“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:10).
It can be rough standing out from the crowd. Don’t expect to be popular if you follow Jesus’ teachings.
As we finish up the Christian Behavior series, we need to look at how the world will react to people who actually follow Jesus. It’s not uncommon to hear that people only dislike Christians when they get preachy about sexual morality. That’s not actually true, though. People speak highly of Jesus' ethical teachings until someone actually starts following them. Then they can get grumpy real quick.
The virgin birth of Christ seems to be the miracle the most people have a problem believing. Even many people who believe in the resurrection struggle with the idea of a virgin getting pregnant. Here in the modern world, we know that such things cannot happen, but back in ancient times, they were gullible people who would believe anything. We can imagine how the conversation between Mary and Joseph went:
Mary: Joseph, I’m pregnant.
Joseph: What? You’ve been cheating on me?
Mary: No! I have been with no man! I am still a virgin.
Joseph: Phew! That’s a relief. Well, these things happen you know...
The reality is their conversation looked nothing like that.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matt 7:24-25).
We really don’t like rules. The day our first parents broke the one rule they were given something crept into our DNA that makes us chafe against any limitations. Nothing makes us want to touch something more than a sign that says “don’t touch.”
We’ve spent the last several months looking at a lot of rules, things Jesus said to do or not do. Human nature is to go along with the ones that suit us and ignore the ones that seem too hard or too limiting. Jesus warns us not to do that.
We’re about to lay my brother to rest. He wasn’t young, but he wasn’t that old. It’s still too soon. He’s not the first my family has lost “too soon,” in fact there have been several in the last 10 years, a few even in their 20s, and we’re hardly the only family to go through that.
Life has always been hard, but lately it seems to be so hard for so many. Lost loved ones, lost jobs, lingering health problems, and hunger surround us. Death, war, famine, and pestilence aren’t just comic book characters. The whole world is hurting.
When we suffer, we cry out to know why and receive no response. If we knew why, would it really make us feel better? Unlikely.
Job is one of the most popular characters found in the Bible; everyone knows his story. When he’d lost everything, Job demanded to know why. God didn’t tell him why. God told him who.
“Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matt 24:42).
The King is coming! One day the sky will split open and the Lord will appear. We “do not know the day or the hour” (Matt 25:13), but he’s coming, and it will be good for the servant whose Master finds him doing his job when he returns (Matt 24:46).
It’s tempting to wonder if he’s really coming. It’s been such a long time. This was a problem in the first century, so it’s not surprising for it to appear now.
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ...
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. ... (2Pet 3:3-10)
We all want to do great things for Jesus. That’s normal and healthy. But we’re not all going to get to.
Pastors probably want to be the next Spurgeon or Billy Graham. Writers dream of being the next CS Lewis. The more politically minded hope to be our generation’s Wilberforce. Most of us won’t be.
How do we deal with the fact that most of us will live our lives and then go to our reward without anything impressive to be rewarded for?
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt 7:15).
The enemy is among us. The Bible has a lot to say about false teachers. It’s a major topic in 2 Peter, Jude, Galatians, and the Pastorals, but it comes up in almost every New Testament book. Jesus called them “wolves in sheep’s clothing;” Paul called them “savage wolves” who would try to draw away disciples (Acts 20:29-30). Jude called them “shepherds who feed only themselves” (v12).
This isn’t just advice or a warning, it’s a command. Jesus tells us to be vigilant because these people are destructive. They tell people what they want to hear (2Tim 4:3-4). They may create legalistic rules (1Tim 4:1-5) leading to self-righteousness, or they may tell people there are no rules, that they can live however they want (Jude 1:4). Perhaps they’ll get us distracted by godless myths or foolish arguments (2Tim 2:23). Whatever they’re doing, they’re not building up the church. They’re misleading believers for their own profit (2Pet 2:3).
“The congregation gets the crumbs of the pastor’s Bible study.” When a professor said that years ago, I didn’t really understand; now I believe it. When I’ve sat through a sermon over a passage I’ve studied, and when I’ve studied in order to teach something, it’s become clear that there is so much bounty, so much juicy goodness that it cannot possibly all fit into any sermon or lesson.
So if you’re not digging into the scriptures for yourself, you’re missing out. Even if you regularly read the Bible, you may be leaving so much treasure unearthed.
