by thinkagainaboutgod | Mar 4, 2020 | Uncategorized
What do we mean when we say, “Jesus died for my sins?” I’ve grown up in the church so I’ve heard this a lot. When we say that, “Jesus died for my sins,” what are we actually saying? Did the death of Jesus pay off the debt I incurred from an action that dishonored God? If this is the case, it can dramatically affect the way we see God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. With this view, the Father and Son tend to lose their “oneness”… their unity that Jesus referred to in John chapters 14-17.
The belief that God gets offended by sin leads us to an understanding that Jesus saved us from God. This belief eventually causes us to make conclusions about the nature of the Father that are drastically opposed to the nature that the New Testament ascribes to Him. What is the main point or message of Christianity? Usually it goes something like this…“Jesus died on the cross for my sins and if I put faith in Him and say the ‘sinner’s prayer,’ then I get to go to place one day called heaven. But in the meantime, I just need to behave myself.” If this is your understanding of faith, then moral behavior becomes the message of Christianity, and to many, thats exactly what its about. If you don’t believe the world thinks this way about the church and Christians, then you need to get out more.
But the authors of the New Testament lead us to a different conclusion. They reveal to their audience that Jesus came to represent the Father… meaning… what had represented Him, up until that point (the law of Moses) wasn’t doing a good job. Jesus demonstrated a life contrary to Israel’s belief about who God was. He ate with sinners and was numbered amongst them and yet we still hold onto a belief that God is dishonored by sin and can’t look upon it, mean while it was the sinners that Jesus got along with the best. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:6 that “If you’ve seen me you’ve see the Father.”
In fact…
- John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
- Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God.”
- Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God’s nature.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Is God some ethical agent
who gets easily offended by
sin or is God like Jesus?
I’m not making a case for sin or trying to down play its affects in your life. I’m simply trying to understand what we mean when we say “Jesus died for my sin.”
The majority of the time sin is viewed as the wrong actions we take. But the wrong actions we take are usually because of the way we think and believe. So much of Christianity fails to take trauma into consideration. When you hear the stories of people who have been raped, abused, or even tortured you begin to have compassion and understanding for them. But too often we get so focused on the headliner we fail to read the story. You can’t simply tell someone to stop living an immoral lifestyle unless you are going to take the time to help correct wrong patterns of destructive thinking and believing. To believe you can correct the behavior of a person without bringing healing to the heart is like trying to shoo away the flies without taking out the trash. Like the flies, the bad behavior will only return if you haven’t dealt with the root issue behind the “sin.”
Wrong moral behavior is simply a product of sin. Real sin goes much deeper than failure to conform to a moral code of conduct. The authors of the New Testament used the word sin to mean to miss the mark or to fall short. But to fall short of what? God? Jesus? Angels? The Prophets? The Ten Commandments?
This simple phrase, “Jesus died for my sin,” can unravel a lot of theology and cause us to entertain, or worse, believe unhealthy ideas about the nature and character of God.
Think about this… the authors of the new testament all seem to agree that Jesus makes the Father known. They also use a lot of ink trying to convince their audience that the Old Testament (Covenant) is over, done, obsolete. They spent a lot of time trying to convince their audience that God the Father has been misrepresented by the Law of Moses.
If you have ever picked up a Bible and looked at the table of contents you would discover that there is a divide between “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament.” The problem that exist today is that people who study the Bible can often make the mistake of understanding the New Testament through the lenses of the Old Testament when in reality it should be the other way around.
Most of the new Testament is about how the Old Testament (the Law and the Prophets) were coming to an end. Jesus announced the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24. He predicted the desolation of Jerusalem in Luke 19:43-44. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul called the ten Commandments given to Moses the ministry of death and condemnation and that it was coming to an end.
Keep in mind who wrote most of New Testament. The Apostle Paul who was once name Saul and understood the Law of Moses inside and out, is now telling everyone, that the Law of Moses (Old Testament, Old Covenant) isn’t what we are doing anymore. If you aren’t convinced go read the book of Galatians and the strong language that he uses in an attempt to convince the church of their folly in believing they could try to live by Old Covenant and New Covenant at the same time.
