Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts

Over the years, I've come across more than a few Christians who believe that they cannot "move" in spiritual gifts or who even reject their operation today altogether.  By the word "move," I mean speaking in tongues, prophesying, and healing, among other things.  Meeting such Christians and engaging in conversation with them about this is not an uncommon experience.  Just yesterday, for example, someone asked me if I thought spiritual gifts had or had not ceased.  In the light of how Christianity has changed in the last ten years alone, especially with the spread of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity, portrayed, for example, in the films of Darren Wilson, "Finger of God," "Furious Love," "Father of Lights," "Holy Ghost," and "Holy Ghost Reborn," I've come to realize that much of their objection and doubt lie in the fact that they have never experienced the miraculous through their own actions.  In other words, the real cause of misbelief, shrouded in a cloak called "reason," is not objectivity, but rather inexperience, suspicion, and especially fear.  In the reading below, I came across a stunning resource that reveals that most Christians are in fact missing out.  Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity is on the rise around the world; this is an indisputable fact.  People are being raised from the dead; Muslims are coming to Christ because of visions of Him; and the major regions of the global south (e.g., South America, Asia, and Africa) are seeing more and more supernatural miracles performed in the name of Jesus.

Historically, the possession and use of spiritual gifts were eventually relegated to simple acts of skill of the select few.  The passage below cites that spiritual gifts of a supernatural nature never ceased, but instead did remain in operation.  I hope you will read the following and give serious consideration of how you may or may not be participating in what is clearly happening in today's world:

The Montanist renewal movement of the period A.D. 185–212 represented an attempt to restore the charisms to the church. Despite some early successes, in which tongues and prophecy were restored among the followers of Montanus, the movement was ultimately condemned by the church. The major cause of this rejection was not the presence of the charismata, but Montanus's claim that the prophetic utterances were equal to the Scriptures. Many scholars now feel that the church overreacted to Montanism by asserting that the more sensational charisms, though experienced by the apostolic church, were withdrawn after the perfection of the accepted canon of Scripture. This opinion was expressed by Augustine and echoed by scholars in the centuries that followed. On the question of tongues as evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit, Augustine said:

"At the Church's beginning the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers, and they spoke with tongues unlearnt, as the Spirit gave them utterance. It was a sign, fitted to the time: all the world's tongues were a fitting signification of the Holy Spirit, because the gospel of God was to have its course through every tongue in all parts of the earth. The sign was given and then passed away. We no longer expect that those upon whom the hand is laid, that they may receive the Holy Spirit, will speak with tongues. When we laid our hands on these "infants," the Church's new-born members, none of you (I think) looked to see if they would speak with tongues, or seeing that they did not, had the perversity to argue that they had not received the Holy Spirit, for if they had received, they would have spoken in tongues as happened at the first."

As to all the other extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, Augustine's "cessation theory" was widely influential on generations of subsequent theologians. As he said:

"Why, it is asked, do no miracles occur nowadays, such as occurred in former times? I could reply that they were necessary then, before the world came to believe, in order to win the world's belief."

A footnote to Augustine's cessationist theory was the sudden appearance of supernatural healings in public services in his church.

The overreaction to Montanism, which led to a belief that the charismata ended with the apostolic age, continued until modern times. Although the Roman Catholic Church left the door open to miracles in the lives of certain saints (a few of whom were said to speak in tongues and produce miracles of healing), the church tended more and more to teach that the miracles of the apostolic age ended with the early church. With the institutionalization of the church, the less spectacular charisms of government, administration, and teaching came to the fore as the most acceptable gifts available to the hierarchy. The major exception to this acceptance of creeping cessationism was the Orthodox churches of the East. Although the spontaneous manifestation of the charismata also subsided in these churches, Orthodoxy never adopted a theory that the charismata had ceased. Cessationist theology was a creation of the Western church.

The view that the charismata had ceased after the days of the apostles was given classic expression by John Chrysostom in the fourth century in his homilies on 1 Corinthians 12. Confessing his ignorance on the subject, he wrote:

"This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity hath produced us again another question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more? … Well, what did happen then? Whoever was baptized he straightaway spoke with tongues and not with tongues only, but many also prophesied, and some performed many wonderful works … but more abundant than all was the gift of tongues among them."

The cessation of the charismata thus became part of the classical theology of the Western church. Augustine and Chrysostom were quoted by countless theologians and commentators in the centuries that followed.

