Sin is Lawlessness

Another post in the “Christ is the Fulfillment of the Law” series. 1 John 3:4 tells us that “sin is lawlessness”. Since Christ is the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17-20) lawlessness is the same as Christlessness. It is refusing to believe that Christ has fulfilled the law. It is refusing to submit to the finished work of Christ. It is rejecting the savior.

This is completely in keeping with Christ’s words in John Chapter 3 that “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s only son.” Think about that. The entirety of the law was kept in Christ. Fulfilled, sated, exhausted – however you want to put it – he did it. He accomplished it. He stands today beside the Father, still incarnate, as the law. Again, not as a new law - some gospel set of regulations to do - but as the law of God itself. He is the personal embodiment of the law in its fulfilled state.

So to keep the law, I must have a personal relationship with Christ. Period. There is no law-keeping apart from that relationship to the person of Christ. If I am living in Christ, I have kept the law and will live as a law-keeper because it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That is good news! That is the gospel truth!

God Bless

Uncommon Sense

Definition of COMMON SENSE

: sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts

There is a lot of concern about the decline of what we call ‘common sense’ these days. One half of society sees the other half as lacking in sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of facts. Of course the other half reciprocates. Judgment based on perception is entirely dependent on how you perceive the situation or facts. I would define common sense in a different way, even as Solomon did; There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12 ESV).

The problem with common sense is that it is led by the nature of Adam. It is called common because it is supposedly shared by all mankind, but ask a hundred different people what to do in a given situation and you are likely to get a hundred different answers. So the commonality in common sense is this: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart (Proverbs 21:2 ESV).  Jesus came to destroy what we call common sense. He came not to bring peace, but a sword, and often the first thing he divides us from with that sword is ‘common sense’. He desires to cut away what we see as ‘right’ and pare us down to the heart level. It is a painful process.

If you want to see how painful the process is, you need look no further than Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. In the first few pages of the New Testament we get the idea that Jesus is not a big fan of common sense. In this famous sermon of counter intuition, he starts by telling us who the happy ones are: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers and the persecuted. There is nothing common sense about that list. Common sense would tell us that exactly the opposite is true. Jesus came to bring uncommon sense – thinking that is not of this world and does not submit to the rules of this world.

He goes on to tell us that our outward actions – murder and adultery – are the result of inward sin – anger and lust. Common sense cares little why a person does something so long as he is doing the ‘right’ thing. He tells us that we are not to retaliate but to offer ourselves in humility to those who mistreat us. He goes so far as to tell us that we must love our enemies and those who persecute us - that it is easy to love and respect those who love and respect us, but that God expects us to love those who hate and disrespect us. Finally he makes the greatest statement of uncommon sense of all time: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48 ESV).

In chapter 6, he tells us not to practice our righteousness before men, not to lay up treasures for ourselves on earth, not to be anxious about anything. Chapter 7 reveals that we are not to judge others, we are not to be too proud to ask God for the things we need, we are to treat others as we desire to be treated, that many who have endeavor to serve him in ministry will be turned away in the last day. A great load of things which have nothing to do with ‘common sense’ and a heavy burden to those who are enslaved by it. Clearly, in order that Christ’s yoke might be easy, we must be loosed from the foolishness of common sense. Otherwise his words will crush us.

The last two verses of chapter 7 are these:  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Matthew 7:28-29 ESV). By what authority was he speaking? Clearly not by the authority of common sense from the Adamic nature. He spoke only what the Father had given him to speak. The crowds were amazed because his teaching was abrupt, piercing, counter-intuitive. The words were the words of God and blew common sense out of the water! Anyone who has ears to hear these words ought to have a desire to get away from the deadly snare of common sense. Paul said:

    Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
   The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16 ESV)

One of the gifts of God that is received through faith is godly wisdom. Common sense is nothing but worldly wisdom. I am not surprised at the lack of ‘common sense’ we see in society today, but that the church embraces common sense as if it were the wisdom of God and mourns the loss of it. If you can interpret Matthew 5-7 as being something of common sense or common decency then you are seeing Jesus as a common man, which he was not. Until we recognize that he spoke the words of God and accept his otherworldly  ‘uncommon sense’ as the only kind of thinking that matters, we will never become uncommon people. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless 

Fulfilled

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). These words take on new impact as I realize the significance of the fact that Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. The law is words. The prophets are words. Christ is the logos, the Word. This one Word, the logos, is the fulfillment of all of the word of law and prophets. Consider this passage from Psalm 119:

                Oh how I love your law!

