theology

God’s YES

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“Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete” (2 Cor. 1:20-22).

So many people think that Christians are all about what and who we’re against. And honestly, we  haven’t done a very good job in dispelling that sentiment. We’re sometimes too eager to condemn the sin and not nearly as willing to love the sinner.

But I have to look at a guy like Adam Lanza and say with all honesty, “That could have been me. But for the grace of God and different circumstances, that could have been me.”

That scares me and comforts me at the same time.

It scares me because it means that I’m not nearly as good as I sometimes think I am. It means that I am just as in need of a Savior now as ever and just as prone to wander from the One I love as ever.

But it comforts me because God has promised to stick with me through everything. He’s stamped his YES on me through Christ and nothing will ever change that.

I think we would do better to show love instead of judgment. We’d do better to reach out to those in trouble instead of later saying thing like “I could have told you that boy would end up like this. I could see it coming a mile away,”

While we were yet sinners, while we were at our most unlovable worst, Christ died for us. He reconciled us to God and now gives us a chance to be a part of reconciling others, too.

I don’t know about you, but I want people to know what and who I’m for. More importantly, I really want people to know that God is for me and for them and has a new start for anyone who’s willing to take him up on it.

That’s all.

 

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I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience. You’re listening to music or reading a book (or in my case, listening to a book on CD) and a phrase jumps out at you. Or maybe just a word.

In my case, the word is BOLD. As in live BOLDLY for Christ.

Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to enter the throne of grace with BOLDNESS, to not hedge out bets when it comes to prayer, but to believe that all things are possible with God.

We are to believe BOLDLY in the promises of God for ourselves and for others, knowing that nothing is more powerful in all the universe more powerful than God’s love.

We are to live BOLDLY, not fearing those who can only kill the body but not the soul. I firmly believe that our lives should be a walking testimony of the power of the Gospel to save and transform. Like Francis of Assisi is reputed to have said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”

We are to sing BOLDLY, regardless of whether we have a voice like Pavarotti or can’t carry a tune in a bucket. After all, the Bible does say to make a joyful noise. A thankful heart expressing itself in praise is the most beautiful sound in God’s ears, especially if it comes out of a life of gratitude.

I’ll be the first to confess that I don’t live BOLDLY most of the time. I’m still too bound up in what others think (or more accurately, my perception of what I think others will think). Only when you and I are completely free and confident in Christ can we speak and work and live and pray BOLDLY.

So that’s my prayer for us. That we can be BOLD in all things, knowing that we are children of God, heirs to the Promise, and victors in Christ.

 

Late-Night Thoughts About Joseph

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“Joseph replied, ‘Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people.'” (Gen. 50:20)

As I have confessed before, there’s a whole lot I don’t know. Especially when it comes to why horrible things happen to godly people. I can point to verses that talk about God working in mysterious ways and how he works all things together for good, but at the end of the day, I’m unable to explain why God couldn’t have worked it out for them in a less painful way.

That’s when I yield to faith. I yield to what I know of God and his character. I yield to what I know of his proven track record in my own life. And I have to fall down on my knees and confess that he is good and that I have nowhere else to turn.

Joseph comes to mind. If anyone in the Bible had a right to play the victim card, it was Joseph. Sold into slavery by his own flesh and blood, falsely accused and slandered by the wife of the man that he had done nothing but serve faithfully for years, and forgotten in prison by those who promised they would remember. I would have thrown in the towel long before then.

But Joseph chose forgiveness. He chose to look with eyes of faith to what human eyes couldn’t see– that God was working even in the worst of circumstances to save not just one man, but an entire nation. He, like so many others, looked to the promises of God and counted them as good as done even when they seemed as good as dead.

I love what a pastor says. God can take that worst moment of your life, that most painful and humiliating season, and make it the first line of your testimony. To borrow a quote I’ve heard a lot lately, he can turn your mess into your message, your test into your testimony, your trial into triumph, and the victim into a victor. You will be able to speak to the pain that no one else can touch because you’ve walked through it.

I love this verse in Hebrews 11: “By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.” In other words, Joseph saw that God was able to redeem every single part of what he went through for a purpose far greater than himself. A purpose that saw the rise of a people of God, and later the Messiah.

May you and I see our circumstances with that kind of faith. May we trust that God is just as able to redeem our pain to make something equally as glorious and beautiful out of our messes.

A Plethora of Bible Translations

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I collect Bibles. I probably have too many already, but I can’t stop.

I’m trying to get as many different translations as possible. I have everything from the old King James Version to the very contemporary Message translation.

Recently, I picked up a New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible which the extra apocrypha books added. It’s almost like a Director’s Cut of the Bible.

I’m looking for a full American Standard Version Bible with both Old and New Testaments. For some reason, it never caught on when it came out in 1900 and it’s next to impossible to find one. But not impossible. And yes, I am up to the challenge.

