At the risk of becoming a rip-off artist :-) I am going to post another ‘Myth Buster’ from Don Francisco’s website. I got this in my email this afternoon and couldn’t really think of any better way to say it :-) The only thing I did was add a couple of text references.
For more stuff by my favorite Christian Singer/Songwriter visit www.donfrancisco.com
There is confusion about this concept because there are multiple words for "fear" in both Greek and Hebrew, and many of them are used in both a positive and negative sense. We are told that the fear of God is a good thing (Joshua 24:14), and then we are told that perfect love casts out fear! (1 John 4:18) And in many cases, the original language is using the same word both positively and negatively.
The simple resolution for this is that there is a positive fear, a respect, awe, or "reverence"; and a negative fear, dread, a lack of trust in God.
The reverence of God is a deep aspect of character, a God-given ethic, a way of perceiving and responding to the universe. This "fear of God" causes the humans who possess it to look up at the stars in wonder rather than in despair, to value life, people, and living things. It is a positive world view. The reverence of God lights up our existence, it goads us away from self-destruction. It is the foundation of success for individuals, and it is also the basis for peaceful societies and nations.
The negative aspect of fear is a very different thing. It causes us to freeze up in misunderstanding. Jesus talked about a man who buried his talents because he thought God was a hard master. God loves us and does not want fear to drive us away from Him.
Jesus was a tangible expression of God's love for us and a forgiving response to our sin.
Dead religion is much harder on us than God is. It probably creates most of our fear towards God. We also have a tendency to feel guilty, and guilt brings about fear. The guilt that most Christians feel results from a misunderstanding of the Cross. Jesus died to permanently remove our guilt before God so that we could enjoy a lifelong friendship with Him.
If you are afraid of God because you think you have failed Him, then welcome to the human race. We have all failed Him, and yet He loves us more than we can imagine. Fear melts into awe when we realize the magnificence of what He has done for us.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Myth Buster: ‘The penalty for sin is death’
It might seem strange that I would quote Scripture and put the words “myth buster” in front of it. But some of you have realized there is something wrong with the above quote... it isn’t from scripture at all.
One of the most often misunderstood (and also misquoted) passages of Scripture is Romans 6:23. What it actually reads is “...the wages of sin is death...”
There is a huge difference in what those two phrases communicate. If we say the ‘penalty for sin is death’ it would seem to suggest God is paying out the penalty for sin. But when we attach this text (or partial text actually) to the rest of the verse and to the verses surrounding it we begin to understand what it is really saying. The rest of Romans 6:23 reads “...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Some understand this to mean that God is paying out death for sin with one hand and life in Jesus Christ with the other. Because death comes as the result of sin we conclude that what God pays out to us depends on our performance. This also is a misunderstanding of this text.
Attached to the verses surrounding it we see that Paul is personifying “sin”. Paul is talking about serving two masters and Sin is personified as a cruel slave master. A few verses earlier Paul writes:
“Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” – Romans 6:16
Here we clearly see that sin and obedience to God are setup as two different masters. We can offer ourselves to either one or the other (but not to both).
Paul is telling us that if we make sin our master and offer ourselves to serve him we will end up slaving for him. We can slave for sin our entire life and in the end the wage that he will payout is death. We will carry around a heavy load of sin and suffer the consequences of sin our entire life and in the end sin will payout with death. We will have difficulty and darkness all through our lives if we choose to serve the slave master Sin.
Then there is a comparison...
God is giving a gift! The free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ! The difference is clear. Sin pays a wage, a cruel wage. But God gives a gift, a glorious gift! A wage, by definition, is something you must work for. But on the other hand a gift is something you get for free - out of the goodwill of the one giving it. You don’t deserve it and you can’t work for it. All you can do is accept it.
There are two ways we can make sin our master. The first is to be drowning in self-destructive habits, drugs, sexual immorality, drinking, lying, stealing, etc... the list can go on. The second way is less obvious and often appears to be very religious and pious. That second way is to attempt to please God through good behavior. That will lead us into false religion and an un-winnable battle with sin which can only end one of two ways - in false pride and denial, or failure and sorrow.
