Believers Armed and Dangerous

Col 2:8 (ESV)  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

The word philosophy appears just once in the English Bible, in the verse above, and the verse is a warning against worldly philosophy.  The concept of philosophy appears often in Scripture, though.  When I was in school, I was often asked who my favorite philosopher was.  My answer was always “Jesus of Nazareth.”  Who can read the Beatitudes and not see the philosophical beauty in them?  Philosophy, pure philosophy, is the search for wisdom.  Where are we more likely to find it than in Scripture?

 Most people misunderstand exactly what philosophy is.  The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament gives a pretty good definition:

“a philosopher, friend of wisdom. Love of wisdom, philosophy, which came to mean the doctrine or tenets of the heathen or Gentile philosophers (Col. 2:8 [cf. 2:16]; 1 Tim. 6:20). The modern definition of the word must not be read into its use in the Bible. Philosophy, as the study of reality, knowledge, and values, is a profitable and biblically supported endeavor.”

A lot of Christians and even non-believers consider philosophy our enemy.  They picture a bunch of wide-eyed radial thinkers coming up with a lot of really foolish ideas being taken seriously by academia, and this is a correct interpretation to some degree.  Some of the most foolish ideas I’ve ever heard were in philosophy class but also some of the greatest.  To lump us all together with these extremists, though, would be an error, the fallacy of generalization to be specific.

The early church depended much on the Christian philosophers of its day: Justin (100 – 165 a.d.), Irenaeus (130 – 202 a.d.), Clement of Alexandria (150-215 a.d.), and Tertulian (150 – 200 a.d.) among others because many of the arguments posed against the church were best handled philosophically.  The 21^st century has brought us full circle.

In the 1970s philosophy was indeed the enemy of theists, believers in a personal living God currently active in His creation.  Philosophy departments strove to expunge theology from university curriculum in the Ivy League.  But then something wonderful happened: many academic Christians embraced philosophy and began to use philosophical argumentation to support the Christian worldview.

A good example of this is Alvin Plantinga and his little book God, Freedom, and Evil published in 1974 gave a good Christian answer to the problem of evil, how a good God could allow evil in the world.  This is a problem which had haunted Christians since the first century and those who believed in benevolent god since before that.  Plantinga answered it so fully it is no longer presented by honest professors as problematic to Christians.

Does God exist?  Why does evil exist if God is good?  How do we know the Bible is reliable, accurate, or true?  Which religion is true?  Was the universe created?  What can we learn about that Creator by looking at His creation?  If it was created, has the Creator attempted to communicate with His creation?  All these questions and more are philosophical questions and must be addressed philosophically.

For the most part, the major apologists of the 1960s and 70s were theologians.  Today the big names in Christian Apologetics, defenses for the Christian faith, are philosophers: William Lane Craig, Frank Turek, Greg Koukl, Francis Beckwith, Sean McDowell, Bret Kunkle, Norm Geisler, even C. S. Lewis took a first in philosophy and mathematician Dr. John Lennox has an earned PhD in philosophy.

Why is this important?

When we are told philosophy is an empty discipline or simply a useless exercise, we need to remember the largest portion of the American Philosophical Association is now theists and the largest portion of theists are Christians.  Christian philosophers are having an impact on academics and have earned a prominent place in the marketplace of ideas.

While theologians and pastors were at the forefront of Christian apologetics, it is once again the Christian philosophers who are the torchbearers for defending the faith in this modern world.

The philosophers aren’t just looking into strictly religious questions but things like abortion (Beckwith), science and mathematics (Lennox), moral and social relativism (Koukl). We’ve come a long way in just a few decades. God has used his philosopher soldiers to equip His church in many ways as they teach the answers to the world’s questions to us.

A friend of mine passed away recently, and his funeral was yesterday.  The attendees were a mixture of Christians, Mormons (LDS), and non-believers.  During the family-led graveside service, another friend spoke and presented a good explanation of the gospel, where believers go after they pass away, and of the fact Jesus’ blood paid for our sins.

I don’t think this set well with the LDS gentleman leading the service, so he felt the need to kindly and respectfully present the LDS view of the atonement.  I thought to myself at the time how cults will sound so much like the genuine faith but have a commonality in where they change things.  I’d like to look at three areas where they do this. These are the Cross, the Son, and the Word of God.

