Jesus Is God

If you were introduced to a tall, bald, black man wearing a jersey that said "Bulls 24" on it, and he was introduced as "Michael Jordan" would you expect him to say, "Hi, I'm a basketball player?" Or could you tell from his name and what you've seen him do that he was a basketball player?

Michael Jordan demonstrated on the court that he was a basketball player. There is no doubt about it. Watch him in action on the court for a few minutes and you knew that he could play basketball.

It's the same with Jesus Christ. He didn't need to proclaim that he is God by saying "I am God.", he did it through his actions.

Read Matthew 9:1-8

"Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralyzed man, 'Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.'"

"'Blasphemy! This man talks like he is God!' some of the teachers of religious law said among themselves."

"Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, 'Why are you thinking such evil thoughts? Is it easier to say, Your sins are forgiven or Get up and walk? I will prove to you that I, the Son of Man, have the authority on earth to forgive sins.' Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 'Stand up, take your mat, and go on home, because you are healed!.'"

"And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen right before their eyes."

The teachers of religious law knew that only God can forgive sin. Sin is an offense against God, and only the one who has been offended can forgive that offense. Thus only God can forgive sin, and here Jesus was acting as though he could forgive sin... he was acting like God because He is God.

That's why it says that "Jesus knew what they were thinking." This happens numerous times in the Bible, where Jesus knows the thoughts of people. He knows what a disciple is thinking even before he meets him. He knows about the Samaritan woman's life without her telling him. These are things only God can do.

#8 - Turn Away From God's Word - 1 John

Jesus is the Word.

#7 - "See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father." 1 John 2:24

The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Frank E. Gaebelein) points out the importance of the word "remains".

"The use of the special Johnnine word "remain" (abide) gives weight to the warning. The Word of the gospel must not only be heard but it must be given a vital place in one's life. "

Does God's word have a vital place in your life? Do you read your Bible daily? Do you love God's word or is it another book that sits on the shelf?

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Blaming Our Ugliness on God?

"Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes." - John Newton (who wrote the song "Amazing Grace")

Today I'll continue looking at the Progressive Christianity Magazine article (current issue) titled "Blaming Our Ugliness on God" by The Rev. Scott Campbell. My purpose is to shine a light on the most significant problem the United Methodist Church faces. The Rev. Campbell's article gives us the perfect example of that problem.

In yesterday's post we saw that Rev. Campbell believes we should be "personally accountable for our decisions and actions" instead of basing them on "Scripture, canon law and books of church order." So if we are not to base our decisions and actions on Scripture, what should we base them on? The answer, according to Rev. Campbell, is that the power of culture guides us. Speaking of the Bible's moral law concerning women and homosexuals in ministry he writes:

"Some will no doubt claim that Scripture is the source of the prejudices in question. It is curious however, how quickly such ironclad injunctions seem to lose their power when culture leaves religious law behind."

This gets right to the problem. He is stating that culture is in authority over God. That God's word must be interpreted, not through Scripture, but through our culture.

Who creates culture? People do. Do people have authority over God? No!

The Rev. Campbell is falling into the same trap Satan used to tempt Eve into sin in the Garden of Eden. Satan planted doubt that God's word was true (don't trust Scripture). He led Eve to change God's word (modify God's word based on your circumstances). And then led her to believe she could be equal to God and become a god herself (have authority to determine what is right and wrong). Might Satan be at work here? Martin Luther said:

"Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace [mercy] of Christ."

In his article the Rev. Campbell further clarifies his thoughts by writing: "I believe it is offensive to God to offload our own fears and prejudices onto God. In so doing we misrepresent God to the world. Instead of proclaiming a message that conveys the wideness of God's mercy, we tell a tale of a God who is frightened and limited..."

It sounds like the Rev. Campbell is preaching the message Martin Luther says comes from Satan.

One problem the United Methodist Church faces is that they do not believe in the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible. The Book of Discipline (UMC Book of doctrine and rules) states that the Bible is sufficient for our salvation and that the moral law in the Bible should be obeyed. But, how do you know what the moral is, if you do not have the infallible and inerrant word of God to reveal the moral law? Do we use culture, which changes over time and is different around the world, to reveal moral law? Under no circumstances! That makes no sense. You would then be basing God's moral law on a foundation of sand.

The other "pillar" progressives use to support using culture to interpret Scripture is that by doing so we are, in the Rev. Campbell's words, following God's "mandate of living out Christ's inclusive love." The two key words are "love" and "inclusive".

What is Christian love? John Wesley said: "Before I can preach love, mercy and grace I must preach sin, law and judgment."

The Rev. Campbell is trying to separate love from God's law. But according to John Wesley God's law comes before love. You can not love without the law. Why? Because God's law describes God. It describes His character. It describes who He is. If you take away God's law, you no longer have God and you are worshipping a pagan idol you have created to serve you.

As much as the Rev. Campbell hates to turn to Scripture for guidance, let's see what Scripture says about the relationship between the law and love. This is 1 Peter 1:22

"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply."

Peter is saying that obeying God (the truth) creates sincere love.

Keep in mind that love is not a feeling, it is an action. If we live in obedience to God, our actions toward others will be loving actions.

John, who is known for writing about love, says in 1 John 2:3-6

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, I know him, but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

Here again we see that it is obedience to God's word that defines a Christian. Remember, who Jesus was. He was without sin. He always obeyed the Father.

I've heard United Methodists say that because the great commandment (Mark 12:29-31) says to love God and love your neighbor, that this is how we obey God... by loving others. My question is, how do you do that? What exactly does loving God and loving others look like? 2 John 6 tells us:

"I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands."

