Category: Faith

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Seven Steps to Happiness

Another Easter post from 2010.

Just kidding. Did I get your attention? Actually, this post has nothing to do with any number of steps to anything. It’s about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that means in our day-to-day.

A couple of days ago, I was reading a post by Keith Giles, titled “Risen?” I remember, while growing up in fundamental Baptist churches, hearing a lot about the death of Christ on the cross, but not a whole lot on the Resurrection. Resurrection was something reserved for the times the pastor preached on justification or why Christians worship on Sunday, or for Easter. The death of Christ is the loudest message that the church proclaims. Now, the death of Jesus on the Cross is essential. Because of the Cross, our sins are washed away and we are free. We must proclaim the Cross.

We forget however, that the death of Christ on the cross is only part of the Gospel. The rest of the story is that Jesus didn’t remain dead. He walked out of that tomb, proving that he was indeed the Messiah. He defeated death, and began the restoration of all creation. As the Apostle Paul said, if Christ is not raised then our faith is useless. The Resurrection changes everything!

I wonder if one reason the death of Christ is the church’s main message is the emphasis that is put on going to heaven, of life after death. In the circles I spent time in, everything was based on getting to go to heaven when you died. This life was seen as simply living according to the moral principles of whatever group you were a part of, keeping a “good testimony” so unbelievers would hear what we had to say, and staying “right with God.” We were never taught that the Resurrection had any implications for life in the here and now.

If we believe that Jesus is raised from the dead, there are certain things that are true of us. We are raised with Christ. Death has been defeated. As N.T. Wright puts it, there is “life after life after death.” We will live in a new creation, not just a disembodied state out there somewhere. We have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead at work in us. Let that sink in.

These things are not only in the future. They have begun. The Resurrection gives us the power to live as new creation now, in this life. The Resurrection means that God is restoring all things now, and that we get to be part of that restoration. Resurrection also means that the Kingdom has come. Jesus is Lord. That means that we live as citizens of the Kingdom of God right now, not just sometime in the distant future. Our allegiance is first and foremost to the King of Kings.

I don’t know how all of this works out in the individual lives of followers of Jesus. There really are no steps to follow that will work for everyone. I’ve been thinking about what living in the Resurrection would look like in my life. I do know that I need to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading as I live in my day-to-day. I do know that I want to live as one who is risen with Christ, who is a subject of the King of Kings, who is part of the restoring of Creation.

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Waiting

“How could this happen? How could we have been so wrong?”
“We believed the kingdom was going to be restored and those pagan dogs sent back to Rome where they belong. But this ‘messiah’ turned out to be just like all the others.”
“Now here we are hiding from the priests and the Romans.”
“Why didn’t we fight back? What kind of wimps are we?”
“Fight back? Did you see how many men they had? Besides, Peter tried and he told him to put the sword away!”
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but as soon as all this mess dies down, I’m going back up to  Galilee.”
“Me too. Back to the old life. When the only thing we had to worry about was catching fish and fixing nets.”
“Yeah. It’s been an interesting three years, but I’m through with messiahs and kingdoms. Just give me my boat out on the water. As soon as I can, I’m getting out of here.”
And so, they waited.

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Blast From the Past: Palm Sunday

This was first posted on March 28, 2010. It has been edited.

Today we celebrate the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded by people hailing him as the Messiah. Evidently this procession was not the only one making it’s way into the city that day. The Roman governor, Pilate, was also entering Jerusalem with his forces. This was something that happened before every Jewish holiday. After all, the Romans had to remind the Jews who really was in charge.

So, you have an imperial Roman procession on one side of the city and a subversive, Messianic parade on the other side. The people shouting, “Hosanna!” as Jesus made his way along the road thought they understood what was going on. As they saw it, this man who had performed so many miracles was the promised king who would drive out the hated Gentile oppressors and restore the glory of Israel. Unfortunately, as the week unfolded, many of these same people, now disillusioned, would join in the calls for his crucifixion by those same oppressors.

Those folks were partially right. Jesus was the promised Messiah. He had come to set up a kingdom and free them from their oppression. What they didn’t realize was the nature of the kingdom. It was a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that came in, not by way of overthrowing the present empire, but by the king dying at the hands of that empire. The Jews were expecting God to do things the way they expected. They didn’t understand that God rarely works that way.

I thought of how many times I’ve prayed for things and thought that God was going to answer those prayers in a certain way, either because I had jumped through a certain number of hoops to “earn” God’s blessing, or because I couldn’t think of any other way God could act. I trusted in God for the things I thought he would (or should) do. Like the Jews I followed Jesus for what I could get out of it. The funny thing is, God never seemed to do the things that I expected, yet so many things turned out 
in such a way that I knew the Father was taking care of me. Things were not all sweetness and light, and sometimes I questioned God about what he was doing. But I can look back on those days and see that God was there, and that he was working.