For the LDS, the cross is much less significant than for the Christian.  For them, it wasn’t the blood that Jesus shed on the cross that paid for our sins but the blood He sweated in the garden.  That was where the greatest suffering happened (Doctrines and Covenants 19:16-19).  The cross is simply where Jesus died and does not appear on or in any LDS churches. This isn’t biblical.

The LDS view of the Son, Jesus Christ, is that He is one of many sons of God the Father, and the Father had asked for plans to be presented to Him that would provide for the salvation of mankind.  Jesus’ plan for salvation through His death was chosen and Lucifer’s (Another son and brother of Jesus) was rejected.  Jesus came to die for us, but He is just one of many gods and goddesses in the LDS heaven.  This is not the Jesus of the Bible.

The third facet of the triad of cults is the Word of God, the Bible.  It is necessary for a cult leader or cultic organization to either replace or supersede the Bible as the ultimate authority, the ultimate source of spiritual truth.  In the case of the Latter Day Saints, they have four holy books: The Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible in so far as it is correctly translated.  The first three books supersede the Bible as they were written in English and given by an English speaking prophets – Joseph Smith and others.  So, if ever the Bible seems to disagree or contradict any of the other three books, it is the Bible which is ignored in favor of the others.

This same sort of discounting the central tenants of the Christian faith comes from the Watchtower Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Let’s look at how they do it:

The Cross is an affront to Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Since 1888, the Watchtower carried a cross on the cover of their Watchtower Magazine, but the October 15, 1931 edition did not include it nor any thereafter.  In their 1936 book Riches, Jehovah’s Witnesses were told Jesus did not die on a “T” shaped cross but was nailed to a tree.  Later they represented Jesus as dying on an upright stake with His hands above His head and a single nail through His wrists and another through His feet.  It is contrary to Scripture, of course.  In John 20:15, Thomas says it was not a single nail: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails. . .”

The Son to the Jehovah’s Witness was once the archangel Michael.  Jehovah God took what was Michael’s essence and placed it in Mary’s womb and Michael became Jesus.  Upon Jesus’ death, He ceased to exist for three days but was recreated (“resurrected” to Jehovah’s Witnesses) as the archangel once again.  This is not the Jesus of the Bible.

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim strongly they follow the Word of God to the letter, but do they also have an authority higher than the Bible as do the LDS?  Yes they do.  Jehovah’s Witnesses depend solely on the Watchtower publications to tell them what the Bible says.  They believe the organization is God’s representative on earth and must be followed.  The Bible plainly disproves much of what the Watchtower now teaches, so you would think such Bible-studying people would be leaving in droves.  But, the Watchtower has considered this danger and in 1950, began to publish a Bible of their own: the New World Translation.  This Bible has been altered to fit what the organization teaches and goes through “updates” as their doctrines change.

Why is this important?

While some in the church are called to spend their lives dealing with cults like the LDS and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, most aren’t.  Knowing three things to watch out for when something sounds a little off even in our own churches will act as a preventative against slipping slowly into a cultic situation.  When someone claims authority over the Bible, or says Jesus isn’t what the church has taught for 2,000 years, or the cross just isn’t that important, it’s time to watch out. 

Question the person about what they believe and why they believe it.  It may be embarrassing for you, but you might regain a straying brother or sister.  You might even save others from a life of darkness.

James 5:19-20 (ESV)  My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

2 Cor. 13:5-6  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

I was reading this passage the other day and thought I’d look into it a little deeper.  It turns out Charles Spurgeon, the wonderful 19^th century preacher, had given an excellent sermon on it.  I’m going to use his general outline for this blog post.

The passage is a part of Paul’s firm address to the Corinthian church.  The last time he visited them, they apparently questioned his qualifications as an apostle and wondered if his life matched up to what he was preaching.  After clearing up much of their erroneously accusations, he turned the table on them and said “Examine yourselves!”  It was a sort of “Get the log out of your own eye” moment.  So, I thought this was a good command for us to followas well: examine ourselves!  Spurgeon had four examination areas:

As a schoolboy: Just as a schoolboy might look over what he has studied to make sure he has the answers for the coming test, we should do the same.  Do we know enough of the faith to answer questions when we are tested?  Paul tells us to prepare for such tests:

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We should be prepared for the coming tests.  Testing in school has four purposes.  Of those, three can apply to our faith:

1.  To show the teacher what we know – This doesn’t matter in our study.  God knows how we’re doing.
2. To show us what we know and how far we have progressed – This is a reason for our testing at times.  Sometimes it’s for our benefit to show us how far we’ve come.  A friend was hiking with another Christian friend and a non-believer.  On their way back to the car, my friend asked the non-believer if he had ever considered asking Jesus into his life.  The answer was gruff and strong: “No!  And, I don’t expect to do so before I get to the car.”  The other Christian smiled and said to my friend, “That was for you to know you’ve grown to where you were willing to ask.”  We see progress in many ways.
3. We are tested to prepare us for a pop quiz.  The other day, I was in my Chiropractor’s office and the conversation somehow turned from cracking my neck to God and the purpose of the church.  “Why not just worship in the woods close to God?” he asked.  I told him the Church offers many benefits, fellowship, helping others through tough times they have faced by telling of how you came through the same trials, teaching, etc.  These pop quizzes come up out of the blue and often enough that we need to be prepared for them.
4. Finally, tests like these are to prepare us for the “Final” when we stand before Jesus hoping to hear Him say “Well done!”

As a soldier:  Before a soldier goes into battle, he needs to check his equipment: is his weapon in good condition, does he have all he needs to face the battle?  In the full armor of God listed in Ephesians chapter 6, only the Word of God is an offensive weapon.  We need to keep the “sword of the Spirit” sharp and handy when facing a battle, and we will face battles.

Jude 3 (NASB)  Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

“Contend earnestly for the faith” means to put up a good fight for the faith.

As a witness:  If we were placed in a witness box in a court of law and asked to explain clearly what it is that constitutes the faith Paul speaks of, could we do it?  Could we answer a stranger’s questions of how that faith functions, its finer points, what it all means?  When I teach, I asked all the students to learn the lessons not just to their satisfaction but to learn them well enough to be able to explain them to others.  We need to be able to do this in situations outside of church.

1 Peter 3:15 (NASB)  but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and  ^ereverence;

As a mapmaker: This one sounds strange, I know, but think about it.  If we are going to examine our hearts, we need to know them as well as a mapmaker knows a particular region: all the valleys, rivers, hills, mountains, cities, etc.  Do we know our hearts this well?  Are we even brave enough to look for the dark portions or the portions we’ve locked away from sight?  If we are to open our heart to God’s cleansing, we need to give it all to Him.

Ps. 51:10 (ESV)  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Why is this important?

Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  Paul says pretty much the same thing in a Christian context.  If we as Christians refuse to examine ourselves, our walk, our beliefs, our faith, we can be drawn away by every wind of doctrine.

1 Thess. 5:21 (ESV)  Test all things; hold fast what is good.

This past week I was speaking with a man who doubted (to say the least) the reliability of the New Testament.  Usually, this is because folks don’t like the message: it holds them accountable.  So, I started to give evidence of the scholarly support for the New Testament documents.  He wouldn’t believe any of the evidence I gave, but as I looked for something he would accept, I came across the following.  It quotes a rule from the Cornell Law School describing what is needed to consider an ancient document qualified to be used as evidence in a court of law:

“Under the rule, if a document is (1) more than 20 years old; (2) is regular on its face with no signs of obvious alterations; and (3) found in a place of natural custody, or in a place where it would be expected to be found, then the document is found to be prima facie authenticated and therefore admissible.”

I applied this rule to the evidence for the New Testament documents and thought the readers of this blog might be interested.  Let’s see how the New Testament documents fair:

1.  “More than 20 years old.”  Well the New Testament certainly qualifies for this.  The earliest New Testament manuscript we have in our hands dates to 1900 years ago. It’s the John Ryland’s papyri.
2. “Is regular on its face with no signs of obvious alterations.”  Again, the earliest manuscripts can be checked by others of the more than 5,000 Greek copies of the New Testament we have in our possession to make sure the early ones were not altered.
3. “Found in a place of natural custody, or in a place where it would be expected to be found.”  The earliest copy of the complete New Testament was found in a monastery and another near the same age was found in the Vatican Library, exactly where we would expect to find New Testament documents: in church’s possession. The earliest documents were found in Egypt where the climate is conducive to preservation of the materials upon which these documents were written. The church was powerful early on in Egypt, so we should expect to find copies of the documents there.

“Then the document is found to be prima facie authenticated and therefore admissible.”  What more can we say.  According to the ancient document rule of a secular and excellent school of law, the New Testament documents are so what they appear to be to the extent they qualify to be used as evidence in a court of law.

Why is this important?

