”
David was aware that every failure, every defeat, every judgment that fell upon the people of Israel was due to disobedience and hastening after other gods. He realized the danger of flirting with idols, of allowing one’s heart to be overcome by something other than the one true God, and so committed to keeping himself from offering blood offerings to these gods, or taking their name upon his lips.
David was satisfied with God, and in God. He had discovered the beauty of having a true and lasting bond, a true and lasting relationship with God, and assigned it the requisite value. David did not take his relationship with God for granted, he did not minimize its worth, but made it the centerpiece, the focal point, the priority in his life. For countless souls today, God is just one thing. Whether it’s their provider, their protector, or their keeper, God is not their all in all. For David, God was everything. God was his provider, his keeper, his counselor, his protector, his joy, his rest, his peace, his inheritance, and the object of his affection.
Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Wisdom dictates that we put the entirety of our trust in God, that every area of our life is subject to, and under God’s authority. We may, for a season be able to thrive on our own self reliance, we may for a season be able to succeed by our tenacity or force of will, but without God there to preserve us, without His outstretched arm keeping us, that which we labored for an entire lifetime, will vanish in an instant. Only God can keep us, only God can preserve us, only God can protect us, and only He can lead us to green pastures and pure streams of living waters. Be wise and trust in God, and by so doing you will know that He stands with you even in the midst of the storm.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
What some readily gloss over however is David’s wisdom. In my free time, whenever I’m not traveling, writing, or doing an interview, I love sitting down with the Word of God and reading the psalms of David. There is so much wisdom within the Psalms, that to dismiss them or otherwise ignore them is utter folly.
The season of his early childhood was becoming a faded memory. David was now king over Israel, the most powerful man in the entire nation, but throughout his life he never forgot his beginning as a shepherd boy, tending to his father’s flocks.
David was not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination, but his heart was always sincere before God, and his brokenness and repentance whenever he sinned were evident to all. As I was reading the first verse of Psalm 16, I began to meditate on it, and there are some tasty morsels that revealed themselves as I pondered these few words.
Psalm 16:1, “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.”
To understand the deep profundity of this supplication, we must understand that it did not proceed from the lips of a defenseless pauper, or someone who had no earthly means of defending himself, but from the lips of a king. David had bodyguards, David commanded an army, yet he cried out to God to preserve him, for he did not put his trust in his chariots or his archers, his warriors or his riders. As a nation we can learn much from David’s prayer, and also see where we have gone astray, where we have missed the mark, and why it is that for some time now nothing seems to be going right.
When a nation refuses to acknowledge that it is God who not only made it great, but who preserves it, God will remove His hedge of protection to show the nation the true measure of its impotence. It matters not what nation it is, it matters not how far and wide an empire spans, it matters not how rich they are both in resources and finances, when God’s hand of blessing is no longer upon a nation, and when He no longer preserves it, decline and downfall are imminent.
This is why in his great humility and wisdom David prays this prayer and says; ‘only You can preserve me, and this is why I put my trust in You. Only You can bless me, and this is why I put my trust in You. Only You can protect me, shelter me, give me victory, and so I will put my trust in no other, nor will I put my trust in myself, but only in You O God.’
When times get hard it is inevitable that some turn to God, it is inevitable that they cry out hoping to get some relief from their struggles. Wisdom however dictates that we are to place our full trust in God, even when everything is going well, when we don’t have a care in the world, when the work of our hands is blessed, and when everything is going our way. This attitude is what separates the wise from the foolhardy, this constant and perpetual leaning on God rather than our own wisdom, understanding, or abilities.
Too often, nations as well as individuals begin to take more of the credit for their success, as they grow more successful or powerful. The more things go our way, the more the enemy whispers in our ear, fueling our pride and our self reliance, deceiving us into believing that we are strong in and of ourselves, that we are powerful in and of ourselves, and that God had very little to do with our successes.
