...To The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

How many times have you read or heard Matthew 15:24?

"He answered them, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel."

A companion verse is in Luke's gospel, a little less specific, but similar in tone, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost." (Luke 19:10) In this instance, Jesus is speaking to Zacchaeus, and it is important to note that Zacchaeus was a Jewish tax-collector, Jesus refers to him as a 'descendant of Abraham'.

The question begs itself, what does Jesus mean by "only to the lost sheep of The House of Israel?" I think the answer to this question lies at the very heart of God and demands Gentile believers consider and come to terms with some very difficult truths. These truths have been distorted over the past 2,000 years and the consequences are subtle, yet potentially profound.

The simple fact that no one, Jew or Gentile, would disagree with, is that Jesus himself was Jewish. He was born to Jewish parents, he was a descendant of the House of David, he was circumcised on the 8th day (Luke 2:21) according to Jewish law and tradition (Leviticus 12:3), and he was brought up and raised in the Jewish custom. He went through years of training and school to become a Jewish Rabbi, who were considered the foremost experts in writings of the Law and the Prophets (what we call "the Old Testament") and who were given the responsibility to teach the People of Israel. This would have, most likely, included memorizing the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, along with other writings. There's no getting around it - Jesus was a Jew in every possible way, and not only that, He had been steeped in the entire history and heritage of the Jewish people. He spent the vast predominance of his time speaking to the people of Israel and to their teachers and leaders. Furthermore, all of Jesus' Apostles were Jewish and all of the New Testament writers are Jewish. Paul, in particular, was a Pharisee ("Pharisee of Pharisees" Philippians 3:5) before his encounter with Jesus which meant that he was also an expert in the Law and the Prophets. Before coming to terms with who Jesus was, he was literally killing followers of Jesus because of the claims that they were making about Jesus (namely, that he was the Messiah) - that's how much of a Pharisee he was... Put simply - the ENTIRE Bible is steeped in Jewish culture and thought.

So the questions we must wrestle with are - does the fact that Jesus was Jewish (of the House of Israel) matter? What does removing the Jewishness of Jesus do to our understanding of who he was and what he was doing? Perhaps even, "if we don't acknowledge Jesus' Jewishness, and seek an understanding of the culture He himself was speaking to, is it even possible to rightly understand who He was and what He was about?"

I have few answers, but many questions.

I cannot take credit for this insight, but one thing I have come to realize recently is, you either view the Bible as having continuity between the Old and New Testaments, or you view Jesus as having done something different, or started something new, in the New Testament (discontinuity). Another way of saying it would be - either you view Jesus as further revelation of who God is, providing a perfect sacrifice and then pointing us to His return or you view Jesus (or Paul) as having started something new, changing God's plan part-way through the story.

This leads us to a brief but important discussion on something called 'supersessionism' (also called "replacement theology"). It's a seminarian term that simply refers to this idea, which is running rampant in the church today, which suggests that Jesus ushered in a 'new covenant' which supersedes the 'old covenant' which was made directly and exclusively to the Jewish people. Supersessionism is the ideology of those that claim that The Church is "the new Israel" or that the Israel of the Old Testament has been replaced by The Church. Proponents of this view will point to Jeremiah 31:31-32 and Hebrews 8:8-9 (which quotes the Jeremiah 31 passage):

"The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt - a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 31:31-32)

"For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: "The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord."" (Hebrews 8:7-9)

Jesus also speaks of the 'new covenant', when he is eating the Passover meal with his disciples. He says, "In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant of My blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."" (Matthew 26:28) So, Jesus certainly has something to do with the New Covenant, but when you read the totality of Jeremiah 31, an image of Jesus being the fulfillment of this prophecy in his first coming, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The overall tone and spirit of Jeremiah 31 is that of complete liberation and salvation - much more of a Heavenly motif and feel than an Earthly one. I would like to suggest (and again, this is not my insight but something I have learned from others) that what Jeremiah is referring to is chapter 31 is actually talking about the second coming of the Messiah. Read it for yourself with that lens and tell me that doesn't make more sense. To me, it is an image of God regathering His people to himself and the 'new covenant' he talks about is that of perfect union or marriage. He says, "...no longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another "Know the Lord," because they will all know me..." Not only that, but Jesus himself says that the New Covenant is in His blood, but is unto the forgiveness of sins. We are told to, as believers, to ask for forgiveness continually, in this life, but ultimately, we are looking to that Day when we stand before him and our sins are not counted against us, making us worthy to inherit Eternal Life.

What Jesus is doing here (Matt. 26) is revising the sacrificial system, not doing away with the Old Covenant. In ancient times, the Israelites had a system, established by God through Moses for how they could be forgiven of unintentional sin. Depending on who they were - if they sinned and became aware of it, they were to bring an animal to the temple, with the help of the priest they placed that sin upon the head of the animal which was then slaughtered; the blood was sprinkled around the alter and the animal was sacrificed.