We should get a couple of things from this. First, we should obey Scripture and test everything. God leaves nothing out of “everything,” even His Word. We can test God’s Word and find it to be true even by secular legal standards.

The second point is the fellow I mentioned earlier, the one I was talking with about the reliability of the New Testament documents, refused to accept even the Cornell Rule for judging the reliability of ancient documents. he was set on the idea the Bible has no support and decided to accept that fallacious assumption as the foundation for any discussion. Some people are like this. Only the Holy Spirit can get through to them.

Prov. 2:8-15 (ESV)  Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; ¹⁰ for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; ¹¹  discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

Some people are just this way, they love to dispute truth at any cost mentally or logically.  When we I reach this point in a conversation, when someone starts to deny logic in order to keep their beliefs, I find it frustrating and pointless to continue the discussion.  I will sometimes leave them with a Bible verse and “kick the dust from my feet.”  I’ll ask them to contact me when they accept logical arguments but not until then.  In this case, the man got vulgar.  I have a policy of discontinuing such conversations.  If you want to discuss something with me, you need to be civil.

Some, unfortunately, are just out there to fight the gospel.  Be prepared to meet them if you haven’t already.

Matt. 7:1-5 (ESV)  “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Jesus tells us here not to judge others, but in several other places including Jesus’ very words, we are told to judge.  In fact, just a few verses later Jesus tells us to judge false prophets. 

Matt. 7:15-20 (ESV)  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Jesus is telling us not to judge people based on their sin.  We shouldn’t judge sinners since that is God’s job not ours.  Aside from a few exceptions within the church, we are only to judge what people say or teach.  False prophets, for instance, teach heresy and should be corrected.

I see the same principal with people’s actions within the church.  We are to judge them if they are causing division or corrupting the body:

Jude 3-4 (ESV)  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

This also applies to judging those offering worldly enticements:

Col. 2:8 (ESV)  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Paul even scolded the Corinthian Church for not judging a man living in sin amongst them:

1 Cor. 5:1-5 (ESV)  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. ³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

If the fellow mentioned repented and wanted to return to the local body, Paul said he should be welcomed back:

2 Cor. 2:5 (ESV)  Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. ⁶ For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, ⁷ so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸ So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

Why is this important?

We are often told by both believers and non-believers that Christians should not judge others, but this stands against what Scripture says.  We are to judge those within the body who are divisive.  Those within the body whose sin is so great it brings public shame on the local church should be disciplined by the church leadership if they are not penitent.  We should even watch out for worldly temptations and those from outside the body seeking to harm it. 

God is always concerned with the spiritual health of His children.  The more we stay away from false teachings, false philosophy, and enticements from the world, the healthier our Christian walk.

We need to look at our lives as well, of course.  If we are not walking in line with God’s Word, we are not in a good place to judge others.  We need then to repent ourselves.

Truth From Where?

In the first half of John chapter 7, Jesus had been trying to straighten out some of the misconceptions people had about who He was and where He came from. The whole passage speaks of assumptions the people had made of Jesus, so I’d like to look at those misconceptions as how we look at truth and where we find it.  Maybe we’ll look at our own misunderstandings of Scriptures because we assume facts not in evidence.  But, first, since we’re looking at truth, I’d like to talk about how we know something is true.

There are two main theories of truth: the Correspondence Theory and the Coherence Theory.  The Correspondence theory says that if anything corresponds directly to Reality – in the Christian’s view, the reality God has created – then it is considered true.

The second theory, the Coherence Theory, is less dependable.  It states if something we hear coheres with what we already believe to be true, it’s true.  The reason this is less dependable is because the sources can be wrong, but if what they say coheres with what we already believe, we’ll accept it as true. 

Let’s look at this. In the passage below, the Pharisees had sent guards to arrest Jesus, but came back empty handed:

John 7:45-49 (ESV)  The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

Notice the position the Pharisees have taken here.  They see themselves as the final authority on the Law.  Whatever they say goes.  To entrust the people to Jesus, God incarnate, is foolish in their eyes.  They are the standard of truth, not the Law itself.

The fact the people usually depended on the Pharisees and chief priests to tell them what Scripture says is an example of the Coherence Theory of truth.  They are not seeking truth from the original source but from what others say the original source teaches.  No matter how often the teachers speak truly about the Bible, what they say is never going to be as accurate as the original source itself, Scripture.

