Love God, Love People

In Matthew 22 a group of Pharisees came and asked Jesus a seemingly simple question, "Which commandment is the greatest commandment?" However, the question was designed to trap Jesus, for whatever commandment he chose as the greatest he would certainly be leaving something out that was equally as important. His response was brilliant: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...and a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." This is a amazing statement, because not only did he clearly and succinctly answer their faux question, but he also made a fantastic statement about the law and the Old Testament. He said that every law could be summed up in on
e of two categories, either loving God or loving people. It makes perfect sense too if you think about it. Every sin you commit is either, and often both simultaneously, not loving God or not loving someone else. If you love God and your neighbor you wouldn't lie, steal, cheat, adulterate, idolize, and the list goes on.

In fact our whole purpose for being here on earth is to love God and love the people he created. That sums it up. It's simple yet extremely difficult at the same time. So difficult that when this same interaction between the Pharisees and Jesus was recounted by the Apostle Luke in his gospel, one of the Pharisees tried to find a loophole. He asked, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29) I guess he realized just how crazy it was to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus responded by telling the often told story of the Good Samaritan who helped a Jewish man who was beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. Not only did the Samaritan help the man, but the man was also passed by two devout Jewish religious leaders and was not helped by them. Now you have to understand that the Samaritans were half-breed Jews and they had different religious practices than the regular Jews, so they literally hated each other. So for Jesus to make the good guy, who was helping his neighbor, a Samaritan was telling the Pharisee who asked the question that he was supposed to love everyone, even and more especially the people he didn't like. I'm sure the Pharisee went away unhappy with Jesus' answer, because it wasn't what he wanted to hear. What about you? How are you at putting into practice the greatest commandments, love God and love others? Are you loving everyone like you would want to be loved? Are you loving God by the way you live your life?

Selfishness To Servant

What would you do if the person that you most admired in the entire world walked into your house for dinner one night? For you it might be a musician like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, or a movie star like Brad Pitt, or a TV star like Honey Boo-Boo, but whoever it is I think you would treat them differently. I know if the lead singer from my favorite band, Mumford and Sons, walked in the door I would treat him differently.

Why is that? Because we view them as better than ourselves. We look to these people and see them as more important so we treat them differently, and if you really thought about it they're just another human being and not really intrinsically better than us, but we treat them better and look at them differently because we respect them. This is the idea that God is communicating to us in Philippians 2:3-8 when he says, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."  

We are all selfish by nature, extremely selfish. Service doesn't come naturally to us, laziness does. Self-sacrifice doesn't come naturally to us, self-promotion does. Humility doesn't come naturally to us, pride does. We're all selfish, albeit some more than others, but truly the one thing people count on is that everyone will look out for themselves first and foremost. No wonder why we exalt and champion those individuals who show extreme selflessness in dire circumstances, because it isn't the default mode for us. The default mode is to save ourselves at all costs. The gospel disarms this notion, pointing out in every one of our hearts the fear and insecurity that drives our selfishness. We have to fight for ourselves because no one else will. If I don't look out for me, than who will? But the truth is that we don't have to be selfish anymore because of what we have in Jesus. The gospel allows us to look out for one another, and not ourselves. When you truly understand that you are completely taken care of in every way in your relationship with Jesus it frees you completely to truly love and take care of others. God tells us to put others first, and not only that, but to actually think of them as better than ourselves - why? - because that's what Jesus did. Jesus was God himself and he humbled himself and came to earth as a human. He came to earth to wash feet, heal sick people, hang out with sinners and prostitutes, and to die in the most humiliating way possible, all of this, for us. This is the mind we as Christians have in Jesus, the freedom to love because we have been loved perfectly by him, the freedom to give because we have been given everything by him, and the freedom to put everyone before ourselves, because of the security and love we already have in Jesus. 

Living selfishly and for yourself is truly exhausting, I want to live in the freedom and security that I possess in Jesus and in so doing truly be able to live not for myself, but for God and for others. 

