Basic Christianity - Chapter 6 "The Consequences of Sin"

In the last chapter of John Stott's Basic Christianity, we examined the reality, nature, and universality of human sin. In chapter 6, we will look at yet aspect of sin: it's consequences. Stott remarks, "We should like to leave this distasteful subject and pass on immediately to the good news of Christ's salvation, but we are not yet ready to do so. We need to grasp what the results of sin are before we can appreciate what God has done for us..."

~

Is sin really such a serious thing? It's devastating consquences can be best understood when its effects are seen on God, on ourselves and on our fellow men.

~

I. Alienation from God. "... the most terrible result of sin is that it cuts us off from God." Man is different from other creatures in that he was made in the image and God; he was given a soul, and is thus capable of knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him. Yet this God is a righteous Being, infinte in His moral perfection. Scripture lays much significance on this truth (Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 33:14; 57:15; Habakkuk 1:13; 1 Timothy 6:15-16; Hebrews 12:29; 1 John 1:5-6)

~

Further, all those men of God in the Bible who caught a glimpse of God's glory shrank from the spectacle in an overpowering consciousness of their own sinfulness. Consider Moses, when God appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-6); Job, to whom God spoke "out of the whirlwind" (Job 42:5-6); Isaiah, who had a vision of God as the King of Israel, surrounded by worshipping angels who sang of his glory and holiness (Isaiah 6:1-5); Ezekiel, who had a vision of God enthroned and enveloped in the brightness of fire and of the rainbow (Ezekiel 1:26-28); Saul of Tarsus, who, as he rode to Damascus, encountered the risen Jesus Christ, and was struck to the ground and blinded by a brilliant light that shone brighter than the noonday sun (Acts 9:1-9); the aged John, exiled on Patmos, who saw a vision of the risen and glorified Christ, whose "eyes were like a flaming fire" and whose "face was like the sun shining in full strength" (Revelation 1:9-17). ~

"If that curtain which veils the unspeakable majesty of God could be drawn aside but for a moment," says Stott, "we too should not be able to bear the sight. As it is, we only dimly perceive how pure and brilliant must be the glory of Almighty God. However, we know enough to realize that sinful man while still in his sins can never approach this holy God. A great chasm yawns between God in His righteousness and man in his sin. 'What partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? asks Paul... Sin inevitably brings separation, and this separation is 'death', spiritual death the severence of a person from the person of God, the only source of true life. 'The wages of sin is death.'" 

~

Another thing to consider is this: if a person deliberately rejects Jesus Christ - who is the only one through whom we may find eternal life - he will spend eternity in hell. Hell is real: dreadfully and grimly real. Let no man say otherwise. Jesus Himself spoke of it. He called it the 'outer darkness' because it is just that: infinite and eternal separation from God, who is light. In the Bible, Hell is also called 'the second death' and 'the lake of fire', terms which describe symbolically the forfeiture of eternal life and the horrifying thirst of the soul which are "involved in irrevocable banishment from God's presence". 

~

Until our sins are forgiven, we have no communion with the Almighty. We are 'lost' or 'dead' in the trespasses and sins we have committed. (Ephesians 2:1) We are exiles. Augustine spoke rightly when he said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee."

~

II. Bondage to Self. Sin not only estranges; it brings into captivity. It separates us from God and also enslaves us. Stott says, "We need now to consider the 'inwardness of sin'. It is more than an unfortuante outward act or habit; it is a deep-seated inward corruption. In fact, the sins we commit are merely outward and visible manifestations of this inward and invisible malady, the symptoms of a moral disease."

~

Many times in the New Testament, we are described as 'slaves'. We may resent it, but it is the truth. Jesus emphatically stated that anyone who commits sin "is a slave to sin." Several times in his Epistles, the Apostle Paul describes the humiliating servitude into which sin brings us (Romans 6:17; Ephesians 2:3; Titus 3:3).

~

We are in bondage - a deep, dark bondage from which we cannot free ourselves. We may have high ideals; we may want to live a good life. But we are chained down to our self-centeredness. We cannot do anything of ourselves. As Studdert Kennedy wrote,

"It is not finished, Lord,

There is not one thing done,

There is no battle of my life

That I have really won.

And now I come to tell Thee

How I fought to fail,

My human, all to human, tale

Of weakness and futility."

   ~  

"It is no use," Stott observes, "giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them. Let God go on saying 'Thou shalt not', yet we shall to the end of time. A lecture will not solve our problem; we need a Saviour. The education of the mind is not enough without a change of the heart."

~

III. Conflict with Others. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus summarizes the duty of man in these words: "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

~

Stott says, "It is important to observe that the first commandment concerns our duty to God, and not our duty to our neighbor. We are to love God first; and then we are to love our neighbor next, as ourselves. So God's order is that we put Him first, others next, self last. Sin is the reversal of that order. It is to put ourselves first, our neighbor next, and God somewhere in the background." Archbishop William Temple describes it this way:

"I am the center of the world I see; where the horizon is depends on where I stand... Education may make my self-centerdness less disasterous by widening by horizon of interest; so far it is like climbing a tower, which widens the horizon for physical vision, while leaving me still the center and standard of reference."

~

Imagine how many quarrels and arguments might be avoided if only this self-centeredness were eliminated. We find it easier to be stubborn and fight than to listen and submit. We would rather strike back than turn the other cheek. James puts it well when he asks, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" (James 4:1). Man is a self-centered creature, and this self-centeredness continually leads him into conflict with others. 

~

In conclusion, Stott says, "What man needs is a radical change of nature, what Professor H.M. Gwatkin has called 'a change from self to unself'. Man cannot work it within himself. He cannot operate on himself. Again, he needs a Saviour." Jesus Christ is that Saviour. It is in Him that we must put our faith. But "faith is born of need. We shall never put our trust in Christ until we have first despaired of ourselves."

* * *

Persevero,

Created for Work ~ Ch. 20 "Sidestepping Discouragement"

"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world."

