Today was an emotional day. My wife and I attended the funeral services of our pastor, Dr. Mark Corts. I want to post one quote from the service that really overwhelmed me with thoughts of the impact this man of God made on my life. His son Steve, pastor of Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons, said this:
"When he looked at you and smiled, he made you wish you liked yourself as much as he liked you."
I am in my office right now, just finishing up tomorrow's message and having a few moments of private grieving and reflection. I am thinking about a hundred times Dr. Corts looked at me that way. I still wish I liked myself and believed in myself as much as he did.
In the corner of my office, I have a picture of myself with him, taken on the day of my ordination. Beneath that picture sits the Bible I received that day. I wore it out in a couple of years preaching, so it just sits there now as a reminder of the charge placed on me that day. It is signed by many men, several of whom are with the Lord now. And up in the top corner of the presentation page is the inscription from Mark Corts. It reads:
"May our overflowing God meet your every need and give you a most fruitful ministry."
Under that Bible is a copy of his book, Making Sense of Your Faith, which was published the year I worked under his supervision. Inside it says:
"To Russ, a man God is going to use greatly."
I remember when he signed both those inscriptions. Each time, like a hundred other times, he looked at me and smiled. And he made me wish that I liked myself as much as he did. Today I praise God for the impact Mark Corts made on me. And I ask God to answer his prayer, that I would have that fruitful ministry, and be used by God in a great way.
During the funeral, several folks mentioned Dr. Corts' new book: The Truth About Spiritual Warfare: Your Place in the Battle Between God and Satan. It is so good to see this book in print with a major publisher. Dr. Corts' other books, ShareLife, The Caring Christian, and Making Sense of Your Faith, were all published in-house at Calvary, and it is my hope that this new book will make his wisdom available to a broader audience. When Ken Hemphill was speaking, he mentioned that Mrs. Corts had apologized to him for not getting him an autographed copy of the book before Dr. Corts died. Ken replied, "It's OK. He autographed my life." I would merely say Amen with a host of others whose life bears his imprint as well.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Remembering My Mentor: Dr. Mark Corts
I received word last evening that Dr. Mark Corts, Pastor Emeritus of Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, NC, died after suffering for many years with numerous health problems.My earliest memories of Dr. Mark Corts were seeing his face on television. I grew up in Winston-Salem, and I was an atheist. But I was always interested in powerful and persuasive public speakers, so every now and then, I would stop the remote and listen to Corts on the Calvary broadcast. He preached with authority, and though I didn't believe a word of what he was saying at that time, there was no doubt in my mind that he believed it, and so did that big crowd of folks listening to him. Every now and then they would cut to the congregation and there would be someone with their Bible in their lap, even taking notes! Well, I could never watch it long, because I did not want to find myself taken in by a preacher's rhetoric. I recall in 1992 how the local news devoted so much attention to the heart attack he suffered while in St. Louis at a meeting. I recall being somehow touched by the way his church and community rallied around him during that time.
The Lord attacked my heart in 1992, but not in cardiac arrest; it was in regeneration. I was saved at Fort Caswell, The NC Baptist Assembly at Oak Island, NC. I became a member of the church I was with at Caswell, and loved all the people there. In the next few years I began to feel called to ministry, so I set out for Fruitland Bible Institute. One of the former staff pastors at the church I attended pulled me aside and warned me that "those people up in the mountains will try to brainwash" me. Well, I don't know if I would call it brainwashing. They just began to teach me how to understand and apply the Bible. It was not long before that little church called a new pastor, and I met with him, and determined that his neoorthodoxy was not compatible with what I understood the Bible to teach. So with much heaviness in my heart, Donia and I pulled away to find a new church.
