baldtheologian Christian Living

Afraid to Die?

We are free from condemnation because we are in Christ. As a Christian, that means my future is secure, regardless of what I do. There is not a sin I can commit – as a Christian – that will cause Christ to reject me. If there is such a sin, then the cross lacks power to keep me saved. 

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As long a I can remember I have feared death. I’ve always thought that if I did something too risky I would die. I have feared that my entire life. Not knowing what happens after death has always bothered me. I would like to see it happen before it happened to me. But with death, there is no way to watch the process before experiencing it.

Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. – 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 NASB

When I accepted Christ in 1984, I thought this fear of death would leave me. But it didn’t. I still feared death and dying. I would avoid situations certain situations because I thought they were too dangerous. This resulted in avoiding ministry opportunities that presented themselves to me because of my fear. This fear lasted until recently. I’m convinced that my fear of death wasn’t real – and it wasn’t imagined. I misunderstood my fear. I never really feared death. At least I haven’t feared it since receiving Christ.

I feared life.

You read that correctly.

I. Feared. Life.

And living.

Now you may wonder what I mean by that.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:31-36 NASB (bold mine for emphasis)

Simply put, I feared living the life that was purchased for me on the cross.

I have always struggled with being accepted. There are reasons for this struggle which I won’t share here, but there are very real reasons I struggle with being accepted. I suppose that is the root cause of my fear of life. I always wondered if I would do something that would cause Christ to be disappointed in me and reject me.

I erected rules and regulations to keep my behavior in check. I thought that if I crafted a narrow enough path of conduct then I would be fine. Even I wouldn’t be able to be stupid enough to cause a problem. My guardrails would be enough to keep me safe. The guardrails that I meant to hem my behavior in order to reflect my commitment to Christ became walls that kept me from becoming who I was meant to be by HIm. To say I got things messed ups is an understatement.

Even though I felt that I was doing well, I wasn’t. In my zeal to live within my guardrails, I forgot about freedom. I’m not talking about the idea that I could do anything and be OK. There are rules to the Christian life. I’m talking about the freedom that comes with knowing that I am secure in Christ and being able to live boldly and righteously.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1 NASB

In my zeal I had forgotten to soak in one of the  most critical verses for a Christian. Romans 8:1 is extremely important for every Christian. We are free from condemnation because we are in Christ. As a Christian, that means my future is secure, regardless of what I do. There is not a sin I can commit – as a Christian – that will cause Christ to reject me. If there is such a sin, then the cross lacks power to keep me saved.

Righteousness is credited to me by and through Christ. He decides to see me through His righteousness.  At the time of salvation, I am declared righteous by God because of the sacrifice Christ made for me. This declaration is a legal one that is forever settled. One day I will be righteous – one day when I will no longer sin. That day will happen in glory, when I have been perfected in Christ.

But that day isn’t today. I still struggle with sin – and fear – each and every day. I sin, repent, and then sin again. I am frustrated by this but I now understand that this is how life goes until the day I am made perfect.

Though I still fear life – I still worry about doing stupid stuff – I don’t fear being rejected. God has seen fit to remind me of His undying love for me. The fact that He has declared me righteous means that can’t be changed by my actions. I need to rest in this.

What about you? Are you a Christian who fears life? Do you worry that you may do something that will cause Christ to ultimately reject you? If you are, I hope you are encouraged by what I have shared here. More than that, I want you to be encouraged by God’s unchanging word

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39 NASB

 

baldtheologian Christian Living

I Wasn’t Worth It

cross transparentI’m not worth the cost of the cross. Neither are you.
I’m corrupt, evil, selfish nasty person. And so are you.
There is nothing good in me. And neither in you.
I’m beyond reproach. I am a rebellious person. And so are you.

 

Every one in a while I hear a song on the radio that gets me a bit irritated. no, it isn’t Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, Motley Crue, or other band like them. No, this song is on Christian radio. And I hate it.

There is a line in this song that says something like “you were worth dying for…” in reference to the sacrifice that Christ mad en the cross for us. That little line frosts me. I hate. It is so very wrong. It cheapens the sacrifice Christ made and implies that we somehow deserve Christ’s sacrifice because we are worth it. UGH!

