Freedom is Good News Part 50

“I will say it again: Rejoice!”  In the last article we were considering the Apostle Paul’s remedy for finding ourselves living in sorrow and grief.  In Philippians 4:4-7 we find him telling us twice to rejoice.  But he tells us to rejoice “in the Lord” and he tells us to put on the attitude of gentleness.  This is interesting advice so far but he then goes on to tell us that the Lord we are calling on for joy is near.

In the book of 2 Chronicles 15:2 the prophet Azariah gives Asa, king of Judah a most precious message, he says, “The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you …”  This is a great promise that is echoed throughout the bible.  Moses understood that God would never leave him not forsake him and the same thing was echoed in the book of Hebrews 13:5.  When we call out to God and truly draw near to Him, He will be there with us.  Earlier in the book of Hebrews in 4:16 we read, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find help in our time of need.”  Yes, Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord for He is near.

In this quote from Paul’s letter we are next told not to be anxious about anything!  And isn’t this why we sometimes find ourselves in sorrow and grief – because we are anxious about the future?  We have had a loss and what will the future hold?  So, what is Paul’s remedy for this anxiousness?  “But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Did you notice there is a threefold expression of how we are to approach God?  Let’s look at the first two:  Prayer and petition.  Sometimes we think that when we might need something from God, we go to Him in prayer. But prayer is not a request.  It is actually defined in Greek as a word of sacred character.  It is devotion before our God.  The word “petition” is better defined as, “requesting a particular need or benefit”.  Paul uses both words as we: 1) Pray, i.e. Approach God with the worship, honor and praise due to the Supreme and Almighty Creator of the universe.  And 2) Petition, i.e. we present our request to be separated from our anxieties, and the turmoils we face and so enter into the rest that our Savior promised us in Matthew 11:28.

What about that third expression in the above quote?  What about “thanksgiving”?  There is a line in a song that may help us here, “I thank God for the storms He’s brought me through.  For if I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that He could solve them, I’d never know what faith in God could do.”  Sometimes we wonder why God brings trials upon us.  They hurt.  We feel alone.  They cause us anxiety.  There was a time in my life, some 38 years ago when I found myself all alone.  I won’t go into details but suffice it to say, I’d never experienced anything like it before.  At that time I realized there was only one place to turn.  I turned to God, in praise, with petition and with thanksgiving.  And as I look back on that day, I realize it was one of the happiest experiences of my life.  I found out just how close God was to me.

Yes, there is still more good news to come – God willing!

Freedom is Good News Part 49

It is true that there is good news today!  But do we sometimes lose sight of that fact?  I believe we are all prone to being overwhelmed by the cares and worries of this life and sometimes it feels that joy has not been abiding with us.  The loss of a loved one is perhaps the greatest cause of grief in one’s life.  I suppose one may find a list of the top ten reasons for the loss of joy and I would surmise that they would all contain the word “loss”.  Loss of job, home, self esteem, health etc., I am sure you could fill in the blanks from your life. 

The truth is, God is not a God of sorrow, nor has He called us to a life of sorrow.  So how do we get over the feeling that the walls are closing in on us?  How do we survive when we feel that tomorrow will only bring us more of the tears of today?

The short and easy answer here is to say that we must pray and read the word of God.  But what should we pray about and where in God’s word should we begin reading?  May I humbly suggest that we begin with the letter of Paul to the Philippians?  In chapter 4 verse 4 we read, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let’s take a closer look at this statement.  “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  The word “rejoice” is the direct antithesis to the words “sorrow” or “grief”.  Paul is here telling us to turn our focus completely around.  He understands that it is fully within our capacity to accomplish this but he doesn’t just leave us wondering how to do it; He lets us know that we are to do this “in the Lord”.  In other words, we are to do this with God’s help.  God knows our hearts.  He knows our deepest needs.  He understands that sometimes we just hurt!  Think of it this way:  When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, we are told He was filled with inner grief and sorrow.  He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”  The heavenly Father looked down and saw His Son, His only Son, whom He loved and we are told in the book of Luke 22:43 that He sent an angel, “An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him”.  Yes, God will strengthen us in our time of need also.  And yet that is not all; Paul tells us to rejoice “always”. 

“I will say it again: Rejoice!”  Paul wants us to know the truth of his statement and so repeats it.  And then Paul lets us know that if we need God’s help in our striving to rejoice, we should not show any harshness but we should “let our gentleness be evident to all.”  This is an important ingredient to the answer.

And so we shall, God willing, talk more on this subject next time!

Freedom is Good News Part 48

We are on a journey.  Our destination is the kingdom of God.  And in the last article we read that Jesus told us to “ask seek and knock”.  Further more He said that if we would ask, we would receive; if we sought, we would find; and if we would knock, the door would be opened to us.

These three verbs are, in scripture, in the imperative mood.  The imperative mood indicates that they are used for urgency, necessity and are given as a command.  So I guess they are important to pay attention to.  I guess we need to know how to proceed with them!

