Loved by God, Loving Others

Jesus and The New Covenant Exposed in Zephaniah 3

2012-02-22T14:16:00.000-06:00

Zephaniah 3 presents an amazing picture of Christ's first coming and what it is like for Christians because of it.

Excerpts from Zephaniah 3
“Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour on all My anger, All My burning wrath; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me.

I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down and no one will make them tremble.

Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away His judgments against you. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.

In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will quiet you with in His love, He will rejoice over you with dancing & shouts of joy."

I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth."

Zephaniah 3 Through the Jesus Lens
Notice God says that "I will rise up as a witness" that is talking about Jesus, God in the flesh. Revelation 1:5 & 3:14 call "Jesus Christ the trustworthy and true witness." Jesus said in John 18:37 that "He was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth."

"I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth." We know that Jesus healed the lame & associated with outcasts. The crippled, the lepers, and the other outcasts lived in shame day to day because of their sin & physical problems. Jesus sent so many people away praising God when he healed them or forgave them. Because of scripture these people are still renown all over the world to this day. Interestingly the word "save" in the New Testament can also mean "heal" or "make whole."

God gathered the sins of "all nations and kingdoms" into the body of Christ and "poured out all His anger and wrath." The "sins of the world" were taken away (John 1:29), devoured by the fire of His passion against sin.

After that (the cross & resurrection) God gives everyone the ability to "call on the name of the Lord" without any barriers. He makes men righteous with His own righteousness so they now have "purified lips." We can "serve Him shoulder to shoulder!" That speaks not only of the indwelling Spirit of God but also the friendship between us and Christ. It also speaks of the equality of peoples in Christ's kingdom, no one is above another.

"In that day you will feel no shame(!) because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me." This refers to our experience of trusting that Christ took away our sins and holds nothing against us. There is no need to feel guilt or shame. Thank you God!

"I will leave among you a humble and lowly people" This is how Christ walked on the earth while "taking refuge in the name (character, person) of the Lord."

"The remnant of Israel (Christians) will do no wrong and tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths" This speaks of the sinless spirits born into children of God. Our true identity in Christ is our sinless spirits who do no wrong. 1 John 5:17-19 says, "All wrongdoing is sin. We know that anyone born of God does not sin (does no wrong). We know that we are children of God." Only our spirits are "born of God" we didn't physically crawl into another womb so this all speaks of the "new creation" spirits God has gifted us with.

"For they will feed and lie down and no one will make them tremble." This speak of Jesus becoming our Good/Great Shepherd, the guardian of our souls (mind, earthly life). This also reminds me of the boldness of those in Acts. They had no fear in spreading the Good News of what God has done for us through Jesus.

"The Lord has taken away His judgments (ordinances) against you." Colossians 2:14 tells us that Jesus, "Wiped out the written ordinances (God's Old Covenant laws) that were against us and that stood opposed to us. He took them away and nailed them to the cross." Ephesians 2:15 also tells us that "Jesus abolished in His flesh by His death on the cross the Law of commandments contained in ordinances." Not only was the requirement to keep the law taken away but Jesus also took God's punishments (judgments against us) for our sins.

"The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst." This speaks of Jesus coming to earth to live among people. The word "midst" here can not only mean "among" but also "in," "within," "in the inward/inner part," and even "in your body." So this also speaks of the miraculous indwelling of God in His people because of Jesus.

"You will fear disaster no more." 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment." We who have the Spirit of God living in us do not need to fear disaster or punishment from God. But the "disaster" spoken of here may mean "evil." We no longer have to fear evil. 1 John 5:18 says, "Jesus keeps His people, and the evil one does not touch them." 1 John 5:4 says, "Whoever is born of God overcomes the world through trust." 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "The Lord is trustworthy & loyal. He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." 1 John 2:13-14 assures us that evil can be overcome.

"The Lord your God is a victorious warrior." Notice it says, "victorious warrior." Christ achieved that victory over sin and death on the cross.

"Shout for joy.. Shout in triumph.. Rejoice and exult with all your heart.." There are so many reasons just listed above for us to do this! What a foretelling of the grace and favor of God, but that is not all..

Behold God's View of You because of Jesus:
The Lord your God is with you. He takes great delight in you. He will comfort you with His love. In His love He will no longer mark you as immoral. He rejoices over you with singing and shouts of joy! He is so glad about knowing you that He twirls around dancing!

Recap

Things Taken Away Because of Jesus:
The sins of the world
God holding sins against mankind
God's anger towards mankind
God punishing us
Shame & Guilt from past sin and rebellion against God
Shame & Guilt in General
God's Old Covenant Laws
Fear of punishment from God
Fear of evil
Fear in General
Physical problems
Loneliness

Things Given Because of Jesus:
Jesus Himself
Freedom for all people to call upon the Lord with no barriers
We are born of God, children of God, with a new righteous, sinless spirit (our "new man" or "new creation")
God lives inside us & is always with us
We work with God "shoulder to shoulder" in a cooperative walk of loving others.
We work with others "shoulder to shoulder" in a cooperative walk of loving others.
Equality of all God's followers
The spiritual traits of humility & honesty
Protection and security because of God's character
Jesus as our Great Shepherd who feeds us, gives us rest, guards us from fear, & guards our minds and lives
Boldness concerning our God
Reasons to thank God and rejoice
Victory over sin, the world, the evil one, and death
Comfort
Healing
God's grace, His favor. He loves us so much He sings, shouts, and spins over us!

Get the T-Shirt?
I don't intend to shill but I came across some of this scripture last year. I made and gave my wife's cousin this shirt for Christmas. So since I already made and its related I'll offer it here. You can get this women's shirt for around $21. Click on the image below to buy.

The Good News of Justice

2012-02-21T13:14:00.001-06:00

Christ died for sins one time for all people, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The just, Jesus, died for the unjust, mankind. Because of this justice is no longer defined by mankind getting rewarded or punished according to our deeds. Now justice is that all people be saved by trusting Jesus so that Jesus gets who is due Him. Before the cross justice was mankind getting punishment for sin. After the cross justice is the Savior getting who He paid for.

So to seek justice now is not to desire that evil be punished although destructive people should still be prevented from harming others. Jesus was already punished for all of mankind's evil. Seeking justice on Christ's behalf is to desire that all men come to know God.

No one deserves punishment because every one's debt has been paid in full and God's forgiveness is a gift waiting to be opened. Come to know Him to share in His riches. God has made relationship with Himself fully available. Come to Him trusting His goodness to embark in that relationship. You can't benefit from a relationship if you refuse to engage with the other person. God is always better than you think.

When you trust Jesus God gives you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). God has given you His Son and because of that He will not hold back from freely giving you all good things in His good timing (Romans 8:32). In fact once you trust Him you receive every spiritual blessing that exists (Ephesians 1:3). We enjoy His gifts and blessings by simply knowing & trusting that they are given.

Obey: An Invitation to Cooperation

2012-02-20T15:51:00.001-06:00

Obedience to God is something that comes out of love for Him and others. Sadly most seem to focus more on obeying than loving. Obedience is made out to be nothing more than adherence to the commands & principles of scripture. True obedience is loving cooperation through the spirit. With God we never walk or work alone.

Obedience starts with Jesus as a friend saying, "Can we do this together?" or with me saying, "I see what you are doing here God. Do you want me to join in?" Obedience still ends with a simple "yes" or "no" but God offers no punishment, anger, condemnation, or loss of favor if you choose not to cooperate. Christ already paid for our sins and God understands us fully. He knows who we are, where we are, and every intent of our minds & hearts. He wants to kindly love us to loving cooperation, to change our minds about our refusals. While not all of His loving feels painless at the time He does nothing out of anger, selfishness, or dissatisfaction. God is our helper and our comforter and our friend. Nothing changes us so effectively as His loving-kindness.

Obedience isn't a giving into Christ's demands but a giving out of His love and life in us. We work with Him to carry out His kindness.

We Are Free Spirits Living in Flesh and Bone

2012-02-16T14:40:00.001-06:00

Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 John 5:1).

At salvation we receive a new and living spirit that is born of God. Who we really are is our spirit. To call yourself a child of God is to identify yourself by your spirit. God calls us His children and exclusively identifies us by our spirit. Our spirits are righteous, holy, pure, clean, perfect, sinless, and so much more.

When our spirit is born from above we do not lose our flesh. Our flesh is our physical body which is genetically hardwired to sin. With God we are to put to death the deeds of the flesh, refuse to offer our body parts to sin, & allow our mind to be renewed. With these things, mainly allowing God to renew our mind, our outward actions will meet our inward reality. We will "rewire" our flesh.

In 2 Corinthians 5:1-3 our body, the flesh, is called a tent. A tent is a temporary but portable dwelling place. Our body, including our mind, is a faulty tent that needs repairs. We carry it with us until we die. We aren't supposed to determine our identity based on the flesh because God does not identify us that way. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). "We are not in the flesh but in the Spirit because the Spirit of God lives in us. We belong to God" (Romans 8:9). "Because Christ died for all we no longer regard anyone according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

Romans 8:20,23 says, "The creation itself ALSO will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the (spirit born) children of God. We groan within ourselves waiting eagerly for the redemption of our body." We are alredy set free in spirit but the physical world and our physical bodies are not. Why didn't Jesus fix the physical world at the cross too? 2 Corinthians 4 tells us, "We have this treasure (the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ) in jars of clay (earthen vessels, our flesh, our body) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." God chose to display His strength in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) so people would know that it is God who works in us to love (Philippians 2:13). Seeing His kindness through us leads them to trust Him (Romans 2:4) to receive His love and His strength.

We, who we really are in our spirit, are dead to (separated from) sin but our flesh is not. Sin cannot stain your spirit. Sin is not a spiritual issue with the Christian. God removed that issue when Christ died for us. Sin is only a humanly relational, physical, & practical issue. It is only an issue between you & God if you don't understand your total forgiveness & new identity in Christ. Even then God is not charging you with sin or counting anything against you. You are just walking in ignorance unable to experience your freedom in Christ. Your ignorance, mistrust, or disbelief are the only possible barriers between you and God. But that doesn't make what Christ did for you less true nor does it mean that God is creating or validating any barriers. You just cannot experience the joy of that truth if you are unaware of it or don't trust it to be true.

The Christian life is very simple and relational. It in many ways works just like normal life except there are many aspects that seem too good to be true. When you trust that they are true you get to enjoy those aspects. If you don't know the truth or trust the truth then the truth doesn't make you aware of your freedom. We are already set free but so many of us have not walked out of our perceived prison cell to enjoy our freedom.

An Alternate Look at The Great Commission

2012-02-14T16:29:00.001-06:00

Jesus said to His disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore as all of you are going make disciples of all the nations, immersing them in the character of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to treasure everything I have commanded you. And look, I Myself am with you every day, even to the end of the age." (Mathew 28:18-20)

Immerse Disciples in God's Character
The word baptize means immerse. I most places in scripture God's "name" is equivalent to God's character, His loving personality, His nature. So I think what Jesus was saying was two fold, first the outward display of water baptism, second the immersing of the disciples in the full character of God.

The Character of God the Father
Compassionate; Gracious; Slow to Anger; Abounding in Mercy, Loving-kindness, Truth, Faithfulness, & Trustworthiness; Forgiving Wickedness, Rebellion and Sin

The Character of Jesus
Servant; Did Not Lord It over Others; Lead by Example; Humble; As A Child; As the Younger; As the Least; Last; Used No Force on Us; Was Not Driven by Selfish Ambition; Made Himself of No Reputation; Was Fully Human; Obedient Even Unto Death

The Character of the Holy Spirit
Comforter; Stays with us; Guide Us into All Truth; Testifies of Jesus; Convinces the world of sin to lead them to trust Jesus; Convinces Christians of their Righteousness in Christ Jesus; Reminds Satan of his coming Judgment; Does Not Speak of Himself; Shows Us Things to Come; Glorifies Jesus

For more on God's Character Listen to these books by Gayle Erwin.

Teach Disciples to Treasure Jesus's Commands
The word typically translated as obey here can also be translated as keep and has the idea of treasuring. "Treasure everything I have commanded you." This says a lot more than just enforcing rules with no reason given as to why the commands are helpful. What do people treasure? They treasure their families, pets, memories. Treasuring is profoundly personal. It isn't an "Oh well if I have too." It is a "Wow I love this! It is good for you and good for me!"

John directly received the commission from Jesus. In 1 John 3:23 John summarized the commands of Jesus.
1. Trust God
2. Love others as God has loved you.

For more on the commands of Jesus read my post Trust and Love, Everything We Need

Don't Should on Yourself and Don't Should on Anyone Else

2012-02-10T14:26:00.000-06:00

Whenever you tell someone they "should" do something you put a burden on them. It makes them try to want to want. A pure desire isn't motivated by mustered up passion. It is motivated by God's love. When we feel unworthy, scared, lazy, or indifferent God would love it if we came to Him and said, "Lord I can't change how I feel. Reveal to me how you are loving me in this moment and in this day. I know your love will change me."

We put so many shoulds on ourselves that we feel bad or selfish if we don't just get out there and do things for God. The fact is we always please God. We please Him even more by allowing Him to please us by showing us His affection for us. Nothing changes us more effectively than that. We love because He first loved us. Should says, "If you don't or can't you are bad." God as love says, "I'm good so you can."

Those who would call this is too mushy speak from their own pride. They are the type that say, "Just give me an order & I can do it!" True love is only produced by recognizing God's love. Obedience cannot produce love but love produces obedience. Mutual affection is the root of our cooperation with God.

Older People as Guides not Officials as Governors

2012-02-09T16:15:00.001-06:00

Translators assume the church institution and its hierarchical authority system when translating the scriptures. Our translations and even our lexicons are skewed by this mindset. Words are chosen that veil or utterly replace their true meaning in the original text. This causes much confusion and has lead to sin, oppression, and death for hundreds of years. It causes our world view to be less like that of Jesus Christ and our study of scripture to be hindered. We have translated many words that meant only common things at the time of Christ into spiritual words, offices, and titles when the context is what properly defines who or what these common words are referring to.

Elder means "Older" not "Office"
Presbuteros is the Greek word traditionally translated "elder." Presbuteros is an adjective that means "older." It can be masculine or feminine which means it can be best defined as "older man" or "older woman." In the New Testament presbuteros always means a person who is older in age and nothing more. It is not a title but a word of comparison. The meaning of presbuteros never includes a function, title, responsibility or "office." But one can usually learn more about the older person from the context. Context identifies who the older person is and what they do.

In the times of the Bible, it was a very important to honor and respect people who were older. This certainly is a very good, Godly concept. But tradition has turned this good attitude into a "one-way-street" of rulership. Tradition makes an elder into a position of authority which makes him more important than other people and this reinforces our unbiblical ideas of hierarchy. By no means is "elder" a title of authority over others, or a rulership. An elder is an older person. Older people are expected to be a good example to younger people. (More information on presbuteros).

Pastor means "Shepherd" not "One Man Leader"

Poimen is the Greek word translated "pastor." Poimen is a noun that means "shepherd." It is primarily used literally of shepherds such as the shepherds in the field at the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:8. It is used figuratively of Jesus the good/great shepherd. The noun form is used only once figuratively to refer to people other than Christ and that is in Ephesians 4:11, this is the only place where it is translated as the word "pastors." The word pastor comes from the Latin word pastor which means shepherd. At the time of the King James translation pastor was already a title/office in the church and the word was placed here deliberately instead of the word shepherd to justify the existence of this unbiblical office in order to keep authority over people in the church by the clergy. Poimen always refers to the function or duties of a shepherd (whether figurative or literal); IT IS NEVER A TITLE. It is better not to translate it, "pastor," inasmuch as today this word is used as a title for men who perform functions not described in the New Testament.

In Ephesians 4:11 poimen appears in the plural best translated as "shepherds" and is coupled with the word for "teachers" this means all shepherds are teachers. It also means that a singular shepherd/pastor is not found in scripture outside of Jesus Christ. There are shepherds in the assembly but no mention what-so-ever of a one man leader called a shepherd/pastor. (More information on poimen, see also the history of the office of pastor 1 2).

The verb form of poimen is poimaino which means "to act as a shepherd, to tend, feed, provide needs, care for," basically to do the things a shepherd would do. It is translated usually as "shepherd (the verb)," "to shepherd" or "feed."

Overseer is not an Office
Episkopos is the Greek word traditionally translated "overseer" (it is maliciously translated as bishop in the KJV to once again justify an office in the church). This word is currently well translated. An overseer is one who watches over another or others to guard. Overseer is translated as guardian in 1 Peter 2:25. They are relational watchtower guards.

In 1 Timothy 3:1 some translations use after "if any man aspires to" the phrase "the office of overseer" or "the office/position of bishop" (KJV, NKVJ, NASB, NET, BBE, NRSV). There is however no Greek word that represents the word "office" in that verse and it has been completely added into the text. It is properly translated "if any man aspires to oversight" where "oversight" is the related Greek word episkope which means to watch over. It doesn't even use the noun episkopos for overseer so there is certainly no justification to use "the office of overseer" in this text. Episkopos is never used as a title in the New Testament. (More information on episkopos).

The Older Men were Overseers & Shepherds

Now that we know what the words mean let us look at who these people are in scripture. [Hence forth presbuteros will be translated as "older men," poimen will be translated as "shepherd," and episkopos will still be translated as "overseer"].

Acts 20:17-35
From Miletus Paul sent a message to Ephesus, telling the older men of the assembly to come to him. When they arrived, he said to them, “... You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying to both Jews and Greeks about changing their minds toward God and trust in our Lord Jesus. ... I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all. For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God. Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears. And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

We see here that the older men (elders) of the assembly (people) have been made overseers by the Holy Spirit and are to shepherd the assembly (people) of God. The duty to shepherd and to watch over is given to the older men. When we see the word overseers in scripture or shepherds (in Ephesians 4:11) we can deduce that these are talking about the older men of God, the elders. The older men of God are given the charge to watch over and act as shepherds to the younger people of God.

The older men were respected because they were seen as more spiritually matured than others among them. They were called "shepherds" in because they were already feeding (teaching) the flock. They were called "overseers" because they were already watching out for the flock. They were not doing these things because some group of Christians "appointed" them, but because the Holy Spirit "made" them overseers. Again, a man in the New Testament is called "elder" because of what he is: older and more mature in Christ; he is called "overseer" because of what he is doing, watching out for the spiritual condition of the people; and he is called "shepherd" because of what he is doing, teaching & guarding the younger. These older people naturally set the example for the kind of character God wants all His people to have.

How Today's Offices Differ from God's Functions
Just looking at this text from Acts let us look at how today's "pastors" and "elders" differ from what Paul spoke of here & how today's offices cause them to display the negative aspects he warns against.

"Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God"
Today's pastors have little to no relationship with the people they supposedly shepherd. You can't shepherd without a relationship. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said He knows His sheep by name. Pastors of larger churches couldn't possibly know all the people's names. This is why Christian communities took care of one another. The older looked out for the younger. Today's pastors & elders may see-over a crowd from the stage but few guard other's hearts.

Today's self professed "leaders" are like the older brother who tries to boss his younger siblings around claiming "Dad put me in charge" when Dad did no such thing. To be "watching out" for someone means you know where they are. The sheer reality of the man made pastoral office makes this impossible. Today's pastor is the rock star that might talk to you briefly after a performance but is too busy and has too many fans to take a real interest in almost anyone.

"Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them."
Paul warned that even of the men there some will exercise undue authority over God's flock. Rather than watching over and guarding the flock the older men themselves will become the wolves. Why would they do this? To "draw the disciples away after themselves." How often this still happens! Many churches speak more praise of their pastor than they do of Jesus. The pastor's name is always the one on the church sign while the name of Jesus, the only name given by which men can be saved, is absent.

Certainly "perversions of the truth" are taught wittingly or unwittingly in order to bolster the authority of the leaders. So many have selfish ambition and the others are blind to the enemies lies that keep them as substitute for Christ (antichrists) at worst and distractions from Christ at best. Those who intend to rule well still intend to rule. The more you want followers the less likely you will continue following Christ yourself. When this happens the blind truly lead the blind. Jesus is never blind. Let us follow Him and be willing to listen to those who wish to point us toward Him.

"The message of God's grace (favor) is able to build you up."
So very many pastors don't preach God's grace but a mix of the old and new covenant where people are saved by God's unconditional favor (grace) but must maintain a relationship with God by keeping laws and being constantly aware of what could be considered sin. They tear people down with blanket behavioral judgments & condemnation. They speak the lie of God's near constant dissatisfaction with us rather than His favor and love. When oppressive men teach an oppressive God they block, discredit, or even demonize the light of freedom.

"I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. .. It is more blessed to give than to receive."
This is simple. Today's pastors are paid professionals. They don't provide for their own needs nor the needs of those around them. They are the takers not the givers. They live off of the people. Many desire silver and gold if not for themselves then for their church building to outshine the one across the street.

Conclusion
Today almost all think of elders, overseers, and pastors as official positions of leadership given to whoever is "trained and ordained" but they are actually older people who guide by example & teaching and who guard over the younger children of God. It is a voluntary act of service to God and others. "If anyone aspires to watch over others it is a good work he desires" (1 Timothy 3:1).

Because of the professional pastor and authoritative church elders older men who are to truly shepherd and watch over God's people are disqualified from serving God(!) by the church! The church has replaced personal protectors with impersonal professional preachers! This means that countless more are attacked by fierce wolves and drawn away to false teachers because of this replacement. Which is more beneficial? One impersonal professional preacher per church building or a community of older men invested in personally looking out for and guiding the younger Christians? You can trace the Christian generational gap right to the pulpit of your local church.

Yes some wise men still do what older Christian men are supposed to do, thank God, but our preacher loving church system has largely robbed generation after generation of people of the wisdom, guidance, and guardianship of our older people.

Translation
In secular usage elder is an excellent translation (although it does not denote the gender) but because the church's traditions of an elder being an office/title/position of authority I think it would be much better to translate it differently. I prefer the term "older man" to "elder" because it gives us a clear idea of what the scripture is talking about. It also personalizes the text much more than a word often thought to refer to a position of authority. A position that is illegitimate in God's eyes anyway.

When you think "The older men who guide well are to be considered worthy of double honor" (1 Timothy 5:17) you can think of any lovingly helpful older person and thus value them as God intends. But we instead think of this as referring to someone in the office of elder or pastor honoring them in title rather than actual guidance because they are leaders in name but do not necessarily personally lead you.

Presbuteros was also used to refer to older men in Jewish leadership positions and is usually coupled with "chief priests and scribes" in the context letting us know this fact. The word presbuteros on its own does not include an idea of authority anymore than me saying "I saw an older man at the store" means "I saw a Jewish Rabbi at the store."

1 Peter 5:5 makes it obvious that presbuteros is not a title or position when it says, "You younger men be willing to yield & cooperate with the older men." "Younger man" is not a title or office and there is no scriptural reason to assume "older man" is either. Titus 2 also speaks to both older men and older women in regards to how they are to relate with younger men and women.

Quick Word Reference

Shepherd for Poimen instead of Pastor
Poimen means Shepherd and should not be translated as Pastor.
Pastor causes us to think of the sole authoritative leader of a local church organization/building. This is an utterly foreign concept to the New Testament.
Pastor hides/replaces the true meaning of shepherd and the figurative implications that were intended by God.

Older Man for Presbuteros instead of Elder
Presbuteros means Older and can be singular "older man," plural "older men," and has a feminine form "older woman/women."
In secular usage elder is an excellent translation (although it does not denote the gender).
The church's traditions of an elder being an office/title/position of authority remove the meaning of "older man" for "office of."
Thinking of older people instead of people in positions causes us to give greater consideration to the actual older men and women among us as God intended.

Service for Diakonia instead of Ministry
Diakonia means Service and should not be translated as Ministry which means the class or occupation of church leadership.
Service is work done for the benefit of others. At the time of the KJV ministry meant "the function of a priest" & "office of priest" and today pretty much means the same thing just swap priest for pastor. Today most see ministry as a specially called occupational field that you "go into" like cops goes into law enforcement ministers go into ministry.
Few see ministry as simply the act of serving others and instead see it as a life-long position or type of work God tells you to do. That mindset causes people to take God's direction as a destination. It makes them see God's will as "Here is your career assignment. See you in heaven." When God's temporal guidance is taken as a life-long mission you think you no longer need to talk to God. That you've found His will and now you can do it. This idea of ministry sees God as an employer who sends you away instead of an empathetic friend who walks with you.

Servant for Diakonos instead of Minister or Deacon
Diakonos means Servant and should not be translated as minister which means leader or deacon which is an unbiblical hierarchical office.
This word was literally translated as the opposite of its meaning. The word minister (a person not a verb) was transliterated too from the Latin and Latin was the language of the Catholic Church which already had ministras (transliterated ministers) as men in power over other men well before the KJV was written. Minister meaning "priest" in English started in the early 14th century (1301-1400). Considering the grim & bloody history of the institutional church there is no reason to assume any translation choice to not be tarnished intentionally to serve their leaders, buildings, and system. It is no wonder they chose to transliterate so many words from Latin into English or use the English words that originated from Latin that were already associated with the church. It allowed the meaning to be related to their religion instead of the clear idea of a "servant" that those apart from religion/church could understand and thus freely trust in God and serve Him instead of the church system and its men in power.

