Peter Witkowski Apologetics, Pain & Suffering

Did Prayer Fail?

prayWhy pray? Why go to church? Why worship God?

These questions have been dramatically tossed out before our culture. When Devin Kelly slaughtered twenty-seven people ranging in age from an unborn baby of eight months to a seventy-seven year old man, he directly challenged the value of Christianity.  When men, women, and children our gunned down in the very act of praying and worshiping, culture cannot help but surmise that following Christ is a pointless practice. And now some would extend that sentiment and claim that religion is dangerous.

Most members of secular culture tolerate some religious observances. The finger pointed up to heaven as the baseball player rounds the bases and the kneel by the quarterback who just crossed the goal line are deemed acceptable. Admittedly some do get a little queasy when encountering these displays of religious devotion. But most Americans view religion to be nothing more than the Marxian opioid that enables people to slug through the difficulties of life. Our secular friends do not inhale our religious fumes but they are happy for us to partake.

Much of that indifferent, societal good will vanished on Sunday, November 7.  The worship of Christ resulted in the death of twenty-seven people. Instead of working hard to create laws that would have protected them and others from a mass shooting, the men, women, and children were worshiping God at church. Even worse, several national politicians worship this God.

According to many in celebrities and politicians, the prayers of the church members and other Christians failed. The day began with friendly smiles ended in the tears of sorrow. Hence our culture asks us, “Why pray?” The rhetorical questions implies we should not pray. God is distant, asleep, or at the very least inept. The time for prayer is gone according to the great thinkers of the twitter universe. The time for meaningful human action has arrived. Society needs to dispense with the opioids of religion and take real action.

While many in America challenge the relevance of praying, they do so from a secular worldview. They challenge prayer because they believe religion is nothing more than a social drug. They deny the reality of heaven and hell. Many Americans are modern day epicureans, seeking to find meaning in pleasure and experience. They believe that joy consists of doing as much of what you want when you want it for tomorrow we die.

They may employee the occasional prayer to God when they encounter an illness or a bumpy airplane ride. But to them, prayer is nothing more than one of many life-lines that can be used to escape or lessen tragedy. And if it fails to help you achieve your goals it should be abandoned.

But this is not the end goal of the Christian worldview. The goal of the Christian, to borrow from the shorter catechism, is, “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” The goal of the Christian is to commune and to be with God. Christians do not discover life through accumulating wealth, through mastering education, or through experiencing unique events. They discover life by experiencing God through his word and prayer by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Did Devin Kelly’s murderous actions separate his victims for the love of God? Did he destroy the Christian worldview? Did prayer fail?

Did Prayer Fail?

No.  Death is not the end of life. Death is when real life begins for the Christian. Death is not the ultimate sign of resignation and failure. For the believer, death is the conduit through which he or she accesses unfiltered communion with God. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:23 that, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better.” Being with Christ means we experience no more pain, sorrow, or frustration. And it means we commune with God perfectly. We will no longer experience quiet times interrupted by day dreams. We will no longer fall asleep while praying. We will no longer leave a worship service perturbed, confused, and unloved. We will have a perfect relationship with God. The men, women, and children who died that day did not experience futility or failure. Their prayers did not go unanswered. They were answered in the most real and meaningful way possible. They came to worship God in part and ended the day worshiping him in full. To be with Christ is far better than anything in this world.

Why We Hurt?

While death was gain for the 27 people who died a few days ago, death is not gain for their families and for the people left behind. Paul also deals with the reality of loss. He notes in Philippians 2:24 “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Paul knows that death breaks human relationships. Death brings harm and discouragement to those who are left behind. Thankfully, God’s grace and mercy covers and sustains the broken-hearted. But the pain and sorrow associated with death is poignantly real, seeping into the depths of our hearts.  Christ had to die to overcome death. And he did. And all who follow him will not be conquered by death. Rather they join Christ and conquer death through the power that raised Christ from the dead. All who appeal to God through prayer confessing their sins will not be disappointed. They may not get their best life now on this earth. But they get something far better. They get what God promised them, life with him.