                                It is my meditation all the day.

                Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,

                                for it is ever with me.

                I have more understanding than all my teachers,

                                for your testimonies are my meditation.

                I understand more than the aged,

                                for I keep your precepts.

                I hold back my feet from every evil way,

                                in order to keep your word.

                I do not turn aside from your rules,

                                for you have taught me.

                How sweet are your words to my taste,

                                sweeter than honey to my mouth!

                Through your precepts I get understanding;

                                therefore I hate every false way.

                                       (Psalm 119:97-104 ESV)

Thinking of Christ as the fulfillment of all that David says renders the passage like this:

                Oh how I love the Christ!

                                He is my meditation all the day.

                Your son makes me wiser than my enemies,

                                For he is ever with me.

    I have more understanding than all my teachers,

                                for Christ is my meditation.

                I understand more than the aged,

                                for I keep with Christ.

                I hold back my feet from every evil way,

                                in order to abide in your son.

                I do not turn aside from your son,

                                for he has taught me.

                How sweet is Jesus  to my taste,

                                sweeter than honey to my mouth!

                Through him I get understanding;

                                therefore I hate every false way.

Law, precept, rule, testimony. Christ, in fulfilling the law has become the satisfaction of all of these. The law, which Paul called the ministry of death carved in letters of stone (2 Corinthians 3:7) has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ; the living word. The promises of the prophets have been fulfilled in this promised one. Unlike the cold, hard, demanding word of the law that kills, the logos makes alive. Unlike the prophetic words of promise, Christ is promise. The word is alive! As Paul says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” (Romans 10:8) We no longer know just the word of the Lord, but the Lord who is the Word.

What honor the law and the prophets have. Oh that Christ may fulfill me as well! That he may become the living word to me, a fire that consumes me! He has done what neither the law nor the prophets could do – he has become the living word. The word that saves. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless

Blessing and Cursing

Part of my reading was from Deuteronomy 28 this morning. The headings for the sections are “Blessings for Obedience” and “Curses for Disobedience”. Moses is instructing the nation of Israel in preparation for his death. Carefully keep the commandments of the LORD, he says, and you shall be blessed. They are instructed to keep every rule, command and statute so that the Lord may bless them in all that they do. And the blessings are great if they are faithful.

Next come the curses. This section reads prophetically since so much of what Moses promised for their disobedience came to pass. In fact, in the ESV, the blessings are two paragraphs and the curses eight! Do you think that perhaps God and Moses knew in advance which would be the more likely outcome? Every single one of the curses mentioned eventually comes to pass for Israel because they never found it within themselves to keep the commandments. They could do it for a while, but invariably they fell away and ignored the severe demands of the Law of God. And then the curses would come. The history of Israel is a history of cyclical obedience and disobedience, blessing and curses. Mountains high and valleys low, very much like the cyclical experience of many Christians today. It is easy to become discouraged and fall away when we begin to feel that life is still just the same old ups and downs that we always had; only as a Christian it’s worse because we understand that the ups and downs are a result of our obedience and disobedience.

Enter Christ. He told his disciples this: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17 ESV) If we analyze what he is saying, we can mine some pretty deep truths from it. First of all, he did not come to abolish the law. The law stands to this day, along with the blessings and curses that result from obedience or disobedience. He did, however, come to fulfill the law; to perfectly keep every statue and precept. So in him half the battle is won. At the very least, Christ is the only one who could actually perfectly obey. In Christ, the requirements of the law are fulfilled.

