Category: Personal Insights

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God Did Not Send Jesus to do His Dirty Work

Read: John 3:16-21

I know we just discussed this here, but there is much more to say before moving on. As I read the NIV Application Commentary over and over again, I’m struck by the need to explain John’s statements further. The phrase that leaps off the page is the title of this post:

God did not send Jesus to do His dirty work.

God was and is for us. It is His greatest desire that all would come to accept that which the world has taught us otherwise: there is absolute truth and that truth is wrapped up in the incarnated life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The following is an excerpt from the NIV Application Commentary that dives deep into the subject in a much more eloquent manner than I can express. Please take time to read this three or four times. It’s that significant.

 

 

Today’s intellectual climate is offended by the absolute claim of religious truth, but a faithful rendering of New Testament Christology demands this. This theme will continue to come up throughout the Gospel of John, but at this juncture, John has said something important that we must pause and note.

Many Christians today think about the work of Christ with an unfortunate, ill-informed understanding of God and Christ. I see this again and again both in classes I teach and in the church.

The imaginative picture used by many to express the work of Christ is that Jesus has died in order to placate an angry God, whereas the cross expresses the love of Christ for us and his work appeases God’s threatening wrath. This makes God an opponent and an adversary while Jesus is our ally.

But this is not what John says in 3:16. “God so loved the world…” The work of Christ is God at work, God saving the world, God extending himself into the condition of our humanity and bringing about reconciliation. The center of this error is a deficient view of the Trinity or, more precisely, a deficient understanding of what the church’s earliest theologians were trying to express at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325).

Christ was not created— there was no time in history when he “was not”— and so he enjoys an eternal existence precisely like God. Further, he shares the very essence or being of God (the Council of Nicea used the word homoousios to express this concept). Why is this important? Because it means that God himself is on our side. God himself is at work on our behalf.

He did not send a messenger (Jesus) to do the dirty work. God himself came to the cross and suffered in order to bring his beloved creation back to himself.

This understanding is expressed repeatedly by Paul. In 2 Corinthians 5: 18–19 he describes the goodness of God in rescuing us and remarks: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” Or again, in the words of [Bible]Colossians 1:19–20[/bible]: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

The cross is thus God’s work. Jesus Christ came to earth, not in order to change God’s mind, but to express God’s mind.

 

Who can understand why God chose this method or the timing? Why did He wait 430 years to call Moses and lead His people out of slavery? Why, what, how? I can’t answer these things sufficiently because the explanation requires some degree of faith. It requires belief in something greater and more powerful than mankind. I’m required to confess that I lack the intellectual capacity to answer these questions to appease the cynic and skeptic and I have the audacity to conclude there is a God that is responsible for all creation that is not bound by time nor offended by my opinions. He is God. I am not.

I tried to explain my perspective in this post: Reason for the Hope I have in Jesus Christ a few months ago. The current study of John’s gospel continues to rattle the chain and begs me to investigate more. My prayer is these words will stir something in your heart and keep you awake at night. I suggest this is the Holy Spirit stirring in your heart. Listen to that voice. Turn off the streams of worldly advice and hear from the voice of One who loves you more than my words can express.

 

 

Source: Wilkins, Michael J.; Garland, David E.; Bock, Darrell L.; Burge, Gary M.; Fernando, Ajith. NIVAC Bundle 6: Gospels, Acts (The NIV Application Commentary) (Kindle Locations 61930-61950). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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Taking A Break

One of the hazards of any profession is the inability to take significant breaks. This is especially true in ministry. Many churches offer an extended sabbatical for staff after serving seven years–an absolutely wonderful concept! This notion comes from the Old Testament concept of a sabbatical year, but that’s a whole different story for another day. In my particular case, I’m not currently on staff for any one church. Instead, I served several organizations over that past seven years in support of ministry across different domains, and I’m tired.

Based on introspective self-analysis, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m on the verge of ministry burnout. In an effort to avoid tainting the local fellowship of believers, I’ve imposed a break for myself for the month of March. I actually wanted to do this in February, but there were too many events going on and too many gears already in motion to make that happen.

I get tired of hearing what should be done, reading posters and signs that affirm appropriate action, but witnessing the sainthood of believers arrive on Sunday morning as consumers of whatever message they are fed.

Everyone is a minister.

Everyone has a calling.

Everyone is a disciple.

Everyone should be making disciples.

A Christ follower is eligible to baptize a new believer and share communion with a group gathered to celebrate the gospel in a coffee shop or, heaven forbid, a local bar.

Few have a calling to vocational ministry, but some do. If that’s you, do it with everything you’ve got, but understand that those we serve have a better opportunity to reach the lost — it’s our job to train and equip the saints, not merely preach rhetoric!

Let’s join together and change the slogan, This Sunday could be That Sunday for someone to, This Day could be That Day. God made seven days in a week. Each day is an opportunity to be the day for those who are far from Christ.

