The Absolute Value

As humans, we place value on various things. And in doing so, we take after our Creator God who places various levels of value on the things which He has created. And God, who is love, has placed great value upon humanity, whom He created in His own image. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, showed the high value He places on us when He bled and died for us on the cross.

The difference between God and us is that He is the infinite Creator of everything that exists. He is the Maker and Owner of the universe. And so only He has the authority to determine the absolute value of anything. In fact, apart from God, nothing has any real value. He Himself is the Absolute Value, from which all real value is derived. And here, I am using the term "Absolute Value" in a slightly different way than it is used in algebra. I mean that the Creator is the Fountain from which all real value springs. He is the One who is infinitely valuable above all things. If it were not for God, nothing would exist. And without Him, there can be no real value in anything.

"Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture."

(Psalm 100:3; emphasis added).

But because of our fallen, sinful nature, we humans often place false value on things, or we value things more than they should be valued. And it is a great sin to value anything more than God Himself, the Absolute Value from which all true value is derived. "Idolatry" is what we call the sin of valuing anything over, or in place of, the one true and living God. And the object of such false value is called an "idol".

Writing to the church at Philippi, the apostle Paul describe how he used to value his accomplishments and his position as a Pharisee. He followed all the dos and don'ts of the religious law; but he didn't know that true righteousness comes from being reconciled with God by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. The whole reason that we, as human beings, even have such concepts as those of right and wrong, and love and goodness, is that we are created by, and in the image of our holy God who is love. If we are not at peace with our Creator, everything else is meaningless.

But when Paul was confronted by the Person of Jesus, he became reconciled to God through Christ, and learned to honestly say "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the Law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith." (Philippians 3:8-9).

What is it that we value? Fun times? Euphoria? Sweet music? Power? Prestige? Those things may not be bad, in and of themselves. But when we place a higher value on them than on being in harmony with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, we are sinning. In fact, having a relationship with Christ in this fallen, sinful world may cost us the comforts, and pleasures of this world. 

In fact Christ calls His followers to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). And it is by God's grace, through Jesus Christ, that we are able to do that; turning away from our fallen, sinful nature in order to live in harmony with the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). And like the apostles and many other followers of Christ, we learn to value our Creator and Savior above everything else; even our mortal lives in this world.

Tolerance or Repentance?

Jesus Christ is popularly portrayed as a preacher of tolerance and acceptance; but in reality, that is not what He was. In reality, Jesus Christ came into our world and preached repentance and reconciliation with God. That means the cessation of sin. Jesus said "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). He said that if we do not repent, we will perish for our sin (Luke 13:1-5).

After miraculously healing a certain man, Jesus told him "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you" (John 5:14). After showing mercy to the adulterous woman, He said to her "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). It is true that Jesus did seek out, and come into contact with sinners; but only for the purpose of teaching them about the heavenly Father and His righteous love that invites them to turn away from their sin and be reconciled to Him. The thing is, those people knew that they were sinners; and they knew that Jesus was a teacher of repentance and reconciliation with God. And they wanted to listen to Him and do just that - repent and be reconciled with God.

The message that Jesus brought to us is not "I accept you and you don't need to change". His message is "You're invited to the kingdom, but your sin can't come". Jesus called Himself the door through which to enter the kingdom of everlasting life (John 10:9-10). His message is that we must check our sin at the door. We can come to Him as we are, but only for the purpose of having our fallen, sinful nature taken away from us, so that we can be reconciled with the heavenly Father. There is no sin allowed in the kingdom of God. 

The purpose of God's forgiveness is to make reconciliation with Him possible (Psalm 130:4). Jesus paid for our sin on the cross; not so that we could keep sinning, but so that we can turn away from our sin and be reconciled with Him. Becoming a Christian means that we are entering through Jesus Christ, into the kingdom of God. Our Christian life in this world is the process of going through the Door, which is the Person of Jesus Christ. And that process entails a departure from sin.

We must leave our sin nailed to the cross. The further we go into Christ - the deeper our relationship with Him grows - the less sinful and more righteous we will become. And when we stand before Him, in Paradise, we will have been perfected. Jesus did not preach tolerance at all. He preached a message of repentance and reconciliation with God.

The Beauty of the Psalms

A favorite portion of the Scriptures, the book of Psalms is a collection of 150 sacred poems, (that is what a psalm is; psalm-definition-www.merriam-webster.com) written by David and others. One of the characteristics of these ancient Hebrew poems is the repetition of idea instead of the repetition of sound (rhyme). For example:

"Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous!

For praise from the upright is beautiful.

Praise the LORD with the harp;

Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.

Sing to Him a new song;

Play skillfully with a shout of joy

(Psalm 33:1-3).

Or:

"Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the earth"

(Psalm 2:10).

