Boasting in the Lord

At least a couple of times in his letters to the churches, the apostle Paul talked about boasting in the Lord. He paraphrased the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Let the one who boast boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31, 2 Corinthians 10:17; compare to Jeremiah 9:24). 

And in his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul says, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

So what does it mean to boast in the Lord? Usually, when a person boasts, they are glorifying themselves for some supposedly great thing that they supposedly did. But when a Christian boasts in the Lord, they are doing something different. He or she is not boasting about anything that he or she did. 

The Christian who boasts in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, is boasting about what someone else did. He or she is boasting about what Jesus did. And so the Christian is not glorifying his or her self. The Christian is glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is appropriate, since Jesus Christ is the One who saves us from our sin. We didn't do anything to save ourselves. All we can do is trust in Him to forgive us, take away our sins, and help us become the men and women that He created us to be. As Jesus Himself said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

And as the prophet Isaiah wrote, "LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us" (Isaiah 26:12). The New International Version words it this way, "all that we have accomplished you have done for us". 

In verses 18-19 Isaiah says, 

"We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to the wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. But Your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise - let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy - Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead".

This prophecy is then echoed by Jesus who said, 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those that hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:24-30).

Some wicked, blasphemous people have mockingly compared the resurrection which is to come, with depictions of zombie apocalypses in Hollywood films. And perhaps it is silly to even give a response to such childish mockery. But the resurrection of life will certainly not consist of rotting corpses coming out of the graves. On the contrary, those who participate in the resurrection of life will be fully restored to the vibrancy of life. No tattered clothes, no deteriorated cells, tissues or organs. Just vibrant, healthy life.

Consider this excerpt from my other blog, Dr. Wreath, where a girl who has been dead and embalmed for three days is prayed over and rises from the dead:

And placing a hand upon Cor's overlapping hands, he began to pray:

"Most High God, give back the spirit of this daughter of Yours. And let the breath and blood of natural life be in her once more. I ask this of You in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, who was dead and is alive".

Just as he spoke that last word, the whole congregation clearly heard Cor draw in a deep breath. The heart that lay in still silence, now resumed the rhythm of life. In place of the embalming fluids; warm, living, healthy blood began once more to make its round course through her body. And every deteriorated cell was restored.

But the resurrection that is to come will actually be greater than Cor's temporal resurrection, described above. That resurrection is comparable to those of Lazarus, the widow's son at Nain, or Jairus' daughter in the Gospels. All of those people, having died and been brought back to life; were restored only to this mortal life that you and I have today. And that means that they eventually died again.

But in the resurrection of life that is to come, those who have trusted faithfully in Christ, will be given something entirely above this mortal life. It will be like the resurrection of Jesus Himself, after He had been crucified. Christians will be raised to immortal, eternal life. There will be no more pain, sorrow, or mortality for those who partake of this resurrection.

Again, there is nothing that any one of us could do to earn this salvation. It is entirely by His grace and forgiveness of our sins. This is why we Christians ought not to boast in ourselves, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection and the life. Without Him, we can do nothing. So it is to Him that we give thanks and praise - forever.

Now these things may seem far out to some readers. But I find Christianity with all its teachings to be far more believable than that irrational myth that atheists tout. Their myth claims that the universe, which operates according to orderly sets of laws, encoded with complex information in its cells and atoms, came not from an orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but from random, mindless, unguided processes.

Who Is the Real Sin Peddler?

In March of 2013, I published a post in answer to the accusation that is sometimes made, that Christians peddle sin, because we tell the truth about sin. The truth is that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Humanity was made in the image of our holy, righteous God who is love. But humanity fell into sin in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed the heavenly Father. 

And that is when death first entered into the world. That is when humanity became spiritually dead to God. And that is when Adam and Eve, and all creation first became susceptible to the physical wearing down of life unto death and entropy, which is a result of the curse of sin. 