~ Helen Keller

In this chapter, Schultz adresses one of the most successful strategies in the devil's playbook: discouragement. 

~

It's an undermining tool that's hard to beat for its simplicity and effectiveness. I imagine that if the devil were instructing one of his minions, he would say something like this: "My boy, if you want to defeat a Christian, all you have to do is get him to focus on himself instead of his God." That's the essence of discouragement. It's focusing on your own pathetic self instead of on Almighty God. And the consequence is debilitating. 

~

A Christian who constantly allows himself to be sucked into discouragement and then wallows in it will never do anything worth speaking of. He will never work the way God intends for him to work because he's too mindful of himself and too forgetful of Christ. He is allowing his selfish feelings to dictate what he will or will not do. His is a sorry state.

~

Discouragement is a thing all of us encounter it at one time or another. What matters is how we deal with it. Do we sidestep it, and go on to do what God has commanded us to do? Or do we give up, turn back, as Pliable did when he and Christian fell into the Slough of Despond? 

~

William Tyndale. John Calvin. Martin Luther. Ulrich Zwingli. These are the names of some of the greatest men of the Reformation. Can you imagine the amount of discouragement they faced? They were constantly threatened by death, prison, and all manner of ghastly persecutions. They were hated, scorned, and hunted down like beasts. Yet through all this, they persevered in the work God had given them. Imagine how history would have been affected if they had let discouragement get the better of them. 

~

Even though he was a brilliant composer, most of Scott Joplin's works were received with little or no enthusiasm. Ragtime music was considered by most people to be "lower class". Joplin became depressed and finally had a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered. In 1917, he was admitted to a mental hospital, where he died soon afterwards. Joplin met with discouragement and succumbed to it.

~

So how does one sidestep discouragement? Here's some practical advice from Schultz:

Work even when you don't feel like it. "A discouraged man doesn't have to stop living. He doesn't have to wait until he feels joyful to accomplish his work. When you are committed to a job that you don't feel like doing, do it anyway. Waiting until you feel like working promotes laziness, destroys your productivity, and clouds your mind."

Ignore the excuses. "The leaves in the yard need raking. It's your job. Your afternoon is free, but it's raining lightly. Everybody knows that human bodies don't melt when exposed to water. Still, some discouragement sneaks into your mind to announce, 'It's too wet to work outside.' Once allowed into your mind and permitted to stay, that one discouraging thought opens the door to his buddies who enter declaring, 'By all means work on any other day but not today!' Is your body able to do the job? Yes. Forget the phantoms in your mind and let your body at it! Get a coat. Slap on your hat. Walk straight for the rake and begin. Soon you'll be finished!"

Keep your eyes focused on God, not yourself. "God has not given us a spirit of fear to back down from work. He has given us a spirit of power and of a sound mind to do the tasks before us. A good worker can keep a clear mind by tackling his work, especially when he doesn't feel like it."

~

"So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined

unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work."

~ Nehemiah 4:6

* * *

Persevero,

Basic Christianity - Chapter 4 "The Resurrection of Christ" Part 1

In the last couple Basic Christianity posts, we've been examining the evidence that Jesus Christ was the sinless, perfect Son of God. This evidence, you will remember, consists in three things: the Claims of Christ; the Character of Christ; and the Resurrection of Christ. Again, it must be understood that no one argument is final or decisive; combined, however, these three arguments unfailingly direct us to the same conclusion. 

~

Therefore, having already examined the first two pieces of evidence, we will proceed to examine Evidence # 3: The Resurrection of Christ. We will divide this piece of evidence into four points: the Body Had Gone; the Graveclothes Were Undisturbed; the Lord Was Seen; and the Disciples Were Changed. Before we embark on these, however, here are a few things to bear in mind:

• If true, the resurrection has great significance. John Stott says, "If Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, then He was beyond dispute a unique figure. It is not a question of His spiritual survival, nor of His physical resuscitation, but of His conquest of death and His resurrection to a new plane of existence altogether. We do not know of anyone else who has had this experience."
• We are not arguing that the resurrection of Christ establishes His divine nature, but rather, that it is consistent with it. "It is only to be expected that a supernatural person should come and leave the earth in a supernatural way. This is in fact what the New Testament teaches and what, in consequence, the church has always believed."
• Christ never predicted His death on the cross without adding that He would rise once more.  Furthermore, Christ spoke of His coming resurrection as a 'sign'. Paul says that Jesus was "declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead". Also, Stott points out that "the earliest sermons of the apostles recorded in Acts repeatedly assert that by the resurrection God has reversed man's sentence and vindicated His Son".
• Concerning the resurrection, Luke, who is known to have a detailed and very accurate historian, declares there are 'many proofs'. Thomas Arnold called Christ's resurrection "the best attested fact in history", and Stott says, "... many impartial students have judged the evidence to be extremely good."

Those points considered, we will move on...

~

 I. The Body Had Gone. You will remember that the resurrection narratives of the four Gospels commence with certain women visiting Jesus' tomb early on the morning of Easter Sunday. When they arrived, they were astounded to find that the body of the Lord had vanished. A few days later, the apostles started preaching that Jesus Christ was no longer dead, but had risen. It was the central theme of their message. But they could not have expected men to believe them if the body of Jesus was in fact still lying cold, still, and untouched in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb! No. The body was gone. There can be no disputing this fact. Rather, the question is how to explain it.