We began to ask other Christians where they attended, and without exception, every on-fire Christian we knew or met attended Calvary Baptist Church. And when we asked them what the best thing about the church was, they said almost unanimously that it was the preaching. Every Sunday morning Dr. Corts would preach messages that dealt expositionally with real theology and living a holy life. His style was so unique and so powerful, I am not even sure how to describe it. One staff member said he preached topoxposigetically (and there was always an illustration about food). Every Sunday evening, Dr. Gary Chapman (of Five Love Languages fame) would preach expository sermons through books of the Bible. He is a great preacher as well.
Donia and I did not want to attend a big church. We had no real reason, we just didn't want to get lost in the crowd. But we did want to peek in on what was going on over at Calvary, so we said, "Let's go for one Sunday." We never attended a different church after that. About six Sundays later we made Calvary home and began looking for ways to get involved. It was not long after that when I was offered the opportunity to serve as an intern on the staff. I have always assumed that it was because of his fondness for Fruitland that Dr. Corts took special interest in me as an intern. He asked me to drive him to meetings, and always wanted me in the meeting, and would ask for my input. When the staff was unable to fill the pulpit on a Wednesday night, he looked at me and said, "You ready to preach?" That was Wednesday, 3pm. By 6, I was ready. I didn't want to let him down. He also let me sit in on his Tarheel Leadership seminars and glean from the mentoring he was giving to small church pastors from around the state.
In 1998 I was ordained at Calvary after being called to my first church ministry. Dr. Corts' health did not allow him to sit in for my ordination council, but he committed to me that he would conduct the service. When that day came, I expressed my excitement to a staff member, who responded by saying, "Well, it might get cancelled. Dr. Corts just got a call before the morning service that his brother died." I went to Dr. Corts and said, "Pastor, if we need to put this off, I understand. Your family needs you." He said, "No Russ, we won't put it off. This is a special day and we are going to have the service."
That June, when the SBC met in Salt Lake City, I was at my wit's end. Disillusionment abounded as the idyllic life of the pastor that had existed in my mind was a stark contrast with the reality I experienced in my first six months experience. So I called Mark Corts. "Have breakfast with Shirley and I at our hotel, and let's talk about it." So we did. And in this corner and that corner of the room, the SBC big-wigs were grouped together strategizing and politicing. Mark Corts was spending his morning with a young and ignorant preacher, being my pastor. And anytime they were at the SBC, we would see them, sometimes it was just in passing and other times for longer amounts of time, but God always used them to encourage us.
Situations would come up as I pastored that first church, and I wouldn't know what to do. So we devised a system. I would email Dr. Corts' secretary, she would print it for him. He would think it over, and then I would get a call, "Pastor Reaves, ... this is Mark Corts." And we would talk it out. He always shed light on the situation from angles I never considered.
If I were to list all the lessons I learned from Mark Corts, I would have to take a month of sabbatical just to list them all. Maybe I can start a weekly feature in which I take one at a time until Jesus comes. But in addition to all the great lessons I learned from him, two of my deepest regrets in ministry relate to Dr. Corts. He extended an open invitation to me to arrange a day when we could go book shopping together, and a day when we could study together in preparation for a sermon. Out of concern for his health, I never took him up on it. One thing I know -- his invitation was real and if I had called, he'd have done it.
In 1999, Dr. Corts was preaching at the SBC pastors' conference. Just before he spoke there was a tap on my shoulder, and a familiar and distinguished voice said, "Friend is this seat taken?" It was Dr. Adrian Rogers. He sat down, we made introductions, and he said, "I had to come find a seat to hear Mark Corts. I love that man. He is such a man of God." I said, "I love him too. He is my pastor." Dr. Rogers looked at me, as if he were sizing me up, glancing up and down, head-to-toe, and said, "Well, if he's your pastor, what happened to you?" I know he was just joking, but I have asked myself the same question many times. God granted me a great privilege to be mentored for ministry by the man I think was the greatest pastor ever (biased opinion -- guilty as charged). Every time I succeed at anything in ministry, I owe it to the grace of God and the influence of Mark Corts. But every time I fail, and trust me -- that's very often, I hear the voice of Adrian Rogers saying, "Well, if he's your pastor, what happened to you?" Good question. No excuse, no answer. Just depravity.
