Bible Posts

“Is there a God?”

05 Jul , 2011 No Comments

Most people claim to believe in “God” but how can we even know He exists?  According to a survey last month (June 8, 2011) 92% of Americans believe in God- a number that has not changed much at all since 1940- when Gallop Polls started tracking this. As you look over “8 evidences” for God’s existence, I challenge you to pick your top three (in order) and be able to explain why you think those arguments are the strongest.

The definitive word in the Bible regarding atheism is this: “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1.  In Romans 1 we see that God has revealed Himself clearly to us through creation and has made Himself “evident” to us so that we are “without excuse” (1:20).  In fact, He’s made His presence known “within” us (1:19).   

This is why I believe that every atheist is constantly trying to push the thought of God out of his mind.  I liken him to the man who went out and bought himself a new boomerang and he almost killed himself trying to throw away his old one.  Rick Warren recently tweeted, “I don’t believe in atheists. Therefore, there is zero possibility they exist.”

Before we begin our study of theism you must remember that you can’t prove God scientifically- science says that in order for something to be proven it must be repeatable.  Even history, by its nature can’t be repeatable. You can’t prove a lot of things by science.  BUT there is a lot of evidence that points to the clear existence of God.

8 Evidences for the Existence of God

1. The search for something more  There is something within all of us that sense there is something or Someone beyond us.“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” – Blaise Pascal

2. Cause and effect  There can be no effect without a cause. Every effect must have a cause.  All of us (and all of the Universe) are effects and God is the Cause.  Eventually you come to an “Uncaused Cause”- GOD.  Think about it: Can a computer suddenly come out of nowhere? Can matter suddenly exist from non-matter? Can life appear from non-life?  Can something come from nothing?  It is scientifically impossible.

3. Order and design  We see order and intelligent design throughout our world and the Universe.  I could choose a million examples but I’ll offer one.  Did you know that because water has a high specific heat your body is able to remain at a constant temperature?  As a result you r body can better absorb heat.  If water had a low specific heat you would “boil over” with the least amount of activity. 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water.  The oceans serve as the earth’s thermostat and keeps the planet cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.  The distance of the earth from the sun, the tilt of it’s axis, the speed of it’s orbit, all make life possible on our planet.  The slightest degree of change in any aspect of the position in space would kill us all in no time.

4. Meaning and purpose  All of us are seeking meaning and purpose in life.  Where does this come from?  Consider a few famous people who wrestled with the meaning of life:

“What is life for? To die? To kill myself? To wait till death comes? I fear that even more. Then I must live. But what for? To die? And I could not escape that circle.” Leo Tolstoy

“Life is a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness.” Ernest Hemingway

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” –Solomon, Ecclesiastes 1:2

It was C. S. Lewis who said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”  It seems that God Himself has created us with a kind of “homing devise” and our hearts will not rest until we find our rest in Him.

5. The moral argument  If there is no God, where does our sense of right and wrong from?  Is that just an evolved state of consciousness?  Without an ultimate source of morality how do you explain a basic universal sense of right and wrong?

6. Love and emotion  If God does not exist how do explain love?  If it is not from God (the Author of love) then what are your options?  Is love an animal instinct?  Is it an evolved emotion or a chemical reaction?  How can you explain great acts of love, mercy, and compassion apart from a love God?

7. Jesus Christ  Of course the greatest proof of God’s existence is the fact that He actually came here and told us that He exists.  Jesus said that if we have seen Him, we’ve seen God. He said that He and God are One.  To see Him was to see God. To believe in Him was to believe in God and to reject Him was to reject God. Jesus revealed, not only that God exists, but He also showed us Who God is and what He is like.  Read these verses:

  • Hebrews 1:1-3
  • John 1:1-4, 14

8. Changed lives  Billions of lives have been changed by the power of God (including mine).  God has proven His existence by revealing Himself.  He desires to prove His existence and His love for you as well if only you will come to Him by faith.  Believe and then you will receive greater and greater understanding.  Which of the three evidences do you think are the most powerful?  Which one would you choose above the others?  If “changed lives” were used as proof of God’s existence and if you were brought to trial as evidence, would you be found guilty?

Have you taken the Bible for granted?

28 Jun , 2011 No Comments

How much do you love God’s Word?  Do you cherish it? Do you read it? Do you know what a gift it is to your life?

