Three Stages of Safety

 

[Sermon given by Lou Hodapp on Mother's Day, 2013, at the Missouri Veteran's Home]

 

Well Hello veterans on this Mother’s Day.

Here is what some well-known people have said about mothers:

George Washington said: "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."

Abraham Lincoln said: "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."

Napoleon Bonaparte, one time leader of France said: "Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons."

And God Himself said through Isaiah the prophet: "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you."

My mother was born in 1903 so if she was here on earth now, she would be 110 years old. I have many great memories of my mother. I felt SAFE with her.

Yes, most of us felt very SAFE when we were with our mothers.

Safety is a big issue in the modern world. With the instant communication systems developed today, we are able to see and hear about bad things that have happened to others and can happen to us. And there are certainly many bad things to hear about these days. If you watch TV too much you can get “crisis overload” – one crisis after another.

We all look for safety for ourselves and those around us. Oh sure, there are some of us who seem to be dare-devils. Some seem to want to live on the edge and risk all. But do they really?

I believe that, deep down, even the supreme dare-devil has his safety net. There are some things that even he considers stupidly dangerous and dangerously stupid. Anyone in his right mind has a limit on and respects safety. We abandon our own particular safe limit for only two reasons: one - we become mentally unbalanced or two - we care for others enough to heroically give up our own safety.

I believe that our built-in safety mechanisms are perfected by God in three distinct stages of growth and maturity.

 

Stage One: Learning That GOD Is Safe

 

As people come to a recognition of a supreme being called “God”, they seldom, at first, see Him as “safe” to them. Our religious cultures have often taught us to keep God at arm’s length because it is not safe to get Him riled up by our actions. We see Him as judgmental and harsh toward our bad deeds and capable of causing danger for our future. Fire and brimstone church sermons about sin and its “hell” consequences paint a picture of a God who is far from safe to get near.

But as it is revealed to us that God IS love - not that love is something God can portion out to us as He sees fit, the picture begins to change. We grow to see that only total love could account for the death of the Son of God. The apostle John tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him  shall not perish but have eternal life. We learn that the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present and EVER-LOVING God is ALL, WHOLE and WITHOUT LACK – SO…, therefore, He is TRUSTABLE. He is not out to “get us”. GOD IS SAFE!

 

Stage Two: the Universe - His CREATION - Is Safe

 

The logical extension of God’s safety is that what He has made is safe. As an expression of God, no person, no place and no circumstance could come to us that was not actually Him in disguise.

But how can this be? Many things that we confront every day seem to represent danger to us. But do they really? For people separated from God, they certainly do. But as we are reborn as children in the Family of God, the material world develops an eternal “safety-net”. We then grow to relate everything material to how it affects our eternal, spiritual life as a child of God.

Crime, natural disasters, sickness, etc., do not present any real danger to the child in the Family of a totally loving God. God promises protection for His children. The form which that protection takes varies. The danger may avoid us completely. Or it may affect us but be turned to God’s good purposes and even correct us toward a closer trust in God’s guidance. Or it may affect us in such a way that the way we handle the situation becomes God’s light to others. Or we may only be rescued from the danger by death and going to be with God after death.

Yes, for a Christian, THE UNIVERSE IS SAFE!

 

Stage Three: I, PERSONALLY Am Safe

 

Here God provides the finishing touches on your safety system. We have come to believe that God is safe IF we are obedient - the universe is safe IF we are obedient. And we continue into stage three with the concept that I am safe IF I am obedient. But the problem is that I am NOT always obedient! I do not always follow God’s rules and guidance as a Christian, therefore, I must not always be safe!

But the culmination of our spiritual growth as a Christian is the awareness and understanding that, as a rebirthed child in God’s Family having the divine nature of the Father and the indwelling Son and Holy Spirit, I AM ALWAYS SAFE, EVEN WHEN I SLIP UP AND AM NOT OBEDIENT!

The apostle Paul probably had the best understanding of any Bible writer about how the Christian life really worked out in practice. But he did not get an instant revelation of salvation when he was struck down at his conversion or even during his solitude in the deserts of Arabia. Even Paul had a period of frustration trying to make the Christian life work. He did not feel safe - he did not have the “peace that surpasses all understanding”. He had to grow into peace and safety.

Paul’s chapter Seven of Romans is what I call the “Frustrated Christian Chapter”. Many have looked here at Paul’s wailings about his inability to be obedient to God and they have come to the conclusion that Paul here must have been recalling the time before he became a Christian. This giant of a spiritual person, Paul, certainly couldn’t have been this frustrated AFTER his new birth in Christ!

BUT HE WAS! Even knowing who he was in union with Christ, Paul became exasperated with obedience. He felt UNSAFE, insecure, and not at peace with himself, the world, or God.

Paul’s learning process as a child of God had to continue and progress into Romans Eight - what I call the “Safe and Secure Salvation Chapter”.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2)

The key to living the Christian life is, as Paul came to see, knowing that you are SAFE and at peace with God during every second of your life from conversion and new birth onward. Your life as a child of God will never be taken away from you.

It took a period in Paul‘s life before he understood that he was SAFE. And every Christian must go through a similar period of variable length before he knows that he is SAFE.

In my own life, it took as long as the Israelites in the wilderness - forty years - for me to come to the understanding that I am SAFE in the Family of God. I probably became an “official” “born again” Christian somewhere around ten or twelve when I was really able to choose to follow Jesus and make Him the Lord of my life.

As a teenager I wondered how I could ever please God. I lived four blocks away from my church. I went to confession to a priest on Saturday afternoons so that I could be forgiven and receive communion on Sunday morning.

But I had a big problem. Invariably, on my walk home from confession, I would see a pretty girl. My teenage hormones would kick in and I would start to think about what I would like to do with her. Oh no! Sin again! I would turn around and go back to church to confession again. This back and forth would become my Saturday exercise.

