Q: I made the decision to follow Jesus this week, but what do I do when I go home? No one in my family is a Christian and I have no Christian friends. I don’t know how to even live for God. How can I live and grow as a Christian?
A: Wow. That’s tough. First of all, let me tell you that you are not alone. Jesus will follow you home, even though I can’t. “I [Jesus] am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) I can and will, however, pray for you and give you some tools to help.
So where do you start now in following Christ? If you’ve read the answer to “How can I be a Christian?” and “How can I know I’m really saved?”, you’ve read that your life will change when you trust Jesus for Salvation.
So how does it change? How do we know what to change? “Be imitators of God as dear children.” (Ephesians 5:1) According to this, we are to act like God and live as He would. How can we know what God is like and how to live like Him? By reading the Bible and obeying what we read! In learning to live for God, we can look to Jesus who is our ultimate example. He was God in the flesh and lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father. Hebrews 4:15 says “He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knows what it’s like to live on earth and be tempted to sin. He knows what it’s like to feel alone in following God. He’s gone through every pain and rejection and betrayal we go through, so He can perfectly sympathize with our weaknesses. Turn to Him for the strength, desire, and knowledge to live for Him!
Just like a baby needs milk to grow, Christians need the Bible. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.” (2 Peter 2:1) When we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and show us how we can please God with our lives. He will teach us how to put our music, movies, TV, friends, etc. under God’s control. A great way to study the Bible is by reading a chapter or two every day and writing down one thing God teaches you through what you read and how you can live that out.
Another important step to growing as a Christian is by talking to God in prayer. “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) God listens and answers when we pray to Him! You don’t have to worry about having the right words when you pray to God. Just talk to Him as you would a friend. He wants to hear from you!
A third final step for growth is finding a good church and making good Christian friends. “And let us not forsake meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage each other...” (Hebrews 10:24-25) God knew we would need encouragement to keep living for Him, so He created the church. Church is a place where we can learn more about God as we hear His Word taught; make Christian friends who will encourage us to live for Him; serve God; praise and worship God; and pray for others and be prayed for ourselves. I know it will not always be possible to get to a church if your parents won’t take you, but try to find someone who will.
Is this how we are saved? By reading our Bible and trying to obey it, praying, and going to church? No! It’s only by trusting Jesus. “For by grace [God’s kindness] you have been saved through faith [trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin], and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God [we don’t save ourselves; He has already done all the work necessary for Salvation]-not of works lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) But then look what happens AFTER you trust Jesus- “For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works…” (Ephesians 2:10)
Once we trust Jesus for Salvation, we begin to walk like him. Have you ever seen a baby learn to walk? This last year, I got the chance to nanny for a baby who learned to walk. When he took his first step, I didn’t scream and cheer, then tell him to stop trying to walk and go back to crawling. I encouraged him to keep trying to walk! He needed to be encouraged to keep learning how to walk, not how to go back to crawling. That’s what I encourage you to do!
So many people will try to tell you that the Christian walk or life is just one step-trusting Jesus for Salvation. They’ll try to tell you that you just need to pray a prayer and then you keep living your life however you were living before. But just like a baby learning to walk doesn’t just take one step and then go back to crawling, we have to keep taking steps to become more and more like Jesus. And just like a baby, we’ll fall sometimes, but should we stay down? No! Like a baby, we have to get back up! We can’t be perfect! That’s why we need Jesus to be perfect for us. But once we’ve trusted Jesus for Salvation, He gives us the strength to become more holy like Him.
How does He do this? Through the power of the Holy Spirit! When we trust Jesus for Salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. I John 4:13 says, "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." The Holy Spirit gives us the power and desire to obey God. He's the one who does the work in us, making us more like Jesus. When we realize just how great His love is for us and how it drove Him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us, loving Him becomes easier. Loving Him in action looks like loving the people He made, and loving the people He made looks like obeying His commands. But it all starts with what God does for us. We don't love God and others and obey Him to become a Christian and get to heaven; we love Him because He has saved us already. We are saved by trusting that Jesus' death on the cross was enough to get us to heaven, THEN we are driven to love God and live to please Him.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Questions Campers Ask Part 2- How do I get to heaven?
Q: I believe in God and prayed a prayer asking Jesus to come into my heart. Isn’t that how I get to heaven? How do I become a Christian? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
A: There are many ways people think they can get to heaven, but just like only one key on your key ring can get you into your house, the Bible describes only one way to get to heaven. Let’s look at a couple ways people think they can go to heaven and the problems with them, then at what the Bible says is the only way to heaven.
Way#1- “Well, I believe God is real.”
Problem#1- Even Satan and demons (Satan’s followers who work evil in the world) believe in God and fear Him. “You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble!” (James 2:19) So if you’re trusting your belief in God to get you to heaven, sorry, that isn’t going to work!
Way#2- “I try to live a good life the way I’m sure Jesus did.”
Problem#2- That’s great that you try to live right, but even if you sin just one time, you are a sinner! “For whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point, he is guilty of breaking all of them.” (James 2:10) None of us is completely perfect. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned. That’s a huge problem, because the Bible says that God’s eyes are so holy, he cannot even look on sin. (Habakkuk 1:13) That means no one who sins can ever be allowed into heaven.
Way#3- “God is good! He will overlook my wrong things when he sees how many good things I’ve done. I really am a pretty good person!”
Problem#3- If a judge let a murderer go free because he was normally a pretty good person and was involved in all sorts of community service projects and loved his wife and kids and treated people with respect most of the time, would the judge really be a good judge? Absolutely not! In the same way, God cannot and will not overlook our wrong because of the good we have done. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)
Way#4- “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I tell God so every night. Can’t he let me off the hook?”
Problem#4- Imagine if that same murderer stood before the judge and said he was sorry. Would the judge let him go? No! Justice has to be served! There must be punishment for wrongdoing. Maybe you’ve never murdered someone, but the Bible says hatred is as bad as murder. Lying, stealing, and dishonoring your parents is also just as bad. We all sin, and God’s goodness demands that justice must be done. Punishment must be given. What is the punishment that God’s law demands? “The soul that sins, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4) “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
So what now? Is there no way to heaven? Must we all die and be separated from life with God for eternity? What does the Bible say IS the only way to heaven?
The only true way- “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6) God’s justice and goodness demand that punishment must be given. I deserve death. You deserve death. The only way to avoid that would be if someone perfect could die, taking our punishment. He’d have to be perfect, because if he wasn’t, he would only be dying to pay for his own sins. Enter Jesus. He lived the perfect life we should’ve lived, then died, taking the punishment we deserved. That would be like if the judge was about to give that murderer the death penalty, but another innocent man stepped in and offered to die in his place. That’s crazy! But Jesus did that for us.
So then, does this mean we’re all going to heaven and we don’t have to worry about any of this after all? No! When we are born, we are born sinners, on our way to hell. Imagine a long line. At one end is heaven and at the other is hell. We are born walking straight towards hell. Unless we change directions, we will die and wake up in an eternity separated from God.
Let me repeat that to make sure you got it: Unless you have turned from living for yourself in sinful rebellion against God to becoming a follower of Jesus, you will die and wake up separated from God forever.
So is Salvation something we do, then? No! Please don’t misunderstand. Salvation is all about what Jesus has already done for us. He lovingly laid down his life for us so He could offer us the FREE gift of eternal life. “For by grace [God’s kindness] you have been saved through faith [trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin], and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God [we don’t save ourselves; He has already done all the work necessary for Salvation]-not of works lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation is free, but we must accept the gift, and when we do, everything changes. We are no longer our own. We have a new master: God.
Listen to how David Platt explains this: “To be a follower of Christ means to come to an awareness of your sinful rebellion against God, and to see in Jesus the only substitute for your sins, and by His grace to turn from you rebellion against God and trust in him as the Lord and sovereign king over your life. And when that happens, then what Jesus says determines how you live. If you are a follower of Christ, living indifferent to the words of Christ is not an option. Some of you were told to pray a prayer and then you could live your life however you wanted and that’s what it means to be a Christian. If you came to Christ under that illusion, then biblically, you are not a Christian. You have not come to Christ at all. This is not what it means to be a follower of Christ. It is not possible to be a follower of Christ and be indifferent to what he says, because to be a follower of Christ, what he says determines how you live.”
Acknowledging Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life is not something to be entered lightly. Following Jesus is tough! “Jesus said to the crowds following Him, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Jesus told the crowds to count the cost BEFORE coming to him, because following him includes way more than praying a prayer and showing up at church on Sundays. True Christians obey the commands in Scripture which call us to live radical lives, pouring ourselves out to serve the poor and hurting and reaching out to the entire world with the amazing news of the gospel regardless of how difficult, uncomfortable, or dangerous that may be.
This naturally leads to a couple more questions: How can I know if I’m truly a Christian? and How can I live and grow as a Christian?