Please take the time to watch this inspiring story. Let it challenge you to NEVER take God’s Word for granted.  Study it. Love it. Obey it.

Let it draw you to Jesus.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dpmp_-TY0]

REAL MEN DO.

16 Jun , 2011 1 Comment

What we have in our culture today is the tragic absence of real men living dangerously for Christ.  Real men are faithful, courageous, humble, and pure. Real men do what God has commanded.

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”  Proverbs 11:3 

A contrast between two men

  • David- (2 Samuel 11)  A quick snap shot (vs. 1-5) of David’s life shows how one decision can lead to a series of consequences- for which he would pay the rest of his life. 
  • Joseph- (Genesis 39)  A quick snap shot from Joseph’s life reveals what happens when a man determines ahead of time that he will live a life of purity and practice a “no-tolerance” rule when it comes to sin. (vs. 6-10)

1.  Real men don’t run from their fears.  David had not yet determined that he would live a life of purity.  He had not yet found that his worth, his identity and value, is found in God and in Him alone.  He was afraid and sought to find his identity where many men think it is found- through the attraction of a woman.

Real men face the truth about who they are.  The secret fear of men is that they don’t have what it takes.  “I’m fearful; I feel weak. I don’t think I have what it takes.”  And because men tend to define their worth through their performance- a man’s greatest fear is the fear of failure.  Some of men live with a private life of sin and are afraid to ask others into their struggles to help them.

What are you running from?  Real men confront the truth about their sin before it destroys them. Be honest; be open. You’re only as sick as your secrets.

2.  Real men don’t let lust consume them.  Sexual sin and lust is the greatest area of temptation for men.  Men take their souls’ search for validation in all kinds of directions but the most common is in the sexual direction.  This is why pornography is such a problem among men.  Men are more visually stimulated than women but the driving force behind pornography is the fear of not measuring up as a man. They seek validation and as sexual beings many men fanaticize about being desirable- because deep down they do not feel accepted, validated, and loved.

Real men fight to live lives of purity.  And it is a fight- it is every man’s battle.  And men, you are either winning the battle, or you are losing the battle. 

Where/when are you most vulnerable?  Like David, it’s probably when you’re not where you ought to be.  You must remain accountable at all times.  And like Joseph, you must learn to RUN from temptation.  Here’s a verse I memorized when I was a young person-

2 Timothy 2:22 –“Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

3.  Real men don’t cheat on their wives.  This is for the men: Punks cheat on their wives. Spineless, weak men cheat on their wives.  “Spineless” because these men are not willing to face their fears- what’s really driving them- their struggle for validation.  Conquering women is not for the strong, but weak men.  Because…

Real men stay committed for life.  Real men who are not married, live lives of purity.  Real men who are married have eyes for one woman.  Here’s a word for all married men- your wife is your main accountability partner.  Talk to her about your struggles.  Key question (answered only by courageous, godly men).

What does she need to know about you?

4.  Real men don’t abdicate their leadership in the home.  Many men struggle with this one because, whereas work is task-focused, the family is relationship-focused.  Work is about doing; family is about being.  Men: You DO your job; you LOVE your family.  It is when we reverse the order that the tension escalates and the tug of war begins.

Real men accept the God-given responsibility to be leaders in the home.  Dad- you have a moral responsibility to be the leader in your home.  This is why I remind my church family over and over again- I’m a husband first, a dad second, a pastor third.  This church has many ministers (every member is a minister).  Stacy has one husband and my children have one father.  The pastor’s role is to always point others to Jesus.  Here’s the question for every married man: 

What if you brought the same intensity you bring to your work to your family? Who’s raising your kids?  (Is it your wife?  Your kids’ friends?  The television or internet?)

5.  Real men don’t neglect their children’s needs.

Real men are very present and attentive to their children’s needs.  I like the way Andy Stanley puts it, in his book “Choosing to Cheat”.  He says all men must “choose to cheat”- you will cheat your family or you will “cheat” your work.  It’s a matter of whom you choose to cheat.  Someone will be your priority.

When family and work collide, who wins?  Let me be bold with you men: At work you are expendable.  Someday someone else will have your job.  Someone else will be sitting at your desk.  But at home you play a unique role.  You are the only father your children will ever have- and only for a short season.