Jesus has freed us from sin. In Jesus our sins have been defeated, paid for, and removed from us. Although we still struggle in our bodies, God loves us and already sees us as perfect. And since we are permanently forgiven, God's Spirit can dwell in us permanently without jumping out and back in every time we make a mistake and then confess it. The Cross was powerful, and Jesus never leaves us. The Bible says the cross of Jesus Christ was powerful enough to cover the sins of the whole planet.
The true Gospel brings a flood of peace, acceptance, healing, and joy into our lives. It is restful and invigorating. "Peace on earth, good will towards men!" This was the song of the angels when Jesus was born. We can rest in His gift, and enjoy the friendship with God which was purchased for us. It's a gift. If we allow sin to be our master and to control our lives, Satan will hurt, break down, and finally kill us. But God has a free gift, one which you don't have to work for - eternal, abundant, overflowing life.
One of the most often misunderstood (and also misquoted) passages of Scripture is Romans 6:23. What it actually reads is “...the wages of sin is death...”
There is a huge difference in what those two phrases communicate. If we say the ‘penalty for sin is death’ it would seem to suggest God is paying out the penalty for sin. But when we attach this text (or partial text actually) to the rest of the verse and to the verses surrounding it we begin to understand what it is really saying. The rest of Romans 6:23 reads “...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Some understand this to mean that God is paying out death for sin with one hand and life in Jesus Christ with the other. Because death comes as the result of sin we conclude that what God pays out to us depends on our performance. This also is a misunderstanding of this text.
Attached to the verses surrounding it we see that Paul is personifying “sin”. Paul is talking about serving two masters and Sin is personified as a cruel slave master. A few verses earlier Paul writes:
“Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” – Romans 6:16
Here we clearly see that sin and obedience to God are setup as two different masters. We can offer ourselves to either one or the other (but not to both).
Paul is telling us that if we make sin our master and offer ourselves to serve him we will end up slaving for him. We can slave for sin our entire life and in the end the wage that he will payout is death. We will carry around a heavy load of sin and suffer the consequences of sin our entire life and in the end sin will payout with death. We will have difficulty and darkness all through our lives if we choose to serve the slave master Sin.
Then there is a comparison...
God is giving a gift! The free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ! The difference is clear. Sin pays a wage, a cruel wage. But God gives a gift, a glorious gift! A wage, by definition, is something you must work for. But on the other hand a gift is something you get for free - out of the goodwill of the one giving it. You don’t deserve it and you can’t work for it. All you can do is accept it.
There are two ways we can make sin our master. The first is to be drowning in self-destructive habits, drugs, sexual immorality, drinking, lying, stealing, etc... the list can go on. The second way is less obvious and often appears to be very religious and pious. That second way is to attempt to please God through good behavior. That will lead us into false religion and an un-winnable battle with sin which can only end one of two ways - in false pride and denial, or failure and sorrow.
Jesus has freed us from sin. In Jesus our sins have been defeated, paid for, and removed from us. Although we still struggle in our bodies, God loves us and already sees us as perfect. And since we are permanently forgiven, God's Spirit can dwell in us permanently without jumping out and back in every time we make a mistake and then confess it. The Cross was powerful, and Jesus never leaves us. The Bible says the cross of Jesus Christ was powerful enough to cover the sins of the whole planet.
The true Gospel brings a flood of peace, acceptance, healing, and joy into our lives. It is restful and invigorating. "Peace on earth, good will towards men!" This was the song of the angels when Jesus was born. We can rest in His gift, and enjoy the friendship with God which was purchased for us. It's a gift. If we allow sin to be our master and to control our lives, Satan will hurt, break down, and finally kill us. But God has a free gift, one which you don't have to work for - eternal, abundant, overflowing life.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Driving Nails and Gouging Spears
There seems to be a trend in our Reformed circles to fight against sin by concentrating on just how sinful it really is. We concentrate on what a horrible thing we are doing every time we sin. To understand what I mean I want to use the following quote from a Reformed message forum.
“I think that if God gave up His only Son, then instead of driving the nails into His hands and feet doing what WE WANT to do instead of His will, that we should instead do our best to serve God according to HIS WILL.” – Anonymous
The idea here seems to be that if we make our selves feel bad about sinning we will do it less. While this may seem like a good strategy and may even appear pious on the surface it is 100% contrary to the gospel.
The gospel is about grace; God’s grace shown to us in Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live our lives motivated by guilt or a preoccupation with sin. He wants us to live our lives out of thankfulness and with a total focus on his abundant love and mercy. We need to direct our gaze to Jesus Christ and his finished work.
