Posts
Saturday, March 29, 2014
14. Dead People don't boast in anything.
PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH…IT’S JESUS CHRIST PLUS NOTHING
post from facebook:Nora Labonte
Understanding that Christ died for us to give His life to us to live His life through us is made clear in the Scripture. Sadly, what is not so clear is the fleshly belief that we can add to His life in us with our own fleshly abilities; and by so doing we somehow enhance the kingdom of God and perhaps our own standing in the eyes of God.
We know the truth of God’s Word, but knowing the truth is not the challenge. Practicing the truth is the hard part. The Apostle Paul said very clearly, “to put no confidence in the flesh “ (period). Phil 3:3.
Now believing that your life is now hidden with Christ in God and that Christ is your life is the pure truth of God’s Word (Col 3:3, 4). However, the temptation we have to add to this declaration of truth, our successes, our abilities, our talents and our contacts is at times overwhelming to us. Before we know it, it is no longer “Jesus Christ plus nothing.” It becomes Jesus Christ plus us and all of our good works.
The Apostle Paul came to understand that anything he contributed to God’s work was derived from his fleshly abilities apart from Christ’s life within him. Paul stated emphatically in Philippians 3 that any gain based upon his own credentials (work in the flesh) failed to endorse Christ and Christ alone as the source of life. As Paul considered this, he likened it to something our modern translators have determined is impermissible to write in a cultured letter written to mixed company. They called it rubbish. But in the King James translation, it is called what it is, DUNG.
Any effort to hang on to the least bit of our flesh will only serve to diminish the life of Christ within us. Why do we always attempt to find good in our flesh when the best of our flesh is the worst of it? There is no USDA Choice flesh. It’s all by the grace of God. Let me give you a definition of grace from a friend of mine, Michael Wells. It need not be preached, but it has been proven by the experience of many believers.
GRACE: At my point of need, God is everything to me that I thought He was not!..That’s grace…
Moses had spent 40 years being trained to be everything…a god, a Pharaoh. He spent another 40 years in the wilderness discovering what he was not. Finally, he was prepared to lead, having realized that he was a “not”. God told him what to go do, and Moses accurately responded, “I am not able.” God’s response was, “What is that to Me? I am!”
God is to me all that I am not. First I must acknowledge that I am not. Next He tells me what He is. He is everything to me of which I might have need that I am not.
Look at what you are not. Don’t determine to work harder. Call on the grace of God. At your point of need, He is everything to you that you thought He was not…That’s grace.
So, PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH…IT’S JESUS CHRIST PLUS NOTHING.- Grace alone - Dead People don't boast in anything.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
13. Looking back
Now as a "New Creature" you will now see things differently.
Without the Bible you are rightfully confused what changes have come about, what changes God imposed when sin entered the world, and what things are the work of evil itself. You have no hope of unscrambling the situation.
After sin came in the world one major thing changed, all life, the universe itself, became subject to a principle (a curse) that made it permanently subject to 'futility' and degrade into 'death'. Now we know Gods nature (from His Law) that there is no evil in this change. How would you like living forever in a 'fallen' world, where evil now lives, lurks, seduces, ensnares, hold captives, murder, lies and hatred have become the rule of operation. Death that God imposed made everything 'in sin' now temporary and fading away.
God communicated more than 300 times that humanity was to encounter a man who would break this curse, he would be God himself in flesh. He would suffer the same as everyone else, endure shame and humiliation and in so doing ensnaring and taking those who were perpetrating evil captive and publicly humiliating them. His death was totally underserving because he did not have in him the stain of sin, and like an innocent lamb allowed his life flow from him, his blood was shed. This death was physical but also involved a separation from God the Father, like a parent loosing their child at the hand of an evil person Jesus was taken from the Father.
Now this moment in history has not seen anything like it before or since. It happened to the Son of God, it happened when he was sentence to death by His people, handed over to Romans to execute him. 100's of books have been written about this moment in history and is captured in the Gospels.
The source of the worlds horrors have been contained, but they have been allowed to run their course for one more season. Jesus demonstrated to all mankind what it means to be a child of God, promised that all who do likewise will be despised in this world, but promised that he has overcome this evil and though it continues to destroy you, mock you, remember it did it to Him first. Yes you will more than likely face death, whether it is by sword or disease, you are called to be a child of God and face evil with his enabling spirit, never again to be without hope, favour, love, acceptance or need, he calls his own to make Him known, and even show people again and again the Gospel of the death of His own son, in you.
Ah the rescue plan has a strange twist, you are still in the world but you are armoured by God's spirit to face all circumstances, however hard, with great joy. Jesus said count the cost. Which will it be, go along with the evil that is in the world, or share in His eternal glory, proclaiming the deeds of God as righteous forever. The rescue plan has built into it the twist that has the recued the choice of their destination! Jesus says that if you reject him, his words, has already chosen his eternity. It is simple but we lament, couldn't God make the decision for us and I avoid the hardships! God wisdom is there to confound the mighty, the intellectual, the proud: only humility, submission to God's plan will bring the eternal reward. Jesus lived it and showed how it works. He said no servant is greater than his master...we must follow through like he did, proclaiming his perfect right to rule and chose his own this way.
The decision looks hard, but look behind, there is nothing back in your life that can bring you eternal life, eternal safety, security, hope.
Without the Bible you are rightfully confused what changes have come about, what changes God imposed when sin entered the world, and what things are the work of evil itself. You have no hope of unscrambling the situation.
After sin came in the world one major thing changed, all life, the universe itself, became subject to a principle (a curse) that made it permanently subject to 'futility' and degrade into 'death'. Now we know Gods nature (from His Law) that there is no evil in this change. How would you like living forever in a 'fallen' world, where evil now lives, lurks, seduces, ensnares, hold captives, murder, lies and hatred have become the rule of operation. Death that God imposed made everything 'in sin' now temporary and fading away.
God communicated more than 300 times that humanity was to encounter a man who would break this curse, he would be God himself in flesh. He would suffer the same as everyone else, endure shame and humiliation and in so doing ensnaring and taking those who were perpetrating evil captive and publicly humiliating them. His death was totally underserving because he did not have in him the stain of sin, and like an innocent lamb allowed his life flow from him, his blood was shed. This death was physical but also involved a separation from God the Father, like a parent loosing their child at the hand of an evil person Jesus was taken from the Father.
Now this moment in history has not seen anything like it before or since. It happened to the Son of God, it happened when he was sentence to death by His people, handed over to Romans to execute him. 100's of books have been written about this moment in history and is captured in the Gospels.
The source of the worlds horrors have been contained, but they have been allowed to run their course for one more season. Jesus demonstrated to all mankind what it means to be a child of God, promised that all who do likewise will be despised in this world, but promised that he has overcome this evil and though it continues to destroy you, mock you, remember it did it to Him first. Yes you will more than likely face death, whether it is by sword or disease, you are called to be a child of God and face evil with his enabling spirit, never again to be without hope, favour, love, acceptance or need, he calls his own to make Him known, and even show people again and again the Gospel of the death of His own son, in you.
Ah the rescue plan has a strange twist, you are still in the world but you are armoured by God's spirit to face all circumstances, however hard, with great joy. Jesus said count the cost. Which will it be, go along with the evil that is in the world, or share in His eternal glory, proclaiming the deeds of God as righteous forever. The rescue plan has built into it the twist that has the recued the choice of their destination! Jesus says that if you reject him, his words, has already chosen his eternity. It is simple but we lament, couldn't God make the decision for us and I avoid the hardships! God wisdom is there to confound the mighty, the intellectual, the proud: only humility, submission to God's plan will bring the eternal reward. Jesus lived it and showed how it works. He said no servant is greater than his master...we must follow through like he did, proclaiming his perfect right to rule and chose his own this way.
The decision looks hard, but look behind, there is nothing back in your life that can bring you eternal life, eternal safety, security, hope.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
7. How do we get sin?get this nature?
Jesus fulfilled 1000 predictions in His birth, life and death. These set the scene for the problem of sin and the solution.
To review the predictions, a start is: http://www.shalach.org/PropheciesTable/prophecieslst1.htm
Some key items include:
1. Eve was promised her 'seed' was to fix the problem. This is in stark contrast to how the Bible speaks of Adam's seed (it would only bring sin & death). How would a woman's seed be born without Adam's seed? That would take a virgin birth!
2. The deliver would be a descendant of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob
3. He will be God's equal
4. The deliver was to born at a specific time (after Persia's command to rebuild the Temple), place (Bethlehem), specific task (free captives of sin)
5. Born of a virgin - this was the most telling sign.
Now the most revealing thing about sin is seen in messiah (Jesus). He didn't have sin, but His mother was Mary and descendant of King David, a decendant of Adam. How can a woman of sin (she called God her saviour in Mary's Song) give birth to a child without sin?