Did prayer fail on November 7, 2017? Absolutely not.

Will you keep praying?

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[i] against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[j] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-37

Peter Witkowski Apologetics, Church History

Sola Scriptura

scripture-aloneThis post was taken from my talk on Sola Scriptura delivered during FBCE’s Reformation Focus on October 29,2107

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they often err and contradict themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may, God help me, Amen.

With these words,  Luther shattered his connection to the Catholic Church, by proclaiming the Scriptures to be the final authority. Pope Leo X and his advisers believed that the Bible was the inherent Word of God. Luther’s battle was not akin to the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention that fought to reestablish the belief that the Bible was the Word of God and was without error. Both the Luther and the Pope affirmed the inerrant nature of the Scriptures.

Luther and the Pope butted heads on the doctrine of the sufficiency and authority of the Bible. The Pope and the cardinals believed that they could and should add commands and ideas to the Scriptures because as Bishop Stephen Gardiner said, “The Scripture is dead: it must have a living expositor.” Infamously, Pope Leo X expanded upon the Scriptures by creating Indulgences to pay for the completion of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Indulgences were little pieces of paper that transferred merit from Christ and the saints to the sinner upon payment to the church. As the evil monk Tetlsel sang, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, The soul from purgatory springs.” The Catholic Church was selling salvation on the authority of the Pope and on the authority of church counsels.

authorityLuther objected vehemently to the sale of indulgences, knowing that salvation comes through faith alone,  by grace alone, through Christ alone for the glory of God alone.  The Catholic Church responded to Luther’s 95 Theses and other writings by calling the German Bull to repent of his errors and to affirm the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Luther refused. He was, “bound by the Scriptures.” The church was not Luther’s authority. The Pope was not Luther’s authority. Pragmatism or the belief that what works is right was not Luther’s authority. The culture was not Luther’s authority. Right and wrong were not determined by the societal acceptance of a practice. Rather, Luther’s authority was the Bible.

The Biblical Case For Luther’s Belief

Luther made the Scriptures his authority because the Scriptures, the Word of God, claim to be the exclusive access to the voice of God. In I Timothy 3:16-18, the Bible claims to have been breathed out by God or exhaled from his mouth. The text in our hands and that shines on our phones is not simply the religious musings of some deep thinkers, it is not the divine inclinations of a few wise men and women, and it is not the suggestions of the spiritual astute. The Bible, is the Word of God. It is the essence of God.

2 Peter 2:16-21 reveals this truth clearly. The text states:

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son,[i] with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible, the words of Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and the many other writers, contains the words of God. And the words that compose the Scriptures were not written in a dark room somewhere. No, these words reflect reality. Peter is recording the teachings and the events he saw and heard. He says in verse 16, “we were eyewitness.”

What was Peter an eyewitness too?

He tells us. He is talking about his experience on the mount of transfiguration. In Mark 9:1:-8, Luke 9:28-36; Matthew 17:1-8, we are told that  Jesus, Peter, James and John go up on a mountain. Jesus is transfigured. The three disciples see Jesus’ glory and listen to Jesus talk with Moses and Elijah. Then they hear as Peter recounts in verse 17 these words, “This is my beloved Son,[i] with whom I am well pleased.” They hear the voice of God the Father.

But as amazing and as grand as those words were and that experience was, Peter is affirming that you and have I something better. He says in verse 19:

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts

Peter affirms the prophetic word. He says that text in front of us is more sure and more helpful for our everyday lives than his experience on the mount of transfiguration. Chew on that for a minute. Peter is affirming

kiwihug-284614that the Bible is better and more helpful than being with Jesus briefly on the mountain top. God’s word is far better than any experience we may have in the woods as the sun rises. God’s word is far more helpful than any experience we can create by praying ourselves into an emotional tizzy. God word is far more excellent than any private prophecy or premonition. If we want to hear the voice of God and to know what God is saying to us,  we must read the Bible.