The priest would say to me, “Son – you have to understand, those thoughts are not sin if you don’t take pleasure in them.”

I would answer, “Father – you have to understand, when those thoughts came, I grabbed onto them, took pleasure in them for as long as I could and released them very reluctantly. Isn’t that a sin?”

The priest replied, “Well…..I guess it is!”

I never knew where I really stood with God. “Oops, I sinned – I’m going to hell!”

“Whew, I’m forgiven – I’m going to heaven!”

“Oops, I sinned again – I’m going to hell!”

Heaven, hell, heaven, hell – what UNSAFE frustration!

And it was not until my early fifties that I understood being SAFE.

I spent forty years in frustration. That is a long time, longer than God ever intends for His child to learn SAFETY. But each one of us is different, and God is patient with His children.

The problem for me and probably for most others also is that I couldn’t be SAFE and at peace as long as the fear of eternal punishment hung over my head. And the idea of having sorrow and repentance for my sins after they occurred didn’t help very much. I was always fearful of dying before repentance for my last sin. I was like Paul. I wanted to do good and please God - but I so often failed, felt guilty, but couldn’t seem to change. Many things I knew I should do, I didn’t do. And things that I knew I should not do, I found myself helpless to prevent. That spiritual giant, Paul, said, “0 wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”

This fear of death after sin and the eternal punishment to follow lingered in my Christian life for forty years. Oh, certainly there was much to be happy about and feel good about during those forty years. Even more so than the Israelites in the wilderness, God gave me a physical existence and supplied my needs at a level greater than the majority of people on this earth. And I never neglected being thankful for this. I felt God’s love, I had a desire to please Him. But in the back of my mind I, like Paul, feared eternal punishment and was not peaceful and SAFE.

And then it happened! Almost like a bolt out of the blue I, like Paul, came out of the wilderness of danger into the awareness and understanding that THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION, NO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, FOR A CHILD IN THE FAMILY OF GOD. I, therefore, am truly SAFE!

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, as Proverbs says. But SAFETY in the Lord is the culmination of knowledge!

So when a Christian grows to the awareness of stage three, he will no longer have a fear of dying at a bad time - before telling God that he is sorry for a particular sin. He will have an awareness of SAFETY. And this awareness will increase the bond between Father and child. The fact is that the Father loves him so much that nothing the child can do will break the Family bond with an all-caring Father.

Does this “white-wash” Christian sin? Not at all. It is still serious and has painful effects, but not terminal!

How does this SAFETY in union with Christ work? Didn’t God say that all sin deserves death and eternal punishment? Isn’t all sin deadly?

The answer lies in the difference between punishment and correction.

PUNISHMENT is a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing. It has retribution in view - paying someone back what he deserves for his actions. Punishment is looking backward to the offense, is impersonal and automatic, and its goal is the administration of justice.

CORRECTION or discipline, on the other hand, is totally different. Correction is training that develops self-control, character and ability. It is looking forward to a beneficial result, is very personal, and individually applied.

Before our conversion and new birth, punishment for our sins is wholly applicable. But the Bible stresses over and over that Jesus came to receive the punishment of death for us - to pay for our sins so that justice could prevail.

And so, after God births us into His Family in union with Christ and the Holy Spirit, punishment for sin no longer applies to the Christian child of God. Sin has a different result in the life of a Christian. Under the New Covenant, God never deals with His children on the basis of punishment. All of the punishment of God built into sin was fully received by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Now that we are His children, God deals with us only on the basis of correction.

Like any good father, God does apply correction to His children when they slip-up and sin. His child must be made to recognize the mistake and understand that sin is not the “natural” thing to do anymore. Since we are reborn at conversion and, as Peter said, “partake of the divine nature”, God disciplines us as needed to show that sin is no longer “natural” for His child. God does not disown us. Christ and the Holy Spirit remain within us. They will never leave us.

Sin “bends” our relationship with our heavenly Father, but it cannot break it. The Father will see to that. There can never be eternal punishment for a child of God.

But correction hurts! In fact, punishment and correction sometimes “feel” the same to the one on the receiving end! Our sins as Christians can sometimes even have life-long human hurts and consequences. But these are correctional consequences which God turns to good in the development of His child. The sharp difference can be seen in both the attitude and the goal of the One applying it – God.

A Christian can go to bed at night feeling safe whether or not he is absolutely sure about his own repentance.

A Christian can go out on the highway in traffic feeling safe whether or not he is absolutely sure about his sorrow for his last sin.

A Christian can withstand the onslaught of natural disasters, hurricanes and floods, feeling safe whether or not he is absolutely sure that he loves God enough.

The only way to achieve these stages of SAFETY is to be a Christian. And becoming a Christian is just a matter of choice – a choice to turn away from the harmful effects of sin and to recognize Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

For those here this morning who haven’t made that choice, let me pray for you and those who have already chosen Christ can renew that commitment.

Father – we want to commit our lives to you. We understand that we need a Savior from our sins, and that Jesus came to earth to do that for us.

As the man in the Bible said to Jesus, “Lord I believe – but help my unbelief”. He wanted to follow Christ but was still unsure about it. We all come to Christ with SOME sense of doubt. And that’s OK.

As weak as we are, and as best we can, Father, we choose to accept your great gift – Jesus as Lord of my life. We can then be forever SAFE.

We thank you for everything in Jesus Name.   Amen.

YOU Can't Live the Christian Life!

Did the following scene ever take place?

   “My Son, we have lived together in realms of the eternals, in perfect fellowship. But now you are going to earth. Earth is fallen, its inhabitants are sinful. The true Christian life can be lived only in the pure realm of the spirituals, in a perfect spirit. You can no longer live by my life on planet earth. When you go through that door into that other fallen realm, all will change! Down there you will no longer live in the fellowship of the Godhead. No, you must learn another way to live. It is not as high as the way you have known with me here. No, the way you live on earth is called the lower way to live the Christian life! From now on you must study your Bible every day, you must pray every day, witness, fast, tithe, speak in tongues (?), and go to church. These are the means by which one lives the Christian life on planet earth.”

