October 3 2012

Made in the Image of God – Part 1

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Shakespeare wrote the great line, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” But what is our true self? Who are we? What does it mean to be human?

Well, the Bible’s answer to that question is “you are made in the image of God”. The key distinction between humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom (and the plant kingdom for that matter) is that, unlike everything else God created human beings in his image. This defining truth of our identity is found right at the beginning of the Bible in the very first chapter. God has made the entire universe and has filled its emptiness with stars and planets and on earth he fills it will plants and animals, and then on the 6th day of the Creation week, the story goes like this…

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so.God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26-31)

Now, if we left it there at “you are made in God’s image”, it could leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, but it might not point you in the direction God wants you to go with this sense of identity. The idea the we are made in the image of God has been used for good and evil, for oppression and for humanitarianism, for encouraging humility and for fostering arrogance. So we should look at what God says throughout Scripture about the implications of us being made in his image. What does it say about us, about God and about how we should relate to other people?

Well, there is actually heaps you could say on this topic, but for the sake of time and simplicity, I will explore 6 points over two blogs. This blog (part 1) will cover three things that it DOESN’T mean to be made in God’s image, and then part 2 will cover three things I think it DOES mean.

You may think I shouldn’t start negatively, but I think it is just as important to understand what a biblical concept doesn’t mean as it is to understand what it does. If we are to allow this amazing idea to shape our view of every human on the planet, then we must avoid the temptation to define it however we choose. I’d even say, to have a false idea of what it means to be made in God’s image is probably more dangerous than to not believe it at all. So that’s where we’ll begin…

WHAT IT DOESN’T MEAN

1. Being made in God’s image doesn’t mean you look like God and it doesn’t mean God looks like you.

I thought this one was obvious, but a friend pointed out to me that he knew of many people (most of them from Texas he informs me) that believe this exact thing, and it is true that Mormons teach that “[God] the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” (Doctrine & Covenants: Section 130:22). This is not the Bible’s teaching at all.

The picture on the right is from an atheist website that is trying to mock Christianity for exactly this reason. But the picture has got one thing right – God is invisible. This is clearly taught in Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17 & Hebrews 11:27. The Bible also says this another way, by describing God as “Spirit”. This is most clearly taught by Jesus in John 4:24 and Jesus defines what it means to be a spirit as “not having flesh and bones” in Luke 24:39. Isaiah 31:3 makes the same point as well.

Basically the idea is that God is not restricted to a finite physical form. This allows God to be omnipresent and able to manifest his presence in any place he chooses in any way he chooses (burning bush, pillar of fire, Angel of the Lord, presence in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, etc.). God is often described with use of human-like actions like in Luke 1:51, “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.” but this is clearly metaphorical or analogous, like in Psalm 91:4 that says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” Now we don’t think God looks like a chicken because of descriptive language like this.

So, if God is an invisible, eternal Spirit, with no fleshly physical body, then being made in his image can not mean that we physically look like God and it definitely doesn’t mean that God looks like us. This is wonderful news because it means that no one human looks more like God than another. In Mormonism, because they believe God looks like a man with a physical male body, then women can never really be “made in God’s image”, or at least men are a closer image to God than women. This is not true in Judeo-Christianity. The Bible’s message is ALL people, no matter what you look like, no matter whether you are old or young, fat or skinny, male or female, able-bodied or severely disabled – you are made in God’s image.

2. Being made in God’s image does not mean you are equal to God.

The fact that we are made in the image of God should not give us a sense of superiority or arrogance over the rest of creation. It does not mean we are demi-gods or divine beings that deserve glory and honour and the submission of all animals and plants. In fact, it should inspire in us exactly the opposite feeling. Think about it. What’s the point of an “image”? The image of the Queen on an Australian coin, or the photographic image of your grandma in that photo frame on your wall. Or even the image of yourself in the mirror. The purpose of an “image” is to point to something other than itself. As John Piper says in his sermon entitled ‘Why Did God Create the World?’:

“The point of an image is to image. Images are erected to display the original. Point to the original. Glorify the original. God made humans in his image so that the world would be filled with reflectors of God. Images of God. Six billion statues of God. So that nobody would miss the point of creation. Nobody (unless they were stone blind) could miss the point of humanity, namely… God. Knowing, loving, showing God.”

Being made in the image of God does not make you a God. It does not make you equal to God. It should never inspire arrogance or a sense of privilege or superiority. It should never justify selfishness or self-glorification. It should never be used, as it sadly has been, as an excuse to kill animals however we want, destroy the environment however we want and use the world’s resources however we want. By it’s very definition, to be made in GOD’s image actually tells us that life is not about us. It’s about God. It puts us under God and shows that we are made for God’s glory, not for our own.

In fact, the very first people who were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve, got it wrong in exactly this way. The temptation of eating the forbidden fruit, was the temptation to disregard God’s authority over them and claim independence from God to choose right and wrong for themselves. This is what the “Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil” was all about. As the serpent falsely promises them in Genesis 3:5, “when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The great temptation in the Garden of Eden wasn’t to just do something naughty, it was to become like God. They were not satisfied in being made in God’s image, they wanted to be the original. They wanted to be God.

This is the great heart of all sin and the great problem with all humanity. It is especially tragic when the very concept of being made “in God’s image” is so grossly misused to perpetuate the arrogant idea that we are equal to God – when in fact, it means exactly the opposite.

3. Being made in God’s image does not mean you are a child of God.

Now this point might be the hardest one to accept. I’m sure you can see how the first two false ideas of being made “in God’s image” might be used to oppress or harm, but what could be wrong with saying that everyone is a child of God? Doesn’t that also express the unity of all mankind and the intimate relationship we all have with our Creator? Well that sounds all nice, but the issue is that it’s simply not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does teach that every person, no matter what gender, age, race or religion is created in the image of God, and this is a wonderful, awe-inspiring thing (as I will explain in part 2 of this blog series), but the Bible does not teach that every one is a child of God.

The song, “God Help the Outcasts” that the character Esmerelda sings in the Disney cartoon, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” includes the final line, “I thought we all were the children of God”. Well, a lot of people think this. The idea that everyone is one of God’s children has just become part of our modern quasi-spiritual vocabulary and is seen as pretty much the same thing as the idea that everyone is made in God’s image, but the two are very distinct concepts and it is actually vitally important to see the difference.

As mentioned in the previous point, sin is a problem in our lives. Although God is our Creator, we want to be more than simply his image – we want to be God, choosing our own good and bad and wearing the crown in our life rather than letting God rule as he deserves to. This rejection of God, whether it be conscious or not, creates a fracture between us and God. We go from being friends to strangers – or even enemies. This is symbolised in the Adam & Eve story by them having to leave the Garden of Eden. No longer could they commune with God. God became distant and humanity experienced the great consequences of this distance – confusion of identity, inability to conquer sin, fractured human relationships, a fallen creation and in the end, physical death.

This is the world we still live in today. Most people believe that some sort of God exists (that may be due to our being “images of God”), but everyone feels distant from God and endures the pain and confusion of this fallen world. It may even lead people to think that God doesn’t even exist! But the reality is that we are outside of God’s family. We are lost and need to be found. We need to be adopted.

It may sound offensive to suggest that you are not naturally one of God’s “children”, but hopefully it rings true to your experience. If you feel distant from God or maybe you don’t even know if he exists, then don’t try to comfort yourself by warm and fuzzy bumper stickers trying to convince you that you are God’s child and God is your Heavenly Father. Maybe he’s not! Calling God your “Father in Heaven” (as the Lord’s Prayer instructs us to) is a privilege only for those who have been adopted into God’s family. Read the following passages to see where I get this idea from Scripture:

“He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:10-13)

“Jesus replied, ‘The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.'” (Luke 20:34-36)

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death…You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ… because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:1-2, 9, 14-17)

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2)

To be a “child of God” reflect a unique relationship with God. A child of God is an adopted part of God’s family and as these passages show, this is what Jesus came to do. Jesus’ death on the cross has paid the penalty for the sin that kept us estranged from God. Jesus has made it possible for that relationship to be restored. Through trusting and believing in him, we can find forgiveness and reconciliation with God, making it possible for the Father/child relationship to begin.

It may at first offend you to think that although all people are made in God’s image, only followers of Jesus can be called “children of God”, but this offer of welcome and reconciliation is open to all. No matter how bad you think you are and no matter how distant you feel from God, the offer of adoption is open to you.

The reason it is vitally important that we distinguish between the concepts “made in God’s image” and “one of God’s children”, is because if you are taught that you are in God’s family and God is your Heavenly Father, simply on the basis that you were born, you will never see your need to be born again. Eventually you will become disillusioned with the whole concept of God, as on one hand you are told you are as close to God as a child is to their father, and yet your reality is that you feel very distant.

My hope in clarifying this difference is to point you to the great hope that thanks to Jesus, becoming a “child of God” is possible for you. You do not need to be distant from God. You can know his presence, his forgiveness and his Fatherly love, both now in this life and beyond death.

So there we go. That’s a few things that it DOESN’T mean to be made in God’s image.

It doesn’t mean that we look like God, are equal to God, or that we’re his children. It doesn’t mean that God has a body, is equal to us, or that he’s naturally our Heavenly Father.

So, now that we’ve gotten some of the false ideas out of the way, what exactly does it mean?

Well, if this blog has left you feeling like whatever it means, it can’t be all that good, then stick around. Part 2 will be coming in a week or so.

And in part 2 I will explain what it does mean to be made in God’s image and what a wonderful, life-changing concept it is! Getting your head around it and embracing it will completely shape your sense of the identity, purpose and dignity of the entire human race.

So stay tuned!

If you have any comments, please leve them below,
or if you’d like to ask me anything directly, feel free to email me at simon@thebackyardbard.com

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August 26 2012

The Blind Men & The Truth of The Elephant

 

Seven blind men were on a quest to discover the truth of the elephant.

One day, the first blind man bumped into something. “I’ve found the elephant!” he yelled with excitement.

The group cheered and asked, “What is it like??”

The first blind man felt around and replied, “Hmm. It’s long and thick like a big snake!”

The second blind man reached out his hand and felt the elephant that was infront of him. “No” he said, “It’s sharp and pointy, like a spear!”

The third blind man bent down and grabbed the elephant. “You’re both wrong! An elephant is wide and round, like a pillar!”

