Unashamed to Bear His Name

When the term “Christian” was first coined in Antioch, it was a term of derision.  These “little Christs” were creating such an upheaval by promoting things like being good and loving that the ancient world decided the best course of action was to kill them.  Since then the term “Christian” has had its ups and downs, sometimes it was the status quo, and sometimes like today it has born negative connotations. 

However the name has been viewed one thing is certain, being a true follower of Jesus Christ has always born a stigma that led to persecution no matter what society His followers lived in; sometimes persecution came even by those bearing the name “Christian”.

The stigma of bearing Christ’s name is the topic of R.T. Kendall’s book “Unashamed to Bear His Name”.

Kendall points out that the Gospel itself is offensive, so anyone who claims that it’s true and lives accordingly must be by association offensive.  The Gospel says, we’re naturally evil—opposed to God.  We can do nothing good.  People tend to have a problem with being called evil, never mind the good news inherit in God’s promise to forgive and transform us in all righteousness; they just don’t want to admit to being evil in the first place.

However, Kendall also points out that a lot of Christian circles are offensive unnecessarily.  If the Gospel offends someone, so be it.  But there’s no point in being purposively offensive like some groups out there.  The Westboro Baptist folks come to mind in this area: God judges, not us.

The thing that really floored me is that Kendall is by all accounts a charismatic Calvinist.  I didn’t even know such people existed.  It was awesome reading, and a different perspective on most things than I’ve ever encountered.  A lot of his beliefs mirrored my own; for example, miracles without a presentation or the Gospel don’t accomplish much.  You can read what I wrote about the subject in  Healing and God's Heart.  

Kendal goes so far as to say that you can recognize a true charismatic revival by whether the Gospel is shared or not, and he points to the recent Lakeland revival as an example of a fraudulent revival.  Considering what came to light about the leadership there, I’d say he is probably right. 

I can’t say this book will be for everybody.  In fact, I’m sure most who read it will find it offensive because in love he critiques conservatives and charismatics for being offensive for every reason but the Gospel, but I loved it, and I think Jesus words in Matthew 11:6 “"And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me” applies very well to the words of Truth in Kendall’s book.

I was provided a copy of this book from the publisher for review.  All opinions are my own.

The Gospel of Love

In the last Relationship Tuesdays, we talked about Love and Sin, specifically how sin can be boiled down to not loving God and not loving others.  And when you really take the moment to think about it that makes perfect sense.  If you loved God, you wouldn’t want to hurt Him, you wouldn’t want to disobey Him, and you would want to cultivate your relationship with Him instead of tearing it apart or substituting it with knowledge or empty religion.  If you really loved others, you wouldn’t want to hurt them, you wouldn’t be selfish, and you would want to help them when they’re in trouble.

And the truth is we’re all in trouble.

We’re in trouble because we are not a loving people.  Humanity is not essentially good, not essentially loving, and we haven’t been since Adam and Eve took the first step of not loving God all those years ago.  Our natural inclination is to not love anyone but ourselves, aka be evil.  Now I’m not saying we don’t have our loving moments, but even our most loving of moments often hold selfish intentions lurking in the background.

But God can’t abide beings that are not purely loving because, as John 4:8 so aptly puts it, God is love.  He can’t watch them suffer without Him as they tear their lives and the lives of others apart, and so He introduced death into the world. 

But God also loved us too much to leave it at that, and so He sent His son into the world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

God loved us enough to send His Son to die and be resurrected, so we too might die to our unloving natures, and He sent His Spirit to empower us so that we could be transformed to a point where those acts of love would not just be what we try to do but what we naturally tend to do.

That’s why John says, “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 Notice that the verse doesn’t just say that He loved us first, but also “We love because”.  Conversely if we don’t love, we don’t know God’s love.  Check out the next verse: “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

But by God’s grace, we can love our brother and we can love God because grace isn’t just forgiveness; it is the favor of God in love that we might love Him, love others, and spend eternity doing so.  If this isn’t the outcome of the grace we think we have, chances are we don’t have it.  Everyday we ought to be increasing in love for God and others.  And that grace, while unmerited, is powerful and effective to accomplish it’s purpose within us. 

