Thursday, July 14, 2011
Which is better to live by the law or the Spirit of God?
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."
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Called to Be Cherished
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.
The Christian life isn't an occupation of "What work should I do" or "what position should I hold" or "what ministry should I have for the rest of my life?" The Christian life is relating to Jesus everyday and letting Him lead you everyday. Whether they realize it or not some people hold a mindset of "Now that I have my calling I can stop walking with God day by day and just do my assignment. What I do is important and who I do it for is important but it is not important that I live day to day WITH God." 99% of the time the scripture talks of "God's calling" it refers to God calling someone to be saved not God calling someone to do a specific long-term work.
The Christian life isn't an occupation of "What work should I do" or "what position should I hold" or "what ministry should I have for the rest of my life?" The Christian life is relating to Jesus everyday and letting Him lead you everyday. Whether they realize it or not some people hold a mindset of "Now that I have my calling I can stop walking with God day by day and just do my assignment. What I do is important and who I do it for is important but it is not important that I live day to day WITH God." 99% of the time the scripture talks of "God's calling" it refers to God calling someone to be saved not God calling someone to do a specific long-term work.
Instead of doing something for God why not be someone with God?
Did God Desire for All of His Laws to Be Obeyed?
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.
Related Posts
The Purposes of The Law & Its Punishments
What if The Story of 'The Woman Caught in Adultery' Never Happened? Examining John 7:53-8:11
The Devil Has the Power of Death
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.
Related Posts
The Purposes of The Law & Its Punishments
What if The Story of 'The Woman Caught in Adultery' Never Happened? Examining John 7:53-8:11
The Devil Has the Power of Death
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
From the Heart to the Mind
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 the story." We are saved by saying "I want you Jesus! 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 person 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 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 relating 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 led 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 in practicality, meaning our mind will not let us relate to Him until it thinks we have been good enough to do so. Offering our body or mind to sin does not break our fellowship with God. The only thing that disallows fellowship with Him 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 & show that it is good, well-pleasing, and perfect.
Jesus said, "My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts in Him shall have eternal life. Eternal life is intimately knowing God." (John 6:40, 17:3)
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 humble asking 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. (Philippians 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
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)
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. 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 is the same power that is working in you. (Ephesians 1:17-20)
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)
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 the story." We are saved by saying "I want you Jesus! 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 person 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 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 relating 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 led 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 in practicality, meaning our mind will not let us relate to Him until it thinks we have been good enough to do so. Offering our body or mind to sin does not break our fellowship with God. The only thing that disallows fellowship with Him 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 & show that it is good, well-pleasing, and perfect.
Jesus said, "My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts in Him shall have eternal life. Eternal life is intimately knowing God." (John 6:40, 17:3)
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 humble asking 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. (Philippians 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
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)
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. 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 is the same power that is working in you. (Ephesians 1:17-20)
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)
Friday, July 8, 2011
Community vs. Prescriptions
Community is created by communication and unity. There is no unity without communication. The appearance of unity without communication is actually conformity. Conformity is impersonal and often comes from the fear of communication.
Prescriptions (such as typical Sunday morning meetings having the same order of events and the few performing for the many) kill the personal and remove Christ as the Head by not letting Him lead. Prescriptions instead go through the motions of tradition or through the agenda of those in charge.
Everyone is to freely participate in a meeting of the body of Christ like in 1 Corinthians 14. Why not have this type of meeting every time you get together? Why stop love, communication, brotherhood, and freedom just to have someone speak a non-interactive monolog we call a sermon and move us through the motions of the traditional order of worship?
Prescriptions (such as typical Sunday morning meetings having the same order of events and the few performing for the many) kill the personal and remove Christ as the Head by not letting Him lead. Prescriptions instead go through the motions of tradition or through the agenda of those in charge.
Everyone is to freely participate in a meeting of the body of Christ like in 1 Corinthians 14. Why not have this type of meeting every time you get together? Why stop love, communication, brotherhood, and freedom just to have someone speak a non-interactive monolog we call a sermon and move us through the motions of the traditional order of worship?
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Prayer - Opportunity Not Obligation
Genuine prayer comes from genuine love. When you are forced to talk to someone it can be difficult & awkward, possibly even resulting in you not wanting to talk to that person again. Many Christians sadly have that sort of forced prayer relationship with God. They are told they have to pray to be a good Christian & they force themselves to pray when they wouldn't otherwise want to.
We think of "have to" instead of "get to" & "want to" usually because that is how prayer is presented to us. We get to talk to the God of the universe who loves us & wants us to experience His love. Prayer is not an obligation to fulfill. Prayer is communication in a relationship that has such depths of love we can literally spend forever searching through them.
