May 16 2013

It’s not about me.


Carved on the back of the pulpit at our church, facing the speaker, are these words. “It’s not about me.” Guess what? It’s not about you either! God lavishes his grace on you and me for the praise of his own glorious grace, a grace fully and finally expressed in God being pleased to crush Jesus (Isaiah 53:19), the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18) as planned by God before the world was created. (Acts 2:23, Ephesians 1:3-10)

God did not create us, or save us, because he was lonely, or needed a friend. The divine purpose of the holy scheme of redemption is stated clearly many times throughout the Bible but three times in the first chapter of Paul’s letter to Ephesus. “..to the praise of His glorious grace (vs 6), “..to the praise of His glory (vs 12), and “..to the praise of His glory” (vs 15).

Much of the confessing world makes the mistake of believing, and living as though, God’s plan is “all about me”. Far too often you and I focus on what’s in it for us rather than giving God praise and glory by obedient living, jubilant worship, and telling about what God has accomplished in the life and work of Jesus the Lamb of God with every means possible.

Apr 23 2013

The Gospel of John – The Essentials of Christianity


Recently I received preacher Al Maxey’s “Reflections” in my email inbox. A section of this issue caught my attention and caused me to consider some facts about the Gospel of John in the Bible, and it’s importance. These observations did not originate with Al Maxey but I am very thankful that  he chose to include this in the most recent “Reflections”. I quote Al Maxey:

  • The following thoughts come from Virgil Fiske, who lives in the northern part of New Mexico. He says, “I came out of the Church of Christ a few years ago and do house churches now. I preached for theChurch of Christ for over 30 years, but fought the legalism and the arrogance all the way.” I can certainly identify with this frustration. The following is an article he shared with me that he wrote over a year ago, but which came to his mind when he read my last Reflections. I’m pleased to be able to pass it along to each of you.

First principles, the essentials, the basics of Christianity have dominated my mind lately. I was asked which denomination is right, what rules are required to be saved. I had just started a study in John, and it suddenly yelled at me. Since John’s Gospel was written that we might believe and have eternal life (John 20:31), then it can be accepted that the Gospel of John contains everything we need to know and believe. It must also contain every behavior required to gain salvation. Therefore, it could be understood that the rest of the information presented in the NT comes as an illustration of how the basics presented by John play out in the life of the first century church. Should one agree with many scholars that John’s Gospel was the last text written before the canonization of Scripture, then it can be assumed that any emphasis on doctrinal concepts not mentioned is excessive. Since John’s Gospel contains little regarding baptism, Communion, church leadership and attendance, the contribution, worship styles, women’s roles in the church, etc., how can these issues be areas over which we bicker and divide?! If we can recognize the basic principles of love and forgiveness demonstrated by Christ’s sacrifice as the foundation of our faith, then all the other behavior of Christ-like people should not divide us. Jews worshiped one way, Gentiles worshiped another, and though the discussion in Acts 15 was heated, the conclusion was that both groups were accepted by God, though radically different.

Many years after the discussion on how to deal with Gentiles, the apostle John penned the Gospel and the letters that carry his name. 1 John 5:13 says that he wrote this small letter to those who believe so that they might know they have eternal life. How much should we add to what John wrote if we really want to know we have eternal life?!

John wrote as a very old Christian who happened to be the last living apostle. He must have felt that the letters written by others over 30 years earlier were important, yet he does not mention them. I started studying John’s Gospel and his letters as if I was living at the end of the first century and they were all that I had. What would my saving faith and my worship actually look like? You might want to try the same. It has really changed my view of all those who believe in Jesus.

Finally, I heard John say that we should be careful not to listen to the other teachers, but instead focus on the “anointing” we have all received (1 John 2:26-27). I have seen firsthand the damage done by following our emotions, but we may have more damage by following only that which is written. For me personally now, the NT is the tool that I use to verify what I sense in my heart as I am led by the Spirit.

At a minimum Virgil Fiske makes some compelling points about the importance of John’s writings, especially the Gospel of John and 1 John. Both were written that we might believe in Jesus Christ and that by believing we should have eternal life.

Most Bible scholars agree that the Gospel of John was probably written between 85 and 95 a.d.. And, there is also general consensus that John was written from the city of Ephesus where John was a leader. There is some disagreement about his title, (elder, bishop, presbyter, etc…) but not that he was an important figure in the Ephesian church.

In my view it is without question that John had read all of the earlier writings that are now the New Testament. It is especially important, and worthy of consideration, that the elderly John was very familiar with the writings of Luke (the Gospel of Luke and Acts), and the letters of Paul, especially Romans and Ephesians.

Considering the fact that John was “the disciple Jesus loved“, one of the disciples of Jesus in the very inner circle during Jesus’ ministry, and having read the writings mentioned above, the Gospel of John does not emphasize some of the things one must do to have eternal life that many people today do.

I have long thought that of all the Bible, the Gospel of John is the principal book on Christology. John has no equal in regard to the person and work of Jesus, his deity, and that salvation is by believing on Him.

I am thankful that Mr. Fiske shared his thoughts on the Gospel of John with Al Maxey and that Al shared it with the readers of his Reflections. By the way, if you are not receiving “Reflections” by Al Maxey you can easily subscribe here  maxey@zianet.com . Send an email and ask for Reflections and you will be blessed by this good man’s common sense approach to Scripture and wonderful ability to communicate the truths he finds there.

I am especially interested in your thoughts on this post.

