Christ

27
Dec
2019

Self-worth: You are precious

 Originally published on The Electric Gospel on June 1, 2015.

You Are Precious in His Sight

by Emily Hunt

Have you ever seen the PBS television show, Antiques Roadshow?  The program features local antique owners who bring in all kinds of obscure items to be appraised by experts. Most often, the owners walk away disappointed after being told that their item is worth about as much as it looks like it would be worth. However, every time I watch this show, I am shocked at the number of seemingly worthless items that receive appraisals of thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. How can something so ugly be worth so much?

Do you ever feel like the people on this show? Do you feel the need to seek not only the approval of this world, but an appraisal as well? Do you present yourself before the “experts” of this world to ask your worth? I know I do. “Here I am world! Here are all my talents, abilities, personality traits, my looks, and my possessions! What am I worth? Do you want me?”

If you are anything like I am, you may sometimes walk away from the expert appraisers of this world with your head hung low. You thought you had a lot to offer, but why doesn’t anyone else see that? You fought so hard for that position or promotion, but somebody else beat you out. You work yourself ragged day in and day out, yet you never hear those words of thankfulness from the people you love. You gave everything you had to that man who said he loved you, but he left you anyway. You struggle to understand your purpose in this life. You find yourself consumed with questions like, “Why am I not good enough? What is wrong with me? Why doesn’t anybody appreciate me? Why doesn’t anybody want me? Why doesn’t anybody love me?”

Maybe you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum and the appraisal you receive from the world pleases you and in it you find your worth. You are generally well-liked. You got that job you worked so hard for. You live in a highly respected neighborhood in a beautiful house that is the envy of all your friends. You keep up with all the latest fashion trends and can even afford to fill your closet with such things. Life is treating you well and you feel that you have found your place. If this describes you, you must ask yourself: “What if I lost all of this? What if I had nothing? Would I still be content? Would I still feel worthy?”

No matter which end of the spectrum you identified yourself with, we all share the same problem. So often, we run to the appraisers of this world to find our worth. We throw everything we have at them and beg them to tell us that we are worth something. We compare ourselves to everyone else around us and wonder why we can’t have what they have. When did we get the idea that we have to be found worthy in the eyes of the world? Who told us that we need to fit in with this world? The answer is simple: The world itself tells us that. Our sinful, worldly flesh seeks the desires of this world. We look to the world to give us our value.

To understand what is wrong with this picture, I want you to think about a dollar bill. Who determined that a dollar bill is worth 100 cents? The government set that value. What gives the government the right to give a dollar bill its value?  The government created the dollar bill. What if the dollar bill gets crumpled up, stomped on, or even spit on. Does it still have the same value? Absolutely.

I hope you are starting to see where I am going with this. What right does the world have to determine your value? Does the world have any ownership over you? No. Then why, WHY do we look to the world for our worth? Just like that dollar bill, our value is determined by our Creator. God tells us in the Psalms that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). We know who our Maker is, and it is in him and from him that we find our worth.

And our God loves us so incredibly much that he seeks after us when we stray from him and his Word. Our God loves us so incredibly much that he does not count our sins against us; rather, he has already prepared a place for us in his perfect and glorious heavenly kingdom. If you are still struggling with feelings of worthlessness, please let this last truth sink in to your heart. Our God loves us so incredibly much that he gave up his one and only Son. Our perfect Creator sent his perfect Son to live a perfect life and die an innocent death in our place. You probably know these words by heart, but let the words resonate in your heart:  “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  How is it even possible that we could ever feel worthless after hearing such a beautiful message as this?

Do you remember my question at the beginning of this article about Antiques Roadshow? I asked, how can something so ugly be worth so much? Here we are, the ugliest of sinners, standing before our Maker. Our appraisal should tell us that we are completely worthless; so worthless in fact, that we deserve to die eternally in hell. However, God in his amazing mercy and love looks at us through the grace of Jesus and sees his beautiful children whom he loves unconditionally.  God looks at us and sees people who are more precious than gold or silver, so precious because of the blood of his own Son.

When you are feeling worthless, remember that God loves you with an unconditional, all-consuming, and redemptive love. Remember that your appraisal comes from Christ alone. Remember that you are so deeply loved, highly treasured, and mercifully redeemed. Look to the world no longer. Look to Christ. You are precious in his sight. 

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

Don’t make life more difficult for those hurt by others’ sins

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on May 6, 2015.

A dear friend wrote the following thoughts about life as she had experienced it.  Her message is something we in the church need to consider.

