Have You Faith in Christ?

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.  Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share.  But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.  I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives.  The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jude 2-4

John Wesley began his list of 22 questions to those who be his preachers in colonial America with this one:  Have you faith in Christ?  The point is derived from the first-century “fathers” of Christ’s church, that without a resounding YES answer to that question, pulpit, or pew is neither for you!  Without your total allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and Master, you do not belong to Him.  Apostle Paul backed that up in his letter to the believers at Rome:

…(And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)  Romans 8:9

Wisely, John Wesley put the Trinitarian doctrine at the head of what Methodists were to understand and embrace.  It still stands after more than two and a half centuries…most recently held (at least for the time being) in the United Methodist Book of Discipline as Article #1:

Of Faith in the Holy Trinity: there is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite wisdom and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

UMC Bishop Mike Lowry wrote about what Jude, the brother of Jesus said, comparing first century apostates with what’s going on today:

Disguised in the form of pluralism and tolerance we have embraced doctrinal indifference. With such an embrace has come the destructive chaos of cheap grace turned into “unrestrained immorality” which denies “our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 3)….Our modern failure in much of the church to hold to the historic theological core of the Christian faith erodes our very ability to speak to the moral anarchy of our times. For far too many, Christian theological and ethical commitments have been reduced to matters of opinion and political advocacy. It is past time to reclaim the heart of the gospel against the raging hedonism and selfishness of our age.[1]

Pluralism and tolerance are nice ways of saying “anything goes” – but that does not square with the tone, ethics, and commandments of the entire canon of Holy Scripture.  And may we be reminded that the tired, banal excuse which calls Old Testament law passe’, in favor of the New Testament love of Jesus is merely an excuse…that license to do whatever I want.  It is nothing less than the downward spiral of cheap grace!  Christ did not die so we can go on sinning and feel good (even proud) about sining – He died to give us victory over our urge to sin.

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.  Romans 6:6

For You Today 

Our final word today is from Jesus' brother, Jude, a doxology of praise to the One who gives us this power

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.  All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.  All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time!  Amen.  Jude 24-25

The question nearly begs itself….have you faith in Christ?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

---

[1] Bishop Mike Lowry, A Fight for the Faith Delivered Once For All, (Firebrand, June 29, 2020)

 

Waiting for the Prince

 

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.  And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.  Philippians 3:20

The little chapel sits just off the road on Highway 62 in Trinity.  We’ve been living in Thomasville for 20 years and travelled that road a zillion times.  My bride maintains she’s never seen it before, but that chapel is older than we are.  

It got me to thinking about two stories.  The first has no author, but many writers.  The second has an author, but no other writer.

The first story appears in many movies of the darker, mysterious sort, where a distraught and somewhat rumpled older woman is sitting at a bar, decked-out in her fanciest evening gown, which is somewhat tattered.  Her hair is straggly, and she is covered with her entire jewelry box contents, mostly costume gaudy stuff.  She is quite drunk and crying.  She is also always willing to spin her tale of woe to anyone willing to listen.  She is waiting for her prince who will come and marry her.  He is tall and handsome, a dream of man.  She has been waiting forty years; he never shows up.  It’s a sad story, and the writers never have to finish it.  We know how that ends…sad, alone, broken.

The other story is of another fiancé waiting.  Her prince isn’t the Hollywood type.  In fact, the last time she saw him he was so disfigured she could hardly believe it was her man.  He’d been beaten with fists until his face was so bloodied and swollen, crowned with a thorned wreath, scourged with a cat-o’-nine-tails, and finally nailed to crossbeams between two thieves on the town garbage dump. 

This was her bridegroom!

To those uninitiated to the backstory, it seems a little like the two stories have the same ending – disappointed bride, broken and lost.  To those more familiar with the historically accurate story with no earthly author, this isn’t a story; it’s a promise, written in blood.  This bride will not be disappointed.  The only ones disappointed will be those who do not prepare for the coming of the Lord, the churches’ bridegroom.