Peter tells to respond reality of the Bible’s authority by reminding us that we will “do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” Borrowing the language of Psalm 119, Peter tells his readers that only God’s Word can guide them to light, truth, and joy. Only God’s word can show how us how live, how to worship, and how to overcome sin. God’s Word is inerrant and it is authoritative and all we need.  All of Scripture and not just the red letters is the words of our God.

And all of Scripture is the words of Christ.

John 14:25 promises:

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Everything the disciples wrote down came from the Holy Spirit who was sent by the Father to bear witness to Jesus. The Bible is the Word that the Father ordains us to have through the Spirit, attesting to Jesus. We do not have to reach outside the Bible’s pages for a special word from the Lord. Because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit work together in perfect unity and unison, they will not give us competing words or visions from sources other than the Bible. No member of the trinity will go against the over members and send a rogue message out here or there. And if we hear a word outside of Scripture, we have not heard the voice of God. We have tapped into demonic darkness. To know God’s will, to hear God’s voice, we must tune our hearts to the Scriptures.

Until Christ returns, until the morning light breaks into the darkness of this world and Christ once again reigns on high above all earth, the Scriptures are fully sufficient for all we need in life and Godliness. As Luther would note,

Scripture alone is the true Lord and master of all writings and doctrines on earth.

Luther can make this bold declaration because in verse 21, we read these words,

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The apostles did not put down their own ideas. They did not write down their agenda and push their political aspirations as the writer Dan Brown asserted in the Divinchi Code. No, writers of the Bible recorded verifiable facts. wrote down the words of God.

Remember verse 16. Peter tells us that he was an eyewitness. The apostle John makes the same claim in I John 1:1:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.

And in Luke 1:1-4 we read,

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

And in Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus famously asserts the authority and sufficiency of Scripture noting

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

As Luther would reflect,

The saints could err in their writing and sin in their lives, but the Scriptures cannot err.

Luther and the reformers made the Bible their authority because it is the definitive and complete Word of God. Sola Scripture; Scripture alone.

Reflections For Today

As I conclude this section, I want to reflect on how this doctrine of Sola Scripture should shape our church. As Dr. Albert Mohler the President of Southern Seminary said,

The true churches of the Reformation understood that the right call was for a church always reformed by the Word of God.

As men and women affirming the doctrines of the Reformation, the biblical idea that Salvation is through Christ alone, by Grace alone, through faith alone, for the glory of God alone, upon the authority of the Scriptures alone, we should continually examine our lives and the lives of our church for the purpose of reforming our hearts and church. to reflect the Scriptures.

I wish to close by posing to questions to help us apply the truths of Scripture alone to our hearts.

1. Do we value the Word in our church? Does the children’s ministry revolve around the teaching and preaching of the Word or is the ministry driven and directed by games and personal opinions?

Do the songs that we sing reflect our music preferences or do they reflect the gospel as revealed in the Word?

Do the sermons we hear drive us to the text? Or can we quickly close our Bibles once the pastor starts preaching? Do we regularly hear our pastors, guest preachers, and Sunday school teachers saying, “See what the text says, look at that verse, see what the word says,” or do the preachers simply tell stories and reflect on their own impressions? John Blanchard said,  “The pulpit is the throne for the Word of God”

Word prominently displayed on our throne? Do we value the word in worship?

2. Second do we value the word in our daily life? Do we truly think that the Words of eternal life are found in the Scriptures? Where do we go first when we encounter trials, tough decisions, and sickness, hardships, and unpleasant experiences? Do we run to our friends? Do we run to the psychologists and the Christian therapist for some extra biblical advice? Where do we go?

Luther noted,

A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or council without it.

Several hundred years later Dietrich Bonhoeffer restated Luther’s sentiment, saying,

The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus.

