John 8:31-33 10/29/2024

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples;  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus is addressing new believers, telling them that obedience to His Word is the identifying mark of His true followers and that without it, they were living as captives. …. He tells them that His Word will set them free, but they arrogantly argue that they have never been slaves.  

What about you… have you been set free?  Or have you adopted a  mediocre faith that ignores scripture and maintains that you don’t need liberation?

There are no chains more powerful than those we choose not to acknowledge…  the ones we have accepted as “normal” and no longer try to break.  The strongest prison is the one we choose to sit in, even though the door is open. 

Our culture offers “shrink to fit” truth, and limited freedom, while The Bible offers radical truth and complete liberty. But we miss it, because we don’t seek truth, we seek comfort.  As long as our jail cell is comfortable, we are content.  

What if we changed that?  What if we re-evaluated “normal” and filtered every “accepted” habit through God’s word.  What if  we decided to get comfortable being uncomfortable and change our lives to fit scripture, instead of changing scripture to fit our lives?  Living out truth produces freedom that makes us effective warriors for the Cross. 

It is a choice you will have to make deliberately; the enemy is content to leave you restfully undisturbed in this area because your captivity makes you ineffective for the Kingdom of God.  

It is your call… you can stand there on the sidelines and be comfortably ordinary  – or get in the game and pursue being dangerously extraordinary.  

If you will open your Bible and question the status quo, you might find freedom to do what you were created to do… You might find that the Son has obliterated the chains you’ve been putting on every morning and realize that you’re living in bondage, and only the Truth will set you free.  

“Freedom is something that dies unless it's used.” -  Hunter Thompson

Galatians 3:1-5 10/22/2024

“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?  This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” 

When writing to the adulterous Corinthians Paul instructs them gently. To the Cretans in the book of Titus he is patient and explanatory. But here he is straight out rebuking the Galatians without much of a filter. In this passage he basically asks them if they’re stupid.

We find a similar approach when Jesus encountered thieves and prostitutes, He corrected them, but gently. But when faced with Pharisees who believed they could earned their way Christ was severe, calling them snakes, and whitewashed tombs for thinking they could earn redemption. 

This seems to indicate that arrogance and believing you can earn deliverance is especially repulsive to the Holy Spirit.  That makes sense, because for God to pay the price He paid for my salvation, and then I act as though I can earn it -  is an amazing display of ignorance and ingratitude. 

Jesus died to redeem my soul, and there is no amount of work I can do,  or money I can pay to earn that … it is insulting to insinuate that there might be.

That is a frightening observation because “legalism”, “works-salvation”,  and “judgementalism”, are sins we in the church dance pretty close to, and it appears these sins and the arrogance from which they originate are particularly offensive to God. Egotism may be the enemy’s most powerful tool. 

Have I been saved by grace, but become better than you because of my works?  Did the Holy Spirit provide salvation and then my flesh say, “I’ll take it from here”?  Paul calls that whole line of thinking foolish.  

While we must boldly speak truth, we also had better check our hearts regularly and make sure we are not being bewitched by some foolish, self-exalting approach to Christianity that allows us to feel anything but gratitude for our salvation.

“If there be ground for you to trust in your own righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did to prepare the way for it, is in vain.” — Jonathan Edwards

John 6:61-64 10/15/2024

“Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?  Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!  The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing”. 

The dilemma for the American church is that when Jesus spoke it often offended people.… and we are some of the most easily offended people on the planet.  Our default response to correction is victimhood.  This predicament interferes with us “recruiting” members for our church. 

Our focus on increasing membership makes us unwilling to lovingly address unpopular topics that are clearly defined by God’s Word.  Any honest reading of scripture reveals God’s definition of marriage, sexuality, morality, the value of the unborn, greed, and a host of other topics that have been deemed “off-limits” by our culture … Jesus addressed difficult subjects, and never once changed truth to pacify His audience. 

