Merger

Beginning today God Likes You and Neo-Reformation have merged together into one new blog: Trinity and Humanity.

Jonathan and I have been publishing The Adopted Life together and blogging separately for well over a year now and we are both beginning to feel the pressure of trying to put out a monthly newsletter and keep up with our blogs – plus pastoring our churches and all the other ministry stuff we do!

God Likes You will continue to exist as a resource and archive of the last 15 months of blogging but I won’t be updating with new posts here, I’ll be joining with Jonathan to put our effort into the new blog.

I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation with all of you at Trinity and Humanity!

P.S. If you subscribed by email or reader to God Likes You you’ll want to subscribe to the new blog as well – your subscription won’t be automatically transferred.

Embrace Your Humanity!

 

That is the encouragement I gave to an audience at the recent Homegoing Celebration (funeral) of a member in my local congregation, Mrs. Eloise Harrison.

I gave this special encouragement because:

1.) Eloise lived a full life of 85 years embracing her humanity – with 56 of those in a marriage she and her spouse both enjoyed :-), and,

2.) She embraced Jesus’ personal Revelation to her, in the Spirit, that He, Jesus,  has embraced her and all of humanity in His own PERMANENT GOD/HUMANNESS!!

I was proud to be her pastor, and can confirm all this good news after many good conversations with her in our HUMAN relating, in Christ, together at New Creation Community Church!

This is a HUGELY important point! If we miss this, we miss the Good News of the Gospel! Because we are sinners, we often run so quickly to the subject of salvation that we get “stuck” there and miss the more subtly obvious!

If Jesus is God with Us and He came to US and to save US – who is the US? Who are we? Are we not – is God not (in Jesus!) – HUMAN!? To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe that “God is with Man, as Man!” Do you see the staggering beauty of this Revelation of God in Christ? The Father, Son and Spirit haven’t demanded that we get ourselves into him, or become like him! God isn’t more interested in his rules than he is interested in relating with us as we are!!

This is the great Epiphany = the manifestation of God as man in Jesus! Who would have “thunk” it?! As Baxter Kruger often says, “The difference between Christianity and every other religion is that in religious mythology you always have to “get to God”. In Christianity God has come to us, remains with us as we are, and has gotten us into himself by getting into us – our humanity, literally!” Ha-Ha! John 14:20! Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that gracious? Isn’t that truly Good News?!

What greater reason could we have for attending barbeques, fish fry’s, picnics, family reunions, taking cruises, line dancing, break-dancing, walking for Leukemia, assisting the Diasabled Veterans of America, attending sports games and activities, celebrating birthdays, engaging in meaningful work with our minds and hands, attending celebration services with the Church, giving of our time/talent/treasure to family, friends and neighbors, and respectign people at funerals – than to SEE JESUS FOR WHO HE REALLY IS – the Relational God, who has embraced our humanity forever?!!

It cannot be honestly and historically denied! The biblical record is that Jesus Christ spent most of his human life NOT preaching and teaching in a formal and Jewish Rabbinical sense, but living and embracing his (our!)  humanity in community and relationships! The Son of Man came “eating and drinking”! Matt 11:19!

This is why Eloise embraced her humanity, as tough as it was sometimes! This is why you and I want to embrace human life, as tough as life can be! This is why we FEAR and HATE death! We were meant for life in the flesh and our guts know it!!

Christianity is NOT about trying to escape the flesh and becoming an eternal and flourescent lightbulb! I am NOT saying we won’t glow with joy and the new effervescence of glorified humanity, but I am saying that however we will be, WE WILL BE HUMAN!!

If you plan on spending any amount of personal time with Jesus Christ in eternity, then you better get used to wearing skin and carrying around a few bones in a human body! If you don’t plan on being human, you sure are going to be mad, or sad, for a long time  – because human you will be!! 1 Cor 15:22! Ha-Ha!!

God doesn’t throw his creation away like last weeks trash! He redeems it! He renews it! He makes it new!! Where do you think we get the idea of recycling from?! lol!

Encouragingly, the new body won’t be weak and wear out like this sin-filled one! It will be raised a strong and imperishable body! 1 Cor 15! This speaks to the “not yet” part of our life in Christ! In Him, in his literal human body, our human nature has been redeemed and renewed ALREADY, and that is why we can have real hope and certainty for a better quality of human life that we know “not yet”! Our real human life is hidden in Jesus with God!

So, embrace your humanity, NOW, and don’t be too fearful of who or what can kill the body! Jesus is a living witness to us all that God has joined us in our humanity forever, raised it anew, and has accepted, validated and confirmed that being human is good and very good! At great cost and sacrifice to himself, the Son of God will forever mediate to us other human beings the vibrant  relationship he shares with his Father in the Spirit, in his human being! 1 Tim 2:15!

WOW!!! 🙂 Again!

Gospel Clarity on a “Puzzling” Scripture Passage

 

Because of the paradoxical nature in which scripture is written, and the lack of training in learning to hold those scriptures together as one whole piece in the Light of Jesus, there are MANY passages of scripture that can appear to be more difficult to understand than they actually are.

Recently, I received a question from a reader of this blog about such a “puzzling” passage in the light of other passages such as Eph 1:3-14, 1 Tim 4:9-10, which state clearly that God has adopted ALL of humanity in Christ, and is the Savior of ALL, IN HIMSELF – in and apart from our personally believing anything.