I personally think it’s good to read from more than one translation because none of them are perfect. Plus, you get a better idea of what the original authors were trying to get across.

I’d go with the New American Standard for word-for-word accuracy, the New Living Translation for readability, and the Message for its unique rendering of Scripture.

But as I heard somebody say, as long as it starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation, you can’t go wrong. The point is not to waste time looking for a perfect translation that doesn’t exist. The point is to find a Bible that fits you and then read it.

I’d be lying if I told you I read my Bible every day for hours and hours. I carry around my Bible and talk about it and read books about it way more than I actually read it. It’s fine to read commentaries and books about the Bible, but the Bible is the only book that is living and active and God-breathed.

So I will make a deal with you. I will read my Bible more and I challenge you to do the same. It doesn’t have to be for five hours straight the first time, but if it’s for five minutes here and five minutes there, that’s a start.

And as I heard a pastor say, all God needs is place to start.

 

 

That Ol’ Rascal Jacob

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My name is Jacob, and I’m a con-man.

My name literally means heel-grabber, because I came out of the womb grabbing onto my brother’s heel, jockeying for position and power even then. I am a trickster, a deceiver, a huckster, a manipulator, a snake-oil salesman. I’ve been called other names that I don’t care to repeat.

I have a brother who hates me because I conned him out of a birthright and a blessing. Now I get the inheritance and he doesn’t get jack squat and he ain’t too happy about it. His words were something to the effect of, “Next time I see you, I’ll kill you.”

I have two wives because my father-in-law got me at my own game. He promised me Rachel, the pretty one, if I worked for him 7 years. But when I pulled the veil on our wedding night, it was Leah, the one with the great personality. I had to work 7 more years to get Rachel’s hand in marriage.

Now, I’m on my way back to meet up with my brother. I don’t know if he’s gonna want to shake my hand or slug me in the jaw. I know which one I’d do if I were him.

Then I get jumped out of nowhere. I’m wrestling this guy who’s way stronger than me. It’s all I can do to hold on. He says, “Let me go,” but I hold on with every bit of fight I got left in me.

He barely touches my thigh and it goes out of socket. I’ve never hurt so bad in all my born days, but still I hold on.

He says, “Lemme go,” but I say, “Not until you bless me. Not until you tell me who I really am underneath the three-piece suits and well-rehearsed lines and the lies and deceit. Tell me who I really am deep down inside.”

He says, “You are no longer Jacob, con-man, but Israel, a prince of God. Out of you will come a great nation.”

It turns out, this man was God himself. I was wrestling with the Lord Almighty. I will never walk right again, but I know who I am now and who I belong to.

I think that’s a fair trade, don’t you?

Yours truly,

Israel

The Trouble With Tribulations

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Before I start, let me throw out this disclaimer. I am not an expert on eschatology and I don’t by any means have Revelations figured out. I think when it comes to millennial and tribulation views, there are wise and godly people on all sides of the spectrum. I’m just offering my own thoughts on the topic, based on the sermon I heard today.

The pastor says that when he comes to a problem, he wishes God would pick him up and toss him over to the other side where he can breathe a huge sigh of relief that that problem is over. God isn’t like that. He walks you to the very problem and proceeds to walk with you through it so it never has dominion over you ever again.

I think when it comes to God’s people and tribulations, the pattern is that God doesn’t protect his people from them, but rather through them. Revelation 14:7 talks about the multitude clothed in white robes who have come OUT of the tribulation. You can’t come out unless you first go in. So many blessings are given to those who endure, not those who escape.

Again, I’m not trying to be dogmatic. There’s a whole lot about Revelation that makes my head hurt and makes me want to lie down for a while. But I do know that the main point isn’t when we get raptured or how the timeline works, but that in the end Jesus does come back and set everything right. The happily ever after ending isn’t just at the end of fairy tales and children’s stories. It’s at the end of the Book of Revelation, too.

I like the old joke that goes like this: I’m a pan-millennialist because I firmly believe that everything is going to pan out in the end. And I have Bible verses to back that up.

 

Reminders from Revelation

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I’ve been loving the sermon series on Revelation from Brentwood Baptist Church, as well as the companion Wednesday night Bible study. Here are a few of the highlights I’ve taken in so far.

1) Revelation is primarily a book written to persecuted believers to give them encouragement that Jesus has already overcome and the victory is already theirs if they hold on a little bit longer. Like I heard it said, we as followers of Jesus don’t fight for victory, but from it.

2) Revelation is a book saturated in worship. The setting of the book is a heavenly scene of ultimate worship. To focus on the symbols and what they mean is to miss the main point that God puts everything right again and the good guys win once and for all.

3) It’s not ultimately about when the end will come or who the anti-Christ will be or what the mark of the beast will look like. Ultimately, it’s about the Lion of Judah, the root of Jesse, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus, and how he has already overcome.