The writer of Hebrews also makes it clear that the old covenant is now obsolete: Hebrews 8:13 “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
The prophets spoke of the Messiah to come and Israel was given the signs to look for but when Jesus came they completely missed his birth. Israel thought the Messiah was going to set them free from Rome. As it turned out, the Messiah, was there to set them free from the LAW of Moses, a belief system that was ingrained into their culture for 1600 years that blinded them from seeing the reality of God’s nature.
This Deserves Your Attention
A crazy story that deserves our attention comes from Matthew 17 where Jesus is transfigured before three of His disciples, Peter, James and John. Along with Jesus appear Moses and Elijah who represent the LAW and the Prophets. Peter gets it into his head that he is going to build three tents or tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. But God the Father had other plans. God interrupts Peter and says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
God didn’t say to listen to Moses. He didn’t say to listen to Elijah. God told them to listen to His Son. The three disciples at this point were so scared they had fallen on their faces after hearing God’s voice but the advice that God gave them was to listen to His Son who tells them not to fear. Its states in verse 8 “When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
They only saw Jesus
because Jesus represents
the Father
fully and completely,
not Moses, not Elijah
… just Jesus!
Why does the Father only want us to see Jesus? I’m so glad you asked… Because Jesus makes the Father known (John 1:18). In fact, the Apostle Paul goes on write that when you read Moses you will become blinded to who God is. I’m serious…. he actually wrote that!
2 Corinthians 3:15-16 “Yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed.”
Why is it important that we see Jesus and only Jesus as the full and complete revelation of the Father?
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord (JESUS) are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (JESUS) appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
You become the version of God
you behold.
Try as you might to shoo away the flies and correct immoral behavior, it will only return unless your understanding of who God is lines up with the God that Jesus displays. This is also why John goes through such lengths to define God as love. The people of that time weren’t getting it because their view of God was so distorted which is why the church was so focused on sin and why Paul has to reveal how the Law of Moses and that focus on religious morality actually empowers sin in people’s lives because it keeps everyone from seeing the love of God the Father.
1 Corinthians 15:56 states, “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.”
Hold up!… Is Paul actually writing that the law of Moses empowers sin in people’s lives? How could the law do that? Romans 7 talks about how Paul was alive apart from the law but when the commandment came, sin came alive and he died.
Romans 7:7b-9 “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.”
Romans 6:14 states that “Sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law but under grace.”
But that would mean that sin would have dominion over you if you were under the law of Moses. Sin only takes dominion over you or becomes empowered in your life when the entire focus of God and the Gospel becomes about religious Morality and correct behavior.
Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Sin and morality were never
meant to be the focus of
Christianity.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for behaving rightly but there is a stark difference between religious morality and Christlike morality. Religious morality is motivated by fear and blinds people from seeing that nature of a God of love, while Christlike morality is love motivated and enables us to see the love of the Father.
So what do we mean when we say Jesus died for my sins? Did he actually die for my sins or did he die to reveal who the Father is?
The answer is… Yes. These two ideas are actually one and the same. Jesus died for our sins by revealing the Father.
We are in sin when we have fallen short or missed the mark when it comes to seeing God rightly. If we saw Him rightly our lives would be transformed into the same image of who He is because our lives are a reflection of our perception of who God is. Which means we are all sinners, because no one has the full picture. Did Jesus die for my sins? Absolutely. Jesus went to the cross to clear up the misconceptions people held of Him because of the law of Moses (the Old Testament) that corrupted people’s view of God. Jesus set the record straight about who God was by revealing a God of love at the cross and in so doing He crushed the power of sin (the law of Moses) that blinded all from the truth of who God is.
Jesus truly is the Light of the world; the revelation of the Father to those who are in darkness.
This action of revealing the Father is why the the veil in the temple of Moses was torn from top to bottom. It was the action of God ripping the blindfold off of the world so that the love of the Father could fully be displayed. Jesus had cried out, “It is Finished!” He defeated the power of sin by shattering the world’s concept of God created by the Law of Moses by revealing the truth of God’s nature and the extent of His love at the cross.
