Sharpen That Axe!

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10 (LSB)

In a section where Solomon is writing about the necessity of wisdom in everyday life, the image of a man who must risk danger by man splitting logs (v. 9) is interrupted with sage counsel that could almost seem contradictory at first.

There is some risk involved in chopping wood with an axe. The axe might glance off to one side of the log, or it might miss the log altogether and return to strike the shin of the woodsman. The experienced logger might say that experience and correct form, with some safety precautions, would remove almost all dangers. But here is the counsel that seems to not make sense to the inexperienced log-splitter–sharpen your axe!

Now, if I am worried I might hurt myself because I don’t have a clue about what I am doing, I might think that sharpening this heavy instrument that can split a wood log (and my leg) would be foolish. But Solomon states that if you don’t sharpen your axe, your dull edge will require you to exert even more energy to accomplish less work. And as any cook will tell you, a dull knife (and a dull axe, for that matter) is more dangerous because all of the extra energy needed to make it accomplish the same work means you are more likely to wield that knife or axe more haphazardly.

But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why the wisest man on earth (outside of Jesus Christ) would waste time telling his readers to sharpen their axes. The answer is that he isn’t actually talking about the wood-splitting tool, but rather the use of wisdom to guide us in life: “…Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” If we prepare our minds (the axe) for the work we have been given (splitting wood), we will be able to accomplish the work God has given us with more accuracy, speed, and ability. Sometimes we don’t take the time to sharpen our minds. We reason that we are too busy with the Lord’s work to do the heavy lifting required to think deeply about the Word, theology, and the world we live in. The church is filled with drive-thru Christians who want their Christianity to be fast, simple, and mediocre. They are okay leaving the deep thinking to someone else.

But life is funny in that it doesn’t present problems only to the people who think deeply about how theology applies to life. The average Christian will be faced with ethical dilemmas like whether they should turn off life support for a loved one, how they should think about infertility treatments, or what to do when a parent grows older and what their responsibility is as an adult child. Questions regarding how to interact with a homosexual coworker, an abusive brother-in-law, and a cheating neighbor who asks us to keep their secret to ourselves are all too real. When that “log” of a problem sits down to talk with you over coffee, what will you do? Will your axe be sharp enough? If you can’t handle the problem, it isn’t because the Bible doesn’t have an answer. Maybe it’s because you failed to sharpen that axe.

No Lone Rangers in Ministry

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“Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (LSB)

Christians need one another. I state that knowing that there are still a lot of Christians who have not returned to church since they left during the COVID restrictions temporarily closed churches in 2020. Christians who somehow function without other believers are as unnatural as people who live in total isolation. It is spiritually unhealthy and among many consequences, I would say that it will eventually lead to the spiritual demise of anyone who continues in this state for extended periods. My quick response is simple–if you have stopped attending church “in person,” get back to church!

With that said, my main focus for writing today is not concerning the need for the average Christian to be involved in church, but rather that the leaders of the church need to stop behaving in similar ways by forsaking assembling with other Christian leaders because they are “independent.”

Look, I believe that the Bible supports the understanding that a local church is supposed to function under the authority of the Spirit, the Word of God, and godly, biblical leadership, namely elders, within the local church context. I admit that there may be problems when a pastor or church “goes rogue” since there isn’t an overarching synod, or denominational structure to hold them accountable, but my conviction is that since these man-made structures aren’t seen in the New Testament, they shouldn’t be present in the church today.

Having been a part of independent churches my whole life (as a member and a leader), I can say that our strength of independence can also be our greatest weakness. The pastor of an independent church can become so independently minded that he refuses to seek wise counsel and encouragement from other men who are like-minded in faith. Like the church member who thinks that he can get all he needs from his study, online articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos, some independent pastors do the same regarding their own spiritual needs. It’s a “me and Jesus” mentality that can lead to loneliness, discouragement, and warped unbiblical ideas. We need to get out of our echo chamber and allow others to hone our swords through good Christian relationships.

Pastor Alex Montoya has reminded independent pastors of this danger for many years by pointing to the romanticized idea of a lone wolf howling alone in the light of a full moon. The reality, he says, is that a lone wolf is a dead wolf. Wolves are pack animals, and they need each other. The strength of the wolf is the pack. We cannot be “solo lobos,” Montoya says. If one of our members told us that they were going to be fine all on their own and didn’t need the church, we would scoff. We would warn of the dangers of a solo Christian. We would point to the reality that there is no such thing as a solo Christian that is outside of the local assembly in the New Testament. And we would be right. But we must also look at our own isolation. Are we guilty of being a “solo lobo?”

Before Covid struck, our society was already rapidly moving toward self-imposed isolationism. Before iPhones were invented, there was the Sony Walkman, a music device that removed listening to music from a group experience to a personal one. Then came the Walkman, allowing teenagers all over the planet to retreat to their own little world. The iPod replaced the Walkman, and then the little computer in our hands moved the whole world’s focus to one foot in front of its face. This internalization of attention has possibly been one of the most destructive changes our society has faced because it provides a false sense of social interaction for people. Social media has made us increasingly isolated and lonely.