While these psalms sometimes make references to literal events, which are recorded in the historical narrative portions of Scripture (i.e. Genesis-Esther and Matthew-Acts; see Psalm 136), the psalmists also made use of figurative language to paint evocative pictures of God's love, mercy, providence, protection, justice, sovereignty, splendor, majesty, power, eternal nature, and goodness; as well as humanity's complete dependence on Him for life, sustenance, forgiveness, salvation and everything.

Examples of figurative language can be found in Psalm 91 were the psalmist refers to God as a Fortress to describe His strength and power to protect those who trust in Him. In the same poem, the wicked one is referred to as a fowler (bird trapper) to describe those who seek to ensnare others, especially believers, in sin and trouble. Then God is described figuratively as having wings, bringing to mind God's ability to protect and deliver His people, like a mother eagle protecting her little ones. And His truth is described as being a shield and buckler against evil deceptions.

The psalmists employed poetry to express the overflow of their hearts to God in worship. They poured out in words and music their adoration for God, their sorrows in troublesome times, their joys, their petitions, thanksgivings, repentance, and righteous indignation toward wickedness in the world. At times, tucked in among the psalmists praises, pleas, and sorrows, the Holy Spirit gives prophetic glimpses of Christ's own experiences, sorrows, and pains in His earthly life and sacrificial death on the cross for our sin, as well as the glory that, before and forever after, Christ shares with the Father. 

The 22nd Psalm is a prime example of this. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He spoke to the heavenly Father, "with a loud voice, saying 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which is translated, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" (Mark 15:34; also see Matthew 27:46). He was quoting Psalm 22:1.

He felt our estrangement from the Father as He bore our sin upon Himself; as He took our blame. As the poem continues, David described his own troubles with his enemies. And the double meaning - the parallel between David's sufferings and those of Christ becomes even more apparent. There comes a point in the psalm where it says, 

"For dogs have surrounded Me;

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

They pierced My hands and My feet;

I can count all My bones.

They look and stare at Me.

They divide my garments among them,

And for my clothing they cast lots

(Psalm 22:16-18).

Nowhere in the historical account of David's life (found in 1 Samuel 16 - 1 Kings 2:11, and 1 Chronicles 11-29) did anyone ever pierce the hands and feet of the shepherd-turned-king. Nor did anyone divide his garments among them or gamble for his clothes. But when Jesus the Messiah hung on the cross, His hands and feet were pieced, and the Roman soldiers did divide and gamble for His clothes (John 19:23-24; also see Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, and Luke 23-34). 

The psalmist, David, quotes the enemy as saying,

He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;

Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him

(Psalm 22:8).

Compare this to what Jesus' enemies were saying when He was being crucified (Matthew 27:39-44, Mark 15:29-32, Luke 23:35-39).

As a whole, the 22nd Psalm is comparable to Isaiah 53, where the prophet vividly and poetically foretells the rejection of the Messiah by His people, His suffering, death, and resurrection. From Psalm 22:19 through the rest of the poem, David looks forward to being delivered by God from his enemies, as he has prayed; and he expresses hope for the future, and praise to God his Savior. Like Isaiah 53:10-12, this passage also provides a prophetic view of Christ being delivered by the Father who has now raised Him from the dead. And it is a look forward to the salvation that Christ's death and resurrection makes available to all who trust in Christ. 

In the book of Psalms, the believer finds a treasure trove of poetry to which he or she can relate personally, through the conflicts - both triumphs and defeats - of life. In these poems we too can find expressions of our own joys, sorrows, hopes in the face of fear, prayers and praises. And in so doing, we can even share spiritually and emotionally in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

We come to realize that our living Friend, Jesus Christ, has been through, and knows, and understands what we go through in this fallen, broken world. And we have hope, knowing that just as He was delivered by the Father from death, so we too will be saved; and we will share in His glory, His peace, His joy, and His everlasting life in Paradise (Luke 23:43).

The Lord is our reason to make melody; 

It is He who gives us breath to sing.

Without Him we would have nothing;

Had He not made us, we would have no voice,

Nor could we live,

Or even exist at all

Jesus Did Say Something About It

There is a certain deception floating around, which I have heard and read numerous times. The deception is that Jesus Christ never said anything to controvert homosexuality or gay marriage. But when Jesus discussed the sanctity of marriage, He clearly defined it as intended to be a union between a man and a woman. He said, "But from the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife'" (Mark 10:6-7). 

I've also heard numerous people defend the "alternative lifestyle" by saying that when the Bible was written, the word "homosexual" did not exist. True as that may be, the concept to which the word refers did exists. People have been having same-sex relations at least since the period when Sodom and Gomorrah were in existence, approximately four thousand years ago. Just because a particular word was not in existence at a particular time does not mean that the concept or practice did not exist under a different name or terminology.

