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Sunday, August 30, 2009
A Remarkable Revelation…
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known..."
-John 1 v 18
We as human beings desire to know…We desire to know everything there is to know about anything. We’re inquisitive beings. And when we discover something new, we celebrate, because we’re that much closer to knowing everything there is to…
People who aspire to know everything there is to know will be disappointed, because no matter how hard they try, the amount of knowledge that a single human can obtain in his/her life time is not even a fraction of the amount of knowledge there is in the universe…
And so, many people have instead turned to look for information on the one who created the universe, God. I’m not talking about Christians at this immediate moment, although as follows of Christ we too wish to seek to know God. Instead, I’m talking about those who are confused in life. We as humans, find it easier to understand why something happened if we know how it happened, but more to the point, the reason why it happened…
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whob]"> have been called according to his purpose..."
-Romans 8 v 28
People desire to know God. Problem is that we as humans can never fully understand God by our own intellect. Suppose, for example a man enters a room wearing nothing but his boxers. Now we’ll never be able to fully understand why he has chosen to do this unless he reveals to us. In the same sense, in order to understand God, He himself must reveal Himself to us.
This is known as revelation, in which God chooses to show Himself to us through His word, what He has done, or through prayer and petition.
I know people who have desired to know God, and yet refuse to talk about the cross. But in a remarkable way, it is through the cross that we learn so much about God. One of our primary sources of revelation is that of Jesus, and while I’m not trying to downplay His ministry, far from it, it is through His death on the cross that we learn so much about who God is.
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation..."
-Colossians 1 v 15
Here is a list of 8 truths that Jesus has revealed to us through His death on the cross. Note, some of what will be mentioned has been covered in greater depth in previous posts.
1. Jesus shows us that God is just.
"...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus..."
-Romans 3 v 24-26
Because God is a just and holy God, He cannot be in the same place as sin, nor can He let it go unpunished. One of my biggest fears for my friends who have yet to come and accept Jesus is that because of the justice of God, they will one day face judgement, and be thrown into hell. Hell in today’s world is taboo, no one wants to talk about it because it’s not nice…But it’s the truth, for anyone who doesn’t accept Christ, they will live for eternity, but not in bliss and peace, but in constant pain and torture. Fortunately, through Jesus’ death on the cross, God has dealt with us justly, with Jesus becoming the propitiation for our sins…
2. Jesus shows us the love of God.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..."
-John 3 v 16
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."
-1 John 4 v 9-10
When people think of love, it never usually goes beyond that of emotional lovey-dovey kind of love. Here, at the crux of human history, Jesus’ death on the cross, however, God shows His love, not that it is simply sentimental, but that it is efficacious. And God does not merely feel loving towards us, rather He puts His love into action, the greatest display of this being sending His Son to the cross to die for us, not out of obligation or duty, but out of love.
3. Jesus shows us the relational nature of God.
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation..."
-Col 1 v 21-22
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit..."
-1 Peter 3 v 18
This is the biggest difference between Christianity and any other world religion. All world religions depict God as a far of being, not bothered by what happens to us. Jesus and God the Father are living and loving, they seek to enter into a relationship with each one of us. They aren’t some distant off worldly beings, but rather beings desiring to be at the centre of our lives. And God shows this nature, shows this want for a relationship with us, by reconciling us to Him through Jesus’ death on the cross.
4. Jesus shows us the pleasures of God.
"Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand... "
-Isa 53 v 10
"...he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ..."
-Eph 1 v 5-9
The reason why God would do what He did on the cross still remains a mystery. I often think of us as broken watches, with which God had no obligation to keep. Rather He decided to take each of us and fix us, not because He had to, but simply because it gave Him joy to act out of His goodness.
5. Jesus shows us the wisdom and power of God.
"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness..."
-1 Cor 1 v 18-25
People today think they’re incredibly wise in what they think, and yet they seem to neglect what the real problem in today’s world is, sin. People who think like this often enter into politics and psychology. People who, however, recognise that sin is indeed the problem, while wise, normally have very little power in which to raise the issue and combat it. God however is both of these, being wise enough to recognise sin as the problem, and having enough power to deal with it through Jesus’ death on the cross.
6. Jesus shows us the mercy of God.
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit..."
