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September 23, 2024

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Church & Worship, God's Plan, God's Word: The Bible, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Wisdom & Guidance

THE ONLY PATH

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6 (NLT)]

Pope Francis recently visited Singapore and, when speaking to young people at an interfaith meeting, he is reported to have said “All religions are paths to God.” After comparing the various religions to “different languages that express the divine,” he added, “There is only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God].” While the pontiff was encouraging interfaith dialogue, his words are troubling. I will not presume to know the Pope’s meaning or intention with his comments. Nevertheless, I find it important to address how the world understood the pontiff’s message.

Jesus is not one of many ways to God; He is the one and only way! He spoke of Himself as the only path to heaven. He said His words are life, called Himself the ”bread of life,” and promised that His believers would have eternal life. Jesus is the only one who came down from Heaven, lived a perfect sinless life, fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, sacrificed Himself for mankind’s sins, and conquered death! As Christians, we believe salvation comes through Christ alone and that the Bible teaches us everything we need to know about God. At best, all any other religion offers is an incomplete, inaccurate, and deceptive understanding of God and His creation.

From where we live, there are no direct flights to my son’s home in San Diego. Although we have a choice of routes and airlines, we must change planes in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago, or Washington. While there are different ways to get to California, if we stay in a connecting city, we’ll never get there. If we hope to see our son, we need to board the right plane—the one headed for San Diego. If, by mistake, we get on a plane going to Paris, we’d land more than 5,600 miles away from our son’s home. But, if we landed in Tijuana, we’d only be 20 miles away. Nevertheless, whether 5,600 miles or only 20 away from our destination, we wouldn’t find our son waiting there to welcome us to his home! While some flights might get us close to our journey’s end, there only is one correct place to land! It’s said that “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” That’s important to remember when it comes to both airports and God! Unless we get on another plane headed for San Diego, we won’t be seeing our boy. If we want the Son to welcome us to His heavenly home, we eventually must take the only path that leads to Him!

If we believe Christianity’s claims are true, then the claims of other religions must be wrong wherever they contradict it—and there are plenty of contradictions. For example, Islam’s condemnation of the Trinity and its rejection of the deity of Jesus, His death, resurrection, ascension, and atonement for our sins along with its denial of His Holy Spirit and the salvation of His believers don’t seem remotely close to our path. Islam seems more like deliberately heading to Paris when you’re supposed to be going west to San Diego!

While we may find wisdom and inspiration in Hinduism’s Bhagavad Gita, the Buddha’s words in the Dhammapada, the Chinese philosophy of the Tao Te-Ching, and in the rabbis’ discourse in the Talmud, we know those texts are not sacred and the words in them are man’s, not God’s. Christianity doesn’t allow for a mingling of faith in other philosophies or gods.

Saying we all worship the same God is what David Limbaugh calls “intellectual laziness.” The claim that all paths can lead to God is a statement we should never make or accept. It’s an insult to Jesus. As God incarnate, He came, suffered, and died on the cross for our sins—something totally unnecessary were there any other way to God. Whether you call them languages or paths, all religions do not lead to God. Then again, no “religion” leads to God; only faith in Jesus Christ does!

Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is he the best of several ways; he is the only way [A.W. Tozer]

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [John 3:16-18 (NLT)]

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September 12, 2024

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, Fear & Doubt, Obedience, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count

OUTSIDE THE LINES

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. [Romans 12:2 (NLT)]

Several years ago, I purchased a beautifully drawn coloring book featuring scenes from the Colorado mountain town that had been part of our lives for thirty-five years. Since it was a gift for one of my grands, I asked the artist to sign the book. She added these words to her signature: “Don’t be afraid to color outside the lines!” Was the artist’s advice limited to her book or was it about something more?

“Coloring inside the lines” has come to mean thinking or acting within the generally accepted guidelines. It’s staying within your comfort zone by doing what’s safe—the way it’s always been done. Creating a new and better picture, however, requires coloring outside the lines! Although it can get a little messy, coloring outside the lines means thinking outside the box, seeing new possibilities, stepping out of the norm, using different colors, and drawing new lines. It must be willing to get uncomfortable. Doing God’s work often requires coloring or living outside the lines draw by society!

