The Path to Righteousness

Today's passage is Romans 4:23-25, which says:

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham's faith was "credited for righteousness." If we are to know what this means, a couple words have to be defined. The first is faith, which means trusting in God, putting His ways and, well, Him before everything else. Faith is not just blindly leaping off a cliff into the unknown, but is instead trusting a God who you believe is really able to hold you. That's what Abraham did when he first followed the Lord: he believed that God could really provide for him and lead him, so he followed. Faith is trust based on past experience, current belief, and future hope; the longer we believe in the Lord in our current situation, the more we will draw on past faithfulness He has shown us and the more we will be confident hoping in His future faithfulness. 

Another term is important to know here: righteousness. We are all sinners (wrongdoers, rebels against God's commands). Therefore, we are all unrighteousness before God, and He will judge us at the end of days on our righteousness (or lack thereof). That's the truth the Bible makes clear. The only way to avoid that judgment is to be seen as righteous before God when that day comes, and that is exactly what this passage details out. 

Abraham was no more righteous than you or me. He was a rebel against the Almighty, and therefore needed to be made righteous before God. These verses show that Abraham was made righteous not because of anything he did, but because of Who he trusted. He trusted, or put his faith in, God, and that trust in God throughout the rest of his life made him a righteous man in the eyes of God. And that is available to us, too. 

 If we believe in Jesus, our Lord and King, as raised from the dead to pay for our sins (delivered for trespasses) and defeat death once and for all (raised), we too can be righteous before God (for our justification). Again, it's trusting, it's putting faith in Jesus. Have you done that? Are you actively doing that with your life daily? Trusting in Jesus is the only path to true righteousness.

This is the entire message of every evangelist that ever was, from the apostle Paul to Billy Graham. This is the message that fulfills the Great Commission to go and make disciples, or followers of Jesus, of all nations. This is the message of trusting in the resurrection of Christ in order to be made righteous! This is the epitome of the power of God on display in the good news of Jesus: you can be saved! Trust it today.

Inheritance Through Faith and Perseverance (Evening Prayer 1/22/2020)

For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned. Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints ​— ​and by continuing to serve them. Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance 
-- Hebrews 6:4-12 (CSB)

This passage was shared with me by a church member recently when I was doing a pastoral visit at his home. It had been perplexing him, and it perplexed me, too. What exactly does the author of Hebrews mean here? I went to my CSB Study Bible for help, and here's where it lead me.

Are we to think that these "dearly loved friends" are leaving Christianity and returning to Judaism or whatever religion they previously adhered to? I don't think so, because the author seems to indicate in v.9 that he is speaking rhetorically, and he/she is "confident of things that are better" in their case, specifically. That sounds like the audience knows that Christ is better.

If that's not what he/she means, is it possible that these hearers had heard the gospel, maybe even liking it, but ultimately strayed away? This certainly happens, as we see in the parable of the sower that Jesus tells throughout the Gospels. Yet, look at the way the author describes them: enlightened, tasting of heaven, sharing in the Holy Spirit, tasting God's good word, and the powers of the coming age. That's a description that can only belong to a saved person. No nominal "Christian" that is going to fall away would be described in such terms--especially when it talks about sharing in the Holy Spirit, which only happens in the life of a believer.

Is it discussing the work of sanctification (or being made like Jesus daily), rather than our salvation itself? Again, I don't think so: why wouldn't we be able to repent of our apostasy if this were talking about our growth in Christ? Peter did exactly that repentance from rejecting Jesus in John 21.

So, what does it mean? I think it is a warning against turning from Christ and to continue relying on Christ. The author seems to be indicating that if we have a life that "receives the rain" (i.e. is surrounded by the gospel and things of Christ) and yet "produce thorns" shows that we never were enlightened or Spirit-shared. The author warns us as believers to remain in the faith, to have faith and persevere, which is evidence of our salvation in Jesus. Our faith and deeds are evidence that we have been saved (James 2 goes in-depth here); let us remain in the faith and never fall away!

Father God, hold us close. We know that if we are believers, you will not let us go; do not let us even desire to be released. May we abide in you as you abide within us. 

Like a Child

Yesterday, I read Matthew 18:1-9 and 19:13-15. Both of these passages feature Jesus speaking about how to inherit or enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Take a look:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
² Then He called a child to Him and had him stand among them. ³ “I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one child like this in My name welcomes Me.
⁶ “But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea! ⁷ Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes. ⁸ If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire. -Matthew 18:1-9

Then children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ Then Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like this.” ¹⁵ After putting His hands on them, He went on from there. -Matthew 19:13-15

You see, He claims that we must come to Him like a small child to enter the Kingdom of God. We must have the trust and faith in God and in Jesus that a small child has in his/her father. We are completely dependent, relying on Him for everything and having ever-flowing love for Him. 

But, we often times are not like this. Our dependence and love for Jesus can be muffled by many things, including earthly possessions. I don't think it is a coincidence that in Matthew 19:16-22 we find the story of the rich young ruler. He claimed that he wanted to follow Jesus, but could not let go of his money. He was not able to part from possessions:

 Just then someone came up and asked Him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?”
¹⁷ “Why do you ask Me about what is good?” He said to him. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
¹⁸ “Which ones?” he asked Him. Jesus answered:

Do not murder;
do not commit adultery;
do not steal;
do not bear false witness;
¹⁹ honor your father and your mother;
and love your neighbor as yourself.

