Thoughts from a Central Valley Pastor

Month: June 2021

Guardians of Marriage

You’ve probably heard the statistic that 50% of Christian marriages end in divorce. I’ve always questioned that statistic because it does not line up with the almost 20 years of experience I have had working in churches. I have always known biblical churches as communities that guard and protect marriage. I’m often encouraged by the decades of faithfulness that are illustrated in the marriages in our churches. It’s not just one generation of faithfulness. You can see multiple generations who are able to enjoy the fidelity of marriage the way God intended (Genesis 2:24-25). 

By the grace of God, I can attest to the benefit of multi-generational marriage faithfulness in our family. My dad’s parents were married for 63 years. My mom’s parents for 56 years. My own parents remained faithful to each other for 33 years before my mom was taken to be with the Lord in 2011. If you add my own marriage to the mix, then the result is 166 years (and growing!) of God’s blessing. 

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 18:22, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and receives favor from the Lord.” There is a special blessing for those who keep their marriage holy as God intended. The Bible is also clear that there will be consequences for those who fail to stay true to their vows. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” 

Many Christians today forget that Jesus said, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (Mark 10:11-12) That alone can motivate some to seek marriage counseling to strengthen their relationship because if they get divorced, Scripture says they should not remarry. 

As my wife and I raise our kids we want to make sure to let them know of the importance of choosing a spouse. Our boys need to make a believing woman be their first priority in marriage. Our girls need to pray for God to provide them with a man of God who will love them the way Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). If Christ’s return comes late enough in the future, then our prayer is that our children will get married and have decades of marital bliss, the way God intended. 

A Story of Perseverance

Can you guess which church is the oldest protestant church in California? Is it Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles? First Baptist Church of San Francisco? Or St. John’s Lutheran Church of Sacramento? If you guessed the church just down the street from Fisherman’s Wharf then you are correct! 

The First Baptist Church of San Francisco (FirstSF) has been in continual existence for 171 years (founded in 1849)! The current pastor, Ben Day, is the 22nd pastor to shepherd the congregationy. I wrote him an email this week, and he was kind enough to write back. He wrote this, “The members at FirstSF regularly speak of the faithfulness of God towards our church. They know that it is only because of God and Him working through faithful members that the church has been able to serve in the heart of SF for so long.”

He also wrote this, “A church that hopes to experience God’s faithfulness towards them must be faithful to God. While God is certainly faithful to us in times when we are unfaithful, we should not use that as a license to be unfaithful. In the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, Jesus makes it clear that he will remove the lamp stand of the churches that aren’t faithful to Him. This means being faithful to His Word.”

I was struck by what a powerful testimony FirstSF can be for true believers here in California. The churches that are faithful to God’s word will last. They will survive the fires, pandemics, and political turmoil of this age. Pastor Ben reminded me that Covid-19 is not the first pandemic that their church has survived. They have pictures from the Flu pandemic of 1918 with people in their congregation worshipping outside with face coverings. FirstSF also survived the great earthquake and fire of 1906! Even though their beautiful sanctuary burned down, they were able to trust in God and rebuild in their current location. 

It is sobering to consider what God has brought their church through. And it is encouraging to know they don’t give credit to created beings. No, they give credit to the Creator God and his amazing faithfulness to them! He is the one who has brought them through those devastating difficulties and he is the one who can bring them through any trial that may come their way. 

This weekend I am preaching on the need for our church to persevere, and I have been meditating on these questions, “How long will our church last? Will we be faithful to the commands of Scripture? Will God allow us to keep the lamp stand for this generation and those to come?” We don’t know when our Lord and Savior will return, but it could be very soon! Are we going to be found faithfully defending the truth? Will we “Keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ?” (1 Tim. 6:14)? 

These are weighty questions that deserve careful thought and consideration. Every church in California needs to consider if they are being faithful to Scripture. If not, they must repent and return to God. If they are being faithful, they must cry out to him to sustain them through the continual temptations of life and the attacks of the enemy! May God protect His church as she awaits the return of Christ! Maranatha! 

Pastor Tim is the teaching pastor at Grace Baptist Church Lemoore. The church is celebrating 42 years of God’s faithfulness! You can read more of Pastor Tim’s articles at www.christandcommonsense.com.

Surprised by the Narrow Gate

One of the most surprising conversations I’ve ever had was with a professing Christian who believed all religions lead to heaven. I remember it was my freshman year of college and I had travelled back to Thailand to visit my parents. As part of my trip I had to go to the immigration office and that meant waiting in a long line for the paperwork to get processed. While waiting I struck up a conversation with a self-described “seeker” who had traveled from the U.S. to southeast Asia on a religious pilgrimage. We talked for a long time about his travels and life. He told me about his fascination with Hinduism and Bhuddism. I asked him what he thought about Jesus Christ, and this friendly ex-pat told me he was a Christian. I remember being surprised because I had never met anyone who was so confused. He told me a phrase I have unfortunately heard many times since then, “I think all religions lead to God.”  

