Obedience

Jesus has covered our sins through his sacrifice, but that is not the ideal. Yes, we are forgiven, but it is not the sacrifice that God wants from us. He wants us to obey, and he wants us to understand that living right is more important that making up for our sins and shortcomings. Jesus died and we are forgiven, but the intensity of Jesus' death tells us something about sin. There is a cost, and that price has been paid. Despite that, God wants us to live for him. He wants us to love him and obey him, and he doesn't want us to sin. "I don't want you to sin, but because you have the cost has been paid. Now please, don't continue. I've forgiven you, but that doesn't change the fact that there is sin in your life and I want you to stop."

We must be sure not to take advantage of the forgiveness God has given us.

"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am- it is written about me in the scroll - I have come to do your will, O God.'" Hebrews 10:5-7

For hundreds of years

For hundreds of years priests offered sacrifices in the temple. There were very specific guidelines to what they did, but that was not eternal. We no longer depend on a priest to offer sacrifices for our sins. Rather, our sins have already been covered by the sacrifice made by Jesus. Jesus is our "high priest." In Hebrews 8:5 we find "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven." Offering animals as sacrifices is just an image for us. Christ, though, that is greater. It is more than the imagery of the temple. Christ has offered and been offered for us, that we might find salvation.

Anchored

The Bible is full of warnings against unfaithfulness. I think sometimes we confuse warnings of unfaithfulness with warning of unbelief. Yes, we believe in God, but do we have faith in him? Do we actually trust him to work things out, even when things seem to be falling apart? What must "God's chosen people" have thought when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt to a dry and desolate desert. "Is this really God's plan? For life to suck? This is stupid. Where is the promised land? Where is the land flowing with milk and honey that we were supposed to get?"

It is interesting that our own personal unfaithfulness is sometimes compared to God's faithfulness. We are able to find strength in remembering that God is faithful, even though we are not. We go our own way, and we burn ourselves and it hurts. Despite that, God is faithful. God is better than we are. He keeps his promises, and there is encouragement to be had in that. Our faith is anchored to God, which is fortunate! If it were anchored to a human being it wouldn't hold us. It would get tossed about and we'd find ourselves forever dissapointed.

"Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."
Hebrews 6:16-19

Christ an example

Jesus is our "high priest." He was born. He lived. He was tempted. He went through life just like we do. He went through times of suffering just like all of us do. He learned obedience and became the source of our salvation. Jesus stands as a mediator between us a God. Just like any priest, he plays the inbetween-man for men and God. Jesus is special, though. He was man, but he was also God. He was a high priest. Of all the high priests, there was none so high as Jesus. He was the only inbetween-man that was fully in contact with God. He was divine, and a part of God. He had elements that no priest has.
We are able to go to Christ, and rather than going to a man that will communicate to God on our behalf, we are able to go right to God. How awesome is that? To have the ability to be in direct communication with God? That is significant.
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest..." Hebrews 5:8-10

Rest

In the past God lead his people out of Egypt. They wandered through the desert for 40 years, and endured a great time of suffering. Why? It was because of their disobedience. God had chosen his people and he had saved them from the hands of the Egyptians, but they made the choice to disobey him. In doing so, they didn't find the rest that God had intended for them. What could have been a very short move from Egypt to the promised land ended up being a 40 year ordeal. It took faith to remain obedient to God while they were in the desert, but it was worth it.

We know that the rest God intends for his people is wonderful, but for some reason we harden ourselves to God. We find ourselves in the desert. We grow accustomed to living in a wilderness outside of God's rest. It becomes easy to doubt, and it becomes easy to adjust and compensate rather than to pray and hope. "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." Hebrews 4:11

Fixing our thoughts

It is important for us to fix our thoughts on Jesus. Our mind is the control room for our actions. Whatever we fix our thoughts on will directly influence how we act out our lives. If we fix our lives on a goal, we're able to let that goal consume us. We're able to fill our minds with a plethora of different things, and the things that we fill our minds with shape who we are and what we do. Hebrews 3:1 says to: "Fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess."

Drifting

It seems like no one wakes up one day and decides to turn away from God. You don't just make a conscious decision and then turn your back on him. Rather, it is more like a drifting. You float about in the water and might at first be very near to God. Perhaps the miraculous workings of God's hand in your life are still very fresh and real. Perhaps you are gazing in awe at how incredible God is, but then something happens. Or rather, nothing happens. The current catches you in the water and pulls you slowly out to see. Its not a sudden tug, but a gentle drifting. God stops revealing himself in blatantly obvious ways.

