What does it mean to follow Christ?

 What challenge does Jesus lay out for those who follow Him? In reading through the gospels I find three attributes of His followers.

•      They believe certain things. (John 3:16)

•      Especially the most important truths, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died for our sins.

•      They have a relationship with Him. (John 10:14)

•      They know His voice. (John 10:27). They experience His presence and empowerment in their life.

•      They obey Him. (Luke 6:46)

•      The key obedience is responding His voice when He says “Open the door”. (Revelation 3:10)

The good news is that Jesus came to the earth to save humans from being lost in sin. The four spiritual laws and the Romans Road both summarize this plan of salvation.

•      God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16)

•      Humanity is tainted by sin and is therefore separated from God. As a result, we cannot know God’s wonderful plan for our lives. (Romans 3:23, 6:23)

•      Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Jesus Christ, we can have our sins forgiven and restore a right relationship with God, through the blood that He shed when He was crucified. (Romans 5:8)

•      We must place our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior in order to receive the gift of salvation and know God’s wonderful plan for our lives. (John 1:12)

It is important to understand what Christianity is not:

•      It is not keeping a bunch of rules to pass a legal review of our behavior. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

•      It is not earning God’s blessing through good works. Rather, God has prepared good works for us to walk in. (Ephesians 2:10)

•      It’s not a negotiation - I’ll do this if You will do that. (Examples: going to church; donating money; good works) (Isaiah 66:1)

What are the reasons people do not choose Jesus?

•      They don’t know the gospel.

•      Jesus sent His followers to go preach to every person. (Matthew 28:19-20) The job isn’t done yet.

•      They don’t believe the gospel.

•      Numerous books have been written to document evidence for the trustworthiness of the Scriptures and basic truths about Christ, e.g., The Case for Christ, Who Moved the Stone?

•      Lack of personal connection or experience with Jesus.

•      My personal experience is that anyone who sincerely seeks a relationship with Christ will receive palpable confirmation from Him. (Jeremiah 29:13)

•      Struggle with some theological issue, such as reconciling a loving God with the problem of pain, or difficult doctrines that are hard to understand.

•      Although the Bible offers answers, they are sometimes unsatisfying to our human understanding and difficult to accept. We have to accept the transcendence of Jesus over these questions - that His love, holiness, and power are more important. (Job 38-41)

•      Rejection of the gospel. Some understand that to receive Christ will entail them giving up lifestyle behaviors that conflict with His. I see two flavors of this.

•      An accurate belief that they do not have the strength to change. The good news is that the indwelling Christ empowers us to live out His life in our bodies. (Philippians 2:13)

•      A love of a specific vice that trumps a desire to live rightly, or to go to heaven, or to enjoy fellowship with God. Sadly, God can only deal with this by letting nature take its course. Every sin has consequences built in by the law of cause and effect. These consequences are the final warnings to the lost soul. (1 Corinthians 5:5)

So, the bottom line is that every person chooses. My prayer is that you will choose Christ.

Satan’s rebellion against love

Matthew 4 and Luke 4 both relate the story of Satan confronting Jesus after forty days spent in the desert. Satan tempts Christ in three ways:

•  Turning stones into bread
•  Forcing the angels to physically intervene to demonstrate God’s protective love
•  Receiving the kingdoms of the earth

 What is the real point?

•      Jesus’ response to Satan’s challenge to turn stones into bread was to quote Deuteronomy 8:3. What is this telling us? The priority of Spiritual connection such as hearing God’s spoken word over physical nutrition for sustenance. More generally, the paramount importance of a direct and experienced connection with God over the things of the world - money, food, houses, land. God can easily supply these things. Our challenge is to live trusting in His spoken words. We find a similar  thought when Jesus multiplied the loaves in John 6, and then told His listeners that He is the bread of life (John 6:36). Not just physical life, but eternal life — fellowship with God for all eternity. Satan had rejected that eons earlier. Satan’s existence continued, but apart from God he was eternally damned to a self-absorbed rejection of the agape life.