I thought you might appreciate the question and response, so here they are in that order:

Question: “I was just reading the WCG Bible Study, The Gospel According to Paul, http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/gos5.htm

Also at the Reconciliation site, I read where the gentiles (Cornelius to be
exact) was not saved  until he received the gospel from Peter. (This did point out that his good works did not save him)

1 Cor 15:1-2 
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached 
to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the 
word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain 

 

Of course, I understand how you cannot know by Whom you are saved (or that you are saved to begin with) until someone comes along to tell you (the gospel). But the way it is written, the gospel is what saves you, not “the gospel tells you by whom you are saved therefore believe it”.

To live a “saved life” is different than “the gospel saves you” when you talk to your average Christian who was taught standard Western philosophy.  To them, first the gospel saves you, then you live a saved life.

Can you clarify?”

My Response (edited for clarity):

Great questions and especially in light of our erroneous and abstract past teachings!

The FIRST answer, in the literal person of Jesus, instructs us in the fact that HE, JESUS HIMSELF, IS the Gospel, IS SALVATION! Luke 2:28-32! Therefore, whenever we see the words “Gospel” or “Saved”, we should first translate that word as “Jesus Christ”, the Son of God made flesh.

In other words, there is no Gospel that is JUST information about something OR someone = even Jesus! Literally, God and Man are reconciled in the literal God/Humanity of Jesus Christ! Because that is the Truth, you MUST believe it, personally, to experience its Truth and BE saved!

It is CRUCIAL how I am beginning to interpret all of this! If we do not start with Jesus being the Gospel, literally, in His very Person, then all we have are concepts and information and potential theories. Beginning with the literal Person of Jesus, we now have the most solid facts and TRUTH on which to receive information. Jesus iS the Truth! In this case, because Jesus is the Gospel, all of our humanity, and ALL people, are quite literally saved IN HIM.

Now, because that is true, we have something more than just information or a theory to believe in! We can know and trust that our salvation is IN HIM, literally, and not in ourselves! Therefore we do not have to worry that our salvation will ever be lost because we continue sinning, have doubts or challenges to our faith, or even blaspheme God after “getting saved”.

The key here is to keep the emphasis on how scripture speaks of salvation in all of its various forms, beginning with Jesus Christ Himself! Jesus is the Revelation of God in Living Person! Rev 1:1! Because Salvation really begins with God Himself, most scriptures on salvation should be interpreted in terms of BEING something we already are in the Person of Jesus! Because Jesus is the foundational truth of Salvation, we must BE transformed by that truth in the renewing of our minds by believing it and Being saved! We should BE who we already are in Jesus by embracing and trusting that objective fact.

Understanding all of this keeps us from falling into the trap of Arminianism (“I am saved primarily by my free will, repentance and belief!”) No! All of humanity is saved in the God/Humanity of Jesus Christ, quite literally! There is NO salvation apart from him and his!

However, because Jesus DID trust, believe and receive his Father as a REAL, distinct human being, in the Spirit (he IS FULLY human as we are, yet without sin!), we, too, must participate in our salvation the same way he did! This point keeps us out of the trap of universalism! He lives in us, does through us, and shares forever with us who he really is, a human being who believes and trusts God, personally, in the Spirit!

Salvation is objectively true of all, and for all, literally, in Jesus. Therefore we must subjectively accept, embrace and trust it in order to experience our salvation as Jesus does in His Humanity! We are not robots, but real distinct people in union with God in Jesus! But because we are only sharing in Who Jesus is, when we have come to personal faith, it is ONLY because he has acted graciously to help us share in his faith! We never have a faith of ourselves, doing “our part” by ourselves!!

One other important and often overlooked fact: Our salvation MUST already be complete in Christ in order for the Holy Spirit to be sent to us and awaken our minds, personally, to what Jesus HAS ALREADY DONE so that we can now share in HIS FAITH! We have to have been Adopted and Saved by Jesus (past tense), FIRST, in order to BE Adopted and Saved by the Holy Spirit’s awakening, SECOND! The Holy Spirit tells us, personally, about a finished act and fact that has happened to all people and things in Jesus, and he invites us, personally and collectively, to believe it and BE it (embrace it as truth) in God’s grace, THROUGH FAITH!

We are saved by GRACE (we already have it FREE in the God/humanity of Jesus!!), through FAITH (if we don’t believe and embrace it personally it doesn’t do us much good, even if we do get a renewed body like Jesus’ – and we WILL all get a transformed body like his, regardless – 1 Cor 15:22, Eph 2:4-10!)

In the end, as believers, what we should say to people, in one way or another, is, “You have been saved in the person of Jesus Christ, Who is the Savior of the world! Therefore, embrace and believe HIM and BE saved (BE who you really are in him!), because those Who believe Him are ESPECIALLY saved, and experience a qualitative difference and positive transformation in their human lives, NOW and FOREVER! I Tim 4:9-10! In God’s grace, we all get to participate in the exact and risen human life of Jesus Christ, in the Spirit! 1 John 4:17. Won’t you believe and participate in this life along with us?!”

Your last comment was REALLY correct: “To them, first the gospel saves you, then you live a saved life.” Right! Jesus, the Gospel, saved us – now we can BE and live a saved life in the Grace of the Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son! Ha-Ha!!

I hope this helps!

Peace, Love and Blessings!

Pastor T

Is There REALLY an Unpardonable Sin?

