God Did Not Post on FB

     In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe (Hebrews 1:1-2).

     God did not choose social networking to get our attention, to show us His majesty, to reveal His love, to offer us a way to make it back home. Our heavenly Father desires a true intimacy with us, an offer to be part of His family…not just an invitation to merely be ‘friends’ - so he sent his Son. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me’” (John 1:14-15).

     The Word became flesh and literally ‘tented’ among us. “I think what pitching a tent implies is that God wants to be on familiar terms with us. He wants us to be close. He wants a lot of interaction. If you come into a community and build a huge palace with a wall around it, it says one thing about your desires to be with people. But if you pitch a tent in my back yard you will probably use my bathroom and eat often at my table. This is why God became human. He came to pitch a tent in our backyard so we would have a lot of dealings with him.”[1]

      No sitting on high directing events from a distance for Jesus. He did not count on   posting pics from heaven with the caption, “Wishing you were here J” to help us see the inestimable worth of spending eternity in heaven with him. He came down from heaven into the filth of a barn to be born, to have most people misunderstand him throughout his life, to end up on a cross, in order to demonstrate God’s love for us, his desire for intimacy with us – while we were still sinners. Because “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

     Jesus, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).

    It was the Father's plan that Jesus would share complete identification with mankind, without sinning, in order to help us to see the full glory and grace of the Father. The visible helping us to see and comprehend the invisible. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (Hebrews 1:3).

     It is apparent from the beginning of man's history that God never intended to simply give us a list of rules to live by and then disappear from the picture. Genesis 3:8 tells us, "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." What a beautiful picture of how it was meant to be - and how someday again it will be for those who are his children.

     Even after Adam and Eve’s sins barred them and their descendants from the Garden of Eden, God remained with his people. Before Israel entered the Promised Land, God showed he was with them in a unique way. "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night" (Exodus 13:21).

     When the Israelites camped in the desert, God's presence (his Shekinah glory) dwelt in the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:34)  He was not an absentee landlord. He was present on his property.

     God has always desired that His people know He is with them. He has never been the God that created the world and stepped back to let it run its course. He has always sought to be intimately involved with His people. The Supreme example, Jesus, came out of our heavenly Father's desire to draw us home in order that we might feel his embrace. So he sent Jesus.

     “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:16-18).

     The Word became flesh and tented among us. Can you say the same in your attempts to reach out to your ‘neighbors’? Are you living among or apart from them? Do you cross the moat, pull up the drawbridge and bask in the comforts while the world is desperate for a drink of Living Water? Are you willing to let those who urgently need the Savior's touch to pitch a tent in your backyard? Or will you be content to do drive-by blessings? How are you doing at humbling yourself and taking the role of a servant? What does it mean for you to daily “take up your cross” and follow Jesus? Consider asking the Lord each morning how he wants you to lay down your life so others might live.

     Go, in the flesh, so that the world may know the Truth and the Truth may set them free.

  

  Prayer 

“Precious Jesus, how can we ever thank you enough for coming into the world?  Praise you, Lord, for becoming flesh and living among your creation. Thank you for not considering equality with God the Father something to be grasped, but making yourself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Forgive our evil bents, heavenly Father, that are not passionately pursuing your Son moment-by-moment. Yet even in the midst of these wanderings, we have assurance that we are your children. By your sweet mercy we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior and believed in his name. You, and you alone, Father, have given us the right to become your children. As John cried out to a lost and hurting world in need of this message, grant us the boldness, compassion, and wisdom to do likewise. What a truth to behold, from the fullness of Jesus’ grace we have all received one blessing after another – especially the offer of adoption into his family. Praise you for revealing your nature, for making yourself known, by sending your Son in the flesh. We praise you, Lord Jesus, that grace and truth come through you. Grant us the eyes to see you every day, the ears to hear you, and the heart to follow you as we seek to lay down our lives so others might live. To you alone belong all glory, and honor, and praise.” Ω

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[1] Piper, John; Sermon on John 1:14-18: Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN.

Spiritual Cataracts

     Weathered by age and life’s trials, the white-haired man gingerly pushed himself up and out of his recliner. Laying his afghan blanket on the cracked, brown leather chair, he shuffled in his house slippers to heed the call of the door bell.

     “I’m coming. It’ll take me a bit. Be patient,” his chuckling voice rang out, followed by a muffled cough.

     “Take your time. We’re in no hurry.” Due to a move across the country, it had been eight years since we’d seen him in person - a few minutes longer wouldn’t hurt.

