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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

Should we close the church for the coronavirus?

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“Please don’t come to Mongolia.” I have been asked to visit many countries, but Mongolia’s the only place I’ve been asked to avoid. In 2003 I was heading to Ulaanbaatar for a church conference. I was packed, I had my visa, but at the last minute the organizers asked me to stay home. Why? Because I was from Hong Kong, ground zero for the deadly SARS outbreak. The SARS virus actually originated in China. But an infected doctor came across the border, passed the virus to tourists staying at the Metropole Hotel, and those travelers carried the virus to 26 nations. By the time the virus burned out, nearly 800 people had died. It was a scary time for Hong Kong. Everyone wore masks. A colleague working three floors beneath my office caught the bug. Companies and schools closed down. As a pastor, I had to ask an important question: Should we close the church for the duration of the outbreak? Many pastors are facing the same decision today in regards to the coronavirus. They are getting calls and texts from concerned Christians suggesting they close doors and cancel services. What should they do? At the time of the SARS [...]

E2R turns ten, and a free book for you!

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Ten years ago today I wrote an article called “Whose medicine are you taking? The dangers of taking scripture out of context.” I used this article to launch a brand new blog called Escape to Reality (E2R). Five hundred articles, 30,000 comments, and nearly 10 million page views later…

I’m kinda blown away by how this thing unfolded. Surely people are hungry for good news.

E2R is ten years old today. To celebrate our anniversary, I want to give you a free book!

• If you are an email subscriber, grab yourself a free copy of Letters from Jesus. (Link visible in email only.)

• If you are not a subscriber, sign up today and you’ll instantly get FOUR free ebooks

• If you are a pastor or church leader, join us in the Pastors’ Lounge and get a free copy of The Hypergrace Gospel

Enjoy your new book(s)!

The last ten years have been an adventure, but we’re only just getting started. We have not begun to scratch the surface of all that God has in store for us.

What’s coming next? God has given me a great big dream – a moonshot, if you will. If you want to know what’s in store, check out my audacious plan for the coming decade.

Let me take this opportunity to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to all of you who have shared the journey, particularly if you have taken the time to comment on or share my articles.

And special thanks to E2R’s awesome patrons and supporters. Your continued generosity makes giveaways like these possible.

Grace and peace,
Paul

Ten birthday candles: E2R’s most inflammatory articles

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Escape to Reality is turning ten next week! To mark the occasion I could list the ten most popular articles, but that would be boring. I’d rather list the ten most inflammatory articles, the ones that lit a fire and got people talking. Think of these as ten candles atop the cake of nostalgia. 10. The Christchurch Earthquake: Four questions Christians can answer After my hometown was flattened by an earthquake in 2011, some said God was judging the city for its sins. Apparently Jesus’ sacrifice was insufficient. God deals with our sins by dispensing death and destruction. Of course this was nonsense, and I wanted to offer an alternative narrative. Sadly, I don’t think I made much of an impact which is why I found myself apologizing five years later. 9. Why did Jerusalem fall? Back in 2014 I wrote a short article explaining that God did not destroy the city that Jesus loved. I was immediately contacted by a well-known preterist. He wanted to know if I was attacking his ministry. Er, no. I replied. Who are you again? And what’s a preterist? At the time I didn’t even know what the word preterist meant. But that reaction [...]

The whole meaning of holiness

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One of the reasons why we don’t walk in the freedom that the gospel brings, is that we have changed the meaning of words. We have made beautiful words ugly and turned truth into lies. We tell ourselves that we are doing what the Bible says, but since we have redefined words in the Bible, we are fooling ourselves. For instance, well tell ourselves that repentance means turning from sin. (It doesn’t.) Or that confession means reviewing my mistakes. (Wrong again.) So we review our mistakes and turn from sin until we’re blue in the face and then wonder why nothing’s changed. Holiness is another word that comes to us mangled by the machinery of religion. We’ve heard that holiness means avoiding sin or being set apart, but that’s not what holiness is. It’s not that those definitions are entirely wrong; they are just not quite right. Like defining light as the absence of darkness or wealth as the absence of poverty, we have missed the essence of the thing. Holiness means wholeness. To say “God is holy” is to refer to the wholeness, fullness, beauty, and abundant life that overflows within the Godhead. God lacks nothing. He is unbroken, [...]