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My Life as a Child of Divorce

Author’s name withheld

I am a product of divorce.  It has surrounded me my entire life.  As a child, it defined me.  As an adult, it scares me.  In the United States, an estimated fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.  That means when you get married, there is a high chance it will fail.  In our churches, we believe that there are two biblical causes for divorce: malicious desertion and marital unfaithfulness.   The divorces that impacted me fell into such a category.  It didn’t matter though.  In the church I was treated differently because of them.   My parents were divorced – so of course I must be a troubled child.  At least that’s how everyone made me feel.

I was too young to remember my parents getting divorced.  As I started school, however—a church-sponsored school—I started to notice that I was being treated differently than the other students.  For one, I was new and the other kids just kind of looked at me funny.  Second, I was always naughty.  Maybe I played into the assumptions, sure.  If I was going to get reprimanded, might as well get to enjoy what I would be scolded for.  This was first grade.  As school continued, it got worse.  Although I did make friends, you would never hear me talk about my parents and their being divorced.  I knew divorce was bad, and I would get embarrassed and worried for my parents spiritual lives when we would talk about the 6th commandment in school.  “You shall not commit adultery.” Divorce means adultery.  It would click in my head, and I would sit there and not say anything about it in class. I sometimes wonder if my teachers ever noticed that it bothered me.

Time moved on and I ignored things and was still “talking too much” or “not listening.” I would dread the talk on commandments but school was school. It was normal.

In my 6th grade year, my mom got married again.  He was a great guy;  my sister and I really liked him.  But later, we found out he was a struggling drug addict.  In 6th grade, you are just turning into a teenager; you’re awkward, and you care way too much what your friends think.   As selfish as it is, I didn’t think too much on the fact that my family was falling apart but more at the idea of my mom getting ANOTHER divorce.  I was embarrassed and sad, wondering if my mom would be okay to go to heaven.  I heard not a word from anybody in my church or school about it.  It seemed it wasn’t to be talked about.  I look back and wonder why no one could have made it clear to me that I was okay, that my sister was okay, that my mom was okay.  This man’s drug addiction, which he chose over us in the long run, was him not doing his marital duties.  He essentially deserted us.  The comfort I would have had in hearing that sort of understanding from the church would have changed my life, I think.  But no, I avoided having friends come over, avoided ever talking about my family.  And when the 6th commandment came around in class, I remember not wanting to go to school that day.

I went to school that day.  No one clarified anything to me or comforted me or anything.  To their credit, maybe they didn’t know I was struggling with such things, and maybe I should have asked.  But what twelve-year-old is going to raise her hand in class at a religious school and say, “Is my mom’s divorce okay?”  That would never happen.

Eventually I came to my senses a little.  I looked into it myself and started putting things together.  I realized, my mom’s divorce was biblically sound.  Still, that didn’t mean I wasn’t treated differently.   I went to a Christian high school, and not many people there had divorced or separated parents.  Even though I started to get my school life on track and realized I didn’t have to be the wounded, naughty student, it didn’t stop certain things in my life.  I had a serious boyfriend for about two years, who ultimately broke up with me because my parents were divorced.  He said he “just couldn’t deal with it and felt like he could never marry me.”   Couldn’t marry me … we were just kids in high school!  But it showed me again how divorced persons are perceived as having committed some heretical sin.  My boyfriend knew the whole story and still felt that way.  It is infuriating.

Divorce is hard on children.  As a small child and even as a teenager, dealing with your parents splitting and the conflict and assumptions around you – it is really hard.  I always wanted to be the pastor’s daughter whom everyone loved and had “no problems.” As silly as that is, it was impossibly hard to think that you will always be looked at like you’re sinful because your parents are divorced.

God knows that mistakes are made.  I’m not saying he approves or is okay with sin, but he knows we humans are sinful.  Sometimes divorce can be looked at by some people as about the worst of sins.  Why is that the case?  One sort of sinner is not better than another.  People who get divorced—even not for biblical reasons—can be forgiven.   Our focus shouldn’t be on the stigma of certain sins, but on the repentance and faith of the sinner.

Now the real question is: What can we do about this?  It goes further than just divorce. What about the people who struggle with other challenges and sins?  People who are judged for their circumstances can be turned off by such judgment.  I’m not saying to accept people in their sins, absolutely not.  But we need to show patience and understanding.  Both law and gospel need to be applied.  Struggling sinners are forgiven because Jesus died for them.

Also, do not make assumptions.  You do not know the story behind a divorce most of the time.   Do not assume everyone who is divorced came to that position by pursuing sin.  Some have been deeply hurt and sinned against.  And we have no clue what is in another person’s heart. Approach persons with support and with loving words.  That could be all they need to begin healing.