Think of the scriptures like a fancy layered dessert — maybe a cake or parfait. There are several layers, and each offers new delights. If you don’t dig down into all the layers, you’re missing out.
A decade after everyone else figured this out, I finally noticed many people prefer social media to RSS feeds or email subscriptions, so I've created a Facebook page where I will post what I've written here. If you have a Facebook account, this would make it easy to share any posts you liked.
Please take a look, follow it if you're interested, and let me know if you have any thoughts about how I could set it up better.
You can find the page at facebook.com/HomewardBoundBlog/.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7).
Do you trust God? How can we say we trust him to save us from our sins if we don’t trust everything else he says? But when he says, “Ask and it will be given to you,” that’s so hard to believe.
Is it hard to believe he’s able to give us what we ask for? Surely not. If he can create a universe, surely he can meet our little needs. So do we doubt his willingness? I think so. We have to trust that our heavenly Father wants to give us good things.
Paul said, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32), so we should be willing to act on what Jesus said. How do we do that?
The problem of evil asks why the world is like it is if God is good. There are two common approaches to it. The more common one rests mostly on emotion. There is a less common version, though, that starts with Christian theology and asks hard questions. Is it any more convincing?
My dog lives to play. She likes tug of war and fetch — though she has yet to realize if she gives you the ball back, you can throw it again. Her very favorite thing is her frisbee.
She’s also fond of treats. Or people food. Any people food.
First thing in the morning, she wants to play. But I’ve got to work. She stares at me, wondering why we’re not playing. She can’t be in the room with me, because she’d be harassing me, trying to get me to play. I can’t get her to understand that toys and treats require money and I have to do things to get that money.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matt 7:1-2).
Meet this era’s favorite Bible verse. Of course, they misunderstand and misuse it.
“Do not judge” is the only command in the Bible they believe to be absolute. Do not judge, no ifs ands or buts. Jesus does say that, but he says it in context, and we have to consider everything he says on the matter.
The conservative political objection to Roe v Wade (besides the moral issue) was that it took the subject of abortion out of the democratic process and enshrined it into law via judicial fiat. There was no debate, no persuasion, just boom — abortion. Dobbs undid that. It put the abortion issue back into the hands of the people and their representatives. Now we can have that debate. Now people can try to persuade each other of the rightness of their view.
How are we doing on that?
I don’t see a lot of persuading going on. I don’t see any large-scale attempts to change people’s minds. Oh, there’s lots of yelling on the internet, but the “democratic process” has largely been whichever side has a majority clubbing the other side over the head with the most extreme law they can devise.
What are we doing to persuade people that our view is correct?
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life” (Matt 6:25-27).
Worry is a choice. We don’t think of it that way, of course. To us, worry is just what happens when you’ve got a lot on your mind, but the scriptures insist that worry is a choice that we’re making.
When Jesus talks about food and clothes, he’s not talking about modern, prosperous Americans who wonder if they can afford to eat out or want a new pair of designer jeans. He’s talking to people who wonder where their next meal will come from and only have one threadbare garment. He says to them, trust God to meet your material needs. If he expects that of them, he certainly does of us.
When Isaiah describes a servant who is pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (53:5), we’re within our rights to see Jesus. When David describes someone whose hands and feet are pierced, whose clothes are divided by casting lots (Ps 22:16-18), we’d have to be blind not to see Jesus. But when Hosea says, “Out Egypt I called my son” (11:1), aren’t we taking it completely out of context to say it’s about Jesus like Matthew does (2:14)? The problem is we have a fairly limited sense of the word “prophecy” compared to the apostles.
Theologians and Bible teachers speak of types, patterns, and figures in the OT, but literature gives us a simpler concept: foreshadowing — a literary device where an author gives the reader a hint of what is to come. In modern media, we have developed another useful concept: the Easter egg.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:19-21).
It’s OK to want to be rich, but there’s more than one kind of riches.
According to Jesus, there is wealth that will pass away and wealth that will last. He advises us to store up wealth that will last. But what kind of wealth lasts?
In the past, wealth might just be stored food. If you could store up enough grain to last a lifetime, you were set — unless something got into your grain and ruined it. Or you could have gold or silver — as long as no one broke in and stole it. Today people are less likely to keep massive granaries, preferring to invest so that your money makes more money. Until the stock market crashes or that company you sunk your savings into turns out to be nothing but a shell game. So some people just hide their cash in their backyard, which seems like a safe bet until runaway inflation hits and a loaf of bread costs a million dollars (or Deutsch marks).
