Living Like we Judge Jesus

Often we can be guilty of living like we judge Jesus. We are too concerned with who we associate with. We are too concerned with righteousness to follow the will of God.

The reality it is how we live and why we live the way we live. We need to have more concern with reaching out into the world.

We often overthink living out our faith. We are called to live a life of love.

If we have all things, but lack love we have nothing. Love is an active power. We cannot live out love if we do not interact with others seeking their good.

True Christian love is difficult. We will find that at times we may be judged for being too willing to associate with the wrong crowd.

Jesus too was accused of associating with the wrong crowd. We often cannot please everyone in life.

We must always seek to live out our faith before God and realize that often others will not understand. If we are well respected by all people we have probably failed to fully live out our faith.

Keeping Focus on the Cross

We need to keep our focus on the cross. Jesus entered the world and many followers believed he was bringing about a political kingdom.

But Jesus had far greater plans. Jesus planned to bring about an future eternal kingdom in the age to come for all who would come in faith.

If Jesus has been willing to settle the days problems with a political kingdom it would have been a tragedy. The tragedy today in the church is that the church has become increasingly willing to settle for a political kingdom instead of proclaiming a future eternal kingdom.

And because the world rejects Jesus the present day political kingdom is crumbling. The church is far to easily pleased.

The church should not be pleased perusing a political kingdom, but rather an ethereal kingdom. If the cross is not proclaimed Jesus is not glorified.

All political agendas no matter how noble are a stumbling block if they get in the way of the gospel being proclaimed by the church. The church cannot in any faithfulness to God move into the political realm by neglecting the gospel.

Only Christ Stands (poem)

Often we feel strong
Often we feel faithful
Only by Faith we are strong
Only through Faith we are faithful
Only Christ matters
And our relation to Him
In Christ we are strong
Following Christ we are faithful
All other paths
Will fail
Only Christ stands
And we stand
In Christ

The Fulfillment of the Old Testament

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The promises and ritual of the Old Testament point toward Jesus' life and work.

God's covenant and promises with Israel were fulfilled in the final form when his only son Jesus took on human flesh. The Old Testament points toward the final victory of Jesus.

The continuity between the Old and New Testament is that the Old Testament finds its ultimate significance in the person and work of Jesus. Often the discontinuity of the testaments is exaggerated.

In reality the Old Testament is in complete continuity with the New. It is unclear how easily much of the prophecy in the Old Testament would have been understood.

Liberal scholars often attempt to make a case that since the prophecy in the Old Testament might have at times been misunderstood by its readers the prophecy could not be about Jesus. It is of course a fallacious argument of the worst type. The misunderstanding of a text does not make the misunderstanding the valid reading of a text.

The Old Testament points to Jesus. The final covenant between God and mankind commenced when God sent his only son Jesus to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf.

Why Christianity

At times we will see praises of Christians living out their faith even though it does not make sense. They are praised for what they are trying to do against reason.

It is certain that persevering in hardship is extremely praise worthy.  But what is odd is how many Christians see following Christ in extremely difficult times as irrational.

You see we fail to miss the point that having Jesus as our Lord is worth more than the whole world.  If we have the whole world but lack Jesus we have nothing is the repeated message of the bible.

But why is our relationship with Jesus so important.  The point of course is that we have either an eternity of fellowship with the living God or we don't.

An eternity with God or an eternity separate from God is at stake.  The treasure of the Christian is God himself.

Persevering through extreme difficulty is certainly praise worthy, but it is not irrational.  What is irrational is for us to see persevering in faith at any point as irrational.

We need to grow and begin to see as Paul did that nothing is in a sense worth knowing other than Christ and Christ crucified.  It is not to put down intellectual learning about the world, but rather to say that without the knowledge of Christ all other learning falls flat.  And with the knowledge of Christ all leaning takes on its true meaning.

The world is good and all in it.  But all things need to be understood in their relation to their creator God and his work in the world.

Respect in Worship

When we enter into the presence of God we should have a sense of reverence. It is easy to feel that our relationship with God should be carefree or have no need for reverence because of the close familial relationship which we are brought up in.

There are many churches who seem to accept the reverence needed before God and reject the close familial relationship or visa verse. The reality is that both are needed and should be accepted.

