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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

962. The Things We Do for Love

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This week, we take a look back at some of the things we were coaxed into thinking and doing as it was being fed to us through our legalistic religious surroundings and misunderstandings ... as we strived to do whatever we thought was necessary to make sure we were in "God's good graces." After all, we were told of the risks of potentially losing fellowship with God (although the specifics were mysteriously missing in the fine print). Do more. Pray more. We thought that maybe "more" would be enough. Maybe.

You may be able to relate to our experiences a little bit, because sadly, many believers in Christ have been in a consistent state of panic—wondering whether they are still loved by God or still accepted because of things they have done. They begin to feel a false sense of contamination—and then condemnation— and will attempt to get their compass pointed in the right direction by doing things to make up for it. Their "faith" or belief becomes centered around their dedication and commitment to God instead of what God has already done for us through His Son. There will be no need for us to graduate by earning a spiritual senior discount when we begin to understand the things that have already been freely given to us by God.



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946. Freed From Religion – Now What? (Access to a Living God by His Spirit)

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We've heard from so many listeners around the world over the years who came to be enlightened by God's perfect love, grace and once-for-all forgiveness. It can be stunning when coming to realize just how good the gospel message is while experiencing freedom from religious routines ... and coming to grips with how very different it is when compared to the many things we've been taught by religious tradition that seeks to establish right standing with God through human effort.

It's different and so much better to experience Jesus as our peace. But some will wonder how they should proceed as believers in Christ who are taking on a new mindset which may go against many of the things they've embraced as their most cherished and sacred assumptions. The focus of this week's conversation will be a reminder that we have much more than writings in the Bible, but as believers in Christ, we have the unique blessing of being able to interact with the living God by one Spirit who lives within.



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846. 17th Anniversary Program – Part 1

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In the year of our Lord, 2005 A.D., we were asked to begin a 15-minute Internet Radio Program, and we had no plans on doing a long-term weekly podcast. Now 17 years later, we take a look back at how it all started in our humble beginnings … and how it has grown into tens of thousands of weekly downloads from multiple countries around the world from people wanting to know God in an authentic way. We also reveal how we’re about to break one of our long-standing rules for future podcasts —one which we’ve abided by for all of our programs—until now.


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825. Listener: “Why Don’t They Teach Us Right?” A Conversation About Church Inc.

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This week we have a spontaneous heart to heart about church denominations and the wide variety of different perspectives and teaching available. How did we get to this place where elements of both law and grace seem to be the norm? 

This is a bit of a foundational introduction into upcoming podcasts where we’ll talk about some things that are seldom heard or taught in most churches—but should be.



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818. Religious Bondage: Working to Become Who God Has Already Made You to Be

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Telling believers they need to change will not be nearly as effective as helping them to understand they have already been changed. Trying to become somebody that you think you are not will become a frustrating, lifelong endeavor which never seems to find the end of the rainbow. On the other hand, once we grow in the understanding of our identity, we can begin to live from who God says we already are as believers “in Christ.”

In this race, we get to start at the finish line, which is a place of rest. Under the Old Covenant, the Jewish people were working at pursuing what they could never attain. Unfortunately, many believers who abide in a new and better covenant are chasing after what has already been given to them.



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The Christian Work Ethic: Are You a Worker-for-Hire or Are You Working the Family Farm?

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My great grandfather moved his family from northern Georgia across the Chattahoochee River into southeastern Alabama and purchased a sizable piece of land they called a plantation. My grandfather had 13 children who worked the land until he retired. My father and one brother and sister bought portions of the land for themselves.

I grew up helping dad work our family farm. By the time I came into the family, it was mostly just dad and me working along with the tenant family that lived on the land. Though it was a relatively small farm, my mother would sometimes refer to it as part of the plantation. When asked where some of us might be, she would say, "I don't know exactly; somewhere on the plantation."

The children of the tenant family were my playmates and my working partners. We all did pretty much the same work, but the perspective was different. They were working on the plantation. I was working on the family farm.

Just a Job

The gospel not only transforms our inner lives, it affects our work ethic. We are heirs to his mission and adopted sons working on his family farm. Plantation ethic is mostly about working for hire. You do your job to be paid. You instinctively know that doing a good job brings job security and maybe better pay. But, there is no sense of ownership nor future dreams for development.

