#16 The Way

#16 The Way

“This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you a way to be saved.’ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so trouble that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.”[1]

The apostle Paul was preaching in the Greek town of Philippi when this incident occurred. Most translations will say that the girl said that Paul was telling of “the” way to be saved, but according to Dr. Mark Patterson of Community Presbyterian Church in Ventura, the Greek text says “a” way to be saved. And that is what upset Paul so much. This gospel was “the” way to be saved or it was worthless. Jesus was God incarnate, and a father like Abraham, a prophet like Moses, and a king like David. He embodied all that was of God to be the savior of humankind, and nothing less.

Believing in and following Jesus is not just one of many ways to be saved. It is so easy to marginalize Jesus by saying that “I believe in Jesus too” or that “I’ve outgrown Jesus and moved on.” The claim of Jesus is absolute and He calls each of us to total obedience, both then and now. There can be no doubt or hedging, no other gods, no other paths, no other truth to be revealed.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” [2]

He is the Way, the Only Way. Not a “way” among others; but The Way all the time.

[1] Acts 16:17-18

[2] John 14:6

#15 Bad Images of a Good God-1

#15 Bad Images of a Good God-1

The claim has been made by some that calling God “Father” sets up some bad images, bad pictures in people’s minds and therefore is a handicap toward believing in God. Evidently Jesus didn’t know that (He wasn’t “modern”, of course) and so he took whatever picture we had of a father to help us understand His Father until we could see Him in all His Glory.

· Matthew 7:9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”
· Luke 11:11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
· Matthew 7:11“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do for you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Now let us look closely at these parables, taken from Matthew and Luke, dovetailed together for convenience (kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together).

1. Jesus doesn’t conjure up images of our own earthly father, but of what we want to be as our earthly fathers! He appeals to our better nature, to our Original Goodness. The only problem with our goodness is that we don’t actualize it too well. We know what we should do, want to do, but doing good consistently is the human problem.

2. But, the basest of men would not play tricks on their own flesh & blood. Here Jesus points out the fact that our Father has no intention of being a “cosmic killjoy” looking to play “hide & seek” or play tricks on us.


3. The key to these parables is the phrase “how much more” God is good than we are evil. Jesus starts with where we are, with a fuzzy picture of God as Father and then starts to build on it, fine tune the image. Now look at how the Father gives good things:

· John 6:32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the bread come down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:51“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the world.”

And so we see that the Father does not give just regular bread, but living bread, which sustains not only our flesh, but our spirit. The Father gives not only water to drink, but living water.

· John 4:14“but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

So the Good Father, God, gives to us far and above what we could ask or believe; He doesn’t play any tricks (nor does the bad father) but goes farther than the normal human father.

#14 People Pressure(2)

Acts 27:9 Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them, 10"Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also." 11But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. 12Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

Last week we took a look at king Herod’s dilemma choosing between John the Baptist’s life or caving in to people pressure. This time we find another scenario in the book of Acts, where the apostle Paul could see that pushing out to sea at this late time of the fall season would be disastrous. He had already gained the confidence of the centurion, who was in charge of Paul and the other prisoners being taken to Rome for trial, so Paul was allowed to give his opinion. However, the majority (which included the pilot and the owner and probably most of the crew) decide to push on through to deliver the cargo before winter, leading to a climactic shipwreck.

The first lesson to be learned here is obvious:

1. Truth is not decided by a majority. I’m sure that we all have been told by our parents when we were young that “if everyone jumped off a cliff, that doesn’t mean you should too.” Truth is absolute, which is why a lot of Christians feel a lot of pressure to change their stand for what is right. William Wilberforce in England spent a lifetime in Parliament working on legislation to stop the slave trade, develop restrictions on child labor, and many other social issues of the day. “More progressively, Wilberforce advocated legislation to improve the working conditions for chimney-sweeps and textile workers, engaged in prison reform, and supported campaigns to restrict capital punishment”[1] So many times he was in the minority, but kept befriending his enemies, praying with friends and supporters, and finally changing hearts and minds to act justly towards all humankind. His reading of the Bible convinced him that slavery and mistreatment of children was inhuman, regardless of what the majority in society said.

John 8:31“To the Jews who believed in Him, Jesus said ‘If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ ”

2. When people won’t listen to the truth, pray. This story in Acts contains a surprise sentence, after the drama of the great storm that has tossed the ship about for many days, no one seeing sun nor moon, and everyone but Paul giving up hope of survival.

Acts 27:21After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.

Paul not only prayed that he would make it to Rome alive, but he also must have prayed for the welfare of everyone on the ship, given what the angel said to him. I am sure that in our lives we have been in meetings of a church, business, club, or social group, where our opinion was not heeded on critical matters. I know how hard it has been for me to turn to God in prayer so that everyone would be blessed. I need to always humbly come to God in prayer, for those who disagree. We certainly need that spirit today in our government, from local, state and in Congress.

