The wordless wisdom of unity

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 1-2; Psalm 141

TO CHEW ON: "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 1 Corinthians 1:10

If there's one thing our society is not, it's united. Listen to any open line talk show and you will hear a variety of points of view on most subjects. Perhaps it's our democratic outlook that makes us value individualism along with knowing and speaking our own minds. And so Paul's plea for unity: "Speak the same thing … no divisions … perfectly joined together" seems impossible—even undesirable—to us.

Yet Paul wasn't the only one with the ideal of unity in mind for people of faith. It was Jesus' idea in the first place. He talked about "'one flock and one shepherd'" (John 10:16) and pleaded in prayer for oneness among His disciples: "'… that they may all be one, as You Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that You sent Me'" (John 17:21).

The persuasive apologetic of unity may be what Paul is referring to in the last verse of our reading when he says: "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words…" What other wisdom would preach and convince?  Perhaps the wisdom of lifestyle—like a body of people supernaturally united in love?

Maintaining unity is work though, otherwise why would Paul have had to "plead" with them to be united? It might be even more work for us individualists.

• It may mean keeping silent when issues come up that would divide us, especially issues non-essential to salvation - Galatians 3:28.

• It means body-part-like cooperation instead of competition - 1 Corinthians 12:12.

• It means, above all things, other-centred love - 1 Peter 3:8.

I ask myself, is my church community a persuasive wisdom-without-words apologetic for the gospel? Is yours? What are you and I doing to make it more so?

PRAYER: Dear God, so often I lose sight of Your ideal of unity as I glory in my own opinions and rightness. Help me to catch Your vision of a united body of believers. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 141

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1 Corinthians (Read Scripture Series)

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Convincing the skeptic

Jesus eats with publicans and sinners - Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 11-12; Psalm 86

TO CHEW ON: " ' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon." The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" But wisdom is justified by her children.' " Matthew 11:19

Have you noticed how, when a segment of the population disagrees with government's position on an issue (like developing land or extracting oil or ore from the earth) they demand a study. When that study comes back but doesn't support their position, they ask for another? It seems there is within us an unwillingness to move from strongly held beliefs and convictions no matter what arguments or proofs we're presented with.

That's what we see in the people of Jesus' time. They were having a hard time believing God had actually showed up.

They flocked out to see John who preached repentance in his unusual get-up and abrasive way (Matthew 3:4-7). But instead of linking him with the fulfillment of the prophecy (Matthew 11:10 compare Malachi 3:1), they said, "He has a demon."

They came to Jesus and listened to His words with amazement but when they saw Him socializing with the wrong set, they discounted Him as a party boy, glutton and drunkard.

Jesus summed up the situation with a little proverb: "But wisdom is justified by her children."

The Amplified renders it:
"Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by what she does (her deeds) and by her children" - Matthew 11:19 AMP.

and The Message:
"Opinion polls don't count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating" - Matthew 11:19 MSG.

I take that to mean, judge the wisdom of a teacher and his / her teaching (Jesus's John's, ours) by the fruit of that life and its influence.

This is encouraging to us as we seek to win family members and friends to Jesus. They will probably be swayed from skepticism more readily by the example of lives of love and service than by any of our intellectual apologetic arguments, no matter how clever or convincing.


PRAYER: Dear God, in the end, You by Your Holy Spirit, break down barriers of unbelief in the hearts of family members and friends. Help me to live a life that will help, not hinder, them along the path to belief. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 86

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Building Blocks of Belief

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 22:34-46

TO CHEW ON: “‘The LORD said to my Lord,
Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” - Matthew 22:44


After the Jewish leaders had come to the end of their questions, Jesus had one for them: “‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’”

Of course they gave Him the right answer: “‘The Son of David.’”

Jesus volleyed back with, What about the words of King David Himself, spoken by the Spirit: “‘The LORD said to my Lord / Sit at My right hand, ‘ Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” - a quote from Psalm 110 written by David and believed by the Jews to be full of Messianic references.

Jesus’ questioners were silenced. They left Him realizing that the logical implication of His observation was that Messiah, the Christ, was not only the physical descendant of David. My Bible’s study notes explain:

“A father does not call his son Lord but rather the reverse, a son calls his father, 'Lord.' Therefore, if the LORD (God) said to my Lord (Messiah) how can the Messiah be the Son of David? Thus the title ‘Son of David’ is inadequate. To be sure Jesus Christ is the “Son of David” (Matthew 1:1) but no less is He the ’Son of God.’” - J. Lyle Story, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 1332.