-Titus 3 v 4-5
God came down into this miserable world to deal justly with our sin as a Father of compassion. Because of this, He is free to extend to us His mercy, part of which is helping us live the life that He has called us to live, the kind of life Jesus lived. Had He been merciful without dealing with our sin, God would have been endorsing sin and evil. Thankfully this is not the case, as He has graciously dealt with sin, and mercifully extended Himself to us.
7. Jesus shows us that God is a living God.
"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you..."
-Romans 8 v 11
Because God is a living being, and death is the result of sin, only death can have a hold on those who are sinners. But because Jesus dealt with sin at the cross, we see the result of sin, in His death. However, in His resurrection, we see the power of the living God raising Him from death to life. And this too is extended to us, that if we trust in Jesus and let Him be the centre of our lives, then we will be raised from death to live in eternity with Him.
8. Jesus shows us the healing power of God.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed..."
-Isa 53 v 5
One of the primary effects of sin on us is that it destroys our lives, not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually too. We have become unclean and broken in the sight of God. However, thanks to the expiating work of Jesus on the cross, He no longer sees us as broken people; rather, He laid His life down so that we could be healed from the effects of sin. This can only come through the cross.
Jesus accomplished so much because of what He has done on the cross.
Through His death, Jesus has conquered Satan, beaten him and destroyed any grasp that he held on us.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross..."
-Col 2 v 13-15
Through His death, Jesus has redeemed us, that we are no longer slaves to sins, and that we can free to live in His love.
"...while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good..."
-Titus 2 v 13-14
Through His death, Jesus became our new covenant sacrifice, covering our sin in His blood.
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect..."
-1 Peter 1 v 18-19
Through His death, Jesus offered us righteousness, which is given freely from Him, and can only be truly found in the cross.
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..."
-2 Cor 5 v 21
Through His death, Jesus becomes our justification, where God deals with us according to His just ways, and gives us new life through His Son.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished..."
-Rom 3 v 23-25
Through His death, Jesus becomes the propitiation for our sins, taking the wrath of God away from us, and instead taking it ill-deservingly upon Himself.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."
-1 John 4 v 10
Through His death, Jesus becomes the expiation for our sins, cleansing us from everything we’ve ever done wrong, past, present and future.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin..."
-1 John 1 v 7
Through His death, Jesus becomes our unlimited limited atonement, that through His death, we can be at one with Him.
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world..."
-1 John 2 v 2
Through His death, Jesus paid our ransom, so that the chains of sins were broken because of the spilling us His blood.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time..."
-1 Tim 2 v 5-6
Through His death, Jesus showed us how to live, by laying down His life for others, and following His Father’s will.
"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps..."
-1 Peter 2 v 21
Through His death, Jesus reconciles us to God, allowing us to enter into a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
"All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God..."
-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2
Through His death, Jesus reveals the character and the majesty of God, so that we may believe in Him.
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known..."
-John 1 v 18
We cannot but help letting Him be the Nexus of our lives…
"But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed..."
-Isaiah 53 v 5
-John 1 v 18
We as human beings desire to know…We desire to know everything there is to know about anything. We’re inquisitive beings. And when we discover something new, we celebrate, because we’re that much closer to knowing everything there is to…
People who aspire to know everything there is to know will be disappointed, because no matter how hard they try, the amount of knowledge that a single human can obtain in his/her life time is not even a fraction of the amount of knowledge there is in the universe…
And so, many people have instead turned to look for information on the one who created the universe, God. I’m not talking about Christians at this immediate moment, although as follows of Christ we too wish to seek to know God. Instead, I’m talking about those who are confused in life. We as humans, find it easier to understand why something happened if we know how it happened, but more to the point, the reason why it happened…
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whob]"> have been called according to his purpose..."
-Romans 8 v 28
People desire to know God. Problem is that we as humans can never fully understand God by our own intellect. Suppose, for example a man enters a room wearing nothing but his boxers. Now we’ll never be able to fully understand why he has chosen to do this unless he reveals to us. In the same sense, in order to understand God, He himself must reveal Himself to us.
This is known as revelation, in which God chooses to show Himself to us through His word, what He has done, or through prayer and petition.
I know people who have desired to know God, and yet refuse to talk about the cross. But in a remarkable way, it is through the cross that we learn so much about God. One of our primary sources of revelation is that of Jesus, and while I’m not trying to downplay His ministry, far from it, it is through His death on the cross that we learn so much about who God is.
