Author: Warren Berkley

Is Your House In Order?

Isaiah 38:1

Hezekiah was sick. The Bible says he was at the point of death. Isaiah went to him and warned: “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

What should that mean to us today?  “Put your house in order!” This is not about re-arranging furniture or cleaning house. This is not about getting your last will and testament ready, signing a living will or anything like that. The house, here, is life! The order is not about worldly affairs, but spiritual. The urgency is to have your life right with God! That includes:

Full repentance of all sin. Think of this as holding nothing back – giving up every sin you know you are guilty of and taking nothing against God to your death. The goodness of God leads us tofull repentance (Rom. 2:4).

Full submission to God. We cannot get our house, our life, in order – without full submission to God. God means everything; God is first; God is perfectly trustworthy, and I obey Him with a whole heart to glorify Him now and to prepare myself for death. Jesus describes this as loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matt. 22:37).

Full trust and obedience in Christ.  Are you aware of God’s love, as expressed in the death of Christ (Rom. 5:6-8)? What impact has that awareness had? Let that conviction result in obedience to Christ. He is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:9).

I must get my house – my life – in order through full repentance of sin; full submission to God and full trust and obedience in Christ.

Now keep in mind – Hezekiah had notice. There is nothing in the Bible anywhere that could be understood as a guarantee that we will have notice before our death! So there is no recommendation out of Isa. 38 – to wait till you have notice.

The recommendation is to get your life right before you die by full repentance; full submission to God, and full trust and obedience in Christ.

Have Husbands Surrendered?

by Warren E. Berkley

BEGINNING WITH ADAM, the Bible puts into our hands a virtual gallery of husbands. Some of these husbands were good men, and their example serves as a positive and instructive influence. Other husbands surrendered, and the present plight of today’s homes suggests that there are husbands today who are following their path.

1. Have husbands surrendered to temptation like Adam in Genesis 3:6? The first step in being a good husband is to be a good man! Form a relationship with God first; make up your mind about temptation and sin. Unlike the example of Adam in his disobedience, resolve as David: “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way, O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart” (Psalm 101:2).
2. Have husbands surrendered to intoxication like Nabal in 1 Samuel 25? Poor Abigail! She needed all the tact, charm, patience and resourcefulness a woman can possess. Her husband, Nabal, though a wealthy sheep owner, was “churlish and evil in his doings” (25:3). He was a mean man, given to heavy drinking, affording his wife little protection, love or the right kind of attention. “Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).
3. Have husbands surrendered to extramarital affairs, like David in 2 Samuel 11? Good husbands are always prepared to say “no” rather than surrender to adultery. Like the ancient Job, they have made a covenant with their eyes lest they look lustfully upon another woman (Job 31:1). Jesus teaches us to be loving, giving, moral, responsible, self-disciplined, honest and respectful. He also explicitly prohibited divorce and remarriage, except for sexual immorality. With these divine instructions, He provided an unshakable foundation for a stable and loving relationship between husband and wife. Marriage is a joint venture between two people, who have decided to live as one. (“If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you should try watering your own,” Temptations Men Face, Tom Eisenman, p. 95).
4. Have husbands surrendered to the domination of their wives, like Ahab in 1 Kings 21? Ahab was dominated by his baneful queen, Jezebel. He was overshadowed by the overbearing ways of his wife. Authority is the glue that holds human organizations together, whether in a government, military, school, church, business or home. Ahab surrendered to the iron-fisted oppression of his “liberated” wife. One of the crying needs in the church and the nation is for husbands to begin guiding their families, rather than devoting every physical and emotional resource into the mere acquisition of money. When the biblical ideal is the standard and as it is applied, the more she submits, the more he leads; and the more he leads, the more she submits—and the happier both are! It may well be that our very survival as a people will depend largely on the presence or absence of masculine leadership in the home. (“The society in which we live has done us a great disservice by scrambling the roles of persons in the home” (Dee Bowman, Christianity Magazine, Oct. 1988, p. 290).
5. Have husbands surrendered to preoccupation with their business, like Lot in Genesis 13–19? He “dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.” And “the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.” Yes, it was a good place for a business man; a good place for a farmer, but a terrible place for a family! Today, all some fathers do at home is sleep and eat there. Their main interests lie outside the home, trying to climb the career ladder, moonlighting to pay off unnecessary debts, rushing to and fro and bringing a briefcase full of work home each night. Then to lessen the stress of their hectic pace, they must leave the home again for recreation and relaxation. They have surrendered to the world; they have become overcommitted and preoccupied, and there are wives all across the country reaching for husbands who are not there; not to mention children who may suffer a lifetime with the agony of unmet needs. And—“What shall a man profit, if he supplies every material need and luxury for his child, but doesn’t take the time to communicate truth?” (Gary Ogden, FC Lectures, 1992, p. 84).
   If you haven’t surrendered yet, Mr. Husband, surrender to the Savior and learn to apply His law in every facet of life. As you do this in your marriage, somehow you’ll find that the world looks better and your difficulties seems to shrink a little! Beyond that, you have made Christ the Lord of your life.
   May the circle of your family remain unbroken when you stand before the Lord on the day of judgment.