Pastor, you can see the effects this has had on others. Where are you being sharpened and honed? Do you have a group of godly men that you can interact with, pray with, challenge, and be challenged by? The spiritual war hasn’t ended, and we will need to be strong and focused as we prepare for the next stages of the conflict. That means we need each other more than at any other time.

If you want this sort of interaction–iron sharpening iron–and you don’t know where to begin, might I offer you one option? IFCA International, the ministry I am privileged to lead, has many such opportunities to sharpen one another–for churches, pastors, missionaries, Christian leaders, and Christian organizations. If you aren’t already finding this type of fellowship where you are serving the Lord, I want to invite you to look into IFCA to see if we can help bridge that gap and help introduce you to godly, independent Christian men who want to be sharpened by others. Interdependence that doesn’t sacrifice convictions. Find out more at www.ifca.org

Wanted: Proclaimers of Truth

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“But, “Ah, Lord Yahweh!” I said, “Behold, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’” Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a vision of lies, divination, futility, and the deception of their own hearts. “Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by that sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!” (Jeremiah 14:13–15, LSB)

As the penalty for Judah’s sin was imminent, the majority of voices that claimed to speak for God declared peace and prosperity. And although the people already didn’t like the prophecies of Jeremiah, in contrast with the positive prophecies of the false prophets, Jeremiah’s words from the Lord seemed overly dramatic and harsh, leading people to heap upon him further hatred.

Our world has always been filled with so-called prophets that seek a hearing for themselves as a way to enrich their pockets or draw followers to themselves. They exist now in the 21st Century as they did in Jeremiah’s day. And today, their dangerous lies are even more potent since we now live in a world where “image is everything” and “the medium is the message.” Books, TikTok videos, outrageous stunts, and pop music are used in the arsenal of these false teachers to grow their popularity and audience. And although their ability to blind others with these lies has grown, the lies themselves are still the same–“Peace, peace. The judgment of God will not come. He is a God of love and would never punish you for being you. After all, He is the One who made you this way.”

In this vacuum there continues to be the need for God’s people to speak up as the Jeremiah’s of our day. They need to have tender hearts–for the people who need to hear the truth because they are the objects of God’s destructive judgment, but they need to have tender hearts toward God and His inerrant Word so that they will not compromise, water down, or alter His message to our world. There is objective truth and God has made it known to the world. And there are severe consequences for all those who buy into the lies of the false prophets, just as there were in Jeremiah’s day, and just as certainly as there will be on that Day when all mankind will stand before the Great Judge and give an account for their sins.

Dear Christian, we are living in a day when we cannot compromise our message. The false prophets of our world are lulling the world to sleep and giving them a false sense of security even as the smoke of the coming judgment of God is rising. We cannot remain silent nor can we be fearful of what men may do to us. Open your mouth and speak the faithful and true words of our God to this generation. If we won’t do it, who will?

Why Do the Wicked Succeed?

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“Righteous are You, O Yahweh, when I would plead my case with You; Indeed I would speak matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked succeeded? Why are all those who deal in treachery complacent?” (Jeremiah 12:1, LSB)

As a pastor, it can be quite frustrating and even depressing when you are trying to be faithful in your ministry and yet it seems as if the work you are doing isn’t having the effect that you hope it would have in the lives of the people to whom you are ministering. This frustration is exacerbated when your church is located near an unbiblical church or a cult that seems to be swelling in numbers and influence.

Several years ago I remember having a conversation with a member of our church over a similar situation. He came from a megachurch that had a large and influential ministry in the area. Although the teaching was evangelical in nature, the heart of the church was very sick and the church leaders were very abusive and manipulative, as was attested to by several former members. On the day of our conversation, this brother in Christ expressed his concern as to why his former church was so large and wealthy, and yet they failed to practice biblical church discipline, were unkind, even cruel to staff, and were almost cult-like in the way they had formed their leadership structure. On the other hand, he had grown to love our small church, seeing that what we attempted to model was from the New Testament, and that we had a warm and welcoming body that exemplified what he always felt was how a Christian church should act–even if imperfectly.

In his worldview, the larger church had been blessed by God, and that was why it was large. Our church, which was much smaller, struggled in all the ways smaller churches often struggle–with limited resources and staffing. We weren’t always able to do what we felt God called us to do on the scale we wanted to in order to reach others for Christ. If our heart was right and we were trying to be conformed to the New Testament model of a Christian church, why was it that God wasn’t blessing us with more people, financial resources, and other visible “blessings?” What the Bible says and how it played out in real life was puzzling to this sincere brother.

