Whose job is spiritual growth? This study focuses on the doctrine of sanctification, which is related to the word holy (hagios). The gospel is not just that we’ll go to heaven when we die; the gospel is the offer of life in God’s kingdom. God’s plan is that his image in us, which was marred by the Fall, should be restored in all of its beauty and glory.
But for many Christians there is confusion about the division of labor necessary for spiritual growth or sanctification. They ask, “Is it God’s job or mine?”
Some Christians have taken the position that sanctification is solely God’s job. To support their position they cite verses like Romans 7:18, where Paul says, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Citing verses like these, they say human action is futile. Some Christians object to any call for strenuous effort or costly following by saying that human effort is opposed to grace.
On the other hand, some Christians take a Marine approach to spiritual life, evaluating spiritual growth as a product of one’s commitment level. They may cite verses like Leviticus 11:44: “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” In effect, they believe God’s job is to make sure he’s holy; their job is to make sure they are holy. For these believers the church then becomes a place of contest to see who has memorized the most Bible verses, who has witnessed to the most people, who has the most regular quiet time, who has prayed the most. People with this checklist mentality believe that as long as they’re doing these things they must be growing spiritually, even if love and joy aren’t being produced.
Sanctification is a joint project between God and us.
Philippians 2:12–13. Paul says to work out your own salvation, which means your role is important. He goes on to say, “For it is God who works in you.” You’re not doing this project on your own. Sanctification is empowered by God; it’s impossible without him.
When Paul says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” he does not mean you should work out your salvation with a sense of anxiety, not knowing whether it’s going to be good enough for God. Instead Paul uses the phrase to refer to a humble attitude of dependence. He’s suggesting we have a role to play, but we don’t control it.
Some things we can control; others we can do nothing about. But there is a third category, such as going to sleep. You can’t make yourself go to sleep the way you can make a phone call. But you can get in a dark room, lie down on a soft mattress, turn out the lights, and sleep will come.
Think about the differences between a motorboat and a sailboat. In a motorboat, you are in control. Sailing is different. When you sail, you are not passive. You hoist the sails and steer with the rudder but are utterly dependent on the wind. There’s no room for believing you are in control, because if the wind doesn’t blow, you’re dead in the water. When the wind blows, on the other hand, amazing things can happen.
John 3:8. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The word for wind is the same as the word for spirit both in Hebrew and in Greek. Jesus says the wind blows wherever it chooses. We hear the sound, but we don’t know where it comes from, and we don’t know where it goes. It’s free and powerful, way beyond our control. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit, through whose life the winds of God are blowing.
The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is powerful and mysterious. We can’t control or manufacture it. It’s not about us coming up with a program with predictable results we control. On the other hand, we’re not passive. Our job is to discern where the wind of the Spirit is blowing and know how to catch it.
Sanctification is normative, not optional.
Paul says he may get a lot of things wrong, but he works toward sanctification. It’s difficult to be made holy, and sometimes we’re tempted to give up.
Read Romans 12:2. Paul suggests that if you’re not being transformed by God’s renewing power, then you’re being conformed by the forces opposed to God.
The question is not if you’re going to be formed spiritually; the question is by whom you will be formed. If you’re not formed by God, then you have a spiritual adversary, the Evil One, who will be happy to do the task. We live in a world that deforms people spiritually.
Hebrews 12:14. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
The offer of the gospel is the offer to be sanctified. Jesus’ message was, “Repent and believe the good news; the kingdom of heaven is drawing near, and you can now live in it.” If we do that, it is a choice to live God’s kind of life, and sanctification is simply another word for that kind of life. It’s a life of truth, love, joy, humility, and servanthood.
If you don’t want to live that kind of life now, what makes you think you’d want to live that kind of life eternally after you die? It’s God’s will that you be sanctified.
Sanctification is a painstaking process.
Sanctification is a process, not an event. We’re an instant gratification society, but sanctification does not happen that way. Paul says, Am I there yet? Not yet. Not today. Not tomorrow. But this one thing I do: I don’t give up. I just keep after it.
In the pursuit of sanctification, you will fail often. What do we do if we’re serious about pursuing sanctification and we slip into bad behavior?