I wasn’t sure how to respond to such relativistic thinking, but I knew I had to say something. Looking back I think it would have been helpful to ask him a few diagnostic questions to show him the error of his ways, but instead I said, “Sir, I am a Christian and I know the Bible says there is only one way to heaven and that is through belief in Jesus Christ.” I wanted to press the point home so for the first time in my life I told someone to stop calling themselves a Christian. I said, “Please do us all a favor and stop calling yourself a Christian. You are only going to confuse other people and you are going to hurt the reputation of those who are true believers.” 

I thought he would get upset, but he didn’t. Clearly, he had never studied the Bible enough to know you can’t use it to create your own spiritual mash-up of religions. I’m not sure how many other people he had talked to about his views, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t leave our conversation thinking Christianity had room for his philosophy of life. 

As I reflect back on that conversation I know the most surprising part was not that he was a professing Christian, it was that I was emboldened enough to tell him he was wrong. I did not consider myself an evangelist or an apologist. I just wanted to make sure he knew he couldn’t get away with such intellectual dishonesty. 

I’ve prayed for the man and I have often wondered how God used that conversation in his life. I hope he was surprised enough to go back and study the Bible for himself. I hope he read Jesus’ teaching in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Or he could have read Acts 4:21, “Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

That conversation took place more than twenty years ago. Now, that man’s relativistic attitude has turned mainstream. I have heard dozens of people say they are Christians when the Bible would say they are not. They think they can be a Christian and say “All roads lead to heaven” because no one has shown them the folly of their ways. They need Christians to lovingly tell them about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. You can’t create a piecemeal version of spirituality that adds other religions to the Bible. Other religions can add teaching under their umbrella of philosophy, but Christianity has no umbrella. There is a narrow gate that leads to life, and Jesus urged the crowds listening to him, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14) May we all strive to enter by the narrow gate to heaven which is only through Jesus Christ.

The Camel and the Needle

There is fascinating account of a rich man who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him the answer, but he would not do it because he was unwilling to give up his possessions and follow after Jesus. Afterwards Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

That image is a vivid illustration of the struggle that exists in every human heart. Will someone pursue possessions, or will they pursue God? Will someone lay up treasures in heaven, or will they settle for investing in the corruptible riches of this world? It can be a surprisingly strong battle in our hearts unless we have been trained to see that wealth often leads away from God because it leads to wickedness.

The apostle Paul made this clear when he wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” We often hear that verse and think it refers to people in the world. The gambler who ruined his family to feed his addiction. The greedy politician who embezzled funds. The shocking realization about Paul’s warning is that he was writing to the church! He wrote, “It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

The tragedy of pursuing wealth is that it often deadens a Christian to the pain they are inflicting upon themselves. Like a leprosy patients who burns themselves without knowing it, a Christian in pursuit of wealth can hurt their spiritual health without knowing it. Their conscience can become deadened to the clear teaching of Scripture which means they are in danger of damaging their soul.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” I have met many professing Christians who act as if this verse has been removed from their Bibles. They know they should prioritize meeting as a church family, but they act as though Sunday is just Saturday with a different name. 

Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26) Our society is super-charged with consumerism. It is built around the premise that the whole world can be yours if you work hard enough. If that means working on Sundays then so be it. As Christians we must be aware of the madness of materialism. We must remember we are different than the world. We take every thought captive. We live to please the Lord and not the consumerism of our society. 

A good litmus test for this is to ask yourself how often you attend church. If you have been able to go a month without attending church, then your conscience has clearly become deadened. If you only go to church when you are scheduled to serve your local congregation, then there is something wrong. If you have taken a job that has you consistently working on Sundays, then you need to reconsider your priorities. Starving your soul in order to pay the bills will have consequences. How much is your soul worth? How much is your relationship with God and the local church worth to you?

So how do we counter our culture’s incessant cry for more wealth, more money, more things? It is quite simple. We have to think of wealth the way the Bible does. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” We have to ask ourselves is this purchase helping me serve God or money? Does this job allow me store up treasure in heaven or only here on earth? Do our plans for this weekend help us serve God or ourselves? 

The apostle Paul gave the solution to the wickedness of pursuing wealth. He wrote “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6) How can we be godly? We have to repent of our sins and commit our lives to Christ! How can we be content? We have to trust in the sovereignty of God. He will provide. And if you can live a godly and content life then your life will natural result in great spiritual gain. Jesus put it like this, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth andrust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth norrust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:19-20)