During my life, I have seen that God is not predictable. He is not someone who can be counted on to always do things a certain way. God relates to people in all kinds of ways, and we cannot tie him down to a particular plan of action. None of us can figure God out, yet he calls us into relationship with him. In that relationship we learn to trust God simply for who he is rather than for what we think he can do for us.

Be encouraged. Your Father loves you more than you know. He has given you his life and his glory. Trust the Father, even when the parade of Palm Sunday turns into the darkness of Friday.

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Obedience and Faith: A Fourth View

A few months back, Steve Fuller wrote this post. He wrote about the differences between Kevin DeYoung and Tullian Tchividjian in their view of the relationship between obedience and faith. Essentially,  DeYoung believes that obedience comes from faith but still requires effort along with faith, while Tchividjian says that the effort involved is focused on strengthening our faith, and then obedience will follow. Fuller then writes of John Piper’s view that obedience comes from faith alone but that faith is in the promise of God to justify and to completely satisfy us with himself. You can read the post to get a fuller picture. Now, I am not a theologian and I don’t play one on TV, but I got to thinking (that’s dangerous, I know). With a number of issues, I tend to look for a third way. I wonder if there might not be a fourth way here.

In this post, I wrote about our union with Christ and all of the things that flow from that. Our justification, sanctification, our continued faith, and our obedience come from being in Christ. We have been crucified and raised to life in Christ. It is Christ living in us. Everything is ours because everything is Christ’s. I believe that our faith comes from our union with Christ. Paul tells us that our faith is a gift from God. John 15 tells us that our fruitfulness in life comes from abiding in Christ. We love because God loved us first. Christ’s obedience is ours. Christ’s faith is ours. I would go so far as to say that Christ’s satisfaction in the Father is ours. Everything we need to live in obedience to our Father is ours. When we keep our focus on the fact that we are in Christ and he is in us, we trust him to live in us and that in turn leads us to obey. We still disobey, but that is because we forget who we are and allow sin to co-opt our desire and tell us the lie that things other than God can satisfy us. When we remember who we are in Christ, we find our only desire is to live in obedience and intimacy with the only One who can satisfy us and who loves us with an inexhaustible love.

These are just some thoughts. I would love to hear some of yours. Feel free to tell me if I’m out to lunch, although I don’t think I am.

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Worth What God Paid?

I once heard a preacher ask his audience if God was getting out of them what he paid for them. In other words, was God getting his money’s worth. I’ve been thinking about that idea a bit. Knowing the context of the sermon, I’m sure this preacher was asking his audience if they were “living right,” if they were doing all the right things that a Christian should do, if they were being a “good testimony.”

In one sense, the answer to that question could be, “no.” The price that was paid to redeem us is far beyond anything we can ever repay, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to insure that God is getting a good return on his investment. The good news is that we don’t have to repay God, or do anything to make sure we are worth the sacrifice. This frees us to simply live our lives, knowing that  God is not checking a ledger to make sure returns match up with costs.

In another sense, the answer to the question is, “Yes!” The work that Jesus did on the cross redeemed us, and brought us into the family of God. That work gave the Father many sons and daughters on which he can lavish his love. It was with joy that Jesus went to the cross, not trepidation that we somehow would screw up and cheapen his sacrifice. He knew that what he did would reconcile us to the Father and make us co-heirs with him.

Because of what Christ did on the cross, we are now united to him. He is in us, and we are in him. We died with Christ, and we are raised with him. We are new creation. When the Father looks at us, he sees us in Christ, therefore he sees beloved children in whom he is well pleased. God knew exactly what he was getting for his “investment,” and decided in ages past that it was worth it. While it is not yet clear who we really are, and while we don’t always act like it, the truth of the matter is that we are cleansed, redeemed children of the Creator of the universe. We are united with Christ and there is absolutely nothing that can tear us away from that.

So, yes. Because we are in Christ, you and I are worth every bit of the sacrifice that the Father made on our behalf. May we live in that reality in our day-to-day.

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Blast From the Past: God’s Camera

This was first posted on October 2, 2008.

Yesterday, I saw a sign in front of a church that read, “Smile, you’re on God’s camera”. I wondered what was meant by that. Growing up, I always was given the impression that God was up in heaven watching what we were doing and grading us on our actions. This would determine whether God was pleased with us or not. I was always told that I couldn’t hide anything from God in an attempt to keep me doing things I shouldn’t. This worked, some of the time. Most of the time I didn’t even stop to think that God was watching, so my “little hands” weren’t careful what they did; my “little eyes” weren’t careful what they saw; and my “little feet” certainly weren’t careful where they went.