And the Scriptures record that after speaking to Adam and Eve, and to the serpent who deceived Eve, God made a sacrifice (foreshadowing the sacrifice of Jesus) for the man and his wife. He made tunics of animal skin to clothe them (Genesis 3:21).There was no death of man or beast before then, contrary to all evolutionary doctrine. Now humanity is a fallen creature. We are all born with a corrupted, sinful human nature, handed down to us by our first parents.

This is the truth about sin. But the Christian message is a message of reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). So we do not peddle sin. We are simply telling the truth that has to be acknowledged before reconciliation can happen. No one can be reconciled to God unless they admit they have sinned, and need to be reconciled (1 John 1:8-9).

But I will tell you who the real sin peddler is. Anyone who tells you that your sins are not sins is a peddler of sin. Whoever says to you, "It's alright. Go ahead and do that thing"; that is who truly peddles sin. The person who tells you that you don't need to trust in Jesus to save you from your sin, that person is a peddler of sin. And that human person; who deceives you to sin, and to stay in your sin, is really a servant of Satan who first deceived Eve to sin, six thousand years ago. That is who the real sin peddler is.

But God is love (1 John 4:8). And He truly did make humanity in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). Our heavenly Father who is love made humanity in His own image so that we could love and be loved (Matthew 22:27-40). He sent His Son Jesus to be the propitiation for our sin - to make reconciliation available to us (1 John 4:10). 

Those who reject Him demonstrate that they have a lack of love, because they do not love God who is love. But whoever is receptive to Him and trusts in Him is truly reconciled with Him, and free from sin (John 1:10-13, John 8:31-36).  

Born Sinners, Reborn In Christ

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, 
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom" (Psalm 51:5-6).

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'" (John 3:3).

Many people try to excuse their particular type of sin by saying that they were born that way. It has even been claimed by some geneticists that a person can be born with a genetic propensity toward a particular kind of sinful behavior; such as domestic violence, adultery, promiscuity, or homosexuality. I don't know if that's true though. And I think some, including creation scientists dispute that claim.

But whether genetics has anything to do with it or not, the Scriptures do teach that we are all born sinners. But the psalmist, David did not use that as an excuse for his sin. He realized that God "desire[s] truth in the inward parts". And so, from a biblical standpoint, it is laughable for any person to try to excuse their sin by saying they were born that way. 

Our holy God, who is love, created us in His perfect image. But sin (disobedience toward God) has corrupted the image of God in us. We are all born with corrupted human nature; handed down to us from our first-parents, Adam and Eve. 

The Bible calls it the "old man", or "old nature", or "sinful nature". It is just a part of the brokenness that disobedience toward our heavenly Father has caused to the created order. This corrupt nature, by nature, alienates us from God; who created humanity in the image of His own Divine nature (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

But we are not without hope. As the Scripture says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Christian life is a continual process of surrendering to Christ to put away the old nature, and have the new nature brought to fruition in our inmost being (Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:8-10, 2 Peter 1:3-4). 

And all the while we have reason to be glad and rejoice. The more we put off the old nature, and put on the new nature; the more we grow to delight in the things in which God delights (Philippians 3:1, Philippians 4:4, Psalm 9:2, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 32:11, Psalm 118:24).

Because of the sacrifice of love that Jesus made for us on the cross, we are able to receive forgiveness of, and freedom from sin. All we have to do is trust Him.

If we do trust Him, we have this promise in the Scriptures:

"Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been reveal what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).

A Mindful Love

"What is man that You are mindful of him, 
And the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4 NKJV; emphasis added).

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38 NKJV; emphasis added).

Why is sound doctrine important? What difference do theology and apologetics make to Christian living? The apostle Paul certainly placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of these things. The fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians is devoted to the importance of believing in the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in his letters to Timothy and Titus he also urged them to teach sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:9-10, 2 Timothy 4:2-4, Titus 2:1).

