Thoughts of a simple man...

Our Mindset, His Model

2012-02-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

Last night I spoke on Philippians 2:5-11. It's a passage most are familiar with, and have probably heard preached or taught umpteen dozen times. I've preached the passage numerous times as well, twice in the past three or four months! BUT...I believe I was more faithful to the author's intent last night than I have ever been before. The exhortation in this passage of Scripture is found in verse 5 where Paul says, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is your in Christ Jesus." Then, Paul either quotes or composes one of the earliest Christological hymns. Now, the tendency is to preach the Christology of this passage, which is beautiful. Study it, it will do you some good! Bear in mind that this is the God of the Universe that is being made in the likeness of a man! But Paul's point is to find our mindset in the model Jesus has set forth. So, here are the three things I believe we can develop within ourselves in order for our wills to be molded into the model Jesus has set forth.

First, don't think too highly of yourself. Need we be reminded that the God of the universe, who had every right to refuse emptying Himself...every right to refuse taking the form of a servant...yet didn't. Instead, Jesus considered the will of the Father. He considered the lowly state of mankind. He didn't consider Himself. If Jesus, who is God, didn't think too highly of being God but instead emptied Himself (suspended His status) (and while we're at it, bear in mind that God is the only person that cannot think too highly of Himself for there is none higher and His glory exceeds our imagination), then we should follow suit. As Paul stated in Philippians 2:3, "in humility, count others more significant than yourselves."

Second, death to self is a necessity. Jesus' humility culminated in the cross, where He spent not only His life, but the last of His dignity as well. Make no mistake about it, death on a cross was a complete annihilation of a person. Not only was it an agonizingly painful and slow death, but one hung there to be mocked and ridiculed by the world, stripping every ounce of dignity a person had left. Jesus died. Literally. And this is the attitude we are to have...death to self. Remember, this is one of the "commands" of the gospel. Luke 9:23 says that we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. Dying to self for the sake of following Christ and, by extension serving others, is necessary for the believer.

Third, leave the exalting thing to God. Jesus was "highly exalted" or super exalted or exalted beyond measure when, after following the Father's will and dying on the cross, He was resurrected and given the name that is above all names. Jesus' life wasn't about living for the adoration of men. As a matter of fact, He eventually ran nearly everyone in His ministry off. But He lived for something greater, the "well done" affirmation of His Father. Life for me is usually about learning how to not serve the idol of self. It's about learning to serve the Lord more completely. Am I the only one? I doubt it. I greatly desire to know at the end of every day that I pleased my Father. And I long to hear one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

What would your life look like if you lived this out? How would your job, your school, your relationships look if this moved from the realm of concept to a life lived out? How would His church be different? Better? Let us make our mindset match His model.

One Generation Away

2012-01-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you say things as a minister that have shock value, but at the same time, are completely true. Last night, I informed the students that our church was exactly one generation away from closing the doors. This is a true statement for every local, autonomous church. And Long Avenue Baptist Church is no exception. So what's the cure to this grave predicament? Being partners in the gospel ministry. Paul prayed and thanked God for the Philippian church's partnership (fellowship) with him in the gospel. Our challenge, the challenge that stands for every generation in our church, is to partner in the gospel. If not, the doors will close. The only thing that will keep the doors open for future generations is reaching the future generations.

So what does this reaching entail? Glad you asked. For some, this isn't going to be anything new...feel free to check out now if you'd like. Or not. It's always good to remind ourselves of fundamental truths.

Let's be clear...honest...upfront about reaching people. It doesn't entail making converts. Does NOT mean making converts. We're not after converts. Did you catch that? If not, here it is: We are not in the convert-making business. So what do we do? We make disciples. Is there a difference? Oh, phrases like "Is the sky blue?" or "Does a bear poop...?" come to mind. Yes! Unequivocally yes! For starters, consider the command in Matthew's Great Commission statement: "Make disciples." There it is. Simple. Plain. Make disciples...as you are going, baptizing them in the name of the Trinitarian God, teaching them to OBEY all that Christ has commanded us. Now if you're thinking, "Obedience to every command of Christ does not sound like a convert" then you are catching on. It's not. It's a disciple.

Further, if Jesus was after converts, I'm sure he would have been more than happy to let the rich young ruler inherit eternal life. I mean, if we're just after converts, it's okay to still hang on to things that are more important to you than Jesus, right? Surely it would have been okay if he was disobedient at just this one point, right? (P.S...side note...hypothetically speaking for real and all...how many things do we treat that way in our lives? How often do we say, "I'm hanging on to this sin, Jesus. That's cool, right? If You have everything except this one thing?") But instead, Mark says the ruler walked away sorrowful and disheartened because he had many possessions. From best we can tell, he wasn't willing to part with his stuff, and Jesus wasn't willing to chase after him and lower the standard so that he could become a disciple.

And just to throw out a tad bit more, what about the self-denying sacrifice we are REQUIRED to make (Luke 9:23)? What about the NEED to "hate" (love much less) our father and mother, sister, brother, even our own life (Luke 14:26)? What about the fact that the fundamental CRY of salvation is Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9-10)? Do we get that...the fact that He must get it all or nothing?

Here's the point to all of this rambling. If we are going to be partners in the gospel ministry and not see the doors of our church close in one generation, we must make disciples. We cannot peddle the gospel as we look for converts. We cannot divorce reaching and teaching. We must be obedient to Christ!

2011-10-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Consider how the Father knows you! In Matthew 10:26-31, He has numbered every hair on our heads, and reminds us that we are more valuable than the simple sparrow, the sparrow that cannot escape the Father's knowledge when it falls to the ground. Yes, friends, we are infinitely more valuable than the simple sparrow!

Jeremiah 1:4-5a records that God knew (intimately, as a husband and wife know each other), even before he was formed in his mother's womb. Deep, husband and wife knowledge...not a passing or cursory knowledge that oh, this person will exist, but genuine knowledge. The numbers of hairs to be on his head, what sets him off, what he will love and despise, what he will gaze upon and call beautiful. God knew this about Jeremiah, and in His infinite wisdom and knowledge, He knows us in the exact same way!

Psalm 139 records that God has searched us and known us, that He knows when we sit and when we rise. Verse 4 says that "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it altogether." Sometimes, words form on our lips before we even know what we're saying. I know that I'm not the only one that has ever wished for a rewind button in a conversation. A word slips out and you're left thinking, "Where did that come from?" And God knew it, that word that was formed in the blinking of an eye, God still knew it before it was formed! O that we would genuinely consider how the Father knows us!

Learning to be "dad"...

2011-05-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

So again I'm reading in Shepherding... and man, there are some really powerful things being said, things that apply not only to our kids, but also to us as parents. Tripp points out that we all worship, every one of us. We are born that way...to worship. Problem is, often times we worship what isn't worth it. Now, this has been said before by others (see When People are Big and God is Small and the heart idols section of Peacemaking for Families), but it is always worth reminding ourselves that we have idolatry problems, and our kids do not escape this reality. Truth is, our kids will worship...either God or idols.

Now, for me, I'm raising a 3 1/2 year old and a 14 mos. old. They don't even (most of the time...don't want to discredit them) realize their God-designed bent to worship. But they do it nonetheless. Typically it's expressed in self-worship, i.e., "I'm going to throw a temper tantrum because I didn't get my way." They're worship is of themselves because of utmost importance is their happiness, not the glory of God. Does this start to give a new perspective on our task as parents? Not behavior modification. If that's what I focus on, I'll miss the boat entirely. No, my goal has to be (as Shepherding... points out) "pointing him to the One who alone is worthy of his worship. The question is not 'will he worship?' It is always 'whom will he worship?'"

This is actually the "second" development issue that Tripp raises (the first being the shaping influences, which we'll hit next week), but I believe this heart issue just runs right to the core of the matter. Remember that all of the godly external shaping influences are great, but the greatest need in the life of each and every child is the gospel. The act of sinning is not what makes our kids sinners. Instead, the fact that they are sinners makes them sin. So, it seems imperative for us to consider this point first and foremost. Dealing with the heart issues and directing our kids to the grace of the gospel is of, I believe, first priority. Let us preach the gospel boldly to our kids and lead them to develop a great love for our Great Savior.

Learning to be "dad"

2011-05-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

So, a friend of mine, Joseph Thompson, asked on Facebook several weeks back if anyone knew of any dads in the blogging world writing for dads. "Well," I thought, "why don't I get on that." Then, the end of my last semester at SEBTS kicked in, and here we are, several weeks later. So, what I know hope to do is a series of blog entries called "Learning to be Dad" where I want to interact with Scripture, take some cues from the book Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and hopefully give life insights as I learn to be a "dad."

Chapter 1: "Getting to the Heart of Behavior"

A couple of things I really like about this first chapter:

1. A child's behavior (or...misbehavior) is a sin issue. I really wonder if we actually wrestle with this reality, especially when we want a new kid by Friday (and that's not a knock on the book that bears a similar title to what I've just said...I've never read the book). The issue is not so much a behavior issue as it is a fallen nature issue. And, I know for me, I miss the boat a lot of times dealing with our boys. Just this morning, as my oldest son (3 1/2) was arguing and being mean to a friend, what did I say? "That is not the way that we act!" Sorry, but this seems a little...inadequate...to say the least. I should've been asking myself first, "Why did he act that way?" One of the answers I would have found is that he was being selfish...he believed the issue was the key to his happiness. It was a selfish, prideful, self-centered motive that responded in a mean behavior.

2. He brought the issue to the heart, pointing to Luke 6:45: "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (ESV). Tedd Tripp goes on to say that "All behavior is linked to attitudes of the heart. Therefore, discipline must address attitudes of the heart."

3. Tripp then notes that he feels that Scripture is "robust enough" to answer all of the questions and give ample instruction to parents. Did you catch that? Refreshing, huh? I, too, believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. What about you? As a matter of fact, Paul gives the assurance to Timothy that Scripture is so sufficient that it can make us "competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:17 - ESV). He even goes on to say that the church has tried to integrate non-biblical and biblical parenting forms and the result has been bitter fruit. I'll leave that one to you to figure out (but I think he may be on to something).

