Sunday, September 27, 2020

Life on Earth - A Drop in the Ocean

How can you compare a drop of water to the entire ocean?  People have no idea, actually our finite minds can't fathom, how long eternity is.  How much more overwhelming is the thought when we consider eternal judgment!

Amazingly, Jesus describes it like this.  "This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  Notice, His definition is not duration that it lasts forever, but rather a quality of life that comes only from knowing God.  So eternal judgment is this life's final exam, that is answered by whether one knows God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. 

When I was a dumb, little kid, I wrestled with the idea of how could we live forever, and what would we do, and how could I stand it.  So I thought it might be easier to just go to hell, burn up, and have it all over with, sort of like the mistaken idea some people have about suicide.  Then someone told me that hell is forever too.  Wow!  My unthinkable concept changed immediately!

There is a truth about God that is hard for us to handle.  Absolutely Just.  We somewhat grasp the concept of mercy, that God forgives the worst sinner, which Paul considered himself to be.  However, what do we know about Him being perfectly just?  Every sin will get perfect retribution.  It will be paid in full.  God is not mocked, what is sown shall be reaped.

There is a hint of this in the well-known John 3:16 verse, "For God so loved the world that He gave HIs only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Notice the contrast, either perish or have eternal life.  Then in verse 18, this truth is brought home stronger, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."  Sin deserves death.  Man, who is sinful, is condemned already, and rightly deserve death.  

So God, in His perfect mercy and love for us, sent Jesus to pay the "condemnation" penalty because He wants us to be free and live with Him forever.  Ephesians 1:5 reveals that His eternal plan is that we would be "holy and blameless before Him."  That is why receiving what Jesus did on the cross and His resurrection is so crucial.  Either you accept that Jesus, God's Son, paid the supreme price and eternal consequences for your sin, or that incredibly serious debt still remains.  You are rightly condemned for not only your sin but also for rejecting God's love in the person of Jesus who took your punishment.

Why is eternal judgment in the foundational doctrines of Hebrews 6 that needs to be settled if we are going to mature?  Eternal judgment is an awesome reality that makes the whole issue of being saved absolutely the most important step anyone and everyone must personally take.  Understanding God's justice, and then His beautiful mercy in paying everything for us, will produce a heart of gratefulness and a strong foundation upon which our life always rests.  We belong to Him and are secure forever because of what Jesus has done.  Secondly, this need for everyone to receive Jesus changes evangelism  from a nice thing to an absolutely necessary reality.  This truth sets us free from our self-consciousness of how we feel or what others think, to being unashamed as God's representative to bring this good news to all men.  We are His instrument to share and be a witness of HIs love for each one. 

No one can know their purpose in life unless they understanding how eternal judgment is the climax of sowing and reaping.  God is not mocked, what one sows he will reap.  Standing before God is the most crucial appointment we will ever have with the most awesome possibilities: everlasting joy in the Father's presence or eternal separation from all that is good.  We need to see this life as an opportunity to be a light for Him, with eternal rewards.  No one will even give a drink of cold water to a child without reaping a reward, how much more sharing Jesus with a sinner who otherwise would be lost forever.  The time on earth may be only a drop in a bucket compared to eternity, but this life is the proving ground where God is revealing who He is, and empowering us to will and work for His pleasure.  So live today with the realization that every choice will have eternal ramifications, for good reward or evil consequences.  Your choice.   

Monday, September 21, 2020

All Rise!

 He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  The early church would celebrate the resurrection of Jesus by declaring this powerful truth and the response in agreement.  One Easter morning I was sharing the Word and encouraged my audience to respond in like manner, shouting, "He is Risen!" and they would respond "He is Risen indeed!"  Unknown to me, there was present a lady who had pneumonia but was allowed to leave the hospital to attend Easter services.  As she was leaving the church, she stopped to say there was a strange warmth and presence in her chest as we declared He is Risen, and that all of a sudden she could breathe normally.  Later doctors confirmed that she was healed.

There is power in the resurrection.  Jesus Christ "was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4).  The resurrection also establishes Jesus's complete victory over death, sin and sickness.  After the resurrection Jesus announced to His disciples "all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  No wonder then, that the Word (Acts 4:33) records that the apostles "with great power gave witness to the resurrection from the dead."  

This overcoming power and authority is available to all who believe Jesus Christ is God's Son who died and rose for them.  Romans 6:5 assures us, "If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall in the likeness of His resurrection."  Paul, even after all his preaching and miracles, had one overwhelming request, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection."  The person of the Holy Spirit makes this reality a part of our daily experience, as the Word says in Romans 8:11, "the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."    

God's eternal plan for man is past, present, and future.  The resurrection of Jesus 2000 years ago settles the fact of Jesus' love and victory for all men.  Through the Holy Spirit this released power equips us today to walk in overcoming faith and victory.  However, 1 Peter 1:3 blesses God who "according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."  This living hope is a sure future promise to rise with Him and be with Him forever.

Therefore, this foundation doctrine of the resurrection provides eternal assurance that Jesus' "It is finished" statement from the cross is confirmed.  Man sinned and lost his dominion authority over the earth to Satan.  Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, brought man back to God, and paid the supreme price to re-establish man in the righteousness and authority of God Himself.  We are now called to rise up and walk in the triumphant, overcoming power of the living God.  Believers in Jesus Christ and His resurrection have passed from death to life.  We are now to reckon ourselves dead to sin (and its consequences) and alive to God.  All rise, and give glory to God by walking in His resurrection power.      