Jesus is saying there is now a new way - as Hebrews says, "a new and perfect Sacrifice" - a single Sacrifice that covers all Sin, for all time. He is saying to his disciples, "I will bear your sin, I am the offering to the Lord on your behalf and placing your trust in my sacrifice is how you will be able to stand before me on That Day and not have your sins accounted to you." As Jeremiah says, it is not like the other covenants that God has made, where there was some onus on the people of Israel to hold up their end...no, this Covenant is unilateral. "If you trust in Jesus and in his Sacrifice for you on the Cross, that is the means by which you can stand blameless before him when He returns." Jesus did all the work - our side of the deal is to trust that God accepts Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf. To bring it all the way back around - those who put their trust in Jesus' blood

Are you starting to see what I'm saying when I talk about how critical it is to know the Jewish history and tradition within the Bible in order to accurately and rightly understand what Jesus and his Apostles are saying/doing?

Speaking personally now, I have struggled and wrestled with this a lot over the past several months - currently, I feel I have a strong grasp on the fact that our faith is a Jewish faith, but I'm wrestling with what to do with that, not in a political way, but as a Gentile disciple. It is difficult to wrap our minds around the fact that God would choose to be identified by an ethnicity, of this there is no doubt. But it's true - He is the (self-identified) 'God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob' - he is the 'God of Israel'. He chose Abraham and through that line, came Jesus and out of that comes the offer of salvation to the whole world...but it is still a Jewish faith. The Jewishness of it is the background of the story that we need in order to fully/accurately understand what Jesus, Paul and the other Apostles are talking about. In other words, the 'Jewishness' of the gospel in inextricable - to extricate it is, quite possibly, to have a different gospel than the one Jesus was preaching because it ignores the context and expectation around it.

Some Thoughts on Salvation

One of the most difficult things I've had to wrestle with in learning this full gospel framework, the framework I've alluded to in past posts, is the issue of Salvation. Salvation, and more accurately, the issue of "assurance" has been a life-long question of mine. For some reason, the "once saved, always saved" just never sat well with me, but having said that, I've always longed for some kind of assurance that when Jesus returns, to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1, among other places), that I will be counted among the Righteous and that the Lord will turn to me and say, "well done good and faithful servant."

In many regards, there is not a more important moment in the life of a soul - the Bible is clear that the culmination of every life lived will be the same, that we will all stand and give an account of our lives and Jesus, the Righteous Judge will either usher a soul into Eternity with him, or usher a soul away from him to the lake of fire. There is no 3rd option and, either way, your soul exists forever. When considered, the prospect of the whole thing is enough to provoke our spirit.

Nowhere in the Bible will you find justification for "once saved, always saved" and I will argue that what you find is exactly the opposite - that God clearly says that someone who is 'righteous' can lose their salvation. Before I get too far in; what I mean by "once saved, always saved" is the sentiment implied in the 'sinners prayer' - specifically, "all you have to do is "declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, [and] you will be saved."" (Romans 10:9, emphasis my own) - the Gentile church has turned this into a prayer, or a justification for a prayer that will allegedly lead to salvation; the verse is often coupled with John 10:28 (see below). Jesus talks about the 'narrow road' or 'path' (Matthew 7), Paul talks about the 'race' (1 Corinthians 9) - whether talking about a road or a race, you're talking about a journey, not a singular event. Interpreting passages that appear to make it seem like the Bible is saying "once saved, always saved" deserve a second look.

Romans 10-9-10
"If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and  it is with your mouth you profess faith and are saved." (Emphasis added, and I would insert into Paul's initial statement, the words "on that day" - so it would read, if you declare with your mouth on that Day, and believe in your heart on that Day that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.)

This is a favorite verse to quote by those who say, "once saved, always saved." The thing to note, however, is the tense and the context. In this passage, Paul is talking about living out a life of faith, but not putting any confidence in works. Also, in these specific verses, he seems to be talking about a point in the future, when we are standing before Jesus at the judgement (i.e. 'will be')

If you disagree, I would direct you, again, to the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 7:21-22: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out many demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." Also, towards the end of chapter 7, Jesus talks about the two men, the one who builds his house on the rock and the one who builds his house on the sand - the one who builds his house on the rock (i.e. the one who will be saved) is the one who "hears these words of mine AND puts them into practice". I believe Matthew 7 clearly indicates that there are those who will think they are saved on the Day that Jesus returns, but who have been deceived. And these are well meaning people! Francis Chan captures this better than I can in a video on this subject. Check it out.