Since we live in a world where our eyes can deceive us, it is easy to default into a popular view that the Jewish people often held in the Bible. It was the idea that in this life, God blesses us when we are good, and God punishes us when we are bad. Although this idea is simple and clean (and is often true, but not always), it doesn’t always work out that way in real life experience and it can become very disorienting when the righteous are seemingly not blessed and the wicked seem to succeed.

Asaph wrote a psalm voicing his struggle with this very issue (Psalm 72). He began to feel as if all his striving to walk in obedience to the Lord was a wasted effort, ““Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence;” (Psalm 73:13, LSB). Essentially, Asaph wondered aloud, why bother if in the end, the righteous end off worse than the wicked? There are a lot of problems with this sort of thinking, and that is another subject for another time, but here is the reality that sobered up Asaph:

“When I gave thought to know this, It was trouble in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cause them to fall to destruction. How they become desolate in a moment! They are completely swept away by terrors!” (Psalm 73:16–19, LSB)

The moment Asaph walked into the presence of God he was immediately reminded of the eternal realities his eyes could not see in the moment of his confusion about his present realities. This world is not all there is. Jeremiah needed this reminder as well. The fall of Israel and Judah were not the end. The wicked that the Lord used as His instruments of judgment would not be eternally exonerated. And the church that throws off how the Lord desires to be worshipped in exchange for a spirit of entrepreneurial showmanship will eventually reap what they have sown. The cultists, false teachers, and those that treat the church as a money-making or power-grabbing enterprise will reap what they have sown eventually.

You see, some seeds take longer to bring their harvest. Sometimes we see the fruit of our efforts in this life–good or bad. But other seeds, and these are often the most important ones, we will not reap the harvest until we stand before our Creator God. We need to be focused upon faithfully sowing the right seeds, and worry much less on what the other guy is doing. By keeping our hands to the plow and working the vineyard the Lord has given to us, we will find that we are more content and filled with joy when we see the harvest, big or small, that the Lord brings through His powerful gospel.

Drinking and Spiritual Leadership

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It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Or for rulers to desire strong drink,
Lest he drink and forget what is decreed,
And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

Proverbs 31:4–5 (LSB)

I’ve noticed with increasing frequency that not only are more pastors and even Christians in general drinking more openly, there seems to be a growing number that are using social media to promote their newfound freedom, with some even encouraging others to join in.

Now, before someone makes a comment about drinking not being a sin, and that taking a position of abstaining from alcohol is “legalistic” and is yet another troubling result of fundamentalism, I want to be clear that I understand that drinking alcohol is not a sin, per se. I also understand that there are some that add to the Scriptures and state that all drinking of alcohol is sin, and not simply to be drunk. I don’t agree, even though I do not personally drink alcohol.

I am specifically addressing the issue from a place of wisdom, and in particular, as a spiritual leader. I, of course, mean pastors and elders, but I also am speaking of those men that lead their homes as well. There are other types of leadership—at work, school, etc., but I am thinking primarily of the higher levels of leadership in particular where many others may be influences either by our example or by our decisions—and often by both.

In Proverbs 31:4-5 we have a good reason for any spiritual leader to think seriously about his use of alcohol because of the fallout that might occur if he does so. When the Bible addresses leaders, particularly those such as kings who functioned in judicial as well as civil matters, we must understand that alcohol is not presented in as neutral a place as some would suggest.

Along with foreign wives (and multiplied wives) that will bring ruin to a king, the authority and influence we wield is to be taken seriously by leaders, particularly in regard to consumption of alcohol. Leaders are to be servants to those they lead, and must do so fairly and carefully.

All too many leaders see those they lead as servants who exist to meet their needs. The godly leader works for those he serves. This means he must be able to think clearly and biblically, even sacrificing freedoms and liberties that others enjoy in order to be a better servant leader. To be intoxicated blurrs the ability to do so, and could lead to injustice against those that depend upon the leader.

I want to be a good father and husband, as well as a friend, pastor, and neighbor. I want all those who speak with me and look toward me as an example to be able to trust that I am sober in every way, and that my counsel, words, and actions are uninhibited and clear in any given moment. Strong drink can muddy the senses and can easily slide into sinful drunkenness.

Wisdom says that kings should abstain so that they can be good servants to the people they lead. Yes, in my Christian liberty I am free to drink as long as I don’t get drunk. But I am also free to not drink, and therefore not find my mind hampered, my example followed into disaster, my tongue slipping into sinful speech, or my body craving something that I simply don’t need. I have enough battles in my life to face in my journey to holiness. Why would I choose to invite something into my life that I can do without and thus far have not missed?

I know there are a lot of Christians that would disagree with me because they feel they are free to drink and not sin. I don’t disagree. But I have seen the affects of alcohol on too many friends, family, and those who have testified as believers saved out of a life of drunkenness to see any benefit for drinking. For me, it is a matter of conviction, and from the above passage and others in the Bible, I am personally convicted that it is unwise for many—including myself, to drink.