Hypocrisy, Honesty and Heavenly Father

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him He said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' He answered, 'And who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?' Jesus said to him, 'You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you.' He said, 'Lord, I believe', and he worshipped Him. Jesus said, 'For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.' Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to Him, 'Are we also blind?' Jesus said to them, 'If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say, 'We see', your guilt remains.' " (John 9:35-41)
I have been thinking on this passage in relation to a claim that is often levelled at Christians and one which I've seen brought up increasingly now, particularly due to the very sad and shameful Ashley Madison scandal. (That scandal being that such a service even exists and that anyone signed up for it- not that people have now been caught at it. Briefly on this point- for anyone involved with it, God forgives and so must we. See 1 Samuel 11 and Psalms 51 and 1 John 1:9 for great reminders of God's grace and forgiveness, as well as His judgment.)
      Non-Christians are quick to point to such incidents and label Christians as hypocrites whenever they fail in keeping Jesus' commands, especially in such a public way. However, assuming Christians are honest in admitting their faults and struggles and faithful to confess them and repent of sins, I don't see such failures of Christians as hypocrisy necessarily.
It would be hypocritical if any Christian claimed to be perfect and no longer susceptible to falling to sins after receiving Christ. (Though as my father would often say, after receiving Christ as Savior, we need not sin anymore because of the power of The Holy Spirit working in us. That doesn't mean that we won't sin anymore necessarily- we obviously have examples of the New Testament Christians that sinned and were forgiven. See Peter for instance in Acts 10-11 and Galatians 2:1-14.) I think public sins like this just demonstrate the main realization that Christians must come to first in order to receive Christ's forgiveness and love- we are all sinners and we all need God to forgive us of our sins. He has done this through Jesus' death and Resurrection- it is available to us by faith. We must place all our faith in Jesus' work and receive it. (Thus, Matthew 5:48 and Leviticus 11:45 are fulfilled- we are declared righteous because of Jesus' righteousness- not our own. We must be perfect as God is perfect- but we can't do that on our own. Christ had to do it for us- and He saves us, not because of anything we have done, but because of His grace. See Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-10.)
   Yes, such fallings definitely weaken our witness for Jesus- but they need not defeat it. As I alluded to earlier, King David not only entertained such notions as the members of the Ashley Madison site, but he also acted upon them and committed adultery with Uriah's wife. On top of that, he had Uriah killed and then took Bathsheba as his wife. God sent Nathan the prophet to bring God's judgment to David- the baby wound up dying and David's family life was a wreck ever since then. But God still forgave David and David still got listed in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11- he was a still a "man after God's own heart".
       We may not have such failings in these matters of sexual immorality, but we are just as equally susceptible and guilty in other sin matters. (Romans 2:1-11 and James 2:10) But as God reminds us and invites us in Isaiah 1:18, though our sins be like scarlet, He will make them white as snow- if we will let Him. Praise God! His grace is greater than all our sins.

Season for the Reason: A Corollary to Last Time's Blog

Note: Here is a follow up piece to my last blog entry. This is in reaction to a related article to the topic of the Old Testament Law versus the New Testament covenant of grace. This article was brought to my attention by two different friends at the same time and it is definitely interesting to consider. Thus, this entry here is based on this article from Patheos and serves as a further expounding on some of the points I was trying to establish in my last piece on this topic.
As always, there is plenty more that could be said on this topic, but I do hope this entry will be helpful in shedding some light on this tricky topic and ultimately be presented in a loving, Christ-like manner, always seeking to point people to The Light Himself, Jesus Christ. (John 8:12)

