Author: Richard Bargas

Grown Ups Eating Theological Baby Food

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Every two years Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research conduct their “The State of Theology” study to identify what Americans believe about God, the Bible, and doctrines historically accepted by the Christian faith. The findings are often helpful in gaining an understanding of how America thinks about moral and religious issues.

Regarding the question of the belief that the Bible is true, evangelical Christians stated in the 2022 survey:

“A rising disbelief in the Bible’s literal truth may help us understand why American evangelicals also increasingly believe that religious faith is a subjective experience rather than an objective reality.”

STATEMENT NO. 31: Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.

U.S. Evangelical Finding:

2018: 32% agree
2020: 23% agree
2022: 38% agree

Source: “The State of Theology”1

The idea that belief is personal opinion and not objective truth didn’t come out of nowhere. This idea surrounds us in a cultural milieu where truth is relative, and “my truth” can coexist alongside contradictory truth claims, even within the same person. As if this weren’t serious enough, this foolish abandonment of truth has found a place within the evangelical church.

In addressing the believers in the letter to the Hebrews, the biblical author chastised the church for its own lax views toward a rigorous and thoughtful faith: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12, LSB)

We don’t have any indicators about how long these Christians had been believers (“by this time…”), but the author is confident that they are way behind in their ability to pass along the faith to others. Some Christians feel as if they do not need to study the Word, or to do so seriously because they are not “gifted to teach.” But the author of Hebrews doesn’t seem to give this as an option. He doesn’t say, “Now to you who have been called by God to be teachers…” His words of rebuke are aimed at a general audience, strongly implying that all believers ought to be teachers.

Lest anyone think that this is an anomaly, Paul writes these words to the church in Colosse: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16, LSB). Paul commands the church to be, among other things, “teaching and admonishing one another.” We understand that there are those within the church who are called as teachers, but Paul is assuming that there is also an informal type of teaching that is to be practiced by all within the body of Christ–the more mature teaching the less mature.

This idea has deep roots within the Jewish community that was commanded by the Lord to make sure that the children of God’s covenant people were well taught by their parents: “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7, LSB).

In his book, The Disciplines of a Godly Man, R. Kent Hughes recalls an interview with radio talk show host Dennis Prater, who is Jewish. Prager states:

“One thing I noticed about Evangelicals is that they do not read. They do not read the Bible, they do not read the great Christian thinkers, they have never heard of Aquinas. If they’re Presbyterian, they’ve never read the founders of Presbyterianism. I do not understand that. As a Jew, that’s confusing to me. The commandment of study is so deep in Judaism that we immerse ourselves in study. God gave us a brain, aren’t we to use it in His service? When I walk into an Evangelical Christian’s home and see a total of 30 books, most of them best-sellers, I do not understand. I have bookcases of Christian books, and I am a Jew. Why do I have more Christian books than 98 percent of the Christians in America? That is so bizarre to me.”2

More than bizarre, such a statement is to our shame if it is true. And according to The State of Theology study, it is true. So, what can we do about it? Tolle lege! Let us take up and read! Some have a sense of superiority connected to their simple thinking and willful ignorance. May we instead dive deeply into the things of God to grow–not in arrogance and price, but instead into a deeper love and relationship with the God of the Bible.

  1. https://thestateoftheology.com/data-explorer/2022/31?AGE=30&MF=14&REGION=30&DENSITY=62&EDUCATION=62&INCOME=254&MARITAL=126&ETHNICITY=62&RELTRAD=62&EVB=2&ATTENDANCE=254 ↩︎
  2. R. Kent Hughes, The Disciplines of a Godly Man, 97. ↩︎

Words as Weapons

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Pastors are among those who are the most prolific in their use of words and speech. Whether teaching, preaching, counseling, or writing, the words that an average minister uses in a given week must be in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.

When those words are good and wholesome, then those who receive them do so as a refreshing stream from a cool brook (Prov. 18:4). But when words are weaponized and used in order to afflict pain, they can be like the thrust of a sword that cuts deeply (Prov. 12:18). For anyone who has been cut to ribbons, you understand this picture well.