Stored goods can be ruined, gold can be stolen, markets can crash, and money can be devalued. What kind of treasure lasts forever?
Our culture says I can be anything I want to be, but God says I was made with a specific purpose in mind. If I am not being what I was made to be, what am I? You can use a car as a planter, but cars were not made to be planters. A car being used like that is not living up to its full potential, and no one would do that to a car unless it was broken, unless it could no longer be what it was made to be.
Even the shiniest toaster makes a pretty bad mirror. You could use it as a door stop, but that’s not what it’s for. Maybe you could use it to store bread, but doesn’t it just cry out for you to press down that lever and fill the house with the glorious smell of toast?
Our society is obsessed with becoming “my authentic self”, and everyone gets to determine for himself what that is. And the first thing they do is throw out their maker’s actual intentions.
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12).
I no longer remember what we were talking about, but more than 15 years later, I still remember my response: “Some things you just can’t forgive.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were wrong and wished I could unsay them. Not only were those words not true, they encouraged someone else’s worst impulses.
Here’s the unvarnished truth: Those things you think you can’t forgive? Jesus wants you to forgive them. He demands it. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt 6:14-15).
We look around our world today and see perversion and rebellion. We find people who not only disbelieve but even mock God. Now there are people who want to force Christians to the margins of society and academia for the egregious sin of believing what everyone believed 10 minutes ago. We see this, and we feel the need to strap on our swords and do battle. Culture warriors and apologists and even average believers find it easy to get angry over the state of this world that seems determined to harm children and corrupt everything that is good. These people are sinners and scoffers. These people are wicked.
The Lord called them something even more powerful: Lost.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matt 6:1).
Some call this a contradiction. Matt 5:16 says to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds.” This verse says not to. What’s going on?
Things are clearer when you read the whole passage. They always cut 5:16 off early. Jesus said to let them see your good deeds “and glorify your Father in heaven.” In chapter 6, Jesus is talking about doing things “to be honored by others” (6:2). It’s a matter of the heart.
It also helps to look at what is described in these two sections of the Sermon.
In court we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Leaving out inconvenient bits is just like making up convenient bits. The truth is simply what really happened, no more, no less.
When writing on yet another passage I wish wasn’t in the Bible I realized I had yet to discuss how those passages add strength to the case that the scriptures are trustworthy.
The popular/skeptical view of the gospels is that they may have had some core historical facts, but they grew over time as more and more stories were invented. The people who collected these stories were not there with Jesus, and people who were there weren’t involved or even around when these stories were written down. They made up the stories they needed to spin the tale they wanted because the message was more important than fidelity to history.
That view is false.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt 5:38-39).
I don’t know if I can adequately communicate just how much I wish this passage wasn’t in the Bible.
The Law of Moses contained instructions for how to run Israel’s legal system. One of those rules was to take “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” when someone was injured (as opposed to head for eye and arm for tooth). People had apparently taken that as an individual instruction, using this command as justification for personal revenge. Jesus’ people are not to take personal revenge. More than that, they are to cooperate when people try to abuse them.
This week I offer you a collection of articles on reading or studying the Bible well. I hope you find them useful.
♦ Why I Stopped Calling Parts of the Bible ‘Boring’
When I announced that we were spending the next six months in Jeremiah, I said something I’d heard many Bible teachers say before me: “I know this book is boring. But we’re going to learn something.” I think I was trying to lower the stakes for them—or maybe for me. I was setting the bar low so that if Jeremiah held their interest even a little, that was a success.
But looking back, I regret saying it. It’s not true. Jeremiah isn’t boring. The Bible isn’t boring. Even the parts that people always say are boring are weird, gripping, and awe-inspiring. If we let them, they will absolutely command our attention.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all ... Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matt 5:33, 37).
Truth is a precious commodity. In a world filled with “my truth”, alternative facts, and things that are “true from a certain point of view”, Jesus wants us to be people of Truth.
At first glance, Jesus’ command about oaths is a little puzzling. What’s wrong with making an oath and not breaking it? Jesus’ objection to oaths becomes clearer in another passage:
Lately I’ve been pondering what one piece of advice I’d give my young relatives about marriage.