• First Theory: the women went to the wrong tomb. After all, it was still dark, and they were yet grieving over the death of their Lord. They could've easily, it is claimed, made a mistake.
• Answer: While this theory may appear plausible on the surface, Stott says it hardly bears examination. "To begin with, it cannot have been completely dark. It is true that John says the women came 'while it was still dark'. But in Matthew 28:1 it is 'toward dawn', while Luke says it was 'at early dawn', and Mark distinctly states that 'the sun had risen'." Furthermore, Stott points out, these women weren't fools. At least two of them had witnessed where Joseph and Nicodemus had laid the corpse of Jesus. They had even watched the entire process of the burial, 'sitting opposite the sepulchre'. The same two women (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus) returned again at dawn, this time bringing with them Salome, Joanna, and 'the other women', so that even if one had mistaken the path or the tomb, she would probably have been corrected by the others. "Besides, no mere sentiment brought them so early to the tomb. They were on a practical mission. They had bought spices and were going to complete the annointing of the Lord's body, since the approach of the sabbath had made the work so hasty two days previously. These devoted and businesslike women were not the kind to be easily decieved or to give up the task they had come to do." Also, even if they had made a mistake about the tomb, would the same mistake have been made by Peter and John, who ran to verify the story? And what about the others who undoubtedly came later, including Joseph and Nicodemus themselves?
• Second Theory: the swoon theory. Those who maintain this view say that Jesus didn't really die on the cross, but only fainted. He then revived in the tomb, left it, and reappeared to His disciples.
• Answer: This explanation is full of problems. The evidence thoroughly contradicts it. Pilate, though surprised at how quickly Jesus died, was sufficiently convinced by the centurion's assurance to allow Joseph to remove the body from the cross. The centurion was certain, because he must have been there when 'one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water' (John 19:34). So Joseph and Nicodemus took down the body, wrapped it in graveclothes, and buried it in Joseph's tomb. Stott says, "Are we then seriously to believe that Jesus was all the time only in a swoon? That after the rigours and pains of trail, mockery, flogging, and crucifixion He could survive thirty-six hours in a stone sepulchre with neither warmth nor food nor medical care? That He could then rally sufficiently to perform the superhuman feat of shifting the boulder which secured the mouth of the tomb, and this without disturbing the Roman guard? That then, weak and sickly and hungry, he could appear to His disciples in such a way as to give them the impression that He had vanquished death? That He could go on to claim that He had died and risen, could send them into all the world and promise to be with them unto the end of time? That He could live somewhere in hiding for forty days, making occasional surprise appearences, and then finally disappear without any explaination? Such credulity is more incredible than Thomas' unbelief."
• Third Theory: thieves stole the body.
• Answer: What possible motive would they have had for doing so? How could they have hoodwinked the Roman guard? Why would the thieves steal the body and leave the graveclothes behind?
• Fourth Theory: the disciples removed the body. Matthew tells us that this is the very sort of rumour which was spread by the Jews from the earliest days. After the death and burial of Jesus, the chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate and asked for a guard to be placed over the tomb, lest 'His disciples go and steal Him away' (Matthew 27:62-65). Pilate consents to their request. A heavy stone is rolled over the mouth of the tomb and a guard is set. Matthew goes on to describe how such precautions could not prevent the resurrection. Shortly thereafter, the guards returned to the city to report what had happened. After a consultation amongst themselves, the chief priests and Pharisees bribed the soldiers, and commanded them to spread the story that Jesus' disciples had come by night while they were asleep and stolen His body (Matthew 28:11-15).
• Answer: This story doesn't hold water. First of all, is it likely that a picked guard, whether Roman or Jewish, would all sleep on duty when strictly ordered to watch? Not very. "And even supposing the disciples could have suceeded in removing the Lord's body," Stott points out, " there is a psychological consideration which is enough to discredit the whole theory. We learn from the first part of the Acts that in their early preaching the apostles concentrated on the resurrection. 'You killed him, but God raised Him, and we are witnesses', they kept saying (Acts 2:23-24). Are we then to believe that they were proclaiming what they knew to be a deliberate lie? If they had themselves taken the body of Jesus, to preach His resurrection was to spread a known, planned falsehood. They not only preached it; they suffered for it. They were prepared to go to prison, to the flogging post and to death for a fairy-tale.  This simply does not ring true. It is so unlikely as to be impossible... They may have been decieved if you like, but they were not deceivers. Hypocrites and marytrs are not made of the same stuff." 
• Theory Five: the Roman or Jewish authorities took Jesus' body into their own custody. It is certain they would have had motive enough to do so. They had heard Jesus proclaim that He would rise again, and so, to forestall any trickery, they took the precaution of confiscating the body.
• Answer: When this explaination is carefully considered, however, it falls to pieces. We see that within a few weeks of Jesus' death the Christians were boldly declaring His resurrection. The news spread quickly. The new movement threatened to undermine the bulwarks of Judaism and to disrupt the peace of Jerusalem. "The Jews feared conversions; the Romans feared riots." All the authorities had to do was produce the body and state what they had done. But they didn't. They were silent. Instead they resorted to violent methods of supressing the new movement. They arrested, flogged, imprisoned and killed. But all this was unnecessary if they had the body of Jesus in their possession. "The church was founded on the resurrection. Disprove the resurrection, and the church would have collapsed. But they could not; the body was not in their possession. The authorities' silence is as eloquent a proof of the resurrection as they apostles' witness."

None of these theories is a satisfactory explaination for the emptiness of the tomb and the disappearence of the body. There is no evidence to back any of them up. Therefore, for lack of "any alternative explanation, perhaps we may be forgiven if we prefer the simple and sober narrative of the Gospels, describing the events of the first Easter Day. The body of Jesus was not removed by men; it was raised by God". 

~

II. The Graveclothes Were Undisturbed. "It is a remarkable fact," continues Stott, "that the narratives which say that the body of Jesus was gone also tell us that the graveclothes had not gone." John particularly lays emphasis on this fact, as it was he who accompanied Peter on the early morning race to the tomb. The account he gives of the incident (John 20:1-10) has the definite marks of personal experience.  He outdistanced Peter, but when he arrived at the tomb, he only looked in, until Peter came and entered it. 'Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed' (John 20:8). We then ask: What did he see which made him believe? "The story suggests that it was not just the absence of the body, but the presence of the graveclothes and, in particular, their undisturbed position."