²⁰ “I have kept all these,” the young man told Him. “What do I still lack?”

²¹ “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
²² When the young man heard that command, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. -Matthew 19:16-22

Money brings safety and security, so we trust Him less. Money brings distraction and entertainment, which sucks away from our love for God. This is why Matthew 19:23-25 is such a somber passage:

²³ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” -Matthew 19:23-25

 The good news is that there is a flipside. In verse 26, Jesus says that all things are possible with God. That is then followed up with a quick back-and-forth between Jesus and Peter: 

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
²⁷ Then Peter responded to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You. So what will there be for us?”
²⁸ Jesus said to them, “I assure you: In the Messianic Age, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother, children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and the last first. -Matthew 19:26-30

You see, we as Christians are called to be completely devoted to Jesus. We are willing to leave it all and be totally dependent on God, relying on Him day-by-day, step-by-step. We must walk by faith, trusting that we will be held tight by our Father and that the One who loves us won't let us go.

We can be confident in that because He loved us so much that He gave up His Son on the cross, and it was through that act that the impossible happened. The ones who were far from God, separated from Him by sin, were brought close. We were impossibly separated from God until God made it possible for us to draw near to Him.

So, it is no longer impossible for us to trust Him, walk with Him, love Him, be with Him and depend on Him in all things. It is no longer impossible for us to give up all we have to follow Him. It is no longer impossible to come to Him like a small child, and it is no longer impossible for us to inherit eternal life. The Kingdom is ours.

Meditations on Psalm 1: The Roots of the Righteous Man and the Wicked Man

Have you ever seen a tree bend during a storm? The wind blows and blows, and unless it snaps the tree in half, the tree remains in place. There may be trash and cars and everything else flipped and thrown about, and yet a tree will remain standing. Why is this?

The tree is secured into the ground. Unlike a trash can or patio furniture, the tree has roots. A tree's roots go deep into the earth, securing its base into the ground and keeping it in place. This is obviously not the primary point of roots, but it certainly does function this way. Anyone who has dug up a tree understands the difficulty of pulling a stump up. Roots keep trees in place, and they keep us in place, as well.

Psalm 1 is only six verses long, but they are a huge six verses. Read with me:

¹ Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.
          -Psalm 1 (ESV)

 Notice what verses one and two say about the righteous and wicked men: the wicked man is walking, standing and sitting with the "wicked," while the righteous man delights in and meditates on the Lord. The wicked man is engulfed in the foul, while the righteous man is shrouded by the fair. Then verse three takes the comparison further.

Here, we see a tree planted by the water, yielding fruit. The roots of this tree have gone down into the soft creek bank, drawing up rich water and nutrients and flourishing as a result. This is the righteous one; he draws his fuel from the Lord, and is filled with the everlasting water and life-giving nutrients of the Spirit. He yields greater fruit than any tree could dream of. Trees may bear oranges and apples and pomegranates and other tasty fruits, but these delicacies pale in comparison to the fruit of the righteous man. The righteous man brings forth love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. 

By contrast, the wicked man brings forth much less. He is compared to chaff. Now, those of us who do not live in the agricultural realm may not know what chaff is, so allow me to explain. Chaff is the dry casing that coats seeds, straw and grain. It is scaly, brittle and dead. Its purpose is to protect that which is growing. Chaff is the toenail of the plant world: a necessary protection, but not pretty. Chaff does not produce anything. It merely exists. Chaff has not fruit; it just hangs on.

Now, let us think for a moment about a fruit-bearing tree and a pile of chaff. We have a beautiful cherry tree overhanging a bubbling brook, and beside it lays a pile of husks, a pile of chaff left over from a boy's pulling apart of grass. The sun is shining and all is well. Both the chaff and the tree remain in place. What happens, however, when a storm rolls up on this peaceful scene?

It is obvious, is it not? The chaff will blow away. Like the seeds of a dandelion going forth from a child's blowing, the chaff will scatter in the wind, twirling about to and fro in the gale. The tree, however, will most likely stay in place. It may lose fruit and branches and leaves, but with all likelihood, the tree will remain standing. 

This is the future for the righteous man and the wicked man on the day of judgment. The wicked man, without having his roots firmly planted in the life-giving, supporting, loving Lord of all, will be blown away by the wrath of God. John the Baptist echoed the idea of the wicked being chaff on the day of judgment, saying that they would "burn with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12). 

This, my friends, is the state of all men. We all have walked in the counsel of the wicked, stood in the way of sinners and sat with scoffers. We were the chaff, a synonym for trash in the ancient world. We were kindling for the fires of Hell, "but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV).

If you are in Christ, you are no longer chaff. You are no longer trash for the burn pile, and instead are now a tree. You have roots that continue to grow into Him as you work more and more to grow in Him. We now walk in the light, delighting the in law of the Lord and meditating day and night on God and His glory. We reject the past that we spent with the wickedness, and we continue to pursue Jesus.

As the calendar has officially changed over to 2014, we have a new year. We have a new calendar. If you are still chaff, if you have never been brought to life by the work of Christ on the cross, make this the time. Become the righteous man. If you are already saved by the work of Christ, then dig deep in 2014. Sink you roots further into God and His Word. Pray with greater fervor. Give more generously. Meditate on Him day and night. Regardless, the judgment is coming. Will you stand before Him, or be blown away? Where are your roots: in Christ or in your own wickedness?