Philippians 3:13.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
We tend to think of forgetting as a bad thing, as something we shouldn’t do. But forgetting is indispensable to sanctification.
Ask the Holy Spirit, “Will you help me overcome yesterday’s mistakes, sin, guilt, and disappointments?” We can’t be shackled to yesterday’s regrets, because sanctification is a journey, not an event.
It’s guaranteed you’ll slip; the danger is that when you slip you’ll get discouraged and give up. Paul urges us to keep going and to forget what is behind. Paul allows neither his failures nor his successes to keep him trapped in yesterday. Sanctification is a process, so don’t give up.
Sanctification is empowered by God, not by man.
If we are sailboats, God’s the one who supplies the wind. When talking about transformation, Paul uses an imperative, which is used when giving somebody a command. For instance, “Stop!” is an imperative.
There’s another grammatical form called the passive voice that indicates when something happens to you, such as getting hit by a truck or struck by an illness.
When talking about transformation, Paul often uses a passive imperative. Look again at Romans 12:2. It is an imperative, but he does not say, “Transform yourself.” Instead he says, “Be transformed.”
There are a few ways you can discern how the Spirit is working in your life. One is to ask the question, “God, how are you seeking to transform me in this moment?”
When you’re in line at the grocery store, behind someone who’s mathematically challenged, say, “God, how can you use this moment to train me in patience?”
When you’re on the verge of procrastinating again with a project, ask, “God, how do you want to train me in this moment to persevere?”
You can allow the winds of the Spirit to blow in your life. That’s why sanctification is never a mechanical thing. That’s why it will look different from one person to another, and it will look different in different areas of your life. You need to discern how God is at work.
Sanctification is normative, not optional. It’s a process, not an event. It’s empowered by God, not you. Titus 3:5 "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."
Apply Your Findings
Sanctification should be pursued for the sake of others, not just for our own fulfillment. There is a real danger in pursuing spiritual growth, because if it gets off track it can get individualistic and even narcissistic. The scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought of themselves as very holy, but they didn’t love anybody. They were too absorbed with themselves. The New Testament never defines spirituality or sanctification in solely individualistic or narcissistic terms. It’s defined in terms of community.
In Philippians 2:14, Paul writes, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In other words, as the community matures this is what you’ll find: no grumbling and no arguing, just grateful hearts. A community of servanthood will replace bitterness and resentment.
Paul defines sanctification within the context of community. If we don’t, the pursuit of spiritual growth can get distorted in a way that makes it all about the individual. We can get preoccupied with how we’re performing spiritually and how spiritually fulfilled we feel, and forget to live a life of servanthood and love. It is then we become spiritually narcissistic.
The goal of sanctification, in a single word, is love. There is a huge difference between being sanctified and being sanctimonious. Yet sometimes people get them mixed up. The goal of sanctification is loving persons.
God loved you when you were hardest to love. God wants to sanctify you, and that is not some spiritual project or piece of optional equipment. That is God’s destiny for you. If you miss out on that, you miss out on what you were made for. God’s intent is to sanctify you so you can love as God loves.
Sanctification is also another way of saying that we become holy, holiness is the consequence of the sanctification process. Thus Holiness (sanctification) is a fruit, not the root, of Salvation.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monkey See Monkey Do
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24
In the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs some years ago told the story of a lady giving up smoking for a very unusual reason. This woman quit because of her pet macaw. She had this beautiful blue and gold macaw; they are worth a few thousand dollars. This bird had developed a persistent cough.
A veterinarian checked the macaw and determined that it didn’t have pneumonia or psittacosis, two of the possibilities that worried her. The final diagnosis was that the macaw was not ill at all, but just imitating the cough of its cigarette-smoking owner. The woman finally quit only when she realized, through her macaw, how bad she actually sounded herself.
It is a sad fact of human nature that we can be totally blind to our own faults, at the same time clearly seeing those same faults in others. I can be very concerned about your cough, not even knowing I myself might have pneumonia. I can clearly see the mote in your eye precisely because I have so much practice with the thing that has been floating around in mine, without my even knowing it. This is a lot like what psychologists call “projection”, in which people ‘project” their own motives and ways of looking at life on those around them. A suspicious person thinks everyone is out to get them; a manipulative person just “knows” that other people are trying to cheat and trick themselves; and so on.