There is a new generation of revered pastors in Baptist life. One was just in a scandal in Florida, another in Texas, another not too long ago in Tulsa. Denominational leaders are having their integrity questioned with increasing frequency. And the last of a generation of giants are slowly graduating to glory. A tear comes to my eye when I think of that conference in 1999. Corts in the pulpit, Rogers by my side. Now both are gone. This was the generation that led our convention to the place it is today. Where will the current leaders take it? Will any of them come through the crucible of scrutiny as gold? And what of my generation? The subject of "young leaders" is hot in SBC life today. But to whom shall we look for models? And brothers, we need models. God didn't begin a brand new thing with us. We are marching in a line that stretches back for centuries. We need to glean from those who have walked before us. But many who have walked before has have tripped and fallen. There are certainly plenty of lessons for us to learn in their failures, but the positive role models are fading away from this scene, being received in glory and rewarded for their faithful service.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Preparing the Way: Mark 1:2-8
In ancient times, when a king was set to make a visit to an outlying town, he would send an envoy ahead of him to make preparations for his arrival. One of the matters of concern would be the condition of the roads. If there were unnecessary twists and turns, those would be straightened out to expedite travel. If there were rough places, holes and obstructions that had suffered neglect, they would be given attention so that no unforeseen trouble would hinder the arrival of the king.
It was in a similar way that the Lord announced through His prophets many years in advance that a messenger would come preparing the way for the Messiah. Mark points to two prophetic passages which described the coming of the Messenger. The first is Malachi 3:1, which reads in the English translation of the Old Testament, “Behold, I am going to send My messenger and He will clear the way for Me.” You notice that Mark has reworded the passage by removing the first person pronoun and inserting the second person – he has changed Me to You. “Behold I will send My messenger ahead of You who will prepare Your way.” In this way, we understand that Mark understood the Jesus of the New Testament to be the incarnation of the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
You notice that Mark does not mention Malachi. He strings two quotations from the Old Testament prophets together and mentions only Isaiah by name (though the King James Version uses Greek manuscripts that were altered to prevent misunderstanding here, saying the prophets, rather than Isaiah the prophet). The passage from Malachi sets the stage for the more descriptive prophecy the he intends to be the dominant focus. The quotation is from Isaiah 40:3 – In our English Bibles it is translated from Hebrew as: “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’” Again, Mark opts for the more subtle rendering, “Make His paths straight,” which again illustrates his awareness of the deity of the coming Messiah.
Four hundred years had elapsed since the last of
Mark writes, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, … John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching.” Here in this one unique individual, the prophecies of the way-maker for the Messiah are fulfilled. The preaching of John the Baptist marked the coming of the Messiah – God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. And John’s ministry prepared the way for those who would receive Him. There will never be another John the Baptist. But there is a need today for us to take up the task of preparing the way of the Lord, for millions grope in darkness, millions for whom Jesus Christ came and died, but who know neither of His salvation nor their need for Him. What is needed in our day is for God’s people to unite their voices and their lives in the task of preparing the way into the hearts the innumerable multitude who are lost apart from the Savior’s grace. As John the Baptist filled that role in the days of Messiah’s advent, so you and I can fill that role today as we prepare the way for the Lord to enter the hearts of those who need Him. As we look at the unique ministry of John the Baptist, my prayer is that you and I will become contemporary way-makers for Jesus, preparing His way, straightening His paths into the hearts of those we encounter on a daily basis.
I. The Way of the Lord is Prepared By Proclaiming a Strong Message (vv4-5)
The Lord did not send a market analyst or an expert salesman to prepare the way. He sent a prophet. And this prophet was dressed in camel’s hair with a leather belt, eating the diet of a wilderness dweller (locusts and wild honey). According to Zechariah 13:4, a hairy robe was the garment of a prophet. John’s appearance is described similar to Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8. This is significant because through Malachi the Lord had announced that “Elijah” was going to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord (Mal 4:5).
