Delivered

John 5:8 Jesus said to him," Get up, Take up your bed and walk"
John 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to Him, "See you are well! Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you."

The Chilean mine rescue recently captured my attention. Could you imagine being trapped 2,000 feet underground in a mine for 70 days? Think about the thick darkness and the staleness of the air coming through the emergency ventilators, and the terror of just being trapped by millions of tons of rock. It would really be a battle just to stay sane, much less live.

When you look at the encounter of Jesus and the invalid in John 5, we discover what Jesus came to do for mankind. Look at verse fourteen, and it can take you back a bit. Jesus warns this man not to sin. Actually it is deeper than that, He threatens Him about the danger of sin. We can miss the point of Jesus actions if we do not understand that we are rescued from sin so that we can be Holy. The issue at stake here is holiness. The restoration and continued dialogue that Jesus engages in with this man are not so that he can be a little better or even a nicer guy, they occur so that the Power and Holiness of God might flow through this man so that God might receive Glory. That is why Jesus says in verse 17 "My father is working until now, and I am working." He is at work waging war for Holiness and against sin. A war so that God's goodness and holiness may be made known to all nations and people in the world.

When you look at the work Jesus does delivering us into an intimate relationship with the father, he rescues us from death to life. Much like the emergency rescue capsule used in Chile, Jesus does not leave us buried in the depth of rubble. He raises us out of the danger of sin in a very real way. If you have a chance, go look at the videos and interviews that were made with those 33 men rescued from the depths of death. They celebrated rescue and life in a large way. In fact, the whole country is celebrating at the miracle of it all as happiness and Joy fill the air.

Now ask yourself a question. Have you been delivered by Jesus in a similar manner as the capsule delivered those miners? Do you feel it in your soul: the pleasant desire of Holiness? Have you been delivered into life and a relationship that you sense intimacy with God?

I fear that there are many people who are still trapped. They may have a full knowledge that Jesus is their rescue capsule, but their desire to retain control and live in sin is just to strong so they stay trapped. Some of these folks even believe that their knowledge of Jesus as their rescue capsule is all they need. Jesus offers us one invitation: Deny yourself, turn from sin and Follow me. So if you have not done so, allow the Christ of God to bring you up out the death trap today. He wants to deliver us from the deathly power of sin into the life and love of His Holiness. Do you want that?

Confused

Matthew 1:21 "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

While brushing my teeth Monday night, I was captivated by a preacher on television. This preacher was openly homosexual and his well mannered debate with an evangelical was based on the fact that we should be able to critique scriptures. His convincing position stated that Jesus came for everyone and that there were parts of the bible that just weren't applicable to us anymore. His basic message was that he believed Jesus came to justify all human beings. As I listened I could not help but pray for the preacher and all of the people who are deluded about the Gospel.

Jesus came to save us from sin. Yes he came to save us from the penalty of sin, but He came to save us from it entirely. That topic seems to be missed by the majority of people today. He wants us Holy, he wants to protect us and He wants what is best for us. if we believe that God is all good and sin is all bad then we must become aware that our sin nature tries to fool us in to thinking God is with holding something from us as He wages war against sin.

The homosexual debate seems to be the hottest topic about sin so I will address it here specifically, but you could substitute any sin in its place. When the preacher made his case to critique scripture he talked about the non practical OT law and said surely a law that punished homosexuals by death and also forbade the eating of pigs is irrelevant. Logically that sounds nice but when you pop open the hood that car does not drive. You have to look at what Jesus says about sexual immorality in Mark 7:21, "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery". Look at the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and echoed in 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous[1] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,". Then think through Peter's word in 2 Peter 1:20,"20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation."

The bible is clear about sins. All sins, and it is clear about homosexuality as one of those. If we misunderstand Jesus coming to save us from those sins we have left the faith. In an argument to defend sin, in this case Homosexuality, we would have to critique and eliminate the words of Moses, Jesus, Paul and Peter. If we do that our faith is in our own opinions not Jesus and we have completely left the Christian faith. Jesus came to save us from sins, if we spend all our time trying to justify the sin in our life that we enjoy, how can we really think we are walking with Him?

We all have sinned and fallen short. the offer from Christ is to repent form those sins, turn and follow Him in pursuit of righteousness which is like being drafted in to a war against sin.

Secure yourself

Matthew 27: 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Have you noticed how obsessed we are with security? Financial security, Home security, Airport security, Border security, Political security, Social Security, Job security, all of these topics dominate the conversation in America today. I believe it is becasue at the core level of our souls, we all want it deeply. We all want assurance, peace, rest and joy. We are designed to crave security from God, we just often misplace that security and in our own strengths create false securities. False securities are man made cover ups for sin led insecurities. Even though we all intuitively know that all of the things of this world are temporary, the temptation is strong to be busy at work covering our insecurities up with the things of this world that temporarily abate the insecurity pains.

It all reminds me of the above passge where Pilate is trying to cover up the murder of Jesus. The quote, "make it secure as you can" is fitting for the prideful players involved. Think about this with me for a second, Pilate conjured up the strength of the Roman Guard and a massive rock to make sure that Jesus would remain captive to the tomb. In his eyes there was truly nothing stronger around. He had one large problem though, God had another idea. Massive rocks and Roman guards are mere wisps of air compared to the power of Christ. As the rock is rolled away, and the guards flee from teh tomb in raw fear later in the book of Matthew, we get a real sense of what happens to man made security. It crumbles when God, the only true security available, shows up.

We would be wise to make sure that our lives do not mirror those of Pilate, The Jews and the Roman guard, busily setting up false security shelters. Sure we need to be wise and plan for future possibilities, but if those plans become the place you find your security watch out, God might just show up and tear them down.

