John 3:21–To Be Seen Doing What Is True

John 3:21–"But whoever does what is true comes into the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God."

There is something to this verse, that not only would we do what is true but also that we would do it in the open so that our works may be weighed for worth.  It is not that we do what is true for the purpose of being seen.  Rather, it is that we would do the will of God for the purpose of glorifying God and to prove His goodness and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit working through us.  This is what John is talking about.  He is exhorting us to live out the truth in such a way that brings glory to God by the way we live.  Let us then strive to live life in this way so as to praise God fully.

A Note About Honesty

Let me start with this: for the past few weeks I have had more than a couple very real conversations with people who are very important to me.  During these discussions, the necessity for honesty has come to the forefront of my life and I wanted to take a paragraph or two to discuss the whole concept of honesty and its importance in our relationships.

Honesty requires, at the very least, vulnerability and trust.  To be vulnerable means that we would be willing to let down our guards for the purpose of exposing our weaknesses to others.  But within that vulnerability, we share it with trust.  While vulnerability can in itself be a frightening proposition, it is the need for trust that makes honesty so challenging.  Yet it is these very things, trust and vulnerability, that make honesty so valuable to relationships and it is why we must strive for it in our lives.  In reality, honesty is the foundation of love.

Let us then strive for honesty as we strive in devotion to the Lord!

Assurance of the Things Unseen

In Hebrews faith is defined as the assurance of the things unseen.  In modern understandings, however, faith has been relegated to merely a trust in things that cannot be empirically observed, specifically dealing with spiritual things.  Yet this redefinition is an insufficient understanding of what faith is and how naturally we employ it throughout every moment of the day.

Consider gravity.  It is a verifiable, repeatable, and observational relationship between two bodies if mass.  Yet, in the most basic sense, these relationships themselves are, in fact, unseeable.  We cannot actually see gravity, we can only observe its effects, the echoes of its existsence.  Yet we have faith in its properties and in its existence without any thought.

Or apply this of the relationships between husband and wife: they cannot see, it turns out, the marriage itself, for only the effects, the shadows of their relationship can truly be seen and verified empirically. Yet we do not discount the faith that draws together the man and woman in matrimony.  In this way, faith is not just a word we use to describe a private ascension to a set of theological assertions.  Instead, it is a trust in the invisible relationships that dominate every aspect of our lives and of all creation.

Thus when we have discussions of faith and about faith, we need to take into account how pervasive faith actually is.  In truth, then, our understandings of faith are perhaps some of the most important things about us.  While space does not permit an exhaustive dissection of faith suffice to say it is vital that our definitions of faith, its purview and its significance, be as accurate in taking into account all of the data so that it can once again be affirmed as a valid source for absolute truth.

Jeremiah 17:14–Heal Me and I Will Be Healed

Jeremiah 17:14: "Heal me, o Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved, for You are my praise."

I like this verse; it touches me.  It speaks of faith in the One that heals.  The truth of life is that we all, everyone of us, is wounded and in needed of healing.  Each one of us is lost and in need of being found.  And everyone of us is in need of salvation.  But it is God who heals.  God who finds.  And God who saves us.  This is why we praise God!

For He does heal, and He does save us.  Let us always keep this truth before us as we allow it to form the basis for everything we do!

A Truth Matter

Many of our current theological streams are concerned with particular moods or the many causes available to the modern individual.  God, Christ, and Scripture have thus been reduced to what role they may add to the respective causes, how they make us feel, or how effective they are in providing us with our innermost desires.  However, it must be asserted that any reduction of Christ to mere emotionality or to minimize Scripture to its pragmatic benefit is tantamount to idolatry and Christ-less religionism.

On the contrary to this propensity in the modern man is the real heart of Christianity: truth.  We as humans seems to have a derision to discussing truth–perhaps because we spend so much of our lives dealing with falsity but calling it truth–when it is the utmost question of Christianity: is it true?  This may seem like an odd thing to ask but it is our task as Christians to continually prompt the discussion back to Christ and back to the matter of truth, for this is our court.

Truth is the field that all Christianity plays in.  If we remove the field yet try to continue speaking of Christ, then we are as hopeless in our venture as a stock car racer without a track.  Let us then always keep our focus on the track of truth whenever we think of Christ and begin discussing Christianity.  Our home field advantage is truth and we should not ever forget it!