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." What is Paul saying here? First, he is saying that we are saved BY GRACE, not by faith - THROUGH faith, yes, but not BY faith. He marries faith and works together, just as James does later on in his Epistle when he says, "But someone will say, "You have faith and I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." (James 2:18) Faith in something is shown by living it out. Are you saved by living out that faith perfectly? No, no man can save himself by what he does or does not do. This was the fundamental error of the Pharisee - God gave the law through Moses, and then the people of Israel missed the point. They thought that righteousness could be achieved by outward law-keeping, which is something Jesus addresses directly:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence." (Matthew 23:23-25)

Jesus addresses this in the sermon on the mount as well - the passages about anger ("whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement"), lust ("whoever looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart") and the parts about gouging your eye out and cutting your hand off - these are all clarifications of the law - getting to the HEART of the matter, which is what the law was intended for. It was intended to cause Israelites to see their inability to save themselves and then cast themselves upon God's mercy. In other words, clean the INSIDE of the cup first, and then the OUTSIDE action will follow.
But back to the point - can someone save themselves through works? No, but faith implies endurance - it necessarily means that there will be something in a person's life to indicate what it is they are putting their hope and trust in. Is that thing Jesus? Or is that thing you? Or your money? Or your status? What someone does, how they live their life, tells you what they are putting their faith in. So faith is the indicator, or as James might say, "the evidence". Faith isn't the thing that saves us, but it is the thing that reveals what the state of our heart is.

John 10:27-29
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father's Hand."

In this particular passage, Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews, gathered at the Feast of Dedication. At this point, he was well-known and had already performed many signs and wonders and this passage is an answer he is giving to the question, "How long will you (Jesus) keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." The real question, underlying the question they are asking is, "are you going to bring your kingdom now; are you going to sit on your throne now?" This is important to point out because in Jesus' response to them, he pivots, in the middle of his thought, to talking about the Day of the Lord. He says that his sheep hear his voice and follow him - he then makes the accurate claim that he will be the judge - "[on that day] I give them eternal life" - after that point, there will be no need for God to change anything, those chosen ones are His forever.


What about Ezekiel 18?
One thing that any serious believer will agree to is that the Word of God cannot contradict itself. So, I would ask of those who advocate for a 'once saved, always saved' point-of-view, "what about Ezekiel 18?

"The word of the Lord came to me: "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: "The parents eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"? "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child - both alike belong to me. The one who sins will die." (Ezekiel 18-1-4) ... "But if a wicked person turns away from all of the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die." (Ezekiel 18:21-22) ... "But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die" (Ezekiel 18:24) ... "Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:30-32)

These are the words of God himself in these passages - would God suddenly change his mind on this later on without making it clear that he is changing how he views sin?

Also, in 1 Corinthians 15:2, Paul says, "By this gospel you are saved, IF YOU HOLD FIRMLY to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." Why would Paul add this condition unless it were true? And then there is a stern warning at the end, "otherwise you have believed in vain." He is talking to believers and saying, if you don't hold firmly to the Word, if you do not follow what is says and live it out in Faith, you might as well have not believed - it is meaningless for you if you fall away.

What about Assurance?
I want to be clear, I'm not saying we cannot have assurance. I think we can - through the work of the Holy Spirit and through our the evidence of obedience in our lives. Will we be perfect in that effort? No. But when we sin, when we fall short, what are we doing? We cast ourselves, once again, on God's mercy and we repent of that sin, turn to God and continue walking with him. We cannot do this on our own, that is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit's work is to confirm the Gospel and to empower us to lay down our lives daily, take up our cross, and follow Him. Jesus commanded us to "take up [our] cross DAILY and follow me" (Luke 9:23). When Paul talks about running 'the race' he talks about enduring to the end. Friends, if we truly believe, a) we will want to keep going and b) we will not be worrying about whether we are saved or not.

Wrong Question
My thoughts presented here are the way that I look at things now, and this isn't a hill I will die on (alternatively read, not a salvific issue), but to me, the question "Am I saved?" is probably the wrong question to ask. The question we should be asking ourselves is a little more complex and would go something like, "Is my life emulating that of Jesus in increasing ways and is there evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life on an on-going basis?" If the answer to these questions is 'yes', then I believe you can walk with assurance that if you died right now or Jesus came right now, you would be able to confidently stand before Him and that His blood would cover your sins and no charge would stand again you. Our job, as believers is to listen to the words of Jesus and put them into practice (exercise faith), relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus has sent us, to resist temptation, live an upright life before Him, and 'make disciples of all Nations". That is the 'narrow path' that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7 and if we stay on that path with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can live with confidence that when we stand before him on the Day of Judgement, Jesus will have mercy on us and say, "well done good and faithful servant!"

Other people are much better at explaining things that I am, and they have far more credentials and years of study that I do. If you'd like to hear more about this - listen to this, it's a message given by David Pawson (about 50 minutes) and towards the end, he talks about these issues directly. Overall, the message is very good, give it a listen! https://www.davidpawson.org/resources/resource/1455

The Government Won't Save Us

In recent days, the conversation around President Trump and his "Christianity" has been re-kindled, mostly in light of Christianity Today publicly calling for his removal. If you're not familiar with the story, the president of CT issued an editorial calling for the removal of President Trump from office. You can read the editorial for yourself here.