Bragging Rights

Jeremiah 9:23-24 ...Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justrice, and righteousness in the Earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.

Its the middle of football season here in the fine state of Alabama. I find myself amazed by how dominated our culture is by football. Auburn and Alabama are the two rival schools in the state and the energy, money and passion poured into support of the football programs goes beyond measure. My son plays on a 3rd grade team that has there on website, film banks and practices three times a week and oh yeah they play a game as well. Even in my own walk I have to keep my emotions and passion in check during the fall. I want Cal's team to win, I want Auburn to win but I have recently started asking myself, "Why do I want that to happen?" The answer is simple. Bragging rights. As a father I want to talk about my son. As an Auburn graduate, I want to talk about how unbelieveable our quarterback Cam Newton is. It all goes back to who or what we take pride in, and what gives us an identity.

We must take great care to sepearate a game played on a field designed for recreation and the dominate passion of our souls. God's word through the prophet Jeremiah are pretty clear: If you want to brag about something, brag about me! I love the end of verse 24, " I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the Earth. For in these things I delight. God is all about love, justice and truth. He delights in them, what more could we want? We will find these things only in God, there fore we should brag about His greatness.

I am amazed at the energy and passion that even creeps into my own life about a game. What if all of us who lived in the South who call our selves Christian, poured our lives out for Christ with the same zeal we do for our teams? Would the rest of the country take note? Would they be intrigued about God in the same way they are SEC football?

Reverse Ransom

Psalm 49: 7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

There have been many famous ransom cases in US history. The Lindberg kidnapping in the 30's and the Jon Benet Ramsey case are familiar to most of us atleast vaguely. The thought of people stealing kids and demanding a monetary price for their life is wickedness personified. Some cases end up well, but most end in brutal disasters. All of them captivate the attention of the culture in which they occur, as the tension filled battle between hope of release and fear of death rage on.

Why is it so hard for us to see ourselves in the same place of a helpless kid kidnapped in the night by Evil? Maybe it is because sin is so deceptive we actually play a part in our own abduction, but it is critical for us to understand that we are a hostage to sin. I think it is also highly probable that we all think that we can earn or by our way through any circumstance. Surely our culture and past experiences validate this way of thinking.

If you believe the truths found above in Psalm 49, then You understand the reason why Jesus came. Mark 10:45 states "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom of many". Psalms 49 is speaking about man's inability to pay for, or even earn salvation. Only Christianity clearly states that we are unable to barter with God for your soul either in actions or chaity, because our ssouls are tainted with Evil. It is the unique claim of Christ that he came as both God and Man to serve as the ransom to serve men as a sacrifice. Man couldn't do it. That is why it required Jesus, who was fully God and Man, to come and ransom us from our sin and death. Men couldn't ransom themselves or each other, but God came down and ransomed us with a cost of cosmic proportions, the life of Jesus- God incarnate. For this reason, Christianity is exclusive in its offer. It is not an offer to be good, act right or live in moral virtue, even all of those will occur in the soul of a Christ follower. The offer of Christ is life and our choice is to either Worship Him or evaluate Him.

The entire bible points to the seperation of God and sinful man and our need for a redeemer, and reveals Jesus alone as that opportunity. It is a letter sent to captives, not trying to leverage a captor. In those ways, it is a type of reverse ransom letter. In stark contrast to an evil ransom letter of captivity, God's Holy word offers life, freedom and provides the ample resource for that transaction to occur as well, the Blood of Christ.

Has your soul written back to Christ in praise, or are you still evaluating the situation?

Pre-Occupation with Samuel Adams?

John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Last week on a plane ride home form Milwaukee, I sat next to a mid thirties, GQ type of guy, who was in the process of living life largely. He freely offered up much information about himself, his accomplishments, and his passion for his work. I have rarely met someone more in love with what they do. It was all he could talk about, and he pretty much did so from take off to landing. Turns out, he was a regional manager for Samuel Adams beer. He rambled on and on about the brilliant taste of the beer, and his incredibly lucky status as someone who gets paid so much to simply do what they love to do, drink beer. His entire job was entertaining people and getting them to drink more beer. He was actually in route to take a group of wholesalers on a "dream week" of golf and beer drinking on Kiawah Island. The guy was literally on fire for old Sam Adams, and it seemed if he was living a dream, at least in His eyes.

John 17 has had a dramatic impact on my life. The prayer that Jesus prays is one of power and investment into the original disciples, and then into the lives of anyone who follows Him based on their words. When you dive in to what Jesus is praying, it becomes clear that he has selected people that are preoccupied with Him and His glory, so that they can obnoxiously infect others with His love. Jesus prays that these disciples would abide in Him, and that the Father would pour His glory into their lives, and they in turn would make disciples as they went through their daily lives. It was the Father's plan form the beginning, disciple making.

After the flight, I caught myself wondering something. If we understand that God is in us and His glory is coursing through our veins, where is our obnoxious excitement about our dream job? I mean if a man can be so jazzed about selling beer which has no long term meaning or purpose, but rather short term joy, why is the Church so dull and programmatic in its efforts to spread the Gospel? Isn't Jesus offering life through His disciples, the Church?

If our faith was strong enough that we were truly intoxicated with Love and Praise for Christ who gives us birth and re-birth, I know that the impact the Church would make on the World would be larger. If we understood to a greater extent God's plan of disciple making is nothing more than a natural overflow of His love from us to other people, and not an institutionalized schematic then we could be unleashed. I pray that he would strengthen our hunger for Him and our desire to brag about our "dream job" of sharing life with others.

So where do you fit in? Are you so in love with the one who first loved you that you brag about Him? Are you more interested in other things?

It has been said that whatever holds our preoccupations has a good chance of becoming our idol. Only Christ is worthy of our preoccupations, and in turn our joyous occupation of disciple making.