 

Technically speaking – NO! (there is no scripture that actually says “unpardonable”).  And untechnically speaking – Yes! (there is a sin the bible says won’t be forgiven).

That probably doesn’t immediately help those who are fearful that they have committed this sin, but I begin this way so that we can learn to appreciate that the bible educates us as much through paradox as through other methods. In interpreting the scriptures we need to be able to hold two apparently contradictory thoughts together as one whole in order to get at a more accurate and proper understanding of God’s grace in the light of Jesus Christ!

I will try to simplify what can be discussed in a longer way, and if you want a longer answer simply Google “unpardonable sin”. There is lots of good stuff out there.

Here are the scriptures used to discuss this topic (and notice the special emphasis on dishonoring God the Holy Spirit – Who has been sent to educate us about the Truth – John 16!):

Mark 3:22-30 and Matt 12:31-32 . 

I promised to follow up with this post based on Boyd’s comments from my last post, so here are godly and biblical thoughts in the Revelation of Jesus Christ:

1.) Is Jesus Fully God and Fully Man in One Person without mixture or confusion? We in Christianity say “Yes!!” Our creeds emphasize this, especially the Chalcedon Creed. The significance of this is that it was agreed upon by the church at large (including the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and many Protestant Christian churches).

PLEASE NOTICE THAT TO GET AT ANY TRUTH WE MUST BEGIN WITH ANSWERING THE QUESTION: WHO IS JESUS?

2.) This means that, technically speaking, when the Son of God became Man He took on the fullness of our actual fallen human nature, forgiving, saving and healing everything that was wrong with that broken human nature. As the old church father’s would say, whatever Jesus did not assume, he did not forgive, or save or heal. In reverse, whatever he did assume, was completely and utterly forgiven, saved and healed.

So, if you don’t believe that Jesus was fully human, you cannot hold as true that you or anyone can ever be fully forgiven, healed or saved! That would be the end of any hope for anyone or anything – period! It would also be a massive failure on God’s part to have sent his Son to save us, only to realize that he only almost saved us! Yikes! We need a very different and REAL God thank you very much!!

On the other hand, to believe God the Son became forever fully human, while remaining fully God, means that all of humanity is fully forgiven, saved and healed in the Person of Jesus Christ. This means hope for the good future of everyone and everything! It also means massive success on God’s part – having sent his Son to save the lost and realizing that he actually did! Hallelujah! Now THAT is the Good News!

3.) Did you see that word “forgiveness” in those statements above? Forgiveness is NOT just an “I forgive you” from the mouth of God, or pouring out Jesus’ blood externally on Jerusalem sand to fix your real 21st century relational problems! Forgiveness is the act of God making things RIGHT, LITERALLY, in the very Person of His Son Jesus! Of making things right in our real and fallen human nature, so that there is ACTUAL reconciliation and ACTUAL redemption in our humanity, not pretend reconciliation and fake redemption!

To take all of this seriously is to KNOW that every sin imaginable, including your sins against God the Father, Son AND Spirit (Who is ONE!) are forgiven, LITERALLY, in Jesus!!! 

4.) So where does the unforgiven part come in? Good question!

If everyone and everything is completely forgiven and made right in Jesus Christ, this means that anything we have said or spoken, or thought in a wrong manner against God the Father, Son and Spirit, and other people and creatures is forgiven! That is what Jesus is trying to emphasize in his comments when he says that whatever we say against the Son of Man will be forgiven.

We do this in our lostness and our ignorance, and that is why Jesus forgave even that! Father please forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing! Luke 23:34!

HOWEVER, if God the Holy Spirit shares with you this truth of your complete and total forgiveness, salvation and healing in Jesus (and He does and forever will!), BUT you, in essence, keep calling Him a liar and refuse to embrace the truth – HE IS NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE THAT! In other, more clear words, for God the Holy Spirit not to forgive that sin means for Him not to AGREE WITH YOUR LIES ABOUT HIS TRUTH!!! How could He?! You, in your distinction can deny the truth, but He will NOT EVER DENY HIMSELF!! He IS the Truth!

It’s not that your sin and blashemy against the Holy Spirit has not been forgiven, it’s just that YOU keep thinking and acting like it has not been forgiven, even when He helps you clearly see in the Person of Jesus that it has been forgiven! You are not treating the Holy Spirit like God but are acting like God yourself and that can’t be forgiven = or BE RECEIVED AS FORGIVEN BY YOU as long as you keep calling that Truth a lie!!)

I am currently in a red jump suit as I write this. As long as I receive this jump suit for what it is, I am in a red jump suit. However, in an intentional moment of stupidity and rebellion I can refuse to see it as a red jump suit and call it a blue jump suit (even though I can plainly see it is a red one!) As long as I think it is blue, it is “not” red to me, as bright red as it may really be! No sane person embracing their sanity (instead of embracing my self-chosen insanity) could ever forgive me or agree with me that the suit is blue when it is plainly red unless they wanted to purposefully participate in ignorance!!

Do you get a sense of the intentional insanity that we can choose in our distinction – potentially forever?! Good Grief! That would be eternal Hell fire and brimstone for sure, ESPECIALLY in trying to relate with others!! What “burns” more than bad relationships in a life of relationships???! Nothing!!

So, in the Relational power of the Spirit Who is with you and all people – change your mind and believe the Good News! You are wholly adopted, included, forgiven, healed and saved in the Very Person and Humanity of Jesus Christ – even from your blasphemy against God!  I John 2:1-2!