And Christ's apostle, Paul, was clearly describing same-sex relations in his letter to the Roman church, where he identified that behavior as one of many crimes against Divinity; for which the judgement of God is going to be poured out upon the world. He wrote, "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:26-27).

I've also heard of the claim that Adam and Eve were not the only humans that God created in the beginning; and that He may have created other couples that were not heterosexual. However this deception is exposed by the statement that I have already quoted from Jesus Christ, that "from the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female', 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife'" (Mark 10:6-7). Here, Jesus acknowledges no other arrangement. 

There is no indication anywhere in the Scriptures that God created others than just Adam, Eve, and their posterity. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). All human beings are descended from Adam and Eve. "Where" one may ask "did the sons of Adam find wives then?" The answer is that they married the daughters of Adam. 

That may seem shocking, since, over two thousand years later, the Law of Moses banned incest. But in the pre-Flood era, the human genome would have had much fewer defects that could potentially become dominant in human offspring. In the pre-Fallen world, before sin, disease, and death entered the world, (Romans 5:12) there were no defects at all in the human genome. It is because of the increase of defects, caused by the brokenness of nature due to sin, (Romans 8:21-22) that anyone seeking a spouse must look beyond their close relatives. 

Now I think most if not all of us have heard the claim that homosexuals are born that way and can't help it. But whether or not that is true makes no difference. God's word lets us know that we are all born with a fallen, sinful nature which we have inherited from our first ancestors, Adam and Eve. Different people may have different weaknesses, but all moral/spiritual weaknesses stem from the same fallen, sinful nature. There is nothing whatsoever unique about homosexuality. It is a sin, and it is no better, and no worse, than idolatry, adultery, fornication, lying, or any other sin. 

All of us are fallen, our nature is broken. And it is true that we can't  help it. That is why we need to receive salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who gave Himself on the cross for our sin; and who has risen from the dead to provide everlasting life to all who trust in Him. By His death and resurrection, Christ has made it possible for us to receive redemption, forgiveness of sin (Colossians 1:13-14). By faith in Him, we receive the Holy Spirit who then lives in us, and is helping us, making us become perfect in His righteousness. We can not be saved from our sin unless we trust in Him.

Love, God, Hate, Sin

There are some people in the Church who think that personal holiness and social justice are some how independent from each other. They think that the practice of personal holiness in accordance with sound, biblical teaching has nothing to do with loving God and each other. But if we, the Church, have sin and falsehood within ourselves, and we encourage it in others, then all the worldly aid that we offer to those in need is 100% worthless! Because while feeding hungry stomachs, we leave souls to die in the gutter that is sin.

There are some who actually think it is wrong to even speak against sin. They get upset if you so much as recognize sin as sin. But the truth is that one must hate sin in order to love God. Don't hate the sinner; all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But definitely do hate the sin. Christ's purpose in coming was to take away our sin; to lead us to repentance - reconciliation with God. If you love God and people, then you will long for yourself and others to be freed, by Jesus Christ, from sin. 

It is an inescapable reality: everyone must love, and hate. If one loves God, the same will hate sin. If one loves sin, the same will hate God. Whoever loves God, hates sin. And whoever loves sin, hates God. God and sin are diametrically opposed to each other so that no one can simultaneously embrace both. To love the one is to hate the other.

As Jesus taught, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). No one can love God and sin, both at the same time. "For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness" (Psalm 11:7). "You who love the LORD, hate evil!" (Psalm 97:10). And what does the Holy Spirit say about the man named Job? That he revered God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). He despised sin. He hated it; because he was loyal to God who "is righteous, and loves righteousness". To love sin is vile, wicked, shameful, and disgusting. To love God is to love what is good and right and pure and holy. And that necessarily amounts to hating sin. 

Through Christ, the universe was made (John 1:1-3, Hebrews 1:1-2). Everything, life and all blessings and strength and beauty and love come from God (John 1:4-5, James 1:17). He is the eternal First Cause and Owner of the universe. And He is the Absolute Decider (Standard) of what is good. On the cross, He made the highest sacrifice to free us from our sin. 

Jesus did what He did at the cross because He loves people. He hates sin because it separates people from Him, the Originator of life, light, love, and everything that is good. He is very patient with humanity, allowing us to live when He would have been justified in pouring out His final judgement on the world centuries ago. Jesus said that our heavenly Father made and allows His sun to shine "on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" because He is love, and He is patient. But eventually He must judge sin because He is righteous, and He loves righteousness. Sin has to be judged.

So Jesus gave His life on the cross to pay for your sin, and mine. None of us is without sin. But we can not be saved unless we confess - admit that we are sinners; that our sin is sin. We must do this in order to rightly trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sin. No one will enter the kingdom of God until they have their sin taken away from them. And no one will have their sin taken away from them until they admit that they have sinned against God, and are alienated from Him by their sin; and are willing to be reconciled to God by His Son Jesus Christ. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sin (John 1:29).