6.  Real men don’t find their ultimate worth in their work.

Real men find their worth in Christ alone.  Another key question:

Where do you find your worth? Real men constantly run to Jesus for their worth and significance in life.  He lone can provide a man with ultimate value and worth.

7.  Real men don’t watch others lead in the church.  I praise God for the men and women who give their time, energy, and their gifts to the Lord’s work through our church.  I think we all know that without the leadership of women, the church would have to close shop tomorrow.  But…

Real men seek to be servant leaders in the church.  They want to be an example of one who serves the Lord- for their wives, their children, and the community.  Real men devote their time to the work of God by using their God-given gifts to serve Him.  Only then will a man find true fulfillment in life- by fulfilling God’s purposes.  God has called you to be a man of influence.

What is your ministry of influence?

Will you be a REAL MAN?

What Really Happened on the Cross?

11 Apr , 2011 1 Comment

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

People ask: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” R.C. Sproul noted, “That only happened once, and He volunteered.” Jesus was sinless and yet He “became sin” for us. What does this mean?  If you want to live forgiven you must fully grasp what took place on the cross.  And the key to unlocking the mystery of the cross is to consider the most perplexing, uncomfortable, and difficult words that ever came from the lips of Jesus.  In His final moments on the cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 He’s actually quoting Psalm 22:1, but clearly this is a cry of anguish.  Here “forsaken” means, “abandon”, “left in trouble”- someone in trouble and turning your back on them.  I’ve had many people ask me, “Did He really believe the Father had abandoned Him?”  Could it be that God the Father really did forsake Him?  To understand the difficulty of these words we must first understand the nature of the Triune God.  The Trinity (the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) is at the core of biblical Christianity.  It’s important to note that the Trinity is a relationship of submission.  The Son says He does nothing apart from “the Father’s initiative” and that He does only what He sees the Father doing.  Jesus says that ultimately the Spirit would come and “will guide you in all truth”.  At Jesus’ baptism, the Father says, “This is my beloved Son”.  In John 17:11, Jesus prays for the Father to make His followers “one even as we are one”.  Could it be that for the first time in all of history there was violence done, not only to Jesus, but to the Trinitarian relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Understood correctly, this cry of anguish found in Matthew 27, is one of the most powerful, perplexing, and comforting words that Jesus ever spoke to us.  In fact, I pray that as we unpack them you will be overwhelmed, besieged, and undone by God’s love for you.

See Matthew 26:36-46 In an attempt to understand more fully what Jesus meant, we need to go back to the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the cross.  As I read the event of Jesus’ last week, I’m struck with the reality that He is in complete control of all that is happening.  If you look carefully and listen to His words it seems as though He Himself is writing the script.  As the story unfolds you realize that’s precisely what’s happening.  He has a secret ambition.  It’s interesting to note that just prior to His arrest, John 18:4 says that Jesus knew “all things that were to happen to Him.”

Matthew’s account of the events leading up to the moment of Judas’ betrayal is the most descriptive account of all that Jesus was going through.  After Judas agrees to betray Him, Jesus shares the Passover meal with His disciples.  During the meal Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times that night.  Then they go to a spacious olive grove of the garden called Gethsemane.  Emotionally drained (in fact Luke tells us that they were “exhausted from sorrow” in chapter 22:45), the disciples reclined under the moon and stars of a now peaceful night and quickly drift off to sleep.  Jesus, however, would find no peace, no rest at all.  Matthew says He “began to be sorrowful and troubled” (26:38).  Mark adds that He was “deeply distressed”.  Often Jesus would go off alone, most of the time to be alone, but on this night He would need His best friends there with Him.  Jesus, the Man, needed human companionship.  Solitary confinement is the worst form of punishment our species has ever devised and, in this moment, Jesus didn’t want it.

When His disciples failed Him, Jesus did not try to conceal His hurt: “Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (vs. 40)  His words suggest something more threatening than loneliness.  Is it possible that for the first time ever He did not want to be alone with the Father?  A great struggle is underway in the heart of Jesus.  No formal, well recited prayers would come on this night.  No poetic, nicely phrased petitions in these prayers.  Dr. Luke tells us, “being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling on the ground” (22:44).  He describes a rare medical condition that had taken effect, known as “hematidrosis”, in which the blood vessels, under such stress, expand and burst into the sweat glands.  Imagine what happens next: He falls face down on the ground crying out to God the Father.