A child is normally born from the seed of a man. Jesus was not.
Children born of man are all said to have sin. Jesus did not.
The bible repeatedly says that Adam sinned, Eve was decieved. Why a distinction?
I suggest this means that the seed of Adam and his sons is the passage of sin, the woman normally a daughter of a man is subject to sin, is not the 'source' of sin for her child, the man is. God being the Father of Jesus means that he is from Eve's seed, but His Father is who determines his sinless status not the woman. (Here solves the roman confusion on Mary).
The Father is the source of a sinless son, Jesus being by nature God in flesh.
When we have Gods spirit in us we become adopted sons, still with Adam's sin, but adopted as His own, we are to identify FULLY with our new Father, and call no MAN father! (bye bye another roman teaching). This is the realm of being born again. Again, you fully identify with your new life giving, rescuing, saviour, redeemer, owner, master but you call him Dad...your earthly father only gave you a sin nature,. If a Roman Centurion adopted you, you don't call your old father Dad, your old life, customs are gone, you are whatever your new father is.
Sin is from 'man' because he is the one 'responsible' for sin. ..from Adam we are sinners.
People are usually concerned that Adam and Eve disobeyed, and that was sin. I suggest the fruit they ate made them be able to mix good and evil up, but the pattern is: Eve was deceived by the serpent, She misled Adam, and Adam's act was not from deception, but was the direct disobedience of God. His act was the critical one for the subject of sin and all who are his desendants are likewise stained as sinners too, male and female, but it is the father who determines if the child is a sinner. Mary was a sinner because her father was a man from Adam. Jesus was NOT a sinner because HIS FATHER was GOD HIMSELF. This makes a universe of difference.
I think a cloned female cell should it result in a new human, it will be a sinner, as the original human father still there. A sinless child only results when an earthly father is out of the equation.
To review the predictions, a start is: http://www.shalach.org/PropheciesTable/prophecieslst1.htm
Some key items include:
1. Eve was promised her 'seed' was to fix the problem. This is in stark contrast to how the Bible speaks of Adam's seed (it would only bring sin & death). How would a woman's seed be born without Adam's seed? That would take a virgin birth!
2. The deliver would be a descendant of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob
3. He will be God's equal
4. The deliver was to born at a specific time (after Persia's command to rebuild the Temple), place (Bethlehem), specific task (free captives of sin)
5. Born of a virgin - this was the most telling sign.
Now the most revealing thing about sin is seen in messiah (Jesus). He didn't have sin, but His mother was Mary and descendant of King David, a decendant of Adam. How can a woman of sin (she called God her saviour in Mary's Song) give birth to a child without sin?
A child is normally born from the seed of a man. Jesus was not.
Children born of man are all said to have sin. Jesus did not.
The bible repeatedly says that Adam sinned, Eve was decieved. Why a distinction?
I suggest this means that the seed of Adam and his sons is the passage of sin, the woman normally a daughter of a man is subject to sin, is not the 'source' of sin for her child, the man is. God being the Father of Jesus means that he is from Eve's seed, but His Father is who determines his sinless status not the woman. (Here solves the roman confusion on Mary).
The Father is the source of a sinless son, Jesus being by nature God in flesh.
When we have Gods spirit in us we become adopted sons, still with Adam's sin, but adopted as His own, we are to identify FULLY with our new Father, and call no MAN father! (bye bye another roman teaching). This is the realm of being born again. Again, you fully identify with your new life giving, rescuing, saviour, redeemer, owner, master but you call him Dad...your earthly father only gave you a sin nature,. If a Roman Centurion adopted you, you don't call your old father Dad, your old life, customs are gone, you are whatever your new father is.
Sin is from 'man' because he is the one 'responsible' for sin. ..from Adam we are sinners.
People are usually concerned that Adam and Eve disobeyed, and that was sin. I suggest the fruit they ate made them be able to mix good and evil up, but the pattern is: Eve was deceived by the serpent, She misled Adam, and Adam's act was not from deception, but was the direct disobedience of God. His act was the critical one for the subject of sin and all who are his desendants are likewise stained as sinners too, male and female, but it is the father who determines if the child is a sinner. Mary was a sinner because her father was a man from Adam. Jesus was NOT a sinner because HIS FATHER was GOD HIMSELF. This makes a universe of difference.
I think a cloned female cell should it result in a new human, it will be a sinner, as the original human father still there. A sinless child only results when an earthly father is out of the equation.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
11. Living by the Spirit
When you've seen a glimpse of God, and realise He is not you, and you are not Him, your heart is now under a new modus operandi, the Spirit. The Spirit changes EVERYTHING. He reveals truth, righteousness & judgement. The words of Jesus come alive. No one else told you this.
There are many synonyms for this new way of living and they all emphasise differing aspects of the one thing, a new life.
1. born again
2. redeemed
3. child of God
4. adopted
5. swap kingdoms
The strongest description is the term "me in Christ", and conversely "Christ in me". This paradym is how Jesus spoke of being "one" with God, the Father was "in me" and " I am in the Father", "I am in you" and "you are in me" SO "you are in the Father and the "Father is in you". The term "in" denotes a unity as with two people becoming "one". The Apostle Paul uses the term in its various ways over 140 times. The term become critical in understanding what you are, what you have, what you do and it makes EVERY difference on the right attitude / thought or viewing your new situation.
to be continued....
How then shall I live ...wrong question...the word "I" is in it.
Seeing the kingdom and the need. What need can I fill...focus change from Me to Need (others)
Spirit Soul Flesh
Spirit - darkness OR light - knowing, believing, conviction, confession = Faith brings the change
Soul - being transformed by renewing the mind = bring every thought and understanding into line with the spirit who lives within
Body - a future resurrection- on a day all flesh to be raised (for the dead) or transformed if alive
There are many synonyms for this new way of living and they all emphasise differing aspects of the one thing, a new life.
1. born again
2. redeemed
3. child of God
4. adopted
5. swap kingdoms
The strongest description is the term "me in Christ", and conversely "Christ in me". This paradym is how Jesus spoke of being "one" with God, the Father was "in me" and " I am in the Father", "I am in you" and "you are in me" SO "you are in the Father and the "Father is in you". The term "in" denotes a unity as with two people becoming "one". The Apostle Paul uses the term in its various ways over 140 times. The term become critical in understanding what you are, what you have, what you do and it makes EVERY difference on the right attitude / thought or viewing your new situation.
to be continued....
How then shall I live ...wrong question...the word "I" is in it.
Seeing the kingdom and the need. What need can I fill...focus change from Me to Need (others)
Spirit Soul Flesh
Spirit - darkness OR light - knowing, believing, conviction, confession = Faith brings the change
Soul - being transformed by renewing the mind = bring every thought and understanding into line with the spirit who lives within
Body - a future resurrection- on a day all flesh to be raised (for the dead) or transformed if alive
10. The Ministry of the Spirit
If you will now bow your knee (figuratively, even better literally!) to God the Father, because of what Jesus had done for you on the Cross, your heart has been peirced (convicted) and submitted to the God of all love, glory, rightousness. Your heart has an invisible change but it will become obvious, in time, to all because your thinking, speech & actions will all change. ..but most significantly speech, because again actions can so easily be imitated, but speech is far more revealing of what's going in inside your heart.
This change is blatantly obvious in the sprit realm. You have crossed an invisible line and everything will look different. Jesus said the kingdom of God is not here or there it happens inside you. You don't move anywhere to get it, it happens any time anywhere. Everything that held you captive, now has NO power to hold you. You realise that to achieve good you need to turn from evil, now you have the power to do it, and more importantly, have the WILL / drive / passion to do it. Will it be easy? Will you find it hard to extricate yourself? It depends on how deep you are in, how well you see the answer, if someone in your world sees the struggles you now face and understands because they too have been where you are now.
The legal change you now face is like, in human terms, you standing at the border of two countries that work in opposite ways. If you failed one foot on one side you face a totally different legal system, court, judge, sentencing arrangment than when you are one foot on the other side of the border. Its that dramatic. So in the spirit realm there is no such thing as 'spiritual growth'. You are either in one kingdom, or the other. You are either a child of God or the devil, there is no inbetween, I don't know, I hope so, I think I am. Its like marriage, the transaction is simple and binding, you either are, or you are not. There is no confusion, ambiguity or doubt. If there is any doubt go back to square one, admit your sin, your independence and begin with God on the one certainty, that the son of God died for you and cares for you, look again into his law, see his mighty power, majesty, and right to rule over you, agree with him, in tears if need be to say you missed the point, thank you for making me your child.
When you go over the spiritual divide, you will feel alone, scared even, but you will start to find other souls who have turned their backs on this lying, hating world, and will encourage your heart to persevere, bind your hurts, apply words of healing. No matter how lonely you feel, know God has many people with you, or at least ministering angels who will provide your needs.
