Knowing Peace In Troubling Times

Living in a world that seems to be falling apart at times, the words of Jesus to his disciples are as relevant to us today as they were when He spoke them to His troubled followers two millennia ago. "Don't be afraid," he told them repeatedly. The question is, "How are we to live in what appears to be uncertain circumstances in our lives without being afraid?" After all, our personal situations can seem terribly menacing at times.

The answer can be seen in John's experience when he was exiled on Patmos. Abandoned on a 22 square mile island, he must have felt alone to the point that he could have simply given up hope in God. To the contrary, it was on this small island that John experienced a vision of the God who was sovereign not only over his own circumstances but over the affairs of all of history. It was on this island that he wrote "The Revelation."

John found no comfort or hope from his own situation, but found great strength because of his focus. He had been worshiping when something amazing happened. He described it: "After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven" (Revelation 4:1).

The first thing that John saw was a door standing open in heaven. What is the significance of this door? A door is a passageway connecting two different places. In this instance, it was a passage between two areas of reality – the natural and the supernatural.

The Holy Spirit called John to enter in through this door and to see beyond the natural world into an eternal world. His body was on Patmos, but, for a time, he was able to see beyond the bounds of his physical location and see his spiritual home. John saw that he was actually living in two worlds at the same time – the physical and the spiritual.

To find peace in our circumstances, we must understand that we too live in dual worlds. If you are to experience the "peace that passes understanding" in your life, it’s imperative to look beyond the physical world and recognize that there’s another dimension where you also live. Confidence in our God vanishes like dew in the desert sun if the only thing we can see are the visible circumstances of our lives. There is another reality to our lives beyond what we can see—and we live in that world, really.

The Apostle Paul had learned to trust His Father through this same lesson. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:18, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Paul said the same thing as John – you live in a world you can’t see with your eyes.

In which area of reality do you find your life absorbed? If your focus is only on the natural world, you are suffering from short-sightedness. Using the lens of faith, look beyond the bounds of the temporary world with its temporary circumstances and see that there is another world. If you are looking for a reason to be courageous in the face of your hard times, you won’t find it in the natural realm. However, a supernatural assurance waits for you in the other world, just beyond the door you may enter by faith.

Not only do you live in a dual world – physical and spiritual – but the spiritual world is the dominate world. It’s within this dominate world that we find our real home. Your residence in this physical world is only temporary. However, your residence in the spiritual world is permanent. To recognize this truth is to embrace the foundation for contentment in this life below. When the outlook is bleak, try the upward look! You are, at this very moment, with Him by being in Christ Jesus.

The enemy of our souls robs us of our sense of peace when he causes us to look away from beyond the door to eternity and we become fixated on the temporal circumstances of this life. One example of this is found in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 6:8-17. Eugene Peterson recounts the story well in The Message:

One time when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, afer consulting with his officers, he said, “At such and such a place I want an ambush set.” The Holy Man sent a message to the king of Israel: “Watch out when you’re passing this place, because Aram has set an ambush there.”

So the king of Israel sent word concerning the place of which the Holy Man had warned him. This kind of thing happened all the time. The king of Aram was furious over all this. He called his officers together and said, “Tell me, who is leaking information to the king of Israel? Who is the spy in our ranks?”

But one of his men said, No, my master, dear king. It’s not any of us. It’s Elisha the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel everything you say, even when you whisper it in your bedroom. The king said, “Go and find out where he is. I’ll send someone and capture him.” The report came back, “He’s in Dothan.”

Then he dispatched horses and chariots, an impressive fighting force. They came by night and surrounded the city. Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, “Oh, master! What shall we do?” He said, “don’t worry about it – there are more on our side than on their side.” Then Elisha prayed, “O GOD, open his eyes and let him see.” The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full or horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!

This story is a perfect example of the connection between our focus and our sense of peace in the midst of trials. When the servant of Elisha could see only the physical world, panic struck him and peace disappeared instantly. Elisha, however, wasn’t focused on the temporal, but looked beyond the door and saw the eternal, where everything was under control.