The Bible just calls it “sin”. In Romans 2:1, for instance, is the warning that this kind of “projection” invites judgment: “You, therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things”. By “same things”, Paul didn’t mean that everyone who passes judgment on a murderer himself had murdered, but only was guilty of the same kind of lawlessness as his conviction. Even so, according to the Bible, the light will soon spotlight every pot calling a kettle black, and both will be in for a thorough and painful cleansing.
The macaw has a couple of lessons to teach us:
First is the tip-off that what bugs us most in others may be our own special creepiness. If someone’s bad habit gets under your skin, could it be that the “me” already under that skin has the same problem? Often, my worst gripes are reserved to what grips me most.
Secondly, the other lesson of the macaw is of course the power of a bad example. Macaws, parrots, children, even adults will copy in us in what may be concealed to us. In our blindness, we can lead many people down the primrose path to a cough, a bad habit, or worse, without our even knowing we are on the path ourselves. Our weaknesses may be multiplying in those who follow us.
Sobering thoughts and ones that should make us pay serious attention anytime someone does find a mote in our otherwise nearly-perfect, if surprisingly blind eye.
Not only monkeys see and do, but many others who follow you.
May we be sensitive to our own shortcomings today, Lord, as we seem in our fallen humanity toward those of others?
In the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs some years ago told the story of a lady giving up smoking for a very unusual reason. This woman quit because of her pet macaw. She had this beautiful blue and gold macaw; they are worth a few thousand dollars. This bird had developed a persistent cough.
A veterinarian checked the macaw and determined that it didn’t have pneumonia or psittacosis, two of the possibilities that worried her. The final diagnosis was that the macaw was not ill at all, but just imitating the cough of its cigarette-smoking owner. The woman finally quit only when she realized, through her macaw, how bad she actually sounded herself.
It is a sad fact of human nature that we can be totally blind to our own faults, at the same time clearly seeing those same faults in others. I can be very concerned about your cough, not even knowing I myself might have pneumonia. I can clearly see the mote in your eye precisely because I have so much practice with the thing that has been floating around in mine, without my even knowing it. This is a lot like what psychologists call “projection”, in which people ‘project” their own motives and ways of looking at life on those around them. A suspicious person thinks everyone is out to get them; a manipulative person just “knows” that other people are trying to cheat and trick themselves; and so on.
The Bible just calls it “sin”. In Romans 2:1, for instance, is the warning that this kind of “projection” invites judgment: “You, therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things”. By “same things”, Paul didn’t mean that everyone who passes judgment on a murderer himself had murdered, but only was guilty of the same kind of lawlessness as his conviction. Even so, according to the Bible, the light will soon spotlight every pot calling a kettle black, and both will be in for a thorough and painful cleansing.
The macaw has a couple of lessons to teach us:
First is the tip-off that what bugs us most in others may be our own special creepiness. If someone’s bad habit gets under your skin, could it be that the “me” already under that skin has the same problem? Often, my worst gripes are reserved to what grips me most.
Secondly, the other lesson of the macaw is of course the power of a bad example. Macaws, parrots, children, even adults will copy in us in what may be concealed to us. In our blindness, we can lead many people down the primrose path to a cough, a bad habit, or worse, without our even knowing we are on the path ourselves. Our weaknesses may be multiplying in those who follow us.
Sobering thoughts and ones that should make us pay serious attention anytime someone does find a mote in our otherwise nearly-perfect, if surprisingly blind eye.
Not only monkeys see and do, but many others who follow you.
May we be sensitive to our own shortcomings today, Lord, as we seem in our fallen humanity toward those of others?
What is Jesus’ Worth to You Today?