Sadly, many Christians have never made the transition. Believing that spirituality and work are in different categories, they spend most of their time involved with secular work, and less time with the spiritual business of worship, discipleship, and church activity. This duality is a great thief of joy. Work is seen as a necessity but not a vital part of being God's people on earth.

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It is easy to see how people adopt different values systems for the business sphere since, in their minds it is not a part of the spiritual life. It also might answer why some feel so demeaned or even dirty because they are forced to do secular work. If work is dirty, then the pay must be dirty, so even the management of finances is extra-Christian activity. When wealth is the goal, materialism is the god.

People who work for money have made themselves slaves to it. It tells them which job, how to advance, and how to measure their worth. No wonder that feel shame when they come to church to worship the God of everything. They somehow must know that God has a competitor in their lives.

Working in the Family Business

Working in the family business is much different. You get to be with the father and the other heirs as you work. You have a sense of sharing in ownership. You have a common vision and hope for development. Excellence is not based on pay but on appreciation and hope. You are expressing yourself and fulfilling your design to subdue as God's partner.

Knowing that the pay-master is also your father, you are confident that he will be more than fair. You are free to be creative in finding ways to help others and make the place better. Working with God as Father, we know that every assignment is backed by unlimited resources. He supplies everything we need to accomplish what he has commissioned us to do.

We are also delighted to be working on a project that is guaranteed to succeed. We don't have to compete for reward or recognition. We are working with God as a partner and the prospects are beyond comprehension.

All Work Spiritual and Eternal

The reconciliation and restoration accomplished by the gospel has made all our work spiritual and eternal in its worth. Everything we do is a good work if we do it as sons/daughters for the sake of the mission and to the glory of our Father.

Missionaries are not superior in their work if each of us is doing what we are assigned. Working on the staff of a religious organization is not better work than working on the staff of a plumber. We are each representing the mission of our Father to do good to all people and leaving the world a better place by reflecting the glory of God in every work of our hands.

Work is a privilege and God's way of sharing his nature and purpose with us. He still works and invites us to work as his son/partners.

Plantation or family business? Your choice.

 

Dudley Hall is a Senior Contributor to The Stream. He is the founder and President of Kerygma Ventures, a sought-after speaker, an engaging preacher, an effective consultant, and a trusted spiritual father. Dudley has authored several books including Grace Works, Incense & Thunder, Glad to be Left Behind, Men In Their Own Skin, Orphans No More, When Hard Times Come, Follow Me and his latest, a children's book laced with gospel truth: Shorty the Substitute Ram.

The post The Christian Work Ethic: Are You a Worker-for-Hire or Are You Working the Family Farm? appeared first on The Stream.

Awakening to the War

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In Psalm 12, David describes the alarm we sense when accosted by the noise filling the air around us:

Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind. They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak...those who say, 'With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own -- who is our master?' (Psalm 12:1-4 NRSV).

An Abrupt Awakening

What are we seeing in these days? We can be sure that our God has not forgotten us or gone on a vacation. He is not quarantining in fear of being infected by COVID-19. He is acting to awaken His people to the real war that is going on, and He is empowering them to wake up and shine as lights in a dark world. We have been sleeping through a gradual disintegration of culture. God is abruptly waking up His people who are called to be His representatives on earth.

It is seldom pleasant to be awakened abruptly. We are at first disoriented and even resentful. After all, we were enjoying the sleep. But, to be awakened to the reality that we are in a war is even more disturbing. The subtle lies of our consumer culture have been invading each sphere of society for a long time. All of a sudden it seems they have snowballed, and we feel that there is no one who tells the truth anymore -- no trusted Walter Cronkite or Billy Graham or Abraham Lincoln. The government, the media, the church, and medical science have all lost credibility.

Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up, says the Lord; I will place them in the safety for which they long (Psalm 12:5 NRSV).

God sees and he cares when the people he loves are being oppressed by deception. He is rising to bring truth to the stage. The children of light are being awakened to the true nature of the war and God's strategy to establish His purposes in this generation. Carl Von Clausewitz, a military strategist from the era of the French Revolution, said that the first, grandest, and most decisive act of any general or statesman is to understand the nature of the war in which he is engaged. Our war is a war of words: truth versus lies.

