The reason that people have their panties in a wad over this Phil Robertson thing is simply because the majority of humanity can accept the idea of a heaven where good people go who have lived good lives, but also lean toward rejecting the thought of an "eternal torment" place called hell. I happen to believe fully in both because the Bible teaches this truth. But for those who do believe in a hell, the begging question is how to avoid it.
Because of our laws, our views on karma, our reward systems, and every other part of culture, the logical accepted way to get into heaven is to be a "good person." If we've done enough right, and it outweighs our list of wrongs, then we must be going to heaven. Only "bad people" go to hell. But if THAT'S true, then the question begs, "How good is good ENOUGH?" "Good" to one may not be "good" to another. Hitler was someone's son. They may not have viewed him as evil, though the rest of us probably would.
So is it then a majority vote? If so, who casts the ballots? In the eyes of gay & lesbian groups, they have viewed Phil Robertson's quote as a "ballot" cast against them. Many gays & lesbians believe in heaven, God, and a moral code and attend churches weekly. So they are wondering how DARE someone cast that ballot against their ability to get into heaven?!?
But here's the truth that I know...that Phil Robertson knows, I believe. There isn't ONE of us worthy to cast a ballot, nor make a determination on what must be right and wrong, or dub someone "good enough" for heaven. THAT responsibility is God's and His alone! So if we don't determine who is or isn't good, and God does, then how does this standard leave His mouth to reach our ears so that we're not just left guessing? That would be the Bible. But the problem there is that NOBODY is good enough to live up to the standard set by this book! God knew that too. He didn't send a list of right and wrongs that He knew we couldn't uphold to simply laugh at us and scoff because of our failure at righteousness, tho. There was a plan. One that would pay the death sentence that is the ONLY payment for sin and satisfy the law that He, Himself, instituted. And that's why He sent Jesus. What we deserve, hell: eternal death and punishment, because of all the things HE listed as wrong in scripture (yes, homosexuality is one of those things along with lying, cheating, murder, adultery, coveting, putting anyone or anything as a priority in our lives over God, etc., etc.) was trumped by God's love for humanity in the death of Jesus Christ and is granted to ALL through an acceptance of this gift. It goes against everything we trust in in our merit based sociological systems, I know. But that's grace.
Phil didn't just come up with what he said. God did. Robertson may have stated it a little harshly, maybe. But it doesn't negate the truth of it. Nor the grace, love, and mercy God offers those who are caught up in ANY of the "sins" listed in scripture. I've not been a participant in that particular one (homosexuality), but there are certainly others that I have been. And what I deserve is no different whatsoever from anyone else. NONE of us are perfect! We are all sinners saved only by God's grace. We (including Phil) are ALL deserving of hell. None "good enough" to make it into heaven on the merit of our own spiritual report cards. Those of us who are assured that heaven will be our eternal home are only confident of that hope because we have accepted the gift of Jesus' death on the cross. We have no room for pointing fingers. Grace just changed everything.
So, WWJ...um...S: What Would Jesus Say? Let me be very clear, do NOT lump me in the crowd that looks at the Robertson issue with A&E and yells, "Christians need to stand up for what's right!" If we talk double standards, yes, I believe there is one in this nation on free speech when it comes to Christian beliefs and morals. But I don't believe that it is a battle won in the media, Facebook, pulpits, or especially the White House! This may shock some of you, but I don't think that's what's needed here!!! I don't think that would be advised by our Savior either.
I can here the collective, "HUH?!?" What would Jesus say? Well, let's see. I believe He's already said it. Fellow believers, people who choose not to follow Christ will not act as though they are Bible thumping believers and neither should they be EXPECTED to!!! Jesus said it on the cross, remember? "Father, forgive them. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!" (emphasis mine) (Click here to read it for yourself.) How dare we argue something with the very people to whom we are trying to extend hope?!? That makes NO sense! Phil was asked a question. He answered it. Do I think he's being treated fairly? No. But he is not the first and will not be the last. So do we sit by and do nothing?!? Absolutely not. "Then what do we do?" you ask. I'm so glad you did. But let's start with what NOT to do from the words of scripture, the same source from which Phil drew his deductions shared with GQ.