The ministry of the spirit is so unlike the ministry of the law that drives you to your knees before Christ. The law itself could never bring the change that the spirit does to open your eyes to the Glory that is in God. The teaching of christ that superceeds all law / rules/ 'morality'(whatever that is) is LOVE, this is a command above all other commands, the expression is there is no law against LOVE, ie nothing is more important or can negate it (it took the devil 700 years to come up with sharia, where he says hatred and humilation, even death is the direct path to heaven, bypass judgement day where evil will be purged....all a contradiction) For out of LOVE comes all righteousness flows from this command. The command comes in 4 parts: 1. love God 2. love your neighbour; 3. love your enemy (the first two by moses, the 3rd in the proverbs) and 4. love one another like Jesus loves us.
Love is all encompassing, those who love WILL NOT lie, steal, cheat, covet, dishonour anyone, worship God alone and a million things the law could not entice people 'wholeheartedly' to say and do...infact this is why christs indwelling spirit supercedes the law or any rules, when you 'love' you fulfull the requirement of the 'law'. You do not follow any rules for right or wrong food, special feast days, rule on honesty, marriage or anything except love, respect, honour. You will not lust because love says others are as important as me, lust is self seeking only, love seeks the good of others above self, humiliation is an abomination for it says I'm more than you...the opposite of love. I will marry one woman because I want to honour her just as Christ honoured me.
This change is blatantly obvious in the sprit realm. You have crossed an invisible line and everything will look different. Jesus said the kingdom of God is not here or there it happens inside you. You don't move anywhere to get it, it happens any time anywhere. Everything that held you captive, now has NO power to hold you. You realise that to achieve good you need to turn from evil, now you have the power to do it, and more importantly, have the WILL / drive / passion to do it. Will it be easy? Will you find it hard to extricate yourself? It depends on how deep you are in, how well you see the answer, if someone in your world sees the struggles you now face and understands because they too have been where you are now.
The legal change you now face is like, in human terms, you standing at the border of two countries that work in opposite ways. If you failed one foot on one side you face a totally different legal system, court, judge, sentencing arrangment than when you are one foot on the other side of the border. Its that dramatic. So in the spirit realm there is no such thing as 'spiritual growth'. You are either in one kingdom, or the other. You are either a child of God or the devil, there is no inbetween, I don't know, I hope so, I think I am. Its like marriage, the transaction is simple and binding, you either are, or you are not. There is no confusion, ambiguity or doubt. If there is any doubt go back to square one, admit your sin, your independence and begin with God on the one certainty, that the son of God died for you and cares for you, look again into his law, see his mighty power, majesty, and right to rule over you, agree with him, in tears if need be to say you missed the point, thank you for making me your child.
When you go over the spiritual divide, you will feel alone, scared even, but you will start to find other souls who have turned their backs on this lying, hating world, and will encourage your heart to persevere, bind your hurts, apply words of healing. No matter how lonely you feel, know God has many people with you, or at least ministering angels who will provide your needs.
The ministry of the spirit is so unlike the ministry of the law that drives you to your knees before Christ. The law itself could never bring the change that the spirit does to open your eyes to the Glory that is in God. The teaching of christ that superceeds all law / rules/ 'morality'(whatever that is) is LOVE, this is a command above all other commands, the expression is there is no law against LOVE, ie nothing is more important or can negate it (it took the devil 700 years to come up with sharia, where he says hatred and humilation, even death is the direct path to heaven, bypass judgement day where evil will be purged....all a contradiction) For out of LOVE comes all righteousness flows from this command. The command comes in 4 parts: 1. love God 2. love your neighbour; 3. love your enemy (the first two by moses, the 3rd in the proverbs) and 4. love one another like Jesus loves us.
Love is all encompassing, those who love WILL NOT lie, steal, cheat, covet, dishonour anyone, worship God alone and a million things the law could not entice people 'wholeheartedly' to say and do...infact this is why christs indwelling spirit supercedes the law or any rules, when you 'love' you fulfull the requirement of the 'law'. You do not follow any rules for right or wrong food, special feast days, rule on honesty, marriage or anything except love, respect, honour. You will not lust because love says others are as important as me, lust is self seeking only, love seeks the good of others above self, humiliation is an abomination for it says I'm more than you...the opposite of love. I will marry one woman because I want to honour her just as Christ honoured me.
9. Gods Rescue Plan
God in HIS mercy, before time, had a plan that would undo what evil had only sought to bind, confuse, distort, destroy. Evil has a personality behind it. God has an enemy and HIS message to us in the Bible about this is as early as the 3rd chapter of the book of the first book called Genesis. This makes it patently clear what we now see and experience in this world is distorted and not as God originally created.
God became Flesh, born of a virgin. He became man to liberate us from the bondage of sin, first by doing something you could never do, pay for the fine, the penalty for sin. Not just a little sin, for a few people, but for all sin in all people, is is paid in full by the death of Jesus, without sin, an innocent. There was never a lie, hatred, murder, theft in HIM. He ALWAYS honoured HIS FATHER. Imagine someone so dear that there was none his equal, ever. He had a non human ability to heal and raise the dead but was taken instead of a murdering thief to the authorities to be killed.
In His death and His blood was the most expensive price paid to deal with sin. This act is a fait accompli, you cannot add to it, detract from it only stare and marvel that something so incredible has occured, and it was for you and all people, its benefit only applies when you with broken heart from sin say "Im sorry GOD for being wrong" and "Thank you JESUS for dying for me". These two expressions reflect a changed heart by the Spirit of the Living God. You are now considered a new creature to what you were before, and now EVERYTHING will change: your thoughts, your interests, how you talk, who you call friend, where problems are, how to resolve issues, wanting to be with God, Reading His word, Prayer, living the life you now have for HIM now with purpose without confusion, doubt or controlled by fear.
Your life now is called living by the Spirit of the living God. There is no hoops to impress GOD more, no way of perfecting what God has now done in you. You now benefit from Jesus death by seeing it as rightfully your death, Jesus took on your behalf, like a dear friend who decided to be your body guard and take the bullet for you. This is self deprivating LOVE, thinking of your needs above HIS own, but this is now LOVE as you've never seen it before. Now is the time for your baptism, identifying with Jesus death.
God became Flesh, born of a virgin. He became man to liberate us from the bondage of sin, first by doing something you could never do, pay for the fine, the penalty for sin. Not just a little sin, for a few people, but for all sin in all people, is is paid in full by the death of Jesus, without sin, an innocent. There was never a lie, hatred, murder, theft in HIM. He ALWAYS honoured HIS FATHER. Imagine someone so dear that there was none his equal, ever. He had a non human ability to heal and raise the dead but was taken instead of a murdering thief to the authorities to be killed.
In His death and His blood was the most expensive price paid to deal with sin. This act is a fait accompli, you cannot add to it, detract from it only stare and marvel that something so incredible has occured, and it was for you and all people, its benefit only applies when you with broken heart from sin say "Im sorry GOD for being wrong" and "Thank you JESUS for dying for me". These two expressions reflect a changed heart by the Spirit of the Living God. You are now considered a new creature to what you were before, and now EVERYTHING will change: your thoughts, your interests, how you talk, who you call friend, where problems are, how to resolve issues, wanting to be with God, Reading His word, Prayer, living the life you now have for HIM now with purpose without confusion, doubt or controlled by fear.
Your life now is called living by the Spirit of the living God. There is no hoops to impress GOD more, no way of perfecting what God has now done in you. You now benefit from Jesus death by seeing it as rightfully your death, Jesus took on your behalf, like a dear friend who decided to be your body guard and take the bullet for you. This is self deprivating LOVE, thinking of your needs above HIS own, but this is now LOVE as you've never seen it before. Now is the time for your baptism, identifying with Jesus death.
Friday, July 17, 2009
8. What changes my heart?
law- friend or foe?
what can it do? what can't it do?
When you look into the Law of God (not bits of it...the supposed 'moral' bits) you will see God is all about purity, bright shining purity, and any blending of a hint of evil with good is TOTALLY not going to happen, accepted, in any shape or form. So for anyone who bears the mark of 'SIN" in their heart (spirit) will immediately be obvious to a God who looks on the matter of the heart.
There's no way to talk your way around this, the gift of the 'gab' will not help. The analogy on how God indentifies evil is typically the blast furnance: He does what a metalurgist does and pours the people / stuff in and what is not pure is immediately obvious, it burns in His presence, or like a bowl of molten metal other impurities float to the top and easily skimmed off and discarded. Its not cruel, unfair, wrong, the purification process is what we do, it's what God does. We hate dirt in our food, a stone in our shoe, black paint mixed in the white, we love things to be 'just right' so does God.