The unconventional John the Baptist lived outside the lines. A Nazarite from birth, he was an ascetic who practiced self-denial, wore a rough robe of camel’s hair with a leather belt, and ate locusts and honey. Not one to play it safe, he called the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of snakes!” and dared to call King Herod and his wife adulterers! Nevertheless, it was by coloring outside the lines that the Baptizer fulfilled God’s purpose to be the voice in the wilderness that prepared the way for Jesus.

Elisha lived outside the lines when he left his prosperous farm and team of oxen to become Elijah’s successor—an odd choice his family and neighbors probably didn’t understand. The young shepherd boy David stepped outside the lines when he dared to take on Goliath—something none of Saul’s seasoned soldiers had attempted. Abigail went outside the lines when she kept David from taking vengeance on her foolish husband as did Rahab when she helped the Israelites. Joseph colored outside the lines when he remained with the pregnant Mary rather than breaking their engagement. Mary of Bethany went outside the lines when she sat with the men rather than help in the kitchen and again when she anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Peter colored outside the lines when he stepped out of the Jewish code of ritual purity and ate with the Gentile Cornelius as did Paul when he insisted Gentiles didn’t need to become circumcised.

Coloring outside the lines is what we do when we allow God to take control of our lives; it’s leaving your livelihood and tax booth as did Matthew or stepping out of the boat onto the water as did Peter. Staying inside the lines is failing to trust God enough to answer His call and follow His lead. Staying inside the lines is what the Pharisees did. It’s being more concerned about what others think than what God says; it’s being more concerned about how we appear than who we really are.

Coloring outside the lines is refusing to compromise our faith; it is obeying God before man. The artist’s advice to my grand applies to us all: “Don’t be afraid to color outside the lines!” Let’s not be afraid to live outside the lines—honestly, boldly, creatively, faithfully, and joyfully—fulfilling God’s purpose and trusting in His promises.

For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” [Hebrews 13:5b-6 (NLT)]

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August 12, 2024

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THE DRAGNET

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 13:47-50 (ESV)]

Because most of the disciples hailed from Galilee where fishing was fundamental to the area’s economy, Jesus’ parable comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a fishing net gave them a beautiful visual image of the Kingdom when the final judgment occurs. Since we’re not Galilean fishermen, however, our picture of a fishing net might be like the hand-held ones used for trout or bass fishing. Jesus, however, used the word sagéné, meaning dragnet; its English equivalent is seine.

Unlike the trammel and cast nets the disciples used when Jesus provided them with miraculous catches, the fine meshed dragnet could be as long as 1,000 feet, as tall as 25-feet at the middle point, and required a team of fishermen. One end of the net would be firmly secured on shore while the other was attached to the boat. The boat would make a large circle out in the water before returning further down the shore. Because cork floats were attached to the net’s top while lead weights were attached to its bottom, the dragnet formed a net wall parallel to the shore from the top of the water to the bottom of the lake. Once the net was set, a team of up to 16 men (half on each side) would man the ropes attached to the net’s upper and lower corners and start pulling them in as they walked further inland and toward each other. Any fish between the net and shore would be trapped and hundreds of pounds of fish could be caught this way.

Because the net allowed nothing to escape, more than the desired fish were caught. Jewish law considered the musht (tilapia), biny/barbels, and sardines fit to eat because they had scales and fins. The dragnet, however, trapped everything in its path including weeds, trash, and all kinds of undesirable sea life like catfish, eels, shellfish, mollusks, frogs, snails, and turtles. The fishermen had to sort through the catch. While the fish worth keeping were collected in baskets, the worthless were tossed back or thrown away. After sorting the fish on shore, the net would be reordered and the fishing team would begin again in a different spot.

