Simply Christ

"But I fear by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:3).
If the apostle Paul wore one of those message containing tee-shirts like you see so common today, I think it would just say, "Simply Christ". We see so many Christian messages (and not so Christian messages) on tee-shirts in our present culture. But some times the simplest message is the best.
In context, Paul is making an important distinction here between the Gospel of Christ and religion. The true gospel says that you simply cannot be good enough to please God but Christ has done so for you and, therefore, by the new birth with Christ as your life, the Father is well pleased with you as His child in a living union with His Son, Jesus Christ. It is that simple: Not I, but Christ!
In contrast, religion will not be satisfied with such simplicity. Like the serpent's argument in the Garden of Eden, religion says Christ is NOT enough. Or more subtly put, Christ is enough, but……..
The word "religion" comes from a Latin and French root re-ligio which means: to tie down or bind with ligatures.
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A RELIGION – IT IS A RELATIONSHIP.
Christianity started out in the first century right on track with the teachings of Jesus and Paul and Peter and John and James. There was no priestly hierarchy structure involved in the formation of the first churches. There was just the pastor and his assistants in each church. In fact Peter in his first epistle stated that every Christian was a "priest" – a member of a "royal priesthood" (chap. 2:5,9). The book of Hebrews is a convincing treatise that the idea of the need of a priesthood as existed in the Old Testament had been replaced and done away. Hebrews 4:14 says that all any Christian needs is the great High-priest, Jesus Christ.
After the death of the apostle John near the end of the first century, a strange thing began to happen within the Christian church. Over a period of 50 to 75 years, a hierarchy of priests began to head many churches. It was a structure of priestly power that was similar to the Old Testament people of Israel. What was the reason set forth to have this new priestly structure? It was said to be necessary for priests to be mediators between the people and God, and to dispense the "sacraments" which at that time were considered to be baptism, marriage and the Lord's supper (communion).
But the Christian church had gotten along just fine during the first century without priests in power. Baptism could be dispensed by any Christian. Communion was a celebration of remembrance without any need of a special priest. Marriage was a civil agreement of union which could be witnessed by your pastor or his representative if desired.
As far as the need for "mediators" between the people and God, the Bible makes it clear that there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5; Hebrews 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).
What I am saying is that, starting in the second century, there began to be a division between those Christians following the structure of the first century churches and those Christians following the priestly hierarchy structure of this new body of believers.
True Christians, that is, those who had called on Christ to be their Savior and Lord and were thus born again as true children of God, had to make the choice whether to join with the church following the structure of the first century church of the apostles – or to join with this new church of priestly hierarchy. Therefore both of these forms of Christianity contained many true believers, many true Christians born again in Christ.
What was so bad about having a hierarchy of priests over the "laity" of Christians? The whole structure was a power structure created by man. Men saw that if they could create a level of power structure as "mediator" between God and man, they could have a level of control over and a dependence by the laity.
Down through the centuries, these two forms of Christianity with and without priestly hierarchy existed side by side (remembering that there were mostly true Christians in both, and that even among the priestly hierarchy, there were mostly true Christians deceived into the necessity of this power structure.)
Historians have, in general, recorded for us the story of the hierarchy church since it became more powerful. When it said that the hierarchy church persecuted "heretics", many of these "heretics" were from the apostolic non-priestly church. Research has shown that one of the primary characteristics of "heretics" was opposition to the hierarchy structure.
As the centuries progressed and the hierarchy church grew in power, they began to institute many doctrinal things which were not Biblical. They increased the number of sacraments from three to seven – adding confirmation, penance, holy orders and extreme unction. These all required priestly control and dispensation.
The hierarchy instituted the "sacrifice of the Mass" which required priestly functions performed for the laity. Each Mass was a re-sacrificing of Christ again even though the Bible states that Christ died once and only once on the Cross for sinners (Heb. 9:28; 10:12).
As I stated earlier, Christ is the only mediator between God and man. But the priestly church declared the virgin Mary as a mediator between man and Christ – beseeching prayer to Mary was instituted. Then they declared praying to dead saints as mediators was effective. The Bible states that ALL Christians are "saints". All these false mediators prevented or hindered the proper mediation by Christ only between man and God.
As the power of the hierarchy church grew, they began to offer what were called "indulgences". By praying the proper prayers, the laity could take away for themselves or their loved ones, partially or completely, the pains of "purgatory". This became so popular that they instituted the doctrine that money donated to the church could buy indulgences.
While all this power structure within the church hierarchy was proceeding through the centuries, the smaller non-priestly church continued down through the ages in much the same apostolic form as in the first century – no hierarchy of priests, no sacrifice of the Mass, no sacraments except the original three. You might say, it was SIMPLY CHRIST.
Speaking about the doctrine of having a priestly hierarchy, we see in the present day the problem with priests in the Catholic church who are sexually abusing children. (Other hierarchy type churches are also being revealed as having the same problem.) The power structure of the hierarchy seems to have been covering up the problem by dealing with the priests only within the church rather than reporting the allegations to civil authorities. And, in many cases, the offending priests have only been sent to new parishes where further abuse was allowed to take place.
The media has been very active in reporting the problems within the Catholic church and, in fact, without such diligent activity within the media, the church coverup would have continued unabated.
What is the problem when such "holy men of God" commit such immoral acts?
Is it the fact that they are celibate – an unmarried priesthood? This may be a contributing factor.
Is it the fact that homosexual men enter the priesthood in large numbers because it is easier to live that lifestyle within the priesthood? This may be a contributing factor.
Is it the fact that homosexual men enter the priesthood hoping to overcome feelings of guilt over their sexual orientation, but find it difficult or impossible to do? This may be a contributing factor.
Is it the fact that Satan undoubtedly attacks people in authority in any church with temptations over and above the laity? This may be a contributing factor.
BUT WHAT IS THE REAL CAUSE OF THE CRISIS WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
My opinion is that the real cause of the problem is what has always existed within this church – THE PRIESTLY HIERARCHY ITSELF!
The church with Christ at its head was never designed to have a priestly hierarchy. Priests are not needed. All Christians are priests with Jesus Christ as High-Priest.
As far as the handling of the sacraments is concerned, the Bible nowhere states a need to have priestly distribution. Look at baptism in the Bible. It does not say that an apostle or a pastor or a deacon or any special person must do the baptizing. Apparently ANY Christian can baptize anyone using the formula of Matthew 28:19.
When we see communion in the Bible, the same is true – no special person must handle the distribution of the bread and the wine. ALL interact together in solemn activity to commemorate the death of Christ. (By the way, the Bible nowhere says that the bread and the wine actually BECOME the body and blood of Christ. This is the doctrine of "transubstantiation" which was established by hierarchy interpretation of communion. This doctrine made it easier for the hierarchy to control the laity by making their priestly function necessary.)
The sacrament of marriage is nothing more than a covenant between a man and woman to be husband and wife. The state requires witnesses, and Christians should make their covenant within their church body. Marriage is not a priestly duty but rather a public church witnessing.
In conclusion, members of the hierarchy church must deal with many appointed mediators rather than directly through Christ. This tends to limit their freedom in Christ and keep many of them more or less "baby" Christians not growing to full maturity and functional use by God. By not recognizing who they are in union with Christ, many remain "lukewarm" Christians (see Rev. 3:15-16).
God wants us to deal directly with Christ who dwells within our human spirit. We are not meant to be under the control of a hierarchy priesthood. Every Christian child of God IS a priest, IS a saint, IS a living container of that great HIGH-PRIEST, JESUS CHRIST.

Yes, the Gospel IS:
SIMPLY CHRIST.
Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Colossians 1:27

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Who Is Giving Thanks This Thanksgiving?