   Do you think such a conversation ever took place? Certainly not. When the Lord Jesus came to earth, he did pray, he did fast, and he did witness. But these things were the outward expressions – the overflow of an internal experience.

   The question we must now face is, “Did Jesus Christ change the way he lived the Christian life once he got to earth?” Was there a radical change in the ground rules, or did the way remain unchanged, passing from the spiritual realm to the physical realm?

   Take a closer look at Jesus the Christian. It was from WITHIN that the Lord Jesus grew in spiritual awareness. He began sensing an indwelling Lord…his Father! God the Father was living in Jesus’ spirit. The spiritual realm was inside the man named Jesus Christ. He lived on this earth, but the supply of living the Christian life came from his spirit.

   His way of living the Christian life was (1) to go to his Father’s life, located in his spirit, (2) to draw upon that life, and (3) to allow that life to express itself in this realm, through his soul and body. The engine had not changed. The means of living the Christian life had not changed. The engine of the Christian life was still his Father’s life…in Christ.

   At the beginning we saw only three Christians – the Trinity in the eternals before creation! Then one member of the Godhead came to earth exhibiting the outliving of the Christian life for us here on earth. The fellowship of the Godhead entered into a kind of “stage two.” And nothing changed from stage one to stage two, except the backdrop!

Did the following scene ever take place?

   The Lord Jesus calls Simon Peter aside to talk to him privately. “Peter, I am about to return to the other realm. There are some things we need to get straight before I leave. When I lived in my Father before I came here, he and I had a unique relationship together. Then I came to earth. Nothing changed; the Father and I simply continued living out the same relationship we had experienced in eternity. My Father continued supplying me with all of his life source. I lived by his life. While here on earth, he lived in me. We fellowshiped together each day by means of his indwelling. Peter, you understand all of that was for ME. This is MY secret  to living the Christian life. But, Peter, I want you to get this clear! All that was for me and is not for you! You are fallen. You, Peter, must live the Christian life by other means than I do. Do you understand this? None of this living by my Father’s life. None of this indwelling Lord. Certainly never think, that you will be invited to join in the fellowship between my Father and me.

   “The secret to the Christian life for you, Peter? Well, you have to live the Christian life by you own efforts. First of all (and above everything else), you have to live a good life. Watch out how you behave and how you dress. Do good. Be nice. Next, stop sinning. That is the heart of all I came to accomplish, to stop people from sinning so much! When tempted, bow your neck and determine not to sin. Next, you have to pray. Pray hard and long…every day. The Christian life for you is grunt, grit, and gumption. Read your Bible. Spend lots and lots of time in the Bible. Memorize some verses.”

   (Uh, excuse me Lord, I have a problem here. I cannot read. And what is a verse?”)

   Is this what the Lord Jesus said to Peter? If it is, then we are all stuck with a second-class way to live the Christian life. True, every element in that formula has merit, but that formula has never, and never will, contain the primary ingredients of the secret to the Christian life. This second-class way to live the Christian life for us peasants calls for a great deal of human exertion and outward performance. The outward things become all important. Pleasing God, or trying to by outward displays!

   Take you choice. Each of us must choose what will be our central concentration: an indwelling Lord or an objective, outward performance; fellowshipping with him or trying to make him happy by being good and doing lots of nice things. We really do not have nay other options. Speaking personally, I have tried both, and there is no comparison.

   His closest followers chose the way of an indwelling Lord and fellowship with that Lord. For them it was no choice at all because they had never even heard of the other way. And no wonder. “Pray and read your Bible” as being the Christian life had not even been invented yet.

   Do you think the following conversation ever took place?

   Peter is speaking. “Now listen up, you three thousand. I am only going to say this once. There are two kinds of Christians: those of us who live the Christian life by the same means Jesus Christ lived the Christian life – and then there is YOU! We apostles are in on this first way. But you are second-class Christians. You do not get the same equipment the Lord Jesus had, or that we have. You are peasants. You are to struggle. Did you hear me? Grunt! Grit! Strain! Use your will, your best effort!

   “We apostles got to see firsthand how Jesus lived the Christian life. But you did not. Remember that. That puts you in a lower class. We lived with him. He dwells within us just like the Father dwelt within him. There is no way to pass on to you what we have. So, here is your way to live the Christian life. Work hard at doing things to please God. Read your Bible. (We promise to get it written as soon as possible. You might even have a chance to own a copy by about 300AD if you’re still alive and have lots of money.) Fast, go to church, tithe, and a few other things I will tell you about later.”

   Was the above formula imparted to the three thousand as the secret to the Christian life? And is this what is expected of all the rest of us Christians who will come after them?  Are you cut off from the fellowship of the Godhead? Do we get an intimate touch with a divine Lord only at the moment of salvation?

   Basically what these formulas are saying is: Become saved – that is a truly spiritual, other-realm profound internal experience. BUT after that the Christian life is all grit, groan, and grunt. This kind of Christian life is on about the same level as “how to live the Muslim life,” or “how to live the Hebrew life.” Where is that which is truly unique to the Christian? A living, indwelling Christ is the “something” we have that no other religion on earth can offer. In fact, other religions never dreamed of offering such a wonder.

   Take any other starting point than an indwelling Lord and you will end up with something terribly off course, incredibly short of the mark, indescribably shallow, totally unworkable, and probably just a hair away from humanism. What you are apt to find s not much more than a bootstrap religion.

   The greatest day you will ever live is the day that God, by revelation, shows you that you CANNOT live the Christian life. Human beings are the wrong species for living the Christian life. Furthermore, if you become the right species by faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, you are still the wrong person. The Christian life is – always has been – and always will be, the exclusive territory of the living God. He ALONE lives the Christian life! And if this is really a fact, then there really is a lot of unlearning and relearning to be done.