~

We will now attempt to reconstruct the story. John tells us (John 19:38-42) that Joseph asked Pilate for the body of Jesus; meanwhile, Nicodemus 'came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight''. Together, they then 'took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews'. They wound the linen "bandages" around His body, sprinkling the powdered spices into the folds. A seperate cloth would have been used for the head. Thus they wrapped His body and head, leaving His face and neck uncovered, according to oriental practice. This done, they laid His body on a slab of stone which had been cut out of the side of the cave-sepulchre.

~

"Now supposing we had been present in the sepulchre  when the resurrection of Jesus actually took place. What should we have seen? Should we have seen Jesus begin to move, and then yawn and stretch and get up? No. We do not believe that He returned to this life. He did not recover from a swoon. He had died, and He rose again. His was a resurrection, not a resuscitation. We believe that he passed miraculously from death into an altogether new sphere of existence." What then should we have seen? Stott contends, "We should suddenly have noticed that the body had disappeared. It would have 'vaporized', being transmuted into something new and different and wonderful. It would have passed through the graveclothes, as it was later to pass through closed doors, leaving them quite untouched and almost undisturbed. Almost, but not quite. For the body cloths, under the weight of 100 lbs. of spices, once the support of the body had been removed, would have subsided or collapsed, and would now be lying flat. A gap would have appeared between the body cloths and the head napkin, where His face and neck had been. And the napkin itself, because of the complicated criss-cross pattern of the bandages, might well have retained its concave shape, a crumbled turban, but with no head inside it." A careful look at the text of John's narrative (John 20:6-7) suggests that it is just these three characteristics of the discarded graveclothes which he noticed. 

~

It is not difficult to imagine the scene which the disciples came upon when they reached the tomb: the stone slab, the collapsed graveclothes, the empty shell of the head napkin and the gap between the two. It is no wonder they 'saw and believed'. One look at the graveclothes was proof of the reality, and indicative of the nature, of Christ's resurrection. They hadn't been folded or manipulated by the hand of any human being. "They were like a discarded chrysalis from which the butterfly has emerged."

~

Stott adds, "That the state of the graveclothes was intended to be visible, corrobarative evidence for the resurrection is further suggested by the fact that Mary Magdalene (who had returned to the tomb after bringing the news to Peter and John) 'stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet' (John 20:11-12) Presumably this means that they sat on the stone slab with the graveclothes between them. Both Matthew and Mark add that one of them said, 'He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay' (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6)...these allusions to the place where Jesus' had lain, emphasized by both the position and the words of the angels, at least confirms what the understanding of the evangelists was: the position of the clothes and the absence of the body were concurrent witnesses to His resurrection."

To be continued...

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe

Created for Work ~ Chapter 16 "My Instructor"

"Quiet waiting before God would save from many a mistake and from many a sorrow."

~ J. Hudson Taylor

All of us have "Mission: Impossible"s to face: those tasks that look way too big, bad, and ugly for us to grapple with. One cannot go through life without encountering walls that seem impossible to climb, oceans that seem impossible to swim, or races that seem impossible to run. It's inevitable. The question isn't "Will I face such things?" The question is, "How will I respond?"

~

There are a variety of ways one can respond to the "big, bad, and ugly" things of life. Here are some of the most common...

1. Complain. This is what got the Israelites in trouble. Whenever they found themselves facing overwhelming odds, they started playing the "Woe is I" game. Too often, we are just like the Israelites, and voices which should be lifted in praise to the Lord are used to murmur against Him.  
2. Ignore. We try to take our problem and sweep it under the rug, hoping it will somehow magically disappear. We convince ourselves that a trouble unacknowledged is a trouble  nonexistent. Of course, this is really poor reasoning. Ignoring a problem will not fix that problem. Rather, it will most likely cause that problem to grow, leaving us worse off than before.
3. Despair. This response often goes hand in hand with complaining. When we face a trial, and realize just how big it is and how little we are, we go belly up. We quit, and let our troubles suck all the joy out of us. Instead if rejoicing in the Lord, we moan, groan, and say, "Just shoot me, I can't take it anymore". 
4. Panic. Sometimes, we treat life like some sort of arcade game. We're fine as long as we feel that we've got things under control. When things get real tough, however, and we begin to feel like we're losing our grip, we automatically rush to hit the big red panic button in the lower left corner of the screen. This is a very childish response to trouble. Running around like headless chickens is a sure way to get absolutely nowhere. 
5. Rage. This respones is akin to the toddler's temper-tantrum. When things don't go like we want them to, we steam and stew over it, inwardly shaking our fists and gnashing our teeth. We resent the tough situations and trials we are dealing with, and fight madly against them.  In reality, however (although we often won't admit it), our steaming and stewing is against God, who in His infinite wisdom, prepared those very trials for us. 

So, there you have five common responses to the "big, bad, and the ugly" things of life. All of them are wrong, of course (and on further consideration, these responses are more like reactions). There really is only one right way to respond to those times when we're between a rock and a hard place: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Prov. 3:5-6)

~

In this passage from chapter 16 of Created for Work, Bob Schultz shares the following story... 

"At two o' clock in the morning, I couldn't sleep... In a few hours my boss expected me to begin the interior woodwor on a new house. Not just any new house, but the biggest and fanciest house I've ever built. The foundation was easy enough. We got through the framing O.K. However, now he wanted me to install the trim and I had only a little experience."

~

"Thinking of the massive entry staircase, the expensive walnut paneling for the living, the truckload of tongue-and-groove ceder for the library left me weak with fear. I'd never nailed on one piece of baseboard before, let alone all this costly wood. How could I do anything but fail?

~

"I poured my heart out to God telling Him my fears and worries. My spirit calmed but my stomach remained in a knot. From two o' clock to six o' clock I read the Bible, listening for His answer to my need...

~

"By the time the sun came up, God had calmed my fears. He promised His wisdom and convinced me that He would communicate it. I wasn't overflowing with boldness that morning, but I did have the courage to show up for work. He was there and He kept His word.