The idea expressed in the quotation above is that Christ suffering is ongoing and that by sinning we somehow add to Christ's suffering. The image tries to motivate us into sinning less by guilting us into lessening (or at least not worsening) Christ's suffering. The idea here is that we should avoid sinning because by doing so we continue (in some way) to drive the nails into Christ's hands and feet. This is a Roman Catholic idea and not at all Reformed (or more importantly Scriptural).
Please understand I am not picking on the Roman Catholic Church here. Nor am I saying that all Roman Catholics actually think this way about Christ’s sacrifice or that they live lives motivated by guilt. But in Roman Catholic theology the suffering of Christ is ongoing. This is symbolized by the Roman Catholic Mass in which the priest offers the true body and true blood of Christ over and over again each time. This is also why there is an ‘alter’ in Roman Catholic churches but not in Protestant churches.
Consider also how it is typically Catholic to see crucifixes with Jesus hanging on them while in Protestant circles we have crosses without Jesus hanging on it. This demonstrates the difference in that the Catholic church teaches the “ongoing suffering” of Christ while Reformed/Protestant theology teaches the “finished work of Christ”.
Our motivation for Christian living should never be guilt. It should be thankfulness for the salvation of God through Christ, once for all! Done! Finished! Finalized and sealed.
We do not continue to drive the nails into his hands and feet by our sins. Christ's death was offered "once, for all" and Jesus himself said "it is finished". This "finished work of Christ" is the cornerstone of our faith.
You cannot loose your salvation by falling into sin. And our sins don’t add to Christ's suffering either. So why not just go on sinning? Well when our theology causes us to ask that question we know we are on the right track. Why? You ask? Because that is the very question Paul was asked about his teaching. See Romans 6:1-2
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” – Romans 6:1-2
Because our evil nature has been put to death with Christ and been buried with him. If we have died with Christ we no longer live in the sinful flesh. We have been made new with Him and are a new creation in Him so we need to live our new, reborn life in Christ Jesus.
“I think that if God gave up His only Son, then instead of driving the nails into His hands and feet doing what WE WANT to do instead of His will, that we should instead do our best to serve God according to HIS WILL.” – Anonymous
The idea here seems to be that if we make our selves feel bad about sinning we will do it less. While this may seem like a good strategy and may even appear pious on the surface it is 100% contrary to the gospel.
The gospel is about grace; God’s grace shown to us in Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live our lives motivated by guilt or a preoccupation with sin. He wants us to live our lives out of thankfulness and with a total focus on his abundant love and mercy. We need to direct our gaze to Jesus Christ and his finished work.
The idea expressed in the quotation above is that Christ suffering is ongoing and that by sinning we somehow add to Christ's suffering. The image tries to motivate us into sinning less by guilting us into lessening (or at least not worsening) Christ's suffering. The idea here is that we should avoid sinning because by doing so we continue (in some way) to drive the nails into Christ's hands and feet. This is a Roman Catholic idea and not at all Reformed (or more importantly Scriptural).
Please understand I am not picking on the Roman Catholic Church here. Nor am I saying that all Roman Catholics actually think this way about Christ’s sacrifice or that they live lives motivated by guilt. But in Roman Catholic theology the suffering of Christ is ongoing. This is symbolized by the Roman Catholic Mass in which the priest offers the true body and true blood of Christ over and over again each time. This is also why there is an ‘alter’ in Roman Catholic churches but not in Protestant churches.
Consider also how it is typically Catholic to see crucifixes with Jesus hanging on them while in Protestant circles we have crosses without Jesus hanging on it. This demonstrates the difference in that the Catholic church teaches the “ongoing suffering” of Christ while Reformed/Protestant theology teaches the “finished work of Christ”.
Our motivation for Christian living should never be guilt. It should be thankfulness for the salvation of God through Christ, once for all! Done! Finished! Finalized and sealed.
We do not continue to drive the nails into his hands and feet by our sins. Christ's death was offered "once, for all" and Jesus himself said "it is finished". This "finished work of Christ" is the cornerstone of our faith.