The point of this article is not to complain about how challenging my childhood was or how everyone around me handled things wrong.  That is not true.  Although my childhood had rough spots, it was not horrible.  I am writing this to raise awareness of things that could be happening if we are open to helping one another.  Life is hard; we are sinful people.  What is most important—in fact, the ONLY thing that is ultimately important—is what Christ did for us.  “God gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).    Let us praise our Lord above for being a gracious loving God who forgives all sins.  And let us seek to help and forgive each other, rather than making life even more difficult for those who’ve been affected by hurtful sins.

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

When heaven seems silent

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on March 28, 2015.

We’re heading into Holy Week – an annual remembrance of Jesus’ darkest hours.  At week’s beginning, he was hailed with cheers and acclaim by the people of Jerusalem.  By week’s end they looked upon him with revulsion and demanded his death.  During his unthinkable suffering, his thoughts were on us, the people for whom he was living his life, for whom he was dying in ignominy at our hands.  In any suffering we face now, we look to our Lord as the one who has suffered for us, who has redeemed us, who gives us hope.  

Writing to someone she knows is suffering, Jenni Mickelson points to Jesus and the hope we have in him — even when circumstances seem hopeless.  We know that not only did he suffer for us; he reclaimed his life in victory and assures us of victory.

A letter to someone who is suffering

by Jenni Mickelson

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For the one who wants to let go…but must hold on: “We walk by faith, not by sight.” 

(2 Corinthians 5:7)

—

“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when I do not feel it.
I believe in God even when he is silent.”

–          Etched on cellar wall during the Holocaust
—

Dear one, I feel your pain behind the smile, the hopeful words and “musts” and “dos.” You are longing for a present much better than the one you are in. It’s as if you are in a thick mud at the side of a road, struggling in panic like an injured deer, back legs broken, to flee her fear and her pain. You speak of a new day, a new heaven and a new earth, and you pray and you read and you thank. But in the next breath you are crying for another time, another place, another life.

Let me tell you this: Your life has been a prelude to this moment. This moment, when the cross feels too unbearable to carry, the strain too great for your feeble arms, the fear and the agony too overwhelming to endure one more step on the narrow road. God has led you here, to this moment, to follow the blood-stained footsteps of Jesus.

Rejection, torture, anguish – these defined the hours, the days, the years of our Lord here on earth. True God and true Man – and this was his destiny: to be forsaken by his children, to be gruesomely flogged and crucified like a criminal, to hang in the sight of unbelieving onlookers and a Father who put his only Son through the pain of hell – for us.

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?…
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Sin did not waste its time in tormenting our Savior. But sin was not greater. Sin’s wrath did not define our dear Jesus. For, on that early Sunday morning, in the pale of a new dawn, he rose above the grave and received the glory of life. And it is this that he gives us, too, willingly.

When you fall under your cross, let the blood of our God renew you and give you strength. As you collapse under the load, let the power of Jesus’ love and mercy pick your feeble body back up. And when sin finally threatens to impale you with the nails of hell forever, point to the hill at the end of the road – the hill of victory, the hill of God’s Passion. You will live another day. This moment is God’s love letter to you: “Live. Do you see the light of my Son in you? ‘Your faith has made you well’” (Luke 17:19).

“I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”  (Psalm 27:13-14).

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

The Christian and cultural celebrations

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on December 30, 2014.

The holiday season is full of traditions.  A lot of cultural traditions attach themselves to Christian holidays … and there are cultural holidays and traditions unconnected to Christian themes also. That’s true not only in the United States but in other countries as well.

This edition of The Electric Gospel comes from Joyce Christmas, who talks about one of the cultural traditions in her country — and the freedom Christians have to participate in cultural events in a wholesome way.  We need not turn away from all things within our culture that are not themselves a part of the Christian tradition.  We have freedom to enjoy life in our communities and display our “good behavior in Christ” for all to see (1 Peter 3:16).

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Christian Freedom

by Joycelyn Christmas

Every year in Antigua and Barbuda, the country celebrates a cultural event called Carnival. The historical idea behind this event is celebration of the abolition of slavery in the 1800s. It is said that upon emancipation, freed slaves took to the streets with pans and drums and celebrated by beating them and dancing freely and wildly. Nowadays, many islanders have come to the conclusion that Carnival has lost its true meaning and people use this time as an excuse to party and get drunk. Based on the society in Antigua, Christians are told not to go to Carnival celebrations.  Some view participating in the steel pan music competition or Calypso competition as excessive revelling. They think that the Bible has an unwritten law which forbids people from dancing to cultural music or playing the steel pan to secular music. These people think that Carnival celebrations do not honour God and therefore are sinful.