   I have solidified the fact that only Christ in you can live your Christian life. Now what are the practical aspects of getting to know Christ in you personally so that you can trust him to live the Christian life for you?

   Your mind wanders. You feel a sense of guilt when you get personal with Jesus in you. You also get sleepy. You don’t know what to talk to the Lord about. You get distracted. These are the present hindrances that you face in your prayer life. Is there a solution?

   There are only two things that exist in our material realm that belong to and are native to the spiritual realm. One is the Scripture, which is God-breathed. The other is your spirit. Your spirit belongs to and is now part of the other realm – the spirit realm. Join these two elements together (your spirit and Scripture) and you have a key for dealing with these age old hindrances.

   What I shall present to you is not the only way to enter into a meaningful fellowship with Christ within. It is simply A way. But we all need somewhere to begin, a starting point do we not?

   You are about to enter into an ancient and greatly revered practice of the saints of all the centuries past, a heritage that has been passed down through two millennia of the Christian faith. You are about to turn Scripture into prayer.

  

Assignment One

 

   Get alone. Get quiet. Calm your mind. Bask in the presence of Jesus within you for a time. Next, open your Bible to Psalm 23. Speak out loud, and TALK Psalm 23 to your Lord. Paraphrase or adapt something like this:

Lord Jesus, you are my Shepherd. You take care of me. You always have taken care of me. You are taking care of me now. You will take care of me in the future. I am a lamb. I was made for a shepherd. You are that Shepherd. And it is true, I have never wanted, and right now I have no real needs.

   Take time to let this sink in. Then turn to Galatians 2:20 and adapt:

   Jesus, I was crucified and died with you on the cross but now I live again with you living in me. And my life in the world is meant to be you living it for me and through me.

   Take more time to let this sink in.

   Maybe this is all your prayer life should consist of for many days. Do not read assignment two until you are very secure in assignment one.

 

Assignment Two

 

   Assignment two is very similar to assignment one. There is one major difference, and that one difference makes all the difference in the world.

   In assignment one, YOU were the entire center of everything that was prayed (see all the me’s and I’s). This is pretty typical of the vantage point of most of our praying, is it not?

   Now you are about to go to a new approach, one you might never have taken before. You are going to step completely out of the prayer! Not once while proceeding on will you make a personal reference to yourself. This time you will be WATCHING the fellowship of the Father and the Son.

   Your prayer from Psalm 23 might come out something like this:

   Father, when Jesus was here on this earth, you were his Shepherd. He never had any needs. You met all his needs. You are all that Jesus has ever needed. Lord Jesus, while you lived here on earth, your Father was your rest. You rested in him. He replenished your soul. Your Father was your drink. He was your food. He was your full supply. Father, you are the righteousness of Jesus. You are his path. Jesus lived and moved in your righteousness. He followed you, and he glorified your name.

   Notice that you are not part of the prayer. You just changed perspectives. Take time to let this new perspective sink in. Then continue with Galatians 2:20:

   Jesus, you died on the cross by the will of the Father. The Father was in you before your death and the Father was in you again after your resurrection. The life that you led on this earth was always by the life of the Father within you. You lived by faith in the Father to direct his ways through you.

   Again, nothing about you, only about Christ and the Father. Take time again to really acknowledge this new perspective in your relationship with Christ within you.

 

Assignment Three

 

   You are going to reintroduce yourself back into the picture but only as a living union between you and Jesus. You are united with him. You can never be separated from him. The relationship is unique from anything known on this earth. But it is real and enduring – Christ/Bob; Christ/Mary; Christ/Joe; Christ/Jane.

   Psalm 23 will probably come across something like this:

   Father, you are the Shepherd of Christ/Bob – you take care of us in our union. We were made for a Shepherd. Father, by living your life in our union, we have never truly wanted and never will. Christ/Bob rests in you. You replenish the soul. You are our full supply. You are our path of righteousness. We, as a living union, will always glorify your name.

   For as long as it takes, get settled in this concept of union with Jesus Christ. Think about you/him, you/him, in all that comes to your mind.

   Galatians 2:20 becomes something like this:

   Father, I know that Christ/Bob died on the cross but that this unique spiritual entity lives again – today, right now in the twenty-first century. And everything that we as a unit do in this world is done through the power of you, the Father, who continues to live his “Christian” life through us.

  

Assignment Four

 

   Grow in this understanding. And what will you have gained in all this? You will have joined into the fellowship of the Godhead. You will be learning to differentiate between your spirit where Christ dwells in union, and your soulish emotions and will. You will have learned to love in this union of your spirit and the Spirit of Christ – to listen, to respond, to fellowship with him. And, hopefully, you will have learned (on more and more occasions) to absent yourself and simply enjoy the miracle of the Father’s “Christian life” living out from this union of Christ in you, as you, and through you.

  

 

Eternal Security Parables

[Excerpt from Charles Stanley's book, "Eternal Security"]

 

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day did not hold to the doctrine of eternal security. They believed righteousness was gained and maintained through keeping the Mosaic law. According to their theology, if a man abandoned the law, God abandoned him. That belief deeply affected their attitude and behavior toward persons who were not keeping the law in the manner the leaders thought they should. As religious leaders and shepherds of the people, they took it upon themselves to visibly model God’s disdain for those who did not keep the law. Consequently, they would have nothing to do with certain classes of people.

For that reason it was not uncommon to hear a Pharisee praying the way Jesus described:

And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax–gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax–gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ ” (Luke 18:9–12)

The Pharisee looked down on those who were not as “committed” or “disciplined” as he was. In his way of thinking, he was simply mirroring God’s attitude. That distorted view of God’s attitude compelled Christ on several occasions to focus His teaching on the subject.

