My Confession, My Joy

I confess that,

Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only living God of the universe. He is the beginning and the end. All things were made by Him and for Him. He is the logos, or the answer to everything. He is the great subject of all history and literature. He is the architect of all mathematics, physics, and sciences. We are the product of His endless imagination. He is the power that holds all existence together. He is before all things and is forevermore. His love is death defying. His power is unlimited. His reason is beyond understanding. His decisions cannot be contested. He is a consuming fire. He has no shadow of turning and he does not change. He is light and there is no darkness in Him. The collection of 66 works known as the Holy Bible is His inspired Word, given to holy men to write down as His Spirit guided them. His Word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God is equipped totally for every good work. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will not. He came to live among us, but we rejected Him. He died because of us. He rose from death to save us. He lives and reigns today. All who call upon His name will be saved. All who reject Him will be destroyed in eternal fire.

My joy is,

This Jesus of Nazareth knows my name, and He loves me. He will raise me up on the last day.

Your fellow worker in that "new Jewish cult." <Jesus the Anointed is God's Son and Savior. )<

The Sandheap and Sin

Pictured above: A heap of sand...maybe.

Let us begin with a famous paradox (The Sorites’ Paradox). One has a heap of sand made up of 1,000,000 grains of sand.

We assume; 1,000,000 grains of sand is a heap of sand. (Premise 1) A heap of sand minus one grain is still a heap. (Premise 2)

Therefore, Repeated applications of Premise 2 (each time starting with one less grain), eventually forces one to accept the conclusion that a heap may be composed of just one grain of sand.

What does this have to do with sin? Everything.

Reformed theology affirms that the Bible teaches that it is sinfulness, and not individual sins, which condemn a person to Hell. Reformed theology affirms that any person not living in the grace of Jesus Christ is sinful and condemned, regardless of how many (or how few) sins he may have. It also affirms that anyone who is in Christ is totally saved and secure no matter how many (or few) sins he may commit.

To many this doctrine is offensive and unfair. Many believe that a person with few sins may enter Heaven without Christ, and others believe that those with many sins may not enter even with Christ. To these people I say this: answer the paradox. How many grains of sand constitute a heap?

Either one grain of sand constitutes a heap, or there is no such thing as a heap, or there is a specified number of grains which constitute a heap.

Therefore when applied to the question of sin we find one of these must be true; (Truth 1) One sin is sufficient for condemnation. (Truth 2) No amount of sins are sufficient for condemnation. (Truth 3) A specified number of sins are required for condemnation.

If #1 is true, then Reformed theology is correct in this matter, and all sinners are equally condemned without Christ, and all saved persons are equally secure in Christ. If #2 is true, then all of Christianity is bunk because there was/is no sin debt with God and therefore no reason to send Christ to die for us. If #3 is true, then there should be a specific number of sins laid out clearly in Scripture, underneath which there is no condemnation (Christ or not) and above which there is no salvation (Christ or not).

What does Scripture say?

Galatians 2 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

First, Paul makes it clear that a person cannot be made right with God through his own effort (works of the law). This is critical, for many believe the sand heap can be thus altered in size by one's good works. It cannot. We cannot reduce its number. Just as a thousand good deeds done by a murderer cannot bring the victim back to life, so we cannot undo our own sins. Second, Paul also makes it plain that if it were possible to attain righteousness on one's own, Christ's death would be meaningless. Therefore if one ascribes to the idea of Christianity, truth #2 must be discarded. The sand heap is very real. The only question is, how many grains of sand constitute a heap?

James 2 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James makes it clear that there is no partiality among sins. Anyone who breaks God's law in just one place becomes guilty for breaking all of it. QED, one grain of sand constitutes a heap.

John's Gospel 3 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." 1st John 5 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

God used John the Elder to make it plain to us. If you are in Christ Jesus, then you will not be condemned. If you are not, you are already condemned. That is, the number or severity of your sins is really irrelevant. If you have ever sinned (and all humans have) then you are a sinner and sinful. Either you will believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus and repent and therefore find full grace and forgiveness in Him, or you will refuse Him and be condemned to an eternity separated from the Father of Joy in eternal torment.

Romans 1 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

2nd Corinthians 3 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Galatians 6 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

1st Corinthians 4 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

No matter how few sins you have committed, or how many good works you have done, you cannot be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Likewise, the man in Christ is not judged on the quantity of his sins after repentance nor is he judged on the number of good works he has done in Christ. What counts, as Paul says in Galatians 6:15, is a new creation. The new man in Christ is a changing man who is changing from faith to faith and glory to glory. He is being sanctified out of sin but is so long as he breathes a work in progress, which should not be judged on some arbitrary system of men, including his own.

Romans 5 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, andso death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

One grain of sand is a heap. One sin results in total condemnation. One act of true righteousness (the Cross) is sufficient to pay for all.

Mom

My mom.

She's done a lot in her life so far. A straight-A student always, graduating with honors wherever she went. What she attempted, she excelled at. She is brilliant in mathematics, chemistry, and medicine. She abandoned her career to serve as a full-time mother and housewife for her only child and husband. Later, she returned to school and became a nurse. A really, really good nurse.