A major example of this in the west is that most people have turned to their favorite news network to find what to believe as true.  No matter how often that particular network might get their stories wrong or even are shown to have purposely misled their viewers, so long as what the network says is in line with what the viewers already believe, they will continue to watch.  By the way, much of what the viewers believe came from that network in the first place whether right or wrong.

This happens in cults as well.  Jehovah’s Witnesses, for instance, have a governing body which tells them what the Bible says.  They direct their followers to verses that seem to support their views but are most often misrepresented or taken out of context.  The teachings of this governing body change periodically.  Sometimes these changes are dramatic – until 1954, for instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses were told to worship Jesus just as they worshiped the father.  Today they are told they will be disfellowshipped (excommunicated) if they do so.  Strangely, these changes are supported by out of context passages, and their followers are told the governing body was wrong before but are now correct.  The average Jehovah’s Witnesses will simply nod his head, say “Yes I see that now,” smile as the “new light” is distributed to the congregation, and accept it without question.

Why is this important?

Christians are not immune to this problem.  We believe some things because we’ve always heard they are true.  How many wise men were there at Jesus’ birth?  Well, the Bible says nothing of the wise men coming when Jesus was born but a little later when Joseph and Mary had their own home.  The Bible also does not mention how many wise men there were only the description and number of gifts.

We get these assumptions and misunderstandings from accepting the words of others just as the rank and file Jew did the teachings of the Pharisees.  But, we have the Word right there waiting for us, ready for us to pick it up and read.  We also have the author available and ready to guide us through the Word.  The assumptions come when we trust others.  The original source is always the finest source.

Jesus prayed for us in John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  For the Christian, there in only one certain source for accurate and flawless truth, the Bible.

The finest pastors are very good at dispensing the truth, but the finest pastors will also tell you to check what they say against the Bible for they are mere mortals and subject to the same errors as the Pharisees.

There are a lot of versions of the “Sinner’s Prayer.”  Usually it goes something like the one in the photo above.  I’ve even seen an abbreviated version on a bumper sticker as though reading it at a stop light would save you whether you liked it or not.  That’s not how salvation works, of course.

We aren’t Christians due to what we say but by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9).  So, then, what’s the Sinner’s Prayer about?  Well, I think it’s just a point of faith, a place in our lives where we can remember we asked Jesus to come into our hearts and we were saved.  But, I don’t think we’re saved by it. 

The Bible never says we need to say anything to be saved.  The thief on the cross didn’t say the Sinner’s Prayer but Jesus confirmed his salvation.  When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas what he could do to be saved, they told him to “believe in the Lord Jesus” (See also John 3:16, 36, 5:24, 6:35, 40, 47, etc.)

This may be splitting hairs, but I believe this is a heart issue, so I do have some questions.  I’m thinking belief is something that happens to us not something we do.  If we were saved by saying a prayer, we would be saved by a work wouldn’t we?  Scripture says over and over we are not saved by works (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

So, if we’re not saved by works and praying for salvation is a work, then if we need to pray the Sinners Prayer aren’t we involved in the salvation process?  Does God depend on our prayer before saving us?  I think not.  I’m not pushing universalism here, that all will be saved, but I am asking how much a prayer is needed for our salvation.

In my case, and in all cases I think, merely the change of mind to “I need and want Jesus” is enough to save us.  The prayer is simply, as I said above, an event we can point to as the moment we became a Christian.  I think we were already saved when we started the prayer.

When I fell in love with my wife, it was not an act, a work, it was a change in me.  It was nothing I did but something that happened to me.  When I accepted Christ, I came to Him through reasoning but also through His persistent “knock” at my heart.  Eventually He convinced me of my need to turn to Him.  But turning to Him was not what saved me.  It was the change of my mind that turning to Him was needed that changed me: again, not a work.

Let’s look for a moment at the thief on the cross (Luke 23:42-43): “And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus reply: “And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’”  I think it’s pretty obvious the thief’s heart had been changed before he came to say what he did to Jesus.  The thief recognized Jesus as his Lord and the kingdom of God was His.  It is my contention and belief the thief would have been with Jesus in paradise if he had not spoken up but just believed.

In Acts chapter 10, we see Cornelius and his family being saved without a word from them:  Acts 10:44-47 (ESV)  While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  So, at least in this occurrence, no prayer was said which goes to my point of salvation being due to a change of heart or mind and not a prayer we say in desperation.

Why is this important?

