Philippians 3:14–Pressing Onward

Philippians 3:14: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

This verse is about, among many things, perseverance.  It speaks of pressing on toward the goal of praising Christ Jesus with every available talent, resource, and breath.  In context, Paul tells us all of the sacrifice and hardship that he has been forced to endure for the gospel, but he concludes that he "counts it all rubbish."  There is no greater prize, no more valuable treasure than to serve God with earnestness and passion.  Any other treasure is not only transient and failing, it is also counterfeit and insufficient.  Let us then press on toward the eternal prize that is knowing and serving God in Christ Jesus!

Distract from the Pain but Neglect the Injury

Most recent research suggests a longheld assumption on the nature of pain and injury.  The most effective method for pain suppression is distraction.  Think of the classic stubbed toe: as long as you are busy doing something else you would never suppose that you had ever injured one of those tiny appendages.  That is, until you stub it again.  And then one is instantly reminded of the reality of injury.  No matter the strength of diversion or the success of the delusion, the injury remains.

It is not much of a stretch to carry this into the spiritual realm, as it is so readily found there.  There are injuries of the spiritual type, deeply-cut wounds and bruises of the spiritual kind.  And, like trauma of the physical, the most natural impulse of pain relief is distraction, diversion, and the like.  This method, however, does not deal with the underlying injury, the cause of the pain still remains though the pain may be dulled by the inebriation of entertainment or amusement or mere leisure.  But still the true injury remains, only to be called upon for resentment, anger, and unrepentant sin in the future the moment it is 'stubbed' again.

Clearly, addressing merely the symptoms would be insufficient to heal the injury.  However, if we only consider the injury when the symptoms are present, then perhaps the issue is not only about the actual injury itself, but we have added to the malady by our own distraction.  Addressing the ailment directly must also then include a consideration of the proclivity to cover the pain caused by the damage.

Spiritually speaking, the injury that ails every human being is sin.  And despite our best efforts at diversion, no amount of distraction will remove the reality fo the injury: we are dead in our sin.  Try as we might, we cannot escape this truth, the heart of our malady is sin itself.  But we our not without hope for this is the very injury to which Christ Himself died to overcome!  We would do well to remember that the next time our spiritual injuries are stubbed and our best distractions are proven to be but mere masks.  To remember that Christ has came to save us from our most severe and mangled hurts is a good focus when we see ourselves prone to distraction.

1 John 4:19 and Love

This is from 1 John, chapter 4, starting at verse 7-10 and skipping to verse 19:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins…” Truly, “We love because He first loved us.”             

        That last verse is so simple, pithy even.  “We love because He first loved us.”  It’s not long, not complicated but we should not mistake that for plain or basic.  “We love because He first loved us.”  It is profound, full of theological import and significance that not only encourages us with its brevity but challenges us with its meaning.  “We love because He first loved us.”             

John, the writer of this, is saying two intensely difficult things: that Christ is to be both the reason we love, but, even more so, He is the manner with which we love, He is the why, but He is also the how.   “We love because He first loved us."

Now, through faith in Christ Jesus, confession that He is Lord and belief that God has raised Him from the dead, we may enter into right, redeemed relationship.  Our frailty is replaced with strength, our brokenness is mended, and our infirmities our healed by Christ, in Christ, and through Christ. The love that He first loved us with at the cross now lives within us, guiding us, and empowering us to live and love as as Christ.  “We love because He first loved us.”

It was Christ’s perfect work at the cross that has enabled us to love.  He has empowered us with the ability to love.  And this is not love like the world thinks, like some emotional whimsy, or daffodil capriciousness of "he loves me, he loves me not."  No.  This is the real, serious love that can only come from Him who is living within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Remember: “We love because He first loved us.”

This love is selfless, not self-seeking; it is pure, not tainted by our flippancy.  It is not an "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine," type of relationship.  No.  This love is altogether other, stemming from the deepest depths of our beings and welling up through our pores for us to lavish upon those we love.  Above all, it is a gift from God given through Christ to all those who call on Him as Lord and Savior.  This is a beautiful, easily memorable verse, but as we pull back the layers, as it unfurls, we begin to see the density behind it.  “We love because He first loved us.”

Christ’s love is not just an example for how we should love.  It is the very ability, the source within us to love.  In order for us to love as He has loved us, we must always keep our focus fixed, our gaze set upon the cross, which is the sole cornerstone of why and how we love.  It is at the cross that we see ourselves as we truly are.  And it is at the cross that we see who God is, and it is in this revelation that true love is made possible at all.  This is why "We love because He first loved us."