We think of "have to" instead of "get to" & "want to" usually because that is how prayer is presented to us. We get to talk to the God of the universe who loves us & wants us to experience His love. Prayer is not an obligation to fulfill. Prayer is communication in a relationship that has such depths of love we can literally spend forever searching through them.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Love that Leads to Obedience
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)
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)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
In Context: "Forsake not.." & "I can do all things.." Revisited
There were no chapter or verse separations in the original texts of
scripture. The presence of these separations cause us to read a chapter
or memorize a verse yet have no understanding of the story and the
context.
Many bible studies are based around "reading a chapter" when the next chapter often in the first few verses clarifies what the previous was about. I have come across places in scripture where chapter breaks the context and where verses break the sentence. Many of those places are very popular such as:
Hebrews 10:24-25
"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging
one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
A small portion of this text is used to get people to frequent a church building when the meeting doesn't even involve the "one anothers" mentioned not just in the context but in oft quoted verse itself. "One another" means "each and everyone involved." In a typical church service a few perform in front of many and the many have little to no interaction with anyone. The modern church service bares almost no resemblance to the assembling that is being talked about here in Hebrews. Today there are a few big mouths talking to a multitude of passive ears. Is an impersonal and non-interactive monologue (sermon) the same thing as everyone "encouraging one another"? Obviously not. Yet "forsaking not the assembling" as it is taught has ignored the context and come to be taught as "You must sit in the audience at church every week or you are in sin."
Philippians 4:12-13
"I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and
every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I
go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. I am able to do all
things through Christ who strengthens me."
Of course "all things" is still "all things" but I find it interesting that contentment, one of humanity's most elusive features, is the context in which Paul says "I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This is often taken as a license to follow my own selfish ambition in God's name and chase after "greatness" rather than God enabling me to be content with wherever He has me right now.
Read The First Visits: In Context: "Forsake not the assembling..", In Context: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Many bible studies are based around "reading a chapter" when the next chapter often in the first few verses clarifies what the previous was about. I have come across places in scripture where chapter breaks the context and where verses break the sentence. Many of those places are very popular such as:
Hebrews 10:24-25
A small portion of this text is used to get people to frequent a church building when the meeting doesn't even involve the "one anothers" mentioned not just in the context but in oft quoted verse itself. "One another" means "each and everyone involved." In a typical church service a few perform in front of many and the many have little to no interaction with anyone. The modern church service bares almost no resemblance to the assembling that is being talked about here in Hebrews. Today there are a few big mouths talking to a multitude of passive ears. Is an impersonal and non-interactive monologue (sermon) the same thing as everyone "encouraging one another"? Obviously not. Yet "forsaking not the assembling" as it is taught has ignored the context and come to be taught as "You must sit in the audience at church every week or you are in sin."
Philippians 4:12-13
Of course "all things" is still "all things" but I find it interesting that contentment, one of humanity's most elusive features, is the context in which Paul says "I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This is often taken as a license to follow my own selfish ambition in God's name and chase after "greatness" rather than God enabling me to be content with wherever He has me right now.
Read The First Visits: In Context: "Forsake not the assembling..", In Context: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Friday, May 20, 2011
Replacing the Joy of Knowing God with a Place
We have made the issue of the afterlife about heaven and
hell. Jesus didn't come to offer us heaven or hell. He came to offer us
life. The choice isn't heaven or hell but life and death (see John 3:16-18).
What type of life did Jesus offer? Eternal life. What is eternal life? Jesus Himself told us, "This is eternal life to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent" (John 17:3).
So the real issue is about knowing God now and forevermore not about a place we go to after we die. Once again we have replaced a person with a place. We have removed God from the question about what happens when we die and made it about a destination. Jesus, who is life, came to offer us Himself, a life where we get to know Him and His Father in love from now to eternity.
What type of life did Jesus offer? Eternal life. What is eternal life? Jesus Himself told us, "This is eternal life to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent" (John 17:3).
So the real issue is about knowing God now and forevermore not about a place we go to after we die. Once again we have replaced a person with a place. We have removed God from the question about what happens when we die and made it about a destination. Jesus, who is life, came to offer us Himself, a life where we get to know Him and His Father in love from now to eternity.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Already Holy
God has already made us
holy. The word "saint" means "holy person." In fact it is the same Greek
word used for the holy in Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 1:15 says "as He who did call you is holy, you also, become holy in all your behavior." So since we are holy our behavior should be holy.
Calling a child bad for doing one bad thing leaves the impression that you think they are bad instead of just what they've done is bad. That is a very damaging thing. Our behavior is not who we are. So we need to realize that we are holy even though we do not always behave holy.
1 Peter 1:15 says "as He who did call you is holy, you also, become holy in all your behavior." So since we are holy our behavior should be holy.
Calling a child bad for doing one bad thing leaves the impression that you think they are bad instead of just what they've done is bad. That is a very damaging thing. Our behavior is not who we are. So we need to realize that we are holy even though we do not always behave holy.