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation..."
-Colossians 1 v 15
Here is a list of 8 truths that Jesus has revealed to us through His death on the cross. Note, some of what will be mentioned has been covered in greater depth in previous posts.
1. Jesus shows us that God is just.
"...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus..."
-Romans 3 v 24-26
Because God is a just and holy God, He cannot be in the same place as sin, nor can He let it go unpunished. One of my biggest fears for my friends who have yet to come and accept Jesus is that because of the justice of God, they will one day face judgement, and be thrown into hell. Hell in today’s world is taboo, no one wants to talk about it because it’s not nice…But it’s the truth, for anyone who doesn’t accept Christ, they will live for eternity, but not in bliss and peace, but in constant pain and torture. Fortunately, through Jesus’ death on the cross, God has dealt with us justly, with Jesus becoming the propitiation for our sins…
2. Jesus shows us the love of God.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..."
-John 3 v 16
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."
-1 John 4 v 9-10
When people think of love, it never usually goes beyond that of emotional lovey-dovey kind of love. Here, at the crux of human history, Jesus’ death on the cross, however, God shows His love, not that it is simply sentimental, but that it is efficacious. And God does not merely feel loving towards us, rather He puts His love into action, the greatest display of this being sending His Son to the cross to die for us, not out of obligation or duty, but out of love.
3. Jesus shows us the relational nature of God.
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation..."
-Col 1 v 21-22
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit..."
-1 Peter 3 v 18
This is the biggest difference between Christianity and any other world religion. All world religions depict God as a far of being, not bothered by what happens to us. Jesus and God the Father are living and loving, they seek to enter into a relationship with each one of us. They aren’t some distant off worldly beings, but rather beings desiring to be at the centre of our lives. And God shows this nature, shows this want for a relationship with us, by reconciling us to Him through Jesus’ death on the cross.
4. Jesus shows us the pleasures of God.
"Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand... "
-Isa 53 v 10
"...he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ..."
-Eph 1 v 5-9
The reason why God would do what He did on the cross still remains a mystery. I often think of us as broken watches, with which God had no obligation to keep. Rather He decided to take each of us and fix us, not because He had to, but simply because it gave Him joy to act out of His goodness.
5. Jesus shows us the wisdom and power of God.
"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness..."
-1 Cor 1 v 18-25
People today think they’re incredibly wise in what they think, and yet they seem to neglect what the real problem in today’s world is, sin. People who think like this often enter into politics and psychology. People who, however, recognise that sin is indeed the problem, while wise, normally have very little power in which to raise the issue and combat it. God however is both of these, being wise enough to recognise sin as the problem, and having enough power to deal with it through Jesus’ death on the cross.
6. Jesus shows us the mercy of God.
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit..."
-Titus 3 v 4-5
God came down into this miserable world to deal justly with our sin as a Father of compassion. Because of this, He is free to extend to us His mercy, part of which is helping us live the life that He has called us to live, the kind of life Jesus lived. Had He been merciful without dealing with our sin, God would have been endorsing sin and evil. Thankfully this is not the case, as He has graciously dealt with sin, and mercifully extended Himself to us.
7. Jesus shows us that God is a living God.
"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you..."
-Romans 8 v 11
Because God is a living being, and death is the result of sin, only death can have a hold on those who are sinners. But because Jesus dealt with sin at the cross, we see the result of sin, in His death. However, in His resurrection, we see the power of the living God raising Him from death to life. And this too is extended to us, that if we trust in Jesus and let Him be the centre of our lives, then we will be raised from death to live in eternity with Him.
8. Jesus shows us the healing power of God.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed..."
-Isa 53 v 5
One of the primary effects of sin on us is that it destroys our lives, not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually too. We have become unclean and broken in the sight of God. However, thanks to the expiating work of Jesus on the cross, He no longer sees us as broken people; rather, He laid His life down so that we could be healed from the effects of sin. This can only come through the cross.
Jesus accomplished so much because of what He has done on the cross.
Through His death, Jesus has conquered Satan, beaten him and destroyed any grasp that he held on us.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross..."
-Col 2 v 13-15
Through His death, Jesus has redeemed us, that we are no longer slaves to sins, and that we can free to live in His love.
"...while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good..."