No More Wishes

It may seem an odd thing to say but we do not wish upon God.  He is not our wishing well.  Rather, we rely upon God.  We depend upon Him in faith, as sure footings depend upon rungs of the ladder or as deep canyon rely upon a bridge to traverse.  In fact, our lives are contingent solely upon His sustaining grace and the power of His Word, for truly, in Him we live and move and have our being.

A wish is a longing for fulfillment or contentment in circumstances or materials.  To wish is to gaze at the future with an eye of discontent at the present.  When we wish we are simultaneously indicating that a present predicament of want.  We are admitting that we are not content currently but that if our wish be granted then we would be fulfilled.  Truly this is a lie.

Conversely, in Christ our wishes our transformed into expectant hope.  But this hope is not in the determent of perceived deficiencies in the current climate.  Rather, our hope is in the goodness of God, in His steadfast faithfulness and His dependable love.  As our hope in God ferments, we are met with fruit in our lives.  This fruit is God depositing Himself within us.

All of this, ultimately, comes down to faith.  And there can be no grey area, no neutral ground at this point.  Either we are trusting in God or we are trusting in something other than God.  This trust encompasses everything from fulfillment to security, from love to relationships; not the least of these being the whole ordeal of salvation.

Either we trust that God will be our hope or we do not.  Therefore, we do not bring wishes to God; we offer Him no wish.  To do so would be a disrespect to who He is and all that He has done.  Instead, we come to God in faith and in love, made possible because of Christ and empowered by His Holy Spirit.  Let us then think differently as we talk about desire and as we bring theology to bear upon all our lives!

Spirit & Truth: Requisites for Worship

Jesus says these words in John: "God is spirit and those who would worship Him must do it in spirit and in truth."  (John 4:24).

The context here is the scenario with Jesus at the well and the woman from Samaria.  Jesus has just convinced her that He is the Christ because He has told her about her life.  She is confused by this stranger but she marvels at His intimate knowledge of who she is.  She then makes the statement about places of worship, pointing to the reality that the Jews believed that only the Temple was the appropriate place to worship.  This statement has a whole host of connotation: not only is she referring to the place of worship, but she is also referring to the what of worship, namely, the ceremonial Law of Torah.

Jesus, though, indicates that a time is coming and has now arrived in Him that the worshipers of God will worship God purely, in spirit and in truth.  Jesus' statement is remarkable because it flies in the face of the presumptions of Judaism of His day, which saw the worship of God as an ethnically exclusive activity.  For anyone to truly worship they would have to become a Jew first.

Additionally, Jesus is taking the monopoly of worshiping God out of the hands of the Jews and giving it to the scope of humanity.  Now, anyone and everyone can worship by these requirements, as God had always intended: in spirit and in truth.  While this might seem, at first glance, to be enigmatic Jesus is saying that worship has a specific energy, the spirit, and a specific content, the truth.

This energy is the Holy Spirit.  He is the exciter, the comforter, the empower, and the initiator of worship.  He is the spirit of worship, and He is the One who initiates and activates the worshiper's heart for worship.

This content, the truth, is the Word of God.  It is the Word itself that forms the backbone for any and all worship.  If worship is not based on or does not come from the Word of God, then it is not worship.  There are a great many things that claim to be worship but lack the Word of God, that is, Christ.  Because of this, they cannot be worship.

In the end, the Spirit works in conjunction with the Word in the worshiper's worship of God.  If we desire to worship, then, we need only prayer for the Spirit and engage in His Word.  In this way, worship is made available for every human who calls on the name of the God, crying out that Jesus is Lord and King!

Same Old Story Never Outdated

When I came of age I desired to shed myself of all that was old in an effort to discover for myself what this life was all about.  I was excited to do life for myself.  The process endeavored to rid me of the traditions that had moored me to the docks and, I assumed, limited my scope to see reality 'as it was.'  This was a conscience undertaking in which I tore down the values and morals that I was raised with while I was feeding on the assumption that these things were but fences that kept me confined and shackles that prevented me from life.