So it is with you. Your life is hidden with God in Christ. Your roots are in heaven, even as you read this. Your assurance that everything will be okay comes from that life, not this one. Don’t look to find peace around the temporal things of this world. Peace is your birthright, but experiencing it comes from the Man of Peace - Jesus Christ, Himself. It is learned as you look beyond what you can see in the natural world and, by faith, see our Triune God seated securely on His throne.

"Walking In the Will of God" Is Now Available In the Philippines!

My book, "Walking In the Will of God" has just been released in the Philippines in the English language. If you live there and would like to get the book, the publisher is Shepherd House Publishers. Their web site is www.shepherdhousepublishers.com and the contact info is shephous@mozcom.com. It is encouraging to see t...he message of our Father's grace spreading across the Philippines!

Retroactive Salvation?

There’s an amazing story in the book of Joshua about the children of Israel that I believe may point us toward a wonderful truth about the work of Jesus at the cross. It’s the story of the crossing of the Jordan River. God had told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan into Canaan, the land of abundant living.

For 40 years the people had wandered in the wilderness. God had given them Canaan many years earlier. That was an objective reality. However, their unbelief kept it from being their subjective experience. Hebrews 3:19 says that “they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.” It was theirs but little good it did them because they didn’t believe.

Finally, they were going to cross over under the leadership of Joshua. His name is the Old Testament Hebrew name equivalent to the New Testament name, “Jesus.” Joshua would do something that Moses, the one who had brought them the Law could never do. He would lead them out of the barren wilderness and into the land of life – abundant life. (Those bringing Law can never lead anybody into abundant living.)

The Bible tells how it happened in Joshua 3:

15 . . . when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest ), 16 the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan ; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. 17 And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was a tangible manifestation of the presence of Yahweh. The story here recounts that the Jordan River was flooded. The Jordan isn’t a deep river, but it is a downhill river that has a swift current under normal conditions. With flooding conditions, it would be impossible to cross over it without being swept all the way to the Dead Sea by its raging current.

God had told Joshua to have the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to step in the water first. Let God lead the way. The instant their feet touched the water, the Bible says the Jordan River backed up all the way to the city of Adam.

There is an interesting meaning in the names in this text. Do you think it’s coincidental that the city's name was Adam? I don’t. Beside the city of Adam was Zarethan. There is some discrepancy about the meaning of that name, but Strong’s Concordance (Word #6868) says the Hebrew name “Zarethan” comes from a root word meaning, “to pierce, to puncture.” Other commentaries suggest that the name means, “the great or lofty rock,” referring to the conspicuous peak of Kurn Surtabheh, which projects sharply upward from the mountains of Ephraim. Either definition suggests strong overtones of a typology pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The One who was pierced is also a Great Rock. In fact, He’s the Rock of Ages.

When the water backed up to the city of Adam, the flow of destruction that would have swept everybody into the Dead Sea (another name for the Salt Sea) not only stopped, but also was reversed all the way back to Adam. The people walked across into the land of abundant life on dry land because the High Priest, acting in the power of Yahweh stepped into the flow of death Himself.

The comparison is profound. Our High Priest, Jesus, wasn’t caught off guard when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Just as Zarethan was beside the city of Adam, so was the Son of God standing by with full awareness when the first Adam started the raging torrent of sin that, left unhindered, would have swept us all into eternal death. He was there. He knew in advance what would happen. He already had a plan in place to deal with Adam’s fallen race before Adam even touched the fruit on the forbidden tree.

When Jesus (the high priest) stepped into the torrential flow of sin (the current of the Jordan) that would have swept us all into eternal death (the Dead Sea), He caused the water’s flow (sin’s effect) to back up all the way to the man, Adam, in the Garden of Eden (the city of Adam).

Here’s the beauty of the cross. Not only did what Jesus do affect those who would live after His death, the cross also impacted those who lived before His crucifixion – all the way back to Adam.