What do we do when God leaves us to walk by faith? Those times come for everyone. God stops drawing us in with fireworks and lights, and we're left to remember and to hope. Remember what God did to draw us near to him, and find rest in the hope that he is ever present even when the shadows of this world seem to hide him from our direct line of sight.

We must be careful not to drift away. For some reason it is easy to turn the things of God into the mundane and boring. Without realizing it, we look away and we forget. We fail to remember, and we fail to hope. And then suddenly we open our eyes and realize that God is nowhere to be seen. Did we lose him? Did he lose us? No. He's still there waiting, but now we're off at sea somewhere. What are we to do in those moments? What do we do when God's signs to us grow distant and blurred?

Sometimes we let ourselves drift out too far, and maybe it seems like we've strayed too far away to ever regain that closeness to God. Don't worry. He is still there. He stands firm like a rock amidst stormy waters, and no matter how far out we seem to drift God is still about us, longing to take us in and offer us his protection. God has given us salvation through Jesus, and we must pay attention to where we are at. We must make a conscious effort not to forget it, lest we find ourselves out at sea having drifted away from the place we once were.

"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." Hebrews 2:1-4

The Majesty of Christ

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Hebrews 1:3

I think it is important for us to recognize the position that Jesus holds. He was not just a holy man that lived a good life. He cannot be compared to the kindest or most compassionate human being, because his own compassion is too great. It was on his back that he bore the sins of the world, and he deserves to be seated at the right hand of God. (We won't get into the confusion of the Trinity here, although you may be wondering how Christ, being God, can sit at the right hand of God.)

It would be very difficult for anyone to live the kind of life that Jesus lived, and I don't know just how much Jesus knew about his fate. Would that have made things any easier? At what point, I wonder, did Jesus know that he had to die on the cross as the sacrifice to heal the sins of the nations? And when Satan offered him a way to have the kingdoms of the world without having to go through the suffering on the cross, what kind of strength must that have taken?

I realize right now that I'm doing a terrible job of describing just how deserving Jesus is of our honor and reverence. How does one go about describing the awesomeness of Christ? Would it help to remember that it is through the divinity that is within Jesus that the world keeps spinning? All things were created through him, and all he did was breathe to create the stars. How can a being with that much power go through the humiliation of the cross just to redeem a fraction of creation?

How frustrating must it have been to be Jesus? To know that you established a law for your people so that they could be blessed, and they used that very law to kill you? "Look, here, he has claimed to be God. According to our law, we must kill him."

It is no small thing that Jesus died on the cross for us, and we must remember that he is in every way deserving of our praise.

On robbing God

I've finally come to the realization that robbing God is never beneficial. God, who is ultimately in control of all things, has given to me money from my job. And what shall I do with it? Spend it on neccesities, and then set aside 15% that I can spend on my own pleasure?
Not only has my own pleasure been cheap and hollow, but God has taken note of it.

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. "
-Galations 6:7-8

I do not doubt that my hours being cut or unpleasant surpise expenses are divine proddings to open my eyes to sin. And perhaps you, dear reader, are thinking to yourself, "I have not robbed God, and yet troubles overwhelm me!" There is no way for me to know why these things are going on in your own life. All I know is that here and now God is getting my attention.


"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
-Malachi 3:6-10

This excerpt from Malachi has at least two sides to it. On the one, it is foolish to rob God. He will get what belongs to him, and whatever we believe to be gain will actually be great loss to us. And yet, the second side is the polar opposite; God downright says , "Test me in this."
If we could just find it within ourselves to give God what is already his, then he will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not have enough room for it!

I have robbed God. Have you?

Wisdom?

I've been rereading John Ortberg's book The Life You've Always Wanted, and I'm amazed by how much wisdom he has. This morning I was pondering how we transform ourselves to become more mature people, and I think the answer has something to do with drawing on the wisdom of others that have gone before us. It seems like 99% of everything we do has already been done by someone else. What makes us different is that we (hopefully) allow ourselves to be a compilation of the good in others.

A successful businessman once admired all of the older and more successful businessmen. He told himself that the only reason they were more successful is because they had been doing it longer. The older he got, the younger the successful businessmen became. Why?

He was trying to do things on his own and learn things through his own experience. Yes, I do think there are things we will have to learn on our own, but wisdom from a life already lived is a precious resource.

