Tag Archives: Ephesians

An answer to an email: Giving to the Lord

Posted on June 22, 2015 by | Comments Off on An answer to an email: Giving to the Lord

givingGiving to the Lord has been an issue for many Christians. Often confused by the ridicule of the lost world and those Christians who have made giving to the Lord a part of some legalistic doctrine, it has become a subject that makes many feel uncomfortable. This morning, as I was going through my emails, I had someone send me an email asking what I believe about giving to the Lord.  Now, in all honesty, I have never been to seminary. I have come to the understanding of giving, tithes, and offerings on my own personal Bible studies, from the writings of Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, Andrew Bonar, and the sermons of a handful of other Christian leaders. I will also share that I always did not have this understanding of what giving means for the Christian.

We are saved by God’s grace

Before I share what I have come to understand about giving, it is important to understand what salvation means. The Bible records a conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus: Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4). Jesus answered that question in the simplest way possible so that the meaning would be perfectly clear: Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again (John 3:5-7). Jesus also taught what is at the heart of man’s salvation: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:14-18).

Ssalvation is truly that simple as the Bible bears witness. Even the apostles understood the simplicity of the message taught by Jesus: the apostle Paul wrote, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9) and For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). We must come to the place where we realize that we, personally, are in need of a savior because of sin. On our own, we are sinners. The apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and he is absolutely right. All it takes is to watch the evening news to see the condition of man’s heart. What are we saved from? We are saved from what the Bible calls the wrath of God. We are saved from final judgment through our faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ; for He alone has made the atonement for our sins.

There are those that believe that there must be some great work or deed that also plays a part within salvation. Salvation is not dependent upon our works and too many times people get confused by the role of works in our faith. James wrote,  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works (James 2:17-18). While they claim this proves the concept of works for salvation, they often neglect the rest of the passage: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:21-24). Throughout this chapter in James, he is teaching us a very important concept – our faith should cause within us a desire to do things for the Lord. We do them not as a part of our salvation but because of our salvation. He uses the teachings of Abraham; what allowed Abraham to offer his son, Issac, to the Lord upon the altar? His faith in God and his belief in God’s promise: And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him (Genesis 18:10) and  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18: 17-18). By Abraham’s faith, knowing God would keep His promise, he knew that if he sacrificed Issac at the request of God, God would still make a provision to fulfill the promise given! It was this demonstration of Abraham’s faith in the Lord at work.

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The sincerity of the cross

Posted on March 30, 2015 by | Comments Off on The sincerity of the cross

sincerity of the crossThe sincerity of the cross is something I have been thinking a lot about since the beginning of March as Palm Sunday approached.  Within the various strands of Christendom this week is known as “holy week.” Beginning on Palm Sunday, Christians around the world pause their busy schedules and focus on the love that Jesus had for all people – But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). This morning, as I was watching some local news, there was a segment on how some Christians spent Palm Sunday and there were two things that immediately stood out – the number of people who are only sincere about their faith around this time of the year and how the world marvels in their misguided understanding of the cross.

The cross demonstrates the sincerity of God’s love

There’s an expression that we often hear both in politics or when we are involved in any team activity that goes “we all must have some skin in the game…” We all understand what that expression means and how right it is to many things in life. A marriage will not work unless both the husband and wife are committed, have the same goals and vision, and are willing to work together. There also must be demonstrations of the sincerity of love and compassion within the marriage that not only shows the level of commitment but the seriousness that both man and woman have within the marriage relationship. The cross is that demonstration of God’s sincerity; it is the greatest demonstration of God’s love for man. There are a few verses in the Bible that help convey this level of love that God has for mankind: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13), Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16) and of course, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (Ephesians 5:2).

No matter how the world tries to distort the message or cloud the meaning of the cross, the sincerity of the cross always wins out. The cross is the demonstration of a sacrificial love that I can scarcely comprehend. I think of what Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life (Romans 5:6-10). Paul is exactly right; how many of us would be willing to sacrifice ourselves or our children for a neighbor, even if we thought that our neighbor was a righteous person? We are often willing to sacrifice an afternoon to help a neighbor we thought was deserving of our help; we do not waste our time on those we do not think are worth the effort. We’ve all heard the expression, “I wouldn’t give them the time of day…” yet not only did God do just that, he sent his Son to take our place and to atone for our sins. The sincerity of God’s love, when we truly understand what the cross means, becomes incontestable. God was demonstrating His love for us through the sincerity of the cross.

