The Answer Is Always B - 8/2/17 - Temporary or Eternal Life

What is the correct wording of John 3:16?

A. "God gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should be given temporary life, until that person sins again, and then that person loses that life until he confesses and repents and starts doing good again, and then he'll be given temporary life until he sins again. And if at the time of his death he happens to have even one sin that he hasn't confessed and repented of, then it's curtains for him and he perishes, but if he did manage to confess and repent, then and only then will he be actually given eternal life."

B. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

C. "Am I only dreaming or is this burning an eternal flame?"

Life in Christ isn't about "not sinning."

The other day, Lydia posted a couple of quotes from Ryan Rufus. I saw one quote on her Facebook profile:

"Living a holy life should never be defined as 'living without sin.' In fact sin has got nothing to do with holiness at all."

And another quote on this blog post:

"Holiness has got nothing to do with sinning or not sinning! If that is what we think, then we think WE are the cause of our holiness and I am telling you there is only ONE person who is the cause of our holiness and His name is Jesus Christ!!"

Great stuff! Being holy has nothing to do with "not sinning." We are holy because God has set us apart for Himself and has placed us in Himself - all based on the finished work of Jesus, not based upon what we do or don't do. For a long time in my Christian life, my focus seemed to be on "not sinning." If I sinned, or felt like I wasn't living righteously enough, my focus was on "not sinning." To be quite truthful, my focus was on "not sinning" quite often! My obsession was not my relationship with God. My obsession was how to overcome sin. I now realize that that obsession was fleshly and self-focused, not God-focused.

My life has forever been changed during the past decade and a half, ever since I realized that God is not obsessed with sin! He took care of the disease of sin on the cross, and His obsession (His passion) has always been me, not my sin!

Yes, it's true that "by the Spirit" we "put to death the deeds of the flesh." But that's not the essence of our lives in Christ! It's not the root of our lives in Christ, and it's not the daily obsession that we're to have. Jesus didn't come so that we would live with an ongoing focus on sin. He came so that we could be reconciled to God and have an ongoing obsession with HIM!

We all know how Jesus, in John 3:16, said that God gave Him so that people could have eternal life. And in John 17 He said that this is eternal life: That we may know God! Eternal life is NOW, and eternal life is knowing God! Let's stop making it about sin.

Titus 3:4567

Titus 3:4,5,6,7
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
NIV

I am the Resurrection and the Life...

...He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

Got to admit, this one sends shivers up and down my spine (cheesy "voice of Jesus" aside). :)

Carman - Lazarus

The answer is always B - 7/8/08 - "He saved us"

Haven't done this for a while!

Which is the correct wording of Titus 3:4-7?

A. But when we'd done enough good works to satisfy God, he saved us, because of all the righteous things we had done, not so much because of his mercy. He saved us, through our careful washing of our souls everyday, and through proving ourselves to be good and faithful servants. He made sure that we had poured our lives out in generous giving (especially to our local churches), so that having been justified by our generosity and good works, he might grudgingly accept us into his kingdom.

B. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

C. His hard drive crashed and he had forgotten to save his work. Ooops!

Jesus is Not a Religion - Part 3

"Christianity is one of the great religions of the world," or at least so say many well-meaning people. But no matter what anyone has previously thought about Jesus, or how they've previously understood Him, what I'm attempting to do in this series of posts is simply to point out that the scriptures, which tell about Jesus, do not point us to some religion called "Christianity," but they point us to the very Person Himself, Jesus. My hope as I lay out what the scriptures reveal about Jesus, is to show how they reveal a Person who is personally, intimately involved with us (individually and corporately), and to contrast this with the idea of "religion."

"Jesus is the way" was the subject of Part 2, and I'd like to carry that out just a little more. Specifically, I'd like to discuss why a "way" was needed in the first place (and why religion is not the way).

God did not create mankind for religion. When we read the creation account in Genesis, we don't see God creating Adam and Eve and telling them, "Ok, now, worship Me and follow a prescribed set of religious rituals and precepts. My goodness! We see Him creating them "in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen 1:27). We see Him setting them in a garden paradise and giving them free reign. In the next few verses we see God blessing them, telling them to "be fruitful and multiply." We see Him giving them dominion "over every living thing that moves on the earth." We see God giving, giving, giving to man, blessing him. No signs of religion. No signs of man working at trying to earn anything from God. Mankind was blessed and had a free and trusting relationship with God.

