Simply put, I'm dead, you're dead, we're all dead

My parents were very simple folks. Neither one had an education beyond the 8th grade. (Yet, that is three grades more than Jethro Bodine. For those you have no idea what I'm talking about, I feel sorry that you have lived such an uncultured life.) While my parents did not have much book sense, they had tons of horse sense.

As my wedding day inched closer and closer, my mom one day, with her typical sheepish grin, gave me some homespun advice. While she was sitting on her sofa, she looked up at me and said, "Chris, I don't want you to compare your wife's cooking with my cooking." That tidbit of common sense kept reverberating in my mind, and it sure did save our marriage lots of unnecessary grief. Since that advice was given about thirty-one years ago, I have passed that wisdom on to others many times in pre-marital counseling.

As the groom, who would become my brother-in-law, and his groomsmen were gathered in the side room before we were to march into the church auditorium, the groom asked me if I had any last minute advice before I, the minister who would tie the knot, would lead them all out to face the crowd. I hesitated not one second, and I rattled off my mom's famous words. The groom and his friends nodded in stunned silence and looked at me in awe, as if I had said something that was on par with e equals mc squared.

I was the first one in our family tree who received a college degree. While I have papers that show I have gained some book sense along the way, I still prefer to think that some of my parents' common sense is floating around in that grey matter upstairs. Although I don't succeed at doing it as much as I need to, throughout my pastoral ministry, I've made it one of my aims to try to join forces between book sense and common sense. I figure if I can make things understandable to third graders, I might be able to reach most adults, like me, as well. Rather than tickling one's funny bone or spouting pop psychology each Lord's Day, every minister of the gospel should be preaching to people's heads. But we can and should talk to people's heads without talking over their heads.

Biblical doctrines are not as complicated as some people make them out to be. The Bible is not simplistic; it is the most profound book ever composed. Yet, it is profoundly simple. Is that an oxymoron? How can something be profound and simple at the same time? Yet, it is true. Only God can pull off a feat like that.

As we begin our plunge into the five points of man's salvation from sin, the story line in the Bible from beginning to end, we face immediately the issue of man's Total Depravity. That is the T in TULIP. (See previous articles.) It is not just that the word "tulip" begins with the letter "t", but everything we understand about salvation really begins here at this point. Using some common sense with some book sense, we can boil everything down to one simple question:

"What can a dead person do?"

Can a dead person inhale and exhale? Can a dead person whistle a tune or gaze at the moon? Can a dead person wiggle his pinkie or play with a Slinky? Can a dead person comb his hair or slice up a pear? Can a dead person go for a stroll or dig a hole? Could or would a dead person do any of those things on a train, a plane, in a box, with a fox? (My apologies for being loose with Seuss.)

If you say that a dead person can do absolutely nothing, zilch, nada, zero, then congratulations, you have identified yourselves with those dreaded "C" people, talked about some articles ago.

If you say that a dead person can do something, howbeit, so small, then we have some more talkin' to do.

Simply put, the Bible says I'm dead, you're dead, we're all dead. That is the spiritual condition of man at the moment of conception. We are not on life support, we are not comatose, we are not in ER, we are not terminally sick, we are not one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peal. We are dead. Dead in our trespasses and our sins. (Ephesians 2:1-5, Colossians 2:13) Not sick in our sins. Not ill in how we feel. Not in a world of hurt. We are dead.

My mom died just a few days before her 81st birthday in 2001. My sister had called on the phone to her apartment to check on her one evening. She never answered the phone. My sister rushed over there to find Mom sitting in her favorite chair with her feet propped up on the ottoman, right next to her pet parakeet's cage. She died of cardiac arrest. Very peaceful was her death, but she was dead. There was nothing that my sister or I could do for her. There was nothing that my mom could do. We could yell in her ears, we could shake her arms, we could throw ourselves on her and cry our hearts' out, but she would never respond to us. Why? She was dead.

God told Adam and Eve that would be the case if they ate from that tree. "In the day that you eat of the tree, you shall surely die." Even if we only have a 5th grade education along with Jethro, our mathematical computations would show us that Adam lived 930 years, and he died (Genesis 5:5), and 930 years do not equal 1 day. So he and his mate didn't die physically the day they ate in disobedience to their Maker. So in what sense did they die that same day?

They died spiritually. Much later they would die physically. The Bible speaks of a third kind of death--an eternal death, described in Revelation as the lake of fire, the second death, everlasting hell. We who are dead now and who die in our sins will one day die, and after that, death. Physical death will soon catch up with our spiritual death, and eternal death then will overtake them both. The wages of sin is spiritual, physical and eternal death. God makes a multitude alive in Christ, removes the sting of physical death, and grants eternal life. Pretty good trade-off, wouldn't you say?

A dead person can not respond to God. A dead person can not exercise his will. A dead person can not believe. A dead person will not repent. A dead person will not seek after God. (Romans 3:10-19) A dead person can not understand the things of God. A dead person will not entertain lovely thoughts about God. A dead person is dead, and a dead person can do absolutely nothing.