Fully embracing the relativism around me I begin to construct a life and developing a lifestyle that echoed my newly-formed worldview.  Hedonism became my status quo.  I felt the need to build my own new traditions steeped in pleasure and full of relative concepts of truth, namely, if it was exciting and usable then it was true.

My major assumption, and my downfall, was that tradition and truth that was not new or relative was, in some way, more valid.  My assumptions proved false under testing.  Truth begin to rise to the surface in my heart in the form that I had already discredited and thought illegitimate: Christianity, more directly, Christ Jesus Himself.

I had discounted the value of Christianity because of its oldness.  I thought that because traditional religion and Christianity was old that then it was also tired, outdated, and irrelevant.  I had attributed the value of Christ to the ancient age of the beliefs and, in effect, found it wanting for that.  My bias, however, betrayed the basic reality of truth, particularly that truth is by nature true and true agelessly.

God, in a sense, hit me in the heart and I was devastated at my own desolation.  My response was to pray and read.  I prayed and read Scripture like a famished dog lapping up water.  I could not get it enough.  At some point, not a point per se but a moment in the process, I realized the profoundness that had so eluded me before.  God is and He has revealed Himself to mankind by His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ.  

When I finally discovered it for myself, what I thought was old and cold theology was vibrant and energizing.  The reality was that the truth of God did apply.  I realized that it stood the test of time not because it was passed on to successive generations (though surely it was), but the truth of Christ stood the test of time because it is true.  I had never understood that until I faced Christ myself.  At the final analysis, Jesus never goes out of style because truth is always true and Jesus is truth.

No Substitutions for the Truth of God

Mister Rogers, one of the most well-known people to ever grace the television screen, says this about  the world: "Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated."

For a man who made a career of entertaining and teaching simple life truths to children, this is such a great way to describe a simple but profound truth.  With the widening spread of the internet and the growing-by-the-moment access to the global network of the world's information, the person is becoming less personal and ever more shallow.

This being a true assessment of the state of the world, it is essential to note that when the world continually seems like a swirling whirlwind of data and stuff that spins vertiginously like a billowing tornado that sweeps away humanity into meaninglessness, reality, in its utterly truest sense, stems from a different source altogether: God.

The Holy Lord Almighty, the giver of life and source of all wisdom, is ultimate reality.  Thus, ultimate truth and ultimate reality stem from God.  And, apart from God, reality is but a vale, a mist compared to the solidity and certainty of God Himself.  Because of this basic and fundamental truth, any attempt by the world at large to make or create any semblance of reality outside of God's is counterfeit and, quite frankly, sin.

As Christians, we need to be on guard against the potential snares of the world which attempt to replace the reality and truth of God with forgeries.  The world is an ocean of information that is an inch deep, while the truth of God is infinitely vast and infinitely deep.  This, God, should always be the truth that we rely upon as it is, ultimately, the truth.  Not a truth but the truth.  Let us then always keep this at the center, always.

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)."

Beginning to Know God Exists

A certain young man who was long overdue for a haircut decided to go to the local barber one day.  While sitting in the barber's chair the young man and the barber began conversing.  Near the end of the haircut, the conversation turned to the subject of God.  The barber, as nonchalantly as one with scissors can be, said, "I do not believe God exists."

The young man, being a believer, was taking aback at the barber's atheism and so he asked the barber, "Why do you say that?  What makes you believe that God doesn't exist?"  The barber paused mid-cut and, with gusto, replied, "Just look around, son. There is evil and sadness all over.  If God exists, then there shouldn't be any of that.  It seems so clear to me.  Maybe when you're a little older you'll understand."

The barber finished the cut and the young man paid him for his services, even leaving a nice tip.  While walking out the door, the young man turned back to the barber and said, "You know, I don't believe barber's exist.  I am sure of it that barber's just do not exist."  The barber, a little surprised, said, "How can you say that?  I just worked on you!"  The young man sharply replied, "But barbers can't exist because their are so many disheveled, messy, and long-haired people in the world, so barber's just can't exist."

The barber smirked, shooting back at the young man, "But barber's do exist!  That's just what happens when people do not come to me!" "Exactly!" harkened the young man, "That's exactly the point!  God does exist.  The pain and suffering and evil is just the evidence of a world that has not gone to Him for their trim!"  The young man turned and left, leaving the barber dumbfounded in his own disbelief.