Proverbs 3:13-15

"Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,

the man who gains understanding,

for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.

She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her."

Inconsistency

I wish I could explain this inconsistency I have. During the weekdays when I don't have too much schoolwork to do, this is easy. It's when I get really busy that I need God the most, and yet that is when I spend the least amount of time reading the Bible or praying. For some reason there is a real lack of urgency to it all.

During Sunday School this past week, someone mentioned that the reason people don't stay consistent in spiritual things is because the result isn't noticeable. When we ignore laundry it piles up. When we ignore the trash it starts to smell. But what happens when we ignore time for spiritual things? I think the end result is very noticeable. Maybe it isn't so clear to other people around me, but I definitely know. I become much more irresponsible, less disciplined, irritable, unkind, impatient, rude, etc. These few minutes that I spend in the morning praying, reading scripture, and typing here are a crucial part of my health. I don't go a week without showering or brushing my teeth, so why go a week without reflecting deeply on God?

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."
Acts 17:11

Uncertainty

We all reach points in our life where we don't know what is going to happen to us. Our fate seems sealed just beyond the horizon, and we don't feel like we have control. What will happen to us? It is easy to worry when things are not in our control, but I think it helps to reflect on what the Dalai Lama once said. "If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry."

We're getting close to the summer and a lot of us don't know where we're going or what we're doing. Yes, we do have the power to influence our futures, but how do we know what path to take? I wish I could give some simple profound answer that makes everything clear, but I can't. That's not my job. The best I can do is leave you with a catch all no-matter-what-happens sort of verse.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8

How do we drink?

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?"
John 4:11

I was discussing the spiritual state of the college today with my RA, and its become clear that for the most part peoples hearts aren't where they should be. There are a lot of reasons for this, and it might be impossible to pin this on one thing. Is it a lack of service? Is it a lack of personal responsibility? Why is there such an eclectic group of people here at a Bible College?

If I had to give account for my own spirituality (or occasional lack thereof) it would be this: Before I came to Bible college I had a real thirst to know God, and to know more about God. It was like I desperately longed for water, and thought that by going to Bible College I would finally be able to drink.

And drink I did. At first it was refreshing and invigorating. I was ecstatic and excited because I had found more water than I knew what to do with. But there was a dark side to all of this. After adjusting to drinking huge amounts of water, it became very difficult to leave this place and go back to finding water on my own.

Just when I thought I had figured out how to make it in the desert of the real world, Bible College was back. It was back to drinking from a firehose. It was back to an overbearing amount of expectations that take some time to adjust to. Am I being very clear here?

Going from the equivalent of Sunday school on crack for 7 hours a day is a huge transition from 2 hours a week. Life is all about balances, and we really can accomplish a lot if we can just find time in our lives to sort out everything that comes our way.

It's hard to drink water when we're lost in the middle of an endless sea, and its hard to drink when we're lost in the middle of an endless desert.

Water abounds, but what about living water? I suppose I could talk about how people's water seems to get diluted because of all their studies, but that would be another entry for another day.

Kindness, Compassion, and Forgiveness

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:29-32

I wish I could take this passage and post it in huge letters on the wall of our hallway. How often do I hear "your mom" jokes? How often do I hear people tearing one another down? Many times a day. What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? I imagine that the Holy Spirit is trying to work in our lives, but we've become so far removed from the true things of God that the Holy Spirit isn't able to work in us fully.
Just as I am grieved over the lack of spiritual growth (and really, trend in spiritual decline), I think that also the Holy Spirit must be grieved to see people that were once committed now giving in to their sinful tendencies.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

It seems like any time we examine ourselves and find something wrong in our lives, we need to do more than just get rid of that shortcoming. We need to apply whatever the counter is. In this case it is kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

Outside influences

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need."

-Ephesians 4:25-28

Do I talk about telling the truth? Or should I talk about anger? How about stealing? Stealing would be a good one since I know I'm guilty of it, but I'm also guilty of anger.

I think that maybe I can talk about all three of these things in a broader sense by considering them in a more general way. We sin. You do it. I do it. It's just life. Sometimes it takes someone to look us in the eyes and tell us we're sinning in order for us to realize it. In our own minds we've already justified it. The burglar has justified his stealing in his own mind. The addict tries to justify his addiction, etc.

