GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
This is probably one of the most misunderstood subjects in the New Testament. There are two primary passages where the subject is addressed, 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. 1 Corinthians 14 KJV 34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them
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They cried out again, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber. -- John 18:40
It was a tumultuous few days. The trial with trumped up charges, the examination by Pilate, Herod and Caiaphas, mixed with the confusion of the disciples of Jesus often take the focus off what was really happening. Pilate would unknowingly introduce the last Adam. "Behold the man," he said. The man as humans were created to be was finally on the scene. "Behold your king," he added. Yes, the long-anticipated king of the Jews was taking his rightful place.
Then, there was the episode regarding Barabbas. Pilate evidently thought the Jews would choose to release Jesus instead of the rebel robber, but they didn't. What a surprise it must have been for Barabbas. The door to his cell was unlocked and he was free. Many preachers have used this story to show the parallel to what was happening to enslaved humans because of the substitutionary death of Jesus. He was condemned and we are set free. But there is a marked difference. Those freed by Jesus' sacrifice are not only let out of the prison of sin, but they are empowered to live in their new freedom. It is possible and even probable that Barabbas wound up back in jail within a few weeks. After all, his release did not change his vocation. He was a robber.
The cross and resurrection are the beginning of a whole new creation where God is renewing what has been perverted.
Too often we are willing to accept a Barabbas-kind of freedom in our own concept of salvation. We are so glad to have our debt paid and the charges dropped that we conceive of God's grace as such a limited freedom. Skeptics of grace are afraid of a gospel that emphasizes the unmerited forgiveness that Jesus offers. They most likely assume that without some bit of restraint provided by fear, the forgiven will abuse the freedom and go on to a life of selfish consumption. They misread the totality of the salvation Jesus purchased on the cross. He doesn't stop by opening the doors to the cell. He changes the prisoner into a disciple. Forgiveness doesn't come alone. It comes with a new life.
The cross and resurrection are the beginning of a whole new creation where God is renewing what has been perverted. That God did not stop with the crucifixion is evidence that his freedom includes a new start as a new creation. Those who embrace the crucified Jesus also receive the resurrected Lord. He becomes the center of their lives as they live for a different purpose.
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. ... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -- II Corinthians 5:14-15, 17.
We have new hope because we have been born of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. We are not only rejoicing that the prison doors are open, but that we have a new vocation. The resurrection offers more than hope for life after death. It offers life now. We can live for something larger than our own agendas. Life with the living Lord satisfies at a level that nothing else can. We must not settle for being like Barabbas when we can enjoy being sons and daughters of the now-reigning king.
Evidently there is a vast number of people who have occupied this earth who believe that their purpose is to be good. They suspect that whatever god there might be has determined that he likes good people and detests bad people, and that he is planning a final test where the bad guys will be enthusiastically thrown into the fire and the good will get rewarded because of how good they proved to be.
I say that because so many still feel so badly because they do bad things and don't do enough good things. There have been so many religions created because bad people are trying to be good.
Even in our predominantly secular culture, people are always trying to be better. The best-selling books tell us how to be better at something. Even if it's not for God's judgment, we want to do better because we will feel better about ourselves. It's secularism's version of heaven.
It is a scary question, but what if that isn't what God wants? What if badness and goodness were not the issue? What if being good were not the goal? It sure would take a lot of pressure off. But, someone will argue that we tried that in the 60's when we trashed responsibility and thumbed our noses at rules, and boundaries. That didn't pan out so good. Someone is probably about to mention that much of our society is already rejecting any morality and that we are amid a culture war because of it.
Before we get too far, let me point out that being bad is not the only other choice.
The truth is that God is all about humans knowing him and being loved by him. He created Adam and Eve to know him and partner with him in a great project. Their role on earth was to be the image-bearer of their creator.
We can get back to being his image-bearers on earth as we partner with him in getting the truth of his real purpose delivered to the whole world.
It was after they believed a lie about him and his intentions that they started trying to get back in his good graces by being good the way they assumed he wanted. Since that time, humans have speculated as to what it would take to appease the gods, or they have taken God's own instructions and turned them into ladders they could climb toward goodness.
In time, God sent the Son to be the perfect human who lived in love and righteousness. He died as our substitute so that his goodness could be transferred to us. We can't be better than he, and he has paid for our badness. We are free to know God without guilt, shame or fear.
We can get back to being his image-bearers on earth as we partner with him in getting the truth of his real purpose delivered to the whole world. We can lay aside our dead works that never impressed him anyway. He loves to show off his mercy when we sin. His glory is made manifest when in our weakness he is strong.
Our failures don't put him off. They are opportunities for him to show any who are watching how much he loves to restore the broken and pick up the fallen.
Oh, we don't try to be bad, or just do bad things because we can. We are constrained by the love that he has shown. It changes us. We long to honor his name, and we find that we love the same people he does. Some might look at us and say we are good people, but that is not our goal. It is just an observation. We are known and loved by him.