You cannot loose your salvation by falling into sin. And our sins don’t add to Christ's suffering either. So why not just go on sinning? Well when our theology causes us to ask that question we know we are on the right track. Why? You ask? Because that is the very question Paul was asked about his teaching. See Romans 6:1-2
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” – Romans 6:1-2
Because our evil nature has been put to death with Christ and been buried with him. If we have died with Christ we no longer live in the sinful flesh. We have been made new with Him and are a new creation in Him so we need to live our new, reborn life in Christ Jesus.
Friday, January 26, 2007
The Atonement
This article is not one of my own original works. I copied it from Don Francisco’s website. He is a Christian singer and song writer. I highly recommend his website and music. You can download his music for free from his website.
When Jesus was born, the angels sang, "Peace on earth, good will toward men". That is because Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and to bring peace between people and God.
In the Old Testament, people would make an annual sacrifice as an atonement for sin. They would then rest for the remainder of the year in the knowledge that their sins were covered.
Of course, the sacrifice of Jesus was a much more powerful atonement for sin. Since Jesus became a sacrifice for our sin, we don't have to worry about it anymore. Jesus said, "It is finished". The work was completed.
Still, many Christians don't have as much peace in Jesus as an Old Testament believer had in the yearly atonement! Many of us feel guilty about the Cross and are still unable to have a face to face friendship with God because of guilt and the constant reminders of our imperfections.
Many churches teach that there are religious things one has to do to be worthy of a relationship with God. But the Bible says there is nothing we can do to improve our standing with the God who already loves us beyond what we can grasp, except to trust fully that the Cross has made us worthy.
We can still get hurt and hurt others by living outside of God's wise principles, but it is not God who hurts us. The father did not chase the prodigal son and throw rocks of judgment every time he did something wrong. The father didn't hurt the son-- sin hurt the son! The father just waited, and when the son came home, he placed fine robes on him without hesitation.
The biggest danger of missing the point of the atonement is that you begin to adopt a performance based dead religion as a false means to God. This is what the Bible calls dead works. If you don't believe that what Jesus did for you on the Cross is complete, you start to believe that there are things you can do to earn your own salvation. This produces people who are puffed up in false pride, or people who have left God altogether in defeat. It is impossible to please God through perfect living. We can't be perfect enough. If we try, we usually end up becoming snooty and judgemental.
God loves us so much it is hard to wrap your brains around it. He sent His Son as an atonement. He has removed our sins as far from us as east is from west - ALL of our sins, past present and future. Now nothing stands in the way of us having a close friendship with God-- except perhaps, our own misunderstanding of the Cross and how powerful and complete it is!
When Jesus was born, the angels sang, "Peace on earth, good will toward men". That is because Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and to bring peace between people and God.
In the Old Testament, people would make an annual sacrifice as an atonement for sin. They would then rest for the remainder of the year in the knowledge that their sins were covered.
Of course, the sacrifice of Jesus was a much more powerful atonement for sin. Since Jesus became a sacrifice for our sin, we don't have to worry about it anymore. Jesus said, "It is finished". The work was completed.
Still, many Christians don't have as much peace in Jesus as an Old Testament believer had in the yearly atonement! Many of us feel guilty about the Cross and are still unable to have a face to face friendship with God because of guilt and the constant reminders of our imperfections.
Many churches teach that there are religious things one has to do to be worthy of a relationship with God. But the Bible says there is nothing we can do to improve our standing with the God who already loves us beyond what we can grasp, except to trust fully that the Cross has made us worthy.
We can still get hurt and hurt others by living outside of God's wise principles, but it is not God who hurts us. The father did not chase the prodigal son and throw rocks of judgment every time he did something wrong. The father didn't hurt the son-- sin hurt the son! The father just waited, and when the son came home, he placed fine robes on him without hesitation.
The biggest danger of missing the point of the atonement is that you begin to adopt a performance based dead religion as a false means to God. This is what the Bible calls dead works. If you don't believe that what Jesus did for you on the Cross is complete, you start to believe that there are things you can do to earn your own salvation. This produces people who are puffed up in false pride, or people who have left God altogether in defeat. It is impossible to please God through perfect living. We can't be perfect enough. If we try, we usually end up becoming snooty and judgemental.
God loves us so much it is hard to wrap your brains around it. He sent His Son as an atonement. He has removed our sins as far from us as east is from west - ALL of our sins, past present and future. Now nothing stands in the way of us having a close friendship with God-- except perhaps, our own misunderstanding of the Cross and how powerful and complete it is!
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