Love is rooted, ultimately, in God.  The why and the how of love is based in the life and work of Christ Jesus, who has set us free when He saved us at His cross.  At our cores, we are broken fragments and frail egoists as a result of sin’s pervasiveness in our lives.  Yet God, who is rich in mercy, condescended to us, emptying Himself through the incarnation of His Power into the human form of His Son, Christ Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life.  Yet He was tried for His innocence and found guilty of no punishable crime, though He did claim to be God’s only Son and, by that virtue, the rightful King of the World . 

For that, He was beaten, flogged, stripped, spat upon, and marched through the streets of Jerusalem carrying the cross of our shame and the instrument of His death.  He was then crucified naked alongside the main roads just outside the city gates.  He was murdered, not for anything He had done, but because it was God's will to bestow grace and love to humanity by taking on the sin of mankind in His own flesh and nailing it to the cross.  But three days after His death and burial, the stone that sealed His grave was moved and He was found risen.  He rose from the grave, confirming that He was and is the Messiah, the Son of God.  “We love because He first loved us.”

Now, through faith in Christ Jesus, confession that He is Lord and belief that God has raised Him from the dead, we may enter into right, redeemed relationship.  Our frailty is replaced with strength, our brokenness is mended, and our infirmities our healed by Christ, in Christ, and through Christ. The love that He first loved us with at the cross now lives within us, guiding us, and empowering us to live and love as as Christ.  “We love because He first loved us.”
           
It was Christ’s perfect work at the cross that has enabled us to love.  He has empowered us with the ability to love.  And this is not love like the world thinks, like some emotional whimsy, or daffodil capriciousness of "he loves me, he loves me not."  No.  This is the real, serious love that can only come from Him who is living within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Remember: “We love because He first loved us.”
            
This love is selfless, not self-seeking; it is pure, not tainted by our flippancy.  It is not an "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine," type of relationship.  No.  This love is altogether other, stemming from the deepest depths of our beings and welling up through our pores for us to lavish upon those we love.  Above all, it is a gift from God given through Christ to all those who call on Him as Lord and Savior.  This is a beautiful, easily memorable verse, but as we pull back the layers, as it unfurls, we begin to see the density behind it.  “We love because He first loved us.”
            
Christ’s love is not just an example for how we should love.  It is the very ability, the source within us to love.  In order for us to love as He has loved us, we must always keep our focus fixed, our gaze set upon the cross, which is the sole cornerstone of why and how we love.  It is at the cross that we see ourselves as we truly are.  And it is at the cross that we see who God is, and it is in this revelation that true love is made possible at all.  

Worship: Something Altogether Different

Worship, in that modern-day evangelical world, has become shorthand lingo referring to a musical genre or some sort formula for congregational services.  To be sure, this has been a centuries-long reduction of what it means to worship from an all-encompassing way of life shrunken to an hour long mass.  In the end, to think of worship as merely musical or to confine worship to an act of service would be to diminish worship and sever its theological density and meaning, rendering the worshiper confused, disjointed, and fractured, unable to worship truly for their lack of understanding.

At the introduction, the word worship immediately brings the limitations of language to bear upon the conversation.  Because worship, as it is commonly known, has generally been used as an adjective, i.e. worship music, worship service, worship time.  This betrays that worship serves, most fully, as a verb, as in, worship is an activity.  This is not to detract from worship being used to describe various activities or times, but worship should be thought of more than merely a type or form of an activity.

Think of music.  Because evangelicals have made worship a musical genre, the part of the active worship participator has been moved to the role preferential spectator.  Now worship has been deemed a taste.  As if the one who would be the active worship participator could actually choose if they wanted to worship or not like it was as common a decision as deciding whether they wanted italian food for dinner.  This is not to say that music is not a medium for worship, rather, it is to highlight the apparent deficiency in the minds and hearts of worshipers that has come about from a misconception.

Worship, at its irreducible base, requires body and head, Church and Christ.  This is one of those difficult things to understand: there is a unity, a communal requirement of worship.  Although it occurs on a personal, private level to a limited degree, it is primarily a community activity, requiring a lifting of one voice from many to sing with one accord that Jesus is Lord.  Worship is a word that describes an active worship.  The deficient focus, in the past, has spent to much time on the personal aspect of the adjective to the declension of the community verb.  In the end, though, these are not mutually exclusive ideas, far from it, for they are both necessary for worship to be.

Remember Jesus' words: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matt. 18:20).  Jesus is not undervaluing the individual in the slightest, however, He is laying out a community requirement of worship.  Often times this verse is employed for matter of prayer, but its context deals with binding and loosing, the very activity of worship needs to be focused on these elements.

In addition to the community requirement of worship, two other factors must be present, namely, Spirit and Truth.  Again we turn to the words of Jesus: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him." (John 4:23).  The truth is the Word, which is Christ.  The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, which is the indwelling within the hearts of believers.