There are at least a few reasons why sound doctrine is important. For one thing, if the Church strays from teaching the truth, we will no longer be presenting the gospel that is able to save souls. The distortion of the gospel makes it ineffective. It loses its, shall we say, structural integrity. Then if anyone does believe what is taught, they will not believe the truth that leads to eternal life. But they will be less likely to believe in Christ, or God, or the Scriptures at all.

And as Paul often showed in his letters to all the churches, there is a correlation between what we believe and what we do. His letter to the Colossians is a good example. In that letter, Paul stresses the importance of sound teachings about Christ. Then, in the third chapter he says, in effect, "Now because of these truths concerning Jesus, set your mind on Him, and live this way instead of that way".

The bottom line is that love is a mindful thing. God is mindful of us because He loves us. He doesn't sit on His throne and say to Himself, "Oh, I don't believe in the literal human being. I don't interpret prayers as literal petitions and supplications. Humanity is just a metaphor for stuff that I like. So as long as I'm feeling good that's all that matters." 

You know, God doesn't construct stupid, careless, false ideas about who and what we are. It is true that He does all things for His own glory. But His glory is in His love and goodness toward us as well as in His power, His wisdom, His knowledge, and His eternal, holy nature.

And if we love our heavenly Father, we will be mindful of Him. We will think honestly about Him as He has revealed Himself to us through the Old Testament prophets, the apostles, and His Son - Jesus Christ. We will recognize who and what He is - The Creator and Owner of the universe, and of our lives. And so we will honor Him and seek His glory in our lives. And a part of what that means is using the mind He has given us, to the best of the ability He has given us.

God is love. So why not love the One who is love? He has made us in His image to love and be loved by Him.

Made in the Image of God

It is an interesting irony that the Bible-believing Christian has a higher view of humanity than the humanist does. Yet the Christian does not place his or her faith in the power or greatness of humanity. The Christian realizes that whatever good that may be in humanity comes from God who created us in His image. Humanity is made in the image of Divinity (Genesis 1:26-27).

The humanist on the other hand, believes in humanity's ability and potential, but also that it is purely by accident. That is, that the origin of humanity is random, unguided processes whereby material rearranged itself over vast eons to become what we are today.

It is claimed that goodness and conscience are simply intrinsic in humans, for no other reason than that they just are. But I am glad to know that you and I are made in the image of God who is love (1 John 4:8), and is righteous, and loves righteousness (Psalm 33:4-5).

God's commands are not arbitrary rules and regulations. They are expression of who He is. They are expressions of His love and goodness. And since we are made in His image, we have His laws written in our hearts; in our inner being (Romans 2:14-16).

But because of sin, human nature is corrupted. The image of God in us is distorted. Peace has been severed between humanity and God. And as long as one is not at peace with God, that person is not at peace (Ecclesiastes 7:29, 2 Corinthians 5:20). 

But there is a great lyric in Audio Adrenaline's new song, "Change My Name", where Kevin Max sings "You reached me on a broken line". That is what Jesus does.

And that is why it matters to believe in God. He created us in His image to be His friends (Isaiah 41:8, John 15:15). He created us to be His sons and daughters (1 John 3:1). He created us to have a Father/child relationship with Him. He wants us to know who He is. He wants us to know Him personally. 

So He revealed Himself through the prophets; Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah to name some. But most of all, He revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus. He became a flesh-and-blood human though He is the Son of God, eternal with the Father (Hebrews 1:1, John 1:1, John 1:14). 

He lived in the time and space of human history. And as the old Christmas carol tells; "Truly He taught us to love one another". Because He is the perfect image of God in human form, He is our example of what we were created to be like; perfect in love and devotion to the Father. He showed His love for us by dying for our sins. And He showed that He is true by rising from the dead, victorious over death (Romans 5:8, Colossians 1:15, 1 Corinthians 15). 

Because of His sacrifice of love, when He died on the cross, Jesus is able to unbreak the peace between us and Him. We can turn away from our sin and be His friends again! And thus begins that process (theologians call it sanctification) of being remade into that perfect image again (1 John 3:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

God is love. So why not love the One who is love? The reason that we as human beings even have a concept of love is because we are created by, and in the image of God who is love.