Remind everyone about these things, and command them in God’s presence to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them. 2 Timothy 2:14 (NLT)
A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. Proverbs 15:1 (NLT)
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19 (NLT)
Let's stop acting like spoiled brats and saying we gotta stand up for Jesus! Jesus can handle His own! He's waiting on us to stand up for the broken, the sick, the hurting, the needy, the hungry, the tired, the confused, the addicted, THAT'S who we need to stand up for! THAT'S who Jesus gave His life for!!! You can't make the change you want when you do it top down. Jesus knew that. That's why He never instructed us to "love thy President, Mayor, Governor, Congressman, King, Pastor, Elder or otherwise." He said, "love thy neighbor." Right before Jesus' ascension, He gave the instructions to start with those closest to them geographically and work outward from there! Click on this scripture reference and read Acts 1:8 (NLT). This was God's plan all along! Christians have been acting like we can save God time by forgetting our neighbor and trying for the big fish! That's never worked! So what can we do that WILL make a difference?
“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (NLT)
You know that guy standing on the exit ramp begging for a dollar? Stop, get out, and give him $5 and pray for him while you're there. "But he might be running a scam!" Click on the scripture reference and look back at Romans 12:19. That's not your call or your problem. You know the single Mom who checks you out at the grocery store or serves you in your favorite restaurant? Cook her a meal to feed her family because when she gets home, she's probably too tired and would enjoy a night to concentrate on her kids. You know the college students in your town that may be staying over Christmas because they can't afford to go home? Buy one of them a gift and invite them to your home to spend it with your family. Give your sales clerk a friendly smile and understand that they are just as stressed as you and that their day would be better if they could make yours better as well. Pay for the person's coffee behind you at Starbucks just because. Give toys to a family in your community who you know needs them. Act like you're a child of God and that you believe what you claim! Watch your attitude. If you know Jesus, all of the fruit of the Spirit (click the underlined part to read the list) are in you and at your disposal. LIVE IT!!! Be hope. Be grace. Be mercy. Be the Church. Be Jesus. Err on the side of grace. Love the unloveable. Forgive the unforgivable. Don't think you can do that? That's exactly what Jesus did for you! Who do we blame for the mess the world is in? Go look in the mirror! No, you didn't do it alone. Neither did I. At some point the collective Church forgot her mission and her call to obedience. We devised our own plan and thought we could do better. We didn't. We can't. Get back to basics. Love because your are loved. Serve because you have been served. Give because you have been given to. And one by one by one by one, we will see the change we seek in our communities, our nation, and our world.
I welcome your comments! PLEASE click on the words "No Comment" or "Comment" (whichever is listed just to the right of the posting time directly below this paragraph) and post a comment of your own. You must also choose a profile from the drop down list, or just choose "anonymous" from the list and type your name at the end of your comment in the actual comment box. Clicking the PUBLISH button posts your comment and you're good to go! Use the social media links there to share to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts directly. THANK YOU for stopping by! Till next time...
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Overcoming - A Lame Lesson
Click on the scripture reference and read Luke 5:17-26 (NLT).
If you're like me, you've read this passage or heard it used in sermons or Bible lessons many times. If you're new to the story, this is probably a "wow" moment for you to read of how a paralyzed man suddenly got up and walked away! With which ever group you find yourself aligned, the healing power of Jesus was on great display.
Healing is such a needed thing in our world today. People find themselves in need of healing from many varieties of circumstances. While physical healing may be the most common thought, emotions, attitudes, finances, marriages, relationships, anxieties, and worries could also be among the much longer list of life conditions in which healing is sought. There are many lessons that we can take away from this story, but there are only a few that I want to discuss in this particular blog, just simply because these are the things that God has been teaching me in recent days, not because they are the most important.
We could talk about the faith of the friends who brought this young man to Jesus. We could also discuss the fact that the religious leaders were so busy judging the actions of the Son of God, that they became part of the problem of the friends being able to even get him to Jesus. (How I could go expound on this point!!! Religious people block the healing of others because of their pious attitudes all the time and it gives me a pain I can't locate!!! We're so busy gossiping about the Pastor, talking about others, acting un-Christ-like, and ruining our testimonies among people who are seeking hope, that we contaminate the healing power of Christ in the eyes of those who desperately need Him! But I digress.)
I want us first to pay attention to Jesus' first action regarding this young man. Click here and read it again. Jesus is the Son of God. He is God in human form. He knew the minds of the friends who brought this young man to Jesus. He knew their intent. He knew that the whole reason they went to all that trouble was to see their friend healed and their faith made sight. So when the first words Jesus spoke to the young fella was that his sins were forgiven, I can imagine there were questions and feelings of disappointment among those friends. But Jesus knew that the healing of which he was most in need was that of his sin condition, not his physical condition. One way or the other, heaven or hell, his physical condition would be temporary. But the healing of his sin condition would change his eternity.