Jesus, The First Champion of Women

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In the church we have a good appreciation of what Jesus did for us, but we don’t really understand all he did for women. If we did, you can be sure we would treat them better than we do. In my last article in this series, I introduced the idea that Jesus empowered women. In this article I want to highlight two radical things Jesus did for women: he spoke to them and he defended them. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it should be. Men, if your mother, wife, and daughters get the respect they deserve, you can thank Jesus. Ladies, if you are treated with decency, give all credit to the Lord. Because he was the first. Jesus spoke to women When the disciples found Jesus chatting with the woman at the well, they were astonished (John 4:27). This was because in Biblical times, as in some societies today, women were not supposed to talk to men who weren’t their husbands. It was a bad look, suggestive of an inappropriate relationship. The Jewish Sages discouraged women from talking to men (“you’ll look like an adulterer”) and they discouraged men from talking to women [...]

Why did Jesus send letters to angels?

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People sometimes dismiss the letters to the Seven Churches because they were addressed to angels. “To the angel of the church in Ephesus; to the angel of the church in Smyrna,” etc. It sounds weird, a bit mystical. Don’t angels live in heaven? Why would Jesus send mail to angels? He didn’t. At least not to those sorts of angels. Here’s what really happened: The Apostle John had a vision. Jesus told John to record the vision in a book and then send that book along with some letters to “the seven churches that are in Asia” (Rev. 1:4). This is not the Asia we know, but the Roman Province that was situated on the western end of the Anatolian peninsula in modern Turkey. The letters were for the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 1:11). Why these seven churches? What did they have in common? John probably knew them all. Having lived in Ephesus and traveled around the region, he would have been well acquainted with the challenges facing each one. Look at the map of the seven cities and you will see that the order of the letters begins with Ephesus, the city [...]

Merry Christmas from the Shaky Isles

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As you may have heard, one of New Zealand’s many volcanoes erupted last week killing more than a dozen tourists plus a couple of local tour guides. It was a tragedy and a reminder that our time on earth is short. So make the most of it this Christmas. Treasure your families. Make memories. Live fully. Love deeply. Tell your kids about Jesus, who remains the Reason for the Season. This year has been a challenging and shaky one for us. But we come to the end of it full of gratitude and hope, knowing God is our solid rock in uncertain times. And because of his unchanging faithfulness, we are confident that the coming year will be awesome. What’s in store for 2020? Here are three things to look forward to: 1. March 28, 2020. If you’re in New Zealand, keep this date free for the official book launch of The Chocolate Gospel. And as we never had an official launch for Letters from Jesus, we’ll include that one too. 2. The Women’s Book. (Sorry, I don’t have a better title yet.) I am super-excited about this one. Draft chapters for my next book are already going up on [...]

How did Jesus empower women?

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When Jesus walked the earth, gender inequality was so entrenched in Jewish society that an adulteress could be stoned without trial and men could divorce their wives for just about any reason at all.

In a nation of God-fearing and moral men, women were considered little more than property. They were servants whose place was in the kitchen or the field. Some of the religious leaders taught that women were ignorant, yet there was no point teaching them anything because they were also inferior. They had weak minds to go with their feeble bodies. Since they were also untrustworthy chatterboxes, their testimony had little value in a court of law.

Then along came Jesus.

Jesus encountered all sorts of women, both good and bad, yet he never criticized them or spoke down to them. He never said they were unreliable or inferior to men. In stark contrast with the religious leaders of the day, he spoke to women, he touched them, and he revealed the love of God to them. In doing this Jesus provided us with a prophetic picture of the kingdom come.

For the past few months, I have been writing a book about women in the church. It’ll come out mid-2020. In this book I tackle all sorts of questions such as, what is God’s plan for women? Should women stay silent in church? And were women created to serve?

My favorite chapter in the book is entitled, How did Jesus empower women? The full chapter is available on Patreon. Here’s a taste…

In first-century Israel, women could not enter the best parts of the temple and they had to sit apart in the synagogue, hidden behind a curtain or balcony. This religious segregation conveyed an unholy message: men have the inside track when it comes to God. If women wanted to draw near to God, they needed a male priest to show the way. If they displeased the priest on account of their sin or inferior womanliness, they would never encounter the grace of God.

Then Jesus came preaching a message of unrestricted access and inviting all to draw near to God. “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The Jewish religion had strict worthiness tests regarding who could approach God, but the only qualification Jesus listed was weariness. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me” (MSG).

Again and again Jesus reminded his listeners that he was not looking to recruit a select group of high performers. “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). The Law of Moses specified that only certain men from a certain tribe with certain characteristics could minister before the Lord, but Jesus offered no restrictions. He would receive anyone who came to him, whether male or female, young or old. “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37).