The story of Mary and Martha is a story of priorities. It’s a story of how much worth do we put on Jesus Christ. It is not only that we love Jesus, but it is why we love Him. When Jesus came to earth He upped the ante on us. Jesus said that if you look upon a woman lustfully you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. If you are angry with your brother you are committing murder, the only difference between anger and murder is a single physical step, the thought process is the same. So it is not just about what we do, but it is about why we do it. (Matt 5:27-28; Matt 5:21-22)
Jesus wants to get at the why’s that are imbedded in our hearts, for if the why’s are corrected and pointed in the right direction then what we do will follow in suit. Mary’s story in this passage shows us a picture of Mary’s love for Jesus. It is a grand picture of the worth she put on Jesus, and the priority that she gave Him.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,
42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It was a great honor to have Jesus in Mary and Martha’s home and to be able to hear His personal words in their household. Martha should have given this the same priority that Mary did. There were physical needs that needed to be met also, but Jesus had already proven that He could even feed people miraculously (the feeding of the 5,000, Joh 6:5-13). There really wasn't anything more important than listening to Jesus.
According to Jesus’ own words is that Mary chose what was better. Mary chose to prioritize her time with Jesus, she put a worth upon this relationship over and above everything else. Many times we put a greater worth on serving as Martha was doing here and even to the extent that Martha told Jesus what to do. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” We get so caught up in serving that it is the serving that we worship rather than Jesus himself. Jesus wants to make sure that our focus and worth is on Him and not on just what we can do for Him.
Martha was not wrong in serving Jesus and His disciples. Other women ministered to Jesus in this way (Lu 8:2-3, Mt 8:15) without being corrected. Serving was a good thing, but Martha had put it in the wrong place. Her problem was priorities and why she was serving, not that she had served.
Just like Martha, many of us today are occupied with things that keep us from hearing the words of Jesus. It is easy to recognize and turn from things that are obviously sin, but even good things that we are involved in must be prioritized so that nothing takes the place of seeking first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33).
Mary had a heart to really know God deeply and to be a true worshiper, Jesus commended her for that. Let us be a Mary and not a Martha, what is the worth that you put on Jesus at any given time? Are you so caught up with serving and doing or are you being in Christ? You are not a human doing, you are a human being! Out of your being you then can go and do, but you must first be.
g jeremiah williamson
Jesus wants to get at the why’s that are imbedded in our hearts, for if the why’s are corrected and pointed in the right direction then what we do will follow in suit. Mary’s story in this passage shows us a picture of Mary’s love for Jesus. It is a grand picture of the worth she put on Jesus, and the priority that she gave Him.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,
42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It was a great honor to have Jesus in Mary and Martha’s home and to be able to hear His personal words in their household. Martha should have given this the same priority that Mary did. There were physical needs that needed to be met also, but Jesus had already proven that He could even feed people miraculously (the feeding of the 5,000, Joh 6:5-13). There really wasn't anything more important than listening to Jesus.
According to Jesus’ own words is that Mary chose what was better. Mary chose to prioritize her time with Jesus, she put a worth upon this relationship over and above everything else. Many times we put a greater worth on serving as Martha was doing here and even to the extent that Martha told Jesus what to do. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” We get so caught up in serving that it is the serving that we worship rather than Jesus himself. Jesus wants to make sure that our focus and worth is on Him and not on just what we can do for Him.
Martha was not wrong in serving Jesus and His disciples. Other women ministered to Jesus in this way (Lu 8:2-3, Mt 8:15) without being corrected. Serving was a good thing, but Martha had put it in the wrong place. Her problem was priorities and why she was serving, not that she had served.
Just like Martha, many of us today are occupied with things that keep us from hearing the words of Jesus. It is easy to recognize and turn from things that are obviously sin, but even good things that we are involved in must be prioritized so that nothing takes the place of seeking first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33).
Mary had a heart to really know God deeply and to be a true worshiper, Jesus commended her for that. Let us be a Mary and not a Martha, what is the worth that you put on Jesus at any given time? Are you so caught up with serving and doing or are you being in Christ? You are not a human doing, you are a human being! Out of your being you then can go and do, but you must first be.
g jeremiah williamson
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Test of Following Jesus
Attended a men’s fellowship the other night and one of things that was brought out was why do we follow Jesus. I believe it is the most pertinent question of our faith. If our faith is in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter what happens around us because God never changes. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).
John 6:47-51
47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.