Boiling it down to one thing is hard. It assumes they know there is no more “your money” and “my money”, only “our money”. You hope they know marriage means you stop dating. Surely they can figure out the answer to “Does this make my butt look big?” is an emphatic “No!”
Now, everyone who’s married could give a dozen tips to the newly married, but no one wants to listen to all that. Is there just one thing that trumps all the rest? Looking back over 22 years of love and laughter and hurt feelings and I’m sorry’s, a common theme does seem to emerge:
How do you know if someone’s a vegan?*
What do you call a vegan who eats steak? Happy, yes, but what’s the name for them? Confused? I know a website called “vegan when sober,” so I guess that offers another option.
We don’t have a word for that because vegans don’t eat meat. A person who calls himself a vegan but eats steak isn’t really a vegan any more than a person who calls himself a Democrat but votes for candidates promising a minimalist government is really a Democrat.
So what do you call a Christian who doesn’t love his neighbor, seeks revenge, and prioritizes money over everything? That’s not a Christian. What do you call a follower of Christ who doesn’t follow Christ? That’s right up there with a square circle.
But people can call themselves Christians no matter what they believe or how they behave.
Jesus warned us about these people:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:27-28).
God takes sexual immorality very seriously, and it often starts with lust.
People do not just wake up and decide to sin. They respond to a temptation, which is then met with another temptation. And another. Where sexual immorality is concerned, that first temptation is often lust.
The problem is not seeing an attractive person and appreciating their good looks. It’s the second look. Looking back to take it in some more. You’re saying, “I’d like me some of that.” And that’s the seed of sexual immorality. From there it’s just one more compromise, then another compromise, and you’ve done something you can’t undo.
Atheists have always been among us, but after 9/11 they became especially vocal. These “new atheists” insisted that religion was not just wrong but stupid and dangerous. The new book by Eric Metaxas, Is Atheism Dead?, answers this accusation by showing that the more we learn about science the less naturalistic explanations for the universe’s origins seem plausible. Then he tells how archaeology has supported the biblical record time and again. In the third section, he addresses the new atheists’ “dangerous” claim specifically by showing how many people atheism killed in the 20th century and then takes on the “stupid” claim by discussing the philosophical problems with atheism, famous atheists who became theists, and famous scientists who were Christians.
In principle, it’s a worthy endeavor. In the actual execution, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matt 5:21-22a).
Your anger is a fire, and you are the first person you burn.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us about real righteousness. He doesn’t want us to be superficially good yet dirty inside. He called those people “whitewashed tombs” (Matt 23:27). No, our righteousness should go all the way down to the core.
Religious claims are not statements of opinion. They are truth claims. A religion says, “The world is like this, not that.” If we step away from the arena of religion, we can see more clearly how this works.
We believe everyone in the world has a disease, let’s say it’s diabetes. We further believe the only way to treat diabetes is insulin. Some people think you should treat it with penicillin. Others think you should treat it with ice cream. Some ice cream people don’t even believe anyone has diabetes.
Since everyone is sick, we believe we have an obligation to tell people about insulin. Most of them don’t want to hear it.
Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus rose up into the sky and disappeared (Acts 1:1-11). Some regard this as one of the most unbelievable stories in scripture. Yet most Christians just accept it and move on, so it doesn’t receive a lot of attention from apologists. Why should we believe such an amazing claim? Does that require us to accept their cosmology? And why did Jesus leave in the first place?
“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’” (Mark 10:21).
What if we truly loved everyone we meet? How would that change how we interact with people?
Let’s review the story we call “The Rich Young Ruler”. A young man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus reminds of the more man-focused commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother” (Mark 10:19).
He replies, “All these I have kept since I was a boy” (v20).
Mark’s account includes this interesting comment: “Jesus looked at him and loved him” (v21).
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).
This may be the Lord’s hardest command. “Do not commit adultery” comes naturally to a lot of people, but loving your enemy? That is completely unnatural.
Who’s my enemy? Whoever I don’t want to do good to. Whoever I don’t like. Whoever I feel is trying to harm me, ruin me, or mistreat me. Your enemy is the one trying to damage your reputation. Your enemy is the person who’s always asking for a very reasonable inch so they can take a mile.
What do I do with these people? “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well” (Matt 5:39).