As I have listened to the thoughts of friends and family in recent days, I would like to suggest the story many of us are telling ourselves, is wrong. Let me break that down:

First, to say that President Trump is immoral and therefore anyone who votes for him is casting their lot with him is, at best, logically false. As anyone who has spent any time following politics knows, our options are not always very good. In fact, most of the time, they are downright cringe-worthy. To paint the picture more specifically - our up-coming choice in 2020 will likely be Trump vs. a very progressive Liberal agenda, both economically and socially. On the social-side of that aisle is a very anti-Christian set of ethics and morals and on the economic side of that aisle is a land of much higher taxes and a boatload of 'free' stuff. To speak for myself, the social stuff doesn't bother me much - this is not a Christian country, and the laws of our land should reflect that, to a point (I will always fight against abortion). With that being said, the economic agenda is truly concerning. When the government puts it's hand in something, that hand never leaves. At the end of the day, voting for Trump may be unpalatable, but the alternative is equally unpalatable and voting for a 3rd party in this country is perhaps noble, but largely unproductive.

Second, there seems to be an illusion that there is some kind of functional difference between Democrats and Republicans. Politicians in Federal office exist, on balance, to a) further their own careers and b) build their own base of power. Few and far between is the congressman or congresswoman who is there to actually represent their constituency or stand on some moral ground. As an example, lost in all of the Trump impeachment stuff was a large spending bill passed by our U.S. Federal Government that was co-signed by many Republicans, and which will be signed by President Trump. In general, I do think Democrats are more likely to raise taxes and increase government spending, but Republicans in recent years seem to be all too eager to do the same. One difference I do see though, is in the future economic plans trumpeted by each party. The 'free stuff' in particular, is of concern.

Back to this underlying story - when I see fellow Christians getting all wrapped up in and bent out of shape by politics I find myself asking, "what are you putting your hope in?" Wanting to affect national policy on issues like abortion or marriage is a worthy pursuit, but Christians should not be surprised when things don't go the way we would like them to. In fact, we should be surprised if they do because folks, this isn't going to get any better. The world we live in will continue to become more and more anti-Christian until the Day that Jesus returns. Over the last 100+ years, we have been very lucky to live in America where Christian values were held up and where we have been free to exercise our faith - both those are quickly coming to an end. You see the evidence all around you - right now it is in legislation, but eventually, the World will not tolerate a Biblical set of values. As we have seen with the gay-rights movement, being apathetic towards homosexuality is not enough, it must be celebrated and affirmed in order to satisfy the people in that movement. Climate Change is another area where I see this; no longer are dissenting voices tolerated, there are now calls to jail people who would cast doubt on anthropogenic global warming. The truth of Scripture is already being bent and altered within certain denominations in order to soothe the "itching ears" of it's hearers (2 Timothy 4:3) and eventually, the World is not going to tolerate a Biblical worldview.

So, to the question "what are you putting your hope in?" - Jesus tells us that in this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33), that we should expect persecution (Matthew 5:11) and that we need to take up our cross daily and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). Paul says that the trials and suffering in this life are light and momentary affliction when compared to the Eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). We, as Christians, are primarily pursuing righteousness in light of the coming Judgement, not a better life here and now. Does that mean we are totally un-engaged with life in this world? No, definitely not, but it also means we are not putting our hope in the things of this World, or in it's leaders.

So, to the Evangelical who would vote for Trump, I say to you, "I understand that this is not a simple issue. There is a lot of complexity here and I don't believe that just because you would vote for him, that you are co-signing on everything he personally represents." To the Evangelical who is against Trump I would say to you, "I completely understand! Mr. Trump doesn't appear to be a very good person and many of his views, values and morals are not in keeping with Christianity." But to all of us, I would say, "Fix your eyes on Jesus and His return! Focus on living your life in a way that is righteous and pleasing to Him - do what you can within your own sphere of influence to help and care for others. Do not put your hope in government or in the person who is President."

In Mark 12, Jesus says, "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what it God's." Jesus knows that we have earthly responsibilities - paying taxes, voting, etc - and that those things affect our life and the lives of many others, but what Jesus is saying here is 'those things that you do should not define you - your things, your money - those are used for Worldly pursuits, but your life, devote your life to God and to pursuing righteousness.'

Just my thoughts - I will not judge my fellow man for their voting choices because these issues are complex and multi-faceted. I will also continue to pray for our President as Paul instructs in 1 Timothy 2. But most of all, I want to live a life in pursuit of righteousness, as a result of faith, and unto the Day of Jesus' return so that I might hear from Him, "well done, good and faithful servant."

Quick Thoughts on "The First Fruits"

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power." (1 Corinthians 15:20-24)

I was thinking of these verses last night and a simple, yet profound, question came to my mind. "Why did Jesus heal people, feed people and drive out demons?" Why do those types of miracles make up the predominance of the stories we read about Jesus in the Gospels? If Jesus is God, as we believe He is, why these types of miracles? He is God, he can do anything - he could manifest lots of money or he could fly around or whatever - the options are limitless, and yet Jesus chose to display God's power through healing, feeding and deliverance.