The fourth blind man described what he was touching and said, “Well you’re close, but an elephant is actually wide and flat, like a huge fan.”

The fifth blind man said, “You guys are fools! An elephant is clearly large, rough and flat, like a brick wall.”

The sixth blind man said, “Heresy! I know for a fact that an elephant is long and thin, like a piece of rope. You should all be burned at the stake!”

The six blind men continued their heated arguing, each one convinced that what they were touching told them the truth of the elephant.

The seventh blind man simply shook his head. “Silly men!” he said with a sigh. “Don’t you realise that you are but holding one part of the elephant and that in truth, all of you are right!”

The six blind men stopped their arguing and asked, “What do you mean?”

The seventh blind man continued, “Well, you…” addressing the first blind man, “…are simply touching the elephant’s long trunk which feels like a big snake.”

He then addressed the other men, “You are touching its tusks which feel like a spear. You are touching its leg which feels like a pillar. You are touching its ear which feels like a huge fan. You are touching its side which feels like a brick wall. And you, my fiery friend, are holding its tail which feels like a piece of rope. You can not see or feel the whole elephant. You can only experience the part you feel. You must not judge or condemn others for knowing the elephant to be different from you. You are all right! Each one of you should share your knowledge of the elephant with each other and together you will come to true enlightenment. Only when all of your truths are combined will you fully discover the truth of the elephant.”

“You are clearly a man of deep thoughtfulness…”

“Why thank you!” the seventh blind man replied. He then paused, confused. The voice he had just heard did not sound like any of the other blind men. “Sorry, who said that?” he asked.

“I did.” the voice replied. “I understand you didn’t notice that I’ve been standing here the whole time. I can see you are all blind.”

“Yes, we are. So.. you have the gift of sight then?” the seventh blind man asked curiously.

“I do” the voice replied. “Would you like me to share what I see?”

“Oh, yes!” the seventh blind man said with a smile. “You see, we are on a quest to discover the truth of the elephant, and we have finally found one! Please, tell me what you see!”

“Are you sure you want to know? By what you said to the others before, you seem to already possess great wisdom about the elephant.”

“But that’s exactly the point of what I was saying!” the seventh blind man said encouragingly. “All of our perspectives are valid and important. Please share the truth of what you see and then your truth can be added to our truths.”

“Fair enough.” the voice replied. “Although I’m not sure you’re going to like it. What I see is quite different to what you may think is before you. The first blind man bumped into one of the other men and grabbed on to his companion’s arm. His blind friend seemed used to this and so wasn’t aware that when he spoke of the elephant feeling long and thick, like a snake, he was actually talking of his arm.”

“His arm??” the seventh blind man exclaimed, “So the elephant isn’t there at all?”

“Oh the elephant is there. He was not far off in fact. But, being blind, he didn’t know where to reach and he just grabbed for whatever he could find. An arm is as good as an elephant to someone who can’t see any different. The next three blind men made a similar mistake. One man is touching the pointy end of a tree branch and it feels to him like a spear. Another man is reaching up and touching the tree’s broad, flat leaves which feel like a fan. And the third man is kneeling in front of the tree and hugging its wide pillar-like trunk. You were right that the elephant’s leg is very similar in shape. You were also right that these three men should stop their fighting and realise they are simply holding different parts of the same object. You just couldn’t see that their squabble is over the truth of the tree. Sadly, none of them are actually holding the elephant.”

The seventh blind man was stunned and confused. “And what of the others?” he asked.

“Well…” the voice continued, “There is another man who is, believe it or not, literally touching a brick wall. It feels exactly like a brick wall, but he so desperately wants it to be an elephant his imagination compliments his desires. He can not accept the truth that is right in front of him. I do so wish he could see. He might be disappointed at first, but walls are rather lovely to look at up close and eventually he could continue on his quest to find the elephant that is actually standing so close to him. As it is I fear, he may well be standing in front of a brick wall for years, thinking his quest is over.”

“How sad,” reflected the seventh blind man. “But what of the man holding the tail that felt like a rope? He was so confident! So quick to condemn the others! What is he really holding? A tail? A rope? A vine from a tree?”

“Nothing.” said the voice. “This blind man is holding absolutely nothing in his hands. He simply heard the other men claiming knowledge and felt like a fool when he reached out and couldn’t feel a thing. See, he wasn’t standing near the tree or the wall or the elephant. He was facing in completely the wrong direction. But his pride and his fear could not leave him empty handed, and so he claimed to hold the truth of the elephant, knowing no one else could prove otherwise.”

“Other than you, of course.”

“Other than me.” said the voice, sadly. “I see all too clearly his pride and his lies and his fear, and yet he will live his life and never see me.”

The seventh blind man and the voice went silent for a long while. Eventually, the man swallowed hard and asked, “Sir, please… Can you tell me who you are?”

“Haven’t you guessed already?” the voice replied with a smile. “I am the elephant.”

“The elephant??” the seventh blind man said, now more confused than ever. “But elephants can’t talk!”

“How do you know? You are on a quest to discover the truth of the elephant. How do you even know that an elephant has a trunk like a snake or ears like a fan or a tail like a rope? You cannot see. You are blind to the truth of the elephant and you are also blind to the truth of yourself. You claim wisdom and insight that all truths are right and everyone is just holding different parts of the elephant, but you do not know. You are as blind as everyone else. But maybe… you don’t have to be.”

“What do you mean?” the seventh blind man said, a little worried.

“Well, I am a talking elephant. I quite possibly possess other magical qualities that you are unaware of.”

“You mean…” the blind man stammered. “Can you heal my eyes?”

“Do you want me to?” the elephant asked curiously. “Do you realise what that would mean? If I gave you your sight, you would see things as they really are. You would see where I am and what I look like. You would know the truth and the truth would set you free. But there is a downside.”

“How could there be a downside to knowing the truth?” the blind man asked.

“Well, when you see the truth, you also see the lies. You would see your companions and be able to point them away from their false “elephants”, but they will still be blind. They will not believe you.”

“Of course they won’t, but they’ll believe you!”

“They will call you arrogant and narrow-minded for claiming to know the truth.They will rather you continued to teach what you taught before. That each of their truths are true. That message is one of peace and tolerance. The real truth divides and causes conflict. Why don’t you simply stay blind and continue n the path you were on when I found you?”

“But how could I? Oh, please let me see you! My quest was for the truth of the elephant… no matter what that turned out to be.”

And with that, something like scales fell from the man’s eyes and the brilliance of light pierced his vision. As his sight slowly came into focus, there before him was the scene of his six blind friends, exactly as the elephant had described them. And next to the tree, there was the elephant. Grand and magical and bright green. With a huge trunk and two glorious wings and smiling eyes that twinkled in the sunlight.

 

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May 8 2012

The Problem of Eeeevil – a response

 

This is a response to my wonderful brother’s blog about the problem of evil.

Please read his blog HERE. 

My post below is not as structured as one of my regular blogs as it was purely meant to be a response to my brother, but the word count was too big and blogspot wouldn’t accept it. So I put it here for your contemplation. Though I must encourage you to read his blog first, otherwise mine below possibly won’t really make much sense.

 

Tony, firstly I must correct you on a really simple point.

There is no problem with the existence of evil if there is objective good. As soon as God says something is good, then the opposite of that is evil. Evil is not a noun as you make out theists think. In some ways, evil does not actually exist – as an object anyway.

It’s like light and darkness. The sun is the object. It produces light. Without the sun, you have darkness. Night may feel like it has real substance and it definitely has real consequences (like stubbing your toe on the way to the bathroom) but all it really is, is the absence of light. God is the object. He is good and he says what is good. Anything that is against him or opposed to him, is what we define as evil. Hitler is not the personification of evil. The devil is not the personification of evil. They (like a lot of people) are simply opposed to one degree or another to God. In that sense they are defined as evil.

I think the experience of evil is to be expected in a world where there is a God that provides objective good, and where people reject, ignore and disobey him. I don’t really see the problem of evil’s existence.

 

But you move on from that to the moral dilemma of evil. I presume you have Epicurus’ argument rattling around, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

You tackle the issue of evil by saying that we must come to one of three basic conclusions.

 

1. God is not all-powerful.

You assume this must be the case in light of human free will. But where do you get the idea of human free will from? Not the bible that’s for sure. The idea that human will ties God’s hands is quite silly really. The God that created the universe is not limited by anyone. The idea that we HAVE to have complete free will in order for us to be responsible for our actions also doesn’t stack up as we often hold people accountable for their actions, even when we know that there are always circumstances that influenced their decision.

But the argument you seem to be making is that the idea that we have any sort of will, means that God’s sovereignty is compromised. Why is that? Why can’t God allow us to do what we want to do, be free in his ability to stop us, and deem that we have acted against his will? If you say to Levity, don’t touch the stove and you can prevent her from touching the stove but as she goes to do it, you chose not to prevent her, why does her will to touch the stove mean that you have somehow lost control?  God being in control of the universe, doesn’t mean that every action that happens must either be caused by him or else he has lost control. He can allow actions against his desired will to take place. So is God responsible for evil’s existence? Well, in some sense, yes, of course! That doesn’t make him evil though or the cause of the evil.

But then you could say that if a good God allows evil then why does he still call it evil? Well, it doesn’t follow if someone can prevent an evil action you make, that means that you are no longer accountable for it. If you see a kid being beaten up by thugs and you do nothing to prevent it, that doesn’t mean that the thugs are not accountable for their actions. Likewise, God is still sovereign and able to prevent all evil, and yet we are still accountable for the evil we do.

That inevitably leads us to question God’s goodness, but that’s ok. Throughout the Bible people cry out to God wondering why he is taking so long and why doesn’t he get rid of evil (Jeremiah 12:1 for example, “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?”). Grappling with God’s goodness seems to be a healthy part of a relationship with God, though his sovereignty is never questioned.

 

2. God is not good.

So we come to the next conclusion. God must not be good. Now, I can’t imagine you missed the moral loop here. The idea is of course, that if God is good and he sees evil and is able to prevent it, then of course he would prevent it. A God that could prevent evil and doesn’t is ultimately not good. But where did you get the undeniable, objective truth that to allow evil is evil? Are there no exceptions? Is a time period relevant? Due you take into account the fact that God does promise to deal with and do away with evil completely and fully? Or is the issue that you just don’t like the way in which God prevents evil? Is it just that for you to judge God as “good” in your eyes, he has to deal with evil in your way and your time. And all this taking into consideration that you actually don’t believe that there is really a good or evil!