The use of words is so powerful, that in today’s Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker wrote an opinion piece regarding the way that words are used in times of war to bring about courage, as well as how they can be used as propaganda to destroy and confuse.

“John F. Kennedy said of Winston Churchill that he “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” From Pericles to Abraham Lincoln, words have often been as effective as armaments in shoring up a people’s defenses, reinforcing an army’s resolve, or inspiring a unit’s bravery. But in war, as in peace, words can also be used to demoralize and disorient. They can be used—and have been—more deviously by the enemy, and its quill-, microphone- and laptop-carrying enablers and propagandists, to obfuscate and confuse, to seed doubt in a just cause.”(1)

James 3:1 is a particularly strong passage for those who teach the Word of God because it is a warning to us. Since we trade in the use of words, we can become adept at it—wordsmiths who fashion sentences and paragraphs along logical lines of argumentation. In service to King Jesus, this is excellent. It is when we use these skills to smith words of destruction and pridefully destroy others that we must be careful of and when we make a blade to cut others to shreds, we must repent.

I must admit that I somewhat understand the struggle of men like Martin Luther, who was coarse in his language at times. He was in a fierce battle, and when in battle, we can lay aside niceties and civility because we are in the heat of fending off a virulent enemy. Luther lived in a time that demanded much from him—and yet it did not excuse Luther from the sin he committed by his tongue and pen, and it does not excuse me—or you.

In many ways, we must exhibit the grace of our Savior who went to battle with the powers of darkness and yet did not sin. He gave not an inch to the enemy—either in his ministry or his heart. We must follow as closely to our Lord in this as we possibly can. As Christ’s own, we are not at liberty to use the tactics of the enemy when we speak, write, and teach. We cannot use words that bite and tear, and ultimately destroy those for whom Christ died. If we do so, we do not walk in the pathway of Christ.

It is not “anything goes” in these days of moral warfare. We must take the higher ground, we must speak truth at all costs but always seasoned with salt. The grace of Christ must always emerge from our lips, and we must not speak as if we belong to the enemy—whether in the pulpit, at our keyboards, or in our homes. May Jesus Christ be sovereign over our mouths as much as our hearts.

(1) (Gerard Baker, Wall Street Journal, Opinion 11/7/2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamas-defenders-wield-words-as-weapons-91713cee?st=an53x27bv366061&reflink=article_copyURL_share)

Plugging Your Ears Doesn’t Do Anything

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Remembering back to your childhood days, you probably remember a common practice by kids that don’t want to listen to other children–they stick their fingers in their ears, and sometimes shout, “I’m not listening…I’M NOT LISTENING! LA LA LA LA LA.” But here is the thing, the child with his or her fingers in her ear may not be listening, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t being spoken to by someone else. The fingers in the ear trick works for the stubborn child, but it doesn’t negate the message.

The prophet Jeremiah had repeatedly spoken out words of warning and calls for repentance, all of which went unheeded. He had suffered abuse and ridicule, and yet he continued to faithfully declare everything that the Lord God told him, even at great personal cost.

In chapter 36, Jeremiah received words from God that he dictated to his faithful assistant. The words were threatening the wrath of God, and Jeremiah’s hope was that the warning might affect the hearts of the people and that they might turn from their sins and return to the Lord in humble submission and obedience. Jeremiah, who was imprisoned and unable to go himself, took the completed scroll with the Words of God written in them, and he handed them to his assistant Baruch with these instructions:

““So you shall go and read from the scroll, which you have written at my dictation, the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people in the house of Yahweh on a fast day. And also you shall read them in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come from their cities. “Perhaps their supplication will come before Yahweh, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has spoken against this people.”” (Jeremiah 36:6–7, LSB)

Baruch took the scroll first to the elders of Judah, and when they heard the words written from the mouth of God through Jeremiah, they were struck with terror at what the scroll said. Clearly, God was angry and they needed to have these words read before the king. As the leader of God’s people in Judah, surely he would do what is best and right. But instead of an open heart that was willing to listen, King Jehoiakim figuratively did what a 1st-grade child might do on the playground–he plugged up his ears and refused to listen. Except, the king was no child, and his actions went far beyond those of a child in his offense against the King of Heaven:

“Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king as well as in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. And it happened that when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not in dread, nor did they tear their garments.” (Jeremiah 36:21–24, LSB)

No wonder wickedness ruled in the land with such a wicked king upon the throne! Instead of listening with a broken and contrite heart, Jehoiakim literally cut the scroll that contained the Word of God and tossed it into the fire, piece by piece. He refused to listen and made sure that nobody else was bothered by the message from God either.