God asks us to come into a close familial relationship with himself. However the relationship is one where we need reverence and respect.

Often it is the case in scripture that ideas are found together which are not found in the world. This does not make the bible wrong but rather that God's ways are not our ways.

Fallen humanity often loses a sense of what is possible in life and goes into extremes. Life is either like this or like that.

An example is the idea of having a good life or obeying God as if obeying God is an obstacle to a good life rather than a path to a good life. Respect in worship goes hand in hand with the familial relationship we are invited into through the life and work of Jesus.

The Church in Disbelief

The church is failing in the current day because it disbelieves Jesus. The liberal church believes Jesus' command to care for the poor and seek justice, but disbelieves Jesus' warning that the only way to the Father is through faith in himself. The Conservative church believes in the cross, but by and large in practice rejects Jesus' teaching on the poor and social justice.

The church in the current day finds the teachings of Jesus to be too radical or too inconvenient. We want Jesus in our way and often that is why we find that Jesus is no where near in the church.

The church struggles because it wants an easy religion. And this watered down religion offers little to the world. It is an inconvenient religion which fully grasps the teachings of Jesus on the need for salvation, care for the poor, and concern for justice for all that is a religion that will attract followers.

The early church did not grow so quickly because faith was convenient, but because faith was radically beautiful. Convenience is not the friend of true religion but the enemy.

Realistic Ministry

Often ministry has unrealistic expectations. Ministers expect that they can transform their congregations at speeds far past what is possible.

In many congregations the church begins to stagnate because the leadership has unrealistic beliefs about sanctification and spiritual growth. Instead of having a church full of sick people needing transformation there is now a church full of sick people who either hide their sickness or are unaware of their sickness.

The problem with unrealistic expectations by ministers is that people quickly feel judged. And they pull back from bringing up any issue in the church or their lives. The unrealistic expectations often have a highly negative impact on spiritual growth.

In ministry a balance is needed between expecting people will grow and also realizing the depth of the problems in the human condition. Jesus demanded growth but always met the truly authentic sinner with grace and compassion.

That should be the spirit of ministry. To not be surprised by the depth of sin in the world but to meet it with compassion and understanding and desire to transform us into the image of Jesus.

A Great Need: Faith

A great need of everyone is to feel accepted and loved by God, and to have a sense of love for God and his beauty.

When people start saying that the only way to be accepted and loved by God is to follow a set of rules, this has terrible affects. Being accepted into God's family is not about what we do, but what Jesus Christ has done for us.

We are compelled to do good works out of deep gratitude for Christ's work in our lives, and Christ still works in our lives through the Holy Spirit. He gives us faith. He continues the good work in us.

Fear often causes trouble. For instance, a person hears the gospel but may become afraid that they didn't hear it right, that there's something that needs to be done, and just to be careful, pushes themself hard to do certain things. And it continues. Rules upon rules are added. But we are asked to rely in faith only in Christ.

The Bible says that God's word and way are the truth. We make things way more complicated than they really are when we are "just to be careful" following certain rules or steps, things which honestly don't need to be followed. Understanding the truth is letting go of those and having faith that it really is that simple. It requires one thing: faith.

New Year, New Beginnings

The calendar flipping to a new year feels like a new start for many people. Setting goals with the hope that this year will be better is common.

As we think of new starts and new beginnings in the new year, let's remind ourselves of the new beginning offered to us through Christ. Jesus paid the overwhelming debt of sins—past, present, and future—for those who come to him in faith. There's freedom from no longer having the great burden that has separated us from God.

For those in Christ, this means a new family. God is our Father! The best father. A king and purely good.

It's also a new way of life. There's joy and new motivation, with the help of the Holy Spirit and in response to such amazing grace, to help people in need and to love our neighbor.

A new reason to just chill too. We have peace knowing God is in control.

Hope

A great benefit and blessing for the Christian is hope. It ties in with joy. We have joy in part because we have hope that God's promises are real and will be fulfilled. Hope is believing in what we can't see (Romans 8:24). Hope is a confident expectation.

In everyday speech the word "hope" often takes on a different meaning than the meaning of Christian hope. Many times the word "hope" is used in, "I hope you have a good day." In cases like these "hope" means "wish." Wishes aren't things we know for certain, and that's a major difference between wishes and Christian hope. Words often mean different things in different settings.

