Righteousness – Page 2 – Recovery In Christ Ministries

June 2, 2016

Follow the unseen

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is the foundation that we stand upon, in order to receive that which God has promised, and it is the proof that we are seeking a reality, which we can’t see with our physical eyes, within our current temporal frame of reference.

Paul said that if we would walk in the Spirit, then we would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) Paul also said that it was the standard operating procedure for a Christian to walk by faith, and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

What Paul, and the writer of Hebrews, is telling us is that if we want to overcome our flesh, the devil, and the world, and receive what God has promised us, we must embrace the unseen reality that God says is real, based strictly on God’s promise that it is real, and live in that unseen reality, and let it guide us through this temporal realm.

God says that we can rise above the flesh, and live out our salvation, here on the earth, before we leave this corrupted flesh and enter into eternity in order to experience its fullness. (Philippians 2:12)

This is extremely important, because addiction occurs when we give ourselves completely over to the lust of our flesh. Our flesh craves comfort, and it is willing to sacrifice everything and everybody in our lives to get that comfort. Addicts are captives of their own flesh!

Consequently, the only real and lasting solution to addiction is to learn how to live and walk in the Spirit, and then live each day in the Spirit, so that the Spirit can direct each step in your earthly walk.

I know this seems like a nebulous statement, which is overwhelming. Just relax: Don’t worry, you will grow and learn how to live and walk in the Spirit, if you seek to live and walk in the Spirit. The more you study the Scriptures, and discover, who you really are, and exercise your spiritual senses to discern good and evil, the more proficient you will become at living and walking in the Spirit. (Hebrews 5:14)

Most people worry that they will mess up, and follow the flesh, while thinking they are following the Spirit. Let me assure you that you will, but that’s ok. Grace covers your sins and shortcomings. Just do the best you can, and exercise your spiritual senses. The results you get from your actions will let you know whether you are following the flesh, or the Spirit. Relax, God has you covered. (Romans 4:8)

Who are you?

It is imperative that we know, who we are, because knowing, who we are provides the framework that guides what we do. When I was an addict, I knew that I was an addict, so I did what addicts do. And for the most part, it didn’t bother me, because I was being who I was.

That all changed when I hit “rock-bottom”, and suddenly being an addict wasn’t fun, or comforting to my flesh anymore. It hadn’t been fun or comforting for a while, but rock bottom brought it to a head. I had to change in order to survive, and have any peace, or comfort.

What did I need to change? Did I simply need to put myself in a safe place where I couldn’t get drugs, until the chemical chains fell off my body? No, that was just the beginning. I had to become a new person with new desires. But how could I possibly become a new person?

Well, I stopped self-identifying as an addict, and self-identified as a born-again child of God. I embraced, with every fiber of my being, my new identity “in Christ”. That meant that I read the Scriptures, and chose to believe what God said I had become when His Spirit fused Himself with my spirit, which made me a totally new creature in Him.

Even though my physical eyes beheld the wreckage of my life, and “who” I had become, my spiritual eyes obtained momentary glimpses of who I really was in Christ, and the glorious future that He had planned for me. I felt a little psychotic, and people didn’t understand the goal that I was striving for, which was the high calling of God.

Accordingly, I could not afford to sit around in meetings and call myself an addict, and listen to people talk about drugs, and the carnage that comes with them. No, I had become a new person, so I had to forget those things that were in the past and press on towards the high calling of God in Christ. (Philippians 3:13-14)

The unseen reality

In my childhood, I suffered spiritual abuse, at the hand of institutionalized religion. The God they preached was angry with me, and the only way I could get on His good side was to “be good”, and do what He said to do. I thought that if I kept God’s laws, He would love me, and bless me. (This attitude is hard to shake, and it still rises up to torment me from time to time, and I have to cast it down.)

My spirit, the real me, lives in a corrupt flesh vessel (my body). My body was born into sin and corruption, so it has all kinds of diseased emotions, which move me towards sin, corruption, and death. The Bible calls these emotions, and the mindsets that correlate with them, “the flesh”. This is exactly what we need to overcome in the Spirit, so that we can live lives of peace, prosperity, and freedom.

Here’s the problem: God’s law actually strengthens the diseased emotions in our corrupt body, which increases sin’s control over our lives! (Romans 7:8) So, if we do not want sin to rule over us, we must not base our relationship with God on whether or not we keep His laws. (Romans 6:14) We must base our relationship with God on the grace that Jesus’ blood freely bestows upon us. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Yes, it is true. God loves and accepts us just the way we are, warts and all! (Romans 5:8) In Christ, you are holy, un-blamable, and un-reprovable. (Colossians 1:22) In Christ, you are the righteousness of God! (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus redeemed us for all eternity. (Hebrews 9:12) Jesus has given us eternal life. (John 6:47)

Even though we can’t see these things with our physical eyes, or feel like they are true, they are true! And if you will believe them, and live as though they are true, you will enter into God’s rest. (Hebrews 4:9-10) Not only will you rest in God, but this restfulness will defuse the diseased emotions that move you towards sin, so that you can overcome it. This is how you escape from the trap of addiction.