God’s word claims to contain all that we need for life and godliness (2 Tim 3:16-18). Luther said that God is light and that “all else being darkness.” Do we look to the light when seeking to navigate our lives or do we embrace the darkness that parades about as the world’s wisdom? Do we value the word in our life?

The reformation began in 1517. But it has not ended. May we continue by God’s grace to cotinually reform our churches and our souls to reflect the truth of the Scriptures. Sola Scripture. Scripture alone.

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Should We Obey The Government?

white-house.gifShould Christians obey the government? Regardless of your position on the current controversy surround the NFL and players kneeling during the National Anthem, most every Christians has rightfully cause to be displeased with their local, state, and federal governments. Corrupt police officers have abused minorities. Judges have promoted murder through the defense of abortion. The state department has refused to grant Christians sanctuary from persecution. And then most every Christian has cause to complain about how the IRS collects and spends their tax money. Some Christians are quick to point out the government takes their hard earned money for the purpose providing lazy bums with welfare checks. Other Christians are mad that the government allows and empowers corporations and the wealthy to enrich themselves at the expense of poor, hard working men and women. In short, most every Christian has cause not to obey the government because they are ruled by petty, corrupt, and sometimes purely evil officials.

Thus, we arrive back at the question. Do Christians have to obey their governments? Jesus says yes. In Mark 12:13-17, Jesus faces the same question that we face. He responding by saying, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are Gods” (vs17c). Jesus call us to obey our government because he reigns. We are to submit to our local authorities as an act of submitting to God.

The Back Ground

Before we write of Jesus as being out of touch and as not understanding our current political American backdrop, we need to remember Jesus’ setting in Mark 12. The Jews did not like the Romans. When the Roman general Pompey the great conquered Jerusalem and the temple mount in 63 B.C, he had his troops slaughtered the priests, he walked over their dead bodies and entered the Holy of Holies, and then he desecrated the temple by offering pagan sacrifices. The Jewish Roman relations did not go up from this point. The Jews hated to Romans and regularly revolted against the Italians, viewing them to be interlopers, oppressors, and decidedly wicked. Most of the Jews spent their days dreaming about the Romans dying. Even much of Jesus’ popularity was tied to the hope that he would end their reign. The Romans were a wicked, unpopular, and oppressive government that readily exploited the Jews.

The Pharisees and the Herodians come ask Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar because they know that many of the Jews have ample cause to hate their Romans. Paying taxes in Jesus’ day like our day was not a popular subject. And so these leaders pose this question about governmental authority seeking to trip Jesus up. The parallel passage in Luke reports, “So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor” (Lk 20:20).

In a rather striking moment two groups of Jews that typically hate each other have been unified by their hatred of Jesus. The Pharisees were the strict, legalist leaders of the Jewish world. They were the homeschool, long skirt, anti-smart phone champions of the ancient world who regularly policed how far people walked on the Sabbath. The Herodians were the playboy, nude beach, and pro-luxury champions of the ancient world who readily embraced the bathhouses and vileness of the roman culture. Although these men had very different outlooks on life and operated on two separate worldviews, they were united in their hate of Jesus. Jesus opposed both legalism and licentiousness and called men and women to repent and believe on him. They hate Jesus so much that they were willing to overlook their own disagreements.

As believers, we must not be surprised that the world gangs up on us. We must not be surprised when we see agnostics, Tibetan monks, and Muslims uniting together to oppose Christ. They all affirm different answers to life’s most meaningful questions of purpose. But they all are unified in their rejection of Christ. They share a friendship based on the belief that humans can reach God apart from the saving work of Jesus on the cross. Those who proclaim Christ will be hated by the world. We must expect opposition. And now falter in our gospel witness when we see the world teeming up to oppose Christ.