And then it hit me - Jesus was giving us a foretaste, or firstfruits, of what he is going to do on a Worldwide scale when He returns on The Last Day. First, Jesus has a resurrected body - and that is SUPER significant because if Christ is not raised, then we have no hope. Paul says this, explicitly, in 1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ is not raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith!" and then in verse 19, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." But it doesn't stop there - Jesus was also the first to receive the Holy Spirit, which came upon him at his Baptism in the Jordan River with John the Baptist. Immediately after that Baptism by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. In other words, Jesus is showing us (firstfruits) that through the Holy Spirit, sin and temptation no longer have any hold on us. He then releases the Holy Spirit upon his people at the Ascension, given to us to help us persevere and run the race set before us, TO THE END (Hebrews 12, 2 Timothy 4:7)

Next, the miracles that Jesus performed (and also his Apostles) are giving us a firstfruits look at what Heaven will be like. No more sickness/death (healing), no more hunger/thirst (food miracles) and no more sin/evil (deliverance from demons and spirits). When Jesus returns on The Day of the Lord, he will wipe away all sickness and death and we will be given new bodies that no longer hunger and thirst and will no longer be subject to decay and death. And maybe best of all, we will no longer have the demonic whispering in our ears, tempting us - no longer will be subject to our bodies of death and our sinful nature (Romans 7:24).

This is what we can put our hope in! Jesus' life itself is a testimony of what is to come for those who walk on the narrow road, for those who run the race set before them until the end.

A Holy Sadness

I read this past week, as many of you did, that John Crist will be cancelling all upcoming shows in order to deal with sexual sin in his life. I couldn't help but feel sad - for him, yes, but also for the Christian community as a whole.

I was reading the article in 'Charisma' about the allegations and I came across a quote - the quote captured perfectly one of the most disappointing responses that I can think of to these types of circumstances. The quote was this, "She says she struggles with "what it means to be Christian after being so disgustingly let down by a role model I considered a man of God."" One the one hand, I can see the disappointment, and can understand how being let down by someone who you look up to could impact a person negatively. That isn't lost on me. On the other hand however, the quote indicates a complete lack of understanding from this person on what "being a Christian" means. If this was the first time I had seen something like this said, I wouldn't think twice, but the fact is, so many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be Christian and incidents like this only serve to highlight this fact.

Later on in the article, there was this quote:

"I haven't been to church in years," Lindsey says. "It's hard. It's hard to go into a place where you know that people know things that are going on, and they never do anything about it, because they just list it as 'bad behavior' or something that someone can just be forgiven of and then it's fine. It's not fine. Even when you forgive someone, it's important to go back and make restitution and to change your ways and change your behavior. It's really hard to even consider participating in a community, in a body of believers, that would allow such behavior to unfold unchecked, and give it a platform. No, I don't consider myself a Christian anymore. ... I have no ill will toward the church. I don't have bitterness there. I think a lot of people are really earnest in what they believe, and I respect that. But I want to be able to respect it more."

My response would be, "why is our concept of God so small in comparison to our concept of man?" The church has been and always will be FULL of broken people. And besides that, the purpose of The Church is not to make morally flawless people, it's about becoming a disciple and, as Jesus put it, "denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus (paraphrase)" (Matthew 16-24-26) The purpose of "being a Christian" is to lay down one's life, to pour out our lives in service to God. If you are a Christian and you're not willing to admit that you're a sinner in need of saving, then there is probably reason for concern.

I say none of this to let John Crist off the hook, he is no-doubt feeling the weight of his sin right now - but for someone to look at him and think that just because he is a Christian means that he would somehow be unwilling, or incapable, or making mistakes...that just boggles the mind. Look at how many "titans of the faith" have had a very public falling out, even within the past few years: Bill Hybels, Andy Savage, Fred Herron, Joshua Harris...any person you see who identifies as a Christian, is no different than any other person you see when it comes to their propensity for sin. In fact, the higher their profile, the more vulnerable that person is to giving into their sinful desires.

I applaud Crist for putting a halt to everything, the shows, the Netflix special, everything - to focus on dealing with this area of his life. That is exactly what he should be doing - nothing in this life is as important as getting right with God and following Him. 1 Peter 4:5-6 says, "But they will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead [that is, dead in their sins], so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." and in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad."

The truth of all history is that a Day is coming, referred to by the Bible as the "Day of the Lord" or "The Day of Wrath" - it is the day when man will be humbled and Jesus will be exalted - where Jesus will sit in judgement of all mankind and where we will all give an account of our lives before him. Those who have put their trust in Jesus, who are relying on His shed blood to cover their sins and who are found ready and waiting will go on to Eternal Life and those found living for themselves or this World, apart from God, will go on to Eternal Death. Eternal Death is "gehanna" in the Bible, or "The Lake of Fire" where there will be eternal punishment.

