Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NASB)
Today, I had the opportunity to go to the local YMCA in order to play basketball with my boys. We have been going there to shoot a few baskets in the afternoon when the gym isn't busy. I have a great time together with my boys in a competitive setting which gives me plenty of opportunity to teach them about life and ultimately about our Lord. Sometimes, we are able to play a pickup basketball game with some of the young guys hanging out at the court. We never know who will be available. It makes for a fun and sometimes colorful time.
As we played ball today, I was able to observe some of the young men on the court. There are many bright guys there and it is wonderful to spend time with them though I am saddened to see the sin exhibited coupled with little to no Biblical knowledge to guide them. Most of these young men are boats without a rudder. Sadly, it would seem that most of them have precious little godly leadership in their lives. As I look at these young men, I see the desperate need for the Gospel. I see the desperate need for godly men to come alongside these youngsters in order to teach them to properly go about their lives; but more specifically to give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I look at my own two sons and see the desperate need in their lives as well.
Looking back at my youth, I see many of the same sin issues that I saw on the court today. My life was riddled with sin. I struggled with pride, lust, laziness, a self-righteous attitude and an anger that was dangerous to me and to those around me. I am certain there is more sin to mention; but you get the point. I was an incredibly sinful young man and I needed a Savior. I am thankful that God sent a man to share the Gospel with me and I am thankful that the Lord made me a new creature in Christ. I still work through the many sin issues some of which are the same as before. In other words, I still struggle with the flesh; but now I AM A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST! I have been cleansed. I can now confess my sin to my Lord and be confident that He has forgiven me and cleansed me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)!
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that anyone in Christ is a new creation. It is cool to note from this passage that God is reconciling men to Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. It is even cooler when we see that as Christians we have the honor of being a part of God's plan in spreading this "message of reconciliation". We have been entrusted with the Gospel of God. Those bright young men on the court today and the ones on my kids' baseball teams and the ones roaming around in church on Sunday all need to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and we have been given that awesome responsibility. We have been charged to spread the best news we could ever spread that God in Christ is reconciling Himself to men.
The Gospel message changes lives and even better it has the power to change the hearer's eternal direction! But, in order for the message to do it's good work, we need to ensure that we are spreading the true Gospel of God. It saddens me to see the watered down Gospel being shared today. In the YMCA that we attend, the Gospel has been reduced to a moral message. It has been reduced to a few good things we can do and boast about on a cool T-Shirt; but is not the Gospel of God. We need to show all people that God is the holy Creator of all men who WILL judge sin in His good time. He has sent His Son to die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin so that in Him we might have the righteousness of God! That is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and that in a nutshell is the good news that will reconcile man to his sovereign Creator!
As ambassadors of the King, our desire is to be pleasing to Him and to be heralds of His message. We need to understand that we have been entrusted with the good news that reconciles the irreconcilable and we need to shout it from the rooftops begging all people to repent and turn to Christ!
The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved ?" Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:24-27 NASB)
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
God's Call
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:1-3
Leave your country, your people and your father's household and GO...this was the clear message from our Lord to Abraham. It is probably difficult for us to imagine this type of call especially from our perspective. We live in a great and largely peaceful country. Here in the United States, we have more wealth and more comfort than most of the rest of the world. As we sit here in our comfortable and secure surroundings enjoying our coffee and tea, it is hard for us to understand Abraham's world and the seriousness of his decision to follow God to the land of Canaan.
We know that Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans which was located in Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Euphrates river. His family had relocated to Haran to the north of Ur just east of the Euphrates. We know from Josephus that Abraham was an astronomer who probably worshiped false gods until the Lord opened his heart to the truth. We can only imagine the persecution and ridicule this man must have faced from his countrymen as he began to proclaim belief in the one true God. It was at this point that God called Abraham to leave all that he knew to follow Him.
