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!

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!

Gospel Panic and Exhaustion…

 

…is often the first thing that takes hold of you when you begin to take seriously that God’s Good News is better than you ever thought! The reason for this is that there is no good thing in our fleshly humanity, apart from Jesus Christ! Therefore, when we are confronted with the weight and burden of God’s goodness and glory (in contrast to our sinfulness), it is very difficult to believe and embrace.

Often times, when proclaiming the Good News of Humanity’s Inclusion in the Life of the Triune God, solely by God’s grace, the accusation is put forth that we are not calling a person to “repentance and change!” Nothing could be FURTHER from the truth! This is proven by the fact that when people are called to think of God in all of His goodness and Inclusive grace, the last thing a person wants to do is believe that and repent (change their mind radically, resulting in a radical change of action)!

By the way, changing your mind IS an action and DOING something, too!!

 

In God’s ever-present grace, I preach the Gospel in unbounded joy and increasing zest and freedom – NOW! It wasn’t this way at first! See more of my personal story, entitled “Nothing Less than Radically Shocking!” here. Being as lost we all still are in the clinging flesh of fallen Adam, there is no such thing as not being called to repentance when we hear the Good News of the Gospel proclaimed! We are either found believing the Truth about Jesus and ourselves in Him, or we are found not believing it. If found not believing it, we are placed in a crisis of belief IN AND APART FROM ANYONE SAYING “Repent and believe this Good News!”

When hearing the Gospel, which says confidently and unequivocally that, “In Jesus Christ every person, dead or alive, has been Embraced, Saved, Included and Adopted into the Life of the Triune God, and always will be!”, our fallen flesh begins to go into a denying panic! I’ve noticed that it typically follows this same pattern for most people trained in religion: Shocking disbelief, leading to “fighting mad” or, if embraced as truth, ”descending” to total embarrassment and humility, and finally, progressively accompanied by great liberating “can’t shut up about it” joy!

Up to this point, it may seem as if I am just spouting out a bunch of theology and thoughts on my constant Gospel theme of Humanity’s Inclusion in the Life of the Triune God. But, I was reminded of this process and experience when re-reading an e-mail I received in the recent past after sharing the Gospel and a few resources with a fellow Pastor! I want to share his response with you. I keep it tucked in the back of my bible to encourage me in the suffering and joy that comes with sharing and being confronted by the Good News of the Person of Jesus Christ!

May you be encouraged and strengthened by this REAL LIFE interaction I had with a Pastor as you begin to embrace God’s Good News, continue to repent and embrace it more, or participate with Jesus in sharing it with others. Like the panic and exhaustion that I hear women discuss regarding pregnancy, as the “baby” of the Good News is being birthed from the inside out, it is not always joyful at first! 

 

Here is the response and experience of the already Christian pastor, verbatim, with ONLY the name of the pastor being excluded for anonymity:

“Tim,

I hope you are asleep as I write this but I can’t sleep. I just spent the last 3 hours reading my sermon notes for tomorrow and trying to find my Augustinian influence and writing it out.

I need those web links for the free books please. I am ordering “On the incarnation of the Word of God” and “The Forgotten Father”

Did you weep over any of this? Because I found myself on my knees in tears tonight asking God to break me down and rebuild me into a REAL preacher of the true Gospel. I’ve decided that I am going to seek the true Gospel no matter what the cost.

I suddenly feel like my relationship with God has been superficial all these years. I’m not discouraged. Oh quite the opposite I am more excited about God than I have ever been because I think my experience and relationship with Jesus has been and is awesome and now I see that I have not even scratched the surface.

I can’t wait to know Him more. Its like that song “In the secret” I do want to know Him more.

This is all fresh and new and I am trying hard not to panic. I am praying a lot tonight but I just wanted to email you to say I think I am going to get it, I don’t believe God would tease me. If He has introduced me to this theology I know it is because He wants me to understand.

I am ready to commit to learning the real Gospel, the Gospel with power and lifechanging authority.

Last year I read “Making a difference in Preaching” and now I see that the real way to make a difference in preaching is to discover the real Gospel and preach that and then let the power of God’s Word make the difference.

So again please send me links to the free books I can read. I feel like I am in the middle of the desert and all I want is water. I have 200 books on my shelf but none of the ones I desperately want to read. 

Whew,

This is exhausting,

I’ll keep in touch.

PS I loved the rap. May I play it at my church? “

I Saw God

That’s the name of one of my favorite songs of all time, from one of my favorite Jazz Bassist’s – Victor Wooten! You can find him all over youtube if you search it! You might especially enjoy the Father’s amazing bass skills in Victor’s take on the song, Amazing Grace.