See Also:
My Notes on Elders in the Church & Older People in the Assembly, it talks about older men being "appointed/ordained," the so called "qualifications," and the possible age range of these people.
My post The Word Leaders in the New Testament, it talks about why "one above another" authority and honorary titles are forbidden by Jesus.
Frank Viola's Straight Talk to Pastors E-Book (PDF), it looks at the elders/older men of the assemblies in scripture by going through the New Testament Chronologically.

Forgivenness

2012-02-09T09:29:00.002-06:00

God in His foresight has already forgiven you of all of your sins (Colossians 2:13). Jesus made it to where you cannot damage your standing or relationship with Him on His side.

God does not count sins against you (2 Corinthians 5:19). So He doesn't want you to live as though He does. Because He is not counting sins against you it is not good for you to count things against yourself. God wants us to come to Him with our struggles but He also knows that focusing on past destructive actions does not better us. I used to go and confess lusts and it would bring the lusts back into my head and body. It is better for us not to be conscious of sin (Hebrews 10:1-2). We're told in Romans 6:11 to consider ourselves dead to sin. Why? Because we are. We are dead to sin (Romans 6:2). Dead men don't react, confess, or turn. God doesn't want us to live a lie or to pretend. He wants us to join Him in reality and what a wonderful reality He has provided for us in Jesus!

Our relationship with God is superior to our relationships with others because God is perfectly & selflessly loving. He never gets offended or angry because He put that on Jesus when He condemned sin in His body. God cares for our well-being so much that at the cross He removed anything that could possibly stand between Him and us. His forgiveness is already completed and we get to enjoy that reality all the time when we recognize it is complete. If we don't recognize His complete forgiveness then asking Him for forgiveness allows us to experience His forgiveness. Asking God for forgiveness doesn't gain new forgiveness, God doesn't have to forgive us again anymore than He has to be crucified again. Asking God for forgiveness just taps into what has been there since Jesus rose again.

It is great to have an open, honest relationship with God but it becomes even more wonderful when we live in the truth of what Jesus has done for us.

Being A New Man

2012-02-06T13:52:00.000-06:00

Our spirit is born of God thus making us children of God. The new creation we are in Christ is our spirit, obviously we still have our old bodies. "The new creation has been created in God’s image. It is righteous and holy" (Ephesians 4:24). Our spirit is born of God and is sinless and perfect.
    "No one who is born of God sins." (1 John 5:18)
    "By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are saints" (Hebrews 10:14).

"Because Christ died for all we no longer regard anyone according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16). We are to identify ourselves by our spirit. Thus we "put off the old man," no longer identify with him thus serving the flesh and "put on the new man," regard ourselves as we really are in the spirit as righteous, holy, sinless, perfect, & much more.

Romans 6:6 says, "Our old man is crucified with Jesus." The old man is already dead and gone so "putting off the old man" is putting him off of our mind. "Putting on the new man" is putting him on our mind and all the goodness that God has created in him.

To walk in the spirit is to walk according to the truth about your new spirit. You allow God to renew your mind so it will trust in the truth of who your Father has made you. A Child of God doesn't strive to win but rests in the victory of their loving Father and their older brother Jesus.

God's Old Target, Our Own Targets, Jesus's Victory Party

2012-02-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

The Target of God's Law Before the Cross
Sin means "to miss the mark." The law is like a target with multiple marks to hit that hangs close above your head. Whatever you shoot at it that misses the marks falls back down as sin. No human being has the skill to hit every mark every time and will in fact miss most of the time.

The more laws you know the more marks you see on the target. The target lowers the more you miss the marks. Jesus came along and taught the law to the fullest. Those who thought they had always been hitting the "not committing adultery" mark every time found out the mark was much smaller and harder to hit because adultery is "looking with lust." The majority who seemed to easily hit the "do not murder" law found out that they had been missing it most of the time when Jesus said "hate is murder in the heart." At this point people are being crushed flat by the target with no room to shoot or even lift up their bow. When that happens the law fulfills its purpose by getting people to cry out "Help me Lord! I can't do this by myself!"

This illustrated the experiential reality of the law. It was meant to crush self-righteousness out of people so they would appeal to God for His mercy. The spiritual reality was if you missed one mark one time you would be as guilty as one who missed every mark every time.

Our Targets of Rules After the Cross
God's law target was removed at the cross because Jesus hit all the marks Himself. There are no God imposed marks on a target to hit. Christ took away the sin of the world so there is no more hit or miss mentality with God. There is just an open armed invitation of "Trust me to experience the abundant life of my love."

If you trust Him Jesus puts you under grace. Grace reaches high into the heavens and sends down beams of love. Where you stand under grace is high off the ground from where the law was. If you build a new target (a set of laws, rules, principles, obligations, & expectations) you experientially fall from grace, stand on the ground, and put the target over your head. The target blocks many of God's beams of love and grace and you feel down and lowly. You keep yourself from experiencing God by putting yourself under a law target. Under your own law you keep your own score. You condemn yourself (feel guilt and shame) by keeping score. God is not counting anymore because His law was fulfilled by Jesus.

Some people put themselves under law as a means of inflating their ego. They choose what they are good at & put that up as a target. Then they look down on others who don't have the same target with the same marks. Having any target makes you self-righteous because you aren't relying on God's grace or the righteousness of Christ.

The Victory Party
Jesus hit every mark every time. The archery contest is over and Jesus has won! He invites you to share in His victory. Jesus did all the work and you get the same benefits of the victory as He does! You could say that salvation is trusting that Jesus really did win and accepting His invitation to His victory party.

The apostles were whipped and beaten and they rejoiced about it (Acts 5:40-41). Paul and Silas sang praises while bound in a horrid jail (Acts 16:25). Jesus' victory was so great for these guys that even persecution was a party! And the law is taken away so this party has no rules! Who needs rules when you're partying with the most loving guy in the universe? His good company improves our character!

Party on, Christians! Party on, Jesus!

The Gospel, Good News for the Whole World

2012-01-31T11:40:00.002-06:00

Because Jesus took sin into Himself on the cross so God could pour out His wrath for sin:
God is not putting sins into anyone's account.
God is not counting anyone's sins.
God is not charging anyone with sin.
God is not crediting anyone with sin.

God doing this makes relationship with Himself 100% freely available to all who choose to trust Jesus.

Jesus took everyone's sins into His account. They were counted, charged, and credited against Him. The Son of God paid all of the judgment & punishment required for all sins on the cross. When Jesus said "It is finished" that was a term that also meant "paid in full." Because of Jesus God no longer looks at anyone with regard to sin. God does not relate to anyone based on sin!

Sin is not being charged to the world. The sins of the world are taken away. After Jesus rose to life we now live in a pure relational reality with no spiritual barriers standing between us and God. The words believe and faith both mean trust. Choosing to trust the person of Jesus is the only requirement of salvation.

I can either choose to trust a person to engage in a relationship with that person or I can choose not to trust that person and thus have no relationship with them. Salvation is a pure relational reality that is offered with no spiritual barriers. No barriers of sin, work, deed, or law ever exist for anyone because of the cross! Trust Jesus and live loved!

"God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become united with God." (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)

Our Perceptions Do Not Change God's Realities (Galatians)

2012-01-24T22:35:00.001-06:00

Sin is defined by the law. Sin means "to miss the mark." Jesus took away that target, the law, by His death on the cross. "Jesus canceled our debt to the law that that stood against us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). Romans 4:15 says, "Where there is no law there is no sin." Galatians 3:25 tells us that we who trust Christ are not under the law. The law condemns (2 Corinthians 3:9). It judges us as guilty. God removed us from under the law and put us under His grace (Romans 6:14). In Christ we are no longer found guilty of sin, condemned because of sin, or even charged with sin (Romans 5:13). We are not sinners. This is one reason why 1 John 3:9 says, "Every child of God cannot commit sin and is not able to sin." With this in mind let us look at Galatians 2 and what it means for the Christian to "find himself to be a sinner."

The Law Views Every Man as a Sinner Even If God Does Not
Galatians 2 talks about how Peter, who lives by trust in Christ, compelled the Gentiles to live like the Jews by putting themselves under the law. Galatians 2:14 tells us that Paul said to Peter, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" Paul goes on to say, "We know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through trust in Christ Jesus. We have trusted in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by trust in Christ and not by the works of the Law since no one will be justified by the works of the law." He then says "If, while seeking to be justified in Christ (as Peter does), we ourselves have also been found sinners (by putting ourselves under the law), is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! If I rebuild what I have once destroyed (the law), I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God" (Galatians 2:16-19).

When we put ourselves under the law we rebuild what was once destroyed, the target of the law. Today we can set up our own target which is usually made up of old covenant laws, new testament commands, extracted principles, traditions, & personal obligations & expectations. Colossians 2:23 tells us that "These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, self-denial, and severe bodily discipline but they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires."

When we put up a target (put ourselves under law) we "find ourselves to be sinners" (Galatians 2:17) and "prove ourselves to be transgressors." Peter was in a sense making sinners out of Gentile saints by requiring them to keep the law. They became sinners in their own eyes. This is talking about our perception and how our life will be lived out but not God's perception. What this scripture tells us is that if we judge ourselves by the law we will always find ourselves to be guilty because as James 2:10 says, "The person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws."

Remember God does not judge us by the law but by our trust in Jesus. That is the point of what Paul is saying here. Paul was not charging Peter with sin. Galatians 2:17 was not saying, "Just because Peter, who seeks to be justified by trust in Christ, sinned doesn't mean Christ is a servant of sin." The story Paul told could be exchanged for any example of a Christian sinning if that was his point. Paul was addressing the fact that if the law charges you with sin because you put yourself under it that does not mean God is charging you with sin. Being under the law does mean you will live like a transgressor (sinner) because you cannot keep the law and not keeping the law will cause you to feel condemned. This is how our lives play out under the law but it is not our spiritual reality in Christ. In Christ we are not condemned and we are not found to be sinners. If you put yourself under the law Christ will not ignore His own blood and put you under the law too. That cannot happen!

If we who trust in Jesus don't rebuild the law we prove ourselves not to be transgressors (sinners) because we are under grace & not under the law (Romans 6:14). If we count ourselves as sinners by putting ourselves under the law that does not mean that "Christ is a server of sin" (Galatians 2:17). Sin does not come out from Christ and we are in Him! Our perception does not change God's reality. Our perception can make our lives miserable but it does not change the truth of the cross! We do not become unborn. The new creation of our spirit is still sinless.

Nullifying Grace
"I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by trusting in the trustworthiness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God (by putting myself under the law), for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:19-21).

To "nullify the grace of God" means to not live by it. Grace becomes null, nothing, in your life if you put yourself under the law. It doesn't change the fact that God has grace (favor) for you. Putting yourself under the law doesn't remove the true power of the cross to save and make you righteous before God but it does empty it of its power in your day to day life.

People throw around the term "cheap grace" referring to a message that doesn't talk about the "need for repentance" by which they mean turning from sin. How do I turn from something Christ already took away? All salvation requires is that I trust Christ and receive His forgiveness & grace which He bought for me at the cross. The true "cheap grace" is that which says, "What Jesus paid was too cheap. I have to add to it." We are the pearl of great price not Christ because He gave all He had, His life, to get us. That is a parable of His love not of our obligation. If I'm still indebted then Jesus didn't pay it all. Paul was pointing out that trying to be justified by the law for salvation or for daily living ignores the grace of God and the cross of Christ. This is why he says in Galatians 3:3 "Are you so foolish to think that having begun by the Spirit that you are now being perfected by the flesh?"

Paul continues in Galatians 3 and tells us why the law was given and how it is no longer of use to those who are children of God. Paul points out that the Galatians are sons born of the Spirit of God (Galatians 4:6) but they have turned back to the law and the weak and worthless things which bring them into bondage (Galatians 4:9). Galatians 5:18 tells us that a man cannot be led by the Spirit if he is under the law. This is because by default they follow the law rather than the Spirit. They, as Romans 7:6 speaks of, live by the old way of the letter (external rules) and not the new way of the Spirit (internal relationship with God).

"Stand firm in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Every man who receives circumcision is a debtor to do the whole law. You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. Christ will profit you nothing" (Galatians 5:1-4).

The person who gets circumcised desiring to be justified by the law views himself as a debtor to God. God does not want to relate to us as debtors who try to pay him back. God wants us to live free by recognizing He paid the whole debt. Notice this is about how we live our lives not our spiritual reality in Christ. Galatians 5:6 says, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but trust working through love." Paul's point is that physically receiving circumcision isn't the issue (Timothy was circumcised in Acts 16:3). The condition of your physical body doesn't matter to God. Only trust working through love matters to Him and that comes by the Spirit and not by the law because the law is not based on trust (Galatians 3:12). If you put yourself under the law you walk by the flesh and not by trust in Jesus. This is why Paul says, "If we live by the Spirit (are reborn), let us also walk by the Spirit (put our minds on and trust in Jesus)."

Again this is about how we live our lives not our spiritual reality in Christ. Galatians 6:15-16 says, "In Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. As many as walk by this rule (that only new creation counts), peace and mercy be on them." Christ doesn't care about your flesh. Jesus said in John 6:63, "The flesh counts for nothing." What matters is if your spirit is a new creation. When you understand that then peace and mercy will be upon you. You will experience peace and have mercy when you "no longer regard anyone (including yourself) according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16). Trust Jesus using the spirit of your new creation. This is the only kind of trust because your spirit can relationally communicate with Jesus as it is seated with Him beyond what we can see.

The spirit of the Christian is sinless (1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18, Romans 7:17). Putting yourself under the law makes you count yourself as a sinner. If you think you are a sinner you will act like a sinner. You will feel guilt, shame, and condemnation. You will be burdened with obligations and feel inadequate. You will think you owe God and if you don't pay He won't like you or relate to you. Your new creation, your new man, is designed by God to let Jesus live through it as you trust Him. The Good News is Jesus has already hit the bull’s eye for us! We are Christ’s and God is forever pleased with us.

Jesus Did Not Come To Call The Righteous to Repentance?

2012-01-24T16:24:00.001-06:00

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at Jesus's disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32)

The only definition of repentance in the New Testament is "a change of mind." I could change my mind about eating shrimp or I could change my mind about walking to the park. Both are a change of mind but they concern different things. Jesus was speaking of the specific change of mind that leads to someone trusting Jesus. We Christians have already made this change of mind.

Another translation for "saved" is "cured" or "made well." If you are "saved" you are no longer sick because Jesus "makes you well" thus you have no need to repent, that is to change your mind to trust Jesus to be saved, cured, or made well. You've already done it. I don't think Jesus was saying "I never call the righteous to change their mind about anything."

Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32). At the point where Jesus was saying this everyone was sick because He had not yet gone to the cross to cure people of sin with His blood. Jesus "ate and drank with the tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 5:30) because those who know they need a physician will accept treatment.

Those who are too proud to believe that they are sick or those who think they can cure themselves (in this case with their own good works) will reject the physician. Jesus didn't want to waste time with those who would reject Him. Jesus preferred to go to the spiritual hospitals of the humble rather than the houses of the self-righteous who refused treatment because they denied their sinful condition.

If you take repentance to mean "change of mind" which it does:

Righteous people don't need to change their mind from unbelief to trust in Jesus to be saved because they have already trusted in Christ and are already saved.
Righteous people don't need to change their mind as a whole because they have the mind of Christ. Who would want to get rid of that?
Righteous people do need to change their mind when they discover something they believe to be false.
Righteous people do need to change their mind about performing unloving actions. A change of mindset is much more effective and longer lasting than a mere change of action or behavior.
Righteous people do need to change their mind as God leads them to. He may lead you to change your mind about your perspectives, courses of action, manners of approach, about almost anything. Allow God to renew your mind by being open to Him and honest with Him. He may challenge you to change your mind about something you've always held to be true or something that is dear to you.

If you take repentance to mean "turn from sin" which it doesn't:

Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because as Acts 3:26 tells us "God raised up Jesus and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your sinful ways."
Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because Christ took away sin. What is there to turn away from if it is gone?
Righteous people don't need to turn from sin but scripture tells us to "put to death the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). That doesn't mean turn away from sin but to claim the victory that our righteousness through the blood of Christ has already won over it. Recognize His grace and by it you will reject godless ways and worldly desires (Titus 2:12).

Repentance is not primarily about sin. Repentance is an openness to God's leading and teaching with the trust in Him to follow His leading and agree with His teaching. Repentance is not trying to do better or feeling really bad about something you've done. Repentance is a change of mind for the better not the mind dwelling on the worse.

When you make repentance (changing your mind) into something you force yourself to think or do you aren't allowing Christ to renew your mind. You may unknowingly be trying to change yourself for the worse! Repentance is most often something natural and unspoken. It is like a child wanting a cookie who is then offered a piece of pie. The child forgets all about the cookie. Repentance is not a work we do to gain or regain God's approval. Repentance is agreeing and cooperating with God's revealed love.

Trusting God for Works of Love

2012-01-23T14:07:00.001-06:00

You are made right with God (justified, rendered righteous) by trusting Jesus.
Know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the trust of Jesus Christ. We have trusted in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the trust of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Galatians 2:16).

You give evidence (are justified) to others that you trust Jesus by what you do.
Trust without works is dead. Now someone may argue, “Some people have trust; others have works.” But I say, “How can you show me your trust if you don’t have works? I will show you my trust by my works.” By works a man is justified, and not by trust only" (James 2:17-18,24).

We show others that we are right with God by what we do, not by trust alone. Other people can't see our internal trust and relationship with Jesus but they can see us expressing our trust through love (Galatians 5:6).

Trust Without Works is Dead?
The context of James 2 speaks of showing others our trust by our works (v18). Invisible trust is as good as dead in the eyes of others. "Works" are acts of love. Loving acts let us show others that we trust Jesus. Jesus said in John 13:35, "By your love for one another all people will know that you are My disciples."

We are saved by trusting Jesus so we don't have to prove anything to God or earn anything from Him by works. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that "Long ago God prepared good works for us to do." Our ongoing trust results in us doing the good works God prepared for us to do.

Without love we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). "Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:7). Our trust expresses itself through love (Galatians 5:6) and loving acts are the natural result of walking with our loving Father by trust. Thus "trust without works is dead." Dead means it is a false trust, you are only pretending to trust Jesus, you don't know Him. "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:18). James and John were talking about the same thing. Works are acts of love done by God through you as you trust Him.

Please note that "trust" is the best translation of "faith" and "believe." See here and here for more.
See the two different meanings of justified.

The Discipline of the Lord, Our Loving Father Helping Us Grow

2012-01-21T11:00:00.000-06:00

"My son, do not lightly regard the discipline of the Lord, nor be irritated or grieved when refuted by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves like a father disciplines a son he is pleased with.” (Proverbs 3:11-12/Hebrews 12:5-6)

Refute (sometimes translated as rebuke) here means to correct, to lead you out of false beliefs. It hurts our ego to be corrected or to find out that we are wrong but God wants us to live in the truth. Discipline here means "the whole training and education of a child." The loving Father raises us as His own beloved children. He nurtures us. He helps us grow.

It is for discipline (God spurring you to growth) that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline (help grow, teach, train, nurture)? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline does not seem to be joyful but sorrowful or irritating, but afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:7-11).

We are already holy because of our birth in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:17). Jesus Himself is our holiness (1 Corinthians 1:30). To "share His holiness" means to share in the experience of His holiness. To reap the benefit of good, pure living as God intends. God may be very harsh with us at times to help us grow but it is never out of anger. God swore to never be angry with us again because of the blood of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 54:9). He disciplines us for our good. He has our best interests in mind.

We are already righteous (Romans 3:22). We are a good tree (Matthew 7:18). God wants righteous and peaceful fruit (love) to come out of us. God walks along side of us in love showing us affection, helping us grow, teaching us, & training us. Him doing this results in us trusting Him more and securely resting in Him (abiding). When we abide in Him we yield much fruit (John 15:5). That fruit is love (Galatians 5:22-23). Our abiding is the result of Him showing His loving kindness (grace) towards us and proving Himself to be trustworthy. His training results in our trusting which He uses to produce our loving. He loves us and His love (raising us as His child) causes us to love.

Jesus said in Revelation 3:19, "I refute and discipline those I love therefore be earnest and change your mind."
Here refute still means to correct, to lead you out of false beliefs. Discipline is a slightly different word that means "to teach and cause to learn." So Jesus was saying, "I lead those I love out of false beliefs and cause them to learn the truth. Let my love motivate you to eager sincerity to change your mind." In other words, Knowing that Jesus' love causes us to learn the beneficial truth there is no reason for us not to be eager to allow Him to renew our mind.

Trust and Love, Everything We Need

2012-01-19T12:22:00.002-06:00

"This is God's command: to trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us" (1 John 3:23). "In the name of his Son" means in the genuine reality of who Jesus is. Trust Jesus Himself and His loving character. "As he commanded" us is "To love one another as He has loved us" (John 13:34).

God's command (singular) is to trust Jesus and to love others as He has loved us. Galatians 5:6 says, "The ONLY thing that counts is trust being expressed through love." The only thing that counts is trust in Jesus being expressed through loving actions by God in you. This is the natural product of trusting Jesus thus "His commands are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). Our trust in Him naturally expresses love because He is the vine, He produces the love and love comes out of us as we trust Him.

Those residing in the vine bear much fruit (John 15:5). What is God's fruit? Love! The fruit of God's Spirit is love (singular). The rest of the list tells you what love consists of "joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, & self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). The Hebrew word for the Spirit of God is Ruach which means exhaling. He is forever breathing out in His self-giving love for us. God is love so the fruit of God's Spirit is Jesus! He gives Himself away as a never ending breeze! While God only breathed into Adam once to make Him alive, Jesus never stops breathing His life into us!

In John 6:28-29 some people asked Jesus, "What do we do to perform God's works?" Jesus told them, "This is the ONLY work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." This is deeply true. Trust is the only thing you have to do, everything else is done by God through you because you trust Him! Why do we trust Him? Because He loves us! How much does God love us? The Father loves us just as much as He loves Jesus! Jesus loves us just as much as the Father loves Him! (see John 17:20-23 & 15:9)

Immense in mercy & with an incredible love, God embraced us. Because of his great love for us He took our sin-dead lives & made us alive in Christ. He saved us, cured us of sin, & made us whole by His favor. He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven with Jesus. Throughout eternity God plans to show us the incomparable riches of his favor, graciousness, & love by expressing His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-7).

Shouting to Rest!

2012-01-18T16:23:00.001-06:00

Romans 8:15 says, "You did not receive the spirit of bondage leading to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

What are most Christians afraid of?
That God is not pleased with them. That they will lose favor with God. That they have offended God. That God will break fellowship with them. That God is cursing them because of something they've done. That sin separates them from God. That God won't protect them. That God won't provide for them. That they aren't doing enough, aren't praying enough, aren't witnessing enough, aren't reading the bible enough. That God doesn't love them very much if at all.

Every one of those fears is a lie. Jesus didn't commit the ultimate act of love for you to sit and wonder, "How can God really love me after all I've done and keep on doing?" He loves you more than you'll ever know because "his love surpasses all knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).

Cry out, "Abba! Father! Jesus! .. Deliver me from believing these lies that make think 'yeah, you'd die for me but you wouldn't live for me.' Jesus I never again want to feel like your death wasn't good enough so I have to add to it. I don't ever again want to think that your love for me is conditional or that your pleasure in me comes only from my performance. God I want to recognize your love for me every moment I possibly can. May I always know that the gospel is the good news of your graciousness not the bad news of all I have to struggle to give back. I'm tired of trying to earn what I already have and reaching for what is not mine. I want to live in what you give, who you gave. I want your promises to reshape my perceptions. Jesus after you finished offering yourself as the sacrifice for sins you sat down at the right hand of the Father. My life is now hidden with Jesus in you Father because you raised me up with Jesus and sat me with Him. The work is done, it is finished, paid in full! I want to rest with you. You said 'come to me and I will give you rest.' Here I am Lord. Here I am Father. Here I am friend."

How do you rest with someone? You trust them, you feel secure with them, and you relax!

The Sinless Saints, The Selfless Savior, & The Self-Righteous

2012-01-17T00:23:00.003-06:00

Christians are Not Charged with Sin by God
2 Corinthians 5:19 says, God is no longer counting people's sins against them." Romans 10:4 tells us, "Jesus Christ is the end of the law to everyone who trusts Him." Romans 4:15 says, "Where there is no law there is no sin." Romans 5:13 says, "Sin is not charged when there is no law."

God frees us from the power of sin and does not charge us with sin so that nothing can ever come between us and God. God does not however change the relational realities of how our actions affect others. God has made peace with us and reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Jesus. He has not however reconciled us with each other. He gives us the freedom to choose brotherly love but He does not force it upon us. This is why Jesus' concern in His prayer to the Father in John 17 was that "we may be one as He and the Father are one." He prayed it three times.