The Truth is the content, the Spirit is the outpouring of emotion and energy, both focused on worshiping the Father.  In this way, worship engages with every member of the Trinity in their respective realms of influence and function.  The point, then, is not to designate specific activities or certain tasks as worship but, rather, to fulfill the greatest commandment in every posture, remembering the words of Paul: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col 3:17).

Our goal and intent, as worshipers, is to join together with one, unified voice to offer sincere praise, adoration, exaltation, and thanksgiving to the Father, through His Son, Christ Jesus, which is empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who baptizes those whom He is pleased to call His own.  If we understand worship in this way, we would cease to lack evangelistic energy or mission or focus, and we would no longer think of worship as a common spectator activity.  Let us then join together in song so loud and unified that the foundations of the earth are shaken!

Love: defined.

Love.  Love is one of those elusive but finite things.  It's an action that can have emotional content.  Or it's a sense or feeling that is performed outwardly.  Or sometimes it is a word used to designate a sort relationship.  But Scripture defines love as a posture of the heart, an attitude devotion and humility that informs both word and deed in how we relate to to other people and to God.

To be sure, love comes from God as He is the source of love.  Ultimate love is of the supernatural essence of God and it is known most fully in the person of Christ Jesus.  His act of condescension, when He took the incarnate form of a human and emptied Himself so as to become a servant unto death was the definition of love.  Any definition that does not point to Christ would fall short of highlighting the quintessential love act of all creation: the cross.

Love, as humanity knows and carries it forward, must begin with this base.  Putting Christ's work at the foundation of our definition of love will keep us from thinking of love in any less reverence than it deserves.  As Christ says, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).  In this way, we can see that Christ's life and work is to act as an example for how we measure and define love ourselves.

Let us then always remember what Christ Jesus has done and how He has shown love to us truly.  And let His example guide us to take the same mind among ourselves: to lay down ourselves so as to lift up others in love.  In this way, we will fulfill the great commandments of God and live lives that He has called us to!

No More Politics

Amidst the constant bombardment of vociferous political rhetoric and flippant disrespect aimed in every direction, I feel compelled towards realignment and stability.  Words like "liberty" and "freedom" have taken the center stage, while the marketplace of ideas has been flooded with bombast like a full-on fire hose that leaves us all feeling soaking wet and bruised from the wear.

In moments like these, when issues that affect lives are discussed, there is an inherent tendency to elevate priorities in an effort to clarify thoughts for the purpose of coherent dialogue and debate.  But although there may be significant, if not severe, differences between how we evaluate, critique, and decide on any particular issue, it is always important that the method of debate must be commenced with decency and respect.  The means with which we arrive at some semblance of consensus is at least as important as the ends we are aiming at.

Humility is the key.  Admittedly, this is much easier spoken of than accomplished, especially when convictions about truth are the matter at hand; however, it is vital that we maintain humility throughout our debates.  Additionally, humility under circumstances such as these can be nearly impossible because we are dealing with issues of great importance, that strike our deepest persuasions.

Consider this: Christ Jesus was the very Son of God.  He possessed, within His very person, truth.  This was not some humanistic "idea" about an abstract, subjective truth.  Christ Jesus knew the truth, for He, being God, was the source of truth and it is essential to His being.  Yet when He was faced with controversy and contrary "opinions" about truth that opposed truth, He spoke gently, directly, and with the utmost humility.

Jesus had the right and the authority to tell it like it is, being in very nature God.  Make no mistake: Jesus did call out people directly, but His tactic always matched the matter at hand, and His priorities were set in such a way that He knew when to hug a person to teach them and when to indict them to their faces (think turning tables over in the Temple and calling religious elitists: brood of vipers).

As we continue the debate of politics, let us take this same mind of humility among ourselves.  No matter how strongly we feel/know what is true and right, we should always strive to present it in a way that is inline with our Christian convictions and that would not damage our testimony.  In other words, we need to love.  And above all else, let us pray with earnest supplications that the Lord would help us always to match our convictions with our love.

The Christ of Christianity

Colossian 1:15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Hm.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Hebrews 1:3: "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of HIs nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."

Philippians 2:6-8: "[Christ Jesus], who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, He humbles Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

1 Timothy 2:5-6: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave HImself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time."

John 1:1-5, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The whole of Christianity rests upon the person of Christ Jesus.  He was an actual, historical person who lived a perfect, sinless life, who was put on trial and murdered for His lack of crime, but on the third day after His death, He rose from the grave, as the resurrected Lord and Savior, King over all creation.  The last sentence, while being full of true theological assertions, is rooted in the theology of Scripture.  So, in an effort to always affirm that the Scripture is the authority, today seems a good day to let the Scripture speak for itself so that we could think about such important things as this.  This has been, admittedly, an all-too-abbreviated survey of Christological passages, but they are at least sufficient to get the ball rolling in our hearts and our heads.  And always: thanks be to God that He has revealed Himself in His Son so that we could know Him in redemption!