How can people with this mindset say this is God’s word?  The Bible does not say that a person must refrain from cultural celebrations. It is similar to the fact that the Bible does not tell us what we should eat. Instead, what the Bible informs us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).   There are areas of our life where God has not given a command to do something; neither has he given a command that forbids us. Such areas are known as adiaphora. We are to exercise Christian freedom in our daily lives. People who do not understand the idea of adiaphora do not understand why we can go to watch the Carnival parade of people dressed up in colourful costumes dancing in rhythm to sweet soca music.

Essentially, the reason why we are able to participate in the celebration of our rich culture– namely, Carnival–is as a result of the ultimate freedom we have in Christ. Christ’s death on the cross did not only free us from the bondage of sin, death and the devil but it also freed us from the old covenant. As a matter of fact we were not even bound by the Old Testament cultural laws because they were intended for a different audience, namely the chosen nation of Israel.  Christ came to fulfil the law in our place (Matthew 5: 17).  Obedience to laws or rules does not make us righteous. Those who rely on a legalistic system by obeying laws or rules to win God’s favour are in for a rude awakening.  The true law of God reminds us that we can never meet God’s demands. This does not imply that we are to disregard God’s will and do as we please. What it means is when we practice our Christian freedom we are to remember our justification and sanctification. A sanctified life will make decisions which bring glory to God.

In exercising our Christian freedom, we are to be open-minded in thinking about our neighbours and how our actions will affect them. We consider new converts and how weak their faith might be, so we proceed with care that we do not cause them to stumble in their faith. At the same time we explain the concept of Christian freedom to those who are ignorant of it. The purpose of this knowledge will give insights into God’s Word and steer people from making laws where there are none.

A Christian can participate in Carnival without going against God’s will. One might question such a statement as Carnival is often associated with revelry. Arguably, that is true for some people; but it is not so much as where you go but how you act or the manner in which you conduct yourself.  How is a person bringing dishonour to God by going to listen to steel pan music or by being part of a steel pan group which plays cultural songs? When did God say that persons cannot celebrate their heritage? The situation is different if a person goes to Carnival and gets caught up in the drinking so much that they become consumed with alcohol. Although the Bible does not forbid drinking of alcohol we are reminded by Paul that we should not want to be “mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Excessive drinking leads to intoxication.

In matters of adiaphora, it also is the case that we think not only of ourselves but of those around us: “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say – but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 6:12).  We are considerate of our brothers and sisters in Christ because we do not want to create a stumbling block for them.  So we limit the amount of alcohol consumed during festive activities and in that way honour Christ, who said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).  Basically, you can have a good time with some clean fun without bringing disgrace to God’s name.  Indeed, you may well be shedding light on the way one truly lives in Christ and celebrates a cultural event in a proper way.

God help us to share the knowledge of the freedom we have in Christ—even freedom in our daily life activities—so that the society we live in can understand rather than make judgments about us.

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

Three little words

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on December 2, 2014.

When we say, “I love you,” do we mean it?  Karla Kehl offers some thought on that subject – with a focus on the consistent reliability of God’s love.

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I. Love. You.

by Karla Kehl

“I love you!” is a common phrase.  How often have you heard this said? Many times, it seems we cannot say it enough to someone and other times we say it because we feel we have to, or merely to fill a moment of silence.  Just think about the last time you said or heard, “I love you!” – a phrase that claims to say it all.  What really was meant?

Let’s look at the phrase more closely. “I” is a simple enough word to understand. It tends to be the word we interject into our conversations even if the conversation isn’t about us.  “I” becomes the subject we talk about the most, not necessarily because we are arrogant, but because we know the most about it. Other words, such as “me” and “my” are related and seem to stream out of our mouths more than all other words.  Look at any story from a 10-year-old child. The writing will most likely begin every sentence with “I” in some way or form … and our perspective tends to stay that way as we age.  When it comes right down to it, we are only concerned about number one: me.

Now let’s venture into the vast world of “love.” There are many kinds of love—agape (committed love), philia (brotherly love), eros (erotic love) , etc. Depending on the person we say the word “love” to, the meaning changes. But do we actually love the person? Many times we are tempted to think of our feelings when we think of people we love, not necessarily the person and their qualities. For instance, how many times has “I love your sense of humor,” or something similar, entered our conversations? What is the subject of that sentence?  The subject is “I” and the verb is “love.”  So really, we aren’t focused on the other person at all! Again, it’s all about number one and how that other person makes me feel.  “I love your sense of humor” may well mean “I love that you make me laugh.”

