To some people, the notion of believing in and following Christ looks like a 600 pound barbell. Well, I guess for some people, it is! The Christian barbell is made up of a number of weights on each side like the ones in the gyms. The apostle Paul said that we should "lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and run with patience the race set before us..." These are weights which slow us down and make us feel inadequate. Weights which drain us of strength and make us feel weak.

How does this happen?

We become spiritually inadequate because of what I identify as "Spiritual Anemia." We suffer from spiritual malnutrition. I refer here not to physical malnutrition. I refer instead to what Jesus was talking about when he said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God."

I am not interested in fried chicken here, or Grandma's biscuits, or even rib-eye steak (the most flavorful and delicious cut of beef). I am interested in banana pudding for the soul.

The restaurant we go to for this kind of food is the Scripture. The Chef who prepared these words is none other than the One who made the Big Bang go "BANG!" If we do not visit this restaurant often enough, if we don't consume its nourishment, we develop iron-poor blood. We become spiritually anemic.

Spiritual "junk food junkies"

Some of the "Hostess Twinkies" of Christian Spirituality . . .

Issues concerning women preachers
Issues concerning modes of baptism
Issues concerning prophecy
Issues concerning spirituality/carnality
Issues concerning demonology
Issues concerning charismatic gifts

The inevitable outcomes of these things . . .

Atrophy of relational strength

If you don't use a muscle enough, it will go limp, atrophy, so much so can no longer use it! I. Spiritually inadequate because of MISDIRECTION

The apostle Paul refers to this as "rightly dividing the Word of Truth." Unfortunately, religious organization has their own way to "rightly divide." None of them, and none of us as individuals will get it exactly right.

But we need to hold them to this rubric: Are they trying to get it right? Are they genuinely seeking Truth? Some could care less about the "Word of Truth." Instead they decide the relevance of the Bible's truth based on the social trends of society. Hence, the Scripture become malleable to human thinking instead of human thinking malleable to the truth of Scripture.

This is a horrendous mistake. The Scripture is understood and shaped by the least common denominator of community values instead of the other way around.

The "rules of the road: hermeneutics!

1. Reject anything that does not conform to the character, teachings, events, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
2. Applying reason and logic, if the content makes good sense, then seek no other sense.
3. Only exegesis, no eisegesis.

exegesis: accepting the plain meaning
eisegesis: reading into the passage what is not there

4. No Cherrypicking.

selecting isolated passage to support one's own view without regard to context or biblical theme

5. Context sensitive
6. Thematic sensitive. Consider all the biblical data
7. Attitude of reverence and dignity

These are specific guidelines, or parameters in understanding the Scripture.

Rabbit trail theology . . .

PREOCCUPATION with
apologetics
prophecy/eschatology (the deep things of God)?
issues regarding creation, the flood, etc.
charismatic phenomena,
legalism (do's and don'ts list),
bizarre beliefs (rattlesnakes, etc.),
evangelism ("We're too busy saving souls . . .")

Most of these things are certainly not bad within themselves. Pursuing them is another matter. When one leaves emphasis on relationship, or intimacy with Christ Jesus for these things, one has left the main purpose and intent of God's dealings with man, for theological rabbit-trails.

Results in these problems . . .

Effectiveness for Christ is impaired;
Sick ingrown mentality (I'm ok, you're not)
Self-righteousness and Spiritual Pride.

II. Spiritually inadequate because of DWARFISM

This is a shutdown of spiritual maturation processes.

Always happens when you believe you have arrived. When you think you have enough of the answers to discontinue learning.

THE MORE ONE STUDIES, THE MORE HE REALIZES HOW LITTLE HE REALLY KNOWS. (You may have to admit that you have been horribly, massively, WRONG! -- Ouch!) (II Corinthians 8:1-3 )

DON'T BE AFRAID TO CHALLENGE AXIOMS! (When asked how he came to discover the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein replied, "I dared to challenge an axiom!") (I John 2:27) Don't be afraid to challenge even your own beliefs. Never stop enlarging your knowledge.

WHAT IS AN AXIOM? AN UNPROVEN ASSUMPTION ACCEPTED AS TRUTH

III. Spiritually inadequate because of RELATIONAL BREAKDOWN

Belief in alienation from God
Usually the result of negatively interpreted trauma
Events which drive one "away from" instead of "closer to" God.

ALL OF THIS IS DELUSION!

FOR A PERSON WHO HAS BEEN REGENERATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT . . .

YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD CAN’T BREAKDOWN.
HE ALWAYS LOVES.
HE IS ALWAYS THERE.
NOTHING CAN SEPARATE.
NOTHING CAN COME BETWEEN.
YOU CAN’T ''MOVE AWAY FROM GOD.
YOU CAN ONLY FEEL REMOVED.
BUT IT IS A WRONG FEELING.
THIS FEELING CAN RESULT IN DRAMATICALLY WICKED ACTIONS. . .