Truth Versus Lies

We were lulled to sleep by the influence of moral humanism. As a culture we have elevated the human hierarchy of needs above the truth of God's word. The consumer-culture demands that what we feel that we need must be addressed and any societal structure that does not comply must be canceled. Human glory is the highest goal imaginable. God's glory is ignored and even mocked. We demand safety, security, acceptance, esteem, and self-actualization from our government, our religion, and our society. We cancel any voice that contradicts our demands for our felt needs to be met. We even cancel God when He doesn't perform according to our definition of good. It is alarming, but it is just the beginning of God's move to exalt truth in a bigger way than before.

Our war is a war of words: truth versus lies.

Waking up is turbulent. We instinctively fight it, ignoring the alarm bells ringing. Denial is a familiar response. We want to find voices that tell us that everything is fine. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in Great Britain in the late 1930s said that Hitler was not so bad and could be appeased. He was wrong. It is impossible to make peace with deception. Contrary to popular opinion, truth is not subjective and selective. God's word is full and final. We cannot deny the encroachment of evil by wishing it would just go away. We cannot simply change our metrics to substantiate our current practices. For instance, churches have ignored the lack of discipleship in our programs and instead celebrated the numbers of people gathered and the size of the campuses we have built. We told people that if they came to meetings and listened to the services, they would be fine. We lied. People who have not built their lives on the words of Christ will not stand in the storms that are now coming.

Don’t Hit the Snooze Button

Delay is another instinctive response to the discomfort of waking. We want to push the snooze button on the clock. Just 10 minutes more… We have developed doctrines that have people expecting a great day in the future, but also expecting evil to prevail until then. Abandoning our role as God's lights in the darkness, we have only looked to a future escape from the world of wickedness.

Of course, something in us all tempts us to want to fly away like a bird to a mountain of rest. But we are assigned here, and we have been given the necessary supplies to not only stand, but to advance. Escapism takes many forms. We can try drugs, distractions, entertainment, or just abdication. We expect the government to take care of us, the public schools to educate our children, the church to make sure we go to heaven, and the media to inform us of what we need to know. Irresponsibility has the same results regardless of how we express it.

Who’s Telling the Truth?

The issue today is the same as in Adam and Eve's day, David's day, and Jesus' day -- it is a war of words. Who is telling the truth? Jesus said very clearly at the end of His Sermon on the Mount that lives built on His words would stand in the storms. Others would fail. It has always been true. History is the faithful witness that only those societies that are built on the eternal transcendent word of God as interpreted through the person of Jesus will last.

The Epistle of James is adamant that the tongue is mightier than anyone expects. It determines direction for people and nations. It can destroy whole structures like a fire in the forest. No human can tame or domesticate it. It is hooked to the heart and expresses the thoughts and desires of the heart. Only when the heart is changed through regeneration of the Spirit can the tongue begin to produce the fruit of righteousness as it was designed.

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God cares about the poor and despoiled. He is raising up spokespersons to speak the truth to the lies of this culture. There are some new "pulpiteers" on the horizon. They won't be so enamored with oratorial performance as with clarifying the truth of what God has done in Christ Jesus. But, it is not the pulpit only. Disciples of Jesus from every stripe will be declaring the good news and its ramifications in homes, offices, and hideaways. Mass media will not control the word communicated by those whose hearts have been captured by God's love.

We are seeing the beginning of a return to God's word as authoritative and life-giving. We will appreciate the need to interpret the Scripture accurately. It is not a matter of winning a theological point, but of spiritual and societal survival. We can't take the word of media preachers as to what God is saying. We must hear from Him, and He is eager to tell us.

Exciting Days Ahead

We shall also see the appearance of true shepherds. They will care more for the welfare of the sheep than their own ministries and kingdoms. They will get equipped to feed and protect those under their care. The emergence of the Christian community is beginning. People need each other and are seeing that we have a common foundation, but different gifts. The focus will be on "We" rather than "Me." All of these factors will produce a kind of life that is more akin to the biblical norm than the American dream.

Adventurous and risky lifestyles will be the order of the day. No longer will we read of the miracles of scripture and wonder where they are. Our witness will give hope to those languishing in circumstance-controlled situations. We will live on the edge because we have seen the invisible and believe the promises of the faithful God of might.