Ask:  when I ask something of God, I consider it to be a prayer.  Let’s take a look at a couple of scriptures on this.  1 John 3:21-22, “Beloved … we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”  God is there to give us anything we ask.  Yet He requires our obedience and we must do what pleases Him.  As a quick aside, what is it that pleases God?  In Hebrews 11:6 it says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God”.  Another scripture on this subject, also found in 1 John, tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And we know that if He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.”  Show God that you truly seek His kingdom by asking in prayer with faith.  He will be pleased!

Seek:  when you cannot find a very precious item that you own, you seek for it and do not give up until you find it.  Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”  (Remember, last week we saw that the word “seek” means to “beat a path”.)  Never give up coming before God as you seek the kingdom first!

Knock:  what is your position when you knock upon a door?  You must be right in front of the door.  I can’t knock on my neighbor’s door while sitting in my own living room.  In the book of Hebrews we have a couple of scriptures concerning this: 4:14, “We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  And in 10:19, “Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”  Wow, what a beautiful promise.  It is as if before our hand hits the door, the door swings open to us.

If you want to find the Joslyn castle, ask me.  If you want to find the Kingdom of God, you’d better ask Jesus Christ – it is He that has gone through the heavens and resides there, ever ready to help us. 

And that’s good news!

Freedom is Good News Part 47

Do we have any obligations to God?  Does He ever ask anything of us?  We have been talking about bringing glory to God by producing fruit – so what do we do?  Let’s start in Psalm 24:  “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the waters.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?” 

If the world and everything else belongs to God, what can we, mere mortals, do for Him?  I find it interesting that the Psalmist then asks the double question of who may ascend God’s hill and who will stand in His holy place.  David, (who wrote this Psalm) was a man after God’s own heart, and he gives us a clue as to what we might do; draw near to God!!  And how, we might ask, do we accomplish that?  Verse 4 says, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear falsely.”  (I think we may be on to something here!)  Verse 5: “He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.”

How do you seek God’s face?  This phrase is an idiomatic expression that means we desire to stand in the presence of God.  And how would one do this?  Why, by “ascending the hill of the LORD and standing in His holy place”!  The word “seek” in Hebrew literally means “to beat a path”.  You don’t beat a path by going somewhere just once.  You must go back to the destination over and over again.  Seeking God is something that must be done every day.

I remember my earthly father would say that he was the richest man in the world when at a family reunion he would gather his children and grandchildren to him.  How much more would our heavenly Father, perfect in every way, desire to have His children close to Him?  So, to get back to our original thought of how to bring glory to God, we answered by saying we should seek His face; i.e. draw near to Him.

Jesus, in Matthew 6:33, tells us this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things (material goods) will be given to you as well.”  Some time ago Sally and I had planned a trip to see the Joslyn Castle in Omaha.  In preparing our adventure we had to do three things:  we had to ask where the Castle was (39th and Davenport), then we had to seek it (get in our car and check out the map – yes an ink and paper map), finally after pulling in the lot and walking up to the door, we had to knock upon those massive doors.  Yes we had to “ask, seek and knock”.  OK, so you are ahead of me on this one.  Those are the three things Jesus tells us to do in chapter seven.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Let’s explore these three tasks next time.

Freedom is Good News Part 46

“Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:7)   This is where we left off in our previous article as we were talking about producing fruit, and remaining in Jesus Christ.  So the first thing I must remind us, is that we are in the midst of a parable.  Keep this firmly in your mind and understand that we may not leave the parable to seek things outside the parable.  Do you want to produce fruit?  Ask that you may produce fruit! What does this fruit look like and what purpose does it serve?

The look and purpose of fruit is explained by Jesus in the next verse, “This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  Wow!  So the fruit we are to produce is to bring glory to the Heavenly Father.  Do you need anything to help you produce this fruit?  “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”  God does not leave us empty or without help.  His promise is real.  If our desire is to bring glory to God, He will pull out all the stops and provide us with whatever we might ask in our effort to bear much fruit.

I believe this is the heart of what we have been looking at the past two weeks.  I do have a few branches on my grape vine (in the backyard) that were pruned off last year.  They were not producing a thing.  But the reality here is that our Savior, the One who shed His blood for me, has asked me to produce fruit that will bring glory to God the Father and also show that I belong to Jesus and may call myself His disciple.

I have said it before and I will say it again, we can do nothing of ourselves to earn salvation!  It is a free gift of God.  But when God who owns the entire universe gives you the greatest gift, the gift of His Son, His only Son whom He loves, and then invites you to be as His Son was – totally obedient and totally faithful – shouldn’t we strive to do so?

We have been looking at John chapter 15 in this study but in chapter 17 Jesus makes a most remarkable statement.  Chapter 17 is the true Lord’s Prayer.  It is given only hours before His death on the cross and in the prayer Jesus talks again about glory, “Father, the hour has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. …. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”  Did you catch that?  Jesus brought glory to God by completing the work God gave Him to do!  Jesus completed the work of salvation for you and me.  And God was glorified!

What is the work He has given to you?  Maybe you don’t care.  Maybe you are not interested.  That is between you and God.  But if you are interested and you want to bring glory to God then perhaps we need to consider this subject.  And we shall!!

Until next time…..