So what's his goal in writing Shepherding a Child's Heart? To see Christian parents "raise from our homes a holy seed for the church." That's my desire, too. Really, to see my kids develop a deep-seated love for Jesus, and to live a life fully committed to Him.

Sin Part 1

2009-03-25T21:03:00.001-07:00

So here goes...a little pre-exam essay practice.

Let's begin with a look at Genesis 3. Now, I'm not going for a full exegesis and explanation of the account of the fall here. Rather, we will look specifically at a few ideas. First, is the Genesis account literal? Second, what happened because of the fall. Then, we'll turn our attention to a little practical application. What can we learn about the enemies attacks in Genesis 3? What do we learn about responding to temptation? And last, how should the church minister in light of the fall?

I believe the account of Genesis 3 is a literal event. I readily admit that there is opposition to this idea, but I just can't buy into that. There are three things that demand from me a literal interpretation of this.

1. The Witness of Scripture points to a literal fall. Outside of the literal nature of Genesis, Romans 5 speaks of the fall of man and sin literally entering the world through the person of Adam. Also, I Timothy 2:14 speaks of how Eve literally sinned in the Garden. These two passages point to a literal interpretation of Genesis.
2. The Witness of Theology. If we deny a literal fall, we can end up with a serious problem on our hands...the problem of evil. If sin did not literally enter the world through a historical fall, how do even begin to account for the sin that is in the world today? I believe the answers that have been offered are supremely deficient.
3. The Witness of History. Throughout the history of the church, there has been the affirmation of a historical fall. While tradition is not the priority when interpreting Scripture, it can and does inform us and guide us many times in the paths of right interpretation. For instance, if you are the first person to interpret a passage of Scripture a certain way in the history of interpretation, I would be weary of that interpretation.

Since we can affirm a literal fall, what does the Scripture teach are results of the fall?

1. Guilt and shame have entered the world. We see this in verse 7. Adam and Eve hide make loin coverings with fig leaves because of their guilt and shame. Note that guilt and shame were not present until the fall. I leave application of that up to you. I just think that it is interesting, considering the weight those two emotions can bear upon a person.
2. There are distortions in relationships (v. 8-19). Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived in open relationship with one another and before God. After they sin, they hide themselves from both each other and from God. We were created to live in community with one another and to walk openly with God, but that is now impossible because of the presence of sin.
3. Knowledge of good and evil entered (v. 22), but is a perversion and we are not truly like God, as the enemy claimed we would be. Instead, we have an experiential knowledge of evil, and that is a knowledge of evil that God doesn't possess. What a paradox that has been brought about.
4. Death (v.22-24). It is a reality that all face, and while the curse of eternal death is removed from those covered by the blood of Christ, physical death is certain for everyone.
5. Mankind has inherited a sinful nature (Romans 5). We will expound upon this later when we deal with original sin.

Now for a little practical insight from the fall. First, we can decipher some of how the enemy might try to lure our attention. The first thing that he does is test Eve's knowledge of the Scripture. Now, why Adam sits idly by during this is unbeknownst to be, and the Scripture doesn't deal with that. But we do see that her knowledge of the Scripture is tested. Second, the enemy draws into question God's character...God knows you will be like Him and He doesn't want you to experience that good thing.

From Eve's negative response, we see some positive things to keep in mind. The first and foremost is KNOW GOD'S WORD. This is the most basic, yet profitable undertaking for any Christian. Second, Adam and Eve stayed and debated with the enemy when they should have fled his presence. Too often, we flirt with temptation and the line between safe and sin, when we should turn tail and run. After all, has God not promised us every good thing? Yes, sin is tempting and pleasing to the eye and desirable. To not admit that is a great fallacy. But is our God not greater? Does He not desire the better, nay, the best for us?!

As a church, just a quick note. True religion is to care for widows and orphans. I admit that upfront. However, the greatest problem in the world today is not economic. It is not a social problem or an environmental problem. As well-rounded Christian/Churches, we will attend to those problems. But the biggest problem in the world is sin, and for that, the church must champion first and foremost the cause of the gospel. What good is it to feed a homeless man only to see him die without Christ, the only answer for his biggest problem?

Theology and Worship

2008-09-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

In theology class, we've been given the assignment of discussing why theology is important in ministry. I think there is one practical concern that really sticks out to me. Maybe this is because I've spent over half my life as a Christian leading others in worship (and I believe that all ministers have this charge) or because I found interesting, but I think theology and its relationship to our worship is in fact extremely important. I'll let someone else consider the implications of what I'm about to say.

Theology promotes a correct understanding of who God is and therefore encourages a proper worship-response to Him. If ministers are to lead the local body to worship God, it is paramount that they have a correct view of who God is. Consider the truth contained in John chapter four. The worshippers that God seeks are those that worship Him in spirit and truth. Move this into a theological discussion. Would the worship rendered to a god that did not exist as the Father, Son and Spirit be true worship? What I mean is that if somewhere in our minds, if when we mention and speak the name of God in worship, we do not think of the Trinitarian God, we are not rendering worship to the one true God. This is not to say that we cannot worship God as Father or Christ as Son, but that there must be this fundamental understanding that frames our worship. If not, then I would propose that the worship rendered is in fact to a false "god." Any person can say that they "worship god," but unless the worship is rendered to the true God, it falls on deaf ears and fails to rise above the head of the one offering it. Therefore, theology is extremely important from a personal, practical, ministerial standpoint.

Get Your Life "In Order"

2008-05-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ephesians 3:16-19 says:

in order that He may give to you according to the riches of His glory, power to be strong through His Spirit, to the inner-man, for Christ to dwell through the faith in your hearts, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, in order that you may have strength enough to grasp for yourself, along with all the holy ones, what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which is surpassing of knowledge, in order that you may be filled into all the fullness of God.

In this passage, there are three "in orders" or 'hina' in the Greek. Here, they are used to show what the desired outcome of the previous statement is. Now Ephesians 3:16-19 is a prayer prayed by Paul for the Ephesians. Borrowing from Mark Dever in a sermon on Paul's prayer in I Thessalonians, I find it interesting that the thing Paul seems most concerned about is the spiritual health of the Ephesians...specifically, their knowledge of the love of Christ. So what can we as believers take away from Paul's prayer?

I believe we see a 'prayer chain' if you will, a prayer to pray and results that are to be desired from that prayer. So, hopefully, I won't botch this, but here we go.

We pray for the Spirit to strengthen us in the inner man. We can't live this life on our own. We need help. If righteousness could be achieved on our own accord, there was no need for Christ. And, dare I say, when we attempt to live the Christian life on our own, we render useless the power of God, proclaim with our actions that we have no need for Jesus, and reap the fruits of what we alone can accomplish (which, by the way, Isaiah says is filthy rags). Instead, the Spirit guides, encourages, strengthens, and accomplishes the Christian life for us, if only we will get out of the way and let Him. It's kinda like the squirrel from Hoodwinked. They good guys needed to get a message to the cops at the bottom of the mountain, but it couldn't be accomplished by anyone there on their own accord. So, the fed the already hyper squirrel some coffee and away he went, thriving on a strength that was not his own. Now, it's just an illustration, and ALL illustration break down, but the truth is there. We need a strength that is not our own.

Second, we pray for this strength so that we may grasp God's love. I've been making up a couple of chapel assignments the past few days, and one sermon I listened to was all about increasing our trust in God's compassion. God's love is vast, unmeasured, tried and true, or so and so the song goes. It is a love unlike any of us will ever find on this earth. I love my son, but not like my Dad loves me. Your father loves you, but not like your Father does. Spouses, brothers, sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends...they may claim to love you, but the best and deepest love comes from the Father. What's even more, the love of God is so deep that even though we seek and should continue to seek to know it, it's unknowable. I don't think that Paul is saying we'll never know a bit of it, but that we can make knowing God's love our life-long pursuit (and we should), but we will still never grasp the whole of it. Oh what a wonderful love. But notice, we need to be strengthened in the inner-man to know this love (remember the first part of the prayer?)

Lastly, we pray for the Spirit to strengthen us in order that we may know God so that grasping God's love would fill us up. Eric Samuel Timm from no1underground.com has a painting that fascinates me. It is a painting of a man with a hole in his chest that somewhat resembles the form of a dove. Beside him are three shapes, a pyramid, a cube and a sphere. His intention with the painting? To try and communicate the fact that we all have a God-shaped vacuum in our lives, and nothing of this world can fill it (or something along those lines is the way that Pascal would have said it). The thing that is most interesting, perhaps, is that we can try and fill our lives with other things. Other shapes can be crammed into our vacuum, but it never fills to the full. It always leaves one wanting more. And so more and more we try to consume. And yet, it never fills us. I heard an evangelist named Jamie Dukes (who knew some very wealthy individuals) saw that those individuals (two specifically named) were the most miserable people he'd ever met. Both of them were lost. Both of them had more money than we could spend. They consumed in order to fill their void, but were missing the One that could really fill it. God fills to the point of overflowing. He fills according to His abundance. He fills us up exceedingly. Why would we want anything more?

Maybe if we are strengthened in the inner man in order to grasp God's unknowable love so that we can be filled by God, we will begin to see a mighty work in our lives and the lives of our churches. I am going to make it a point to begin praying this for my life and the life of those I get the opportunity to pour into. Will you join me in this endeavor?

Encouragement to Humility

2008-05-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

So, I've been blessed with the opportunity to study through the Mind of Christ with my family here in NC (that would be www.faithbaptistdurham.com) and I thought it a good idea to try and exegete the passage (Philippians 2:5-11) for personal insight while doing the study. I'm attempting to put some of my good seminary edumucation to work and start with the Greek text. I'm not an expert, but I can work with what I've got. So here goes a little insight from verse six of this text. Also, thanks to Dr. Black for challenging me with an aspect of Christ's life brought out by studying this text.