Don’t trample this truth underfoot and steal your own joy by participating in your completely forgiven, healed and saved humanity as a willfully, sinful, and distinct foolish person! Heb 10:26!

Why Thanksgiving is So Good!

 

Who doesn’t enjoy the goodness of Thanksgiving Day and, in the USA and other well-fed countries, the usual overflow of food, music, TV (football) with family and/or friends? But whether with little or with plenty it seems that people all around the world experienced a really wonderful SPIRIT in the air at Thanksgiving time! I personally love it and even the anticipation of it; the goodness of it! I like the sense of rest it brings and the experience and peace that seem to accompany the gratitude no matter the circumstances.

So why all the goodness around the Thanksgiving holiday, and our being thankful?

The Good News of Jesus informs us that Thanksgiving is so good because God the Father, Son and Spirit is Good, is Thankful, and shares His Goodness and Thankfulness with His Creation! That is why John 3:16 is so meaningful for all of creation, and especially believers. This scripture screams out the Good News that The Father, Son and Spirit is so Good, that He has humbled and given Himself to us as a creature, permanently, in the Son!

To know this is to know that this act on God’s part to become part of His creation in Jesus is the REAL origin of Thanksgiving, not the Pilgrims, or any other tradition of men. It also tells us that the Pilgrims, and anyone else who participates in and celebrates Thanksgiving in all of its various ways, is included in this relationship of the blessed Trinity!

What could be more hopeful to a person engulfed in discouragement and personal sins, than the fact that when they are celebrating and experiencing the spirit of Thanksgiving, it is a sign of their adoption and  inclusion in, and not separation from, God?!

One more thing needs to be said to bring this point home.

It may seem somewhat strange to say that the Father, Son and Spirit is thankful from a certain point of view. After all, God has always been here, will always be here (Hebrews 13:8), has never needed a thing, and, everything he has created has in some way gone sour (angels, matter, humanity). I mean, what does he have to be thankful for, except himself (Isaiah 40?) Talk about Someone Who could literally take things for granted?! Ha-Ha!

And yet, God doesn’t take things for granted, does he? This is seen most clearly in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God as Man! One of the things we mean by saying that we believe in the Son of God as Man, is that Jesus is not just acting like fallen man, or as Someone that God really is not! We are saying that we believe that what we see in Jesus is Who God the Father, Son and Spirit ACTUALLY IS in His Trinitarian and Relational Being (Col 1:15,19, 2:9).

So, what do we see going on in the actual Relationship of the Father, Son and Spirit? We see Jesus being Thankful to His Father in the Spirit! (John 6:11, 23, Luke 22:17, 19). This is not pretend or something going on outside of God’s actual relationship! This is something happening right in the middle of Who God is!! No wonder we experience such joy, peace, strength, and security in participating in Thankfulness! Who is more joy-filled, peaceful, strong, and secure than the Father, Son and Spirit?

And yet, because our One God is a Relationship of 3 distinct Persons Who appreciate and love each other in union, God does not take Himself for granted but expresses Thankfulness in the Self-Giving and other Person centeredness that He is!! Wow! Now that is a reason to celebrate our inclusion with all the Thanksgiving Jesus shares with us!

A Happy Christ-centered Thanksgiving Celebration to you (a celebration in which Jesus Christ is already at the center and shared with you in the grace of God!!)

Our Greatest Reason for Hope in Barack Obama’s Presidency…

 

…is Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, who shares all things with His Father in the fellowship of the Spirit with everyone and everything, including Barack Obama!! Colossians 1:27.

In fact, there is no God Who will be God without Barack Obama (or even John McCain!) Every single person who has ever lived, or who will ever live, is the son or daughter the Father, Son and Spirit have always desired to include in His relationship of over-flowing and self-giving love! That Truth in Jesus, apart from any other reason, is why there is a reason for hope behind any and every presidential candidate!

For those who embrace this one and only Jesus Christ, that Gospel (or Good News!) is the simple reason behind why so many people do have valid and proper hope regarding Barack Obama’s Presidency. It is also the reason some are disappointed in Barack’s election. And the reason why many would have been happy to see John McCain win the presidency. And the reason why others would have been sad to see John McCain as president!

First, let’s rehearse Christian fundamentals and share in Christ’s actual Faith, Hope and Love regarding our political future in the United States through a brief summary of the Gospel.

Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity made human forever. Colossians 1:19, 2:9, 1 Tim 2:5. This all happened, literally, 2000 years ago. For Jesus to be made TRULY human is to say that Jesus joined us where we actually were, in darkness. John 1:1-5, 10. This was demonstrated most prominently in his allowing us to crucify him in our darkness, and forgiving us for not knowing what we were doing. Luke 23:33-34. In his death, everyone died (including Barack and McCain!). 2 Cor 5:14. In His Resurrection everyone rose. 2 Cor 5:15, 1 Peter 1:3, Eph 2:4-6. Jesus now remains a Divine/Man, having united Himself to all of humanity in a real and mysterious way, sharing the Holy Spirit of He and His Father with all of mankind! Luke 24:36-43, 1 Tim 2:5, Acts 1:1-11, Acts 2:1-17, John 14:20.