Gods law is a reflection of His exacting perfection.
Do you lie? a bit, alot....you are a liar
Have you stolen anything? a little thing, a big thing doesn't matter the law says you are a thief.
Have you Loved God perfectly with all your heart? ....then you must have other attractions and are an idolator
Have you looked at a woman with desire? Jesus says you are an adulterer.
Have you expressed hatred for another person. Jesus said you have murdered them in your heart. You are a murderer.
These laws bear Gods hallmark of Holiness. Do you get what this means. It means God would never lie to you. When He declares something is true, He's not making it up, stretching the truth, telling you mostly the right thing, twisting the story a bit, no, it is completely true. The same with love, honour, faithfulness, He does these things WITHOUT hint of hipocracy or error. This is Holiness because it is SOOOO unlike us. We duck and weave, always put on a good show, but underneath we are full of deceit, lies, murder, malice, selfishness ..and it goes on.
The Law of God is there to make you face your imperfections, but they are not little blemishes, they are hidden (usually) evil inside a whole lot of apparent 'good' in you, and like an achor rope heading for the ocean floor, you with evil (in a hidden form called sin) are like having leg caught in that rope and it is going to pull you inevitably to a grave for you flesh. And if you remain unaided, it will keep dragging you to what Jesus called the second death. Adam was warned of it: in dying you will die he was told. The second death Jesus said was what must be feared. All men (so far) have died, both the good and the bad, the second death is for those who sear their conscience to allow them to do what is forbidden: lust, greed, selfishness, and everything else.
WHO will rescue us from this body of flesh? Who can change the heart of man?
This is the point of CONVICTION. It is here, now the Holy Spirit is telling you without a SAVIOUR you are hopeless lost. Hopelessly. WHATEVER you do, don't go the grave without HIM. Here is also the point the sinful heart will look around and say: "but isn't there another way, isn't there someone else who knows how I can stay the same and not be impacted by this"....but stay the same?
Why would you want to live in your own fears, uncertainties, guilt for the failures you remember, never be certain what is true or right, always living in ambiguity?? why stay there? is it really safe? The Law says no and it is ignored at great peril. The law says there is a Holy one who is love, honour repect, faithful ..and haven't you been hurt by the lack of these things in people, haven't they let you down?
WHAT CAN I DO?
God has, before time, seen your predicament. He's seen the hurt, the loneliness, the hatred, everything, and before time he set in motion a rescue plan.
You are now on the cusp of a changed heart. It is like waking up and you are on the edge of huge cliff face. You didn't know while you were asleep that such a vast cliff was there!. You have seen your predicament probably for the first time, and the peril you really are in, by the morning light of God's Law, or maybe you have been convicted for a long time, struggling with the imperfections you have already clearly seen in your life...you know what misery, hatred, lies, murder is first hand, you've been to hell already and seen for yourself that there are principles operating in this world that are soooooo wrong, evil is around every corner, and you canot get free from it. God has set a rescue plan. God had done something that you being in sin could never do. Before this point there was no point being told Sunday School stories, or had the rescue plan explained, you were not ready or willing to hear. God has now got your attention. Is there a way out?
what can it do? what can't it do?
When you look into the Law of God (not bits of it...the supposed 'moral' bits) you will see God is all about purity, bright shining purity, and any blending of a hint of evil with good is TOTALLY not going to happen, accepted, in any shape or form. So for anyone who bears the mark of 'SIN" in their heart (spirit) will immediately be obvious to a God who looks on the matter of the heart.
There's no way to talk your way around this, the gift of the 'gab' will not help. The analogy on how God indentifies evil is typically the blast furnance: He does what a metalurgist does and pours the people / stuff in and what is not pure is immediately obvious, it burns in His presence, or like a bowl of molten metal other impurities float to the top and easily skimmed off and discarded. Its not cruel, unfair, wrong, the purification process is what we do, it's what God does. We hate dirt in our food, a stone in our shoe, black paint mixed in the white, we love things to be 'just right' so does God.
Gods law is a reflection of His exacting perfection.
Do you lie? a bit, alot....you are a liar
Have you stolen anything? a little thing, a big thing doesn't matter the law says you are a thief.
Have you Loved God perfectly with all your heart? ....then you must have other attractions and are an idolator
Have you looked at a woman with desire? Jesus says you are an adulterer.
Have you expressed hatred for another person. Jesus said you have murdered them in your heart. You are a murderer.
These laws bear Gods hallmark of Holiness. Do you get what this means. It means God would never lie to you. When He declares something is true, He's not making it up, stretching the truth, telling you mostly the right thing, twisting the story a bit, no, it is completely true. The same with love, honour, faithfulness, He does these things WITHOUT hint of hipocracy or error. This is Holiness because it is SOOOO unlike us. We duck and weave, always put on a good show, but underneath we are full of deceit, lies, murder, malice, selfishness ..and it goes on.
The Law of God is there to make you face your imperfections, but they are not little blemishes, they are hidden (usually) evil inside a whole lot of apparent 'good' in you, and like an achor rope heading for the ocean floor, you with evil (in a hidden form called sin) are like having leg caught in that rope and it is going to pull you inevitably to a grave for you flesh. And if you remain unaided, it will keep dragging you to what Jesus called the second death. Adam was warned of it: in dying you will die he was told. The second death Jesus said was what must be feared. All men (so far) have died, both the good and the bad, the second death is for those who sear their conscience to allow them to do what is forbidden: lust, greed, selfishness, and everything else.
WHO will rescue us from this body of flesh? Who can change the heart of man?
This is the point of CONVICTION. It is here, now the Holy Spirit is telling you without a SAVIOUR you are hopeless lost. Hopelessly. WHATEVER you do, don't go the grave without HIM. Here is also the point the sinful heart will look around and say: "but isn't there another way, isn't there someone else who knows how I can stay the same and not be impacted by this"....but stay the same?
Why would you want to live in your own fears, uncertainties, guilt for the failures you remember, never be certain what is true or right, always living in ambiguity?? why stay there? is it really safe? The Law says no and it is ignored at great peril. The law says there is a Holy one who is love, honour repect, faithful ..and haven't you been hurt by the lack of these things in people, haven't they let you down?
WHAT CAN I DO?
God has, before time, seen your predicament. He's seen the hurt, the loneliness, the hatred, everything, and before time he set in motion a rescue plan.
You are now on the cusp of a changed heart. It is like waking up and you are on the edge of huge cliff face. You didn't know while you were asleep that such a vast cliff was there!. You have seen your predicament probably for the first time, and the peril you really are in, by the morning light of God's Law, or maybe you have been convicted for a long time, struggling with the imperfections you have already clearly seen in your life...you know what misery, hatred, lies, murder is first hand, you've been to hell already and seen for yourself that there are principles operating in this world that are soooooo wrong, evil is around every corner, and you canot get free from it. God has set a rescue plan. God had done something that you being in sin could never do. Before this point there was no point being told Sunday School stories, or had the rescue plan explained, you were not ready or willing to hear. God has now got your attention. Is there a way out?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
6. What is wrong with my heart?
How do I know that Adam's sin has anything to do with me?
How do I know if I have sin? What symptoms are there?
Yes, like a genetic (inherited) disease, there are sure, certain signs that would directly indicate you have the condition called sin.
Do you have parents / grandparents / great grandparents who look like they are sick (suffering from a disease is a sign), anyone who have become invalids (becoming frail, weaker, unable to walk is a sign), or anyone who has died of of 'natural causes' (this is a sure sign: death is what happens to a soul that has sin). Anyone who will mislead or lie? anyone who has killed or hated or lusted, anyone who was unfaithful to their partner, anyone who did not love God with their whole life? These are sure signs of sin has made it all the way from Adam to your relatives, a sure sign that being their descendant it is now in you!
Sin is a noun. It is a nature or thing. It is part of your nature, you were born with it. It is like a tigers stripes, lepard's spots. No running, or relgious treadmill will remove the stain of sin in your inner parts.
Sins (verb) are what a sinner (noun) does. Its like water freezes, birds fly, sinners sin. So many preachers just say STOP SINNING...here follow these rules and you'll be fine...but the tiger still has his stripes and poor hapless believer is sent on a merry go round of prayer, fasting, bible reading, programs and the second they stop either feel guilt or are made to feel guilt. The treadmill of religion cannot prevent a sinner from sinning. How do we get off??
You are said to be a captive of sin, and all people are inextricably going to have fruit, called sin, in their lives as they demonstrate most, if not all of their sin traits. Many live in societies where certain traits must never be seen or heard, it would bring shame, dishonour to the family if some of these traits became public knowledge. The problem is being a captive / slave of sin and no society has the right rules to deal with the heart of people, sin nature (the noun).