The prophet was never popular. He had to announce hard words of sin and judgment. And the prophet’s message would be an affront to our culture of sensitivity and non-offensiveness today. I believe the reason so few receive the message of the gospel today is because we often make such pathetic attempts to soft-sell it. So John proclaimed a strong message concerning sin. It wasn’t popular then, it isn’t popular now. So we make efforts to sanitize the faith, and deal with every issue under the sun except sin. In 1937, H. Richard Neibuhr summarized the message of liberal Christianity with these now-famous words: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”[1] The so-called gospel of liberalism that Neibuhr critiqued 70 years ago goes by different names today, but is still no gospel at all. Unless we have a sin problem, we don’t need a Savior. If we don’t need a Savior, then we don’t need Jesus. And if we don’t need Jesus, then the cross was the most inexplicable accident of human history, but it was an accident not deserving one second of our time in meditation. He died, what a shame, now pass the salt please. But we need Him. We need the Cross. We need a Savior because we have a sin problem and that sin problem will lead to our eternal destruction unless we are made right with God.
So John came preaching about sin. And he preached it in the wilderness. The wilderness was a place well-known in
And he preached two points about it:
A. We must repent of sin!
John was preaching a baptism of repentance. The Greek word used here where we read repentance is the word metanoia. It means literally a change of mind. Repentance is not remorse, feeling sorry for what you have done, or more likely sorry that you got caught doing it. And repentance is not reform, vowing to never do it again (sometimes with the necessary disclaimer: and this time I mean it!). No repentance is a change of our way of thinking about sin. It is to stop trying to defend it and justify it, and to stop calling it by pet names, and recognize it for what it is.
And so when the great numbers of people came out to John in the wilderness, they were confessing their sins (v5). Here again, the Greek word is descriptive. The word for confess is homologeo, which means “to say the same thing.” That is, if God calls it sin, we will also call it sin. We confess our sins when we stop trying to sugar coat them or excuse them and use the same words that God uses for them. What words does God use? Sin. Iniquity. Immorality. Transgression. Evil. Are we willing to use those words to describe our actions and thoughts, or do we think we are better than that? Compared to someone else, maybe we look a little better, but compared to God’s standard of holiness, we all fall short and have no grounds for boasting. So we must confess our sins. Confession is not repentance (one can call it sin, but not change the way he or she thinks about it), but repentance must include confession. In order to change our thinking about sin, we have begin to recognize it as sin. And this was part of John’s message to prepare the way of the Lord. But there is a positive side to this strong message as well.
B. We can be forgiven of sin!
Preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The best news about sin is that God is willing to forgive us of it. John was preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sin. It was not the baptism that led to forgiveness, it was the repentance. And the baptism was a symbol of the purification they received from God as they turned from sin and sought His grace of forgiveness.
Contrary to some folk-religious beliefs, baptism does not wash away your sins. Neither does baptism have any saving value. But baptism is an outward symbolic act that demonstrates the inward spiritual transaction that takes place when we turn from sin and seek forgiveness from God. That takes place on the inside. So we visualize it externally in the waters of baptism. John’s baptism differed from Christian baptism in that it indicated repentance and forgiveness in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Ours is done to indicate that we have received God’s forgiveness which the Messiah accomplished for us when He died on the cross of
Baptism did not originate with John. Religious practices in various cultures involved ritual washings for purification. John’s baptism most resembled the Jewish practice of baptizing Gentile converts. A Gentile who wanted to convert to Jewish belief and practice would be immersed in water to indicate that he or she had turned from their pagan beliefs and devoted themselves to following the one true God. But John’s message was that it was not only Gentiles who needed to turn from the sins and false beliefs of their past.