If you do something unloving God is going to ask you to reconcile with the person you've harmed but He isn't going to "write you up," "mark it it on your record," or count it against you. The rules don't apply to you (Romans 3:19, 1 Timothy 1:9). God is about love and relationships not laws and rules. In Jesus Christ God leads us by His Spirit not by laws (Romans 7:6). He walks along side us as a friend and says, "Hey you hurt that person. I want you to apologize to them." God does not say, "I said in the bible that it is bad to do that. You need to apologize to me because I am offended."

The Selflessness of God
God is love and God is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5). He cares about others. Just because sin is taken away does not mean God stops being love. Because Christ condemned sin in His body God no longer has to be displeased with sin. Sin is taken care of, He no longer counts it against anyone. God is not personally offended He only cares about those who are being harmed. His love is selfless. God does not take into account wrongs done against Him (1 Corinthians 13:5). He seeks to heal the broken not to crush the wicked, sin has already been crushed because Jesus was crushed. You need no more proof than the way Jesus lived on earth that God seeks to heal the broken & not to crush the wicked.

Why Jesus Attacked Self-Righteousness
Yes Jesus confronted the self-righteous (the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, teachers of the law) but was it simply because God doesn't like self-righteousness? No, He confronted them because, as Jesus said in Matthew 23, they lay oppressive burdens on others, they make themselves look good & welcome honorary titles which makes others feel inferior to them, they kept people from the kingdom of heaven by making human traditions and human religious rules more important than God’s words, they were blind guides who turned people into what Jesus called "sons of hell," they killed and continued to kill the messengers of God including Christ Himself.

Jesus said in Mark 7:13 that self-righteousness and the traditions of men stop, nullify, cancel, make void, invalidate, destroy, make of no effect, reject, and set aside the word of God, scripture, the cross of Jesus, & Jesus Himself. They don't just invalidate the scriptures but they set aside Jesus, the Word of God, thus removing Him from focus.

Self-righteousness is the most destructive mindset there is. Self-righteousness is a lie. Perhaps the worst lie of all time because it affects the Christian and the non-Christian and because it says, "I don't need God." It unknowingly says "I don't want God." It says, "What Jesus did for me is not enough I have to add to it." It says, "God will not love me until I try to please Him." Another word for self-righteous can be religious. Self-righteousness makes God's seem love conditional. It shames those who feel inadequate and puffs up those who feel adequate.

The self-righteous aren't just the prideful. Yes they are those who perhaps knowingly say "I can" but they are also those who unknowingly believe "Jesus didn't so I must." Both rely on themselves rather than Christ. Sadly neither understand the truly good news of the gospel. When the second type of self-righteous person hears the Father say "I love you" they still feel inside, "No you don't because I'm not good enough." They think "I'm not good enough because I'm not doing all I need to do." They ultimately, without realizing it, believe just like the prideful self-righteous person that "God is not good enough to make me righteous but I am" and "Jesus is not good enough to make me good. Only what I can do can make me good."

Self-righteousness again says, "Jesus and what He has done is not valid." It prevents Him from working because you are trying to work for Him. In practicality it rejects Jesus, His grace, & His help. It says, "Stand aside Jesus I've got this." Yet it pleads, "Love me Lord because I don't think that you do." Self-righteousness tries to earn what has already been given. It tries to achieve what has already been achieved by Jesus. Jesus confronted self-righteousness because it not only says and does all these things but it also makes others who see it feel like they need to earn God's approval also.

Self-righteousness destroys sinners and saints like nothing else can. It is a lie. A lie that ultimately says, "Christ died for nothing." The prideful self-righteous shame the lowly and the lowly self-righteous shame themselves. Self-righteousness is a lie that breeds shame and invalidates the center figure of history Jesus Christ.

Jesus went after the self-righteous because they did and would destroy countless lives physically and especially spiritually. Other things are like a rock that stubs the toe, easily taken care of and little to get upset about. Self-righteousness is the lie that causes people to not trust Jesus. Without trust, faith, there is nothing because without trust love is ignored, considered non-existent, or considered limited. God is love. May we trust His Son and be thankful for His gifts.

The Good News of Relationship

2012-01-16T13:01:00.000-06:00

Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, to intimately know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." Eternal life isn't merely heaven or immortality. Eternal life is relationship with God.

Wrath is not the focal point of the gospel, relationship is. God poured out His wrath for sin in the body of His Son Jesus to defeat sin, free His people from sin, and to remove the need for Him to count sin against people. By doing this He made relationship with Himself fully available to those who choose to trust Him. Wrath was the means God used to condemn sin itself thus making relationship with God available.

The cross wasn't to save us from the anger of the holy Father. It was the anger of the holy Father and the holy Son against sin because it harms and destroys the objects of His affection, mankind. Jesus came to "Save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) not to save His people from Himself.

"God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. In the body of Jesus God condemned sin in the flesh declaring an end to sin's control over us. He did this so that the righteous requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us" (Romans 8:3-4).

"God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

"Jesus took God's wrath for sin on our behalf so now, through trust, we are made right with God by the blood of Jesus and cured of sin. We are made whole by His life" (Romans 5:9-10).

If there were no heaven, if there were no hell God is still worth knowing. He is so loving that love itself is defined by who He is. "We have come to know, rely on, and have put our trust in the love God has for us. God is love" (1 John 4:16).

A Wonderfully Loving Promise Fulfilled in the New Covenant

2012-01-16T11:57:00.000-06:00

"I, the Lord, have sworn that I will never be angry with you and I will never rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My loving kindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken," says the Lord who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:9-10)

Here are two scriptures that confirm that this is indeed a new covenant promise. They show us that God's "covenant of peace" mentioned in Isaiah 54 is the new covenant of the blood of Christ's cross which makes peace between us and God.

This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28).

Christ made peace with us through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).

The meaning of angry in Isiah 54:9
God will never be angry with you also means: He will not be displeased with you. He will not be offended with you. He will not be upset with you. He will not be exasperated with you. He will not have wrath for you. He will not resent you.

The meaning of rebuke in Isiah 54:9
God will never rebuke you means: He will not repel you from Himself. He will not you beat back. He will not shame, reject, disgrace, blame, disapprove of or condemn you. He will not reject you as worthless. He will prove you to be worthy. He will not break you. He will not mark you as immoral. He will not ruin you. He will not see you as unclean.
It does not have the same meaning as the word rebuke in Proverbs 3:11-12 or in Hebrews 12:5, "Do not lose heart when the Lord rebukes you." There it means "to correct, to lead you out of false beliefs."

Christians Do Not Have to Keep the Law of Moses

2012-01-14T19:58:00.000-06:00

Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had trusted stood up, saying, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and older men met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and trust. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by trust. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We trust it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:5-7)

Here in the narrative of Acts Peter clearly says that Gentile Christians are not required to keep the law of Moses. Peter points out that neither the Apostles nor any Jew in history was able to bear the yoke of the law. Peter also said that it is testing God to require people to keep the law.

Judgment In Light of Sins Taken Away

2012-01-13T13:48:00.000-06:00

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. (Revelation 20:11-13)

First note that Christians are not the dead, they are alive in Christ spiritually and physically, so they are not the ones being judged here. We see in verse 6 that all Christians are resurrected a clear thousand years before this white throne judgement. "Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6).

Jesus takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). God has removed the sins of His people as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Those who reject Christ don't have their sins taken away in this infinite fashion. God makes relationship with Himself available by not counting sins against anyone (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus takes away the sins of the world in this life in order to offer salvation freely without sin being in the way of anyone trusting Him.

Hebrews 9:26 says, Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. When someone trusts Christ their sin is put away forever. It is eradicated without even a possible future resurgence (see 1 John 3:9). If someone dies without trusting Christ their sin is taken back out and they are judged by their deeds.

In the next life God says, "Ok you didn't want My Son's sacrifice for your sins so now I am returning your sins to you and judging you by your deeds." God no longer remembers the sins of His people (Hebrews 8:12,10:17). Those who reject Him are not His people. To be just to those who reject His gift of salvation God judges them according to their deeds. It doesn't say He judges them according to the old covenant law. His judgement goes beyond the law so proper justice is given. "For the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts" (1 Chronicles 28:9).

My Righteous Identity in Christ

2012-01-09T13:17:00.002-06:00

These aren't promises of me to God but promises of God to me. He has made me completely righteous in Jesus Christ so now everything He has said about the righteous I am also. These aren't things I strive to be but my true identity that flows out of my genuine self, a righteous child of God.

Christ died once for me & all of my sins, He brought meto God, He put my flesh to death, He made me alive in the spirit.	1 Peter 3:18
I will hold to God's way, I have clean hands and will grow stronger and stronger.	Job 17:9
I see and am glad	Job 22:19
God does not withdraw His eyes from me. He has seated me with kings on the throne forever, and we are exalted.	Job 36:7-8
The LORD loves me; I will behold His face.	Psalm 11:7
God is with me.	Psalm 14:5
God encompasses me with strength and makes my way blameless	Psalm 18:32
The eyes of the LORD are toward me and His ears are open to my cry.	Psalm 34:15
I cry, and the LORD hears and delivers me out of all my troubles.	Psalm 34:17
The LORD sustains me.	Psalm 34:17
I am gracious and I give.	Psalm 37:21
I am not forsaken nor does my family beg for food.	Psalm 37:25
I utter wisdom, and speak justice. My steps do not slip.	Psalm 37:30-31
My salvation is from the LORD; He is my strength intime of trouble. He helps me and delivers me; He saves me, because Itrust in Him.	Psalm 37:39 Psalm 37:39
I trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever.	Psalm 52:8
When I cast my burden upon the LORD He sustains me and will not allow me to be shaken.	Psalm 55:22
I am glad in the LORD and will trust in Him; I shine	Psalm 64:10
I am blessed.	Psalm 112:2
Light arises in the darkness for me; The LORD is gracious and compassionate towards me.	Psalm 112:4
I am gracious and compassionate and right with God.	Psalm 112:4
I will not put forth my hands to do wrong.	Psalm 125:3
I give thanks to God's name and dwell in His presence	Psalm 140:13
The LORD loves me.	Psalm 146:8
The LORD is intimate with me.	Proverbs 3:32
The LORD blesses my house.	Proverbs 3:33
My mouth is a fountain of life.	Proverbs 10:11
I have an everlasting foundation	Proverbs 10:25
My hope is gladness	Proverbs 10:28
I will never be shaken. My mouth flows with wisdom, My lips bring forth goodwill	Proverbs 10:30
I am delivered from trouble. Through knowledge I will be delivered.	Proverbs 11:8
My descendants will be delivered.	Proverbs 11:21
My desire is only good.	Proverbs 11:23
My thoughts are just	Proverbs 12:5
I am a guide to my neighbor	Proverbs 12:26
I will be given good things.	Proverbs 13:21
I have enough to satisfy my appetite.	Proverbs 13:25
My prayer is God's delight.	Proverbs 15:8
My heart ponders how to answer	Proverbs 15:28
The LORD hears my prayers.	Proverbs 15:29
I will inherit good.	Proverbs 28:10
I live by trust.	Habakkuk 2:4
God is my strong fortress and He sets my in His Way (Jesus).	2 Samuel 22:33
I have eternal life.	Matthew 25:46
I am not called to repentance.	Luke 5:32
The Law is not for me.	1Timothy 1:9
My prayer accomplishes much.	James 5:16
I will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of my Father.	Matthew 13:43

Saved: Cured of Sin & Made Whole

2011-12-30T13:43:00.001-06:00

It has come to my attention that the Greek word for "saved" (as in "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved") can have other meanings. It is translated as "make well," "heal," or "make whole" in many places. In Mark 6:56 it is translated as cured.

To save means to:
    heal, cure, make well, restore to health
    make whole
    preserve, keep safe and sound
    rescue from danger or destruction, deliver

I went through all the scriptures where this Greek word appears and found the places where the synonyms of "save" make sense to see how impactful they can be. I have also paired some up with other scriptures so we can see how these wordings agree with truth found in other places.

God did not send the Son into the world to find fault with the world but to make the world well through Him (John 3:17).
- Jesus said, "I did not come to find fault with the world but to make the world well" (John 12:47).
- God in Christ made relationship with Himself available to all by no longer counting people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19).
The Son of Man has come to look for and to cure those who are dying (Luke 19:10).
- The Son of Man has come to look for and to make whole those who are damaged (Luke 19:10).
This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance: "Christ Jesus came into the world to cure sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).
God our Savior desires all men to be cured, to be made whole, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
Jesus is able to save and cure and make whole forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to act for their benefit (Hebrews 7:25).
Jesus took God's wrath for sin on our behalf so now, through trust, we are made right with God by the blood of Jesus and cured of sin. We are made whole by His life (Romans 5:9-10).
Jesus will cure His people, removing them from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
- He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be made whole (Romans 10:13).
By the gospel you are made whole (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).
We trust that we are cured through the favor of the Lord Jesus. God purified our hearts by trust (Acts 15:9,11).
By God's loving kindness you have been made whole through trust (Ephesians 2:8).
When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He made us whole, not because of righteous things we had done, but according to His mercy. He made us whole through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been made right with God by his favor, we might become heirs having the hope of knowing God forever (Titus 3:4-7).

Love by Love, Selflessness by Supply

2011-12-29T15:47:00.001-06:00

Selflessness comes not by discipline.

Selflessness comes by being aware of God's love for you.

When you think you have to earn God's favor (love, grace, approval) you are like a man who goes to work solely to earn money. He doesn't care about his employer. He only cares about his need for cash. Likewise when you think you have to earn God's favor you don't fully care about God, you are only trying to fulfill your need to be loved and approved of by God. Even the best intentions cannot get around this. Like the need for money we all have that need for God to favor us. The need isn't wrong but how we fulfill the need affects the way we live.

All of God's children already permanently have His favor through Christ Jesus. Only when you understand that you already have God's favor can you truly love God and live for others. With that understanding you aren't focused on fulfilling your need because your need is already fulfilled. You aren't living to earn but living to give out of the abundant loving-kindness that God has given you.

Being loved by our selfless God makes you selfless because you don't have to worry about your need. You don't need to reach to get, you simply receive. You trust that you are taken care of by God. There is no more loving way to live than to live loved.

To Be or To Become?

2011-12-22T16:27:00.000-06:00

One incorrect assumption that Christians tend to make is that "in order to become I must do." This idea is especially tied to behavior. To be holy you have to behave holy. To be righteous you have to behave righteously. To be godly you have to behave godly. To be perfect you have to behave perfectly.

In Christ who you are is not based on what you do. It is all based on what Christ has done. Identity is by birth not by behavior. What did I do to become Michael Reyes? I was born into my family. Jesus tells us in John 3 that to be born into God's family we simply trust Jesus. Jesus extends His favor (grace) to us and we trust Him. From that trust in Jesus we are reborn.

Holiness, righteousness, godliness, and much more are all gifts of God to us as His new born child. They are things that cannot be earned. They can only be given. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that "God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ." When we assume that our behavior is the manner in which we attain any spiritual thing (blessings included) we miss what Christ has done for us.

Most Christians would say that godliness comes by behaving godly. God lives in us. Godliness comes by the presence of God in us which is given to us at our birth into God's family. Godliness doesn't come from moral behavior. Godliness comes from God living in you. If you don't think God living in you is enough to make you godly then you think that your own goodness, your own efforts and behavior, is what makes you godly. You think that your goodness is better than God's goodness, that you can make yourself be more godly than God can. What is more godly than God?

Sadly people truly believe godly behavior is more godly than God living in them. 2 Peter 1:3 says, "God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness." Jesus is life and God is as godly as it gets. "Everything we need for life and godliness" is Christ in us! Because of what Jesus Christ has done the Christian never has to try to become. The Christian simply trusts that they already are.

Be Perfect Like You? Are You Serious God?

2011-12-22T15:41:00.001-06:00

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, "You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Today we can understand Matthew 5:48 at least these three ways:

Perfection is Not by Performance
Perfection does not come by behavior. When we assume that our behavior is the manner in which we attain any spiritual thing we miss what Christ has done for us.

Jesus taught the law before His death to reveal the desperate need for Himself and His coming sacrifice so people would be ready to trust His sacrifice. It is impossible for us to keep God's old covenant laws. Jesus said "be perfect" to make that evident to the people of His time who felt they could keep the law fully. "Be perfect as God is perfect" is the ultimate "I can't do that." Jesus was making it evident to people's hearts that righteousness could not be attained by adherence to the law (behavior). Instead of outright saying this Jesus wisely allowed the people time to discern this in their own hearts.

We are Perfect in Our Process
We don't expect children to be as mature as adults. In keeping with your development in Christ God can look at you as perfect in the place you are in your life. God isn't stupid. He knows you fully and He doesn't expect you to be able to do or be more than you are today. God is satisfied with you.

We are Perfected by The Prince of Peace
Only a child of the Father can be perfect like the Father. When you are born again, by trusting Jesus, you are perfected in Christ. "By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are made holy" (Hebrews 10:14).

All of God's children are "made holy." They are all called "saints" which means "holy ones." When we first trust Jesus we are perfected for all time, thus He makes us perfect as the Father is perfect. So this perfection is not something we strive to attain but rather what Christ has already attained for us & gives to us at salvation.

We can actually see that, as His child, it is impossible to not be perfect in God's eyes! And that from two different considerations of what "perfect" can be. When we trust Jesus for our perfection rather than our performance we experience the abundant life Jesus talked about. The Christian never has to try to become. The Christian simply trusts that they already are because of what Jesus Christ has done.

Love God?

2011-12-22T11:22:00.001-06:00

The Christian life doesn't work by us trying to love God more. It only works by understanding how much God loves us. God continually loves us. When we recognize His love for us we will love Him more and more.

Jesus was asked by a Pharisee lawyer/scribe, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34). Jesus answered by saying what the greatest commandments of the law are, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" & "Love your neighbor as yourself." He said "on these commands hang all the law and the prophets." He didn't say on these commands hang the gospel or the kingdom of God or the new covenant.

Those commands were the best the law had to offer. Romans 8:3 says that the law is powerless. The wisdom of the commands do not give you the power to keep them. Galatians 3:21 tells us that "No law can give life." 2 Corinthians 3 tells us that the Law (specifically The Ten Commandments) is called the ministry of death and condemnation. The word ministry means service. That means the law serves up death and condemnation. That is what it gives you.

Jesus, life Himself, came to give us life by giving His life for us. He did what the law could not do. Instead of merely telling us to love Jesus came as love and showed us who & what love is. Jesus never commanded His disciples to "love God." He told them and showed them how much God loves them and then told them to love one another. When you understand God's love for you loving God is a given. As we grow in our knowledge, understanding, and experience of the reality of God's love, love becomes a natural thing that is expressed in our lives. God isn't the person we put up with and try hard to love despite our feelings. God is the ever-loving Father, the closest friend. He woos us like a spouse.

We love because God first loved us. This is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us. (1 John 4:9-10)
Understanding the truth here is the key to walking in intimacy with God. The love we have does not come from a commandment it comes from the fact that we grow in God's unconditional love for us. We love, not because of commandments, but because God loves us.

We usually put the responsibility on ourselves to love God more. If we can realize the depths and importance of His love for us there will be a natural inclination for us to respond to the love that He has for us instead of us trying to love Him more. We will respond to His love instead of trying to love Him to get Him to respond to us. The gospel is not about us loving God. The gospel is about God loving us. Sadly it is easier for us to believe that God wants us to love Him than it is for us to believe that God loves us.

Jesus' new command is to "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). This is not a powerless command. His love is essentially included in it. His love is the means to loving others. Your love is dependent on His love. He is responsible you are simply responsive. Again Jesus never commands His disciples to "love God" because He knows loving God is unavoidable once you know His love for you.

For more listen to these podcasts from the guys at Growing in Grace
We Love Because God First Loved Us

Living by Law vs. Living by Grace

Are We Commanded to Love God?

Transformed by The Light of His Glory & Grace

2011-12-16T08:42:00.000-06:00

God has made us competent as servants of a new covenant—not of theletter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit giveslife. Now if the service that brought death, which was engraved inletters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could notlook steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitorythough it was, will not the service of the Spirit be even moreglorious? If the service that brought condemnation was glorious, howmuch more glorious is the service that brings righteousness! For whatwas glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is theglory of that which lasts!
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not likeMoses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelitesfrom seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were madedull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant isread. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. Butwhenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lordis the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, arebeing changed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comesfrom the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:6-18)

• The veil symbolizes the barrier between us and God, our shame.
• When Jesus died the veil on the temple was torn from top to bottom.God Himself tore it. It is only removed by Christ. But after it wastorn the keepers of the temple sewed the veil back up!
• Even today we attempt to sew the veil back together to limit accessto God for ourselves or for others. We consistently corrupt thesimplicity of access to God by developing complicated formulas thatsupposedly make us finally acceptable for fellowship with God. Wholedoctrines and denominations have been formed around the concept that"in order to reach God you must do these things.."
• Jesus has already granted all of His followers access to the Holy ofHolies, to God Himself. The veil has been removed, don't put it back.

We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are beingchanged into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from theLord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

• We expose ourselves to God (come toHim with unveiled faces). God shines His glory (grace, compassion). Wereflect God's work in us to others.
• In addition to the spotlight of His grace we find that we are beingchanged. "We are being changed" is a passive statement. It means thatwe are not doing the changing, it is happening to us! God is doing thechanging!
• Not only do we have the spotlight of His grace shined upon us, notonly do we find ourselves being changed, but we know that we are beingchanged into His likeness. We know the destiny of our change. We arebeing changed into the likeness of Christ. Now we know why God has todo the work. We could never accomplish this on our own.
• We refuse to wear a veil, He makes us like Christ. Who else would youwant to be like? What other goal would you prefer? God doesn't justagree to make us better or not as bad, instead God offers us theincomparable likeness of His Son. We only need to reveal ourselves toGod and not sew the veil Christ tore back up. never accept separationfrom God as valid. Saying, "There has to be something more I must do,"only sews the veil back up.

God, who said, “Let light shine out ofdarkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light ofthe knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Corinthians4:6)

Notes and quotes from The Father Style by Gayle Erwin

Love and Cooperation, God's Will and God's Best

2011-12-15T10:05:00.000-06:00

The Christian life is one of cooperation. God does not use you. You are not a tool. You are His friend not His slave. You are not to be passive but empowered. God will say to you "Will you do this with me?" if you say "No" God will not force you to do it, He will not hold it against you, He will not love you any less, He will not curse you, you will not lose favor with Him. You will however have to live with the natural consequences of not cooperating with your all wise, all loving, all knowing Father.

God knows what is best for you. Amazingly what is best for you is best for everyone, God, yourself, and others. This is possible because God is love and all about love. God's best for you does not mean second best for others. His best always involves people recognizing His love and His love being shown through His people cooperating with Him.

By "God's best" I do not mean "God's perfect will" as it is so often taught. The teaching I am talking about says "God has a plan A and if you miss His plan A then you go to plan B" and so on. That false notion of God's will says that His purpose means more to Him than His people. God's purpose is His people! God does not curse you for your disobedience or lack of cooperation by putting you on plan B. This idea of God's will says that God condemns you forever for your mistakes, not true! If Jesus can redeem you from your sinful state then He has no problem redeeming your mistakes and failures.

God's best (His will) has you experiencing and seeing His love no matter where you are. His best empowers your successes, redeems your failures, and has His love pouring out of you for others. You, God's dearly loved child, get to work with your amazingly loving and affectionate Father. When you understand that serving Him equals working with Him as Jesus did you will not experience the burden of obeying like a servant but the joy of willingly working with a friend.

Jesus said, "I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. I never act alone, I always act with my Father." (John 5:19-20)

See this post for a closer look at John 5.

Sin? Forgetaboutit! Jesus Christ is The End of Sin for All Those Who Trust Him

2011-12-07T11:04:00.001-06:00

Sin means "to miss the mark." Transgress means to "cross the line." Well what if on the cross Jesus was saying, "I'm removing the mark to hit and the line to cross. Now I am spreading my arms wide inviting you into an eternal embrace with me and the Father. I want you to live in reality with me and with others. No more of this counting good done and counting evil done." While it is still possible to behave hurtfully and destructively the new covenant is not about condemnation for your deeds it is about reconciliation and relationship. We are to deal with destructive behavior as relational realities by considering others.

God Counts Sins Against No One
"God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become united with God." (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)

2 Corinthians 5:19 is the true Gospel but it goes against almost everything modern Christianity teaches! God made relationship with Himself available by not counting people's sins against them. Because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross God counts no sins against anyone. God is serious about sin but He is more serious about His love for you. That is why He sent His Son to die, to take away the sins of the world. Jesus took the wrath for sin. If God counts your sin against Jesus and you, then Jesus died for nothing. Salvation comes from trusting in Jesus. When you first trust Jesus you are aware that you have sinned but you don't have to do anything about it you merely trust that Jesus has taken care of your sins on the cross and you receive His forgiveness, righteousness, and His very life.