That leaves one piece of the puzzle to be solved. Sure, Christ lived perfectly and obeyed the law perfectly, but how does that relate to me? I still alternately obey and disobey the commandments and can feel and see the blessings and curses that result in my life. Christ was righteous enough, but that doesn’t seem to have much to do with my situation. It is actually sad that so many Christians can believe this way, because agreeing that the law is correct and good and trying to keep it in our own strength is extremely tiresome and frustrating, not to mention impossible. It shouldn’t be so, but this is what so much of the church is teaching today: place faith in Christ to be saved to eternal life and then keep the commandments. This is not what the first church taught, as is clear when Paul tells the Roman church, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.“ (Romans 3:21-22 ESV) Read that again and think about it for a minute. Because of Christ, God’s righteousness is no longer to be manifested (revealed, shown) through the keeping of law. The righteousness of God is revealed in us when we place faith in the one who kept the law. Done deal. We can go on trying to keep the law all we want, but it means nothing to God because the law has already been kept by Jesus. God looks at us not to see if we are keeping the law, but if we are trusting in the law-keeper.

So in essence, when we place faith in Christ as being the righteousness of God, it is just as if we had always kept the law in God’s eyes. Every time we come across a passage in the scripture that promises blessings for obedience, we can say “Christ has obeyed, and I am in Christ, so these blessings must be mine”. When we come across a passage that threatens curses for breaking the law, we likewise can say “Christ has obeyed, and I am in Christ, therefore I will not be cursed.”

So then we can do whatever we feel like, right? Not if we are truly in Christ, because to be in Christ is to have the righteousness of God manifested in our lives, and that leads to Spirit empowered living. We are released from viewing everything that happens to us as a blessing or a curse based on our ability to obey because we live by faith in Christ’s obedience, and that causes us to approach God as one who loves us and wants to bless us (because of our faith in Christ’s obedience) and not as one who desires to punish us for disobedience. Suddenly there are fewer ups and downs because the ‘up’ of Christ is always credited to us. We begin to understand what Paul means when he says “...for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 ESV) Life becomes less a series of blessing and cursing and we recognize that the situations in our life are working together for ultimate good (ultimate blessing) because we are trusting in the obedience of the one who ultimately obeyed.

Perhaps it would be good for you to read Deuteronomy 28 yourself, keeping these things in mind. As you read, recognize that in Christ the law has been fulfilled. If you are in him, the blessings are yours and the curses are not. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless

Continuing in Kindness

Two people I met last night got me thinking about how great it is to be a Christian. One is struggling a bit waiting for things to ‘get better’ and one is at the end of their rope. The one at the end of their rope was an encouragement to me because it reminded me of what Jesus came to do in the first place. I am certainly not happy that this person is in such misery, but because of the misery I was able to share some things about Christ that we can often and easily forget.

First is God’s love for the unlovely. When we see ourselves as unlovely and unlovable we can become deeply discouraged in faith and life. It seems as if no one cares what happens to us and no one will be able to love us because there is nothing about us to love. It is at that very moment that God’s love through Christ is most present if we will receive it. How are we to know that He loves us when we are unlovely? Because He has shown His love in sending His son to die for us while we were at our ugliest. He didn’t send Christ to die for the pretty people, the ones who ostensibly 'have it all together'. Nope, he sent him to die for the ugly ducklings. And the best part is that He doesn’t demand that we become swans before He will love us. He loves us precisely because of our ugliness.

How about weakness? The world despises it. There is nothing this world dislikes more than the weak. They are an embarrassment. And yet God’s strength is not perfected in the strong. God’s strength is for the weak, the weary, the ones that life and others have chewed up and spit out. Those who are standing strong on their own will never know what it means to be strengthened by Christ. Those who are self-sufficient will never know Christ’s complete sufficiency.

The list goes on and on. Poverty, mourning, meekness, hunger, thirst. The reviled, the lowly, the down-trodden, the losers of this world have much to rejoice about, because to them and them alone is Christ riches, comfort, boldness, nourishment and living water. When we are losing, he is our victory. When we are lonely, he is our companion. When we are sick, he is our physician. When we are dying, he is our life.