Freedom is Good News Part 45

As I was preparing to write this article, my wife Sally and I were talking about needing to get out to the grape vine, this summer, and prune the few branches that are producing no fruit. Then I remembered the article previously written some short time ago.  In it we talked about the parable of the sower found in Matthew 13.  Remember that parable?  Three out of the four areas upon which seed fell produced no crop, no benefit to the farmer.  In putting these two ideas together I could not help but think of another parable that Jesus used to teach His disciples.  It too involved agriculture.  (I’m sure you’re way ahead of me on this one!)

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.  He takes away every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  (John 15:1-2)

Is it important to “bear fruit / produce a harvest”?  I believe Jesus thinks it is.  Going on in John 15; “You are already pruned (or clean) because of the word I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I will abide in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me.”  OK, the parameters are obvious!  I cannot expect to see grapes on the branches in my arbor unless they are attached to the vine.  This is a parable and so somehow we must come to understand what it means to be attached to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus gets quite specific in the next few verses:  “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  First of all, He tells us that “we” are the branches.  Are you a branch?  Next, He tells us we must abide in Him.  Are you a branch attached to your Savior?  Then He tells us we are to have Him abide in us.  Are you a branch attached to your Savior that allows the nourishing sap of His life to flow in you?  And finally, we must bear fruit.  This begins to sound very important, very serious.  This begins to sound like our previous article: “So every once in a while it might be advantageous to examine ourselves and see where we place the most effort.” 

Jesus does give a hint as to how this should work.  “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”  First of all we must have His words remaining in us.  I know of only one way of having His words in me, I have to read them.  But more than read, I should “devour” them.  One of the definitions of devour is, “to swallow up; engulf; to absorb completely”. 

While teaching a crowd (John 6:63) Jesus says, “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life”.  A few verses later when Jesus asks the disciples if they would want to leave Him, Peter utters some profound words, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  To whom shall we go to produce fruit?

But then there’s the statement in John 15:7, “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given.”  Hmmm?

Don’t go away friends, there is still more to come!

Freedom is Good News Part 44

It has been said the things we work the hardest for are the things that mean the most to us.  I suppose that is a fair statement.  So every once in a while it might be advantageous to examine ourselves and see where we place the most effort.  What is it that means the most to us?  We all have to pay the bills and so a good chunk of our time is spent earning a living.  We all need rest to reenergize our bodies and so we spend a fair amount of time getting the rest we need.  Oh yes, we do need nourishment to fuel our activities and so meal time is important.

So let’s get to the crux of the matter.  How much time do you spend seeking God?  Is it important to you to have a relationship with Him?  To me this is a very curious question; because I am not sure why more people are not interested in knowing this loving Father who is the giver of all good gifts.  I wonder what has lulled people to sleep.  Most folks only see this physical world around them and never pause to examine it as a marvelous creation and so give glory to the creator.  I have even heard people speak of the world around them in terms of its awesomeness and yet never give the credit to an awesome God.  Are the intricacies of life, in the totality its vast array, just happenstance?

Have you been lulled to sleep by this world’s empty glory?   Is there any glory in the newest TV show?  Is there any glory in the outcome of the next big sporting event?  Is there any glory in keeping up with all the latest texting? …The latest face book posts? …The latest u-tube videos?  Let me ask you this: have you become addicted to any of this?   (We began this article as an exercise in self examination.)

Shouldn’t our addiction be to the One who loves us more than we could ever know? … The One who brings good food to our tables? … The One who gave us our five senses so we can enjoy the world around us? … The One who created the entirety of the universe and causes the moon and stars to shine at night and the sun to warm us by day?  But more than all this, shouldn’t we desire the One who has redeemed us from an empty way of life?

The man Job, who was blessed abundantly and then lost everything, had a lot of questions for God.  He and his friends spent much time discussing the validity of God’s actions toward Job.  It’s a long book with many twists and turns but in the end God speaks to Job and never answers any of Job’s questions.  God just confronts Job with questions of His own:  “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?  Tell me if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions?  Surely you know. … Who watched over the birth of the sea when it burst forth from the womb?  … What is the way to the abode of light?  And where does darkness reside?”

The questions go on and on; Job had no answers for God, and in all honesty, neither do we!!  Have you ever read the book of Job, especially chapters 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42?  This God we serve is amazing beyond our understanding.  How much do you know of Him?  Get to know Him - for He promises to bless you immensely!

Good news indeed!

Freedom is Good News Part 43

I live in Elk Horn Iowa and am surrounded by agriculture.  Corn and soybeans are the main crops to be planted.  The cattle are grazing in the fields.  And those with back yard gardens, from year to year, desire to see the “fruit of their labor”!  If you are even a little bit familiar with the Word of God, you know that there are a multitude of references to the planting and growing of food.  People from the time of Adam to the days of Jesus Christ, lived in an agrarian society.  So it should be of no surprise that when Jesus wanted to use a metaphor in His teaching, He drew upon the concept of farming. 