Contemporary Christians often point out that we look backward to the cross for the source of our salvation, but what about those who lived before then? There’s an interesting passage in Ephesians 4 that may shed light on that issue.

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

What does it mean when the Bible says that He led a host of captives when He ascended on high? Could this verse describe Jesus preaching to those who had lived prior to His coming? The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word sheol to describe the abode of the dead. The Jewish people believed that sheol was divided into two parts – one for the wicked and the other for the righteous (Abraham’s bosom).

Is it possible that the captives Jesus led out of the lower parts of the earth were those in Sheol? Is it possible that our Lord Himself preached the good news to those held captive there, awaiting the Hope that was to come? Even the Apostle Peter talked about Jesus preaching to those who had lived in Noah’s day during the time between His crucifixion and resurrection. Peter wrote:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-19).

The word “now” in this verse is not in the original Greek but was added by editors because they thought it would help clarify the verses meaning, although it doesn’t. You can see this for yourself at: http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/passage.aspx?q=1%20Peter+3:18-20&t=nas where the Greek words are links and those added to the text by editors are in normal black font.

So the Apostle Paul said that Jesus led captives out of captivity when He descended to the lower parts. The Apostle Peter said He preached to imprisoned spirits. You can draw your own conclusions, but I don’t think it stretches biblical hermeneutics too far to conclude that what Jesus did at the cross embraced humanity – all of humanity – retroactively all the way back to Adam. If He did indeed preach the gospel to those who had lived before, they had the same opportunity to hear the message that all are included in His finished work, just as you have had the opportunity.

The objective reality is that the work of Christ includes every man, woman, boy and girl who has ever lived. The subjective benefits of that reality becomes experiential to all who believe. I can’t prove it but I don’t think anybody will be left without that opportunity to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a mystery. His ways defy our limited and finite understanding, but I don’t think we can overestimate His loving grace.

This gospel we declare is big! Our Triune God has wrapped His arms around the universe and He invites us to simply believe that we are loved; that we share in His divine life; that we are all included in what He has done and, in so doing, we will glorify His work for all humanity accomplished on the cross and will live in the land of abundant living that our Joshua, our Last Adam came to provide for us all.

Poet Needed

In the movie, Contact, Jodie Foster plays a scientist who is whisked away to another planet after a special spaceship was built with blueprints provided by extra-terrestrials. In the scene where she makes contact with the space aliens, she is carried through one space wormhole after another until she finds herself standing beside a beautiful ocean on the planet to which they have carried her.

The beach where she stands is an awesome and beautiful place. In her first moments in this otherworldly paradise, she gasps with amazement while tears of joy stream down her cheeks. Up until this point she has tried to document her journey in scientific terms for her fellow academicians who selected her to make the trip. She has studied it through the lens of a scholar. But now, as she tries to take it all in, her scientific paradigm fails her. She stands riveted in one spot, overwhelmed by the beauty of it all, and simply whispers through tears of joy, “They should have sent a poet.”

“They should have sent a poet." So it is with the love of God. Theologians can’t describe Him. Books can’t contain Him. Sermons and songs don’t do Him justice. His love is immeasurable, immutable, and irrevocable. Being supernatural, His love can’t be understood by natural minds or natural means. It overflows the bounds of human experience and defies adequate explanation. A chimpanzee could sooner teach molecular biology than a man can do justice to explaining the scope of God’s love.

Divine love makes no sense to the natural mind. It so drastically transcends the pallid experience that man calls love that it almost seems a violation of the word for humans to use it. His love outpaces human love to the point of absurdity when judged by common man using common sense.

Divine love passionately ravages the senses of God’s chosen ones and leaves us absolutely breathlessly in love with Him. Let those of us who have an ear to hear, listen, as He whispers sweet affirmations in a hundred ways every day. Let us open our eyes and see the beauty of His presence in every detail of your life. Let’s taste and see that the Lord is good in the countless way He reveals His love to us. May we feel the gentle touch of His loving hand in the places where we hurt. And smell His sweet fragrance as He holds us in His arms and swears that He will never let us go, even for a moment.