A Grace-Propelled Patience

I love Starbucks. Few things in my life bring as much simple, sweet happiness as a tall peppermint mocha or an iced coffee with milk and toffeenut syrup. It's the small things, yo. So, with a few minutes to spare before work yesterday, I went to Starbucks to grab a coffee before I was on my Kroger grind for six-and-a-half hours. After all, what better prepares one for work than caffeine and sugar? I submit that there is nothing.

I was in the drive-thru, and only two cars were between me and the window. Score. I'm going to be at work on time. And yet, the care in front of me aimed to change that. They received four drinks through the window, as well as a gift bag with something in it. They, no lie, took about five minutes to complete their order and drive off.

The entire time that they were dominating the drive-thru and dwindling my time to get to work, I fought a battle within my mind. Much of me was frustrated and impatient.

I knew I shouldn't have wasted time on this.

I'm going to be late.

Come on people, let's go.

What the crap did you order?!

All the while, my mind also told me to be patient. The Spirit pushed and prodded my heart to remain calm. The reward would be worth the wait. I am in Christ, and as such, should exude patience as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Patience should define my life. Alas, I was not patient and remained frustrated at the long wait. By the time I got to the window, my stress levels were rising. I'm paying for this, daggumit!

And then I got my drink for free. Starbucks gave me a free gift because of my wait.

I was not patient.

I did not pay.

I was gifted this cup of coffee, despite my attitude, and it changed my entire perspective on the wait. When I wasn't paying for it, when I was being given something with no work or payment of my own, the wait no longer seemed so bad. Had I known the whole time that my coffee was free, I'd venture to say that I would not have been so impatient. I would, instead, have been calm and peaceful. I would have used my wait for more God-glorifying thoughts. Perhaps I'd have prayed. Perhaps I'd have read my Bible app. Perhaps I would have just been patient, which is glorifying in and of itself.

Don't you see that this is our lives, Christian? We have the free gifts of salvation and the Spirit within us and our future in glory with Christ (which are all immeasurably more amazing and beautiful than a mere cup of coffee), and yet we are impatient with God's timing in our lives. How ungrateful are we?

When one gives you a gift, we must depend upon their timing. How ridiculous would my impatience have been had I known that Starbucks was giving me a free cup? I'd have been unappreciative of the giver's heart, and would have disgraced the gift. It would be as if I were still running the show, demanding that a gift only make me happy if it is what I want, when I want it. Absurd!

Grace, therefore, should propel us towards patience. Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and we are undeserving of any good (Romans 3). It follows that all good things we receive are gifts of grace from a loving, good God. We have no say; these gifts are waiting for us in His time, in spite of our impatience and frustration with the wait. Instead, we should pursue patience. Patience shows a grateful heart for not just gifts such as His provision in our lives, His listening to our prayers or even His bringing us onto the throne with Christ in the end of time, but also for the Giver Himself. Patience shows that we trust that God has something good for us, and that we believe that He will give it to us in time. Patience shows that we understand His sovereignty, His love and His goodness.

Be patient, fellow Christian. The Giver of gifts knows best; let this truth of His grace launch you to new depths of patience!

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love," -Ephesians 4:1-2

"Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land." -Psalm 37:7-9

"Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." -Galatians 6:9

Jesus Believed in Hell

"And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire!" -Matthew 18:9, HCSB

I chose the picture above for a reason. So often, when people think about Jesus, they picture happy Jesus. Soft Jesus. Lovey-dovey, gentle Jesus. And He certainly is loving and happy and gentle, do not hear me wrong. I'm simply stating that He wasn't like that at all times.

A common claim against Christians who are "hardcore" or "fire and brimstone" is that they are not loving. If you preach a gospel that includes a literal Hell for the person outside of Christ, you will be considered unloving by many. After all, it isn't loving to tell people they are headed to Hell, right?

Jesus did. In fact, Jesus spoke of Hell more than any other person in the New Testament. Not that He wanted people to go to Hell; Matthew 18:14 clearly states that God does not want any to enter Hell's gates. Instead, Jesus preached a literal Hell because He actually believed in it.

Jesus actually believed that if someone were to sin and never repent, that person would be in Hell upon death. He believed in a literal, fire and brimstone Hell. This belief, this knowledge of the very real punishment of sins, is something that propelled Him to preach repentance of sins and salvation in Himself. This compelled Him to look upon crowds with compassion, knowing their status before God and thus their eternal fate if nothing changes.

And we don't ever mention Hell.

We have become so afraid of talking about the punishment of sins that we won't hardly mention the fires of Hell. We don't want to seem mean or old-fashioned or weird, so we just leave that part off. We don't ever discuss the extent of punishment for sins, that Hell is a place of eternal darkness and flames (not sure how that works, but it sounds horrifying), a place of gnashing of teeth. Sometimes, people will make Hell into a place of temporary punishment, like time-out for a toddler.

We've lost our belief in Hell. If we actually believed in this Hell, a literal place of eternal suffering and punishment, then we would do something with that belief. We would not sit by, afraid to saying something to the person outside of Christ. We would preach the gospel to all we could, fueled by the desire to see people escape the punishment.

Our indifference towards Hell and those headed there is at best unloving and lazy, and more likely hateful and damning. We quite literally hold the gospel of Christ in our hands, the way out of eternal punishment, and we never preach it. Our silence will be paid for by our friends for eternity, as they cry out our names, wondering why we didn't care enough to share the gospel with them.

Jesus believed in Hell, and did something about it. Do we?