So yes, Jesus is about love, forgiveness, and compassion. But He is equally about repentance on our part and reconciling us to our immaculately holy, righteous God (Matthew 4:17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). And that means identifying - recognizing the sin that is in ourselves; and putting that sin to death (Romans 6:1-14, Colossians 3:1-10). Jesus had compassion on the adulteress. But He told her to leave her life of sin behind. She would have to in order to follow Him. In order to turn to God, one has to turn away from sin (John 8:1-12, James 4:7-8). 

I admit I am not perfect. But I love Jesus Christ enough to want to love Him more. And in order for me to love God more, I necessarily must learn to hate the sin within myself more. In order to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind; I must hate sin with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. And I must strive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to rid myself of sin, and urge others, for the love of Christ, to do the same. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). And if anyone has Christian love for me, they will not encourage me to harm my own soul with any kind of sin. 

Creation and Birth

An important point which I have only lightly touched on, or hinted at, in previous posts, is the difference between creation and birth. C.S. Lewis dealt with this subject in book four, chapter one of his book Mere Christianity. The title of that chapter is Making and Begetting. Adam and Eve were created; they were made. They were never born. They were not begotten. 

And it is more than interesting to note that all humanity was created in Adam and Eve. Led by the Holy Spirit, the author of the book of Hebrews explained that in some sense, whether genetically, spiritually, or both; Levi was present in his ancestor, Abraham, when he gave a tithe offering to Melchizedek, the mysterious high priest of the Most High God (Hebrews 7:1-5, Genesis 14:18-20). 

My point in bringing this up is that if Levi was present in his ancestor, Abraham, when he gave a tithe to Melchizedek, then every human being who ever has or ever will exist, was in the same sense present in Adam and Eve when they were in the Garden of Eden - and when they sinned. We who are physically living today were actually created in our ancestors, Adam and Eve, in the beginning - six thousand years ago. We were created by, and in the image of our holy God who is love (Genesis 1:26-27, 1 John 4:8). And in that sense, God is our Father. But we were not born, or begotten, in the image of God. 

In fact, since Adam and Eve were never actually born, but were created as mature, grown adults, there is a sense in which no human has been born until they are born of the Spirit; as Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he can not enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:3-6). 

We were created in God's image from the beginning. But we were born by descent from Adam and Eve. We were born after sin entered the world by our first ancestors. That is why we are all born with a hereditary fallen, sinful nature; characterized by enmity against God. The only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, is begotten from eternity past. He has always been with the Father (John 1:1-5). And He came into the world, taking on human form, so that everyone who trusts in Him and welcomes Him may not only be forgiven of sin, but be born of God (John 1:10-14).

If God Let Everyone Into Heaven

If God were to let everyone into Heaven, it would become just like it is here on earth. It wouldn't be Heaven anymore. Heaven would become a broken world, ruined with sin; just like this world we live in today, filled with broken families, divided communities, and warring nations. 

Heaven would become like this world filled with all kinds of malice, corruption, selfishness, hatred toward God, hatred toward the righteous. There would continually be conflict among people, and inside of people. It would be like this world filled with crime, violence, poverty, and excess. It would become like this world filled with all manner of ungodly people, corrupters, liars, thieves, murderers, and abusers of women and children. 

If God let everyone into Heaven, it would not be Heaven anymore. And so God has a standard. He Himself is the Absolute Standard; the Absolute Decider of what is good. And He is perfect. He is holy. Sin can not dwell in His presence. Sin can not be allowed in Heaven (read Psalms 15 and 24). That is why God, in the middle of speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, against the king of Tyre, began describing Lucifer in the following way: 

"You were the seal of perfection,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God...

You were the anointed cherub who covers;

I established you;

You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,

Till iniquity (wickedness) was found in you...

You became filled with violence within, and you sinned;

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God;

And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,

From the midst of the fiery stones

Your heart was lifted up (self-exalted, prideful, arrogant) because of your beauty;

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor

I cast you to the ground,

I laid you before kings,

That they might gaze at you.

You defiled your sanctuaries

By the multitude of your iniquities...

Therefore I brought fire from your midst;

It devoured you,

And I turned you to ashes upon the earth

In the sight of all who saw you" (Ezekiel 28:12-18).

The prophet Isaiah used the same poetic devise. He spoke by the Holy Spirit against the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:3-11). But in verse 12 it becomes evident that the rebellion and fall of Lucifer is being described. So there is a parallel between the wicked kings and Satan. God wrote these poems to the kings of Babylon and Tyre because those kings were committing the same sin that Satan first committed long before them; the sin of pride, attempting to put himself in place of God. And that is what every sinner does who rejects God's standard of what is good and tries to make their own. They are little satans, rebelling against God. 

