The Book!

A. J. Jacobs, a man who knew nothing about the Bible, decided that he would spend a year following the Bible's words to the letter.   His book, The Year of Living Biblically, tells the story of his quest. Funny and irreverent, it is a revealing record about the power of the Bible. Jacobs was a skeptic who held a secular worldview.   

He did not think of the Bible as the revelation of God, in the least. But, as this man read and wrestled with the words, he changed from an atheist into an inquirer.  He met up with all kinds of people who thought they were following the Bible while missing the point entirely! He handled snakes with a little church in Kentucky that completely ignore the context of Jesus' words found in Mark 16.  Yes, he made a huge effort to keep the letter of the Law. At the end of the book, he did not say he has come to full faith in God, but he had become open to the spiritual. He did not become a convert or a believer, in my opinion, because his efforts to shape his daily habits by rules were divorced from a quest for the Person who inspired the words.  

I am a Biblical man.   No, I don't handle snakes, grow a long beard, or observe rigid dietary codes.  However, my views, my speech, my values;   all come from the Bible. From the earliest days of my life, the Book has been the source of truth around which my life is shaped.  From the Book, I learned early that I am not a god and that there is a God to Whom I will give account for the way that I live my life.  That singular idea has kept me from giving in to many temptations as well as motivating me to serving faithfully when I preferred to be served.  I gained the knowledge of a loving personal Lord that cares for people and that has caused me to have a high regard for the dignity and personal worth of other people. I am inspired to live in the light of eternity, taught by the Word that this present world is just the prelude to the 'forever' life that is promised to all of God's children.  Eternity,  out there on time's horizon and growing closer each day, makes me hopeful and peaceful.

I don't have a lot of patience with those who twist the wonderful Word into strange doctrines, who use snippets of the Word to support their pet theories. Few things make me more disturbed than hearing someone 'interpret' the Scripture with no real skill or study. Paul admonished Timothy, a younger pastor, about the importance of good teaching. He said,  "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15, NKJV) It is simply too precious to be misused by charlatans, misquoted by simpletons, or ignored by misguided sophisticates!    With the Psalmist, I say - "How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:103-105, NKJV)

John Ortberg writes that "Some 65 million copies of the Bible are bought or distributed in the U.S. every year-nothing else is a close second. The average house has at least three. People cheer the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible- BUT they just don't actually read the Bible.”  Biblical illiteracy is a big deal even among Christians.  Only about a third of Christians know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. (Jesus did.) Just under half can name the first book in the Bible. (Genesis) About three-quarters of evangelical Christians believe the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is in the Bible. (Ben Franklin said that.)

Are you a person of the Word?  
Just owning a Bible does not make you Biblical! Read it.  Of course, without the practice of group study, which has precedent spanning three millennia, you will miss much, most, in fact, of what the Bible actually has to say.   Really understanding what God says is a life-long quest, a serious study, and demands that we allow the Spirit to make the Word plain to us.   But, the reward of knowing and doing what the Word teaches is beyond estimation.  

The word from the Word is a longer passage from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ story about the Word planted in us like a seed. “Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer sowing grain: The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts. The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word. The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced. The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted.” (Matthew 13:18-23, NLT)

Is God’s Word producing a harvest of goodness in your life?

_____________

Ancient Words
(Micheal W. Smith’s rendition of this great song)

Holy words long preserved

For our walk in this world

They resound with God's own heart

O let the ancient words impart

Words of life words of hope

Give us strength help us cope

In this world where'er we roam

Ancient words will guide us home

Ancient words ever true

Changing me changing you

We have come with open hearts

O let the ancient words impart

Holy words of our faith

Handed down to this age

Came to us through sacrifice

O heed the faithful words of Christ

Martyr's blood stains each page

They have died for this faith

Hear them cry through the years

Heed these words and hold them dear

We have come with open hearts

O let the ancient words impart

O let the ancient words impart

Lynn DeShazo

© 2001 Integrity's Hosanna! Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music [DC Cook]))

CCLI License # 810055

Unpardonable Sin?

You have heard that saying, “he cut off his nose to spite his face,” right? It is a way of speaking of the folly of that person who grows angry or bitter enough to strike out in revenge or retaliation but in the process ends up hurting himself more than anyone else. That man who becomes offended by a parent and says, “I’ll never speak to you again,” does damage to himself and his own family by isolating them. People get hurt at work, quit on the spot, and regret their reaction a week later.

Ever heard of the unpardonable sin, a choice to persistently resist the work of the Spirit with the result of separating one’s self from the source of their salvation?

Jesus was doing God’s work, shaking up the establishment in the process. Some of the leaders angrily accused Him of using demonic power, being a tool of the Devil. The accusation was absurd as He says in His response. "If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”  Evil does not fight evil. The Devil does not send his own demons packing, letting the oppressed find freedom. He goes on “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Matthew 12:26-28, NIV) The implied question is "Will you perceive the work of God or cut yourself off?"

