Archive for the ‘Free Will’ Category

Day 282: Galatians 5:13-15 — Born free

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

“Born Free”. If you’re a child of the 60′s, like I am, you may very well think of lions when you hear that phrase. You may even break out in song.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” This verse, Galatians 5:1, was in yesterday’s reading, but is very much part of today’s reading as well, and sets the stage for the 3 verses that are the subject of this post.

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5:13-15

You, brothers and sisters, were born free — born just as free as Elsa the lioness, who was the subject of the aforementioned movie. However, a little freedom can be a dangerous thing in the hands of the immature. Paul cautions his readers against just that danger: do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature…

Wait a minute — I’m sure I hear the words of the Messiah in the rest of this verse and the next…

…rather, serve one another in love (John 13:35). The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)

Some may read “Christ has set us free” and we “were called to be free”, and read that as “freedom to“, but it is just that mindset that Paul cautions us against. No, friends, Christ has set us “free from” the bondage of sin (Romans 6:17-18), which in turn frees us to “serve one another in love.” Yes, “Love your neighbor as yourself” does sum up the entire law of grace. Jesus, of course, included “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), but can you truly love God without loving your neighbor? Can you truly love your neighbor without loving God?

The last verse really stings: “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” I know families like that — I was in a family like that. You know what? I also know congregations of the Family of God — the Body of Christ — like that. “Above all else, put on love” (Colossians 3:14) — why is that so difficult sometimes?

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Day 239: Romans 11:1-32 — Now, everyone has hope

Friday, August 27th, 2010

It is sometimes easy to forget that, despite being a New Testament church, there is a distinct and undeniable link between Judaism and our Christian faith. It is our heritage. Jesus’ earthly family was Jewish; Paul was Jewish, as were likely most of the apostles and first Christians. Even though as Christians, Praise God, we are not bound by Old Testament laws, the New Covenant was born out of, and influenced by, the Old. The Old Testament–its laws, stories and characters–are referenced countless times in the New.

Rather than think God “got fed up with the way the first law turned out,” and “tore up the blueprint, to start over with a totally blank page,” I think it might be more accurate to conceive of the Old Law more as a beginning point, that would eventually be fulfilled and replaced with a better, more perfect plan– perfection sealed with the blood of His unflawed Son, and once for all extending the inheritance of salvation to all people.

I think Paul addresses that here. Clearly, he says the Israelites mishandled God’s plan. In fact, the end of Ch. 10 quotes Isaiah’s passage about Israel: “All day long I have held out my hands, to a disobedient and obstinate people.” But it was because of this wholesale inability and unwillingness to accept God’s direction that the rest of us were given a seat at the table.

There was no “joy” at Israel’s failure, but out of their rejection, came hope for everyone else. As part of that “everyone else” crowd, today’s Gentile Christians must also be aware that we will share the same fate as anyone who rejects Christ’s lordship; we, too, will be cut off if we make unwise, unfaithful choices.

Bottom line: we all have an opportunity, and we all will be held accountable for how we respond to it.

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Day 191: Acts 7:42-8:3 — Choices & forgiveness

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death…But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Acts 8:1, 3

Those are, I think, some pretty sad verses. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story, because we know very well of Paul’s life & ministry, and we’ve read his letters. We also know that when Paul was doing these horrible things, he believed them to be the work of God, so he slept very well, having a clean conscience (Acts 22:3-5; Acts 23:1).

Do you believe Saul/Paul was forgiven for persecuting the Church? Of course you do. I do too, and so did he (Romans 8:1). Can you imagine Paul writing to the church at Corinth, telling them “I beat my body daily because the sins of my past are too great for me to bear”? I can’t imagine that at all. No, Paul was very convinced of God’s forgiveness, offered to Paul through His grace, bought with the blood of Jesus.

We have been offered that same grace, yet we hear people today say things like, “I know God has forgiven me, but I just have a hard time forgiving myself”, as they hang their head in shame. Consider this — if someone sinned against you and he repented, wouldn’t God forgive him? Wouldn’t you forgive him? Then what right do you have to not extend the same forgiveness to yourself that God has already given? To refuse to forgive oneself is to reject the forgiveness God has given us through Jesus, and we do not have that right.