John the Baptist was preparing the way for the Lord. One of the ways he did that was by preaching a strong message about sin: we must repent of it, and we can be forgiven of it. In our day, we need to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord into the hearts and lives of others by speaking boldly about sin as well. For, Christ will never look appealing to anyone as long as their sins don’t look repulsive to them. God doesn’t want us to recognize our sinfulness so He can condemn us. He wants us to see sin as it is so He can forgive us. So as we talk with those who don’t know Christ, we do them a disservice by ignoring the subject of sin. Until we know we are sinners, we have no need of a Savior. And that brings us to the second point.
II. The Way of the Lord is Prepared by Pointing to a Mighty Savior (vv7-8)
John was not out in the wilderness to point people’s attention to himself. He wasn’t suggesting that he held the answers to all their problems. Rather, he was pointing them to another who was greater than he. And he pointed to Him as being one of a mightier nature and having a mightier ministry than John himself had.
A. The Coming One was of a Mightier Nature (v7)
After me, One is coming who is mightier than
John says that he is not even worthy to stood down and untie the thong of His sandals. In that day of traveling by foot along the dirty, muddy, and dusty roads, shoes were removed upon entry to anyone’s home. In fact, that is still the case in most of the world today. So, when you came to someone’s home, their lowliest servant would meet you at the door, and would bow before you to loosen your sandals and wash your feet before entry into his master’s house. John is saying here that the coming one, the Lord Jesus Christ, was so mighty that he was not fit to even be his lowliest house-slave.
We’ve already pointed out that in the Old Testament prophecies Mark includes here, the waymaker is preparing the way for God Himself. This tells us that early Christians easily recognized the person of Jesus Christ to be more than a man. He was God himself, incarnate as a man. If those who flocked to the wilderness only looked to John, then their trust was in a mere man. But he pointed them to Jesus Christ, the God-man, as one of a mightier nature.
B. The Coming One had a Mightier Ministry (v8)
John’s baptism in water was symbolic of a greater reality to come. By baptizing them in water, John was preparing the people to receive the gift of salvation that the Messiah was coming to accomplish. John’s baptism brought people to the threshold of the Kingdom, but there was a greater baptism needed for full entry. God had promised through the prophet Ezekiel of a coming day when He would sprinkle clean water on His people, and they would be clean from all their filthiness and idols. He said in that day, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezek 36:26-27). John’s baptism was an external washing that symbolized the internal cleansing that only the Lord could accomplish by placing His Spirit within us. This baptism of the Spirit would bring about real and lasting change which would work from the inside out. No man and no physical element could accomplish a cleansing like this. It was a work of divine grace that only God Himself could accomplish in us.
So Jesus, when He had finished the work of redemption on the cross and through His resurrection, promised His followers that He would send the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:7). He told them on the day that He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:5), “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And so it happened. On the day of Pentecost, those who had believed in Christ were overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, causing them to say, “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind …’” (Acts 2:16-17). And that baptism of the Spirit takes place every time a repentant soul puts faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He comes to dwell inside of that person’s life in the person of the Holy Spirit, making them brand new creations as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.”
John the Baptist had a unique ministry of pointing people to this coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is this Jesus alone who can truly cause the change of life that we so desperately need as He removes our sins from us, and indwells us to empower us to live the rest of our days for Him. Today, when we receive Him as God’s gift of salvation, we visualize it through water baptism. We are not baptized with water in order to be saved, but in order to demonstrate outwardly the inward reality salvation we have received by the flooding of God’s Spirit into our lives unto salvation.
Jesus said two very interesting things about John the Baptist which are recorded in the other gospels. In Matthew 11:11 and Luke 7:28, we read that Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” That is quite a testimony for the Lord Jesus to speak over someone’s life. But He goes on to say, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” That means that as believers in Christ and citizens of the
As John prepared the way for people to receive the coming Messiah, we have the privilege and responsibility to daily prepare human hearts for the entry of the King of Kings through the witness of our words and our way of life. It was the eighteenth century German classicist Goethe said, “There are many echoes in the world, but few voices.”[2] Indeed John the Baptist was one of the few unique voices in the history of the world. But today there is a great need for all who have experienced the true baptism of the Messiah to whom John pointed to join our voices to his in echo of the supremacy of Christ and the need for Him in every human heart.