My present and limited understanding of the whole picture is that God allows the evil fruit that comes from people who reject and ignore him. Reject a good God and disobey his commands and you will find every kind of evil. Should God prevent this? I don’t see why, but I guess God is more good than me, because he does do something to prevent it. He provides the gospel – a message of what God has done to turn people’s hearts back to him. He makes it possible for the real root of the problem of evil – sin – to be dealt with. And more than that, he is coming to clean everything up and remove all evil from the world. One day, when Christ returns, evil will be prevented – not in a temporary sense, but in an ultimate, eternal sense. If one is deemed necessary to allow for the time being in order that the permanent solution is achieved then who are we to say God is not good in choosing what is best. This is the true solution to the problem of evil.

I still think it’s a valid question to ask why God deals with evil in this way, when we feel so compelled to just get rid of evil right now if we could. But possibly, if God didn’t worry about the whole gospel thing and just got rid of evil completely in one fell swoop, sure the Hitler and the rapist and the thug would be gone, but neither you nor I would be having this conversation. Would anyone be left?

 

Fortunately, for the non-theist though, they don’t have to worry about explaining evil or good for that matter, and this is your ultimate answer to the problem. Because if God can’t be all-powerful and he can’t be all good (by your definitions of those things), then he doesn’t exist, and so the perfect answer to the problem of evil is…

 

3. There is no such thing as evil.

This is apparently, the natural non-theist position, as no objective “good” means that you can’t have an objective “bad”. This position may be logically sound, but I find it deeply unsatisfying. The idea that evil is only evil because we all (mostly) agree on it or feel it is that way, makes it to be completely meaningless. It is just as likely, that what we feel about what is evil is affected by a certain cultural movement or by our evolutionary biology. Or we may be in the wrong crowd. I’m sure in the midst of a Nazi demonstration where everyone was shouting “Heil Hitler!” that would feel like it was good and anything that opposed it was evil. What shaky ground you stand on! Why trust it if you could simply be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time and be influenced to believe any evil.

 

Doesn’t that feel like a problem? Isn’t that the ultimate “problem of evil” for the non-theist? – the problem that you feel some things (like torture or injustice or killing innocents) are evil and yet you have no grounding for that feeling or reason to think that something else couldn’t be just as right in a different crowd. I mean, you even make the argument that if God allows evil, he can’t be good. Why? If there IS no good or evil, then where does the moral weight for that position come from? On the other hand, if you trust God to instruct good and evil, then you even have a basis to question God.

 

Without God you are left with so many problems. Why fight evil if it doesn’t really exist? Why do I feel that evil and right and wrong does exist if it is just an illusion? Am I comfortable with the idea that my concept of evil may just as well be good in a different time or place or culture? If there is no God then where is there any hope that evil will not win? If there is no God where is there any hope that evil will not one day be fully dealt with?

 

I admit that God’s ways are at times strange to me, but I have answers to those questions. I think a non-theist has the real problem of evil to have to resolve.

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April 28 2012

The Simple Gospel

The story of the crucifixion is a horrible scene of public torture, mockery of God and despair among Jesus’ followers. But in the midst of this dark event, Luke’s gospel records a beautiful and unique conversation that took place between Jesus and one of the criminals who was crucified next to him. Read the story below and I’ll share some of my observations about it. It can be found in Luke Chapter 23, verses 32 to 43…

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Jesus to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

As both men were being publicly executed, their conversation was short and probably quite painful, and yet in this brief moment we hear Jesus tell this man at death’s door, that he should have complete assurance that he will go to heaven. That is staggering if you think about it. Many people would like the assurance of knowing where they’ll be going when they die. Well, this man got it. And who was he? A criminal. Not a priest or a devoted follower who had proved his devotion with years of service. A criminal. A “bad guy”. A convicted robber (as we find in Mark and Matthew). This is the guy who gets to die knowing for a fact that he will be welcomed into paradise. So what is it about this guy that we can emulate if we want the same assurance? What did he do or say or believe that led Jesus to give him this assurance?

Well, as a Christian, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how best to explain the Christian message. This is called the “gospel” which means “good news”. Of all the slogans and mission statements and sermons and political speeches in history, the gospel is the most important message that there has ever been. The gospel, as Paul puts it, “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). But what is it? What is this good news that we must believe in order to be saved and to find assurance of entrance into paradise. Well, I think it involves lots and lots of wonderful things, all surrounding Jesus and who he is and what he has done and if you’re keen you can explore a fuller description of the gospel in passages like 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, Colossians 1:19-23, 2 Timothy 1:8-12, 2 Timothy 2:8-13 and even the epic Romans 1-6. But if you wanted to try to peel it right back and find the bare bones of the gospel, this story about the crucified criminal, might be a great place to start.

Here are two main observations I find in this story:

1.  What he acknowledges about himself.

This man knows that he is guilty. It’s not just that he knows he did a crime, but his words indicate that he has an awareness of his guiltiness before God. He rebukes the other criminal for trying to simply use Jesus to get out of punishment. He sees his punishment as deserved and so it would be a wrong against God for it to be ignored. This is why he says, “Don’t you fear God?” To fear God is to acknowledge who God is and who you are. His fear of God gave him a humility and an ability to see his guilt and not protest the fairness of his punishment.

What is important to see here is that this totally defies any notion that you get to heaven if you are “good enough”. This criminal did not feel he had any right to enter paradise. He did not feel he had earned it, in fact he acknowledged that what he had earned was punishment.

The other criminal, in contrast, does not care about the justice of their punishment – just the potential for escape. He shows no remorse, no repentance and no acknowledgement of his own guilt or the God before which he must give account. He has no fear of God, only a fear of death. But it is the criminal, who had no “goodness” to offer God, who is the one that is given assurance of entrance into paradise.

 

2. What he acknowledges about Jesus.

The other criminal tries to use Jesus. He acknowledges that Jesus might be the Christ (God’s anointed king), but if that is the case, he simply wants to ride on the coat tails of Jesus’ escape. Like the mocking crowd, he can’t imagine that the “King of the Jews” would allow himself to die. The “Christ” is God’s king. He is all powerful! He could come down off the cross in a blaze of glory and destroy all his enemies. So he bates Jesus, to prove his authority and power, and while he’s at it, he should rescue him from his painful predicament. But why should he rescue him if he is the Christ? It doesn’t make logical sense. It’s just a sign of how he only sees Jesus as a potential “get out of jail free” card. Nothing more and nothing less.


In contrast, the criminal that is welcomed into paradise, treats Jesus as he truly is. He acknowledges that although he is guilty before God, Jesus is innocent. But more than that, he acknowledges that Jesus is king. He knows he has nothing to offer Jesus. All he does is ask Jesus to remember him, when he comes into his kingdom. HIS kingdom. He knows that the place Jesus is going when Jesus dies is a kingdom that he is the ruler of. What a statement! Sure, if you thought someone was innocent before God, you might expect that they would go to God’s kingdom when they died, but Jesus isn’t just going to be in heaven, where all innocent people go – he’s going home! He’s going back to the castle to sit on his throne. He is going to his kingdom!

Do you think of heaven that way? Is that what paradise is for you? Jesus’ kingdom? Or is heaven to you a place where you get everything you want and can do whatever you want?

Friends sometimes ask me whether I think they are going to heaven or hell. But one of the first things I have to do to answer that question fairly, is to encourage them to reconsider their Hollywood, fairytale concepts of heaven. Heaven is Jesus’ kingdom. He owns it. He rules it. He makes the rules as to who is welcomed into it, and one of the most obvious prerequisites for being welcomed into Jesus’ kingdom is that you treat Jesus as king. If you treat him like the other criminal did, as simply a ticket out of hell, then I think you will be met with the terrifying words that Jesus warns us of in Matthew 7:23, “Then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

If Jesus rules in the afterlife, then naturally he rules in this life. I mean, if he’s the king in heaven, then how are we on earth to treat him? As Jesus encourages us to pray in the “Our Father”, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. This is how the criminal treats him – as the king of paradise – and so consequently, he knows his only hope is Jesus.

In God-fearing respect and humility, with an acknowledgement of his own guiltiness before God and of Jesus’ innocence, he asks Jesus, not to give him what he deserves, but to simply remember him. What is he asking for in that request? I’m not sure. But at the very least it shows that he doesn’t expect that he will be joining Jesus in his kingdom. There’s a sense in which he knows he should be left out and so he asks Jesus, who will be “in”, to remember him. It’s not even that he is asking for forgiveness – it’s less assuming than that. And yet, Jesus assures him that he will not be left outside. He won’t simply be remembered, he will be with Jesus in paradise.

What a promise!

And in that little scene we learn so much about the Christian message and what it means to be a Christian:

  • It shows that Christianity is not about winning God’s favour by being good. Even a guilty criminal can be welcomed into paradise.
  • It shows that it’s not enough to think that Jesus “might be” the Christ and to try to just use him at the last minute as a ticket out of hell.
  • It shows that we must acknowledge our guilt before God and realise that we don’t deserve to go to heaven.
  • It shows that we must know that heaven is Jesus’ kingdom and we must acknowledge and turn to Jesus as king.
  • It shows that we can actually have assurance that we will be in paradise with Jesus when we die.
  • And lastly, it shows that you don’t need to know a great deal about the whole salvation process in order to be saved.

This last point is a really good challenge to me and to other evangelicals who value doctrine and “getting the gospel right”.

I guess the main thing is not that you get the entirety of the gospel right, but that you don’t get it wrong.

I mean, the criminal didn’t say the “Sinner’s Prayer” or believe the “Four Spiritual Laws”. He didn’t get the entire “Two Ways to Live” presentation, or attend short course for seekers. He didn’t even come to a decisive position about Calvinism or Arminianism!

He didn’t even really understand the cross – the very heart of the gospel message. This guy had no idea that the reason why Jesus could welcome him – a guilty sinner – into paradise was because the death Jesus was about to die was a death that paid for his sin. He didn’t understand how Jesus could save him, and he didn’t even expect that Jesus would save him, he just threw himself on the hope that Jesus might remember him. Both the gospel he believed and his faith in it was very simple, but he still received assurance from Jesus.