Getting Deeper:
Various movies have played with the idea of a man being able to hear the thoughts of women around him and how that could be used to the man's advantage.
The bible says God does this ALL the time. Imagine the noise, chatter, thought processes going on, the planning, the desires being sought, the selfish ambition, the hatred, the lust, lies needed to get what you want.
Imagine hurt of GOD hearing people think of so many hurtful lustful trivial things, seldom or never hearing a person praise HIM for who HE is, not tainted with what HE can give!
But the 'problem with God' is that He goes deeper than that. He can read the motive of your heart, not just the thoughts that spring from a heart that have good or bad motives. God can see a person with a 'Good Heart' think wrong things (and disappoints HIM) and people with the 'Devil's Heart' think good things (He is not fooled by this). God is concerned with your heart.
Your heart is also called your motive, your drive, your spirit. When God sees your heart, he's seeing what drives you, your thoughts, which inturn drives your speech, which inturn drives your behaviour! Ah! behaviour that's what we think we need to correct! but NO! God goes 5 layers deeper than that! We are so superficial. ...it must be something to do with sin! When God looks at your inner most part (heart) He either sees His Son there or the Devil, if you are a pretty girl HE sees the Devil dressed in drag, if you are a bloke, HE sees the devil with old jeans or just wearing a beard. It is from the Heart your thoughts and words spring and why the 'change of heart' also called repentance, is EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.
When your heart changes from that controlled by sin, it becomes a Child of God. There is NO BIGGER TRANSFORMATION than this change in a human life. Going from rags to riches is just a shadow of what happens when some's heart changes to a child of God.
The problem with our hearts is, without a mighty revelation of truth, they are cold, empty, seeking fulfillment, lost, confused always wondering. When we hear the Gospel of Jesus we are faced with a choice: 1) to stay the same or 2) to find out more. But information is not all we need, its a HEART TRANSFORMATION. Happy thoughts, New Years resolutions, self motivation, a small behavioural change is not IT. This is where LAW comes in, but not for approving you, but to do something more important and it is the only thing that can do it: CONVICT & SENTENCE AND KILL 'you'. Law can do that? Read on. It is the poison that religion keeps people sipping or drinking copiously as if its going to be their best remedy. Law is deadly and should only be administered by those who know what they are doing. Don't trust just anyone looking religious to handle it right. The devil loves religion too and imitates everything God does but with a LETHAL twist to make it wrong. If you aren't able to see it then read on.
How do I know if I have sin? What symptoms are there?
Yes, like a genetic (inherited) disease, there are sure, certain signs that would directly indicate you have the condition called sin.
Do you have parents / grandparents / great grandparents who look like they are sick (suffering from a disease is a sign), anyone who have become invalids (becoming frail, weaker, unable to walk is a sign), or anyone who has died of of 'natural causes' (this is a sure sign: death is what happens to a soul that has sin). Anyone who will mislead or lie? anyone who has killed or hated or lusted, anyone who was unfaithful to their partner, anyone who did not love God with their whole life? These are sure signs of sin has made it all the way from Adam to your relatives, a sure sign that being their descendant it is now in you!
Sin is a noun. It is a nature or thing. It is part of your nature, you were born with it. It is like a tigers stripes, lepard's spots. No running, or relgious treadmill will remove the stain of sin in your inner parts.
Sins (verb) are what a sinner (noun) does. Its like water freezes, birds fly, sinners sin. So many preachers just say STOP SINNING...here follow these rules and you'll be fine...but the tiger still has his stripes and poor hapless believer is sent on a merry go round of prayer, fasting, bible reading, programs and the second they stop either feel guilt or are made to feel guilt. The treadmill of religion cannot prevent a sinner from sinning. How do we get off??
You are said to be a captive of sin, and all people are inextricably going to have fruit, called sin, in their lives as they demonstrate most, if not all of their sin traits. Many live in societies where certain traits must never be seen or heard, it would bring shame, dishonour to the family if some of these traits became public knowledge. The problem is being a captive / slave of sin and no society has the right rules to deal with the heart of people, sin nature (the noun).
Getting Deeper:
Various movies have played with the idea of a man being able to hear the thoughts of women around him and how that could be used to the man's advantage.
The bible says God does this ALL the time. Imagine the noise, chatter, thought processes going on, the planning, the desires being sought, the selfish ambition, the hatred, the lust, lies needed to get what you want.
Imagine hurt of GOD hearing people think of so many hurtful lustful trivial things, seldom or never hearing a person praise HIM for who HE is, not tainted with what HE can give!
But the 'problem with God' is that He goes deeper than that. He can read the motive of your heart, not just the thoughts that spring from a heart that have good or bad motives. God can see a person with a 'Good Heart' think wrong things (and disappoints HIM) and people with the 'Devil's Heart' think good things (He is not fooled by this). God is concerned with your heart.
Your heart is also called your motive, your drive, your spirit. When God sees your heart, he's seeing what drives you, your thoughts, which inturn drives your speech, which inturn drives your behaviour! Ah! behaviour that's what we think we need to correct! but NO! God goes 5 layers deeper than that! We are so superficial. ...it must be something to do with sin! When God looks at your inner most part (heart) He either sees His Son there or the Devil, if you are a pretty girl HE sees the Devil dressed in drag, if you are a bloke, HE sees the devil with old jeans or just wearing a beard. It is from the Heart your thoughts and words spring and why the 'change of heart' also called repentance, is EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.
When your heart changes from that controlled by sin, it becomes a Child of God. There is NO BIGGER TRANSFORMATION than this change in a human life. Going from rags to riches is just a shadow of what happens when some's heart changes to a child of God.
The problem with our hearts is, without a mighty revelation of truth, they are cold, empty, seeking fulfillment, lost, confused always wondering. When we hear the Gospel of Jesus we are faced with a choice: 1) to stay the same or 2) to find out more. But information is not all we need, its a HEART TRANSFORMATION. Happy thoughts, New Years resolutions, self motivation, a small behavioural change is not IT. This is where LAW comes in, but not for approving you, but to do something more important and it is the only thing that can do it: CONVICT & SENTENCE AND KILL 'you'. Law can do that? Read on. It is the poison that religion keeps people sipping or drinking copiously as if its going to be their best remedy. Law is deadly and should only be administered by those who know what they are doing. Don't trust just anyone looking religious to handle it right. The devil loves religion too and imitates everything God does but with a LETHAL twist to make it wrong. If you aren't able to see it then read on.
5. So what is sin?
People talk about 'sins' but no one explains 'sin'.
How do you know if you have it? Can you get rid of it?
Most people think they are good, maybe at a stretch sometimes bad. So what's God's problem?
I finally understand it. I heard someone say their religion is great, they love their children, they want to build a better society, and these people are known for their contempt, humiliation and hatred and I got it! The person was right! Of course they love their own, they can do good to others, infact it has nothing to do with religion whatsoever!!! in fact people can do good despite religion! every culture in the world, past, present and I dare say future, love their children and family. I realise the scripture is true: Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the 'knowledge of good & evil'...they didn't eat from the tree of 'knowledge of evil'that would mean they couldn't do good, the whole problem with sin is that within the good you do it is tainted with evil, like:
a) a vat of milk with a dead rat in it, it should look and taste ok but the contamination is there and ruins the purity of the milk.
b) a house of white carpet and you take one step with your muddy boot on the carpet, it is still all mostly clean but is spoilt / stained possibly forever.
c) an archer not hitting a bullseye.
The part that these three analogies miss is the lethal nature of contamination: 'good' things with a hint of 'poison' is deadly.
A better analogy would be a baked lamb dinner with baked veg, sweet potato, pumpkin, with a small sprinkle of arsenic salt over it.
Is is good? Is it bad? Well its both simultaneously!
There you have sin! It would smell and look perfect but it is lethal. Now the problem with sin is it's in every part of our lives and decision making process....even our most noble decisions!. It is in:
a) every friendly greating where I think to myself "not you again",
b) its visiting someone but preferring to be somewhere else,
c) its in the "I'm sorry" but I think "I'll get you back"
d) in giving money or a gift and thinking I'm going to get something in return
e) sharing something and thinking they are going to share back....the thing that outwardly is good, great, infact excellent but underneath is greed, hate, lust, indifference, misrepresenting truth...all these things make a good thing evil.
Sin is the lethal blend of good with a very small, imperceptable dose of evil ...it is completely deadly.
Evil is the same but without the pretense of 'good'. When 'good' hides 'evil' it is called sin and it permeates our every thought and deed.
And there is no deed / law / rule we can do to deal with this problem. How did we get it?
How do you know if you have it? Can you get rid of it?
Most people think they are good, maybe at a stretch sometimes bad. So what's God's problem?