A: There are many ways people think they can get to heaven, but just like only one key on your key ring can get you into your house, the Bible describes only one way to get to heaven. Let’s look at a couple ways people think they can go to heaven and the problems with them, then at what the Bible says is the only way to heaven.
Way#1- “Well, I believe God is real.”
Problem#1- Even Satan and demons (Satan’s followers who work evil in the world) believe in God and fear Him. “You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble!” (James 2:19) So if you’re trusting your belief in God to get you to heaven, sorry, that isn’t going to work!
Way#2- “I try to live a good life the way I’m sure Jesus did.”
Problem#2- That’s great that you try to live right, but even if you sin just one time, you are a sinner! “For whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point, he is guilty of breaking all of them.” (James 2:10) None of us is completely perfect. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned. That’s a huge problem, because the Bible says that God’s eyes are so holy, he cannot even look on sin. (Habakkuk 1:13) That means no one who sins can ever be allowed into heaven.
Way#3- “God is good! He will overlook my wrong things when he sees how many good things I’ve done. I really am a pretty good person!”
Problem#3- If a judge let a murderer go free because he was normally a pretty good person and was involved in all sorts of community service projects and loved his wife and kids and treated people with respect most of the time, would the judge really be a good judge? Absolutely not! In the same way, God cannot and will not overlook our wrong because of the good we have done. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)
Way#4- “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I tell God so every night. Can’t he let me off the hook?”
Problem#4- Imagine if that same murderer stood before the judge and said he was sorry. Would the judge let him go? No! Justice has to be served! There must be punishment for wrongdoing. Maybe you’ve never murdered someone, but the Bible says hatred is as bad as murder. Lying, stealing, and dishonoring your parents is also just as bad. We all sin, and God’s goodness demands that justice must be done. Punishment must be given. What is the punishment that God’s law demands? “The soul that sins, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4) “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
So what now? Is there no way to heaven? Must we all die and be separated from life with God for eternity? What does the Bible say IS the only way to heaven?
The only true way- “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6) God’s justice and goodness demand that punishment must be given. I deserve death. You deserve death. The only way to avoid that would be if someone perfect could die, taking our punishment. He’d have to be perfect, because if he wasn’t, he would only be dying to pay for his own sins. Enter Jesus. He lived the perfect life we should’ve lived, then died, taking the punishment we deserved. That would be like if the judge was about to give that murderer the death penalty, but another innocent man stepped in and offered to die in his place. That’s crazy! But Jesus did that for us.
So then, does this mean we’re all going to heaven and we don’t have to worry about any of this after all? No! When we are born, we are born sinners, on our way to hell. Imagine a long line. At one end is heaven and at the other is hell. We are born walking straight towards hell. Unless we change directions, we will die and wake up in an eternity separated from God.
Let me repeat that to make sure you got it: Unless you have turned from living for yourself in sinful rebellion against God to becoming a follower of Jesus, you will die and wake up separated from God forever.
So is Salvation something we do, then? No! Please don’t misunderstand. Salvation is all about what Jesus has already done for us. He lovingly laid down his life for us so He could offer us the FREE gift of eternal life. “For by grace [God’s kindness] you have been saved through faith [trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin], and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God [we don’t save ourselves; He has already done all the work necessary for Salvation]-not of works lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation is free, but we must accept the gift, and when we do, everything changes. We are no longer our own. We have a new master: God.
Listen to how David Platt explains this: “To be a follower of Christ means to come to an awareness of your sinful rebellion against God, and to see in Jesus the only substitute for your sins, and by His grace to turn from you rebellion against God and trust in him as the Lord and sovereign king over your life. And when that happens, then what Jesus says determines how you live. If you are a follower of Christ, living indifferent to the words of Christ is not an option. Some of you were told to pray a prayer and then you could live your life however you wanted and that’s what it means to be a Christian. If you came to Christ under that illusion, then biblically, you are not a Christian. You have not come to Christ at all. This is not what it means to be a follower of Christ. It is not possible to be a follower of Christ and be indifferent to what he says, because to be a follower of Christ, what he says determines how you live.”
Acknowledging Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life is not something to be entered lightly. Following Jesus is tough! “Jesus said to the crowds following Him, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Jesus told the crowds to count the cost BEFORE coming to him, because following him includes way more than praying a prayer and showing up at church on Sundays. True Christians obey the commands in Scripture which call us to live radical lives, pouring ourselves out to serve the poor and hurting and reaching out to the entire world with the amazing news of the gospel regardless of how difficult, uncomfortable, or dangerous that may be.
This naturally leads to a couple more questions: How can I know if I’m truly a Christian? and How can I live and grow as a Christian?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Questions Campers Ask
I’ve been thinking for a while about doing a series a blog posts on the good questions campers asked me this last summer and the great answers the Bible supplies, and I think I’m going to do it. No one (but me and the random people who get the ‘privilege’ of being told about my latest post that I think might actually pertain to them or who have the “luck” of clicking through the link I post on facebook) faithfully read this blog, so I think the real reason I need to do this is to keep myself accountable to keep writing and working on these questions.
I applied to counsel again this summer, and I have this crazy idea to make these into a booklet of questions and answers for reference, or to give campers. I want to somehow set it up so that, depending on your question, you jump in on a certain page. I want it to all run together and build on each other, but also have it separated by questions so you can read as little as you want. I still have to figure out the logical order for these questions. I think I want to end each question with options. Like, “the next questions this leads to are ________ and _________. Turn here to read _______ and here to read _____________. But each question would need at least one other question leading to it, and they’d still have to be in a logical order for those reading straight through. So yeah. I dunno. We shall see how it works out!
So for question number 1 (for now!):
Q: Once I’m a born again Christian, if I sin, will I still be a Christian, or should I pray to become a Christian again?
A: Once I’m born a human being, if I bark, will I become a dog and no longer a human being? No! That’s extremely silly!
If we look at what the Bible says about this question, we’ll find the same. I’ll type a few passages and a short explanation in brackets within the passage: “And I [Jesus] give them [believers] eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. [They are my followers whom I have given eternal life, and no one can take that from them.] My Father [God] who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. [God will keep true believers’ Salvation safe and secure because he is more powerful than anyone.]” (John 10:28-29)
“All that the Father [God] gives Me [Jesus] will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out. [Every person who God wants to trust Jesus, will obtain Salvation. Jesus will not send away anyone who wants to trust Him for Salvation.] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all he has given me, [true believers] I should lose nothing, [none of them will be lost from trusting Jesus for Salvation] but should raise it up at the last day [I will raise them up to spend eternity with Me]. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise Him up at the last day. [This is why Jesus was on earth: to show himself to the world so they could trust in Him so he could raise them up at the end of the world, and give them eternal life.]” (John 6:37-40)
Bottom line: if you are truly trusting Jesus for Salvation and you sin, your Salvation is not permanently lost. Your joy and fellowship with Jesus will be lost for the moment until you repent, but you do not lose the gift of eternal life which Jesus has promised to you.
The Bible does, however, speak of those who fall away from the faith. These people never were truly Christians, but only pretended to be. Check out these verses: “They [fake Christians] went out from us [left the church of true believers; no longer claimed to be Christians], but they were not of us [they never really were Christians]; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us [if they had really ever been followers of Jesus, they would not/could not have left]; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. [God let them leave to show us they were not truly followers of Him]” I John 2:19 “But he who endures to the end will be saved [True Christians will endure to the end-death].” (Matthew 10:22)
If you are truly trusting Jesus for Salvation, don’t worry! God isn’t just gonna snap one day and say, “That’s it! She messed up one more time. No eternal life with Me for her. I’m cutting off her Salvation!” You don’t have to keep living in fear and praying every night for God to save you, or walking forward every year at camp to “accept Jesus” once again.
However, maybe you still need to be asking whether or not you’re truly a Christian, especially if you don’t see a change in your life from the time you “became a Christian” until now. The Bible NEVER describes becoming a follower of Jesus (a Christian) as praying a prayer, then living however you want because you can’t lose your Salvation. If you’re not a true Christian, you have a totally different problem to deal with.
This leads to two questions: How can I know if I’m truly a Christian? I believe in God and prayed a prayer asking Jesus comes into my heart. Isn’t that how I get and to heaven? How do I become a Christian? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
(Stay tuned for more!)
I applied to counsel again this summer, and I have this crazy idea to make these into a booklet of questions and answers for reference, or to give campers. I want to somehow set it up so that, depending on your question, you jump in on a certain page. I want it to all run together and build on each other, but also have it separated by questions so you can read as little as you want. I still have to figure out the logical order for these questions. I think I want to end each question with options. Like, “the next questions this leads to are ________ and _________. Turn here to read _______ and here to read _____________. But each question would need at least one other question leading to it, and they’d still have to be in a logical order for those reading straight through. So yeah. I dunno. We shall see how it works out!