How do we know God exists, really know that He is who He claims to be? This is a difficult but absolutely necessary question.  The consequences for neglecting it are dire and eternal.  For, if God is who He claims to be and Jesus is who He claims to be, then to know Him are of the utmost importance.  We are not left without testimony, though, in this discussion.  The Scriptures themselves attest to the knowledge of God.  And we should find comfort in their witness, for its truth is both self-attesting and authoritative.

At the onset of such a discussion, a brief note about knowledge must be made.  Knowledge refers to knowing someone or something.  True and definitive knowledge, though involving the intellect is a holistic endeavor, requiring all of the faculties of a person.  This is the necessary starting point for knowledge, particularly when discussing matter of spiritual and eternal significance.

While there are many verses to support the knowledge of God,  Paul's definition of spiritual knowledge in matter of receptive revelation in his first letter to the Corinthian church seems to cover the topic quite well (1 Cor. 2:6-16).  In this comprehensive statement Paul indicates that not only is the knowledge of God a spiritual ordeal, but more more importantly, it is revealed by the Holy Spirit. The relevance of such a truth is that although people, like the barber above, would prefer to use their physical sensory perceptions to know God, who is Spirit, the way to know God begins with the spirit of a person.

Additionally, unless we recognize that our knowledge of God is revealed and not earned, we will fail to know.  Because of this reality, we need to come to God in humility for Him to reveal Himself to us.  Paul, in his letter to the Romans, indicates that God has revealed Himself in creation, His eternal power and invisible qualities, and that the only appropriate response to such revelation is praise and thankfulness (Rom. 1:18-23).

In the end, the matter is a spiritual one.  Our knowledge of God is based on our spirit's malleability to be affected by the Holy Spirit revealing Himself in our hearts.  If we are hard of heart and deaf of ear, we will not receive that revelation, for to accept God's revelation one must first have faith that revelation is in fact possible.  But this knowledge is of a holistic and transformative nature, meaning that to know God forms the backbone of all knowledge.

Therefore, let us start the conversation of the existence of God where it needs to begin: in the spirit.  Starting there and working itself outward through every facet of our person, the knowledge of God will transform us.  But we must receive that revelation in order for it to take its affect within us.  But praise be to God that He has revealed Himself and that we can know Him!

The Salt & Light Snowblower

Several years ago, Ned bought a new snow blower, which is a necessity for the snowy winters of Minnesota.  Previously he had always shoveled his driveway and it took over an hour.  But now, with that beautiful machine, he could get it done in less than five minutes.  The ease of snow-blowing took away the all-too familiar dread of having to shovel.  He even enjoyed doing the drive.

The second winter he had the blower, two elderly neighbors from California moved in across the street.  The couple both had heart problems and Ned noticed them struggling to shovel the drive after the first snow fall.  When he saw them wrestling with the snow, he simply started his blower, pushed it across the street, and did their's too.  It just became a part of the routine; twelve minutes for both drives.  Ned then also remembered that his other neighbor, Mike, left for work at 4:30 in the morning, so he bagan doing his too.  Another four minutes.

A few years later, his next door neighbor, Larry, passed away.  Because his widowed wife, Pearl, was also elderly, Ned just started doing hers too.  Another five minutes.  Later that same year, the neighbors down the block had a baby, so Ned added their's to his routine too.  By the end of that year, Ned was snow blowing about a half hour and doing five driveways.

Ned was happy to be the neighborhood plowman, relishing in the joy of caring for and serving his community.  One night, though, he fell deathly ill and had to be taken to the hospital.  Over the course of a two day bed-ridden, hospital stay he recovered and was eventually released.  As his wife was driving him home, he felt so bad because there had been a huge snowfall the night before.

However, as they arrived back in the neighborhood, he was astonished to see that all of the driveways were done.  To his amazement, Ned's wife told him that in the morning she looked out the front window to see one of their other neighbors, whom they had never even met, doing the driveways.  Ned nearly broke into tears. He never realized the affect that he had made over the past few years.