The tragic result of giving in to the enemy’s whispers, is that nations as well as individuals cease to be thankful to God, they cease to seek His face, they cease to rely on Him, and begin beating their chests, highlighting their own greatness and ingenuity.
David knew that without God, though he had an army at his disposal, he was still vulnerable, though he had great treasures at his fingertips he was one event away from becoming a beggar, roaming the streets, hoping for a crust of bread.
David is aware that apart from God even the most assured success can become an abject failure and that even the most meticulous of plans can crumble under the weight of their own perceived wisdom.
One other aspect of David’s wisdom that I gleaned from his words is that he was a teachable student of history. He looked back at the history of his people, and saw where they had strayed, he saw what their mistakes were, and he purposed in his heart not to follow in their footsteps.
Psalm 16:4, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after other gods; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips.”
David was aware that every failure, every defeat, every judgment that fell upon the people of Israel was due to disobedience and hastening after other gods. He realized the danger of flirting with idols, of allowing one’s heart to be overcome by something other than the one true God, and so committed to keeping himself from offering blood offerings to these gods, or taking their name upon his lips.
David was satisfied with God, and in God. He had discovered the beauty of having a true and lasting bond, a true and lasting relationship with God, and assigned it the requisite value. David did not take his relationship with God for granted, he did not minimize its worth, but made it the centerpiece, the focal point, the priority in his life. For countless souls today, God is just one thing. Whether it’s their provider, their protector, or their keeper, God is not their all in all. For David, God was everything. God was his provider, his keeper, his counselor, his protector, his joy, his rest, his peace, his inheritance, and the object of his affection.
Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Wisdom dictates that we put the entirety of our trust in God, that every area of our life is subject to, and under God’s authority. We may, for a season be able to thrive on our own self reliance, we may for a season be able to succeed by our tenacity or force of will, but without God there to preserve us, without His outstretched arm keeping us, that which we labored for an entire lifetime, will vanish in an instant. Only God can keep us, only God can preserve us, only God can protect us, and only He can lead us to green pastures and pure streams of living waters. Be wise and trust in God, and by so doing you will know that He stands with you even in the midst of the storm.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Noble Character
Long ago, in the land of Jezreel, there lived a man of noble character. He was neither a king nor a prophet, he was not a man of great esteem in the eyes of his contemporaries, he was a man who faithfully tended the vineyard he received as an inheritance from his father. Naboth, also known as Naboth the Jezreelite, the man of which I speak was a man who knew the value of his inheritance, and was diligent in tending it the best way he knew how. Naboth planted, he pruned, and he watered, because it was his desire to honor his inheritance. Naboth lived an unassuming life, until one day, Ahab the king of Samaria, came to him and made him an offer many would not have refused.
Naboth’s vineyard had the misfortune of being situated next to Ahab’s palace, and one day Ahab woke up and realized he really would fancy a vegetable garden. Why he chose Naboth’s vineyard is unknown, for surely Naboth’s was not the only plot of land surrounding the palace, but Ahab’s heart was settled.
1 Kings 21:2, “So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, ‘give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
On the surface this seemed like a fair and reasonable offer. Taking into account that it was the king himself making the offer, it was even generous and munificent. Naboth was even given a choice between a better vineyard, or its worth in money. Why toil in the sun? Why be at the mercy of the weather? Why concern oneself with whether or not it was going to rain? Why spend the days picking grapes, when he could have taken the vineyard’s worth in money, and lived happily ever after, and garnered the king’s favor by his acceptance of the deal? In short, because it was the inheritance of his fathers!
1 Kings 21:3, “And Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
The king of this world is always making such offers to the children of God who have received an inheritance of grace and truth. They are not unreasonable offers, in fact they seem outright charitable, because the devil doesn’t haggle when it comes to acquiring something that God values, and then systematically destroying it.
Ahab did not want to continue growing grapes, he wanted to pull out the entire vineyard, and plant a vegetable garden in its place. When the enemy makes you an offer on your inheritance, just remember he does not intend to keep it as it is but destroy it altogether and plant something less noble in its place.