Gifts such as glossolalia (speaking in tongues) became so rare that the church generally forgot their proper function in the Christian community. As the centuries rolled by, speaking in a language not learned by the speaker was seen as evidence of possession by an evil spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. In fact, by A.D. 1000 the Rituale Romanorum (Roman Ritual) defined glossolalia as prima facie evidence of demon possession. It might have been expected that Reformers such as Luther and Calvin would have restored the charismata to the church as the common heritage of all believers. Yet this was not to be.

One of the charges leveled against the Reformers by the Catholic authorities was that Protestantism lacked authenticating miracles confirming their beginnings. To Catholic theologians, miraculous charismata were seen as divine approval at the beginning of the church. Catholics demanded of Luther and Calvin signs and wonders to attest to their authenticity as true, orthodox Christian churches. Following the lead of Augustine and Chrysostom, Luther responded with the following view about the signs, wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit:

"The Holy Spirit is sent forth in two ways. In the primitive church he was sent forth in a manifest and visible form. Thus He descended upon Christ at the Jordan in the form of a dove (Mt. 3:16), and upon the apostles and other believers in the form of fire (Acts 2:3). This was the first sending forth of the Holy Spirit; it was necessary in the primitive church, which had to be established with visible signs on account of the unbelievers, as Paul testifies. 1 Cor. 14:22: "Tongues are for a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers." But later on, when the church had been gathered and confirmed by these signs, it was not necessary for this visible sending forth of the Holy Spirit to continue."

Through the centuries, then, Christendom, in its Roman Catholic and Protestant branches, adopted the view that the spectacular supernatural gifts of the Spirit had ended with the early church and that, with the completion of the inspired canon of Scripture, they would never be needed again. The Catholic mystical tradition continued to allow for a few saints possessed of "heroic holiness" to exercise some of the gifts, but such holiness was reserved, in the minds of most, for the clergy and religious (bishops, priests, monks, and nuns), not for the masses of ordinary Christians.

This view was the conventional wisdom of the church until the 19th century. Then historical and theological developments caused the beginning of a dramatic change of view in various quarters, notably in England and the United States.

Synan, Vinson (2012-01-30). The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal, 1901-2001 (Kindle Locations 396-449). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace: A Simple Gospel

Here is a great series on grace, which you may enjoy:

Grace: A Simple Gospel

1.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/1R4JCgwjaNg

2.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/MedFNkuoYLE

3.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/KC_XgLPWXmQ

4.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/Iy1FJv5fKnA

5.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/yajwiyqp7jI

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Feast at the Altar of Grace

Hebrews 13:9-13 - "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.  We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.  The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.  Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore" (NIV).

The writer of Hebrews makes a strong statement here:  it is God's grace that strengthens us, not the teachings some would add to the truth about the Christ.  To understand what those strange teachings are, we would need to look at all the previous chapters.  Suffice it to say here, any teaching that causes us to think we need to add to the work and person of Jesus is a strange teaching.  The Greek word here means "foreign," and can actually also mean "without knowledge of."  In other words, even biblical teaching that originates without a knowledge or understanding of Christ's person and work is to be avoided by Christians!!!  

One example of that would be to say that even though Christ sanctifies us, we need to contribute to and maintain that sanctification.  No, says Paul, "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness (sanctification) and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord' (1 Cor. 1:30-31, NIV) and "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11b, NIV).

As if that were not enough, the writer of Hebrews 13 makes the outrageous statement that "those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat."  What does this mean?  The old sacrificial system has been closed.  Out of business.  New space for rent, but not to Christians, lest they think they should resurrect the dead, inadequate system.  No, those in Christ are to leave the physical temple and go to Jesus "outside the camp," no longer living according to the old law system--a knowledge of right and wrong.

Lastly, Paul says that he bore the marks of the suffering of Christ that lacked or remained.  By this he meant that Christ suffered innocently.  In the same way, as Paul preached grace, the law-keepers persecuted him just as they had Christ.  So also with us, who preach and cling to grace.  We will be misunderstood.  We will be excommunicated.  We will be spoken against in evil and hurtful ways.  But it is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, for it is the only good ground for life.  Rest in the peace His grace brings and do not be subject to slavery again!

The Altar of Grace is a place where you have every right to feast!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

"Without community, there is no Christianity"

"You can pick your sin, but you can't pick your consequences." - Havilah Cunnington

"Without community, there is no Christianity." - Gilbert Bilezikian

On my mind right now is the lack of love, unity, and intentional fellowship among those who call themselves Christians. At one time, Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem and wept because He wanted God's chosen people to experience redemption, reconciliation, and peace with a loving Father. "You would not have it," He said.