Today, rulers all over the world, politicians, people of wealth, power, and influence sit in places where they have a great responsibility. God’s Word is not hidden from our world. He has given us His complete revelation in the written Word of God, the Bible, and in His Son Jesus Christ. Our institutions of Higher Learning treat the Bible as classical literature, our judges and officials swear upon a copy of the Word of God, and in many of our halls of government the Words of God are inscribed in the stone and marble upon the walls. We have no excuse.

And the common man has no excuse either. Ministries like Gideons International according to their own accounts, “have taken more than 2 billion Scriptures in more than 95 languages to 200 countries, territories, and possessions across the globe.” You can find a Gideons Bible in many hotel rooms to this day.

But are they listening? Is the world listening to the warnings clearly written in the Word of God? Some politicians and leaders, including religious leaders, are doing what Jehoiakim did–they are cutting out the parts of the Bible they don’t like. They don’t like hearing about sin (especially those sins they indulge in themselves), and they don’t like feeling the conviction that comes when God’s Word and Spirit press upon their hearts and tells them that they have committed these sins not only against men but worse, against the holy Creator God!

You cannot muzzle God. People have tried throughout history. Communism and other godless regimes have sought to confiscate and destroy Bibles, but they cannot. They have tried to silence God’s servants, imposing sanctions, imprisoning, torturing, and murdering them. But they have found out that they cannot silence God! They plug their ears, but the Words are still spoken and they are still true. The rebellious heart may not want to hear them, and they may stifle the sound for their own conscience, but it will be to their own detriment. God cannot and will not be silenced.

The question is not whether they (the rulers, leaders, celebrities, politicians, and the “power brokers” of this world) have refused to hear God. The question is whether YOU have done this. Have you plugged your ears to the warnings that God has sent in the Bible? Have you ignored the reality that if you would simply listen, these warnings are filled with the mercy and grace of God offered to you? If God didn’t care, why would He warn? If He did want you to turn from your sin, why would He mobilize an army of His servants to take His message all over the world? God cares, the question is, are you listening?

Rejoicing in Trials

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“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,” (Philippians 1:15–18, ESV)

Circumstances do not bring joy, only Christ does. The Apostle Paul’s outlook on his own life was that it was not his own, that he was a servant of Jesus Christ first and foremost. He said that in his opening words to the Philippian church. Paul derives his joy from his identity as a servant so that he does not look primarily to his circumstances but to the fulfillment of his Master’s will. Endurance through trials is not a work of the flesh, but a work of the Spirit.
This is something that the world cannot understand at all. For a world without God, when suffering comes, they often seek the quickest route out. The world does not see any benefit in suffering and pain. As a matter of fact, when they see a Christian suffer, they can sometimes mock us, and ask where our God is. Why doesn’t he relieve our suffering when we have been so faithful to serve him?
Paul is helping them to see that his imprisonment is not the worst thing that could happen to him. Discontentment is worse. Joylessness is worse.
In Philippians 1:15-18, Paul sat in a prison cell, yet was filled with joy in the continued preaching of the gospel. He was not bitter about the fact that he wanted to be out doing the work of the ministry, and he was good at it!
And he wasn’t bitter about those who were free, and used their freedom to preach the gospel, not to serve Christ, but to jab at Paul! Paul ended his thought in verse 18 with “in that I will rejoice.” Christ was being glorified. How could anything be better?
But as Paul thought for a second, he realized that there were reasons for continued rejoicing beyond just the present preaching of the Word. Let’s look at a few of these reasons that he laid out for rejoicing:

Rejoice in the Prayers of the Saints (v.19)

“for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,” (Philippians 1:19, ESV)

