Where's the joy of salvation?

“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Years ago Barbara and I watched a video put out by New Tribes Missions about a couple who tried to get on the “mission field” but didn’t have the “right” credentials for various agencies to which they applied. They were older than the typical candidates, not as educated etc. New Tribes Missions accepted them and they went off to New Guinea to work with the Mauk people where there had never been a gospel witness. After learning the language they spent the first *3-6 weeks solely in the Old Testament. *(The exact time may be wrong; this was over two decades ago…so ya know, memory...)

 

After focusing on the OT stories of law, sacrifices, and judgment the Mauk tribe was nearly despondent as they came to understand the gravity of sin and its consequences.  THEN—The missionaries spent the next weeks giving them the glorious news of grace, mercy and faith.  As their eyes were beginning to open to the glorious realties of salvation by faith made possible by God’s own sacrifice of His Son, the tribe exploded into raucous celebration of relief that there is a way out of the horrible grip of sin—His name is Jesus.  This celebration went on for days.

 

Could it be that the prosperous church of the West and elsewhere has so diminished the message of Good News, so as not to be offensive, rarely mentioning things like SIN, judgement, damnation, and eternal punishment, that the Good News, is hardly good news?

 

I don’t know how many of you reading this have been hungry. I mean ravenously hungry to where things you would never eat having the choice not to, actually looked and sounded pretty great. We are so blessed with bounty, and manifold choices, sitting down to a meal is hardly an “event” much less, cause for celebration. But to one who is truly starving, a slightly moldy crust of stale bread, and some cloudy water is life giving. In short, it’s hard to appreciate a sumptuous feast if you are bloated from sumptuous feasts as a matter of course. Food insufficiency in America is a mockery of "real food insufficiency" as I have experienced in Haiti and Central America. So the appreciation of what is in front of us is marginal at best.

 

When slave trader John Newton realized the wretched depths of his sin he was undone by the grace of God in providing him with the remedy of his polluted soul. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me..." was the out pouring of his gratitude--the lyrics flowing from unimaginable joy.

 

You don’t need to be an ex-con, murderer, pedophile, or addict to really appreciate the offer of salvation. All one need do is observe the cross, meditate on the fact that God Himself was the recipient of all your sin's wretchedness which put Him there. And don’t rush too quickly by Passion week: The brutality, the injustice, the derision, the whip-crack splitting Divine skin open and blood oozing and ultimately the cry of derision: “My God why have you forsaken me,” was all in your place.  “He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

I highly recommend investing 25 minutes in viewing the video referenced above. You'll be glad you did.   https://ethnos360.org/mission-videos-and-mission-photos/ee-taow-the-mouk-story

Beware of unholy alliances

Jehoshaphat—was a pretty decent king as the people of God’s leadership went in those days but he made an “unholy” alliance with King Ahab, a non-Jew. Jehoshaphat agrees to fight for Ahab (a nasty, wicked king) against his enemies in spite of the fact that a prophet of the Lord named Micaiah told the kings that Ahab would be killed in battle if they go to war. Ahab tried to outsmart the Lord of the Universe by disguising himself in battle so as not to be targeted. And yet a random arrow just “happened” to find the “crack” between two pieces of armor in Ahab’s mail and he didn’t return home just as the man of God had said.    

(2 Chronicles 18)

 

"Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet King Jehoshaphat saying, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD and so bring wrath on yourself from the LORD?"      (2 Chronicles 19:2)  

(Read this again, slowly…)

 

Instead of remaining faithful to the Lord Almighty, for some very understandable, practical reasons, Jehoshaphat joined hands with the godless King Ahab bringing the discipline of God upon himself AND God’s people…

 

I recently heard that 20% of the churches in America will not “make it back” from the Covid-19 “safety” edicts.  Those that make it back are admitting that they do not believe they will recover completely or even close to where they were prior to the scamdemic.

 

Is it fair to equate Jehoshaphat’s alliance with Ahab to the alliances of the Lord’s churches demanding allegiance to the godless, governing authorities ahead of the spiritual welfare of the Lord’s children?  There are differences to be sure but this seems remarkably close to Jehu’s rebuke of Jehoshaphat crying out, “"Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD…?"  

 

Early on Barbara and I were talking about this noting how easily “routines” and “habits” are changed in the presence of extended hiatuses in those routines. This is why many diets fade away for the person who puts them on hold because of Thanksgiving, or a birthday, or the sun came up, or fill in the blank.