For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 NASB

I’m not worth the cost of the cross. Neither are you.
I’m corrupt, evil, selfish nasty person. And so are you.
There is nothing good in me. And neither in you.
I’m beyond reproach. I am a rebellious person. And so are you.

There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:10 – 18 NASB

 

I am worthy and deserve only death and eternal separation from God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NASB

And so do yo.

But that is exactly the point.

God loved me and chose me, not because of who I am, but because of who He is. He chose to glorify Himself through the demonstration of His mercy on me – and you. He chose me – and you – inspire of ourselves, not because of ourselves. Do you see the difference? I was not worth dying for – and neither were you – but Christ chose to die for me because of His great love and His desire to glorify God’s compassion by showering me and you with that compassion.

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:4-6 NASB

If I somehow deserved it, then I cheapen the sacrifice. After all, if I deserved it, I should expect it, right?? This kind of thinking – that Christ saw something in us that was worthy of His sacrifice – is just plain wrong.

To understand the wonder of the cross and the depth of His love for us, we must realize the depth of our depravity. We must realize that there is nothing in us that would draw Christ to us. He simply chose us because of HIs love for us.

When we understand this, then we can understand our great dependence on Him for everything we are in Him. This realization should never leads to a position of pride but should lead us to our knees in humble gratitude for the grace He has showered on us.

Revel in the grace that He has bestowed on us. Rejoice in the forgiveness we have received. Rest in the safety of His salvation.

baldtheologian Uncategorized

We Need More Salt

The Church should be salt and light to the world – to both conservative and liberal political individuals. We should be salt and light to all around us, regardless of faith tradition, national origin, or language spoken. We should be a people sold out to the One who saved us – fully reliant on He who is sovereign over all. Rather than that, we seem all-too-cozy with he sovereign state of the United States of America rather than the Sovereign God of the Universe. Wow.

The Church – at least a decent-sized portion of it – overlook infidelity, crudeness, and vile speech as things to be excused rather than confronted. The reason? The person speaking them is supposedly “one of us”. We tolerate ranting and raving in 124 characters, demeaning comments inexcusable comments made about others, because the one who is typing them is supposedly “one of us”.  We have given up the moral high ground we once held. And out reward? Political influence, access, and power. We have traded the Gospel for a few pieces of government silver.

There was once a time where the Church held the moral high ground in America. There was a time when the Church stood for what is right, not for that is wrong. There was a time when the Church was salt and light to our government and our nation. Sadly, those days seems far behind us. We have sold out the Gospel for the filthy lucre of political power and inalienable rights. How sad. How very sad.

We engage on social media and in our pulpits on the virtue of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. We especially seem attracted to the Second Amendment – the right to keep and bear arms. We argue that we need weapons – any weapon – to protect us from government tyranny. We lament how those in the Stalin’s Soviet State and the Jews of Hitler’s Germany would have fared better if they had only kept their weapons. I’ve seen more comments about our right to bear arms this week than of Christ’s great sacrifice and resurrection. I read more this week about the Second Amendment than the Greatest Commandment. I just don’t know what to say to this group of professing believers.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:13-16 NASB

The Church should be salt and light to the world – to both conservative and liberal political individuals. We should be salt and light to all around us, regardless of faith tradition, national origin, or language spoken. We should be a people sold out to the One who saved us – fully reliant on He who is sovereign over all. We seem all-too-cozy with the sovereign state of the United States of America rather than the Sovereign God of the Universe. Wow.

Is our saltiness gone? Is our light gone? Scary questions indeed.

Our salt and light aren’t gone yet but I dare say we have some taste and the light is dimmer. I admit my part in this. I once thought that the best way to improve this country and, by extension, the world entire was through political means. I took the bait that if we just elect the right kind of person, things would improve. But that philosophy has failed…miserably. All we have to show for our marriage to the Republican Party is a seat at Caesar’s table. We seem indistinguishable from the rest seated there, looking for their portion of the government’s largess. Oh my.