The trap they set revolves around to supposed answers to their question “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not?” These men ask the question seeking to trip Jesus up, seeking to derail his ministry much like Jesus had done to the chief priests the day before when he asked by what authority did John baptize (Mk 11:27-33).  The Jews believe that Jesus can give only one of two answer. First, Jesus could tell the Jews not to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus would win over the crowds with this answer but would also commit treason against Rome. As a result, the Jews could scamper back to Pilot report Jesus’s treasonous words which would compel the Romans to arrest and most probably execute Jesus. Second, Jesus could tell the Jews to pay taxes to Caesar. If Jesus responded in this manner, then the crowds would leave him. Jesus would go from trending to being blocked on twitter and Instagram. As the crowds melted away, the Jewish leader could seize Jesus and kill him because no one would care.

In their Pharisees and Herodians’ minds, they had landed on the perfect question. Regardless of how Jesus answered, they would win. But Jesus calls an audible. He gives them a completely unexpected answer and says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mk 12:17c).

Render To Caesar

We are to obey our crooked police officer when he unfairly asks us to stop, we are to pay our taxes even when we think the government is wasteful, and we are to obey the laws of the land because God reigns. Our government, the Romans, and every other government in this world exists because God appointed them to power. President Obama and President Trump have both run this country because God wanted them to rule America. We do not obey them because they are always good, wises, and worthy of our respect. We obey them because God is always good, wise and worthy of our respect. We obey our government because God reigns and has appoint our local, state, and federal officials to rule over us. We should respect our elected officials with our words, we should pay our taxes, and we should stop when we see blue lights pop up in our rear view mirror because we are to “render to Caesar the thing that are Caesar’s.”

The apostle Paul said,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Again Paul is not calling the government good. But he is saying that our God good instituted the government. The government that fallen and messed up still exist for the good of the people. The goverments still protect us from our foreign enemies, from the evil people in our neighborhoods, and from other corrupt government officials. Again some will say, “but God does not get how bad things are in my town.”

spenser-h-194645He does. Paul wrote this words most likely when Nero ruled Rome. The man tied up Christians to polls, dosed them in fluid and set them on fire to provided lighting for his garden parties. If Christians are admonished to obey this emperor surely we can obey our president our respect our flag regardless of the party in power.

We are not called to look the other way when our government sins. We should take legal steps to fight for justice. We should call our police officers to treat all fairly. We should call our congressmen to stop wasting our tax dollars on abortions and other sinful practices. And we should encourage our state department to welcome Christians being persecuted for their faith. But we should speak to these things orderly and obediently recognizing that their authority comes from God.

And because our governments come from God, we should also beseech God to change our governments and to graciously provide us for godly men and women to rule over us. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tm 2:1-2). Brothers and sisters if you want persecutions to stop injustices to end, do not riot. Do not sin. Beg God for mercy. Plead with God to change hearts and to bring justice. He can and he does. And moreover, plead with Christ to return. As Augustine said, “sin is the primary cause of servitude.” The City of God, the perfect garden where all men and women live in perfect harmony will not arrive until Christ returns and assumes his proper place as ruler of this world. All who suffer under imperfect governments who are mistreated by those in authority should long for that day. We should submit to our governments because they are appointed by God.

Render To God

Then we must render to “God the things that our Gods.” Our governments make demands of our time, person, and wealth. We have to suffer through the DMV and through filling taxes and then we have to pay taxes. But God requires more than lip service. God demands more than a perfunctory service or portion of our income. God demands our whole person. We owe God true obedience and worship in every area of our lives.

Yes, we should be good, caring, loving, informed, and involved citizens. We should vote. We help our neighbors clean up their yard after a storm. We should seek to understand various politicians and their legislation so that we can make informed decisions when we pick up our ballot and slide the yellow voting card into the computer. We should speak up when we see county officials abusing their power by cutting the new road through their property for the purpose of personal gain. We should speak up when we see police officers abusing the poor. We should attempt to remove crooked congresspersons and the president from office through impeachment or the voting booth when the practice evil. We should be involved citizens because God sovereignly reigns over all.

