No Fear of the Lord

In our previous Relationship Tuesdays, we’ve been looking at the fear of God in terms of being a created being.  And today we’re going to look at what a lack of the fear of God looks like.

We fear God because He is our creator.  In every way He’s beyond us.  And it’s not just us who have this response.  When we look at glimpses of heaven in the Bible, we see the seraphim around the throne and these are pretty scary characters: they have six wings; they have four faces: a man, a bull, an eagle, and a lion; and as if that weren’t enough they are covered in eyes.  It’s like something right out of horror show.  And yet before the throne of God these terrifying creatures not only bow, they cover their heads and their feet in holy fear of their creator.

And if they’re afraid, how much more should we be as sinful rebels before the throne?  I mean just look at Isaiah’s reaction when he stood before God.

But you know I don’t think everyone is afraid of God like they should be, and that’s often what gets us in trouble.  Take for example, Isaiah 14 when talking about Satan:

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?”

Satan had no fear of God.  He assumed that He could just usurp His throne.

Or look at Adam and Eve, they ate from the tree of knowledge and good and evil.  They had no fear of God.

Everywhere you look in the Bible those who lack a fear of God are called wicked and reprobate.  They do what they please.  They profane righteousness.  They are in a word, evil. 

And even on judgment day, in Matthew 7 Jesus talks about those who are going to list everything they did for Jesus, make claims of having relationship with Him, trying to convince Him why they are worthy of heaven; telling God why you’re worthy of His approval isn’t a position of fear before a Holy and just God. 

Alternatively if you look at Revelations 15, you get a glimpse of what the saints of God, those who have a relationship with Him say:

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by Godand sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.

Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. (Revelations 15:2-4)

I mean this is on the verge of entering the end of the age at this point, and the saints in heaven are still talking about fearing God.  I don’t think this is something that goes away when we enter eternity.  In fact, I think it gets even more pronounced as we stand face to face with His holiness.

Christian Immigration Issues

This weekend I crossed the border into Mexico for a weekend mission’s trip, helping a church plant paint their new church.  Things are not great in Mexico right now, with the drug wars, kidnappings, and murders, but when you go where God leads and do the work He calls you to do, you also have to put yourself in His hands and trust that live or die, He’s in control. 

Everything went fine though.  I saw some soldiers patrolling but that was about it, until the ride back.  While we waited in line on the bridge, we saw a group of young men swim across the Rio Grande to the U.S.  They crawled out of the water and scurried over to and under the fence, looking all around to make sure no one could see them, which was somewhat funny since they were in full view of hundreds of people on the bridge who were all pointing at them and talking animatedly.

We guessed that they got spooked or were drug couriers because they came running back without the bags they were carrying and swam back across the river to Mexico.

There’s a lot of debate going on in the U.S. about illegal immigration, and watching the scene unfold below me didn’t really sway me one way or the other, but it did get me thinking about another kind of immigration.

As Christians, we’re immigrating to a new country in eternity because as soon as we believe on and follow Christ we’re naturalized as heavenly citizens. 

Philippians 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

But our heavenly homeland doesn’t have illegal immigration.  No one can just swim across the clouds and slip under the pearly gates.  No one can apply for a visa or vacation there and then leave.  You’re either a citizen or your not, and if you’re not, there’s no hope for gaining access.

And there’s only one way to become a citizen: Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.  Truly, truly, I say to you, . . . I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 14:6 & 10:7,9)

Naturalization as a heavenly citizen starts and ends with Jesus.  And He ask that we repent Matthew 4:17, stop sinning (John 8:11), and follow Him by loving God with everything we have and loving others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37).

Therefore, as a citizen of heaven and an ambassador for Christ, I beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And working together with Him, I also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, "at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you."  Today is "the acceptable time," and now is your “day of salvation!” *

*Adapted from 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, 6:1-2

The Most Wonderful Thing About Heaven

If you do a Google search on heaven, you’ll get thousands, maybe millions, of different depictions of what heaven looks like, what we’ll do there, and who will go there. 

Mark Twain once wrote a story called “Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven” in which Captain Stormfield steers off course on his way to heaven chasing comets and ends up at the wrong gate, where an alien race with seven heads and one foot were entering their heaven. 

When Stormfield finally gets to human heaven, they issue him a harp and wings, and he goes and sits on a cloud and sings for a couple of days then gets tired of it all and dumps his wings and harp in a big pile where others had left theirs.  They all got tired of standing around singing all day and went to find something to do.

While Mark Twain’s writing is probably the last place I’d steer anyone looking to have a deeper relationship with Christ, especially since he pokes fun at believers in the story calling this depiction of heaven the “biblical picture”, he does make a good point.  Sitting on a cloud with wings strumming a harp all day is not a good way to spend a day much less eternity.

Luckily no one ever accused Mr. Twain of a being a biblical scholar.  The revelation of heaven in the Bible sounds much, much different.  Here’s one example: “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelations 22:4)

The curse is gone—no death, work will be easy and enjoyable for men; there will be no pain in childbirth or discord in marriage for women (if these things even exist in the resurrection).  We’ll get to serve God and the Lamb forever.   But the most wonderful, most spectacular, most longed for thing about eternity . . .