Why is Good Friday Good?

"It is finished!" -John 19:30, HCSB

It is finished. Que se termine. 它完成. она будет закончена. Il est fini. Consummatum est. それが完了しました. يتم الانتهاء من ذلك. 그것은 완료. Está consumado.

One could say that these may be the most important words in the entire Bible. Out of everything that Jesus said in His ministry, these three words may just be the most impactful, the most loaded, the most beautiful words that came out of His mouth. This is the climax, the highest point, in the entire plot and story of the Bible.

As He hung on the cross, He was not only experiencing the physical side of the crucifixion. Yes, He was in physical pain, but the spiritual pain was much worse. As hung on the cross, He took the burden of the wrath of God on Himself.

I once heard Jesus' taking God's wrath like this explained like this: imagine that we are in a canyon. A small river is trickling through, the product of a dam upstream. That dam is holding back a massive river that would flood the canyon if the dam broke. Needless to say, we don't want to be here when it breaks. Regardless, we throw rocks at it. I mean, it's a huge dam. How could it break?

One rock we threw hit another rock in the wall of the canyon, which in turn caused a group of larger rocks to become unlodged and fall into the dam.

 A crack runs up the middle, splintering across the facade of the dam. Time has worn the dam thin, and it is breaking. Suddenly, the river behind blasts through the cracked dam. The pressure was too much, and the river busts through.

We have since walked a little way downstream from the dam. We hear a loud noise, and turn to see a wall of water headed toward us. This deadly, overwhelming flood will destroy us, and it is our fault that the flood is headed for us.

We start to run, but there really is only time to turn away from the water when we hear a massive roar. Afraid to turn, we run a bit, but then realize that we are not dead yet. We turn around and see that there is no more wall of water.

Instead, a massive hole has opened up in the ground, creating a waterfall. The ground took the death from us and absorbed it all.

This is our story. God's wrath was bearing down on us, punishment due us because of our provocation and rebellion toward Him. Yet, instead of the death we deserved, Jesus took the punishment. He took the full wrath of God: not just my punishment, but also the punishment for you, our families, our friends, the guy across the table from me at the library...everyone. He took it all. Sin and death were defeated forever, all because Christ took the punishment for them away from His people.

If you have believed in Christ and confessed in Him as Lord and Savior, it is finished. There is no more punishment due to you, and there is no more power that sin can hold over you. Jesus took care of that. It's over, it's through, it is finished.

If you have never put your faith in Him, do so today. Feel free to trust in Him as Savior. None of us deserved for Him to die, but out of grace, mercy and love, He did it anyways. He took the punishment. Now it is up to you to accept Him as Lord and Savior and follow Him.

They call today Good Friday, the day that Christ died. But why is today good? Because it is finished.

Two Criminals and Red Pictures

 

"Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at Him: 'Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!'

But the other answered, rebuking him: 'Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!'
 
And He said to him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.'” -Luke 23:39-43, HCSB

Yesterday, we discussed the critics of Jesus that were underneath Him, laughing at Him and His position. Today, we look at the stance of two people, both condemned to death.

There were three crosses standing at Golgotha on Good Friday. One, the one in the middle, held Jesus. However, the two men flanking Him to His right and left were merely common criminals.

One guy (who I will call Rafael) was also mocking Jesus, questioning His power, but also calling on Him to save him from His predicament. Rafael almost seems to buy into the truth about Jesus, yet won't totally believe in Him until Jesus proves Himself, all for the benefit of this criminal. All in all, he won't believe that Jesus is who He says He is until something happens to help himself. Rafael wants what is best for Rafael. 

The other guy (let's call him Eric), meanwhile, calls out Rafael for mocking Jesus. He even goes so far as to admit Jesus' innocence, and supports a lifestyle of fearing God. We then see Eric asking Jesus to remember him when Christ goes into His kingdom, and Jesus tells him "today you will be with me in Paradise." Eric is saved from eternal death.

As I read this story, I was also thinking about the debate over whether the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) community should be able to marry whomever they want. Some argue that religion should have no voice in the arena of government, while others claim that we should only have the Bible. Some claim that gay rights are the new civil rights, and some claim that they are not related at all.

Many of my Christian brothers and sisters have been rebuking those who support the marriage of same-sex couples. They have essentially been playing the part of the Eric, calling out the Rafaels for failing to fear God.

There is good in this. As long as rebuke is done with grace and gentleness, it is good to call people to turn from sin. A quick reading of any one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) will show that Jesus regularly did this. It is biblical and right to call for people to repent of their sinful lifestyles.

However, Eric did something that many Christians tend to forget in this debate. He admitted his wrong past. He told Rafael that they were both guilty and deserving of death.

Christians, we are not more righteous in our lives than any other "sinner." We are not above the LGBT community. If you would like to look through the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus regularly ate and hung out with the "sinners," the people that the over-righteous Pharisees shunned for their lifestyles.

Back then, it was tax collectors and prostitutes. Now it's lesbians and transsexuals. Same story, different roles.

I am not supporting a gay/homosexual lifestyle. I believe that the Bible condemns such a lifestyle, and that all who live like that should repent and come to God. However, Christians, we are not to cast stones and beat people down and act like we have it all together. We're sinners, too. We also once (and many still act as such) were living self-centered, self-pleasing lifestyles of the flesh.

