I am the way the truth and the life (II) Jesus is THE way

If Jesus is neither a lunatic nor a liar (see last day’s post), then He is who He says He is Lord, the Word (God) in flesh (John 1:1,14), and we need to listen to, and to take heed of what He says. In particular, He did not say He was “a way,” but the unique one and only way (the force of the Greek) to the Father. Indeed in the continuation of this quote from John 14:6, Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The point is, that it is only through the substitutionary death of Jesus that it is possible for sinful human beings to come into the presence of a Holy God. Salvation is a gift, received by faith (Ephesians 2:8, 9). And it was God Himself who “was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The way it works is that He takes our sin, and exchanges it for His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). It is the only way!

I immediately hear the objection “But what about those who do not hear?” It’s a valid question, one the Bible does not explicitly answer, but it does give us some clues. In fact, God did not count either Abraham or King David’s sins against them, and this too was received by faith (Romans 4:3-8). Both Abraham and David were before Christ, and would certainly not have been saying the so-called sinner’s prayer! But since no one comes to the Father but by Jesus and they were accepted, then they must have come through Him. But they came without understanding that it was through what He would do on the cross. I see this as a matter of the heart, a matter of trust, of being reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20), not of correct doctrinal truth, though I am not saying that correct doctrine is not important.

Abraham and David, who were separated from Christ by time, were nevertheless saved by Him. And for me it is not too much of a stretch to believe that there are some who have never heard whose hearts are reconciled to Him, and so also saved by His death. My understanding of the unforgivable sin, is that it is rejection of the gift of forgiveness. And I reason, righty or wrongly, that you cannot reject an offer you have not even heard of! This is what I think, and part of why I think this, is that knowing something of the character of the One in whom I have believed, I answer yes to the question Abraham asked “Will not the judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25)? So I leave such question about those who have not heard, in His loving and merciful hands. But those who have not heard is not us, and the question for us, for you, is what will we, have we, done with Christ’s offer? There is only one way to be reconciled to God, and it is through Jesus!

Lord Jesus, within the mystery and the foolishness (to the World) of faith, since I am in You and You are in me (John 17), then I am a kind of Jesus sandwich with You as the bread, and me as the meat. And since You are the way, then I really can go where You lead. It may not always feel that You are this close Lord, but I choose this morning by faith to believe it, and trust as in the “Footprints in the Sand” poem, that when I do not feel I can go on, nevertheless I am still going the right way because You, who is the way, are carrying me. In Your precious name Amen

I am the way the truth and the life (I) Offenses

There are essentially two reasons the Christian can be persecuted, firstly we can be persecuted simply for believing what is true. Secondly we can be persecuted because we are obnoxious. I want to deal with this second reason first. We need to see our divisions through the eyes of the unbeliever. There are over 10,000 registered Christian denominations, most of whom are essentially saying “We are the way the truth and the life, and if you want to get saved you have to come through our church or our little group!” It is pure arrogance, and it does not adorn the gospel. When we are in this place, we need to hear what Paul says, namely “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

In fact to the unbeliever the gospel itself can be a stumbling block, or foolishness, or both (1 Corinthians 1:23), and we need to make very sure that we do not get in the way! But coming to the second point, the exclusiveness of Christianity can be the source of the offence. It seems so intolerant, so narrow minded and even bigoted. But if truth is truth, it has to say this is right, and that is wrong. Two plus two equals four, it is not equal to five, or seven, or twenty one. This common sense truth however is rejected outright in our “modern” way of thinking. We hear that all truth is relative, but actually this statement is an absolute statement, and self-contradictory. For if it is true, then the statement itself is a relative truth, and this implies that there are exceptions. In particular absolute truth does exist contradicting the statement! This is not to say that all truth is absolute, and it is a different question to ask how we can know.

We should think of this morning’s verse from John 14:6 as a challenge. Let me say that if what Jesus is saying here it is not true, then we should not be making statements such as Jesus is a really good teacher. C.S. Lewis suggests, that Jesus is either a lunatic to be compared with somebody who thinks of himself as a poached egg, or He is a Liar, or He is who he claims to be, He is the Lord of all! If He is not a liar or a lunatic, then He must be Lord! Those of us who follow Him in absolute surrender, have found Him to be everything He claims to be. And I invite you this morning to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), put Him to the test, I challenge you!