This is important because our salvation is not based on works.  I was asked recently if someone was saved even if he hadn’t heard that person ask Jesus into His heart.  As you can see from the above, I think the prayer is unnecessary.

The only objection to my opinion that I can see is prayer may not be a work.  I disagree and think it’s something we do, so I’m sticking with my opinion it’s a work.

Jesus Himself tells us God knows what we will ask for even before we ask:  Matt 6:8 (ESV)  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  This certainly doesn’t negate the need for prayer but encourages it.  God wants to hear from us and fellowship with us, He wants to counsel us and guide us.  This is just Jesus pointing out God is all-knowing and the context doesn’t seem to point to salvation since the Lord’s Prayer follows Jesus’ statement.

A third objection might be to say the prayer is required but not sufficient.  I think that would run into the same problem as if it were sufficient: it would mean God’s grace alone is not enough.

John  7:40-44 (NKJV)  When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

In the text above, the folks in the crowd didn’t know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (in Judea and not Galilee), and they didn’t ask.  They wrongly assumed something that changed their entire view of Jesus. Do we do that?

Christians, like all human beings, can be misled by assumptions.  Last Christmas I provided a Christmas Bible Quiz on this blog to show some of the things many of us believe but just aren’t so or have no support. We do this more than we might think: assume something is true because we’ve heard it so often.  How many wise men where there who came to see the infant Jesus?  We don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us.  We assume there were three because the Bible says there were three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  How many more things have we assumed? Assumptions can be misleading.

Some of these assumptions are fairly harmless like those in the Bible quiz, but some are very damaging.  The assumption we must work hard to gain God’s approval or that God simply will never love me because I mess up all the time.  Those, too, are unscriptural.  True, doing things to please God is important but He does not stop loving us because we didn’t do something or did something poorly or even wrong.  God looks at our hearts:

1 Sam. 16:7 (NKJV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Our work for God is always expected.  He has given us jobs to do the primary one is to live and share the Gospel.  The other things we do are things we should do to please Him.  I’ve shared this passage a few times here because it speaks so well to this point:

Luke 17:7-10 (NKJV)  ⁷ And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. ¹⁰ So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”

The things we do for God are expected because we do them out of love for Him, and we are His fellow workers. 

Another assumption is God is waiting for us to step out of line so He can discipline us.  I assumed this for much of my early Christian life.  Of course, this assumes our God is an angry God, a vengeful God looking to strike out in His anger.  God may discipline us but always to teach us something, not to punish or hurt us.  His children are so special to Him He considers the things which happen to us as if they happened to Him.  Look at how He spoke to Saul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 26:14 (ESV)  And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

Jesus so identifies with His children, He saw Saul’s attacks on the church as attacking Him personally.

Why is this important?

I’ve tried to describe grace here a number of times over the years and have always fallen short.  The faulty assumptions listed above are all based on a misunderstanding of Grace.  God’s love for us is infinite.  He is there cheering us on when we stand up for Him and there to comfort us when we fail.  Being a child of God is a bigger thing, a more special thing, than we can ever imagine.

There is a God who created all things, who balances all things, maintains all things in this universe.  That God will give His attention to us whenever we ask.

It’s like we are children walking into a boardroom while God is holding an important conference with the hosts of heaven.  When He sees us enter, He holds up His hand to stop the meeting and lets them wait until we have talked with Him. That is how important you are to Him.

Our assumptions about our loving God are much too small, much too shallow, and very often totally wrong.

Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-28 (ESV)  ²³ One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus’ title as Lord of the Sabbath only appears three times in the Bible, all occurrences are in the New Testament, only in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and only at one common event: the disciples picking heads of grain on the Sabbath.

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament tells us what the Greek word here for Lord means: “kurios: As the main possessor, owner, master, e.g., of property.” So, as Lord of the Sabbath , the Sabbath was Jesus’ to do with as He wished, to define as it was originally written by Him.

Mark is telling us as Lord of the Sabbath Jesus has total control over how the Sabbath is to be observed and interpreted, yet the Pharisees accused Him and His disciples of working on the Sabbath. 

They were taking grain from a field, though.  Isn’t that work?  About Matt. 12:8, where the same occurrence is recorded, Albert Barnes says the following in his Barnes’ Notes on the Old and New Testaments: “To crown all, Christ says that he was Lord of the Sabbath. He had a right to direct the manner of its observance—undoubted proof that he is divine.”