These are either scary days of shocking deception or exciting days of early awakening. I am asking God to give us eyes to see what He is doing. We can join Him and see the light push back darkness.

 

Dudley Hall is a Senior Contributor to The Stream. He is the founder and President of Kerygma Ventures, a sought-after speaker, an engaging preacher, an effective consultant, and a trusted spiritual father. Dudley has authored several books including Grace Works, Incense & Thunder, Glad to be Left Behind, Men In Their Own Skin, Orphans No More, When Hard Times Come, Follow Me and his latest, a children's book laced with gospel truth: Shorty the Substitute Ram.

The post Awakening to the War appeared first on The Stream.

Who is Alive but Dead?

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If you want Christians to work harder, there are two scriptures you can trot out to boost productivity. The first is the one about being lukewarm; the second is this one from the letter to Sardis:

I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. (Rev. 3:1)

This passage is usually interpreted as follows: “The Sardians were complacent, comfortable Christians who weren’t working hard enough and allowed their faith to die.”

Short version: work harder for Jesus!

(Sidebar: Isn’t it amazing how 27 books of the New Testament can be summarized in those four words: work harder for Jesus?)

Er, no. That’s not what Jesus is saying. The work harder message comes straight out of dead religion.

So what is Jesus saying? And who is alive but dead?

Who’s dead?

In contrast with the no-name church down the road in Philadelphia, the Sardian church was highly regarded. It had a reputation as a thriving fellowship. But in the Lord’s eyes, that reputation was misplaced.

The Sardians were all style and no substance. They impressed some with their religious activity. But Jesus wasn’t fooled. “You are dead.”

Some say the Sardians were apathetic believers whose faith was waning. “They were a dying church.” But the Sardians were dead, not dying. The word Jesus used to describe them literally means corpse.  A corpse is not an apathetic or lazy person; a corpse is dead. Jesus is describing unbelievers who are disconnected from the One called Life.

There were believers in this church, and Jesus has a separate message for them later in the letter (it’s full of good stuff!). But many of the Sardians were spiritually dead. They had not received the Spirit that gives life. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Jesus raises the dead. This is what he says to the dead Sardians:

Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die… (Rev 3:2a)

To wake up is to repent. “Wake from your sleep and turn to God.” Jesus was not speaking to lethargic Christians who need to perk up for the Lord. He’s speaking to those who need to “awake and arise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14).

Like the prodigal son who “was dead and came to life again,” the Sardians need rouse themselves, come to their senses, and come home to the Father (Luke 15:24).

What does it mean to strengthen that which remains?

Repent before it’s too late.

The word for strengthen in this passage means to turn resolutely. It means, get up! Move! Turn about! It is a call to immediate and definite action. It’s as though the Sardians are sleeping on the train tracks and Jesus is shouting, “Wake up before it’s too late!”

Who is about to die?

The Sardians. The gospel isn’t going to die, for the word of God never passes away. But the Sardians will pass away if they don’t wake up. They are already spiritually dead; soon they will be physically dead. They may not die this year or next year, but eventually their time will run out.

“Paul, are you saying this church have unbelievers in it?”

Most churches do, at least the ones making an impact in their communities.

The recording artist Keith Green once said that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger. Yet some imagine the Revelation church communities were populated exclusively by Christians and that Christ’s words for the people in those communities should be embraced by all Christians.

This is a dangerous belief indeed, and it is a reason why much of the treasure in Jesus’ letters has been lost. Read something meant for someone else, and you’ll get the wrong message.

The letters to the seven churches contain words for all sorts of people, from salt-of-the-earth saints to wolves in sheep’s clothing. Fail to distinguish messages meant for others from messages meant for you, and you will end up confused. You’ll come away thinking that Jesus is double-minded:

One minute he’s full of praise; the next he’s dark with rebukes.

He says to hold fast; then he says to let go.

He exhorts us to stand firm but he wants us to turn back.

He wants us to freely receive, but he wants us to pay.

Jesus is not double-minded, but you might be if you fail to ask this question: To whom was Jesus speaking?