Biblical love is not a feeling. The Greek word used in the New Testament for "love" is agape. It literally means to love with your actions. What are the actions? Obedience to God's word.

You can't know about love unless you are obeying God. You can't obey God unless you are loving. They are intertwined so tightly they can not be separated. The problem is that some United Methodist Churches force them apart, throw away God's word (law), and try to retain what they define as God's love. That doesn't work.

My next post will talk about inclusiveness.

Jonathan Edwards - "The only way we can know whether we are sinning is by knowing His Moral Law."

Scripture Does Not Change

Is the meaning of scripture unchanging or does it need to be interpreted in the light of our current culture?

I recently attended a United Methodist Church (UMC). This lead to discussions with UMC church members about women pastors, homosexuality and other topics. I was told that reading the Bible for what it said was not correct. We need to read the Bible in the context of our culture. It was explained to me the Bible was written for a first century culture, but we live in a 21st century culture that is very different and the Bible needs to accommodate those differences.

So, does the Bible mean what it says or do we need to "adjust" what it says to reflect the "realities" of our culture?

In Romans 15:4 Paul writes: "For everything [all scripture] that was written in the past was written to teach us..."

The Old Testament was written over a 1,000 year period, from about 1,500 BC until about 500 BC. During that period the cultural context changed many times, but the word of God did not change. Paul is saying scripture was given by God to teach us. All of scripture was given to teach us, no matter how long ago it was written or what cultural context it was written in.

Read John 1:1 -- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

Who is the Word? Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus Christ called the Word? Because the Bible is a description of the character of God. Does God change? No, He does not. So the description of His character, the Bible, does not change.

1 Peter 1:23 says "For you have been born again; not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."

God's word is imperishable. Something that is imperishable means that it does not change. It goes on forever.

The word "living" does not mean changing. It means we have a God who is alive, not a god who is made of wood or stone and is dead.

1 Peter verse chapter 1, in verses 24 and 25 goes on to say: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever."

God is not only saying that His word endures forever, but things that come from mankind wither and die. Things that come from mankind are not living and enduring. So if men's wisdom (culture) is used to change what scripture says, we are using something that withers and dies, instead of living and enduring forever.

This exact same thing is stated in the Old Testament. Isaiah 40:8 says: "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God stands forever."

The Catholic church changes scripture by saying that traditions have authority to add to or change the meaning of scripture. The United Methodist Church is claiming that culture has the authority to add to and change the meaning of scripture. To claim culture can change scripture is making the same claim the Catholic church is making.

In addition, it is very arrogant and exclusive to claim culture changes scripture. In doing so we are claiming that the Bible should be changed based on American culture. We are claiming that it is American culture that is the most "advanced", right, good culture and it is the supreme culture. Who are we to tell the Chinese their culture is wrong? Who are we to tell the Sudanese their culture is wrong? If you claim the Bible must be interpreted by culture, you are claiming the evolutionary belief that the American culture has evolved to become the supreme over all other cultures. How arrogant!!

Who is supreme? God and only God.

Where does culture come from? It is created by man. Something created by man can never be in authority over God.

In understanding the Bible we can NEVER put ourselves in a higher position than God. The way to understand the Bible is to use the word of God (scripture) to interpret what the word of God means. We use scripture to interpret scripture. There is no higher authority. To do anything else is to make ourselves into gods, placing ourselves above and in authority over the one true God.

By the way I am not saying we do not need to understand the original context of the Bible. It helps us understand the meaning of the original Greek words, for example. The original context also helps us understand the principles that are being taught by Scripture. But the cultural context never can be used to change the meaning of scripture.

Revelation 3:15,16 - Neither Hot Nor Cold

"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, 'I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' You don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." - Revelation 3:15-16 (NLT)

This is a verse you'll find on the home page of our main web site. This is also a good verse to help us see how understanding the historical background helps us understand the verse.

Jesus is speaking in these verses.

Jesus is telling the church in Laodicea two things. The first is that they are not "hot". We know from other scripture that we should be on fire for God. We should be spiritually hot. Apparently the people in the Laodicean church are not enthusiastic and bold for the Lord.

The second is that Jesus is telling the church in Laodicea that they are not cold. If we just read these words, it does not make sense. Nowhere does the Bible say we should be spiritually "cold". Why would he saying that to be cold is a good thing?

Why does Jesus say "I wish you were either one or the other!". Jesus wants them to be either hot or cold. I think we are missing part of the story.

We do not always know the background for a verse, but in this case the background is well known. Laodicea was located between two other cities. Seven miles north was Hierapolis, a city known for it therapeutic hot springs. Ten miles south was Colosse, a city known for its cold, refreshing spring water.

Laodicea did not have a water source within the city. Water came via a Roman aqueduct from a source three miles away. When the water arrived in Laodicea it was lukewarm. It was neither hot and therapeutic like the water in Hierapolis, nor was it cold and refreshing like the water in Colosse. The water was lukewarm and not pleasant to drink.

The hot water was useful because it was therapeutic. The cold water was useful because it was refreshing. What Jesus is saying is that like the lukewarm water in Laodicea, the Laodicea church is not useful, they do not have any beneficial characteristics. Because they are not beneficial to Jesus Christ, he is going to "spit you out of my mouth" (verse 3:16).

This understanding of what Jesus is saying fits with all of other scripture. It it did not fit with all other scripture, we'd know we had our interpretation wrong. Knowing the historical and geographical background has helped us to understand what is being said. In this case Jesus Christ is saying he wants us to be actively living our lives in obedience to him. We should be "doing" and not be living our lives in a "lukewarm" manner.