I'm thinking of how destructive sin is in our lives--how it prevents us from entering into healthy relationships with others, and even destroys them. Sin prevents us from seeing how loved we are by a good, heavenly Father, and the dysfunction in and destruction of every relationship under that is a tragic, avoidable consequence. God has created a masterpiece out of each of these people, but they insist on taking their own paint brushes and adding a multitude of strokes which, when they consider their own selves, reflect a disturbing and marred image.

There are so many people I have known throughout the years, even people I still know, that I desired to have a great friendship with, but sin prevented a mutual, intentional friendship. Most of those people were "in" the church, but lived on the outskirts of fellowship. They pursued their own fleshly interests (especially that of sex), and certainly felt judgment and condemnation from Christ's representatives. If only true community and fellowship had been in place, these people may not have fallen away.  Others of them were just too wrapped up in other things to give a hoot about brothers or sisters in Christ.  They never saw the acts of kindness toward them, nor did they communicate honestly concerns, or they allowed the judgments of others to shape their own opinions.  My personal feeling is that they never knew what true friendship and communion could be like.

What I see so clearly are people who hide from others; who are bound to addictions, fears, and compulsive behaviors; who are unable to engage lovingly in conflict, but instead are passive and/or easily offended and become aggressive; who "fellowship" only with those who attend the same church; who are unable to empathize with the needs of others; who are content to have superficial relationships, even with those they've known for decades; who live double lives and lie to those who love them the most; and worst of all, who just don't care to really get to know or bless others.

I do believe grace can win in these situations, but when we don't make time for each other, we don't experience grace. When we don't value each other, we rarely if ever experience the joy of being kind to a brother or sister, or allowing a kindness to be done to us. Grace found in this context of true Christian community breaks the power of sin, and thus the boundaries between us are broken.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Unbelieving believers

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Philippians 2:12-13

Were I to read the above passage with the mindset that I had before a revelation of grace and the new covenant, it would have been something like this:

Stop sinning and always obey, for you need to live holy and stop sinning so God will be pleased with you.  If you mess up, you better be really sorry about it and fearful that God will be displeased.  Then, get back to work!  Your salvation is on the line!

I would like to point out several key words in this verse from Philippians that will help us understand that this passage is actually an amazing encouragement about God's grace!

1. "You have ... obeyed."  This phrase is the Greek word hypakoúō and is an intensification of the Greek word koúō, meaning "to listen."  Hypakoúō, then, means to "attentively listen to" and "to be fully compliant under the authority of the one speaking."

In some public venues it is illegal to yell "Fire!" because doing so will create a panic which could result in the injury to the persons present.  Why could people be injured from this false alarm?  Because what we believe affects our actions.  If the phrase "you have...obeyed" in Greek really means to be fully compliant, then we can say it this way:  "You have believed" or "You gave heed to" or "You have acted according to the message you heard" all fit this definition.

2.  "work out."  Katergázomai means to bring to a decisive finality.  It is the action of someone who brings something to its conclusion.  The question for us, then, is what is our involvement in our salvation and how do we then "bring to conclusion" our salvation.  The answer is forthcoming!

3.  "fear and trembling"  Both words in the Greek, phóbos and trómos, include the idea of personal inadequacy, but trómos especially regards the distrust in one's own ability.  That being the case, this simple explanation poses the opposite idea of what most Christians believe about this verse, namely, that it is a call to double one's efforts and rely heavily on one's ability to bring about.  Instead, the truth of these words is to have no trust in one's own strength or ability.  That sounds like faith placed in Christ.

4.  "God who works in you."  Energéō describes the energy needed to bring something from one state to another, much like the electricity that energizes the wires in a light bulb, causing it to become a shining light.

So, with a better understanding of these two verses in Philippians, we must come back to our question of our katergázomai, our "working out" of this reality.  How do we "work out" our salvation?  It's very simple, really.  The instruction in these verses call on us to "do" the following:

Believe what you have heard about God's energy working in you.  He has brought you from one state to another.  In order to believe Him fully, you must have no confidence in yourself at all.  Your belief that you have been saved and changed is the end conclusion of your salvation.  That you would believe you are saved is the goal of God's salvation power in you!

I see so many Christians struggle to believe that they are in fact new creations; that they are one spirit with Christ; that sin has no power over them.  They live defeated, depressing lives that follow a cycle of effort, failure, depression, effort, failure, etc...

If only they would obey as Philippians 2 calls them to:  to believe that they are saved, righteous, holy, justified, etc., and that they had nothing to do with it.  It was God and always has been.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

I Have Decided Not to Believe in God; I Am an Atheist

To all who know me:  I've been considering a decision that will have a radical impact on my life.  I wish I could say it was difficult to make this decision, but although it was taken several years, it was in the end an easy decision.  I also realize that I do not make this decision in a vacuum; it will affect you and all others whom I meet.  