-Titus 2 v 13-14
Through His death, Jesus became our new covenant sacrifice, covering our sin in His blood.
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect..."
-1 Peter 1 v 18-19
Through His death, Jesus offered us righteousness, which is given freely from Him, and can only be truly found in the cross.
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..."
-2 Cor 5 v 21
Through His death, Jesus becomes our justification, where God deals with us according to His just ways, and gives us new life through His Son.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished..."
-Rom 3 v 23-25
Through His death, Jesus becomes the propitiation for our sins, taking the wrath of God away from us, and instead taking it ill-deservingly upon Himself.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."
-1 John 4 v 10
Through His death, Jesus becomes the expiation for our sins, cleansing us from everything we’ve ever done wrong, past, present and future.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin..."
-1 John 1 v 7
Through His death, Jesus becomes our unlimited limited atonement, that through His death, we can be at one with Him.
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world..."
-1 John 2 v 2
Through His death, Jesus paid our ransom, so that the chains of sins were broken because of the spilling us His blood.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time..."
-1 Tim 2 v 5-6
Through His death, Jesus showed us how to live, by laying down His life for others, and following His Father’s will.
"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps..."
-1 Peter 2 v 21
Through His death, Jesus reconciles us to God, allowing us to enter into a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
"All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God..."
-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2
Through His death, Jesus reveals the character and the majesty of God, so that we may believe in Him.
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known..."
-John 1 v 18
We cannot but help letting Him be the Nexus of our lives…
"But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed..."
-Isaiah 53 v 5
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A Real Reconciliation...
"All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God..."
-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2
A lot of the time in our walks in our faith, we sometimes forget the great distance we've come. And while we may have matured in our faith and grown to be strong warriors of Christ, I'm talking about the gap that was bridged right at the very beginning of our journey.
Growing up in today's world has often made me ask the question of where I've come from. People who know me, know that I'm not the most sociable of people...in fact, quite the opposite. Part of this is because it is who God created me to be, but part of who I am today is because of where I have come from.
Right the way through primary school, I was quite severely bullied. I know if you're a follower of mine that you've probably heard me say this before, but I want to take a slightly different look at it.
There was one guy in particular who drove me up the wall. He was a mean piece of work. And I firmly believe that the way that he treated me during my primary education means that I'm the guy at parties who's wondering which one of the other guests is going to shaft him...that last sentence seems oddly familiar, so maybe I'm not taking such a different look at this.
But the one thing I know that I haven't mentioned before is bitterness. Bitterness is a terrible thing. Whereas guilt is the feeling we have when we do something wrong to someone, bitterness is the feeling we have when someone wrongs us. I was so bitter towards that person that it hurt, so much so that I'm still actually thinking about what would've happened if he had left me alone...
I should point out that the feeling of wanting justice is not bad in any sense. If something has been done wrong to you, and you believe its not right, you are sharing in the exact same feeling as God. It does become bitterness, however, when it consumes you. I'm in no way trying to belittle anything that anyone has ever done to you, but don't let it consume your life.
If bitterness does consume your life, that's a sin. As much as it may sound deserving of the person, its a sin. Because if you become bitter towards a person, you fail to love them, and you begin to love the good that can come to you out of their punishment that you long for. And I'm as big a sinner in his regard than anyone else.
All sin drives a wedge between us and God. Because God is holy, He cannot stand where there is sin, nor can He let it go unpunished.
One of the primary effects of sin is to cause a distance between us and our Heavenly Father. And because of this gap, which was created at the fall of man, we could never be one with God, nor could we ever hope to bask in His presence for eternity...
But that is where Jesus comes in. By dying on the cross for us, He has created a bridge between us and the Father, which is the only way we can get to Him;
"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me..."
-John 14 v 6
The bridging of the gap between us and God is called to the doctrine of reconciliation. By doing so, Jesus has become our mediator between ourselves and our Heavenly Father, allowing us not only the ability to interact with Him, but to join Him in His presence.
Part of reconciliation is forgiveness, one of the key aspects of the work of the cross. And one of the things that I have struggled with over the years is the fact that because God has forgiven me, so too am I called to forgive those who have wronged me.
There is no way to break out of the cycle that comes through bitterness with our own strength. We can't, not of our own accord, because as long as we haven't experienced forgiveness, how then are we to know how to forgive? The only way the cycle can be broken is through accepting Jesus as our centre. With the forgiveness of Jesus though, we have all that it takes to forgive;
"Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus: you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new man, the one created according to God's [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth..."