I want to allow the greatness of His love to engulf me. I don’t want to resist it. I want the finite experiences of my life be swallowed up by infinite love. I want to take my eyes off my circumstances and look at Him. I want to stop worrying about tomorrow and look at Him. I want to turn away from regrets about the past and look at Him. Those things that distract me, disturb me, dilute me . . . I want to turn away from it all and look at Him. As I reflect on his love, only one question comes to mind – where’s a good poet when you need one?

(I posted this blog a few years ago but decided to rerun it now.)

Whispered In The Wind

Here's a song with a powerful message, written by my friends, Craig & Jonni Snyder. Craig is Director of Missions for Grace Walk Ministries.

What Kind of Mood Is God In Today?

I used to think that God's mood toward me depended on how I was behaving at the time. If I was doing my daily Bible reading, that helped put Him in a good mood. If I was praying like I should, that would help. If I led somebody to faith in Christ, that was sure to put a big smile on His face.

My perspective has radically changed over the years. Today I don't believe that God's mood has one thing to do with my behavior. His disposition toward us has to do with how good He is, not how good we are in our actions.

How do we know He's in a good mood? We can know that because of Jesus. In the incarnation of Christ, God can be seen running out of heaven toward man with a big smile on His face. In fact, the birth of Jesus was surrounded with jubilant celebration in the heavenly realm.

One angel, shouting with enthusiasm above the others, was heard to say, “I bring you good news of great joy, which shall come to all people” (Luke 2:10, emphasis added)! Good news of great joy – that sounds like a reason for a party! Jesus came into this world with a joyful heart. He gulped life down on earth by the gallon. Consequently, those with a hunger to live to the fullest were drawn to Him.

It is noteworthy that His first miracle was performed at a party. (See John 2:1-11) One of the last things He told His disciples before leaving this world was that He wanted them to continue to be full of the joy they had seen in Him. (See John 15:11) Jesus was a fun-loving person.

If your mental picture of Him is that He was a religious sourpuss, you had better take another look. The people who were attracted to Him were dishonest businessmen, vulgar sailors, prostitutes, and the like – none of which you could exactly call “churchy people.” His opponents, on the other hand, came from a hyper-religious crowd who couldn’t crack a smile if their lives depended on it.

This uptight, hyper-religious crowd once even challenged Him about his lifestyle. Jesus answered them, For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon!” The Son of Man has come eating and drinking and you say, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:33-34)!

You just can’t please the Pharisaical hyper-religious crowd who love rules more than people. Even Jesus couldn’t! Of course we know that Jesus wasn’t a glutton and a drunkard, but the point to be understood here is that He obviously wasn’t so tightly wound that He didn’t enjoy life. He came into this world in the midst of celebration, lived a life filled with joy and on the last night of His life here challenged the disciples to hold on to that same joy.

Since Jesus said that He and His Father are one, we can understand much about the Father by looking at Jesus. Judging from Him, our God isn’t a cranky old Deity who doesn’t enjoy laughter and joy. To the contrary, He is its ultimate source. In fact, every trace of pleasure you have ever know finds it’s original roots in Him.

In his book, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton explains that it was his examination of pleasure in the world which brought him from atheism to Christ. He asserts that the thin veneer of secular materialism he saw in the world offered no satisfying answer for the hope and wonder that exists all around us.

In his thinking, only a romantic world effused with mystery and awe – like the story of Robinson Crusoe saving goods from his shipwreck – could account for our sense of gratitude and delight in the world. In Chesterton’s thinking, the ordinary blessings of life intimate a mysterious world: “I felt in my bones; first, that this world does not explain itself . . . There was something personal in the world, as in a work of art. I thought this purpose beautiful in its old design.”