I won't expound on the fact, but notice how when the religious leaders heard Jesus tell the young man that his sins were forgiven, they muttered among themselves calling Jesus blasphemous. Scripture is clear that Jesus didn't audibly hear them, He "knew what they were thinking" and then addressed them. God knows the heart of us all. Even if we think we are being quiet enough, nonchalant enough, or secretive enough, He knows.
To be an overcomer, Jesus' next three things spoken to the young man become key lessons in our Christian walk. First, Jesus said, "Stand up." Please think his through with me for a moment. Here is a young man who has NEVER used his legs! His brain is not programmed to deliver the proper messages to his muscles to cause a response that would cause movement of any kind, much less, getting up! This young man responded in faith to the command of God! I can imagine that every inner voice within him was telling him "you can't do it," "this is an impossible command," "you'll be embarrassed and made a fool if you fail." Any of those sound familiar? But this is where many of us lose the battle and surrender to the enemy! We are not created to be lame! We are created to be overcomers! Lesson #1: We must respond to the command of God in faith.
Jesus could have just told the young man to get up and go home. For this young paralytic, that would have probably been quite enough. But Jesus put another command in the middle. He told him to, "pick up your mat." See, when Jesus heals, He heals completely. Jesus wanted this man to know that the very thing that used to mark his identity, was no longer even an issue! The young man now carried the mat, not the other way around! Jesus asked him to take it with him simply because Jesus wanted him to remember the place from which he came. The mat became his testimony of a past that had been healed and changed by the power of God! Lesson #2: We must accept that the thing that defined us is subservient to the definition God has given us through the blood of Christ - we are His kids!!!
And lastly, Jesus said to the young man, "go home." Friends, this man not only got up and picked up his mat, he WALKED!!! Do you get the power of this?!? Babies have to learn to walk. Accident victims have to be rehabilitated and once again learn to walk. That is the natural order of things except breathing. But not him!!! Scripture uses the word "immediately" to describe how long it took for him to be able to put one foot in front of the other and get moving. His muscles were probably about the size of a pencil. He had never used them. They had never responded to brain wave activity and command. But they DID respond to the command of the Creator - the Great Physician! Lesson #3: Simple obedience on our part brings about God's power to circumvent the natural so that we walk in the supernatural!
Let me say with authority that I have seen this very power in my life! I could tell you stories that would blow your mind about God's favor and His move in my life! Maybe I will soon. But let's look at one more point, ok? Other than the physical response to the command of Jesus, the young man did one more thing. Read it by clicking here.
He praised. He worshipped. I can almost hear him shouting, "I'm HEALED!!!" "I can walk!!!" "I'm RUNNING!!!" "Praise be to Jesus, He healed me!!!" "All He did was speak the words and it HAPPENED!!!" Lesson #4: Publicly give God the glory for the healing! Oh how pride gets in the way with us nowadays. We want to keep our mats under our cloaks hoping nobody will notice the small undeveloped muscles in our legs. We want others to believe that we are strong with no weakness. That we have the preverbal tiger by the tail - a demon slayer in our own right. But that's just not the case. We are what we are ONLY because of the healing power and forgiving, limitless grace of Christ. How DARE we keep that silent!!! When a world is begging, searching for hope under every rock they can find, when they only need the stone that the builder rejected - the Cornerstone - Jesus. We are as the religious leaders in the house. We become part of the blockade for those searching for Christ. Stand aside. Expose the mat. Show some leg. And then point to Christ. We can overcome by this "lame" lesson.
Please leave comments below! Ask questions! Tell your friends by clicking on the social media links and posting on your Facebook or Twitter or Google + accounts. It helps to know that these are being read and even helping YOU! I never know if they are helping unless you're doing these things and ESPECIALLY leaving comments!!! Thanks for sharing a few moments with me!
If you're like me, you've read this passage or heard it used in sermons or Bible lessons many times. If you're new to the story, this is probably a "wow" moment for you to read of how a paralyzed man suddenly got up and walked away! With which ever group you find yourself aligned, the healing power of Jesus was on great display.
Healing is such a needed thing in our world today. People find themselves in need of healing from many varieties of circumstances. While physical healing may be the most common thought, emotions, attitudes, finances, marriages, relationships, anxieties, and worries could also be among the much longer list of life conditions in which healing is sought. There are many lessons that we can take away from this story, but there are only a few that I want to discuss in this particular blog, just simply because these are the things that God has been teaching me in recent days, not because they are the most important.
We could talk about the faith of the friends who brought this young man to Jesus. We could also discuss the fact that the religious leaders were so busy judging the actions of the Son of God, that they became part of the problem of the friends being able to even get him to Jesus. (How I could go expound on this point!!! Religious people block the healing of others because of their pious attitudes all the time and it gives me a pain I can't locate!!! We're so busy gossiping about the Pastor, talking about others, acting un-Christ-like, and ruining our testimonies among people who are seeking hope, that we contaminate the healing power of Christ in the eyes of those who desperately need Him! But I digress.)
