The Selfless Gospel

And my selfish pursuit of survival.

Here’s what I needed: To be rescued from among the fallen, reconciled with God, restored to a condition worthy of eternity in Heaven, and redeemed from unavoidable death.

So I turned to Christ to rescue, reconcile, restore, and redeem me. I needed it. I wanted to possess it. And in my quest for self-preservation, I obtained it. I’m a selfish being.

Here’s what Christ needs: Nothing from me or anyone else.

But he offered to rescue me. He became my reconciliation with God. He gave me His righteousness, and therefore passage to eternity in Heaven. He redeemed me from the death I couldn’t escape.

Here’s what it cost me: Nothing.

Here’s what it cost Him: A trade of glory for flesh and gravity. The cross. The strong grip of death apart from the loving presence of the Father.

Here’s what I gained: Knowledge of God. Fellowship with others like me and inclusion in Christ’s church. Awareness of life as it’s meant to be. The ability to follow God. The experience of His glory. Overwhelming identification with His grace.

Here’ what Christ gained: The approval of His Father. The church. The right to redeem the entire earth over which He will soon rule unchallenged. The crown of the One True King. Glorification.

Did he do what he did to accomplish this goal? No. It was all His before He spoke the world into being. He is—His Gospel is—completely selfless. Here are a few other things He gained: Hatred. Mocking. Widespread, blatant disrespect. Apathetic, half-hearted consideration. Adamant refusal.

Even my own selfish need for His selfless gift wasn’t really selfish at all. If He hadn’t pointed out my need, I never would have known. In a way, my selfishness is rooted in His selflessness. If He didn’t show up, I wouldn’t have looked for Him. As it is, I gave up clinging to what I thought I knew about life to obtain…life. And life is in Christ.

Another one of those paradoxical truths? God’s glory gained by selflessness. My redemption realized out of a selfish need to live and not die. The rhythm of salvation. The poetry of grace. God came down to live a simple human life in an ancient land and then he died on a cross. And then He conquered death. And then I accepted His astonishing remedy to cure what I didn’t know was wrong with me until He told me. For His glory, for my life, I’ll take it. What else can I do? There is no other way.

And this is the testimony, that God gives us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I John 5:11-12

FINDING GOD

Do you have a difficult time finding God? Really, you shouldn’t. The problem could be your approach. The prophet Jeremiah puts it this way: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV)  

What does it mean to seek? With its many synonyms, I think ‘hunt for’ explains it best, implying there is diligence, enthusiasm, and earnestness in the search. That way of searching reveals the desire and intention of the searcher’s heart; it says to God, “I love you; I want to know you better, and have a vibrant, ongoing relationship with you. I will give up anything and everything you ask of me to maintain a relationship with you.”

So what form should the search take? 

·        First and foremost, let’s get rid of lip service! It does not benefit us when we claim we are Christians, go to church, sing in the choir, and on and on, but live contrary to God’s Word.

 

·        Second, in addition to being believers, our hearts should yearn for God and focus on Him. We should desire to know Him better; we should desire and ask to know His mind on issues, and then gladly obey Him.

·        Third, we cannot know more about God without learning about Him.  If we desire to know Him better, our next step should be going to His Word, and wherever else we can, to learn about Him. Head knowledge alone about God is not enough, however. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us how we can apply what we learn in our everyday living. In other words, we should want to be transformed by what He reveals of Himself to us. Like Paul says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2 NIV). Studying His Word comes in different forms: personal study, group              study, listening to sermons, and any other avenue of study God makes              available to us.

·        Fourth is seeking Him in prayer, asking the Spirit to search our hearts and reveal the sins we need to confess and forsake: both sins of commission and omission (see Psalm 139:23-24). We need to hunger and thirst for Him, asking for Him to live through us as Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV). We need to yearn to be closer to Him, to be lost in His love, and then desire to be obedient to Him. 

·        Lastly, when we go to Him in prayer, let us not rush out of His presence, but wait patiently on Him to hear His voice of affirmation and any instructions He might have for us (see Psalm 40:1) .

It is not enough to say to God, “I am seeking you,” because He already knows every heart, so He knows whether or not you are seeking Him; “For the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9 NIV). If you are searching, make sure you are searching with ALL YOUR HEART, because it is only then that you’ll find Him; a haphazard search will not yield the needed result. King David admonished his son, Solomon, “Acknowledge the God of your Father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind” (1Chronicles 28:9 NIV).

If we seek God with all our hearts, we will find Him, because He has promised, and He is faithful.