Paul writes how he can rejoice because he knows that the brothers and sisters in Philippi are praying for him. In Philippians 4:1 Paul mentions that he constantly kept the church in his prayers, and he is aware that they have done the same for him.
This is a greater challenge in the church today because our society tends toward more and more isolation. We might see what you eat on Facebook, and hear about how great your vacation was, but the real issues in our lives are kept hidden.
In general, we shouldn’t overshare, meaning that we need to be wise about what we say and to whom we say it. But in matters of praying for one another, we need to grow deeper without going into gossip or unnecessary details.
The example we see from Paul is that he shared himself with the church. He shared his thoughts, his fears, his needs, and his weakness. This type of transparency allowed the church to better pray for him. And in this prayerfulness for one another, Paul could rejoice. He knew that the church was praying for him in his struggles and trials. And he prayed for their welfare as their spiritual father. But prayer is not all that was needed. He adds, “And…”

Rejoice in the Help of the Spirit

Paul’s joy was based upon much more than the faithful prayers of the saints in Philippi. Prayer is only as good as the God to whom we pray. The intercession of the saints must be accompanied by a movement of God. Our prayers shouldn’t stop until God answers one way or another.
Paul knows that something will happen when the saints pray and the Spirit “helps.” This is really where Paul finds his assurance. His confidence comes with the work of the Lord.
The word “help” (ESV) is an unfortunate rendering because it seems such a weak word. The KJV’s “supply” is a little better, but still doesn’t give the best picture of the critical nature here. The Greek word epichoragia is a word that is used in Ephesians 4:16 to speak about a ligament that serves to support the body: “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:16, ESV)
That is the kind of “help” the Spirit is. Without him, we are crippled spiritually. We cannot go on. He is that critical. The Spirit’s help is not like an assistant, whom we can do without. He is like a knee joint for a sprinter—invaluable. The reference to “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” means the Holy Spirit. He is the One who will bring about Paul’s “deliverance.”
But what sort of deliverance was Paul expecting? Some have thought that maybe this salvation is from his situation—a temporal salvation, others have thought that it was spiritual. Perhaps Paul was thinking about the fact that whether he lived on and was freed or whether he died a martyr’s death, he would be saved. The Spirit of Jesus would deliver him from death, or deliver him from this life through death. Either way, Paul would be set free in some form or another.
Where we set our eyes changes what we see. If we set our eyes on Christ, we see hope. Christ delivers us from the challenges we face today, and he has conquered our sins, winning for us salvation and eternal life. But when we put our eyes on our problems, on the circumstances that we are in the middle of, our vision is clouded. We can be given over to despair and hopelessness. Paul could have easily gone there as he sat in prison. But he knew he had good friends praying for him, and that the Spirit of Jesus was working it all out. He would get out of that prison, and either he would be reunited with his friends, or he would be safe in the arms of Jesus.
What about you? Are you trusting in the Lord to deliver you in your times of need? Have you forgotten the power of God? Stop trusting in your own strength. Stop seeking to be the answer to your own prayers. Depend upon the Lord’s strength. Why are you downcast? It is because you have placed your hopes in something other than the Lord. Hope in God. Finally, we need to…

Rejoice in Expected Courage (v. 20)
Paul is eager to see where the Lord is directing him. He knows the prayers are for his release, and he knows that the Spirit is at work, but the future is still unclear.
When Paul says he has “eager expectation,” this idea pictures a person straining his neck to see what is ahead just around the bend. It is a great word. Paul isn’t dreading the future, he is embracing it. He is hopeful!
So what are the possibilities? He expects that whatever happens, he will not be ashamed. Why would he be? He is not a criminal. He is on trial for the gospel. He has no remorse in prison. He would do it all over again. He has glorified his Lord in his ministry.
Let me ask you, are you ready to meet the Lord today? Would you be ashamed of what you have accomplished in your short life on this planet? Are you banking on the next 10-20 years to make something of your life for Christ? That is borrowed time, my friends. It may never come. You need to put your life in order today. You don’t want to be lying in a hospital bed thinking about how ashamed you will be to face the Lord because your life was a pursuit of personal desires.
Instead, Paul was anticipating having a lion’s heart to face whatever would happen. He expected to have “full courage” for whatever he faced. You see, if he was released from prison, his message of the risen Christ would be vindicated in many people’s eyes. And if he received the death penalty, then he expected to be filled with courage just as much. How? It had to do with how he had been as a servant. You see, Paul wasn’t only speaking about the courageous death he would face—courage as he faced the executioner.
Whether he lived or died was inconsequential. Eager expectation, hope, and courage marked Paul’s outlook. Paul’s lion-like boldness was based upon the salvation won for him at the cross and how he had remained faithful to his Master. Paul was ready to die well.
With heaven before us, what do we really need to fear? Jesus has conquered sin and death. Our best days are ahead of us. Christ is King! Let us have the courage to face the uncertain future knowing that the face of Christ and eternal life is a certainty!