  •      When Satan challenged Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple quoting Psalm 91:11-12, Jesus’ response was to put the promise into perspective by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. Satan tempted Jesus to claim a promise that was legitimately His, because He (and perhaps only Jesus) met the conditions of Psalm 91:1-2, 9, and 14. But that is not the whole of Scripture. Jesus knew that a long life (Psalm 91:16) was not what the Father had called Him to, because the redemption of humankind would entail Him enduring the punishment due to the wicked (Isaiah 53:6). But His response was to refer to Deuteronomy 6 (You shall not put Yahweh to the test), in which Moses referred to Exodus 17:7; in that circumstance Moses called the place where the Israelites grumbled Massah (meaning test) because the Israelites questioned whether God brought them into the wilderness to die of thirst. This temptation was not about water in the desert, but in context, Jesus was telling us that trust in God does not mean things will always go smoothly. To create a crisis to try to force God to intervene is the presumption of arrogating His role to ourselves. He may allow trials and tribulations for His purposes, but for us to create them ourselves would be to play God - which Satan is trying to do.

•      Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offered them if Jesus would bow down to worship him. We can relate to this Faustian temptation. Is it any different when shysters promise heaven on earth if we sell our souls to their worldly ways? Whether selling vacation timeshares or proposing a new political order, the scent of sulphur is palpable to those attuned to the Master’s voice. Jesus knew He could not bypass the cross to bring the kingdom of God on earth. But the nature of Satan’s offer to Jesus was insidious: he was telling the God of creation, agape incarnate, to bow down to the rebel, the author of lies. If Jesus had done so, He would have changed His very nature by partaking of Satan’s character, seeking to bring about the Kingdom of God by worshipping Satan, and thereby becoming like him. The essence of this temptation — to achieve “good” by worldly means — He rejected.

This confrontation may have reproduced on earth a similar event in eternity, eons earlier, when Satan rebelled. The outcome would not be any different on earth than it was in heaven, because Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Father. But the connection here gives us a hint to that greater mystery - why does God allow suffering? Jesus told His disciples to take up their crosses to follow Him. (Matthew 16:24) God’s purposes are often advanced through suffering, both in our souls and on earth as a whole. Perhaps this voluntary self-sacrifice for the sake of others - God’s agape love - can only mature in this way; and Satan rejects this truth. The easy way out - sell your soul and receive what you want now - is Satan’s counterfeit. And that is the choice we each face, to embrace God’s agape love - sacrificial service to others - or to emulate Satan’s self-serving approach to existence. And ultimately we will reap the fruit of our decision.

The Devilish Details of Viruses - Book Review

 

Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity (VP&I hereafter) by Arup K. Chakraborty and Andrew S. Shaw opens with a brief history of pandemics. Discounting the spiritual dimension of plagues at the outset only indicates the authors do not wish to address final causes (in the Aristotelean sense) but focus instead on material causes.

History is replete with viral epidemics and pandemics that all of us have heard of, such as smallpox. Smallpox has been almost eradicated in the world. But what of polio, HIV? And what about outbreaks that occur locally but do not become epidemic? The explanation is found in the microscopic domain of viruses and the human response to them.

VP&I explains what viruses consist of, and how they work. They invade the body’s own cells (since they are not cells themselves) by injecting themselves into the cells, and then use the victim cell’s machinery to reproduce themselves. That RNA viruses are hard to contain because of their genetic variability resulting in mutations, unlike DNA viruses with their more stable genetic code. Next, VP&I explains how the immune response defends us from them. Although we often get sick, this is how our natural bodily response fends off the initial attack and then remembers the defenses. Immunity thus naturally obtained may last for months, years, or a lifetime.

The spread of pandemics and  control of them is the hot topic du jour of the day. Public health practices like distancing, masking, washing, quarantining and the like mitigate virus transmission, but how well? VP&I explains the concept of R₀, which is a parameter that measures how many others a sick person will infect during the course of their illness. And then the difficult task of estimating the effect of various public health measures on reducing it. The authors explain how so-called herd immunity depends crucially on R₀. 