I have decided that I am really an atheist.

I have doubted God's existence and the world's view that He is to be served.  I served this God for years and to be honest, it wore me out.  There are so many things in life that I want for myself, and your God holds them from me unless I obey Him.  Neither do I believe that we should sacrifice this one life of ours for Him.  Why should I give something so precious to me to a God who only demands more?  I cannot believe in this God that so many have preached.  In short, I have decided that I am truly at heart an atheist, because I absolutely and definitively refuse to believe in an angry God!

As any pro-active atheist does, I will speak out and be a voice against your belief in an angry God.  You will not be able to silence me.  I will fight you tooth and nail.  I will post on Facebook and internet blogs; I will write the truth and use your own favorite Scripture passages against you to debunk your insane and irrational beliefs.  Wherever I travel I will take with me this message.  With my last breath I will preach that your angry and vengeful God does not exist.

You may resent me; go ahead!  You may disagree with me; Jesus proved you wrong centuries ago.  You may refuse to let go of your angry God; no problem, my God is kind enough to let you believe what you choose.  When I preach that my God is good and loving and gracious, your skin may crawl as you realize your good deeds and efforts are no better than poop.  It will incense you that the God I preach about justifies the ungodly.  In your opinion, I'm sure you consider that unfair.  The truth is He gives your own good deeds and your bad deeds the same worth:  nothing!

So, I leave you to your angry God and your efforts to be a good, respectable, and obedient Christian.  Good luck with that.  I'm sure you'll be perfect at that...never.  And that your angry God will be appeased by your efforts...not.  And for the best spoiler yet, I feel compelled to be even more honest with you:  while you think that you're "walking in the Spirit" by not "walking in the flesh," I assure you that they're not the same thing.  Your focus on not sinning is not the spiritual life God desires for you.

If you would ever like to hear about a better way based on better promises because of someone else's better behavior...well, you better put down your weapons and your sacrifices and start to listen to and trust in better news.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

"Whose Doing?"...or..."Eating Flesh and Drinking Blood?"

In John chapter 6:51-58, Jesus makes a remarkable and mysterious statement:

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."  Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.

What could this mean?  Well, we see that those who eat Jesus' flesh and drink His blood benefit by doing so.  Here Jesus also gives insight to His relationship to the Father.  "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me."  How does Jesus' relationship with the Father affect us?  Let's look at another statement of Jesus' regarding eating and drinking.

In John 4:31-34, the disciples return to the well in Samaria where they find Jesus talking to the woman there.  Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus *said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

Jesus clearly states that He knows something that His disciples do not:  Jesus' food is to do the will of the Father and complete the Father's work.

Follow along with me just a bit longer.  When Jesus was asked what one should do in order to do the will of God, He responded by saying:

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:27-29).

In these passages, we see that Jesus is the one who is doing the "doing."  We are the ones who benefit from His "doing."

It would, then, seem to work like this:  Jesus' food and drink is to do the will of the Father.  Our food and drink is to consume from Him; that is, we rely on His works.  Our "doing" is to believe, trust in, rely upon, and rest in His "doing," not our own.

Many will see this passive receiving as too passive.  "Give me something to really do!," they might say.  Let us not forget:

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

1 Cor. 1:30

...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is...

Romans 12:2

Jesus Christ...gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

Galatians 1:3b-4.

This reliance upon Christ's "doing" is so important, that even the writer of Hebrews in chapter 10 encouraged the believers to not throw away their confidence so they would endure to the end.

We rest in Jesus' "doing," not our own.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Jesus: the Almond Tree and the Bread

In Luke chapter 24 Jesus meets the disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Their conversation went something like this:

And He [Jesus]  said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"  Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them.  When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.  They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"  (Luke 24:25-32, NASB)

The Hebrew word for almond is shaqed.  It means to awaken early from winter's sleep.  The almond tree is the first tree to blossom.  Shaqed comes the Hebrew word shaqad, which means to keep watch; be wakeful over.  It is the word used in Jeremiah 1:12 - "Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it."

Exodus chapter 25 describes the ark, table, and lampstand in the tabernacle:

Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.  Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.  Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.   (Exodus 25:30-37)

So, now we have a better picture of why the disciples suddenly realized it was Jesus who was before them.  After explaining the scriptures, they suddenly saw him as the fulfillment of those prophecies.  Jesus, the first to awaken (shaqed) to eternal life, was the light of the world, and it was when he broke bread with the disciples that they recognized him.  In the tabernacle, the lampstand, which was shaped as a golden almond tree, provided light for the bread on the table and watched over it (shaqad).  This light specifically watched over bread that was to be broken; and that brokenness is the work of the Lord which was to be performed.