Paul made some pretty terrible choices, as have all of us, but what part of “no condemnation” doesn’t cover that? Friends, we should thank God each day that we don’t have to live lives of despair and regret. We cannot change anything done in the past; we can only accept God’s mercy and move on to the future. That’s exactly what murderer, persecutor, and sinner Saul of Tarsus did.

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Posted in Acts, Free Will, Grace, Mercy | 4 Comments »

Day 154: John 6:60-71 — Please Come Back!!!

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

loaf of breadAs I was reading the text, I was reminded that some of Jesus’ followers could not digest Jesus’ teaching on the physical and spiritual bread of life. Some of the disciples got up and left (John 6:66). The teaching of Jesus was too hard. Why doesn’t Jesus chase them down and offer them a compromise or an alternative? Jesus turns to the twelve and asked them to choose. Now, I am a little off of context but it just amazes me that Jesus does not try to talk disciples out of leaving. It is their choice. Jesus never compromises His Father’s message to please a crowd. I never see Jesus pleading for those who turn their back on Him to “please come back!” Why do we? I find it interesting to see church signs that talk about an “Alternative Worship Service.” Is this because the message of Christ is too hard and we have to tone it down or pick it up a few beats for the world? Why do we try to compromise our message of the cross because some think it is too hard? I guess, we think we know better than our Lord. I wonder who we really serve? Is it Jesus and the hard message of the cross and discipleship, or do we serve the crowds?

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Posted in Discipleship, Free Will, Jesus, John | 4 Comments »

Day 93: Deuteronomy 30:11-20 — A matter of life and death and checklists

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach…No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” Deut 30:11, 14

Among Moses’ final words were these, from Deuteronomy 31. So far, so good. Let’s recap: these commands are not difficult, nor are they more than you can handle; God’s words are in your heart, ready for you to obey.

Sounds pretty simple.

He gives them a choice: “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” Seems like an easy choice.

“I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” Deut 30:15-16

That’s it, Moses? All we have to do is obey, and we get all that? We’ll do that, but what happens if we don’t?

“If you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.” Deut 30:17-18

Really? Let’s see if I got this straight — Obey and live; disobey and be destroyed. Right? No argument that the Israelites should have obeyed God, and no argument that they didn’t. So we’re not going to throw stones here; we’re just acknowledging the facts.

checklistSo what are we to do as Christians?

  • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
  • Put to death anything that belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
  • As God’s chosen people, clothe yourselves with: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
  • Put on love, which binds these things together in perfect unity.
  • Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

That’s just a start; read Colossians 3 for the rest. We tend to be comfortable with checklists. Check this one off; mark through that one. Easy. We always know where we stand. Make no mistake about it though — God, through Moses, gave the Israelites no checklist, as much as the Pharisees many years later took great pride in letting people know they could follow one. Paul gave us no checklist in his letter to the Colossians either.

You want a Christian checklist — a real matter of life and death? Here’s the only checklist you need: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s it. Luke 27 is the only checklist a Christian needs. Jesus Himself promised life by following this checklist.

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Posted in Colossians, Deuteronomy, Free Will, Luke | 1 Comment »

Day 86: Luke 1:26-38 — Becoming a servant

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

I wanted to leave home and be on my own and make my own decisions, so three days after graduation from High School I enlisted in the Navy. This is something I did of my own freewill and accord. No one forced it on me; I “volunteered.”

I spent the next four years happily doing what someone else directed me to do. Yes I enjoyed my time in service. Even though I wasn’t in control… I willingly gave myself over to the oversight of others. As I look back over the years since leaving the Navy there have only been a few moments where I was in control. Every job I’ve had since then someone else called the shots and I just reacted to their directions. Even during the time I was self employed I didn’t get to control my work day — my customers did. In each instance I became a servant — sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

Thirty years ago I decided to give myself over to the Creator of the Universe. I did not know at that moment where that freely-made decision would take me or ask of me. Read Mary’s response in Luke 1:38 NASB:

And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I wonder if Mary really understood that her decision at that moment would take her to the foot of the cross? The word translated “servant” or “bondslave” in some translations means “devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests.”

How many times in this thirty-year period have I had to stop and ask myself at this moment “Who’s in charge?” So many of those times it was me. God in His grace has allowed me come to my senses and to once again let Him take the lead.