We Have Been Made Holy in Christ

Holiness has a two-fold definition encompassing, in the very least, the concepts of moral purity and utter uniqueness.  In the latter, which will be under examination today, this uniqueness is not to be thought of as a uniqueness of a different degree, as in, one is holy when they do something more, better, etc.  Instead, holiness in this sense is best thought of a difference in kind, akin to, say the difference between water and sand.

It is this form of holiness that has particular importance for believers, for we are called to be holy as He is holy.  And, while it is certainly true that this exhortation refers to moral purity, it simultaneously speaks to the fact that believers are to be set apart and of a different kind of human from unbelievers.

This is in no way to seem elitist or arrogant, instead it is a reality.  Much like a dead person is different from a live person, due to his/her absence of life, so is the unbeliever different in kind from the Christian due to his/her lack of life in Christ, who is the One who is and gives life.  In this sense, holiness is not something that needs to be sought out, but claimed and accepted as an already-evident truth: the Christian, by confession, repentance, and belief in Christ Jesus, is made alive from death, reborn into holiness that sets them apart from who they were before.  This is what is meant by the idiom, in the world but not of the world.

Scripture speaks substantially to this effect.  One such passage that struck me today was Psalm 4:3, "But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself."  Or consider the words of Paul, who writes about his calling, "But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace (Gal. 1:15)."  Although these are two seemingly dissimilar verses, they both point out that it is, in fact, God who sets apart those whom He has been pleased to love and bestow His grace upon and make holy by the washing of His Word, which is the blood of His Son, Christ Jesus.  This is, among many exclaiming adjectives, amazing.  Let us then claim the holiness that God has given us in His Son!  Praise God!

Remembering the Love of God

During the most recent worship service at church, I became overwhelmed under the weight and reality of God's utter love that He has lavished upon us.  I was reading, somewhat accidentally, through Isaiah 53 and I was just struck to the core, pierced in the heart by the poignant love of God, which was shown most fully in how God had sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to suffer a horrible death by crucifixion so as to pay the debt of sin.

Jesus took upon Himself, in His very own flesh, all the concentrated iniquity and transgression of all humanity.  But He did not do it begrudgingly or with much grumbling.  Instead, He kept silent before  His persecutors and even prayed for Him during His passion.  He went as a lamb silent before the slaughter.

But, and this is the remarkable thing, that it pleased God to strike and crush Christ Jesus, His own Son.  For at His death, Christ Jesus glorified the Lord Almighty with the purest song of praise and adoration that had ever been uttered.  Moreover, Jesus condescended to human form, laying down some of His divine power and prerogative to live a perfect, sinless life before submitting Himself over to His earthly accusers to be beaten, flogged, spat upon, and ultimately hung naked from a crucifix on the side of the crossroads outside of Jerusalem.

All of this is undeniable and supported by the Holy Scriptures, yet it is nto simply static information.  No.  This should affect us, it should transform us, it should stop us in our tracks mouth-agape and in awe.  Reverence and humility seems an appropriate response to recognizing the absolute goodness of God and His amazing love for us.  It should prompt us to praise, to offer thanks, and to pray in earnest.  Let us then take the time this week to remember God, who He is and what He has done for us.  

Loving like the Samaritan

Helping others is not just an easy tagline that fits on a bumper sticker.  Helping others is an extension of our devotion and our love for God.  In fact, it is when we are serving others that God if most fully flowing through us.  The challenge to this ideal is that most of us are far-more apt to care and help those who are more like us and far-more likely to ignore or neglect helping those who are markedly different.  This becomes even more acute when those who need our help are the dregs, the disenfranchised, and the lowliest members of society.

Think for a moment of how easy it is to turn away from those who appear ragged and haggard.  But, in truth, these are the very people who we should help.  This is one of the most clear Christian ideals and yet, because of our natural bents towards entitlement and selfishness, many are too quick to dismiss charity altogether.  Unfortunately, charity has become a term for an organization, but in its truest historical sense, charity is love actuated.

Consider Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).  A man leaving Jerusalem is mugged, stripped, and beaten, left for dead alongside the road.  A priest, a man who has given his life to the service of the Lord, sees the man and crosses the road so as to ignore his misfortunes altogether. Then a Levite, a man groomed from birth as a servant of the Lord, does the same thing, going out of his way to ignore his compassion for this crestfallen man.

Finally, a Samaritan man comes along the road.  Samaritans were considered lower-class Jews, half-breeds whose ancestors had mated with the pagan nations.  In fact, although the mugged man was in a worse physical state, he was still the cultural superior to the Samaritan.  Yet despite all this, the Samaritan man had compassion on the other man, binding his wounds, letting him ride his animal to the nearest village where the Samaritan even covered the other man's costs: true mercy, true compassion, and true godly love. 