Often people think that we need to get to the place where we feel like we’ve been hit by a logging truck and then backed over before we can let Christ be all of this to us. That is because so much of the time we don’t ‘have ears to hear’ the gospel as an expression of God’s kindness. We are proud people, and what God offers as a free gift through the gospel seems almost beneath our dignity, so we decline it. I’ve got this, I can handle it. The weak and lowly are getting in line ahead of the strong in the kingdom precisely because they acknowledge they haven’t got it and can’t handle it. They are not beneath God’s kindness to them. “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22 ESV) It is not the pursuit of spiritual strength that we are to continue in, but God’s kindness toward us as losers, weaklings and sinners.

So my friend who is waiting for things to get better is declining the one thing that the one who is desperate has – the free benefits of faith in Christ. I understand that. We all look for things to get better. The problem with better, as has been said before, is that it is the enemy of the best. These are precious words – “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 ESV) The little flock is little for a reason. They are not the wealthy, the strong or the powerful. They are the lowly, the weak and the despised and they admit it; so they are the outcasts of the world. But they have something the achievers of this world will never have – the good shepherd. And that is the gospel truth.

God Bless

The Severity of God

I often wonder if those Christians who talk frequently about the severity of God’s law even understand that severity. The severe standard of righteousness that God’s holy law demands never wanes, never makes exceptions, never allows a slip. Period. One slip and it’s game over.  Jesus himself spoke these severe words about the law in the Sermon on the Mount: “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-20 ESV)  It might be helpful to look at one commandment and evaluate it to the end of its severity so that we might have proper respect for the law. I will choose number seven: You shall not commit adultery.

Now, at face value I am not condemned by this law because I have never been physically unfaithful to my wife with another woman. In a Pharisaic sense I have kept the commandment. According to a first century Judaic interpretation (and in many cases a 21^st century Christian interpretation) I have succeeded in satisfying the law. My righteousness is equal to that of the Pharisees. That was pretty easy. But how do I exceed their righteousness?

If I keep reading in Matthew 5, I can clearly hear the son of God declare: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 ESV) So when Jesus says that we must ‘do’ and ‘teach’ the commandments, he is not talking about outward compliance alone.

Oops. I cannot escape the fact that I have done that many times, and I still am given to it on occasion. I feel kind of bad about that, but God will let that slide, right? You have just admitted that your righteousness has not exceeded that of the Pharisees. According to Jesus you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is the beginning of the true severity of law. God does not grade on a curve, so any tiny infraction results in a complete fail. The equation is this:

If Your Righteousness <= Pharisee Righteousness then NO ETERNAL LIFE.

So I will do this; when I see a woman walking down the opposite side of the street, I will avert my eyes. It will be hard, but I must do it as a means of satisfying God’s holy requirement and letting others know that I am serious about my righteousness. And yet I have not exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisee still because my forcing myself to turn away is an indication that the lustful intent still remains. Again I am responding to inward unrighteousness by trying to modify my outward behavior, which is exactly on par with the righteousness of the Pharisee. Apparently God demands more of me than I can possibly do. No matter which direction I turn, it seems that unless I disregard God’s demand altogether I am crushed by the severity of the law.

And when I get to Matthew 5:48, it becomes clear what the law demands. “YOU THEREFORE MUST BE PERFECT, AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.” Not merely outward perfection, not merely mastering my behavior, but also mastering my thoughts, my desires, my lust and my own sinful heart; being exactly as perfect as God is perfect. How can that be when there is no one who is perfect besides God himself?

And in that question lies the answer to your problem, brother Pharisee. There is none good but God alone. Because of His goodness He must punish those who fail to keep His law in thought, word and deed. As in one evil thought, one misplaced word, one wicked deed. He certainly knows your personal righteousness will never exceed that of the Pharisees according to that standard. If a person could be perfect by his keeping of the law, they would certainly have been so. But no one can be perfected by law-keeping because the demands of the law are so severe that they can never be met so long as we attempt it in our self -aggrandizing and sin-soaked righteousness.

This is why Christ came; to fulfill the demands of the law on our behalf. He alone can be perfect as the Father is perfect because He is one with the Father. He is God in flesh. He died to satisfy the demands of the law that he lived under not to pay for his own sin (for he was sinless) but to pay for ours. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) If our righteousness is to exceed the perfected outward righteousness of the Pharisee, cleansing even our minds and hearts, then Christ must become our righteousness. And by faith, he does.