Here is a link to the Thanksgiving column written by one of my favorite writers - Michelle Malkin. Click: Link

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Peace Is Ultimately a Person

The ancient Jewish prophets called Him “the Prince of Peace.” When Jesus came, the Christmas angels promised He would be a Savior whose saving would bring peace. When He left, He promised:
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you (John. 14:27).
His servant Paul summed it up when he reminded us:
He came and preached to you who were far away and peace to those who were near (Eph. 2:17).
Then, in six simple words, he spoke the prescription for peace:
For He Himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14).
I was one of those Paul described as “those who were near.” Years ago, I had recognized that the war in my heart was really a battle with God. I realized that I could not have Christ’s peace until He was my Prince. Opening the hands that had so tightly gripped the steering wheel of my life, I let Jesus drive.
Since we were made to live for the God who made us, everything else is out of place until we find Him. And He can only be found at the cross, where His Son paid the bill for our war against God. Whether we have rejected God, or simply neglected Him, the result is the same—a life He made and paid for, lived without Him. Upon our invitation, He enters our lives—bringing His peace.
I have been pursuing it ever since. The peace I hungered for has been there since Christ came in. But I was like a man with an inexhaustible bank account who wasn’t writing many checks on it. The poverty, the pressure of my life, was waiting for peace to come instead of going after it.
Inner peace is the natural condition of the heart in which Christ lives. I just need to quit blocking and sabotaging the supply lines.
In a sense, my search for peace ends where it began. Years ago I came to Christ for peace. Years later, I am learning to enjoy it by discovering Him more deeply than ever before. The pursuit of peace is ultimately the pursuit of a Person.
Strangely enough, you may be closer to peace than you have ever been, and the stress of your life has carried you there. We stand tired of fighting—and Jesus quietly whispers, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).
Strong and proud, we don’t feel the need, even though it is just as urgent then. But battered and wounded by years of battle, we know we need help—the rest. That’s when our hand reaches for His. Peace is a Person—and peace rooted in Him can triumphantly stand any test.
If my stress makes me hungry for His peace, then it has driven me home. The storm has blown us into the Harbor that we have looked for all our lives.

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"WWJD" - What Would Jesus Do?

“WWJD” has widely become the automobile bumper sticker slogan of Christians in the USA. Many sincere and well-meaning Christians have taken up the slogan as their faith motto. Youth groups have been formed around these four words. But with all their good intentions, are they missing something in this message? Is this message, however good it seems, in actuality holding them back from the full realization of the full Christian plan of God?
The church I attend is now in the midst of the 40 days of purpose study in the book, “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. The third of the five purposes outlined in the book is that “you were created to become like Christ.” I am glad that Rick Warren did not say to imitate Christ, that is, WWJD. But I suspect that many Christians do look on “becoming like Christ” as the same as “imitating Christ” which bases the “doing” on the things Jesus of Nazareth did in the Gospels. This frankly is a worldly, outer understanding of Jesus Christ, who now is resurrected as the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) who is living in every born-again believer (Col. 1:26-27; 3:3).
Consider one of the obvious problems for the imitators of Jesus. As the living expression and personality of God Himself (John 14:9), Jesus of Nazareth dealt with similar situations differently at different times. First, see the question of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking what he should do to have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments and then proceeded to list several of the commandments. Then Jesus said, “If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow Me.” (Matt. 19:21). On the other hand, Jesus also instructed that you need only believe to gain eternal life: “…that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). So which of Jesus’ statements is the one to follow? In other words, WWJD?
As another example, remember when Jesus became angry and violent as He threw the money-changers out of the temple (Matt. 21:12-13). This was His drastic timely solution to the sin of others at a specific time and place. But then, in the sermon on the mount, He taught that we should love our enemies. Turn the other cheek in a non-violent response to violence (Matt. 5:38-39). I’m sure that the money-changers resisted violently to Jesus’ actions. So which of Jesus’ actions is the one to follow? In other words, WWJD?
When Rick Warren states that we are to grow in Christ-likeness, many Christians look at themselves and say, “Who, me? I’m just a weak slug of a human being who can’t even chew gum and walk at the same time! I’m supposed to be able to imitate Jesus Christ, the all-powerful Son of God? Who are you kidding? It sounds good on paper, but impossible in practice!”
Anyone who says this doesn’t understand the salvation process. Let’s begin at the beginning.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 describes the basic composition of a human being – three parts: spirit, soul and body. I like to say that I AM a spirit, I HAVE a soul, and I LIVE IN a body. My human spirit and whatever spiritual nature it contains is who I AM. My soul (mind, emotions and will) is how God has uniquely wired me to make choices – my individual personality characteristics. And my body is my material contact to the world so that I can ultimately be used by God for others.
The “soul” has often been misinterpreted as who we are. We have so often heard the term “immortal soul” but those words nowhere appear in the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis, the Hebrew word nephesh which is translated “soul” throughout the Old Testament is used four times for lower life forms in the creation before it is ever used in conjunction with man. Animals have soul (brains, emotions and will – completely under the purpose of God through instinct), and body but not spirit. Human beings have the additional human spirit from the spirit realm of God.
What does this have to do with the ability to become like Christ? It has everything to do with it!
We come into this world from our mother with a human spirit nature of Satan. We inherit it from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Am I too harsh? Was Jesus too harsh when He told unbelievers “You are OF your father, the devil, and his lusts you WILL do!” (John 8:44)? Look at that cute little baby freshly born into the world. What is the first thing he thinks about himself after he discovers he no longer receives his food and air through an umbilical cord? “Man, I’m independent, and I better get some air and food!” He mimics Satan’s original attempt at independence. When the baby recognizes that he can’t get his own food, he becomes frustrated and cries. As he grows and discovers that crying usually gets him what he wants, he applies this method toward his frustrated independence. With the power of speech, he discovers that lying aids his independence and he uses it to get what he wants or in attempting to save his independent ways. On and on it goes, this independence thing, because that is the inborn nature of the human spirit.
So where are we? We have an unbeliever separated from God with an independent human nature and that is WHAT HE IS. He has a personality soul which is being internally influenced in his uniquely wired way toward independence – most of the time. But he is being influenced externally by God to see God’s way of dependence on Him. And he occasionally does, at times, succumb to this upward temptation and start giving instead of getting. But with that basic nature of independence so strongly in control, he reverts back to his true nature of self-centeredness.
How does this condition ever change? God deals with this unbeliever through trials and circumstances to bring him to the understanding that he’s not as independent as he thinks he is, and needs a Savior. He discovers Jesus Christ and, without much knowledge of the process at all, makes Him the Lord of his life.
There is an instant event which occurs whereby the new believer is “born again” – that is, the independent nature of Satan in the human spirit is instantly removed and replaced by the nature of God through Christ coming to join His Spirit to that human spirit of the new believer. Do you get it? When YOU were born again, WHO YOU ARE CHANGED! You now have the nature of God through the indwelling Jesus Christ.
But do you know what DIDN’T happen at this new birth? Your soul and your body were not changed at all except for a slight softening in attitude of your soul. All the aberrations of leftover independent thinking remain in your mind and personality.
Ah ha! Now we’re getting to “becoming like Christ.” Our daily Christian life is a daily transformation into the understanding and awareness of WHO WE ARE in the nature of our human spirit (which is eternally joined with the Spirit of Christ in a living union).
God’s purpose of growth in His children is the gradual transformation of the soul by the gradual elimination of the remnants, the skeletons in the closets of the soul. This is all done by definite choices made by the soul personality. The soul is the chooser which is now internally influenced and motivated to “act like” and to be acted upon by the Christ within.
It is almost like there are three salvations. What? Think about it. There is an often overlooked verse which describes three deliverances or salvations. 2 Cor. 1:10 states: “God DELIVERED us from so great a death, and DOES DELIVER, in whom we trust that he will YET DELIVER us” (King James version). In the confines of one verse, we see actions by God on the human spirit, the soul and the body.
We have been saved (past tense) in who we are, our spirit. This is once and forever and does not change.
We are being saved (present tense) in what we have, our soul. This is ongoing through our lifetime as awareness of Christ within increases and trials and circumstances work in our soul to teach us the lifestyle of God.
We will be saved (future tense) in what we live in, our body. 1 Corinthians 15 talks about some kind of a new spiritual body we receive after our death and resurrection.
The bottom line is that, as a Christian, you are not separated from Christ. He has promised you will never be separated from Him. There is no need to mimic Jesus of Nazareth. There is no need to study the life of Jesus so that we may know what to do. Certainly reading the human life of Jesus has merit spiritually, but not to find out WWJD. Christ speaks in you by His indwelling life, by a voice deeper than your studious mind.
The resurrected Christ, who is now intimate with believers by His being birthed in them, is thereby much different than Jesus of Nazareth. The apostle Paul knew only a Christ who is risen and Lord in union with Paul. So Paul never did encourage anyone to do or mimic any activity that Jesus of Nazareth did during His sojourn on this earth. Paul in fact said that we should not know Christ after the flesh. “Hence forth we know no man after the flesh; yes, though we have known Jesus after the flesh, yet from now on we know Him no more” (1 Cor. 5:16).
This can be a difficult verse of scripture for believers to understand. From my viewpoint, the difficulty is the effect resulting from Christians hearing and focusing on too much of the life of Jesus of Nazareth in the gospels, and too little teaching from the apostle Paul.
An immediate question raised by my statement might justifiably be: “What could be wrong with teaching and sermons on the life of Jesus of Nazareth?” My answer is: That time is an entirely different dispensation from the one in which we now live! What is a “dispensation”? It is a God-allotted period of time in which God is accomplishing something in His eternal plan. Jesus of Nazareth did not walk upon the earth during the dispensation of time that we do.
The current dispensation we live in is the dispensation of grace, or the Church age. Does this make a difference? I should say so! Jesus of Nazareth came to minister to His own, the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24; John 1:11). The gospel did not specifically go to the Gentiles until Acts 10 in the house of Cornelius which was well after the ascension (Acts 1:9-11) of Jesus of Nazareth.
But then why is there so much teaching and so many sermons on this era? Why are so many Christians so caught up in miracles and trying to be like Jesus of Nazareth? The answer lies in the lack of understanding that the day of Pentecost changed the status of Jesus of Nazareth forever. He is no longer Jesus of Nazareth, but Christ in us, our hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
In this present dispensation, unlike the previous, BELIEVER ARE INDWELT BY CHRIST AND THE NATURE OF GOD (Gal. 2:20 and 2 Peter 1:4). With this in mind, the Christian must rethink how to relate to Jesus of Nazareth and the Gospels which are inspired by God and profitable. However, when reading this portion of scripture, we must rightly divide the Word of God and not take on the implication of statements that promote law and Jesus of Nazareth dealing with His people, the Israelites. Israel is not the Church of this age, and the Church of this age is never Israel.
If you read the apostle Paul’s writings, you will find that Paul confines his comments about Jesus of Nazareth primarily to His death, burial, and resurrection. These are necessary as they are our “identification points” between the human Jesus and the risen “Firstborn of many sons.”
But most of Paul’s writings concern what happens when Christ comes to live in us. He directs our lives through a living relationship with Him as we grow to become aware of His presence to empower our weakness. Paul in only one way recommends Jesus to us as a model for our living: it doesn’t concern “doing” but rather a way of living. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). Here “mind” means “mental disposition or mindset”. Jesus’ mindset was submitted to and utterly dependent upon the indwelling life of the Father. We should only mimic Jesus of Nazareth in His utter dependence upon the Father-life in Him – because God’s whole purpose in our ongoing soul salvation is that we trust in our indwelling Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Think about it. If Jesus lived in such a manner of utter dependence, then why do we believe that we can decide, of ourselves, with the previous examples given of apparently conflicting actions called for by Jesus, that we should mimic the life of Jesus of Nazareth – WWJD? I believe that this is because most Christians have yet to see that they are dead along with the human Jesus of Nazareth, but have been made alive again in union with the risen Christ, the Son of God.
The person of Jesus of Nazareth is not a methodology or biblical principle to be learned, but rather His is a Life to be lived out.
In John 15:5, Jesus says that we, as believers likened to branches in a vine, can do nothing of ourselves. We are as dependent on Christ within us as the branch of a tree is dependent on the tree trunk. Just think for a moment. Does the branch of a tree grow bark, twiggy new branches or fruit because it is trying to imitate “what the trunk of the tree is doing”? No – the branch lives the “right” life only because it contains the power of the sap from the trunk.
We are to be the passive branch recipients of another’s life flowing through us. But, at the same time, this passive dependent soul choice creates in our soul an ACTIVITY of, yes, becoming like Christ!
Yes, Rick Warren has it right. We ARE to grow in our soul and become like Christ. But those Christians who question how they can ever do it with all of their human weaknesses must come to a real awareness that they ARE FOREVER SAVED in their spirit WHO THEY ARE. And the only way that their soul personality can become the Personality of the indwelling Jesus Christ is by accepting this concept:
So – what WOULD Jesus of Nazareth do???
He would (and did) tell you this:

Follow the personal guidance
of His Spirit within you,
just as He followed the personal
guidance of His Father within Him.

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Homo-sapiens OR Homo-Christus?

Biologists classify living things by “Genus” and “Species”. Man has been classified as “Homo-sapiens” (Genus: homo and Species: sapiens). This is from the Latin meaning “man with knowledge”.
The species of man that lived on the earth from the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden up until Christ’s death, resurrection and the start of His Church was exclusively the Homo-sapiens species.
With the coming of Christ, the planet now began to have a second species of human life on it: the old “Homo-sapiens” and a brand new species which we can call “Homo-Christus”.
This “Homo-Christus” species is what God originally envisioned man to be, but since God did not force man to become this new species and gave him the ability to choose to direct his own life, wrong choices were made by man. The Old Testament is nothing more than the record of man trying to live by his own steam and not having God’s Life.
God, in effect, said, “You think you’re smart enough and strong enough within to live your life by your own knowledge and power? Okay, go ahead and try! Sooner or later, you’ll find out that you don’t have it in you to live a right life. I’ll even give you some specific rules that, if you follow them to the letter, you’ll have a good life. But I can tell you right now that, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to do it on your own power”.
But God did not leave them in a hopeless situation. He promised that man would ultimately achieve what God had planned for him. BUT GOD NEVER INTENDED FOR “HOMO-SAPIENS” TO CONTINUE! God will not only give up on this species, He will end it! His cure for fallen man is for the total extinction of that species.
That would appear to mean total hopelessness for mankind. But really though, God had a grander design. He would end this species and introduce a new species. Right here on our planet, God would introduce a totally new, completely different biological species of man. Granted, this new species would look like the old species, but inside these two species are very different.
Jesus Christ had God the Father living within Him in a living union. He was a “container”, a “slave”, a “temple”, and “branch” and a “body-part” of the Father. He tried to get the point across to His disciples many times. “I live by My Father.” “When you see Me, you see the Father.” “Apart from My Father, I can do nothing.” “I and the Father are one.”
Christ heard His Father speak to Him from deep within and He listened, and followed. He fellowshipped with His Father within, in a love relationship that the world could not understand. The world saw His power and His miracles but they did not understand that He was a new species from them, an entirely different race. His disciples tried to imitate His goodness but they couldn’t do it. They just didn’t get it! But they couldn’t get it!
The “Homo-sapiens” species was a combination of human indwelt by an angelic nature (Satan’s nature), and the “Homo-Christus” species was human life indwelt by God nature in the form of the risen Christ.
Although we have seen a fantastic population increase in Homo-sapiens since the time of Christ, the truth is that this species is destined for extinction.
This incredible man, Christ, was the only one of His species. He was the most endangered of all species because there was only one of Him! And when He was murdered on the cross, that could have ended His species forever. But by God’s plan, it did not. God could have absolutely destroyed the whole old Homo-sapien species at once, and then launched a whole new Homo-Christus species to repopulate the planet.
But God determined that the new species would be formed gradually from the old species causing a gradual extinction of Homo-sapiens. An individual Homo-sapiens had to choose to die and disappear but immediately reappear as a new Homo-Christus. And God made the requirement for the change of species very simple indeed. Once a sapiens discovered through trial and error that he was just incapable of living a proper life by his own knowledge and power and ability, all he had to do was call out to God for a Savior by believing that Jesus Christ was who He said He was. In the instant that he made that repentance, God changes his species to Homo-Christus. The old man is completely gone and dead, no longer remembered by God. The new man is born again as a new species.
This is what factually occurs. But the new Homo-Christus Christian probably does not understand this change of species at all. The rest of his life is spent coming to the realization of his union with Christ and learning to live totally from the guidance of Christ within. Christ’s way of living His human life was (1) to go to His father’s Life, located in His spirit, (2) to draw upon that Life, and (3) to allow that Life to express itself in this realm through His soul and body.
People look at Christ’s human life and they say that we should imitate or try to follow Him. He lived such a good life totally for others. We must imitate Him, yes. But He was so perfect and we are so imperfect. How can we live such a good life like Him? A Homo-sapiens can’t! And even a Homo-Christus can’t, unless he keeps in constant recognition of Jesus within, and gives all the parts of his life over into the guiding hands of Jesus.
We imitate Jesus, not by trying in our own power to live for others as Jesus did. That is putting the cart before the horse. The “cart” is living a good and proper life by God’s standards. We can’t pull the cart on our own. We need “horse-power” from Christ. By giving Christ the reins, the control and guidance of our lives, we then, and only then, become ABLE to live the Christian life.
But it is with a wink, because we understand that it is really Jesus accomplishing it.
A Homo-Christus still has to live in the world and receive input from the world’s wrong standards. And it is invariably true that there will be times when his mind will be swayed and he will temporarily forget the guidance of Christ within and “do his own thing”, that is, sin! Christ is still there. He does not leave. He just uses this temporary slip-up to once again call his attention to the human weakness. Satan’s nature no longer exists in a Homo-Christus but Satan can still sling worldly darts at him externally attempting to draw his attention away from Jesus within.
But God ultimately controls Satan’s power and even uses the situation of evil for good (Rom. 8:28). Every time this “living for self” takes place, we see our error and return to the shelter of Christ’s direction for our lives. That is what human life as a Homo-Christus is. It is a schoolhouse of learning to depend on Christ living in you, as you, and for you to the world. It is a spiritual growing process learning the life-style of the Family of God to which you belong.