Philippians 2:6 - "who continually existing in form of God, He Himself considered that to exist equal to God was not a prize (or to be exploited)"

The first thing that jumps out of this text to me, something that I'd never grasped in English translations, is the present tense of the verb translated exist. Yeah, a lot of jargon that doesn't mean much, right. The present tense is a tense of continually, on-going, habitual activity. Jesus continually existed in the form of God. Now, what is amazing is that Jesus didn't magically become God one day. He is not a God that was made. He wasn't begotten into God-hood, like an offspring from one of the Greek mythology stories. Jesus simply continually existed as God. I know, I know. John has already pointed this out, right? Very true, for in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (emphasis based on Greek wording). But I think that the Philippians passage beautifully points out Jesus' continual existence as God...that as long as God has been God (eternally), Jesus has been God as well (eternally). We worship God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.

Now, the thing that was beautifully pointed out to me about this passage was to think about it in relation to the temptation of Jesus and the episode in the garden when He is confronted by the soldiers. The temptation that first confronts Jesus is to take advantage of His godliness. And in the garden, when Peter cuts off the ear of the soldier, Jesus rebukes him and adds that He could call down an army of angels if He so desired. Who would've thunk it that Jesus was tempted by the allure of accomplishing the will of God by taking advantage of His very being God. And to think, He had...possessed the ability to do it! But still, He humbled Himself to the point of dying a cursed death...my cursed death.

Oh the humility and obedience that our Savior had. It pains me to consider how short I fall of the example He has shown me. And all the more, I rejoice in the grace that covers my insufficiencies. May we heed the challenge modeled by us by Jesus, to live a life of humility and obedience, living out the command of Paul in Philippians 2 to have the very mind of Christ in us.

Thoughts on the Ephesus Revival

2008-04-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

So I'm reading, studying, trying to put together a decent exegesis of Ephesians 3:14-19. Isn't the Word great, because we have an account of part of Paul's stay in Ephesus? I'm not quite sure how this plays into the exegesis, but I found Luke's record of the "revival" in Ephesus interesting. So, here's what I gleaned.

It all started with the power of Christ alone being realized, resulting in the fear of the Lord and Jesus being magnified. The demon-possessed man overpowers the sons of Sceva, beating them down and leaving them to flee the house naked. Right before that, the demon man says I know Jesus, and I've heard of Paul, but you're nobody, and then proceeds to lay a Chuck Norris sized beat down on the seven. See, Christ alone had the power to cast out the demon from this man, and these seven were not operating in the power of His Spirit. The result? The people recognized the power of Christ and responded with a healthy fear of the Almighty, or so the narrative seems to indicate to me.

This fear had a real implication for the people...repentance. How lost is the practice of real repentance in the church today? I can't speak from a totalitarian viewpoint, but I can speak of the churches I've been involved in. There isn't a real dealing with sin among the people of God. Sure, the ministers will preach and teach on repentance, but the cases where repentance actually follows, in my experience, is far and few between. I'd actually venture to say, as best as I can recollect, I've never witnessed it. But in Ephesus, there was real repentance, so much so that the ones that dabbled and practiced "magic" brought and burned fifty thousand silver pieces worth of books. Wow! Talk about repentance. And I believe that true repentance results in action. If not, where is the change in heart? Where is the evidence or fruit of that repentance?

What was the result of this repentance? The Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Interesting result, huh? One might would expect it to say the church grew (which seems to be an indication of the repentance), but it doesn't. One might expect it to say that missionaries were sent out (a possibility, but again, the text doesn't note it.) Of all the things that could possibly have been said, Luke notes that the Word of the Lord grew and prevailed. But should this come as much of a surprise? After all, what is the Great Commission? Make disciples. How is that done? Baptizing and teaching. What do we teach? The Word of the Lord.

How much of this passage is prescription vs. description is not for me to decide here. But the events that transpire are very intriguing to me. Fear of the Lord from a realization of the Lord leads to repentance to the Lord which results in learning from the Lord! Talk about a beautiful chain of events, a chain that I pray I am blessed enough to witness and partake in during my lifetime.

Keep on 'Trech'-ing

2008-04-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 12:1-2 is a fascinating passage. For a moment, let's take a look at the lettuce ("let us") of this passage and see what we may take away from it.

Our goal as Christians should be to keep on 'treching' (treking) from the Greek 'trecho'. No, a trecho is not a Star Trek junkie. The Greek here in this passage really says 'let us continually or make it our habit to run.' I was watching Finding Nemo the other day with Jakob, and if you're slightly familiar with the movie, Dori keeps saying to Marlin "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." Even though they face numerous trials along the way...shark attacks, a mine field of jelly fish, being swallowed by a whale and Nemo not being where he was supposed to be once they reached Sydney, they kept swimming. As a side note, thanks to my brother-in-law Tyler for pointing out the parallel of this movie to the Christian life which really came to light when looking at this passage in Hebrews. Christians...let us make our life style that of one that runs after the goal. No matter if we encounter trials along the way (which, as a side note, didn't James instruct us in the opening of his letter concerning how believers should view trials?) We must run after the goal.

But the question we probably ask ourselves is how? How do we run after the goal? Thankfully, Hebrews gives us insight to that as well. First, draw encouragement from the faithful followers, the faithful witnesses that surround us. Specifically, Hebrews lists example after example from the Old Testament of faithful examples that have run this race before and have attained the prize. Further, I don't think it is a stretch to say that we can look to others more mature in the faith to encourage us that surround us today, something along the lines of a mentor relationship. Mentors are not foreign to the New Testament, and the very Rabbi-Disciple relationship speaks of this very thing. It also seems to underscore the need to be surrounded with other Christians in true community (or fellowship if you prefer Christian slang.) At the end of chapter 10, before delving into the discourse on the faithful followers from the past, Christians are exhorted to not forsake the fellowship. It seems to flow with the thought.

Next, Christians are to cast off encumbrances and easily-entangling sin. Just a couple of things to say about this. First, too many times Christians settle for the good instead of striving after the best. This happens in so many ways, from settling for milk instead of maturity, to striving only for legalism instead of embracing grace. May we not forget that good is the enemy of the best in so many cases. Second, all sin, if left alone, is an encumbrance, a dead weight in the Christian life. Don't leave it alone...speak plainly about it, admitting it to God and leaving it behind. That's for sins plural, but if there is a sinful lifestyle issue, it needs to be checked along the race track, not to be picked up again. These things in our life create dead weight and make the race difficult to run. Runners and swimmers alike shave their bodies and wear tight-fitting outfits to make the least amount of resistance possible in the race. May we do the same in our lives, streamlining and simplifying that we may strive effectively after the goal.

Lastly, I've been speaking about this the entire time, and have yet to make mention of it...what is the goal? We hear all the time that we've got to keep the main thing the...main thing. But what is it? Hebrews tells us the goal, the prize that we strive after, the place where we have our focus is Jesus. Throughout the entire book, and this is an endeavor that I plan to study and flesh out, Jesus is portrayed as superior, the best, the pinnacle. Without demeaning anything else, Christ is portrayed as supreme. He is the goal, He is the point...He is the Main Thing.

Four questions of consideration:

Are you running the race at all?

What is slowing you down from running the race?

Are you drawing encouragement from faithful followers?

Is your life about you or Jesus?

Jesus...the One and Only

2008-03-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

So I received an e-mail today about some book and some class that Oprah is leading...maybe on her radio show or something like that. I have a confession to make...I have about as much use, well, we just leave that unsaid. My view of Oprah's opinions is not that high, for some very obvious reasons, but mostly because she sets herself up as an authority on God, and her opinions are far from being founded in Scripture. But that's not why I ramble through my thoughts today. Instead, this e-mail had a quote that is supposedly from a book entitled A Course in Miralces, the foundation on which Oprah will "teach this class." Again, I have not researched any of this, so I'm not going after the book or author, and while I've said a piece about Oprah, I will not attack her. But the e-mail contained this quote:

"The name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol...It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray."

THE distinguishing mark of our faith is Jesus. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father. He is completely unique to any other man to walk in human flesh. He is the 'logos sarks egeneto'...the Word that became flesh. He dwelt with God in the beginning and is indeed God Himself. He is the only sinless man. He is the second Adam that abolishes the sin of the first Adam. He is literal. He is real. He historically walked this earth. Jesus is completely unique. He is not a symbol. He is not a replacement. He is the essence of our faith. There is no other name by which men are saved. It is Christ alone, not Jesus as a symbol of Islam or Judaism or Hinduism. And what is even worse about this statement is that you take a religioun such as Islam, and they have their own place for Jesus...seeing Him as the greatest prophet, but not God Himself. You know, I've always liked the 'illustration' that you can go and find Muhammed's tomb, you can go and see Buddha's bones, but Christ alone, the only begotten, has risen and ascended to the Father in heaven. He stands alone.

The second thing that is contradiction in some ways, but that I commend this quote for, is recognizing Jesus as God. We worship God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. God is One, and Jesus is God. Compare this with the view that Islam holds of Jesus mentioned above. Jesus is God. If only the person making this statement would take it one step further, and recognize Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of those that will place their faith in Him through grace.

Contend for this faith. Stand on the truth of who Jesus is, revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Search His word daily and let the Great Pastor teach you more about the love He has for you. And pray for Oprah and the one making this statement, for they need the love of Jesus as well.

On Fullmer and the Compass

2007-11-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

So I saw the first movie previews for the Golden Compass several months back and said to my wife "That looks pretty good. We'll have to check that one out." I find myself, after reading about the synopsis of the book and some thoughts from the author, viewing the movie in a largely different light.

As Christians, we can sometimes be overly cautious when it concerns our movie-going. Even in light of the "Albus Dumbledore is homosexual" news released by J.K. Rowling, most never knew it until she said it, and the story still depicts a clearly defined battle between good and evil, much as is evident in the spiritual reality in our world. However, I remember a huge fuss (it was even asked of a potential youth minister candidate, "What is your take on Harry Potter and what advice would you give to parents whose kids want to see it?") being made over the movie and books and how they pertain to Christians. Now, we should be more careful about what our children watch, as the desensitization that has occurred in our society has occurred for a reason. And we ourselves need to be careful concerning movies loaded with gratuitous scenes. However, we don't necessarily have to take legalistic stands if we learn to watch movies with our eyes open. Enough of the side notes, Pullman and the 'Compass' are what we should consider, and how should we respond to those who view the film, and worse yet, buy the books and philosophy being spouted by Pullman.