50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Jesus was saying here that He is the bread that we need to be nourished with. There is no other bread that can give us life, not healing, nor can miracles or even our daily needs being met give us eternal life. Only Jesus and partaking of Him can do this.
John 6:53-58
53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
When our faith is in Jesus Christ, we can endure anything because we trust His ways, His power, and not our own. How strong are you? You are as strong as whatever your faith survives, this is the continual test that will keep us strong and help us grow stronger. Just as muscles develop strength the more they are used, so too our faith gets stronger the more we exercise it. The greatest tests of faith, thus the greatest potential for growth comes during times of hardship.
This saying was derived when I lived in Southern California “When there is only sun, all you get is a desert. Without the storms of life there is no growth.” Lived at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains and when you took the 215 to the upper desert and onto Las Vegas all there was is desert, a few Joshua trees, cacti and other succulent plants and lots and lots of sand. Out towards Baker California it would get as hot as one hundred and thirty degrees. Once in a while some long soaking rain storms would come through that would bring rains for a week straight. If you were to travel through there a couple of weeks after those storms came through, you would see some of the most beautiful wild flowers that you have ever laid your eyes on. Miles and miles of them, purple, blue, red, yellow and green flowers everywhere, that is the way our faith grows when we go through hard times. What is produced is a beautiful life from those storms of life.
If you trust in the Lord, get ready for the tests, for examination day is coming. If you were to lose a job or a house, or if your child were sick and your prayer produced no discernable results, would you still believe in God’s goodness? Having confidence in the Lord no matter the circumstances is true faith. May we have the true faith like the prophet Habakkuk depicts in the following passage:
Habakkuk 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Are we only looking for what Jesus can do for us or we looking for Jesus for who He is? Am reminded of the many times when I was single and would get invited to Sunday dinner at various people’s home. Have had almost forty years of experience in the technical field and have had my hands in just about everything electronic. So consequently we would be sitting down eating and invariably the question would come up. By the way we have a problem with our computer, can you look at it. Next week I would be over at someone else’s home and the question would come up, by the way Jeremiah we have a problem with our stereo, can you look at it? But once in a while I would be at someone’s home and they would not ask me for anything, they just wanted me over to enjoy my company. Do you know how that made me feel?
Are we doing that with God, are we just using God to have our needs met all the time as if He is the big Red Staples Button that we push constantly, or are we worshipping Him because of who He is?
John 6:23-29
23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
26 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Their motives for following Jesus was for what they could get from Him. They had no concept of true faith. He is asking us here to not work for bread that spoils which means belief in Jesus Christ should not be motivated by the positive benefits we can receive from the relationship, but by the character and nature of the Lord who loves His people.
His test for us is the quality and object of our faith and wants to correct our misplaced focus. Many people of that day failed the faith test. Ours and theirs is a call to rise to the challenges, overcome obstacles, and triumph over hardships, and many people simply are unwilling to pay the price. It was certainly true then and it is true of many now who are put off by Jesus’ call to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
John 6:60-69
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
Why did the people consider Jesus’ words a hard teaching? They had realized He was calling them to follow Him with no guarantees of fish and bread: calling them to be satisfied with Him and Him alone. He was calling them to follow Him without knowing outcomes in advance, content to leave the future in His hands. Real faith trusts Jesus whether He blesses or not, whether He delivers or not, whether He heals or not. True faith trusts no matter what, because one knows that Jesus has the words of eternal life.
John 6:47-51
47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.
50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Jesus was saying here that He is the bread that we need to be nourished with. There is no other bread that can give us life, not healing, nor can miracles or even our daily needs being met give us eternal life. Only Jesus and partaking of Him can do this.
John 6:53-58
53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
When our faith is in Jesus Christ, we can endure anything because we trust His ways, His power, and not our own. How strong are you? You are as strong as whatever your faith survives, this is the continual test that will keep us strong and help us grow stronger. Just as muscles develop strength the more they are used, so too our faith gets stronger the more we exercise it. The greatest tests of faith, thus the greatest potential for growth comes during times of hardship.