We are a broken race, we humans. Gay, jealous, lustful, hating, drunk... the list goes on. Whichever sins have defined your life have made you just as guilty before God as anyone else. That's why we all needed grace, the undeserved gift of Christ's death for us on a cross. It was on that cross that He took the wrath of God for all sin: homosexuality or judgmentalism. Let's show love and grace to all, and show everyone the nature of God in our actions and with our words.

We must point people away from themselves and their selfish, sinful desires, yes. But if we point ourselves instead of pointing to Jesus and His greatness, we're failing at our rebuke and are sinning ourselves.

Call to repent, Christians, but in doing so, don't forget that someone once had to call you to repent. Otherwise, you'd still be dead in sin, too.

For more of my thoughts on this, check out these two posts I wrote a while back from my unChristian series, which was about how Christians are often viewed, and how Christians should act instead:

unChristian, Part Three: Antihomosexual
unChristian, Part Six: Judgmental

Jesus: Mocked and Dying, Ultimately Loving

"He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now—if He wants Him! For He said, ‘I am God’s Son.'" -Matthew 27:42-43, HCSB

Jesus wasn't in the best spot here, y'all. He had been beaten, stabbed, dehydrated, whipped, slapped, pushed, shoved, and oh, by the way, nailed to a wooden cross. His breathing is becoming harder and more difficult. His legs ache, lactic acid in His calves building up from holding Himself up. His hands are throbbing in excruciating pain from the bones in His hands, shattered as a nail went through them.

Meanwhile, the crowds around Him are mocking Him. They are jeering at His condition, laughing at the fact that He is dying. They questioned His power, His authority, His trust in God, how much God loved Him and what exactly His relationship with God was.

And isn't that the case today? Do people not question His ability to save others? Haven't you heard people who doubt His authority as King of all? Don't people scoff at His power over this realm? Don't people question whether or not He was the Son of God, or even a deity at all? Could He have saved Himself?

Thank God He did not save Himself!

It wasn't that He couldn't save Himself, it was that He wouldn't, in order to save us instead.

It wasn't that God didn't love or want Jesus, but rather that God wanted and loved us, too.

It wasn't that Jesus wasn't God's Son. No, no it definitely is not because Jesus isn't God's Son. But, praise be to God above that He wanted and desired many sons and daughters, not just One.

"For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" -Romans 5:7-8, HCSB

We didn't deserve the death of Christ. We are not good or righteous; we are sinners. Yet, to show His love for us, Christ, Jesus Christ, died for us. He died so that sinners could become sons and daughters of God.

So the next time people are mocking Jesus, praise Him. Praise God that He would sacrifice Himself, that He would kick His Son to the curb, that He would die for us. Praise be to God, the God who died in order to love the unlovable!

We're All Just Actors in God's Blockbuster

"So Pilate said to Him, 'You're not talking to me? Don't You know that I have the authority to release You and the authority to crucify You?'

'You would have no authority over Me at all,' Jesus answered him, 'if it hadn't been given you from above.'" -John 19:10-11, HCSB

Allow me to set the scene: Jesus is standing before Pontius Pilate, the ruling Roman governor over the area. The Jews, out of their hate for Him, have brought Him to Pilate for execution. They have appealed to the governor, implying that Jesus' death would halt a revolution in the land. Pilate, of course, wanted to avoid such a revolution, but had trouble finding fault in Jesus. Besides going against the teaching of the Jews and causing trouble for them, Pilate saw nothing He had done wrong. And yet, as Pilate asks Jesus to defend Himself, Jesus stands silent. Pilate asks Jesus if He is from God, and Jesus stands silent. Pilate asks Jesus if He is the King of the Jews, and Jesus stands silent.

For those that know me well, you know I'm a pretty big Tom Cruise fan, and at this moment, I picture Pilate as somewhat like Jerry McGuire. I can almost hear Pilate yelling, "Jesus, HELP ME HELP YOU!"

And finally, Jesus speaks.

Jesus proceeds to inform Pilate that without God's giving Pilate his governmental seat, Pontius would have zero authority over Him. In all honesty, Jesus is still implying that Pilate lacks authority over Him in the grand scope of things, but in this moment, in Jesus' manhood, in Jesus' hour, the time had come.

It all had to happen. God had predetermined the time, place, and yes, even the people that would lead to Jesus' death (Acts 4:27-28). Pilate's authority over Jesus in this moment was merely the orchestration of God's grand plan to bring redemption to mankind. The death of Christ, with its purpose of providing freedom from sin for man, was planned from the beginning. Our salvation in Christ wasn't a coincidence or a fall-back; it was plan A and worked to a T.

Pilate would, in fact, help Jesus in the exact opposite way that he thought he could. By allowing the death of Christ, he was the man who ultimately made the crucifixion possible. Yet, without God's work, Pilate is nothing in this story. Without God's doing, Pilate may have never even been governor, much less the one with the decision to either kill or save Jesus.

All authority in earth comes from God. Let us not be blind to this like Pilate, assuming that our authority is self-made. God is the director of this show; we are merely actors playing our parts.

Do You Want to Get Well?

"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, 'Do you want to get well?'" -John 5:6, HCSB

I was reading John 5 this morning, and I came across this verse in my reading. It comes from a story about a man who was sick. This sick man was living in an area around a pool that moved every now and then when an angel made the water stir. This stirring of the water announced that the angel had been there, and the first person into the pool after the angel would be healed of their ailment.

Not surprisingly, this pool was constantly surrounded by sick people. I mean, think about it: if a pond could cure what ails ya, wouldn't this pond be constantly surrounded by people?

