Author: Warren Berkley

Whatever You Do

Colossians 3:16-17

The point in becoming a Christian is not merely to identify with a local group. The point is not merely to have previous sins forgiven. The point is not to satisfy family and friends who were urging you to become a Christian. While all of this has value – here’s what cannot be omitted:

Entering such a close relationship with Christ, His word lives in you. And, not just residing there but activated your life on the richest level.

Therefore, if the Word of Christ doesn’t dwell in you, no matter how large and sound the church is, you are not engaged fully in God’s purpose for your life. The Word of Christ must dwell in you richly.

This point will not have to be argued with those who love Jesus Christ and deeply appreciate the grace of God. Such people will desire that the teaching of Christ dwell in them and govern all their thoughts, words, actions and reactions.

One collective expression of this is, singing. “Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…”

Let me ask – when you first read this verse (Col. 3:16), do you immediately think of a stage band with drums in the background, lead singers and back-up singers pumping music through high decibel PA speakers to a swaying and dancing audience? Do you really think that’s what the apostle Paul had in mind (or the first century equivalent of popular music to entertain an audience)?

We must guard against letting modern images drive how we read Scripture. It is an interpretative enterprise that is impulsive, though perhaps comforting. What was Paul talking about?

First, he wasn’t talking about raw, worldly entertainment, where you listen to music you like and acknowledge the musicians. There is nothing in Colossians three or the New Testament to support such an idea.

Second, the very words used by Paul and the context strongly and directly indicate this is worship. It is engaged in by those who are filled with the Word of Christ. It is teaching, admonishing to share wisdom from God and it is “to God.” It is not entertainment to an audience. It is worship to God, shared by people who are filled with the Word of Christ.

Further, the absence of entertaining instruments leaves us with the simple presence of vocal music: SINGING.

Here is how simple this is: God said sing. Those in whom the Word dwells are satisfied with this, because it is what God said. We do this “with thankfulness” in our hearts to God.

Please, think WORSHIP, not ENTERTAINMENT.

“And, whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

The simple application of verse 16 – respecting the limits of context – should characterize our understanding and use of all Scripture. So that whatever we do – as individuals, families, local churches – we do as people who belong to the Lord and uphold His name in all we do. May all we do carry the imprint of His authority.

Thoughts About Dealing

With Our Diversity

Warren E. Berkley

In the second Federalist paper, John Jay wrote his understanding of the American people: “Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people – a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs.”

However accurate Jay’s description was in 1788, this is not true today. Whatever opinion one may hold about how our diversity came to pass, it is our reality in America today.

When Jay wrote this, almost everyone was a Protestant; half of all Americans were of English stock, with another fifth from elsewhere in the British Isles. Perhaps his summary was not totally accurate, as historians would argue with reference to Indians & slaves. And in fact, Jay’s ancestors were French and Dutch!

Nevertheless, the founders lived in a world unlike our time. There were fewer races, religions and ethnicities compared to our time.

However we got here, the question is How Will Christians Deal With This Reality? I would hope, (1) we would pray for our nation, (2) that we would take seriously the command of Peter to “honor all people,” {1 Pet. 2:17; see also James 2:1-13}, (3) that we would shun prejudice and violence, and (4) that we would reach out to all people with the gospel.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’.” (Rom. 1:16,17)

Worried about this nation? Take the gospel to all.

Source: What Would The Founders Do? by Richard Brookhiser

I post two Proverbs Class Videos on Youtube each week. Here are the two most recent:

June 3 – Proverbs Topic: Emotions.

June 7 – Proverbs Topic: Counselors.

In his book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (2008), Rob Bell offers some startling statistics about America’s affluence:

America controls nearly 20 percent of the world’s wealth. There are around six billion people in the world, and there are roughly three hundred million people in the U.S. That makes America less than 5 percent of the world’s population. And this 5 percent owns a fifth of the world’s wealth.

One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses four hundred to six hundred liters of water a day.

Every seven seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age five dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14 percent of the food we purchase.

Nearly one billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.

Another 2.5 billion people in the world live on less than two American dollars a day.

More than half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.

Forty percent of people in the world lack basic sanitation, while forty-nine million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.

1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity.

Nearly one billion people in the world cannot read or sign their name.

Nearly one hundred million children are denied basic education.

By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car. One third of American families own three cars.

One in seven children worldwide (158 million) has to go to work every day just to survive. …

Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods.

Source — Rob Bell, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Zondervan, 2008), pp. 122-123

Let’s thank God for what we have . . . use what we have unto Him . . . while we trust and obey Jesus Christ. And preach the gospel.

About Our Singing

Colossians 3:16

By Warren E. Berkley

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord,” Colossians 3:16

I have a special affection for vocal music, where words of faith are affirmed and celebrated. There are two secondary reasons for this. I grew up in a home where “Daddy sang bass and Momma sang tenor.” And in my teenage years into my army years, I was a musician.