This saying was derived when I lived in Southern California “When there is only sun, all you get is a desert. Without the storms of life there is no growth.” Lived at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains and when you took the 215 to the upper desert and onto Las Vegas all there was is desert, a few Joshua trees, cacti and other succulent plants and lots and lots of sand. Out towards Baker California it would get as hot as one hundred and thirty degrees. Once in a while some long soaking rain storms would come through that would bring rains for a week straight. If you were to travel through there a couple of weeks after those storms came through, you would see some of the most beautiful wild flowers that you have ever laid your eyes on. Miles and miles of them, purple, blue, red, yellow and green flowers everywhere, that is the way our faith grows when we go through hard times. What is produced is a beautiful life from those storms of life.
If you trust in the Lord, get ready for the tests, for examination day is coming. If you were to lose a job or a house, or if your child were sick and your prayer produced no discernable results, would you still believe in God’s goodness? Having confidence in the Lord no matter the circumstances is true faith. May we have the true faith like the prophet Habakkuk depicts in the following passage:
Habakkuk 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Are we only looking for what Jesus can do for us or we looking for Jesus for who He is? Am reminded of the many times when I was single and would get invited to Sunday dinner at various people’s home. Have had almost forty years of experience in the technical field and have had my hands in just about everything electronic. So consequently we would be sitting down eating and invariably the question would come up. By the way we have a problem with our computer, can you look at it. Next week I would be over at someone else’s home and the question would come up, by the way Jeremiah we have a problem with our stereo, can you look at it? But once in a while I would be at someone’s home and they would not ask me for anything, they just wanted me over to enjoy my company. Do you know how that made me feel?
Are we doing that with God, are we just using God to have our needs met all the time as if He is the big Red Staples Button that we push constantly, or are we worshipping Him because of who He is?
John 6:23-29
23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
26 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Their motives for following Jesus was for what they could get from Him. They had no concept of true faith. He is asking us here to not work for bread that spoils which means belief in Jesus Christ should not be motivated by the positive benefits we can receive from the relationship, but by the character and nature of the Lord who loves His people.
His test for us is the quality and object of our faith and wants to correct our misplaced focus. Many people of that day failed the faith test. Ours and theirs is a call to rise to the challenges, overcome obstacles, and triumph over hardships, and many people simply are unwilling to pay the price. It was certainly true then and it is true of many now who are put off by Jesus’ call to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
John 6:60-69
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
Why did the people consider Jesus’ words a hard teaching? They had realized He was calling them to follow Him with no guarantees of fish and bread: calling them to be satisfied with Him and Him alone. He was calling them to follow Him without knowing outcomes in advance, content to leave the future in His hands. Real faith trusts Jesus whether He blesses or not, whether He delivers or not, whether He heals or not. True faith trusts no matter what, because one knows that Jesus has the words of eternal life.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Stephen Hawking - God is not Required for the Creation or Existence of the Universes
“Everyone is looking for a society so perfect that people don’t have to be good.” T.S. Eliot
Stephen Hawking has said “God may exist but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.” He also iterates “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist, and it is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue torch and set the universe going.”
If these Atheistic and Darwinistic ways are to be totally adhered to and believed in than Stephen Hawking does not believe in what he preaches. Invoking the “tabletop test”, at least it is known in the tech world where you put something to the test in the real world like pushing a device off the kitchen table and see if it still works, we play the whole scenario out to its furthest end. Atheism and Darwinism means there is no God, no repercussions for not being good, no ultimate moral law for when we die there is no one to hold us accountable. So play it totally out in life by stealing as much money as you can, killing as many people it takes who get in your way, and grabbing for all the gusto that you can for this life is all you get.
Stephen Hawking further explains that “the coincidences of our planetary conditions far less remarkable and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings.” Under that assumption that would make us God’s. Sounds more like the original sin than anything else.
If T.S. Eliot and Stephen Hawking are right then that is why we see playing out in our world the bad things that are. When we leave God out of it, than what is left in its place? Not goodness and a propensity for otherwise.