Jesus not only preached a message of universal acceptance, he preached it in places where those who had been rejected by religion were most likely to hear it.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” (John 7:37)

Jesus said this in the temple, but whereabouts in the temple did Jesus teach? The answer to this question is fascinating because it demonstrate the indiscriminate nature of Christ’s message.

The temple of Jerusalem was divided into courts. The inner court was called the Court of Israel, the outer court was the Court of Gentiles, and separating these two courts was the Court of the Women. As these names suggest, anyone could walk in the outer court, but only Jewish men could enter the inner court. In which courts did Jesus teach? In all of them.

When Jesus sat outside the treasury making remarks about widows and their mites (see Mark 12:41), he was sitting in the Women’s Court, because that’s where the treasury was located. When he debated with the Pharisees and religious leaders, he was in the Court of Israel, because that’s where religious men hung out. When Jesus overturned the tables, he was in the Court of the Gentiles, because that’s where the money changers and sacrificial animals were kept.

The religious leaders would never have taught in the Courts of the Gentiles and Women, but Jesus did because he wanted everyone to know how much God loves us.

It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” (John 6:45a)

Jesus liked to quote the prophets who foresaw an end to gender discrimination. Jeremiah, for instance, foresaw an end to the old ways where men taught only their neighbors and brothers, and a new way where all would know the Lord, “from the least of them (i.e., women and children) to the greatest of them” (Jer. 31:34).

Before Jesus, the message for women was, “You are not worthy, stay back.” But Jesus proclaimed a better message: “Your heavenly Father loves you, draw near.”

It was the dawn of a new day for the downtrodden daughters of Eve.

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Let’s get hypergrace into the dictionary

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The English language has about 200,000 words, yet one word is missing from the dictionary. That word is hypergrace.

Why don’t we change that? Why don’t we put hypergrace into the dictionary?

Hypergrace is an important word. It’s a unique word. It’s a word many of us love and many more of us have used. Consider these numbers:

  • books about hypergrace: 40 (Amazon)
  • videos on hypergrace: nearly 10,000 (Google)
  • articles on hypergrace: gazillions (Google)

A word that has gained so much traction ought to be officially recognized. Right?

Ten years ago, no one was talking about hypergrace. Now it has become a shibboleth for the Christian community. If you’ve heard about it, chances are you have an opinion about it.

Grace like snow

If the Eskimos have 20 words for snow, we ought to have at least one word to describe the extreme and radical grace of God. We need a word to capture what the Apostle Paul had in mind when writing about the abundance of God’s grace (literally super-grace) in Romans 5:17 or his abounding grace (literally hyper-super-grace) in Romans 5:20.

Abounding?! Is that the best we can do? God’s grace is so much more than that. At least it was when Paul wrote about it.

The grace of a limitless God is extreme, super-abounding, and over the top. His hypergrace exceeds your wildest dreams.

So why isn’t this word in the dictionary? Are we trying to minimize the grace of God? Are we embarrassed by the riches of his grace? Do we not want people to know how much God loves them and how amazing his grace really is?

Back in July I submitted “hypergrace” to the Oxford English Dictionary. So far I’ve heard nothing back. (I shared the story with patrons.) But this is the OED we’re talking about. They take years to make decisions.

Not so the Urban Dictionary. I submitted hypergrace on Monday and got an acceptance from the editors within 10 minutes. Check it out here, and give it some upvotes!

I have also submitted hypergrace to several other dictionaries where it is pending review. More on that below.

How to get a word into the dictionary

To submit a new word to a dictionary, you have to provide a simple definition of that word. You also have to show how the word can be used in a sentence. This is what I came up with:

Word: hypergrace

Definition (short): God’s super-abounding favor

Definition (long): The extreme favor of God that extends over, beyond, and above what you can conceive or imagine (source: The Hyper-Grace Gospel, p.12)

Use it in a sentence:

  • The cross of Jesus demonstrates the hypergrace of God.
  • The hypergrace gospel is the revelation of Jesus.
  • The hypergrace gospel says all the blessings of God come to us freely as gifts.

What do you think of my definition of hypergrace? Can you come up with a sharper one? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts.

What next?

I have submitted hypergrace to six dictionaries. If you believe hypergrace should be in the dictionary, head on over to the following dictionaries and search for it. Words that get searched for get recognized.

If you can think of a dictionary I missed, feel free to submit the word yourself, then let me know about it below. I’ll add your dictionary to the list above.

The hypergrace of God was no secret to the Greek speakers of the New Testament, and it shouldn’t be a secret today. Let’s inject some good news into our language. Let’s encourage the guardians of our lexicons to embrace a big beautiful word that means so much to so many.

Spread the word.