And those who are willing to defy God's standard of right and wrong in order to have their own way, need not leap far to also defy the sanctity of human life and personal dignity in order to have their own way. That is what abortion does. It defies the sanctity of human life and dignity in order for the unloving to have their own way. It is infanticide. Everyone who participates in an abortion is a murderer. Everyone who defends abortion, defends murder. And all sin defies the sanctity of human life and dignity because God is the original, eternal first cause or source of all life and love and dignity; and sin separates us from God. Those who begin by rejecting God, will end by devaluing every last thing that is right and good in the sight of God. 

God's holiness emanates from His love. God is love. And that is precisely the reason why He is holy. All real, true love is holy because sin corrupts. Sin is corruption. Sin alienates. Sin ruins. Sin kills. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Holiness excludes sin. All real, true love is holy. And therefore, only what is holy can abide in Heaven.

But here's the rub; "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). And so, by the Absolute Standard, none of us are good.

"As it is written:

There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one" (Romans 3:10-12).

And so, on a hill called Calvary, aka Golgotha (The Place of the Skull), just outside of Jerusalem, the Son of God showed another expression of His love for us. There, God in mortal human form, laid down His life on the cross, receiving to Himself the wages of our sin. And then He rose victorious over death. He did this so that, having paid for our sin, He could give us the free gift of salvation and eternal life. 

He has made it possible for us to be reconciled with Him (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Everyone who places their trust in Christ is reconciled to God. His Spirit lives in us now. We are no longer little satans. We are now little christs (the word "Christian" literally means "little christ"). And by His Holy Spirit, we are growing to be more like Him in all righteousness (read 1 John 3:1-10, and also Colossians 3:1-17).We are being made holy so that we can be with our Friend, Savior, and Everlasting Father forever in Heaven.

You will not enter Heaven unless you willingly, consciously trust in Jesus Christ to be your one and only Redeemer, to take away your fallen, sinful nature; to reconcile you to God. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5). And the heavenly Father will give you the Holy Spirit to live in you; teaching you righteousness and making you holy and  from the inside out. Will you trust Him today?

Why Science Is Great

The reason science is great, the reason it is even possible at all, is that the universe operates according to orderly sets of laws. If it did not, then our own brains would not operate in an orderly manner, allowing us to think and to make valid observations of the universe, of which we and our brains are a part. Now atheists would have us to think that this natural universe, which operates according to orderly sets of laws, came not from an intelligent Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but from random, mindless, unguided processes. And these atheists make the ridiculous claim that theirs is the more rational worldview. But they are not rational. They are irrational, and spiritually blind. Their hearts are insensitive to the truth of God.

The word of God describes them rightly; that "... they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools"(Romans 1:20-22). They have the absurd view that since scientific laws govern the universe, that somehow refutes the word of God who made the laws that govern the universe. But science, the orderly, systematic study of the natural universe, is great because it truly points to our orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver who orders and commands His creation as He sees fit. 

Of course, the Scriptures tell that God has the power to command nature to behave differently than normal at specific points - any points - in time and space. When He does, we call the result a miracle. This should not surprise us since He made the universe. It is His. He owns it. From the astronomical, to the microscopic; all matter, all space, all time belongs to Him. Philip Yancy wrote, "Some see miracles as an implausible suspension of the laws of the physical universe. As signs, though, they serve just the opposite function. Death, decay, entropy, and destruction are the true suspensions of God's laws; miracles are the early glimpses of restoration".  

In the physical universe we can plainly see the order and splendor of our God who made all things. And we can also plainly see the brokenness of our world which groans under the weight of sin's curse. So we can see the need for a Savior. And if we read the Gospels, we can learn about that Savior. His name is Jesus. He is the Son of God. 

He took on human form and came into our broken world. He lived within the time and space of human history. He took on Himself all of the brokenness of our existence, and our world, though He had no sin. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin (Romans 6:23). And on the third day, He rose again, conquering death. All who trust in Him receive forgiveness of sin, and eternal life in Paradise with Him.

Science is great because we can see His work through the world that He created. And we can see the brokenness of our world because of sin. We can see our need for reconciliation with God. But the gospel of Christ is greater than science, because it tells us we can be reconciled with God now, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1-2).

Judging

Some folks like quoting the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 7:1. He said "Judge not, that you be not judged". Jesus said that. So it is a holy command that must be obeyed. But in the same sermon, He also said that false teachers can be known by their fruits (i.e. deeds; Matthew 7:15-20). And that is a description of the act of judging - knowing that a person is fake, based on their actions. Is this a contradiction? No.

The Christian life requires one to distinguish between good and evil, for the purpose of rejecting what is evil in favor of what is right and good in the sight of God. You can not follow Jesus without discriminating against evil. You can not follow Jesus without cultivating the spiritual discernment to recognize and reject sin and falsehood when you encounter it. 