You can read commentaries about the book. I’m reading one right now. But if you really want to understand the book, read the book. Sit down and read all 22 chapters in one setting.

You can even read the ending first if it will help.

 

Why I’m Lovin’ the Book of Revelation

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I have been reading through the Book of Revelation, as well as reading a commentary on it. It’s in the Bible, so I’m supposed to love it, but I really do love it. I have a list of reasons why:

1) The Lord of the Rings nerd in me loves all the dragons and beasts. It’s very sci-fi.

2) I love the fact that even in the midst of total chaos on earth, there is unending worship in heaven. There are actually creatures whose job is solely to give praise and thanksgiving to the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

3) No matter what happens below, God is still on his throne. From Revelation 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, God reigns over the universe and is in complete control.

4) For those who are living through hell on earth, who suffer hardships and persecutions, there will be and end to sorrow and pain and misery and one day God will put everything right again.

5) God rewards those who endure. It’s not about a 100% success rate. It’s about showing up and trusting that God knows what he’s doing. You keep showing up and keep trusting, regardless, and you win the prize.

6) Heaven will be more than worth it, not for all the streets of gold or jeweled gates or all the cameos by all the famous Bible characters, but because Jesus is there. The one we’ve waited for all this time will be there, waiting for us.

7) It won’t be the end. It will be the true beginning. Like C.S. Lewis said in The Last Battle, history will have only been the title page and the preface, but heaven will be the book that you never want to stop reading, the one where each chapter is better than the last and which never ends, but goes on forever.

See? It’s not such a scary book after all. Once you strip away all the arguments about when the tribulation comes in and what the millennium will look like and what all those numbers mean and you get to the core of the book, you find Jesus is already on his throne and he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That’s why I love this book!

The Book of Revelation (Not Revelations)

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Tonight was the second night of the Wednesday series that Mike Glenn is leading on the Book of Revelation (not Revelations, as I mistakenly called it in a facebook post).

I love the part in Revelation 1 where John turns around to see the voice that speaks to him. Not just any voice. The voice. In John’s mind, Jesus’ voice is the only one that matters.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t listen to your family and friends. I’m saying that ultimately what Jesus says to you and about you trumps what anybody else has said to you.

You may have been called names or put down by others. You may have even called yourself names out of frustration or anger. But the only name that matters is the name Jesus gives you (check Revelation 2). What He calls you is who you really are.

The Book of Revelation isn’t about the mark of the beast and what it will look like or what form it will take. It’s not about who the anti-christ is or how big and scary the dragon will be.

This book is about Jesus. Not about how Jesus will one day ascend the throne and reign as King, but how He’s already on that throne right now. From start to finish, John portrays Jesus as big enough to get you through whatever you’re facing. He’s strong enough to save you. He’s tender enough to pick up the broken pieces of your heart and put them back together into a new regenerated heart.

I read somewhere in a email that the Bible was written by people under persecution to people under persecution and only people who have suffered can really grasp the true meaning. I think that’s true. I think you only really know how strong and mighty Jesus is to save after He has reached down to you in your lowest point and lifted you out of your mess. Only those who have scars can truly worship with hearts overflowing with gratitude.

My prayer for me as I read and study this book is that I will get a much bigger revelation of Jesus than I ever have before. That I will see Him as both merciful and holy, loving and just, closer than my own breath yet high and lifted up and seated on the throne.

That’s my prayer for you, too.

 

Etch-A-Sketch Theology

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Raise your hand if you’re old enough to remember the Etch-a-Sketch. I am. I was never very good at the controls but I had fun with one of those back in the day. I was reminded of them when I saw Etch-A-Sketch art for sale at a Greek festival I attended.

The only problem with that is when you shake the device, whatever you’ve created is erased and you’re left with a blank slate.

Some people have what I like to call Etch-a-Sketch theology. It works just fine until some tragedy or loss shakes them, then their whole belief system vanishes.

Usually the theology that gets rattled is the kind based on feelings and circumstances.  The kind that looks at God as a cosmic genie bound to give us whatever we want and to make our lives easy and comfortable with no sickness or pain of any kind. The kind that sees sins to avoid rather than people to love.

I’m not saying that I have the perfect theology and that everything I believe is spot-on. I freely admit there’s a lot that I don’t know and have to leave up to God. I’ve had my doubts and fears along the way, but God has proved stronger than any of those.

The kind of theology that stands all kinds of weather is the kind that comes from immersing yourself in God’s Word. It comes in hanging around godly people who have survived their own storms and made their fair share of mistakes and learned a lot. It comes from a humble and teachable spirit.

I hope you find a theology that’s built not on shifting sands or prevailing winds but on a solid foundation. Or as the old hymn says,  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”