For Chesterton, who was not looking to defend Christian orthodoxy,only Christianity provides a cogent explanation for the existence of pleasure in the world. In his experience and ours, pleasures are Edenic remnants, bits of paradise washed ashore from our ancestral shipwreck.

All pleasure can be ultimately traced to God as its source. A glass of milk that soured because it sat on the counter for three days is no less milk than the milk still in the refrigerator. Both find their origin in the same source, but one has been spoiled by corruption. So it is with the pleasures of life. Even sinful pleasures are the futile attempt of a blind man reaching out for what only God can provide. Our heavenly Father is the personification of pleasure. Anything else is sour milk.

A Great Illustration of the Difference Between The Objective & Subjective Work of the Cross

Recently I wrote a blog about how the objective work of Christ on the cross is efficacious whether we believe it or not. We proclaim a finished gospel not a potential gospel that tells people they can be made right with God if they will do something like say a prayer or have faith or anything else. We have been reconciled and nobody's unbelief is big enough to negate that reality. However, I also wrote about how that we must believe in order for the objective reality of the cross to become our subjective experience. What Christ did, He did for every single person but not every person is a Christian. This story illustrates my point well:

There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious man who taught at a small college in the western United States .

Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course their freshman year, regardless of his or her major.

Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.

This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor's class.

One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.

"How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Dr. Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know.... I've never done 300 at a time"
"Do you think you could?" again asked Dr. Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.
Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it."
Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday.. Let me explain what I have in mind."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class.

Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?" Cynthia said, "Yes."

Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"

"Sure!" Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes." Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"

Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.

Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship..

When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?" Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own push-ups?"

Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them." Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"

With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups.

Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!"

Dr.. Christianson said, "Look! This is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.

Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"

Sternly, Jenny said, "No."

Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?"

Steve did ten....Jenny got a donut.

By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say, "No!" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks.

Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.

Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the class, to watch Steve do each push up to make sure he did the full ten push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so Robert count the set and watch Steve closely.

Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row.. During his class, however, some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.

Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"

Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way that you want." And Dr. Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"

Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."

Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten push-ups for him?"

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut."

Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"

Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut."

"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?"

Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.

Dr Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those visitors seated by the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. By this time sweat was profusely dropping off of his face, there was no sound except his heavy breathing; there was not a dry eye in the room..

The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?"

Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."

Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.

Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can't I help him?"

Dr Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone; I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not.. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked at my grade book. Steve here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes."

"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?"

As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, plead to the Father, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten. "

Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.

"Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor, adding, "Not all sermons are preached in words."

Turning to his class, the professor said, "My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He spared not His Only Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift to us, the price has been paid."

"Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"

(Thanks to Lynn Alford for sending this story to me.)

Sin and Punishment

One of the biggest misunderstandings about sin is that God punishes us for the wrong things we do. There certainly are many verses in the Bible that seem to suggest that at first glance, but the fact is that there is another way of understanding these verses than many of us have considered.

Nobody's interpretation of the Bible comes from a place of neutrality. Every one of us, despite all effort to avoid it, tend to understand what the Bible says based on preconceived ideas we already have. When a person says, "I just believe what the Bible plainly teaches," they are either showing a lack of understanding about the matter or else are putting their arrogance on display. To know what the Bible says is one thing, but to come to conclusions about what it means is another. One guy wrote me and said that he doesn't try to interpret the Bible but just accepts what it plainly says. That kind of perspective is so shallow it's hard to even know how to respond. We all interpret everything we hear or read everyday of our lives. Otherwise, the words would have no meaning to us but would only be nonsensical sounds.

Because many Christians have wrongly imagined the nature of God in a way that they see Him primarily as a Judge who is meticulously supervising their behavior to watch for moral infractions that need to be punished, they read the Bible from that starting point. To them, a "just" God equals one who is quick to drop retribution on wrongdoing and wrongdoers.

Others of us don't begin at that place. The starting point from which we understand the Bible is our view of God as Love. We see Him coming to Adam in love after his sin in the garden and believe that's how He approaches all of us all the time. After all, if the man whose choice brought sin upon all didn't experience God's anger, what makes us think we will? After Adam sinned, God came to him for his daily walk, not to obliterate Him with divine anger and judgment.

