Tod Tanner's blog

How do I know if. . . I am saved?

This week's question is one that I have received over and over again throughout my years of ministry. The question comes to me in a variety of ways. Most of them sound a little something like this, "I was baptized a number of years ago, but how do I know if I am really saved?" The person asking the question starts by sharing his background of church life and activity. He, however, continues to have questions and doubts about what took place. And, this is the question that I received this Tuesday in the "stump Tod Tuesday" questions.

I would like to seek an answer to this question by providing a variety of passages and seeing if we can find a theme from the passages. Jesus said, "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He (the Father) takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:2). Jesus also said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 7:19). John the Baptist said, "The axe is already laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10). I could continue to provide passages from the apostle Paul as well as Jesus' brother James, but I think we might already be able to detect a theme.

The evidence of an individuals salvation is the fruit that he produces. Let me say it again, the evidence is not simply attending a Sunday service when nothing else is on the social calendar. The evidence is the fruit that is found in the life of the believer.

It becomes vitally important to understand what fruit is and is not. It is not seeking to lead as many people as one can in a "sinner's prayer." If this was the case, then Paul, the disciples and Jesus Himself would not have any fruit as they did not do this. Instead, the fruit that we are to produce is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). When the Holy Spirit resides within someone these characteristics are evident within the life of that individual. This does not mean that an individual is always perfect in all of these things. But, it does mean that the characteristics are seen by the individual as well as others around him.

The question for you and me now becomes, is there evidence of the fruits of the Spirit in my life? If yes, praise God. If, however, the answer is no, I urge you to consult what the Bible has to say about those who show no fruit.

What is Wisdom?

I believe wisdom is something that most folks desire to pursue. We spend a great deal of money in order to advance our wisdom through degrees and higher education. We continue to invest in the expansion of our wisdom through reading books or attending various seminars in order to learn from others. But, do we know what wisdom truly is? Is it degrees and seminars, or is it something else?

Solomon, who was considered to be the wisest king said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov. 1:7). In order to understand this verse, one must understand the word "fear." Solomon is not saying that in order to be wise an individual must hide in the corner in hopes that God never sees his actions and condemns that individual. The word "fear" instead means respect. True wisdom, therefore, is not degrees but rather respect for God and the fact that He is God and we are not.

I think Jesus can also help us understand a definition of wisdom. As He was closing out the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) He said, "therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matt. 7:24). According to Jesus, wisdom is not simply sitting in a church pew and listening to the word being taught. Instead, wisdom is hearing the word and apply it to ones life.

So, in returning to our question of what is wisdom, we find that the Bible says it is a respect of God and the application of His word. The question now becomes, how wise are we? Do we have a healthy respect of who God is, or do we see ourselves as being God? Do we listen to His word and apply its truth to our lives, or do we simply attend church and Bible study?

Father, please give us the courage to be wise today.

Controlling my schedule

The title of this entry should catch your attention simply because many times these words do not go together. All too often, we all find our schedules to be out of control. I have heard teenagers tell me they are so busy, and in their minds they truly are. I have seen the schedules of those who are retired and they work longer hours than a host of people on the clock. I know that my schedule is crazy and I constantly have to try to stay on top of it. So, why are we so busy and what do we do about it? Let's address both of these questions.

I believe sometimes we are so busy because we do not know how to say the word "no". It is a very short word and rather simple to say, yet we don't use it because saying no might hurt someones feelings. Therefore, we say yes to everyone and everything and the result is we run around like a crazy person and our family suffers because we say yes to everyone but them.

The solution to the problem of an out of control schedule is to say no. You may even have to say no to some good things in order to say yes to things that are best. I had this exact thing happen last night. I was invited to a good event, but had to say no for something that is best. This is not picking something I want to do over something I do not want to do. Instead, it is having priorities and making sure to stand by them.

If the key is standing by my priorities, the new question becomes do I know what my priorities are? Jesus told His followers at the Sermon on the Mount to, "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33). David, in writing the Psalms said, "delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). I could go on and on with references from the Bible about abiding in the Lord. When we do this, He changes our hearts to make them more like His. As this process, known as sanctification, continues He develops our priorities and gives us the courage to say yes to Him and no to other things that might even be good.