So for question number 1 (for now!):
Q: Once I’m a born again Christian, if I sin, will I still be a Christian, or should I pray to become a Christian again?
A: Once I’m born a human being, if I bark, will I become a dog and no longer a human being? No! That’s extremely silly!
If we look at what the Bible says about this question, we’ll find the same. I’ll type a few passages and a short explanation in brackets within the passage: “And I [Jesus] give them [believers] eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. [They are my followers whom I have given eternal life, and no one can take that from them.] My Father [God] who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. [God will keep true believers’ Salvation safe and secure because he is more powerful than anyone.]” (John 10:28-29)
“All that the Father [God] gives Me [Jesus] will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out. [Every person who God wants to trust Jesus, will obtain Salvation. Jesus will not send away anyone who wants to trust Him for Salvation.] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all he has given me, [true believers] I should lose nothing, [none of them will be lost from trusting Jesus for Salvation] but should raise it up at the last day [I will raise them up to spend eternity with Me]. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise Him up at the last day. [This is why Jesus was on earth: to show himself to the world so they could trust in Him so he could raise them up at the end of the world, and give them eternal life.]” (John 6:37-40)
Bottom line: if you are truly trusting Jesus for Salvation and you sin, your Salvation is not permanently lost. Your joy and fellowship with Jesus will be lost for the moment until you repent, but you do not lose the gift of eternal life which Jesus has promised to you.
The Bible does, however, speak of those who fall away from the faith. These people never were truly Christians, but only pretended to be. Check out these verses: “They [fake Christians] went out from us [left the church of true believers; no longer claimed to be Christians], but they were not of us [they never really were Christians]; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us [if they had really ever been followers of Jesus, they would not/could not have left]; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. [God let them leave to show us they were not truly followers of Him]” I John 2:19 “But he who endures to the end will be saved [True Christians will endure to the end-death].” (Matthew 10:22)
If you are truly trusting Jesus for Salvation, don’t worry! God isn’t just gonna snap one day and say, “That’s it! She messed up one more time. No eternal life with Me for her. I’m cutting off her Salvation!” You don’t have to keep living in fear and praying every night for God to save you, or walking forward every year at camp to “accept Jesus” once again.
However, maybe you still need to be asking whether or not you’re truly a Christian, especially if you don’t see a change in your life from the time you “became a Christian” until now. The Bible NEVER describes becoming a follower of Jesus (a Christian) as praying a prayer, then living however you want because you can’t lose your Salvation. If you’re not a true Christian, you have a totally different problem to deal with.
This leads to two questions: How can I know if I’m truly a Christian? I believe in God and prayed a prayer asking Jesus comes into my heart. Isn’t that how I get and to heaven? How do I become a Christian? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
(Stay tuned for more!)
Friday, March 25, 2011
Radical or Rational? A lesson from Asa
In the book of 2 Chronicles, amongst a long chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel and their accomplishments and/or defeats, we find an unusual story of a king named Asa with a challenging lesson for you and me-the church in America today. The first verse that introduces us to Asa states that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord His God.” [2 Chronicles 14:2] The passage goes on to list his accomplishments: Removing the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, breaking down the sacred pillars and wooden images, commanding Judah to seek the Lord and obey His commandments, building fortified cities, enjoying long rest from war, remaining loyal to God all his days, bringing gold and silver into the temple, and removing his mother from being queen mother because of the obscene image of the false god Asherah she had made. By all accounts, he begins to appear to be a perfect king. But the Bible has confined all under sin, so we read on in Asa’s story to see what it was that brought his downfall.
In 2 Chronicles 14:9 we read that Zerah the Ethiopian came out against Judah with an army including one million men, 300 on chariots. Unfortunately for Asa, his own army was only 580,000 strong and there is no mention in Scripture of his army having any chariots at all. The fact that his army was only slightly bigger than half the Ethiopians’ did not cause Asa’s faith to waiver at all. Instead we find the following incredible prayer as Asa’s response to the formidable odds before him.
“And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on you, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; do not let this multitude prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11
Asa acknowledged his insufficiencies and God’s incredible sufficiency. “This is nothing for you, God!” he declared. “We have no power, but you do, and we trust You to prevail against this army for your own glory and fame!” Asa’s trust was not misplaced, and God pulled through, performing a miracle. “The Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled…So the Ethiopians were overthrown and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord.” [2 Chronicles 14:12-13]
The temptation could’ve arisen at this point to take the glory for the victory himself and forget that it was God who brought about this turn of events, but we read the opposite. At the prophet Azariah’s urging, Asa brought the people together for a sacrifice including seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they received from the battle. Then Asa and all Judah made a covenant with God to seek him with all their desire. 2 Chronicles 15:15 tells us that, “all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them.” Incredible. The king and all the people wholeheartedly seeking God. What an amazing point in history!
Unfortunately, Asa’s story does not end there. “In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah.” No biggie, right? Asa’s dealt with war before. He’s seen God pull through for him against staggering odds. Yet rather than another incredible prayer, we read that Asa removes silver and gold from the treasury of the house of the Lord and hires the king of Syria (Judah’s enemies who worshipped false gods and whom Asa should’ve wanted to destroy) to turn against Baasha. Wait, what? Yeah. As we read on, the plan actually works, and Baasha leaves Judah alone. But God is not pleased with the way Asa has handled this. “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro across the face of the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore, from now on, you shall have wars.”
Rather than repenting from his wrong deed, Asa lashed out in anger and threw the prophet who had delivered this message to him into prison. Does Asa ever change his mind and turn back to seeking the Lord? 2 Chronicles includes one more short instance that may provide insight into this. “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.” If Asa’s heart changed, the Bible does not mention it. It does, however, mention that he died two years later. “They buried him in his own tomb, which he had made for himself in the City of David; and they laid him on the bed filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments. They made a very great burning for him.”
Funerals in O.T. times were very different from those today, but imagine with me for a moment that Asa had the equivalent of a modern day funeral. Imagine that someone stood up to give the eulogy. I’m sure they would’ve listed all his accomplishments achieved in his early years as king. But then what would they do? Would they pause and admit that Asa’s heart turned from fully trusting God in the twenty-one years of peace God gave him? Would they admit that it was because of Asa’s trust in man rather than God that their country was now plagued by wars? Or would all sitting in attendance simply think all these things while they voiced praise for his accomplishments?
As I think these thoughts, my heart is forced to wonder what will be said at my own funeral? I've been thinking a lot lately about death and eternity. I'm not really sure when it started. I guess maybe it's been longer than lately. My high school campers dubbed "and then you die" as my phrase of the week. But it's true, I guess. We live and do a few petty things, mostly for ourselves, and then we die.
I guess death just normally pops up in my conversations because, well because, life IS short. I WILL die and have a funeral someday. And at my funeral everything will be said in past tense. Past tense. My last chance to make a difference on earth will be gone. Forever.
What will people say at my funeral? What do I want them to say? How do I wanna be remembered? What do I hope to accomplish by then? "What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, then vanishes away."
It's strange to think that I'm only one tiny heartbeat away from eternity- one heartbeat away from leaving my life work of service to my Savior to finally meet Him face-to-face. I’m going to be dead so much longer than I’m going to be alive, so why do I so often find myself acting like this life is all there is? Like this life is all that counts? What am I doing now that will matter when I’m dead?
Did Asa ask himself these questions? Was this what spurred him on to put his full trust in God and step out in faith under crazy circumstances where he would certainly fail if God did not show up? Maybe. But what happened? What turned Asa from wholeheartedly seeking and trusting in the Lord, to turning to his enemies and doctors for help? Did his heart grow cold from apathy in the twenty-one long years of peace where he had no need to jump out in radical, crazy faith, trusting God? Was it the good times of comfort and peace that turned Asa’s heart from the Lord?
I see a similar pattern in my own way I relate to God. When things were comfortable and safe, Asa wandered from the Lord. I myself am tempted to step away from God like I don’t need him when things feel “safe” and “easy”. (Should a Christian’s life be characterized by those words? More on that in a minute.) Almost like, “It’s ok, God; I’ve got this. Step back and watch.” I might not say the words, but I live them when I’m not fully relying on His strength and grace every second of every day. That’s so foolish. Without him supplying every breath I breathe, I would not be here.
We all have a propensity for doing the same, so it’s easy to sympathize with Asa. When things got tough, he turned to people. I can almost imagine him rationalizing, “Sure, I’ve seen God work in crazy amazing ways before. But that was a while ago. What if he doesn’t show up this time? What would my people think of God and me if God didn’t decide to help us this time? They would lose faith in God, and they would lose faith in me. God, I don’t want to test you like this. I have to get help where I know I can get it, and I have to do whatever needs to be done (even if it means stealing from you, God, and enlisting your enemies to help me) to ensure that I keep the people you have entrusted to me safe.”
So which was crazier: Stepping out in faith when the Ethiopians attacked, or not stepping out in faith when Israel did? In our minds, seeing the end of the story, we say that not stepping out was the stupider choice. But how many times every day do we do the same? How many times do we rationalize (form rational lies) staying in our comfort zones, doing what is safe and easy when God has called us to far more?
“God, I don’t want to test you. This isn’t easy! I can’t do this! What if I really tried to do this and trusted you and told other people I was trusting you for this, and you didn’t show up? That would be a terrible representation of you to the world!”
“God, what if this isn’t REALLY your will, and so you won’t help me? This is crazy impossible! I would be cleaning up this mess for the rest of my life! Everyone would see and think I was crazy, and no one would ever view me as a responsible Christian adult again.”
“God you have entrusted my children to me for safe-keeping. I have to keep them safe at all costs! If I send them to this school or this country, they MIGHT be able to share you with the world, but they could lose their faith or be killed! I’m responsible for them God. I know I can’t protect them from everything, but you tell us to do our part, and my part is keeping them safe at home, isn’t it?”
“God, I could die if I went to that foreign country for you. Wouldn’t you rather I be alive and live for you here in my church? I have so many ministries here that I can’t jeopardize losing. I send money to support missionaries. Can’t they just share you to the world? You don’t really want me to give up my career and risk my life there when I’m doing so much good here, do you?”
“God, I can barely support myself and my family, and you want me to support the poor and the orphans and widows? Isn’t that a foolish financial choice? I’m already giving you 10%. Isn’t that enough?”
“God, don’t you want me to be happy? If I give this up to follow you, I won’t be happy. You must not want me to give THIS up, right?”
“God, when you said we are to leave our family, give up everything , feed the poor, care for orphans, spread the gospel to the whole world, and be hated by all to follow you, you couldn’t have been talking to EVERY Christian, just those special ones you call to do those things. I just don’t feel called, God! Show me a sign!”
Do you recognize these 'rational lies'? Do you believe them? They all include moving away from what is dangerous, difficult and uncomfortable. But does the Bible describe the life of a follower of Jesus as safe, easy and comfortable? I’ve recently been challenged by what it means to live as a follower of Christ. So often sharing the gospel comes down to, “We all sin. Sin keeps us from God. God can’t have sin in heaven. Jesus died to pay the price for our sin, then rose three days later, defeating death. If we trust what Jesus did to be enough to pay for our sins and get us to heaven, God will forgive our sin and take us to heaven when we die. So pray and tell God all this if you want to go to heaven.” Yes, that’s the gospel, but one important ingredient is left out: the radical repentance and change that occurs in the life of true believers as a result of a real encounter with Jesus. Here’s what Jesus said to the crowds following Him:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Jesus told the crowds to count the cost BEFORE coming to him, because following him includes way more than praying a prayer and showing up at church on Sundays. True Christians obey the commands in Scripture which call us to live radical lives, pouring ourselves out to serve the poor and hurting and reaching out to the entire world with the amazing news of the gospel regardless of how difficult, uncomfortable, or dangerous that may be. Listen to how David Platt explains these verses:
“If you are a follower of Christ, living indifferent to the words of Christ is not an option. Some of you were told to pray a prayer and then you could live your life however you wanted and that’s what it means to be a Christian. If you came to Christ under that illusion, then biblically, you are not a Christian. You have not come to Christ at all. This is not what it means to be a follower of Christ. To be a follower of Christ means to come to an awareness of your sinful rebellion against God, and to see in Jesus the only substitute for your sins, and by His grace to turn from you rebellion against God and trust in him as the Lord and sovereign king over your life. And when that happens, then what Jesus says determines how you live. Therefore, it is not possible to be a follower of Christ and be indifferent to what he says, because to be a follower of Christ, what he says determines how you live.
“If you want to avoid a hard life, danger, persecution, and being hated and betrayed, avoid following Christ. If we continue to feed ourselves comfort, safety and pleasures, we will miss following Christ. Following Christ will cost you everything. “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22
“As you seek to follow Christ with everything, fear will tempt you, but remember: God will take care of you. Look to Christ and death where we will get God. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”(Matthew 10:28) What’s the worst thing that can happen to us? They kill us? The only way that comforts us is if we have already died to ourselves. The apostles feared men so little because they feared God so much. Take the ultimate risk and you will receive the ultimate reward. This is not a call to gloom-it’s a call to being smart.”
Asa’s original choice to trust God and step out in radical faith was smart. After all, what was the worst that could happen? He could be killed. But even if he was killed, he would get God! Asa feared and trusted the One who could destroy the body and soul in hell rather than those who could only kill his body. But after years of comfort and safety, reaping the fruit of that smart choice, Asa made an unwise choice, one I’m afraid most of the church in America is making-a choice to fear and trust people rather than God.
Jesus’ last command before ascending to heaven was for us to go into all the world, sharing the gospel. There are 6.7 billion people in the world. Of those, only 1/3
claim to be Christians. This means there are at least 4.5 billion people in the world who do not claim to know Christ and are on their way to eternal hell where the cry of their torment never ends. The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire, away from the presence of God and anything good. If we truly believe hell is a real place and there are millions who have never even heard the name of Christ, something has to change. Jesus told his followers to go where there was great need and great danger. He warned them that they would be hated, betrayed and persecuted. They would suffer and be persecuted. But in the end, they would get God. They would hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord!”
So I guess this all comes down to a choice we have to make for ourselves every day. Do we really believe what God says it means to follow Him? Will we learn a lesson from Asa and step out in reckless faith-crazy faith that needs God to step in and save the day or all will be lost; or will we stick with what is comfortable, easy, and safe and lose the nearness to God that is the result of throwing ourselves completely at his feet, trusting in his mercy?
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.” Romans 15:4
In 2 Chronicles 14:9 we read that Zerah the Ethiopian came out against Judah with an army including one million men, 300 on chariots. Unfortunately for Asa, his own army was only 580,000 strong and there is no mention in Scripture of his army having any chariots at all. The fact that his army was only slightly bigger than half the Ethiopians’ did not cause Asa’s faith to waiver at all. Instead we find the following incredible prayer as Asa’s response to the formidable odds before him.
“And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on you, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; do not let this multitude prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11
Asa acknowledged his insufficiencies and God’s incredible sufficiency. “This is nothing for you, God!” he declared. “We have no power, but you do, and we trust You to prevail against this army for your own glory and fame!” Asa’s trust was not misplaced, and God pulled through, performing a miracle. “The Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled…So the Ethiopians were overthrown and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord.” [2 Chronicles 14:12-13]
The temptation could’ve arisen at this point to take the glory for the victory himself and forget that it was God who brought about this turn of events, but we read the opposite. At the prophet Azariah’s urging, Asa brought the people together for a sacrifice including seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they received from the battle. Then Asa and all Judah made a covenant with God to seek him with all their desire. 2 Chronicles 15:15 tells us that, “all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them.” Incredible. The king and all the people wholeheartedly seeking God. What an amazing point in history!
Unfortunately, Asa’s story does not end there. “In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah.” No biggie, right? Asa’s dealt with war before. He’s seen God pull through for him against staggering odds. Yet rather than another incredible prayer, we read that Asa removes silver and gold from the treasury of the house of the Lord and hires the king of Syria (Judah’s enemies who worshipped false gods and whom Asa should’ve wanted to destroy) to turn against Baasha. Wait, what? Yeah. As we read on, the plan actually works, and Baasha leaves Judah alone. But God is not pleased with the way Asa has handled this. “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro across the face of the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore, from now on, you shall have wars.”
Rather than repenting from his wrong deed, Asa lashed out in anger and threw the prophet who had delivered this message to him into prison. Does Asa ever change his mind and turn back to seeking the Lord? 2 Chronicles includes one more short instance that may provide insight into this. “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.” If Asa’s heart changed, the Bible does not mention it. It does, however, mention that he died two years later. “They buried him in his own tomb, which he had made for himself in the City of David; and they laid him on the bed filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in a mixture of ointments. They made a very great burning for him.”
Funerals in O.T. times were very different from those today, but imagine with me for a moment that Asa had the equivalent of a modern day funeral. Imagine that someone stood up to give the eulogy. I’m sure they would’ve listed all his accomplishments achieved in his early years as king. But then what would they do? Would they pause and admit that Asa’s heart turned from fully trusting God in the twenty-one years of peace God gave him? Would they admit that it was because of Asa’s trust in man rather than God that their country was now plagued by wars? Or would all sitting in attendance simply think all these things while they voiced praise for his accomplishments?
As I think these thoughts, my heart is forced to wonder what will be said at my own funeral? I've been thinking a lot lately about death and eternity. I'm not really sure when it started. I guess maybe it's been longer than lately. My high school campers dubbed "and then you die" as my phrase of the week. But it's true, I guess. We live and do a few petty things, mostly for ourselves, and then we die.
I guess death just normally pops up in my conversations because, well because, life IS short. I WILL die and have a funeral someday. And at my funeral everything will be said in past tense. Past tense. My last chance to make a difference on earth will be gone. Forever.
What will people say at my funeral? What do I want them to say? How do I wanna be remembered? What do I hope to accomplish by then? "What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, then vanishes away."
It's strange to think that I'm only one tiny heartbeat away from eternity- one heartbeat away from leaving my life work of service to my Savior to finally meet Him face-to-face. I’m going to be dead so much longer than I’m going to be alive, so why do I so often find myself acting like this life is all there is? Like this life is all that counts? What am I doing now that will matter when I’m dead?
Did Asa ask himself these questions? Was this what spurred him on to put his full trust in God and step out in faith under crazy circumstances where he would certainly fail if God did not show up? Maybe. But what happened? What turned Asa from wholeheartedly seeking and trusting in the Lord, to turning to his enemies and doctors for help? Did his heart grow cold from apathy in the twenty-one long years of peace where he had no need to jump out in radical, crazy faith, trusting God? Was it the good times of comfort and peace that turned Asa’s heart from the Lord?
I see a similar pattern in my own way I relate to God. When things were comfortable and safe, Asa wandered from the Lord. I myself am tempted to step away from God like I don’t need him when things feel “safe” and “easy”. (Should a Christian’s life be characterized by those words? More on that in a minute.) Almost like, “It’s ok, God; I’ve got this. Step back and watch.” I might not say the words, but I live them when I’m not fully relying on His strength and grace every second of every day. That’s so foolish. Without him supplying every breath I breathe, I would not be here.
We all have a propensity for doing the same, so it’s easy to sympathize with Asa. When things got tough, he turned to people. I can almost imagine him rationalizing, “Sure, I’ve seen God work in crazy amazing ways before. But that was a while ago. What if he doesn’t show up this time? What would my people think of God and me if God didn’t decide to help us this time? They would lose faith in God, and they would lose faith in me. God, I don’t want to test you like this. I have to get help where I know I can get it, and I have to do whatever needs to be done (even if it means stealing from you, God, and enlisting your enemies to help me) to ensure that I keep the people you have entrusted to me safe.”
So which was crazier: Stepping out in faith when the Ethiopians attacked, or not stepping out in faith when Israel did? In our minds, seeing the end of the story, we say that not stepping out was the stupider choice. But how many times every day do we do the same? How many times do we rationalize (form rational lies) staying in our comfort zones, doing what is safe and easy when God has called us to far more?
“God, I don’t want to test you. This isn’t easy! I can’t do this! What if I really tried to do this and trusted you and told other people I was trusting you for this, and you didn’t show up? That would be a terrible representation of you to the world!”
“God, what if this isn’t REALLY your will, and so you won’t help me? This is crazy impossible! I would be cleaning up this mess for the rest of my life! Everyone would see and think I was crazy, and no one would ever view me as a responsible Christian adult again.”
“God you have entrusted my children to me for safe-keeping. I have to keep them safe at all costs! If I send them to this school or this country, they MIGHT be able to share you with the world, but they could lose their faith or be killed! I’m responsible for them God. I know I can’t protect them from everything, but you tell us to do our part, and my part is keeping them safe at home, isn’t it?”
“God, I could die if I went to that foreign country for you. Wouldn’t you rather I be alive and live for you here in my church? I have so many ministries here that I can’t jeopardize losing. I send money to support missionaries. Can’t they just share you to the world? You don’t really want me to give up my career and risk my life there when I’m doing so much good here, do you?”
“God, I can barely support myself and my family, and you want me to support the poor and the orphans and widows? Isn’t that a foolish financial choice? I’m already giving you 10%. Isn’t that enough?”
“God, don’t you want me to be happy? If I give this up to follow you, I won’t be happy. You must not want me to give THIS up, right?”
“God, when you said we are to leave our family, give up everything , feed the poor, care for orphans, spread the gospel to the whole world, and be hated by all to follow you, you couldn’t have been talking to EVERY Christian, just those special ones you call to do those things. I just don’t feel called, God! Show me a sign!”
Do you recognize these 'rational lies'? Do you believe them? They all include moving away from what is dangerous, difficult and uncomfortable. But does the Bible describe the life of a follower of Jesus as safe, easy and comfortable? I’ve recently been challenged by what it means to live as a follower of Christ. So often sharing the gospel comes down to, “We all sin. Sin keeps us from God. God can’t have sin in heaven. Jesus died to pay the price for our sin, then rose three days later, defeating death. If we trust what Jesus did to be enough to pay for our sins and get us to heaven, God will forgive our sin and take us to heaven when we die. So pray and tell God all this if you want to go to heaven.” Yes, that’s the gospel, but one important ingredient is left out: the radical repentance and change that occurs in the life of true believers as a result of a real encounter with Jesus. Here’s what Jesus said to the crowds following Him:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Jesus told the crowds to count the cost BEFORE coming to him, because following him includes way more than praying a prayer and showing up at church on Sundays. True Christians obey the commands in Scripture which call us to live radical lives, pouring ourselves out to serve the poor and hurting and reaching out to the entire world with the amazing news of the gospel regardless of how difficult, uncomfortable, or dangerous that may be. Listen to how David Platt explains these verses:
“If you are a follower of Christ, living indifferent to the words of Christ is not an option. Some of you were told to pray a prayer and then you could live your life however you wanted and that’s what it means to be a Christian. If you came to Christ under that illusion, then biblically, you are not a Christian. You have not come to Christ at all. This is not what it means to be a follower of Christ. To be a follower of Christ means to come to an awareness of your sinful rebellion against God, and to see in Jesus the only substitute for your sins, and by His grace to turn from you rebellion against God and trust in him as the Lord and sovereign king over your life. And when that happens, then what Jesus says determines how you live. Therefore, it is not possible to be a follower of Christ and be indifferent to what he says, because to be a follower of Christ, what he says determines how you live.
“If you want to avoid a hard life, danger, persecution, and being hated and betrayed, avoid following Christ. If we continue to feed ourselves comfort, safety and pleasures, we will miss following Christ. Following Christ will cost you everything. “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22
“As you seek to follow Christ with everything, fear will tempt you, but remember: God will take care of you. Look to Christ and death where we will get God. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”(Matthew 10:28) What’s the worst thing that can happen to us? They kill us? The only way that comforts us is if we have already died to ourselves. The apostles feared men so little because they feared God so much. Take the ultimate risk and you will receive the ultimate reward. This is not a call to gloom-it’s a call to being smart.”
Asa’s original choice to trust God and step out in radical faith was smart. After all, what was the worst that could happen? He could be killed. But even if he was killed, he would get God! Asa feared and trusted the One who could destroy the body and soul in hell rather than those who could only kill his body. But after years of comfort and safety, reaping the fruit of that smart choice, Asa made an unwise choice, one I’m afraid most of the church in America is making-a choice to fear and trust people rather than God.
Jesus’ last command before ascending to heaven was for us to go into all the world, sharing the gospel. There are 6.7 billion people in the world. Of those, only 1/3
claim to be Christians. This means there are at least 4.5 billion people in the world who do not claim to know Christ and are on their way to eternal hell where the cry of their torment never ends. The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire, away from the presence of God and anything good. If we truly believe hell is a real place and there are millions who have never even heard the name of Christ, something has to change. Jesus told his followers to go where there was great need and great danger. He warned them that they would be hated, betrayed and persecuted. They would suffer and be persecuted. But in the end, they would get God. They would hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord!”
So I guess this all comes down to a choice we have to make for ourselves every day. Do we really believe what God says it means to follow Him? Will we learn a lesson from Asa and step out in reckless faith-crazy faith that needs God to step in and save the day or all will be lost; or will we stick with what is comfortable, easy, and safe and lose the nearness to God that is the result of throwing ourselves completely at his feet, trusting in his mercy?
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.” Romans 15:4
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Unexpected blessing=yet another God story
Do you ever get really upset cuz things seem to be going the exact opposite of the way you wanted them to go, and you look for the good in the situation and can't find any, cuz the thing that's going wrong should be something God wants to go right? So you resign yourself to the fact that He's trying to teach you patience and that things won't always go the way you planned and that's why heaven will be so grand. Well, that's what I was doing Friday afternoon. I ordered some guitar strings that I was going to use to replace mine because they were LITERALLY falling apart. Literally. No big deal, right? Well, I was going to order them from Amazon, cuz that's what I normally do (ok, I've actually only replaced them once in four years, and that was three years ago), but then I decided to get some picks at the same time, and Amazon didn't have the ones I wanted. Soooo, Google helped me find this amazing website that did which ALSO ended up having free shipping and a 2-7 day delivery guarantee. This made me quite happy because I wanted to replace those strings before they broke on me (plus, their quality was really poor by this point), and I was playing at a retreat at Barakel a week and a half later and needed to be sure to have them.