There are antiviral therapies that hospitals typically use when a patient is admitted, but vaccines are the current high interest item. The details of how conventional vaccines work and the novelty of the mRNA vaccines is explained, although this book was published just before the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were in mass distribution.  The history of  polio vaccines (Salk and Sabin) and the pursuit of an HIV vaccine offers some insight into previous generations’ responses, and the difficulties in developing them.

Overall, the level of detail in VP&I that is accessible to non-medical personnel is very helpful in understanding what is going on. The unknowns ought to give us pause whenever politicians (including “medical” bureaucrats) make pronouncements with an air of certainty, because of uncertain and unknown details.  But government leaders are in a hard spot, being charged with responsibility for the public welfare, to the extent that government can promote it, without knowledge needed to make wise decisions. 

VP&I provides details, but not the context, and does not attempt to address the social and political turmoil ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are commanded to submit to governing authorities, which were established by God, as God’s servants for good.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-5, NIV)

Fortunately, we do not (in this country) have a regime anything like the Third Reich, to which reconciling this passage would be difficult. It would be healthy if those claiming infallible public health prescriptions would back off from their claim of certainty, but this should be balanced against claims of those who purport to speak for God. There are varying interpretations of Scripture (just as there are complications in nanobiology) and we should be cautious to avoid claiming the authority of Scripture for our interpretation of them. God will, in His time, judge those who rebel against Him,  and those who misuse authority. We should be humble and cautious lest we be so judged.

The Apocalyptic Unveiling of Marriage Through Scripture

 God first gave Adam and Eve to each other in Genesis 1:27-28, 2:22-24. The focus was very much on becoming one flesh and producing offspring. Although Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden, they were united in producing offspring.

 As we read of the Patriarch’s families, we do not see direct revelation of God regarding the husband-wife-concubine relationships. They had wives and concubines, and bore children. In Numbers 36:5-9, Moses dealt with a situation involving inheritance of property as it pertains to marriage. Later, Moses spoke God’s law regarding (Deuteronomy 22:13-30) legal rights for wives and women, with a focus on virginity, adultery, and rape. This provided the Israelites with a basis for dealing with situations where God’s initial paradigm for marriage is violated by human actions.

 In the Song of Songs which is Solomon’s, we read a tale of romance. A man and his fiancée entice, flirt, and ultimately consummate their marriage, with a few bumps in the road. This is a divine hint that the Hallmark Channel approach to relationship is part of the marriage process. Although the sensual aspect of of the marriage relationship is explicitly portrayed, it also shows the ups and downs due to misunderstandings, other commitments, and other people impacting their oneness. But the emphasis is on romantic games within the context of marriage.

 The first few chapters of Hosea reveal the symbolism of marriage for God’s relationship to Israel. Yahweh’s heart is broken over the unfaithfulness of His people by worship of false gods, as a husband’s grief over his wife’s adulteries (literally enacted in Hosea’s own marriage). Hosea also speaks to the enduring perseverance of the husband-wife relationship. Despite Israel’s betrayal of God, they are still married. In the last chapter, we see that despite all the pain that resulted from Israel’s unfaithfulness, He waits to bless them when they return to Him. Perseverance.

 Jesus laid down a terrifying standard of holiness for marriage. He told His listeners that whoever divorces his or her spouse forces them to commit adultery (Matthew 5:32), and whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery. (Mark 10:1-10) He effectively negated one of the aspects of Mosaic law regarding divorce. On the other hand, when confronted with a woman caught in the act of adultery, He declined to condemn her. (John 8:1-11) Grace triumphs over legalism.

 Jesus used  wedding as a symbol of the coming of His kingdom. (Matthew 22:1-14; 25:1-13) In this context, He warned His listeners to be faithful to prepare for His coming. Whether this refers to His intervention into our personal lives, or His second coming, the answer is both.