        This is an interesting piece- a nice and concise summary of some key Christian teachings and I like a lot of what it has to say. (And let me say from the outset that I do not intend this response to come across as just a criticism of the author and his writing. I do not wish to mar his work here, but rather use it as a springboard to point out some discrepancies I noticed and that come up at times in discussion on this topic of Old Testament law versus New Testament grace.)  However, I do have some observations on it. Was this in response to something that the author was reading? And while I gather that the author was offering his take on Jesus' statement about coming to fulfill the Law rather than abolish it (Matthew 5:17), I am not sure that I see exactly where he was going with his conclusions. I looked at the Bible passages mentioned as I read the article and it seems to me that they are all in agreement with the fact that Christians are no longer bound to the Old Testament Law as the Hebrews were. The overarching point I wish the author would have mentioned is that when the New Testament Scriptures speak of this fact, the context is generally in response to a bigger question that has been struggled over in the Christian church and that is the question of faith vs. works for salvation.
          (This can be a complex matter in itself, but essentially- The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone- see Ephesians 2:8-10. However, when you read verse 10, you will see that we are saved to do the good works God intended all along for us to do. The order of operations is very important here though. Because we are sinners by nature who have no good in us of ourselves, and even the good things we do are considered as filthy rags in comparison to God's perfection [Isaiah 64:6], we cannot do any good works to save ourselves. We must rely solely on Christ's righteousness and His death and Resurrection to save us. Of course, if we have truly put our faith in Christ's saving work on the cross, then we should be transformed by God's Spirit to obey His commands and do good works (such as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves). James 2 makes it quite clear that faith without works is dead. [As I have mentioned before, this is one reason why Christ calls people to count the cost of following Him beforehand. Some people mistakenly get the idea that salvation is nothing more than asserting a mental belief in Christ as God and His death and Resurrection. Yet Jesus states that following Him involves a full surrender of the will and all rights to Him. [see Luke 9:23] Thus, the good works performed after putting faith in Christ are the sign of a living faith that is true. As Jesus Himself said, why do people call Him, 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what He says? (Luke 6:46) And in even starker terms, in Matthew 7, He clearly warned that many would call unto Him, 'Lord, Lord' at the judgment day that will not be admitted into Heaven but rather they will be sent away into Hell, because they did not do the will of God the Father. [i.e. While they may have made the mental assertion of Christ's divinity and even called upon His Name, their hearts were not truly changed and they did not truly seek after Christ or obey Him.] In the end, faith and works come together in tandem, but faith always leads the way and is foundational, whereas good works are just the fruit.)
          And all of that was mainly to say that if people are seeking to uphold the Old Testament Law (or the New Testament laws, for that matter) in an attempt to appease God and earn His favor, it is a misguided attempt that will never work. This is the whole reason for Christ- He came and did for us what we could never do on our own. He fulfilled all The Law and died to pay for our wrongs and rose again. So we don't look to the Law anymore for salvation, but rather the New Covenant of Grace that Jesus has established through His work at Calvary on the cross.
          And while I agree that we don't necessarily find the OT laws neatly divided into various categories as such, it is fairly easy to distinguish at least some dietary and ritual laws from moral laws. (In the Old Testament there would be no reason for there to be any such distinctions because all of it was The Law together- it was a moral reflection on the Israelites if they failed to keep any one part of it.) When we get to the New Testament, we find that God Himself has rescinded the dietary laws, when He gives Peter his vision of unclean animals upon a cloth and commands him to get up and eat. (See Acts 10). (There are other supporting passages for this too, of course- a number of which the author mentioned- such as Colossians 2:16-17.)
           Hebrews 10 is an excellent chapter to look to in reading as to why the ritualistic laws (of sacrifices and festivals and not wearing clothing made of more than one fabric, etc.) are no longer needed. As the author mentioned in the article, 1 Corinthians 8-9 are also good chapters for this topic, where Paul speaks of giving up his rights and conforming himself to the Law in places where it might make a brother or sister stumble from the Gospel if he did otherwise. (In the context, he is speaking of dietary laws and/or ritual laws- never the moral law as he states that he is under the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21). Also, in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (which I believe the author also mentioned), The Bible states that neither circumsion nor uncircumsion counts for anything, but rather-keeping the commandments of God. Thus, since circumsion would be a ritual law (as this is one of the things Israelites did to set themselves apart from the rest of the world), the ritual law is nullified, but the moral law is upheld. Galatians 4 and 5 also speak well to this point. Note that in Galatians 5, after Paul (under The Holy Spirit's inspiration) notes that anyone who accepts circumsion [as an effort of pleasing God] is obligated to keep the whole law. They are severed from Christ because they are seeking justification through keeping the law, rather than from grace. (This verse- Galatians 5:4- is actually where we get the phrase "fall away from grace".) But as we go on to read in 5:16, we must walk by the Spirit and then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And if we're led by The Spirit, we are not under the law. Verses 19-26 tell us a list of things that are the works of the flesh- a list of sins that we fall into- but, in contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control- against such things there is no law.
That is the New Covenant we live under- Christ's grace which compels and empowers us to live by the Spirit (as the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Christ) and the fruit of the Spirit are the results- some of the good works we are called to do after putting faith in Jesus.
While I appreciate the author's call for Christians to remember Christ's summary of the greatest Laws of the Old Testament for us to follow (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18) in Matthew 22:34-40, I am still not sure as to his purpose in this conclusion. If the goal is to say that it is no longer necessary for Christians to follow out the dietary and ritual laws of the Old Testament, I wholly agree. However, in telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength first and foremost, Jesus certainly expected us to obey God's commands- His moral law, a point which Jesus makes very clear in passages like Matthew 7, Luke 6:46 and John 14:23-24 and 15:10-14, among others.
        In conclusion, the main thing I want to remind people of here is that as we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. (As Jesus told us in Matthew 22:34-40). And as Ephesians 4:15 tells us, we must be speaking the Truth in Love. If we can keep these things in mind, it helps everything else fall in place. Jesus has kept all the Law for us- and we rely on His obedience to justify us for salvation. (And of course, as Philippians 2 tells us, His obedience took Him to the cross and to His glorious Resurrection, which brings us our salvation.) And after justification, Jesus continues to work in us to make us holy for our sanctification, which ultimately results in glorification in Heaven. (Philippians 1:6) In obedience to Christ, we seek to obey His commands out of gratitude to Him, but we never rely on our own deeds to obtain God's favor. It's all through Him- and even faith itself is His gift.