You cannot help but love if you truly know God’s love, and I’m not talking about a feeling.  I’m talking about action and attitude here.  Again refer to 1 Corinthians 13 to see what love is and isn’t.  You’ll notice nowhere in the “love list” does it say, “love is a warm fuzzy feeling”.  That warm fuzzy feeling makes people without Jesus do all kinds of unloving things.  Serial killers get the warm fuzzy feeling when they kill people for goodness sake.  Love ought never be defined by a feeling.  It should always be defined by action.

And that is why we can demonstrate the new love within us, given through God’s free grace, by obeying God.  Jesus says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15  Obedience is the ultimate act of love toward God, and it’s obedience with all our heart, soul, and strength.

Which is why our next topic of Relationship Tuesdays will be Obeying God.

1000 Days

Jesus walked this Earth for roughly 33 years.  We don’t know much about the first thirty years, other than that His birth was pretty incredible, and He taught the teacher in the temple when He was twelve, but otherwise life before thirty is pretty hazy, but then Jesus goes to John and gets baptized, and everything changes.  For the next three years or 1,000 days, Jesus starts teaching, preaching, healing, and transforming common people into world changers.

Those incredible three years related in the Gospels are the subject of Jonathan Falwell’s book: 1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ. 

Falwell doesn’t necessarily talk about those three years chronologically, but rather organized by themes.  He begins each theme with a modern day story to engage the reader, and then relates the story to a teaching or event in Jesus’s three-year ministry.

Often times the Gospel is referred to as being simple much to the chagrin of the folks who write systematic theology textbooks, and I think Falwell would drive those folks crazy because 1000 Days is pure Gospel in its simplest terms, and I loved it.  I didn’t learn anything new and Earth shattering, but I was reminded that my Savior shattered sin and death and set me free.  I was reminded that Jesus taught us how to love and what’s important, and He did it in a way that was simple and approachable much to the chagrin of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.

Yes, 1000 Days is simple, but the simplicity of the Gospel is one of its most beautiful aspects.  There’s no work, there’s no special knowledge we need, no ritual, no fill in the blank.  The Gospel just says repent and believe; Jesus paid it all.

I definitely recommend Falwell’s book if you find yourself needing a reminder of the simplicity of the Gospel.

I received the book free from the publisher for review.  All opinions are my own.

Wycliffe's "In Other Words"

Hey all,

I know I've been kind of lax in my blogging lately.  Life gets busy sometimes, and writing takes time.  However, I did want to write a quick post promoting Wycliffe Bible Translations new contest they're running right now called In Other Words.

The premise is pretty simple: there's a scripture in a foreign language that needs translating.  When you answer the trivia questions, you get hints.  The prizes in the contest are an iPad and a trip for four to Orlando.

While I'd love to see any one of those who read this blog win the trip or the iPad, what I'd really love to see is you all support the translation and delivery of the Bible to those in need around the world.  So, yes go play the game and try to win the prize, but also consider making a donation and keep in mind that we're striving to win another prize, one not of this world.

Let's press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

The Beatitudes And The Path to Salvation

The beatitudes in Matthew 5 are often read as a list of different qualities of different people.  There’s the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted: all different people with different blessings associated with them.

But what if this list was never meant to be about different kinds of people?  What if it is about one specific kind of people: the redeemed? 

Think about the path to salvation in terms of the beatitudes for a moment:

The first step is acknowledging that you are a sinner, that you have nothing to offer God spiritually.  Your religious acts to this point, if there have been any, have fallen short of the glory of God.  You are in fact spiritually bankrupt, or poor in Spirit.  