-Ephesians 4 v 17-24
Furthermore, through reconciling us to God, we have been born again. We have obtained new life through Jesus. When we are born again, we think, feel, act and live differently to the way we lived before obtaining the new life in Christ. And part of this life is called to forgive those who have wronged us. It is only through Jesus' death on the cross that we can truly love our neighbour;
"Since you put away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give the Devil an opportunity. The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear. And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ..."
-Ephesians 4 v 25-32
In the end, after I accepted Jesus into my life, I didn't feel any bitterness towards that person. I haven't forgotten what he did, but instead, I thank God for putting me through that ordeal, because, even though I may not be exactly who I want to be, through Jesus' death on the cross, I'm who God wants me to be, His child...and that's a whole lot better than being the life of a party...
Let Him be the Nexus of your life...
-Ephesians 4 v 31 - 5 v 2
A lot of the time in our walks in our faith, we sometimes forget the great distance we've come. And while we may have matured in our faith and grown to be strong warriors of Christ, I'm talking about the gap that was bridged right at the very beginning of our journey.
Growing up in today's world has often made me ask the question of where I've come from. People who know me, know that I'm not the most sociable of people...in fact, quite the opposite. Part of this is because it is who God created me to be, but part of who I am today is because of where I have come from.
Right the way through primary school, I was quite severely bullied. I know if you're a follower of mine that you've probably heard me say this before, but I want to take a slightly different look at it.
There was one guy in particular who drove me up the wall. He was a mean piece of work. And I firmly believe that the way that he treated me during my primary education means that I'm the guy at parties who's wondering which one of the other guests is going to shaft him...that last sentence seems oddly familiar, so maybe I'm not taking such a different look at this.
But the one thing I know that I haven't mentioned before is bitterness. Bitterness is a terrible thing. Whereas guilt is the feeling we have when we do something wrong to someone, bitterness is the feeling we have when someone wrongs us. I was so bitter towards that person that it hurt, so much so that I'm still actually thinking about what would've happened if he had left me alone...
I should point out that the feeling of wanting justice is not bad in any sense. If something has been done wrong to you, and you believe its not right, you are sharing in the exact same feeling as God. It does become bitterness, however, when it consumes you. I'm in no way trying to belittle anything that anyone has ever done to you, but don't let it consume your life.
If bitterness does consume your life, that's a sin. As much as it may sound deserving of the person, its a sin. Because if you become bitter towards a person, you fail to love them, and you begin to love the good that can come to you out of their punishment that you long for. And I'm as big a sinner in his regard than anyone else.
All sin drives a wedge between us and God. Because God is holy, He cannot stand where there is sin, nor can He let it go unpunished.
One of the primary effects of sin is to cause a distance between us and our Heavenly Father. And because of this gap, which was created at the fall of man, we could never be one with God, nor could we ever hope to bask in His presence for eternity...
But that is where Jesus comes in. By dying on the cross for us, He has created a bridge between us and the Father, which is the only way we can get to Him;
"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me..."
-John 14 v 6
The bridging of the gap between us and God is called to the doctrine of reconciliation. By doing so, Jesus has become our mediator between ourselves and our Heavenly Father, allowing us not only the ability to interact with Him, but to join Him in His presence.
Part of reconciliation is forgiveness, one of the key aspects of the work of the cross. And one of the things that I have struggled with over the years is the fact that because God has forgiven me, so too am I called to forgive those who have wronged me.
There is no way to break out of the cycle that comes through bitterness with our own strength. We can't, not of our own accord, because as long as we haven't experienced forgiveness, how then are we to know how to forgive? The only way the cycle can be broken is through accepting Jesus as our centre. With the forgiveness of Jesus though, we have all that it takes to forgive;
"Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus: you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new man, the one created according to God's [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth..."
-Ephesians 4 v 17-24
Furthermore, through reconciling us to God, we have been born again. We have obtained new life through Jesus. When we are born again, we think, feel, act and live differently to the way we lived before obtaining the new life in Christ. And part of this life is called to forgive those who have wronged us. It is only through Jesus' death on the cross that we can truly love our neighbour;
"Since you put away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give the Devil an opportunity. The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear. And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ..."