The Golden Compass is the first in a three-book series published by Pullman that evidently culminates in the killing of God. Pullman makes no apologies for his opposition to organized religion and actually rejoices in being known as an enemy to. Pullman, on his website, seems to have more of a problem with organized religion than with a belief in God. However, if you simply look a little deeper than the surface, you will definitely notice that Pullman is not simply some "religion" hating deist. His is a genuine Hawking-praising atheist desiring to spread atheistic thought to the minds of the children across the world.

The thing that strikes me under the his "religion" section on his website is that his problem is with organized religion and the fact that they have killed, stolen, imprisoned, tortured, etc. throughout the history of the world in the name of "religion" and the will of God. Let me perhaps be the first to apologize to Mr. Pullman. There are dark spots on the history of Christianity that if I had the power to do, I would absolve from the history books. Those acts were done by some malicious and corrupted people, and that does not communicate the truth of the God that I serve. But, I do have at least two problems with you pointing this out.

1. You cannot have the ground you're standing on (the ground which he has chosen is morality) without acknowledging Someone that gives us this moral law. There can be no standard without a Standard-giver. Try as you may to rationalize and convince us otherwise, morality does not arise out of some debt we owe to the universe (as is hinted in his comments on the origins of the universe.) In fact, nature, the very thing that he would insist that we simply come from, operates in opposition to this. Does nature not practice "kill or be killed?" It would seem that we as moral beings have this sense of universal morality because it has been given to us by Someone else...namely God. For more in-depth reading on this, see C.S. Lewis' book The Abolition of Man.

2. Even more grotesque things have been done in the name of atheism. Simply see the control (and how it is exercised) used by so many atheistic government regimes. The atheistic communist parties rule using the same tactics that Pullman so strongly disagrees with when concerning religions of the world. If Pullman is to use this argument against organized religion, then there is a double-edged sword that he is cutting himself with every time he swings it.

Another thing that I find interesting is that both naturalism and religions tell us stories of how we got here, but that both are insufficient to fill in the rest of the story or inform us on how it is going to end. Sadly, I believe that Pullman is misinformed concerning the Christian worldview here. He is correct to say that naturalism cannot answer life's biggest questions...why am I here? What is the meaning of life? What does history mean? But he completely misses the boat in thinking that Christianity cannot answer these questions. The purpose of living is God and our relationship to Him. While he recognizes that this is the Christian viewpoint, he mistakingly equates relationship with and to the natural world with relationship with and to a personal Creator. The two are not the same. His contention is that because we are of the same substance as the stars, we have a respectful relationship and responsibility toward that star. But my question is this: "Does Mr. Pullman relate to inanimate, lifeless objects the same way in which he relates to his family...his friends...the children that he teaches?" This is a faulty comparison by Pullman, trying to say an apple is essentially the same as an orange. A look at the logical implications from atheism and Christianity concerning questions of life:

1. Atheism says you are here because you simply evolved out of cosmic matter. Nothing more, nothing less. You are simply a collection of molecules. Christianity says you are created and fashioned in the image of a mighty God. You are his workmanship. You were no accident, but were purposefully created.

2. Atheism says the meaning of life is protect yourself, ensure your survival, and live as you will for you only have this life. Although some would encourage you against it, for all intents and purposes, you could attempt to consciously live with no moral standard because death is simply just the end. Christianity, however, says that live to glorify God. It is a life to be lived under the grace of Jesus Christ which brings glory to God, a life of moral accountability where we are only found worthy in the death of Another, because our death is not the end.

3. History is circular and we are bound to repeat for the atheist. However, Christianity sees history as moving to an end, a purposeful end that God has determined.

Atheism is a bleak existence. I'm not trying to create an argument to negatively color atheism, simply pointing out the logical conclusion. Atheism is a pointless life.

As for the movie, I would like to see it. How ignorant we can be as Christians sometimes to sit back and critique something with no experience concerning it. We can discredit our critique if that be the case. And when that time comes, hopefully I can speak wisely concerning the movie. However, hopefully this can shed some light on the mind behind the writing and how to answer some the questions that can possibly be posed from the movie...when it gets here.

Three Huge Words

2007-10-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

There are two responses given in the Scripture (one in Isaiah and one in Acts) that seem to ring volumes. I believe these two responses are possibly the most important words a Christian can have in his or her vocabulary, three little words that if we learned to answer to God, I believe would greatly impact this world. What are they? "Here I am." Of course, you may have guessed that already. But this simple little phrase, used by both Ananias and Isaiah, I believe rings loudly in the halls of heaven rising toward a Great and Mighty God.

Here I am I believe is first a cry of yieldedness. It communicates that no longer are my desires important. I am completely yielded to whatever it is that one may desire of me. In the case of Ananias, he had his concerns, legit concerns about his well-being and the task that God called him to, but he yielded his will to that of the Father none-the-less. In Isaiah's case, the message would not be an easy one, for he was to cry out against his own nation, his own people, but still his yieldedness took precedent, and he considered the Father's will over his own.

As Christians, we must wrestle with how yielded we are. Do we approach God with a simple reply, "Here I am?" Or, do we give God our list of bargain agreements? I will do this, but don't send me there. I will work with so and so, just as long as You don't ask me to give this up. Lord, I will serve the mega church, just don't ask me to be faithful in the small things. Lord, I will go over seas and share Your glory, just don't ask me to do it in my own backyard. Or, I will share with my neighbor, but ask me to move outside of my comfort zone and travel to a country that is not my own. I believe God can and will use the person that simply replies to Him "Here I am." However, I am not so convinced of the usefulness of a person that approaches God with a list of bargains. It seems that we need a few more people simply yielded.

The second thing that strikes me about the phrase "Here I am" is that it is a cry of dependence. It seems as if Ananias and Isaiah, although having concerns, simply trusted and depended on God. What words would Isaiah have spoken had God not given them to him? And what message could Ananias have given the murderer Saul if God had not paved the way and directed him in what to say? Their yieldedness indicates an extreme trust and dependence upon God that no matter the quest before them, God will be at work in the midst of it.

As we met in our small group after service last night, one of the seasoned saints in our group made a telling statement. We turn to ourselves before God to answer most of the questions in life, and God is typically the last resort...the last place we look, because we want to be independent. We learn this from an early age. Right away we are told be independent, be strong, do it yourself. These mantra's are the propaganda of the world, and completely slap the face of the One that has promised to be our Help, our Strength, our Provider. A great friend of mine loves and proclaims Matthew 6:33, and what does it say? Seek first by yourself and gain all the things you need? No, seek first God's kingdom and righteousness and HE will add the needs, He will supply them. Now this verse applies to the physical needs of our lives. But the principle goes deeper than that. Who of us have been saved by His own means? Who of us can minister out of our own strength? God is our dependence, and without Him, nothing will be accomplished. The cry "Here I am" reveals this in the heart of the believer. We need to be a little bit more dependent in our lives.

Last thing I will mention about "Here I am." It is a cry of lordship. This is at the very heart of salvation itself. What does Paul teach in Romans? That if we confess Jesus as "savior?" No, that's not it. If we confess Jesus as "propitiation?" No, not quite. That if we confess Jesus as "Lord!" Now there's the ticket. Not that Jesus is not Savior, or that Jesus is not the propitiation for our sins. On the contrary, He resoundingly is. But the heart of the cry of salvation is Jesus is Lord. And, we see this in Isaiah and Ananias' lives. They were obedient to will of the Father, and they considered their lives no longer their own. Truly, God sat on the thrones of their hearts.

This issue of lordship is closely related to our yeildedness. Lordship is something that must be lived out by the Christian community, and something that must be communicated in our message to the world. Easy believe-ism infiltrates our lives and message, and I fear we have greatly strayed from the confession Jesus is Lord. This is not in any way meant to take away salvation through grace, being a gift of God, but is an emphasis on the clear truth of Scripture. "Here I am" is a clarion cry of the person that lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

D.L. Moody is credited with the statement "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him."

The cry "Here I am" begins the fulfillment of that phrase.

Mystery Preferred Over Academia?

2007-10-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while since blogspot has been a spot on the radar. But a question that might would do us some good to wrestle with...a food for thought and response type question.

Is mystery to be preferred over academia?

A simple thought on this matter. Sometimes the Scripture can be less-than-clear about something. For instance, the doctrine of the Trinity. The Athanasian creed states "We worship God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance." Problem is, the Trinity cannot be defined. No logical explanation can tell us how three can be one and one can be three. It just doesn't make sense. So, my question is, is mystery to be preferred over academia?

Now before it comes to this, academia has a place in our lives as Christians. Yes, pursuit of God with the mind is an endeavor we must undertake. To fail to do so would be to neglect a portion of what Jesus calls the greatest command. So, pursuit of the mind toward the things of God is not sinful, but rather extremely profitable. Scriptural study is necessary for the transformation of a believer. Paul exhorts believers to be transformed by the renewing of what? One's experience...no, that's not it. One's heart? After all, we are to love God, right? Now, that's not it either (and our concept of love is jaded anyway, but that's a different post for a different day.) So how are we transformed? Oh yeah...by the renewing of our mind. Let us not forsake the mental pursuit of God, lest we fall short of transformation in our lives.

And Paul again, in his practical counsel to the Philippians, deals with the things that we think or dwell upon. He says that whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable...if there is anything that has moral excellency or is worthy of praise, to think about or dwell upon these things. Engage your mind in the constant remembrance of these things. If I am not mistake, T.W. Hunt's point in his book The Mind of Christ is that proper thinking, learning how to think (how to engage our minds) is the way in which we overcome sin. Now granted, we will never completely overcome sin until that glorious day when we see the King of kings returning for His bride, and while here on earth, we only overcome temptation and sin through the power of the Holy Spirit, but undoubtedly the Spirit works in conjunction with our knowledge of Scripture to rebuke us, to teach us, to correct us and to train us in righteousness. So to say that there is no need for the academic world to commit a grave travesty.