I guess, my encouragement to us evangelical Christians is, don’t make the kingdom harder to get into than it needs to be! If the criminal could be assured of his salvation with so simple an understanding of the gospel, let’s make sure we don’t expect that every glorious truth is completely understood before we can encourage young Christians with the same assurance.

And my encouragement to those who are yet to become a Christian, or maybe have just expected that they should be welcomed into paradise without any acknowledgement of their guilt or Jesus’ kingship, I would commend this story to your contemplation.

My hope is that you would find in it a very simple gospel message (though still very challenging), and in responding to its call to your life, you too may hear those wonderful words from Jesus that every Christian should rejoice in… “You will be with me in paradise.”

 

NOTE ABOUT LEAVING COMMENTS:

Due to the fact that I get a ridiculous number of spam comments with links to other websites, I have put a ban on any comments that contain “.com” in the website section, email section or body of text. Please DO NOT include your email or website, and you will then be able to have your comment posted immediately. Thanks! 

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April 17 2012

The Meaning of Meaningless

(If you’ve never read Ecclesiastes, I recommend you read it and thinking about it yourself, rather than just reading my blog about it! Download a special copy I have produced by clicking HERE)

 

The Book of Ecclesiastes is quite confusing to many Christians. If you don’t know about it, it’s a book of poetry and philosophy found in the Old Testament, written around the mid to late third century BC. The author of the book is potentially questionable, but the voice of the book is King Solomon. Whether he wrote it directly, or whether it was written as a collection of his writings or as a summary of his philosophy, I don’t think that matters. What I think does matter is that the protagonist of the book is, as the first verse says, “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Now “Son of David” could easily also mean “descendant” of David, but as the book progresses, we see that the content of the book – the focus on wisdom and the description of utter opulence for instance – do suggest that it is referring to King Solomon.

The problem Christians have had with this letter often revolves around the book’s key word, which in the NIV is translated “meaningless”. “Meaningless, meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” the King writes. And then he spends twelve chapters describing lots of what we experience in life – the pursuit of pleasure, eating, drinking, laughter, education, career, power and even wisdom – and for each one he concludes, “This too is meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes can seem bleak and depressing and also just plain wrong. I mean, how can King Solomon the Wise say that the pursuit of wisdom can be meaningless?? Or how can the King of Israel, entrusted to guard God’s Word and explain it to the people, saying that everything has no meaning?

This is what has confused many Christians, and the response by those who study the book is generally to point out three vitally important things.

1. When it says life is meaningless, it is only referring to life “under the sun”

2. The word “meaningless” is a really unhelpful word to use. 

3. That isn’t the conclusion of the matter.

 

Well, let’s look at these three points briefly.

1. When it says life is meaningless, it is only referring to life “under the sun”.

As common as the word, “meaningless” is, the phrase, “under the sun” or “under heaven” is used 32 times in the book’s 12 chapters. It’s even worked its way into our common language: the phrase “there’s nothing new under the sun” actually originally comes from this book (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This phrase is not meant to describe all of life in all of eternity. It specifically means our life while we live. We see this clearly in Ecclesiastes 2:3, where the King says, “I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.” It is used similarly elsewhere in the Bible, such as in reference to the Flood in Genesis 6-8, where God destroys all life “under the heavens”.

“Under heaven” or “under the sun” points to the time that we have on earth while we work and live with the sun over us. It does not refer to the heavens themselves or the Creator who resides in heaven, but only to the life of the Creation. Some have stressed this to make the argument, “See, life is not meaningless with God. It’s just meaningless outside of God. That’s what ‘under heaven’ means.” But I’m not really convinced by that argument. I mean, is the writer saying life is meaningless until you go to be with God? I don’t think so. Ecclesiastes is quite silent on the issue of an afterlife (other than the promise of an ultimate judgement in the very last verse of the book). The focus of the book is very much THIS life. So, is the writer saying, if you live a life ignoring God then your life has no meaning? Or that God provides the only true meaning to life and so everything else is meaningless? Well, this is a true sentiment from a biblical perspective, but you can’t really get it from Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes is written from the perspective of someone who does know God. Sure, King Solomon majorly went off the rails, but still, I think it’s clear that “under heaven” does not mean “outside of the stuff God’s interested in”. God is mentioned throughout Ecclesiastes as actively involved in the life of people, causing both their blessing and their frustration. Whatever life “under the sun” means – it does not mean life “outside of God”. “Under the sun” just means life from birth to death.

When Ecclesiastes says “everything under the sun is meaningless”, the harder part of that phrase to understand is not “under the sun”, but the word “meaningless”.

 

2. The word “meaningless” is a really unhelpful word to use. 

The Hebrew word that the NIV translates as meaningless is “hevel” (הבל). In older translations you may have heard it translated as “vanity”. This is not in the sense of “loving yourself”. “Vanity” here means “in vain” or a wasted effort. This helps us get more of a feel for the meaning of the word, but even that does not capture it. “Hevel” also means “fleeting” or “temporary” or “passing”. Look at the picture at the top of this blog – it’s like breathing on an icy cold morning and you see your breath… and then it’s gone. That’s what “hevel” literally means – “breath” or “vapor”. Ecclesiastes uses a powerful image to describe it as well. Coupled with the phrase, “this is hevel” the writer often adds the phrase “a chasing after the wind”. He uses this description 9 times throughout the book and one other time he uses the phrase, “toiling for the wind”. Throughout the letter “wind” is described as elemental and ever-returning (1:6) but never being able to be caught, tamed or predicted (8:8 & 11:5).

“Hevel” is a concept that, like the wind, is hard to pin down, but I don’t think we’re meant to pin it down. It’s not supposed to be a hard definition for something. It’s supposed to be almost a feeling. That feeling of trying to grasp at an illusion, like a cat trying to catch a shimmer of light on the floor. Life, the writer of Ecclesiastes says, is like chasing the wind. Everything in life is transitory, everything is passing away, nothing stays, nothing under heaven is permanent, and if we work our guts out for it all we shouldn’t be surprised that we find life frustrating. In the end, ultimately, nothing is gained, everything is like breath.

Now, does that make life “meaningless”? Well, I guess that’s up for discussion. It definitely doesn’t force us to conclude such a bleak prognosis about it all. But if we’re trying to work out not just what “hevel” means, but also how we should feel about “hevel”, it’s quite hard to pin down the author’s emotional response. Sometimes he finds “hevel” wearisome (1:8), sometimes it leads him to hate life (2:17) and then other times he speak of how good it is to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his lot in life (2:24, 3:12-13, 5:18, 8:15 & 9:7-10). If everything is “hevel”, what are we to make of it? Is everything depressing or full of enjoyment? Is everything meaningless or meaningful?

As I explored this question myself I decided to re-read Ecclesiastes with a little experiment. As the word “hevel” was a tricky word to translate, I thought I would read through the book and whenever I came to the word “meaningless” (I was reading the NIV translation), I would simply say the word “hevel” instead. What resulted was really enlightening.

The book opens up with the declaration, “Hevel! Hevel! Everything is hevel!” and then launches into a description of how life never changes and yet in every cycle of life, nothing is ultimately gained. He then moves into his own autobiography, how he worked so hard to find what was the best thing to do in life and achieved amazing things that would be counted as great success by our society’s standards, and yet at the end of it all he looked at his hands and everything was “hevel”, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun. This seems confusing, as how can he say nothing was gained – he gained so many great achievements – and what does it mean to say it was all “hevel”? Well, from here on, the writer continues for the rest of the book to explain that very question. What is “hevel”? What does it look like? What does it feel like?

For example, consider the following passage:

“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is ‘hevel’, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is ‘hevel’. 

So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is ‘hevel’ and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labours under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is ‘hevel’. 

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is ‘hevel’, a chasing after the wind.” – Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

 

What struck me, when I stopped defining “hevel” and just included the original fuzzily-defined word, the meaning of the passage took on a completely different feel. Instead of the writer labelling life as “meaningless”, and saying something like, “You know this thing you do in life, well it’s actually a complete waste of time,” the writer seems to be USING these experiences in life, to help define “hevel”. It’s more like he’s saying, “Everything is hevel, and to understand what that means, let me show you these breath-like, transitory, frustrating things that we all experience.” When he talks about life, he is exploring the fuzzy definition of “hevel” rather than just using “hevel” as a label to attach to all things.

I’m not sure if I’ve explained this point well enough, so I’ll use an example of how Jesus did this. Think about when Jesus talks about sin. Jesus could say, “Lying – that is sin”, but that would be rather limiting and people would just look for the loopholes. Rather, Jesus uses things like parables to get his point across. Like the story of the Prodigal Son. He tells of a son who rejects his father’s generosity and takes and squanders the gifts that the father had given him – that is sin. See the difference? One reduces a complex thing like lying to the simple label of “sin”, and the other expands the complex concept of “sin” by using a real life example.

The same thing could be said of love. When Jesus said, “love your neighbour”, someone asked, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus could have answered that by simply saying “everyone is your neighbour”, but instead he went on to share the story of the Good Samaritan, a story with many layers and a powerful message of love shown by an enemy of the Jewish people. Jesus is saying “love” is big and complex and beautiful and it can’t be reduced to a bumper sticker. And throughout the epistles, whenever “love” is defined, the writer’s point us to the greatest example of the love of God, namely the cross: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” – 1 John 3:16

I think, possibly, the writer of Ecclesiastes is doing the same thing when it comes to defining “hevel”. This, to me, opens up the letter wonderfully. Rather than it being like a conveyer-belt, where as each part of life is described it gets stamped with a big “HEVEL” label, the writer is grappling with the concept, teasing it out, showing it, explaining it, chewing on it and inviting us to see it as well. This doesn’t leave us with no sense of it’s meaning, but like his description of “chasing after the wind”, the meaning of the phrase, “everything is hevel” opens up the discussion rather than closes it down.

