Real Repentance

My family  and I have been supporters of Vision Forum for years. We've  bought things from their catalog for at least 10 years, we've  bought books by  various people involved in that ministry that have been a great help to us. we've even attended a conference of theirs.
  Doug Phillips, the head of Vision Forum recently resigned, and I mention this not because I want to  highlight his failings or draw any more attention to his shortcomings that has already been drawn.  I don't want to cause his family any more  grief than he has already caused.  But honestly,  the way he departed the ministry is absolutely one of the  most impressive things I have ever seen.  The more I've read it, and re-read it, and pondered it in my heart, the less spiritual I feel.  The  longer I  think about it, the more I feel  that I've gone a long way to go when it comes to  truly repenting and forsaking my sin.
  Too often we make light of our own sin, and that seems to be especially true of those in the ministry, which of course is exactly backwards.  Sadly, when  a person in a leadership position  tries to sweep their transgression under the rug, many of those loyal to them  support this, and by their  silence commit a egregious  sin of omission.  I understand the  logic, if it can be rightly called that.  Nobody wants to see all the good that can be  done undone by a simple mistake.  But the fact is, when sin is in the camp, the way you handle it is of the utmost importance, and if handled properly, enables  more good to be done than if you hide it.  God allows restoration, but only to those who will come clean.  If you leave right, you can come back right.  Your ministry, whatever good it may be accomplishing, is not worth holding onto just for the sake of holding onto it.
  I can only hope, if I ever find myself caught up by the sin which  doth so easily beset us, that I would have half the guts Doug Phillips  displayed in his departure. I offer to you, as a model on what repentance looks like; his resignation letter.

With thanksgiving to God for His mercy and love, I have stepped down from the office of president at Vision Forum Ministries and have discontinued my speaking responsibilities.
There has been serious sin in my life for which God has graciously brought me to repentance. I have confessed my sin to my wife and family, my local church, and the board of Vision Forum Ministries. I engaged in a lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman. While we did not "know" each other in a Biblical sense, it was nevertheless inappropriately romantic and affectionate.
There are no words to describe the magnitude of shame I feel, or grief from the injury I caused my beloved bride and children, both of whom have responded to my repentance with what seems a supernatural love and forgiveness. I thought too highly of myself and behaved without proper accountability. I have acted grievously before the Lord, in a destructive manner hypocritical of life messages I hold dear, inappropriate for a leader, abusive of the trust that I was given, and hurtful to family and friends. My church leadership came alongside me with love and admonition, providing counsel, strong direction and accountability. Where I have directly wronged others, I confessed and repented. I am still in the process of trying to seek reconciliation privately with people I have injured, and to be aware of ways in which my own selfishness has hurt family and friends. I am most sensitive to the fact that my actions have dishonored the living God and been shameful to the name of Jesus Christ, my only hope and Savior.
This is a time when my repentance needs to be proven, and I need to lead a quiet life focusing on my family and serving as a foot soldier, not a ministry leader. Though I am broken over my failures, I am grateful to be able to spend more time with my family, nurturing my wife and children and preparing my older sons and daughters for life. So, for these reasons I want to let my friends know that I have stepped down as a board member and as president of Vision Forum Ministries. The Board will be making provision for the management of the ministry during this time. To the friends of this ministry, I ask for your forgiveness, and hope that you will pray for the Phillips family at this time, and for the men who will be responsible for shepherding the work of Vision Forum Ministries in the future.
Doug Phillips

  Interestingly, there is a follow-up letter , in which addresses the sentiments of well-meaning people that felt like he was being unnecessarily hard on himself.

I would like to express my gratitude for the great kindness so many have shown to my family in the wake of my stepping down as president of Vision Forum Ministries. My family has been greatly encouraged by many loving notes we have received. With that in mind, I want to be so very clear about the rightness of this transition, and I want to clear up some matters which have been brought to my attention. My sin has resulted in great pain within the Body of Christ, some confusion, and has given the enemies of God reason to rejoice. This is heartbreaking to me. Some have suggested that my sin was not sufficiently serious to step down. Let me be clear: it absolutely does merit my resignation. My resignation is sincere and necessary given the weightiness of my sin. Some reading the words of my resignation have questioned if there was an inappropriate physical component with an unmarried woman. There was, and it was intermittent over a period of years. The local church, not the Internet, is the proper forum for overseeing the details of a man's repentance, but I just want to be clear for the sake of peace within the Body of Christ, that the tragic events we are experiencing, including the closing of Vision Forum Ministries are my fault, and that I am sincere that I should not be in leadership, but must spend this season of my life quietly walking a path of proven repentance. Please pray for the Phillips family, the Board, and the men who have made up the staff of Vision Forum Ministries.