How is Barnes jumping to the conclusion that Jesus is claiming to be God here?  It was God who gave us the Sabbath, and the Sabbath Law predates the very Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter 20. Right after escaping Egypt, when Moses spoke to the Israelites concerning collection of the Manna, the Sabbath Law was to be observed: Ex. 16:29 (ESV)  See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath.  And breaking the Sabbath was punishable by death:  Ex. 35:2 (ESV)  Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 

Did Jesus and His disciples really break the Sabbath Law God Himself gave to Moses?  Deut. 5:12-14  “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

It all seems pretty plain, the disciples were not to “work” on the Sabbath, and Deut. 5 says they must not do any work.  So, maybe this was enough to get into trouble, but the supreme authority on the Sabbath, the Lord of the Sabbath, interpreted it just as plainly.

Maybe the Apostle John had this event in mind when He wrote John 5:18, This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Why is this important?

So much of Scripture either points to the deity of Jesus or implies it.  This passage in Mark and the parallel passages in both Matthew and Luke support His deity.  Jesus is Lord not just of the Sabbath but all including the Sabbath: “even of the Sabbath,” as Mark tells us.

In our world, there are many who would deny Jesus is God and tell us He was just a great moral teacher.  I don’t think that option is open to us as C. S. Lewis says in his book, Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

*** Just a personal note: Monday, July 1, 2024 will mark seven years this blog has been online and has offered 368 posts. God is good!

Matt. 3:7 (ESV)  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

We looked at the Pharisees a while back.  Now let’s look at the Sadducees, another party of Jews at the time of Jesus.  John the Baptist certainly didn’t think highly of them as we can see from Matt. 3:7, but just who were they?

The Sadducees may have derived their name from Zadok, the High Priest during King David’s reign.  This has some merit since the High Priests were chosen from their ranks.  However, our information is sketchy at best.  The main sources of information we have on the Sadducees are the New Testament documents and the first century Jewish historian, Josephus.  Josephus, himself, was a Pharisee, so his description of the Sadducees should be taken with a grain of salt.  In the New Testament, we see the Sadducees as antagonists and very little of any benefit they provided.  So neither source was directed at understanding them.

We often see the Pharisees and Sadducees mentioned together in the New Testament, yet there were several differences, some major.  The Pharisees were strict in their adherence to the Law and other restrictions they has forced upon the people.  The Sadducees were more the sort of “go along to get along” party leaning toward Hellenism and often cooperating with their Roman oppressors. 

Josephus’s first mention of the Sadducees is in the fourth century b.c., but nothing much is known of them until the century before Jesus when they supported the Romans in the appointment of Hyrcanus as High Priest.

It seems the fact Jesus was preaching was of little interest to the Sadducees until He claimed to be the Messiah and a threat to Roman rule.  It was at that time Jesus’s troubles with the Sadducees began and continued until His crucifixion. 

After the resurrection of Christ, the Pharisees lost most of their interest in the followers of Jesus, but the Sadducees continued to see them as a threat to their Roman friends. It was the Sadducees who arrested many in the early church:

Acts 4:1-3 (ESV)  And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, ² greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³ And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

When the Pharisees are mentioned in the book of Acts, we see them arguing with the Sadducees and Paul getting the best of them both:

Acts 23:6-10 (ESV)  ⁶ Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” ⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” ¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

Notice we see here some differences in beliefs between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Sadducees didn’t believe in angels, spirits, or their own bodily resurrection but the Pharisees did.

Even among the Jewish Christians at the Jerusalem Council, there were some Pharisees who continued to push for the Law to be observed:

Acts 15:5 (ESV)  But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

People are people.  It’s part of the human condition to resist change from what you know, and this was true of the converted Pharisees, Sadducees, and all within the new faith.  So much changed for them including even the day they worshiped, no animal sacrifices, no circumcision, so many things.  I feel sorry for those first century Jews having to feel their way through what is still kept from their old faith and what has changed.

By 200 a.d., the Sadducees had disappeared.  For the most part, the Pharisees became the Jews we see today.  

Why is this important?

We need to see those outside our faith often have no clue at all of what we believe.  We had dinner this week with some neighbors who are Bahai, a Persian monotheistic religion.  My wife and I have very little exposure or understanding of the Bahai faith, so we were curious.  Our neighbors were just as curious about our faith as we were about theirs.  As Christians we need to talk with folks outside our faith to gain a better understanding of how little many of them understand or misunderstand about Christianity and to familiarize ourselves with the faiths of others.