Why was Jesus in such agony?  I would suggest that you and I have never known this kind of anguish.  I’ve talked to many people who knew they had only days, even hours to live.  Some are terrified but most are accepting, even calm.  Jesus seems anything but calm.  Knowing what was to come, was He afraid of the beatings, the scourging, the spikes driven through His wrists and feet?  Was it the fear of death that tortured Him so?  Here we realize that sometimes it’s a blessing not to know the future.  Was it the betrayal of His closest friends?  Was it the denial of Peter?  Was it a combination of all of these things together?  No.  I believe that the pain Jesus knew in the garden and would experience on the cross was greater than any one of those things and even greater than all of those things combined.

To know what was at the heart of His agony, we must understand what He meant when He referred to the “cup” the night before in the Garden.

What was this “cup”? What was Jesus hoping to avoid?  It was not merely death.  It was not physical pain on the cross.  It was not the scourging or humiliation. It was not the torture of nails being driven through His body, not the horrible thirst, nor was it the disgrace of being spat upon or beaten.  Again, it was not even all these things combined.  I say this because those were all the things Jesus said not to fear.  In Luke 12:4, He said, “And I say to you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do.”  “But,” He went on to add, “I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast you into hell; yes, I say to you, fear him!” (vs. 5)  Clearly, what Christ dreaded most about the cross was not physical death.  It was the outpouring of the wrath He would endure from His Holy Father.  The key is a clear understanding of “the “cup”.   The “cup” was a well-known Old Testament symbol of the divine wrath of God against sin. Consider just a few references:

“Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it out.”  Isaiah 51:17

“Take this cup of fury from my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.  When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” Jeremiah 25: 15-16

“Drink, be drunk, and vomit!  Fall down and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” Jeremiah 25:27

Pretty graphic stuff.  What Jesus was experiencing on the cross was nothing less than the cup of the terrible wrath of God!  It’s worth noting here that “wrath” is not an out-of-control reaction of someone going “postal” on an angry rampage.  God is beyond that.  Wrath is God’s holy reaction to sin and in this case, it is unleashed on the Son.  The “cup” that Jesus was to drink was the vile, repulsive cup of sin bringing upon Him the full fury of the wrath of God.

Now, consider this: The One who had never tasted the tiniest drop of sin, the One who had never been separated from the Trinitarian relationship, will now bear the full brunt of the divine fury of God upon the most terrible, grotesque sins ever committed by every person who would ever live.  This, of course, includes your sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  That holy transaction of our sins being poured into Him, the full wrath of God unleashed upon the Son, is what Jesus feared most.  He had never been separated from the Father, until the cross.  God the Father has never abandoned anyone except His own Son.

This is the only way to explain the perplexing prayer of Jesus on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)  Friend, as you read this, do you realize what you’ve been saved from?  God imputed (transferred, exchanged, ascribed) your sin to Christ and then punished Him for it.  Peter puts it this way:

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”  1 Peter 2:24 Don’t you feel a need to stop right now and thank Him?  Go ahead and do it.

In the garden we find the only place where Jesus addresses God as “My Father” (Matthew 26:39,42).  In fact, Mark records He prayed, “Abba, Father”.  “Abba” is the Aramaic equivalent of “Daddy” or “Dada”.  I believe that Jesus was experiencing a kind of “holy separation anxiety”.  What parent has not seen the terror in the eyes of a child while being left behind- as if their eyes and their cry was saying, “I can’t believe that you are leaving me!”, as if to say, “Why have you abandoned me?!”  I believe that is precisely what Jesus went through on the cross, and the garden was a prelude to the pain He knew was coming.  With this cry, He yelled, “My God…” not “My Father” (the only place He does this).  Did the Father really abandon the Son?  Was there really violence done to the Trinity while Jesus was on the cross!?  I can’t explain it theologically or understand it rationally, but how else can you justify this cry of Jesus?

As He cried out in anguish, God’s inflexible holiness and boundless love collided, and our redemption was made possible.

That’s what happened on the cross. For you to be fully forgiven, Jesus had to be fully abandoned.  In that moment, the Man Jesus was not in charge, the Father was.  What does this transaction over 2,000 years ago have to do with you today?  Everything.  It is more relevant than today’s newspaper and more powerful than any truth you’ll ever know.  “You are forgiven”, He says.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, took on the full fury of God’s wrath.  He died so that you wouldn’t have to and now, you can live forgiven.

