Month: December 2008

Heya Peeps,

Happy post-Christmas time. 🙂 I am sorry I am 17 hours late on this week’s topic of thought. Yesterday at 1:30pm I had opportunity, but I did not quite have a sense of what I should write… due to being distracted over the last few days at me folks’ house. But I did think since that time and have a couple of verses to guide my message.

Recall we started December with Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

If you read on from there, you’ll see how God made everything, including the first person, Adam, and put him in the garden of Eden. Now as we continue, keep in the back of your mind the things we touched on about God; that He exists, He’s holy and righteous and He and His word is truth. If He says something will happen, then it will happen. Okay then…

Genesis 2:15-17 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Well well well… Looks like God gave Adam a test. Why, oh why did that tree with the “forbidden fruit” have to be in there God?

An answer can be found: John 14:15 [Jesus says] “If you love me, you will keep My commandments.”

So God made Adam and put him in a blissful place and also gave Adam an opportunity to obey or disobey… freewill to sin or not to sin, to trust or not to trust… to love or not to love. Thus Adam was not a pre-programmed robot was he? For how can one demonstrate such things as real and unforced love if they are programmed to love?

I like to give my kids “vitamin P” sometimes… (the P is for pester, heh heh). I’ll chase them around the house and when I catch them, I’ll nibble their bellies, administering their vitamin P. Other times, when they know I want to give them a deliberately sloppy kiss (eww yucky), I cry out “Love me…. love me…” They’ll run away as I stalk after them like Frankenstein, ha ha.

Even though I know my kids love me I also know I can’t force them to love me… just like I can’t force my beloved wife Melanie to love me. She can’t make me love her either. (FYI, everything’s okay between us… really 🙂 ) Now God could have made Adam love Him, but He didn’t. If love is to be real, it has to come from the heart on its own accord.

Thus the tree was also a test of love. And love for God manifests itself as obedience to His commands/ His word, (see John 14:15 above). Love is really not primarily an emotion, but is active. You know the old phrase, “Actions speak louder than words”, right? Anyone can SAY they love someone else, but if the walk don’t match the talk, then something ain’t quite right. 

God also gave Adam the truth about what would happen if he ate the forbidden fruit. Reaction always follows action. I think in another sense, reactions can be thought of as consequences. Let’s try a very simple premise on for size…

Obedience to God’s word brings forth blessings and disobedience to God’s word brings forth curses. Woah!

Deuteronomy 30:19 [God told Moses to tell the Israelites regarding their covenant with God] “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Pretty simple it seems. So I think God gave Adam that same kind of choice in the garden. (God is unchanging, so His rewarding good and punishing bad is unchanging too.) That tree really was a big deal. And the choice was simple… either obey Me and live or disobey Me and die. Wow!

Not too hard to fathom though… don’t break the law, don’t go to jail/ break the law, go to jail. Don’t smack finger with hammer, don’t get boo boo/ smack finger with hammer, get boo boo. Listen, hear/ don’t listen, don’t hear. It’s just that God’s word moves beyond our material/ physical condition and speaks to our spiritual condition. What is our spiritual condition when we enter this world? Well, let’s see what happened to the first couple? Sadly, as the account in Genesis states, Adam and Eve did not obey God. And if you read on, Adam and Eve live on and produce offspring too. But I thought God said they would die. Well, Adam eventually died at a ripe old age of 930 years old! But I suggest to you that Adam and Eve did die that very moment they disobeyed God in the garden… they died spiritually.

And we, as having ultimately come from them, have inherited their spiritual condition. (Gee thanks Adam and Eve). We come into this world disconnected spiritually from God our Creator.

Romans 3:23 All have sinned (disobeyed God) and fall short of the glory of God.

The big challenge for everyone who lives and can reason is recognizing this spiritual truth. We all have inherited Adam’s sin nature.

Oh but every great plot has some insurmountable problem huh? God wouldn’t just leave mankind no hope would He? Ahh… remember God is a God of love. Hmmm… Did you remember to listen to those classic Christmas song lyrics?

Peace,
Jim

Hello Dear Friends,

As I was thinking over the past week about our Bible study and the topics that have been presented for discussion, I wanted to use this week’s message to pause and use a wide-angle lens on what has been covered thus far. I tend to be wordy in my messages. And I have found that such length of writing may tax one’s time and attention. Thus, I shall endeavor here to write in chewable chunks.

Why talk about God first?

I believe if our understanding of God and what is true of Him is misinformed, then we handicap ourselves later on when we get to the how’s and why’s of His operation in our lives. Such things as why do bad things happen to good people, or why do bad people seem to prosper, or why are my prayers not answered, or why can’t I find peace, or how can I overcome temptations to sin, or how should I live my life to bring glory to Him, or how can I know I’m going to heaven when I die stem first from knowing the character of God and the revealing of Himself to mankind. Two big words, Doctrine and Theology,
which constitute our handling of the transcendent and consequently our faith, must be based on the truth. Ignorance, I’m sad to say, is not bliss.

