Jesus, Healing and Wholeness

They always stood in the distance; outcast and ostracized. Things were so bad that they only had each other for company and had to yell, “Unclean” anytime a “normal” person approached. Such was the life of a leper in the Israel of Jesus’ time. And yet, when Jesus actually came into their vicinity, their desperation urged them on toward Jesus:

 

Now it happened as He (Jesus) went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

 

So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

 

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

 

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19.)

 

These nine verses are packed with significant theological points about thankfulness, racism, salvation, humility, and other aspects as well. My focus for now, however, is the example of the engagement and inclusion of Jesus. He shows no favoritism or partiality (see Romans 2:11). These men are of differing nationalities but are all suffering from a highly contagious and lethal disease.   

 

Rather than avoid them, Jesus sought to bless them, to heal them, all of them. He didn’t quiz them on their politics or sexual practices or where they went to church. Instead, He heard their cries of anguish and responded with compassion.

 

This is the Jesus I read about and have fallen in love with. This is the Jesus I want my life to reflect. And while I know I have a long way to go to truly reflect this Jesus, He is patient with me and is patient with you as well.

 

So my question is who is your Jesus? Is He in a box of dogma, rules, and regulations; or is He truly alive as Scripture proclaims Him to be?

Let...

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

─Philippians 2:5

Only 12 words in that verse, but they pack quite a wallop.  The Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippians and encouraging them to think of others more highly than themselves and also about the humility of Christ. He is eloquently explaining that while Jesus was in fact God in the flesh, He laid all this aside so as to secure our freedom from sin and death. But smack in the middle of these two major concepts is that 12-word verse. From what I can figure out from the Greek, a literal translation of this verse could also read:

For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

The key word in this verse is froneisqw (phroneistho). It is where we get the words “let this mind be”. The Greek word, hence, the phrase, is in the imperative mood which means it’s a command. This is important to know because, “[T]here is no more forceful way in the Greek language to tell someone to do something than a simple imperative” (William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Zondervan, 2003, p.310).  Another key component to this is it's third person, singular; which means it could also be rendered something like:  “Let him think for himself the same things Christ thought.” (Greek fans can double-check this by looking at the Imperative Paradigm on p.313 of the above referenced book.)

What's the Point

While all this may seem rather thick and clunky, there is a very important point here. Followers of Christ are to intentionally think the things of Christ. The simple three-letter word, let, indicates that we, the ones doing the “letting” are to purposely direct our thinking toward the things of Christ (see also Philippians 4:8 and Colossians 3:2). We need to give ourselves permission to think like Christ.

The logical question is how do we know what He thought?  The logical answer is, of course, Scripture.  The Gospels obviously chronicle the life of Christ while on earth. But other areas of Scripture shed a great deal of light on the mind of Christ as well.

For instance, how many Old Testament passages does Christ quote?  A lot, He was very familiar and comfortable with the Old Testament and pondered its depth on many occasions. And right here in the text we’re exploring now are great insights into the mind of Christ. Let’s look at verses 6-9:

who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.

Humility and obedience are prominent themes in these verses. Another prominent feature in the life of Christ was prayer. He spent hours communing with the Father. In fact, He intentionally set His schedule to have time with just He and the Father. You’ll discover this as you become more aware of the many times that Jesus arose early or steeled away from a crowd to seek His Father.

It is Attainable

So while the mind of Christ may seem so elusive, it really isn’t. While we’d be foolish to think we can unravel all the mysteries of the universe, we are equally foolish if we think it is impossible to live according to Philippians 2:5. We also need to remember that we have a helper, a counselor, in this journey of being a Christ follower:

“When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into the all truth.”

─Jesus, John 16:13

This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s ascension (see Acts 2:1-4). Now, because of this outpouring of Holy Spirit upon those who place their faith in Christ, we can pray for the wisdom we need to live the life of a genuine Christ-follower:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach.

─James 1:5

A Starting Point

The easiest place to start for “letting”, or allowing, the mind of Christ to come into our thinking is to first become more familiar with and comfortable with…Jesus.  Begin recognizing that Jesus is more approachable than your best friend, for He can become your best friend. He is more compassionate than any world charity, and more loving than the most loving parent. So run into His arms, sit on His lap, and get to know the Heart that can change yours. You’ll find this wonderful Heart in the Gospels.