Season for the Reason: Picking Jesus, Not Cherries

Note: This is the first in what I hope will be a series of blog posts dealing with some common objections that are raised against Christianity, some of which even Christians get confused on at times. (I certainly get confused on them too.) However, I firmly believe, as Chris Rice once wrote, that God has "an exclamation point for every question mark." And I believe The Bible addresses every issue we face, whether directly or indirectly. While this certainly isn't comprehensive and won't be definitive, I hope these posts will be helpful in explaining why Christians believe some of the things that we do and that they will do so in a loving way that does not seek to denigrate other beliefs, put merely present the teaching of Christ in His Word. These are based on questions that have been personally raised to me and I thought it might be helpful to talk about these topics here, as they reflect concerns and questions that many seekers and agnostics as well as skeptics share. [And as I said earlier, Christians also wonder on these things at times too, I do believe. Or at least this Christian has at times.] Let me also state that I do not believe in arguing or convincing anyone into Heaven; only the Holy Spirit can change someone's heart and bring them saving faith in Jesus. So I don't expect to convince anyone with any brilliant logic here, especially since I know that I don't have that much of that. ;-) (If there is anything brilliant or good in here, it's from Jesus, not me.) But 2 Timothy 4:2 commands us to be prepared in season and out of season in preaching the Word and to correct, rebuke encourage- with great patience and careful instruction. And I do want to do that, as I seek to always have an answer for the reason that I have hope, as 1 Peter 3:15 says. :-)


          

For the first point raised, this is a common question that comes up that even many Christians get confused about as well, but it is one that is well addressed by The Bible. I will talk about ye olde problem of the seeming disconnect between Old Testament law and New Testament law and why it seems that Christians seem to cherry-pick which rules to follow at times. Since this objection is often raised as a counterpoint when the topic of homosexuality comes up and The Bible's prohibition against it, please note that this piece will focus on that topic as a backdrop for this question regarding the Old Testament and New Testament.  I will include a link for further reading if you’re interested, but I never like just posting a link without at least trying to address the issue some myself. (Otherwise I just feel like I’m shuttling people off because I don’t want to confront the topic myself and I never want to do that.) [Here is said link- http://thecripplegate.com/shellfish-mixed-fabrics-and-homosexuality-picking-and-choosing/]
            Jesus states in Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV)- “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
           

This is an important point here. It cannot be emphasized enough that Jesus upheld the Old Testament. What I should have explained further is the reason why Jesus upheld the Old Testament and its laws. The key word in verse 17 is “fulfill”. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the demands of the Old Testament laws. This gets to the crux of the matter of salvation in Christianity. It is coming to the point of realizing that we have done wrong and can never live up to God’s standard for living. (Which is absolute perfection- Leviticus 11:45- God states it here and Jesus reiterates this in Matthew 5:48- “Be perfect therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”) Of course, as Psalms 14:1 and Romans 3:23 and a number of other verses state, there is none righteous. There is no one who has perfectly kept all of the law. Thus, we are all imperfect sinners and wrongdoers who fail to meet God’s standard. God says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death- both physical death and spiritual death. (i.e. eternal punishment in hell.) However, the same verse also says that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God knows that no human being can meet His standard. And He also knows the consequence of this. And as one of the most famous verses in The Bible tells us- God loves us so much that He intervened and sent His Son Jesus to rescue us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17) And Romans 5:8 confirms that God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The very thing that I most celebrate as a follower of Christ- Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday- this is where the literal crux of Christianity lies- in Easter. Because Jesus died to pay for all the sins ever committed in the world and He rose again- He paid once for all the payment for sin- and in the process, He defeated death, sin, the devil and hell- and our sinful nature that we are all born with.
           

When we put our faith in Christ to forgive us of our sins and to submit to following Him as Lord and Savior, a metaphysical, supernatural transaction takes place. God The Father sees our plea for Jesus’ forgiveness and credits us with Christ’s righteousness. Though we ourselves are spiritually and morally bankrupt as Romans 5:12-14 states (the sin of Adam and Eve tainted the entire world), Jesus is perfect and He imputes that righteousness to us at the moment of conversion. Romans 5:15-21 goes on to talk further about this- how just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, one Man’s righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. As Romans 6:14 states, once we have received Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are no longer under the Law system anymore- but we are now under the New Covenant Jesus came to establish through His blood (as Christ mentions during The Lord’s Supper to His disciples)- and that is the New Covenant of grace. In the Old Covenant of the Law, the Israelites followed God by endeavoring to obey all the commandments- including the dietary laws and other ceremonial laws that were aimed specifically at them. However, there are other moral laws (which is where the prohibition against homosexuality falls) that were given to them and that are still in place in the New Covenant of grace.
          

Galatians 3 puts it this way- (starting in verse 19)- “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” (That was verses 19-23). [My parenthetical here- indeed, as The Bible notes elsewhere, the law is what shows us just how much in the wrong we really are and how much we need a Savior because we can’t keep all of the law perfectly ourselves.]
        (resuming in verse 24)- “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
             The point I am trying to make here is that the Old Testament law served as our guardian until Jesus came. When He came and fulfilled the Law, we were no longer bound by the Law. We trust that He fulfilled all of the Law and put our faith in His righteousness to forgive us our sins and to make us presentable before God in Heaven. No one enters Heaven but by the righteousness of Christ, for as Isaiah 64:6 makes painfully clear- even the righteousness we think we have of our own account is nothing but filthy rags in comparison to the supreme holiness and righteousness of God Almighty.
      

Galatians 3:1-6 is also important to note in understanding this point. Here Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, berates the Galatians for abandoning their walk of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit and instead looking again to their own righteousness (i.e. the flesh) for perfection. The whole point of the Law is to show us just how futile our own efforts are and to show us our need for the Savior. Thus, in the Christian faith, we must always lean wholly on Jesus for all our righteousness.
                Hebrews 8 explains this point quite well. It calls Jesus the High Priest of a better Covenant- the New Covenant, which Jeremiah 31:31-34 prophesied would come. Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. (See also Hebrews 9:11-14, which emphasizes the ceremonial system of sacrificing animals that the Israelites did is no longer necessary- this includes the prohibitions against eating shellfish and mixing fabrics, etc. However, the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from dead works (i.e. the flesh) to serve the living God. Again, we rely on Christ’s completed work and not any of our own.) (The whole book of Hebrews is an excellent New Testament companion book to read alongside Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It gives a lot of insight to how the Old Testament covenant of the Law compares to the New Testament covenant of grace in Jesus Christ- and it explains how we are no longer under the law, but under grace instead.) In fact, on this point, I have read Tim Keller has said that for a Christian to try to live out all of the Old Testament law is an insult to Jesus and a demonstration of a lack of faith. Because I have faith that Jesus has completed all that is necessary for salvation through His death and Resurrection and perfect upholding and completion of the law, I know that I don't have to try to keep all the Old Testament law- and in fact, I cannot. Jesus has done it for me and I trust His completed work for salvation. Of course, as James 2 points out, true saving faith is always accompanied by works AFTER faith has been put in Christ's redeeming work. And as Ephesians 2:8-10 makes clear, God intended for me to do good works all along anyway. After having been saved by grace through faith, I strive to do the good things that Jesus commands me to do out of love and gratitude and obedience to Him- not out of a misguided attempt to pay Him back or somehow earn something that has already been given to me for free. I can never earn it- I must only freely accept it. But when I do, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, it makes me a new person in Christ and God transforms me to be the person He made to be all along.
               