How rich are the scriptures, which point to Christ.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

God's Masterpiece

If God has made something in His image and likeness, then it can be said that He has created a self-portrait.  It goes unsaid that any self-portrait of God would be by its very nature a masterpiece.  Thus, the Bible is correct when it proclaims us to be both His "image" and "likeness" (Genesis 1:26) and "masterpiece "(Ephesians 2:10, NLT).

Incidentally, the same Greek word in Ephesians 2:10 for "masterpiece," poiéma, is also used in Romans 1:20.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made (poiéma), so that people are without excuse.

Isn't it interesting that the Bible would have us look at ourselves as evidence of our Creator God?  Maybe we should treat each other better.  Maybe because of the simple fact that we exist, we should place true faith in Him.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

God Is Well-Pleased With Sons! Part 1

Isaiah 9:6-7:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Mark 1:11b:

You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.

There came a moment in the life of young Jewish men when they were blessed by the father with the words:  "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."  In this moment, the father passed on to the son the full inheritance of the family.  With that inheritance came full responsibility and authority.  The honor of the father and family rested on the success of the son.  This was the power and position of sonship.

But we had a problem:  no son of ours could come to full maturity and be entrusted with the responsibilities we would pass on to him.  That responsibility of our was to ourselves obey God.  We needed a son who could obey God and to whom we could entrust our name, our honor, our duty.  God gave us a son.

As God's son, Jesus is fully able to rule and reign over all creation.  He is the Righteous One.  His kingdom is ever-increasing.

As Our son, Jesus is equally fit and able to represent us.  We are righteous in him.  Our position as ones who co-reign is secure and we are realizing our authority more and more.

Christ at work--through us--reigns!  Just as Christ is on the throne of David, a man, so man's kingdom by Christ's power is upheld with justice and righteousness.  Your sonship, your authority, your responsibility, will continue forevermore in Christ.  You are a reigning son because of Jesus.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Is God Generous? Once You Hear That He Is, Act Quickly!

I recently heard the question asked:  "What inhibits us from being persuaded that God is good and that He will provide?"

In attempting to answer this question, I'd like to draw on two stories.  First, the story of Simon the magician, and second, the sower of seeds.

Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God."  And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!  Acts 8:9-20

And now the second story, but more shorter here:

The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the [a]air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.  Luke 8:5-8

Peter was condemning of Simon the magician for wanting to buy the gift of God, and we've learned to do the same.  We think poorly of him and view the story as a lesson learned.  The same can be said about the story of the sower of seeds; we think the main point is the different area upon which the seed fell.  In a way it is, but in an important way it is not.

We know that the Spirit of God was trying to get across to Peter the fact that the Gentiles were now invited into the family of God, and this is something that took Peter a while to understand, for he said of himself, "I have never touched anything unclean."  But let's consider Simon's experience:  Scripture says that he believed!  So now he is a new convert and a Christian.  In other words, he has just left a religious system in which he believed that he had to earn what he got.  That is the cult of gods and goddesses from which he came.  Let's not be so hard on Simon the magician for offering money to buy the power of God for miracles.  He was just a guy who had just become a Christian and was just behaving according to a religion he had just left in which you had to pay for what you got.  In other words, he was unaccustomed to Grace.

So, how should we see the story of the sower of seeds differently?  Well, I'd like to suggest to you that this story is not about the soil, but rather it is about the generosity of the sower.  God is gracious, and the sower didn't just sow on "good" soil, he literally threw his seed all over the place.  We have come to criticize the soil, but the story reveals a generous sower of seed.  The reality remains, however, that some soil didn't receive the seed, and there are even today Simons out there who learned to believe that God is not generous and that they must pay for what they want.

Now, here we have two examples that match this question, "What inhibits us from being persuaded that God is good and that He will provide?"

May I suggest to you that if you've rejected God because you think He's too demanding or too restrictive, then you've believed a lie and you are being robbed of an incredible relationship with a loving Father who has always been blessing you.  You can know Him better, but you must first believe that He does indeed exist and that He is generous.

The fact is that He has sown generously into your life and will continue to do so.  The issue is whether or not you will act quickly on this:

ground that sits too long before being sown with seeds for harvest will actually begin to produce weeds.

I pray that whatever has caused you to think that God is not generous will be undone in your life, for the exact opposite is actually the truth.  Once you hear that God is gracious, generous, and loving, act quickly.  Let Him impress you.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Born Anew

"Faith...is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us to be born anew of God (John 1:13). It kills the old Adam and makes altogether different men of us in heart and spirit and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Spirit."