Despite His clear teaching, some people are still confused. This confusion has driven some away from believing in eternal security. Like the Pharisees of old, some Christians believe their eternal security rests not on the finished work of Christ at Calvary but on the consistency of their good works. To put it another way, they have been adopted into the family of God by grace; but whether or not they remain in the family hinges on their willingness to act like family members. They live with the threat of being unadopted.

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus gave three parables. Some different reasons have been given on why He taught these parables. But I believe that the major point Jesus was making in these stories is to show “once saved, always saved”. Let’s go into some depth with each of the parables.

Jesus was being swamped by tax gatherers and sinners. And His interaction with them really got under the skin of the religious leaders. They could not figure out how a Teacher who claimed to be from God could fellowship with those whom they believed God disdained. They began to complain to one another, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” -Luke 15:2. Sharing a meal in that culture was a sign of acceptance and genuine fellowship.

Jesus knew their thoughts and took the opportunity to draw their attention to the error of their thinking through a series of parables. In each parable something precious was lost. And in each parable the owner put aside everything else and focused attention on finding it.

In the first parable a man lost a sheep (see Luke 15:4–6). When he realized it was gone, he left the rest of the flock and searched until he found the one lost sheep. Jesus applied the parable by saying,

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over the one sinner who repents, than over the ninety–nine righteous persons who need no repentance. —Luke 15:7

The point of the parable was clear. And it flew right in the face of the Pharisees’ twisted theology. God (the shepherd) was concerned about the sinner more than He was the righteous man! But how could that be? Why would He have such concern over sinners when they, the Pharisees, had so faithfully sought to abide by even the most detailed portions of the law? Didn’t their righteousness merit God’s attention over the unrighteousness of sinners? It didn’t make any sense to them at all.

Before they had time to sort it all out, Jesus presented a second scenario. A woman lost a valuable coin, and she put aside all her other household chores until she found it (see Luke 15:8–10). Even at the risk of appearing irresponsible, she searched until she discovered her prize. Again Christ applied the parable to God the Father’s attitude toward sinners. In spite of what the religious leaders thought and taught, God’s concern at that time was not the righteous but the unrighteous. The source of His joy was not the righteous deeds of the godly but the restoration of the sinner.

The Pharisees would have ended the parables differently. The shepherd wouldn’t have gone out of his way to find the missing sheep. Instead he would have written the sheep off as lost for good, no longer a part of the flock. Their attitude would have been, “That sheep knows where to find us. If it wants to rejoin the flock, fine. But it will have to come to us. Besides, it should have known better than to wander off.”

In the same vein, the woman who lost her coin would have been content with the coins she hadn’t lost. She certainly wouldn’t be pictured diligently searching for it. After all, it was just one coin.

Think About It

The authors of the New Testament left us with detailed explanations of how one becomes a child of God; if that process could be reversed, doesn’t it make sense that at least one of them would have gone into equal detail explaining that as well?

The Pharisees had no comprehension of God’s true view of sinners. They were so caught up in their own pseudorighteousness that they had come to believe their good works were actually

the grounds for their acceptability before God. To put it in more modern terms, they believed their salvation was maintained by their good works.

The Lost Son

To drive His point home even further, Christ gave one more vivid illustration:

A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” —Luke 15:11–12

With those words Jesus had His audience’s undivided attention. From what we understand of first–century Jewish culture, no son with any respect at all for his father would dare demand his share of the inheritance. It was customary for the father to choose the time for the division of the inheritance. To make things worse, the younger son was making the request. What he did was unthinkable!

Jesus continued,

And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. —Luke 15:12–13

Not only did he demand his share of the inheritance, the younger son left town with it. Apparently, he had no concern for his father’s welfare. He was concerned about only himself. So he took the money, went to a distant country, and partied it all away.

No doubt Jesus’ listeners were all rehearsing in their minds what they thought the disrespectful brat deserved. How dare he take such a large portion of his father’s hard–earned estate and throw it away! According to the law, a son who cursed his father or was rebellious and stubborn was to be put to death (see Lev. 20:9; Deut. 21:18–21). The death penalty was the most likely verdict reached by many who listened that day.

But then the story took a surprising turn:

Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. —Luke 15:14–16

The crowd must have become almost nauseous as Jesus described the condition in which the boy found himself. The Pharisees would not even go near swine, much less feed them. By their definition, the young man was hopelessly ceremonially unclean. That is, he would probably never get clean enough to enter the temple and offer sacrifices. And to think he would even consider eating with the pigs. To them, he had gone over the edge, but then, he deserved it.

At the same time, however, many who stood there that day could relate to the story of the prodigal son. They had abandoned their heavenly Father. Like the lad in the story, they were in situations that caused them to be alienated from the religious community. By the practiced standard of the day, they were unacceptable to God. They listened carefully as Jesus went on,

But when he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’ ” And he got up and came to his father. —Luke 15:17–20

I imagine everyone who heard Jesus that day had an opinion about what the father should say or do when the boy began his speech. At the same time, I doubt any of them would have ended the parable the way Jesus did:

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. —Luke 15:20

The Pharisees must have cringed at the thought of embracing someone who had spent time feeding swine. Jesus then added,

And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.” —Luke 15:21–24

A Worst Case Scenario

Culturally speaking, what Jesus described in the parable was a worst case scenario. The boy could not have been more disrespectful. He could not have been any more insensitive. And he certainly could not have been a greater embarrassment to the family.

No one would have blamed the father if he had refused to allow the boy to join up as one of his hired men. The son didn’t deserve a second chance, and he knew it. He recognized how foolish it would be to return with the notion of being allowed back into the family. That was not even a consideration. In his mind, he had forfeited all rights to sonship. He was of the conviction that by abandoning his father and wasting his inheritance, he had relinquished his position in the family.