So, you can try to “be good” and earn God’s approval, and blessings by focusing on your sin problem, and fighting against it, or you can simply focus on, who you are, and what you have “in Christ”. If you choose to focus on your sin, and trying to defeat it, you will sink further into despair. If you choose, however, to focus on, who you are in Christ, you will reframe your life, and then, over a period of time, your behavior will conform to that new framework, and your desires will change. That is the solution. (What then? Shall we sin, so that grace should abound. No, God forbid. More on this in the next post)

So, here is the fundamental choice: Do we walk by sight, and follow what we see, or do we walk by faith, and follow the unseen?

April 14, 2015

Seek First

In Matthew 6:24, Yeshua (Jesus) says that we can not serve two masters, that is, we can not serve God and mammon. The Tyndale Bible Dictionary says that, “mammon” is an Aramaic word, meaning wealth or property. In Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13, “mammon” is personified as a rival to God for the loyalty of the disciples.

In Matthew 6:33, Yeshua says that if we will seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, God will give us what we need.

That brings us to a very important question: Exactly what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of Yahweh, and His righteousness?

I have a very dear friend named John. I met John in high school, and we became very good friends. I love John like a brother. John has been on drugs since high school. Recently, John was given an ultimatum by his wealthy family: Get your life straight, and we will give you your inheritance, or keep doing drugs and lose it forever.

Last week, a friend and I drove John to rehab. It was a three day trip, and we had a real good time together.

John is beginning his new life, and he has some choices to make. Namely, John has to choose between seeking wealth or seeking the kingdom of Yahweh, and His righteousness. If John seeks wealth, he will merely be trading one bondage for another one. Wealth will enslave him, and change him in negative ways. If, however, John seeks Yahweh’s kingdom and righteousness, he will be free, and Yahweh will change him and make him fruitful and productive.

If John will accept Yeshua, Yeshua’s Spirit will enter his heart, and set up His kingdom in it. Then, if John will seek to live according to the dictates of King Yeshua, He will remove people, places and things from John’s life, and bring in new people places and things. John will then be seeking Yahweh’s kingdom.

Yeshua is righteous, and all His decisions are righteous. Yeshua is the Word of Yahweh made flesh. If John wishes to know Yeshua, he has to know the Word. If John will study the Word, and consume it, it will transform him into a new person, who will base all his decisions on the Word. Then, John will be seeking Yahweh’s righteousness.

In sum, John will live his life according to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and the instructions of the Word of Yahweh, which will always agree with each other.

So, here is John’s choice (and our’s): seek first, money, power, and things, and empower them to rule over him and make him unhappy. Or seek first, the kingdom of Yahweh and His righteousness, and empower Yahweh to rule over him, and give him the money, power and things that he needs to walk out his calling, and be happy.

That only leaves one question unanswered: Namely, what will John (and each of us) choose to seek first?

November 18, 2013June 18, 2014

A.A.’s 1st Step……A Step in the Wrong Direction

I live in a small town, where there is a church on nearly every corner, and most everyone claims to follow Yeshua (Jesus). Yeshua is well-known, in this part of the world, and, in this part of the world, if a person wants to be normal, he has to follow Him, or, at least, say he does. Consequently, it is often hard to tell the difference between a real Christian and a fake one.

In this part of the world, it is hard to tell a Christian from a non-Christian, because being a Christian is a cultural norm, and this cultural norm integrates itself into our individual paradigms, which gives us the ability to masquerade as a Christian.

The Apostle Paul said that we had to believe in our heart that Yeshua rose from the dead, and confess Him as Lord with our mouth in order to be a Christian.

How do we know if we have believed in our heart?

We have a paradigm shift when we believe in our heart.

A paradigm is an a priori (a previously held) commitment to a point-of-view (a worldview), which serves as a framework for interpreting the information that we encounter in life. We construct a paradigm (a context for interpreting information) at a very early age by integrating our experiences with the prevailing paradigm within our culture. This integration occurs, directly, through the transmittal of knowledge, and, indirectly, through how our culture defines and uses words.

A paradigm shift is a sudden change in the contextual framework that we use to interpret information. Since, we use our paradigm to interpret the information that other people transmit to us, via written or spoken words, the information that other people transmit to us about their paradigm, will not produce a paradigm shift in us. The only thing that will produce a paradigm shift is a “violent” encounter with truth. When our paradigm is exposed to a truth that shakes it violently, then we “experience” that truth, and it alters the framework of our interpretative context.

When a person is confronted with God’s law, and made to realize that he is an inmate in Satan’s kingdom, who is held captive by chains of sin, then he is ready to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. When he hears the Gospel, the Holy Spirit confronts him with Truth. At this point, he has a choice to make. He must choose to harden his heart and reject Truth, or humble himself and embrace it.

If a person humbles himself and embraces the Truth, the Truth will shake his old paradigm down and build a new one. In the old paradigm, everything revolved around this person and what he wanted. In the new paradigm, everything revolves around Yeshua and what He wants. In short: The paradigm shift called repentance causes us to stop following our selfish desires, our plans, our lusts, the world and Satan, and start following Yeshua by pursuing His Will, righteousness and holiness.