God is not counting people's sins against them therefore sin does not separate us from being able to know God. Everything now is simply a matter of choosing to trust Jesus and trusting what He has done for us. Jesus changed things when He died on the cross, if not He died for nothing. Our sins were dealt with on the cross we simply need to receive the forgiveness that is already there. Sin was what Jesus took care of on the cross so now sin is not the issue in salvation, trust is.

"God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. Whoever trusts in him is not condemned, but whoever does not trust stands condemned already because he has not trusted in the name of God’s one and only Son" (Jesus, in John 3:17-18).
Jesus said that people are condemned for not trusting in Him. They are not condemned because "they have sinned" it is because "they haven't trusted in Jesus." We see also that John 3:36 doesn't even mention sin. "The one who trusts in the Son has eternal life. The one who does not trust the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him."

Salvation has to do with relationship. Salvation/eternal life is, in the words of Jesus in John 17:3, to "know God." Eternal life is "knowing God." It is a reality that begins when you first trust Jesus.

Christians Are Not Able to Sin
Romans 10:4 tells us, "Jesus Christ is the end of the law to everyone who trusts Him." Romans 4:15 says, "Where there is no law there is no transgression/sin." Romans 5:13 says, "Sin is not charged when there is no law"

These scriptures tells us that sin is only sin if there is a measure that defines what it is. That measure was the law and it has come to an end. Where there is no law, no sins or transgressions are charged as ours. Romans 4:8 says, "Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin." God doesn't charge His children with sin at all, meaning He calls nothing His children do "sin," He doesn't call it "sin" or even consider it to be sin. Christianity goes crazy with labeling things as "sin." God doesn't label anything His children do as sin, it is impossible for them to sin because they are born of God and God lives in them.

"Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but Jesus who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." (1 John 3:5-6,9; 5:18)

1 John 5:18 says, "No one who is born of God sins." A child of God is someone who is born of God, someone who was born again. If you are a child of God you are not a sinner. You are a saint. Saint means "holy one." Your sin is taken away and you are given God's holiness. Holiness comes by birth not by behavior.

1 John 3:9 again says, "Everyone who has been born of God (whoever is a child of God) is not able to sin." I've only seen this scripture to be interpreted as meaning, "Everyone who has been born of God does not lead a sinful lifestyle." But that isn't just an outright addition but it is a total departure from the text. Those who say this believe that Christians can and do sin everyday. If I am "not able" to ride a bike that doesn't mean I can and do ride a bike several times a day. Sure it means that I don't live the lifestyle of a cyclist but that is because I can't ride a bike at all. There is double emphasis in this text. Someone born of God does not practice sin and is not able to sin.

1 John 2:25 says, "This is the promise which God Himself made to us: eternal life." Jesus said in John 17:3 Eternal life is "to know God the Father and Jesus Christ." 1 John 3:6 says, "Everyone who sins has not known God." The Greek tense of the verb "known" indicates a meaning of "Everyone who sins has never once known God." It is clear that this statement does not mean "if you sin you don't know God in the midst of your sin" or anything like that. If you sin you have never once known God. Every Christian knows God. Remember "Jesus was revealed to take away sins" because of Him the possibility of a child of God being credited with sin is zero. I am not saying a Christian cannot live destructively and harm others. I am saying you are free from even being accredited with sin because of what Jesus did for you on the cross.

In John 8:34 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." Romans 6 tells us that "You were slaves of sin but have been freed from sin." 1 John 3:9 says, "Anyone who is born of God is not able sin." Jesus freed us from sin by removing our ability to sin. We cannot commit sin thus we are not able to be enslaved to it again. If we believe we can commit sin then we must believe that we are slaves to sin. There is abundant truth found in the New Testament telling us that we are free from being slaves to sin.

Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned" past tense. If you read the context you will find that it is saying that all people have the equal opportunity and need to be made right with God through Christ Jesus. Once they are right with Him, through Christ alone mind you, that "sinned" is truly past tense as we see 1 John 3 is in agreement with.

Sin means "to miss the mark" but Jesus has taken away sin. He has taken away the mark to hit, the target is no longer there. All that is left is knowing God. Life isn't about achievement or morals. Life is about relationship with God and with others. Follow God's loving lead and you won't be worried about passing a now imaginary archery test. You get to enjoy God, enjoy relationships with others, and enjoy life.

Christians can still yield to sin. "It is not I that sins but sin living in me that sins" (Romans 7:17). Yielding to sin is harmful but God loves me no less and He does not count even that against me. I still reap what I sow but God is pleased with me based on what Jesus did on my behalf not based on my behavior. The Spirit of God in you will never justify doing harm, He will displace it with love.

If you did not have the pre-conceived notion that Christians sin and you read the new covenant scriptures concerning sin you would not question the idea that Christians can sin and that sin still has power.
Scripture uses language like: we are saved from sin, we are forgiven of sin, sin is taken away, sin is wiped away, sin is washed away, sin is not taken into account, we are freed from sin, sin is not charged, sin is done away with, we are not in our sins, sin is not counted against anyone, we are rescued from sin, we are cleansed and purified from sin, sin is not remembered, we are released from our sins, and we are not able to sin. [Visit this link for scripture references].

Jesus Christ paid the price of sin, death! The wages of sin is death and Christ paid it! On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished" which means "paid in full!"

Letting go of the sin monitor in your head is a huge step toward freedom. God is not counting anything against you and neither should you. Being right with God (righteous) comes by trust not by keeping commands. If you are a child of God you are irrevocably righteous, you are right with God for eternity. Nothing plucks you from His hand. Nothing separates you from his love. He doesn't leave you or forsake you. You always have His favor.

A Christian Cannot Sin Against God Alone
You cannot sin against God. There is no mark to hit to earn God's love, favor, or approval. There is no mark to hit to be righteous, holy, clean, or pure. God gives all of those things freely. They are inherited by birth not earned by behavior.

While God does not label or hold anything His children do as sin, He understands that we still have destructive behaviors and perceptions. He is not blind to our well-being or needs. Although these things are no longer counted as sin you could say that these "miss the mark" of what is best for you, your life, and those around you. Even with that understand that God will never condemn, curse, or convict you (declare you guilty) because of these things but neither does He condone (turn a blind eye to) things that harm you and others. God wants to walk you out of harmful behavior and perceptions.

Because you cannot sin against God nothing stands between you and His healing love. Fear, shame, and guilt, all obstacles to seeing, trusting, and receiving God's love, are removed when you understand that sin is truly taken away and never charged to you again. God is able to work in you and with you not on the basis of rules or rule breaking but on the basis of relationship.

Relationship is the most effective way for God to heal your hurts, untwist your twisted perceptions, and repair your destructive behaviors. When you think you have sinned against God you assume that you have broken your relationship with Him by your offense. You think that He is dissatisfied with you. You think this partly because you have never been taught otherwise but also because that is how every other relationship in your life works. Understand that God is different, He has perfectly selfless love.

When you know that being a Christian makes you sinless you trust God to always be there for you. You know that He loves you without condition and that He is unoffendable because He cares foremost about the well-being of His children. Our destructive actions don't anger God, they bring Him to our rescue. We need to look no farther than how Jesus treated people to see how this is true of Him.

Christians Do Not Need to Be Conscious of Sin
Hebrews 10:1-2 says that when we know we are cleansed, we lose consciousness of sins.
"The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt and consciousness of sin would have disappeared." (Hebrews 10:1-2)

The are many Christians living in bondage with a consciousness of sin. They are living as if this whole life is meant to be just focused on sin, overcoming sin, and trying to do our best for God. They never get to the life of Jesus Christ in them and the freedom He has set us free for. A constant focus on sin only breeds guilt, shame, blame, yielding to sin, etc. The blood of Jesus was meant to do away with us having a consciousness of sin so that we could live free, with a focus on the life of Christ and not a focus on trying to overcome sin.

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22). We do not have to live with a consciousness that worries about sin and evil.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Is what we would call sin any of these things?

If the focus remains on "I need to change. I need to change what I am doing. I need stop the bad things I am doing and start doing good" we will lose our actual focus on Christ. We will think that our behavior change means we are focused on Christ but it is not. We need to focus on the actual person of Jesus Christ. We get caught up on trying to resist things all the time. Instead of just living freely and letting Christ live through us we are always trying not to do the wrong thing. That is not what Christ has called us to do. The more we focus on behavior, our or others, the less we focus on Christ and what He has done for us. The way our life in Christ works is by us resting, by us ceasing to strive, by us putting our focus on Christ the person rather than our efforts. When we rest the life of Christ in us will rise up and spring into action in ways we never would have imagined.

So How Do We Live If Not By The Consciousness of Sin?
Romans 7:6 says, "We have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit."
We no longer serve God by obeying the law (laws, rules, regulation, obligations, responsibilities). We serve Him by the Spirit, which is walking with God and communicating with Him. Jesus did this very thing. Jesus worked with the Father on whatever He saw Him doing. [See my other posts about working with God here].

God gives us wisdom and instruction through the Spirit and the scriptures. Here are two relational truths Jesus said in scripture that give us an idea of how to love and treat people.

Jesus said, "Love one another just as I have loved you" (John 13:34).
In order to love we have to know God's love for us because God is love. In the new way of living in the Spirit we love by being loved. Our love flows out of God's love for us. We don't have to muster up motivation we simply recognize God's love for us and remember how God has shown love to us. His tender compassion and kindness towards us causes us to live in a loving way towards others. While this was a command it can only be lived by experiencing the Spirit of God loving you. We love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19).

"By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. Because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

If you don't see His love ask Him to show it to you and to help you realize His love where it has always been in your life. Remind yourself that every good thing is from God (James 1:17, John 3:27, 1 Chronicles 29:14).

Jesus said, "In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you" (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31).
This gives you a simple relational instruction. If you wouldn't want to be treated a certain way don't treat others that way. With this it is truly the thought that counts. Love is not a sterile set of rules. Love is thoughtful, considerate, compassionate, and kind. Jesus modeled this in His life on earth and certainly still models it as He loves us here and now.

In short we live relationally. In our relationship with God we receive love. In our relationship with others we give love based on how God has loved us and how we would like to be treated. There is no scripture, doctrine, or anything else that excuses cruelty. Love is kind. Unkindness is unloving. This may seem obvious but for all of history mankind has made cruelty in the name of God something to be called loving because they have judged others based on their own knowledge of good and evil instead of their knowledge of God and one another.

The Spirit of God will often lead us to what seem like obvious acts of simple love, because they are. The law falsely makes love out to be a comparison of behavior that says "this person, who behaves well, is worthy of my love but that person, who does not behave well, is not worthy of my love." Jesus died for His enemies. He didn't just turn the other cheek, He willingly laid down His own life for them. He no longer counts people's sins against them. Likewise it benefits no one to count other people's sins against them. We still live by the Spirit and His wisdom to avoid harm but we know that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus and we are in Christ Jesus so we are not to condemn others based on what they do nor are we to accept condemnation on ourselves based on what we do. God sees all sins the same, forgiven. God sees all Christians the same. God doesn't see them as dirty but instead wants to repair their damage. He sees them not as sinful servants but as sinless sons and daughters.

To those who are free from sin and guilt all things are unstained with guilt.
They are blameless, both their mind and their conscience are pure.

(Titus 1:15, Definition paraphrase)

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God is Love Means God Loves You

2011-12-06T16:01:00.001-06:00

God is Worthy by His Love
If the #1 thing God wanted was worship He would have only created angels to sing to Him. If the #1 thing God wanted was obedience and servanthood He would have only created robots. God foremost wants relationship. He wants to show His love to us and share His love with us.

The purpose of life isn't to glorify God. It is to experience God's love. Because of His love we understand God and automatically give Him glory, honor, and praise. God's love is what makes Him worthy of those things. Many hint that just because He is God, the creator, that he is worthy. God is not worthy if He is not perfectly loving. His love makes Him worthy and His love makes Him holy. If God had not love He would be nothing.

God is Not Self-Seeking
1 Corinthians 13 says, "Love is not self-seeking." Is God love?

The Father glorified the Son because the Father loves the Son. The Son glorified the Father because the Son loves the Father. God has such great love that He wants to lavish it upon us all.

God is more concerned with giving love than He is with getting worship. Why would we love if He didn't first love us? Why would we worship Him if He wasn't good? Because we are supposed to? Are we supposed to be better than God? How are we supposed to love if He Himself is not loving first? Think of the many times Jesus shows love without ever saying "Now bow down and worship me! Praise me!" He healed hundreds of people from compassion not an insecure need to be worshiped.

When God said, "I'm a jealous God. You shall have no other God's before me." God isn't insecurely saying "You must worship me." He is saying, "Everything else out there is going to own you. I want to give you life and I want to give you peace. Those are only found in real relationship with me." His jealousy isn't insecurity on His part. He is jealous for us, out of His love, for our benefit and protection.

What Worship Is
Worship is our love responding to God's love. What is the natural response to someone saying, "I love you," it is to say "I love you too." That is worship, us saying "I love you too God."

Worship is seeing how valuable God is by seeing how loving He is and knowing that He is the only source of good. Worship is clear seeing. When I see God for who He is the natural response is "Wow! Amazing! You are Awesome God!" Worship is good for us because recognizing who God is will bring love and liberty into our lives.

God accepts worship not because He is an egomaniac but because His love and goodness are so great He knows that He is the best thing for us. A wise and loving parent knows what is best for their children. God is as wise and loving as someone gets! Knowing and trusting Him to receive His love is what is best for us. True worship isn't the picture of a tyrant saying "Bow down to me lowly beings!" It is the picture of a child saying, "Thank you for loving me daddy."

We Are Significant by His Son
The beauty of salvation through Jesus Christ is that God makes people great. People are incredibly significant. Because of God's great value placed on mankind Jesus laid down His life for mankind.

The idea that man is insignificant devalues the cross, it devalues God's love for us, thus it devalues God Himself. The lower you make man the lower you make God because the greatness of God is His love. In His own words, if God has not love He is nothing. But God is love. The more devalued or insignificant we find ourselves the less we understand God's great love for us. If you want to know how significant you are look at the price Jesus paid for you.

God shares His glory with us. The Father loves us just as much as He loves the Son (John 17:20-23). Jesus loves us just as much as the Father has loved Him (John 15:9). Did Jesus say or even hint that people are insignificant to Him?

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever trusts in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus was a sacrifice for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

God loves everyone whether you want them to be loved or think they deserve His love doesn't matter. God does have a special love for those who trust Him because trust allows them to experience His love. If you ever question as to whether you are worthy of love or anything else say to yourself, "Is God worthy? He has given me His righteousness. I am in Christ and Christ is in me." You are worthy of love because God has deemed you so. You are worthy of love because God is so great at loving. It is the lover that determines the value of the one loved. You cannot stop God from loving you!

As a Christian God makes me more significant, almost as significant as His Son (we are loved as he is loved and co-heris with Him) so am I to focus on how insignificant I am compared to God or how greatly He loves me and has honored me? God's goal isn't to make us happy moment to moment but he does want our joy to be full. Life isn't all about me as an individual but in no way imaginable does the greatness of God make a Christian less significant.

"God raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).
Devaluing myself does not bring praise to God. Since He raised me up why should I ever down or devalue myself as His dearly loved child? Devaluing myself actually ignores the miracle of who He has made me to be in Christ. Recognizing how He has given me significance is me focusing on the greatness of God. Why does God deserve praise? Because He is love.

So to say "It's all about God and not about us," or "It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man," actually takes away from our perception of God's greatness. God's greatness includes the significance He puts on mankind. Part of why God is so great is because He values mankind so dearly. May I never devalue myself as His child. May I never devalue His other children or anyone.

Saying "It's all about God and not about me," says "God does not care about me as a person, He doesn't want a relationship with me, He just wants me to shut up and serve Him like a robot and worship Him like the angels do." We are in Christ! To say "It's all about God and not about me," means I see myself outside of Christ! What a sad, Godless way to see ourselves. God made it about me to show His love for me. We could, however, rightly say, "It is not about us being in control" or "us getting everything we want." God isn't going to serve my every whim but He is going to give me what is best for me when I trust Him. Even when I don't trust Him He will still work everything to my good.

God first loved us. He is the instigator. Who did He love? Us. It is all about God's relationship WITH US! You could rightly say, "It is all about what God has done." Who did He do it for? He did it for us!

If we have a deep relationship with Father we are going to have deep security. We are going to be secure and feel significant to the degree that we have that relationship with Him. When you feel insecure and insignificant you will find anything to hang on to including rules, rituals, traditions, and shame (the real false humility). God wants to draw us into a loving intimacy with Him that supersedes and overcomes everything else. What a privileged, simple, and wonderful thing!

Not Servants but Friends.
Our relationship with God isn't servanthood, it isn't even just the status of being His child. Our relationship with God is friendship.

Jesus Himself began this friendship, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). As Luke 5:20 shows us, when you first trust Him, Seeing your trust, Jesus says, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." "You are no longer a servant, but God’s child" (Galatians 4:7). Jesus said in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends."

A servant, or slave, serves out of obligation. A friend serves out of love. A friend is free. This is why all of the New Testament writers that acknowledged themselves as the authors of their writings called themselves bond-slaves or bond-servants of God. A bond-servant is someone who is set free but chooses to serve the one who set him free. A bond-servant is someone who has been loved so greatly as a friend that they serve their friend out of that love and friendship. We find our significance not by serving God but by being His friend.

We Are Holy Because He is Holy
Jesus did far more on the cross than simply forgive our sins. The Christian is Holy and perfect in God's eyes & God's eyes are the correct eyes, He isn't going to deceive Himself or you.

The word "saint" which we are called dozens times in scripture, means "holy one." 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that "God's holy people (His saints)" are all those who have trusted Him. That means every single Christian is holy. We are holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12).
"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Corinthians 3:17, 6:19-20).
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

"Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15)
“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” is a scripture from before the cross. Now the "you shall be holy.." is "you are holy, for I am holy." "Be holy" is not a command but a reinforcing statement of truth. Like God telling you to "Be yourself." It does say to "be holy in all your behavior" because you, as a Christian, are holy in Christ. So since you are holy behave holy.

The Importance of Identity
Christians can still behave destructively and hurt others but their behavior doesn't determine their identity. Our identity in God does not come from our behavior but by our birth. We don't have to strive to be holy, we use the holiness that God has already given us to be holy in our behavior. We don't live to gain, we live to give. God has given us His infinite life to live by. We are already have everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). A Christian lives out of an abundance.

When your identity is misplaced so is your relationship. Even in the midst of your failure know that your actions do not define you, Jesus defines who you are. The way that we live is to be an outflow of what we know about our identity in Christ. We are one with Christ. We are in Christ and He is in us. Now we simply have to act like it, walk in it, participate in reality. We have Him in us, let Him live His life.

Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to clean up our flesh so we can walk in the spirit. Instead, it says, 'Walk in the spirit, then you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh' (Galatians 5:16). The reason the bible says that is because sins were taken away at the cross forever and God doesn't deal with us on the basis of sin, He deals with us on the basis of our righteousness, our identity in him. So we can walk in the spirit. It's the Spirit and the truth, and knowing our true identity in Jesus, in which we find victory.

God's word says in Hosea 4:6: "My people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge." When we lack knowledge of who we are in Christ and how much we are loved, we don't experience the life Jesus came to give us. The devil challenges our identity just as He did Jesus' identity. "If you are the Son of God then do..." (see Matthew 4). But when we realize that Jesus came to destroy sin's power in our lives, we will no longer allow the enemy to deceive us into believing that we are not who God says we are. Sin has lost its power to condemn us or cause shame in our hearts because we have been made righteous in Christ. Our Heavenly Father sees us as very good and without fault because of Jesus! What more could He do for us to prove His great love?

God's primary interest isn't in what we do for Him or even what we do with Him. It is in who we are. We are the beloved bride in the Song of Solomon. He knows ever hair on our head not simply because He is all knowing but because He has paid loving attention to us.

By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are made holy (Hebrews 10:14).

Inseparable & Unforsakable, Fellowship Never Broken

2011-12-01T16:12:00.001-06:00

When you do something you would label as sin the Holy Spirit never says, "I am removing my fellowship from you (you have lost favor with me, I have taken my grace from you) until you confess your what you've done, feel bad about it, and try hard to never do it again." That idea, which most Christians are taught to live by, nullifies the power of the cross. It says "Sure you'd die for me while I was a sinner but you'd never talk to me while I have sin in my life." That is thinking God is double-minded, unforgiving, quick to anger, and grudge holding.

The term "broken fellowship" doesn't even appear in scripture. Fellowship is "the state of being with someone, the state of associating with someone." Fellowship is friendship and companionship. It carries the ideas of participation and contribution.

The lie that "sin breaks our fellowship with God" tells us that God is no longer with us, He no longer associates with us, He doesn't participate in our lives or contribute to our lives. Let us see how much of a lie that is.

The Lie of Broken Fellowship with God Exposed
Hebrews 13:5 tells us that God will never leave or forsake us. "Breaking fellowship" is leaving and forsaking. If God breaks fellowship with you that means God leaves you every time you sin because fellowship is "the state of being with someone."

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, "Lo I will be with you always." "Lo" means "look," "behold." Jesus was saying, "Look for me in your life because I will always be with you." "Broken fellowship" says God is always willing to be without you if you sin. It says if you look for God with "unconfessed sin in your life" you will not find Him. Some even teach that if you don't start your prayer off by confessing your sins God will hear none of the rest of your prayer. But Jesus says "Look, I am always with you. I will comfort you in your pain. I will help you stop destructive and harmful behavior. Just look for me."

Hebrews 7:25 tells us that "Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."
Firstly you can throw out the idea that you can "lose your salvation." If you believe that you believe the death of Jesus on the the cross was utterly worthless, that your sin is more powerful than the Son of God. That belief says that sin breaks the power of grace, love, and Jesus Christ instead of Jesus being the one who broke the power of sin and death. I'm not saying any of this to shame anyone. Most people believe falsehood because of deception or not being exposed to the truth. God has already reconciled the world to Himself and He did that by no longer counting any one's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19). From God's standpoint sin does not stand between anyone knowing Him. Sin certainly cannot remove sonship because Jesus is able to save completely.
Secondly Jesus always lives to intercede for us. That means He is always working in our lives, He intervenes for us, He is always participating in and contributing to our lives.

Hebrews 10:23-24 tells us to "Not forsake assembling with other Christians but to encourage one another and consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." Yet we think God will forsake meeting with us? Does God ask us to do something He Himself will not do? We think God will forsake us dozens of times a day. The truth is God encourages us and stirs us to love and good works.

John 1:17 tells us that, "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
If someone leaves you or refuses to associate with you because you do something they don't like that means you have lost favor with them, you are disgraced. The false doctrine of broken fellowship teaches that disgrace (shame) came through Jesus Christ because it says that you lose grace, you lose favor, with God. It says Jesus came to disgrace us by reminding us of our sin and counting every sin against us. The truth about The Truth is Jesus came to take away sin (1 John 3:5) and He does not count any sin against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). He is here to lovingly walk us out of destructive deeds into lovingly beneficial behavior. God does not abandon us when we need Him most. He doesn't abandon us at all! “Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never be put to disgrace” (Romans 10:11).

God has given us right standing with himself. Who or what then will condemn us? No one, nothing, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting at God’s right hand, interceding for us. Who or what then can separate us from the love of Christ? There is no such thing! Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:33-35,38-39)
God is love, if we can't be separated from His love how can we be separated from Him? If God's love was conditional He wouldn't have died for sinners, He wouldn't have died for people who were enemies of Him. Nothing separates you from his love. Notice it says, "No created thing" can separate you from the love of God. Well what are you? You are a created thing. You cannot separate yourself from God's love. That includes your behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and actions. None of those can separate you from God's love. Sin does not stand between you and God. God holds no sins against you. God doesn't count anything you do as His child as a sin (1 John 3:9). You only think sin separates you but that is a lie from the devil. What can separate us from the love of God? There is no thing. Again God is love, since we can't be separated from His love we cannot be separated from Him! God's love is so unconditional it is unstoppable, you cannot be separated from it! No amount of crying, confessing, self-effort, remembering your sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven, once and for all!

Jesus calls us His friends in John 15:15. From this and the previous scriptures we see that Jesus is an ever present friend who never leaves us. He always participates in our lives. He contributes all the good things. The entirety of scripture screams against the idea of God breaking fellowship with His children! I didn't even address the truth that God lives inside of His people, another truth that makes it obvious that God does not break fellowship with His children. Every definition of the original Greek and the English word "fellowship" is clearly always ours in Christ Jesus! God promised to never leave us. If that is true then the only thing that is required is for me to awaken to the fact that He is here too, right now. That changes everything for me. Good moments and bad moments are shared life with Him.

The Destructiveness of Believing the Lie of Broken Fellowship
It is no wonder most Christian meetings start off with a prayer asking for God to "be with us" or for "the Holy Spirit to come." It is no wonder we sing songs asking God to "remember us" and quote old covenant scriptures as if Jesus had never died and raised again!