Royce Ogle
Monroe, LA

Apr 21 2013

Nuggets of Fudge – Losing to Temptation


Suppose you understand that temptation is dangerous, that the evil one is crafty, and that you cannot beat sin in your own strength. You know that Jesus died–putting him beyond Satan’s reach and jurisdiction–and that he arose from death with powerful life in a new dimension. You know that in God’s eyes you also died and arose because Jesus represented you and because God views you as “in Christ.” Finally, you recall from Romans 6 that in any moment of temptation, when God and Satan give you opposite instructions, you can say “No” to Satan and walk away unscathed–if you only will reckon all this to be the truth, then present or yield your body to God but not to Satan.

Knowing all that, a temptation moment comes and you decide not to “reckon” or not to “yield”–but sin instead. You are embarrassed, sorry, disgusted with yourself. You wonder how God can possibly forgive you for, what is it now, the five hundredth time? At this point, it is time to remember these words from John. “This then is how . . . we set our hearts at rest . . . whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything” (1 John 3:19-20, NIV).

What does God know in this situation? True, he knows our weaknesses, our temptations, our mitigating circumstances. But that is all beside the point. What matters is that he knows this: that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins; that God has forgiven our sins on account of his name; and that we live in him and he lives in us (1 John 2:2, 12; 4:13-16). We might forget those things momentarily, or forget their importance, but God does not forget. And when we do remember what God never forgot, our hearts are set at rest.

Martin Luther once said he was glad the Bible does not say that Jesus died for Martin Luther, for then he would spend his whole life wondering if there was another man named “Martin Luther.” Instead the Bible says that Christ died for sinners (Rom. 5:8). That is far better to read, said Luther. There can be no doubt that he is a sinner, and on that basis he knows that Christ died for him.

By: Edward Fudge
EdwardFudge.com

 

Apr 10 2013

Some thoughts about the suicide of Pastor Rick Warren’s son


Suicide is a terrible thing, it ends a life and brings untold grief to the ones who love the deceased most. There is no question in my mind, that in most cases, suicide is a sinful act. I say “in most cases” because of the possibility that some who have committed suicide were so mentally unbalanced that they were incapable of rational thought. I think far more suicides would fit this category than we might think. I am no psychologist but but I do know that self preservation is a human’s strongest instinct.

I am no stranger to suicide, my first cousin, a young mother and devoted wife, took her own life and seemed rational to some degree, having carefully planned the act, leaving a well thought out note to her husband and infant son. I have had numerous friends who took their own lives. I have mourned with grieving family’s who had many, many questions and few answers, the most pressing with no answer. Why?

After hearing of Rick and Kay Warren’s loss, and reading some of the most hateful tweets and posts, some supposedly from Christians, my emotions have ranged from pity to intense anger, to sadness, to confusion, and finally to forgiveness. I remember Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing“. if or not people know how gross and ugly their actions are concerning this good family and their departed son, my only option is to forgive. And so, going against my every instinct, I am by faith granting personal forgiveness to those who have sinned terribly by what they have said and continue to say.

Back to Jesus. Yes, suicide is an awful sin (in most cases…). Can if be forgiven? Yes, it has been forgiven. Many serious disciples believe that since the one who takes his or her own life is not able to confess the sin and repent it is not forgiven so the person is therefore lost.

Really? If all the atonement of Jesus did for me was to position me where I am on a day by day bargaining with God about my many sins i am in deep trouble. As I said, this is exactly what many serious Christians believe. Have you thought this through? What if tomorrow afternoon you are killed in a car crash? Did you formally deal with God about every single sin of that day? The answer is NO! You can’t even track all you have thought, or said, or failed to do. As long as you and I live in bodies of flesh we will be to some degree sinful. Is there an answer to this dilemma? Yes!

The atonement of Jesus Christ covers all sin(s), past, present, and future. If not he wasted his life. But he did not waste his life! In Romans 4 the Apostle Paul quotes David in the Psalms, 

just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

You ask, “Royce, surely you don’t believe God is not counting your sins against you, do you?” That is precisely what I believe. If not there is no way I could ever be justified by God. I’m too sinful. Oh, by the way, you are too.

Consider these words:

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12-14)

 

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3)

 

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:24-28)

 

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12)

 

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12-14)

 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (! Peter 2:24)

 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

 

Today is April 10, 2013. How many sins had you committed 1,980 years ago? That is about how long it’s been since Jesus offered his holy life, fulfilling all of God’s righteous requirements for you, by giving his body as a sacrifice for your many sins. How man had you committed in the year 33 AD?

Are you getting picture? An atonement that only covered “past sins” is not much of an atonement! Honestly, my experience is that often I can’t even live up to my own frail standards much less God’s standard which demands 100% perfection.

You see, I have been declared “righteous” (not guilty) on the bases of the life and death of Jesus, not because of my goodness. And, so it is with you if you are in Christ. Here is the deal, a life given for a life, your life, Rick Warren’s son’s life.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

 

If all God had done for us through the sacrificial death of Jesus was to forgive our past sins we would be in trouble. Before the sun went down on the next day we would be lost all over again because God’s demand is a complete holy life. Jesus’ life was that complete holy life, for you and me.

There is a mountain of Bible passages that support these facts. And, I expect there are scores that you suppose cancels these out. Well, I’ll tell you what, you try to reconcile your life with God on a daily, or even hourly basis if you want but I am satisfied with the once for all reconciliation of Jesus precious blood.

God hates sin! God hates suicide! God has done something about it. He judged it all in the person and work of Jesus our great high priest who made one offering for all people for all time. Are you in? I am all in. if not I have no hope of ever getting of my grave or seeing Jesus face to face. I have tried desperately and I find that I am not good enough to be approved by God. By the way friend, you aren’t either. 

I expect Rick Warren’s son to be in heaven along with the tens of millions of former offenders who appropriated the atonement of Jesus for their sins.

I am asking the God of all comfort to be near the Warren family and all those who loved their son. May they know the peace of God that only comes because of peace with God.

Royce Ogle
Monroe, LA