I want us first to pay attention to Jesus' first action regarding this young man. Click here and read it again. Jesus is the Son of God. He is God in human form. He knew the minds of the friends who brought this young man to Jesus. He knew their intent. He knew that the whole reason they went to all that trouble was to see their friend healed and their faith made sight. So when the first words Jesus spoke to the young fella was that his sins were forgiven, I can imagine there were questions and feelings of disappointment among those friends. But Jesus knew that the healing of which he was most in need was that of his sin condition, not his physical condition. One way or the other, heaven or hell, his physical condition would be temporary. But the healing of his sin condition would change his eternity.
I won't expound on the fact, but notice how when the religious leaders heard Jesus tell the young man that his sins were forgiven, they muttered among themselves calling Jesus blasphemous. Scripture is clear that Jesus didn't audibly hear them, He "knew what they were thinking" and then addressed them. God knows the heart of us all. Even if we think we are being quiet enough, nonchalant enough, or secretive enough, He knows.
To be an overcomer, Jesus' next three things spoken to the young man become key lessons in our Christian walk. First, Jesus said, "Stand up." Please think his through with me for a moment. Here is a young man who has NEVER used his legs! His brain is not programmed to deliver the proper messages to his muscles to cause a response that would cause movement of any kind, much less, getting up! This young man responded in faith to the command of God! I can imagine that every inner voice within him was telling him "you can't do it," "this is an impossible command," "you'll be embarrassed and made a fool if you fail." Any of those sound familiar? But this is where many of us lose the battle and surrender to the enemy! We are not created to be lame! We are created to be overcomers! Lesson #1: We must respond to the command of God in faith.
Jesus could have just told the young man to get up and go home. For this young paralytic, that would have probably been quite enough. But Jesus put another command in the middle. He told him to, "pick up your mat." See, when Jesus heals, He heals completely. Jesus wanted this man to know that the very thing that used to mark his identity, was no longer even an issue! The young man now carried the mat, not the other way around! Jesus asked him to take it with him simply because Jesus wanted him to remember the place from which he came. The mat became his testimony of a past that had been healed and changed by the power of God! Lesson #2: We must accept that the thing that defined us is subservient to the definition God has given us through the blood of Christ - we are His kids!!!
And lastly, Jesus said to the young man, "go home." Friends, this man not only got up and picked up his mat, he WALKED!!! Do you get the power of this?!? Babies have to learn to walk. Accident victims have to be rehabilitated and once again learn to walk. That is the natural order of things except breathing. But not him!!! Scripture uses the word "immediately" to describe how long it took for him to be able to put one foot in front of the other and get moving. His muscles were probably about the size of a pencil. He had never used them. They had never responded to brain wave activity and command. But they DID respond to the command of the Creator - the Great Physician! Lesson #3: Simple obedience on our part brings about God's power to circumvent the natural so that we walk in the supernatural!
Let me say with authority that I have seen this very power in my life! I could tell you stories that would blow your mind about God's favor and His move in my life! Maybe I will soon. But let's look at one more point, ok? Other than the physical response to the command of Jesus, the young man did one more thing. Read it by clicking here.
He praised. He worshipped. I can almost hear him shouting, "I'm HEALED!!!" "I can walk!!!" "I'm RUNNING!!!" "Praise be to Jesus, He healed me!!!" "All He did was speak the words and it HAPPENED!!!" Lesson #4: Publicly give God the glory for the healing! Oh how pride gets in the way with us nowadays. We want to keep our mats under our cloaks hoping nobody will notice the small undeveloped muscles in our legs. We want others to believe that we are strong with no weakness. That we have the preverbal tiger by the tail - a demon slayer in our own right. But that's just not the case. We are what we are ONLY because of the healing power and forgiving, limitless grace of Christ. How DARE we keep that silent!!! When a world is begging, searching for hope under every rock they can find, when they only need the stone that the builder rejected - the Cornerstone - Jesus. We are as the religious leaders in the house. We become part of the blockade for those searching for Christ. Stand aside. Expose the mat. Show some leg. And then point to Christ. We can overcome by this "lame" lesson.
Please leave comments below! Ask questions! Tell your friends by clicking on the social media links and posting on your Facebook or Twitter or Google + accounts. It helps to know that these are being read and even helping YOU! I never know if they are helping unless you're doing these things and ESPECIALLY leaving comments!!! Thanks for sharing a few moments with me!
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