This changes the way we present the Gospel. It helps us to focus not on what someone is doing wrong but where they aren’t seeing God right. Our job isn’t to carry signs that state, “God Hates Sinner.” That isn’t true at all! Romans 5:8 declares, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God is Love (1 John 4:8) and if you are still trying to convince yourself of that reality there is a good chance its because you’ve made moralism the message of the Gospel. A return to a focus of religious moralism is to return to the very thing Jesus died to set us free from. Jesus came to take the blindfold off of the world and to fully reveal the Father by giving His life on the cross. God isn’t revealed in Moses. He isn’t revealed in Elijah. God is fully revealed in Jesus at the cross and its this truth of who God is that sets people free!
by thinkagainaboutgod | Mar 21, 2018 | Uncategorized
My daughter and I were hanging out on the top of the staircase that led down to the beach below us. The sun was setting and the tide was coming in. Our eyes were fixed upon the sandcastle we had labored on earlier that day for three hours in the hot summer sun.
The evening was beautiful but the two of us were focused upon the water that was quickly approaching all of our hard work. The goal was to see if we could create a sandcastle strong enough to withstand high tide. This was unrealistic wishful thinking on my part. The castle was impressive. We had created a huge mound of sand that was shaped as a pyramid. It had towers around it and a very large moat to keep intruders out.
We watched as the water found its way inside the moat, and it quickly encircled the castle. The bridges we had built were slowing caving in, but we had dug the moat deep enough that the water wasn’t able to reach anywhere near our castle. My daughter and I both believed we had done the impossible. Finally, we had built a structure that would survive till morning. Confident of our achievement we turned and went inside for the evening.
The next morning, the first thing we decided to do was check and see if our confidence was merely just wishful thinking. To our horror, we discovered that our sandcastle was completely gone. In fact, there wasn’t even a trace of it. We went down to examine the place where we had toiled for hours the day before and all that we had found was smooth pristine sand. All of our hard work was washed away as if we were never even there.
In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus described two men. The wise man who built his house on a rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand. When the wind, the waves, and the rain beat against the houses, it was the house of the wise man that remained. Jesus stated that the house of the foolish man fell and great was its fall.
The foolish man did not lay the proper foundation for his house and so his house crumbled. When we don’t build our lives upon the right foundation, the things that we build in life can easily get washed away without leaving any trace of our presence and efforts.
Foundations are important because they determine whether or not your structure or what you have built with your life will last the test of time and stand through the difficulties that we all must face. When we build upon a wrong foundation and the storms of life come, will what you have built last? I don’t know about you, but I want to see my efforts last. I don’t want to see the things that I have built with my time and energy wash away. This thought should really make all of us examine the foundations that we have built our lives upon. And when it comes to your own journey of faith, what are you building?
Jesus was someone who challenged the foundational thinking and teaching of his day. Jesus took what people thought they understood and flipped it upside down. In fact, when he began his ministry he would say, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He invited people to repentance. Now this word “Repentance,” to many, has a negative connotation attached to it. Some think it means to grovel or to plead for mercy. It most certainly doesn’t involve whipping yourself or metaphorically “kicking yourself” to prove how repentant you are. On the contrary, repentance is a wonderful action and a necessary part of an ever advancing life.
The word repentance, comes from the Greek word metanoia[G3341], which simply means to “think differently” or to “change what you know.” Its not about feeling sorry for yourself but rather about discovering the right direction. In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The way you think and believe shapes the way you live. One of the reasons why Jesus was hated by the Pharisees is because He didn’t just rock the boat when it came to their culture and way of thinking, He sunk the ship!
Herein lies the the purpose of this post. My aim is to challenge your foundational understanding on a subject that many feel they have a strong and accurate grasp.
So here’s the question. Drum role please…. What is your definition of Eternal Life?
Now I know this question can seem silly, but I think its important. Where does your mind go when you read these two words, “Eternal Life” in scripture? For those who have been brought up in the church, the answer seems obvious because we have been quoting John 3:16 since we were five years old. “For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have enteral life.” Many have concluded from this scripture that believing in Jesus is what gets you into heaven and this belief is absolutely correct. But, is our understanding of eternal life the same understanding that a Jewish culture from 2,000 years ago held of eternal life?