Jesus confirms this ideal when He says, "Truly, I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me (Matt. 25:40)."  The idea is that we will not withhold our love and compassion from those who seem unworthy.  Instead, we will always love and have mercy, especially to those people who no one else will love.  This means that we will not turn away from the dregs or marginalized, but we will get into the trenches with them, by the love of Christ Jesus.

Love like Forrest

Arguably one of the greatest films of all time is also one of the most profound, Forrest Gump.  The film chronicles the multi-faceted, history-laden life of a southern man, Forrest Gump, from his childhood through his adulthood.  The essence of the movie, told through Forrest's episodic adventures, is a tale about a character who didn't know anything but being a good guy, despite his mental handicap.

One such episode that expresses Forrest's character is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the whole movie, and it deals with friendship.  Forrest, a star college athlete, became a soldier after graduation and was thrust forth into the depths of the Vietnam war.  En route to training camp, Forrest met Bubba.  Bubba would become Forrest's best friend and trusted confidant.

Forrest's platoon was trudging through the thick of the Vietnamese  jungle, when the unit came under heavy enemy fire.  The squad was outnumbered and ambushed with nothing to do but retreat.  Forrest, being an all-star athlete, outran his entire platoon until he had escaped to the edge of the jungle.  Realizing himself to be alone without Bubba, Forrest turned back towards the action and ran into the abyss in search of his friend.

Although Forrest was unable to locate Bubba, he was able to save several other members of his platoon, even his commanding officer.  Eventually, after multiple trips into the jungle to find his friend, Forrest found Bubba and was able to harrowing pull his heavily wounded body from the jungle, all the while being wounded himself in the process.  Forrest was awarded the Purple Heart for his harrowing bravery, though despite his best effort, Bubba did not make it.

Forrest was under the heaviest of enemy attacks, yet he was unrelenting in his efforts to save his friend.  He sprinted through the jungle, dodged the enemy bullets, and did all he could to find and to pull his friend to safety.  This is such a great story of what friendship should look like.  As Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13)."

Fortunately, most of us are not in war zones; however, we still need to lay down our lives for our friends as Jesus commands.  How this plays itself out practically is that we will not relent in our fervent love for one another, whether that means buying someone a tank of gas or helping someone move.  Additionally, we should never stop running back into the spiritual warzone of this world to preach the Gospel and save those whom we care about.  Let us then run like Forrest to save our loved ones, no matter how many times we have to go or how dangerous the circumstances are.

Remember:
"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (Pro. 17:17)."

Fireproofing our Love for God

There is a particular storyline from the film Fireproof that came to my mind today.  The main character, Caleb, is a firefighter who, due to the constant weariness of life, has become a hard working, though critical and unloving man.  Because of this, Caleb finds his marriage falling apart, even coming close to a divorce. It is then, when he is nearing the end of his wits, that his father challenges him to a daily devotional which is meant to encourage him to re-engage his wife over the course of forty days.

Over time, Caleb devotes himself to the Lord through prayer and Bible study.  As he grows in his devotion to the Lord, he begins to love his wife in a way that he never had.  The culmination of this is the apex of the movie.  For years, Caleb had been selfishly saving and hoarding money for his dream boat.  All the while, Caleb's wife's mother has been deathly sick and in desperate need of medical supplies.  So, in an act of pure love, Caleb quietly uses the money that he had been saving for years to pay for his mother-in-law's medical supplies. His love for the Lord expresses itself through his love for his wife and his mother-in-law.  This is one of the main points of the whole movie.

John the Elder, the disciple whom Jesus loved, has more to say about love than perhaps any of the other New Testament writers.  And while most remember that God loves us through Christ Jesus His Son, many neglect how we love God.  John answers that important and necessary question with this: "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us (1 John 4:12)."  And again, "Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God (1 John 4:7)."

In truth, John is indicating that loving others is how we exhibit our love for God.  In other words, we love God by loving those whom He loves.  This should not be overlooked or neglected ever.  Although worship, praise, and thankfulness are the essentials of loving God, loving others is also a vital and necessary component of that mixture.

This plays itself out in very practical ways.  For as we love others with humility and sacrifice, we are loving and serving God in the very manner that He has asked from us, which means that we will love others as He has loved us.  To be sure, this is not an altogether natural thing unless we pursue the Lord, because only by His empowering will we be able to love others in the way that He asks us to.  In the end, loving others is such a huge part of the Christian life that if we do not love others we are failing to love Him!  Let us then press on to love truly as He has loved us!