It is no wonder so many struggle in relating to God. Someone else has to be there for a relationship to be real. God is always there but we've been taught that even the tiniest bad thought will make God walk out the door. Believing that fills us with so much guilt and shame that when we think we sin we can't even bring ourselves to confess it to God. That is the power of a lie, especially a lie about God, when what the lie guarantees doesn't work out well, at all, or even produces the opposite result as promised, in real life we think that it still must be God's way and we are the problem because we can't live right. All we get is more shame, guilt, and condemnation. I know, I lived it and it is clear to me that nearly every Christian I have known has lived it at some point to some degree.

Through the teaching of "sinning is breaking fellowship with God" we are teaching that God is the most petty, the most offendable, the most immature, the most grudge holding being to ever exist. You might think I'm exaggerating but I am certainly not! Think about it. We think if a Christian says 1 curse word, watches a movie with multiple curse words, or downloads a single pirated file that God will "break fellowship" with him or her.

That is like a father saying, "Now son you didn't say 'Yes sir' to me just now so I am going to avoid you (break fellowship) and ignore you completely (the idea that God won't hear your prayers if you have unconfessed sin in your life) until you call me and tell me what you did, say you are sorry, and tell me that you'll try very hard to never ever do it again. Until you do that I won't see you at dinner, I won't tuck you into bed at night, I will utterly forsake you just because of this one little thing, that though unnecessary, I required of you. Also if you do anything else wrong while I am gone you have to tell me about that too and feel very sad about it, if you don't I will continue to stay away from you. I won't listen to a single word you say. I won't help you through chores, trouble, or pain. I won't play with you. I won't comfort you. I won't be there for you at all because you have offended your father. You see my integrity (holiness) is so great that I simply cannot have anything to do with a child who doesn't tell me 'Yes sir.'"

That very example is what many many call God's "holiness." What a sick twisted lie! God's love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness is what makes Him holy. But this is what most Christians are taught about their relationship with God, that God is willing and certainly will drop His relationship with you in an instant if you do anything that could be conceived as wrong. That is the dominant view of the Christian life, "Try really hard not to do bad and God might show up and stick around." Amazingly God doesn't even count that denial of Christ's finished work on the cross against us. But living in that falsehood is still incredibly destructive to us. Jesus did not and does not dangle His friendship or presence like a carrot to get people to do what He wants them to do.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be distressed, troubled, fearful, distraught, lacking in courage, or feeling abandoned." (John 14:27) The man Christ Jesus left His Spirit, He is His Spirit. Being a Spirit makes Him closer to us than He could be as a man. One of the fruits His Spirit produces is peace. He gives us peace personified in His Spirit.

Fellowship is never something God takes away from us. If He did He would have to break His fellowship with Jesus Christ because He has placed Christ inside us and placed us in Christ. Our behavior can never change God's love for us and His fellowship with us. Our perception of Him or our perception of ourselves may keep us from drawing near to Him but He is always there with open arms. I am not an orphan one minute and a dearly loved child the next. God never forsakes me, He never breaks fellowship with me. Nothing separates me from His love. Let us trust in what God has done for us. "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is trustworthy." (1 Corinthians 1:9) You can trust His promises that lovingly let you know He is always with you.

1 John 1 The Twisted Scripture
We have seen an abundance of scriptures that let us know that God will not break fellowship with His children in any sense. Let us now look at 1 John 1, the scripture that has been twisted into the lie of God breaking fellowship with His children.

"This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched concerning the word of life and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from Jesus and announce to you:
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world." (1 John 1:1-2:2)

First Consider the Audience.
Those who teach that God breaks fellowship with us see the audience as Christians. 1 John is one of the later scriptures written and this is the only place in the New Testament where "confessing sins" to God is mentioned yet "confessing your sins to maintain relationship with God" is widely taught as an absolute must in the Christian's daily life. Jesus never demanded His disciples or anyone else to confess their sins to Him. Paul never told any of the Christians he wrote to to "confess their sins to God" eventhough they were involved in wide varieties of destructive behavior.

John says "We (us who are here writing this letter) have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" and that the letter is being written "so that you may have fellowship with us, with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Only those who have trusted Jesus know God and can have fellowship with Him. Obviously you can't have fellowship, properly defined, with someone you don't know. John is telling these people how to have fellowship with God, how to be saved. Part of audience is non-Christians the other part are confused Christians. In chapter 1 John is partly refuting a false teaching by Gnostics who were once among the people he is writing to. In 1 John 2:26 he says, "These things I did write to you concerning those leading you astray." The false teaching is that there "has never been such a thing as sin in the world," and because of that "no one has sinned." "Jesus was revealed to take away sins" (1 John 3:5) so recognition of your sinful state is integral to salvation. Thinking that sin does not exist, aside from just being false, removes much of the importance of Christ's death on the cross.

Second Consider the Content.
"What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." Some of the people being addressed in 1 John 1 do not yet have fellowship with the Father and the Son. John states His purpose of writing this is to let them know how to have fellowship with God, how to know God, how to be saved.

1 John 1 presents the gospel. "This is the gospel message we have heard from Jesus and announce to you." Our modern ABC's evangelism method can even be seen in this scripture.

Admit you are a sinner. "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us." "If we say we do not have sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us."
Believe in Jesus. "We have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us"
Confess your sins. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness."

It is evident by the context when John says "we" and "us" starting in 1 John 1:5b starting at "God is light.." he is not referring to himself and other Christians but those who need to hear "the gospel message from Jesus." It is an explanation of how to be saved. It is phrased sort of like a modern day instructional video. For example: The man who is already a police officer says, "if we do this, this, and this then we become police officers." The man giving instruction is already a police officer but for the sake of instruction he uses inclusive language while going through giving the steps. John could have said "you" instead but he knew he had a mixed audience of Christians and non-Christians who had been deceived by the Gnostics. Saying "you" would confuse them making them think that all of them must continually confess their sins to God but since John included himself, a Christian, in the "we" it is easily understood as being instructional for those in need of being saved and informational to the rest. John doesn't use the word "you" at all from v1:5b-10. In 2:1 we see that he has finished reciting the gospel message he got from Jesus and tells them why he said what he has said so far.

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2).

When you receive Christ you "may not sin," your spirit will not be able to (as 1 John 3:9 tells us). John wrote this saying, "if anyone sins, which I just showed you that everyone has, then Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of everyone else." It is a deliberate continuation of the instruction of how to be saved & how to tell someone to be saved. Do not let the chapter separation change the meaning of this text.

If 1 John 1:9 were addressed to the Christians, it would then contradict 1 John 2:12 that says, "Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name." Why would John command people to confess their sins if He says a few verses later that they HAVE been forgiven?

If non-Christians say that they have no sin or have not sinned, they are deceiving themselves, making Jesus a liar and the truth nor his word is in them. Saying they don't have sin disregards part of their true need for knowing Jesus. If they confess their sins (admit they have them), Jesus is trustworthy and righteous, permanently forgiving them their sins and permanently cleansing them from all unrighteousness. Jesus is the sacrifice for the sins of everyone and makes relationship with the Father available.

Third Consider the Context.
In the very same letter John writes,
"Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. Everyone who has been fathered by God does not commit sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but Jesus who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." (1 John 3:5-6,9; 5:18)

God says you, as His child, cannot sin. You are not able to sin. Christians don't need to confess or ask forgiveness because God has stopped counting what they do as sins. What sins do you need to confess if God is not charging you with any of them? If we do not realize the audience for 1 John 1 is partly non-Christians and the content is the gospel message of how to be saved then what we find in the above scriptures from chapter 3 & 5 make no sense and utterly contradict 1 John 1. I personally have never heard or seen anyone address those scriptures (1 John 3:5-6,9; 5:18) yet they are in the very same letter and help us greatly understand 1 John 1-2.

1 John 2:25 says, "This is the promise which God Himself made to us: eternal life." Jesus said in John 17:3 "Eternal life is "to know God the Father and Jesus Christ." Remember John obviously wrote 1 John and the gospel of John so he was in no way ignorant of the fact that eternal life equals knowing God. 1 John 3:6 says, "Everyone who sins has not known God." The Greek tense of the verb "known" indicates a meaning of "Everyone who sins has never once known God." It is clear that this statement does not mean "if you sin you don't know God in the midsts of your sin" or anything like that. If you sin you have never once known God. Remember "Jesus was revealed to take away sins" because of Him the possibility of a child of God being credited with sin is zero. I am not saying a Christian cannot live destructively and harm others. I am saying a Christian is free from even being accredited with sin because of what Jesus did for you on the cross.

1 John Summary

All people are born into the condition of sin inherited by Adam.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

All have committed sins.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:10)
All have sinned (Romans 3:23)

All need to trust Jesus and confess their sins (agree with God that they have a sin condition/have committed sins) in order receive forgiveness for their sins from Jesus and be cleansed from all unrighteousness (sin). Doing this makes someone a child of God.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

All sins are forgiven by God

The blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)
In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
Jesus has made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you ALL your sin (Colossians 2:13)
The Lord has forgiven you(Colossians 3:12)
Christ forgave you(Colossians 3:13)
When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12)

A Child of God is Not Able to Sin because they are born of God and God lives in them

Every child of God does not commit sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. (1 John 3:9)
No child of God sins; but Jesus who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1 John 5:18)
Everyone who trusts in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God. (Acts 13:39)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, is with you all!
(2 Corinthians 13:14, Young's Literal Translation)

Read more about this topic, including a look at confessing sin in James 5: 1, 2, 3, 4

He Loves You For You

2011-12-01T01:04:00.001-06:00

God wants us to love and trust Him for our benefit not out of His need. He enjoys it when we love and trust Him because He enjoys the relationship, He enjoys the affection. He knows that loving and trusting Him is what is best for us.

Many don't think of God as a loving Father. They see Him like an angry boss. They work for Him and are in constant fear of Him firing them (breaking fellowship) if they don't do exactly what He says (obey the written commands and extracted principles in the bible). They think that if they work hard enough and do a good enough job then God will finally acknowledge them, grace them with His presence, and then hand out a few bonuses (blessings) before telling them to get back to work.

A Father and his children can work together but ideally that is not the basis of their relationship. With God everything is ideal. I pray that all of us will see that more and more as our lives go on. The basis of our relationship with God is love not work, duty, obligation, or responsibility. We think God wants us to love and trust Him "this much" but we feel like we only love and trust Him "so little." God is not measuring you. He simply longs for authentic relationship. You simply cannot be commanded and obligated to love when you have never known love.

When we work with Father we see that His work is all about loving others. Love relationships will have their difficulties but what more joyful thing in this world is there than love? That is all God desires for us to do! God knows we love best when we have understood what it is to be loved by Him. When we try to force ourselves to love out of an obedience to a command rather than out of a heart that has been loved by God we will shame ourselves and push others away. They will know that our "love" isn't focused on who they are and what they need but on our own fear, commitment, and perceived obligation to obey a command to keep God pleased with us.

It is impossible to love selflessly when you think you have a God whose love for you is conditional. When you think God's love is conditional you will try to obey His commands to love for the purpose of trying to meet His condition so you can get His love. You will try to perform for God out of fear of losing His favor and that performance isn't out of love for God or for others.

God's love is not conditional but it is often not obvious to us. We will see it more and more as we grow to understand that God is the source of all good and we need do nothing more than to ask Him how He is loving us today.

Instead of thinking "I need to trust God more," trust Him to grow your trust in Him. Ask Him to make you aware of His trustworthiness, to show you why it is best for you to trust Him. God is certainly not offended by such requests. He will not hand you a snake when you ask for fish (Matthew 7:7-12).

God is our Father. Fathers give affection, protection, & instruction. God is the perfect Father who is love. He is the most loving and trustworthy being that exists. He is looking out for our best interests, He is looking to benefit us. What God knows benefits us the most isn't always what we think are our best interests, it doesn't always line up with our ambitions, desires, plans, or goals. God's love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). If we trust Him and His love for us we will have the most satisfying journey we could possibly have in this life.

Did Paul Shame People?

2011-11-30T16:14:00.001-06:00

Shame is a sense of guilt, disgrace, loss of favor with God. Shame is something that Christians aren't to have, Christ took away our shame at the cross and He makes us righteous. Shame is also not to be used to manipulate people, it is not to be a motivator. But there are two places in the New Testament where Paul seems to shame people.

1 Corinthians 6:1-6
"Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the assembly? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?"

The word translated shame here is defined as "a turning in upon oneself." It is not the usual Greek word translated "shame."
In 1 Corinthians 6:5 the issue is that Christians are turning to non-Christians to settle their problems for them. Understanding the correct definition of the word we can easily see Paul saying, "I say this so you will turn in upon yourselves and look for some wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren." Paul is telling them to look at themselves and amongst themselves to find a wise man to judge their matters. Paul is not shaming them with guilt. It is the opposite, the normal word for shame means disgrace but Paul encourages their competence as saints (which they are by grace) and communicates, "Look at yourself. Are you able to help settle these matters?"

1 Corinthians 15:34
"Become sober-minded as you ought, and sin not; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame."
The word translated shame here is the same as the one above and is defined as "a turning in upon oneself." These are the only two places this word appears in the New Testament. Paul tells them to "Wake up, become sober-minded." Understanding the correct definition of the word we can see that Paul is saying "Wake up, take a look at yourselves!" The NLT puts it this way "To your shame I say that some of you don't know God at all." Meaning "look inwardly, examine yourselves to see if you know God." This scripture is about realization not shame and guilt. Even if we took the word shame here to mean guilt or disgrace, which it doesn't, it is still aimed at non-Christians and Paul is not shaming Christians. "To your shame I say that some of you don't know God at all." Meaning "To the some who don't know God I appeal to the presence of your shame to help you realize that you don't know God."

Surrender or Submission? Defeat or Victory?

2011-11-28T12:49:00.001-06:00

Surrender
Surrender is not a term used in the New Testament. It is used in church circles usually referring to the biblical concept of submission or yielding. Using the word surrender, I believe, has a subtle impact on how we view God. The term surrender makes it out as though we are at war with God and we give up when He beats us down enough. But God is loving and in no way punishes His children (see 1 John 4:18). Scripture never uses the language of surrender of us in relation to God.

In some contexts the Greek word for "submit" is translated as "be subject" and may have the idea of being subordinate to God in a military fashion. Even there the idea of surrender does not fit because we are on God's side. He is for us, He is never against us. We are not at war with Him and we are not to surrender to Him as if we were.

Prominent Definitions of the English Word "Surrender"
acceptance of despair; the act of admitting defeat; to relinquish to the control or possession under threat, compulsion, or demand; to give (oneself) up, as or as if to an enemy

Submission
"Submit to God" -James 4:7
The Greek word translated "submit" in James 4:7 refers to "a voluntary attitude of cooperation." Cooperation is "working or acting together; agreeing." Biblical submission is a loving trust. It does not have the attitude of "because I have to.." or "since you're forcing me too.." Biblical submission says "I trust your desires are good and loving. I love you so I agree to work with you to fulfill your desires." This is how we are to obey God. Obedience is not merely an outward action in accordance with an instruction. Obedience is an inward trust based on God's love and guidance that results in outward action. There is nothing in the Christian life that does not involve God's love for you and your trust of Him.

The Christian does not need to "surrender daily" but to cooperate with what the Spirit of God communicates over the course of each day. Submission is a situational decision not a blanket declaration. You cannot submit your day to God. You can only submit as life rolls on throughout the day, anything else is pretending. Submission is relational cooperation done in the present tense. Submission is not tapping out because God twists your arm, it is tapping in, into the life, love, and relationship that God has given you with Himself. You cannot give your life to God. As a Christian God gave His life to you. He is your life (see Colossians 3:3-4). We are to simply walk with Jesus in newness of the new life He has given us. There is no promise to make or achievement to grasp just trust God and His love for you as in live in Him and with Him.

The Family of God

2011-11-09T21:28:00.001-06:00

In John 20:17 Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. And go on to My brothers, and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father, and to your Father, and to My God, and to your God.’”
After His resurrection Jesus calls the disciples His brothers and says that God is their God and Father. Jesus shows us that His resurrection brought us into the family of God.

Jesus said in John 14:1, "Do not let your heart be troubled; trust in God, trust also in me." Jesus' cure for a troubled heart is trust in God and Himself. Just as when we were children we trusted our parents to take care of us and comfort us when we were troubled or afraid so we are to trust God enough to go to Him when we are troubled because we realize that He is the safest place to be. The problem with using the word believe in John 14:1 is it leaves the impression that we have to muster up some sort of feeling of confidence. But we are to trust God which is relational. It means we go to Him during our troubles.

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, "Be perfect as God is perfect." We don't expect children to be as mature as adults. In keeping with your development in Christ God can look at you as perfect not just as being made perfect in His Son but perfect in the place you are in your life. God isn't stupid. He doesn't expect a 3 year old to be like a 30 year old. He knows you fully and He doesn't expect you to be able to do or be more than you are today. God is satisfied with you.

Living with Siblings
When power enters into a relationship submission is about power and where you fall in hierarchy instead of submission being what God intended which is mutual respect and love for people we have a relationship with. Whenever you deal with relationships that are about power the relationship is selfish. It is all about the person with more power. The servant loves by serving and the master loves to be served. Jesus came as a servant even though He is the only master. None of us are to put ourselves above others.

So why do we think that being something other than a brother or sister to someone is what is superior? Brothers and sisters share the life of their Father. The older help the younger learn to grow. That is what a biblical elder is. An elder (older) brother or sister that helps you learn and grow. An elder is not a surrogate parent. We have only an inkling of how deep the family of God parallels to blood families. Just as our older siblings may try to manipulate and control us to make us obey them so it is with the family of God where men elevate themselves above others and claim authority they do not have over others.

Another thing to realize is that children who have the same parents can be wildly different people. It is the same with God and His family. With God's family being as large as it is there is tons of variety. I'm talking about individual personalities and behavior. I'm not condoning the segregating denominations which put the family in competition with or at odds with each other. Church institutions promote a sort of sibling rivalry. Anyone who claims to have everything right is automatically wrong and worse off than the humble person who realizes that all of God's children are in a process of growth and maturing. "If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know." (1 Corinthians 8:2)

Christians and Christian groups often bicker over who God loves most when the Father loves all of His children just as He loves Jesus who gave us the privilege of being children of God (see John 17:23 & John 1:12). We have the ultimate older brother in Jesus and He is the first born in Father's family. All of God's children are equally loved, equally clean, and equally righteous.

My Thoughts on Jesus Washing the Disciple's Feet in John 13

2011-11-09T21:05:00.000-06:00

John 13:1-14:1
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will trust that I am who I am. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God; trust also in me."

My Thoughts
A reason Jesus washed their feet was that everything He had the Father gave to Him.

Jesus said Peter could have no part with Him if he did not let Jesus wash his feet. Peter then tells Jesus to wash his hands and head also. Jesus tells Peter that a man is totally clean if only his feet are washed. I think this pictures our response to God's grace and forgiveness. He makes us totally clean but we think that He needs to clean us even more.

I also see an idea of "Ok God since you are going to serve me then I want you to do this, this, and this too. I don't want you to serve me just how you want. I want you to do it my way too." But we can see by Jesus' response that He knows what we need when He serves us. We ask for things that are unneccessary at best. Peter had good motives and strong desire but good motives and strong desire do not equal wise motives and wise desire. That wisdom comes from God.

Another interesting thing is that Jesus says "You don't what I am doing now but you will know.." How often does Jesus "clean" us, meaning change our character and heart, and we have no idea what He is doing? When we get out of the circumstance then we see how God was cleaning us.

Walking Under the Yoke of Jesus

2011-11-08T16:17:00.000-06:00

The true meaning of faith is trust. Trust is a relational word. Trust means we deem Jesus as trustworthy and we put our security in Him. Trust causes us to "take His yoke upon us and learn FROM Him." The result is that we work with Him. It is 100% about walking with, relating to, Jesus in the Spirit.

His yoke is easy, His burden is light, and His commands are not burdensome because they don't consist of all the commands in scripture. The commands are the ones He gives you as you walk with Him. Some of the commands are the ones in scripture but the beauty is that He tells you when and how to keep them. Instead of heaping His commands upon you He guides you during your walk with Him. Jesus does not give me the burden of keeping the whole law. Jesus gives me the rest of having a love relationship with Him.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. I will walk alongside you. We will be yoked together but I will pull the weight and carry the burden." (Matthew 11:28-29)

"Everyone who trusts that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commands.
For this is the love of God: that we keep his commands. The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commands and his commands are not burdensome, they do not weigh us down because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. Our trust in God is the power that conquers the world. The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who trusts Jesus is the Son of God." (1 John 5:1-5)

Shame, Guilt, Grace, and Motivation

2011-11-07T13:31:00.000-06:00

“Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never be put to shame.”
(Romans 10:11, Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:6, Isaiah 28:16)

Shame means disgrace, dishonor, disfavor. It is being out of favor; a loss of favor. Shame is literally the opposite of grace.

Shame carries the idea of "turning in upon oneself" thus guilt/shame is like a pity party where you devalue yourself or think that God devalues you based on your behavior/actions. From my experience that type of guilt does not result in positive motivation or actions. That guilt does not produce hope or peace. It makes you not want to go to God. That shame barrier is what Christ removed on the cross.

The people of the Old Testament always lived with shame.
"The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt and consciousness of sin would have disappeared." (Hebrews 10:1-2)

People in Christ are free from having that shame. "Behold, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). Now that Jesus has been the perfect sacrifice He provides for us "perfect cleansing & purification once for all time." He makes it so our feelings of guilt and our consciousness of sin are no longer absolutes. We are free from them.

Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never lose grace, they will never lose favor with God. A Christian cannot be out of favor with God. When you feel shame, when you feel guilt, you feel like you have lost favor with God but that is absolutely not the case! Once you are saved God will never put you to shame.

There is also a practical reality here. Everyone who trusts Jesus, with a personal present tense trust, will never feel shame. As long as you are trusting Him and His love you will not feel shame. Why? Because you are living in the reality of God's love and grace. From my experience this is completely true. If I am not trusting God I am susceptible to feeling guilt and shame by believing in the lie that I have lost favor with God. While I am trusting that God only gives me grace (loving kindness) and never gives me disgrace (shame) I will never feel shame.

Are You Motivated by Guilt?
Shame is what caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in Genesis 3:8. Before they ate from the tree in Genesis 2:25 it says that they were not ashamed. In Genesis 3:10 Adam says they hid from God because they were afraid of God. Shame/guilt causes you to hide from God. If you have "bad" feelings that do not cause you to hide from God or devalue yourself I would not call those feelings guilt. Shame and guilt lowers a person in their own estimation, weakens them, and causes them to yield to sin more.

If I don't want to feel bad (guilt) I am going to try to do better so I won't feel bad (guilt) anymore. Being motivated by that idea of guilt is not love or compassion based, it is for the selfish removal of my negative emotion. It isn't about benefiting the other person (love). It is about me feeling better about myself. If I do something because I'm going to feel guilty if I don't then it is still about me, its not about others.

When the result of your emotions, even if they feel negative, is care for and the benefit of someone else I would say you are motivated by love and compassion and not by guilt.

We Are Always Able to Grow in Truth

2011-11-02T16:26:00.001-05:00

If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2)
This means we never fully arrive at a truth from God in this life. There is always more to learn from God on any given thing and we should humbly learn from God.

I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. (2 Peter 1:12)
Peter knew the importance of God's truth and that even if we know and stand firm in the truth we still need to be constantly reminded of it. Because of the infinite value of God's truth we can always benefit from it in all ways.

We Are Loved as He is Loved

2011-11-01T12:16:00.001-05:00

In John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed, "I am not praying only on their (the apostles) behalf, but also on behalf of those who trust in me through their testimony (us, all Christians throughout time), that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will trust that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them (God does share His glory, with us), that they may be one just as we are one – I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me."

Jesus explained in John 17:23 that God the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus prayed this as He was pouring out His heart to the Father just before He went to the cross. Jesus said that He wants the world to know that the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. So certainly He wants you to know that also.

God's purpose for us all is to grow in the understanding of how much God loves you. You can pray to God daily something like "God make me aware of how you are loving me today and what you are giving me today. Show me yourself so I can get a grip on what your love looks like in the middle of whatever I am doing."

God intends for you to experience His grace both for your salvation and daily for your life. His grace is His permanent disposition of love for you and His gracious kindness towards you. Grace is the basis for the way we live in Christ. It is understanding that He is loving toward us and that He is giving. When we look for His loving and His giving that is the best way to be living.

Do We Really Live For God?

2011-11-01T12:06:00.000-05:00

"If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s." (Romans 14:8)
This is the only time Scripture clearly says something about "living for God." Here it means "we live because of God." It does not mean "we live for the purpose of attempting to please God" nor "we live on behalf of God." When scripture says that Jesus died "for us" the word used indicates that He died "on our behalf." Even if we take "for" to mean something else than "because of" the scripture clearly says "if we live, we live for the Lord." The condition is being alive. The condition is not our behavior. We cannot try to live for God because, if we are alive, we already do. You always live for God because He is your life, He always lives for you, you live because of Him.