 

3. That isn’t the conclusion of the matter.

Now, all this may leave you a bit confused still as to the point of Ecclesiastes. The writer may not be saying that everything that you do in life is meaningless, but what exactly IS he saying? He obviously wants us to see how life is like chasing after the wind, but is he simply saying that chasing after the wind is a bad thing? I don’t think so. He doesn’t necessarily give any moral value to all the things he describes as “hevel”. He definitely acknowledges that life is frustrating and that our efforts can seem to just dissipate like a vapour, but he also says that’s just the way God’s made it: “Consider what God has done. Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.” – Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

And this is the ultimate direction the book takes us. Whenever the writer speaks of God, he never uses the word “hevel”. All things under heaven are “hevel” – passing away, like a vapour – but heaven is not. God is not like a vapour. As he writes in Ecclesiastes 3:14, “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.” His point, as far as I can see, is that this whole world is as frustrating as it is, because God has deliberately made it that way so that people will come to him, or at least they will see their need for him to put things right. I wonder if you’ve ever thought of your frustrations in life that way? Could it be that God has made life crooked so that we would turn to him and revere him? To “stand in awe of God” (5:7) and remember him:

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them”… Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ‘Hevel! Hevel!’ says the Teacher. ‘Everything is hevel!'” – Ecclesiastes 12:1,6-8

Is the writer’s proclamation that everything is “hevel” sort of a warning? Life is short so don’t forget God.

One other emotion I find throughout the book of Ecclesiastes is regret.

The story of King Solomon is actually quite a sad one. He was the son of the great King David, he was given by God greater wisdom than anyone else in his day, he had the amazing privileges and luxuries that came along with being king, and yet he forgot God. For political reason and to satisfy his own lust, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, all appeasing his every sexual fantasy. These women also worshipped gods other than Yahweh, and as his moral decay grew King Solomon’s faithfulness to God wained and he was led into setting up shrines to these other gods to appease his wives.

I think Ecclesiastes can be seen as a book of philosophy written by an old king who looks back on his life with great regret. He reflects on all his success and writes: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was hevel, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

He tries to appeal to us not to make the same mistakes. Don’t forget your Creator in the days of your youth! Please! Don’t waste your time and your life on things that are simply hevel. That’s as stupid as chasing after the wind.

The final part of the book seal the deal. He has finished his rant. He has pour out his heart. He has made his point. Now he states his simple conclusion.

I will leave you with these words that finish the book:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: 
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

 

 

For more on Ecclesiastes, check the wikipedia article HERE.

DOWNLOAD my Epic Bible Reading version HERE.

Or read it online HERE.

 

 

NOTE ABOUT LEAVING COMMENTS:

Due to the fact that I get a ridiculous number of spam comments with links to other websites, I have put a ban on any comments that contain “.com” in the website section, email section or body of text. Please DO NOT include your email or website, and you will then be able to have your comment posted immediately. Thanks! 

 

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April 6 2012

The Ethiopian Experience

In the book of Acts (recorded by the same author of the gospel of Luke), there is a beautiful little story about an Ethiopian eunuch, who comes to find Jesus. The Ethiopian was an important official by occupation, but by religion he was a faithful Jew who was passionate about reading and understanding the Bible, and as I have found God often makes happen, he became fixated on one passage of Old Testament scripture. The story also involves a Greek Jew who had converted to following Jesus, whose name was Philip.

Have a read of the story below…

 

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

(This story can be found in Acts, chapter 8, verses 26 to 39. Feel free to look it up yourself.)

 

I love this story – the ernestness of the Ethiopian to understand the Bible, his humility in asking questions, the way it shows that sometimes the Bible can be tricky to understand unless someone explains it to us, and even the miraculous way God’s Spirit leads Philip to be at the right place at the right time and then leave when his job is done. It’s a beautiful story of “the good news about Jesus” being explained to an honest seeker.

Although it’s also frustrating to me. I really wish the conversation between Philip and the Ethiopian had been recorded. Philip seemed to unpack who Jesus was and how he fulfilled the passage the Ethiopian had been reading in such a way that after a little journey, the Ethiopian develops an enthusiasm to be baptised and become a follower of Jesus immediately. He begins as a curious Jew and finishes a Christian who “went on his way rejoicing”.

I guess we will never know exactly what Philip said, but one thing we can do is, like the Ethipian, read that passage of Old Testament prophecy that proved to be so important.

The story tells us that it comes from the writings of the prophet Isaiah and the story includes some of the verses. This is very helpful, because it makes it quite easy to find the passage he was reading – It was Isaiah 53. I have included it below for you to read for yourself. It is a staggering passage when you consider it was written by the Jewish prophet, Isaiah, over 700 years before Jesus came.

I encourage you to read it and think about what it means, what it tells you about Jesus and ultimately, how it applies to you:

 

ISAIAH 53

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppressionand judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? 

For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makeshis life a sin offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered, he will see the light of lifeand be satisfied; by his knowledgemy righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,and he will divide the spoils with the strong,because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

 

I’d love to give you my thoughts on all that this prophecy tells me about myself and about what the Messaiah was prophecied to do and how Jesus fulfilled all that, but I want you to have your own Ethiopian experience.

If you have questions like the Ethiopian had, I encourage you to ask them and may you find the joy that the Ethiopian found.

If you want some questions to think about for yourself, why not reflect on the following:

  • Philip explains that the prophet Isaiah is talking about Jesus. What does Isaiah 53 tell us about Jesus?
  • Does the description of the man in Isaiah 53, match your understanding about what happened to Jesus?
  • How does Isaiah 53 help us understand what was happening “metaphysically” or “spiritually” when Jesus was being crucified?
  • What does Isaiah 53 say about you and me? Do you think it is a fair assessment?
  • Philip told the Ethiopian, “the good news about Jesus”. Whether you believe it or not, can you explain what is this news and why it is good?
  • How did the Ethiopian respond to this “good news”? Why did he respond that way?
  • How should you and I respond to Jesus?

 

If it helps, I will also leave you with the words of Peter, one of Jesus’ closest companions and the man commissioned by Jesus to look after the first Christians in those early years. He writes to Christians who faced great oppression these words that show he  had also thought a great deal about Isaiah 53 and how it relates to Jesus:

 

If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

(This excerpt can be found in The First Letter of Peter, chapter 2, verses 20 to 25.)

 

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March 31 2012

Loving the Love of God

 

I was recently asked how it is possible to love a perfect God.

I am slightly confused by this question, as I don’t see why it would be difficult to love God because of his perfection, as if it would be easier to love him if he had some flaws.

I was happy to think about the topic though, because loving God is the heartbeat of Christianity.

Despite what you may have heard, “Love your neighbour” is not the greatest commandment that Jesus taught. When asked what is the first and greatest commandment, “loving others” was mentioned as the second most important one, flowing out of the first, which is… “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Loving God with absolutely everything we have is the most important thing we must do. The heart of sin is our lack of love for God. So, how are you going in that area? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind? Do you even love him with your little toe?

Well, to be frank, I don’t love God very well. I often love my self and my desires and happiness and comfort a lot more than I love God. I definitely don’t love him with ALL my heart and soul and mind. But I expect, you don’t either… and I expect even Mother Teresa didn’t either. The only human being to ever love God wholly and perfectly is Jesus, and because he was the 2nd member of the Trinity incarnate in human flesh, his love was also wrapped up in his intimate knowledge and experience of the love of God shared between the members of the Trinity, so did he have a bit of an advantage?… I reckon so.

Fortunately, the joy of Christianity, is that we have the possibility of joining in on that love as well. We don’t become another member of the Trinity, but we do engage with a fellowship with God that is real and intimate and personal, where the 3rd member of the Trinity, God’s Holy Spirit can reside in us and we can experience the love of God poured out lavishly on us and experience it flowing through us to others.

Although I fail every day in loving God in the way that he deserves and to the degree that he has designed me to love, I do not have to face God’s anger or just condemnation for my lovelessness. God’s forgiveness is an expression of his love as well. But his forgiveness is not cheap. Jesus came, not just to embody God’s love and model love for God, he also came primarily on a rescue mission. He came to pay for our lovelessness – to be punished for our sin.

Why did he go to the cross? He died as the greatest expression of God’s love to a world that doesn’t love him back. He died for me, before I was born, even though he knew I would fail at loving him. He paid the penalty I deserve and 18 years ago I acknowledged that truth and put my life into God’s hands, trusting that Jesus’ death was for me.

This is what it means for me to love God. It’s actually primarily about me experiencing the love of God and letting that flow out of me back to God and to my neighbour. This changes everything – your entire life. That why Cat & I used this awesome verse from 1 John as the central focus of our wedding: “This is love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11)

So now, thanks to what Jesus did 2,000 years ago, and because of what God led me to do 18 years ago, I know God’s love. The more I have experienced and learnt of God over the last 18 years has grown me to love God deeper and deeper, like a good marriage, where at the start the love is all froth and bubbles but after many years it matures and grows deep.

I look forward to loving God more and more as the years pass as well. I want to give him more of my heart and soul and mind, as I experience more and more of his love over the years.

O, if you don’t have any clue what that experience of God’s love looks like or feels like or how it can be real to you as it is real to me, I am praying for you that same prayer that Paul the apostle prayed for the Ephesians: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all of God’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Truly as the psalmist writes in Psalm 63:3, “Your love is better than life.”

So I love the love of God. My love of God is like the love that someone has for air after they almost drowned. I gasp it in. It is my life. My salvation.

Although, God’s command to love him and our lack of love may hang over you like a gavel from a judge ready to pronounce your guilt, once Christ has freed you from that guilt and you have experienced the love and friendship of God and God comes to reside in you by his Spirit, then love of God ceases to be a demand or a command – it becomes like breathing.

 

I still suck at loving God. I still have a deep selfishness and lack of love for others. But I am better than I was. God’s love has transformed me and given me new appetites and new joys. I am most alive when I am not hoarding God’s love for myself where it stagnates like a swamp, but when I let it flow through me, back to God and to others like a stream of living water that brings life and love wherever it goes.

Why do many Christians not show the love of God to others? I think primarily because they do not enjoy it themselves.

The love of God is something you can’t keep locked down or bottled up. It’s like a Pandoras Box – open it and you can’t contain it.

I think many Christians are only “Christian” by label and have actually never experienced the love and forgiveness of God themselves (in which case, they would not actually be Christians at all). It is possible to simply mentally tick the box that you believe all that Christian stuff, but you have never actually embraced or encountered or experienced or engaged with it personally. You believe in a God of love, but you do not KNOW the God of love and consequently, how on earth can you SHOW the love of God. If that’s you, I want you to know that Christianity is about a relationship with God, not just a label or a box to tick. There is so much more for you.