In the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew we find seven parables; one about fishing, one about baking, two about treasures and three about farming.  Let’s take a look at the first of these parables which happens to be about farming.  Starting in verse 3 we read; “Then He told them many things in parables, saying:  ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed….’”  As the farmer scattered his seed we find that there were four specific areas upon which the seed fell and four differing results for harvest.  The seed fell upon the walking path, upon the rocky soil, upon soil with thorny weeds and finally upon good soil.  The results of this scattering were; the birds ate up the seed on the path (no harvest here), the rocky soil produced plants but only for a short time because they could not develop a root system (no harvest here), the thorny soil produced plants but they could not compete with the weeds and they were choked out (no harvest here either), and finally the good soil produced a crop in abundance – some a hundred, some sixty and some thirty times what was sown.

The lesson here in agricultural terms is easy; make sure you plant in the good soil.  But Jesus wasn’t really trying to teach a farming lesson.  He had a larger picture in mind.  This was the first of the “kingdom parables” (“The kingdom of heaven is like …”) and the lesson is about producing fruit for the kingdom of God.

But as I see it, there are two lessons here: first, if you are striving to help others come to see the good news of Jesus Christ; you must take some time to prepare the soil.  Are you being a good example to those around you?  Are you gentle and kind when presenting a biblical thought?  Are you a humble servant of your Savior?  These attitudes, and others, are important when considering a good harvest.

But secondly, there is another aspect to this parable.  When you hear a message about Jesus Christ or when you open your bible to do your own reading or studying, how do you accept what you hear or read?  It really doesn’t matters how long you have been involved with the word of God, because seeds may be planted every day within your heart.  And these every day seeds planted within you may find your heart as hard as a walking path or as shallow as rocky soil.  Today’s lesson might be entangled in the thorns and briars of a busy life.  But if you have prepared your own heart to receive the word of God, perhaps a harvest of joy, peace, righteousness or holiness will reap one hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Good news indeed!!

Freedom is Good News Part 42

A couple of articles ago I asked the question, “But why a Lamb?”  Why is the Lamb the thread that runs throughout the tapestry of the scriptures?  Our Savior, the one who sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, the one who is spoken of as having received “power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” is portrayed over and over again as a simple lamb.

There is, in the Old Testament, an interesting scripture where God tells Moses “Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God (an animal) that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to Him”.  The use of the word “detestable” is a very strong word here.  Why is this the case?  Because the sacrifice of any animal is a type of the sacrifice of the Son of God.  He was the one who was without “any defect or flaw”.  Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” was the only one to live a life without sin.

But let us think for a moment about a lamb.  What comes to your mind when you consider a baby lamb, perhaps one less than a year old?  Does the word innocent come to mind?  How about defenseless?  Perhaps to a child, the word “pet” might come to mind.

When an Israelite man would come to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for his sins and the sins of his family, (let’s try and picture this) a husband and wife, with several young children in tow, are bringing a tethered lamb to the gates of the temple.  The priest meets them and the husband says he has a sacrifice of a “sin offering” in the lamb.  Into the outer courtyard they go.  The husband places his hands upon the lamb’s head, he bows down and confesses his sins and the sins of the family over the lamb, the priest hands the man a very sharp knife and dad must now kill the lamb with the family watching from a distance.  The blood of the lamb must flow, for the scripture tells this family that “without blood it is impossible to have sins forgiven”.

Wow!  This might bring a few tears to one’s eyes!  What a blessing it is for us to know that we do not have to kill a lamb for our sins.  We have the Lamb of God as our sacrifice.  But let me ask you this; does this thought of our Savior, the Lamb of God, shedding His blood for your sins, ever bring a tear to your eye?  It should!  Sometimes we shed tears of sorrow and repentance and sometimes we should shed tears of joy for the life we might have in our Savior Jesus Christ!

If you have never considered this; if you have never understood what your sins did to the Son of God; if you have never been cut to the heart (as were the hearts of the people listening to Peter on the day of Pentecost – see Acts 2:36-37), then perhaps now is the time to get down on your knees and seek the favor of God.  Ask Him what you should do.  And He, like Peter, will say, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is for you and for your children.”  (Acts 2:38-39)  Good News shall then abound.

Freedom is Good News Part 41

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  We are looking at the symbol of the lamb in scripture and find that it can be traced throughout the bible.  For instance, King David, before he became king, took care of the sheep and … you guessed it, the lambs – he was a shepherd and he was God’s choice to replace Saul as king of Israel.

We are told, in the book of Luke, that when God revealed to the world that His Son had been born, the first people He had the angels visit with this message were the shepherds who were keeping watch over the flocks at night. 

When God introduced the sacrificial system to Israel as they began their wilderness wanderings, the animal most often used was a lamb.  “Shepherds and lambs” are an abundant concept that God uses to teach us lessons.  Jesus Himself proclaimed to the crowd that He was the Good Shepherd who would lay down His life for His sheep.

And then we have a remarkable story found in the book of Revelation.  It begins in chapter 4 with John giving us a quick peek into the throne room of God.  This description is like nothing else in the bible – this is where God the Father dwells.  How awesome it is!  The story then continues in chapter 5 where John is saddened because there is no one found worthy to open up a scroll found in the Father’s hand.  One of the elders comes up to John and says, “Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.  He is able to open the scroll and loose the seven seals.”  At this point, John looks around to see but he does not see a lion but a lamb.  “And I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.”  When the Lamb took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne the entire atmosphere in the heavenly realm changed.  All who were there, the four creatures, the twenty four elders and the myriad of Angels stopped whatever they were doing and bowed down and worshiped the Lamb.  And they all sang a new song with loud voices, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God, from every tribe and language and people and nations. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.”   And the singing continued, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.”  At this point all creation takes up the song, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”  Wow – I believe we can all say “amen”!