In order to obey Jesus, one must learn to determine who is a good example of Christlike holiness, and whose example should not be followed or encouraged. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and said, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). 

So you see the logic. If one is following Jesus, then that one, in turn, becomes a tangible example for others who want to follow Jesus. But this automatically involves recognizing who is not following Christ, and therefore whose example should not be followed or encouraged. 

The cultivation of this discernment is accomplished largely by reading and studying God's holy word, the Bible, and talking to God in prayer. Further cultivation is achieved by practicing what you have learned from God's teachings, as well as conferring with fellow believers who also prayerfully read and study the Scriptures.

So how is this not contrary to the statement "Judge not, that you be not judged."? When Jesus said those words, He was talking about a certain attitude that one should not have while following Him. One should not have an attitude of superiority over others in the Church, or even outside the Church for that matter. 

One must be able to distinguish the good examples from the bad examples. But one must also be humbled by the realization that we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God. It is only by the grace of Jesus Christ that any of us are saved (Romans 3:23-24, Ephesians 2:8-10).

And so we have to realize that our power to judge is limited to deciding whose example is good to follow and encourage, and whose example is not good to follow or encourage. But only God Himself can really make the final, absolute judgement of what is going on in any person's heart and life.

We also have to be on guard against the tendency to be a fault finder. Some people sin by always intentionally seeking out flaws and short-comings in their neighbors, and never recognizing the work that God is accomplishing in them. And this fault finding tendency may distract the inordinate judge from surrendering his or her own self to God to be purified by Him. 

Or the fault finder might be just as hard, if not harder, on his or her self, and thus inordinately torment his or her self with excessive guilt and shame. Christ came to free you from shame and guilt, not to intensify it in you. If you are tormenting yourself with shame and guilt, you need to surrender that shame over to Christ. Let Him take it away from you. Let that guilt be nailed to the cross. You are not a prisoner to it anymore.

Life and Death (The Relative and the Absolute; and Mutual Exclusion)

Eleven Winters ago, I wrote a song that expresses what I had been thinking about during the course of the preceding Autumn months. That song is called "Till I Reach the Other Side". To explain what the song is about: at all times, through the duration of this life, I ought to be drawing nearer to God the Father, and the Son, in the Holy Spirit. I ought to be doing the kind of works that Christ did; works of love toward God first, and to other people second. And this means that I ought to be continually in the process of having all my fallen, sinful, human nature put to death; with all of its unrighteous, un-Christlike inclinations. So that's what the song is about.

And this death must take place in order for the new life, which is in Christ, to come to fruition. And in the Morning when I arise as a new creature in the presence of my Savior who died for me, and in whom I have been put to death, then I will share also in His eternal life. And every day is a step in that procession. Each time that I look to Christ in worship, and set aside the old nature to practice the new nature; the old nature dies a little more. And the new nature becomes a little more alive. I become a little more like Jesus.

In the beginning of chapter eight, book four of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis tells us that this is the entirety of what Christianity is all about. He goes on to accurately paraphrases Christ as saying "I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it...I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours". He wrote, "[Jesus] never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment".

In chapter nine, book four of Mere Christianity; Lewis goes on to say that "Some people seem to think this means 'Unless you are perfect, I will not help you'; and as we can not be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless...I think He meant 'The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less...Make no mistake' He says, 'if you let Me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that'". The last sentence of chapter reads, "The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said". 

And in the first paragraph of chapter ten, book four, Lewis writes, "The change will not be complete in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment. How far the change will have gone before death in any particular Christian is uncertain. 

Now, since the time that I wrote "Till I Reach the Other Side", I have often considered that that song was perhaps the most personal song I'd ever written. I wrote it as a prayer because of my awareness of my own shortcomings. 

And in the last eleven years, there have been times when I have turned around and fed the old nature, which is of the flesh; instead of the new nature, which is of the Spirit. And the result of that has always been trouble and misery. And in my spirit I have felt, at times, as though I might as well be dead. To be alive to sin is to be dead to God; and vice versa.

And so I image, in my mind, a great Curtain hanging down and separating two Expanses. The Expanse on the left is the "life" that this world has to offer. It is the "life" of the old nature. And it corresponds to this mortal life in this fallen world. On the other side is the Life of the new nature, which is Christ. This Life corresponds to the World into which Christians are passing until they have entered it at the end of this "life" (Colossians 3:1-4). 

And the Curtain between them, is called "Death".  And so, in order to cross over from either side to the other would be a process of dying. When Jesus took on human form and was born in Israel, two thousand years ago, that must have been like a kind of death for Him, even though He remained sinless. 