Is the “Eternal Life” that Jesus was referring to the same “Eternal Life” that we think about today? Or is it possible that there is a wrong foundation or way of thinking that we need to correct?
What Is Eternal Life?
In Matthew 19:16-22 a rich young ruler approaches Jesus and asks, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Once again, we think that any child from Sunday school could answer this question. “You need to asks Jesus into your heart.” “You need to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.” “Its not about the good deeds that you do; its about receiving the grace of God.” We would applaud any child for answers like these, but Jesus doesn’t give this man a single answer like the answers that we think would enable him to have eternal life.
In fact, Jesus told the man, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” Wait a minute, Jesus, that means going to heaven would be about our “good deeds.” Thats not what I was taught in Sunday School! The rich young ruler responded to Jesus, “Which ones? and Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man goes on to tell Jesus that he has kept all of these commandments and then proceeds to ask Jesus what he still lacks. To which Jesus tells him there is one thing that he isn’t doing. “Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor…” Wait a minute, does that mean we need to pay to get to heaven? Or do we give away all that we have to the poor and then we can go to heaven? Is that how it works?
In Luke 10 a lawyer asked Jesus the same question that this rich young ruler had asked. Verse 25 states, “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus asked the man, “How do you interpret the Law? How do you read it?” The Lawyer answers, “Love God and Love my neighbor.” In modern terms, Jesus says, “you nailed it.” Do this and you will live. But the lawyer had an agenda and asks, “Who is my neighbor.” So Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.
We have to understand the culture to really grasp what Jesus is saying. The Jews and the Samaritans have hated each other for hundreds of years that started around the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after their captivity in Babylon. To a Jew, there was no such thing as a “Good Samaritan”. This was an oxymoron. You would never put the word “good” before the word “Samaritan.” So instantly we know Jesus is pushing this lawyer’s buttons.
Jesus tells this story of man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him. Now Jericho is located northeast of Jerusalem but they would say “going down” because Jerusalem is located 2500 feet above sea level and Jericho is located 825 feet below sea level. The trip was 18 miles long, so it was quite a decent.
The name of this pass eventually became known as the the ascent of red or the ascent of blood. This valley is believed to be the same valley that David wrote about in Psalm 23 the “Valley of the Shadow of Death.” Thieves were known to hide in the caves and beat up the shepherds and steal the sheep.
From the language it also seems that Jesus is having some fun with this story, because he said that the first two people (the priest and the Levite) who came across this man who was beaten to death, passed by on the other side of the road but from photographs of this road that I have seen, it really doesn’t look like there was any other side. The road is incredibly narrow with a wall of cliff going up on one side and cliff dropping off on the other side.
The man who helps the half dead man on the road is a Samaritan. Basically, he is an enemy. Jesus is opening this lawyer’s eyes to a whole new level of love. When Jesus asked, “Which of these there, do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?” this lawyer can’t or won’t even say the word “Samaritan.” He just says “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said “go and do likewise.”
Jesus makes it clear that eternal life is found in loving our enemies and forgiving those who may have hurt you. Its easy to love people who are kind and generous and have proven their love for you. But in the new covenant Jesus raises the standard of love. No longer are we to simply love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus stated in John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” The young lawyer’s initial question was about attaining eternal life, and Jesus answers this question by telling him to love others. In other words Jesus didn’t make eternal life about a destination. Jesus made eternal life to mean something for more tangible and present. He made eternal life about how we love others right now.
So then is the “eternal life” that Jesus and these men are referring to the same eternal life that we are concerned with today? In the Greek, the “eternal life” that these scriptures are referring to is “anionios zoe.” Zoe means life or vitality. Anionios is an adjective that derives its duration from the subject to which it refers. It comes from the Greek anion which means an age. The people of Jesus’ time were not concerned with life after death. Instead, most people where concerned with eternal life but in a way that described a peaceful and present connection with Yahweh.
In Matthew 19, the rich young ruler asked how to obtain eternal life. Now the answer from Jesus is surprising. He doesn’t say, “believe in me,” “ask for forgiveness,” “invite me into your heart.” Instead Jesus points him back to the law.