Saturday, September 12, 2020

My Cup Runneth Over!

 Dead Sea or Jordan River?  You have a choice.  The Dead Sea contains a treasure chest of rich deposits of valuable minerals that are just sitting there.  The Jordan River is where spiritual life flows, John was God's voice in the wilderness and baptized there; Jesus preached the kingdom of God has come there; Elisha sent the Syrian king to be healed there.  God paid the supreme price for your sin, raised you from the dead with Him, gave you the power of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. and gave you a great commission to go and do likewise what Jesus did.  To be a couch potato with all He has given you is an insult to what He has made you and all His great work in you.

Jesus instructed us to "Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38.  1 Peter 3:9 reaffirms this principle, saying you are called to bless that you may receive the blessing.  That is essentially why the fourth Hebrews 6 foundational doctrine is laying on of hands, or in other words, give what you have got.  That is why in Psalm 23 David declares He fills your cup to overflowing, so that it can run over to those who need a drink of His goodness.

Let's take this one step further.  Jesus loves you and gave His life for you.  The  greatest love anyone can give, according to Jesus, is to lay down your life for someone else.  And to make the case even stronger, Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as He loves us.  So by giving what you have, your talents, your resources, your time, you follow the pattern of lifestyle set by Jesus, to lay His life down freely to bless us.  Part of the foundation of moving on to maturity, to becoming the kind of Christian that God intended you to be, is to have the mindset that the purpose of your life is to love God by willingly doing whatever it takes to bless.  God loves and honors a cheerful giver.   

We are blessed exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think, so lay up treasures in heaven for eternity by sharing the good news in word and deed.  Jim Elliot, missionary to the Quechua Indians of Ecuador, succinctly explained and applied this principle. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Holy Spirit, give me the power to overcome my flesh and help me choose to touch with your love the lives you have put in my life, in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Sunday, September 6, 2020

So Much More!

Hate evil and love righteousness.  Fear not, only believe.  Out of darkness, into the light.  God is the master at removing the bad and releasing the good.  He doesn't just forgive sin and its consequences; He transforms us into the very righteousness of God. The Lord's plan is beyond what we could think or ask.  Jesus' death and resurrection took care of all sin, sickness, and death; sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us allowed the very life of God to fill "all in all."  No wonder the Word declares "You are the light of the world!" 

Consider this truth in the Hebrews 6 foundation "doctrine of baptisms."  Water baptism shuts the door on the old man who is buried with Christ, and gives us the momentum as we rise out of the water to have new life toward God.  Now this new life is also powered by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus told his believing disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, knowing the power of God will fill them when "you will be baptized in the Spirit."

Sometimes Christians tend to argue "I already have the Spirit when I accepted Jesus Christ." based on Scriptures like Romans 8:9.  However, did you notice that the apostles who were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2, openly prayed for the Holy Spirit in Acts 4 to give them boldness to speak Your Word and for signs and wonders to be done.  Likewise, Ephesians 5:17-18 declares that the will of the Lord is to be filled with the Spirit.  This Greek verb is a present participle, meaning "constantly be being filled with the Spirit."  This foundation truth is that man can do nothing for the Kingdom of God without the power of the Spirit.  Maybe a better question than do you have the Spirit, is the reverse, "Does the Spirit have you?"  

We were never meant to walk as Christians without the power of the Spirit.  We know that the victorious life requires overcoming the flesh and our human thinking, which Romans 8:13 strongly suggests only happens by the Spirit's power, "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."  Even Jesus relied on the Spirit to do the Father's will, "Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." Hebrews 9:14.  You will never walk in victory over sin and the flesh without the power of the Spirit.  

However, God not only wants you to win over sin, He wants you to be His witnesses and move in His power showing His infinite love.  Jesus said we would do the works He did and greater ones!  Our lives are to be a testimony to the world that Jesus Christ is alive, that He has defeated the powers of darkness, that His name is above every name, and that He has overcome all and reigns forever.   

In Luke 11 after Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray, what we call the Lord's prayer, He reminds us that a father, even with fallen nature, will give his son bread, not a stone, fish, not a scorpion, when he asks.  "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"  God is a perfect gentleman, He does not force us, but waits for us to desire and ask.  The normal way of receiving the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles, after the day of Pentecost, was to lay hands and invite Him in.  However, God is not servant to any method, but rather looks upon the heart. 

Jesus promised He would not leave us orphans, but would send the Holy Spirit to "teach us all things, bring to our remembrance all things He has said to us, to testify and bear witness of Jesus, guide you into all truth, and tell you things to come."  In other words, you are meant to be led by the Spirit, and the baptism of the Spirit is simply the decision to invite Him in and let Him have your heart.  God waits to be gracious to you.  A Spirit-filled life not only glorifies the Father, but also is the abundant life Jesus promised His followers would have.  

Therefore, take the steps outlined in the foundation doctrines of Hebrews 6.  Repent, believe, be water baptized, and receive the baptism of the Spirit so you can press on to maturity.