A Touch of Humor - Being Frank

Where do we draw the line between making our point and being nasty to the other person? How do we avoid crossing that line?

Old Erich Proverb - Facing

Sometimes following God means facing the things hard for us to face, with His power.

A Voice from the Past - Patrick

For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.

Patrick, 390-460 AD, Confession, 4, (Christian Classics Ethereal Library, p.2)

What are the distinctions of the various members of the Trinity? What are the similarities? What implication does this have for our life?

Grace and Discipline

How do grace and discipline come together for the Christian? Do we throw out one or the other, or exchange one for the other at some point, or how does this work? First of all, salvation is totally by grace. We are sinners (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9), who are saved by the work of Christ on the cross (1 Peter 2:24,25; Colossians 2:13,14; 2 Corinthians 5:21), through putting our faith in what He has done (Romans 4:4,5; Ephesians 2;8,9; 1 John 5:11-13). But after being saved, does God leave us on our own to advance in the Christian life, or does grace still play a part? Grace has a place, both as a motivator and as a source of power for living the Christian life. We obey God out of love for Him because of what He has done for us (1 John 4:19; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; 2 Peter 1:9). Also, God sends His Spirit into our lives to transform us (2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:29) and to accomplish His purposes in the world (Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:6,7),and we are not able to do anything of ourselves (John 15:5; Romans 7:18; 8:8). Nor, as believers, does God deal with us on any basis other then grace (Romans 5:1,2; 8:33,34; Hebrews 4:16). But does that mean we can avoid using any effort or discipline in living the Christian life?  

Scripture tells us we are to respond to God’s grace with a life of obedience (Titus 2:11-14; Romans 6:12-14; Galatians 5:13). Further, we are told that this life is not something that happens automatically, but it is a process we are called to participate in (Philippians 3:12-16; Hebrews 12:1-3; Ephesians 6:10-13). Our goal is nothing short of being conformed to Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10). In this process, the Bible tells us to exercise discipline (1 Timothy 4:7-10; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 5:11-14). We are told to know, understand, and apply God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16,17; Colossians 3:16) through meditating on it (Psalm 1:2; 119:99; Joshua 1:8). We are also to pray to God (Ephesians 6:18; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; James 5:13-18)--with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6,7; 1 Thessalonians 5:17,18; Hebrews 13:15)--which can at the appropriate time include fasting (Matthew 6:16-18; 9:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5). This does not mean we forget grace, but rather we do these things motivated by grace and trusting in the power of God to enable us to accomplish them. It is not a matter of gritting our teeth and trusting in our own will power to accomplish these things. But neither is it a matter of sitting back and expecting to grow in the Christian life without applying ourselves. Both aspects of this process are important.

Love Never Fails

Does anything last forever? What does? The apostle Paul says that the thing that lasts is love. It can legitimately be claimed that the phrase "love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8) really belongs to the next paragraph in the passage. But because it is frequently quoted as part of the description of love and  does have something to tell us about the nature of love, I have decided to include it here. The main point is that while the spiritual gifts are temporary, love lasts forever (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). This is because there will come a time when we will know God directly and no longer need to be instructed (1Corinthians 13:12). It makes sense that love should be the thing that endures, because it is the basis for all Christian character, being the command on which all the others are based (Matthew 22:34-40; Romans 13:8-10; James 2:8). Also, love is the basis of relationships, our relationship with God and relationships with other people, and this is also something that lasts forever (1 Thessalonians 2:19; Titus 2:14; Revelation 3:12). Therefore, we should cultivate love, for it is the thing that will last when all others have passed away.  

Adding to the Gospel

The world is full of counterfeits. And we need to be careful to distinguish them from the real thing. There are people who try to fool us. And sometimes we end up trying to fool ourselves. And sometimes we end up being fooled by others because we want to be fooled. Among the things commonly and systematically counterfeited is the gospel. Now water is a simple thing. If you try, you can destroy it by breaking it up into its component parts of oxygen and hydrogen. But the easiest way to mess it up is to add something to it. In the same way, the gospel is a simple thing. And the easiest way to mess it up is to add something to it. 

The context of the gospel is that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6) and cannot save ourselves (Romans 7:14; 8:8; John 15:5). To remedy this, God became a Man (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:9-18) to pay the price for our sins (1 Peter 2:24,25; Colossians 2:13,14; 2 Corinthians 5:21) and validated this by rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Romans 1:4; 4:25). As a result, Christ offers salvation to those who put their faith in Him (Romans 4:4,5; Ephesians 2:8,9; Philippians 3:9). Now this is a personal faith in Christ as a Person who came to personally rescue me from sin. It is not a set of facts I memorize or a set of rules I follow or an organization I am a part of or some new self-help program I adopt. And if I mix any of these into the gospel, I distort it, and I am in danger of losing it. Because when I add something to the gospel, it adds something I do to what Christ has done, and I am no longer trusting in Him but in my own abilities (Titus 3:5,6; Galatians 2:21; Romans 11:6). 

But all this is grounded on the idea that the gospel is based on the truth of God’s Word and is unchangeable (Galatians 1:8,9; Jude 3; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4). We cannot put our trust in other human beings or their organizations (Galatians 1:10; 2:11-16; Proverbs 29:25), but must come to God directly through Christ (1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6; Acts 4:12). For one of the first steps in undermining the gospel is undermining the authority of Scripture. People may do this by trying to get us to trust in their organization or in their tradition or in their new revelation. The best way to distort the gospel is to add something to it, and the best way to accomplish that is to add something to Scripture. Therefore, we need to stand firm against all additions so that we may maintain the pure gospel, for that is what we truly need.

A Touch of Humor - Limits

How far can we really figure out what other people are thinking? What are the dangers in this?