This man was one of those people. Yet, he was so sick that he couldn't get up and go to the pool when the angel came. Thus, for 30+ years, he remained sick. That's when Jesus walked up and asked him the question that I quoted at the top of the post: "do you want to get well?"

This got me to thinking: does Jesus ask everyone this? Everyone in the world is a sinner, and we are all sick with sin. We walk about in the world, sinning, and Jesus asks "do you want to get well?"

If you do not know Christ, you can get well. Your sin can be removed. Your addictions, your sins, your bad habits; they can all be removed by Christ. Put your faith in Christ, and accept the gift of grace!

And you, Christian, don't think you're out of the woods. How many Christians are battling with sins? How many Christians are hiding a porn addiction? How many Christians are gossips? How many Christians walk around arrogant, lying, hating, cheating and lusting after the world?

If you are a Christian, you should know that Christ has called you to a different life. Put away the life of the flesh and let the grace of God work in your heart. You may feel trapped in a cycle of sin, but He can heal you of that. The question is: do you want to get well, or are you content to lay around, sick in sin and worldly desires?

Leave Your Life Behind

"If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?" -Colossians 2:20, HCSB

Solid question, right? Why do we act as though we aren't in Christ?

I'm not even talking about living a "sinner's lifestyle;" many of us jump immediately to that. We think,

"Well, I'm not living as if I belong to the world! I don't cuss, I attend church most weeks, I lead a bible study, and I don't smoke. I'm doing what I am supposed to do."

But, are you really living a life of Christ? Are you really doing what your salvation saved you to do? I mean, what did Jesus say upon His ascension?

"Go, therefore, and do not smoke weed. Attend church regularly, read Max Lucado books and stay away from alcohol in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

What?! That isn't what He said?! Oh my. Well, what did Jesus command?

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you." -Matthew 28:19-20, HCSB

Are we making disciples, teaching and baptizing, or are we living the same kind of "personal religion" that the rest of the world prescribes to? Most of the United States, whether they admit it, have a self-centered religion.

The reason people go to church/mosque or not is based on their spirituality. What makes your spiritual life complete is what you should go for, says the world. Pray to whomever you please. If you're into burning sage, go for it. If you're into worshipping a cactus blossom, great. Whatever pleases you. Just make sure not to try to get anyone else to do it. I mean, we don't want to be pushy and force our religion on others!

I'm not insinuating that Christians should be annoying, leaving a tract instead of a tip at restaurants or anything like that. I'm asking seriously: are you following Christ in a worldly, self-glorifying way that is built around you and your feelings of "religiousness," or are you striving for a walk with Christ that is founded on Him and His greatness?

We are to stay pure, yes. It is a good thing if you don't cuss or smoke pot. However, if you are doing nothing with your salvation beyond yourself, if you aren't sharing the life-changing truth that has been revealed to you, what good is it? We aren't saved for ourselves; we're saved for the glory of God!

We are to live lives that reject the philosophies and such of this world, and follow only after Christ. This means that we will have to go against the grain of culture and step out of our religious box. We must leave the temple behind and be the church, living lives for the advancement of the Kingdom. That's what it means to be dead to the world. We leave behind all trace of life from the old way of doing it and follow after Him.

Are we willing to pick up our cross and die to a life of personal religion? Are we willing to go against the grain and spread the gospel to those around us? Are we truly dead to the ways of this world and culture, willing to go wherever God sends us? These are questions we all must ask.

The Prize, Part One: What's In Your Rearview?

I have a few books in God's Word that really impact me regularly, and I'm bringing a passage of one of them today. Check out this passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians:

"...But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly [or upward] call in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:13b-14, HCSB

What a great passage, right?! I mean, what an approach to life! Let's break this down and see how we can live this out:

1. Forget what is behind
-Your past doesn't mean a thing. I'm not saying to totally forget your past; I'm not one those types. What I am saying is this: no matter what is in your rearview, it is in your rearview. No matter what I see behind me when I am driving my truck, it is still behind me. Good or bad, I have driven past it and it is relatively unimportant to my further travel.

Yes, our past shapes the present and future. If I just drove through a rainstorm, my truck is now covered in water. If I just left the gas station, my tank is full. The events of our past often direct and effect the manner and appearance of our travels. Yet, we must also move on.

The bad things, the rain storms in your life, can be seen in a new light in Christ. I am not saying they will go away; if anything, I've found that the radar gets more shades of red and orange the further towards Jesus we go. However, our approach to these hard times can be altered by His guidance. If you are in a storm, trying to navigate on your own, it can be easy to get lost. Discouraged. Hurt. You may even veer off the road in the torrential downpours of life if you have no guidance.

With guidance from the Lord above, however, you are able to approach these storms with confidence. You can know that He will guide you through the heart of the difficulty. He will never abandon you, nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

In the end, we must forget the past. Our life before Christ is filled with not only storms, but rebellions, lusts, mistakes, lies, troubles... the list goes on. We cannot proceed toward the glory of God if we continue to carry all of this baggage with us.

In the book Pilgrim's Progress, our hero is loaded down with a massive load on his back. Before we come to Christ, we all have a similar load. Like the hero in Pilgrim's Progress, we must have that load removed before we proceed toward God and His purpose for our life. That load, that burdensome past of sin and troubled heart can only be removed by one Being: Jesus Christ.