What Stephen Hawking is teaching us is that life is the product of chance combinations of matter, that it is governed by laws of adaptation and survival. There is no afterlife, no “savior” to reward self-sacrifice or to punish egoism or rapacity. How then will we teach people to be noble and honorable men and women, expanding all their energies on doing good for the benefit of society? But they lack motivation for goodness. They see that in a purely material world only he who grabs for himself possesses anything. Why should we be self-denying and honest? What motive can be offered us to live lives of usefulness to others?
Furthering the tabletop test, are things getting better or are they getting worse? If God is being left out by the decisions of the human race and is no longer wanted, then that would be the reason for the latter answer rather than the former.
Stephen Hawking has said “God may exist but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.” He also iterates “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist, and it is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue torch and set the universe going.”
If these Atheistic and Darwinistic ways are to be totally adhered to and believed in than Stephen Hawking does not believe in what he preaches. Invoking the “tabletop test”, at least it is known in the tech world where you put something to the test in the real world like pushing a device off the kitchen table and see if it still works, we play the whole scenario out to its furthest end. Atheism and Darwinism means there is no God, no repercussions for not being good, no ultimate moral law for when we die there is no one to hold us accountable. So play it totally out in life by stealing as much money as you can, killing as many people it takes who get in your way, and grabbing for all the gusto that you can for this life is all you get.
Stephen Hawking further explains that “the coincidences of our planetary conditions far less remarkable and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings.” Under that assumption that would make us God’s. Sounds more like the original sin than anything else.
If T.S. Eliot and Stephen Hawking are right then that is why we see playing out in our world the bad things that are. When we leave God out of it, than what is left in its place? Not goodness and a propensity for otherwise.
What Stephen Hawking is teaching us is that life is the product of chance combinations of matter, that it is governed by laws of adaptation and survival. There is no afterlife, no “savior” to reward self-sacrifice or to punish egoism or rapacity. How then will we teach people to be noble and honorable men and women, expanding all their energies on doing good for the benefit of society? But they lack motivation for goodness. They see that in a purely material world only he who grabs for himself possesses anything. Why should we be self-denying and honest? What motive can be offered us to live lives of usefulness to others?
Furthering the tabletop test, are things getting better or are they getting worse? If God is being left out by the decisions of the human race and is no longer wanted, then that would be the reason for the latter answer rather than the former.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Muslims, Americans, and Christianity
The early Christians prevailed over Rome because they opted for eternal rewards instead of mere physical survival. They refused to renounce their faith, and the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church. Nowadays you hear very little talk in the West about eternal rewards and much talk about techniques to keep death at bay.
Young Arabs who study here come away impressed with how much energy we invest in the physical life. Scout the magazine racks at a local drug or grocery store and count the titles devoted to body-building, diet, fashion, and naked women. These are all emblems of the prominence we give to materiality.
Martyrdom and puritanical are words incorporated into Islamic societies. While fighting in the two gulf wars, for the first time in recent history U.S. soldiers had to get by without alcohol and Playboy, in deference to the strict Islamic code in the staging nations. Few of them realized, however, that the difference in moral standards between Islam and the West is philosophical, not just cultural.
In determining morality, American society tends to apply the bottom-line principle, “Does it hurt anyone else?” This pornography is legal, but not if it involves explicit violence or child molestation. You can get legally drunk as long as you do not break a neighbor’s window or drive a car, endangering others. Violence on television is okay because everyone knows the characters are just acting.
This yardstick of morality betrays our implicit materialism. Whereas we define “hurt” in the most physical terms, Islamic societies see it in more spiritual terms. In that deeper sense, what could be more harmful than pornography, or violence as entertainment, or even the cynical depiction of banal evil on television soap operas? It is from this vantage point that the U.S. has gained its reputation as “The Great Satan”.
At the same time, Christians in Africa and Asia are confronting a newly resurgent and sometimes militant Islam. Repulsed by the decadence and rampant secularism of the West, Muslims have their own evangelism agenda.
Christians and Muslims face opposite challenges. We in the West have something to learn from cultures that do not push religion to the margins, that see faith as affecting all of life, that look to religious leaders for guidance on societal and ethical issues.
Meanwhile, Islamic nations have something to learn from the Christian West, which has found liberal democracy to the best way to protect minorities’ rights in a world that is becoming increasingly multicultural.