In his letters Jesus distinguishes different groups. In Sardis, there were those who had soiled their garments and those who hadn’t (see Rev. 3:4). In Pergamum there were some who held to the teaching of Balaam and some who didn’t. In Thyatira there were a few who followed Jezebel into adultery and others who wanted nothing to do with her.

Different needs, different medicine

We shouldn’t be surprised by this. Healthy, growing churches attract all sorts of people, just as Jesus did. Look at the crowds who followed him and you will find sinners and seekers, good people and bad. The Jesus of the Gospels drew the unrighteous and self-righteous, and he had different words for each. It’s the same in his letters to the churches of Revelation.

Many Christians read the letters to the churches and come away feeling condemned by the hard words of rebuke. These letters make them ill because they are consuming someone else’s medicine.

This suffering is borne of confusion. Are you a follower of Balaam? Is your name Jezebel? Are you numbered among the self-righteous who have heard the gospel and rejected it? No? Then hard words meant for them are not meant for you.

Christian, you are not “alive but dead” and you do not need to work harder to “strengthen that which remains”. You are one with the Risen Lord. Jesus died so that you might live. You know this.

Now rest, and let no one burden you again with a yoke of slavery.

—

Extracted and adapted from Letters from Jesus

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Oh God, I’m Just Not Feeling You

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Being fully inoculated in the post-enlightenment exaltation of human rationality and educated to promote thinking above feeling, I have tended to downplay feelings as having much value in religious experience. How many times have I been reminded by parents, teachers, coaches, and preachers to get over my feelings and act on truth? The post-modern insistence on subjectivity to the exclusion of objective truth claims is foolish and adds to my suspicion of "feeling it."

Yet, I wonder if the sense of longing deep in my breast cries for a relationship with God that is fuller than contemporary religious propositions provide. After all, the words of Scripture do seem to promise a salvation that includes every part of us.

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save (completely) those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. (Hebrews 7:25 NLT)

The Presence of God Made Real

Jesus promised His disciples that the Comforter who would be sent to them after His ascension would make the presence of God as real to them as the communion He enjoys (see John 14:15-22). All the evidence we find in the Acts of The Apostles points to a community who enjoyed the felt presence of God. They lived far beyond mere principles and propositions. They were loved at the very deepest levels of existence and became rejoicing martyrs and world-changers. They did not wonder what Jesus would do if He were present. They assumed His presence and experienced His communion. It wasn't theory. It was shared life.

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The most common question asked by sincere Christians today is about knowing God's will. Of course we want to know His will. How else can we find direction and fulfill our destiny? But such a question could imply our willingness to do what is required even if God remains distant. If we just know what to do, we can follow the plan with or without His conscious presence. It might even imply that we think we can do the will of God without His enablement. This attitude produces morally-conscious people, but they are usually joyless.

What is the Heart of God?

Maybe there is another question that should precede the one about knowing His will: "What is the heart of God?" If knowing God is the essence of eternal life (John 17:3), then knowing His heart is essential. We can't afford to speculate and assume things about Him that aren't true because we are responding to whatever concept of God we presently retain.

Looking through the branches of the bush they were hiding behind, Adam and Eve concluded some things about God that were devastatingly wrong. Since then, humanity has been misperceiving God's heart. Left to our own perceptions, we will never get it right.

Moses had seen the mighty works of God. He had heard His voice. But he wanted more. He asked if he could see God's glory. To prevent his being incinerated, God hid him in a cave and passed by him while declaring His nature:

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6 ESV)

He Did What Was Necessary

Sadly, many focus on the iniquity phrase and miss the core of the revelation. Fearing the sure consequences of sin, they live trying to avoid it rather than embracing the God whose heart is merciful and gracious. Yes, sin has consequences. Left unconfronted it will continue to infect generations. But God’s merciful heart did what was necessary to be both just and merciful. It is His mercy that moves Him to take the wrath of sin on Himself in Jesus so that we can be forgiven and fully reconciled. It is His heart that is shown in all His works, and it is His heart that invites us into intimate communion with Him.