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Escape to Reality is entirely reader-funded. Join us? Support E2R on Patreon (USD) or Donorbox (other currencies) today.

The test of a king

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In recent articles I have explained how every believer is called to be a king – to exercise kingly authority and live from the abundant provision of God’s supply.

Paul said those who receive grace and righteousness will reign in life (Rom. 5:17). So the test of a king—your sword in the stone, if you like—is whether you have taken hold of the Lord’s righteousness. If you don’t receive it you won’t reign. You will toil like Adam and curse what God has blessed. Even though you are free in Christ, you won’t live free. You will bear the heavy yoke of manmade religion and become easy prey for the spirit of intimidation. You will come under the demonic control of others. Something like this happened in Peter’s life.

Dinner for schmucks

Peter had a revelation that Christ died for all people and not just the Jews. This revelation changed him. As he allowed the heart of Christ to be revealed in his own life, Peter began to accept Gentiles even to the point of eating with them.

However, when certain men from James came to Antioch, Peter drew back from the Gentiles in fear. He separated himself because he was unsure of his righteousness. “Am I right? Maybe I’m not. Those Judaizers look the business. They’ve got titles. They’ve got theology and a list of scriptures explaining why I am wrong. I had better listen to them.” Instead of standing up for the Gentiles like a king, Peter stood with the critics like a schmuck and Paul rebuked him for it (see Gal. 2:11–13).

The strange thing about Peter’s behavior is that he should have known better. God accepts people from every nation and Peter knew this. God had given him a dramatic rooftop vision featuring animals and sheets that somehow made everything clear (see Acts 10:9–28).

But when push came to shove, Peter abdicated his kingly role and took himself out of the game. He feared those of the circumcision group because they were more confident of their self-righteousness than he was of his righteousness in Christ Jesus.

The source of our confidence

Kings are confident and that confidence comes from knowing you are righteous with the righteousness that comes from God. When you know that God has made you righteous and that he loves you, accepts you, and is well pleased with you, it changes everything. You no longer hang back on the fringes of the kingdom like a fraud and you no longer tolerate the grace-killing lies of religion. You begin to reign. You begin to walk and talk like a child of the Most High. You begin to live out your destiny.

You don’t need to go to King School to become a king. You just need to see yourself as your Father sees you. You need to receive in your heart what he has said, act on it, and leave the results to him.

The gospel declares that in him you are righteous (Php 3:9). As you walk in this revelation, your confidence will grow and you will start to exercise your kingly influence. You will pray less like a beggar and more like a commander. If someone in your family gets sick, something inside of you will respond, “Not on my watch.” You will rebuke the sickness and appropriate by faith the healing that Jesus paid for.

And after you have seen one or two get healed—after you have killed your lion and your bear—you will have the confidence to start gunning for the giants that terrorize your land.

Then you will be a king indeed.

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Extracted and adapted from The Gospel in Ten Words.

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Walk like a king, talk like a king

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True kings rule. They draw lines in the sand and say, “This far and no further.” They protect and bless those around them and take ownership of other people’s problems.

Jesus is a prime example. He didn’t have to leave the comforts of heaven and die for us but he did. This was a noble and kingly act. Seeing our sorry state he said, “I am going to come and tread upon their problem even if it kills me.”

The heart of this Great King beats in your heart. His Spirit is one with your spirit.

Jesus didn’t hang up his crown after ascending to heaven. He plans to reign until all his enemies have been defeated. Through your union with Christ, you are destined to reign.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

Adam’s failure to be a king condemned the human race. His sin opened the door to death, disease, defeat, discouragement, and disappointment. But we who were victims of Adam’s disobedience have become victorious through Christ’s obedience.

There is a new king in town and his name is Grace.

Under Adam death reigned, but under Grace we reign. At least, that’s the plan. In truth, not every Christian does reign. Many are racked with guilt and tortured by condemnation. They struggle with sin and live in anxiety. Problems assail them from every side and they are unsuccessful in much of what they do. Although Christ has provided all we need for the abundant life of royalty, they are not enjoying it. They are the paupers in the palace.

Why do some live like this?

This isn’t rocket science. If there is little evidence of the grace of God in your life that doesn’t mean God is tightfisted. It means you have not yet received from his abundant supply. The incalculable riches of grace have been deposited into your account but you have not made any withdrawals.

I don’t say this to criticize anyone or to belittle your faith, but to recognize that most of us have been raised in a culture of unbelief.

We are constantly hearing that God has not provided all we need to rule and reign. We are told that there are things we must do to make that happen. This faithless message is loudest in the church that does not walk in grace.