I finally understand it. I heard someone say their religion is great, they love their children, they want to build a better society, and these people are known for their contempt, humiliation and hatred and I got it! The person was right! Of course they love their own, they can do good to others, infact it has nothing to do with religion whatsoever!!! in fact people can do good despite religion! every culture in the world, past, present and I dare say future, love their children and family. I realise the scripture is true: Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the 'knowledge of good & evil'...they didn't eat from the tree of 'knowledge of evil'that would mean they couldn't do good, the whole problem with sin is that within the good you do it is tainted with evil, like:
a) a vat of milk with a dead rat in it, it should look and taste ok but the contamination is there and ruins the purity of the milk.
b) a house of white carpet and you take one step with your muddy boot on the carpet, it is still all mostly clean but is spoilt / stained possibly forever.
c) an archer not hitting a bullseye.
The part that these three analogies miss is the lethal nature of contamination: 'good' things with a hint of 'poison' is deadly.
A better analogy would be a baked lamb dinner with baked veg, sweet potato, pumpkin, with a small sprinkle of arsenic salt over it.
Is is good? Is it bad? Well its both simultaneously!
There you have sin! It would smell and look perfect but it is lethal. Now the problem with sin is it's in every part of our lives and decision making process....even our most noble decisions!. It is in:
a) every friendly greating where I think to myself "not you again",
b) its visiting someone but preferring to be somewhere else,
c) its in the "I'm sorry" but I think "I'll get you back"
d) in giving money or a gift and thinking I'm going to get something in return
e) sharing something and thinking they are going to share back....the thing that outwardly is good, great, infact excellent but underneath is greed, hate, lust, indifference, misrepresenting truth...all these things make a good thing evil.
Sin is the lethal blend of good with a very small, imperceptable dose of evil ...it is completely deadly.
Evil is the same but without the pretense of 'good'. When 'good' hides 'evil' it is called sin and it permeates our every thought and deed.
And there is no deed / law / rule we can do to deal with this problem. How did we get it?
4. No morality ...a better way?
If you realise that keeping the Law is impossible and you hear that the cross put the Law to death, and you think: "right no rules...how can that be a better way?" I jump for joy! you have heard the Gospel of Grace. Paul twice in the letter to the Romans punctuated his discourse with "what if I sin and God grace is bigger, then shouldn't I sin more?"
Because hearers of the gospel of grace usually have no idea of:
1. what sin is,
2. what Holiness of God is, and
3. what christ has done that blows all previous understanding away.
The first two are related and the 3rd item is the answer to the rules question.
Natural man thinking is looking for the right set of rules but Paul referred to something 'new'. This 'new' was planned from before the foundations of the world, the universe, its a paradym he spoke of in terms of "acts of the flesh" v "acts of the spirit" and the power of the change was a wooden cross, and one Son of God, not one rule in sight.
Now the solution for sin is completely shocking to legalists (moralists is the new word). The solution was put forward to the variouus Jewish assemblies across the Roman Empire, many believed but to many it was so shocking. Rabbi Saul (apostle paul) was beaten by rods, lashed 39 times and stoned, on many occassions. What drove the man to persist. Something was revealed to him that was the solution for sin and every man needs it.
So what is sin? Who was Jesus? What did the cross do? Whats this to do with 'morality'?
Because hearers of the gospel of grace usually have no idea of:
1. what sin is,
2. what Holiness of God is, and
3. what christ has done that blows all previous understanding away.
The first two are related and the 3rd item is the answer to the rules question.
Natural man thinking is looking for the right set of rules but Paul referred to something 'new'. This 'new' was planned from before the foundations of the world, the universe, its a paradym he spoke of in terms of "acts of the flesh" v "acts of the spirit" and the power of the change was a wooden cross, and one Son of God, not one rule in sight.
Now the solution for sin is completely shocking to legalists (moralists is the new word). The solution was put forward to the variouus Jewish assemblies across the Roman Empire, many believed but to many it was so shocking. Rabbi Saul (apostle paul) was beaten by rods, lashed 39 times and stoned, on many occassions. What drove the man to persist. Something was revealed to him that was the solution for sin and every man needs it.
So what is sin? Who was Jesus? What did the cross do? Whats this to do with 'morality'?
3. The Seventh Day Adventist Dilemma
The sabbath day question was from a man in the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church.
One of the first things that happened in my quest was playing an old vinyl record by Sally Hilder: All My Friends Are Sinners. I love the lyric and music and vocals for Sally. The album is dated around 1979. She is from Sydney but what I didn't know until I did a google search, found she was from a SDA youth fellowship and church. I think the producer and others were from the church but in time become disenchanted and never attended after some time. One comment I saw was the SDA church was responsible for spawning more than 200 different denominations! the problem kept on being what rules to follow from the bible.
What is moral?
This is the core of every religion's proposition. But the New Testament does not ask this question. The closest equivalent was "Whats the most important command?" "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" but a set of rules are not the answer. What? no rules!
For nearly 1500 years Israel (sons of Jacob) had the Law of God, written on tablets of stone in the ark of the covenant, written by the 'finger of God'. There were 1300 rules /laws in the Torah (5 books of Moses) they could never fully comply with. Multiple prophets were raised to restore right worship of God. If the history of Israel teaches us anything, it is: sin is not arrested by rules, they could never keep all the rules! 100% Compliance (God minimum standard) is IMPOSSIBLE. Rules had a function, people missed it. They thought Law was there best-est buddy, but Law was armed with a curse and people miss it, even today with Paul's repeated explanations people fall into a delusional state saying: I keep the 10 commandments. Paul said they had a ministry but it only brought condemnation, judgement, death. Right living is not a clear path...there has to be another way.
God's promise to Abraham, required a steward called LAW to bring Gods people to Messiah.
Paul goes to great lengths repeatedly to say that Laws were to wake men up to sin but there is no law, no morality that could give eternal life. A different arrangement, a new covenant, was the solution. The covenant was clearly planned before the creation of the world and it involved the indwelling of Gods Spirit in men.
Now the problem with the various christian based religions is their distinctive is the arbitrary set of Mosaic Laws /rules they say are still alive and active and imperative to make you 'suitable' for God.
It is all based on the false notion of "Moral Law", ie the idea that within Moses Law are scattered intermittently with laws that actually can never be ignored, in fact if you ignor them you do so at your PERIL, i.e. rejection by God; they are imperatives.
Herein lies the problem, which of the 1300 Mosaic (and Abrahamic -circumcision/tithe) laws are 'moral'. No religion has tabled a comprehensive list of moral, civil, ceremonial laws within Moses, they never have, they never will. What laws you choose then becomes your 'trademark'!!! Then on top of that, religion has gone a step further, and decided some "moral" laws are forgivable and won't stop entry to heaven but then others are worse and they will stop you going to heaven, a tangled web of confusion. The Gospel of Grace is lost in the imaginary legal minefield, literally minefield, because if you are not 'in christ' and you use the 'Im a good person line' with God you are using the law as if it is going to help you, it bears a curse, any failure at ANY point of the law, makes you guilty of breaching ALL the law, there is NO grading by the curve.
What do SDA's use as 'moral' law? Well this is their biggest problem. They are responsible for spawning over 200 brands of christianity and its all because the rule list changes. Most denominations have arbitrarily decided that the 10 commandments mentioned by Paul being part of an old covenant, and has been superceded by a far far superior covenant are unanimously invoked as "moral", something that is doubly wrong (resurrect something superceded and to establish a GOLDEN law that rules ....and we know Law is not KING.
The problem this raises is, it becomes a crime to worship God on a Sunday, the first day of the week, and anything that disturbs 7th day observance is now severely scorned, in fact its "IMMORAL" and there is no hope for you. This is compounded by determining which activities keep you fenced withing this morality issue and you are back to mortal or temporal 'wrongs', and confusion becomes king again, left always looking over their shoulder to determine if they are still compliant with a law. Its a constant and a fearful thing. Law WILL kill you.
Why do Reformation loving, Spirit loving SDA's worried about the Law of Moses? In a word "MORALITY". What rules should I follow? Why are rules somehow a concern? Thomas Aquina is the answer. He said that men must follow certain rules. Those rules are in Moses. But the cross of christ is known to do away with the Law of Moses, what rules then abide? Well the answer came in saying Moses rules actually came in 3 flavours: Ceremonial, Civil and Moral and its the moral rules that were not addressed by the cross of christ, or so its claimed.
This construct is completely spurious and is the source of the greatest confusion in christian circles. What laws are 'moral' becomes completely at the discretion of who has a 'new' agenda that needs distinguishing attributes to make them somehow different, somehow 'better' than those who don't share that agenda. ...we are 'better' because we observe extra rules!!..completely misconstruing the purpose of the law, the work of christ, and promotes division instead of unity.
