WHO I AM, part 1

 

Who is God

“You thought I was altogether like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes” (Ps 50:21). Idolatry is not simply placing other things before God. If that were the case then breathing would be idolatrous. Idolatry is making Him to be something He is not but we adore. The Israelites practice of idolatry evolved from the influence of their surrounding nations. Prior to their departure from Egypt, there was no mention of idolatry, but as they prepared to enter the land of promise, they formed a calf to worship as if it were God. Today, we often worship a collage of God formed by the beliefs of this world and not God Himself. We say God is good but really mean God should do good for me. We say God is love but really mean God should be tolerant of our sins. We say God hates sin but really mean God should eradicate the consequences of our sin. We say God wants loving worshippers of Him but really mean we don’t want to do anything more for Him than sing. Who is God? He’s quite possibly not who you think He is.

God is good

“I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live” (Ezek 20:25). I had to reread the context of this passage to make sure this was my God I was reading about and not some deception of Satan. But there it is, God gave His people orders they could not obey “… in order that they might know that I AM the Lord.” How does that make sense? In Romans 1 we read that God gave men over to a depraved mind. This means their depravity could not become controlling until God OK’d it. Ps 81:11,12, “My people did not listen to My voice and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.” We want to believe that God is good all the time and that He always works for our good. But did we read the fine print? “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those He predestined, He also conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:28,29). God defines “good” and “evil.” Though we may think it evil, God may call it good. The challenge isn’t to get good things from God, but to learn to use His definition of good as my own.

God is Love

“Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Mal 1:2,3; Rom 9:13). How can God hate anyone? After all, He hates the sin but loves the sinner, right? Is that Biblical? I once heard a homosexual say that God could not condemn her of sin because “God is love” and love does his/her neighbor no wrong. How can it be possible that “God so loved the world” and yet condemns those who are not His? It’s a matter of application. If I tell you that I love women, you’d think I meant that I have an affectionate liking towards those of the fairer sex. But if I told you that I treated all women as I do my wife because I love all women, you’d be obliged to tell me that I do not really love my wife. My wife must be treated differently from all other women in order to be called my wife. God loved the world by taking away our sins. But God loves His own by taking them from this world. Without this show of affection, there can be no love. If all are treated the same, sinner and saint alike, then love is nothing more than an ideal. How do we really know that God loves us? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another… Whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments” (1Jhn 4:11, 5:2-3). Without distinction shown by selection there is no love and where there is no love, there is no God.

 

 

EKKLESIA

 

Definition

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt 16:18). The first appearance of the word, Ekklesia, is found in Jesus’ appointment of Peter. You can click on the word above to see its meaning, but simply put, I am going to share two practical applications of the definition; the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. How do the world and the average Christian define Ekklesia? “A Church is a building used for public religious services, usually referring specifically to those for Christian worship and events such as weddings, funerals and baptisements.” Which definition is correct; Peter as the body and bride of his Lord and Savior or the world’s viewpoint that the church is brick and mortar sitting unused six of seven days during the week? Whichever definition you chose will determine to which one you belong.

The Rock

Peter’s name is the mascFuline (he was a man) version of the word “petra,” which is not only the greatest Christian rock band of all time but also the word used in Mt 16:18, “Upon this petra I will build My church.” This word is also used in Mt 7:24, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the petra.” It ought to be clear then that the principle interpretation of the word “church” is the singular Spirit-bearing man or woman who walks like Jesus did by hearing the Word of God and putting it into practice. Is it any wonder then that Jesus didn’t commission us to “Go and build a church,” but to instead “Go and make disciples… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19,20)?

Our Body His Temple

Peter later writes in his epistle, “As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” (1Pet 2:4,5). We are not only the church building but we are also the church’s priests! Ephesians 2:22, “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” He has given us of His Spirit that we might be His church, the dwelling in which He inhabits this earth. Though He indwells us individually, He commissions us collectively, gifts us selectively and commands us to fervently edify one another with love. We are His Body; each part called to do a work that ensures the mission of the whole. “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1Cor 12:27).

Body Parts

“From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph 4:16). It’s quite pitiful how we often align the various denominational congregations we call “church” into various parts of Christ’s body and then say, “Let each church do its work.” We are each individually a part of His body, just as we are a part of His church, and must therefore fulfill our function for the collective growth of the whole. A “toe” provides balance for the body’s walk but is as much overlooked as the liver or pancreas even though its duty is as important as the eye, hand or heart. As the church individually andcooperatively, we must realize that each of us is an important ingredient to the growth of other Christians who depend upon us for our “work.” Those body parts who do not work are like branches that do not bear fruit. Jesus says, “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole body to be thrown into hell” (Mt 5:29). We don’t want to be that needless part.