We can learn much by looking at God's calling of Abraham's. As we study his call, we need to understand that he didn't know much of anything about where he was going. We know that Abraham was a learned man; but it is difficult to imagine that he would have known much about the land that he was to inherit. As a matter of fact, if he knew anything it was probably the fact that the land was inhabited by other peoples and he probably knew that these folks might not think so kindly of him coming to their land to inherit it. We know for certain that there was no army or police force to protect him and his family and flocks once there.
We need to understand that not only did Abraham not completely understand the place he was called to go; but he didn't have the luxury of knowing all the things we know about his Creator. The Scriptures as we know them had yet to be written. He may have had knowledge of God handed down from Noah; but we can't be certain how much he knew other than the promise we see in the first three verses of Genesis 12. Abraham was armed with a promise from God and had little else to go on. Not only these things but this promise included making him a father. The problem was that he was 75 years old and he was childless married to a woman with a barren womb!
One can only imagine how it would have felt to leave all that you know to go to a place you know next to nothing about for a promise that would have seemed ludicrous to most sane folks. To put it simply and bluntly, he was leaving all that he knew and all that he had for a crazy promise.
We know from Romans 4:3bthat "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." This is a wonderful truth that we see throughout Scripture. Abraham believed! This is the issue. Abraham believed this crazy sounding promise. He believed the God of the universe! And this belief was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God! We see from Hebrews 11 that he believed God not just for an earthly promise but for a heavenly promise. He was looking forward to a city designed and built by God. What promise are you believing? Do we believe in the here and now or do we believe in the promise of a Heavenly City whose architect is Jesus Christ? That's the question every human heart must answer!
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8-10
Leave your country, your people and your father's household and GO...this was the clear message from our Lord to Abraham. It is probably difficult for us to imagine this type of call especially from our perspective. We live in a great and largely peaceful country. Here in the United States, we have more wealth and more comfort than most of the rest of the world. As we sit here in our comfortable and secure surroundings enjoying our coffee and tea, it is hard for us to understand Abraham's world and the seriousness of his decision to follow God to the land of Canaan.
We know that Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans which was located in Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Euphrates river. His family had relocated to Haran to the north of Ur just east of the Euphrates. We know from Josephus that Abraham was an astronomer who probably worshiped false gods until the Lord opened his heart to the truth. We can only imagine the persecution and ridicule this man must have faced from his countrymen as he began to proclaim belief in the one true God. It was at this point that God called Abraham to leave all that he knew to follow Him.
We can learn much by looking at God's calling of Abraham's. As we study his call, we need to understand that he didn't know much of anything about where he was going. We know that Abraham was a learned man; but it is difficult to imagine that he would have known much about the land that he was to inherit. As a matter of fact, if he knew anything it was probably the fact that the land was inhabited by other peoples and he probably knew that these folks might not think so kindly of him coming to their land to inherit it. We know for certain that there was no army or police force to protect him and his family and flocks once there.
We need to understand that not only did Abraham not completely understand the place he was called to go; but he didn't have the luxury of knowing all the things we know about his Creator. The Scriptures as we know them had yet to be written. He may have had knowledge of God handed down from Noah; but we can't be certain how much he knew other than the promise we see in the first three verses of Genesis 12. Abraham was armed with a promise from God and had little else to go on. Not only these things but this promise included making him a father. The problem was that he was 75 years old and he was childless married to a woman with a barren womb!
One can only imagine how it would have felt to leave all that you know to go to a place you know next to nothing about for a promise that would have seemed ludicrous to most sane folks. To put it simply and bluntly, he was leaving all that he knew and all that he had for a crazy promise.
We know from Romans 4:3bthat "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." This is a wonderful truth that we see throughout Scripture. Abraham believed! This is the issue. Abraham believed this crazy sounding promise. He believed the God of the universe! And this belief was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God! We see from Hebrews 11 that he believed God not just for an earthly promise but for a heavenly promise. He was looking forward to a city designed and built by God. What promise are you believing? Do we believe in the here and now or do we believe in the promise of a Heavenly City whose architect is Jesus Christ? That's the question every human heart must answer!
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8-10
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