Philipp Jakob Spener wrote in 1675 of his concern for the faith of his fellow Christians.  He saw their pursuits more vested in being able to engage in ultimately meaningless debates and in lives which were more interested in superficial obeisance to God's laws and the welfare of others.  What message did he say would bring true change and give rise to true faith in its hearers?  It was not a message of laws and morals which the "ethics of the heathen can also accomplish."  It was rather about the fundamental change, or rebirth, in the Christian.  Spener wrote, "Our whole Christian religion consists of the inner man or the new man, whose soul is faith and whose expressions are the fruits of life, and all sermons should be aimed at this ... the precious benefactions of God, which are directed toward this inner man, should be present in such a way that faith, and hence the inner man, may ever be strengthened more and more."  From Pia Desideria, 1675.

God's Grace and Love

I'm leaving today for Germany to travel with Global Awakening, a ministry based in Pennsylvania.  Although I've been to Germany many times, it'll be the first time I've been there in an official ministerial capacity.  What I like about Global Awakening is that they empower Christians to minister to others, and I'll be responsible for a handful of team members from among the larger group.  I can't wait to see how they grow as they watch God do amazing things with them.  Some will experience this for the first time; others are well-prepared to see God move as He always does.  Since I've travelled with Global Awakening before, I know that the ministry will emphasize the power of God's love through actual manifest healing.  Those in need will discover that they can't earn God's love; they can only receive and say thank-you.  Breaking the idea that they have to be good enough or holy enough for God to act on their behalf will enable them to receive grace from a good God.

Please read the quote below and have a great day!  I'll be in Germany for a little bit and I'll be sure to post after the trip some of what happened.

"Multitudes did not become aware of [God's] love until they encountered it in Jesus. And this same Jesus, who tells us of a God who blesses the good and evil alike, calls us not to imitate our neighbors in the bestowal of love, but to imitate God (Matt. 5:48).  By implication we are asked to ponder the possibility that others may not become aware of God's love until they see it in us; that we cannot fulfill our mission from God's man for others until we become God's people for others; in short, that each of us is called to become Christ to the neighbor."  ~ Everett Tilson

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Martin Luther on the Christian Life

"Who can even begin to comprehend the glory and riches of the Christian life? It can do all things and has all things and lacks nothing. It rules over sin, death, and hell and at the same time seeks to serve and benefit all people.  Unfortunately, this type of life is unknown in our day. It is not preached about or sought after. Indeed, we are totally ignorant of our name and do not even know why we are Christians or bear that name. Now we ought to know that we are named after Christ—and not because he is absent but precisely because he dwells in our midst! Our trust in him means that we are Christs to one another and act toward our neighbors as Christ has acted toward us. But in our time of very human way of teaching sets the tone, telling us that the life of faith involves the seeking of merits and rewards. The result is that Christ is seen simply as a taskmaster who is far harsher than Moses." - Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, 1520.

Written 495 years ago, does this describe how Christianity is preached today? Have you been taught that some things are just impossible, that you haven't "arrived" yet and are still lacking?*  Do you hear today and believe that sin will continue to exercise power over you and that you will inevitably give into sin?** Has your pastor promoted a type of faith that seeks merits and rewards?***

Just food for thought....

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

* Philipians 4:13; Colossians 2:10

**Romans 6:14

***Romans 4:5; Hebrews 4:3

Your Testimony!

Many churches today focus on Jesus' works as a model for a Christian's life.  "You should do more and live better lives!"  "You should give more of your time to church activities and be a role model for people to see Jesus!"  "Don't let anyone see you sin!"

It's as if Jesus did nothing but teach about how to live the model "good life" and that if you follow His teachings well enough, God will be happy with you.  He may even give you extra points when you stand before Him, hoping that He will say, at the very least, "Pretty good, mostly faithful servant who did your best."

What?  What???  But we really believe that deep down, right?  We fear we will have missed the mark after having lived our lives trying to be as morally good and selfless as Jesus.  That's not the Christian life!

I suggest that we stop focusing on the things Jesus did and rather look to what happened to Him:  He was miraculously born of the Spirit.  He was crucified, died, and was buried.  He was resurrected.  He ascended into heaven and then sat down in the place of highest honor and glory.

Oh wait!  Snap!  Were we just talking about Jesus, or are we talking about you?!?  You???  Yes, YOU!!!  His testimony is yours, too!  It's the SAME STORY!!!  You overcame by the blood of the Lamb *and* by your testimony, which is wrapped up with Jesus's.  Read that list above; the very same things that happened to Jesus also happened to you!  (You were re-born, right?  Same Holy Spirit, right?)