That’s not how the world treats their enemies. Our world says, "If you disagree with me, you must be ruined." That is not the way of the cross. Christ’s followers do not slander their enemies, vandalize their homes or businesses, or try to destroy their livelihood. Rather than acting out of anger, we’re supposed to treat them as if they were friends:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
Christ’s people are to show each other a special kind of love. You’re supposed to do for other people whatever you’d want someone to do for you. You’re also expected to do for your brothers and sisters in Christ what you’d never dream of asking anyone to do for you.
Our model is the kind of sacrificial and humble love demonstrated by Christ Jesus
“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:6-8)
How did we come to a place where the sentence “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body” is considered to be sensible by a large part of the population?
Carl Trueman answers that question in his latest book Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution (of which I received a free review copy). We all know about the sexual revolution, and we all know what’s going on now is related to it. What Trueman reveals, however, is that the pattern of thought that became the sexual revolution began 400 years ago. “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body” is a direct descendent of “I think; therefore, I am.”
“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:31).
Second only to the responsibility to love God with all you are is the command to love your neighbor. However, again, “love” is a weasel word in our society. So what does it mean to love someone? Jesus helped us out with some statements that will make it clearer.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 7:12).
We’ve labeled this the Golden Rule. It’s simple: Knowing nothing about that person, if you were the one in that situation, what would you want people to do for you? Many societies have a version of this, but it’s typically the negative, eg, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to another.” The negative is easy: If you don’t want to be set on fire, don’t set people on fire.
The positive requires you to do for burning people what you would want someone to do for you — namely, extinguish the flames. The positive is less easy. When you see someone who is hurting, someone who is hungry, someone who is cold, you are to give what you would like to receive were you in their place.
The apostles take this command seriously.
Christianity stands or falls on whether Christ was really raised bodily from the dead. This isn’t an optional doctrine. Those who would demote Christ’s resurrection to being merely “spiritual” give up the whole thing. Christ himself pointed to his resurrection as the proof of his authority to teach and do what he did (John 2:19), and Paul made an extended discussion of the importance of the resurrection in 1Corinthians 15:
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. ... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (v14-19).
If Christ has not been raised, preaching is useless, faith is futile, we have lied about God, we’re still guilty of our sins, and the dead are truly gone. “We are of all people most to be pitied.“ If Christ has not been raised, Christianity is a joke, a silly game we play every week. We’re more than ridiculous; we’re pitiful. We should pack this thing up and go home.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Cor 15:20). This turns everything on its head.
Since Nicaea, the deity of Christ has more or less been settled doctrine. We believe the Son is “God from God, light from light, very God from very God.” We have a harder time with the humanity of Christ. Though we say he is “God made man”, we struggle with what that really means.
When the scriptures say that Christ ”took the form of a servant” and was “found in human form” (Phil 2:7-8 ESV, NRSV), it means he added a real human nature to his divine nature. That means he added all the weaknesses of our finite nature to his own. He could get tired. He could get hungry. He could get scared.
Which brings us to something often labeled a contradiction in the scriptures. In John 12, Jesus again teaches the disciples that he must die. Then he says, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (v27-28). He is ready to face his fate bravely.
Why then do the synoptic gospels record him in the garden pleading, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (Matt 26:39)?
There’s no contradiction. Quite simply, his fear got to him. On Sunday, he’s ready to face the cross. On Thursday night, he dreads what the morning will bring. It was a very human response.
What was he so afraid of? Crucifixion is a horrible way to die, but was that really what he was scared of? It was only going to be a few hours. Then he would be in paradise. The length of time he was going to be dead could be measured in hours. Then he would, as he had predicted, rise from the dead.
Did Jesus really, as some skeptics have mockingly said, just give up his weekend for our sins?
Why was he so afraid of his death when countless martyrs — Christian and not — have faced their fates stoically?
It wasn’t the death. It was the wrath.
“God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us ...” (2Cor 5:21) “so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). God requires justice for our sins. A rebellious sinner who dies in his sin will spend forever experiencing the wrath he is due. A few hours of pain, even a few days of death do not satisfy the wrath our rebellion warrants. In the few hours he was on the cross, Christ somehow experienced all the wrath we all deserve. The LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6).