The dilemma for my SDA friends is their core belief: "Moral Law", is a Roman Catholic dogma and they pride themselves to be strong Reformation teachers. The reformation brought focus back to the person and work of Christ who brought a new Coventant that faaaaaarrrrr exceeded the Law of Moses 2 Corinthians 3:7 "Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory,...8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!" .....then what are they still doing in Moses????????????x10,000,000!!!!.....then I realise 99% of protestants are absolutely well entrenched there as well!! "Moral law" this, "morality" that and the confusion about rules goes on unabated. There is a ministry of the Spirit that brings life UNLIKE Moses, ah ha! the key ...a ministry that brings righteousness instead of death, condemnation and I say, confusion!....shouldn't that be a special ministry!!!!!!
As Paul says, nothing matters other than the cross of christ, any teaching NOT built on HIM and His DEATH is establishing another foundation. ...typically this involves new people who have new rules/laws that make you "more acceptable" to God and puts people under condemnation and fear. There is another way.
One of the first things that happened in my quest was playing an old vinyl record by Sally Hilder: All My Friends Are Sinners. I love the lyric and music and vocals for Sally. The album is dated around 1979. She is from Sydney but what I didn't know until I did a google search, found she was from a SDA youth fellowship and church. I think the producer and others were from the church but in time become disenchanted and never attended after some time. One comment I saw was the SDA church was responsible for spawning more than 200 different denominations! the problem kept on being what rules to follow from the bible.
What is moral?
This is the core of every religion's proposition. But the New Testament does not ask this question. The closest equivalent was "Whats the most important command?" "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" but a set of rules are not the answer. What? no rules!
For nearly 1500 years Israel (sons of Jacob) had the Law of God, written on tablets of stone in the ark of the covenant, written by the 'finger of God'. There were 1300 rules /laws in the Torah (5 books of Moses) they could never fully comply with. Multiple prophets were raised to restore right worship of God. If the history of Israel teaches us anything, it is: sin is not arrested by rules, they could never keep all the rules! 100% Compliance (God minimum standard) is IMPOSSIBLE. Rules had a function, people missed it. They thought Law was there best-est buddy, but Law was armed with a curse and people miss it, even today with Paul's repeated explanations people fall into a delusional state saying: I keep the 10 commandments. Paul said they had a ministry but it only brought condemnation, judgement, death. Right living is not a clear path...there has to be another way.
God's promise to Abraham, required a steward called LAW to bring Gods people to Messiah.
Paul goes to great lengths repeatedly to say that Laws were to wake men up to sin but there is no law, no morality that could give eternal life. A different arrangement, a new covenant, was the solution. The covenant was clearly planned before the creation of the world and it involved the indwelling of Gods Spirit in men.
Now the problem with the various christian based religions is their distinctive is the arbitrary set of Mosaic Laws /rules they say are still alive and active and imperative to make you 'suitable' for God.
It is all based on the false notion of "Moral Law", ie the idea that within Moses Law are scattered intermittently with laws that actually can never be ignored, in fact if you ignor them you do so at your PERIL, i.e. rejection by God; they are imperatives.
Herein lies the problem, which of the 1300 Mosaic (and Abrahamic -circumcision/tithe) laws are 'moral'. No religion has tabled a comprehensive list of moral, civil, ceremonial laws within Moses, they never have, they never will. What laws you choose then becomes your 'trademark'!!! Then on top of that, religion has gone a step further, and decided some "moral" laws are forgivable and won't stop entry to heaven but then others are worse and they will stop you going to heaven, a tangled web of confusion. The Gospel of Grace is lost in the imaginary legal minefield, literally minefield, because if you are not 'in christ' and you use the 'Im a good person line' with God you are using the law as if it is going to help you, it bears a curse, any failure at ANY point of the law, makes you guilty of breaching ALL the law, there is NO grading by the curve.
What do SDA's use as 'moral' law? Well this is their biggest problem. They are responsible for spawning over 200 brands of christianity and its all because the rule list changes. Most denominations have arbitrarily decided that the 10 commandments mentioned by Paul being part of an old covenant, and has been superceded by a far far superior covenant are unanimously invoked as "moral", something that is doubly wrong (resurrect something superceded and to establish a GOLDEN law that rules ....and we know Law is not KING.
The problem this raises is, it becomes a crime to worship God on a Sunday, the first day of the week, and anything that disturbs 7th day observance is now severely scorned, in fact its "IMMORAL" and there is no hope for you. This is compounded by determining which activities keep you fenced withing this morality issue and you are back to mortal or temporal 'wrongs', and confusion becomes king again, left always looking over their shoulder to determine if they are still compliant with a law. Its a constant and a fearful thing. Law WILL kill you.
Why do Reformation loving, Spirit loving SDA's worried about the Law of Moses? In a word "MORALITY". What rules should I follow? Why are rules somehow a concern? Thomas Aquina is the answer. He said that men must follow certain rules. Those rules are in Moses. But the cross of christ is known to do away with the Law of Moses, what rules then abide? Well the answer came in saying Moses rules actually came in 3 flavours: Ceremonial, Civil and Moral and its the moral rules that were not addressed by the cross of christ, or so its claimed.
This construct is completely spurious and is the source of the greatest confusion in christian circles. What laws are 'moral' becomes completely at the discretion of who has a 'new' agenda that needs distinguishing attributes to make them somehow different, somehow 'better' than those who don't share that agenda. ...we are 'better' because we observe extra rules!!..completely misconstruing the purpose of the law, the work of christ, and promotes division instead of unity.
The dilemma for my SDA friends is their core belief: "Moral Law", is a Roman Catholic dogma and they pride themselves to be strong Reformation teachers. The reformation brought focus back to the person and work of Christ who brought a new Coventant that faaaaaarrrrr exceeded the Law of Moses 2 Corinthians 3:7 "Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory,...8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!" .....then what are they still doing in Moses????????????x10,000,000!!!!.....then I realise 99% of protestants are absolutely well entrenched there as well!! "Moral law" this, "morality" that and the confusion about rules goes on unabated. There is a ministry of the Spirit that brings life UNLIKE Moses, ah ha! the key ...a ministry that brings righteousness instead of death, condemnation and I say, confusion!....shouldn't that be a special ministry!!!!!!
As Paul says, nothing matters other than the cross of christ, any teaching NOT built on HIM and His DEATH is establishing another foundation. ...typically this involves new people who have new rules/laws that make you "more acceptable" to God and puts people under condemnation and fear. There is another way.
2. Is there a Moral Law?
1. Does the NT mention Morality?
2. Where is the talk of morality from?
3. What rules constitute morality?
4. What wrong with morality?
5. Is there something that is better, certain, achievable, certain, satifying?
1. Does the NT mention Morality?
I never see this word. There is only talk of commands of Christ, Christ affirming ALLLLL the commands of Moses, and Paul enounciating the Gospel of Grace and that NO COMMAND gives life, reconcilliation with God. There is talk by Paul of 'right' living but the criteria, the distinctive marks are not laws, but fruit of a fundamental, spirit changing event...again they are fruit, not prepositions that make the change happen, but the right living comes OUT of the right change! This is the opposite of the teacing of morality that goes around. It says DO and you will GET but the teaching about GRACE swaps things on their head and says GET and you will DO. but I'm getting ahead of my self, this is the distictive of the ministry of the Spirit, it is so different to the ministry of the Law.
2. Where is the talk of morality from?
I understand the word 'moral' was immortalised by one Thomas Aquinas where he contrived a framework for Moses Law, dividing into 3 types: ceremonial; civil; moral. Never before in the time of the apostles did such a distinction exist. What seems to be happening is instead of talk of being born again, producing the fruit of the spirit, there seems only a concern exists for external rules for the appearance of right living. We know from religious family and friends that the darkest of hearts are taught they are ok because they have complied with various 'essential' rules, but the evil is still there, just not talked about.
3. What rules constitute morality?
Here in lies the WHOLE problem of the imaginary concept MORALITY. ..one person's set of rules differ from the next, and if there appears to be people who perform better than you then a new higher rule is invoked to say "I'm in" and "You're out" and divisions and discentions are promoted and fueled on for more misery to exist. I see no happiness in the concept of 'morality', it is abiguous, arbitrary, impossible to comply with no matter how simple the rules, and it gives no certainty, hope, or eternal confidence and by the way, these rules in no way, addresses the root problem, can bring righteousness God requires, INFACT can ONLY promote pride which is the EXACT opposite to what God's requirement is!!!!!!!!!!! No, some apostles covered the externals without addressing the root issue, but thankfully we have Paul who more than sufficiently sets up 'right living' in the God revealed way, not man made criteria.