Obviously, you can see where this story is going. Wednesday was the latest delivery date for them, but Wednesday also happened to be the day we got dumped on with the blizzard of the decade. So I held my breath for Thursday aaaand...nope, no strings. The really frustrating thing was that I was supposed to have a tracking number for the package which my confirmation email said was shipped through UPS, but when I tried to click on the confirmation number link to track it, it took me to the USPS website, and neither website had any record of my package.
Friday came and I NEEDED those strings. All day I kept checking the front porch for a package, but sadly, opening the front door every five minutes didn't make the package appear. All day long I kept telling God that I was leaving at three and needed those strings so I could serve Him with BEAUTIFUL music, and all day, I also began preparing myself for the moment I knew I would have to leave and accept that God was teaching me patience, and the undependability of man's word, but the faithfulness of His and how great it will be in heaven some day to not have to wait for new instrument strings to be delivered so I can best praise Him.
I THOUGHT the best ending to the story would be getting all our luggage loaded into the car and beginning to pull down the driveway, but being stopped by a delivery truck at the end of our driveway, but God actually had a better ending for me. Not only did I learn patience and get a reason to look more towards heaven, I also got a bit more. Sunday after I returned from the retreat (and still no strings), I called the company who found a DIFFERENT tracking number and told me the strings had been in Lansing an entire week before. Hmmm. The lady I spoke to told me they must've gotten lost in the mail, and that she'd send me some new ones free of charge with overnight shipping for my inconvenience, although it hadn't been their fault. That was really, really cool! BUT that's not the end of the story.
Today, my dad brought me in a package from the mail from that company-the first package that was in Lansing almost two weeks ago. Sooo, I called the company letting them know that I now have two packages of strings and two packets of picks. Here's the cool part-I get to keep them for free! Thank you, God! He worked out a better ending than I could've imagined. Now I have an extra set on hand in case something happens to these, and I don't even have to pay for them! God is so good!
This morning when I went to replace the strings, two of my bridge pins snapped, so I have to replace them. (I was pretty upset at first cuz I didn't know if I could get replacement parts, and I didn't know how to get the rest of the pins that had snapped off halfway inside the guitar out, but my dad was able to get them out with a SPOON, and I found some higher quality ones for a cheap price.) I chose to use the same wonderful company. They said the pins are backordered one day, but they should arrive and be able to be sent out within two days. It's ok if they don't though, cuz if God has another lesson to teach me in patience, I think I'm even more ready to learn!
Obviously, you can see where this story is going. Wednesday was the latest delivery date for them, but Wednesday also happened to be the day we got dumped on with the blizzard of the decade. So I held my breath for Thursday aaaand...nope, no strings. The really frustrating thing was that I was supposed to have a tracking number for the package which my confirmation email said was shipped through UPS, but when I tried to click on the confirmation number link to track it, it took me to the USPS website, and neither website had any record of my package.
Friday came and I NEEDED those strings. All day I kept checking the front porch for a package, but sadly, opening the front door every five minutes didn't make the package appear. All day long I kept telling God that I was leaving at three and needed those strings so I could serve Him with BEAUTIFUL music, and all day, I also began preparing myself for the moment I knew I would have to leave and accept that God was teaching me patience, and the undependability of man's word, but the faithfulness of His and how great it will be in heaven some day to not have to wait for new instrument strings to be delivered so I can best praise Him.
I THOUGHT the best ending to the story would be getting all our luggage loaded into the car and beginning to pull down the driveway, but being stopped by a delivery truck at the end of our driveway, but God actually had a better ending for me. Not only did I learn patience and get a reason to look more towards heaven, I also got a bit more. Sunday after I returned from the retreat (and still no strings), I called the company who found a DIFFERENT tracking number and told me the strings had been in Lansing an entire week before. Hmmm. The lady I spoke to told me they must've gotten lost in the mail, and that she'd send me some new ones free of charge with overnight shipping for my inconvenience, although it hadn't been their fault. That was really, really cool! BUT that's not the end of the story.
Today, my dad brought me in a package from the mail from that company-the first package that was in Lansing almost two weeks ago. Sooo, I called the company letting them know that I now have two packages of strings and two packets of picks. Here's the cool part-I get to keep them for free! Thank you, God! He worked out a better ending than I could've imagined. Now I have an extra set on hand in case something happens to these, and I don't even have to pay for them! God is so good!
This morning when I went to replace the strings, two of my bridge pins snapped, so I have to replace them. (I was pretty upset at first cuz I didn't know if I could get replacement parts, and I didn't know how to get the rest of the pins that had snapped off halfway inside the guitar out, but my dad was able to get them out with a SPOON, and I found some higher quality ones for a cheap price.) I chose to use the same wonderful company. They said the pins are backordered one day, but they should arrive and be able to be sent out within two days. It's ok if they don't though, cuz if God has another lesson to teach me in patience, I think I'm even more ready to learn!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
N.T. Reflections- Matthew 7
“'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
'Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" Matthew 7:15-23
Reading these verses reminded me of a story a speaker from Barakel told this last summer. (I'm not sure if this story is true. I just know it was effective, and a very good illustration.) There was a couple with a small baby that they loved very dearly. They had been told for many years that they could not have children, so it was with great surprise and joy that they discovered they were pregnant. When the baby was born, they never wanted to leave her with anyone else. They bought her all the best things, and surrounded her with every type of toy imaginable. As time wore on, people advised them to get out and leave their baby with someone else. Finally one day, they decided it was time to leave their child in the care of another, so they interviewed dozens of prospective babysitters, finally chose one, and made plans to spend a few hours together on a Friday night. The night arrived, and the couple lathered their baby in kisses and left. The whole time they were gone, they couldn't enjoy themselves, worrying about what could be happening with their baby. Finally after an hour, they headed home. As they entered their neighborhood, they heard sirens and saw smoke rising from their block. As they drew closer, they realized that it was THEIR home that was on fire. Frantically, they raced to their home and up to the group of firefighters. One was just stumbling out of the building, and they saw with relief that he was holding a baby-sized bundle wrapped in a blanket. As the firefighter emerged from the house, the entire building collapsed in flames behind him. The parents rushed over to the firefighter. "It's ok," he reassured them. "The babysitter told me about the baby, and I have your little girl." With tears of relief and sobs of thank you, the parents took the precious little bundle from the firefighter and unwrapped it...only to find a lifesize doll wrapped in their baby's blanket.
The firefighter got something that looked like the real thing, but wasn't really truly what he thought he had. In the judgment day many people will say to Jesus, "I am your child because I did good things for you!" But Jesus will only say, "You got something that looked like me, not me. Eternal life is knowing me."
Paul exhorts us in Second Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—" So how can we know whether we really 'have Christ' or just have somehing that looks like him? I John is an excellent book to look in for the answer to this question, since it claims that it is written to those who believe, so they may KNOW for certain that they have eternal life. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (I John 5:13) 'Know' is a key word in this book and is used 42 times.
First John has three tests for those who want to know whether they're saved: The doctrine test, the moral test, and the love test. We'll take a quick look at what John said about each test, then I have a link to a short video of a pastor explaining all this way better than I ever could.
First test: The doctrine test. Do I believe Jesus is God and also the Messiah, the Son of God sent to die for my sin? "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." I John 5:1 "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ [Messiah]? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. If what you heard from the begining abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father, And this is the promise he has promised us-eternal life." (I John 2:22,24-25) "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (I John 4:15) What's so significant about believing Jesus is God and also the Messiah? If Jesus was not fully God, He would not have been perfect. If He had not been perfect, His death would mean nothing to us: it would have no saving power. The only reason Jesus could pay for our sins, is because he had none of his own to pay for. Had he not been God and been a sinner, his death would have been what He deserved, and He would not have been able to be the substitute sacrifice for our sins. But what's this about a Messiah? Why do we have to believe that? The Messiah or Christ was the one God had promised since Adam who would come and die in the people's place, ending the animal sacrifices which were only a symbol of Jesus. If we don't believe Jesus was truly the Messiah, the one whose death paid for our sin so we don't have to, then we end up trying to pay our own way to heaven by being good enough, and that won't work. If I do not believe Jesus is God and Jesus is the Messiah who paid the punishment I deserved for my sins, I am not a Christian.
Second test: The Moral Test. Do I see a change in my desires and the way I live my life that has come as a result of what I believe about who Jesus is? "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar...But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked." (I John 2:3-6) "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God." (I John 3:9-10) I taught these verses every Saturday morning at camp this last summer. I always said that the key word in these last two verses was 'practice'. If you are practicing volleyball and try to serve the ball, and it hits the volleyball net and doesn't go over, it would be a dumb thing for me to say, "Oh, you must be playing basketball!" I can tell what you're practicing no matter how many times you mess up. In the same way, it should be clear in your life what you are practicing: sin or righteousness, no matter how many times you mess up. Check your desires. What is your deeper desire: to sin and enjoy the fun in it, or to please God and enjoy the lasting joy we will have in heaven? Does sin bother you or make you happy? One speaker this summer used the anology of what pigs and kittens do after you clean them. A pig jumps right back into the mud. He loves mud! But a kitten tries to stay clean, and even if she does get dirty, she cleans herself as quickly as possible. Same with a Christian and someone who is not a Christian. Someone who has not trusted Jesus for Salvation loves sin and has no desire to follow God and "stay clean", while those who HAVE trusted Jesus are those who John talks about in 3:3 "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He [Jesus] is pure." If I do not see a change in my desires and the way I live my life that has come as a result of who I believe Jesus is, I am not a Christian.