It wasn't God who created religion. It was man. Although what I'm about to say is obviously my opinion with no exact scriptural wording to back up my point, in the end the result is the same. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, but when presented with a different option, they chose religion instead. God gave them all things, and they were never meant to die, and they walked with God freely and openly. In the midst of the garden was the Tree of Life (to which they had free access) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which was the only thing forbidden to them). Note, it wasn't simply the "tree of the knowledge of evil." It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Well, they "saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise..." (Gen 3:6), and they took of its fruit and ate. And a dramatic change took place. Their eyes were "opened," and for the first time ever they knew that they were naked, and they covered themselves with fig leaves. Before eating from this tree, they had free and perfect fellowship with God. They had Life. They had no religion. Now suddenly they knew good and evil and also for the first time ever, they hid from God (Gen 3:8). God did not create man to hide from Him! His purpose for them was Himself and His creation - and Life. His purpose for them was not the religion tree (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), but we do see that by setting the forbidden tree there, He did give them a choice.

(Let me just point out that in the culmination of things, as revealed in the book of Revelation, we find the Tree of Life "in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Rev 2:7, 22:2, 22:14) but we find no tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

We see the result when they at from the forbidden tree. The curse began. (Gen 3:17-19). "Death reigned." (Rom 5:14). "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Rom 5:12). Man became alienated from God (Col 1:21).

As I set out saying, my purpose in spending some time here talking about Adam and Eve is to set up the understanding of why a "way" was needed in the first place. Because of sin - which spread to all of mankind - man was cursed and had no chance of eternal life. Ever since that time, man has tried to find various ways to reach out to God and "find" Him. Many people, for various reasons, think they have found Him through various methods, religious practices, feelings, emotions, strivings to live right, law, rules, meditation, etc.

But the same scriptures that reveal the above problems (the "bad news" of sin, death, separation from God, etc) also reveal that the answer, or the antidote, or the "way" is never going to be found in man's attempts to find God or reach out to Him. "Doing good works" is not the way to God. A "feeling" of love or happiness is not the way to God. Religious activity - which can be defined in all kinds of ways - is not the way to God. Many of these things may feel good or seem right, but a person can do all of those things and still remain separated from God! The issue, as the scriptures tell us, isn't a matter of whether we're good or evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the problem! Through that tree came death, and mankind was separated from the Tree of LIFE. It doesn't matter how good your good is if you're still eating from that tree! The issue is that man needed LIFE.

God so loved the world that He gave Jesus. Through Jesus, all who believe are restored to Life.

"God... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

I'm sure we'll delve further into "Jesus is the Life" in the future, but for now I hope it's been made at least somewhat clear as to why a way was needed and why Jesus is the Way and why there is no other way.

...or rather be known by Him

I love getting to know God. I love learning about Him and I love growing in my relationship with Him. As I said in my previous post, Jesus said that this is eternal life: that we know God.

But have you ever found that the more you learn about God, and the more you grow in your relationship with Him, the more you realize how little you actually know Him, and about Him? :-) Each opened door seems to open up so many more doors with so much more to explore!

That shouldn't stop us from seeking Him and desiring to learn more about Him, and knowing Him more intimately. But in one little Bible verse, Paul opens us up to a completely different perspective that you don't often hear about, but that I believe is grounded fully in what the gospel is all about, and is vastly covered in the "love letter" that is the Bible. It's a short phrase that could very easily be missed, but when its reality sets in it could be of great help to us in understanding that there's far more to our relationship with God than us knowing Him.

Paul writes: "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God..." (Gal 4:9a)

My own paraphrase: "Sure, you know God now, by faith. But what it's really all about is that God knows you!"

God's love letter has always attested to this truth:

Isa 43:1
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.

Ps 139:1-16
O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,"
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.


We are known by God! I chose just a couple of the many scriptures that reassure us that we are known by God... fully & completely... and that it's a good thing! Many live in fear, and avoid the thought that God knows them, because of all the "bad" things they know they've done. But God knows us in such a way that He rejoices over us (Isaiah 62:5), He sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17). He knows us intimately and LOVES US DEEPLY! There is nothing about us that is hidden from God. We are fully exposed to God. And since He has placed us in His Son Jesus, by faith, He is very pleased by what He knows about us and that He knows us!