The song is soooooo full of the Good News of the Gospel of the Adoption of All of Humanity in Jesus Christ, that it needs no elaboration from me. I will simply let you be inspired by, and enjoy, the lyrics, and hopefully view and/or download the song for your Eclectic Gospel Music Arsenal!! Ha-Ha!

Here are the lyrics:

I saw God the other day
She looked like you
He looked like me

Now I’m gonna tell you a story
And this one you can repeat
I saw God the other day
Just walking down the street
He said “I have something I want to tell you”
“Something I’ve been dying to say”
“You’ve been waiting for My return”
“The Truth, I never went away!”"

I don’t care if you believe me at all
I know Who I saw
And it was God!

I said “Hold on just a minute!”
“How do I know it’s really You?”
She gave me a simple answer
She said, “You don’t, unless you do!”
“Wait a minute! I don’t quite understand all this…”
“Tell me, what do You want with me?”
“You see, I’m not a religious type of person.”
He said “You don’t have to be!”

“I don’t know if I’m the right person to talk to…
You know a few of my puzzle pieces are missin’”
And She said, “I speak to everyone.”
“But not everyone chooses to listen!”
“Well then, tell me how to treat my enemies,
I mean the people I despise.”
He said, “The Answer will be clear,
When you see Me in their eyes!”

I don’t care if you believe me at all
I know Who I saw
And it was God
I saw God the other day
She looked like you
He looked like me

Now I spoke to God that day
And you spoke to Him, too
And He told me that of all the miracles ever created
“The grandest one is you!”
Now that you’ve told me all of this
Can you tell me “What am I supposed to do?”
She said, “You may think it’s up to Me,
But it’s really up to you!”

Well now my eyes are open
And I can clearly see
That all the things I paid for in life
I could have gotten for free!
Now I’m going to share with you Her parting words that day
And you might wanna think this through
She said, “If I only have One Son,
Then tell me, Who are you????

I saw God the other day
She looked like you
He looked like me

- Victor Wooten (Palmystery 2008)

By the way, you can view the video here, or listen to the song here!

You Don’t Have to Twist God’s Arm…

 

in order for Him to Love You, Like You, or Accept you as His Adopted Son or Daughter forever! He Loves You, Likes You, and has Adopted you purely because he wanted to share his life with you!

(Actually, the Father, Son and Spirit, in their pure Essence and Being as God, have no arms! The Son, however, in the fullness of His PRESENT humanity in Jesus Christ DOES NOW have real human arms, but there is no record of them ever having to be twisted in order to force him to love you, the World or anyone else!)

In fact, I want to suggest that trying to twist the arm of the Father, Son and Spirit is DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH, and you ought not even attempt it!!!

One reason for saying this is that God IS love and His character as Father, Son and Spirit cannot be changed or split in any way! Scripture says He is everywhere and in everything! The Father, Son and Spirit are One! God is the same yesterday, today and forever! His Word goes out and does not return empty, but fulfills all that He has set out to accomplish. The reason behind all of creation was the Plan of the Father to Include it and everyone in His Eternal Life and love, through Jesus Christ! When Jesus accomplished this Adoption and Inclusion of Creation into God’s Life, it brought God great pleasure! Ephesians 1!

With those foundational thoughts in mind about the Father, Son and Spirit, let’s use a physical illustration to demonstrate how dangerous it can be to try and twist God’s “arm” and get him to like and accept you!

The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, when it was completed in April 1931, broke every record in the book for tall buildings. At 1250 feet, it topped the Chrysler Building by 200 feet and the third tallest, the Manhattan Company Building at 40 Wall Street, by more than 300 feet. Gargantuan in SCALE, its five-story base covered two acres and its eighty-five floors of offices boasted more rentable space — 2.1 million square feet — than the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street combined.

During the short twenty months it took to design and complete, the foundations and grillages were dug and set, 57,000 tons of structural steel were fabricated and milled to precise specifications. Ten million common bricks were laid, 62,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured, 6400 windows were set, and 67 elevators were installed in 7 miles of shafts. Interiors were equipped with 6,700 radiators, 2,500 toilets and sinks, and 51 miles of plumbing pipe, and were finished with 10,000 tons of plaster and 328,000 square feet of marble.

Contrasting Fact: The average North American adult has a mass near 100 kg!

Now imagine a LOONY human being gripping a corner of the Empire State Building in order to lift it, move it,  turn it, or twist it! You know that I am telling the truth when I say that someone who STRAINS to do this is going to get HURT in all kinds of ways – and the Empire State Building is NOT the someone!!