There is a lot going on here.  It may well be called the pivotal point in the entire universe.  And it is all about a Lamb.  We know Him as Jesus Christ.  He is the bringer of good news.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.  He who was without sin gave His life so that we who are filled with sin may have life eternal.

Freedom is Good News Part 40

A few thousand years ago, an elderly father and his teenage son were walking up the side of a mountain, carrying only some wood, an ember to start a fire and a knife.  The father told his servants that he and his son were going on ahead in order to worship God and would return soon.  This worship would involve a sacrifice.

As they traveled up the path the boy turned to his father and said, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” the father replied.  “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Father Abraham must have had a hard time controlling his emotions at this point for he knew what God had told him to do.  “And God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’”

With measured words and breath, (for this trek up the mountain was not easy for a man over a hundred years old) Abraham answered his son, “God will provide Himself a lamb for the burnt offering my son.”

This section of scripture, Genesis 22:1-14, is indeed a very difficult section to read.  As a father myself, I cannot imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind.  Abraham was later called the “father of the faithful” and I guess we can see why.  His faith was manifested in his obedience to God’s commands. (See James 2:20-24)

Let us fast forward some 2080 years and come to the banks of the Jordan River.  We see a rough hewn, rugged man waist deep in the water and he is baptizing those who are coming to him from the surrounding area.  All of a sudden he looks up and motioning to a couple of his disciples says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Is there a connection here?  Jesus had already been baptized by John when this event took place and at His baptism there came a voice from Heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased”.  May I add that this was God’s Son, His only begotten Son?  The parallels here are quite unmistakable. 

The question I must ask at this time is, why a Lamb?

Let us take a look at another unmistakable parallel.  Some several hundred years after the episode with Abraham and Isaac, God told another man, Moses, to have the Israelites, who were in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, take a lamb and sacrifice it.  This time they were to use the blood of the lamb and apply it to the door posts and lintels of the houses as a protection for the first born children.  The Israelites were to take a lamb that was without defect, cook it over a fire and eat it, “Eat it in haste it is the LORD’s Passover” (see Exodus 12 for this story).

The use of a “lamb” is one of the greatest themes in the scripture and we’ll take a closer look at this in our next article.

Freedom is Good News Part 39

Picking up the last line of our previous article, we asked the question, “But what about this ‘following Him’?  He was going to His death.  Must we follow Him there?”

The Greek word used here for “follow” literally means, “To be in the same way or path so as to accompany”.  Jesus used this word in saying that we must follow Him and be His servant:  “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”  Wow!  I surely want to be where He is, but I’m not sure I want to suffer as He suffered.  And yet, I’m not sure he gives us any wiggle room.  We need to be on the same path so as to accompany Him. 

In the book of Luke, Jesus says it this way:  “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” 

Are we getting too deep here or is this really the way to follow our Savior?  Well, one thing we know is that we do have a Savior.  He gave His precious blood for our sins in order that we may have life eternal in His name.  And we also know that there is nothing we can ever do to merit or earn this salvation.  Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 2, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

OK, you say that you have accepted the blood of Jesus Christ, repented of your sins and have undergone the waters of baptism as Peter tells us to do in Acts 2:38.  What is this “following Him”?  What is this “denying self”?  What is this “taking up our cross daily”?

Perhaps we need to go back to the metaphor we looked at in our previous article.  The scripture we were looking at was, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, yes the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces much fruit. … Whoever serves me must follow me.”

Do you find that the gift God offers to us, His children, is worthy of our delight?  Does the thought of spending eternal life with our heavenly Father and His Son fill you with joy and gladness of heart?  Remember, Jesus, by His death, was to produce a tremendous harvest that is still bearing fruit today.  Remember, all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3).  If you have undergone the waters of baptism, into the death of Jesus, then you have followed Him there!  And so the question begs to be asked, “Are you bearing fruit?”  Are you sharing this joy, this delight, with others so as to produce a harvest of righteousness for the glory of God?

Good news indeed!!!       

Freedom is Good News Part 38

It might be an odd thing to say that the death, burial and resurrection of someone is good news, but in the Gospel of John, a few days before the death of Jesus, John tells us that “there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast”.  These were either Jews from the Grecian Isles or they were God fearing gentiles from Greece.  We learn in the story (John 12:20-36) that these Greeks wanted to meet Jesus.  And true to form, when Andrew and Philip told Jesus about them, He used the opportunity to teach a lesson.

Jesus never really recognized this request but immediately replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, yes the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces much fruit.”  On the surface this is a very cryptic statement in reply to the request of the Greeks.  But let’s take a closer look.

Jesus first words were that His hour had come.  This is the fourth of nine statements in the Gospel of John concerning His hour/time.  The first three tell us that His time had not come.  This, the fourth, is the first to tell us that “the hour has come”.  We learn from this just what was on His mind: “The Son of Man is to be glorified”.  He knows the sacrifice of His life was at hand.  It is weighing heavily upon Him.  “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?  ‘Father save me from this hour’?  No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father glorify your name.” 