It is not our goal to offend but some will see truth as offensive. If you call truth hate, you will hate truth. But like a good doctor we cannot be overly concerned with how medicine tastes to the patient - only that it heals them. I must lovingly give the correct dose, no matter how it impacts the patient’s opinion of me. 

If the truth offends my audience,  the remedy is to remind them that truth does not originate from man; man came from truth.  You can’t look through the lens of deception, and self-will, and expect to see the truth of God.

If you desire to change scripture and only follow what suits you … it is because you have forgotten who wrote it.  It isn’t a rough draft for you to edit.  It is a document written by the omnipotent Creator of the universe. Its purpose is to light your path, and without it you’re walking in the dark. 

“Christian” is not something you comfortably add to your resume.  You die to yourself, and Christ lives in you.  You become “unoffendable” by anything written in scripture and simply dedicate your life to following it. 

 If the Bible offends you… It is not scripture that needs to be adjusted…. You have options for responding to The Word of God, but being offended by it, and demanding it be changed isn’t one of them.

"An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception." - John Bevere

John 1:45-46 10/8/2024

“Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

Philip found the Messiah and ran to let Nathanael know…  He realized who Jesus was …He said “We found the promised one”… Philip had met the Son of God, and he recognized Him because they had been looking for Him for Centuries.  His knowing  “who  and what” he had found was the key…. and it still is today.  

Jesus is not a surprise. His first appearance in the manger was prophesied for thousands of years, and His return has been foretold by historically documented predictions. He is one of the most recorded figures in history.   His life has been verified by both church and secular historians, so the question of His existence is not the question…  Knowing “who and what” He is – is what changes everything.

When Philip realized this, he did the only logical thing he could do… He ran to tell his friend.  That is the only rational response we can have as well. If you realize that He is the foretold lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world, and you don’t tell the people you love… How can you say you love those people? 

The problem is that they may not be interested in your discovery.  So, we can also learn from Philip’s confident approach to witnessing… When Nathanael mocked him,  Philip didn’t retaliate, he simply said “come and see”… Those three words carry a wealth of theological implications and are incredibly powerful. 

You and I need to put away our argumentative rebuttals to naysayers and simply say “come and see” …  Our intellectual opinions are not as powerful as saying, “look at the changes Jesus has made in my life”, and then living in such a way that they can “come and see” Christ in us. 

The power of the gospel is that you have been made a new creation, and our job is let others know that God offers new life to all who come to Him.

“Live as a credible witness. If our actions don’t line up with the message we’re proclaiming, we risk losing our credibility.” — David Jeremiah

 

1 CORINTHIANS 10: 6-11

“Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.  Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.  Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, …”

Read the last sentence again… This message applies to us individually and collectively.  It states that debauchery carries severe consequences.  God has made that historically clear. Yet somehow today, we not only tolerate these evils… we celebrate them.  

You argue that you stand against sin…  but what about “Grumbling”.  Are you lovingly pulling others out of the gutter, or just grumbling against those who are in it?  Do you love the word of God,  or do you resent His commandments? In this passage the result of self-centered grumbling was death, just like the other sins on the list. 

God is not vague about the purpose of this passage.  It says, “these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…”.  That is not hard to interpret. In the original Greek, It means, “these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…”.  

Do we suppose God’s opinion has changed about worshiping money, pursuing pleasure, or normalizing sexual perversion? Do we think it is acceptable now to grumble about the obligations of serving God?

This passage states that it is unwise to test God.  Yet here we are, dancing close to the flames. There is a precedent in this passage which we are unwisely ignoring. 

God’s word is not a buffet, you cannot choose which commands you follow. Cherry-picking scripture is pursuing YOUR will, not God’s. 

Christianity is an “all-or-none” proposition… You either surrender to God, or you don’t.  The Lord has outlined expectations on conduct, marriage, sexuality, treatment of others, and even attitude… They are not suggestions, nor are they subject to cultural standards, and ignoring them carries consequences. 

Jesus proved His love for us by dying to save us while we were still sinning…  So, we don’t avoid sin to make Him love us … We avoid sin because we love Him. 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments...”  - Jesus (John 14:15)