The point is example.  If we are to be the salt and light of the world, the very hands and feet of Christ, then we need to look at the needs around us and step in to fill them.  Jesus calls us to love as He loves us.  Think of that: He gave His very life, dying upon the cross to serve and to love all humankind.  Laying down our preference and our comfort in order to care for others is what being a Christian is all about.  Therefore, let us seek out opportunities to serve and then seize them for 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!

Peace of God

Peace.  It is one of the buzz words employed by Paul but it is steeped in theological merit.  In the postmodern world, peace has become a generic term for good relations or the goal of disparate international alliances.  In the spiritual realm, though, peace holds a much more significant definition, aptly describing how, through the blood of Christ, we can be reconciled to God (Rom. 5:1-2).

In this, the greatest sense, peace is purely relational, a designation reserved for how Christ Jesus has affected the relationship between man and God.  The ultimate referent for peace is what Jesus has done, breaking down the wall of hostility, the Law, that had separated man and God as well as Jew and Gentile in order to bring all who are faithful to His self (Eph. 2:14-15).

Peace, in its truest sense, refers then to how Christ Jesus has reconciled us to God through His blood (Col. 1:21-22).  Additionally, the peace we receive from God arises out our justified status (Rom. 5:1-2).  This cannot be emphasized enough: peace is a gift from the Lord that stems from the applied work of Jesus.

Additionally, peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), that guards are hearts and minds as its ruler that leads us in brotherly love (Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15).  As we receive the gift of peace, which is made sure by the blood of Christ Jesus, we are to pass it on.  In essence, peace is to be our very way of life, living peacefully in peace.  Peace is thus not merely a word, but it reflects the restored relationship between man and God through the blood of Christ.  Therefore, we should pursue peace as to pursue Christ.

The Marks of a Fool

Scripture contains three Wisdom books: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job.  In these books, wisdom is examined and highlighted as the preferred manner of life for believers.  Although both Job and Ecclesiastes are focused on wisdom's worth, Proverbs employs a method of parallel antithesis in order to define wisdom.  In this, the wise man is held up to the fool.  There is then much to learn about the wise through understanding the foolish.

Proverbs 1:7 defines the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  This verse is really saying those that despise wisdom and instruction are fools.  If we do not seek after wisdom, we will not learn the right way to live.  Moreover, if we do not seek and accept instruction, we will never grow beyond our own preference and proclivity.  Wisdom and instruction require the ability to receive rebuke and admonishment with grace and humility.  If we cannot take on this posture, wisdom will forever remain outside of our reach.

Although foolishness is a character trait, it does not occur within a vacuum, it has external indicators.  The chief among these is the reality that a fool will think and believe foolishly, which ultimately means that a fool will live foolishly.  The most foolish thing a person can think and believe is the most obvious and self-evident truth possible: God exists, and we are not Him.  If we are not rooted in this fundamental truth, we are fools.

Psalm 14:1states that, "The fool says in his heart, 'there is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is no one who does good."  This Psalm is both profound and true.  The root of foolishness is the lie of atheism.  Remember, foolishness is not primarily an intellectual ordeal.  Instead, foolishness is a worldview, a posture of irreverence and transgression.  Inevitably, the life of a fool will be marked by corruption and derision.  This does not mean that a fool cannot be sincere or kind, but, like all unrepentant people, these are a veil that conceals the depraved heart beneath.

Becoming wise and accepting instruction are not passive endeavors.  Growing into the wise people of God that He desires us to be demands active participation and intentional pursuit of Him.  The truth is that we are all fools, every one of us.  Only by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit can we cast aside our foolishness in favor of wisdom.  Let us then press in to Him as to put to death our foolishness and be made alive to His wisdom!

The Logic of Jesus

Jesus is the key.  If we are not drawn to and through Jesus in the search for God, we are missing the mark and running a dangerous route.  There are a lot of people who believe in a god and are comfortable talking about the divine and about spirituality, but when Jesus' named is declared, defenses are raised and relativism is thrust into the forefront.  In reality, apart from Jesus, Christianity has no worth.  It is Christ crucified and resurrected that is the sole starting point for any serious discussion of spirituality, religion, and truth.