How beautiful this next statement is:  “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’”  The Father, seeing the heaviness of the heart of His beloved Son, spoke through the heavenly realm, such words of comfort.

But what about this “kernel of wheat dying”?  There are so many references in the bible, in parables, in blessings, in prophecies etc. about food.  Food for us is just something we stop at the grocery store and pick up, and yet in biblical times there was nothing more important than food and water.

This “kernel of wheat” is a metaphor applied to Himself.  It was He that was to die and so by His death much fruit would be produced.  The kernel of wheat “dies” when it is planted in the ground.  It sprouts, flowers and produces many more kernels of wheat.  Jesus, by His death, was to produce a tremendous harvest that is today, still bearing fruit.

We skipped over one statement in this episode, verse 25: “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  This is the concept of salvation and eternal life.  Yes, this is the good news that we can rejoice in.  But what about this “following Him”?  He was going to His death.  Must we follow Him there?

Until next time…..

Freedom is Good News Part 37

The death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God!  It really is quite a story.  It begins, well … before time began, actually.  We catch a glimpse of this in the book of 1 Peter 1:20, “He (Jesus Christ) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” 

The Apostle Paul says it this way in his letter to Titus 1:2, “… the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness and rests on the hope of eternal life, which God, who can not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”  This understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done is really the crux of all that may be called “good news”. 

Do we really understand all of this?  No, I mean really understand what this means to us?  I try never to shy away from talking to others about this very important topic and yet when it comes right down to it, most people have no concept of the depth of love our Savior has for us!  Yes, we pay some lip service to it.  It is as a friend of mine once said to me, “most people only want 10 cents of Jesus Christ – just enough to salve their consciences.  They don’t want to change their lives so as to live for Him.”  I have thought of that statement a lot and I have thought of my own commitment to my God and His Son.  Paul in his letter to the Romans starts off with the statement, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ”.  James in his letter says, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  In Peter’s second letter, he begins the same way – he calls himself a slave.  Now, we may read these statements and our translations use the word “servant” but the Greek word is one that means “slave”.  These guys were not fooling around.  They understood who their master was and they acted like it. 

The bible says that God changes not – He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  He is still the sovereign ruler over the entire universe.  The heavenly hosts around the throne of God are found to “fall down before God and worship Him who is seated on the throne.”  And it was not for angels that He gave up His life.  Should we behave differently?

In my previous article, I wrote a little bit about the 120 mile journey that Jesus and His disciples took as they wended their way to the city of Jerusalem.  He was going there to give His life up in a most horrifying death and even after telling these men about it four times, they still did not fully understand.  Do we understand?  We sit here with almost 2000 years of hindsight – do we fully understand?

The good news began before the start of time.  The good news came to Mary as she was with child.  The Good news came to the shepherds tending their flocks one night.  The good news came to the multitude of Jews living in the land of Palestine.  The good news came to 12 young men, 11 of who were to be sent out into the world to preach and teach.  The good news came to a man named Pilate and he washed his hands of it.  The good news came to 4 Roman soldiers who nailed Him to a cross after beating Him almost to death.  And now the good news is come to you – what shall you do with it?

Until we meet again ….

                                                                                Bill Rollins    

Freedom is Good News Part 36

In the previous article I mentioned that my favorite season of the year is spring.  I also must not fail to mention that it can be the busiest time of the year; with mowing the lawn, planting and weeding the gardens, spring cleaning and just plain getting ready for outdoor activities.

But what about spiritual activities?  For our Savior, the time in that spring when He was about to give His life for us sinners became extremely busy.  We don’t often consider His time frame that led up to His week of passion.  As I see it, His journey begins in the region of Caesarea Philippi, an area some 120 miles north of Jerusalem.  We see this in Matthew 16:13.  This is where Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  I believe we know the story – some said John the Baptist, some said Elijah, still others said Jeremiah or perhaps one of the prophets.  Once Jesus got all the rumors and common scuttlebutt out of the way, He got to the crux of the matter:  “But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?”  The disciples, who have now spent almost three and a half years with Him, had to answer differently.  Peter bravely said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  And we sit here with 20/20 hindsight and say, “no kidding Peter”.  But this was a bold statement for Peter to make and Jesus knew that he had stepped out in faith to say it.  Jesus told Peter that this was revealed to him by the heavenly Father.  But the line we are looking for in all of this is found in verse 21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”  (Again, this was spoken 120 miles north of Jerusalem.)

Long story short, they make their way south to Galilee; about a fifty mile journey.  They are now 70 miles north of Jerusalem.  Chapter 17:22 tells us, “When they came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the hands of men.  They will kill Him and on the third day He will be raised to life.”  This is the second pronouncement of His suffering.  Now they resume their journey to Jerusalem and on the way (chapter 20:17) Jesus takes the 12 aside and says, “We are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes.  They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  On the third day He will be raised to life.” 

