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Re: Re: Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus
Cool creativity in a response to a response. How can you tell a real Christian from a fake one? The poetry style is nice. It really took some thought. Respect the guys for the effort, if nothing else.
Two Ways the Devil Gets Us
Saul (soon to be Paul) had just been knocked off of his high horse. He encountered Jesus, and changed the course of his life. Because he was a man that put 100% into whatever he did, his destructive life became constructive.
Acts 9:20 – Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. (21) Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” (22) But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
However, after he encountered Jesus, he also encountered the devil. The devil is generally quite happy with us when we agree with him, but when we start messing with his influence he starts to plan ways to put us back under control or to get rid of us.
Acts 9:23 – Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. (24) But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. (25) Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.
The first way that the devil gets us is by the “back to normal” plot. The devil hopes that apathy or a lack of diligence will set in on a religious experience, and that we will soon regress back to our previous unholy lifestyle. Maybe the devil is waiting for you to get over spiritual commitments that you made at a camp meeting, youth conference, or church service. You can see this in v 23 where the Jews let Saul’s experience settle out over “many days” to see if he had really changed or not. Well, he had, and that was definitely a problem.
The second way that the devil gets us is by throwing all the troubles that he can at us to knock us off course. In Saul’s case they cut right to the chase and tried to kill him. In my life I know that when I’ve been real close to God life gets busy, accidents happen, my schedule gets crazy, and my planned time with God, the connection that sustains me, gets eroded. I need to know that the cares of this life are going to spring up and try to keep me from bearing fruit, and I need to fight the temptations and perplexities of life.
Let’s resist the devil in these two attacks. Let’s hold on tight and maintain our connection with God, and not get tired or apathetic and let it slip away. We should also be prepared to fight the onslaught when it comes. Whether that means fighting for priorities on our schedule, drawing boundaries, committing to the principle of longsuffering, cutting off destructive relationships, or even running for our lives if it is appropriate to do that. Let us fight the good fight and hang onto Jesus as the most important thing in our life.
1 Timothy 6:12 – Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Jesus Christ: Epic
Mark 10 is a chapter of epic shocks to human nature. Whoa, no divorce except for adultery? Become as a little child? If that rich guy who has *everything* can’t make it to heaven, then how can I? What do you mean you’re going to die Jesus? Did James and John seriously just ask for the top two spots in heaven? Did he really just heal a blind guy that was basically calling him king?
Hidden in there is an even greater shock to the natural human senses. Jesus gives a mini-lecture on what leadership really means, and He says something incredible.
Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
The fundamental purpose of Christ’s life was not to gather fame, wealth, or power, but to serve. To give. To live for beings besides himself. He came to pour out His life as a way for us to be reconciled to God.
Totally unexpected from the most powerful being in the Universe.
It’s like the president realizing that there’s a poverty-stricken, war-torn village in Afghanistan where only he can make a difference to save the lives of the villagers. He knows that it will be hard for people to understand His motives and to trust him. He knows that there will be people that will hate him and what he stands for and try to kill him. He knows that he will leave the support structure that usually keeps him safe in hostile situations.
But he’s the one that can save them.
And even more than this, he knows that if his enemies do kill him as he helps the villagers, it will draw publicity to the situation and help the villagers even more, and that in the end his mission of love to the village will open hearts in the territory to the system that he represents and bring peace to a treacherous region. Epic.
Jesus made a much more epic transition from power to humility than the president ever could. He did it because He loves us. He loves me. He would and did make such a sacrifice to be able to take us to where He is now. He deserves our respect, our worship, and our attention.
Hebrews 12:2 – Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He Leadeth Me
This is one of my top two favorite hymns. It’s good sometimes to sit back and realize that God really is leading in my life.
Stanza One:
He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
– It really is a relief that God leads me. Life is unpredictable and uncertain enough as it is. It means a lot to know that God has a plan for my life, and that He wants good things for me (Jer 29:11). This guidance meant so much to Moses, that he wasn’t willing to go anywhere until he knew that he had it (Exo 33:14,15).
Whate’er I do, where’er I be, Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
– God is with me in whatever walk of life I am in. He is with me at home, at work, in social settings, and when I run errands. He is my good shepherd (Psa 23:2).
Chorus:
He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me;
– The concept is so profound that the maker of the universe wants to personally lead us that the writer, J. H. Gilmore, says it over and over, almost in disbelief. He leads me. By His own hand He leads me (Isa 41:13).
His faithful follower I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me.
– His amazing involvement shows a character that I desire worth following. I have been with too many leaders who have left me to wander alone. God’s assistance is wonderful.
Stanza Two:
Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
– From the lowest low where we can’t perceive a way out, to the highest high of human experience (Gilmore suggests Eden), God is always with us.
By waters still, o’er troubled sea- Still ‘tis His hand that leadeth me!
– Sometimes God leads us to calm restorative places (Psa 23:2), and sometimes He takes us to terrifying circumstances to realize our own impotence and dependence (Luke 8:24). Yet, as always, God is leading us. The journey is as valuable to Him as a destination.
Stanza Three:
Lord, I would clasp my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine;
– The “I would” denotes an “I desire”. This course of action takes in the good and bad, but never questions God’s leading, because He has our best at heart. This peace blocks out whining and discontent.
Content whatever lot I see, Since ‘tis my God that leadeth me.
— This restfulness in God is so amazing (Php 4:11). I wish I could have such total trust in God for myself. This can be our actual experience (Php 4:6,7).