Is the American form of Christianity a biblical form of Christianity? I really don’t know. But I do wonder. With our emphasis on outward trappings of power and success, one has reason to wonder. We should, as a peculiar people dedicated to the One True God, reflect on what we treasure, what we believe, and where we are. If we don’t do that, I fear that the Church will become just another social club. We will look good – but we will deny the power behind the Church. Our trust – our faith – will be in man, rather than in God.

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While this has been a difficult article to write, I think it is necessary. I truly believe the Church in America  – or at least a significant portion of it – has lost its way. We have lost the distinctiveness of being a Christian first, and an American later.

I don’t believe that every politically active Christian is a problem. I don’t think that every Christian who asserts the rights of a citizen of the United States is an apostate. But I do believe we have misplaced our priorities. Somehow we have associated the demands of the Gospel with the election to power of a particular party. And this is wrong.

I may be hammered for this article. I may get hate email and perhaps some comments on it that are less-than-flattering. But I just had to write this. I’m fed up with the politicization of the Gospel. I’m sick of hearing about how one political party is the godly party. I’m sick of how Jesus is cheapened by being a political tool of men for an election rather than the Savior of man for eternity.

The Church in America must repent. We must return to our first love – Jesus Christ. We must serve Him only. We need not lean on the laws of man rather than the Sovereignty of God for our ultimate protection.

The Church needs more salt.

baldtheologian Jesus our Savior

He is Enough

Is Jesus enough to create the world, save me from my sin, and keep me saved in spite of myself?

 

Contemplating eternity is quite difficult for us. Actually it is near if not totally impossible for our minds to grasp what it means to be eternal. We have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We live from moment to moment. But God does not. He simply is. And grasping that idea is very difficult. But just because it is difficult to grasp does not mean it is untrue. As we continue in our short exegesis and exposition of Colossians 1, lets turn our attention to the final few verses.

 and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Colossians 1:18b-20 NASB

He is the beginning

We saw earlier in this passage that Jesus is the Creator of the universe. He existed before anything else and was the cause that other things exist. So is Paul repeating himself here? No, not really. Remember that we must interpret in context what is being said. We must never lift a verse or two out of the context in which it was written. If we do that then we run the risk of misunderstanding what God has for us.

So to what “beginning” is Paul referring? Well Paul just referred to Jesus as the head of the church so it seems natural to take the beginning as referring to the beginning of the church. So Jesus not only is God, not only is He the head of the church, He is the very beginning of the church. So how is he the beginning of the church. Well I can think of a couple of ways this works. First He is the source of the power from which the Church sprang. If Christ had not come and died, there would be no church. Second, He is THE source of the spiritual life of the church. Without Christ, the church is simply a social club. There would be no spiritual importance or purpose to the church.

 

He is Firstborn…again

Here we go again with the idea of being firstborn. Remember from our previous discussion that the term used for firstborn (prototokos) has less to do with the order as much as it has to do with the rank or importance of an individual. When we read that Jesus is firstborn from the dead, we know that this can not refer to Him being the first to be raised from the dead. Why? Well, did not Jesus Himself raise Lazarus from the dead? Yep, He sure did. So this must refer to the fact that Jesus is the most important person to be resurrected from the dead. And I do think He qualifies for that. So we see in this passage in Colossians 1 that Jesus has supremacy in creation and redemption.

So not only is He creator, He is supreme in redemption. How comforting it is to have a Savior who reigns supreme in the two most important events in history!

 

He is the Reconciler

Not only has Jesus been named God, chief in the universe, creator, the head and initiator of the church and supreme in redemption, now we see Jesus as the agent of reconciliation. Now I want to draw your attention to this phrase; “…to reconcile all things to Himself…” Some take this to mean that all people will be reconciled to Himself. But that would be universalism and universalism is false. So what does this phrase mean. Well, I may be on a limb here, but I think this may be referring to the eternal state rather than now. Why do I think this? The way this section ends – through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven – seems to leave out those who are not reconciled through His blood. Do you notice that those who are reconciled are those on earth or in heaven. But there are those who are in “outer darkness” and are not part of the earth or heaven. Could this be what Paul is referencing here. Well I think it is at least possible.