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.  When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’  “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps.  Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’  “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us.  Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’  “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came.  Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked.  Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord!  Open the door for us!’  “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’  “So you, too, must keep watch!  For you do not know the day or hour of my return.  Matthew 25:1-13

For You Today

That little chapel on Highway 62 is a picture of the waiting.  It’s a quaint and quiet setting with nothing special happening there.  Except that there is a notebook which many visitors have signed, leaving behind thanks for the quiet assurance of a chapel in the middle of nowhere.  Some leave a prayer request for help and healing.  To spend a few moments there, reading the hearts of travelers’ longings, is like listening-in on the whispered prayers at altars, it’s holy.  In the quieted hush of that log chapel, broken occasionally by a passing car or truck, there is an anxiousness to the waiting, but nonetheless a peace in the middle of anxious days.  It is patience.

The church today is a little bedraggled and lonely at times.  Her costume jewelry, robes, and all the fanfare of rituals and rule books don’t do her destiny much justice.  We look a little absurd and distorted, like her beaten and crucified bridegroom.  But there is coming that day when she will see her bridegroom coming with clouds and glory[1].  Best to be prepared as you’re waiting for the Prince.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

GO TO VIDEO

Title image, Pixabay.com   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Philippians 3:20 see:  Citizens of Heaven and  The Pattern of a Life 

---

[1] Matthew 24:30  …And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

Earth Day - Part 4

[1]

Thursday, June 9, 2016

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1^(NLT)

So far in our review of creation we have seen that there is only one God; He is unique, all-powerful, and has all knowledge.  Now we turn our attention to humankind’s response to the ONE God:

We are Accountable

It makes sense that He who created everything has the right to supervise the operation and disposition of His creation.

God Created Humankind

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.  They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”   So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.  Fill the earth and govern it.  Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”   Genesis 1:26-28^(NLT)

The Hebrew word for created is bara – used only in connection with God's activity, never man's.  It means to take nothing and make it something.  When God made us in His image, there was no pre-existing model from which He came, so He gave us the attributes of His own nature.  He is triune; we also (body-soul-spirit).  He loves and desires relationship; we also.  He is creative; we also strive for the higher.

God Blessed Humankind and Holds Us Accountable

Then God said, “Look!  I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.  And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.”  And that is what happened.  Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!  And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.   So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.  On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.  Genesis 1: 29 – 2:1-3(NLT)

God's own property was given to man for his home, and God's own character is the measuring stick.  God sanctified the seventh day as a day of rest.  That he sanctified it means God set it apart from the other days.  It is not to be like other days.  We are also like that; we are not to be like the animals or the plants; we are set apart for relationship with God who created us and holds us accountable to respond to Him. 

Later in the Book of Genesis, we see how it was not humankind’s choice to live rightly related to God; not just Adam and Eve, but every person ever born.  The Bible declares: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.[2]  This is why Jesus came.  This is why Jesus had to die.  God holds each of us accountable for our sins – for how we have responded to the God who created us, blessed us, cared for us.  He keeps watch over His creation.  He owns everything in the universe, and holds us accountable for how we respond to Him.

We are going to see that God

Genesis is an important book, because it teaches us that God is not just allowing things to happen, and trying maybe to work it out later.  He is moving all creation in a definite, ordered plan to a conclusion that suits His own character.  Part of that plan involves the church, all those who have trusted in Christ.  We are going to see God.

For You Today

There is only one God, and we are accountable to Him.  Those of us who have accepted His command to love Him by receiving Christ as our Redeemer, the forgiveness of our sins, are going to see Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image: By NASA/ GSFC/ NOAA/ USGS [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Romans 3:23

Earth Day - Part 1

[1]

Monday, June 6, 2016

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1^(NLT)

The Bible doesn't prove (or even try to prove) the existence of God, or that He created the world.  It just assumes the reader comes to the word with faith in those facts.  I will do the same.   

Dr. Henry M. Morris is the president of the Institute for Creation Research.   He has written a fine reference work on the Genesis account.  He says about our text:           

It is the foundation of all foundations and is thus

the most important verse in the Bible^[2]

Questions about the creation are many, and should be answered.  However, we can spend all our time examining the wrapping on this package of creation, and never get to the gift. 

And the good stuff is inside. 

One question that is profitable to answer today, and takes little time, is:  Is the creation account allegory or historical reality?  Is this a fictional account to give us the sense of how God did things, or is it genuine historical fact? 

The evidence of Jesus should be enough.  Jesus, in His earthly ministry, verifies the historicity of the Bible's events.  If Jesus accepts the reality of creation by His Father, I can too.  After all, Jesus was there and Scripture tells us everything was created by His hand ^{(Col. 1.16)!}

Our aim this morning is to open these first verses of Genesis without getting caught in the trap of trying to prove how or when God created.  We accept the fact that He did it.  We simply want to see what God did, and what that can teach us about God.