When I was a child, I loved hearing the story over and over again of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). He was waiting for the Messiah. "It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Each day he was growing older, but he waited in expectation. And he saw Jesus. What he hoped for happened. The Messiah was born.

What a great story. And one that we all can relate to. We have hope that we will see Jesus. We will someday see face to face what we now see in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

We also have hope that he is there interceding for us at the right hand of God, and that he has sent his spirit to be with us every moment.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:5).

Expectations

One of the greatest discouragements in living out our faith can be unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations about how Christianity will radically change our lives and how far we will get in sanctification.

Often the reality is that spiritually new Christians quickly find just how bad their life is. It is easy to judge our living as good or okay when we compare ourselves to the world.

Once we see the reality of the world as God sees it life is radically different. I often find Christians who seem to have no sense of sin troubling.

They may be truly sincere believers who fail to understand scripture. But without a sense of personal sin they truly lack a grasp of scripture.

It can be a failure of many churches to push those who seem spiritually "perfect" into leadership. Of course those people only seem perfect because when you speak with them they are oblivious to all the areas in which they sin and need to grow.

We all fail and all are in need of grace and growth. The awareness of sin and desire to improve is a gift from God. We cannot grow if we do not accept that we are in need of grace and that we have much need of growth.

God asks more of us than we can ever do. But he provides salvation not based on our limited efforts but freely based on the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to all who believe.

Christlikeness

Often people like to talk about being or becoming more like Christ but underestimate the difficulty. Christ is perfect and we are imperfect people.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, and the good news is that the Holy Spirit helps every Christian in this. Through the Holy Spirit, God offers us help, even when we feel weak.

"It is the Spirit of God that enables us to grow and begin to keep his commandments. Each day we grow a bit by faith," Danny writes in "The Relationship of Justification and Works."

"Two of the Holy Spirit's chief delights are to show us the glory of Christ and to change us into the image of Christ," says John Stott in Life in Christ. "Sanctification is the process by which we are being transformed into the image of Christ by the Spirit of Christ."

In the book, Stott offers this example:

William Temple helped people in his day to grasp the Christian way of holiness by drawing an analogy between Shakespeare and Jesus, and declaring the impossibility of copying either. How could we ever write plays like Shakespeare's? How could we ever live a life like Christ's? It is impossible. The very suggestion is ludicrous. Ah, but if the genius of Shakespeare were able to enter us, then we could write plays like him, and if the Spirit of Jesus were able to enter us, then we could live a life like him. The good news is that although we cannot have the genius of Shakespeare we can have the Spirit of Jesus! The Christian way of holiness is not that we struggle to live like Jesus but that he by his Spirit comes to live in us.

Some verses on the Spirit's work in becoming Christlike are 2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:5-9, and Galatians 5:22-23.

For more on this topic:

• "Christian love is supernatural in origin. It flows from our union with Christ in his death and the Holy Spirit working in our hearts," Danny writes in "Christian Living is Based on the Gospel."
• "When we dig into the word, God can cause incredible things to happen if he dwells in our heart," Danny says in "Christianity Is About a Relationship."
• "When a man accepts Jesus and begins to be transformed by sanctification through the work of the Holy Spirit he becomes who he was always meant to be," Danny writes in "Becoming Somone." "When we follow God in faith our lives are enriched."

Nothing New Under the Sun

Our culture today realizes that each age brings its own set of presuppositions and has its own errors. One irony of our age of course is how we see ourselves as so uniquely different from other times.

The reality is there is nothing new under the sun as scripture teaches. Relativism is not new and contextual thinking is not new. We are only different from other ages by our degree of struggle with certain issues.

We are worse on some issues than other ages and better on others. The human condition is constant. All men are born in sin and born into cultures which promote errors.

Ultimately history repeats itself because the most essential element of man. His fallen nature and estrangement and enmity with God is always unchanged.

The expression of depravity in each age shifts a bit this way or that but it is always the same. The age we are in today is never as unique as we think.

Technology and many societal structures have changed, but each man is born with the same dark heart. The central question that each man should desire to answer in each age is how to solve his enmity to God.