And you may have thought to yourself, “That was a wonderful evangelic presentation! Bravo!” But I am addressing this to you Christian. Do you think that because you prayed a prayer and were baptized that you’ve been given a pass on the law? That trying your best is good enough in God’s eyes? That you are to now take matters into your own hands and ‘be all that you can be’ as a Christian? If so, watch out. God gives no passes. If you are not, this very moment, standing in Christ’s righteousness alone then your righteousness is not exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisee or Scribe. If you are averting your eyes or avoiding situations because you have a sense that your righteousness is merely skin-deep and you are given to sin, you are in great danger. Your righteousness – the exact same righteousness as the Pharisee and Scribe had – is standing in the way of the perfect righteousness that God demands. Repent from thinking that you can do what only Christ has done and believe afresh the gospel truth.

God Bless

The Knowledge of Good and Evil

So somehow this weekend I started thinking about Genesis 3 and the fall. Adam and Eve brought devastating consequences to this planet by their act of disobedience in Eden, which is clear. But what really happened in those moments when our first parents unwittingly plotted the course of the history of this world?

First we have to understand something about what life was like in Eden prior to the fall. Genesis 2:25 says, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” It is important to understand the depth that these words convey. There was no shame in the Garden of Eden. They were unashamed before one another, but more importantly, they were unashamed before their God. Keep in mind that they walked in the garden in the cool of the day with God completely naked, and felt no shame at all. And I don’t think that this lack of shame was limited to physical nakedness, but extended to emotional and spiritual nakedness as well. We have here the picture of innocence as with children who know no shame until they are taught it. The walked in the light as God is in the light; free creatures in a world free of guilt and free of shame.

Part of this picture can be drawn from the conversation between Eve and the serpent in Genesis 3. “… God knows that when you eat of [the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The innocence of Eden was possible because there was no knowledge of good and evil. Did ‘evil’ then exist within Eden? The Bible does not say so, but even if it did it was not recognized as such. In the same way ‘good’ was not recognized either. Without a reference as to what is good and what is evil all that happens merely happens and is not valued as either. This is very definition of innocence – we might think of innocence as being goodness, but innocence is in essence neutrality. Like children, Adam and Eve had no capacity to know that which is good from that which is evil, so they looked to God in the role of a parent who taught them, guided them and directed them. They were completely reliant upon God. Unfortunately, this also made them vulnerable to the serpent’s deception.

While we often think about the fall as being the introduction of sin and death into the world, we forget the other thing that was introduced – the knowledge of good and evil. Up to this point, our first parents had no need of such knowledge because they trusted in God to lead them day by day. Original sin is just this; the knowledge of good and evil (being ‘like’ God) that pits us against God’s leading. It had drastic consequences. Where Adam and Eve had always before been fed and sheltered by the abundance that God provided, now they would have to gain their living by toil and anguish. Now life was no longer a simple day to day process, but they had to begin projecting the future so that they could plan and manipulate circumstances to try and produce a ‘good’ outcome, where before no outcome was valued as ‘good’. Now they had to fight ‘evil’ impulses constantly, where before no impulse was valued as ‘evil’. By their act of rebellion, having been deceived by the serpent, they introduced into the world the horrible heavy burden of law – the knowledge of good and evil that supplanted the innocent trust of God.

The fact is that sin and death entered the world not coincident to but because of the entrance of the knowledge of good and evil. Mercifully, Adam could not be allowed to eat from the tree of life and live eternally in this new state. And under the law, even this law, sin flourishes. The thousand judgments of good and evil that we make day to day are an extension of our first parent’s sin. When we take offense at Jesus statements in Luke 1 (Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you) we are participating in the sin of Adam.