Endurance and the Waves

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering…

─Galatians 5:22a (NKJV)

Have you ever had waves of trials slamming into you seemingly simultaneously? Sometimes it’s like waves are hitting me from all four sides and from the top and bottom all at the same time. I cry out to the Lord for relief but they don’t cease, they just keep slamming into the shores of my soul.

This is counterintuitive to me. Let me explain in a formula:

The more trials + the longer they last = heightened weakening, enhancing the potential for failure. Bad.

The solution, humanly speaking at least, would be:

Reducing the number of trials + shortening their length of time = greater strength, enhancing the potential for lengthened success. Good.

But have you noticed; God doesn’t behave the way WE would. He doesn’t comply with our limited-view expectations. We see time in hours, days, weeks, etc. He sees time immemorial. Therefore, God’s equation would seem to be something like this:

Be strong in the Lord through trials (Ephesians 6:10ff, 1 Peter 1:3-12) + obedience (1 John 5:1-3) = deliverance (eventually, Deuteronomy 8:1-10).  Faith.

Without God, our ability to endure multiple trials is seriously compromised if not completely paralyzed. The world just does not have solutions that sink into the soul without first corrupting the soul. However, God provides the antidote to this worldly pollution; the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is why the Galatians verse above is so important to grasp.  Fruit is something that grows outwardly based upon what is already inside. An apple tree produces apples, not oranges. Why? Well, because it has apple characteristics (genes) all the way to its core (pardon the pun). So if we are saturated to our core in the Holy Spirit, then we’ll produce Spirit-sparked fruit. One of these fruit is longsuffering.

Longsuffering is from a Greek word that is also translated as ‘patience’ or, more aptly to my point of view, ‘endurance’.  Endurance, according to the Encarta Dictionary, means “the ability or power to bear prolonged exertion, pain or hardship.” That sounds an awful lot like longsuffering to me. 

Thus, back to my equation example. If trials were simple and/or short in duration, then our ability to endure through them would be just that—our own ability. But as trials mount to the point of fainting, God, by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit infuses us with the ability to persevere, to endure. And if we’re not careful, we may even have joy through the endurance because joy is another Spirit-sparked fruit. 

When the trials finally cease, whether in days, weeks or even years, there will be no doubt that it was God that brought us through the trials. Hmm, reminds me of a couple of other Scriptures:

And He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

─2 Corinthians 12:9

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

─James 1:2-3

And, finally, as we endure through the trials, we need to realize that we’re not alone:

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

─Jesus, Matthew 28:20

So hang in there, a better day is coming.

Obedience--Pursuing God, Part 2

Obedience.  Oh, how we seem to hate this word. For some reason, we have fallen into the trap of thinking that obedience somehow means we lose our identity; that we somehow become less of an individual, and thereby lose our significance.  Hogwash!

 

Consider this:

 

‘Yet He (Jesus) learned obedience by the things which He suffered’ (Hebrews 5:8, NKJV).

‘He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross’ (Philippians 2:8).

 

Jesus, the great I AM, embraced obedience to a degree you and I never will. So if the Savior of all mankind was obedient, then we ought to follow His example and rid our thinking of all the nonsense that obedience is bad. And while last week we explored two key elements in pursuing God—prayer and Scripture—this is the third key to pursuing God—obedience. 

 

‘Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome’ (1 John 5:1-3).

Interestingly, the above reference calls us to obedience while also stating that being obedient is not burdensome. In other words, God’s commandments are not heavy or weighty. This truth is much to the contrary of what the enemy wants us to think.  So much of faithless religion is based solely on works; the more we work then the more favor we have with God. Yet here God is saying that His commandments are not burdensome; man’s commandments may be, but God’s commandments are not. 

But is this true? Let’s look at a couple of examples.

 

Let’s begin with Jesus Himself by looking at the Mark 12, where a scribe poses a question to Jesus:

 

“Which is the first commandment of all?”

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28b-31).

Hmm. I can just imagine this exchange. The Scribe, probably in some sort of robe, wanted to trap Jesus by asking Him a question that seemed impossible to answer (see also Matthew 22:34-40 and Luke 10:25-28). But Jesus, leveling His gaze in a way that looked right through the man, had no hesitation in His answer. Not only that, Jesus gave two commandments back at the man, not just one (you can’t put Jesus in a box).  He didn’t throw out a bunch of rules and regulations; instead, he spoke of love.

 

The Apostle Paul spoke to this as well by way of an admonition.

 

“We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the conning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Again, the exercise of obedience from 1 John 5 as further defined in Ephesians is speaking the truth; but it isn’t speaking it hatefully or as a verbal weapon. Instead, truth is to be spoken in love.

 

So a third key in pursuing God is obedience. Obedience to God is not burdensome because it is to be bathed in and motivated by love.  So as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our souls by intentionally pursuing God in prayer and Scripture with the desire to be obedient, He will empower us to also love with the love by which He first loved us (see Galatians 5:22 and 1 John 4:19).  

Danger of Reductionism

 

Satan would love nothing more than for the child of God to reduce the freely given gift of Salvation to nothing more than a trump card played upon death. He works hard to get us to quench the working of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives and to minimize the power and freedom available to us through the accomplished work of Christ on the Cross.  Once successful of this, Satan has rendered the child of God ineffective, useless for the Kingdom of God. Even worse, once a child of God wanders far enough away from God, he may begin exhibiting a lifestyle contrary to biblical ethics, thus dishonoring the very God that saved him from Hell.  This plays right into Satan’s hands.

To combat this God calls us to a life of transformation: 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  (Roman 12:1-2, ESV.)

Eugene Peterson has this to say:

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. (Romans 12:2a, MSG.)

While it’s true that Christianity is being attacked more aggressively in this culture than ever before, may it that not freak us out or cause us to fear expressing the truth of Jesus Christ.  I once heard a speaker say that we try to destroy that which we most fear; I find that quite interesting, as it sure seems that Satan is working harder to destroy Christianity more than anything else in this country.  That alone speaks loudly to the truth of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, as we allow God to transform our lives not only will we thwart Satan’s desires, but we’ll also shine as the light God is calling us to be (see Matthew 5:14).  

God in Adversity, Part 2

View from Room 7001

The Sunday before my Friday surgery I had the opportunity to be anointed with oil and prayed over by our pastors and other leaders and friends. Entering into this time I felt free to share the details of the surgery along with my fears. I had a single fusion over ten years ago but this upcoming double-fusion surgery was to be more than twice my previous surgery. This meant the pain I had experienced before would not only be present this time, but would be even more. Now I fully realize countless people, some of my friends and family included, have been through significantly tougher circumstances than mine, it’s just this, so far anyway, is my toughest medical challenge—so the fear of the pain, the length of recovery, and the loss of mobility were very consuming fears.  Not to mention the procedure itself—someone digging around inside my neck and spinal cord—was also quite disconcerting. 

After the anointing and prayer, I didn’t really feel any different. In fact, my body didn’t shudder and I wasn’t knocked off my feet (which would have been disastrous in my condition!).  But as the day wore on and I had quiet moments with nothing but my own thoughts and prayers, I sensed something profound deep in my soul—peace.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV.)

I actually didn’t feel anxious or worried at all. In fact, I found myself looking forward to a further vision of being healed and feeling better than I’ve felt in probably a year. Yes, I knew there would be pain; yes, I knew there would be a relatively long recovery time; but I knew that by Summer I should be in full health and as soon as the surgery ended, I’d be out of danger of paralysis.  I also had a deepening sense of confidence in my surgeon, I knew God would be involved somehow and I also knew she was well-experienced and quite concerned about me. She would be bringing her “A-game” to the OR.

The day of the surgery Janey and I prayed before heading to the hospital; we both prayed that God would somehow be glorified through this and I specifically prayed for joy; yeah, crazy, huh? I prayed for joy. 

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23.)

A typical definition of joy is “a feeling of great pleasure or happiness” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2^nd Edition eBook, 2008).  This definition is more of a worldly definition and very circumstance oriented; being happy is usually because some exterior circumstance is happy to you.  But surgery, for me anyway, is not a happy thing.

However, the Greek word for ‘joy’ in this passage is χαρα (chara), and according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1990), it means ‘cheerfulness, calm, or gladness.’  Wow!  What a definition.  This is what I had in my soul, of all places and of all circumstances; I was cheerful, calm, and even glad. My blood pressure wasn’t elevated and my breathing was steady and normal.  No way would this be my natural state given the circumstances, it was a supernatural outpouring of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  And people gravitate to cheerfulness and God knows this. Was Jesus grumpy and morose?  Of course not.  In fact, He was a healer and he even prayed for the forgiveness of those nailing Him to the cross. That is certainly not the picture of a sourpuss Savior.   

Does this sound like a grumpy Jesus to you:

“I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd.” (Jesus, John 10:10b-11a.)  

Or how about this one:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  (Jesus, Matthew 11:28-30.)

There are several other examples of course, but the point is that along with my IV I was also receiving an infusion of Holy Spirit that spilled out in χαρα, joy.  Even after my surgery recovering in my room cheerfulness was just my norm.  When Ray, the czar of the bladder machine woke me up 3:30 AM, I was still cheerful. I was able to get know all the nursing staff, found out about their families, their lives, their dreams—it was awesome—and it wasn’t my natural man.

At one point, the cleaning lady popped into my room as I was playing worship music on my iPod and that got us talking about Jesus.  In fact, I was able to have spiritual conversations with at least half the staff.  Again, that’s just not my old-man nature, that was the Holy Spirit at work. God was showing me that yes, indeed; He shows up even while you’re lying in the hospital bed and having to use a walker to get to the bathroom! But His concern was beyond me, He also wanted to touch the hard-working nursing staff through His work in me. Whether they recognized it or not, God was blessing them for their commitment to caring for humanity created in His image. 

And when I would wake up in the wee hours because of the pain, I’d look out my 7^th floor window and see the lighted Capital Building.  That brought happy memories and reminded to just pray in the Spirit to again be awash in the warmth of His love for me.

Plus God kept me energized by all the visitors coming by.  Close to 30 people stopped in to say ‘hi’ and see how I was doing.  What’s more, I can’t describe it well, but I could sense that so many people were praying for me. More than once I was brought to tears of joy in that hospital bed because of God’s work in the situation and all the people showing love and concern for me.  Tears are welling up in my eyes right now as I write this.  God, the Author of the universe, cares that much about a single life. And He cares that much for you:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned.”  (Jesus, John 3:16-18a, emphasis mine.)

This is my testimony of this experience. God moved mightily to touch my life and many other lives as well. And He continues moving in the situation even now.  Yes, pain is a reality and recovery time is lengthy, but God transcends this with His washing of Holy Spirit infusion.  But this isn’t unique to me:

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:3-5, ESV.)

God is calling us to salvation in Jesus. And lest you wonder how to be saved, how to enter into this incredible relationship with our Heavenly Father, I share the answer of Paul and Silas to the cry of the Roman jailer:

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

And they said, “Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:30-31.)

God awaits.

God and Football

I have mixed feelings today. My alma mater’s football team, the University of Oregon Ducks, won its third consecutive conference title last night. This is quite exciting for a life-long Duck fan.  You see, my Dad took one degree from Oregon in 1958 and a second one in 1960.  I was born in 1962 and so was raised on all things Duck.  Plus, I graduated from Oregon in 1984.  So rooting for the Ducks has just been weaved into the fabric of my life, so much so that I find myself yelling or cheering at the TV.

But the mixed feelings come to play as I compare being a sports fan with being a Christ-follower.  Do I get as excited about the things of God as I do about the Ducks being in the top 10 and going to a Rose Bowl?  What happens if the Ducks lose (so far, that’s their modus operandi in big bowl games)? There’s a very great danger in being an ardent fan if your outlook of life is shaded by whether your team wins or loses. Thankfully, I figured this out years ago; if the Ducks lose, my day doesn’t come to a crashing halt. 

Still, is my life as obvious for Christ as it is for being a Duck fan? I realize team colors and logos make for easy display. In fact, since Oregon has won so much lately, I’m surprised by how many people are all of the sudden Duck fans?  Where were they in the 70’s and 80’s when the Ducks could hardly score a touchdown? (Boy, Autzen stadium was sure empty in those days, now you can hardly get a ticket!) This tells me being a sports fan is often fickle, root for the team when they’re winning, but when they start to lose, well, just switch allegiances; but what about the Christ-follower?  Oh sure, it’s easy to proclaim Christ when life is all bright and shiny, but when the dark clouds roll in, do allegiances change?

True sports fans and genuine Christ-followers have in common sticking with their allegiance regardless of what is happening.  But I return to my first question.  Does my life reflect my allegiance to Christ as much or more than it does being a Duck fan?

“But seek first the kingdom of God…” (Jesus, Matthew 6:33a, emphasis mine).

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Jesus, Matthew 5:16, emphasis mine). 

Faith Simplified

A.W. Tozer stated that faith “is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.”  He also did a comparison of ‘looking’ in the Old Testament and ‘believing’ in the New Testament.  In this comparison he stated that eventually a plain man would come to understand that “‘looking’ on the Old Testament serpent [on the staff of Moses to get healing from snake bites] is identical with ‘believing’ on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and believing are the same thing.  And he would understand that while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart.  I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving God” (The Pursuit of God, pp. 89-90). 

Tozer’s insight is tremendously helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of what faith really is.  For so many years I’ve heard people state that things didn’t work out the way I had hoped or prayed because I didn’t have enough faith.  But just what is enough faith?  Even Jesus blessed a man who admitted that he had both faith and unbelief (see Luke 9:24-25).   Jesus definitely encouraged the man and many others to grow in faith, but He never said that He would only work in the heart with zero doubt and 100% faith. 

Returning to Tozer’s work puts faith in an entirely different light.  Faith is not a commodity to gain more quantities of like the accumulation of useless stuff in our garage.  Faith is instead a state of continual affection; because that which we are most in love with is what we will think the most about and look to the most often.  We also need to remember another truism of the human soul in that we will turn to what we are most attracted to when times get rough.  Some turn to booze or drugs, some turn to their spouse, but others will turn in genuine faith and prayer to the Lord.  Of all these options, only the Lord will truly satisfy. 

Now I’m finally coming to realize, especially as I get older, that I’ve made faith entirely too complicated; an inner gaze upon the heart of Jesus is much simpler than all that striving and teeth-gritting.  It is amazing to think that an act of faith is as simple as pondering Jesus in silent contemplation.  I don’t always have to be doing something to “have faith,” I can just simply direct my thoughts up to the throne of God.  Taking each thought captive to Christ is an act of faith.  Praying about my concerns is also an act of faith.  From the Book of Psalms we find that crying out to God, whether in fear or anger, is also an act of faith. 

Having a simpler understanding of faith makes my heart even more grateful to our loving Heavenly Father.  Man has made faith a complex morass of works and proving grounds, while our Lord simply says, “Come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).      

Resurrection Sunday

Bright light, empty tomb,

                Conquering death He rises;

                                      Savior, Lord of all!

"if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"  (Romans 10:9, ESV).

Church History and Martyrs

“Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered.  On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself” (Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 180). 

Church history is one of the seminary classes I’m taking this semester.  One of the study questions is:  Why is studying church history important?  What’s funny is even before I reviewed the study questions I was already being moved by text in my history book.  Even though I’ve only been in class for a week and am by no means an expert, I do have a few observations that I believe are important to faith today.

Many of today’s anti-Christian tactics date back to the first and second centuries after Pentecost.  For instance, one of the first accusations against Christianity was that followers were obstinate and uncultured barbarians.  The early apologists, Felix, Martyr, and Origen, to name a few, mounted up responses to these accusations.  They successfully showed how Christianity in general, and how Jesus specifically, was relevant to all strata of society.  Their responses were not based in trying to inflict harm or spew verbal venom, but were instead well thought out and articulate treatises to a watching world.  In fact, Justin Martyr was quoted as saying. “We do not seek to flatter you,…but request that you judge on the basis of a proper and thorough investigation.”   

Back then, just like today, the majority of accusations were based in ignorance and fear of the faith rather than in studied understanding of the finer aspects of following Christ.  And isn’t it ironic how much of today’s mainstream media casts Christians in a similar light as the pagans from A.D 100? 

Another interesting aspect was various movements proclaiming to have a special knowledge of the Supreme Being.  Back then, just as now, these claims were based on nothing more than whim and fancy (the two I’m specifically referring to are Gnosticism and Marcion ca. A.D. 117-138).  These are not unlike some of today’s fad religions and cults.  In fact, there are movements today where people believe in a pantheistic approach to God, meaning they think God is in everything.  Granted, He is everywhere-present (see Psalms 18, 19, and 69) but God is not that rock or that tree, and I am certainly not God nor will I ever become a god! 