What do you think? Click on the comment section or on the link to the blog in the email version.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce#cite_note-78

#13 People Pressure I

#13 People Pressure I[1]

^{Mark 6:22} When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." ²³And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." ²⁴She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. ²⁵At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." ²⁶The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 

Herod Antipas was the tetrarch of Judea (ruler of ¼ of the Palestinian area). He had arrested John the Baptist because John was publically saying that the king should not have married his brother Phillip’s wife, Herodias, while he was still alive. Mark 14:5 states “Herod wanted to kill John, but was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.” Herod was fascinated by John’s preaching and would visit with him many times in prison but his wife still held a grudge. When Herod held a huge dinner party, Herodias got her daughter Salome to put on a seductive dance, and Herod in his lust made his rash promise. When he realized the trap he had fallen into, he had to choose between what is right or bow to the “people pressure” of what others thought was correct.  

Here was Herod’s dilemma. On the one hand he might have rationalized:

·          * A ruler should never back down on a promise, especially in public;

·         * John’s truth telling was certainly a problem for him and his wife;

·          * His wife obviously wanted John out of the way;

·          * His guests might ridicule him for not being smart enough to avoid such a situation.

On the other hand, Herod could reason:

·          * He knew John was an innocent, righteous prophet of God, who did not deserve to die;

·       * Herod could have said that such a life was certainly worth more than half his kingdom and refuse Salome’s specific request;

·          * That as a ruler he was free to determine that the request was inappropriate and out of bounds.

But Herod chose to save his reputation, rather than stand for what was right, and he succumbs once again to “people pressure.” At the core of this is the value of each single soul doing what is right.

So when have we been tempted to “follow the crowd” rather than standing firm on God’s guidance knowing what is true, good and lovely? The apostle Peter gave these words of encouragement to all Christians about “people pressure” versus doing the right thing:

^{I Peter 3:13}”Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.’[2] ¹⁵But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

So we must respond by standing for what is right; blessing instead of cursing and trusting that God has us in the palm of His hand. Is God’s arm so short that He cannot save those who follow Him?

---

[1] Mark 6:14-29 NIV – the whole scenario

[2] Peter quotes Isaiah 8:13

#12 The Fear of the Lord

#12 The Fear of the Lord

I think that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the phrase and concept “the fear of the Lord” or “fear of God” among believers and non-believers. Most people imagine us cowering before an angry God who is ready to crush us with a single lightning bolt from heaven if we don’t grovel before Him. I think that this means something far deeper and loving. Consider the following texts:

·        “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” ^{Proverbs 1:7}

·        “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” ^{Proverbs 8:13}

·        “through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil” ^{Proverbs 16:6b}

Job says “and God said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’”^{Job 28:28}

Job is described as a man who “feared God and shunned evil”^{Job 1:1} before his trials befell him. And in Acts, the phrase “God fearing” appears at least 7 times, once referring to God-fearing Jews from other lands and most other times referring to God-fearing gentiles, who attended the synagogues and contributed monetarily, but had not become converts.

In fact, the outer court of the temple was designed for God-fearers to come and pray to the God of the Jews, which is why Jesus cleared out the temple court each and every time He saw it full of money-changers and sellers of trinkets, preventing worship by Gentiles.

So what I have come to understand is that to be “God fearing” is to actively reject the false gods of one’s culture, and to actively seek the one true God. We can’t begin to search for God until we reject the entrapment of the false ones. The apostle Paul preached first to the Jews in the synagogues on his mission trips, which also included God-fearing gentiles, who rejoiced that they too were now included in God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Cornelius, the Roman Centurion gentile to whom Peter was sent to preach the Gospel, was described as “devout and God-fearing.” ^{Acts 10:2}

I believe that no matter where or when each of us was born, we innately know what is false and evil, even when we don’t quite know what is true and good. That is why to be a God-fearing person is to reject evil and search for God, which is the beginning of wisdom, a necessary and important first step in our finding God. In mathematical proofs, we call that a “necessary but not sufficient condition.”

That is also why the Jews, who were to be the vehicle of salvation to the world, were warned by Moses and the prophets not to worship idols, so that they would be a light to the Gentiles. When they returned from the Babylonian exile, they never again worshiped the idols of the nations – which is why they carefully examined each person claiming to be the Messiah and put Jesus on trial.

I remember when I was in high school and college, going to different churches and college groups, looking for God until I finally discovered a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know of good, God-fearing people, who have been turned off by organized religion, yet still hunger to find God. They are just waiting, searching to hear the Gospel and become God worshippers rather than just God-fearers.

The writer of Ecclesiastes summarizes the book: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” ^{Ecclesiastes 12:13}

And Jesus reinforces this in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, specifically:

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." ^{Matthew 22:37-40}

What do you think about “the Fear of the Lord or Fear of God”? Click on the comment section or on the link to the blog in the email version.