The primary reason for my affection for spiritual songs is the teaching of the Scriptures. From the Mount of Olives to the prison in Philippi to the letters of Paul to churches, I have discovered singing as a God-given means to teach, admonish, encourage and help us express our praise to God. Music has this power to take our thoughts and emotions in the direction of the lyrics. When our songs express our common faith, there is an element of harmony we enjoy, far beyond alto and tenor.

Singing spiritual songs is something we can do by ourselves, or with a few others – even one other. James 5:13, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms,” can be applied by an individual just like the first phrase in that verse, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” In the prison in Philippi, Paul and Silas “were praying and singing hymns to God,” (Acts 16:25). I am thankful God gave me this means of praising Him and cleansing my mind. It is something I can do virtually anywhere, without accompaniment, audience or perfect pitch.

It is not about talent! The precise four-part harmony of our practice is relatively modern. While it may be argued that one should do his best at anything done before God, there is no rating, grade or ranking applied by God to our singing (as to musical sound). I understand the need to do something well, but I cannot find anything in the Scriptures requiring a certain level of talent or “sounding good” that is a demand. Some of the best singers I’ve known didn’t “sound good” relative to our typical musical judgments. But their sense of joy, reverence and sincerity made them good singers to me.

It may help to keep in mind, music appreciation & style is not an objective standard, but strongly related to culture and taste. What sounds good to Americans who were raised in the 1930’s rural communities, may sound strange to children of the 70’s raised in suburban communities. Song writers have a challenging task, to find common ground for singers who may be very different in their talent, taste and musical knowledge. Today there are Christians all over the world, singing the same truths we sing, without instrumental accompaniment, but with styles and sounds they are comfortable and familiar within their culture (which often does not involve four-part harmony).

Our singing will never fulfill its’ purpose, if we are ignorant of the God we are singing to. Singing really begins when God is in your heart. You cannot properly and reverently extol and praise a Being you do not personally know. We ought to have this acquaintance with God: “I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me,” (Psa. 3:4,5, ESV). This is the heart of a good singer, and this is the heart we can have, by the activity of our faith in Christ.

Song Leaders are not performers or competitors. In the 1950’s, I went to “Singing School” under teachers like M. Roy Stevens and Will Slater. In teaching boys how to learn to be song leaders, they always put lyrics, spirituality and sincerity at the highest place. These men taught potential song leaders about the dignity of worship, the exuberance that must be conveyed; but likewise, the humility of one’s service to God in voice. Just as the good preacher must get out of the way and let people see the Cross. The good song leader must get out of the way and let people sing to God.

The human voice is a wondrous product of God’s perfect creative wisdom. When the voice God gave us is combined with the good heart we can have by the activity of our faith in Christ, the results sound good to God. May we never allow a man-made instrument to intrude into this pure process, nor a contemporary thirst for audience pleasure to corrupt it.

“He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! What-e’er I do, where-e’er I be, still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.” (Joseph H. Gillmore)

By The Way . . .

Layman Coleman (Noted Presbyterian author and scholar): “It is generally admitted that primitive Christians employed no instrumental music in their religious worship.”

Charles H. Spurgeon (A Baptist preacher, preached for twenty years in the great Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle in London, England. Twenty thousand persons heard him every Sunday): “Instruments of music were never used in his tabernacle.”

John Calvin (Founder of Presbyterianism): “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of other shadows of the law.”

Adam Clarke (Methodist Commentator): “I am an old man, and an old minister; and I here declare that I never knew them (i.e. musical instruments) productive of any good in the worship of God; and have had reason to believe that they were productive of much evil. Music, as a science, I esteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and abhor.”

Who Do You Trust?

Warren E. Berkley

“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish,” Psalm 146:3,4.

In certain cases, the erosion of our trust in men is justified and can become a healthy step toward maturity. A cynical suspicion of all men has an absence of virtue and can motivate a variety of wrong behaviors. But there are cases where we ought to diminish our trust in men. And it shall always be true, an increase in our faith God is our challenge. {See the case of God’s people trusting in the Egyptians, not God, in Isaiah 31.}

First, there is an essential difference between deity and humanity that should be fundamental to our faith and the obedience of our faith (Num. 23:19). If we are not clear about the difference between the Creator and the created, we are set on the wrong course (see Rom. 1:18-32). Men are sinners, fallible and carry the capacity to disappoint us. God is perfect, infallible and will never disappoint you (Heb. 13:5). Christ was and is perfect and divine, deserving of our trust. “A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims to be more than a man can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun,” (William Edward Bierderwolf).

Men, who may stir up exaggerated esteem in us, are simply not worthy of the trust we can place in God. Men and women, even at their best, should not be revered as we revere God. Men can possess great charm, enjoy popularity and esteem and be exalted by their peers, yet be corrupt in character. Their corruption may lie hidden while you follow them and confide in them, to your own peril {Matt. 7:15; Phil. 3:2}.