What Paul is doing in this section is he is calling out sin. Are you stealing? Stop. Are you deceiving your neighbor? Stop. Are you quick to anger and sin? Stop. It could just be me, but it seems like there are times where someone just needs to be blunt and tell us we shouldn't do something. There's something about that outside influence that challenges us and helps us to readjust our own perception of how things are. Hopefully today we'll be mindful of God and others trying to speak to us.

Created to be like God

"You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
-Ephesians 4:20-24

I think that last line is interesting. "...created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." It seems like a lot of atheists/humanists/postmodernists/etc. all find joy in making themselves gods. I'm no expert, and so I could completely be wrong here, but it seems like that is what they do. They intellectually kill God so that emotionally they can lift themselves up to that elevated status. They glorify man for all his wonders, and give him credit even though man would be dust without God.

And so I think it is interesting that we were created "to be like God" but wait, it doesn't stop here. We were created to be like God "in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians will explain in a little more detail what that means later on. Hopefully this will be beneficial to think about today. Hopefully we press on toward some idea of righteousness and holiness, knowing that this was God's intended purpose for us so that we could be on the same level of awesomeness as God. (Although still beneath God, because he is infinitely more awesome than we are.)

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
-Genesis 1:27

Hard heart?

"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more."

Ephesians 4:17-19

Lately I've really started liking Ephesians 4 and 5. It talks about putting off the old man and becoming a new one. From what I can tell, that's something a lot of people seem to be missing. Sure, maybe we're giving to the poor, and maybe we're spending a lot of time in prayer or study of the scripture. Those things might not be the most important thing, though. I think we need to remember that as Christians we should be pressing on to have a transformed life. Sure, it doesn't happen overnight, but there should be some measurable amount of change in our lives.

When we lived without Christ our hearts were hard and we "indulged in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more." I guess its hard for me to see directly, but I know I still do things that I would have done even if I weren't a Christian. Are we changing? Has there been a change? Sometimes I think it's harder to see than at other times.

Maybe the difference is in the "sensitivity." Without Christ I can justify my sin and I can embrace it and indulge in it. That was a long time ago, though. Now I have a new sensitivity to sin. I know what is wrong (even though I may do it). It may just be me, but I really find motivation from Ephesians 4-5 to put more effort into living a holy and pure life.

Idolatry

"You shall have no other gods before me."
-Exodus 20:3

I don't know what it is that got me thinking about this, but it recently occurred to me that most people here at Bible college don't seem to be serving the right god. What is your god? Is it money? A job? A computer? A car? A girl? A boy? A building? A place? A band? Yourself? Etc. The list could go on and on of things that people make their god. We all have within us an innate need to worship something. Hopefully that something is God.

It seems like our gods can become very demanding, and we don't even realize it. They demand our time, our money, and our sleep. We can even sacrifice other relationships to please whatever our god is. The difference between a god that we set up and the God is clear but easy to forget. When we sacrifice of ourselves for God its worth it. Everything else will suck us in and leave use worse off than we were when we started. Maybe this is just something you have to experience for yourself, and maybe I'm just writing this to remind myself. I hate the cycle of lifting something up on a pedestal only to find that it is hollow and unproductive. It seems ridiculous how people in other cultures can bow down and worship statues, but we do exactly the same thing in a different way.

God inspires me. God transforms me. God makes me more than my mind can imagine. God uses me. God blesses me. God works with me. God leads me. God is worth worshiping.

Personality Types

"The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another." -1 Corinthians 1:21-25 (ESV)

Yesterday I took a Myers-Briggs personality test and found that I was an INTJ. I'm one of the rarest personality types (1% of the population). As I began thinking about the different personality types, I realized that God does not use just one type. Introvert and extrovert. Feeling and thinking, etc. We are all useful to God in some way, even if we're not the personality we think we need to be. There are two things to remember, though. One: Our personalities can be a blessing to our community by bringing balance to our group, or two: our personalities could bring conflict to our community if we don't recognzie our appropriate places.

Unsatisfied

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you:" -John 6:27

Have you ever set your eyes on something only to find that once you got it, it wasn't all that you thought it would be? That seems to be the case with me lately. The irony is that I can preach a sermon on how the hungers of our heart will only be satisfied in Christ, but I don't live it. I have the bread of life to give to the starving world, but do I eat it? No, not usually. It is so easy to starve myself until I'm completely malnourished. Why would the world want the bread on my plate? If we're not eating it, why should we expect anyone else to do the same?

Wake up, Christian. You have something precious. You have the bread of life. Don't let that go to waste. Finish up your veggies, and don't forget to eat your bread.