Third Test: The Love Test. Does the way I live my life show that I have real, sacrificial love for others? "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." (I John 4:20) "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death." (I John 3:14) "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (I John 4:7-8) "My little children, let us not love in word or tongue, but in action and in truth." (I John 3:18) These verses aren't just talking about saying we love people according to this last verse; they're asking us to show and PROVE we love them by our actions. Love is loving people even when it hurts us or even when they're different from us. But what does that really mean? How can we do that? God gave us all these commands we're supposed to follow AND on top of that He wants us to love people? Actually, the reason God gives commands in the Bible is just to explain what it means to love Him and love others. The first four of the 10 commandments teach us how to love God, and the last six teach us how to love others. Jesus taught this is Matthew 22:36-40 when he said that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second greatest is to love others, then He said that all the laws in the Old Testament and things the prophets said are summed up by those two laws. John agrees-"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (I John 5:2-3) If I do not see new love for others and love for God in my life as a result of what I believe about Jesus, I am not a Christian.
When testing ourselves by the love and moral tests, we have to make sure to look at our desires (does sin make us happy or bother us?) and what we're 'practicing', since no once can follow God perfectly. How can we even follow God at all? I certainly don't have the strength to obey Him and love others. I John has the answer again! (If you couldn't tell before now, I love this book!) "We love Him because He first loved us. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (I John 4:9-11, 16, 19)
God's requirement for anyone to get to heaven is that they must live a perfect life. Unfortunately for us, we all mess up. But God loved us so much, He provided a way out of that mess- He sent Jesus! Jesus lived the perfect live we should've lived, then died a painful death, taking the punishment we deserved. Now if we trust His payment for our sin to be enough to get us to heaven, then turn from sin to follow Him, He will give us eternal life AND the desire and strength to follow and obey Him.
How does He do this? Through the power of the Holy Spirit! When we trust Jesus for Salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. I John 4:13 says, "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." The Holy Spirit gives us the power and desire to obey God. He's the one who does the work in us, making us more like Jesus. When we realize just how great His love is for us and how it drove Him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us, loving Him becomes easier. Loving Him in action looks like loving the people He made, and loving the people He made looks like obeying His commands. But it all starts with what God does for us. We don't love God and others and obey Him to become a Christian and get to heaven, we love Him because He has saved us already. We are saved by trusting that Jesus' death on the cross was enough to get us to heaven, THEN we are driven to love God and live to please Him.
The word Christian means "little Christ." Christians are followers of God who look like little Christs. Here's what Jesus said about following Him:
"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Following Christ (being a Christian) is difficult. It requires sacrifice. But it is SO worth it, and it will be even more worth it when we finally reach heaven.
'Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" Matthew 7:15-23
Reading these verses reminded me of a story a speaker from Barakel told this last summer. (I'm not sure if this story is true. I just know it was effective, and a very good illustration.) There was a couple with a small baby that they loved very dearly. They had been told for many years that they could not have children, so it was with great surprise and joy that they discovered they were pregnant. When the baby was born, they never wanted to leave her with anyone else. They bought her all the best things, and surrounded her with every type of toy imaginable. As time wore on, people advised them to get out and leave their baby with someone else. Finally one day, they decided it was time to leave their child in the care of another, so they interviewed dozens of prospective babysitters, finally chose one, and made plans to spend a few hours together on a Friday night. The night arrived, and the couple lathered their baby in kisses and left. The whole time they were gone, they couldn't enjoy themselves, worrying about what could be happening with their baby. Finally after an hour, they headed home. As they entered their neighborhood, they heard sirens and saw smoke rising from their block. As they drew closer, they realized that it was THEIR home that was on fire. Frantically, they raced to their home and up to the group of firefighters. One was just stumbling out of the building, and they saw with relief that he was holding a baby-sized bundle wrapped in a blanket. As the firefighter emerged from the house, the entire building collapsed in flames behind him. The parents rushed over to the firefighter. "It's ok," he reassured them. "The babysitter told me about the baby, and I have your little girl." With tears of relief and sobs of thank you, the parents took the precious little bundle from the firefighter and unwrapped it...only to find a lifesize doll wrapped in their baby's blanket.
The firefighter got something that looked like the real thing, but wasn't really truly what he thought he had. In the judgment day many people will say to Jesus, "I am your child because I did good things for you!" But Jesus will only say, "You got something that looked like me, not me. Eternal life is knowing me."
Paul exhorts us in Second Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—" So how can we know whether we really 'have Christ' or just have somehing that looks like him? I John is an excellent book to look in for the answer to this question, since it claims that it is written to those who believe, so they may KNOW for certain that they have eternal life. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (I John 5:13) 'Know' is a key word in this book and is used 42 times.
First John has three tests for those who want to know whether they're saved: The doctrine test, the moral test, and the love test. We'll take a quick look at what John said about each test, then I have a link to a short video of a pastor explaining all this way better than I ever could.
First test: The doctrine test. Do I believe Jesus is God and also the Messiah, the Son of God sent to die for my sin? "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." I John 5:1 "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ [Messiah]? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. If what you heard from the begining abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father, And this is the promise he has promised us-eternal life." (I John 2:22,24-25) "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (I John 4:15) What's so significant about believing Jesus is God and also the Messiah? If Jesus was not fully God, He would not have been perfect. If He had not been perfect, His death would mean nothing to us: it would have no saving power. The only reason Jesus could pay for our sins, is because he had none of his own to pay for. Had he not been God and been a sinner, his death would have been what He deserved, and He would not have been able to be the substitute sacrifice for our sins. But what's this about a Messiah? Why do we have to believe that? The Messiah or Christ was the one God had promised since Adam who would come and die in the people's place, ending the animal sacrifices which were only a symbol of Jesus. If we don't believe Jesus was truly the Messiah, the one whose death paid for our sin so we don't have to, then we end up trying to pay our own way to heaven by being good enough, and that won't work. If I do not believe Jesus is God and Jesus is the Messiah who paid the punishment I deserved for my sins, I am not a Christian.
Second test: The Moral Test. Do I see a change in my desires and the way I live my life that has come as a result of what I believe about who Jesus is? "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar...But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked." (I John 2:3-6) "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God." (I John 3:9-10) I taught these verses every Saturday morning at camp this last summer. I always said that the key word in these last two verses was 'practice'. If you are practicing volleyball and try to serve the ball, and it hits the volleyball net and doesn't go over, it would be a dumb thing for me to say, "Oh, you must be playing basketball!" I can tell what you're practicing no matter how many times you mess up. In the same way, it should be clear in your life what you are practicing: sin or righteousness, no matter how many times you mess up. Check your desires. What is your deeper desire: to sin and enjoy the fun in it, or to please God and enjoy the lasting joy we will have in heaven? Does sin bother you or make you happy? One speaker this summer used the anology of what pigs and kittens do after you clean them. A pig jumps right back into the mud. He loves mud! But a kitten tries to stay clean, and even if she does get dirty, she cleans herself as quickly as possible. Same with a Christian and someone who is not a Christian. Someone who has not trusted Jesus for Salvation loves sin and has no desire to follow God and "stay clean", while those who HAVE trusted Jesus are those who John talks about in 3:3 "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He [Jesus] is pure." If I do not see a change in my desires and the way I live my life that has come as a result of who I believe Jesus is, I am not a Christian.
Third Test: The Love Test. Does the way I live my life show that I have real, sacrificial love for others? "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." (I John 4:20) "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death." (I John 3:14) "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (I John 4:7-8) "My little children, let us not love in word or tongue, but in action and in truth." (I John 3:18) These verses aren't just talking about saying we love people according to this last verse; they're asking us to show and PROVE we love them by our actions. Love is loving people even when it hurts us or even when they're different from us. But what does that really mean? How can we do that? God gave us all these commands we're supposed to follow AND on top of that He wants us to love people? Actually, the reason God gives commands in the Bible is just to explain what it means to love Him and love others. The first four of the 10 commandments teach us how to love God, and the last six teach us how to love others. Jesus taught this is Matthew 22:36-40 when he said that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second greatest is to love others, then He said that all the laws in the Old Testament and things the prophets said are summed up by those two laws. John agrees-"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (I John 5:2-3) If I do not see new love for others and love for God in my life as a result of what I believe about Jesus, I am not a Christian.