There are others though, like me, who have truly experienced the love of God, and yet struggle with letting it flow through us to others (or even back to God). With us, the problem isn’t that there’s no living water flowing in. The problem is with the plumbing. The pipes of our soul are broken or clogged and the water won’t flow through.

The reason for this is because Jesus doesn’t save perfect people. He saves dodgy, broken people. People who haven’t got it all together. People who don’t know how to receive or give love with all of their heart and soul and mind. People who need to be repaired and put right. People like you and me.

Jesus saves people as they are – with all their loveless baggage, and then begins the reconstruction process. It’s a lifelong process that the Bible calls “sanctification”.

But if you know of a Christian who isn’t loving you are right to expect more of them. Be gracious as Jesus is gracious with them, but also know that Jesus want to take them on to being more and more loving.

Ask them what they think about God’s love for them, and if you see their eyes light up and them talk with real and deep knowledge, then you should also see that love spilling over to other people.

If they don’t know of the love of God, then point them to Jesus. Jesus is not just a historical person you read about in an old dusty book. He is alive and able to engage and encounter people. He lived a life of love and died a death of love and opened a way of love for all those who would put the trust in him.

I have been living with his love for the last 18 years and  I look forward to walking with him for the rest of my life.

 

 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.‘

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:28-39

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March 23 2012

Jesus Christ – What’s in a name?


Nowadays, the meaning of names are not all that important. My name Simon, for example, means “he has heard”, which is ironic seeing as I am terrible at remembering things if I only hear them. When it comes to organising our lives, my gracious wife knows my motto is, “if it’s not written on the calendar, it doesn’t exist”.

But in the ancient world, and notably in the Bible, names were vitally important. Their meaning held great significance and often a name was given as a defining and even prophetic identity. Here are some examples that may illustrate my point:

  • Adam means “Man”
  • Eve means “Living”
  • Moses means “Deliverer”
  • Ruth means “Friend”
  • Elijah means “My God is Yahweh”
  • Peter means “Rock”
Many religions also give names significance. Buddha means “The Enlightened One”, Muhammad means “To Be Praised”, and Abraham means “Father of Many”. This helps us understand some of the significance of these religious leaders (at least from the perspective of their religion). It also can help us understand what the religion is primarily on about. Buddhism, for example, was founded by the first Buddha. As Buddha means “The Enlightened One”, you can conclude that Buddhism is going to be about the path towards enlightenment. In fact, if you leave out some concept of enlightenment, then you’ve probably – by definition – gotten Buddhism wrong.
Christianity, in the same way, is – by definition – about Christ. If you leave Christ out of Christianity, you may end up with something, but it won’t be Christianity. Jesus Christ is the central focus of Christianity and the meaning of those two words – “Jesus” and “Christ” – are very revealing in understanding what Christianity is all about. I would go so far as to say that the meaning of the words “Jesus Christ” gives us a basic understanding of the whole Christian message and how it calls us to respond. If you want to know who Jesus Christ is then you at least have to know what “Jesus Christ” means.

So let’s go through it.

The first thing to point out is that “Jesus Christ” is not his first and last name. His parents weren’t Mr and Mrs Christ. Surnames were not used in ancient Israel, although people were identified by their father (as in “James son of Zebedee” in Matthew 4:21) or by their home town (as in “Jesus of Nazareth” in Mark 1:24 or “Joseph of Arimathea” in John 19:38). However, the word “Christ” does not refer to either one of these.

Whereas “Jesus” is his personal name, “Christ” refers to his title or status. It’s a bit like how we talk about “Judge Judy” or “Doctor Phil”. “Christ” expresses his role. This is why he is often referred to as “Christ Jesus” rather than “Jesus Christ” and sometimes he’s just talked about as “The Christ” (see Matthew 2:4, Matthew 16:13-17 & Mark 14:61-62).

THE MEANING OF “CHRIST”
The word “Christ” is a Greek word meaning “Anointed One”. In Hebrew, the same word is “Messiah”. It refers to the one who would was prophesied to be the anointed king of God’s people. Hundred of years before Jesus was born, God made a covenant with King David (in 2 Samuel 7:1-16) that one of his descendants would rule God’s kingdom forever. This figure is sometimes known as the “Son of David” and just as David was anointed to be king, so this king would come to be known as the “Anointed One” or “Messiah” or “Christ” (see Psalm 2:2 for example). Jesus is the fulfilment of the covenant God made with King David and he is the king that all the old testament prophesies were promising about. He is The Christ, the Ruler. You could accurately translate the name Jesus Christ to be “King Jesus”.
Now this may seem unsettling to you if your only picture of Jesus is the unassuming, quite Mr. Nice Guy and you might think that the idea of “King” Jesus is just something his followers made up after he was gone to promote him and try to take over the government. But the idea of Jesus’ kingship is central to Jesus’ teaching and mission. Not only did Jesus talk extensively about the “kingdom of God” now being here in him, but in the end it was what got him in the most trouble. Consider this conversation with the Pilate recorded in John 18:33-37,

“Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
In the end, he was crucified with the charge against him written above the cross: “This is the King of the Jews” and the reason why they put a crown of thorns on him was to mock his claims of kingship. Also, after his resurrection, Jesus declared “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18). That’s kingship language.
Now, this image of Kingship is not very popular today. We think of kings often as tyrants or power-hungry bullies. The idea of obeying or giving respect and honour to those in authority, is a concept that grates against our sense of independence and we have seen too many human kings in the past abuse their power or grow arrogant or indifferent to the suffering of others. So, it’s understandable if we don’t like the idea of a King, anointed by God to rule over us and worthy of our respect and obedience. But that is what Jesus is.
Fortunately, Jesus is kind and sacrificial and life-giving and so his rule is for our good and for the good of all the Universe. For me (as an actor), it’s like the idea of working under an amazing director that I know is brilliant and is a pleasure to work under. I would have no problem taking their direction and supporting their leadership, because I would know that they were better than me and they were worth following. Jesus is like that, but infinitely more so. His rule is perfect, not just in his skill, wisdom and power, but also in his moral goodness and love. He is a wonderful king to obey and we will all benefit from coming under his good rule.
The reality is though, if Christ means “King”, then if you want to get Jesus Christ (and therefore Christianity) right, you need to have Jesus’ kingship as one of the central ideas. A Christianity that makes Jesus any less, or has trouble with the idea of Jesus being king, is no Christianity at all. Likewise, a Christianity that does not call people to give over the rule of their lives to Jesus, is a false Christianity. To become a Christian, you have to see one of the greatest sins as being the fact that we want to rule our own life and that we do not give God the honour or obedience he deserves. We need to turn away from our sin and turn our allegiance to Jesus, giving him the crown of our life. Now, it is very confronting to say that every single person on the planet should come under the rule of no one else than Jesus, but that is what it means for Jesus to be called “Christ”. It means that if you reject Jesus as king, you reject God himself, because Jesus is God’s anointed.
Christianity is by definition therefore an “exclusive” religion. There is only one way to God and Jesus is it. I have heard people claiming to be Christians, proclaiming a version of Christianity that says that we all just have our own “faith tradition” and that as we all seek unity we are all coming closer to God. It doesn’t really matter how you respond to Jesus, what matters is your sincerity or your effort or your kindness towards your fellow man.
This multi-faith understanding of religion and spirituality is very palatable because it is so darn nice. It welcomes everyone and tries to avoid saying that anyone is “right” or “wrong” which might offend or come across as arrogant. But although it may be nice, it’s just not Christianity. You can not say that you follow or side with Jesus Christ, if you ignore the very definition of the word “Christ”.What you have done is just make up your own religion. And if that’s what you want to do, go for it. Just please don’t call yourself a Christian. A Christian is someone who responds to Jesus as Christ – that is, as God’s king, anointed to rule over the entire Universe and over every aspect of our lives. As Abraham Kyper put it: “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!'”Christianity has a bold and strong message that effects every person on the planet, but it is also a good message, because Jesus is a good king. His kingship brings fellowship with God and life and wholeness. His kingship is full of love and light and outside of his kingship we are lost and unprotected. As Paul writes in Colossians 1:12-14, “Give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus wants to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of light. He is our good king, but he also our rescuer, which leads me to the meaning of the “Jesus” part of his title.

THE MEANING OF “JESUS”

If Jesus is God’s king then our correct response is to submit to his rule – to live under his direction and instruction and authority. To follow him. To become his disciple. To obey and serve and honour him with our actions and our words and our thoughts and all our resources. The reality is though, even for those who acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, we all fail daily at doing this. Our tendency is to live our own way and rule our own life. We ignore God’s authority and live as if he is not our king. Even those who try to follow Jesus as their king, know that their efforts are at times half-hearted and full of mixed and selfish motives. No one can claim to be perfect in their service and obedience to Jesus. As Paul puts it in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
We need rescuing. We need saving. We need to be freed from our slavery to selfishness and our tendency to ignore God’s rule. We also need to be freed from the judgement of God.
Talking about things like the judgement of God and hell is not a good way to make friends. Like the idea of the kingship of Jesus, it clearly isn’t a popular concept in the whole Christian message. Some people have tried to re-create a Christianity without the idea of Hell or the judgement of God, but I think you end up with another “watered-down” false version of Christianity rather than the genuine article. I think this for 3 main reasons:

1. Judgement Day is not just the name of a Terminator movie. You can not escape the references through both the Old and New Testaments telling of one final day when all people who have ever lived having to stand before God and give an account for our lives. God promises that all evil will be judged and only the “righteous” will be spared. Unfortunately, another consistent message throughout scripture is the fact that no one can claim to be “righteous” or innocent before God based on their own life. That is why Judgement Day is a terrifying prospect. But nevertheless, the message of the prophets, or Jesus and of the New Testament writers is clear: “God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.” (Acts 17:31). If this is true, then to avoid or ignore this coming reality is as foolish as to stand on a beach and ignore the warnings that a tsunami is on its way. Judgment Day is real. It cannot be taken out of Christianity, and any attempt to do so, leaves some major gaping holes in the bible.