Conversation about Christ
Because Christ is our life we should easily be able to talk about Him with others.
I
think that training and preaching are part of the problem. Churches
give expectations and instruction about something that should be
natural. People who want to share Christ with others are stricken with fear and burdened with pressure because of the "standards" they feel
like they need to live up to.
Talking about God should just be a natural talking just like you would naturally talk about sports. Imagine if someone came along and said to you that you have to talk about sports "just so" and you have to learn and include these certain facts and questions into the conversation. Talking about sports becomes a performance that you can either succeed or fail at depending on if you can transfer your love of sports to the other person. It is no longer fun, spontaneous, and natural because of the standards.
Talking about God should just be a natural talking just like you would naturally talk about sports. Imagine if someone came along and said to you that you have to talk about sports "just so" and you have to learn and include these certain facts and questions into the conversation. Talking about sports becomes a performance that you can either succeed or fail at depending on if you can transfer your love of sports to the other person. It is no longer fun, spontaneous, and natural because of the standards.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Commit Yourself to God?
God is the one committed and dedicated to me. He who began His work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ's return (Philippians 1:6). Will I finish His work for Him? It is God who works in me to desire and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13). If I try to commit or dedicate myself to doing good for God I put myself under law like obligation, I try to live by external obligations or expectations rather than trusting God to live through me and guide me.
The idea that "God wants all of our life" is short sighted. Jesus Christ is our life as Colossians 3:3 states. We were dead in sin before He gave us life through new birth. God already has all of our life. God is our life!* (*Note that this is a rejoiceful tone not an angry tone).
We think that we need to live for God but the truth is that we need God to live for us. We need to trust the indwelling God to live through us. We can do nothing apart from Him and Jesus lived this example. He said that He could do nothing without the Father.
The idea that "God wants all of our life" is short sighted. Jesus Christ is our life as Colossians 3:3 states. We were dead in sin before He gave us life through new birth. God already has all of our life. God is our life!* (*Note that this is a rejoiceful tone not an angry tone).
We think that we need to live for God but the truth is that we need God to live for us. We need to trust the indwelling God to live through us. We can do nothing apart from Him and Jesus lived this example. He said that He could do nothing without the Father.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Intellectual Knowledge vs. Relational Trust
In some sense I don't think it does matter what I believe. 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. The Holy Spirit will lead God's children to all truth.
Of course it is better to know the truth (facts) about the Truth (Jesus)
but we should never let what we believe cause us to be less loving
towards others.
There are only a handful of falsehoods that disqualify someone from being able to know Christ. The bible says in various ways that whoever trusts in Jesus will have eternal life and Jesus defines eternal life as knowing The Father and The Son. Jesus came first to the Jews so they had some idea of who He was. Still Jesus nor the apostles handed out a written test to see if someone could earn grace by their knowledge of God.
Trusting Christ is the qualification. Jesus said that the will of the Father is to trust in the Son. Jesus even once answered the question "What should we do that we might do the works of God?" by saying, "This is the work of God that you trust in Jesus Christ whom God sent." The very work of God is trusting in Jesus! I would hate to have to take a works based or knowledge based test to earn grace from God.
We can only know the real Christ through the spirit not through doctrines and facts. Paul said, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Falsehood is terrible but none of us know God fully and all of us are wrong about Him in some way at least in the sense that we don't know Him fully yet.
Focus: Essential Doctrines or Essential Person?
I guess the question for those who push essential doctrines is, "Is it more wrong to be mistaken about Jesus or to be ignorant about Jesus?" Truth is very important to live and grow by but I think God examines the heart far more than the head when it comes to salvation. Did the thief on the cross know that Jesus was born of a virgin?
The facts/truth about Jesus does not replace knowing Jesus spiritually as the basis of whether someone is a Christian or not. We can know the right things without knowing God. The right things are very important but not as important as the right One, Jesus. You could know a lot about me but if you've never encountered me in your life then you don't really know me at all.
How do we define what is essential? If someone trusts Christ in their life but gets even one of these "essentials" wrong or is ignorant of one of them does that mean they are not a Christian? This mindset is similar to being saved by works but instead of a checklist of deeds to do it is a checklist of facts to believe.
Those who push for essential doctrines as the basis of unity are really looking for a non-relational agreement between entities (church institutions, denominations, organizations). Our focus should be on the essential person of Jesus. We can "believe" all of the essential doctrines and not know the essential person of Jesus Christ. You can have all the essential ingredients of a pie but if no one makes the pie out of those ingredients having "the essentials" doesn't mean squat. Belief in doctrines doesn't produce salvation, trust in Christ does.
There is a grave danger in a "gospel of doctrines" that says "if you consider this list of things to be true then you know God." To expose that absurdity here is a comparative saying, "If you believe these 3 facts about George Washington then he is your best friend."