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life." (Colossians 3:3-4)
Saying "I live for God" is like saying "My heart and brains live for me." Without them there is no life. Without God there is no life. When we say we live for God we separate Him from ourselves. The truth is He is in us and we are in Him. The same ideas go for our own self-efforts. "I try to live for God." Is like saying "My heart tries to live for me but sometimes the dumb thing just don't work right." You are either alive or you are dead. If you are alive your heart is living for you and if you are alive you are living for God.

"Jesus died for all. He died so the living would no longer live life alone but with Him who died for them and rose up for them." (2 Corinthians 5:15)

List of Revised Posts/Teachings

2011-10-31T15:21:00.001-05:00

I have decided to go through all my previous posts and revise them. I have grown greatly in understanding within these past 2-3 years. I don't want detrimental inaccuracies and misrepresentations of God to be presented on this blog. This blog is about me teaching what I know of God. It isn't meant to be a timeline of my growth (my livejournal can give you that idea). It is meant to have the accurate truth of God and His truth as I know Him.

Below is a list of posts changed, the date they were changed, and an idea of how much was changed. More revisions are to come and they will be added to this post.

Revised Teachings 2011:
Why use the word "Assembly" instead of "Church" - 10/26/11 - Very minor changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online
3 Qualities That Show The Importance of Scripture. / Jesus is The Word of God, Illumination, & The Value of Scripture - 10/27/11 - Major changes, New Section, Renamed and reposted on new date
The Proper Perception, Purpose, & Practice Of Learning God's Word. / Learning Scripture: Perception, Purpose, and Practice - 10/28/11,11/2/11 - Major changes, Renamed

All My Rights Are Reserved by God - 10/31/11 - Very minor changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Does it matter what we watch? - Removed 1/26/12 - Heavily edited 10/31/11, Edited Version Retained Online
Not Us vs Them - 10/31/11 - Minor changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Being Motivated by Love - 10/31/11 - Removed
Once Saved, Always Believing / Trust Never Discarded - 10/31/11 - Very minor changes, Renamed, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Which one is the great commission? - 10/31/11 - Moderate changes
Conversion Converts Character - 10/31/11 - Removed
The Letter of the Law, The Life of Love -1 Peter 2:11-17 - 10/31/11 - Very minor changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online

Discipling - 11/2/11 - Moderate changes, Original Version
Renewing the mind - 11/2/11 - Heavily edited
Life itself is in Jesus / Life itself is Jesus - 11/2/11 - Minor changes, Renamed, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Proper Translation of Hebrews 13:17 - 11/2/11 - Moderate changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online
The Meaning of Life: Part 1, How to Know God - 11/2/11 -Major changes, Previous Version Not Retained Online, Supplemental Intent of Learning is now its own post. - Will be revised again soon.

The Life of God vs. The Knowledge of Good and Evil - 11/8/11 - Major additions, minor changes, New Intro
Faith: Trust in God - 12/2/11 - Minor changes/edits

Revised Teachings 2012:
Should Christians Repent? - January 2012 - Removed, Will be split into a new teaching on Repentance & one titled Christ was Not Forsaken on the Cross
The Meaning of Life: Part 2, Understanding the Relationship - 1/25/12 - Moderate Edits, Moderate Additions, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Faith is Trust - 1/26/12 - Moderate Changes and Additions, Previous Version Not Retained Online
Alive to God in Christ Jesus - 1/26/12 -Major Changes, Previous Version Retained Online for my personal growth reference.
Raisin' Hell and Lowerin' Heaven - 1/27/12 - Removed, Read it Here

Jesus is The Word of God, Illumination, & The Value of Scripture

2011-10-27T16:21:00.000-05:00

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.

Revelation 19:13 describes Jesus
“He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus is the Word of God but the Bible is of course no ordinary book. When reading an ordinary book it is not necessary to meet the author to benefit from the book. With the Bible, everything is different. It is vital & necessary to meet the Author if you are to understand the Bible. We can’t expect to know the Bible of God without knowing the God of the Bible. We must know Jesus, the living Word of God, in order to truly comprehend the Bible, the written words of God. One can never understand the message and intent of the Bible, unless you have a redeeming encounter with its Author.

Jesus quoted the Old Testament about 180 times in the Gospels. Jesus prayed in John 17:24,
“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the foundation of the world.”
We can see from his prayer that God loves Himself & God loves us. God brings His own love for Himself and His scripture into us when we are saved & the delight Jesus has had for the Father and for the scriptures is shared with us. His love for scripture is not a love of doctrines and principles but of the story of the one true God, His love, and how He has revealed Himself to people throughout History.

The Illuminative quality of God’s words.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:16-19,
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who trust, according to the working of his great might”

In this scripture we can see that God is the one who gives us wisdom, who reveals knowledge of Himself, who enlightens our hearts and minds.As said before ‘we can’t know God’s Bible without knowing God’. It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates us to the scriptures. The Bible must be illumined by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit’s illumination and teaching, the Bible itself is just another book!

1 Corinthians 2:12 explains how the Holy Spirit of God is essential to learning the knowledge of God.
"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."

The Bible contains the words of God, inspired by Him. His words are powerful because He is God. Our understanding of His words only comes through us trusting Him and Him being alive and active in unfolding His words to us.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. -Psalm 119:130
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. -Psalm 119:105

In Psalm 43:3, the Psalmist prayed this:
“O, send out Your light and Your truth, and let them lead me.”
Note the combination of light and truth in his prayer. It is wise to pray to the Holy Spirit for His light before you expose yourself to His truth.

The Psalmist in Psalm 119 frequently asks God for illumination.
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things. -18
Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me! -29
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. -37
You have taught me. -102
Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! -169

It is not enough to have the Bible. Many people take up the Bible and read—and receive no benefit at all. Why? Because they had the truth, but had no light to detect it.

The Invaluable quality of God’s words.
Psalm 12:6 reveals the absolutely reliability of God's words.
“The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.”
God's words are untainted by falsehood or deception. As some translations put it "the words of the LORD are flawless"
Psalm 19:7 says – The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 33:3-4 says – The word of the LORD is right and true; he is trustworthy in all he does.

The following are a few practical examples that express the value of God's words.

God’s words help lead us to salvation, eternal life.
John 5:24 – Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and trusts him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Romans 1:16 – Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts"
Paul wrote to Timothy "You have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through trust in Christ Jesus." -2 Timothy 3:15

God’s words equip us for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

God’s words are food for our spirit.
Matthew 4:4 – Jesus said, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Note that Jesus said "every word." God has not stopped speaking to us just because the Bible is completed. Illumination involves present interaction from God.

The value of life, food, and provision for good work is immeasurable.

Psalm 119 also expresses the invaluable quality of God’s words.
The words of your mouth are better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. -72
You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. -114
I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. -162

The Infinite & Eternal quality of God’s words.
God constantly holds an infinite supply of wisdom and knowledge. He has revealed much wisdom and knowledge in the scriptures.

Isaiah 40:13-14 – Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?
Psalm 139:17 – How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Psalm 147:5 – Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

God's words are eternal thus it benefits us to invest what time we have into one of the only things that lasts beyond time itself.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 - Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Psalm 119 indeed expresses the infinite & eternal quality of God’s words.
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. -89
Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. -144

Remembering that Jesus is the Word of God
The Bible tells me about the voice of the person (Jesus) to whom I'm meant to relate. If you don't get to know the person of Jesus you will not understand the Bible. If you separate the present tense life of Christ from scripture then you have a dead book.

The Word of God is Jesus and He said that the Holy Spirit would lead us to all truth not the holy bible. I'm not saying that the Bible isn't important. The book itself is not essential but its truths are. God can and did teach people those truths without the book. For many hundred of years Christians did not have bibles in their homes. How did they possibly make it? They had a real spiritual relationship with God.

Today we think "If I haven't read the Bible everyday I can't possibly know God's heart." Do not beat yourself up about not reading the Bible as much as you think you should. As a child of God the words of God should never condemn you. If you still feel condemned by the Bible because you aren't "measuring up" and because you keep failing then your focus is not on Jesus it is on you. The Bible in the Christian life is not meant to be used as, "I'll follow the rules in the book and then I will meet Jesus." The truth is "I'll meet Jesus and He'll bring the truths of this book alive in me." The Bible is not a guide book. The Bible is a grace book that points us to Jesus.

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
The Word of God this scripture is talking about is Jesus not the Bible. Certainly Jesus is living and active. 1 Chronicles 28 says, "The LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts." To think that quoting scripture to someone is guaranteed to pierce to their soul is a false idea. The living God is the one who does this, you can not force it. It is His job to do. Jesus is the sword of the Spirit spoken of in Ephesians 6:17. Jesus is a life giving Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45). The Word of God is the loving, present tense Jesus speaking to the heart.

A lot of churches will teach that the Christian life is about oughts, shoulds, musts, supposed tos, trying to live by the laws that God had put in place, coming up with and following principles and methods for Christian living. What all of that is really doing is looking at pages in a bible and looking at a historical figure for methods and rules. The reality of the Christian life is Christ in you right here and right now, we are in union with Him. We live not by methods, rules, and trying to replicate past happenings but living right here, in the here and now, with the Jesus Christ and His life living in us.

Paul gives us great insight into the value of knowing Jesus in Philippians 3:8,
"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as excrement, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through trust in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on trust."

--
This was my first public teaching on Oct 12, 2008 then known as 3 Qualities That Show The Importance of Scripture.
It has been heavily revised and added to on Oct 27, 2011.

Why use the word "Assembly" instead of "Church" II: The Body of Christ

2011-10-26T12:16:00.000-05:00

As presented in my previous teaching Why use the word "Assembly" instead of "Church" we know that the proper translation for the Greek word "ekklesia" (usually erroneously translated as "church") is the English word "assembly." I will show how exquisitely well the word assembly translates the word ekklesia by looking at the various English definitions of assembly and how they relate to the truth of scripture.

First we will look at how scripture describes the assembly of Christ.
"God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the assembly as head over all things. Now the assembly is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23). We see here that the assembly is Christ's body. Read 1 Corinthians 12. Note verse 27, "Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it."

Now here are some interesting English dictionary definitions of the word "assembly" along with related scriptures.

A group of persons who are gathered together for a common purpose.

Every day disciples continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. (Acts 2:46-47)
When they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)
Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying. (Acts 12:12)
When you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus the power of our Lord Jesus is present. (1 Corinthians 5:4)

A group of parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit; A unit consisting of components that have been fitted together

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:16)

The act of constructing something

Jesus said "I will build my assembly" (Matthew 16:11)
To equip the saints for the work of service, that is, to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12)
So the assembly throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. (Acts 9:31)
Encourage one another and build up one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
You yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

Whole, unit - an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
Jesus prayed, "I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who trust in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will trust that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23)

We see that, while assembly can mean a group of people meeting in a particular place and time, biblically it can also refer to the body of Christ with similar or exact definitions to match those English definitions I presented above (a group of parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit; whole; unit; an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity). The word assembly parallels to the body of Christ and its parts coming together as one. It all relates back to the body because another possible word to use for ekklesia (aside from assembly & congregation) is council which definitions start out with "body" & "A body of people" That goes way past the non-biblical word that is church.

In marriage two become one. We are the bride of Christ. Just as Jesus prayed for us to do so in John 17 quoted above, we become one with God. The assembly is the body of Christ. "For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). "The body is a unit, it is made up of many parts that form one body" (1 Corinthians 12:12, NIV). Christ is a body, Jesus is the head of that body, those who trust Him are the rest of that body. God has loved us with such favor that we are Christ with Jesus! Just as my hand is me and a part of me so too are we parts of the body of Christ and we are Christ. We aren't simply Christians, we are Christ because we are one with the head of the body, Jesus. How is this the case? Jesus explained in John 17:23 that God the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus.

God's View on Sin

2011-09-27T15:26:00.000-05:00

I have collected nearly every reference to the words sin(s) or transgression(s) in the New Testament, particularly the ones where God is also mentioned. Remembering that the New Testament is the superior revelation of God's character because "Jesus is the exact representation of God" (Hebrews 1:3) let us take a look at God's view on sin. You may be surprised at what is here and what isn't here.

Jesus saves His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)
God's tender mercy gives people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. (Luke 1:77-78)
Jesus takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29)
Jesus forgives specific people of their sins. (Matthew 9:2, Mark 2:5, Luke 5:20, 7:47-48)
Jesus forgives people of their sins and His gift of forgiveness is received by trusting in Him. (Matthew 12:32, Acts 2:38, 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18, Romans 4:7)
Jesus' blood of the covenant is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. (Mentioned in Matthew 26:28 of His death on the cross)
Jesus the Christ suffered and rose from the dead on the third day, and change of mind for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations. (Luke 24:46-47)
The Holy Spirit convicts those who do not trust Jesus Christ of sin so that they will come to trust Him (John 16:8-9)
The Lord wipes away sins. (Acts 3:19)
Jesus washes away sins. (Acts 22:16)
God covers sins. (Romans 4:7)
The Lord does not take sin into account. (Romans 4:8)
Jesus was delivered over to be crucified because of our sins and transgressions, and was raised to free us from guilt and make us right with him. (Romans 4:25)
God does not charge people of sin where there is no law. Jesus Christ is the end of the law making all those who trust Him right with God. (Romans 5:13, Romans 10:4)
God's grace overflowed when sin increased. (Romans 5:20)
Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)
Jesus did away with our body of sin. (Romans 6:6)
Jesus freed us from being slaves to sin. (Romans 6:6)
Jesus freed us from sin. (Romans 6:7,18,22, 8:2)
Jesus died one time to break the power of sin for all. (Romans 6:10)
God puts us under grace which makes sin no longer our master. (Romans 6:14)
Jesus set us free from the brutal tyranny of the power of the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh by declaring an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. (Romans 8:3)
Jesus takes away the sins of His people. (Romans 11:27)
Jesus died for our sins according to the foretelling of the scriptures, and He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
Jesus raised again to life and now we are not in our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
God does not count sins against people. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. (Galatians 1:3-4)
Jesus has redeemed us through His blood, He forgives our sins and trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8)
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions and sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1,4-7)
God rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)
Jesus made you alive together with Him while you were dead in your sins and transgressions, having forgiven you all our sins and transgressions. He canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against you, which was hostile to you; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
Jesus cleansed and purified us from our sins. (Hebrew 1:3)
Jesus sacrificed Himself to take away sins which removes the power of sin to separate us from God and makes relationship with God available to us. (Hebrews 2:17)
Jesus had no sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus offered up Himself, dying for the sins of the people once and for all. (Hebrews 7:27, 10:12)
God no longer remembers the sins of His people. (Hebrews 8:12,10:17)
Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26)
Jesus was offered once to bear the sins of many. (Hebrews 9:28)
Jesus suffered as an offering for sin to purify people through His own blood. (Hebrews 13:11-12)
Jesus Christ committed no sin and told no lies. (1 Peter 2:22)
Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to the fact that we are right with God; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)
God (who is love) covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
Jesus is trustworthy and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Jesus Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
Your sins have been forgiven through Jesus for His name's sake. (1 John 2:12)
Jesus came to earth to take away sins. (1 John 3:5)
In Jesus there is no sin. (1 John 3:5)
God puts His seed in those who trust in Him and they are no longer able to sin, because they are born of God. (1 John 3:9)
God showed us what love is. While we were not able to love God He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Jesus Christ loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. (Revelation 1:5)

Reflect on what was here that you weren't aware of and also consider what wasn't here that you think is true of God.

Blog Name Change: Loved by God, Loving Others

2011-09-22T11:49:00.001-05:00

I've changed the name of my blog from "Love God, Love Others" to "Loved by God, Loving Others" because my life has changed from a commands based life of "this is what God wants us to do so let's make Him happy" to a love based life of "God loves me and is already happy so I will love others out of the overflow of Him loving me."

Jesus Accomplished All Things Necessary to Fulfill the Law

2011-09-21T10:29:00.000-05:00

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20,
"Do not think that I have come to do away with, undo, or abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with, undo, or abolish but to complete and fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until all things are accomplished.
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus saying He didn't come to do away with the law but to fulfill it is like Him saying, "I didn't come to do away with the debt. I came to pay the debt." Paying the debt is like doing away with it but better because it is more than mercy, it is forgiveness and graciousness. We were in debt to pay the whole law with perfect obedience to it. Jesus did it on our behalf. He paid the debt of obedience. Jesus wasn't saying, "Forget about that old law thing I'm going to junk it." He was saying, "I'm going to do this for you because I love you and I know you can't do it."

If Jesus was speaking about these things after His resurrection He would say something like this.
"When I came I didn't throw out the law and the prophets. I have fulfilled the requirements of the law for all mankind. I have also fulfilled the prophesies about the Messiah. What I did was so important that even if heaven and earth disappeared every bit of the law would have remained unfulfilled but I accomplished all things necessary to fulfill it. Now I make everyone great in my kingdom. Even those who were the best law keepers did not have enough righteousness to enter my kingdom. You will need my righteousness to enter my kingdom. Just start trusting me and I will give it to you."

Serving God by the New Way of the Spirit and Not the Old Way of The Law

2011-09-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

Galatians 5 says, "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace," and "a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." That yeast is the law, a little law takes away a lot of grace. If you put even one law on yourself, God's old covenant law or your own invented law, then you are putting yourself in bondage.

You are to serve God by the Spirit not the old way of the law as Romans 7:6 says, "We have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit." Serving God by the Spirit results in doing the good deeds described in the law and more. One difference is that there is no burden, no guilt, no shame, no condemnation. Serving by the Spirit is walking in the Spirit. It is a walk with God. It is not, as much of Christianity unwittingly practices, a walk without God trying to keep His laws and other moral laws (ones imposed by tradition, society, self, the church).

When you serve God by the Spirit you won't worry about "Am I doing enough? Am I spending enough time with God? Am I being a good witness?" and things like that. The primary questions are "Am I aware that He is with me?" and "Do I trust Him and His love for me?" When you serve by the Spirit you do what you see the Father doing just like Jesus did. We aren't to serve the law we are to serve God. It is falsely taught that serving the law equals serving God or that serving a church organization equals serving God.

"He is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made buildings (temples, churches), and he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:24-25)

Hands don't serve God. It is His Spirit in you and the new living spirit He has given you through Christ that serves Him. When you replace "trust in Him" with "trying for Him" your life will have misery because you try to serve God with your flesh, your hands. Jesus said in John 6:63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all."

Thankfully God doesn't judge you by works even if they are done by the flesh rather than the Spirit. He loves you because love is who He is. "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Romans 8:8-9).

Trust and Works

2011-09-16T13:47:00.000-05:00

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through trust/faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

You cannot earn God's grace, His favor, His approval. We receive God's grace by faith (trust). Now that we have trusted Him and received His grace we can and will do the good works that God intends for us to do. Not only are you not saved by works but you are not approved by works. The works are the result of trusting God's love for you and partnering with Him in life under His yoke.

Just like the evidence of life is a pulse the evidence of trust (faith) is good works. Works without God is like synthetic life. There may be a pulse but there is no true life. Trust brings life. Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Works are the result of having life. If you live then you will do. If you live to God because you are alive in Him you will do the good works He has prepared for you. The burden is on God. Your response to His love for you is trust.

God's great love, His grace for us, comes first. Trusting that He first loves us brings salvation, we knowingly know Him. Good works come third but they don't come without God's continued love, which never ends, and your present tense trust.

The works aren't good unless they are done in knowing relationship with God. Jesus talks in Matthew 7:21-23 about people doing "good works" in His name yet not knowing Him. So it is true that works without trust is dead. If you have dead trust (faith) then you do not trust God because God is life and knowing Him is life and trusting Him is how you know Him. What James (2) talks about is false faith, false trust, because trust in Christ cannot be dead!

What James was saying was "You think you know God, you think you trust God? Where is the evidence? You think there is one God well that doesn't mean much the demons know that! Abraham proved that he trusted God by offering up Isaac his son on the altar. The scripture was fulfilled that says "Abraham trusted God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

How did Abraham trust God? He did it by action. Trust includes action. Scriptures simplify when we think of them relationally. If you asked me "Do you trust me?" and I said "Yes" then you asked me for help and I said, "You're lying you don't need help" it would be obvious that I don't trust you.

God is Spirit so in order for us to know God in this day we have to "trust that He exists and rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Because Jesus isn't physically on the earth we have to trust Him in order to meet Him. But that also makes it easy for us to talk about Him without trusting Him and thus not knowing Him.

Excerpts from James 2 in The Message: "Does merely talking about trust indicate that a person really has it? Does merely talking about Jesus indicate that a person really knows Him? Trust and works, works and trust, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to trust in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? Isn't it obvious that trust and works are yoked partners, that trust expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of trust"?"

Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through love." God counts nothing against you but the only thing that counts for you is trust expressing itself through love. Remembering that God is love we could say, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through God." This means your trust in God causes His goodness to come out of you. It is your trust expressed through God inside of you resulting in His love coming out of you.

Jesus said in John 6:28-29, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." Dead trust, dead faith, means you don't know God at all. Dead works means at best you are acting without communicating with God in a trusting relationship and at worst you also don't know God at all.

The issue isn't about worrying to balance separate items. It is all a single unit of God and His love that consists of distinct yet flowing portions. At the beginning from love blooms trust and from trust blooms works but it lives on as one organism. He first loved us so we trust Him. We work because we trust in His love. God works with us when we trust Him because He loves us. "For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

The Life of God vs. The Knowledge of Good and Evil

2011-09-12T12:40:00.000-05:00

In the beginning did God think, "It is harmless for Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I just don't want them to, so I'll make a pointless rule about them not being allowed to eat of it. If they break that rule I'm going to call what they've done sin because it made me mad and I will have them and all of their generations suffer for ticking me off."

Was not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a pointless rule that when broke would curse all of mankind? Was God being petty and cruel or was God wise enough to know that having the knowledge of good and evil is destructive to us?

Only God can properly handle having the knowledge of good and evil. God didn't create us to know good and evil He created us to know Him and be in relationship with Him. We often camp out at Jesus taking the penalty for our sin and unwittingly focus on our sin (which Christ took away) but we partake in Jesus' life in the resurrection. He took away our sin but most of us don't realize that. We focus on our sin and our knowledge of good and evil. Our sin is away and our life in Christ is here. Which is better to focus on what is away or on what is here? That which was taken or that which was given?

Man ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that is what brought sin into the world. Jesus died on a tree. Sin was brought in by a tree and sin was taken out on a tree. Christ died to the knowledge of good and evil so we don't have to live by that. Our life is not to be about "doing good and abstaining from evil." It is to yield to Jesus and trust Him to live through us.

The knowledge of good and evil gets in our way of knowing Jesus Christ the tree of Life. We are to "throw off the sin that so easily entangles us and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our trust/faith in Him, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame" (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Shame is the result of living by the knowledge of good and evil. Shame is what caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in Genesis 3:8. Before they ate from the tree in Genesis 2:25 it says that they were not ashamed. In Genesis 3:10 Adam says they hid from God because they were afraid of God. Shame and fear cause you to hide from God. I cannot emphasize enough how universal, absolute, and real that truth is, shame and fear cause you to hide from God. Shame is what makes you think you have lost favor with God. Shame is the opposite of grace. When you live by the knowledge of good and evil you will feel shame, you will have fear, you will feel guilt, you will judge yourself harshly, you will judge others harshly.

We are not branches of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are branches on Jesus, the tree of life. We live by His life by trusting Him. When we judge ourselves and others by our knowledge of good and evil we will be miserable and cruel. When we consider ourselves living to God in Christ Jesus we will experience God's love and will be loving to others.

Eve said in Genesis 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Today we eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because we are deceived by the serpent. Christ came to reverse the spiritual effects of the fall of man in the garden. When Jesus raised to life He came out of the tomb and into a garden. We were raised with Him. We are in that garden also. The garden of His life, love, grace, and righteousness.

Romans 6:6-11 says, "Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for we have died and are freed from sin. Because we died with Christ, we trust that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Since it says to consider "in the same way" let us look at the "same way."
Since you were raised from the dead you cannot die again, death has no mastery over you. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who trusts in Me will live even if he dies." (John 11:25)
The death you died, you died to sin once and for all; but the life you live, you live to God. Consider yourself dead to sin because you are. Consider yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus because you are.

Jesus wants us to feast on Him. He is the bread of life, He is the tree of life and He is our life. God doesn't want you to try to be good. Trying to be good is eating from the wrong tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God wants you to let His life live through you. That is eating from the tree of life.

God said to Adam that if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die. "The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).

Here are some highlights from Romans 6-7:
Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. You are under God's favor. You have been set free from sin. Law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives. You died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to Jesus who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code (the law, obligation, knowledge of good and evil). Thanks be to God, who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Our Lover and His Bride
Let's look back at Genesis 2:22-25 & 3:21-23, "The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

"The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

Ephesians 5:29-32 says, "Christ feeds and takes care of His body, and we are members of His body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the Assembly."

