So formal, yet so familiar

Wisdom for the week

I’m mystified by the way John introduces Jesus, both in his gospel and here in his brief letter, I John 1:1-10. He could have said, “I lived with God for three years. Yes, God, but God become man. My eyes watched him in all kinds of situations—out in public, meeting the demands of needy multitudes as he healed the sick, fed the hungry, set free the demon-possessed. We saw him in private, raising a 12-year-old from death to life, explaining to us the nature of his kingdom, etc. He got tired. He had irrepressible joy, took pleasure in beauty, showed disappointment in man’s ugliness.”

But John didn’t talk in familiar terms about this man who was God and whom he had befriended. Instead he introduces Jesus in a way that emphasizes his awesome transcendence: That which was from the beginning… He is life eternal… He is ‘unshadowed’ light in which is no darkness at all.

He was truly human. From his conception in Mary’s warm womb to his burial in a cold tomb. “We touched him,” John reports.

But he was never not God. He was light. He was from the beginning.

Though John was the beloved disciple and probably more emotionally, intellectually and personally connected to Jesus than anyone, he doesn’t talk about Jesus in chummy terms.

Where am I going with this? I don’t know exactly. But may I suggest that for the purposes of his letter it was important that the readers be thinking about their relationship with Jesus Christ as God. And me-thinks I need to curb my own chumminess and see God for the almighty, all-knowing, everywhere present person that he is.

Lord Jesus, as I meditate on who you are in all your divine glory, develop in me the fear of God I so desperately need.

Don’t get carried away.

Wisdom for the week

“Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability,” 2 Peter 3:17.

Q: Who are the lawless?

A: Those, no matter how moral and nice, who believe there is no Lawgiver to whose rules we are subject.

Q: What is their error?

A: They think that man, not God, but man is the measure of right and wrong. So if man says thus and so is right or wrong, that’s the way it is, at least until ‘studies show’ something better. They make up their own truth, rather than looking to the Holy Scriptures for truth. They use domineering language rather than facts to back up their claims.

Examples are: Ninety eight percent (or some other high percent) of all scientists accept without question that humans play a large, if not major role in global warming. Or therapists now agree that homosexuals need to be assured that they are okay. Therapy that aims at repairing a homosexual would be harmful.  Now people who reject their God-given gender are celebrated for their courage to change genders. We are told that government schools are the best resource for preparing children for the real world. These are but a few of the wrong-headed notions that are considered good; or good beliefs that are considered evil.

Peter warns us not to be carried away. Even though everyone seems to think and act a certain way, we must not go along with what the Bible clearly forbids. It’s so hard to wade upstream, especially when the rush of evil increases exponentially. Good laws are overturned daily. Evil is not only tolerated, it’s legislated and enshrined as good law.

We wake up to a world that has made faithful Christians and Jews criminals. If we faithfully preach the whole Bible we are guilty of hate speech, because the Bible clearly says that homosexual behavior (as well as any kind of sexual union outside of marriage) is sin. Christian businesses that refuse to provide services for same sex marriages or pay for birth control are hauled into court. More and more it is becoming criminal to oppose evil.

I’m tempted to hide or soft-pedal my ‘offensive’ beliefs, but how can I abandon Jesus?

Cheer up! There’s a good effect to all this. When it’s no longer easy to be true to Jesus, when it is impossible to stand against the torrents, then we’ll know who truly loves Jesus and who trusts God to do the impossible.

In the end only those people will be standing. Will I, will you be among them?

Who will survive the coming holocaust?

Wisdom for the week

A roaring holocaust will scorch the earth. Who/what will survive?

Peter is about as dramatic as anyone in describing the end of this present age. He pictures the heavens burned up by a roaring fire and dissolved, 2 Peter 3:10. He assures us that God doesn’t want any to perish, 3:9. Yet he will destroy unrepentant scoffers who follow their sinful desires, 3:3,4,7.

The scoffers overlook the judgment by flood, 3:5-7. If God destroyed the whole human race in the deluge, except for eight, he can do it again and will, but by fire this time.

Who will survive? Peter says the ungodly will be destroyed. That implies that the godly will survive, 3:7. The repentant will not perish, 3: 9. The holy and godly who wait for and hasten the coming day of God look forward to this final day. They are waiting eagerly for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells and reigns.

As we wait, Peter urges us to diligently trust God to remove all that has spotted and blemished our lives. That requires that we do not fight the Holy Spirit, but make peace with him, cooperating in his task of making us presentable to our Bridegroom. Thus we will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Lord, I am troubled by spots and blemishes that I’m not letting you cleanse away. I again surrender to you and welcome the scrubbing that you wish to give me. Forgive me for being like the pig that returns to his mud hole after a bath. Am I more comfortable in the mud hole? Hmmm. If so, what must be done to make me prefer cleanliness?                 

How can you tell if it’s not God’s word?

Wisdom for the week

I’ve taken Weeks’ out of the subhead, as today I’m thinking of the characteristics of false prophets. One tendency of false prophets is that they lift up their name. Joel Olsteen is an example of this self-promotion. I realize that in the marketing of books it helps to have name recognition. But it’s wrong to link my name to wisdom, as if the wisdom were mine, when it is derived from the Holy Scriptures. I’m on record as repenting of this foolishness. I am called to lift up Jesus’ name, which I intend to do.

But now I want to get back to the topic of false teachers. You may need to discern someday whether a person or ministry is truly of God or merely man’s invention. 2 Peter 2 provides the following characteristics of false teachers and false teaching.

1. They introduce heresies secretly.
2. With their emphasis on Jesus’ blessing and prospering us they, in effect, deny that Jesus is our Master. Instead, we command him. He serves our interests, not vice versa.
3. Selfish sensuality is usually prominent in their practices.
4. They despise authority and make up their own laws, causing followers to twist, ignore or supplant God’s law.
5. Being bold and willful, they rail against Satan as if they exercised control over him and his demons.
6. Like irrational animals they follow their instincts, as in ‘follow your heart.’

Other descriptions of false teachers that Peter mentions include:

7. Blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant;
8. Taking pleasure in reveling in their deceptions in the daytime;
9. Eyes full of adultery;
10. Insatiable appetite for sin;
11. Enticing unsteady souls via indulging sensual passions;
12. Hearts trained in greed;
13. Loving gain from wrongdoing;
14. Waterless springs/mists driven by a storm;
15. Loud and foolish boasters;
16. Promising freedom while being slaves of corruption;
17. Dogs returning to their vomit/sows returning to the mire.

Q: Why does Peter describe false teachers so thoroughly?

A¹: To alert us to the many faces that false teachers wear. As you think about leaders, not only in politics, but in every field, e.g., science, literature, academics, sports—do any have these characteristics. If so, might they be part of Satan’s army of false teachers? If so, how do we relate to them?

A2: To warn us as to our outcome if we follow their teaching.

A³:  To unmask the seductive appeals of false teaching and reveal its ugliness.