And now let’s talk about “you.”  Although the word “you” is used quite a bit in everyday language, it usually to refers to another person or group of people. Did you catch that? We are talking about people here. There is nothing more complex on the face of the earth than people. So it begs the question: When we say, “I love you,” are we saying we love the whole person and all the complexities and details we could possibly think of, even their faults?

The answer to all of these questions is simply: God is wonderful, humans are not.  Jesus can say, “I love you” in perfection. You see, he is the subject of our lives and our salvation. When he says, “I,” he means it. After all, he is God, the ultimate number one. And God never minces words with “love.”  If you could look at the Greek version of the New Testament, you’d discover that God has a specific purpose each time for the specific word for “love” that he chose to use.

As saved and redeemed children of our wonderful God, we are truly loved, even when we were dead in sin. And best of all, God loves all of us, our whole person, so much that in Christ he became human with us, lived a perfect life in our place, and then spread his arms out on the dreaded cross to die for us.  And he rose again from death to claim the victory over sin, death, and especially the devil.

In the end, only God can say, “I love you” and truly mean it. This does not mean, however, that we should forget ever telling someone we love them or that we have to come up with a new phrase to tell people we love them. The beauty of the phrase is its simplicity—I’m not going to argue with that. It connects two people who really, truly love one another with only one word that says it all. Love is what connects people. The point is to think about what “I love you” really means and how much more powerful it is when our dear Lord says it to us as sinners … and how much more powerful our love for others is when the love of Christ is in our actions and words.

Because of the love of our gracious God, we will go to our heavenly home someday. How incredibly wonderful that will be!   We can truly say God loves us and we love him!

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

Heart, soul and mind

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 5, 2014.

This blog post is from a dear friend whose faith and passion I admire much … and yet she realizes how much she needs the passion of Christ in order to be passionate for Christ.

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Passion for Christ

by Danica Scharlemann

Think for a moment of something that you are passionate about. Perhaps it’s football–not only do you play, but you know the statistics of every NFL player and you know every rule to the game. You’ve joined every fantasy league you could. Every Sunday you are glued to the television; you never miss a game. You’re simply addicted to the sport. … Maybe your passion is cooking. The moment you open the kitchen pantry, you are taken to another world. You instinctually begin creating formulas for fresh, delectable recipes. … For me it’s piano. I’ve sat at the piano bench and lost myself for hours in the meditation of the sounds of each key. I wonder at the immeasurable amount of music that can be played with only 88 keys, 8 distinct notes, 10 agile fingers, 1 pianist.

Now, these are all great passions, wonderful blessings from our Lord, but think about how much time you dedicate to these hobbies. For some of us, they may consume our lives, at least for a season.  During his years of ministry among us, Christ preached, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind” (cf. Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27).  Read that again, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.” Have you ever done anything with all of your heart and soul and mind? God wants us to be passionate about him, loving him with every single part of us. If someone asked me to make a list of things I’m most passionate about, I doubt the first thing to come to my mind would be God. I would turn to things that interest or fascinate me, i.e. piano, math. I may mention my dedication to family and friends or loyalty to my place of employment. I don’t know how far down my list I’d have to write until I thought to mention God. Yet whenever I hear this passage, I simply brush it off as something that we are told time and time again, something that every Christian instinctually does. Yes, I go to church every Sunday. I’ve attended private Lutheran schools my whole life. For goodness sake, I attend a college that prepares people to be ministers! Yet none of those facts are any type of proof that I love my Lord with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, and ALL of my mind. It’s as if we try to keep our relationship with Christ separate from our daily interests when we need to be integrating him into every moment of our lives.

We will always fail when trying to love God with all of ourselves. No matter how much passion we feel for our Lord, it is never enough. Yet, when we had no love for Christ, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God felt so passionately for you, that he sent his Son to live perfectly and die gruesomely, just so that you may have life. This is the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He loves us with all of his heart, all of his soul, an all of his mind. His love for us is immeasurable–incomparable with anything that we have ever experienced.

Now I don’t expect you to leave after hearing this and become some type of born again Christian, speaking only Biblical truths and studying only your Bibles. But perhaps if we spent as much time studying God as we do the football games each Sunday, perhaps then we may grow in passion for our Lord. Perhaps then we won’t become stagnant in our studies of Scripture. Perhaps then we may begin to learn what it means to love our Lord with all of our hearts, all of our souls, and all of our minds … as Jesus fills us up more and more in our hearts, our souls, our minds.

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

Judgment Day – books are opened

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 15, 2014.

I once was asked to deliver a chapel talk on a college campus concerning Judgment Day.  This was the message I offered.