Jesus said in Matthew 19:4-6, "The Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Colossians 3:1 says, "You have been raised with Christ." Genesis 3 is referred to as the fall. When Christ rose He lifted us up. Let us now take a look at Genesis 2 and 3 through the lens of the new covenant and through the eternal eyes of Christ.

"The Father fashioned His Son's bride out of His Son, and brought her to His Son. The Son said, "This is now spirit of my spirit, and mind of my mind.” For this reason the Son left His Father in Heaven, to be joined to his wife; and they shall become one as the Father and Son are one. And there is no shame."

"The Son sacrificed His skin, His flesh to clothe His wife with Himself. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the woman has become like one of Us, and now, she can stretch out her hand, and take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever!”"

Working "With God" Instead of "For God"

2011-08-29T16:02:00.002-05:00

Much of modern Christianity pictures God as a kind employer who pays well in the next life as long as we do His work in this life. Rarely is God pictured as the loving Father He really is who loves us without condition. God does not have requirements of us. God offers relationship to us. All good works flow from that loving relationship. God does not burden us by forcing us to work for Him. God loves us until we desire to work WITH Him.

Jesus said to His disciples, "I WILL make you fishers of men." He did not say, "Ok, you've met me. Here are a list of my commands. Now get to work!" Jesus built relationships with His disciples. They walked with Him, watching Him work, watching Him show love and compassion. Before He left this earth He gave them His Spirit and promised to be with with them always.

The Christian life isn't about "doing great things for God." It is about walking with God and listening to Him. As you walk with Him He will show you needs and direct you how to love.

Jesus didn't boast "I kept all the commands Father ever wrote down." Jesus said, "I can do nothing by myself. I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. By myself I can do nothing. I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." (John 5:19-20,30)

That is precisely how we are to live, by watching what God is doing and joining in. You are a son or daughter of God. What Jesus said in John 5 applies to how you live your life.

"I can do nothing by myself ... By myself I can do nothing."
That means to do nothing alone, to always work with God. All other work is fruitless. This means that Jesus always worked TOGETHER with the Father and the Father was His chosen source of strength.

"I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does."
Watch God, He will show you what to do because He loves you. You don't need to fear your own ignorance or strive to discover His purposes. Trust that He loves you. Know He is always with you. The more you trust Him the more you will recognize what He is showing you.

"I seek not to please myself but him who sent me."
Jesus' relationship with His Father was fully established. When we have a close relationship with God we too will be able to say what Jesus said. This cannot be truthfully said without knowing God's love for you. We want to please God because He pleases us. That is a loving relationship! God loves us until we desire to work with Him. Working with God is a loving relationship! We don't work for God as if He is a rule making employer. We work with Him like we are in His family because we are! As sons and daughters we work with our Father and our oldest brother Jesus!

How God Prepared Me for My Dad's Death

2011-08-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

My dad died unexpectedly on August 15. That day he died I was listening to podcasts that had these words below. God was giving me understanding and comfort just before the tragedy had become known.

Notes from Podcasts

Our trust is not in the outcome of our circumstances. It is in Christ Jesus and we know that His grace is sufficient for whatever life might hurl at us.
True trust is not trusting in an outcome or an answer. It is trusting that God is good, God is loving, God is with me, and if I need to know something He will let me know.
When you go through pain just cling to God.
You can only grow in love when you grow in knowing that you are loved by God.
The most important question is "How much do you know that God loves you?"
We don't have to understand why things happen. We just have to know that it happened and God is there in the midst of it sharing and showing His love.
There is a loving God who stands above everything that happens in this life. Whether we can understand or not understand why things happen the one thing we can know is that God is in the midst of it. Where is God in the midst of tragedy? He is there to comfort, to sustain people, to meet their need right where they are.
Here is a link to the "Grace in Suffering" Podcast

Below are things I personally wrote on that day from thought, as responses to others, or spurred from podcasts. God was working through me to give comfort to myself. I looked back on these after I got word of his death. The chances of me listening to the Grace in Suffering podcast on that day are mathematically very low. God worked for months through my feelings, preferences, workload, mental and physical condition, listening speed, discoveries, and interactions to have me hear that on the day my dad died. I think I am more comforted by the fact that God worked so intricately to prepare me than I am by even the words themselves.

Notes I Wrote

I don't doubt that I know God as my father anymore than I doubt I know my biological father.
Drawing near to God means we experience His love and thus we become more loving to others which ultimately fulfills the law anyway.
I was never successful at loving until I realized I was loved. I was never successful at trusting until I stopped trying. I was never successful at doing until I started being. I was never successful at living until I let Life live for me.
I feel more perfect because of His righteousness given to me, more significant because of His power to work through me. I do feel less capable and less confident in myself because I know those are His qualities and not mine. I don't feel more miserable as a Christian because I don't measure up because I know God threw away the measuring stick to give me a hug.
Trust is putting your security in God. Saying "I'm going to do what you want God and I know it will be good for me"
People don't always need answers. Sometimes they just need love, compassion, and comfort. You can show people that God cares by showing them that you care.

Contentment and Disappointment

2011-08-10T15:09:00.002-05:00

Contentment
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:11-13)

I can be content through Christ who strengthens me! Scriptures tell us in Philippians 4 what a great thing it is to be content but most of the way churches and preachers try to motivate is by discontentment. "You're not doing enough. You need to get out of your comfort zone. You should never be satisfied with your walk in God." God doesn't want you to be discontent. He wants you to be satisfied with Him and to rest in Him. The secret of contentment is Christ's strength working through you!

"I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)
"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." (1 Timothy 6:8)
"Be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere men do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
"Already you are satisfied! You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle!" (1 Corinthians 4:8)

Disappointment
When God doesn't do what we expect we need to voice our disappointments to Him. If we don't we are going to put up a barrier between us and God. That barrier is us not caring to listen to Him because He let us down by not giving us what we wanted when we wanted it.

When God disappoints our desires we distance ourselves from Him and we "take back control" of our lives without going to Him for input. The reality is that we never actually yielded control to God because we were set on using God to get our desires met in our time frame instead of trying to follow God's desires for us in His timing. God's desires for us are better than our desires for ourselves. His timing is better for us than ours also. He loves us more than we love ourselves. While it may not be as easy and comfortable as what we want God knows what is best for us and when it is best for us.

Disappointments happen when your appointments fail. Disappointment is defined as "the state of being depressed or discouraged by the failure of one's hopes or expectations." When you don't get what you want you are disappointed. When you expect a gift at Christmas and don't get it you are disappointed. We treat God like Christmas morning. We expect things of Him and if we don't get what we want we are disappointed and sometimes like children we throw a fit. "It is Christmas day! You have to give me what I want today! Now is the time!"

But gifts are better when they are a surprise. You appreciate them more at a day and time when you don't expect them. God has already given us much much more than any of us realize. And God is always giving to us. His love is self-giving. His Spirit is a breath that only breathes out. God will give us freedom we never dreamed of and things we never knew we wanted.

I'm a participant in the gifts of God today. God doesn't give me on any given day everything I want the way I want it. We can be like the child who doesn't get the one present he wants most so he is ungrateful and doesn't enjoy the many presents he did get. When my focus is on what I want instead of what God is giving me I will be frustrated.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:31, "What I'm trying to get you to do is to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving."
There is a great change in the heart of a person when they no longer have the fruitless tension of trying to get. Instead they have the relaxed sense of "I'm going to participate today in what God gives me, so God what are you giving me today?" That changes the whole nature of the relationship from anxiety and pressure and manipulation to "I'm really buddied up with Papa and my God has the best ideas about everything. So I'm not convincing Him to do things my way. I'm looking for the way He is doing things and joining in them." It is good to discover an attitude that says, "How do I live in the gifts of God instead of the need of myself?"

Romans 8:23 says, "God who didn't spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with Christ freely give us all things?"
God gave us the ultimate treasure of the universe, Jesus, so is there anything greater than Jesus that God has got for me? How do I come to the awareness of the value of what He has given?

Faith: Trust in God

2011-07-29T16:28:00.002-05:00

Faith and Trust Best Defined
The word "believe" when used in the bible is best defined as "trust" or "to trust." The word "faith" is best defined as "trust." These words we take as mysterious spiritual words are in fact, for the most part, simple relational words.

Faith, Belief, or Trust biblically speaking in regards to God is
    Trusting the person of God in a relationship the same way we would trust a friend or family member
    Being convinced that God is trustworthy, worthy of trust
    Entrusting yourself to God, putting your security in God
    Trusting that what God has said is true, taking God at His word
    Knowing that God loves us and loves giving to us

After studying Hebrews 11:1 and the meanings of the words within it I offer this paraphrase along with two other clear translations.
"Faith is firm trust in the reality of what we expect or hope for to come to pass. Faith is certainty in the proof of what we do not see."
"Faith/Trust assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1 God's Word Translation)
"Now faith/trust is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and being convinced of the reality of things which we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1, Weymouth New Testament)

Trust and Grace
Grace is what God has for us. Trust (faith) is what we have for God.
Trust is measurable (faith of a mustard seed, you of little faith..). It is measured by the quality of relationship. The better a relationship the more trust there is. God is the most trustworthy being that exists. When scriptures say that God is faithful that word faithful can also be translated as trustworthy. God is worthy of our trust. Our recognition of His trustworthiness is more important than our recognition of His praiseworthiness. It is by God's grace that we are saved through trust.

Although trust is measurable we shouldn't think of it simply as something we wield or use nor should we think of grace as something that God simply wields. They are both things that can be given but more so than that they are defined relationally. Grace is a favorable disposition that God has for you. It is His loving kindness towards you. Trust is the confidence you have for Christ and the security you feel you have in Christ. The more you doubt Him the less you trust Him. The more insecure you feel the less you trust Him.

In the Greek a root word for Grace means "I am happy." When you receive grace from God by trusting in His Son Jesus that means God is happy with you. Through trust and grace we are made righteous which means "right with God." We are right with God from the moment we first trust Jesus and forevermore after that. Being right with God means He is always happy with us.

Is Faith Blind?
Trusting that God exists is as simple as trusting that someone we've talked to only over the phone exists. Trust/Faith is not blind. It's object is just not available to view at the present time. We cannot see God but our trust causes us to act confidently as if we can. We cannot see the future but our trust in God's promises causes us to act as if we have seen the future.

Further and obvious evidence that faith is not blind is that Jesus' disciples walked with Him as a man and still trusted Him. In 1 John 1:1 John speaking of Jesus said, "We have heard, we have seen with our eyes, We have looked at and our hands have touched Him." Jesus often told people who could see Him to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to have faith in Him. While God the Father is still invisible Jesus said in John 14:9 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We live by trusting not by seeing." It does not say we cannot see but that we don't rely on our sight. We rely on, we trust, God. Faith is trusting God as a being and trusting what He says.

Is Faith Fact Based?
Believing is almost universally thought to be an unsure "maybe." Such as "I believe it may rain today." Saying, "I believe so" leaves the idea of "I think so, I'm not sure, I could easily be proven wrong." One mainstream definition of belief found on wiktionary.org is "mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting evidence."

Faith/Trust is an utter confidence in some one's or some thing's trustworthiness. Trust that there is such a place as London leads us to act as if this were so even if we've never seen London. Trust is very much based in facts.

In some sense it doesn't matter if I get facts wrong. It does matter who I trust. If you as my friend have some wrong information about me that doesn't mean I will disown you. Neither will Jesus disown those who trust Him if they are wrong concerning facts about Him. God values our relationship with Him more than us knowing a checklist of facts about Him. Of course it is better to know the truth (facts) about the Truth (Jesus) but we must remember that the Holy Spirit promises to lead God's children to all truth as long as they are willing to follow.

Believe Falls Short of Biblical
Personally I think the word believe has no place in the bible as it falls miserably short to capture the meaning of the underlying Greek word. Believing is usually thought of as impersonal, distant, and unsure. Trusting is personal and confident. My discovery that "faith" means "trust" and "to believe" means "to trust" has greatly improved my relationship with God and my understanding of His scriptures. It reveals that God wants us to draw close to Him and not for us to learn facts about Him from a distance. God is our Father not a book of guesses. Relationship is the purpose of faith. It is truth in relation to God not true statements alone.

Words are nothing to fight about but having weak or incorrect words causes our perceptions to be shaped and thus affects how we live our lives day to day. If the word tolerance had been used instead of the word love in the bible our perception of God towards us would be greatly changed. I would think that God just puts up with me, doesn't care for me, and has little to no kindness towards me.

I have already shown how the word believe differs from trust. The word faith is unclear and has been given improper definitions by many. It gives us little to no idea of the relational intent that the word trust expresses. The prevalent idea is that believing or having faith is something I muster up on my own. Trust is something I put in someone else. God's trustworthiness is in focus rather than me and my effort.

Trusting God is the Will of God
Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and trusts in Him will have eternal life."

I encourage you to read that last paragraph again, as there is tremendous truth there. Now what then can we say is God's will for you and I? God's will for us is to trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God. God's will for your life is to love you as much as you will let Him. You let Him love you by trusting Him.

Remembering that Jesus is life (John 14:6, Colossians 3:4, 1 John 1:2) let's look at the scriptures from above with a more personal wording. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that you may have me, and lots of me." Jesus said in John 6:47 "If you trust me you have me forever." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that you trust me and have me forever."

Finisher and Beginner
"Let us focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith/trust" (Hebrews 12:2)

God is the originator and the one who will complete our trust in Him. He is the one who matures it. The one who tops it all off and makes it all that it is supposed to be.

Our trust in God is won by Him over time in relationship with us. As He goes with us through our circumstances He proves Himself to be interactively trustworthy in those circumstances.

God may prove His trustworthiness by giving you unexpected provision when you face financial trouble. He may prove His trustworthiness by giving you miraculous protection during an accident. He may prove His trustworthiness by comforting you in your heartache. He may prove His trustworthiness by laying a promise on your heart that He later fulfills. He may prove His trustworthiness by healing you or answering your prayers. He may prove His trustworthiness by revealing truth to you at a time which you would understand and accept it that you know you couldn't have handled in the past.

God has done every single one of these things for me. May we not take God's trustworthiness to love us for granted! What aspect of God's trustworthiness should be most prevalent to us? That He trustworthy to love you!

Faith/trust grows by learning more about who God is, getting to know Him, and growing in our relationship with Him. The more truth we learn about God and the more we get to know God the more trustworthy and loving we will find Him to be thus our trust (faith) in him will increase.

Philippians 1:6 says, "He who began a good work in you is faithful/trustworthy to complete it." Most people interpret the Christian life as "Ok God saved me and now I've begun a good work in myself and I'm going to try as best as I can to be faithful to complete this so that God will finally accept me someday in heaven." That mindset also says, "I'm trying to do this great work for God, and achieve holiness, and stand strong and firm in doing all the right things." The truth is that it is God who began a good work in us. It is God who is trustworthy to complete it. We're His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Our job is to trust God enough to simply rest in the work that He is doing in and through us.

Faith and Works
Works are a showing that you have trust in God. You can work without trust but you can't trust without it leading to works. These works are as simple as loving people God puts in your life or following God's leading into the unknown.

The life I live in the body, I live by trust in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
We don't live our lives by trying to be good. We live our lives by trust in Jesus Christ; relational trust, putting our security in God, and trusting what He tells us is true to the point of being willing to act it out. Just as I trust my legs to be capable of allowing me to walk in everyday life I must trust Jesus Christ to be capable of allowing me to walk in love so that I may benefit God and others.

Faith is not based on commands. It is based on living your life day by day and doing the things you find to do as a result of trusting in God. To live by trust is not a matter of living by rules. It is a matter of living your life everyday trusting in God, knowing that He is good to you, and knowing that the things you do as a result of your trust are simply walking in a trustful relationship with God.

The more you trust the Father the freer you will live the way He wants you to live in the world. The reason we don't live the way He wants us to live in the world is because we ultimately don't trust Him and therefore feel like we have to do it all ourselves or we have to do things to earn His grace or earn His love.

Christian transformation comes not because we conform our lives to God's supposed standards and find out the rules and follow them devotedly. It comes by my growing relationship with God, and my growing affection for Him, and my growing trust in Him. He displaces the things in which sin takes its hold on my life.

God wants our relationship with Him to be based on growing trust and friendship. God doesn't base our relationship with Him on how much we obey Him or how many good things we do vs. how many bad things we do. The relationship God wants to have with us is the same kind we want to have with others, one of love and acceptance. Jesus doesn't want our relationship with Him to be burdensome but brotherly.

The Christian life is Christ's life, His works in and through us, His blessings, His ability, His direction, it is about His works not our works. If we could get that into, not simply our minds but our mindsets that our response to God is to simply rest and to trust Him then we will begin to see true fruit, true works that are really of God and not of ourselves.

Trusting God is the Work God Wants from Us
They said, "We want to perform God's works, too. What should we do?" Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)

What is the work of God? To trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How can we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How do we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
The very work of God is trusting in Jesus! Once again because this is important, Jesus said in John 6:29, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." If we work for God without trusting in Christ we don't do the work of God.

In Philippians 2 there is the well known scripture that says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." The Greek word for trembling is defined as: "used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but devotedly does his utmost to fulfill his duty."
Philippians 2:12-13 (with trembling substituted for its definition):
"Work out your own salvation with reverence and an anxiety that distrusts your own ability to completely meet all the requirements; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure and purpose."
We most certainly must distrust our own ability to meet all requirements, and, as we saw earlier, our "duty" is to trust the God who is at work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. We are indeed His workmanship and "in deed" His workmanship.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:17) but remember Jesus said that the work is trusting in Him. The works James talks about then are actions produced by trust and performed with trust. They are God bred, God lead, and God fed. Without love (God) we are nothing. Without trust we act as if God is nothing, we don't know Him, and we can do it all on our own.

Faith as Currency
Often we put our trust in the amount of faith we think we have instead of putting our trust in Jesus Christ. We look at faith as a currency. "Alright God I've paid you with faith now you owe me." But faith is trust in God and His work. Faith is not a bribe we slip to God through prayer to get Him to serve us. Faith says, "Lord I trust you know what is best for me and when it is best for me and I will receive what you give with thankfulness."

You see faith as currency instead of trust if you're keeping God's rules because you think God is a bean counter and it takes so many good acts to get a particular blessing or if you think God is somehow obligated to bless you because you behaved and obeyed His rules. Step back and think, "I wonder who has the better desire for my life, the God who made me or the me who is still broken by my own self preferring nature?" Then say, "Lord, I trust your decisions for me better than I trust my own. It is so much more beneficial on every level when I get something that you've given to me in your time frame, under your terms."

Trusting the Wrong Things
The opposite of biblical faith is trusting in something to the exclusion of God. Trust is only as good as what it is placed in. If you have faith in yourself in place of trusting God or even have faith in faith itself, your faith is in vain. Those who thought they could keep the law trusted in themselves rather than God.

We are not to count on our own goodness. We are not to put faith in our amount of faith. Trust God to fulfill what it is that He wants to do instead of feeling like you've got to take on that responsibility by yourself. Base your faith on what Jesus did not on what you do.

We don't need to get our facts/truth straight we need to get our faith/trust straight. God will get us to the facts in His wise timing if we go to Him in trust. It is to your detriment to make trusting in God into trusting in your own faith. Faith is trust that Jesus Christ is trustworthy. The more we humble ourselves and seek to know Him the more we will trust Him.

Entrusting Yourself to God
It is not enough to have knowledge of God's love. It is better to also have security in His love. That security comes by trusting Him (faith) because trust (faith) is placing your security in God, entrusting yourself to Him. Trust is deferring your security to someone else.

When scripture says "love believes all things" we know that "believes" means "trusts." We can rightly say that "love entrusts all things (to God)." Remembering that God is love, this is evident in the Father entrusting everything to Jesus and Jesus entrusting everything to the Father. In the same way we show God that we love Him by entrusting everything to Him. This entrusting is sometimes called submission. Where you trust Christ you have life in His name. Where you don't trust Him then you get the anxiety of life, fears, and doubts.

Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled trust in God, and trust also in me." Jesus' cure for a troubled heart is trust in God and Himself. Just as when we were children we trusted our parents to take care of us and comfort us when we were troubled or afraid so we should trust God enough to go to Him when we are troubled because we realize that with Him is the safest place to be.

Choosing to Trust
One definition of faith I've heard is "the will to trust, the decision to follow the best light you have about God and not quit. Trust is a decision of the will won by the trustworthiness of its object."

Trust is still a choice. Logically trusting God is an easy choice but trust doesn't come just by knowledge of propositions, it comes by observation and experience. We humans are quick to doubt and slow to trust. This is for a good reason as there are many falsehoods and untrustworthy people in this world. God takes the wisest relational step of proving Himself trustworthy to us. If our trust is based only on propositions with no observation or experience then when difficulty comes we will trust God very little and likely not at all.

Trust is a natural byproduct of relationship that leads to a willful choice. Trust is the expression of the maturity of a relationship. Trust is not something you can demand from someone. You trust someone to the degree that you perceive them to be trustworthy. Sometimes we trust people who deceive us or claim authority over us and that trust is misplaced. Other times we refuse to trust someone who is trustworthy, or even God who is fully trustworthy. We do this because we don't perceive them correctly because we do not know them well enough. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know that you are loved. God empowers our decision to trust by revealing His love for us. Doubt is conquered by Jesus as He captures your heart!

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. (1 John 4:16)

God Abounding in Grace

2011-07-22T15:39:00.001-05:00

"It is the grace of God that trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives" (Titus 2:12). It is the grace of God that does this, His favor, His graciousness, His loving disposition toward you as His child.

Be careful to note what does not do this. It is not accountability, aim, best efforts, behavior, the bible, chastisement, church, conduct, confession, conformity, commands, dedication, desire, discipline, doctrine, ethics, expectations, failure, fear, fervor, gifts, greatness, guidance, guilt, hell, helpers, information, institutions, instruction, law, legislation, manners, morals, obligation, opportunities, preaching, prescriptions, principles, procedures, programs, ramifications, rituals, rules, sermons, shame, signs, songs, standards, structure, threats, trials, troubles, turmoil, ultimatums, urging, want, or worry. God uses some of these things but the only thing that offers real change is God's grace!

God's grace is His permanent attitude of loving-kindness that causes Him to be gracious. If you do not understand God's permanent loving-kindness towards you then you cannot change for the better, you will not have peace. You will burn out, cry, complain, fear, and get depressed. The only thing that transforms us is knowing how loved we are by Him and learning to live inside that reality. WITHOUT HIS LOVE WE ARE NOTHING!

Psalm 103:8 says, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious and abounding in loving-kindness."
Abounding means a present and continual abundance. If I had an abundance of food that would mean I have more than I need, more than I can eat. God has more love for you than you can handle! You want to talk about a love story? God wants to be with you forever! And He did everything He could to make that happen.

Which is better to live by the law or the Spirit of God?

2011-07-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

The law cannot give life. God said if the law could give life He would have given a law that did. Jesus Christ is life. 1 Corinthians 15:45 says that Jesus is now a life giving Spirit. The New Covenant we are under is based on the Spirit that gives life not the law which kills. It is based on better promises than the Old Covenant which said "If you do then God will.." & "If you don't then God won't." The New Covenant says "God has finished everything. Trust Him to experience His loving life in you now and forevermore."

Did God Desire for All of His Laws to Be Obeyed?

2011-07-13T13:19:00.001-05:00

In the Old Covenant God commanded sacrifices & offerings but in Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10 God said that He does not desire such offerings and sacrifices that He commanded.

In John 8 a woman was about to be put to death for adultery as the law said to do in Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22-24. Jesus did not condemn the woman.

If God did not desire the sacrifices He commanded in the law perhaps He did not desire other commands He gave in the law. Jesus is the exact representation of God so we are to look to him for the character of God. In John 8 Jesus did not desire to kill the woman even though the law said that is what should be done.

Often we try to justify the Old Covenant laws with logic but perhaps these laws were to speak to the people's hearts about the need for forgiveness. Jesus said the second greatest law was to "love your neighbor as yourself." If you were caught in sin that was punishable by death you would want to be forgiven. You would not want to have stones picked up by others to kill you. If you love your neighbor as yourself you wouldn't pick up stones to kill Him. You would instead say, "Lord have mercy on us all!" Ultimately in Jesus God did show us all mercy and He freed those who trust Him from the law and its penalties.

For those who think that the story from John 8 should not be in the scriptures based on it not being found in the earliest manuscripts consider that in John 4:18 Jesus knew the woman at the well's heart and revealed that she was an adulterer. He did not take the woman at the well and stone her! Jesus fulfilled the whole law yet He did not come into the world to condemn the world.

From the Heart to the Mind

2011-07-12T17:29:00.004-05:00

We often think that we need to take what is in our head and put it into our heart. It is much easier to let the heart convince the head than to get the head to convince the heart.