During this time people believed that in order to live a full abundant life you obeyed the Mosaic Law. By following these rules you could live a blessed life but there was a lot of confusion back then because over time Master Rabbis emerged that stressed certain teaching and interpretations of the Law. Each master rabbis had his own particular set of interpretations which were called that rabbis “yoke”. So if you were accepted as a disciple of a particular rabbi you took his yoke upon you. Now in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The people of this time where more concerned with living an abundant life that brought them peace and where they lived in connection with God than they were about where they went when they died. The rich young man, in Matthew 19, is coming to Jesus and is asking him how he too could have this eternal life. Was this man asking about heaven, or was he asking about living out the rest of his days on earth well in a peaceful and present connection with Yahweh? The young man says “I’ve obeyed all the commandments,” but Jesus knew which ones he hadn’t obeyed. This man was greedy. Its almost as if he is asking Jesus “What am I not doing right? Why don’t I feel peace and a connection with God? What am I lacking?” I believe this man was miserable and Jesus was telling him how he could live well.
So Jesus tells him to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor and then he will have treasure in heaven. If he did this, then he would have eternal life, then he would know peace and a present connection with God because there is eternal life, in being generous.
We thus can conclude that the eternal life to which Jesus is referring to is not the eternal life we are considering here. This young man wanted to know how to live a good life now. Jesus tells him. Don’t be greedy. If you can live generously, then you will know eternal life because there is eternal life in blessing others and giving to the poor.
Jesus made eternal life about how we live here on earth and not about getting to heaven.
Bringing Heaven to Earth
We too often make “eternal life” all about getting to heaven. But Jesus, it seems, was more concerned about bringing heaven to earth.
Its in being generous and giving that we discover “eternal life.” Its in loving not just those who love you but in loving those who even despise you that enables us to live into and grab a hold of eternal life. Jesus made eternal life about how we live here in this age and not about going to paradise. This is also the type of living Jesus was showing us how to live. He was the prototype.
We have a deeply rooted misconception of eternal life in our day and age. We need to change our thinking. Christianity has become all about getting somewhere, which I believe is a wrong foundation to build our faith upon.
If I am going to go with anyone’s definition of “Eternal Life”, I’m not going to use John’s definition or Paul’s definition. I’m going to use Jesus’ definition of Eternal life.
John 17:3 – “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Jesus didn’t make eternal life about going somewhere He made it all about knowing someone. As a pastor I have witnessed the journey of faith in others. I’ve been to conferences where people will respond to altar calls and give their lives to Jesus only to see them fall away later. Or you take a group of teenagers to a well known conference that is held each year and each time they attend they respond to the altar call. They love the promise of eternal life, but because it is presented to them in the form of a destination, they have no real understanding of what eternal life is. Their foundation is laid wrong and so everything they try to build upon it overtime washes away, which is why they keep on going up and responding to every altar call they hear.
We have made the essence of Christianity about a destination rather than a relationship. So they say a prayer and they respond to the Holy Spirit and that is awesome. The response is worthy of a celebration but thats where it stops because it wasn’t about relationship. The foundation they laid was about destination.
Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
I think we should have a hunger for heaven, but I want my hunger for Jesus to exceed my hunger for heaven. As a pastor, I refuse to make this faith about a destination. Jesus spoke more about bringing heaven to earth and connecting people with a God of love then He did about going to heaven. (If people are so hungry for heaven shouldn’t that translate into a deep desire to bring heaven to earth?)
I believe that God is omnipresent. He is present everywhere. Meaning, he is just as much here (earth) as He is there (heaven). See, whether you are here or there I don’t think it matters much to God, because He is just as much present with you now as He will be when you are there.
Our view of eternal life has a way of making or breaking the foundational desire that God has for each of our lives which is to know him intimately.
The current belief of eternal life as a place you go when you die called heaven actually works against the essence and purpose of eternal life. Eternal life according to Jesus is knowing the one true God. The idea of eternal life as a destination actually destroys and/or prohibits people from the practice and participation of true eternal life. God desires eternal life for all of us. He is a God of love and relationship. What He desires is relationship with you.