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Balancing our Books

by David Sellnow

All of us have a natural tendency to be bookkeepers.  We think like accountants, keeping track of things.  We keep track of every sort of statistic for our sports teams.  We use pedometers to log how many steps a day we are walking.  We monitor how many likes we have on Facebook or how many followers we have on Twitter.

You see the bookkeeping tendency already at a young age in children.  They like to keep track of the chores they have accomplished, get check marks on their chore chart or even better, little stickers or stars.  Little bookkeepers like to see their accounts growing.

I see the tendency in college students.  If you’re a college student, you may count up every point you can get on every assignment that you’re assigned.  And if an assignment is graded and the professor didn’t give you as many points as you wanted, you go up after class and talk to him and try to argue for more points.  Or you email the prof and ask, “Did you dock me for such and such?  Because I think I did such and such, or your instructions didn’t specifically tell me I had to do such and such.”  Or maybe you don’t have the nerve to complain to your professors, but you gripe among your friends about the grades you get.  “His grading is so unfair.  I deserve more points.”  Students are eager bookkeepers, wanting a gradebook full of points.

Benjamin Franklin was a bookkeeper.  He kept books to chart his own good deeds each day.

In 1726, at the age of 20, Ben Franklin set this goal for himself:  “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time.”

In order to accomplish his goal, Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues, things like industriousness and temperance and sincerity and moderation.

In order to keep track of his adherence to his listed virtues, Franklin carried around a small book of 13 charts. The charts consisted of a column for each day of the week and 13 rows marked with the first letter of his 13 virtues. Franklin evaluated himself at the end of each day. He placed a dot next to each virtue each had violated. His goal was to minimize the number of marks, thus indicating a “clean” life free of bad marks in his book.

Franklin admitted he never got the book completely clean.  (He liked beer too much, and flirting with women, and other foibles.)  But he said, “Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, … yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been.”

[Information taken from ArtOfManliness.com.]

I don’t know how happy Ben Franklin was at the end of life when it was time for his final accounting before the Lord of all virtues.  But it seems he didn’t rightly understand how the Lord keeps books in eternity.  And while Ben Franklin was more meticulous than most about his bookkeeping, I’d say the way he thought about the bookkeeping process of his life is the way too many people think of the books of their lives.  And that’s a problem.

The Bible section for today is a vision from Revelation that talks about books.  It’s also the section of the Bible that the website Listverse.com, which bills itself as “the original top 10 site” on the web, lists as the #1 Most Horrifying Moment in the Bible.

This is Revelation 20:11-15 …

  • I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.  Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.  Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Being thrown into the lake of fire is indeed a horrifying thought.  But let’s talk about those books.  What are those books?  What’s in those books?  Everyone – whether great or small – has a book.  When Judgment Day comes, “the dead are judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”  Does that scare you?  Have you done enough for your account book to be in passable condition?

Well, actually, you know what the Bible says about how much you have to do.  You have to have a perfect book, a book that records flawless keeping of all God’s laws, impeccable and constant virtues.  You can be as diligent as Ben Franklin and still your book comes up short of what it needs to be.  So how can anyone be saved?  Those who are saved are those whose names are found written in the book of life.  If your name is in the book of life, the lake of fire poses no threat to you.  Don’t be afraid, Jesus saves you.

You do have an account book with God in heaven.  Think of it as a book that has two columns.  One column is for credits to your account of virtue – all the good deeds you are expected to do in keeping with God’s commandments.  The other column records your debits or sins – every time you have violated God’s commandments.  When the books are opened in heaven, you need a book that has a completely clean record in the sin column – not a single sin standing against your name … and a completely full record in the righteousness column – that every opportunity you ever have in life to do the right thing, do a good deed, fulfill a commandment of God, you have done so.

Does anyone have a book like that?  One person does.  Only one person.  One person who stood in our place and lived the life we ought to live, constantly and consistently obeying the Father’s will.  One person who was “tempted in every way just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). One person has a record book with a completely clean, unstained column in regard to sin, not a single sin to list.  One person has a record book with a completely perfect, full account of good deeds in the column marked for righteousness.  Jesus Christ is the one person with a perfect book.  But when we become connected to Jesus, when the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, brings us to trust in Jesus by faith, our names are written in the book of life.  And for those whose names are written in the book of life, the book of Jesus’ life is credited to us also as the book of our lives – even though we didn’t do it, even though we didn’t deserve it, even though we haven’t lived it.  We are granted all the credit of Jesus—all the goodness and righteousness of his life.  We are forgiven of all the sins we have committed, on account of all that Jesus suffered in our place—even death on the cross under God’s horrible judgment.  As one of Christ’s apostles summed it up for us:  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  And so when our books are opened, they reveal these sorts of things:  Jesus will say to us, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35,36).  We will wonder when we did all those things.  But all that Jesus did will be already credited on our account.  And on top of that, Jesus will say to those whose names are written in the book of life, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

