Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Alexander the Great startled a dozing soldier on guard duty and learned that his name was also Alexander. Clearly, this soldier’s conduct was not representative of his leader who had the same name.
Brennan Manning astutely noted: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
Whenever I am confronted by the Holy Spirit with something I have read or heard from God’s Word, I need to stop to ask, “Do I need to change my conduct or do I need to change my name?”
If I call myself a CHRISTian, I want to make sure that people see Christ in me.
You can check out the full sermon from which this clip came by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Although no one can truly verify the accuracy of this story, it seems to fit the character of what we do know about Alexander the Great. This powerful leader was walk-in among the camp during the night and came upon a soldier who was supposed to be on guard duty. Except Alexander found him dozing off.
“Soldier, what is your name?” he demanded, bringing the sleeping soldier quickly awake.
“Alexander,” he stammered weakly.
Alexander stepped closer to the young man and repeated, “What is your name?”
“My name is Alexander, sir,” the soldier said a little more clearly this time.
Now, almost nose to nose, Alexander asked again, “What is your name?”
This time the soldier quietly said, “My name, sir, is Alexander.”
Alexander the Great then looked intently at the young soldier, “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
That story may or may not be true, but Brennan Manning’s words are most assuredly true: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” We must take an honest assessment of our lifestyle and then either change our name or change our conduct.
Our next Royal Psalm is Psalm 96. This psalm begins by echoing the words of praise the King David sang on the day the ark of the covenant of the Lord was brought to Jerusalem (see 1 Chronicles 16:23-29). This day may have been the pinnacle of this great king’s reign. Immediately after celebrating the return of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, God makes the promise to King David that his family will continue to reign until the coming of King Jesus (1 Chronicles 17).
Although this is a celebratory day for Israel—God’s chosen people—David’s psalm of thanks reverberates into all the world. It is David’s desire that not just the Jewish people, but all people know King Jesus as their Lord.
In our last Royal Psalm, we saw an invitation give to us three times to come into the presence of the King of kings (Psalm 95:1, 2, 6). But we are not to stay in the tabernacle with Him—Luke 9:28-33; 10:1. David uses words like: all the earth, the nations, all peoples, families of nations, the world (vv. 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 13).
In the middle of Psalm 96 is our proclamation to the world. We have the word ascribe (vv. 7-8) three times and an invitation in the word come. Ascribe means, “Come! Come on! Come see His glory and strength!” Then just as we have seen His glory and strength for ourselves, we invite the world to bring an offering and come into His courts.
T.M. Moore wrote, “People in the unbelieving world have witnessed a good bit of hypocrisy, shallowness, disingenuousness, dishonesty, and corruption among the members of the Church. Many of them have installed a spam filter on their brains which automatically blocks anyone calling himself a Christian as having anything meaningful or significant to say.”
So these action words in Psalm 96 are our words backed up or supported by our lifestyle.
Sing (3x) in vv. 1-2. Songs naturally come from our lips because of what is in our minds and hearts. Make sure you are singing to the LORD a new song of His moment by moment goodness to you.
Praise His name (v. 2) is better translated as bless (see NKJV, AMPC, Strong’s). Bless means to not only celebrate our King, but then to bless other people in the name of the Lord. In the New Testament Greek, bless means to say good words—say good words to people about your good King.
Proclaim His salvation (v. 2). …You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)
Declare His glory…His marvelous deeds (vv. 3-6). Recount God’s miracles to you again and again.
Worship the LORD (v. 9). The Old English spelling was worth-ship—find ways to tell people how invaluable our King’s blessings are.
Say… “The LORD reigns” (v. 10). Do your words and attitude express that God is on His throne?
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness ‘feeling better’ is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. In that sense the outer world is quite right to judge Christianity by its results. Christ told us to judge by results. A tree is known by its fruit; or, as we say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world. … Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”
Jesus called us to this (Matthew 5:16). Let’s be sure our words and lifestyle are an invitation to our King that no one can ignore.
In my mind, Tim Elmore stands head-and-shoulders above the rest in giving the most meaningful insights into the minds of today’s youth. Parents, coaches, teachers, and youth pastors will do themselves and the students with whom they work a huge service by using Dr. Elmore’s newest book—Marching Off The Map—as their guiding light in working with this young generation.
Never before have so many youth been exposed to so much information at such young ages. As a result, today’s students are both more prepared and less prepared to take on the future than any generation before them. Does this sound contradictory to you?
Consider the case of Alexander the Great. He conquered territory so quickly that he literally marched off the map; that is to say, there were no known maps for the new territory in to which he took his armies. Alexander’s mapmakers were pressed into duty to draw the maps as they were discovering new lands. They were both more and less prepared to move forward, just like today’s generation of students.
Those who work with today’s students can probably relate! Parents and teachers are attempting to write new maps as they go. They are being called upon to be both timeless and timely; to bring timeless principles into a territory where they’ve never been before in a timely way.
“This book is about moving into unknown territory as caring adults, and leading the way for the younger generations behind us. It’s all about inspiring students to learn in this brand new world. Whether you are an educator, a parent, a coach, an employer, a youth worker or just someone who cares about kids, this book was created to help you chart the course into the future.” —Tim Elmore
Along the way Dr. Elmore will introduce you to some of today’s youth, help you see the world through their eyes, and give you invaluable insight into how best to educate, train, and equip them to be the leaders of the next generations. All of Dr. Elmore’s books are well-documented with research, statistics, graphics, and suggestions which are guaranteed to open your eyes and your mind.
If you truly care about seeing the next generation of youth be as prepared to face the future as possible, Marching Off The Map has to be a must-read!
Craig T. Owens 