What would it be like if you could suffer all the pain from all the burns anyone has ever received at once? Can you imagine that kind of suffering? And if you could feel every lash of a wip or blow with a fist anyone has ever lived through? Every time someone has been stabbed or shot or suffocated or crushed, you got to experience that, too. We don’t know exactly what Christ suffered through in those hours when the sun went dark and his Father forsook him, but know “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31), and Christ Jesus did just that times billions.
It was this wrath that filled Christ with dread such that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). But still he prayed “not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). He did not call down those legions of angels. He did not, as they taunted, come down off that cross. Instead he bore the wrath of God for me and for you.
And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?1
1 "And Can It Be?" by Charles Wesley
Image via Pixabay
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3).
Loving God is more than feelings; it’s what you do. It’s obeying him, choosing to honor him in how you live. The Decalogue, though often divided into “vertical” and “horizontal” rules (meaning, those pertaining to sins against God and those against other humans), can be viewed from the perspective of how each is a sin against God.
The first few are pretty obvious. You shall have no other gods because that suggests that the Living God is on par with the idols (or possibly demons, cf, 1Cor 10:20) which is an insult. God doesn’t share what’s his. If we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we’ll have nothing left for another god — be it Ba’al or a modern god like money, success, or social acceptability.
You shall not make an image doesn’t just repeat “no other gods” but mainly forbids trying to “tame” God by misrepresenting him as less than he is. YHWH is not a calf. He is also not a grandfatherly figure who simply wants everyone to be happy. Thou shalt not replace God with a more manageable caricature of himself.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” That’s a good question. Is there one commandment we must obey above all else? Jesus said yes and gave the answer above.
What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Some will try to break it down into what each part signifies, but it boils down to this: Love God with everything you are and do. Love him with your thoughts, your emotions, your actions, and your intentions. Give him all of you; hold nothing back.
All you have to do is make every waking moment about him. Love him with your feelings and with your choices. As you go through the day, do what you do with a desire to honor him. Always choose to obey. Always choose what represents him well.
It’s incredibly simple. And incredibly difficult. None of us can do this consistently.
Martin Luther, the great reformer, realized that if this is the greatest commandment, then the greatest sin is to fail to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So we all commit the greatest sin countless times every single day we’re alive.
A holy and just God cannot wink at our sin. To do so would be to compromise his own holiness. This knowledge nearly led Luther to despair. Fortunately for us, it ultimately led him to the scriptures which led him to the cross.
We cannot love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But Jesus did. And then he paid for our failure in his own blood. Now “righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom 3:22). God’s grace covers our sins.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Rom 6:1-2)! We cannot look at this as permission to fail in our duty to love God. It should be impetus to work harder. The God who created the universe created you knowing that he would have to rescue you from your failure to obey him, and he created you anyway. How should we respond to that kind of love?
In Christ, God not only forgives our failures, but he empowers our obedience. His indwelling Spirit will work with and through us to make us more like Jesus. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed ... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Phil 2:12-13).
Part of Christianity 102
If I’d been there, I would have been strong. I would have stood for what was right.
When we look at horrible moments in history, we wonder how people could have gone along with the wicked men who led them. Where was their character? Why didn’t they stand for the truth? More people should have been against slavery. More people should have opposed Jim Crow. And if I had been there, I would have. The Inquisition? The witch trials? I would have been the lone voice of reason if necessary.
No, I probably wouldn’t. And neither would you.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
Too many rules are hard to follow. We like our rules kept simple. It’s easier to remember them which makes it easier to follow them — we hope. Stay 3 seconds behind the car in front of you. A serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards. Put some Windex on it.
We like our moral rules the same way. We always have. Jesus was asked what the most important rule was, and we know what he said — we call it the Great Commandment. People like to simplify that down to “love God, love people.” That sounds great. Except “love” is a weasel word in our society, and people don’t understand what “love God” really means.
Another popular summary for moral behavior is “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). I love that one. The only problem is “justice” doesn’t mean what a lot of people think it means.
So I offer this as a rule of thumb for this era: “Look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep yourself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
When in doubt, look out for the weakest among us. That’s a pretty safe rule. It doesn’t imply that we have to approve of their lifestyle choices. It can be done personally and corporately. If you see someone who is weak, who is in need, who is oppressed, help them.
And along the way, keep yourself from being polluted by the world. God doesn’t just want us to be charitable. He doesn’t just want us to take care of our neighbor. He wants us to love him by living holy lives. This is the element our society loses in “love God, love people”.