Made Alive To A Living Faith

Recently with Heirborne, the middle school ministry here at The Bridge, I have been teaching through the book of James. A couple weeks ago we came to a passage James that is hotly debated among Christians and theologians. The passage is James 2:14-26, where James talks about dead faith. The reason why it is debated is because James makes a bold statement in verse 24 when he says "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." This verse should make alarms go off in your head since the rest of the New Testament seems to fight against the passage, especially the Pauline epistles. What James is seemingly saying is that works have to be present in salvation, something that the evangelical church disagrees with vehemently. Because of this church fathers, such as Martin Luther, have questioned James' biblical-canonical authenticity. The reason why is when you read a passage like Galatians 3:16 which says, "Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." you notice a contradiction between Galatians and James. Thus when you juxtapose that passage next to James 2, you have a contradiction, at least an apparent one. However, does this mean that the Word of God contradicts itself?

I do not believe so. The Word of God is completely inerrant and infallible and when you understand it in its proper context you realize that these apparent contradictions end up complimenting one another. In regards to these two passages, Paul is talking about justification in a different way than James is. Paul is talking about the moment you are justified before God in Christ, the moment of salvation, while James is talking about the proof of this salvific event taking place. Paul is speaking and complimenting a living and real faith while James is condemning a dead faith. Paul is speaking of faith vs. no faith while James is speaking of dead faith vs. living faith. For example if you are at a restaurant with a friend and your friend pays that bill, you are free to leave the restaurant with no obligations, but if you ask your friend for proof of the payment he will show you the receipt, the proof that he paid the bill. In the same way Paul in Galatians speaks of salvation, the debt (our sin) being paid for in full, and James is talking about the proof that salvation took place. So if you are truly saved you will live differently, not because you are trying to earn God's favor, but instead because you already have God's favor so you are free to live a free life in Christ. Another way to put it is Paul is saying that you are saved by faith alone in Christ, and James is saying that the faith that saves is never alone.

A great example of this is the biblical story of the healing Naaman, a man with leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-19). Naaman goes to this great man of God, Elisha, and and asks to be healed, and Elisha tells him to go dip and wash himself in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman reluctantly does so and is healed. Now the question is poised, what saved him from leprosy? Was it his faith in the fact the God could heal him, or was it the fact that he dipped himself in the Jordan River seven times? Obviously it was his faith in God that saved him, but what proved that he had faith in God was that he was willing to wash himself seven times in the Jordan river. This is precisely what James is explicating in James 2. In essence he is saying, "If you truly believe, live it out!" So ask yourself do you believe, and is that evidenced in your life with action?

This Side of Perfect

If you ask anyone who is not a Christian, what they think about Christianity and Christians they will rattle off a list of things, mostly negative, but undoubtedly they almost always will say one thing: that Christians are hypocritical. This is indictment of hypocrisy is due to the fact that we are all hypocrites. We are hypocrites in the sense that we say we love God and believe what the Bible teaches, but don't always live out what the Bible teaches. We say one thing and do another which by any definition makes us hypocrites.

However, as Christians we are called to be perfect, to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16). So how do we remedy this problem? Is there a way we can reach perfection, to stop being hypocritical. The Bible teaches that we as Christians are being renewed everyday into the image of Jesus Christ, i.e. into perfection. This is what Romans 8:29 means when it says, "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed into the image of his son" and what does the image of his son, Jesus look like? Just go to Colossians 1:15-20 to see this, where the writer emphatically says that Jesus is the exact imprint and image of God. So to be Christian is to be made into the image of Christ, who is the image of God. This does not mean we do not still sin, but it means that every day we are being made to look more like Christ and act more like Christ in every way. It means that everyday as Christ perfects us we sin less, and become like him more. Our wills, thoughts, and desires are being radically changed to reflect Christ's wills, thoughts, and desires. See the Bible never calls us to become something we're not but instead it always calls us to become increasingly who we already are in Christ.

Of course this isn't something that happens overnight, it's a process called sanctification that will one day end in glorification when we reach heaven. So when someone calls Christians hypocritical they are sensing this fact that we claim to be perfect, but are not truly perfect and they call foul, but as Christians we look at this and rejoice because we know that one day we will be perfect, we're just on this side of perfect right now. It's all in the perception of hypocrisy, the outside world might call Christians hypocrites, but God calls us perfect, just not perfect yet. We're in the process of being sanctified for the purpose of one day being glorified. So, Christian, embrace this perfect perfection that we have in Christ that is at the same time here perfect and not yet perfection, and as the Bible does on numerous occasion I call you to live and become who you already are in Christ.