In this parable, the fishing net that is put into the sea is like the gospel message that is to be broadcast into the world. Just as the good fish can’t be distinguished from the bad ones until the net is pulled ashore and the fish are sorted, the true believers can’t be recognized from the false until the last judgment when, like the trash and worthless fish, the wicked will be thrown away. The parable repeats the lesson of the parable of the wheat and tares—that the righteous will have to coexist with evil until God’s final judgment when only the righteous will remain.

While the parable is about the last judgment, it also is about evangelism. Jesus called the disciples to be “fishers of men” and He calls us to the same task. As Christ followers, we are called to cast our nets and share the Gospel message. Dragnet fishing required a team and each person had to pull the weight; the same goes when we fish for men. Spreading the word isn’t the pastor’s job; it’s ours and each of us is responsible for our part of the net! Moreover, a Galilean fishing team didn’t stop after the first catch and neither should we!

Spreading the gospel is not like sport fishing with a rod and tackle designed to catch a specific type of fish. Spreading the gospel is casting a dragnet far and wide and drawing in all that it touches. The dragnet doesn’t decide which fish are worth catching and neither should we! Just as the Galilean fishermen didn’t know whether they were catching biny or turtles, musht or eels, we can’t possibly know what’s in the hearts of the people with whom we share the good news. Our job is to do the fishing while knowing that God will do the sorting at the right time.

Cast in the net and gather them in,
Out of the depths of sorrow and sin;
Out of the gloom and darkness of night,
Gather the lost to gladness and light. [Mrs. C. L. Shacklock]

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. [Mark 1:16-18 (ESV)]

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July 29, 2024

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Peace of God, Sharing Our Faith

SHALOM

Shalom I leave you, My shalom I give to you; but not as the world gives! Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. [John 14:27 (TLV)]

zebra swallowtail Today’s verses are from the Tree of Life Version (TLV) that was produced by a diverse team of Christian and Messianic Jewish scholars. With the possible exception of the book of Job, all the Bible’s writers were Jews and Jesus was a Hebrew-speaking Jewish rabbi. No matter how good the translation, there are times English doesn’t capture the fullness of the original words used and this translation embraces the rich Hebrew roots of Christianity. To help the reader better understand the intent of the original manuscripts, some original Hebrew names, like Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God), Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit), and Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) were used and some Hebrew terms, like shalom, amen, hineni, matzah, and mikveh (ritual bath), were restored. Fortunately, this translation offers a glossary for its Gentile readers.

Shalom is one of those beautiful Hebrew words that loses its full meaning when translated into English. Usually translated as peace, shalom is more than a sense of calm, serenity, or the absence of hostilities or war. Meaning wholeness, soundness, health, safety, harmony, tranquility, and prosperity, shalom conveys an inward sense of fullness and completeness in mind, body, and circumstance. With its implication of permanence, a connection to God is necessary for shalom. As Jefferson Bethke says, “Shalom is when you are dancing to the rhythm of God’s voice.”

Rather than Hebrew or Aramaic, the language of the people, the New Testament’s writers wrote in Greek, the language of scholars. They weren’t in error in their reporting nor did the Bible’s translators err in their renditions; they simply were limited by the language they used. Neither Greek nor English have a word that fully captures the spiritual depth of shalom.

On the night of Jesus’ birth, when the multitude of angels announced “Peace on earth!” they wouldn’t have used the Greek word eiréné used by Luke. [2:14] Those shepherds were Jewish and the word would have been shalom. When Jesus told the woman with the blood to go in peace and be healed, it was to go in shalom not eiréné, the word Mark used. [5:34] Eiréné, defined as peace, quietness, national tranquility, or absence of conflict, doesn’t fully apprehend shalom’s meaning.

Addressing people with “Hello” or “Good Morning” is simply a greeting but, when “Shalom” is used as a greeting or farewell, it is a blessing of peace. The Jews of Jesus’ day regularly greeted one another with shalom or shalom aleichem (peace be upon you). The person then returned the blessing with aleichem shalom (unto you peace). Since a connection with God is essential to shalom, both greeting and response were a way of bringing godliness into their encounter and the physical world with their words.