Berkley, W. E. (1992). Have Husbands Surrendered? (D. Bowman, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 9(8), 22.

The Incomparable Jehovah
(Isaiah 40)

by Chuck Durham

BECAUSE OF hardened hearts and gross iniquity, God crushed His beloved people in the winepress of His wrath. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Her virgins ravaged. Her young men slain. Her rulers executed. Her sanctuary defiled by Gentiles. Her children groaning as they slowly died in their mother’s arms. Famine. Captivity. Fire. The walls came tumbling down. The prophet weeping and weeping. “How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you that I may comfort you … For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?” (Lamentations 2:13). Judah was dashed to pieces.

Yet, a century before, God, in lovingkindness, gave them hope. “ ‘Comfort, yes comfort My people!’ says your God. ‘speak comfort to Jerusalem’ ” (verses 1–2). With urgent tenderness, He expresses His love to His own. They who were Lo-Ammi are now “My people.” No matter how powerful the enemy—whether Babylon, Rome, or Hades—God never forsakes His own. God is our inheritance—not pain, suffering, death, or oppression. He will bless the end more than’ the beginning.

“But what is our surety of this?” asks Judah. “The mouth of the LORD has spoken,” replies Isaiah (verse 5). “But does He have the power to keep His word?” “O Judah,” Isaiah implores, “Behold, your God!” (9). “Have you forgotten what the fathers and prophets told you? [See verse 21]. Are you like the heathen having never heard the story of His majesty? The LORD comes with mighty power staggering the farthest reaches of your imagination. He comes, O house of Jacob, to bring you home across the wilderness. He will gather the sheep of His pasture and carry the little ones in His bosom. He will gently lead you home. Prepare His way—soften your hearts, hear His voice, obey Him! Is He able to bring you back? He is well able! The Holy One, set infinitely apart from any other, has no equals. Transcending the breadth and depth of the universe, He is incomparable” (see verse 25; 55:8–9).
“Compare Him to the power of nature (verses 12–14). The mighty Mississippi pouring six million gallons of water into the Gulf of Mexico every second. Yet, He measured all the waters of the earth in the cupping of one hand. Must He call you to task, like Job, and undo you with questions that still haven’t been answered? He is absolute in power, knowledge, and wisdom. No one has counselled His decisions or revised His plans. Every scientific discovery merely thinks God’s thoughts after Him.”

“Compare Him to the nations (15–17, 22–24). Does the sword of Babylon strike dread in your hearts? Or, the nuclear arsenal of the U.S.S.R.? When you buy barley in the market, do you ask the vendor to brush the dust from the scales to get an accurate weight? As “weighty’ as dust, so are the nations compared to I AM. They are grasshoppers at best. He raised up Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Cyrus—the list goes endlessly on. And He threw them all on the ash-heap of history. They are powerful, but not all-powerful.”

“Compare Him to the idols (18–20). In foolish arrogance, man carved his concept of God out of stone and wood, substances he cannot even create. God is not an “it” to inquire about, read of, talk about. He is the living I AM imparting life to the universe. Ultimately, we need to talk to Him, not about Him. Long before God ever crossed our minds as being real, we were known by Him—intimately (see Psalm 139; Jeremiah 1:5). No man-made philosophy can plumb the depths of who God is, what He values, what He is doing. It is why every man-made philosophy is so futile. It either ends at the beginning not acknowledging God, or it ends with self—not listening to God, but telling mankind what it thinks God is.”