Ironically, this is exactly the sort of church where you will often hear that you must live by faith, pray with faith, and walk by faith, as if talking about faith had the power to magically make things happen. The trouble is nothing ever does happen and when that happens you’ll be told you didn’t have enough faith. “You gotta have more faith and here is a list of things you have to do to get it.”

Walking by faith is walking in grace. There is no difference. Want to walk by faith? Then learn how to walk in his grace. Learn to receive what he has already provided.

One way to do that is to stop begging God to act, and start thanking him for what he’s done. Another way is to stop voicing your doubts and start speaking his word. Yet another way is to get your eyes off yourself and fix them on Jesus.

The princes of this world walk and talk the language of fear and insecurity, but the kings of the kingdom walk and talk like Jesus. They are constantly acknowledging and praising God for all he has done, because they understand that gratitude is the language of faith.

Even when their lives are going down the toilet, true kings continue praising God. They don’t do this to escape from an objectionable reality, but as an act of defiance. Like Paul singing in the prison, they refuse to believe that all they see is all there is.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thess 5:18)

Are you going through tough times? Are you the victim of injustice? Are you being hammered by sickness and oppression? Rise up in your kingly identity and lift up the Name of him who is above all names.

Perhaps you are sitting there wondering what God’s plan is for your situation. It’s very simple: His plan is for you to rule in his Name, so rule!

Don’t judge the circumstances with your own understanding, but lean on the Lord. He has you in his strong right hand and he will never let you go. With your faith assured, let the words that come from your mouth speak to his superior reality.

King down upon your circumstances, then watch as they bend under the weight of his glory!

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Escape to Reality is entirely reader-funded. If you want others to walk in grace and rise up in their kingly identity, help this message reach more people by supporting E2R on Patreon (USD) or Donorbox (other currencies) today.

You are a king (so act like one)

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Did you know that you are called to be a king? It’s true. God told Abraham he would be “the father of many nations and kings will come from you.” Abraham’s offspring—the children of the faith—are meant to be kings (see Gen. 17:6, 16).

This means you. Jesus the King has made you both a king and a priest (Rev. 1:6). Did you even know?

Kingship has to do with authority and power. Adam was given authority over the earth and lost it to Satan. We know this because of what the devil said when he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world: “All their authority and splendor has been given to me” (see Luke 4:6).

But last Adam took back what the devil stole and before he ascended into heaven, he revealed his kingly glory: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18).

The war has been fought and won and the devil is defeated. As believers our role is to represent the Victor and his victory in those areas that remain under the influence of darkness.

We are to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory by ruling over sickness, demonic spirits, and all the works of the enemy. (Sidebar: For those new to this kingship business, here’s a reading list: Matt. 10:1, 8, 12:28, Mark 16:17–20, Luke 10:19, and John 14:12.)

In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. (Ephesians 2:6, GNB)

This leads to some sobering questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do people get sick and die prematurely? Why do the innocent suffer? Theologians blame sin, Job followers blame God, but look at what the Bible says:

The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man. (Psalms 115:16)

This planet is our responsibility. It was given to us and we were told to rule it.

If bad things happen it is easy to blame God and the government or the Russians cyberwhizzes behind Snapchat. But did you ever pause to consider the possibility that bad things happen because we—the kings called to rule in God’s name—allow them to happen. It was one of us who gave the planet to Satan, and it was Jesus acting as one of us who took it back.

We have far more say in what goes on than we give ourselves credit for.

The problem is not that we lack authority. The problem is we don’t walk in the authority God has given us. We don’t know how.

Perhaps we think we are too young or too old or we don’t have enough training or we need more anointing. Perhaps we are sitting idly by waiting for Jesus to return. Whatever our excuse, the outcome is the same: When we abdicate our kingly role people suffer.

Consider Adam. A treacherous enemy slithered into his realm, Adam did nothing, and humanity ended up on death row. Bad things happen because kings do nothing to stop them.

When industries collapse and companies fold, it’s easy to point the finger at corporate fat cats and sleeping watchdogs. But spoilers and slackers have always been with us and playing the blame game solves nothing.

A better question to ask is, where were we? Where were the kings who rule with wisdom and justice?

Unbelief thrives in a culture of victimhood but faith brings the victory that overcomes the world (see 1 John 5:4).

Passive unbelief stays on the sidelines and doesn’t lift a finger to help, but faith raises its hand—it volunteers, it speaks out, it defends and seeks to administer justice in the name of a righteous king.

Over the coming weeks we are going to learn how to walk and talk like the kings we are. You’re going to love it. Invite a friend.

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