However, in the case of the aforementioned doctrine...mystery is to be preferred. Sometimes, we neglect the fact that God is not like us. Concerning God's "otherness," a friend of mine named Arthur Alligood penned to following words to his song Not Like Us.

"We use His name more frequently than common conjunctions,
A Friend He is, but a Father as well,
We love His ear, but hate the back of His hand...

Most of our songs have that one plea,
We want to see your face.
That was the last thing Israel wanted...
they knew one glance would bring them to the grave...

But I wonder when's the last time you went to church thinking you might...die?

Oh, to tremble
Oh, to quake before the One that covers our mistakes
We'd do good to learn He is not like us
Oh, to shudder
Oh, to fear
The One above, but right here
We'd do good to learn He is not like us"

Now before I'm labeled as a heretic for basing theology on a song, let me say that any of the numerous references to God's holiness throughout Scripture only propagate Arthur's point. He is not like us. And the truth is that in our fallen and broken condition, we lack the capacity to completely wrestle and grapple with certain "truths" about God. Our inability to grasp doesn't deteriorate the truth one bit, it only underscores our great need for a great God that will return for His bride one day, a day that we will finally know as we are known. But until that day, may we as Christians take some time to embrace the mystery of the "wholly other" God that we serve. And when our feeble, broken, inept minds cannot grasp the divine, may we never cease to continue loving with our mind, but also allow these grand truths to reveal even further the majesty of the only-God we serve.

(Thanks to D. Black for opening one Christian's eyes to consider things such as this.)

Up From the Grave He Arose!

2007-04-09T07:36:00.002-07:00

Scripture Reading: Luke 24:1-9
Scripture Focus: Luke 24:6

“He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee…”

Up from the grave He arose
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes
He arose a victor from the dark domain
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

It is resurrection Sunday. No body is to be found, no stone seals the door of the tomb, death has no hold on our Lord anymore. “Oh death, where is your sting?” Christ has ended our fear of life no more, for in His resurrection, our death will bring true life. Therefore, may a song of resurrection always be found on our lips, praising the One that arose. And take heed, for although He is not here, He has promised us that if He went to prepare a place for us, He would surely return.

He lives! He lives!
Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life’s narrow way.
He lives! He lives!
Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart!

In the Still of the Night

2007-04-09T07:36:00.001-07:00

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:62-66
Scripture Focus: Matthew 28:65-66

“Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.’ And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone.”

You know, the world doesn’t debate whether or not Jesus was a historical man. In fact, many shows today try to capture who the “historical Jesus” was. Dan Brown made it big with his novel The DaVinci Code. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, as do many other religions. Atheists believe that Jesus was a good teacher. Most everyone believes something about Jesus, but seldom will you find anyone that believes Jesus was not real. It is accepted as true.

Another thing that is hotly debated is the fact that Jesus’ tomb was empty. His body is not there. If you want to see Mohammed’s bones, they’re in his grave. Gandhi? In the grave as well. Buddha…buried. But Jesus? No bones were to be found. The priests and temple officials came to Pilate to try and keep this very thing from happening. But my friends, we Serve a mighty God. What He decreed, He brought to pass. No earthly foe could stand up against the will of the Father. May we learn the lesson of submission instead of trying to guard our own desires? It will be a much less painful journey if we learn to do so.

Think on some things that within God’s will that you have been unwilling to accept, and seek surrender instead of struggle.

From Mocked Majesty to Crowned King

2007-04-09T07:35:00.001-07:00

Scripture Passage: John 19:1-3
Scripture Focus: John 19:3

Although He truly was the King of the Jews, no one cared to recognize. A flurry of scorns and insults were all that were hurled at the King that only a few days earlier had arrived to shouts of acclamation from so many people. The cries of deliver us were no longer shouted, because the King had not come the way they desired Him to. To top it off, He was mocked…insulted…abused. A crown of thorns twisted and beaten into His head, a purple robe laid across His battered back. Upon his bruised face…instead of a holy kiss, an indignant slap. What shame was brought to Him that day.

Jesus received our crown that day. This crown was painful, both for Him to wear and to bear. It was the crown that we were meant to wear. It is the crown of pain and shame. But our crowns were cast on Jesus that day.
Jesus will again receive our crowns one day, but this crown will not be bore in pain and shame. Jesus will one day bear our crowns as a gift that we gladly and humbly return to Him. One day our crown will be a most precious present that He will receive as we stand amazed in His presence…on that day that we have no choice but to bow in full because we completely behold His glory. There is a beautiful picture in Revelation 4 where the crowns of life are cast at the feet of our Lord, the One who is worthy to receive glory and honor and power.

Everyday Valentine's Day

2007-04-09T07:34:00.000-07:00

Scripture Passage: John 15:12-17
Scripture Focus: John 15: 17

“This I command you, that you love one another.”

In John, Jesus has a rather lengthy talk with His disciples before they leave for the garden. To me, this is some of the richest text in all of Scripture. There is my Savior praying for me, letting me know how to manage living a Godly life, how to accomplish His will for my life. He gives the promise of the Spirit. He prays for our unity. He encourages us that it is a good thing if we are hated by the world for His sake. And He gives us a command.

Don’t allow the significance of what takes place escape us here. Jesus gave a command. This is a role that is reserved for God. Sure, man issued law on top of law, but it was not authoritative, and we are freed from that horrible brand of legalism. But true commandments came from God. And here, just before His death, Jesus affirms His deity.

Second, His command is simple, but many times unaccomplished. He commands us to love one another. The idea is simple, but the completion is hard. What if they are different from us? What if they are not a part of our group of friends? What if they are not on the same status level that we are? What if this is costly to me? The list could go on and on. We, as a body of believers, are called to love one another. Sometimes this is the hardest love. Love for our “siblings” can be extremely difficult. However, we must question ourselves; will the world ever experience the love of Christ if we can’t love amongst ourselves first?

Not a Creature was Stirring

2007-04-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Today is known as silent Wednesday because the Bible does not speak of any activity from Jesus and His disciples. You could likely spend days speculating what Jesus and the disciples actually did. However, we will take our cue from one of Jesus’ common practices to fill our time today.

Frequently, Jesus went away from the crowds to pray. So on this silent Wednesday, use the following guide to write out a prayer to God.

A – Adoration. In the space below, write prayers of adoration to God. _________________________________________________

C – Confession. Write prayers of confession to God. __________

T – Thanksgiving. Write prayers of thanksgiving to God. _______

S – Supplication. Make your requests known to God. __________

Lastly, Psalm 46:10 encourages us to “Be still and know that I am God.” In the business of life, take today to slow down and recognize the Creator in small, intimate details of life…the details that we take for granted…the details that seem nothing more than happenstance to us. Remember that we serve a mighty God.

A Crying Christ

2007-04-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

Scripture Passage: Matthew 23:37-39
Scripture Focus: Matthew 23:37

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!”

Jesus knows what is coming for the Jewish people (remember, He has already judged temple worship). How He longs with an unexplained love for the nation that is known as God’s own. For a moment, allow the emotions of Christ to settle somewhere deep within your heart.

Now, allow His pain to register in your innermost being.

Now, allow His sorrow to seep into your soul.

Oh Jerusalem, how you have rejected the Word of the Lord time and time again, putting to death the very ones that were sent to you by God. How I long to step in and gather you, but you rejected Me…you were unwilling. What will be said of you and me? Does Jesus weep over His bride the same way He wept over the city of Jerusalem and His chosen people? Have we rejected and put to death the Word of the Lord? Are we accomplishing our purposes as the body of Christ? Is Jesus saying “Dear church, which rejects my Word and my plan for you. How often I wanted to gather your children together, but you were unwilling.”

Consider the things you have not been faithful about concerning the church. Pray and seek reconciliation from God.

Spring Cleaning

2007-04-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:12-21
Scripture Focus: Mark 11:16

“…and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise (*literary vessels*) through the temple.”

The money changers and the sellers in the temple were located in an outer court of the temple known as the court of the Gentiles. Now upon first reading this, we think “Oh nice, the Jews are letting the Gentiles play church as well.” However, this could not be further from the truth.

The Temple priests used this court as a barrier, a wall of separation between the Gentiles and Temple worship. In fact, signs were placed warning Gentiles to not pass any farther, or else the offense was punishable by death. Many times we come across this passage and see righteous anger, which, in a sense it is. What actually takes place here is the judgment of God against the Hebrews and their temple practice. The use of the terms “drive out” and “overturned” turn our mind to ideas of judgment, not reform. Lastly, we see the judgment of God in that Jesus did not permit anyone to carry vessels through the temple. The English translation of “merchandise” is inaccurate and misleading. The Greek word actually translates as “vessel” and is used in reference to the vessels necessary for temple worship. What Jesus did on day two was put an end to temple worship. No longer would it be used in the history of salvation, but a new way was on the horizon.

Today, thank Jesus for the grace that we now experience. Thank Him for becoming the sacrifice once for all.

Sunday

2007-04-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:1-11
Scripture Focus: Mark 11:9-10

“Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!’”

The week leading up to Jesus’ death is one that was marked by celebration on the first day. Palm branches were waved and shouts of Hosanna could be heard through out the streets. Crowds gathered and there was a stirring among the people. But what did it all mean? Have you ever wondered how the people went from excited to yelling “Crucify!” at the end of the week? I think a correct understanding of this passage can help us with this.

Palm branches were a symbol of political liberty. But even more than that, the very phrase “hosanna” carried with it the idea of deliverance from political oppression. Borrowed from the Hebrew word “hosiahna,” the word meant “save” or “help, please.” It was associated with the Maccabean revolt and Menahem’s revolt against King Herod. What the people were expecting was a Messiah to deliver them from the hands of the Romans. That was not His purpose, however. Praise God that He had something else in mind.