What is the “righteousness of God”?

“But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:22 What is “the righteousness of God” poured into us?

The “righteousness of God” is to be as righteous as Jesus is righteous.

How can I receive it?

“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  John 1:12

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

How can I live in it?

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

So, grace is unmerited favor- Does God forgive me regardless of how I live? And once I receive His grace, can I go live any way I want to live?  I believe this question gets to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. If I truly comprehend the gift of God’s grace and the price that was required to pay so that I might be forgiven, then I will respond with a gratitude that would involve my whole life- all that I am. Otherwise I experience what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace”- grace that cost Jesus everything but cost me nothing.  To receive His grace is to experience “costly grace”- I understand that the possibility of grace cost Him everything and therefore, cost me everything. It is costly because Christ’s life, death and resurrection becomes a model, the example for MY life.  Thus Bonhoeffer’s most famous quote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”  There is no greater cost.  Of course this is in line with the call of Jesus Himself:

Then He said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Out of gratitude for this great exchange we die to ourselves in order to live for Jesus.  As we die to ourselves it is HIS life now alive in us.  Let your life now be one big, constant, ever-growing act of gratitude back to God for all He’s done for you.

 

 

General Revelation (from “Live Forgiven”)

26 Mar , 2011 No Comments

God may be indescribable, but He is not unknowable.  As we’ve already considered, God has revealed Himself to us through creation. Theologians call this “general revelation”.  He is seen “in general” throughout all of creation.  Through it all we catch a glimpse of who He is.  Creation reveals who He is- His character, His beauty, His “bigness”, and I think how “small” He can be as well.  God reveals Himself in “general” terms through His creation so that humans will simply humble themselves before Him and then partner with Him in to accomplish His purposes.  God doesn’t reveal Himself for kicks.  He reveals Himself “on purpose”, or even “for His purpose”.  Simply put, God’s job is to do the revealing, ours is to do the responding.  We respond to His revelation by humbling ourselves before Him and surrendering our lives to Him.

So, the logical question is this: What does creation say about who God is? And regardless of where you are in your faith journey, doesn’t it seem logical that God created all that is?  Remember, it is scientifically impossible to get something out of nothing.  In regard to the Aristotlean logic of “cause and effect”, there must be a cause for every effect.  Ultimately you are led to an “Uncaused Cause”.  What does creation reveal to us about who God is?  What can we know about Him?

Throughout all He has made God shows us how wonderfully creative He is and how thoroughly involved He is with His creation.  He cares for His creation and in ways and in places that we have never seen or think about.  When the Discovery Channel presented its series, “Planet Earth”, it quickly became a favorite in our family.  Taking years to make, a group of British scientists and photographers put together, what was for me at least, one worship sequence after another.  As they show us places and practices in creation never before seen, we’re reminded that much of God’s creation and caring seems, at times, gratuitous, unnecessary, even extravagant.

For instance, why didn’t He stop at 100 billion stars?  Why did He create billions of galaxies with trillions of stars in each one?  Why didn’t He stop at 2,000 mammals?  (There are 4,260 different types of mammals).  There are 6,787 species of reptiles, nearly 10,000 different types of birds and 28,000 species of fishes.  And of course, invertebrates outnumber all the vertebrates put together.  There are 80,000 species of mollusks and a million different kinds of insects.  Why didn’t He stop at 1,000 types of insects?  I read recently that there are 300,000 species of beetles and weevils alone!  What’s up with that?  And again, what does this say about God?  As a piece of art expresses the heart of the artist, God’s artwork, His creation, is an expression of who He is.

Why the extravagance, the lavish and seemingly excessive creativity?  Some scientists have now added to their reasons for the existence of such a vast universe this interesting thought: The Universe exists so that we might explore it and in so doing find the One who is the Creator of it all.  Again, He’s not just “out there”.  He wants to be found by us.

It’s as if He is trying to say to us throughout His creation that He is the One in control of all of life, not us.  It’s as if He wants us to know who’s in control, as if to say, “You’re going to need a God like me.  You’re going to need a God who creates and cares for His creation in ways that you don’t even see.  You’re going to need a God who gives and blesses and sustains and loves for seemingly no reason whatsoever.”  That’s the kind of God He is.  He loves because that’s who He is and we see His heart in creation.