Is punishment associated with sin? Absolutely, but the punishment comes from the sin itself, not from God. The wages of sin is still death but it's the sin that brings the death and not our God. To the contrary, He is a life-giver.

I'm certainly not minimizing the seriousness of sin. Sin destroys! The point that is important though is that Jesus saves! He delivers us from sin and gives us life instead. God hates sin but it isn't because He has a hypersensitivity to evil that repels Him. He defeated sin! He hates sin because of what it does to those He loves.

"But doesn't God discipline His children?" somebody recently wrote me. The answer is, "Yes, He does but we need to make sure we know the difference between punishment and discipline." Punishment is retribution. It's payback. Punishment has no redemptive value for the one experiencing it. Discipline is another matter. The root of the word "discipline" is "disciple," a word that means "a learner."

So, our Father will lovingly allow us at times to experience the painful consequence of sinful choices in order to teach us. He wants us to learn that when we try to find fulfillment by doing our own thing, it is a dead-end road. Literally. He wants us to see that it is only "in His presence [that we find] fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11). When discipline comes to us, it isn't payback and it isn't because our Father is angry with us. It is because He loves us and doesn't want to see us repeat the same actions that would cause us to eventually decline and wither into a wasted, destroyed life if He didn't discipline us so that we'd know better.

So is there punishment for sin? Yes, sin definitely carries a penalty but that punishment is inherent in sin - not in our Loving God. "The wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

The Subjective Experience of An Objective Reality

For many years, I didn't truly see the finished work of Christ as the gospel. I certainly said I saw it that way but, in reality, I saw the work of the cross more as a potential gospel. My view was that if people would ask God to forgive their sin, He would. If a person would pray to get right with God, He would answer that prayer. If somebody would come to God in faith, the great gulf of sin that separated her from God would be bridged.

It all depended on the person - his faith - her decision. I don't see the gospel of Jesus Christ that way anymore. The gospel isn't a sales pitch in which we tell people that if they'll do this, then God will do that. The gospel is an announcement of good news. When Jesus said, "It is finished," He really meant it.

We have been justified and reconciled to God by the finished work of Christ, not by a decision that we may or may not make. The good news of the gospel isn't that God won't count our trespasses against us if we come to Him. The gospel is the news that He doesn't count our sin against us because He has come to us! As the One who came to take away the sins of the world, He has dealt with the matter of sin once for all.

Does that mean that everybody is automatically a Christian? No, not at all. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ; one who trusts Him and is depending on nothing or nobody else as the source of his right standing with God. I have often said that salvation is the subjective experience of an objective reality.

God has done what He has done, whether we believe it or not. We have been reconciled to Him but it is in the believing that we begin to experience the personal benefit of what He has done. Our sin has already been forgiven, but that objective reality has no personal value to us until we believe it. The Father has accepted us. That's real. It's when accept Him that we see the beauty of His acceptance and are transformed. We love Him because He first loved us.

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, setting all slaves in the United States free. That was an objective reality. However, that didn’t mean they all experientially benefited from it. Shelby Foote, in his three-volume work on the Civil War recorded the response of one slave that revealed the mindset of many. This slave said, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout Abraham Lincoln, ‘cept he set us free. And I don’t know nothing ‘bout that neither.”

That man's experience mirrors that of many people today. Jesus Christ has dealt with the sin of mankind. Jesus Christ has set us free from sin's tyranny over us. That's an objective fact, but that doesn't mean everybody is living out of that reality.

One theologian was asked, "When were you saved?" "Well, I suppose it was 2000 years ago," he answered. What did he mean? He meant that the objective reality of salvation took place at the cross. Trusting Christ now doesn't bring something into existence. Instead, trusting Him now is simply a response predicated on the fact that we, at last, see what He has already accomplished for us and we now believe it! We begin to live in the reality that was brought into existence at the cross. We begin to enjoy today the subjective experience of an objective reality that was settled long ago.