The absurdity of trying to twist such an immense and immovable object as the Empire State Building with such a puny human force is laughable (for those of us who wouldn’t even dare to try such a dumb thing)!  For the one who does try, hernias, and all kinds of other troubling physiological, mental, psychological, spiritual and relational problems naturally await them (depending on how long they keep straining to do it!!)

Notice, also, that all the pain and suffering in trying to do such a foolish thing does not happen as a result of the Empire State Building punishing the puny and weak human being!! The suffering comes NATURALLY from trying to even attempt such an impossible deed against something so unmoveable in its basic character!

Another Contrasting Fact IN CHRIST: Jesus Christ Created and Sustains You, mysteriously, in His very Being, therefore, whatever happens to Him, happens to you. When he was baptized, you were baptized! When he died, you died! When he rose, you rose! When he ascended to His Father in the Spirit, you ascended to His Father in the Spirit with and in Him! You have been adopted and included in the life of God your entire life, because Jesus did all of the aforementioned stuff around 2,000 years ago! You can’t do anything to get out of it because Jesus lives eternal, and you live eternally in Him (1 Corinthians 15:22)!

One LOONY thing you can do, in your distinction, is to TRY and oppose and “twist” God’s arm! So, how are you trying to twist the Father’s “arm” so that he will accept and include you on your terms?:

Are you trying to “twist” God by paying your way into his favor through tithes and offerings, or a success program to build and amass wealth? Through “your” moral and ethical works, good health, or wearing a particular style of clothing? By pretending to be an Atheist so that he’ll PROVE Himself to you on your terms? With uncontrollable rage and anger, hurting everyone and everything around you till he responds as you see fit? By being lazy and forcing him to “make the first move”? With church attendance, bible study, prayer, fasting, baptism, etc.? With fake “upper lip” optimism and positivity even though you are hurting deeply inside? With a “Woe is me, I am worthless and only deserve the worst” mentality?….  and on and on the illusions go!!

Please STOP IT! Jesus lives in you and You are ONLY GOING TO HURT YOURSELF (and you weren’t created to hurt yourself and like it for very long!) ”Twisting” God’s arm will only be pleasurable for a season, and then you are still going to have to face the Truth:

The Father, Son and Spirit have embraced you in such a way in Jesus Christ, that they will never let you go! You are included, adopted and acceptable in Jesus! You always have been, and you always will be! Jesus IS the Required Work, Toil, Labor and Effort of God – Embrace it, and enjoy His unchanging Love! (John 6:28-29!)

Overcoming Your Greatest Weakness!

 

What Is The Greatest Weakness of Man?

That is how the question was posed to the character, James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), in the movie “The Great Debaters“, by his father, James Farmer, Sr. (Forest Whitaker). Junior’s father was a pastor and was preparing a sermon when Junior walked in the door and had that question thrown at him.

So, how would you answer the question, “What is the greatest weakness of man?”

In life I have heard many answers to this question. We have all heard or thought answers such as, “Greed!”, “Laziness!”, “Just not thinking!”, “Lust!”, “The Devil!”, “Simply a limited physical being!”, “Death!”, “Sex!”, “The opposite sex!”, “Money!”, “The love of money!”, and there are potentially a “million” more reasons.

Junior looked a his father in a thoughtful way, and in just a few short seconds came up with the CORRECT, Christ-centered answer, in an ironically doubtful way:

“Not believing? Doubt?”

“That’s it! Thank You Jr.!”, said his father, “Matt 14:31!”

This is a Christ-centered answer because it is the point Jesus Christ kept making about humanity’s fall, time and time again! Matthew 8:26, Mark 4:40, Luke 9:41, John 16:9 .

Now, don’t be too discouraged if you know that you lack faith in Jesus! You could ONLY lack faith in one area of life because you have STRONG faith in another! You definitely have faith in something, even if it is in the false belief that you have no faith! You also need not be discouraged because EVERY human being, except Jesus, lacks sufficient faith apart from Jesus sharing his with us! Luke 18:8!

The Encouragingly Good News is that you do not have to worry about trying to work up the faith that satisfies God! It has been given to you graciously in Jesus, Who is having faith for you, and sharing that measure of faith with you even now! Romans 12:3, Gal 2:20, Hebrews 12:2!

Can you believe and embrace that?! Yes, you can! Because, in Jesus Christ, you have been given nothing less than every spiritual blessing! Ephesians 1:3-6! “Every spiritual blessing” certainly INCLUDES Jesus’ exact faith! Ephesians 2:4-10!

Here is a link to the most popular post on this site, which further emphasizes this MAJOR point! Be encouraged!

How to Deal With EXTREMELY Difficult People!