Personal Reflections: How do you feel knowing that Jesus came to set us free from sin and death? Write a short praise to God.

Don't Buy the Lie

2007-03-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

case you haven’t heard, we should pack up church and call it quits. Well, that is if you listen to the words of movie director James Cameron and documentarian Simcha Jacobovici. In a recent documentary that aired on March 6th, coupled with the book release of The Jesus Family Tomb in late February, there have been claims that the lost tomb of Jesus and His family have been found. What are we to do as Christians with this claim? First, the facts.
Yes, there was tomb found in East Talpiot, just south of the old city of Jerusalem. Inside of the tomb were several ossuaries (a stone box used in the first century Middle East to store bones of individuals after about a year). The names inscribed on these ossuaries were “Jesus, Son of Joseph,” “Mary,” “Mary, known as the Master,” “Judah, Son of Jesus,” “Jose” and “Matthew.” The tomb was discovered in 1980, documented, and then recovered.
Now to the good stuff. At the time of its discovery, the BBC aired a report claiming that the bones of Jesus could have been found. However, archaeologists quickly disproved this claim and nothing more was said. Enter Cameron and Jacobovici, like the bad actors of a sequel to a movie that never should have been. Their speculation is based on DNA evidence that gives us little information, not breaking insights as the documentary would speculate. More on this in a second. For now, there are a few glaring problems with the documentary’s proposal. These five points were initially discussed by Mike Licona, the director of apologetics and interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board, on www.baptistpress.com.

1. The ossuaries are located in the wrong place. For Jesus and His family, they would have been buried in Galilee. Why? Because the first century practice was to be buried in the city that a family was from. Further, historical documents place some of the burials in places quite a distance form East Talpiot. The location of Jesus’ traditional tomb in the Church of the Holy Selpucher predates the 4th century. James’ tomb, as recorded by Eusebius (as known as the father of early church history for his work recording the early history of the church), was marked by a stone just outside of the Temple Sanctuary in Jerusalem, quite a distance from the proposed site in East Talpiot. According to tradition dating back to the 6th century, there are two places that could have been the burial spot for Mary, neither of which are East Talpiot. And further adding weight is the fact that no tradition places Jesus’, James’, and Mary’s tombs together.

2. There is an impressive collection of names. However, today, it would be no different than seeing a Mike, John and Jane buried together. Mary was the most popular female name during Jesus’ time. There are, in fact, at least six different Mary’s mentioned in the New Testament. Joseph was the second most common name for men at the time, Judah the fourth, and Matthew the ninth. Of the 1,000 ossuaries that have been uncovered, at least 22 of them have the name Jesus inscribed on them, and two have the words “Jesus, Son of Joseph” To find a tomb with this collection of names is not extraordinary, but in fact, a little unexciting when really examined. Lastly, what is one to do with the name Matthew that was found? He was not a sibling of Jesus, and not postulated as a child. Anyone looking at the facts critically could not pass by this oddity.

3. There is strong evidence against Jesus being married. In I Corinthians 9:5, Paul builds a case for both he and Barnabas to have the right to be married. He lists others who are in their position that were married to build his case. Among them are Peter, other apostles, and the Jesus’ brothers. If Jesus had been married, Paul could have ended the discussion by point that out. In the NT, no mention is made of Jesus being married. At the cross, two women named Mary are present, only one of which provision is made for. Lastly, concerning the idea of Jesus being married (namely to Mary Magdalene), liberal scholar and Princeton professor Elaine Pagels said that Dan Brown (who put forth this idea in his NOVEL The DaVinci Code) is perhaps the “only person in the world who believes that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.”

4. Jesus appeared to many of His disciples. In fact, Paul, James, Peter, John and other Jerusalem apostles all testify to the resurrected Jesus. What is interesting is that James, the brother of Jesus, did not become a believer in Jesus until later, after the crucifixion and resurrection. Why would he then support the idea of the resurrection even when he was not a believer? Buy yet, he did. There is no defense for the record of eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection.

5. The DNA evidence. This establishes very little. At best, it only links a “possible familial relationship between those in the Talpiot tomb.” There is no way for it to even suggest that the remains belong to the family of Jesus of Nazareth. And then, it is only a possible familial relationship.

6. Lastly, one must wrestle with the fact that Jesus’ disciples were martyred for believing in Jesus and His resurrection. Why would anyone die for something that was untrue? This, too, is a question that has no answer from the opposing party. At some point, the threat of death would cause someone to let the proverbial cat out of the bag and stop holding to this lie. But that was not the case. Fervently, the disciples held fast to their confession of the resurrected Lord. We will follow suit and hold boldly to this unwavering truth of Christianity.

Cameron and Jacobovici seek to pull blind us to the truth of Jesus, but their claims cannot hold up under scrutiny. Dr. Mark Rather from the Baptist College of Florida calls it a case of Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown meets CSI. While these can be entertaining, they are all fiction, just like the mere speculation of this “documentary,” which would find a better home on shelves next to fiction novels than historical textbooks. Prayerfully, this short essay will help you with questions you may have, or the questions that co-workers may voice your way.

God, Is That You?

2007-02-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

What if I were to say that on the news today, it was reported that Christianity is no longer a viable practice, and everyone that worshipped Jesus would be put in jail? Pretty shocking, attention getting none-the-less. Well, this post isn't concerning that and I don't forsee that happening, but it did grab your attention, huh?

In Psalm 24, the writer makes a statement that should be just as grabbing as above.

Read Ps. 24:1-2. Who does the author draw our attention to? Is this a good place to have our attention drawn? Of course it is. The starting place of being a 24:6 generation is God.

Think about some of the ways that we picture God. We see Him as:
An Old Man
A Mean Disciplinarian
Some Cosmic Thing
The Earth/Trees/Water
Anything Else...
And...we project our ideas and conceptions about our earthly fathers on God. If we have a father that left us as children, we will project an idea of God as not being faithful. If we see our father as a person that is never pleased, we will get lost in good deeds trying to please God. If we view our dad as a strict disciplinarian, we will usually view God as waiting for us to mess up to strike us down. These are faulty, exagerated views of God.

Let's have a look at one of the names used for God in the Old Testament.

Elohim.

Elohim is a plural term. Does this mean that we're polytheistic, or that we worship more than one God? No, but there is something trying to be communicated to us through the use of this name. There are at least two significances about Elohim being plural. First, it allows (although not demanding) our Trinitarian doctrine of God. God is Father, Son and Spirit. Now, it's difficult to explain just how this works out. My favorite illustratin of it is water, which is a gas, a solid and a liquid. However, all illustrations break down at some point. Let us, for this discussion, simply explore how we experience God as Father, Son and Spirit.

As Father:

Everlasting love - Rom. 5:8
Disciplinarian - Pr. 3:12
Can't loose His love - Rom. 8:38-39
He delights in us - Pr. 3:12
Protector - Pr. 18:10
Provider- Gen. 22:14

As Son:

Salvation - Jn. 3:16
Teacher (in parables) - Ps. 78:2
Lord - Rom. 10:9-10
Unchanging - Heb. 13:8
Intercessor/Priest - Heb. 10:19-22

As Spirit:

Points us to Jesus - Jn. 15:26
Convicts us - Jn. 16:8
Intercedes in prayer life - Rom. 8:26
Guides us - Jn. 16:13

Now we could, and should, study the Scripture all the days of our life, and this list would not prove to scratch the surface of how the Trinity works His Self out in our lives. This is just something to jump-start our thinking about God.

The other understanding we can draw from the plurality of Elohim is that an emphasis is being placed on God's majesty and power...on His...being God. The Hebrew language will use a word in the plural to strenghten its meaning. There is an emphasis on just how great God is.

As a child, some may have sang the song "If I had a little white box, to put my Jesus in. I'd take Him out and 'kiss, kiss, kiss' and share Him with my friends." Well, truth is, we are a lot more comfortable with putting Jesus right back in His little white box. And we limit our God to just the right size to fit in our box. Truth is, God can never be contained in our little white box, only our view of Him. We just get uncomfortable when He moves outside of our box. But part of being a 24:6 generation requires us seeing God outside of this box. We are comfortable with God as Savior or Best Friend, and we like to wear our "Jesus is my homeboy" T-shirts, but God is also Lord and Disciplinarian...and we don't like that too much. We make our box and try to cram an infinite God inside of it, when truthfully our prayer should be "God, increase my view of who You are!"

Being a 24:6 generation starts with God. How's your view?

Is Your Worship Accepted?

2006-12-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

This is the manuscript from Wednesday night's sermon. Kinda lengty, I know. I pray it will serve as a blessing.