In other words, nothing will matter as you stand before Jesus on That Day, except whether you are found in Him. Nothing you did in this life, not your job, not how many friends you had, not the number in your bank account, NOTHING else will matter in terms of your salvation. Imagine being in front of a judge and there was some serious charge brought against you, for which you were guilty. You're standing there and the judge asks you to answer the charge and you say, "well, look at all of these good things I did!" That is what it will be like for those who stand before Jesus on That Day and say, "well, I was a good person, I did ____ and ____ and____." Just as an earthly judge would throw you into prison with that kind of defense, so will a person be thrown into the lake of fire if that is their defense on That Day. If, however, you say to Jesus, "Lord, I am trusting in your sacrifice for me on the cross, I have no righteousness of my own." That person will be invited into Eternal Life and, not only that, but the good things they did in this life will be accounted to them. In other words, they will stand acquitted and if one is not guilty, then the good things that they did DO matter.

Friends - Jesus is calling us to continual repentance and humility. Micah 6:8 sums it up well, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Things like what have happened here with John Crist are warnings to us all. Warnings to stay vigilant and ready - to keep our lamps burning and our eyes fixed on Jesus. In God's lovingkindness, he has delayed The Day of Wrath (2 Peter 3:9) so that we might turn our hearts toward Him and be saved on That Day. Take advantage of this period of amnesty while today is still today!

The End is Near...

We can all imagine in our minds the picture of someone standing in a crowded plaza, or along some busy road holding a sign that says, "THE END IS NEAR, REPENT AND BELIEVE" - it's been portrayed in movies a thousand times and if you've walked around a major city, you've probably seen it for yourself. In the past, I have seen this and perhaps crossed the road or did my best to ignore it...but with the stuff I'm learning lately, I feel like I want to become the guy holding the sign.

Check this out.

Jews in the 1st century (the audience to whom the majority of the New Testament was written) understood time very linearly and very simply. The Bible uses three key phrases to portray this understanding: there is a) this Age, b) the Age to Come and c) the Day of the Lord (which goes by a few names). 'This Age' is present time, starting from the beginning, through Jesus' death on the cross, up until this very moment. 'The Age to Come' is what we commonly refer to as "Eternity" - the Jewish understanding is that is was actually time-unending (i.e. age upon age upon age), but whatever, the distinction between the two would be splitting hairs. The 'Day of the Lord' is the event  that separates 'This Age' from "The Age to Come'; it is Jesus' return to Earth to a) judge the living and the dead, b) restore Creation to it's original design and c) take His seat as the ruler of the Earth forever.

Don't take my word for it, read Scripture for yourself with that framework in mind. It helps a lot of things make sense. For example:

2 Peter 3 (this section, in my Bible, is titled: The Day of the Lord)

"Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the Holy Prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation" But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

I've heard this passage quoted and talked about a number of times in my life - some people focus on the part that says, "a day is like a thousand years...", some talk about God's desire that all people come to know Him. But really - all of this is one big warning. Peter finishes off this chapter by saying, "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him [...] Therefore dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever! Amen."

2 Peter 3:2 says, "I want you to recall..." and another way of saying this would by, "hey, remember! This is the situation as it has been understood since the beginning! I'm not changing anything or giving you a message you don't already know!" What is the message? "REPENT AND BELIEVE" (2 Peter 3:9). The delay of the Day of the Lord only serves to show how much God loves us. He is giving us all as much time as possible to turn from wickedness, take up our crosses and follow Him.

The 'Bride' of Christ

If the Church is the 'Bride of Christ', what does that mean? Several times in the Gospels, Jesus refers to himself as the Bridegroom and to the Church as either the bride or the attendants of the wedding party. In other places he talks about a great banquet or wedding feast. I assume he meant to convey this metaphor in a fairly direct way. What does a bride, or someone who is part of the wedding party do, in preparation for the Wedding Day? They make plans, they prepare and they make themselves ready. In much the same way, Jesus was and is calling all of us who call ourselves believers to make ourselves ready. He says so very explicitly in Matthew 25:1-13):

"At that time the kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him' Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.' 'No', they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' But while they were on their way to buy oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the other also came. 'Lord, Lord', they said, 'open the door for us!' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I don't know you.' Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.'"

And in Luke 12:35-38

"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come to wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master find them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

I will tell you what God is doing in my life, He is confirming this message to me.

A few months ago, someone who I had known for years but who I was not close with reached out to me and told me that he was starting a small group and that God had put my name on his heart. When I got his message, I knew I had to check it out and so without hesitation, I told him I was in. The preceding months and years had been a struggle defined by sin, apathy and the longing for something real. In my prayers before receiving that text, I had been thinking about Paul's outcry to God, "who will save me from this body of death?!" In all honesty, I was at a crossroads with my faith, having to decide whether I would keep putting on a face or if I would abandon my faith altogether. Bottom-line, I knew I needed God to step in.