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What About Being Healed By God?

When sickness or suffering attacks us or someone close to us, what should we think? What should we do?
What does the Bible really teach about healing? Does God cause sickness in the lives of His children to build character? Does God just allow sickness to test our character? Is this consistent with the actions of a loving God? Are we sick because we don't have the faith to be healed? Is God healing people today through the ministry of faith healers? How can we say that God will heal our diseases when it is so obvious that many people stay sick and even die after asking God for healing?
Without question, many people turn away from God because of the problem of pain. They find it hard to believe that a loving and all-powerful God would permit good people to suffer the way they do. On the other hand, thousands have testified that it was during a time of deep sorrow or intense anguish that they found God more real and precious than ever before.
As Christians we agree that God is loving, wise, and all-powerful. We agree that this good God gave His human creatures freedom to choose between good and evil, and that their wrong choice has bad consequences. We also agree that this God is working out a program for our ultimate good and His glory.
But there are Christian disagreements – one having to do with the purpose of pain and the other with the matter of supernatural healing.
Does God USE sickness to make good people better? Some would say that sickness can never be essentially good for us or that God would use it to purify the soul and build character. Remember I said USE and not CAUSE. We brought sickness on ourselves way back in the garden of Eden. Sickness is a consequence of sin from somewhere down the line – in ourselves, in the world around us or from our forefathers before us. But I believe that the greatest, deepest truths of God's Word have often been revealed by humble souls who have gone through affliction and have learned experientially the deep things of the ways of God.
Is God working obvious miracles of healing today? Some have said that there are no real supernatural healings by faith healers today but all can be explained as psychosomatic - mind over matter. But some say only those deny who have not been there and seen. Unexplainable things have happened in faith meetings. I believe God does heal miraculously, even at times by faith healers, but not always. And when He doesn't, we need not blame ourselves or give in to despair.
There are many unanswered questions in my mind about God's healing. Our minds are not capable of understanding all the ramifications of sickness in ourselves or in others. There are just too many factors involved that can be joined into the overall purposes of God for His human creatures in their purposed journey to become a true child of God by a new birth. And these factors still persist after a true Christian conversion and process of spiritual growth.
So many times we must say – "I just don't KNOW!" "I just don't GET IT!" "Only God knows WHY!"
But the important thing is not to dwell on what we don't know. LET'S GET EXCITED ABOUT WHAT WE DO KNOW! Let's uncover five positive, unassailable certainties that every child of God can count on in times of sickness and suffering:
1. Christ is in you to make you well.
God does HEAL! If you are a sick or suffering Christian, you can stand on the certainty that you will get well – perhaps on earth, but surely in heaven. That's His guarantee. As His children we are destined to receive a new, glorified body and to live forever with Him.
Maybe you don't react to these words about heaven with much enthusiasm. You want healing in the here and now. Your feelings are not unusual. Suffering is not pleasant. We instinctively want good health and freedom from pain. We want it now. But if we don't get it now, what are we to do? We must do what we have pledged to do at conversion: TRUST in the purposes of God through Christ within. The peace of Christ can make you a "wounded healer" yourself comforting others wherein you have been comforted.
2. Christ in you hurts when you hurt.
God does FEEL! If you are a suffering believer, the second biblical certainty from which you can draw great strength is the knowledge that God is suffering with you. He is not an unfeeling being oblivious to the pain of His creatures. Nor is He a capricious Allah who carries out His will with no feeling for those who suffer. On the contrary, He is our loving heavenly Dad and Christ is our brother and the whole Trinity hurts when we hurt.
In reviewing God's dealings with Israel, the prophet wrote, "In all their afflictions He was afflicted...; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them" (Isa. 63:9). The Old Testament prophets repeatedly pictured God as delighting in blessing His children and as grieving when they must suffer.
The truth that God hurts when we hurt didn't find full expression, however, until it was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. God became a man and suffered everything that we can suffer. Be assured that Christ living inside you cares and hurts with you in your afflictions.
The Family of God doesn't like what you are enduring any more than you do. God could intervene and heal you instantly. But if He were to do this for you and every other person who is suffering, no one would have a need for the kind of faith and trust that builds Christian character. Therefore, He may allow you to suffer. But all the while He, like you, is looking forward to the time when all human pain will be over.
3. Christ in you knows why you're suffering.
God does KNOW! This is the third comforting certainty. We want answers when we hurt so we cry out, "Why?" And sometimes we can answer the question why. It is always good to search our hearts to see if we bear some blame for our pain. We may be sick because we have not obeyed common-sense rules of health. Maybe the accident that hurt us is the result of our carelessness. It is also possible that our illness is the result or consequence of sin in our lives (1 Cor. 11:29-30; Heb. 12:6). The Bible teaches us that some Christians die an untimely death (humanly speaking) because of sin (Act. 5:1-11; 1 Cor. 11:30). If we know we have been living disobediently, we must repent. God may give us healing when we do. And when we see the death of a believing loved one who has fallen into sinful ways, we can even take comfort in the assurance that God sometimes takes one of His children home rather than see him continue on his destructive course.
However we often can't find specific answers to our why questions. Instead of wasting our energy in useless speculation about the why question, let's view suffering – our own or that which we encounter in others – as an opportunity to demonstrate God's power and bring glory to Him. Actually God has many good reasons for letting us suffer:
· Suffering silences Satan (Job 1-2).
· Suffering gives God an opportunity to be glorified (John 11:4).
· Suffering makes us appreciative (Rom. 8:28).
· Suffering teaches us to depend on God (Exo. 14:13-14; Isa. 40:28-31).
· Suffering makes us sympathetic (2 Cor. 1:3-6).
· Suffering teaches us patience (Rom. 5:3; James 1:2-4).
· Suffering enables us to exercise our faith (Job 23:10; Rom. 8:24-25).
· Suffering makes and keeps us humble (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
· Suffering brings rewards (2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Pet. 4:12-13).
Many other reasons for suffering could be given. We may not know which one fits our situation, but God does. That's comforting.
4. Christ in you is in control.
God does CONTROL! This is the fourth biblical certainty for afflicted believers. The fact that God is in control doesn't mean that He is the direct cause of injury or disease. They come through the outworking of natural laws that God has built into the universe or they come through Satan.
The fact that Satan and natural factors are the direct agents in human suffering, however, should not be taken as evidence that God is not involved. These evils would not have occurred if He had not permitted them. But God sets the limits (Job 1-2). Jesus assured us that nothing can happen to us unless it passes God's permissive will. Unpleasant events try us and may even tempt us to sin, but we can rest in the following assurance: "No temptation [test] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
5. Christ in you will never leave you.
God does STAY WITH YOU! Christ does not leave you when you sin. He uses the consequences of the sin to draw you even closer to Him in spiritual growth. Likewise Christ does not leave you when you are sick or afflicted. He uses the event of the suffering to draw you even closer. When you are born again as a true child of God by faith and trust in Jesus Christ, it is a forever event that you are indwelt by the Spirit within your human spirit. You are not punished for your sin as a Christian but rather corrected. Sickness and affliction are not punishments for anything but rather is a condition or circumstance that God can use in His infinite wisdom and power as He chooses.
Yes, "by His stripes you are healed." God wants you well. He allows illness and pain only when He can use them for good. It does not follow, however, that we should take a dim view of physical health or pleasure. Nor should we stoically resign ourselves to the idea that we should expect a lot of suffering. On the contrary, we should look at life optimistically. God's Word provides assurances and promotes a way of life that is conducive to physical and psychological wellness. God is going to see to it that you will be well for all eternity. Believing this will promote your good health. If you have been born again into God's Family, you CAN accept sickness and affliction calmly and hopefully. If you are not living obediently, you can turn away from your sin and back to God. You can ask the Lord for healing. You can pray with the absolute assurance that God will heal you, if doing so will bring glory to Himself and further your eternal welfare. And if He doesn't make you well, He will give you His wonderful grace and use the affliction for good.