Do settings really matter to a story, to what’s going on, have any real implications to the meaning of a book? Like, the other day, Shanna and I have signed up for Blockbuster Online because we rent so many movies, it makes things cheaper for us. Well, I ordered The Karate Kid…the original, the one that I grew up on. It gives a setting in the beginning of the movie…Newark, NJ. Now it didn’t matter one bit where that movie started out at. But, sometimes setting does matter. For instance, it wouldn’t matter if you were a Jewish person in modern-day Durham, NC. However, try being a Jewish person in Nazi, Germany during WWII. You might would be singing a different tune. So settings, although we don’t rest our entire interpretation of a text on it, can give us definite insight into what is intended for us to understand. After all, the Inspire-er and the Inspire-ee included for a reason. So what’s our setting? Sychar. A place that belonged to Jacob, a place that he gave to Joseph, a place where an altar to the Lord was built, a place to worship. In light of this place to worship, we will look at the implications for proper worship according to Jesus. Turn with me to John 4, beginning in verse one (read through verse 26).
The first thing we notice is the Cleaning for the Meeting. There is one concept that runs constant throughout these verses in John. Did you notice it when we were reading through? It is the idea of water in one capacity or another. I mean take a look, we see, well, water, baptize, drinking, well, thirst, spring…the list is pretty long. When we see a word this many times, we should probably be thinking, “Hmm, I bet this is an important concept.” Alright then John, with the Holy Spirit, what are you trying to get us to understand about water? Well throughout the first few chapters of John, water is used in reference to purification or cleansing. In John 2, the water pots that Jesus used to hold the water that He changed to wine, they were water pots used for cleansing rituals. And we understand that from that passage, Jesus affects or fills up the lacking part of our purification or cleansing. Then, again in John 3, John records Jesus referring to water again, this time saying that you must be born of water and Spirit, or a cleansing from God. So, we have this concept of water and cleansing running through our mind from the rest of the book.
It’s like back in the day, when I would stay with my great grandparents, and you’d be in the yard playing all afternoon long, playing trucks in the dirt and the mud. And then she’d call you in for supper that evening. What was the thing she would always tell me to do before meeting around the table with the family to eat? “Go get cleaned up.” Jesus points us in the same direction. There is some cleaning that is going to have to take place.
The second thing that sticks out is the Contrast of the Couple. In this picture, we have the Samaritan woman. Now we know that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, but have you ever wondered why? The biggest reason and this adds so much weight to what John is trying to tell us through this passage, is that Samaritans were viewed as completely unclean concerning ritualistic purification. Jews did not deal with Samaritans for fear of becoming “dirty” just by being around them. So with the woman, we have a picture of defilement.
On the other hand, there is Jesus. He is the picture of perfection of cleanliness, of perfect holiness. He’s already been described as being the light, the opposite and void of any darkness, God in the flesh. He is the opposite of the woman at the well. Now before we move on, just let this image linger, let it marinade, let it ferment in your mind. Utter defilement…utter perfection. Holy-less…holiness.
Now it is this picture that makes the next statement so…funny when you think about it. Jesus asks her for…water. Now remember what water is making us think about: cleansing. I love how Jesus sets her up with this play on the word water. He then makes the statement, if you really knew what I was talking about, or who I am, you would have asked me for a drink…or cleansing…instead. So what does she do? She questions Him, she questions His greatness, she says basically…who do you think you are? And notice what she basis her judgments about Jesus on. His physical appearance – the well is deep and you have nothing to draw with. But might I remind you of the words of Isaiah the prophet when he said of Jesus that He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. So she falsely judges Christ on the basis of His appearance. But second, she questions Him based on tradition. Surely You are no greater than Jacob are You? He has handed down tradition to us, just look at this well. And further, You are a Jew and traditionally, Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. Oh but the promise made to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And so she again falsely judges Jesus, this time on the basis of tradition.
So Jesus draws us a Caricature of the King. What is it that is being offered exactly? A cleansing, an eternal one. The Scripture says in verse fourteen that whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. Never. Not again. It is eternal…everlasting…through eternity…no need for another. And then He says I give this, and let me clue you in on who I am…it will be a well of water springing up to eternal life. Wait, wait, wait. He doesn’t say who He is. Or does He. Listen to the words of Isaiah once again, this time from the twelfth chapter (read Isaiah 12). There are so many implications from this passage in Isaiah. First, God is salvation. It’s dependent on Him, not us. Second, draw water from the springs of salvation. Third, this will result in worship, or meeting with God. Fourth, worship because of the greatness of the Holy One. And last, and this is where we draw our point of Jesus declaring who He was, Isaiah 12 says in that day, referring to the coming of the Messiah. By Jesus making the statement about the well of water, springing up to eternal life, He draws our attention to the passage in Isaiah and says this time is now, and I am the One that brings this water.
Then, in great woman at the well fashion, she says okay smarty-pants, hook me up. I want some of this water ‘cause I’m tired of coming her to draw water all the time. Oh how we can become drained as well from trying to be perfect. But this shows us that she doesn’t understand, though we do, what Jesus is saying. Jesus opens her eyes to the spiritual nature of the conversation, telling her to call her husband, even going so far as to say look, you’re living in sin, and you’re causing others to do so as well. The man you’re living with, he’s not your husband. There’s a great possibility that this man was married to someone else, yet living with her. Jesus says I’m not talking about some magical water, I’m talking about your need for purification.
Have you ever seen one of those Pablo Picasso paintings? You know, he kind of invented this style, or popularized this style of painting called cubism. Everything was pained with cubes and straight lines and in abstract concepts, so that maybe if you turn your head just right at some uncomfortable angle, you might recognize what it is. Those paintings are…just not clear or understandable. This is how the woman, and me for that matter, see Jesus sometimes. I just can’t quite make Him out, just like the woman. Even though, He has given me the tools to recognize Him, a relationship, prayer and His word. He gave her the same things, He started a relationship with her, fed it with conversation, and even referred to Scripture, but she still missed the picture. What do we draw from this? Recognize Jesus for who He is…God coming into the world to affect our righteousness and salvation, providing it for us and freeing us to worship or meet with Him. How do we do it? You know how…Sunday School answers…pray and read your Bible. But sometimes we lack to discipline to do those things.
Well, we have the cleaning for the meeting, the contrast of the couple, the caricature of the King, and next we see The Curiosity of the Crippled. The woman is saying, “okay, how do we meet with God?” It’s a return to…the setting. Remember how Sychar was a place to meet or worship God? She questions Jesus, “is it based on Your tradition or ours? Who is right?”
She’s asking Jesus to settle a long running debate. It would maybe be like, who is better at football, Florida or Florida State? Or, better yet, who has the better basketball tradition, Duke or Carolina? Just for illustration’s sake, here’s a few stats you may or may not know, based on the 2006 official NCAA record book.
Duke holds the record for largest come-back win, 32 pts. They also hold the record, along with NC State for fewest combined FG in a game, 2. They hold the record for number of 3pt-FG attempts and makes in a season, 1,057 and 407. They hold the record for most games in a season, 40. They stand atop the pile with 8 current consecutive 25 win seasons. They have 7 30+ win seasons since 1938. They are #4 all-time in wins with 1764. They have the #5 winning% of all-time. The are the winningest team in the 2000’s. They spent a combined total of 96 weeks @ #1. They’ve been to 14 final 4’s (#3), have 85 tourney wins (#3) and 3 nat’l championships (#5).
Carolina holds the record for highest FG% in a half (94.1). They stand atop for most consecutive 20-win seasons (31). They have had one unbeaten team, 1957. They too have 7 30+ win seasons since ’38. The are #2 all-time in wins with 1860. They are #2 all-time in winning %. They were the winningest team in the ’80’s. They are #4 & #8 in largest point margin defeating a number one (both times over Duke by 24 and 20 pts.) They have spent a collective 84 weeks @ #1. They hold the record for most defeats of a #1 team (11). They are second all-time in tourney wins with 88. They are #2 in tourney appearances (37), #1 in final four appearances (16) and #4 in national titles (4). Will you settle this argument for us please? Well, Jesus gives an answer that would equivalent to saying, and forgive me for this, but someone coming in and saying well UCLA has 11 national titles. No one else is close to that. Jesus, in essence, is saying you are missing the point. And the truth is, meeting with God is not based on tradition at all.
Instead, The Crux of the Christ is this…God is met in Spirit and in truth. He tells her, “Listen. You worship ignorantly. You worship what you do not know. The Jews, they worship intelligently. The worship what they do know. But there is coming a time, and in fact it is here, that real worshippers will worship in Spirit and in truth.” So what’s John trying to get us to understand? The Spirit…well he just recorded earlier in chapter three that the Spirit is what affects our new birth, that we must be born of the water and Spirit. True worshippers are those that are saved. But second, they worship in truth. Now just let me chase this for two seconds. Truth, in chapter one, is used to refer to Jesus. He game full of grace and truth. Also, in John 14, Jesus is described as what? The Way, the Truth, and the Life. Now, Jesus is the truth, but what do you mean we worship in Him? Listen to the words of Hebrews 10:19-22 (read the passage). There is now access to the Father that once was not there, access to the holy of holies, and it is only in Jesus that we have this access.
Picture this. There is a place where the glory of God resides, where it is so powerful that no man, save one a year, may enter in. It is guarded by a huge, thirty foot curtain. Behind this veil, the altar where the blood of forgiveness is poured. Only, you can’t pour it for yourself, because of the weightiness of the presence that dwells behind it. For you to step foot behind the veil and offer sacrifice, to worship for yourself, would mean your death, because of the transgression between you and God. In fact, the one person that can go, has to endure days and days of fasting and purification to journey behind the veil, into the very presence of God. And then, as the Son of God breathes His last on earth, this veil that serves as a fortress of separation between God and man is torn, but not from the bottom up, as if man were doing it, but from the top down, almost serving as an illustration of God reaching down out of the heavens and touching the very creation that is separated from Him. And now, standing at the entrance to the most sacred place stands Jesus, the Christ, the One by which every knee shall bow and tongue confess, Master, Savior, Immanuel, Creator…my Savior, offering access to my Father. Do you want to go in, brother? Do you want to see the Father? I am the only One that can take you there, but I am more than willing to do.
You see, true worshippers are blood-bought, born-again believers, born of the Spirit, purified by the cleansing blood of Christ, and entering into the presence of God the only way possible, through the resurrected Lamb. And so, now that I enter the very presence of God, I can truly worship Him, singing, “Oh to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be. Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”

John 2: Now that was filling!

2006-12-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

How sufficient is your own good? I mean, can you do enough good things, be nice enough, follow the Ten Commandments enough, etc?

Read John 2:6
Six is the number for incompleteness or insufficiency in Jewish thought. They use a lot of symbolism in their writing and understanding. And these pots were for what…cleansing. Therefore, we can understand that Judaism or Legalism (simply following rules of right and wrong) is incomplete or inadequate.

Read John 2:7-10
Are wine and water the same thing? What are the differences?

The truth is, wine and water are not the same things. There are numerous things that make wine a completely different, and in this case, new substance. So if the old way of cleansing was turned into something new, what do you think that says about cleansing for our spiritual life?

If we are insufficient or inadequate, something must fill up that emptiness.

What fills up the lacking part of our life?

This new substance filled the water pots. In the same way, Jesus fills up what is lacking in our life. What we cannot accomplish on our own, He has came and accomplished for us.