Lord Jesus, the more I know, the more I realize how little I know. And I want to confess this morning Lord, that we in Your Church have been arrogant and self righteous at times. Please forgive us and cleanse us. But as this morning’s verse implies, it’s not about knowing propositional truth, it’s about knowing You, it’s about relationship with You the One who is the way the truth and the life, it’s about following You, it’s about proving what is that good in perfect and acceptable will of God (Romans 12:2), it’s about finding life in all its fullness (John 10:10b). I’m not quite there yet Lord, bur I am finding life and health and peace and joy in following You, and with me there is no turning back in Your precious Name Amen Archives in philheathsblog.blogspot.ca

There is no pit so deep God’s love is not deeper still

This is a quote often attributed to Corrie ten Boom, but actually it was her sister Betsie who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp, who first uttered these words. The ten Boom family had been hiding Jews in their home in Holland during the Nazi occupation, were caught and sent to the living hell of Ravensbrück. By the grace of God, the two sisters had shared the love of God to the other inmates. Betsie, with reference to this phrase, told Corrie “They will believe us, because of where we have been.”

Corrie was released by an “accidental” clerical error, and after the war went around preaching a message of forgiveness. She encountered one of the crueler guards who asked her for forgiveness and, not without a struggle, she did. As part of what helped her, she tells that she thought on the ministry she had started for victims of the concentration camps. And what she had observed, was that those who could forgive were healed, and those who could not, were not. It was as simple, and as horrible as that!

So Corrie is one of my heroes, and I have been helped much by her example. The phrase that Betsie spoke has been particularly meaningful to me, because part of my life verses Psalm 40:2,3 speak of Him lifting me out of a desolate pit, setting my feet on a rock and putting a song of praise in my mouth. In fact it is my testimony, and though my desolate pits were nowhere near as deep as Betsie’s and Corrie’s, they were deep to me, and I can certainly testify that God’s love was indeed deeper still.

Father, sometimes being asked to forgive can seem more abusive than the original abuse! But unforgiveness blocks Your love, and we need to forgive for our own sake. I see so many Father, who are stuck in pain and misery because of a combined inability and unwillingness to forgive. Indeed we cannot do it without You, I cannot! But when we totally surrender to You, then all things are possible, and Your ways are always best. Please help those reading this blog this morning Lord who are in a desolate pit, and are in need of your love and grace in order to escape. Thank You that Your grace is enough, and I bless You this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen

Cycles of grief

I was at a celebration of life breakfast this morning, for a brother who recently went to be with the Lord. And because we know that Dennis is with the Lord, the breakfast was a mixture of sorrow and joy, laughter and tears. Concerning those who go to be with the Lord the Scripture says “We do not grieve as those without hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). It does not say that we do not grieve, but that our grief is not without hope. I know the difference, because when my father died over fifty years ago now, I had no hope. I knew nothing of the possibility of seeing him again, and I was devastated, and inconsolable.

What a difference! It’s not only about the hope of seeing our loved ones again, it is also about receiving comfort from the God of all comfort. And He comforts us with a comfort that enables us to comfort others who have gone through, or are going through similar things (2 Corinthians 1:4). There was a lot of it going on this morning!

I was speaking to another brother on the way out, who has also suffered from a recent bereavement. We were talking about the emotional roller coaster these significant losses bring. The way I describe it, is that grief comes in waves. And when the grief is new and raw, the waves are high and frequent. But when, with His help, we deal with our grief in a healthy way, the waves get smaller, and further apart. They can however be triggered by all kinds of things. And this morning the grief in the room brought back echoes of grief from the time my mother-in-law died over thirty years ago. In fact each new loss seems to trigger echoes of all other past significant losses. And I am grateful again for the comfort that He brings, and that I do not have to face these things alone without Him, neither do you, it is there for the asking!

Father, nobody said that it was going to be easy, You did not, and it’s just as well because it’s not! But I want to thank You this morning for Your promise Lord, that on that day there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). And once again I can identify with Paul that down here for me is all about living for Christ, nevertheless there is a strong longing from my home in heaven (Philippians 1:21). But also like Paul, I know my work down here is not yet done, so Father please keep me faithful, in Your precious Name Amen

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind

In the movie “The Mexican” Brad Pitt is mixed up with characters who will kill him if he crosses them. He tells his girlfriend Julia Roberts, “I need to go to Mexico, if I don’t go, I will be killed!” Julia hearing the word “I” three times in this sentence replies “I, I, I, it’s always all about you!” There are two things here worth noting. The first is when we accuse somebody of something, we are often doing the very same thing, in this case thinking only about oneself (Romans 2:1)! The second thing, is that though there would not have been time in this case, interactions like this, can be used as opportunities it’s to change our thinking, to renew our mind.

The wife of a Christian couple I know told me not long ago “I didn’t realize how selfish I was until I got married!” There are two encouraging things going on in this marriage. The first is that they are is mutual submission and they are sharpening each other (Ephesians 5:21; Proverbs 27:17). The second is they are both seeking to put into practice Philippians 2:3 which says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” What I am trying to say here, is that the renewing of our minds works best when we are applying Biblical principles, and are motivated by gratitude and allegiance to what God has done.