So, quit trying to follow the teachings of Jesus, and instead allow His resurrected life--which is united to yours--to flow out of you and produce a bumper crop of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.  It never was about you.  It was never about following someone's teachings.  Admit it, you could never follow them anyway, and no, God neither honors effort, nor does He grade on a curve.  Only faith pleases Him.  Will you now stop all your effort and trust that Jesus obeyed perfectly on your behalf?  You should, because you are fully forgiven, and your righteousness is a free gift that you receive ONLY by simply believing it's true about you.

Read your testimony above again.  That's how you overcame.  You with Jesus.  Jesus with you.  You don't really need anymore teaching than that.  Now, go let the Spirit out of you!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - The Gospel of Grace

James Barron said this:  "He [Jesus] is able to save me because He always lives, not because I always live right."

At the end of this year, I will have been listening to, feeding upon, and growing spiritually because of the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ for seven years.  Sadly, I have been a Christian for much longer than that; but you can't draw near to God through your own efforts (See Hebrews 7:19)—only through the New Covenant do you come close to God.  This gospel of grace is of such significance and causes such radical spiritual transformation and growth, that the Apostle Paul himself declared that in order to be able to finish the course of his life and ministry, he could do nothing other than to testify solemnly of it; it was this gospel of grace which he viewed of greatest importance and prayed that those to whom he ministered would understand fully.  (See Acts 20:24, 32; and Ephesians 1:17-18.)

After seven years, I am still finding myself in wonder of the intricacies of God's actions toward us.  The reason the vast majority of Christians are joyless and burning out, or at best, continuing on as "normal," is because instead of looking at this mystery of Christ in them and them in Christ, they are preoccupied by their own selves.  Christian-centered Christianity ultimately kills.  Christ-centered Christianity produces wonder, amazement, marvel, and joy.

After seven years, unfortunately, I've also seen people move away from the message of grace as they place their eyes back on themselves.  They grow bored and can no longer be enthralled by good news.  They believe that to grow further in the "Christian life" means to move on to other topics.  They leave Jesus, Who is grace, thinking more about "I" and "me."  But this grace, Who is our Life, is the basis for everything else we know and experience.  You can't move past Him.  You can't grow beyond Him.  You will never be able to rename Him as a doctrine.  You'll suffer if, to you, He is no longer of benefit and you check Him off – "Been there. Done that."  I'm not saying you lose your salvation; but you have lost true joy and cause to celebrate daily!

After seven years, however, I'm still seeing individuals' heads being lifted up to see the goodness of Christ.  They're discovering that they've believed lies about God and about themselves.  I'm still seeing them set free and experiencing peace and freedom, not to indulge in sin, but rather to be simply amazed at how good God has been to them all along.  The life the Spirit brings to them brings transformation, renewal, and the realization of hope thought dead.

There really is no gospel other than that of Jesus Christ.  It is His glory and it is based on His goodness; nothing about us made Him do what He did.  His love, his steadfast love alone, raised us from the dead with Him so we could walk in newness of life.  We move from trusting in our faith to trusting in His.  We have exchanged our glory for His.  Having redeemed us, He has returned us to be as we should:  in Him.

This message isn't boring and it doesn't encourage laziness or sinful deeds:  He blows us away with His love; He impresses us, and we can't help but talk about it.  If this is not the case for you, then you've probably taken your eyes off of Him and put them back on yourself.  Dive into this better hope that draws you (again, see Hebrews 7:19) to God and even joins you (eggizo) to Him.  Life such as this is like none other.  You won't be the same.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Joseph Prince on Grace

Enjoy the following quote from Joseph Prince:

"When [the Samaritan woman] said that she had no husband, Jesus didn't call her out and humiliate her. Instead, knowing that she was self-conscious and insecure about her background, He commended her twice by saying, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly" (John 4: 17– 18, emphasis mine). He sandwiched what He already knew about her between two compliments! Jesus must have spoken to her with so much compassion and love in His eyes, and with no judgment or sarcasm in His voice, that it caused this woman to let down her defenses and open up to Him.

Perhaps like the Samaritan woman, you know what it's like to look for love in all the wrong places. Today Jesus offers you true intimacy that fully satisfies every aching need. He offers you a deep sense of rest that can only be found in His perfect and unconditional love. Perhaps you've had a past that has imprisoned you in shame and self-loathing. Perhaps you've allowed the things that you have done to convince you that you'll never have God's acceptance or love. If you've always only known or heard of a hard and judgmental God, a God who holds every misdeed you've committed against you, then I challenge you to encounter the real Savior who has already forgiven you and invites you to discover, taste, and experience His unfailing love."