Agreeing vs. Loving
We look so hard at "who is Christian and who is not" & "who is wrong and who is right." We are so preoccupied with 'Christianity at large,' the 'church in America,' and tons of people we have never and will never meet. The only thing we should be looking for is "Who does Christ want to love through me today? How do I follow the Spirit of God in me today so that I may love whoever God puts in my path today?"
I'm not talking about compromising the truth but I don't think every occasion a falsehood comes up is my opportunity to correct someone. Jesus withheld truth from people. It was in His wisdom. We are in Christ just as Christ is in the Father so we can determine when to do this too. We should "accept one another as Christ has accepted us." That means, like Jesus, we meet people where they are. It means we humbly understand that no one has it all figured out despite our systematic theologies.
God wins people by His love. One way of loving is telling people the truth about God but you don't have to "have it right" or even accept my words about God for me to love you, whether you are a Christian or not. If the truth (facts) causes us to love someone less then we are not following The Truth (Christ).
If I'm more concerned about someone agreeing with me about facts than I am about enjoying the Father with them then I have a problem. 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 faith.
It is the same thing when Paul said, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." At first glance that doesn't sound like much but Jesus is the illimitable God and He is all we need to know. In the Truth there are all the many little truths that God desires we know.
There are only a handful of falsehoods that disqualify someone from being able to know Christ. The bible says in various ways that whoever trusts in Jesus will have eternal life and Jesus defines eternal life as knowing The Father and The Son. Jesus came first to the Jews so they had some idea of who He was. Still Jesus nor the apostles handed out a written test to see if someone could earn grace by their knowledge of God.
Trusting Christ is the qualification. Jesus said that the will of the Father is to trust in the Son. Jesus even once answered the question "What should we do that we might do the works of God?" by saying, "This is the work of God that you trust in Jesus Christ whom God sent." The very work of God is trusting in Jesus! I would hate to have to take a works based or knowledge based test to earn grace from God.
We can only know the real Christ through the spirit not through doctrines and facts. Paul said, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Falsehood is terrible but none of us know God fully and all of us are wrong about Him in some way at least in the sense that we don't know Him fully yet.
Focus: Essential Doctrines or Essential Person?
I guess the question for those who push essential doctrines is, "Is it more wrong to be mistaken about Jesus or to be ignorant about Jesus?" Truth is very important to live and grow by but I think God examines the heart far more than the head when it comes to salvation. Did the thief on the cross know that Jesus was born of a virgin?
The facts/truth about Jesus does not replace knowing Jesus spiritually as the basis of whether someone is a Christian or not. We can know the right things without knowing God. The right things are very important but not as important as the right One, Jesus. You could know a lot about me but if you've never encountered me in your life then you don't really know me at all.
How do we define what is essential? If someone trusts Christ in their life but gets even one of these "essentials" wrong or is ignorant of one of them does that mean they are not a Christian? This mindset is similar to being saved by works but instead of a checklist of deeds to do it is a checklist of facts to believe.
Those who push for essential doctrines as the basis of unity are really looking for a non-relational agreement between entities (church institutions, denominations, organizations). Our focus should be on the essential person of Jesus. We can "believe" all of the essential doctrines and not know the essential person of Jesus Christ. You can have all the essential ingredients of a pie but if no one makes the pie out of those ingredients having "the essentials" doesn't mean squat. Belief in doctrines doesn't produce salvation, trust in Christ does.
There is a grave danger in a "gospel of doctrines" that says "if you consider this list of things to be true then you know God." To expose that absurdity here is a comparative saying, "If you believe these 3 facts about George Washington then he is your best friend."
Agreeing vs. Loving
We look so hard at "who is Christian and who is not" & "who is wrong and who is right." We are so preoccupied with 'Christianity at large,' the 'church in America,' and tons of people we have never and will never meet. The only thing we should be looking for is "Who does Christ want to love through me today? How do I follow the Spirit of God in me today so that I may love whoever God puts in my path today?"
I'm not talking about compromising the truth but I don't think every occasion a falsehood comes up is my opportunity to correct someone. Jesus withheld truth from people. It was in His wisdom. We are in Christ just as Christ is in the Father so we can determine when to do this too. We should "accept one another as Christ has accepted us." That means, like Jesus, we meet people where they are. It means we humbly understand that no one has it all figured out despite our systematic theologies.
God wins people by His love. One way of loving is telling people the truth about God but you don't have to "have it right" or even accept my words about God for me to love you, whether you are a Christian or not. If the truth (facts) causes us to love someone less then we are not following The Truth (Christ).
If I'm more concerned about someone agreeing with me about facts than I am about enjoying the Father with them then I have a problem. 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 faith.
It is the same thing when Paul said, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." At first glance that doesn't sound like much but Jesus is the illimitable God and He is all we need to know. In the Truth there are all the many little truths that God desires we know.
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