Countless souls have been deceived by the cunning offer of the king of this world, and whether for a better vineyard, or for money, they sold their inheritance, somehow justifying it to themselves.
“Why are you preaching the truth? Why are you standing on the Word?”, the king of this world says, “I will give you a bigger ministry, a greater outreach, just tone it down a tad, let me replace the noble fruit, with ordinary vegetables, and you’ll see how much easier it will be for you. You won’t have to labor as much, you won’t have to be pruning and trimming all the time, you’ll get to enjoy life, and the trappings of this life. If you want out of the vineyard business altogether, then I’ll buy you off, just sell out!”
Chances are Naboth did not know he was a man of noble character, because one’s character is made manifest only upon testing. Noble character is a byproduct of faithfulness and obedience, of humility and dedication. Such character is daily nurtured and matured, although its possessor does not fully realize it. One walks in obedience, one walks in faithfulness not for the express result of having a noble character, but to be obedient to God. Obedience to God however, serves to grow godly character in us, and when the time of its testing comes it flows through us.
Nabath’s noble character led to a noble purpose, and a noble stand. He would not sell, nor barter away his vineyard, because it had been entrusted to him by his father, and as such he would be faithful in tending to it, and growing the best fruit he possibly could.
If only the character of some Christians today was as noble as that of Naboth. If only we as the children of God would realize the true worth of our inheritance in Him, and take a stand in saying that we will not trifle away that which is priceless, for something that is temporal and passing, that we will not sell out, that we will not give in, that whether it be a pauper or a king that pressures us into parting with that which God has entrusted us, we would not quibble, but flatly and convincingly say, ‘no, the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!’
For most Christians today, it doesn’t take a king to cause them to relent, but any sort of opposition whatsoever. It doesn’t even have to be verbal, just a certain look from a neighbor, a friend, or a family member is enough for most people to sell their inheritance, to stop tending their Father’s vineyard, and relent.
Everybody wants to be loved, and nobody wants to be hated in today’s day and age, but there are certain things worth being hated for, there are certain things worth being despised for, and there are certain things worth being persecuted for. Our Father’s inheritance is one of those things worth suffering the rejection, hatred, and maliciousness of the world over.
Absence of noble character causes many to cut and run at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign of opposition, or the first sign of disagreement. In the face of opposition and persecution we discover our true character, and therein we find whether we will stand for the truth of God’s word, or compromise as so many others already have.
If you do have a noble character, be forewarned that the world, your friends, and even your family will not understand why you choose to reject what to them might seem like a great offer, why you choose to stand on principle, and why you honor the Father’s inheritance. The world cannot perceive that which it has never known, and as Ahab, will be both confused and offended that you chose not to compromise, but rather to stand for the truth. In its ignorance the world will persecute you, and begin to do everything in its power to separate you from your inheritance, because the ruler of this world knows how priceless it truly is, but stand firm, for what is yours is yours, and it cannot be taken away by any man. What we have in God, the inheritance that we have received, no man can take away from us.
The story of Naboth does not have a happy ending, he is not rewarded for his noble character, but rather falsely accused, dragged out of the city and stoned to death. That however is a teaching for another time. For now I ask that you ponder Naboth’s noble character, and search your heart to see if you possess the selfsame character that made this man exceptional even though everything else about him was ordinary.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Naboth’s vineyard had the misfortune of being situated next to Ahab’s palace, and one day Ahab woke up and realized he really would fancy a vegetable garden. Why he chose Naboth’s vineyard is unknown, for surely Naboth’s was not the only plot of land surrounding the palace, but Ahab’s heart was settled.
1 Kings 21:2, “So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, ‘give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
On the surface this seemed like a fair and reasonable offer. Taking into account that it was the king himself making the offer, it was even generous and munificent. Naboth was even given a choice between a better vineyard, or its worth in money. Why toil in the sun? Why be at the mercy of the weather? Why concern oneself with whether or not it was going to rain? Why spend the days picking grapes, when he could have taken the vineyard’s worth in money, and lived happily ever after, and garnered the king’s favor by his acceptance of the deal? In short, because it was the inheritance of his fathers!