Prince, Joseph (2013-10-22). The Power of Right Believing: 7 Keys to Freedom from Fear,  Guilt, and Addiction (pp. 29-30). FaithWords. Kindle Edition. 

Those Who Struggle With a Gracious Father-God, Part Two

In his book, Home Tonight:  Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen writes the following:

"Jesus' whole mission, his life, words, works, disgrace, and glory, are only relevant because of his relationship with the One who sent him.  Everything about his life is forever in relationship with the One he calls Father."*

My last post ended with the suggestion of a different meaning to "religion" versus "relationship" when referring to Christianity.  Popular Christianity's focus of late has been the individual's relationship to Jesus, and many preachers are now moving toward a message that includes this emphasis on a personal relationship--and that's great.  But, I feel like we've really skipped a step in the process.  Jesus modeled a relationship with the Father that was intimate beyond what our measurable and bounded human tongue may express.  Putting his relationship with the Father in the simplest of terms, Jesus asked us to simply believe in him and that he was sent by the Father.  Referring to the quote above, we see, and I am sure we can all agree, that everything Jesus did--everything--was a result of the relationship he had with his Father.  After all, the Father sent him, and Jesus did everything he saw his Father doing.

This is no less true of us than it is of Jesus.  We, being in communion with the Father, have also been sent, but let's not focus on a "missional purpose" quite just yet.  We exist in Grace.  We thrive in Love.  This means that we can choose to live every action, every thought, and every premise of our lives knowing that we are the Beloved in a relationship with a loving, heavenly Father.  It is Divine Love's yearning that we would see ourselves in Love, in Him, and thus live as such.  Jesus modeled this relationship with the Father because it is the same one which we have.  Because of that relationship, sin is no longer an issue.  We are free.  We are blessed.  Because of the goodness of his love, temptations cannot offer anything of consequence.

Jesus modeled his relationship as a son to his Father, and we can live out that very same relationship, because he has given us the Spirit of Sonship.

I hope that this small glimpse into the reality of the relationship you have in Christ with the Father will spur you on to dedicating time to invest primarily in time alone with your Father in heaven.  Do not refuse to believe you are loved, for that troubles the heart; rather, insist on experiencing that love.

And finally, have you withheld love from a brother or sister in Christ?  Then do so no longer.  We are called to express the love we have experienced from our Father to each other.  Dare I say that if you are withholding love, then you may want to check to see whether or not you have taken the time to be loved?

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

(Part One may be found here:  http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2015/01/those-who-struggle-with-gracious-father.html)

*Henri J. M. Nouwen and Sue Mosteller, Home Tonight: Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, New York: Doubleday, 2009, 94.

Those Who Struggle With a Gracious Father-God

Hello All,

I have noticed something:  most Christians I encounter do not take the time to get to know God as a loving, gracious Father.  Sometimes they are great at acts of service toward others; sometimes not at all.  Some seem to have more vested interest in doctrinal truths; others have very little idea of what the Bible says is true of the believer.  Most are caught up in an addiction of some sort; others mask their addictions through more acceptable vices.  Many claiming to be Christian admit no sense of wrong when they say "Yes," when they really mean "No," or when they make promises they will not keep.  And I would also say that plenty of Christians live far more independently of others than is healthy.

But why the disparity?  Why the contradiction?  It is partly because we have all been hurt and we have all made a vow after having been hurt:  I will never fully give myself to trust another person.  We wear a mask, and as a result, we can never be truly and authentically loved.  While it may be true that sometimes those from whom we are seeking love may indeed not actually love us, this is not so with our Heavenly Father.  The vow and action on our part isolates us from His love.  As Henri Nouwen wrote, "My refusal to accept that I am already loved destroys trust and corrodes my heart."

I see various results of that view of God's Father-Love:  we keep distance between us and others; what relationships we do have, we are willing to let go of easily; we are unwilling to truly reach out to those in need and we even withhold our affection; our friendships require little to no investment of ourselves; we struggle with sin and temptation as though it is normal; we struggle with sin and temptation as though there is no reprieve; we struggle with sin and temptation as though we are powerless to choose otherwise; we give in to sin and temptation, because we have no clue about the good things our Father has for us.

In my next post, I will help you to understand that there is a different way to look at the idea that Christianity is not meant to be a "religion," but rather a "relationship."  When we hear that, we have always thought of our relationship with the Father, but in reality, to properly understand that Divine desire, we need to take a step back.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy