Surprised by God

One of the most common myths about God is that he wants to suck the joy out of life. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

God invented pleasure

• Food? God created that. He created the food and he created the taste buds, sense of smell, and teeth that enable us to enjoy it.

• Sex? He is the one who invented sex. The emotions. The bond. The excitement. The hormones. The pheromones. The children. Everything that makes sex sex is God's gift to humanity.

• Music? God again.

• Work? Yes, work can be a pleasure. That sense of accomplishment when you've done your job well? That comes from God. God created us to work and enjoy it.

• Art? God gave us raw materials, creativity, and senses to make and enjoy art.

There's a Bible story that drives the point home for me. As Jesus began his earthly ministry he was invited to a wedding. Jesus accepted the invitation. During the festivities (which typically lasted a week) the host ran out of wine. This was a huge embarrassment in that culture. The Jesus many believe in would have probably said something like, "Hey, you have water. Water is good enough. You'll survive." But the Jesus of the Bible did something quite different. He turned several gallons of water into wine. I see this as a demonstration of one of Jesus' teachings:

The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. 

                                                             -- Jesus (John 10:10)

Don't believe the hype. Jesus isn't out to steal from you! His desire is that you receive abundance from him. The only question is whether you are willing to receive it. 

God didn't bring you this far to leave you now

God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt.

• While pursued by an enemy too strong for them, their progress was halted by the Red Sea. They thought they were going to die. So God parted the waters, allowing them to cross on dry ground. Their enemies were killed when they tried to follow suit.

• Then they went 3 days without water. When they did find water it wasn't fit to drink.  So the Lord showed Moses a tree that would make the water safe to drink.

• The nation of Israel was in the wilderness without enough food to eat. They thought they would die. So God rained bread out of heaven.

• Again, the people were without water. And again they thought they were going to die. So God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff. When he did water gushed from the rock. 

Sound familiar? Life is filled with trouble. That doesn't mean that you're out of God's protection and care. Every new trial is an opportunity to trust and obey God. He'll never fail you.  

Holy Days With the Unholy

It’s that time of year. The time when we get together again with the ones we never chose to get together with in the first place – our families. In my family our proximity is sometimes only physical. There are deep divisions. We disagree about politics and religion. And, in my family, that doesn’t leave much else to talk about.

My family is not unique in its disagreements. We all know what’s coming. It’s a good idea to plan ahead now. How should we love the ones we don’t see eye to eye with this season?

1.  “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John Maxwell

-   God did not call you to win arguments. He called you to win people.

2.  “Without Me you can do nothing” – Jesus

-   You cannot fill the shoes of the Holy Spirit. You cannot convict your family of their sins. You cannot remove their spiritual blindness.

-   You can only be fruitful if you cultivate your relationship with Jesus (John 15). You will help your family most by drawing close to God through prayer and study/meditation. Then they will know that you have been with the Master.

o  Those who have been with Jesus are shiny and salty. Shiny people expose dirt. Salty people make others thirsty. When you come around does the demand for clean water increase?

3.  “Speaking the truth in love” – Apostle Paul

-   Don’t give in to the temptations of silence or meanness. Don’t just live the truth – speak it. And don’t just speak the truth – live it. 

Judgment and Forgiveness

Lion and Lamb (paradoxes) continued

Judgment and Forgiveness

Matthew 25:30 & Luke 23:34

The man who hid his talent was cast into outer darkness. Those who crucified our Lord heard the words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Which is it? Mercy or Justice? As a disciple of Christ should I imitate his exacting judgment or his incredible mercy?

Judgment needed

God has made clear to us, from the beginning, that judgment is certain. "God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap (Gal 6:7). There are no secrets (Luke 8:17). God will judge all of humanity by the man Christ Jesus (John 5:25-27). God's judgment is real and fearful. Those who are condemned will be punished in a lake of fire forever.

The fact of the judgment of God is a solemn one. God will soon take vengeance on the rebels and restore peace to the earth. This ought to inspire us to judge ourselves.

Forgiveness is only for the guilty

The plain truth is that we all need forgiveness -- whether we know it or not. We have all violated the inviolable laws of the universe. We have gone astray. Only after we recognize this reality do we begin to welcome and even seek forgiveness.

In a world without judgment, forgiveness doesn't make sense.  How can we value forgiveness if we will not admit that there is such a thing as morally wrong behavior? The only way to celebrate forgiveness while rejecting all judgment is to resort to mere sentimentality. If we're forgiven only because nothing is really wrong then forgiveness is cheap and meaningless.

Holding both ends
Acknowledging the nastiness of the wrong done and yet still offering forgiveness -- that is the beautiful thing.