Once a Son, Always a Son

His father, however, did not see things that way at all. In his mind, once a son, always a son. The father’s first emotion as he saw the son returning wasn’t anger. It wasn’t even disappointment. He felt compassion for him. Why? Because the young man was his son!

The father said: “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again” (Luke 15:24). He did not say, “This was my son, and now he is my son again.” On the contrary, there is no hint that the relationship was ever broken, only the fellowship. By “dead” Jesus meant “separated.” That was clearly a figure of speech since the son did not physically die in the parable.

Christ’s next words have been used by some to argue that salvation can be lost. He went on to say, “He was lost, and has been found” (v. 24). To say that “lost” and “found” refer to eternal

salvation is to assume that they are being used figuratively. But there is no evidence for such a use from the immediate context. The son was literally lost. That is, the father did not know where he was. When the son returned, he was found.

A Missed Opportunity

Since the point of the three parables was to illustrate God’s attitude toward sinners, Christ had the perfect opportunity to explain how one could lose his or her place in the family of God—if such were possible. That is especially true when we think about the characters in the third parable. The parallels are too obvious to miss. The father is the heavenly Father, and the son represents sinners of all kinds.

If ever there was a son who deserved to be disowned, it was the son in the parable. If ever there was a set of circumstances within a family that called for extreme action, that was it. Yet there was no hint of rejection on the part of the Heavenly Father. The father in the story was not portrayed as one battling in his heart over what to do with his sorry son.

Jesus did not depict the heavenly Father as One waiting to be asked for permission to reenter the family. Instead He was described as One who felt compassion for the returning sinner, One who at no time viewed the son as anything less than that—a son. He was pictured as One who took immediate action to restore His wandering child to a place of honor and dignity. He demanded no explanation; no apology; nothing. There was no probationary period, just acceptance and joy.

What Is the Connection?

To those who believe salvation is maintained by good works, I would ask, What good works maintained the relationship between the father and the son in the parable? It is clear that he left as a son; otherwise he would have received no inheritance. It is equally clear that he returned as a son. Without a word between them, the father ran to him, embraced him, and restored to him the visible signs of sonship.

What maintained the son’s relationship with the father? He certainly wasn’t acting like a son. He didn’t manifest any signs of sonship. He didn’t perform good works. If anything, his life–style was characterized by the very opposite! Yet his relationship with the father never changed. Why? Because the father’s love and acceptance of the son were not contingent on the son’s works. The father’s love was unconditional. He loved the son because he was a son, because they were related.

That was Jesus’ point exactly. The shepherd didn’t kick the wandering sheep out of the flock. The woman didn’t just forget about her lost coin and turn her attention to ones she still possessed. And the prodigal’s father didn’t disown his rebellious son. In every case, the opposite was true.

God is not looking for people He can throw out of His family. He is looking for people who are willing to be included. And once they are included by faith, He continually looks after them through all their ups and downs. He is the Good Shepherd, the compassionate Father. He is love.

If you have placed your trust in Christ’s death on the cross as the payment for your sin, you are an eternal member of the family of God. Acting like God’s child didn’t get you in. Not acting like one won’t get you tossed out. God’s unconditional love is eternal.

"Can't We Just Get Along?"

The name Rodney King was prominent in the news about 20 years ago. He was an African-American construction worker who, while on parole for robbery, was beaten with excessive force by police officers following a high speed car chase in 1991. I won’t go into all the details but his words afterward are still remembered: “Can’t we all just get along?”

Many people have said these same words under many different circumstances. With the total impasse in our government right now, a senator recently gave the same message.

There was a city named Sardis mentioned in the book of Revelation, many of whose Christians imitated Rodney King’s words.

Let’s first go back to what Jesus said to His disciples: “I am THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6 NIV) Not A way, but THE way!

These words of Jesus have been a stumbling block among all civilizations from Jesus’ culture down to the present.

Let’s talk about this city of Sardis whose actions have an application for all of us.

The city of Sardis was a bustling commercial community which, like all the cities of the Roman Empire, had a culture of worship to the Roman gods. Temple worship was woven into the fabric of family, business and daily life.

Christians met in the private homes of wealthy individuals and were at first tolerated just as a sect of the Jews who had their established synagogues. But as time went on, Christians became looked upon as traitors to Rome. And if they did not attend temple worship they were ostracized. And to be ostracized in a community like Sardis meant not only personal separation but separated from business dealing also. Many in the Church decided that if they were going to have any kind of life, it would be best to “just get along”! They said, “We know that Christianity is the only way, but why not just go to temple worship which we know is not right but God will understand that we need to live among these people. Idolaters can believe in their gods and we can believe in Christ and have peace.

That was significant because, when they did that, they killed the message of Christ. They compromised the distinctive WAY of Christ.

Christians in Sardis were a big-time “get along” culture. They wanted peace in all religions so that they could all “just get along”.

The pressures that these early Christians faced in Sardis are very much like the pressures we face today. You know, today people don’t mind when I tell them I am a follower of Jesus Christ and that He is my Savior and Lord – people are OK with that. But when I get to the point that He said that He is the only way, that’s where the friction starts to come. Because when Jesus says that, He is saying that His system is right and all the other systems are wrong. That’s what we’re not allowed to say in our “get along culture”.

Right now in Iran a Christian pastor of a House Church has been sentenced to years in a cruel, dirty prison because of his faith. Insiders say that he could have been immediately released if he would just say 5 words: “Allah is the only God.”

The government could not “get along” with him because of his Christian faith. He could not “get along” with the government’s attitude toward his Christian faith. The pastor is standing up for what he believes. How many of us have the will to do the same?

Jesus says in effect in His letter to Sardis, “The get along culture may be scoring big there right now in the game of life, but in the end I win the game!”