He left behind the ineffable glory of His heavenly kingdom with the Father, to be born into a cold, fallen, broken world. He took upon Himself the whole human experience, which means He bore the same curse of sin that is upon all humanity, even though He never committed any sin, nor did He have any sin in Him. He
bore our griefs and sorrows, and He died on a Roman cross for the sin that we have in us (Isaiah 53). 

And for us to become alive to the new nature requires us to die to our old nature. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Romans 2:20). We have to go through that Curtain.

So to be alive to God is to be dead to the world with its desires. And to be alive to the world with its desires is to be dead to God. Paul the apostle wrote:

 "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; NKJV). 

 I also like how it's worded in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB). 

"But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake".

Now no one can be living to God and sin both at the same time. The two lives; the "life" of the world with its desires, and the Life of God, are mutually exclusive. But here, relativity must give way to the Absolute. Here is the superiority of the Life of God. The Life of God is truer and better than the "life" of the world and its desires.

The "life" of the world with its desires is a false life. It is both fake and fleeting. It is a cheap imitation. Its reward is eternal damnation; eternal destruction, atrophy, ruin, and death! The Expanse on the left, the "life" of the world with its desires, is True Death. Those who partake of it grow in depravity and dehumanization.

The Expanse on the right; Life of God, is True Life. His reward is eternal grandeur, blessedness, joy, peace, love, and real, everlasting Life! Those who partake of Him grow in the perfection of who He is.

To understand this, it may be of help to remember that a word can be used in more than one way. For example, the word "light" can refer to a light-source, such as a flashlight, or even the moon. 

The moon is an indirect light-source. It reflects the sun's light onto the earth. That is the purpose for which it was created by God, on the fourth of the six literal days of Creation. And therefore, it can rightly be called a light.

But the same word, "light", can also be rightly used to refer to the waves/particles of light that  come from the light-source.

And it is the same thing with this word "death". It refers to the Curtain through which we Christians must pass to enter the Kingdom of eternal life. And the same word, "death" also refers to the process of going through the Curtain; a process that every Christian in this mortal world is in right now. 

And the same word, "death" also refers to the result of passing through the Curtain, except that if one were to pass from the Kingdom of eternal life, to this side, they would be approaching, and entering into real, absolute death. Whereas, one passing from this side to the other is going to be met on the other side with real, absolute, eternal life.

One might even be right to think that the Curtain itself is a  projection of this fallen, broken world on this side. If this world, on this side of the Curtain were not fallen, there would be no Curtain between this world and that Kingdom.

And now I am reminded of the curtain in the Temple at Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. This curtain seperated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. And at the moment of Christ's sacrificial death, the curtain was turn in two.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews, in the New Testament, says that this literal event is also symbolic of the fact that Jesus, entering through the curtain of death, had opened the way for all of us who trust and follow Him to do the same, and enter the Kingdom of God.

And why does the Christian's death have a different result than the non-Christian's physical death? Because the one who remains alive to sin, when he passes through physical death, will be confronted by a holy, righteous, perfect God. That sinner then will be met with condemnation, and ruin.

The Christian, in this life, is going through a deep process of having the old sinful nature put to death, so that when we stand before God in His Kingdom, He will see the righteousness of His own So in us. And so He will meet us with His approval. As the author of Hebrews tells us, we can, therefore, approach Him with confidence in Christ.

Here are the lyrics to my song which I wrote eleven winters ago:

 "Till I Reach The Other Side"

In the evening when the sun goes down

And You look down on me, do You where a frown?

Did I do all the things You wanted me to do?

Or in my heart, did I fail to stay true blue?

'Cause I don't know which way to go

And then when I know

It's just a hard row to hoe

Let me be a tool in Your hand

And make me useful to Your plan

Fill me with Your Spirit Lord, and let me walk with You

Till I reach the other side

And in the autumn when the leaves are brown

And all the dead things are falling on the ground

Is my heart turning around

Death to Self, Life to God; truly found

'Cause I know well which way to go

But though I know

 It's just a hard row to hoe

Father, make me like Your Son

And let me not vainly run

Drive Your dagger deep into my heart and set me free

From the selfish part of me

EPIC GUITAR RIFF: RIGHT HERE

And in the Morning when I rise

Lord, deliver me from lies

Let Your word give light to my eyes, my eyes

And let me gaze into You big blue sky

Teach me, Lord

Which way to go

And when I've learned, help me to hoe the row

Jesus, fill me with Your love

With peace and joy from above

Drive Your dagger deep into my heart and set me free

From the sinful part of me

Let me be a tool in Your hand

And make me useful to Your plan

Fill me with Your Spirit Lord, and let me walk with You

Till I reach the other

Till I reach the other

Till I reach the other side

Tongue Bad

If you have never read it, you should read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. It is a very good autobiography, eloquently written (unlike the intentionally silly title of this post). In the course of telling his story, Fredrick Douglass wrote about the various masters that he had before he escaped to freedom. And he told about an overseer named Mr. Severe. It was Mr. Severe whom Douglass described in this way:

"Mr. Severe was rightly named: he was a cruel man... He seemed to take pleasure in manifesting his fiendish barbarity. Added to his cruelty, he was a profane swearer... Scarce a sentence escaped him but that was commenced or concluded by some horrid oath. His presence made it both the field of blood and of blasphemy... and he died as he lived, uttering, with his dying groans, bitter curses and horrid oaths".