Despite all the arguments in which Jesus bested these clever men, did He convince them? Not many. Which brings us to the question, what would it have taken to win them over to belief in Him if apologetics (what many of us consider evangelization's trump card) didn’t?

Similarly in our time we tend to think that having convincing apologetic points at our fingertips and winning arguments with them should convince unbelievers to believe in Jesus. But they rarely do.

John Dickson, author of Jesus: Who He is and Why He Matters, explores the foundations of belief in the book’s opening chapters (posted online as the article “Jesus: God’s Tangible Sign"). He quotes the findings of the ancient philosopher Aristotle, who identifies three building blocks of belief:

“… people form their beliefs on the combination of three factors: What is called logos, pathos and ethos.”

Logos is the intellectual dimension that would be influenced by convincing arguments.

Pathos is the personal or emotional aspect. “… an argument with pathos is one with a beauty and poignancy that resonates with our deepest selves.”

Ethos is the social aspect of persuasion: “What we believe is hugely influenced by our upbringing, our education and the circle of friends we find ourselves in.”

If even Jesus could not sway these religious teachers by his astute apologetics, perhaps we should not be as fixated on coming up with the airtight right answer, the undeniable proof. For belief is multifaceted.  When some religious leaders believed in Jesus, they changed sides not after hearing Him win an argument but after seeing Him raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:45). And Pharisees like Nicodemus and Joseph kept their belief in Jesus secret because of “ethos”—their fear of their peers - John 19:38.

A segment from Mr. Dickson sums up well how Aristotle’s building blocks of belief function today:

“When Christians talk about how they 'became Christians,' they will often mention an intellectual component, a personal component and a social component. They will talk about some book they read or sermon they heard that laid out the facts about God and Christ. Their intellect was nourished and impressed. 

But they will also happily tell you, for example, how one day while pondering the significance of Jesus they felt a deep resonance with the Christian gospel. The message somehow became attractive and personally satisfying. It answered deep longings and clarified certain confusions. 

And very often such people will admit to having been drawn into a community of Christians, at school, church or wherever, whose lives had an authenticity and goodness that was hard to argue with” - John Dickson. This segment of Mr. Dickson’s book is published online at rzim.org. Read  entire article “JESUS: God’s Tangible Sign”.

Let’s keep these things in mind as we interact with an unbelieving world.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to be  always conscious of how You draw people to Yourself using many means. Help me to live and speak in a way that will draw people to, not repel them from You. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Spirit of wisdom

"Stephen before the Council" 
by Joanes Vicente. 
From Artwork from the Bible 
and Its Story - Volume 10 (1910)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Acts 6:8-7:8

TO CHEW ON: “And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” - Acts 6:10


I never cease to be amazed by modern apologists like Ravi Zacharias. I’ve listened to numerous Q&A sessions, recorded at universities where questioners will pose to him the most difficult (to me) questions or dilemmas. Without skipping a beat, Zacharias answers, often exposing in the questioner and his/her question, the very fault of logic they are implying that he is making in his defense of Christianity.

(Eg. A back-and-forth with Zacharias can go something like:
Q: How can you say there is objective truth [implying such a thing doesn’t exist]?
A: The assumption you make by asking that question is itself based on your belief in the meaningfulness of statements that claim to be true or false [objective truth].)

I imagine Stephen as that kind of orator / apologist. I love how the NKJV with its capitalized pronouns of God draws our attention to the source of this wisdom:

“… they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” - Acts 6:10.

Isaiah describes the Spirit that would rest on Jesus and was also on Stephen (Acts 6:5):

“The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD” - Isaiah 11:2 (emphasis on wisdom words added).

The beautiful thing is that God’s wisdom is available to us. James tells us:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” - James 1:5.

What exactly are we asking for, when we ask for this wisdom?

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality* and without hypocrisy” - James 3:17.

Though I would never aspire to be a Ravi Zacharias, I would love and welcome more of the Spirit of wisdom in my life!

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for sending Holy Spirit, who supplies wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge. May You, Holy Spirit, find a welcome home in me. Amen. 