Not to learn those lessons leads to disaster, as is playing out in our world today. What is being played out in New York City and Gainesville Florida is a prime example on how we need to put on love and see deeper than our own agenda. We need to see our own façade and step up to be more in what we truly believe and determine who our neighbors really are, as depicted in the parable of the Good Samaritan when the expert in the law asked “And who is my neighbor?”
Young Arabs who study here come away impressed with how much energy we invest in the physical life. Scout the magazine racks at a local drug or grocery store and count the titles devoted to body-building, diet, fashion, and naked women. These are all emblems of the prominence we give to materiality.
Martyrdom and puritanical are words incorporated into Islamic societies. While fighting in the two gulf wars, for the first time in recent history U.S. soldiers had to get by without alcohol and Playboy, in deference to the strict Islamic code in the staging nations. Few of them realized, however, that the difference in moral standards between Islam and the West is philosophical, not just cultural.
In determining morality, American society tends to apply the bottom-line principle, “Does it hurt anyone else?” This pornography is legal, but not if it involves explicit violence or child molestation. You can get legally drunk as long as you do not break a neighbor’s window or drive a car, endangering others. Violence on television is okay because everyone knows the characters are just acting.
This yardstick of morality betrays our implicit materialism. Whereas we define “hurt” in the most physical terms, Islamic societies see it in more spiritual terms. In that deeper sense, what could be more harmful than pornography, or violence as entertainment, or even the cynical depiction of banal evil on television soap operas? It is from this vantage point that the U.S. has gained its reputation as “The Great Satan”.
At the same time, Christians in Africa and Asia are confronting a newly resurgent and sometimes militant Islam. Repulsed by the decadence and rampant secularism of the West, Muslims have their own evangelism agenda.
Christians and Muslims face opposite challenges. We in the West have something to learn from cultures that do not push religion to the margins, that see faith as affecting all of life, that look to religious leaders for guidance on societal and ethical issues.
Meanwhile, Islamic nations have something to learn from the Christian West, which has found liberal democracy to the best way to protect minorities’ rights in a world that is becoming increasingly multicultural.
Not to learn those lessons leads to disaster, as is playing out in our world today. What is being played out in New York City and Gainesville Florida is a prime example on how we need to put on love and see deeper than our own agenda. We need to see our own façade and step up to be more in what we truly believe and determine who our neighbors really are, as depicted in the parable of the Good Samaritan when the expert in the law asked “And who is my neighbor?”
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Dr. Strangelove and Pastor Terry Jones
Are Pastor Terry Jones and Dr. Strangelove one in the same person? On September 11, 2010 Pastor Terry Jones wants to burn copies of the Quran in a fire-breathing judgmental act that remotely looks like Dr. Strangelove. They both want to nuke Islam and burn their very existence back to the Stone Age. Is this what Jesus would do? No.
This pastor does not represent Christianity or Jesus Christ in any form or fashion. In Luke chapter nine we have the following passage:
Luke 9:51-56
51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him;
53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.
54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"
55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and said “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of:
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” and they went to another village.
Jesus in no way would tolerate any violence, and just as Jesus rebuked His disciples, Pastor Terry Jones needs to be rebuked and stopped. James and John wanted to fight fire with fire, Jesus contradicted them to show that non-violence, being patient, full of compassion and forgiveness was the way we should go.
Matt 26:51-52
51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Peaceful means produce peaceful events, violence begets violence. Which has Pastor Terry Jones chosen; it looks like he has allied himself with Dr. Strangelove.
This pastor does not represent Christianity or Jesus Christ in any form or fashion. In Luke chapter nine we have the following passage:
Luke 9:51-56
51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him;
53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.
54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"
55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and said “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of:
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” and they went to another village.
Jesus in no way would tolerate any violence, and just as Jesus rebuked His disciples, Pastor Terry Jones needs to be rebuked and stopped. James and John wanted to fight fire with fire, Jesus contradicted them to show that non-violence, being patient, full of compassion and forgiveness was the way we should go.
Matt 26:51-52
51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Peaceful means produce peaceful events, violence begets violence. Which has Pastor Terry Jones chosen; it looks like he has allied himself with Dr. Strangelove.
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