There is a widespread secular religious doctrine that goes something like this: "all religions worship the same god, or, all roads lead to the same end."  This is blatantly incorrect and incoherent.  Addressing this from the point of view of logic, two fundamental laws of logic are in play, namely the law of identity and the law of non-contradiction.

Jesus' life and message had a tremendous amount of inclusivity, meaning that the Gospel message of the good news of Jesus is open and applicable to all mankind.  On the flip side, the message was definitively exclusive, in the sense that only through faith in Jesus as the risen Son of God is right relationship with God restored and the burden of sin lifted.  There are basically four biblical assertions that lay the groundwork for all truth about Jesus:

(1) God, who is holy, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, is the Creator of the whole of universe.  The Bible posits this from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation.

(2) The wages of Sin, which separates the depravity of man from the holiness of God, is death and must be accounted for in order for man to be justified and restored to right relationship with Him.

(3) Jesus, the Son of God, through His perfect life, atoning death, and bodily resurrection, paid the penalty of sin due all mankind.

(4) Through confession of sin and belief in Jesus as the sole source of reconciliation to the Father, believers can enter into a restored, right relationship with the Lord and be blessed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and eternal life.

These are the four basic assertions that undergird all of Christianity.  If we are to consider the laws of logic, especially identity and non-contradiction, then two things must be noted.  The first is the exclusivity of the Gospel.  Only through faith in Jesus is salvation and eternal life reached.  Additionally, sin separates man from God and must be atoned for, Jesus being the atonement.  These two things fundamentally make Christianity what it is.  If these two fundamental doctrines are not held, then it is not Christianity and, ultimately, not true.

Therefore, any worldview, religion, or spiritual experience that contradicts, or challenges the truths of Christ are to be examined as such.  Christianity is based on the work and life of Jesus, the very Son of God.  This is either true or not, it cannot be both.  Thus, we must either accept the truth claims of Jesus as wholly true or altogether reject them as false.  Only one of these is possible.  To allow syncretism is not only to downplay the truth claims of Christ but also to ignore His teachings entirely.  Let us be on guard to not allow relativism to hinder our faith.

Wisdom as a Matter of Reliance

There's an old adage,"When the going gets tough, the tough get going."  Many people subscribe to this method of manifest destiny and individualism when faced with the challenges of a life that can be unsure.  The pull-up-your-bootstraps tachnique for handling the difficulties of this life, though, is upon a presuppositional fallacy, namely that humans can handle life on their own.

Needless to say, if we break down this fallacy, it quickly dissolves to a more foundational flaw in thinking.  The foundational flaw is a misunderstanding of the character of God coupled with a misunderstanding of the nature between man and God.  God, as the infinite and omnipotent Creator, is the supreme source of all truth and knowledge.  Clearly, inside of this scope is the knowledge of life, known as wisdom.

Wisdom generally refers to the knowledge of living, how to live right.  In any situation that challenges us, whether emotionally, physically, relationally, or whatever, there is a right way to handle it, a correct method to overcome the situaton.  Wisdom then, defined, is the attainment of the correct and right way to live life, which is particularly relevant when life hits us.

The Bible equates the beginning of wisdom with the fear of the Lord (Psa. 111:10; Pro. 1:7; 9:10).  This fear is two-fold: reverance for who He is and dread at His power.  Often we understand the fear of the Lord in the former with a neglect for the latter but they are, in fact, infinitely inseparable and interelated.  The dread of the Lord arises out of recognizing who He is, His character and nature.  If we are to make the right decisions, then we have to base our decisions on this fear of the Lord, on wisdom.

Additionally, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not its end.  The end of wisdom, though, arises from the beginning.  The fear of the Lord is a cause.  When we fear the Lord, that fear will motivate us to do one of two things: either we will run away from Him in terror, or we will run towards Him in love and reliance.  Wisdom's end is found in the latter.

Wisdom, then, is the actualization of belief.  When we believe and rely on the Lord, then wisdom is truly wise.  Dependence and reliance on the Lord is wisdom acting on the lives of the wise.  The wise are wise becuase of their utter dependence on the Lord.  If we are to become a people of wisdom, then we must rely on the Lord.  This must be operationalized in our lives, particularly when life throws curve balls.  How well we swing at those errant pitches has nothing to do with our ability, it is only based on the measure of our dependence on the Lord.  Thus, the old adage revised: "when the going gets tough, the wise turn to God."