He died and rose again to remove those burdens from our backs! Our past, no matter what has happened, can be and will be removed by your Savior the moment that you place your faith in His great gift of grace and salvation, calling on Him as your Lord and Savior. Put your past in the rearview! He can put it behind you; allow Him to do so!

Check back next week for the continuation of this passage. We've got the past behind us, so the question is: what's on the road ahead?

Let's Just Worship

A worship guide for the new year (and the rest of our lives):

"Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary."

- Psalm 96:1-6, NIV

 

Isn't this a great passage? It has a lot to it, and I really just wanted to share this with you all today. Let's break it down, and I hope you follow each section, worshipping Him:

 

"Sing to the LORD a new song, sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His name...": Oh, sing to the Lord! Sing with all your heart. May the whole planet, nay, the entire universe sing to Him who is seated above all! He is worth of all praise and glory and honor, forever and ever and ever! Praise His great name, the Name that is above all names!

 

"Proclaim his salvation day after day, declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples...": The natural result of, or perhaps better called the continuation of, worshipping our Lord is the declaration of His splendor and majesty and power to the nations for all to hear. If we truly worship Him, it will spill over onto into a flowing river of praise from our lips, taking His name to the ends of the earth.

 

"For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens...": There is nothing on this planet or beyond this planet that is worthy of the praise that our God is due. Why? Because He made it all. He made light and dark and land and water and stars and moons and planets. He made birds and fish and plants and mammals and invertebrates and reptiles and amphibians. He made wood and metal and oil and combustion and paper and jewels. He made relationships and power and love and sex and passion and happiness. Everything you could ever make into an idol, anything that you could put over Him (idols don't have to be objects; they are ANYTHING we put over God) was made by Him or forbidden by Him. In fact, the very act of idolatry is sin.

 

Instead we should fear Him. A writer called the fear of God, "the convergence of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, confidence, thankfulness, love, and yes, fear." All of that is what our reaction toward God should be. Anything less isn't up to par.

 

"Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary...": This is why we fear Him. Splendor and majesty and strength and glory surround Him; I don't think I have to expand. I don't even know if I can. Our Lord is so majestic and wonderful and powerful and glorious and beautiful and amazing that words simply do not do Him justice.

 

Just sing a song and worship. Just bow and lift up His name. That is the only fitting response.

Milk Jug Evangelism

"And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" -Acts 1:4-5, ESV

Here we have a scene at the beginning of Acts, where Christ is speaking to His disciples just prior to His ascension back into heaven with the Father. He directly tells them not to go out and tell people of His gospel, but to "wait for the promise of the Father...the Holy Spirit."

He did not want them to tell people the good news without the Holy Spirit being with them. Why would that be? It's actually pretty straight forward. How does one come to faith in Christ? It is by the grace of God, through faith. The Spirit is the Being behind all that grace and faith, working over hearts like Ty Pennington on a messed-up house.

It is by the Spirit's working that we are saved, and it is by the Spirit's power that we are able to share this great gospel with others, and it is by the Spirit that these people may come to faith in said gospel. If I haven't made it clear enough, it is the Spirit that does the work in evangelism; we are merely a vessel for Him to do His work through.

If you had an empty milk jug, how much good would that do for a bowl of dry cereal? Not much; nothing is going to come out of that milk jug, and no change is going to occur to that bowl of Fruit Loops. Yet, if that jug has milk in it, then that milk can pour into the bowl and change everything about the cereal: taste, consistency, protein levels, etc. It is not the jug, but the milk inside that does the changing. Similarly, it is not the Christian, but the Spirit inside that does the work.

Oh, and by the way, we don't have to wait like the early disciples did. If you are a Christ follower, then you have already been baptized by the Spirit and now have the power of God inside of you. Spreading the gospel is now something you can do, because you already have the Spirit! Rely on His power to save lives, not your own! You and I cannot save anyone, but the Spirit inside of us can! Be encouraged, as all you are is a vessel.

As long as a milk jug holds milk and pours it when it is supposed to, it is doing the job it was made for. As long as we hold the Spirit (which we do) and pour it out when we are supposed to (which should be a lot), then we are doing our job. Be a milk jug, and leave the rest to the Spirit. That's part of why we have Him.

Are You a Doulos?

After taking a bit of a break from blogging over the Thanksgiving holiday (hope yours was great!), I'm back this week to focus in on a single word that appears over and over in the New Testament: slave. More specifically, the word we are looking at is the Greek word "doulos." Now, I've been told that since I haven't formally studied Greek, that I should refrain from talking about it. Yet, I was listening to a sermon preached by Louie Giglio (pastor, Passion City Church, Atlanta, GA) on November 15, 2012, and one of his points from James 1:1 was about being a doulos for Christ, and I just really loved what he said. So, without further ado, I'm going to go against what I've been told at times and share a bit about what I've learned about this word.

Doulos is featured in the New Testament 120 times, most notably a combined 57 times in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Also, almost every Pauline epistle includes the word (all except the two Thessalonian letters). The word is typically translated into English as slave or bond-servant. The implication of the word is not necessarily one of just servitude. Often, the word is referring to a person who has voluntarily gone into the service of an individual.

This person may have had a debt or a some need, and the only way that they were able to get rid of their debt was to give themselves into another's will. Christians, this is us! We had a massive debt: our sin put us so far into the red that we'd never be able to work our way out. We could never receive enough wages for our good, as we aren't naturally good. We are, according to Romans 3, "unrighteous...no one understands...no one seeks God...all have turned away." It goes on to say even more, but the point has been made: we were born into a God-hating, sin-loving flesh that, as Romans 3:23 makes clear, was heading for death. Not even physical death, but eternal death. We had no hope.