1 Kings 21:3, “And Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
The king of this world is always making such offers to the children of God who have received an inheritance of grace and truth. They are not unreasonable offers, in fact they seem outright charitable, because the devil doesn’t haggle when it comes to acquiring something that God values, and then systematically destroying it.
Ahab did not want to continue growing grapes, he wanted to pull out the entire vineyard, and plant a vegetable garden in its place. When the enemy makes you an offer on your inheritance, just remember he does not intend to keep it as it is but destroy it altogether and plant something less noble in its place.
Countless souls have been deceived by the cunning offer of the king of this world, and whether for a better vineyard, or for money, they sold their inheritance, somehow justifying it to themselves.
“Why are you preaching the truth? Why are you standing on the Word?”, the king of this world says, “I will give you a bigger ministry, a greater outreach, just tone it down a tad, let me replace the noble fruit, with ordinary vegetables, and you’ll see how much easier it will be for you. You won’t have to labor as much, you won’t have to be pruning and trimming all the time, you’ll get to enjoy life, and the trappings of this life. If you want out of the vineyard business altogether, then I’ll buy you off, just sell out!”
Chances are Naboth did not know he was a man of noble character, because one’s character is made manifest only upon testing. Noble character is a byproduct of faithfulness and obedience, of humility and dedication. Such character is daily nurtured and matured, although its possessor does not fully realize it. One walks in obedience, one walks in faithfulness not for the express result of having a noble character, but to be obedient to God. Obedience to God however, serves to grow godly character in us, and when the time of its testing comes it flows through us.
Nabath’s noble character led to a noble purpose, and a noble stand. He would not sell, nor barter away his vineyard, because it had been entrusted to him by his father, and as such he would be faithful in tending to it, and growing the best fruit he possibly could.
If only the character of some Christians today was as noble as that of Naboth. If only we as the children of God would realize the true worth of our inheritance in Him, and take a stand in saying that we will not trifle away that which is priceless, for something that is temporal and passing, that we will not sell out, that we will not give in, that whether it be a pauper or a king that pressures us into parting with that which God has entrusted us, we would not quibble, but flatly and convincingly say, ‘no, the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!’
For most Christians today, it doesn’t take a king to cause them to relent, but any sort of opposition whatsoever. It doesn’t even have to be verbal, just a certain look from a neighbor, a friend, or a family member is enough for most people to sell their inheritance, to stop tending their Father’s vineyard, and relent.
Everybody wants to be loved, and nobody wants to be hated in today’s day and age, but there are certain things worth being hated for, there are certain things worth being despised for, and there are certain things worth being persecuted for. Our Father’s inheritance is one of those things worth suffering the rejection, hatred, and maliciousness of the world over.
Absence of noble character causes many to cut and run at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign of opposition, or the first sign of disagreement. In the face of opposition and persecution we discover our true character, and therein we find whether we will stand for the truth of God’s word, or compromise as so many others already have.
If you do have a noble character, be forewarned that the world, your friends, and even your family will not understand why you choose to reject what to them might seem like a great offer, why you choose to stand on principle, and why you honor the Father’s inheritance. The world cannot perceive that which it has never known, and as Ahab, will be both confused and offended that you chose not to compromise, but rather to stand for the truth. In its ignorance the world will persecute you, and begin to do everything in its power to separate you from your inheritance, because the ruler of this world knows how priceless it truly is, but stand firm, for what is yours is yours, and it cannot be taken away by any man. What we have in God, the inheritance that we have received, no man can take away from us.
The story of Naboth does not have a happy ending, he is not rewarded for his noble character, but rather falsely accused, dragged out of the city and stoned to death. That however is a teaching for another time. For now I ask that you ponder Naboth’s noble character, and search your heart to see if you possess the selfsame character that made this man exceptional even though everything else about him was ordinary.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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