Tag Archives: 1 John

White as snow since the blood of Christ

Posted on February 16, 2015 by | Comments Off on White as snow since the blood of Christ

white as snowSince about last Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast snowfall for the tri-state area where I live. To be completely honest, I love snow – I love watching the flakes as they fall to the ground and the look of the fluffy and thick white blanket that hides the ground’s imperfections. This morning I was surprised to actually see about four inches of snow on the ground, but just as I am with every snowfall, my heart turns to my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several things that snow can teach us about the grace that God gives all who will seek genuine forgiveness.

Behind my apartment, in my back yard, so to speak, there are dips and depressions that fill the ground. There are also old cigarette butts from previous occupants and neighbors that still rise to the surface. There are weeds, crab grass, and a few dead leaves – all unsightly things that makes the yard difficult to enjoy. If we are completely honest with ourselves, it is a good analogy to how we must appear to God without the blood of Christ. The prophet Isaiah wrote under the leading of the Holy Spirit, 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). Everyone has things in their life – sins – that are unsightly in the eyes of God. The apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). Without the grace of God, we appear just as a neglected yard before a snowstorm. We are filled with imperfections, with flaws, and other unsightly things.

Snow covers imperfections

This morning, by the time I woke up, there was nearly five inches of snow on the ground. No longer visible were the imperfections and unsightly clutter in the yard, but a thick, white blanket of snow. Again, the prophet Isaiah wrote as was led by the Holy Spirit, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord himself invites people to come and reason with the promise that we’ll be made pure from our sins – white as snow! David similarly wrote, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities (Psalms 51:7-9).

Just as the snowfall hides the blemishes of the yard from our eyesight, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses and blots out our sins. The “reasoning together” the Lord invites everyone to take part in is simply the same question He asked of Israel during the exodus from Egypt: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). The apostle Paul shows the importance of this reasoning with the Lord: 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). By choosing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we choose eternal life and he have our sins forgiven; even the Lord Jesus Christ taught, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus’ blood covers our sins

The apostle John wrote, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5) – when we accept Jesus we have become white as snow because of the shed blood of Jesus! There is no other way we can become white as snow without the blood of Christ; Paul wrote to the early Christians living in Jerusalem: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). Even Jesus taught this very idea during his earthly ministry that all paths do not lead to God; there is only one way that man will ever be justified in the eyes of God: 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).

But this is where the similarity between the blood of Christ and snow ends. The blood of Christ remains pure and able to continue to cleanse us from our sins. After a few days, the snow will begin to melt, it will get dirty, and it will begin to show what is underneath it. David wrote, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). Once we have been forgiven of our sins, the blood and love of Christ forever separates them from us once we have repented. And when we do sin again, all we have to do is to confess our sins, as John wrote: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Paul wrote that when we genuinely seek forgiveness of our sins God will not remember them from the point we seek His forgiveness any more: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more… And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12 & Hebrews 10:17).

As I watch the snow continue to fall I am amazed at God’s grace towards me. There’s nothing special about me that God should show me such unmerited favor in His sight. He has blessed me beyond all measure and explanation. He can and will do the same for you if you will simply call upon the name of Jesus and believe that God raised Him from the dead and that He has made atonement for your sins. You, too, can have a life that appears white as snow to the Lord!

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Powerless churches and weak Christians

Posted on December 17, 2014 by | Comments Off on Powerless churches and weak Christians

6182411664_f6311e9c14_zPowerless churches are everywhere in our nation. Within Henderson, Kentucky, the town where I live, there are over fifty churches within the county according to the Internet and phone book, yet there are still scores of people hurting, people longing for something more in life, and people dying and beginning an eternity in Hell. Within these churches, many of the congregations often have less than a hundred members in attendance on Sunday morning.  The church of the twenty-first century is a far cry from the churches that dominated the communities of our nation in the previous four centuries.

From the early colonial days of America until the 1870s, the members of the local church oversaw questions dealing with morality and public behavior in the town. Members of local congregations were often called by the town to serve on the school board, to serve as justices of the peace, and were even elected to public office. It was the local church that served to meet the needs  of the poor, the homeless, orphan, and widow. Two “Great Awakenings” happened in our nation’s history that started when preachers stood up and taught the belief that the time of Christ’s return was near. Since the mid-Twentieth century, there has been a decline in the importance of the church in our communities. What has happened to change the church from a place of God’s authority, compassion, and mercy in the community to a place of inconsequential importance?