Father, please help us to delight in you this day as we strive to honor you with our schedules.

Abiding

I have been recently teaching through the seven times Jesus said "I AM" in the book of John. The last of these statements He said, "I AM the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing." The key word in the the study of this passage is abide. Jesus uses some form of this word 10 times in a period of 11 verses. As one who desires to understand and apply God's word to my life, I began to study the meaning of this word.

Abide in the original language means to remain in a fixed state. The importance of this is to understand the fixed stated is between a person and Jesus Christ. We can remain in a fixed state between ourselves and our religious traditions and miss the joy of abundant living that He promises. We can remain in a fixed state between ourselves and the lives we try to live through our kids activities and simply fill a calendar. Or we can remain in a fixed state between us and the Savior of the world. When we remain in this fixed state, according to Jesus, we not only bear fruit, but we "bear much fruit."

So, I believe the question now becomes, how do we abide in a relationship with Jesus Christ? The simple answer to this question is faith. I think we all have faith. The question is what do we have faith in? For example, I have faith in the fact that when I push a certain key on my computer a certain letter is going to show up. In a couple of minutes, I will have faith that when I click on the publish button, this short blog will appear on the web. I don't know how this all works, but I have faith in it.

Faith in Jesus Christ is trusting that He is going to do what He says He is going to do. Faith in Jesus is trusting in His goodness no matter what the circumstances might be. Faith in Jesus is trusting in His work on the cross and not my own feeble efforts to earn His favor. We may not understand how everything works, but we know in the end that He is on the throne, in control and in love with us.

Lord Jesus, please give us the courage to abide in you today so that we can bear much fruit for Your glory.

What if I can't afford to tithe?

This week's question has been a fun one. I was asked what someone should do if they can't afford to tithe. I know that many in today's economy are hurting and are having a very difficult time simply trying to make ends meet. I also know that the subject of tithing can be a very touching one, so let me use the Bible to deal with this question.

Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of Host, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." Did you know that this is the only time in the entire Bible that God says to test Him? So, what is the test? It is to see if He will not open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings. Please take note that He does not say drip out His blessings, but rather pour them out.

Now, I am sure that some might be saying that tithing is in the Old Testament and we are now living in the New Testament. You are correct. You will not find the word tithe in the New Testament. Instead, you will find the truth of sacrificial giving. Acts 4:34-35 says, "For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need." Therefore, we can conclude that giving is found both in the Old and New Testaments.

So then, what do we do if we can't afford to give? I would encourage you to start with something, yes even $1. I would also encourage you to begin to reflect upon your personal budget in order to discover ways to be a better steward of what God has entrusted to you. You might even consider attending a class like Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey in order to learn from those who know more.

I believe giving is a joy filled experience. Some might not be able to experience as much joy as others, but all of us can experience some joy. So, let's give joyfully and trust God in the process.

It's About People

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit across the lunch table from a man who knows that God is calling him into vocational ministry.  We talked about what ministry on a full time basis looked like.  At one point he told me that he was ready to get away from his current job so that he could do ministry all of the time.  I asked him to define this and he said that his job did not allow him to share Jesus with others.  He went on to say, however, that he meets on a regular basis with his co-workers after hours in order to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  He also told me of how he was able to share the truth of Jesus with the president of the organization.

I followed his stories with, "at times I wish I could get out of the day to day grind of church work in order to share Jesus in the way that you get to."  I think my statement shocked him a little.  I tried to encourage him that he is in ministry, no matter where he gets a pay check from.  I tried to show him examples of this from the stories that he had just shared.  He responded with, "I never thought of it that way."

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you engage people, then you are involved in ministry.  Please hear me, ministry is not about programs and where you get a paycheck from.  Ministry is about people.  Don't get me wrong, God can use the programs of a church in order to engage people in ministry.  I have attended a host of ministry programs and seen the value that they can add.  But, at the end of the day, it is still about people.

Jesus Christ came to this earth in order to die for you and me so that we might have a relationship with Him.  This shows that He valued and still values people.  Let's all strive to value people in the same manner that He values people.