True Claims

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

-   Titus 1:16

Let’s get straight to the point. Is this verse talking about you? The context here is the apostle Paul writing to Titus. He is talking about a specific group of Jewish leaders who he calls “liars, evil beasts, and gluttonous”. These are people that claim to know God! They claim to serve him and be a “Christian” (though that term was not used at the time) and yet Paul describes them in this way.

How would Paul describe you? Would he describe you as someone who claims to know God and yet doesn’t act like it? Would he describe you as detestable and unfit to be a part of anything that might be labeled “good”? That is straight up harsh…but it was true of the Jewish leaders Paul is referring to.

If you claim to know God and are living in a way that says you don’t then you have a problem. If you claim the name of Jesus but no one could tell from looking at you that there is something different, then you have a problem. If you claim that you are following God and serving him but your actions are completely focused on you, then you have a problem.

Jesus changes people! A genuine encounter with someone as beautiful and powerful as Jesus Christ will not leave a person unchanged. There is nothing so overwhelming and life-changing as a face-to-face rendezvous our King. Do not become like the Jewish leaders of Crete that Paul is talking about. Do not claim to know God if you have not been changed. Instead, seek this change and never stop seeking it because Jesus will never stop seeking after you. Only a pure and true encounter with Jesus can change our very nature to the point where we finally gain the courage to stop worshipping ourselves and begin to worship the King. 

Mind Control

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

            - Romans 12:2

What does it mean to renew your mind? Wipe everything clean and start all over tabula rosa style? Scripture hammers home this idea of renewing our minds. So often in Christianity we tend to make everything an issue of “the heart”. What’s the difference in your heart and your mind in Christianity? That is a good question and one that you ought to think about. But what does it really mean to renew our minds? What’s wrong with our minds?

Here’s what’s wrong with our minds: we are sinful, broken people who have corrupt minds and thoughts. Everything about you, apart from Christ, is sinful. Our nature is sinful. It’s an internal part of who we are that only Christ can change. Our thoughts are grotesque and repulsive. What would we do if someone played a DVD of all our thoughts we’ve ever had in church on Sunday morning? We would run out and never show our face there again. Our minds need to be renewed.

Your mind, even if you are a Christian, is crucial to your faith and belief. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. What does it mean to take our thoughts captive? You have control over your thoughts to a certain extent. Yes, the enemy, Satan, influences your thoughts. Your mind is where he gets you. He attacks your head, your thoughts, and your mind. You have control over your mind but you’re letting the enemy use your mind to destroy you. You just are. Through Christ we have been set free…don’t forfeit your freedom and healing by letting the devil get a foothold in your mind. You have to choose not to believe the lies that Satan is telling you. You have to immerse yourself in truth, God’s truth. You have to plant truth mines in your mind so that when Satan tries to break his way in, he gets blown up along with his lies.

Our minds need renewing. We are sinful, broken people with filthy grotesque minds that need cleansing. Satan attacks our thoughts. That is a bad combination. It is essential that we are perpetually immersing ourselves in God’s truth so that our minds can be renewed by the Holy Spirit. 

Understanding Why: Part II

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

-  Luke 24:25-27

In the last post, we examined this verse and saw that unless you understand why Jesus had to come, die, and be resurrected, you are “foolish and slow to believe”. We see from Jesus’ words that it is not a story that begins with Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. The story begins in the Old Testament and is told throughout ALL of scripture.

From beginning the story has always been about God. Humanity is never the focus of the story and if you read through scripture focusing on humanity, then you are going to miss the bigger picture. When you closely examine every ounce of the Old Testament you will find that it is all about God, his faithfulness, his compassion, and his unrelenting love for his people. The Old Testament tells a story of God’s creating man, man’s running from God, and God pursuing man anyway, God loving them anyway. It is one big game of hide and seek that God refuses to quit playing. The OT prophets and teachings all point toward God and the coming of the Savior that all humanity needs because of the sin that is so rampantly displayed by all people, especially God’s chosen.