Why does God’s Holiness and Righteousness matter to me?

Well, how we each individually relate to God is so very very important. The media, most academia, many religions, most people and basically the world system as a whole is bent on discrediting, deceiving and distorting our understanding of the true nature of God.

So, first off, it is hard to find the true God. Then once we do find Him, it is even harder to understand what is true of Him. It is certainly not popular to humble ourselves towards anything these days… but if we want to know God, then we must humble ourselves before Him!

Proverbs 9:10a The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…

Why get so serious about the God’s word being truth/ the Bible?

Because that old book we’ve known for years is serious. If we subscribe to (or are considering) Christianity, shouldn’t we know what the Owner’s manual says? Heh heh. I’ve tried putting together some complicated furniture, toys and recipes on my own accord. Let me tell you from experience, it shan’t do you much good to think you know how to put it together and actually goof it up. As people who believe in God and who have a desire to live meaningful lives, the Bible is literally God’s word to us. Let me say it a little differently; God speaks to us through His word, the Bible. Want to know that elusive “God’s will for your life”? God’s will for you is in the Bible, no joke!

This Christmas week, try to notice some of the words to those great classic Christmas carols. How would any of those great songs ever been composed absent an understanding of what God has told? God is the source of it all!

Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”

Peace,
Jim

Hi Everyone! (Twelve minutes past due… sorry)  

Well, this week’s topic of thought may open a can of worms, so to speak. Let’s stir the pot a little for it may cause you to consider things you have long put from your thinking. As I hope these Bible studies stir us to think deeper about our regard for God and the things pertaining to God, I ask you to give more than a couple of minutes thought on this topic. For to do so may confirm more strongly your convictions, which, of course, have eternal ramifications…  

How’s that for an opener? And so let’s recap first. We’ve been talking about God and His characteristics. We started out thinking if God is… and ascertaining from the responses, we answered in the affirmative, (kinda silly to say, for God is God regardless of our responses). Then, with the premise that He is, we looked into some of His characteristics, for if we are to know God, then we need to understand the things that are true of Him. We talked about Him as being holy, set-apart and Him as being righteous. These two particular characteristics of God lead to reverential awe and respect. God’s holy presence has a way of causing sin to cringe and desperately try to escape, like nasty cockroaches under a brilliant and blinding white light.  

And so if God is holy and righteous, (always does right), then we can also say God is honest. And if God is honest, then He is not a liar. And if God is not a liar, then whatever He may say or do is true, not false. Thus God is a God of truth. God is holy, God is righteous and God is truth. Hmmm…  

What do you suppose His word is?  

The answer simplifies the understanding of life. The answer tends to remove the gray areas of human discourse. The answer is so reliable; one may order their entire life around it. The answer requires belief. The answer is (By design, I assure you) the most popular selling book of all time.  

God’s word is truth. Another way to say this is God’s word is infallible… no errors whatsoever! His word is revealed in Scripture and the Scriptures have been preserved since ancient times from the Garden of Eden to the Borders Bookstore on the corner. God’s word has staying power like nothing else on earth! In Matthew 24:35, Jesus says: Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. A look at the history of how the Bible came to be is astounding!  

Now, frankly, there was a time when I did not believe God’s word was all true. I was able to accept Jesus as having been a real man once upon a time, but I could not believe Adam (Eve’s husband) lived to be 930 years old. Oh I could believe Nebuchadnezzar was King of Babylon, but Jonah being inside the belly of a big fish for 3 days???? Come on! Some stuff in the Bible had to be fantasy or myth, I thought. And sadly, such thinking leads to that ole’ study Bible we got as a present to collect dust on the bookshelf.  

But thinking back rationally, if God’s word is true, then everything He said has to be true too. This means God’s word is infallible. It was just a matter of whether I believed it or not.

Hold onto your hats… Let’s see some ramifications. Well, to cherry pick God’s word is to be inconsistent. To lop off the Old Testament and accept mostly the New Testament is disingenuous. I mean, by whose standard was I deciding what was acceptable and not acceptable? My own? If I am the one deciding, then guess what? I am putting myself as God’s judge. Wow! But if I am the creature and God is the Creator, then how backwards is that? Oh what haughty pride I once had! Sad to say, huh?  

Let’s read it again: God’s word is truth. Back to that prayer of Jesus (The Son) to God (The Father), In John 17:17 Jesus says: Sanctify them (His disciples) in the truth; Your word is truth. So if He says it, then by golly, that settles it. I must believe this if I am to have integrity as a “Bible-believing” Christian. My getting hung up on some portion of scripture and not accepting it as fact was doubt looking for proof. And doubt comes from unbelief. Why was I once unbelieving? Oh, I was influenced by other people’s opinions. I was ignorant of what the Bible actually said. I never thought too deeply about it. I never took an honest look at it. It wasn’t relevant to me at the time. Ha! If God is eternal, then His word is eternal, so it transcends time and place, culture and my measly amassing of trivial pursuit knowledge.  