Just as those emissaries of ancient kings had the responsibility of preparing the way and straightening the paths for their kings to travel upon, you and I have the opportunity to follow in line with John the Baptist, preparing highways through the stony hearts and desert of human beings, over which the King of Kings will travel as His gospel is announced to them.[3] Though our role may only be the laying of one brick on the pathway, knowing the King and what He will do when He arrives at the heart of that person, may we strive diligently to lay that brick for the glory of God and the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom.
Not addicted to much wine ...
In light of the discussion going on in Baptist life concerning the use of alcohol, and the fuzzy-headed arguments I am hearing on both sides of the discussion, I post the following sketch of the biblical argument for total abstinence. I am sure that it is not a perfect argument, but it is one that I developed several years ago dealing with the issue in the context of the local church.
· There are two Greek words translated as “wine” in the NT.
o gleukos
§ used only once in NT
· Acts 2:13
§ obviously, in this context, fermented wine is indicated
o oinos
§ occurs 36 times in NT
· Matt 9:17 (3x); 27:34; Mk 2:22 (4x); 15:23; Lk 1:15; 5:37 (2x); 5:38; 7:33; 10:34; Jn 2:3 (2x); 2:9; 2:10 (2x); 4:46; Rom 14:21; Eph 5:18; 1 Tim 3:8; 5:23; Titus 2:3; Rev 6:6; 14:8; 14:10; 16:19; 17:2; 18:3; 18:13; 19:15
§ The usage in Matt 9:17, Mk 2:22, and Lk 5:37-38 indicates that this word was used of fermented AND non-fermented wine (fresh juice of grapes).
§ The only time this is used in connection to Jesus drinking it is in Matt 27:34, Mk 15:23, where he refused it.
§ The word is noticeably absent in passages relating to the Lord’s Supper, with the words cup and fruit of the vine inserted where we would expect oinos.
§ Jesus was called a wine-drinker by His opponents at Matt 11:19 and Lk 7:34, where He said that he came eating and drinking, but oinos is not specified as what He drank. The reference seems to relate to the company He kept moreso than the beverages He drank.
§ In the passage where Jesus turned water into wine (John 2), there is no mention of Jesus drinking the wine, and those who were drunk from wine noticed a qualitative difference in what Jesus produced and what they had been drinking.
· This we know from first-century culture:
o “Bob Stein has carefully documented, ‘The term “wine” or oinos in the ancient world, then, did not mean wine as we understand it today but wine mixed with water… To consume the amount of alcohol that is in two martinis by drinking wine containing three parts water to one part wine [a fairly common ancient ratio], one would have to drink over twenty-two glasses. In other words, it is possible to become intoxicated from wine mixed with three parts water, but one’s drinking would probably affect the bladder long before it affected the mind.’ It should also be noted that children would have drank this diluted mixture of water and wine.”[1]
· Paul told Timothy to “take a little wine” for his ailing stomach (1 Tim 5:23).
o Today, we have many medicines available that were not available to Timothy, therefore, this advice would not apply to us in our day. And even used medicinally, notice Paul’s emphasis on a little.
· Paul warned against being drunk with wine, contrasting it with being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
o To be filled with the Spirit is to be under His control. We are not to be under the control of alcohol (which begins with the first sip), but we are commanded to be under God’s control.
· In the Bible, leaven is frequently used as a symbol for sin. Fermentation involves the leavening of a beverage. Therefore, since unleavened bread is symbolic of the Lord’s pure life, unleavened drink should be as well.