  Oh my goodness I feel like such a low-down dog.

The Fear of God, Part 3

 Words are tricky things, especially Bible words because there are eternal consequences for misunderstandings. Some words do not mean what you think they mean (like inconceivable!) and some words do not mean what they once did.  This is hard to admit, but modern English is a stripped away, hollowed out version of its Elizabethan self, and frankly, despite my best efforts, I’m as dumbed down as the rest of you. 

  So rather than adopt an insufficient 20^th century definition of the word ‘fear’, we will let the Bible define its own words. There are obviously several ways to determine the definition should it become necessary, and one way is to look at words that it associates with each other.  For example, the Bible says in Hebrews 13:4, “whoremongers and adulterers God will judge”.  “Whoremonger “  isn’t a  common word anymore, but  we all understand what an ‘adulterer’ is, and so that at least puts us in the ballpark to understanding the sentiment.   Employing this principle, we will look at the words that the Bible associates with the ‘fear of the Lord’, and hopefully reintroduce the reader to a more Biblical definition.  This may come across as an academic exercise, but it’s not.  Deducing the definition is essential towards the comprehension of what should be our attitude towards God.

  Psalm 33:8 says “Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Psalm 22:23 says “Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel”.  In Rev 14:7, we are commanded, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”.   The psalmist announces to  us in  chapter 5 his intention to “.. come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.” Even from this small sampling, we don’t see men that fear the Lord cowering. We see them standing in awe of him. We see them praising him, glorifying him, and worshipping him because of his awe-encompassing powers of creation.  The Bible is plain on this, that God made all that is, and that he sustains all that is. The wind and the sea obey him. He knows the stars and calls them by name, and for that fact alone, a man saved or lost owes the God of all glory his worship and his adoration.  Out of all the things that are, the only thing deserving of any credit or praise is the one who made them.  The invisible God has chosen to declare the visible firmament to show off his power and majesty to his creation.   Only a fool of the first rate would stand proud and  self-righteous before such majesty!  A man with any sense at all would fear the maker of the sun, the driver of the hurricane, the author of his own DNA, and that fear would drive him to   acknowledge his own smallness and weakness and insufficiency by comparison.  Only with that acknowledgment can a man even begin to fear God.

  Furthermore a man who fears God will see himself in Deuteronomy 10:20 when it says “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve , and to him shalt thou cleave , and swear by his name.” Biblical fear carries with it an obligation to serve the object of your fear, and to swear by his name.  After all, that is the name that is above every other name, and if the Lord is my helper,  whom shall I fear? If God be for me, who can be against me?  If I fear God I will “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with  trembling” . 

  Fear is a verb, and  it’s synonyms are words like ‘awe’ , ‘glorify’, ‘worship’, ‘serve’,  and ‘cleave to’.   It’s not a man hiding in a corner while averting his eyes, it’s a man spending his life to  bring glory and honour to the one that not only made him, but died for him.  It's God getting what he deserves for all he has done, all he is doing, and all he will do.  It is a life which gives God good pleasure ( Rev 4:11), a life spent fearing him.

  Next we’ll tackle the benefits of fearing God.

Edify

“And it came to pass , when the time was come that he should be received up , he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,  And sent messengers before his face: and they went , and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said , Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did ?  But he turned , and rebuked them, and said , Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of .  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9: 51-56

  It is so easy to be wrong.  It is even easier to be right in letter and wrong in spirit.  In the text, the disciples   felt a certain response was appropriate, and even had a scriptural precedent for that response.  But Jesus rebuked them, not because this had never been handled that way before, but because their heart condition was dictating to them how they were going to handle it.

  If you hang around churches very long, and pay attention, you’re going to see things handled all sorts of ways, some of which will be wrong. Some of these wrong ways will have scriptural precedents.  Some of the people performing these wrong actions will have verses to back up what they are doing.  But   unless things are done in the proper spirit, the right thing can quickly become the wrong thing.

    For example, let’s say you and I have a doctrinal disagreement. It can be a small thing, or a large thing.  Some heresies are harmless, and some are harmful.  But whether it’s small or big, harmless or harmful, my heart condition towards you will dictate to me how I handle the disagreement.  I can jump on my soapbox and proclaim that ‘open rebuke is better than secret love’, which is absolutely true. I can claim 1 Timothy 5:20 in how I deal with you and use that to justify myself as I broadcast our disagreement, although I’d have to wrest the scriptures a bit to do that.  If I’m in a position of authority in the ministry, I can use that authority to subtly and not so subtly make my points.  I could do all these things, and there are times in which that is the exact biblical fix for a situation.  But unless it’s done in the right spirit, I would be as much in the wrong as the rankest heretic.