So what does a dead person need before he can do any of the above? First and foremost, he needs life. He needs to be raised from the dead. He needs resurrection. ('Ephesians 2:1-5)

Who can do that? Can you or I raise the dead? Can we assist God in raising us or others from the dead? Or can only God and He alone raise the dead?

Total depravity does not mean that all of us are as bad as we can be. Thank the good Lord that is not the case. A world of ruthless, bloodthirsty, cold-blooded murderers would not be a beautiful sight. Total depravity simply means that sin has so affected every ounce of our being, that we are in God's sight dead. We are brain dead, will dead, heart dead, affections dead, priorities dead, just plain ol' dead through and through. We can never be as good as we must be. Our pride does not like to hear things like this about us. But the Great Physician insists we take this strong medicine so that we can really appreciate and adore the cure even more.

Before a dead person can respond in belief, he must be born again. Birth (or new life) precedes belief. Resurrection precedes repentance. The cart of the new birth, or regeneration, comes before the horse of trust and repentance. Now we know why Jesus talked about being born again to Nick at night in John 3 before He mentioned belief later on in the chapter. Now we know why in John 1:13 we are told that the only ones who can believe and receive Jesus (v.12) are those who have been previously been born of God, and not by the will of man. Any conference that focuses only on John 3:16 and ignores the first part of John 3 is doing a great disservice to the words spoken by our Lord.

A dead person does not assist God in helping God to raise him from the dead. A dead person can do nothing, remember? Lazarus was not raised from the dead, because he willed it, asked for it, urged it, sought it. Until Jesus said to him, "Lazarus, come forth," Lazarus could not move his little pinkie, or play with a Slinky, go for a stroll or dig a hole. Lazarus did not work in cooperation with Jesus to make his life from the dead possible. We who are dead in our sins do not meet God halfway on the road to salvation. Dead people don't go anywhere anyway, let alone somewhere halfway.

Yet, I hear some people say, "This is all true. God says we are all dead in our sin, but we still can ____________________ (fill in the blank)." If that is anyone's sentiment, then we need to back up and go back to the beginning: "What can a dead person do?"

Now if we are dead, and God's diagnosis is 100% accurate 100% of the time, then how can anyone be saved? How can a dead person believe? How can a dead person repent? How can a dead person do anything? I'm glad you asked. . .

Must a person believe in Christ and repent of his sin? A thousand times yes. Anyone who does so will be saved. That's a promise. But the question goes back a step further. How can a dead person do those things?

God always must make the first move. Since dead people can't do a thing, Somebody has got to do something for any of us.

Simply put, if you got the "T" down to a tee, then you are ready for the "U".

So, hopefully, all newlywed grooms or fiances learned a simple thing that can have some profound effect in our relationship with the one we love. And to the more encompassing audience of dead sinners, hopefully, we all learned a simple thing that can have some profound effect in our relationship with the One who first loved us.

The Doctrine of (an American) Election

What can be said that hasn't been said already about the results of Tuesday's national election?

H.O.P.E. Here's One Post Election analysis that may not make it on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, or even Fox News.

What does it reveal about a nation that when that nation decides to choose its leader, the determining factors seem to be such things as eloquence, charisma, youthfulness, energy, image, good looks, and a celebrity persona? What does it say when a country picks its leader based upon style over substance, and what substance there is shows a radical departure from the original founding documents of that country?

Now here is the question: Is what I am describing above the nation of America only, or can it also be describing a huge segment of the modern-day holy nation of God, the church (1 Peter 2:9)? What happens when the church chooses its leaders based upon star appeal, flashy personality, eloquent speaking ability, personal ambition and drive, well-marketed image, good looks before the camera, a large following, and a polished persona? What does it say when a nation, such as the nation of God, picks its leaders primarily based upon style over substance, and what little substance there is shows a radical departure from the original sixty-six Founding Documents of that nation?

I hear Jesus in the foreground saying something about a speck and a log.

So, holy nation of God, take a good look in the mirror after the disappointing results in this year's American election. If you are disgusted in how your fellow citizens chose its leader, then how disgusted are you that much of the modern church has been choosing its spiritual leaders for many years now based upon the very same things we cry against in this year's election year perceived fiasco? If we raise any amount of protest against the current American scene, but are strangely silent when our spiritual leaders are chosen the same way we chose this year's presidential winner, then what does that make us?

We can all HOPE and pray that the modern church will awaken from its long spiritual slumber and repent; we need to quit pointing our fingers at the national media, the Democratic Party, special interest groups, the President-elect, the current President, the Republican nominee, or whoever or whatever. Even if none of the above changes, we who are God's children must. Judgment does not begin at the White HOUSE, the U.S. HOUSE, the state HOUSE, but the HOUSEhold of God. If we do repent from our stylishly sinful ways, then that will be a substantial Change We Can All Believe In.

Yours in Christ,
Chris