The Ugliness of An Entitled Culture

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“A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7 (LSB)

Many years ago when I was a youth leader, our church did an event that was meant to help our students understand a little better what it meant to struggle with hunger, as many people throughout the world regularly experience. To do this, we asked our students to participate in a 40-hour fast, where they wouldn’t eat anything, and would only drink water or juice.

The fast began on a Friday morning, and once they were out of school, they came to the church for us to begin a series of activities that would help round out the experiment. We did a canned food drive that was done in a fun and competitive way, with teams going out into the community with a wheelbarrow asking for canned food items. The team with the most food was declared the winner, and the food was donated to a local food pantry.

Along with a time of Scripture reading, Bible study, and singing, we ended the night with all of our students sleeping outside in cardboard boxes on the church grounds, wearing the clothes they came in after school. This activity was meant to help them better understand what some homeless people experience.

In the morning, as we emerged from our cardboard cocoons in the wet dew of the morning, we continued with our programmed activities…without food. I don’t know about you, but all of my experiences as a teenager, and with all the teenagers I know, food is a pretty important part of their lives. And they eat a lot! But this experience brought to light a reality that most if not all of them had never thought about in their affluent upper middle class world–associating with those who have very little.

When we were ready to break the fast, the worried parents of these teens volunteered to provide a feast of pizza and other foods they knew the teens would love. We kindly thanked them for their generous offers but declined because we knew two things, the fast needed to be broken slowly and carefully (pizza isn’t a great first meal after not eating for almost two days), and the reality is that those who struggle with poverty don’t have the choice of gorging themselves on pizza when they haven’t eaten.

Our final activity for this event was to serve a dinner of a bowl of white rice with a scoop of pinto beans on top. Again, many teenagers are picky eaters, and any mom who tried to serve their kids a bowl of beans and rice would get laughed at. As a matter of fact, I remember that some parents warned me and my wife that their kids would never eat what we had prepared. But had their kid ever not eaten for 40 hours? They had become so hungry at the beginning of the fast that they argued over a student who had been sneaking breath mints–wasn’t that eating? they argued!

And to add one more lesson to the range of emotions they must have felt, we asked one more thing from these kids–when it came time to eat, they couldn’t serve themselves. They needed to restrain their flesh and think of others as more important than themselves. They needed to wait for someone else to serve them. Once everyone had a bowl, and we prayed, they were free to eat.

Proverbs says, “A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.” (LSB). As stunned parents watched, their teenage sons and daughters served one another and sat to enjoy the best-tasting meal of their young lives. How good hot rice and beans were to their body and soul. They had been so satiated with the honeycomb of their wealthy lives that they couldn’t see the everyday blessings all around them. But when they were stripped away for a short time time, Oh how sweet the simple things in life had become. Satisfaction doesn’t come from the things we have, but from our heart attitude, and contentedness with what the Lord has given us.

In this entitled culture, so many people think that they are owed every comfort that this life has to offer. Personal rights are demanded, and the individual is placed on a greater level than the whole of society. This sort of entitlement will never satisfy the one who chases it. We might think that if we get everything we want and long for we will finally be happy. The reality is that happiness isn’t found in having your personal rights and demands fulfilled. A simple review of celebrity news will make that fact abundantly clear. True joy is found elsewhere–in a relationship with the One who has given us all things, including Himself. When we forget this simple fact, we will seek satisfaction everywhere else, and that elusive high will never last because we weren’t created to find happiness in ourselves. True happiness can only be found in Jesus Christ.