*Interesting, isn’t it, that Stephen came to prominence as someone the early church fathers put in place to correct a problem of perceived partiality - Acts 6:1-5.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Why the resurrection is important

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 15:12-28


TO CHEW ON: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty .... and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." 1 Corinthians 15:14,17

Every Easter we celebrate Christ's resurrection. The New Testament testimony that it was an event that actually happened is overwhelming. As Wayne Grudem summarizes:

"The Gospels contain abundant testimony to the resurrection of Christ ... the book of Acts is the story of the apostles' proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and of continued prayer to Christ ... The Epistles depend entirely on the assumption that Jesus is a living, reigning Savior .... The book of Revelation repeatedly shows the risen Christ reigning in heaven and predicts his return ..." - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 608.

In our reading today, Paul underlines why it is important that Jesus' resurrection did actually happen. If it didn't, he says, his preaching is empty, believers' faith is empty / futile, and we are still in our sins.

What did/does Christ's resurrection actually accomplish? Grudem names three things Jesus' resurrection ensures for the believer:

1. Regeneration - 1 Peter 1:3

"When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life, a resurrection life ... perfectly suited for fellowship and obedience to God forever. In his resurrection Jesus earned for us a new life ... We do not receive all of that resurrection life when we become Christians for our bodies remain as they were ... But in our spirits we are made alive with new resurrection power..."

2. Justification - Romans 4:25

"When Christ was raised from the dead, it was God's declaration of approval of Christ's work of redemption .... There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid for, and no guilt remained. In the resurrection, God was saying to Christ, 'I approve of what you have done, and you find favor in my sight.'"

3. We will receive resurrection bodies - 1 Corinthians 15:20,51,52

"In calling Christ the 'first fruits' (1 Corinthians 15:20), Paul uses a metaphor from agriculture to indicate that we will be like Christ. Just as the 'first fruits' or the first taste of the ripening crop show what the rest of the harvest will be like for that crop, so Christ as the 'first fruits' shows what our resurrection bodies will be like when in God's final 'harvest,' he raises us from the dead and brings us into his presence" - quotes from Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pages 614-616.

What riches! We are right with God (#2). We become His friends and have a new spirit of obedience (#1). And the best is yet to come (#3).


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your amazing plan which included the resurrection of Jesus. Help me to begin to comprehend what this means to me practically. Amen

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

"Doubting nothing"

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Acts 11:1-18

TO CHEW ON: “‘Then the Spirit told me to go with them doubting nothing.’” Acts 11:12

“In my lifetime I have had certain, if few, remarkable instances of the presence of God,” writes David Adams Richards in his book God Is: My Search for Faith in a Secular World. “From my very earliest days, I recognized this presence now and again…These instances most often came in ways I least expected from the time I was a child.” (God Is. David Adams Richards, Location 732 – Kindle Version)

Richards goes on to relate incident after incident where happenings from his life spoke to him of divine providence, with events dovetailing in amazing ways.

• As a youth he was in a high speed car crash but escaped without a scratch while a school buddy was killed in a freakish traffic mishap going a mere 30 miles per hour. 
• He came across a gift he had meant to give his dying mother 20 years to the day after her death. 
• A stray paper poking from between books on his shelf turned out to be a photograph. It was a picture of a little girl and her mother – the girl he and his wife helped look after when her immigrant mother discovered she had brain cancer. In the picture, the mother, whose cancer had just been discovered, was still beautiful. He found it years after the mother’s death, but only an hour before the girl, her father and grandmother were to arrive to visit (they had moved back to Europe).

In our reading today Peter, when called to task by the Jerusalem apostles over eating with an uncircumcised Gentile (Cornelius) had exactly such a miraculous “coincidence” to relate. His vivid vision, followed by Cornelius’s servants at the door, and the readiness of Cornelius and his family to hear what Peter had to say convinced the apostles that this new development was actually a God-thing: “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God saying ‘then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” Acts 1:18.

Have you had such evidences of God in your life? I have. For example, I often find that things I read or hear relate directly to something I am writing. I will find a quote that catches my eye in a book or internet article and the next day that very idea presents itself in the Bible reading for this devotional or some other piece I’m writing.

Let’s watch for the many ways God tells us, “I am here – right beside you, going with you through this day.” Let’s gratefully accept the signs of His presence “doubting nothing.”

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank you for these little assurances of Your presence. Help me to be alert to them, and acknowledge You in them today. Amen.

MORE: Looking for God
David Adams Richards is an award-winning Canadian writer. He is most known for his fiction. His writing, which has been compared to that of William Faulkner, has won many awards (Governor General’s, Giller Prize).

Links to articles about God Is.

"Canada's literary community gets religion all wrong" by David Adams Richards - excerpts from God Is.

"Author finds God is in the details" by Stuart Laidlaw

God Is by David Adams Richards (available from Amazon.com)

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Are you a fool?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 14:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "The fool has said in is heart, 'There is no God.'
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good." Psalm 14:1

Why would someone deny the existence of God?

I can think of several reasons:

• He is invisible. He appears and feels absent because we can't apprehend Him with our senses. Even believers sometimes grapple with this (Job 13:24; Psalm 89:46).

• The way He is defined and the way the world runs appear to conflict. A big objection I  encounter for the existence of God is "How can an all-loving, all-powerful God permit evil?"

• We don't want anyone, not even God, to tell us how to live. We want to be god unto ourselves, to live like we please. My Bible's footnotes allude to this reason in its explanation of Psam 14:1:

"The fool is not someone of diminished intellectual capacity nor a court jester, but one who makes an intellectual decision to choose moral perversion as a lifestyle" - K.R. "Dick" Iverson (in the study notes on Psalms) New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 694.

How does David expand on his psalm's opening statement?

The rest of the psalm seems to be his attempt to explain the behavior and outlook of the people around him. Why do they act the way they do? Because they don't believe God will ever hold them accountable. But, David reassures himself, time will change all this. When the fortunes of the poor man who has stayed true to God turn around, when God shows Himself true to His word by restoring His people (the Jews), then 'we'll see who's laughing.'

In many ways our situation is like David's. In our society the majority of people either deny the existence of God outright or have redefined Him. Very few are open to being convinced of His existence. When it comes right down to it, the reason for that is because of the lifestyle implications ("If He really exists, then the way I live my life will have to change—and I'm not ready for that!").

Of course God has His ways of intervening in lives to convince people of His reality. That is, in the end, a job the Holy Spirit does, not you and me with our apologetics and arguments (though those things may help).

The caution for me in this verse is the possibility that I might say I believe God exists, but then live as if He didn't. Fools may come in more than one guise.

PRAYER: Dear God, I believe You exist and have revealed Yourself through Jesus and the Bible. Please help me to live my life consistent with what I say I believe. Amen.
 
MORE: An argument from logic

In his article "The Presumptuousness of Atheism" Paul Copan makes the following four points to counter atheist Antony Flew's statement that the "onus of proof (for God's existence) must lie with the theist," and  Michael Scriven's assertion that "The lack of evidence for God's existence and the lack of evidence for Santa Claus are on the same level":

1. First, even if the theist could not muster good arguments for God’s existence, atheism still would not be shown to be true....

2. Second, the "presumption of atheism" demonstrates a rigging of the rules of philosophical debate in order to play into the hands of the atheist, who himself makes a truth claim.... The atheist assumes that if one has no evidence for God’s existence, then one is obligated to believe that God does not exist—whether or not one has evidence against God’s existence...

3. Third, in the absence of evidence for God’s existence, agnosticism, not atheism, is the logical presumption...

4. Fourth, to place belief in Santa Claus or mermaids and belief in God on the same level is mistaken...

Read all of  "The Presumptuousness of Atheism."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What authority determines your course?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Timothy 4:1-18

TO CHEW ON: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables." 2 Timothy 4:3,4

Such a time has come for the church, especially over the issue of blessing same sex marriages. Numerous books have lately come out by professing Christians that are pro same-sex unions (see this Publisher's Weekly article).

Writers of these books usually argue that Bible passages that speak clearly against homosexuality* have been misinterpreted and are saying something different than what they seem to say.

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has put together a book (God and the Gay Christian? A Response to Matthew Vines**)) refuting one of these books (God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines). In Mohler's book, Mohler and four other theologians speak to the arguments Vines makes.