I don’t believe that’s what the Psalmist intended when he wrote, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” It is true that there is nowhere we can go that takes us out of God’s presence. It is true that God knows our every thought and deed. But I believe that David wrote these words in Psalm 139 as praise to the God who was always with him and would always take care of him, not as a complaint that God was always watching so David couldn’t get away with anything. I am not saying that God is not watching or that we can get away with anything, I just don’t believe that’s the thrust of this Psalm.

God is not sitting “up” in heaven taking a picture of us so he can hold it against us – “Look what you did”. Jesus redeemed us, every bit of us, including the times we screw up. Anyway, does anyone really doubt that God already knows when we sin? Does he need to “watch”?

Now if the message on the sign meant that God was taking my picture just as any proud father enjoys taking pictures of his children, because he loves and enjoys them; well, I can live with that.

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Suffering and Glory

“Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” So says Eliphaz, one of Job’s “comforters.” Unfortunately, it is easy for us to “comfort” others in the same way. We sometimes don’t know what to say when someone is suffering, and we go ahead and say it anyway because we feel we should say something. So much of what we say can come across as uncaring or cliche and usually does more harm than good. Often times, simply being with the one who is suffering and being quiet is the best thing we can do at first.

Suffering is a fact of life, and Scripture recognizes this. One of the characteristics of the Christian faith is the recognition that we suffer. Many of the other religions of the world seek to escape suffering, or teach that it is all a state of mind. Unfortunately, within Christianity itself there are a couple of streams that see suffering as something to avoid or escape. Some preach that suffering is something that comes straight from the devil, and that God wants us to not suffer. Others preach that we will one day escape this evil old world, and in the meantime we just put up with it. Both groups miss the idea that God works through and redeems our suffering. So, where does the connection between suffering and glory come in?

In Romans 8, Paul tells us that our suffering doesn’t even begin to compare with the glory that will be revealed to us. Just before this statement, he says that this suffering enables us to share in Christ’s glory. It seems that our suffering is an indication that we are children of God and fellow heirs with Christ. The early church understood this. They saw their suffering as bringing the kingdom to earth the same way the suffering of Jesus did. That’s why they could rejoice in their troubles.

Paul continues to state that the very creation is groaning and waiting for the final redemption of our bodies. We live in a broken world and will deal with that brokenness until Christ comes again. We can take comfort in knowing that God is with us in our suffering. He knows what we are going through, because he suffered in the incarnation. We also can know that the sufferings we go through
are things that  our Father can and does redeem and work for our good and for the good of his people. God works through our troubles to make us more like Jesus.

Paul goes on to tell us that we not only will be glorified with a glory far surpassing our suffering, but that we are already glorified. God has begun the glorification in us and will finally bring it to completion when Jesus returns. We can look at our suffering and see it not only as something that will bring God’s glory in us in the future, but also something that is bringing God’s glory in us in the here and now. We also know that there is absolutely nothing that the powers of this world or the powers behind those powers can do that will rip us out of our Abba’s loving arms.

When we suffer, let us take heart in the realization that God is with us in the midst of our suffering, and that he is working through it for his, and our glory.

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Blast From the Past: Motive

This was first published on November 17, 2009.

The other day, I heard someone say that the motivation for the Christian life is not in gaining what we do not have, but in living up to what we do have. I immediately thought, “That seems kind of legalistic.” The emphasis is on what we can do, what we need to do. Knowing the background of the speaker, I am sure that many of the things we must do to “live up to” what we have in Christ include things like going to church every time the doors are open, avoiding things like tobacco and alcohol, and keeping ourselves “separated” from those outside. If the “Christian life” consists of sins to avoid and certain practices to embrace, then it makes sense that we are to be motivated by a desire to live up to a certain standard.

My fundamental disagreement is with the implied definition of the “Christian life.” I believe that life in Christ is not a set of “standards” that we must keep. It is not a set of “truths” that we must give assent to. There are certain things that we believe, and certain things we will or won’t do, if we are followers of Jesus, but the motivation behind that is not an attempt to live up to anything. I believe that the motivation for the Christian life is found in God’s grace through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit teaches us and takes what we learn and changes us. Our knowledge becomes somethng more than just something rattling around in our brain. It is something we experience, something that becomes who we are as the Father’s love and grace fill us.