When eternal life becomes all about going to heaven it keeps us from knowing Jesus now and it prevents us from living with the intended purpose of bringing Heaven to Earth. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about this very point. If you are going to make any type of boast in life, the only thing worth boasting about is actually knowing God in relationship.
Jeremiah 9:24 “But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me…”
People get caught in this “sin-confess-sin-confess” cycle because they thought life was all about getting “there” instead of knowing Jesus here. And then they wonder why all their hard work keeps getting swept away. They’ve exhausted their lives building in the sand.
By the way, this “eternal life,” is the same “eternal life” that we find in John 3:16.
“For God SO loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that who ever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life (would come to know him).
God didn’t send His Son just so you could go to Heaven. He sent His Son so that you would know Him because there is eternal life in knowing Jesus. God gifted life to us in the form of relationship with Jesus. He said in John 14, “I Am The Life.” There are people perishing in this world because they have never truly come to “know” Jesus, the source of all life.
I will read my bible because I want to know him. I will pray because I want to know him. I will go to church and participate because when I do I get to know Him. I will forgive, and love (even my enemies) and be committed to my family and live generously. I will take care of my body and the earth. I will bring heaven to earth because this is how we participate in eternal life. Its not about going somewhere. Its about knowing Jesus.
by thinkagainaboutgod | Feb 15, 2018 | Uncategorized
Has anyone every told you that you didn’t deserve something? If so how did it make you feel? Before we take this thought any further let me just state that there are a lot of things we don’t deserve. We live in a very entitled society which has kept people from the process of maturity. I am a big believer in hard work and learning to be responsible. Regardless of how you see God, a universal principle that needs to be understood is that your life will reap what you sow.
These are lessons I’m currently teaching my kids because I love them and because I want them to contribute positively to society and make a difference in this world. If you want good grades, you need to study. If you want to master something you need to devote the proper about of time and energy. If you want nice things you need to take care of what you currently possess. If you want to have special privileges you need to show yourself responsible and trustworthy. So often we treat our jobs and positions, relationships and possessions as rights rather than privileges.
Trust isn’t given. Trust is earned. The same holds true with respect and reputation. You don’t deserve it, until you earn it because its conditional upon our actions. On occasion I’ve had to correct my children about lying. A punishment is always more severe when a lie is involved because we cherish honesty. Honesty is what enables relationships to function. Dishonesty causes distrust which overtime creates distance within relationships. Trust is easily lost and not easily gained which is why honesty is always the best policy.
The ending of any correction I bring to my children is always the same. Yes, they need to earn trust but what they can never earn is my love. In fact, no matter what they do, I will never love them any less. No matter the crime, betrayal or offense, I will never stop loving my kids because my love for them isn’t conditional upon their actions. A love that is centered around a person’s actions is not love but approval. Love does not work this way. My kids cannot earn my love. They are my kids so regardless of what they do they will always be deserving of my love. Love isn’t based on merit because of action. The fact that they exist as my children instantly qualifies them as deserving of love.
What would you do if your child approached you on a daily basis to communicate that he/she was undeserving of your love? If it was me, I would scoop my child up in my arms, hug them for a long while and tell them how ridiculous that belief is. Then I would probably go to my room to cry and beat myself up for ever giving my child that impression. How would you feel if your child communicated this to you every time they interacted with you? “Mom… Dad… thank you for loving someone as horrible as I am. I’m so undeserving of your love.” We would never expect our children to approach us this way? Its a frightening thought. But isn’t this the same way we approach God?
A new song that is very popular in churches today gets everyone singing about how powerful and reckless God’s love is towards us. We actually sang it at my church a few weeks ago. The imagery is great, revealing how God wouldn’t allow anything to get in the way of his love for us. But then I came across a lyric about God’s love I didn’t agree with. The lyric went, “I couldn’t earn it. I don’t deserve it.” I understand that I cannot earn the Father’s love. Love isn’t based on merit, so of course I can’t earn it. But I stood their questioning whether or not I deserve God’s love.