It is easy to blame the lost world for the diminished role of the church in modern times. I have even heard pastors, missionaries, and regular church goers comment that it is because the temptations of the world have grown greater than what once existed. While this argument may satisfy some, it is a rather weak and pathetic defense of the church. Yes, the world has progressed in technology and the means to sin, but temptation, wickedness, and sin have always existed. To find out why the church has grown weak and ineffective over the last hundred years, I believe it is imperative we take a look at the local church. The first thing that is easy to notice is many Christians and local churches have forgotten the simple truth that Jesus is coming again.

How powerless churches begin

The return of Jesus Christ is a real, foretold event. Early Christians, and those disciples that made up the first church, truly believed in a literal second coming of our Lord. The disciples believed it to be true because they had heard from Jesus’ own mouth a promise that would burn in their very hearts:  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (John 14:2-3). They believed this to the extent that it gave them a great strength and boldness to preach the gospel, to bring the lost to Him, and to do so even in the face of persecution and death. 

I often think of the parable that Jesus used to illustrate this very concept of His return and what he expects of His followers until He does: For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey (Matthew 24:14-15). Jesus himself is the “man traveling into a far country” each born – again believer is His servant, and we each have been given some job, some task, some calling to do while we await his return. The most common application of this parable is that Jesus expects us to do something with the gifts and talents that he gives us; however, the teaching is there – He is coming back. He is going to return. Two of the servants realized this and did what they knew must be done while the third, unsure of when the Master would return, didn’t put what was left for him to do as being that important. This is where powerless churches begin.

When Christians do not believe the Lord could come back at any moment, it becomes easy to for the church to lose its importance within the community. The sole mission of the church is to spread the gospel with its secondary purpose being for the edification, the worship of the Lord, and the teaching of His people. When Christians do not take the return of the Lord as being a real event that could happen at any moment; this is what allows for complacency to happen. Unbelief in the return of Christ allows the need to spread the gospel seem less urgent. It makes separating ourselves from temptations to sin less important, and it makes the need for immediate and sincere compassion on those around us a little less important. When we live as if we do not believe His return is imminent, then we become comfortable in our sins, we become lazy in our Christian service and the result is powerless churches and weak Christians.

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A commonsense faith in Christ

Posted on December 3, 2014 by | Comments Off on A commonsense faith in Christ

bible_and_candle_krx5While growing up, one of my favorite shows I loved to watch was the Andy Griffith Show. Some of the things that drew me to that television show was the way that Sheriff Taylor was able to take a complex problem and find a commonsense solution for it and when Opie would find himself in trouble and again, Sheriff Taylor would use good old-fashioned commonsense to steer Opie into making the right decision. Although I have had a lot of people tell me that the show does not show reality, I often think that one of society’s biggest problems is the knack to take something simple and turn it into a complex process. The Andy Griffith Show’s popularity was not that it was a complex, advanced, and witty television show; it was quite the opposite. It was a simple show that relied on country wisdom, commonsense solutions to life’s problems, and had a natural appeal to its audience.

A commonsense faith of promise

Earlier this week, while I was on the community college campus before class, a former student stopped me in the parking lot and began to ask me questions about my faith. After a few minutes of answering some very basic questions, the student actually said, “Mr. Simmons, that’s why I like asking you questions about Christianity. You always give a commonsense answer that makes it easy to understand and simple…” I had never really thought about it before yesterday, but just as with everything else, we have changed the simplicity of the gospel into a complex religion that no longer has the appeal of being a simple faith. I believe that this is one of the reasons for Jesus’ warning: Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein (Mark 10:15). When I think of my four-year old daughter, there are things she just accepts as fact; she doesn’t seek an explanation. During the summer, while coming home one night from church, she asked about why the moon was so bright. After I told her that it was because there were no clouds in the sky and the moon was a circle, the light seemed brighter. Her response to my answer was, “wow, that’s neat!” There was no other explanation needed because the simplest answer I could give met her needs.

The faith that Jesus was teaching to the crowds, the faith that would ultimately become known as Christianity, was from its beginning to be a simple faith. Jesus taught this concept by example: And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:2-4). Jesus is not saying that we have to accept Jesus when we are a child to be saved, but what He is saying is that we simply need to take Him at his word. Just as my daughter took me at my word in the explanation about the brightness of the moon, as an adult, I need to be willing to accept what the Lord says at His word. This was something that the Lord continually taught, even in the presence of the religious leaders during His time on Earth. The gospels are full of encounters where Jesus explained in a commonsense way, the very meaning of the laws and practices that the Jewish scholars had made overly complex with their traditions.

One of the best examples of Jesus’ confrontations with the religious leaders during the days of His earthly ministry is found in the gospel of Mark: And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:  And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question (Mark 12:28-34).

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