The Three Cs

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 we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. I have Christian friends who don't believe the Word of God. Do you believe? Think about that for a minute. Do you believe in God? Do you really believe the Word is from God? Do you believe the Word was God? Do you believe the Word was with God? (John 1:1-5). And that the Word became flesh? (John 1:14) Some people who call themselves Christians, don't believe. If they don't receive the word of God, if they say it is from men, that it is a human word, not the Word of God, then how can they call themselves Christian? It seems to me that is one of the points Paul is driving home in 1 Thessalonians 2:13. It is important because, what do we have without the Word of God? What we have are heresies taught by false prophets and greedy teachers. "We ar...

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. I have been seeing this a lot of my readings of late. Watch out, Paul shouts, again. Watch out for the Judaizers! (Gal. 2:4) Watch out for the Pharisees! (Phil. 3:5) Watch out for the Gnostics! Watch out for the false teachers! (2 Cor. 11:4). Watch out! Don't be deceived. There is only one path to heaven, Paul is reminding us, again. And that is, Jesus (Col. 1:13-14). Christ lived for you! Christ died for you! And now, Christ lives for you! That's right, Christ LIVES for you! Jesus was dead (John 19:33-34). He was rotting in the grave (John 19:42). But now he is alive (John 20:27). The Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8), the creator of the world (Col. 1:16, Gen. 1:1), the Living Word, who was with God and was God (John 1:1-2), was dead but is now alive, and most importantly, lives in you (Col....

Listen without interrupting. (Proverbs 1:8) Speak without accusing. (James 1:19) Give without sparing (Proverbs 21:26) Pray without ceasing (Colossians 1:9) Answer without arguing. (Proverbs 17:1) Share without pretending. (Ephesians 4:15) Enjoy without complaint. (Philippians 2:14) Trust without wavering. (1 Corinthians 13:7) Forgive without punishing. (Colossians 3:13) Promise without forgetting. (Proverbs 13:12)

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...

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer  or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.  The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.  They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.    We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.  We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,  for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and p...

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. How many times have I read over chapter 3 and failed to see the beauty in it, failed to understand? Paul has just laid out -- again -- one of the most important doctrines of Christianity: It is by grace you have been saved, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God (Eph 2:8). Why do we fail to see the gift? Paul, like all Jews, like all those who think they can find favor with God; who think they are living a righteous life; who think their virtue is important; who think that God will use human scales to weigh their rights and wrongs and declare them better than "murderers," and "thieves," and "child molesters," and the other "dregs of society;" who think they can free themselves from hatred; who think they can meditate their way to heaven, has just personally illustrated that you are doomed unless you believe the real truth. If someone else thinks they h...