4. What wrong with morality?
The no.1 issue with morality, is identifcation of the right rules!! then comes problem no.2 what is the 'accepted' Compliance rate for morals. Here is where various responses come:
- back patting,
- making excuses for less than perfect performance,
- perpetually refining and redefining the 'right' rules
- making things up to suit yourself!
but NONE of this brings us Gods righteousness. He is perfect and DEMANDS perfection. These 4 responses might be demonstrated in the 4 types in Jesus day:
- the strict and severe invoke monastic (essene) type life,
- some become legalistic (pharisaic),
- some struggle but live with it and only live for this life (sadducee)
- and most think its a crock and just have Saturdays off and have the obligatory party days and say I'm ok (Herodian).
None of these are the New Testament answer to righteousness. Morality is in no way "IT".
5. Is there something that is better, certain, achievable, certain, satifying?
Ah, now we are getting out of the Romans7 conundrum into where the Spirit of the Lord is. The short answer here is the Cross of Christ changed EVERYTHING. Before the cross, there was confusion, legalism, tradition et al but after the cross came the Holy Spirit. This spirit enters the heart of men who bend their heart to the personhood of Christ and see the cross as rightfully their death, the death of messiah was a death they should have rightly bore, not just the physical passing but the spiritual one that follows the physical death. ..but this is the purpose of this WHOLE blog. Its a paradym shift that precious few grasp. Knowing this new paradym now I can see why the Apostle Paul was repeatedly attacked and left for dead by 'morality' pursing Jews who said there is a set of rules that all must comply with, anything less is an abomination ie the teaching of a God of Great Grace. The message of Grace is contrary to the ministry of the Law, the two are not friends only JESUS CHRIST brings them together, not me, you or anyone else.
2. Where is the talk of morality from?
3. What rules constitute morality?
4. What wrong with morality?
5. Is there something that is better, certain, achievable, certain, satifying?
1. Does the NT mention Morality?
I never see this word. There is only talk of commands of Christ, Christ affirming ALLLLL the commands of Moses, and Paul enounciating the Gospel of Grace and that NO COMMAND gives life, reconcilliation with God. There is talk by Paul of 'right' living but the criteria, the distinctive marks are not laws, but fruit of a fundamental, spirit changing event...again they are fruit, not prepositions that make the change happen, but the right living comes OUT of the right change! This is the opposite of the teacing of morality that goes around. It says DO and you will GET but the teaching about GRACE swaps things on their head and says GET and you will DO. but I'm getting ahead of my self, this is the distictive of the ministry of the Spirit, it is so different to the ministry of the Law.
2. Where is the talk of morality from?
I understand the word 'moral' was immortalised by one Thomas Aquinas where he contrived a framework for Moses Law, dividing into 3 types: ceremonial; civil; moral. Never before in the time of the apostles did such a distinction exist. What seems to be happening is instead of talk of being born again, producing the fruit of the spirit, there seems only a concern exists for external rules for the appearance of right living. We know from religious family and friends that the darkest of hearts are taught they are ok because they have complied with various 'essential' rules, but the evil is still there, just not talked about.
3. What rules constitute morality?
Here in lies the WHOLE problem of the imaginary concept MORALITY. ..one person's set of rules differ from the next, and if there appears to be people who perform better than you then a new higher rule is invoked to say "I'm in" and "You're out" and divisions and discentions are promoted and fueled on for more misery to exist. I see no happiness in the concept of 'morality', it is abiguous, arbitrary, impossible to comply with no matter how simple the rules, and it gives no certainty, hope, or eternal confidence and by the way, these rules in no way, addresses the root problem, can bring righteousness God requires, INFACT can ONLY promote pride which is the EXACT opposite to what God's requirement is!!!!!!!!!!! No, some apostles covered the externals without addressing the root issue, but thankfully we have Paul who more than sufficiently sets up 'right living' in the God revealed way, not man made criteria.
4. What wrong with morality?
The no.1 issue with morality, is identifcation of the right rules!! then comes problem no.2 what is the 'accepted' Compliance rate for morals. Here is where various responses come:
- back patting,
- making excuses for less than perfect performance,
- perpetually refining and redefining the 'right' rules
- making things up to suit yourself!
but NONE of this brings us Gods righteousness. He is perfect and DEMANDS perfection. These 4 responses might be demonstrated in the 4 types in Jesus day:
- the strict and severe invoke monastic (essene) type life,
- some become legalistic (pharisaic),
- some struggle but live with it and only live for this life (sadducee)
- and most think its a crock and just have Saturdays off and have the obligatory party days and say I'm ok (Herodian).
None of these are the New Testament answer to righteousness. Morality is in no way "IT".
5. Is there something that is better, certain, achievable, certain, satifying?
Ah, now we are getting out of the Romans7 conundrum into where the Spirit of the Lord is. The short answer here is the Cross of Christ changed EVERYTHING. Before the cross, there was confusion, legalism, tradition et al but after the cross came the Holy Spirit. This spirit enters the heart of men who bend their heart to the personhood of Christ and see the cross as rightfully their death, the death of messiah was a death they should have rightly bore, not just the physical passing but the spiritual one that follows the physical death. ..but this is the purpose of this WHOLE blog. Its a paradym shift that precious few grasp. Knowing this new paradym now I can see why the Apostle Paul was repeatedly attacked and left for dead by 'morality' pursing Jews who said there is a set of rules that all must comply with, anything less is an abomination ie the teaching of a God of Great Grace. The message of Grace is contrary to the ministry of the Law, the two are not friends only JESUS CHRIST brings them together, not me, you or anyone else.
1. There is no Quest without a Question
Imagine planning to go on the biggest quest in life. Things to pack, things to prepare, contingencies to consider, the only problem is you don't have an issue that needs to resolved!
If you go through life, go to cafes, stood on a mountain and shouted out a puzzle or question, would expect to hear a resounding clear answer everytime?
Or are there issues, are there things, when you ask about them people don't really know what to say, or they say a lot but not really get the answer, or the answer was the same you hear all the time but no one can explain it.
If you find that question, the one that is not understood, and it gets right inside your skin, you get a fire in your belly that this shouldn't be this way, you have found yourself a quest. There is no quest without a question.
This is applicable to my life. Until I stopped and asked any questions I never saw problems, or maybe it is better said, I never saw problems so well until I started asked questions...but... I have also found that there is no better way to enter the WRONG quest than when you ask the wrong question!!
How did my quest began in earnest? Great question. The beginning tells you more about the ending than anything surmising or conjecture. And again if you start in the wrong place you WILL almost certainly arrive at the wrong place.
I've love the word of God but one day encountered a $1million challenge to explain why christians should worship on a Sunday instead of Saturday. Pretty banal question but I started to feel angry. How dare this person do this, say this and worst of all entice people with money. I was irate.
But then the thought came to me, I do know a lot of reasons but I cannot neatly frame a simple answer that I knew would satisfy both the person and myself.
The ensuing investigation I found that the wrong question was asked, and of course the answer would never be found! I found the answer but it laid in a piece of wood and a certain Man who died on it. Then I found it answered so many more questions to now I see the answer holding everything together, so now I have a blog: The Cross Changes Everything.
This is not about religion, in fact religion was the biggest part of the problem but typical of the wisdom of God, evil actually paved the way for the greatest good to occur. Please read on.
I hope this blog reveals some of this process and the right questions to ask.
If you go through life, go to cafes, stood on a mountain and shouted out a puzzle or question, would expect to hear a resounding clear answer everytime?
Or are there issues, are there things, when you ask about them people don't really know what to say, or they say a lot but not really get the answer, or the answer was the same you hear all the time but no one can explain it.
If you find that question, the one that is not understood, and it gets right inside your skin, you get a fire in your belly that this shouldn't be this way, you have found yourself a quest. There is no quest without a question.
This is applicable to my life. Until I stopped and asked any questions I never saw problems, or maybe it is better said, I never saw problems so well until I started asked questions...but... I have also found that there is no better way to enter the WRONG quest than when you ask the wrong question!!
How did my quest began in earnest? Great question. The beginning tells you more about the ending than anything surmising or conjecture. And again if you start in the wrong place you WILL almost certainly arrive at the wrong place.
I've love the word of God but one day encountered a $1million challenge to explain why christians should worship on a Sunday instead of Saturday. Pretty banal question but I started to feel angry. How dare this person do this, say this and worst of all entice people with money. I was irate.
But then the thought came to me, I do know a lot of reasons but I cannot neatly frame a simple answer that I knew would satisfy both the person and myself.
The ensuing investigation I found that the wrong question was asked, and of course the answer would never be found! I found the answer but it laid in a piece of wood and a certain Man who died on it. Then I found it answered so many more questions to now I see the answer holding everything together, so now I have a blog: The Cross Changes Everything.
This is not about religion, in fact religion was the biggest part of the problem but typical of the wisdom of God, evil actually paved the way for the greatest good to occur. Please read on.
I hope this blog reveals some of this process and the right questions to ask.
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