This shouldn’t surprise us. We love people who give lots of money to charity. But not when it’s money they embezzled. There is no amount of good you can do that will undo the bad you do. You love God and walk humbly with him in large part by keeping yourself unstained by the world.
Of course, the scriptures have a lot to say about what it means to do right by people and what pollutants we should be keeping ourselves from. We’ll be fleshing out the details. But in a sense, everything is going to be commentary on this one rule of thumb:
Look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep yourself from being polluted by the world.
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Part of Christianity 102
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matt 5:29).
Christians are supposed to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. To other people. Not to ourselves. We should show ourselves no mercy.
Radical surgery is required to remove the sin from our lives. Jesus, with a bit of hyperbole, tells us that if our eye or hand or foot makes us sin, we should get rid of it because “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Paul, in similar manner, talks about beating his body to discipline it and make it his slave “so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1Cor 9:27).
It’s been called the mortification (that is, killing) of the flesh, from Romans 8:13. That is exactly what we want to do to our sinful flesh — kill it. Choke it, bludgeon it, starve it to death. Just kill it. By any means necessary.
How do we do that? By taking Jesus’ metaphor of plucking out an eye and cutting off a hand seriously. Not literally — seriously.
The easiest example is porn. These days it comes to people via the internet. So you limit your access, as radically as necessary, even if it means switching to a “dumb phone”.
Adultery requires stopping. Cold turkey. And sometimes that means changing jobs or even cities to get away from that person. (I’ve seen it done.)
Other sins are harder. How do you kill your tendency to gossip? You might have to cut your favorite gossip partner out of your life. How do you kill greed? Some have gone as far as taking a vow of poverty. What about covetousness? Well, how do you feed it? If it’s car magazines or HGTV, then stop putting those things before your eyes. If it’s going to the mall, stop. Whatever your sin, be as brutal as necessary to cut it out of your life.
This is hard. This is painful. That’s why it’s called killing the flesh. But Jesus expects and deserves that we will leave behind the sins he saved us from.
Remember that we do not do this under our own power. It is “by the Spirit” that we put to death the sinful flesh (Rom 8:13). We have to decide to do it, but we have to lean on him for the power and the grace to actually accomplish it.
And never think you’re alone in this. Every believer has to do this. They may not be killing the same sin as you, but they’re killing something. This has been part of the walk of faith for 2,000 years. When you struggle with this, you’re in good company.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb 12:1-3).
Recommended reading: The Process
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Part of Christianity 102
Dad says he knows a shortcut. As he twists and turns down the city streets, the buildings get steadily more dilapidated. Bars appear on the windows of homes. You see more cars on blocks, and every business seems to be tagged. This is not a nice area. This is not where you’re supposed to be. His shortcut has gotten you lost.
You don’t want to say it, but he can see you’re getting nervous. I know what I’m doing, he says. Trust me.
But you're obviously lost.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:8-10).
Whenever we start talking about the need to obey, people start wondering whether we’re exchanging grace for works. God forbid! We are saved by grace, and no one will be able to boast that they did anything to merit salvation. But we were saved for good works. We were called to a godly life.
Some people don’t let that concern them. That should concern them. Faith that saves produces good works. The apostles took this quite seriously.
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:14-17).
“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1John 2:3-6).
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Rom 8:12-13).
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ... So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do...” (Eph 4:1, 17).
Faith produces works. Grace transforms. A life given to Jesus is a life lived like Jesus for Jesus. We do it not to earn God’s favor but to show our gratitude for God’s grace. And we do it because the Jesus who died for us expects us to live for him.
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Part of Christianity 102
It’s normal, even healthy, to ask hard questions about your faith. We live in a world that constantly tries to make you do just that, but the world wants you to despair over the questions and walk away from your faith because your faith makes them feel bad. It’s not about you, it’s about them. You’re not supposed to come out the other side with a stronger, more vibrant faith. You’re supposed to walk away from your faith entirely — or at least turn it into something that’s more acceptable to them. So you’ll find lots of encouragement to surrender to doubt and give up.
I want to share some encouragement to address your doubts and stand strong in your faith. These ten steps come from Natasha Crain’s Faithfully Different, which I just reviewed.
1. “Be honest with yourself about the nature of truth.”