Those who would be like Christ must treat sin very seriously and honestly while extending forgiveness freely. This is the path Jesus walked. He spoke freely and often of the sinfulness of sin and the punishment awaiting the wicked. He also forgave freely. He is our example. 

Early Christianity: A New Earth

A New Earth – “the life of the world to come”

            Pharisaic Judaism at the time of Christ shared many beliefs in common with what is known as apocalypticism and likely expected a radical inbreaking of the rule of God along with a new heavens and a new earth.[1] Such expectation can be seen in the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22). Still, the Judaism from which Christianity sprang did not have a unified and well-developed teaching concerning the afterlife. They even disagreed about whether there would be an afterlife at all.

            Jesus himself spoke of the afterlife quite often (Matthew 5:11-12; 6:19-21; 18:8; 22:23-32; John 11:21-27). His focus on the world to come did not lead to an otherworldly detachment from the affairs of this life. Rather, Jesus revealed that heavenly minded people do the most earthly good (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 14:12-14). Jesus’ taught the resurrection as a threat and a promise (John 5:28-29; Matthew 16:27; 25:31-46). Yet, for all his emphasis on the world to come, Jesus did not give many details about what that world will be like.

            Belief in the world to come played a key role in early Christian thought and practice.[2] This belief served as the basis for urgent pleas for the practice of Christian ethics.[3] Just as with every other belief articulated in the Nicene Creed, belief in a world to come was held by Christians since the time of the apostles.

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[1] Porter, Dictionary of New Testament background : a compendium of contemporary biblical scholarship.

[2] “Each major tenet of primitive Christian belief must be understood in this apocalyptic context: the very charter of Christian orthodoxy, the command of the risen Lord to the apostles to make disciples and to teach them to observe everything that he had commanded, was predicated on the promise and the prophecy that he would be with them until the consummation of the age” Ferguson, Backgrounds of early Christianity, 123.; Further, He says to them, “Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure.” Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world” Barnabas XV, ANF I p. 147

[3] “If we please Him in this present world, we will also inherit the future world. For He promised to us that He will raise us again from the dead.” Polycarp to the Philippians V, ANF I p. 34; “Wherefore, then, my brethren, let us struggle with all earnestness…And should we not all be able to obtain the crown, let us at least come near to it. We must remember that he who strives in the corruptible contest, if he be found acting unfairly, is taken away and scourged, and cast forth from the lists. What then think ye? If one does anything unseemly in the incorruptible contest, what shall he have to bear? For of those who do not preserve the seal unbroken, the Scripture saith, “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.”” 2 Clement VII, ANF VII p. 519; “As long, therefore, as we are upon the earth, let us practice repentance, for we are as clay in the hand of the artificer. For as the potter, if he make a vessel, and it be distorted or broken in his hands, fashions it over again; but if he have before this cast it into the furnace of fire, can no longer find any help for it: so let us also, while we are in this world, repent with our whole heart of the evil deeds we have done in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we have yet an opportunity of repentance. For after we have gone out of the world, no further power of confessing or repenting will there belong to us.” Ibid., VIII; “the righteous man also walks in this world, yet looks forward to the holy age [to come].” Barnabas X, ANF I p. 144; “If, therefore, you do these things, you shall be able to bear fruit for the life to come.” Shepherd of Hermas Similitude IV, ANF II p. 33 

Calvin's Heretical Theology (according to the Second Council of Orange)

It's odd that many Calvinists call Arminians "semi-Pelagian," intending to convey that Arminians are sorta heretical, yet don't apply the same standard to their own position. True Calvinists were anathematized at the same council (Second Council of Orange) that rejected Pelagianism. 

 

"We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema."    - Second Council of Orange 

Do Calvinists really believe that some "are foreordained to evil by the power of God"? I'll let Calvin answer for himself. The quotes I've below come from Calvin's own writings. 

Health and Wealth Gospel?

Some extreme claims have been made concerning the health and wealth God supposedly promises and provides for Christians. Let's keep a few simple Scriptural truths in mind: 

Suffering can be a gift from God (Philippians 1:29). 

We know that we are God's children if we suffer with Jesus (Romans 8:17).

The fact that Christians do become sick indicates that God does allow his children to endure affliction (see Job; cf. Hebrews 11). 

We should seek healing and also maintain confidence that he brings good out of everything (James 5:14-15; Romans 8:28).

God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith (James 2:5). 

It is especially difficult for a rich person to make it to heaven (Matthew 19:24). 

Considering that those who seek to be rich will fall into traps and many harmful desires, the Scripture admonishes us to be content to have food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8-10). 

All of God's children can expect to have their food and clothing provided for them by God as they seek him (Matthew 6:19-33).