When testing ourselves by the love and moral tests, we have to make sure to look at our desires (does sin make us happy or bother us?) and what we're 'practicing', since no once can follow God perfectly. How can we even follow God at all? I certainly don't have the strength to obey Him and love others. I John has the answer again! (If you couldn't tell before now, I love this book!) "We love Him because He first loved us. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (I John 4:9-11, 16, 19)
God's requirement for anyone to get to heaven is that they must live a perfect life. Unfortunately for us, we all mess up. But God loved us so much, He provided a way out of that mess- He sent Jesus! Jesus lived the perfect live we should've lived, then died a painful death, taking the punishment we deserved. Now if we trust His payment for our sin to be enough to get us to heaven, then turn from sin to follow Him, He will give us eternal life AND the desire and strength to follow and obey Him.
How does He do this? Through the power of the Holy Spirit! When we trust Jesus for Salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. I John 4:13 says, "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." The Holy Spirit gives us the power and desire to obey God. He's the one who does the work in us, making us more like Jesus. When we realize just how great His love is for us and how it drove Him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us, loving Him becomes easier. Loving Him in action looks like loving the people He made, and loving the people He made looks like obeying His commands. But it all starts with what God does for us. We don't love God and others and obey Him to become a Christian and get to heaven, we love Him because He has saved us already. We are saved by trusting that Jesus' death on the cross was enough to get us to heaven, THEN we are driven to love God and live to please Him.
The word Christian means "little Christ." Christians are followers of God who look like little Christs. Here's what Jesus said about following Him:
"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Luke 14:25-33
Following Christ (being a Christian) is difficult. It requires sacrifice. But it is SO worth it, and it will be even more worth it when we finally reach heaven.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
N.T. Reflectons- Matthew 1
"Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." Matthew 1:5-6
Every time I read the names in this section of the geneaology of Jesus, I am just amazed by the people and events God included in the ancestral line of Jesus. Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was not born a Jew, but grew up worshipping false gods. David committed adultery with Bathsheba (Solomon's mother) and killed her husband to cover his sin. Yet God used them all to bring His Son into the world. Why? Ultimately the answer lies in God's great grace, and the power of God's forgiveness based on their repentance.
Rahab's redemption began with fear of the God of the Israelites. She heard stories of the mighty wonders He had done for His children, and decided she'd rather be on this God's side and risk punishment or death from her government than be against this all-powerful God and be crushed anyways. Her fear led to faith, and her faith led to action- hiding the Israelite spies and sending them safely away. So great was her faith in the power of this God, that she risked everything to serve Him, and consequently her life was saved, she became part of the line of Jesus, and she is even mentioned in Hebrews 11- the hall of faith heroes.
Ruth's story of change begins with unusual circumstances. Elimilech and his family left their home in Bethlehem to travel to Moab, a city outside of God's promise land. Jewish law stated that this was not allowed unless buying and selling food became impossible. Nevertheless, Elimilech disobeyed God and moved there, taking his wife Naomi and two sons Mahlon and Chilion. While there, his two sons married Moabities (Ruth and Orpah), which was also against Hebrew law. Yet when Elimilech, Mahlon, and Chilion all died in Moab and Naomi left to return to Bethlehem, Ruth (although no longer bound by law to Naomi, and having received Naomi's blessing to remarry and stay in Moab) chose to go with Naomi so she could provide for her. "Your people will be my people," she declared, "and your God my God." We all know the rest of the story of how, in providing for Naomi, she meets Boaz, a relative in line to marry her and buy the family land. Ruth's choice of loyalty to Naomi and decision to leave her people and gods to serve Naomi and follow the God of Israel, although seeming to mean sacrifice for her, resulted in great blessing, and the placement of her into the line of Jesus.
David was called a man after God's own heart. But this certainly doesn't mean he never messed up. The most embarrassing sin that he wished to cover up was the one God chose to expose and use to bring Himself glory. David fell in love with a woman named Bathsheba while watching her bathe from his rooftop. Although he was warned that she was married, he sent and had her brought to his home where he lay with her. After discvering she was pregnant by him, he devised a plan to get rid of her husband so he could marry her and cover up the fact that he had gotten her pregnant when they weren't married. But God wasn't fooled. He sent the prophet Nathan to David to confront him of his sin in front of a whole courtyard of people. But rather than wallow in guilt, David was repentant and had godly sorrow over his sin, and thus we now have Psalm 51, the most beautiful prayer of repentance recorded in the Bible. The child Bathsheba bore did not live, but God sent her another child through David- Solomon, who became a part of the line of Jesus.
With all three of these people we see a life of sin, running away from God, but then we see a change- a turn towards following Him and away from sin. We see God's grace and powerful forgiveness in these lives as he redeems stories that would be hopeless without Him, and turns them into masterpieces from which he can showcase His glory.
But what if Rahab had feared the people of her city more than she feared God? What if Ruth had stayed inside her comfort zone with people and gods she knew? What if David had denied his sin or not taken it seriously that he had offended the God of the universe? Would God have been able to use their story for his glory?
Am I doing the same? Am I hindering God's work through my life by living in fear of others, staying inside my comfort zone, or not taking sin seriously? If so, what am I going to do about it? By God's grace, may MY response be the same as Rahab, Ruth and David- repentance and surrender to the God who can give any story true meaning and purpose, and a beautiful ending!
Every time I read the names in this section of the geneaology of Jesus, I am just amazed by the people and events God included in the ancestral line of Jesus. Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was not born a Jew, but grew up worshipping false gods. David committed adultery with Bathsheba (Solomon's mother) and killed her husband to cover his sin. Yet God used them all to bring His Son into the world. Why? Ultimately the answer lies in God's great grace, and the power of God's forgiveness based on their repentance.
Rahab's redemption began with fear of the God of the Israelites. She heard stories of the mighty wonders He had done for His children, and decided she'd rather be on this God's side and risk punishment or death from her government than be against this all-powerful God and be crushed anyways. Her fear led to faith, and her faith led to action- hiding the Israelite spies and sending them safely away. So great was her faith in the power of this God, that she risked everything to serve Him, and consequently her life was saved, she became part of the line of Jesus, and she is even mentioned in Hebrews 11- the hall of faith heroes.
Ruth's story of change begins with unusual circumstances. Elimilech and his family left their home in Bethlehem to travel to Moab, a city outside of God's promise land. Jewish law stated that this was not allowed unless buying and selling food became impossible. Nevertheless, Elimilech disobeyed God and moved there, taking his wife Naomi and two sons Mahlon and Chilion. While there, his two sons married Moabities (Ruth and Orpah), which was also against Hebrew law. Yet when Elimilech, Mahlon, and Chilion all died in Moab and Naomi left to return to Bethlehem, Ruth (although no longer bound by law to Naomi, and having received Naomi's blessing to remarry and stay in Moab) chose to go with Naomi so she could provide for her. "Your people will be my people," she declared, "and your God my God." We all know the rest of the story of how, in providing for Naomi, she meets Boaz, a relative in line to marry her and buy the family land. Ruth's choice of loyalty to Naomi and decision to leave her people and gods to serve Naomi and follow the God of Israel, although seeming to mean sacrifice for her, resulted in great blessing, and the placement of her into the line of Jesus.
David was called a man after God's own heart. But this certainly doesn't mean he never messed up. The most embarrassing sin that he wished to cover up was the one God chose to expose and use to bring Himself glory. David fell in love with a woman named Bathsheba while watching her bathe from his rooftop. Although he was warned that she was married, he sent and had her brought to his home where he lay with her. After discvering she was pregnant by him, he devised a plan to get rid of her husband so he could marry her and cover up the fact that he had gotten her pregnant when they weren't married. But God wasn't fooled. He sent the prophet Nathan to David to confront him of his sin in front of a whole courtyard of people. But rather than wallow in guilt, David was repentant and had godly sorrow over his sin, and thus we now have Psalm 51, the most beautiful prayer of repentance recorded in the Bible. The child Bathsheba bore did not live, but God sent her another child through David- Solomon, who became a part of the line of Jesus.
With all three of these people we see a life of sin, running away from God, but then we see a change- a turn towards following Him and away from sin. We see God's grace and powerful forgiveness in these lives as he redeems stories that would be hopeless without Him, and turns them into masterpieces from which he can showcase His glory.
But what if Rahab had feared the people of her city more than she feared God? What if Ruth had stayed inside her comfort zone with people and gods she knew? What if David had denied his sin or not taken it seriously that he had offended the God of the universe? Would God have been able to use their story for his glory?
Am I doing the same? Am I hindering God's work through my life by living in fear of others, staying inside my comfort zone, or not taking sin seriously? If so, what am I going to do about it? By God's grace, may MY response be the same as Rahab, Ruth and David- repentance and surrender to the God who can give any story true meaning and purpose, and a beautiful ending!
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