We started studying a series of messages entitled, "Living in Anticipation of the Kingdom of God" given by a teacher named John Harrigan - these messages were recorded in 2013 and have to do with something called "Cruciform Apocalypticism" which sounds impressive, but simply means, "the cross in light of the Day of the Lord".

The sessions are a presentation of the Gospel, but as it was understood by the Apostles and the people to whom the Bible was written, specifically 1st century agrarian Jews. I had heard of this approach before and even had looked into it a little, reading some of N.T. Wright's "The New Testament and the People of God" which was also an attempt to read the New Testament from the perspective of a 1st century Jewish Christian. This study, however, was much more detailed than my previous efforts.

I reviewed some of the main points of the message at the beginning of this post, I won't rehash them here. Having grown up in the church, I have been exposed to a lot of doctrine and have studied various forms of systematic theology. I was somewhat skeptical and resistant to this message at first, but as I have sought to understand it more and have investigated Scripture myself to see if it jives with what the Bible is saying, I now believe this to be the full and complete Gospel. At the very least, it is the only framework that I have come across so far that makes sense of the Bible as a whole, in a simple way. I have seen other frameworks that make sense, but only with some serious mental gymnastics. This framework is easy (more or less) to understand, and is self-evident when you read the Scriptures through it's lens.

This group that I'm in is 5 guys - 4 of us live in the Chicagoland area and one guy calls in from CA. Early on in the group, most of the guys, well, all of them except me, reported having dreams and/or visions, confirming this message or revealing other things. I, however, had no dreams - and was desperately seeking God, asking, begging and pleading for Him to confirm this message to me. In anticipation of dreams, I had created a 'note' in my phone, as an easy place to find in the middle of the night in case I had a dream and wanted to record it.

Fast forward two months. We use an app called Voxer to communicate with each other during the week and often, guys will Vox out prayers or share notable events or thoughts, etc. One of the guys in the group voxed out a prayer and within that prayer, he was praying against a spirit of accusation from Satan and prayed that the Lord would "shut the Lion's mouth". I had been feeling very accused at that point in time - particularly with thoughts surrounding why I hadn't experienced any dreams - and so I shared that with the rest of the guys. This led to a phone conversation which led to a day of fasting, praying and a meeting with two of the guys in the group to specifically seek the Will of God. I spent that Sunday fasting, praying - and didn't hear anything - and I went to that meeting not knowing what God was going to say.

In talking with the guys, I conveyed to them that I felt like I was being choked out, suffocated, by life - by work, home, kids, activities, house stuff, etc. That I wasn't feeling particularly close to God and about my frustrations surrounding the fact that I had not experienced any dreams, or any other confirmation of the message. These two brothers said they had been praying about me and both had heard this word "suffocated" in their prayers before the meeting, ala the parable in Mark 4, "other seed feel among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it." I said I felt as though God was saying to me that he wanted more of me - more of a commitment from me, to be serious about following him and seeking him. So the meeting ended with me committing to meet with one of the guys and then making a plan for how I could make time for God.

We concluded our pre-meeting meeting and then the other guys in the group showed up and we commenced with our normal group time - everyone shares about the week that was, ups, downs, challenges, victories, etc. When people started talking, I remembered something that I had forgotten until that moment...that page of notes in my phone. A couple of nights after I had created that page, I had what I would call "gifs" - not full on dreams, but more like snippets or short videos. I wrote them down, but at the time, they made no sense and so I didn't share them with anyone, and forgot about them complete...until after this meeting I had.

Here were the two snippets:

In the first 'gif', there was a man in a crib that was teaching from the messages we had been studying and as he was speaking, he came out, or fell out, of the crib.

In the second, someone was preaching and teaching from the end of Isaiah 40 and I kept hearing this word "schmanyah" or "shemaya" - didn't understand it.

The meaning of these dreams is clear after God revealed to me that He wanted me to spend more time with Him. In the first, God wants me to mature in discipleship - to stop being like a baby where things just happen to me, but instead to grow up and pursue God in an intentional way.

For the second - I had to look up the end of Isaiah 40 because I didn't know it. The end of Isaiah 40 says this:

"The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

The word I kept hearing was the word "Shema Yisrael" which is one of the central Jewish prayers. Among other things, it quotes Deuteronomy 6:5-9 which says,

"You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

The interpretation of that dream is, again, that God wants all of me - that I would be working towards embedding His Word deep within my soul, the I would pursue Him in everything that I am doing and that I would not lean on my own strength to do it. That I would call on His power to work within me to carry me through and power me to live.

It is hard to explain what this series of events has done to my life. I decided, as a result of all of this, to set aside time in my day, early, before the kids get up, to spend time every day in prayer and in reading Scripture (I am not a morning person). Now that I am doing that - I have noticed changes in a lot of other areas of life, one of the biggest changes is that I can't stop talking about this story and about what God is doing and saying. I think my wife is starting to get annoyed, but I don't really want to talk about anything else.