Our only way to avoid this fate is to give ourselves up to God and His will, becoming slaves to the Lord of the universe. And yet, through this servitude, we will find ourselves free. We are now free from sin, free from death and free from and eternity of punishment. Our servitude and giving in to the Lord God is precisely the way to become free.

Jesus says, in Matthew 6, that no one can be a servant of two masters. He says that you'll either love one and hate the other, or vice-versa. I would even argue, based on the book of Romans, that all of us are slaves to something. We are either slaves to sin, or slaves of God. Will you give yourself as a doulos to Christ and His will, or are you going to stay underneath the heaping trap of sin's slavery?

Be freed, and join the household of God, where it is better to be an outside doorholder than to be in the house of anyone else (Psalm 84:10)!

Hearing Doesn't Mean A Thing

"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." -Romans 2:13, New International Version

When you were a child, how often did your parents/guardians say "go clean your room?" Probably a lot, right? Every parent has to tell their kids to clean their room. I've yet to meet a kid that regularly just does his chores.

This is similar to how God's Word works at times. He tells us how to be holy in our lives, because we won't do it otherwise. Just like a kid with a messy room, we will walk around in our filth until our Father tells us not to.

There's a catch, though. How many times did your parents tell you to clean your room, only for you to ignore them? You see, it doesn't do a whole lot of good to just hear the direction from our Father; I can hear my boss at work give me things to do all day, but if the milk is never stocked, he may as well have never told me.

It's the same way with our righteousness. We can listen and hear God's righteousness all we want. We can attend Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday night church. We can attend conferences and simulcasts. We can bring a composition book to takes notes for all of those events in. Yet, if we never obey what God says, it doesn't matter; we're just wasting time and paper. We're killing off the rain forest, one wasted sermon note at a time. Simply hearing God doesn't mean a thing. He intends for us to obey.

Just like a good Father on Earth, there is punishment if we ignore His commands. At the end of this age, there will be a massive trial. Some people will be like OJ, getting away with murder. Literally. For eternity.

Some other people will have heard God's commands, including the one that says "follow me," and all they did was compose a clever tweet or Facebook status. A tweet with no action that acted as a smoke screen, blinding them to the impending doom.

So, let me ask: do you hear, or do you obey?

The Gospel

[This is the script from my October 8, 2012 speech in Communications 287-003 at the University of Kentucky. The assignment was to give a 4-5 minute informational speech with no persuasive element.]

Do you fear death? How do you cope with that fear?

That's a loaded question, isn't it? According to Hanson's 2005 article entitled "Fear of death and muddled thinking- it is so much worse than you think," the average American spends 15% of their total life wealth on medicines to make them live longer. That's an awful lot of money, all in order to push the limits of one's life span.

Fear of death, at least to some degree, is fairly common. It is also common to find ways to cope with fears, including this one. Many people trust in different things to deal with the impending end of life.

Today, I want to describe how Christians deal with their future death. I do not aim to convince you or persuade you; I want a good grade, and this is an informative project. Honestly, I'll probably still get some bad peer reviews for this.

Regardless, I'm here today to inform you on what Christians call "the gospel," which is their belief on how to deal with death. Specifically, we will look at why people are going to die, and what God does about that.

I will stating the rest as if it were fact, simply to save time from having to say "Christians believe" before every sentence. You can be the judge of the view; I'm just telling you what Christians believe.

In the beginning of time, humans were in a good relationship with God. All was good. God was running everything, and people were OK with that. Then, these people felt the need to go against what God had said. This feeling that people know better than God is called sin. More specifically, Wayne Grudem, in his 1994 book Systematic Theology calls sin "any failure to conform to the law of God in act, attitude, or nature."

Christians believe that God is the great King of the universe, ruling over literally everything. Trip Lee, in his 2012 book The Good Life, states that "there is no small sin against a great God." You see, Christians believe that not only is God the King and Ruler of all, but to go against His rule is to directly rebel against Him, which is sin. Just like an earthly government has punishment for rebellion and law-breaking, the eternal God has eternal punishment for people's sin and rebellion.

That punishment is called Hell, and every person that has ever done anything wrong in their life, no matter how big or small we may think it is, is headed directly for an eternal punishment. We are all, thanks to our rebellion, destined to die and go to a literal Hell. Fortunately, God wasn't cool with that.

Jesus came to earth, as Trip Lee says, "on a death mission." The entire point of Jesus, God's Son, coming to earth was, as 1 Timothy 1:15 says, "to save sinners." The entire point of His 30 years of sinless, rebellion-lacking life on this planet was so that He would qualify before God as a substitute for sinners. He died and took the punishment that sinners deserve before the Judge of the universe.

If the Son of God stayed dead, though, this ain't good news, is it? Instead, 3 days later, Jesus overcame the clutches of death and rose to life. Not like a zombie; I'm talking full. Normal. Life. And with that defeat of death, Jesus gives the same defeat to everyone who trusts and believes in Him.

I personally am convinced that I was a hopelessly doomed rebel, hurtling toward Hell. Then Jesus, my Savior, gave me a new life in Him, and I no longer fear death. Instead, I look death in the face and rejoice in my God that saved me.

So, to close, I ask again: do you fear death?