For further reading: Isa. 59:1; Jer. 29:11-13; Psa. 28:1; 55:1; 145:18; see also the Book of Proverbs, particularly ch. 1-31.

People of Prayer

When it comes to growth in the Kingdom of God, nothing is more of a necessity than becoming a people of prayer.  Every major decision or meaningful in the New Testament is paired with prayer, both individual and communal.  Prayer is the very life-blood for the Church and for believers.  It is the requisite communal aspect of prayer that is so woefully neglected in churches.  Because of this, churches flounder and fail to be effective in their ministries.

This ought not be so.  For if we are to live lives by the example put forth by Jesus, then prayer should not simply be a check box on the list of church to-dos. Rather, prayer needs to be the focus of any and every church function and activity.  Prayer is so integral and necessary in our relationships with God that we should take the practice of prayer to be at the top of the priority list of church life.

Unfortunately, the church has neglected the life of Jesus as well as the examples set forth by the early Church.  If we look at Acts, every (not an understatement) decision was taken with prayer.  Replacing Judas: prayer; receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: prayer; preaching in the synagogues: prayer; healings: prayer; fellowship: prayer; choosing the Seven: prayer, et al.

This is by no means an exhaustive survey of the significance of prayer to the early Church.  Clearly, prayer was important.  Moreover, this focus on community praying is not merely meant as historically descriptive of the first-century Church.  By no means!  This constant attitude and reliance on prayer is totally normative and wholly prescriptive for how Church should be done today.

Or remember Jesus, being in very nature God, prayed constantly (for a cursory understanding see Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 11:1, to name a few).  Needless to say but powerful to remember, prayer matters.  Praying is communication with God.  It is the practice of relationship with the Lord that we have been given through the work of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Additionally, corporate prayer serves distinct and significant purposes, not the least of which being that it immediately connects the body of Christ.  When believers are joined in prayer, the Holy Spirit is present to guide, to teach, to encourage, to convict, to comfort, and to exhort.  We should strive then to become not only people of prayer but, and even more so, churches of prayer.

Overcoming the False Identity for the True One

Identity refers to who we are, but it is more complex than just a matter of being.  In reality, identity is a two-fold concept encompassing both who we claim to be and who we actually are.  This might seem trivial but there is significance in determining both parts of our identity in hopes that we could align the two parts into one coalesced true self.  

At the onset, it must be stated that the only true identity is found in Christ.  Any identity that attempts to amputate the self from God is ultimately inauthentic and untrue.  God is a God of truth.  More astutely, God is the sole source of true truth.  Any claim to truth that sits outside of the holy Lord is fractal at best in it trueness, because being not connected to the source of truth, it cannot be wholly true.

In reference to identity, truth is of immense importance.  Who we actually are is to be determined solely in the Lord.  Multiple parts make up who we truly are in Christ.  For starters, we are saved in Jesus, meaning that our sins have been absolved and we have been freed from guilt as well as the penalty of sin, which is death.  Additionally, in Christ, we are planted as trees of righteousness, bearing fruits of the Spirit: kindness, gentleness, goodness, patience, perseverance, et al.  The point is that, in Jesus, our identity is remade into an identity that mirrors Christ, His character and love.

The major hindrance to claiming and walking in our redeemed identity is ourselves.  This part of identity, who we claim to be or who we think we are, often stands in opposition of who we truly are and can be in Christ.  Each of us is an exceptional actor, able to expertly conceal and pretend.  Over time we become so adept at portraying the facade that we start to believe that the charade is reality.  This is a lie of Satan.

The disconnect between our real self, found only in the Lord, and the fake facade self that we naturally project, is wide but not unconquerable.  There is a technique, a method, for handling this divide.  For one, we have to address the facade directly and confront the act head on.  Only when we come to grips with our own forgery, the act that we portray, are we able to live as our true selves in the Lord.  This process requires some direct and intense Spirit-led introspection.  However, once we overcome our false selves can we live out our true self.  Let us then press on to be true with ourselves so as to claim our true identity in the Lord!