~

"I stood in the living room holding the first sheet of paneling. A painter walked through the door beside me. 'Hey,' he said, 'I saw a carpenter once putting on some of that and he...' At that point the painter began to speak as if he was lecturing to a classroom of new paneling installers. After telling me everything I needed to know, he apologized, 'I don't know why I told you all that, I'm sure you knew it already.' Embarassed by his outburst of information, he ducked from the room.

~

" I followed God's advice given to me through the painter. The paneled walls turned out beautifully. No one would imagine that the installer began without knowing how.

~

"My God taught me how to build stairs. I blundered my way into the double valutes, upeasings, and newels. With His help I precisely installed all the parts... Throughout the job, God brought to my mind just what I needed to know to finish the house and to exceed my boss's expectations...

~

"God loves to speak, to teach, to lead. He constantly teaches anyone willing to learn. A good worker will listen for God's practical instructions and follow them. I hope that describes you. If it doesn't, start today to pay attention to the wisdom God is speaking to you. Your God isn't

a distant being who left the world to fend for itself. He's constantly speaking. May you have ears to hear."

~

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." - John 10:27

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe

Basic Christianity - Chapter 3 "The Character of Christ"

In the last Basic Christianity post, we began looking at the evidence that Jesus was in fact the sinless, perfect Son of God. This evidence, you will remember, consists in three things: the Claims of Christ; the Character of Christ; and the Resurrection of Christ. "No one argument is conclusive," John Stott says. "But the three converging lines point unfalteringly to the same conclusion." 

~

Therefore, in this post, we will examine Evidence #2: The Character of Christ. We will divide this second piece of evidence into four points: What Christ Himself Thought; What Christ's Friend's Said; What Christ's Enemies Conceded; and What We Can See for Ourselves...

~

I. What Christ Himself Thought. Jesus directly stated on one or two occasions that He was without sin. When a woman caught in the very act of adultery was brought before him (John 8:3-11), he issued a challenge to her accusers: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Needless to say, no stones were thrown, and the woman's accusers slunk away. On another occasion, Jesus boldly defied those that opposed Him with these words, "Which of you convinceth (convicts) me of sin?" (John 8:46). Stott says, "They slipped away when He accused them. But when He invited them to accuse Him, He could stay and bear their scrutiny. They were all sinners; He was without sin."

~

"Similarly," Stott continues, "by the very nature of His teaching, He placed Himself in a moral category by Himself... Jesus assumed His uniquenness unself-consciencely. He did not need to draw attention to it. It was a fact so obvious to Him that it hardly required emphasis. It was implied rather than asserted." Consider the following examples...

• All other men were lost sheep - He had come as the Good Shepherd to seek and to save them (Luke 19:10; John 10:11,14)
• All other men were sick with the disease of sin - He was the doctor that had come to heal them (Luke 5:31-32)
• All other men were plunged in the darkness of sin and ignorance - He was the light of the world (John 3:19; 8:12; 9:5)
• All other men were sinners - He was born to be their Saviour and would shed His blood in death for the forgiveness of their sins (Matt. 20:28; 26:28)
• All other men were hungry - He was the bread of life (John 6:35)
• All other men were dead in trespasses and sins - He could be their life now and their resurrection hereafter. (John 11:25)

"All these metephors express the moral uniqueness of which He was conscious."

~

Furthermore, Stott points out "that although we are told of the temptations of Jesus, we hear nothing of His sins." Jesus Christ:

• never confesses His sins or asks for forgiveness, although He tells His disciples to do so.
• shows no consciousness of moral failure.
• appears to have no feeling of guilt and no sense of estrangement from God

This is remarkable for two particular reasons:

1. Jesus possessed a keen moral discernment. It is often recorded of Him that He read the inner thought and questions of the crowds that followed Him. "His clear perception," says Stott, "led Him fearlessly to expose the duplicity of the Pharisees. He hated their hypocrisy. He pronounced woes upon them as thunderous as those of the Old Testament prophets. Ostentation and pretence were an abomination to Him. Yet His penetrating eye saw no sin in Himself."
2. His self-conscious purity is unlike the experience of all saints and mystics. "The Christian knows that the nearer he approaches God, the more he becomes aware of his own sin.. Yet Jesus Christ, who lived more closely to God than anybody else has done, was free from all sense of sin."

II. What Christ's Friends Said. It is clear that Jesus believed Himself to be sinless, just as He believed Himself to be the Messiah and God's Son. But, some might argue, couldn't He have been mistaken? What about His disciples? Did they share His opinon of Himself?

~

There are those who call Christ's disciples poor witnesses; biased men who presented Christ better than He really was. However, Stott says that "in this the apostles have been greatly maligned. Their statements cannot be so lightly dismissed. There are several reasons why we may confidently rely on their evidence..."

1. They lived in close contact with Christ for about 3 years. 
2. They were Jews who had been trained since infancy in Old Testament doctrines, one of which is the universality of human sin (Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 14:3): thus they would not easily attribute sinlessness to anyone.
3. Their tesimony is indirect: they do not set out to establish the truth that Christ was free of sin. Their remarks are asides. As they are discussing some other subject, they add almost as a parenthesis a reference to His sinlessness. For example, Peter speaks of Jesus as 'a lamb without blemish or spot' (1 Peter 1:19) who 'committed no sin; no guile was found on His lips' (1 Peter 2:22). John clearly states that all men are sinful and corrupt, but goes on to say that in Christ, who was manifested to take away our sins, there is no sin (I John 1:8-10; 3:5)).