If your “faith” is dependent upon the conduct of men, you set yourself up for disappointment. Love all men, love the brotherhood and note those who exemplify integrity and righteousness, but watch and beware of men (1 Pet. 2:17; Phil. 3:17-19). Learn from good teachers and be receptive to good influence and experience. But keep men in their place (1 Cor. 1:25). Trust God, “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning,” (Jas. 1:18). As you read the Bible, discover and meditate on “the immutability of His counsel … in which it is impossible for God to lie.” Find your “strong consolation” in Him (Heb. 6:17,18).

What happens when we cultivate an unjustified trust in men and submission to them? Read the book of First Corinthians. “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men,” (1 Cor. 1:25). As it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord,” (1 Cor. 1:31). The first four chapters in First Corinthians put us on alert to the danger. We are taught here “not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other,” (1 Cor. 4:6). There was a form of humanism in the culture of Corinth. It invaded in the church, with devastating results.

There is a subtle, quiet intrusion men can make into our faith, leading to idolatry. Men can make an impression on us (with or without their intention), that tempts us to esteem them beyond what is sound and wise.

Trust in God. Find your motivation, steadfastness and courage in Him, as He is revealed by His Son in His Word. You can’t go wrong this way.

Source: Pressing Forward: Bible-Based Addiction Recovery, by Trent Childers. Kindle Edition.

Does Your Confession Clean Up The Chaos?

It is crucial that you do not set unrealistic expectations for yourself. Imagine walking into a kitchen and launching eggs everywhere; then you rip open a bag of coffee and shake it generously throughout the kitchen.

Realizing the damage you have done, you admit to being the perpetrator and apologize. Does the mess just disappear? Does your confession clean up the chaos?

The harmful decisions of your past carry negative consequences; they will not simply disappear because of your decision to change. However, making the decision to change is crucial because it will determine where you live in eternity.

Who?

In my Bible class yesterday, we covered this passage in Proverbs 23:29-35. Listen to this:

Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
    Who has redness of eyes?
³⁰ Those who tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try mixed wine.
³¹ Do not look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup
    and goes down smoothly.
³² In the end it bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
³³ Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter perverse things.
³⁴ You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
    like one who lies on the top of a mast.^[a]
35 “They struck me,” you will say,^[b] “but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
    I must have another drink.”

This is one of those passages in Proverbs that is almost visual. I mean, as you read these words, you form a picture in your mind – in this case, of a man who is singing “woe is me.” He is injured, staggering, sick, redness of eyes. And, the cause of his condition if given. He has been drinking. He is intoxicated.

Now, wisdom would be – if you have all these awful symptoms, and you know what the cause is – you stop making those choices. In this case, you stop getting drunk.

But the person described here isn’t operating on wisdom. He or she isn’t processing their condition in such a way to chose sobriety. What happens in verse 35?

The drunk gets up and asks for another drink!

In this same context, in the earlier verses, gluttony is condemned.

Now I’ve often said – when fools are described in Proverbs, the purpose is to send us away from that behavior toward wisdom. So in this passage where intoxication is dramatically described – what is being recommended is sobriety, self-control.

Prov. 20:1 says that “wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

I would ask my listeners to consider this about alcohol. I’m quoting from an article written by Sewell Hall in 1989, Christianity Magazine.

“…the very first effect of alcohol is to make one feel a little freer to do things he would not otherwise do … and a little less able to say “No” to things he would normally refuse; to make it a little harder to stand for what is right or even to know what is right.”

While gluttony is to be avoided by self-control. Alcohol is a substance that has impact in our minds as soon as we partake.

“Whoever is deceived by it is not wise.”

A Modern Parable

In a modern parable, the story is told of a community of people who lived on a stretch of dangerous sea­coast where shipwrecks often oc­curred. Eventually, some of the towns­people decided to put some time and effort and money into a rescue opera­tion. A small life-saving station was built and the devoted members of the rescue team kept an ongoing watch over the sea, ready to use their little boat to search for survivors in case of a shipwreck. As the result of this vol­unteer operation, the town became famous because of the many lives that were saved.

More and more people joined and became part of the team. Soon a new building was erected. It was much larger than the first little building and it was beautifully furnished and deco­rated. And as more and more ameni­ties were added for the members’ pleasure and comfort, the new build­ing was slowly transformed into a kind of clubhouse. As a result, some of the members began to lose interest in the rescue operation.

But then a shipwreck occurred and many survivors were rescued and brought into the clubhouse for first aid. During the period of the opera­tion which lasted for several days, the frenzied activity caused the attractive “clubhouse” to be considerably marred by such things as bloodstains on the lush carpeting. At the next meeting there was a split in the mem­bership. Most members felt that the life-saving operation was a hindrance to the social life of the organization. Those who disagreed were told that they could build another little station further down the coast. And, as the years went by, history continued to repeat itself. Today, so the story goes, that seacoast has a number of exclu­sive clubhouses dotting the shore —but no one in the area seems to be con­cerned with rescue operations.

(From HOMILETICS, July-Sept., 1991, Page #22)

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