This is the lesson that I brought from this consideration of the event; that we cannot be led of God if we insist on holding onto the knowledge of good and evil. Christ fulfilled the law of Sinai on our behalf at Calvary, and when we realize that it is so freeing. But there is this deeper law – the knowledge of good and evil – that still haunts every of son of Adam and daughter of Eve. Until we can let go of that we cannot be led of God. We cannot live in the innocence that Christ spoke of and died to secure. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless

Theology in a Nutshell

It occurred to me that it might be interesting and instructive to boil down my theology into the smallest space possible and see what it looks like, so here goes:

I have no wherewithal to please God. As badly as I might want to, I do not have what it takes to make Him happy[i]. The fact that I continuously fail to keep His commandments makes this obvious[ii]. Christ alone pleases God[iii]. Therefore, in order for me to please God I must find a way ‘into’ Christ[iv]. The Bible tells me that the only way ‘into’ Christ is faith[v]. It also tells me that faith is not something that I can ‘do’ but is the gift of God[vi] and comes from God by hearing ‘the word of Christ’, which I take to mean the good news of what Christ has accomplished for the world[vii]. So by hearing the good news (continuously) I am being strengthened in my faith, which puts me ‘into’ Christ, and by being in Christ I am pleasing the Father, which frees me to stop living for myself and start loving God and neighbor not because I am commanded to do so, but because I am free to do so[viii].

Simply and completely Pauline. Some will argue that Paul and Jesus preached a different gospel, but I find no evidence of contradiction. Those who do are either not taking Paul literally enough or are taking Jesus too literally. Paul speaks plainly; Jesus spoke in parables so that those without ears never would hear. The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That is not ‘doing the gospel’ but hearing the gospel to the extent that I may know as much as I can that he loved me and gave himself for me. That liberates me from any and all slavish adherence to the written code so that I can be as He intended. Pretty simple?

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[i] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:18-19 ESV)

[ii] …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23 ESV)

[iii] … “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 ESV)

[iv] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27 ESV)

[v] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:21-25 ESV)

[vi] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

[vii] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17 ESV)

[viii] Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:4-6 ESV)

The Science of Bible Study

I’ve been reading Matt Chandler’s book The Explicit Gospel and in it he discusses his distrust of science (not sure why, it really has nothing to do with the book or the gospel) because of the scientific method. The method that scientists use in making a discovery is something like this: Create a hypothesis (decide what you think should happen based on a set of conditions), do experiments that create the required conditions, collect data from the experiment, analyze the data to determine if the original hypothesis is correct, lather, rinse, repeat. He maintains that very frequently the scientist finds that the data do not support the original hypothesis and is scrapped and new data collected in the hope that it will support the desired result. So science begins any experiment not with random observation or pure discovery, but with a reasoned expectation of what the experiment should prove. An open-minded scientist may make wonderful discoveries in the process of experimentation to prove the hypothesis – things which lead to new hypothesis or far greater truths than he expected to see revealed. A close-minded scientist may be tempted to suppress data which does not agree with his original hypothesis.

Now this post is not about science, but about Bible study. Interestingly, I think we often approach study of the Bible as a scientific experiment. We begin with a hypothesis – perhaps something of our own thoughts, or something we have heard someone else say – and we begin to search through the scriptures to collect data to support our hypothesis. We may disregard the data (passages) that do not support our hypothesis, or we may scrap the experiment all together but still hold to the hypothesis because it ‘makes sense to us.’  We may manipulate the meanings of certain words or phrases to make them indicate something more in keeping with our expected result. We, like the close-minded scientist, may suppress data which does not agree with our way of thinking. We are not interested in observation or discovery of truth from the scripture, but in finding support for our hypothesis.

I am reasonably certain we all do this to an extent, myself included. But a couple of years ago, God gave me a gift – at least I consider it a gift. I might call it the gift of ‘what if.’ What if scripture actually means what it literally says? What if scripture is its own hypothesis – it creates all the appropriate questions and answers them? What if there are some things that we simply cannot understand and that’s okay? What if the least intuitive interpretation of scripture is the most likely? What if I chase the rabbit trails of scripture instead of hunting the same old familiar ground? If we can approach the scripture as an open-minded scientist approaches experimentation (with hypothesis in hand but fascinated by the journey and the opportunity for discovery) we might find things that destroy our original hypothesis and yet lead to more appropriate hypothesis and greater truths than we initially expected. In this way the scripture becomes more than just a weapon that we use against others (indeed against God himself) but a never-ending trove of treasure to be discovered and mined and enjoyed.