The True Witness that Testifies about Christ Jesus

During a criminal trial, testimony will often be given either to prove the defendant's innocence or confirm his/her guilt.  The validity of the testimony is based upon the character and the integrity of the witness.  For if the witness is known to be untrue or it can be shown that their character may lack, their testimony could be deemed questionable on that basis.

Christianity is also based upon a testimony.  And, like in a courtroom, the power and truth of that testimony is dependent upon the integrity and character of the witness.  It is, in fact, this very truth on which all Christian faith is built upon, for our witness is God Himself, and He is truth.

John writes, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life (1 John 5:11-12)."  The testimony is God, but He is also the witness of that testimony.  It is God Himself that acts as the guarantor of the testimony about His Son.  It is for this reason that the truth about Christ is ultimately trustworthy and perfect.

God supports the message of Christ Jesus through power and Spirit.  As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that he did not come with lofty words of wisdom, but with displays of the Spirit and of power so that the Gospel would not be based on the wisdom of man but on the very power of God (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

In the end, the testimony of Jesus Christ is made sure and valid because of its witness, which is the Holy Spirit, God Himself.  Christianity is not based upon man's ability to receive God, nor is it based upon lofty argument or smooth-talking preachers.  No!  The valid witness of Christianity is God.  Therefore, we, as Christians, should not ever fear spreading the Gospel, for in the end we are not the witness of God, He is the witness of Himself.  We are just to be obedient in passing on that message.  Let us then share the testimony about Jesus Christ for in so doing the Holy Spirit will be testifying about the Son through us!

Boasting in God

Muhammed Ali is one of the greatest boxers of all time.  He made his living beating boxing's best during the height of boxing's popularity.  Ali is well known for many things, including his epic fights, his religious name change, and even his political leanings.  However, more than almost anything else, Ali will be remembered for his wit and distinct ability to spin a memorable phrase.

Ali's perennial quotability has pervaded so much of society that even children of the digital generation say things like, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." Or, "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."  And, "I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest."  Needless to say, Ali understood the art of self-promotion that paved the way for generations of champions around the world.

To be sure, we live in a world of self-promotion.  One can barely spend anytime watching television or scanning the web without seeing some sort of self-exaltation or another.  And while it can be a funny thing to do in the company of friends, the idea of boasting about oneself is a serious ordeal that requires our attention.

The apostle Paul speaks about boasting to the Corinthian church.  Paul was addressing the Corinthian's propensity to boast about themselves when he wrote, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17)."  It would seem that the idea of arrogance and boasting was as significant an issue to the 1st-century Church as it is today.  Paul's point is that one cannot boast about themselves and God.  It is either one or the other.

But this concept did not originate with Paul.  The prophet Jeremiah, writing centuries before Paul, wrote this prophecy, "Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the Lord (Jer. 9:23-24).'"

The heart of the matter is what do we boast in.  If we boast in ourselves or something other than God, then we are taking away what is so rightfully God's, namely our worship and praise.  Moreover, when we lift up ourselves or someone/thing else into the high place in our eyes, then we are usurping God's place at the center of our hearts and we are committing idolatry.

Boasting stems from worth.  We boast because we feel proud of something present within ourselves that we value.  If we understand boasting in this way, we will recognize that to boast in anything other than God and our knowledge of Him means that we are esteeming something that is less than He is.  To be sure, the thing of highest value in our lives is God.  Anything that would take that place is a counterfeit illusion.

Therefore, we should boast only of and in Him.  This is what Jeremiah and Paul are talking about.  So, when we would feel inclined to raise our hands at our own adulation and like Ali say, "I'm the greatest," may we pause to think of the reality of our words.  Let us then turn to God and only to God, and if we are to boast may it only be in Him!

True Truth and False Teaching

There is an increasing notion, spreading pervasively throughout the world today, that an individual has the right and ability to decide truth for him or herself.  This concept has spread with such imperialistic force over the last half-century that not only is it subsumed within the culture, but it has foisted itself upon every element of society.  The common assertion, perhaps slightly oversimplified, states that every person is free to decide truth and to dictate reality as he or she sees fit.  Truth has been so irreverently reduced to a preference that truth has been removed of any actual content beyond its contextual usefulness.  In essence, this ideal would claim that truth is relative to the individual and can be anything, even if it opposes another's truth.

While the historical underpinning for this concept of multiple truths is postmodernism, the effect has been to make truth an individual, relativistic ordeal.  Absolute truth is considered impossible because everyone has their own version of truth.  The result of such a claim is two-fold.  First of all, any and every human being is made into a truth master, capable of creating and determining any truth and worldview that they could desire.  The second effect is that truth critiques and appraisals have been made wholly obsolete because, ultimately, all truths are esteemed as equally valid.  Such a claim does much to explain the torrent of relativism and immorality throughout the world today.

