The Three Cs

What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? In case you've missed it, I write a lot about believing in God. (OK, that's an understatement; it is what I write about). Believe, is my reminder. Set your hope in Jesus. Have faith that the one you have not seen is real, that the stories you read about him are true. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength. Of course, I am not just reminding you; I am reminding myself, in a large part because of today's passage. You realize, demons believe in Jesus, don't you? Oh, wait? Demons are real, you ask? Of course they are real! Why would we need a savior if there are no demons? Yes, demons are very real; they really do possess people; they are going to hell, and they know it. And they want to take you and me with them. Demons are intimately aware of who Jesus is. In fact, they not only recognized the son of Joseph and Mary, they recognized him as the W...

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" I had struggled with today's passage for a long time. But it dawned on me, I had been misunderstanding these words at the end of Jesus' sermon on the mount. I kept reading this passage and hearing the 'Lord, Lord,' as though these were people who had faith in God. I mean, who would prophesy, who would cast out demons, who would do mighty works ... if they didn't believe? Right? But that isn't what Christ is noting here. Read the words, again. "Did  we  not ... do this." They aren't expressing their faith in God. They are praising themselves. Look at me...

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. No one likes to be called ungodly. (Well, at least most people don't like it; I am sure you, like me, have met some profoundly proud atheists at one time.) But ungodly living is so unbecoming. Most of us don't like to be around arrogant people. We don't like heartlessness. We condemn ruthlessness, senselessness, those who harm the innocent. We rightfully take offense at boastful blasphemers. And let's be honest, who likes to be around drunks all the time ? Of course, you know the truth, don't you? You know you are just like that. Maybe not all the time ... maybe not even most of the time ... maybe rarely ... but we are all  like that. There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. (Romans 3:10-11) Yes, it's true: We are all  like that. Ungodly. Unrighteous. Yes, ...

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. I don't understand why people willfully reject the truth. We preach it to our children from the first day they can speak: Always tell the truth. Our courts make us swear, to God no less, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we send people to jail for failing to do so. We know the consequences of untruth, of half truth, of white lies can be severe. People get hurt. So what exactly is truth? Socrates gave us a mouthful in defining it, when he said, "To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while t...

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? I have written about this passage recently. But today, I am not taking a course you might expect as the country debates the front-and-center issues of our day: homosexuality, same-sex marriage, over-the-counter birth control pills for children. Although these are important topics that Christians have been discussing for more than 2,000 years, we clearly aren't the first people living in a place consumed by immorality. The folks of Corinth, Greece, had, at one time, a temple with 1,000 sacred prostitutes serving in the name of religion. No doubt sexual immorality is as rampant today in our culture as idolatry, adultery, theft, greed, debauchery. But as I was exploring this passage, I couldn't get past the realization of Hosea 4 as it relates here. Hear the Word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land; "There is no faithfulness, no lov...

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. God chose you. Maybe you were influential. Maybe you were of noble birth. Maybe you are wise or strong. But you are probably more like me, neither influential, nor noble, nor wise, nor strong. If you know anything about me, you know I certainly have nothing in which to boast. That's the beauty of today's passage. God chose you and me to believe. I am a despicable sinner. But we have been saved (John 3:17)! Praise God from whom all blessings flow. God has chosen you and me to believe (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 5:1-2; Phil. 3:9; Eph. 2...

And Saul approved of their killing him. There are certain passages of Scripture that just cut to the heart. Today, Day 2 of my reading of Acts, this line hit pretty hard, probably because of some recent conversations I have been having about calling sin sin. Saul, I was reminded, is a murderer. This devout Hellenistic Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, someone who is supposed to be one of the Good Guys, conspired in the arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment of Christians. Saul was excellent at persecution. And here, he led the charge in stoning Stephen to death. Saul is a murderer. You understand what that means don't you? Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him (1 John 3:15). For out of the heart come evil thoughts — murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person (Matt. 15:19-20). Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the k...

Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  It's easy to get stuck on that first verse. Neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality ... will inherit the kingdom of God. Paul doesn't mince his words, does he? The sexually immoral are destined for hell, we like to say. God has a special place for men who practice homosexuality, we like to say. Make no mistake, the words are black and white. But don't stop there. Neither the idolaters, nor the thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. God is talking to me. God is talking to you. So you have neve...

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Jesus died for you. Did you catch that, Christian? You are ungodly. Just like me. No one is righteous in God's sight (Psalm 14:3); that makes us ungodly. You are a sinner. I am a sinner (1 John 1:8). That makes us ungodly. It's a difficult truth to face. I have to tell you, it's even more difficult when you have a 4-year-old daughter like we do. Nora is so sweet. She talks with God. She started saying the Lord's prayer during church when she was 2. She remembers her friends in some of the most amazing ways, and then prays for them. Last Wednesday, during a midweek Bible study our church calls Oasis, Nora's class had an interactive lesson in which the teacher presented the children a problem, and they would respond with a solution. On the last one, one of the children was given a beach ball, and the teacher says, "I don't have any friends." Nora quietly looks...

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all  sin. There is a serious problem in America, and the world. It seems that we are losing the ability to peer into the blackness. I have seen blackness, and I am not sure I want to see it again. I have seen blackness in different times of my life, in different ways, too, as I will explain later. But I can understand why astronomers want the ability to see their hand in front of their face, which rates as a 1 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale . They can't see otherwise. As David Dickinson writes on Universe Today in his post " In Search of Darkness: The Battle Against Light Pollution ," a good majority of mod...

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. I can't help but ask, as I read this passage, what would I have done if I had seen Jesus 2,000 years ago. What would I have thought if I had seen him give sight to the blind? What would I have believed if I seen a dead man walk out of the tomb after Jesus called to him? Seriously. Think about this for a minute. Two thousand years ago, or even today, if you saw someone raise from the dead (John 11:38-43; M...

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  Michael Middendorf, in his book "Called by the Gospel: An Introduction to the New Testament," calls this passage the most controversial section in Hebrews because of what the verses seem to say. And they seem to say that once you are saved; that once you see the light of God beckoning; that once you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, if you reject God it will be impossible to regain your salvation. But nothing could be further from the truth. First, let's start with John 18. Three times, Simon Peter, the rock on whom God would build the church, denied Christ. Three times, bystanders shined the spotlig...

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:9-14 ESV The past couple days, I have had some interesting Facebook exchanges with mutual friends of a leader of a Messianic group -- God-fearing people who proclaim a belief that Jesus was the Messiah described by the Old Testament ...