She's had a rough life though. Her early years were not at all kind to her. She saw her family torn apart by divorce and endured all the horrors that the fallout created. Through it all she tried her best to watch over her younger siblings and shield them from the worst of offenses that were all around her. When she married my father they moved to his hometown, a community mistrusting of any outsiders that never accepted her. She was friendless for many years but hardly let it show to me.

Of course, the best thing about her is that she is a daughter of King Jesus, a Repenter like me.

Though she sent me to public school, she insisted on teaching me subjects while away from school at home. It was under her tutelage that I gained my love for learning, literature, history and science. She taught me how to perform basic multiplication far in advance of when I was taught it in public school. She helped me to tackle long division when I struggled with it. She read to me constantly and supplied me with a constant stream of books.

She taught me a lot about mercy and compassion, because those qualities really define her. She also taught me through her work as a nurse that nurses have one of the hardest, most important and most under appreciated jobs on earth. Nurses are awesome, and if you are a nurse, then may God bless you.

Mom also taught me healthy skepticism. Thanks to her I have an intellectual shield against foolish notions, bandwagons and popular tripe. She taught me to question everything and to doubt not for doubt's sake (that is dangerous) but in order to find the truth. She also taught me that when you use skepticism to pursue truth, you should be open to whatever truth you find, even if that truth is dangerous, uncomfortable, or not what you expected. This has been possibly her greatest lesson to me. You'd think it was a hindrance to my faith in Christ, but it's the contrary. Christ is the Truth, so when I sought the truth of the matter I found Him. And even though the Truth of Christ is almost unbelievable, is uncomfortable, and very dangerous, I accepted that Truth. Since then, my healthy skepticism has also kept me from falling into any tradition of men but to keep to the truth of the Word. Thanks mom.

My mom was very loving and kind to me. She never rejected or despised me and I never doubted her love for a moment (though my affections for her came and went like the devil I am). Her discipline was very light but also very consistent. I knew what to expect from her at all times and though punishments were never severe they were consistent and often were enough to keep me in line (eventually). She was ready to die for me at any moment, a shield against the darkness, someone who stood in the gap for my sake. She gave up hopes and dreams of her own so that I would have a mother. I will never forget that.

I love you mom. Happy mother's day.

(Note: This was originally published May 14, 2014. My sweet mama passed away in 2016. I thank God that she had a chance to read this before she passed into eternity.)

Falling Asleep

 

Before I begin, it's important for you to know where I'm coming from. I have been preaching supply since 2009 and have been the interim pastor of a Southern Baptist Church since summer of 2013.

That being said, I have a confession to make. Sometimes while someone else is preaching, I fall asleep.

Lots of pastors would probably be alarmed that another pastor would dare fall asleep during someone else's sermon, but I do. Being a sermon sleeper gives me a unique perspective into their world, and so as a pastor, I am not insulted if one of my members falls asleep on me.

There are three main reasons I fall asleep during sermons:

1. Stillness is a sedative to me.

When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with what is now called ADHD. I have to be doing something all the time or I will fall asleep. This is especially true if I am sitting comfortably in a dim-lit room and being quiet and still. It's why if I am driving, I need to be talking to someone or singing to music to avoid sleeping at the wheel.

2. I have young children.

If you are a parent with young children, you understand. Your world is a whirlwind of dirty diapers, fits, and activities. So sometimes, no, I did not get enough sleep the night before Mr. Preacher, but it was in service to the least of these.

3. You are boring.

I saved the best for last, because this one is going to get some preacher's blood boiling. The usual rebuttal is, "If you find my sermons boring, then you find Jesus our Lord boring!" Not necessarily true, Mr. Preacher. Here's how:

A. Your sermon isn't about Jesus. You start with a verse from Scripture, and you talk a lot about "God." You talk about how we should all stop doing this, and start doing that. You talk about how following the Bible will enrich our lives. But somewhere in your sermon prep, Jesus wound up on the cutting floor. The sermon never actually points to the Cross, and the Gospel, if presented at all, is thrown in at the end. This sir, is a boring sermon.

“The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.” Charles Spurgeon, 1876

B. You don't believe what your preach. You talk about Jesus. You talk about the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Atonement. You preach the Gospel itself, but you don't really believe it and/or mean it. This doesn't mean you aren't a believer, but it does mean your spiritual tank is empty and for whatever reason, you didn't invite the Holy Spirit to come preach through you. Despite what you think, it's terribly obvious to everyone, and it makes your sermon really, really boring. 

To anyone under my preaching that falls asleep, I extend grace to you. Maybe life is tough right now and you can't find time to sleep to save your life. Maybe you have a health issue that's keeping you sedated in those comfy pews. And maybe my sermon was boring either because I missed the Gospel or did not preach in the Spirit, and if that's true, then I need your forgiveness.

To preachers who burst a blood vessel when someone falls asleep: First, judge not. You have no idea what that person's story is right now. Their circumstances may be such that you would be ashamed of yourself if you knew. Secondly, examine your heart. Why are you so angry? Is it truly because Christ has been mocked, or is it your own vanity?