And the separation you feel between you and God breaks your heart.  What’s more when you look around at the fallen state of your life and the world you’re living in, you cannot help but mourn.

You mourn because there is nothing you can do about any of it.  You can’t help yourself, and you can’t help others.  In and of yourself, you just don’t have the power to change anything.  This realization results in humility and meekness.

But despite all this, you hunger and thirst for righteousness.  You long to do what is right and see justice in the world.  Not only do you want to live rightly, but also the thought of a child in Africa going hungry or a woman being sold into sex slavery tears you up inside. 

When you compare the evil others do to you to what you’ve done yourself, the differences are negligible, and you cannot find it in yourself to hold those things against them.  So you cannot help but readily forgive others.

Then you hear about Jesus Christ and how His blood washes away sin and restores relationship with God and with your fellow man, and you respond to His invitation by believing on Him.  He comes into your life and purifies the very innermost part of your being; you have a pure heart.

And with the peace you’ve found in your own reconciliation with God, you cannot help but share this good news with other.  You begin to tell others about Jesus, and how they can make peace with God.

But you find that the world’s reaction to this good news is not always met with joy and open arms.  In fact, people start to ridicule and insult you; some even physically harm you because of your message. 

Take heart because Jesus says that if you have followed the path of the beatitudes, you are blessed.  He has sent His Spirit to comfort you when you mourn (John 14:16).  He has clothed you in His own Righteousness (Philippians 3:9).  He has shown you mercy just as you have shown mercy (Matthew 6:14).  He is made you pure with the sacrifice He made at Calvary (Hebrews 10:22).  He has made you a coheir with Him, so you will inherit the Earth; you will inherit the kingdom of God (Romans 8:17).  And because you are a coheir, you will see God’s face (Revelation 22:4).

God’s plan of salvation is what makes the Beatitudes beautiful.  Praise God!

Featured Non Profit

This month a Christian non-profit that is worthy of support is being featured every day until Christmas.  The criteria for being featured are that they bring glory to God, they are financially accountable, and finally they must have a mission that includes one of the following: reach the lost, empower believers, or help those in need in the name of Jesus Christ.

Click here for a complete list.

Today’s featured non-profit: Prison Fellowship

Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship has been reaching out to those behind bars all over the world since 1976.   Colson is a former aide to President Nixon who was incarcerated because of his involvement with the Watergate scandal.  When he came to Christ, he could not forget those he left behind in prison and formed Prison Fellowship to reach inmates with the Gospel.

Prison Fellowship not only shares the Gospel and disciples inside the prisons, but it also help connect and prepare those released for life with Christ outside the prison bars.  During the Christmas season, their Angel Tree program helps prisoners send gifts to their children who they have been separated from. 

If you want to support this ministry, follow this link.

View the following video for more information:

You Are Such A Rebel

The following video presents a very straight-forward, easy-to-understand message of the Gospel, and not just a Gospel of salvation, but the Gospel of what salvation enables us to become.  I encourage you to not just watch it but to live it:

Featured Non-Profit

This December with every post till Christmas, I'm featuring a non-profit worthy of support.  You can see a complete list here.

Today's Featured Non-Profit is Life Action Ministries.

Life Action's purpose is to ignite Christ-centered movements of revival among God's people that display His glory and advance His kingdom throughout the world.  Life Action puts together events for churches, groups, and materials for individuals to empower revival through Jesus Christ.  Life Action ministries ask their workers to raise a team who will support each individual in prayer and financially.  If you would like donate to this ministry, I would ask you to find a team member to support.

Specifically, I would like to make an appeal for a good friend of mine.  Ben Cabe is in the process of raising support, so he can join Life Action's media team and create videos for the glory of Jesus Christ similar to what you see above.  Ben is also a fellow blogger, and you can read more about his vision and how to support him with Life Action Ministries at Life: General and Specific.

View the following video for more information about Life Action and the work they do in the name of Jesus Christ: