Posted by
admin on April 6, 2010 at 3:42 pm.
Having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim 3:5)
Bob Barker, the long-time host of “The Price is Right,” always closed his show with an appeal to control the pet population by having our pets spayed or neutered. By doing this, of course, the pets cannot reproduce more than people are willing to care for them. At least that’s the theory.
My son sings in a choir at a state university. His choir director is an evangelical Christian and has the responsibility of choosing the music that the students sing in the choir, but has certain guidelines to which he must adhere. Classical music and spirituals (especially) owe much to the Judeo-Christian heritage, and this director can choose songs that reflect this heritage – so long as they do not mention the blood of Christ. The songs have effectively been neutered.
The reproductive power of the Gospel is in the blood of Jesus. How interesting that those who are seeking to keep American Christianity from expanding can see this, while many churches do not! Without the blood, we have no distinctive message because it is the blood that buys us forgiveness. It is the blood of Jesus that satisfies the wrath of God and allows us access into the very throne of heaven. In the words of Robert Lowry “nothing but the blood” can wash away our sin.
This is why the unofficial national hymn in America is “Amazing Grace” – because it doesn’t mention the blood. John Newton, the author of that song, would roll over in his grave (except that he’s not there!) because the whole essence of the grace he received was through the blood. I doubt that he ever dreamed that his great poem would be divorced from the blood of Christ that inspired it. But it has.
I am a believer in Christ only because of the death (the blood), burial and resurrection of Jesus. Without these I have no hope, but with them, there is power to change a dying world, and an assurance that I will stand redeemed before Him one day. In the words of Andre Crouch, “The blood will never lose its power.”
Posted by
admin on March 10, 2010 at 12:01 pm.
He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:11-12).
This passage is one of the many “sad and glad” couplets in Scripture. It combines one of the most tragic phrases in all of literature with one of the most hopeful.
There are many reasons why “His own” did not receive Him. Some can be attributed to misunderstanding. He didn’t fit the mold that they had come to expect. He didn’t follow all their rules and regulations; He didn’t throw off the yoke of the Roman government; He didn’t stroke the religious establishment in the right way; indeed, on that point, He stirred them up and pointed out their hypocrisy.
Some of those who misunderstood Him at first came around later and broke up mold of their expectations so that they could see Him for Who He really was.
But others didn’t. These stubbornly held fast to their expectations and required Him to conform to their ways of thinking. The irony (or perhaps hypocrisy) was that these apparently religious people had put God in a box and refused to let Him out. Their ways were all that mattered. They would be recognized and honored when they forced God to do what they determined was the best policy for their people. Many of those that refused to receive Him tried to use their personal or political influence to make Him conform to their ways. Ultimately they would “win the battle” but “lose the war.” Jesus would be crucified at their hands, but He would rise again to life.
But how much happier were those who are described in the “glad” portion of this couplet. They received Him, acknowledging ultimately His glory. They didn’t necessarily understand all that He was doing or all that would happen to Him, but they understood, with John, that this One – the Messiah – was not their puppet, but was the One they needed to obey. They were willing to be the servants rather than the Master.
It seems to me that we see the same contrast among people today in Western society. We can argue about whether “His own” only refers to Jewish people, but it would be immaterial. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, the human heart still is rebellious against our Creator. We still want to pull His strings rather than submit to His will. We still have the same choice: receive Him or reject Him. In the end there is no other option.
Posted by
admin on February 27, 2010 at 11:58 am.
Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Luke 13:20-21
This is one of the few times in Scripture where yeast is not compared to sin. Most often it is used to speak of the way sin changes the state of a person’s heart. But in this case, that change is a positive one. The Gospel (the kingdom of God) actually alters the very nature of human development.
I came to know Christ in college. To many around me, the changes that took place in my life were probably considered changes that came with maturity and human development, but I knew different. There was a significant difference between the “BC” person and who I became.
Though my life as sheltered and stable, I grew up with no real sense of personal value. Before I came to Christ, I had no understanding of why I existed. I was scared to try new things because I feared ridicule or that I would fail and people would think poorly of me. I’m sure it was not intentionally communicated, but I believed my personal worth was a function of some unique contribution that I knew was not in me. Had I embraced an Eastern mystical religion in those days, it would have fit my don’t-rock-the-boat demeanor. I wasn’t passionate about anything so that I would avoid being criticized.
But Christ changed that. His presence in my life began to permeate everything I was and did. That “small” decision to trust Him with my life suddenly impacted the whole of my life, just like the yeast did to the dough in Jesus’ illustration. I recognized the Bible as the source of Truth; I saw Jesus as the Ruler over the universe; I may not have had clear vocational direction, but I knew it was somehow connected to my relationship with Him. All the pieces of my life that had previously seemed so fragmented, now were brought into order by His presence, like a magnet does to iron filings.
But it makes me wonder about some of the people near me. Has their internal orientation changed because of their decision to trust Christ? (Has the Gospel yeast permeated their lives?) Rather, have they viewed Christianity as “fire insurance,” simply to keep them from hell? When small children (even my own) trust Christ, does the Gospel yeast so alter their lives that they will be true to it in the turbulent adolescent years and beyond? Certainly, I can never peer into the hearts of these near me, but He does expect me to inspect the “fruit” or see if “the dough has risen.”