 

Sadly it isn’t much different for many church-goers.  And while it is easy to play the, “Well-then-it-shows-you-they-were-posers-anyway…” card, the Church is made up of varying levels of church-goers ranging from unsaved “faith explorers” or the spiritually infantile, to the seasoned saint. What I am witnessing are seasoned saints finding ways to stay connected avoiding unholy alliances with a wicked and deceitful government that is demonstrably hypocritical ignoring their own edicts, are inconsistent in their enforcement of those edicts, and are habitually undecided what mandates they will retract one day while imposing a new one contradicting prior edicts. What began as a couple week precaution has burgeoned into a protracted way of life with no end in sight. And why not?  There is essentially NO resistance from any sector including those who are supposed to be “in the world, but not of the world.”

 

If the Lord brought judgement upon Jehoshaphat for helping the wicked by loving those who hate the Lord, perhaps there is more at work here than the simple cause and effect of human lethargy.  

 

Satan knows what he’s about, and so does the Lord on High. It’s worth considering…

 

 

Covid-19 and "The Mark of the Beast..."

I receive all manner of links to a myriad of videos about the global “pandemic.”  To be sure our current epoch is unprecedented in the history of the world which makes it noteworthy. And whenever there is a significant and unusual event nationally, and even more so globally, it is good that Christ followers are taking things seriously enough to pause, wonder, and speculate what, if any, is the significance to the faithful in the grand scheme of biblical events.

I just watched less than a minute of a 21 minute presentation of a guy standing at a white board explaining that COVID-19 stands for “Certificate of Vaccination I.D.--19.” and 19 equals the first letter A in the alphabet and the 9 equals I.  And of course we all know what A.I. is. So the plan is—according to the big beard, shirt and tie guy explaining all this-- is that no one will be able to buy or sell unless you take the vaccine. There is much I would like to say but my blog is designed to be read under two minutes so...  

"...he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."  (Revelation 13:17) 

""And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.""  (Revelation 14:11) 

"Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."  (Revelation 20:4) 

If these many “theorists” are right, we must believe that any Christ follower who happens to get duped, deceived, hoodwinked, conned, cajoled, or coerced loses their salvation.  Hmmm...  

Some questions: 

What of the millions of believers since the beginning of the human race who died in faith without ever having been faced with making such a choice as end times believers (supposedly) must make? Seems then there are actually two (at least) means of salvation. One for those who lived pre-end times and one for those in and after. That is problematic.   

What happens to “Solo Gratia” salvation by grace alone?  

What happens to “Solo Christo” salvation by Christ alone? 

What happens to “Solo Fide” salvation by Faith alone? 

Again two different standards for achieving eternity with Christ emerge.  Sports fans—Does the Sovereign of the universe place the burden of one’s eternity squarely on one's mental acumen in rightly figuring out a mysterious riddle that has baffled scholars for centuries? If He does, I am bound for Hell because I could not figure out the second-grade riddles my kids would bring home from school. Whatever the “mark of the beast” is, it will be unavoidably evident to the faithful and God’s Spirit will give the unavoidable grace to KNOW exactly what is happening.  Stop fretting, stop being distracted from His glories and Grace and “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and EVERYTHING else will be added unto you!”  (Matt. 6:33)

 

A life well lived is lived well to the end

2 Chronicles adds more information to the history of Jewish leadership recorded in 1st and 2nd Kings. Taking a sweep of Old Testament history it could be summarized like this:  Israel = BAD kings; Judah = GOOD kings. Though rare, there were exceptions in both lands and after a dearth of godly leadership Hezekiah, the unlikely good son of the really crappy king--Ahaz--is coronated and he does it right.  

What makes Hezekiah stand out from the other kings, some of whom did some really good things, is that he not only did good things, but he also didn't do some bad things.  Hezekiah's epitaph could have read, "He did things right AND he didn't do things wrong."  That caught God's attention.

How many Christians leaders have done a lot of good things, even some great things in their lives but ended up being revealed for having a "seamy" side to their otherwise stellar walk of faith? Just recently a college leader resigned from a renown Christian University for some shocking behaviors. The list of pastors through the ages who began well yet ended their "reign" in ignominious disgrace are manifold.  It's an all too common tale.  But Hezekiah started well and he ended well!

"Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good, right and true before the LORD his God. Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered."

(2 Chronicles 31:20-21)

Centuries later Paul underscores the principle-- "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." (Colossians 3:23-24)

 

It matters not about what context we may be thinking.  The principle pertains to every aspect of one's life; public, private, and even, imagined. We tend to make the mistake of thinking that little things do not matter, those you can just get by, do the least that is required, but when it counts, exceed. That is not the counsel of Scripture.