The Heart of a Book is not its Genre

I’m pushing the sci-fi angle of my book. It’s futuristic. Some of it’s really coming—at least that’s the plan of certain people. Another angle I push is the Christian Fiction factor. It’s who I am and somebody told me to write what I know. And I won’t stop—the message of the Gospel will permeate whatever I write to some degree.

But when I think about Wake the Dead, the parts I love most aren't the techno-babble scenes, and there is no line defining the call of Christ—not in this book. (But Killswitch is coming this summer, and maybe…) My favorite moments are when Chase is dropped into his own past. God puts him there to prepare him for his astonishing future. 

Here’s one of my favorite scenes:

  

    Chase looked at the big screen, only it wasn’t a GV. It was more like an old movie screen. Landscape, lush and green, filled his vision. It looked like the place where he’d grown up. A seagull whizzed past. The sound of rushing water told him he was near the river. And then, he was on the screen. Only there wasn’t a screen anymore. Chase looked at his hands. They were small and sandy. He looked at his feet, at the blue sneakers he wore when he was ten.

    “Hey, get me out of here,” Chase whined.

     No one answered.

     He thought he might cry, but he didn’t. He was a grown man. An influential man. This was some kind of new game. A new prize for contestants. And SynVue was trying it out on him. Well, OK, he could play along. As if he had any choice. He turned a circle. He knew the way home.

     He came up past Braden River High School. Stupid teenagers. They were always messing with him. His house was just a couple of blocks away. He started to run.

     “Hey, Chase.” A little girl waved from across the road.

     Chase waved back to her. “Hey, Kathleen.” He ran a little faster.

    He came to his house and went up the walkway to the front door. Chase could hear his mother singing. What was that? Something about the light of the moon. She had a lovely voice. Chase had forgotten she used to sing. He opened the door. “Mom?”

     “In here, Chase. I’m baking your birthday cake.”

     “It’s my birthday?”

     She walked into the front room with a dish towel in her hands. “You silly boy.” She smiled, and he ran to her and threw his arms around her.

     “What’s this? Did you miss me that much? You’ve only been gone for a couple of hours.” She patted his back and kissed the top of his head.

     She smelled like chocolate and soap. That’s when the dream, or the game—whatever was happening on the screen—became real.

     He looked up. “I think it’s been more than a couple of hours.”

As it turns out, Steve Austin (not the wrestler, but the 70’s TV astronaut who got some bionic parts) was a wind-up toy compared to Chase Sterling. But all of Chase’s days (yeah, I know he’s not real) are ordained by God.

As are all of our days. Our experience, the people we encounter, every moment of love, hate, disregard, and reconciliation transforms us. No, it’s not like the transformation Chase endured. And yet it is. Science changed his brain, his body, and his function. God altered his mind, his soul, and his purpose. Science is grand. God is revolutionary. I don’t want what’s coming from the gods of science.

Just let me be revolutionized. That’s what I want to write about.

Maybe pushing the sci-fi angle doesn’t cover it. I never liked calling it sci-fi anyway. Speculative, yes. A what-if story about a transhuman written from a Christian worldview. Too wordy? How about Radical Techno Inspirational? Hmmm. 

What We All Long for the Most

You probably haven’t thought about this, and if you have, you probably have not expressed it, but deep down, you long to be very special to somebody—anybody. Most likely, you don’t care who it is, just as long as somebody loves you for who you are, unconditionally.

            In our society, the decision to love is often based on factors that are lacking in many: good looks, stature, social status, education, financial status, skin color, race, nationality, and so on. In other words, someone might love or not love another because of his or her nationality, skin color, profession, or how much they earn. When love is based on such things, it is conditional. What will happen when a big-earner loses the ability to earn that much? What happens when good looks fades with age and or poor health?  Does love then cease?

No matter how poor or unattractive we are, we all desire someone to go head over heels for us. That is where God comes in. He is that Person we are all longing for, to satisfy our deep-seated longing. But why is God that Person?

He love us unconditionally because He created us the way we are for His pleasure. He never decides someone is too unattractive, handicapped, or poor for Him to love. He loves us no matter what; He never disowns or stops loving us because something about us has changed. He loves us just as we are, and by choice!

God wants His love for us to bring us into a loving relationship (which we lost as a result of sin) with Him, and for our deep-seated need to be satisfied, we need to respond to that love—we have a responsibility in the matter. A relationship is not a one-way street: it needs to have at least two people to qualify as such.    

So, how do we respond to God’s love? We need to understand and accept  that we are sinners with no ability or resources to pay the penalty for our sins. The Bible makes it very clear, “For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God’s glorious standards” (Romans 3:23 NLT). We then have to ask for pardon through His Son, Jesus Christ, who died in our place. When we take this step, he forgives us and restores our previously broken relationship with Him, because, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT). 