When we accept the Truth that the Holy Spirit confronts us with, and bow our knee to King Yeshua, we repent. Without repentance, there is no remission of sin. Without repentance, there is no procession of kings. Without repentance, there is no change in kingdom citizenship. Without repentance, there is no salvation.

Repentance produces a change in direction. Before repentance, we pursued our will, that is, we pursued our lusts and the things of the world. After repentance, we pursue God’s Will, that is, we pursue righteousness and holiness.

When we realize that we are a sinner who is trapped in Satan’s kingdom and call upon King Yeshua to rescue us, He will save us. Then, when we confess our sins, that is, when we agree with Him and call our sin, sin, His grace washes us and empowers us to change and grow until we overcome that sin.

Do you see the common element in getting saved and overcoming the sin patterns of the past? It is recognizing sin, acknowledging sin, and confessing sin. God’s law highlights sin, so we can recognize it. If God says a thought pattern or a behavior is sin, we must agree with Him and call it sin, and seek His remedy for it.

This brings us to A.A.’s 1st Step: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

If an unbeliever takes A.A.’s 1st step, is he any closer to a Holy God, who calls his behavior sin? No! Is the unbeliever any closer to realizing that he is trapped in the kingdom of Darkness and Satan is destroying him, and he needs to be saved? No!

What about the Christian who takes the 1st Step? When a Christian says that he is powerless over alcohol and his life is unmanageable, does the Lord cleanse his conscience and give him the grace to overcome alcohol and manage his life? No!

1 John 1:9 says that if we will confess our sin, Yeshua will forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. These Christians are not confessing their sins, that is, they are not agreeing with the Lord’s assessment of their behavior so that He can forgive them and give them the grace that they need to overcome their sin.

These people say they are powerless, and they cannot manage their life. Is it a sin to be powerless over something? No! Is it a sin to not be able to manage your life? No! There is no way that we can say that we are confessing our sins when we say that we are powerless, and that we can’t manage our life.

No, it is a sin to drink too much alcohol and get drunk. The powerlessness and the un-manageability are byproducts of the sin of drunkenness, they are not the sin that we need to confess.

God created us, and gave us a free will. Consequently, we are not powerless over alcohol, and we can manage our lives. At some point, however, we chose to exercise our free will by drinking too much alcohol in order to get drunk and escape from life, which is a sin. After we chose to sin, our body developed a chemical environment that compelled us, or pushed us towards drinking again, and as we did, we burnt patterns in our brain that created an obsession to drink again. When the compulsion and obsession matured, we were addicted to alcohol. Then, we were powerless over alcohol and, as a result, our life became unmanageable.

The problem is not alcohol, or powerlessness over alcohol, or the un-manageability of our life. The problem is not a mythical disease called addiction, or an allergy to alcohol. The root problem is sin. The root problem is disobeying God.

Some people may think that I am being too dogmatic about the precision of terminology. I am not. Words have meaning. The words that we use to quantify reality, shape our perceptions of that reality, and influence how we interact with it.

Terminology is important. The terminology that God uses to describe alcoholism is sin….the sin of drunkenness. God says that drunkards will not inherit His Kingdom because they continue in sin and refuse to repent. A lot is riding on terminology. So, we had better use the terminology that God uses to describe our behavior.

In the small town that I live in most of the people, who go to A.A., claim to be Christians. And, in fact, I have some Christian friends, who go to A.A. The issues that I have raised may not seem that important to these small-town people. The distinctions I have made may not seem like critical distinctions in their eyes because they have already experienced the paradigm shift of repentance.

For the people in my small town, the issues I have raised and the distinctions I have made, may not be critical, because, we have a church on every corner, and everyone is a Christian, or says they are. But what about the people in New York, Los Angeles, or Las Vegas? What about the people in India, Indonesia or Japan? These issues and distinctions are critical for these people, because Christianity is not their cultural norm, and their paradigm points them away from Yeshua.

The problem with A.A. is that it uses terminology that sounds biblical, until you examine the philosophy behind it. When you examine the philosophy behind A.A’s biblical language, A.A.’s theology comes into focus. The theology of A.A. goes along with the paradigm that the sinner uses to interpret information, in order to ensure that he is not offended. The theology of Christianity, however, brings the sinner into a violent confrontation with Truth that offends him in order to destroy his old paradigm and build a new one and rescue him from Satan’s kingdom.

The science, philosophy and theology that A.A. promotes points people away from God’s Kingdom. Thus, when an unbeliever takes A.A.’s 1st Step, he is one step closer to Hell. And when a Christian takes A.A.’s 1st Step, he is one step further from the abundant life that he is seeking. Oh sure, a person’s life may improve after he takes the 1st Step, but this does not mean that he has left Satan’s kingdom, or that he is any closer to doing so. It means that he is marshaling the power of his will to manage his life. It means that he has taken a Step in the wrong direction.