Remember that faith doesn't make anything happen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Those things are there already. They're just not seen. Through faith, the invisible reality that already exists becomes our visible experience. Through faith, the objective become subjective.

There's nothing left for God to do for mankind. He has already done it all. To proclaim the gospel is to tell people that it really is finished. To experience salvation firsthand is to believe it and live from the reality of His work on our behalf.

Musings of A Middle-Aged Man

I almost always find myself becoming introspective around my birthday every year. I'm not melancholic at all nor one normally prone to philosophical mental meanderings, but at least once a year I find myself reflecting on the core issues of life and asking myself if my lifestyle is an authentic and honest expression of those things I value most.

Maybe it's just my personality, but I want to live with intentionality. I don't want to just do the next thing that comes, then the next thing and then the next, until one day I lie down and die. I'm not an old man, but I'm certainly not a young man any more either. If I live to the age my Dad did, I have 20 more years here. I want them to count. I'm hardly old enough to be a wise old sage. I have no doubt that I still have a lot to learn, but there are a few things that have become clear to me with the passing years.

1. We never move past problems in life.
I used to think that the day would come that life would settle down and there wouldn't be so many troubles in life. Back then, it was the pressures of rearing young children, trying to figure out how to pay the bills, dealing with worn out cars, broken refrigerators, washer and dryer, etc. I thought that once my kids grew up and I came to a place where I earned an income sufficient to pay the bills, life would be great. Little did I know that in life, it's the case that as one set of challenges fade away, others rise on the horizon. If we're looking for calm circumstances in order to find peace of mind, we're in for a big disappointment in life because for most people it just isn't going to happen. "Man is born for trouble like sparks fly upward," Job said.

I've had people more than once suggest that Melanie and I live "an exotic lifestyle." I understand why they'd say that. What they're referring to is the travel we've done all over the world, the books, regular appearances on TV, radio, etc. etc. etc. I'm as amazed as anybody could be by the things our Father has allowed us to experience. If I died today, I feel like I've lived a more full life than many people live in a hundred years. I'm thankful for that.

But surface appearances aren't always the whole story. Like everybody else, we have had and still have our share of heavy burdens. Even as I write this blog, I am facing several circumstances that are absolutely terrifying - life threatening or life altering situations with people I love. The kind of things that make you lie awake at night and pray.

So, one thing I see clearly is that there will always be troubles in life, but the next clear reality is what sustains me.

2. Our Father is faithful.
A long time ago I settled on the reality that our God can be trusted. That certainty is big in my life. There have been times I would have despaired completely had it not been for that knowledge. Standing in the darkness is not a good time to formulate your theology. You need to do that in the light. That way, when the darkness comes we can hold onto what we know despite the fact that everything around us is screaming messages to the contrary.

God is good. Do you really believe that? Once we settle on that fact, everything else becomes manageable. That doesn't mean it will never hurt, but no matter how hard a situation may be, it's manageable if we can cling to His goodness.

3. It's all about Love.
For a long time, I thought life was all about right and wrong. "Do right and teach others to do right." That was my aim. It was the template through which I reared my children, through which I taught my congregation, through which I evaluated myself and others. But I was wrong - seriously wrong. To live that way is to live from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

Life isn't about right behavior. Life is about loving relationships. We came into being out of a loving relationship among the members of the Trinity and we exist for loving relationships with Him and with each other.

By God's grace, I'm done with judging people. I've learned I can't even change me, let alone somebody else. I want to just love people, no matter who they are, how they live, what they believe or anything else that used to separate me from others created and loved by our Father. Their behavior isn't my business. That's up to God. Loving them is my business.

Jesus came to show us the Father's love. If He thought it worthy to spend His life doing that very thing, then I assume there's no higher use of my life than to do the same. I still find myself looking at people through the condescending eyes of judgment sometimes, but I'm asking my Father to free me from that and I'm seeing progress.