To clarify God's unconditional love, let’s look at God’s reasons for loving the Israelites. “Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT). God’s love for the Israelites was by choice and by His faithfulness in keeping promises He had made previously. God loved them, no matter what they did! He punished them some of the time, but never stopped loving them. In fact, again and again, He pleaded with them to return to Him from their sinful wanderings.

This is the kind of love we all long for: love that is unconditional! Only God can do that. Only He wipes away our sins and never brings them up again. That is easy for Him to do, because  His love for us was by choice. He knew us inside and out; He knew we were evil, but that did not stop Him. Nothing in our future was ever going to surprise Him; we might hurt Him by our behavior, but not surprise Him. Being faithful is the other half. God has promised, “I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:34 NLT). When we repent, He forgives and forgets, so our relationship with Him remains intact.

Have loved ones failed you? Are you left to wonder if anyone cares? Are you longing for unconditional love? Try Jesus, the Son of God, through whom God is reconciling the world to Himself (see Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18). He’ll love you beyond your expectations, transform your life, and at His appointed time, bring you home to Himself in Heaven. 

Find Your Way Out of Grief

It was a regular Tuesday night. He was on final approach. Just a few hundred yards from the runway when something went terribly wrong. In a split second, everything changed for his wife, 1 year old twin sons, parents, siblings, family, and friends.

I attended my cousin Joel’s funeral yesterday. He was 33 years old, a well-qualified, excellent pilot who loved God and his family. It was my privilege to be part of a family who cared for each other well during this very difficult day. We cried together, hugged, and laughed. We made it safe for each person to mourn. In the face of a terrible loss that made no earthly sense, we declared as a family our faith, hope, and belief in God’s everlasting love.

Many folks get lost in questions when tragedy strikes. Why did this happen? How can I continue to live? If God loves us, why didn’t he change circumstances? Fear makes us question God’s heart. Being reminded of our vulnerability is scary. When Jesus started talking to the disciples about leaving them, they also felt vulnerable. Thomas in John 14:5 asked, “Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus gave Thomas the same answer he gave us yesterday. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Finding your way out of grief and questioning starts with moving toward Jesus. He wept at Lazarus’ death and begged Judas to come to him at the Last Supper. Take the hand Jesus offers. He will guide you to the Father’s heart where you’ll find all the answers you need.

Some of Joel’s siblings danced to a special song at the funeral. It lifted our hearts, reminding us God has promised to prepare a place for us and take us to be with him forever. Joel, I look forward to once again see your ready smile on the day I join you in heaven!

Trading My Sorrows by Darrell Evans

I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord

We say
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Amen

A Muslim Boy's Offense

The cost of his misunderstanding.

Last week news from Pakistan reported what happened when a fifteen-year-old Muslim boy misunderstood the trick question of his cleric. He’d lifted his hand and mistakenly confirmed that he did not believe the teachings of the holy prophet. The cleric immediately accused the boy of blasphemy, and the congregation joined in. The boy fled home in disgrace, where he cut off his hand, placed it on a platter, and carried it back to the mosque to make amends.

The cleric was briefly detained for his part in driving the boy to commit such an act, but religious leaders protested. Even the boy’s parents praised their son’s dedication, saying he would be rewarded in eternity. The cleric was released with no blame. Disturbing news about the dangers of radical Islam? Yes. But what about the teachings of Christianity?

 “And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.”

Matthew 5:29.30

Jesus spoke these words, and those listening were probably not as appalled as we in the modern, Western world might be. After all, the law required an eye for an eye, and it required blood. An odd instruction from Deuteronomy 25:11-12 describes was to be done in a battle situation if a woman used a particular tactic in the defense of her husband. The law required the woman lose her hand, and no pity was to be offered.  

Under grace, the ways of the Old Testament sometimes seem foreign to us. We don’t want to come down too hard on anyone. We hold to a “love the sinner but hate the sin” mentality, even though the Bible makes it clear God hates sinners. (Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11: 5, Leviticus 20:23, Proverbs 6: 16-19, Hosea 9: 15.) Judgement doesn’t fall merely on the sin, but on the sinner. Left on our own, we are doomed to remain enemies of God. Yet we don’t give much consideration to the seriousness of what sin does to a human being. Or to a nation. Or to a church. Jesus took it seriously. So did He mean what He said? Of course. He meant everything He said, or He wouldn’t have said it.