But Judah cries from the ash-heap, “My way is hidden from the LORD … passed over by my God” (verse 27). Isaiah says, “Be ashamed! God who knows the path of every star and calls them all by name, you dare to say He doesn’t care for you? Is He less interested in those for whom He shed His precious blood than in mere matter? (26). The cross of Jesus Christ forever says He cares (see Romans 8:32). The darkest night can never wipe that away.”

When my child is stricken with cancer and I faint with fatigue, in fear and tears—He faints not. Pain and suffering will not have the last word. When I, like Jeremiah, fail to produce results, grow weary and think of quitting—He never wearies or gives up on me. He will renew me with His strength. When Caesar spills the blood of God’s people and we cry at the altar, “How long, O Lord, until you avenge our blood?”—He tells us, “Wait on Me.” His ways are unsearchable. His agenda rules, not ours. He remains faithful and, with trust, we wait through the long, dark night simply because He promises the morning will come. Finally, when worn out with age, I lay my head down to breathe my last, my thought will be of victory, not defeat. In the resurrection, “I shall mount up with eagle’s wings; I shall run and not be weary; I will walk and never faint.”

Durham, C. (1990). The Incomparable Jehovah (Isaiah 40). (P. Earnhart, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 7(1), 16.

Overcoming Apathy Every Day

Warren E. Berkley

Apathy is something that has ill effects in every area of human enterprise. In matters of politics and government we hear the expression “voter apathy.” In the retail industry and in all areas of business and manufacturing, one problem is people who are employed to do a certain job but they simply don’t care about excellence, competence or customer service. We may know people who are apathetic about their health, their appearance or their finances. This simply means, they don’t care.

The word “apathy” is interesting. It is from the Greek apatheia, which means without feeling. In English we have the word pathos which means strong passion and emotion. The prefix “a” means without, so again, apathy means without feeling; no passion, no emotion. One common expression that captures this is, WHO CARES? Apathy toward God is exemplified by the Laodiceans who were “neither cold nor hot,” (Revelation 3:14–16). “Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings” (Helen Keller).

Before we can defeat apathy we need to understand the nature of it. When I preach about this I tell about the basis, the fuel, the behavior, the attitude and the language of apathy. Unbelief is the basis of apathy; ingratitude is the fuel of apathy; inaction is the behavior of apathy; indifference is the attitude of apathy and silence is the language of apathy.

Once defined and identified, our next work is to defeat it and to re-defeat apathy every day. How can we overcome apathy every day? I have three answers: Faith, Love and Hope (1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Colossians 1:3–5).

This is the way to overcome apathy on a daily basis; through faith, love and hope! If I open my heart to the Word of God so that saving faith is produced within me—faith in God, in Christ, in the Word—and if that faith is sufficient to move me, cause me to act, to walk in the light of God’s word; to obey and please Him, that faith rules over apathy. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (See 1 John 5:4, 5; Hebrews 11:6).

And as that faith works within me one product is love; genuine affection for God, a passionate love for Christ; a deep affection and devotion to the truth. That love drives apathy away. (See 1 Corinthians 13; Matthew 22:38–40) Apathy has no ground to grow out of in a heart occupied with this love. “… you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:38–40; see also 1 Corinthians 13).
With that faith and love an associated quality is HOPE; assurance that God is faithful; that every promise will be kept; that at the end of this life we will not be left in a grave but raised to glory. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20, 21; see also 1 Corinthians 15).

If we do not open up our Bibles and seek the development of faith, love and hope—there isn’t any doubt, apathy will kill us! It will slowly kill us individually, collectively and will do lasting damage in our marriages and families. If apathy is allowed to do its daily damage, it will be a slow extinction that will deliver us to spiritual death. What we have learned is this: When there is faith, love and hope working in us—apathy has no basis; apathy suffers from a lack of fuel; action takes the place of laziness; indifference is conquered by zeal and silence cannot prevail.

Berkley, W. E. (1999). Overcoming Apathy Every Day. (B. Lewis, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 16(12), 16.