 That the relational aspect of marriage goes beyond the physical and sensual, child-bearing and rearing, and legal and moral dimensions is brought  out in 1 Corinthians 7:8-14. After Paul acknowledges the carnal dimension of marriage in the first part of the chapter, he expounds on the spiritual aspect. The husband or wife transmit holiness to their spouse and children. While there is a supernatural force (the Holy Spirit) at work, there are also the practical day-to-day words and actions of one who is committed to Christ influencing those in close contact. The practice of holiness and love are instruments of divine grace in the family.

 Paul repeated the analogy of  marriage to Christ’s relationship to the church in Ephesians 5:22-33. After quoting Genesis 2:24 (repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:5), he uses the metaphor to give directions for the husband and wife to behave, focusing on the spiritual imperative for the quality and depth of the love the husband is to have for his wife.

 The final consummation of the church age is a wedding. (Revelation 19:7-9, 21:2, 22:17) We get a glimpse of God’s perspective of life on earth as a preparation for heaven. Our human marriages provide spectators a graphic metaphor of what Jesus and life in heaven are like. Is this primarily to encourage unbelievers to come to Christ, or to give believers a hint as to the depth and splendor of the glory to be experienced in heaven, or equal parts of both? The mystery of the consummation of that heavenly marriage is sometimes described by mystics in language we cannot relate to, but without doubt it will be glorious.

 What to us? First, that the marriage relationship goes far beyond the physical dimension, although that is the emphasis at the outset. It goes beyond the legal aspects. After the wedding comes a marriage. For it to succeed, it is first of all a covenant of shared faith. St. Paul elaborates on this in a few passages. We also see it symbolically in the trust in and obedience of both Christ and the church to the Father in heaven. Second, over the years marriage will be challenged. The determination to stick it out is the glue holding the marriage together. We make the vows ‘till death do us part’, but forty or fifty years later, was the promise kept? Finally, the day to day expression of agape in sacrificial giving is God’s character. Transmitting God’s very presence and essence through our actions. That is what it takes for marriage to meet His vision.

Jesus: Building on the Surfside Sand.

 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us the importance of building our lives on a firm foundation. 

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and its collapse was great.”(Matthew 7:24-27)

The condo collapse in Surfside, Florida on June 24, 2021 provided the vivid object lesson of consequences that Jesus prophesied about building on the sand. What can we learn from this disaster?  Some simple observations:

• Proper maintenance was postponed or neglected. Condo owners associations need to be vigilant and have periodic inspections, and respond promptly to fix problems.
• Life seemed normal. Calm continuity does not mean that there aren’t deep underlying problems, and that disaster can’t happen suddenly without warning.
• No immediate cause has been found. While a triggering event could be strong winds and floods, if a structure is fragile enough, as in this case, an insignificant event may bring total destruction. 
• Approximately 100 people were killed. It took a month of digging to recover their remains. 

Jesus was referring to building our lives on the solid foundation of His words and teachings. There are innumerable books on His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and other passages. But here Jesus addresses the overall attitude of what is the source of precepts upon which we base everything else. Is it about me or is it about Him? 

• We need a continuing review of our life by the Holy Spirit. We need to respond when He convicts us of anything that does not line up with Jesus’ words. 
• Just because our life is calm and satisfying doesn’t mean that disaster doesn’t await us. 
• While some unexpected major event may occur to bring our whole life crashing down, if we have not built our life on Jesus and His teachings, some insignificant event could trigger destruction.
• There are innumerable aspects of our life that Jesus’ words address (basically all facets of life). It takes a lifetime of Holy Spirit training to conform this multitude of life-traits to Jesus’ words.