Four times in the Gospel record of the great event of Christmas the message is sent from God to man -- "Fear Not." It is the continuing message of God right throughout the Bible, from the Garden of Eden to the Book of Revelation. Eighty times the message comes clear and strong -- "Fear Not."… Read More
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God’s Love Blows My Mind! Last night we attended the JUMP Christmas production at our church, St. Louis Family Church, which was fabulous by the way! Standing room only! Before the producton started I had gone into the restroom and was standing there in front of the mirror at church trying to figure out how to […]
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A dear friend’s wife had stopped on the interstate with all the other cars for a traffic accident. A large 18-wheeler slammed into her and her car burst into flames, and she died. She had so much life and was such a giver of life to others. He called me a few minutes later.
Life can be harsh.
The call transported my thoughts to the early morning call I received almost 15 years ago. My 93-year-old father's home was struck by lightening and he died in the fire. I remember screaming out to God, "Why like this? Death is bad enough, but burned beyond recognition -- why?"
Love can be harsh.
When we hold a concept of love as a standard, and things happen we don’t think loving, we can accuse the one who could have altered the circumstances but didn't of not being loving. Judged by our definition of love, God is condemned. Some have done that.
But real love, God’s love, is too large for the meager minds of men. Our concepts don’t cover it. In order to embrace it, we must trust. God is love, but our understanding of love does not define God. God defines love.
The God of the Bible is clearly revealed as both sovereign and loving. He makes it plain that He rules in the affairs of this world, weaving together the choices of his people and the events of history to accomplish his ultimate objective, which is to delight us in his love.
Real love is too large for the meager minds of men.
The grand narrative of the Bible shows that God's love is larger than our concepts of love. With our sentimental concept of love we would view the expulsion Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden as unloving. What about the flood? Seems horrible, doesn't it? The plagues on Egypt were severe. The conquests of the land of Canaan were brutal.
But more brutal than anything man has ever endured is that God himself through the Son became sin and absorbed the wrath that hung heavy over a rebellious creation. Love has never been harsher. It has never been more real than it was on the Cross.
He loves enough to correct, discipline, destroy evil and take the consequences of our choices upon himself. His ways are beyond finding out, but they are always expressions of love. Trust opens our hearts to find a comfort that our minds could never discover apart from his revelation.
Look at Job. The book of Job confounds many people. They are so certain that Job's troubles were the result of his sin that they find a way to justify God's harsh treatment of him. Oh, I know it was Satan who did the dirty work, but he had to ask God. But Job would not be persuaded that God had turned on him, nor would he agree that it was his sin that brought on the trouble.
His confession revealed his trust in God’s love. "Though He slay me, still I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to His face." (Job 13:15) Job didn’t impose his own understanding of love upon God, but trusted that God loved him and everything that happened to him somehow showed God’s love.
The greatest delight that mankind can experience is a living trust in the God who is eternally both good and sovereign.
The greatest delight that mankind can experience is a living trust in the God who is eternally both good and sovereign. He doesn't mind our questions; He even entertains our arguments; but in the end we fall into loving arms of the Father who loves us so much that He gave His Son who gave His life that we might know the love of God.
Have you ever thought about the idea of blessings and curses? These words are seldom used these days, except as polite and impolite words we sometimes interject in our conversations with each other. The Bible takes the idea much further than that, telling us that people may live under a curse or a blessing. But what might that mean?
Some people think of witches and potions when they think of curses; and as for blessings, that's mostly about thinking nice thoughts. That's not what they're about, though, and the difference is important.
Paul, the author of much of the New Testament penned this to the sophisticated people of Ephesus in the first century.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3)
Jesus Christ, our representative before the Father, has been blessed fully and eternally. All available blessings have been conferred upon Him. Jesus followers are "in Christ," so God's forecast for them is bright and sunny. It is full of blessings.
Should we then be concerned about living under a curse? Alan Wright says, "a curse is not so much a magical spell whipped up in a witch's pot, as it is the voice of fear forecasting [things that are] opposite from the word of God."
Though we who are in Christ are not cursed, we can live as those who are by believing something contrary to God's word concerning us. When we make conclusions based on fear instead of trust, we will be inclined to forecast a future that features calamity and conspiracy.
For instance, when the people of Israel confronted the promised land, they were told by God through Moses that it was theirs for the taking. They sent out spies to see what was there and how they would go about taking what God had given. Most of the spies came back with fear; they concluded that they would fail if they tried. When the people believed that fearful report, they chose the curse of its fulfillment. When Joshua and Caleb believed the promise of God in the face of daunting circumstances, they moved ahead under blessing.
What then is God's forecast for His people in Christ?
Your faith is evidence of God's election and His eternal love being expressed to you. His mercy has been bestowed upon you. Jesus "became sin" so that you could be His righteousness. He set you apart as His chosen vessel to display His glory through you. He has given you His life so that you could enjoy Him as He enjoys you. He sees you as His child and delights in your success in fulfilling your calling. He has made you an heir to His entire estate. He has already gone into the heavens to establish your place there. He has conquered death to free you to live now with trusting abandon. He has allotted necessary grace for each stage of your life and every circumstance on your journey.Thanksgiving was just a couple days ago, but the time to embrace your blessing with thanks is still now. Refuse the report that comes from fear. Keep your external and internal conversation consistent with His proclamation.
In Christ we are blessed, because He took the curse. The giants may appear imposing, but the forecast is sunny.
Here’s some marriage advice from our 25th wedding Anniversary trip in Hawaii! If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain […]
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