In particular it is because of the tender mercies of our God that Paul admonishes us to be in the ongoing process of being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1, 2). And the tender mercies of our God include deliverance from the penalty, the power and the pollution of sin. Not only this, but also the future deliverance from it’s very presence (Romans chapters 6 to 8). Cognitive psychology has cottoned on to the Biblical principal (two thousand years later) that our behaviour can be changed by the transformation of the mind. But as I have already said, this works best when (a) we have a Christ inspired motivation, (b) we use Biblical principles and (c) tap into the resurrection power available to us in Him (Philippians 3:10)!

Father, I want to thank You again this morning Lord, that secular psychology many times confirms or gives insights into Biblical principles. But there is so much more to it than the principles. Thank You not only for the motivation, but also for Your promise to change our desires and to give is the wherewithal to do what we know we should do when we fully surrender to you (Philippians 2:12, 13). Thank You Lord that I see this transforming power in those You are calling to Yourself, and I thank You for it in my own life! And I give you the honour and glory and praise again this morning in Jesus Name Amen

Anger and honour. Generational sins (Part 9)

The idea we all have as infants, that our parents are all wise and all-knowing, will likely always have disappeared by the teenage years, sometimes much, much earlier. Certainly no parent is perfect, and being angry at one’s parents, especially the father, is quite common. But the principle/promise that our own failings will not be visited upon our children is contingent upon our turning to God to love and obey Him (Exodus 20:6). And one of His commandments,given in this very context, is that we should honour our fathers and mothers (Exodus 20:12).

It is hard to honour someone when you’re angry with them, but this commandment has a promise attached to it. And the promises is “that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:3). And though for some it may be hard, it is necessary for our spiritual health and the spiritual health of those we love (Hebrews 12:15). I have heard it said that unforgiveness and bitterness, is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It seems to be true. We need to forgive and honour our parents even for our own sake!

Honouring your father and mother is about being respectful of their position in words and actions, even if they don’t deserve it. I am linking honour and forgiveness in this post. But it does not honour our parents if we continue to let them abuse or manipulate us. Likewise forgiveness is very different from saying that what happened, or what they did was right, or that we should continue to put up with things that are wrong. As adults, we may in fact even have to respectfully distance ourselves from them at times. And the principal that I think applies here is “As much as is possible within you live at peace with all” (Romans 12:18). It is not always possible!

Father, perhaps there are many reading this post who had a very happy childhood, and kind and loving parents. But I know that this is very far from always being the case! But in any case, there are always issues that need to be dealt with. I know I will never be perfect in this life, but what I want to pass on to my children, and my children’s children, is the example of dealing with issues as You reveal them to me. Thank You Lord, for the help that comes with each such revelation, and thank You that You continue to work in me to make me more like You. We cannot do this without You Lord. We cannot in Jesus Name Amen

Generational sins (Part 8) Dealing with guilt and/or anger - Guilt

We are strange creatures us humans, we can be dealing with crippling guilt or debilitating anger and still be in denial about it, or it can be just about the only thing we think about. We can be blaming ourselves, or be stuck in victim mode. This morning, I’m thinking about the guilt we bear because the consequences our sins have for our children, and/or those we influence. Earlier in this series of posts on generational sins, we were looking (Part 4) at Exodus 20:5,6 in terms of motivation to deal with our issues. This morning I want to look at the verse “But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:6) in terms of dealing with guilt.

Coming to the place where we come out of denial, and begin to realize how deeply our sin and our issues impact the lives of others, especially our children, can be very difficult. But for those of us who turn to Christ, our faith is in a God of redemption. And behind the principal in this morning’s verse, is the fact that when we turn to him in radical obedience, then we are in effect standing in the gap and he begins the process of setting right the wrong. He turns the negative inheritance of three or four generations (verse 5), into blessings for many, many generations to come (verse 6). And I am claiming this principle/promise for my own children, and for those my life’s has influenced and is influinsing.

In discussing these things at the Bible study last night, the verse “I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring“ (Isaiah 44:3) was brought to my attention. We can add to this other promises such as “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). And when I choose to trust that He will do what He says he will do in this area, and also in the area of cleansing me of my guilt (1 John 1:9), then my peace returns. And it comes to me again, that the very best thing that I can do for my children and those I influence, is for me to become whole by loving Him, obeying Him and in particular, dealing with my issues.

Father, once again this morning I had to cast my care and concern for others upon You. It was threatening to trip me up! After I have done my part in repenting and turning to You, then I need to leave the consequences to You. I am still tending to take on more responsibility than You call me to. But I’m learning! Thank You Lord that You who begun a good work in me will bring it to completion in Jesus Name Amen