When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, he didn’t greet her with chaire, the Greek word translated as “hail” or “greetings.” [Luke 1:28] He would have blessed her with the word shalom. When Jesus greeted the women Easter morning, He would have said “Shalom” and, when He appeared to the disciples later that day, He probably said “Shalom aleichem!” Considering their shock at seeing the risen Christ, it’s understandable why both women and disciples failed to properly return His greeting with “Aleichem shalom!”

Shalom is a blessing of peace—peace throughout the world and in one’s personal life—and it is one of the greatest blessings one can give or receive. The peacemakers to whom Jesus referred in the Beatitudes weren’t mediators or political negotiators. They were people whose connection with God gave them shalom. They became peacemakers by transferring their inner sense of fullness, harmony, and well-being (their shalom), to the world around them.

The full meaning of shalom reminds us that true peace is not the absence of conflict or trouble; it is the presence of God. Shalom, my friends; shalom!

In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. [Cornelius Plantinga]

So Messiah’s community throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had shalom and was built up. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, it kept multiplying. [Acts 9:31 (TLV)]

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July 25, 2024

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CHUTZPAH IN ACTION

“And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. [Acts 4:29-31 (NLT)]

lion - ngorongoro

When writing about praying recklessly brave prayers earlier this week, I wrote of chutzpah and that it can be both good and bad. Bad chutzpah is seen in the man who shouts for help while beating you up, the counterfeiter who pays his lawyer with phony money, the person who calls up tech support about a problem in pirated software, and the embezzler who opens an account in the bank from which he stole the money! These examples, however, are tame compared to some of the outrageous, destructive, arrogant, and self-seeking behavior we can find in Scripture—what I call unholy chutzpah.

It was Pharaoh’s disregard and arrogance that caused his people to suffer through ten increasingly horrible plagues. Even when it became clear that Jehovah was greater than any of Egypt’s gods, the obstinate man refused to back down. That’s unholy chutzpah! Despite being warned of the consequences, the boastful King Nebuchadnezzar showed unholy chutzpah when he claimed to be solely responsible for Babylon’s greatness. Pompous Belshazzar, Babylon’s last king, showed unholy chutzpah by dishonoring God and drinking from sacred cups stolen from Israel’s temple while toasting Babylon’s gods! The brazen Absalom showed unholy chutzpah by insolently calling himself king when Solomon was chosen, leading a rebellion against his father, and publicly taking David’s concubines for himself! The ultimate example of unholy chutzpah, of course, is found in Satan—the proud angel who overstepped boundaries by thinking he could sit on a throne higher than God’s!

Holy chutzpah, however, advances God’s kingdom on earth and we see several examples of it in Scripture, as well. The midwives who fearlessly refused to kill Israel’s baby boys and courageously lied to Pharaoh showed holy chutzpah. Consider Moses, a man who’d lived apart from the Hebrews for most of his 80 years, and the chutzpah it took to go to the elders of Israel and tell them he was the one who would bring them out of Egypt! David showed chutzpah when the shepherd boy confidently approached Saul and said he’d be the one to fight Goliath! Obadiah, the man in charge of King Ahab’s palace, courageously hid a hundred of God’s prophets from Jezebel’s wrath in two caves and the food and water he supplied them daily probably came from Ahab and Jezebel’s palace. Now that’s real chutzpah!

Think of Mordecai’s chutzpah when he defiantly refused to bow down to Haman and Esther’s when she broke the rules and dared to approach King Xerxes. When knowing the punishment for their disobedience, consider the chutzpah of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue and Daniel’s chutzpah when he openly defied the order that prayers were to be offered to King Darius alone! Prophets like Elisha, Jeremiah, Amos, Elijah, Micah, Isaiah and others were ridiculed, rejected, accused, threatened, victimized, and even killed but they continued to boldly serve the Lord with holy chutzpah!

John the Baptist showed holy chutzpah with the courage that publicly rebuked Herod for his incestuous marriage. Peter and John showed holy chutzpah when these ordinary men had the audacity to question the High Council and again when they defied their authority by continuing to speak about Jesus. Within the Roman Empire, it was illegal to preach, observe, or worship a god not endorsed by the Roman senate and yet that’s exactly what Paul and the other apostles did whenever they spoke of Jesus. The early church was on fire with holy chutzpah. Are we?

Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “the righteous are bold as a lion.” A lion isn’t well-mannered, self-conscious, weak, or frightened and neither is holy chutzpah! Committed to God’s purpose and confident in His power, holy chutzpah fears nothing and no one except God! The need for such chutzpah, however, didn’t end with the last page of the Bible. To his fellow Jews, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman says, “To be a good Jew, you need two opposites: A sense of shame that prevents you from acting with chutzpah to do the wrong thing, and a sense of chutzpah that prevents you from being ashamed to do the right thing.” The same holds true for Christians today.

Christians should be the boldest people in the world – not cocky and sure of ourselves, but sure of Him. [A.W. Tozer]

But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. [Acts 14:3 (NLT)]

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July 1, 2024

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POSTING THE COMMANDMENTS

Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.” Exodus 20:2-3 (NLT)]

Moses - Meiringen - Michaelskirche On June 19, Louisiana’s Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation requiring all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in every classroom next year. As expected, a lawsuit has been filed to block what some say is an unconstitutional requirement. I’ll leave the arguments about civil liberties and constitutional law to the lawyers and courts; Louisiana’s law is troubling for other reasons.

For the poster’s required wording, Louisiana’s legislators didn’t look to the original Hebrew or any of the more than 60 accepted Christian Bible translations. Instead, they canonized their own version of the commandments by using the same words placed on a Texas monument the U.S. Supreme Court found to be “on the permissible side of the constitutional line.”

Although the “approved” commandments appear to be from the King James, they are more like a Reader’s Digest version than the real thing. While the prohibition about graven images (Ex. 20:4) is included, verses 5 and 6 with the rest of that commandment along with its warning for disobedience are omitted. The 3^rd commandment’s warning of punishment if the Lord’s name is taken in vain also is omitted. Although the commandment to remember the sabbath and keep it holy is included, its prohibitions of work and the reason for the commandment (Ex. 20:9-11) are not. Governments are designed for writing laws, not re-writing Scripture, and God made it clear that His words were not to be edited or abridged in any way!

While Jews, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians observe the Ten Commandments, their commandments are not all the same! Disregarding the 16% of their population who are not Christian and the 26% of Louisiana Christians who are Roman Catholic, the required poster uses the Protestant version of the commandments.

In the Texas case, because the monument in question was one of 38 monuments or historical markers on 22-acres of the Texas Capitol grounds and had been there for more than 40 years without objection, the court considered it “historical.” Latching onto the word “historical,” Louisiana’s law doesn’t put the commandments in the Biblical context of who gave them, when and why they were given, and where they are written. Instead, they put the commandments in the context of an historical document. The poster must be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.” Along with the Ten Commandments’ poster, the law also requires the posting of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance.

The Ten Commandments do not get their authority because they’ve been printed in schoolbooks since the 17^th century nor do they get their significance because they were written thousands of years ago! While they have existed longer than the New England Primer or the Mayflower Compact, Scripture is no more an “historical document” than the Declaration of Independence or Webster’s The American Spelling Book are sacred ones! Treating the God-breathed Ten Commandments as an historical document diminishes them by placing them on equal footing with McGuffey’s Readers and a 1787 ordinance laying the basis for the government of the Northwest Territory. As well-written as they may be, theirs are secular words written by men; the words of the Ten Commandments, however, are sacred words spoken by God! Moreover, placing God’s law alongside the teacher’s rules about raising your hand or working quietly further diminishes them.

We could post the Ten Commandments on the walls of every building but that would make no difference in our world today because we can’t legislate God. We can, however, display Him. If we’re to make the world a better place, we won’t do it by posting the Ten Commandments in schools, courtrooms, billboards, or anyplace else. We will do it by posting God’s commandments in our hearts and obediently living God’s way every day!

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. [Matthew 5:15-16 (NLT)]

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. [Ephesians 5:1-2a (NLT)]