Stanza Four:
And when my task on earth is done, When, by Thy grace, the victory’s won,
– Oh, for a life of faithfulness that ends close to God. To be called a good and faithful is the greatest joy that I can think of (Matt 25:21). To be content to die or to continue to serve is an ultimate indicator of trust in God (Job 13:15).
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
– Death does not paralyze a Christian with fear (Heb 2:14,15). We serve a God that has conquered death, and has told us that He has mansions waiting for us. We will be re-created with new, everlasting bodies. We will someday be in a place where we can see God face to face, and know Him even as He knows us (1 Cor 13:12).
Trust in God. He is real. He will work in your life. He will guide you as a good shepherd to life more abundant. Many have experienced this.
Jesus in 1 Corinthians 13
As part of my sermon yesterday, I inserted Jesus into the descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians 13. It’s very fitting. In Christ is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9), and God is love (1 John 4:). Jesus was born into this world to show us what God is like; the fullness and completeness of love. Read through the attributes of love (NKJV) with Jesus inserted for love and see how appropriate it is.
- Jesus suffers long
- Jesus is kind
- Jesus does not envy
- Jesus does not parade itself
- Jesus is not puffed up
- Jesus does not behave rudely
- Jesus does not seek its own
- Jesus is not provoked
- Jesus thinks no evil
- Jesus does not rejoice in iniquity
- Jesus rejoices in the truth
- Jesus bears all things
- Jesus believes all things
- Jesus hopes all things
- Jesus endures all things
- Jesus never fails
A Picture Fit for a Blind Man
John 9:4 – I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. (5) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
The gospel of John is filled with non-sequiturs, things that don’t seem to follow one another. When I first read these two verses I was a bit jarred by the abrupt shift in the topic of conversation from the previous three verses. At first, Jesus and the disciples are discussing the fate of a blind man. Then, out of nowhere, Jesus starts talking about himself while using an obscure illustration about light and dark. Strange.
What’s going on Jesus?
The parable is very simple. Jesus must work during the day because the night is coming when no one can work. That begs the question, why can’t one work during the night? What is it about the qualities of it being dark outside that precludes the accomplishment of productivity?
The answer is as clear as the day Jesus was speaking about. People don’t work at night because they can’t SEE. Work is done during the day because we can tell what we’re doing or if we’re doing it correctly. Isn’t that a fitting illustration for a story about a blind man? It paints a picture that every character in the story can understand, even the blind man. The story might have knocked the disciples a little off-balance: ‘Hmm, seeing, according to the story Jesus told, is a bit different than visual perception.’
Jesus is using the blind man to illustrate (illustrate is such a visual word, no?) a point. Jesus is the source of light that allows for us to do the works of the Father. Without the light of Christ, we are unable to work at all, or if we attempt to do good works, to even tell if we are doing them well. Jesus is the enabler of good things for all of mankind. He wants us to enjoy the full brightness of a relationship with God that puts everything else into perspective (another visual word). This can occur even for a blind man.
Jesus doesn’t just offer this light to his people in His fan club.
Matthew 5:45 – …For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
God offers us all a chance at living in the sunshine. Even if you might think that your circumstances shut you out from experiencing the light of God’s presence, God can break through the night of your experience. If he can make a blind man see, he can reach you in the life that you have been living in and give you freedom in spite of your surroundings. He wants to do that. Let God fill your life with the light of Christ living inside of you. Your life will then have light, though it may seem ever so dark now. If you believe that He has the ability to change you, invite Him in and He will.
Jesus, Why Does God Hate That Man?
John 9:1 – Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. (2) And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (3) Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
“Jesus, what happened here? Obviously someone did something wrong for his life to end up so badly.”
Jesus and his disciples had just passed a man blind from birth. He must have been a familiar character since his story was well known enough for the disciples to comment on it. The disciples were curious as to why this man had been born this way. Having Jesus around was great when they had questions. He never told them their questions were stupid. Also, He was Lord of all. If you want to get a question answered, go to the source, right?
Almost flippantly they asked the question. ‘Jesus, let us in on a divine secret here.’
Jesus rejected the fundamental assumptions of their question. This man’s physical disability, his limitation, his imperfection, was not a result of some person’s sin and God’s reactionary displeasure. God was not exacting revenge for something that occurred, a supernatural, ‘You thought you could get away with this? I’ll show you.’
Instead, Jesus flipped the scenario on them, and opened a doorway of understanding in their mind so that they could see. This man was like this, because God had a specific purpose for his life. He was like this because there was a role for him to play that could not be played any other way. This man had God on his side, not as an adversary. The blind man was not to be castigated or pitied, but to be appreciated and supported.
To prove this, Jesus sets in motion a living parable throughout the rest of the chapter. The chapter is composed of three acts, in a sense: Jesus healing the man, the man before the council, and Jesus meeting the man. At the end of story it becomes clear that those who have always seen are blind, and one who could not see had the best vision of all. One who had no education because of the limitations of his disability skillfully revealed the deception and fallacies of the most educated men in the nation.
Do you feel that you have a limitation that shows up again and again in your life? Do you feel that God is opposing you for something that you have no control over? Do not give in to the false belief that even the disciples had. God has a purpose for your life. He has things for you to accomplish that only you can do. God is looking for you to testify as a witness for him, as one who sees what others cannot. God is on your side.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