In the earlier teachings, Jesus addressed pride, judgmentalism, greed, anger, lust, envy, stinginess, et.al. Whether destruction resulting from these sins comes through the natural working of cause and effect in this world, or through the spiritual judgment in the kingdom to come, judgment is inescapable. In a sense, those whose sins ruin their earthly lives come out better, because they have an opportunity to repent before they face the judgment of Christ, rather than facing Him unrepentant and beyond all possibility of redemption. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Matthew 25:41-46) Far better to build our life on His words now, heeding and doing the beatitudes, and His other teachings, even though they are impossible for us to keep. A life built on His commands is on solid ground and will not be destroyed like the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida.

Book Review: Total Forgiveness by R. T. Kendall

Dr. Kendall addresses Jesus’ challenge that we are only forgiven if we forgive others, and not if we don’t. (Matthew 6:14-15) And he does not shy away from His commands to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us. (Matthew 5:44)  These commands seem impossible, but Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said. Is it possible? What of justice? What about upholding standards of right and wrong? 

The first chapter’s opening quote is from a friend’s words to the author some years ago. “R. T., you must totally forgive them. Until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them, and you will be released.” This is the fundamental premise of Jesus’ command.  We enslave ourselves to bitterness when we hold onto it. Forgiveness means they won’t get caught, nobody will ever know what they did, and they will be blessed as though they did nothing wrong. Even though Romans 12:19 (quoting Deuteronomy 32:35) says “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’ says the Lord”, total forgiveness means praying to the Lord that He will bless them and not judge them. 

Total forgiveness also means not telling anyone. No gossip. Not talking about it at all. Not bringing the subject up should we run into them. [There is one exception to never telling anyone, and that is in matters of law enforcement. If we are called upon to testify in a legal proceeding about personal experience of others’ illegal activities, we must testify truthfully. This is not for self-justification, or to see that others get their just desserts, but solely to protect society from continued harm. And we must tell these facts with a heart that desires the redemption and blessing of those we testify about.]

How is this possible? How can we forgive those who abused or injured us or those we love? The book offers seven steps to total forgiveness, and five stages of prayer. It boils down to the adage, “Love is a choice.” If we make a decision, and act on that decision, then our emotions are ultimately subsumed in God’s supernatural provision. This opens the door to God’s forgiveness of us (Matthew 6:14), and also releases us from the bondage of bitterness. 

 

Book Review: I Heard God Laugh, by Matthew Kelly

Subtitle: A practical guide to life’s essential daily habit

With so many books on prayer out there, I was very pleasantly surprised to find real spiritual depth connected with practical suggestions for connecting with God. In rebuttal to the common joke about God’s response to our plans, he points out that a good father would never laugh at His children’s aspirations and ideas for achieving them. Kelly starts with the story of his own  unexpected introduction to real prayer, followed by his spiritual journey and significant lessons along the way. Without telling the reader that their prayer life is weak and shallow, he offers thoughts on going deeper. 

As some example suggestions (not the complete course) he suggests:

• Ask God what He wants
• Give yourself to prayer - pray with carefree timelessness
• Just keep showing up - regardless of how you feel

As one who has in the past spent hours daily in prayer, he acknowledges that is not the case now (as of when he wrote the book) because he is at a different stage of life. He does not offer suggestions on how to strike the right work/life balance, but it is clear that most of us spend far too much time busy on worldly activities and commitments, and miss the delight of being in God’s presence. And miss the opportunity to prioritize our to-do lists with His perspective and anointing. And ultimately to receive His peace.

There are many possible paradigms for prayer:

• A list of needs and issues
• The events of the past day or coming day in our own life
• Scripture passages
• People

In any of these structures, the important thing in prayer is to ask God what He wants  and to wait on Him, to hear from Him.   He already knows about all of them, and while He delights to hear our voice, He knows the best path forward, has a divine perspective, and will share it with us if we can but take time to listen to Him. 

In conclusion, God’s laughter reflects the joy He has in the best parts of His creation. Hearing it brings clarity to us about what matters: loving God more than anything on earth, and loving people more that they love themselves. Spending enough time with Him to receive His perspective.