To be certain, it is wholeheartedly against Scripture and the teachings of Jesus to say that truth is relative.  Jesus spoke quite directly that He alone is the truth (John 14:6; 1 John 5:20).  And Scripture is particularly unified that truth is absolute and revealed.  The logic behind such an assertion stems from the source of truth: God.  Because God is the supreme source of Truth, in order for humanity to have access to truth, it must be revealed by God Himself.  The reality, then, is that truth is absolute because it is based on an absolute source.

Naturally, this flies in the face of the contemporary understanding of truth being a relative, individualistic endeavor.  For starters, this puts the person who would claim a certain truth under the authority of Scripture to weigh their particular truth assertion(s).  Additionally, and more importantly, a methodology must be put in place to assess the various and differing truth claims.  Luckily, Scripture is not silent in this regard.  For this, the New Testament authors and Jesus Himself, speak a good deal about truth and falsity, particularly in reference to false teachers and false prophets.

Jesus warns explicitly against false teachers (Matt. 7:15; 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22).  Paul addresses falsity (2 Cor 11:13; Eph. 4:25; 2 Thess. 2:9; 1 Tim. 6:20).  James, Peter, and John also warn against false teachers and teaching (James 3:14; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1).  Needless to say, for such a united warning against falsity, it indicates that this was and is a serious problem in the world and in the Church.

To say that one thing is false is to define it as not true.  This means that what is false is inherently untrue.  Although this may seem like obvious semantic play, the essence of such an assertion should not be overlooked.  Think of the profound logic that the postmodern-world would neglect or dismiss: if something is true it is not false, and if something is false it is not true.  The world at large would view such logic as absolute, indefensible, and archaic.  Unfortunately, the idea that any conceivable idea can be true if someone believes it sincerely enough is an absolute statement that is not founded within its own system of thought.

The issue comes down to truth appraisal.  What rubric is to be employed when weighing various truth claims?  How do we assess truth as being true?  In the end, two simple assertions must be put forth. The first is the authority of Scripture.  Scripture, being the very written Word of God, is the authority that founds or trumps any and all truth claims.  This carries with it the necessity of Jesus, in very nature God, being the beginning and end for all truth assessment.  If any particular truth claim does not jibe with Christ Jesus or with Scripture then, plainly, it cannot be true.  Unfortunately, Christians have all-too-quickly accommodated to these divisive, individualistic, and relative definitions of truth.  Instead we need to consider the words of Paul in his letter to the Colossians:

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ (Col. 2:8)."

The truth-ness of truth is in how it relies on Christ for its foundation, and how defensible it is from the standpoint of Scripture.  Let us then hold tightly to the Truth, which is God!

Understanding the Holy Spirit

Throughout the Church, there seems to be much teaching and doctrine about the Father, and certainly the Son, but the work of the Holy Spirit is oddly neglected.  To be sure, it is challenging. For however many and eloquent words we might employ to depict and discuss the Holy Spirit, we are inevitably left using material and human words to describe an altogether un-human being.  This leaves us inclined either to dig deeper into the Scriptures for clarification or simply to ignore teaching about the Holy Spirit entirely for fear of doing Him injustice.  Needless to say, the latter is unacceptable.  Instead, we should look at the opportunity to learn about God, His Holy Spirit, with joy and energy.

At the onset, the Holy Spirit is unique to Christianity.  Only Christianity teaches that God Himself, in His Holy Spirit, will actually descend upon and indwell believers.  This should excite us to know that God desires to indwell us with His very person so as to guide, to teach, and to grow us from the inside-out.  Because we are discussing a Spirit, we should be sure to consider a couple of points of clarification: we are referring to the Spirit not a material substance; we are talking about One who indwells within believers not everyone; and there is an emphasis in the New Testament, particularly Acts, for a baptism of or being filled by the Holy Spirit.  These three basic assertions form a trifecta of foundations supported and supplemented by the Word, specifically the New Testament.

While the Holy Spirit plays a major role in nearly all of the New Testament works, none more so than that of the Gospel of John and Acts.  More than any other writing does John chronicle Jesus specific teaching about the Holy Spirit.  For starters, people are to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (John 1:33), which equates to be born of the Spirit (John 3:5).  This can seem both odd and confusing, and has sparked much debate over what amounts to this baptism.  Luckily, Jesus does not leave us without reference about this, as chronicled by Luke throughout Acts.

In Acts 1:4-5, Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, "He said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'"  Jesus, quite clearly, tells the disciples that, though they had already been baptized with water and were believers, they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Moreover, just before Jesus ascends, in His final words to His disciples, He says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)."  The event Jesus prophesied is Pentecost (Acts 2:4), accompanied by the physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit, namely speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Much destructive and unbiblical teaching has been done on this subject, to the effect that the Church seems polarized.  In an effort to keep true to the Scripture and reserved, we can point out a couple of clear things about this.  For one, believers are to be baptized in water and the Holy Spirit.  These being two things, they do not necessarily mean two separate occasions; they could be simultaneous.  Secondly, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the power of God.  If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we could believe all the right orthodoxy but never bear fruit.  In this far-too-normal scenario, we need to earnestly pray to receive the Holy Spirit who guides, counsels, teaches, helps us grow spiritual fruit and is the medium of worship (John 4:23; 14:15-18, 25-26; 16:4-15).