-Ephesians 4 v 25-32
In the end, after I accepted Jesus into my life, I didn't feel any bitterness towards that person. I haven't forgotten what he did, but instead, I thank God for putting me through that ordeal, because, even though I may not be exactly who I want to be, through Jesus' death on the cross, I'm who God wants me to be, His child...and that's a whole lot better than being the life of a party...
Let Him be the Nexus of your life...
Saturday, August 1, 2009
An Engaging Example...
"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps..."
-1 Peter 2 v 21
A lot of the time in my day to day life, it's easy to think back to times when events occurred that I had never dreamt would have occurred. In my life, most of these events seem to be of the negative nature. Last Monday for example was the one year anniversary of my Uncle Mike's death to cancer. And never once before it happened did I think that it would. But looking at the world today, I can't help but be shocked at the amount of suffering in the world.
Suffering is a terrible thing...Or at least that's what a lot of people say. I see so much suffering, not just globally, but in the lives of my closet friends and family. And it breaks my heart to see each of them go through whatever has befallen them. But its as times like this where I look with awe at the universe, and know that there must be something greater than all this...
You're probably expecting me to go into a talk about why God allows suffering, and, while I do love discussing the topic, that is for a different time. What I do want to talk about is something that has really been on my heart for quite sometime.
At some stage of my life, a question was posed to a group of people, of which I was included. And what shocked me was the answer to come after it;
"Why did Jesus come to Earth simply to die?"
See the logic behind this question is that in fact, Jesus came for another reason. If He had come simply to die, then why did He simply not die when He was simply an infant? People are going to give the answer that He had so much more to teach...the very answer that I was shocked by.
Christ came, not only to die for our sins, but as an example as to how we can live the lives God intended us to live. And I think a lot of the time we forget that fact, that Jesus came to teach, to serve, and to show us how we should live.
But oddly enough, through reading of Scripture, Jesus' purpose can actually be structured as the following; His purpose was to glorify God.
Whenever I think about glory, my head always starts to hurt. I mean, it’s so hard to pin down a rock solid definition of what glory is. Its origin is in the word "glow" as in to radiate or to shine. Jesus is repeatedly connected to this;
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word..."
-Hebrews 1 v 3
"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ..."
-2 Corinthians 4 v 6
As such, Jesus' complete purpose was to show the glory of God in all things. This not only included His ministry and the way He connected with people, but also in His pain and His suffering. When we think of the Cross, we don't normally think of it as a place where God's glory was shown, but in fact, it is one of the clearest places that it is seen.
Many people I know today, including myself, often focus on the Cross as a place where sin was defeated and where the connection between man and God was restored. This is not something that is wrong, but we also miss that through dying on the Cross, Jesus showed us how to live a life full of God's glory, the life that God wants us to live.
Jesus dying on the Cross was as much an example of the life we should live as was His ministry. For there at the Cross, we see part of God's glory shining through the darkness. Through His suffering, we see that the joy that he tasted was pure. And this is because there was a purpose to His suffering, namely to show the glory of God.
"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you...""
-John 17 v 1
At the Cross, we see the humility of Jesus. Jesus, the God-Man...I know a lot of the time I have forgotten this fact that, while Jesus was fully God, He became flesh, and entered into the world, removing Himself of His divine privileges, being able to identify with us and become our example, and suffered for the world, showing humility that we too are called to live by. Hypostasis is the term used to describe the divinity of Christ, in that He had two persons, the divine, and the human.
I know also that Jesus went through all that we have to go through and more. Granted, Jesus wasn't tempted by internet porn and hard drugs, but He went through His life sharing in our pain and sorrow, the only difference being that He was sinless. The times may have changed, but the sins and the sinners remain.
The life that we are called to live by can only be achieved through being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is through Jesus that we can see the example left for us; the life Jesus lived was the perfect representation of a spirit-filled and spirit-led life.
It must be said however that His death on the Cross mustn’t be overlooked. If Jesus died only as an example of humility and of the life God has called us to live, it would've been pointless. Yes, we'd be able to see the kind of life to live, but we never would have received anything to accomplish this. Therefore, Jesus' death on the Cross must be seen as the gateway into which we can live the spirit-filled and spirit-led life, the life devoted to shining the glory of God for the world to see. It is from the life that Jesus lived, the good and the bad, His joy and His suffering, and His work on the Cross, that we can look at His life and death as an engaging example.