So don’t fear the lake of fire.  And don’t fear that when your book is opened on Judgment Day, you won’t have enough in it. You won’t need to beg the Father in heaven to give you more points because you didn’t fulfill his assignments well enough.  You won’t be arguing that you didn’t understand his expectations and can he please just give you another chance.  Believing in Jesus Christ, your name is written in the book of life.  Believing in Jesus Christ, the book of your life that God opens on judgment day will show what Jesus has done for you and what you have done in Jesus.  And all will be well.

Don’t be afraid.  Jesus saves you.

Posted by kyriesellnow
27
Dec
2019

What the Spirit produces in us

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on October 3, 2014.

This post is a creed of sorts, a personal confession.  Rachel Nitz offers thoughts in creedal style concerning what the Spirit of God brings about in our hearts and lives.

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Fruits of the Spirit

by Rachel Nitz

From the moment we received faith from the Holy Spirit through God’s Word,
he began working a transformation in our corrupt hearts.
We have been set free
and by the Spirit we receive these graces to serve one another:
Love, first for God and in turn for every person on this earth,
following the example of Christ’s perfect, selfless love for us;
Joy overflowing in our daily lives, through both happiness and hardship,
that those who observe us will see the impact of Christ’s sacrifice for us;
Peace based on the knowledge that nothing can separate us from God’s love
and that all earthly trials serve God’s good purpose;
Patience with the sinful natures of ourselves and others
not out of tolerance, but out of a desire that they, too, be transformed;
Kindness displayed through words and, more importantly,
our actions toward all people, including those who hate us;
Goodness to overcome evil in this sinful world,
and stemming from the ultimate good, who is our God;
Faithfulness to the words of the Bible and commands of our Lord,
strengthened by prayer and frequent study of the Word;
Gentleness, not giving in to selfish anger or violence,
but consciously submitting to the will of our Father;
And self-control, rejecting the sinful nature and all its desires
by living in a way that is unnatural to us
because we are looking forward to a greater hope:
becoming like Christ by the power of the Spirit.

Posted by kyriesellnow
26
Dec
2019

Washed by Jesus

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on September 5, 2014.

Washed by Jesus

by Sarah Allerding

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Sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers … That is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God  (1 Corinthians 6:10,11).

We all have sinned many times in our lives. Some of our sins may stick in our minds more than others. They may even come back to haunt us. Maybe we start to think that the sin from our past was too much for God possibly to forgive.  Is that the case? Did Jesus die only for some sins? Are there sins too great for God to forgive?

Think about the men who nailed Jesus to the cross. They were killing the Son of God. What did Jesus say? Did he say, “Father this sin is too great to be forgiven; I want these men to spend eternity in hell for what they are doing”?  No. That is what they deserved but instead, Jesus said, “ Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).  Imagine that! The Son of God was willing to forgive the men who crucified him. In fact, at that very moment he was dying for their sin and the sins of the whole world. He was dying for you and me.

We may have done some things we are really ashamed of. Jesus died for those sins too. There is no sin that Jesus did not die for. We were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That is who we were. Our past sins no longer define who we are. We are forgiven children of God.

Thank God he does not give us what we deserve!

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to take away our sins. When the sins from our past come back to haunt us, please help us remember that we were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In your name we pray.  Amen.

Posted by kyriesellnow
24
Dec
2019

God’s glory shines with grace

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on December 7, 2019.

God’s glory shines with grace

by David Sellnow

We know that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  The thought of seeing the light of God can frighten us.  Maybe you remember the fictionalized depiction of God’s glory melting the faces of those who opened up the Ark of the Covenant in the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Certainly, those who stand opposed to God have reason to fear his dazzling power. But the recurring theme throughout the Bible shows that when God lets his glory shine for people to see, it is most often for the purpose of showing his saving love.  God’s glory shines with grace.Holiday lights have begun to shine in neighborhoods and towns.   Christmas lights are meant to remind us that Christ is the light of the world, reminiscent also of the star that shined to welcome the birth of Christ into the world.  16th century church leader, Martin Luther, is often credited with beginning the Christian tradition of a lighted Christmas tree.  As reported by History.com, “Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.”

That is what we see at God’s coming at Christmas.  The glory of God came to us, but came in the humble form of Jesus in the manger.  The Son of God came to us from the Father “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).   Jesus “is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).  And that glory and being of God was coming to earth to be God with us as our Savior, to take away our fears.