You have probably heard MANY answers and responses to this question and concern. I know I have! But it has only been since I have learned more about Who Jesus Christ is, and who humanity is in him, that I am finally starting to KNOW what the answer to this question REALLY is. And here it is:

JUDGE extremely difficult people!!!

(Or as Jesus said “Do not judge by appearances but judge with right Judgment!”)

I can almost hear the religious brakes squealing as I write!  It seems the ONLY parts of scripture about judgment that stick in our minds are the ones that say things like “judge not that you be not judged” (Matt 7:1). We almost totally neglect the other part that says, “for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged!” OR, if we do include that section, and other sections of scripture on judgment, it is almost always totally negative and not reconciled with a proper view of Who Jesus is!

The point of this post is NOT to go into all the finer points of that passage of verses, other than to say that what Jesus is saying is absolutely true and has probably been experienced by most of us – in the negative! I’ll never forget the day my wife pointed out how she was sure that Jesus was REALLY saying something like, “If you judge people in a certain way, with certain rules, and then you inevitably break those rules yourself, people will judge you the same way you judged them! If you judge people in and with grace, then people will judge you in and with grace!” I wholeheartedly agreed with her!

In other words, if you proclaim the Gospel as “not breaking any of God’s holy laws”, and then you inevitably break one of them (make that almost all of them – repeatedly!!), then people you have proclaimed this Gospel to will judge you as a lawbreaker and condemn you. If, on the other hand, you proclaim the Gospel as “the Adoption of Humanity and Creation into the Life of the Triune God, in Jesus, regardless of our rule-breaking or rule-keeping”, people will judge you according to that. They may call you out, properly, as doing something you shouldn’t have done, but they will also still judge you as adopted, or according to the standard (gospel) you promoted! It’s sinful human nature!

BUT, knowing Who Jesus is in his Person helps us sort out the subject of judgment properly AND how to deal with difficult people.

Because Jesus is God, and God is our ultimate Judge, AND, Jesus, in our humanity with us, has judged our sin as conquered and overcome in His human life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, humanity (you and I) have been judged in Jesus as cleansed of sin and adopted! The Judge has ascended with all of humanity to the right hand of God as the Second Adam, where we are seated with him and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!!

Whoa!! I NEVER get tired of hearing that! In fact, “judge me, judge me, judge me” according to that Truth in Jesus ALL THE TIME!! Please!! And, of course, because Jesus is permanently human for and with us, He DOES judge every one of us this way, ALL THE TIME!! And within that truth lies the ability to deal with extremely difficult people, and the ONLY hope for becoming extremely lovable and loving people!

Karl Barth, one of the great, if not greatest, theologians of the 20th Century put his answer to “How to Deal with Extremely Difficult People” in this kind of heavy, Christ-centered way:

“On the basis of the eternal will of God we have to think of every human being, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is Brother and God is Father; and we have to deal with him on this assumption. If the other person knows that already, then we have to strengthen him in that knowledge. If he does not know it yet, or no longer knows it, our business is to transmit this knowledge to him. On the basis of the knowledge of the humanity of God no other attitude to any kind of fellow man is possible. It is identical with the practical acknowledgement of his human rights and his human dignity. To deny it to him would be for us to renounce having Jesus Christ as Brother and God as Father.” - The Humanity of God, p. 53. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982. (The Adopted Life)

In my more simple way of putting it, Karl Barth is saying that when we see Who Jesus is, and Embrace Him seriously for Who He really is, we take seriously that Jesus lives in everyone! This is to our advantage in EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY with a difficult person. We can KNOW, up front, that they are only so difficult, not all difficult! We can appeal to the Jesus that indwells them. If they know about this Jesus in them or have forgotten it, we can “ring their bell” and be a helpful reminder to them of who they REALLY are. This is one way you could call them out in the Gospel: “Why are you being so extremely difficult _____________ ? That’s not who you really are and we both know it! Jesus Christ lives in you!! BE that!!”

If they do not know who they are, then you are compelled to tell them who they are! We can KNOW IT WILL HAVE SOME GODLY EFFECT, because Jesus Christ DOES live in them! Call them out more like this: “_____________ , I know the real you, and you are NOT this EXTREMELY difficult person in Jesus Christ, Who lives in you!! Good Gravy! The sooner you begin embracing that fact, the sooner you will stop creating misery for yourself and others! Now change your mind and believe the Good News before I have to restrain you in love so you don’t hurt anyone else, including yourself, until you can see Jesus more clearly!!”

To not think about and deal with EXTREMELY difficult people in this way is to deny Jesus Christ as our Brother, and to deny God as our Father in the Holy Spirit, because there is no one Who is not in Jesus! Colossians 1:27! Yikes!

Help us Jesus!!! (He has and He will!)