In the chapter titled "What Has the Church Believed and Taught?" Denny Burk quotes liberal theologian Luke Timothy Johnson who, to his credit, is one who admits that the Bible doesn't come out favoring same-sex relationships. In fact, he names the authority that proponents of gay marriage are really following. He says:

"I have little patience with efforts to make Scripture say something other than what it says, through appeals to linguistic or cultural subtleties. The exegetical situation is straightforward: we know what the text says. But what are we to do with what the text says? … I think it is important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority when we declare that same-sex unions can be holy and good. And what exactly is that authority? We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience thousands of others have witnessed to, which tells us that to claim our own sexual orientation is in fact to accept the way in which God has created us" (quoted in God and the Gay Christian - A Response to Matthew Vines? p. 54)

More and more churches and individual Christians that hold to the traditional interpretation of the Bible on contentious issues like gay marriage are being pushed into a corner by the powers of political correctness and public opinion. In this context it's really important that we settle for ourselves (corporately and personally) who and what our authority is in these matters.

Do we set our course by the Bible's authority or are we too heaping up for ourselves fables (new authorities like experience)? We need to determine to set our course by the true North Star of God's word, not the flashy satellites of experience and public opinion that orbit the sky of our culture.

PRAYER: Dear God, in these times when the authority of Your word is being questioned, help me to stay true to it and You. Help me to live my life by Your standards, not the standards of the society around me. Amen.


* Bible passages that speak about homosexuality are: Genesis 19:5; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; and 1 Timothy 1:10. 

** Download the free pdf of God and the Gay Christian? A Response to Matthew Vines HERE.


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Our setting according to God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 2:4-25

TO CHEW ON: "This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created; in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." Genesis 2:4

When a science fiction writer sets out to spin her tale, she describes early on in the story the setting, letting us observe her made-up universe and explaining its rules. In some ways our reading today does that for our home — the earth. We find at least seven foundational pillars that hold up and explain, according to God, the way life on earth came about and functions best:

1. God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 2:4).

2. God formed man and gave him life (Genesis 2:7). Out of the lowliest, commonest part of creation — dust — God shaped him and intimately "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

3. God gave man work — a purpose for living as the keeper of a garden (Genesis 2:15).

4. God set boundaries for human behaviour — an opportunity for man to exercise his will to obey and live or disobey and die (Genesis 2:17).

5. God created animals and charged Adam with the task of naming them (Genesis 2:19,20). This implies a human precedence over the animal kingdom. We're not the same. For example, killing an animal is not murder, like killing a human being is.

6. God made woman and Adam recognized her as his "comparable" (Genesis 2:22, 23). "'Comparable to him' denotes complementarity. The needed help is for daily work, procreation, and mutual support through companionship" - Russell Bixler, notes on Genesis,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 7.

7. God established marriage (vs. 24).
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother..." Leave tells us there is a change of priorities here. Mom and Dad (Mom-in-law, Dad-in-law) are no longer the focus of this relationship.
"...and be joined to his wife..." They are to be joined in passion and permanence.
"...and they shall become one flesh." One flesh implies sexual union, conceiving children, being spiritually and emotionally intimate, and living with each other in the same way one does with one's blood family of birth.

These pillars have been under attack from the first Eden days ("Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die.'" - Genesis 3:4) till now. However, ignoring or flaunting any one of them in belief and behaviour does, I think, put us on a wrong track and cause our lives to be out-of-kilter with the way God designed us to work best.

The challenge for us is to stand firm on God's order of things in spite of society's clamouring against aspects of it, like the questioning of God's existence, the fact that He is the creator, the existence of an objective moral standard, the eternal implications of disobeying God, and the sanctity of marriage, to name a few.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for laying out our setting so clearly. Help me to stay focused on the way You say things are and not be distracted or swayed by the world's arguments against Your order. Amen.


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Enter 2014 with confidence

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "…And He has put eternity in their hearts…"  Ecclesiastes 3:11

In his book Despite Doubt, Michael E. Wittmer explores the realm of belief, doubt, who or what we believe in and why. He starts out at the ground level, showing how a belief in God is embedded in our very DNA, as it were.

He shows that without a god, two things we instinctively do would make no sense:

1. Make judgements between right and wrong.
Wittmer says:

"If God does not exist, then everything is permitted. You may not like an act, and that's your preference, but that's all it is. Without God, you cannot explain why anything is ultimately good or evil" - p. 46.

2. Trust that we are rational.
We assume that our minds and senses function properly and correspond with the way the world is. However, if we're all a product of random chance, how can we have any such guarantee? Wittmer concludes: 

"Here's the point: we assume God's existence every time we think, utter an intelligible sentence, or declare that some act is right or wrong. Everyone who relies on their minds and morality in this way assumes the existence of God. As even the skeptical Voltaire admitted: 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him'" - p. 48.