Can’t you see the hope stemming from this Good News, even if you ain’t feelin’ it? 🙂 It is the responsibility of the Church to take this Truth of Jesus Christ, and WHO HE IS (Col 2:8), more seriously than anything else and to rehearse it BEFORE we get too caught up in the political rhetoric of the systems of this world which lead to misplaced faith, no hope, and little love.  

Rehearsing this fundamental truth gives us our greatest reason for hope and explains all of the dynamics behind people’s happiness or sadness regarding Barack and/or McCain as President. Let’s share in the Mind of Christ about it (1 Cor 2:9-16):

1.) If Jesus lives in all people, then that certainly gives us a reason for hope in Barack Obama’s presidency, doesn’t it?! Because Jesus lives in all, Jesus MUST live in Barack! That isn’t difficult to understand is it? I mean seriously, can we REALLY make too much of Jesus Christ and His ability to positively influence anyone in Whom he lives, including Barack? Can we make too much of Jesus’ ability to work in and through Barack for the good of others? Isn’t some of what is impossible with us, possible with Jesus – God?!

Our answers to those questions reveals whether or not we embrace the stunning Jesus of the scriptures (the Light of the Cosmos – John 8:12), or an idol (a Jesus who does not exist at all!!)

2.) Because Jesus lives in everyone and everything but is NOT everyone and everything, we can see why many would have a reason for disappointment in Barack’s appointment. Barack is not THE MAN (Jesus), but a man in whom THE MAN(Jesus) lives. That is why some are discouraged by the potential trouble of his presidency. Being a sinful human being obviously leaves room for many weaknesses and errors to show up in President Elect Obama’s policies and leadership (and in our judgment of his leadership and policies!! Ha-Ha! Yes, YOU are a sinner too!!)

Jesus doesn’t force who he is upon Barack and treat him like a thing! Jesus treats Barack just as he treats you – as a real and distinct brother or sister, who must sometimes even experience and learn the truth of his adoption into God’s relationship the hard way! But, as creative and loving as He is, God the Father, Son and Spirit is not put off by this sin and struggle, and is doing everything in his loving and relational power to help every human see and experience who they TRULY are in Him! Nothing will ever separate him from any part of his adopted creation! No bad policies. No bad decisons. Nothing! Romans 8:28-39.

The other two points are just as easy in the light of this Triune God in Jesus:

1.)  If Jesus lives in all people, then that certainly would have given us a reason for hope in John McCain’s presidency, wouldn’t it have?! Because Jesus lives in all, Jesus MUST live in John McCain, too! That isn’t difficult to understand either, is it? I mean seriously, can we REALLY make too much of Jesus Christ and His ability to positively influence anyone in Whom he lives, including John McCain? Can we make too much of Jesus’ ability to work in and through John McCain for the good of others? Isn’t some of what is impossible with us, possible with Jesus – God?!

2.) Because Jesus lives in everyone and everything but is NOT everyone and everything, we can see why many would have had a reason for disappointment in John McCain’s appointment to the presidency. John McCain is not THE MAN (Jesus), but a man in whom THE MAN(Jesus) lives. That is why some were discouraged by the potential trouble of his presidency. Being a sinful human being obviously left room for many weaknesses and errors to show up in John McCain’s policies and leadership (and in our judgment of his leadership and policies, too!! Ha-Ha! Yes, WE are all sinner’s in whom Christ graciously lives too!!)

Jesus doesn’t force who he is upon McCain and treat him like a thing, either! Jesus treats John McCain as he treats you – as a REAL and distinct brother or sister who also will learn about his adoption in positive and negative ways! But, as creative and loving as He is, God the Father, Son and Spirit is not put off by this sin, and is doing everything in his loving and relational power to help every human see who they ACTUALLY are in His Son! Nothing will ever separate him from any part of his adopted creation! No poor foreign policies. No poor domestic policies. Nothing! Romans 8:28-39.

Yes, the fundamental secret behind everything is the Father, Son and Spirit and the adoption of the entire human race into that relationship in Jesus Christ! Ephesians 1:3-10. The sooner we share knowingly in Jesus’ trust and embracing of this grand Truth, the sooner we will experience Jesus’ actual Life AS HE DOES. And life doesn’t get better than His!

It is all a matter of where your Trust REALLY is! For us Christians, our trust is ONLY in Jesus and in His trust on our behalf. Our trust is NEVER in ourselves, or in, whom we, individually, trust to be the best President of the U.S. at any given time in history. 1 Cor 2:4-5, Gal 2:20!

I thought all of you Christians would agree with me on that, and I am glad you do!! Thanks for the back-up!Ha-Ha!! 🙂  Keep Hope Alive – (FOR US – Jesus!!) Ha-Ha!!! 🙂

Simple Ways to Share and Express God’s Good News!

 

Are you looking for ways to express the Good News of the Father, Son and Spirit’s Love for us that are simple? Statements that are filled with Good News clarity without all of the valid, but heavy theological terms and language you could speak? Something short but to the point?

I thought I would try to assist you with that on this post. Three things have brought it to mind of late: 1.) Helping my local congregation to do it. 2.) Reading a great book called “The Crucifixion of Ministry” (one of my top ten books of all time).

In this book, writer Andrew Purves, rightly points out that our responsibility as pastors and ministers of the Gospel is to “…first approach people not with God’s judgment or even with God’s forgiveness. We cannot assume that a person knows who the God is who judges or forgives him or her. Instead we come announcing and bearing the love of God.” He continues, “Thus the first pastoral movement of the ministry of grace must be quite simply (although of immense significance) the announcement ‘Jesus Christ is Lord, and this Jesus is God who loves you.’ The statement stands over and against all other claims to divinity and all other definitions of divinity.”