In all honesty, I struggle with this type of thinking. In the New Testament the Apostle Paul lays out that we have received a spirit of adoption as children of God (Romans 8:12-17; Galatians 4:1-7). Paul writes in Ephesians 3:17b – 18 “…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” John makes it clear, “that we are God’s children now,” (1 John 3:2). Why would the Holy Spirit impress upon the hearts of so many authors of the Bible to articulate the love of God if we had to receive God’s love in a conditional way? It would be as if God were saying, “I want you all to know how much I love you, but keep in mind that you don’t deserve it.” Is that how God desires for us to live our lives? If he truly desires for us to live our lives with an understanding of how undeserving we are of his love, then the focus of our lives should not be upon the unconditional love of God but rather upon our own condition.
A focus upon our own condition has major problems. The moment you start focusing upon our own condition you eliminate the power of the resurrection. We are a new creation in Christ. We are not just people of the cross. We are people of both the cross and the resurrection. Death and New Beginnings go hand in hand. I guess people could then argue that it was while we were in our old nature that we were undeserving. If that were true you would still need to grab a hold of the reality that that is no longer true because we are now people of the resurrection with a new identity in Christ. Not that we are perfect, but that in this life we are learning how to operate in this new identity that we have through Jesus. However, it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). The unconditional love of God for humanity existed before both the cross and resurrection.
One of the major reasons why Christ came was to make the old covenant obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). The old covenant of Moses was entirely focused upon our own merit. Its a covenant that doesn’t truly represent the heart of God because its foundation is based in approval, not love. Romans 3:20 states, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” God doesn’t want us to live focused on sin. He doesn’t desire us to believe we are undeserving, because he isn’t after behavioral modification. God is after heart transformation. When we begin to know the Father’s love for us, we take on a conquering type of identity. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). You can’t feel empowered by God’s love if you believe you are undeserving of it. Throughout the scriptures we discover how lives are transformed as we come to grasp the value and love that God places upon us.
An undeserving understanding of ourselves is what the Prodigal Son from Luke 15 possessed. He returned home to his Father believing he was so unworthy to be called His son because of his mistakes. Once again, a love that is based on merit, is not love at all. The way I read it, the Father had to break that “undeserving mindset.” He had to get His son to stop focusing and identifying with his mistakes and to start focusing and identifying with the Father’s love. He couldn’t see himself as a son of the Father so he started believing he could be a servant instead. The church has this knack for welcoming prodigals home and then turning them into the older son character from Luke 15. We welcome them home with God’s love and then we tell them they don’t deserve God’s love. So they end up acting like servants of God, where they strive and work to earn love, rather than children of God who know they are loved by the Father. The lyrics to that song we sang at church a few weeks ago stated, “I couldn’t earn it,” but when you live believing you don’t deserve it you focus so much upon yourself you can’t help by try and earn it.
Singing and believing, “I don’t deserve it,” takes the focus away from God and His love completely and places it upon ourselves. I find it so odd to sing and believe we are undeserving of God’s love when the scriptures are all about the lengths God goes through to show His love for us. The Scriptures depict a God who created us with such value in mind so that He could demonstrate His love to us. Maybe we feel undeserving of His love at times because of past mistakes. But just because you may have a past filled with multiple mistakes and regrets and feel unworthy of God’s love does not mean the way you feel lines up with reality. In fact, it doesn’t reflect reality at all. God…loves…you! Quit the false humility act and just start accepting the reality that you are deserving of His love!
by thinkagainaboutgod | Jan 23, 2018 | Uncategorized
I’ve just finished setting up this website and I’m sitting at the dinning room table, alone. I have no idea where to begin this blog. My daughter’s cat is somewhere nearby because I can hear him snoring. I’ve had this itch for the longest time to start sharing what I believe God has been working into my heart over the past ten years. Now that I’ve finally set this “stage/blog/platform/thing” up I don’t even know where to begin. Go figure.