As we enter 2014, let's reassure ourselves that God is real and His presence will be with us in the moments, days, weeks and months of 2014. The God of the Bible—who Wittmer goes on to connect to the God we instinctively "know":

• Loves us with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3; Psalm 25:6; John 6:44.

• Knows the way ahead - Job 23:20, Psalm 32:8; Psalm 33:18.

• Has good plans for us - Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 55:8-12.

• Is able to work even the seemingly bad, painful stuff together for good in our lives - Romans 8:28-30.

We can go into 2014 with confidence and hope.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for evidences of Your existence all around me, even within my own mind. Help me to grow in knowing You, trusting You and obeying You in 2014. Amen.

MORE: Holy Name Day

Today the church celebrates the naming of Jesus, called Feast of the Holy Name. This prayer begins the liturgy of the day:

"Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Why the resurrection is important

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 15:1-19


TO CHEW ON: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty .... and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." 1 Corinthians 15:14,17

We have just celebrated Christ's resurrection. The New Testament testimony that it was an event that actually happened is overwhelming. As Wayne Grudem summarizes:

"The Gospels contain abundant testimony to the resurrection of Christ ... the book of Acts is the story of the apostles' proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and of continued prayer to Christ ... The Epistles depend entirely on the assumption that Jesus is a living, reigning Savior .... The book of Revelation repeatedly shows the risen Christ reigning in heaven and predicts his return ..." - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 608.

In our reading today, Paul underlines why it is important that Jesus' resurrection did actually happen. If it didn't, he says, his preaching is empty, believers' faith is empty / futile, and we are still in our sins.

What did/does Christ's resurrection actually accomplish? Grudem names three things Jesus' resurrection ensures for the believer:

1. Regeneration - 1 Peter 1:3

"When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life, a resurrection life ... perfectly suited for fellowship and obedience to God forever. In his resurrection Jesus earned for us a new life ... We do not receive all of that resurrection life when we become Christians for our bodies remain as they were ... But in our spirits we are made alive with new resurrection power..."

2. Justification - Romans 4:25

"When Christ was raised from the dead, it was God's declaration of approval of Christ's work of redemption .... There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid for, and no guilt remained.'"

3. We will receive resurrection bodies - 1 Corinthans 15

"In calling Christ the 'first fruits' (1 Corinthians 15:20), Paul uses a metaphor from agriculture to indicate that we will be like Christ. Just as the 'first fruits' or the first taste of the ripening crop show what the rest of the harvest will be like for that crop, so Christ as the 'first fruits' shows what our resurrection bodies will be like when in God's final 'harvest,' he raises us from the dead and brings us into his presence" - quotes from Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pages 614-616.

What riches! We are right with God (#2). We become His friends and have a new spirit of obedience (#1). And the best is yet to come (#3).


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your amazing plan which included the resurrection of Jesus. Help me to begin to comprehend what this means to me practically. Amen

MORE: Resurrection under attack
About a year ago, the review of a book of children's Bible stories I posted on a secular review website came under attack in the comments section. Not surprisingly the resurrection was soon singled out and mocked.

Such mocking should not surprise us, seeing as how the resurrection is at the core of the gospel. Some books that may be useful to you in establishing the historicity of the resurrection are:

• Who Moved the Stone by Frank Morrison

• The Son Rises: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus by William Lane Craig.

• Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell (pages 179-263 of the 1979 edition).  

• Cold Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace (a former police detective) shows readers how to use crime investigation tools to establish the truth or error of the Bible. 

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Christian Carnival - Oct. 5 edition

Welcome to the October 5th edition of the Christian Carnival. Grab a tea, latté or juice and enjoy!

Apologetics:

• loswl presents Evolutionary Tales Exposed: Part 8 – Creation Demands vs Evolutionary Demands posted at INSPIKS. "Let`s consider the demands of creation versus the demands of the theory of evolution. First, creation demands the presence of a Creator. The theory of evolution demands the absence of a creator. Second, creation demands the creation of matter. The theory of evolution has no explanation for the origin of matter." (Loswl does a good job of confronting us with the major differences between two views of origins.)