Just like the water was made new, is there anything new in our life?

We have a new birth, a new life, and a new righteousness through Jesus.

Read John 2:13-17
Did Jesus seem pretty angry here? Do you think that His anger is the point of this passage? Do you think there is any connection between the cleansing of the temple and Jesus turning the water into wine? Do you think that the main thing Jesus was upset about was them selling things in the temple?

The temple was the very establishment of the Jewish legal system. It isn’t that Jesus was angry because they were selling animals for sacrifice in the temple, but that this had become the focal point of Jewish religion. It is a way of Jesus cleaning out the “legalism” in His Father’s house. He is making a way for something new.

Read John 2:18-19
What did the Jews ask Jesus? What was His response? Is He simply referring to the building?

Jesus responds by saying that He will die and three days later He will rise again. The resurrection points to the new life, to eternal life. Once again, this points to the new life found in Jesus and the grace and truth that He brought with Him (remember that from the very beginning of John?).

I have an Old Navy painter's jacket. I love it. It keeps me warm with the little fuzzy things on the inside. It's great...fits me the way I like...been with me for a couple of years...it was a good find. And you know, that's what it was...a find. I went to it in the store, found it there on the hanger, and purchased it. I bought through my own labor and toil, my blood, sweat and tears, if you will. And it, well, my jacket was destined to rot, to be destroyed by the moth if I didn't step in and save it. Now you would think that my jacket would love me, that it would be so grateful to me and would obey everything that I commanded it to do. However, no matter how I ask it, it won't raise its arm to me or wash itself. But, when I get inside of it, when I fill it up, boy does it come to life. When I fill it up, it does what I ask it to.

It's the same way in our Christian life. What was missing, Jesus fills up. We can life the Christian life when we get out of the way and let the One that has filled us up do it. I think of the words to the old hymn, "Jesus, be Jesus in me. No longer me, but Thee. Resurrection power, fill me this hour. Jesus, be Jesus in me."

God's grace, humbly glorify and imitation at its finest

2006-12-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

Think of some of the most famous people that have been imitated before. Who comes to mind?

Elvis? He could possibly be the most impersonated guy in our modern world.

Read John 1:14-18.

Main Point: God’s faithfulness of love is manifested in the coming Messiah. It is through this that we receive grace. However, this brings us to our obvious question: "What is grace?" Take some time to write down your thoughts on grace.

A simple definition of grace is receiving what you do not deserve. We do not deserve heaven. We do not deserve to have a relationship with the Father. We do not deserve justification. But the grace of God, in order to show Himself glorious, extends itself to the most wicked of sinners. Further, it is no longer the Law (think back or check the point of the Law in the previous post). It is to serve as a tutor to bring us to Jesus.

Secondly, this passage tells us that Jesus has revealed God to us. Now here is arhetoricall question: Do you want to know God better? Well then, if Jesus reveals God, what should we do? How do we know what Jesus was like and grow to be more like Him and look at Jesus life?

If you want to know God, KNOW JESUS!

Read John 1:19-34.

Main Point: John the Baptist (a.k.a. JTB), because of the greatness of Jesus, in humility denies being the Messiah and points to Jesus.

How great is Jesus? Wrestle with this and write your answers on the left side of a piece of paper.

Now on the other side, consider how great we are. Write down your thoughts.

How do the two compare?

We should follow JTB’s example and point others to Jesus as well.

Now read John 1:35-51.

Main Point: Jesus calls His first disciples.

These disciples went out to make more disciples who were given the task of making more disciples, etc. Eventually, they reach us. Now, what does it mean to be a disciple?

Here are some interesting things on what being a disciple meant:
1. That the rabbi thought you could be just like him (he believed you had the "junk”).
2. You learned how to think like the rabbi, basically becoming a replica (or clone) of the rabbi.
3. You followed him everywhere, learning about what he did in every aspect of life.
4. It was the greatest honor to be called to be a disciple of a rabbi.

All of this, Jesus means concerning us! We have been called to be disciples, to follow our rabbi (Jesus) everywhere and learn Him and how he loves others in all situations. Then, from there we imitate Him in all aspects of life. Welcome to being a disciple (if you are a believer). What an honor it is.

Wrapping up, consider the challenge to KNOW JESUS! If you have no plan that you are using now, then be encouraged to find one. If not, simply begin with the gospels and work your way through. Or, it would take you three weeks at a chapter a day to work through John.

Second, in humility glorify Christ, point to Him instead of yourself. Think of a way in which you can do that at school, work, etc. this week.

Lastly, while you learn and spend time with Jesus, remember to imitate Him in your daily life. Write down a situation that maybe you handled in a way that Jesus would not have handled it, and commit to changing that in your life next time.

Love God, love others

A Real Relationship

2006-11-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Think of some examples from the media of relationships that work and relationships that don’t. What are some reasons they work, and some reasons that they fail (be mature with your answers)?

Check out John 1:6-13.

Here comes John the Baptist. Do you think he was called this because he was Baptist like us? Do you think the focus of the writer John is on John the Baptist here? Why or why not?

The focus is on the Light, as the writer makes it clear that JTB was not the Light. Even verse 6 is like “God sent this dude, and oh yeah, his name was John.” The emphasis is on God sending, not on John.

Just real quick, should we seek to gain attention, or should we point it all to God? What is our tendency to do?

Verse 8-9: He is bearing witness to the TRUE Light. Give some shots at why you think he might call Him the TRUE Light.

This follows a common theme in the OT about the Messiah being Light.

Look up Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 9:2, Malachi 4:2, and Luke1:78-79. What is a common theme in all of these passages? – Light. The emphasis is that the Jesus, the one that we will study in the book of John, is the promised Messiah. There is not another, and He is the only one. That means that what claims are made about Jesus or the Messiah are only true for Him, such as being the One that we must believe on for salvation. There is no other way.

Verse 10: He was in the world that was made by Him, and yet, it didn’t even recognize Him. What you remember about depravity from a study or two ago.

If the OT is about the coming Messiah, like we talked about just a moment ago, then why didn’t people recognize Jesus for who He was?

Many people were, in fact, looking for a Messiah. However, others were not. The question is why was the Law given?

To help us out in this question, when was the Law given? Was it at the very beginning of the Bible? Was it after the fall of Adam and Eve? What about after Noah and the flood, when the whole world was previously wicked?

You would think that God would get to the point and say here are the rules that I expect. But instead, the Law is given much later, not until redemption from Egyptian slavery and Moses are the Ten Commandments given. Instead, the point is Jesus making us right in our relationship with God. Some people were looking for this.

The Law was meant to be a tutor to bring us to Jesus so that we can place our faith in Him. It was never the point.

Verse 12: Have you ever heard anyone say "We’re all the children of God."? How true is that statement? How does one become a true child of God? What is so big about being a Child of God?

This again shows the relational quality of the incarnation, of God becoming a man and living and dying and living again on this earth. We talked about relationships to start out with. Is it something that we all long for? Who doesn’t want a good relationship…with friends…with family? It’s just a part of who we are. We are created for relationship. But my challenge is that you not try to fill this longing with someone other than who was intended to fill it…Jesus. The thing that is missing in life is Him. Sure, God will allow you to experience other healthy relationships, but when all of those fail, He will still be faithful, and when you fail Him, He will still be faithful. He has adopted us into His family. The relationship you long for...is provided by Christ.

John 1:1-5

2006-11-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

Come up with reasons for why there are bad things in the world and what some of the solutions are to fix it.

Read John 1:1-5.

John 1:1 – think about the connection between John 1 and Genesis 1. Write down examples of the connection between the two passages.

Note the following:
→Both indicate the eternal nature of God.
→It is before the forming of the world.
→Both show God is a necessary and independent being (without God, there is no world, and He exists completely on His own. He is not dependent on anything).

Who is this “Word”? John 1:14 shows us it is Jesus.

John 1:3 – Think about the things that were made through Jesus. Pay particular attention to man being the image-bearers of God, and making note of the fall of man and the effects: death and unrighteousness.

John 1:4 – Jesus is the life, which is the light of man.

Jesus is the life:
→Eternal life (John 3:16, 14:6):
1. Salvation.
2. A life that is dead to self, alive to God.
a. I can’t, Jesus never said I could.
b. He can, and He always said He will.
→Full life (John 10:10):
1. Not necessarily a life marked by worldly success.
2. A life that is filled with meaning and peace.
a. Meaning in that there is purpose.
b. Peace in that we have assurance of a life with God.

John 1:5 – the “Light” shines in the darkness, but is not comprehended.

Think about this trick question: “What can you do to save yourself?” We have a sinful nature, and we are basically crooked and want to sin. This is known as the depravity of man.

Now think about this: “How hard is it to find something you are not looking for? What if it was something like a needle in a haystack…would that be easy to find if you weren’t looking for it?”

Read Is. 53 – focus on the fact that each has turned to his OWN way. No one is looking for God. Here's a question, “Did Adam go looking for God, or did God come looking for Adam after he sinned?”

Man could not save Himself, so God had to get involved.

Now, we get to the point of the entire lesson…God had to come to earth in order to make it where we can be in a right relationship with Him.

My Trek Through Romans

2006-10-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

There is something amazing that happens in the life of a believer, something amazing that occurs through the grace of the Christ. I live this life seemingly struggling to keep my head above the waters of sin sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not engulfed in a life of sin, continuing in some type of lifestyle that John addresses in his epistle. But, I, as many others, find sin to be a part of life because of this flesh that curses my existence. However, I have the ability, by the power of the Spirit through the resurrection of Christ, to not have sin as a master over me. Sin, although present, has no controlling right to the life of a believer. The only power sin has is when it has been granted power by me, not taken by sin. Submitting myself to Christ (Lordship salvation) gives me a new master and I am now a slave to righteousness, seeking to be obedient to Its desires, resulting in sanctification.

Love God, love others.

A New Start...

2006-10-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

So basically, this is my place where I will share my thoughts, especially concerning Scripture and what God is teaching me accordingly.