But obedience to God extends well beyond the limits of being a good citizen. Men can open doors for women, and greet everyone with a firm handshake and still refuse to give Jesus the worship that he is due. Women can slow down and rid their house of every electronic device and still not render to God the things that are God’s.

sergio-souza-285121And Christ is not just making demands upon our worship. We should want to long to be in the house of God. We should enjoy singing, giving, and hearing the word of God preach. But we can do all these religious things and more and still not render to God the things that our Gods. In Mark 7:6-7 Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah and condemns the Jews for the improper worship, saying “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” God is not pleased with a self-righteous worships. He cares little if we give the social acceptable amounts. He cares little about the number of times we have prayed in public. He does not respect us for all the solos and choir specials that we have sung. He is not impressed with our years of nursery service.

God does not ask us to render him a few moments or portions from our table. Christ wants it all. He demands our whole life. He calls us to place our whole life under his authority. He demands that we worship God with our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mt 22:37). Every aspect of our life is to be devoted to Christ through heart felt obedience. We cannot worship God apart from obedience.  Jesus plainly said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” To render to God the things that our Gods is to obey him in every aspect of our lives.

We are to obey God in our sex lives. We are to flee from pornography, adultery, and fornication. We are not to live with our boyfriend and girlfriend before marriage. We cannot practice homosexuality and still walk with God. We can regularly divorce and do what God hates and render to God the things that our God. We must remain chaste until marriage and then delight ourselves in our spouse for as long as we both shall live.

We are to render to God the things that are God when it comes to our words. We must embrace Christ commands and speak only the truth in love. We cannot render to God the things that our God’s if we regularly attack, insult, slander, and belittle people with our words.

We must render to God the things that our God’s in our recreational life. We cannot forsake the assembling together of the brethren to make every weekend tournament and render to God the things that our God’s. When cannot become desperately sorrowful when our teams lose and then sinfully boastful when our teams win and think we are right with God.

God demands our whole life. Every aspect of our lives from time to money, from sports to school, from singleness to marriage must be brought under God’s jurisdiction. We must render to God the things that our God’s.

Admittedly no person God can do this in their own strength. We cannot work our way to heaven. No can we will our way to rendering to God the things that our God’s. Regardless of my effort, I cannot make an unwieldy, non-aerodynamic toy airplane fly. I tried and the plane shattered when I sent it off tumbling off the top step of the walkway that slopped down our front yard. They plane lacked the capacity. We too lack the capacity to obey God. We are sinners with corrupt hearts that long to do evil all the time.

Thankfully, God offers to change our nature. He offers to change our broken hearts. Through his son’s death on the cross, Jesus redeems the lost who call on him for salvation. Jesus gives us his righteousness. He gives us new hearts and his spirit so that for the first time in our history we can obey him from our hearts. We can go past lip service and truly worship him. If you have not repented, I implore you to repent and believe today.

And if you are a believer, I encourage you to daily confirm your life to God’s image. No one in this life perfectly renders to God the things that our God’s. And thankfully, we do not have to achieve perfection to reach heaven. Christ has already lived the perfect life, fully rending to God all the things that our His. We reach heaven not based on our righteousness but based on Christ’s. But if God has transformed our hearts, we will daily long to be more like. We will work we the spirit to transform our lives. We will daily see areas of our lives where our rendering falls short and will repent, change and start rendering to God what he is do. We will delight in obeying him. We will delight in becoming like Christ through rendering to God the worship he is do in every aspect of our lives.

Final Thoughts

Generally speaking governments are not good. They exists because men and women are sinful and need protection from each other. At times, they need protection from the very source that is called to protect them. But our ultimately reason to obey our authorities and to pay our taxes does not flow from our governments. We obey our rules because God is sovereign. And though we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, we should be even more concerned about rendering to God the things that our God’s. God’s demands extend beyond claiming some of time, efforts, and resources. To render to God the things that our God’s, we must worship him with our whole life. We can only truly worship God if we are redeemed by Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

And now the question is to you. Will you render to God the things that our Gods?