The reference point of the passage in Matthew is adultery. But the sin of adultery is not the act of a hand or an eye. Jesus was not telling us to gouge out the eye that looked on with lust, or cut off the hand that partook in the sinful act. He was teaching us a great penalty is required for sin. Lust does not begin with the eye or the hand, but in the mind and the heart. The offender is not a body part. Don’t miss the if—and if your hand or eye offends you…

On the other hand, if it’s yourself—your mind and your heart—committing the offense, then self-mutilation will not suffice. You need much more. Death is required. This is the hope of our redemption. The message of the Gospel to all who will hear. The penalty of death was paid on the cross.

Which leads to another revelation from the words of Christ:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Did Jesus have a change in attitude? There’s nothing easy about cutting off your own hand, and yet here He says we can take it easy. But once again, He’s making a point. It’s impossible for us to absolve our own sin. It was no leisurely feat for Him, but He did it. It was His yoke and His burden that rescued us. Not easy for Him, but easy for us. Now sin no longer owns us. We don’t have to pay for it. We can rest.

A boy in Pakistan sacrificed his hand for a misunderstanding. He believed it was the right thing to do. But no act will ever make right what lies in the depths of his heart. Off all our hearts. If you want to take care of your own sin, even chopping off your hand won’t do it. But if Christ takes care of it, then you can rest in His finished work.  

If God hates sinners, should I hate this sinful boy who chopped off his hand? Of course not. Hate is not what brought Christ to sacrifice Himself. Love did. A paradoxical mystery: God hates sinners. And He sent His Son to die because He loves them. I can live with that. The yoke is easy and the burden is light. The penalty is paid. And I am free to love.

ETERNAL LIFE or SECOND DEATH

Eternal life is life that continues without end. The idea of eternal life is nothing new. It has always been God’s plan that we, His chosen, will live with Him forever (see 1 John 1:2). He chose us through His foreknowledge that we will respond to the gospel, and believe in His Son, Jesus (see 1 Peter 1:2). The Psalmist, believing in eternal life stated, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6 NIV). Towards the end of Jesus’ ministry, He comforted the disciples concerning all that was about to happen to Him, including His return to heaven. He promised He would prepare a place for them in heaven, and then He would come back and take them to be with Him (see John 14:2-3).

Like the rich young man mentioned in Matthew 19:16-30, there are people who think there are good deeds they could do to earn eternal life. However, the Bible does not teach good deeds as the way to obtain eternal life. The Bible teaches faith in Jesus who paid the penalty of our sins. Salvation is by grace alone! The gospel of John says, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3 NIV). Also, Paul emphasizes in Ephesians, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV). Had salvation been through good works such as donating large sums of money to charity, where would the poor be? Instead, the playing field is level, and anyone who is willing may come, on the basis of faith, because good works do not buy salvation.

So now that we’ve addressed eternal life and how to obtain it, let us look at what happens when one does not obtain it. Anything that goes on forever is eternal, but in that eternal state, one could be with or without God. Eternal life is life that continues forever with God in heaven. The opposite of that situation is life that goes on forever, but in hell. The Bible’s description of hell is scary, to say the least. It is an eternal lake of fire, originally prepared for the devil and his angels (see Matthew 25:41). It is also known as the second death (see Revelation 20:14). Eternal fire is fire that never stops burning and never goes out (see Mark 9:43). Can you imagine falling into a campfire forever? This is not a scare tactic to get anyone to do what they prefer not to do; it is the truth. The book of Revelation says, “If any anyone’s name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15 NIV). Hell can be avoided, and it should be avoided at all costs!

Jesus told a story about a rich man and a sore-covered beggar who lay at his gate. The beggar’s name was Lazarus; he was so needy that he was willing to eat crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. When these two men eventually died, Lazarus went to heaven, and the rich man went to hell. In his torment in hell, he petitioned Abraham to allow Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and come to hell long enough to cool the rich man’s tongue. The reason he gave was, “Because I am in agony in this fire” (Luke 16:24 NIV). How sad and scary! It doesn’t have to be that way. This scenario can be avoided by placing one’s faith in Jesus. In the conclusion of the story, Abraham declined the rich man’s request on two grounds: first, the rich man received good things in life, and Lazarus received nothing, and second, there is a great chasm between heaven and hell that makes it impossible to cross from one to the other. Wherever you choose to spend eternity, that’s where you stay; there’ll be no switching around.

There are people who say God is kind and cannot send anyone to hell, but they forget that He has other defining attributes like holy, just and faithful. We can be sure He will make good on His promise of hell by looking at history. He destroyed the ancient world with a flood, sparing only Noah and his family (see 2 Peter 2:5). Again, He burned Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes for their ungodliness, sparing only Lot and his family (s

ee 2 Peter 2:6).

After this life comes eternity, which will be in one of two places: either in God’s presence or in hell. The choice is yours. Which one appeals to you? Please choose wisely.