This whole thing about Sardis may be a hard thing to swallow – I mean who doesn’t want to get along – I do. Who doesn’t want to believe that everybody can be right in their own way. It’s so attractive. But there is something deeper going on here which really tells us about the love of Jesus Christ. When you think about the other religious systems of the world, who offers the assurance of forgiveness like Christ? Securely? Firmly? None of them do.

All of the other religions of the world are totally different from Christianity. They all would have you earn your way to heaven by doing “good” things to please God.

But Jesus tells us that you CAN’T earn your way to heaven because NOTHING that you do is “good” enough to overcome your debt of sin. Only Christ as your Savior on the cross can erase that debt – and all you must do to be saved is to accept your need for Him.

But some ask, “What about those people who have never heard about the love of Christ? Can they be saved?

Well God is a God of great mercy and broad grace. Whatever He does with those people, will be absolutely right. And we’ll celebrate that. The issue is that you’ve heard and I’ve heard. So what will we do with this Jesus who is wonderfully the WAY.

 

   

"Save Your Fork!"

As you know, I’m just a cynical old guy whose saving grace is that I’m more cynical about me than I am about you or anybody else.

My cynicism about the world is bubbling up again as I look at the problems all around civilization. There was a time when I was very political and thought that if the right people had the power, then things would get fixed. But both sides of the political spectrum have assumed power in the last few decades and things were still not fixed.

Then I turned to the church and I really thought that the right presentation would build the kingdom and the world would flock to the church and her King.

But the kingdom still tarries and they aren’t flocking to us – in fact many are running away. Perhaps this is slowly changing – I hope that it is.

My mind keeps turning to the words of Isaiah about the idyllic future promised by God. You may know the words, but let me give them to you. They are appropriate words to cover any cynicism:

 

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:6-9).

What a beautiful biblical message! But I surely don’t see it around yet. I see sin. But I’m no longer surprised at sin – mine or yours. The older I get, the more I’m aware that if the message I hear and teach on radical grace isn’t true, then we're doomed!

But there is still Isaiah and his dream – the lion, the wolf and the calf together, and a child leading in a world full of the knowledge of God. That promise would be a pipedream were it not for the One who made the promise.

It is God’s promise. And as I pause over Isaiah’s dream, something in me is hopeful and even excited by the future.

Something in me, even when it’s dark, sends me to the dawn of a new day and the beginning of a time of joy. Maybe today or this year God will say, “It’s enough! That society of men has had its chance!” The trumpet will blow and God will bring down the curtain of history.

If I were not a believer, wishing people a “Happy New Year” at the start of each year would be mindless drivel with no possibility of anything but the darkness. If I were not a believer, common pessimism about any meaning in this mess would make a drunk out of me at best and suicidal at worst.

It’s the reason I don’t begrudge the unbeliever his or her life of denial because that’s all unbelievers have. Go ahead: amuse yourself to death or do it with pills. If all we have is environmentalism, politics and New Age drivel, go for it!

“Men must work, and women must weep, and the sooner it’s over, the sooner we sleep.”

If that’s all there is…go for it!

But now this cynical old guy is, believe it or not, going on record with a great degree of hope. It’s anchored in the promise of a Creator God who loves us and promises to clean up the mess. It’s enough for anyone to hold onto in the dark.

I don’t remember his name. He was a Christian comedian who talked about having dinner with a friend who was a wonderful cook. He said that the most glorious words in the English language were often spoken when she was cleaning up the dishes on the table after the main course.

She would always say, “Save you fork!”

The comedian said when he heard those words, knowing that dessert was on the way, “All the fat cells in my body stood up and sang the Hallelujah Chorus.”

Something sort of like that happens when I read those words from Isaiah 11.

I’ve read them many times more than I can remember, and can come close to repeating them by heart, not because I memorized them but because they have always stuck with me.

When I think about those words from Isaiah, all the cynical cells in my body groan, get off the couch, and stand up and sing the Hallelujah Chorus.

I’m forgiven, loved and accepted just the way I am – and so are you when you see your need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, and desire to make Him the Lord of your life.

And not only that, you have a future promised by the only One who can make and fulfill that promise.  

SO SAVE YOUR FORK! THE DESSERT IS COMING!

  

Steel and Velvet

A reporter was interviewing the old Indian Chief on his 100^th birthday. The reporter stated, “Chief – you have observed the white man for a century. You have seen his accomplishments, his tragedies, his wars, his technology. Chief, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?”

The Chief sat back and after a moment’s thought said, “When white man come to our land, Indians run everything. No taxes. No debt. Plenty buffalo. Plenty beaver. Plenty clean water. Medicine man is free. Women do all the work. Men hunt and fish all day, make love all night. And white man so stupid he think he can improve on system like that!”

We laugh at the sexist attitude of the Chief but, sexist as it was, this family structure was what held the culture together for centuries. In fact, for all of human history, the family structure predominated. The father’s role was clearly defined. He was at the center of family life. He was the head, the primary caregiver, breadwinner, protector, moral educator and law-enforcer.

Today, assuming the father is even present, you would be hard-pressed to find many who fulfilled even two or three of those responsibilities. Many modern fathers have relinquished their duties and abdicated their God-given role as the loving head of his house. Today many boys grow up not knowing what role to fulfill, if any.

The only solution is to get back to the wisdom of the Bible.

An excellent definition of godly masculinity is summed up in the way Carl Sandburg described Abraham Lincoln – as a man of STEEL and VELVET. The 16^th president was a powerful and persuasive speaker, a man of valor and strength. He was a mighty man of war who faced down forces of evil and preserved the union of the American nation.

And yet, Lincoln was a man of peace. He was merciful, kind, gentle, thoughtful, friendly, patient and humble. He was neither feminine nor domineering. He was a real man – a man of STEEL and VELVET.

I am sorry to say this – but female is the new male. Girls dominate boys in education, from elementary through graduate school. Hundreds of formerly male-dominated careers are becoming feminized. More and more wives outearn their husbands. Fathers are fading away inside their own families, and rising illegitimate births and single parenthood are pushing them out of the child-rearing picture altogether.