What Genesis 1 teaches us...

#1.  There is only one God

If there is only one genuine God in the universe, we want to know about His character.  We want to know Who this God is that we might worship Him.

HE IS UNIQUE  W.H. Carruth:  Some call it evolution and others call it God."

The first phrase in the Bible sets the stage for us to see that the personality of God dwells on a far different and higher plane than man's.   His name is Elohim.  In Hebrew that name is plural, indicating that He is more than one.  Yet, it is used in a singular meaning.  Dr. Morris has called this a uni-plural noun; God is one, yet more than one.^[3]

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a revered Baptist scholar and preacher, disagrees.  He sees the plural ending im as emphasis indicating the superlative nature of God.  Dr. Morgan states:  The Hebrew language applies the plural in an intensive way when it is desired to signify that the thing referred to by the noun itself is superlative.^[4]   That is like the Pope speaking in the third person, plural.  He says "we" traveled to Russia, when he means "I" went there.

Frankly, I don't have a problem.  I see the Lord as superlative and plural.  At the risk of reading the New Testament into the Old, God hasn't changed!  He is unique.

For You Today

If you have a problem with the first sentence of the Bible, you’re going to have a whole lot of problems with the rest of it!  This is the place to exercise the faith God placed in your heart!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image: By Meghana Kulkarni from Pune, India (Happiness), via Wikimedia Commons

[2]Morris, Henry M., The Genesis Record, (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1976), 37

[3]Ibid, 39

[4]G. Campbell Morgan, Great Chapters of the Bible, (New York, Fleming H. Revell           Company, 1935), 15

Islam and Christianity; Same God?

[1]

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Devotion VIDEO here

“You must not have any other god but me.”  Exodus 20:3^(NLT)

Islam, the faith of the Muslim community, and Christianity have some core beliefs in common; the question which is disturbing and often missed entirely by both groups is:  do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?

Two weeks ago Professor Larycia Hawkins at Wheaton College (a Christian university) was put on administrative leave to reconsider her statements that the college considers inconsistent with Christian doctrine:

[She] “…had stated on Facebook, I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book.  And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.” [2]

Responding in an article, former Muslim, Nabeel Qureshi wrote:

…the Christian God, both in terms of what he is (Triune) and who he is (Father, Son, and Spirit) is not just different from the Muslim God; He is fundamentally incompatible.  According to Islam, worshiping the Christian God is not just wrong; it sends you to Hell.  They are not the same God.[3]

Qureshi states three reasons he makes this assertion:

1.     Christians believe Jesus is God, but the Quran is so opposed to this belief that it condemns Jesus worshipers to Hell (5.72)

2.     According to Jesus, God is our Father, yet the Quran very specifically denies that Allah is a father (112.1-4). In fact, in 5.18, the Quran tells Muslims to rebuke Jews and Christians for calling God their loving Father because humans are just things that God has created.

3.     Islam roundly condemns worship of the Trinity (5.73), establishing in contrast its own core principle: Tawhid, the absolute oneness of God. Tawhid specifically denies the Trinity, so much so that it is safe to say the doctrine of God in Christianity is antithetical to the doctrine of God in Islam. Not just different but completely opposed to one another.

Qureshi makes the important point that because people hold different ideas about God, we ought not demonize them.  This only creates more hostility – and that’s one thing our culture does not need.

On the other hand, serious Christians should have these differences held in clear distinction in order to help others who blindly state that we all serve the same God.   Nothing could be further from the truth.

How you “view” God and the doctrines you hold about how God treats people, thinks about people and wants us to treat people, will create your worldview, and color all your decisions. 

I personally think we can stand in solidarity with Muslims on the issues of peace, justice and treating others with kindness…in short, anything that does not deny our faith.  But to hold that we serve the same God is to try to do something that neither religion embraces. 

Jesus set the bar that separates Christianity from every other religion:

Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.   Matthew 12:30^(NLT)

For You Today

Shoot the messenger here if you must, but Muslim Islamic faith does not worship the same God as those who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You chew on that out on that Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

---

[1] Title image:  By Carlos Latuff (http://twitpic.com/3wwrxv) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Nabeel Qureshi article:  Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

[3] Ibid.