The signs and wonders that Jesus did were evidence of the dawn of the New Era in God’s work, which would find completion at the Cross and in the evidence of the Empty Tomb. Freedom from guilt, abundant life in the Spirit, was now a possibility to those who entered the Kingdom by faith. But, Jesus points out a tragedy. 

He said that some of those listening to Him, seeing His work, would miss their salvation because they were shutting out the Person of the Spirit who was sent to change their hearts. Read Jesus’ words with understanding. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." (Matthew 12:30-32, NIV)

My Christian friend, let’s always seek to remain open to the Spirit, tenderhearted before the Lord. Willful rebellion against God’s Word, ongoing resistance to the conviction of the Spirit, holding onto offenses when we know we should pray to forgive, giving bitterness against the family of God a place in our mind – these are things that separate us from the renewal of the Spirit. 

If we continue to ignore His voice, if we attribute His work to things other than Himself, we slip deeper into deception by the day. The counsel of Hebrews is this -  "So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law and every act of disobedience. What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus himself?" (Hebrews 2:1-3, NLT)

The so-called “unpardonable” sin is not some gross act that is beyond the reach of the redemptive grace of God. It is the often subtle choice to ignore the Spirit’s voice. Jesus said that the Word seed can be choked out and die IF we allow the “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in (to grow in us) making it unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19)  That is, however, of no concern to that person who is walking with God, responding to the Spirit, renewed day by day in worship and spiritual disciplines. Why? Because they are saving themselves?  Not at all! That person is experiencing the work of the Spirit who makes us alive and aware before the God of our hope.

As we make our way through the 40 Days of Lent, one of the ways we use this time of preparation, is to pray for a heart more responsive to the Spirit. What a joy is found in the life of the one who responds to God with an attitude of child-like faith and ready obedience. “What’s next, Abba?”

Here is our core passage again, this time from the paraphrase of the Gospel, The Message. "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse. “There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God’s Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives. If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you’re sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives." (Matthew 12:30-32, The Message)

__________

Spirit Of God Descend Upon My Heart (Morecambe)

Spirit of God descend upon my heart

Wean it from earth thro' all its pulses move

Stoop to my weakness mighty as Thou art

And make me love Thee as I ought to love

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee God and King

All Thine own soul heart and strength and mind

I see Thy cross there teach my heart to cling

O let me seek Thee and O let me find

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love

One holy passion filling all my frame

The baptism of the heav'n descended dove

My heart an altar and Thy love the flame

Frederick Cook Atkinson | George Croly

© Words: Public Domain

Living in the Glory way

I am a father to four wonderful people. When they were little, my desire for their lives had little to do with getting an Ivy League education or aiming for the executive suite in some corporation. More than anything, I prayed that they would become spiritually and emotionally whole people, capable of deep love, knowing God, and productive in their place in this world. 

Hopefully, even in our imperfection, their Mom and I loved them, taught them, and modeled a kind of life for them that helped to shape their character and values. Today, they are people who are making the corners of the world where they live better and brighter. It makes a Dad glad!

Did you know that your Heavenly Father desires a rich life for you? He wants to bring all of His children to the potential placed in them by His design. In Hebrews there is a short phrase tucked into the 2^nd chapter about His efforts through Christ on our behalf:  He is “bringing many sons to glory.”  After discussing the potential of humanity, made lower than the angels, but given the stewardship of Creation, the writer points out that men and women who are broken by sin, frustrated by the Fall, have not yet fulfilled the destiny, not yet becoming who their Creator made them to be.   

Then, there is this:  "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:9-10, NIV)

When Jesus came, His mission went beyond making it possible for us to hope for Heaven, in the sweet by and by! to think that the Christian life is just about eternal insurance falls so far short of the truth. God’s Son came to walk with us, to suffer alongside of us, to offer Himself a sacrifice for sin, so that we enter the Kingdom of God and reclaim our destiny as children of the Father. When we are filled with Spirit, a new quality of life overtakes us and there is a kind of ‘glory’ that comes from us that makes us noble, loving, whole people in whom the goodness of God is revealed.

That chapter includes these lines about the spiritual freedom of the Christian. "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Hebrews 2:14-15, NIV) The mystery and wonder of the Incarnation, Christ Jesus becoming fully Man, speaks to the fact that God did not stand aloof and urge us to reach up to Him. He came to us, suffered with us, and now leads us to freedom because we have no fear of the Evil One or even of death itself! "Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God." (Hebrews 2:17, NLT)

Today, I want to encourage you to pray, “Lord, lead me to a life that reveals Your glory.” That does not mean becoming famous, rich, or successful in the usual ways. We aspire to live like Jesus, to love, to show compassion, to be a person of excellence in the use of the gifts we are given. He is leading the way. He is working in us, for us.  Believe, receive, live!

Here is a word from the Word. "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, NIV)

_______

Let the beauty of Jesus

Be seen in me;

All His wonderful passion

And purity.

O Thou Spirit divine,

All my nature refine,

‘Till the beauty of Jesus

Be seen in me.

-        Albert Orsborn