Many boys and men are passively watching it happen. Many of them, rather than working to stay ahead of or even keep up with women, are responding by waging something of a sit-down strike. They’re playing video games more than 3 times as much as girls. They’re living with their parents at double the rate of their female peers. They’re dropping out of the labor force in record numbers.

The result is effectively a reversal of a male-female dynamic that has existed for virtually all of human history.

Feminists may celebrate, but more and more people are recognizing that this trend has come with some steep costs we’re only starting to see. Even women are frustrated with today’s breed of spindless, ambitionless manboys. There is a genuine problem here.

Women’s ambition is soaring. Women are pursuing higher education in far greater numbers than men. They’re remaining aloof from serious relationships so as not to derail their career aspirations. Research shows young women expect higher earnings and better professional advancement than young men do.

Not long ago, men had an ample supply of that “hunger”. Today it is increasingly absent. It’s as if the fire in their bellies has been quenched, on a massive scale. Or, perhaps more accurately, it has relocated – into the bosom of women.

What are many men doing? Nearly 6 in 10 of them – among 18 to 24 year old males – live with their parents. Even among 25 to 34 year olds, it’s still almost 2 in 10.

Lest you think this is simply a sign of today’s troubled economy, consider: Those figures are almost double the rate among women the same age.

And many young men must still be supported by their parents. It’s becoming Social Security, flipped upside down, with older workers supporting younger “retirees”.

Certainly lack of job availability is a factor. But many young men seem content with – or perhaps complacent about – their dependency. They’ve grown up in a world that praises them indiscriminately and teaches them never to judge. As a result, these “failures to launch” actually have ample self-esteem, and they’re confident that success will come to them (although they’re not necessarily motivated to chase it down). They feel plenty good about themselves, living in Mom’s basement.

Then there is the marriage dream vs. the single reality. For young people the idea of marriage still holds considerable charm. Polls show that more than 80% of high-school seniors expect to get married.

Some people may consider their thinking archaic, a byproduct of sexist socialization. Nevertheless, two truths remain. First, despite the fact that the male breadwinner model is actually seldom taught anymore – if anything, alternative ideas are far more aggressively promoted – remnants of it remain ingrained in the minds of both men and women. And second, wherever this thinking comes from, it is increasingly at odds with reality.

You can see that something has to give. Every year in America, 170,000 more women than men get bachelor’s degrees. And while the average man still earns 10% more than the average woman, guess what? Among 20-somethings, women now have the edge in the wage gap. Older men who hold the advantage in education and earning power are a dying breed!

The question is on the lips of women everywhere: “What’s wrong with all these guys?”

Sure, they’d love to marry if the right man showed up. Yet in their view – frustrating as it may be that Mr. Right isn’t around – marriage is, ultimately, unnecessary. “I can take care of myself; I don’t need a man to support me,” the thinking goes. “He’d just be another person to take care of – another mouth to feed.”

This is not describing a minor irritant, nor a disappointment that a few women share. This is chronicling the collapse of a whole social order!

Historically, what largely drove men’s march through the milestones to adulthood was the expectation that they would fulfill the role of provider. A man who is serious about the responsibility of supporting a family approaches life with a special focus. He looks for a job or profession that will provide financial stability. He pursues his education with that in mind. For generations, this commonly recognized duty propelled men into the workforce; it often served as a prod to men’s ambition and did much to shape society. Even today it remains a strong motivation to any young man who accepts it.

However, for two generations now, esteem for this role has been fading – to the point where today it is often ignored, if not treated with contempt. Rising standards of living have grown more difficult to sustain on a single paycheck. Two-income families are the norm.

And though young people still say they want to marry, widespread acceptance of premarital sex definitely removes their urgency to do so. This encourages men to brush breadwinning aside and removes the pressure on them to grow up.

And then there is the influence of feminism. The movement for women’s “equality” has created a remarkable spinoff development – men watching it happen have gotten the clear message that they’re not needed! In areas where they compete, women’s success tends to discourage men.

This effect is apparent throughout the workforce. As women enter a profession, men lose interest in it. Women’s options for employment keep expanding as men surrender them.

What to do? No one suggests that the solution is for women to underachieve so men don’t feel threatened. Men’s self-destructive tendency to retreat under female pressure has synchronized with a powerful fact eroding the male breadwinner model: the advent of modern time wasters tailor-made to suck the life out of the male mind.

Free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven – and often does.

Too many TV sitcoms and commercials portray men as weaker and complacent. Psychologists contend that these media influences are actually rewiring men’s brains.

Feminists tend to applaud the breakdown of “all the old ways” of male-female relations. But look what has taken their place: academically and financially thriving women with no one to marry, and juvenile men huddling in caves of self-indulgence. Is this what feminist want?

Modern society has smashed the ideals it once held about what makes a man. We are raising generations of boys who have no idea how to become men.

STEEL and VELVET! One man fulfilled that description far better: Jesus Christ. Together with STEEL-like traits of vibrant health, intelligence, decisive leadership, righteous indignation and powerful persuasiveness, Jesus also exhibited many velvet qualities.

Above all, He was humble. Publicans and Pharisees criticized Him for spending time with sinners, but He know that the sick are the ones who need the physician (Luke 5:31-32). He humbly washed His disciple’s feet (John 13:13).

No matter how busy He was, Jesus always seemed to make time for the disadvantaged. Compassion for others even caused Christ to weep on occasion. The gentleness of Jesus is reflected in how He treated children. Forgiveness of others is a prominent characteristic of Christ. VELVET!!

All this about Jesus might sound hopelessly ideal. But you must understand that it is the only REAL solution to what is happening to our society. The problem with our boys and men will never improve until we put God back at the center of family life.

Yes – men of STEEL and VELVET together are what God has in mind!