On top of that - sins that used to present a snare have absolutely no hold on me. I face temptation, as any man does, but I have found it easy to resist. Whereas before, I would have described it as "white knuckling it", now there is something inside me that makes it easy to resist - again, hard to explain what that is like.


So what do I account all of this to? I have tried on several occasions to explain some of this to my wife, but my attempts have been feeble. She keeps saying that it sounds like I think have some special key or secret, but really, it is the opposite of that. What I think I have is a fuller understanding of the Gospel - a Gospel framework that is more complete than what I have previously understood. I don't think I have replaced anything that most educated Evangelicals would know - Jesus is still "The Way, The Truth and The Life" and belief in His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection are still the means by which we will be saved. But there is more to it than that - I feel like modern Evangelicalism is pretty narrowly focused (for the most part) on the New Testament. That isn't out of some maliciousness, but that is where we are - but that's like being assigned a 10-chapter book to read, knowing there will be a test about what that book says, and then decided to only read chapters 7-10. There is a lot more there and for the first time in my life, I have come across a framework that brings meaning and understanding to the whole Bible, to the entire story.

The framework is simple - the Gospel is Creational, Covenantal, Cruciform (cross-shaped), Charismatic (spirit-filled) and Apocalyptic (anchored to the future). Because it is simple, it helps keep "the main things the main things" and doesn't afford much room for all of the things that Christians tend to get caught up in (arguments about Baptism, predestination, etc, etc). To sum it up in one sentence, it grounds everything and makes it real. One of the teachers calls it "irreducibly complex" - like a mouse-trap. If you ignore or take away any of the elements, then it doesn't work. All of the elements have to be there and be understood, in order to have a full understanding.

All this to say - don't take my word for it. Here are some of the resources, check it out for yourself. Below are links to two messages, both of which provide a broad overview of this material. If you go through it, and you want to talk - call me, email me, comment here, etc - we'll get in touch.

https://gospelofchristcrucified.com/the-apostolic-kerygma-seminar/ (Please listen to the last message, entitled "The Holistic Gospel", given by John Harrigan)

http://www.joshuahawkins.com/resources/audio/what-faith (This talk is entitled, "What is The Faith" - given by Joshua Hawkins

Review: The Only Plane in The Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

Title: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
Published: September 2019 - Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

On the 18th anniversary of 9/11 this year, I was reading an article that mentioned this book, I believe it was an article in The Atlantic. I decided to look it up because the book sounded very interesting - the Author, Garrett Graff, spent three years assembling interviews from hundreds of people, and produced a chronological retelling of the 9/11 story from various points of view. You have interviews with people who were in the Twin Towers and at the Pentagon that day, interviews with first responders, interviews with military and government officials and interviews with people who were part of the President's entourage that day. You will find the style of this book to be a bit different. The chapters are composed of brief snippets of interviews from several people all at once. This gives you multiple perspectives on the same event, which takes some getting used to, but ultimately is well done and makes sense.

It is an extremely difficult book to read, at times. It highlights, in vivid detail, the human cost of the events that unfolded that day, but it also reminds me of how scary that day was. I was a senior in high-school, just outside of Minneapolis, and I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was scared, sitting a thousand miles away, and I can only imagine what it was like to be in New York, or Washington D.C. and seeing that stuff happen in real life.

I had to do a bit of self-examination as to why this type of thing seems to draw me in - I'm sure part of it is my on-going fascination with the morbid. I've had that since I was young. Part of it though is that I feel like because I was alive and aware on that day, it is a shared-experience. I saw the macro event - the planes hitting, the buildings falling, etc. What I didn't see was the micro-stories within the macro event, and those micro stories are so much more revealing about what that day was than planes hitting buildings.

For example, the book goes into detail about what the military response on 9/11 was and just how close some jet fighter pilots came to shooting planes out of the sky. Also, because all of the terrestrial communication systems we over-loaded that day, The White House had trouble communicating with the President, who was on Air Force One flying above the United States and that caused some serious headaches. Additionally, you get some first-hand accounts of some of the real heroes on the ground - people who put themselves in significant danger to help other people, including a guy like Donald Rumsfeld, who was at the Pentagon when it was hit, and who insisted on helping people rather than retreating to safety. Rudy Giuliani, regardless of what you think of him now, was an absolute hero on 9/11 and he could easily have been killed that day, trying to coordinate a command center for emergency and government personnel.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people who are too young to remember that day. This is as vivid of a picture as you will get of what that day was like and what the mood of the country was on that day.

**P.S. I can't help but wonder what that day would have been like if Twitter (or the majority of social media for that matter) had existed. I suspect that it would have made our National experience quite a bit different. Can't decide if that would have been better, or worse. I'm leaning toward worse.