Set Thine House in Order

Isaiah 38:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

Just a quick thought that I was reminded of in my Bible reading this week…

If you are a witnessing Christian, you are frequently reminding people that (1) as sinners they have an appointment with death (Romans 5:12; Hebrews 9:27); (2) that they are not guaranteed tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1; James 4:15; 2 Corinthians 6:2); and (3) that they had better “make their peace with God” before it is too late (Romans 5:1; Isaiah 55:6-7). And that’s good. Keep it up.

But if you are a husband or a father, there’s another application of the first 2 points that you ought to consider. You know you’re going to die, but you don’t know when, and it may very well be an unexpected event. Hezekiah was an exceptional case. He got a warning (and ended up with 15 extra years). But when God warned Hezekiah that he was going to die, he suggested that he set his house in order.

I’m not saying this is a definite commandment for a NT Christian, but I am saying that since you’re not promised another breath and since you’ve got an obligation to provide for your own house (1 Timothy 5:8) and since God thought it important enough to tell Hezekiah to do it, it’d be a good idea to do whatever you can to set your house in order.

If you die, who’s going to take care of your wife and kids? If you and your wife die, who’s going to take care of your kids? If you die, what’s going to happen to your stuff? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather make those decisions for myself while I’m alive than let the state make those decisions for me when I’m dead.

I’m by no means an expert on these things, but here are a few practical suggestions:

1. Buy some life insurance if you can possibly afford it.

2. Sign a will and a living will. You can probably find forms and instructions online for free.

3. Encourage your wife and/or daughter to have some type of marketable skills, should she ever need them.

4. Instill as much of the word of God and the love of God into your children while you can.

5. Enjoy every moment God gives you with your family as much as possible. None of you will be around forever.

Unwise Comparisons

2 Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

We all know what the verse says, and no doubt it means exactly what it says, but you’ve got to admit that it’s easy to fall into this trap of making improper comparisons – oftentimes without even realizing that you’re doing it. Now, since it’s an unwise thing to do and we as Christians are commanded to “be not unwise” (Ephesians 5:17), it’d be a good thing for us to identify and give some thought to some of the unwise comparisons we’re prone to make.

The world. To most Christians, the idea of “standards” means I live one notch above the rest of the world. I would never go to the beach in a bikini; no, I wear a one-piece. We don’t allow our kids to watch R-rated movies; they’ve never seen anything worse than PG-13. Pop music is of the devil. We jam to Christian contemporary. Church attendance is important. That’s why we’re there almost every Sunday morning. You get the point.

There are 2 obvious flaws in this very popular way of thinking:

(1) We are not called to adhere to the standards of morality and righteousness as dictated by society; we are to submit ourselves to the holy commands of a holy God as communicated in His holy word. We are to look into the perfect law of liberty and continue therein (James 1:27).

(2) The fact that the line of what is considered “acceptable” dress, behavior, music, entertainment, etc. keeps getting pushed further and further away from the word of God means that a Christian who thinks he’s separated and godly because he’s not as bad as the heathen living around him at the moment finds himself further from the word of God than even lost people would have been not 60 years ago. God’s line doesn’t move. What was right is still right; what was wrong is still wrong. Amen.

Other young people. Regrettably, it’s increasingly rare to be a teen with any true level of interest in living a life of service to the Lord Jesus Christ. The danger of being one of the select few is the fact that it becomes incredibly easy to be satisfied with where you are in your Christianity because anyone with any spiritual sense would have to admit that you’re way further along than all the rest of the duds in your youth group. But you’ve got to remember that’s no indication that you’re anywhere close to reaching the potential of what you could be and should be for the Savior. The mark that you’re pressing toward isn’t standing out above all the rest (really not all that hard) but being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (a life-long endeavor that requires a continual commitment to growth).

Your parents. I thank God for every mom and dad who bring their kids to the church house, but honestly, if the young people in our churches only get as dedicated to the work of God as most of their parents are, the church is sunk. Young person, your parents’ lack of interest in spiritual things is no excuse to disobey God’s commandment to obey and honor them, but it’s also no excuse to adopt their lack of interest in spiritual things. Your parents’ lack of interest in obeying God’s word doesn’t exempt you from doing what you know the Bible says. Mommy and Daddy won’t be there to hold your hand on judgment day. Every one of us shall give account of HIMSELF to God (Romans 14:12).

Your pastor. As a youth pastor, it is my heart’s desire to be able to say to every young person at THE BIBLE Baptist Church, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). My daily prayer is that God would help me set an example that would point others to Jesus Christ. But guess what. I’m a (saved) imperfect, fault-laden, mistake-making sinner. And I’m a pretty lousy benchmark. Shame on me when I sin. But you can pretty much count on the fact that I will. It’d be unwise to use my life as a measuring stick of spirituality.

The ultimate goal is to be like Christ. The standard of righteousness is God’s word. Each and every one of us will have to answer to God alone for what we did with the truth He’s given us. Lord, help us to keep this in mind and go on with a life that pleases you.

Follow hard after God (Psalm 63:8).

That Which Hath Been Is Now

Here’s how Spurgeon saw it way back in the 1800s:

I believe that one reason why the Church of God has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the Church.

Nowadays, we hear Nonconformists pleadings that they may do this, and they may do that – things which their Puritan forefathers would rather have died at the stake than have tolerated. They plead that they may live like worldlings, and my sad answer to them, when they crave for this liberty is, “Do it if you dare. It may not do you much hurt, for you are so bad already. Your cravings show how rotten your hearts are. If you have a hungering after such dog’s meat, go, dogs, and eat the garbage! Worldly amusements are fit for mere pretenders and hypocrites. If you were God’s children, you would loathe the very thought of the world’s evil joys, and your question would not be, ‘How far may we be like the world?’ but your one cry would be, ‘How far can we get away from the world? How much can we come out from it?’ Your temptation would be rather to become sternly severe, and ultra-Puritanical in your separation from sin, in such a time as this, than to ask, ‘How can I make myself like other men, and act as they do?’”

Warmed & Filled

So I went home for lunch yesterday afternoon (sure is nice living 2 miles from the church). Ate a double-decker PBJ (that’s 2 layers of PBJ, 3 pieces of bread, kind of like a Big Mac) and a big plate of potato chips. When I got up from the table my stomach wasn’t as stuffed as it normally is so I thought, hmm…did I have enough or should I eat something else. Then I realized that most of the people in the world probably wouldn’t eat that much all day long. So I thanked God for his blessings, cleaned up my mess, and went back to work.

Don't Touch

1 Corinthians 7:1-2 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Proverbs 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

1 Corinthians 7:1 is probably one of the most unpopular verses in all the Bible, at least for Christian young people. But as we consider its admonition, we must remember that God’s commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3) and for our good (Deuteronomy 13:10). The Lord isn’t looking to restrain us and hold us back from anything good, He wants to protect us that which is hurtful and bless us with something better.

What I want to do is give you 2 reasons from these 2 verses of scripture, if you’re a young person in any type of a dating or courtship or “just friends” relationship, why you ought to adopt a hands-off policy.

1. To avoid fornication.

To ensure the continuance of the species, God created the man and the woman with certain natural drives and impulses. There is nothing wrong with how we are created. There is nothing sinful about the inborn desires of the man or the woman. Within the context of the marriage relationship, the exercise of those drives is said to be an honorable thing. But any who take part in physical activity outside the boundaries God has established are promised sure and certain judgment (Hebrews 13:4).

Now, in order to abstain from fornication, according to the will of God (1 Thessalonians 4:7), the Christian is instructed to FLEE fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18). Not to get as close to it as we can but to run as far as we can as fast as we can in the other direction.

What that means is that if we don’t want to get burned (1 Corinthians 7:9), we shouldn’t ignite the fire.

Proverbs 6 says it this way, Proverbs 6:27-29 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Young person, if you want to be pure, the surest way to do it is to stay off the road that leads to defilement. Don’t trust your flesh (Philippians 3:3). Don’t give it any opportunities (Romans 14:13). Don’t touch.

2. To avoid presumption.

Whether you actually marry the person you’re in a relationship with or not, it would be wrong to act like you’re married before you actually are, right? But 1 Corinthians 7 and Proverbs 6 also ask you to consider the fact that you might NOT marry that person. In fact, that person may very well be someone else’s (future) spouse.

…let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

…his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

It would be wrong for another man to hold my wife’s hand – because she is MY wife. It would be wrong for another woman to wrap her arms around me – because I’m LAUREN’S husband. You say that’s obvious. And you’re right. But what I want to know is why it’s different before you get married.

What I am saying is that when a young man takes the liberty of giving his girlfriend a good night peck, chances are, he’s kissing somebody else’s wife. And that’s just not right.

The best thing you can do if you’re in a relationship with somebody and you’re trying to figure out if that guy is really someone the Lord would have you to marry or if that girl is really someone you want to spend the rest of your life with (which is the only reason to be in what you might call a serious guy-girl relationship), is to treat that person like someone else’s spouse. To treat that person in such a way that their future spouse (if it’s not you) would thank you for it.