The Truth about Christ...

"Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ - the Son of the Father - will continue to be with us who live IN TRUTH and LOVE" (2 John 3). 

As I stated in yesterday's blog post, God's love is manifested IN Jesus Christ, who IS "the truth" that John mentions 11 times in the epistles of 2 and 3 John. Whatever you read and come across today, remember "the truth about Christ" (2 John 10).

God is love...as seen in Jesus Christ

As I get caught up this morning on our readings in 1-3 John I was struck again by the often quoted passage in 1 John 4:8, "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (NLT, emphasis mine). If we heard it once, we have probably heard it a thousand times...God is love. And in our world today, we NEED to hear this a thousand times.

But I was also struck by a passage in the chapter before, 1 John 3:23-24 says, "And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us" (NLT, emphasis mine).

In our culture today, we so often hear "God is love" and often this phrase is said with a New Age, Pluralistic, "all roads lead to God" sort of tone and meaning. God, the amorphous how-ever-we-want-to-define-him-sort-of-God is the God often referenced when it is said "God is love."

Along with that phrase "God is love" we so often hear "let's just all get along and love each other." Again, it is a nebulous sort of statement that ranks up there with "peace, love, recycle." It's become a buzz phrase and rightly so as, again, it's a phrase we need to be reminded of a thousand times in our broken and fallen world.

But what I found interesting about this passage in 1 John 3:23 is that it is grounded in the fact, and belief, that this "God" came in a flesh and blood form in Jesus Christ!  "And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us." We are to believe, and confess our belief, in Jesus Christ who "is the visible image of the invisible God" as Colossians 1:15 states.

The statement "God is love" is rooted in this visible, skin and bone representation of Jesus Christ who demonstrated, through his death on the cross, what it truly means "to love one another."

This Advent Season as we celebrate and look forward to the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, God with skin and bones, may we remember that the buzz phrases of "God is love" and "love one another" are grounded and based on this Emmanuel who was born to a Virgin in the backwater town of Bethlehem.

God's grace and peace to you!

Encouragement from a friend

The proverbial joke is that Pastor's only work one day of the week...ha, ha, ha! I assure you that is a total lie.

Like many jobs that many people have, being a pastor is the type of position that you never get away from because there are always things going on. You are always thinking about: situations at church, conversations that were had, meetings that are up and coming and a genuine concern for those in your congregation. This past week has been challenging to say the least and my emotions have been all over the place. Because I am NOT seeking a pity party, NOR am I seeking pats-on-the-back, but rather to give thanks, I will leave it at that.

So this morning as part of my Sabbath I'm catching up on my Daily Walk Bible reading and was reading through 2 Thessalonians. The following verses were a huge blessing and encouragement to me:

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, ¹⁷ comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say (2 Thess. 2:16-17, NLT)

and also 

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all (2 Thess. 3:16), NLT).

About 10 minutes later, after praying about these verses and how they related to current church happenings, the UPS truck drives up and drops off an odd-shaped styrofoam package on our front steps. Because it is 68 degrees right now (woo hoo!!) I had the storm door open and the screen door still on and so I went out and found a package from Omaha Steaks. On the address label was this kind note...

"Thank you for your friendship. You feed me so now I can feed you! A blessed Christmas to you" and the note was signed by a friend who is a member at our church. 

As I was writing a thank you note to this person my eyes welled up with tears because this person's thoughtful gift was that needed "comfort, strength, and peace" that I read about earlier in 2 Thessalonians.

No matter what your vocational calling is we all have our challenges to deal with and we all need to know we are appreciated for the job that we are trying to do. Who can you thank today at your workplace, or church, or at home for the job they are trying to do? Who in your life needs to be encouraged? Who in your life needs a note of appreciation for how they have blessed your life? I know I am EXTREMELY grateful for what I received today and will be sure to pass that along to this friend. How about you?

"May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all" (2 Thess. 3:18).

I'm a Wicked Person (and I don't mean in the Bostonian sort of way)

 

When we lived north of Boston for 6 years we constantly heard people use the word "wicked" and often times it was followed with "good" ... the Boston Red Sox are "wicked good," that Lobstah is "wicked good," Dunkin Donuts coffee is "wicked good," etc, etc. You get the picture. For whatever reason the adjective "wicked" was used in a good way and not in the usual way that we think of like, for example, "the Wicked Witch of the West" from The Wizard of Oz.

 

But for my post today I'm talking about wicked in the sense that we normally think of... bad, evil, sinful, wicked. And as much as some people want to avoid this topic, the Doctrine of Sin is real and we see in scripture that we are wicked people.

The classic verse comes from Paul in Romans, who is quoting various Psalms, when he says "no one is righteous-not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one" (3:10-12, NLT). In short, we are wicked!

This came to mind today as I was doing our Daily Walk Bible reading in Romans, specifically in chapters 6-11. We know that because we have been united with Christ in his death on the cross "we are no longer slaves to sin" (Rom. 6:6). Yet the reality for me, and most normal Christians, is that we continue to fight sin in our lives. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in a recent sermon that I heard on Ref Net, compared our fight with sin with the battles that were happening in Canada between France and England in the 17th century. He talked about how the war was eventually declared over but small skirmishes were still happening because they hadn't yet heard the news that the war was over.