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Leader Or Overlord?

What is the difference between a true leader and an oppressive overlord? We see examples of both types all over the world – in government, in business, even in homes and churches.
There seem to be two sides to the issue:
1) All of us need to be accountable. We need people who are mentors, supervisors or elders to tell us when our ideas are out of whack, when our behavior is unacceptable or when we are less than wise in our approach. If we are the president, we need a board to reign us in. If we are the pastor, we need a supervisor. If we are a husband or wife, we need older, wiser heads.
2) On the other hand, we definitely do not need people who are operating as control freaks in the name of God, who are authoritarian overlords. God's grace does not operate that way. If leaders do, then they are nothing but tinpot dictators. How do we deal with such individuals? It depends on the relationship. If they are a relative, perhaps we must bear with them and pray for change. If we work for them or are pastored by them, we may choose to discuss it with them, and if the same behaviors continue we can move on down the road. A fine line -- for God's grace is not the norm in our world, even within what we loosely call Christendom. By the way, manipulative legalism can operate the other way -- someone “under authority” announcing that God has told them to do such-and-such, a comment which is viewed as the ultimate safeguard against any negative comments regarding their subjectively-decided-upon course of action. This is manipulation and control as well.

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How Fervent Evangelism?

It has been said that we Christians must all minister to non-believers as fervently as possible because every year, 90 million people on the planet die who have never met Christ and as a result are added to the large population burning in hell. In order to slow this down, we have to save as many people as possible. While I believe Christians should minister the Gospel of Christ through their words and most importantly, their examples, I am not sure if there is biblical support for this fervency claim. What biblical passages address this issue?
There are "proof texts" that support the idea that if we do not reach people before they die that they are sunk, for all eternity. But there is nothing in the Bible that gives Christians the sole responsibility for the salvation of others -- thank God! This kind of evangelism relies on fear as a club -- but fear is not the reason God sent His son into this world, according to the Bible. Can you imagine the weight we would all carry if the eternal salvation of everyone on this planet were in our hands -- all those in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, North Korea, China, etc. etc.? God graciously allows us to help Him, but we should not get the idea, and we certainly should not tell others, that it is all up to us! God reserves some of these issues to Himself -- He does not reveal all of how He has, is and will save.

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What About This "God Hardens the Heart" Business?

Exodus 9:12 states "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses." This seems to imply that God forced Pharaoh's free will to make him do something wrong. There are other examples. On the road to Damascus Saul became blind. To see again he had to obey God. Not much of a choice really it seems. If God does interfere with free will then why wouldn't He alter the mind of murderers or child molesters and blind them, so to speak, until they saw the truth?
So, what does it mean that God hardened Pharoah’s heart? The moral of this story seems to be that God hardens the hearts of those who harden themselves. Put another way -- which comes first -- the chicken or the egg? If you study Exodus 4-14 you will find the term "hardened the heart" (or a similar phrase) used some 18 times. There are times when the Scripture says that God hardened Pharoah's heart, and there are times when we read that Pharoah hardened his own heart. Sometimes the event is recorded passively, as in the Pharoah's heart was hardened -- who initiated the hardening of Pharoah's heart is left out in such cases.
What happened here -- and how do we understand it? About 1,500 years after it happened, Paul tried to work through it (Romans 9:14-18) and he was far closer to that time chronologically and culturally than we are. God is, of course, the first cause -- the Creator. All that comes after derives from Him. So, since He created Pharoah, it can easily be said that He hardened Pharoah's heart, for after all, had God not created humans, no human would ever harden his or her heart. God may have hardened Pharoah's heart simply because Pharoah was human. Or God may have added to Pharoah's hard-hearted, stubborn will by directly combatting him with plagues, which caused Pharoah to be even more resistant. Hebrew culture and worldview accepted such a perspective more than our 21st century Western culture, which glorifies human decision, choice and independence, and does not see our choices are inter-related to God, not as both/and, but as either/or.
As an illustration, consider parents and teens. Sometimes the best way for a parent to get a teen to do something is not to make a big deal of it. -- or even to suggest doing the opposite. The recording industry has known, for over 50 years, that one of the fastest ways to endear teens to a “star” is to revolt their parents. Teens like what turns off and revolts their parents. So, who is doing the hardening of the heart in such cases?

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Why Pray?

When you pray, are you always thinking that God knows the situation better than you do and cares even more than you do about your friend’s fading health, your child's faltering faith, or the bickering in your own church congregation -- so why are you praying?
Do you have a hard time believing that He will work harder or more intensely to do all he can for them because you have remembered to pray about it? Can you really change His mind and make Him care more or somehow "enable" Him to do what He couldn't until someone prayed? Will it “work” better, faster or more powerfully if you get lots and lots of people to pray for something?
Does God NEED your prayers before He is free to work? Wouldn't that put an unrealistic responsibility on every Christian?

The key is that we do not pray in order to change or influence God, but so that God can change and influence us.
But you might say, "When I tell myself that prayer is more for me, for my own spiritual growth and faith, then I'm right back to wondering what I should be really praying for. If it's all about strengthening the faith of those who pray, where does intercessory prayer come in?"
Knowing how much God risked to give us free will, is it realistic that He will march in and convince a loved one to abandon a dangerous lifestyle, or even send angels to protect someone from suffering the consequences of bad choices?
A friend said to me, "In the Bible we are told to pray and I believe that somehow it is important that we do so. And so I continue to pray. But sometimes when I pray in a group for someone's healing, I feel doubtful. I'm not too confident that it's making any difference to anyone. And when I stand saying good bye to loved ones and we pray that God will watch over them and keep them safe I wonder if the trip will be any different than if we forgot to pray."
I told him that I remain convinced that the true benefit of prayer is for us to present ourselves before God as His children and to, with bowed head and bended knee, admit our subservience and dependence on Him.
Prayer is not a time for us to try to manipulate God. God always answers our prayer with "Yes" or "No" or "Later".
God is not going to "work harder" because we pray harder, anymore than He is going to love us more when we do good things. He loves us now as much as He ever will. He wants us to do good things, but His love is not related to our doing. Isn't that great?!
God's benevolence, His love and His mercy does not await our prayers. That should take a burden off our shoulders. God is going to go right on doing the right thing at the right time, whether we pray or not. That doesn't mean that we will always agree that what God does is the right thing, or that He does it at the right time. That doesn't mean that we should not pray, any more that being saved means that we then determine to live an immoral life.
We pray because God loves us, and because it is our way of being with Him. God doesn't need anything we have or anything we can ever do. God is going to do the right thing, with our prayers or without them.
Of course we pray for a couple with marriage problems to be reconciled. But often they don't. Of course we pray for the end of war and hatred. But war and hatred continues. Of course we pray for someone who is terminally ill -- but we logically realize that there is a one for one co-relation between human life and death -- sooner or later every human will die.
Are there times then when we should pray that God allows a terminally ill, suffering person to die? I have and do, for I don't believe that death is the end, but the beginning.
One of the answers is that we pray for God's will to be done -- for we acknowledge His perfection, holiness and sovereignty -- our heavenly Father truly does know best. We may in all sincerity pray for a particular outcome or conclusion, but at all times we must acknowledge that we don't know what is best.
Again, why pray? Why celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas, after all, He was already born, and Christmas will happen with us or without us? Why celebrate His resurrection, after all, He already was resurrected, and our part in giving thanks won't change anything? Why do we attend a ball game of our favorite team? Perhaps because we want to be there -- because it's our team -- because we are loyal -- we are committed -- because win or lose we will be there for them.
Why pray? Doesn't God know best? Yes, He does -- and He still longs to hear from us. In His infinite wisdom He loves to hear us chatter, He loves to hear us argue, He loves to hear us protest, He loves to hear us beseech Him on behalf of someone else -- He loves all of that because somehow, in all of that, Jesus is living in us, creating something new, something of God rather than of the flesh.
In prayer we are presenting ourselves before God, class is in session, and we are there to be with Him, to soak Him up, to learn from Him, to be seated before Him, to enjoy Him.
We go to concerts to hear our favorite music, even though we own a CD of exactly the same music. We want to hear it performed live. We want to be there.
Why pray? Why be involved? Why be a part of God's family? Why not disengage and drift away? Why?
Whether you pray for 30 seconds or 2 minutes or 15 minutes, whether you say everything you need to, whether you couch it in just the right way, whether you feel you have presented a convincing argument or not -- at the end of the day that's not what prayer is all about. May we all continue to pray without ceasing!