Finally, under the section “Announce the Love of God” on p.130, Purves adds that the Gospel “…is the announcement of the human reality as St. Paul saw it; ‘for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3)…’the first pastoral act of our participation in the ministry of the grace of God is the announcement in word or act: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus who is God loves you.'”

That’s a simple expression of the Gospel and easy enough to speak, isn’t it? (by Jesus through your vocal cords! 🙂 )

I think that any preacher or proclaimer of the Gospel should always start with making a similar statement to their audience before they “move on” to other stuff because, in REALITY, there is no other stuff! God the Father, Son and Spirit IS Love and has included all of humanity in His loving, shared, relationship in the person of Jesus! That is the most fundamental truth undergirding every human life!

3.) The third thing that got me thinking about this post was the very practical and simple expression of the Gospel made by one of my Pastor friends, Bill Winn, recently. He had received a similar letter of spam and unsolicited e-mail, as I did, by a person who had gotten a hold of our e-mail addresses. In most of these spam letters, we receive some religious take on a subject. The subject matter is usually not centered on the “Who” of Jesus but some distracting “what”, “where”, “why”, “when” or “how” topic. This e-mail spam was typical.

However what was not typical, was Bill’s great response! His response to the distracting topic was so simple but profound and to the “Christ Point”, I was inspired to write this blog post and share it with you! Here is Bill’s Gospel reply and MANY simple ways to share and express God’s Good News with others. It has been edited for anonymity but Bill’s EXACT words of the Gospel remain untouched.

“Dear [Anyone],

 

You belong to the Father, Son, and Spirit. You always have. You always will. The real concern for you is not [to be distracted by such and such a subject] but to answer the question; “Who is Jesus?”

 

The Father’s eternal purpose for humanity was to gather us together, in His Son, and to have us in relationship with Himself. He has accomplished that in the Incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, Who is fully God and fully man.

 

Christ Jesus is also the vicarious man. Jesus is you, for you, as you, with you, and in you in the presence of the Father.

 

Acts 17:28 is where Paul said that all mortals, “live, move, and have their being in Jesus.”

 

You died when He died. You were raised when He was raised. You ascended to the right hand of the Father with Him.

 

You are beloved of the Father. Jesus and the Father have been face to face in relationship from all eternity with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God too. The Holy Spirit is the One by which we call out “Abba Father” in the first instance.

 

[Anyone], my friend, you are utterly and completely adored by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As Jesus is so are you in this world. He has shared every spiritual blessing with you already and has made good on the Father’s dream to have the fall of the first Adam undone and to have humanity adopted into His circle of fellowship. He is the Last Adam.

 

Learning to live Loved in the Father’s embrace,

Bill

 

PS you might like these books: Jesus and the Undoing of Adam, C. Baxter Kruger, The Great Dance, C. Baxter Kruger, The Mediation of Christ, T.F. Torrance, On the Incarnation of the Word of God, St. Athanasius, The Shack, Wm. Paul Young.”

Isn’t that a GREAT but simple response spoken by the Holy Spirit through Bill? You Go Jesus in Bill!!! 🙂 And, YES!, even though Bill doesn’t typically respond to these or get positive feedback, when he wrote this letter, he did get a response with positive feedback!! Hmmmmmm – I wonder why???!!!! 🙂 You KNOW why!!! 🙂

The Best News I Ever Heard!, pt. 3

 

Here, I continue with part 3 of my series of posts about the Gospel as interpreted by T.F. Torrance in his book The Mediation of Christ; a book in harmony with Who Jesus is and the ancient Church’s view. This time I will tackle only paragraph 3, which says:

“Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.”

This passage is loaded yet again with the tremendous Good News about Jesus and all of Humanity in Him!

Suppose you were in a life and death situation, and you desperately wanted to live! You could only grab either a strong chain, and survive, or grab a weak chain, and die. Which one would you grab in order to live? Isn’t it EASY to evaluate what you would do in order to live?

In another scenario, what if your small child was hanging precariously from a cliff, and their only options for survival were to a.) grab your hand with their small strength, or b.) have you grab their small hand in your HUGE strength (by comparison). What would YOU do to see them saved; to see them be who they already are in their relationship with you, forever?

That’s easy, too!! YOU WOULD TAKE A HOLD OF THEM AND SAVE THEM! Wouldn’t you?!

In the above statement, Torrance is trying to make this dynamic in our relationship with Jesus clear! By definition, sin means being “weak!” – or having no REAL purity of strength; being powerless and tainted! It means humanity hanging precariously from a cliff toward permanent death and non-existence (as Athanasius might have put it).

Now, what is God, being good and gracious to do? Is he to be seen as worse than you? Would he give his child only the option of grabbing His Huge Hand and holding on for dear life, or else? Or, is our Father to be seen as he is revealed in Christ? One who knows and sees that you and I are utterly incapable and unworthy of Him; as the Father who knows that if He is to have us permanently with Him, He must take a hold of us?!

Just as our “natural” reaction to our child in the above predicament would be to grab them and not present them with or even ask them which option they wanted, we, too, have been taken hold of by Jesus apart from our believing and doing anything! And, in fact, wouldn’t you (if you had all strength and power) grab a hold of your child and NEVER LET THEM GO?!