We’ll get to see His face and not die!

That’s what I’m excited about.  The other stuff is good, but to see God face-to-face, to know Him and be known by Him face-to-face, no more long-distance chats, no more dark glass between us, but to be like Him because I can see Him clearly for the first time, that’s what I’m looking forward to most of all.

What else is there that is worthy of looking forward to?

What Are You Taking Home?

We went to a Labor Day parade in Naperville, IL today.  It was our toddler’s first real parade experience if you discount the psychedelic, seizure-inducing Alice-in-Wonderland parade at Disneyworld.  There was the usual fare of marching bands, police cars, firefighters, politicians waiving signs, acrobat groups, martial art schools, and fuzzy characters for the kids. 

Most of all there was a lot of free swag being handed out.  We went home with gobs of candy, coupons, beach balls, and even a full-size yardstick (a parade-handouts first for me too).

And as we walked away carrying about three times more than we came in with, I wondered what we were going to do with all this stuff since we’re traveling across the country.  It’s not like we have a lot of room in the car to carry it all.  At some point, I’ll have to clean out the car and toss every thing we don't really want to take home in the garbage.

And then I was reminded of the sermon from yesterday about Matthew 6:19-34.  Jesus’ teachings in this section can be summed in three points: don’t worry about your daily needs, God takes care of you; don’t store up treasures on Earth, store up treasures in heaven; and seek first the kingdom of God in all things.

I think we tend to forget that we’re all on a journey in this life, and we’re essentially living out of our cars.  When the journey is over, our Father is going to clean out our cars, and only the things that are eternally essential are going home with us.  Your big screen T.V. is going in the trash, the 100 pairs of barely worn shoes in your closet-trash, the lovely dinette set in your dining room-trash, your new car, trash, your house-trash, your 401K-trash.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus compared a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven to a camel going through the eye of a needle? (Matthew 19:24)  Just try to picture someone carrying all their junk on their back trying to fit through the gate of heaven.  It’s an impossible feat.

That’s why Jesus says to give up everything for His sake.  You can’t take it home with you.

What's Your Pleasure?

Tonight, I went out and picked up Taco Bell for dinner—just for me mind you.  My wife and son had already eaten, but I had a school board meeting that ran a little late, so I was on my own for dinner.  I didn’t necessarily need Taco Bell, but it sounded good, and since I’m the only one in the family who likes it, it’s my food of choice when I’m eating by myself.

Their Mexican Pizza is by far the most exquisite, delectable junk food I can imagine.  I’m sure it quite literally will be the death of me.

And there in lies the issue doesn’t it.  The things that bring us temporal pleasure in this world are killing us, literally killing us.

In church today this issue came up not once but twice, in Sunday school and in the pastor’s message.  That’s usually a pretty good sign that I need to perk up and pay attention.

In a society where our basic needs are met, it seems that our goals automatically shift to what will give us the greatest pleasure.  We blindly follow Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological Needs > Safety Needs > Belonging Needs > Esteem Needs > Self Actualization.  

Pleasure in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is fleeting.  Your physiological needs may be met today, but tomorrow famine might strike the land.  You may be safe today, but tomorrow someone might steal your wallet/purse and your identity along with it.  You may greatly love the family you belong to, but tomorrow they could all be killed in a car crash.  You may have great self-esteem, but tomorrow you may be humbled.  Self-actualization does not last because, this may come as a shock to many readers, the world does not revolve around you. It doesn’t revolve around me either.

In reality, there is no hierarchy of needs.  The road to fulfillment doesn’t look like a rainbow pyramid.  There are no steps to reach self-actualization.  There is only one need, and it’s not some thing that you can just check off a list; in fact, it’s a He not a thing at all, and His name is Jesus Christ. 

Pleasure that lasts only comes through Him.  Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

When we do those things that please God, He takes care of the rest.  When we give up self, we can be Spirit-actualized, which is an eternal pleasure that no circumstance will ever take away.  That’s Good News! 

So, I’m sorry Taco Bell, but as tasty as your Mexican Pizza is, I’d give it and you up in an instant if it pleased my savior, and I’d happily say that about any temporal pleasure on this Earth. 

Now dear reader, let me ask you:  How willing are you to give up your worldly pleasures for the sake of the One who gave Himself for you?

Were Jesus’ Prayers Answered: Eternal Life

Part 5 of a 5 Part Series

I was given the opportunity to teach the college group at our church once again this Sunday, and our topic of discussion was based on Romans 6:23.  If you grew up in church, this ought to be a familiar verse.  It says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This verse ties in very well to my discussion here on the blog about whether Jesus’ prayers in John 17 were answered or not, as you’ll see later in the post. 

I think there are two questions that ought to be addressed in understanding this verse.  1.  What is Sin?  2. What is eternal life?

Awhile back I wrote a post entitled: What is Sin?  I address the sin question in depth there, and I encourage you to read it if you want a more lengthy study, but sin basically boils down to anything that is not loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and anything not loving your neighbor as yourself.  If you do anything, and I stress anything, outside of these two areas, it’s sin.  You’ve fallen short.  You’ve earned death, and you’ll not find one person on Earth outside of Jesus Christ who can say they’ve lived that life.