     Staring at the front door, it struck me how it imitated its owner. The yellow paint no longer told of its once brilliant glow. Multiple holes perforated the screen door - no longer able to keep the insects at bay. Slightly warped wood told the tale of years of winter, arctic blasts alternating with sweltering summers. When the door finally opened, the creaking told of tired hinges needing a little tender loving care.

     Head slightly bobbing, the old man stood there scratching the back of his head, straining to see through the screen. His eyes lingered on me…then on my older brother – a baffled look rose upon his face. A sigh swept through our spirits. “He doesn’t recognize us.” 

     This day called for jubilant greetings, open-armed embraces, and laughter. A celebration was in order – it was a family reunion.

     Instead, a slightly shaking right index finger rose and pushed glasses up the bridge of his nose in hopes of figuring out the identity of the two strangers. Squinting, the confusion on the old man’s face became even more distinct.

     “Grandpa, it’s us - Chris and Dann.”

     “What? Who did you say you were?”

     “Chris and Dann. Your grandsons. Bill’s boys.”

     Silence ensued. Hearts ached.

     My brother and I glanced sideways at each other not knowing how to tactfully get him to understand who we were. How could Grandpa not recognize us? Dad said he’d call and let Grandpa know we’d be coming by today.  Had the cataracts distorted his vision that much?

     A long-distance call that night helped us to understand Grandpa’s plight. No one told him we were coming! 

     Traveling through New York a year earlier, one of our siblings intended to stop and see the family patriarch. Somehow that visit with three co-travelers never took place. So Dad didn’t do his job proclaiming our arrival for fear of a repeat non-performance. And Grandpa stopped looking for visitors.

     The scenario our heavenly Father foretold regarding His Son’s arrival was radically different. He didn’t fail to make the call for fear of a non-performance:

     “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come, says the Lord Almighty” (Malachi 3:1). John the Baptist burst on the scene 400 years after this prophecy - paving the way for the coming of the Messiah, and fulfilling the promise of the Father.    

     “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” (John 1:6-8).

     John’s sole job was to be a witness who was sent from God. The Greek word for witness is martus from where we get our English martyr. A martyr is one who bears witness, by his death, of what he has seen, heard, or knows. Going before the anointed One of Israel, John the Baptizer proclaimed Jesus’ imminent arrival. He spoke in order to wake people up to their need for the Light that was sent from God.

     John did his job. The witness testified about the Truth and turned people’s gazes upon Jesus…in order that they might believe.

     “This believing when closely analyzed, included knowledge, assent, and the confidence of the heart. It is never a blind trust… While saving faith is also implicit and reaches out in trust beyond what we actually know and can know, it always does this only from the vantage ground of explicit faith, the sure ground of what we do and can know.”[1]

     If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have received the power of the Holy Spirit and are commanded to be a witness, regardless of how the message is received by others. “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:9-11).

     Some today will not recognize Jesus when you share your witness. Some will not receive Jesus. “This verb [receive] may be used of taking a person to oneself in intimate relationship. It is used of Joseph taking Mary as his wife (Matt. 1:20-24) and of Christ taking believers to himself in heaven (John 14:3). This is the kind of welcome that his own people ought to have given him when he went home.”[2] But still the witness must go forth. For some will recognize, believe, and receive.

     “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13).

     Be a witness. Sound forth a call to conversion. But rest in the reality that only God issues a converting call. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

  Prayer 

“Praise you, heavenly Father, for sending John the Baptizer as a witness to his world and to ours. Your love is amazing. Not only did You send Your Son to bear the wages of mankind’s sins, but you sent a herald in the flesh to make sure that the world would know that the Messiah’s arrival would be imminent. Let our lives imitate the humility of John’s. We admit that we are double-minded. We desire to point people to Jesus alone, yet at times we also want to bask in the spotlight. We want people to look at us, to notice us. Grant us the power to die to ourselves – which is the root reason why we point to anything in our lives other than Jesus. Heal our spiritual cataracts. Grant us forgiveness. We desire that people believe in Jesus. Let our words and deeds point to the Light in the hope that others recognize and receive Him as their Lord and Savior. We praise your holy name because your grace is overwhelming. Even though the world, and much of Israel, did not recognize or receive Jesus, you did not give up on mankind. Let us be the voices that shout from the rooftops to a lost and hurting world seeking to be loved – ‘to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God!’ By Your grace alone, we are children of the most High God.” Ω

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[1] Lenski, R.C.H.; The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1963, p. 49.