Another way to look at this is that reconciliation is not just redemption. This view would take the final judgement as a method to reconcile even those who are not redeemed. Scripture does states that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10). Interesting enough, Philippians 2:10 states that this will occur “in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.” Hmmm, maybe I’m on to something here.

 

Is Jesus enough?

Is Jesus enough to create the word, save me from my sin, and keep me saved in spite of myself? When we think of all Jesus has accomplished on our behalf, we must never forget how He accomplished those things. He accomplished these various things as God would – perfectly, for His glory, and for His purpose.

Since both creation and redemption were initiated by Jesus, we can reject any notion that we are here by chance. We can also know that our redemption is secure since it depends wholly on the character of God  rather than our action.

Now how’s that for being secure!

baldtheologian Jesus our Savior

He Is Firstborn

The Son of God – also known as Jesus Christ – is God, always has been God and forever will be God.

 

This week I am continuing to look at one of my favorite passages of Scripture, Colossians 1:15-20. But instead of just looking at it all quickly, I am continuing to unpack it slowly and deliberately. This week we’ll consider the issue of Christ being firstborn. We’ll look at the meaning of firstborn, the misunderstandings of what it means for the Son of God, and the implications for us today.

 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whetherthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is alsohead of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. – Colossians 1:15-20 NASB

 

One of the most difficult concepts in Scripture is the this idea of Jesus Christ being the firstborn of all creation. The term firstborn has created some really poor perceptions of Jesus divine nature and ed some to create whole religions based on a mistaken impression. Lets take a look at what this firstborn thing is all about and how it affects our view of Christ.

 

First things first

The word at the center of our discussion is the Greek word prototokos. According to the standard lexicon for New Testament Greek, this word can mean 1) pertaining to birth order, that is, the one born first or 2) pertaining to having special status associated with a first born. This word can also mean both of these things. Here it appears to be concerned with Jesus’ rank in creation rather than His physical birth. I’ll explain my reasoning throughout this article.

 

The error

There was a group around in the third century AD that thought Jesus was just a man like you and me. They often pointed to His earthly birth as proof of this. They also minimized – or ignored altogether – His divinity. these foks were known as the Arians because they followed the teaching of a person named Arius. Arius was around in approximately 250 AD. In a nutshell Arius taught that there was a time where God the Father existed but the God the Son had yet to exist. He rejected the trinity (three distinct persons within the Godhead). This error is continued to this day through the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 

Understanding the Firstborn

Part of the problem understanding how Jesus could have been eternal (no beginning) while being referred to as firstborn is a misunderstanding of tribal customs. Remember that Israel, even in Pau’s time, was a tribal cuture. Their attitudes and customs vary widely from our customs as a modern, western, non-tribal culture.

In a tribe the idea of being firstborn has less to do with birth order and more to do with the rank if the person born. Generally speaking the firstborn is the person who is chief in rank in a family. Lets take my family as an example. My oldest child is a girl. She is wonderful and I can’t imagine my life without her. However, generally speaking, she is not considered the firstborn in my family is we were living in a tribal culture. That title would pass to my first born son who is actually the second person born in my family. My son would receive the inheritance and would be considered the head of my family after I died.

 

What does it mean here?

I think Paul was emphasizing Jesus’ rank over creation rather than anything else. One reason I think is is what we discussed last week – Jesus is God. God does not have a beginning and is not birthed so how could Jesus have been born or created prior to the entire creation. Another reason is the discussion that follows the assertion here. Jesus Take a look at what is said of Jesus:v. 16 He is referred to as the Creator of all things

v. 17 He is before all things and is responsible for holding everything together

v. 18 He is referred to as the firstborn from among the dead. Was Jesus the first one raised from the dead? Nope. Remember Lazarus?  Jesus raised him from the dead while Jesus was waking on the earth. If the term firstborn simply referred to the order in which something happened and not the rank of the person involved, we would have a major problem here. But there is no problem because Jesus is most definitely the highest rank of all resurrected persons (and that will be every person ever to have lived).

v. 20 Says that all the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus. This means, once again, that Jesus possessed as part of His nature, the very nature of God. God didn’t have a beginning so the Son did not have a beginning either.