So what’s eternal life?

It seems like such a self-evident answer.  Living forever, right?  In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, He begins by praying this: “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.”  Again, there’s that idea of the gift of God being eternal life.

And yet we all die.  Do we have eternal life or not?  Is it just in the resurrection that we live forever, or did God answer Jesus’ prayer when He prayed it? And C.S. Lewis once said, “You have never met a mere mortal.”  Everyone technically lives forever; the concern is usually location.

But to really answer this question of “what is eternal life”, we have to look at verse 3, where Jesus defines in very specific terms what eternal life is: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Eternal life is knowing the One True God.

So, let me put Romans 6:23 in perspective for you: Sin is not loving God with everything you have, and the wages of this is death.  But the gift of God is that He forgave you for not loving Him, He paid the wages of sin at the cross, and because of His great love for you, He has made a way for you to know and love Him again through Jesus Christ; this is eternal life.

Eternal life doesn’t start when you physically die; it starts when you come to know God.  And when you know Him, He empowers you to love Him with everything you’ve got (aka stop sinning).  It’s the beautiful circle of grace freely given by God to all who call on His name and believe. Amen.

One Step Closer to Death

Take a moment.  Breath deeply.  Do you feel that?  That’s one less breath you’ll take in this life.  When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, you’ll have one less day to live.  Every step you take is one step closer to death.  There’s an old saying that goes something like “only two things are sure in life: death and taxes. “  But that’s not true.  People cheat on their taxes all the time.  No one cheats death. 

Time is marching ever onward and just as surely as you are reading these words; you will die.

The Bible says, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)  

There are a few more sayings out there about the certainty of death: “Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)”, “Live everyday like it’s your last”, and "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die."  You may recognize that last one from Isaiah 22:13.

Jesus brings up the idea again in Matthew: “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39)

None of these Biblical contexts hold the idea of “Carpe Diem” in very high esteem.  Yes, death can come at any moment, but that is no reason to live like it’s at your doorstep, trying to get in all the physical experiences you can before you’re gone. 

As an alternative I would humbly suggest that you spend your time on Earth preparing for eternity.  Spend everyday God gives you on this Earth getting to know Jesus better.  Learn to recognize His voice and follow His commands.  Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. 

These are the things that will bring joy on this journey into the grave, and these are the things that will bring us into our Master’s arms on the other side of it.

Like Children

In a few days, I’m having a birthday.  I’ll be 33 years old.  Yep, if I live to one hundred, my life will be one third of the way over.  Thirty-three is also the age that scholars believe Jesus was when He died.  From my current perspective, I can’t help but look back and notice how short of a life that would have been, though He accomplished a lot in that short time. 

That said, the other night, I asked God to show me something new.  And He did, and it was a whopper, related to age.   It honestly shifted my perspective about everything I ever thought I knew about life, the universe, and everything. 

Let’s start with some explanation.  God created man to live forever.   When sin entered the world, death followed, and so Adam died after he lived 930 years.  His son lived 912 years, and so on and so on, until Noah, when God saw that 1,000 years just brought man to a point where every thought he had was evil, so God cut back the lifespan of human beings to 120 years, which is our current threshold.  But, Isaiah 65:20 says that there is a day coming when,

No longer will there be an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.

What is 33 years compared to eternity?  For that matter what is 33 years compared to 1,000 years?  It’s nothing.  Isaiah says a youth will live to be 100 years old.  By those standards a 33 year old is just a child. 

And when that thought hit me, my perspective on a lot of verses in the Bible suddenly shifted. 

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Mark 10:15)

"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4)

Jesus isn’t talking about shifting our thinking to somehow make ourselves think like toddlers or little kids; He is saying we need to shift our thinking to realize we are just toddlers and little kids.  We die in our youth because of the curse of sin.  No matter how much we think we know, even the smartest and wisest among us is just a baby that might have learned to walk earlier than the rest. 

But then I began to question, “what about the whole, ‘ I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things’ deal Paul talks about.  Doesn’t that mean we grow up in this lifetime?  Hasn’t every pastor and teacher I’ve heard use that verse when talking about spiritual and physical maturity? 

So, I turned to 1 Corinthians 13 to read it again.  This is what it says in context:

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)

That verse is set in the context of entering eternity.  Yes we will grow up, but not until we see Jesus face-to-face in eternity.  Until then, we have to recognize that in this life we are and will never be anything but children.  This is a humbling thought, just as Jesus said it is.  That’s what it means to be a “child” of God.  That’s what it means to have an eternal perspective, to really understand that this life is just the beginning.

And then I thought about Jesus’ life on Earth.  He was given as a sacrifice at 33 years old, and He is called the “lamb of God,” not the ram of God, but the “lamb”.  This isn’t just semantics to fulfill the atonement of the old covenant.  He was a baby when he died.  And at this point when He returns to Earth, He will be a grown up.  We don’t even have a concept of what a grown up human being looks like.

I’ll leave off with this verse, as I’m still coming to grips with this whole idea myself:

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (1 John 2:28)