God Omnipotent

There are some who scoff at the Christian faith, saying that it is impossible for an omnipotent God to exist. The one who makes this claim will typically ask some variation of the question, "Can God make a rock too heavy for Himself to move?" 

When one answers "No", the mocker will say "Oh? Why not? He is all-powerful, isn't He?" And if one answers "Yes" the mocker says "Well than He's not omnipotent, if He creates a rock and then is not able to move it".

C.S. Lewis was very charitable to give an answer to this question. He said that "nonsense is still nonsense". He explained that God is all-powerful, but He is also logical. He is Logic and the source of logic. That is why He created a logical universe, and logical beings in His own image. 

Nothing God does will defy logic. He can command nature, and nature obeys Him. But that does not defy logic any more than a teacher giving an assignment defies logic. He made the laws of nature and has the power to intervene in nature - to perform what we call miracles.

For example, Jesus commanded the wind and the waves to be still, and they obeyed His command (Luke 8:22-25). But that is not the same as if He commanded the wind and the waves to be still but not still, both at the same time. 

Poets may talk of being still while not being still; but when they do, they actually mean something like "I'm physically still, but emotionally turbulent". That is a paradoxical statement, but not a contradictory statement.

The Bible has paradoxes in it. But paradoxes can be reasoned out logically, and reconciled. That is why they are paradoxes and not out-right contradictions. They only seem contradictory on the surface.

So here is the problem with the question "Can God make a rock too heavy for Himself to move?". The question suggests that in order to be omnipotent, God has to also be not omnipotent. And that is nonsense. God does not have to be not omnipotent in order to be omnipotent.

God is omnipotent. And because He is omnipotent, He can make a rock of any size and any weight; and is also able to move it.

Pagan Religions and Christianity

It has been well noted that the Christian doctrine of salvation from sin through the death and resurrection of God's Son bears a striking resemblance to pagan religions. There are pagan stories about dying gods who rise again to give new life.

C.S. Lewis thought of these similarities as "good dreams" that God gave to the pagans to lead them to the truth (see book 2, chapter 3, paragraph 9 of Mere Christianity). Critics of the gospel see the similarities as evidence against Christianity.

But I think that there is a better explanation. All humanity is one family, descended from Noah - descended from Adam. The early patriarchs; Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew God. These men preserved the truth, which they received from God. They were faithful prophets. 

As I have pointed out in an earlier post, titled Assumptions, the belief that early humans did not have a written language is based on atheistic assumptions about the past. 

There is no real reason to think that the early patriarchs could not have written down their genealogies, as well as life-events, historical events, and prophecies that were given to them by God. Noah likely had written materials that had been passed down from the earlier patriarch. He would have then handed them down to his sons. 

Later on, under Divine inspiration, Moses likely used such earlier materials, as God directed him, to write the Pentateuch. By this I mean that God would have directed Moses in selecting reference materials as He also directed him throughout the whole process of writing Genesis-Deuteronomy.

The pagan nations, all being descendants of Noah's sons, remembered the Messianic prophecies that were given by God to the fore-mentioned, righteous patriarchs. God was already promising a Savior in the Garden of Eden, immediately after sin entered the world (Genesis 3:14-15). 

And there are many other Messianic prophecies throughout the book of Genesis. That is why Jesus said to His critics "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me" (John 5:46). Job, who probably lived contemporaneously to Abraham, also spoke of His coming (Job 19:25). 

So I reiterate that God was always speaking to the very earliest patriarchs. He told them about the Savior that He would send into the world. But turning away from God, the pagans worshiped idols, and god's of their own making. And their contrived myths contained dim memories of the truth, corrupted by the worship of false-gods (see Romans 1:18-28).

These things being said, the historical evidence in support of the life, works, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah set Him apart from the mythological gods of pagan religions. The caliber of His teachings also sets Him apart.

Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation

As Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed:

 "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). 

He was praying for everyone involved in His trial and crucifixion. And so it only makes sense that He was praying for all sinners.

The question for some then arises: Why do we need trust in Jesus for salvation, since we are already forgiven? Why even think about our relationship with God, since He has already forgiven all sin?

This is actually not a very good question, because it shows the depravity of the one who asks it. But we all are sinners, and there is a very good answer in the Bible:

 "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2nd Corinthians 5:20; emphasis added).

Jesus paid the penalty for all sin. God has forgiven you, me, everyone. But it takes two parties to reconcile a relationship.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying:

 "All day long I stretch out my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths, and their own crooked schemes" (Isaiah 65:2; New Living Translation).

So we see that His arms are open, but we still have to turn and be reconciled to Him. We must repent - turn away from sin. It was sin that severed our relationship with God in the first place. And it is God's forgiveness that makes it possible to turn away from sin and be reconciled to Him. As the Scripture says:

"In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil" (Proverbs 16:6, also see Psalm 130:3-4, and Romans 2:1-4). 

Why did sin sever our relationship with God? Because God is holy, righteous, immaculate. God and sin are diametrically opposed, so it is impossible to be living a life of sin and simultaneously be right with God. And God will never stop being holy. So we must stop being sinners. As He has said to His people:

 "Be holy, for I am holy" (1st Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7).

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).

The Christian life is a process of sanctification (becoming holy). We begin by admitting that we are sinners in need of being reconciled to God; trusting that Jesus died for our sin, and rose again. We make a personal decision to let God begin the process of making us holy, just as He is holy. As the Scriptures say:

"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (1st John 2:29). 

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:16, also see 2:13 and Isaiah 26:12).

We do not practice righteousness by our own power. Nor can we. Our sinful, fallen nature makes it impossible to become holy by our own effort. As the Son of God said:

 "...for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

By faith we must trust in Him so that His righteousness becomes our righteousness. Just as He wore our sin, having no sin of His own; we wear His righteousness, having none of our own. And by His working in us who trust in Him, we will become like Him. Our fallen nature will be restored to perfect, Christ-like holiness. As the Scripture says:

"...we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1st John 3:2-3).

Do Christians Peddle Sin?

Sometimes Christians are accused of "peddling sin" because we believe that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). However, calling a thing what it is is not the same as making a thing what it is. Christians do not peddle sin. We do not make people into sinners. Sin is simply the reality of fallen human nature. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).

When Adam and Eve committed that first simple act of disobedience, it resulted in the corruption of human nature. Sin became the human condition. It is a regressive condition, and the cause of death - both spiritual and physical (Genesis 2:16-17, Romans 5:12). It may seem a small matter. Especially when one considers a relatively "good" person. But it is not a small matter. Our nature now tends toward disobedience against our Creator; crimes against Divinity. People often try to defend their particular sin by saying they where just born that way. What they do not realize is that we are all "born this way" (i.e. as sinners).

This is why humans deny their Creator. This is why even the best societies tend to regress and fall apart over time. This is why every attempt to forge a Utopian society fails, which is one thing about which Nathaniel Hawthorne and others of his philosophy were right. Spiritual and moral regression is in our nature. And a man is never more wicked than when he thinks he can be good without God. As long as humanity is not at peace with God, humanity is not at peace. Every individual is called by the gospel of Christ to be reconciled to God. Only when we turn to God and receive the forgiveness that He offers through Christ can we be saved. (Romans 7:13-25, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 John 1:9) "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:5).

So Christians actually do quite the opposite of peddling sin. We proclaim reconciliation with God. "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). This reconciliation, then, can only be accomplished by admitting that reconciliation is needed. As long as we deny that there is a problem, we remain in sin and are calling God a liar. (1 John 1:10). Through His Son Jesus, God is standing in the doorway of every human life saying "Let's talk about our relationship. If you are willing, I can make you clean so that I don't have to condemn you for your sin." (Isaiah 1:18 paraphrase).