C’mon now, be for real!!! If for whatever reason you can’t think of your child in this way, then substitute any person that you REALLY love and care for!! After all, God SOOOO LOVED the World (cosmos) that He gave His only begotten Son…” – John 3:16! In other words, the Father, Son and Spirit put His full weight and strength as God behind securing us from disappearing forever down the gaping “sin hole” in Jesus – the fullness of God in a human body!!” Col 2:9!!

For one who already believes in Jesus Christ, we believe that with the exception of Jesus Christ, or the Son of God made flesh, everyone has sinned in human flesh! This makes everyone too weak to be saved by their own decision, belief or faith doesn’t it? If God requires 100% faith for salvation from someone who obviously can’t offer it, then it stands to reason they could never be saved, right? All humans, by scripture, are in just such a position! Romans 3!

How then are we all to be saved UNLESS Jesus saves us? Unless Jesus steps into into our exact position and lives and does for us what we obviously cannot do for ourselves? And if what Jesus did to save us was done 2000 years ago, doesn’t it stand to reason that it had to be done to all of us – then?! How can we escape such clear and godly logic as revealed in Jesus and through careful discernment of the scriptures?

Finally, Torrance concludes this paragraph with the proper and Trinitarian Who is Jesus logic! If the Triune God has thrown His weight behind grabbing a hold of us in the Person of Jesus Christ, who could dare escape such an eternal grip?! I mean, this is THE Father grasping us in HIS Son, in THE Spirit! This isn’t some human fable about Superman, Ironman or, God forbid, the Incredible Hulk!

I have seen some women leave an audience of many people with their child bound firmly in their grip while the child was throwing a tantrum of the most violent sort! You have probably seen or even done this, too! Solely because of the child’s temper and action, combined with the parents fury (and pride because of the public spectacle), that child was NOT going to escape the parental grip, no matter what! They might hurt themselves TRYING to get out of the parents embrace, but it was them, the child, who was going to get hurt, NOT the parent or the parents pride!! No Way!! 🙂 You can feel me, can’t you!! Ha-Ha!! 🙂

God’s grip on humanity is similar to this real life scenario! Because Jesus (God!) has taken hold of us in his godly pride, and will not have us be a spectacle of the enemy, he has taken hold of us in such a way that he will NEVER let us go! The only thing that is going to happen, that can happen, to us, if we don’t ever line up with our embrace in the Father’s arm is get hurt! Experience hell! Be damned in God’s grip!

But God will be damned before that should ever happen! We will be who we are, and He will have us with Him – embraced and in His arms – regardless!! Therefore, we might as well repent! We might as well respond to the loving nature of the grip and live in proper alignment with it, and not live alien to it! It starts hurting too badly to keep flinging our elbows in anger and breaking our own jaws and bones in the process! The Father’s grip on all of humanity, in Christ, is NOT going away! He will be our God and we will be his people!

Believe in His Love, therefore! Be and Live in His embrace with obedience! Do not Be and die in His embrace in disobedience! BUT – whether we live or whether we die – we are the Lord’s – forever and always! Romans 14:8!

The Best News I Ever Heard!, pt.2

I hope you were excited and thrilled from head to toe with what the late Thomas F. Torrance had to say about the Good News of Jesus Christ in my last post! Honestly, I never get tired of reading, hearing, thinking and speaking about it! I have received much personal feedback from others who appreciate it as well. Thanks to each of you!

I promised to follow up on the last post by elaborating on and clarifying the rich things T.F. Torrance was trying to get across to us about Jesus the Christ. I would like to clarify, and put in my own words, the first two paragraphs from his writings on pp.94-95 out of The Mediation of Christ. Here are the first two pararaphs of his writing again:

“How then is the Gospel to be preached in a genuinely evangelical way? Surely in such a way that full and central place is given to the vicarious humanity of Jesus as the all­ sufficient human response to the saving love of God which he has freely and unconditionally provided for us. We preach and teach the Gospel evangelically, then, in such a way as this:

God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very Being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself.”

Wow! What a delicious Gospel mouthful! Here is my translation of what Torrance is trying to get across to us:

In his first paragraph, Tom Torrance is stressing that there is a genuine WAY to preach the Gospel, and by implication, a disingenuine way to preach it. To me, Torrance’s writing is reminiscent of the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians where he writes in chapter 1, verses 6-9,

“6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!”

T.F. Torrance is emphatic that in the Gospel, Jesus must be given His proper place and be seen as the Gospel Himself!! The Gospel is not primarily a doctrine, creeds, or statements and words trying to describe Jesus! Jesus, or the Son of God made human, IS the Gospel in His own literal Person and Being! Your best friend is not the words “best friend” written on a piece of paper, or the words “this is my best friend” that you say to other people when describing your best friend! Your best friend is ACTUALLY your best friend – him/her, the person to whom your words and writings are pointing!!!

Torrance understands that because Jesus is the one who created and sustains all things, when he stooped and stepped into our actual humanity, he was actually living out our humanity for us, and in us! Literally in our full blown and carnal humanity! Just as Adam had some type of literal impact on all of us when he sinned as a human being, so Jesus Christ had an impact on all of us when he undone Adam’s sin as a human being! Romans 5!