Think of falling in love. Your heart's desire to be with the other person will cause your mind to think of anything you can do to be with them. Now imagine you have no heart's desire for a person but you logically see how they would be good to marry. You have to put a whole lot more effort in convincing yourself to be with them. If someone came along who captured your heart you would be much more inclined to pursue them rather than the person who is the "logical" choice.

Love and Trust Speak Heart Language.
Love and trust speak heart language. We are saved through trust for Jesus in our hearts not facts about Him in our heads.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one trusts and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who trusts in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:9-13)
Those who are perishing found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15)

God Captures Our Hearts!
God captures our hearts! We cannot know God by simply considering certain facts about Him to be true in our minds. I can know things about my uncle but that does not mean I've met him. If I have never encountered him I cannot trust him. I can hear things about him that make me think he is trustworthy but I cannot place my trust in someone I have never encountered. "Calling on the name of the Lord" means I am calling on a being. We are saved when we trust with our heart not when we think with our head. We are saved not by saying "I agree with the facts of story." We are saved by saying "I need you God!" The key facts of the gospel concern God's love for us. We need to be aware of His love for us to be saved but we can't be saved by simply being aware we must encounter God and experience His love first hand.

"With the heart one trusts." We can now see that trust or faith is a matter of the heart. A baby trusts whoever shows it affection. It knows little about anyone or anything but it can recognize love when someone shows love. Whoever shows the most affection the baby trusts the most.

We are very much like this baby even when we are grown. Whoever shows us the most affection we tend to trust the most. People can show us affection and then hurt us proving themselves untrustworthy. But God is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is worthy of our trust. He is fit to have our trust. He is suitable for our trust. He is deserving of our trust. He is honest. He is dependable. He is desirable. We can rely on Him to love us. God is love. He speaks the universal language of love. God captures our hearts!

For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!” (Philippians 4:6)
The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

Mind vs. Heart
God pours His love into our hearts. We need to get the knowledge of that love from our hearts to our heads. Our minds are often deceived with false teachings and assurance of falsehood.

My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. (Colossians 2:2-4)
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

When the mind is deceived it fights off honest feelings and discounts the heart. Untruths always burden you or harm others. The mind holds to supposed facts, often from misinterpreted or out of context scripture, so tightly that when desires for the simplicity of being loved by God come it dismisses those desires and replaces them with guilt and obligations. Through the misery of falsehood the heart is never convinced, it is only oppressed and wishing things were different or there was something more. The mind runs with the heart toward love but the heart suffers and is drug along when the mind runs to falsehood.

The mind does not trust. It operates in logic, plans, propositions, and doctrines. When the mind faces the uncertain, it fears. The mind fears in order to protect its beliefs, ideas, and plans. It brings the heart along with it into fear. The heart doesn't want to fear, it wants security, comfort, and affection. Trust is putting your security in someone else. When our minds are lead astray our hearts still cry out for the love of God just as Philippians 4:6 says, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!”

The mind cries out for certainty and validation. Certainty does not equal truth. Certainty means your mind thinks it has found truth and must protect that truth. It wants validation; for people to agree with it, but does not care about genuine relationship. The heart longs for someone it can trust who offers protection. You can use the mind to love but love comes from the heart.

Love comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere trust. (1 Timothy 1:5)
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in the assurance that trust brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:22-24)
Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

The mind is often the one that stands in the way of us being with our true love Jesus Christ. It convinces us of guilt, though we are forgiven, cleansed, and made right with God. When we are not convinced of our right standing with God (righteousness) our relationship with God is broken. Yielding to sin does not break our fellowship with God. The only thing that breaks it is not being convinced of our right standing with God. But just as God pours out love into our hearts and places the Spirit in our hearts to cry out to Him in love, He also convinces us of our right standing with Him (see John 16:7-10).

As Hebrews 10 points out our hearts are clean. We do not have the deceitfully wicked heart mentioned in Jeremiah 17:9. We have the Spirit of God in our hearts. God does not dwell in wickedness. Our hearts are, as Luke 8:15 says, good and noble. The Christian heart is not deceitfully wicked! Be bound by the lie no longer. Know that God has created a clean heart in those who trust in Him.

Renewing the Mind
Our hearts are now good but scripture says that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and thus prove what the will of God is, good and well-pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

The verb "be transformed" is in the passive voice (E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball," the boy receives the action). This means the transforming is done to you by God. You don't have to work to renew your mind but the verb is still also a command. So we are to let God transform us. We let Him transform us by offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The wording from the Message for Romans 12:1 explains what "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices" means:

"With God helping you take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."

Knowing and Doing God's Will
Once our mind is being renewed we will be able to know God's will.

Jesus said, "For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts in him shall have eternal life" (John 6:40)

You do not have to discern God's will for your life. God's will for all of His followers is for them to trust Him. All of life springs from relying on God and being confident in Him. Life in Christ is walking with God and letting Him love you. He will show you as you walk with Him who to love & when. Ephesians 6:6 says we do the will of God from the heart.

Jesus said, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." (John 6:29)

I will briefly break down how this trust plays out. The work of God (doing good/loving) is: Reliance On God (to show you when, where, who, and how to love), Compliance to God (doing what He has said), and Reliance On God to be able to do what He said to do (with His love, wisdom, strength, courage, etc).

Peace in Our Hearts and Minds
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 4:4-7)

Here God promises that peace will guard our hearts and minds. But what is the condition? Talking to God. That's it. Talking to God and being thankful. When? All the time, in every situation. Well that is a relationship. Telling God what is on your heart at any given time. The more you trust someone the more you are willing to confide in them. The more you are willing to entrust yourself to them. Of course it is like this with God also. When we trust Him we have no problem with being open and honest with Him. Colossians 3:15 says to "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." How do we do that? By being open and talking with God with gratitude.

Scriptures Speaking of Love and the Heart
I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through trust, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, – since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who trust, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:17-20)

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:1-2)

Love that Leads to Obedience

2011-06-15T12:29:00.000-05:00

Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey my commandments" and "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word." These are not conditional statements that are placing a demand. It does not mean "your obedience proves your love." It is a promise. It means "love will cause you to obey."

If you love your wife you won't leave her. However, the fact that you don't leave her doesn't mean that you love her. You don't prove your loving by just hanging around. But your staying with her is motivated by love. It is because of love that you stay with your wife. Likewise it is because of love that we obey God's commandments. You can however keep the rules and not even know God just like you can stay with your wife and not show her one bit of love. Obedience is just a fruit, an outward evidence, of inward love.
Obedience does not produce love. Love does produce obedience and it is God's love for us that produces our love for Him!

Love only exists in a relationship. Doing can be an expression of love but love comes from knowing not from doing.

The word Jesus uses for love describes a self-giving love. You only give yourself to someone you trust. The more you trust the more you are willing to give and share. Trust, or faith as it is often called in the Bible, is what opens the way to the growth of knowing, and loving, and giving. Trust means you consider God to be trustworthy enough to know, that He is truthful about Himself, and loving enough to be encountered.

Jesus commanded us to "love one another just as He has loved us." As John later wrote "We love because God first loved us." It is His love that shows us how to love. Jesus is essentially saying "I will love you so much that you will love one another, obey my commands, and my love will for you makes us friends. I will fulfill the requirement of loving. I chose you and chose to love you so much that you will love me and love others. I will be loving enough for the both of us. You will love because of me and you will love with my very own love."

Scriptures Referenced:
"If you love me you will obey my commandments" (John 14:15)
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word" (John 14:23)
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I loved you." (John 15:12)
"We love, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19)

Who or What is the Bible About?

2011-04-05T09:18:00.000-05:00

Wordle is a site that generates "word clouds” from text that you provide. The larger the word the more often it appears in the text. I had the ability to put the entire text of The Bible in using the World English Bible translation. It shows the top 150 non-common words (common words are "a, the, and"...).

See if you can figure out who the Bible is about.

The Bible

The Old Testament

The New Testament

The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John)

Alive to God in Christ Jesus

2011-04-03T13:46:00.001-05:00

Romans 6:11 says, "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus."

It is often taught that "you need to be broken over your sin." It makes us think that we have to force brokenness but forcing brokenness produces self-focused guilt. Guilt drives us away from our loving Father because it makes us feel like He loves us less because of our what we've done. Instead He is loving towards us and wants us to know that our sins are totally forgiven and that His blood constantly cleanses us of any unrighteousness we come into contact with. Because of Jesus sin can never stain us!

Brokenness is not something to force. You are either broken about your deeds or you are not. God doesn't want you to bash yourself with guilt He wants you to draw near to Him and experience His accepting love for you.

To be dead to sin is to count sin as nothing. God does not hold our sins against us so we need not hold our sins against ourselves. Instead of focusing on sin, negative behavior, guilt, & shame I turn my heart to God and go on living my life for God as if the nothing had never happened though I will mend relationships as necessary if I caused others harm.

Romans 6:8-14
"Now if we died with Christ, we trust that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace."

Sadly we too often focus on the wrong side of what God is telling us in this scripture. We strive to "consider ourselves dead to sin," "to not let sin reign in our body," "to not present our body to sin."

God does not intend for us to focus on or strive to "be good." God intends for us to focus on Him and His goodness.

I am alive to God in Christ Jesus. I am to present myself to God as one who is alive from the dead so I may enjoy and display the gift of His righteousness. I am not under law. I am under grace. Law means I have to perform to please. Grace means I have been given every good thing by a loving God. Dead to sin means I don't think about sin thus I focus not on my deadness to sin but on His gracious love for me. When someone dies it is better for us to remember their life than to dwell on their death. I am dead to sin because I am alive to God. He's alive! I'm alive! We're in love!

This post has been heavily revised and edited on 1/26/12. It does not fully represent my life in April 2011. I have changed it to share the accurate truth with others.

Unity through God's Love

2011-04-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

Unity cannot be forced. Unity and conformity are not the same.

Colossians 3:14 says that "Love is the perfect bond of unity."
The only way to unity is through the love of God.

1 John 4:10-11 says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love one another."

Unity comes from realizing how much God loves us then loving others because of His love for us and His love them.

1 Corinthians 13:2 says, "Without love we are nothing"

You simply need to learn more and more how much God loves you and His great love will lead you to love Him and others in freer ways than you ever thought possible.

The Father of Light Looks to Love

2011-03-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

Christianity sometimes imagines God as an absent Father who left a set of rules for us to follow.

Imagine you are a parent who did this. You leave your children alone with a set of rules and a few stories that seem to teach principles. Where is the love in that? Where is the relationship in that?

Imagine you are the child who is left with these rules. You feel like you need to please your absent father by obeying the rules in order to get him to "show up" once in a while. Do you feel loved by your father? Do you think you have a relationship with him?

Many of us think of God as someone who did this. God is not that kind of father. He gives us His Spirit to live in us at all times so we may have a loving relationship with Him. God is not just the author of the bible. He is the author of our trust in Him (see Hebrews 12:2). Our trust is built by experiencing His love. We have a Father who loves us more than we know.

God loved the world so greatly that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who trusts in His Son will not perish but have eternal life. Now this is eternal life – to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent.

"God is love" or "love is God"?

2011-03-15T11:13:00.000-05:00

God is love. Jesus said if you love me you will obey my commandments. Obedience to Christ is the fruit of love it is not the tree. Jesus Christ is the tree of life, the God who is love. There is no fruit without the tree. There is no love without trust in Jesus Christ. Good deeds apart from Christ may look like the fruit of love but without Jesus Christ, the tree of love, they cannot be.

"God is love" is much different than "love is God." "God is love" does not mean that we should define God by what we think love is. "God is love" means we should define love by who God truly is.

The Word Leaders in the New Testament

2011-03-08T16:16:00.001-06:00

The word leader(s) appears just 4 times in the NASB relating to Christians in the New Testament.

Leaders in Matthew 23:10
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." (Matthew 23:1-12 NASB)

The Greek word for leader(s) in Matthew 23:10 is the noun kathegetes. It means leader or guide. This word appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Why? Because His disciples obeyed what Jesus told them. Jesus said do not be called Rabbi or leader, do not allow someone to address you with such a title. This scripture warns against using titles associated with teaching (Rabbi, Father, Leader). Jesus clearly said that God is the only one deserving of these distinctions. Jesus said to His disciples "you are all brothers" meaning they are equal in God's family. Note that Jesus did not say "Peter is your leader." Jesus said the greatest among you shall be your servant. Jesus did not say the greatest among you shall be your leader or your servant leader.

These commands prohibit the disciples of Jesus from seeking or receiving titles, producing distinctions among themselves, implying authority to control the opinions and conduct of others, and claiming that others should acknowledge them as superiors. Honorary/religious/spiritual titles are to be avoided by God's people. God forbids us to receive any such reverence. In the kingdom of God there are no titles, special names, given to set someone above the rest. No one was called Pastor Paul, Reverend Peter, Minister John, or Priest James.

What did the writers of the New Testament call themselves if they did not use the titles we have today?
Paul, a bond-slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle (Romans 1:1)
James, a bond-slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1)
Simon Peter, a bond-slave and apostle of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1)
Jude, a bond-slave of Jesus Christ (Jude 1:1)
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-slaves, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-slave John (Revelation 1:1)
All of the New Testament writers that acknowledged themselves as the authors of their writings called themselves bond-slaves or bond-servants of God. Bond-slave means one who sells himself into slavery to another, one who gives himself up to the will of another, one who serves another without regard for his own personal interests. The word therefore pictures the absolute submission of a man or woman to their Master. The bond-slave is totally devoted to the loving Master! It is the Master's love and the bond-slave's love for the Master which motivates this full submission. A bond-slave essentially says, "Nothing matters about me, so long as the Lord Jesus is glorified."

Leaders in Luke 22:26
"Behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Me on the table. For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing. And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. And you are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22:13-30 NASB)

The Greek word for leader in Luke 22:26 is the verb hegeomai. It means to lead or to guide. The word servant here is also a Greek verb which means one who serves. The NASB translates these as English nouns which gives the idea of status rather than action. Jesus is not using the title of leader here (which describes an official position) but rather describing one who leads (which describes an action which can be done by anyone). This would translate best to "Let the one who leads become as the one who serves."

Jesus is much more practical than we think. Christ is our one and only leader. We are not in bondage to obey men. Instead of setting up people in positions as official leaders He gives us all freedom. All followers of Christ can lead, guide, & direct because all of His followers are equal brothers and sisters. Jesus stressed the attitude that even when we leading, guiding, & directing someone we are to do it as serving and caring. Jesus said that you shall not lord over others. Not so with us! Jesus exemplified this He came in the flesh to serve not to lord over others. The Lord didn't lord over others! We are not to lord over or exercise authority over other Christians in the Kingdom. Jesus did not put the focus on my works (leading) or my status (being a leader) but the needs of others (serving)!

Though Jesus gave the apostles the unique privilege to judge the twelve tribes of Israel in the future they are even equals even in that. Jesus didn't say, "Peter you will be the greatest judge and the rest of you will also judge." In this life they were still equals as well and they are addressed as brothers in verse 32. Remember Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren. He has the unique status as the "firstborn son."

Jesus assures them that His kingdom is established on different principles from those of the world; that his subjects were not to expect titles, and power, and offices in his kingdom. We should not aim at office and power, but to be humble, and serve and help one another. (See this look at the word office in the New Testament if you suppose they exist).

The word "benefactor" is a title of one who bestows "favor/benefit" on another. It was applied to kings by way of "compliment or flattery." So again here Jesus says "not so with you" concerning titles of honor. Should we dare allow ourselves to be given titles or to bestow titles on others when our Lord Jesus Christ came as a servant and humbled himself to the point of death, not just death but death on a cross?

Leaders in Hebrews 13:24
Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. (Hebrews 13:24 NASB)
The Greek word for leaders in Hebrews 13:24 is the verb hegeomai. Again it means to lead or to guide. This verse is best translated as "Greet all of those leading you and all the saints." This does not suggest someone who sits in an office called Leader Ted who never actually leads anyone, is devoid of relationships, and only speaks to them as a crowd.

Leaders in Hebrews 13:17
Similar is my post The Proper Translation of Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
(Hebrews 13:17)

Of the four verses that use of the word leader(s) in the NASB this is the one that gets focused on the most by far. Simply by looking at the first two passages above we should recognize something sounds wrong here. Obey and submit to leaders? We already know that Jesus said that we shall not lord over or exercise authority over other children of God and that we are not to be called leaders or accept titles of honor. Does the bible contradict? No the bible does not contradict. The belief of the one man in authority over another hierarchy structure that exists in the church has caused scriptures to be skewed. Three words are mistranslated here: obey, leaders, and submit.

The English word obey means to carry out or fulfill the command, order, or instruction of. It carries the idea of obligation to do what someone else says & failure to obey results in sin. But a word meaning obey does not appear in Hebrews 13:17. The Greek word translated obey here is peitho. Peitho means "to persuade; to be persuaded."

The Greek word for leaders in Hebrews 13:17 is the verb hegeomai. We saw earlier that it means to lead or to guide. Here it is best translated as "those leading you" or "those guiding you." Thus it is not a title of people in positions but a verb describing one who is performing the action of leading.

The Greek word for submit in Hebrews 13:17 is hupeiko. The word means to yield, to give in to. The word only appears once in the New Testament. The Greek word hupotasso is the primary word for submit in the New Testament and is not used here.

Hebrews 13:17 is properly translated as:
Be persuaded by those guiding you, and be yielding; for for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them watch over you with joy and not with grumbling, for this would be unprofitable for you.

This is essentially saying to be persuadable, to not be prideful but to be yielding. Allow those with wisdom to guide you to truth. Listen to the trustworthy and don't be rebellious. This verse does not say that there are leaders in positions or offices who we must obey on the basis of their authority. There is ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST! Those who watch over & guide others are to do so joyfully and willfully not with grumbling. We are not to cause them to grumble by our unwillingness to yield to God's truth.

The verse could also be put as this, "Be responsive to those who guide you. Listen to their counsel. They are those who who are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God and His truth." There is no guiding or guarding without relationship. If someone is not actually guiding you personally, if that person is not alert to the condition of your life then that person is not keeping watch over your soul! Thus you can't be persuaded by this person because they do not even communicate with you and wouldn't even know if you yielded to them. Someone who allows themselves to be called leader or pastor is no such thing if they do not actually guide and guard. God gives function, gifts, and ministry (ministry means work done for the benefit of others) thus Christians are defined by love and good works not by titles, positions, or power. Christians are defined by action not positions or titles. A follower who is not following is not a follower at all.

The Consequences
The action of leading is a perfectly biblical concept but the freedom of Christ demands that any child of God can lead. Leading is done by serving, that is loving and caring for others. There is no special leader, no unique "man of God." We have one leader Jesus Christ! Modern Christianity is obsessed with leaders of or being leaders of congregations, movements, or groups far more so than being followers of Jesus Christ and servants of others.

The English word leader means, "a person who leads; One occupying the first or foremost position." Leader makes us think of authority. If you are a leader that means you are in charge. God did not set up anyone to be in charge but Himself. We lose our equality and our freedom to function when we exalt other men or ourselves as leaders rather than Christ. We arrogantly claim to be humble by calling ourselves "servant-leaders" thus we think we can ignore Christ's command of putting ourselves above others. Jesus acknowledged Himself as the one true Leader but also said that while on earth He came to serve. We do not need more servant leaders; we need more servants..period! Many leaders don’t mind being called a servant; they just don’t like being treated like one. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. Jesus Christ humbled himself to the point of death, death on a cross! Do we dare call ourselves humble?

Jesus' example for us runs very deep. Jesus didn't even go around calling Himself Messiah Jesus or Christ Jesus. Though there are many reasons we know that Jesus was often discrete in admitting who He was.
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming; when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." (John 4:25-26)
So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” He answered them, “You say that I am.” (Luke 22:70)
So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He replied, “You say so.” (Mark 15:2)

The problem with being called a leader or other religious title is that it is you allowing yourself to be considered greater than others when all of God's children are equals, united in Christ. Being called a servant leader or first among equals is just silly. Every follower of Christ has the same life giving spirit of Christ within them. Exalting men as leaders discourages and disarms. It says, "let the pros handle it." But the pros can't handle it because God never intended them to. God wants all of us to love. Jesus clearly teaches us that accepting titles puffs us up and robs God of His rightful place. Interestingly elders/overseers/shepherds\pastors are the ones who were to observe us to protect us. Instead we observe people who claim to be those very things who know little to nothing about us. God did not intend for leaders to serve while the rest of us observe. He wants all of us to serve because He is our one Leader and we are all brothers.

Faith is Trust

2011-02-27T14:37:00.003-06:00

Pistis the noun
Pistis is the Greek noun usually translated "belief" or "faith." There is variation among Christians as to its meaning. To some, pistis merely means "mental acknowledgment," others recognize that pistis usually includes "confidence" or "action." Still others define it differently. Unfortunately, the usage of the words "belief" or "faith" in every-day English is too vague to accurately translate pistis in the New Testament.

Pistis is best translated as the noun trust.

Pisteuo the verb
Pisteuo is the Greek verb usually translated "believe." The word "believe" means to accept information as being true, but it is not personal and does not necessarily include action. Therefore, "believe" is inadequate to translate pisteuo.

Pisteuo is best translated as the verb trust.
The Greek verb for trust is translated most often as believe. The Greek noun for trust is translated most often as faith. So when scriptures say believe it means have faith or most clearly "trust."

Believing is often thought of as impersonal, distant, and unsure. Trusting is personal and confident. There are plenty people who "believe" the facts of the good news but by no means trust the person of Jesus interactively. Belief is something I think. Trust is what I give to someone else.

How the Translation Impacts our Understanding
Believe is a short sighted word that usually stops at "thinking a fact to be true." So when John 3:16 says whoever "believes in Him" it renders best to whoever "trusts in Him." Trust holds a lot more weight than belief.
So knowing that the Greek for "believe" word clearly means "trust" lets look at some scriptures:

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life.
The one who trusts in the Son has eternal life.
Already we have something much more personal and real regarding God. You can "believe in" something that is not real or something you have never encountered. Trust is present, real, and personal.

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned.
I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and trusts him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned.What is Jesus talking about? Regarding the Father as simply truthful or trusting Him interactively? See how much meaning is lost here?

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also trust without works is dead.
This reaffirms the definition of the Greek word. Hebrews 11:8 says "By pistis (trust) Abraham, being called, obeyed to proceed to a place which he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going." Abraham not only accepted what God told him as being true, but also had enough confidence in it to act upon it (Abraham obeyed). Hebrews 11 shows us that faith is not an unclear mystical idea. Faith is trust. Who do you trust?

Even with trust being the best translation belief could be translated in place of the word faith because it is the noun form of believe.
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also belief without works is dead.

So faith/belief/trust is interactive confidence, security, in God and His truth that results in action according to His truth. If you "believe in/trust in" God that means you know and love God.

The language itself (perhaps not by anyone's fault in this case except that faith is a more religious word than trust) hides the meaning of true salvation and it makes it about what I hold in my head (belief) rather than WHO HOLDS MY HEART IN HIS HAND because He is my life. Trust in God means you are entrusting Him with your very self. Trusting God is like trusting your mother, father, spouse, or best friend. Biblical belief, biblical faith, biblical trust then is not an idea that you hold to be true. It is a spiritual relationship with God based on trust. You trust God like you would any human. You trust that God is trustworthy, worthy of trust, and you live like it.

All these things line up with context of scripture. It is surprising how true meanings of the words convey the scriptures so well and make it that much clearer and bolder. I encourage you to read the scriptures knowing that "to believe" means "to trust" and that "faith" means "trust." I pray that it will give you greater insight into the heart of Christ as it has for me. God wants us to know Him as living, loving, and local not dead, detesting us, and distant.

English Etymology
Belief used to mean "trust in God," while faith meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty." Faith took on the religious sense beginning in 14th century translations. Belief had by 16th century become limited to meaning "mental acceptance of something as true."

Current English dictionary definitions.
Believe
To be persuaded of the truth of, upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge
to regard or accept as true
to place confidence in
to have a persuasion approaching to certainty
to hold an opinion : think
to consider to be true
to hold as opinion

Believe in
have a firm conviction as to the goodness of something; "John believes in oat bran"
To ascribe existence to; To ascribe some powers or other attributes to
To believe that the subject of the thought (if a person or thing) exists, or (if an event) that it has occurred, or will occur; - as, to believe in the resurrection of the dead.
To believe that the character, abilities, and purposes of a person are worthy of entire confidence; - especially that his promises are wholly trustworthy.
To believe that the qualities or effects of an action or state are beneficial: as, to believe in sea bathing, or in abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

Faith
Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance
strong or unshakable belief in something, esp without proof or evidence
complete confidence or trust in a person, remedy, etc.
Mental acceptance of and confidence in a claim as truth without evidence supporting the claim.
A feeling or belief that something is true, real, or will happen.
A trust in the intentions or abilities of a person, object, or belief in spite of a lack of knowledge in the person, object, or belief.

Belief
Mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting empirical evidence.
conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence

Trust
To place confidence in; to rely on
Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
To rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of
To give credence to; to believe; to credit.
To hope confidently; to believe