The answer in every age is faith in Jesus. Before Jesus' incarnation on earth it was a looking forward and trusting in the promises of God in the future. The trust was in the promise of God that he would send a Messiah. Now we look back to the Messiah.

Many people scoff that the faith is the same. The expected Messiah and the Messiah who came seem somewhat different from what much of Israel was expecting. Of course the reality is that it is the faith which is credited as righteousness.

We always see through a glass dimly. Scripture states this plainly and the fogginess with which those of faith at times see is no argument against the nature of faith.

The Holidays and an Honesty to Ourselves

The holidays are coming. It is important to be honest with ourselves at these times.

The expectations of the world are unrealistic. The holidays will not be perfect. The gifts will not be perfect, and our relationships will not be perfect.

The world is fallen after all and under the curse of sin. The nature of the world is such that life is not perfect and we can only look forward to the perfect life in heaven with God to come.

If life was as the commercials wish to tell us then the bible would not be true. If money could buy an eternal happiness then scripture would be a lie.

Sometimes money can buy a temporal happiness, but it is not absolute. The human condition is always deeper and family and money cannot fill the void.

Only God as revealed through Jesus can satisfy the void. The new car, new baby, new electronics will only be a temporary fix.

We medicate ourselves with short fix after shore fix. We deal with the surface scratch while ignoring the core.

The core we need is the Jesus we find who loved himself and gave himself for us so that we can be in relation with him forever.

Law Fulfilled in Christ

The ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ. The whole sacrificial system and system of ritual purity was made obsolete as Jesus perfectly kept the entirety of the law and gave himself up for us.

Jesus' perfect life, death, and resurrection marked the end of the need for the keeping of the sacrificial and ritual law. In fact the New Testament goes further saying that it is a sin to suggest others need to keep the ritual law as part of a walk of faith. It is a stumbling block which minimizes the absolute nature of Jesus' victory over death.

In Jesus we are a new creation awaiting the eternal joy of fellowship with God in heaven. We should not doubt our salvation as if our sin can keep us from God. Our righteousness is Jesus who is in heaven seated at the right hand of God.

Our works flow from faith through the world of the Spirit of God in us. Our works are acts which naturally flow from our salvation, not part of our salvation.

We can trust in Jesus' saving blood and then move to works. Focusing on works without a focus on grace is foolish. Because works flow from grace, it is our union with Christ which produces works.

Often it is easy to look at our life and try to think how we can be better followers of God. There is some truth to the approach, but often it is better simply to look to God and be transformed by his nature and grace.

Good works naturally flow from a transformed heart. Often the approach of looking at our life and thinking how we can live better has little effect because it does not change the fundamental issues in our heart. If we look to God and his nature and love, this changes us and often has more affect than simply looking at our life and asking how we might live better.

The Kingdom of God

An Old Paper Of Mine.

Summery of Johannes Weiss': Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

Johannes’ piece centers around what sort of life is necessary to enter the kingdom of God.  Johannes notes that the Kingdom of God purely a gift from God, however we people must make, “extreme external sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel… must be regarded as a matter of necessity and principle" (112). It seems that the gift from God is that salvation is freely offered to all and the human part is to grasp hold of the gift though the new ethic.  The new ethic is self sacrifice based on the gospel.

Johannes’ writes that, “The only thing man can do is about it is to perform the conditions required by God” (132).  As he says this he clearly anticipates his views being labeled at “Pharisaic.”  He distinguishes himself from the Pharisees, however, by saying that he does not support people seeking a reward.  Instead Johannes suggests people should seek detachment and only then can they enjoy the kingdom of God.  ((His reply seems not really to deal with the objection, since both ways are still earning ways into reward.))

Johannes cashes out the gospel in an interesting way.  The gospel that Jesus preaches is no different in quality than the gospel John the Baptist preaches.  Both preach a gospel of self sacrificial lifestyle by which men may find entrance into heaven.  The only difference is that Jesus has a “messianic self consciousness” which allows him to realize that by Jesus’ obedience he will be elevated to the messianic position of kingship.  Christ, by his obedience, earns his eschatological kingship and becomes closer in equality (although very not equal) to the Father.  Christ clearly transitions form a fully human figure to a semi-divine figure by his obedience, according to Johannes’.