Now here is the caveat I want to make sure is clear. Part of following Christ is being molded more and more to His character. The Bible uses the image of a potter and clay many times, with God as the Potter and us as the clay. We are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27)- and of course, Adam and Eve’s sin tainted that image. God has provided for the restoration of that through Christ’s death and Resurrection. Through putting our faith in Jesus, we begin undergoing the process of sanctification, being made like Christ (the personification of perfection.) Romans 8:4 instructs us that now we must walk according to the Spirit (i.e. God the Holy Spirit) and no longer to the flesh. (i.e. our own sinful nature.) Romans 12:1-2 calls for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is our spiritual worship. We are to no longer be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Again- we are reminded that God’s will for us is to be like Him- perfect. (Leviticus 11:45, Matthew 5:48). However, even as Christians we still fail and fall back into sin at times. And God promises in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thus for Christians, it’s an ongoing process of being made more holy each day- a process that ultimately reaches its culmination when we enter Heaven. (Philippians 1:6)
          

While the ceremonial laws of the Israelites no longer apply to us, the moral laws most certainly do. In the case of homosexuality, even if we were to put aside the prohibitions in Leviticus for the moment, we still have the prohibitions in Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:10. And those commands are all part of the New Testament covenant of grace that we are under- and that we are expected and commanded to follow. Part of the reason homosexual acts of any kind (no matter what the relationship status is) are condemned is because they fall outside of God’s revealed character. God is the One who created marriage and ordained it as an institution. This is a point where Jesus spoke to the issue of homosexuality in Matthew 19 when He upheld God’s standard for marriage- the union of one man and one woman for life. God has designed men and women to relate to each other in the context of marriage, which is symbolic of the relationship He desires to have with us. Just as the husband and wife become one flesh and become united, God desires to be united with us and indeed- Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 3:1-4 speak to this exact unity that we have with Christ- where I no longer live [my old life centered on just myself is dead]- my new life centered on Christ is my real life now. We ultimately enjoy that full unity with God when we are back in His presence again- in Heaven. And as I said before, God’s standard for entry into Heaven is absolute perfection- a standard only met by Jesus Christ. We can gain entry into Heaven (and thus an escape from our default sentence of punishment in hell because of the separation that comes with our sin) only through faith in Jesus. As Jesus Himself said in John 14:6 “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life. No man comes to The Father but by Me.” It is also worth noting that God uses the picture of marriage specifically to speak to His relationship with us- He extensively used this as an object lesson in the book of Hosea with Hosea and Gomer representing Himself and Israel (Hosea 2 is a beautiful picture of the love God has for us and His plan to redeem us and take us back as His own, even though we have rebelled against Him)- and the picture is also used in Revelation 21, which describes Christ as the bridegroom and His church as His bride.
  I know that was a rather lengthy explanation and even after typing it, I feel I still could say much more on it, but I hope that helps with the first point.
                A good example occurred to me that may help illustrate the point about the Israelites having ceremonial and dietary laws that pertained only to them that modern-day Christians no longer follow, though we do still hold up the moral laws as Israel did as well. Why is it that we restrict the sale of alcohol in America? It almost seems rather discriminatory that we forbid persons younger than 21 from consuming or purchasing alcohol. Society as a whole frowns upon it in general and we have a law on the books for that purpose. However, this seems a mere compromise in comparison to previous laws. Why is that we as Americans pick and choose when it comes to upholding the laws on our books? Doesn’t the 18^th. Amendment, ratified on January 16, 1919, prohibit the manufacture, sale, transportation within, importation or exportation of alcohol? Why do we not hold to that law anymore? Why is that we freely allow the manufacture, sale, transportation within, importation and exportation of alcohol now? Aren’t we picking and choosing which laws to follow? Of course, the answer to that is that we are not picking and choosing. We uphold all of the laws on the books- including the 21^st. Amendment (ratified December 5, 1933) which repealed the 18^th. Amendment. Thus, we are no longer bound by the 18^th. Amendment. However, even so, we still hold to a remnant of that law to some degree. We still hold to some of the spirit of the law in that we restrict the sale of alcohol to only those who are 21 and older.
         In the same manner, Christians are no longer bound to the Israelites’ dietary and ceremonial laws because the New Covenant of Grace repealed the Old Covenant of The Law. (See 2 Corinthians 3 for a great discussion of this point. The New Covenant is WAY, WAY better, by the way.) Thus, Christians are not bound to the dietary and ceremonial laws, even though there are still some general moral principles that the laws are based on that we do uphold. And we still strive to maintain the moral laws, but now it is not out of guilt or our own self-effort as a means of salvation- it is out of love and gratitude to our Savior Jesus Christ, as He works in us to shape more into His image of perfection. He has fulfilled all the laws for us and we rely on His perfection to get us into Heaven- not our own. We rely on the perfect completion He brought when He died and rose again to seal the deal for us. And that is why it is not a matter of picking and choosing. I pick and choose Christ and He picked all my sins off of me and chose to bear them on Calvary. Christ has set me free from the law and free to be a slave of grace.
 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Paradise in God's Time (song)

Do you ever dream about Heaven? Not just in the metaphorical sense, but also in the literal sense- do you ever have dreams of Heaven? I have dreamt about Heaven and the return of Jesus Christ at times. I know that my ultimate Home is there with Christ and that though I take comfort in knowing God is always with me here on earth, I know I am always a wandering stranger and foreigner passing through this alien land gone crazily awry with sin. I know God has taken care of that problem through Christ. I await the better promise of life with Christ in Heaven. And until such time, I live on earth seeking to do His will and be an agent of His change for the world, to show the world the kingdom of God as it reigns now and always has and will in the future. And that calls for endurance on the part of the saints. As James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him." And I know that everything that happens to me is tailor-made by God and is all part of His plan. One day, I will be walking the streets of gold by the sea of glass in eternal peace and joy knowing as I am known and serving The Lord forevermore infinitely better than I try to now- and it's all only through faith in Jesus, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. He died on the cross to pay for all sins for all time and all who put their faith in Him and follow Him have crossed from death to life and can know that they have been rescued from Hell and are instead destined for Heaven. And Jesus makes all things new!
I know that because of Jesus' grace and my demonstrated faith in Him, I will one day be in Paradise in God's time. Of course, there are times in the here and now on earth when I like to think of what it will be like and I'm gone to Paradise in my mind. :-) One day the faith will be sight- praise The Lord!

"Paradise in God's Time"
(parody of "Carolina in my Mind" by James Taylor; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 4/7/2015)
(James 1:2-4 and 12, 2 Corinthians 6:2, 2 Peter 3:8-9, Romans 10:8-9, Philippians 1:21-30 and 3:8-21, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:49-58, Luke 23:39-43, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 and 17, Romans 13:11-12, Hebrews 12:1-4, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Revelation 21-22)

In my mind I'm gone to Paradise- yeah!
Can't you see The Son shine?
Can't you just feel all good inside?
And it's just like the ending line
To "Once Upon a Time"
Yes, I'm going to Paradise, yeah- in God's time

Heaven- read Revelation
First earth passed away and like a bride
New Jerusalem in 21
God wipes all tears away from us
No crying when we're
Gone to Paradise, yeah- in God's time

There ain't no pain and no one's dying
With God, the former things are gone
He makes all things new- verse 5
And we'll praise Lord Christ forever
No dying when we're
Gone to Paradise, yeah- in God's time

And the light is God in Paradise, yeah
We don't need the sun to shine
'Cause Jesus is the Lamp light
Me and Jesus- we've been friends (a) long time
To see Him for first time-
Yes, I'm agog in Paradise (yeah) in God's time

Guarding angels at gates outside
12 tribes inscribed on them by a high, great wall
It keeps outside the dogs and liars
The seers, killers, immoral- won't
Be going- not going
They're gone to lake of fire for all time

With The Holy Ghost just constantly hounding
While I was in darkness and aloof
And I reached to Him, throwing all my sins to Calvary
Jesus forgave me- now I'm up and going to
Paradise, yeah- for all time

In God's time, I'm going to Paradise, yeah!
Can't you see the Son shine?
Can't you just feel all good inside?
And it's just like the ending line
To "Once Upon a Time"
Yes, I'm going to Paradise, yeah- in God's time
Going to Paradise, yeah- all through Christ
And I'm going to Paradise, yeah- for all time
Going to Paradise, yeah- in God's time
Home with God- I'm going!
Take Christ's grace and join me- come and go Home now
Got to carry on 'til last day- then I'm gone

.....................................................................................

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The Ragamuffin Gospel of Grace!