2. Jesus had a Hell of a Message. If you read Jesus’ words and want to heed them, you can not ignore the fact that he talks about Hell. In fact, no Old Testament prophet or New Testament preacher, is recorded as talking about Hell as much as Jesus. To simply edit those bits out and accept only parts of Jesus’ teaching is to really misrepresent him unfairly. If Jesus truly is from Heaven (as he claimed) then he has the authority on the subject of heaven and hell and whether they exist. Now the exact nature of Hell is debatable in terms of whether it is consciously eternal or not, but Jesus’ warnings are unavoidable. Hell, Jesus says, is real, and it is the destiny of all who do not accept his offer of escape.

3. No Bad News = No Good News. Sometimes people think that the Old Testament gives us a picture of an angry judging God, while the New Testament is all about love and peace. This is true to some extent in that the judgements of God are quite vivid in the Old Testament (10 plagues on Egypt for example), and in the New Testament we are introduced to the greatest expression of God’s love and the wonderful gospel message that offers peace to all the guilty. But it is a grave misunderstanding to say that the judgment of God is swept under the carpet and replaced with a nicer, loving message. The offer of peace only makes sense to a people who are at war with God. The offer of forgiveness and mercy only makes sense to a people who are guilty and under judgement. You can not show mercy to the innocent. The innocent deserve to be acquitted. It is the guilty who need mercy. The “gospel” is the message of Christianity. It literally means “Good News”. It is only in the context of the bad news of the fact that we are under God’s just judgement, that we can receive with joy and gratitude the good news of God’s solution.

 

Now this all seems pretty bleak, but think of it as a diagnosis. When the doctor tells you he has done all the tests and you have cancer, you may be blown away by the bleakness of that news, but very quickly we look to what the doctor is offering as a treatment and if there is any hope. The message of the Bible and the message of Jesus is that our diagnosis is bleak. We have a cancer of the soul. Our sin means that we stand before a holy and perfect God with no way of claiming innocence and no means of “paying God back”. Any good deed we have done is simply a good deed that we should have done in the first place and so does not pay for the thoughts, words and deeds that lead us to be standing before God condemned. And although I use that language as a metaphor, it will also one day be a reality when, as Hebrews 9:27 says, “man is destined to die once and then face judgement”.

I don’t write this to make you feel bad or to scare you. In fact, hopefully hearing about the judgement of God brings some clarity to your experience. This is why you feel distant from God. This is why God seems obscured to you. This is why you may be able to work on your bad habits and behaviour but you can’t change your heart. This is why all you can do with your guilt and shame from the ways you have wronged people, is just to try to forget them or “move on”.

The judgement of God is good news. It tells us that God cares about how we treat people and how people treat us. It means God is not just a dithering old Santa Claus in the sky who gives you presents no matter what. It means God loves justice and goodness and mercy and truth and God will ensure that on the last day all the evil in the history of the world will be shown to be evil and done away with. The judgement of God means that “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) and in the New Creation that God will bring after the Judgement Day, there will be no more pain or sorrow caused by sin and evil. No evil dictator will “get away” with their crimes, no injustice will be left undealt with and all acts of goodness will be finally vindicated. The judgement of God is a good thing.

The problem is of course that if the judgement of God is real and truly just, then we are all screwed. We need some cure for our cancer. We need to be rescued from our bleak situation. We need a Saviour.

 

This is why Jesus came… and this is what “Jesus” means.

After Joseph got the news that his fiance, Mary was going to give birth and that the pregnancy had been caused by God’s Spirit (rather than her sleeping around), he was told by the Angel of the Lord, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” The name Jesus means something. It’s not just something picked out of a baby book. It is a name that God instructed Joseph that he must have because it related to his mission, “he will save his people from their sins”.

The word “Jesus” comes from “Yeshua” (commonly known today as Joshua). Yeshua is derived from two Hebrew words. The “Ye” points to God’s personal name “Yahweh” and the “Shua” points to the hebrew word for “salvation”. So Yeshua (or “Jesus”) literally means God is Salvation. This is why Jesus is called Jesus, because his mission was God’s salvation. And what do we need to be “saved” from? Well, so that we don’t start thinking that we need to be saved from ignorance or lack of motivation or global warming or political oppression, the angel makes it clear… We need to be saved from our sins.

And it is Jesus who makes that salvation possible through living a perfect life that we did not live, dying a torturous death that we should have died, bearing the judgement of God that he did not deserve, and rising back to life in victory to offer us a way of salvation that we could not earn.

God’s King has come, just as was prophesied, but he did not come to judge us all and clean up his creation. If he came to do that, he might have been called Yehoshafat, meaning “God Judges”. But no, he came to give us a way out. He came on a rescue mission. He came to provide the cure. He came to save us. And so he was named, Jesus.

 

What’s in a name? Everything.

Jesus Christ means Saviour King. “Jesus” speaks of his mission. “Christ” speaks of his role. If you like pictures, think of it as two rings. One ring is a life preserver, the other ring is a crown. Jesus Christ is both.

 

If you are exploring Christianity, make sure you at least understand the basics. Don’t fall for counterfeits, even if they offer a more palatable Christianity. If you accept or reject Christianity, at least accept or reject the real deal.

So, if you want to get your head around what real Christianity is, I think you don’t really need to look much further than the name “Jesus Christ”. It tells us who Jesus is and what he was on about. It tells us why he came and what he offers.

Or maybe you’re someone who has, possibly for many years, called yourself a Christian, but you now realise that you haven’t really been one all along. Well, the name “Jesus Christ” also tells us us how we are to respond to him. Not simply as a wise teacher, or a good example to follow. We must respond to who he really is. Our rightful king and our only hope for salvation.

 

 

“It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead,
that this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.
Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:10-12


“These are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name”

John 20:31

 

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October 13 2011

How God proves his existence

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The call to prove God’s existence is a common challenge put to Christians. And fair enough. If you told me there was a world-wide flood going to wipe me away and my only hope for survival was to leave everything I knew and get into this giant boat sitting in the middle of a field, I would probably ask for some proof that you were right, and not just crazy. Especially, if I couldn’t see any growing storm clouds or at least, if I had never experienced a flood. The request for proof is understandable. However, at times, it is still foolish. There may be a flood coming and the fact that you can’t see the clouds and you lack experience of floods, doesn’t change reality. You just may be blind, or inexperienced.

So the question remains. If requiring proof of God’s existence is understandable, then how does God meet that basic need?

IS PROOF RELEVANT?

Some Christians make the point that you can’t really prove anything and so the expectation of proof is unrealistic. If you required scientific 100% proof for every decision, you wouldn’t do anything. You wouldn’t sit on a chair because you couldn’t prove it won’t break, you wouldn’t eat food because you couldn’t prove it wasn’t laced with poisonous iocane powder, etc. Basically, day to day, we live by faith. But it’s not blind uninformed faith. It’s faith in our experience and faith in what people tell us and faith in our understanding of the world. We make decisions based on what we are convinced of. And so, for all intents and purposes, that is what most people mean when they say they want “proof” of God.

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There are some hard-core atheists that expect that Christians should provide scientific proof of God’s existence and acknowledge that even if all the weight of the evidence pointed towards God’s existence, they would still reject the idea of a God, simply because if there is any other possible explanation then that is preferable (I have heard Peter Singer express this view). This sort of blind commitment to atheism is to me a complete rejection of logic, science and common sense and in the end, a lot more “religious” than the most committed fundamentalist there is.

So should we throw out the word “proof” altogether? Well, I don’t think so. It’s such a part of our cultural language. If you want to return clothes you have to provide “proof of purchase”. If you want to buy alcohol you have to show “proof of age”. If you want to get a passport you need “proof of ID”. If you go to court you are innocent until “proven” guilty. Maybe we just have to think about the way we define “proof” and see if we can apply that to the existence of God.

PROOF #1 – JESUS’ RESURRECTION

I started thinking about writing this blog after I remembered how the bible uses the term “proof”. In Acts 1:3 it says, “After his suffering, [Jesus] showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” and then in Acts 17:31 “For [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

Both of these passages refer to the resurrection of Jesus as the clearest and most convincing proof of God. The resurrection vindicates all that Jesus taught about himself and about God and is the best evidence for the reality of God and the truth of the gospel. Many philosophers and theologians, both secular and Christian, have realized that the historical truth of the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity. If it didn’t happen, then Christianity completely falls apart, but the fact that it did happen proves Christianity is true.

Now this is clearly not the sort of proof that a scientist would consider valid. It is not reproducible and therefore can not be tested. It happened once, but if it truly did happen then once is enough. The resurrection is such an unbelievable event that Jesus knew that his disciples needed proof of its reality. He showed himself to them and allowed them to physically touch him and see him interact with physical things (like eating fish) to prove that he was physically and tangibly alive. This was proof to them and the message that Jesus was alive was the driving force behind the explosion of Christianity in the first century. All of the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus went to their graves (mostly through murder and execution) professing that the resurrection was a true event.

This event happened. The proof that it happened was shown to the disciples by Jesus himself. They in turn wrote down their eyewitness account for us to read and be convinced by. Now this may not sound like a convincing proof to you but it’s like the question, “Can a man walk on the moon?”

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Think about that question. How would you answer it? Most likely you would say “yes”. But if someone asked you to prove it you would point to the fact that man has indeed walked on the moon. Six times in fact. The first time was in 1969 and the last time was in 1972. That’s the proof. It’s happened. The answer to “can man walk on the moon?” is yes.
But why do you believe that it happened? For many (including myself) all six moon landings happened before I was born, and even if they happened when I was born, I didn’t experience it myself. The idea that man could walk on the moon is absolutely crazy and unbelievable, and yet most of us (other than the rare conspiracy theorist) believe that it 100% happened purely on the basis of the reliability on the account. We read the eyewitness accounts of the astronauts, we see the photos, we watch the video, we listen to the famous words, “that’s one small step for man…” and we are convinced. No matter how unbelievable it may seem, we can confidently say that man can walk on the moon and it has been proven.

I hope you can see where I’m going with this example. I think in the same way that we can say man has walked on the moon, we can say that Jesus rose from the dead and therefore his teaching and message about the reality of God and everything else are reliable. We believe that Jesus’ resurrection has been proved by his appearances and interactions with his disciples who then went on to proclaim and record their eyewitness account of that fact. Their account is still available to us in the gospels and in the book of Acts, and it is just as reliable today as it was when they wrote it. Now some may try to argue against the reliability of the gospel accounts, but I recommend you research the topic yourself to see that they weight of evidence greatly points to their reliability (check out “The Christ Files” if you’re interested). Either way, the issue then becomes “are the accounts of the proof of the resurrection reliable”, not “is there any proof of the resurrection”. The proof is there. Like the moon landings, the resurrection happened. You can either disbelieve the accounts or you can accept them for what they are – reliable records of historical events.