Pray with me today that we might all let Him take the lead and that we might follow as a servant should.

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Posted in Free Will, God, Grace, Jesus, Luke | 4 Comments »

Day 85: Deuteronomy 11:1-32 — A Choice

Friday, March 26th, 2010

In Deuteronomy 11:1-25, Moses continues to exhort the people to obedience, based on the evidence of what God has done for them in the past. The deliverance from Egypt described in Deuteronomy 11:2-4 is narrated in Exodus chapters 13-14. The story of Dathan and Abiram (Deuteronomy 11:6) is told also in Numbers 16. In Deuteronomy 11:10-12, Moses makes a distinction between Egypt and Canaan, the Promised Land. The main difference is that Canaan is not irrigated as Egypt is (Nile River). But God will water the new land, nevertheless. According to Deuteronomy 11:14, God will provide early rain (in October, since the new year began in September), and later rain (in April). Because life will be so good in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 11:16), the people will be tempted to worship other gods out of complacence. If that happens, Moses warns that there will be no water at all. Deuteronomy 11:18-25 summarizes this entire section. The people are to pass on these words from generation to generation. Deuteronomy 11:24 gives the boundaries of the Promised Land (the western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea, to the west of Canaan).

In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, there are two possibilities offered to the Israelites. The decision rests on obedience to the covenant. Two mountains are mentioned, one for the blessing and one for the curse. Both mountains are located near Shechem in the central hill country, on the west side of the Jordan River. The people of Israel constantly have a choice before them. They can choose either blessing or curse. I find it interesting that God gives us a choice and we think it is a right. We make a good choice and all is well. We make a bad choice and experience some negative consequences and we blame God for giving us a choice or the severity of the consequence. Which is it going to be? Have we reached a point in life that it is so good that we have fallen prey to complacency to think there is no God and there are no consequences? Of all the things that should make us anxious or scared is the idea that God would remove His grace of blessings and curses. Think about what life would be without them. Can there even be a blessing without a curse or vice versa?

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Day 2: Genesis 3-4 – Whatever Happened to Sin?

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11-13, ESV)

My wife told me about a t-shirt she saw a young boy wearing,  It said, “I didn’t do it, It’s my brother’s fault.”

A man gets drunk and drives down the road late at night and hits a family in on-coming traffic and kills a child.  We overlook the drunk and we get upset and blame God for not intervening to prevent tragedies. Of course, if God intervened, we would complain that He doesn’t really give us free will.

I was standing on a sidewalk, leaning against the wall, minding my business, and this young child walks toward me with her mother.  The child is walking a little erratic and steps over to my side of the sidewalk and trips on my size 10½ tennis shoes and falls.  “Oops”, I say and the mom yells at me for being in the way.  I hate to point out again that I was minding my own business, leaning against the wall, and the child and mother were invading my space.  Yet, somehow, I was blamed.  It was my fault for doing nothing (notice how I blame the mother?)

More and more, I notice that we blame everyone and everything about our sins.  What’s new?  Adam blamed the woman God gave him and in the process blamed God.  Eve blames the serpent.  Everyone is innocent.  This is the story of Genesis.  The origin of sin.  It is our story and it occurs to me that history continues to repeat itself.  God makes something great and tells us the do’s and don’ts, we break the law and consequences happen but somehow God’s or someone else is to blame. Yet, in the end God will transcend our petty complaints.

God gives man free will and man chooses to sin.   A t-shirt represents the philosophy of man…”It’s my brothers fault.” A drunk driver chooses to drive and is guilty of causing the tragedy.  Parents defend their children at all costs. Whatever happened to sin?  It hasn’t gone anywhere.  It’s still right here before us.

God chooses to send His Son to redeem us but we have become too sophisticated to admit we have done anything wrong.  The amazing thing is that our denial perpetuates our sin and we just grow increasingly neurotic.  What’s the answer? It’s time to acknowledge sin is ever-present and claim our need for “the anointed one” (Christ).

Question:

Will we ever look at ourselves and see our sins and take responsibility for them?

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Posted in Blame, Free Will, Genesis, God, Redemption, Repentance, Sin | Comments Off