Jesus not only became part of his creation, he is the One Who perpetually sustains everything in creation! If Jesus doesn’t sustain it, it can’t, and doesn’t, exist! Therefore, Jesus’ influence on everyone and everything is vastly greater and more significant than a mere sinful man like Adam’s influence!!!! In the exact same sense, what you do with and in your life does NOT have as much influence as Jesus’ life has on your life!! You ARE who you are in Jesus!!

In the love of the Triune God, Jesus did all of this for us, and TO us, without asking for our input and waiting to see what we would decide about it. He cast God’s vote FOR us before we could even think about trying to have a thought about it. He lived our life for us, AS US, graciously, freely, and without our having to change our current and bad ways first! Before YOU, literally, were born, Jesus lived your life for you, before the Father, as an acceptable life and loving response to the Father’s Love!

In the 2nd paragraph, Torrance is emphasizing that the Father’s problem with you was not that you disobeyed his laws! We have all disobeyed his laws, but the Father, Son and Spirit are not legalists who care more about rules than relationships! They don’t care more about things than they do people!! The Father doesn’t care more about Himself than he cares about you!! The Father loves you and I so much He decided that our rule breaking and fleshly and weak tendencies would NEVER keep Him from US – the people, the relationship He values!

The Son made us from dust and knew we would fall on our faces!Therefore, the Triune God planned to send Jesus before the foundation of the world to become our humanity for us, and remain forever a human for us, so that our perfect humanity would always be upheld in Him, even if we inevitably broke some of the rules!!

Torrance reveals in this paragraph that God will never undo what he has done for you, and you will always be acceptable and alive forevermore in Jesus! In order to undo His love and life for you, God would have to change Who he is and undo everything he has done in the Life of Jesus on our behalf, and that simply ain’t gonna happen!! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever!! Hebrews 13:8! Because Jesus is exactly like His Father and the Spirit, there is NO chance that any Person of the Godhead will think differently of you or love you any less!! Colossians 1:19-20!

Because of Who Jesus is, you and I don’t ever have to fear that we will never exist again after our physical death, or that our loved ones who have died will be snuffed out, permanently! There is no such thing as being annihilated! The only time we would have to fear having no existence at all is if we can imagine Jesus having no existence, because our lives are upheld, literally, in His!!! The Father, Son and Spirit have decided that you and I will live forever, regardless! God has pledged and given Himself to us, in the human being Jesus, as our eternal guarantee!!

Again, to undo all of what He has done, God would have to deny Himself, but that is IMPOSSIBLE because God CANNOT deny Himself or he would NOT be God!!! 2 Timothy 2:13! None of this is theory or based on fallen human reasoning! This is what we see Revealed LITERALLY in Jesus the God/Man! The Triune God is ACTUALLY and UNCONDITIONALLY our Salvation in Jesus’ own Person and Being!!!!!

Chew on, and rest in, all of this for a little bit, and I’ll be back to tackle another paragraph or two on the next blog post!! 🙂

The Best News I Ever Heard!, pt.1

 

In this blog post I want to share with you my favorite passage out of all the books I have ever read so far! It completely and positively transformed my entire experience of life when I first read and understood it! I was freed and liberated for life in ways that I cannot fully describe with words! In other words, I was floored!

THIS passage is an example of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ REALLY should be preached, and what is REALLY meant by the Good News! I hold it up as my prime example for preaching God’s Good News, and am striving to say this same thing in all of my communication on this blog! To understand this is to understand why it is called Good News – period!!

It is taken from pp.94-95 out of the book entitled, “The Mediation of Christ“, by the late Thomas F. Torrance. He writes in a very deep and profound way, and this is more of his “simple” writing! 🙂  Most of you should be able to read and understand the words just fine, but I don’t want to leave it to chance. Therefore, I will take the next few blog posts to elaborate on this passage in more explicit detail, to help you see the richness and practical expression of what is being communicated.

Here is the passage:

“How then is the Gospel to be preached in a genuinely evangelical way? Surely in such a way that full and central place is given to the vicarious humanity of Jesus as the all­ sufficient human response to the saving love of God which he has freely and unconditionally provided for us. We preach and teach the Gospel evangelically, then, in such a way as this:

God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very Being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself.

Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

From beginning to end what Jesus Christ has done for you he has done not only as God but as man. He has acted in your place in the whole range of your human life and activity, including your personal decisions, and your responses to God’s love, and even your acts of faith.

He has believed for you, fulfilled your human response to God, even made your personal decision for you, so that he acknowledges you before God as one who has already responded to God in him, who has already believed in God through him, and whose personal decision is already impli­cated in Christ’s self-offering to the Father, in all of which he has been fully and completely accepted by the Father, so that in Jesus Christ you are already accepted by him. Therefore, renounce yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

To preach the Gospel of the unconditional grace of God in that unconditional way is to set before people the astonishingly good news of what God has freely provided for us in the vicarious humanity of Jesus.

To repent and believe in Jesus Christ and commit myself to him on that basis means that I do not need to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether I have really given myself to him, whether my faith is at all adequate, for in faith it is not upon my faith, my believing or my personal commitment that I rely, but solely upon what Christ has done for me, in my place and on my behalf, and what he is and always will be as he stands in for me before the face of the Father.

That means that I am completely liberated from all ulterior motives in believing or following Jesus Christ, for on the ground of his vicarious human response for me, I am free for spontaneous joyful response and worship and service as I could not otherwise be.”

Please tune in to my next few posts as I clarify what is written here, and hopefully in a way that really reaches you where you live, move and have your daily being! 🙂