Isn't this true in our lives? Christ has won the war over sin yet we haven't fully grasped this news and so the battle wages on in our hearts, lives and world. As a matter of fact, Paul goes on to describe this battle in Romans 7:15 and following. He says, "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate." He goes on to say in vs. 18 and following, "I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway" (NLT). 

How true this is for me!! For example, I'm wicked when it comes to having conversations to myself about a person that has angered me, offended me, etc. I think up all kinds of things I would like to say to them but never do (thankfully). Ultimately, "I want to do what is right" (which is not be angry and love my neighbor) but the reality is "I do what I hate" (thinking up heinous, one-liner comments that would thrash that person into a million pieces).

Paul says, "but there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am!" (Romans. 7:23-24) Thankfully, we know the war has been one because Jesus Christ dealt a death blow to sin on the cross! Thus, we can say with Paul, "who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:25, NLT).

But the reality is we still live in a broken, fallen and wicked world and so we still need to fight the sin in our world and the sin in our hearts and with that in mind I recommend this little 6 minute clip from John Piper about making war on our sin.  

In the end, we celebrate Christ's victory and we remember that "there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1, NLT).

Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Post-test Lego Therapy

This is the "before" picture as we begin our new project, The Winter Village Cottage. With my wife's school schedule, and her test's this week, we decided to start our Christmas Lego project early.

Isn't it Ironic?

 

As I was doing our Daily Walk Bible reading today in John 18-21 I was reminded of the amazingly-catchy, though atrociously-annoying, song by Canadian-American singer Alanis Morissette called "Ironic." In the song Morissette sings about various things in life that are supposedly ironic. For example, the irony of "10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife" or "rain on a wedding day" or "a free ride when you've already paid." The reality is most of the examples in her song are not ironic, nevertheless the song still pops in my head when I hear or read about something that seems "ironic."

For example, John opens chapter 18 by setting the stage for Jesus's arrest and I found it ironic that it happened in "a grove of olive trees" (18:1). As you know, olives and the olive branch are international symbols of peace. So why does this horde of Roman soldiers and Temple guards "with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons" arrive "at the olive grove" to arrest Jesus? After all, Paul says in Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." To me, it seems Jesus is the shining example of peace and yet how ironic it is that these soldiers and guards would come to arrest him in an olive grove!

This is the man, after all, who told his disciples, "I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give" (John 14:27, NLT).

Later, in one of his last teachings, he said to his disciples  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV).

And after he was resurrected he said to the disciples two times, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19, 21) and then eight days later to doubting Thomas he made the same comment "Peace be with you" (John 20:26).

My question for us today is this, do we come to Jesus like the Roman soldiers and Temple guards with war and hatred in our hearts? Do we come in the dark, afraid we will be found out and exposed? Do we come with our own agendas and plans, wanting to arrest him to our desires and whims?

Or

Do we come to Him with humble hearts and open minds? Do we come ready to receive, and eagerly desiring, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding" (Phil. 4:7)? Or do we come seeking "the God of peace" (Phil. 4:9) who is only found through his Son Jesus Christ?

Authority and Amazement

I have to say that I have been blessed to take part in the Daily Walk Bible reading this year! These readings have provided new insights into the majesty, glory and character of God.

Recently, while reading the Gospel of Mark, my eyes were opened to the sovereign authority that Jesus displayed over: Creation, sickness and disease, demons, over people and especially in his calling of the disciples, in his teaching and over sin. But I was also moved by how many people were “amazed” with Christ. They were amazed with: his teachings, with his power to heal, and with his power over Creation. Mark 7:37 says, “They were completely amazed and said again and again, ‘everything he does is wonderful’” (NLT). Clearly, Jesus’ authority precedes the people’s amazement.

Continuing this idea, Michael Card calls the Gospel of Luke “the Gospel of Amazement.” Card says in his commentary, “Luke exhausts the language of amazement…there are five Greek words that can be translated “amazed” and only Luke uses every one of them” (Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, p. 22). Card goes on to ask the rhetorical question, “why am I not amazed?” This is a great question for us to ponder!

As I was reading this morning I was shocked to see that this time it wasn’t the people, the disciples or those who were healed that were amazed. But, rather, it was Jesus himself! In Luke 7 a Roman Centurion had heard of Jesus’ amazing authority and how the people had been amazed at this authority and so he realized that Jesus was the only hope for his slave, who was dear to him, to be healed. But instead of asking Jesus to come and pray for him and anoint him with oil or heal him through the laying on of hands he simply says “just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed” (7:7, NLT). Wow! What faith!! “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!’” (Luke 7:9)

NT scholar Darrell Bock commented that the combination of the Centurion’s “humility, dependent request, and trusting awareness of God’s power is the essence of faith” (Luke 1:1-9:50, 644). Do I have this type of faith? Do you?

Will Jesus find faith in my life, in my family, or in our church when he returns (Luke 18:8)? I hope so! For if we are building our house on the rock (Lk. 6:46-49) then we will have "concrete faith" like this Centurion (Bock, 630)!