To emphasize this truth—that God’s glory shines for us with grace—I’d like to lead you through a survey of different times when God manifested his glory to people, and how that glory was invariably a display of love and hope.

The first reading in which we find God revealing his glory and grace in such a way is Genesis 15. The LORD met with Abram and promised him, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am you shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). As a way of evidencing his commitment to the promises he’d made to Abram, God then involved himself in a covenant ceremony, at the center of which was God’s own glory, seen as “a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch” (Genesis 15:17). God shined with glory to show Abraham that his promises of blessing were all true.

God’s next manifestation of his shining glory came when the security and future of Abraham’s descendants were in jeopardy. They were facing enslavement and infanticide in Egypt. And then God came to Moses, appearing to him “in flames of fire from within a bush” (Exodus 3:2), and said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt …. So I have come down to rescue them” (Exodus 3:7,8).  In setting them free from Egypt, God showed this same glory to all the people of Israel. “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Exodus 13:21).   When Egypt’s armies carne after them in pursuit, “the angel of God” and “the pillar of cloud … moved from in front and stood behind them,” separating and protecting them from the enemy (Exodus 14:19,20).  As Israel got further out on its way, in the desert and wondering how they’d eat to survive, “there was the glory of the LORD” again, “appearing in the cloud” (Exodus 16:10). “That evening quail covered the camp, and in the morning” manna was given for bread (Exodus 16:13-15).

The “glory of the LORD” next appeared a number of different times at Mount Sinai, where the law was given. But there wasn’t just law–even here, God’s glory was evidence of his grace. For what God was doing there at Sinai was choosing and consecrating them as his own people, his “treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5) among all the earth. He reminded them of how he had carried them on eagles’ wings and brought them to himself (Exodus 19:4). He showed them grace and glory before and after they sinned against him with the golden calf (cf. Exodus 24 and 32-34). Finally, when they set up their tabernacle tent to worship him, God “filled the tabernacle” with his glory as a sign of gracious presence with them (Exodus 40:34).

In every instance, God shined his glory to point the people of Israel to his wonderful love, to show them how he was working out his plan of salvation for them.

The same is true of other appearances of the glory of the LORD. With “a chariot of fire and horses of fire” God took Elijah “up to heaven in a whirlwind” –graciously giving him eternal life without even tasting death (2 Kings 2:11). Isaiah and Ezekiel saw the glory of the LORD when God called them by grace to serve as prophets (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1). God even gave visual evidence of this grace to Isaiah by taking a token of the glory of God, a “live coal” from the altar of heaven, touched to Isaiah’s lips by an angel with the message: “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7). That is glory … and that is grace—forgiveness

Above and beyond all the dazzling appearances of God in glory throughout the Old Testament, the greatest shining of his glory is in the coming of Jesus. That Jesus is the brightest shining of all God’s glory was made clear on the night he was born into our world. The glory of God lit up the skies. “There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby …. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:8,9). They were terrified, but the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Good news–of God’s grace!

Later on, Peter, James and John would see “the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), when “he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white” (Mark 9:2,3), “as bright as a flash of lightning” (Luke 9:29). “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). Jesus wanted them to see his glory, to bolster their faith before they saw his suffering and death.Wise Men in the east saw that glory of God shining too. “We saw his star and have come to worship him,” they said (Matthew 2:2). They saw the One whom Scripture calls “beautiful and glorious” (Isaiah 4:2), having been led to him by a glowing of his glory in the heavens.

God showed his glory also to a man named Stephen, a martyr about to be viciously killed for his faith. Stephen “looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Men might kill him, but God wanted Stephen in his dying hour to know that he could not be robbed of God’s glory, for God’s grace had shown it to him.

So also at the end of the Bible, to the last apostle, God showed his glory again. Christ revealed himself, and John wrote, “His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid …. I am the Living One” (Revelations 1:14-18). At a troubled time at the end of the apostolic age, when Christians were persecuted for their faith, God gave this revelation of glory to show he was still with his church, Christ is still ruling all things, and God’s grace is still as amazing as ever.

God’s grace. God’s glory. It’s not like the face-melting, body-burning laser lightshow of a Hollywood movie. Instead, it is like the warm glow of heaven for us, like a candle left burning in the window of our eternal home, until we can come home to be there. The glory of God, as Scripture says, is when “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). That is God’s glory shown to us, to each of our hearts. That is how he shows himself–through “the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God’s glory shines with grace—grace that saves us, in Christ.

Posted by Electric Gospel