The fourth and final pronouncement of His sufferings comes while they are in Jerusalem.  Again He takes aside His disciples and says, “As you know, the Passover is after two days and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”  These 4 pronouncements are made over the course of a long journey, a walk of over 120 miles.  He knew His destination and He knew His Father’s will.  During this journey He was mindful of you and me.  We are given freedom from the bondage to sin because of His sacrifice.

But we’ll talk more on this in the future – God willing.

Freedom is Good News Part 35

Do you have a favorite season of the year?  There are only four to choose from so we haven’t many choices.  The answer to this question depends, of course, upon who is asked, what the weather is like when the question is asked and where the one who is asked lives.  OK, so we live in Iowa.  The weather this day (that I am writing) is beautiful.  And since you can’t answer, I’m going with spring!!

Have you noticed the green lawns?  Sally and I have dozens of beautiful yellow daffodils at our front step.  Oh, the rhubarb is up and will be ready for pies in about another week!  I could go on and on – I like spring.  But there is a better reason to like spring.  Yes, there is a more marvelous, more wonderful, and a more spectacular reason.  This time of year brings to us a reminder of the greatest event; yes, the greatest miracle in the history of mankind.  The death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God!

Do you believe that?  If you do, do you live your life in accordance with that belief?  Let us take a look at the time frame surrounding this event that took place approximately 1987 years ago (give or take a couple years)?  Let’s begin in the book of Luke, chapter 22.  In verse 8 we read, “And Jesus sent Peter and John saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.’”  The Passover was the most important time of year for the people living in Judea.  This was for them a celebration and a memorial of the time when God brought their forefathers out of bondage in Egypt.  Jesus was getting ready to bring people out of bondage to sin. 

In verse 15 Jesus says to His disciples, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  Did your catch that?  Jesus was about to experience a most excruciating death with beatings, insults, floggings, mockings and the torture of having His hands and feet nailed to a cross and still He says He was “eagerly desiring” to eat this Passover. 

He sat in that upper room with the twelve; and in the book of John 13:1 we read, “He knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.”  Picking it up in chapter 14:1 Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled”.  He was going to His own death and He was comforting His disciples; not just once but 3 separate times (see verse 27 and 16:7). 

Jesus knew what was coming and He knew what He was doing.  “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘take and eat; this is my body; do this in remembrance of Me’.  In the same way He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”  (see Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 11:24-25)

There is a lot more to come.

Freedom is Good News Part 34

Did you read 2 Peter 1:16-18?  You did?  Well good; then you know that Peter was talking about his experience with the two brothers, James and John, when Jesus was transfigured before them.  This episode is often called “The Mount of Transfiguration” and is found in Matthew 17:1-13.  To paraphrase the story, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain and is transfigured, so that “His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as the light” (notice the two similes).  Appearing with Jesus was Moses and Elijah and they were talking together.  There are other details but I’ll leave that for you to read.  Let’s see what Peter has to say about this!

Peter, in this letter, is striving to get across to the readers, the importance of growing in their faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love.  (This list is worth several articles for another time!)  If they would grow in these things, they would be effective and productive “in their knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Then Peter writes that if they would do these things, “they would never stumble and would receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord …” Oh yes, this is “good news”.

In verses 12-15, he tells them he wants to “remind them” (verse 12), “refresh their memories” (verse 13) and have them “remember these things” (verse 15).  I would say he felt this to be important!!  But he also wants them to know that he is not pulling these directives from thin air.  He wants to give to them his qualifications for this admonition. 

There were many things Peter could have drawn from in establishing his credentials; he saw the healings, the lepers cleansed, the blind receive sight and Lazarus raised from the dead.  He watched his Lord die on the cross and then saw Him resurrected.  He stood with the others upon the Mount of Olives and watched Jesus rise up into the clouds to be at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  But the event he used was the transfiguration.  “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty”, Peter wrote.  “We saw Him receive honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, Whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’”

Peter’s template, the type he chose to use in this letter, was not one that illuminated the past, but one that clearly shows forth into the future.  His experience on the Mount was for him a guarantee of the return of Jesus in all His glory.  He experienced a vision of Jesus in the company of a resurrected Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets).  And he heard the voice of the heavenly Father say, “This is my Son … listen to Him”.  And so he gives us this “type” that perhaps changed his life and then tells us to, “Pay attention to it, as to a light shinning in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (verse 19).  Friends and Brethren, I told you some time ago that this episode would not be just good news but, great news.  I for one am humbled by Peter’s words.

Until next time…… 

Freedom is Good News Part 33

Continuing from the previous article, let’s begin with a few examples of figures of speech.  The simile: a comparison using the words “like or as”.  The book of Revelation can be called “the book of similes”; there are somewhere near 60 uses of the words “like or as”.  One example: “His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters” (Rev. 1:15).  A metaphor is an implied comparison, such as “all the world’s a stage”.  In scripture we read, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).