Growing up my mom used to say to me, "I don't care if you're a garbage man when you grow up but if you're going to be a garbage man, be the best garbage man you can be." She didn't know she was giving me wise counsel from the wisdom of God but it paid off.  

Nothing will be truly right until we are truly home!

“Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done... But the people still followed corrupt practices.”  

2 Chronicles 27:1-2 ESV

Shepherds, teachers, parents—you can do everything right with those over whom the Lord has given you charge but it doesn’t mean your charges will walk righteously with the Lord.

So--Stop beating yourself up over the disappointments and failings of those into whom you have poured your life. Like Adam and Eve who both had a perfect--PERFECT Father, they had the freedom to choose to live well or live poorly. 

“So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.”
2 Chronicles 27:6 ESV  

Jotham is given “short shrift” (that means little is written about him) in the Word but he is highlighted as a good king and a good and successful man “...because he ordered his ways before the Lord.” That’s what I call, "The proper pursuit of prosperity, the “shalom” of God which is far more than merely the “peace” with which we associate that word. The "shalom of God" is ALL encompassing of everything in and about our lives. This is the best anyone can do.  

We all live in a fallen world where everyone has the freedom to live well or live poorly and GOD defines which is which. Committing ourselves to living after the manner He has determined assures us of His blessing but not the assurance of a trouble free life.  THAT is only assured once we leave this broken world and enter our Heavenly home.  Shalom! 

(CF. Psalm 73  The despair of Asaph!)

The Mind boggling nature of the "Morphe Theou"

The incarnation: Fully man and yet fully God! We were given a chrysalis of a Monarch butterfly exactly one week ago after church.  Today the metamorphosis was completed.  The caterpillar was fully caterpillar and yet fully butterfly; one essence, two natures... 

When Jesus came to Earth for US, He was fully God and fully man; one essence, two natures. In Phil. 2:5-7 we read that "Although Jesus existed in the "morphé Theou" the form of God, He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped but humbled Himself taking the morphé, the form, of a bondservant being made in the likeness of men. This is the word from which we get the word "metamorphosis," (literally, change beside another)  

While the caterpillar shares identical DNA with the butterfly [union between the two natures] there is no [fusion of those two natures.]  That is, the caterpillar looks vastly different than the butterfly yet they are one in essence. And the caterpillar could not fly for eg. but the butterfly can...  Yet the caterpillar is no less than the butterfly. That is to say, there is distinction between the two natures but no separation; they are both fully Monarchs. The word in the Greek for this is "hypostasis."  This is the word used in Hebrews 1:3 speaking of Jesus who is the "...exact representation of God's character."  

And now you know the purpose and meaning of the "Chalcedonian Hypostatic union of 451 A.D."  You see, theology can be FUN! 

The chrysalis (caterpillar)

The metamorphosis to a butterfly

No one can escape God's reach

A thoughtful and well-informed friend recently commented on a post I made on FB which spawned this current blog. He identified that he is a “Libertarian” adding, “ I just don't like government interference of any sort.” I found my friend’s comment concerning government both revealing and helpful.

 

I know and have known people of faith who identify likewise. Libertarians share many of the ideals delineated by the Christian faith but often for different reasons. However when Libertarianism collides with “Thus sayeth the Lord”--and it does eventually--one has a serious choice to make. You will either serve your personal preference/conviction OR you will serve the Divine Sovereign of the universe. That is what Lordship means.

 

I consider Eve the first libertarian on record. She had the decree of the Lord Himself telling her what was forbidden in the garden yet at the end of her conversation with the Deceiver, she made her choice. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6

With all the thoroughly inept handling of Romans 13:1-4 of late, the salient wisdom of God gets trampled. Gov’t was actually ordained by God to be a tool of His and a safeguard for the masses.  BUT--by God’s design all governments was to be a constrainer of that which is evil. (Evil is defined by God, not culture, not individuals, and not even government.) This is why the passage says "For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil."  (Romans 13:3-4)

 

Succinctly stated--if you want to have no fear of government then do what is right; RIGHT as defined by God.

 

I suppose one could say God is the “true” Libertarian. That is He extends liberty as far as His Holy nature, love and goodness permit. Divine love demands boundaries; ie., rules, laws, fences, all designed to enhance one’s quality of Life by the One who defines it.

 

So true libertarianism is neither antinomian nor anarchy where self-determination rules the day. “Live and let live” may sell pretty well in a thoughtless and apostate society. But when your neighbor’s “Live and let live” encroaches on my “Live and let live” as it will, someone has to step in.