· The most rigid moral standards of the Bible call for complete abstinence from alcohol.
o The Nazarite Vow: Judges 13:7; Luke 1:15; Leviticus 10:9; Proverbs 31:4
· The Bible is full of examples of alcohol destroying lives and testimonies.
o Genesis 9:21; 19:32; Proverbs 23
· The priests were to abstain from alcohol while on duty for the Lord (Leviticus 10:9-11). And the writer of Proverbs 31 says it is not for kings (31:4). Christians are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) who are always to be about the business of God’s kingdom.
· Paul spoke the definitive word on abstinence in Romans 14:14-21, when he said:
o 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.
o Obviously, our consumption of alcohol is noticed by others. Someone has to buy it, someone has to see you with it, someone has to see it in your home, someone knows if we do it. If that person drinks alcohol, we have given them the impression that it is an acceptable act for a child of God. If, then, they become enslaved to it, we answer to God for their destruction.
o Nowhere is this more painfully convicting than when we think of our children. It is a fact of human nature that if we crack a door, our children will open it wide. If we set an example of drinking alcohol for our children, we must not be surprised when they turn to it as a lifestyle choice.
It seems to me that on the issue of drinking alcohol, perhaps we are asking the wrong question of the Scriptures. Rather than saying, "I want to drink alcohol; Is there anything in the Bible that would expressly forbid me from doing it?", perhaps we should be asking it this way: "I want to live a life of holiness, godliness, and separateness from the world. How should I live in regards to alcohol?" In this way, we let the Scriptures speak, rather than demanding of it to justify our presuppositions and preferences.
[1] Cited by Danny Akin in an email to students, staff, faculty and alumni of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, June 29, 2006.
Friday, August 25, 2006
On Electronic Bible Software and the FREE Variety
Essentially, I hate it. I am a book fanatic. I don't want to look at a computer screen all day when I can have a book in my hand. But, I must confess, it makes concordance searching, cross-referencing, and language study much easier and faster, so I use it. What do I use? Well, in a word, I use whatever is cheap and whatever will do what I want it to do. The computer works for me, not the other way around. On my laptop right now are:
- Bible Navigator, which I received free from SEBTS
- Libronix, many libraries of which I have received free
- Bible Windows, again, free because a friend gave it to me
- WordSearch, which I paid for when I bought Tan's Encyclopedia of Illustrations on CD-Rom
- Online Bible, free
- PC Study Bible, a gift
I suppose if I paid full retail for all this software, I would have invested thousands in it, but then again, I would have never paid full retail for any of it. And if I had paid full price for any of it, I wouldn't have as much as I do. I just like books too much.
What's the point? After pulling out my hair trying to install all my old Libronix/Logos collections onto my wife's new computer, and then realizing that I needed to upgrade the installation on my own, I decided to look into a package that I have heard about but never explored before -- E-Sword. I am not on commission for them, this is not a paid endorsement, I haven't even used it yet. I just downloaded it FOR FREE! Not only that, but a TON of extras were free for the taking too (unfortunately the NASB is a paid add-on, but the ESV is gratis). As I looked over the free downloads available for E-Sword, I thought to myself, "Who in their right mind would pay the astronomical prices for expensive Bible software, when you can get all this FREE?" After all, most of the commentaries and reference works in Bible software packages are the same -- all public domain stuff. How many copies of Matthew Henry does one need? Love him, but don't need 16 copies of him.
So, I write this to you in the blogosphere to encourage you to support FREE software. E-Sword is one, another is the E4 group, whose discs you have to pay shipping on (they used to be Libronix platform, but now I think they are using Quickverse or something else). But by all means, my absolute favorite FREE Bible software is the NET Bible. I used to use it online so much that I bought a print edition when it was first released as a "Beta Edition". However, it has been revised and improved and can be downloaded in several formats FREE (though there is a paid version available on several platforms as well. The NET Bible is a decent translation in its own right, but the selling feature (or the giving feature as the case may be) is the 60,000 translation footnotes that are virtually unavailable in any printed forum except the most technical (and expensive) commentaries.
Hope this rambling is of use to someone.
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