As we get to know Him, we find mercy and grace abounding and unstoppable love and eternal forgiveness granted. He acts according to His heart. He is not a hypocrite. Jesus came to reveal the nature of the Father and when He self-identified, He spoke of His heart:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28 ESV)

We can never see the purpose of His life, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension if we don't know His heart. His works reveal His heart, but we can marvel at His works and never feel His heart. If we miss that, we miss a large part of the salvation He gives. When we know in fact and in feeling His sympathies toward us, we will run to Him; never hiding or isolating. We discover that, like water, streams of mercy flow to the neediest point.

When we are devastated by our own disqualification, we qualify for mercy -- and that is where He shines brightest. God's glory is the revelation of His heart. We see His glory most clearly when we plead for mercy, and His mercy touches every aspect of our being. We know Him in our thoughts and in our emotions. We move toward experiencing the full restoration of humanity that He purchased. We know it and feel it because it is real.

Oh God, show me your glory!

 

Dudley Hall is a Senior Contributor to The Stream. He is the founder and President of Kerygma Ventures, a sought-after speaker, an engaging preacher, an effective consultant, and a trusted spiritual father. Dudley has authored several books including Grace Works, Incense & Thunder, Glad to be Left Behind, Men In Their Own Skin, Orphans No More, When Hard Times Come, Follow Me and his latest, a children's book laced with gospel truth: Shorty the Substitute Ram.

The post Oh God, I’m Just Not Feeling You appeared first on The Stream.

There are Aliens Among Us

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This is not an attempt to mimic "check-out line" magazines that just try to grab attention. This is an attempt to a biblical approach to an obvious tension among Christians regarding their civic duties. We live with this tension because we have two homelands. We are born from above yet assigned to live and die on this earth: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV).

If we only think of our eternal homeland, we will neglect our earthly duties. If we only think of our earthly existence, we will be conformed to our culture's norms, susceptible to all the fears and frustrations that come with being cut off from home. We will either be legitimately accused of being so heavenly-minded we are of no earthly good, or of being so worldly that we are hypocrites.

"Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11 NRSV).

As God’s Slaves, Live as Free People

Aliens have a special kind of freedom. The apostle Peter expressed it in what seems to be a paradoxical phrase: "As God's slaves, live as free people..." (1 Peter 2:16 HCSB). Since the original fall of humanity into sin, we have been captives to fear and frustration. The only freedom possible is submitting to be slaves to the One who is sovereign love. When He is responsible for our provision and protection, we are freed from self-preservation, self-exaltation, and fear. Nothing is stronger than He, and love motivates everything He does. His purpose is to restore us to true humanity as originally designed. It is an honor to be His slave. The only other option is being a slave to sin.

Alien Freedom

Peter goes on to explain the nature of this alien freedom: "Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor" (1 Peter 2:17 NRSV). As we respect all people as being created in the image of God and worth the redemption price of the Son, we eliminate prejudice, racism, and injustice. As we love the family of believers, we embrace the purpose of God to bless the world through His family of priests. As we fear God, we respond to Him as the final authority and last word in our lives. As we honor the emperor, we accept God's use of civil authority to order society, and we submit to participate in it.

A Role to Play

When Peter wrote his letter, there was one emperor of Rome. In our day we live in a democratic republic where the people being governed have a role to play in who establishes order and how it is done. We honor this process by lawfully participating in it with diligence.

The same root word for honor is used for our attitude toward everyone and toward the emperor. We don't have to approve of what everyone or the emperor does in order to honor. We do have to see them as God values them. Emperors change. Civil authority is God's established way of ordering society. It remains. We must constantly work to establish laws that reflect the values of God's kingdom. Personalities are not as important as policies.

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Being aliens who are enjoying a freedom that is other-worldly, we are faithful to embrace our earthly assignments seriously. We are slaves to God who has made us His sons. We can leave the earth a better place than we found it. Aliens who are aware and awake make good citizens of the earth for we know we will be going home.

 

Dudley Hall is a Senior Contributor to The Stream. He is the founder and President of Kerygma Ventures, a sought-after speaker, an engaging preacher, an effective consultant, and a trusted spiritual father. Dudley has authored several books including Grace Works, Incense & Thunder, Glad to be Left Behind, Men In Their Own Skin, Orphans No More, When Hard Times Come, Follow Me and his latest, a children's book laced with gospel truth: Shorty the Substitute Ram.

The post There are Aliens Among Us appeared first on The Stream.

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