[2] Morris, Leon; The Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1995, p. 80.

The Gospels vs. The National Enquirer

“The face of Jesus has been found enshrined in a tortilla in the town of Guadalajara, Mexico.” The National Enquirer.

“This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” The Bible

     Which is a greater stretch for you to believe – Jesus’ image in a tortilla or Jesus, a personal Savior, dying on a cross and being raised from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins?

     Carefully consider the introduction to Luke’s Gospel:

     1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.  (Luke 1:1-4, NIV)

     At the time of Luke's writing, there were many religions competing for the hearts and minds of people in the Roman Empire...not unlike today’s world. The learned class was searching for trustworthy knowledge to guide them in their life’s journey. Into this fray came Dr. Luke seeking to dispel some of the rumors swirling about. Misinformation like the following still abounds:

     “The Bible is a product of man…Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.”[1]

      How do Christians counter such claims? In other words, what makes these Bible representations about Jesus reliable? First, Luke showed the extreme care he took, as an historian, in researching his work. He carefully investigated everything from the beginning in order to write an orderly account. 

     “While it is true that some historians of antiquity were not as careful as others, it is overstating the case to deny that good history existed. The Hellenistic historian Polybius criticizes other writers for making up dramatic scenes and calls on them to ‘simply record what really happened and what really was said…’ Other ancient historians make similar comments. This confirms that intelligent writers and readers of the first century were concerned with distinguishing fact from fiction.”[2]

     Luke spent time carefully investigating the multiple manuscripts and eyewitness accounts that told of the things that have been fulfilled among us regarding the life and teachings of Jesus. Luke desired to examine all the data available to him so that he could give as detailed a picture as possible to those seeking the truth. 

     Throughout his travels, Luke sought to investigate all the eyewitness accounts and written works about Jesus that he could find so that others might know the true story of Jesus from the beginning.

     Second, Luke makes it clear in verse four that he is writing this Gospel so that Theophilus, the letter’s recipient, would know the certainty of what he had been taught regarding Jesus. The word certainty comes from root meaning ‘not tripped up.’  Luke’s goal was that, “Theophilus shall know that the faith which he has embraced has an impregnable historical foundation.”[3]

     Luke was writing at a time in history when eyewitnesses were still orally transmitting the Gospel traditions. Because of these eyewitnesses, and his readers' knowledge of the oral traditions, Luke could not radically restructure the truth without his veracity being challenged. Furthermore, if Luke sought to deceive his readers, would it not be wiser to claim to be an eyewitness himself? Rather, he further argues his case for certainty by showing the close relationship between his Gospel and the testimony of eyewitnesses. 

     As the Apostle Peter stated, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).

     Last, Luke seeks in his prologue to assure his readers about the certainty of what they had been taught by pointing to Jesus' life as fulfilling the teachings of Scripture - things that had been fulfilled in the midst of these eyewitnesses. 

      “In the Old Testament there are sixty major messianic prophecies and approximately 270 ramifications that were fulfilled in one person, Jesus Christ. Using the science of probability, we find the chances of just forty-eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person to be right at one in ten to the 157^th power. Furthermore, the task of matching up God’s address with one man is further complicated by the fact that all the prophecies of the Messiah were made at least 400 years before He was to appear.”[4]

     If that is not enough to convince you to proceed in your own investigation, than consider the following facts about the New Testament as a whole:

There are more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.  Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions and we have more than 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence.

No other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers and attestation.  In comparison, the Iliad by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still survive [and yet few, if any, question the authenticity of Homer’s work].

[Furthermore,] in no other case is the interval of time between composition of the book and the date of the earliest extant [existing] manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament. We have scraps dated within 25 years of composition, whole sections within 250 years; compared to the Iliad - next closest at 500 years! [5]

(Personal Jesus was written based upon Priscilla Presley's relationship to Elvis...which, like any human relationship, will always fail to answer the ultimate questions. I chose Johnny Cash's version - maybe it's the 25 years I've been in Texas...but I also attached Depeche Mode's Stargate Mix as a peace offering to those who see Cash as a usurper of the real 'owners' of the song. May your choice help you to understand the offer of the real Personal Jesus.)

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[1] Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code. New York: Doubleday, 2001, p. 231.

[2]  Arnold, Clinton E. (General Editor). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2002, p. 322.

[3] Earle, Ralph. Word Meanings in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986, p. 51.

[4] McDowell, Josh. A Ready Defense. San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1991, pgs. 209-214.

[5] Ibid, pgs. 43-47.