The Bride

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body… for we are members of His body” (Eph 5:23, 30). Not only is the church the body of Christ but we are also His bride. If the body illustrates how we individually work for the collective edification of the whole then the metaphor of the bride teaches us how the whole benefits the individual. “Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring” (Mal 2:15). The Lord has joined the church to himself because He seeks spiritual reproduction, individually, as is the nature of those created in His image, and not collectively, as is the practice of the current Congregationalist. Paul continues in Ephesians 5 to tell us that the duty of the wife is to “submit” and “respect” her husband and so also is it the duty of the church to obey and worship its Lord and Savior. As the bride of Jesus, we ought to come together as a church to make spiritual reproductions of Christ; many “petras” resembling the living Rock of our Savior, and not merely to express verbally a love we are not willing to reciprocate habitually. How do we live as the church of God? Find a Peter and train him to be like Jesus. After all, that’s what our Husband has commanded.

 

 

THE FOUNDATION OF GRACE By Walt Henrichsen

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for they pleasure they are and were created” (Rev 4:11).

We will define grace as the favor of God bestowed upon the undeserving without reference to reciprocity. Nothing in the object of God’s grace warrants His favor. Those who are the recipients of grace are chosen wholly from within the counsel of His own will. People have a natural antipathy toward grace, for it violates their sense of fairness. We tend to be less concerned when we are the object of God’s grace, but what about all of those people that are not?

Election and grace are the head and tail of the same coin; you cannot have grace without election. Thus Paul says, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work” (Rom 11:5-6). If you believe that you obtain heaven by what you do that others are unwilling to do, you rob grace of its essence. If you believe that you are saved by grace, then you have to conclude that God gave you what He has not given others.

If your relationship with God is based upon what you did that others were unwilling to do, then your salvation is in perpetual jeopardy; you cannot have assurance of salvation. For what you did to establish this relationship with God you can undo. Your security is then based on your performance, not God’s. If you conclude that people are responsible for their alienation from God, you are correct. But never allow this fact to dull your appreciation of His grace.

 

 

MY FRIEND, SAL

Sal Mattson's voice booms over the crowd of rushing students, calling for repentance unto salvation, while he also offers his time in personal discipleship. He is a fixture, a staple, and a monument to the cross of Christ at the University of Tennessee. And Sal has cancer.

Sal recently sent his friends an email in which he stated that God gave him cancer so that he could be closer to his family, share his joy-despite the pain-with the lost, and have a more attentive ear to God's word than he ever did while healthy. Sal's understanding, his devotion, his obedience to God comes as a result of suffering, of acceptance, and of faith in a God who trusts Sal enough to use him as a conduit for His love.

It's shameful for me to say this but I don't know if I could be as faithful as Sal in the face of such adversithasmonean time with us on this earth is limited and yet he lives as if he is already in Heaven. He stares sorrow in the face through the tears of his wife and children, and yet he writes with joy about the salvation he proclaims. He is an inspiration and a reminder that to "die is gain but to live is Christ."

One day I hope that the following verse will be shared about me by friends, but for now, it belongs to my good friend, Sal. Acts 20:24 "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me; the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

Sal, you "have fought the good fight, [you] have finished the race, [you] have kept the faith" (Timothy 4:7). For all eternity, you will be my eternal friend and brother. Right now, you are my hero.

 

CONTRASTING MINISTRIES By Walt Henrichsen

A lawyer came to Jesus with an important question: How does one get to Heaven? It is the test of orthodoxy for all religions, and the lawyer wanted to test Jesus. He didn’t want the correct answer; he wanted to see how Jesus would answer. Jesus referred him to the Law, and the lawyer correctly responded with the summary of the Law. When Jesus agreed with him, he asked, ‘who is my neighbor?” That question promoted the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

The Levite and Priest are vocational religious workers. They were professional ministers and they didn’t love their neighbor. The Samaritan, a layman not in the ministry, loved his neighbor. He who was in the ministry wasn’t ministering, and he who wasn’t in the ministry was ministering. The vocational religious workers saw ministry in terms of programs, the layman in terms of people. The Levite and Priest said, “My meeting is more important than that man’s needs, and if he wants my help, let him come to where I minister and I will meet him on my terms.”

The Samaritan met the stranger on the stranger’s terms. In all probability: 1) The Samaritan had a schedule he was willing to interrupt for the sake of this need; 2) He probably never saw the stranger before or since; 3) Getting involved was messy resulting in blood all over his clothes; and 4) The stranger was never able to repay the favor.

How do you view ministry? Are you a Levite or a Samaritan? (Lk 10:27)

 

 

 

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

"Though the Lord's mercies were not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

For someone to be faithful means that they are worthy of trust. We often think of this verse in terms of what God can do for us. He is faithful to keep all the promises He has made, and the Bible is full of many waiting to be claimed, so why not just grab a few and order God to be faithful every new morning?

Most of us forget one of the first rules of Bible study, context, and therefore miss the rest of the verse: "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him." A second rule of Bible study is to find cross-references like this Psalm, which says, "To the faithful you show yourself faithful." To ask if God is worthy of our faith is rhetorical. To ask if we are worthy of is trust is detrimental to our relationship with Him. How do I earn God's faith?

"This is the one I esteem (highly regard): He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my Word." we already know God's faithfulness is great, but how about mine? Lam 3:22-25; Ps 18:25; Isa 66:2