I never want to come across as a “know-it-all.” Patience seems to slip out of my grasp when listening to people who spew opinions as the Gospel Truth. What you will find in this “stage/blog/platform/thing” are my discoveries about God from various sources and authors who have spoken into my life. I don’t believe theology should ever make you feel big, smart or better than someone else. Its a humbling study that beholds the magnificence of God. I’m amazed that the more I try to understand God the less I feel I know. The only thing I grow more confident of with each passing day is simply, “Jesus, Loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so…”
So, I’ll begin by stating that I believe your perspective about God is important. In fact, its the most important thing about you. As a pastor I’ve had the privilege of listening to the stories of many people. What I’ve come to realize, is that what makes a good story isn’t when everything goes according to plan. Stories that inspire are never free of pain. If Prince Charming had to meet his beautiful princess, fall in love, get married, make babies and live happily ever after…. thats the dumbest story…. ever! Where’s the adventure? Where are the battles and difficulties? The journey of life doesn’t just ascend. Absolutely not! There is so much descent in life. We go in circles and walk through evil valleys and trip and fall and end up going backwards at times.
Good stories always present us with a battle to overcome. Our favorite books and movies are always the ones where the main character has to rise above their circumstances and come out victorious. These are the stories that produce hope within us. Life is full of struggle and it is designed to be this way because of what it produces within us. We all hate going through the battles, but they are a necessary part of life because without them you never get the victories.
I believe God likes a good fight! God is in your corner, cheering you on and he has graced your life with everything you need to overcome. This training that you may be going through, isn’t the absence of God’s love, but the evidence of his love. God would never stick you into a position where he has not first put you through the preparation. That would be cruel and unloving of him. And through it all, as we learn to trust Jesus in the midst of the battle, what we gain is perspective. Difficulties have an amazing way of shaping our paradigm if we can hold on to hope and continue to believe in God’s goodness. These hardships open our eyes to see that there is more to life than just our little stories. There is a much greater story unfolding before us and it is the battles that we face that helps open our eyes to this reality.
Perspective is what Jesus came to bring the world when he started his ministry. He came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). The word repentance, comes from the Greek word metanoia[G3341], which simply means to “think differently” or to “change what you know.” Its not about feeling sorry for yourself but rather about discovering the right direction. In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The way you think and believe shapes the way you live.
Its not just any perspective that is important. What is absolutely critical to the way you live is your perspective or understanding about God. In fact, I believe the most important thing about a person’s life, isn’t who their parents are, how affluent they might be or where they were educated. The most important aspect of a person’s life is who they believe God is. A person’s understanding of God will frame their reality. Life is not psychological. Life is theological. So then, who is God? Is God, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus? Or maybe you believe God doesn’t exist. Which ever view or belief of God a person holds to will frame the way they view the world and live because each life is a reflection of their perception.
Matthew 16:13-19 is a pivotal scripture for me. Jesus asked his disciples a simple but vital question: “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter nails the answer by responding, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus proceeds by telling Simon that he is blessed for this revelation and that on this rock Jesus is building his church. Many believe that Jesus was going to build his church upon Peter. For this reason a belief was formed that Peter became the first Pope. However, the context of the passage started with a question about the identity of Jesus. Peter had the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus tells them that upon this revelation he is building His church. I believe that Jesus is building his church upon the revelation of Who Jesus is! So then who is Jesus? What is he like? How does your understanding of him shape the way you live?
With this understanding it becomes clear why Satan attacked the identity of God in Genesis chapter 3 with the fall. Humanity fell when the identity of God was called into question. He allowed Adam and Eve to believe God was a liar and someone who was holding out on them. This battle continues today. In order to understand the depravity that exist in different parts of the world all you really need to look at is the understanding of God that exists in those areas. Even in the church today, there are false perceptions of God that are being taught which bring bondage rather than freedom to people’s lives.
Herein lies the the purpose of this”stage/blog/platform/thing”. My aim is to bring hope and to make sense of some of the struggles we face in life by challenging your understanding of scripture and your perception of God. I don’t have all the answers. The Apostle Paul wrote that we only know in part. But what I have come to believe is that your entire existence is a reflection of your theological view. As a pastor, I have witnessed how the stories of many men and women come into freedom when lies about God are exposed and biblical repentance takes place. I’m excited to see where this leads! My prayer is that this website will be a resource that brings hope and freedom to people’s lives.