Here’s the thing: I’m not advocating the destruction of any local church organization. More than anything, I want the local church to be healthy, to be effective, to be the voice of God to a dying world. I’m just becoming more and more convinced that the come-and-see model will not work by itself. We need to be more about go-and-do and have faith that God will fill the pews with those that want to learn more about why we do what we do. And by go-and-do, I mean everyone–staff and non-staff. Lead by example. Please.

If you’ve been inflicted with my rants in the past, you’ve no doubt heard me say that Sunday morning should be a fantastic celebration, a highlight of the week for the warriors out doing battle for Christ. It should be a place where outsiders want to know what the heck is going on in that building. The love of Christ should be so prevalent that people of all ages and origins would be kicking the doors down to get in on the action.

I want Sunday to be that day.

I want to leave the celebration gathering feeling pumped up and preached up so I can tackle my little piece of this dying world with an enthusiasm that’s contagious. I want to be encouraged and challenged. I want to turn to the guy who’s never darkened the steps of a church and tell him this is why we get together on Sunday!

I’m taking a break to understand how to become salt and light again. Recently I posted a reference to John’s revelation and compared John 3:16 to Revelation 3:16. I’m no longer satisfied with being luke warm.

I’m taking a break to figure out how to be a true disciple, to sit and listen, to hear His voice.

I’m taking a break, praying for peace and understanding, for a new song that rises from deep within.

I’m taking a break. Please pray for me as I’m praying for you.

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Love is from God — Let Us Learn to Love One Another

Walking Children

Since we celebrate Valentine’s Day today, I took some time to look through photos curated as “love” from my favorite photo source at unsplash.com. The photo above shows children walking together with their parents leading in the distance. The powerful legacy that I hope Zoë and I can leave our children: follow the narrow path dear children! I could write a post completely on that imagery, but I’ll leave that to your imagination! There are loads of photos of young couples getting married, of small baby feet, new families just getting started, but for me, perhaps because of my age, I think about a time when things have settled down, when I’m on the front porch swing with my wife, old and content. One of the photos includes an elderly couple, head to head, smiling authentically. Such joy is in their eyes. One day, many years from now, I look forward to being that elderly man loving his elderly wife. How about you?

John’s epistles, part of the pastoral letters toward the end of the Bible, First, Second and Third John, are a quick read, but full of the assurance that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are love and as such, we should love one another. Meeting on Sunday is great, but more than that, we should really enjoy being together. Stocked with wisdom in few words, I love the way he ends the second and third letters: “I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete” (2 John 12) and “I hope to see you soon, and we will be face to face” (3 John 14). We are called to be a people of love and action, not just words and letters and emails and texts — we should find joy in being together!

John reminds us over and over in these few pages:

Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth. 1 John 3:18

1 John is a short letter written to those who might be a bit confused about what love truly is so John makes it clear:

God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:16-17

John lets us know without doubt,

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

There are some warnings about those who are against God, who do not profess Christ as the risen savior, but most of this text speaks to me about the fellowship we enjoy as part of this thing we call church. In this day and age, especially in this country, the masses may confuse church with a physical location, but as Pastor Mark Gasque pointed out several years ago when he was planting Hope Fellowship, a growing congregation,

“The church, in my understanding of scripture, has very little to do with the building and more to do with people” Pastor Mark Gasque, Hope Fellowship Church, April 7, 2007

The notion of biblical love, of being part of a community that is united in Christ is something to get excited about!

My prayer is today we stop and take a moment to ponder the depth and width of God’s love for us. I hope we can take hold of that love and pour into others as He poured into us.

Forget what this world teaches about love, look to the Bible and learn to love as Jesus loved. Be willing to take risks, to give it all and enjoy the sensational love that God lavishes on us through Jesus Christ!

 

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And He Chose You

Today’s Our Daily Bread referenced Deuteronomy 10:12-22 which includes the phrase, “and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations.” In reading the Bible, the concept of the “chosen people” is a consistent theme. Many times we read about the people chosen by God, but today the thought that jumped out is this:

they weren’t chosen because they were special,
they were blessed because they were chosen.

Let that sink in for a minute.

We are blessed because we have been saved by Grace, set apart, listed among the few. This special favor is not something to wear with pride as the Pharisees did–thus a significant part of Jesus’ earthly ministry. This whole concept of being “special” is fragmenting this country as it seems like a new people-group pops up daily and demands to have special treatment.

The reality is we are set apart to do the work of Christ during the short time we have on earth. God chose Israel to be the example for the world and they messed it up over and over again. For our benefit, God chose to record this in great detail in the Old Testament.

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

For Your Own Good

What a concept. It’s all about pointing to the Lord. Holy Spirit help me to point to you in all things. Keep me humble while you give me strength to lead, follow, serve, teach, learn and live for Christ in all that I do.

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