As seekers of truth in the scripture we are in the same boat as the scientist, really. We are both creating hypothesis out of a finite mind that seek to define that which was created by an infinite intelligence. The outcome of our work will depend mostly on how proud we are of our hypothesis. While our unwillingness to accept the truth does not change the truth that exists, we may never discover that truth if it lies outside of our initial hypothesis because we are not really interested in discovering truth but in defending our hypothesis.

Nature actually creates its own hypothesis, by the way – that there is a God, an intelligent designer. The scientist who seeks to prove a hypothesis in contradiction to nature’s own will eventually find it necessary to manipulate data to prove his hypothesis (see Romans 1:20). As my high school chemistry teacher Mr. Crites told us at the beginning of the school year, “If you persist in asking me why matter does what it does, eventually I will have no other answer for you than ‘because God made it that way’.” Scripture creates its own hypothesis as well:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ESV)

If we start from that hypothesis and review the scriptures honestly we may discover greater truths than we could ever hypothesize with our puny brains. Here’s to open-minded scientists!

God Bless.

Real Fruit vs. Artificial Fruit

One of the hallmarks of the fruit of the Spirit is that it is hard to recognize. Not to outsiders, but to the one who is bearing it. It becomes such a natural outpouring of abiding in Christ that we do not know that we are even doing it. It is not a struggle and demands no recognition – in fact, true fruit is born without thought or care. It just grows. It’s organic. You want proof? How about this description of the final judgment from the Gospel of Matthew:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:31-40 ESV)

Jesus explains that those who bear fruit in this life do not recognize it. This is not false humility among the sheep, but true wonder as to what their King is talking about. “Jesus, we don’t remember doing all of those things. Are you sure it was us?” These people have no awareness that they did anything extraordinary. They had no intention of gaining reward for their actions. They were not counting on their righteous conduct to make them righteous – they were living out the righteousness of Christ effortlessly. Kindness, compassion, love, joy, peace all flow naturally from a heart that abides in Christ’s righteousness alone and is satisfied by his atonement; a heart that never seeks to atone itself to God or neighbor.

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46 ESV)

On the other side are the ‘doers’. They have misinterpreted the scripture in such a way that they believe their works are purchasing rewards. There is nothing natural in the way they approach ministry to others – it is a constant fight against their humanity. They have worn themselves slick trying to keep commandments and stay between the lines, forcing themselves to love those they truly cannot stand for the sake of God. “Jesus, we were endlessly and tirelessly ministering for you. We worked ourselves to the bone to do what you have told us to do. Is this the thanks we get?” The doers are ultimately destined for the eternal punishment they work so hard to avoid.

Jesus did not say these things to frighten us. This is not tough love. He is not trying to ‘scare us straight’. On the contrary, he is describing us. He says that the one who trusts in him will bring forth fruit that glorifies the Father and is an expression of the fact that he is eternally secure. The one who works as for wages, trusting in his own righteousness, can find no security in grace. When we recognize these words as descriptive rather than as commandments (prescriptive) it should lead us to give up our trying and seek to enter into his rest so that these works become the natural produce of our security in Christ.

Which one of these describes you? You can invest your whole life in good works and yet never inherit eternal life. You can pour yourself into missions and give all that you have and offer your body up to the flames and never hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Or you can rest in the righteousness that Christ has already provided and just let life happen. At the judgment, you will get the glorious surprise of thanks for the things you did that you never thought twice about – many of which you will have undoubtedly forgotten. Simply stop focusing on what will happen in that day and let God love you today, as you are. When you have that security, fruit will come effortlessly.

God Bless

Are You a Cheater?

The unmerited favor of God can sometimes feel like cheating. It seems too good to believe that all one has to do to gain God’s favor is to believe – as if we are trying to cheat our way into the Kingdom. That is one of the primary objections that humans use against grace – that it is not demanding enough. Certainly God demands that we must change in order to have a relationship with him?

God does demand change, but not the kind of change we reasonably expect. We think that we must become more morally pure for God to accept us, and nothing could be further from the truth. If moral purity were the qualification for our relationship with God, then we could have no relationship as we possess no capability for moral purity. The change God demands is nothing less than death.  We cannot clean ourselves up in expectation of receiving grace, but the work of grace is to resurrect that which is dead to the law. The reason we feel we are cheating God by our law-breaking is that we are. Not because we are breaking the law, but because we are trying to keep it.

Paul uses the following illustration to make the point:

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. (Romans 7:1-3 ESV)

As long as we reckon ourselves alive to the law – trying to live according to the written code – we are cheating that law every time we break it. We feel the guilt and the shame of our endless failure to live up to the perfection that God demands. God’s answer to this problem is not to empower us to become ‘law-abiding’, nor to diminish the demands of the law, but to reckon us dead to the law; to release us from the husbandry of the law that we may be wedded to Christ without any charge of adultery. Is a woman cheating on a dead husband if she marries another? Not in the eyes of the law.

Law is not concerned that we are cheating it as Christians. If we are Christians, the law has fulfilled its duty by bringing us to the realization that we must have grace or else we cannot please God. “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.” (Galatians 2:19 ESV) The law kills that grace might resurrect. Law dies to us, and us to the law, so that we might really and truly live for God alone. So that we might be wedded to Christ without the slightest hint of adultery.

Is God then cheating against His own law? No, because it was fulfilled in Christ, who met its requirements in life and died to satisfy God’s just wrath for our law-breaking. The Bible tells us that the only thing we must do to make Christ’s righteousness our own – to be wedded to him - is to believe that he died and rose again. By participating in his death, we die to the law. By participating in his resurrection, we live to God. Those who are dead cannot legally cheat the law. That is the gospel truth.

God Bless

Good Works

I’ve been considering the motivation to good works, and in looking back over my experience of growth have concluded that there are generally four things that motivate us to good works. Three of them rely on the law, and one on grace. Three seem reasonable and are easily understood, one not so much. Remember when I say law, I am referring to the give and take process of the fallen world we live in.

The first motivation to good works before God is what I would call ‘Redemption Driven’ and views works as a means of redeeming ourselves.  These would be works that we expect will justify us before God. This is full give and take. I do good – I expect good in return. This is completely law oriented and scripture tells us that such works have no power to justify us and are worthless in God’s sight. Unbelievers are generally motivated to good works by the hope of redemption through those works.

The second I would call ‘Compliance Driven’.  After we get saved, it is somewhat natural for us to believe that we are able to keep God’s commands and that we must work for God because he commands it. This could be labeled ‘Purpose Driven’ as well – God saved you to work, so find something good to do and do it.  It espouses the idea that grace is a means of helping us achieve what God commands. It falls under law because there is still an expectation that our ‘doing’ is garnering favor with God, and that not doing garners His disfavor. It cannot work because when we bring ourselves back under the law to try to keep the law, failure is the only option and with it burn out and frustration.

The third looks wonderfully noble. I would call it ‘Gratitude Driven’. Here our works are motivated by a response to God’s grace. It reasons that because Jesus loves us and gave all for us, we owe it to him to work for him. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Again, a subtle legality comes into play here. Our love and gratitude become works in themselves, and if we feel that we are not working enough we assume that we need to love God more and be more grateful so that we will desire to reciprocate to a greater degree.

The last motivation I will call ‘Gospel Driven’, and with it there is no reciprocal motivation at all to perform works. I person freed by the message of the unconditional acceptance of God has no desire for recompense from either God or neighbor in response to their works.  This person does not recognize their works as good because they do not belong to the world’s system which values works as good or bad, expecting to earn reward or punishment. He recognizes that he is led by the Spirit of God and simply does what he can without worrying about his image before either God or neighbor. He is not working to please God, but to do as God pleases. This is truly the light burden of Christ.

Which category would best describe you? You can become ‘Gospel Driven’ only by constant exposure to the good news of the gospel; that Christ met all of God’s conditions on your behalf so that God can love and accept you unconditionally. This is the only thing that will ever break our natural desire to work for love and acceptance and set us free to work alongside God.

God Bless