The Son of God – also known as Jesus Christ – is God, aways has been God and forever will be God. There is no way to invalidate tis truth regardless of how smart or charismatic a person may be.

So What?

So what does all this talk about tribes, birth rank, etc. have to do with my life as a Christian? Well actually it has quite an impact. As I mentioned last week, since Jesus is God we can rightly say that God died for those He created. Since it was God who died, that sacrifice was compete and whole, lacking in nothing. That sacrifice – and all the ramifications of it – are guaranteed by none other than God Himself. The salvation that you and I enjoy is never going away. You cannot throw it away or lose it because it was bought by God and distributed by God. That us something we can take great comfort in when we struggle in this life.

So when you mess up and sin  – we all do it from time to time – remember that your salvation is not lost because of your actions because it was not bought with your actions. It was bought as an action of God. An action that has no returns, take backs, or regrets.

baldtheologian Christian Living

His Blood

“It is OK. It is His blood, not mine.” Chaim Engel

I am fascinated by World War II. I have been interested in it since I was in junior high school. I’m not sure why I am fascinated by it. Perhaps it was the dark charisma that Hitler possessed that fascinates me. Perhaps its how a charismatic demagogue like Hitler led a cultured people to either do or ignore the savage things that happened during that war. Whatever it is, I just cant’ get enough of history regarding that time period and what happened in Europe during that time.

Back in the 1990’s a co-worker of mine let me borrow a movie of his. It was about a revolt in one of the death camps in Poland. That movie’s title was Escape from Sobibor. It was about the largest and most successful revolt of Jewish prisoners in a death camp. Since that time I have looked high and low for information about it.

Recently there was a documentary on Public Broadcast System about the revolt at Sobibor. It had a few of the survivors in it sharing their experiences and the how the actual plan to revolt had progressed. One particular scene in that documentary got me thinking about the Christian life and how often we mess it up because we don’t see properly.

At one point of the documentary,there is the story of one of the Jewish prisoners killing a Nazi in an area filled with other guards and such. The man who performed this grisly task was named Chaim. His girlfriend (and later his wife) Selma went looking for him. She heard screams coming from the Administration Block where the killing was taking place. She was sure it was Chaim. When Chaim emerged from the building looking dazed and confused, he was covered in blood. When she noticed the blood she was certain that Chaim had been injured. Replying to her, Chaim said “It is OK. It is his blood, not mine.” That statement stuck with me.

How many times do we forget whose blood covers and cleanses us. 

Do you doubt?

Living in a fallen world with our battle with our old nature, we oftentimes focus on the battle that rages and not the war that has already been won. In other words we focus on our battle and not His blood. This focus problem can cause us to doubt our position in Christ. Paul writes concerning this battle within himself

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  -Romans 7:24 NASB

Paul recognizes his wretchedness in performing the very things he really does not want to do. Have you ever felt this way? Have you been this broken by your sin? Have I? I sure hope so because being broken over my sin shows that the war rages…which means I am sensitive to the evil that I still do. But one thing I must remember in this struggle agains the sin that resides in me is that I do not gain victory through my efforts or strivings.

The longer I live the life God has given me the more I realize that I still sin. The more I walk this pilgrims path the more I hate my sin. I know that I’m saved but there are doubts that creep in every now and again. When the doubts do come, I need  not turn to others for comfort (though my close friends are a source of comfort). I need only to look in my mirror and realize that I am covered by His blood, not mine. It is His blood that cleanses me. It is His blood that was spent to buy me. It is His blood that secures me. My blood and effort mean nothing. The only thing that matters is that His blood was spilled to redeem me.

 

When the sea billows of sin roll – when the thunder of accusation boom in your life – when trials come and we fail once again – all we must remember is that it is not by our effort that we are saved or stay saved. It is only through Christ that we have victory over sin.

After all, it is OK. It is His blood not mine.