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Quid Pro Quo

“All the world religions can be placed in one of two camps: legalism or grace. Humankind does it or God does it. Salvation as a wage based on deeds alone – or salvation as a gift based on Christ’s death.”
- "He still Moves Stones", Max Lucado

The name on the front of my church is “Grace Church”. Other churches also incorporate the word “grace” in their name. But what IS grace? How is it opposed to legalism?
The standard definition of “grace” heard most is that grace is the unmerited favor of God toward man. But let’s get deeper into this concept.
Have you ever heard the Latin phrase Quid Pro Quo? This phrase means “something for something – something received or given in return for something else.” We humans learn quickly that we must work for what we get in our world. We earn wages for services we render. Quid pro quo. We earn approval and acceptance by deeds we perform. Quid pro quo. People like and love us if we help them, serve them, and make them feel or look good. Quid pro quo.
Grace is the opposite of quid pro quo. Grace is in the nature, essence, character of God. He gives and loves, without guarantee or prior evidence of any return on His investment. Not only does God not reward us for what we deserve, He gives us what we can never deserve. God returns good for evil, because when all is said and done, the best we humans can ever accomplish is tainted by sin. The product of our lives is at best flawed and imperfect. But God is grace – He does not respond to us “in kind” – He does not respond on a quid pro quo basis – something given in return for something else.
Do you understand? I don’t – not completely. On this issue, and many other spiritual realities, because we are physical, mortal, limited human beings we can only “see but a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12). While we may not comprehend grace completely during our earthly sojourn on this side of eternity, because of Jesus we may apprehend it by accepting and receiving it.
The very fact that grace is so unlike the way we humans operate and deal with each other – the very fact that grace seems “too good to be true” – is the primary reason why humans often do not accept this wonderful gift God offers to us all. We simply cannot believe it, for no one has ever related to us on that basis before so why, we reason, should God?
You may have noticed that there was one piece of furniture “missing” in the tabernacle and temple. No chair. No place to sit down. The lesson is obvious. The work of the priests of Israel was never done. The priests never had enough time to offer enough sacrifices to make the nation of Israel righteous. And if somehow they would have been able to find enough time, there were not enough animals to sacrifice to atone for the sins of Israel.
Likewise there is not enough time in the days of our lives to do enough good or perform enough righteous deeds, rituals or sacrifices so that we can earn our own right standing before God.
But Christ came as our High Priest and what did He do? He finished all the work of salvation. He completed all the work that needed to be done. And then what happened? “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6)
Note the verb tense – we are now seated with Christ. The Bible says nothing about your seat being reserved for you pending your good works. For those who accept Jesus Christ, no reservation needed and no waiting.
In the name of Christ, performance-based religion gives preference to who and what you know, how much you have and what you have accomplished. But Jesus offers everyone a seat in the most exclusive place in the universe, in the heavenly realms, based upon God’s grace. We are seated because of who He is, not because of who we are. The seat that Jesus offers you is freedom from the oppression of trying to work your way into God’s good graces and never being good enough. We have to admit that we are powerless to perform enough good deeds to get ourselves into God’s good graces. It is humbling to accept God’s grace – because we would rather try to “do it” ourselves.
Performance-based religion keeps us busy doing, performing, and accomplishing religious duties and obligations. Legalism expects us to work harder and do more, so that all the right things are said and done. We become trapped in an endless cycle of activity.
Authentic Christians are, of course, servants. If Jesus lives His life in us we will serve others, offering our time, talents, and treasures as spiritual acts of worship (Romans 12:1). But religious legalism can counterfeit Christ-centered service, sabotaging what Jesus does in and through us, convincing us that the things we do are obligating God to reward us. The key to this whole concept of grace versus liberalism is MOTIVATION. Is our motive in doing good works, in going to church, in helping others, to win God’s favor in our lives? Or is our motive for doing good derived from the thankfulness that God has given us salvation that we could not earn and didn’t deserve?
Do you really want what you deserve? You have probably heard about the eye for an eye principle of justice. An eye for an eye was a fundamental basis of retributive justice under the legalism of the Old Covenant. But the New Covenant eliminates religion as a “middle-man” between God and us. The message is that Jesus changes everything. The New Covenant is all about Him – it is all about God’s grace.
Consider the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). It’s a story about God’s grace and how we react to it. The owner/employer is the central figure in this drama, in control of the harvest from the beginning of the parable to the end. He is probably trying to harvest all of his grapes in one day. Farm workers who worked for him all year long went to the vineyard early in the morning while the owner went to the marketplace to look for day workers. We can see such places today in most North American cities. Potential employers drive up, discuss a job and a price, and often a number of workers will hop in the vehicle to go to the job site.
The owner of the vineyard wants to harvest all of the grapes in one day, and the initial groups of day laborers he hires are not sufficient to get the job done in the time available. The owner makes several trips back to the marketplace to hire more help. Finally, he makes one last trip. It is an hour before dark. Again, he hires more workers.
After the end of the day, it is pay time. Now we come to the moral of the story, and why all of this background is provided. Jesus is now going to help us understand more about God and His amazing grace, as well as provide some insight into human responses to God’s grace.
Lo and behold, all workers get the same generally accepted pay for a day’s work – one denarius. The owner, in stipulating that the last hired be paid first, must have wanted those who worked longest and hardest to see what he would pay the others. Had he done things differently, those who worked through the heat of the day would have taken their pay and gone home. But the owner wanted them to not only experience his grace, but to observe his grace at work in the lives of others.
The all day workers were upset because of what they perceived as a lack of equity and fairness. Our world, our culture, and our economy work on the principle of barter – I work for you and you pay me a fair wage. Quid pro quo. The harder I work, the longer I work, the more I believe I should earn. But effort, merit, and ability are not factored into grace.
God is not good to us because we have been good to Him. God is good to us because He is good. His goodness does not depend on us. On the other hand, God’s grace does not reject us and require retributive justice for our sins.
Retributive justice requires a direct connection between the crime and the punishment. The crime and the pain inflicted must be returned to the one who is deemed to have initially caused it. The closer and more exacting the punishment fits the crime, the more sense of closure humans tend to have. We believe that retributive justice is fair because the punishment fits the crime.
There are many on-going feuds, battles, and wars in our world that are nothing more than an attempt to ensure that justice is done via the eye for an eye principle. A literal and strict application of this principle often amounts to nothing more than escalating violence, as each party attempts to vindicate itself and its cause as it responds to strikes and counterstrikes.
Consider the conflict in the Middle East between Jews and Arabs. Israelis say, “You can’t make peace with the Arabs.” Palestinians say, “You can’t make peace with the Jews.” They are locked in a vicious cycle of violence. Both sides seek revenge – the eye for an eye desire to see the other side suffer because of the pain and misery they have directly or indirectly caused over the centuries. Both sides are keeping score with the grim justice of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth driving action and reaction.
An eye for an eye can encourage us to focus on the inadequacies and shortcomings of others. It’s much like the arguments that little children have when parents intervene in their fighting and quarreling. “He started it” is the normal human justification and reaction.
Jesus comes into our world of recrimination and revenge proclaiming grace that will end human squabbles and fighting. He tells us that it doesn’t matter who started the fight or battle. He tells us that any idea of ensuring that the bad guys get what is coming to them is based in our worldly kingdoms, not in the kingdom of heaven. Basically all humans are born “bad guys” and deserve retributive justice. And we can’t “earn” our way out of what is coming to us. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). What we deserve, what we earn – our paycheck – is death. That’s the only logical end to our lives because we have all sinned and find ourselves unable to pay the debt of our sin by our own efforts. A lifetime of reparation by good works, by perfect church attendance, by formal prayer three or more times a day, by feeding the poor or evangelizing the lost – or by any other beneficial, moral, and ethical action – will not erase our sin and earn us a ticket into God’s kingdom.
Humanly, we would attempt to do it ourselves rather than accept God’s grace. And religious legalism capitalizes on our pride. It seduces us by promising us that we can earn our own way into God’s good graces. Performance-based religion is a harsh and stern slave driver. Religious externalism leads tens of millions into the swamp of despair and frustration where they are doomed to a lifetime of endless toil trying to please and appease the gods of religion. Isn’t it ironic that legalism threatens humans with hell if they don’t measure up and perform, but in reality the hell it threatens is the hell it produces in the lives of its slaves?
Apart from Christ we cannot be freed. I know, for I have been to religious hell and by God’s grace returned to tell you about it.
I know many “good” and sincere people, many of them dear friends, who are deceived by the premise that what they are doing is making God happy. They absolutely believe that what they do has some impact upon their salvation, and that in the end God will reward them for the unique and sometimes bizarre things they do and believe.
These people believe that in the end God will be obligated to reward them because they have earned it, fair and square. We find it hard to accept the outstretched hand of our Savior. It’s difficult to accept God’s grace – especially if grace has been trampled on by the particular name brand of legalism that has bewitched and brainwashed us. It is excruciating to face the truth that we cannot deserve anything other than death for all of our works.
Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that our paycheck for everything that we do, good and bad, is death. But in the same breath, in the same verse, he tells us that the good news is that eternal life is free of charge.
Thank God that He has made a way to spare us a life and an eternity of fairness. We do not get what we deserve in this life, no matter how hard we try to ensure that we do. Not getting what we deserve means that there are times when we suffer loss and receive injustice. But the rest of the story is that God offers us His grace. God’s grace is something else that we do not deserve.
IF WE ACCEPT GOD’S GRACE, THE TIMES IN OUR PHYSICAL LIVES WHEN WE DO NOT RECEIVE WHAT WE CONSIDER TO BE JUSTICE PALE BY COMPARISION WHEN WE REALIZE THAT GOD FORGIVES US OF THE MANY THINGS WE DO DESERVE.
NOT GETTING WHAT WE DESERVE IS, IN THE END, FAR BETTER THAN RECEIVING EVERYTHING WE DO DESERVE.