The cross according to Johannes comes late into the consciousness of Jesus.  Early on Jesus believes that he will usher in the eschatological kingdom of God.  However, he later realizes that he too must die to help (only help in part) the eschatological kingdom come about.  Johannes suggests that we too today must work to help bring about the eschatological kingdom.

Johannes’ then moves on to counter a common day assumption of his day.  The Kingdom of God is not in fact the center of the gospel.  The center of the gospel is our relationship as children to God.  We are hoping to “serve God the Father with surrender of the whole heart, and to become free from the world” (134).  By surrendering everything we gain is most precious that is, relationship with God.  Our relationship to God as children is the center of the gospel not the kingdom of God.

Once we have become children of God then we will be too gain “freedom from the world” and thus be capable of “love one’s enemy”, and “the sacrifice of one’s life” (134).  We differ today from early Christianity in that we do not share the eschatological view of the immense of the Kingdom of God that they shared.  That was in fact the center of the early church’s thought.  However, what we share with primitive Christianity is the view of Son-ship that we gain with God the father though sacrifice.  This Son-ship is the reason we take on the ethical demands of God.

Growth and Admitting Flaws

Often in the Christian life our spiritual growth is hindered because we won't admit flaws. We cannot grow in areas if we refuse to admit we need to grow in areas.

The message of the bible is that man is under the curse of sin. The biblical ethic is so high that an honest understanding of its requirements tells us that we constantly fail.

God has grace on us and counts feeble attempts as a keeping of the law through the purifying blood of Jesus. Grace covers all our transgressions. We should not seek to sin because we have grace. If we are truly saved by grace the grace of God that saves us will naturally make us desire to do good works.

Grace which saves comes from our union with Jesus through faith in his death. The same union with Jesus that comes through faith also begins to change us degree by degree to be like Jesus.

It is faith in the cross which saves us and it is also faith in the cross which is the power which pushes us to grow in grace. Often it is easy to think that salvation and sanctification are caused by two different causes. We are saved and now need to figure out how to live.

Of course there is a need to figure out what Christian life entails, but the element behind both is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The link between justification and sanctification is that both events are tied together and driven by the same element faith in the work of Jesus.

Post: Our Way

We Never Get Past Faith

The Christian life begins with faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Often we think now we have mastered the basics of the faith now we will move into the deeper substance.

But you see we are very forgetful and the basics of the Christian faith are everything. We do not start the Christian life by faith and continue by works. We start by faith and must continue by faith at every moment.

There is never a time when a Christian can move past the basics. We are weak. But when we are weak in Christ we are strong. If we feel we are strong we deceive ourselves and are weak.

You see all strength is found in God alone. In our weakness we can rest in grace. We were saved by grace and live each moment by grace.

If we do not see this we are blind to the depth of the law. The law is so deep and our weakness of heart so strong we are blind if we do not realize that we need grace each day.

Infinite grace flows from God. It is grace and focusing on the goodness of God by which we grow in sanctification. That is why often teaching on law and how to live well has no impact.

You see we usually know right and wrong very well and it does us little good. It is by looking to God in love that we are changed to be who we were always meant to be.

The Sincerest Form of Worship

The sincerest form of worship is to wish to be like Jesus. We can sing praises to God and attend many events of the right sort and do all sorts of things, but these all fall short of the highest form of worship. They are critical to worship, but not the highest form.

The highest form of worship is to desire to be like Jesus. You see he commands that we love others as he has loved us. To desire to imitate and be like Jesus is the highest form of worship.

Often we think that worship is singing or maybe the entire service on a Sunday morning. The reality is that worship should be all of life. Whatever we do we should do to God.

There is not an inch of the earth over which God does not claim sovereign reign. Each moment we should live to God.

We will of course fail. The bible has no rosy-eyed view of human nature. The bible everywhere presupposes that Christians fail and need to repent. Most of the biblical hero's failed at one point or another in various ways.

You see the bible is realistic. God comes to save mankind and he knows exactly how bad the condition of man is. God is under no false delusions of what he is getting himself into in saving and then slowly sanctifying men.

Much of the church expects progress of a degree which is nearly impossible. Usually they find the progress by failing to understand the degree of the law.

By anticipating great holiness in life past what is reasonable they do not create real holiness but rather re-define holiness into something far less radical than it is.

We are saved by grace and each moment live by grace past, present, and future.