As we spend time with Jesus, and the Spirit works in us, we will be changed so that the things the Father wants us to do will become more and more natural for us. We’re not perfect, and there is a certain amount of responsibility on our part to put ourselves in the place where God can work, but doing what God desires and becoming more like Jesus is something that God must do. It is not a case of trying to live up to what we have in Christ. If that is our motivation, then we will fail, because it is impossible for us to lift ourselves up in that way.

If you are in Christ, rest in God’s grace for you. Trust that everything you have in Christ is everything you need, and that the Father loves you and sees you as he sees Jesus. It is already accomplished. Let the Spirit guide you and teach you, and change you in the way the Father wants you to change. It’s all about God’s grace, not our own puny efforts.

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Looks Who’s Here!

In the first chapter of his Gospel, Matthew lays out the genealogy of Jesus. He does so in a manner that  is a bit different than the usual genealogies that are common for kings and other important people. Rather than focusing on just the strong kings of the past and leaving out any folks who might cause others to look unapprovingly at the king’s background, Matthew includes some who didn’t quite fit the picture of a perfect ancestor.

The first unusual thing is the inclusion of women in the genealogy. In our culture, that would not be notable but in the culture of that day, women didn’t count. Women were seen as property, and any mention of a woman in a document would more than likely be an afterthought. Royal women were more likely to be mentioned in a ruler’s history, but not someone who was a commoner, especially if that commoner was a foreigner. Matthew includes five women, each one coming with baggage.

First, we see Tamar. She’s the one who was left without a husband or a child. Her father-in-law Judah, tried unsuccessfully to hook her up with his other sons and in the end fathered her two sons went she posed as a prostitute in order to seduce him and trick him into sleeping with her. The second woman in the list is Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho who married a good Jewish boy named Salmon. By the way, Rahab was not Jewish, although she seems to have converted. Salmon’s son Boaz didn’t fall far from the tree, as he also married a Gentile. If you remember the story, Boaz married Ruth, who was from Moab. So far, this genealogy is not looking quite kosher.

The fourth woman mentioned by Matthew is Bathsheba. You remember her. She’s the one who was out taking a bath one day, not realizing that King David was lustfully watching. After committing adultery and murder, David brought her into his house as one of his wives. She gave birth to Solomon, through whom the line of the Messiah continued. Fast forward a few generations, and we come to the fifth woman, Mary. Mary was Jewish, so that was good. She was also a descendant of David, so she came from good stock. However, there was a pretty big issue.

Mary and Joseph, while betrothed, we’re not yet married when Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant. Joseph, being the kind man that he was, planned on quietly divorcing Mary. After the angel revealed that this child was from the Holy Spirit, Joseph took her in to be his wife. There was still talk though, and the opinion of some seemed to be that Jesus was an illegitimate child. So, in the line of Jesus we have Gentile women, adultery, and seeming illegitimacy.

Looking at this list of the ancestors of the Messiah encourages me. First, I am encouraged to see that this King came as the King of all people, Jew and Gentile. This genealogy also tells me that God can use anyone to accomplish his purposes, even those who don’t fit the mold, those who don’t belong. In fact, it seems that God works more through those who are not the ones everyone expects. Those of us who don’t seem to fit in wonderfully (let’s face it, that’s most of us), are the very ones that Jesus came to rescue and bring into God’s family. Rejoice at the works of our loving Father!

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The Lord’s Prayer: Lead Us Not Into Temptation…

The final petition in the Lord’s Prayer is the request that our Father not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. As we have prayed for our Father’s name to be glorified, for God’s kingdom to come to earth and be lived out in his provision for us and in our forgiving and being forgiven, we then pray to be kept from temptation and evil.

Another way to translate this could be, “Don’t let us give in to temptation.” We are told elsewhere in Scripture that God does not tempt any of us to sin, although he does bring things into our lives to try, or prove our faith. This is the idea of the refiner’s fire that burns out impurities, thus proving the metal. God does try, or test us in order to refine us and develop the character of Christ in us. There is a danger that we will be tempted during the trial, tempted to trust our self instead of the Father. We are drawn into temptation by our own desires, and those desires can easily lead us to sin by not letting God work in us through the trial.

We pray for the strength to resist temptation and for the Spirit to help us avoid areas in which we would be tempted. We also pray for Christ to fill us so that our sinful desires are pushed out. As we become more like Jesus, and as he lives in us more and more, we find that our desires start to line up with the desires of our Father. More and more, we are able to say with Jesus, “I do what I see my Father doing.” As that happens, we are better able resist temptation when it’s comes, and we are even tempted less and less in many areas. Until we see Jesus face to face, our prayer will continue to be that we are delivered from temptation and the evil one who tempts us.