THAT’S GRACE!

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Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.
"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them..So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all".
This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this...They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

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What About the "Sabbath"?

Many Christians wonder just how this "keeping the Sabbath" business works.
I believe this web article is the best explanation I have seen.
Go to: Link

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Hamburger Meat

The other day I was eating my quarter-pounder at a local McDonald's restaurant. I don't often think about the animal that I am eating but this day I couldn't stop thinking about where this hamburger meat came from. With each bite my mind proceeded from the cow's birth as a calf through maturity and then off to the slaughter-house. The hamburger tasted pretty good but not as good as it has at times when I wasn't thinking about where it came from.
I had said a quick thank-you to God before I started to eat, and in return God began to give me a comparison between a Christian and a calf.
When we first receive the revelation that we are born again into a living union with Jesus Christ, we are like a calf born to its mother, cared for by its mother, and shipped out to pasture. We prance and dance in the sweet, lush meadows of magnificent grace with little thought as to our function and purpose beyond the euphoria of freedom.
One day it dawns on us that we were bred to become hamburger meat!
Just as it is true that we were chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world to become actual children in the family of God with all the blessings thereof, it is equally true that we were chosen in Christ for good works, also planned from the beginning (Eph. 2:10).
There will come a day when the cavorting in the meadow will be interrupted by the sound of the roundup to market – to become food for the multitudes. There will come a time when we realize that only in dying to our own comfort, pleasure and self-interest, will there be sustenance for the hungry and hurting around us. It has been said that the greatest day in our Christian lives is when we realize we must die so that others may live. In fact, we have already died with Christ on the Cross to our old nature of selfishness (Gal. 2:20).
We celebrate the Easter and Pentecost season with its recalling of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. But our gaze at the Cross should be directed not just to see Jesus, but us there too, in Him, dying, dead – then buried and risen to newness of life.
When we get hold of a new truth, we are apt to embrace it at the expense of other equally vital issues. That is what we do with grace versus works. We seem capable of only tuning into one or the other, while ignoring where the two come together in the plan of God. The freedom of grace is wonderful. The calf is overjoyed with the wonderful lifestyle of the pasture. The calf did nothing to earn the rights of the pasture. Everything was given freely to him by grace.
But the rancher-owner has deep plans for the calf's use to him. There are works to be done in the use of the calf to provide food for the multitudes. The good life in the pasture is tempered and balanced by the providing to others - hamburger meat.
The longer I walk in Christ, the more I long for balance in my life. While I revel in the provision of His life as mine, chewing on my cud in restful rumination, I am never free from the powerful pull of the energy within that wants to express that life in service to others. We know that it is God who works in us, willing us to fulfill His plans (Phil. 2:13), but the hands, the feet, the MEAT are mine.
Our role is to be active in and co-operative with the intentions of God.
Much of the ambivalence, and sometimes resistance, of believers to accept that there is work to be done comes from living in fear of adding the leaven of self-effort to the great bowl of fragrant and satisfying ingredients of grace. Some of us may have spent a lifetime of mistakenly doing things to maintain our relationship with God and the soothing invitation to come home to grace is blissful.
But the bliss is short-lived (the pasture does not last forever), for we live in a permanent tension on this earth. The primary example of tension has to be the struggle between good and evil, and we live in a material place that, no matter how great our revelation of the ultimate Truth, we still see through a glass darkly. The writings of Paul, the revelator of our in-Christ position, are replete with exhortations to works. In truth, we cannot receive the gift of grace without also getting the mandate of works.
But why must we die to self and become "hamburger meat" to others? What does this mean in our everyday life as directed by Christ within? The work we refer to here is not the everyday employment and survival tasks we all have. Our work as God's children on earth is the injunction to be His hands and feet – co-workers with God – to make known His limitless love to all. Expressions of this will take a multitude of forms – from a Mother Teresa missionary life to serving at a soup kitchen.
Jesus was quick to meet the basic physical needs of the people as demonstrated in the feeding of the hungry hearers on the Judean hillsides or in the preparing breakfast on the beach for His headstrong, hurting disciples. His good works flowed out of His union with the Father – naturally, without any self-concern.
As we come to grips with the marriage of grace and works – as we let go of the fear of falling into legalism – we see that not only are they compatible, but they are INSEPARABLE. We will lose our squeamishness of the words do and work, and intentionally look for the path of good works that He has laid down for us from the foundation of the earth.
The dictates of our hearts cannot be denied forever. The love of God from within us in Christ must break through and find a way to bless others.
But again, why hamburger meat?? Why must we die so that others may live? It is the nature of the One within us. Jesus said, "He that finds his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 10:39).
The world needed the life of Jesus Christ to die and become food for the multitude. This is the essence of redemption. Christ became "hamburger meat" to nourish the whole world spiritually. He died to Self for the benefit of others (John 3:16).
Now we too are His Body in the present world to nourish those in need. In a way, Christ is still hamburger meat to the world through us.
Whether we are frisky young calves or settled, mature members of the herd, our ultimate purpose of the owner-rancher is to be HAMBURGER MEAT. We can be quarter-pounders to a starving world around us by losing and using our flesh to benefit others. And we will TASTE GOOD TO THEM!

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Three Approaches To the How Of Salvation

How do we receive salvation from God? By what process is salvation accomplished? People have asked this question for millennia.
My studies have convinced me that there have been basically three approaches to the way God deals with people concerning salvation.
1. God wants all people to be saved. But not all people will be saved because God gave free will to humanity and each person must choose to follow Christ by his own free will and many do not make this choice.
This approach has generally through the centuries been called “Arminianism”. It is probably the majority opinion within Christianity.
2. God does not purpose that all people be saved. But rather, God predestines that some people be saved and others will not be saved. Humanity does not really have a free will and cannot themselves choose whether to be saved or lost.
This approach has generally been called “Calvinism” since the Protestant Revolution. It is held by a minority within Christianity.
3. God desires that all people be saved. And since He is the all-powerful, sovereign Creator, His desire will be accomplished. All humanity will be saved – somehow, whether in this life on earth or in a future spiritual existence.
This approach has generally been called “Universalism”. It also is held by a minority within Christianity.