Harsh? Perhaps… but straight up. We live in a society of relativism. Have you noticed? And calling things black and white, not gray is radical! Them’s fightin’ words. You know.. my truth is my truth and your truth is yours, and my truth is not necessarily right for you, but it is right for me. Neil Peart of Rush, once a musical hero of mine says this in his lyrics for “Faithless”: I’ve got my own moral compass to steer by, A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky.  

So think about how you regard God’s word. You may believe in God, but do you believe what He says too? All “Yeah, but”s are welcome 😉  

Peace,
Jim

Hi Everyone,

Continuing on our discussion about God, today I’d like to zero-in on a couple of characteristics of God that are absolutely essential to understand. It is like if you mess these up, a “whole lotta lumps” for you would be in store. Read on and see if you agree 🙂

Psalm 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, (where the temple in Jerusalem was, and will be again in the future), for holy is the Lord our God.

1st characteristic: Holy… God is perfectly holy. To be holy means to be “sacred”, “sanctified”, “set-apart” from the common.

For example, I was once touring the Royal Palace complex in Bangkok, Thailand where among the fascinating buildings there was a temple for the “Jade” Buddha, an idol carved from a solid chuck of jade. To go in, we had to take off our shoes, promise not to use flash photography, keep quiet, etc. Why? The Jade Buddha was to be regarded as holy. I see…

Another: If you go to the Mormon temple located off the Capitol Beltway, you’d be allowed to step foot in the “lobby” section, but no- way-Jose are you gonna get past that gate to the inner sanctum. Why? Just not any ‘ole non-Mormon can go in.

One helpful way to better understand a word is to look at its opposite. I suppose an opposite of the word holy would be the word wicked. Or let’s try some others that carry the same thought, Clean and unclean. Pure and defiled come to my mind too.

Okay, so God is holy. And this also means that His holy nature cannot ever be tainted or defiled. In order to be granted direct access to God, something must be made to be holy first. God was talking to Moses in Exodus 33:20: But He (God) said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see me and live!” Wow! How’s that for a little bit of healthyfear?

Daniel 9:14 Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

2nd characteristic: Righteous… God is perfectly righteous. To be righteous is to be “Morally right”, morally true and virtuous and thus justifiable.

For example: A surfer dude catching a 30 foot North Shore tube and coming out the other side with his life would say what? “That was righteous!” Ha. But, rather, doing good to those who hurt you would be a properly righteous act. Remember those WWJD bracelets? They were a reminder to live like Jesus, who was perfectly righteous (among many other things, or course).

With these characteristics of God now in mind, look at the Prophet Isaiah’s call to serve God:

Isaiah 6:1 In the year of Kind Uzziah’s death (739 B.C.), I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Isaiah 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Can you see what happenes when someone clearly percieves God’s holiness and righteousness? Have you ever felt it?

Final thought…

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Such awe-beholding fear is hard to come by these days… Why is that?

Peace,
Jim

Hi Everyone,

Today I wish to start something new, something radical, something I hope will be worthwhile and useful. As I thought about what I might contribute to this group, the one thing I always knew I wanted to do was to share some insight into God’s word, the Bible. At first impression, this may seem to you like a high-minded and lofty pursuit. Well, the subject matter certainly is, but my speaking of it is with utmost reverence and sincerity of motivation. And my motivation is to help foster a deeper understanding of God’s word, myself included.

So…. I will be open and honest with full-disclosure.

Most of you know me from times past. But is has been a while. 2 years ago today was what I call my Rebirthday. That was when my spiritual life changed forever. And one consequence of this transformation was having my conscience awakened and sensitized like it had never been before. Suddenly a clear conscience was (and is) like a personal
treasure, and I agonize when it is violated. I say this, because I want you to know I write with a clear conscience now. I did not always have a healthy conscience.

Okay… so let’s start…

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Just think about this verse. Do you believe it?

Wow! This verse is packed full of implications:

There is a God.
God is eternal (existed pre-heavens and pre-earth).
God is powerful.
God knows everything (because God created everything).
God is Creator.
God is Sustainer (because the heavens and the earth are still here).
God is the owner (because God created everything).
God as owner implies God is a higher authority than man.

A statement I pondered over many times as a kid was this, “If there really is a God, it’s best to get on God’s good side”, ha ha.

The Bible (from what I can tell) actually makes no effort to “prove” God’s existence. It accepts it as undeniable fact. I have chatted on MySpace, Yahoo Chat, etc. and have seen people ask and challenge “Prove that God exists!”

What kind of proof would be convincing to someone who doesn’t believe God exists? It almost seems that you either believe it or you don’t. What about cause and effect, or action and reaction?

I pose this thought… can a Christian not believe in God? Do you believe in God?

So… write back if you have thoughts or comments to share.

Peace,
Jim