What an epitaph! How would you like to have that engraved on your tombstone? "Here lies a cruel and blasphemous man. He died cursing God". 

The Bible has a lot to say about the words that come out of our mouths. James, a half-brother of Jesus, called the tongue "a world of iniquity". He pointed out how with the same tongue that people use to praise God, they often also curse their fellow humans who are created in God's image (read James 3:1-12). 

King Solomon tells us that "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it's fruit" (Proverbs 18: 21). Like Mr. Severe's bloody cow-skin whip and hickory stick, so the tongue can become a cruel devise to lash out and wound people. And if anyone blasphemes God, that person wounds their own soul; which is not really their own, because every soul belongs to God who created it.

Jesus Himself said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). But this truth leaves no one unscathed, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Jesus confirms this when He calls everyone evil (Luke 11:13, Luke 18:19, John 7:7). 

And when we sin in any way at all, we demonstrate a lack of love toward our heavenly Father who is love, and who created us in His perfect image before the Fall. And so when we speak any kind of wickedness; whether cruel insults, hurtful gossip, deceitful lies, foul obscenities, or irreverent blasphemies, we speak against our holy God who is love. And it is a reflection of the condition of our hearts. 

When God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin, Nathan spoke by the Holy Spirit and said to David:

"Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in His eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own" (2 Samuel 12:9-10; NIV, emphasis added).

So we learn from this passage of Scripture that all sin is a personal affront to our heavenly Father. And that of course includes any kind of sinful speech, because our words are a reflection of what is in our hearts. And one thing that David understood is that even though humans are fallen creatures, God desires righteousness to be in our inward being (Psalm 51:5-6).

David also prayed, saying, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, oh LORD, my strength and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). Only by the power of the Holy Spirit, can our inward being become truly right and good and pure in the eyes of the LORD. And as Jesus said "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13; NIV).

Thankfully for David, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross paid retroactively for his sin, just as fully as it pays for the sins of all who trust in Jesus. And like Abraham before him, David looked forward to the arrival of God's salvation which came through Christ (John 8:56-58, Psalm 119:81). He even prophesied concerning the Crucifixion, a millennium before it happened (Psalm 22).

Now because of His sacrifice, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, those who trust in Jesus are no longer subject to that foul, lacerating, severe old man. Sin is no longer our master. We are free in Christ (John 8:31-36, Romans 6:6-23). And as we practice righteousness in Him, we grow in His likeness; the perfect image of God in which He originally created humanity (1 John 3:2-3). 

So we are admonished through the Holy Spirit to put away that dead, decomposing old man; and become the new man, created in harmony with God. Which, among other things, means to put away "corrupt speech", or "unwholesome talk" and use our mouths to praise our heavenly Father; and to bless, and build up others through the grace of God (Ephesians 4:21-32).   

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).

More Than We Are Ready to Bear

In the little upper-room of a house in Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples partook of the Passover meal. It was the Last Supper before Jesus would be offered up as the Passover Lamb, to die for our sin on a Roman cross.

The words that Jesus spoke to His disciples during that meal, including the prayers that He prayed for His disciples and Himself, have become known as the Last Supper Discourse (John 13-17).

He told about His imminent death, which disheartened His disciples. He also described the hostility and persecution that they would face for being His witnesses. 

But He also told them of the comfort they would receive, and great things that they would accomplish in bringing the message of salvation to the world. He told of the ultimate joy that would be given to them, and all who believe as a result of their preaching. 

Then He said:

"I still have many things to say to you, but you can not bear them now" (John 16:12).

We may readily imagine that He was referring to sad, and discouraging things. And perhaps He was. But the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul wrote:

"'What no eye has seen, 

what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived' - 

the things God has prepared for those who love Him -" (1st Corinthians 2:9, Isaiah 64:4; NIV).

Paul was also moved by the Spirit to say:

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

At times it can actually be painful to hear glad things. There have been times when I could not stand to listen to joyful music or glad songs. So perhaps when Jesus said what He said, He was also referring to things too wonderful, and marvelous for us to bear while we live in this broken world of sin, trouble, and strife.

C.S. Lewis once remarked about Tolkien's books:

"Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron here is a book which will break your heart".

Certainly, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him can be no less, but more even more beautiful.

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).