The cross demands our sincerity

This time of the year, right before Easter, there are people who will be attending church for the first time since Christmas. As my pastor often jokes, many of these claim to be faithful Christians who attend every Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day, yet they sadly miss what has been paid for by the cross. While I do believe that salvation is by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ, I understand that many who claim to be Christians simply do not understand their new relationship that their acceptance of Jesus as their savior brings. In some cases, I do not believe they have accepted in their heart what the head claims to know, and this can be equally dangerous. In the latter case, there is no salvation through Christ if it has not become heart knowledge; in the former case, there is no true joy and spiritual growth in the life of the believer. Just as a strong marriage depends upon a sincere commitment between a man and a woman to make it work, our relationship with God takes a sincere commitment between God and ourselves to enjoy the richness of our relationship and faith. A person can be a Christian, fully trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope for Heaven and yet can miss out on the blessings and true joy of the relationship with the Lord because they are not committed and sincere.

God has already demonstrated His commitment and sincerity to us through the cross; we now have a responsibility to sincerely commit ourselves to the relationship we have with Him. Even Jesus taught this very thing as he said, If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love (John 15:10) and He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (John 14:21). If we want to show our commitment and sincerity to the Lord in honor of His sacrifice, then we should be willing to live a life that demonstrates our love for Him. We should desire to keep His commandments, not out of some sort of legalistic attitude as had the scribes and Pharisees and even some Christian groups today, but simply because we want to please the Lord with our lifestyle. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1) is how Paul described how we should see doing this very thing of living a lifestyle that is pleasing to the Lord. He calls it “our reasonable service” because it is. No matter what we do, our sincerity and commitment will never rival Jesus’ death on the cross but it should be the very best we have to offer to Him.

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God’s scale of justice – perfect and just

Posted on March 9, 2015 by | Comments Off on God’s scale of justice – perfect and just

scale of justiceLady Justice, a sculpture that has come to represent the American justice system, has a sword, a blindfold, and the scale of justice. For generations, we have prided ourselves in creating a just nation where the laws are equally applied to all, regardless of race, gender, and a handful of other criteria. Yet with all that has happened, with all the changes in society, and with changes in what is considered as proper behavior, we still have an imperfect system. At times, it seems that justice is simply another commodity where wealth and fame seem to influence. There are also times when the laws that have been passed with the noblest of intentions have a greater negative impact than the original problem. Yet, with these problems, most Americans still have faith in the laws of our land.

The scale of justice and Jesus’ blood

A while back on the USA television network, there was a commercial that featured the actors and actresses involved with the various shows on the network. On this particular commercial, the featured stars would share some of their life philosophy as a part of the “USA Characters” promotional to draw interest to the programming. One actress shared her views on God, “I believe all paths lead to God…” We live in a multi-cultural society and have been taught since the early 1970s that all things are equal. We’ve been taught not to judge the faith of others by our faith, but to be understanding, to be tolerant, and to be receptive and respective of their faith. Being a product of public education and having parents that did not raise me in church, for most of my life I believed that it was acceptable and right to have this kind of attitude – to live and let live. There are several problems with this kind of mindset; the end results are that there are going to be people who will spend and eternity in the Lake of Fire and for the believer, shame as they try to explain their “tolerance” to the Lord.

As a Christian, I have a moral and ethical responsibility to warn others of the dangers of living a life that is not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. Keeping the Old Testament Laws does not save one’s soul, nor does doing good deeds, living a good life, or treating others with kindness. The only thing that makes a life acceptable to the Lord is this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus further clarified this in two other verses: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36) and Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (John 6:47). Luke, the author of the book of Acts, so eloquently wrote, Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Our salvation depends on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ – nothing else will make our life acceptable to the Lord. To assure that we understand the seriousness of this judgment: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

There are those that believe that when the day comes and they stand before the Lord, He will use his scale of justice and will weigh their good works against the evil or bad deeds they have done. The scriptures are clear that this is not how the Lord will judge; the apostle John wrote: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works…  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12 & 15). Even the Old Testament teaches that it is not by any good deeds we can earn our way to Heaven: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Psalms 14:1b-3) and But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). The apostle Paul wrote on this very subject: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). It is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we can be delivered from our sins and are reconciled to God.

The responsibility of the child of God

I’ve never been to a seminary or Bible college; I approach my faith through a common sense approach much like the way I approach daily life. As a college instructor, I have a responsibility to warn students when their attendance and/or the work they submit is not to the standards that are defined for the course. When we go to our family doctor, he or she has a moral obligation to warn us if our sodium, cholesterol, or even weight is now what it is supposed to be. We have no problems following the recommendations of the mechanic who tells us what needs to be repaired on our car to keep up peak performance. Yet, when it comes to spiritual matters, many will not hesitate to ignore the Bible as a collection of fables and God as a myth. Even Christians have become dismissive of the more “radical” teachings of the Bible, claiming that somehow modern society is much different from the times of the Old Testament or the days when Jesus walked the Earth. In reality, while our technology may be different and various concepts of equality, morality, and justice may have also changed, human nature has not.

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