" 'If we but turn to God,' said St. Augustine, 'that itself is a gift of God.' My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.....The Good News of the Gospel of grace cries out: We are all equally, privileged but unentitled beggars at the door of God's mercy!" - Brennan Manning in "The Ragamuffin Gospel"
"God loves us as we are, not as we should be, for we will never be as we should be."- Brennan Manning
As Brennan Manning preached so beautifully, God's grace is bigger than we can ever imagine and it is poured out on so freely. Why would we ever try to earn God's love by being good? We can never be good enough- we'll never be as we should be until Heaven. (As Philippians 1:6 tells us, He who began a good work in us will continue it until the day of completion in Jesus Christ.) Man looks at the outward appearance, but The Lord looks at the heart. (see 1 Samuel 16:7) "For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:12-13)
As John 2:24-25 tells us, Jesus knows all people and doesn't need anyone to bear witness about man to Him because He Himself knows what is in man. And Jeremiah 17:9 tells us what is at the heart of man- deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it? But God understands and knows the real human condition. In Isaiah 64:6 He tells us that we have all become like one who is unclean and the righteous deeds we think we've done are like filthy rags to Him.
         Yet through it all, God tells us that He has loved us with an everlasting love! (Jeremiah 31:3) He says that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; He only wants for them to repent and live! (Ezekiel 18:23) Hosea 11 gives us a beautiful picture of God's love for us, as He leads us with cords of kindness and the bands of love. In the greatest display of love ever, God demonstrated His love in this, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) And Christ died and rose to prove He's God and to give us a living Hope. So why do we spend so much energy trying to be good and worrying about our track record and performance rates when they are worthless and unnecessary in God's economy of mercy? The price has been paid for all sin for all time! (Hebrews 10:12) Stop working yourself into a frenzy with fear and doubt, trying to do good in a vain attempt to coax God into somehow actually loving you and accepting you. God's acceptance and love calls out to you before you even try to do any good works. Just read the parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15- The Father looks down in love for us prodigals even when we are a long way off, covered in filth and pig dung. And The Father's love compels Him to run to us and sweep us up in His arms of love, with hugs and kissing, and rich jewels thrust upon our hands and new, clean clothes put upon us.
        Yes, the call of the Gospel of grace does include the repentance that the prodigal son so obviously displayed in admitting his sins and his desire to come back- but God's grace and love is lavished upon us beforehand. (To be very clear, I am not saying here that God takes us willingly back without any expectation of acknowledgement of sin and rejection of it. And be sure that rejection of His free offer of love and forgiveness will result in eternal punishment in Hell. But God desires for no one to go to that place- He wants all to come to repentance! 2 Peter 3:8-9) But I am saying that the reason for this should be starkly different from that of rote, routine religion of a pious purity and moral code that is no better than the elder brother's resume of righteousness that he presents to his father.
       Accepting God's grace means agreeing with God that we are sinners who are nothing more than ragamuffins in desperate need of His grace- who have messed up more often than we can count, who feel like a vast disappointment to God- but yet, through our tears of repentance and overwhelming wonder at God's love in spite of it all, gratefully grasp firmly God's outstretched hand of love, trusting Him to help us change into the people He wants us to be. We're not as we should be, but by God's grace alone for salvation and our faith in Him, He is making us who we should be in His time! Praise The Lord!
To paraphrase some more of Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel"-
"Thank God! I am wonderfully content with a God Who doesn't deal with me as my sins deserve. On the last day when Jesus calls me by name, 'Come, Nathan, blessed of My Father,' it will not be because Abba is just, but because His Name is mercy."
       We don't need to be good- we can't be good. There is no good in me- any good in me is Jesus. We have to taste and see that, like a doctor's medicine, Jesus IS good for us! (literally and figuratively! :-) Psalms 34:8)
Praise God for His love! :-)

Saturday, June 27, 2015

White as Snow (song)

There is a funny contradiction in the world today. On the one hand, some people want to keep insisting that all human beings are essentially good, though some make mistakes at times. But in the end, it's all like a Disney movie with some villians, of course, but ultimately most people are good overall. Of course, it seems that some of the same people who make these claims also shake their fists at God in Heaven and blame Him whenever evil erupts its repulsive ooze over humanity once again- and people suffer and lives are lost. Then the question is raised for me- how could a good people allow evil in the world? And when we're standing there, frozen in shock, maybe that's when we can come to recognize the truth- there is evil in this pervasive world- and we're it. We were all made to be good- made in God's image, Who is perfection itself- but we made the fatal choice to rebel against The Lord through Adam and Eve's sin- and now the world is under the curse of sin. Thankfully, God Himself has provided the remedy for sin. Though it stains us scarlet red, God can forgive our sins and make them white as snow. They've all been paid for by Jesus' death and Resurrection. We must take all our sin and let it go- leaving it nailed to the cross and put our faith in Jesus and live for Him instead. Thank God for His love and forgiveness!