III. What Christ's Enemies Conceded. Some people may feel themselves on "safer ground" when it comes to considering what Christ's enemies thought of Him. After all, they were certainly not biased in His favor. We can read four of their criticisms of Jesus in Mark's gospel (see 2:1 - 3:6):

1. They accused Him of blasphemy. Jesus had forgiven a man's sins, and they considered this to be an arrogant invasion of divine authority. However, this begs a question. Stott points out, "If He were indeed divine, to forgive sins was His prerogotive."
2. They accused Him of evil associations. He dealt with publicans, ate with sinners, and let harlots approoach Him. "No Pharisee," says Stott, "would dream of such behaviour. He would gather his skirts around him and recoil from such scum. He would have thought himself righteous for doing so, too. He would not appreciate the grace and tenderness of Jesus who, though 'separate from sinners', yet earned the honored title 'friend of sinners'."
3. They accused His religion of being frivolous. He didn't fast as the Pharisees did, or even the disciples of His friend John the Baptist did. He was called a 'glutton and a drunkard' who 'came eating and drinking' (Matthew 11:19). "Such an attack hardly deserves a serious refutation. That Jesus was full of joy is true, but there can be no doubt that He took religion seriously," Stott tells us.
4. They accused Him of sabbath-breaking. He would heal people of their illnessess on the sabbath, and His disciples even walked through cornfields on the sabbath, plucking, rubbing, and eating corn, which the Pharisees forbade as tantamount to reaping and threshing. "Yet no one," Stott says, "can doubt that Jesus was submissive to God's law. He obeyed it Himself, and in controversy He refferred His opponants to it is the arbiter. He also confirmed that God had made the sabbath, and that He made it for man's benefit. But being himself 'lord of the sabbath' (Luke 6:5), He claimed the right to set aside the false traditions of men and to give to God's law its true interpretation." 

It is plain that all of these accusations are either trivial or question-begging. Therefore, when Jesus was on trial for his life, his enemies were forced to hire liars and false witnessess against Him. "But even then, they didn't agree with one another. In fact, the only charge they could manufacture against Him was not moral but political. And as the stately prisoner came before men for a verdict, again and again he was pronounced righteous. Pilate...publically washed his hands and declared himself 'innocent of this man's blood' (Matthew 27:24). Herod could find no fault with Him (Luke 23:15). Judas the traitor, filled with remorse, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the priests with the words 'I have sinned in betraying innocent blood' (Matthew 27:3-4). The penitent thief on the cross rebuked his confederate for his abuse and added, 'this man has done nothing wrong' (Luke 23:41). Finally, the centurion, having watched Jesus suffer and die, exclaimed, 'Certainly this man was innocent' (Luke 23:47)."

~

IV. What We Can See For Ourselves. In conclusion, Stott reminds us that "in assessing the character of Jesus, we do not need to rely only on the testimony of others; we can make our own estimate. The moral perfection which was quietly claimed by Him, confidently asserted by His freidns and reluctantly acknowledged by His enemies, is clearly exhibited in the Gospels." Consider the following examples...

• Whether scaling the dizzy heights of success or plunged into the depths of bitter rejection alone, He is the same Jesus. He is consistent. He has no moods. He does not change.
• There is in Him no trace of the crank. He believes ardently what He teaches, but He is not a fanatic. His doctrine is unpopular, but He is not eccentric.
• There is as much evidence for His humanity as there is for His divinity. He gets tired. He needs to sleep and eat and drink like other men. He experiences the human emotions of love and anger, joy and sorrow. He is fully human. Yet He is no mere man.
• Above all, He was unselfish... Although believing Himself to be divine, He did not put on airs or stand on His dignity. He was never pompous. There is no touch of self-importance about Jesus. He was humble... He exhibited both the greatest self-esteem and the greatest self-sacrifice. He knew Himself to be Lord of all, but He became their servant. He said He was going to judge the world, but He washed His apostles' feet.

"Such a man is altogether beyond our reach. He succeeded where we invariably fail. He had complete self-mastery. He never retaliated. He never grew resentful or irritable. He had such control of Himself that, whatever men might think or say or do, He would deny Himself and abandon Himself to the will of God and the welfare of mankind. 'I seek not my own will', He said, and 'I seek not my own glory'. 

~

"This utter disregard of self in the service of God and man is what the Bible calls love. There is no self-interest in love.The essence of love is self-sacrifice. The worst of men is adorned by an occasional flash of such nobility, but the life of Jesus irradiated it with a never-fading incadescent glow."

~

"Jesus was sinless because He was selfless. Such selflessness is love. And God is love."

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe

Created for Work ~ Chapter 15 "How Could It Be My Fault?"

Self-defense is instinctive in most of us. When confronted in any kind of threatening manner, our first reaction is to get into a fighting stance; to let fly a right swing and a left jab. This instinct can be a good thing. At the same time, it can be a bad thing...

~

Self-defense can be good thing if your accosted by a thug in a dark alley at night. In such a situation, it is usually best to let loose with whatever weapons are handy, whether that's your .38 Special, rocks, your pocket-knife, or your fists. Now, I seriously doubt any of you have ever  had to get rough with a thug in a dark alley at night. However, there is another kind of self-defense - the bad kind - which we all use quite often in everyday situations - at home, at work, at school, or at play. And it's this kind of self-defense that Bob Schultz addresses in Chapter 15 of Created for Work.

~

When somebody blames us for a problem, what is too often our first reaction? We get defensive. We "let loose" with a string of hot words, indignantly pointing out that "it's not my fault". This is the bad kind of 'self-defense' I was talking about, and it's rooted in an "I just can't bear to be wrong" attitude - in other words, it's rooted in three things:

1. Pride. We feel that if someone proves us wrong, it will damage our ego. 
2. Arrogance. We think we "know it all" and therefore we can't possibly be wrong.
3. Stubbornness. We refuse to acknowledge our fault, even in the face of evidence.

Everybody struggles with these things to some extent or another. Pride, arrogance, and stubbornness are sin, and sin is inherent to man's nature. However, Christians are called to something different than sin and wickedness; they are called to overcome their inherent nature through Christ, and to "put off the old man with his deeds, and... put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." (Col. 3:10) 

~

So, instead of automatically jumping the gun when trouble comes our way and shouting "It's not my fault!", we should stop, pray, and really consider what we're faced with. God will give wisdom to those who humbly ask Him. When a problem is considered in a prayerful way, God often reveals to us facets of the situation of which we were not aware. Sometimes, you might just find that you were in fact the one to blame. Schultz says, "We have the tendency to see the faults of others before considering our own shortcomings. Convinced of our right standing, we are blind to the fact that we might be part or even the whole problem."  Many people (and I've been among them at times), when faced with this, simply bluster and storm about it, choosing to be stubborn and hard-headed, which only increases the strife. This is not the way to handle things. The way to handle things is with humility. This all-important weapon of the Christian faith is one of the greatest ways we can combat pride. It will open many doors which pride closes. It is requisite to fighting the good fight of faith.