  My particular flavor of Christianity isn’t exactly known for this. In fact, if there is anything we specialize in, it is letting our commitment to doctrinal purity cloud us to the larger picture.  We’re sort of famous for dividing into camps and shooting our own wounded.  We tend to view any sort of compromise as a breach in the hull of the truth, and we forget that not only must truth be defended, but it must be defended correctly.  We aren’t willing to police our own hearts because we are so busy being right.

  The truth is, if you’re saved, you and I  are going to be together a long time, and if I truly love you as I am supposed to,  I’m going to do my best to  do what’s best for you, even at my own expense.  Even in our disagreement, you aren’t my enemy.  Even while we sort out our understanding of Biblical issues, I can be   kind without being a compromiser.   Even if we never agree while here on Earth, I can edify you without surrendering my position. I can love without crossing over into ecumenical foolishness.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient : all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”  The book of Romans commands me “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”   Philippians says I am to “esteem other better than themselves. “  I am to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called ,  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  Romans tells me “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably . Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died .  Let not then your good be evil spoken of :”

 So I, from scripture, have the complete liberty to not be a world-class jerk when we disagree.  Christ has both given me that liberty, and that ability.  But do I have the heart for it?

The Fear of God

“Render  therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom is due, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour..” Romans 13:7

 “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God…” Deut 10:20

OK, now a quick story.  Our church one year had a float in a local parade.  The float consisted of a small structure built on the back of a trailer that sort of resembled our church building, along our church bus.  There was a gaggle on folks on the trailer, and several of us on the ground walking along behind and beside the trailer.  The intent by the organizers and float builders was for the church’s name to get out in the community. Most people involved with either riding or walking limited themselves to smiling and waving, but since I am hardwired to put the gospel out, I secured permission to preach along the parade route while handing out tracts.   I proceeded to do so for a good solid 45 minutes

  As we neared the end of the parade, I jumped on the church bus to get a ride back to my car.  Rounding a corner, we were flagged down by a clown. He was a member of a more prominent   church in town that has a ‘clown ministry’. This ministry, as far as I can tell, involves dressing up…well, as a clown.  I’m not 100% sure what goes on past that. Probably something involving oversize shoes. The aforementioned clown wanted to talk to me. He had been doing his clown-ness a few floats behind us, and had an issue with my approach.   We discussed it briefly, and one of his parting statements was that he was concerned people might think that God is “big and scary”.

  The problem, dear friend, is that God just happens to be big and scary. Men are commanded to fear God for a variety of reasons. Jesus warned people to fear he who could destroy both body and soul.  A man who lives on God’s earth, breathing God’s air and eating God’s groceries while in flagrant violation of God’s word has an eventual rendezvous with God scheduled, and he ought to be fearful.

  If you discuss this very long with people you will get comments like “ I don’ t think God wants us to cower down and be afraid. I think he wants our respect.”  That’s an interesting point, but the fact is that God uses the word ‘fear’ when he could have just as easily used the word ‘respect’. The word ‘honor’ is in the Bible enough times that I have no doubt God is aware of it’s existence, but yet he didn’t use the word ‘honour’, he used the word ‘fear’.

  I pondered this and pondered this. I even looked up every single use of the word ‘fear ‘ in the Bible.  Then one day it hit me what the problem is. We’re illiterate. Bound by the narrow definitions and usages of dumbed –down America; I hadn’t considered how the word is actually used in scripture. Fear, like love, is an emotion. But fear, like love, is also a verb.  The Bible says “For God so loved the world..” and the verb in that clause is ‘loved’.  The  context  establishes that  God doesn’t sit  up in the  third heaven with  tears rolling down his face because he’s just so crazy about me, he loved me. He doesn’t have a refrigerator up there with my picture on it.  He ‘loved’ me, and the rest of the verse defines what the love was; the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary.  It’s a definite action that occurred at a definite point in the past and it’s called ‘loved’.

  The fear of God is something you feel, but fearing God is something you do.  I have 20 or 30 scripture references to prove my point with, but unless we establish that basic fact, everything else is a waste of time and magnetic ink. Fearing God is a definite and observable action defined by context in scripture. It doesn’t mean cowering in a corner, averting your eyes and whimpering. It is an activity, not an attitude. Over the next few installments, I hope to  use the Bible to define what that activity is.

  Comments are welcome.