"White as Snow" (parody of "Let It Go" from Disney's "Frozen" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 5/29/2015)
(Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah 45:21-25, Isaiah 64:6, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:3, Romans 3:1-20, Romans 3:23-26, Romans 6:23, Proverbs 20:9, John 1:29, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 1:7, John 3:16-21, John 14:6, John 10:1-18, John 6:35-40, Hebrews 10:10-12, Colossians 1:15-20)

Verse 1
.............
The snow glows white in Wisconsin tonight
What a fitting Christmas scene
The winter brings transformation
The fall looks like it's washed clean
Our sin is howling like a swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep from sin; Heaven knows we tried
Won't let Him in
But think He's pleased
If you're good, girl; boy, always keeping clean
Conceal evil
Don't let it show
Well, on our own...

Chorus 1
...............
We're evil! We're evil!
(I) can't hope to match up to The Lord
Yes, we know we're evil
Turn away and seek The Lord!
Isaiah 64:6 says
All good deeds we've done-
The Lord says they're rotten filthy rags anyway

Verse 2
..............
It's funny how resistance
Makes everything His fault
And we feel He's hidden- if only
He'd let us see Him all
The Christ revealed that wish for you
Jesus- God's image- Way, Life and Truth
He died for wrongs
And rose so we'd
Be free!

Chorus 2
................
All evil
In one go-
Christ has won over sin for all time!
Let Him go
Save your soul
You need to receive Christ
Hear what God says in Isaiah
Let's read 1:18

Bridge
.............
Like how snow flurries through the air into the ground
Our souls can be washed clean though our sin's scarlet- hear God now
"Come use thought- realize this- I can wipe (out) all bad!"
Though all you've known is black, the cross has changed all that!

Chorus 3
................
White as snow!
White as snow!
(My) sins are white like wool thanks to God!
White as snow!
White as snow!
That perfect Lamb of God!
Here I stand- by The Christ I'm saved
Like it says in 1st. John
Behold how The Father's loved (in) 3:1- yay!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Building Down and Up (poem)

(Sometimes) annual reflection. :-)

Building Down and Up
(poem by Nathan Ludwick; copyright 6/1/2015)
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Habakkuk 1:5, Psalms 127, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:1-4, Galatians 2:20, John 12:20-26, Luke 6:46-49, Hebrews 13:12-16, Philippians 3:7-20, Luke 14:25-35, Philippians 1:21, Matthew 6:25-34, Proverbs 24:3-4, Proverbs 1:7, Job 13:15, Isaiah 2:22, Genesis 11, Matthew 7:12-14, Luke 9:23, John 6:68, John 14:6, John 10:10)

Thirty-three on the tree
For a life of debris
What a feat of carpentry!
A way of life made a way of death
But that death made The Way of Life
The straight and narrow Way of Life
That only a few ever find
The crossbeams of its firm foundation laid by Christ
The Lord is the Master Builder and Code Inspector
Without Whom the laborers build in vain
A vain tower of Babel
Built of all that man's capable
A towering monument to ill-placed confidence
And it seems the older you get the less sure of things you get
Every day I grow more sure that I'm not sure of anything but one
I put no trust in man who has but a breath and I put trust in God who gives the breath
The rubble of old towers and old dreams seem to be the same material
The material and substance of things hoped for of impermanence
Down goes what came up and down goes the day- like the old refrain- nothing gold can stay
Midas' touch can't touch this one gold thing that does stay
The Carpenter's luminescent streets- the real life yellow brick road I will one day say hello to in time
The only hope for the future that helps me move past the past and present myself to The Father's present for me
And what a present it is to have reached the same years of struggle our Lord endured
Together with Christ in His glory and Resurrection but first in His suffering
And shall I not accept both good and bad from The Lord's hand?
But let me only fall into the hands of The Lord-
The hands that wound and heal are the only ones I trust
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him
One day I will also be together with Christ in death
Knowing that because of Him I am always with Him in Life.
Both seeds' and dreams' deaths bring much growth
And the suffering is not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed in the new coming.
The former things have passed- all is made new through the Catalyst of soils' and souls' contents.
The stuff of earth still competes for my allegiance but it joins me thirty-three on the tree
Dying to live and living to die daily- all only for Lord Jesus, my best thought.
Be Thou my vision, mission, blueprints, building and foundation- firm forever holding me together.

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