• Richard H. Anderson presents Undesigned coincidences inspired by the Holy Spirit posted at dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos. Richard: "one in a series of articles on the priority of the Gospel of Luke." (I'd never heard of "undesigned coincidences." Thanks, Richard, for introducing me to a new term).

Devotionals:

• Aoide-Melete-Mneme presents Thoughts on Proverbs posted at à la mode de les Muses. She writes: "Some comments about betraying another's confidence."(Aoide-Melete-Mneme has gleaned some good thoughts from Proverbs about using discretion in what we say.)

• David Alston presents My Secret Sin That God Broke My Ankle Over - Do You Do It Too? posted at Help Me Jesus! God's Big Plan for each one of us!. Dave writes: "Hi guys, I hope you like this article. True story about God's (gracious) dealing with me, despite my sin. Thanks Dave"(Dave's story shows us that God loves us far too much to let us get away with 'secret sins.')

• Zowada presents We use Jesus like a tagline. posted at Zowada Blog. Zowada writes: "Could it be that just because we say, 'In Jesus Name' we are not actually doing it for His glory?"(Zowada asks probing questions about a lot of things we do while invoking Jesus' name.")

• Russ White presents The Sin of Moses posted at Thinking in Christ.(Interesting speculation on what was the motivation behind Moses' action that really kept him out of the Promised Land.)

Narratives:

• Ridge Burns presents Unity posted at Ridge's Blog.(Ridge describes an experience of unity that has him—and us, wanting more.)

• Suler Acosta presents Trash or Treasure? posted at InFaith's Mission Blog. (Suler sees treasures, not trash, amongst the homeless on the streets of Philly.)

•  And, finally my contribution: Do we insist too much? posted at Other Food: daily devos.  "One wonderful day Michael got the invitation to join. Becoming a partner in a large prestigious firm was the dream of every young chartered accountant, and Michael was ecstatic. But when he got home and told his wife, she didn't share his enthusiasm..."

Future Submissions:
Submit your blog article to the next edition of christian carnival ii using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page. Christian Carnival is also on Facebook. Visit here

If Jesus is really God...

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Colossians 2:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9

There is nothing subtle in the statement Paul makes about Jesus in Colossians 2:9. He says in plain words, He is God.

This probably doesn't sound controversial to us if we're from a Christian heritage, privy as we are to the New Testament as well as the Old, the writings of scholars, theologians and apologists spanning the centuries. But it was controversial to people in the first century who had only the evidence of three years of Jesus' ministry and the word of eye witnesses. And it is a controversial statement to many moderns who lump Jesus in with founders of other religions and think of him as merely one prophet among many.

But, as H.C. Thiessen says in his Lectures in Systematic Theology: 

"The Son is recognized as God. The importance of the doctrine of the deity of Christ can scarcely be overestimated. Jesus Christ does not sustain the same relation to Christianity that other founders of religion sustain to the faiths which they have originated. Buddha (B.C. 563-484), Confucius (551-478), and Mohammed (A.D. 570?-632) are significant primarily for their teaching; but Jesus Christ is significant primarily for His person." p. 138.

There isn't room in one short devotional to list the proofs (with supporting Bible references) that Jesus is God, as theologians like Thiessen have done so ably -- proving that He:
- has the attributes of deity (is eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable)
- fulfills the offices of deity (as creator and sustainer of the created world).
- exercises the prerogatives of deity (forgives sins, raises the dead, will execute judgement). etc.

If you're interested in studying this, there are many great internet resources. For a start, check out John Piper's category the "Deity of Christ" (on the Desiring God site) which contains numerous links.

I, for one, am convinced. But what difference does a belief in Christ's deity make? I can think of three responses:

1. I can have confidence that Jesus IS the way to God -- as He says in John 14:6. I can proclaim this without apology, even though such audacious certainty is not politically correct in our society, which encourages tolerance of any and all opinions on how we get to God.

2. The logical response is to give Him my life. This is exactly the plea Paul makes to the Romans. After exclaiming over the excellence of God's plan and way of working in Romans 11:33-36, he goes on in Romans 12:1 to say: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

3. I can have peace, knowing that I have the best. As the verse following today's focus verse says "…you are complete in Him…" (Colossians 2:10).

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I acknowledge You as God and Lord of my life. Help me to understand all this means in everyday living. Amen.

MORE: "Fairest Lord Jesus" - Ross Parsley

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.