One key I’ve learned over the years is if someone is proclaiming to have special or extra knowledge that is not backed up by the Bible, then they’re probably trying to construct a system that either worships themselves or excuses their immorality.  Either way, these are old tactics meant to cause us to stray from the truth. 

Another fact that hit me upside the head was the severe persecution in the first three centuries (that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far).  From Pentecost on, various Roman emperors employed an arsenal of cruelty to get Christians to either recant their faith or die.  That’s right, I said die; these people lost their lives because of their faith, and many of them died horribly cruel and lingering deaths.  These weren’t people who had friends or colleagues simply criticizing them because they followed Jesus, they were instead being turned over to the authorities to be tortured and eventually executed for their stand in Christ.  Wow!  I’ve had my share of barbs over the years because of my faith, but nothing even remotely to what these early, brave brothers and sisters in the Lord endured. 

What’s even more astounding is the martyrdom occurring right now throughout the world.  Many of our brothers and sisters are suffering greatly for their faith even as I’m writing this.

While I realize these are two big topics, I’ve run out of time for today.  But what I want to explore, providing I get some comments, is how should we respond to the current criticisms leveled against Christianity?  How should a 21^st Century apologist respond?  How are many of them responding and are their responses turning hearts to the Lord or merely driving deeper wedges between Christianity and the skeptical world? 

And what about martyrs:  What debts of gratitude do we owe them and how should we respond to the martyrdom occurring right now in the world? 

I welcome any comments you may have provided they’re civil and constructive.

God's Sovereignty and Faith

Lately I’ve been struggling with concerns over my children.  As a parent, as with most parents, I want the best for my children; but when they suffer from some illness or other malady my heart understandably becomes concerned.  Within this concern are medical practitioner appointments, various treatments, and much prayer.  All this is done with a view toward health being restored—but what happens when health isn’t restored?  Do I shake my fist at God, blaming Him for not accommodating my heartfelt requests?  Do I stop praying or practicing my other spiritual disciplines?  In all honesty, sometimes I am tempted to chuck the whole faith thing when I see my children suffering.

Thankfully, though, I never fully succumb to such an extreme; I do, however, vent my frustration to my wife (thank God she’s an understanding sort).  Even so, I admit that within these circumstances I sometimes struggle with grasping the sovereignty of God. But I think this struggle is natural and to be expected. In fact, I think this struggle is part of our personal journey of deepening our trust in God; in essence, it’s a spiritual workout for our faith muscles. 

Sovereignty “means principal, chief, supreme. It speaks first of position (God is the chief Being in the universe), then of power (God is supreme in power in the universe)” (Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, p. 48).  If we truly believe that God is sovereign, we’re saying that we believe He is all-powerful, what we would term as “omnipotent.”  Being omnipotent means God could change the situation, but for whatever reason, He doesn’t. 

Now we have another problem, and that is why aren’t the circumstances changing to our desires?  This is where trust comes in with the question of:  Do we believe that God knows what’s best for me and for my children?  Scripture says that He does (see Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:37, and Philippians 4:13).  A.W. Tozer wrote, “God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind…all being and every being” (The Knowledge of the Holy, pp. 62-62). Now our challenge is do we believe this? 

Most of us, if we’re honest, will have to say, “I do believe this, mostly.”   Being this honest with each other and with God opens the door for God, via the Holy Spirit, to bring us along with our doubt and with our faith. 

We see ample examples of this in the Psalms where the writer struggles with doubts but eventually surrenders to God.  Most, if not all of these psalms, can be viewed as prayers, a hurting heart crying out in all the rawness of humanity to an omnipotent God.  And God’s reaction isn’t rejection, it is a loving enveloping as a father with his children after they fall and scrape their knees.  God knows this stuff hurts, but He will still comfort us and our children as we continue in our struggle of deepening our faith.  A major key in all of this is internally confronting our unbelief and confessing it to our Heavenly Father in heartfelt prayer.  It is in this openness that we will begin seeing the fruit of joy and peace being cultivated as we persevere and help others to persevere as well.