The Age Old Story

In the few years I've been in ministry I've noticed a pattern in our churches. I see people wearing out, burning out, or sinning out of ministry and gospel community all the time. Why does this happen? Is it because they weren't living out the Bible, or weren't praying enough? Is it because they didn't have enough gospel accountability in their lives? Or is it because they just weren't truly Christians at all? 

I don't think those answers account for what I see happening in churches everywhere. I think we've been inadvertently preaching the wrong message to one another. The mantra of "try harder" and "do more" isn't peace on the ears of those who have given their all in trying to live out what is taught in the Bible. A friend of mine was reeling in pain after his marriage fell apart and he told me that some of the most hurtful advice that was given to him was from Christians. One person told him to "just do what the Bible says." It's not that easy is it? The weight my friend felt and the weight that so many people feel in the church is the impossibility of living out the commandments of our Lord. 

We need to get back to the gospel. The gospel in essence is that because of what Jesus did we are able to live the way he lived. Not by trying harder, not by doing more, not by living better. The glorious impossibility of the gospel is that we can't do it on our own. We can't, so to those who feel burned out, or worn out, or sinned out I give you a message of hope. We need the gospel more than ever. We need to preach that age old story. It hasn't changed because we haven't stopped needing to hear it. Paul in Galatians 6:9 tells the Galatian church to not grow weary in doing well, and the way we do this is to reap the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Paul is saying the way that we prevent ourselves from wearing out when we are doing good things or are in ministry is to plug into the Spirit for our source of strength.

This is the gospel, he doesn't give a reason such as do more, or read the Bible, or pray more, but instead he says live without your power and instead to live in the power of God. The moment we realize that we can't do it alone, we truly understand the gospel. See the most beautiful thing about the gospel is just that, that because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross we are now eternally accepted by God and we no longer live under the weight of trying to earn acceptance from him. Instead we can live our lives free in the power of the spirit. This is the age old story, it hasn't changed, and we still need to hear it. 

I am initiating a blog series to, well keep myself on track with blogging. I'll be going through the epistle of Colossians found in the New Testament and giving practical application from whatever verse we look out. So stay tuned in and I hope you get something out of it.

Colossians was written to a very diverse church located in a central marketing hub. Colossae was located in the Lycus valley and was one of three major cities in that area. This city was important because this was a marketing and business hub at the time of Paul's writing. Paul never physically went there, but his influence reached there through Epaphras, who most likely heard the gospel from Paul in Ephesus and carried it to Colossae. Colossians is an amazing book because it deals with the reality of the gospel and the application of the gospel. The book is summed up in the phrase coined by Pastor Tulian Tchividjian in his book which is entitled, "Jesus Plus Nothing = Everything." The false teaching that Paul was exposing in Colossae was that of Judaizing Christians who taught that faith in Christ alone was not enough and there had to be some physical obedience from the faith. The error here is that the gospel teaches the exact opposite. We don't have to try to live up to some standard of moral perfection so that God might love us because he has already accepted us and saved us before the foundations of the world. Our wills and desires changed due to our status before God, not in order to achieve some kind of status. This is the power of Colossians that we will explore in our study of this wonderful epistle. What does it mean to live as if all we need is Jesus? I implore you to find out by applying the principles found in Colossians.

My dad is a pretty strong guy, always has been. When I was a kid I used to argue with my friends all the time about who's dad was stronger. I was always so confident that in a fight my dad would win against anyone. I see this as the idea behind Romans 8:31 which says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?." "These things" refers the copious amount of pages that Paul (the writer of Romans) had just spent on the theology of salvation, i.e. what God has done to save us. In response to these truths he resounds that we should not fear anyone since God is for us. Literally Paul is presenting a rhetorical question of if God is for us is it even possible that anyone could truly be against us. This is a great verse, but I think that we all face times when we have advisories or conflicts in our lives so how do we apply this to our life?
The biggest way we can actively apply this to our lives is through faith. I believe that the biggest reason that we get caught up in conflicts is that we don't believe that God can and will deliver us from them. Secondly we don't apply biblical principles to the situations. Over and over again in the gospels Jesus shows and explicates a different way of dealing with enemies and conflicts. Instead of being antagonistic we should be loving, caring, and helpful to our enemies. Lastly we don't realize the power of God. It's unbelievable to me that so many Christians still see God as this benevolent yet far-off deity who doesn't intervene in human affairs. The sad tragedy is that most of us live our lives in fear of worldly consequences when we should be concerned with eternal ones.