Now, although the resurrection is the primary proof of God that there is, there are also two more proofs which we can personally experience that do not rely on a historical record.

PROOF #2 – EXPERIENCING GOD

The first is the experience of the Christian themselves. Now I admit that this proof is not convincing for those who aren’t Christians who are looking for proof of God before they choose Christ or not, but that doesn’t make it any less of a proof. It simply means that it’s a proof for an audience of one, which incidentally, the person asking for proof is an audience of one and often they aren’t asking that you prove God’s existence on a global universal scale. They’re just asking you to prove it to them, and so the subjective, outwardly untestable, personally experienced proof is just as satisfactory.

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It’s like the old saying, “the proof is in the pudding”. This is actually a misquote. The original full saying is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. This makes more sense. It’s saying the reality of the pudding – it’s temperature, taste, whether it’s laced with iocane powder, etc – can only be proven when it is eaten. You could put it through the lab and test it with every scientific instrument, but the best proof of the pudding is in the eating.

This is true for God as well. I can’t speak of other Christians experience, but my experience of God is so real and tangible that it is the greatest reason why I don’t doubt the existence of God. I see and sense God’s daily interaction with me, I experience his guidance, his comfort, his joy and his strength. I notice his leadings as he directs me in life and I know through and through when I am stubbornly working against his Spirit. God’s presence is so real to me, and has been from the very day I gave my life to following and trusting Jesus, I can not deny the reality of my experience. It can be a very hard experience to explain or describe to those who do not have a relationship with Jesus, but those who have responded to the gospel often know exactly what I mean with no need for explanation.

It’s very much like trying to explain colour to a blind person. There is no language that can communicate it and there are no proofs that can convince the blind person that colour exists (other than the proof of a reliable account as mentioned earlier). You can’t prove colour to the blind, but if a blind person receives the gift of sight and looks around then you won’t need to prove colour. Colour will prove itself to the individual.

Is the proof that this person experiences any less valid simply because it can not be tested by blind people? Of course not! In some ways, my experience of God is like that. I wish my non-Christian friends and family members could experience God in the way I do. If they did, it would make believing in God’s existence a given rather than a possible option, and all arguments about which position is more logical completely null and void. As the great evangelist Billy Graham said, “I can tell you that God is alive because I talked to him this morning”.

A clear place where the Bible uses this sort of argument is in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, where Paul says,
“If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

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The terrifying reality if you do not see or experience any “proof” of God, is that you may be blind and perishing in your blindness, and it will take God to shine his light in your heart, remove the “veil” that blinds you and give you “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” If you realize that you are in this position and you are seeking God, but you just can’t see him, then I encourage you to ask him to remove your blindness, like blind Bartemaeus in Mark 10:46-52, call out to Jesus and say, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Maybe Jesus will be merciful and reveal himself to you, giving you every bit of proof that you need.

Now, I realize a problem here. If you don’t see proof that God exists, then how can you call on God to take away your blindness. It seems a convenient argument that anyone could use. Someone could say, “Oh, you would believe in the Mighty Chicken God if you weren’t blind to his glory. Pray and ask the Chicken God to reveal himself.” Now, I’m not going to pray to a giant invisible chicken just on the possibility that he exists and the fear that I might be missing out on something if I don’t pray to him, so I don’t expect anyone else to pray to Jesus if they’re in the same position.

My encouragement is not to the person who can’t see anything, but to the one that God is already working with. God begins to remove the veil and open our eyes, and we start to see things of God and if you are in that position then I encourage you to work with God, rather than against him. Hebrews 3:7 (quoting Psalm 95) says that the Spirit of God is calling to people saying, “If today you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”. If you hear him, then respond. If you do, you will experience the proof of God that only those who know Jesus can experience. Like the kid covered in chocolate pudding, you will be able to know for yourself the words of Psalm 34:8,
“Taste and see that the Lord is good!”

But what if you don’t hear his voice? What if you can’t see the glory of God in the face of Christ? Is there no experiential “proof” for this person? Will God’s existence ever be proved to them?

Well, the reality is, not in this lifetime.

PROOF #3 – DEATH

Scientist are often looking for experiments that are reproducible in order to prove something. Well, when it comes to God, there is one experiment like that. It’s called death. Every person who has died has without fail, come face to face with God, proving in the most real way possible that he exists. It is an experiment that is reproducible and it will work every time. If you want me to prove that God exists, then all I have to do is say, “Sure, no problem. Just die.” You may not be very obliging, but that matters very little seeing as you’re mortal and will one day partake in the experiment whether you like it or not. As Paul writes in Romans 14:10-12,
“We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: `As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
and in Hebrews 9:27 it says,
“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

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Everyone will stand before God, either as his friend or his enemy. Either forgiven or still under judgement. Everyone will see and know that God is real. The proof will be in the pudding for everyone. Of course, like my last point, this “proof” has a problem as well. The problem isn’t that some can experience it and others can’t – everyone will experience this one – the problem is obviously that on this side of death, we can’t access the results of the experiment. What we really need is someone to have died (really died, rather than just had a near-death experience) and then come back to life so that they can set the record straight about life and God and everything else. Of course, they would have to show us convincing proofs that they had actually risen from the dead, and then we would have to have some reliable record of what this person said so that all people for all time could know the proof that God exists as well…

Gee, that would be sweet…

CONCLUSION

In the end, this blog is not written to non-Christians who are looking for proof of God. It is written to Christians, who have for the most part, gotten into the habit of avoided using the word “proof” when it comes to God. Or, on the other hand, Christians focus on all the evidence in nature and science to show proofs of God. As much as I think that all those are wonderful evidences for God, I don’t think they are good enough. They are not proof.

In my life there are only three major proofs of God: The resurrection of Jesus, my own taste of God’s goodness and the experience of meeting your Maker when you die. One is in the past, one is in the present and the last one is in the future.

I hope you see and experience the first two, before you experience the third.

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October 9 2011

iWaste – a reflection on Steve Jobs

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Today I saw on the front page of the Saturday Age, an reference to the Insight article on the life and death of Apple genius, Steve Jobs. It caught my eye because of the heading, “The Man Who Changed Mankind”. Now, to be sure, his creations have changed many ways that many people communicate in the West and across the globe. I own an iPhone, I am writing this blog on my iPad and earlier today I was looking at buying an iMac. Steve Jobs has definitely impacted my life.
But “changed mankind?” I know it’s just sensationalist journalism, but I think it does reflect how impressed the world was with Steve Jobs.

Steve had everything the world values: Friends, family, money, power, creativity, intelligence, perseverance, moral values, respect and a legacy that effected the world. He was truly “successful” in every way that the world defines that word.

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And yet with all his success he still had no power over when his time was up. He had everything that people are working so hard to achieve, and yet, in the end, he still died and all his success is snuffed out like a candle. Like every other person who has died before him, he died and met his Maker – a Maker that he didn’t believe in and a Maker that was in no way prepared to meet.

Jesus famously said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Sadly, Steve Jobs is a perfect example of that man. All of his wealth and success and global impact meant absolutely nothing when he stood before God to be judged. God was not impressed with all of the gadgets Steve has helped to create. He was not won over by Steve’s cleverness or intelligence or even whatever level of moral character he had. In the end, Steve stood before God simply as a human being with nothing in his hands other than all of his debt to God. Steve was judged by God not based on human materialistic standard, but on his holy standards based on how he lived up to the ultimate purpose and duty of a creature who is made in the image of God: Whether he loved God with all his mind and soul and strength, and whether he loved his neighbour as he loved himself.

Not just because he didn’t believe in Jesus and denied God’s existence, but like all of us, Steve’s life fell very short from God’s standard and he would have no excuse before a God who sees all and knows all.

Now in this way, Steve is just like all of us. As Paul writes in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The saddest thing is that Steve stood before God with no way of turning aside God’s judgement. He had no way of appealing. No argument for mercy. No hope for salvation. He did not know nor respond to the amazing and unique provision that God has provided for humans who find themselves facing death and judgement.

God came to earth 2,000 years ago in the man Jesus to specifically deal with this great problem that we all face. He lived the perfect life that we all should live and then he died a unique death. It was unique because in his death he didn’t face any judgement for his own sin (seeing as he didn’t have any sin to be judged). Instead he bore in his death the great judgement that is reserved for us. He took all our punishment and guilt and sinfulness and died so that those that put their trust in him would be able to stand before God with no judgement left. For those who turn to Jesus and trust in him, all of the judgement of God has been exhausted. This is the one and only hope that any human has to be able to meet their Maker and be welcomed into his kingdom. It truly is amazing that God would go to such lengths to make it possible for us to enjoy something that we don’t deserve, but that is what he has done and Jesus is the one and only way to receive it.

Sadly, unless Steve Jobs experienced some form of last minute conversion that no one knows about, I don’t think he went to meet God with any such hope.

All of his efforts in life were in vain. Like the book of Ecclesiastes so repeatedly says, all of his success was meaningless, like a vapour or wisp of smoke that comes and then disappears from vaporizers at https://www.grasscity.com/vaporizers/. No matter how impressive he may have seemed by our petty standard, ultimately his life was wasted.

The bible has lots to say about making sure we don’t waste our lives in the same way and I hope that we all heed God’s warning. I will leave you with these powerful and harrowing words from a story Jesus told in Luke 12:16-21…

Jesus told them this parable:
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, `What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, `This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘
But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.

(This blog is dedicated to my friend and brother in Christ, Ben Mason, who died recently. He did not share the global success that Steve Jobs experienced. He was not wealthy or famous and no one other than a group of people even knew he existed. His life has come and gone and the world will not remember him. But he was a man that knew and trusted in Jesus, and because of that it makes all the difference. Because he was a Christian he stood before God as a man forgiven and innocent. Because he was a Christian all of heaven welcomed him and he could enjoy life with God forever. He was a man who had not gained the whole world, but in gaining Jesus, he saved his soul rather than lost it.)

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Ben, we will remember you and we look forward to catching up with you later.

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