The other, and most controversial, aspect of the Holy Spirit that should not be neglected for fear of disrupting our denominational doctrines or sensibilities is in reference to the "sign" gifts: healing, miracles, prophecy, visions, and tongues.  In an effort to let the Word determine theology as opposed to the dire case of the reverse, it must be said unambiguously that these gifts are still in effect today.  We still live in the age of grace, and God still empowers believers who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit with these gifts and He still works in these ways today.

In the end, understanding who the Holy Spirit is, how He is received, and what He does within believers is essential teaching.  Certainly, it is challenging teaching that can convict and push us in unforeseen ways but this should not allow us to neglect it.  In closing, Paul indicates that the Holy Spirit "seals" our inheritance in the Father, and is a "guarantor" of our eternity (2 Cor.21-22; Eph. 1:13-14).  The purpose of this article has not been an exhaustive or comprehensive teaching on the Holy Spirit, but just a taste of the more important things that Christians need to be aware of.  Let us then pray to be baptized by the Holy Spirit so as to be empowered by God Himself!

The Quest for Humility

Facebook has made all the world self-promoters, Twitter has made every one fancy themselves a quick-quipping pun king, and Youtube has made everyone think they should be a star.  We live in a world that spreads self-esteem and expects self-exaltation, making the truly humble heart is a rarity.  But God demands something more, indicating that there is ruin for those who would exalt themselves in haughtiness and pride.

This is a hard but necessary teaching.  Many of us would rather be noticed and heralded, but God asks for something else altogether.  Throughout the book of Proverbs, humility is contrasted to pride just as wisdom is contrasted to foolishness and as godliness is contrasted with sin (Pro. 3:34; 11:2; 15:31, 33; 16:18-19; 18:12; 21:4; 26:12; 29:23; 30:32).  This should be enough in itself for us to know that God demands us to be humble so as to receive His favor and His blessings.

But before we should think that only the Old Testament was concerned with humility, we should be reminded of Jesus very own words: "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12; cf. Luke 14:7-11 & 18:9-14 )."  We should take Jesus' words with seriousness and sobriety and it should, ultimately, convict us on to humility.

Clearly, humility is a big deal.  However, as mentioned above, it goes against our well-ingrained, western tendencies.  Accomplishing the task of humility is a holistic, full-person endeavor.  To be sure, the quest for humility is a matter of identity.  If we are to be found solely and securely in Christ, then there is simply no room for pride or haughty self-exaltation because we will be looking at our own worth in the light of the Holy Lord.  Let us then look to God to be our identity and our only boast!

The Good News of the Gospel

An emotionally-spent struggles to sleep.  For the past two years her son, a marine, has been deployed overseas.  Everyday the mother watches the reports, praying that she will not hear her son's name listed among those soldiers who had lost their lives in battle.  She is strained and worn from worry, having been for several months since her son's last correspondence.

Early one morning, before the sun dawns its brightness over the horizon, the mother hears rustling in the kitchen.  She gets herself dressed and walks down the stairs with reservation.   When she gets to the doorway of the kitchen, tears begin to wrench from her eyes as she is startled to see her son making her breakfast.  He had returned stateside days earlier and wanted to surprise her with good news.

Good News, that news which is a salve to our hearts and an encouragement to our lives.  The Word of God speaks of the greatest news to ever be received, which is the Gospel of Jesus, the story of sweet salvation.  The Gospel, the good news of Jesus, is the story of God's grace, the redemption from sin, death being conquered, and the reception of life eternal through the torn flesh and shed blood of God's Son, Christ Jesus.

Although the whole of Scripture speaks to the Good News of Christ Jesus, perhaps the most concise verse is the oft-quoted John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life." The richness of this well-known passage is its theological density and literary precision.  John, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is indicating that at the heart of the Gospel of Christ is nothing less than God's very love for us!

Moreover, the Gospel, the Good News of salvation brought about by God through Jesus, is story that took centuries to write.  The Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) prophesy of it (Rom 1:2-3; Heb. 1:1-4).  Profoundly, the Gospel was a centuries-long preparation of God for the redemption of humanity by the work of His Son, Christ Jesus.  This is certainly Good News.  Let us not eschew our passion for this news but let us, like the mother in the above story, weep tears of joy at the joyfulness of the Good News of Christ Jesus!