Arminianism

Everyone likes to believe that they have a free will and can choose how to live their own lives. This probably accounts for why the majority of Christians hold this belief. In the Bible, we see choices being made every day by its characters, so Arminianism says that there must be a free will in humanity.
But, carried to its ultimate conclusion, it would seem that this puts man’s will over God’s will because “God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). God wants salvation for all, but man can thwart God’s purpose by his free will.
Also, did Christ die for all as the Bible repeatedly states, or only for those who choose by free will to follow Him?
What about God “hardening the hearts” of individuals like Pharoah of Egypt so that they cannot accept anything about God? Is this “free will”?
Arminianism can be confusing!

Calvinism

Calvinism has a five point doctrinal approach which is called “TULIP”.
T = Total Depravity: Man is dead in sin, completely and radically impacted by the Fall, the enemy of God, incapable of saving himself. This does not mean that man is as evil as he could be or that his will is done away with. Instead, it refers to the all pervasiveness of the effects of sin, and the fact that man is, outside of Christ, the enemy of God.
U = Unconditional Election: God elects a specific people unto Himself without reference to anything they do. This means the basis of God’s choice of the elect is solely within Himself – His grace, His mercy, His will. It is not man’s actions, works, or even foreseen faith, that “draws” God’s choice. God’s election is unconditional and final.
L = Limited Atonement: It is God’s purpose to save a special people for Himself, and He has chosen to do so only through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ gave His life “a ransom for many” so as to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The intention of Christ on the Cross was to save His people specifically. Therefore Christ’s sacrifice is perfect and complete, for it actually accomplishes perfect redemption.
I = Irresistible Grace: When God chooses to bring one of His elect to spiritual life, it is an act similar to when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead: just as Lazarus was incapable of resisting the power of Christ in raising him from the dead, so too the dead sinner is incapable of resisting the power of God that raises him to spiritual life. This is not to say that men have not resisted God’s grace. This doctrine speaks specifically to the grace that brings new birth and regeneration, not to individual acts of sin committed by believers or unbelievers.
P = Perseverance of the Saints: Some prefer saying “preservation of the saints” to emphasize that this is the work of God. Others use the phrase “eternal security” to emphasize the impossibility of God’s perfect work of salvation being undone. Whatever one calls it, Christ will not fail to keep a saved person throughout his life and bring them safely into His presence. Christ is able to save perfectly.
What do the ramifications of “tulip” mean? Certainly God as the Master Potter has the power and control to create some people to be saved in spite of the actions of their human life, and some people to be lost in spite of the actions of their human life. But why would He? Is this concept fair?
Calvinism can be confusing!

Universalism

What about the approach that everyone, every person, will ultimately be saved? Will the Pharoah of the Exodus, Jack the Ripper, Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussein all be somehow saved? Is this justice or fairness?
Does saying that “God will have all men to be saved” automatically mean that all men will be saved? It certainly does not appear that all men are saved in this human existence. Then when are they saved? And under what circumstances and trials in some afterlife do they come to accept Christ as Savior and Lord? If they have a free will, what type of persuasion by God is needed for their regeneration and new birth?
Universalism can be confusing!

I have not ironed out my own theology on these confusing issues. But you know what? IT DOESN’T MATTER AS FAR AS MY PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY IS CONCERNED!
I still am growing in the “greatest commandment”: love of God and love of my neighbor.
Since I know with all of my being that I have had a new birth in Christ, I love God for it whether He “elected” me personally and not someone else, or whether He persuaded me to make a free will choice for Christ. How I got to where I am in Christ does not matter compared to the reality that I AM THERE!
I am growing in love of my neighbor. A neighbor in need is a neighbor indeed. We need to exercise the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. These are attributes of Christ within us which we can draw on in our weakness.
You might say, “What good is evangelism of unbelievers if they are either destined to be lost no matter what they do, or destined to be saved no matter what they do, or destined to all be saved some time in the future by some unknown process?”
The answer is the Bible still calls for evangelism. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 cannot be clearer: we are to spread the gospel of Christ to unbelievers in every way possible. God apparently wants to use us in His salvation process whether through “election” or through “free will choice”. It doesn’t matter as far as practical evangelism.
What about prayer? If God’s sovereignty overrules man’s free will, is prayer really practical? If man’s free will overrules God’s sovereignty, then again is prayer really practical?
The answer is that the Bible admonishes us throughout that prayer is probably the most practical thing a Christian can do! Prayer is not to get God into our will, but rather to get us into God’s will. The only way we get to know our Creator, Savior and Lord is by communication in prayer.
If God has things all planned out ahead no matter what we do, He still says, “PRAY!”
If God allows human free will to enter in to His plans, He still says, “PRAY!”
Let’s let the practical love of Christ rule our lives and let the brainy theologians argue over Arminianism, Calvinism and Universalism. I suspect that there will be no finality in argument until we get to heaven and get it straight from God’s mouth.

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30 Days of Thanksgiving

In November, we often turn our thoughts to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving however, is not just a date on the calendar, it is a condition of the heart.
Why is it that we often have to search our minds to come up with something to say when asked what we are grateful for? We have so much to be grateful for!
I have written some references down that evoke gratefulness in my heart. I want to share some of the references with you. Below you will find one verse for each day in November. My hope and prayer is that they will inspire your heart to a deeper level of appreciation of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Notice how many times the words "through Christ" or "in Christ" appear in the verses below. You might want to take out your Bible and start marking those words "through Christ" and "in Christ". What a treasure God has given us in Jesus Christ.
Nov 1 - THANK YOU FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST Romans 3:22: "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. . ."
Nov 2 - THANK YOU THAT I AM JUSTIFIED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST Romans 3:24: "and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Nov 3 - THANK YOU FOR PEACE WITH GOD Romans 5:1: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..."
Nov 4 - THANK YOU THAT I HAVE RECEIVED RECONCILIATION Romans 5:11: "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Nov 5 - THANK YOU FOR NEW LIFE Romans 6:4: "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Nov 6 – THANK YOU THAT I AM DEAD TO SIN AND ALIVE TO GOD Romans 6:11: " In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Nov 7 - THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Nov 8 – THANK YOU THAT I AM NOT CONDEMNED Romans 8:1: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,"
Nov 9 – THANK YOU THAT I AM FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH Romans 8:2: "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."
Nov 10 - THANK YOU THAT I AM LOVED Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present no the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Nov 11 – THANK YOU THAT YOU LIVE RIGHT WITHIN ME Gal. 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me..."
Nov. 12 - THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMPANY Matt 28:20: "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of age."
Nov 13 – THANK YOU THAT I AM A NEW CREATION II Cor. 5:16:"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Nov 14 – THANK YOU THAT I AM FORGIVEN, THERFORE I AM ABLE TO FORGIVE Eph 4:32: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Nov 15 – THANK YOU FOR GRACE I Cor. 1:4: "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus"
Nov 16 – THANK YOU FOR MINISTRY II Cor 5:18-19: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation."
Nov 17 – THANK YOU FOR THE HOLY CALLING PLACED ON MY LIFE II Tim:8-9: "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."
Nov 18 – THANK YOU FOR RAISING ME UP TO SIT IN HEAVENLY REALMS Eph. 2:6: "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus."
Nov 19 – THANK YOU FOR MEETING ALL MY NEEDS Phil. 4:19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Nov 20 – THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY Eph. 1:11-12: "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory."
Nov 21 – THANK YOU FOR BLESSING ME Eph. 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
Nov 22 – THANK YOU FOR ADOPTING ME Eph 1:4-5: "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight., In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will."
Nov 23 – THANK YOU FOR THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS II Tim. 4:8: "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.
Nov 24 – THANK YOU FOR CREATING ME TO DO GOOD WORKS Eph. 2:10: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Nov 25 – THANK YOU THAT I MAY APPROACH THE FATHER WITH FREEDOM AND CONFIDENCE Eph. 3:12: "In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
Nov 26 – THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME COMPLETE Col. 2:9-10: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."
Nov 27 – THANK YOU FOR THE KNOWLEDGE THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD Rom. 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."
Nov 28 – THANK YOU FOR MY CITIZENSHIP IN HEAVEN Phil. 3:20: "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."
Nov 29 – THANK YOU FOR YOUR STRENGTH THAT I MAY DO ALL THINGS IN YOUR NAME Phil. 4:13: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
Nov 30 – THANK YOU JESUS I Thess 5:16-18: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

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