An analogy is the likening one thing to another, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5).  The allegory is a story where people, things or happenings hold a hidden or symbolic meaning.  The entire book of Ruth is an example of allegory; where Ruth is a type of the church and Boaz is a type of Jesus Christ.  I believe we are all familiar with the use of parables in the bible (see Matthew 13).  Then we have “types”.  In the book of Genesis, Joseph becomes a type of Jesus in many great and wonderful ways.  His story is told in Genesis chapters 37 through 50.  One example is in chapter 45 where Joseph makes himself known to his brothers and he tells them not to be distressed for having sold him into slavery for God was actually sending Joseph ahead of the family in order to prepare a place for them.  This is what Jesus tells the disciples in John 14:1-2 where He tells them not to be troubled because He was “going to prepare a place for you”.  The Old Testament gives us many “types” that point us to our Savior.  We see in Genesis 22 where God tells Abraham to “take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”  Isaac is a type of the Messiah who was God’s Son, His only Son whom He loved.  We learn later in the bible that this Mount Moriah is found to be at the spot where Jerusalem was to be and where Jesus was sacrifices as the “Lamb of God” (see 2 Chron. 3:1).

Last of all we have what I call “a template”.  The template is used for forming an accurate copy of an object that will appear in the future.  In one sense this figure of speech over laps with some of the others we have looked at but it also stands out in regard to something Peter saw and tells us about.

Sometime ago I was speaking to a group of believers and asked them what, in their opinion, was the greatest type or template in the bible.  We had some very good answers and after some discussion I mentioned that we have one of the disciples, Peter, tell us in his second letter, of his answer to this question.  Perhaps we would do well to pay attention to it!

It is found in 2 Peter 1:16-18.  God willing we will take a closer look at this “type” in our next article.  It holds for us some very good news.

Freedom is Good News Part 32

Figures of speech; we use them all the time, to emphasize a statement, to help explain a difficult idea and some times we use them to introduce a mystery into our conversation.  It is not always the best thing to blurt out the answer to every question but sometimes we should desire to get people to think about some conundrum we might have.

I have, in my bookcase, a 1000 page book by the 19th century biblical scholar E. W. Bullinger that deals with the use of “figures of speech” in the bible.  I have on another shelf a translation of the bible that is less than 1000 pages.  Wow!  Someone wrote a book explaining one aspect of the bible and it took him more pages that the bible itself!

Well, the bible is full of these figures of speech.  Bullinger tells us that there are 217 different types of figures of speech.  I’m not sure I understand them all.  But I do know a simile, metaphor, allegory or parable when I see one.  And I believe we all know that our Savior used many parables when He walked the face of the earth.  I have heard people say that He used them to make plain to His listeners some difficult idea.  But He was once asked why He used parables and He gave a very curious answer.  This is found in chapter 13 of the gospel of Matthew.  There are seven separate parables in this chapter and after He spoke the first one it says this in verse 10: “The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’  He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  This is why I speak to them in parables.’”

Well that says a lot!  There were some people that were not supposed to understand what it was He was saying.  The Rabbis in Jesus day were known for not giving an answer but rather posing a difficult question and thereby forcing their disciples to think.  

I believe we have it too easy these days when we are handed answers to our own questions and are not taught to think.  Perhaps that is why we sometimes think the bible is hard to understand.  We just don’t want to think too hard.

I would like to take some time in future articles to consider some metaphors, analogies and parables and so come to what I call a living parable that the Apostle Peter used in his second letter.  This “living parable” is not just good news, it is great news!  Bear with me as we look at some “figures of speech”. 

Until next time…… 

Freedom is Good News Part 31

Not too long ago I was speaking to a group of believers and asked the question, “What is your ultimate goal in this life?”  There was silence in the room for a couple of minutes (I am sure they were striving to come up with the best answer possible.) and then a middle aged woman put her hand up.  And this is what she said, “My ultimate goal in this life is to have my Savior place His hand upon my shoulder and say to me, ‘Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master’”.

This woman, a true disciple of Jesus Christ, gave, from her heart, an answer that could not be improved upon.  This must have been the opinion of all the rest of the people in the room for there were no other answers but only nodding of heads in agreement.

This powerful answer was a quote from a parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25:14-30.  Perhaps you are familiar with the parable.  It speaks of a man going on a journey and giving to his servants differing amounts of talents; one received 5, another 2 and one other 1 talent.  This parable never clearly tells the servants what they should do with the wealth but the one with 5 put his to work and gained 5 more.  The second, with 2, likewise put them to work and gained 2 more.  The third took his 1 talent and buried it so as not to lose it.  The ones that doubled it were commended with the very words, “Well done good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Enter into the joy of your Master!” 

Are you a “good and faithful servant?”  If you belong to Jesus Christ, if you have been purchased with His precious blood and if you call Him “Lord and Master”, then what are you doing with the talent He has entrusted to you?

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good …. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”  1 Corinthians 11:4-11

I quote this scripture because it lets us know that if you have the Holy Spirit, serve the Lord Jesus Christ and obey the will of our God and Father, then you have received a certain gift from Him!  In this portion of scripture, Paul lists nine different gifts that are imparted to the brethren (see verses 8-10).  This is not a complete list, for Paul mentions other gifts in other passages.  But have you recognized your gift and put it to good use?

“My ultimate goal in this life is to have my Savior place His hand upon my shoulder and say to me, ‘Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master’”.

Wow!  Yes, that is good news and I’m not sure there could be any better.

Until next time……