~

 Therefore, "the next time you have a disagreement with somebody, or perhaps have some other trouble on your hands, pause and ask yourself, 'Am I part of the problem?'... It's the godly man who looks for his own foot before he criticizes somebody else."

~

"Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."

- Psalm 19:12

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe

Basic Christianity - Chapter 2 "The Claims of Christ"

Note: as you read this, keep in mind that Basic Christianity is addressed mainly to the skeptics, those who doubt or challenge Christianity. Remembering this fact will put many of Stott's statements into perspective...

~

In Chapter 2 of Basic Christianity, John Stott begins by stressing this all-important fact: when enquiring into Christianity, we must begin with Jesus Christ Himself. We can't start our search anywhere else. Here are the two principle reasons why:

~

I. "Essentially, Christianity is Christ. The person and work of Christ are the rock upon which the Christian religion is built. If He is not who He said He was, if He did not do what He said He had come to do, the foundation is undermined and the whole superstructure is collapsed.  Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it. Christ is the centre of Christianity; all else is circumference. We are not concerned primarily to discuss the nature of His philosophy, the value of His system, or the quality of His ethic. Our concern is fundamentally with the character of His person. Who was He?"

~

II. "If Jesus Christ can be shown to have been a uniquely divine person, many other problems begin naturally to be solved. The existence of God is proved and the character of God revealed if Jesus was divine. Again questions about man's duty and destiny, life after death, the purpose and authority of the Old Testament and the meaning of the cross begin to be answered because Jesus taught about these things, and His teaching must be true if His person was divine."

~

This said, we will use the Stott continues by reminding us that "our purpose is to marshal evidence to prove that Jesus was the Son of God... only so could He be worthy not just of our admiration but of our worship."

~

This evidence, Stott tells us, "is at least threefold: it concerns the claims He made, the character He displayed and His resurrection from the dead. No one argument is conclusive. But the three converging lines point unfalteringly to the same conclusion."

~

So, right now we'll start with Evidence #1: the Claims of Christ. These can be divided into four different kinds of claim: His Self-Centered Teaching, His Direct Claims, His Indirect Claims, and His Dramatized Claims...

~

I. His Self-Centered Teaching. "The most striking feature of the teaching of Jesus," Stott points out, "is that He was constantly talking about Himself." This instantly sets Him apart from other religious leaders, who were always self-effacing rather than self-advancing. Jesus declared... 

• that Abraham had rejoiced to see His day (John 8:56)
• that Moses had written about Him (John 5:46)
• that the Scriptures bore witness to Him (John 5:39)
• that in the three great divisions of the Old Testament (the law, the prophets, and the writings) there were things concerning Him (Luke 24:27,44)
• that to believe in Him was man's chief duty and that to deny Him was man's chief sin (John 8:24) 
• that the Holy Spirit would testify of Him (John 15:26)  
• that those who would believe on Him would find eternal life. (John 3:36)   

II. His Direct Claims. Jesus did not hesitate to make very direct claims concerning His deity, His Messiahship, and His oneness with God Father. Stott says, "So close was His identification with God [the Father] that it was natural for Him to equate man's attitude to Himself with  his attitude to God. Thus, 

• to know Him was to know God (John 14:7)
• to see Him was to see God (John 14:9; 12:45)
• to believe in Him was to believe in God (John 12:44; 14:1)
• to receive Him was to receive God (Mark 9:37)
• to hate Him was to hate God (John 15:23)
• to honor Him was to honor God. (John 5:23) 

These are some of the general claims which Jesus made to a unique relationship with God [the Father]." 

~

III. His Indirect Claims. "Christ's claim to deity," Stott says, "was advanced as forcefully by indirect as by direct means. Of these, four may be mentioned..."

• He claimed the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12; Luke 7:36)
• He claimed the power to bestow life (John 6:35; 11:25; 14:6; 15:4-5; 17:2; 5:21)
• He claimed the power to teach the truth (John 7:46; Luke 4:32; Matthew 7:28-29)
• He claimed the power to judge the world (John 5:22, 28-29; Matthew 25:31-46)

All of these are powers which God alone possesses. Therefore, by declaring these powers to be His powers, He declares Himself to be divine.

~

IV. His Dramatized Claims. By this, we are referring to the recorded miracles of Jesus Christ.  Stott tells us, "This is no place for a thorough discussion of the possibility and purpose of miracles. It is sufficient to indicate that the value of Christ's miracles lies less in their supernatural character than in their spiritual significance. They were 'signs' as well as 'wonders'. They were never performed selfishly or senselessly. Their purpose was not to show off or compel submission. They were not so much demonstrations of physical power as illustrations of moral authority. They were are in fact the acted parables of Jesus. They exhibit His claims visually. His works dramatize His words." Here are several examples...

• The feeding of the five-thousand (John 6:1-13) advanced Christ's claim to satisfy the hunger of the human heart (John 6:35).
• The opening the eyes of a man born blind (John 9:1-7) demonstrated Christ's claim to open men's eyes to see and know God (John 9:39)
• The raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:14-45) illustrated Christ's claim to be the life of a believer before death and the resurrection of a believer after death (John 11:25-26)

Conclusion
At the end of Chapter 2, John Stott reminds us that we cannot eliminate these claims from the teaching of Jesus Christ; neither can we say that these claims were merely inventions or exaggerations. "They are widely and evenly distributed in the Gospels and the sources of the Gospels, and the portrait is too consistent and too balanced to have been imagined." 