Let Him be the Nexus of your Life...
"Christians are like nails...The harder you hit them, the deeper they go..."
"But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. “They hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed..."
-1 Peter 2 v 20-24
-1 Peter 2 v 21
A lot of the time in my day to day life, it's easy to think back to times when events occurred that I had never dreamt would have occurred. In my life, most of these events seem to be of the negative nature. Last Monday for example was the one year anniversary of my Uncle Mike's death to cancer. And never once before it happened did I think that it would. But looking at the world today, I can't help but be shocked at the amount of suffering in the world.
Suffering is a terrible thing...Or at least that's what a lot of people say. I see so much suffering, not just globally, but in the lives of my closet friends and family. And it breaks my heart to see each of them go through whatever has befallen them. But its as times like this where I look with awe at the universe, and know that there must be something greater than all this...
You're probably expecting me to go into a talk about why God allows suffering, and, while I do love discussing the topic, that is for a different time. What I do want to talk about is something that has really been on my heart for quite sometime.
At some stage of my life, a question was posed to a group of people, of which I was included. And what shocked me was the answer to come after it;
"Why did Jesus come to Earth simply to die?"
See the logic behind this question is that in fact, Jesus came for another reason. If He had come simply to die, then why did He simply not die when He was simply an infant? People are going to give the answer that He had so much more to teach...the very answer that I was shocked by.
Christ came, not only to die for our sins, but as an example as to how we can live the lives God intended us to live. And I think a lot of the time we forget that fact, that Jesus came to teach, to serve, and to show us how we should live.
But oddly enough, through reading of Scripture, Jesus' purpose can actually be structured as the following; His purpose was to glorify God.
Whenever I think about glory, my head always starts to hurt. I mean, it’s so hard to pin down a rock solid definition of what glory is. Its origin is in the word "glow" as in to radiate or to shine. Jesus is repeatedly connected to this;
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word..."
-Hebrews 1 v 3
"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ..."
-2 Corinthians 4 v 6
As such, Jesus' complete purpose was to show the glory of God in all things. This not only included His ministry and the way He connected with people, but also in His pain and His suffering. When we think of the Cross, we don't normally think of it as a place where God's glory was shown, but in fact, it is one of the clearest places that it is seen.
Many people I know today, including myself, often focus on the Cross as a place where sin was defeated and where the connection between man and God was restored. This is not something that is wrong, but we also miss that through dying on the Cross, Jesus showed us how to live a life full of God's glory, the life that God wants us to live.
Jesus dying on the Cross was as much an example of the life we should live as was His ministry. For there at the Cross, we see part of God's glory shining through the darkness. Through His suffering, we see that the joy that he tasted was pure. And this is because there was a purpose to His suffering, namely to show the glory of God.
"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you...""
-John 17 v 1
At the Cross, we see the humility of Jesus. Jesus, the God-Man...I know a lot of the time I have forgotten this fact that, while Jesus was fully God, He became flesh, and entered into the world, removing Himself of His divine privileges, being able to identify with us and become our example, and suffered for the world, showing humility that we too are called to live by. Hypostasis is the term used to describe the divinity of Christ, in that He had two persons, the divine, and the human.
I know also that Jesus went through all that we have to go through and more. Granted, Jesus wasn't tempted by internet porn and hard drugs, but He went through His life sharing in our pain and sorrow, the only difference being that He was sinless. The times may have changed, but the sins and the sinners remain.
The life that we are called to live by can only be achieved through being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is through Jesus that we can see the example left for us; the life Jesus lived was the perfect representation of a spirit-filled and spirit-led life.
It must be said however that His death on the Cross mustn’t be overlooked. If Jesus died only as an example of humility and of the life God has called us to live, it would've been pointless. Yes, we'd be able to see the kind of life to live, but we never would have received anything to accomplish this. Therefore, Jesus' death on the Cross must be seen as the gateway into which we can live the spirit-filled and spirit-led life, the life devoted to shining the glory of God for the world to see. It is from the life that Jesus lived, the good and the bad, His joy and His suffering, and His work on the Cross, that we can look at His life and death as an engaging example.
Let Him be the Nexus of your Life...
"Christians are like nails...The harder you hit them, the deeper they go..."
"But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. “They hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed..."
-1 Peter 2 v 20-24
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