I want to love my family with agape love. I want to love my friends that way. I want to love strangers that way. I even want to love those who see me as the enemy that way. It's a God-sized goal and only He can make it happen in me, but I'm trusting that He will do that very thing.

4. I want to be real.
By that, I mean that I want to live in a way that people see the real me. It's very easy for people in public ministry to take on the persona that other people unconsciously put on them. It's not uncommon for authors, pastors, or anybody who is watched by the public eye to project an "artificial" image of themselves. I don't want to do that. I've had people accuse me of doing that a few times and it hurt deeply to think that there might be truth in their criticism. (It isn't necessary for you to respond by reassuring me that it isn't true :) Many have also told me just the opposite of that criticism.)

I want to live in a way that people know that this grace walk isn't just for those who "have their ducks in a row." Sometimes I can't even find my ducks. The other extreme from those who appear to be artificial are those who seem to have no filter. I see some people in ministry these days who look like "emotional exhibitionists." They seem to think there's value in putting themselves down, speaking of themselves in an almost contemptuous way. I don't think that's right either. After all, we are "His workmanship created in Christ Jesus." I can't imagine that our Father appreciates it when we talk about ourselves like we're a piece of trash.

That's it. One man's thoughts on life as he looks inwardly. What have you learned? How do you want to live your life? What are the core values you want to express in the days you have left? Call me sappy, but I think these are questions we would all do well to consider.

How about those of you in your seventies and older? What are the things you've learned that weren't so clear early in life? The rest of us would like to hear your thoughts in the comments section either here on the blog or the comments section in the link to this blog on FaceBook.

How Do You See God?

One of the greatest effects of sin's curse when Adam fell in the Garden of Eden was the way it tainted humanity's view of God. Until he sinned, Adam had walked through the garden with God every evening. What a time of intimacy that must have been!

But everything changed when sin entered in. Immediately Adam was filled with fear of God and hid himself. He imagined that God would come storming down upon him in anger and judgment because of His sin. He couldn't have been more wrong. God came that evening for His daily walk. There is no evidence that He came in anger with intentions to condemn Adam. He came for His walk! I wonder what would have happened if Adam had come running out to God from his hiding place and have cried out, "Father, I've done a terrible thing! Help me!" I can only imagine. However, that was not to be. From this moment onward, Adam wouldn't see God clearly again, but would only see a distorted caricature of the true God.

From this day forward, he would smear his own sense of guilt and self-condemnation on the face of God. Adam's sin didn't change God at all, but it radically changed Adam. From now on, He would see God as a Punitive Judge who is first and foremost interested in how we behave. He lost the awareness of the reality that our God is not a harsh Judge but a loving Father whose interest and concern is our welfare. He doesn't hate sin because of its moral implications. He hates it because of what it does to those He loves.

The whole Adamic race would, from that day forward, show all the signs of sin's infection. They would no longer see God as Love but rather would see Him as a Legalist who scrutinizes their behavior for infractions that needed to be judged.

God isn't into punishment. Is there a punishment for sin? Of course, but sin brings its own punishment. The wages (punishment/penalty) of sin is death but be sure that it is sin that punishes, not our Father. (Discipline is another subject. That has to do with being "discipled" when our Father allows us to experience sin's consequence for the purpose of lovingly teaching us its dangers.) Our Father's heart is to pour out His love on us. After all, God is love and Love can do nothing that is unloving or He would contradict His own nature.

Legalism would have us believe that in a world where God isn't out to punish us for our sins, people will go crazy sinning. They think that the only thing that regulates our behavior is Marshall Law imposed on us by heaven. Behave or else. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Paul wrote, "The love of God compels me." It isn't punishment but Agape that motivates us toward godly lifestyles. The need of mankind today is to understand the love of God. When we understand that His interest in us is that we fully live the life He intends, which can never be motivated by fear, we will begin to find the rest that Adam knew before He sinned.

(This blog is excerpted from this week's Sunday Preaching broadcast now online at www.gracewalk.org.)