~

Of course the claims in and of themselves are not evidence enough of deity. They could have been false. However, we must find some explanation for them. "We can no longer regard Jesus as simply a great teacher if He was completely mistaken in one of the chief subjects of His teaching - Himself." 

~

We must then inevitably ask the question 'Was Jesus an impostor? Did He claim a divine authority He had no right to claim?' "This," Stott says, "is very difficult to believe. There is something guileless about Jesus. He hated hypocrisy in others and was transparently sincere Himself." 

~

'Was He then mistaken?' we ask, 'Did He simply have deluded notions about Himself?' Stott answers, "This possibility has its protagonists, but one suspects that their delusion is greater than His. Jesus does not give the impression of abnormality which one expects to find in the deluded. His character appears to support His claims, and it is in this sphere that we must now pursue our investigation."

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe

Created for Work ~ Chapter 14 "Transported with Delight"

"Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin."

~ John Lubbock

Ever hear the "If only I had this, I'd be happy" line before? I'm sure you have. I've heard it too, and sometimes, it has come from my lips. But did you ever stop to think what such a statement really reflects? It reflects greed. It reflects discontent and ungratefulness. It reflects the heart of a man who isn't delighting in the blessings God has already given him.

~

Matthew 12:34 declares that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Just as a simple cough can alert doctors to the presence of a grave illness, words can be used to determine the state of a man's heart. This considered, such words as "If only I had this..." reflect a discontented and greedy heart. 

~

So, what is the antidote for discontent and greed? What helps a heart to be truly "transported with delight", as Schultz terms it? Well, it can be summed up in one word: thankfulness. And, unfortunately, being thankful is nowhere as easy as it might sound. However, it is requisite to driving out greed and discontent: without a heart thankful to God, having a truly happy heart is impossible.

~

When you begin feeling discontent getting a hold of you, the first thing to do is pray; next, begin listing, either in your mind or on paper, all of the blessings God has given you. This practice will not only banish the thoughts of discontentedness from your mind and heart, but it will strengthen your appreciation for everything God has bountifully provided you with.

~

One way of practically putting to use the principle of thankfulness is by simply enjoying your food. Schultz says, "Have you ever tried putting a bite of food in your mouth then laying down your fork and not picking it up again until your mouth is empty? That's a challenge for me. Often, there's another full fork waiting in the air before I finish chewing the first. When I catch myself eating like that, it's a reminder that I'm not enjoying what I have. I'm greedily longing for more." 

~

Another thing to consider is how quickly greed can blind a man to the truly valuable things of life. A man who wastes all his time pursuing things which aren't his soon loses sight of what he should be focused on. Instead of rejoicing in the bounties God has already bestowed, he looks longingly after other things which God has not seen fit to give him. He puts other stuff in the place of God. This stuff may not be bad in and of itself, but whenever we let "stuff" come before God, we are heading out into dangerous waters.

~

Sometimes, God withholds certain things from us for our benefit. Something which we desperately desire may do us harm rather than good. Therefore, when God denies us something, we shouldn't grumble: rather, we should praise Him. God knows what is good for His children (Matt. 7:11). We would do well to trust Him in that, instead of fighting against His will in areas of our lives.

~

Towards the end of chapter 14, Schultz says, "Thankful enjoyment of God's gifts is one remedy against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Whether it's food, clothes, your home, or your business, may you learn to take pleasure in what you have and thereby live thankful, contented, and joyful in your Father's presence."

~

"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." 

~ 1 Timothy 6:17

* * * 

Persevero,

Scribe

Basic Christianity - Chapter 1 "The Right Approach"

John Stott makes many excellent points in the first chapter of his Basic Christianity. All of these points, however, can be summarized in four ...

~

I. The Infiniteness of God
Our finite brains will never be able to fully wrap themselves around the greatness of God. His being is too magnificent for us to even begin to comprehend. Job 11:7 sums it up well by stating,"Canst thou by searching, find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?"  That which is mortal cannot truly understand that which is immortal and that which is imperfect cannot really grasp that which is perfect. Our knowledge is limited and short-reaching when it comes to Jehovah. "Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite," says Psalm 147:5. Our understanding isn't infinite, however, and the sooner we understand that we can't understand, the better.

~

II. The Finiteness of Man. 
Contrast the Almighty God with Man, and you cannot fathom the gulf which separates them. That gulf was created when Adam and Eve willfully rebelled in Eden, fell into sin, and were consequently driven from the presence of God. Hence, as descendants of Adam, we are all conceived in sin, born in sin, live in sin, and die in sin. Job 15:16 speaks of man as an "abominable and filthy" creature that "drinketh iniquity like water". Furthermore, Romans 6:23 says that "the wages of sin is death". God, in His justice, will in no wise allow sin to escape punishment; rather, His wrath "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (Romans 1:18). 

~

III. The Redeeming Work of Christ
As I said before, God's justice requires satisfaction against sin. This satisfaction - incomprehensibly heavy and terrible as it is - is completely beyond mankind's ability to pay. We are helpless, unable to do the littlest thing to appease the Almighty's wrath; as Psalm 130:3 declares, "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand?". Yet God did not leave us in this state of miserable condemnation, though He would have been entirely justified in doing so. Instead, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this fallen world to be a Saviour to us by enduring God's wrath in our stead. Christ is the only way by which men escape eternal punishment. He is "unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

~

IV. Man's Response to Redemption 
Left to himself, however, man does not want anything to do with the redemption bought by Christ. He would rather remain in his muck than be lifted out of it. There is nothing inherently in man that would cause him to desire Christ or what He has to offer. For "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 8:25) and "all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Before a man may be redeemed by the atoning work of Jesus, God must first draw him to Himself and open his eyes to his own rottenness. Then, and only then, can a man yearn after the forgiveness that comes with being washed in the perfect blood of Christ. As 2 Corinthians 3:5 states, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God".

* * *

Persevero,

Scribe