This Savior was born in Bethlehem. His name was Jesus. His birth and life split history into two parts. He changed everything. He saved everything. Jesus is both fully God and fully human. Because God is a loving God, he must also judge. You cannot have a loving God without a just God. The wages of sin is death and humanity deserves judgment for their sin. Every single person, as highlighted in the Old and New Testaments, deserves judgment and hell. Because God loves humanity, he must also judge humanity. But he God loves humanity SO much that he sent Jesus to take our place, to bear the sin of all history. Jesus came to die. He took the punishment that we deserve. He was beaten, ridiculed, and crucified in your place. Someone had to suffer. We deserve it, and yet Jesus suffered in our place out of inexplicable love for all of humanity. But the story doesn’t end with his death. Jesus comes back to life having conquered death and sin through his resurrection. Not only did he take our punishment, he rose victorious over sin and death and entered into his glory! He defeated the sin of all humanity and made it obsolete through his saving grace. THAT is why the Messiah, Jesus, had to suffer these things and then enter into his glory. And the beautiful part for us is that through Jesus we may also enter into his glory.

Understanding why Jesus came is what the Gospel is all about it. It isn’t about you and it isn’t about me. It isn’t about humans getting to go to heaven or being a good person. It is about God and his incredible love for us in spite of ourselves. God has done everything, but he still requires repentance of humanity. Repentance means turning away from our sin and turning toward God. In order for full reconciliation and restoration to occur, we must acknowledge that we are broken and we cannot fix ourselves. We are completely consumed in and by the sin that Jesus died for until we come running to him confessing that we cannot do it on our own and that we need him to save us. And the beautiful thing is that heaven explodes with celebration when we realize our brokenness and need for a Savior. This is the Gospel story.

This is the shortest possible version of the story. If you want to know the full story then please let me know and I would be glad to do my best help you work through that. If you have any questions or comments or push backs then please feel free to comment or send me a message/email. 

Understanding Why: Part I

So often we hear phrases like “Well, I believe that Jesus died and came back to life, but it doesn’t really mean anything.” Or, “Yes I know Jesus died and came back to life and I believe that it happened with all my heart.” Some of you may not be saying it but you are absolutely thinking it. You believe that Jesus died and was resurrected and yet in reality, you do not get it. Simply believing that Jesus was the Son of God who was crucified and raised from the dead doesn’t mean anything unless you understand why. Even the demons believe that. You have to know why Jesus came, died, and was resurrected.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus appears to some travelers after he has been raised from the dead. They are prevented from recognizing him and begin to talk with him. The men say how they really had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel, and yet he was killed, so how could that be true? This is Jesus’ response:

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

-   Luke 24:25-27

Side note: the Gospel story does not begin in the New Testament. There is a reason that the Bible has two parts. What did Jesus do? He started at the very beginning and showed them the beauty of the full Gospel story through “all the Scriptures”. What else does he say? “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” What Jesus is saying here is “Seriously? You guys don’t get it? Don’t you realize why the Messiah had to die and then enter his glory?” (That’s my paraphrase) We need to not only understand that the story of Jesus death and resurrection is true, we must also understand why Jesus died and was resurrected. If you do not truly understand why it was necessary for Jesus to come and die for our sin, then you do not know the true Gospel.

(Part II will explain the why?)

Jesus > Sin

We all struggle with guilt and shame over our past sin or even sin that we are living in now. We all struggle with truly allowing ourselves to be cleansed by Jesus’ blood. We allow ourselves to be tricked by our minds, our own worst enemy, into thinking that there is no way that we can possibly be cleansed. We let guilt from the enemy rule our lives and define the way that we see ourselves. We let the lies of evil penetrate our minds and allow those lies to torment us.

Colossians 3:3-4 says: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Those of us who follow Christ are no longer slaves to sin. Our old sinful selves have died and been buried. The past is covered by Christ and has been hidden from sight by the grace of God so that we no longer dwell in the consequences of our sin. We have been set free in the life of Christ who came and conquered sin and death. Our new life is Christ and when he appears in his glory, we too will appear with him in glory.

Christ’s sacrifice for us brought us out of our enslavement to sin and set us free to share in his glory. We have been sanctified and justified through his grace and our faith. When God looks at one of his followers he no longer sees us, he sees us through Jesus. Jesus came to be all that we could never be and lived a perfect, sinless life so that he could bear the weight of our sin. By doing so, he conquered sin and set us free so that we are now able to be saved by his grace alone and nothing that we have done. When he looks at his followers he no longer sees depraved, destitute rotting creatures, he sees us draped in Jesus’ glory with no fault or sin. Jesus’ paid the price so that we can appear with Christ in his glory.